(Applause? For us? You’re too kind.)

Our guests were students from Rancho Buena Vista High. They showed up ready to learn about the wonders of TV and recording studios; we showed up with pizza. It was already a win/win.

The tour was brief — more of an introductory to the different areas of the space and what each studio was capable of. They had the chance to lay down a track with the lovely Gaby and Maren of Okapi Sun and had their hearing compromised by the chest-thumping beats of AC/DC blasting from Steve Stopper’s own custom-built speakers. All left impressed and eager to come back for a future, in-depth visit.

For a full photo gallery, check out our facebook page.

Question for you: If you had the chance to tour our space, what would you be most interested in hearing about? Live broadcasts? Recording bands? Making music videos?

The Stereo Field

Using the pan controls is another way to provide separation for instruments so the listener can better identify the individual tracks. The Pan knob works as a balance control for both mono and stereo tracks. The more you turn the knob left the lower the volume gets in the right channel. The more you turn the pan control right the lower the volume gets in the left channel. You can use pan together with EQ to provide separation for tracks. When each track has its own place in the frequency spectrum and the stereo field then your ears can identify everything more easily.

If the ride cymbal is competing with the shaker then try panning the ride cymbal 25 to 30 percent right and the shaker 25 to 30 percent left. This will add to the clarity of these tracks especially if they are close to sharing the same fundamental frequency. Using EQ will provide even more clarity. You can use the pans to separate the instruments that sit within the same frequency range. You can also use the pans to set instruments in different parts of the stereo field.

There are basically two types of tracks that are recorded, mono and stereo. Keyboards are the only tracks that I will record in stereo. Everything else I record in mono. In most other cases I will use two mono tracks two make a stereo image. Using two mics and recording two separate mono tracks to emulate one stereo image works well with most live instrument. This is a great way to record acoustic guitar. You also have more options during the mix while doing this. I will pan one mono track full right and the other full left to get a stereo image.

Sometimes while recording with two microphones you may run into phase anomalies. The two mono waves may become out of sync with each other. In most cases this is due to improper mic placement. In this example phase is a term used to describe the position of one mono sound wave relative to the other mono sound wave in our stereo field. Two identical waves are ‘in-phase’ when the crests and troughs of the waves meet. This will also have the effect of increasing the amplitude. The mono waves would be considered ‘out-of-phase’ when the crests of one wave meets the trough of another wave.

These waves that are out of phase have the ability to weaken the amplitude. The stereo image may also be degraded. You can really notice it when you play back the waves in mono. Two identical waves at 180 degrees out of phase will completely cancel each other out in a process known as phase cancellation. These are issues that need to be corrected and fixed in the mix.

Effects

Effects are to music what spices are to cooking. There are all kinds of effects that can be used to enhance the audio mix. You can use amplifier simulations to get that killer guitar tone. You can place a chorus effect on pianos, clean guitar tones and acoustic guitars. You can add various types of reverb to your tracks to give a feeling of space and room reflections. Compression will help to tighten things up. Use compression on vocals to control the peaks and use make up gain to bring up the notes that are lower in db. Use compression on drums to add punch. You can even use EQ as an effect. These are just some common examples. Effects are usually added or modified during the mixing process.

Busses and Signal Routing

Programs like Garage Band are limited in the way the signal can be routed. Everything goes directly to the sound card. If you have a DAW that allows you to use busses then there are some creative ways to route signals which in the end will allow you to get a better mix. First you can start by creating a master bus and route everything to it, and then route the master bus to the outputs of the sound card. Now you have a master volume you can use for all tracks as well as an effects bin.

You can also use a bus to create sub groups. For example, routing all the drum tracks to a bus and then routing that drum bus to the master bus will give you an overall volume control on all the drums. You can now insert one compressor on the drum bus that will affect all the individual drum tracks.

You can also use a bus as an effect loop. Create a bus and then place a reverb on that bus. Use the send in the channel strip to route a portion of the signal to the new reverb bus. Now multiple tracks can use the same reverb via the send in the channel strip. This will help save CPU cycles and you will get better performance from your computer by using this approach.

Automation and The Final Mix.

Automation is the process of programming settings in your mix so they change during the process of playing back the song you’re mixing. You can use automation to control pans, faders, effects, and a host of other things. You can use automation to adjust the fader during the course of playback. Use automation to change pan settings at some point in the mix. These are just examples. Automation is a handy tool to have in your tool box.

The last step in the mixing process is to export all the tracks into a single stereo track. You want to be sure to keep the same bit depth and sample rate you used to record the song.

The Room

In major studios special rooms are built for mastering. All rooms have certain frequencies which are emphasized or minimized by room reflections. The dimensions of the room will determine which frequencies will be emphasized.  For this reason a room that will be used for mixing will need acoustic treatments. Acoustic panels can be used to bring balance to the mixing room. You can buy these from a company like real traps or you can make them yourself.

