tape, vinyl, tubes, and radio static

Nudge me

2010-06-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

I just ran into a situation where I've been muscling a mix around trying to get it to feel right. I've tried just about everything. I just put the mix up on some small speakers and started rebuilding the mix instrument by instrument and realized that the guitars were like 15ms late (I assure you it was an editing mistake. No guitarist drags. No one).

I nudged the guitars ahead a bit and BOOM, the mix feels great.

Don't be afraid to evaluate the groove of each instrument. I heard Jack Joseph Puig state in an interview once that he received a track that was way too perfect. He ended up un-editing the acoustic guitars to make it feel more alive.

Anything goes. Make it a great mix!

Mixing Out of the Box: An Account of My First Time

2010-06-14T12:25:00.000-07:00

In many ways I am a typical twenty-first century recordist. Most everything I do is done with a few preamps, a few microphones and a computer. When I mix, I mix with a computer, a mouse, a Presonus FaderPort, one compressor (a Distressor) and a host of plugins. This is me. This is what I do. This is what I am comfortable with.

Yesterday I stepped out of my typical environment and did something crazy. I stepped into the UNcomfortable. I mixed a song not IN the box, but OUT of the box! That's right, I put away most of my plugins and traded them in for outboard equipment. I stopped using my mouse and started moving real faders and pots. I traded in my small bedroom studio for a large mixing room at Blackbird Studio B. I had a freakin' blast!!!

It's been a while since I posted a blog. I thought this would be the perfect time. I left the studio 14 hours ago. I can still recall most of my settings, my workflow, the equipment I used. I wanna take you through my 11 hour day and tell you what happened to the best of my ability. Feel free to post questions and I'll be quick to reply.

A huge thanks goes out to Shane Wilson, Reid Shippen, Andy Dodd and Taylor Nyquist for your tips and advice while I prepared for my session. A huge thanks goes out to Leland Elliot, my assistant for all your help! This would have been extremely challenging if it were not for all of your help! Thanks guys!

THE SETTING AND THE SONG

"Love and Life" is the title cut from John Stearns' upcoming EP written by Tyler Miller of Campaign. John is a vocalist that I met at Saddleback Church. He was the worship leader at Saddleback Irvine and I was an instrumental director at the Lake Forest Campus. John is a great friend and a fantastic artist. He has sung BGVs on countless records that I have produced. The rest of the EP was mixed by Lee Bridges. Lee did a fantastic job on the other tunes so I wanted to rise to the occassion and do a great job mixing "Love and Life." This sounded like the perfect reason to go all out and mix the song on a console.

I was introduced to Blackbird Studio by engineer, Mitch Dane. When I f

irst visited Nashville, Mitch was kind enough to meet with me for coffee. We met in Barry Hill and he took me

over to Blackbird where Vance Powell was mixing a record for Jars of Clay. I was given a tour of the massive facility and was floored. I had never seen a studio like it. There were 8 studios, over 1,000 microphones and tons of priceless vintage gear.

I mixed "Love and Life" at Blackbird's Studio B, which features an API Legacy Plus 48/96 channel mixing console. This is actually the same studio Vance was using to mix the Jars record. There were several racks of outboard gear including 1176's, Neve EQ's, GML 8200 (2), Tube Tech CL1B, Lexicon Reverbs and more. The studio had ATC full range loudspeakers in the walls, Genelec 1030's and I brough my ProAc Studio 100's from home. The studio provided a JBL Sub for me to use with my ProAcs.

WHEN I ARRIVED

When I arrived at the studio, Leland and I plugged in the hard drive and spent about an hour being sure that everything was ready and that I had all of the plugins I needed. I planned on doing a hybrid approach to mixing this song so I figured I would need many of my plugins from home. I brough my ilok and we installed my SSL Bundle and the Sound Toys FX Suite. The studio had nearly everything else I needed.

We spent some time spreading all of the tracks across the desk. There were 48 channels channels with automation and an additional 48 small channel faders where we ended up routing our FX returns. Very few channels needed summed ITB (In The Box) before hitting the console. The only channels that I did this with were the synth tracks and some of the Stacked BGVs. Everything else was split out onto the desk and summed on the console.

BALANCING

One of the cool things about mixing on a console was the ability to easily get balances, panning and general EQ shaping happening. It was really great to be able to reach for any channel at any time to make tweaks. It sounds small, but this kind of tweaking ITB take a bit more time. Anything that must be done with a mouse takes time. This process is made better with control surfaces like Digidesign/Avid's Icon consoles, but they are expensive (and I want one! ha).

I found myself many times along the way throwing the faders back down and starting over. Each time I did this, I found that my focus on the song got better. I really enjoyed this part and felt it really helped me gain perspective. I do this at times ITB, but it was not as easy and natural as doing it on a desk.

OUTBOARD GEAR

Once I had some overall levels set, it was clear which instruments would need additional compression to level things out. This part was fun. I experimented with different pieces of gear on different instruments until I found what really worked.

DRUMS

Drums on this song were recorded by Dan Bailey playing one of his many vintage Ludwig kits. It was recorded on an API Legacy Console at Signature Sound Studios in San Diego, CA. Kick and Snare Drums and Overhead mics were recorded with Neve 1073 preamps.

KICK DRUM

If I recall the Kick In was recorded with an RE-20 and the Kick out was an NS10 Sub Kick. I used the UAD SSL Channel Strip to gate both tracks (I love the sound of the SSL gates) and I added Waves' MaxxBass as well. All EQ was done at the console and Compression was added to the Kick In track with a Distressor (4:1, slow attack, quick release with Dist 3 harmonics engaged. About 2-3db of gain reduction). After compression, I added the SPL Transient Designer and added a touch of attack and sustain.

I loved the API EQ on Kick. There's not a lot of frequency options and the knobs adjust at 2db increments. I was surprised at how much EQ I was able to add without things getting harsh. A great deal of 50hz was added, I cut 2db at 240hz, added 4db at 3k and 2db at 10k.

SNARE DRUM

There were three snare drum tracks. Snare top (SM57), Snare Bottom (AKG 414) and a Snare Sample track (of a Ludwig Black Beauty). The snare top track had LOT of attack with little body to the sound, the snare bottom had a good amount of buzz and the snare sample provided the meat of the sound.

I notched out a bit of ring with a McDSP EQ before sending it out intro the console. I also used a McDSP EQ to take out some low mids from the sample track. These frequencies made the sample sound fake.

Once the channels hit the console I used the console EQ to shape the sound. I added a bit of 3k to the Snare top track and 100hz to get some low end. I added a great deal of 10k and 100hz to the snare bottom track and then compressed it a great deal with one of the console's compressors (fast attack, fast release).

Once EQ was added, I bussed all three channels into another channel on the console and used a distressor to compress them all. This smoothed things over a bit and made it feel like one drum.

TOMS

Toms were not sampled. They were recorded with Sennheiser 421's through API 312 pres. If I'm being honest, the high tom could have probably used a sample. It did not have the sustain and body that I needed. It ended up being OK, but perhaps I should have sampled it. I found out at a later session that this lack of sustain was caused by the drum being mounted on a snare drum stand. The stand sucked all of the sustain right off the drum. Those rims mounts work! (wish we had used one).

EQ and Compression were done on the console. I added some 10k for some air, some 3k for some attack and a lot of 100hz to get some tone. I compressed the drums with about 6db of gain reduction with a fast attack and a med-long decay to get try and get as much sustain as possible. At the end of the chain, I used the SPL Transient designer to bring up the attack a bit. The toms were manually gated in Pro Tools.

OVERHEADS

Overheads were panned about 80% and I think I added 10k to the tune of 10 or 12db. I did not roll off the low end at all. I may have done this at the console when we recorded it. I believe we used Soundelux 195 mics to record these.

I used the API Compressors and took off about 4bd with a fast attack and a quick release. Again, I was amazed at how aggressive I could be with EQ.

ROOM MICS

We had used 1176's to compress the room mics when tracking. No additional compression was added. We tracked these with Neumann U67's which always adds a fantastic mid range bite which I like from room mics. I did at a bit of 10k to the sound.

I also employed a mono room mic which was recorded with a Royer 121. This mic really added a lot of character to the snare drum. I used the console EQ to remove a bit of 240hz.

DRUM BUSS AND FX

The drums were fed directly into the master buss on the console with no overall compression added. I did, however, add a bit of parallel compression to the drums. Kick, Snare, Toms (and Bass Guitar) were fed one of the console's 3 master busses and compressed with an EL Fatso and tucked underneath the drum kit. This added some needed thickness to the drums.

We used a TC Electronics Gold Plate algorithm to the drums. The verb was few from the snare drum, toms and room mics. Looking back, I could probably have added 15% less to the drums. A product of being in a new room I guess.

BASS GUITAR

Bass guitar was fun because it wasn't that hard. It's easy to mix when it's played well. Bass was performed by my buddy Matt Campbell.

First thing I did was duplicated the track and add Digi's new Eleven Free plugin. I dialed in a bass distortion and tucked it underneath the original track. I did this because the bass was too smooth and there was no girth to hold the bass in the mix and allow it to be heard.

I added 4b at 100hz and 2bd of 1.5k. My favorite compressor on bass guitar is a TubeTech CL-1B. Guess what, they had one!! My favorite compressor on bass guitar is a TubeTech CL-1B. Guess what, they had one!! I used a pretty fast attack and a moderately slow release. 2.5:1 ratio and took off about 5-6db.

ELECTRIC GUITARS

Electric guitars were recorded by Mike Payne and he did a great job! There were about 10 guitar tracks (not all playing at once of course). Mike recorded these at his recording studio with an SM57 and a bunch of great guitar gear.

BIG GUITARS

The big guitars were initially a problem. I could not get them to fit in track well. I eventually employed the help of an SSL Stereo Bus Compressed. I used a moderately slow attack and a quick release and used about 1-2 db of gain reduction. This did the trick. I added about 4db at 100hz and 4db at 1.5k. I rolled off the low end at about 80hz (12db slope) with a McDSP EQ while still in pro tools. I also widened the stereo spectrum with Waves' S-1.

RHYTHM GUITARS

Rhythm guitars were also rolled off at about 80hz with a McDSP EQ. Before they left Pro Tools, I added an 8th note delay using the Massey TD5 analog delay. This added just a little depth to the sound.

I compressed these guitars using an original URIE 1178 Stereo Compressor. I used a moderately slow attack and a fast release to allow the transients to pass through and cut through the big guitars a bit. I only compressed about 2-3db. I added 2db at 10k, 2db at 3k.

LEAD GUITARS/VERSE GUITARS

The lead guitars were compressed using a URIE 1176 with a 4:1 ratio. I worked the attack and release time so it took off just the edge of the transients but still cut through the track. I EQed the guitars so they had a bit more top end than the other guitars. I added 2db at 12k and 2bd at 3k. To my surprise, I used up adding a little 240hz to warm up the sound. This warm things up.

AMBIENT GUITARS

There are some fantastic ambient guitars that follow the lead guitar. This made it so I didn't need to add much FX to the direct sounding lead guitars. I did however add a long EMT 250 Church Hall algorithm from the TC Electronics unit with a 4 second delay. I added no additional EQ or Compression.

SYNTHS/PADS

All of the synths and pads were summed and blended in the box. I used Massey's Tape Head to add some warmth to the brightest synth. I EQ'd everything with Waves EQ's. I added D-Virb to the verse pad to give it some serious depth. I added a bit of the EMT 250 Hall as well to give it even more depth.

DRUM PROGRAMMING/PERCUSSION

All of the EQ and Compression was added ITB with Purple Audio MC77 plugins. Tape Head was added to thicken things up. The tambourine accentuates the backbeat so I used a little faster attack and compressed until 16th note note pattern was brought up and audible in the mix.

LEAD VOCALS

John's vocal was recorded with my Soundelux E47 through a Neve 1073 and a CL-1B Compressor. John's voice is big and warm.

I've always wanted to try compressing the lead vocal in parallel but I've never thought the results ITB was all that pleasing. This was my chance to give it a try.

A single channel within Pro Tools was sent to two channels on the console. I used Massey's De:Esser plugin for de-essing (though I added this much later in the process).

On the primary vocal channel I used the GML 8200 EQ and added 2.5db at 3.5k and 2db at 10k. The GML 8200 was then routed to a Chandler TG1 Limiter. A very small amount of compression was added to level things out.

The second LV (lead vocal) was EQed on the console with a hefty amount of 10k and 100hz and then routed to a URIE 1176 and compressed in "All Buttons In" mode with a fast attack and fast release. This track was tucked underneath the primary track. Together they created a thick vocal sound with lots of transient information and lots of meat. The vocal fit quite well in the track.

The lead vocal was treated with a lot of different FX. I used a harmonizer to further thicken the track. I then added a vocal plate from a Lexicon 480 unit. A Neve EQ was used to filter the top end of the verb which was initially very bright.

I used two delays each created with SoundToys' EchoBoy. One was a 15ips delay and the other was a stereo ping pong-type delay for the choruses.

The last delay was a wild space delay for the bridge. I wanted to create a unique, spacey atmosphere for this section.

BACKGROUND VOCALS

The primary harmony vocal EQed to add some top end. 12k I think. It was then compressed with an LA-2a opto tube compressor. A small about of the vocal plate and chorus delay were added for depth.

The chorus background vocals were summed and hard panned inside of Pro Tools. Once at the console I EQ'd to add some top at 5k and 12k. The vocals were not compressed, though they could have used a touch.

MASTER BUS

The API console has three busses (A, B and C) and then it hits the master bus. The entire mix was routed into the A bus. The drum crush channel was using B and I used C to add some parallel compression to the entire mix. I used a GML 8200 EQ where I added 4db at 100hz and 4db at 10k. The EQ was then routed into a Manley Limiter and hit pretty hard. This was then tucked underneath the entire mix, adding thickness and some hype.

