Recording Tip 39: Once you have basic levels and pans, listen in mono, THEN adjust pans. One small move may help something pop thru

This is a wacky tip and a bit more advanced than some of the others. And while the end goal is to make your stereo mixes better, your mixes heard in mono will be better as well.

Of course 99% of the time your mix will be heard in stereo, but checking your mix in mono is still a good idea for a few reasons, the most obvious being that if your mix is heard in mono you want it to sound good. And if you’re lucky enough to mix a big hit it will be heard in mono a lot more than you imagine. Playback from a smart phone’s speakers or in stores at the mall are a few places where songs are heard in mono by a lot of people. While mono isn’t common, it’s not totally dead. The fact is a great mix sounds good in both mono and stereo and it’s worth your time to check it.

So that’s my little sermon on why it’s good for your mix to translate well to mono. But for this tip that’s really the icing on the cake. The point is to listen in mono so your stereo mixes sound better.  So now you may be wondering, “How do panning changes in mono help my stereo mix?”  

The reason is that mono gives another reference for hearing how your levels, pans, and eq are working. If things are fighting in mono, they’re probably fighting in stereo as well. You may not hear it so much as things are spread across the stereo image, but it’s still there.  

The idea is this. Once your mix is in good shape, hit the mono button on your monitor section and make small panning changes. (Now I’m not talking about changing your pans to mono and then listening.  I’m talking about using your monitor’s Mono button so it combines the stereo mix to mono in your speakers. If you don’t have a mono button on your monitor this tip won’t work for you. You have to have a Mono button in your monitor section to do this.)

So get your mix in good shape, preferably before you’ve begun automating the faders.  TIP 37.  By then you’ve panned all your tracks the way you want them so now hit the mono button on your monitor section and listen. Are all the tracks in a good balance? Does the mix still sound like your mix, or something dreadful?  Hopefully it’s still pretty good. If not, go back to stereo and work a bit more, checking things in mono. Once it sounds pretty good in both, then take the next step. While listening in mono, select a track and move the pan a bit.

Now I’m not talking about making big changes. In fact when I go back to stereo I might not even be able to tell it’s moved at all. The idea is to give a small bump to the panning of the track a bit and see if it pops out better while listening in mono. One thing also...while panning is mostly what I’m working on, level and eq are also something I’m paying attention to, and often I’ll make changes to those as well.  (This is also why it’s good to do this before automation. If you need to make real changes to level you won’t have to backtrack fader automation.)

When doing this I tend to focus more on tracks panned between L-C-R, but those panned hard left and right might need a change as well. It may be that panning a bit less than hard left or right is better. I’ll make my final decisions and passes in stereo, but like listening on a second set of speakers, this gives another perspective to hear relationships of the tracks.

If I hear a problem right off the bat, I may swap back and forth between mono and stereo to find it. But mostly I stay in mono for this little exercise. I’ll take a pass or two like this and once it sound good I’ll go back to stereo and see how things sit.

Almost always when I go back to stereo I find my mix is much more open and sounds better. Of course a great stereo mix is the goal, so if what I heard in mono doesn’t work as well in stereo, I’ll change it for the sake of the stereo mix. But as I said before, a great mix almost always sounds great in both stereo and mono. Check out your favorite mixer’s work. You’ll hear that’s true.

One thing you must remember when doing this. Anything panned dead to center will sound louder when listening in mono because it adds equally from both sides. So expect the bass guitar, kick, snare, and vocal, etc. to be a bit louder. If it does a little bit, that’s normal. But if it’s radically louder, you need to work some more. Listen back and forth between stereo and mono and find the place where those things sound right in both. In mono you’ll also usually lose a bit of stereo reverb so things may sound a bit drier. That’s also due to the things in mono, like the lead vocal are louder in mono, so that relationship with the reverb is different. This may sound a little odd, but with a little experience, you’ll find what works between the two and your mixes will be better.

Give this rather nutty method a shot. I bet you’ll find good results. And if nothing else, it’s a good way to hone your chops.

Recording Tip 36: When recording, record with the mix in mind.

The ability to record with the mix in mind is a bit of a lost art these days.  When someone gives me a song to mix, I can tell within a few minutes if the person who recorded it understands this concept.  A well recorded song has certain characteristics technically, and I don’t mean subjective preferences of sounds.  These characteristics have to do with how the tracks were recorded, and consequently, how they play back.

When a well recorded song has a good basic balance, the faders should sit in the “sweet spot” of the fader track; somewhere between -15dB and 0.  Also, as the mix plays, a lot of fader pushing won’t be required to keep the mix balanced.  A well recorded song maintains a good balance with the faders sitting still.

This is something which was taught to me from day one as an assistant.  In the bad old days we couldn’t click a mouse and have the song open up with the exact levels we had last time we worked on it.  We’d load up the tape machine and have to quickly get up a mix from scratch with each song.  Good engineers soon learned that if they recorded with consistent fader levels, moving from song to song was much easier.  And of course as the label exec would invariably appear unannounced, they’d be able to make the best showing for the producer and artist, not to mention showing their own skills at things sounding good when they were at the helm.

To do this, engineers developed the idea of setting the monitor faders at an even level, and adjust recording levels into the stationary monitor faders.  We’d record almost like a live mix; adjusting recording levels as we worked so a lot of the balancing was already done.

Back in those days, the old joke was that if you recorded things well you could mix with a nickel and a yardstick.  Line all the faders up evenly with the yardstick, put a nickel under the lead vocal fader so it was a bit louder, move the yardstick up, nickel and all, until there was a good level on the stereo buss, and the mix would be done.  Of course I never saw such a thing happen and I doubt anyone ever really did that with a final mix.  But the story made for a good point about how to record well.  As an assistant I was fortunate to work with a lot of great engineers.  And every one of them worked this way.  Bill Schnee, Jack Joseph Puig, Elliot Scheiner, Al Schmidt....every one.

Now there’s no Grammy for “Best Fader Position in a Mix.”  And you may be thinking, “That sounds like some old fart spouting some old school technique which is pointless today.  Isn’t that why we have automation?”  Sure.  You can put your faders wherever you want and sort it out later. But there’s an additional benefit of setting the faders and adjust your recording levels to fit.  When you do, you end up choosing better parts and sounds.

