The initial reports are in and virtually everyone agrees that the Apple’s new HomePod smart speaker is one fine-sounding unit that handily beats the competition in the sound quality category. This comes as no surprise since Apple has long had a stable of extremely capable engineers with backgrounds in professional audio and audio DSP. With […]
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To many of the more seasoned engineers who grew up using them, the Neumann U 67 was a desert island microphone. Able to record just about anything well, the 67 has been a long-time favorite for those that could get their hands on a good vintage one. The problem was that Neumann phased out the […]
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Chris SD is a music producer who’s worked on 5 albums that have won Juno Awards (Canada’s Grammys) among his 7 nominations, and he was also nominated as Engineer Of The Year in 2012. He’s a clever guy who came up with the idea of starting an online recording studio that brings world-class talent to […]
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We’ve all been in studios where the owner spent a ton of money on the speakers yet it still doesn’t sound that good. That’s because they’ve neglected to treat the room, and as a result, aren’t hearing what’s accurately going on. I’ve written a lot about this in the past (including a book with Dennis […]
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Rehearsals are the life-blood of a band. Whether you’re neophyte players in the garage or a bunch of A-listers in the studio reading down a chart, you want to get the song down so it sounds great as quickly as possible. Here are 4 band rehearsal tips from my How To Make Your Band Sound Great book […]
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It seems like everyone has at least a couple of DAW applications, but most of us rely on just one. It may be because we’re forced to because of professional reasons (like Pro Tools, for example), or we’ve just settled on one that’s compatible with our workflow. That said, Music Radar did a survey to […]
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Andrew Scheps is not only noted for his excellent mixing abilities for acts as diverse as Adele to Metallica, but he’s also one thoughtful guy, so when he comes out with a plugin, you can bet it’s something special. For instance, there are a lot of Neve 1073-style plugins available, but his Scheps 73 is […]
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This week’s podcast features Roy LaManna, who is the founder and CEO of Vydia, a music video technology platform that allows artists to distribute to network partners like MTV, Fuse, BET, and Nickelodeon, and publish their videos platforms like Vevo, YouTube, Daily Motion, and Facebook. The platform also helps artists to monetize their videos, while […]
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Steve Albini has produced albums for Nirvana, The Pixies, PJ Harvey, and Iggy Pop, among others, and he was a featured interview in my Recording Engineer’s Handbook. In the following video he discusses the ins and outs of how to produce an album, and I have to say, he’s a man after my own heart. […]
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There’s no doubt that getting a drum sound is the number one priority for any recording that has a drummer. Sometimes you luck out and the drums sound great by just putting the mics in front of them, but other times they require more care in order to make them sound the way you want. […]
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Max Martin is one of the most successful producer/songwriters on the planet, penning and producing hits for the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Arianna Grande, Katy Perry, Pink, Jesse J, Usher and Maroon 5, among many others. He’s also one of the highest paid producers ever, reportedly getting a $100,000 advance per song plus […]
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Audionamix is a very clever company with a variety of intelligent software products specializing in extracting tracks for a full stereo mix. The company just introduced its new XTRAX STEMS app that will separate any song into its drum, vocal and remaining music components, which is a pretty cool trick when you think about it. […]
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My guest on the podcast this week is Billy Decker, who was one of the first mixers in Nashville to embrace mixing in the box and one of the first to mix a #1 single ITB as well. All totaled, he has mixed eight #1 hits so far for artists like Kenny Chesney, Darius Rucker, […]
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I’ve posted some interesting ways to actually physically see sound waves in the past, but here’s more scientific way done in a lab. The following videos are from the Naval Postgraduate Physics Department’s YouTube channel, which is dedicated to showing physics experiments. That’s cool enough by itself, but what’s even better is that a large number […]
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Before a music project can even begin there are a number of basic decisions that every producer faces in order to get the ball rolling. This excerpt from the latest edition of my Music Producer’s Handbook illustrates the many production considerations confronting a producer in a typical project before it even hits the studio. Most of the […]
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