Home Recording Forum - Blogs http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/ Skyrocket your home recordings faster than ever with recordingreview.com en Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:54:00 GMT vBulletin 60 http://forum.recordingreview.com/images/misc/rss.jpg Home Recording Forum - Blogs http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/ Reinventing the Wheel http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/punkguy/241-reinventing-wheel.html Sat, 01 Jun 2013 18:24:03 GMT Hopefully there comes a point in every serious... Hopefully there comes a point in every serious musician's life where they question what they are doing: repackaging their influences in a way that doesn't sound very different from their influences. Then I look back, mostly to the 50's and the 70's, and think, "What the heck happened?" There was real innovation there. And now what do we have? When bands want to branch out they incorporate electronica into their music. Electronica has not been new since (I'll be generous here) the early 80's. So what the @#$% happened? Are we stuck in some classical-type period where everything repeats itself for centuries upon centuries?

Make no mistake about it, I am a dyed in the wool punk rocker who would rather be castrated than listen to lesser music. Let me put my following thoughts this way... Anyone remember the "Punk-O-Rama" CDs? As time went on you had the staple punk bands that didn't sound so different from the 80's staple punk bands (just better recording quality) and then the powers that be kept putting stranger and stranger stuff on the albums until some of the stuff didn't resemble punk in the least. And was this "new punk" any good? Goodness no, it was freaking awful.

My point is, the stuff was probably not awful in and of itself, it was just awful compared to what was established as punk rock with all its rules and acceptable sounds. And if punk rock has rules then you know the rest of music is screwed.

So what is a musician supposed to do? Recording engineers and record labels just care about the money, and at a certain point a musician does need money to eat and all that, so how does one go about breaking this cycle of crap?

I have thought long and hard about this, have done experiments, none of which have sounded especially awesome as of yet, but imo I think the combination of: drums, guitar, bass, and keyboards/synth has been done so long in the same way that innovation in these areas will probably be rejected. People get so comfortable with certain sounds that other sounds are just "wrong" to them no matter how cool they might actually be.

I guess the answer is to look elsewhere to make new sounds. I mean there is not a shortage of niche instruments in the world. What crazy processing could we come up with for bagpipes? How about one of those weird oriental stinged instruments? Are musicians just scared, apathetic, too attached to the sounds of their youth, or what?

I think I am finally coming around to wanting to do something different. Then again I'm not ready to just give up on punk rock. No one says I need to stop playing punk rock in order to make something new. I'm currently investigating my options, seeing what will work and what wouldn't work. If I put some time and thought into this I ought to be able to at least come up with something original that doesn't totally suck... Or perhaps not. Time will tell. I just wonder if the general public is ready for new sounds. I think MTV and associates have boiled rebellion down to marketing and selling sex, so it's really the lowest common denominator of rebellion: they aren't fighting for anything, they don't really care about anything, they are only thinking they are doing something new when they are just living their lives to an eerily similar soundtrack as their parents did, and probably their grandparents too.

Well there you have it: another rant that proves nothing. I'm just getting tired of people reinventing the wheel, although I do love the wheels I grew up with...

:D ]]> PunkGuy http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/punkguy/241-reinventing-wheel.html Beyond touching, voice activation. http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/dudermn/240-beyond-touching-voice-activation.html Wed, 22 May 2013 12:55:54 GMT About a year ago I ran into a bit of a new... About a year ago I ran into a bit of a new program called Dragon natural speaking. Japanese based (I think). The program reminded me of the old days when another little voice recognition soft-ware was circulating around icq. The old one was hefty, and the harsh harsh process of saying every single frikking consenete (how do you spell that?) a million times than going over the vowels than ... the quick brown fox...sat on a lazy log. Todays software is a bit more power-ful.
It can recognize a command such as "Close window". It also goes a step further by enabling shortcuts such as the words 'Mouse-trap!" to ctrl+alt+del.
Ya...it seemed like a package worth checking out (no homo).

So I set up dragon, took about 2 hours as it was more important to set the bloody thing up properly as in the next few days it would under-go using a d.a.w.
First of all, there was the whole bit of getting used to not touching anything. Than there is the whole taboo of talking to your computer as if its a fine woman. If you happen to have a glass of wine around it gets awkward.
Luckily, I trained with the only audience being the neighbors (and they can go screw themselves...that pretty girl up-stairs gives me no love and I've been playing guitar under her nose for 2 years now!).

