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Speaker Design - What's Important And Why
15 oct. 2026
00:42:04
Phil Ward talks to Julian Rodgers about the fundamental challenges of loudspeaker design, from cabinet construction and bass response, to impedance, directivity and point-source designs. They explore how cost, materials, DSP and advances in driver technology determine the compromises involved in creating accurate studio monitors.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:03 - Why Speakers Sound Different 03:19 - The Impedance Of Air 04:19 - How Cost Determines Outcome 09:19 - Bass Response Challenges 12:03 - The Benefits Of Porting 14:52 - Different Cabinet Designs 17:22 - Point Source 22:29 - Research And Design Changes 28:02 - Development Time 33:55 - Digital Technologies 39:47 - Favourite Speaker
Phil Ward Biog Phil Ward is a bassist, loudspeaker designer, technical writer and journalist who has worked in the consumer and professional audio industries for more than three decades. He began his career at Mordaunt-Short before going on to work in design and project management roles at Canon and Naim Audio, and has worked as a freelance consultant and writer since 2001. Phil is best known to Sound On Sound readers for his monitor reviews, and has also written extensively for hi-fi, professional audio, music and design publications. He is also a recording engineer and producer, working from his home studio near Brighton. https://musicandmiscellany.com/
Julian Rodgers Biog Julian Rodgers is a freelance writer and audio engineer with a background in live sound. After many years working in education introducing new users to Pro Tools, he now lives by the sea in West Cornwall, where he plays keyboards in a couple of bands. He also plays bass and guitar equally badly, and remains an enthusiastic collector of microphones and opinions about all things audio. https://www.linkedin.com/in/julian-rodgers-04621926
Marcus Leadley talks to Suzie Cross about his new book, Field Recording: A Practical Guide, exploring the techniques, equipment and creative approaches to capturing sound in the field. From microphones and denoising to electromagnetic and underwater recording, Marcus shares practical insights from more than 40 years of experience.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:47 - Reasons For Writing The Book 03:04 - A Background In Field Recording 05:36 - Commonly Used Microphones 07:05 - Discovering Hidden Sounds 08:38 - Different Microphone Use Cases 13:04 - Digital Denoising Tools 14:25 - Using The Sounds In Compositions 16:03 - Making Creative Decisions While Recording 19:25 - Electromagnetic Detectors 25:04 - Underwater Recording With Hydrophones 29:18 - Managing Unpredictability 30:52 - Allowing For The Unexpected 32:36 - Analogue Pitch Shift And Time Stretch 36:19 - Contact Microphones 40:27 - Where To Hear Marcus' Work
Marcus Leadley Biog Marcus Leadley is a field recordist, sound artist, composer, curator and academic specialising in field recording, soundscape composition and environmental sound. He is Head of the Electronic Music Studios at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he teaches experimental sound and Sonic Arts. His research interests include phonography, soundscape composition, acoustic ecology and ecoacoustics, and his artistic practice includes field recordings, soundscape compositions, installations and collaborative projects.
Marcus has been creating work based on field recordings since 1997 and also teaches field recording and soundscape composition through online courses and practical field trips. Before moving into academia, he worked as an engineer, producer and music technology journalist, managed commercial studios in Australia and edited Guitar & Bass magazine. He holds an MMus in Studio-Based Composition and a PhD in Sonic Arts.
Suzie Cross Biog Suzie Cross is an award-winning creative producer and multidisciplinary artist whose work explores connections between people, places and the natural world. Her practice spans sonic art, eco-acoustics, immersive installations, film, projection, poetry and electroacoustic composition. Her film Newland: New Vision for a Wilder Future, made with Dave Lynch, won Best Climate Film at the 2021 Research in Film Awards and led to an invitation to speak at COP26.
A Clore Fellow, Suzie was awarded the Cultural Leadership Fellowship for Global Environmental Impact in 2018. She is Artistic Director of the Land Lines research project at the University of Leeds, Sound Artist in Residence at Manchester’s Mayfield development, and helps run SynthFest UK for Sound On Sound. She is also a member of the Frozen Music Collective, exploring neurodiversity and the relationship between the human brain and technology.
Lincoln Grounds joins Julian Rodgers to discuss guerrilla recording techniques, exploring how a focus on authentic performances, unconventional spaces and adaptability can matter more than technology and complex setups when creating compelling recordings.
Lincoln Grounds Biog Lincoln Grounds is a composer, producer, recording engineer and owner of Maverick Music. His work spans production music for TV, film and advertising, alongside live performance and recording projects with artists including Sister Sledge, Cockney Rebel and Kid Creole. He has worked in a wide variety of recording environments, from improvised setups to world-renowned studios including Abbey Road and Blackbird Studio in Nashville. https://x.com/lincolngrounds
Julian Rodgers Biog Julian Rodgers is a freelance writer and audio engineer with a background in live sound. After many years working in education introducing new users to Pro Tools, he now lives by the sea in West Cornwall, where he plays keyboards in a couple of bands. He also plays bass and guitar equally badly, and remains an enthusiastic collector of microphones and opinions about all things audio. https://www.linkedin.com/in/julian-rodgers-04621926
Eddie Bazil explores a range of advanced effects techniques, using practical audio examples to demonstrate how creative combinations of delays, reverbs, harmonisers, flangers and phasers can add depth, movement and texture to your productions.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 02:43 - Example 1: Multi-Tap Delay 05:43 - Example 2: Granular Resynthesis 08:10 - Example 3: Wrapping Reverbs 12:21 - Example 4: Adding Frequencies With A Harmoniser 16:10 - Example 5: Flangers For 3D Motion 20:43 - Example 6: Flanger, Phaser and Reverb
Eddie Bazil Biog Eddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands, including Art Of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra, and many more. By his 20s, he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland, Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie began developing libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Rob Papen, Arturia, and Propellerheads.
During this time, he trained in music production. He soon gained several prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer, and was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. This led to him offering educational workshops and classes, and becoming a contributing creator and Forum moderator for Sound On Sound.
Recently, he was invited by the Recording Academy to become a professional member, approved educator, and mentor for their member base. Eddie now concentrates on providing private sound design and mixing/production tuition, and creating content for Sound On Sound magazine.
