Inside Home Recording - Blog

Maybe you should worry more about performance and not recording?

Kim Lajoie — Thu, 31 May 2012 14:00:34 +0000

Larry Crane: Look, if you’re gonna burden your recording with little rules that dictate how it is recorded that’s great. Fine. Whatever. But when you do so please think about what that will mean. Is it helping the songs? So … Continue reading →

5 Pleasantly Ambiguous Chord Progressions For a Song Verse

garyewer — Thu, 31 May 2012 13:18:11 +0000

Chord progressions that are tonally ambiguous have that useful quality of making people wait around to hear the follow-up stronger progression. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Write smarter - Tap into your creative mind. __________________ Verse chord progressions differ from chorus ones in one big way: while a chorus progression usually needs to [...]

How to Get Your Mixes LOUD

Joe Gilder — Thu, 31 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

From day one, you’ve faced this issue. You’re working on a song, it’s sounding great in the studio, so you bounce it to CD (or your iPod) and proudly walk it out to your car to have a listen. Then you become painfully aware how quiet the mix is. You turn the volume knob on...

5 Tips for Selecting DJ Equipment

Yousif Hazboun — Thu, 31 May 2012 08:00:54 +0000

Want to become a DJ? Then it’s time to get some gear. Here are five quick tips from Yousif Hazboun that will help you buy the right stuff. Tip 1: Choose a Medium Wisely For most intents and purposes, digital DJing is the most convenient way to go...

Single Mic Drum Recording

Bobby Owsinski — Thu, 31 May 2012 05:30:00 +0000

Sometimes we get caught up in a complex technique simply because we can. The technology that's available to almost anyone today offers so many choices that we want to use them all - sometimes even at the same time. Then sometimes we use a technique ...

The Land Of Fake "Like’s"

Bobby Owsinski — Thu, 31 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

It never takes long for someone to come up with a way to game an online measurement that the music industry finds useful. Once upon a time, the major labels used MySpace followers as a measure of a band's popularity. That's until it was discovered that...

EDM: Where Producing and Mixing Collide

Matthew Weiss — Wed, 30 May 2012 23:37:51 +0000

An article about the characteristics of electronic dance music and how to approach mixing it.

Podcasting Mic Boom Arm Shootout

matthew mcglynn — Wed, 30 May 2012 22:02:25 +0000

We put 5 desktop microphone boom arms to the test: Heil PL2T, Rode PSA-1, MXL BCD, and two from K&M.

The Most Difficult Thing About Mastering is…

Audio Issues — Wed, 30 May 2012 19:22:17 +0000

…mastering more than one song at a time. You see, making one song sound good isn’t that difficult. We’ve talked about this before, and you should be familiar with the steps ...

Teaching this kid a lesson about punctuality

Kim Lajoie — Wed, 30 May 2012 14:00:06 +0000

Drew Magary, on Justin Bieber: Now I’m back at the studio, ready to fight. Bieber is running late, I am told, because he’s procuring the boxing equipment. The PR lady, Melissa, warns me that Bieber boxes regularly and that his … Continue reading →

Where Should You Put a Song Melody’s High Point?

garyewer — Wed, 30 May 2012 12:48:44 +0000

Songs with a strong melody really benefit from the creation of a “high point.” __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Become the best songwriter you can be! __________________ A song doesn’t need to make the melody its most redeeming feature. For example, you could argue that the melody for Train’s “Drive By” takes a [...]

The 2 Pillars Of Great Recordings And Mixes [Video]

Graham — Wed, 30 May 2012 11:00:45 +0000

Want the secret to getting great recordings and mixes? There are two sides to the process that you must keep in balance. All of us lean more to one side than the other, but great tracks are never delivered by only one of these pillars. Both are critica...

My Plug-in Chain for Mastering

Joe Gilder — Wed, 30 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

People tend to get a little “weirded out” by mastering. They assume that since it’s such an important stage in a song’s life that it must be really complex. It’s really not. I used to think the same way, but the more mastering jobs I did, the more I realized how simple the process can...

6 Crowdfunding Mistakes

Bobby Owsinski — Wed, 30 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Crowdfunding for music projects is a hot topic these days, especially with Amanda Palmer's ongoing success (a million dollars in 30 days!). Everyone wants to get in on the act, and I've certainly covered many of the strategies on how to do that ...

