Island Studios in Iceland on Volcanic Island

You Can?t Trust Your Ears

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:57:00 +0000

One of the absolute most frustrating things about recording music is that you simply can’t trust your ears. The human ear is not a very reliable tool for knowing if your tracks are sounding great or not, plain and simple. Our ears adjust, and our brains compensate for things we’re hearing and very quickly we lose perspective on just what exactly our audio is sounding like. Depressing I know.

But there is hope in all of this. For one, the fact that our ears aren’t very trustworthy means that no one truly has “golden ears”; you know those people who just can hear perfection and then translate that into award winning mixes? Yep, just isn’t true.

Now the pro engineers and mixers have developed their ears to be able to discern things that the newbie will simply miss, and this is not to be understated. But what I’m getting at it, is thatby design none of us are immune to our ears tricking us into thinking we sound better than we do. So let’s look at how to compensate for this issue

What You Don?t Want The Mic To Hear

Mon, 07 May 2012 13:06:00 +0000

So much of a great recording boils down to where you choose to place the mics. Microphonesdon’t have brains so you need to point them and place them in the best position to “hear” what you need them to “hear.” But just as important as what good sounds are coming into the microphone is avoiding bad sounds from getting into your microphone as well. Let’s discuss.

Use The Back Of Your Microphone

In most recording situations, you’ll tend to use microphones with a cardioid polar pattern. This means the microphone primarily records what is hitting the front of it while simultaneously rejecting most of the sound that hits the back of it. Pretty straightforward.

Be The Recording Guy In Your Band

Sun, 06 May 2012 16:19:00 +0000

If you’re in a band, you need a home studio. In fact, every musician needs a home studio. But if you are in a band and you’re reading this, then you my friend need to be the “recording guy/gal”.

Every band needs one. That special someone who has some equipment, some knowledge, and drive to organize recording sessions for the band. My guess is that the rest of your bandmates (like most musicians) don’t want to be bogged down with the technical stuff, so that simply leaves you.

Record Your Rehearsals

The best thing you can do is starting this week, record your band’s rehearsals. Whether you multi track it or just get a stereo mix of the band, make sure you get your practices on “tape”. These recordings can be rough of course and will mostly be utilized for arranging, writing, and demoing.

The Future of Pro Tools [Reader Question]

Sat, 05 May 2012 16:18:00 +0000

Last week one of my readers, and great friend, called me up to ask my opinion on the future of Pro Tools as a viable recording platform. He was referring specifically to the recent re-branding and dissolving of the Digidesign name and how that might affect future releases and the overall direction and vision for Pro Tools.

In case you are not aware (or interested), Digidesign Pro Tools has been around since 1984. Much of Pro Tools has evolved over the past 26 years, especially in features, power, and popularity. But up until now it has always been a product of Digidesign. Now it is officailly being rebranded as Avid Pro Tools.

Optimize Pro Tools: Shrink Your Session Size

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:16:00 +0000

If you’ve ever worked in Pro Tools on a session that has a ton of tracks, playlists, edits, and regions then whether you know it or not you are creating one massive session with a bloated Audio Files folder. Pro Tools saves everything you record, no matter if you delete it from the edit window or record over it. The file is still there on your hard drive (and visible in your Regions bin). This can take up much needed space on your audio drive. Today I’m going to show you how to quickly and easily shrink your Pro Tools sessions and get rid of all the excess fat.

Select The Unused Regions

This will all take place from the Regions bin drop down menu. Make sure your Regions bin is visible and click on the drop down arrow on the top right of the bin. Arrow down and chooseSelect and then Unused from the menu.

3 Reasons To Consider Buying A Mac

Thu, 03 May 2012 16:13:00 +0000

There is much debate in the audio recording world over using a Mac or PC as your DAW computer of choice. I personally try to avoid those conversations as I believe they are a distraction to actually making music. I wrote about this in more depth in my ebook, The #1 Rule of Home Recording, which you can download for free here.

