Hello and please check out Chris Angel and the debunking of this trick by clicking the link below.
Chris Angel SUV Debunked

We met Shawn Hatfield (owner of Audible Oddities and main engineer) when we were wrapping up our first EP. He came recommended from some friends and I was thrilled when he lived in the same nieghborhood as me. Since then he has been a huge asset to Solid Bump, assisting in helping us balance making our tracks hit in club while not making them brickwalls of compresssed noise (see our post about this problem). He has stopped by my home studio to make suggestions on problematic mixdowns. All in all an awesome and incredibly helpful resource.

So what is a audio enginner? What do they do? Why should you not just do it yourself with your VST plug-ins? Shawn was cool enough to answer some questions for us. Sit down and put on your thinking cap… Audible Oddities will be dropping knowledge jewels.

Read the full interview after the jump.

Solid Bump: You have a rich background with your personal music, tell us a bit about it and how it influences how you work as a engineer.

Audible Oddities: I’ll keep it simple. I first started DJ’ing hip-hop in the late 80’s. I think 1988 is about right. Over the years this led to dance music, and eventually production. In the late 90’s I started releasing records on various European labels with my most well-known work being the albums on Force Inc. and Mille Plateaux. I gave touring a shot but it wasn’t really my sort of thing. I really did enjoy the performance aspect, but the traveling was just too exhausting for what little money there was to be had in niche techno. The most obvious influence in my work now as an engineer is the years of trying to produce good sounding records that would transfer well to large sound systems. I have a lot of experience seeing the process from start to finish from an intimate perspective and this helps me immensely when I’m trying to achieve the same results for someone else.

SB: In it’s most basic essence, what is a mastering engineer and what do they do?
AO: Mastering is a multifaceted job that includes both technical and artistic skills. It’s a marriage of art and science. Aesthetically, it’s the shaping of frequency, dynamics, and time to bring cohesion to a collection of songs–the transformation from a mere assortment of tracks into a fluid, telling story. A good mastering engineer can hear a project and instinctively know the direction he or she would like to take it and do so decisively. From a technical standpoint, it’s understanding the possibilities and limitations of the mediums and how best to treat each to guarantee the highest fidelity. Mastering ensures that the music will duplicate without problems whether it be for vinyl or CD and it is understanding the science of sound and how best to achieve the highest range of playability on the widest array of systems.

SB: With the growing popularity of mastering plug ins, why should bedroom producers look to professional mastering rather than do it themselves?

AO: It takes a long time to develop the ears to hear the way a mastering engineer does. There’s no plug-in out there that can replace the 12 years and nearly 2000 albums under my belt. While I am happy to see mastering plug-ins evolve into formidable counterparts to analog equipment, most bedroom producers lack the deep working knowledge of them to effectively use them in the mastering stages. It’s easy to pass a song through a limiter, hear it louder, and think you’ve done something good. But if all you’ve done is decreased the dynamic range to make a song louder, in my opinion, you may have actually ruined it. To be fair, I’ve heard a few people over the years master their own albums and they came out super, but it’s rare and it takes a special kind of person to pull that off. Even if the producer has a profound understanding of the tools, the thing he lacks most is the ability to hear the album without bias. The level of intimacy the producer has with each recording often inhibits their ability to objectively isolate problems or see how aesthetically consonant each song is from a macro perspective. I’ve been producing my own music for nearly 15 years and to this day I still don’t master my own music, and I’m a mastering engineer!  If that’s not a testament to the process, I don’t know what is.

SB: What are a few things a bedroom producer can do to prepare a file for you? What are common mistakes made when you receive tracks?

AO: Keeping a file “healthy” requires the mixing engineer to use very judicious use of compression, and to stay away from brickwall limiters unless they’re used very discretely to catch overs, and aren’t used for RMS gain on the mains. The biggest and most common mistake people make is to squash their recordings before mastering. I see it in 8 out of 10 projects that come to AudibleOddities. Most people don’t realize that good punchy mixes come from preserving transients, and a song with a high RMS may sound louder, but will almost always sounds worse when a/b checked at the same perceived loudness of the original.

SB: You are a big supporter in battling the “loudness wars” in modern music. How do you approach this in your work and balance keeping tracks “competitive”?

AO: Before I start a project I generally try to find out how informed my client is of the volume wars and get their opinion on it. There are times when they might say “I’m not concerned with dynamics, just make that shit hot fire!” And so I do. If they know what they want, and they’re aware of the choices and possibilities, my job is to make them happy. But lately there’s been a real renaissance of fidelity, and I’m getting more and more clients who are not only informed of the problem, but are willing to be a part of the cure. That said, there are still interesting things that can be obtained through heavy compression and limiting and there is music that benefits from it. So it’s not a black and white situation where there’s a definite do and do not. It’s important to understand the process, the trade-offs, and how it either helps or hurts what you’re trying to achieve in the studio. It’s about having a choice again and not being forced into something because that’s what everyone else does.

