Bobby Owsinski's Big Picture Production Blog

The Very First Audio Recording

2012-02-13T21:30:00.000-08:00

Everybody knows that Thomas Edison came up with a way to play back recorded sound in 1877, right? That must mean that he was the first to record sound as well, right?

If you believed that, you would be wrong. A French scientist known as Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville actually did the first audio recording 17 years earlier through his invention known as the phonautogram. The thing is, the phonautogram enabled Scott de Martinville to create a visual representation of his voice, but he wasn't able to play it back. All he could see was lines etched in soot by a feather.

But an organization called The First Sounds Collaborative found that first recording along with 5 others in the archives of the French Academy of Sciences in 2008 and have been working on a playback system since. Finally they've been successful, and now we all can hear a rather primitive bit clear recording of a voice of a man from 150 years ago singing the French song "Au Clair de la lune."

The interesting thing is that although Scott de Martinville never expected anyone to play it back, he did include a recording of a tuning fork along with his singing. Imagine that - the guy was forward thing enough that he included a reference tone recording nearly a hundred years before it became it became a standard practice during the time of magnetic audio tape.

You can hear all this for yourself along with a great explanation of the phonautogram at the firstsounds.org website. The site is a treasure trove of historical audio information.

----------------------------------

Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

Being A Musician Helps You Live Longer

2012-02-12T21:30:00.000-08:00

I've always felt that being a musician was a profession of a higher calling that most others. When you're doing it well, especially with others, there's a metaphysical and spiritual lifting that other professions, nobel though they be, just can't compete with.

Now comes research that shows that music, as we have suspected all along, has numerous rewards, from improving performance in school to dealing with emotional traumas to helping ward off aging. These come as a result of the brain biologically and neurologically enhancing its performance and protecting it from the some of the ravages of time thanks to the active participation of the player in the act of producing music.

Nina Kraus's research at the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University in Evanston, Il. has already shown that musicians suffer less from aging-related memory and hearing losses than non-musicians. They also found that playing an instrument is crucial to retaining both your memory and hearing as you age, and how well you process all sorts of daily information as you grow older.

It turns out that just listening to music isn't enough though. You actively have to participate as a player in order to receive any of the benefits.

That's as good a reason I can think of to learn how to play an instrument and keep on playing it for life. It's not only good for your spiritual health, but your physical side as well.

----------------------------------

Logic, Reason And Live DAW Comparison

2012-02-09T21:30:00.000-08:00

I'm always interested in the progression of DAWs, especially ones that I don't use regularly myself. Here's a great video on the differences between Apple Logic Pro, Propeller Head Reason, and Abelton Live. I learned a lot from this movie and unless you're currently a user of all of them, you will too.

----------------------------------

The Secret To Eating On The Road

2012-02-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

Anyone who's ever been on road even for a few dates knows how screwed up your diet can get. The inconsistent schedule can turn your eating habits upside down, which eventually will take a toll on your energy. In this excerpt from The Touring Musician's Handbook, a number of road veterans provide some tips on the best way to eat in order to stay healthy.

------------------

"After a few weeks on the road, you start to get weary. After a couple of months, you’re constantly tired in a low level sort of way. Sure, you may be getting enough sleep, but it’s a restless, uncomfortable sleep that silently wears on every fiber of your being. When that happens, it’s easy to give up on any health routines that you might have and just want to survive. That’s when you have to be more vigilant than ever before you slip into some nasty health-related habits that can stay with you for the rest of your life.

What To Stay Away From

One of the first things to get out of whack is your diet. Junk foods are never good for you, but they can be especially hazardous on the road. Fast food not only can add some unwanted pounds but the added dairy products like cheese and mayonnaise can play havoc with your voice (more on that in a bit). Mayo alone can easily add 200 calories to a dish and anything with a cream sauce even more. You’re better off to ask them to hold it or put it on the side.

The most important thing is to eat healthy, and it’s so easy not to in our situation. There are snacks and sodas around all day and you have a number of choices for meals because most (of the bigger) tours are very well catered. So you need to watch your diet and keep your weight down. A lot of guys put on weight when they go out on tour because they eat a lot at meals and eat a lot after the show. Terry Lawless: keyboard tech with U2

Watch your diet. That’s a big deal. I’ve seen so many guys that would go out on their first tour and come back a year later and they’d gained forty pounds. You get to the venue at about four o’clock and backstage there’s going to be catering, it’s going to be good, and you’re going to pig out. As you know, musicians are not known for their self-control. Mike Holmes: keyboard player for Lee Greenwood, Leroy Parnell, and Delbert McClinton

You have to stay away from eating pizza every single night, unless your twenty-five and still have the metabolism of a hummingbird (laughs). The older you get, the better shape you can keep your body and mind, the better you’re going to perform and play.

One of the things that’s great about being on the road is that you travel to great cities and you can eat a lot of great food and you can go out and party with your friends every now and then and have a really great time. But you can’t do that every night because you’re going to end up fat and lazy and not in very good shape. Eventually it will take it’s toll no matter who you are. Paul Mirkovich: musical director for Cher, Pink, Janet Jackson and Anastasia

Some Good Things To Eat

On the bus, apples and peanut butter on whole wheat bread is a good source of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and roughage, and will help you save your pre diem. It’s easy to get dehydrated so drink lots and lots of water, and substitute fruit juice instead of soda whenever you can. Healthy alternatives like protein bars, dried fruit, trail mix and nuts are easy to take with you to snack on, and the more fresh fruit you can eat, the better.

I also take Power Bars or some kind of nutritional bar on the road with me because you can’t depend upon other people for your sustenance on the road. I’ve been stuck before when we’ve missed our flight and nobody had any money for food, so I learned never to go out on the road broke. Don’t let anyone stick you on an eight hour bus ride on a sit-up bus with no food and no water where they’re telling you, “We can’t stop because we don’t have the time. We’re going to miss sound check as it is.” While that may be true, you have to take care of yourself, so when you get on the bus, take a bottle of water and a couple of Power Bars. If they stop for lunch, great. If they don’t, you’re still covered. Ed Wynne: sax player for Al McKay's All Stars and formerly of The Doobie Brothers

When To Eat

The best time of the day for your biggest meal is lunch, since a light dinner works best to prepare your metabolism for the show. At lunch you usually have a great variety of dishes to choose from with a lot of healthy alternatives. Be on the lookout for ethnic restaurants because they usually have many healthy alternatives rich in vegetables and protein alternatives like tofu. If possible, remember to substitute brown rice for white; it’s healthier for you.

Try not to eat after the gig. The only kitchens that seem to be open late are the ones that feature deep-fried food. When you eat a grease-laden meal before you go to bed, there’s no chance for your body to work it off. The calories can really add up after a few nights a week of post-gig fried food gorging. If you must eat after a gig, keep it light and healthy.