But if you are in the market for a new computer and you use a cross platform DAW such as Pro Tools, Cubase, Studio One, or Propellerhead’s Record let me give you three brief reasons why if you havne’t gone Mac yet, I will suggest you consider one.

1. Macs Just Work

It is a well known fact that Apple only manufactures a small line of personal computers (3 desktops and 3 laptop models). This allows Apple to focus on these core products and make sure they are built to strict standards and are satisfying the demands of both the casual and the professional user.

Your Recordings ?Unplugged?

Wed, 02 May 2012 16:06:00 +0000

To be honest, so much of what makes up a good recording is working with a great song. Simply, you can’t go very far in the studio and expect a great result if the actual song writing isn’t stellar. On top of that I’ve written about how a solid arrangement takes what could be called “demos” to “professional” status much faster than people believe. But honestly what’s even more important before you dive into the arrangement and the studio tricks is this: can your song hold up when stripped away to just an instrument and voice?

Don’t Forget Your Acoustic Guitar

As the leader of a worship band at my local church I try to stay in tune with what some other wise and Godly bands, musicians, and worship pastors say on the subject of music. One website I follow is TheResurgence.com (a ministry of Mars Hill Church in Seattle). There was a recent article posted by Mars Hill’s worship pastor, Tim Smith entitled “Don’t Forget Your Acoustic Guitar.” In this article Tim talks about the importance of being able to strip away all the flashiness of instrumentation and effects and still have a song that is authentic, passionate, and moving.

Why Recorded Music Still Makes Artists Money

Tue, 01 May 2012 16:05:00 +0000

There are many studies out there citing the evolution of our music industry (whether big label or local indie circuit) and artists can make money. They say that people no longer want to have to pay for music. Instead bands should giveaway their music for free and then sell other “experiences” (private shows, autographed merch, extra content, etc).

There is definitely a lot to be said for this new model of money making in music. But a recently released study from media selling giant Myxer reveals some encouraging news for us musicians…people are still buying a ton of music.

Now I’m not sure how many of you out there make a living (whether full or part time) off of your music, but this study is encouraging nonetheless. According to the study, “74% of Myxer users still buy CDs. 65% attended a live music event in the past year and 55% of them bought something from the artist at the venue.” This is amazing news. Myxer users are people who download digital content all the time, and what we’re seeing is that a majority of these music lovers go to live shows, and half of those people drop cash at the venue.

Optimize Pro Tools: Proper Session Backup

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:03:00 +0000

Until you have had a hard drive failure or “accidentally” deleted your Pro Tools sessions where all your hard work is lost, tips like proper session backup seem boring and a waste of your time. If you haven’t had issue with lost recording then pay attention to this post because I don’t want you to ever experience that!

My hardest lesson learned was thinking that I actuallay was backing up my sessions properly. What I would typically do was record everything, and then when we were finished for the day I would simply close out of Pro Tools, find the session on my hard drive and physically drag a copy of the session folder to my backup drive. I figured “I know have two copies of the sessions. No problem” The problem arose when I actually lost some files and needed to access my backup only to find that despite having the audio saved to another drive, it was still looking for information from my old drive and the session was confused as to where each audio region was supposed to be in the timeline. This became a major headache very quickly.

What I’m going over real briefly today is the officially sanctioned procedure for file backup (and even prepration for session transfer to someone else) by Avid themselves. It’s super easy, so there is no reason NOT to do this:

1. Save Copy In

With the desired session still open in Pro Tools, simply head to the FILE menu and choose FILE – SAVE COPY IN.

Clean Studio, Productive Studio

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:02:00 +0000

Today I want to hit on a practical bit of advice. For most of you out there reading this blog (myself included), recording, mixing, and songwriting probably all happens in one room. It may even be a room shared with a a spouse, roommate, or perhaps your bed. This poses a challenge that many traditional studios do not face: inevitable clutter from daily life in your house.

