Archive for 'December, 2009'

Here at The Recording Revolution I encourage and challenge my readers to boldly navigate through all the home recording hype and spend more time making quality music and recordings and less time debating things like tube vs solid state, 44.1 vs 96k, or Mac vs PC. With the New Year just around the corner and people readying their list of New Year’s resolutions, I wanted to suggest a few of my own “revolutions” to both challenge and reset your thinking and change your actions this year when it comes to producing music in the home studio. Here’s to a year of musical productivity and learning in 2010…

Don’t Spend Another $100 Without Writing/Recording A Song To Warrant It
Why spend more money on gear this year if it doesn’t help you reach your songwriting or producing goals? Isn’t the point of all this stuff to help us make music? Believe me when I say I know how easy it is to “fall in love” with the gear and forget your love for the art. But don’t let yourself do it. Have a reason for each purchase. Ask yourself a few sets of questions each time you want to make a home studio related purchase:

• Will this help me be more creative and fruitful in my songwriting? (or recording)
• Does this purchase help me accomplish something in my studio that I cannot already do adequately?
• Will this piece of gear (software, book, resource, etc) help me to create better sounding recordings to a noticeable degree?

Learn To Use The Bundled Plugins And Software Your DAW Offers
Most DAW (Digital Audio Workstations) out there today come bundled with some fabulous plugins for your use right out of the box. The unfortunate assumption of many studio owners is that there is an immediate need for third party effects and plugins to get the job done in both mixing and song creation (virtual instruments, loops, etc). This becomes an unnecessary set of purchases that offer a mostly redundant set of features. The truth is, people can and do make fantastic pro recordings and mixes with the included virtual instruments and plugins that come standard. Do you really need 3 compressors, 4 drum machines, and 5 different EQs? The answer is a resounding “no”! It’s a waste of money AND time deciding which one to use. Why not take this year to get to know YOUR bundled software and start making great music for FREE?!

Be Open To Critique
Make this year the year you lower your pride and get your songs and recordings critiqued. What I mean is this…offer up your best recordings to friends, family, and other musicians you respect for an intentional listen (or two or three). Tell them you are trying to improve your craft and you’d be grateful if they would tell you what they think of what they hear. Don’t preface it with “things to listen for” or excuses for what they are about to hear. Simply have them listen to the recording and give you an honest assessment. What YOU are looking for, however, is any trends that appear in the critique. These will be your guide for future projects. Listen for “negative” statements like:

• “It sounds really muffled (or harsh)”
• “I can’t really understand the lyrics” (i.e. it’s hard to hear the vocals)
• “I have to keep turning the volume up and down throughout the song”

And then of course listen for “positive” comments like:

• “It sounds so professional!”
• “I love the chorus, it is so sweet!”
• “It sounds just like XYZ’s latest album”

The key is not to take it personally if most of the comments are negative, and also to not get ahead of yourself if they are all positive. Instead, listen to the comments and see what you can do with them. For example, if a song sounds “muffled” to some listeners then you might need to reassess your overall EQ balance and listening environment when your record and mix. If It’s “hard to hear the lyrics” then you may need to better compress or automate the lead vocal volume. On the flip side, if your listeners really just enjoy the song and are commenting more on the song itself and less on the way it “sounds” to them, then you’re in the right ball park. The average listener doesn’t know why a recording sounds good if it’s good, and they don’t really care. They just want to hear and enjoy the song. So if they’re jamming to “your sweet hook in the chorus” then you’re putting out at least a decent recording!

You Can Do This
If you’re reading this blog then you must care somewhat about making better recordings and creating great music. The New Year is a great time re-adjust your thinking and challenge yourself in the months ahead, so why not start this “revolution” with me and re-think how you approach music making. If you simply implement these three ideas above you will spend less money this year, learn your gear better, and become aware of where you are doing well and where you can improve your recordings this year. You can’t ask for much more!

Since Christmas is only a week away, I wanted to share a little something with you guys that is holiday appropriate. A few years ago I wrote an original Christmas song and recorded an a cappella version of it. This year my wife requested I bring it back and record it with a whole band. Well, time was limited so I decided to do the whole song myself…in Pro Tools. So I thought it would be a helpful post to play you the song and then briefly show you how I used my Pro Tools system to make it a reality. Thanks in advance for listening!

