People talk about piano recording like it’s Mt. Everest. They look at it like it’s some insurmountable obstacle that you can’t overcome. Like some grandiose instrument that you can only record with the most expensive equipment and the bestestest of studios. But it’s simply not true. You can easily get a great piano sound. Just...
Engineers tend to make a lot of mistakes. Especially when they’re all the audio equipment you’re bound to end up making some recording mistakes here and there. It’s no big deal when you’re a beginner. That’s how everybody learns. By making mistakes. I know I have, again and again. In fact, I even thought I...
Recording drums is 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 drums. The school wanted you to know how to record drums, or at least be familiar with every aspect of recording...
This is an excerpt from Recording Strategies – Planning the Perfect Session. Get Your Copy Here. In the last two chapters we’ve been looking at the various things we need before we start getting some quality recordings down. Having right equipment and a well-treated room is all a factor in getting your recordings to sound as...
It’s like they say in marketing: Location, Location, Location! It’s all about where you put the product; or open the store; or advertise the service. The correct location can affect your business in a huge way. Bad location, and your customers won’t even know you’re there. With recording, it’s all about: Position, Position, Position! It’s...
This is a guest post by Mike Sorensen of Acoustic Fields We live in the year 2012 AD and yet we are still light years away from perfecting the recording process. As Donald Rumsfeld once said: “There are known knowns and there are known unknowns.” OK, so he was talking about the Iraq war in...
This is a guest post by Kyle M. Bagley. If you want to submit a guest post, please see the guidelines in the author box below. Getting a great take from a singer often takes more than just choosing the right microphone or preamp. In the end, it is the great vocal performance that will define the...
This is a guest post by Kyle M. Bagley. Saxophone is one of the most difficult instruments to record. Engineers can easy fall into problems that will make the recording unusable or inadequate. This article will describe a basic overview of the instrument and its sound and mic techniques. This article focuses mainly on close-miking players...
This is a guest post by Kyle M. Bagley. You can get a great trombone or trumpet recording with an array of mics and methods, including several low price options. As in many cases, the sound of the player themselves and the mic position are more important than the microphone in capturing a great recording. This article...
This is a guest post by Kyle M. Bagley. How do I record that thing? Where does the sound come out? There are how many of you playing at the same time? Horns, as in saxes, brass instruments, and the like, can seem intimidating to an engineer not familiar with them. This series of posts...