Warner Bros Supervising Sound Editor Jason Brennan On The Latest Inner Circle Podcast

On the latest Inner Circle Podcast, supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer Jason Brennan joins me to discuss the latest television audio happenings on the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank. Jason is a one-man gang as he handles just about everything that has to do with audio on a TV show.

We'll also take a look at some of the new YouTube features that artists, bands and musicians might find useful, as well as the battle of the old RCA Studio B in Nashville now being rented by Ben Folds.

You can listen by going to bobbyoinnercircle.com, iTunes or Stitcher.

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Steely Dan "Bodhisttahva" Isolated Bass And Drums

Steely Dan has always been known for their almost perfect tracks, even before the days that could easily be done via a DAW. Here's a great example of just how great those tracks could be with the isolated bass and drums from "Bodhisttahva" from the band's second album Countdown To Ecstasy.

This album still featured what amounted to the Steely Dan band before it became just Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, but you can still hear hints of the perfection that would come later with the studio bands they used for all their subsequent recordings. On this track, Jim Hodder was the drummer and Walter Becker played bass. Here are some things to listen for.

1. The drums are spot on and feel great. This has been a Becker-Fagen trademark in that they got drum machine-like time from their drummers well before such a machine existed.

2. There's a nice reverb on the snare. Elliot Scheiner, who mixed most of Steely Dan's records (although not this one) once told me that Becker and Fagen disliked reverb and he had to discretely sneak it in where he thought it was needed. That's not the case here, and it stands out and sounds most appropriate.

3. Becker's a great bass player. While the band used a studio bass player on most tracks on their subsequent albums and on tour, Becker plays the heck out of this difficult part. There are a couple of minor faults that would never be left in during later recordings at 0:41 and 3:07, but you never hear them in the track with the other mix elements.

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Fender Going Direct Via The Web?

We all have a love/hate relationship with our local music retailer. In some cases, they're a most valuable resource, loaning gear when needed, allowing us to try different products before we decide to buy, and providing last-minute help to get us through the next gig.

In other cases that have been well-documented here, they have been cold, hard to connect with, money-grabbing, inexperienced and unknowledgeable, and generally unhelpful. And anywhere in between. Still, most of us wouldn't trade a relationship with a good dealer for anything in the world.

That's why it's more than disturbing about the news of Fender planning to sell direct via its website (as reported by Music and Sound Retailer - thanks for the heads-up Rob Carty). Fender announced the fact at a recent dealer meeting at it's factory in Corona, CA, and I'm sure it went over like a lead balloon with that group.

Actually Fender dipped its toe in the water last year when it offered custom-designed guitars from its Custom Shop via its website. Other manufacturers like Taylor have a similar program, but at least the final transaction is done through a dealer.

We all buy music gear online because sometimes it's just faster and easier. Some types of audio gear and music accessories typically don't require trying the item before you buy it, so there's little risk of getting something unexpected. That said, I can't imagine someone buying a guitar online (except for a vintage instrument, and even then....).

As music pros out there know, line up a dozen identical instruments and one or two will just have some magic that the others don't have. That's one thing a dealer can provide that's a crucial factor for the serious musician.

I suppose it's the wave of the future for all manufacturers to go direct in some form, but if that happens, they shouldn't lament the fact that the local dealer is becoming a dying breed, and the ones that are left show no brand loyalty. Who can blame them?

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3 Ways To Overcome Loud Stage Volume

Anyone who's ever mixed a live show has been presented with the situation where the guitar or bass player is playing too loud for the room. Here's an excerpt from my PreSonus StudioLive Mixer Handbook that outlines 3 ways to help get that excessive stage volume under control, or at least mix around it so everything sounds balanced.

"Many guitar players can only get their sound when they crank their amp up to a level that might be too loud for the room and the mix. There are several ways around this:

1. Ask the player to angle his amp either towards the side of the stage, or even turn it around to face the rear of the stage. If the player is getting some of his guitar in the monitors or in-ears, this new placement might not be a problem as the sound of the instrument won’t change, only his stage volume. You might have to turn up the guitar in the monitors more than normal (or the guitar player might have to do it himself if he does his own mix like you’ve seen in the previous chapter), but it should solve the issue.

2. Kindly ask the player to turn down. Some players take such a request as a personal affront, so you have to make it clear that this isn’t an attack on the quality of his sound or his playing, you’re only trying to balance the mix better. If a player is afraid that his rig will no longer project to the back of the room, assure him that helping him sound great is what you’re there for, and you’ll make sure that everyone will hear him even better than before. Even with that tact, some players (especially those with a lot of pedals or modeling amps) will find it easier to comply if asked nicely, while others never will.

3. Mix Up To The Stage Volume. One way around a bass player, drummer or guitar player who’s stage volume is very loud is to mix up to that level on stage. That means that you’ll increase the level of everything in the mix until the loudest thing on stage seems in balance with the rest of the instruments. The problem is that the mix may now be too loud for the audience, who’ll probably ask you to turn it down, but at least it will be balanced at the higher volume level. This is usually less of a problem in a large venue."

To read additional excerpts from PreSonus StudioLive Mixer Handbook or my other books, go to the excerpts section of bobbyowsinski.com.

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The Man Buying Up The World's Vinyl

Don't look now but there's someone trying to corner the world's supply of vinyl records, and has been purchasing collections of millions of records from all over the world for more than 30 years. Brazilian transportation magnate Zero Freitas has a 25,000 square foot warehouse in Sao Paulo filled with his collection, which is so large,that it's estimated that it will take a team of interns 20 years to catalog it all - if he stops buying any more.

Freitas isn't too discretionary when it comes to what he buys either, having just bought a 15,000 album set of polka records and another 300,000 set of Cuban records. It's also nothing for him to strike a deal for a million+ collection for millions of dollars.

The obsession came early, as he owned 3,000 records by the time he left high school and 30,000 by the time he was 30. When the bus company he owned expanded and he became wealthy 10 years later, there was no stopping his purchasing. He has never listed a record he owns for sale.

After all these years of hording, Freitas has decided to share his collection with the world and is preparing a non-profit library called Emporium Music, which will feature listening stations and even a lending service of duplicate records. There's no time-table on when it will be completed, but many friends consider this a big step forward, considering how low-profile he's been through most of his collecting career.

There's a fantastic article on Freitas with a lot more detail in the New York Times by Monte Reel that you should definitely read if you're interested.

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New Music Gear Monday: The Moog Theremini

Leave it to the clever folks at Moog Music to come up with a completely new take on everyone's favorite sci-fi instrument - the theremin. Moog has released the Theremini, which takes Bob Moog's favorite instrument to a new level of precision and fun.

While the traditional theremin took a great deal of skill and dexterity to play, the Theremini employs assisted pitch quantization that allows a player to adjust the instrument to their playing proficiency, so every note is always scaled perfectly. In fact, Moog claims that it's impossible to actually play a wrong note in certain setups, which means the player can spend more time on being more expressive with vibrato and level (and the built-in delay).

The Theremini contains a built-in tuner to provide real-time visual feedback of each note played, as well as the proximity to the pitch, making it easier to learn how to play. It also contains a number of presets that enables you to select from 32 wave or wavetable based patches, so you can draw on some non-conventional theremin sounds as well.

The unit comes with a built-in speaker, two 1/4" audio outputs, a headphone jack, a pitch CV output, a mini USB jack, MIDI in and out, and can be mounted on a mic stand or camera stand with an adaptor.

The Theremini is priced at a very reasonable $319 and is built to order, so there is about an 8 week delivery time. Check out the Moog Theremini website and the video below.

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