All of the three busses were then routed to the master bus where I compressed the entire mix with the console's 2500. I used a slow attack and a quick release at a 4:1 ratio. I reduced only a db or so to glue everything together.

SUMMARY

All in all, it was a fantastic experience. This was definitely not my most perfect mix but it's got a lot of character, a lot of width and a lot of depth. Thus, describing the pros and cons of mixing on a console. You gain a lot of warmth, depth and character for mixing on such great stuff, but there's not as much time to get surgical and precise.

I guess in the end you can be the judge of the success of this experiment. If you happen to think it was a success then feel free to send me a million dollars so I can build a studio like this for myself. :) haha.

THE FINAL MIX

Here's the final mix. Let me know what you think!

TOP THINGS I DO PAST 1am

2010-04-08T23:32:00.000-07:00

It seems like more often than not I find myself forced to work way too late into the night because of deadlines and/or too many projects have become stacked on top of one another. Tonight is no different. Here's a list of what I find myself most often working on past 1 am.

1) Printing Mixes (and mix versions) - Printing mixes is one of the most boring things on the planet to do. It takes forever and there's really nothing else you can do but listen and wait. The great thing is that I can multi-task (check facebook, twitter, do pushups)

2) Check/update facebook and twitter - I find myself going back to these pages waaaaay too often as if something magical would have happened.

3) Creating stem mixes for tomorrow morning sessions (what I'm doing right now!) - It's often last minute that I find the time to prepare session files and arrangements for the quickly approaching sessions in the morning. Nothing like a $1,000 worth of players and studios to make sure I'm ready!

4) Write a blog post. - Most if not all of my blogs have been written late into the night

5) Programming - It really does feel as though my most creative times are at night. I'm lately trying to fight this urge... trying!

So there you have it, the top five things I find myself working on late a night.

CLASP - merging the new and old

2010-02-19T22:42:00.001-08:00

I really believe that this technology is something special. I would LOVE to have one of these. In my own recording, I want to strive to make GREAT sounding records sonically as well as creatively.

One of the cool things about this box is the abilty to track different instruments at different tape speeds. Record guitars at 7.5ips and drums at 15ips... very cool. This has never been allowed before.

If you're wondering what CLASP is, it's a processor that allows you to record THROUGH tape directly into Pro Tools with NO LATENCY. You get the color of tape with the convenience of Pro Tools. Pretty nifty.

I'm sold. Now I gotta find a tape machine and some more money :)

CLASP WEBSITE

Organize Your Plugins

2010-02-15T23:44:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of plugins and I find myself forgetting what some of them are called. This makes finding the plugin a bit tedious. Here's a solution that gets you a little closer to finding your plugins.

Steve Lillywhite

2010-02-01T00:02:00.000-08:00

Steve Lillywhite is a Grammy Winning produced who has MANY great records for U2, Peter Gabriel, Chris Cornell, and many more.... He's a fantastic producer and a really unique guy (as you'll soon hear.)

I first noticed Steve Lillywhite because of his work with Dave Matthews Band. I was a huge fan of DMB in high school. My first DMB CD was given to me as a birthday present from my friend Liz. I was very quickly a fan. Me and my best friend Josh blasted Dave Matthews Band OFTEN and as a drummer I did my time trying to learn to be just like Carter Beauford.

Here's a few interviews with Steve Lillywhite. None of these are incredibly extensive, but hopefully you'll pick up something helpful along the way.

NPR - Lillywhite Interview
WAVES - INTERVIEW
BILLBOARD INTERVIEW
RECORDING CHRIS CORNELL

Charlie Peacock and the Civil Wars

2010-01-21T00:05:00.000-08:00

I mentioned Charlie Peacock in my last post. Tonight I was reading blogs in my blog reader and I became more inspired to create something authentic than I have in a very long time. I truly believe that this post will inspire you in much the same way. I'd love to hear your comments but more than that, please thank Charlie for this wonderful post!

http://recordproducer.typepad.com/record-producer/2010/01/performance-production-the-civil-wars-poison-wine.html

My favorite resources

2010-01-17T14:04:00.000-08:00

I find myself frequenting many blogs and websites throughout the week as I work. Sometimes I'm looking for a specific solution for a problem I've run into, sometimes I'm looking to be creatively inspired and sometimes I'm just looking for some light reading (where I accidentally pick up on new tips and tricks). I'm sure there are lots of sites I'm forgetting and I'll surely come across new sites as I continue to scan the web!

Here's just a few....

Gearslutz.com - I mentioned Gearslutz in a post earlier this week. Gearslutz is a public forum for anyone into music production and in particular, GEAR. The people who post on GS tend to be gear fanatics and spout their opinions freely. You can learn a lot on GS. In particular, read through the Expert threads from producer/engineers like Bruce Swedien, Dave Pensado, Al Schmitt and Tony Maserati! (note: Watch out for all the crack heads who speak with no actual knowledge on a subject. It's actually kinda comical)

Youtube.com - This may be kind of obvious at this point but you'll be surprised what you can come up with in terms of a quality education on audio by searching for topics on youtube. Some of my favorite

SoundonSound.com - This magazine is fantastic. I particularly love their "Secrets of the Mix Engineer" column. They interview all kinds of mixers and analyze current hits all the way down to EQ and compression settings, types of FX and how the mixer overcame certain challenges along the way. GREAT stuff. If you subscribe to the magazine you get access to the all past issues digitally for free!

Protoolsmixing.com (BLOG) - I just found this blog and am about to dig in and read through all the posts. I enjoy blogs like this because it gives you some insight into the mind of a mixer.

deathbyprotools.com (BLOG) - Another great blog about all things recording. I enjoy the title of the blog too (I genuinely love pro tools! I still think it's funny)

Tunecore.com (BLOG) - TuneCore is a fantastic resource for digitally distributing your music. They have a passion for educating as well. Their blog features tips and tutorials as well as discussions on issues presented to the record industry. Fantastic!

http://recordproducer.typepad.com/record-producer/ (BLOG) - A blog by music genius Charlie Peacock. This one is pretty new but promises to be very educational! Charlie is definitely someone I'm excited to learn from!

There are certainly more. As I find them I'll blog them. Please, please... if you have a resource that you think others would enjoy go ahead and post it in a comment! Don't hold back. Share what you know!

In The Studio With Michael Jackson

2010-01-16T01:00:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading In The Studio With Michael Jackson by Bruce Swedien. What a great book! If you're into recording and/or love the music of Michael Jackson you'll really get into this book. Bruce is a BRILLIANT recordist and mixer. He has been at the forefront of music recording for decades. In this book you really get a sense for Bruce's love for music and his love of Michael Jackson. What I enjoyed most was how much insight Bruce gives into technical recording techniques. Not so detailed that it's overwhelming, but he recalls techniques and tricks he and Quincy Jones used while recording Michael's great music.

I highly recommend you buy this book. (or download it on you Kindle!!)

For even more stories, tips and tricks from Bruce Swedien, check out Bruce's many posts on Gearslutz.com. Bruce moderated a forum a few years back. You can still read it here.

Where's your focus

2010-01-13T21:21:00.001-08:00

Where's the focus?

Mixing for bands can be interesting. Sometimes the guys don't even need to tell me what instruments they play. I can often tell by listening to their critiques of the mix what they play. The drummer is most concerned with finding the best drum sounds. The guitarist cares most for his solos and on and on.

As a producer I find myself doing the same thing. I am an instrumentalist and sing very little. I can find myself getting really excited about the interesting band arrangement I've created and forget about what matters most... the vocal! I think this is a danger for any instrumentalist. I suppose if you're a vocalist you might care more for the vocal than the band. (I know this is true of at least a few of my vocalist/producer friends so I guess it's likely to be true across the board.)

The vocal is the most important part of your song. Try to notice when your focus has drifted to some other element, and discern whether or not the focus of the mix has improperly shifted. Maybe the guitars have found themselves too out front in the mix and the energy of the vocal is lost. If so, redirect!

From a production standpoint, remember that everything else in your song has a secondary focus to the vocal. This can actually ease the pain of arranging. Keep your mind's eye on the vocal and get a feel for what is needed to surround the vocal and lift it into focus.

It can be easy to create arrangements that are distracting and actually take away the vocal's impact. It might help to play your mix, focus and the vocal and notice when the arrangement has awkwardly stolen the attention. Things like lead guitars, background vocals and programmed FX are typical culprits.

When the vocal is not the focus

Here's an idea... Rather than placing a busy instrumental part right over the vocal, maybe consider placing these ideas between vocal lines or in vocal-less sections. You should always have something interesting to focus on in your song. When there is no vocal (intro, turnaround, instrumental section, outro) you have a great opportunity to create unique hooks and instrumental melodies that can really support the song without getting in the way.

The mixer and the focus

If you're a mixer, don't be afraid to mute, duck and rearrange for the betterment of the song. Be sure you have the blessing of the producer before trying out your arrangement ideas. Some producers are open to re-arranging and some are not. I've found that most producers are open to hearing what you can come up with, but don't get too attached. If he doesn't like your idea it's ok. You work for him! At the end of the day the producer should get what he wants from the mix. Hold everything with an open fist (good life advice if you ask me).

Recap:

Focus on the vocal
eliminate distractions and clutter that distracts from the vocal
Find focus in every section of your song

MY FAVORITE DRUM MICS

2010-01-09T21:42:00.000-08:00

Here's a list of my favorite drum mics.

KICK DRUM -

INSIDE: (one of the following) EV RE-20, AKG D12, Shure Beta52
OUTSIDE: Telefunken Fet 47
SUB: NS10M with attenuator (I like this much better than the Yamaha SubKick for some reason)

SNARE DRUM -

TOP: Shure SM57 and a Josephson E-e22s
BOTTOM: AKG 414 (in hyper cardioid mode) or a Shure SM57

HI HATS

Neumann KM84, AKG 451, or AKG 414 (in figure 8 mode)

(Note: using the figure 8 mode on hi hats can sometimes decrease snare bleed but placement is key)

TOMS

Sennheiser 421's, Sennheiser e604's (potentially an EV-RE20 or AKG D112 on Floor Tom)

OVERHEAD'S

Soundelux U95S, Neumann U87's , Royer SF12 Stereo Ribbon, or AEA R88 Stereo Ribbon

MONO ROOM MIC

Telefunken U47, Royer 121 or Shure SM57

CLOSE STEREO ROOM MICS

Beyerdynamic M160 Ribbons, or Neumann KM184's

FAR STEREO ROOM MICS

Neumann U67's, Neumann U87's

A few notes on why...

I try not to overdo it with too many ribbon microphones all over the place. If I'm using ribbons on overheads I try to use large diaphragm condenser microphones more on room mics and visa versa. Ribbon mics can really warm up the sound of the kit.

In my mixes I'm not necessarily using all of these mics. Sometimes I do. It is a great thing to blend mics together to achieve a certain sound rather than to EQ. I love the sound of a 57 on a snare drum but the e22 has a nice top end. The two working together can sound great.

I love having room mic options because it can give you a lot of different colors and depths while mixing. For instance, your verses could be more dry, featuring the overhead mics and direct mic sounds, your chorus might be roomier. You might turn your mono room mic into an effect for a section of the song, adding massive amounts of compression and distortion to your sound (try running this microphone through an amp or amp simulator). This leaves you with lots of options for creativity later on.

PHASING IS THE ENGINEER'S ONLY ARCH ENEMY!

If you get your phasing right, you'll be able to fix all other problems. Check your phasing by checking your microphones in mono. It can help to run your room microphones in the same line of sight. This way, some phasing could be corrected with time adjustments later. I have a few friends who are particularly good with phasing. Maybe I'll ask them to write a blog post for you!)

TRY ANYTHING - I try to have my close room mics be a picture of the kit as it sounds in the room. My far room mics are the sound of the ROOM. For this reason, you can experiment with placement. Try NOT aiming the mics at the kit and see if you enjoy the results. If you're recording in a bedroom, try putting a room mic in the hallway or close bathroom.

If I knew then what I know now: What I'd buy with $22,500 if I was starting all over again.

2010-01-08T21:16:00.000-08:00

My friend John Carl (who is a creative genius in any format) suggested that I write this blog.

In 2005 I put up my first investment for my studio (I purchased the assets of Unseen Sound Studios in Lynchburg, VA). I spent about $22,500 for all the gear. With that I got an Pro Tools HD System, some preamps (Avalon 737sp, Drawmer 1960 and a few other nice pieces), some Mackie 824 Monitors, and a few microphones.

Now that I've been at this a while (and sold of most of that original gear) I can safely say that you can buy a LOT with $22,500 and have a COMPLETELY pro setup. I mean, what I got was really great, but in this new age of recording I'd probably go at it a little differently.

So here it is....

IF I KNEW THEN WHAT I KNOW NOW, HERE'S WHAT MY FIRST STUDIO WOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE

iMac Quad Core with 12gigs of RAM $2,500
1 ACER MONITOR 24" $280
DIGIDESIGN DIGI 003 Rack COMPLETE $2,500 (on ebay)
Lynx Aurora 8 w/Firewire Card - $2,300
6 space API Lunchbox - $400 on ebay
2 Avedis MA5 Preamps - $1,500
2 Avedis E27 EQ - $2,200
2 Empirical Labs Distressors - $2,400 (on ebay)
PreSonus Central Station w/Remote - $500 (on ebay)
PreSonus Faderport - $130
Mackie 824 Monitors (old version) - $600 (on ebay)
Manley Reference Cardioid Tube Microphone - $2200 (on ebay)
Josephson C42MP Microphonez - $975
Shure SM57 - $100
Shure SM7 - $275 (on ebay)
Royer 121 Ribbon - $1,300
DBX Patch Bay - $100
Monster PowerCenter Pro - $300
Cables - $300 est.
3 Mic stands (one thick boom stand for vocals, one normal boom, one short boom) - $200
Plugins (Melodyn, Native Instruments KOMPLETE 5, Waves SSL Native, Waves Musicians II Bundle, All Massey Plugs) $1,500 (on EBAY!)