In this episode, Eddie Bazil breaks down the different types of EQ, explains their most common uses in mixing and production, and demonstrates how they shape and enhance sound with practical audio examples.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:48 - What EQ Is And Different Types 01:33 - Active And Passive 02:45 - Linear Phase And Minimum Phase 03:46 - High-Pass and Low-Pass Filters 04:36 - Example 1: Using Synth Filters 06:47 - Common Functions Of EQ 07:27 - Example 2: Shaping A Kick Drum 10:31 - Example 3: Rebalancing An Acoustic Guitar 13:48 - Selecting The Right EQ Shape 15:55 - Managing Redundant Frequencies 18:15 - Example 4: Rebalancing A Mix
Eddie Bazil Biog Eddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands, including Art Of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra, and many more. By his 20s, he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland, Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie began developing libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Rob Papen, Arturia, and Propellerheads.
During this time, he trained in music production. He soon gained several prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer, and was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. This led to him offering educational workshops and classes, and becoming a contributing creator and Forum moderator for Sound On Sound.
Recently, he was invited by the Recording Academy to become a professional member, approved educator, and mentor for their member base. Eddie now concentrates on providing private sound design and mixing/production tuition, and creating content for Sound On Sound magazine.
Professional producers Chevy One and Gareth Young talk to Julian Rodgers about the advantages of a hybrid hardware and digital studio setup and how combining the two can streamline workflow and speed up modern music production.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction
01:07 - Hardware In A Modern Hybrid Studio
03:47 - What Does Hybrid Currently Mean
07:31 - Benefits Of Having A Console
08:43 - Using Control Surfaces
14:54 - Matching Tools To Tasks
23:24 - On The Way In And The Way Out
31:46 - Recallable And Software-Integrated Hardware
37:16 - Hardware Vs Software Workflow
#LA2A #Console1 #Audient #SSL
Chevy One Biog Award-winning producer and composer Chevy has built a two-decade career across records, global brands and music technology. Operating a modern hybrid studio, he balances analogue commitment with digital flexibility. Recent work includes IKEA’s latest National Swedish campaign and product leadership at All Our Minds. https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseluismontoro
Gareth Young Biog Gareth is the owner of Cube recording studios a residential studio in Cornwall where he has worked with clients such as The XX, Tom Misch and Sam Ryder. Gareth has recently co-written and produced Tom Meighan's top twenty debut solo album, ‘The Reckoning ‘ and as a writer/producer he has co-written and produced hits for the Sugababes, Appleton, Dannii Minogue, Ronan Keating and All Saints to name a few. http://garethyoung.com https://www.facebook.com/cuberecordingcornwall https://x.com/cuberecording https://www.instagram.com/cube_recording
Julian Rodgers Biog Julian Rodgers is a freelance writer and audio engineer with a background in live sound. After many years working in education introducing new users to Pro Tools, he now lives by the sea in West Cornwall, where he plays keyboards in a couple of bands. He also plays bass and guitar equally badly, and remains an enthusiastic collector of microphones and opinions about all things audio. https://www.linkedin.com/in/julian-rodgers-04621926
Eddie Bazil demonstrates creative uses of advanced automation as a musical tool in the DAW, showing how automation can add movement, expression and musical detail. The episode covers shaping arpeggiated parts, using MIDI CC for dynamic control, modulating vocal tracks and applying MIDI note expression to enhance performance.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:49 - Setting Up Automation Lanes 02:30 - Example 1: Adding ARP Movement 04:51 - Example 2: Using MIDI CC For Velocity 07:41 - Example 3: Modulating A Vocal Track 14:52 - Example 4: MIDI Note Expression In A DAW
Eddie Bazil Biog Eddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands, including Art Of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra, and many more. By his 20s, he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland, Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie began developing libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Rob Papen, Arturia, and Propellerheads.
During this time, he trained in music production. He soon gained several prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer, and was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. This led to him offering educational workshops and classes, and becoming a contributing creator and Forum moderator for Sound On Sound.
Recently, he was invited by the Recording Academy to become a professional member, approved educator, and mentor for their member base. Eddie now concentrates on providing private sound design and mixing/production tuition, and creating content for Sound On Sound magazine.
Helmuts Bems, Co-Founder and CEO of Sonarworks, joins Sam Inglis to discuss the findings of their recent AI survey. The conversation explores differing industry perspectives on generative versus assistive AI and provides insight into the extent to which professional musicians are already adopting these emerging technologies.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction
00:33 - A Data-Driven Audio Company
04:56 - Assistive Vs Generative AI
07:36 - New Categories Of Tools
08:27 - Early Adoption Of AI Tools
12:50 - Negative Or Neutral Tensions
18:37 - Tackling Ethical Issues
21:25 - Where Music Production Is Heading
26:33 - The Impact Across Industries And Musical Genres
Sonarworks Biog Sonarworks is an award-winning audio technology company specialising in sound calibration and audio personalisation. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Riga, Latvia, the company develops patented calibration and AI-driven technologies that enable consistent, reference-grade audio across a wide range of listening environments and professional workflows. Sonarworks’ solutions are trusted by more than 300,000 studios worldwide and are widely used by audio engineers, producers and content creators.
In addition to its professional studio tools, Sonarworks has expanded into consumer audio through its SoundID personalisation technology, which adapts sound to individual hearing profiles and preferences. The company licenses its technology to global audio and consumer electronics partners and continues to be recognised internationally for its innovation in precision audio and sound optimisation.
Helmuts Bems is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sonarworks, a leading audio technology company based in Riga, Latvia. He co-founded the company in 2012 and has overseen its strategic growth into a global innovator in sound calibration and personalised audio solutions, securing multiple financing rounds and international partnerships to expand its technologies across professional and consumer markets. Bems holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business Administration from the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. Under his leadership, Sonarworks has been recognised for advancing precision audio technologies used by engineers and studios worldwide and has achieved notable industry accolades and commercial milestones. Driven by complex challenges, Bems combines strategic planning and team leadership with a commitment to advancing deep-tech innovation, and maintains personal interests in endurance sports and outdoor pursuits.
Sam Inglis Biog Editor In Chief Sam Inglis has been with Sound On Sound for more than 20 years. He is a recording engineer, producer, songwriter and folk musician who studies the traditional songs of England and Scotland, and the author of Neil Young's Harvest (Bloomsbury, 2003) and Teach Yourself Songwriting (Hodder, 2006).
Paul White Biog Paul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing.
He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.
Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
Hugh Robjohns Biog Hugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!
