Inside Home Recording

Zen and the Art of Strong Stereo Imaging

Audio Issues — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:28:54 +0000

This is a guest post from mastering engineer Barry Gardner who operates SafeandSound online mastering From time to time I hear a mix that has dubious stereo imaging. This can ...

Building Song Energy is Usually an “Ebb and Flow” Thing

garyewer — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:20:16 +0000

Musical energy should build and die away several times throughout a song’s length. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Become the best songwriter you can be! __________________ There aren’t many musical compositions that start at a low energy level, and then build energy in a straight line to the end. For most songs, energy [...]

Care & Feeding: Keeping Gear In Top-Flight Shape

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:00:31 +0000

Reduce problems, enhance system performance, and save significant time and money in the long run

Getting Clarity And Width On Guitars [Video]

Graham — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:36 +0000

Do you find yourself layering guitar parts in your sessions only have them wash together, sounding vague and mushy? Today I want to show you a simple way to bring some clarity and width back into your guitars. With nothing more than a little EQ we can ...

“If you’re gonna do it, you might as well do it right.”

Joe Gilder — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:59:41 +0000

We finished up tracking drums yesterday. (You’ll hear more about that another day.) My drummer Tim said something interesting towards the end of the day. And it’s something we could all stand to have tattoo’d on our foreheads (at least while we’re working in the studio). We were changing out some drums for the last...

Bon Iver "Holocence" Song Analysis

Bobby Owsinski — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Here's a song analysis of "Holocene" from the self-titled Bon Iver album, a band that won the Grammy for best new artist earlier in the year. "Holocene" was mentioned as one of the best songs of 2011 by a number of music magazines and was als...

Covers Make Up Music Services Catalogs

Bobby Owsinski — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

These days every music service from iTunes to Spotify is trying to one up each other with a power number - the number of songs in their catalog. iTunes now claims to be up to 20 million songs, Spotify 15 million, Amazon MP3 16 million, and on and on....

the worst mic review

matthew mcglynn — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:16:51 +0000

We had a little contest late last week to see who could write a mic review that crosses the fine line between clever and stupid. The funniest contributions, in my opinion, expressed a deep lack of understanding of some common aspect of transducer technology or lore, and expressed that misunderstanding with total confidence. We’ve all [...]

The Problem with Free Music

David Andrew Wiebe — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:11:33 +0000

I just began a series of posts involving the concept of "free" in the world of music. This was sparked by a discussion I've been watching on Facebook. This discussion began innocuously enough, by my co-host Anna who was talking about this article: All music should be free...

Accuracy vs. Realism: Simulating The “Human” Side Of Audio Measurement

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:27:13 +0000

Do you want to know what is actually happening, or what is perceived to be happening?

A hard-knock life

Kim Lajoie — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:00:04 +0000

Stijn Debrouwere: People care about the news. They want to pay for it. They want the light stuff and the deep stuff too. They just don’t want as much of it as we — journalists and media makers — produce. … Continue reading →

Basic Principles For Suspending Loudspeaker Systems

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:20:54 +0000

A few terms and techniques for hanging loudspeakers

Harmonizing the Same Melody With Major, Then Minor Chords

garyewer — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:04:08 +0000

Switching from major to minor gives your melody a whole new sound. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Become the best songwriter you can be! __________________ The repetition of musical fragments is an important part of the structure of most songs. We like to hear things repeat; obvious things, like the basic beat and [...]

“Leave Room for the Creative Spirit”

Joe Gilder — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:27:42 +0000

Remember those Junior High dances? Awkward city, baby. I was that kid who really only danced on the slow tunes. And by “dance” I mean the awkward swaying back and forth without ever actually making eye contact with the girl. Then there were the awkward comments from the well-meaning chaperones. If you were dancing a...

3D Mixing Part 7: Mastering, The Final Chapter (Part 2)

Will Walker — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:53:37 +0000

In the final installment of the series, we are going to look at the final effects on the signal chain (Master EQ, Master Reverb, Master Limiter), and discuss the various final print options. Master EQ For EQ on the master bus, ‘gentle’ is t...

