How To Use Acoustics To Your Advantage

Acoustics can make or break a performance. Whether it’s live or in a studio, you may hear different audio distortions and echoes without the right setup. Luckily, though, you can use your studio to your advantage — no matter the type of space or the size you have to work with. 

Typically, smaller rooms are better for recording music. Big, open areas tend to lead to distortion in the recording. Sounds have too many places to bounce off of and cause echos, reverb and noise. You can still make bigger rooms work, but ideally, you can find a smaller space to record in.

To avoid all the annoying feedback, you’ll need acoustic treatment. This process involves getting panels to make your recordings as optimal as possible. That way, when you get to the mixing process, you won’t have to agonize over all the unwanted sounds and distortion.

Click to read more ...

5 Tips For Improving Your Home Sound System

If you have a sound system for your home, there are ways that you can improve the sound quality so that you’ll be able to hear your favorite music with greater clarity. Some of these improvements won’t require you to invest in other equipment pieces and can still make a big difference in how you hear. By following these five tips, you’ll be able to take your listening experience with your home sound system to a whole new level.

Click to read more ...

Miracles In Medicine Explained By Sound Science

Beyond ‘placebo effect’ are special healing vibrations carried by sound and light from the heart of patients and caregivers transmitted through ‘structured water’ and DNA, concludes the author.

Positive attitudes of patients and caregivers, heart-felt loving intentions too, radiate a special ‘LOVE frequency’ evidenced to be 528nm/Hz,’ explains Harvard-trained science scholar, Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz. He credits this ‘good vibration’ for impacting patients most positively and powerfully as the source of their miraculous recoveries.

Click to read more ...

Where Do You Find Good Quality Speakers For Your Favorite Music?

Listening to amazing music can be a thrill. That’s why it can be such a buzzkill to realize that the speakers you own just aren’t up to par. If you have speakers that don’t give your music the crisp and clear sound it deserves, then you should be on the lookout for replacements as soon as possible. Shopping for top-tier speakers is now simpler than ever before.

Click to read more ...

7 Weird Mixing Terms And What They Mean

Guest post by Michael Hahn. This article originally appeared on Soundfly’s Flypaper

Engineers can get pretty fired up when they’re talking about mixing music. Your sound is a difficult thing to describe — throw in a layer of technical jargon and it can be downright frustrating just to talk about your tracks.

Fortunately, there are some common terms engineers use to help communicate mix issues and the qualities of sound. I’ll go through seven of the most common “odd” mixing terms, what they mean, and how to deal with the elements of your mix they refer to.

Click to read more ...

Amp It Up: 4 Ways To Increase The Gain On Your Next Performance

A huge part of performing is playing to your audience. Many musicians make the mistake of solely focusing on the craft of the music. Practice does make perfect, but here are some other ways that you can increase the gain on your performance.

Click to read more ...

4 Essentials Every Recording Studio Needs To Have In Place

Whether you’re making your own music or setting up shop for others, a recording studio can be an incredible place. It’s in the studio that aspirations can become a reality. However, a studio alone isn’t enough to create a quality recording experience. You need to give it all the necessary amenities. Here are four essentials every recording studio needs to have in place.

Click to read more ...

Architectural Acoustics: How Your Music Hall's Layout Affects Sound Quality

The science of modern concert-hall acoustics was born in the late 1800s and early 1900s in the United States. The father of architectural acoustics was Wallace Clement Sabine, an assistant professor at Harvard who helped to plan the internal acoustics of the new Boston Symphony Hall, erected in 1900, and is considered to have be one of the best concert halls for its acoustics in the world.

By testing various halls using seat cushions, people, a pipe organ, various other materials and a stop watch, Sabine carefully measured the time required for different sound frequencies to decay within the various spaces. Today, there are six attributes in considering the acoustics of concert halls. These six attributes are the standard for which all concert halls are based.

Click to read more ...

Musical Inventions In The 21st Century

The 21st century is shaping up to be a very interesting decade for music. How we listen and create this ancient art has changed dramatically with the explosion of technological innovation. Ways of composing and creating that were common to past decades have swiftly become obsolete. In this short article, we will take a look at a few of the major innovations of the 21st century that have had a profound effect on music.

Click to read more ...

Research Says Young Listeners May Embrace CD Quality Audio. Habit Says It Won't Be on CD.

The music industry wishes young listeners would abandon low-bit-rate compressed digital music for harder-to-pirate and more profitable CDs. Contrary to the long-held belief that young listeners think lossy compressed music is “just fine,” Harman researcher Dr. Sean Olive has published results from the first peer-reviewed scientific test showing that young listeners will in fact choose CD-quality audio over lossy alternatives when given the choice. Has the dream of a new generation embracing CDs come true? Not so fast.

Click to read more ...

How To Sound Better Live

Live shows are what a lot of our careers center around. Whether we’re in a band, manage a band, or run sound for a band, one thing is for sure, the better the band sounds, the better the show. After reading this post you’ll be able to implement some changes that will help you gain more fans, sell more merch, and have people leave with happier ears.

For the Band

“What could we do better?” is the number one question I am asked by bands after a show. Without fail, this is the answer I give them:

“Improve your tones”

Here’s what I mean: Say you are a singer songwriter. You play by yourself, your vocals and your guitar is 100% of your sound. First of all, record yourself playing, and listen back to that recording. What is the tone of your voice? Deep? Boomy? Nasally? Harsh? Thin? Full? Listen with an open mind, and see if there are things you can improve on. Next your guitar. How does the pickup sound in comparison to how the guitar sounds when you play it unplugged? Does the pickup add low end or sound too harsh in the highs? Spend some time listening to how your instruments sound, and make them sound as best as they can.

Click to read more ...

Recording: Getting it Right at the Source

How many times have you heard this saying? It’s almost gotten to be a cliche around the recording blog world these days. It’s something, however, that I believe needs repeating. And it’s one that I am constantly reminding myself of in the studio. It’s amazing how many questions I’ve received from friends and colleagues about what kind of mics I’m using. Of course, the recommendations follow: “Oh man, you should try the enter mic of choice here on your kick drum – best mic money can buy.” Or how about, “Hey man, what’s the BEST microphone for recording vocals?” Have you fallen into this trap? I know I have.

Click to read more ...

A Mastering Engineer's Guide to Final Mixdown

“Garbage in, garbage out” is a common saying among mastering engineers. The quality of the source material limits the quality of the final product. Most of my clients have no problem following my simple preparation instructions, but they stop there.

They figure once each mix sounds as good as they can get it, they’re done. In fact, there’s a higher level of refinement that pays huge dividends. I’ll break it down in this mastering engineer’s guide to final mixdown (which I promised in an interview back in January - sorry for the delay!).

Click to read more ...

Bob Marley: The Transformative Sound of Selling Out

Bob Marley comes across as the ultimate musical rebel, though everyone—from American frat boys to Malian army officers—loves his music. Wildly successful, Marley is an enigma: Someone who managed to put obscure local music on the world map; who turned a marginalized community (Rastafarians) into admired trendsetters; who remained a humble barefooted guy even when tooling around in a BMW; who sold a boatload of records by sticking to his guns and making his music, his way. How did he do it?

He didn’t. Marley sold out.

Before you protest, think about it. Imagine, for a second, that a major figure in a subcultural movement—Minor Threat/Fugazi’s Ian MacKaye of the U.S. hardcore punk scene, let’s say—joined forces with a mainstream hip hop producer like will.i.am, and made a really great record that stayed on the charts for eons and moved units in the gazillions. Though some die-hard fans might scream that he’d sold out, he would have transformed the musical landscape.

Click to read more ...