Performer Magazine: Fall 2023 HOME RECORDING ISSUE

THE HOME RECORDING ISSUE

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THE home rec ISSUE

VOLUME 33, ISSUE 3

4. LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

5. Common Insurance Misconceptions

9. Three Reasons Your Music Isn’t Getting Synced

12.

FEATURE: Pedro Martins

14.

INTERVIEW: Ocean Way Audio’s Allen Sides

20. How to Record Excellent Audio/Video on Your Phone

22. New Gear BUYER’S GUIDE

28. Acoustic Distortion Tips

30. An Intro to Dolby Atmos

34. Get Your Signal Chain In Order

38.

INTERVIEW: Michael Bierylo (Berklee)

43. Get Great Podcast Recordings at Home

46. The Audix “One Mic Challenge”

Wrap-up

48.

used under a CC BY 2.0 license

LETTER from the editor

Hey gang,

We’re back at it with another themed issue, this time focused on all things home-recording and home studio related. Got a bedroom setup? Thinking of upgrading a more robust home rig? Don’t know WHERE to begin?

Dig into the pages ahead, get some tips from legendary producers like Ocean Way Studio’s Allen Sides, and also some super helpful tips and tricks from the likes of Warm Audio, RODE Microphones and Shure.

HUGE THANKS to Focusrite for jumping on board early in the process as our title sponsor for the issue, the companion Bandcamp sampler, YouTube videos AND a bonus episode of our podcast (where you can hear more of our Allen Sides interview). Big ups to our other sponsors IK Multimedia, Telefunken, Antares, Apogee and Blackstar Amps.

As if that weren’t enough, we’ve got a new gear buyer’s guide, a primer to Dolby Atmos for musicians, a lovely chat with Michael Bierylo, chair of the electronic production and design (EPD) department of Berklee, relevant advice for sync placements as well as some insurance tips if you’re headed out on the road this fall.

So, until then, keep making great music (no matter what the setting), and be sure to send it to us when it’s done. We love hearing what our readers come up with!

Enjoy!

Benjamin Ricci

Volume 33, Issue 3

850 Post Rd Suite 8385

Warwick, RI 02888

CONTACT

Phone: 617-627-9200

Fax: 617-627-9930

PUBLISHER

William House

Phone: 617-627-9919 bill@performermag.com

EDITOR

Benjamin Ricci ben@performermag.com

DESIGN & ART DIRECTION

Cristian Iancu

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Bob Dobalina

editorial@performermag.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Benjamin Ricci, Michael St. James, Alex Solano, Bobbo Byrnes, Taylor Northern

ADVERTISING SALES

William House

Phone: 617-627-9919 bill@performermag.com

© 2023 by Performer Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any method whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher.

The magazine accepts no responsibility for unsolicited recordings, manuscripts, artwork or photographs and will not return such materials unless requested and accompanied by a SASE.

Annual Subscription Rate is $30 in the U.S.; $45 outside the U.S.

PS – the European football has kicked back off, and (to everyone’s surprise) Spurs are actually playing watchable football this year. Yeah, yeah…I know I’m jinxing it merely by speaking about it, but after a halfdozen games or so they’re looking like a real Top 4 contender, even without the boots of Harry Kane (Germany, please appreciate what you’ve got while you’ve got it…sigh…) Oh well, as ever I’m patiently waiting for the inevitable “spursy” moment where it all turns south. Stay tuned…

ABOUT US / Performer Magazine, a nationally distributed musician’s trade publication, focuses on independent musicians, those unsigned and on small labels, and their success in a DIY environment. We’re dedicated to promoting lesser-known talent and being the first to introduce you to artists you should know about.

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CORRECTIONS / Did we make a heinous blunder, factual error or just spell your name wrong? Contact editorial@ performermag.com and let us know, cuz we’re big enough to say, “Baby, I was wrong.”

EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS / In the words of our esteemed forefathers at CREEM: “NOBODY WHO WRITES FOR THIS RAG’S GOT ANYTHING YOU AIN’T GOT, at least in the way of credentials. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be sending us your stuff: reviews, features, photos, recording tips, DIY advice or whatever else you have in mind that might be interesting to our readers: independent and DIY musicians. Who else do ya know who’ll publish you? We really will...ask any of our dozens of satisfied customers. Just bop it along to us to editorial@performermag.com and see what comes back your way. If you have eyes to be in print, this just might be the place. Whaddya got to lose? Whaddya got?”

Clearing up the Most Common Misconception About Musician Insurance

hen it comes to the life of your band, or your solo career, we understand that insurance topics might not be the sexiest thing to cover. That said, it’s oftentimes a misunderstand, and crucial part of your business plan. Look, we don’t wish for the worst or unthinkable to happen to you while you’re out enjoying your exciting tour, but stuff happens.

And if it does, we want to make sure you’re not making costly mistakes by confusing what your insurance policy covers (or worse, doesn’t cover).

So, with all that said, let’s dive into a common mistake a lot of musicians make when shopping for (and securing) and insurance policy.

SO, WHAT’S THE BIG CONFUSION?

The confusion typically lies with semantics, which can have real-world (and big-time financial) repercussions for you.

When shopping for “musician insurance,” especially if a venue or live event requests (or requires) it of your act, what you’re usually going for is a liability insurance policy. Now, typically this is in place on the off chance that you (or someone in your party) causes actual damage to the property on-site, or worse -- bodily harm to an individual or individuals on-site. Now, that makes sense, right? Of course, a venue or festival wants to cover all bases, and requiring insurance against liability claims would seem to fit with that.

And you want protection as well, don’t you? In all likelihood, you would probably be smart to look into this regardless of whether or not it’s being required of you for live events.

So far, so good. If you’re looking to initiate a quote online for entertainer insurance, or musician insurance for live performances you’ve got coming up, we recommend you check out our friends at K&K Insurance. They can help shape the policy that’s right for your needs, and provide a level of coverage that’ll help make things whole if things do, unfortunately, go awry at some point. You can even get the ball rolling online to make things easier.

What that sort of policy, and again we’re specifically talking about liability here, does NOT cover, are things like your personal property from common things like theft, fire, damage, etc. Meaning that this isn’t an all-encompassing

policy that protects you if someone is injured AND if your gear is stolen from your tour van or home studio.

No, and that’s where we’ve heard from heartbroken artists who mistakenly assumed their policy was a one-stop deal that covered every aspect of their career, including their musical instruments whether on the road or at home.

That’s simply not the case, and in fact there are specific types of policies that DO offer that sort of coverage for you, and can help make you whole again if your favorite guitars meet an unfortunate fate.

While we won’t be delving into how to obtain those types of policies in this article, we have touched upon it in the past, and the types of policies you’ll want to investigate include homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, depending on your living situation, and perhaps even a n “inland marine policy” – as bizarre as that sounds – to cover your belongings while they’re in transit or at home. Yeah, it can be confusing, but you’ll find some additional helpful tips on our site and in back issues that might help you and your bandmates navigate the waters.

The key concepts to keep in mind when doing any insurance policy homework are as follows:

1) Liability insurance comes into play when you are ‘liable’ for damage, most commonly to person or property. Harm has befallen others’ property and/or bodies.

2) Personal property types of insurance are best suited to cover the replacement costs of your actual owned belongings, and again we’re likely talking about your musical instruments and gear, if they’re damaged, destroyed or otherwise rendered inoperable due to things like theft, fire, or other types of damage. The liability insurance you procure for your live shows will likely not help you out in these instances, sorry.

IN SUMMARY

So now that we’ve cleared up one of the most common misunderstandings when it comes to selecting the right types of insurance for your act’s career, we recommend you talk to some agents about the policies they offer, what sorts of coverage options and limits they deal with, and determine for yourself which policy (or likely policies) are best suited to your needs.

As always, stay safe out there, and it’s our sincerest hope you never have to actually make use of your policy, either on tour or back home!

To learn more and get started today before your summer gig schedule fills up completely, head to https://www.kandkinsurance.com

Reasons

Why Your Music Isn’t Getting Synced

Iwas recently included on a panel about syncs and the conversation went a bit sideways when it came to answering an artist’s question regarding why they weren’t getting any syncs.

Hopefully, you already know these terms, but without going into a huge explainer, when I say “syncs,” it’s shorthand for Master/Synchronization. These are usually placements for TV, film, ads, gaming, etc. where “both sides” of your music - the Master (recording) and Sync (publishing) are licensed for usage. It includes an upfront fee split in half between the two and then sweet, sweet, performance royalties every time it’s used after, which is collected and paid to you as a songwriter/ publisher by your PRO.

Back to the panel.

Normally in these sessions, everyone tries to provide some positive feedback. An example would be, “It’s very good, I like the style, but the chorus needs to be more repetitive and catchy.” But this one artist was truly confused (pissed off) as to why she couldn’t get these two songs any placements, not even holds, and rarely any replies to pitches. She was convinced the songs were perfect for syncs. After listening, I had to agree, the “songs” were damn good, but the masters weren’t. She didn’t understand. She wanted true and honest feedback even if it hurt.

So, I asked her to walk us through everything. Show us the emails she sent to sync agents and supervisors, how she packaged the actual files, and so on. What emerged was multiple points

where the pitches failed and I’d like to share them with you, because I think all of us can use this information to get better.

The mantra in sync is this: the perfect song, at the perfect time, for the perfect price. If any one of those aren’t in place, your music just doesn’t get placed. It’s just part of the game. This does not mean it’s not good, hell, it may even be perfect, but just not right now and not for this project. Most often, you will not even know why your music wasn’t chosen. Being involved in sync means hearing “no” or “pass” a lot, and sometimes, depending on the supervisor or producer, you are lucky if you hear back at all. That’s just the ropes, kid. It’s rarer still to get any feedback. There just simply is not enough time to break down what you could’ve done better or how the track could’ve been improved.

With that in mind, there are three main reasons why any given song doesn’t get placed which I see come up again and again. Let’s break them down and give you a better shot at getting that sweet sync placement.

