The ultimate guide to audio recording - Part 88
LearningSecond installment dedicated to the things to do to prepare better for a recording session. Once again, certain things I'll write here might seem statements of the obvious for some of you. That said,…
The ultimate guide to audio recording - Part 87
LearningToday we'll see how you can look after the singer during a recording session. Do note that for the sake of simplification, whenever I write "singer" in this chapter I will be referring generically to…
The ultimate guide to audio recording - Part 84
LearningSecond part of this brief interlude dedicated to dialog within the framework of a record production. Last week I probably put the cart before the horse and this article should've certainly been publi…
The top brands for acoustic drums
TopEven drummers have the right to be polled! That's right, instead of picking on drummers, this time we decided to let them pick their favorite drum brands! The idea was to try to find out which is the…
The best audio plug-ins for mixing
TopFrom the first editing click to the last automation, mixing is a passionate and arduous job. That's why we decided to write this article to discuss some tools that can make your life much easier and/…
Mini-effects pedals make configuring your pedalboard a whole new ballgame
LearningOne of the great things about pedalboards is that they give you the freedom to choose the effects you want for your rig. There is one caveat: Your pedalboard is a finite size, and you can only add ef…
Coordinate your rhythm guitar parts to avoid a chaotic-sounding mess
LearningWhenever you have more than one guitarist playing chords in a song, you risk a cluttered and muddy sounding result if the parts they’re playing are not coordinated in advance. That said, there are pr…
Recording a clean ending is not as simple as it may seem
LearningWhen recording an ensemble or just overdubbing one instrument, there's one part of the song that gets very little attention: The time right after the very last chord or note has been struck. Especial…
A guide to mixing music - Part 85
LearningToday we'll close the chapter on reverb with one last suggestion and a short list of plug-ins I personally like to use when working with sound spaces.
Kick Start Your Playing Skills
LearningIf you’re willing to commit an hour or so a day to your craft, you can improve your playing abilities appreciably.
A guide to mixing music - Part 84
LearningThis week we'll discuss a swaying technique which will allow you to easily create the illusion of lateral movement using reverb exclusively.
A guide to mixing music - Part 83
LearningSo far we have reviewed quite extensively the "classic" uses of reverb during mixdown, but I would now like to invite you to discover more exotic applications in the next couple of articles. These ar…
A guide to mixing music - Part 82
LearningLast time, we saw how to recreate a realistic sound space with the three last buses of the setup I suggested to use when working with reverb. This week we'll address the concept of depth in a sound s…
A guide to mixing music - Part 81
LearningIn this new episode, I'll show you how to recreate a realistic sound space with the last three buses of the reverb setup we've been using in the last couple of weeks.
A guide to mixing music - Part 80
LearningToday I'll focus on the sixth bus of my personal reverb mixing setup. As I told you before, this bus is aimed at producing the so-called "glue" effect. In other words, the more or less signal you sen…
A guide to mixing music - Part 79
LearningToday we'll follow up on the previous article by discussing the presets for five of the nine reverb buses of the template I proposed.
A guide to mixing music - Part 78
LearningWe have been discussing reverb for quite some time now, although in a more or less theoretical way. I know it can get a bit frustrating but, trust me, it was necessary. Now that we are done with all …
A guide to mixing music - Part 77
LearningToday I'll close the brief parenthesis I opened last week. And I'll do that tackling a notion that is crucial when it comes to mixing, namely...
A guide to mixing music - Part 76
LearningI feel a bit compelled to add a brief parenthesis after what I wrote at the end of the previous article. So, in the next couple of articles I will not limit myself to working with space but rather to…
A guide to mixing music - Part 75
LearningToday we'll continue exploring the use of reverb and dynamics processing by looking at post-reverb compression.
A/B your plug-ins to learn their capabilities
LearningWhether you’re comparing your compressors or your EQs or reverbs, delays, or modulation effects, you’re likely to be surprised by what you learn.
A guide to mixing music - Part 74
LearningToday we'll see how to make reverb and compression work together. At first sight it might seem weird to want to compress a reverb. And yet a compressor placed before or after the reverb can prove qui…
A guide to mixing music - Part 73
LearningIn this new episode we'll address the strange marriage between reverbs and gates.
A guide to mixing music - Part 72
LearningWith this article we'll close the study of spectral control of reverberation by looking at post-reverb EQ.
A guide to mixing music - Part 71
LearningToday we'll continue our study of frequency control applied to reverberation by addressing damping. Usually, if you have given enough care to choosing your starting preset, you shouldn't need to twea…
