If you ever wanted to hear a true Hollywood story, then you’ll love this week’s episode of my Inner Circle podcast. Engineer Tom Weir has had some studio experiences that you could only get if you grew up in Southern California, and you won’t believe how cool some of them have been. Tom is also the […]
Continue readingIt has tuning issues, it’s neck-heavy, the neck is fragile, and reportedly, Les Paul hated it, but the Gibson SG is still a great guitar. It’s so light and has a great sound that once you get used to one, it’s hard to go back to any other Humbucker guitar. Brought out as a redesigned […]
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Everyone wants their music to sound great on Spotify or Pandora, but making a master requires a little more forethought than just getting a loud master. In that spirit, here’s an excerpt from the latest Mastering Engineer’s Handbook 3rd edition that provides 3 tips for a better sounding online music. 1. Turn it down a bit. […]
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For those of you who lamented the fact that the esteemed digital workstation company Fairlight was giving up the ghost, you can take heart in the fact that the company has been acquired by video gear manufacturer Blackmagic Design. Blackmagic has a wide range of high and low-end video products, but really has no audio products […]
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I really love Exponential Audio plugins because you get high performance effects that don’t require a ton of CPU power at a reasonable price. While the company’s existing plugins are very cool indeed, Exponential founder (and ex-Lexicon engineer) Michael Carnes has outdone himself this time with his new NIMBUS reverb, a true next-generation plugin. NIMBUS takes the […]
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Digital reverbs have come a long way. It’s truly amazing what you can now get for very little money that rivals or betters hardware reverbs costing more than $10k. That said, sometimes there’s nothing like the real thing, even if a little DIY is involved. Speaking of which, the wonderful TapeOp Magazine recently posted a great […]
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Just about any piece of gear that has crossed the doorstep of the legendary Abbey Road Studios is truly revered, especially if it’s from 60s and 70s. The studio’s boffins in the maintenance department were renowned for being meticulous in creating and upgrading any gear used in the studios, which came across in recordings that still […]
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Thanks to Ryan Kairalla for having me on his Break The Business podcast. We talked primarily about succeeding as an independent artist, but strayed off into other subjects as well. On the podcast, Ryan also covered the legacy of boy band maker and fraudster Lou Pearlman. A very interesting listen! You can listen to it […]
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Charlie Drayton is a unique and special player in that he’s equally adept and in demand as a drummer and as a bass player, so his perspective is that of the total rhythm section. Charlie’s long and eclectic list of credits includes such names as Herbie Hancock, Keith Richards, Johnny Cash, Chaka Khan, Mariah Carey, […]
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I’m happy to have my old friend Dave Kusek on this week’s episode of my Inner Circle Podcast. Dave has been a pioneer in the digital space in many ways, going way back as one of the creators of the Synare (the first electronic drum) and later the first computer sequencer with Passport. Dave was also the […]
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I call it a flash drive, but you might refer to it as a thumb drive or USB stick – it doesn’t matter. It’s amazing how much we use these things anymore without giving a second thought to how convenient they are. They’re getting larger and larger in capacity, which is a good thing, but […]
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Recording guitars in the control room has become standard procedure during overdubs these days, but there always a hassle to it. Ground loops, amp noise during tuning, and not having the amp head close by to change the tone or input gain are minor inconveniences, to be sure, but inconveniences none the less. That’s what makes […]
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Do superstars hear music differently from the rest of us? Do they organize their musical thoughts differently? How much does this contribute to the physical dexterity? These are the things that neuroscientists want to know (as do the rest of us), and Daniel Levitin, a cognitive psychologist at McGill University, managed to go a bit down […]
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One of the first things I learned to do when I was a young musician was to solder so I could build and fix my own cables and gear. The number of hours I spent in my parents basement burning my fingers while learning the art is forever seared in my brain. I rarely do […]
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Probably the single most troublesome instrument when it comes to recording is the drum kit. Engineers obsess over the drum sound, and well they should since the drums are the heartbeat of virtually all modern music. It’s a fact that drums that sound small in the track will make the rest of the track sound […]
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