Great Song/Bad Master - Great Master/ Bad Song

This is crucial to understand. A song can be great but the recording of it is just not up to snuff. The culprit is usually the mix. So often, we hear songs that are just horribly mixed. It’s clear the artist didn’t use an outside mixing engineer thinking that as long as it’s loud and hot it will be good. They are wrong. When you listen to upwards of 100 songs a day during a project run, it becomes crystal clear which tracks are mixed by a professional who knows what they are doing, and

certainly which ones are not. A bad mix will only get worse as it goes through post production and dropped into an audio mix. It’s just a nonstarter. If you take away one piece of advice from me, it is that you must use professional mixers until you get good enough at it on your own. It’s money well-spent, trust me.

Another key element is the opposite - where the master sounds excellent, but the song just isn’t there for sync. What does this mean? It means the song material may be good, but usually arrangement factors are keeping it from being great. The intro is too long, the chorus isn’t long enough, the lyric rhyme pattern is lazy, there is no dynamic change in emotion or lift, like a bridge, or there is a long solo (shouldn’t be). For some types of placements, you must have a stinger on the end. These may seem marginal to you, but they are not to supes and agents.

In general, cut the fat, make sure there is at least one change in dynamics - whether in volume or sound texture, and have someone who loves mixing do your final tracks.

The Pitch

Depending on how you are pitching, this is just as crucial as your music. There is a lot of trust that goes into sync. Trust that all of your music (including any samples) is cleared, truly one-stop, that you own/control both sides, that you aren’t some noob who will waste people’s time or hold up a project trying to negotiate some ridiculous fee on a MFN project. Do you know all of those words in that last sentence? If not, you need to change that.

A common error we see is someone telling their life’s story or the band’s entire history pitching one song. We don’t care (sorry). Sometimes, it may be needed if there’s an artist tie-in, but usually, it does not matter at all. Less is more.

Here’s how to do it.

Subject line: Name of the pitch (show, agency or project) - name of “song” and artist

Example: “Taco Bell Night Out (Cashmere)‘Wild Night Ride’ - The Synthwave Kids”

Body: The absolute shortest amount of words to explain the metadata asked for. Example “Hi, loved your work on (insert previous project). This is a Contemporary Synth Pop up-tempo song which is fun, hopeful, sexy, and talks about a wild night out with friends, at 122 bpm. One-stop, cleared. (Insert link to .wav on Disco, Dropbox, or private Soundcloud).

Let me know if there’s anything else you need and how I can help you. Thank you for listening”

End: All contact information, including mobile, and your general profile links.

That’s it.

Do not go into why you wrote it because of some lost love in your past, or why you think it would be perfect for this or that, or what your band has coming up. I tend to shy away from “sounds like...” explainers, unless it is specifically in the brief, because that can vary from personal perspective. Think of it this way, the more you say, the less chance you have of getting a listen, not the other way around.

Do not (ever, ever, ever) send an mp3 or attach a file of any kind, only links. You will go on a blacklist of amateurs and never be considered again. Do not use Google Drive for song links (long story, but trust me on this one).

You Might Be The Problem.

This is hard to tell people, but the reason you may not be getting syncs, might be you. Look, we just don’t want to deal with unprofessional people. We just don’t want to waste time with people who do not have their stuff in order and organized. Do you know the terms we use, are your songs registered correctly, do you have split sheets if they are needed, are you using a good platform for linking your tracks? The goal of any sync agent or supervisor is to complete

the project on time and on budget, anything that gets in the way of that can threaten future work.

Obviously, don’t be a jerk. Be courteous, answer emails and texts right away, keep it short and focused on the pitch at hand. Don’t mention it on social media. It should go without saying, but be pleasant to talk to on the phone. Don’t ask what else they are working on, they will ask you if they have other needs. Everyone in sync wants to work with the same artists and rightsholders again and again, you will get that opportunity by how you treat the first one.

If an agent texts you and asks you to upload the instrumental to the Dropbox folder, don’t send them a Mediafire link. Do what they asked. If a supervisor asks for the ISWC on a track, do not ask why. We assume you already know the basics. If anything is asked of you and you do not know, ask somebody else, not the supervisor or sync agent. They do not have time to explain your business to you and it just signals that you are going to be a problem and timesuck.

If you get the offer to sign and return, do it now, not tomorrow, not Thursday night, now.

To be dead honest, sometimes the difference between who got the sync and who didn’t, all songs being equal, is just as simple as preferring to work with one person over the other.

Hopefully these help you land that coveted sync which will increase your fans, streams, and money for a long time to come.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael St. James is the founder and creative director of St. James Media, specializing in music licensing, publishing, production and artist development.

Catching up with Brazilian Guitarist Extraordinaire

Tell me about your new album Radio Misterio -- what inspired the album title?

I was trying to find a name that would sound good in English and Portuguese at the same time. I had a list of words that sound and mean the same and “radio” was one of them. I liked it because it represented the eclectic nature of the album, almost like browsing different radio stations, recording a mixtape of your favorite songs that you love, but not necessarily share the same “genre.” I like to think of songwriting as tuning our radio receptor to a specific station, receiving the ideas through the mysterious invisible waves from somewhere above.

I was telling my girlfriend about all of that and when I brought up the radio thing, she immediately replied “Rádio Mistério” and I was like, “that’s it!”  What a beautiful word and concept “mystery” is.

I really like your song “Liberdade,” the live version with Justin Brown on drums is amazing. On the record, you have Omar

Hakim. How did you get Omar to play on the record?

Omar is a Greek myth of drums… I have always been a huge Weather Report fan. I grew up listening to Procession, Domino Theory, Sportin’ Life, etc. I wanted this track to be a Brazilian pop version of “Db Waltz,” kinda. I knew that Kurt Rosenwinkel (who produced the record with me) was in a band with Omar a while ago, so I asked Kurt to make the connection, and he hooked it up which was really cool.

Your lyrics are in Portuguese, so native English speakers may not understand all the themes and subjects in your music. What are some of the themes in your lyrics?

My lyrics are mostly auto-biographical, things that happen to me and how they make me feel. I’m not into writing stories. I have fun just riffing on subjects that are relevant to me. Sometimes I like to think of my lyrics as a way to convert skeptical/practical oriented minds. I often talk about heart over mind, soul and

spirit, magic and dreams… sometimes disguised as teenage love songs, sometimes in a pretty straight-forward way.

My father, Oscar Azevedo is my biggest inspiration. He’s really good at writing “protest” songs, but almost in a sneaky way, like he would write a song about something that makes him happy and go on about it, and right at the end say something about how we can’t be fully satisfied before we make sure everyone around us can afford to be happy. That kind of thing that takes you by surprise and makes you think. His music is filled with honesty and hope, I really like that.

Honestly my music is not meant to be “understood,” it’s meant to be felt.

You also have Eric Clapton on the track “ Nao Leve a Mal” -- how did that collaboration come about?

I wrote him asking if he would be down and he said yes. He’s a really cool guy and I’ve been a huge fan of him since I was a little kid.

I met Eric in 2016 when I was working on Kurt’s album “Caipi”. He walked into the studio as I was recording vocals and I was pretty shocked. Since then, he’s invited me to play on his Crossroads Festival and to play guitar on his song “Heart of a Child,” that was alongside my longtime friend and collaborator, Daniel Santiago. I love Eric, he’s a hero.

The guitar solo on “Polos” reminds me a lot of the late, great Allan Holdsworth, he was one of my favorite players and also a major influence on Eddie Van Halen. Are you a fan of his music?

Huge fan of him, a true music god. His playing and songs are so deep makes me cry.

Who are your contemporary influences?

Genevieve Artadi, Thundercat, Daryl Johns, Chris Fishman, Ariel Pink, Daniel Santiago, Felipe Viegas, Diana Horta, Michael Pipoquinha, Mestrinho, Hamilton de Holanda, Lucas Arruda, the list goes on...

You clearly have a thorough knowledge of music theory and the guitar fretboard, were you trained by Shaolin monks?

But of course!

You grew up in Brazil. What part are you from?

Gama, city of Distrito Federal. Near Brasília (capital).

Brazil is almost the same size as the United States and it’s very diverse, correct? Tell me about your hometown in Brazil, what do you like about it and what do you dislike?

Yes, Brazil is diverse. I come from the capital that was inaugurated in 1964. Families from all

around the country came to start new life in the new capital. So I really like the cultural mixture that happens there. Miscegenation is a great way to advance with human evolution.

I love my family and my friends, the weather and nature, the music, the culture, the food… there’s definitely something magical in the air around the whole area where Brasília is. I heard that it was the first ground to solidify on the planet and the only place on earth that was never underwater. How crazy is that?

Also, Brasília is known as capital of rock, mostly because of this one super famous postpunk band called “Legião Urbana”, some sort of Brazilian version of Joy Division/Smiths which I deeply love and everybody there knows it.

I really hate the huge social inequality in my city, bad public transportation, most of the main-stream music, corny parties and almost non-existent underground night life. Overall, it’s a very square city.

Let’s talk about your bandmates. You’ve got Daryl Johns on bass, Chris Fishman on keys and Justin Brown on drums. Those guys are all phenomenal musicians, how did you link up with them?

They’re all part of the LA scene. [My girlfriend] Genevieve introduced me to Chris Fishman in 2018 at this taco place called Homestate. Chris introduced me to Daryl when he was still living in New Jersey, they came to see me play with Kurt at Birdland in New York. Justin Brown came to see one my gigs in Blue Whale around 2018 or 2019.

What are some of your favorite venues to play in the LA area with that band?

I like Zebulon, good vibe and sound.

Have you guys ever ventured into San Diego or gone up north to San Francisco Bay Area to perform? What are your favorite venues there?

Yes, I played Bay Area with my dear friend Michael Pipoquinha. Also toured there in 2017 with Kurt’s Caipi project. It looks like I’ll be touring around there with my own band in October, fingers crossed.

Let’s talk about your gear for a minute. What kind of guitars, amps and pedals are you using for your live show? What guitar rig did you use to record the album?

