White Noise vs. Pink Noise vs. Brown Noise
What noise annoys an oyster? A noisy noise annoys an oyster! Now we’ve established that, let’s turn our attention to another important question: what’s the difference between white, pink and brown noise? These different flavours of noise are separate and distinct concepts; yes, they’re all noisy and annoying, but they’re differently noisy and annoying […]
Perfectionism Is Not Your Friend
There is a phrase regularly uttered in the studio that is fast becoming one of the most irritating phrases I hear. The phrase is this: “One more take for luck?” I assure you, there is nothing lucky about doing seven takes of the same vocal part. If you didn’t get it right […]
How Long Does It Take To Record A Song?
The most common question I am asked by prospective clients upon enquiring about a session has to be some variation of “How long will it take to record x number of songs?”. Perhaps, “Can we record and mix a song in a day?”, or “Can we get our EP done in a weekend?”. The trouble […]
DI Boxes: A Distinction Without A Difference..?
A good friend of mine recently purchased a new DI box; an Orchid Electronics Direct Inject box – an active DI that retails for about 40 quid. It looks like this: He excitedly proclaimed that for the money the sound was fantastic, enjoying in particular how it interfaced with his bass guitar. I was intrigued. […]
How To Make A Guitar Sound Like… A Guitar!
It may be an unfamiliar premise to some, but I am fervently of the opinion that the goal of recording audio is to accurately capture and faithfully reproduce a particular sound. Not to fuck around with it, contorting it into something that only dimly represents what was originally going on, but to trust in the […]
MOTU??! Urrgh!
*Real* Sound Engineers Only Use Prism Converters, Dontcha Know? Hiffle, piffle, pibble and fwaf. Earlier this year I visited Steve Albini’s Chicago studio, Electrical Audio, with the goal of not only recording some drums with the man himself, but also scrutinising his mic techniques in order to learn more about how such an incredible drum […]
The Bullshittery Of Audio Jargon
The topic of audio recording is vast and open-ended, and discussion about associated equipment in particular often gives rise to much heated debate with respect to perceived differences in the sonic performance between devices. It is not uncommon for hostile discussions to be waged pitting the minutia characteristics of this device against that, with all […]
Comb Filtering In Drum Overhead Microphones
Recording drums in a small room is a problem that any engineer not blessed with an infinite budget must deal with at some point. Among the difficulties inherent in this scenario is the problem of comb filtering in the audio signal due to the microphone’s proximity to a boundary, i.e. the ceiling or a nearby […]
Impulse Responses & Convolution Reverb
How To Sample An Acoustic Space Those familiar with audio production probably know that there are two types of digitally synthesised reverb effect. The first, and generally most popular given its byte-sized (heh) use of computer resources is known as “algorithmic” reverb, where the incoming signal is, sample by sample, multiplied by a factor dictated […]
Thread Adaptors And The Pain Of Existence
My sound engineering brethren, I feel your pain. I do. And for years I have been struggling just as you have, coerced into climbing that familiar mountain, bravely embarking ‘cross the bridge of despair, a spirit yearning for freedom, thoughts mired in the darkness of a wilderness within which only fools and heroes tread, all […]