ARC System 2 (Advanced Room Correction) is the sequel of the first and only acoustic correction system that combines a measurement microphone, measurement software AND a correction plug-in to improve the sound reliability and acoustics of your studio in an elegant, low-cost portable solution.

Listening to the mix

Once you are done with the mix it is time to export it and listen to it on other systems. If you recorded with a high sample rate and bit depth you may need to add dither to convert it to the sample rate required for CDs and mp3′s. The idea is to listen to the mix on several different systems to determine that it will sound good on different audio devices. If you detect to much bass then go back and fix it. Export the mix again and check to make sure that the mix sounds better.

As you can see this part can get time consuming. The solution to the problem can found in a device called VRM Box.

Introducing VRM Box. The high-quality USB headphone interface with a difference. VRM stands for Virtual Reference Monitoring. It gives you the option of listening to your mix on multiple sets of speakers, in different rooms, just using headphones. This helps to overcome the problems associated with creating a mix that translates well on many speakers. Burning CDs to listen to your mix in different environments will become a thing of the past.

This device looks promising and the reviews I read look pretty good. I am probably going to order this as it will save me a lot of time.

The last step of the mixing process is to export the whole thing to one stereo wave file for mastering. Do not apply dithering. Use the same sample rate that you recorded the song in. It is the job of the mastering engineer to apply dither and handle the conversion for consumer use.

Professional studio design is a very specialised science, with more than a touch of ‘black magic’ thrown in, but as our Studio SOS visits have demonstrated, it is fairly simple to make a huge improvement to an untreated project-studio room without spending a fortune. However, it’s also become apparent how often readers’ own attempts at DIY acoustic treatment cause more problems than they solve. So I thought it would make sense this month to have a proper look at the principles behind the acoustic-treatment advice we often give on our Studio SOS visits, so that you can apply them to your own setup.

Room problems can be broken down into two main categories: reflections of mid-range and high frequencies from hard surfaces; and peaks and troughs in the room’s low-end response caused by the room’s dimensions and the reflectivity of the walls at low frequencies. Both compromise the accuracy of what you believe you are hearing from your monitor speakers, and each has to be dealt with in different ways.

In an ideal world, what you hear when sitting in your monitoring chair should be mainly the direct sound from the speakers. However, unless you record in an anechoic chamber and cover all your gear in rockwool, there will invariably be some room reflections, and the strongest of these should be either absorbed or diverted before they reach your main listening position. In professional studios there are clever tricks that you can do with wall angles to divert reflections. However, most home studios use rectangular rooms, so that’s what I’ll concentrate on here.

Diagram: Tom Flint Here you can see several of the mistakes commonly made in setting up monitors in the home studio. For a start, a number of factors are compromising the stereo imaging: the speakers being on their sides, their asymmetrical placement in the room, and the insufficient angling of the drivers towards the monitoring position. Also, the right-hand speaker is placed directly in a corner of the room, while the left-hand speaker doesn’t appear to be mounted on any particularly solid — both of these factors would have an impact on the bass performance.

Reflections from the desk and other nearby equipment can be a big problem, so sorting out the location of the monitors themselves should be the first priority before fixing up any acoustic treatment. First of all, the monitors should usually be used the ‘right way up’, because lying them on their sides will compromise the stereo image significantly. Ideally, the speakers should also be on stands that put them at head height, and the drivers should be angled so as to point towards your head. Avoid putting the monitors too far into the room’s corners, and observe the manufacturer’s recommendations on how far from any walls they need to be. For the best stereo imagining, it’s also best to place them symmetrically in the room, ideally firing down the long axis in smaller rooms, and set up such that the speakers form two corners of an equilateral triangle, the third corner falling at or just behind the listening position.

It is important that no hardware, such as computer screens or racks, comes between you and your monitors, and that the desk surface is significantly lower than the monitors, so as to avoid strong reflections bouncing off the desk and into your face. If in doubt, put a mirror flat on your desk between you and the speakers, and if you can see the speaker, particularly the tweeter, when you look in the mirror, you have a potential reflection problem which should be addressed by moving the speakers if possible. Where the speakers must stand on a desk or shelf, foam isolation pads help keep the sound clean, and some products also provide a means to angle the speakers up or down if necessary.

The other consideration is that it helps not to have the speakers set up midway along any of the room’s dimensions — so neither speaker should be exactly halfway between the side walls, or halfway between the floor and ceiling, for example. If two or more of these dimensions are equal, you could end up with bumps and dips in the low-end response, even if the rest of the room is acoustically acceptable.

Mid-range and high frequencies reflect from hard surfaces such as plaster or plasterboard walls in a similar way that light reflects from a mirror. The effect is not quite as exact as with a mirror, as some of the sound energy is scattered, and a little is absorbed, but in simple terms you can think of hard walls as approximate acoustic mirrors. If you put a mirror alongside a light bulb, you see the light bulb itself and also its image in the mirror. Both act as real sources of light as far as you, the observer, are concerned.

