As you may or may not have already noticed, I haven’t posted anything new on my home studio blog for quite some time. Well, I thought it was a perfect time to explain exactly what I’ve been up to.

I’ll keep it short and to the point: I’m officially opening a brand new, full production recording studio. Needless to say, my home studio (aka SilverLake Studio) is growing up and moving out.

The new facility, Blue Sprocket Sound, is co-owned and managed by myself and recording engineer Chris Jackson and is set to open this Summer. Based in Harrisonburg, VA our mission is to help clients from songwriters to bands, small businesses to large corporations – define and implement their creative vision through sound recording.

What Does This Mean To You?

Simply put: I’m still dedicated to offering real, custom drum tracks out of the new space. Which means over 2000 square feet of awesomeness including a huge live room. Let’s face it, friends: Bigger is better, right?

Seriously, I couldn’t be more excited to be building something that I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid. More importantly, I’m excited to offer our clients YOU a professional and unique experience. Key services include artist development, online collaboration, in-studio and live recording, mixing, mastering, voice-over work and everything in between.

How Can You Help?

We are looking for all types from those wanting to lend a hand and investors to early-bird clients and session musicians. We’re currently in the construction and renovation stages but would love for you to connect with us to stay in the loop on our progress!

Please visit our website landing page to sign-up for our newsletter, shoot us an email and connect on our various social media outlets.

We want to hear from you!

Web: www.bluesprocketsound.com | Facebook: @bluesprocketsound | Twitter: @blue_sprocket

Guest post by Robert Kittleberger of guitarchalk.com

A guitar player may not have charge over the structure and timing of a song, but that doesn’t mean that their role can’t include participation in, and enhancement of, the rhythms and patterns set forth by the drummer.

The role of a guitarist is one of décor or the “icing on the cake” if you will. They don’t create the groundwork; rather their job is to build on top of it and make it more attractive and pleasing to the ear. Every guitar player worth his salt can do this. However, there are many who do so without having any real understanding or awareness of what is going on with their drummer and how to compliment the rhythm that he creates.

I would contend that a guitar player has a secondary role in addition to his primary concern of providing musical aesthetics. That role is to have a keen awareness of the rhythmic patterns being laid by his drummer and also to compliment those patterns with his playing.

That being said, I am not suggesting that a guitarist needs to invest hours of time studying the theory behind playing the drums in an effort to understand the technical aspects of percussion. However, he does need to develop a comfortable relationship with rhythm and learn how to properly integrate his guitar playing with it.

Here are some practical things a guitarist can do to make life a lot easier for his drummer, while at the same time improving his own playing and becoming a more marketable musician:

1. Listen to guitarists that already do this well.

When dealing with a skill that is hard to teach specifically, making a habit of listening to musicians who do it well is a solid place to start and a good way to cultivate the ability for yourself.

The rock group Tool makes a strong case being one of the most rhythmically proficient bands of our day, and guitarist Adam Jones plays the part without fail. Listen to “Schism” and “The Pot” and pay close attention to the guitar tracks on each song. Jones follows his drummer without the least bit of hesitation, and implements riffs that bolster the cadence of the overall rhythm. In simple terms- it fits. That fit creates a powerful and mature sounding piece of music.

While the methodology employed to get there varies between groups and genres, the skill is all the same. James Hetfield, Tom Morello, The Edge and Joe Perry are all good examples to follow.

2. Learn how to keep a simple count.

By “count” I’m not referring to the complex time signatures that drummers can rattle off at the drop of a hat. You don’t need to be able to do that. What you should be able to do though is count off a simple “one-two-three-four” in uniform time, and then be able to convert that into a picking or strumming pattern. It sounds elementary, but a lot of guitar players (especially early in their development) tend to gloss over this aspect of their playing and never truly address it.

In practical application you can practice this even by simply snapping your fingers in time with music you are listening to, or counting off out loud and strumming in time with your guitar. If you’re intentional about developing that timing consistency, it will start to happen naturally without much thought.

