So much music is actually created “in the box” today that I don’t see a line anymore between music and effects. Whole pop tunes are done on laptops with maybe a MIDI keyboard. I’m bothered by out-of-tune vocals, so a major revolution for me has been the ability to tune and time singers. When Auto-tune…
This is extremely important. Whatever you’re mixing, you have to have a reliable and comfortable control room monitoring environment as a reference. Control room tuning and monitors have always been a passion of mine. Prior to my sabbatical from recording, Indy Studio A (the third main room I helped design) had a Russ Berger LEDE…
+ I literally love to produce and mix, actually more even than recording tracks as a player or an engineer. I’m an experienced producer, but certainly not a famous one. So the call is out for stuff for me to mix. If material comes in that I can’t help or don’t have time for, I…
Early on, my favorite tracking compressor was the LA-3A. You could use them on anything. I still use hardware compression when recording most individual tracks, even in the box, kind of a holdover from my tape machine days. I usually run the kick and the snare through the compressors in the Porticos, but not a…
Up until around 1970, jingles really were, uh, “jingles.” Cute little ditties that were intentional earworms. Ask your grandmother to complete these lines: “You’ll wonder where the yellow went, when . . .” Or, “Mr. Clean gets rid of . . .” Then a change occurred. The goal became to make commercial music appealing in…
In Studio Five, we don’t have a big live room for tracking bands, just a nice big booth. had a reputation as a drum room, and several of the producers were using 20 or more mics on a drum kit. More than one on each drum, plus stereo overheads and three room mics (carefully measured…
How has recording changed since you started out? A lot in many ways, and not at all in others. The factors that should stay the same are great musicians in the right acoustical environment and ambiance, a wide range of high-end mics expertly placed, and an experienced engineer and producer. Lots of folks have de-emphasized…
My philosophy may not be a lot of help to young folks out there because I started in the 70s on large frame analog consoles and tape machines. Even though we have Pro Tools and an S6 at TRC, my style retains elements from history. For example, we have quite a few analog preamps and…
I’m a hybrid, but falling farther and farther into the box. Almost everything I record goes through an analog preamp, usually one with tubes. I love our tube LaChappells, and we’ve got outboard Rupert Neve, Avalon, UAD and Trident 80B channel strips. Back in 4A, where we had a big live room, we had almost…
Talk about the digital vs. analog controversy It’s less and less of a deal as old analog-only guys die out or – pardon the pun – convert. Humans are analog beings. Sound is analog, and our ears are analog. On top of that, we’ve grown accustomed over decades to the coloration that analog recording equipment…