So the training bit was setting up open commands for reaper. Opening the program was easy.
"Start Reaper"
Bang splash screen.
"Ctrl plus Q" Bang new track.
"Select track 1"
Mozilla opens up and bang right to youporn....Dang it... telekenisis eh ?

So that is as far as the no touchy thing got, before it was time to lay hands on the all mighty touch-pad (touch screens where a bit hard to find back then). So I clicked on the track said "R" (dont even think about pirates!). And the track was armed and ready. Selecting an input involved using the touch pad just to click on input, "scroll down" and "click" did the selecting... ok not to much hands on so far.

Than came the bit with controlling the transport portion of the daw. For some reason the shortcut "record" did not work to use the function ctrl+r. Simple work-around. Use back-space to start recording.
Ya...now when a client is recording I have to say "Back-space". Talk about weird... but computer lingo... is the way to go.

So ya, the whole bit on recording and arming tracks is about right... You can live with it.
Next day, clients came by and we started recording. It was nice not having to really get infront of the laptop and just bark commands at it. Apart from feeling like finally having a slave (a sexy blonde one that is a slave by choice of a wookie life debt not the other kind of slave). The clients felt incredibly impressed and comfortable.... As if they stepped into the future.

Session is over, we sit down and drink a bit of whiskey, than I get back to the dragon and begin attempting to edit the tracks.

This is where the complexity of running a daw that is more calculated thought pattern blazing to fingertips at lightning speeds. The error prone voice commands failed to duplicate tracks with-out being annoying. After words, using plug-ins was a failure. If the dragon would understand. "Q1 3.4 frequency 1 320" "Q4 high-pass". Those kind of complexities... as hard as I tried to find a work around... where impossible to attain. The only possible work-around to work on the daw with voice commands would be to have "Eeekkk!!" mean left on the mouse "rrrrrrr" mean right "Dookooodoookooodookkooo" mean up and "bangobangobangobango" translate to down.
Than Id have to keep making these weird sounds until the mouse slowly would move to where it needs to be...and how exactly does some one say "right click dookooodoookkooo" until the wet on the reverb reaches the right db level.

While...it could be a very very fun experience to turn one-self into a monkey.... The only way a daw will ever work with voice activation is if each protocol is directly programmed with a set language. Which of course could take about 5-6 months to program.

Non-the less this first exploration into la-la-land counts as a failure. Sure it was a bright beacon of excitement over what will come from technology in the future. Right now, there is more cause to wait.

Voice activation for daws is like a plastic slide in a kiddy playground when what you want is the big 4 story tall water-slide that leaves all who ride it wearing a thong.
Cheers ! ]]> dudermn http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/dudermn/240-beyond-touching-voice-activation.html 2 years at the school of RecordingReview.com http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/emma/239-2-years-school-recordingreview-com.html Mon, 20 May 2013 07:33:21 GMT I’ve been hanging round here for a couple of... I’ve been hanging round here for a couple of years now and thought it was time to step back and have a think about it all.... This is my Recording Review :D

A bit of background:
As some of you know, I was signed up to EMI (UK) back in the early 80’s. Fascinating adventure, long story but I walked away. If I can, I'll attach a very scratchy copy of a song I did at Abbey Rd - just to sort of lay my ghosts to rest.... I was still singing about dark seas and angst back then, but they turned it into a pop song and I hated it. I did get quite a bit of airplay blah blah - EMI wanted to set me up with a basic home studio and learn to produce my own stuff – they did acknowledge that the magic I had in the demo of the song, was ‘lost in translation’. I was totally ‘over it all’ and said no thanks.

years pass...
other stuff happens...

About 4 years ago, I decided to buy sony acidpro – it seemed to be easy to use. Due to my acute technophobia, kind husband went to buy it for me and came back with a lexicon lambda and cubase Le4 having been convinced by the salesman that it was a much better deal. I wasn’t very impressed... it looked a bit more complicated than I had planned.. I plugged it in to try it out... hahahahahahahaha
A year later it was still in the box, the too hard box :rolleyes:

Another year and I started trying to install things. I had no idea. No idea in the world. And then it started to sort of bug me... I went back to the shop where it came from and they had no idea how to install it but ‘it was GREAT!’... I looked online... I emailed manufacturers, I drove for several hours to the lexicon importer where a guy confidently re-installed drivers and stuff, sat back smugly and waited for things to hum along...
They didn’t.. it crashed again and again and again. My technical knowledge felt like less than zero but some kernel in my brain had sort of clicked into place... I’ve never looked back.

