The Ultimate Drum Recording Checklist

Like the foundation of a house, the drums are the foundation of a recording. With a strong foundation, you can build almost anything on it that you or your clients can imagine. A little effort and time spent miking the drums and getting the sound just right can result in a recording that sounds better […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Newfangled Audio Invigorate Buss Compressor And Enhancer

Buss compression has gone from never used, to lightly used, to a basic ingredient of modern mixes, so every mixer is looking for a way to do it better. Where once a mix buss used several processors to get the required sound, now we’re seeing all-in-one processors that can do it all. Such is the […]

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A Look Back At 2022 In The Music Industry On My Latest Podcast

On my latest podcast episode, I take a look back at the events in the music business and music production during 2022, including: And more! Listen to it the at BobbyOInnerCircle.com, or on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Mixcloud, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, TunIn Radio, and RadioPublic. Enjoy the show!

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Plugin Developer Sonnox Acquired By Focusrite In Another Pro Audio Rollup

In yet another pro audio industry rollup, plugin developer Sonnox has announced that it’s been acquired by the Focusrite Group. This is on the heals of the recent Audiotonix acquisition of Slate Digital, which continues a trend of many of the industry’s stalwart companies being rolled into larger holding companies. The Focusrite Group now trades […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Crazy Tube Circuits Unobtainium Amp Simulator Pedal

Even though I’m a guitar player, I try not to be too guitar-centric in this blog, especially on New Music Gear Mondays. But every now and then something special catches my eye and I want the rest of the world to know about it. The new Unobtainium amp simulator pedal from Crazy Tube Circuits is […]

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How Low End Works In Your Mix

Virtually every mixing engineer has the same problem – how to get the low end of a mix to work. Get it wrong and your mix can seem either weak or too boomy when played on another playback system. Get it wrong and it won’t translate to small speakers or earbuds. Finally figuring this out […]

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A Recording Engineer’s Guide To Drum Tuning

Unless you’re already a drummer, you probably aren’t aware of the proper way to tune a drum kit. The drum tuning process is actually quite simple, but it does take some time and experimentation. The idea is to make sure that all of the tension rods that hold the head on have the same tension […]

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Busting 3 Big Mastering Myths

Just as mixing has changed through the years, so has mastering. That said, there are so many mastering myths today, and they keep on getting reinforced thanks to all the mastering plugins available. Let’s bust 3 of the big mastering myths (there are many more) in order to help you think about the art of […]

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A Glossary Of Mixing Terms – Part 2

Last week we covered Part 1 of the glossary of mixing terms. This week is part 2. Both come from the latest 5th edition of my Mixing Engineer’s Handbook. I/O. The input/output of a device. immersive audio. Multi-dimensional sound that completely envelops the listener because of speakers placed around the listening environment as well as […]

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A Glossary Of Mixing Terms – Part 1

Lately I’ve been getting some questions regarding some of the terms I use during song critiques, so that means it’s probably a good time to break out the mixing glossary from my Mixing Engineer’s Handbook. 0dB Full Scale. Abbreviated FS, it’s the highest level that can be recorded in the digital domain. Recording beyond 0dBFS […]

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Listen To This AI-powered neural network ‘Sing’ A Cover Of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”

The jury is still out on the legality of AI-generated songs or artist deep-fakes. Musicians, artists and songwriters generally feel threatened by the prospect, as well they should, since we’re seeing some Spotify charts already dominated by artificial artists and songs. But what if you taught a neural network to mimic your own voice? Is […]

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A Brief History Of Film Scoring

While most musicians want high-profile gigs that keep them from working day jobs, even those that are successful have a dream of getting into film scoring. Many musicians with lucrative gigs playing with superstars, and even superstars themselves, will quit everything for that one shot of touching Hollywood and scoring a film. There’s a glitter […]

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Improving Your Production Chops By Learning How To Listen To A Hit

Whenever I do song critiques or hit song analysis for my Hit Makers Club members, I can always bet I’ll get the same two comments, “How did you know to listen for that?” and “I’ve listened to this song dozens of times but I’ve never heard that before!” That’s because we’ve grown up hearing, but […]

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Why You Should Consider Using A Dynamic EQ As A De-Esser

Sibilance is something that every mixer has to deal with when it comes to vocal tracks. De-essers, the main processor used to defeat the problem, have been around since the early hardware days, but most are limited in what they are able to do in many situations because they only work on one frequency at […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Phil Speiser THE_INSTRUMENT Virtual Instrument Plugin

Many musicians, especially ones that are more educated, tend to look down on music creation apps and plugins that automatically play chord patterns and rhythms. While it’s nice to have massive chops, most players don’t have that level of ability. Not only that, not everyone has keyboard skills, and even if you do, it’s easy […]

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