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Feb 21, 2008 8:05 PM
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Free Live Webcast:
Understanding Bass Management
With Bob Hodas, November 20th
Brought to you by Ex'pression College for Digital Arts and Mix
Bob Hodas explores best practices for Bass Management in your studio, explaining how to set up a bass managed system, what features to look for in a Bass Management box and much more.
Read more and register here.
Check out our other webcasts here.
Mastering Stories
Our December issue will focus on mastering. We'd like to hear from mastering engineersÑtell us about your most interesting mastering project. E-mail us at mixeditorial@mixonline.com.
Remix Hotel News
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Avid Presents: Remix Hotel Los Angeles| Dec. 4-6, 2008 |
Hot off an incredibly successful event in Atlanta, Remix Hotel is gearing up for its final event in 2008: Remix Hotel Los Angeles. We're busy putting together a killer weekend of panels, production and more. Keep it tuned to remixhotel.com for registration and schedule details, and be sure to check out all of the amazing videos from Atlanta and New York! .
This Month in Mix
By a long shot, the oddest place where I set up a studio was in an onion warehouse in Walla Walla, Washington. The town is famous for its "Walla Walla Sweets." This occurred in the late 1970s, and at that time part of my income was realized by trekking around the Pacific Northwest with portable gear recording anyone who would pay me.
Based in Seattle, I had a Tascam 80-8 and a rack full of outboard gear that was stuffed into my land yacht, a 1969 Oldsmobile 98. The band, a country-rock outfit called Tukanon, had heard about me from a group in Idaho I had previously recorded. I don't recall what I was paid for the gig, but it was enough to cover gas, meals, a cheap motel and have a few bucks leftover as profit. Tukanon wanted to record six original songs in their rehearsal space, which was the retired office area connected to the warehouse, which was still in operation. It was actually a nice space to work in. I set up in a room that had a door and windows so there was a bit of isolation while they played in a large adjacent room with high ceilings.
I hadn't produced a full-length album for anyone at that time, but my producer hat was firmly planted on my head so I worked over the band and got some great-sounding tracks. They were so pleased with how it turned that they brought me back to the warehouse to produce an album a year later.
One interesting sidebar is when I set up a stereo pair on the loading dock and recorded a tractor trailer pulling away. One of the songs had a trucking theme and they asked to add this as a sound effect on the intro. Their trucker buddy parked his rig, and on my cue started up the engine and pulled away. I said, "Great, got it!" But then trucker buddy came back and pleaded for another take. Turns out he grounded the gears going into second and would be terribly embarrassed if his trucker buddies heard it. Okay, take two on the semi...
—Paul Speer
The oddest place I ever built a studio was in the back of a refrigerated milk truck. The walls, ceiling and floor were already insulated. I built the unit in Atlanta, and its first job was a recording job in Harlem, New York. The album was nominated for a Dove Award for Best Traditional Black Gospel Album. The truck had a 32-track Tascam board, modified and gassed up for greater signal-to-noise ratio, a 16-track 1-inch Tascam recorder, miscellaneous bits and pieces of outboard effects and processing, Roland keyboard, JBL monitors and a kerosene heater that stunk like the dickens.
—Barney Conway
Modern Recording and Mixing
This 2-DVD set will show you how the best in the music industry set up a studio to make world-class records. Regardless of what gear you are using, the information you'll find here will allow you to take advantage of decades of expert knowledge. Order now $39.95
Mastering Cubase 4
Electronic Musician magazine and Thomson Course Technology PTR have joined forces again to create the second volume in their Personal Studio Series, Mastering Steinberg's Cubase(tm). Edited and produced by the staff of Electronic Musician, this special issue is not only a must-read for users of Cubase(tm) software, but it also delivers essential information for anyone recording/producing music in a personal-studio. Order now $12.95
Delivered straight to your inbox every other week, MixLine takes you straight into the studio, with new product announcements, industry news, upcoming events, recent recording/post projects and much more. 