The 2 Arrangement Rules That Every Producer And Mixer Should Know

One of the first things a producer does during preproduction is to dig deep into the songs to check out the arrangements and the song structure. Even if a song is written well and has catchy hooks, the arrangement is what really makes it cook. How you arrange the song is the key to how […]

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How The Blue LED Changed The World

Our world is lit by LED light that’s so ubiquitous that we don’t even notice it anymore. Buy a piece of audio gear and all the indicators are LEDs. Buy a new lamp or light bulb and it’s now composed of LEDs, but did you know that the key to the omnipresent LED lighting comes […]

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New Music Gear Monday: XLN Audio XO Sample Mapping Tool

Anyone with a large sample library knows that ones of the banes of such a big selection is having too many choices. It’s difficult to find exactly what you want quickly, and it gets even harder if you have duplicates or custom sounds with similar names or tags. Enter XLN Audio’s XO sample mapping plugin, […]

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Digital Audio Bad For Environment, String Player – Royal Opera Lawsuit, And Music Registry’s Ritch Esra On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Ritch Esra, who is the former promotion coordinator for A&M Records and director of A&R for Arista Records, where he worked extensively with the publishing and songwriting communities for material for Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Melissa Manchester, Tanya Tucker, Jennifer Warnes and Jermaine Jackson, and various […]

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Prince Estate Wins $4 Million Judgement Against Engineer

Put this one down to “Better call a music attorney first.” The Prince estate sued engineer George Ian Boxill and his business partners for nearly $4 million for attempting to release a six-song EP of previously unreleased songs that Boxill worked on with the late artist. Days after it was announced that the EP would […]

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Mastering Engineer Colin Leonard On His Aria Online Analog Mastering

It takes a lot to convert hit-maker mixers like Phil Tan and Dave Pensado into big fans, especially if you’re not in one of the media country’s media centers, but Atlanta-based Colin Leonard and his proprietary mastering technology has managed to do just that. With credits that include Justin Bieber, Jay-Z, Echosmith, Leona Lewis, Al […]

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Don’t Look Now But There’s More Sampling In Music Than Ever

When digital sampling first came available in the 1980s it was a revelation. Sounds could be replaced with better ones and loops of audio could be used as the basis of songs. For some reason many musicians, artists, and producers have been under the impression that sample use peaked around the turn of the century […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Eventide Instant Flanger MK II Plugin

Anyone who listened to either the Small Faces “Itchycoo Park” or The Beatles “I Am The Walrus” has been captivated by the sound of what’s become known as “flanging.” The name was given to the process by John Lennon because you have to place your hand on the tape flange (see the figure below) as […]

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Producer Jack Miele, Beamforming Audio, And Streaming Keeping The Dough On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast is producer/engineer Jack Miele, who’s won a Grammy, Emmy, 4 Telly awards and 2 Global Music awards. Based in New Orleans, Jack has a wide range of studio credits that include Rod Stewart, The Roots, Beyonce, Aloe Blacc and the Zac Brown Band, among many others.  As a composer, Jack’s work has […]

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Manny’s Music Site Sold To The Rockefeller Group

Everything has a cycle, even though we know that there’s always a tear shed at the end, and Manny’s Music is no exception. Although the store has been closed for over ten years now, the building was knocked down last year, truly putting a final end to a brilliant era of New York City music […]

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Engineer Frank Filipetti On Recording Drums

From Celine Dion, Carley Simon, James Taylor, Tony Bennett and Elton John to Kiss, Korn, Fuel, Foreigner and Hole, Frank Filipetti has credits that run the entire musical spectrum. Known for his fearless ability to either extensively experiment or get instant sounds as the session dictates, Frank’s old school wisdom combined with his adventuresome and […]

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Holy Crap, There’s Another USB Format Coming

USB has been a useful universal interface connection through the years, but it sure can be confusing with all the versions. If you aren’t aware, there’s USB 1.0, USB 1.1, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, USB 3.1 (two types), and USB 3.2 (4 types), and USB Type-C. Then there’s the confusion of Thunderbolt 1, 2 and […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Boz Digital Labs Little Foot Kick Enhancer Plugin

Sometimes you need a little more girth from a kick drum, but EQing down at 40-60Hz can make it sound flabby. Back in the early days of dance music we’d use this trick – set an oscillator to a desired low frequency then trigger it via a gate with a sidechain connected to the kick […]

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Vinyl Mastering Engineer Kevin Gray, 3 Inch Single, And AI Music Ed On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Kevin Gray, who specializes in vinyl disc cutting. Kevin has mastered music for every major label in every genre, including pop, rock, jazz, classical, adult contemporary, alternative, punk, heavy metal, new age, gothic, world ethnic, disco, dance, soul, blues, and hip-hop / rap. His credits include more than […]

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Paul Reed Smith Makes Great Guitars And Spy Technology Too

Just about every guitar player is aware of Paul Reed Smith. His PRS guitars and amplifiers have become a major piece of the musical instrument industry and the company seems to becoming more popular every day, thanks to new models being constantly released. What many don’t know is that Paul also created products used by […]

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