So You Want To Be A Producer Pt 2

Pt 1, is down a little, take a read of that if you have not, before reading this post OK. This part is mostly ideas on how to make money while you pursue your Producing Service

In part one I wrote on what the industry job is for a producer, I talked about the bedroom producer, or home producer. In this message I will give more insight and detail on how to go about being a great music producer. I will share some ideas and things I have done to make money in music.

You will need to know about recording engineer principles, as I teach free. You need to know location sound re-reinforcement, where to look for people to produce, and have the ability to know your way around the gear you use, and what gear you need, and do not need. Music gadgets will not make you a great producer, you may have a room full of stuff, or you may be using a PC and a basic set up, it maters not. You must know what you are doing, how to get certain sounds, and many tricks and things on how to get around problems that arise.

No one will learn every system, sequencer, it is not possible, find one you like and learn it 100%. Today to get a job as a Jr. Recording Engineer in a quality studio, YOU MUST have mastered the use of Pro Tools.

You must know about choosing the right mic, mic pre-amp's and mic placement.

Mic placement is everything to making a quality recording. Isolation of sound with baffles, or acoustic panels, and where to place them.

Many now days do what is called, 'location recording' and often just with a lap top. It is my love, it is a thing that is a big challenge, hint, if you have a quality lap top, some decent mics, an excellent sound card, you can make a better living doing live demos, and later master them, produce recordings for the band , or artists. Location recording is a big market and many want a recording of their live gig. Think on this, it is a way to keep food on the table while you are pursuing your own recording career and learning to produce.

Band, artists management, this is another way to make a living as the artists manager. You get 10-20% for all places you find your band-artist to play, get a few acts and it adds up. Start a small production Co-Record label, and sign acts, sale the Mp3's on the web and you get a cut, this income helps while your sales may be down. It is all about making a living as a starving dreaming artist.

I used to do a lot of location recording, recording in my home studio, and charged 25-30.00 an hour, that is the going rate, not hard. I live in the desert now, in southern California, I do not do location recording, band management anymore, because in the crash of 08, I lost everything in my production CO, outside Seattle Wa.

I have committed myself to teaching you reader what I did, and what worked.

Hit classified, craigslist, free ads, flyers, business cards and go out, or listen to people on sites, like sound click and others that need your service.

If you live in a large or medium size city,  take a look at craigslist, you will see many people offering, in home recordings, there is a lot of competition, but you, as a producer will be doing, and offering a lot more than an in-house recording studio, this is but one thing, one way.

Word of mouth is what it is all about, if you are skilled the word will get out, mark my words.

On-line, I used to look for talent and I had no problem finding them.

I looked at craigslist to see under jobs for arts-film openings etc., what independent movie studios were looking for, stand ins, help, etc. Email them, contact them, ask if they need music, guess what they all do. This is your foot in the door to making music for movies.

Jingles, do not laugh huge need for this.

Have a site where you make 30sec to one min. loops for web sites, you sale them for your set price 10-30 dollars each, these loops you make will sale, and used in commercials even. So, many things are out there, think out of the box, try everything, and you will find your work needed, even in a bad economy, people still love entertainment, esp. live. People will always want to be entertained, or if in ministry no lack of places to play if your a solid band or soloist.

You need to learn.

The top reads on this site are when I post a message  a review of best mics and instruments, why? We are gear freaks, and we want to know what the best mics and equipment are.

I only give low priced gear reviews, as I am all about making pro recordings for pennies on the dollar.

I understand money is no issue to some, I could give very high end examples and reviews on very high priced pro equipment, I am a spec freak, and know about everything that is out on the market, well almost LOL.

You do not need a lot of things, less than you may think, esp. if you use a PC and in my opinion you should. It is the way to achieve a true radio ready pro sound. Table tops simply can not do it fact.

Producer, dreamer, stop dreaming, get a plan, take action, educate yourself, but do something. Try some of the things I said, and see what happens.

Let me know what you did, and what works for you.

Writers Block , Clearing Your Mind Out, Someone, I got your email but Did Not See Yur message on this comment forum, so I will respond in a teaching form

As The person who wrote me asked, ‘How do I clear my mind out, get ready to make music, writer’s bloc’. To the question I gave this email, never was sent, and thought it would be a cool way on interaction of an answer gave to a short question. Ask away, and you will get the same detailed answers, I give 100% percent, Join the free school and free services, no one to date, I am shocked, in my early days I would have killed for such a chance to talk to, learn from a pro, for free, what’s the deal? I notice the same thing on all my sites I am speechless, interesting?