The Beatles Drum And Bass Sounds

Bobby Owsinski — Wed, 30 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

One week from today on June 6th, the Ken Scott memoir Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust will be released. It's an auspicious date in that it's the 40th anniversary of the release of David Bowie's The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders Fr...

What do you remember?

Kim Lajoie — Tue, 29 May 2012 14:00:35 +0000

Variety of Sound: I remember being about this age building things out of Lego blocks and taking things apart to explore how they worked. Now I build music out of notes and phrases and I deconstruct the music I listen … Continue reading →

The Difference Between Verse and Chorus Rhythm

garyewer — Tue, 29 May 2012 12:34:02 +0000

It may seem counterintuitive, but chorus lyrics usually become less rhythmically active. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Write smarter - Tap into your creative mind. __________________ Since song choruses typically become more energetic than their preceding verses, it may seem that chorus lyrics (i.e., the rhythms that you would use to set the words) [...]

One Mix, Two Masters?

Joe Gilder — Tue, 29 May 2012 10:00:49 +0000

I finished up a new single a few months ago. I mastered it myself. I’ve used a mastering engineer before, and I’m sure I’ll do it again. But for this project I wanted to do the whole thing “in-house.” And? It turned out very nicely. I had to take off my “mixing hat” and put...

How to Create Custom Kits And Patterns In Reason 6

Mo Volans — Tue, 29 May 2012 08:00:36 +0000

I thought it was time to give Reason 6 a bit of attention, so I thought I’d walk you through the creation of a custom kit and drum pattern using Kong and Reason’s internal sequencer. Here we’ll be looking at producing drum sounds using Kong’s a...

8 Street Performance Tips

Bobby Owsinski — Tue, 29 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Musicians have to make a living, and when enough income to stay alive isn't coming from music, then you have to resort to other things. Some get a straight job, which can easily ensnare your time and focus, while others insist that playing music, any...

Setting Album Launch Milestones

Bobby Owsinski — Tue, 29 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Recently on Music Think Tank Cyber PR maven Ariel Hyatt wrote a great article about marketing tactics for a new album launch. I'd like to reprint just a part of that post; the section that deals with launch milestones. "Plan some milestones startin...

Ian Shepherd’s Home Mastering Masterclass

Jon — Mon, 28 May 2012 17:06:30 +0000

Are you ready to take your home studio mastering skills up about 10 notches? Ian Shepherd – mastering engineer, loudness activist and full-time Englishman – has just released a new audio mastering training course. This is really exciting an...

Church Sound: How To Make Sure Your Choir Is Heard

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Mon, 28 May 2012 16:41:52 +0000

Can you hear the choir? It’s a common problem, and one that doesn’t have to exist. It helps to get to the root of the situation and then take the right steps to get it fixed. A logical approach, with specifics, can help.

How to Master Any Genre You Want

Audio Issues — Mon, 28 May 2012 14:17:28 +0000

I feel your fear. Not only is mastering a little scary, but it’s even worse when you’re unfamiliar with the genre. I’m not especially good at synth-techno-euro-dub-rock, and I wouldn’t ...

About the guides

Kim Lajoie — Mon, 28 May 2012 14:00:04 +0000

I’m a big believer in reading. I think it’s one of the best ways to absorb knowledge (not to develop skill though – that takes practice!). You can read as fast as you can. You can skim over the parts … Continue reading →

3 Reality Checks For Mixing

Graham — Mon, 28 May 2012 11:00:41 +0000

The more you mix a song the more confused you’re likely to become. Your ears start getting compressed, you lose perspective on your EQ balance, and you can easily fool yourself into thinking your mix sounds better than it really does. What you do...

The Conversation #13: The Biggest One Yet

Deane Ogden — Mon, 28 May 2012 10:00:36 +0000

I've written and distributed THE CONVERSATION for almost a year and a half now. On March 27, 2012, we crossed the 1,000 subscriber threshold. Pretty rad. I'm proud of that accomplishment. I'm even prouder of the community of people who interact with this resource — it includes Emmy Award-winning actors and actresses, championship athletes, multiplatinum-selling recording artists, film composers, [...]

“You can’t master in a home studio.”

Joe Gilder — Mon, 28 May 2012 10:00:03 +0000

I can sense the tension. You bristle up a little bit when you read that subject line. You’ve probably heard some forum “guru” say something like that, and he types it with such passion and authority that it must be true. Right? I don’t know about you, but I’m the kind of person who doesn’t...