"Free" is Not the Answer

David Andrew Wiebe — Tue, 15 May 2012 05:23:43 +0000

Unless you've been living under a rock, you already know that the music industry has seen a lot of change in the last decade or two. There seems to be an emerging trend of "free" in music these days. People are expecting free shows and have even demanded free albums, disregarding copyright and reproduction laws if the end justifies the means...

Will The Major Labels Jump On EDM?

Bobby Owsinski — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Electronic Dance Music (or EDM) has grown to maybe the biggest underground musical movement ever with virtually zero publicity. When a DJ can play before 50,000 people (and do so regularly), that's definitely a music trend in the making.&nb...

The $485 Volume Knob

Bobby Owsinski — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

I recently wrote a blog about the passion of audiophiles and how important that is in today's MP3/earbud world. Passion shouldn't be confused with foolishness, however, and sometimes an audiophile can be easily pushed over the edge of gullibility by fa...

How to Defeat an Overwhelming Sense of Pressure

Audio Issues — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:25:51 +0000

There hasn’t been much going on at the website lately, as you might have noticed. Don’t worry. I haven’t quit and I didn’t die. In fact, I’m recharged and ready ...

The Myth of Writer’s Block

Jeff Tolbert — Mon, 14 May 2012 23:39:55 +0000

I was having dinner with some composer friends a few weeks ago and the subject of writer’s block came up. Mostly, we talked about the fact that we rarely get it. Perhaps because we’re all media composers and seldom have the time for such creative obstacles, we’ve all developed strategies to deal with the occasional [...]

Simplifying the Songwriting Process: Plateau Pitches

garyewer — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:51:01 +0000

Songs don’t often require lots of notes. A plateau pitch can help you create a good melody with minimum fuss and effort. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Become the best songwriter you can be! __________________ We know that the way a melody proceeds often has to do with its subject matter. For example, [...]

Embracing The Pro Tools Generation

Graham — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:00:17 +0000

I am proud to be part of the Pro Tools Generation. And when I say Pro Tools, I don’t mean just Avid’s Pro Tools software, but any recording/mixing software. I am part of a generation of mixers and producers who have grown up with and have ...

What’s Your Excuse?

Joe Gilder — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:57:24 +0000

Have I told you about my brother-in-law Joel? He plays bass on all my projects, which is awesome. But there’s something even cooler you should know about Joel. Lemme explain. A few years ago, while I was working up at Sweetwater selling gear, Joel decided he wanted to release an album. He’s a teacher, so...

Peter Wildoer Interview

matthew mcglynn — Mon, 14 May 2012 06:42:01 +0000

Peter Wildoer’s drumming on Static Impulse blew my mind. Give him 60 seconds, he’ll blow yours too: That album was a collaboration between Dream Theater vocalist James LaBrie and his longtime writing partner Matt Guillory. The band included Wildoer, Marco Sfogli (guitars), and Ray Riendeau (bass). The music is a crazy hybrid of styles — something [...]

10 Tips For Posting On Your Facebook Fan Page

Bobby Owsinski — Mon, 14 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Facebook Post Targeting Example Let's face it, you have a Facebook fan page for one reason - to connect with your fans. While I don't believe that there's a one-size-fits-all formula for how this is done, there are some suggestions on how to get not...

The Latest On "Mastered For iTunes"

Bobby Owsinski — Mon, 14 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

On Friday I had the pleasure of sitting in on a meeting with 3 representatives from Apple at Oasis Mastering, as they briefed us on the latest info on the new "Mastered for iTunes" program. While there's already some info on the program currentl...

bad mic reviews

matthew mcglynn — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:33:46 +0000

A well-meaning but somewhat inexperienced gear reviewer submitted an article with the best sentence I’ve ever read in any microphone review, ever: The Frequency response is also impressive with a range of 20Hz–20KHz that from my experiences is more than you can even use. I tried my hand at matching the tone and style, and posted it [...]

iOS Music Making

Jon — Sat, 12 May 2012 05:13:35 +0000

As you may have heard, I recently got an iPhone. Suddenly apps, accessories and bunch of other distractions have become part of my life. I tried to ignore this stuff for a long time but now that I have an iPhone I’m really happy all the audio per...

