Archive for 'April, 2010'

In Wednesday’s post we took a look at how one can easily expand your interfaces inputs with an ADAT enabled set of mic pres. This is, of course, assuming your audio interface comes with an Optical ADAT connection. If you then go ahead and purchase one of these lightpipe devices, hook it up to your interface, and record enable your tracks you might notice some weird pops and clicks happening that are really annoying. This is the result of confusion on which device (your interface or lightpipe device) is acting as the clock source. Here’s the quick and dirty way to fix things in Pro Tools.

Once your lightpipe device is connected and powered up, go to the Setup menu and choose Hardware

This will open up a box that shows what your current clock source is selected as. Usually “Internal”. Which makes sense, you’re clocking with your audio interface’s internal clock. But if you want multiple digital devices to play nice you’ll need to let this new lightpipe device be the clock source. To do this simply click on the drop down box under Clock Source and choose Optical. Click OK and the problem should be fixed. Easy as pie!

If at some point you power off your lightpipe device, Pro Tools will prompt you that it is reverting back to the internal clock as it no longer sees an external one. You can always switch this back if need be. Enjoy!

Some of you out there may own and use an audio interface that features an optical ADAT input. If you haven’t used it yet you might be wondering what it’s for and how best to take advantage of it. Today I want to briefly go over how great this option is and how to practically use it in your studio.

Do You Lightpipe?

It has a few names, but many audio interfaces include a digital connection called ADAT or lightpipe. Like it sounds, this fiber optic technology can stream up to 8 channels of stable 44.1 or 48 khz 24 bit digital audio between audio hardware. Why is this helpful? Imagine being able to add 8 additional mic pres to your rig with a single cable connection. Simple, clean, and affordable

Many audio interfaces come with this connection on the back. It may be labeled ADAT or Optical in, but it’s all the same. Your total available I/O usually takes this connection into the equation so if you think you’re missing some of the advertised inputs this is probably where they are hiding.

Expanding Your Horizons

Smart as they are, pro audio companies have been manufacturing multi-channel preamps featuring an ADAT connection specifically to be used in conjunction with your lightpipe enabled interface. Popular examples are the M-Audio Octane, Focusrite OctoPre, and the whole line of DigiMax pres from Presonus. Simply hook up your mics to one of these multi-channel pres, connect it to your interface via an optical cable, and BAM! 8 more channels of rock n’ roll bliss with no fuss!

One of the most obvious applications of this is for recording drums. Many interfaces come with only a handful of pres on them, but if you need more than you built in options you can add 8 more with a single cable. In fact that’s how I track drums all the time. My Digi 002 comes with 4 mic pres built in, which is fine in most situations. But when I want to do 8 to 12 channels of drums I simply plug in my trusty Behringer ADA8000 (another great option, and for under $200!) and I’m ready to go. In fact this is the exact setup I used up in this video when tracking a band the other week. And the fact that it’s only a 1U rack space, I’ve got a totally portable studio with 12 mic pres. Nice!

Something To Consider

If you happen to be in the market for an audio interface and plan on recording drums or doing high track count live recording, look for an ADAT (lightpipe) enabled interface. Even if you don’t have the money (or need) to drop on one of the units mentioned above, at least you’ll have the option for expansion.

Today I want to address you new readers…those of you who have started following The Recording Revolution in recent weeks and months. First of all, thank you so much for being a reader, downloading my eBook, commenting on posts, and watching my video tutorials. This site would not have a reason to exist if it weren’t for you keeping up with it.

Secondly, I want to highlight a few posts and videos that might be of use to you as a new reader that perhaps you missed. If you haven’t figured out by now, I firmly believe we are living in a unique era of music and recording. There is a revolution going on regarding how music is made and distributed. You can join this revolution if you like, or you can go on thinking music has to be made the old (and expensive) way. I prefer the former, and these posts will shed some light on the issue. Enjoy!

Home Recording Myths – There are just too many myths floating out there on internet forums. Don’t buy the hype.

Brand Snobbery – No one is truly immune to this time and money wasting disease.

