Music Engineers/Producers

Studio Time: Knowing When it's Time to Take a Break

2016-03-31T13:30:00.000-07:00

Lock and load, it's off to the studio we to go. Yes, it's a project and depending on how big your band is and how much the band is planning to record, it could be a whole day event, a week-long event, or even longer.

Since in most cases you will be paying for your studio time, you want to utilize it in the most efficient way possible - but the key words there is MOST EFFICIENT. A huge mistake that is often made in the studio is not knowing when to take a break or call quits for the day altogether.

It's common to want to keep going and get as much music recorded as possible no matter how tired and worn out you or your band is getting. But if you force yourself to keep recording when you are exhausted then the only thing you might be doing is recording it now, just to have to go back and record it again.

Not only does your body, vocals and the ability to hit notes start to suffer, but your ears and the way you hear things suffer too. Your ears won't translate the same sound the same way to the brain when you are exhausted opposed to when you are refreshed and feeling good.

That's right, pushing yourself when exhausted can result in the performance as a whole suffering, and after a good nights rest, you might listen to it the next day and be very displeased with what you hear. Like with every part of our body, our ears get tired, and no matter how long you keep playing they won't repair back to normal until they have had some rest.

It's just like sports and the reason why coaches have a second and third spring of athletes to switch in and out. When the main players get tired they are unable to play at an optimal level until they had some time to relax and rejuvenate. You need to treat your ears, vocals, fingers, arms and the rest of your body the same way, you need time to rejuvenate if you want to hear something spectacular on playback.

It may suck taking a break or quitting until the next day, but what is the point of recording if you are just going to have to record it again. Sure, technology these days can mask a lot of mistakes, miscues and half-hearted playing, but nothing beats a performance that is killer from the get go.

Putting Together a Demo for Your Break Into The Music Industry

2014-03-23T15:51:00.003-07:00

As a band or as a solo artist, eventually you have to start thinking about making a demo CD for A&R reps, producers, production companies, and record labels to help market, fund, and traffic your music.

Getting someone in the music industry to take the time to listen to your demo is not an easy task. Most demos are tossed in the garbage before they are even opened and if they are listened to, even if you only put three songs on the CD, most people in the music industry won't even bother listening to the whole thing. Don't take it personally; it's the music industry.

But if you do have something special and you are ready to put together a demo CD in the attempt to get the attention of the music industry, there are some things you need to know to be successful in this venture.

Put Together a Couple of Great Tracks

First, you have to take some time and decide which songs are your best songs that will grab the attention of someone who might want to invest some time in you. Three to five songs are all you really need.

Special Track Structure for a Demo

To improve your chances of having more than one song listened to you should set your demo CD up like this: take 30 seconds of each song and put those clips as your first three to five tracks. Next, create another three to five tracks of the same songs at their original lengths and put them at the end of the CD. This will help when someone important listens to the CD, they will hear just a little preview of each song and they can quickly move on to the next one. When and if they do hear something they like they can go forward to the track that contains the whole length of the song for more.

Important: Make sure that you label the CD cases with the information that tells the person who will be listening to the CD that the track structure is set up in this special way to avoid confusions.

Also, make sure that all artist names or the band's name is on the CD insert or cover along with each member of the band and their responsibilities.

Press Kit

The ideal of a press kit is to essentially tell whoever picks up your CD to listen to it, who you and or your band are, what your accomplishments are, where you have performed, and any proof of a local, Internet, national and international fan base that you have acquired throughout time under the bands or artist name.

You may also want to have some live performances recorded at a venue you frequent or in the studio where you record. Yes, it would make more of an impact to have a live performance at a venue, but you can still do some really cool stuff in a studio with a camera.

In this press kit you also want to include a bio - make sure to include what ambitions and intent you yourself or your band has along with any other info that can help you or your band standout.

Make Contact

Take some time and network with people who are involved in the music industry - ask questions and make connections. The ideal here is to find places you can send your demo CD to that are worth your while. My first demo CD I sent out, I made the mistake of sending it out to every place that was or maybe wasn't excepting demos, and to this day I wonder just how many demos I sent out that never made it out of the package before finding its way to the trash can. I'm going to assume out of probably 150 demos I sent out, only about 2 percent of them made it into a CD player, that's a lot of wasted time.

The best way to avoid wasting your time sending out demos to places or to people who won't listen to it is to make you're music solicited. Sounds tough right? It's not, a lot of bigger record companies do not accept non-solicited music, but all you have to do is talk to someone and get them to agree to listen to your music, and then you can send it to the address of which they give you and label it "Attention: corresponding name" and now you're solicited. This will help you and the company or person you send it to. A three-minute phone call will give you an exact address to send your demo to so it won't end up in the wrong hands and then tossed in the garbage.

Get Some Representation

Let's say you have exhausted all of your connections and the Internet is a well ran dry of possibilities. You can always look to hire professionals to help you get your music in the hands of the right people. Yes, it can be expensive, yes it can seem like they're doing nothing more than what you can do, but the difference is that they probably have connections that you would never be able to get your hands on, that's their job. The question you have to ask yourself or your band is "will it be worth the money?"

There will be a risk, let's face it, no one wants to think that they aren't good enough and no one should have to. But in this case, if you or your band still needs more practice and more experience, you should wait on spending the money on professional help until you and or your band can utilize it in the most efficient way.