Diving in...
March 2011: It took me at least SIX WEEKS to get the thing going... I still have the instructions I wrote, the sequences I had to follow to get my highly unsuitable laptop to operate with cubase. No so-called experts were any use whatsoever, but... I had discovered recordingreview.com and had become a serial lurker. Feeling ridiculously foolish, I began asking questions and have never looked back. I must have read and re-read stuff a gazillion times.. and then I began to post stuff for bashing. Honestly, I thought the world would possibly end when I began posting...

My first song was Delia.. Clunky vst instruments, drenched in reverb and anxiety..
I’ve had a stack of songs bashed since then, there are quite a few on soundcloud now if you’re interested ( link in my signature). It’s cost me money... But I’ve thought it through pretty carefully – plotted and planned and am REALLY happy with the stuff I’ve bought. Best buys have to be my JBL monitors, my fabulous Roland RD300NX, cubase 6, oh.. and Komplete 7... oopsy... the list does go on a little.. I'll move on.. :D. When I started out, I thought I’d have to buy a super-dooper microphone – I’m still using the Rode NT1-a which I bought early on to get used to as my first condenser mic. While it does tend towards bright ringing tones, I just love the depth of tone that it captures... yeah, it’s contentious, we all have opinions.. [chuckle]

After two years at the school of RecordingReview.com, I have just posted my first song that nearly sounds like how I wanted. http://forum.recordingreview.com/f11...ounding-55117/ There are still a few bugs in it, but it sounds like the ideas in my head. I’m so pleased! I have struggled endlessly with this stuff... read manuals, watched videos blah blah...
I can use eq compression and reverb as my tools – yep, I’m a drongo and work slowly and painfully at times... but every now and then, while I’m mixing, I get this amazing sense of ‘flow’ when the bits come together and just fit... It’s a zone-out thing that I never imagined I’d feel working at a computer – YAY!!

I just wanted to say a huge THANKS to all you guys who have supported me on my home recording journey... encouraged and challenged me and actively supported my learning curve. I’m not scared of this stuff anymore... in fact, I love it - that feels SO GOOD!
YEEEEHAH!!! :cool:
Audio File Only Available To Members.
]]> Emma http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/emma/239-2-years-school-recordingreview-com.html The Inherent Disappointment in DIY Recording http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/punkguy/238-inherent-disappointment-diy-recording.html Wed, 15 May 2013 04:11:14 GMT I didn't know what else to title this blog. Let's just get down to business.

:cool:

A couple weeks ago while recording my latest track I came to the realization that my drumming skills are not at the level they used to be. In other words, I realized I am no longer capable of playing Vandals songs in one take and can no longer drum fill my way through a chorus at 200 bpms. I don't know why this was a surprise--for the past year I've haven't practiced drums for the sake of practicing drums more than six times, max. I mean I only practiced drums for my songs maybe twice before recording.

Does it matter that drums bore me? Does it matter that I don't have time most days anyway? Does it matter that I'm practicing singing in my free time instead? I don't think I will have the time to be a B grade musician on every instrument (which is only four: drums, guitar, bass, and vocals) until I retire, and by then I'll probably have arthritis anyway.

The point is: how am I going to lay down quality tracks for recordings when I'm C grade at best on most instruments I record? I can't even do a real guitar solo for crying out loud; I have to drown my attempts at guitar solos in sci-fi modulation to make them sound interesting.

So the question is: why do I keep recording myself? Sure each recording I do gets a bit better... at least by my fifth or sixth remix. I see other DIY recordists taking routes that make more sense, like a solo artist with an acoustic and maybe backup bongos, or some weird electronic stuff where everything is quantized and processed to death and musicianship means nothing. Those people are smart. But I just couldn't live with myself doing that, so I press onward, hoping my creativity will mask my lack of musical ability.

For those who haven't heard my stuff, allow me to defend myself.

