Audio recording has become increasingly accessible since the introduction of personal computers and the internet. Yet, when it comes to the biggest names (and biggest money) in the audio industry, professional studios and high-end studio consoles are still the way things are done. A beautifully performed, recorded and mixed studio recording is a piece of…
They say the mixing engineer only gets noticed when something goes wrong in a live set. The mixing board, along with the overall sound system, are the tools of the trade and should be sufficient and dependable enough for the situation. Live performances are an important part of the music/audio industry and of the culture…
The digital audio workstation (DAW) is the heart of the modern studio. Whether we’re running a small home studio or a big-time professional studio, a DAW (or multiple DAWs) will be required. Long gone are the days of cutting and splicing tape; having to bounce down recorded tracks to free up new tracks for overdubs;…
Sibilance is a natural and necessary part of human speech but can be a distracting nuisance in microphone signals and audio mixes. Speech and vocal intelligibility are important, but so is a great sounding mix! Here are the top 7 tips to reduce sibilance in your microphones: The first 4 have to do with the…
Clean audio is nearly always strived for in any sound recording or reinforcement. Still, it is often difficult to achieve due to microphone bleed/spill, extraneous and ambient noise, and other noise factors. What is microphone bleed/spill? When close-miking any particular sound source, microphone bleed/spill refers to all extraneous noise other than the intended sound source….
The amount of noise in a microphone signal can ruin an otherwise perfect sound capture. Low noise levels separate the pro from the amateur audio recordings and should be strived for by everyone. How To Reduce Microphone Noise: Let’s discuss each of these methods in greater detail. 1. Choose A Condenser Or Active Mic With…
Microphone pops from vocal plosives (aka stop consonants) sound terrible (in every situation but beatboxing). Whether you’re presenting live, singing in a studio, or speaking in a broadcast setting, plosives should be avoided and eliminated at all costs. Here are the top 10 tips for eliminating microphone pops and plosives: This article will explain each…
As with most jobs, we need tools in order to do them correctly. Mixing requires mixing tools. This can be outboard hardware or ‘in the box’ software. This article focuses on software Digital Audio Workstations and their mixing tools, most of which are called plugins. There are plenty of plugins out there, both free and paid….