You have to look at like this, if you are paying someone to help you and they know that you're not ready for this type of move yet, that person you are paying will not tell you because they want your money. Even worse, they will not give you or your band the time and the effort you are paying for, basically, because it won't be in their best interest for their career to promote your music to other professionals when they know it's not ready to be promoted.

But if you feel you are ready and you have an awesome press kit, bio and demo, and you're ready for the big boys but your connection just aren't powerful enough to get your music noticed, this could be money well spent.

Keep in Touch

Let's say you have made some contacts and you have some people who are willing to give your music a listen. There is nothing wrong with a follow-up phone call. Let's say you sent your music and the person or company has received it but has not taken the time to listen to it yet. This phone call could light the fire under someone to open the CD and give it some time, especially if you come off as someone who might just call ever week until someone does listen to it. You may also help yourself by calling if someone has listened to the CD and is on the fence about it. A phone call could show them the ambition that they want to see from an artist, and that might sway them in the right direction about what they want to do about the situation in general.

A Couple Last Things You Can Do

This is not a must, but it will help you look more professional: Get your music copyrighted. This won't only make you look more professional but will also protect your music when you're sending it out to different places.

You can also help yourself and your band by using art work in the form of a label or a symbol that can be associated with the band or you as an artist. Again, this is not a must, but anything that can help market your name is just one more thing to add to your press kit and can help your chances of success.

One last thing that should be noted is that this is a process, making it big overnight will be like hitting the lotto. So unless you're feeling that lucky, get ready for the long hall.

How to Use Your Outboard Processor with Pro Tools

2013-11-14T15:31:00.001-08:00

There's a trend for audio interfaces to include insert points on the inputs, greatly simplifying the use of line-level processors when recording mic or instrument-level signals. You'll probably need a TRS-to-dual-TS insert cable to accomplish this because invariably the insert will be sent and returned on a single TRS jack. Simply patch the interface's insert to the in and out of the processor, and the processor becomes part of the recording chain. Remember that anytime you involve a hardware processor with your DAW session, you must process and bounce in real time, even when using an external plug-in processor.

If you're lucky enough to have an arsenal of outboard mic pres, simply route the output of the pre into a compressor or EQ, etc., and then route the output of the processor to the input of your audio interface. The signal will be compressed or EQ'ed before it's recorded. You now have a reason to keep some of your old hardware around!

Three Reasons Music Recording Engineers are Having a Hard Time Finding Work

2013-10-09T06:42:00.001-07:00

Having a hard time finding work in the Music Industry as a recording engineer?

There is three big reasons why - the economy, technology and the Internet. These three factors have played a huge part in the loss of work for engineers, and here is why.

The Economy

Yes, a lot of people may think that the economy would not affect the music industry as much as it does, but in some cases it may be effected by the economy even more than most industries.

The music industry relies on people having extra money, and when times are tough, people don't buy CD's or go to concerts; a band that spends $4000.00 a year to have their CD recorded, if they can't afford it anymore than the engineers, producers and studios suffer.

As long as the economy is not doing good or even when it bounces back, if it's still at an unstable state or at least in a rescission state, the cycle will continue and it will be hard to find people who are willing to record their band or their self to make a CD that might only sell a few hundred or even a few thousand copies.

The economy also affects record labels and production companies as well. Record companies and productions companies are the financial backing to a lot of work that comes available to studios and engineers. They can pay for studio time that an artist or band may not be able to afford, but if sales down, then they will be restricted to how much funds they can use to promote a talent.

Technology

Technology is great for the D.I.Y. (do it yourself) people, but for a recording engineer it makes trying to get work very hard. Technology is making it capable to have a small home studio with big professional results at an extremely affordable price.

A studio that could have been put together 15 years ago for about $50,000.00, can now be put together in someone's garage or basement for just about $5,000 dollars, and believe or not, it can sound just as good.
Even worse for the engineer, if you're just a solo musician or a really small band, it can take even less money and even less space. Hand held recorders, computer software, compact MIDI keyboards, MP3's, flash drives etc. are just some of the products playing a part in taking the need of an educated, experienced engineer out of the equation.

The Internet (Information World)

Here is the third and final nail in the coffin for the independent recording engineer. If you have access to all of the equipment mentioned above and more, and want to learn how to use it, the internet has unlimited resources to learn from. Although, there are some things you just can't pick up from reading or watching videos - if you stick with your hobby long enough, you might just be able to be just as good as a professional without the need for schooling or an internship.

Adjust Your Game Plan
Just think about some of these factors when you go out looking for work. Understand, it might not be you or your talent that hurts your chances of getting work, but it could be that the Music Industry is changing and recording engineers are suffering from it. My suggestion to everyone is to see how the industry is changing and change with it. Find out where and how other engineers are making their money in the industry and adjust your game plan.

Recording a Great Album: The Golden Rules 31 - 37 of 37

2013-09-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

Ready Mix

31. Listen in the studio to CD's you're used to hearing on your home stereo to get an ideal of how the studio's system sounds.

32. If mixing somewhere other than the recording studio you recording in, try and make sure you use the same type of speakers and set-up. If you don't, the mix will sound completely different.

33. Once you have selected an engineer (or a producer) to mix your recording, have them do the first mix. Their ears are better trained than yours. Try to keep an open mind and try to learn from the person you're paying.

