Tracking vocals: Making a phrase-by-phrase approach work
If you are planning a phrase-by-phrase approach to tracking vocals in a studio, here are some tips to help make your experience a success. Read the post
recording project
Tracking vocals one phrase at a time
It’s great when a vocal performance can be recorded in one cohesive take, but not every session will succeed with this approach. Sometimes, a modular strategy is required when tracking vocals. Read the post.
Are you ready for a remote musical collaboration?
If you need to collaborate with others to make your project come alive, when do you look locally and when do you search beyond? Here are some guidelines to help you decide when remote musical collaboration is right for your project. Read the post.
Remote music collaboration: How I got a live cello on my recording
When I realized my latest recording project needed live strings to add the energy and timbre the song needed, I ended up collaborating with a cellist from Toronto, with stellar results. Read the post.
Getting great results when you’re the singer AND producer in your home studio
When you’re simultaneously artist and engineer, singer and producer, there are plenty of steps you can take to lay the groundwork for a successful recording session. Read the post.
10 ways to lay the groundwork for an amazing vocal recording session
Nailing a transcendent vocal recording can seem like trying to capture lightning in a bottle — but the whole process need not be mysterious or intimidating. Here are a few tips to get you started. Read the post.
Mantras for audio mixing engineers
If you’re an audio mixing engineer who keeps second-guessing, can’t stop adjusting, or has a hard time walking away from a mix, you’ll benefit from the simple mixing mantras included here. Read More.
Stereo width and audio mastering
Using stereo widening plug-ins in audio mastering to try to expand your mix’s stereo width won’t sound natural and could cause major issues with your finished track. Read more.
Avoid these common mistakes to get the most from audio mastering
Supplying audio files in compressed formats or applying heavy limiting or compression during mix down can compromise your master and negatively impact your audio mastering results. Read more.
Audio mastering basics for your home studio
If you focus too much of your work on a single instrument in a complex arrangement, you likely will miss the fact that even if you have improved the sound of that one instrument, everything else may have been impacted negatively. Get the mix you want, mix down to a stereo file, and then perform mastering as a separate last step. Read more.
Your home studio mix – recording tips for better results
The mixing puzzle isn’t just a panning issue, but also a frequency issue. What frequencies are overlapping? It’s common with people who are inexperienced, you’re going to take each instrument and solo it, and you’re going to EQ and add effects and say, “Yeah! That’s the bass sound I want!” Then all of a sudden you put it into the track, and the bass sounds terrible. When you’re dealing with EQ and effects, you need to listen to it among multiple tracks to help you to carve out the space. Read more.
How to record a great vocal take
Sometimes you have to push to get the best take out of a singer. The artist and the band might be satisfied with a take, but you as the producer or the engineer might feel like there’s something better you can get. So you say, “OK. We’ve got a great take down, let’s roll down the track one more time, and let’s get one more on tape.” Sometimes that’s when something really special happens. You always have to be an encouraging presence. Read more.
In the studio with Michael Jackson
No one was closer to Michael Jackson at the height of his creative powers than Bruce Swedien, the five-time Grammy winner who, with Jackson and producer Quincy Jones, formed the trio responsible for the sound of Jackson’s records. Excerpted from Swedien’s book, In The Studio With Michael Jackson, published by Hal Leonard. Read more.