Finally, take a shower whenever the opportunity presents itself, since it doesn’t come often enough."

You can read additional excerpts from The Touring Musician's Handbook and others at bobbyowsinski.com.

----------------------------------

Introducing The Delay Genie App

2012-02-07T21:30:00.000-08:00

About a year ago one of my publishers, Hal Leonard, asked me if I'd be interested in doing a phone app. If I was going to do one, I wanted it to be something that I would use myself, all the time, so I came up with the Delay Genie.

The Delay Genie basically replaces those time delay charts that most studios used to have so you could easily set the reverb predelay and delay times when you're mixing. While most delay plugins allow you to do some form of automatic timing, the Delay Genie is different because it will allow you to easily calculate dotted notes and triplets, time denominations that are essential to a good mix and one of the tricks of most top mixers.

You can calculate the time delay either by first entering the BPM of the song, or tapping it in where the app will calculate it for you. After the BPM is directly entered or tapped in, the Delay Genie will instantly display:

delays in 1/4, 1/8, 1/6, 1/32, 1/64 note time increments
delays in triplet time increments for 1/4, 1/8, 1/6, 1/32, 1/64 notes
delays in dotted note time increments for 1/4, 1/8, 1/6, 1/32, 1/64 notes

As a bonus, in the Live mode, the app also calculates the delay time from the stage to a delay speaker stack in a live sound reinforcement situation.

The Delay Genie app can be used for:

setting the delay time to make a track larger than life
setting the delay time so it fits better in the track
setting the delay time so it sticks out of the track
setting reverb pre-delay time
setting reverb decay time

What's more, the price is right. It's FREE, although it will cost $.99 if you want to remove the advert.

Give it a shot and let me know what you think. It's now available in the Apple iTunes App Store.

----------------------------------

10 Most Expensive Speaker Systems

2012-02-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

Sometimes people who love audio have more money than sense, and that's why the audiophile business thrives. When you have people paying 700 bucks for a wooden knob and multiple thousands for a speaker cable, you have to admit that there's some psychological voodoo involved.

But that's nothing. How would you like to spend a cool $2,000,000 on home playback system? Here's a great article that lists the top 10 most expensive speaker systems. I've only listed 5 here, but you can see the entire article at the whatuwantnow blog.

"When its music, debate, rock party, wedding or even a religious occasion, speakers are the most important concern to look, and to make one occasion perfect, people love to have good quality speakers,

1. ULTIMATE by Transmission Audio

Can you imagine a speaker can cost $2,000,000? Yes, this is the one, the most expensive speaker of the world, which wants 31,000 Watt to be listened. It has four aloof dipole subwoofers, and every subwoofer carries 10 fifteen inches subwoofers. This is not enough; every dipole plate has 24 eight inches unit channels, and 2 dipole MF on each channel along with one HF Channel plate of 68 meters ribbon.

2. Grand Enigma by Kharma

Second most expensive speakers of the world costing you around $1,000,000, you can’t imagine the beauty of these speakers which are found in a Building in Belgium. They are totally enigmatic and loud with advance stereo system launched after complete test.

3. Infinite Wisdom Grande Loudspeaker by Wisdom Audio

Third most expensive speakers of the world costing around $7, 00,000, are really astonishing speakers built like a tower of 23 length with 2 tons of the weight, perhaps suitable for big ground parties.

4. MBX 10.9s46 by California Audio Technology

Another most expensive speaker of the world costs $560,000, are two guitar shaped attractive speakers in red color, each weighing 1 ton and height of 12 feet.

5. Sphäron Excalibur by Acapella Audio Arts

Another most expensive speaker of the world costs $380,700 and is uniquely has identical columns created of eight, thirty inch of subwoofers, and this speaker has buzzes of twelve square meters.

How do these stack up? Can't say as I've never heard any of them, but I'd venture to say that they'd all be improved by Carl Tatz's Phatom Focus System.

Read the entire article here.

----------------------------------

Facebook's Massive Media Storage

2012-02-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

Perhaps you recently bought a few terabyte hard drives and are feeling that you're pretty well covered for storage. A terabyte, of couse, is a 1,000 gigabytes. The next increment is a petabyte, which is 1,000 terabytes.

So consider for a moment just how big a petabyte is.

Just 1 petabyte equals 20 million 4-drawer filling cabinets filled with text.

1 petabyte equals 13.3 years of HD video.

20 petabytes was the total hard drive space manufactured in 1995

50 petabytes is the equivalent of the entire written works of mankind, from the beginning of recorded history, in all languages.

That's why the recent IPO filing from Facebook is so amazing. In it they state that they already store over 100 petabytes of photos and videos from their 850 million users.

Having trouble wrapping your head around that number? Maybe the following infographic will help.

Obviously technology has moved into the realm of super-storage, and what once seemed quite large is now small. Welcome to the world we now live in.

----------------------------------

David Guetta "Turn Me On" Song Analysis

2012-02-02T21:30:00.000-08:00

This week's song analysis is #2 on the Ultimate Chart and is at the tip of a trend in music that's starting to snowball. The song is "Turn Me On" by French DJ David Guetta, featuring singer Nicki Minaj.

Electronic dance music has been a huge underground scene for a number of years now, and we've seen flashes of it on the top 40 charts, but now it's beginning to break through in a big way and David Guetta is leading the charge by adding star vocalists to what was once purely electronic music.

Guetta was one of the first to join this trend on his 2009 album One Love, which included the hit singles "When Love Takes Over" (featuring Kelly Rowland), "Gettin' Over You" (featuring Chris Willis, Fergie and LMFAO) and "Sexy Bitch" (featuring Akon). The last song hit the top five in the United States and all three reached #1 in the UK. The album also featured another internationally known single called "Memories" (featuring Kid Cudi), which became a top five hit in many countries.

Guetta has sold over three million albums and 15 million singles worldwide and is currently one of the most sought-after producers in the music business.

As with all song analysis, we'll look at the song form, the arrangement, the sound and the production.

The Song
"Turn Me On" is a very basic song form with one twist in the prechorus. The form looks like this:

Intro, Verse, B Section, Interlude, Chorus, Verse, B Section, Interlude, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus

Every section is 8 bars long except for the Interlude (the "Oh" part before the chorus) which is only 4 bars, and that's the only thing that changes the song up a bit form-wise.

The Arrangement
There aren't a lot of elements or layers to the song by the very nature of electronic dance music. Instead of a drum kit and bass, the rhythm element is made up of a huge kick drum and bass sound, which take up so much sonic space that's it's difficult to fit additional foundation instruments in.

What's very interesting in "Turn Me On" is the way the claps and high hat are used to develop the song. Usually a song is developed by adding additional arrangement elements or additional instrument or vocal layers. On this song percussion is used to accomplish the same thing. Here's how it's done:

In the first verse you only hear the kick and bass sounds, but doubled claps in stereo are used to develop the B section. In verse 2 the claps continue, but a hat sound is used to develop the 2nd B section.

