Making Your Mixes Loud

Everyone wants their mixes loud enough to compete with the loudest mixes out there, even if we can't afford to send them to a great mastering engineer. Here's a video where my good buddy Dave Pensado describes his method for making your mix LOUD.

If you're not already familiar with Dave, you really should be, so check out his great webcast at Pensado's Place.

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Mastering Engineer Colin Leonard On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

This week's guest on my Inner Circle Podcast is mastering engineer Colin Leonard of Sing Mastering, who's become the go-to mastering guy for uber-mixers like Dave Pensado and Phil Tan. Colin describes how he got into mastering, his unusual and proprietary signal path, and his overall mastering philosophy.

On the intro we'll look at what's becoming known as "Playola," or the practice of paying to be included on an influential playlist, as well as maybe getting an answer to the perennial question "What is the best driving music?".

Also, I'm happy to announce that the podcast has been selected as one of the Top 10 music industry podcasts by Indie Connect.

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Mixer To The Stars Dave Pensado On My Latest Inner Circle Podcast

I'm very pleased to have my good buddy Dave Pensado as a guest on my latest Inner Circle Podcast. You all know Dave as the uber-mixer of huge hits for Pink, Christina Aguilera, The Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, and many more, as well as from his wildly popular Pensado's Place web-series.

The interview with Dave takes a bit of a left turn as we discuss how he went from being a smoking hot guitar player to engineer to mixer to the stars. We'll also talk a bit about his new book written with his partner Herb Trawick.

In the intro of the show I talk about the new TIDAL hi-def music streaming service, and how not to soundproof your studio.

Remember that you can find the podcast either on iTunes or at BobbyOInnerCircle.com, and now also on Stitcher.
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All Hail The Pensado Awards

Dave and Herb at the Pensado Awards

(Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for The Pensado Awards)

I don't think you can claim to be in the music business right now and not be aware of mixer guru Dave Pensado's Pensado's Place online video show. Over the last 3+ years and 169 episodes, Dave's show has provided a much-needed forum for the under-appreciated music makers of world, a void that the show so ably fills.

It's also provided a new outlet for a facet of music education that's also been under-utilized in that Dave actually shows you the tricks he uses every day on some of the biggest records that he mixes, and his guests often provide many of their tricks and tips as well. Dave's folksy style on the show is exactly as it is in real life in his Southern hospitality and his way of making you feel like you're the most important person in the room.

I interviewed Dave way back in the first edition of The Mixing Engineer's Handbook (you can read an excerpt of that interview here). He became one of my favorite people then, and he remains so today. I wish I could record all the talks we have, because I always walk away with several pearls of wisdom.

Pensado's Place took an important step forward last Saturday night with the inception of the first Pensado Awards, held at the swanky Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica, and attended by some 600 industry movers and shakers. The awards show honored the behind-the-scenes music makers - those engineers and producers that normally fall under the radar in other awards shows like the Tech Awards and Grammys.

You can read more about the details of the Pensado Awards elsewhere on the Web so I won't go into too many of the details here. Since I'm an analyst and not a journalist (as I keep telling all the publicists out there who keep pitching me), let me give you the big picture of the event.

Show Co-hosts 

(Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for The Pensado Awards)

Perhaps the best thing that Dave and Herb Trawick (the executive producer of Pensado's Place and Dave's co-host) did was to use 4 co-costs to anchor the awards show. Mixer Chris Lord Alge, artist Lisa Loeb, mixer Marcella Araica and mixer Young Guru, as well as various industry presenters for individual awards, did all the heavy lifting. Dave and Herb appeared only at the end to present the last two awards. 4 hosts might have been a bit of an overkill, but just the fact that Dave and Herb decided to give up the spotlight was pretty cool and an unexpected change of pace.

There were 16 awards categories, and although they could have easily centered on the older "classic" nominees, they proved to be surprisingly diverse and cross-demographic. Some of the awards that skewed towards the younger part of the industry included Break Through Songwriter, Break Through Mixer, Spin Doctor DJ Award, and my personal favorite, the AIR Award (award for best assistant, intern or runner). It's easy to concentrate on the greats of our industry who've been doing it for years, but Dave refuses to stay within those boundaries and provides something for everyone in the business regardless of your place in it.

One of the highlights of the evening was the Pensado Giant Award, which was presented to the great Al Schmitt. Al is the engineering godfather to us all and a wise and noble man to boot, so it was great to see him so deservedly honored again. Neil Young even made a special appearance to present the award, and Paul McCartney sent a congratulatory video as well.

The Pensado Awards showed a few inevitable growing pains, but less than you'd expect for a first time event. Hopefully this will become an annual affair, and with the attention to detail that Dave and Herb give to everything, you just know that it will get better and better. I'm really happy that I was lucky enough to attend.