Quick Tip: Get to Know Your Gear

Jeff Tolbert — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:05:42 +0000

I was reading a back issue of Sound on Sound last night and I came across this nugget in an article profiling songwriter and producer Alex Da Kid: “Every month or every two months I’ll take another soft synth, and I’ll read the manuals and I’ll watch the YouTube videos on it, and I’ll go [...]

Get Instant Separation In Your Mix

Graham — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:00:03 +0000

There is a simple way to get instant separation and clarity in your mix that you might not be taking advantage of. It’s fast, easy to learn, and takes immediate effect the moment you implement it. And best of all it comes bundled free with your D...

Recordings and Pearls of Great Price

Joe Gilder — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Last night my wife and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. I bought her some pearl earrings. At first she said she loved ‘em…you see where this is going. Later on that night she informed me that she actually doesn’t like pearls. She was afraid my feelings would be hurt, or that maybe she just...

Quick Song Editing in Logic Pro

David Bergman — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:54:19 +0000

In this screencast David Bergman shows you how to do some quick song editing in Logic Pro, including fades.

YouTube Still The King Of Music Discovery

Bobby Owsinski — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

I've been talking at a lot of colleges this year and the first question I always ask my audience is, "How do you discover your music?" The reply is always the same - overwhelmingly YouTube, followed by Pandora. Digital Music News recently compared the ...

Joe Walsh "Rocky Mountain Way" Song Analysis

Bobby Owsinski — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Here's a song that I've been getting requests to do a song analysis on for a while, and I have to admit that it's long been one of my favorites - Joe Walsh and Barnstorm's "Rocky Mountain Way" from the album The Smoker You Drink, The Player Y...

In The Studio: What Engineers Should Know About Meters

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:10:51 +0000

An excerpt from Mastering Audio: The Art and The Science by Bob Katz.

Simple Tool: The Importance Of Recording Live Shows For Later Evaluation

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:32:57 +0000

Verifying what you think you're hearing at a gig

Strings Part II : How to orchestrate the Harmony in the String Section

Stellita Loukas — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:00:49 +0000

In this second article about orchestrating for strings, Stellita Loukas looks at ways in which harmony can be orchestrated within the string section with or without doublings in other orchestral sections.

Curing Songwriting Frustration With Some Mindless Activities

garyewer — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:49:12 +0000

Let some mindless non-musical fun get you back to the enjoyment of writing music again. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Write smarter - Tap into your creative mind. __________________ It would be ridiculous to think that you should never feel frustration as a composer. When you write, you’re getting something to grow from [...]

Introduction to Modal Interchange

Pär Svensson — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:23:23 +0000

Are you getting tired of using the same old chord progressions in your compositions? An excellent way to spice up your creations would be to familiarize yourself with the concept of modal interchange, also known as modal mixture. To put it simple, moda...

Ignoring the Obvious

Joe Gilder — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Avoiding the Obvious This one makes me uncomfortable. Mainly because the people who really NEED to hear this probably won’t. Well, they might read this article. They might even nod their heads and “agree” with me. But they’ll step away from their computer, fire up their studio and go back to their old ways. Their...

Cloudlifter CL-Z Review

Dren McDonald — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:09:54 +0000

Lately, I find myself quickly skimming a lot of my Twitter feed. There seems to be a lots of talk about Mad Men and Game of Thrones. I haven’t had time to enjoy those shows yet, so I’ve taken to professional tweet skimming. But a tweet from @recordinghacks mentioning the new Cloud Microphones Cloudlifter CL-Z [...]

A Drum Compression Primer

Bobby Owsinski — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

It would be great if every drummer hit every beat on the kick and snare with the same intensity, but unfortunately that doesn’t even happen with the best drummers on the planet. When the intensity changes from beat to beat, the pulse of the song fe...