Here's what the arrangement elements look like:

* The Foundation: Bass and kick sounds

* The Rhythm: Arpeggiated synth line, claps from the first B section onward, hat sound in the second B section.

* The Pad: A synth in the bridge

* The Lead: The vocal

* The Fills: Background vocal line at the end of the chorus, arpeggiated synth in the choruses, vocal answers in the first half of the bridge

The Sound
Another function of electronic dance music is the fact that distortion is normally viewed as something to be embraced and not rejected. There's plenty of it here that's a big part of various sounds, but even the vocal (which you'd expect to be clean) has a lot of distortion.

There's a slight ambience sound on most of the syths, but most of the layering on both the syths and vocals comes from timed delays that are long enough to hear and fill in the holes between phrases.

A couple of cool things are the way the the vocal is manipulated in the Interludes by panning from left to right channel and back again, all the while modulating it gradually into full distortion at the end. I also loved the use of the stereo claps that enter in the first B section.

The Production
I think a big reason why this song is a hit is its excellent dynamics. The song goes from a whisper to a roar and back again several times during the song, which keeps your attention on a rather uninteresting song form.

Want an example? Listen how the song starts off quiet, gets a bit bigger during the first verse, a bit more during the B section, then comes down to just a vocal (over a gurgling synth) during the interlude, then smacks you over the head on the chorus. The same happens during the second verse, B, interlude and chorus, then again from the bridge to the last chorus. The tension and release is why it remains interesting.

Send me your song analysis requests here.

----------------------------------

Are You Ready For Smart Headphones?

2012-02-01T21:46:00.000-08:00

Headphones are a pretty mundane piece of audio gear, which is precisely why it's time to smarten them up a bit. I don't know about you, but one of the things about phones that always bothers me is when the the cups get mixed up where the right and left one are reversed. Thanks to a bit of technology, that may not be a problem that much longer.

Researchers at the Igarashi Design Interface Project recently developed a set of "universal headphones" that are so smart that they can do the following:

Sense when you've placed an earbud or headphone on the wrong ear, then change the channels to accomodate.

Sense when two people are sharing earbuds and change the channels so each earbud contains both the left and right channels (and even allow each listener to hear different tracks at the same time).

Automatically pause and resume play depending if the phones are on or off your ears.

The way the development team came up with right/left ear sensing is by attaching a proximity sensor to one of the earpieces to measure the distance from the ear. When placed in the right ear, the sensor detects the ear behind it. If it's then placed in the left ear, it knows that the distance has changed and then signals a on-board processor to switch channels.

It's so cool when old technology like speakers, mics and headphones get a new technological twist. Although these updates aren't available in a commercial product yet, expect to see them soon.

----------------------------------

Jeff Beck's Guitar Collection

2012-01-31T21:30:00.000-08:00

Here's one for all of the guitar players that read this blog. Jeff Beck is one of the most revered guitar players ever (and rightfully so), but you don't see him interviewed very often. In the video below Jeff talks about his main guitars and how they came into his possession, so you get two for one - an interview plus some guitar talk. Note how many were given to him by fans. That's what happens when you're a guitar god, I guess.

----------------------------------

"Here Comes The Sun" Lost Guitar Solo

2012-01-30T21:30:00.000-08:00

Here's a real gem. It's the parts of George Harrison's famous "Here Comes The Sun" from The Beatles famous Abbey Road album that didn't make the final mix. I don't know how long this will stay up before the EMI sends a take down to YouTube, so enjoy it while you can.

----------------------------------

Ken Scott Answers Your Questions

2012-01-29T21:30:00.000-08:00

Ken Scott and yours truly at Total Access Recording last week

You may remember that I asked for questions for the legendary producer/engineer Ken Scott last week for our presentation at the Alfred Music Publishing booth at NAMM. Of course, Ken worked with everyone from The Beatles, David Bowie, Supertramp, Mahavishnu Orchestra, America, Devo, Kansas, The Tubes, Missing Persons, Duran Duran and many many more, so whenever he speaks about the studio you find some pearls of wisdom. As promised, here are the questions and along with the answers, as well as a little bonus towards the end.

Bob from Vancouver asked: How do you ensure that you have a balanced frequency spectrum in your mix? As in the right balance between lows, mids, and highs...

First of all, what is a balanced frequency spectrum? It should sound the way you want it to sound, and sometimes that means there’s going to me more high end and sometimes more low end. Take Reggae records, for example. It would seem they’re completely out of wack frequency-wise, but that’s exactly what people loved about them. As long as you’re using good monitors and get it sounding the way you want it, it's cool.

Fred Decker asked: What suggestions would you offer to a band to make their pre-production efforts most effective? Any comments on arrangement, song-structure or how to make the music groove?

How to make it groove is don’t use Pro Tools to put everything on the bloody grid. I don’t like a click track that’s the same tempo from beginning to end because musicians frequently speed up when it comes to the chorus. I’ve always felt that you get things to groove more when using a click if I nudge it up slightly for the choruses and bring it back down again afterwards.

In preproduction you're just getting to know the material, but not to the point where when you go in the studio and something doesn’t quite work, you don't have the ability to move on and change what doesn’t work. You’re not stuck trying and trying to make it work because sometimes it doesn’t work when you get into the studio and listen under a microscope.

Also go through and make sure that everyone is playing the same thing. Listen to the parts and make sure they work together.

Bruce Alger asked: I would like an overview of how KS mixed Supertramp's Crime of the Century (and his methods of doing the vocals on that one).

We weren’t afraid to try things on that album. Different vocal effects were things like having them sing from different distances away from the mics. That was important especially with the two vocalists when they were answering each other. We experimented with different planes where one was right in your face while the other one had some distance on it. We weren’t afraid to experiment is the easiest way to explain the overview.

David King's question was: From your experience working with The Beatles. Do you believe they would have achieved success without the involvement of George Martin in their career? (I tend to believe that he played as critical a role in their success as did any individual member of the band.)

Probably not, because in the early stages he was exceedingly important in guiding them in song structure and arrangements and that kind of thing. It eventually reached the point where they were going full-tilt on their own and he was less important, but in the early stages he was definitely needed, so there is a strong chance that they wouldn’t have done it without him.

Chuck Sims wanted to know: Ringo had left the band when they recorded "Back in the USSR." It's often been reported that the drums are a composite track, with John, Paul and George all contributing. Do you have any recollections about the sessions for that song? (There's a bass VI and a lot of debate about various instrumental roles on that selection).

To answer this question, Ken asked me to use an excerpt from his upcoming book Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust (it will be out in May).

