If you’ve ever tried to intentionally double track a vocal track you know that it can be a lot tougher than you think. Trying to match the timing and nuances of a vocal takes a lot of time and can be super frustrating for both the singer and the production team. That’s why Abbey Road chief engineer, […]
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My guest on the podcast this week is Tony Braunagel who has been the drummer for a wide variety of artists including Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, Rickie Lee Jones, and Taj Mahal, among others. It was with Taj that Tony gained a named for himself as a producer, working on the Grammy-award winning Shoutin’ in Key album that […]
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One of the problems with analog summing boxes is that the connection to your DAW can get rather elaborate, which means it can sometimes be difficult to repeat the setup during a recall. And wouldn’t it be nice to have easy access to that 500 series rack that you always carry around? Luckily there’s a […]
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Many people think that if a woofer has a ripped cone or the cone is seized up that it’s destroyed, but it’s possible to resurrect it yourself with only a little patience and the proper replacement parts. You can easily recone a speaker today and it’s easier than ever thanks to the premade kits available, […]
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The saxophone is a relatively new instrument, invented in the 1840s as a means for woodwinds to keep up with the brass instruments in volume and projection. Although most saxes are made of brass they’re still classified as woodwind instruments because sound is produced by an oscillating reed in the mouthpiece of the instrument. Saxes […]
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My guest on the podcast this week is Jay Warsinske, who’s been in music marketing, promotion and artist development for over 40 years. In that time Jay helped launch the music for celebrated artists like U2, AC/DC, Dr. Dre, Metallica, Guns ‘n Roses, Eminem, Black Eyed Peas, Lil Wayne, Green Day, Snoop Dogg, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Janet […]
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Many times a track requires multiple compressors to get it under control and we’ll mix different types, like an FET-style 1176 with an optical LA-2A, to make that happen. More processing means you’re using more computer resources, which can become a problem in a large mix. What if there was a compressor that combined all […]
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Guitar Center had its credit rating downgraded again as its notes have fallen even lower into junk bond territory. Moody’s decreased its rating for GC from Caa1, which was already low, to Caa2, which it considers “highly speculative,” and “reflects the risk that the company may not be able to refinance its debt at par […]
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I’m frequently asked to recommend a microphone and I have to say that it’s a difficult request to fulfill. The reason is that so much revolves around your budget and musical tastes that it’s difficult to get too specific. Instead I’ve come up with some general categories that I feel are essential to a microphone […]
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My guest on the podcast this week is Leslie Gaston-Bird, post-production engineer, governor-at-large for the Audio Engineering Society, and former Associate Professor of Recording Arts at the University of Colorado Denver. Leslie’s first gig was at National Public Radio headquarters in Washington, D.C. where she worked on shows like “Morning Edition.†“All Things Consideredâ€, “Talk of the Nation†[…]
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No matter how far away from the glory days of analog that we get, there’s still a yearning to go back for a piece of that sound. You’d think that all the tube emulations from that era have been mined by this time but there’s still more to be found to provide that valve lushness […]
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Just like 1 to 3% of the population, I have tinnitus. It rages in the morning, but I’m one of the lucky ones in that I’m able to tune it out by around 10AM. Not so for many others, as the high pitched sound drones on all day and night, becoming a major distraction to […]
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Modulation refers to an external signal that varies the sound of an instrument or vocal in volume, timing or pitch. This includes effects like chorus, flanging and phasing, which are pretty standard mixing tools, to tremolo and vibrato, which are used mostly on guitars, synths and electric pianos. Between reverb, delay and modulation, modulation is […]
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My guest on the podcast this week is drummer Daniel Glass, who has worked with a wide variety of artists that range from Brian Setzer to Bette Midler, to the Budapest Jazz Orchestra, to KISS front man Gene Simmons. Daniel has been voted one of the top five R&B drummers in the world by readers of Modern Drummer […]
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We don’t think about it very much, but a computer keyboard is our central and most used input device in our every day professional lives. If you’re like me you probably quietly suffer with the keyboard that came with your current computer, or maybe you have an old one that you really like that is […]
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