The same thing happens if you stand a speaker close to a hard wall — a phantom sound source is created by the reflection, so now you hear sound from both the speaker and the wall. If you know which part of the wall is responsible for reflecting the phantom image to your mixing chair, then you can concentrate your acoustic treatment in that area. In fact, you can use a real mirror to find out where that spot is by getting a friend to hold the mirror up flat against the wall at different locations until you’re able to see an image of your loudspeaker from the mixing position. It’s for this reason that we often refer to these areas as the ‘mirror points’.

This diagram shows how to apply basic acoustic treatment to a typical home-studio room. The absorber panels shown in purple are the most important, but adding in the orange absorbers would improve the situation further. Acoustic foam is a common choice of absorber in this application. If bass trapping is required, then it is usually most effective applied in the room corners (including those corners between any of the walls and the ceiling). Note also the angles and positions of the monitors with comparison to the listening position — arranging the three points in an equilateral triangle will help give a natural stereo image.

In a normal home studio setup (a rectangular room with a flat ceiling), there will be images on the side walls and ceiling between you and the speakers. Strictly speaking, there will also be one on the floor, but the chances are that this will be obscured by the desk holding your equipment. Clearly, we can also hear sounds from behind us, so the rear wall will also be a source of reflections, plus there will be reflections from the wall directly behind the speakers, and all these need to be considered when applying acoustic treatment.

Once you have identified the main reflection points, you can place treatment there to absorb the sound and kill the reflections. Bear in mind, though, that most people tend to move around a bit while recording and mixing, so the absorber panels need to be fairly large if they are to cover all possible reflection points as we move around.

Now you’ve probably read about Technical Editor Hugh Robjohns and I sticking acoustic foam onto studio walls, but before you rush off and do this it is important to understand the limitations of such materials. While a thick black cloth placed over a mirror will absorb all the visible light of its reflection, a piece of acoustic foam will only be acoustically ‘black’ at high frequencies, becoming increasingly transparent at lower frequencies. In very general terms, a piece of four-inch-thick foam stuck directly onto the wall is only really effective for frequencies above about 200-300Hz, whereas a piece of two-inch foam is only effective above about 400-600Hz. In other words, if you halve the thickness of the foam, the frequency above which it is effective moves up by an octave.

Once you appreciate this, you can see immediately why attempts to deaden walls with carpet don’t work too well — carpet is relatively thin and so only soaks up very high frequencies. This leaves the low and mid-range frequencies unaffected, giving a dull and boxy result. You can probably now also understand why acoustic foam would need to be several feet thick to be effective at bass frequencies, which is why foam is rarely the most practical solution for bass absorption.

Although foam is quite convenient, it’s not the only option. You can also use one or more layers of high-density Rockwool insulation slab, as long as you cover it with fabric to keep those nasty irritating fibres out of the air. Rockwool is just as effective as foam, if not more so, but it does require more in the way of DIY skills.

One very useful tip is that spacing foam or Rockwool absorbers away from your wall by a few inches makes them more effective at low frequencies. For example, spacing four-inch-thick foam four inches from the wall is almost as effective as using double the thickness of foam in the first place! It can help in this instance to mount the foam or Rockwool onto a board with large holes or slots cut out of it to let the sound through — radiator fret panel is good for this, but not pegboard. This board can then be hung in the right place. Another quicker solution is to simply glue high-density foam cubes to the back of an acoustic-foam panel to act as spacers. I’ve found that spray carpet adhesive is as good as anything for fixing foam.

Another way to deal with high-frequency reflections is to break them up so that they become less disruptive. This is called ‘diffusion’, and requires a very uneven surface with protrusions and wells several inches in depth. Although commercial diffuser designs are available with precisely calculated profiles, putting shelves at the back of your room and part filling them with books, manuals, CDs and bits of unused gear also works quite effectively!

Normally acoustic foam panels will act primarily on mid-range and high-frequency reflections, but you can improve the low-frequency absorption effects by spacing the panels a few inches from the wall surface — the easiest way to do this is simply to stick small off-cuts of foam to the back of each panel as spacers (left). For best results, fix the panels across the room’s corners (right).

In a normal home studio, 2 x 4-foot panels of foam are convenient to manage, and one panel would typically be fixed to each side wall at the mirror points, with a third at the ceiling mirror point if the ceiling were low enough to cause problems. The next step up from this would be to add further panels behind the monitors, as reflections from this area are potentially very confusing, given that they come from almost the same point in space as the speakers themselves. All these foam panels should be centred according to the engineer’s head height when he or she is in the monitoring position. Finally, the rear wall needs to be addressed, which is often best done by combining areas of absorption (foam and sofas!) with areas of scattering.