 Before I was a  Christian Recording artist, and after, same thing, I have a gift of  never have had writers block, a rare thing, I took a challenge years ago when I was in the biz, the challenge, I would take the session musicians, they would play anything, I listen to it one time, second time do the lyrics and many, many times, most of all my music is all free flow . I did 20 plus songs in one session and was well known for this, odd, a gift, I write non fiction every day, fiction, books, songs, I have never had to clear my head out, I just spark up my PC or? and put some music down sing to it and it is done, I do have many songs I worked on the lyrics, but all lyrics 90% are rough draft and never touched only on a handful of songs, I did edited my rough draft, so its an odd gift and its all from the heart. I can give no advice aside from this.

If you need to clear your head out, if you need to feel how do I get all these things out of my head so I can have a clear writers head, I have a tip.

1. When you feel that way, do not write, wait till you have the inspiration I take a note book everywhere I go, inspiration strikes at the oddest times, also a digital hand held recorded I can hum or sing into with nothing but my vox and song idea.

When I say I have never had writers or creative block, of late running a F.T. ministry a F.T. on line bible school, doing you tube videos, colabs, writing, and the free recording school via email, I work 80 plus hours a week.
Being sober is a must, and learning not to worry about tomorrow, is a must, and you will have a clutter free mind.

2. Other advice.

A song that makes the listener weep, or cry, remember, it can only be, if the one who wrote the song wept first.
Pain is a great source of inspiration and a release, take Country Music LOL. Pain, hurt, even feeling unfocused you can write something about what your feeing and why, as there will be millions of other humans that will be feeling the same thing and will relate, are you angry, I find in some songs anger is a great writing tool, let it come out. Want to say to hell with the world people just care about themselves, the job sucks, people suck, great writing stuff, look beyond the clear head deal, do not write from your head , write from your heart, keep a journal write daily what you feel , events, things you saw, heard, etc. This journal you should read at times and an idea pops in to your head. No matter what kind of music you write it is, or should be passion, use all feelings and use a passionate heart and you will not have to clear anything out, pour it all out in word, writings, clips, and if your in a real bad way, just do not try to create anything, try again the next day.

I do not know what style you record, but to prove My God given gift, I am a humble man, very humble, I am a broken man, young once, proud, not at 53, Send me anything I will gladly put lyrics vox to it, if its a style I can send an mp3, many times doing colabs is the best way to get a whole other sound, and can take you down a new road, make friends and net work, and email as you are now. So what style do you do, Let me work my humble Gift free, you never, ever pay for anyone to colab , that is a scam, colabs are a 50-50 thing, all my music and colabs of late are people who, like me, do not sell our music, so no money involved LOL. And hence, poverty continues.

These are my 3 main points, and an open door for you, ask away, anything, any time, shot clips, music audio lyrics, colabs, need lyrics only, I have 2,000 plus of unused lyrics, good for many styles, mostly Rock, pop-experimental rock, and ballads, I love ballads and rock, and of late film music, love it. Feel free to take your talent to the next level, keep asking, colab, and email me any time, I am hear to serve and help, and pass on what I have learned.

Lastly, on my old sound click site, I recorded under the name Daniel louis and David Louis, I had a simple summer love song, out of 250, plus songs it hit number 1, it was a done in one take, and mastered, now get this, ready for a shock. I had a mic that broke, and this song was the last one on my CD called. Its A 2 Thing, the song was recorded on a 10.00 pencil PC mic, I kid you not, I have samplitude, waves plug-ins and know what I am doing, but if anyone knew that song, and a few others that were top 10 songs were recorded on a 10.00 PC desk mic, they would not believe it, I never told anyone, maybe once. So what you got use it, or lose it, what you do not have do not force, when you need fresh ideas, collaborate.

On my liquid audio site, little action, I just wanted to separate my Christian page from my non Christian page, on liquid audio, I have many, many songs wild, different and the song I mentioned called, The Moment, listen to the difference in the songs, and how different from my sound click ones are, I do have some of the same on liquid audio but a lot of solid non Christian songs, so you can hear other things I have done, and on a PC for lit. Pennies on the dollar.

