If you haven’t been following the news lately, American and Canadian diplomats in Canada were recalled back to their respective countries because many are suffering hearing loss and even brain damage as a result of a mysterious sound that even the FBI can’t identify. Earlier in the year, staff at the U.S. Cuban embassy and […]
Continue reading
Mix engineers are called on to do so much more than ever before. Tweaking the track timing used to be done way before the mixing stage, but mixers now find it’s part of the job they’re expected to do. Here are some tips for tweaking track timing in you DAW from the Advanced chapter in […]
Continue reading
Loud Technologies, owner of iconic audio brands Ampeg, Blackheart, Crate, EAW, Mackie, Martin Audio and TAPCO, has been acquired by Transom Capital Group, according to a statement from both companies. The new company will be called LOUD Audio, LLC, and will continue to be led by the current executive team of Loud Technologies. Transom has […]
Continue reading
When you looked at the headline of this post and saw the word “Controller,” I bet you might have said to yourself, “The last thing I need is another one of those.” I must admit that I shared that view until I checked out Irijule’s new TheoryBoard, which is an entirely different kind of controller that’s […]
Continue reading
My guest today is composer/arranger Dennis Dreith, who started in the business playing sax for The Beach Boys but soon turned to composing and orchestrating for commercials, television and motion pictures. Along the way Dennis wrote the scores for cartoons for Hanna Barbara, television movies of the week like Columbo, and motion pictures like A […]
Continue reading
The phrase “Sex and drugs and Rock n’ Roll” has seemingly been around forever. In fact, Ian Drury even wrote a song with that title way back in 1977. We’ve heard the phrase so much now that we assume it’s correct, but are the ” Big 3″ really connected? Well, according to a new study […]
Continue reading
Everybody loves compression. It’s not only the sound of modern music, but music in general, even orchestral these days. Compression beefs up the sound, brings up the quiet parts, and controls the transients, if you use it right. That said, there are 3 compressor tweaks that are critical to optimizing the processor’s setup in order […]
Continue reading
Noted engineer/producer Andrew Scheps is not afraid to think outside the box when it comes to recording or mixing. Many of us (especially if we’ve been in the business for a while) sometimes have one way to do something and stay ridged in that approach. You can’t do that with music though, since each song […]
Continue reading
Today’s mastering tools are better and better, but can also be much more complicated than the average engineer wants to deal with. That’s why some plugins are becoming smarter in how they operate thanks to incorporating artificial intelligence, and a perfect example is the Elevate mastering plugin developed by Newfangled Audio and distributed by Eventide. […]
Continue reading
My guest this week is Grammy-winning producer/engineer J.J. Blair, who has a wide variety of credits that go from Johnny Cash to Rod Stewart to Weezer to the Black Eyed Peas, and many more. J.J. is an avid microphone collector and we spoke at length about his collection, his studio, and his techniques, as […]
Continue reading
After learning at the knee of engineer/producer Tom Dowd during Atlantic Records’ glory days, Grammy winning engineer Jimmy Douglass (affectionately known as “the Senator”) has gone on to become one of the most sought-after engineer/mixers in R&B, hip-hop, and rock. One of the few engineers who can cross genres with total ease and credibility, Jimmy […]
Continue reading
With the introduction of some very nice mastering plugins that allow you monitor your mix as it would sound on various streaming services comes the misconception that you have to submit a different master for each one, which means “remastering” your master. It’s easy to see why one might think that, but actually this is […]
Continue reading
Let me make a bold statement. Guitar amp emulators are now so good that long-time tube amp users are switching over, at least for live playing on-stage. If you think that statement is blasphemy (and I can’t believe I’m making it myself), then you should watch this behind-the-scenes video of the live guitar rig setups […]
Continue reading
While many software developers concentrate on reproducing the sound of old analog favorite outboard pieces, there are others that prefer to explore the digital boundaries of what hasn’t been heard or done yet. Such is the case with Unfiltered Audio and their new SpecOps plugin. It’s hard to place SpecOps into a category, but something […]
Continue reading
Frank Wells started his career in the music business as head of technical services at the famed Masterfonics studio complex in Nashville, but then made a left turn when he become editor first of Audio Media Magazine, and then later Pro Sound News. I talked to Frank about some of the things that go on […]
Continue reading