Archive for 'September, 2010'

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

Unfinished Business

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

However, if you instead force yourself to do your best with what you have and what you know, print a mix or master and call it a day, then you create a unique opportunity for yourself. You now have something tangible, that you created, that is complete, which you can evaluate and learn from. You can listen back and highlight what you think you did well (and would like to recreate in future projects) and what you did poorly (and how you would like to do things better the next time). This process of evaluation is so critical to growth as an audio engineer. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you will somehow improve without it.

Always Your Best Work

My wife is always hearing what ever projects I’m working as I tend to use her for feedback on mixes a lot. And if you ask her, she’ll attest to the fact that I’m always saying that the most current project I’m working is “my best work yet.” This should be the case! It may not always be, but really if you are completing projects and setting them aside, whether it is your own music or a client’s record, you have something to compare it to. You can look at your history of work and see how you have improved and what specifically has gotten better. This acts as a barometer for your ever improving skill as a producer.

Don’t Plateau

Whatever you do, don’t be “normal.” Normal home studio people buy a bunch of stuff, read a lot of other people’s opinions on forums (or blogs like this one), play around in their DAWs, are either overly confident in their skill or never feel like their stuff will get any good, and then they plateau. They never go anywhere from there! I don’t want that to be you. I want you to give every project all that you have, finish it, and then move on. The next time you produce music, look back at your most recent work and try to improve from where you left off. This, my friends, is the key to becoming a better engineer.

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

Not Quite The Truth

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

In one sense they are right. Those things will go a long way to ensuring that what you hear is what you are actually getting in your DAW. But sometimes those are not options to use “small guys”. Money is tight. And more importantly (to me anyways), those things aren’t necessary. There is a perfectly good alternative: simply take the time to learn your studio’s shortcomings and quirks. Than you can compensate for them and come out just fine.

An Example

For many of us, we have typical drywall in our rooms. Without much absorption or diffusion materials to make a difference, any sound coming from our speakers (or guitars, vocals, drums, etc) will simply bounce off the walls a bunch of times and then come back to our ears (or our microphones) with a much higher frequencey response. In essence this tricks our ears to thinking things sound “brighter” than they are. This can affect our microphone placement technique, as well as how we EQ in the mix.

Then we take the mix out to the car, or on our iPod, and we notice that everything sounds a bit muffled. Where did all that high end go? It was only present in that room! So unless you can get all your fans and listeners to only listen to your mixes in your studio then they won’t get the full effect. Not a good plan.

Instead, in this example, we could learn from our first few mistakes, and know to boost the highs a bit, mix a bit brighter than we would like, and adjust mic placement accordingly. We would do this all while knowing that in the “real world” it will sound just perfect. If this seems like an annoying extra step right now, don’t worry. Your room usually stays the same so it won’t be long before you’ve learned how it “sounds” and can figure out how to adjust accordingly.

Acoustic Treatment Is Not Your Answer

There is nothing wrong with acoustic treatment in your studio. In fact it will help tremendously. Kind of a no brainer. What I’m saying, however, is that if the budget and the landlord prohibit you from going that direction don’t think that you’ve somehow missed out and that you can’t do this. Acoustic treatment is not the solution to great recordings or mixes. You are. Learning your studio so you can make better tracking and mixing decisions is the key.

No matter what DAW you use to record, edit, or mix music, there exist some basic principles of how to best use these tools and save yourself some trouble. I want to cover some of these foundational tips in a video series I’m calling “DAW University”. From the look at this week’s poll, we have many different pieces of recording software represented by you readers, so I hope you all find these tips useful no matter what you use.

Today’s video covers something super important, proper file/session workflow. How you handle your actual session files can have a huge impact on whether or not you can “start all over” if you screw something up. Enjoy!

Today is all about you! Many of you reading this blog have very different backgrounds when it comes to recording and I want to know a little bit more about what your main tools are in the process. If you don’t mind taking the super easy poll below that would rock. Just select the recording software that you use as your primary DAW. Then leave a comment telling me why you like it (or don’t for that matter) and how you primarily use said software (i.e. recording bands, or midi sequencing, or singer/songwriter stuff).

