On my latest podcast episode: Hit songwriter Sam Hollander talks about sticking it out despite many years of failures, his collaboration technique, reading the body language of your co-writers, writing for different genres, his work in television, his new book, and much more. Spotify’s enormous list of songs that have reached a billion streams or […]
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A recent trend that’s starting to snowball is the all-in-one plugin that’s to be used for one type of program, but is intended to have all the parameters you need to do that job without resorting to additional plugins. The IsoVox Isoplug certainly falls into this category, as it sets out to be an all-in-one […]
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Just as mixing has changed through the years, so has mastering. That said, there are so many mastering myths today, and they keep on getting reinforced thanks to all the mastering plugins available. Let’s bust 3 of the big mastering myths (there are many more) in order to help you think about the art of […]
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On my latest podcast episode: Engineer Lenise Bent talks about getting her start as an assistant at Village Recorders, working on Steely Dan’s Aja album, being chief engineer for producer Mike Chapman, getting sick from the intense work schedule, starting back at the bottom in post, and much more. Despite reports about its demise, Metal […]
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One of the primary dilemmas of a typical home studio is finding a monitor speaker system that works in your environment and with the room you have. You can’t mix it if you can’t hear it, but often that means a system that just won’t fit on your desktop and needs more room than you […]
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To all my friends and readers, I wish you a happy holiday. I truly appreciate your support and I am humbled and honored that you take the time out of your busy day to read my musings. It’s a good day to take some time off, relax, eat a nice meal, have a cocktail (or five), […]
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Last week we covered Part 1 of the glossary of mixing terms. This week is part 2. Both come from the latest 5th edition of my Mixing Engineer’s Handbook. I/O. The input/output of a device. immersive audio. Multi-dimensional sound that completely envelops the listener because of speakers placed around the listening environment as well as […]
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On my latest podcast episode: Master publicist Ramon Hervey spoke about promoting the great Motown acts, managing Little Richard, working with Mohammed Ali, what it takes to be successful in the entertainment business, dealing with celebrity egos, and much more. Why you can’t trust social networks for your only online presence Very Low Frequencies (VLFs) […]
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For many mixers, the legendary Teletronix LA-2A is still at the top of the list when it comes to vocal compressors, regardless of the vintage. The original unit does have some limitations however, thanks to its 1962 design. Many of these were addressed by the Tubetech CL 1B in 1991, a unit that was soon […]
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Lately I’ve been getting some questions regarding some of the terms I use during song critiques, so that means it’s probably a good time to break out the mixing glossary from my Mixing Engineer’s Handbook. 0dB Full Scale. Abbreviated FS, it’s the highest level that can be recorded in the digital domain. Recording beyond 0dBFS […]
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On my latest podcast episode: Mike Dickey and Russ Gavin of online collaboration tool JackTrip Labs speak about the things that contribute to latency in online collaboration, the musicians who are the most sensitive to latency, why zero latency can actually be disconcerting to some players, why conference calling apps won’t cut it for music, […]
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Mastering is a vastly misunderstood process that’s a lot more than just raising the level and adding some EQ. That said, mixers definitely have a need to do just that when mastering budgets are non-existent. That’s where the new MasterMind mastering plugin from United Plugins and SoundDevice Digital comes in. True mastering revolves around a […]
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The jury is still out on the legality of AI-generated songs or artist deep-fakes. Musicians, artists and songwriters generally feel threatened by the prospect, as well they should, since we’re seeing some Spotify charts already dominated by artificial artists and songs. But what if you taught a neural network to mimic your own voice? Is […]
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On my latest podcast episode: Producer/engineer/mixer Joe Chiccarelli talks about working as a music supervisor, the impetus for his Leapwing Signature plugin, the analog gear that the plugin is based on, producing in different genres, and much more. Is it worth being an opening act on a tour? A look at the AES NYC 2022 […]
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When Lexicon came out with its 224 digital reverb in 1978 it took the world by storm. When the company followed it up with model 480 in 1986 it became the go-to reverb in studios all over the world. Even today many engineers feel that it’s the gold standard for how reverbs are supposed to […]
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