The Difference Between Stems And Tracks

I don’t know about you, but I get frustrated whenever I hear a young artist, producer or engineer say something like, “I imported all the stems then started to mix” and you see a picture of 40+ tracks, but no stems. I don’t know where it started, but many people today think that the terms […]

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Erasing Leakage But Keeping The Drummer’s Performance DNA With Dr. Bill Evans On My Latest Podcast

On this week’s podcast episode, I speak with Dr. Bill Evans, audio scientist, producer, educator, and inventor of the Performance Restoration methodology. Bill believes that drum recording has always involved a painful tradeoff, but it doesn’t have to. Most engineers accept mic bleed as an unavoidable character of a drum sound, questioning whether removing it […]

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New Music Gear Monday: JZ Microphones MU-1 Hybrid Ribbon/Condenser Microphone

There’s a technique that experienced recording engineers have relied on for years, pairing a ribbon microphone with a large-diaphragm condenser on the same source. The ribbon softens the top end and adds warmth, while the condenser delivers clarity and presence. The problem has always been the setup. You need two stands, two preamps, careful positioning, […]

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How Female Producers Regain Control With Xylo Aria On My Latest Podcast

Female artists who hire producers risk losing creative control before a single song is released. On this week’s podcast episode, Xylo Aria, founder of Music Production for Women (MPW), tells us how she learned this the hard way, by paying for sessions where male producers overrode her vision, leaving her with music she never put […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Slate Digital Rotary SD-147 Plugin

I’m an old Hammond organ player from way back, starting with L-100’s and M-3s, then working myself up to a B-3. Along the way I owned a variety of Leslie rotating speakers, including models 45, 145, 147, and 122. The point is that I have lots of hands-on experience with rotating speakers, which means I’m […]

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Elliot Easton Talks The Cars, Guitars, And Interesting Tours On My Latest Podcast

On this week’s podcast episode, Elliot Easton, guitarist for The Cars and Creedence Clearwater Revisited, takes us through his journey with the band and beyond. Elliot looks back at The Cars’ origins, from getting a label deal the old fashioned way, to connecting with famed producer Roy Thomas Baker, to recording the band’s initial albums, […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Klevgrand Altitude Vocal Performance Station Plugin

If you’ve ever wished you could replace your pitch corrector, harmony generator, doubler, and vocal modulation tools with a single plugin, Klevgrand may have just answered that wish. The Swedish developer known for creative, well-crafted audio tools has released Altitude, a real-time vocal performance station built for singers, producers, and live performers alike. It’s a […]

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I Was Underwhelmed By This Song That Was Created By A Quantum Computer

There is so much controversy and pushback on AI-generated music that there’s no point revisiting that argument again. But would things be any different if generative artificial intelligence was combined with quantum computing? Could a state-of-the-art quantum computer actually improve the music creation process? I’ll let you be the judge when you watch and listen to […]

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Up-To-Date Music Business And Production News On My Latest Podcast

Is the music industry heading into another major reset? On this week’s solo podcast episode, I break down the biggest shifts happening across the music business and music production. In This Episode: And much more. You can hear it at bobbyoinnercircle.com, or via Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Mixcloud, Spotify, Deezer, TuneIn Radio, or RadioPublic. Also, […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Empirical Labs ParaDyn Dynamic EQ Plugin

One of the ongoing challenges in any mix is keeping problematic frequencies under control without making the processing obvious. Static EQ gets you partway there, but if a frequency only causes trouble when the signal gets loud, you end up either over-correcting when it is not needed or under-correcting when it is. That is where […]

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Talking Postproduction and Music Licensing With Gary Gray On My Latest Podcast

What matters more in the music business, mastering every plugin, or becoming the kind of person people want to hire again? On this week’s podcast episode, I talk with songwriter, producer, engineer, and educator Gary Gray about music licensing, post production, rhythmic integrity, AI, immersive audio, and the character traits that keep people working in […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Three-Body Technology UNMASK Dynamic EQ Plugin

One of the most frustrating and time consuming things that happens during a mix is figuring out why certain mix elements seem buried when they’re at the right level. The problem is often masking, where frequencies from one element cover up the detail and body of another. Sure, you can carve away with static EQ […]

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So Long, Jack Douglas

I just read about the passing of Jack Douglas, a legendary producer and a friend to many in the audio business. So much of the music that we grew up came from under Jack’s watchful eye, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “Double Fantasy,” Aerosmith’s “Rocks” and “Toys in the Attic,” Cheap Trick’s debut album and “Live […]

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Rebuilding Les Paul’s Original Recording Studio On My Latest Podcast

What can Les Paul’s original recording studio reveal about the way modern music production really began? On this week’s podcast episode, I talk with with Tom Camuso, Director of Engineering at The Les Paul Recording Studio, and Michael Braunstein, 3rd Generation Les Paul Manager. We discuss restoring Les Paul’s groundbreaking recording gear, rebuilding his historic […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Focusrite ISA C8X Audio Interface

In 1985, Sir George Martin, always a stickler for sound quality, commissioned the brilliant audio designer Rupert Neve to build a no-compromise microphone preamp for his new AIR Studios. The result was the ISA 110 module, featuring a Lundahl LL1538 input transformer that Neve hand-selected for its warm, open, and detailed character. That same transformer […]

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