“By the time “Back In The USSR” was recorded, Ringo had temporarily quit the band. It wasn’t that he was in the studio and stormed out, it was more like he just didn’t turn up one day. The sessions were undisciplined enough that whatever any of the others felt like doing at any given time is what they did, so he never knew if he was going to be playing or not. He didn’t feel needed or wanted and he was tired of waiting around, so he just decided not to show up anymore.

I don’t remember the incident being spoken about too much at the time, and the whole thing was treated just as a “Ringo’s not here today” kind of thing, so we just carried on as usual. We recorded the basic track of “Back In The USSR” first with Paul playing drums, George on lead guitar, and John on bass, but there were parts of Paul’s drum track that just weren’t good enough, so we recorded a second drum track. This time the drums were played by both George and John at the same time on the same kit, one of them playing kick and snare while the other played the cymbals and toms, or something like that. Between the two tracks, we got one solid drum track, so we mixed them all together and that’s the drum track that you hear on the record. I never got a chance to record Paul playing drums well, although I know he did do it on a few of the songs on the album that were recorded outside of EMI.

In the end, Ringo returned a week or so later, and George H had the entire Number 2 studio decked out with flowers and a banner that said, “Welcome Back, Ringo.” He was happy to be back, and they were extremely happy to have him back.”

Chuck asked another: David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust is one of the greatest rock LPs ever... when working on it did you or the band have any idea that it would be such a defining moment, or was it just 'another' album?

They’re never just “another album.” Hopefully they’re not, anyway. We never knew that we’d be talking about it in 40 years time; absolutely not. We were making records that if people were still talking about them 6 months later, then we’d done our jobs properly. 40 years later we had no idea whatsoever.

Chuck asked still another: Are there any favourite moments or tracks on Ziggy for you?

"Moonage Daydream" is my favourite.

Stay tuned for more info and excerpts on Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust as they become available.

----------------------------------

The Difference Between Vintage And Current Instruments

2012-01-26T21:30:00.000-08:00

During a long discussion about vintage instruments in the studio this week, it prompted me to think about this excerpt from The Ultimate Guitar Tone Handbook (written with writer, composer and good buddy Rich Tozzoli) that describes some of the intangible factors that went into manufacturing Gibson humbucking pickups in the 50's and 60's. As you'll see, there are a lot of external factors that went into making a pickup back then, and those factors can pretty much be applied to all instruments in one way or another.

-------------------------

"As if the known factors in building a pickup weren’t enough, consider the many intangible factors as well. For instance, most pickups loose their magnetic strength over time because of environment and electrical interference. Pickups can become weakened or demagnetized completely by leaning your guitar against an amplifier with large transformers, or even from taking your guitar too close to the train motor of a subway (as happened with Andy Summers of The Police).

Another intangible is the fact that tolerances of just about every component were much looser until the 90’s. While the difference was indeed subtle, add enough components at the edge of their tolerances together and you suddenly get a pickup that sounds different even though it’s made the same.

Manufacturing intangibles are a whole other story and for that we’re going to go a bit into the history of the Gibson humbucker.

The Changes In The Humbucker

The first humbucking pickups on the 1957 models of Gibson guitars had a sticker on them saying “Patent Applied For” as the design was in the review cue before being granted a patent (see Figure 3.27). These became known as PAF pickups (“Patent Applied For”) and have become highly sought after today for their great sound. The problem is that most PAFs sound different from one another due to manufacturing process of the time.

Figure 3.27 A Gibson PAF Humbucker

Until 1961 when Gibson standardized the selection process, they randomly used different strength magnets (grade 2 through 5) in their pickups, which accounts for some of the reasons for the different sounds. To make matters worse, sometimes a shorter magnet was selected (mostly seen in gold-plated guitars for some reason), which decreased the power of the magnet as well. In July of 1961, Gibson consistently began to use all short Alnico 5 magnets, although occasionally a few Alnico 2’s showed up. In 1965, Alnico 5’s became standard in all pickups, which finally brought about a bit of consistency to the process and the sound.

If that weren’t enough, the number of windings on the pickup varied enormously as well, especially in PAFs. The early coil winding machines didn’t have an auto shut-off so the workers would shut off the machine when the bobbin looked full, which was at about 5000 turns. As a result, no two pickups were ever the same.

Even when Gibson bought a winder with an auto-stop, there continued to be problems even though the pickups became more consistent. The stop mechanism was controlled by a fiber wheel which would wear out and break, at which point the workers would approximate the number of winds by timing the wind, which resulted in more inaccuracies.

Since the humbucker is made up of two coils, sometimes the windings of each coil were different even though the total number of turns were correct. This would cause certain mid-range frequencies to stand out and give it more bite.

Figure 3.28: A Gibson Patent Number Pickup

By mid-1962, the patent for the humbucker was granted and Gibson changed the sticker to read “PATENT NO 2,737,842” which was actually the patent number for Les Paul’s trapeze tailpiece. No one knows for sure if printing the wrong number was merely a mistake or a way to throw off the competition. From 1963 to 1975, these “Patent number” pickups are very consistent, as are the ones thereafter when new, more precise winding machines were used (see Figure 3.28).

In the 1990’s, Gibson further refined their manufacturing and began to manufacture pickups based on the original PAF design. Thanks to precision modern manufacturing techniques, these pickups are remarkably consistent, which also means that a “magic” pickup made as a result of loose tolerances is no longer possible to get. That being said, most experts agree that you can now get 90% of the way there sound-wise for 10% of the cost of a vintage PAF."

----------------------------------

Is this Mackie Video Any Good?

2012-01-25T21:30:00.000-08:00

Here's an "interesting" video on the Mackie DL1608, the new 16 channel live sound mixer built around the iPad than the company just released at the NAMM show.

I'm not sure how I feel about it personally. Is it brilliant advertising? Is it condescending to potential buyers and users? Is it funny or not? Where all these guys on acid when they created it? Maybe some of this, or none of it, I can't decide. One thing it does do is grab your attention and make you talk about the product, which is what advertising is intended to do.

What do you think?

Thanks to my buddy Steve Harvey for giving me the heads-up on this video.

----------------------------------

A Look At NAMM 2012 - Part 3

2012-01-24T21:30:00.000-08:00

Here's the last of my NAMM 2012 overview, and this time it's more about some of the odd or unusual things that I spied during my all-too-fast gallop around the show. I was actually at NAMM for 2 entire days, but the problem was that I was involved in meetings most of that time, so my floor time was actually pretty limited. Sometimes that's for the best though, since you tend to see the big picture a little better as you race through the 4 giant halls, the basement, and 2nd and 3rd floors (yes, NAMM is pretty big). Let's see what we have.

First up is a rather interesting drum kit from Molecule Drums. As you can see they have this round bulb on the bottom where the bottom head should be. Surprisingly, they actually sounded really good for the brief bit that I heard.