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Dave Pensado: Working The Low End Of A Mix

Getting the low end of the mix is one of the most difficult things in mixing in that if you don't get it right, you may lose the power of the mix, make the mix too muddy, or cover up either the kick or the bass. The idea is to hear both the kick and the bass and have them work together so you can feel the pulse of the song. Here's an Into the Lair segment video from mix master Dave Pensado as he explains how to control the low end of the mix.

If you're hip to Pensado's Place, you know that Dave is all about sharing what he knows and what his guests know in order to help you improve your mixing and your music. Having known Dave for a long time, I can tell you that he's a southern gentleman who's exactly the same in real life as he is on his show: genuine, true, passionate and insightful, and all that comes across in this video.

Here Dave demonstrates many of the techniques that are covered in The Mixing Engineer's Handbook (here's an excerpt from his interview in the book), such as:

1. Using a high-pass filter to attenuate some unwanted frequencies that can cloud up a mix.

2. Add both girth and clarity to each instrument.

3. Finding space in the frequency spectrum for both instruments to live so neither covers the other up.

4. Using the compressor to bring out the punch and low end of the instrument by controlling its attack and release.

Check it out.

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Dave Pensado - 5 Plugins You Should Know

My good buddy Dave Pensado has one of the best shows ever in Pensado's Place, and one of the recurring segments is called Into The Lair. This is where Dave actually shows you many of the tips and tricks that he uses on his multi-platinum mixes. A recent ITL featured the theme "5 Plugins You Should Know," and truly, you should know them because they're so cool.

One of the things that you'll notice is that even though the effect of the plugin can be very dramatic, Dave uses them in a sometimes subtle way. It's the cumulative effect of the subtleness across the mix that really makes the difference. Check it out, and be sure to check out his fantastic show. It's a must for everyone making music today.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

Music Career In A Rut? This Can Help!

CLICK HERE

If you're career is in a music rut and you're not doing the things in music that you think you should be, then my 6 Keys To Musical Prosperity teleseminar might be just the thing you need to kickstart your career.

I'm inviting you to a free 60+ minute telephone seminar that I'm offering next Tuesday, January 14th with a group of my music industry friends like maga-mixer Dave Pensado and LA session bassist Paul ILL, who currently work with hit artists that have recorded some of the classic songs that you hear on the radio every day.

If you're not making enough money or working with the best musicians and people in the industry, it's time to find out how to overcome the common hurdles that block musicians, engineers, and producers from doing the things they've always dreamed about.

Together we'll teach you things that 95% of all musicians don’t know.

To register for this call, which is free except for your normal long distance charges, go here now:

http://www.bobbyowsinski.com/6-keys-teleseminar.html

Once registered (remember, it’s free), you'll receive all the details to join the call via return email. I look forward to "seeing" you on the call next Tuesday!

Lifting The Veil From Your Recordings

As many of you know, I'm a big fan of lynda.com, not only because my video courses are hosted there, but because I use it so often myself. Musicians and engineers have to be resourceful, and there are times when you just have to learn a little Photoshop or Final Cut to help with your personal marketing. You get the most comprehensive training on lynda.com because all of their more than 1500 courses are presented by experts in their field, the production values are sky high, and the info is divided into easily graspable chunks. It sure beats those blurry how-to videos on YouTube by a mile (like that DIY mic stand video posted here yesterday).

I first started working with the good folks at lynda a few years ago, which has resulted in courses that mirror my books, like Audio Mixing Bootcamp, Audio Recording Techniques, Audio Mastering Techniques, 10 social media courses (based on my Social Media Promotion For Musicians book), and now the latest - Music Studio Setup and Acoustics.

Music Studio Setup and Acoustics is based on the popular Studio Builder's Handbook (written with engineer Dennis Moody), which tries to take all the mystery out of why some rooms sound good and others don't, and what you can do to greatly improve your room (and therefore your recordings) for as little as $150 (less than a piece of gear). Dave Pensado thinks this is the best book I've ever written, and hopefully you'll find this video course just as useful. There's a quick sample of one of the videos below.

I'm happy to be able to offer 7 days free of unlimited access to lynda.com so you can check this and other courses out. Enjoy!

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

5 Tricks For Adding Delay To Vocals

 

Sometimes getting a vocal to sit right in the mix takes as much time as mixing the entire rest of the track. Just finding that right combination of space that makes the vocal sound more glamorous without pushing it back in the mix can be something that seems so easy, yet takes so much time to make work.

Here's an excerpt from the 3rd edition of The Mixing Engineer's Handbook that looks at 5 techniques to make that vocal work better with the track. I've also added a quote from my good buddy Dave Pensado (his interview is also in the book) about one of the techniques that he uses.