:D

I'm still a really_good_drummer, and quite frankly I get compliments on my guitar and even bass playing (seriously?) when I play live. I even impress people with my singing, but that's probably because I can barely talk and then I bust out with some Grave's Misfit song with those really high notes and screams. But deep down inside I know I'm not good enough at most instruments to walk into a studio and lay down a pro track. I comp like a maniac. Even then I couldn't lay down believable tremolo picking at 200 bpms.

Do I take more time to practice? I think my wife might leave me if I do (not that I enjoy sitting through telenovas and questionable cooking,) but I don't really want to practice anyway. Really the only reason I want to record myself is so I can blast my songs in my car with the windows down, and if a few friends listen to my new track I'm happy.

:psycopathsmiley:

If I was able to time travel into the past, before I started recording, and play a current recording I did to my younger self I'm sure I would never have started recording. Seriously, I'm sounding like underground punk in 1980 good/bad. There's no doubt that I'm improving, but this is a crazy hobby.

If I wanted to be a bodybuilder I just need to go to the gym a lot and eat protein bars. I would see results, and I could plan my progress. Doing DIY recording is like trying to be an A list: surfer, skateboarded, snowboarder, salsa dancer, gymnast, and scuba diver all at the same time. No wonder most people give up after a few years or go the "solo acoustic" route.

I think what keeps me going more than anything at this point is that I feel the need to prove people wrong. There isn't anything much more satisfying than rubbing your success in the person's face who didn't think you could do it. I already proved my fundamentalist, control freak mother wrong when I learned how to play drums, even though she refused to give me lessons or support me. I already proved people who knew me wrong when they all thought I was crazy when I told them God wanted me to be a pastor. I'm just waiting for the day when I can play my music to the world and sound like an awesome band in an awesome studio. This one is taking a while, though. But hey, I've gotten this far, what's the point in quitting now?

If you made it this far, congratulations, I'm not sure what my point was, but there you have it.

S:):D ]]> PunkGuy http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/punkguy/238-inherent-disappointment-diy-recording.html Tips on Submitting Your Project for Mixing http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/bobbybovine/237-tips-submitting-your-project-mixing.html Wed, 15 May 2013 01:30:30 GMT When building my website I compiled some... When building my website I compiled some guidelines that would help to keep things running smooth between artist and Mixing Engineer (Sound Designer for Brandon). All of this is information for the artist or whomever would be submitting the tracks to someone like myself to mix their raw tracks. These are all things that I believe will save time, money, and create a positive experience on both sides.

Communication
Communication between the Mixing Engineer and you, the client, is always strongly recommended. Whether it is by phone, email, webcam, etc., the ultimate goal is to have a satisfied client, and most studios will do whatever is easiest for the client. Don’t be shy on communicating your wants and needs with regards to your project. It is the only way to ensure that all parties are satisfied and productive. Remember communication is key to success


Recordings
The quality of the recorded tracks impacts the quality of the final product. If the tracks given have a number of issues inherent in the recording process such as, clipping distortion, or other anomalies, it is possible that they will be rejected until the problems are rectified, which may mean re-recording the offending tracks. Also when bouncing the files in your DAW do not try and push the levels as you may cause digital clipping distortion, we want your tracks as clean as possible. In today’s digital environment of 24bit recording it is not necessary to record everything really hot like on analog systems. Give yourself lots of headroom and leave at least 6 db of room over any peak in the recorded material. Doing this will ensure the most flexibility in working with the tracks into the mix.


Organization
Read Me file
Including a readme file or document with your audio files is something that I personally believe should be Included with every project. This is a sure fire way to ensure that all pertinent information that you want the mixing engineer to know gets communicated and is something that will be referenced often. In this file include the following information: Number of Tracks, Track Names, Length of song, Tempo, Key, Tracking Notes, Working Titles etc… Also "special instructions" regarding the mix such as preferred panning, fade outs, or type of treatment on specific instruments, timing of events should also be placed in this file. Ultimately the more information you can provide about what you want, the more likely it will be that you will get just that.


Exporting your Tracks
Please ensure that all your tracks are exported as one file per track and that they all start at 0:00:00 or bar 1 etc. , even if that requires dead space or silence until a part or instrument comes in. This is essential in ensuring that all the tracks stay locked in the correct timing and prevent any time wasted or errors caused by not having synchronized tracks. If you are using midi instruments in your session please bounce the midi to an audio file and export the track as mentioned above.