Thanks for your email, keep in touch
Dr. Dan Abaldo

So-You Want To Be A Producer Pt 1

First let me post what the music industries standard definition is of the role of a producer, in the pro music business.

Record Producer Career Profile

By Heather McDonald

http://musicians.about.com/od/musiccareerprofiles/p/producercareer.htm

Record Producers - What Do They Do?:

The record producer works with the band, session’s musicians and the studio engineer to "produce" the sound the recordings. Often the producer's job is to provide an extra set of ears, to produce a certain sound or to provide experience. They may be involved with arranging parts of the track or even writing it. In smaller studios the role of engineer and producers may be combined, and the band may producer or co-produce the recordings with the engineer.

In House Record Producers:

An in-house producer works in a particular studio, and his fees will usually be included in the cost of renting the studio, although they may also receive "points." Studios can often be keen to retain in demand producers as they can provide a major reasons for artists to come to the studio. Some producers, such as grunge pioneer Steve Albini in Chicago and lo-fi producer Kramer own their own studios. When booking a studio if you want to work with a particular in house producer, make sure that they are available and booked in for your session.

Independent Record Producers:

An independent producer will be employed by a band, or the label on the band's behalf, in order to gain a particular sound or in order to gain from the producer's reputation. The producer and the band will then go into a studio to record. The producer's fees will be separate from the studio rental fees. The producer will usually oversee the recording sessions as well as the mixing and the mastering of the recordings, but make sure this is made clear before the work starts, and that the overall fee is agreed.

How Do Record Producers Get Paid?

Most producers will be paid a flat fee/advance for their work. Some will also receive points - a percentage of the dealer price of a record and/or a share of the profits made from the recordings. It's common for producers to receive both. A producer may work for a reduced up front fee in exchange for some points, or may secure a fee plus points, if they feel their production will be important to the record's success. Initially some producers may work for free to build up work but top producer can be very well paid. If you're involved in the songwriting process, you can expect royalties on top of your production fees.

Pioneering Record Producers:

Here are just a few producers credited with actually changing the way music sounds:

George Martin – the fifth Beatle. Working with The Beatles he invented many studio techniques still used today

Joe Meek – As well as pioneering numerous production tricks he was an electrical whiz who built some of the equipment he used.

Phil Spector – Used multiple musicians playing the same parts to create the “Wall of Sound” production style.

Robert Lange – Developed many multi track recording innovations, e.g. recording each string on Angus Young's (AC/DC) guitar on separate tracks for their seminal Back in Black album.

Hip Hop Record Producers:

The rise of hip hop saw the rise of the producer as star, with producers having a higher profile, and higher fees, than many of the artists they produce. Superstar hip hop producers can virtually guarantee a song will be hit, although the flipside is that they often pass in and out of style quickly, meaning the wrong producer at the wrong time can break a record as well.

Bedroom Record Producers:

The availability of computers has seen a rise in home studios, and bedroom producers. One of the most successful is Brian Burton. He began working on tracks in his bedroom under the name Danger Mouse, raising to prominence with The Gray Album, a mash up of Jay Z's Black Album and The Beatles' White Album. As well as bringing him to the attention of EMI's lawyers he caught Damon Albarn's ear, who brought him in to producer the second album by his virtual band Gorillaz, which earned Burton a Grammy. Next up was the worldwide smash hit Crazy, as Gnarls Barkley, and he's now one of the world's most sought after producers.

How Do I Become a Producer?:

Traditionally producers begin work as engineers in studios, or sometime as session musicians, gained experience in the studio environment. Then they begin working as an in-house producer until they gain a reputation. As Danger Mouse's story shows these days a producer can start working from their bedroom, however studio experience is very valuable to a producer. As a producer you'll probably be working with a studio engineer, but you'll be expected to know your way round a mixing desk. Working at your production skills in the bedroom is a good way to start, and try and gain work experience at a local recording studio.

Record Producer Contracts:

As with all aspects of the music industry, contracts are important, not least because they let everyone knows where they stand and what is expected of them. An engineer may feel that they're 'producing' the session - the band may not. A band may expect the producer to oversee recording, mixing and mastering but the producer may be only be expecting to work on the recordings. These issues, along with fees and point are more easily discussed before recording begins, and a contract can clear up any misunderstandings.