34. Think about the songs as a whole and don't signal out instruments, otherwise everyone will want their instrument louder in the mix.

35. Determine a band spokesperson ahead of time. An engineer getting five different opinions on how to mix will grow tired and might cause him/her to rush through the job.

36. Decide which format you want the finished mixes to be on: high resolution .wav or .aiff files on CD-R, DVD-R, or flash drive are the preffered formast, however an audio CD or DAT are viable options as well.

37. Budget and account for unforeseen delays.

Recording a Great Album: The Golden Rules 27-30 of 37

2013-09-26T06:09:00.000-07:00

Monitoring the Mix

27. Listen to your music at moderate levels in your car or on a boom box. This is how most of your fans will listen to it, and mixing at loud levels will fatigue your ears and distort the "true" sound.

28. Sometime it's good to take a day off and come back to listen. The same applies for mix-down. Ears don't last very long in the studio.

29. As you review each mix, make sure you can comfortably hear all of the instruments. Tweak the mix on a small pair of speakers at an extremely low volume. Headphones are also very valuable at this stage. You should be able to pick up each instrument even at this level.

30. Learn to recognize ear fatigue. You're better off quitting a session early when you're tired than wasting time making a bad mix that will have be redone anyway.

Recording A Great Album: The Golden Rules 20-26 of 37

2013-09-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

The Recording Process

20. Don't necessarily double track everything. Doubling a lead vocal can hide all the subtleties that make a song personal and likable. (Although it can work well for a chorus).

21. Know when to quit for the day, if your tired if will show.

22. Keep guest out! It's your recording. Guest will distract you can menu sway your opinion of how the music should sound.

23. Make backup copies after every recording session.

24. Turn-up often!

25. Singers: always bring water but don't use ice! Ice constricts your vocal chords. Hot tea with lemon and honey works well to relax your vocal chords.

26. Always get a track listing and accurate time log from the studio.

Recording A Great Album: The Golden Rules 14-19 of 37

2013-09-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

The Recording Process

14. Remember, it's emotion and feeling that make the best song, not necessarily the best technical rendition.

15. If you mess up a part while recording, don't stop and start over. That can easily cause you to burn out. Instead, check to see if the engineer can punch in the correction.

16. You don't have to fill all the tracks on the tape - don't try to force something that won't fit.

17. Always keep in mind the focus of your music. If it's the vocals, plan to spend the most time on them. Don't waste time on things that don't highlight the focal point.

18. Get the sound you want while recording, never assume you can fix it in the mix.

19. Unless you have unique effects, record individual tracks clean and add effects later.

Recording A Great Album: The Golden Rules 7-13 of 37

2013-09-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

Preparing to Record

7. Be early! At some studios, the clock starts running whether you're their or not. Find out about their cancellation policy.

8. Make the studio a comfortable relaxed place. If it's not, it will show in your finished product. Most studios will have your basic essentials, but if you need something special or special accommodation, it's up to you to make those arrangements.

9. Make sure you and your engineer have the same vision - go over your songs with him/her before recording. Before booking your studio time, ask to hear other material the engineer recorded. If artist/band and engineer are on different pages, it can be costly for who ever is paying for the studio.

10. Depending on whether the/you studio has 8, 16, 24, or 48 track capability, plan out how you will leave room for all of the essential parts. This should simplify the mix and eliminate the need for bouncing tracks later.

11. Use new strings, chords, drums sticks and heads - and bring spares.

12. Find out the hours of the local music store just in case. Most studios might be able to hook you up with some spare equipment, but you will want to use your style and brand for the perfect outcome.

13. Don't use new gear or different equipment that you haven't used before, "even if it's better than what you have." Surprises can cause problems and just because it's better does not me it will make you play better.

Rule of thumb - if you wait till the studio clock is running to tie up loose-ends it's like throwing money in the garbage. And one more misconception: hangovers and efficiency do not mix.

Recording A Great Album: The Golden Rules 1-6 of 37

2013-09-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

Pre-Production

Try some of these tips to Record a great Album

Record your songs during live gigs and pre-production rehearsals. Even a simple single track recording may reveal weak parts of songs.
Have all the musical and vocal parts worked out. Know who going to do what and when there going to do it e.i. SOLOS , BREAKS, BRIDGES. No reason to go to the studio and then start wasting time on figuring things out, remember (Time is Money). Even if your not paying for studio time, it's still hard to find the time to get everyone together and frustrating when bands mates and engineers are not on the same level.
Using a computer or Sequencer? Prepare all sequence material before the session. knowing the programs and using templates are a great way to do this.
Rehearse more songs than you plan to record. You never know which songs will sound strong on the final product. (If you plan to have a four-song EP, prepare six songs just in case.
If you plan to use a click track, make sure your drummer is comfortable playing to it. (To get tight, practice to a click track at a very slow tempo.)
Take care of your body before and during your recordings sessions. Eat well, get engouh sleep, and keep your ears rested and clear.

Two Important Tips for Mastering Your Music

2013-09-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

Tip One
One question that is often asked when it comes to mastering, “should I master my own music?"

The answer is NO.

I know a lot of people either do their own mastering or want to just because they go out and get some fancy mastering program. But the truth, is not even some of the best engineers in the world master the music they have recorded.

The reason why is because you will spend so much time sitting their listening to the music while you mix it, that your ears will eventually start hearing what they want to hear. This makes it extremely hard to make those very small much needed adjustments.

