Category Archives for "Production"
Believe it or not, electronic music started in the 1920s, gained steam in the 40s, took off in the 50s, and has become a part of our everyday lives today. We think nothing of having a computer generate music today, especially as artificial intelligence makes great strides, but the first time that music was created […]
Continue readingCubase is a DAW that seems like it’s been around forever and has perhaps the largest paid user base of any platform. One of the reasons for its popularity is that Steinberg developers continue to update it on a regular basis with features that are usually a step ahead of the competition. True to form, […]
Continue readingWith powerful mastering tools now available to everyone, it’s easy to do more harm than good when self-mastering. Although you’re always better off going to a true mastering engineer, sometimes that’s just not in the budget. Here are a few mastering compressor tips that can also apply to mixing from the 4th edition of my […]
Continue readingI’ve always been a huge Who fan and just as big a fan of producer/engineer Glyn Johns’ work. This video is from an interview at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, November 19, 2012, and focuses on the recording of the seminal Who’s Next. What’s especially interesting is how many of the main parts in several […]
Continue readingIf you don’t know about producer/engineer Ed Cherney then you really should. Ed is one of the best engineers on the planet, with credits like Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, The Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, John Mayer, and even Spinal Tap, among many others (you can see them all on his website) and he’s won 2 […]
Continue readingIt’s fair to say that most people reading my Mixing Engineer’s Handbook are mixing songs recorded with live musicians, but it’s a brave new world out there, and sooner or later you’re going to get some hip-hop in to mix. Needless to say, what works with most other genres won’t necessarily work here, especially when […]
Continue readingThere are many methods of adding EQ to a mix. EQing for clarity, resonant frequency EQing, and frequency juggling immediately come to mind. That said, one of the most overlooked technique is using the EQ to add size to an element, which is particularly important in sparse mixes. Here’s an excerpt from the 4th edition […]
Continue readingMuse is an interesting band. On one hand it’s a modern power trio while on the other it’s a genre hopping hitmaker unafraid to cross over into any style. Nowhere is this more apparent than in this video, which shows various sessions during the making of the band’s 2nd Law album. You’ll find basic tracking […]
Continue readingStreaming has changed music in oh so many ways, but one area that’s overlooked is the basic form of hit songs. In case you haven’t been paying attention (and you might not have), hit songs these days are way different than in the past. If you looked at hits from way back in the 50s […]
Continue readingThanks to the world of DAWs, loops and samples, many producers, engineers, musicians and bands don’t know what the “groove” and the “pocket” of a song is. Because most every recording is placed exactly on the grid, it’s easy to come up with a beat or song that’s perfectly in time, but lacks a groove […]
Continue readingAlthough 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, Richard Feldman has an equally rich history in reggae music production. With credits of amazing reggae music stars like Andrew Tosh, Joe Higgs, Junior Reid, The Congos, I Threes and Wailing Souls, he also won […]
Continue readingQueen’s epic “Bohemian Rhapsody” has remained a creative marvel every since its release in October 1975. It provides a special insight into the genius of songwriter, lead singer and pianist Freddie Mercury and to the band as this anti-radio mini-opera actually not only managed to go top 10 in most of the world, but still remains […]
Continue readingIf you’re in the music business or know any of its history you probably know the name Geoff Emerick. Geoff made a name for himself as one of the original 5 Beatles engineers, then went on to a fruitful, yet often overlooked career afterwards, recording Paul McCartney and Wings, Elvis Costello, Cheap Trick, America, Ultravox […]
Continue readingAn overdub session, especially one involving multiple players and parts, can deteriorate quickly into chaos without a plan. It’s easy to spend hours looking for the right performance or sound, but you can spend even more time experimenting if the producer didn’t expect that to happen and allot time for it. That’s why it pays to […]
Continue readingWhen it comes to hard rock guitar recording and mixing, producer/engineer Joe Barresi is considered the king. He’s worked with Soundgarden, Tool, Queens Of The Stone Age, Slipknot, among many others, and his work is widely admired by both artists and other top-of-the-line engineers. In this video he shows how he treats distorted rhythm and […]
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