My whole theory and teaching I do is geared towards only the independent, home recordists, or as the article puts it above, the bedroom producer with a PC.

The industry steps to becoming a pro producer are the same as a self contained artist, or producer in general. In a studio I started out as a Recording Engineer, than I moved on to study Mastering Engineering, and lastly, of late Post-production work for music videos and Independent movies. My last goal in life is to make some independent movies, so I have been in study in that field. More so the post production audio side, still have not learned film, video editing, but I do have a working knowledge of it and the Avid system, the industry standard.

 Let me explain something that the true, but stale facts, listed above left out.

You write songs from the heart, you can learn music, and read music, but music that is a natural gift, is from the heart, that’s me, and if you want to be a great free-lance, bedroom producer I hope it comes from your heart as well. I have written over 2000 songs, in every style aside from Country and Rap, because I am not good enough to do those styles. I do, pop-rock-ballads, CCM, and film music. I am a word smith, always have been, in many forms like, a Story Teller in the local school Department years ago, a camp fire story teller, currently working on an action, post apocalyptic book now called, Goshen falls -Book 1. I have several short movie scripts, story boards, all ready to go, just no equipment, or funds for even a cheap movie camera at this time, but one day I will, and than I will make my movie, the locations already scouted out and such, the movie score done by, who else, me LOL.

I find as a self contained artist and producer, you have to be able to know more than your recording equipment. I said in a previous article about, how to write a hit song, song writing, see those, that’s my biggest gift. You need to be able to be like an orchestra conductor, only add, you are the one that wrote the composition. I take a musician, duet, band, I listen to a few songs they are working on, or have just a few parts to, what I do, is I put the parts together, like you would if you were using samples and loops, your creating advanced compositions with loops. I have done 30 track compositions in Acid Pro, it is simply wild. Back in my day, we only had a four track Tape recorder and, now unlimited tracks, unlimited ways to put down your ideas. This is what a good producer does, and a good self contained artist.

I will stand before the band and listen, I hear a good part I yell, “stop" they in shock at first stop, once they learn how I work they look for me to do this as the conductor, the helper. I never try and put my style into an independent artist, but help them to blossom as they are, sound as they do.

In the music business, many arrogant producers have destroyed many recordings. This is why the bands that have been around a while, now have their own label, own song publishing, and own producing, with full control, but to do this in a band, you need someone that can write, produce, if not, you turn to someone like me. I will listen and yell, " stop" OK, that's great, that little part you just did, that is your verse, repeat that one part several times, I will write some lyrics, and they continue, next again, " Stop, that's your chorus,...Stop that's your break" It is putting together a song like you would loops and as said, it works the same way.

A great song is a great song with one instrument and a vocal. All the tricks and sound effects will not make a poor song great.

OK, you have a great song, now once done, in comes adding pads, and mixing, and such. This is how you do it in a studio, or in a bedroom.

I have a lot more to say on this, but this will end part 1.

Till next time-Dr Dan

Why I Hate USB Mic's- A round up of The Best Pre Amps, Lots Of Info In This Post

Why I Hate USB Mic’s- A round up of The Best Pre Amps, Lots of Info in This Post

I have a USB mic, I have had a few, I have tried most of them, the only one I found that would give a pro sound for cheap, is the Audio  Technica  AT 2020 USB, around 130.00

I hate USB mics for doing a pro sounding vocal, they are great for pod casting, a usb mic, a laptop and your good to go, anywhere, that is a great thing.

A pro sound can be had with a few 100.00 mics the AT 2020 and a few others. Presonus has a great mic for just over 100.00, the thing is, to get that studio sound you need the mic preamp. I have talked a lot a concerning mic pre amps, and how it is the most over looked hardware in the recording chain, it should be the first thing, above a mic even. You must have a quality pre amp and a condenser mic to get that sweet vocal sound, also USB mics for acoustic instruments are awful, and most do not have a great frequency response to start with. I just found the at 2020 on Amazon for 80.00 great price, I have seen them used for around that price , the average used price is around 70.00 to as low as 50.00

AKG has the C1000, the mic of choice for an acoustic instrument, like guitar. You need a 24 bit sound card with a way to input your pre amp, your mic is plugged into the preamp, this is step one. I love tube pre amps, you can get a dual pre amp that gives a pro sound for around 150.00 add a 100.00 condenser mic and you can achieve a pro vox, acoustic sound. The poor mans recording studio, the blog and book gives the set ups on the cheap.

