Make up your mind already!

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!

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

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!

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

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!

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

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 :)