Archive for 'Interview'

A lot of my readers reach out to me with their mixes, to let me know they’ve benefited from the tips and tutorials here on the website. And so much of what I hear is really well done. But when I first heard a track from reader James Ruiz, of James & FJ, I was blown away. These guys are arranging, recording, and filming killer rock covers of hit pop tunes and becoming a YouTube sensation with over 4 million views. All from a bedroom!

The Studio Setup

James (the drummer) does the recording and mixing himself and his setup is a solid home studio rig. He uses mics from Shure to record drums and guitars, runs them into a couple of daisy chained PreSonus Firestudio Projects, and records/mixes it all in Studio One Pro from PreSonus.
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Last week I spent some time on the show floor of InfoComm 2011 in Orlando. Specifically I got to check out some new products at the Behringer, Avid, and PreSonus booths and see what was happening in the audio world.

New Products, New Concepts

Behringer was promoting their new personal monitoring system, the Powerplay at their booth and it is awesome. It’s a super elegant and affordable way for bands to create their own custom monitor mixes for the stage or studio. Avid was showing off the new line of Mbox audio interfaces running on Pro Tools 9. And the guys at PreSonus were schooling me on some live integration of Studio One with their awesome line of live mixers, the StudioLive.

I want to personally thank John Dinicola (Behringer), Michael Pearson-Adams (Avid), Rick Naqvi (PreSonus) and Jonathan Hillman (PreSonus) for taking time out of their busy days to chat with me and show me around. I had a blast. Check out the video and see for yourself!

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down (over skype) with pro mixer and producer Mark Endert of Madonna, Maroon 5, and Fiona Apple fame. Originally from California, the now Floridian has worked with so many top artists and continues to mix major projects in his own studio. His discography spans even more people like Gavin DeGraw, Train, Five For Fighting, The Fray, Adam Lambert, and the list goes on. For a more complete list of his credits please visit his site.

This Guy Knows Mixing

If you want to make great recordings and mixes then go to the source, someone who does phenomenal work. Mark is one of those guys and his work speaks for itself. In this interview Mark was gracious enough to answer a lot of my questions and shed some light on the world of making hit records, including:

• How breaking the “rules” is crucial to being creative
• Capturing the right vibe is more important than sound quality
• Mark’s mixing workflow, finding what makes a song tick
• How to know when your mix is done
• How keeping separate mixing sessions is a life saver
• Your levels are like your first “EQ” in the mix
• How committing to sounds in the recording phase is crucial

Recording drums well is a challenge. Plus everyone has their own idea of what “good” drums sound like. To help us better understand the art of recording drums I asked my good friend and fellow home studio guy, Travis Whitmore, to talk to us about tracking drums.

This Guy Knows Drums

Travis is a professional drummer (both touring and in the studio) and now runs his own custom drum tracking service out of his own SilverLake Studio in VA. If you haven’t already checked out his site go there after you watch the interview (www.SilverLakeStudio.com) and listen to some of his samples. The guy is a phenomenal musician and tracks some great drums for people.

In this interview Travis covers the following:

• Affordable ways to get a great drum sound in your studio
• Mic placement and technique
• Drum loops and virtual drummers
• Keeping things sounding “organic”

I’m always trying to learn and grow as an audio engineer and producer, and hopefully you are too. The best way to learn is to listen to, watch, interact with, and read up on people who are more experienced than you and are willing to teach you. Last week I had the privilege of sitting down with Nashville based mix engineer Joe Carrell (www.mojoemix.com) and picked his brain on the art of mixing music.

Joe Knows His Stuff

Joe is a successful and creative professional mix engineer who has worked with a ton of top talent acts. If you follow contemporary Christian music at all then you’ll recognize some of his clients: The Newsboys, Michael W. Smith, Third Day, Jeremy Camp, Kutless, Thousand Foot Krutch, Bebo Norman, Plus One, Rebecca St. James, and the list goes on!

How To Improve Your Mixes

In the interview we covered a bunch of useful topics for the up and coming mix engineer. Here are a few of the points Joe dives into with me:

• How to approach mixing and mix workflow
• The dangers of recording too hot
• Saving time with mix templates
• Clearing up your mix with proper EQ technique
• Tasteful use of effects on the master fader
• The use of saturation plugins
• Simple and affordable acoustic treatment alternatives

Joe Carrell Interview | Runtime 48:54

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Download MP3

So much of what I am constantly learning when working on music production is the ever apparent need for limitations. Just read my free eBook The #1 Rule of Home Recording to see exactly what I mean. Limitations set you free by keeping you focused on the big picture. One practical way to use this concept is to reduce the number of variables in your studio when making music.

Simplify, Save Money, See Results

I was recently interviewed by my good friend Joe Gilder (HomeStudioCorner.com) for a new training product called Home Recording Tactics. My interview is just one of 9 total “sit downs” with pro audio engineers around the world giving advice and thoughts on making good music.

My portion was on the subject of recording on a budget. In this interview I talk about the importance of reducing variables in your signal chain and your gear choices in order to not only save money, but learn quicker and make better music. Take a listen to my interview right here and hopefully it will help you. If you like what you learned, then check out Home Recording Tactics and get access to the other 8 amazing interviews!

Listen In To The Conversation…

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Recently I sat down with award winning mix engineer, Kevin Ward to ask him some questions about the psychology of mixing and his workflow. Kevin is an awesome guy who has been mixing music for like 30 years.

Based out of Nashville, TN, Kevin mixes music professionally and also has started an online resource (MixCoach.com) to help new mixers improve their skill. His website is a great place to go for video tutorials and help from a guy who knows his stuff. Plus he’s got a helpful eBook you can download right away!

Kevin agreed to let me interview him with some common questions I get from readers like you all the time. We talked for almost an hour about mixing tips, but he pulled together a quick version of helpful stuff. In this snippet of our interview Kevin gives some answers to the following questions:

• How do you approach a mix?
• How do you know when a mix is finished?
• What can new mixers do TODAY to improve their mixes instantly?