I often get asked what plugins I regularly use, so a few years ago I decided to share my plugin thoughts with a personal Top 10 list. Here’s my edition for 2018, which isn’t all that different from last year except that it has fewer compressors, since I’ve found myself using less and less compression […]
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We’ve all heard the pros and cons of extended warranties for everything from appliances to autos, and they’re certainly worthwhile for some and worthless for others. When it comes to musical instruments and audio gear, the manufacturer almost always offers some warranty, while the retailer might offer a third party policy for an additional extended […]
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Anyone who’s spent a lot of time recording knows that the type of DI used on a bass really matters. Use a cheap one and the bass will sound thin and dull; use one with a transformer and the bottom will be big and round, and use one with a tube and there’s a magic […]
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My guest on the Podcast this week is record producer, mixing engineer and songwriter Andrew Maury. Andrew is one of the few mixers who has made the transition from mixing live sound to the studio, and he’s had a lot of success, especially lately working on big hits by Shawn Mendes. In the interview we […]
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There have been entire books written about the guitars and basses that The Beatles played both live and in recording, and well they should, since their sounds have influenced guitar players even to this day. While we’re all familiar with the iconic Hofner, Rickenbacker, Gretsches and Epiphones that the band played during their prime, there […]
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Even if you never intend to record an ensemble larger than a standard rock, pop, or jazz rhythm section, a good grasp on the many techniques for stereo recording is essential and will come in handy sooner or later. One basic stereo technique is the spaced-pair, which is two identical mics placed several feet apart and […]
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I’ve been privileged to be invited to appear as a guest on three great podcasts recently that you might want to check out. Coincidentally, all of them posted at around the same time. The first is the great Working Class Audio Episode #180. Host Matt Boudreau and I spoke about artist/musician/engineer diversification, the state of the […]
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We’ve all had those situations where we’ve had to record a noisy electric guitar or keyboard, or just found the background noise on a track too much to handle. Sure, sometimes the noise gets covered in the mix, but it’s also cumulative, so 4 or 5 noisy tracks can really muddy up a mix. There […]
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My guest on the Podcast this week is EveAnna Manley, the president, CEO and sole owner of Manley Labs. For the last two decades EveAnna’s been instrumental in the continued proliferation of high-end tube gear to both the pro audio and hi-fi industries. She’s as smart as they come in this business and so incredibly […]
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Just about everyone has a smart phone these days, and more and more households are purchasing smart speakers. While some love the convenience of voice commands that these smart devices respond to, it does open up a security hole that only now the general public is becoming aware of. It turns out that both Alexa […]
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A condenser microphone can sometimes require some extra attention that other types of mics don’t need. Here are a number of tips from the 4th edition of my Recording Engineer’s Handbook that can not only prolong the life of your mic, but also keep its performance as high as the day it left the factory. […]
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For the longest time musicians, artists, engineers and producers were used to slaving over songs for long periods of time in the studio. Creation took time, and it went from the more or less 3 hour sessions of the 50s and 60s to the months and even years of the 1990s and 2000s. Thankfully, the […]
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Whether you’re a guitar or bass player or someone that records them, the one thing that you must deal with almost on a minute by minute basis is tuning. With the proliferation of inexpensive clip-on tuners like the Snark, tuning is less of a problem than ever, but there’s still the manual factor involved where […]
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My guest this week is award-winning sound designer and mixer Mike Rodriguez, who was another of my first guests when I started my Inner Circle Podcast 4 years ago. He was originally on episode #14. Mike is a senior audio mixer at Trailer Park in Los Angeles where he mixes everything from commercials to television […]
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I think most of us that play a stringed instrument love instruments of all types, but given a choice, will always pick a vintage instrument over a new one. While it’s true that new instruments are generally better in build quality than old ones in terms of consistency thanks to new computer controlled routing machines, […]
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