If you give it to someone else to master ( lets hope it’s a professional ) they will be hearing it for the first time and this means they will have a totally different prospective on what they are hearing. Frequency can be funky, especially if your just moving them a couple Khz to distinguish separation between two instruments. So why not let a fresh set of ears make these distinguishes.

Tip Two
If you don’t yet know what plug-ins you need to use such as: limiter/compression, eq etc. I suggest you don’t do it. Take it to a professional and stand in while he works; learn, read a book, take a class, but if you don't know what you're doing then you're better off not doing anything.

If you insist on taking on this project, the first thing you need to do is take a long break from the music. Doesn’t mater how good you are at mastering, take a day or two to let your mind and your ears reset.

The second thing you need to do is make sure you use your monitor speakers. Headphones can be used and can be good to reference what your monitors are doing, but for the most part you need to complete the mastering project with your monitors.

One last thing, before you try to master anything, it’s important to make sure you are completely familiar with the software/hardware you are using. This tip does not just go for mastering, but for every part of making music. What is the since of having an expensive music program if you only know how to use half of it's functions.

Recording Engineer Advice: Use a Schedule to get the Most Out of Your Days

2013-04-29T16:20:00.001-07:00

If you're a freelance audio recording engineer, chances are you do not have a clock to punch everyday. You are your own boss and you're basically free to pick and choose when you want work. This is one of the advantages to working for yourself, but it could also be a disadvantage that could hurt freelance business.

It's easy to put things off and get to them later or tomorrow, but in this type of business where time can be money, if you're not motivated to get work or find clients you could essentially be losing money.

So how do you make sure you don't find yourself in this situation?

The best thing you can do to stay motivated and on top of your work is to create a schedule.

I create a schedule at night before bed, this helps me get right up in the morning and get right to work. But creating one at the beginning or end of the week, like on Sunday, for the whole week ahead may work even better.

I found that writing one for a whole week doesn't work for me because some days I would accomplish more or less than what was scheduled for the day, and by time the end of the week comes my schedule would be all fouled up. So instead of fixing the schedule everyday, I just write an all new list at the end of each night.

I also found that knowing that I had a schedule to get to every morning would actually get me up a little earlier. The motivation of crossing some things off my list and putting prospects of making some money on the table makes me feel good and motivated.

Without a schedule I may not even bother heading right to work, I may fart around with some T.V., use the internet to search non-audio recording related topics, basically just waste time until something pops in my head that has to be done. You can easily drain away a half of day watching pointless U-Tube videos.

The point is the benefits of not having to punch the clock everyday are great, but if you don't think of your business like a job than you might-as-well make it a hobby and get a 9-to-5 to pay the bills.

The Best Way to Record and Mix Drums and Base in to a Song

2013-04-26T18:06:00.000-07:00

Many professional will tell you many different ways to go about this. There tips and tricks of all kinds when it comes to what kind of music you are mixing. But through the years I found my self reverting back to one process that I have enjoyed and think that it helps me get the best results in the least amount of time.

First I mix all of my highs or non- base and drum tracks together. Then I mute those and I mix all of the drum tracks, once I am happy with the way the drums are mixed I then bring the rest of the tracks in except for the base and I mix them according to volume and do what ever small frequency changes that are needed. Next I turn off all tracks except the base and drums and mix accordingly.

The last step is to mix them all together. I find at this point, with all of my previous mixing there is not much mixing that has to be done. You should be pretty close to the sound you are looking for without the need to do to much more frequencies changes and what not.

I think this works the best because it's usually the baseline that needs the least amount of work in terms of eq and effects. In-fact, most of the time the only thing I make changes for is the clash between the kick and the base. As long as the volume is where it's supposed to be, I find that the base needs very little work, thus making it easier to work with all of the other tracks first and then smooth in the base.

Guitar Tip: Record Different Microphones From Difference Distances

2013-04-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

While attending school at the Recording Institute of Detroit, I found that one of the major focuses was microphone placement. And since getting the perfect sound from a guitar can sometimes be so difficult, instructors often emphasized guitar microphone placement more than other sections of recording.

One of the things we always talked about and practiced was the process of using multiple microphones efficiently at and around the sound source to improve your chances of achieving the perfect sound.

The rule of thumb we were taught was: Why put all your eggs in one basket, meaning why just use one microphone?

If you can take three or more different microphones and set them in different places such as: two up nice-and-close, about 1-5 inches away picking up sound from both sides of the source, another one about 3 to 5 feet away, one in the distance, maybe ten feet maybe further and others placed about the room depending on preference -- you will have a broad line of guitar tracks that can be useful during mix-down.

With this process, when your done recording, you should have enough sound sources that even if a couple of them did not turn out the way you wanted them to, you should still be able to find something that fits your needs. Weather it's just one track you decide on using or you decide to use more than one together with each other, you should be able to avoid the need to go back in the recording room and re-record the track.

This process may also allow you to cut back on plug-ins such as reverb or delay. You can try to mix in some of the room mics to emulate those plug-ins, and lets face it, the less you use your plug-ins the more natural the sound source sounds.

Important Tip: Make sure that each separate track sounds perfect while playing by itself, worry about how they sound playing together later during mix down.

From course-to-verse from song-to-song, the options of having a different texture of sound from the same guitar without the need of leaving the control room to change things around can be extremely convenient for a recording engineer and producer.