In most project studios, dealing with reflections will already vastly improve the stereo imaging and focus of the sound, but some further bass treatment will probably be desirable to even out the bass response in the room, especially if you have monitors that work down to very low frequencies. Bass problems are associated with room modes, which are resonances relating to the room’s dimensions — you get them at any frequency with a half-wavelength (or multiple of half-wavelengths) which matches any of the room dimensions. The smaller the room, the more widely spaced the modal frequencies are, so it becomes more likely that the bass response will be uneven.

Depending on the room dimensions, some bass frequencies will be cancelled due to reflections coming back off the wall out of phase with the source, whereas at other frequencies the reflections will be in phase, leading to a boost in level at that frequency. You can often hear these peaks and dips quite plainly from your listening position when you play a chromatic sequence of equal-level bass notes through your monitors. Hugh and I have found particular problems in small rooms that are approximately cuboid in shape, as these often exhibit a big ‘hole’ in the bass end in the dead centre of the room. What’s worse, though, is that the engineer’s chair very often ends up being positioned right on the dead spot in such small rooms!

Although low frequencies can be treated using porous absorbers such as foam or rockwool, the treatment needs to be quite thick and also carefully positioned. Where you have a deep ceiling void, you can utilise this as a bass trap by cutting large holes in the ceiling and then stuffing the void with Rockwool, after which the access holes can be covered with acoustically transparent fabric. The same goes for fireplaces, alcoves, or other unused spaces.

Because of the way bass energy propagates, traps in the corners of the room (both vertical and horizontal) are the most effective. You can’t usually make these several feet deep, but you can at least make them several feet long by having them go from floor to ceiling, or all along the length of a wall/ceiling junction. Various companies make big foam wedges that can be glued into corners, but you need quite a lot of them to make a real difference. They are also quite expensive, though you can cheat a little by putting flat foam panels across the corners on wooden frames, then filling the inside of each structure with dense rockwool. Fortunately, there are other ways to absorb bass other than by thick porous absorbers.

The main reason that low-frequency energy bounces off solid walls is that the walls don’t move significantly — they neither absorb much of the bass energy nor allow much to pass through. The outcome is that most of the low frequency energy ends up back in the room. Of course sound doesn’t really ‘pass through’ any airtight panel, but sound does cause that panel to vibrate, those vibrations producing sound at the other side of the panel. This gives us another clue as how we might absorb bass energy.

One classic method is to fix a resonant panel over a box containing an acoustically absorbent material. The sound energy forces the panel to resonate and, in the process, some of the sound energy is dissipated by the panel and internal absorber. However, this type of trap works only on or around the resonant frequency of the panel, and it also returns some unwanted energy back into the room because the panel tends to continue resonating for a short time after the incident sound energy has stopped.

Another way to prevent low-frequency sound bouncing is to interrupt it with a heavy but non-rigid surface. Here the principle is the same as when bouncing a ball off concrete and then trying to bounce it off dry sand. Clearly the ball will bounce higher from the concrete than from the sand. (In fact, sand can be quite a useful acoustic material, but its weight makes it impractical in most home studio applications other than for filling hollow speaker stands.) A far better option is to use a material called ‘barrier mat’ or ‘dead sheet’, which is essentially a floppy vinyl sheet (not unlike heavy flooring vinyl) loaded with lead or mineral particles to make it heavy. This weighs about 10-20kg per square metre and allows very simple and effective traps to be constructed with minimal depth.

There are many variations on the ‘barrier-mat trap’ theme, but the general idea is that you hang the material a few inches from a wall and then hang or fix a porous absorber in front of it to absorb the high frequency energy that the surface of the sheet would otherwise reflect back into the room. Using this technique, an effective full-range trap can be created in a box-shaped space less then 12 inches deep. The greater the surface area, the more energy the trap will absorb. Where the back wall of the studio is less than around 10 feet from the monitoring position, this can be a useful way to treat the entire back wall.

A halfway house between the absorber and non-rigid-sheet approaches is used in some of the Real Traps products, where a thick slab of absorber has a thin, non-porous sheet fixed to one face. Simply put, the sound energy tries to make the sheet move, but the damping material to which it is fixed dissipates the energy. These traps work best when spaced away from the wall or, better still, when fixed across corners.

While you need to be careful not to apply too much high-frequency trapping in a room, it is very difficult to go too far with bass trapping, and as a rule the more you can accommodate, the more even your bass response will be. Some people worry that bass trapping will mean less bass in the room, but this is not the case at all. The trapping removes the reflected bass, and reflected bass often cancels out the wanted bass from the speakers. The result is actually a clearer, tighter, and more uniform bass response, free from booms and weak or missing notes. However, in a lot of cases a complete solution is not practical, so in smaller home studios as much bass trapping as possible should be combined with the simple expedient of making sure that the mixing chair is out of the way of any sonic ‘Bermuda Triangles’.

