Category Archives for "Engineering"
If you’re in the music industry, chances are you’ve had a bout of ringing in your ears at some point, and maybe it’s now even there permanently. Maybe the sound you’re hearing is a rushing sound, or a series of high frequency clicks, or even white noise. If that’s the case, the condition is known […]
Continue readingYou might not have heard that there’s been a huge advancement in battery technology that’s likely to surpass anything that’s come before it. Samsung has developed a technology using graphene balls that not only will extend a battery’s capacity by 45%, but speed up the charging process to be about 5 times faster than what we’re […]
Continue readingMy good buddy Dave Pensado is always way ahead of most of us in so many areas of mixing, and one area in particular is his use of transient designer plugins. In the video below, Dave shows us how a transient designer plugin can actually increase or decrease depth in a mix. Of course, depth is […]
Continue reading“Everything set up? Cool, let’s record. Oh, wait, it doesn’t sound like I think it should.” At this point you can continue to record and deal with the consequences later, or stop and troubleshoot, but you might be chasing your tail and it could take longer than you want to get to where you want […]
Continue readingWe all know that music is a series of vibrations, but we hear those effects and generally don’t see them. What if we could see them though? That’s what the science of Cymatics is all about. It allows us to see those audio vibrations, and the results are surprisingly orderly and beautiful. In this excellent […]
Continue readingOver the years I’ve learned that there are a number of very simple items that I must bring to every recording session I go to just to be sure that my time in the studio is productive and comfortable. These items aren’t expensive, and while they may not be quite as important as your favorite mics […]
Continue readingAndy Wallace is one of my favorite mix engineers, with a wide variety of credits across different genres, ranging from Korn, Avenged Sevenfold and Nirvana to Kelly Clarkson and Faith Hill. Andy’s still old school in that he’s a console-in-the-studio guy, but that doesn’t diminish his mixes one bit. In fact, that very well may […]
Continue readingAndrew Scheps has worked on mega-hit albums for a who’s-who of superstar artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, U2, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, the Rolling Stones, Linkin Park, Jewel, Neil Diamond, and Adele. We had an excellent chat that was included in the latest edition of my Mixing Engineer’s Handbook, and here’s part of […]
Continue readingMix engineers are called on to do so much more than ever before. Tweaking the track timing used to be done way before the mixing stage, but mixers now find it’s part of the job they’re expected to do. Here are some tips for tweaking track timing in you DAW from the Advanced chapter in […]
Continue readingNoted engineer/producer Andrew Scheps is not afraid to think outside the box when it comes to recording or mixing. Many of us (especially if we’ve been in the business for a while) sometimes have one way to do something and stay ridged in that approach. You can’t do that with music though, since each song […]
Continue readingAfter learning at the knee of engineer/producer Tom Dowd during Atlantic Records’ glory days, Grammy winning engineer Jimmy Douglass (affectionately known as “the Senator”) has gone on to become one of the most sought-after engineer/mixers in R&B, hip-hop, and rock. One of the few engineers who can cross genres with total ease and credibility, Jimmy […]
Continue readingWith the introduction of some very nice mastering plugins that allow you monitor your mix as it would sound on various streaming services comes the misconception that you have to submit a different master for each one, which means “remastering” your master. It’s easy to see why one might think that, but actually this is […]
Continue readingIf you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, then you know that I post a fair amount about musical robots. I don’t know if it’s because of admiration or fear, but how they’re used in music is worth being aware of. As anyone who’s ever used a drum machine or software app knows, […]
Continue readingJust because you have a lot of mics and tracks at your disposal, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll get a great drum sound. Sometimes, the simplest methods can provide a realism that you just can’t get from close-miking every drum. Here are 6 techniques culled from my Recording Engineer’s Handbook that show how you […]
Continue readingOasis Mastering’s chief engineer Gene Grimaldi has a list of blockbuster clients that include Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Ellie Goulding, Carly Rae Jepsen, Lana Del Ray, Nicki Minaj, and many more. In this excerpt from The Mastering Engineer’s Handbook 4th Edition, Gene describes some of his techniques for mastering “in-the-box.” Bobby Owsinski: “How has mastering changed […]
Continue reading