In this episode, Paul White and Hugh Robjohns address some of the most frequently-asked questions about home studio recording and production. They share practical, experience-based advice to help you get the best results from your setup, whatever your budget or space.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:14 - Improving Your Room Acoustics 02:29 - Working On Headphones 04:13 - Dampening With A Duvet 05:50 - Choosing The Right Speakers 06:50 - Mics And Preamps 09:02 - Cables And Connectors 11:28 - Hardware Vs Plug-ins 14:09 - When To Add A Patchbay 16:18 - Preparing Music For Streaming 18:59 - Bass Drivers And Room Size
Paul White Biog Paul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing.
He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.
Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
Hugh Robjohns Biog Hugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!
Eddie Bazil explores advanced vocal processing techniques to achieve a clean, professional vocal track. He demonstrates how to control sibilance, tame resonances and apply quick corrective steps that enhance vocal clarity and ensure the performance sits perfectly in the track.
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction 00:30 - Common Vocal Track Issues
01:04 - Example 1: De-essing Sibilance 08:57 - Example 2: Taming Resonance With EQ 16:13 - Example 3: Reverb Ducking
Eddie Bazil Biog Eddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands, including Art Of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra, and many more. By his 20s, he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland, Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie began developing libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Rob Papen, Arturia, and Propellerheads.
During this time, he trained in music production. He soon gained several prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer, and was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. This led to him offering educational workshops and classes, and becoming a contributing creator and Forum moderator for Sound On Sound.
Recently, he was invited by the Recording Academy to become a professional member, approved educator, and mentor for their member base. Eddie now concentrates on providing private sound design and mixing/production tuition, and creating content for Sound On Sound magazine.
Paul White explores the creative potential of using 'found' sounds, demonstrating how items found within your surroundings can be sampled, manipulated and transformed into complete tracks within your DAW using a few simple tools.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:36 - Software Options 01:27 - Methods Used For This Demo 01:58 - Creating A String Patch 04:49 - A Few More Examples 08:03 - Constructing A Unique Percussion Kit 11:01 - Layering Sounds With Synth Pads 12:13 - Using The Voice Creatively 13:00 - A Finished Track Using The Sampled Sounds
Paul White Biog Paul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing.
He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual and in 2010 he received a BASCA award for his contributions to the music industry.
Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
David Mellor explores how the Yamaha NS-10M monitors became a studio staple and why, decades after being discontinued, engineers are still seeking out second-hand pairs.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:15 - Why NS-10Ms Became a Studio Staple 02:11 - Making Better Mixing Decisions 03:49 - A Second Pair of NS-10Ms 05:23 - Mixing With Missing Frequencies 09:11 - Reflex vs Closed Box Monitors 11:35 - Why Pleasant Isn’t Always Better 13:29 - Mixes That Translate 15:40 - Making Rapid Mixing Decisions 18:52 - The Case for Closed-Box Monitors
David Mellor Biog David Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.
He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. David has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music. Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.
David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, also returning to guest lecture at Surrey University. From 2001 until recently David has offered courses in audio online with Audio Masterclass.
David now enjoys making YouTube videos for his 84,000 subscribers and releasing music on streaming services and Bandcamp for his dozen or so listeners.
In this episode, David Mellor continues his exploration of microphone polar patterns by discussing techniques for capturing stereo recordings. He examines how the choice of polar pattern and microphone placement can be used effectively to achieve a balanced and immersive stereo image.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction
01:10 - Defining Mono
03:08 - Binaural Recording
04:24 - Defining Stereo
05:28 - Number Of Mics And Placement
06:58 - Polar Patterns
07:48 - Figure of 8 Demo
09:09 - The Blumlein Pair Configuration
11:05 - Coincident Cross Pair Figure Of 8 With Demonstration
16:53 - Coincident Cross Pair Of Cardioid With Demonstration
21:35 - Mic Spacing - The ORTF Configuration
24:31 - Mic Spacing - Omnidirectional Without Angling
27:28 - Medley Of Configurations
29:38 - Summary
David Mellor Biog David Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.
He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. David has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music. Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.
David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, also returning to guest lecture at Surrey University. From 2001 until recently David has offered courses in audio online with Audio Masterclass.
David now enjoys making YouTube videos for his 84,000 subscribers and releasing music on streaming services and Bandcamp for his dozen or so listeners.
David Mellor discusses how to create custom effects in a DAW without relying on expensive plug-ins. Here he demonstrates his approach to creating a filter pan effect using an EQ with high-pass and low-pass filters, highlighting how custom effects can help give your music a unique edge.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 02:05 - Pan Effect
03:02 - Mono Pan
04:30 - Static Pan
06:21 - Music Track
06:42 - Creative Pan Effect
09:00 - Pan Effect Using A Low-Pass Filter 13:23 - Crossfading Using Filters 17:15 - Effecting Individual Instruments
#slatedigital #infinityeq #protools
David Mellor Biog David Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.
He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. David has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music. Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.
David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, also returning to guest lecture at Surrey University. From 2001 until recently David has offered courses in audio online with Audio Masterclass.
David now enjoys making YouTube videos for his 84,000 subscribers and releasing music on streaming services and Bandcamp for his dozen or so listeners.
In this episode, sound-designer Eddie Bazil looks at ways of enhancing a variety of individual tracks and full mixes using plug-ins that are designed to achieve the retro warmth and cohesion of tapes and valves.
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
01:32 - What Is Harmonic Distortion
02:32 - Advances In Music Production Quality
04:47 - The Introduction Of CD
05:59 - Triodes And Pentodes Vacuum Tubes
06:47 - Analysing Harmonic Content
07:56 - Example 1: TR-808 Sub Bass
10:35 - Example 2: Affecting A Whole Mix*
12:39 - Example 3: Adding Saturation
15:07 - The Benefits Of Tape
17:26 - Example 4: Applying Tape Effects To A Bassline*
20:59 - Example 5: Adding Tape To Beats
23:47 - Example 6: Enhancing A Piano Track
26:56 - Summary
* Demonstration track ‘Puppet’ (Examples 2 and 4), written, performed and recorded by John Walden. Vocals sung by Yvonne McKeown.