Although this tip is pretty amateur, it can still be often forgotten when going through the motions of setting up for a recording. But if you have a guitarist and or a band that's not sure exactly how they want the guitar to sound throughout a track or an album, than this is a great way to give them a couple of track options with one recording section.

Recording Engineering Tip: Protect Your Ears

2013-04-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

I remember back when I was a youngster, the thought of things like race cars, a great sounding sound systems, gun shots, air planes, concerts etc. were all awesome and the louder the better. Ear plugs were not an option, listing to music or playing video games at normal listening levels were not an option.

But if you plan on working in music or any type of audio recording than you need to treat your ears like you want them to last for a while. It's bad enough as we get older are bodies get older and get tired, and your ears are no different.

Although you can't stop your ears from getting older you can help them last longer by avoiding unneeded punishment. Knowing your surroundings and using your common since should let you know if something is to loud for your open ears to listen to.

Even though it might seem like the manly thing to do, listen to things with out your ears protected at full volume, but as manly as it may seem, how manly is wearing a hearing aid for the last thrity years of your life.

My grandfather worked in a factory for 30 years, OSHA was not a factor and ear plugs were not required. My whole life my Grandfather has had to wear a hearing aid and respond to every question with, "ha, what, can you repeat yourself."

For each 3 dB (decibels) you increase the sound, you need to cut the time your ears are exposed to those loud sounds in half. Here's a chart to help you figure out if what you expose your ears to is to much.

85 dB	8 hrs
88 dB	4 hrs
91 dB	2 hrs
94 dB	1 hr
97 dB	30 min
100 dB	15 min
103 dB	8 min
106 dB	4 min
109 dB	2 min
111 dB	1 min
114 dB	30 sec
117 dB	15 sec
120 dB	8 sec
123 dB	4 sec
126 dB	2 sec
129 dB	1 sec

A db test is not too expensive and can be bought in many places about the Internet. But again, I would have to say that common since should tell you what is to loud for your ears. If you want to be recording music past the age of 60, then you need to be protecting your ears now.

Three Quick Tips for Excessive Cymbal Noise

2013-04-16T18:20:00.000-07:00

Drums are an important part of just about every song, like the guitar and bass, almost every song will have these components. As an audio engineer , one of the biggest problems you will face when recording drums, which you won't have when recording a bass or a guitar, is too much cymbal action and too much high frequency. Basically all this means is the sound of the cymbal hit is just too loud and last longer than what is wanted or needed for the action.

Since there is no volume knob for a cymbal and asking the drummer to take it easier on the cymbals is probably not going to be an option, here are three things as an engineer you can try to fix this problem.

Try a De-esser Plug-in. Yes, in most cases this is supposed to be used for a vocal, but I haven't seen that written in stone anywhere. This plug-in might just take away that high frequency and on-going ringing that you need to tame down the unwanted sound without affecting the initial sound too much.

Use a Compressor. Using a compressor plug-in might help keep some of those tones in check. A 10:1 ratio with a threshold of -10 might give you some amazing results. In fact, a slight compression after the De-esser program might really give you a sound that sounds great without using a whole lot of EQ.

Remove the Overhead Mics. If your drummer is hitting the cymbals so hard that the sound is too over powering, it might be time to rethink your microphone set-up. For most drum mic set-ups, you will have a left and right overhead mic. But if your drummer is hitting the cymbals hard enough to ditch the overhead mics, you should do just that. If this is the case, you can possibly just get away with using the individual mics that you are using to pic up the other components, or if you still need a good overall sound from your drum kit, you can try setting up a room mic to capture the drum kit at a whole.

I know as an engineer myself, it's easy to say I don't completely like the way those cymbals sound but I will fix the problem later during mix down. This is a big no-no. What happens if you record five or six songs with the set-up the way it is, later the band packs up and goes home and then when you get ready to mix these songs, you find out that the cymbals just are not fixable without re-recording the drum tracks again, how do you explain yourself? Remember, one of the most important rules in recoding is doing it right the first time.

Launching a Recording Engineer Career

2013-04-04T18:28:00.002-07:00

Rocky Starts

Becoming a recording engineer in the music industry is not as easy as some people may hope. There are very few salary based jobs out there for a recording engineer. The only real way to break into the industry of recording music is to become a freelance audio engineer. The hardest part about being a freelance audio engineer is getting your first couple of clients and getting them to come back. It's not uncommon for someone to spend 1 to 5 years in search of a steady clientele that can bring in some source of steady income that can put food on the table, pay the bills, pay for health insurance and pay for any equipment you need to keep your business up and running.

Finding Clients

The reason why the first couple of steady clients are so hard to find is because it is hard to get someone to shell out some hard-earned cash for your recording services when they have no idea what kind of work you will do for them. Even with an education in the recording arts field, you will find that it does not mean very much. It may relieve some worries of potential clients but not enough to make a big difference. In fact, most of the real successful recording engineers never even attended school. Of course this does not mean that someone should skip out on getting educated before trying to jump-start a career in the recording arts field. If you need the education and even if you don't, if you can afford it, it can't hurt.

