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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 readingThis blog has just been named #12 on the Top 50 music blogs list. Thank you all for reading and contributing!
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If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, then you know that I post a fair amount about musical robots. I don’t know if it’s because of admiration or fear, but how they’re used in music is worth being aware of. As anyone who’s ever used a drum machine or software app knows, […]
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The drum kit usually gets a lot of attention in most sessions because just about all modern music is rhythm-oriented and highly dependent upon the drums for the song’s pulse. In fact, in most rock, pop, R&B, and country music, a wimpy-sounding drum kit equates to a wimpy track, hence the extreme attention to obtaining […]
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We’re in a golden age of audio gear kits, with more manufacturers than ever offering DIY kits to build high-quality gear. Need a preamp, EQ or compressor? If you can wield a soldering iron, there are many kits to choose from. Need a condenser or ribbon microphone? There are multiple kits available there as well. […]
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As anyone who’s ever played in a band before knows, there are times when you play a song and its just magic. Everyone plays their parts with precision, and the feel is undeniable. The problem for many bands (even some of the great ones) is that they can never seem to capture that same feel […]
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Recently the recording world was shocked to hear that Berklee College of Music acquired one of New York City’s most glorious studios – Avatar (formerly known as Powerstation). There are still a lot of questions as to what’s going to happen with the facility, but on this podcast we get the answers right from the […]
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You may or may not be interested in scratching, but you have to love the ingenuity of Jeremy Bell. In the video below you’ll see how he built a really unique tape-based scratching machine he calls the ScrubBoard pretty much from (excuse the unintended pun) scratch. The ScrubBoard is comprised of a fully functioning home-made […]
Continue readingThere’s so much more to getting a great electric guitar sound than just placing a mic in front of an amplifier speaker. Here are 10 tips from The Recording Engineer’s Handbook 4th edition that you might have never considered, but can go a lot way in helping you capture that ultimate guitar recording. 1. An […]
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There are certain products that are iconic and remain that way over time, regardless of the trends of the industry that they’re in. This describes McIntosh hi-fi products, especially the amplifiers to a T. McIntosh have also been thought of as the Rolls-Royce of power amps, noted for their high power and extremely low distortion, […]
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Royer Labs has almost single-handedly reintroduced the ribbon microphone back into modern recording, and it’s products (especially the R-121) have become staples in most commercial studio’s mic cabinets. The only problem is that ribbon microphone manufacturing is fairly time-consuming to get it right and still maintain quality, so a Royer ribbon mic has been just […]
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Are you owed money for playing on a record that you don’t know about? That’s what the topic of my latest podcast is about. My guests today are PR and marketing manager Brian Stewart and Chief Operating Officer Shari Hoffman from the AFM SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund. The fund distributes over $60 million […]
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