SB: You used to live a few blocks from me in the Lower Haight – what is the best lunch spot in the ‘hood?

AO: Easily the best spot is the sandwiches from the guys over at Alamo Square Market and Deli at 535 Scott St.

Jim had been begging me to but him in more videos and insisting he had an idea for a video. When I finally put a camera on us, this is the video that resulted.

How to Mix Hip Hop Music For Mastering

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FREE INTERNET RADIO @ JANGO.COM

Mix Hip Hop Music For Mastering

www.type3beats.com

When you produce a beat for a major label Hip Hop album you may be required to mix the track a little differently than if you were going to sell it to someone at a smaller label. If the final track is going to be mastered you will probably be required to track out the beat, or, create a separate wav file for each track in your mix. There may also be restrictions on how you can process the music and at what volume you are required to submit it in. Additionally some projects require the hard drive or memory card from the computer or workstation the music was created from, so that the label has official control of the master. This article will hopefully give you some insight on how you should mix your track before you get it mastered.

Instructions

Click Here for your Free Traffic!

Following a recent resurgence in Japan ex Bay City Roller Pat McGlynn has had all his early solo albums re-released on SONY/BMG in early 2009. We worked together along with his wife and vocalist Janine Bond in late 2008 on four new songs at the Offbeat studio for Pat McGlynn’s STORM earlier this year.

I wrote a track for him in March entitled I Wanna Be In Your Cult.  The track is currently getting lots of airplay in Japan and we are hoping for a hit record. All the tracks are featured on the Offbeat homepage mp3 player. Pat is great to work with and is a true music lover. He’s a gifted guitarist and songwriter

I met Pat back in 1984 when I was working on my solo album under the name ZED with vocalist Kirsty Anderson… I co-wrote two tracks with him and Les McKeown on the BAY CITY ROLLERS hit album Breakout. The title track was originally recorded at Jon Turner’s Palladium studio and also featured Anne Turner on backing vocals. and another on the album called You’ll Find Out was recorded at Wilf Smarties Planet Studios. Wiolf was the guy who discovered Wet Wet Wet and he produced their first hit single “Wishing I Was Lucky’. Apart from being a studio boffin Wilf was instrumental in my training as a recording engineer, giving me a break to work at Planet from 1983 until 1985.

Hiya,

301 would like to wish you a wonderful and relaxing festive season… 2009 has been a fantastic year for us, we thank you all for your support and look forward to working with you in 2010!

STUDIOS 301 FOR SALE ON EBAY

Check it out here: www.ebay.com.au Item No: 160383434942

NEW MASTERING RATES…. AND VIDEO

We are now charging a competitive per track rate for all unattended mastering sessions! For more info, ask Anita on 02 9698 5888 or anita@studios301.com

There’s also a new 301 mastering video up on YouTube this week. Oscar gives insights & tips into APRA & AMCOS, ISRC’s, CD Text & Gracenotes, and how it all relates to your mastered music.

Find the video at: www.youtube.com/studios301

SOME 301 & AUSTRALIAN MUSIC HIGHLIGHTS OF 2009

Big congratulations to Greg Wales for his ARIA award for Engineer of the Year – for You Am I’s album “Dilettantes” – mixed at Studios 301 (and mastered by Steve Smart).

Powderfinger’s new album “Golden Rule”, released last month, debuted at the top of the charts. The album was recorded at 301 Byron, mixed at 301 Sydney, and mastered by our very own Leon Zervos.

Philadelphia Grand Jury (Mastered by Steve Smart) took home an AIR award for Best Single/EP for “Going to the Casino” – Big congrats guys!

Washington’s single “How to tame Lions” ranked at #12 a couple months back, which was mastered by Steve Smart. She has also just won this year’s Vanda & Young songwriting competition – another big congratulations!

Eskimo Joe’s Album Insulla hit #1 on the Album charts this year in June – this album was recorded at Studios 301 in Byron Bay with Producer Gil Norton.

BlueJuice’s single “Broken Leg” is currently ranked at #9 – their album “Head of the Hawk” (which includes the single) was mixed at 301 Sydney.