GRAND TOTAL: $22,560

OK, so I'm a little over (and I didn't include tax) but it's close. :)

a little explaination....

You might notice that these prices are not exact. They are my estimates and allow for a little bargain shopping on ebay. I 100% recommend buying gear from sellers with high sale counts and near flawless feedback ratings. Especially when you're buying "vintage status" gear (gear that will likely hold its value), you can end up saving a ton and losing very little if you later decide to sell. I really think you could get everything here under the $22,500 mark if you tried. (I'm not very good at this because I am an impulse shopper :)

This studio is definitely a studio for a pro. It is NOT however a studio to record drums with. I tend to think that there are PLENTY of really affordable professional studios these days that will sound infinitely better than an average bedroom. So, at least at first I would recommend cutting drums at another facility. You could record up to 12 channels of audio if you had a six more preamps. You could record drums if you borrowed a hand full of mics. (I should do a post on my favorite drum microphones.)

You may have noticed that I did not recommend an HD system. LE systems these days are REALLY powerful and handle high track counts and lots of plugins. There's even a plugin out these days that will handle delay compensation withing LE systems! (that was always a big issue for me.)

With this setup you've got...

Great microphones (the Manley and SM-7 will handle vocals and you've got the best guitar mics around in the Josephsons (acoustic guitars), SM-57 and Royer mics)
Class A preamps (the Avedis preamps are very Neve like and sound amazing)
Fantastic EQ for correction
Incredibly versatile compressors in the EL Distressors.
Clean power coming from the Monster Power unit (very important)
Great monitoring with the Mackie 824's
A patch bay for easily routing your gear
More than enough plugins to handle pro sounding mixing without compromise.

This is all top-of-the-line gear that you will find in professional studios. There is nothing lacking in this system regarding quality. Sure, there are other options and each engineer is going to have a different opinion on gear choices, but these pieces are highly regarded as some of the best stuff money can buy. It will deliver amazing results!

So there you have it, my studio if I had to do it over again :)

QUICK TIP-"Removing Automation"

2010-01-07T11:49:00.000-08:00

When I'm preparing files to be mixed it is standard practice to remove all the plugins, sends and automation from the session so that the mixer has a blank session to work from. Here are a few shortcuts that will help you perform these tasks quickly.

REMOVING PLUGINS/SEND ASSIGNMENTS

By holding down [option] and removing a plugin it will remove all of the plugins in that row of inserts across the session. It works the same for removing send assignments too. If you perform this once on every row of you'll have removed all of the plugins and sends from your session.

(Note: This function will only work on channels of the same type. In other words in you "[option] remove" a plugin from a mono channel it will delete all the plugins from other MONO channels in that row. You'll have to perform the function again for stereo channels and master channels. It's still faster than the alternative!)

REMOVING AUTOMATION

Here's an neat little trick for removing ALL of the automation from a session.

1) From the "groups" menu select "ALL" so that every channel in your session is grouped together.

2) From the "edit" menu select "Select All." (you'll notice that the entire session becomes highlighted.)

3) For our last step, within the "edit" menu you'll see "Clear Special." Within this drop down menu select "All Automation".

BAM!!! Just like that, all of the automation in your session is now gone and you can continue getting your session prepped for the mixer.

Onion Mixing

2010-01-05T19:06:00.000-08:00

Mixing (and producing) is like peeling an onion... you mix slowly, one layer at a time. The difference is that in mixing you might put a few layers back on if you've gone too far :) Oh, and you peel away the layers with your ears not your hands (hahaha! stupid joke).

It's true, you've gotta mix with your ears and not get too bogged down with one particular task. This is where I overdo it at times. This is where my mixes fall apart, become small and uninteresting.

I find that my best mixes happen when I build a strong foundation, try to make EVERYTHING as big as possible, and move on (or take a break) when I start getting frustrated. I'm just peeling away the layers, making small adjustments until the mix falls into place.

My friend Justin watched me mix for a few days last week and he mentioned how amazed he was at watching this very thing happen. He said, "Wow, you just fight it and fight it and the mix is never good enough until, BAM, it just starts happening!"

So peel away that mix. Fight it to the ground until it's beautiful and finished!

THE RIGHT STUFF

2010-01-05T18:49:00.000-08:00

As I continue to learn record production and mixing I'm always learning in extremes. I've tried producing tracks with extremely light "production" (few lays, fewer instruments, etc.) and I've tried massively over-producing tracks (stacks and stacks of guitars and vocals, many parts, heavy tuning). I've tried mixing songs the same way. One day I'll mix with very little EQ, Compression and FX and the next day I might try really pushing things to their limits.

As with anything there are no rules. One engineer is going to find greatness in complexity and pushing limits and another engineer will reach the same heights of success with simplicity. I'm tending to fall somewhere in the middle with my mixes. I don't particularly like extremely slammed mixes and I don't get excited over the simple alternative either.

THE REAL SOUND OF COMPRESSED MIXES

I most often think of the "too much" or "too little" debate regarding compression. Modern mixing is the sound of compression. (and lots of other things but compression is a big one)

In my mixes, I feel safest right in the middle. I'm compressing most things in the mix, however, I'm not doing a lot of compression on any one channel. I spread the tast of compression out over several busses.

SHARE THE LOAD (over many compressors in the chain)

>>>A kick drum might be compressed 2-4db (4:1-6:1 ratio)
>>>which is fed to an SSL buss compressor or a Fairchild 660 compressor on the drum buss (compressing 1-3db with a slow release and med-fast release)
>>>which ultimately goes through the master buss which is being compressed as well (SSL buss compressor into a Massey L2000M Limiter).

So you can see, by the end of the chain there's a decent amount of compression happening, but no one compressor is doing the job on its own.

WHICH COMPRESSOR SHOULD I USE? (and does it make a difference?)

It's also VERY VERY important to mention how different compressors sound. The circuitry (or digitally emulated circuitry) carries a certain vibe which colors the sound of the source. Each compressor is going to sound soooo different from another even without compressing at all.

When I'm struggling over getting getting an instrument to compress right, I'll do the following....

Decide what I'm trying to accomplish and think of the potential solution (IN MY HEAD... thinking about all the gear that I have available to solve the riddle)
Then I try my solution and work at it for a while. In the case of a compressor, I'll choose a compressor and tweak settings for a bit. I want to be completely satisfied that what I thought up in my head is being achieved or topped!
If it's not happening, I don't tweak harder or to farther extremes... NOPE, I PICK ANOTHER COMPRESSOR.
Most of the time I find that the solution happens pretty fast when I stumble upon the right tool. That's when I know I've got it right.

If you think about this concept from that of a keyboard player selecting his or her sounds then this might makes even more sense...

For the keyboardist, one song might call for a Piano, another might call for a rhodes or Wurli patch, another song might call for a B3 or String patch. If a song is dictating a string patch, the keyboardist is not going to look for another piano patch. He needs to find a great STRING patch.

This concept can be applied to our compressor application or to anything else in music production.

Is the drum groove just slightly off or is it the wrong groove altogether?
Does the guitarist need to try another pedal or try another amp?
Does the horn player need to practice his part for a minute or does he need to be replaced? (kindly and as graciously as possible)
Does the EQ needed used heavily or do you need to choose a new EQ?
Do you need a new Echo patch or should you be using a reverb?
Does the song need a new lyric or does the entire song need to be thrown out?

See what I mean?

Try these tips the next time you're mixing. I promise you fewer headaches!! (but I'm not you so I take it back... I can't promise you anything!)

Screen Captures - "You Saved Me" by Justin Kintzel

2010-01-02T22:09:00.001-08:00

Every now and then I'll post some screen shots from sessions I'm working on just for fun. The session below is a song called "You Saved Me" from worship artist, Justin Kintzel. His album is due out this spring. He's a very talented guy (musician, photographer, videographer, designer, underwear model... wait? what??!)

2010... my new era

2010-01-01T21:14:00.001-08:00

I remember the year 2000. I was really young (still in high school actually) and wide-eyed about my future. There was so much I wanted to do and accomplish with my life and I was eager to get started. 10 years later I'm proud of where I've been and I'm still very excited about the future.

This year I've resolved to make several changes in my life and strengthen the things that have worked for me in the last ten years.

This year I'm going to spend some extra time on my blog writing helpful articles, posting reviews of gear, pointing you to other helpful resources to help you grow as a musician/recordist/writer!! It'll be fun and I hope you'll find it very informative.

WHAT DO YOU NEED? HOW CAN I HELP?

I get emails from time to time from young recordists asking questions, soliciting advice, etc. These questions could often be answered in the blog.

If you have a topic you'd like me to address on this blog, please let me know by posting a comment or emailing me at producerkeith1@gmail.com.

Here we go!!

Family Force 5

2009-12-21T00:45:00.001-08:00

I've become a big fan of these guys. Family Force 5 is really unique, blending tons of influences. Their stuff has energy!!!! It's so entertaining. In the spirit of producing great records, take a look at this article on how they produced their record. There's a major focus on how they tracked guitars. Hopefully you'll get a picture into how they made the record. (Pay attention to the comment about using small amps for big sounds... even a cigarette mini amp!)

Happy guitar tracking!

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/interviews/family_force_5_exception_to_the_rules.html

Tips for tracking guitars.... using microphones and don't forget to use strings!! ;)
(on a serious note, I love SM57's blended with a Royer 121 or an ADK S7 through API 512 pres into a distressor or LA-3A limiters! Peace out!)

REPOST: Buss Compressors and Parallel Compression

2009-12-19T22:51:00.000-08:00

This post was published originally on May 3rd, 2009 but I realized that the link was bad. It was worth posting again. Check it out and learn :)
*****

There are SOOOO many ways to use compression. I consider Michael Brauer a genius when it comes to mixing with compression. He is unbelievably innovative and has worked long and hard to develop his fantastic technique.

I remember hearing Coldplay's "Violet Hill" and being so impressed with its unique sound only to find out that Brauer mixed it (he's mixed a LOT of Coldplay stuff). I found this article where he talks about the process of mixing this fantastic song. Check it out...

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov08/articles/itbrauer.htm

Also be sure to check our Michael Brauer's website and try to read through all of through and contemplate all of his Q&A stuff. WOW!

Plugins are so dang expensive!!!

2009-12-19T22:07:00.000-08:00

As you know, plugins can be very expensive. I think I'd be jaw dropped at the amount of money I've spent on plugins in the last five years or so. Without counting, I must have about 100 plugins and software instruments and I've purchased every single one of them. (I'm a big proponent for PAYING for the tools and music you use... anything else is stealing, right?)

There is hope though! Have you ever considered buying plugins on ebay? Well, if not you should! In the last few years I've purchased many plugins and plugin bundles on ebay at massive discounts. I paid about $60 for Smack!, $125 for the Focusrite Bundle and I purchased the Waves SSL TDM bundle for $600 and the entire Sound Toys Suite for $750. Now, that's still a lot of money, but it's still a great deal! I've purchased the above plugs as well as things like TL Space, the Pultec Bundle, Moog FX, Fairchild Compressors, Auto Tune, etc.

So, before you go spending full price for your plugins, do an ebay search for what you need. You can save your search criteria and ebay will notify you when what you are looking for becomes available.

Merry Christmas everyone. Enjoy giving gifts but I pray you'll spend some time enjoying your families and celebrating Jesus Christ this season.

Are you a learner??

2009-11-28T21:38:00.000-08:00

I love to teach and I love to learn. Neither should happen without the other. Those who have learned (I believe) have an obligation to teach and those that teach have an obligation to continue learning. When we refuse to do these things simultaneously we stunt our growth. We'll watch others in our field pass us by. We'll watch them make strides professionally and creatively, then wonder why we're not able to do the same thing. We'll say, "They're no better than me, why are they successful?" or "Must have been luck!"

Learning and teaching are important. After all, someone provided information so that you could learn. Maybe you had a teacher who invested in you (as I did). Maybe you are self-taught and found the information on the internet or in books. Either way, someone provided you an education. Consider this and then spend time investing in someone who wants to learn.

MACPROVIDEO.COM

I am always searching the internet for new ways to learn and new things to present to you. My latest find is macprovideo.com. It is a tutorial site for just about any piece of software used for creative mediums. Tutorials for Photoshop, Reason, Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic, Native Instruments, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Office, etc.

For $25/month you'll receive internet access to ALL of their dozens of tutorials. These videos are amazingly done, in depth, and taught by industry pros in their respective fields. WELL WORTH THE MONEY!

I just finished a watching a tutorial for Spectrasonics' "Omnisphere." It was Incredibly in-depth and easy to understand. One of the best lessons I've seen. Additionally, the tutorial gave a fantastic overview of synthesizer programming in general; a topic I've always had trouble wrapping my head completely around. I can say safely that I not have a firm understanding of synth programming at its core. I can't wait to dig in and build some new synth sounds from scratch!

Subscribe, you'll learn a lot!!

Maybe in the spirit of teaching you'll turn someone on to this blog. I'd love to have even more subscribers. The more the merrier!!

It's all about the song... and the LYRICS

2009-10-17T01:36:00.000-07:00

If you wanna work in the music business you'd better be incredibly good at your job. As an engineer you'd better get better drum sounds, better guitar sounds... better EVERYTHING sounds than anyone else. As a producer you ideas better be more fresh, cleaner, more emotional, etc. than the next guy.

Those things are great but if you REALLY want to make it in "the biz" learn to write a hit song. It's the only real way to make money and retire on it. Now, I'm not suggesting that this is a silver bullet but it can't hurt!