The reason is this.  By not moving faders around so much you start thinking more about how each part works with the rest of the track.  A good part with a good sound blends into the mix more easily.  When recording if I can’t find a good level...if it always seems too loud or too soft, I wonder about what’s being recorded.  If I can’t find a balance where the part works throughout the song, I probably need to change the part, the sound, or both.

One last thought about this.  While recording with the mix in mind has a lot to do with levels, it also has to do with coming up with parts that will work well in the stereo field.  A great stereo mix has a good balance of parts in both speakers, giving the mix size and power.  So when recording, think of where a part may end up getting panned in the final mix.  Spatial interest is a huge part of good mixes..and makes song much more fun to listen to.  I always love it when I get a mix where somebody took the time to make parts that work well in stereo.  Of course, there are no rules.  Sometimes having a big guitar part on one side can be great, in particular if it’s a power trio.  But most songs sound better with a balanced feel between the two speakers.

But whatever you do, don’t get caught up in layering part after part, focusing only on the overdub of the moment.  Listen carefully, keeping the end in mind...a great mix for the song. 

Recording Tip 35: On a related note, I’ve heard of a fellow turning on a vacuum cleaner as he listens with the same purpose.

Now this is something I’ve never done, nor am likely to do, but it’s worth bringing up as it relates to Tip 34.  Again, maybe 1% of people who hear your mixes will listen in a quiet room with their head between the speakers.  At best it will be with headphones, but they’ll still most likely be doing something else when listening.  

The vacuum noise will mask a lot of things.  And if your mix is in good shape, you should be able to hear all the important elements over the din of the motor.  

I’m not saying to do this, but on the other hand, hey...if it works, do it!

Recording Tip 32: Keep an eye on playback levels. Listening at varying volumes.

We all know listening too loud for too long rarely results in a great mix. It’s tempting to do, and even veteran mixers get tripped up with this at times. Loud playback levels have a sense of authority so there’s a natural tendency to listen loud when uncertain about a mix, especially if clients are in the room. The problem is it’s rarely helpful when mixing.   

After my own battles with this I finally developed a system which helps me from listening too loud and gives consistent results. The way I did this is to find a consistent position on my volume knob and mix to where it should be 85dB when at that spot.

The concept of listening with a specific volume pot setting is something I learned from the legendary mastering engineer, Doug Sax. I was in a mastering session with Doug when he told me he does almost all of his work with his volume pot at a specific place. He knows his set up well enough that once he’s got proper eq, level and compression, and the volume pot is at a certain position, the resulting sound will be a certain dBSPL. If it felt too loud or too soft, he would make adjustments to what he was doing to achieve the level he wanted rather than changing the volume. Of course Doug’s role and mine are different. But the end game of getting consistent results apply to both of us so I took this concept to mixing and have found this to be very helpful. It’s not a complex idea, but really makes a lot of sense.

At this point you should be saying, “There’s no 85dB spot on a volume knob.” And right you are. So how do you know at what dBSPL level you’re listening? You can find an old classic Radio Shack dB meter but I have found the apps for my iPhone to be very accurate. Of course you don’t have to use a dB meter at all. A lot of mixers don’t. The goal isn’t a dB number, but finding a consistent monitoring level. Once I got my setup figured out, I rarely turn the dB meter on. Like Doug, when the volume pot is at it’s place, I know how loud the mix should feel.

So how did I find this spot on the volume knob? I called up several mixes I had done in the past which I liked, and played them back. With the dB meter on, I turned up the volume pot until I found a spot where I got a 85 dBSPL playback level. I then took a pencil and marked that spot. I now had a place I set the volume pot for the majority of my time mixing.

My Method

I begin mixing on my main monitors at decent volume...about 90dB. At that volume I’ll get basic levels and pans and begin to apply eq and compression. Once I’m going, I’ll listen a bit louder, up to 100 dB or more to feel the presence and power of the mix. I’ll then go back and forth in level for a while and when things are feeling pretty good I’ll back the level down to 85 dB and listen a bit more. Once I feel pretty good with what I have, I’ll switch my smaller monitors.

My mains are the old Mastering Lab Tannoy 10” Golds, run by a Yamaha P2200 amp with the Mastering Lab modification and a Bag End subwoofer. I also have a secondary main system, The Rock by Unity Audio. These are a great bang for the buck. They’re powered monitors and I highly recommend them. I also have a third set, the TOA M120, but instead of having them next to the mains, I have them off to the side of the room like a separate stereo system.  

They ended up over there not by design, but by necessity. When I bought them I was in my old studio and there simply wasn’t enough room to place them in front of me. So in desperation I got a small wooden shelf and put them on top of my power amps which were off to the side of my room. My intention was just to stick them somewhere and deal with the problem later. Surprisingly, I immediately loved it….another of those happy accidents. By having them off to the side, outside of the normal listening field, they are similar to how most consumer stereo systems are setup. After all, people rarely sit right between the speakers when listening to music, so it makes sense to listen that way when mixing.

So back to mixing...by now I’ve already gotten through the basics of the mix and it’s time to do nitty gritty of the balancing work. I go back to the Tannoys and set the volume knob at the pencil mark and by watching my master level, adjusting my compression on the master buss, I work the mix to hit 85 dB. By doing this I found that not only were my mixes better, but volumes from song to song were more consistent.

So now my mix is at the right level, both in the master bus and at or near 85 dB on my main monitors. At this point it’s time for automating the mix. Once I get a pass I like I’ll switch to one of the alternate monitors and work from there without changing the volume knob. The reason I don’t change the volume knob is because I’ve set the amp for those monitors to match the volume of the mains so it feels consistent. This is important for you to do as well. If you have multiple monitor speakers, adjust the amps so there’s no big change in volume when switching from one set to another. Most often by making a pass on each my monitors the mix will be very close. Now while I try to keep the volume knob at the preferred setting, of course I’ll turn up or down at times. But I’ll always come back to that spot for most of the work.