The Best $100 You Will Spend – We love to drop money on microphones…why??

The Complete $300 Starter Studio – Everything you need to make top notch songs right now. This is an INSANELY good deal.

8 Tips To Make Better Music Now – You want your recordings to sound better. 7 of these tips won’t cost you a dime.

Record An Album On Your Phone? – When a band can record a great sounding track with the built in mic on an iPhone, the gear debate goes out the window.

Let me just say this. If you have great ideas for songs and are a talented musician with a desire to make great recordings, then money and gear should not be a road block for you. That part of the equation should be removed. Save up a few hundred bucks, read blogs like this one who won’t sell you a bunch of hype, learn your stuff, and then just go make music!

Oh, and when you’ve got your studio setup, take the One Song One Month Challenge to get you started. It’ll walk you through the basics of song production and motivate you to record and finish a new song in one month just to prove to yourself that you can do this. I want you to succeed at home recording because I know it’s possible. Now get to it!

If you’re a singer/songwriter looking for some great drum tracks to go in your session then using loops and prebuilt patterns on drum machines can go a long way. We took a look at this technique in week 2 of the One Song One Month Challenge videos. But what if you need some custom patterns to more closely fit your material? Of what if you want more variation than what your loops can provide? It’s time to make some custom loops with MIDI and virtual instruments.

In this video I quickly dive into using your DAW’s included drum instruments and samples to create great sounding drum tracks in just a matter of minutes. Hope you enjoy!

Do you own a lot of recording equipment? If not, do you wish you did? Do you spend your evenings and time sitting on the John pouring over the latest Sweetwater or Musicians Friend catalog? I know I have. Don’t be ashamed. It all looks so darn cool doesn’t it?! And heck, these days you can actually afford a lot of it thanks to this recording revolution we are living in.

But what of the gear you own (and even use) do you really need to make quality music in your home studio? Do you need all of your microphones? Preamps? Probably not. Now don’t blow me off just yet. I know what you might be thinking. “This question is irrelevant because of course I don’t need everything. It’s just nice to have choice.” Fair enough. But I have a hypothesis. All that gear in your studio might just be weighing you down. The more stuff you have, the less productive you’re bound to become.

If There Were a Fire…

One day when I was young, I remember a friend’s mother telling me how much she loved her photo albums. They were of great value to her as she appreciated all the memories they brought back. She told me something I still remember to this day, “Graham, if there were a fire in our house, my photo albums would be the one thing I’m sure to grab.”

If there were a fire in your house or studio, what of your equipment that you could carry would you grab and run? If you knew you only had a few moments to grab the most important elements of your studio what would they be? Here is what I would grab, in order of importance: my iMac, Digi 002 rack, some AKG headphones, and my trusty Behringer B1.  It would be a heavy handful, but those four items are all I need to make great music.

What You Really Need

Take a closer look at what I chose. My computer (including software, obviously), my audio interface, headphones, and one microphone. Minus some cables and a stand, that is all you need to record great music. I’ve written about it a few times already, but it doesn’t take much to put together a top notch signal chain. If that’s the case, why then do we keep adding to our arsenal? Why do we keep buying stuff if what we have already gets the job done?

There are some legitimate times when we need a certain product or piece of gear to do something that you can’t do with your current setup, no problem. But what I want you and I to be absolutely clear on is knowing what we truly need in our studio and then using it like crazy. Get the most value out of your software, your audio interface, and your microphones. Practically speaking, learn more about your DAW and all the features it offers. Use your interfaces built in mic pres instead of acting like they are garbage. Make sure you actually know good mic placement technique before you accuse your $100 mic of giving you bad recordings.

If you want to make better recordings in your home studio then trust me on this…don’t get caught up in the hype telling you to buy more stuff. Buy what you need, but then get on with what got you into this in the first place, your love for music.

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Interested in more tips on how to mentally approach the art of home recording and get to making better music, faster? Download my free eBook The #1 Rule of Home Recording at the top right of this page!