Labeling
I cannot stress enough the importance of this. Please have your tracks properly labeled and organized. When labeling tracks it is best to name them according to what is recorded in the track (for ex. Hi hat, Kick, Snare, Rhythm guitar 1, Rhythm guitar R, lead guitar 1, lead guitar 2, lead guitar DI, lead vox, female vox, back vox 1 etc……..) This speeds up the initial set up of the session exponentially. Otherwise each track will need to be listened to individually so the session can be setup properly to allow for a quick workflow. This of course takes time which in the end costs you more money.


File Formats
When submitting files for mixing, I recommend sending individual tracks in mono or stereo, for each instrument and in “.wav” format. Although ".wav" files are best other uncompressed formats may be accepted. Please refrain from submitting tracks in ".mp3" or other lossy formats as this will greatly affect the quality of the final mix. It is best if they are in 24 bit (or higher) format and they should have a sampling frequency rate of 44.1 kHz (44100 Hz) or higher (such as 48k, 88.2k or 96 k).


Tracks and FX
Vocals
Vocals are often the single most important part of any song. When sending vocal tracks make sure that they are not effected in any way. That means no heavy compression, no reverb, no delays and absolutely no autotune. If you feel you must send a vocal track that has the use of some effect on it, it is recommended that you only do so if it accompanies a raw uneffected track. It is also a good idea to note any specific information on the vocal in the readme file.


Effects
I know I said it above in regards to vox but it goes for all audio files in general. Do not to include any effects, compression or automation in the raw audio files you are sending. If an effect you used is integral to the song or you are concerned that the feel of the track will be changed then please export a track with the effects and one track with no effects. Make sure these are clearly labeled. It is important to not only have the effected track because it is very difficult to modify an effected track if any adjustment to the effect is needed. The unaffected track can then be used to replicate what you have done and improve on how it sounds within the context of the mix. Again please include any information on effects and what you would like in the readme file.


DI’s
Sending DI’s (Direct Input) of any instrument is perfectly fine and encouraged for most Mixing Engineers. However, do not ONLY send the DI’s of your guitars and other instruments. Finding a tone is tedious and a very personal thing for any musician, furthermore decisions on general tone of guitars and of the project should be done in the recording phase. However the supplied DI’s can and will be used to strengthen what is there. When it comes to bass, DI’s are strongly encouraged.


Editing
Editing can be a very long and arduous process. After initial setup of the session,listening to every track is necessary to determine if I need to edit out any unwanted noises, clicks, pops, hiss, talking in background etc. For a large project of 20 tracks or more this can take a significant amount of time that although necessary, is something that anyone with a DAW can do. If you are preparing the tracks yourself then take the time to edit out all of that stuff before you export the tracks. Also ensure that this is noted in the readme file so I don’t have to spend any time doing something that has already been done. If you do not want to do this that is fine but the extra time needed will be reflected in the overall cost of the project. There is always some amount of editing needed with every project, however, keeping this to a minimum will speed things up and keep costs down.


Special Instructions
If there are creative and special requests that you would like in your mix, these events need to be pointed out in as specific detail as possible, including the exact time period in which they occur within the track preferably in minutes and seconds (Ex. 1st verse vocals from 0:33 – 0:52 dry with no effects, bridge guitar 2:13 – 2:21 heavy flanger, slapback delay.) Please include any of these special instructions in the readme.txt file and communicate verbally or through emails etc. as well. If it is important to you, then I want to make sure I know and understand exactly what you want.


Rough/Reference Mixes
Please include a rough mix of where your song is at the time of submission for my reference to ensure the core vibe of the song stays intact. I need to know what you are hearing and in what direction you are taking your precious material. That being said, don't expect the final mix to just be a “cleaned up” version of your mix, you are hiring me to take your material to the next level. If you have a specific direction for your material, giving a reference of the type of mix you like can be very helpful as well. This should be discussed with me early on before the files are submitted. If this is necessary then usually an example song from an artist that you think is similar to your sound can be sent as a reference point. This can help determine the general tonality or the direction with ambiance etc. that will need to be taken to achieve your expected result.


By following these guidelines it will help to insure that you get what you paid for and don't incur any extra unforeseen costs etc. as well as receiving the best possible product and experience possible.



