Category Archives for "Engineering"

8 Things To Check Before You Push The Record Button

Record button

“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 reading

Jimmy Douglass On Mixing Justin Timberlake’s Vocals

Jimmy Douglass

After 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 reading

6 Techniques For Miking A Drum Kit With A Single Mic

single mic triangle setup

Just 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 reading

Oasis Mastering’s Gene Grimaldi On Mastering “In The Box”

Gene Grimaldi Oasis Mastering

Oasis 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

Robert Orton Talks Mixing Lady Gaga And More

Robert Orton

If you’ve enjoyed the big hits from Lady Gaga’s The Fame and The Fame Monster albums, such as “Poker Face,” “Paparazzi,” and “Just Dance,” then Robert Orton is your man. After spending eight years at the side of producer extraordinaire Trevor Horn, Robert has gone on to craft hits for Robbie Williams, Enrique Iglesias, Ellie […]

Continue reading

6 Steps To Troubleshooting Distortion When Recording

troubleshooting distortion

There you are in the middle of a perfect take when you hear the audio cracking up. It’s distorting but you don’t know where. Before you pull your hair out, check out these 6 steps that will help you track it down in a quick and methodical manner. 1. Is the microphone preamp overloading? Is […]

Continue reading

3 Techniques For Recording Acoustic Guitar

recording acoustic guitar

Acoustic guitar by nature varies so much from instrument to instrument that one miking style definitely won’t work on everything. Luckily, there are a lot of different techniques available, and while all the others might let you down, one of the following 3 techniques from my Recording Engineer’s Handbook is sure to work. Considerations • […]

Continue reading