Amanda Palmer’s Kickstarter Tips

Bobby Owsinski — Thu, 10 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Amanda Palmer's always been used as a the perfect example of how social media promotion is done in our Music 3.0 age. As I posted last week, she's now a beaming example of how to mount a Kickstarter campaign as well. As of this writing, she's had ov...

In The Studio: Top Ways To Help Musicians Hear Themselves

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:41:17 +0000

The key is working together creatively

What Benefits Do Digital Consoles Hold For Clubs?

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:29:49 +0000

Eight very good reasons to make the change.

Softube Interviews Mixing Engineer Phil Tan

danski — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:57:12 +0000

Softube’s Stefan Hedengren had the fortune to interview Atlanta-based multi Grammy Award winning mixing engineer Phil Tan, known for his work with Mariah Carey, Ludacris, Rihanna, Common, Snoop Dogg, and many many more. First of all, use a high pass … Continue reading →

Danski's Logic Pro Blog - The Logic Pro Blog For The Best Of Us.

The Target

Deane Ogden — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:06:43 +0000

Not sure why I'm thinking about this all of a sudden (there must be SOME reason!), but I am. For several summers in high school I worked as a busboy at a restaurant in my hometown of Corvallis, Oregon. The joint was called Lyons Restaurant — many of my hometown pals reading this will smile [...]

What Songwriters Need to Know About Song Structure

garyewer — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:43:24 +0000

One way to create a sense of uniqueness with your music is to consider an ad hoc form. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Become the best songwriter you can be! __________________ It’s a good bet that most seasoned songwriters won’t have a lot to say about song structure. There’s a “just get going and [...]

Mixing Vocals To Sit On Top

Graham — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:00:09 +0000

In most cases the lead vocal is the most important part of your mix. The best mixes out there always seem to find a way to get that vocal to sit right on top of everything else. How do they do it? Well there are a lot of small steps to get you there: v...

Why You Should Set Limitations in the Studio (The SM57 Challenge)

Joe Gilder — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:00:06 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7m6_sOD0vg I love a good challenge. And I’m giving myself a whopper of a challenge later this month. More on that in a second… Limitations. You’ve heard me stress that limitations in the studio are REALLY good for you. But that can be hard to believe. More is better right? “I don’t think so, Tim.”...

How to Create a Freeform Dubstep Template – Tuts+ Premium

Mike Elliott — Wed, 09 May 2012 07:30:08 +0000

In this week’s Audio Premium content, Mike Elliott teaches you how to create a freeform Dubstep template in FL Studio. To learn more about what you get as part of Tuts+ Premium, read this. To take a peek inside this tutorial, hit the jump! Downlo...

Incubator Improvements

Dave — Wed, 09 May 2012 05:02:32 +0000

I’ve been a little lax in updates on the Incubator. A LOT has gone on since the last post I tossed up with a photo-diary of running Cat 5e cable out to the “Incubator”. The first of a couple of projects I’ve been working on was ...

3 Useful Audio Utilities

Bobby Owsinski — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Here's a great video on how to use 3 simple Mac utilities to convert, reference and transfer audio files. I found it interesting because these utilities (XLD, Vox and Cloudapp) can really save you some time, especially when it comes to making MP3s, tes...

Facebook By The Numbers

Bobby Owsinski — Wed, 09 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

I saw this interesting set of Facebook statistics yesterday on Hypebot and thought it worth noting. It's from their May 3rd SEC S-1 filing, which is the document that companies must file explaining their business before a public offering (IPO). A co...

12 Ways to Use Your iDevice in the Studio

Jon Tidey — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:52:58 +0000

A list of 12 different ways an iPhone or iPad can be useful in your recording studio, including links to some great iOS apps and accessories.

Understanding Sound System, Loudspeaker & Room Interactions

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:35:50 +0000

If one could listen to only the direct sound of a loudspeaker, the world would be a very different place!

The Top 10 Things That Can Never Be Taught Often Enough In Audio

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:49:32 +0000

You can't make magic without the basics

Why Pentatonic Melodies Are So Easy To Harmonize

garyewer — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:52:17 +0000

Pentatonic scales have a variety of reasons why they work so well in pop music. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Write smarter - Tap into your creative mind. __________________ Yesterday I wrote a post that offered ten basic tips for writing melodies that are easily remembered by listeners. Just to finish up that [...]