AND OUR NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS…

Byron Bay Studios
Xavier Rudd (Record & Mix)

Sydney Studios
Jon Stevens (Record) / Gin Wigmore (Mix)

Mastering with Leon Zervos
Claire Bowdich / Paulini / Renne Casaer / Ruby Tigers

Mastering with Oscar Gaona
Rogue Traders / David Mellor

Mastering with Steve Smart
JJJ’s Like a Version / The Sundance Kids / Deep Sea Arcade

Mastering with Andrew Edgson
Deconstructivists / The Deer Republic

NEW GEAR

- 4 x 512c API Lunch Box Preamps
- Roland SH2 Synth
- SOURCE Connect – Remote recording over the internet, instant broadcasting from the studio, talkback functionality & more

Merry Christmas and a happy new year!!!

Studios 301 Australia

Ph +61 (0)2 9698 5888
Email anita@studios301.com
Web http://www.studios301.com
MS http://www.myspace.com/studios301

Website: www.musicproducerpro.net

Don’t get sit there about think about making music, or try making music when you don’t have a clue. Get help and learn how to produce music correctly, you need to advance as quickly as possible and keep high consistent music coming out everyday. You need to get a myspace and build up a fan base, sell your music yourself and be an independent artist as much as you can be to be noticed by the major record companies. I want you to make it so take my advice and do the above, it will only benefit you and in the long run if you take it seriously.

Producing is something you can learn in your spare time and is something that can be very profitable, you can make hundreds a day just producing music and putting them for sale on the net. A few of my friends to this and make hundreds every single day before they consistently make good music and maintain a good reputation. This is the same image that you want to mirror to become a known artist, you want to put out music regularly and build a fan base. Build a name for yourself, a brand, something you could take to a fashion label and say I want to make some clothing with you or even aftershaves. Look at what the major artists are doing in the fashion world and believe that can be you, you could be up on that poster in times square if you put in enough work. Consistently putting out good quality music is the key.

The best way to learn is always to be taught when it’s something so creative, well taught to a certain level and then left to be creative. You need to find out how to use music production software and learn how you can use it to express and create hit records for the world. Start today producing music properly today, find somebody that can help you and push you to make that music consistently. Someone that will tell you when your standards are dropping or growing, someone that can teach you about sampling and looping, mixing and mastering, Everything you need to know about the music studio.

For Information Visit http://www.musicproducerpro.net

Good Luck

Website – www.musicproducerpro.net

When it comes to producing music, you really want to learn from the best – learning hip hop music production from home has now become so much easier with Music Producer Pro recommended by many of the top names in the music industry. Jay Dynasty from New York City who was part of the A&R at Def Jams for 7 years has now come up with the ulitmate hip hop music production course teaching producers everything they need to know from mixing, producing, arranging, sampling, how to use software and hardware, recording, mastering and much more!

Music Production is a serious game and if you want to be taken serious you have to sound amazing and stand out from the crowd – learning how to do everything from someone who has experienced working in the studio with some of the best artists around the world is a blessing in itself. You will have videos and many books teaching you everything in music production, even the hardware and software you should be getting. Many free vst’s to get your started sounding like you have been composing music for years – it’s something i would take up in a snap if i wanted to learn everything from scratch again because it’s so detailed i’m sure i would have forgotten things!

Music Producer Pro is simply the best online hip hop music production course – it’s a complete package and has everything you would need to get started and excel far within the hip hop/r&b/urban industry.

For more information on Music Producer Pro visit – www.musicproducerpro.net

Website – www.musicproducerpro.net

When it comes to producing music, you really want to learn from the best – learning hip hop music production from home has now become so much easier with Music Producer Pro recommended by many of the top names in the music industry. Jay Dynasty from New York City who was part of the A&R at Def Jams for 7 years has now come up with the ulitmate hip hop music production course teaching producers everything they need to know from mixing, producing, arranging, sampling, how to use software and hardware, recording, mastering and much more!

Music Production is a serious game and if you want to be taken serious you have to sound amazing and stand out from the crowd – learning how to do everything from someone who has experienced working in the studio with some of the best artists around the world is a blessing in itself. You will have videos and many books teaching you everything in music production, even the hardware and software you should be getting. Many free vst’s to get your started sounding like you have been composing music for years – it’s something i would take up in a snap if i wanted to learn everything from scratch again because it’s so detailed i’m sure i would have forgotten things!

Music Producer Pro is simply the best online hip hop music production course – it’s a complete package and has everything you would need to get started and excel far within the hip hop/r&b/urban industry.

For more information on Music Producer Pro visit – www.musicproducerpro.net

For the fourth year running now I have been working with Musical Director Richard Anderson on adapting tracks for the panto season at The Kings Theatre.

Richard usually finds that tracks which are provided for the show need to be edited, pitch changed and for sound effects to be added.