For effects…for a long time, I used the Fractal Axe FX 3 for live shows and recording. Then I forgot it in the airplane in the middle of a tour

and Daryl let me borrow his Boss ME 50 which sounded better. I got myself a Boss ME 80 and I’m very happy with it and it costs literally 250 bucks. It’s so intuitive, it’s got most of the sounds I like to use. Not to diss the Fractal one, it was just so heavy and fiddly and sometimes, too digital. But it’s a powerful machine and I might still use it for recording. The amp simulation on it is really amazing.

A Boss OC-3 that generates bass notes out of the lowest notes on guitar and makes a chord sound huge. It’s really cool.

Also using a loop pedal for some moments on my solo show.

For amps, I’ve been using the Roland KC 550 and a Fender Twin Reverb. These are amps you can find anywhere, so it’s good to have them on the rider. The Roland KC is really cool because you can play clean and be as loud as you want and it never breaks. It’s a keyboard amp so you can emulate on stage DI/line board sounds which I love. The Twin Reverb is the classic warm tube sound that works with everything. Best of both worlds.

Are there any tips and tricks you would like to share with young, aspiring guitar players?

Learn by ear everything that sounds good to you, no matter what style or genre. Learn it deeply and learn piano. Do what it takes to have fun while you’re practicing/playing. Play for long hours. Find different sounds that inspire you to play different. Play with your friends/play in bands. Go out to see great musicians playing live and watch them closely. Write your own music no matter what level you’re in. Don’t be shy and hesitant. Unhealthy competition is poison. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Do other things, laugh, party, go out on dates... have a life.

For more, follow Pedro on Instagram @pedromartins93

“I like to think of songwriting as tuning our radio receptor to a specific station, receiving the ideas through the mysterious invisible waves from somewhere above.”

SPECIAL INTERVIEW

Producer and Allen Sides on Home Recording

Legendary

and Studio Owner Recording

n this wide-ranging interview, we had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with the legendary producer, studio owner and founder of the amazing pro audio brand Ocean Way Audio, Allen Sides.

Sides’ career speaks for itself, and his range of Ocean Way Audio studio monitors and the new AeroWave PA system for large venues are topof-class equipment for today’s discerning audio professionals.

We spoke with Sides about his history with home recording, what that means for someone in his position who has historically dealt with more commercial studio environments, and we even touch upon some DIY sound tips he employs when doing his own home sessions.

I guess the first place to start is what we think of today as home recording. Can you tell us what some of the artists you worked with over the years maybe first started with? Was it Portastudios, was it just open reel type stuff at home – maybe a hodgepodge?

Well, I had an Ampex 354 two track machine. And I had these Ampex mixers and I had, you know, various EQ’s and things. And I would go out and do live remotes with that stuff. I like the sound of master tapes rather than copies. And back then as LP’s and cassettes and CD’s were just coming along, it was all about sound quality. And I found that I could get some really interesting sounds with this stuff.

I mean, I think I recorded everything from classical to jazz to all sorts of things. That was kind of the beginning [of it for me]. But then my first kind of studio, which was in Venice, I managed to get the space almost for free and I had two 2-tracks and had Ampex 354 and I think I had a TR 310. So, what I would do is I’d record the band live to two track, so I had drums, bass, two guitars, whatever. I recorded it all on two track. Then when we got doing vocals I would play the two track through a setup and record the vocals, backgrounds and things live and just edit the tape together so that so I was only one generation away from my [originals]. The two track and all the vocals and things went on the first generation and I could have as many takes as I wanted to for the vocals and just cut them together [without quality loss].

Right.

So that’s the way I did it [back then]. I had two 2-tracks and that’s the way I had to work. At that time I was using HiFi preamps like Marantz and JBL graphic controller amps. I tied them all together with 10K resistors and they made a little console out of HiFi preamps and amps.

Interesting. Kind of just using whatever was available.

Yeah, to me you just got to make it work. You know, obviously, sometimes circumstances are ideal, so it’s up to us to finesse it. Like when Rick Rubin used this house off of Laurel, it was Houdini’s old house and we would set up to do the Chili Peppers and I would set up each room, and say, this is our guitar room and I put up blankets and baffles and I’d get it all sounding good. This is our vocal room. OK, the living is going to be our drum room. And then I’d figure out what I need to do in that room and make it sound good. And so then I’d have little TV cameras set up so you’d sit in one room, but then everybody would be in a different room in the house and still be able to see each other.

So that’s real “home” recording. You’re literally using the whole house!

Oh, absolutely, yeah. You know, a lot of times I’ll go to a house and I mean, I was just at a friend’s house who has kind of a nice two-story thing and we needed a French horn overdub in this room. Nothing special. Just get the musicians in the right place. It sounded good in the room and we used a couple AKG 451’s six feet away and it sounded great.

I mean, someone with your skill set can probably record just about anywhere. One of the things that’s interesting from a historical perspective is I know today you can go buy an audio interface and hook it up to a computer and you can do all sorts of wonderful things just from your bedroom. But in the early days of what we think of as home recording, people were probably doing little four track tapes on PortaStudios and

things like that. Obviously studios that you owned and operated were more professional spaces -- would you get artists bringing their rough home recordings to you back in the day?

Well, I would. To me, I think that people come with [home-produced] tracks and ask how can I make this sound good? So a lot of times I’d get recordings and there was a lot of flaws here and there and things I can do now that was unthinkable, you know, at that period of time -allowing me to finesse details and like, when I did the Ocean Way room plug-in with the Universal Audio, that has saved my life on many sessions. Where I can take stuff that sounds drab and all of a sudden make it sound like it was recorded in a really nice room.

Let’s talk about that plug in, because this is the unsung hero of today’s home recording world -- you can actually model physical, historic rooms and what that room sounded like. What was the development process like with UA on that, how did you actually go about making something like it?

We obviously had these particular, spectacular Putnam rooms -- Studio A and B and the rooms themselves all sound amazing, so that’s a good start. And then we had, you know, this ridiculous mic collection. So I said, look, Bill, the way to do this is we’ll pick -- say we want drums and there’s two spots in the room that’re ideal for drums. So what I’d do is create three sets of microphones, close medium and even far.

I put up like 8 stereo pairs using all these various combinations. And I recorded all of it. I sampled all of it. And then I also used stereo sets of our big speakers -- the other thing is you need

speaker systems that have the same fidelity and wide dispersion of what a live instrument sounds like. So sometimes you go into a big room and you put a general small speaker and then you measure it. That’s not really what the room sounds like. So then what? What we did is also we measured on axis left and on axis right. Then we took the speakers and aimed them to the rear walls and then left measure right and then we put them on the floor and aimed at the ceiling. We did left or right measurements and then UA came up with a way to put all these measurements together and it took two months to create the presets. It takes a long time to make all this stuff deliver the goods. So now, after all that, you just call it up, push a button, and say hey, that’s good.

So for artists today who are just recording on their laptop, they can easily dial up all these parameters and get their room, which maybe doesn’t sound obviously like that room, get it sounding like an of approximation of those sorts of legendary rooms.

Right. But even for me, I was doing sort of a classical gig at a studio, a pretty big room and we

“That’s probably one of the most important things is having really, really great speakers that are accurate. And I must be honest, a lot of stuff’s not.”

had 12 musicians. When I recorded this thing, the mics on the violins I was using were maybe a little close. And it was a little harsher than I wanted them to sound. And I’m listening to this whole image and I got this problem. But, you know, I was able to then EQ the source, like, -2 at a 5K shelf, +23 on a shelf and make it sound warmer. But then when I take the plug-in and set it in my room, I can take what’s too close to me and move it back [virtually, in space].

It’s amazing what you can do.

Oh yeah, I wouldn’t have dreamed that was possible 20 years ago.

Do you ever look back and think the limitations that you had starting out were a positive thing or would you just rather have it all like you have it now? With today’s access to everything?

Here’s the thing. I mean you never know what’s going to work. You know, best laid plans...

Sometimes I would do a tracking session, right? And I have all kinds of great room mics

set up but I have maybe three SM58s as talkback mics which are normally muted. But I open up the talkback mics and go, What the hell? That sounds amazing. These three 58’s or whatever were doing some great [things to] the guitar sounds. I said, I gotta record that! I gotta record that song. Because it did something that, you know, it was a moment in time and I needed it. And that happens.

So sometimes it’s just experimentation, finding whatever works best for the moment.

One of the things I think artists today can get lost in is maybe just choice overload. Like, there’s so many plug-ins and so many pieces of outboard gear, and you can do so much and sometimes you forget, Hey, let’s just make music and get this thing down, you know?

Oh my God. Get this thing out the door. OK.

Yeah. Get to the center of what matters.

Do you ever miss recording to tape? Is there a sound of tape that you prefer to digital?

Here’s the thing, is that when I was recording to say 24 track analog I did a lot of things I thought sounded quite good, but in all honesty when I’m listening to input on the system and then I come in and I play it back, it sounds about 10% worse than it did going in, but it’s still pretty damn good, you know, and it maybe has lots more resolution than digital does.

Both have pluses and minuses. My joy in Pro Tools is that I can do things with vocals that used to be very difficult to do a lot of times. I’m working with certain vocalists where maybe certain words are kind of harsh or they’re not using good mic technique and they’re going off axis – with Pro Tools I can go and sit there and I can get every

word perfect. I can take out harshness when it’s harsh. And then when they go off mic I can make it clear and I can make it sound like they were always in the perfect spot for the entire thing. Back then I would [set up] 3 or 4 faders in the console with different EQs. And then I would just go back and forth, you know, because that’s the only way I could do it.

I’d love to get your insight on what sorts of recommendations you’d make in terms of hardware and software for those just starting out?

I just have a little UA set up at my house. Then

I have a standard Pro Tools setup, too. And the reason I stayed with Pro Tools, the only reason I stay with Pro Tools is because it’s compatible with everything I have to deal with. You know, so I’m still stuck in that format. There are other formats that are perfectly reasonable, but you know, I do a lot of film scores. I do rock’n’roll and all sorts of stuff…so that’s kind of what I’m using. It’s fairly simple system. The other thing for me, that’s the most important thing is really my speakers. If I can hear well my life is easy.

That’s probably one of the most important things is having really, really great speakers that are accurate. And I must be honest, a lot of stuff’s not.