How to Create Rotating ‘Leslie-style’ Speaker Effect with Absynth

Gary Hiebner — Mon, 28 May 2012 07:39:54 +0000

In this quick tip screencast, sound designer Gary Hiebner shows us how to create a Leslie speaker type effect using Absynth. This works with both for surround sound systems and stereo.

The Secret To Tour Routing

Bobby Owsinski — Mon, 28 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Martin Atkins has toured for years as a member of Public Image Ltd, Killing Joke and many others. He has a great site especially dedicated to helping bands tour called Toursmart.com that has a variety of tips and tricks to help that tour go a lot easie...

Mastering With Greg Calbi

Bobby Owsinski — Mon, 28 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Mastering is a black art to many, but what it really is all about is listening to years and years of good and bad projects to really get a reference point of what really sounds good and bad and how to deal with each. Greg Calbi of Sterling Sound in New...

Fran Ashcroft – Taking Stock, Aitken and Waterman

recordpr — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:57:29 +0000

It is time to take the initiative with a spending review and new promotional strategy for these austere times. Notes to self; Ensure all songs are 20% shorter by 2014

VIDEO: Audio Engineering 101

Deane Ogden — Sun, 27 May 2012 10:30:26 +0000

I recently posted a thought called The Art of Shutting Up in which I ruminated on a strategy of keeping certain things back about your career... basically, not blabbing about every little thing you are doing to the world before your product is truly ready for listening/viewing in its best possible light. That thought caught a little fire [...]

7 Quick and Dirty EQ Fixes for the Guitar

Audio Issues — Sat, 26 May 2012 16:53:42 +0000

Where can I pin-point that annoying tinny sound from my guitar? What guitar frequency is that? How can you EQ that boomy and muddy sound out of your guitar production? ...

Workshop #235: Some Time Ago by The Joe Experience

Adrian Try — Sat, 26 May 2012 08:00:33 +0000

This track has been submitted for your friendly, constructive criticism. What useful feedback can you give the artist? The floor is yours to talk about the track and how they can fix problems in and improve upon the mix and the song. Download audio fil...

Guest Post: How to Use Compressors

Jon — Sat, 26 May 2012 01:06:00 +0000

One of the most common tools that will be found in music production studios is an audio compressor. I will initially make distinction between dynamic range compressors and for example an MP3 compressor, here we are dealing with the control of audio dyn...

The Home Mastering Masterclass is underway…

Ian Shepherd — Fri, 25 May 2012 17:24:19 +0000

…grab the introductory offer price before it’s too late ! Here’s how it works The Home Mastering Masterclass is an 8-week course, allowing you to get involved and make sure it gives you exactly the information you need. Every week you’ll get a new “masterclass” video – a screen-capture video of me working on different songs, in [...]

The Home Mastering Masterclass is underway… is a post from Ian Shepherd's: Production Advice
Subscribe to the newsletter for great content from the archives, special offers and a free interview - for more information, click here

Creating the Best Score for Your (Documentary) Film

Jeff Tolbert — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:42:50 +0000

I stumbled across this blog post on Documentary.org while wandering the Web. It’s an interview with six film composers about the peculiar art of scoring documentary films. They talk about the idiosyncrasies of the music in documentaries, when they typically get brought on board, schedules and budgets, and much more. By being involved earlier I [...]

Dimensions of the voice

Kim Lajoie — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:00:14 +0000

When I’m working with a vocalist, I usually need to give directions to help her/him adjust the performance to best suit the creative direction of the song. When I do this, I think of the human voice as a three-dimensional … Continue reading →

Songwriting Challenge: Renovating Music, Axis of Awesome Style

garyewer — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:47:14 +0000

Try taking the chord progression of your favourite song, and writing an entirely new song with it. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Become the best songwriter you can be! __________________ Most of you are probably familiar with “4 Chords“, the rather hilarious tune recorded by Axis of Awesome. That song highlighted the fact [...]

Have You Maxed Out Your Microphones?

Graham — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

You know what intrigues me about the top dog recording engineers? They know their microphones inside and out. They know how certain mics work well on certain instruments or types of voices. They also know how some great mics just don’t match well...

How Stereo Drum Recording Started

Bobby Owsinski — Fri, 25 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

We take stereo drum recording for granted these days, but you have to remember that for a great many years, the drums were always recorded in mono. The popular miking method at the time was just an overhead mic and another on the kick drum, and that ...