One thing that is critical to know concerning volume is that there is there is a difference between true level and apparent level. A mix that is very aggressive with heavy compression and severe eq will sound louder even with the volume knob at the same place. Music with real dynamics, such as jazz or classical music may have peaks at or near 0 dB, but will not feel as loud as metal, rock or pop records. As a mixer, you should be aware of this and let the music dictate what you should do.

Now when it comes to listening in your studio, one of the most important thing one needs is a clean path to the monitors.

One thing I highly recommend is the Dangerous Monitor ST. This little box has made a HUGE improvement in my studio. When I got it, it was like I got new speakers, a new amp, and a tuned room! It may be the best $1800 I’ve even spent for my studio. It’s not cheap, but it has helped my mixes in ways I never imagined. I realize it may be more expensive than some can afford, but it’s been very worth every penny for me. Whether you get it or not, be sure to clean up that path as much as possible. Remove extra connections, extra cables, etc. Monster Cables may sound better than the cables you have. But whether you buy them or not, again...remove anything unnecessary so there is only one good cable in the path.

So to restate the lesson for today; listening at loud volumes is good to get the mix in place. But spend most your time tweaking at moderate volumes, and do it until your mixes begin to be consistent. Like anything in music, there are no rules. Experiment and find what gives you great results. Once you find that volume, be sure to stick to it.

Recording Tip 31: Alcohol of almost any kind will mess up your hearing, especially on the top end.

Two-Step Jack

This tweet has generated a lot of reaction and questions. Some of the comments were quite funny, and some more serious, asking if I meant permanent hearing damage. While of course heavy, long term abuse of alcohol can result in a number of negative outcomes, all I really meant was that whenever I’ve had a drink I notice my hearing suffers.

Beer probably has the least affect...wine and liquor more so. When I have something to drink the top end of my hearing goes away to some degree, and what remains sounds odd. Of course that makes things like mixing a bad idea when one imbibes. Critical listening is pretty difficult when that’s going on, so when mixing I refrain from even wine, much less anything else.

When it comes to editing, tuning, etc where sonics aren’t a factor, alcohol may play a role in good judgement. You may approve things but when listening the next day wonder, “What the heck was I thinking??” It could be that you approved something awful....or perhaps you were loose enough to have an inspired idea! More times than not though, it won’t be the latter.

I’m not advocating drinking while working, but if you do be aware and know your tolerance. When in doubt, don’t! Especially if you need to drive home.

I’ll finish with a funny story I was told happened here in Nashville a number of years ago. There was a country singer attempting to track a song with a full band in one of the big studios. They’d been working all day and well into the evening on a little country waltz. Naturally in the good ol’ boy way, drinks were flowing freely and they were hard at it. Despite all the hours of trying, the song just didn’t have the right feel. Finally around 4am they had a track they were happy with so they all staggered home to get some rest before returning to record the remaining songs they didn’t get to that night.

Of course it wasn’t till mid-afternoon when they dragged themselves back to the studio to hear what they’d done. They began listening but after a minute the producer stopped the playback with a funny look on his face. “Play back the demo.” The assistant played back the demo and the producer yelled, “STOP!!! What that #$^%#!!! He just then realized why they’d had such a hard time with the song. The demo was a waltz, but their 4am track was a two step! Sometime during the night the entire band dropped a beat to the bar and totally changed the song....and one one noticed!  

I guess Jack Daniels wasn’t a fan of the waltz!

Recording Tip 30: I once heard an over eq-ed snare drum described as a stick hitting an equalizer.

As far as I know, this phrase was first coined years ago when I was assisting my mentor, Bill Schnee in the course of struggling with a snare, so over-eq-ed there was hardly any quality of the instrument remaining. He worked with it a while, then uttered that great phrase in disgust. (Bill now has adapted that phrase to over-compressed snares. “This sounds like a stick hitting a compressor.”

There can be many reasons why a snare doesn't sound good. But you're having real problems getting the drum to sound good, severe eq is probably the last thing you should use. Better to change mic, move it, or change the drum itself. Do understand the challenge you’re facing is not only dealing with your skills, but with the drummer and their ability to make a good sound. I was told this was true early on in my career. That the biggest part of the sound is due to the player. But I never realized how true it was until I was recording a session where a drummer was swapped mid-session.

I was recording a commercial session for a theme park and knew we’d have two drummers for the date, as the first would have to leave early. I’d recorded the first drummer many times before and had never really happy with the results. But I was a young engineer as these were commercial sessions and I never had the time I would have on a record date, I concluded the lesser results were mostly due to the lack of time. We had decent, but not great drum sounds. When the new drummer arrived I asked him to play a bit to simply check his levels. When he played the entire drum kit lit up and sounded IMMEDIATELY better! I was stunned. It was so much better the producer jumped up off the back couch and asked, “What did you do to the drums?” “Nothing!” I said. “Just hire HIM next time!”

All this to say when you’re dealing with difficult drum sounds you have not only your abilities, but the studio, the gear, and also the drummer to deal with. And while you probably can’t change drummers, you must understand their role and when needed, take steps to help them make better sounds.

One huge misconception for drummers who are new to the studio is that they think they need to hit their drums hard to sound good. It's especially common for drummers who’ve played live most of their career. The fact is often the opposite. The harder the drums are hit in a studio, the more choked they sound. Medium hard hits often do all that’s needed. So if you’re having trouble with drum sounds, go out and listen to the drummer in the studio and find out if they’re hitting really hard. If they are, remind them they don’t need to do that as you have all these mics right near the drums. It's like a close up in film.

This can be very hard for some drummers to do, but it may be what’s needed. You'll need to listen and see how they react to your comment. If they can't do it without losing feel, then you'll need to tell them to go back and hit harder, and find some way to make it work. Feel and performance trumps sound.

But as the engineer, it's your job to take charge You must thread the needle to help your players give not only good musical performances, but good sonic results.

Recording Tip 29. If the bass guitar and kick drum won't sound like one unit, try flipping bass guitar phase

One of the most important components of a great mix is getting the bass drum and the bass guitar to connect as a unit. Sometimes it’s easy; other times it can be a struggle. Most of the time it’s about the sounds, but the playing skills of the drummer and bass player also play a large role. You need to understand how much of each are a factor in this.

