Archive for tag: drums
The “Lost” Art of Audio Engineering: Drums, Live Music, iPods
May 29, 2011 CommentaryRecording studios are closing because the way we make music has changed. The perceived value of recorded music has changed.
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Mastering Experiment: “But They Do” with the Focusrite Liquid Mix
March 8, 2008 MasteringThis post focuses on an experiment with my new Focusrite Liquid Mix, with which I mixed and mastered a song of mine that was in need of polishing. First of all, I will be out of town until the 19th… meaning that I won’t be making any posts here at TSB until then. But, I [...]
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How to Use Analog Tape as an Effect
March 3, 2008 Tape Machines, Tape SaturationThis post focuses on the use of analog tape’s warm, unique compression as an effect. When engineers and producers started to make the switch from analog to digital, they found that digital was not only cleaner sound, but it was also somewhat unforgiving. Most producers were quite fond of ‘driving’ the tape a bit by [...]
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Predelay: Improve Clarity of ‘Verb
February 17, 2008 Effects, ReverbThis post focuses on the use of predelay to allow reverb to be added to a sound without muddying it up too much. A lot of producers are really reverb shy these days. It’s true that reverb can really date material… it was used so much in the 80s and 90s that a lot of [...]
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Tracking a Band in a Single Room…
February 16, 2008 TrackingThis post focuses on the classic challenge of how to record a band in a single room and not have it sound completely awful. Lots of us have small production studios and tons of bands have single room practice spaces. Inevitably the question arises: “How can I record the band live in a single room [...]
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Taming Rock Cymbals with… a DeEsser!?
February 13, 2008 DeEssers, Drums, MixingThis post. focuses on the secret rock mixing practice of using a DeEsser on overheads. Rock overhead tracks are downright scary. Many rock drummers constantly wash out their cymbals and play in the studio with ‘live’ cymbals that have too much presence, designed to cut through stage noise. EQing the cymbals leaves you with mush [...]
Read More »Subtly Using Delays to Add Energy
February 3, 2008 UncategorizedThis post focuses on using delays to subtly add or change the energy of a sound. I’m a big fan of delays. They add a lot of the depth and texture that people usually grab reverbs to achieve without taking up as much of the space. This distinction helps avoid sandboxing your mixes in the [...]
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Piezo: Pickups, Drum Triggers…
January 24, 2008 UncategorizedThis post focuses on the use of piezo sensors and pickups in pro audio applications. Most people don’t think of piezo technology very often. Basically, piezoelectric sensors involve using mechanical vibrations against the sensor to create a signal. It’s a unique way to generate sound and signal, meaning that it can be used in applications [...]
Read More »Compression Sends vs. Compression Inserts
December 22, 2007 UncategorizedThis post is going to focus on using compression on sends vs. compression on inserts in order to retain fidelity while adding punch. Throwing up an insert on a track is an obvious way to control the dynamics of the track or to add punch. Unfortunately, sometimes adding compression to the sound itself dulls the [...]
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