Eddie Bazil Biog Eddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer, plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge. https://eddiebazil.co.uk/
Paul White delves into the fun world of modelled guitars, amps and cabs, that cannot only make your songwriting and studio sessions more creative and unique, but can also greatly assist with streamlining live performances.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:12 - Techniques For Modelling Amps And Cabs 04:22 - Amplifier Cloning 05:49 - Compression To Improve Tonal Quality 07:58 - Adding Room Ambience 09:41 - Cleaning Up The Sound With EQ 10:51 - Guitar Modelling Options 13:05 - Why We Have Split Pickups 16:24 - Non-Guitar Sounds At Your Fingertips 18:12 - Modelled Bass Guitars
#BossVG800 #MODOBass2
Paul White Biog Paul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing.
He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.
Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
In this episode, Paul White looks at some creative ways that you can manipulate the standard plug-ins found in your DAW, using them alone or in combination with one another, to create some unique sounds, effects and rhythms.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:08 - Hard Tune Effect 01:39 - Processing Speech 03:15 - Fast Pitch Processing 04:04 - Using Match EQ On Guitars 06:07 - Distortion And Reverb 07:14 - Adding In Pitch Shift 07:41 - Reverb And Distortion 09:07 - Adding More Reverb And Delay 10:02 - Using Distortion On Drums 11:30 - Using A Rotary Speaker On Drums 12:43 - Using An Impulse Response With Convolution Reverb
Paul White Biog Paul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing.
He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.
Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
Paul White Biog Paul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing.
He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.
Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
Hugh Robjohns Biog Hugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!
For musicians and producers that struggle to finish tracks, Eddie Bazil explains the benefits of creating musical snippets and gives us some examples as to how we can tap into different moods, use sound design techniques to create something unique that becomes a useable addition to our musical catalogues and create pieces that stand the test of time.
“Snippets and the creating of, serve to strengthen sound ideas, hone mixing and production skills, help to understand timing and flow, act as a testbed for song structuring ideas and are the playground for testing and mastering all manner of plug-ins”.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:19 - What Is A Snippet? 01:53 - The Benefits Of Creating Snippets 04:26 - Planning Your Snippets 06:07 - Sound Design 06:53 - Example 1: Phased Pad 17:33 - Example 2: Happy, Mood-Lifting 22:01 - Example 3: Drama And Tension
Eddie Bazil Biog Eddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer, plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge. https://eddiebazil.co.uk/
Paul White and Hugh Robjohns talk us through four essential studio effects that every music producer or mix engineer needs to know for creating an effective mix, placing them in order of importance and giving an insight into how they can be used effectively.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:21 - Effect 1: Reverb 02:11 - Convolution Reverb 04:28 - Reverb Controls 05:53 - Using Aux Sends 08:00 - Effect 2: EQ 08:57 - EQ Filters 11:44 - The Shelving Filter 13:40 - Parametric EQ 14:17 - Cutting Vs Boosting 15:26 - Effect 3: Delay 16:21 - Where To Use Delay 17:40 - Effect 4: Compression 18:43 - Setting Threshold and Ratio 19:51 - Soft-Knee Compression 20:33 - Tweaking Presets 22:08 - Other Controls 26:02 - Parallel Compression 30:11 - Creative Modulation Effects 30:58 - Using Effects Sparingly
Paul White Biog Paul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing.
He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.
Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
Hugh Robjohns Biog Hugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!
Pro Audio Design Engineer Andy Bereza summarises his impressive career in a chat with Paul Gilby. Andy founded Allen & Heath Mixers before working for TEAC/Tascam, where he conceived the TEAC Portastudio the portable multitrack cassette tape recorder that revolutionised the home recording market in the 1980s. He then co-founded Bandive-Turnkey where he developed a range of budget signal processors and the famous Great British Spring reverb to sell to the rapidly expanding Home Studio Recording market. At the same time, he was a consultant for the Fostex X15 multitrack cassette as well as helping to steer further product designs.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:34 - Getting Into Electronics 01:45 - Building Custom Desks 04:09 - Allen & Heath Mixers 06:07 - The Minimixer 08:54 - The Pink Floyd Desks 12:24 - Allen & Heath Mod II Mixer 13:20 - Expanding The Company 15:23 - Moving To Tascam 16:58 - Constructing The Portastudio 21:57 - Setting Up Bandive / Turnkey 24:55 - Creating Products For The Home Studio 29:03 - Fostex Releases in the 80s 30:48 - Bandive Seck Mixers 32:08 - Expanding Turnkey 35:14 - Selling To Harman 38:38 - Launching Digital Postcards 41:07 - A Brief Career Summary 42:13 - Proudest Career Moment
Andy Bereza Biog Andy Bereza started his career as a Audio Design Engineer after moving to London in 1967 to study Electronics at Chelsea University. A chance encounter with Siggy Jackson in Tin Pan Alley gave him his first custom commission and many more soon followed, with Andy building mixers for Bill Shepherd (producer of the Bee Gees), Alan Price, Maurice Gibb and also a location recording mixer for the Clockwork Orange movie.
In 1970 Andy became the Founder of Allen & Heath, where he initially developed the black range of mixers, then their first mass market product the Minimix. At the same time he creating custom quadraphonic live desks for The Who along with Pink Floyd's Pompeii and Dark Side Of The Moon touring desks.
In 1975, Andy joined TEAC America and was employed to introduce Tascam into Europe. Then in 1976 he was contracted directly with TEAC Japan where he developed the iconic Portastudio that changed the face of the home recording industry. In 1977 he became one of the founders of Bandive Ltd and helped to develop further products for the home recording market and created the popular Turnkey By Mail catalogue during the late 1970s to mid 80s. Bandive then opened the Turnkey retail store in central London.
Following the sale of Bandive / Turnkey to Harman UK in 1987, he briefly became their Marketing Director, before signing up to become Managing Director of Fostex in 1991. Later in the 90s Andy left the Pro Audio industry and turned his attention to multimedia where he developed interactive product catalogues on CD-ROM.
Paul Gilby Biog Paul Gilby is the co-founder, along with his brother Ian, of Sound On Sound magazine in 1985. Having written many product reviews and interviews over the years he now heads up the Digital Media side of the business managing the team that looks after the SOS website as well as the video and podcast productions.
