If you’ve ever tried to run a rig full of synths, samplers, and drum machines into a standard mixer, you already know the problem. Regular mixers are built around mic and line inputs, and while they’re fine for those sources, they usually do a mediocre job with instrument level signals. That means DI boxes, adapters […]
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One of the hardest things for many mixers to determine is when a mix is finished. In fact, engineers new to mixing may think a mix is ready in an hour, but a pro will usually take considerably longer in most cases. How much longer? Well, some big hit maker mixers that I know may spend up […]
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On this week’s podcast episode, mastering engineer Jeff Graves talks about what happens when independent musicians upload masters that are so hot that they lose transient detail the moment streaming platforms apply loudness normalization. Jeff spent two and a half years measuring 214 audio fingerprints across 15 samples per genre to build a 24-stage AI […]
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Anyone who’s ever mixed on a real console and then gone back to mixing with a mouse knows it can be a letdown. Your hands miss the knobs, and your ears miss the instant feedback of turning something and hearing it change right now, not after a click and a drag. Softube built a following […]
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The use of reference tracks is a topic that has been popping up a great deal lately and there seems to lots of confusion as to how to select and use them. Here’s a quick guide that will tell you all you need to know on the subject. Why Use A Reference Track? The reason […]
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On this week’s podcast episode, session vocalist Darlene Koldenhoven tells us how her music hit #4 on the Billboard classical crossover chart with no manager or label. The common assumption that a major-label infrastructure is required to chart is exactly what her story dismantles, and she walks through the specific decisions that produced number-one worldwide […]
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Most musicians have faced a scenario at some point where you have a finished stereo master but you there are things you’d like to change, only to find that the multitrack session is long gone. Maybe the vocal needs to come up a touch, or the drums need more punch, but there’s no way back […]
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You may have been here before. You’re working on a song but it just isn’t coming together. If you’re experienced you probably know exactly where to start, but even after a couple of steps you might hit a dead end. This excerpt from my Music Producer’s Handbook provides 10 questions to ask in order to troubleshoot a […]
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On this week’s podcast episode, I speak with Keith Jopling about what separates artists who last from those who burn out chasing the wrong metrics. Keith spent 25 years inside the business, including time at Spotify, before interviewing 80 artists and bands to write Riding the Rollercoaster. The creative director model he extracted from that […]
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Riding a fader by hand is one of those skills that separates an experienced mixer from someone just starting out, but even the best of us get tired of doing it on every vocal pass or dialogue track. Compressors can smooth things out, but they often change the character of the performance along with the […]
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I don’t know about you, but I get frustrated whenever I hear a young artist, producer or engineer say something like, “I imported all the stems then started to mix” and you see a picture of 40+ tracks, but no stems. I don’t know where it started, but many people today think that the terms […]
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On this week’s podcast episode, I speak with Dr. Bill Evans, audio scientist, producer, educator, and inventor of the Performance Restoration methodology. Bill believes that drum recording has always involved a painful tradeoff, but it doesn’t have to. Most engineers accept mic bleed as an unavoidable character of a drum sound, questioning whether removing it […]
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There’s a technique that experienced recording engineers have relied on for years, pairing a ribbon microphone with a large-diaphragm condenser on the same source. The ribbon softens the top end and adds warmth, while the condenser delivers clarity and presence. The problem has always been the setup. You need two stands, two preamps, careful positioning, […]
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Female artists who hire producers risk losing creative control before a single song is released. On this week’s podcast episode, Xylo Aria, founder of Music Production for Women (MPW), tells us how she learned this the hard way, by paying for sessions where male producers overrode her vision, leaving her with music she never put […]
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I’m an old Hammond organ player from way back, starting with L-100’s and M-3s, then working myself up to a B-3. Along the way I owned a variety of Leslie rotating speakers, including models 45, 145, 147, and 122. The point is that I have lots of hands-on experience with rotating speakers, which means I’m […]
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