We’ve discussed the issue of phase with drums and how that works in getting good sounds. When you have more than one mic on any instrument it’s important to make sure they add together. And what I mean in this post is that when the bass drum and the bass play at the same time they should sound like a single instrument. You don’t hear two things, you hear one.

But no matter how great the engineer is, if the drummer and bass player don’t groove well, there will be problems making that happen. It’s then time to break out Beat Detective or whatever you prefer to get them to where they’re locked and you’ll then at least have a chance of the mix sounding good.

But assuming they do play well together there are a few things you can do to help make them sound like one unit. Of course EQ is a major one. I wish I could tell you the secret frequencies to add or subtract to make that happen. And while there are general guidelines, like pulling out 300-400Hz on a bass drum, that only works if the original sound had too much of it. So be cautious of generic frequency suggestions. They are based on assumptions which may not be the case in your mix.

Of course to start with you need to have the drums phase coherent. Remember is Recording Tip 23. “When using multiple mics, always check phase.”

By following those guidelines when recording you should have your drums in good shape and have phase problems resolved within the drum kit. And when mixing tracks you didn’t record you need to do similar checks with the drums recorded to make sure each track adds properly.

Ideally, when the drums are all in phase, a hit on the snare or kick (providing the system is set up properly) will cause the speaker to move toward the listener. Personally I don’t worry too much about that. While one can test it, all that really matters is that the drums are phase coherent within themselves. Once that’s done and you’re working with the bass, you may feel the bass guitar is moving opposite in phase polarity to the bass drum. (i.e. the speaker moves away from the listener when played) If I’m not not having success in getting the bass drum and bass to sound as one, I’ll try flipping the phase (polarity) button on the bass. If you have an amp and direct signal, of course you need to first make sure they are in agreement. This is something you must always do whenever you have both an amp and a direct signal. Listen to both signals, and flip the phase of one of them. I normally suspect the amp is more likely to be wrong and flip that first, but be sure to check one of them. It will be pretty easy to hear if they are adding or cancelling.

Once you have the bass phase resolved and you want to check it’s phase against the bass drum, you will need to flip both signals to see if that helps make the instruments sound as one. Don’t flip the phase of the bass drum, as you should have already checked that and gotten it right.

I will admit more often than not I’ve not needed to flip the phase of the bass. But on occasion it has done the trick. Hopefully the first order of business is there, the players are locked up and grooving. And if that’s so and you can’t get those elements to connect, give the old bass phase flip a try.

Recordingtips 27: Don’t record in stereo unless your source is truly stereo

Of all the tweets I’ve posted I get the most questions on this one. People ask, “What do you mean by truly stereo?” I think the question comes from a lack of understanding of what stereo is. So what is stereo?

It’s a pretty straightforward question with a simple answer.
But let’s look at a few aspects of the subject before I answer that question.

First of all, why stereo? As you probably know, the earliest recordings were made in mono. It wasn’t by choice. It was all technology was capable of at the time. Mono wax cylinders gave way to mono wire recorders, and then mono magnetic tape.

Speaking of wire records, the great Al Schmidt told me once that wire recorders were the machines he began his career with. (Wire recorders worked basically like a magnetic tape machine. A supply and take-up spool passed a thin flexible wire across a record and playback head.) Humorously enough, with those machines you’d sequence the songs in order for the album by literally tying the ends of the wires of two songs together in a little knot!)

One thing I must say, it's remarkable to consider that a man who began his career in the 50's with wire recorders is still widely considered one of the top engineers in the world today. Al's recording and mixing of Diana Krall's "Quiet Nights" is one of the best sounding records you will ever hear. And the mastering engineer, Doug Sax, told me that it was a flat transfer. No eq. No compression. A rather astounding feat.

Once magnetic tape arrived, the technology of recording in stereo was developed. By then the vinyl LP had come on the scene, but it was also a mono device. However, forward looking folks began to develop stereo recording techniques (particularly in classical music) and recording in stereo, knowing that at some point stereo LPs would take over. Interestingly, those techniques are still the standard for today. No one has really discovered anything better. The Blumlein technique is a prime example as well as the M-S (Mid-Side) technique.

Pop music was something altogether different. Most of the early stereo mixes for pop music weren’t really stereo in a true sense like the classical recordings. (Two or three mics capturing a single source, creating a stereo field) Most were really a kind of discrete mono. Some mixes would have a bass and guitar coming from one speaker, drums and piano or whatever from the other, and a vocal in the middle…sometimes.

It can be easily argued that the real ground-breakers in the creation of stereo pop music were the Beatles and the Beach Boys. Of course others were doing it as well, but these guys were the leaders. Some of the early Beatles albums were released with these “discrete mono” mixes, but that was never the intention of the group, thus the remixing of those albums in mono by Geoff Emerick and George Martin a few years ago. Back in those days AM radio was king, and mono mixes were where the most attention was given during mixdown. It’s interesting to think of this. While the classical world was recording away in stereo, AM radio kept pop music continuing to bow to the mono god.

Okay…there’s the history lesson for today. Now about this thing stereo….

Stereo is really the most natural format to listen to music for the obvious reason that we hear in stereo. Stereo fits the natural sensibilities of our species. Our two ears localize sound sources from the environment we’re in. When we hear a sound on our left side, the left ear hears it ever so slightly first, and with a bit more clarity. The right side hears it as well, but a bit later in time and with less high frequency information and with more reflections. Our brain is amazingly capable of interpreting these time delays and frequency differences and give us the ability to very accurately determine where a sound source is. With one ear it’s much more difficult to do that. Similarly, in an anechoic chamber you’d not be able to easily localize a sound source, as there are no reflections giving you those spatial clues.

So, to the original question…What is stereo? The answer is essentially this. Mono is the exact same thing in both speakers. Stereo is anything else.