Paul White and Hugh Robjohns discuss the basics of a good home studio setup, including choosing the right equipment and setting up your space correctly for achieving the best recording and mixing results.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:14 - Minimum Equipment 00:54 - Audio Interfaces 02:46 - Headphones and Speakers 03:21 - Choosing A Microphone 08:55 - Additional Accessories 12:27 - Desks And Monitor Stands 16:21 - Speakers And Acoustic Treatment 21:06 - Choosing Studio Monitors 22:35 - Subwoofers And Bass Traps 26:16 - Cutting Reflections For Vocals 28:48 - Recap
Paul White Biog Paul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing.
He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.
Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
Hugh Robjohns Biog Hugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!
Not everyone has access to a professional studio with bespoke wiring. Here, Paul White and Hugh Robjohns discuss the best practises for avoiding and eliminating electrical noise interference in your home studio.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:21 - Arranging Plugboards In A Home Studio 02:09 - Uninterruptible Power Supplies 03:59 - Grounding Issues In Laptop Systems 07:19 - Radiated Interference 08:54 - Isolated Power Supplies 11:10 - Procedure For Eliminating Noise 12:38 - Breaking The Ground Path
Paul White Biog Paul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing.
He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.
Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
Hugh Robjohns Biog Hugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!
Eddie Bazil gives us more pointers on constructing beats, incorporating useful tools such as Drum Replacement Software and pre-constructed Loops, then adding enhancements using timing, pitch and other processing tips.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:33 - Drum Replacement Software 01:41 - Example 1: Using Hit'n'Mix RipX DAW 05:41 - Example 2: Making Loops Your Own 11:36 - Example 3: Enhancing A Kick With Pitch And Timing
Eddie Bazil Biog Eddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer, plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge. https://eddiebazil.co.uk/
An introduction to using sample libraries focusing on the string section. Composer and Producer Sam Boydell talks us through selecting an orchestral sound library, creating a simple string motif and incorporating more realism into the finished piece by using a range of techniques, including articulations, dynamics and panning.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:18 - The Tools Of The Trade 03:13 - Choosing Your Sound Library 06:01 - Starting With A String Motif 10:39 - Allocating Orchestral Positions 11:58 - Humanising The Performance 14:57 - Fine-Tuning Velocity And Timing 17:15 - Adding MIDI Automation 19:56 - Placing The Orchestra In A Space 22:17 - Incorporating Articulations 24:39 - Creating More Dynamics 27:46 - Mixing And Mastering
Sam Boydell Biog Learning his craft by working in studios with the likes of Gareth Young (Sugababes), Stephen Lipson (Hans Zimmer) and Mark Hill (Craig David), Sam has grown into being credited for Composing many award-winning Commercials and Documentaries such as drift-racing’s, ‘Clipping Point’ (2022) rated at 9.3/10 on IMDb, as well as, prestigious TV shows like, Match of the Day (BBC).
Sam is also considered one of the premiere Sound Recordists & Commercial Mixers in the UK, having worked with the likes of David Beckham, ITV and Ferrari.
Further enterprises include the music label 60hz with Mark Hill and Neil Simpson, which works to nurture talent such as Nat Slater & Kyi in the past. And, Education, where he works with local universities and schools.
In the first of a two-part series, Eddie Bazil explains how some simple adjustments in your DAW will help you to achieve more bounce in your drum beats, by adding syncopation, swing and dynamism.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:20 - A Quick History Of Beat Production 01:07 - Early Programmable Drum Machines 04:33 - Defining A Good Beat 05:15 - Example 1: Shifting The Snare To Drive A Beat 07:55 - Example 2: Altering Dynamics And Note Durations 10:51 - Example 3: Adding Urgency With A Backbeat 12:37 - Example 4: Creating Swing With The Hi-Hats
Eddie Bazil Biog Eddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer, plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge. https://eddiebazil.co.uk/
A valuable test for recording engineers, David Mellor gives examples of different mic types to emphasise the importance of knowing your mic collection in detail so that you're using the correct one for the recording task at hand. Cardioid, Supercardioid, Figure of 8 and Omnidirectional are compared.
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction 00:23 - Testing The Schoeps CMC 6 01:44 - Cardioid Examples 05:39 - Testing With Percussion 06:33 - Supercardioid Examples 08:40 - Figure Of 8 Examples 11:22 - Omnidirectional Examples 14:05 - Testing With Percussion 14:58 - Testing Each Mic Type at 0 Degrees 17:00 - Testing Each Mic Type at 45 Degrees 18:19 - Testing Each Mic Type at 90 Degrees 19:42 - Testing Each Mic Type at 180 Degrees 21:15 - Summary
David Mellor Biog David Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.
He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.
David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.
In the first of this two-part series, David Mellor gives us an introduction to mic polar patterns, explaining the best type of mic to use for various recording situations.
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction 00:43 - Influenced By The EMI Emiguide Tapes 04:08 - What Is A Polar Pattern? 06:46 - Omnidirectional and Figure Of 8 08:43 - Cardioid, Hypercardioid and Super-Cardioid 11:14 - Pressure-Sensitive and Pressure Gradient 11:58 - Imperfections In Higher And Lower Frequencies 13:01 - The Decca Tree 14:06 - Abbey Road Demonstration 15:32 - 0 degree axis Figure Of 8 16:10 - 90 degree axis Figure Of 8 16:48 - 180 degree axis Figure Of 8 17:30 - 270 degree axis Figure Of 8 19:01 - Multi-Pattern Microphones 19:58 - Best Usage 24:26 - Interference Tube, Parabolic Reflector 26:23 - Experimenting With Off-Axis
David Mellor Biog David Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.
He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.
David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.
Paul White and Hugh Robjohns pick their software and hardware highlights from the last 12 months.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:16 - Universal Audio Waterfall Rotary Speaker 03:25 - Boss GM-800 Guitar Synthesizer 04:24 - Tokyo Dawn Records Simulathe Cut 06:33 - PreSonus Eris 3.5 Studio Monitors 07:32 - Prism Audio Dream ADA-128 10:07 - Walrus Audio Fable Granular Soundscape Generator
10:59 - Blackstar St. James Amp Plug-ins 11:55 - Zoom F8n Pro Field Recorder 14:13 - Strymon BigSky Multi Reverb / Deco Tape Saturation 14:49 - Line 6 HX One Pedal
Paul White Biog Paul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing.
He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.
Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
Hugh Robjohns Biog Hugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!