Why custom mastering for vinyl isn’t necessary

Ian Shepherd — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:44:41 +0000

I’m getting more and more people asking me about the need to get a dedicated master made for vinyl releases – maybe because I’ve posted videos like the one above – for more details check this link: Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘I’m With You” vinyl sounds better than CD But I’ve got news for [...]

Why custom mastering for vinyl isn’t necessary is a post from Ian Shepherd's: Production Advice
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Jogging and Recording

Joe Gilder — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Yesterday was a Monday. So I tweeted out: “Happy Monday, folks. (I love Mondays.)” I really do love Mondays. New week. New challenges. And the first challenge of the week for me was unexpected…and awesome. I’ve been getting back into running. I go with my wife, and we take our son Owen in a jogging...

Get the Best from EZdrummer Using MultiChannel Functions

Emanuele Frusi — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:15:57 +0000

ToonTrack EZdrummer is a great resource to obtain incredible drum sounds from a virtual instrument. But if we want to get more from this plug, we have to use the “multichannel function“, obtaining the possibility to mix and process each piece of ou...

Google+’s New Hangouts On Air Feature

Bobby Owsinski — Tue, 08 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

One of the more intriguing features of Google+ was Hangouts, which was a sort of video conference where you could broadcast to up to 10 users. This was a cool thing for many artists, who got around the 10 viewer max by rotating them during their broa...

The Myth Of Ziggy Stardust

Bobby Owsinski — Tue, 08 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

It's now less than a month away from the release of Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust, the memoir of the amazing life of the legendary producer/engineer Ken Scott published by Alfred Music Publishing that I was lucky enough to co-write. Th...

The Return of the 90s and the Twenty-Year Itch

Justin Colletti — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:00:35 +0000

When the New Yorker‘s Adam Gopnik cited a handful of pop-culture novelties in “The Forty Year Itch” to make the case that American culture operates on a forty-year cultural cycle, I wasn’t the only one left scratching my head. Despite the isolated success of Mad Men, 1960s culture wasn’t an especially popular motif in the [...]

Audio School: Salaries, Opportunities and Graduation Rates for Sound Engineers

Justin Colletti — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:00:48 +0000

We’ve heard our share of studio sob stories over the past decade. Since 2000, multi-room facilities have closed all over major metropolitan areas, and here in the NY Tri-state area alone we lost Hit Factory, Sony, and Bennett Studios, just to name a few. All the while, audio schools pumped out record numbers of graduates, [...]

String Section: Rob Moose & yMusic

Justin Colletti — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:30:06 +0000

Violinist Rob Moose was a sophomore in college when he responded to a classified ad that read “Britten, Buckley, Boulez, Bjork.” That single ad led him to songwriter Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond, and in the years that followed, to gigs with Antony and the Johnsons, The National and Bon Iver. In 2007, Moose [...]

The Best of Both Worlds: “Mid-Fi” Recording with DIIV & Daniel James Schlett

Justin Colletti — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:00:53 +0000

Daniel James Schlett is probably one of the best engineers I know under age thirty. I don’t say this because he works out of one of my favorite studios, Brooklyn’s Strange Weather Recording, but in spite of it. The more work he gets, the harder it is for me to book the place for myself. [...]

Studio Toolbox: The Best Ribbon Mics In The World

Justin Colletti — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:00:06 +0000

As digital recording has become the norm, many of the tools that engineers once took for granted have disappeared from recording studios. But it’s one of the ironies of the DAW-age that the embrace of computer recording has led directly to the comeback of one technology that’s even older than tape itself. That’s right: Today, [...]

Behind The Release: Lost in the Trees – A Church That Fits Our Needs

Justin Colletti — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:25:11 +0000

Ari Picker, the singer and principal writer for Lost in the Trees was older than most students when he got started in the film scoring program at Berklee College. Now he’s 30, a recent graduate with a bachelor’s in music, and probably one of the only members of his class who has a record deal [...]