Music Sales Directly After The Show

Bobby Owsinski — Fri, 25 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Let's say you just played a great show that beats all of the studio tracks that you've recorded. Your fans would be eager to purchase the music right there on the spot if it were available. It's the perfect impulse purchase. The problem is that while...

Speeding up your workflow with Logic

Yaiza Varona — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:00:51 +0000

In this second installment, Logic expert Yaiza Varona explores various techniques that can be used to speed up our workflow. Time is money after all....

Using Deceptive Cadences to Boost a Song’s Energy

garyewer — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:34:02 +0000

Extending chord progressions by using deceptive cadences will entice listeners to keep listening. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Write smarter - Tap into your creative mind. __________________ One of the important ways that songwriters build energy is by creating an expectation, and then avoiding it. Here’s what I mean. Most songs are a musical [...]

Poor Man’s “Vocal Booth” Sound

Joe Gilder — Thu, 24 May 2012 10:00:32 +0000

Everybody seems to think you can’t get a good vocal recording without a vocal booth. I say nay. I’ve sung in many a vocal booth, and while it would be nice to have one, that ain’t gonna happen. They’re huge. They’re expensive. And they’re not the ONLY way to get a great-sounding vocal track. Here’s...

Critique: Green’s the Color of Winter

Patty Way — Thu, 24 May 2012 06:13:33 +0000

Here in the United States, this song would fall under the category of Americana/folk and it fits well into the category. It is the kind of song that lends itself to a simple and acoustic production. I enjoyed the evocative and wintery feeling of the pi...

Virgin’s Airport Studio

Bobby Owsinski — Thu, 24 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

's Let's say your flying back to the US and have a layover at Heathrow Airport in London and you have a song that you just can't wait to record or edit. Of course you can get your laptop or iPad out with a set of headphones, but sometimes you just hav...

5 Reverb Mistakes that make You Look Like an Idiot

Audio Issues — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:20:44 +0000

Reverb is one of those things that even the most experienced of engineers are still trying to figure out. It’s like the Higgs Boson of the audio industry. Engineers have ...

How to tell if you’re not good enough

Kim Lajoie — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:00:27 +0000

I’m a big believer in self-education. By reading the theory and applying it in practice, you can develop the skills and experience necessary to make amazing music. But self-education is not simple. In any particular field, there are many different … Continue reading →

Cadillacs & Biscuits: Pro Audio Has A Language All Its Own

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:29:20 +0000

A comm by any other name…

Which Bits of Music Theory Are Most Relevant for Songwriters?

garyewer — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:39:02 +0000

You don’t need to learn every area of music theory all at once. Here’s a short list to get you started. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Become the best songwriter you can be! __________________ To put it succinctly, music theory is what allows musicians to be literate. It makes it possible to listen [...]

Mid Side Processing In Mastering [Video]

Graham — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:00:55 +0000

When mastering stereo mixes you can only do but so much. Usual tools are EQ, compression, and limiting. But what if you want to turn the vocal up in the mix or turn the guitars down a bit? You can’t really. You’re stuck with the stereo mix....

10 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Compression

Joe Gilder — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:00:16 +0000

If you’ve NEVER used a compressor in your studio, you’re missing out. If you’ve used one, but you’re really timid about it — scared you’re gonna mess things up — you’re missing out, too. Just like EQ is an indispensable tool in every home studio, so is compression. There’s no reason to fear it, and...

Spicing Up Synth Lines With Simple Edits

Mo Volans — Wed, 23 May 2012 09:05:04 +0000

In my last tutorial I looked at a few ways to add life to drum parts by using simple edits and multiple tracks. Let’s take a look at how you could use similar techniques when working with melodic synth lines. We’re not going to be producing intense...

Crowdsourcing Tours With Gigfunder

Bobby Owsinski — Wed, 23 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Crowdfunding is quite the buzz word these days and rightfully so. Both new and established artists are using it to gain funding for new recording projects using a variety of sites like Kickstarter, Crowdfunder, Sellaband, Rockethub, and many many mor...

Nikki Manaj "Super Bass" Song Analysis

Bobby Owsinski — Wed, 23 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Will W. requested a song analysis for Nicki Manaj's "Super Bass," the 5th single from her debut album Pink Friday. The song is interesting because it draws from R&B, hip hop, and electronic music, fusing them into the perfect pop tune. The son...

