Nielsen Mid-Year Music Report, Korg And Roland Get Fined, And Sweetwater’s Chuck Surack On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Chuck Surack, who supplemented his playing career as a sax and keyboard player with a makeshift recording studio in the back of a his Volkswagen bus.  That mobile studio was the departure point for what was to become the largest online music retailer in the world – Sweetwater Sound. The […]

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New Music Gear Monday: PreSonus Studio One 5 Digital Audio Workstation Update

There are a lot of great DAWs on the market right now – so many, in fact, that you probably can’t go wrong if you purchase any of them. There is one in particular that has been steadily growing in popularity and capabilities over the years along and that’s PreSonus’s excellent Studio One. The latest […]

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Just When You Thought Your USB And Thunderbolt Connections Were Safe

If you purchased a new computer in the last couple of years you were faced with new array of connection ports that most likely brought about a lot of frustration and expensive adapters. Yes, USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 are much faster and better in the long run, but the connector isn’t anything like what we’ve […]

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5 Things To Keep In Mind When Miking An Audience

I’ve received questions about miking an audience a few times in the past week so it seems like a good time to repost this how-to from a few years ago. It goes without saying that if you’re recording a live performance, then you want to pick up some of the crowd reaction to make it […]

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Deezer Coming On Strong, My Top 10 DAWs, And Tour Manager Felicity Hall On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Felicity Hall, who’s been a tour manager for the last 10 years in a male dominated world. During that time she’s worked with Snarky Puppy, Bokante, Delain, Public Service Broadcasting, and a whole lot more. Felicity has also been running an online series about managing life on the road on […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Neumann V 402 Dual Channel Microphone Preamp

There are plenty of really great microphone preamps on the market today. So many that it’s difficult to make a wrong choice if you’re willing to spend enough money. That said, it isn’t every day that Neumann introduces a microphone preamp. In fact, the new V 402 is the first stand-alone preamp that the company […]

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Save Nashville Home Studios With Lij Shaw On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Lij Shaw, who’s leading the fight to save not only home studios but all home-based businesses in Nashville.  Imagine that it was illegal for you to record anyone except yourself in your home studio. If you’re a music teacher, imagine that you weren’t allowed to have students over to your […]

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Road Veterans Share Their Tips On What To Eat On Tour

Except for a few outposts in small parts of the world, no one is out on the road making music at the moment. The lockdown won’t last forever though and there will be a time when everyone that can tour will tour so now is a good time to prepare. If you’ve ever been on […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Massenburg Design Works MDWEQ6 Equalizer Plugin

We all take parametric equalizers for granted these days but the fact of the matter was that it was a rather radical departure in EQ design when George Massenburg first proposed it in his AES paper in 1972. Since then the parametric has become a standard tool in most recording studios (certainly in plugins). Besides […]

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Online Concerts, Things We Don’t Miss About Analog Studios, And Studio Designer John Brandt On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is John Brandt, who’s owned studios and built custom audio equipment in both the UK and Nashville before delving deeper into the world of studio design.  John’s company JHBrandt Acoustic Designs now provides design and consulting services to music studios, commercial video and cinema facilities, home recording studios, home theaters, presentation […]

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Engineer Steve Albini On Recording Drums

One of the most respected of the new breed of engineers, Steve Albini gained his considerable experience and reputation working primarily with underground and alternative bands. While his most famous credit remains Nirvana’s “In Utero”, Steve has worked with a diverse lineup of artists such as PJ Harvey, The Pixies, The Stooges, Cheap Trick, Silkworm, […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Radial Engineering HDI High-Definition Direct Box

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you know that I’m a big fan of all products from Radial Engineering, but their direct boxes in particular. The JDI has been a long-time a standard for both studio and live and with good reason. It’s built like a tank and will last forever, and […]

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New Grammy Rule Book, Orchestra Social Distancing, And Producer Kyle Hunter On My Latest Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Kyle Hunter, who started producing music for artists, but soon learned about the world of sync licensing and custom music.  He also co-founded RhythmCouture, which now counts Forever 21, Vans, Calvin Klein, The NY Times and many more major brands among their clients. The company also has a large music […]

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A Look At The History Of Console Automation

Automation is the process of recording parameter adjustments so that your DAW software can automatically execute them during playback. Before automation, any mixing moves during a complex song had to be made by a combination of the engineer, the assistant, the producer, the band members, and anyone else who had their hands near the console. […]

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New Music Gear Monday: Apogee Clearmountain’s Spaces

Engineer Bob Clearmountain has always been one of the most clever mixers in the business, so much so that other mixers have tried to dissect exactly what he does on mixes for years. Bob pulled back the curtain on his techniques when he released the Clearmountain’s Domain plugin earlier this year. Now just the reverb […]

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