10 Tips for Writing Great Song Melodies

garyewer — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:05:03 +0000

Of all song elements, a great melody is probably the most important one for creating a song that people remember. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Become the best songwriter you can be! __________________ When you’ve written a great song, more often than not that means that you’ve given the listener something they can [...]

Why A Mono Drum Overhead Is Awesome

Graham — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:00:50 +0000

If you’re like me, you are constantly challenged when it comes to recording great sounding acoustic drums. And for good reason. With so many elements to the kit, it is consistently the hardest instrument to capture with punch, power, and realism....

Three EQ Fake-Outs

Joe Gilder — Mon, 07 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

We tend to think of EQ as “makeup” for our tracks. We use it to make things purdy. But EQ can be a pretty handy tool for faking out your listener. And sometimes those fake-outs can be kinda cool. Here are a few: 1. Fake Depth Sometimes tracks are recorded so cleanly that they sound...

How to Write A Real Tear Jerker

Bobby Owsinski — Mon, 07 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

I once had a movie director tell me, "If you can get the viewer to laugh just once and cry just once in a movie, you'll have a hit." It seems like there's an analog to that in the music business as well, as indicated 20 years ago by British psycholog...

America’s Most Engaging Social Network?

Bobby Owsinski — Mon, 07 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

With all the hype that Facebook is getting as it comes upon IPO time, you'd think that it was the most engaging of all the 100 or so social networks with more than 1 million subscribers. Yes, it's the biggest, but it's not the most engaging. Neither ...

Review: TC Electronic Flashback Delay Pedal

Jon — Sun, 06 May 2012 18:59:52 +0000

The TC Electronic Flashback is a digital delay pedal with 9 distinct delay styles; a looping function; and Tone Print, an extra mode that can be loaded with downloadable artist preset. The pedal has stereo in/out, buffered or true-bypass and controls f...

Real World Gear: The Secret Life Of Instrument Mics

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Fri, 04 May 2012 21:21:41 +0000

Plug in one of each, and you’re good to go

Church Sound: Do You REALLY Know Your Channel EQ Controls?

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Fri, 04 May 2012 16:29:25 +0000

Master the mixer and improve your mixing

In The Studio: DIY Subkick Microphone

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:46:57 +0000

An older but effective trick for kick drums

A Speedwriting Challenge For Songwriters: Musical Bungee Jumping

garyewer — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:20:19 +0000

How long does it take you to write a song? Time to have some fun: how about a song in less than 3 minutes? __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Write smarter - Tap into your creative mind. __________________ It’s often a useful exercise to change the way you write music, if only to [...]

Analog Summing And Why You Shouldn’t Care

Graham — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:00:36 +0000

There’s a big debate looming in the recording world and it revolves around analog summing. People say that mixing “in the box” will never sound as good as using analog summing. So what is summing, and why is analog supposedly better? ...

Recording Guitars (Why it’s okay to not know what you’re doing)

Joe Gilder — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

I’ve got a secret for you. You might already know this, but in case you don’t, here goes. I’m not a magician. There, I said it. When I’m recording guitars, I rarely just “know” how I’m going to be recording it that day. In other words, I don’t magically know what mic to use and...

The Unanswered Question: The Poetry Of Earth

Adrian Try — Fri, 04 May 2012 08:00:50 +0000

Enjoy Leonard Bernstein’s sixth lecture in his “The Unanswered Question” series. This one focuses on the poetry of Earth.

$100k On Kickstarter In 6 Hours

Bobby Owsinski — Fri, 04 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

In an excellent case study in the art of social media and crowdfunding, Amanda Palmer has turned a Kickstarter campaign on its head, raising $100,000 in a mere six hours, then oversubscribing to the tune of $443,000 with 27 days left. Considering that ...

The Making Of An Audiophile

Bobby Owsinski — Fri, 04 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Here's a great movie about the lives of audiophiles. Once upon a time we'd make fun of their obsession, but now I wish that more of them were around. There was a time during the 70's when having a good audio playback system was just as important as ha...