Want to hear how the Slate Digital Cup has improved my mixes?
March - April - May - June - July - August - September

October - November - December - January - February
]]> bobbybovine http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/bobbybovine/237-tips-submitting-your-project-mixing.html Wake-up to reality http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/dudermn/236-wake-up-reality.html Sat, 11 May 2013 00:48:10 GMT It seemed so long ago. Today is the day music has... It seemed so long ago. Today is the day music has become a small fragment of the large expansion of human attention. Take it from all the kiddie musicians out their that still look at the necks of their guitars as they try and remember that one special riff that for-ever remained in their thick bloody skulls.

Today is not as fun as it used to be..... Every-one is in a static question of how exactly do we get this music out there, and more importantly how do we get paid. With half the internet, searching for a do-it-your-self genius innovative movement to capture societies adapted culture to the mind-set of the human mind....in its most current situation we begin to believe.
So in the studio we have the average personal musician. Who has the power to pay his way into music. Takes the small time he has ...or she, from employment and play his bloody guitar 5 minutes. A real musician is out there playing it day and night, supported by the government and begging for change, complaining at the end of the day that he only makes 200 a a show, given though the over-shadowed fact that Social-secuirity, or medical psychozisis :) is keeping the bills paid at the crib. Homie.

Language too has come a long skiddadal from typical comprehensive discussion. Skip forward past the boring blur of crud reality, as crude as the petrol that powers it...thank you very much, go hop in your car drive down to jacking the puss...rrr boxx..

Take a swig of cola, relax keep a positive attitude.
You are a sound engineer. Music created by true musicians has graced your ears, the places you've worked in, the tracks you recorded, they all have been ever so tweaked and tampered with and brought forth to a little more of a dream than a product. It is hard to remember this about the position of an engineer today.
So many products clutter the fact that it is really that simple to be good at this, and that easy to be bad.
Color, texture, cream, space, vanilla, blue, sad, jumpy, poppy...words all that describe hamburgers as well as music...
Smooth, hot, elegant, seductive....words that work just as fine on a woman as they do on a recording.
Cute, cuddly, fuzzy..... guitar tone, and pups.
A big C word I like to use in the studio is C$$T but you guys should just use the term creativity. Never forget your position as musical guru for some-one paying a sum of money for a service they ask of you.
The same a normal hobo off the street can come into some-ones apartment and hit record on their limited edition of pro-tools on some mac-pro bought from some pawn shop down the corner in some neighborhood.
Sure the negative effects are close by to you and I and easily some-one could fall into that small pit of despair kept away in the darkness of our hearts... but why think as change in a bad light ? For 20-13 is a time of great ingenuity in an analog moment becoming timeless, digital, and encoded into the data-base of the human library. Sound samples are at our disposable for every single object we wish to have ever recorded, finding it is a story of its own.
Making it is an adventure, experiencing....that is where the rewards come.

Personally death has visited me over the course of my life over 62 times by now. I am 24. By now means is this a bigget...but the sounds of some-of-these experiences have been that of winds blowing me off rocks into an ocean.

Infrasonics.....

But that is a bit of sound technology literated as psyco-acoustic, dont bother with it, the scale of this one is in terms of cities and regions, and it has more to do with energy and vibe than music. But strangely enough just as much with harmony.

So a man comes into a studio and asks of us for help doing various things. Today its not just tape something to a cassette, expect problems in a studio ranging from a failing marriage to recording an audition for a band. Expect groupies in at 3 in the morning and expect some-one to tell you...be-care-ful I see dead people :)
Most of this, is fun and games.... happy and joy. So many people live their lives in the scale of A at 120bpm.... its so easy to get into their lives as a shiny metal god. A robo-engineer. Hype up your name, say things that exaggerate your skill and pray that you have to prove those proposals you made to some bar owner about moving the speakers 2 inches to the left and putting a rotating mirror in the middle of the bar.... Figure it out how to make people question the world around them, make clients close their eyes when they talk to you. Exist as sound.
Sound-scape designer, Atmosphere prophet, Silent light composer, choose your title with a hint of passion and a heart of gold.
Render your files only when they feel steady.... If you make an edit remember, that when you cant hear the edit in the song no-one else will. That is why we say to take time and step away from the mix. What automations you make, what tricks you tweek.... see if you can lose yourself in what you do and forget the time spent in the studio. Remember the lyrics and bring forth the story.