Richard is also MD for musicals Songs of Sister Act, Shout and The Rocky Horror Show.

Eddie Elliott is a pro actor and amazing vocalist who is part of the original UK tour cast of We Will Rock You Musical by Queen and Ben Elton which is currently at Edinburgh’s Playhouse until January 9th.

In between performances Eddie is writing songs and has been visiting the studio and experimenting with new ideas.

I have been helping out by providing musical accompaniment on guitar, bass and drums and keyboards.

Eddie’s other theatre credits include: The Music Man (Chichester Festival Theatre) directed by Rachel Kavanaugh; The Lion King (Lyceum Theatre); A Chorus Line, The Buddy Holly Story (Gaiety Theatre); Fame (Electric Theatre, Guildford).

I’ve recently done some remixing for songwriter Graham Hannah and Italian born singer Valentina Cazzola. Graham works on Cubase at his home studio and writes his own compositions.

Graham was formerly guitarist and songwriter with The Passengers and Restless Natives and has had recent tracks featured in music mags and his lyrics published in poetry collections.

The first song we remixed was an evocative atmospheric song- entitled No Consolation - it featured piano, bass, brass, programmed drums and guitar and vocals.

We imported the audio files into Logic and the midi file which Graham had originally programmed using Reason 3.

We re-triggered sounds on the midi parts and I replaced the programmed drums with live kit which gave the track much more of an acoustic feel. We kept Valentina’s original vocal which she had recorded using a PZM microphone.

Hello to whoever reads my blog, my name is Julie, I’m 27 years old. Here I want to start a “project” of transformation of self. Why? Firstly, I like writing and secondly, I want to do something great in my life that I will be proud of, the achievement that will bring me completeness and total happiness.

So my goal is to challenge myself in reaching some certain results in Kung Fu practice within a full year. As you probably know Kung Fu is not just a martial art that helps you to defend yourself but rather a deeper practice that is designed to transform you and to help to reach equilibrium within yourself.

I want not only to master Kung Fu as martial art, but also to transform myself, push the limits and come to better understanding of self. That is why I will create set of exercises that will help me to grow in strength, agility and in my spirit. I know on my own experience that to fulfill promises given to yourself is the one of the most hardest things. That is why I will do it here in my blog, writing about my progress and achievement during the year.

My obligation to the readers will keep me focused on my goal and its results. Next few days I will dedicate my time creating program and schedule that I will be keeping to during the year, I will measure my present physical parameters and abilities – so that it will be fair for both to me and my readers.I feel very much inspired and exited about my new goal.

I think the purpose of our lives is to transform ourselves into something amazing, to build character and and strengthen the will. I agree that everyone have been created perfect and beautiful from the very beginning, but still there is still some place for self-development and creativity to make yourself feeling complete and absolutely happy.

So here I am, an ordinary girl and my little friend kitty both full of hope, excitement standing on the edge of old lifestyle looking forward to new beginnings.

]]> http://astralplanestudios.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/fan-to-flame-recording-session-day-2/ Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:02:29 +0000 astralplanestudios http://astralplanestudios.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/fan-to-flame-recording-session-day-2/

On Sunday we tracked vocals and overdubbed leads, really simple process, so not much I can really say for this day.

However, I used a Shure SM7 for vocals as they offer a very warm clear tone and quality that I find to be the best of it’s class, we must remember that every voice is different and different microphone selections will bring out the best of a particular person, but the SM7 has a special place in my head as it works great on ANY vocal, it’s a very flat and responsive microphone that will bring the best out of anyone. The studio standard is usually a U-87, I find this too bright for most vocal use though, but as I said, every voice is different.

Track listing:

I Have Woken

Written In Red

Altering

Masquerade

I Don’t Refrain

Vessel

Solicitude

Not The Letter

Fly On

Stay tuned for more updates!

On Saturday we successfully recorded all 9 tracks. All rhythm was tracked in just under 3 hours.

Here is a list of the microphones I used:

• Kick- Shure Beta 52
• Snare top and bottom- Shure SM57
• Hat- Shure Beta 57
• Toms- Sennheiser 421
• Overheads- Beyerdynamic M201 stereo pair
• Guitars- Shure SM57 and Neumann U-87

I mic’d the rhythm guitars wth the 57/U-87 combo and had the 87 about an arm’s length away from the guitar cabinet with the 57 about 2 inches from the grille cloth. I then flipped the phase switch on the 57 and got quite a nice sound.

Lead guitar was done with a single 57 about 2 inches away from the grille with a slight angle between the cone and the paper.

I made a boo-boo and did not take any photos of the session, but I will be posting up a rough mix shortly!