I know you’ve worked in world class studios that I’m sure are set up phenomenally. Is there any sort of home sound treatment, or acoustical treatment that you would recommend for people doing their own stuff?

The least expensive and easiest fix is moving blankets. I know this is kind of crazy, but say you’re in a bedroom. Typical room. Plaster walls. OK, if you have your speakers, you know, sitting on either side of your computer or whatever it is, a lot of times I can take a mic stand, raise it up on the left side, one on the right side, and I’ll

put a moving blanket, double folded over and I’ll put that there and that’ll get rid of my first order reflections on the side walls. So if my head is close to the speakers, I can get quite a good sound, even if the room is a disaster.

That’s great! Allen, I appreciate you giving us your time. Anything you want to end on for today’s home recording artists?

Well, I’ll say one more thing about vocals. Compressors can be your friend, but they can also be your enemy. A lot of times I’ll record vocals, maybe I’m monitoring with the compressor in the chain. But I’m not actually recording that vocal compressed because I find after the fact, I like to go in and ride every word and every syllable myself manually, and then I’ll personally fix every S and every T and any pops. And so it takes me an hour to do that. But the finished vocal I have sounds 10 times better than a vocal that’s compressed 20 DB.

Yeah, because you’re controlling it. You’re in charge.

I’m doing it and we as engineers, I mean they’re hiring us for that.

To learn more please visit https://oceanwayaudio.com

“Compressors can be your friend, but they can also be your enemy”

THE HOME RECORDING ISSUE companion mixtape

NOW STREAMING ON BANDCAMP feautring brand new tracks RECORDED with the generous help of our amazing sponsors

How To Record Excellent Audio and Video on iPhone

When it comes to shooting top-notch video content, one of the most powerful tools for the job is right in your pocket. iPhones now have immense video capabilities and are often able to record up to 4K and with multiple dedicated cameras for wide, standard and telephoto shots. With that said, the microphones built into most smartphones aren’t necessarily the best, so here we’ll show you how to transform your phone into a pro audio and video recording powerhouse.

RØDE Capture Pro Video and Audio App

First off, we recommend downloading RØDE’s free pro video and audio iOS app, RØDE Capture. It’s designed specifically with content creators in mind and brings your video and audio control into one neat app. It features an intuitive interface that gives you quick access to all your iPhone’s critical video settings such as resolution, frame rate and aspect ratio, as well as other features like a countdown timer for delaying the start of your recording.

The app also features a super unique dual camera mode, which offers a great deal of creative freedom by allowing you to record both the primary and selfie camera simultaneously. This mode has both split screen and picture-inpicture configuration options, and allows you to save each video as a separate file for editing in post, or a combined file for uploading directly to Tik Tok.

Another star feature of RØDE Capture is its seamless integration with compatible RØDE microphones – let’s take a look at a few ways you can overcome the average built-in iPhone microphone by pairing a RØDE mic with RØDE Capture.

Upgrade Your iPhone’s Audio With an External Mic

RØDE offers a wide range of microphones that can connect directly to your iPhone via USB, allowing you to capture studio-grade audio directly into your phone, transforming it into a compact and accessible setup that will help take your content to the next level. RØDE Capture also allows you to access settings such as input gain, audio processing and operation modes for your microphone from directly within the app.

Wireless Microphone Systems

The Wireless ME and Wireless GO II microphone systems are an excellent solution for capturing audio from afar, making them ideal for street interviews, video podcasts and all forms of content creation where you or your subject is a little further from the camera. With the transmitter and its built-in microphone clipped to your subject, you’ll have consistent and clear

audio even when they move closer to, or further away from your phone, and the ability to separate different audio sources (such as a two-person interview) gives you way more flexibility when editing in post.

The Wireless ME complements RØDE Capture’s dual camera mode especially well as the receiver that you connect to your iPhone (via the included SC21 Lightning Accessory Cable) also has a microphone built into it, allowing you to record both video and audio from in front of and behind the camera at once – either as separate video files for post-production, or a combined file ready for uploading.

The Wireless GO II system offers a number of professional features, including a pair of transmitters for recording two distant subjects at once, fine gain control, a safety channel and onboard recording on each transmitter, ensuring that you never lose your work.

Shotgun Microphones

If you want to record audio in the direction your iPhone’s camera is facing while excluding sounds from the sides and rear, then go with a directional (or ‘shotgun’) microphone like the VideoMic GO II.

The VideoMic GO II is the perfect mic for capturing focused audio and is super lightweight, compact and simple to use. You can connect the mic to your phone with an SC21 Lightning Accessory Cable, monitor your audio with headphones connected to the 3.5mm output, and adjust a number of settings (such as a high-pass filter and pad) via RØDE Capture.

To get the best audio and video quality from your iPhone, get yourself the free RØDE Capture app and pair it with one of the compatible RØDE microphones to transform your phone into a compact filmmaking powerhouse.

[editor’s note – this guest column comes to us from our Australian friends at RODE and was originally published on their blog at https://rode.com/en/about/news-info/ how-to-record-excellent-audio-and-videoon-iphone -- go check out their site for more helpful tips and to stock up on gear for your home studio, podcast studio and your mobile rigs!]

OUR ANNUAL HOME STUDIO BUYER S GUIDE

May We Present: the hoMebody aWards?

Benjamin Ricci

It’s awards season, America! Well, I’m not sure if that’s exactly true (or if you’re even reading this in America), but if we’re putting out a special issue (and we happen to think this one is particularly special), then that means it’s time to hand out some awards. So let this buyer’s guide…ahem,

guide you to the gear you need if you’re thinking about putting together a home studio rig for the first time, or upgrading some woefully outdated components that desperately need it.

We thought about giving these awards a catchy name, and since the name of the game is

OUR FAVORITE NEW SMALL-FORMAT INTERFACE

FOCUSRITE SCARLETT 2I2

4TH GENERATION

The Original. Remastered.

Building on the global success of the Scarlett range Focusrite recently announced the launch of Scarlett 4th Gen. The new range features the Solo, 2i2, 4i4, Solo Studio, and 2i2 Studio, offering greater audio specifications, enhanced creative capabilities, and unprecedented ease-of-use.

The new Scarlett range boasts better specs than any previous generation of Scarlett. Key features include Auto Gain, Clip Safe and a reengineered Air mode, cementing its status as a giant leap for the acclaimed range.

For the aspiring artist, the Scarlett 2i2 offers two remote-controlled mic preamps and two Hi-Z instrument/line inputs for guitars, keys and groove boxes. The iconic 2-in/2-out interface delivers professional studio quality in a portable package. With powerful new features like Clip Safe, Auto Gain and Air mode, the 2i2 empowers artists to make release-ready recordings anywhere.

Focusrite has completely re-engineered the audio circuitry and introduced professional-grade converters for incredible performance. Scarlett 4th Gen uses converters

from Focusrite’s flagship RedNet range to deliver a massive 120dB dynamic range. 2i2 and 4i4 now feature remote-controlled preamps with 69dB of gain to get the best sound out of every mic. A custom-designed headphone amp drives highimpedance headphones louder and clearer than any previous Scarlett. In addition, all models now have independent controls for headphones and monitors.

With Auto Gain, users will never have to worry about setting levels again. Just play or sing for ten seconds, and Auto Gain will set the perfect level for recording. Clip Safe monitors levels up to 96,000 times per second and automatically adjusts the gain to prevent clipping, allowing users to fully immerse in performing and not have to worry about their levels. The re-engineered Air mode takes a sound’s unique character and brings it to the front of the mix, for standout vocal or instrument tracks. Air mode includes the original all-analogue Presence mode, plus a new DSP-based Harmonic Drive mode for consolelike richness.

The new design combines elegance, functionality and accessibility. Details include premium Neutrik connectors, spacious knob placement, and endless gain knobs on 2i2 and 4i4. Complemented by Scarlett‘s iconic red, the

home recording, what more fitting tribute than to call them the Homebody Awards? Nice ring, huh?

So, without further ado, may I present our first-ever Homebody recipients…

The Dynamic Gain Halos make it easy to set and monitor levels. This update to the iconic Scarlett Gain Halos enables users to set the perfect level and get great results every time. Loopback routes computer audio to DAWs with ease via Scarlett‘s virtual inputs. It can also mix Scarlett inputs and computer audio for sampling from other software, streaming and recording flexibility.

Focusrite’s Easy Start tool quickly guides users through setup, so they’re ready to record with the included Ableton Live Lite and three months of Pro Tools Artist recording software. To help users get the best results for recording, mixing and mastering, the Hitmaker Expansion software bundle provides a complete suite of iconic studio plugins from some of the industry’s biggest names, including Softube, Native Instruments, Antares, and many more. Also included are five free masters from Landr that can be used at any time, plus a two-month subscription to Landr Studio, offering and unlimited music distribution on streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and TikTok.

front panel showcases a sleek black finish and soft touch knobs.

HONORABLE MENTION INTERFACE

APOGEE DUET 3 WITH DOCK

We recently had the chance to get our hands on the new Duet 3 from Apogee and sent it out to a young artist for a video review, as well (stay tuned on our YouTube for that). We’ve gotta say, the hi-res recording capabilities and convertors are super solid, and crystal clear when it comes to laying down your tracks. The small format fits on just about any space-crunched desktop surface, and the optional dock gets the angle just right with the rearaccessible ports.

Duet 3 includes on-board hardware DSP that powers the Symphony ECS Channel Strip for zero-latency recording with FX. Tuned by Bob Clearmountain, the ECS Channel Strip includes presets custom crafted by the legendary mixer so you can dial in a pro recording sound instantly. Ideal for music creation, voice recording, streaming and even gaming, you can use Duet 3 with your Mac or Windows workstation in your studio or on the go. Take your Duet 3 to the next level with the sleek (and aforementioned) Duet Dock accessory for the ultimate ergonomic desktop experience.

We loved the small desktop version of the UNO Synth when it first dropped, and we loved the keyboard-equipped PRO model even more when that came out not too long ago. Now IK has upped their game even further with the mega-powerful UNO SYNTH PRO X, a deliciously souped-up mean machine that’ll make your other synths gather dust.