A Study In Contrasts: Live Sound & Studio Recording

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Tue, 22 May 2012 20:46:28 +0000

There is a certain way of thinking that develops...

Acoustic Treatment for Small Studios – Part II

Rob Schlette — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:22:58 +0000

An interview with acoustics expert Arthur Noxon, founder of Acoustic Sciences Corporation (ASC).

Strengthening a Chord Progression: Check the Roots

garyewer — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:08:08 +0000

Musical complexity happens better if you focus on melodic phrasing, time signatures and rhythms, and leave chord progressions more or less intact. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Write smarter - Tap into your creative mind. __________________ You might be tempted to think that creating a good chord progression is a hit-or-miss activity, where [...]

The Art of Shutting Up

Deane Ogden — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

It's always a tough decision. Audio and visual artists have to make it all the time. So do software developers. When is the right time to show the product? "Needy" Much? The dilemma is that we are a needy group, we Creatives. I'm convinced there is a chromosome in us that is missing a few hugs and [...]

The Studio Curmudgeon: Gain Structuring With Plug-ins

kclark@prosoundweb.com — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:21:57 +0000

Computer-based recording can make it all too easy to miss a poorly thought out signal chain

An Easy Way to Avoid Over-Compression

Joe Gilder — Tue, 22 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

I talked last week about how it’s so easy to overdo things in the studio. ‘Tis human nature, after all. But today I’ve got a quick and easy tip that’ll help you avoid over-compressing your tracks. If you try this, you’ll find that you can still get your “compression fix” without squashing the living daylights...

Loudness has no impact on sales – Update

Ian Shepherd — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:24:31 +0000

Three weeks ago, Jack White’s debut album “Blunderbuss” went in at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts: Jack White Scores First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart “Blunderbuss” measures DR11 using the offline TT Dynamic Range Meter. By today’s standards, that’s thunderously dynamic. And it still got to Number One. Three weeks later, it’s [...]

Loudness has no impact on sales – Update is a post from Ian Shepherd's: Production Advice
Subscribe to the newsletter for great content from the archives, special offers and a free interview - for more information, click here

How to Take a Home Rock Recording to the Next Level

Adrian Try — Tue, 22 May 2012 08:00:41 +0000

In this week’s Audio Premium content, Björgvin Benediktsson teaches you some techniques to vastly improve the sound of your home-recorded rock mix. To learn more about what you get as part of Tuts+ Premium, read this. To take a peek inside this ...

Timing Reverbs To The Track

Bobby Owsinski — Tue, 22 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Since my post last week on timing delays to the pulse of the track, I received a number of requests about how to do the same with reverbs. Why would you want to time the verb to the track? Because it adds depth without sticking out and makes the mix ...

LimeWire Owes The Major Labels 75 Trillion

Bobby Owsinski — Tue, 22 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

When the file-sharing service LimeWire was shut down for copyright infringement in 2010, you would have thought that the RIAA got exactly what it wanted. After all, shutting down a major source of digital music piracy should be considered a victory in ...

Why Your Mixes Don’t Really Matter

Audio Issues — Mon, 21 May 2012 20:34:58 +0000

It’s a funny thing, customer service. It doesn’t revolve around you. It’s all about the customer. Shocking right? Because at the end of the day, if the customer’s not happy, ...

Native Instruments Introduces The Giant Upright Piano

danski — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:22:29 +0000

This just in my inbox: Native Instruments today released The Giant – The Sound Of The World’s Biggest Upright Piano. For €99,- or $119,- you’ll get a 3.9 GB upright piano sample library running on Kontakt 5 or the free … Continue reading →

Danski's Logic Pro Blog - The Logic Pro Blog For The Best Of Us.

YOU… Versus the World

Deane Ogden — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:50:24 +0000

I'm stayin' riiiiiiight here. Do you hear me?" — Randall Flagg The last several months have been nuts. You know what I mean because it happens to all of us at various points in life and in career: Everything hits at once. For me it's been a solid 6-month mix of feature film work, studio [...]

Making Things Small

Jeff Tolbert — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:40:36 +0000

I am happy to announce that I’m now an official writer for SCOREcast. My first post went up today, talking about how to make a cue small. I’ve attached an excerpt below. Enjoy! When it comes to film scoring, size definitely does matter. The trend in big-budget Hollywood films has been toward a bigger and bigger [...]