In the third and final part of this series, Rob Toulson focuses on recording drums and talks us through the issue of frequency cancellation in a multiple mic setup, details how to choose the recording sweet spot in a room and explains the various stereo mic technique options that are available.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:52 - Phase Coherence 03:00 - Time Delays 05:10 - Comb Filtering 07:53 - Flipping The Polarity 12:22 - Choosing A Recording Space 14:56 - Mic Choice And Placement 17:43 - Stereo Techniques 18:08 - Spaced Pair Technique 19:02 - Glyn Johns Mic Technique 20:12 - Coincident Pair Technique 21:16 - ORTF Technique 22:20 - Mid-Side Technique 24:30 - Comparing The Techniques 25:22 - Other Mic Techniques
Professor Rob Toulson Biog Rob is Director of RT60 Ltd, who develop mobile apps for musicians and sound engineers. RT60’s iDrumTune Pro app assists drummers with learning the skills of drum tuning and has been the number one music app in over 100 countries since its launch in 2012. More recently, Rob and RT60 developed Songzap, which simplifies the process of recording and capturing musical ideas, enabling songwriters to focus exclusively on their creativity.
Rob stared his career as a mechanical engineer with a doctorate in digital signal processing, before following his passion and moving into the field of music technology and specialising in percussion acoustics and audio software development. Rob has held a number of academic research roles in his career, including Professor of Creative Industries at University of Westminster and Director of the CoDE Research Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. Rob’s also a successful musician, music producer and sound designer, having worked with many artists including Talvin Singh, Wilfy Williams and Mediaeval Baebes, who have previously topped the UK Classical Music Chart.
Rob is author of a number of music related books and articles, including ‘Drum Sound and Drum Tuning’, published by Routledge in 2021, and co-editor of the ‘Innovation In Music’ book series, which is also published by Routledge. His sound design work has been included in films by BAFTA Winner Shreepali Patel and has been showcased at Glastonbury Festival, The V&A and The Natural History Museum.
In part 2 of this 3-part series, Rob Toulson explains how to optimise the drum sound for recording by experimenting with drum head, damping system, tuning and drum shell combinations.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:09 - Drum Heads 01:44 - Mersenne's Laws 04:05 - 1 and 2 Ply Drum Heads 05:45 - Damping Systems 07:10 - Centre Dot Drum Heads 09:27 - Choosing Your Timbre 11:44 - Selecting Your Drum Shells 14:25 - Optimising The Whole Kit 19:41 - Tuning The Kick Drum
Professor Rob Toulson Biog Rob is Director of RT60 Ltd, who develop mobile apps for musicians and sound engineers. RT60’s iDrumTune Pro app assists drummers with learning the skills of drum tuning and has been the number one music app in over 100 countries since its launch in 2012. More recently, Rob and RT60 developed Songzap, which simplifies the process of recording and capturing musical ideas, enabling songwriters to focus exclusively on their creativity.
Rob stared his career as a mechanical engineer with a doctorate in digital signal processing, before following his passion and moving into the field of music technology and specialising in percussion acoustics and audio software development. Rob has held a number of academic research roles in his career, including Professor of Creative Industries at University of Westminster and Director of the CoDE Research Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. Rob’s also a successful musician, music producer and sound designer, having worked with many artists including Talvin Singh, Wilfy Williams and Mediaeval Baebes, who have previously topped the UK Classical Music Chart.
Rob is author of a number of music related books and articles, including ‘Drum Sound and Drum Tuning’, published by Routledge in 2021, and co-editor of the ‘Innovation In Music’ book series, which is also published by Routledge. His sound design work has been included in films by BAFTA Winner Shreepali Patel and has been showcased at Glastonbury Festival, The V&A and The Natural History Museum.
Rob Toulson dives into the science behind how drums produce sound in this three-part series. In part one he talks us through the different pitches, frequencies and overtones, to help producers, recording engineers and indeed drummers to better understand the essentials of tuning.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:16 - Dealing With Multiple Frequencies 05:19 - Tuning The Fundamental Frequency 10:56 - Smoothing Out Modulation 13:31 - Harmonic Overtones 19:12 - Controlling Decay And Damping 23:11 - Summary
Professor Rob Toulson Biog Rob is Director of RT60 Ltd, who develop mobile apps for musicians and sound engineers. RT60’s iDrumTune Pro app assists drummers with learning the skills of drum tuning and has been the number one music app in over 100 countries since its launch in 2012. More recently, Rob and RT60 developed Songzap, which simplifies the process of recording and capturing musical ideas, enabling songwriters to focus exclusively on their creativity.
Rob stared his career as a mechanical engineer with a doctorate in digital signal processing, before following his passion and moving into the field of music technology and specialising in percussion acoustics and audio software development. Rob has held a number of academic research roles in his career, including Professor of Creative Industries at University of Westminster and Director of the CoDE Research Institute at Anglia Ruskin University. Rob’s also a successful musician, music producer and sound designer, having worked with many artists including Talvin Singh, Wilfy Williams and Mediaeval Baebes, who have previously topped the UK Classical Music Chart.
Rob is author of a number of music related books and articles, including ‘Drum Sound and Drum Tuning’, published by Routledge in 2021, and co-editor of the ‘Innovation In Music’ book series, which is also published by Routledge. His sound design work has been included in films by BAFTA Winner Shreepali Patel and has been showcased at Glastonbury Festival, The V&A and The Natural History Museum.
Eddie Bazil dives into some of his favourite plug-ins and gives us a series of examples on how to use these tools creatively for designing unique and interesting beats, sequences and mixes.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:21 - What Makes A Tool Creative? 03:25 - Example 1: A Cinematic Piano Effect 07:03 - Example 2: Creating A More Dynamic Beat 10:19 - Example 3: Sequencer-Based Multi Effects On A Drum Beat 13:26 - Example 4: Reshaping A Musical Sequence 21:21 - Example 5: A Sound Design Exercise
Credits ‘Puppet’ track written, performed and recorded by John Walden
Vocals by Yvonne McKeown
Eddie Bazil Biog Eddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer, plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge. https://eddiebazil.co.uk/
In this fourth and final episode, David Mellor, a sound engineer and the founder and Course Director of Audio Masterclass, delves into Gain Staging your plug-ins and how to avoid clipping during the mixing and mastering stages.
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:50 - Gain Staging Your Plug-ins 08:08 - 32-Bit Float 11:35 - Mixing And Mastering 16:27 - Gain Staging The Mix 19:32 - Headroom 21:50 - Mastering Using LUFS
David Mellor Biog David Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.