Speaking of drums, this company puts blinking LED overlays on drums, heads and guitars. You can't see them blink here, but it probably looks pretty good on stage.

Here's a company that makes stained glass drum heads and speaker cabinet grills. This is definitely a case where image wins over audio quality, but if that's important to you, contact revampedglassdesign.com.

With Mumford And Sons so big at the moment, having a guitar player also play a rhythm instrument has become an important musical element. This piece (I think it's a "Footbass") is just the thing for that acoustic act that needs a heartbeat.

If you want to be cool, you need a hat. What better place to buy one than at NAMM?

Here's an interesting instrument called a "Slaperoo" that's a combination upright bass and percussion instrument. I can actually see this going somewhere as it seems to have some real possibilities in the right hands.

Just won the lottery and want to buy the fanciest piano known to man? The Hand-Built Piano Company can help you out. I don't know what they sound like, but they sure are ornate.

Want everyone to think that you're playing a real grand piano onstage instead of your synth? Time to get a Grand Illusion piano shell. This looks like the real thing from every angle except that of the player.

Okay, imagine you're playing playing in a piano bar in Afganistan and you want to keep the Taliban away. What better way to do it than to make them think that you have a Predator drone at your disposal. Yes, this really is a real grand piano.

Let's say you're a piano player that never could get the hand of guitar fingering, this device let's you use what's familiar.

Believe it or not, this is really an organ with 5 white keys on the left hand and 5 on the right. The songs aren't great but the sounds are good. It was found at Big City Music.

And finally, the sound police were out in force at NAMM. Here one regular sound cop and one undercover one check the sound level of a dobro player with a Radio Shack meter and an iPhone app. At the same time, none could be found around the various drum, brass and amplifier booths.

That was NAMM 2012 through my eyes. The other stuff you can read on any blog or website, but you have to come here for the cool stuff.

----------------------------------

A Look At NAMM 2012 - Part 2

2012-01-23T21:30:00.000-08:00

While yesterday we looked at what's new in audio at the Winter NAMM 2012 show, today we'll look at lots of guitars and amps. Keep in mind that I'm not noting what may be the hottest things at the show, only the things that stood out to me. Let's get down to it.

A big trend at NAMM this year was small amps like this Orange Micro Terror. Not only were these amps low-wattage, but they were small as well. The problem with most of these kinds of amps is that they didn't have a case around them (although the Micro Terror at least has a metal cage around the tubes). Highly impractical for gigging, although that seems to be the hot thing, for this year.

There were more amps than you could shake a stick at (see my video of how many guitars and amps there were back during the 2009 NAMM show for an idea), but I happened to like this particular design from Four Force. Sounded pretty good too.

Perhaps the most unique amplifier at the show was this Milbert GaGa (yes, that's the name). It weighs only 12 pounds, uses any type of tube that you care to put into it, and still puts out 90 watts. Supposed to be a new type of circuit design that can even power your pedals directly from the amp! Sounded pretty good, but I only listened for a minute. I'd like to find out more about it.

Over to the guitars, when 7 strings just won't do, here's an 8 string for you.

When your band is so bad that you can't pick up chicks, a least you can simulate having one close to you when you play.

Here's an interesting triple neck guitar. OK, I can see a 6 and a 12 string, but I can't see the need for the 2nd 6 string, unless maybe it had single coil pickups instead of humbuckers like the other. Uh, this one doesn't.

When big just isn't big enough, how about a 6 foot guitar?

These are all guitar and amp knobs. Every kind, shape, make, model, you name it. And there were 2 more cases just like this.

Here's a case with nothing but pairs of pickups, and it wasn't Seymour Duncan (hint: they're from that country that makes everything cheaply).

Want to build your own guitar from scratch? I mean, really from scratch? Why not buy a brick of wood and route it yourself. There were actually a number of companies that sold guitar tone woods at the show, which I find incredibly cool.

And finally, when your playing just isn't enough, how about adding an iPad in the body?

If you think some of these were odd, tomorrow we'll look at yet another side of NAMM that most don't bother to look for.

----------------------------------

A Look At NAMM 2012 - Part 1

2012-01-22T21:30:00.000-08:00

Another Winter NAMM show has been left behind, and once again it's time to reflect on what we've seen and heard. This year one of the things that really stood out was the enthusiasm of the exhibitors and crowd, both of which seem to indicate that the economic doldrums that we've suffered through recently may finally be in the past and better days are ahead. Most companies that I spoke with indicated that they had a solid 2011and 2012 was getting off to a better than expected start. Let's hope that continues.

Today I'll concentrate on audio gear, Tuesday on music gear, and Wednesday on oddities. Let's get down to it.

Maybe the most talked-about item at the show for those involved in audio was the Universal Audio Apollo, a multi-channel interface that also happens to come filled with all that great UA plugin DSP, as well as a rare Thunderbolt option.

Transaudio Group introduced the Sonodyne SM200Ak, a larger version of their already excellent 50 and 100 speakers. I've been using the 50's for about a month and I've got to say that it's one of the finest small desktop speaker that I've heard. Can't wait to hear the 200's for real.

Speaking of speakers, SE Munro showed studio designer Andy Munro's Egg 150 monitors. I've read a lot about the concept behind the speakers and I'm anxious to hear them for real. Unfortunately, NAMM is not the place.

Here's a company that I'm not familiar with at all, but their Airmotiv 6 monitors sounded terrific on the show floor. With so many speaker companies already in the game, it makes you wonder why another company would try to take a piece of a saturated market as well, but it seems like they may really have something here.

Speaking of speakers, you can't really hear them well unless you have some great stands, and the isoacoustics stands claim to be the best there is. I don't know about that yet, but they sure seem like they're the most adjustable.

Line 6 entered into the sound reinforcement business with an entire new line of products, including the Stagescape M20d, a mixer that has a new user interface that's almost entirely graphic. Could this be the future of consoles?

The Stagescape L3T and L3M powered speaker system and sub have a tremendous amount of features that aren't readily apparent, but they sure sounded good with music played through them. It should be interesting to see what happens with these products in the future.

The always hi-quality Dangerous Music showed this cool monitor box. Sorry, but I lost the info on it. Wish I had one right now.

I had expected this to be a huge iPad show, expecting a ton of interfaces, peripherals and apps. There were a few, but not what I expected. The Alto Masterlink Live is a 16 channel mixer with an iPad dock. I understand that Mackie also introduced a similar product, but I never spotted it at the show.

Marshall showed a number of mics they claimed were designed for the iPad, and there were a number of devices that used the iPad as a controller, like this Pimitec personal monitor system.

This was also a headphone show. It seems like the Dr. Beats phones that have become so popular exposed a huge market that hasn't been serviced and every manufacturer now wants a piece, although it's probably now too late. Just like most mics come from one Chinese factory (737, which also had a booth at the show), I wouldn't be surprised if all the headphones came from the same place as well.

