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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Today’s mastering tools are better and better, but can also be much more complicated than the average engineer wants to deal with. That’s why some plugins are becoming smarter in how they operate thanks to incorporating artificial intelligence, and a perfect example is the Elevate mastering plugin developed by Newfangled Audio and distributed by Eventide. […]
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My guest this week is Grammy-winning producer/engineer J.J. Blair, who has a wide variety of credits that go from Johnny Cash to Rod Stewart to Weezer to the Black Eyed Peas, and many more. J.J. is an avid microphone collector and we spoke at length about his collection, his studio, and his techniques, as […]
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After learning at the knee of engineer/producer Tom Dowd during Atlantic Records’ glory days, Grammy winning engineer Jimmy Douglass (affectionately known as “the Senator”) has gone on to become one of the most sought-after engineer/mixers in R&B, hip-hop, and rock. One of the few engineers who can cross genres with total ease and credibility, Jimmy […]
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With the introduction of some very nice mastering plugins that allow you monitor your mix as it would sound on various streaming services comes the misconception that you have to submit a different master for each one, which means “remastering” your master. It’s easy to see why one might think that, but actually this is […]
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Let me make a bold statement. Guitar amp emulators are now so good that long-time tube amp users are switching over, at least for live playing on-stage. If you think that statement is blasphemy (and I can’t believe I’m making it myself), then you should watch this behind-the-scenes video of the live guitar rig setups […]
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While many software developers concentrate on reproducing the sound of old analog favorite outboard pieces, there are others that prefer to explore the digital boundaries of what hasn’t been heard or done yet. Such is the case with Unfiltered Audio and their new SpecOps plugin. It’s hard to place SpecOps into a category, but something […]
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Frank Wells started his career in the music business as head of technical services at the famed Masterfonics studio complex in Nashville, but then made a left turn when he become editor first of Audio Media Magazine, and then later Pro Sound News. I talked to Frank about some of the things that go on […]
Continue readingThis blog has just been named #12 on the Top 50 music blogs list. Thank you all for reading and contributing!
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If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, then you know that I post a fair amount about musical robots. I don’t know if it’s because of admiration or fear, but how they’re used in music is worth being aware of. As anyone who’s ever used a drum machine or software app knows, […]
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The drum kit usually gets a lot of attention in most sessions because just about all modern music is rhythm-oriented and highly dependent upon the drums for the song’s pulse. In fact, in most rock, pop, R&B, and country music, a wimpy-sounding drum kit equates to a wimpy track, hence the extreme attention to obtaining […]
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We’re in a golden age of audio gear kits, with more manufacturers than ever offering DIY kits to build high-quality gear. Need a preamp, EQ or compressor? If you can wield a soldering iron, there are many kits to choose from. Need a condenser or ribbon microphone? There are multiple kits available there as well. […]
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As anyone who’s ever played in a band before knows, there are times when you play a song and its just magic. Everyone plays their parts with precision, and the feel is undeniable. The problem for many bands (even some of the great ones) is that they can never seem to capture that same feel […]
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Recently the recording world was shocked to hear that Berklee College of Music acquired one of New York City’s most glorious studios – Avatar (formerly known as Powerstation). There are still a lot of questions as to what’s going to happen with the facility, but on this podcast we get the answers right from the […]
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You may or may not be interested in scratching, but you have to love the ingenuity of Jeremy Bell. In the video below you’ll see how he built a really unique tape-based scratching machine he calls the ScrubBoard pretty much from (excuse the unintended pun) scratch. The ScrubBoard is comprised of a fully functioning home-made […]
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