3. Play through the cadence of the drum beat.

As you learn to follow time and develop your ability to count off beats, you also want to learn how to play to the cadence of your drummer. That cadence can be identified by paying specific attention to the kick and snare drum.

A simple exercise you can employ in order to amplify and compliment your drummer’s pattern of choice, is to identify when the kick drum is playing and meet it with a heavy down-stroke power chord. In addition, when you hear the snare drum “snap,” pull back up through the strings and catch a higher, more resonating single note.

Now to be clear, this isn’t a fast rule for every song and situation. Rather, it’s an exercise to get you familiar with the cadence of modern rhythm and the kind of effect that your guitar can have on it. In a very general way of thinking, you can think of the kick drum as “bottoming out,” and the snare as “snapping back to attention.” If you can replicate that on your guitar in whatever way your style permits, you’ll end up with a much tighter and complete sound.

4. Focus on and hone your palm muting skills.

Palm muting provides a deeper more sustained note or chord that can really improve the dynamics of your playing. If you can use a mute or half mute to get that deep low-end rolling sound, then right away you have an incredibly effective sound that can be utilized in any musical rhythm. It gives you the chance to bottom-out with the drummer and produces a sound that is by its nature more conducive to a rhythmic pulse than that of an un-muted guitar note.

5. Be more interested in the song as a whole, rather than you own guitar playing.

When you find yourself in a collaborative musical setting, whether it’s live, in the studio, with a band or just as a hired guitarist, the way to be truly helpful and complimentary is to be more invested in the music and final product than you are in your own guitar. Remember, at the end of the day you’re selling a product with a scope that goes far beyond your own instrument, so be concerned about the overall presentation. You will find yourself being much more instep with your drummer than you ever thought possible.

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Question: What is the best way to isolate drums? I am planning on building a home recording studio in my garage. At first I thought of a separate drum room, but I am thinking that might be expensive to do. Would just a drum shield do?

Let’s face it, recording drums isn’t always the easiest instrument to record. Sure, you could slap some microphones around the kit and see what happens, but to get a great sounding drums, there some things to consider. In a perfect world, recording drums in a great big open space with high ceilings is ideal. But we don’t live in a perfect world and not all of us have this luxury. So, what then?

In my humble opinion, drum isolation isn’t always the answer. That said, it truly depends on your situation as to whether or not isolation is the way to go. Whether or not you’re about to build a home recording studio or you just want to record drums in your bedroom, here are five things that should be considered:

1. Choose the Best Position for the Drum Kit

Before setting up those drums, think about the space that is available to you. For example, if you’re able to build a studio either from the ground up or from an existing space, where would the highest ceiling peak be located? If your ceiling is the same level throughout, think about the shape of your room.

Choose a spot that has the least amount of reflection points, especially in front of the drum kit. For instance, if your room is skinny and long – set up the drums shooting down the length of the room.

2. Consider Your Audience

What I mean by “audience” is: Do you have neighbors close by that might file a noise complaint? How about your family or roommates? Will pounding on drums during a session cause problems? If so, isolation still may not be the answer. In this case, you’ll want to think about sound proofing.

In short, to correctly sound proof your studio or drum booth alone, you need mass. My point here is that you still don’t necessarily need isolation. Rather, you need to keep sounds from coming IN or OUT. Once that’s accomplished, then you’re ready to start picking out the drum kit position in your studio.

3. Define How You Will Record

Again, everyone’s situation is a bit different. What you want to really consider before investing a lot of time or money in your studio is what will the majority of your recording sessions entail? If you think you’ll record a lot of bands playing and recording all at once, then a separate drum room isn’t always necessary.

You may want to simply use the biggest part of your room for the drum kit, then isolate amps and such as needed. This way, the band can really play off of each other, resulting in a better performance.

