If you’ve been mixing for a while you know that a vocal or piece of dialog with sibilance could mean a struggle, often resulting in trying a few different de-esser plugins to find the one that works. Even then, it was never perfect, and you still ended up dialing in some automation to take care […]
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I know you just read the title and thought, “I know about white and pink noise, but what the heck is brown and blue noise?” Well, they’re a real thing and used more often than you think. But the differences between white, pink, blue and brown? It all comes down to frequency and amplitude. What […]
Continue readingIn this week’s podcast episode, I bring back my popular music and audio industry news segment with a full episode dedicated to stories that matter—but often fly under the radar. In this episode, I dive into a wide range of timely and thought-provoking topics, including: Tune in to hear surprising insights, smart commentary, and the […]
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Microphones are like guitars – they all sound different, and that makes us want to collect them. Just like guitars, that can get expensive, but luckily the virtual microphone comes to the rescue, where you can select from a wide variety of popular mic emulations for a fraction of the cost of purchasing an entire […]
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You’ve probably heard the term “peak oil” where the maximum rate of production has been reached and it only decreases from that point on. We’ve also seen “peak television” and “peak music,” and there’s probably a whole lot more “peaks” that I can’t think of right now. But when it comes to audio creation and […]
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In this week’s podcast episode, my guest today is owner and president of HIP Video Promo Andy Gesner. Andy’s firsthand experience in playing in bands and releasing records gives him a special insight into music promotion and marketing. Over the past 25 years, he has built HIP from the ground up, developing innovative promotional strategies […]
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Prepping the vocals is a time-consuming process for most engineers, with leveling words and phrases, dealing with sibilance, and editing breathes and noise taking more time than anyone would like. I know some A-list engineers that used to spend as much as 8 hours on this process, but that may be all in the past […]
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In this week’s podcast episode, my guest is someone who’s spent the last 35 years on a mission to protect the hearing of musicians, audio pros, and music lovers alike. Dr. Michael Santucci is an audiologist and the founder of Sensaphonics, a custom in-ear monitor company that’s become a go-to for top performers around the […]
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It’s very easy to get great piano sounds from either an electronic keyboard or virtual instrument these days, but I think everyone will agree that there’s nothing like playing, feeling, and hearing the real thing. The problem is weight and size, which keeps most players from putting one in their home studio. But what if […]
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I recently came across a post on Octiive regarding the top 5 Digital Audio Workstations for music producers in 2025 that got me thinking about how we evaluate what may be the most critical tool in our music creation toolbox. It’s critical because its central to our music, regardless of the genre we’re in, so […]
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In this week’s podcast episode, I speak with country music author and historian, and a member of the Western Music Hall Of Fame Don Cusic. Don is the author of over 30 books, including biographies of Roger Miller, Eddy Arnold, Gene Autry and Chet Atkins. He’s also written album liner notes for Dolly Parton, Willie […]
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Every major gear manufacturer makes an analog mixer these days and they come in all shapes and sizes. That said, most of them are created to fulfill multiple applications and most all contain microphone preamps. For a home studio with lots of hardware keyboards, these mixers have a lot of extraneous functions, like the mic […]
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In this week’s podcast episode, I speak with my good friend for many years, Engineer Dennis Moody. Dennis was my first guest way back on Episode #1, and he’s been on the podcast almost every year since. Dennis is unique in that he does live sound as well as studio recording, as he’s he’s engineered […]
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I come from the days when a keyboard player carried around an electric piano, a couple of synthesizers and maybe even an Hammond organ for gigs. Obviously the bigger the setup, the more time it took to set up and tear down, not to mention have the muscle needed to carry it all. Today’s keyboard […]
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We all remember the Spinal Tap movie and how much we all laughed, and almost cried, from some of the all-too-real scenes. One of the most famous is the “It goes to 11” scene (you can see it below) that actually ended up influencing certain guitar amp models by a number of manufacturers. In fact, […]
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