Check out this article on lyric writing. Very basic and fundamental but basics and fundamentals should be drilled into our brain. For this reason I suggest reading this article over and over and over again!

Blessings to you! I hope the economy isn't rocking your world too bad! :)

http://blog.tunecore.com/2009/10/the-lyric-holy-trinity-writing-a-breakthrough-lyric-by-wayne-cohen.html

P.S. I'm moving to Nashville this week!! Lots to do. Pretty excited though! I'll blog about my new city endeavors soon!

Track labels

2009-10-06T14:13:00.001-07:00

Color coding your tracks can help you find things quickly. Here's my colors of choice and the order they go in.....

DRUMS - RED
PERCUSSION/DRUM PROGRAMMING - PURPLE
BASS/SYNTH BASS - ORANGE
GUITARS - LIGHT GREEN
KEYS/SYNTH PROGRAMMING - LIGHT BLUE
VOCALS - YELLOW
MASTER BUS - DEFAULT COLOR (DARK RED)
FX BUSSES - DEFAULT COLOR (DARK GREEN)

(BELOW: Screen shots from John Stearns' song "Believe")

Dropbox and the file sharing revolution

2009-09-25T03:06:00.000-07:00

Sharing files, making mix changes and staying organized are very difficult tasks at times. I've shared tips and tricks here and there about how I like to work. I use tools like FileChute, Apple's .mac accounts and google documents to share files. I've found a new handy tool that is changing the way I work (and no I'm not being paid to endorse these guys).

It's called "Drop Box" and it's a sort of dynamic folder that syncs between many users from anywhere in the world! Any file that is saved or altered in my Drop Box folder will be updated on all of the other users' computers as well! Better yet, I can have several folders, each setup for different projects, with an entirely different group of users!

For instance...

Folder: "Charles Billingsley" is setup between myself and my producer friend, Adam Lancaster.

Foder: "CPB" is setup for my clients at Liberty University and their upcoming live album I'm mixing.

So, anything I place in the "Charles Billingsley" folder will be updated on Adam's computer. If I save a mix file in the "CPB" folder, it will notify the other users that a change has been made. I quickly hear back on the approved mixes!

TIP: If you're mixing a project (or producing for that matter) for a client, include a document called "progress" and keep track of how things are coming along. Include questions you have for your client or request mix approval on a song you've mixed. The document becomes a virtual time line as you work on your project.

I must thank my friend Adam Lancaster for introducing me to Drop Box!! Thank buddy!

Write me a song you're the songwriter man!

2009-09-25T02:54:00.000-07:00

Ever had an idea, recorded it on your iphone or hand-held recorder, played it back later and couldn't for the life of you remember HOW you played it? Well, I was watching a video interview with a producer named Tommy-D. He had a great idea...

record your song ideas with isight or your computer's video recorder!!! You can now hear AND see your song idea and thus see how you played that cool guitar riff or piano part.

Neat, huh?

Co-writing

2009-07-23T23:54:00.000-07:00

I grew up an instrumentalist. For me, that was enough... then I realized that the only way to truly succeed in "the biz" was to become a songwriter. Luckily, I've dabbled in songwriting since I was a young lad. :) I'm still learning but it has been an extremely rewarding journey.

Here's a great article on my favorite songwriting approach... co-writing. Check it out!!

P.S. My blog will be moving soon. I'll keep you posted on the details soon!
P.S.S. I LOVE hearing your thoughts on my blogs. Feel free to comment often!

Reverb ideas

2009-07-22T23:02:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what's been going on, but the links I've been posting have not been showing up. Hopefully this will be different.

Reverbs are a tough game. Very difficult to get right. Things that sound dry in a recording are not necessarily completely dry. Perhaps verbs have been used in a way to give thickness but not add a reverberated sound. These psycho-acoustical techniques take a long time to develop and a lot of attention to detail.

My recommendation, spend a great deal of time with the ambient environments in your tracks. The use of compression is often considered the tell tale sign of a pro or amateur, but a close second is the use of ambient effects in a track.

Here's a simple article with some tips for using verbs.

Hope all is well with you all!!

http://www.looperman.com/tutorials-production-33-15_reverb_tips.html

EQ... pre or post compression

2009-07-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

When engineers get together we talk about silly recording stuff. It's goofy and silly and if I pretend I'm listening in on the conversation rather than participating in it, I find myself laughing hysterically at how much of a total dork I am. But, that's what happens when you love what you do... you don't care how much of a dork you are. In fact, being a dork about your craft will make you better at it. Because you care!

In those geeky conversations we'll often talk about our techniques for EQ and COMPRESSION. One frequent topic is whether or not to EQ pre or post compression. Meaning, whether or not we choose to EQ before a compressor (pre) or after (post). Everyone has their techniques and no one is wrong. I have a very basic way of approaching this. Hopefully these guidelines will help you. Feel free to reply with your techniques for this is in no way a holistic approach. I am still developing my ear too.

WHAT COMPRESSION DOES...

We all know that compression controls dynamics but what you may not be clued into is how it affects the sound. In addition to dynamic control compression also does 2 things...

emphasizes dominant frequencies and rolls off the top end.

1) It's important to note that compression is going to overemphasize the dominant frequencies in the instrument you are compressing. The more extreme the compression the more extreme the result. This is important to know because if there is an odd frequency in your bass guitar and you're really smashing it with a limiter, you may end up with a very odd sounding instrument. You may have guessed what you should do... PRE EQ.

If the compressor is doing odd things to the sound of the instrument, do some PRE EQ carving to shape the instrument so the compressor has a more even sound to compress. (TIP, always compare what it sounded like before you tweaked it.)

2) You are almost always going to lose some top end fidelity when compressing. For this reason (and others) many people choose to EQ post compression to try and make up some of the sound lost in the high frequency range caused by compression. Some people compress post EQ almost all the time to try and make up for compression. Not a bad idea.

This topic came up when I was discussing Chris Lord Alge's techniques for mixing. He has a very over-the-top compression sound and he is also known to HEAVILY EQ things. Well, you'll notice if you have the CLA Waves SSL Bundle that all of his presets use EQ before compression. The presets boast a lot of EQ and a lot of compression.

Now, the SSL EQ's are extremely aggressive. They have a bite that is coveted by many engineers. What I've noticed is that you can use this aggressive EQ and the compressor will take off some of the bite. You would also need to add a lot of HF EQ because of how much the compressor is affecting the sound. I guess what I'm getting at... CLA can heavily EQ because he runs the EQ in PRE and then compresses so heavily (dulling the EQ and making it not so extreme). This is part of CLA's massive sound.

Now I don't subscribe to this all the time. I think I'm a bit less extreme than CLA is... and he's a freakin' beast and makes amazing music. To draw a comparison feels pretentious at the least... so I don't :) I do find it useful to use both techniques for different situations.

As you are learning, try being aggressive with compressors and EQ in order to learn the sound of your gear BUT I would encourage you that LESS is definitely more. Your more natural sounding mixes will be loved... I promise. You can slowly work your way into more aggressive mixing as you learn where "too far" is. You've gotta learn what real instruments sound like and how to finesse them into musical submission. It takes a long time. I'm still working at it!!

Hope this stuff helps!!

SHORT TIP

2009-07-03T15:14:00.000-07:00

When recording instruments where there could be a lot of click bleed from the headphones (vocals, acoustic guitar) use the "PCM" sound for the click track. Something about the frequency of the click doesn't bleed through the cans too much :)

Organizing Files! The nightmare tamed!

2009-06-17T17:39:00.001-07:00

There are two things I really hate... paper and cables! These things clutter my life more than anything else. It happens less now that I'm not doing so much arranging, but I still hate paper... how it piles up. Cables, how they get tangled and messy and how they never wrap up just right.

A close third on my hate list is FILES! Files are a necessary evil for us all (all of us who use computers anyway).

I've come up with a plan that seems to work well for me. I realize there's probably some loopholes in this plan but it has served me well.

MANAGING SESSION FILES -

I recommend saving a new session file whenever you do something major to your session. Your session files act as a timeline for your project. Find significant points in your production/mix to save a new session file.

It's also important to save the date and time in the session title. Yes, I know that these things are tagged automatically to the file, but I find it useful to put it in the title. For one, it organizes your session files roughly by date and time.

ex. "Get Me 2 U-061709 0554pm drums completed.ptf"

The date and time always follow the title THEN put any additional information. This keeps your files nice and organized.

OLD SESSIONS -

All session files I am not currently using go into a file I've created called "old sessions." Without exception, the only session file in plain sight within my session directory is the current one I'm working on. You can color code it too if you want.

00 BOUNCE -

I also create a folder called "00 BOUNCE" (the '00' ensures that this folder stays at the top of the directory). This is where I save all of my printed mixes.

KEEPING TRACK OF PRINTED MIXES w/SESSION FILES

It's happened to me time and time again. I print a mix, show it to the client and we move on. Later someone says, "You know, I wish we'd not made those changes. Can we just go back to the last mix you sent and start from there?" That's when I'd find myself in trouble. If I did not save a session to correspond to the printed mix, I would have no way of getting back to that point. I have your solution!!! ....

When it's time to print a mix save a new session based on the date and time but add the tag, "upld1" to the end. So your session file would read "Get Me 2 U-061709 0605pm upld1.ptf" Now print your mix and give it the same title "Get Me 2 U-061709 0605pm upld1.wav." Now once you're finished printing save a new session file and label it one minute after the print "Get Me 2 U-061709 0606pm.ptf." That leaves a session file unaltered from the way it was when your song was printed. You tracking with me?

The reason I do this is because I would often save a new session before I print a mix but I would then alter the session file without realizing it. If I needed to recall 'upld1' the session file would not sound the same. This ensures you'll be able to pull up the mix because any alteration will be made to your new file. Be sure to then put all of the unused session files in the 'old sessions' folder.

Adding the tag 'upld1' or 'upld1' allows you to track which mixes/session files have been printed and sent to the client. This is extremely helpful when referencing each mix.

FINAL MIXES -

When it's time to print the final mixes, you treat your session files the same way. Save a session file that corresponds to each printed mix. 'GET ME 2 U-M.wav' would have a session file titled 'GET ME 2 U-M.ptf.' I always put the final mixes in all caps to help me find them easily. Putting the final mixes in a unique folder also can help.

Happy organizing!!!

When the chorus gotta pop the bass gotta drop!

2009-06-05T18:51:00.000-07:00

OK the title is pretty gay but it's just something I thought about doing (and had heard before but forgot about).

Try duplicating your bass track in order to process the low end differently on the verses and the choruses. The idea is to decrease the low end by a few db in the verses so when the chorus comes in there's an added amount of low end!

Short post but I thought you might want to try it. Also, try listening for this technique in other mixes. It happens more than you might think!

Happy mixing!!!

Keith

P.S. I just got new monitors. ProAc Studio 100's paired with a Bryston 4B (the amp is borrowed for now). I'm in mixer heaven. Up next: a summing mixer and new clock! (more on the clock soon!)

Buss Compressors and Parallel Compression

2009-05-03T01:58:00.000-07:00

There are SOOOO many ways to use compression. I consider Michael Brauer a genius when it comes to mixing with compression. He is unbelievably innovative and has worked long and hard to develop his fantastic technique.

I remember hearing Coldplay's "Violet Hill" and being so impressed with its unique sound only to find out that Brauer mixed it (he's mixed a LOT of Coldplay stuff). I found this article where he talks about the process of mixing this fantastic song. Check it out...

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov08/articles/itbrauer.htm

Also be sure to check our Michael Brauer's website and try to read through all of through and contemplate all of his Q&A stuff. WOW!

Thoughts in my head while mixing

2009-04-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

I consider this to be my most revealing blog post yet. While mixing, I'm constantly having remind myself of fundamental mixing techniques that lead to good mixes. I have a horrible memory so I started to write many of my techniques down so that I could reference them when I was having a bad day. I may not do these things all the time, but in those times where I'm struggling with a mix, it is most likely because I forgot to do one or more of the following.

If I had to point to one thing that leads to poor mixing it's moving too fast and not LISTENING enough. You've gotta be patient. The following all relate to patient mixing.

DISCLAIMER: These are not all MY ideas. They are things I've picked up on from all kinds of engineers and mixers. I'd also add that everyone's mix style is personal. These are just things that I do and I may not do them forever. For all I know I'll check it up tomorrow :) For now... here they are.

36 TIPS/REMINDERS FROM SUCCESSFUL MIXES

* Listen a lot in mono. Panning, balance, and phase relationships are more easily adjusted when in mono.

* Listen mostly at one volume level. This allows you to judge energy levels and keeps you from getting pumped up simply by turning up the volume. Sometimes you need pumped up, but generally one volume will do.

* Start with Kick, bringing their volume up to -10db on the meter. This gives you plenty of headroom to build a dynamic mix. Next, bring up the snare (probably close to -10db as well). After that bring up the bass (level is typically a touch lower than the K and Sn). Often times vocals are next!

* Balance is the most important part of mixing. Set general levels before adding compression and EQ.

* Set levels with one section of the song (perhaps the second chorus). Set up a loop and start pulling up faders while adjusting balance and panning.

* Try setting up the vocal ambience with just K, SN, bass and the vocal. This ensures that you're giving priority to the vocal's needed space in the mix.

* Try filtering out the low end and/or high end before reaching for the EQ pots. This could be the needed solution when your trying to get instruments to pop out in the mix

* Make things bigger and more exciting by using chorusing, harmonizers, delays and other audio enhancers

* Make small adjustments! A little goes a long way.

* Even when using many FX in a mix, try using one reverb to glue things together. I've had a lot of success with a large hall setting for "bigger than life" mixes and medium studio spaces on more intimate tracks.

* You can use more ambience if you use pre-delay. Try using a delay plugin on the bus before the reverb instead of using the pre delay on the reverb itself.

