Music reviews
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helpful information about recording and mixing techniques. Posts written by professional engineers and musicians.
Learn about the inside secrets that engineers at Shine On Studio use in their sessions. Become a mixmaster and impress the world with your knowledge of audio production.
Recording Studio Tips | Record the Right Way
Studio time is very precious. Do a little prep work before you head into the studio. Get your tracks ready and plan out what you'll be working on during your studio session. Most importantly, go in to the studio excited to work on your music. Your attitude will reflect in the music. Bring comfort food and wear comfortable clothes that you can relax in while you are in the studio. Pack up for the studio the night before your session. This will ease your mind and help keep your blood pressure down with little stress as you embark on a momentous occasion.
Recording Studio Tips | Turn your phone off
When you're in the studio, turn off your cell phone. There is nothing to be gained by allowing the outside world to interrupt your genius. Focus on the music and let the moment unfold with your undivided attention.
If you use your phone for lyrics or notes, that's obviously something you need handy. Just move it into airplane mode and resist the temptation to play any games. If you take photos with your phone, save the social media sharing for after the session. Unfocused time in the studio is wasted time in the studio.
Recording Studio Tips | Bring a Back-Up Hard Drive
A good rule of thumb is to always bring an external hard drive or flash drive as a back-up for all your studio recordings. You've invested your heart, soul, time, and money into the recording, so be sure to make an extra copy (or two) of your session files. Things happen and you don't want to loose all your hard work only to wind up starting over from the beginning. Now that storage media is so affordable, there is really no reason you shouldn't back up all your work. There are lots of great websites to get a good price on storage media. Check http://www.macmall.com or http://www.amazon.com for great deals. If you need any advice on purchasing storage media, just contact the studio.
Preparing Tracks for Mastering
The recording and mixing is finally completed and you're really happy with the final mixes. Now, you're ready to get your tracks mastered. There are a few things you need to make sure are in place before you send your tracks over to the mastering house.
First, make sure your peaks don't exceed -6dBFS. There needs to be some headroom for the mastering engineer to work. When you send your mix with no headroom, the mastering engineer is limited by what they can do. When I've worked on tracks that have no headroom, I have to spend time with the gain structure to allow for any adjustments that will enhance the mix.
Second, send uncompressed .wav files for mastering. It is never a good idea to send in .mp3 files for mastering. The lossy codec of the mp3 has stripped away rich audio details that the mastering engineer will need to deliver a quality master. It's best to send files from their original sample rate and bit depth. If you tracked at 96KHz, then send the mastering engineer 96K .wav files to master. The mastering engineer will do the final dithering and make sure that all files are formatted for public distribution. If you're unsure of what to send a mastering engineer, just ask them. A mastering engineer will be more than willing to provide you with details about what to deliver. This will save a lot of time if there are any problems with the files you send over.
What was that? Delay Delay Delay
To delay or not to delay, why is this a question? Delay is what makes the music come alive! Delay can be very tasteful and should be used to some degree on every mix. It can be subtle and very light, but it will give your mix that edge that kicks it up a notch.
Lexicon PSP 42
Delay comes in many forms and with even more parameters. Some delays have built in filters, while others have feedback control. No matter what delay you choose to use, experiment with the controls and get a feel for how the delay responds to the audio. Once you know how the delay impacts the audio, use it to blend the sound into the mix. You can also get creative with your delay tone by adding a distortion or a flanger effect. Make the delays stand apart from the original track and they will have more impact on the mix.
Analog Delay
If the delay has a sync feature, that can be useful if your music has a tempo map and sticks to the BPM grid. Quarter notes usually have the right amount of space and make a big impact on the empty pockets of the mix. If your mix is not on a tempo map or you're looking for a more organic sound, then turn off the sync feature and set the delay by hand. This technique is a great way to get a vintage sound for your mix. Some of the greatest mixes of the 70's have delays that were set by hand. Don't be afraid to try something new and set your own echo or delay.
Drum mics | Kick Drum Recording
The biggest drum seems like the easiest drum to mic, but this big fella can be tricky at times. You really have to pay attention to the music. The tone of the kick drum needs to match the tone of the music. This requires selecting and placing the right mic in the right spot to capture the tone that you need.
There are a few options I recommend. The Shure Beta 52 is a rock solid mic for any recording. It provides depth, punch, clarity, and snap that works well with virtually every recording. You can never go wrong when using this microphone to record your kick drum.
My backup mic is the AKG D112. This egg-shaped mic is versatile for many recording applications, so it's an excellent choice for those of you on a tight budget. Besides kick drum tracks, this mic works well for recording any instrument that has a lot of low-end detail. I've used this microphone to record congas, bass guitar, trumpets, horns, and vocals. So for the $199 price tag this mic carries, it's well worth the investment.
The third microphone that I recommend is a little unorthodox. The RODE NTK is a secret weapon that I like to use when I need a bit more slap in the kick drum. It's a tube-based condenser that has a magical sound when placed in just the right spot. Usually I find that spot slightly off-center in front of the drum head. The $499 price on this mic does put it in the slightly expensive category, but this mic can do it all. From vocals to acoustic guitar, this mic is excellent on almost any recording.
Hope this helps you get better kick drum recordings. Happy tracking.
Vocal EQ mixing secret: High & Low Pass Filters
Good vocals always need to sit perfectly in the mix. Here's some insight from Engineer David Hughes on producing and mixing vocals.
EQ can be the most elusive part of mixing. Presets are a good starting point, but 99% of the time they don't get the job done. You've got to know all the parameters of your EQ. HP & LP filters usually go overlooked when it comes to EQ. However, these can be some of the most critical tools you use. Extreme high and low frequencies can cause a lot of congestion in a mix. Take the time to use filters and roll off some of the high and low frequencies on each track in your mix. By sculpting your tracks with HP and LP filters, you will find that your tracks fit together sonically.
In addition to the filters, you can use the Maag EQ4 on your vocal tracks and get out-of-this-world results with a simple turn of the knob. The EQ4 has the "Air Band" built on the top end of the EQ and allows you to dial in the right amount of shine and shimmer in a vocal track. This allows it to open up and sit perfectly on top of the mix. At the moment, the EQ4 is only sold as a 500 series module, so you'll need to do a little investing in your studio to add this magical piece of gear. Trust me when I say that you will not be disappointed. There have been so many times when I just give the 40KHz a 3dB boost and all of a sudden the vocals come to life. And yes, I did say 40KHz. You just have to hear it to believe it. The rest of this EQ is also excellent on almost any track. The SUB knob also works as a filter and allows you to carve out any low frequencies that may get too boomy or muddy in your mix. This is the magical box!
Now in vocal tracks, there's not a lot of detail or useful information in the low frequencies. Use the filter to roll off the low end up to about 100 Hz. Don't stop there, move the curve up until you find the right amount of low end reduction to help the vocal sit in the mix. Use a gentle curve to make sure you don't get any phasing problems. A 6dB or 12dB curve will work best for this sort of filtering. A steeper curve will usually cause phase shift and this will result in the vocals going out of phase with the mix.
Be sure not to do this with the track in solo mode. You need to mix your vocal in the mix. The world is not going to hear your vocal tracks in solo mode, so don't mix them that way. You can solo the track to A/B the mix against your vocals, but ultimately you should make decisions while listening to the vocal in the mix.
Hope this is helpful in getting you going with your vocal recordings. Please leave a comment if you have a question. For more info and video tutorials on audio production, please check out my audio mixing master class on Udemy.