Some stereo recordings, such as an acoustic guitar can sound very stereo or somewhat mono depending on how it was mic’d. When it’s not very wide I call that “The big mono.” That means that while it was recorded with two mics or a stereo mic panned left and right, the image appears almost purely up the middle between the speakers. Maybe not totally dead center as recorded with a single mono mic, but not a wide stereo image. Now on a singer/songwriter album where very few other instruments are playing, such as a James Taylor album, that can sound fantastic. The guitar is a bit wide and the singer sits inside the stereo field. Such an approach is good and gives space for the vocal to be reside.

However there are times when I’ll be mixing a song with tons of instruments and a guitar was recorded in that “big mono.” While it may have sounded good on the tracking date, at this point in time that spacious stereo field is lost. With all that other instrumentation taking up space, the stereo guitar gets lost in the arrangement.

Other times I’ll get a so-called stereo synth patch…but it’s really mono but recorded on two tracks. I get it. As an engineer you’re taking the two outputs of the source and the programmer of the sound just didn’t make a wide stereo image. It’s close to mono, or in some cases, pure mono. In these circumstances, like the stereo guitar mentioned above, I’ll delete one side and pan it wherever it makes sense. I don’t need both tracks, and don’t need it eating up DSP or faders.

So at least for me, if the sound isn’t really stereo..i.e. I can’t really hear a decently wide image in the stereo field that makes sense for the mix, I’ll not record in stereo. There’s simply no point. And similarly, if I’m recording a very densely produced track, I’ll be very careful about recording in stereo, even if it’s a nice and wide sound. You need to use your ears and hear if it’s useful to record that way. And you don’t need to leave every decision to the mixer. Get some guts and make a choice. Nine times out of ten you’ll make the right one.

Six Thoughts for Beginning Engineers

1. Try to narrow as much as possible what your goals are. As it's said, "If you have no target, you're certain to hit it."
2. I can't state enough that the future of recording will be mostly dominated by musician/writer engineers. Those who make a living solely by engineering will be rare. Already I compete with musicians who own home studios...some good studios, and some are decent engineers. You have to realize that the future of this biz is going to be run by multitaskers.
3. A good school is usually a good idea. A good school with links to the pro world is a good call, but NOT essential
4. If you can get into a studio as an assistant/runner that's the very best thing you can do. From there you learn, but more importantly, you make connections.
5. Practice, practice, practice! Learn from anywhere you can, whomever you you can and have a pleasing personality! (There's a blog I wrote on this called "Attitude." Read it and take it to heart)
6. Luck will have a huge factor in this. But as the great golfer Gary Player said, "The more I practice, the luckier I get."

Vocal Recording 101: Psychology

Ok...This will be an amalgamation of a number of posts and tweets regarding vocal recording. It’s an important subject as most of the music we make will have a lead vocal. So if we’re going to make compelling music, we need to know how to work with singers and help them give a great performance.

The first thing to remember is what said in Recording Tip #56. When producing vocals always remember singers are not players. They are a different breed by nature
Argue this with me if you want or say why it shouldn’t be that way. But I’ve had decades of experience recording singers and the fact is very few approach their craft the way a player does. It’s not a right or wrong thing. It’s no different than the generalization of facts that men and woman are different. There are exceptions with all things and of course there is with this. But the point I’m driving at is that if you’re a player producing a singer, you need to think about how you speak with them when recording.

For example, tell a player, “You’re a bit flat there” and it’s no big deal. They’ll get their tuner out and be done. But the same words to a singers can sometimes be devastating. Even though singing out of tune is really a technical matter, when some singers are told there’s a pitch problem all they hear is, “I think you suck.” And when that happens the mind games set in. And that can make it tough to get a great take that day, or sometimes for many days. If they’re singing out of tune of course you must deal with it. So how do you know what to say?

When you’re beginning to work with a singer you need to develop trust. They may be one who can easily get into the nitty-gritty of punching lines or words after you make a comment, or they may not. You don’t know till you’re down the path a bit. So go easy at first and see how they respond to your comments. One good thing to do is to make two positive comments before you say a negative one. Find two specific words of phrases that are the best in the take, tell them you liked it and why. If there was a bad line or word say, “Hey there was only one spot that wasn’t as great as the rest of the verse” or something like that. The LISTEN and WATCH CAREFULLY to their reaction. You’ll learn quickly how they respond to your suggestions, and which of your suggestions get the best results.

Sometime you may come across a singers carrying a lot of negative baggage from their last project. That can be tough. Maybe their last producer was verbally cruel, mocking or even abusive. It could be they were in a band of buffoons who bullied their singers. These kinds of things happen. You don’t need to be paranoid, but as you begin your relationship with an artist ask them about past producers and such..what was good, what wasn’t. And pay close attention to what they say, verbally or non-verbally...as well as what they don’t say.

Confidence is everything in a great vocal. And to get one, you as a producer need to have great communication skills and know speak to those you’re producing. Any amount of correction or guidance needs to be spoken in a way where they don’t feel they’re failing. Speak their language and create an environment where they can feel feel safe and encouraged with each take. They need to feel free to attempt things and if it’s not great, it’s no big deal.

Last thing to remember is Recording tip #57 and 58. ALWAYS be in record and ALWAYS keep the first pass! There is often magic there. But even if it really sucks, keep it anyway and tell them, “Hey...that had a great vibe. I know you’re still searching. But I liked the emotion of it.”

Musical performances are hugely psychological. If you singer feels safe, confident that you love what they do (never work with an artist you don’t love) and that you’re there for them and you’ll get a great delivery. Make sure they know why you show up. You’re there to help them find a performance that is stellar.

So at least for me, these are some keys to psychological connections in producing a vocal. In the next post I’ll discuss some technical things, but if you’ve not set a good vibe for your artist the technical parts won’t mean much. Better a great emotional vocal with technical problems than a pristine recorded vocal with no emotion.

Recording Tip 25: Don’t try to make the loudest mix. Let mastering raise the levels

This is always a battle when I’m mixing a few songs in an album instead of the entire thing. It’s especially true if I know there’s another mixer who always slams the compressor hard and makes very loud mixes. When mixes are being compared before mastering levels them out, there’s the fear my mixes will sound wimpy by comparison. Of course the style of the album comes into play here. If mixing a rock or dance album which typically has little dynamics you probably will want to make your mixes fit well in that format. One thing I always do before I begin is to find out who will be mastering the album. If I know the mastering engineer and have worked with them in the past, it makes my life easier as I know how my mixes translate to what he’ll do.

