Making a vinyl record is a messy, time consuming business. It involves toxic chemical baths, huge mechanical presses, stampers that wear out easily, and maybe worst of all, the final product is made from a petroleum product. Record pressing has shown small improvements over the years, but for the most part, it’s still done the […]
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The vocals are the focal point of most songs, and a great performance is necessary to sell the song. A mediocre performance can sink the song no matter how great the tracks are. One of the hardest things about making a record is trying to record a singer who is uncomfortable. Even a seasoned pro sometimes […]
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If you’re lucky enough to have worked on a variety of music projects, you’re no doubt aware that many times you don’t receive the necessary credit. Even worse, sometimes everything from IMDB to Wikipedia gets your credits wrong. Something has to be done to make sure that the information is correct and thorough. That’s why […]
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There are some guitars that are forever linked to certain musicians. Eric Clapton’s “Blackie” and “Brownie” Strats, Brian May’s home-built one-off, Neil Young’s “Old Black” Les Paul, and B.B. King’s “Lucille” ES355 are just a few that come to mind. But there is another that fits nicely into this category and deserves equal attention because of […]
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If you’ve ever had to deal with a noisy track, you know how time consuming clean-up can be. Yes, you can gate it, but that can sound unnatural. There are also many excellent noise-reduction plugins available, but they don’t always do the job without adding some unpleasant artifacts. You find yourself playing with different combinations […]
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If you’re a hard-core Beatles fan then you’ll love this Beatles Bloopers video. If you’re not, you’ll still enjoy some of the humor involved when various members of the band screw things up on songs that you’ve heard hundreds of times. Here are a few other things to listen for though. 1. John Lennon’s voice […]
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You might have noticed that in the last few years, the differences in level between television shows, commercials, and channels are pretty even, with no big jumps in volume. That’s because viewers were complaining for years about the fact that there was a dramatic increase in level whenever a commercial aired because it was so compressed […]
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Direct boxes are something that we use every day in recording, yet take for granted because of their simplicity. Here’s an excerpt from my Recording Engineer’s Handbook that looks at the ins and outs of this useful recording tool. “Direct Injection (DI or “going direct”) of a signal means that a microphone is bypassed, and […]
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Most mastering engineers start in recording before they transition into mastering, but Gene Grimaldi took a different route, beginning his career at Sony’s New Jersey CD pressing plant instead. But Los Angeles called and Gene’s mastering journey began at the venerable Future Disc, from there eventually working his way up to chief engineer at Oasis Mastering. […]
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If you’ve ever had something physically wrong with you yet the doctor wasn’t able to diagnose exactly what it is, you know how frustrating and time-consuming that can be. Soon there may be a new tool in the doctor’s bag that could make that situation a thing of the past – music. A new technology that […]
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Mixers either swear by outboard analog summing amps or don’t see the need for them at all, but the ones that do are very passionate about them. We’re now into the second generation of summing amps, and the latest ones are incorporating a lot of features that the the first gen didn’t have. That’s one […]
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The original Deep Purple lineup had a very unique sound in the annals of rock, and much of that was because of Jon Lord’s organ. While most organ players want their Hammond’s to sound like the instrument they are, Lord treating his C3 more like a guitar, going as far as plugging it directly into […]
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When we listen back to those great early AC/DC albums like Back In Black and Highway To Hell we think of what may be the epitome of hard rock guitar sounds. While on the surface you’d look at Angus Young’s fingers on a Gibson SG into a JMP 100 Marshall amp and think that was the sound (and […]
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On the journey to becoming a successful studio musician, a lot of roads lead to the same place, but the way it usually works is that someone hears and likes your playing and either hires you or refers you as a result. This excerpt from my Studio Musician’s Handbook (written with studio bassist Paul ILL) outlines the […]
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Dirk Ulrich is the founder of 2 great music plugin companies, Brainworx and Plugin Alliance, but his journey into software development involved an extensive stint as a studio owner and producer first. In this interview, we talk about some of the company’s very cool plugins, Dirk’s outlook on the future of plugins, as well as […]
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