* Listen to see if compression to control dynamics is actually needed before automatically adding compression. Yes, at times you want to "color" the sound with a compressor, but many times you don't. Being conservative with compression will make your mixes bigger.

* Leave overheads, toms and room mics out of the mix until much of your levels are set, then begin adding them in as needed. This will make for a very direct sounding drum sound, but I can even get a nice roomy sound with this approach.

* Separation and clarity are the goal. Don't automatically try to dirty things up.

* Make automation changes manually rather than drawing them in. This helps the mix breathe and stay organic. It will also challenge you to use your ears more!

* EQ FX sends before the FX unit/plugin. This helps keep phase in check.

* Ride verbs and delays around the vocal to keep things clear and "in your face."

* Use different FX for different parts of the song.

* Find the most important elements of the arrangement and emphasize them! ... or de-emphasize things around them.

* Ride the master bus to add energy and dynamics. (i.e. bump the master bus by .8db during the choruses)

* Subtractive EQ is cleaner, but additive EQ can be very musical and can bring things forward in the mix.

* Ride the vocal for excitement or to gain intimacy. Particularly listen for interesting parts of the vocal that might get missed... bring these up.

* Make balance decisions at low volumes, especially vocals.

* EQ the vocal after you compress it UNLESS odd frequencies are being emphasized by compressions. If this happens then add an EQ before the compressor and notch out the bad frequencies.

* Vocalists often have a different tonality when singing high and singing low. Try automating EQ when needed OR set up separate tracks and EQ each track a little differently.

* Keep the "motor running" throughout the entire song. Be sure that the motor (hihats, ride, ghost notes on snare) are present in each section.

* Use "EQ Carving" to make space for each instrument. This is even important when instruments are panned hard left and hard right. If carve these instruments too, your mono mix will be better and so will the stereo mix.

* Do fade outs in mastering (because the master fader is pre-fader... the mix will fall apart as the master bus compressor is disengaged)

* Compress less than 3db on the master bus.

* Be conservative when limiting the master bus. Take the limiting off (or decrease it a great deal) when sending off for mastering. I try to limit less than 3db.

* Begin the mix with nothing on the master bus, 1/2 way add some buss compression, when you're close to the end add a limiter just to see what mastering might do to your mix.

* If the groove is off or everything seems unsettled, try nudging certain tracks. It may be that the guitars or bass are ahead. Nudging things back a big can make things settle down.

* Step away once every hour or so for a 5-15 minute break. If you get to the point where nothing sounds good... just stop. You're getting nowhere.

* Check balances sometimes from the bathroom or hallway. This "real world" listen will help you make good decisions.

* The vocal is most important... don't forget it.

* Even when creating a dry sounding mix, FX can still help with dimension. Just use short verbs and very short delays.

When Pro Tools gets buggy

2009-04-16T14:54:00.001-07:00

Every computer program gets bugs, even Pro Tools (go ahead Pro Tools haters... now's your chance ;0) If you ever come to find Pro Tools is just acting a little funny or crashing often if can be helpful to clear out the preferences, clear the cache, etc. I can never remember where these folder are exactly so I always end up searching google for the answer.

A fantastic mixes and friend, Shane D. Wilson turned me on to this little application, "Pro Tools Pref and Database Helper." It's a very quick solution for deleting the cached files that could be bugging up PT.

Very handy! Thanks Shane!

Understanding Digital Audio Clocking

2009-03-23T02:35:00.000-07:00

I get asked about sample clocking all the time. YES, I do think that it's important and I do think that some clocks are better than other. Yes, I do think you can hear a big difference.

This is a great 10 minute tutorial about clocking. It will give you an idea what's going on with word clocks and digital sample clocking.

Good Music

2009-02-11T12:11:00.000-08:00

OK, this will be a short post. No pictures, no flare, no nothing. I'm not even gonna put links... google it!! ha.

I'm obviously a lover of music, songs, artists, sounds. Here's a short list of music I really love right now....

Singer/Songwriter

Gabe Dixon
Dave Barnes
Matt Wertz

Rock

Kings of Leon
Oasis

Pop

John McLaughlin
Pink

Vintage

Queen
Electric Light Orchestra
Aerosmith
Elton John

The difference between the talented and the talented and successful

2009-02-04T04:52:00.001-08:00

I have the pleasure of calling some VERY successful people in the music industry my friends. These friends teach me a lot and I thoroughly enjoy being around them. I covet their friendship because we always have something to talk about. They are often recording geeks like myself. They can talk for hours about music like I can. I learn a lot when I'm with them. They are just great people to be around!

I've invariably asked myself "what makes these people so successful?" "What have they done that I can do?" I've determined the answer...

You see, there are TONS of talented musicians in the world. You can hear some of them playing for coins on a city street or subway terminal. You can meet them while they work the day shift at McDonalds. Talent is not the determining factor to success. If it were, there would be a "talent threshold" and anyone who's talent exceeded the threshold would achieve fame and forture based on their musical genius. No, you can find some very mildly talented people finding success in the biz. There are many exceptions that allude to the fact that talent is not the determining factor.

The determining factor is DISCIPLINE! A musician/producer who can meet deadlines, prioritize and "deliver the goods" has that unique factor that brings success. This is the secret sauce of making it in the music industry. It's what divides those with talent and discipline from the ones that are simply talented alone. I once asked a successful producer, "So, are you the kind of guy who always meets your deadlines?" He answered (with a smirk), "I never miss a deadline. This is very important to me." ... telling don't you think.

There are exceptions to this, sure, but there are very few lazy people truly finding success in the business. I guess you could say that this is why there are managers. True. I'd still be willing to bet that the laze musician who finds success will enjoy it for a much shorter time. The disciplined musician has a greater chance of enjoying long term success. Discipline allows a person to work within a set of rules that allow for efficiency. These rules also allow a person to adapt and chance course when needed. Thus lengthening the career of a disciplined musician's career. I know many artists turned producer turned manager turned successful record label owner.

You might say, "but wait, I spent years of my life being disciplined about studying music. I must be disciplined!" OK, I hear you. But, wouldn't you say that most of that "discipline" came from the love of music? Personally, I never considered my music study a discipline. It was a form of discipline, but I played because I loved it! I played because I enjoyed getting better. I loved being creative, not being disciplined!! Studying business, leadership and time management is very hard for the creative person.

If you think about it, it makes TOTAL SENSE why many musicians (and artists) have such a hard time building disciplines in their business. I personally spent 24 years of my life almost exclusively developing the right side of my brain. My brain has to be very lopsided! The discipline I was creating by studying my trumpet was creating a very creative person, but not a well rounded person. I think this is the case for most artists. We find it very hard to be disciplined, show up on time, etc.

For many of us, our talent has carried us too far. We've been allowed to coast through life... like the charismatic gentlemen who gets his way with women with little effort. He doesn't learn to nurture relationships correctly. It's far to easy for him. When the going gets tough, this man can cave in and leave the relationship prematurely. Creative people are much the same way. We get scholarships to school, get our picture taken with fans, free meals on occasion. Perhaps if if were hard for us, we would have worked harder.

The above is my story! It wasn't until I came to Saddleback that I realized that my success would be determined by my ability to get things done on time and deliver the goods to my clients. My successful (disciplined) musician friends painted a clear picture of who I would have to become in order to achieve my goals. I probably spend as much time reading leadership books as I do reading music books. It's a new life-long journey!

Check out this blog by Seth Godin. He touches on this subject. Seth is a marketing/business genius. His blog is worth subscribing to!

Imogen Heap and her crazy mind!!

2009-01-27T22:14:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. I have a lot of "favorite" music. In all actuality, I don't typically single out many favorites because I just love music. It seems like whenever someone mentions an artist I know, I'm like "I love ________ they are one of my favorites!" I do that because I love a LOT of music.

For real, Imogen Heap is one of my favorites. She's a cut above creatively. I mean, seriously, she writes, produces and engineers her own songs!!!! and it's fantastic.

If you don't know of Imogen's music or you want to get a glimpse of how she creates her masterpieces, then check out her video blogs. They are fantastic.

http://www.youtube.com/user/imogenheap

ENJOY!

Have to post this...

2009-01-06T00:02:00.001-08:00

If you're not a major audio nerd just LEAVE NOW. I had to post this because it had a lot of sense and I had not heard (read) this.

The topic is harmonic distortion. Harmonic distortion is added by tubes and transistors and adds harmonics on top of the sound fist in octaves, then in fifths...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_series_(music)

Even order harmonics are more pleasing and add a thickness to the sound. Odd order harmonics introduce more dissonant colors and can be less pleasing. This would come in handy when dealing with your EL Distressor which has a distortion option (DIST 1 is even order and DIST 2 is odd order).

What I was excited to learn was about the pleasing and not so pleasing qualities of these two types of distortion. This was new to me. Thanks to Jim Roberts for posting this post. Check out his blog. It's great.

You can read more here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_sound#Harmonic_content_and_distortion

TOP 10 PRODUCER MISTAKES (I know, I've done them all!)

2009-01-05T22:38:00.000-08:00

I notice things about producers... things that people do over and over again that I notice. I notice them because I used to do them, or struggle with these things myself. I thought I'd compile a list of some of these things. Here we go... my top 10 producer mistakes... (in no real order)

#1) Caring more for creating cool, technical band arrangements at the expense of the song and lead vocal.

** Guys, c'mon... it's about the song! it's about the vocal!

#2) Leaving bad edits in your song, not cross-fading and checking things before they head off to mix.

** I notice this because some producers do this to me! They leave bad edits, don't cross-fade those edits and general leave things "unfinished." This stuff could make it to the final mix! Don't chance it. Your mixer is not your editor.

#3) Picking the wrong tempo for a song.

** I'm aware that this is preference but I hear a lot of songs that are simply to slow or too fast for the style. If it makes the song sound awkward, then it's the wrong tempo.

#4) Not being patient enough to get good vocals!

** It can take a lot of effort to get a good vocal take. It takes a lot of psychology to coach an inexperienced or nervous vocalist. What is worse is hearing a poor vocal performance but a killer guitar solo.. THE VOCAL IS KING! Be patient and get the vocal! Nothing else matters.

#5) Over-tuning or not being careful when tuning vocals.

** This takes time, but listen carefully and make sure you can't hear the auto-tune working. You might have to dig into manual mode and get picky but it' worth it. I like hearing out of tune vocals more than I like the sound of auto-tune! YUCK!

#6) Double tracking everything!

** To many guys, double tracking is the key to everything. It makes things bigger, covers mistakes, and gets you excited about guitars! Double tracking everything can also make for a boring mix! Double what is necessary. Leaving some stuff un-doubled (does that work to say?) makes the stuff you did double sound bigger in contrast!

#7) Putting high-pass filters on everything.

** I know some people that put HPF's on everything including kick and bass guitar. Now, this can be necessary but it sound be determined by YOUR EARS not what you think you should do. Use HPF's on when you have instruments competing for low-end real estate. Your mixes will sound thin otherwise.
NOTE: check stuff on small speakers. If you blow one up, you have too much LOW END :)

#8) Phasing issues with Overhead mics and guitars!

** There's one thing that my poor hearing has done has made me listen in mono more. What you'll notice is phasing issues. It is very easy for guitars to be out of phase because of the complexity the wave form (particularly distorted guitars). If you check your work in mono and the gain is decreased and everything falls apart you know you have phasing issues (I say "the mix folds into itself! that's what I think phasing sounds like.) Search google for ways to avoid phasing.

#9) Using synth pads all the time!

** Sometimes you need space in a mix. I much enjoy it! Pads can make things muddy and ACTUALLY they can make stuff sound dated and lame! Sometimes it is actually the right thing to do, sometimes it's not.

#10) Not using me as your mixer!

** I'm affordable and good looking. I'm sure to do a good job on your next record :) ha!!

UNTIL NEXT TIME "Stay classy San Diego!"

Programming the Neko

2009-01-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

I've really been enjoying the Open Labs Neko we just got at Saddleback. I can't wait to get my own!! Maybe I'll start collecting dimes until I have enough saved up.

I'm scheduled to play keyboard at FUSE tomorrow night and so I thought that'd be a good chance to break Neko in. I spent today installing all of my sounds and plugins. Since I was installing some 80gigs of samplers into the keyboard it took some time. It went off without a hitch. Already I'm having more fun playing this thing than any other keyboard I've ever played. The possibilities are endless for using your favorite patches and FX. Here's what I've got going so far.

Host: Ableton Live 6 (hopefully gonna get the upgrade to v.7 soon. Comes with some cool new sounds)
Instruments: Native Instruments Komplete 4, Reason 4, Atmosphere, tons of VST instruments that I've not even explored yet
FX and plugs: Waves Mecury Bundle (yes, I paid for this!!)
Controllers: NI KORE, NI KONTROL

The great thing about having a computer as the host for this keyboard is that I can make this thing sound as good as my studio. Some things I'm doing...

MASTER BUS: I'm using the Waves V-Series compressor on the master bus, warming up the sound and adding just a little bit of compression to the signal. I also have guitar rig running on the master bus. The reason I've done this is for FX. I'm using KONTROL as a foot controller for FX. Guitar Rig has several FX that I can kick on at any time. I've got a distortion, delay, reverb and flanger. It's just for a bit of fun when creating crazy sounds.

SENDS: I have Waves R-Verb set up for a general reverb, Super-Tap delay set to a basic analog delay, Super-Tap 6 with a crazy delay, True-Verb setup as a great sounding convolution verb. I can send any instrument to these FX at any time with the touch of one button.

GRAND PIANO: I have NI Akoustic Piano running a nice piano sound. I'm using the SSL Channel to beef up the low end and add some sparkle to the top. I'm also compressing just a touch. I'm using the true-verb send to give some great space to the sound. I LOVE THIS ONE!!