Another reason why it is hard to find those first couple of good clients to start-up a steady clientele is that even a somewhat part-time established band or an artist probably already has a recording engineer and a studio that they use on a regular basis. Even if they are not completely satisfied with their current recording situation, it would still be hard to convince someone, who as a beginner, you could do a better job. If a potential client knows you're just starting out as a beginner, they would be taking a huge risk that your recording services could still be extremely amateur. If your recording services were not up to quality standards then (in theory) a band or an artist would still have to pay you, but they would also have to go back to their old recording services and then pay them to either fix what you've done or even have the whole project rerecorded, which is a waste of time, money and also a huge hassle.

Don't Forget the Contract

Here's a little hint! Make sure a contract is signed before work begins. If you were wondering, this is how you will guarantee that you get paid. Like with anything, even if your skills are not yet professional and you're still in the learning process, if you did your best and put the time into it, you will still want to get paid. And with a contract you will. It's up to the client to ask and understand about your credentials and up to you to do the same with your client. If both parties tell the truth, both parties will go into the project with the right expectation.Determination, Networking and Motivation

If you feel like you have the skills and determination to take on this career and make it work for you, then by all means you should follow what you know is best for yourself. Determination, networking and staying motivated when work is not coming in so steadily are the three tools you really need to get a career lunched and keep it going. The most important tool a person needs to utilize is networking. Network with people who have the same ambitions of making it in the music industry as you do. You can have a thousand friends, but if the only thing they know about the music industry is how to pop a in CD of their favorite band or artist and hit play, they will not help you very much when trying to achieve your goal. Anyone you can get to know who plays, records, produces or promotes music are good people to become friends with and stay friends with. You never know when an opportunity not directed to you or for you might come along and one of your friends is in the right place at the right time but can't do the job but can vouch for you and say, "Hey, I have a good friend that may be able to help you out," and sometimes that's all it takes.

Another option of networking you can utilize is advertising. I personally finished school at the Recording Institute of Detroit, and I bought some advertising to see what kind of potential clientele would come my way. Unfortunately, I don't have much good to say about this process. I advertised with networking websites, fliers and business cards, the little response I did get were usually from somewhat corky individuals with completely unrealistic expectations. In fact, I never picked up one of my clients from advertising. I'm not saying that someone else might not find success in this process, but this is just my personal experience. Depending on your location and how much effort you put into advertising, someone else might find different success than I did.

Internships

When I finished school for recording engineering in Michigan, I went on a search for an internship. I contacted over 100 studios about an internship and only received a couple of responses back. The responses I received all pretty much had the same answer. The answers were, they do not use interns at all or some responses were they did not use unsolicited interns. Solicited internships would mean you would have to know someone or pay someone or a company to get you one. Now, there is a possibility that other states have better intern opportunities. But for me I never even checked out-of-state because I did not have the money to relocate to another state for an unpaid internship. I was, however, given advice from two different studio owners/engineers that graciously took some time out of their day to talk to me. Both of their advice was pretty much the same and pretty simple, "In a state like this where almost all musical recording engineers are freelancers, forget the internships and just get out there and get started. An internship would just be wasting a lot of time."

Last Words of Wisdom

I should note that if you are looking for those salary jobs, you will increase your chances dramatically if you were willing to move to places where music is extremely huge, such as New York, California, Nashville Las Vegas etc.

Get Serious About Your Studio: Create a Patch Bay

2013-03-19T19:39:00.003-07:00

If you have a Home Studio and you are running a lot of outboard equipment, then you need to invest in a patch bay. Think of the trouble you probably go through unplugging one piece of equipment and snaking out the cord and then running it to another piece of equipment. Think of the spaghetti mess of cords and knots that you have to fight with and trip over on a consistent basic.

With a patch bay this could all be avoided. Quick and easy access to all of your equipment will help take the stress off of you as the engineer and can help you and your studio look professional.

You will also find that if you have a signal flow problem, finding where the problem is at will be a lot easier with a patch bay. With one patch wire, you can stand or sit in the same place and check everything one plug at a time, it's that simple.

Unfortunately, I wish I could tell you this project is cheap, but I can't. I would say you should expect to pay about a minimum of 200 hundred dollars. The bay itself will cost money and the chords will not be cheap either, but in my opinion money well spent.

So basically, you can keep wasting your time on your hands and knees under your studio desk trying to blindly connect to the back of each component, or you can set up a patch bay and run everything one time and one time only.

Head over to this site for great patch bay advice "patch bay"

M-S Miking for a Change of Pace

2013-03-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been in that position when you record an instrument or a vocal and it seems to sound like just what you want when recording but during play back you just can't seem to get that sound back? Then maybe it is time to try a different Miking technique.

Mid-Side miking (M-S) is a great way to try to pick up a good sound from all the way around the sound source. Even better, after you have recorded, you will be able to in theory change the way the microphones are picking up the sound without rerecording it. This could really help when your stressed for time and going back into the studio just can't be accommodated; this miking technique can really help open up some options.

Now, you do need two particular type of microphones for mid-side miking. A cardioid pattern microphone and a microphone set at a bi-directional pattern. The Cardioid will be facing straight at the source capturing the direct sound, and the bi-directional microphone will be placed perpendicular to the diaphragm of the cardioid microphone. This should give you a nice stereo sound with options to play with later when mixing.

Obviously, everyone is going to have their own opinion and not everyone is going to like this miking method. But (M-S) miking is the oldest form of stereo miking technique you can use. The best thing to me about this system is if you do not get the sound you are looking for, it shouldn't be a big deal, it's not like it takes 5 hours to set it up, five minutes is more like it, and if it does not work it takes five minutes to take down. But if it does work, that is five minutes well spent time.