4. Consider Spot Isolation

OK… so let’s say you’ve got a great spot picked in your studio for your drums. You’ve decided not to isolate the entire drum kit in a booth but there is still some bleed issues happening when recording the drums alone. In this case, I would suggest spot isolation. There are a handful of products and tricks that can help you in this situation.

For example, Primacoustic makes a fantastic product called the “Crash Guard”. It’s basically an isolation shield for individual microphones, such as a snare mic that’s getting too much hi-hat bleed. It also serves as a microphone protector for those unwanted stick hits.

5. Invest in Portable Acoustic Treatment

Last but not least, portable acoustic treatment may actually be your best studio investment ever. What I’m referring to is solid acoustic treatment panels that either have wheels or can be moved around easily. (Primacoustic and RealTraps both make fantastic solutions).

The great thing about these type of products in a word is: flexibility. Let’s say you’re recording guitar one day, drums the next or just need some separation in your studio, portable acoustic panels is your answer.

What about the good ‘ole drum shield? Personally, I’m not a fan. I’m not saying they don’t serve a purpose and they certainly can come in handy in certain circumstances. However, a drum shield can often times create more reflections and cause more havoc than they’re worth.

Consider the five points above before resorting to a drum shield. Determine what best suits your situation and remember, drummers don’t always need to be isolated.

Do you have a question for Travis? Ask it right here!

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In my experience of meeting and working with musicians, bands and singer-songwriters, it’s obvious to me that there is some unbelievable talent out there. The problem is that often times that talent never sees the light of day. The bottom line is that the process of developing and promoting yourself as an artist can be somewhat daunting.

As an independent musician or band, the task of recording your music, developing an online presence and releasing your “product” to the world can be very intimidating. What tends to happen is that you begin trying it all on your own and then it becomes so overwhelming that you decide to just throw in the flag. Or perhaps, you do what you can but it’s never quite as good as you had wished.

Sound familiar?

Introducing The Artist Map Community

Today I want to promote a pretty cool service for musicians. It’s called the Artist Map. If you’re ready for your music to be heard by more than just your group of friends and family, The Artist Map is essentially your new best friend.

The Map grew out of the combined experiences of hit songwriter, producer, artist and indie label owner John Mandeville. He happens to also be a good friend of mine and I’ve had the privilege of already recording drum tracks for some of the successful artist map members.

The process is divided into two phases: Development and Launch.

The Development phase works through foundational questions of artist identity, artistic focus, songwriting, song copyrights, identifying an artist’s audience, support network, and guides each artist through the recording process once these defining points are clarified.

The Launch phase offers guidance on pulling together the various elements required to take an artist’s music public, as their recording is finished, or for artists who already have their music recorded.

In addition to the production service, the Artist Map Community is also a positive music social space. Not only is it dedicated to empowering emerging artists with the resources they need, it’s also a place for the fans to discover fresh, new talent from rising stars around the world.

I had the opportunity to record drums for an already quickly rising start in the Artist Map Community. Her name is Tayler Buono and has been making a huge impact in the music industry.

Here’s a short video of Tayler talking about the Artist Map process and how it’s helped her grow as an artist. Check it out:

Are you ready to put your music on the map? Learn more and sign up for a free account right HERE!

What is the key to recording a crisp yet thumping bass drum?

There are a lot of theories and opinions out there on this very topic… In my humble opinion, it begins with making sure the kick drum itself is in great shape. Meaning, brand new heads (Batter and Resonant) and tuned correctly. Think about it, if you are trying to “record” a crisp, thumping bass drum – make sure that the kick drum IS crisp and thumping before even considering recording it!

For me, I like to tune my kick drum to the lowest possible pitch. When recording, I will always use a plastic beater instead of a felt beater. This adds that “crisp” attack, while the lowest possible pitch tuning will still give the bass drum it’s low end thump.

From there, you can experiment with adding dampening inside the kick drum. I like to have an Evans EQ Pad touching a tad of both heads. Of course, microphone choice and placement will also be a huge factor. Most recording engineers will use two mics for the kick for this very reason: One closer to the beater (attack) and one outside of the bass drum (thump). The key here is to experiment until you find your sound.