From Coke cans and coffee mugs to stacks of paper and mail, to even kids’ toys and clothes, your home studio environment can quickly become a mess of everyday things. This is just life. If your studio is at “home” then it will easily blend in and become just as messy as the rest of your place. The problem is that a messy, cluttered studio does not lend itself to creativity or productivity. That being said, here are some simple “rules” I suggest you begin implementing right away.

Getting Value From Your Gear

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 16:01:00 +0000

We’ve all done it. We set our hearts on that one piece of gear that will make our music sound shiny and new. So we buy it, crack it open, use it for a few months, and then a year later we find ourselves looking for something else to replace it. If we don’t sell said piece of gear to afford something new, we’ll justify keeping it around by telling ourselves “It’s good to have options.” or “I’m adding to my arsenal or tool kit in the studio.” But in this sad process of always needing something new, we are loosing out on an opportunity to garnish real value from the studio gear we spend a good chunk of money on.

Audio Peer Pressure

Think about it, we home studio people are living in a whirlpool of advertising and brainwashing that bombards our minds with thoughts of newer, better, more vintage, more professional, etc. There is always something new to buy. And somehow these companies (and the subsequent online forum lurkers and fanboys) convince us that our once awesome audio interface or channel strip is no longer what we need. In fact, there is something very wrong with it. “The A/D converters aren’t good at all,” “That mic pre really colors the sound in a bad way”, “You’ll never get pro results with that.” You get the idea.

The Fastest Way To Clean Up Your Mix

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Many times when recording you feel that each track sounds great at first, yet once all the pieces are in place (drums, bass, guitars, vocals, keys) the mix becomes “muddy”, is lacking clarity and just overall doesn’t have the vibe you were hoping for. If you’ve run into this problem, you’re not alone.

Mixing music is a complex task due to the even more complex nature of frequencies, harmonics, and how they interact with those of other instruments. And while great mixes don’t come from simply reading one post online, there is one tip I can share that will help clean up your mixes faster than any other I know.

The Danger Of Unlimited Takes

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000

When it comes to actually recording in your home studio, there are seemingly limitless options of how to go about laying your tracks down. Whether it’s different techniques or mic placement options, you have a lot to sift through. I’m totally fine with that. The art of recording is just that, an art. It isn’t just science, so there isn’t just one or two ways to get a great sound. In fact, I want you to spend a lot of time getting unique and great sounds.

So what’s the problem? It all starts with this revolution of recording we are living through…the hard drive era. We no longer have limitations of how much tape we have to record to. In fact, with the price of storage so low these days you could almost say we have unlimited space available too us. And you know what that leads to…unlimited takes!

Optimize Pro Tools: Custom Labeled I/O

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:59:00 +0000

If you work in Pro Tools a lot you might as well take advantage of its I/O labeling feature and rename your regularly used inputs and outputs. For instance if you always tend to keep your vocal mic plugged in to Input 1 of your audio interface, then why not rename that input to “Vocal Mic” or “B2-Pro”? Same goes for your outputs (main outs, headphone outs, etc). Taking this one simple step to relabel some of your I/O can save you time and confusion so you can get on with making music.

Start With Your Output(s)

The best place to see and edit your inputs and outputs is in the I/O window. Simply click onSettings and then I/O. This will open up a window with a matrix of inputs and outputs that is only as big as your audio interface’s connections dictates.

Keeping Mixing Simple

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:58:00 +0000

Mixing is a lot of fun. It is that magical stage in the recording process where all your great tracks come together and create a unified and cohesive song. It is also the most dangerous area of music making today.

Because today’s computers and DAWs offer seemingly unlimited tracks and plugin effects (mixed with powerful automation), many people feel the need to use it all. These countless options can actually lead to longer than necessary mixing sessions. And on top of that, the mixes don’t even sound that great! What’s the point of using all your plugins and spending all that time if at the end of the day you don’t get a great mix?