“This Time of Year”

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Starting With What I Had
Like usual, I started out by opening up my songwriting template. This is always a time saver as I have tracks already labeled and routed to my gear the way I like it. Since I wrote the song on acoustic guitar originally I knew I wanted to start there and build up. As I recommend to most people I started by creating a solid guide track, complete with a click and markers. Then I simply laid down the basic guitar part all the way through the song. I doubled it on another track with another pass through, cleaned up a few parts, and then I was done. If I were recording another group I would have laid down a scratch vocal, but since I know the song pretty well (I wrote the dang thing) I decided to wait on vocals.

Enter Pro Tools
Now without the rest of the band available I had to let Pro Tools fill in the gaps. Thankfully for me, that’s exactly what it’s good at! To record every instrument other than guitar and vocals, I turned to only two plugins. Digidesign’s Strike and Xpand! Strike is an amazing virtual drummer plugin that I had to purchase separately. I used it for every drum sound you hear in the song. Xpand however comes free with Pro Tools system…and it is a life saver. Just take a look at what I used it for on this one song:

• Bass guitar
• Piano
• Strings
• Bells
• Organ
• Tremolo suitcase piano
• Arpeggio effect

Talk about versatile. Xpand is one of the best virtual instruments I’ve come across. It’s packed with hundreds (thousands I think now) of patches, but even better than that is just how simple the interface is for tweaking the sound to your liking and mixing with effects, all within the plugin! The bottom line is that Xpand helps you make amazing music out of the box in a matter of minutes. No confusion, no fuss!

A Product of The Revolution
To be honest, this song is truly a product of the Recording Revolution that I believe we are in. We live in an age of amazing accessibility to outstanding recording gear for a mere percentage of what it would have cost for such amazing tools 20 years ago! That’s why this blog is called The Recording Revolution. We live in a unique time where anything we can dream up in our heads we can create in our home studios. And that is why I’m sharing this with you…I want you to be empowered and encouraged to fire up your home studio and start crafting great music and all the while ignoring all the hype and babble out there about the extra gear you “you need” to make pro recordings. While those people are debating which A/D converters to purchase you can be putting the finishing touches on another great song!

So you’ve finally jumped into home recording. You have a simple setup like I’ve described before and you’re laying down great tracks. Let’s say you’re a guitar player who mostly records your acoustic and vocals. You’re probably getting the hang of capturing a great acoustic guitar and vocal track. But what if you want more out of your sessions…perhaps getting some strings, drums or even horns into your song would go a long way. Read on…

Unlocking Your DAW’s Potential
You’ve already heard me espouse the benefits of using your home studio as a songwriting tool. Pro Tools for instance comes bundled with a whole host of pro studio grade virtual instruments that are just waiting to be opened up. My favorite is Xpand, which is like having hundreds of instruments in one box. I use it for grand piano, cello, synth pads, drums, a rhodes, and even the occasional pan pipe or sitar! The point is you get all of these amazing sounds that can be used to “fill out” your song, giving it that professional polish; all without having to hire studio musicians!

All that being said, just knowing that your recording software comes bundled super fancy virtual instruments doesn’t mean those sounds are getting recorded. So how do you “play” them and get these instruments into your session? The simple answer…you need a keyboard controller. Let’s a take a quick look at some affordable options.

The Simple Option: M-Audio KeyRig 49
A keyboard controller is basically a plastic keyboard that doesn’t have any built in sounds. It only can trigger (or control) software MIDI instruments. If you just want a basic keyboard controller that will get the job done, you can’t do much better than the KeyRig 49. Via a simple USB connection to your computer (not your audio interface) you can have access to all the great virtual instruments that your software has to offer. It features 4 playable octaves at once (49 keys) and you can of course bank up or down for higher or lower octaves.

