From the category archives:

Recording & Mastering

Homemade Speaker Stands For Any Home Studio

by Mike Tarsia January 4, 2012

Disc Makers Home Studio Series, Volume 1: Building A Professional Home StudioRecipe for homemade speaker stands
When mixing, it’s good to have more than one pair of speakers as a reference. When I was setting up my workstation, I decided to pull out my trusty Tannoy PBM 6.5’s and place them next to the Mackie 624’s on top of my Argosy desk. This would complete my midsize near field speaker requirements, but I needed more space for the larger speakers. I looked around for speaker stands and almost died. Hundreds of dollars for a pair of stands. No way!
Excerpted from our new "Home Studio Series" guide, Building A Professional Home Studio
A no-skimping guide to turning your living room into an A-Room. Download your FREE PDF.

3 comments

2012 Gear Guide: Four pieces of music gear priced under $300

by Keith Hatschek December 6, 2011

Samson Mic Time for our year-end round up of music equipment for your wish list that’ll offer outstanding value without breaking the piggy bank. We’ll take a look at music gear that includes an innovative router to help you make maximum use of your guitar pedals, a great USB microphone, an eight-track recorder, and a dock to help convert your iPad into a recording hub. To help me select this year’s picks, I consulted one of my own music tech gear gurus, Bob Furlong, Sales Engineer at Fort Wayne, IN-based Sweetwater Sound.
Read more…

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Who Hires Session Musicians?

by Bobby Owsinski and Paul Ill November 21, 2011

Since music today is recorded professionally everywhere – from bedrooms onto laptop programs like GarageBand to 2,500-square-foot near-perfect acoustical environments attached to control rooms loaded with recording gear worth millions of dollars – it’s safe to say that almost anyone making music will be able to hire you for a professional recording session. If you’re in demand, you’ll probably get all sorts of playing opportunities from sources you wouldn’t suspect. That being said, the top three sources for session work are contractors, producers, and highly respected session musicians. Read more…

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Basic Mic Techniques for Recording Acoustic and Electric Guitars

by Disc Makers October 18, 2011

Doug and Tom from the SoundLab at Disc Makers put this fabulous video together that walks you through some of the basics for recording great guitar tones in your home studio. Getting a great tone on tape is the first step to making a great recording – check it out and learn about mics, tips on mic placement, Pro Tools, working with amplifiers, and more. Read more…

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Optimizing your music for digital distribution – Sonnox’s Fraunhofer Pro-Codec in the studio

by Keith Hatschek October 12, 2011

As the discovery of new music increasingly moves to downloading and streaming, taking the time to ensure your online music sounds as good as it can takes on ever greater importance. For many independent artists, a new listener’s first impression will be formed by hearing some type of compressed audio file. Read more…

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Being Successful in Today’s Music Business: Working Backwards

by Mark Hornsby September 23, 2011

Working as a producer/engineer in the music business, I see (and hear) a lot of things when it comes to indie music and recording. One of those things, more often than not, is a conversation that goes something like this… Read more…

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Get the Right Music Equipment the First Time: 10 Tips for Buying Musical Instruments and Professional Audio Gear

by Phil Selman August 23, 2011

Buying the right music equipment can be a difficult and stressful process. Most of us have spent countless hours agonizing over gear decisions, and the mistakes we make are frustrating at best and painful at worst. Here are 10 useful tips to help you avoid common gear-buying pitfalls and make the most of your budget. Read more…

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Videomaker’s 2011 NAB Wrap – Checking Out The Show
An Overview of the Annual National Associations of Broadcasters Tradeshow in Las Vegas

by Dan Bruns August 8, 2011

NAB is one of those few times when acting like a kid in a candy shop is appropriate.. With thousands of new and innovative high-end cameras, computers, lights, jibs, dollies, and accessories to check out, even the most stoic attendees can find it hard to act their age. To help you sort through the bevy of new gear without losing the last vestiges of your respect, the Videomaker staff boldly undertook the task of scouring the show floor’s 785,000 square feet of space for cool products that we thought you would love. Read more…

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Building Hip Hop Beats: 9 tips from multi-platinum producer Johnny Juice

by Michael Gallant July 27, 2011

On a casual listen, tracks by Jay-Z, Tupac, or KRS-One might seem simple in construction – charismatic rhymes riding a driving, repeating drum groove. But if you’ve ever tried building hip hop beats on your own from the ground up, you probably already know that producing something propulsive, gutsy, fresh, and original is not such a simple science – so where do you begin? We brought in one of the genre’s founding experts to offer some advice. Read more…

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Building a Home Studio
Focus on acoustics and get the most of your home recordings

by Keith Hatschek July 14, 2011

Mixing BoardMany of us have the gear to make our own home recordings, but often physical and/or acoustical limitations in the space where we record have an impact on the sound of our recordings. Parallel walls, cramped square rooms, or loud appliances can quickly ruin any home recording. If you are contemplating improving your garage, attic, basement, spare bedroom, or loft into a home studio to make better recordings, how do you go about it? Read more…

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The Ultimate Podcasting Mic Shootout

by Disc Makers June 13, 2011

podcast microphonesAnyone shopping for a new podcasting microphone, or a voiceover microphone, or even a studio vocal microphone should know that the broadcast industry has relied on a very small handful of mics for the past 30 years. Broadcasters know something that you might not: how to get a great vocal sound. Read more…

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10 Music Licensing Tips: How to get your music ready for Film and TV

by Michael Gallant May 24, 2011

If you’re like many independent artists trying to get your music heard far and wide, you might dream of having your music licensed for use in movies and TV shows. Music placement can indeed be a potent career booster — when it comes to visibility, credibility, and getting paid — but it’s a tough world to break into, and many talented artists don’t know where to start. To that end, here are some tips to help you get your house in order before you ever talk to a music supervisor on the phone — so when that precious licensing opportunity comes, you’ll be ready.Read more…

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Recording Voiceovers: Tips and Techniques From a Pro

by Lee Purcell May 11, 2011

From her perspective as owner of Voice-Over Vermont and the principal voice talent for the company, Mary Catherine Jones has a keen ear for the deadly sins that bedevil the voiceovers in many business presentations. Whether you’re producing a voiceover for a DVD video tour of your manufacturing facility, narrating a guided tour of your software product, or trying to add some expressiveness to a business presentation, attention to a few key techniques can elevate your voice work from pedestrian to professional caliber. Read more…

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Recording Your Live Gig, Pt. 2: 9 Affordable Gear Options

by Michael Gallant May 5, 2011

In “Recording Your Live Gig, Pt. 1: 8 tips to get the most out of your live recording,” we talked about strategies for making outstanding live recordings – and now we’re back with equipment recommendations to help you get the job done. From smaller and less expensive options through to inclusive, high-end rigs, here are some ideas that will introduce you to the plentiful recording options available. Read more…

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Home Studio Tips from a Big Studio Designer

by Disc Makers April 22, 2011

Project and home studios are often located in basements and spare bedrooms, which have numerous limitations. For many studio owners, major reconstruction and remodeling aren’t an option—surface treatments, furnishings, lighting, color, and equipment are about all that may be changed. Read more…

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