Tracking a full band or a drum kit always seems to expose the same problem, which is that you never quite have enough good preamps to go around. You end up borrowing channels from your interface, patching in whatever outboard you can find, and hoping the whole rig stays in sync while you do it. […]
Continue reading
On this week’s episode, Tour managers and artist teams: see why logistics without leadership burns an artist’s budget, with FOH engineer Ryan Goldbacher. Ryan traces his path from Blackbird and Dark Horse Recording, including setting up microphones for a young Taylor Swift in 2006, to Shooter Jennings, where he admits he struggled on his first […]
Continue reading
If you’ve spent any time around consoles, you know the SSL name carries enormous weight. The company built its reputation on the 4000 and 9000 series desks that shaped decades of hit records. The SSL 1 takes that same design philosophy and shrinks it down into a compact 2-in/2-out box that anyone can afford and […]
Continue reading
On this week’s episode, reliable music data is getting harder to access, and Oskar Eichler explains why the artists and companies that know how to interpret it now have a serious advantage. As CEO of Songstats, Oskar has helped build a real-time music analytics platform that tracks streaming, playlist, chart, radio, and social media performance […]
Continue reading
Like many mixers, I tend to reach for reverb as a way to place things so that it feels like it belongs to the song and not like something bolted on afterward. That’s what to expect from the new Atlas Reverb from Waves, a flagship algorithmic reverb built around a brand new engine and tuned […]
Continue reading
There are so many ways that AI is now being used almost every day in music production and creation. From reducing noise to separating stems to fixing dialog to even creating whole songs, chances are you’re using it more often then you think. That said, it’s now time to be aware that some of the […]
Continue reading
On this week’s episode, indie plugin developers who want to launch a genuinely new synthesis tool will recognize their own blind spots in Evan Mezeske’s story. Evan left Google after 11 years building large-scale fraud systems to create Anukari, the first commercially available 3D physics modeling synthesizer that runs in real time. He discovered that […]
Continue reading
There’s a reason so many mixers still reach for an old bucket brigade delay pedal instead of a pristine digital one. The repeats drift a little, the top end softens, and every echo feels slightly different from the one before. Like with many early effects, that imperfection is exactly what makes a track feel alive. […]
Continue reading
Yeah, I scratched my head too . . . but you can’t take your eyes off it. The Extraterrestrial Guitar Thing came from the mind of Swedish designer and experimental instrument builder Love Hultén, and it’s really more of synthesizer rather than guitar. There are no strings, but you have a touch sensitive neck, and […]
Continue reading
On this week’s episode, you’ll hear how audio plugin developers who assume machine learning is the right tool find the process used by Hannes Andersson and the team at Oeksound genuinely surprising. Hannes is CEO of Oeksound, the creator of Soothe, the dynamic resonance suppressor that became so dominant on Spotify’s Top 50, yet it’s […]
Continue reading
Every producer chasing a great reverb sound eventually runs into the same problem. Algorithmic reverbs can get close, but nothing quite matches the sound of a real chamber. The trouble is that almost none of us have access to one. That’s part of why Nashville’s Blackbird Studio has become such a destination for engineers, and […]
Continue reading
I’ve covered studio etiquette rules here in the past, but they were primarily for when a session was in progress. When the session, or your part in it, is completed, the etiquette doesn’t stop though, as this excerpt from The Studio Musician’s Handbook (written with ace studio bass player Paul ILL) illustrates. It’s perfectly natural […]
Continue reading
Song copyright protection for musicians who record ideas with a voice memo at 3am proves nothing in a dispute. That original moment completely unverifiable. On this week’s podcast episode, I speak with Nadim Rahman about Songproof, a dual-blockchain platform that recognizes that musicians needed an irrefutable timestamp at the exact moment inspiration strikes, not after […]
Continue reading
Getting a bass to sit right in a mix is one of those jobs that looks simple until you’re actually doing it. Boost the low end and it turns muddy. Add a sub layer and it fights the pitch of the note that’s playing. Most bass enhancers are stuck using a fixed frequency or a […]
Continue reading
You’ve seen and heard me rail against the evils of private equity over the years, but I’ve been especially focused on Francisco Partners acquisition of Native Instruments. After that happened in 2019, Native then acquired iZotope and Plugin Alliance during Covid when everyone was at home buying and creating to fill up the time. Predictably, […]
Continue reading