If you have money, buy a real good pre amp and a 200-400 mic and you will be in the big league.
A pro pre amp for a home studio will range from 400.00 to 3,000. But what a sound you get from a quality pre amp. There are single channel-strip, one in put pre amps that are from the same pro mixer boards found in most pro studios. 

 My top pre amps , if you have the money.

 First a mid priced one that gives great sound is, the
Presonus studio channel tube, yes tube, MKll it can be had for 250.00 an excellent choice, it has what I consider a must , it has a built in compressor, you want the vox compressor as the first part -input in the recording vox chain, this is very important, and the compressor is outstanding, also this tube baby has a three- band Parametric EQ, and more, a three band EQ is a must, never a two band, forget it, you can not hit that sweet spot with a two band EQ, it can not be done, a sweeping,  or Q filter in a three band is needed, some do not have the Q filter, many have a three band and a 4th the Q filter, you can fine tune any sound.

As said Presonus has some of the best mics on the planet for the home studio I am a big fan of all their mics and the prices.

A step up , my next choice would be hands down the Focusrite ISA One Analogue pre amp. 500.00 it is sweet, if you have 500.00 this is the one, if you only need one input, and it is pure Analogue. I love to use as much analogue in the recording chain, even though I use a PC, digital recorder, keep as much analogue in the chain that you can, even in the mastering, most recording software comes with the plug ins, most are pure digital, pure digital gives a very stale sound. Nomad factory has some excellent analogue plug-ins, vst's, by favorite go to mastering plug in is T-Racks the new version is a big step up from the older ones, it has many pre amps, great for guitars and such, it has so much and the cost is great.

The next level in price I would get the Universal Audio LA-610 MKll Classic Tube Preamp 1,600 bucks, this is a bog boys preamp, it may sound like a lot of money, but compared to studio time, you will save money in one pro studio session for a full CD project., and it is super rugged and pays for itself. I must say, I have seen many, many great home studios that record others, at 25.00 a song or 25.00 an hour, you can find them everywhere, I used to charge that price myself, there are many pro home studios, the competition is fierce, and so many of them, home recording engineers, Producers want to get clients to just pay for their studio, and their projects. Some like me, I am all about Indy Recordist advocating and promotion, I did many free recordings, I also had what was called the barter shop, I would barter for recordings, that is how I equipped almost my whole studio when I was in the Seattle area.

Lastly I would recommend, if you have the cash, and are trying to build a real super pro studio the Avalon VT-737SP Class A mic Processor, this is more than just a preamp and hence the price, 2,500-2,300.00.
It is a true all in one vox and acoustic, 100% pro unit, used in pro studios,  a go to processor.
2 rack space, combo analogue, solid state, but even though it is a combo, it is great, It has an OPTO Compressor, that alone is worth the money OPTO compressors are the best. A great EQ section with the sweep filter I mentioned, love the lights and the VU meters way cool.

Now you can get a vocal all in one vocal processor that can get pro results for around 225.00 By Behringer, this company has really step up in maybe the best bang for your buck, for the home studio, they have an excellent range of mixers with a pro pre amp built in, their mics, vocal processors, you can not go wrong with this company, excellent studio monitors, just the best, for a little money, but a pro sound.
has a couple, one is a tube and it shows the tubes, it has EQ, compressor, even effects that are needed, a gate, a limiter, so I would, get one of those if you want a all in one cheap priced preamp, vocal processor.

Different Mic and pre amps, give different sounds, so look into that, some combos are better for a female vox than a male vox. The best pro mic for the price is the AKG 414 have that esp. for a male and one of the quality pre amps mentioned and you have a 100% radio ready recording.

Once you master mastering, and it can be done with many presets like T-Racks or nomad factory settings, not digital. I do use some digital plug ins with my waves mastering plug ins, waves is the standard as is the Oxford ones , a mac , an Oxford bundle and the pre amps and mic you have a true portable, if its a lap top, recording studio, I used this set up when I did location, live recordings. You will need extreme isolation headphones when recording live, you can ask the live sound engineer if you can plug into their board and do it that way. Or the harder way, it will take some work, but going through the main mixer board is ideal.