The Super Compact Option: Korg NanoKey
If desk real estate is low, or you just want a super portable option for recording on the go, then look no further than Korg’s latest release, the NanoKey. This velocity sensitive “keyboard” is truly clever; boasting a lot of features for not a lot of money (or physical space). To the seasoned keyboard player this will feel a bit odd at first, but it will get the job done for triggering instruments and playing basic riffs.

The “Do It All” Option: M-Audio Oxygen 25
If you had to pick just one keyboard controller it might just be this puppy. Combining features such as multiple rotary knobs and assignable sliders, transport controls, and direct link to Pro Tools and Logic along with the small footprint of a 25 key controller, it doesn’t get much better (and simpler) than this. I personally use the older version of the Oxygen and can say with great confidence that it gets the job done right every time.

What Next?
Once you’ve decided on a controller that fits your budget, you simply need to install any drivers that came with it, and run any setup that your DAW might need for it. Once your software has recognized it once, it will recognize it every time you have it on and plugged in while you’re running a session. This is beautiful because it means you don’t have to think.

If you’re in Pro Tools, all you’ll be doing is creating a new Instrument Track (mono or stereo). Then simply insert the virtual instrument as a plugin (just like you insert your other plugins). Record enable your track, and start banging on the keys. You should hear the notes you’re triggering through the virtual instrument patch. When you’re ready to lay down something you just record as usual, but what you’re actually doing here is laying down MIDI data, which is digital information that tells your plugin what notes to play in the selected patch. You’re not actually recording any audio. This is fantastic because it means you can easily adjust notes or timing of your performance as well as completely change the instrument or sound while keeping your original performance. Talk about sweet!

Now You Know
Simply put, a songwriter’s best friend is his or her keyboard controller. Grab an affordable one (not much more than $100 or less), plug it in to an available USB port, and start tapping into all of the wonderful included instruments in your DAW. This opens a world of opportunities to people who would otherwise be limited to a guitar and vocal recording. Now you know…so get to it!

One of the most common instruments singer/songwriters need to record on any given day is the acoustic guitar. It also happens to be a complex instrument to capture, given the wide variety of frequencies and tones that make up that signature sound we all appreciate in a good acoustic guitar. But there is no need to get frustrated about getting a good recording. Just grab your $100 mic, your favorite guitar and watch this video for the fast and easy way to get a great acoustic guitar tone…you’ll be glad you did!

If you have a home studio, chances are you don’t have a perfectly treated recording environment complete with floating floors and ceilings, acoustic paneling and bass traps in the right places, and a separate live room, vocal booth, and control room. Proper sound isolation and treatment is important, but don’t let the lack of those things stop you from making great recordings. Today I want to give you a few pointers for recording in difficult or noisy environments that hopefully will help you get great results with minimal fuss.

An Example
First off, I’d like to share a track with you guys that might serve as a good example of what I’m about to go over briefly. A couple of years back I recorded an a cappella (all vocal) Christmas album with some old college buddies who are all great singers in their own right. At the time we decided to record it all in my old apartment up in Virginia. The challenges were that we were in my living room (our “studio”) with hardwood floors, in an old 1950s building, on the street side of a US highway! We knew trying to record an all vocal album in this noisy environment would be our greatest challenge of the project, but at the time we didn’t have a choice. Here is one of the tracks of that album:

“We Three Kings”

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Solution #1 – Stay Away From Walls
In a rented apartment with wood floors, white walls, and thin windows the best thing we could do was get away from the walls. Hard surfaces reflect sound which is a problem. These reflections will eventually bounce back into your microphone and mix with the actual source you’re recording, causing many sonic problems. If you don’t have anything on your walls to absorb or diffuse sound reflections (acoustic foam, full bookshelf, blankets, etc) the best thing to do is get to the center of the room. That’s exactly what we did for the track above. I moved my coffee table out of the way and stood the mic right there near my sofas and we all just went to town. It doesn’t completely solve the problem, but it greatly minimizes noticeable reflections.

Solution #2 – Get Up On The Mic
I mentioned this technique in one of my previous posts and it definitely holds true in an untreated recording environment. Microphones “hear” what is loudest and most directly addressing it. In our case we knew that a lot of our vocal parts weren’t very loud, so we had to be pretty close to the mic in order to capture more of us and less of the trucks and sirens outside my window.

