Ear fatigue: Know the signs, avoid mistakes
Recognize the signs and control your activities before, during, and after a studio session to minimize ear fatigue and get your best results from your recording. Read the post.
Jon Marc Weiss
Recording saxophone and reed instruments — tips from a veteran producer
So much about recording saxophone and other reed instruments depends on the player, the room, the mics, the style of play, and how the track fits into the song overall. Here are some recording tips from a veteran producer. Read the post.
Recording bass guitar — Tips from a veteran producer
Producer/engineer/studio owner Jon Marc Weiss discusses mics, mic placement, and different techniques for recording a great bass tone for every music genre. Read the post.
Piano miking techniques for the studio and stage
Producer/engineer/studio owner Jon Marc Weiss discusses piano miking techniques on different instruments in different settings to get the tone you need for the situation. Read the post.
How to record a kick drum
Producer/engineer/studio owner Jon Marc Weiss discusses miking techniques when recording a kick drum in your studio. Read the post.
How to record a snare drum
Producer/engineer/studio owner Jon Marc Weiss discusses miking techniques when recording a snare drum along with a full drum kit. Read the post.
How to get better results mixing in your home studio
From stereo placement to EQ, busing to reverb, veteran music producer and engineer Jon Marc Weiss gives pro advice and insights on how to manage your mix in your home studio. Read the post.
How to record better tones in your home studio
From potato chips to preamps, decoupling to drum heads, these 13 tips can help you get better tones when you’re recording in your (not-acoustically pristine) home studio. Read the post.
Psychology and the music producer
From communicating, coaxing the best possible performance, and keeping an artist comfortable, a lot of a producer’s skills have little to do with recording techniques. Read the post.
Ear fatigue and mixing music – know the signs, avoid mistakes
Ear fatigue is a condition that can occur during mix down that you may not even recognize is happening. You’re in the studio, you think you’ve nailed the mix, you’ve been adjusting things up and down, tweaking everything until it seems to sound just right. Then the next day, you pull up the mix and think, “What the heck were we doing?” Read more.
Recording Drums With A Click Track – Yea or Nay?
Depending on the genre of music, if you’re doing a live performance, or you’re recording the entire band or ensemble simultaneously, sometimes you can get away without a click – especially if you have a really solid drummer. But 80% of the time in a studio recording – especially if we’re just cutting drums and bass – we’re playing to a click. Read more.
How To Record a Bass Drum in Your Home Studio
I’ve had drummers who won’t take off their front head, and refuse to cut a hole in the front head. I’ve had to work with that. They had gotten the tuning to sound amazing, or they were purists and didn’t want anything inside the drum. The biggest issue you have when you don’t have the mic in the drum is you’re going to get bleed – bleed from the cymbals, and from the other drums – which can be a real problem for the kick, because it’s driving the entire song, and a lot of times when you’re mixing you want to gate your kick and snare. Read more.
How To Record a Snare Drum in Your Home Studio
I want to hear a combination of the drum – the hit of the drum – and the snares almost equally as loud as the drum. In a standard 4/4 set up, you’re hearing the snare on the 2 and 4. That snare has a space to fill – it’s the answer to the space the kick drum is filling on the 1 and 3. The snare and the kick have to work together to pull the song forward. If you have a great kick sound, and the snare isn’t matching it, you’ll have this imbalance. Read more.