UPRIGHT PIANO: This guy is setup for rock piano. It's got heavy compression with the SSL Channel and a moderate delay that I can turn on at any time.

RHODES: I'm really proud of this one! I'm using a basic MK2 rhodes patch with a delay patch that I can add in. What I like about this is that this patch is being sent out a separate output and being sent to my VOX AC15 amp!!! Is that crazy or what??!?!?

B3: Using NI B4 I can create any patch I want. The faders also act as drawbars!!!

PADS: I have several pads each with it's own ambience and delay parameters. I'm using Absynth, Reason and Atmosphere here.

I gotta say. This thing is really amazing. Gonna have a lot of fun with it. More to come!!!

The Beatles

2009-01-04T03:38:00.000-08:00

OK. I have an unhealthy obsession with the Beatles. When I was a kid I had a toy record player and I would play my dad's records (I'm 26 and I DO know what a record player is!). One record I remember was a 45rmp of "Help!" I recall being totally fascinated with that song. I loved that I could sing it (I learned all the words). I loved how energetic it was! I loved everything about it.

My dad was a music minister at our church. We had drums and other fun instruments there. Every now and then my dad would let me bring the drums home and play them. This was always a treat and it rarely happen. I remember one time, I was in 4th grade (right about the time we got our dog, Abby) my dad surprised me and brought home the drums. They were a beat up Tama Royal Star kit... bright red. My dad set them up near the stereo and put on all kinds of records for me to play along to. Among them were The Beach Boys, Elvis, ELO, Elton John and The Starland Vocal Band. The Beatles were played often those few days too.

It's worth noting that this is one of the few memories (one of 2 actually) I have of my dad sitting down to play the drums! I mean he was no drummer but I recall that he could keep the beat... he's musical of course. It's funny thought, I told my dad, "Dad, if I worked at a church where there were drums, I'd never get anything done... but you never play them?" I literally did not understand why he didn't stop every hour to go play all the fun instruments. But I didn't understand why my dad listened to talk radio either. ha!

Well, thanks for letting me reminisce about my childhood for a few minutes.

Oh yeah, the reason for the post. Over the last few weeks I've been reading books and watching DVDs on the Beatles. It's been a fun departure from my normal day-to-day arranging and recording. One such book I read was "Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording The Beatles" by Geoff Emmerick and Howard Massey. Emmerick was the engineer that recorded much of the Beatles work. It was REALLY great. Tony Guerrero got it for me as a Christmas present (it's actually an audio book so I actually listened to it.. I didn't "read" it). If you're into recording you'll like it. It's really interested to hear the way things were done in the 60's. If you just like the Beatles you'll love it too just because of the cool stories. Go on. Go get it.

Jazz great, Freddie Hubbard passes

2008-12-30T00:08:00.000-08:00

Freddie Hubbard was a tremendous jazz musician. Actually, if I'm not mistaken my friend (and boss) Tony Guerrero gave him a trumpet lesson once ;) Right Tony? (It's a funny story... maybe he'll tell it on his blog.)

Anyway, since I'm a trumpet player who marvels at good jazz ('cause I'm not that good at it) I felt the need to mention Freddie's passing on my blog!

Here's a few links for you.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081229/ap_en_mu/obit_hubbard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Hubbard

Hearing Loss

2008-12-29T10:51:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. I thought I'd post this article I found. I have a great amount of hearing loss in my left ear. The high end is gone and my stereo image is off. It bothers me a great deal because I wish I had been more careful. So, I plead with you... turn down the monitors, get a sound pressure meter for your studio and protect your ears against loud noises.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/83516.php

Also, it's a good idea to invest in a good pair of molded in ear monitors if you are a performer (especially a drummer). 2 companies I recommend...

http://livewiresforyou.com/

http://www.ultimateears.com/_ultimateears/
(I have the UE-7's with the ambient feature)

Keith Everette Smith and Timbaland

2008-12-25T15:13:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. I just had a chuckle to myself. I've recently begun working with a company called Open Labs. These guys make fantastic keyboards! Their Meko and Neko series keyboards are actually fully functioning studios based around a powerful PC computer. Anyway, Saddleback used our new custom Neko during our Christmas special for the Fox Network. I was interviewed for their website.

I logged on to openlabs.com and this is what I saw... my face next to Timbaland!!!

Timbaland is writing hit after hit these days with artists like Justin Timberlake, One Republic, Madonna... the list goes on.

I just thought I'd share. Click here to read the entire article. I can't recommend these guys enough!

If I could only have 2 plug-in bundles!

2008-12-22T23:01:00.000-08:00

I am a talker… especially when it comes to recording. I could go on for hours about new toys, techniques and music. What I don’t want to do is make you salivate over all the stuff you can’t afford. No one’s spouse likes us spending money we don’t have. BUT if you are mixing your own music there are a few plug-ins that I believe every musician should own. At this point, I literally could not mix a song without these tools. Take a look.

#1 WAVES SSL 4000 Bundle – These plug-ins are modeled after the famed SSL recording consoles. Before the industry got on board with in-the-box mixing, the vast majority of hit singles and platinum albums were mixed on these boards. Still today, tons of engineers won’t mix a record without one. They have a fantastic sound. The EQ is especially aggressive and has a very recognizable quality that it adds to the sound.
Waves’ did a great job of cloning this console. The SSL E-channel plug-in models a single channel of the E Series Console. It has EQ, compression/gating (dynamics) and all the other routing functions of the original E series console. The 4-band equalizer is similar to the EQ on the channel strip except it mimics the sound of the G series console, which sounds slightly different than the E series. The bus compressor is modeled after the master bus compressor of the console. This compressor is most often used on the entire mix, adding “glue” to the sound and giving everything a little aggressive edge.
OK, this bundle is a little expensive but well worth the price in my opinion. I literally think I could sell almost all my other plug-ins and mix exclusively. (Thus, the reason for this blog.) At this point, I wouldn’t think of mixing drums without it.

#2 WAVES MUSICIANS II Bundle – Another great bundle from WAVES. These plug-ins are not models. They are original plug-ins and they sound great. At a price point of a little over $200, this bundle is well worth the price.
R-Compressor – Is a really nice sounding compressor. It can handle standard compression or even venture into optical compression (useful on vocals, bass or anything else you’d want processed with transparency).
R-Vox – Here is a good reason to buy the musicians II bundle. R-Vox is a compressor limiter, expander specifically tailored for vocals. This thing is magic and adds presence and excitement to a vocal.
R-Axx – This is another compressor tailored for guitars. I really don’t know what it does but it does it well! Adds beef and excitement to guitar tracks.
R-EQ – I absolutely love this eq! It’s not particularly colorful but it allows you to easily pinpoint EQ points for adjustment. It treats the high end very nicely and things don’t get overly harsh.
SuperTap Delay – Another reason to buy this bundle. This delay does everything from U2-type delays, simple analog mono delays and lush reverb type complex delays. It’s a “do it all” delay unit.
Doubler – This plug comes in handy when you wanna create a pseudo-doubled vocal effect on the chorus or thicken background vocals to fill up a bit of the mix.

You know, I really didn’t mean for this to be a WAVES advertisement. I really don’t care who makes the plugs I use. I just care about the result. These bundles help me do my job. I use many other plugs but if I had to, I could do everything I need with these guys.

Other plug-ins I use regularly:
Massey CT4 Compressor, Massey TD5 Delay, TL Space, Digi ReVibe, Drawmer Dynamics, Massey L2000 limiter, SoundToys EchoBoy, Digi Echo Farm, Waves MaxxBass, McDSP Filter Bank Bank, BombFactory 1176

Composers and Inspiration

2008-12-16T04:23:00.000-08:00

I played a concert for the Presbyterian Church of the Master Sunday night. It was fun. It was pretty much a classical gig playing trumpet. I really miss classical music. That used to be most of what I did. I played in orchestras, concert bands and many brass ensembles growing up. Though my personality ultimately didn't fit in with this crowd, as a trumpet player, I am probably best at this style. For this reason, it's nice to play this music on occasion.

The conductor's name was John Elg. He was a FANTASTIC conductor and really had the church choir sounding fantastic. What I noticed about John was his inspiring personality. His gestures, smiles, and attitude begged you to play with the emotion that he was portraying. This got me thinking about record production. I consider myself a good producer in part because of the conductors I sat under through the years. I watched these men (and women) turn a bunch of individual musicians into a single unit, making beautiful music together. It was amazing.

One thing I remember is how 2 conductors specifically would use word pictures to describe the emotion for which a part should be performed. It was amazing how an emotion could be imparted on someone else and an emotional musical performance would result. I've tried to use this technique on several occasions in the studio. Correct notes has never been good enough for me. You MUST inspire me with the notes. With vocalists, I may say "Sing beyond the microphone, like you're singing at a rock concert in front of 50,000 people!" Or I might say, "Sing delicately as if you were whispering to a person you love." These things really work. When the mind is focused on the record button or the microphone in front of them, I'd venture to say that you will never received the most powerful performance possible.

All that to say, if you want to produce exciting, emotional music, head to your local college and watch a conductor interact with his ensemble. You'll learn very useful tips for inspiring the musicians you are producing!

Pro Tools 8

2008-11-29T01:33:00.000-08:00

Even though I'll wait a good long time before upgrading, I'm REALLY excited about this release. I actually may try out Sibelius because of this new version. We'll see :)

Check it out!

PRO TOOLS 8

MASSEY

2008-11-27T13:41:00.000-08:00

OK people. Listen close. If you don't own plugins by MASSEY PLUGINS you are missing out! My goodness, this guy is amazing. His compressor is fantastic, his 3 band EQ is easy and colorful, his De:ESSER is genius and transparent, his analog Delay is PERFECT, his LIMITER is the industry standard, his Tape Head modeler glues my mixes together.... the list goes on.

The best part is that every plugin is well under $100!!

The reason I'm posting this blog is because Massey just introduced DTM, a drum to midi drum replacement plugin FOR FREE if you own any of Massey's other plugins. THIS THING IS HOT! Logic already has something like this and it's nice to have it within pro tools!

Speaking of Pro Tools. Pro Tools 8 comes out soon and has some AMAZING new features. If you had though about moving to Logic, think again!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

My blog, my opinions

2008-10-08T01:17:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. I feel that this is important. It's important and it's my blog so I can do this. I think Christians (especially the non-crazy ones) need to voice their opions (so the world doesn't just see the crazy Christians).

I am a Christian. That is my world view. I believe that God the focus of everything. Jesus is my Savior. Jesus is everyone's Savior. If you don't know that, email me. It'll change your life... promise.

As a Christian I vote my convictions NOT my personal comfort in life. I feel this presidential race is being fought on the basis of everyone's comfort. I personally believe that America is long overdue for a wake up call about the way we live, the way we over-spend, the way we fight for self. We are not going to fix our economy the way it needs fixing if we are appealing to everyone's need to be comfortable. We need to plead for people to have dignity, respect for one-another, integrity, charity, patriotism, and for people do be the opposite of greedy.

I will be voting for McCain. I think Clinton and his de-regulation of banks got us into this mess and then the greed upheld by EVERYONE kept us there. Conservatism is necessary for getting out of debt. Small government and the trust of Americans to build a strong economy is key. Taxes are fair when they are even. Business owners should not be punished for building strong businesses that work. This is what keeps the economy going. It is good stewarship and good leadership to REWARD and ENCOURAGE people in this situation... not punish them by taxing them more. If you want to fuel the economy, encourage these people to give back on their own. This will do more for the economy. It's called delegation.

OK so I rambled a little bit... I'll be voting for McCain. I care about our country. I care about my children and my grandchildren and the country they will inherit. I think we need to guard our values, vote our convictions and get to the core of the problem, not focus on symptoms. Please vote McCain. Do your own research and get informed, but I'd encourage you to vote McCain.

It's my blog, that's my opinion.

Keith

Monitors and listening environment

2008-09-27T17:03:00.001-07:00

Hey gang. I've been asked recently about my preference in monitors. GOOD QUESTION!

Your monitoring environment is extremely important. It's how you hear the music you create. You are taking a huge gamble when you produce/mix without good monitoring. Without good monitoring how will you know that what you are recording is accurate? How will you know if the bottom end of your mixes are punchy? Will your mixes translate? YOU WON'T KNOW.

OK, so I'm playing up the scenario a little bit for effect. The above is true, yes, but obviously what is MOST important is that you know your gear and how it sounds. Crummy speakers can be used to mix if you know how they respond. I'm sure you've heard someone tell you that your car is very important to your mixes (or your ipod in this modern day). The reason is that your car is most likely where you listen to the most music. Your ears recognize a good sounding mix in that environment. I heard of a mixer who actually owned a radio transmitter with a radio-type compressor set to the input. This engineer would play a song and transmit it to his car stereo... he felt that the best way to understand the way a mix would translate on the radio was to hear it on the radio! ha! Pretty crazy, huh?

Here's a little help for purchasing monitors...

1) go to a music store or local studio and try out some monitors!!! Use YOUR ears to find monitors that suite your personality. I don't like the same monitors that everyone else necessarily likes. Bring a few CDs that you know intimately. This will help you hear the differences in each monitors as it relates to music you know well.

2) get recommendations from other engineers... though using your own ear is most important, the experience of others can help you along the way. Russ Fowler recommended KRK V4 monitors to me a few years ago. He and Mike Clark (recently passed away... he was the owner of the famed "Southern Tracks Studio" in Atlanta) went to guitar center and both loved these. I eventually tried them and then purchased a pair and added a small 10" sub to add a touch of low end.

3) consider your style... R&B music can call for a different type of monitor than rock music. Rock music is rugged and midrang-y. R&B has lots of highs and extreme lows. If you are purchasing a monitor for R&B or electronic music you'll need monitors with a good low end and highs that don't fatigue. If you're buying for rock, something like NS-10's may be perfect for coming up with a raw edgy mix.

