There are a lot of great audio interfaces available for your computer but most of them are limited in the number of inputs and outputs. If you have a home studio that’s usually not a problem, but if you plan on doing some serious tracking or using a real console for mixing then a normal […]
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My guest on the podcast today is Laurence Juber, who’s truly one of the world’s most remarkable acoustic guitar players. Laurence has a big history on both electric and acoustic guitar actually, starting as a busy session player in his home town of London before joining Paul McCartney’s Wings. After the band folded he resumed his session career first […]
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One thing that most young musicians aren’t prepared for is hearing problems later in life. Playing loudly can be a lot of fun, especially in a hot band (the genre doesn’t matter) with an excited crowd. It’s so easy to not even consider hearing protection, but sometimes all it can take is one incident to […]
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Probably the single most important area that gets overlooked in most home studios is the listening environment. While it’s possible that you can get lucky with a balanced, even sound by just setting up a couple of nearfield monitors in your room without thinking much about it, usually that’s not the case. The average garage, […]
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Back in the vinyl days, the ultimate in quality came from a process known as half-speed mastering. This is where the playback speed of the tape and disk cutting lathe are slowed down by half to cut the lacquer master in order to improve the sound quality. This unusual process disappeared for quite a long […]
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We could all use a little bit of shopping help when it comes to buying Christmas gifts for the people around us in the music and recording business. If you’re in a quandary about what to buy, you’re in luck as I have a list of recommendations that covers a wide variety of items and price […]
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My guest today on the podcast is Grammy-winning vocalist Darlene Koldenhoven, who’s appeared before a staggering 1.5 billion worldwide viewing audience on PBS as the soloist in Yanni, Live at the Acropolis, coached musicians and singers in the war-torn jungles of Sierra Leone, and sang on hundreds of recordings for films and major recording artists. Darlene is classically trained […]
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Gibson is making news again, although not all for the negative reasons of the past. First of all, the company announced that it will be moving its Memphis manufacturing back to Nashville, and that the company will return to the upcoming NAMM show after a very obvious absence last year. When the company announced that […]
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Choosing a set of monitors is a subject that I’ve gotten a lot of questions about lately, and it’s also something that I’m experiencing myself. I posted this before but it’s a good time for it again. It’s surprising that so many monitors speakers are purchased just from a review or word of mouth, since they’re […]
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There’s always been a lot of repetition in song lyrics, obviously with some artists and songs more than others. That said, has it been happening more lately than in previous decades? Computer scientist Donald Kuth published an article in 1977 called The Complexity Of Songs that analyzed the subject back then, but there hasn’t been […]
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Really good standalone microphone preamps are expensive, as well they should be. There’s a lot more that goes into a great design than meets the eye, and for quite some time the price on most premium models has hovered between $800 and $1,200 or so per channel. That’s why the Daking Mic Pre II is […]
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My guest today on the podcast is Frank Fitzpatrick, who’s a multi-platinum selling record producer, Grammy-nominated songwriter, social entrepreneur and award-winning filmmaker. Frank started in the business in concert promotion but soon became a protege of hit producer Richard Perry. His eyes were always on music for film rather than hit songs though, and he’s been quite successful […]
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When it comes to Apple products I have one of each category from most of the production line. From iPhone to iPad to Macbook Pro to iMac, most of my personal and professional needs are covered. That said, I’ve dabbled in doing serious music on my iPhone and iPad and I could never quite get […]
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When iconic record producer George Martin passed away a few years ago it brought effusive thoughts, memories and well-deserved accolades from all quarters of the music business. Most dwelled on Sir George’s creative accomplishments, and truly there were many. Just his work with The Beatles alone changed the way we make music forever, not to mention his […]
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Believe it or not, electronic music started in the 1920s, gained steam in the 40s, took off in the 50s, and has become a part of our everyday lives today. We think nothing of having a computer generate music today, especially as artificial intelligence makes great strides, but the first time that music was created […]
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