There’s so much more to getting a great electric guitar sound than just placing a mic in front of an amplifier speaker. Here are 10 tips from The Recording Engineer’s Handbook 4th edition that you might have never considered, but can go a lot way in helping you capture that ultimate guitar recording. 1. An […]
Continue reading
There are certain products that are iconic and remain that way over time, regardless of the trends of the industry that they’re in. This describes McIntosh hi-fi products, especially the amplifiers to a T. McIntosh have also been thought of as the Rolls-Royce of power amps, noted for their high power and extremely low distortion, […]
Continue reading
Royer Labs has almost single-handedly reintroduced the ribbon microphone back into modern recording, and it’s products (especially the R-121) have become staples in most commercial studio’s mic cabinets. The only problem is that ribbon microphone manufacturing is fairly time-consuming to get it right and still maintain quality, so a Royer ribbon mic has been just […]
Continue reading
Are you owed money for playing on a record that you don’t know about? That’s what the topic of my latest podcast is about. My guests today are PR and marketing manager Brian Stewart and Chief Operating Officer Shari Hoffman from the AFM SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund. The fund distributes over $60 million […]
Continue reading
It’s always fun to see how great mixers do their thing. The fact of the matter is, no two mixers do the same thing, and no two mixes will ever sound the same, but the journey to get there is always fascinating and there’s always something new to learn. In this video, Grammy-winning mixer Mick Guzauski […]
Continue reading
Just because you have a lot of mics and tracks at your disposal, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll get a great drum sound. Sometimes, the simplest methods can provide a realism that you just can’t get from close-miking every drum. Here are 6 techniques culled from my Recording Engineer’s Handbook that show how you […]
Continue reading
Studio musicians are frequently unsung not only for their playing, but for their contributions to the songs they many times help arrange. Occasionally they get credit and even some royalties, but usually that’s not the case. Of course, session players (especially the top studio musicians) were used a lot more on the hits of yesterday […]
Continue reading
There are so many digital audio workstation choices at all different price ranges and they’re all, at worst, pretty good. So why would anyone even consider a new one? For one thing, when it’s pedigree is Fairlight, and secondly, when it’s actually an all-in-one video editor as well. That’s what you get with the new […]
Continue reading
Mixing monitors may be the hardest job in show business in that you have to keep so many people happy at the same time. Mark Frink, my guest on this week’s podcast, is so good at his job that he’s been trusted by some of music’s biggest celebrities, including Tony Bennett, The Three Tenors, the […]
Continue reading
One of the easiest things to do to upgrade your playback space is to add acoustic panels around your listening area to create a Reflection Free Zone. You can buy these panels from any number of vendors, or if you feel like swinging a staple gun, build your own for $150 or so by following […]
Continue reading
I posted this story for a brief period a few weeks ago, but was asked to pull the story back until the official announcement. Now that the cat is out of the bag, here it is. Get ready for another big change in the New York City studio scene as it’s finally been confirmed that […]
Continue reading
One of the greatest drummers ever is Bernard Purdie thanks to his unique “Purdie Shuffle” and the countless hits he’s played on with James Brown (“Get On The Good Foot”), Aretha Franklin (“Rock Steady”), Steely Dan (“Babylon Sisters” and “Home At Last”), Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and so many others. Bernard’s trademark is the ghost […]
Continue reading
We’re all familiar with the sound of spring reverbs, but most of the plugins available are based on units with taught springs like the ones found in Fender reverb tanks or the old AKG BX-10 and 20. There was another type of spring reverb though, known as a necklace reverb, found mostly in Hammond organs […]
Continue reading
You’ve most likely heard of Harrision Consoles, which were a mainstay in music recording studios in the 80s and 90s and still dominate in film studios today. You might not be aware that the company also has an excellent DAW with its Mixbus and Mixbus 32C, and Ben Loftis is my guest on this week’s […]
Continue reading
In 2012 execs at Gibson Guitar saw that the musical instrument business was in the midst of a what has now become a long slow decline, with fewer new buyers of guitars as tastes in music changed. The company wisely sought to diversify and went on a buying spree, purchase interests in companies like Onkyo, […]
Continue reading