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 ...
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 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, ...
I didn't know what else to title this blog. Let's just get down to business. 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 ...
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 ...
Updated 05-14-2013 at 08:00 PM by bobbybovine
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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.
Sorry for the length of this blog - I do hope someone gets a bit of amusement out of it, if nothing else. I was recently going through some old boxes that I've had in storage when I came across several reels of 1/2" Ampex 456 that I recorded sessions on as a "youth" back in the mid-80's. Okay, yes, I was young, but that does confirm the fact that I'm an "old fart" for those who have long suspected it. I thought this tale might interest some of you - if ...
Updated 04-09-2013 at 01:57 PM by brandondrury
It has been said a million times, but don’t mix with your eyes!! Seems simple enough, however, when using a typical DAW setup, it is a difficult thing to actually follow through on. For the longest time I had a hard time really perceiving depth in a mix. Adding reverb, delays etc. ended up making a mess because I just couldn’t sense where things were being placed. So in the search to try and find out why that was, I started turning off my monitors every now and then so I could listen to the ...
This is a pretty bold statement that doesn't come easily from me. Background When I started to get pretty good as a musician I went though a phase were I was super picky about everything. Instrument, string brand, cable length, Even building custom instruments to achieve perfection. As I achieved success I ditched all that pickiness insisting that 99% of my tone was the player. I played on absolute crap for a while. I continued working even when ...
2nd of February, 2013 – At the time of writing this, the Slate Digital cup has seen over 280 people participate (to varying degrees) in mixing and reviewing 11 different songs, with the total number of mixes submitted heading dangerously towards 1000! I’m not going to lie here. In March 2012, I came across the competition and I was equally excited as I was conscious of my habit of starting things and then never finishing them. And this was one big thing! Also, knowing full ...
I had no idea this was so addictive - thinking about this. As before, if one has extra-musical personal relevance for you alone ("I like this one because when I heard it, that always meant it was time for _____ "), save it. Let's keep it about music. More from when having a great theme was deemed to be important. Granted, there are themes that are memorable or culturally important that I think are crap, musically. "Those Were The Days" and "Suicide is Painless" ...
In exactly the order they occurred to me. Twenty seemed like plenty. 1. Six Million Dollar Man Music that actually made him seem like he was running 70 mph. Try that at home. 2. Rockford Files A great, short piece of music. Just about perfect in all aspects. 3. Mannix I'm a sucker for the big band jazz waltz any day and this sucker is put together and recorded great. 4. Barnaby Jones With its alto flute, it's all Mancini-esque and secret agent-y. 5. ...
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