"Here are a number of techniques often used for particular mix elements. Don’t limit yourself to the examples cited though, as they can easily work for other instruments, vocals or program sources as well.

1. A stereo delay with a 1/4 or 1/8^th note delay on one side and a 1/4 or 1/8^th note triplet or dotted note on the the other provides movement along with depth and is a favorite trick of EDM mixers.

2. To simulate a vocal double, dial in a 1/16^th note delay, then modulate it (see the Modulation section of this chapter) so it slowly raises and lowers in pitch. If the modulation can be set so it’s random, it will sound more realistic.

3. For a quick vocal effect to give it some space and depth during tracking or overdubs, set up a mono 220 millisecond delay with a couple of repeats.

4. Paul McCartney reportedly uses a 175 millisecond delay on his vocals almost all the time.

5. For getting a dry vocal to jump out, use two bandwidth limited (at about 400Hz to 2.5kHz) delays in the neighborhood of 12 ms to the left and 14 ms to the right each panned slightly off center. Bring up the delays until you can hear them in the mix, then back it off to where you can't. Occasionally mute the returns to make sure it's still bringing the vocals out as they sit well into the rest of the balance. You can also time the delays to a 1/64^th note on one side and a 1/128^th note on the other.  

I like a vocal mostly dry, but then it usually doesn’t sound big enough. You want the vocalist to sound like they’re really powerful and dynamic and just giving it everything, so I’ll put an 1/8th note delay on the vocal but subtract a 1/16th, a 32nd or 64th note value from that 1/8th note. What it does is give a movement to the delay and makes the singer have an urgency that’s kind of neat. I put the 1/8th minus 1/64th on the left side, and put the straight 1/8th note on the right side. You can experiment with pushing the pitch up a little bit on one side and down on another too if your singer’s a little pitchy, since that usually makes them sound a bit more in tune. Sometimes putting the 1/8th note triplet on one side and the straight 1/8th note on the other, if you’ve got any kind of swing elements of the track, will make the vocal big, yet it doesn’t make the singer sound like he’s taking a step back.  Dave Pensado

To read additional excerpts from The Mixing Engineer's Handbook or other books, go to the excerpts page of bobbyowsinski.com.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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How EDM Is Changing Mixing And Mastering

Both mixing engineers and mastering engineers are tied at the hip, though many don't realize it. Yes, it's true that many mastering engineers are dependent upon a mixer's business to keep the doors open, but that's been changing, since many times there's a shoot-out between mastering engineers to see who gets the gig. Usually, the one who can provide the loudest master wins (there's that loudness war again).

But that's not the real issue, nor where mixing and mastering engineers are mostly tied together. In fact, the concept of a separate specialized mixing engineer and a creative mastering engineer both began at nearly the same time during the late 70s, and continued to grow in prominence from that point until today. Before then, engineers were somewhat interchangeable and came with the studio that you rented. Usually the same engineer that recorded the project would mix it, since the projects were generally short (as in a few weeks) to begin with.

As for mastering engineers, they were just part of the process of transferring the audio signal from tape to vinyl disc (and later CD). It wasn't until legends like Bernie Grundman, Doug Sax and Bob Ludwig began to make mixes sound better, and louder, than the mixer could, that the mastering engineer came to be what he is today - the last part of the creative process.

But EDM is changing all of that. Today there's less perceived need for someone to mix an EDM track. The writer/programmer gets the sound he wants right from the start of the track, and since the kick and bass are already out in front and have a lot of impact, most feel that there's no reason to hire a specialized mixer for that particular bag of tricks.

The same goes for mastering engineers. Thanks to some great tools from a variety of plungin companies like Waves, Slate Digital, Universal Audio and iZotope to name a few (the same tools that many mastering engineers use), EDM mixers can pretty much make their mixes as loud as needed, so it's not surprising when they ask, "Why do I even need a mastering engineer?"

One of the things about EDM is that there's a different kind of finesse involved in its creation from what a great many of the industry veterans are used to, where manipulation of the sound is encouraged and celebrated, and distortion is viewed as simply a byproduct of that manipulation. That's the antithesis of most mix and mastering engineers that don't deal in EDM, where in their world distortion is something to be avoided. In fact, getting impact from the rhythm section without it is almost revered.

As my buddy (and mixing legend) Dave Pensado recently expressed to me, "We've (mixers) been too concerned with sonic quality, and it's hurt mixers when it comes to EDM as a result." It should be noted that Dave is one of the few mixers who does a fair amount of EDM, so he can speak with some authority on the subject.

