The 3 P’s – The Keys To An Outstanding Vocal Recording

My good buddy and fantastic engineer/producer Ed Seay has a saying that I’ve used in a number of books about the 3 P’s or “Pitch, Passion and Pocket.” That refers to the 3 things that every great vocal must have, although you can apply it to other musical performances as well. Ed is not only one of […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Sonible Balancer Smart Plugin

In a world where everything around us is getting smarter and easier to use, why shouldn’t that happen with audio as well? There are a number of companies now making audio software based around artificial intelligence, and while there’s push back from older engineers used to doing everything manually, others embrace the new technology as […]

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5 Ways To Make Money On YouTube, Recordings In The National Registry, And Wellness Coach Katie Zaccardi On My Latest Podcast

My guest today is Katie Zaccardi who’s a songwriter, artist, music industry professional, and certified yoga instructor. Through her work in both music and wellness along with her own experience with a generalized anxiety disorder, Katie discovered the urgent need for conversation surrounding mental health and self care within the music industry. Through her Out […]

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The Beatles “She Said, She Said” Isolated Drums And Bass

We haven’t done any isolated tracks in a while mostly because we had covered everything that was available. There are some new ones though, starting with this gem from The Beatles. It’s the isolated drums and bass for “She Said, She Said” off the Revolver album. There’s a ton of compression on this track, and […]

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15 Questions You Shouldn’t Ask

Here’s something that I posted a few years ago that I think needs repeating. There are a number of questions that I consistently get from emails, blog comments, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube – you name it. The same themes keep occurring so I want you to understand a few parameters so I can help you […]

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This Is What Coronavirus Sounds Like

Coronavirus is no joke. Even if you’re not ill from it, you’re still experiencing a disruption in your lifestyle because of it. But like many other things that we’ve seen in the past turned into music, so can the spike protein of coronavirus. A team of scientists from MIT have turned it into a preliminary […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Oscillot Audio Perspective Monitor Plugin

It used to be that every mix room had a variety of speakers to choose from so you could understand your balances better across many playback systems. Even so, the car always seemed to be the ultimate arbiter of whether a mix would work, but that meant multiple trips outside for a listen. What if […]

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Greg’s Harp: An Instrument With No Description

If you’ve followed this blog, you know that I love to focus on unusual musical instruments. This is because someday one by defy the odds and become a standard in some way, or it just might be used for something otherworldly by a sound designer or composer. One instrument that falls into the “no description” […]

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2 Exercises To Find The Groove Of A Mix

Regardless of the genre of music, a mix will never be any good unless the song’s groove is emphasized. Sometimes it’s not easy to find and develop the groove, however, so here’s a couple of exercises from the Audio Mixing Bootcamp to help you find it. “The groove is the pulse of the song. While it usually […]

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Creativity And Age, AI In The Studio, And MIDI 2.0 With Brett Porter On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Brett Porter, who was one of the lead engineers in the development of the MIDI 2.0 spec. Brett has a big background in electronic music, but he’s also developed software products for the pro audio, broadcast, and musical instrument industries as part of the Art+Logic development team. Musicians have been […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Pulsar Echorec Delay Plugin

I think the first analog delay box that I ever had was a Binson Echorec 2, an Italian machine that was based not on tape but a spinning magnetic disc for its delay sound. It was way advanced for its time, providing multiple echo effects thanks to 4 heads and plenty of advanced parameter settings. […]

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Guitar Center Furloughs 9,000 Employees

It should come as no surprise that Guitar Center has furloughed more than 9,000 of its employees due to the coronavirus outbreak. The stores can’t stay open while we’re all isolating, and although musicians and artists consider music and music-making tools to be an essential part of their lives, the rest of the world doesn’t […]

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4 Tips For A Great Headphone Cue Mix

Perhaps the greatest detriment to a session running smoothly is the inability for players to hear themselves comfortably in the headphones. This is one reason why veteran engineers spend so much time and attention on the cue mix and the phones themselves. In fact, a sure sign of an inexperienced engineer is treating the headphone […]

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Releasing Music In Isolation, New Bass String Technology, And Lawyer/Drummer Kurt Dahl On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Kurt Dahl, who’s not only a successful entertainment attorney but is a busy drummer as well. His band One Bad Son has toured North America with Def Leopard, Judas Priest and even opened for the Rolling Stones. While working as a musician, Kurt decided that he could help his band […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Boz Digital Pan Knob Plugin

Have you ever panned a mix element wide and liked the placement but noticed that it sounded unnatural? How about a bass with a cool stereo effect but no anchor in the middle? The reason for this is that standard every day panning in your DAW or on your console moves all the frequencies of […]

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