He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.
David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.
David Mellor, a sound engineer and the founder and Course Director of Audio Masterclass, introduces us to Gain Staging in a brand new series of podcasts. In the third episode David continues looking at preamps, outlines the use of VU Meters and talks about the benefits of balancing a track prior to mixing.
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:56 - More About Preamps 05:38 - Preamps With Valves 09:20 - The Mixing Process 16:17 - Using VU Meters 24:05 - Mixing During Recording
David Mellor Biog David Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.
He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.
David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.
David Mellor, a sound engineer and the founder and Course Director of Audio Masterclass, introduces us to Gain Staging in a brand new series of podcasts. In the second episode David focuses on gain staging during recording, by balancing mic input, preamps and gain within your DAW to achieve the optimal sound level.
David Mellor Biog David Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.
He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.
David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.
David Mellor, a sound engineer and the founder and Course Director of Audio Masterclass, introduces us to Gain Staging in a brand new series of podcasts. In this first episode he teaches the correct use of terminology and gives his three golden rules of Gain Staging.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:38 - Using The Correct Terminology 05:56 - Why Use Gain Staging? 11:04 - The Benefits Of Gain Staging 15:31 - Working In Digital Audio 27:17 - Three Golden Rules Of Gain Staging
David Mellor Biog David Mellor got his start in pro audio through the Tonmeister course at Surrey University studying music, piano performance, acoustics, electronics, electro-acoustics and recording.
He went on to work at London's Royal Opera House, with responsibilities including sound design, front-of-house operation, stage monitoring and electronic design satisfying the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has also had over 600 works published in the field of production music, including the Chappell and Carlin music libraries (now combined into Universal Publishing Production Music). Notable uses of his music include the BBC's Horizon, Fahrenheit 911, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.
David has been actively involved in Audio Education since 1986, teaching students of City of Westminster College and Westminster University, and also returning to lecture at Surrey University. He also worked with John Cage on the International Dance Course at the University of Surrey. David now specialises in online audio education and has been Course Director of Audio Masterclass since 2001.
Eddie Bazil demystifies Compression and Expansion with a detailed explanation of their uses and with a range of practical examples using plug-ins.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:22 - Compressors And Expanders Explained 01:33 - Compressor Behavioural Types 02:40 - Common Compressor Topologies 06:06 - Example 1: Boz Digital Manic Compressor On Drums 10:26 - Example 2: FabFilter Pro MB On A Synth Line 13:28 - Example 3: PreSonus Studio One Expander On A Drum Beat 15:26 - Example 4: A Drum Beat Using Different Topologies 20:24 - Example 5: Using Sidechaining On Reverb 23:28 - Example 6: FabFilter Pro MB On A Vocal Line 27:16 - Example 7: Sidechain Compression And Expansion To Create Texture And Motion
Credits Example 6 - The song and the poem are both called Everyone Sang. The poem was by Sigfried Sassoon and was set to music and performed by Anne Gregson. www.annegregson.co.uk Recorded at www.mrpunch.info
Eddie Bazil Biog Eddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer, plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge. https://eddiebazil.co.uk/
Paul White takes us through the history and evolution of guitar synths, from early attempts at creating onboard sounds and audio to MIDI pick-ups, through to using pedals and plug-ins to emulate synth effects.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:13 - Types of Guitar Synths 04:03 - The Introduction Of MIDI 05:19 - Pitch To MIDI Pickups 08:04 - Alternative Systems 10:38 - Using Pedals To Emulate Synths 13:31 - Introducing Plug-ins 15:10 - The Future Of Audio To MIDI
Paul White Biog Paul White joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.
Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1970s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
Paul White explains how to get the best out of Amp Simulation software, from getting a good guitar input signal, setting up effective monitoring for encouraging the best performance and tips on achieving the desired end-effect.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:50 - Getting A Guitar Signal 03:39 - Dealing With Latency 04:42 - Monitoring 05:54 - Using Your Own Pedals 08:15 - Using Speaker Cabinet Emulations 09:11 - Adding Room Ambience 10:00 - Creative Sound Design 10:27 - Using Amp Modelling With Other Instruments
Paul White Biog Paul White joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.
Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1970s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
Paul White Biog Paul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing.
He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.
Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
Hugh Robjohns Biog Hugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!
In the final episode of this 5 part series, Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, gives us an in-depth look at how to process and mix the various elements of a song recorded using live instruments.
Chapters 00:16 - Introduction 01:36 - Mix Preparation: Performance Edits and Mix Groups 01:00 - Polarity Summation 07:27 - Waveform Edits and Gating 09:48 - Multing 10:20 - Drum Sample Implementation 10:57 - Three Approaches To Mixing 12:56 - Master Buss Processing 14:28 - Compression and EQ: Signal Chain Order 16:07 - Compression Topology 19:43 - Drums: Compression, Signal Stability, Transient Design and Colouration 32:53 - Drums: Parallel Compression 37:09 - Drums: EQ 47:45 - Drums: Reverb Processing 49:40 - Bass: Compression and EQ 54:38 - Acoustic Guitar: Compression and EQ
56:19 - Harmonically Distorted Electric Guitar: EQ, Dynamic EQ and Multi-band Compression
Mark Mynett Biog As well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”. Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)
Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, presents part four of his recording series. Here he details how to prepare a vocalist for studio recording and how to select and set up your recording equipment for optimal results.