As we’ve shown, basic acoustic treatment isn’t complicated, and any improvements made will be out of all proportion to the cost. Your room is a key part of your recording system, so please don’t take it for granted. 

Tutorial by: Paul white from soundonsound.com

alexisjoyvipaccess

She acts, she models, and she sings!! It’s the day Alli Simpson fans have all been waiting for… Alli Simpson is making music of her own! The multi-talented Alli Simpson recently got in the recording studio and recorded her very first song! Alli Simpson tweeted, “Got in the booth & recorded my first song today! So nervous, but conquered my fear! Sounds so sick, I can’t wait for you guys to hear! ❤”.

Want to know what the experience was like for the lovely Alli Simpson recording her first song? In the latest “Paradise Series”, Simpson fans get the inside look on Alli’s day in the studio! And of course, what better mentor can she have than her brother: the one and only, singing sensation- Cody Simpson!

Cody Simpson tweeted, “oh yes.. forgot to mention, I helped my sister @allisimpson record her first song yesterday. and she was incredible. surprise.”

Check out the latest ”Paradise” series episode- “Coaching Alli In The Studio” below! The Simpson family are absolutely wonderful and so genuine! Such incredible support they give each other!

Comment below and tell me or tweet me at @alexisjoyvipacc, how excited are YOU (on a scale of 1 to 10) for Alli Simpson’s song?! I’m going to have to go with 11

Follow Alli Simpson on Twitter and Instagram: @AlliSimpson

Follow Cody Simpson on Twitter and Instagram: @CodySimpson

Check out my VIPAccessEXCLUSIVE interview with Alli Simpson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1YWkvalRas&list=UUfNxWmGw4kbRSzGryGkjD8w and Cody Simpson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR2-56XxEzg&list=UUfNxWmGw4kbRSzGryGkjD8w

Follow Alexisjoyvipaccess on Twitter: @alexisjoyvipacc / “Like” Alexisjoyvipaccess on Facebook: alexisjoyvipaccess / Subscribe to Alexisjoyvipaccess on Youtube: alexisjoyvipaccess / Feel free to leave positive feedback in the comments section below and share this article around as much as you’d like!

Regular follows to the blog will have heard me mention local pop group Heartfelt before.  They are a group of 4 young (oldest is 21, youngest still at high school) gentlemen who live in my home town.  And the reason these guys have been given so much support by me (apart from the fact that one of them is my son).. is because I have such admiration for what these young people are choosing to do with there lives.

I live in a very rural town in Australia.  A place where the national pastime is mostly drinking and watching sport.  In this part of the world, you watch sport, play sport, shoot woodland creatures, swear a lot, drink even more, and for the most part, personal hygiene is fairly optional.  Men are men.  Well that’s not technically true.  Actually men are immature little boys who care more for their toys and trying to out macho the next guy, than they care for anything much else.

So what do you do if you are an artist, a musician, a poet.. and you just also happen to be male.

It’s a tough place to grow up if you are sensitive and have zero interest in the stereotypical male interests of this place.  It would be SO easy to let the peer pressure crush you.

But these guys haven’t done that.  They have rose above.  They take their feelings of frustrating, of not fitting in, and they have written them down as songs.  Wonderful catchy tunes that seriously do get stuck in your head.  It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, I know that.  When I first heard some of the songs, I wasn’t immediately “in love”.  But they grow on you.  And now I find that more often than not, it’s Heartfelt songs that are playing in my mind.  In a part of the world where Country music reigns supreme.. these kids had the courage of their conviction to deviate from the norm and follow their hearts.

Now here’s the truly impressive part.

They are completely self taught musicians.  They have no musical training whatsoever.  They have no computer or electronic training whatsoever.  And yet, they wrote all the music, all the lyrics, and then taught themselves how to record the songs, mix the songs, edit the songs, and produce their very own album.  I have no idea how they figured all that out.  I’m so impressed.  You know those big mixing boards that you see in recording studio’s… these kids have that same set up on their computer, and they professionally mix and edit all their own work.  Watching them work, is insanely impressive.

And I have the honour to have my own photographic images on their CD cover.  The kids went through my portfolio and chose what they felt represented their work best.  The shots they used where snapshots that I took out of my hotel window in Brisbane one night.  The image is nothing like where we live… but maybe it represents to Heartfelt where they want to go.  How big they hope to make it.

Buy the Album

They are going for their dreams.  They are working hard.  Whilst others their age are out drinking, vandalising, fighting or worse… these boys are chasing their goals, perfecting their craft and sharing their hopes and dreams with all who will listen.

And now that the album is done… like the title suggests… It’s out of their hands.  I hope and pray their work finds an audience.  These kids deserve it.  I have no idea how they figured out all the information, skills, knowledge and technical expertise necessary to make this album a reality.  But I am infinitely proud of each of them for doing so.  My only hope is that their work and dedication is not for nothing.  I am older and wiser, and I can be content with working my arse off at something I love and never making a dime from it.  It’s enough for me just to know that what I do brings a smile to others.  I just hope that if these kids don’t find the success that they are looking for, that they don’t give up, like so many others do.  They really do have a gift.