The more I know about you all, the better I can tailor the content at The Recording Revolution to best suit your needs!

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

Hold Yourself Accountable

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

For the new year I wrote a post about having some New Year’s “Revolutions”, the first of which was to not spend another $100 without writing/recording/producing a new song to warrant it. That’s a great start. Begin thinking about each piece of gear you have (or want to buy) and then plan out what song(s) you will record/mix with it and have a few tangible ways that said equipment will actually improve your studio.

There’s Nothing Wrong With Spending Money

To be fair, there is nothing wrong with spending a lot of money on studio gear. It’s your money, and your studio. Do what you feel is right. If home studio gear and production is merely a hobby for you, a way to blow some cash and tinker around, then don’t let me stop you. Stimulating the economy both here in the US and globally with your purchasing might just be a good thing! But if your goal is a bit deeper, to make great music in a home studio, then I have great news for you…you don’t need to waste a ton of money to do that!

Your Price Per Song

Now that you’ve heard my spiel, do you still have that number in your head? The amount you’ve roughly spent on studio gear this year? Now dived that amount by the number of songs you’ve completed and you’ve got your price per song. Are you getting a good deal, or are you ripping yourself off? Would it be cheaper to just book some studio time then to do it yourself? It’s a legitimate question. Either way, this excersice should help you see how your spending relates to your productivity in the studio and can help you make adjustments accordingly.

Make sure you are getting value out of your gear, being creative and productive in the studio, and most importantly having fun making music!

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

Do My Tracks Need Editing?

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

When I edit a song I’m looking to accomplish three specific things: correct timing/tuning, composite performances of mulitple takes, and clean up unwanted sounds. Let’s look at those very briefly.

Correcting Timing and Tuning

No matter who good the performance was in the studio, most projects I work on need a little TLC when it comes to tightening up the timing and pitch of a recording. I usually work on the drums to make sure the groove is solid and follows the tempo of the click nicely. I’ll adjust the timing of fills as well in case they were rushed or too slow. Even the slightest tweaking here can go a long way to making your mix sound solid and consistent.

The same is true for timing of bass guitar (making sure it hits with the kick drum) and some guitar or piano parts. I’m mostly looking for notes that are out of time enough that they are distracting. A good mix shouldn’t be plagued with stray notes that take you away from the vibe. And really that last sentence is the reason why I take the time to pitch correct as necessary. I don’t mind notes not being perfect (that’s how people sing anyway), but I don’t want a note to be so flat or sharp that it takes the listener out of the song and back to reality. I’ve already dived into the debate of whether pitch correction is cheating or not so you can read that later if you like.

Comping Takes Together

One of the great beauties (and dangers) of digital recording is the ability and freedom to record as many takes as you need of a performance (say a lead vocal) only to edit them together in the end for the perfect take. If in the recording process you laid down many takes on virtual tracks or playlists you’ll have to take some time to at best sift through them in order to pick the best one for a given section or at worst comp them together to get the desirable performance. You want to do this in the editing phase so that come time to mix  you aren’t searching through audio trying to find the right parts and instead you are making those “right parts” play nice together.

Overall Clean Up

If you pay attention to professional recordings, one thing you’ll notice (although to varrying degrees) is how there are no unwanted noises or sounds. For example you don’t hear overlly distracting breaths or microphone bleed, or even audible fade ins and outs by guitar parts. What I’m saying is that all the parts come in and out flawlessly just as you would imagine them doing, but that means someone edited out the “real life” of punching in and and recording in general.

Your goal in editing is to clean up these sounds, place appropriate fades, and adjust parts to enter and exit without a trace. Now of course how much you do this is subjective, but you get the idea. It takes behind the scenes work to prepare your tracks for the mixing phase.

Do Yourself A Favor

No matter how simple your recording may be, do yourself a favor and still edit your tracks before mixing. What I’m saying is, create an editing phase that lies between recording and mixing and give it the time it needs. Before you fire open any plugins or do any automation, listen through your song and think about the above three areas. Is there anything sticking out like a sore thumb? Is this the correct take you want for a given part? Is anything out of time or tune that is catching my attention every time?