Again, this goes back to making sure you invest in the time to get those drums sounding great before attempting to mix. When you’re ready to mix, your decisions will be much easier to make, trust me. I hope that helps!

Have other tips for recording and mixing the kick drum? Leave your comments!

Have a question for Travis? Ask it!

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Question: Hello Travis, I sure hope you can help me… I am new to mixing. I have a Mix that sounds muddy. I put low pass filters on just about every track, made a 3db cut at 400 hz and it’s still not bright and crisp. Your thoughts?

I think a muddy mix is something that a lot of recording enthusiasts, beginners AND experts struggle with from time to time. In my experience, it’s all the little things that tend to build up over time that turns a mix to mud.

High Pass vs Low Pass Filtering

For starters, let’s discuss the differences between a low pass filter and a high pass filter. A low pass filter is the exact opposite of a HIGH pass filter. Meaning, a low pass filter is actually “passing” the low frequencies (letting them through) and reducing the higher frequencies.

You actually want to be using a HIGH pass filter, which will immediately reduce the low frequencies that are making your mix muddy!

Ok, so I’m using a high pass filter on everything, but am still getting a muddy mix… what then?

Back to the Source

If this sounds familiar, I would bet money that your problem stems from your source. For example, try moving the the microphones further away from the recorded source. If the mics are too close, you’re dealing with the proximity effect and will always be heavy on the low end. You may also be dealing with a bad room, poorly tuned instrument, etc.

Whatever your situation is, work harder at getting things right at the source before even thinking about your mix. Of course, these steps won’t be as “instant” – but in the end, you’ll be happy that you did.

Give it a try and feel free to provide a link to your mix, I’d be glad to take a listen. Hoping that helps!

It’s always a great feeling when clients finish and release their project. I had the opportunity to work with Thierry Muller on his full-length album: Orving: Super-Heros.

When Thierry originally approached me about recording drum tracks for his project, he had already programmed all of the drum parts. However, he was never quite happy with the outcome.

He mentioned that the feeling was simply too dull for the kind of music he was playing. Let me just say that the programmed drums weren’t bad at all. In fact, I was quite impressed! However, I was more than happy to bring that human element to this project and am happy with how things turned out.

The coolest part? Meeting and collaborating with a talented musician over 3600 miles away!

Meet Thierry Muller

Thierry is a French musician based in Colmar, France. Having grown up as a cover-band guitar player, he became more and more interested in writing and recording his own songs, sharing time between a day job, family and playing music. (I can relate)

He started recording songs on DAWs 20 years ago, as a one man band: Singing, playing guitars, bass and programming the drums.

Back then, there was little, if no information available about how to do it well. So it ended sounding worse than expected, although the songs weren’t bad at all.

It took a while until home recording became a trend. Additionally, the internet has been such a valuable source of information about recording, acoustic treatment and songwriting.

Thierry’s garage became his home-recording space. A multi-purpose area where he could practice, record and mix.

Super-Heros is the first release of Thierry’s project: ORVING, a collection of ten rock songs. It was entirely recorded in his home-studio.

The Recording Process

The guitars were recording using mainly a PRS guitar running through a Mesa Mark V amp. It was mic fed using a conjunction of SM57, MD421 and Ribbon mikes.

The bass, a Jazzbass, was recorded using a LA610 as a DI. Come mix time, it was re-amped through a VT bass pedal for clean tone, and the crunch channel of the guitar amp. For vocals, I ran a C414 through the LA610.

The goal of the recording process was to privilege spontaneity and great performances. Comping apart, there was very few edits done, no auto-tuning and no amp modeling involved.

This record is now released. You can listen to it on www.orving.fr or www.orving.bandcamp.com. The first track of the album can also be streamed right here:

 If you dig it, leave your comments below and tell us what you think!