So, I hate USB mics OK, I said it, I mean it, but use what you have, some do the job, but you will need to know how to tweak it, if you learn that, you can get a pro sound.

 I hope this post sheds some light, and gives you some items to consider in your pro home studio, next time I will cover acoustics, it is a must, I will simplify it, Acoustic home studio set up, location baffles and such.
Till next time happy recording.

What Makes A Good Mix A Great Mix PT 2

Pt one is below this, read that first to follow what is on this lesson.

I can not over stress you must learn to master the stereo spectrum, the stereo filed, and what Hertz , each instrument lays in, this should be known, esp. instrument Frequency before you do anything, these are free all over the net, have it where you can see it, next have a track sheet, like the big boys, you need to label your channels, if using an out board mixed and can do the same with most software mixers, know whats what and where you are going.

Use near field monitors, on this site you will see my recommendations of near filed monitors on this site, I always keep a low budget in mind that will produce a pro sound.

To make a great mix, you need three types of speakers, near field monitors, small PC monitors, yes in the old days we used small car speakers, now days PC monitors, decent ones with a sub bass, only around 40.00 , than the reference monitor, a little bigger , but these come in the most at the mastering portion of your mix, have a good pair of headphones, esp if your next to a person trying to sleep, and your making a hit song at 2 am, thats how I work. I need and have one pair of cans that are called extreme isolation, around 100.00, these are used by Engineers in a live performance, to drown out all the crowd noise and monitor the in put of the board, I have them , because I must, I create 1-3 am  as many musicians do, and I live in tight quarters with others sleeping.

Never try doing a master with headphones, I do not care how much they cost, why? It will not give you the space to hear what is real, in the proper stereo field, and after 30 min, you lose a lot of your hearing in certain frequency's, even with speakers, take a break , esp. in the master session every 30 min and 5 min to 15 min break is a must, to have fresh ears. Before you call your mix a done deal wait one or two days and listen to it again, so do not dither at this point, as 90% of the time, what a day, or two difference makes with fresh ears, and sober minded , fresh. You will be amazed and say, how on earth , or why on earth did I do that, and changes will be made, but beware of over tweaking, this will kill a song, over tweaker's will mix, and mix and re-mix and this goes on forever, you lose the creative edge, and at the end of a log tweaking week, you will compare mixes, to find the first one, or second, may have been the best, funny, but true.

Remember break all the rules, once you know them try new sounds, ideas, music now days has become stall, a fresh new sound is needed, it could be you, yes, you reader that will be the next B.T. the father of Trance?

What Makes A Good Mix From A Great Mix -Some Tips

So, what makes a great mix, there are many good mixes, but what makes a great mix? It starts with the recording chain. The mixer, hardware or software mixer should be set where the white or grey lines are, this is a start. As a Jr Recording Engineer, so many years ago, my job was to see who was on the list to be recorded, what instruments, style of music, any notes the artist gave, the SR. Engineers instructions and notes, than off to the room to set up. I would than do what’s called a basic mix, meaning setting up the channel strip, say Guitar I would set to the normal frequency and the same on the rest of the instruments, this is a basic working mix, many new musicians do the same, and go no further.

This is step one, but you will need to tweak as you go, this takes years of practice, learning what’s called the stereo spectrum. Placing sounds properly in the stereo field. Many sounds may be all in the 1.5 to 2.5 Khz range this is normal, what you end up doing is masking sounds, you recorded that sound you can not hear, due to other sounds fighting for the same range, this is where EQ comes in and stereo placement. Put some sounds panned to the left, others the right, add some EQ and on some, some effects to make them sit back in the mix, but are now where you can hear them, sounds easy, OK, .

When mixing down you ride the faders, this is simple enough and you know when a solo is coming up so you ride the fader up and slowly not fast lower it.

A solid intro and ending fade is a must, many need to work on fading out, takes practice, many songs I hear have are awful  on the fad, to slow, or to fast, to fast of a fad is the norm, slowly, lower the master stereo faders it takes practice, but you can do it.

