Engineer Andrew Scheps On The Value Of Your Work

Andrew Scheps has a long list of great mixing credits, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Adele to Metallica to Justin Timberlake and many more. He’s also one of uber-producer Rick Rubin’s go-to mixers. His excellent advice on the value of your work comes from The Music Business Advice Book, which excerpt from his […]

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Dewey Bunnell From America, No Artist Pay For Airplay, And New Acoustic Advances On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Dewey Bunnell, who’s a founding member and half of the band with a lot of big hits that you probably know well – America.  Dewey’s best known compositions include “Horse With No Name,” “Ventura Highway,” “Tin Man” and “The Border,” among many others. During this long interview we talked about […]

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New Music Gear Monday: United Plugins Quick AG Acoustic Guitar Plugin

Mixing acoustic guitars can be finicky mostly because there’s such a wide variance between them and the ones you have handy might not compliment the track. Many mixers who can get an electric guitar to fit in the mix in no time sometimes can take ages with an acoustic, and that’s why the new Quick […]

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A Guide To Miking Brass Instruments

If you’ve not had much experience miking brass instruments then your first inclination might be to put a mic right on the bell of the instrument and call it a day. That probably won’t get you the result that you want though, but these tips culled from the 4th edition of my Recording Engineer’s Handbook […]

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Music Videos Coming To Facebook, Capturing The Sounds Of Mars, And Songwriter/Entrepreneur Adam McInnis On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Adam McInnis, who’s a singer/songwriter most known for his work on tv and film as well as for collaborating with the top DJ’s of EDM.  He has interests in 3 publishing companies, a recording studio in Austin, a skin care line, and a yearly songwriter camp in Costa Rica called […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Aston Element Microphone That’s Crowd-Designed

It’s difficult to be surprised by a new microphone these days. After all, the basic designs haven’t changed in more than a hundred years, and for the most part, we just get tiny evolutions with each new model that’s introduced. The new Aston Element microphone is breaking that trend though, as it has a couple […]

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Get Better Sounds With This Microphone Selection Checklist

One question that I get on a regular basis is, “What microphone should I buy for my vocals?” The expectation is that I’m going to say, “Definitely buy XYZ because it’s going to make you or your clients sound like a million bucks!”, but unfortunately things are never that cut and dried. Regrettably there’s no […]

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Gen-Z Influencing Listening, The 5 Mix Elements, And Composer David O On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is David O, who’s work as a composer is enhanced by his unique skills as a multi-faceted music-theatre artist, pianist, conductor, arranger, vocal coach, and sometimes actor.  He’s received numerous awards and accolades over the years for his work, including Ovation Awards, LA Weekly and LA Drama Critics Circle Awards, Backstage […]

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New Music Gear Monday: 2gether Audio Space Duck Ducking Delay And Reverb Plugin

Audio ducking, or the process of automatically lowering a sound when another one is introduced, has been around for a long time and you’ve probably never noticed it. How about at an airport when the background music is automatically attenuated when an announcement is made? Or a boardroom where all the other members mics are […]

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UK Gives Music Venus Aid, Red Bull Studios Close, And Austrian Audio CEO Martin Seidl On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Martin Seidl, who spearheaded the drive to start Austrian Audio from the ashes of AKG after Harmon decided to close the company 3 years ago.  In what might be an unprecedented move, Martin managed to keep the core of AKG together to start the new company and keep it operating […]

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New Music Gear Monday: SamSystems Integral Close Cab Miking System

Mic stands can be a pain because they’re always in the way. Whether in the studio or on stage, you can bet that the stand is going to be hit at some point and the mic will soon be pointing where it’s not supposed to be. That’s especially true for a guitar or bass amp, […]

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The Producer/Engineer/Musician Checklist For Getting Paid

Your not a music professional if you haven’t been screwed out of money at least once. That’s par for the course and part of the learning process, but it obviously becomes a real problem if it continues to happen. Regardless of what end of the music business you work in, as an independent contractor it’s your […]

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Nielsen Mid-Year Music Report, Korg And Roland Get Fined, And Sweetwater’s Chuck Surack On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Chuck Surack, who supplemented his playing career as a sax and keyboard player with a makeshift recording studio in the back of a his Volkswagen bus.  That mobile studio was the departure point for what was to become the largest online music retailer in the world – Sweetwater Sound. The […]

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New Music Gear Monday: PreSonus Studio One 5 Digital Audio Workstation Update

There are a lot of great DAWs on the market right now – so many, in fact, that you probably can’t go wrong if you purchase any of them. There is one in particular that has been steadily growing in popularity and capabilities over the years along and that’s PreSonus’s excellent Studio One. The latest […]

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Just When You Thought Your USB And Thunderbolt Connections Were Safe

If you purchased a new computer in the last couple of years you were faced with new array of connection ports that most likely brought about a lot of frustration and expensive adapters. Yes, USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 are much faster and better in the long run, but the connector isn’t anything like what we’ve […]

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