My good buddy and fantastic engineer/producer Ed Seay has a saying that I’ve used in a number of books about the 3 P’s or “Pitch, Passion and Pocket.” That refers to the 3 things that every great vocal must have, although you can apply it to other musical performances as well. Ed is not only one of […]
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My guest on my latest podcast episode is mastering engineer Maor Appelbaum, who’s worked with the likes of Faith No More, Yes, Meatloaf, Eric Gales, Walter Trout, Dream Theater, Sepultura, Halford, and many more. Maor has written presets and collaborated with various plugin companies such as Waves, Brainworx/Plugin Alliance, Softube, Arturia, Leapwing Audio, Pulsar Audio and others. […]
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Those of us who grew up with the original tape echo machines know how deeply their sound is imprinted on your brain. It’s a sound that you always tried to duplicate with modern hardware and plugin delays but could never quite get there. One of the reasons is that most try to improve on the […]
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We live in pretty sad times when there’s not enough work to sustain the major recording studios that helped supply the sound of hits for generations, but that’s where we are. Last year it was the famed United Studios in Hollywood and before that it was Capitol Studios (although some say it may be reopened […]
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Recording background vocals is a distinctly different process from recording solo vocals because of how they will eventually fit in the mix. That requires a different technique for both recording and production in order to get the best result. Here are 11 background vocal-related points lifted from the 5th edition of my Recording Engineer’s Handbook […]
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My guest on my latest podcast episode is mastering engineer Howie Weinberg, who has 20 Grammy Awards and 76 Grammy nominations, 4 TEC awards, 2 Juno awards, 1 Mercury Prize award, 200+ gold and platinum records, an unbelievable 19,000 total credits, and 25 billion streams. Howie started working in the mail room at Masterdisk in […]
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We all have tons of equalizer plugins, most of which never get much use. That’s because most EQs work using an analog model, which isn’t bad since it’s worked well for engineers for about 70 years now, but in essence they’re all pretty much the same thing. Now we’re finally seeing a new generation of […]
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Unless you were around back in the mid-70s when the first harmonizer was introduced (the Eventide H910), you can’t appreciate what an impact it had on mixing. This was a device that did something that couldn’t be done before. It was hard to explain exactly what that was, but you knew it instantly when you […]
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You’ve probably wondered how musicians get hired to play on film and television sessions, and who takes care of all the paperwork. My guest on my latest podcast episode is Deb Chase, who’s a contractor for musicians playing on movies and television scores, and even acting in them as well, and she’ll tell us how […]
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Harrison consoles were a big part of the sound of the 70s and 80s, helping shape the sound of everyone from Michael Jackson to ABBA to Kenny Rodgers and so many more music legends. The company’s most popular console back then was the 32C, which was renowned for it sound and musical EQ section. SSL, […]
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I’ve covered studio etiquette rules here in the past, but they were primarily for when a session was in progress. When the session, or your part in it, is completed, the etiquette doesn’t stop though, as this excerpt from The Studio Musician’s Handbook (written with ace studio bass player Paul ILL) illustrates. It’s perfectly natural […]
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The latest episode of my Inner Circle Podcast features Marek Stycos, who’s company Audio Alchemist acts as a brand manager for a wide range of pro audio manufacturers. He’s also the president of high end pro audio creators Dangerous Music and Chameleon Labs. Prior to starting Audio Alchemist Marek worked as Director of Pro Audio […]
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Sibilance is the bane of any mixer since many times it’s so hard to correct. While modern de-esser plugins work admirably, they usually only hit one frequency band, while most sibilance occurs at two frequencies or more. Enter the Antares Auto-Tune Vocal De-Esser that not only affects multiple frequency bands, but also uses artificial intelligence […]
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“How do I choose a set of studio monitors?” This question comes up a lot, and although I’ve addressed it before, it’s never a bad time to do it again. When it comes to monitor speakers, there are certainly plenty of choices, and currently there’s no single favorite that dominates the industry. A Standard? It […]
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The latest episode of my Inner Circle Podcast features 5 time MPG mastering engineer of the year Katie Tavini, who’s work includes Rudimental, Bloc Party, Ash, We Are Scientists, Nadine Shah, Arlo Parks, Los Bitchos and many more. Katie is also a founding member of Weird Jungle, a collective of independent mastering engineers in the […]
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