9 Quick Tips to Improve Your Vocal Tracks

2013-03-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

Since vocals are usually the most important part to a song, they are obviously the most frustrating tracks to mix because you do not want to fall short on quality. You can spend a long time fixing and mixing and just simply not getting the sound that you really want. Here are 10 tips that might help make your life a little easier when recording and mixing vocals.

1. Boosting the EQ around the upper mid range (around 3-4 kHz) can add some more explosiveness, but be modest as this can go a long way.

2. This is the easiest way to help your vocals out. Place the vocalist in the right place. Unlike an instrument, instead of moving the mic around, you can just have the vocalist move forward, backward and side-to-side. Have them lay down some sample tracks with them positioned differently and use the position that sounds best. This is an easy process for getting great vocals. The better the initial recorded sound, the less effects will have to be applied later.

3. When deciding if you need to use a hard knee or a soft knee compressor, you really need to listen to how the singer is singing. If the singer is really powerful on the mic, you want to use a hard knee so that the vocal can be compressed right away. If the vocalist is a little less explosive, by all means use the soft knee to let the vocalist's vocals build up before it is compressed.

4. Check out your gain reduction meter. By almost all accounts, you do not want more than -6 db of reduction on the vocals. If there is more than -6 db of gain reduction, change some of the other parameters to help you get closer to this target number.

5. Unnatural sounding vocals can be caused by too much compression. If this is the case, what you want to do is to lower the compression ratio to (1.2:1 to 3:1).

6. Here is another great way to try to do some tricky stuff. Doubling up on vocals is a great way to bring some debt to the track, but what if the vocalist is not there? You can make a duplicate track and use a pitch shift plug-in. About a -15 to -30 percent pitch shift mixed properly with the main vocal could give you that fat vocal sound you are looking for.

7. If you are looking to clamp down on the peaks of the vocals, but you're not really looking to affect the rest of the vocal dynamics, here are some compression parameters you should go with. Choose a high ratio - something close to 10:1 or higher and a somewhat high threshold - somewhere around -1 to -6 db. This should help you clamp any peaks, but it should be high enough not to affect the average level of the vocals and dynamics.

8. If you have a noise problem due to a noises pre-amp, which can happen, try this little trick to help prevent it. Try using a gate program with a fast attack and a modest decay. But don't do too much of this for it can cause an unnatural sound to the vocals, you want just enough to keep the buzz away when there is not a lot going on in the mix. And make sure you use the bypass function to make sure you're not affecting the vocals in any way.

9. One last thing a lot of engineers may have to ponder: Should they use a popper in front of the mic? There is only one way to answer this question and that is simply just listen to the artist perform and make a decision from there, if you need it, you need it, if you don't, even better.

Using effects to help make vocals sound better is a great way to help an engineer get a great sounding vocal for their clients. But remember, when it comes to compression, reverb, delay, etc., it can make a vocal sound great or it can squeeze the life out of it, and there is nothing worse than an uneventful or an unnatural sounding vocal.

The Importance of Using AUX Channels for Your Vocal Tracks

2013-03-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

A common mistake made by many amateur Recording Engineers is putting effects directly on to the vocal tracks. When I first started recording and did not have a lot of experience, I mixed vocals in a way that I'm sure a lot of other beginners mixed vocals, putting effects directly on the vocal tracks. I still managed to come out with some pretty decent sounding vocals but after working with others, reading and schooling I dropped this bad habit along with a lot of others.

Using AUX channels is not always necessary when mixing instruments, but mixing vocals with AUX channels is crucial. What makes it so crucial? When you start adding effects to the vocals, you still want to have a track with the vocals that is completely dry that you can work with. This just helps you have a lot more control over the natural sound of the vocals, and if there is anything in the mix that you want to sound as real as possible, that would be your vocals. For instance, if you have a reverb effect on the aux plug-in that you feel has the perfect parameters for what you are looking for, but the natural sound is a little too distant, you can bring up the volume of the vocal track without affecting the parameters of your reverb.

Another great advantage to AUX channels every engineer should know and if you don't, read it, write it down, remember it: If you have more than one vocal track you can run each track to the same AUX channel, this will ensure each vocal will be affected by the same amount giving the allusion that each set of vocals was recorded in the same place. When I first started recording, I listened to a lot of local music recorded in garages and basements. This is where I notice the problem, mainly hip-hop and rap had this problem. A lot of neighborhood artist would get together and produce a track. But with four or five different artist and someone mixing it that was far from professional, all of the artist would sound like they had recorded in different rooms and in some cases they did; and having a different amount of effects placed on each track did not make things any better.

The same effects placed on each vocal will help give the allusion that the vocals were recorded in the same place at the same time even if they were not. Even if you have five vocal tracks recorded in five different rooms, running them through one or more main AUX channel is your best bet to making them sound like they all came from the same room. You can still set up different effects for each track, such as EQ or delay, but you want at least have one or main effect that ever channel is affected by.

Is Mastering Your Music Project Really That Important?

2013-03-05T16:42:00.003-08:00

This question comes up a lot, mostly by rookies because it cost extra money and it’s a process that can be quite complicating for the inexperience.

Should I master my music after mixing? The answer is simple, YES.