And I think it’s up to our generation to encourage that gift, whenever, and however we can.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)                                  

One of the biggest sources of discomfort I’ve witnessed for recording artists in the studio (especially newbies) is playing with a click track.

Some of us have very good natural rhythm.  Others…..not so much.  Either way, playing with a click track can save a lot of time in recording, editing, and mixing AND greatly enhance the “cleanness” of your production.

What is a click track? Quite simply, it’s a beat used in recording to keep everything synchronized. Usually a click track is essentially the same as a metronome – clicking out quarter notes at a set tempo.  The tempo is measured in beats per minute (BPM).

Why do you need a click track? Speaking as a mixing engineer and a drummer, the biggest reason for using a click is it makes things infinitely easier for me! I rely a lot on visuals and there’s nothing more pleasing than a song neatly laid out in ProTools in 4/4 timing with 8-bar verses and choruses.  It makes editing and automating effects a breeze comparatively.

But setting aside my selfish preferences, using a click track will give your song a neat and professional sound.  Not using a click track (especially if your sense of rhythm is less than perfect) will leave your song sounding sloppy and hard-to-listen-to. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

Now I’m not saying EVERYONE needs to record with a click track. There are styles of music in which a click track would be detrimental.  If you desire a very live feeling,  you might WANT the inconsistency in your tempo.  For most pop recordings, though, and certainly for anything with programmed instruments, a click track is almost mandatory.

TIPS:

• Practice! Practice! Practice! with a metronome, programmed beat, or even along with professionally recorded music.  You CAN learn to have better rhythm.  
• Experiment with different tempos.  If you’re having trouble keeping on beat, try a different tempo.  You may just naturally want to play your song at a different tempo and it’s much harder to fight the wrong tempo.
• Vary the tempo for a more “live” feeling. In the studio I’ve often (sometimes secretly) set the tempo on the choruses a few BPM faster than the verses.  It’s usually hardly perceived but overall gives the song more energy.
  
• Use a beat instead of a click. I do this often too.  Instead of a metronome click sound, use a programmed beat or even a drum loop to help keep beat.  It’s often much easier to get a really good groove by using an appropriate beat instead of a stale series of beeps.

With some experimenting and practice you can get comfortable with playing to a click track.  Your engineer and other musicians will appreciate it and your song will sound better for it.

Jonah Brockman is a musician, engineer, and producer at TuneGopher.  TuneGopher is a music production service and online recording studio specializing in empowering singer-songwriters and other solo musicians with the resources they need to make great music. 

Click on the pics to go and vote for us, to play download festival

http://download.redbullstudios.com/band/the-atelier/

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

TuneGopher is a music production service and online recording studio specializing in empowering singer-songwriters and other solo musicians with the resources they need to make great music.

We’re going to talk about some common terms we use in recording and production of music. The definitions are not intended to be detailed or comprehensive but instead to give first-timers a general understanding of the terms they may hear and use in a studio environment.  We’ll get into more details about each in upcoming posts.

• DAW (digital audio workstation): the software we use to record & mix music – think ProTools, Cubase, LogicPro, GarageBand, etc.).  It may also refer to the computer and interface used
• Mixing Console: the huge thing with lots of buttons in most large studios used to record and mix sound with. Also called “mixing desk” or “mixing board” or simply “console”, “desk”, or “board”.
  
• Signal Processor: a device used to alter a signal in a controlled way (compressor, reverb, eq, chorus, etc.)
• Plug-in: software used within your DAW most often to replicate outboard equipment such as compressors, equalization, reverb, and other effects
• Outboard Equipment: physical hardware external to the mixing console and/or DAW
• Effects: any of the several added sound elements including but not limited to reverb, delay, chorus, compression, and distortion
• Compression: a signal processor that reduces the difference between the loudest and most quiet part of a given sound
• De-Esser: a signal processor that reduces excessive sibilance (“s” and “sh” sounds) for a recorded track
• Dry vs. Wet: dry means “without effects” / wet means “with effects”
• Vox: abbreviation for vocal or vocals
• BV: abbreviation for backing vocal
• Basic Tracks: recorded tracks of rhythm instruments (drums, bass, rhythm guitars, keyboards)
• Comping/Composite Tracks: the process of recording several performances of the same track (most commonly lead vocals) in order to combine the best parts of each performance into a single great vocal track
• Mixing and Mastering: though these terms are commonly used together, they’re actually quite different things and are usually (and should be) done by two different and uniquely skilled engineers. Mixing (at it’s core) is combining all the individual recorded tracks into a stereo track.  Mastering (at it’s core) is putting the final touches on a mixed track to make it sound good beside other recorded tracks.  Both definitions are overly simplified but we’ll explain them more in coming posts.
• Fader: a sliding button (virtual or physical) used to control the volume of a track
• dB: abbreviation for “decibel” – a unit of measurement for an audio level

These are just a few of the terms you’re likely to hear when working in a recording environment.  Have some more? Let us know by commenting on this post.