Why Ugly Compressor Plugins Rock

Joe Gilder — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:26:10 +0000

I used to be that guy. After using fancy, good-looking compressor plugins in various studios, I would get back to my home studio and stare blankly at the “DigiRack” compressor plugin that comes with Pro Tools. It’s ugly. It doesn’t have any fun colors or cute graphics. It doesn’t look like an awesome piece of...

A true story

Kim Lajoie — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:00:54 +0000

Seth Godin: There’s no such thing as a true story. As soon as you start telling a story, making it relevant and interesting to me, hooking it into my worldviews and generating emotions and memories, it ceases to be true, … Continue reading →

What Verse 2 Lyrics Should Be Doing In Your Song

garyewer — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:07:16 +0000

Verse 2 is typically a repeat of verse 1′s melody and chords, but there are things you should be doing that differ. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Become the best songwriter you can be! __________________ Verse-chorus formats are the most common ones in modern day popular song. In many cases, the most significant [...]

Big and Small, Part 1: How to Make Your Music Small

Jeff Tolbert — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:00:05 +0000

In an industry where bigger is better, Jeff Tolbert discusses ways that you can take your music in the opposite direction and sound really small.

Mixing Wisdom From Dave Pensado

Graham — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:00:32 +0000

When you sit down to mix a song, you may find yourself bursting with excitement about delivering the best mix ever that you immediately begin dropping in plugins and tweaking like a crazy person. A little compression here, a little EQ there. You’...

Audiotuts+ Quiz: Know Your Soft Synths

Adrian Try — Mon, 21 May 2012 07:35:54 +0000

How well do you know your soft synths? Test your knowledge with this quiz that focuses on synths that come with popular DAWs.

The Secret Meeting That Changed HipHop

Bobby Owsinski — Mon, 21 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Here's a pretty fantastic story that I'm not sure is true, but it sure is interesting, especially if you believe in conspiracies. It's based on an anonymous post on the HipHopIsRead.com blog where the poster states that he was formerly a high-level m...

The Feds Threaten Gibson And Artists Again

Bobby Owsinski — Mon, 21 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Last year I reported about how the US Department of Justice and the US Fish And Wildlife Service raided Gibson Guitars not once, but twice on the grounds that the company was using protected wood from overseas in the making of their guitars (you...

Various updates

Kim Lajoie — Sun, 20 May 2012 14:00:32 +0000

Yeah, I know it’s been pretty quiet around here lately. Nothing bad – just busy with other work. That happens sometimes. So anyway, there are a few changes coming up. First of all, I’m raising the base price for my … Continue reading →

Quick Tip: Leave a Hole

Jeff Tolbert — Sat, 19 May 2012 19:10:40 +0000

In the TV series Classic Albums (now available on DVD), Roger Waters talks about the Pink Floyd song “Us and Them.” He says, “I find myself very very often, in my capacity as a producer, having to say to people, ‘No, leave a hole. Just play for half a bar and leave a bar-and-a-half empty.’” I [...]

Ritual Humiliation for the Masses….

recordpr — Sat, 19 May 2012 18:47:12 +0000

I’ve never been a fan of X-factor, Pop Idol, Opportunity Knocks or any of the other cyclical talent shows that clog up peak-viewing hour on the goggle-box at weekends. I’m sure they have their place, but whatever or wherever this is, it ain’t in my place.

Two Things for Creatives to Check Out ASAP

Deane Ogden — Sat, 19 May 2012 16:58:01 +0000

I rarely write anything on weekends, but these two things are too cool to not mention, and one is time sensitive, so here's a heads up. "The Creative Hangover" with Dirk Ehlert Since starting the Creative Hangout on Google+ back in February, we've had hundreds of people trying to get into one every week. As social [...]

Workshop #234: Manic for Mixdown by Atash

Adrian Try — Sat, 19 May 2012 05:07:01 +0000

Blackspade UM25 Review

Don Gunn — Sat, 19 May 2012 01:58:10 +0000

Blackspade is a new company with a small but growing line of mid- and high-end microphones. The company is a joint venture between Blackspade proper in Switzerland and AMI, Inc here in the US. The Blackspade Acoustics UM25 that I’ve had the pleasure of using and reviewing is one of two C12/ELA M251-style mics the [...]

Thing 19: Make it viral

David Andrew Wiebe — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:46:01 +0000

Here are some key points I get from Thing 19: Make it viral from The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online...