Let’s Do The Time Warp, Again

If you go back 20 or 30 years ago, the typical album was mixed on an analog console with a fixed number of available tracks, usually 24 or 32. Effects were achieved through the use of outboard gear, that you would “plugin” to the mixer as an insert. If you had one vintage Fairchild compresser for example, then you could only use it on one track. The same went for your reverbs and delays, etc. You had a series of constant limits to how much you could do.

Feedback On Your Mixes: Why You Need It

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:57:00 +0000

The reality of this recording revolution we are living through is that many of us write, record, edit, AND mix our own music. The debate still exists as to whether this is a good thing for music or not, but regardless of where you stand on the issue one thing is for sure: if you are mixing your own work, you need feedback from outsiders!

The great thing about mixing your own music is that you know the songs inside and out. You know each part that was recorded and why it is there. You know what to listen for. This is also the WORSE thing about mixing your own music. You are biased. You can’t 100% hear things clearly as it were. What you need is a second (or third) pair of ears to listen through the mixes and give you honest feedback about what they hear. Let me break it down into the most important elements.

Bogged Down In The Details [Guest Post]

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:56:00 +0000

The following is a guest post from my good friend and fellow recording blogger Joe Gilder fromHomeStudioCorner.com. Check out his site for some awesome tips and tutorials on making music in the home studio!
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Do you have that nagging recording project that just seems like it will never be finished? Do you work and work and work and work, and there seems to be no end in site? Perhaps you’re getting too caught up in the details and missing out on the big picture.

The 80/20 Rule

You’ve probably heard of the 80/20 rule, right? It’s this magical little formula that tells us that 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts. It’s not a hard and fast rule, but I’ve seen it apply to almost everything. When I was in sales, I found that the majority of my sales came from a small percentage of my customers. After running my own business for a year, I find that less than 20% of the tasks I do are actually income-generating tasks.

The Hidden Gem Of Affordable Studio Gear

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:55:00 +0000

If you caught one of my posts last week then you know I was out of town doing a remote recording project. When taking your studio far away and trying to think through the simplest setup you can bring, it’s good to have great sounding, compact, and reliable gear. One piece of gear that I could NOT have done this project without is the ADA8000 from Behringer, an 8 channel preamp and AD/DA converter that fits in a 1U rack space.

The Behringer ADA8000

I’ve written before about how easy it is to expand your audio interfaces inputs with an ADAT connection and how many choices you’ll find on the market for products that do just that. But I have to say from the countless recording projects I’ve used it on, the Behringer ADA8000 is the hidden gem of affordable home studio gear.

When To Say ?No? In The Studio

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:54:00 +0000

Not every idea in the studio is a good one. During the recording process it is a good idea to be open to creativity and innovation. You don’t simply have to capture the parts you’ve written, you can also explore new arrangement ideas, instrumentation, and sounds. But the flip side of all this brainstorming is the raw truth that sometimes you have to commit to saying “No” to an idea.

Learning A New Word…”No”

Why is saying “No” important? Well to put it simply, not every idea is going to work. I think we can all understand that concept. But in an age of limitless hard drive space and unending takes, we tend to record everything we can think of and then “decide later” what to do with all that audio. This is a bad idea for 2 main reasons:

3 Tips For Songwriting With Your DAW

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:51:00 +0000

Having a home studio isan absolute must for every musician (IMO) for many reasons, the biggest one being that your DAW can be theultimate songwriting tool. Not all musicians approach the songwriting process in the same way, so how to best use your DAW in the creation phase is very open ended. Today I want hit 3 quick tips for taking max advantage of your computer recording setup specifically in the realm of songwriting. Let’s take a look!

Thrice: Making A Pro Record At Home

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:51:00 +0000

One of my favorite bands of the last few years has been Thrice. This southern California rock quartet has come a long way from the hard and heavy scene to, more recently, a fusion of melodic blues rock with a raw epic twist. I’ve written briefly about them before regarding their recent move to self recording at home rather than doing the big studio thing.