But you have to mix in the way that's best for your skills. It's easy to make a loud mix. Anybody can crank a limiter and squash the life out of a mix. But what we need to to is make a great mix, loud or not. One of the most fundamental jobs of a mastering engineer is to make the levels between the songs consistent. Let them handle that.

Which brings me to another point...as often as you can, attend the mastering sessions, even if you’re only mixing a single song. Find out when it’s likely they’ll get to your mix and show up then. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned about mixing, and the process of what’s done to my work by attending mastering sessions. It’s the only time your work is really judged and you have a chance to talk to the engineer and get feedback. Ask them hard questions. Be ready to hear bad news on occasion and take it to heart. Those are the moments you can really learn and improve. Some engineers may give you a nice word right off the bat, but don’t let it sit there. Let them know you really want to hear their comments so you can improve your skills.

Recording Tip 24: Many of the greatest mix engineers always recommend adjusting EQ without soloing. Any idea why?

This is one of those rather obvious questions, but is one that bears remembering even by yours truly. The clear fact is that any eq adjustment must only be based on how it relates to the big picture of the mix. It’s tempting to solo whenever you get deep into working on a particular sound, and there’s nothing really wrong with that when you need to get after a particular bit of a track. However I recommend to do it only when you can’t quite hear what it is that’s going on. Sometimes there’s a particular resonance that’s bugging you and if you can’t hear it, then sure...go ahead and solo it.

Here's a great tip in such cases; Select a narrow Q and turn up the gain and sweep the frequencies to find the resonance that’s not working. Once you find it, then duck at that frequency, experimenting with the Q to see how wide it needs to be. That’s useful especially for snare drums which have a tone which isn’t helpful. Sometimes a note in the drum is great, but sometimes it can be in the wrong key for the song, so then you really need to duck it.

So try to resist the urge to solo right off the bat. Work at it for a while while in the track, then solo if you must. Just make sure you don’t get in the bad habit of soloing every track when you need to eq.

Recording Tip 22: In prepping the mix, don’t edit the tom-tom tracks. If the mixer wants that done, they can do it

This may be another tip to which some disagree. But in my own experience I’d rather have the tom tracks left alone. If the mixer wants that to be done, they can do it It doesn’t take that much time, and they can edit it the way they want. Personally I've had to re-edit more times than not! I know of many mixers who want that ringing and bleed to be there. Jack Joseph Puig, for one stated he’d rather have them un-edited tom tracks as he prefers the sound of the whole kit. So I recommend to give it to the engineer as is and they’ll make that choice.

Hopefully the drums were well recorded and there’s no need for this. But if you have a track which has real problems and you feel it's needed, make a playlist of them raw, and then carefully edit the tom tracks as an alternate. But for sure don’t edit and then consolidate the tracks so there’s no way to get it back. Only the mixer will know once they begins the mix if that raw track is what’s needed for the mix.

Perception is Reality?

Perception is reality?

It’s a well-worn phrase, but not always true, especially in music. And in making pop music, it’s especially a question when it comes to mixing. Just ask yourself, how many albums have you heard which sound really dreadful? You scratch your head and wonder how was it possible those mixes got approved.

I remember when I was a young assistant engineer at Bill Schnee Studios and discussing a particularly bad sounding album with the tech. “How could they make such awful sounding mixes?” I asked. He told me that as bizarre is it may be, for some reason everybody there thought they were great. They no doubt played back their mixes in their cars, and home and signed off on it. Somehow they were convinced it was good...but it wasn’t.

I’ve thought about this a lot. I don't want to be fooled into a bad mix...no one does. And there are some albums I’ve mixed that I'll play for no one, so by no means am I claiming I’ve never been in this situation. But how do you keep that from happening?

In thinking about this I recalled a funny situation on a session back when I was an assistant. The producer was very successful; his engineer was an up-and-coming engineer/mixer, whom today is one of the top mixers in the world. Both of these men have done work all of you have heard countless times on the radio. The names are redacted to protect the guilty!

It was a tracking session and we were on a break. The producer, who’d done a good bit of mixing, told a story of a recent mix he'd done. He'd put some EQ on one of the tracks.,,,or so he thought. He tweaked away and after a few minutes was satisfied with the results. He told us he looked down at the EQ...and you guessed it! It wasn’t even engaged! All that time he’d been doing nothing. We had a good laugh, the engineer knowingly, but admitting nothing.

Well about that time the band had come back in and began playing. The producer asked the engineer to put some EQ the bass guitar to get a bit more definition in it. So the engineer went right at it, fiddling the knobs for ten or fifteen seconds. Listening, working away. I looked down to see what he was doing and sure enough! In fact the EQ on the console WASN’T ENGAGED! The same story the producer had told not five minutes before! The engineer continued on...I thinking at any minute he’ll realize what was happening...or wasn’t happening. I tried in vain to cover for him and discreetly get his attention to the “In” button on the EQ. Confused at my vague head jerks and subtle finger pointing he yelled, ‘WHAT?? WHAT??” So I finally pointed to the “In” button. The producer of course saw all this and burst out laughing! The engineer turned beet red, and with a large dramatic hand gesture inserted the EQ, and finished the job.

Of course this is something that’s happened to anyone who’s done a good bit of work. More than we’d care to admit. Clearly it’s possible we can “hear” changes when we’re in fact, doing nothing.

But let’s take that phenomenon one step further.

If our brains can fool us into thinking we’re doing something when nothing is happening, then it can also fool us when something IS happening. This is why sometimes after a break we come back to the mix and think, “Geez! That snare still sucks! I worked on it for thirty minutes and thought it was good. What the heck?”

This time we’ve worked away and actually made changes. But we heard what we wanted to hear, not what was actually happening. Our perception was NOT reality!

