You might have heard the advice that it’s always a good idea to check your mix against a reference mix. But what does that mean? What kind of reference mix? How do you go about doing that? What is a Reference Mix? A reference mix is a commercial quality mix that’s usually been mixed and released...
Tourists are so hot for Iceland right now it’s exhausting. Whenever somebody excitedly tells me they’re going, I tell them, Don’t. It’s overpriced and full of tourists. It’s a combination of a joke and a warning. I tell them: if you’re going, treat my country well. There are too many idiot tourists out there with...
My friends at Roswell Pro Audio have been great to me in the last month. They let me borrow a pair of their K47s as well as a couple Delphos condensers to try out. And let me tell you, they did not disappoint. I’ve been using them on voice-over, vocals and acoustic guitar recording in the...
Impossible. Unheard of. Won’t happen. This has always been my assumption: Musicians are always going to play differently during the band soundcheck in an empty room than they will with their adrenaline pumping in a full-house. For this reason, I have always just tried to complete band soundchecks as quickly as possible, knowing that many...
Recording drums and getting a powerful drum sound can be one of the most challenging tasks an engineer can face. One of the requirements of my final project back at SAE (School of Audio Engineering) was that it had to have real acoustic drums because the school wanted you to know how to record drums....
Vocal EQ’ing can be frustrating. Sometimes it seems to sound like it was stuck on later and doesn’t flow with the rest of the track. Below are the six frequency ranges you can start with when you are in trouble and need to figure out how to equalize your vocal so that it sits better...
If you’re looking for new arrangement ideas for guitar, check out my 4 ways to a groovier guitar production. 1. Find the Sweet Spot The sweet spot is where the instrument sounds the best. Usually this is a pretty subjective sound, but there are some guidelines to go by. Acoustic Guitar – The sweet...
There’s a difference between getting a shimmering acoustic guitar recording versus recording a powerful rock electric guitar. Recording an acoustic guitar requires a totally different method than recording an electric guitar. That’s why this following article has a combination of different tips and techniques to try out when you’re going for that shimmering sound of...
You’ve probably heard an acoustic guitar a hundred times before. You know what it sounds like. But have you ever wondered how each part of the instrument makes up the sound you hear when somebody is playing it? The brilliance of the strings, the resonance of the wood, and the amplification of the body all...
When I was in my teenage rock band(this is a rite of passage for any guitarist I think), I dreamed of making my guitar sound larger than life. You know that thick and creamy sound you hear on your favorite rock records? That’s what I was chasing. I’ve talked about this quest of mine before. I...