This powerfully analog synth features 3 wave-morphing oscillators for killer sound creation, a dual-filter design, 10 built-in stereo fx (yes, STEREO), a paraphonic sequencer that’s actually easy to program, a rad arpeggiator for you Stranger Things afficionados, hundreds of preset slots for saving your sounds and what we feel is a super-intuitive front panel design that ditches the need for endless menu-diving with a lot of knob-per-function attributes.

Pro Tip: match it with the UNO DRUM machine for a killer pairing that’ll basically give you an entire production suite for a few hundred bucks.

RADDEST NEW SYNTH ALERT!

MUST-HAVE PURPOSE BUILT MICROPHONE

DPA 4055 KICK DRUM MICROPHONE

We were delighted when the recently released DPA 4055 Kick Drum Microphone showed up for review earlier this year. Having a dedicated mic on the kick is a huge time-saver when it comes to recording, since you’re not shuffling other mics around from your locker, or repurposing mics that weren’t really designed to handle the high demands of a punchy kick.

Setup is a breeze with the 4055 - since it’s a condenser, we just fed it 48V via our interface and tested it in a few different common alignments. We’ve recorded kick drums with large dynamic mics in the past, which yielded decent results.

With the 4055, first we placed it on a low stand with the capsule right up inside the bass drum, but not so close to the beater on the other side that we were in any danger of blasting out our preamp. Depending on the genre you’re recording, you may or may not like the way this captures the kick—going just slightly off-axis in this scenario yielded very tight, punchy results that essentially helped isolate the rest of the kit to virtually eliminate annoying (and hard to edit out) bleed-through. On-axis yielded similarly good results.

The high SPL of the 4055 means that you can really throw some heavy hitters at it without worrying too much about going red, and the flat frequency response from 20-20 means that the bass drum track in your DAW doesn’t receive any unwanted color along the way.

Next, we tested it outside of the hole, again a little off axis, just to see how it would perform. The good news is that on- or off-axis still yielded excellent results, which again makes setup time go quicker. If you’re playing with a mic to get it perfectly “on” without any weird proximity effects, that just eats up session time. If you’re going for a two-mic approach on the kick (we normally do not), you may need to spend an extra minute or two with setup to mitigate any phase issues.

All in all, we gave the 4055 a decent workout in about four different positions on the kick, depending on whether we wanted to get boomy, tight and punchy, or to capture the snap of the beater along with some of the room and kit. In every setup, the 4055 performed like a champ. Mixing it in with overheads and a room mic on the kit was easy, especially without the 4055 sticking

out or (again) adding any dis-harmonious color to the other mics. In short, it all gelled together like we wanted without any fuss. Sometimes the biggest selling point is when something simply works like you need it to. Those are the pieces that quickly become go-tos.

We must say, the 4055 is also pretty rugged. Based on what we saw in the studio, it can easily handle road duties as well. We thought it sounded fantastic and was built tank-tough, so we absolutely give it our recommendation. Add it to your mic locker and hear for yourself!

THE “NOT WHAT YOU THINK” PLUG-IN ESSENTIAL

AUTO-TUNE UNLIMITED

We know, we know. You may have some preconceived notions when you hear the words Auto-Tune.

Trust us, just like Auto-Tune alum T-Pain showed the world what he could do recently with his covers album (without the use of major pitch-correction effects), Auto-Tune Unlimited’s entire suite of vocal production tools will forever change your mind on just what Antares brings to

the table in the world of home (and commercial) recording.

The Unlimited subscription packs in EVERY SINGLE vocal plug-in they make, not just those for affecting pitch and related techniques. Bottom line, this ain’t your grandpa’s Auto-Tune.

You get access to killer tools for choir effects, harmonic breath controls, vintage talk box

sounds, double-tracking, harmony generators and TONS more useful add-ons that can really expand your vocal game – especially for solo home recording artists and songwriters sending out demo tracks for placement consideration.

Don’t just take our word for it, try it yourself and see just how sweet your old, boring vocal stems can become with a little extra “oomph” (tasteful oomph, even) in the right places.

TELEFUNKEN TF11

We recently shipped a pair of these to our friend Aaron Kellim to record some new tracks for our Bandcamp playlist and YouTube channel, and he was able to get them sounding amazing on his voice and his acoustic guitar, no problem. The TF11 features a compact, cardioid design, and is rugged enough to take out on the road, or baby in your home studio.

Equally adept on voice and instrument, you could mic up pianos, brass, strings, and even use a pair for drum overheads. Throw them on anything, and they sound amazing. In fact, we’re going to go so far as to say that for most home recording artists, you could invest in a pair of these and use them as your go-mic (read: only) mics for just about anything you’d ever want to record – they’re just that damn good.

THE

BLACKSTAR ST. JAMES SERIES

If you’ve been around the guitar-playing YouTube-sphere in the past few years, no doubt you’ve encountered the claims certain influencers have been making about these heads and cabs. And we’ve gotta say, now that we’ve got our own, and put it in the hands of a trusted source for our own YouTube channel (one Mr. Kal the Guitar Hero, if you please), we echo those sentiments.

This head sounds MASSIVE, cleans up incredibly well, and yeah, it’s ultra-light for a tube amp. It’s 50 watts, so it packs plenty of POWER but that also allows for some generous headroom too when you don’t want to drive everything to full-tilt. You’ve got options, too, depending on whether you want a classic British crunch or a more traditional “American” tone, so kudos to the Blackstar crew for thinking of everyone on this model.

THE “THIS CAN BE YOUR ONLY MIC” AWARD

“LIGHTEST TUBE AMP EVER” AWARD

How to Get a WAY HUGE Sound with Just One Acoustic Guitar

I’m not the first to distort my acoustic guitar but I am one of the few that have done it my way.

As the only guitar player in my three-piece Americana-ish band, we like the space and dynamics the three of us are able to achieve but sometimes we want more - more and bigger sound.

The way I have found to achieve this is by adding a soundhole pickup to my acoustic guitar and sending that signal to overdrive pedal, volume pedal, modulation effects and then a regular guitar amp.

But why not just…

Whenever I bring this up, I get questions like “Why not just split the one piezo signal?” One reason is phase. If you take the same signal and split it and send it to two places, you will get weird phasing in the room as well as distorting a piezo is…challenging. That is why I use two different pickups, piezo undersaddle for the clean and a magnetic soundhole pickup for the effected chain.

“Why not get one of those hybrid guitars?” Because nearly all of them give you the option of acoustic OR electric signal and I want both at the same time and I like my acoustic sound, sometimes I’m performing unplugged on tour, so I don’t want to mess with that.

The first time I saw anyone with a split signal, it was Ray Wylie Hubbard and he was sending his K&K pickups to the PA and then a DeArmond pickup to an overdrive pedal and a Princeton. And it was a thicker, bigger sound. I emailed Ray to ask him about it and he was very gracious in telling me his secret of the DeArmond pickup mounted to the top of his guitar between the soundhole and the bridge.

This led me on a search to find others like Grant Lee Phillips using a 12 string Takamine clean and then a second signal of sound hole pickup into a Boss Metal Zone and then a Twin Reverb! Now that was a huge sound. And lastly, Mike Peters from The Alarm who even got a customized Auden acoustic with mini humbuckers mounted in the top.

Why a volume pedal?

These folks were all doing the two-signal thing their own way usually in an always on or as an on/off situation but I wanted to find my way into it and that’s where the volume pedal came in. Sending the sound hole pickup to an overdrive/ boost pedal first, then into a volume pedal before the reverbs, delay, and effects was the key. I could

play a rhythm piece on the acoustic and swell in this *other* sound behind me. If the delay had a long tail on it, I could fade out with the volume pedal, but the last delayed chord could still ring out behind me adding this extra effect and making me sound like more than one guitar player. And the best part? It was all done in real time, no looping, sequencing or programming needed.

In a big rocking song, the second signal could be dry with just some distortion and I could swell in and play a solo, add some slapback for the individual notes and then ride the volume pedal back when the solo was over. If I was in the sweet spot, I could even ride the acoustic guitar into controlled feedback.

How do I try this without ruining my acoustic?

There are easy and inexpensive ways to try this without messing up your favorite acoustic. First, plug your acoustic into your DI and then to an acoustic amp or PA. Then put virtually any sound hole pickup in your guitar and send that signal to your guitar effects pedals and amp. The volume pedal will be the key to keeping it tamed. An inexpensive Dean Markley soundhole pickup is a great place to start and stop by your local shop - they likely have a used Ernie Ball volume pedal for sale.

It will take some practice to get swelling right on different parts and what types of effects work with your acoustic. In my experience, getting an overdrive/distortion pedal that has a high, mid and low eq controls will really help. An acoustic guitar has a lot of frequencies to it already so finding a distorted signal that complements it will be your challenge. I found that the distorted tone tended to be darker sounding than I would typically use just because it created a nice blend.

My setup:

Signal 1: Fishman Infinity Blend > Looper > LR Baggs Venue DI > PA

Signal 2: Fishman Rare Earth

Humbucker > Bearfoot FX Model

Bobbo Plus (comp/OD/boost) >

Lehle mono volume pedal > Line

6 M9 > Fender Princeton

My favorite acoustic pickup for Signal 2 is a Lace Ultra Thin dobro pickup mounted between soundhole and bridge, but it won’t fit on my Gibson acoustics as it is actually, not thin enough.

There are no rules.

I’ve been using this system

for over a decade now and every time I play a show there will be a guitar player that comes up and asks, “OK, but how did you make *that* sound?” And the validation from that has been great for me because when I started doing it, I felt alone in the wilderness - thinking “Why am I the only one doing this? Am I crazy?” The answers to those questions are “I don’t know and obviously yes.” But there are no rules. Do what you do. I hope my words give you license to try something new. I can’t wait to hear it!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

After moving from Boston to Southern California, Bobbo Byrnes founded one of Orange County’s leading Americana Rock bands, The Fallen Stars. He tours mostly solo now, blending rock and roll energy, country flavored instrumentation and folk inspired storytelling he’s a throwback to a bygone era of mix tapes and AM Gold. Bobbo read too much Kerouac as a youth and though he no longer hitchhikes he is still a vagabond at heart seeking to continue on his path - singing and strumming, learning and sharing stories, connecting with people and leaving a wake of happiness behind him.