Solution #3 – Use Your Hi Pass Filter Often
A hi pass filter is a simple EQ effect that simply shelves off low frequencies completely at either a fixed point (generally 80 hz) or a variable point (as high as you like). Why is this important? Well all the low frequency noise in your apartment (air conditioning, refrigerator, street traffic outside) float around and build up in your recordings. This takes up “head room” in your mix and muddies up your tracks. One of the simplest things you can do to improve your sound and clean up a mix is to just cut out all that low frequency stuff.

How do you do that? Sometimes your microphone will have a hi pass (also called a low cut) switch on it. If so, use it! Also your audio interface or mic preamp might have as well. Again, use it if you have one. These are generally of the “fixed” variety like I mentioned. If all else fails be sure to add a software plugin EQ to address the low frequency later in the mix. These are useful because you can cut as high as you want (I’ll go up to the 300 hz mark sometimes for acoustic guitars). Either way, use the hi pass filter to get rid of a lot of that unwanted low sonic material. It’ll do wonders for your recordings.

Think Big Picture
In the end, just remember that you can’t get rid of all the noise on every single track. It’s a fools errand. What really matters is the big picture, how the final mix will sound. Do what you can to be smart in how you record, use the three solutions above to get a cleaner take each time. But don’t freak out if you can still vaguely hear a lawnmower from a mile away. If you can’t hear it in the mix, who cares?

Like many areas of life, proper preparation will go a long way to insuring success. This is definitely the case with recording music. Just having a good song and decent gear in place doesn’t mean you should jump right in with guns blazin’. What you really need as you sculpt your masterpiece is a map. A reference point for all of your tracks to keep things orderly, in perspective, and consistent. Taking a little bit of time in the beginning to create a proper guide track will pay off big time as you begin to lay down all of your actual tracks. Trust me on this one….let’s see what this involves.

To Click Or Not To Click
I’m a big fan of click tracks. That wasn’t always the case, however. When you first start practicing or recording with a click track it seems to “steal” the groove out of your song. You feel rigid and you’re concentrating so much on staying in time that you lose the subtle nuance of your music. But trust me when I say that in time you learn to push past that fear and tension and the click then becomes your servant, not your master.

The first thing you should do when creating a guide track is open a new session and establish the proper tempo. Your song may even have tempo and time signature changes. Go ahead and map those into Pro Tools. Sometimes the slightest change in tempo (even 2 BPM) makes a huge difference. Sometimes I’ll even throw in a simple drum loop to follow the click track. You can always mute it later if it’s unnecessary. Take the time to play or sing along to your new click and make sure the feel is just right. This set time ruler (with a click) will serve as the backbone and the map for your whole song. It will be the reference for your drummer, your bass player, your guitars, keys, etc. It will be the one constant you all try to stick to. Even if you groove around the click, you will still have a reference point for editing, and mixing later on.

Scratch Tracks Save The Day
In most scenarios it’s helpful to record drums first in order to establish the rhythm and dynamic of a song. The drummer will then of course need to hear an instrument or two to play along with (it’s not like most drummers enjoy playing along with silence). Here you have two options: have a guitar or keyboard player jam with the drummer live so he can hear the main parts in his headphones, or have those tracks built in to your guide track. I prefer the latter.

After I establish the click track, I’ll have someone in the band lay down the main instrument part. Usually this is an acoustic guitar or keyboard part. If possible I’ll have the lead vocalist record a pass through of the lyrics. No worries if either of these tracks aren’t perfect. They just need to be in time with the click and accurate with the desired arrangement. I like having these recorded because then I know that each time I press record, they will be the same. Plus you don’t always have the luxury of recording the drummer when the guitarist and singer are present. And believe it or not, on many occasions I have pulled snippets of the scratch vocal track into the actual final recording because it had a relaxed feel to it that I couldn’t conjure up later! So do yourself a favor and lay these tracks down in the session. You’ll be glad you did.