There were no shortage of blatant knock-off products at the show by Chinese manufacturers. Here's a box that looks like it comes from Shure, but they're all imitations.

And of course, so many companies believe that if they copy the look of a famous vintage microphone, that automatically makes them a "studio microphone."

One of the funniest conversations that I listened in on was with a used-car-style salesman from a new mic company relentlessly telling producer-engineer legend Ken Scott about how cheap his mics were and how much money Ken could make because the margin was so high. Ken, being the gentleman that he is, just allowed him to rant.

Tomorrow we'll look at some music instruments from NAMM.

----------------------------------

Developing The Groove In Your Mix

2012-01-19T21:30:00.000-08:00

Normally every Friday I post a song analysis that's picked from reader requests. This Friday we'll trying something a bit different that's related to song analysis, as well as mixing.

My new book called The Audio Mixing Bootcamp is just being released at the NAMM show by Alfred Music Publishing. You're probably thinking, "Bobby's already written The Mixing Engineer's Handbook, so why is he doing another one on mixing?" Good question. What I realized was that MEH (as well as most other books on mixing) are primarily conceptual. That's fine if you already have some mixing chops and want to get better, but it's not so helpful for someone that's just starting mixing and just can't make things sound right.

So the idea behind The Audio Mixing Bootcamp is that it's a book of mixing exercises. The exercises might take you to a place where things sound terrible, but then bring you back to where things sound better than anything you've ever done. Now you know what works and why, as well as what doesn't. And that's the whole idea of the book. "Try this." "Wow, does that sound bad." "Now, try this." "Wow, does that sound great."

I'll be posting some excerpts and exercises from the book in coming weeks, but let's start off with one that will get you listening, which is perfect for song analysis. Every song is built around the groove, and you have to find that first before your mix can rock. In this excerpt, there are a few exercises to get you listening deep into a song that you know in order to train yourself to identify the groove.
----------------------------------

"The groove is the pulse of the song. It’s that undeniable feeling that makes you want to get off your seat and shake your booty. You don’t have to know what it is as much as recognize it when it’s there, or when it’s not. Despite what you might think, it’s not only dance music that has a groove. Every kind of music, regardless if it’s R&B, jazz, rock, country, or some alien space music, has a groove, but the better the music is performed, the “deeper” the groove is.

Contrary to popular belief, a groove doesn’t have to have perfect time because a groove is created by tension against even time. As a result, the playing doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be even in its execution. In fact, music loses its groove if it’s too perfect, which is why a song can sound lifeless after it’s been quantized in a workstation. It’s lost it’s groove.

Another misconception is that the groove always comes from the drums and bass, since it could come from other instruments as well. Some songs, like The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” has the rhythm guitar establish the groove, while most of the Motown hits of the 60s relied on James Jamerson’s bass.

Regardless of what instrument is providing the groove of the song, if you want a great mix, you’ve got to find it and develop it first before you do anything else.

Exercise Pod - Identifying The Groove
E3.3: In order to hear a groove at it’s best, let’s go to the masters.
A) Play any song by James Brown, Prince, Sly and the Family Stone or George Clinton. Can you feel the pulse of the song, the groove?
B) Can you identify the instruments that are providing the groove?

E3.4: Pick one of your favorite songs and have a listen.
A) Can you feel the pulse of the song? What instrument(s) are providing the groove?
B) Play a song at random. Can you feel the pulse of the song? What instrument(s) are providing the groove?
C) Play a song from a genre that you seldom listen to. Can you feel the pulse of the song? What instrument(s) are providing the groove?

E3.5: Now listen to all of those songs again. What makes the groove stand out? Is it the balance of the instruments? Is it because the instruments providing the groove are louder? Is it the tone of the instruments? Are they punchier sounding than the others?"

I don't have any excerpts from this book up on my website yet (soon I hope), but you can read excerpts from my other books at bobbyowsinski.com.

----------------------------------

A 48 Track DAW For The iPad

2012-01-18T21:30:00.000-08:00

Createdigitalmusic.com recently posted an article on a full-blown 48 track DAW for the iPad that looks pretty awesome. The app comes from a new company called Auria, and isn't available quite yet, but it's features are very complete, as you can see from the following:

"48 mono/stereo, 24-bit/44.1kHz tracks, with recording for up to 24 tracks (you’ll obviously need a USB audio interface that can do that.)

64-bit, double precision mix architecture (something that just came out in the latest version of Pro Tools)

Full delay compensation

“Vintage-inspired” channel strips, with a desktop-like UI and VU/RMS switching

Plug-in support. Out of the gate, PSPaudioware, Overloud, Fab Filter and Drumagog all work. You need to do custom wrapping of plug-ins for this host; standard plug-ins won’t work. The format is based on VST, but it’s not VST in the traditional sense in that they have to be custom-wrapped for sale through the app.

Dropbox, SoundCloud, AAF, MP3 export

Advanced channel strips, EQ, expansion/compression and dynamic controls ready to go

Convolution reverb. (This one blows my mind.)

AAF import/export, making one definite application using this as a satellite for your desktop DAW"

Check out the video.

I expect this Winter NAMM show to be a big one for iPad apps, and as always, I'll report on everything I see. In the meantime, the Auria app is a good start.

You can read the entire article from createdigitalmusic.com here.

Ask Ken Scott A Question

2012-01-18T08:38:00.000-08:00

Ken Scott has had a fabulous career, from being one of the 5 main Beatle engineers, engineering a number of Elton John and Duran Duran albums, to producing 4 David Bowie albums (including the illustrious Ziggy Stardust) and records for Jeff Beck, Devo, Missing Persons, The Tubes, Kansas, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Supertramp, and various solo Beatle singles, among many others.

Now is your chance to ask Ken a question on recording, production, or any of the artists he's worked with. He'll give you his answer during our session at NAMM on Thursday at 12:45. We'll post them here and on the Alfred Music Publishing website.

You can ask the question here, or just add a comment at the bottom of this post.

By the way, Ken will give a presentation at the Alfred booth (#4822) at noon, both Ken and I will be on at 12:45 (where I'll ask him your questions), and I'll be on at 1:15PM.

Silent Events Spread

2012-01-17T21:30:00.000-08:00


An advertisement for Silence Events.

Okay, here's something really new that I'm totally down with - silent events. The concept is that everyone at the event listens on headphones instead of a traditional sound system, and it seems to be the hot thing this year around Paris discos.

I know, I know, you're not a jetsetter or part of the Eurotrash scene. No problem, the trend is beginning to spread all over Europe, which means it's only a matter of time until it reaches the States.

Here's why so many like this idea:

1) The fidelity is so much better when you listen on headphones.

2) The privacy is way better too, both to those listening, and those not.

