I’m Björgvin Benediktsson. I’m the author of the #1 Amazon best-seller, Step By Step Mixing: How to Create Great Mixes Using Only 5 Plug-ins, the creator of the Audio Issues EQ plug-in, and the founder of Audio Issues. I’m also a venture advisor for the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.
I’m an audio engineer turned writer, and I’m on a mission to help musicians overcome their imposter syndrome, create great-sounding music, and release their work.
I’ve worked as a live sound engineer, a broadcast recording engineer, a professional touring musician, a freelance mixing and mastering engineer, and an audio educator in both Iceland and the United States.
Since 2009, I’ve been helping people like you turn your rough recordings into finished records you can be proud to release. If you want to create radio-ready and release-worthy music that jumps from the speakers, you’re in the right place. My dream is for you to email me out of the blue one day and tell me you won an award for your music because I helped you make it sound successful.
Thousands of home studio producers like yourself have learned from my training, and my work has been featured in publications such as MusicTech magazine, Audiotuts+, The Pro Audio Files, and Recording Revolution, to name a few.
Think before you go, recording a bunch of tracks. Pre-produce it first. The source must be good. Fixing a bad sound later. You will lose the battle . Add to arrangement, layers of sounds, drums, and voice. Create interest. Use 24 bit. You have plenty of headroom. More than yesteryear. Edit...
On the subject of mistake…. Never, ever, ever, ever….do this: The no sound. On that note, have a great weekend!
Presets are a great way for the beginner to get a feel for what the “right” type of sound is. Whether it’s compression presets, EQ, or reverbs, using presets is definitely a good starting point in your mix. But it doesn’t end there. Presets weren’t made for your mix in mind. They are general, overall...
In a live sound situation, the graphic equalizer is one of your favorite friends. It helps you crank as much volume as you can out of your monitors. A graphic equalizer has certain frequencies that you can either cut or boost. Some Hi-Fi stereos have these, as do various music amplifiers. They usually have around...
Building upon one of my older articles, Top 10 Guitar Mixing Techniques, here are even more tips and tricks to make your electric guitar sound better in your mix. 1. Long Release on Chords – For a longer, more sustained sound for chords, use a long release on your compressor. Think if it this way:...
Great vocal mics are a necessary part of your studio, regardless of its size. But the home studio might have a smaller budget than the big commercial facility. And therefore, a home studio doesn’t have the luxury to splurge on microphones like their wealthier counterparts. However, re-mortgaging your house is unnecessary with the following microphones. A...
A reader wrote in with a question: “Do you need an audio interface if you only do electronic music?” The answer is, as always: It depends. At first, I thought the question was kind of weird. Well, of course, you need one. But after thinking it over, there are instances where you don’t need one....
A particular problem with fingerpicked acoustic guitar is picking up all the subtleties of the strings with your microphone. If your guitarist is really picking quietly it’s hard to get all that softness loud enough for the listener to appreciate it. One Mic Can’t Rule them All You can’t get a good acoustic guitar without...
EQ before compression or compression before EQ? That’s the big question isn’t it? It’s endlessly debated which processor you should insert first. Do you tweak your signal with EQ before you add some compression to it, or do you get it nice and punchy before you enhance it with EQ? Two Simple Tips to Guide you...
Welcome to the fifth and final installment of Building a Home Recording Studio. We had a budget of $1,000 in the beginning to spend of the various home recording equipment. If you want to see what we’ve spent our money on, check out the past editions of the series. Building a Home Recording Studio Part 2...