4) monitors should sound the same at all volume levels. Some monitors have a volume "sweet spot" where the drivers are activating the cones correctly on at certain volumes. The best monitors are ones that sound good at all volume levels.

5) good monitors should also have a decent sized stereo image "sweet spot." This will happen when the monitors are positioned correctly and if the monitors are built properly. You want to be able to move around your desk without having the sound change a ton.

6) good low end - I personally believe that mixing is best accomplished with a sub. It's only with a sub woofer that I can understand what is really going on down in the extreme low end of the mix. Mixes are done without subs, sure, but I believe the mixes with the best low end are done with monitors with good low end.

7) accurate mids - "hyped" monitors are not good monitors. Small speaker component surround-sound systems have taught us to hear music with highs and lows only. This is not a good thing for music mixing. The mid-range in your monitors should be present and accurate.

8) smooth high end - You'll likely spend hours upon hours in your studio. The worst thing you could do is fatigue your ears before you're tired of working. Make sure the high end of your monitors is smooth and even.

9) passive or active - It seems that most monitors these days are "active" meaning they have amplifiers built into the monitor. This is great! It insures that the amp is perfectly matched to give the right amount of power to each speaker. If you're looking for a passive speaker (like NS-10's) you'll need to purchase an amp too. An amp should have plenty of power to handle the speaker. Too little power and you can actually blow the speaker.

MY MONITOR SETUP....

Mackie 824 Monitors attached to JBL 4300 sub
KRK V4 Monitors with Tapco 10" sub
Sharp Desktop Stereo (from John Carl.. thanks John)

not setup right now..

JBL 4300 Monitors with matching sub

OTHER GREAT MONITOR COMPANIES...

Adams
DynAudio
Blue Sky
Yamaha NS10 with Bryston 4B amp
Barefoot (if you got too much money to spend)

TIP: do most of your instrument rides (especially vocals) on small monitors at lower volumes. It is easiest to hear balance issues at low volumes.

TIP: double check your low end (kick and bass in relation to the mix) on small speakers (this will let you know if you're gonna blow someone elses speakers with your mix).

TIP: put your mix up on the big speakers to WOW the client.

Have fun SHOPPING!

Tutorials Coming Soon!

2008-09-26T00:15:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let you know that there's some great new things coming your way FROM ME! I'm working on a few video tutorials. I'm gonna start with some production tips. Auto-Tuning, Drum Editing, Replacing Drums with Samples, and more. I'll also be doing some tutorials on using Finale Music Notation Software! Keep checking back!

Also, I can't tell you the specifics but check back for info on some new software I'm developing! It's gonna be great!!

Thanks for reading!! Hope you're enjoying the blog.

Keith

I Dig

2008-09-19T01:21:00.000-07:00

OK, so I'm starting a new segment called "I dig." I listen to a ton of music. Some of it inspires me, and some does not. I may mention some laughable songs here and there that I "do not dig" but in general I'll keep it positive.

It's been since Jonny Lang's "Turn Around" record that I've listened to an album day in and day out for long periods of time. A few weeks ago my wife Erin played Jason Mraz's new album for me. I'm hooked! The album is called "We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things" and it is probably my favorite album this year.

I love the record for a few reasons...

Reason #1 will always be THE SONGS! The songs are fantastic, original, vibey.. very fun.

The #2 reason is for the use of HORNS! I'm a trumpet player and I love horns sections, especially horn sections with bari sax. Lots of bari sax on this record.

My #3 reason for loving this record is the loose production. I say "loose" because there is room for real musicianship and real emotion to come through the record. Everything is tight but not super-duper edited. I also love the use of space. One of my favorite things about recordings is when you can hear the rooms the instruments were recorded in. It's why I have such a hard time being satisfied with recording in my vocal booth... it's soooo dead! I want to hear some character in the rooms. I want to hear different rooms! I would love to do a record where I could record each instrument in it's own unique space, using very little artificial reverbs... letting the rooms shine through.

So go check it out. What recordings are you loving these days? Seriously, I want to know! Reply to this post and let us know what you're loving and why!!!

Make up your mind already!

2008-09-18T01:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a good one for you all. It's not a techie post at all. This one involves making decisions...

As a mixer, I get session files in all kinds of shapes and sizes. I receive them on a hard drive, on a DVD or as downloadable files over the internet. These sessions may be nicely edited, consolidated and color coded; they may be a jumbled up mess of files, extra takes and unfinished ideas; or somewhere in between. It goes without saying that it is easier to work with a producer that hands me a tidy, organized session file.

I remember playing in a brass band in high school. The conductor would stop in the middle of the song and shout (in his heavy british accent), "No! No! No! That's just not tidy! Not tidy at all!" I laughed every time.

As producers and engineers in a digital world we find it easy to procrastinate decision making and leave tons of options in our session. After all, I have a limitless number of tracks available to me, why not leave options. Why not? Because LIFE IS TOO SHORT!

Here's an example. A producer may use 3 microphones to record a guitar part (maybe an SM57, an ADK S-7 and a U47 as a room mic). It is totally easy to record these tracks separately and mix them later. By the time you've recorded every part and stacked the parts where needed, you could have 8-15 or so guitar parts. 15x3 is 45! You could use up 45 tracks in your session just for guitars! Really? This kind of recording can illustrate a total lack of confidence in the producer's own ability to make decisions about what he wants the mix to sound like later on.

The reason I began by talking about mix session files is because this is where I see the result of procrastinated decision making the most. I see it in the form of poorly labeled tracks, edits that have not been properly crossfaded, millions of tracking options that need verbally explained by the producer, etc... It is best for EVERYONE if a producer has properly consolidated files, bounced specific FX, meticulously edited and crossfaded audio files and labeled tracks in a simple manner.

I'm speaking to you from experience. This used to be me. I had no confidence in myself as a producer. I thought everyone knew better than I did and that I would make a decision that would alter the quality of the project to it's detriment. What I came to find out is that I knew what I wanted! My vision was the right one. I could trust my instincts.

Here are some ways you can make decisions on your next project....

1) While engineering your tracking sessions, go ahead and cross-fade all the punches. Stop for 2 minutes and check everything on the track. Then consolidate. That way you know that all your edits are done. Chances are everyone could use 2 minutes to rest before starting the recording of another part.

2) When editing, check that all cross-fades are accurate, then consolidate when you are finished. (Remember, your computer is doing math, don't consolidate too much but don't be afraid to either)

3) Make decisions about mic blending. Things like choirs, guitars, piano, B3... make decisions about the blend you prefer and then record to a single stereo track (for stereo instruments). One cool idea is to blend your direct mics but leave your room mics separate. This will leave some good options for the mixer. Even then, don't be afraid to blend your room mics. Trust your ears!

4) Print FX... if you came up with a great Delay, PRINT IT to a stereo track. Chances are your idea will work. That's better than hoping the mixer has a better idea. When he doesn't you'll be glad you printed.

These things will help you move through recording projects quicker and you'll learn to trust your instincts in the studio!

Disc Space and Backups!

2008-09-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest problems with modern hard disk recording is the subject of disk storage. As a recording enthusiast your hard drives are your security, they protect your investment. Good hard drives that are properly backed up are what allow me to sleep at night! Think about it, if a hard drive crashes and it is not backed up, you (and the artists/labels you work for) could be out tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars! Believe me, there are horror stories. They all end with crying, gnashing of teeth, murder and broken friendships.

All that to say, it is VITALLY important that you...

1) purchase quality hard drives

The hard drives you purchase should run at 7200rpm (or higher) and have firewire jacks (firewire 800 is fastest). Western Digital Drives are fantastic drives.

TIP: purchase smaller drives (from 200-300gigs) rather than larger drives. Simply put, if a 300gig drive crashes you've only lost 300gigs and not 1000gigs. Got me?

2) back them up daily (if not more often)

When you purchase a new hard drive, you should purchase 2 identical drives. Mark one as a backup ONLY. Programs like Synchronize Pro X are helpful for backing files up. Synchronize pro will run backups on a schedule and it allows only updated info to be backed up. This allows the drives to spin less and thus lengthens a drives life span.

3) and archive to DVD.

Hard drives are not reliable for long term storage. Too many things can break. I recommend backing up sessions to DVD once a project is completed. Going through the process will take some time and you may need to consolidate your sessions and get rid of useless files. Don't perform this kind of operation without having a backup on hand.

Protect your investment, your reputation and your rear end by heeding my advice. When a drive crashes and you've not lost gigs and gigs of date you'll want to thank me by sending me a big check! ;0)

One other thing. I found a free program called Disk Inventory X. The program allows you to see graphically what files and folder are taking up the most space on your computer. This is very helpful when you find that your hard drive is full! Very handy... and it's FREE!!

DITHER!!!! What you need to know

2008-09-12T01:07:00.000-07:00

OK, so here's the deal. I know many of you just want to make music and care very little for the hyper-technical side of recording. I think that's great! I think it's better to error on the side of musicianship that technician any day.

BUT there are some things you MUST know before you press record. In this case, this is something you must know before you bounce your audio.

DITHER is somewhat complicated. I struggle for words to explain it simply. I'll let Wikipedia handle the nitty-gritty. I'll say this...

- Dither allows audio being recorded that is lower than the bit rate allows to be recorded audibly.
- Dither is noise (that can't really be heard) that is added to the noise floor to "BUMP UP" audio into the recordable bit range.
- Dither is compensates for the rounding of numbers inside the digital world.
- when downward bit rate conversion is performed (AKA bouncing audio recorded from 24bit to 16bit), numbers are rounded and DITHER is required.
- Even when audio is not down-sampled, dither is required because AUDIO in most cases is processed in 24bit, 32bit or 48bit processing within your DAW.

OK OK OK... maybe you don't get it yet. That's fine. What I'm telling you is this, when you bounce audio from programs like Pro Tools you NEED TO PUT A DITHER PROGRAM ON YOUR MASTER BUS. This will ensure that the audio is smooth and crisp... it will otherwise be harsh and "chopped off."

Take a look at this page from Pro Tools' Reference Guide. It mentions the reason for needing DITHER on the master bus in pro tools.

SUMMARY (because I'm positive that 98% of you are lost, lost, lost) USE DITHER ON YOUR MASTER BUS WHEN BOUNCING AUDIO!!!!

I wanna hear it!

2008-09-11T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hey guys and gals. Things are going great out here in California. I'm involved in several new projects. I'll be sure to post some mp3s for your enjoyment soon. One notable project was a sound-alike of Journey's "Any Way You Want It" for an animated movie. It was a lot of fun trying to recreate the sounds of the original recording... Julio Figueroa got out an old Rogers snare that sounded EXACTLY like the original (don't know what drum the original was... but this one sounded close), Gannin Arnold pulled out all his Journey licks on guitar, Matt Campbell did some great bass and Adam Lancaster (who named his newborn baby girl JOURNEY!) did 2 passes of B3. We found out about the B3 when I was researching about the song. I guess it pays to do your homework. I would have done more homework in high school if I were paid to do it!

Speaking of musical work, I want to hear your music! I would love to hear your albums, demo recordings... ANYTHING. I just want to hear what you all are doing. If you're interested in sending your work, you can send mp3s to producerkeith1@gmail.com.

I'll leave you with a quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower...

"Whether you think you CAN or you think you CAN'T... YOU'RE RIGHT!"

What Mastering Does

2008-09-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

Ah! (deep breath... slowly exhale). I just returned from a fantastic trip to Europe. Switzerland, Croatia, France and Italy. It was truly an amazing trip. If you'd like to see pictures, click on over to my wife's blog and check it all out. Lots of cows and goats :)

A few months ago I began work with a local Orange County rock band called "The Bolts." These guys are a lot of fun and put on a great show. We headed into the studio to cut a song called "Our Love Can Change The World." Mattie, the band's drummer, is a great videographer and he documented the event. I thought you might enjoy checking it out. The song was recorded at Sonikwire Studios in Irvine, California... they have lots of great gear including a great Neve Console full of 1073 mic pres, Pultec EQ's, LA-2a compressors... (check out the studio website for a list of all the gear.)

Check it out... and you can download the final version HERE (mixed by Shane D. Wilson, Mastered by Richard Dodd)

Gear Heads Don't Get It!

2008-08-17T18:05:00.000-07:00

Jeremy Cowart is one of the most gifted commercial photographers around. I am not a photographer but I do have many friends who make their living at photography and graphic design. (My wife is a fine photographer/designer as well.) I do enjoy going to Jeremy's site to see who he's shot lately. It will most likely be the artist soaring at the top of the pop charts or the stars from ABC's newest hit show.

While looking through Jeremy's blog I was drawn to a title "GEAR HEADS DON'T GET IT." Automatically I am interested. I mean, I am a gear head after all.

You'll want to take a quick glance at this article as it is a simple explanation as to why creativity comes before gear.

ARTICLE

MY THOUGHTS:

I am still a gear head, though, I feel as though I'd recovering. I can admit that I have a problem and I am facing my addiction head on! I have a decent amount of gear... larger than most home studios and smaller than most commercial studios. I have plenty of gear to make my recordings. Gear is one thing.. A TOOL! If you are an engineer/producer you should know your gear inside and out for 2 reasons: #1 - so you know what each piece of gear is capable of and #2 so that you can use your gear quickly.. so you don't interrupt your creativity.

CREATIVITY! - I noticed something a few years ago. When I would ask another professional to critique my work, I never heard comments about the quality of my recordings. I heard critiques of the song itself or the vocal performance. Things like that. I also noticed that when listening to hit songs, the common denominator was not audio quality. The thing that every song had in common was that it was a great song that had character and life!