Follow online at https://bobbobyrnes.com

Immersive Audio for the At-Home Artist

Immersive Specialist and Founder of AlexProMix, Alex Solano, Shares Why You Should Care About Dolby Atmos

Brynne Hosea

These days it’s hard to go anywhere in the music industry without hearing about Dolby Atmos—artists are recording it, producers are creating it and streaming platforms are promoting it. With as much as you may hear and know about what Dolby Atmos is, understanding this new audio format may not be completely clear yet. While it can seem out of reach for an independent artist, bedroom producer or DIY musician, immersive audio is just as beneficial to an upcoming artist as it is an established one.

For those who are looking to future-proof their music catalogue while opening a world of new possibilities, Dolby Atmos is the solution. Pulling from my background as an immersive mix engineer, I’ve broken down exactly why you should care about immersive mixing, and how to take your first steps towards working with the format.

What is Dolby Atmos?

Since Dolby Atmos is a new format for the music industry, it’s natural to be unfamiliar with what it actually encompasses. Unlike the usual 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound setups, Dolby Atmos introduces a third overhead dimension to create a fully encompassing immersive experience. When heard with a Dolby Atmos speaker setup, this format can more accurately reflect how we naturally experience sound.

To replicate this, Dolby Atmos has redesigned how you are able to configure audio objects. No longer are sounds limited to vertical or horizontal movement. Immersive mixers are now able to place audio anywhere along a plane, which in turn creates exciting new listening experiences.

Listeners can hear audio circle around their head, traveling from their right side, to the back and over to the left. A full orchestra can be heard not as a single layer of sound, but as a rich and developed track, with each instrument group spaced out as if in a live theatre. This high-quality experience is exactly why the demand for Dolby Atmos has skyrocketed in the past few years.

Why Dolby Atmos?

Although it began in the film industry, Dolby Atmos has taken the music industry by storm with no plans of slowing down. Many streaming services are not only offering but embracing the new format, so having Dolby-compatible recordings for all your tracks is one of the best ways to ensure your music will continue to find new ears.

More and more distribution platforms, such as BandCamp and DistroKid, are supporting Dolby Atmos as a file format, ensuring that independent artists can publish their music with applicable streaming services. Not only that, but Apple Music and Tidal already offer spatial audio listening (with murmurings of Spotify potentially doing the same), with Apple reporting that over 80% of Apple Music users are listening in spatial audio. If listeners are taking advantage of the format, then it’s only natural to follow suit as an artist.

Utilizing Dolby Atmos-compatible distribution platforms can also aid in your ability to get on spatial audio playlists. Playlisting is a sure-fire way to guarantee that your music is reaching your intended audience and being put in front of new listeners. With many platforms highlighting immersive-specific playlists, including ones for every genre and sub-genre imaginable, having your track published in Dolby Atmos will only help when playlist pitching, allowing you to ultimately reach an even wider audience.

Let’s Get Creative

Beyond increasing your tracks’ marketability, working in Dolby Atmos offers a whole new world of creative possibilities. Many artists are very particular about their tracks—and with good reason. As with any art form, you want your music’s end result to fully represent the vision that sparked its creation in the first place; and mixing in stereo can put you up against a number of limitations when trying to reach this end goal.

As discussed, Dolby Atmos allots a full 360 degrees of virtual space compared to stereo, which forces you to fit your entire production into the two stereo speakers and channels. How does this benefit you as an artist? With this almost unlimited space, you no longer have to compromise certain instruments to highlight others; vocals, percussion and synths can now be placed in the front, sides or back, creating a harmonious and immersive listening experience. This means the possibilities are virtually endless when it comes to audio placement, reducing the chance for instrument clashing and allowing artists to fully interpret the experience of their music.

Additionally, when working in stereo you’re often cutting out a lot of the low end on your mix to make room for things like vocals or synths. With a surround format, the low end becomes much more dynamic as you’re able to move instruments behind or around you, and can take full advantage of the proximity features that come with Dolby Atmos. This in turn cuts back on the amount of compromise you’re forced to make with sound frequencies, ensuring that the

musical arrangement won’t get lost in a busy mix. With immersive mixing, it’s about preserving the integrity and quality of your work.

Beyond just profiting from the promotional and creative benefits of Dolby, jumping in on new rising technology is a surefire way to stay relevant in the industry. Once you understand Dolby Atmos, learning how to mix in the format promises a wealth of opportunity, especially as an independent mixer or producer. Gaining this new skill set will allow you to stand out from a crowd of producers, as you are able to offer upand-coming talents that are critical in this fastmoving industry.

Knowing Your Options

If you’re convinced on publishing or mixing in Dolby Atmos, but aren’t sure how to start, there are a few options for you to explore. The cheaper option would be to outsource your music to a Dolby Atmos-certified engineer or mixer and rely on them to deliver the immersive track. This is a great route for upcoming artists who maybe aren’t well-versed in immersive mixing, but still want to reap the benefits of releasing in Dolby Atmos.

To get the most out of your project, it’s crucial to understand the value of working with an experienced engineer. We already know what immersive audio can do for us, but working with a Dolby Atmos-certified engineer who has the correct equipment and setup will ensure your money is well spent, and that you get the highest quality mix possible.

Another route is to complete the immersive mixing yourself. While this is a great longterm goal, it may not be as attainable for upand-coming artists. Not only does this require specific gear (all of which must meet Dolby’s specification requirements), it also means you must have a designated studio space designed for Dolby Atmos mixing. These investments, while worthwhile, come at a cost that isn’t usually realistic for independent producers. That isn’t to say your own Dolby Atmos studio can’t be an endgoal, however.

Your Future with Dolby Atmos

There are multiple ways to fast-track immersive mixing yourself if that is your desired course. YouTube is a gold mine for tutorials explaining the basics of Dolby Atmos mixing. On my own channel, @AlexProMix, you can learn the ins and outs of immersive mixing, from production tips and mastering hacks to gear suggestions and step-by-step breakdowns on how to deliver your first Dolby Atmos mix.

Purchasing gear second hand is also an

accessible and sustainable way to build your own Dolby Atmos setup. I bought my own studio monitors pre-owned from a local audiophile. If space is an issue for you however, there are numerous studio spaces out there that are Dolby Atmos-compatible. These will allow you to explore immersive mixing hands on, without having to fully invest in the format.

Ready to Dive in?

Knowing now how Dolby Atmos can propel your career, you may be ready to jump right in and get to work. If you’re still unsure, my best advice is to give some immersive tracks a listen, and let the music speak for itself. Find a spatial audiofocused playlist on the streaming service of your choice, or you can check out the AlexProMix playlist on Apple Music (@AlexProMix), which features all of the tracks I’ve worked on as an immersive specialist.

For those who are interested in learning how to mix immersive tracks themselves, please visit https://www.alexpromix.com/courses for comprehensive courses and masterclasses on all things Dolby Atmos mixing and producing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

AlexProMix helps record labels and distributors to grow from the exposure provided by Dolby Atmos, generating more revenue from streaming. Company founder, Alex Solano, has worked in the music industry for nearly 20 years, the most recent of which was spent mixing, mastering and/or remastering more than 100 Dolby Atmos projects. In addition to producing tracks for hit artists across the globe, Solano also produces immersive audio tutorials on YouTube.

Today, Solano’s studio acts as a home base for both his professional and educational work. Solano is a certified mixer with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. AlexProMix has quickly become the go-to Atmos mixing company for various record labels, including Atlantic Records, Photo Finish, CINQ Music and M.A.D Solutions.

Learn more at https://www.alexpromix.com

Signal Chain: Guide for Better

Beginners Better Recordings

If the recordings you’re capturing with a microphone, interface, and computer sound a little sterile, like you aren’t getting enough space, volume, or depth, you may want to add outboard signal processing equipment.

Adding these tools to your arsenal are the next step towards building a professional analog signal chain.

There are tons of effects included in “outboard” but the three main types of signal processing gear we’re going to cover here are:

Microphone Preamplifiers Compressors / Limiters Equalizers

Why just these three to start? Most pros would agree that microphone preamplifiers (pres), equalizers (EQ), and compressors make up the foundation of a professional audio signal chain.

Let’s dive into how to build that signal chain.

Start With a High-Quality Analog Preamp

When it comes to recording, we’re mixing art and science. There aren’t always ‘rules’ here, but when it comes to creating a foundation for good tone, placing the mic pre first in the signal chain is as close to a rule as we’re going to get.

Adding a discrete analog preamplifier between your condenser microphone and your audio interface will accomplish three things:

1. You get a lot more usable gain. It’s important to note that audio interface mic preamps do raise the gain to a proper operating output, they are often unable to deliver enough

gain without creating audible unwanted noise. This is common even on expensive interfaces, as most units are unable to deliver more than 60db of gain.

2. You get a lot less noise. It’s important to recognize that although some professional audio interfaces today can push 60db of gain, there will likely be audible noise in the signal. If you’ve ever turned up the gain on your interface just to hear a hiss or other unwanted noise, you have experienced this issue.

3. The ultimate benefit of a mic preamp is increased character and/or tone. Analog mic preamps intended for professional audio

character to your recordings. Even “clean” analog mic pres allow you to get more character out of your microphone that you might be missing out on from plugging directly into an audio interface. Experiment with different tonal palettes like American voiced mic preamps vs. British voiced mic preamps.

Here are a few preamps that capture the classic, punchy low end and smooth top end associated with the rise of Rock n’ Roll:

WA-12 MKII

WA-412

TB12

recording are often built to impart a little tonal character on the signal. You can choose a mic pre based on the type of sound you’re trying to achieve. Some genres like alternative rock and folk demand more warmth and “darker” tones, where pop and modern country might require a “cleaner” sound with more headroom. A mic pre can help deliver a richer, more intentional

Alternatively, if you’re going for absolute vintage analog tone with rich depth and darker tonal character, these preamps might be the better fit:

WA-73

WA-273

Now that we’ve set the levels and dialed in our base tone, let’s move on to EQ and compression.

