The Music Industry Got Murdered, Here Are The 23 Pieces Of Evidence (Pt 1)

The MUSIC Industry got MURDERED!!! Here are the 30 pieces of evidence (Pt 1) + Recording (Certainly on the Indie level) is dead because Artist have no clear way to effectively monitize their releases! Is your Youtube or Spotify revenue going to pay rent or mortgage??? + The Record Label System has been completely dismantled, leaving no reliable form of Artist financing, development, or support. Even top tier Artist are struggling here. + As touring support/opportunities shrink, Artist are slowly watching their last viable source of revenue shrink as well. As a result we’re seeing more and more old-timers come out of retirement to perform.

Click to read more ...

What New Artists And Managers Can Learn From The Everly Brothers

Recently a friend who has the advantage of being an astute student of the music business from the outside - the advantage being that he doesn’t have to rely on the music business to make a living – threw out the trial balloon statement that what we should be looking for is the next Everly Brothers.

Click to read more ...

Being Me. By John von Daler

In daily life this can be seen in the way I walk (like a harnassed road-runner keen on getting the race under way) or in the way I eat (like a starving fugitive whose food could be stolen at any moment). These are things with which I have learned to coexist, not in a godlike way, but as a subject who has ceased to be aware of his own subjugation.

However, playing the violin has always put this uneasy truce between my nature and my aspirations to a severe test.

Click to read more ...

Abeem Live Technologies releases Rack Performer 1.0

Abeem Live Technologies has released Rack Performer 1.0, pro-audio software for live performance, sound design and real-time audio processing. 

Rack Performer is a high-level modular environment hosting VST plugins and internal modules (over 100 and counting), with MIDI support, multi-channel audio I/O and internal processing, complete automatic patch-delay compensation, sample accurate sequencing, low jitter and latency.

Click to read more ...

Send Your Home Made Music Have It Published in 15 Days

Making a world-class recording is easier than it used to be. Scarlet Lab, our professional album recording and artist creation studio, turns your raw music into fully developed tracks, composed by professional musicians in 15 days including all instrument and vocal tracks. All tracks are recorded, mixed and mastered in 5 steps. In addition to acoustic recording, Scarlet Lab also provide a vast library of live recorded sample instruments from which you can choose any instrument complementary to your music style.

Click to read more ...

Using a reference track during mixing

If you are a musician who is also doing your own mixing and recording you are likely to need as much help as possible achieving a good mix down. One way of understanding how your mixing is holding up against professionally engineered records is to listen against a reference which you admire the sound of within the genre of music you work with. There are a few pointers which can make this much more successful.

Click to read more ...

Recording Vocals Like A PRO In Your HOME Studio

Anyway, I’ve got a good one for you today. It encapsulates almost a decade of vocal recording and endless experimentation, and shares what few golden nuggets I can deliver to you as a result of my experiences and learning.

The problem with recording vocals in a professional or home studio is… Well, just that… The act of recording vocals.

There is nothing natural about it. The human voice is the most complex and finicky instrument there is, and it takes quite a bit of technical outsmarting and finesse to effectively capture an accurate representation of the audible vibrations emitted from an individuals’ vocal chords.

Unlike recording a guitar, acoustic OR electric, a piano, or almost any other instrument, vocal recording presents a few unique challenges, namely, the critical nuances of the tracking process in regards to the direct effect on the captured performance.

I’ve written lots more technical and procedural articles on Vocal Recording Tips here.

Click to read more ...

Is it Possible to Build a Portable Recording Studio For Less Than £250?

When pro audio gear reached the masses seven or eight years ago, the ‘home studio’ dream was born for tens of thousands of musicians all around the world. A couple of years later many of the leading manufacturers of recording gear such as Mackie and Motu started catering to the nomadic musicians and the touring artist with portable gear. 

Click to read more ...