Sometimes when working on an album or series of songs you tend to mix with some similar plugin settings. For instance, your kick drum may have been recorded the exact same for each song. Therefor any tweaks you needed to do on it for one song may very well be needed for all the songs. Instead of having to remember what EQ curve you tweaked for the kick in one session wouldn’t it be nice if you had saved a custom preset in your EQ plugin that you could recall in a separate session? Heck yes it would! And you can. Here’s how:

Save Your Current Setting

What ever settings you have your plugin set to, this is what you are going to capture as a preset. Click on the drop down menu in the Presets section of the plugin window and choose Save Setting.

Give your “new setting” a name. Try to name it something practical that you’ll recognize when you see it later. Try to be as specific as you can also. Click Save and you’re done. Pro Tools has automatically placed your new setting in the correct folder for that plugin.

Recall Your New Custom Preset

Now when you want to apply that custom preset to a new track (even in a new session) you can simply open the plugin, click on the factory default button, and BOOM! there’s your brand spankin’ new preset ready and waiting for you to open it up. Select it and watch your plugin settings change to your custom preset.

Imagine The Possibilities

With custom plugin presets in Pro Tools, your possibilities are limitless. You can save custom delay settings for vocals, EQ effects for guitars, even mix bus compressor settings ready to be recalled at a moments notice. Remember, the more time you save in Pro Tools mumbo jumbo, the more time you get for making music. And isn’t that what this is all about anyways?

What you can do in a home studio these days is limitless. Technology and mass competition have driven prices of gear down and opened up new opportunities for music making, removing the excuses. With just a simple $500 studio (or even the $300 version) you take your ideas to finished product, and have it sound fantastic!

One thing though may still be dogging you…how to get great drums on your songs when you yourself are not a drummer. Many times we can turn to virtual drummers and plugins, but what about if you want real drum tracks for your songs? I may have just the solution for you…

SilverLake Studio

SilverLake Studio (www.silverlakestudio.com) is an online collaborative studio focusing on delivering custom, proffesional drum tracks to songwriters and recording artists. The studio is owned and operated by Travis Whitmore, a talented drummer who has recorded for and toured professionally with artists such as Matt Brouwer and Sawyer Brown, while sharing the stage with Jars of Clay, Michael W. Smith, Pat McGee, and the list goes on. Here in Travis’ own words is what you can expect from a collaborative project with SilverLake Studio.

The sole purpose and inspiration of putting together the studio was to offer custom, online drum and percussion tracks to musicians, artists, bands, etc. This is possible through easy file transfer and studio collaboration.  What I’ve learned throughout this process, is that there are an unbelievable amount of talented musicians and songwriters creating great music, within the comforts of their home.  Home studios are becoming more and more attainable and affordable.

What I’ve noticed, however, is that the majority of songwriters and musicians that are recording their tunes are missing one thing: a live drummer. The reason for this, is that it’s super easy and affordable to record amazing sounding music with affordable technology and digital software – but it’s not as easy and affordable to lug a bunch of drums into the bedroom. Even if you do – you’ve got reflections, room acoustics, etc to deal with. Additionally, to hire a studio drummer to cart their gear to a traditional studio, set up, tear down, go through the tunes…etc – It defeats the purpose of having a home studio in the first place! Then you start thinking about hourly rates and cartage for the session guy to do the gig.

So – what happens next is the musician, home studio owner, etc – begins laying down their own drum tracks through the MIDI keyboard, virtual drums plug-ins, loop creations, etc.  Granted, these drum plugins are fun and fairly easy to use, and sound great! So why not use them right? Well, the problem I have with this (biased here being that I’m a drummer) – is that most of the time (not all of the time) – these drum parts might sound pretty cool, but they are noticeably and obviously virtual drums.

The second thing that happens is that you begin the ‘humanizing’ process.  Hours are spent on these virtual drums making them sound like they actually have soul.  So, that’s where I come in.  I work directly with the individual to create custom drums and/or percussion tracks for the song.  Why me?  Because I care about the music.  I don’t get off on playing as busy as I can, or showing off my best drum roll – I take my time with the song and work directly with the artist to determine the best direction for the song. If you’re not happy with it – money back, done deal.