Preamp Acquired. What do I add next?

In the spirit of making great recordings, we can all be a little guilty of searching for direction on how to get the best sound possible. Sometimes we want the experts to just tell us what to do or give us a preset that we can run with. But unlike the more hard and fast rule that we should start with a preamp, deciding between compression and equalization after the mic pre isn’t as

scientific.

First - a brief description of what EQ and compression actually do to your signal.

With equalization (EQ), you are prioritizing (boosting) or de-prioritizing (cutting) frequencies. When you hear someone say they are “boosting 10k”, they are emphasizing the treble or “highs” in an audio signal path.

Compression is part of the dynamics processing family of effects. Performances naturally vary in volume and sometimes we need to make the volume more balanced in an audio signal. When a signal is compressed, you are reducing the volume of the louder parts of the signal.

Building the Chain

Now that we know what EQ and compression do, what’s the difference between EQ before compression and EQ after compression? One way to help decide what’s best is to consider the order of operations: Would you rather address varying volume (dynamics) first and then adjust frequencies? Or, would you rather address EQ emphasis first and then manage the dynamics of the signal second?

Pre-EQ - EQ first, followed by compression.

Say you have a solo vocalist who performs with varying dynamics. We’ll call this the “focus on me” sound. Think of artists that perform with great variance in volume and delivery; vocalists that record in a style like Adele, Christina Aguilera, or Alicia Keys where other instruments are truly incidental and arranged to accompany the main vocal. When we have a dynamic performance where we want to highlight the organic changes in volume, we don’t want to

apply a lot of compression, we’re looking for “light” compression.

In this case, we want to send the amplified signal (from the mic pre) to the EQ first. We will use the EQ to emphasize the frequencies we want to highlight, and then move on to the compressor. Staging the compressor after the EQ can help you focus on how much you want to “squash” or preserve the dynamics of the performance. With the compressor last in our signal chain, we can apply light compression to preserve the organic aspects of our vocal tracks.

terms of volume to the EQ. With the EQ at the end, we can add final touches where we dial in whichever frequencies we want to highlight or deemphasize.

It’s Really Not a Science!

We’ve only scratched the surface of setting up foundational tones for professional audio recordings with outboard signal processing. There are setups where we use EQ before and after compression. Sidechain compression, where we link the compression effect to other performances on our track - like bass and kick drum. Expanders that raise the volume of dynamics, essentially the inverse of compressors. Noise gates, time-based effects, and much more.

Beyond starting with a proper analog mic pre, experimentation is encouraged! Scour the forums, check out the pros creating educational content on YouTube. There’s more quality

Post-EQ - Compression first, followed by EQ

Now let’s take the example of a female vocalist that has a different recording style and approach. We’ll call this the “focused” sound. Some recordings require a more balanced performance in terms of volume, tone, and sometimes even frequency (EQ). This is a style of vocal recording that has been used by Rihanna, Katy Perry, Pink, and Kelly Clarkson. One of the hallmarks of this different approach is that the vocal volume is very consistent, parts of the vocal performance do not vary greatly in terms of vocal register, and the accompanying instruments occupy more sonic space and a wider range of frequencies.

Staging the compressor before the EQ can help you tighten up that amplified signal first, ensuring that you manage any variance in volume and tonality as close to the source as possible. By addressing the change in dynamics first, we can send the most consistent signal in

content everyday helping folks get great sound.

One more thing, protect your gear!

Always consult product manuals for the gear you have to make sure you are properly using your equipment. Discrete analog audio gear often contains high voltage electronics and incorrect operation can damage other equipment in the chain if not used correctly.

[editor’s note – this guest column comes to us from our friends at Warm Audio and was originally published on their blog at https:// warmaudio.com/signal-chain-beginners-guidefor-better-recordings -- go check out their site for more helpful articles and to fill your studio’s needs without breaking the bank!]

SPECIAL INTERVIEW with Michael Bierylo, chair of the Berklee Electronic Production and Design Department

We recently chatted with Berklee’s Michael Bierylo (noted electronic musician, guitarist, composer, and sound designer who also runs the Connect: EDI Summit on electronic music at Berklee’s Boston campus) about home recording and how the summit connects today’s young music makers.

Let’s dive in…

Hi Michael, I know Jake Wu from Donner put us together because we’re working on a home recording guide slash special issue, and he thought it’d be a good opportunity for us to talk to you about the work that you’re doing, not only at Berklee and with the summit, but maybe offering some tips to musicians out there, especially those in the electronic production world who are looking to record their own music or set up their own recording rigs.

Great. Totally happy to help.

Would you fill us in a bit on your background? Both at Berklee, obviously, and in the electronic music world?

So right now I’m currently the chair of the Electronic Production Design department at Berklee. We’re really focused on electronic music production, but we do a lot of other things. That part the department started in the 80s as the Music Synthesis Department. So our roots really are on sound synthesis, and a lot of electronic music making is from the perspective of sound design synthesizer software, instruments, DSP’s -- things like that as opposed to recording bands.

Over time that’s kind of morphed into the whole idea of people doing self-production with electronic music really being the dominant paradigm for people putting together their musical ideas these days. One of the things that we do in the department at Berklee, there’s a core course that everybody takes that gets them up and

Noted electronic musician Daedelus is among the Berklee faculty members participating in this year's summit

running with producing music. We feel that if you’re at Berklee doing music, you have to be able to produce your musical ideas effectively. So it’s kind of like, you know, if you went to Harvard and you didn’t know how to type, it would be pretty [out of place] in this day and age.

We’re pretty deeply embedded and working with all sorts of musicians across the college, helping them develop self-production skills, and some of them even go on to majors like MP and E, where they really are honing in on a career as a recording engineer. Songwriters now are producing pretty heavily, as well. So a lot of this really crosses over [across majors].

That makes sense.

I’ve been at Berklee for 28 years and in the Boston scene since I left college; one of my main modes of performance is using modular synthesizers, and so I’ve been doing performances all around and this fall, I’ll be taking a couple months to travel around the country doing various gigs. Just performing as a modular synthesizer player…

It’s interesting you bring that up because the modular thing is kind of in full swing right now -- I don’t think modular components have ever been as popular as they are today, maybe even when you started back at Berklee, you know, 20 plus years ago. I would imagine it was probably more hardware-based synthesis then. Can you talk to that at all? I’m wondering why the explosion…

You’re absolutely right, you know? In the 90s, we were really focusing on hardware and in the early 2000s when computers started getting fast enough to reliably run software instruments, things kind of switched over to that world. I got into it and I had a sabbatical in 2010 and I lived in Berlin for a while, and my sabbatical project was to go into research how people were using laptops to perform music.

And so when I got there, I met a bunch of people in Berlin, in fact many of the same people who worked at Native Instruments. And they said, Oh, we did all that, you know, 10 years ago. And I said, well, what’s going on now? Well, people are back getting back to hardware. And so when I was in Berlin, I really started investigating modular instruments. When I returned, I put together my first modular system. So I think the thing with modulars, there’s a couple different kind of ways of thinking about this…

We in our program, all of our students start out learning about synthesis on Eurorack modular system and what we’ve seen is that for a generation of people who have learned

to work with synthesizers on a computer, the idea of actually touching something and wiring it together and patching it together…is really interesting.

It’s a different modality and people are really kind of interested in that. The other part of it is it really is a completely open system and people can explore and get lost and come up with sounds and pathways either on purpose or by accident. Things they wouldn’t have come up with in other ways, and there’s a certain kind of joy to just handling these instruments.

That’s

one of the things I like about it.

So you know, the idea that it’s ephemeral, you create something and have this really cool sound and you know that you’ll never get it again. There’s a certain magic involved in that that you don’t quite get when you’re working with Serum.

Yeah, exactly. I totally agree.

When I talk to students there’s a couple of different perspectives on using electronic [instruments].

One is you can emulate what you would do with a band. Ultimately I’m using the machine to do what a band could do. However I can do it in the middle of the night and I don’t have to deal with people and that’s certainly one perspective of going about doing this.

The other perspective is to say, what can I do with sound that is unique, uniquely electronic? What are rhythmic patterns that a drummer couldn’t play or wouldn’t want to play? What are sounds I couldn’t get from a band? All these types of things, ways that you can go to create a song, a piece of music. And I think for most people, they really start from their influences, so if you’re thinking of, let’s say, you know, a rock musician -- a lot of times when they first start producing music on a computer, it kind of sounds like a rock band, though with software synthesizers.

Of course.

But some of the most interesting stuff that I am hearing these day would be in the world of folk music. Artists who say, Geez, I wonder what it’s like to work with a drum machine and to see electronic elements coming into musical forms that we don’t historically think of as electronic or being connected to electronics, it’s great.

I would encourage people to explore sound and explore rhythmic ideas with different types of sounds…

So if someone was starting out, let’s say it’s a singer-songwriter who’s traditionally

used to an acoustic guitar and a microphone, right? And they’re recording some demo stuff at home, would you push them into the direction of a simple MIDI controller hooked up to their DAW? Or would you encourage them to maybe go hardware first and add some electronic synth elements? What do you think would make sense there for someone just starting?

I would get a $100 MIDI controller, OK? And that’s the first place you start because that’s kind of like…it’s learning to type and it’s basically like, here’s an easy way for you to get musical ideas into a computer. Let’s say for guitarists, especially, who have certain set chord forms that they play all the time. What they find is that it’s actually pretty easy to come up with some interesting chords that they could never play a guitar.

That’s pretty interesting.

For me, it’s always been about how do I use this machine to explore music and for anybody writing a song, ultimately they’re exploring music. They’re exploring how notes and chords work together and how lyrics kind of go in this really amazing stew that moves people.

So for $100 you can get an [inexpensive] MIDI Controller and [start creating], which is a great starting point.

Absolutely. And most DAWs these days, I mean, they have like 1001 built in sounds. I use Studio One primarily and with the builtin software synths you could do pretty much everything you wanted, even orchestration.