Is this trend going to kill the market for mix and mastering engineers? Probably not. When it comes to music made by real instruments instead of samples and loops, it takes a great deal of expertise that only comes from experience with that type of music. I have a friend who creates fantastic electronic music, but is hopeless when it comes to either recording or mixing real instruments (especially the drums).

In many ways, it's apples and oranges, but EDM is an ever-growing musical genre that now dominates the music business. As Aaron Ray, a principle in the management company The Collective said last week during a talk that I attended, "EDM has decimated rock. It's now an entirely different business."

The point of this post is to open up the eyes of those in our business who may be a little too tied to the past way of doing things, since there's a whole genre of music that's mostly ignoring you. In the end, we're all in a service business and the client is still king. It's great to have principles, but if you hold them too tightly, you might find yourself not working as much as a result. If a client wants something that violates your aesthetic sense, in today's world, you might consider suppressing your arty urges and give them what they want, because there's a whole group of people right behind you that are more than willing to do just that.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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Some Interview Excerpts

One of the things that people seem to enjoy about my books is the interview sections. I'm lucky that I live in Los Angeles and have some great friends that are experts in so many different fields, so Im able to interview so many people that are a lot smarter than I am. Plus, when I interview them for a book, they usually provide far more information than I ever expected. That's why I've always included the entire interview.

For those of you who haven't had a chance to read all of my books but like the interviews that I've excerpted here, I've posted numerous chapter and interview excerpts as well as a Table of Contents to all my books on the Bobby Owsinski website.

Here's a list of what's currently available from each book.

The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook 

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 2 Excerpt - The Mechanics of Mixing

        Andy Johns Interview Excerpt

        Dave Pensado Interview Excerpt

        Elliot Scheiner Interview Excerpt

        Jimmy Douglass Interview Excerpt

The Recording Engineer’s Handbook 

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 6 Excerpt - Basic Multichannel Tracking

        Eddie Kramer Interview Excerpt

        Al Schmitt Interview Excerpt

The Audio Mastering Handbook 

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 5 Excerpt - Preparation For Mastering

        Bob Ludwig Interview Excerpt

        Bob Katz Interview Excerpt

The Drum Recording Handbook 

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 13 Excerpt - Final Drum Sound Checklist

        Ricky Lawson Interview Excerpt

        Dave Weckl Interview Excerpt

How To Make Your Band Sound Great 

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 8 Excerpt - The Keys To Greatness

        Peter Thorn Interview Excerpt

        Brian Ray Interview Excerpt

The Studio Musician’s Handbook 

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 2 Excerpt - Why The Studio Is Different Than Playing Live

        Leland Sklar Interview Excerpt

        Rami Jaffee Interview Excerpt

Music 3.0: A Survival Guide For Making Music In The Internet Age

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 1 Excerpt - The Five Live Stages of the Music Industry

        Chapter 4 Excerpt - The New Marketing

        Chapter 6 Excerpt - The New Marketing Part 2

        Gregory Markel Interview Excerpt

        Ian Rogers Interview Excerpt

The Music Producer's Handbook

       Table of Contents

        Chapter 6 Excerpt - Music Mechanics       

        Chapter 7 Excerpt - Preproduction: The Most Important Step

        Jack Douglas Interview Excerpt

The Touring Musician's Handbook

        Table of Contents

        Bob Glaub Interview Excerpt

        Terry Lawless Interview Excerpt

        Chapter 3 Excerpt - The Touring Musician’s Difference

The Musician's Video Handbook

        Table of Contents

         Chapter 5 Excerpt - Lighting Basics

         Chapter 8 Excerpt - Performance Video Production

The Studio Builder's Handbook

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 3 Excerpt - Some Basic Acoustics

        Chapter 5 Excerpt - Making A Plan

        Carl Tatz Interview

The Ultimate Guitar Tone Handbook

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 3 Excerpt - Tonal Factors of an Electric Guitar

        Chapter 11 Excerpt - Acoustic Guitar Miking

        Dick Boak Interview Excerpt

Mixing And Mastering With T-RackS: The Official Guide

       Table of Contents
        Chapter 1 Excerpt - Mix Preparation

        Chapter 3 Excerpt - Using T-RackS Dynamics During Mixing

The Audio Mixing Bootcamp

        Table of Contents

        Chapter 4 Excerpt - Building The Mix

        Chapter 6 Excerpt - Setting The Compressor

Enjoy! And let me know what you think!

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

Pensado's Place #44

I had the pleasure to be on mixer extraordinaire Dave Pensado's great webcast, Pensado's Place, the other day. On the show we talked about everything from 5.1 mixing tips to the state of the music business to some social media for musicians and engineers. Check it out. And thanks again, Dave!

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.