Editing is truly the unsung hero behind every great mix. It’s time to start treating with a little respect!

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

So What’s New?

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

The Mbox has been updated with DSP for cue mixing and effects, a built in guitar tuner, a soft-limit feature (much like those of the new HD interfaces), dedicated monitor section with Dim and Mute switches, and now runs on USB 2.0. The Mbox Pro now adds to all of that with features like 8 ins 8 outs, 4 built in mic pres (doubling that of the previous generation), LED metering on the front panel, Firewire connection, and Word clock connection. The Mbox Mini has pretty much the same feature set.

However the big, big thing with all three of these boxes is the major update to the mic pres and converters. Avid seems to have used the exact same team who designed the new HD interfaces to build the Mbox line and they have spared no expense relating to signal path quality. This is a great thing as Pro Tools hardware continues to improve and take advantage of technology enhancements in audio quality.

The Shape Of Things To Come

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that Avid knows what it’s doing regarding the future of Pro Tools. Part of the beauty of buying a Pro Tools rig is that it comes with software and hardware, which play perfectly with each other. The recent refresh of their HD and now the beginning of their LE line interfaces should encourage users that their audio quality is only going to improve when they plug into one of these boxes. Match this with the amazing power and musicality of Pro Tools software and you continue to have one easy to use and powerful studio setup.

My thoughts regarding the future? Expect to see the new 004 line (if they call it that) to launch early next year and more than likely a major update to the Pro Tools software in the spring or fall of 2011. All in all it’s a good time to be a Pro Tools user.

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

The Wonder Pedal

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

The great thing about this pedal is that instead of running it quarter inch in and out like a stompbox, you can run it as DI with balanced XLR out straight to the mixing console. And that’s exactly what I’ve done. My guitar goes into all my pedals, with the Behringer being last in my chain (as if it were my amp). Then I run a mic cable out of the GDi21 straight into our snake on stage. The result? No one noticed a difference. It’s getting the job done just fine! I can switch amp models if I need to, switch mic placement as well, and then EQ to taste! All on one pedal right in front of me!

Small Price To Pay

To be honest, it’s a lot more fun to have your amp on stage pushing a wall of sound than to just run direct to your monitors and front of house, but having this pedal as more than just overdrive, but an actual backup amp is incredible. You can’t beat the deal of spending only $30 to keep a “backup amp” in your guitar case. Think of it as life insurance for your amp.

You may have heard that the secret to getting great mixes is to start with great recordings. This couldn’t be more true. And to be honest, most of us are trying our darndest to capture that perfect take of vocals, or drums, or bass. We want that perfect balance of musicality and feel in our takes, and honestly since we aren’t in a live setting with a demanding audience we can usually take our time and do it over, and over again until we capture perfection. But there is a better (and more realistic) method to the madness. Allow me to explain.

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

Switch Out of Manual Tempo Mode

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

If we want to have tempo changes however we’ll need to leave manual mode and instead click on the conductor track icon to switch. You’ll notice instantly that the tempo is grayed out in the transport bar and set to the default of 120 BPM. (If you wanted to change this back to 130 you could simply double click the red diamond next to the tempo in the ruler, and change it there).

Create New Tempo Markers

If we wanted to make a tempo change at Bar 3 in this song, we would simply click on bar 3 to place the cursor there and then click on the “+” sign in the tempo ruler to add a new tempo change. A dialog box will pop up asking us what tempo we would like to change it to. In this case I would simply type in my new BPM for bar 3 onwards and click “OK”.
Now if you look at your tempo ruler you will see the initial tempo (in our case 120) at the song start and then at bar 3 our tempo change to 100 BPM. If you have a click track enabled you will hear it audibly slow down as the play/stop marker crosses over the third measure. To make more changes simply add more tempo changes using this same method. You can even click and drag these tempo change markers to new locations, double click them to change the tempo, and even option+click them to delete.

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For the ultimate in Pro Tools tutorials, download your copy of REthink Pro Tools and start becoming a Pro Tools power user by this weekend! www.REthinkProTools.com