Last year they released their most recent self-produced album Beggars. For the last two albums they have setup a studio in their guitarists house, brought in their gear, and simply jammed, written, and recorded new music. In this video interview, Riley (drummer) talks about the benefits of recording at home and how it has helped them make better music.

Some things to take away from this:

Optimize Pro Tools: Custom Tempo Changes

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:49:00 +0000

Before you begin recording in Pro Tools you’ll want to setup a guide track. This will include a click track set to the right tempo and maybe a scratch recording or two. It’s easy to set the tempo in Pro Tools and let the click follow along, but what do you do when your song calls for some tempo changes? How to make the click follow those so you can still play alongside the grid? It’s easy, no worries.

Switch Out of Manual Tempo Mode

The first thing you need to do is get out of the default manual mode that Pro Tools keeps the tempo at. Usually you can just manually type in a tempo setting in the Transport bar/window. You’ll see the same tempo BPM reflected in the Tempo ruler over in the edit window. See below for an example. Our song is set to 130 BPM in manual mode.

Guitar Amp ?Insurance?

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:48:00 +0000

If you play electric guitar then you might be able to identify with this. I play guitar and sing in my church bandeach and every week and depend on my gear. I only have one guitar amp currently and it’s a workhorse. But two weeks ago, said amp started to have electrical spurts of noise and was going wacky on me; totally unuseable live since it could “explode” at any moment. My other guitar players have only one amp as well so there was no extra amp to fill in for me until I could get mine fixed. So what did I do?? I turned to a $30 piece of gear that is now my guitar amp insurance.

The Wonder Pedal

A few weeks back I did a video review of the Behringer GDi21 amp modeling pedal. It’s a great little box that I use for overdrive on my pedal board. I’ve also used it for recording on my band’srecent recording project. But when my amp blew and I didn’t have a backup amp or time to get it fixed before Sunday’s service, I turned to the GDi21 as my “amp.”

New Pro Tools Mbox Unveiled

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:47:00 +0000

We all saw it coming after the launch of Avid’s brand new line of audio interfaces for Pro Tools HD a few weeks back. The new wave of Pro Tools hardware is coming in full force, piece by piece, and adds a new chapter this week with the unveiling of the redesigned Mbox line of portable audio interfaces. Much like a new generation of video game consoles emerges every 5 years or so with completely updated power and capabilities, we are witnessing the newest incarnation of Pro Tools interfaces from Avid.

So What’s New?

The first thing you’ll notice with either of the 3 new Mboxes is the completely redesigned exterior. Made out of metal (as opposed to the old plastic) and sporting a sleek new black look (shedding the blue of yesteryear), the new Mbox is clearly a statement from Avid that things are different from the ground up.

Editing: The Unsung Hero Of A Good Mix

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 15:46:00 +0000

When it comes to producing quality music in your home studio, most of our attention goes to the recording and mixing process. And for good reason. How you actually capture sound is (obviously) the most critical step to having a great final mix. And of course how you blend (or mix) those tracks together using tools like EQ, compression, and reverb is what truly brings those great recordings to life as a cohesive song. But the part of the process that tends to get overlooked or forgotten entirely, is editing.

Do My Tracks Need Editing?

You may be thinking, “If my tracks were recorded great then why should I need to edit anything?”. That’s a fair question. But let me explain why I think the editing phase is the crucial unsung hero of getting a great final mix and then you can decide for yourself whether or not it might help your songs.

How Much Have You Spent This Year?

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:45:00 +0000

Almost three quarters of the way through the year already and the big question that should be burning in our minds as home studio owners is this: how much money have I spent on gear this year? Once you have that ballpark figure in your head, then ask the dangerous follow up question: how much value (i.e. productivity in the studio) have I received from that money spent so far this year? Hopefully we’ve been making enough music to warrant the purchases we’ve made in 2010.