NRG Recording Studios - 2011 Recap

NRG Recording Studio kept 2011 alive with creativity and top ten hits flowing all year long. Here is a taste of this past years guests;  Studio A hosted some of rocks greatest with monumental stars of Earth Wind & Fire along with Engineer Paul Klingberg making hits once again.  Some of the newest talents such as Kitten with Producer Gavin Mackillop as well as NRG Artists’ own Life Down Here, Cruz and Raushi rocked the house and are the latest additions to the NRG family, look for releases coming soon.   The halls were also graced with UK rock band Lost Prophets with the amazing Producer extraordinaire Ken Andrews.

 

Studio B was fortunate to feature some of its own sensational talents such as The Bravery with Jay Baumgardner and Mexico’s legendary, award winning superstars, Mana with equally accomplished Producers Thom Russo and Benny Faccone.  The moroccan beauty also welcomed the 90’s hard rock vocal superstar Sebastian Bach Produced by the lovely Bob Marlette.  Zebrahead once again chose NRG Studios along with Producer Jason Freese to knock out their latest hits. We can’t forget the soulful rock of a dear friend, Gavin Rossdale and Bush rocked the house with Engineer John Ewing and award winning Producer and Mixer Jay Baumgardner bringing home the hits with their recent number one hit “Sound of Winter”. Studio C also welcomed a great friend Moogie Canazio who was mixing a grammy award winning Latin artist Claudia Brant along with many other projects this year.

Click to read more ...

5 Simple Steps to a Great Sounding Drum Mix

When I record drum or percussion tracks for clients, 9 times out of 10 I’m sending the RAW wav files straight from Pro Tools. Of course, my goal is to always get the best sounds that I can possibly get in the studio and at the source. However, mixing and processing the drum kit is inevitable.

In general, mixing audio is a personal art form. Everything from the style of music to the instruments chosen will determine how the mixing session will go. Because the drums are typically recorded first, it makes sense to mix the drum tracks within the context of the remaining instruments later verses starting with a processed drum mix. Of course, there are no rules here. This is just what I have found to be the most effective way to work.

That being said, I get a lot of questions from clients asking for my advice on mixing the drum kit. My only goal when mixing drums is to attempt to highlight the sounds as I hear them in the studio. Meaning, my approach is simple:

Get rid of what’s not necessary and keep what is. I know, really deep stuff right?

Click to read more ...

Birmingham Recording Studio

I set up a London recording studio business almost 10 years ago and have worked with thousands of musicians in that time, something I consider to be a real privilege. Recently I have been looking at opening a recording studio in Birmingham, it makes sense from a business point of view because Birmingham has a very vibrant music community.

The introduction of a Birmingham recording studio to our company is exciting but I am very keen to get the right producer on board. After years of producing I think I know what musicians want from a recording studio but I see a great opportunity in asking you guys what you consider important.

Click to read more ...

Recording an album: Concept or Compilation?

…should each album have it’s own distinct feel/concept throughout? Or should it be a compilation of your best songs during that period of songwriting?

Click to read more ...

How to make a great recording of any instrument with ease.

Making a great recording need not be difficult. I suggest a quality cardioid microphone and a great all rounder would be the Audio Technica AT4033. It’s a condenser microphone and will require 48 volts phantom power supplied by the mixing console or your sound card microphone preamplifier. (this is very common on mic preamps).

Click to read more ...

The importance of gain structure when recording and mixing music.

As a musician it is highly recommended that you use 24 bit resolution in your digital audio workstation. This affords a number of real advantages and not just when processing the audio with plug in software. When you set your DAW to 24 bit you have allowed yourself to record at a much lower level without any technical detriment. The theoretical noise floor at 24 bit is significantly lower than that of a 16bit recording. This means that you can now record signals that peak at around -18dBFS. Thats sounds low but in fact this is equivalent to the electrical level that would have been understood as nominal in a large NEVE or SSL console i.e. 0Vu. In a digital system -18dBFS is referenced to +4dBu (1.23 volts), the same can be said of 0Vu. So there is no need to record at high recording levels when using 24 resolution. I think the confusion may have crept in for 2 reasons, we we recommended that hot signals were good at 16 bit and also the saying “hit zero” may have worked it’s way into the minds of musicians as a hang over from the days of large consoles and Vu metering.

Click to read more ...