Mic Developer Eric Heiserman, High-Quality Bluetooth Audio, And The End Of Music Genres On My Latest Podcast

On my latest podcast episode: Mic developer Eric Heiserman of Heiserman Audio, perhaps the closest to a vintage mic sound you’ll ever get. The end of music genres may be near in favor of some more practical for today’s consumers. The latest Bluetooth LE standard – finally CD quality 44.1Hz/16 bit wireless audio. Listen to […]

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New Music Gear Monday: DPA 4055 Kick Drum Microphone

If you know anything about audio you know how DPA has a reputation for some of the highest quality microphones available. In fact, the company is one of the few that makes mics so flat that they’re used for audio measurements. Even NASA has chosen their microphones to go to Mars thanks to their clarity […]

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Transient Shapers, Clippers And Levelers: The Unsung Dynamics Processors

Modern mixes have different demands from mixes of the past, and compression across the various mix elements is almost a given. Today’s mixes also require a new level of dynamics sophistication that goes beyond compression, and advanced plugin development has given rise to increased capabilities from some frequently overlooked plugins – transient shapers, clippers and […]

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Restoration Engineer Michael Graves, A New Spotify Scam, And New Netflix Spatial Audio On My Latest Podcast

On my latest podcast episode: Restoration mastering engineer Michael Graves explains how he saves rare historical recordings. The latest Spotify scam when someone uploads your song and claims the royalty using the “track linking” feature. Netflix embraces Sennheiser’s AMBEO so you can hear spatial audio from a pair of stereo speakers. Listen to it the […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Fender Amperstand Guitar Cradle

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always hated guitar stands. True, they’re a necessary evil, but they always take up too much space because of their irregular shape and often don’t secure an instrument that well. Whether it be at a gig or in the studio, you need a place to rest your guitar […]

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How To Dial Up The Dr. Pepper Setting On Your 1176-Style Compressor

The 1176 compressor has been a go-to processor for almost every engineer since its introduction in 1967. Featuring a distinctive tone and a wide range of sounds, the peak limiter has become a studio standard over the years. It can be a little tricky to set up, but there is a more-or-less foolproof way to […]

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Keyboardist CJ Vanston, Songwriters Finalize Raise, And The Optical Microphone On My Latest Podcast

My guest on my Podcast this week is producer, songwriter and keyboardist CJ Vanston. CJ Vanston started doing jingles in Chicago where he soon became a first call player, doing as many as six sessions a day. After moving to Los Angeles, he worked with a wide variety of artist like Toto, Def Leppard, Prince, […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Audient Evo 16 Computer Audio Interface

The quest for the ultimate computer audio interface is ongoing, just like the search for the surfer’s perfect wave. There are so many good to great ones now available that it’s difficult to choose something bad, so now it’s best to concentrate on features that work best for you. If you’re a songwriter or band […]

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Meta Is Developing Some Underwhelming New Spatial Audio Tools For The Upcoming Metaverse

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has just posted about its research into new spatial audio tools that it hopes to incorporate into the upcoming Metaverse, the virtual space that’s a combination of VR and AR. While interesting, I can’t say that I’m too impressed so far (watch the video from Meta below to see […]

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Music That Streaming Favors, A New Music Format, And Gearspace.com Founder Jules Standen On My Latest Podcast

On my latest podcast episode: Gearspace founder Jules Standen tells us all about one of the most popular audio sites online, which is now celebrating its 20th year Why genres like pop, hip-hop and dance are favored over blues, jazz and metal on streaming services like Spotify The new analog physical audio distribution format designed […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Playfair Audio Dynamic Grading Processor Plugin

One of the cool things about where we are now when it comes to plugin development is that new ground is being broken. Just about all the old analog devices have been emulated (even some of the bad ones) so it’s time to think outside the box, and that’s exactly what’s happening lately. One shining […]

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Yes, There Is A Difference Between Stems And Tracks

This is happening a lot lately. In a conversation, email, post or comment, someone say, “I received the stems for . . .” or “So I sent the stems to. . .”. If you’ve been around the studio for a while you’re surprised that the person didn’t actually mean “stems” at all, but “tracks.” So […]

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California’s 7 Year Law, Evolving Songwriting, And Sound Designer Bob Pomann On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Bob Pomann, who discovered his unique ability to tell a story through sound while doing sound effects for the original Saturday Night Live. He went on to create Pomann Sound, a full-service audio-post and sound design house located in midtown Manhattan on the Penthouse floor, now in its 38th […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Steinberg VST Live All-In-One Live Performance Platform

Gone are the days when a performer or band goes on stage and performs with just instruments and vocals. These days, performances have become more complex in order to provide a better audience experience, with a combination of backing tracks, lighting and video playback all part of the gig. That’s a lot to contend without […]

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How To Protect Your Gear From A Power Surge

We’ve all been in a position where we needed more power outlets and purchased either a power strip or rack mounted unit that advertised it was a “surge protector” as well. That may or not have been true, and Radial has a great post about what exactly qualifies as a power surge and how to […]

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