Hold Yourself Accountable

In a world of constant exposure to newer and “better” gear available at the swipe of a credit card we need to hold ourselves accountable for our purchases. We should have a reason for each piece of gear we buy. It should be thought out and help us in our quest for musical productivity and creativity. But most of the time we just purchase things because we know they are awesome and it would “fun to have”. You need a plan.

Learn Your Studio

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:44:00 +0000

The other day a reader posted a comment regarding my lack of acoustic treatment in my studio and he wanted to know how I got my mixes to sound “good” despite the bare walls. Hisquestion leads to an important part of recording well in your home studio that I want to briefly explain today. No matter how much acoustic treatment you have (or don’t have), in order to get great recordings and mixes at home you need to “learn” your studio.

Not Quite The Truth

If you aren’t yet satisfied with your recordings in the home studio then pay attention. The biggest thing that can hinder your progress is not being able to hear your tracks properly. Your studio room and monitors are probably giving you a misrepresentation of how your audio is actually sounding. Talk about frustrating. That is why you hear the “big boys” of recording telling you to invest in quality acoustic treatment, great monitors and converters, or even to ditch the home studio and just record in a pro studio.

Become A Better Engineer By Finishing Projects

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:43:00 +0000

If you’re like me, you want to get better at recording and producing music. Most of us truly desire to increase in skill and ability and thereby produce music of high quality. So what do we do to accomplish that end? We buy more “professional” gear, join online recording debates, and watch a lot of tutorial videos on YouTube. The videos hopefully are helping (heck, I hope MY videos are helping you), but the first two are usually a waste of time. I have a better way for you…finish your projects.

Unfinished Business

If you never complete a recording or mixing project it becomes very hard to improve your skill as an engineer. Let me explain. Because of the freedom of time and money afforded us by powerful computer recording we aren’t ever under any real deadlines. Therefore our tendency is to work on projects, never pronounce them complete, and then fiddle with something else. We’ll then come back to the original project and tweak some more. Sessions become a continuous work in progress.

Mixing At Lower Volumes

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:42:00 +0000

When it comes to mixing audio, there are many variables for how the final product will turn out. How good are the recorded tracks? How accurate are your studio monitors? Is your room acoustically treated? How much experience do you have mixing? Etc. But one simple and effective tip I can suggest is simply to mix at a lower volume.

Everything Sounds Good Loud

To be honest we tend to like our mixes when we crank the volume. The drums are hitting hard, the bass seems huge, and the vocals and guitars just soar right out of the speakers. But the moment we turn the mix down in our cars or on our iPods it all falls apart. Things sound weak, flat, and boring. Why? What happens when we mix at higher volumes is we have an inaccurate picture of our mix. Certain frequencies can sound more apparent at higher volumes, and this tricks your ear. If you think the kick drum is coming through just fine then you may not EQ and compress it to actually cut through the mix at a normal listening level and thus it disappears for most listeners.

Thoughts On Pro Tools HD Native

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:42:00 +0000

If you are into the world of Pro Tools then you’re aware that Avid has dropped some serious hardware updates to their product line over the past 2 months. It started with brand new HD interfaces, then moved on to arevamped line of Mbox hardware, and most recently last week we had the unveiling of a new version of Pro Tools HD…the “native” version.

Why Pro Tools|HD Native?

Pro Tools comes in two general flavors: you have Pro Tools|HD, the high end powerhouse version that combines Pro Tools software with PCI cards loaded with DSP chips to handle all the processing, giving you rock solid (and guaranteed) track counts, super low latency, and a ton of power to handle plugins and complex sessions. Then you have the more “home/project studio oriented” Pro Tools|LE and M-Powered versions, which are simply a USB or Firewire interface bundled with almost the identical software as the HD version. Your limited in areas like track count, buses, and some other potential “deal breakers” for some (lack of ADC and I/O limitations).