So how can we keep this from happening? These are a few of things that I do. Stop every hour or so for a short break. Critical listening can be tough work, and allowing your brain to rest it is a good thing to do. Set a timer if you are OCD and get too carried away. It’s also good to make an early CD ref and listen in your car or wherever without waiting till the traditional time when you think the mix is almost done. It’s also good to keep a reference CD or iTunes playlist running and refer to it from time to time. It can keep you on track and you may even get a good idea from the albums you’re listening to. It’s helpful if it’s musically similar to what you’re doing, but even if not, just a change is good.

I think great mixers have at least two great qualities that factor into this conversation. They have great mixing skills and they have the ability to hear what they're doing when they're doing it. Most of us know a good mix when we hear it. So it comes down to our abilities to mix and keeping a good perspective on what we’re doing. Never believe your own hype (if you have it) It’s easy to think of your work like some parents view their children. They all think their babies are the cutest and smartest ever.

But this isn’t a child. It’s quite possibly your living.

Attitude!

That’s one of those word which, depending on the context can mean several things.

“He’s got an attitude!” Not good.

“She plays with attitude!” Good.

The word has positive and negative interpretations. But what I want to discuss is the negative one.

Let’s cut to the chase. The fact is this. Once one has sufficient skills, what’s most likely to get you to be called for a gig is the demeanor you bring to a gig, a session, whatever. Yeah sure, talent is in short supply. But what’s in even shorter supply is someone with great talent and a positive vibe. If you can be that person, your chances of getting work go up a 1000%.

I’ve been blessed to work with some of the greatest musicians and producers on the planet. And let me tell you, most all of them have a great personality and vibe. They not only play great, the are a blast to be around and inspire everyone around them. Human behavior is something to pay attention to. So when working with people, notice these things. And while musical skills and a personal skills are two different things, I’ve found that almost without exception the greatest musicians I know have both.

While personality alone a great career cannot make, the world is full of those who have such negative vibes you’d not want to spend any more time with them than you have to. What is also certain is that it’s hard enough to make a living in this business. And if you are perceived as a PITA (pain in the ass) your chances of being a part of a project will drop considerably.

In my last post “There Are No Small Gigs” I mentioned an experience I had and learned first-hand about this. I gained tens of thousands of dollars of work from a client who wanted nothing to do with a certain engineer, who was more experienced, better than I at that time, due only to his attitude. He was a PITA, and that cost him.

I’ll admit that I’ve learned this the hard way. I can have an intense vibe which can be seen as negative, even when what’s in my heart isn’t that at all. Once I was working with a good friend who commented that I had a “mad face.” I wasn’t mad or even bothered, but my face showed a negative vibe. We laughed about it, but the lesson rang home. I needed to be careful of my facial expressions and try to let that never happened again. Had I been working with someone I didn’t know, they’d have come to the conclusion that I had a bad attitude and it could have cost me a gig.

I know I’ve not been fully successful at all times. But I am at least aware of it. My facial expressions are not always in harmony with my inner self. So I must be sure to try to remember that lesson and keep a good vibe, starting with of all things, my facial expression.

Always remember when you show up it’s imperative to have a good attitude, your game-face on...happy to be there. You may have had a bad morning, or feel you’re not paid enough, or any number of other negative emotions which can follow you to the gig. But no one cares about that. They want you to toss that aside and bring with you a creative spirit, and show you’re happy to be there.

And always, always remember that the producer and artist have their own issues and problems, most of which you’ll never be aware. You’re there to serve them, not your own musical aspirations. Get the ego out of the way, accept criticism with eagerness to learn something new, and be grateful that someone thought enough of your skills that they’d pay you money to do something you love. Work hard at your musical skills, expect more from yourself than anyone ever will, have a great spirit about you and will have a good chance of a long, sucessful career.

There Are No Small Gigs

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that there’s no such thing as small gig. Every job you ever take has its repercussions, positive or negative. Rarely are they neutral. And the fact is, in my experience I’ve found that the gigs which may seem less significant, often are much more significant than I’d ever imagined.

A perfect example of this is what happened soon after I’d moved from LA to Nashville. Of course I was trying to establish myself and get work. Things were going ok, but I needed a decent bump in my work. One spring day I was at home and the phone rang. One the line was an old buddy, Bob Parr from LA. He’d moved here a few years before. We were friends but had never worked together. After a minute of catching up he said he needed some simple engineering work and wondered if I’d mind coming down for a few hours. Frankly, I wasn’t that excited about it. It was a nice day, and I had ideas of grilling and a nice cabernet to wind up the evening. But I thought I might as well even if it was for not that much money and no offerings of anything beyond that. So I came down and we recorded Bob playing bass for a few hours. I thought that would be it. Just fill-in work for someone else.

Well the one afternoon of work turned into two months. I was busy with my old LA buddy almost every day.

When that project finally finished I found myself working as Bob’s main guy and filling in for other sessions that came to his studio. Fast forward another few weeks. Bob called and says he’s doing a quick sound-alike for a client. He needed to make an instrumental version of the Beatles’ song “Revolution” and asked if I could I come in right away. Once again I had soft plans for the evening, but now I’m beginning to learn. Always take the gig!

So I grabbed my Neve 1073s, thinking the distortion those puppies could make would be perfect for what was needed. When I arrive another old friend, Chris Rodriguez was there to play guitar. It wasn’t rocket science. I’d read how Geoff Emerick made that sound. We just plugged in direct and I turned the mic preamp ALL the way up....and there was that great sound! A few hours later I mixed it and we were done.

Two days later Chris calls and tells me he’s about to make an album of his own and asked me to take on the project. Clearly I’d made an impression on him with those guitar tones. Of course I wanted to do that. Chris is a great talent and it would be great fun and a great project. Well little did I know that the co-producer on the album would be a fellow who was an A&R guy for one of the major labels in town. Through that I became HIS main guy and worked on every project he did for the next three years. After that he left the label and moved to California to pursue other things. But the fallout of this was that I became well established in Nashville. And all because I decided to forgo an evening cookout!

I’ve worked with many major artists See my linkedin page As well as a #1 Billboard hit record. But as great as those gigs were, none of them have generated even a smidgen of the work that came from that little bass overdub for Bob.