3) You don't have to worry about annoying your neighbors, which apparently is a big deal in Paris these days. In fact, there's a "no noise" curfew at 10PM for live events, and a silent outdoor disco keeps the riot squad away.

If these things ever catch on in a big way, a byproduct could be an increased demand for better audio quality, which is something that so many in the pro audio community have been hoping would happen for years. Don't hold your breath though. I'll believe it's for real when I get my first invite in LA and they ask me to bring my headphones. Then again, no one thought that the house concert scene would ever take off either. For more on silent events, check out this article.

----------------------------------

2 Tips For Recording Your Band

2012-01-16T21:30:00.000-08:00

The people that read this blog run about 50/50 seasoned pros to beginners in the business, and this post is aimed directly at those that don't have a lot of recording experience. It's an excerpt from How To Make Your Band Sound Great that covers the mindset of recording, not the technical part.

There are so many great artists, bands, musicians, engineers, and producers out there, and so much written about how they work that's pretty accessible to anyone who wants to find it. The problem is that it's easy to get the impression that recording some great music is an easy process from reading some of these. There are certainly times when the planets align and you can catch lightning in a bottle, but just like anything else done well, it usually takes a lot of work. This excerpt aims to make someone who doesn't have that much recording experience feel a little better about themselves and their journey.
----------------

"Whether you're recording yourselves with your own gear or are using a studio, the goal is the same - make the songs and the recordings sound as big, as polished, and as accessible to your audience (however large or small) as you can. With that being said, here are some things to be aware of:

1. You Hardly Ever Sound Great The First Time
Contrary to what you might have heard about hit records done on the first take, most recordings of any type require a lot of work to be any good. It takes time to get both the right sounds and performances, and unfortunately, these things usually can’t be rushed.

Perhaps the most difficult thing to learn when recording is not to expect gold-record-quality playing right off the bat. One of the worst ideas that you can get is that you have to be perfect every time you play. It just doesn’t happen that way so don’t get discouraged. Even the best studio players make some flubs or have slightly erratic time when they’re playing. They just go back and fix the problems afterwards and you can too. Yes, it does happen occasionally when someone gets extremely lucky and plays something terrific on the first take, but it’s a rare exception even for studio savvy and expert musicians.

Recording is hard work. It’s not uncommon for people to slave over a part for days or even weeks until it feels right in the track. So if pros won’t settle for something that’s not the best it can be, why should you?

I know you’re probably thinking about all those hit records in the 50’s that were done in just a few takes, how the first Beatles record was done in one twelve hour session, and how in the glory days of Motown in Detroit they used to crank out three number one hits in three hours. All true. But don’t forget that all those famous 50’s artists honed their act from months and years of playing on the road - the Beatles played six sets a night for a year in Hamburg before they hit the studio, and the Motown studio musicians were the best of the best jazz musicians in Detroit with some hall-of-fame songwriters and arrangers. But besides all that, the bar is set so much higher for recording these days. Sad but true that many of those incredible tracks just wouldn’t make it through the recording process if they were done today because of defects in the playing.

The fact of the matter is that recording today on any level is a demanding process, so don’t expect great results right away. Just like a band learning a new song together, everything takes some time before it actually gels, so just be prepared to work until you get it.

As an example, I really believe that a typical overdub takes at least two days to record. The first day you work the part out until it’s a perfect fit for the song. The second day you actually perform it well, since now you know how to play it and can just concentrate on performance. The whole trick to to follow your gut. If you think deep down inside that you can do it better, then you probably can.

It’s A Lot Of Work
In the majority of cases, making a record is hard work. It takes a lot of time to work parts out, make them sound great, and play and/or sing them well. Sure there’s been a handful of records that have been done on the first take or in a couple of hours (mostly in the 50’s and early 60’s), but that’s a rare occurrence that involves as much luck as winning the lottery.

During the recording of one of my early band’s demo tapes, we became increasingly frustrated because it seemed to take forever (a whole 4 hours!) to record six songs from our set. “We must really suck,” is what we told ourselves from that point until the band broke up, but only later when I began to regularly work in studios did I learn the real truth. Recording is hard work and takes a lot of time to make something that will sound good.

Now these were songs that we’d been playing at gigs every weekend for about a year so we knew them backwards and forwards. Or so we thought! First of all, you never really know exactly what you’re playing and exactly what you sound like until you record yourself. Almost always you’ll find that something that you thought was gangbusters is in fact just a buster. You might be playing a line differently from the other guitar player. Maybe your rhythm pattern is different from what the drummer is playing. Maybe you just can’t hit that high like you thought you could.

The secret here is to be brutally honest with yourself about your playing and singing, just like in the previous chapters. If it doesn’t sound great, either rehearse it until it does or don’t play it at all!"

You can read more book excerpts on my bobbyowsinski.com website.

----------------------------------

Bob Ludwig's 3 Mixing Tips

2012-01-15T21:30:00.000-08:00

I saw this article in the Huffington Post (of all places) and I just had to excerpt some of it. Here are 3 mixing tips from mastering legend Bob Ludwig of Gateway Mastering. Of course, these a mixing tips from a mastering engineer's point of view, but excellent tips nonetheless. Go here to read the entire interview.

"Is there a top 3 "don'ts" that you have to fix in mastering?
Bob Ludwig:
1. The most common big criticism I have is not paying enough attention to the vocal. The vocal is everything to the success of a song. Make it loud enough to be able to hear the lyrics. The problem is, if the vocal level is too high, all the energy of the track disappears, if it is too low, you can't understand what is being said. If you want to be able to hear every word and you are mixing it, be sure to have a friend who does NOT know the words come in and tell you what is being sung. Once you know the lyrics, you can mix them very low and still understand them, but everyone else might miss some important words. It is hard, but crucial to get the right level.

Always cover yourself by doing one or two extra mixes with the vocal raised +0.5dB and another +1dB. Some languages need extra vocal level as more nuances of the language can easily get lost. Louder vocals are usually found on country music mixes, French and Japanese mixes.

2. Vocal sibilance not contained is a problem. As in item "1", some producers will make the vocal as bright as musically possible in order to have it be intelligible yet tucked into the track. Sometimes the vocal is simply too sibilant. These days where most big projects are being cut for vinyl it is even more important to control sibilance as it creates high amplitude, high frequency grooves that are beyond the ability of all but the best cartridges to reproduce and one gets a "spitting" sound on the sibilance. Controlling sibilance in the mix is by far the best place to do it as the de-esser will only affect the voice while de-essing during mastering necessitates compromising the brightness of the entire track.

3. A mix with a bright vocal and a dull drum sound is really a problem. The all important snare takes up a lot of spectrum and trying to brighten it with eq will make the bright vocal even brighter and quickly become unacceptable. It is a real trap that can only be helped by mastering from the TV track with a separate vocal a cappella track, something that most often is not an option."