To quickly get to the point. I hope that all of you are seeking for hone your craft as a musician before crafting developing your craft as an engineer. Even engineers should consider themselves musicians first. Buy only the gear you HAVE to have and learn to create art within the creative walls of your current setup.

10 things you can do to fuel creativity/musicianship...

#10 - Don't compare your work critically to others

#9 - Create things that have nothing to do with your music

#8 - Take music lessons

#7 - Look at nature, don't move, breathe deep and stay a while

#6 - Create something truly unique... something only you may enjoy.

#5 - When being creative, don't compare your work to others' work.

#4 - Share your work with others... often! Share the bad stuff too!

#3 - Be willing to truly hear the opinions of other. You don't have to agree.

#2 - Don't be afraid to have your own taste and your own opinions.

#1 - Smile at your work!

Birthdays and Music That inspires

2008-08-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday. It was a good birthday. I went up to LA and played in a reading band... it's a big band where musicians come sit in and play through music... jazz, funk, contemporary stuff mostly. It was a lot of fun and a good way to spend the 26th anniversary of my birth! Without going into details, the circumstances surrounding the rehearsal were a little difficult. It involved a union! Now you know how that can be... tense and frustrating. After spending a few hours in my car (without AC!) I was greeted by my wife, we had friends over and it was a great evening.

I mention this story because it illustrates something very powerful about music. That is this: music is much more about tension than it is about perfect harmony. You don't notice blissful moments without some tension to remind you that you are actually in a blissful state. Tension is the reason why I love cluster chords rather than simple triads, the reason why I love distortion, the reason why I love an emotive performance and the reason why perfection is the enemy.

Creating tension can be especially hard in Christian music. I mean, the end result is a Savior who loves us and would do anything for us. We have to look for creative ways to add tension to our music in order that it is something compelling. Christian music is BETTER than it was 20-30 years ago, not just different. Christian musicians, I believe, have become better artists and have found ways to add tension to music. Music in the 90's was GREAT at this. It was raw and edgy and bands like Audio Adrenaline, Jars of Clay and DC Talk were creating great music that included tension.

Here's the problem... digital editing has allowed us the "luxury" of releasing too much tension from our music. We can perfect every hit and tune every note until a very important part of our music is tension free. It is the element of human performance. The answer to this is to use your ears, not your eyes when editing. Musical tension does not happen with your eyes anyway, it happens with your ears. To use your eyes while editing is pretty ridiculous. When you listen, you will listen for actual mistakes and fix those instead of sucking the life out of your music.

Now, I will say that there are some times when you will say, "I'd like to tighten this up more." The feel is not flawed, but certain genres call for a tighter feel. Electronic and Pop music is pretty rigid these days... on purpose, though it can be very FRESH to infuse live performances unaltered within your electronic or pop songs. That's what many producers have done with R&B and Hip Hop. You'll hear a lot of groove on R&B albums these days. Very cool!

WAYS TO KEEP THINGS TENSE!

don't over-tune vocals
don't over-time align vocals
don't alter your groove too much
take the time to record GREAT performances
Never say "I can fix it in the mix"
Don't over-compress
DO over-compress sometimes
release the tension every now and then so you notice it when you've got it
make music that inspires you to sing along, bob your head and dance!

Check out Tristan Prettyman's song "Hello" for an example of a song that would have been utterly RUINED had it been auto-tuned to death. An amazing vocal performance!

I'm off to over-tune some vocals :)

Michael H. Brauer - Multi-Bus Compression

2008-07-26T23:38:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder how some mixes just sound SOOOOOOO BIIIIIIIGGGG!!!?!?!?!?! Well, one way mixes sound big is by using something called the New York Compression Technique (also called Parallel Compression.) NY Compression involves taking an uncompressed audio source, duplicating it and then compressing the snot out of the duplicated track. THEN take the compressed track and tuck it underneath the uncompressed track. What this does is allow the instrument to have the dynamics of an uncompressed sound with the thickness of a compressed sound. Get it? The results can be incredible.

Michael H. Brauer is a stunning mixer. He's mixed for all kinds of artists of all styles and genres. I was rummaging through Michael's site and I noticed a wildly extensive Q&A section. I thought this could be a benefit to you all. Check it out and try grasp the ideas he presents about NY Compression.

Michael H. Brauer - Q&A Page

Mastering Audio: Bob Katz - A MUST READ!!

2008-07-25T22:03:00.001-07:00

About a week before Saddleback's Worship Conference I stumbled upon a book called "Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science" by Bob Katz. Just recently I've been interested in how mastering works. I want to understand mastering so I can mix my records in a way that gets the most out of the mastering process.

Let me just say, "Mastering Audio" has changed the way I look at digital audio. Not only am I gaining an understanding of mastering, but I'm getting a better handle of how my DAW and Digital Converters are processing audio. Bob points out that Digital Recording has to be treated very differently than analog recording (I know this in basic principle, but not to this depth). There are things we must do to preserve audio once inside the computer. There are also things we can do to maximize fidelity and make our recordings sound BIG and VIBRANT!

In case you have not noticed, my opinion is that everyone should read this book! If you are serious about getting the most out of your recordings you owe it to yourself. WARNING: This is a very technical book. It is actually a text book. It is not a hard read but it is deep.

BACK UP YOUR SESSIONS!

2008-07-24T01:49:00.000-07:00

Tonight I'm up late making stem mixes for Nic Carvers project. My brother, Kyle, is going to lay down a few more guitar tracks to round out the album. Creating stem sessions can be a little time consuming. I make a new session file, bounce all the drums to a stereo mix, all keys to a stereo mix, mono bass, mono lead vocals and I'm giving him all of the guitar tracks that I did with Steve Marcia so he can easily work his stuff into the mix.

After I create all the stems, I copy all files to a new folder so that I can freely delete files without the fear of messing something up. Well it happened, I was not paying attention. I had not opened the newly created session, I started deleting files from the OLD ONE!!!! Pro Tools takes a while to boot up and the entire time I'm opening the new session (to see if the files had been copied) I am getting nervous. Luckily, my fail safe plan was actually fail safe. I messed up and because I took the proper precautions, everything worked out.

BUT.... STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND BACK YOUR CRAP UP!!!

MY FAVORITE COMPRESSORS

2008-07-22T02:21:00.000-07:00

I love compression. I love the way it sounds, I love what it does to my mixes, I also love how different every unit sounds. To continue the topic of compressors, I'd like to share a short list of my favorite outboard and plugin compressors...

OUTBOARD COMPRESSORS

1) Empirical Labs Distressor
2) Universal Audio 1176
3) Universal Audio LA-2A
4) Tube Tech CL-1B
5) DBX 160 (old version6) SSL Master Bus Compressor

PLUGIN COMPRESSORS

1) Bomb Factory 1176
2) Waves SSL Channel Strip Compression
3) Massey CT4 Compressor
4) Drawmer Dynamcis
5) Digidesign SMACK
6) Waves RCompressor

Compressor Wars

2008-07-22T01:45:00.001-07:00

Compressors are perhaps the most mysterious of audio processors. You either admit that you don't know how to use them or you are always learning how to use them more efficiently and to every extent that they are capable. I guess what I'm trying to say is that compressors are deep.. WAY deep. There's a lot to learn. Even once you understand their concept there seems to be hundreds of ways to use them.

Different ways to use a compressor (there may be more... I'm still learning too)...

Control dynamics
Add "thickness" to an audio source
make something "punchy"
make something "pump"
control sibilance
control EQ of an audio source
add "color to an audio source

Like I said, there are more ways than this to use a compressor and within these functions there are plently of ways to achieve the same goal.

Honestly, the sound of modern recording is the sound of compression. I'm not just talking about a dynamically squashed sound (although this can be the result of the following) but compressors thicken and add color to anything it's applied too, especially in heavy doses. Rock music often adds compression generously, thus giving the listener the illusion that a mix is louder and thicker. Consoles like the SSL E Series console offer dynamic processing on every channel allowing mixers to use as much compression as was needed. Today, most mixes are performed inside of a DAW (digital audio workstation.) This offers the mixer even more control over dynamics.

I want to talk about the common controls that a compressor utilizes. We'll talk about the different ways to use a compressors and possible settings for different instruments later. For now, the basics.

INPUT - controls the amount of gain that enters the compressor.

THRESHOLD - the point when the compressor kicks in. i.e. If the threshold is set to -10bd then any audio louder that -10db that enters the compressor will be compressed. Anything under the threshold will be left alone (except "soft knee" compression... see below."

ATTACK - I like to rename this "attack speed" because I feel it accurately verbalizes what the attack setting does - Once an audio source rises over the threshold the compressor can kick in at different speeds. A fast attack would turn the compressor on very quickly (keeping harsh peaks at bay) where a slow attack would let the first transients (the first part of the audio source) pass through before the compressor reacts (this setting will let any percussive sounds keep their "punch"

RELEASE (or "release time") - The release setting determine how fast or slow a compressor shuts off after the source has gone below the threshold. The release time may be determined by the speed of the rhythmic-ness of the instrument. A release time that is slower that the next transient peak may sound lifeless and flat.

RATIO - Without a doubt the most complicated part of the compressor. The ratio decides by what ratio is an audio source reduced. You'lll see settings like 3:1, 4:1, 6:1. A 3:1 ratio means that an audio source will be allowed to raise 3db before 1db of compression is applied. This allows there to still be dynamics in audio even when the audio is being compressed. To complete this definition. A source that has risen 6db above the threshold and has a 3:1 ratio will be reduced by 2db. In the same manner, an audio source that has risen 12by above the thresh. and has a 4:1 ratio will be reduced 3db. It is actually very simple.

OUTPUT (or "make-up gain") - It's true, any time you add compression you are lowering the dynamic range of at least some part of the sound. The output knob simply adds gain where the compressor has taken it away. A good way to put it would be if you turned down the volume of your TIVO but turned up the TV to make up the volume loss. OR when your ipod is too loud in playing through your car stereo and it distorts... you turn the ipod down and turn up the car stereo to make up the difference.

SOFT-KNEE COMPRESSION - Soft knee compression basically makes it so the compressor is actually working a bit below the threshold. It gradually begins working harder as source nears the threshold. You might use this setting if you want the source colored in general, not just at the peaks.

HARD -KNEE COMPRESSION - this type of compression is the "normal" way of using a compressor... the compressor begins working only above the threshold. You would use this setting when you desire for only the peaks to be reduced.

That's it... the basics. I'll be touching more of compression soon. There is so much to cover. If I could offer one tip... when you're first starting to use compression, try using a LOT while you're messing around with your gear. Like any gear, take it to the limit. It is at this point where you find out what your compressors can do and what they sound like. When you learn the sound of a compressors extremes you will learn to hear when it is applied in small doses.

INSTRUMENT COMPRESSION SETTINGS COMING SOON!

Imogen Heap!! Binaural Microphones

2008-07-20T01:51:00.000-07:00

I am continually impressed with Imogen Heap and her music. I mean, "Hide and Seek" is perhaps one of the most unbelievable recordings I've ever heard. It's just so unique but SOOO listen-able. I know plenty of people who can record unique music that no one wants to hear. That's easy. I can even do that... but to make something that people want to hear and have it be "original." That to me is very cool!

Imogen Heap recently released a new song called "Not Now But Soon." The song was written, produced, performed, recorded and mixed by Emogen! Seriously????!!!!??? That's just amazing. I'm really not trying be sexist, but don't know many women who are doing this kind of stuff.

Another reason to download the song is that it includes a short video on the making of the song. While I was marveling at Emogen's use of walls, radiators and bricks to make her recording I noticed that she was wearing in-ear monitors AND what looked like a second set of headphones. "wierd," I thought. Then I heard her say something like, "I was recording my house using binaural microphones." Basically, there are headphones that have the polarity reversed, thus turning the headphones into microphones! There are a few companies who make legit binaural mics. I'm sure she's probably using one of these.

Binaural mics are basically trying to closely simulate human ears and the way our head picks up stereo images. I've even seen binaural mics that use an artificial head between the mics. The space between the mics recreates more accurately the way we hear directional sound.

I've been thinking about buying a small digital recorder. Edirol makes one that I've seen many people use. I hear that the stereo mics right on the device sound pretty good. I could even plug some binaural mics into it and walk around town recording people and nature in hopes of finding unique sounds to place in my recordings. Like all of you, budgets are tight so maybe I'll wait. I must admit, my wish list is quite long.

WARNING: HEAVY TECH TALK (in case you normal people wanna check out ;)

On that note, I just updated my digital converters from Digidesign 192 I/O's to Apogee Rosetta 800's. For real, everything is a good bit smoother and punchy. While at it I've been learning Logic. I must admit, Logic has a lot of really cool instruments. Programming goes down a lot smoother. Everything is pretty much geared towards electronic music. Drawback... the editing sucks compared to Pro Tools. You CAN edit in Logic but with much less precision.

Hopefully I'll be able to utilize both programs to my advantage. My arsenal... Pro Tools HD 7.4, Logic 8 Pro, Ableton Live 6, Finale Music.

Till next time...

How 'bout a new blog!

2008-07-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

Hello world!!! Well, hello blogger! I've been blogging semi-regularly for a few years using Myspace. My wife has a very nice blog. It's funny, informative and mentions me a lot ;) Anyway, Erin thinks that myspace is lame so I've moved my blog here.

I love to teach! I especially love to teach about recording or anything music. I've decided that this blog should be at least partially devoted to recording tips, tricks and tutorials. I'll be posting articles, links and videos on all kinds of topics. I don't necessarily want to teach you all of the ways to record, but I do want to teach you the way I do it. You in? This should be fun!

Oh yeah, I also spend a lot of time arranging and composing. Guess what? I like to teach this too :) I hope to offer lots of resources for using Finale Music Notation Software too.

Aside from all the learning you'll be doing, you'll read about new happenings in my studio, fun facts and complete randomness.

Until next time...