I mean Garage Band, you know, certainly that’s a fairly limited sound set and pros might laugh at it, but it has one of the best Hammond organs out there.

On modular synthesis: “You create something and have this really cool sound and you know that you’ll never get it again. There’s a certain magic involved in that…”

I mean for $200 you can get full blown Logic. It’s just stupid what a good deal that is.

Do you have a favorite synthesizer?

I have a bunch of Eurorack stuff, but I just got a try out a Sequential Circuits Trigon. I’ve never owned an analog polyphonic synthesizer and I’m loving it!

Like I mentioned earlier, our mutual friend Jake Wu at Donner put us together because he was coming to the EDI Summit in Boston that that you were working on as a presenting partner. Donner obviously does a lot of amazing stuff in the world of electronic music hardware and production gear. I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about the event?

So at Berklee, a few years ago we started a program where what we’re calling the electronic digital instrument is now a principal instrument at the college. So you can audition to come to Berklee with EDI as your principal instrument. And we kind of define that roughly as some sort of computing device, user installed software and at least one controller. It’s a big leap for us.

The last two years we’ve had a conference that’s really based on the practice of EDI people who are either performing, people who are teaching people or those who are designing. So we’ve had all sorts of people coming in and doing presentations.

Very cool.

It is. And every year we have manufacturers who come in who are doing interesting things, as well. And so, Jake, and the stuff that he and Donner were doing -- there are companies like that committed to doing some really interesting things in [the electronic music community].

So yeah, it’s been a great year. This is the second year we’ve been doing it. We’ll be doing it every year so it’s kind of a growing thing. It’s probably the only conference that I know of that’s focused exclusively on electronic performance.

Yeah, Jake was saying really good things about it. And like we discussed, Donner is doing a lot of really cool stuff in that affordable space for artists. In fact, we just got one of their drum pad controllers, which is awesome. And it’s, you know, like 100 bucks or something like that.

Donner is perfect for a summit like this, especially with a younger crowd. They have a really interesting company. It’s pretty impressive. I’ll have to tell you the very honest truth. We met them maybe two years

ago at NAMM and we didn’t know much about them before we met them there. We went to their booth and we had a meeting and I walked away pretty impressed, because we meet a lot of overseas companies. Especially Chinese companies whose primary purpose is to kind of knock stuff off and dump it on the market and kind of disappear in two years.

Donner has got a much different approach, which I appreciate. You know, they’re here for the long haul. They’re definitely invested in artist development and making tools for music creators, which is great.

I know you know kids who are coming into college for the first time and thinking about music programs. Berklee is probably at the top of their list. But if you’re already an established musician and you’re just looking to continue your education, Berklee also offers some summer options and online courses. I don’t know if you’re involved in any of that, but are there any recommendations you can make for artists who are looking to learn and maybe not do the full-on college experience?

So the [Berklee] online courses are quite good. I’m an online author and I do teach a couple of courses online, too. I think those are great -the summer programs are usually geared more for students at the high school level, though, so

keep that in. mind.

For the EDI conference, it’s really for electronic performance, but that’s geared for all levels. But I would say there’s just so much out on the Internet that that people can learn from. There’s all sorts of online learning opportunities and I know [it can be] hard; it can be hard trying to find reliable information or [even] good information. There’s just so much stuff out there. People just say this is how you do this, and they’re kind of half right [some of the times].

I would highly recommend that people just make a community and connect with people in the community. Just play stuff for each other. Share ideas with each other. And find people who are really good at what you want to be doing and follow them and connect with them. We would love to see more networking opportunities in the Boston area, as well.

Is the EDI Summit open to the public?

Yeah, absolutely.. I would definitely recommend next time that comes around, probably next summer, any of your readers who are interested, especially if they’re on the East Coast, definitely come and check it out for themselves.

For more information, please visit https:// college.berklee.edu/electronic-productiondesign/events/connect-2023-edi-summit

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Two

HOW TO RECORD A PODCAST WITH ZOOM AND SHURE MV7

Having already won over podcasters and streamers with its great audio and versatility, the Shure MV7 is now the first ever Zoom certified microphone. Here’s how to record your next podcast on the popular video conferencing platform.

The past couple of years have seen a surge in people working from home, making video calls a ubiquitous feature of our daily lives. For podcasters, that means it’s now easier than ever to record remote guests via widely used apps like Zoom.

Fortunately, two great things have come together to make your next episode sound even better, as the MV7 from Shure is now officially the first Zoom certified microphone in the new Pro Mic category.

The MV7 is a professional dynamic microphone with  Auto Level Mode and Voice Isolation Technology that enable perfect recordings in imperfect rooms. Its Zoom certification means the MV7 is going to give you great audio during all your video calls.

But there are a few key things to keep in mind before attempting to record a remote interview on Zoom.

Prep and plan

First off, it’s important to acknowledge that ensuring your podcast has the best audio possible requires a fair amount of planning and preparation.

While most podcasters have kitted themselves out with top-shelf professional gear like an MV7 and good monitoring headphones, give a thought to the setup of your guest. If they

are using the microphone on their laptop for a Zoom call, it could end up spoiling your whole episode.

To wit, many podcasters are now sending their remote guests a loaner mic with an easyto-use USB connection before the interview. (If you do this, make sure you put an extra postage label in the package so it’s easy for them to send your mic back!)

If you can’t send them a microphone, discuss what options they have available long before the interview is scheduled. Should no professional gear be available, the built-in mic on wired earbuds will often sound better than the laptop microphone. And speaking of earbuds, you’ll need to confirm everyone on the Zoom call is using them or headphones so you’re not picking up audio from other speakers on a guest’s mic.

Now let’s fire up Zoom and make sure you have all the right settings for optimal audio capture.

Mic check

First, go into  Settings  under  Audio  to set up your mic and headphones, confirming that they haven’t defaulted to the laptop mic and speakers. Always take a moment to check each Zoom participant has this right after you’ve all logged in – there’s nothing more depressing than having a great interview and then finding out someone had the wrong mic switched on!

Then scroll down the  Audio  section a bit and select the  Low  option for  Suppress background noise . Enable  “Original Sound”  under  Music and Professional Audio  and click  High-fidelity music mode  while deselecting Echo cancellation

Now look a bit lower and find the  Recording  tab. Here you’ll want to select  Record a separate audio file of each participant . Doing this will give you the greatest control during the editing process. If for some reason one person’s audio is too faint

or there’s some pesky background noise, you’ll be glad you did this!

Speaking of which, do not be shy when asking your podcast guests to close a door, get closer to the mic or turn off a fan: Fixing audio in post is never as good as recording good audio in the first place. Add five minutes to the front of the interview to do a preliminary audio check before diving in with your first question.

If you happen to have a paid version

of Zoom, you’ll get the added bonus of a transcript of your podcast. You’ll find this feature under the  Settings  menu in  Recording  and  Advanced cloud options Simply click  Audio transcripts  and then  Save  and you’ll be all set.

Lastly, out personal experience, make sure you’ve switched off any video filters while using Zoom: I was goofing around with my kids and the app’s  Studio Effects  one day and I didn’t realize I’d left on the lipstick filter. For about three months, on every call I looked either like I had rather chapped lips or was a Robert Smith superfan! (For the record, I do still like The Cure.)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

With a background in journalism, Marc Young is an editor for Shure covering anything and everything that has to do with sound. He tries to compensate for his mediocre guitar-playing skills with his writing. He is based in Berlin, one of the best cities in Europe for music.

[editor’s note – this guest column comes to us from our friends at Shure and was originally published on their blog at www. shure.com – it has been republished here with permission]

When we first heard about the new Audix PDX720 dynamic studio mic, we knew we had to put not only its sound quality, but also its versatility to the test. That’s why we came up with the “one mic challenge,” and posed it to a killer Memphis band we know and love, Dirty Streets.

We asked if they could record an entire track, front to back, using just one mic on everything: vox, guitars, drums. And now we get to see and hear how the experiment went. In the videos on our YouTube channel and homepage, we went behind the scenes of a tracking session, and premiered the end result: a brand-new recording of their song “Poison” made entirely with the PDX720.

The boys set up the PDX 720 on vocals, their amp cabs, and also on the entire drum kit, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the 720 can handle everything masterfully, and it could be the “one mic” for all your studio needs – both at home and in a pro setting. The mix came out amazing, the band had a great time, and we all learned just how killer the PDX 720 can be on anything you throw its way.

ABOUT THE AUDIX PDX 720

The PDX720 is a high-quality dynamic studio microphone featuring a hypercardioid polar pattern that’s a must-have for any studio professional looking to excel in vocal recording. With its exceptional versatility, this microphone delivers best in-class audio for a variety of studio applications. The PDX720’s sound signature has the ability to produce natural, smooth vocals with great low-end extension, even without active filtering. Additionally, its default gain level eliminates the need for preamp boosts or cloud lifters. The microphone also features two unique 3-position switches that enable users to quickly modify sound by adjusting the low cut and presence boost, minimizing the need for complex sound mixing adjustments.

• Dynamic Microphone

• High-pass filter switch at 120Hz and 155Hz

• Presence boost switch +1.5db and 3db

• Hyper Cardioid

• Plug & Play brilliant sound with excellent default gain level

• Frequency response optimized for vocal performance

• Great versatility for drum and instrument recording

• Designed, machined & tested in the USA

Learn even more about the mic by visiting https://audixusa.com/products/pdx720signature-edition

And be sure to follow the band online, as well, at https://www.dirtystreetsmusic.com

See kids, back in the day we were rocking stone-age Atari home computer systems, getting our feet wet in primitive recording software AND we had to walk to school in the snow, uphill BOTH WAYS! If you’re into home recording now, you’ve got no idea how good you have it, you young whippersnappers!

The Original. Remastered.

Scarlett. The new generation.

All-new preamps to get the best out of any mic. Massive 120dB dynamic range to hear every detail. Re-engineered Air mode lifts vocals and instruments to the front of the mix.

Auto Gain automatically sets your levels and Clip Safe keeps them in the sweet spot. Plus a huge bundle of software and plugins.