What the Global Financial Crisis Can Teach You About Your Mixes

Audio Issues — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:55:20 +0000

There’s this really interesting book by Michael Lewis called Boomerang. It talks about the global financial crisis and is sort of a tourist guide around the countries that got hit ...

The #1 Sign of an Amateur Mix (and how to avoid it)

Joe Gilder — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Okay, so there are a lot of things that make a mix sound amateur. But you should know there’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with you if you’re not getting amazing mixes. If you could get great mixes on the first try, then it probably wouldn’t be that satisfying anyway, right? However, one of my goals is...

Overworked Compressor Attacks Mix Engineer

Joe Gilder — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:29:33 +0000

It’s a “tale as old as time”…literally. (But before we move on, take a few seconds to hum a couple lines from the “Beauty and the Beast” song. You know you want to. I’ll wait.) … Okay, that’s better. So the age-old tale is this. We as humans have a tendency to overdo things. It’s...

After Switching Logic Pro To 64 Bit Mode: Workflow Changes

danski — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:17:48 +0000

Ever since Waves updated all audio unit plugins to 64 bit versions, I switched to running Logic Pro in 64 bit mode. That was my turning point. Instead of the 4 gigs of RAM available (the widely known limit set by … Continue reading →

Danski's Logic Pro Blog - The Logic Pro Blog For The Best Of Us.

Softube Interviews Mixing Engineer Tony Maserati

danski — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:25:13 +0000

The people at Softube are at it: this time with an interview with Tony Maserati, who has mixed for artists such as Lady Gaga, Sting, Mariah Carey, The Notorious B.I.G., Alicia Keys, The Black Eyed Peas, Whitney Houston, and Sean … Continue reading →

Danski's Logic Pro Blog - The Logic Pro Blog For The Best Of Us.

There’s Never a Perfect Time

Deane Ogden — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:04:12 +0000

Someday, I'll... Pretty soon, I'm gonna... I can feel that this year will be the year that I... I almost have everything ready to... As soon as I finish this one, I'll be ready to... I've heard you should have everything set, and then... We've all heard these things. The "When I's". The "If when, [...]

The Goal Of Every Mix

Graham — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:00:43 +0000

The goal of every mix you work on isn’t clarity, depth, punch, or even warmth (whatever that means), rather it is to ellicit an emotional reaction from the listeners. In other words, your mix should “move” them. It could make them hap...

String Cheese Incident Takes On Ticketmaster

Bobby Owsinski — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

We all hate paying convenience charges when buying concert tickets. It's hard not to feel ripped off when you're suddenly asked to pay as much as a 50% premium on the face value of your ticket. There is sometimes a way around that though; buy your ti...

A Couple Of Cool Mixing Tools

Bobby Owsinski — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Here are a couple of tools that I've brought up before in other posts, but thought it was worth bringing them up again. The first is a learning tool and the second is a mixing tool. The Audio Mixing Bootcamp Video Course If your mixes aren't what you ...

Monitoring with reverb

Kim Lajoie — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:00:06 +0000

No, not that monitoring. I’m talking about feeding a reverb-processed version of a singer’s voice back into her/his headphones as s/he is recording. Don’t do it For years I’ve preferred to give singers no reverb in their headphones. The intent … Continue reading →

Video: Mid/Side Mastering Techniques With Dave Kutch

danski — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:33:51 +0000

Less than a day ago, Dangerous Music posted a video on Youtube showing top NYC mastering engineer Dave Kutch ( Alicia Keys, The Roots, John Legend, Jennifer Hudson, MNDR, Natasha Bedingfield, and many more) covering some mid/side mastering techniques at … Continue reading →

Danski's Logic Pro Blog - The Logic Pro Blog For The Best Of Us.

Between Chords, Melody and Lyrics, Something Should Be Predictable

garyewer — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:02:01 +0000

As a songwriter, you should see predictability as a great way to balance innovative elements in your music. __________________ Download “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 6 e-book bundle. Write smarter - Tap into your creative mind. __________________ You wouldn’t think of “predictability” as being a good characteristic to incorporate into music. After all, when something is predictable, it [...]

Which Computer Should a Beginner Use for Audio Production

Adrian Try — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:39:46 +0000

If you want to get into audio production, then you’ll almost definitely want to use a computer-based digital audio workstation. What does a beginner need to know when purchasing a computer for audio? There’s no one answer, and this article ...