Radio airplay has always influenced how songs were produced, chiefly the length, as for years it was felt that 3 minutes was the ideal length to keep the listener engaged. In fact, today songs are sped up routinely in order to have more plays per hour. Now a pair of new studies published in Musicae Scientiae, […]
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Eventually every singer has some voice trouble, and if you’re not careful, it can really lead to long term damage. That’s why it’s important for a singer to learn to be especially aware of the need to take care of him or herself. Here’s an excerpt from the band improvement book How To Make Your Band […]
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If you’re like me, you probably hate trying to do any serious recording on anything smaller than a laptop. A friend once described iPads and iPhones in a nutshell as “output, not input devices” and that’s true for many of us used to the heavy duty studio rigs that we own. But a new generation […]
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Multiband compressors are some of the most useful tools you’ll find on a mix buss or for mastering, but many engineers don’t have the patience to set them up correctly. That’s where the new Drawmer S73 Intelligent Master Processor plugin comes in. It takes much of the setup out of the engineer’s hands thanks to a number of […]
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Gavin Lurssen started as a protege of the great mastering engineer Doug Sax (the very first indie mastering guy) but quickly forged his own way and sound, first at the famed Mastering Lab, then at his own Lurssen Mastering in Hollywood. Along the way he’s mastered projects for everyone from Foo Fighters, Queens of the […]
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We’ve always liked visuals that are synergistic with music, with a history that dates back to the light organs and wet light shows of the 1960s. Today, just about any LED-based stage light has a mode that will listen to the sound around it and respond with the appropriate colors and intensity. What’s even cooler is […]
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Phase is important to a great drum sound, but often overlooked. That’s why some drum recordings just don’t sound right, and no amount of processing can make them sound better. Here’s an excerpt for the 4th edition of my Mixing Engineer’s Handbook that outlines 5 easy steps to getting those drum mics in-phase. The chances […]
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Before the digital delay there was the tape echo machine and it was cheap enough that every band (and in some cases guitar players) had one. The problem was that most of the models available at the time weren’t exactly “studio-ready,” so they rarely made it into the average studio in the U.S. Then came the […]
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Dynamic processors are all the rage these days as well they should be. It’s a new approach to an old problem with a lot more control. Most dynamic processors are quite flexible and can be used on just about any kind of track, but the new Oeksound Soothe has a primary purpose, and that’s to […]
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Shawn Milke’s band Alesana had been touring almost non-stop since 2004 when he decided to tap the brakes and get off the road for a bit. This resulted in the creation of Revival Recordings, which lives by the inspirational mantra “Good Music By Good People.” Now with distribution through Artery/Sony Red, the label continues to […]
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We’ve just about scrapped the bottom of The Beatles barrel, with almost everything recorded in any way shape or form released already. There is one more piece though that should blow the mind of any Beatle fan. Here’s a series of demos where a familiar song has a different voice of the wrong Beatle. In […]
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Depending upon how much of a purist you are, pitch correction is either the worst thing to ever happen or a godsend. Regardless of how you come down on the issue, it’s at the very least a necessary evil in today’s music. Here are 5 tips from the 4th edition of my Mixing Engineer’s Handbook that […]
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Another great pioneer in the music world has left the building. If you’ve ever owned a Roland or Boss piece of gear (and I’d go as far as to say that’s everyone), then you’ll be saddened to know that the founder of those fine companies, Ikutaro Kakehashi, has passed. He was 87 years old. Kakehashi […]
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If you’ve ever played a gig in the club then you’ve had an experience where you’re given a microphone to sing into that smells bad enough to make you gag. Even if you use your own mic, it’s accumulating odors and bacteria that build up over time, so eventually you encounter “stinky mic syndrome.” I […]
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Unless you live in a big media center like NY, LA or Nashville (or any big city for that matter), most artists and songwriters probably don’t have access to the caliber of musicians needed to really make their tracks as good as they can be. A company called Custom Tracks is trying to change that […]
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