Low-Voltage Audio Products: Power & Noise

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Thu, 03 May 2012 22:24:45 +0000

Meeting the challenges associated with the use of low-voltage audio information appliances.

Transcending Tech: A Conversation With Ethan Winer, Author Of “The Audio Expert”

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Thu, 03 May 2012 21:18:43 +0000

Getting down to how it really works

Making the Most of Reference Tracks

Jeff Tolbert — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:39:19 +0000

I’m finishing up a job which was temped with an Explosions in the Sky song. My instructions were simple: create a score with the same vibe—mellow electric guitar escalating gradually to a euphoric climax. Explosions in the Sky are not terribly hard to mimic since their songs often follow a fairly specific formula, but the [...]

What do you do when no-one’s watching?

Kim Lajoie — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:00:07 +0000

Sometimes clients cancel. Sometimes it’s not because they’re flaky and don’t believe in themselves. Sometimes people just get sick. It’s ok. Anyway, this post isn’t about self-esteem and motivation. Or maybe it is. Occasionally, I find myself with some time … Continue reading →

The Devil’s in the Details

Joe Gilder — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Got an email from a customer the other day. He bought Understanding Compression. He loved it, but he was writing me to tell me that he thought I should have gone more in depth into attack and release, that my technical definition of how attack and release work wasn’t as in-depth as he would’ve liked....

Sidechain Functionality with 3rd Party Plugins in Ableton Live

George Mitropapas — Thu, 03 May 2012 08:00:31 +0000

Ableton Live 8 has native sidechaining that only works with the native Compressor plugin or any other possible Max4Live devices. Steinberg’s VST3 specifications include functionality for VST3 compatible plugins to allow external sidechain signals...

3 Rules For YouTube Success

Bobby Owsinski — Thu, 03 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

I love to hear what works for successful entrepreneurs and businesses, especially when they have the ability to analyze their performance and evaluate their methods. Many times their own personal "rules" are not transferrable to other situations, but i...

Timing Your Effects To The Song

Bobby Owsinski — Thu, 03 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Last week I posted about the 6 rules for adding effects to a mix, and 3 of the rules entailed timing your effects to the track. One of the comments I received asked about more information on just how to do that, so here it is. Timing the effects to ...

In The Studio: Mic With Your Ears, Not Your Eyes

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Wed, 02 May 2012 19:46:20 +0000

When placing microphones, make sure you're placing it where the instrument sounds the best and not where the microphone looks the best.

Why Quiztones Belongs In Your Studio Or Classroom As A Training Tool

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:41:22 +0000

A way to train aural skills that provides immediate feedback

The Three Inglorious Gangsters of EQ

Audio Issues — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:25:33 +0000

Say hello to my little friend! Or rather, say hello to my three little gangsters that do your dirty EQ work for you. 1. The Thug The thug is like ...

Changing How You Start a Song Makes Music Fresher

garyewer — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:57:12 +0000

If you start every song the same way, it’s likely to make all your songs sound the same. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Become the best songwriter you can be! __________________ One thing most songwriters hate is to be labeled. To be labeled means that your music is sufficiently similar to other songwriters’ [...]

Faster EQ And Compression In Pro Tools [Video]

Graham — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:00:26 +0000

When you mix, you tend to gravitate to one main EQ and compressor for the bulk of your work. I know I do. If that’s the case, then why go through all the trouble of navigating for and inserting the same plugins on each track? Setting them up as y...

Sound Effects for Video – Tuts+ Premium

David Bode — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:54:02 +0000

In this week’s Audio Premium content, Dave Bode teaches you how to create and use sound effects for video. To learn more about what you get as part of Audio Premium, read this. To take a peek inside this tutorial, hit the jump! Here is a preview ...

UK ISPs Must Block Pirate Bay

Bobby Owsinski — Wed, 02 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Here's another European court ruling that may eventually influence entertainment law in the United States (see last week's post as well). Britain's High Court has ruled that UK Internet service providers (ISPs) must now block access to Swedish file s...