Many make the mistake of using too much EQ, this will make a muddy sound, or a sound that over time kills the ears. Bass is important, it must be heard, waves has a great plug in just for this, a simple plug in, it does not change the volume of the bass, but it makes it stand out, complex  to explain, but wow what a great little plug in, just for the bass. You may not have a waves bundle, they are not cheap some 2-3K or more. There are many free plug ins that can do the job, on this blog I have given links to great free VSTi’s and VST effects, amazing.

If you have not read the page on where to get these unreal free VSTI’s and VST’s do so, the sampler alone is as good as my samplers I use, I now use the free one more I kid you not, esp. for strings.

Over use of effects, compression, EQ, can be an over kill, always record dry and add the effects after. Aside from maybe some compression on bass drums and bass so you do not peak out.

You can listen to your great solo vox as your singing with some reverb, but it is recorded dry, it is hard to sing as you would when hearing your self dry in the cans.
A great mix will make great use of the stereo field this and sparse use of EQ and effects will make your song shine, a lot of effects will not make a album filler , sub par song sound great, a great song is great with a  vox and one instrument, all else is more sounds. what is already great, is great with little, little is better. I have songs with a lot of effects, certain songs require wild effects just think PINK Floyd, and others, I use tons of effects, but in proper sequence and laid out in the proper way. To get a fat lead axe or pad sound, try and double the track, pan to left and right - not completely to left and right 30-40% left and right and it will stand out , sound great  in both eras and add depth.

I will write more on a great mix in my next post, till next time, keep on making music and have a creative week.

