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Booze, You Lose

Recording Tip 31: Alcohol of almost any kind will mess up your hearing, especially on the top end. This tweet has generated a lot of reaction and questions. Some of the comments were quite funny, and some more serious, asking if I meant permanent hearing damage. While of course heavy, long term abuse of alcohol […]

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

A few months ago I wrote a blog about Steve Jobs’ decision to step down from his position at Apple. Not long after that, he passed away. Recently I read the fantastic biography on his life by Walter Isaacson. It was one of the quickest 900+ page book I’d ever read and I highly recommend […]

Recording Tip 10: Always use a good pop filter when recording vocals

This seems pretty simple that most people know this, but it’s really worth a discussion. When some singers sing they can really hit certain consonants very hard. The ones to watch for are “b” “p” “th” etc. When those consonants are hit hard there will be a big bunch of air that rushes to the […]

Recording Tip #34: Turning on the TV to check the mix

Recording tip #34: When printing a mix, I’ll often go to small speakers at low volume and turn on the TV to check the mix one last time This was another happy accident found when working. I was printing a mix, listening on my small speakers with the volume low. As it played, I turned […]

Recording tip #28: Be Cautious using Limiters

Recording tip #28: Be cautious using brickwall limiters like the L2. If your mixes resemble a brickwall, back it off. The advent of digital recording brought in a whole new playground of toys with which to play for mixers. And in my view with all the myriad of processors now at our disposal, nothing has […]

Attitude

That’s one of those word which, depending on the context, can mean several things. “He’s got an attitude!” Not good. “She plays with attitude!” Good. The word has positive and negative interpretations. But what I want to discuss is the negative one. Let’s cut to the chase. The fact is this. Once one has sufficient […]

When Hearing New Music

Recordingtips 87: When hearing new music, try not to listen as a professional. Listen as you did when you were an amateur. This tip has gotten a number of questions as to what I mean advising to try to “listen as an amateur.” A few years ago I was listening to a CD as I […]

6 Thoughts for Beginning Engineers and Musicians

A few thoughts I’ll pass on to you this week: 1. Try to narrow as much as possible what your goals are. As it’s said, “If you have no target, you’re certain to hit it.” 2. I can’t state enough that the future of recording will be mostly dominated by musician/writer engineers. Those who make […]

Perception is Reality?

It’s a well worn phrase, but not always true, especially in music. And in creating pop music, there are few places where that’s more proven than in mixing. Just ask yourself: How many albums have you heard which sound really dreadful? You scratch your head and wonder how was it possible those mixes got approved. […]

Recording Tips from David Schober

Last winter I attended the New Music Seminar in LA. It was a great event. Extremely well run, lots of great speakers, and I learned a ton. I highly recommend it to anyone. One of the best things I saw was Tom Jackson working with a local band. I was stunned as I watched him […]