Chapters 00:15 - Introduction 00:31 - Preparing For Vocal Recording 05:08 - Recording Vocals At Home 06:53 - Microphone Selection 14:41 - Microphone Placement 24:05 - Printed Compression 30:27 - Headphone Cue Mix Mark Mynett Biog As well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”. Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)
Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, details best practices for setting up and recording rhythm and lead guitar parts.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:40 - How To Manage Distortion 06:10 - Pre-Recording Preparation 07:16 - Double Tracking And Quad Tracking 09:07 - Finding A Clear Midrange Tone 14:20 - Isolation And Ambience 15:46 - Microphone Selection 19:23 - Mic Placement 25:17 - Multitracking Tips 34:03 - Recording Guitar Solos 36:39 - Adding EQ At The Recording Stage Mark Mynett Biog As well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”. Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)
Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, talks us through prepping for and recording a bass session, including ways to generate multiple layered tracks for use in your final mix.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 01:30 - 1. Intonation And Tuning 02:54 - 2. Active DI Boxes 06:00 - 3. Amp, Cab And Mic Setup 14:01 - 4. Layering Bass Sounds 17:51 - 5. Introducing Distortion Mark Mynett Biog As well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”. Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)
Mark Mynett, sound engineer and senior lecturer at Huddersfield University, talks us through the setup and recording of live drums.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:36 - Recording Multiple Instruments 01:12 - Pre-Recording Preparation 03:46 - 1. Miking The Kick 12:08 - 2. Miking The Snare 24:24 - 3. Miking The Toms 29:24 - 4. Miking The Cymbals 38:54 - 5. Overheads For Room Ambience Mark Mynett Biog As well as Senior Lecturer in Music Technology and Production at Huddersfield University, Mark Mynett is a live music front-of-house engineer, and record producer/engineer/mix and mastering engineer. Mainly focused on indie, rock and metal genres, he produces from his own studio - Mynetaur Productions – where he recently completed the latest My Dying Bride album ‘The Ghost of Orion’: referred to by Dom Lawson (The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Prog, Classic Rock) as “…a master class in modern metal production”. Metal Music Manual (instructional book for producing contemporary metal music)
Grammy Award winning engineer Bob Clearmountain details his unique approach to mixing music in Dolby Atmos using an analogue desk.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:26 - Mixing In 5:1 04:16 - Setting Up Studio Monitoring 06:24 - Upgrading For Atmos 08:24 - How To Approach Atmos 11:14 - Placing Sounds 15:25 - Beds And Objects 19:11 - Working From An Analogue Console 23:11 - Using The Centre Speaker 27:23 - Incorporating Plug-in Effects 28:40 - Adding Compression In Surround 34:29 - Checking The Mix 37:21 - Frustrations With Atmos 41:34 - Recommended Listening
Bob Clearmountain Biog Bob Clearmountain is an American recording engineer, mixer and record producer. He has worked with many prominent names in music including Bruce Springsteen (mixing Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. and 25 other projects), The Rolling Stones (re-mixes of the singles "Miss You" and "Out of Tears" ) as well as their Tattoo You album amongst over 20 album, movie and concert video projects, Bryan Adams (producing and/or mixing nearly all of his albums since 1983), Robbie Williams, Huey Lewis & The News, Toto, Bon Jovi (These Days, Crush, Bounce), Simple Minds, The Pretenders, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, INXS and 235 other artists. Bob has released some signature plug-ins with audio hardware and software manufacturer Apogee Electronics.
Apogee Electronics Biog Apogee originally made their name with special anti-aliasing filters that solved many of the early problems associated with digital audio. Later, Apogee’s complete conversion systems pushed the envelope of digital audio quality and established Apogee as a key innovator in the field of professional digital audio. Today, Apogee converters and audio interfaces are regarded as the reference standard in the audio industry.
Products such as Symphony I/O, Big Ben, Ensemble and Duet all set the benchmark by which digital audio recording hardware is judged. Now with their latest products JAM and MiC, designed especially for Apple’s iPad, iPhone and GarageBand software, Apogee continues to be at the forefront of recording technology. Apogee’s mission is to build products that offer ultimate sound quality and innovative design to all music creators from the aspiring artist to the discerning audio professional.
Sam Inglis Biog Editor In Chief Sam Inglis has been with Sound On Sound for more than 20 years. He is a recording engineer, producer, songwriter and folk musician who studies the traditional songs of England and Scotland, and the author of Neil Young's Harvest (Bloomsbury, 2003) and Teach Yourself Songwriting (Hodder, 2006).
In this Behind The Brand feature, Nuno Fonseca of Sound Particles talks to Paul White about their rapid rise in the film and audio industry and how they are using their sound particle plug-in technology to bring exciting new developments to sound design and audio recording.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 00:13 - Launch In The Film Industry 02:59 - Moving Into Music 04:53 - Controlling 3D Sound 07:26 - EastWest WordBuilder 11:05 - Density 14:07 - The End-User Format 17:04 - Solving Binaural 19:45 - Head Tracking 21:42 - Future Developments Sound Particles Biog Sound Particles creates 3D Audio Software that brings the power of computer graphics to the sound world, allowing sound professionals to create breathtaking sounds that simply would not be possible to create in any other way. Sound Particles provides the world’s first native 3D audio software combining CGI and audio techniques to create a new audio standard. The software creates the most realistic sound effects allowing perfect coherence between image and sound due to its true 3D CGI integration, while increasing the productivity of audio professionals.
Based in Leiria (Portugal) and founded by Nuno Fonseca, a former university professor, Sound Particles has been steadily growing since being founded in 2016 and is now composed of a team of over 30 people (with 1 in the UK and 1 in LA).
Sound Particles’ unique software is used in all major Hollywood studios and top videogame companies, in productions like "Dune", “Game of Thrones”, “Ready Player One”, "Frozen 2", "Star Wars" and many others.
Paul White Biog Paul White joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.
Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1970s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
Tony Ni from Soundtoys sits down with Sam Inglis to discuss his mixing workflow and to explain how he uses core Soundtoys plug-ins to achieve his sound.
Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 02:54 - 21 Plug-ins 05:44 - Workflow Tools 07:05 - Getting The Balance Right 11:24 - EQ And Saturation 21:22 - Parallel Processing The Drums 28:38 - Using Saturation On Vocals 35:07 - Adding And Automating Echo 47:06 - Getting Started With Soundtoys Soundtoys Biog Based in Burlington Vermont, USA, Soundtoys (formerly Wave Mechanics) was founded in 1996 by Ken Bogdanowicz, the DSP effects designer behind the legendary H3000 Ultra-Harmonizer and the DSP4000 line of hardware signal processors from Eventide. Soundtoys develops world-class, creative signal-processing software for audio production, mixing, and sound design.
Soundtoys users include Mike Dean, David Sitek, James Blake, Ariel Borujow, Jamie Lidell, Greg Wells, Dave Pensado, Tony Maserati, Tim Kelley, and Blake Mills.
Sam Inglis Biog Editor In Chief Sam Inglis has been with Sound On Sound for more than 20 years. He is a recording engineer, producer, songwriter and folk musician who studies the traditional songs of England and Scotland, and the author of Neil Young's Harvest (Bloomsbury, 2003) and Teach Yourself Songwriting (Hodder, 2006).