You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August, 2007.
After my discussion of ribbon mic mods, Michael at OktavaMod sent me some pictures of sagging ribbons, something you might encounter while working on your mic. The most common symptoms of a loose ribbon are low output and decreased low-frequency response. With your mic open, it’s easy to see if the ribbon sags. But with […]
Read the full post ...Tags: microphones, pictures
I spend as much time as any guitar player tweaking knobs to find great tones. Here are some links that have helped me in the quest: First, the effect of pickups on guitar tone: Even though we each have different ideas about our ultimate tone, I think we’re all looking for a rich sound – […]
Read the full post ...Tags: guitars
Inspired by “engineering screw-ups” on Gearslutz, here’s a list of recording and mixing bloopers that made it past the mixing room onto the final release. These aren’t performance missteps, where the band missed a cue, or the singer came in too soon. There are certainly countless examples of those but most were included intentionally, to […]
Read the full post ...Tags: humour, mixing, professional-engineers
David at Digital Audio Insider wrote an interesting article on using Last.fm Statistics to Quantify Audience Devotion. Audience devotion here refers to how many repeated listens a band’s tracks receive. Basically, do people keep listening to the band?: I thought it’d be fun to use Last.fm statistics to try to devise a measure of “audience […]
Read the full post ...Tags: music-business, predictions, promotion
I discussed a simple modification to an Apex 205 ribbon mic, and recorded samples to illustrate the change. Here are some concluding thoughts, and helpful resources for anyone planning to tweak a ribbon mic: Should you do this mod? Whether or not you should modify your own ribbon mic depends largely on your answers to […]
Read the full post ...Tags: diy, microphones
It’s easy enough to play with mic placement on your guitar amp, but it’s not always practical, especially if you record by yourself. This video highlights the main miking positions, and how each affects the guitar’s tone.
Read the full post ...Yesterday, I described a simple modification on the Apex 205 ribbon mic. To show the results of the mod, I recorded samples using both the modded 205 and a stock version of the same mic. Methodology I recorded each pair of clips below simultaneously, which makes A/B comparison easy: Line up the beginning of both […]
Read the full post ...Tags: before&after, diy, microphones
I have two Apex 205 microphones, the cheap Chinese ribbon mics appearing in amateur mic collections everywhere. Even out of the box, these microphones (and the equivalent mics from Nady, Thomann, SM Pro, et. al.) sound decent. But a DIY’er can easily make 2 changes to improve the sound: Remove unnecessary screening from the mic […]
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In what FutureMusic dubs The Waves Ultimatum, Waves has been spying on studios to gather evidence against software thieves. Complete with hidden cameras. (There’s more on the campaign in this Gearslutz thread: Software Police on Patrol.) Waves is targeting professionals, not home studios. That’s probably a good thing for the dozens of web forum posters […]
Read the full post ...Tags: plugins
Watch for “the wall”: Marathon runners hit a wall somewhere around the 20-mile mark. Mixing engineers experience something similar: After a point, mixes don’t get better, they just get different. Learning to recognize when you’ve reached this point is crucial to improving as a mix engineer. Unlike runners, however, engineers who hit the mixing wall […]
Read the full post ...Tags: mixing, reverb, tips-digest
Here’s a classic thread from Prosoundweb with some of the pros sharing their thoughts on getting a thick guitar sound: It’s a lot of things, but most importainly[sic] it’s the blend of guitars and bass in the arrangement. If you listen closely to your fav guitar sounds, the guitars aren’t really that big on their […]
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A custom reverb can add a unique signature to your recordings. And since practically every space reverberates, a home made reverb often requires no more than a speaker, and microphone to capture reflected sound. Understandably, then, reverb units are popular do-it-yourself projects for musicians and recording engineers. Spring and plate reverbs are the easiest designs […]
Read the full post ...I previously discussed the best bit rate for the MP3s you distribute. (Short answer: Probably 128KBps or 160KBps, but test your own music to be sure.) There’s a more important bitrate for most home recordists, however: The number of bits you use to record raw tracks. In all likelihood, your recording system gives you two […]
Read the full post ...Tags: MP3-compression, samplerate
In audio, a transient is commonly defined as “an abrupt or sudden change in level.” We associate transients with sharp, harsh sounds: Think of cymbal crashes, hard-strummed acoustic guitar, and a singer’s T’s and CH’s. A microphone’s ability to accurately capture these transients is known as transient response, and it’s an important property to consider […]
Read the full post ...Tags: microphones, miking
While it has nothing to do with music, this story of Lego’s success with Mindstorms hints at some powerful lessons: Lego […] realized that their proprietary code was loose on the Internet and debated how best to handle the hackers… Some Lego executives worried that the hackers might cannibalize the market for future Mindstorms accessories […]
Read the full post ...Tags: music-business, riaa