This is just one part of the recording process, but possibly one of the most important. What you hear coming from your DAW into your monitor speakers or headphones will not be the same once it’s played in MP3 or CD format. Also let’s say you burn your music to CD, listen to it and you like what you hear, since all music devices are different they will play them differently.

Essentially, what mastering does for your music is it gives it all round correct accuracy and clarity when played at any level on any device.

Now, as a rookie, should you attempt this process by yourself? You can, but doing it successfully is up to you and how serious you take it. If you go at this process with no idea of what you’re doing, then you may as well just leave it as is.

But, if you’re willing to take some time and learn by (tutorials, videos, books, websites and hands on experience with a professional) you may get the knowledge you need to tackle this process and be successful at it.

If you do decide to take it seriously and try to master by yourself, you will need to invest in an outboard software mastering program such as IZOTOPE. This is an industry standard program that I found to be the best as far as user friendless, it was also what we were required to use while I attended school for engineering.

Tip: These are your three different major mastering procedures you should look-up and study.

1. Multi-Band Compression

2. Parallel Compression

3. General Compression and Brick Wall.

Recording Engineer Advice: Get paid First!

2013-03-01T19:59:00.000-08:00

If you're a freelance audio engineer then getting paid is important. Unfortunately, there are people out there who just aren't good people and are always looking for someone to screw; it's part of the business. As an engineer you need to protect yourself, and the best way to protect yourself is by making sure nothing leaves your computer or studio without the money upfront.

Rough mixes, data files, masters, mp3's, not even a couple of tracks you recorded out of a full album should ever be handed to the client without being payed. Even if the client is due back for more tracks or a mastering session, you could hand them over a rough mix and later a dispute between rates could arise and the client may decide there are no longer happy with the current situation and not come back; if you did not get paid for the work you handed over, you just lost money.

This is sad to say but even friends should be held to a certain professionalism. Chances are your friends won't skip out on you and not come back, but if you don't take some type of stand it's very easy for them to get the wrong impression and take advantage. Unpaid debt can build up and then get pushed to the side, then be forgotten as they are working on more debt. It's kind of like the old saying my Mom used to say, "Before it even starts, nip it in the bud."

Music Production: Always Use Your Ears for the Perfect Sound

2013-02-27T18:34:00.001-08:00

Nowadays with the technology that we experience in DAW's (digital audio work stations) we tend to be attracted to staring at the big show of colored wave forms, super accurate meters, graphs and digital moving plug-ins that are music programs have to offer. Even know all the glitz and glimmer do serve as a purpose, we tend to forget that our ears are what is hearing the music not are eyes.

When we use both our ears and our eyes, our brains are taking in two different types of information at the same time in-turn distorting or weakening the signal of what we hear. And even know the numbers on the computer screen may never lie they don't always make the sound we are looking for.

One thing that any good engineer needs to do is turn off the computer screen or at least close your eyes when the sound that you are trying to mix is playing. You can try other things to get away from the computer screen as well, such as getting up and walking to the back of the room or to gain a different sound perspective you can walk from one side of the room to the other. You can also try letting the sound source play while you walk out of the room for a minute then come back into the room while it's still playing to see if you can pick up anything that needs to be changed.

One last tip, something I do often that a lot of engineers won't do is if I'm pretty close to being finished, I take the music and make a quick copy of it, then I take that copy to my car and ride around the block and listen to it; or I will take it to another room lay on the coach and set back and listen to it. A different room will give you a different atmosphere, and that might just give you a different perspective, then you can head back into the lab make some changes and finish up.

Getting Some Hands-on Time in A Studio with a Studio Engineer

2013-02-25T16:34:00.000-08:00

In this day and age there may be enough technology out there to have just about all of the same technology that a high profile studio has right in the comfort of your own home. But one thing you can't buy is you can't buy the knowledge and experience that a high profile studio has.

How do you get this type of knowledge and experience? The obvious answer to the question is to read the manual, research the internet, watch videos and get as much hands on experience as you can.

But, there is another way you can get free training.

I found that engineers are usually pretty nice and reasonable people. They like to help other people chase there dreams just as they probably had mentors and help throughout their career. You can try to find studio owners or well respected engineers and ask them if you can sit in on some of their recording time. Let them know that you are using some of the same hardware and software they use and spending some time in the studio with them will be beneficial to you.

If you can get someone to agree to let you come in and sit in on a session; know your place. Watch and ask questions but don't get in the way, don't over step or be pain. Unless asked directly, don't try to help, just pay attention take notes and learn.

Now, you probably won't get anyone to pay attention to you as some smuck off the streets. What you want to do is do your homework on the person and the studio you want to approach. Look and sound professional, even if you're not yet professional, showing up with a professional attitude will help who ever you approach believe that they are not just wasting their time. And if possible always approach with a phone call and or in person. An e-mail or a Facebook message in most accounts will not be taken seriously.

The best way to break this plain between you and a professional engineer is to come off as someone who is eager to learn. Know you stuff, be persistent, know who you are approaching, the music they specialize in and be prepared to let them know what your goals are in the future, but make sure they are realistic. But, most important thing you need to do is listen and remember whatever they have to say.

In the end, if you can get a chance to sit in on a session, the best thing that can happen is you get some in-studio time, possibly some time to pick the brain of a good engineer, maybe even some hands-on experience and if all goes well, you have now made a connection that down the line can become very useful.