Cubase is a DAW that seems like it’s been around forever and has perhaps the largest paid user base of any platform. One of the reasons for its popularity is that Steinberg developers continue to update it on a regular basis with features that are usually a step ahead of the competition. True to form, […]
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My guest today on the podcast is trumpet player and vocalist Mark Pender, who’s played with Southside Johnny, Little Steven and Bruce Springsteen, and, as a member of the Miami Horns, toured and recorded with Diana Ross, Joe Cocker, Robert Cray and Bon Jovi, among others. Since 1993 Mark has been a fixture on late night TV, performing on over 4,000 episodes of Late Night with Conan […]
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While the typical guitar player of yesterday couldn’t wait to join a band, that’s not so much the goal of the guitar player of today according to the latest study by Fender. The consumer research done by the company actually indicates the guitar market is finally looking up after many years of decline, but maybe not […]
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With powerful mastering tools now available to everyone, it’s easy to do more harm than good when self-mastering. Although you’re always better off going to a true mastering engineer, sometimes that’s just not in the budget. Here are a few mastering compressor tips that can also apply to mixing from the 4th edition of my […]
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I’ve always been a huge Who fan and just as big a fan of producer/engineer Glyn Johns’ work. This video is from an interview at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, November 19, 2012, and focuses on the recording of the seminal Who’s Next. What’s especially interesting is how many of the main parts in several […]
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Cyber Monday is a great day for a deal, so I decided to put together my own list of cool accessories especially for musicians and engineers. Here are some items that make great gifts for any musician or engineer (even yourself). Etymotic Research ER20 Earplugs – I keep trying other earplugs and keep coming […]
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My guest today on the podcast is engineer Paul Hollman, who mixes and edits sound for film, TV, and streaming broadcast. His work currently airs on Netflix, Amazon, SyFy, Discovery, Seso, Go90, and Hallmark Channel, and he’s also mixed documentaries which aired on Fox, NBC and PBS. Paul offers clients a full range of sound […]
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Most every Thanksgiving we all have so much to be thankful for, and for you this one might be no exception. There are many people suffering as a result of the devastating fires in California however, and more than a few of them are music figures that you know and love. One is guitar maker […]
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If you don’t know about producer/engineer Ed Cherney then you really should. Ed is one of the best engineers on the planet, with credits like Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, The Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, John Mayer, and even Spinal Tap, among many others (you can see them all on his website) and he’s won 2 […]
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The musical instrument business isn’t that large when compared with medical or consumer electronics or most other global industries, but it’s still pretty big. For instance, the total U.S. market for instruments and audio is only a little less than $7 billion, which amounts to a rounding error for Apple. That said, it’s interesting to […]
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I must admit I’m an old school engineer in that I was brought up trying to avoid distortion at all costs, but that’s not the world we live in today. It’s now pretty common to add texture to a sound by adding distortion and saturation, something that I’ve generally stayed away from in the past. […]
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My guest today on the podcast is one of the most revered recording engineers in the world today. Al Schmitt has won 22 Grammys, worked on 160 gold and platinum albums, and even received his own star on Hollywood’s famous Walk of Fame. Al has worked with so many of the real legends in the music business, including […]
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The world is currently flooded with reverb plugins and just about all of them are usable with a few that are truly fantastic. That said, most are based on the impulse response of either some excellent sounding recording environments, or early hardware reverb gear. What you don’t see much is some truly natural spaces, especially […]
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The subkick microphone phenomenon has been with us for a while now and it seems like you won’t find a tracking session without one anymore. It all started due to the burning desire to get more bottom end from the kick drum without having to crank up the low-end EQ. That being said, the trend is […]
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As musicians and engineers virtually every piece of gear that we use requires power of some sort. From studio outboard gear to effects pedals to the computers we rely on, we’d be dead in the water without a means to power them. And it’s something that we hardly ever think about unless a battery chooses […]
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