Just What The Doctor Ordered

For some of you this may be just what you’re looking for. Why not check out Travis’ site and see if he’d be a good fit on your next project. I can tell you one thing, having spent some time playing music with this guy back when I lived in Virginia, this guy is the real deal on drums. Talented, precise, but tastefully musical. He’s a great guy to boot.

Recording drums well is a challenge. Even if you’ve done it successfully in the past, it always takes a long time to get things sounding just right when compared to something “easier” like tracking bass direct, or miking up a guitar amp. There are a million ways to record drums, and a million more drum sounds people tend to like, so my advice here on one hand is purely subjective. This is how I personally like to record drums. On the other hand there are some universal tips that will help you in capturing a rockin’ drum sound no matter what style you’re going for. Enjoy the video!

So I just got back from a brief recording session up in Richmond, VA over the weekend. There’s an amazing church there with a stellar worship band. These guys wanted to record an EP of some of their original music and had been kicking the idea around for a while. When they called me in for the job, I was immediately excited because I knew it would be a great project from the beginning.

But here was the catch…they wanted to record 6 songs full band (including keys and viola!) in just 2 days. Additionally we were recording in the lead guitarists house, not a “studio”, so there would inevitably be acoustic challenges. In the end it was a fast paced weekend that proved to be highly successful and a ton of fun. Here a few lessons that solidified in my mind from this project about how to get a lot of productivity in a short amount of time…in addition to keeping the coffee brewing!

Know Your Music

The guys (and gals) in the band knew their music. Many of the songs were freshly written and sparsely played at that point, but each member had their parts down and were aware of the entire arrangement and desired vibe for each track. This is the number one reason we were able to get so much done in 48 hours.

If you want to have a great recording session, make sure you come to play. If you have your parts down then you can focus more on tone and performance. This will help tremendously when you go to push “Record”. Plus the final product just sounds that much more intentional.

Know Your Band Mates

If you are recording with a band or with other studio musicians, things will roll a lot faster and smoother if you have a solid rapport with everyone. These guys loved and appreciated everyone in the band to the point that they were constantly encouraging each other and pushing one another to deliver their absolute best when the red light went on. This made my job as a producer much easier as there was built in motivation for every person in the room.

Know Your Limits

The recording process is unique, as every element of your playing and singing ability is put on display and like a microscope you are analyzed from top to bottom, with perfection as the usual goal. It tends to make people at best nervous, and at worst petrified to the point of being rendered useless. One huge hurdle to overcome is humility about your ability. Know the limits of what you can and can’t do.

If you are a rhythm guitar player who can’t really play lead, don’t try to be a lead guitarist. If you can’t rock a double kick drum pedal, then forget about it. I’m not saying you shouldn’t ever stretch yourself. What I am saying however, is that having some realistic awareness of what you bring to the recording will save everyone a lot of time and frustration. Just get in there and do what you do best. That’s all that is required of you.

Know What You Want

At the end of the day, the only way to be productive in the studio is to have a vision in your head for what you want as a musician (or band) and then to work diligently to that end. I asked the singer (and leader) of the band this weekend to prioritize the songs in order of importance should we run out of time to record all six songs. He knew exactly what order to go in and what elements to focus on. This helped us stay on task and just keep moving.

If we were just winging it and trying things for the sake of being creative in the studio, we probably would have only completed 2 or 3 songs. Not a horrible thing, but not the best case scenario either. In the end, these guys came in ready to make a six song EP a reality, despite the odds not looking in our favor. Things panned out quite nicely!

So I keep getting asked the same question by readers and YouTube subscribers, “How do you process your vocals in a mix?” Or put this way, “What plugins do you use to get your sound?” Since that is a subjective topic, I figured the best way to handle it was to do a video showing you my way of mixing vocals. There is no right or wrong here people. That’s what I love about music, the freedom to create sounds that YOU enjoy.

There are however some helpful things to keep in mind if you want your mixes, and specifically your vocals, to translate well in the real world. Hopefully this video will get you on your way to rockin’ vocal bliss! Enjoy.