In upcoming posts, we’ll get in to more details about what you can expect during your first visit to a professional recording studio.

Performed by Asa Murphy
Guitar John Wheatcroft
Vocals recorded and mixed by Paul Bannister

Recorded at Sound Affects Music Studios

I refuse to call it a Tourist Attraction; the most attractive thing about it is the alluring green glow of the Emergency Exit sign.

In the Main exhibit space, Wax Works of Irish Politicians glare at visitors, seemingly expressing their disgust at being crafted from materials similar to the Birthday candles of Ireland’s Political forefathers. Many figures are in storage due to damage sustained following break-ins and flooding at the off-site warehouse they call home. You can imagine my disappointment when told that Pat Kenny wasn’t on display due to flood-related facial damage and that the figure of Gollum from Lord of the Rings is actually made from fibre glass, not wax!

The ‘Wax Factor’ – a recording studio which allows visitors to upload karaoke-style music videos to YouTube, somewhat justifies the over-priced entrance fee. Otherwise, it’s a terrible trip through Irish history with dodgy-looking wax works of Pop Culture icons randomly thrown in.

I was shocked to learn that the Wax Museum is owned by Patrick Dunning, who also owns the luxurious Grouse Lodge Recording Studios in Co. Westmeath, and he is far from hitting the right notes with this wax nightmare.

Jenny Butler

Stay Tuned in to hear this new record we been recording. between the Alcohol and studio parties we been getting it done

The basics of compression

A compressor is a device that turns down the volume of an input source when that volume exceeds a certain level. A compressor listens to the volume of an incoming audio signal and reduces that volume to a certain level that you set. That level you set is called the threshold. When a signal crosses the threshold it is reduced by something called the ratio. A ratio will be displayed as a given number to one.

When you set a threshold you are setting the maximum volume the signal can go. Let’s say you set a threshold for 0 dB. Every time the signal crosses that point the compressor kicks in. Now let’s say you set a ratio for 3.5 to one. That means that every time the signal crosses the threshold by 3.5 dB then the audio is reduced by 1 dB.

Every compressor has two basic elements. The first is called the detection circuit. The detection circuit is the portion of the compressor that listens to the audio and tells the compressor how much volume the audio has. The second element is the gain reduction circuit. The gain reduction circuit tells the compressor how to apply the ratio and other settings. It tells the compressor how much volume to cut out of the signal. Compressors work in milliseconds and work much faster than you could using just your hands to adjust the signal using a fader.

A brief history of compression

Compressors have been around almost since the beginning of audio recording. The compressors they had back then are much different from the software compressors we have today. So let’s look at the history of Compression and how it got started.

The first audio compressors were actually used in radio. They were designed to be a protection circuit. This is when AM radio was the most popular format. Compressors were used as an automatic gain control to prevent over modulation of the AM radio signal. If the AM signal became over modulated it went into other frequencies and it was not picked up by the radio at all. Before compressors someone manually rode the audio fader and adapted to the changes in levels. Back then they did not want the signal to peak and overload the transmitter. They did not want the signal to drift into other frequencies. This was not a big deal with FM which came later, but back in the days of AM the modulations were much closer together. The first audio compressors only had a few controls. The compression effect was only meant to be a protection circuit. The engineer still rode the fader. That was the point of most compressors and limiters of the 30’s and 40’s. They were mainly used as a protection circuit.

Around the 50’s and 60’s they were beginning to design compressors to take the work of the engineer. There was a big television boom that brought about an increase in compressor technology. A lot of compressors at that time were designed with the master channel in mind. They had to be reliable and at a very high quality. All of the compression circuits were designed using tubes, field effect transistors, and transformers. These were analog designs. All compression was performed using very complicated electronic circuits.

In the late 60’s and early 70’s we saw more advancements in compression technology. We began to see rack mounted compressors. The actual functions of the compressor was starting to be used for more musical applications. Having an input, ratio, attack, and released was considered a huge improvement from that era. In the late 60’s, 70’s, and on into the 80’s we started to see compression technology included in the channel strips of recording consoles. So compression went from being a protection effect to being integrated into audio as a tool.

Then in the 90’s we went to digital compressors. There was a sudden shift in compressor technology. Hardware manufacturers could make a digital compressor with midi that could fit in your rack. Software manufactures could make all types of compressors that could adapt to the different needs of the engineer. Today in the era of digital compressors we have many more options. Compression today can also be used as an effect.

The Basic Controls Of A Compressor

Let’s take a moment and discuss the common controls found on todays compressors. Some of these controls may not be found on all compressors but this will give you a general overview.

