Category Archives for "Production"
- in Gear , Hardware , MI/Audio Business , Production by Bobby Owsinski
Is The Large Format Console In Danger Now That SSL Has A New Owner?
Console maker Solid State Logic has a new owner and it’s Audiotronix. The audio conglomerate purchased the iconic console company from majority shareholder Peter Gabriel, who’s owned the company for 12 years. SSL now joins a corporate umbrella that includes DiGiCo, DiGiGrid, Calrec and Allen & Heath. This fills out the product mix for Audiotronix, since SSL […]
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The History Of Gated Reverb
Gated reverb on drums is a sound that you either love or hate, but either way, you have to admit that it played a big role in music in the 1980s. All things in music recycle, so gated reverb is back again on hits by Lorde, Haim and Taylor Swift, among many others, so it’s […]
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Mixing In The Box With Richard Chycki
Here’s a great video from my good buddy Richard Chycki about mixing in the box. You’ve heard his work before on albums by Rush, Dream Theater, Aerosmith, Skillet and many others. In this video Rich talks about working with amp simulators, subgroups, filters, running out of headroom, and his favorite plugins. It’s always fun to […]
Continue reading- in Book Excerpt , Production by Bobby Owsinski
The Legendary Ken Scott Talks Mixing
Legendary producer Ken Scott began his career at the Abbey Road Studios working with The Beatles on The White Album and Magical Mystery Tour; on six David Bowie albums, including the seminal Ziggy Stardust album; and with Pink Floyd, Elton John, Duran Duran, Jeff Beck, Supertramp, Procol Harum, Devo, Kansas, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and many more. […]
Continue reading- in Gear , Microphones , Production by Bobby Owsinski
10 Microphones That Haven’t Changed In Ages
I was reading an excellent article on the Sweetwater blog about 10 music products that haven’t changed in a long time, and it got me to thinking about microphones that haven’t changed in at least 20 years. After a little research, here’s what I came up with Shure SM57 – Introduced in 1965, it’s been […]
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Adding Depth With A Transient Designer Plugin
My good buddy Dave Pensado is always way ahead of most of us in so many areas of mixing, and one area in particular is his use of transient designer plugins. In the video below, Dave shows us how a transient designer plugin can actually increase or decrease depth in a mix. Of course, depth is […]
Continue reading- in Book Excerpt , Engineering , Production , Recording by Bobby Owsinski
8 Things To Check Before You Push The Record Button
“Everything set up? Cool, let’s record. Oh, wait, it doesn’t sound like I think it should.” At this point you can continue to record and deal with the consequences later, or stop and troubleshoot, but you might be chasing your tail and it could take longer than you want to get to where you want […]
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Good Things Can Happen With Alternate Tunings
I’ve been producing a project where the guitar player has been using a lot of alternate tunings in order to get the overdubbed layers to sound different, so I thought it was time revisit the subject again in a post. Sometimes changing the tuning of a guitar from standard to some alternate tuning can create […]
Continue reading- in Book Excerpt , Production by Bobby Owsinski
6 Tips To A Better Click Track
Many musicians, producers and engineers fight with the click track for various reasons, but most of the time it’s because the player just can’t hear it in a way that’s conducive to playing in the pocket. Here are 6 tips from the 2nd edition of my Music Producer’s Handbook (previously posted on my Big Picture blog) about […]
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6 Things I Bring To Every Recording Session
Over the years I’ve learned that there are a number of very simple items that I must bring to every recording session I go to just to be sure that my time in the studio is productive and comfortable. These items aren’t expensive, and while they may not be quite as important as your favorite mics […]
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The Andy Wallace EQ Philosophy
Andy Wallace is one of my favorite mix engineers, with a wide variety of credits across different genres, ranging from Korn, Avenged Sevenfold and Nirvana to Kelly Clarkson and Faith Hill. Andy’s still old school in that he’s a console-in-the-studio guy, but that doesn’t diminish his mixes one bit. In fact, that very well may […]
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Listen To The Sound That’s Causing Brain Damage To Diplomats In Cuba
If you haven’t been following the news lately, American and Canadian diplomats in Canada were recalled back to their respective countries because many are suffering hearing loss and even brain damage as a result of a mysterious sound that even the FBI can’t identify. Earlier in the year, staff at the U.S. Cuban embassy and […]
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6 Editing Tips For Solid Natural Tracks
Mix engineers are called on to do so much more than ever before. Tweaking the track timing used to be done way before the mixing stage, but mixers now find it’s part of the job they’re expected to do. Here are some tips for tweaking track timing in you DAW from the Advanced chapter in […]
Continue reading- in Gear , Production , Recording by Bobby Owsinski
3 Critical Compressor Tweaks You Might Be Overlooking
Everybody loves compression. It’s not only the sound of modern music, but music in general, even orchestral these days. Compression beefs up the sound, brings up the quiet parts, and controls the transients, if you use it right. That said, there are 3 compressor tweaks that are critical to optimizing the processor’s setup in order […]
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Unusual Overdubs With Andrew Scheps
Noted engineer/producer Andrew Scheps is not afraid to think outside the box when it comes to recording or mixing. Many of us (especially if we’ve been in the business for a while) sometimes have one way to do something and stay ridged in that approach. You can’t do that with music though, since each song […]
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