:beerbangX: ]]> dudermn http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/dudermn/236-wake-up-reality.html Finally I have the most fun studio on planet earth! http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/235-finally-i-have-most-fun-studio-planet-earth.html Thu, 09 May 2013 06:51:32 GMT This is a bold statement but recording, mixing... This is a bold statement but recording, mixing and playing are about making bold and calculated moves. Inching our way to success.

What is so fun about Smith Music's recording studio?

Over the last year my entire mind set has shifted. This is the main reason I've been able to make the best possible studio experience for myself and translate that to my clients. I LOVE mixing now. My experience until the last few years has been one of mixes getting progressively better but never hitting the mark of what I hear in my head. This changed over the course of this year. Until I could get a mix that I heard in my head to come alive in the speakers in front of me I would struggle turning out pretty good mixes. The only thing that propelled me forward was knowing that one day I would successed consistently. Fun was not a factor.

Of course this does not mean I do not have much to learn or that I am the best engineer in the place. There was a time when learning instruments that I hit this same point. It was then time to go out into the world and use the skill. I knew that I was good, could be realistic about my skill set and make music that inspired me. This has now happened with recording for me. To be honest it is just a freakin relief. The massive struggle, the never measuring up, the hunt for the next tool, knowledge or magic that would roll this forward a minuscule notch has ended. Ahhhhhhhh!

Many, of you know what I am talking about. Many of you have likely long passed this threshold and are finding new challenges in this field.

Whats next?

Now that I've sorted the B.S. about gear have skills to a reasonable degree I felt it was time to totally customize my control room and studio to me. So this is what I set out to do.

Do What is Inspiring

This is my new mindset. If I have background vocals that I feel could benifit from tonelux eq's then I go ahead and use them not afraid that I'll regret not saving them for later. If I am struggling with a source I erase everything very quickly and change to the opposite of what I am doing. If I am ITB I'll go OTB or vise versa. It is like picking up a new guitar to get new song writing ideas. There is nothing wrong with the old one but a new perspective inspires.

Now that I understand that digital and analog hardware are equal tools that need to be used in a way that excentuates their strengths I don't worry about using my expensive gear on the "important" instruments and plug ins on the rest. I use what is inspiring in the moment. I may have lead vocals all processed ITB one day and a full mix spread out over 48 channels of analog gear the next. It depends on my mood and what is working for me in the moment.


[SIZE=]Looking Back Now Ten Things I Wish I Knew Starting Out Are... [/SIZE]

1. HPF is the most powerful tool in your arsenal.
2. Build a fort out of roxul to record in.
3. Mic pres matter but they don't need to be $1000 each.
4. Expensive gear can be fun, inspiring and a good learning tool. But it never inherently sounds good just going through it(that only happens when you are VERY skilled and have done 1000 right before hand)
5. Never accept a bad take.
6. NOTHING is considered cheating.
7. Sm57's sound great as overheads
8. The q's on analog eqs tend to be FAR wider then we select when using a daw eq and they boost or cut less then we are inclined to go.
9. Having a slick workflow is worth putting money into.
10. Take Saturdays off.

Bonus 11. Convertors like mic pres are important but Convertors never inspire me with their sonics. They impress me when they stay out of the way. ]]> paul999 http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/paul999/235-finally-i-have-most-fun-studio-planet-earth.html Movies and Music go together like Eggs and Toast http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/fretbone/234-movies-music-go-together-like-eggs-toast.html Mon, 06 May 2013 18:13:34 GMT We learn through our recording process to use our... We learn through our recording process to use our ears, close our eyes, don't look at the levels, and such, but there are times when the senses come together in goosebump inducing glory.

I personally strive for "looseness" in my recordings, that's just my preference.

Here's some examples that make me go crazy with excitement :

* when Marty Mcfly gets on stage in "Back to the futue" and you hear him plug in to the amp, you can hear the noise and you know something great is about to take place- right into Johnny B. Goode.

* In crossroads, when Steve Vai is battling for the devil and he starts losing, you hear the squaks, and hum from his amp, then he finally drops his guitar on the ground in defeat, you hear the spring reverb do the coolest stuff.

