How A Production Rehearsal Can Take Your Live Show To The Next Level

One of the things that all major touring acts do before going out on tour is have production rehearsals. These are literally weeks of rehearsals where the stage show, as much as the music, is rehearsed. A big show with lots of sound, lighting, pyro, video, moving stages, guitar changes, wardrobe changes, and a host of other […]

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What Is The Most Difficult Piece Of Music?

What is difficult? Is a piece of music difficult because it’s hard to play or because of its conceptual virtuosity? Bassist Adam Neely took on the challenge to try to define what is “the most difficult piece of music,” and tries to explain what it means, and provide some examples. It turns out it all […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Boz Digital Labs ProVocative Pitch Shifter Plugin

When the Eventide H910 Harmonizer first hit the street in the early 1980s, it didn’t take creative mixers long to discover that it could be used in an unintended way. Instead of trying to tune the pitch of a vocal, it could be used to thicken it in a way and with a sound not […]

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Spotify Adverts, Gibson Loses Trademarks, And Michelle Moog-Koussa On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Michelle Moog-Koussa, the daughter of the man who’s name is almost synonymous with the word synthesizer – Bob Moog.  Michelle has been the executive director of the Bob Moog Foundation for the 12 years since its inception. She has guided the organization through the creation and growth of  its hallmark […]

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Thank You, Ed Cherney – Part 2

Over the years the engineer/producer Ed Cherney, who sadly passed away recently, contributed mightily to many of my books and podcast. You probably know this already, but Ed had deservedly great credits as he recorded and mixed projects for The Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan, Was, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Bob Seger, Roy Orbison, […]

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Mark Linett On Remixing The Beach Boys

When it comes to remixing “classic” songs for the distant past, it’s a lot tougher than you might think. For one thing, with many hits done on 4 and 8 track tape where many mix elements might be together on one track, there’s not much to mix or place in stereo. For another, it’s sometimes […]

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New Music Gear Monday: SSL Origin Large Format Console

If you thought large frame recording consoles were dead, you’d be wrong. Just about every manufacturer that makes them are having no trouble selling what they have at the moment. And there’s even new ones being introduced, as evidenced by SSL’s new Origin console. The Origin has 32 inline inputs, 8 stereo busses and a […]

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Label Catalog Dilemma, AES New Gear, And Mastering Engineer Michael Romanowski On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Michael Romanowski, who is a Grammy nominated mastering engineer and the owner and chief mastering engineer at San Francisco’s Coast Mastering. He’s also the co-owner and founder of the analog tape label The Tape Project, and a trustee of the The Recording Academy San Francisco Chapter (NARAS).  Michael has worked […]

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Thank You, Ed Cherney

I can’t tell you how sad I am to hear the news that Ed Cherney has passed. Not only was he a super engineer, but he was an even better person who cared deeply about others and always wanted the best for everyone. Ed engineered an album that I produced for SNEW a few years […]

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Meet The iCaster, Made From 107 Recycled iPhones

So I bet you always wondered what happens to all those old iPhones that you’re not using anymore. Well, at least 107 of them have ended up in a custom Telecaster-like clone called an iCaster. Yep, the guitar is mostly made up of discarded phones, and it even sounds like a Tele in the end. […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Sonnox Oxford Drum Gate Plugin

Ahhh, gates. We love them and we hate them. They always almost seem to do the job, but never quite 100%, especially on drums. Chatter, mis-detection, choked and lost ghost notes are more the norm than not. But that was before the Sonnox Oxford Drum Gate, which takes gating to a whole new level when […]

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CD Baby And TuneCore Enter China, Digital Patchbays, And Producer-Engineer Yoad Nevo On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Yoad Nevo, who’s credits include over thirty #1 singles, more than fifty Top 10 albums and over sixty Top 10 singles worldwide as a producer, mixer and mastering engineer. Among the artists he’s worked with include Sia, Bryan Adams, Pet Shop boys, Sugababies, The Dandy Warhols, Moby, Morcheeba and many […]

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The Power Of Sound In Our Everyday Lives

We’re inundated with sound everywhere we go, but especially when we go shopping. It may seem like simple background music (and sometimes it is), but when you enter a large national retailer sound becomes weaponized to help move you towards a purchase. In this video Julian Treasure explains how sound affects us physiologically (even down […]

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Words Of Wisdom From Uber-Mixer Dave Pensado

Over the last two decades Dave Pensado has taken mixing to a new level of artistry, having mixed huge hits for superstars like Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, Shakira, and Michael Jackson, among many others. Well known in the business way before his popular Pensado’s Place web series, Dave […]

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Maybe 10,000 Hours To Become An Expert Isn’t A Rule After All

Ever since Malcolm Gladwell introduced the 10,000 hours concept in his 2008 book Outliers, the number has become a standard for the work you must put it in order to become an expert in the skill that you’re pursuing. That can be pretty daunting for anyone just starting out playing an instrument or working in […]

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