A common problem with a lot of DIY musician recordings is thinness. I’ve run into this with my own arrangements and mixes. You know, when a song just needs a little something, a little meat on its bones. That’s what we’ll talk about in this post — how to make your songs sound fuller. These...
Mastering music can seem like some scary voodoo magic. And that’s because that’s what it is. If you’re someone who’s never mastered a song, mastering might as well be magic. But if you can’t afford a mastering engineer or an automated mastering service, there’s a workaround. I’m not at all saying you shouldn’t master your...
Saturation is one of the most misunderstood and underused plugins in mixing – it adds warmth, punch and depth to your mix, and can give it a high quality, “expensive”- sounding sheen. At some point in the music production journey, EVERY successful producer and engineer I know has at some point stumbled across the revelation...
There are five stages to a professional sounding vocal. It’s not all about the microphone or your gear. Or even your acoustic treatment. It’s not even only about your singer. Unfortunately, even a bad singer can be…*gulp*…”fixed.” But there’s no autotune for a poor vocal melody or arrangement. There’s no Auto-Make-My-Songwriting-Better plug-in. Five Stage Vocal...
Mornin’ mon frére, Yesterday, Audio Issues contributor Ed Elefterion talked about writing memorable melodies as the starting point of crafting a catchy song. Today, I wanted to jump ahead and start thinking about all the best strategies for making sure that melody transforms into a production that blows people away. The vocals are the most...
Money. It’s one of the biggest obstacles for indie musicians. There’s not enough of it. And you need it to do things, like record music. But recording equipment can tend to be expensive, especially for DIYers. So here are four ways to save money on recording equipment. Scour Thrift Stores Hey, don’t write this one off....
Welcome to the third part of the One Man Production Machine series by Ed Elefterion. If you missed the previous installments, check them out below: One Man Production Machine Introduction OMPM Part 2 – Capture the Audience With Your Songwriting When I have words in front of me, things come quicker, and I don’t struggle...
A good sample to a music producer is like candy to a kid. It’s tasty and it gives you a headrush. A sample with great potential changes everything. It can become the hook to a song. Some would argue that a great producer can take a mediocre sample and make it great, make it their...
This week we’re going to talk about the new podcast, Tales From the Homestead. It’s Inception’esque to write an article about a podcast episode that’s about a song on the new album. But stick with me, and you’ll learn a lot about the creative process behind the album. As someone who’s done a fair amount...
I’ve been reflecting a lot about the process of creating The Long Wait album this week. I’ve been asked about it a lot and it’s not hard for me to start yammering on about it. After all, I am incredibly proud of the work we did together. In fact, I was so passionate about it...