How To Analyze A Hit

Hit songs are marvelous teachers. It doesn’t matter whether you like the song or the artist, the recording captured some sort of magic that makes millions of people want to listen to it. That makes it worthy of analysis because there’s always something we can learn. If you really want to understand an audio recording […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Royer AxeMount Dual Microphone Clip

The standard configuration for miking electric guitar amps has been with an old trusty Shure SM57 and Royer R-121 ribbon mic for some time now. The SM57 gives the guitar sound its aggressiveness to cut through the mix, while the R-121 provides the body and fullness. The problem is that you usually need 2 mic […]

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Manipulating Streaming Numbers, Steinway’s Secret Vault, And WAM’s Terri Winston On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Terri Winston, who’s the executive director of Women’s Audio Mission, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that uses music and media to attract over 2,000 underserved women and girls every year to STEM and creative technology studies. WAM’s award-winning curriculum weaves art and music with science, technology and computer programming and […]

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An Interview With Bruce Swedien – The Godfather Of Modern Recording

Perhaps no one else in the studio world can so aptly claim the moniker of “Godfather of Recording” as Bruce Swedien. Universally revered by his peers, Bruce has earned that respect thanks to years of stellar recordings for the cream of the musical crop. His credits could fill a book alone, but legends such as […]

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The Next Generation Of Electronics Will Be Based On Sound

All modern electronics are based on Integrated Circuits, or ICs, that package individual electronic components like transistors, resistors and capacitors onto tiny silicon chips. It’s what makes our audio world go round, as well as telecommunications and even new household appliances. The first generation of micro-electronics was based on electricity, the second on light, but […]

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New Music Gear Monday: KickBlock Bass Drum Stabilizer

Okay, how many times has this happened to you? You place the mics on the kick drum, then the sound starts changing as you’re listening to the drummer player. You wonder why until you walk into the control room and see that every time the drummer hits the kick it moves. You don’t want to […]

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Music Disappearing From Radio, Hydrating Your Voice, And Hollywood Bowl FOH Mixer Fred Vogler

My guest on the podcast this week is 6 time Grammy Award-winner Fred Vogler who’s the principal sound designer and FOH mixer for the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall. Throughout the year, he also records the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for commercial and broadcast release. Fred […]

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The Intangibles Of A Mix

It’s easy to think that getting a good mix is just a matter of pushing up some faders, getting a reasonable balance, adding some effects, and you’re finished. Although that might work for a rough mix, there are still a number of intangibles that are vitally important to a great mix. Awareness is always the […]

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The First Real Drum Machine Is Not What You Think – It’s The Rhythmate

When we think of the first drum machines we automatically think of the Rhythm Ace or LinnDrum or even the MPC, but there are a couple that actually predate even those machines. Harry Chamberlin’s all tube Rhythmate was actually the prototype for all that came after, but unfortunately it’s been most overlooked and forgotten. It […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Mooer Audio Tone Capture Pedal

One of the things that a producer often faces is the need for different guitar sounds in a track, but a guitar player who either only has one instrument, or refuses to play another instrument. Or maybe you’re getting a great thick humbucker sound but need to offset it with a jangly single coil part […]

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Amazon Sells Counterfeit CDs, Mixing With Your Eyes, And Amuse CEO Diego Farias On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Diego Farias, who’s a digital music and tech expert with experience from some of the world’s most successful tech companies. He now serves as the CEO and co-founder of record label and music distributor Amuse.  Amuse has a unique business model in that it provides free distribution to all the […]

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The 10 Traits Of A Music Professional

This post is about how to be a professional, but it could just as easily been about how to be a diplomat, be a compromiser, or even be a nice guy. What it’s really all about is how to be in a band or a session with other people who might or might not want […]

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A Look At Falsetto Hits Through The Years

Turn on the radio, access a playlist, or just listen to the background music of life and I bet within 10 minutes you’re going to hear a song with a male falsetto voice. The more you pay attention, the more songs and singers that you find are using it. Falsetto comes from the Italian word […]

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New Music Gear Monday: New Fangled Audio Punctuate Saturation Plugin

Sometimes a product has just one feature that everyone latches onto as most desired, which then becomes a product in its own right. That’s what’s happened with New Fangled Audio’s Punctuate plugin, which started its life as a feature on the company’s Elevate Mastering Limiter. Punctuate is a multi-band transient modulator based on the critical […]

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Producer Joe Solo, Re-recording Old Songs, And The 64 Bit World On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Joe Solo, who turned a chance meeting with Macy Gray into a 17 year journey that culminated in a Grammy win, a double platinum album, and a hit MTV video.  Soon afterward Joe transitioned into the world of music publishing as the head staff writer/producer for Paramount’s Famous Music Publishing […]

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