The Home PC Vrs The Table Top Digital Multi-Track Recorder

Hands down, if you record with, or want to record with a table top recorder, this would be one of the best, the price 1,500.00 or more; it is not a pro recorder spec wise as it is not 24 bit at 96Khz. I have said before in my books and on blogs and schools I taught, you want a true polished pro recording you MUST record in 24 bit and 96Khz, not 44.1, not 48 Khz, but as said. These are the exact same specs pro recording studios use, so you can to. Yamaha has one of the only table tops that record in these must have specs. That would be my choice. Very expensive.
The Boss unit up top, as all boss recorders were designed for the guitarist in mind, and tailored for that purpose, a one man band. It has a decent mastering unit and a quality amp simulator, sound loops, many, many drums it can be a full band, via one person. You can do the same for less and with better results on a PC. More and more people are going PC music studio set ups in home studios.
I gave the info on 4 different PC home set ups, and many saw the cost, if you have not seen the gear, and set up plans for a almost zero down to a few hundred dollars to make a truly, studio quality radio ready song, see the free e-book The Poor mans Guide -To making Pro Recordings-For pennies on The dollar, also my great how to market your music on line free e-book, no adds in the books , just a lot of needed info. On this blog you will see part of the making pro recordings for pennies on the dollar set ups.
If you are a song writer only, and plan to shop your demos to publishers it matters not the quality, meaning almost any cheap 4 track digital recorder will do it, or free Pc recording software.
If you are a soloist or band, a worship group, you plan on selling your music on line in MP3 format, the way its done, you must record in the specs mentioned. Never over look making a CD with Disc Makers, a good one coast around 1.00 to 1.25 a CD and around 1,000.000 down for 500 pro CD's thy have them in 1000 Cd's, less bells and whistles, they offer mastering at a huge price over 400.00 per CD, I charge 10.00 a song for a full CD or 15.00 for 1 to 4 songs, beat that. Also you will need a real nice CD cover, our CD cover art is second to none, see the business link.
You can do all this yourself, and you will with practice, that is my goal, not to make sells, but to educate you to do all this on your own. See the few things we offer and the price, you will see I am not doing this for the money, my passion has always been to teach others, and work with people who need help taking their talent to The Next Level. A free recording school via email, oddly still not one student, no one else offers this, do not think free means it’s crappy. I had a big Business, a big domain, I still have a record Co, and Production Co, it is all just a few things I do and offer now. I teach by email, why, everyone has different recording stuff, I do not know it all surprise, hay do not laugh you don't either. LOL. but you can master, mastering, mike placement, recording tricks, all but maybe not the pro CD cover art work, my 32 year old son of Loan Goat art studios does that for us now, and he gets the cash, he offers frame-able fantasy art as well, so email me soon.
In the email free school You ask a question, or if in the USA we can talk by phone, a true pro free and your finger tips, audio recording consultation, I used to make 125.00 an hour for this. Free, no strings attached, no need to use any of the services, nothing. You will get your answers you need while recording and you encounter a problem, or if you want to learn the art of audio recording, call or email.
I have been an Independent music and movie PR person, marketing, promotion and advocate for the INDY biz, and I know all about musicians and no money, starve till you make it LOL.
If you play out, any type of venue, anywhere have a CD for sale, a T-Shirt, a band, soloist can make a real living from merchandise alone, so do not over look free concerts, free playing for no money, make sure your sells table is there. 
The ones who play out, are the only ones that will make any money now days in the business, fact, song thief, you name it, I know some established acts who do OK on I-tunes, but not many. Try and sale your mp3's on line, see, since my book all has changed that way of selling is going no where, but a band-solo that plays out, that is key to making a honest living in music. I never liked doing cover stuff at weddings, I wanted to do my own stuff and rock out in clubs and later concerts, the applause, the thrill to see tears from a song you wrote, music gives hope, tells a story, and has a heart felt message you want to get through, or its candy pop, with no content.
I was In N.Y. last week, on the plane I sat next to an Indy rap artist, he has his laptop, and was running Ableton live. We talked, I was watching him, seeing what he was doing, I could tell he was having problems, I could not hear it, I could see it, and it comes with time.
He was doing a sampled sequence, and I saw him isolating a trouble spot, a glitch, a silence, an out of sync problem. You fix this by isolating and finding the problem, the sample, track giving you trouble, than you use the + button to make the wave form larger and larger, he was having so much trouble, he was expanded to a wave form that looked like almost a straight line, for hours he struggled, I said nothing, practice makes perfect and he was no newbie.
I wanted to say, listen just do this, hit that, etc. I held back, but could have saved him hours of agony, that’s what I do, so not to use it would be insane, back in my day, no one taught their secrets, even as a JR Engineer, second engineer, the SR. Engineers always kept me out of the loop on a lot, job security lol. Also; I have fixed a lot of old analog music and remastered it and made a digital CD, if you’re an old timer with LP's and Cassettes, you need to convert them to digital. Magix has a great cheap product that does all of it for you, around 30 plus dollars a good investment to save your music, analog tape only last so long, I have a box full and many have a audio drop off many times per song, this drop off, or silence is due to magnetic tape, and that can not be fixed, the humming, white noise, pink noise, clips, noise, can be eliminated with that cheap product. I used to offer that service in my old biz, I see many on line still do, I could not in good conscience do it and charge for it, because of the 30.00 magix software, that does it all , so I gave that up, do not pay to have this service done, buy the cheap software and do it yourself.
If you do not have a LP player and a power amp, hit a yard sale or pawn shop. No Cd player and amp, again used 10.00 bucks for all of it at yard sales I did it, so for around 40-50.00 all your music can be done in CD format of all your old recordings and after converted to mp3's to load in your player and your mp3 unit at home.
At The moment the very best software for fewer than 100.00 is 79.00 it is called mixcraft, the best, get it. If you have money get a recorder that allows you to make music and not get hooked up in all the technical stuff, this will affect your songwriting, and recording. I love the tech stuff, but I do not use these 1,000 seq or 500.00 ones that take 6 months to a year to master, no way, I write and record constantly and as a songwriter, it kills the flow. For looping Acid Pro Is my go to unit, Like Hans Zimmer and James Horner, they have been using acid pro, think the lion king on acid pro, it is also used for vsti's and samplers, thus film music, it is much more than a lopper, I do a lot in acid pro, now almost all my music sound beds and compositions ar3e done in Acid Pro, audio Magix Samplitude pro, and mastering Samplitude pro with Wave plug ins and others.
Lastly, another free service I do is song evaluation 100% free, many artist want to know, is my song ready, is it ok, how are the levels, the content. Big Co. charge a lot of cash for this, not Digital Goatee all free, all the time, now get involved , if you want me to keep doing this I need some students, some submissions, something, anything, let me know your out there, I have several websites and things I do, so I look to keep only what is getting the reads, interaction, and dropping a lot of stuff this year, I will give this a month or two more, if nothing by then I will say good-bye.
Until next time, happy recording