If you're going to send you mix off to a mastering engineer, heed these points and you'll get much better results.

----------------------------------

Rod Stewart "I'm Losing You" Song Analysis

2012-01-12T21:30:00.000-08:00

Reader Chris Benedetto requested an oldie but a goodie, a song from Rod Stewart's first solo album Every Picture Tells A Story in 1971called "I'm Losing You." The song featured all of the members of The Faces, Rod's, band at the time, but the credits were vaguely listed because of contractual reasons. "(I Know) I'm Losing You" was actually a hit for The Temptations in 1966, but Rod and The Faces version is a much more energetic, rockin' cut. Like all song analysis, we'll look at the song form, the arrangement, the sound and the production.

The Song
You can tell that "I'm Losing You" is basically a live cut in the studio due to it's looseness and the fact that not everyone hits the cues on time, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have an interesting form. The song looks like this:

Guitar/Bass Intro, Song Intro, Verse, B Section, Chorus, Bridge, Solos, Drums, Guitar/Bass Intro, Verse

The song is basically a jam based around a song and very much in the spirit of be bop jam where the head of the song is played, there's a lot of soloing, then the head is played again at the end. In this case, the basic sections of the song are stated at the beginning, but only the very intro is returned to at the end.

The Arrangement
There's not much of an arrangement, since there are no real set parts and everyone is playing more or less free form. Here's what the arrangement elements look like:

The Foundation: The drums, tambourine during the drum solo

The Rhythm: Bass, guitar, piano

The Pad: None

The Lead: Lead vocal

The Fills: Piano, guitar

The Sound
The Faces were known for some pretty thin-sounding recordings, but this is not one of them. The drums are very full sounding and recorded in stereo, as is the piano (something not found much in 1971 recordings).

Ron Wood's guitar was always kinda thin sounding until he joined The Stones. Here's it's panned to the left a big with a nice long reverb wash. Ronnie Lane's bass does sound very thin and distorted and is panned slightly to the right, and instantly disappears in the mix when all the instruments enter. Rod Stewart's vocal is clear and not overly compressed, with a touch of the same reverb as on the guitar. Ian McLagan's piano is very dry and in your face, which adds a nice layering element to the recording.

The Production
Rod was the producer of the album, but as was many the case back then, that probably meant more of selecting the take and getting the feel rather than directing the show like it is today. That's pretty much what happens when the recording is built around a jam.

Send me your requests for song analysis.

----------------------------------

An Excellent Nashville Adventure

2012-01-11T21:30:00.000-08:00

Ken and Bobby at RCA Studio B and their excellent piano.

Let me tell you about an excellent adventure that the esteemed producer/engineer Ken Scott and I just returned from. We were invited to speak at the TI:ME Conference in Louisville over the weekend, but the trip was extended to include engagements at Belmont University and SAE in Nashville on Monday and Tuesday. Although we usually each give separate presentations, we decided to combine what we both do because of the time restraints. In three of the sessions, I interviewed Ken about his past work with The Beatles, Bowie, Supertramp and more. On the other session, Ken interviewed me about my various books.

Amp stands in Studio B so the musicians didn't play too loud.

We gave two presentations in the lovely city of Louisville (home of the Kentucky Derby), where one night we were treated to an excellent concert by the US Army Field Band. It certainly makes you proud that a service band can be composed of so many great musicians, and their big band music was the equal to any great concert by just about any band today, bar none. Good music is just good music, no matter the genre.

On Sunday we drove up to Nashville, where we were met by studio designer Carl Tatz and multi-platinum engineer Bob Bullock (I absolutely love the Shania Twain records that he's done). Carl took us to a home studio that he built that features his Phantom Focus System. This turned out to be an incredible treat. Carl's system is more about the interface and tuning of the speakers rather than the speakers themselves and the results are tremendous. I've never heard such pin-point panning in the stereo field, or depth of field. You've got to hear a PFS system to believe it Everything else pales in comparison. We spent of a lot of the afternoon just listening to music for the sheer enjoyment of it. When was the last time that happened?

After that we had a great Indian dinner with award-winning film composer and former LA native Chris Boardman. I think it's very safe to say that he does not miss the City of Angels one bit.

On Tuesday it was off to Belmont University were they drowned us in southern hospitality, first with a lunch with their music and recording faculty, then off to a tour of the their excellent studio facilities. Belmont is lucky to have an endowment from Mike Curb to buy up some of the greatest studios on the planet rather than see them turned into parking lots. First we were off to Owen Bradley's former studio "The Quanset Hut," home of such classics as Patsy Cline's, "Crazy", Brenda Lee's "I'm Sorry" and Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet." Then it was off to the former RCA Studio B, where we were amazed to see the same room and gear that Elvis, Roy Orbison, Ernest Tub, Porter Wagoner, Floyd Cramer and Chet Atkins used. Wow! Then it was off to see the church turned studio at Oceanway. That's a full day in itself, but there was more.

The cabinet that Elvis kicked and broke (and refused to fix).

At 5:30 we addressed a packed house of students at Belmont and unfortunately, they had to turn a few students away due to fire codes. That said, it was really great to feel their energy and enthusiasm, and we both really enjoyed their questions and interactions. Belmont has a truly wonderful program that touches so many facets of the music industry (I could go on and on about how impressed I was), but a college is nothing without it's faculty, and it was great to see the high caliber of pros that the program employed. Thanks to all for a great time and your hospitality, especially Professor Flo (Mark Volman, of The Turtles, Zappa and Flo and Edie fame) for arranging our visit and Sara Cates and Jim Kaiser for facilitating our tour and talk. One thing that was interesting though - there were more females than males in the audience (which is highly unusual in the audio business), probably thanks to Ken's animal magnetism.

Ken, Bob Welch, Bobby

That night, we were lucky enough to have dinner with former Fleetwood Mac singer/writer/guitar player and solo artist Bob Welch. "Ebony Eyes" has always been one of may favorite songs so it was a treat to finally meet him. But wait, there's more.

On Tuesday we started the day off over at Mayfair Mastering, where the legendary (and new AES Fellow) Glenn Meadows played us some choice Steely Dan cuts in his fine new room. If you know Glenn, then you know that everything he touches can only be excellent.

Then it was off to SAE to speak to more inquiring minds. SAE is different from most recording schools in that it's a fast track program designed to get students on their way into the business in a minimum amount of time. Once again, it was great to have the opportunity to address a great group of future professionals. You could just see the hunger to learn in their eyes. Thanks to Crystal Armentrout to facilitating our talk and Alan Shacklock for the great introduction.

Then it was off to the airport and back to LA and business as usual. Thanks Mike Lawson (my champion) for all your help and being our tour manager, and to Alfred Music Publishing for sponsoring our trip. Nashville, I have a feeling we're going to see you again soon.

----------------------------------