I bet you’ve heard Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” at least a thousand times already, as it’s been an FM radio and film staple since it was released in 1976. I bet even after all those listenings you never heard the clavinet in the song, or noticed the guiro. And I bet you didn’t hear […]
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There are few more versatile engineers today than Michael Bishop, easily switching between the classical, jazz, and pop worlds with ease. Shunning the current recording method requiring massive overdubbing, Michael instead mostly utilizes the “old school” method of mixing live on the fly with spectacular results. A former chief engineer for the audiophile Telarc label […]
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You might have read about the mysterious injuries that American and Canadian diplomats stationed in Havana, Cuba were suffering a while back. The symptoms were consistent with a concussion (memory problems, an inability to concentrate, mood problems, headaches and fatigue) and although the results of several studies by the FBI and independent engineers have been […]
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If you’re a guitar player then you know the joys of playing with distortion. No two ways about it, it’s fun, but with more distortion comes more noise, especially in between notes. That’s no longer a concern if you use the new Plasma Pedal from Gamechanger Audio. It uses a brand new way to create […]
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My guest this week is the content creation manager for KEF America, Jack Sharkey. KEF, in case you’re not aware, manufacturers some pretty high-end loudspeakers, but also has a long history of supplying monitors to the BBC, which is one of the highest references a company can have. Jack originally got in touch with me […]
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Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words and these 4 pictures tell you all you need to know about how audio recording has evolved over the years. There are really 4 eras to audio recording – the acoustic era, the electronic era, the magnetic era, and the digital era. Let’s look at some great […]
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The chances for a phase problem are far greater on the drum kit than in almost any other band-level situation because it usually has more mics on it than any other instrument. That said, there is a simple technique for checking for a problem as outlined in this excerpt from the 4th edition of my […]
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Things like this aren’t supposed to happen. With all due respect, Marvin Gaye and RATT aren’t exactly in the same league, but sometimes there’s an unexpected synergy that happens that just defies every expectation. That’s what happens in this mashup between RATT’s hit “Round and Round” background track and Marvin Gaye’s “Heard It Through The […]
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Sound Devices is well known to location recordists for its super high quality preamps and recorders, but most people in the music side of the audio business are unfamiliar with the company. That’s because the company’s best known products have been primarily focused on the field recording market and lacked the features that musicians need […]
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My guest this week is Greg Curtis, who is not only a session and touring trumpet player and accomplished engineer, but he’s also the founder of The Bridge Recording, which is one of the busiest scoring stages in Hollywood. The Bridge is actually one of the few studios anywhere that’s found its business increasing in […]
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Back in the days before inexpensive guitar tuners, the players in the band would look to the keyboard player to give them the tuning notes they needed. Wow, that seems like the time before the wheel was invented or fire was discovered looking back on it now. You can now buy a great tuner for […]
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These days a typical session has plenty of tracks that won’t be used in the final mix. Deleting or hiding these tracks and then putting the rest in a logical order can be the single most useful thing you can do while prepping your mix. In this excerpt from the 4th edition of my Mixing […]
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I’m very fond of cruising and will take every chance I can to get back on the ocean. It’s a great place to work (although the internet connection can be a bit slow) and I find I get a lot done in a very relaxed manner. That’s why the idea of a recording studio on […]
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There are a ton of different EQ plugins to choose from and all have their unique character. That said, most mixers still find a need for a sound shaping tool that adds a bit more than the traditional boost and cut. Enter Wavesfactory’s Spectre multi-band enhancer plugin that incorporates a graphic-style equalizer with the introduction […]
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Lij Shaw is the host of a great podcast called Recording Studio Rockstars, and is the owner of the Toy Box Studio in Nashville, where he’s been making records for the last 25 years. The studio is in his house, and recently he received a cease and desist order from the city for violating a […]
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