Website – www.musicproducerpro.net

Mastering your music is so very important, it’s almost as important as learning how to mix your music. You should learn early on when producing music the ‘mix’ is the most important part of the song as this make everything sound so clear for the listener. Imagine hearing a song on the radio and the bass was all distorted and the kick was way too loud etc. You need to mix..mix..MIX!! After the mix is sorted you can then go onto the mastering of the production which is basically where all the frequencies within the production are compressed to the amount required.

The best pieces of software to master in easily at home i would say are logic pro and pro tools – both easily have multi compressors and allow VST’s to easily be added to the final mix where you can master all the frequencies to allow the song to sound much fuller and louder. This will make your song stand out much more than the rest – to be honest if the mix is perfect and is mastered correctly your music could possibly be ready to go straight to the radio and be ready to release.

So mastering is very important – its the icing on cake. It’s the final part of your work that polishes the final piece. I recommend you learn all about mastering your songs.

For more information about mastering visit – www.musicproducerpro.net

Website – www.musicproducerpro.net

Mastering your music is so very important, it’s almost as important as learning how to mix your music. You should learn early on when producing music the ‘mix’ is the most important part of the song as this make everything sound so clear for the listener. Imagine hearing a song on the radio and the bass was all distorted and the kick was way too loud etc. You need to mix..mix..MIX!! After the mix is sorted you can then go onto the mastering of the production which is basically where all the frequencies within the production are compressed to the amount required.

The best pieces of software to master in easily at home i would say are logic pro and pro tools – both easily have multi compressors and allow VST’s to easily be added to the final mix where you can master all the frequencies to allow the song to sound much fuller and louder. This will make your song stand out much more than the rest – to be honest if the mix is perfect and is mastered correctly your music could possibly be ready to go straight to the radio and be ready to release.

So mastering is very important – its the icing on cake. It’s the final part of your work that polishes the final piece. I recommend you learn all about mastering your songs.

For more information about mastering visit – www.musicproducerpro.net

Introducing Waveform Audio studio. Just minutes from Grand Rapids, Waveform Audio is located in Lowell, Michigan. Providing services such as tracking, mixing, and mastering with ProTools HD paired with a SSL Mixing Console and a variety of high end microphones. So if you are looking for a studio look no further. As they are a  new studio, Waveform Audio is offering cut rates for any band who is looking to record.

Just contact General Manager Rob Savage at 616.217.1273 to set up an appointment.

A truly awesome studio pushing out incredible sound. Especially for those who are looking for that analogue boom so sought after in this digital age.

Website – www.musicproducerpro.net

When it comes to picking music production software it’s very important that you find a piece of software that you find comfortable. The most popular music production softwares out on the market right now are Logic Pro 8 and Fruity Loops so i would recommend looking into one of those as the results they give are of industry standard with some of the top producers in the world using them.

Logic Pro i would generally say is more for the advance user who already knows how to use a sequencer to produce music – because realistically when you have learnt how you make music you can jump from program to program and make song. Logic pro is excellent for the producer who wants to produce a full song and master it and even add vocals to your song very easily instead of jumping to another program to record vocals – it’s truely amazing when it comes to the sound quality.

Fruity Loops i would generally say it’s a program for you to begin on however some producers never grow out of it because it’s also very powerful in what it does, you can record into it however i must admit it’s not the best and you cannot do as must as you can do in logic pro 8. But in terms of producing a beat or making music it’s extremely user friendly and something i believe is great for a beginner producer.

For more information on the software please visit – www.musicproducerpro.net

I’m not a fan of ‘home’ mastering.  It is THE final step before your music reaches the masses and it should be professionally done.  That being said – if you have to do it yourself (before you end up taking it to someone else) here’s an article for you.

“Mastering is the final creative step in making an album for release on CD or a digital file. In this process you sequence the songs (put them in the desired order), trim the beginning and end of each song, put a few seconds of silence between them, adjust their levels so they sound equally loud, and apply EQ, compression and limiting as needed.

You might prefer to send your CD of mixes to a good mastering engineer. This person can listen to your program with fresh ears, then suggest processing for your album that will make it sound more commercial.

Mastering engineers often have a better monitor system and better equipment than you, and typically, they have heard hundreds of recording projects done by others and can help make your CD sonically competitive.

If you plan to have your program mastered outside, do not apply any signal processing to your finished mixes such as editing, level changes, compression, normalization, fades, or EQ. Let the mastering house do it with their better equipment and software. Also, leave some headroom by recording the finished mixes at about -3 dBFS maximum in peak meter mode.” [read]

Mastering Services: Jephtha Studios