Home Recording Tip 20: Always record and comp the vocal without monitoring...
Autotune is one of those assumed evils of modern recording. And while I hope that you have the pleasure as I have, working with artists who can make an A+ vocal performance without “sending it to the...
View ArticleCymbals, Overhead mics and Electric Guitars
A friend of mine and I were discussing recording the other day. He’s a great engineer and the conversation eventually moved on to the subject of drum overhead mics and cymbals. He and I were both...
View ArticleHome Recording Tip 21: When recording drums, always listen to the snare...
This comment is obvious for anyone who’s had to mix a snare with tons of high hat bleeding into it. A loud high hat can really ruin a great drum sound. It can get not only in the snare mic, but the...
View ArticleThere Are No Small Gigs
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that there’s no such thing as small gig. Every job you ever take has its repercussions, positive or negative. Rarely are they neutral. And the fact is, in my...
View ArticleAttitude!
That’s one of those word which, depending on the context can mean several things. “He’s got an attitude!” Not good.“She plays with attitude!” Good.The word has positive and negative interpretations....
View ArticlePerception is Reality?
It’s a well worn phrase, but not always true. Especially in music. And in making music, there are few places where that’s more proven than in mixing. Just ask yourself; How many albums have you heard...
View ArticleRecording Tip 22: In prepping the mix, don’t edit the tom-tom tracks. If the...
This may be another tip to which some disagree. But in my own experience I’d rather have the tom tracks left alone. If the mixer wants that to be done, they can do it It doesn’t take that much time,...
View ArticleRecording Tip 23: When using multiple mics, always check phase
This is a basic skill of engineering which I was taught early on. But in today’s world where many people begin recording at home, while it’s likely that some of you have heard of it, you may have no...
View ArticleRecording Tip 24: Many of the greatest mix engineers always recommend...
This is one of those rather obvious questions, but is one that bears remembering even by yours truly. The clear fact is that any eq adjustment must only be based on how it relates to the big picture of...
View ArticleRecording Tip 25: Don’t try to make the loudest mix. Let mastering raise the...
This is always a battle when I’m mixing a few songs in an album instead of the entire thing. It’s especially true if I know there’s another mixer who always slams the compressor hard and makes very...
View ArticleVocal Recording 101: Psychology
Ok...This will be an amalgamation of a number of posts and tweets regarding vocal recording. It’s an important subject as most of the music we make will have a lead vocal. So if we’re going to make...
View ArticleSix Thoughts for Beginning Engineers
1. Try to narrow as much as possible what your goals are. As it's said, "If you have no target, you're certain to hit it." 2. I can't state enough that the future of recording will be mostly dominated...
View ArticleVocal Recording 102 Technical Matters
Vocals are some of the hardest things to record well. They are often the most dynamic and can have all sorts of variables from sibilance problems to p-pops and all things in between. And it’s a rare...
View ArticleRecording Tip 26: If you keep getting your mixes wrong, it's probably your room
There’s probably nothing more important in the mixer’s arsenal than having an accurate room. But before you go spend a thousand dollars to have some guy come out and tell you how screwed up your room...
View ArticleRecordingtips 27: Don’t record in stereo unless your source is truly stereo
Of all the tweets I’ve posted I get the most questions on this one. People ask, “What do you mean by truly stereo?” I think the question comes from a lack of understanding of what stereo is. So what is...
View ArticleRecordingtip 28 Be cautious using brickwall limiters like the L2. If your...
The advent of digital recording brought in a whole new playground of toys with which to play for mixers. And in my view with all the myriad of processors now at our disposal, nothing has really changed...
View ArticleRecording Tip 29. If the bass guitar and kick drum won't sound like one unit,...
One of the most important components of a great mix is getting the bass drum and the bass guitar to connect as a unit. Sometimes it’s easy; other times it can be a struggle. Most of the time it’s about...
View ArticleRecording Tip 30: I once heard an over eq-ed snare drum described as a stick...
As far as I know, this phrase was first coined years ago when I was assisting my mentor, Bill Schnee in the course of struggling with a snare, so over-eq-ed there was hardly any quality of the...
View ArticleRecording Tip 31: Alcohol of almost any kind will mess up your hearing,...
This tweet has generated a lot of reaction and questions. Some of the comments were quite funny, and some more serious asking if I meant permanent hearing damage. While of course heavy, long term abuse...
View ArticleRecording Tip 32: Keep an eye on playback levels. Listening at varying volumes.
This may seem a no-brainer. Most of us know listening too loud for too long rarely results in a great mix. But it’s tempting to do, and even veteran mixers get tripped up with this at times. There’s a...
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