Mark It Up
In Pro Tools there is a feature called Markers. These have many functions, one of which is a visual place holder to indicate a new section of the song. I use these to highlight where each verse, chorus, bridge, etc is located. It is super helpful for you as the engineer to quickly look down at the screen and know that the guitar solo part is coming in 2 bars. Take the time to place a marker at each important part change in the song so you can quickly jump around for punch ins and listening through takes. You can also place markers for alerts of tempo change, key change, or just a overall dynamic change that was agreed upon.

Use it as a tool…
Remember, the guide track is your friend. It is your tool to success. It takes a little bit of time to set up in advance, but it will serve you will as you begin to record, edit, and mix. You control everything in the guide track, so tell it to do what the song needs it to do. Think through all parts of the song to make sure that it doesn’t leave anything out. Once it’s done you will be more than ready to begin the tracking phase and you will have saved yourself a lot of future heartache.

Last week was Thanksgiving and I was somewhat out of commission work wise. What I did get to work on however was some songwriting with my band at Aletheia Church. We’re gearing up for a new EP due out early next year and we wanted to work out some new material together. To make our lives easier we wanted to be able to record, in an instant, what ever we were jamming on together so we could have a rough live demo for reference. This helps us go back and make arrangement adjustments later for when we’re ready to get in the studio for the “real” recording. How is this relevant to you? Well, if you have a band that needs a mixing or monitoring console and wants to do live recording easily and cheap…I have just the piece of gear you need!

Enter The StudioLive
In the past when your band wanted to capture a live recording (either from a show or a rehearsal) you had to have external gear out the wazoo to capture a copy of each track going into your mixing console. This usually meant a mess of cables, a multi input audio interface to match the number of tracks in your console, fighting with gain staging, etc. It was a hassle. Finally the guys over at Presonus got smart and built a brand new, full featured, intuitive, and affordable digital mixer/audio interface all in one.

Briefly here is what is so great about the StudioLive. You get a compact, 16 channel digital mixer with excellent preamps and converters. It has all the bells and whistles you’d need for live mixing (compression, EQ, gates, limiter, verb, delay, subgroups, scene recall, flexible routing), plus monitoring (aux outs for up to six separate mixes) laid out in an easy to use (and teach) format. But the beauty is in how easy it is to do live recording.

All 16 channels going into the board plus the Main stereo out are routed to a single Firewire output on the back of the board that can connect to any mac or PC. Combined with a simple piece of software called Capture you are two clicks away from recording any audio coming through the board with your levels perfectly set. This means all you need to record is your laptop and the firewire cable included. No other hookup needed! And if that doesn’t blow your mind enough, this board retails for only $1999.

How We Use It
So here is a brief example of how our band uses the StudioLive. On Sundays we use it as our main board. You can even daisy chain 2 of these together for 32 channels! In order to record our band and our Pastor during the service we simply hookup an old Powerbook G4 via firewire, load up the Capture software and hit record. Whatever is coming into our board is mirrored out to the laptop. We also used the StudioLive in the same manner during our writing session last week. The band was plugged into the board and we were jamming like normal, but when we had something we liked, I simply hit record on the laptop and with no mess we could lay down a “live” version of the new song.

What’s even better. With one simple menu option, I can export all of the individual tracks out of Capture into a folder ready to be imported into Pro Tools when I get home. This allows me to take advantage of all the editing and mixing power of Pro Tools without having to bring my audio interface to the practice (or even own a multi input interface for that matter). Presonus Capture makes it easy to “capture” the audio I want out of the board, but then throwing those tracks into Pro Tools gives me the power to finish the mix beautifully!

Suggestions…
The Presonus StudioLive is a great option for a few scenarios. If you’re in a worship band at a church, this can be a super helpful tool. Use it as your main console, your monitor console, and an audio interface for live recording and podcasting…all in one! Then dump the tracks into your Pro Tools rig (you can have one for under $500). Also, if you are in a band that needs to have a “touring” rig of your own, the StudioLive is a great option. You can have everything you need to ensure a great mix no matter the venue, with different scenes saved for different settings, and also with the addition of a laptop you can be recording all of your shows so you can easily make a live album or DVD (if you video) later.

It’s hard to beat the StudioLive for ease of use, included features, sound quality, and affordability. If you’re in the market for a live console, give this one a chance.