* Same movie, "the whole movie really" but you get so many different tones in that film, like the pignose amp and fingerpicking blues stuff.

* Star Wars- even if you're not a fan of classical music on it's own, could you imagine if that move was silent or if George Lucas used Donna Summer songs instead of the Great John Williams.

* Rocky combined with "Eye of the Tiger", you might hate that song by itself, but in the movie, you wanna jump up and kick some A** ! (that one's for Brandon)

* Finally, this one goes to T.V. Waylon Jennings and the Dukes of Hazzard theme song, there is no better match for that scene of the General Lee jumping the dust ramp in slow motion..And the Daisy Dukes (yeah baby)

I got chills just writing this, there's something magical that us producers can benefit from when we get caught up in technique and lose sight of the feeling we get when it's done right ]]> fretbone http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/fretbone/234-movies-music-go-together-like-eggs-toast.html Philosophy- what are you gonna do with your life ? http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/fretbone/233-philosophy-what-you-gonna-do-your-life.html Sun, 05 May 2013 00:36:14 GMT I've found that a lot of recording artists/ producers are caught up in their own tidepools and never find a way out.

We all seem to evolve in a similar way down the path to better recordings, but focus on things that only improve our craft a tiny bit.

This Recording Review website is great at not focusing on gear. That's a big hurdle to overcome when we don't get the results we want from our gear, we blame the gear itself.

I applaud the effort and focus on technique which makes you have to get results from what you have already, or at least not wasting money on gear that won't improve your recordings.

I've seen a lot of posts on the different avenues we can take in the music business, and most of the DIY home recordists have to wear many hats: songwriter, recording artist, producer, engineer, mastering engineer, etc.

What I want to add is something that I have learned throughout my life's journey that isn't directly about music.

PHILOSOPHY. What I mean by that is personal growth as a human being and how that instantly can improve your recordings. Philosophy translated means "love of wisdom".

It's a mindset that you take on that gives you perspective on any subject you want to attach it to.

If you become a positive person with inner confidence and a greater view of the world and you're place in it, you will bring the things you want to you.

The universe works that way. If you think you can achieve something, you will, as long as you take the steps to get there. The instant you decide to treat people with respect, kindness, and love, everything else will fall into place. We are all connected and helping others helps ourselves.

It may take time to develop great recording skills, but you won't have that doom and gloom attitude and self doubt that can make you eventually give up the dream you initially wanted.

Some people don't want to do this and will laugh it off as crazy talk, but If you start to seek out knowledge and read the quotes of some of the well known philosophers, like Ekhart Tolle, Dalai Lama, Wayne Dwyer, Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Lao Tzu, there's so many to list but start somewhere and see if what they say makes sense to you.

When you are ready for the information, you will absorb it and be better off for it. You're life will change.

Some relevant proof is to analyze the evidence of people that have accepted this. Bruce Lee, Anderson Silva, they don't seem to get angry and they always seem to win. There's a calm that takes over and a confidence that psyches out the opponent.

Just some food for thought, it's working for me, I'm still at the beginning of awakening, but it seems to permeate to all areas of my life.

You still have to dig in and learn the recording techniques, get experience by doing, trial and error, all that stuff, but your mindset towards those tasks will take on a new meaning.

Imagine your recordings being great, Imagine making clients happy, Imagine the biggest dreams you can, allow the shift to happen and see if it helps you more than updating to protools 11.5 or always worrying about what you can't do.

Ask the questions , analyze your craft, and have fun doing it. Listen to people you admire in your subject and see what they do. Unravel the mystery.. ]]> fretbone http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/fretbone/233-philosophy-what-you-gonna-do-your-life.html Analog room compression, the spectrum....de rainbow. http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/dudermn/232-analog-room-compression-spectrum-de-rainbow.html Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:00:07 GMT A wise dude once asked of me what dooo I know of... A wise dude once asked of me what dooo I know of sound engineering....
To this question God replies.

'I made de fur your walls dampen with, each rock of that cement yoh use, my stone.
Crafted, individually by the tips of my fingers.'

Sound is energy, pure. Use de vibe and de mind wise.
Listen to voices, angels....and the fear of demons.
But remember sound is nrg. Prayers are sound. ]]> dudermn http://forum.recordingreview.com/blogs/dudermn/232-analog-room-compression-spectrum-de-rainbow.html