A footnote on this story is two-fold. One, always take the gig! And always, ALWAYS show up with your game-face on, a great attitude and no matter if it’s a first time artist who knows nothing, or a well established legend you always wanted to work with, give it your all. No half measures. And always work with one mentality...that it’s the best job you can possibly do. It may turn out to be something great, or not. But plant the seeds of good work and people will notice.

The flip-side of this is true as well. When I was in LA I began to get calls to do some sessions from someone I knew a bit, but not very well. The gigs were orchestra dates and I knew the engineer who was normally called for these sessions. This engineer is one of the very best in LA for such a call and a mentor to me. Frankly I was wondering why I they called me. Well I found out why. The reason was this fellow, despite his immense skills, had serious problems with his people skills. His attitude was so poor that the composer told the contractor he never wanted to see him again. So from that, there was a lot of work with them for the remaining time I was in LA.

The subject of people skills is worthy of another blog which I’ll do soon. But suffice to say what I said in the beginning. Ever session you take will have its repercussions, positive or negative. So my advice is what I’ve stated. There are no small gigs. You never know what small session could end up allowing you to meet someone, or do something that changes your professional life. And never work in half measures. Take the gig and give it all you got. Such efforts are how careers are made.

Home Recording Tip 20: Always record and comp the vocal without monitoring thru Autotune

Autotune is one of those assumed evils of modern recording. And while I hope that you have the pleasure as I have, working with artists who can make an A+ vocal performance without “sending it to the cleaners” most often some vocal tuning will need to be done. And frankly I have no problem with that. After all, is it any more honest to sing a line over and over until it’s finally right as opposed to a brilliantly sung first take which needs just a bit of help in a spot? Ok...that’s my argument on tuning. You can of course disagree...but you better have a good vocal to back it up..

But if you use it, you of course don’t want it in while recording. And you really shouldn’t have it in during the comp process. You really need to hear the vocal naturally so you’re hearing the best lines as they are. You may want to check a great line with the tuner in to see how it changes the pitch in order to help you make a decision, but in general, you’ll make better choices by leaving it off.

Home Recording Tip 18: When prepping a song to be mixed by an outsider, remove all plugins and automation, unless it makes the sound

That tip was a hard one to phrase in 140 characters. What I mean by “makes the sound” is that at times there’s a plugin added to a track which is critical to the sound of the track. It could be a reverb or phaser...whatever. If it were me, I’d probably print it with that effect and giving that to the mixer. The only reason you wouldn’t is if you liked it but weren’t totally sure of it. You’d then need to tell your mixer that’s generally what you’re looking for and ask if they can they better it. Also, be sure to ask if they have that plugin. If they don’t have it, explain what you did and then print with and without the effect.

Also remove any automation. That includes any panning you’ve done. I’ve had a friend give me files with automation as he liked certain balance changes. However what he didn’t realize is that within a few minutes of the mix starting, the balances that he had were usually meaningless. If you have something like that, make a rough mix and let the mixer hear it and point that spot out.

One other item. I prefer my mixes to ONLY have the data needed for the mix. I want all extra tracks, be it audio takes, midi, and effects returns and master fader to be removed. It just causes confusion and I’ll have to remove the returns and master anyway as I’ll be using my own.

Lastly, after deleting all unneeded audio tracks, go to the regions bin, hit “Select Unused” then “Remove” those files. If you don’t do this the computer must still keep track of them and it makes the session larger than needed. At times this can make the file significantly larger and backup slower. You’ve done a “Save as” for the mixer so you can always go back and fetch something if needed.

So again, clean all that stuff out. Your mixer will thank you.

Recording Tip 17: Hard drives are cheap. Buy more small drives than one large one so when it fails you don’t lose everything

Again, I may get some who disagree, and as long as everything you have is properly backed up See Recordingtip 16 you’re technically fine. But at least for me, I’d rather have to go back and restore as few projects as possible when a drive fails. I recommend two drives per project. One master, one back up when you’re done. So as drive space is so cheap these days, it’s a likely thing that you’ll buy a drive which has three times the space you need. Whatever....I use extra drive space all the time. But the point is the same. I’ll buy several smaller drives as opposed to those ginormous terabyte drives because that’s how I work.

And while we’re on the subject, it’s really good that once a year each drive you have gets spun up. We don’t really know how long any drive will last. We just know there are two kinds of drives. Those that have failed, and those that will.

Recording Tip 16: “If you’re not backed up twice, you’re not backed up.”-Dan Cleary And use a proper backup program

That's an old adage my buddy Dan Cleary used to say, and I think he's right. Now I may get some pushback here, but hey....it’s your project. If you're not a backup kind of guy or gal, then roll the dice. But one you experience that awful feeling I call "THE PAIN" where you realize you're fully screwed as you've lost one of your projects or songs then that's usually enough to change your mind about not backing up regularly.

It’s a bit of a pain, but one really needs to have two backups, somewhat depending upon what you stage of the project you’re in, and what your backups are. The battle of backup formats by the major labels has mostly been settled. For a while it was the AIT tapes (resembled 8mm videocasettes) and using Retrospect software. Too bad because there was another backup program which was much better. It knew how to read PT or DP and save only changes on any and every drive, but they went under. But now that’s all gone. All you need is readable media.

I use Synchronize! Pro X and find it works great. However, always double or triple check things if data is going to be deleted before hitting the button of no return! I’ll have a work drive and usually two drives that I backup to, which are all clones of what I’m working on.

These days labels mostly required you turn in copies of the mixes and digital sessions on two different media formats, normally a hard drive and DVDs. They don’t care about the backup program and that’s good. Better just to have duplicates which can hopefully be read by whatever system is in place twenty years from now.

To be honest I doubt it’ll happen...things are moving so fast. At least we’re required to turn in .wav files of the master multitracks. But really now....raise your hands if you believe any software in twenty years from now will even be able to play what we worked so hard to create?

Ce la vie....We’ll just do what we can for now and hopefully if something is needed they’ll be some old fart with a garage of computers with various OS and DAW systems to playback our file!