Threshold sets the limit the audio can go before compression kicks in.

Ratio sets the amount of reduction the compressor will do.

Attack determines how fast the compression will kick in.

Release will determine how soon the compressor releases the signal once it is engaged. Some compressors may have an auto release function that can be turned on.

Knee Refers to the amount of compression that kicks in before the threshold. The more compression kicks in before the threshold the softer the Knee. This tends to make the compressor sound smoother as it kicks in. No compression before the threshold is considered hard knee compression.

Gain Reduction Meter will tell you how much the signal is being reduced by the compressor.

Make Up Gain will increase the portion of the signal that does not hit threshold levels.

These days there are many types of compressors to fill many types of roles in the recording process. Compression is used as an effect. It is used in mastering as well as mixing. Compression can be used to keep a meter from peaking. There are multi-band compressors that combine compression with EQ. Multi-band compressors allow you to compress any given frequency range that you set.

You will find that when using a compressor as an effect each one sounds a little different. For this reason old analog compressors are simulated using algorithms. These algorithms are a mathematical equation that runs on a computer which simulates a compressor’s circuit. Software vendors make all kinds of compressors that simulate older analog hardware. The older hardware is known for its unique sound and colorization of the audio signal. Each of these classic circuits sound different. These classic compressors sound great when used as an effect.

Limiter

A limiter is a type of compression. A limiter will control maximum volume. A limiter will not allow any volume over the threshold. This is not always the case with a compressor. Limiters have very short attack and release times as well. Limiters are also referred to as brick wall limiters because they won’t allow anything passed the threshold.

Noise Gate

Sometimes you can find some compressors that have a built in noise gate. A noise gate will cut the audio signal when it falls below a given DB range that you set. This is good for eliminating background noise that remains constant throughout the audio signal. Noise gates may have their own attack and release controls. They will also have their own threshold. It works in the reverse way that the compressor threshold works. When an audio signal falls below a set threshold the entire signal is cut.

Let’s get to dos.Well. I guess we can say that the other problem is the fact that I will never be a professional singer. I recently traveled to Miami- for that experience read “Bienvenidos a Miami”. Anyway, my little brother and I had the amazing opportunity of recording in a professional recording studio. It was actually quite small, hidden away in a row of minuscule warehouses, but the experience was quite large. The guy who helped us owns the company and his wife is the co-owner, they are both latinos- either from Ecuador and Columbia or Argentina and Columbia or something like that. Oh! And they have this adorable little boy who has the capability of sleeping through extremely loud music at two in the morning. Anyway, this guy manages a group called Kynto Elemento, who are actually quite popular in the Southern Florida area, especially Broward County. He is an amazing manager for them and has gotten them plenty of media coverage and even a “drop” from Pitbull at the beginning of one of their songs. And we would love to do the same for “us”- but most likely my little brother.

Here is the studio- and if you look close enough you can see the top of the little boys head sneaking a peak at his visitors.

So, we arrived at the studio around three in the afternoon, and waited for everyone to become acquainted and settle down. Around 4 my mom, step dad, sister, and cousin left- leaving me and my little brother (along with my Aunt) to fend for ourselves. Around 4:30 my little brother was finally able to head into the booth- which closely resembled a dark closet with a microphone inside- and begin our first song on guitar. He played it over and over and over until it was perfect- and then at least two hours later we both got the chance to add in our vocals. Now- notice the amount of time gone by so far, music making is not easy work! Especially not with my inexperienced nonsense. I was surprised to learn that when recording artists record, to add more volume they record themselves once, and then record themselves singing over their voice exactly the same way. This sounds amazing if you are great at life and can sing perfectly. Not even the greatest editing machines could fix my voice- I just couldn’t get it to match! But hey- my little brother got the hang of it. After that we recorded our second song (another four hours) in the same manner until it was pretty perfect. Of course throughout all of this my Aunt and the guy’s wife were constantly going out to purchase snacks and we were constantly fueled by gatorade, lays, pizza, ceviche, and around two in the morning Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts. The last two hours we had remaining we each did one solo song- with much protest from my Aunt who was anxious to return home. Finally, by around 2:30 we finally finished everything up. We were supposed to return the next day to finish, but this guy’s mom was having health issues- but we were still very proud of our work!

At the airport before I returned home I began to research Kynto Elemento and their music- and I was actually quite impressed. They recorded some of their videos in the recording studio we were in, and I even freaked a little when I heard their “drop” from Pitbull. Speaking of Pitbull- it will now be quite easy for me to meet him- my cousin almost did it once- I will not give up! So, all in all, this was an amazing experience, but I can his my dreams of singing goodbye- or at least only sing live.

Here is Pitbull’s drop for Kynto Elemento- by the way, you should check them out if you’re into people like Daddy Yankee or Flex.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD4bWuj9W9A