Category Archives for "Production"
One of the cool things about artificial reverb plugins is that they give you a sense of size and space, and that’s certainly sufficient for most modern mixing tasks. There’s nothing like being in a real space though, and some of the most compelling are large caves. I’ve been to quite a few good ones, […]
Continue readingWhile many engineers and producers don’t worry about capturing the perfect kick sound in the studio anymore thanks to the many great sample libraries and drum triggers available, it’s a different world in live sound, where so much depends on the mic used on the kick and the bass. While many of us at one […]
Continue readingThe essence of mixing is the balance between instruments or mix elements. No matter how good you are at other aspects of the mixing process, if you don’t get the balance right, you don’t have a mix. Here are some questions to ask yourself as well as 6 exercises that will help you visualize your mix before […]
Continue readingThere are many types of compressors and because of the way they’re built, some work better on certain mix elements than others. That carries through to look-alike plugins that simulate analog optical, FET, VCA, and Vari-mu originals. But digital technology is very advanced today, so why can’t there be one plugin that simulates them all? […]
Continue readingWhen iconic record producer George Martin passed away in 2016 it brought effusive thoughts, memories and well-deserved accolades from all quarters of the music business. Most dwelled on Sir George’s creative accomplishments, and truly there were many. Just his work with The Beatles alone changed the way we make music forever, not to mention his work with other top selling artists […]
Continue readingIf you look at mix templates from any good mixer you’ll always find a few modulators, delays and reverbs, but the real magic happens when all three are combined. This takes some routing to do, and the setup isn’t always straightforward, which is why it’s all committed to a template so you don’t have to […]
Continue readingVintage guitars are still very much in demand, and if you don’t believe it, just check out the recent Mark Knopfler guitar collection auction at Christies. Not only did 100% of the items sell, but they sold for way more than the baseline asking price. The total revenue from the auction was over $11 million […]
Continue readingThere are a lot of musicians that think they can play reggae, but unless you’ve actually been to Jamaica and exposed to the culture, it’s usually just a hollow rendition. Although known more recently as a music publisher with his Artist First Music as well as being the former president of the American Independent Music Publishers association, my good buddy […]
Continue readingAnother Winter NAMM show is in the books, and although there were no big surprises, there were a few new gear releases worth checking out. You can listen to my full overview on my podcast on Tuesday, but for now here are the highlights. Just about every manufacturer and developer had new updates or versions […]
Continue readingIt used to be that record label tape vaults were simply a room in a building where the space was sometimes considered more valuable than the contents. Hence, we’ve all heard the horror stories about labels just ditching valuable masters in the trash when another office was needed. That’s not the case today as labels […]
Continue readingOn my latest podcast episode: Listen to it at BobbyOInnerCircle.com, or on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Mixcloud, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, TunIn Radio, and RadioPublic. Enjoy the show!
Continue readingBuilt-in computer speakers have come a long way but they’re still no match for a dedicated set of speakers. That said, it’s difficult to find high-quality monitors that sound good, don’t take up too much space, and don’t cost a fortune. The new LP-UNF desktop monitor system from Kali Audio checks all these boxes and […]
Continue readingWe’re all pretty used to the Western 12 note scale, and it’s hard to hear anything else these days that isn’t considered extremely experimental. What would happen if you broke these 12 tones per octave into 31? That was actually an experiment by mathematician and early Ai theorist David Rothenberg back in 1968. David hired […]
Continue readingI think anyone would agree that amp modelers are so good these days that the need for using a tube guitar amp is greatly diminished. What convinced me that modelers were here to stay is when I heard that metal gods Metallica stopped taking their beloved tube amp rigs on the road in favor of […]
Continue readingThe prevailing wisdom over the last decade or so has been that any artist should get their songs online early and often. It didn’t cost that much, and at least your chances of being discovered is greater than zero. But are they? According to music data company Luminate, 45.6 million music tracks online received zero […]
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