If you want to really step up your podcast, video blog, or next live streaming event, here are some things to consider when setting up.  There’s a saying in the audio industry:

TV without picture is radio. TV without sound is useless.

Take your sound seriously. Other people are listening.

Set Your Gain Correctly.

This is hands down the most important stage of your signal chain.  If it isn’t correct, it compromises everything thereafter.  If you set your gain on your mic preamp to low, you’ll have a very low signal overall, resulting in a quiet and frustrating recording.  You’ll risk losing listeners or viewers.  However, if you have it set too high and it’s what would be considered “hot”, you’ll have clipping and will distort your signal.  This can be even more frustrating that a level that is too low.  It sounds harsh and unprofessional.  It sounds like an amateur recorded it in their garage without a clue.

So find a happy medium.  A gain setting that isn’t too low, but not so high that if you or your guest gets loud or excited it won’t clip. Do a few tests, record the same phrase each time, and then listen to them back to see which sounds the best.

Use a Compressor.

So you’ve set your gain at an appropriate level.  But it’s still not quite as loud as you’d like.  It doesn’t sound like “the pros” sound.  You know what I’m talking about.  Listen to the radio.  The DJs have that big, full, “pro” sound to their voice.  It’s not weak, thin, or tinny sounding.  It never clips, and you can always hear them over the background music.

I’ll let you in on an audio engineers secret weapon.  Compression.

Okay, so a compressor is not a secret.  What it does and how to use it correctly, though, is often a mystery to people.  Even in my line of work, I come across other “engineers” that admit they don’t fully understand how a compressor works.  Unfortunately, if you don’t understand how a tool works, you can’t maximize its potential.

Compressors basically hug your audio signal.  With the left arm wrapping around, it’s keeping the low signals from being too low.  Then, with the compressors right arm, it’s pulling in the signals that might be too loud.  What it’s doing is keeping the fringe signal levels in a more controllable, appropriate, and enjoyable dB range.  When used correctly, it truly helps polish a vocal signal.

You have a couple choices when looking to start using a compressor.  You can go with a nice little hardware version like the dbx 266XS 2 channel compressor.  This is a two channel compressor, so if you have a guest, you can run two mics through it and have a great sound.  In this setup, you’d plug your mic into the compressor, then run a line from the compressor to your existing audio interface.

Most audio recording software suites will have a plug-in that would also work just as well.  The nice thing about the software versions are the presets and the ability to save your settings for particular guests and scenarios.

It is very easy to get the settings wrong on your compressor and wind up peaking your signal.  I’ll be posting an article on how to use a compressor correctly following this post.

Maintain Proper Position.

One of the most simple things to do to improve your sound for your audio or video podcast is to use correct positioning of your mic.  In the audio engineering world, we call this proximity.  Maintaining proper distance from your microphone goes a long way.  If you’re too close, you’re using a bad mic, and you’ve got your gain set too high, you might as well light it on fire.  If you’re sitting too far from it and your gain is set too low, you’ll only be pulling your hair out when you listen to it back.  Or, if you’re too far away, you might boost the gain so that it picks up your voice.  The down side to this is what’s called the noise floor.  The noise floor is the ambient sounds in your surrounding environment.  For instance, you are recording in your office.  There is a dog barking outside, cars driving by, the HVAC pumping air, and a loud fan on your PC.  All of these noises, while not terribly distracting to us individually, when added together create a noise floor that you can’t get rid of.  If you boost your gain on your mic pre, you’ve made your mic more sensitive, thereby picking up all of these little noises even more and creating an unprofessional sounding recording or live stream.

So, stay close enough to the mic that you’re the only thing it’s picking up, keep your gain at a manageable level, and invest in a compressor.

Thanks for reading and as usual, I’m looking forward to your comments below.

Cheers,

Josh

How the Charts Are Like Walmart

The charts are similar to the Walmarts of the world; they curate a list of music that is selling or “setting trends” and are getting radio play.  Clear Channel has a huge role in who gets airplay and in what part of the country.  This in turn has a huge impact on whether they make the charts.  What does this have to do with anything?  Clear Channel owns more than 800 nationwide radio stations.  They control what you’re hearing.  If they don’t think it will make them money, whether it’s good music or not, they won’t put it into their rotation.  You have to tickle the fancy of Clear Channel to even have a remote shot at making the charts.  Kind of like Walmart.  Without selling your product to Walmart at a deeply discounted rate (and sometimes even taking a loss just to get their nationwide distribution), the small vendors have to sell their souls to Walmart.  It is eerily similar to the music industry, really.  People call in to the radio stations to request the music they like the most, out of what they’re hearing the most.  If they haven’t heard a new artist, how can they request that artist?  So we’re stuck with the same handful of pop artists making the charts, getting the airplay, and getting the major label record deals.  Kind of like the suppliers with cushy relationships with Walmart.  All the while the boutiques and mom-and-pop stores are going under because they can’t compete with the big boys any more.  The small guys often have superior products, but this doesn’t matter.  The independent artists just cannot afford to compete with the majors.

How the Independent Artists Are Like Mom & Pops

There are thousands of artists that we haven’t heard of.  Many of them would likely melt our faces if we listened to them.  Will they make the charts with their face-melting music?  No.  Instead, they will scrap together what they can to buy a broken down van, do a few show dates, and hopefully build a decent enough following to make enough money to pay for the gas to get home.  The independent shops that are beat down by Walmart go through the same thing.  They have a local following, but can’t compete with a nationwide distributor that has connections and deep pockets.

The independent and small artists might not look a certain way, have a certain sound, or talk about sex and the club enough in their music.  Unfortunately, the major labels are creating this sick culture in music.  A culture where the artist writes about going to the club and dancing to a song.  Then they go to the club and dance, all while their song is playing on the DJ’s rig.  It’s almost like looking in a mirror when there’s a mirror behind you; it keeps going and you’re not quite sure which reflection is the first reflection.  People like the music they hear because it brings back emotions and memories from events.  Someone enjoyed themself at the club.  What song was on?  A song about enjoying themselves at the club. It’s kind of weird, don’t you think?

What Can We Do?

There are pop artists playing on the radio that are truly talented.  People that are amazing.  But for every one that is great, there are 10 that are just a pretty face.  Stop buying into the notion that just because an artist is on a major pop chart they must be good.  Here are a few brief things we can do to help the independent artists survive:

Listen for yourself.  You know what you like.  You know what you don’t like.  Start asking for new recommendations from friends.  When you hear a song that you really like, listen to more of the album.  Buy another record from their catalog.

Find those undiscovered artists and invest in them by going to their shows and buying their albums.  They can’t continue to write, record, and play without money from fans.  Period.

Buy local. Go out and find the artists in your area that are playing shows and get to know them.  Getting their music heard is more important to them than anything else.  Ask around about some of the best local bands you haven’t seen yet and check them out.

Tell your friends. Word of mouth is the absolute best form of advertisement.  We trust the opinion of our friends over the talking heads on TV and radio.  Help these independent artists gain new followers by talking about them and sharing links on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, blogs, and anywhere else you can think of.

Thanks for reading.  I would love to see your comments, thoughts, opinions, and stories about this topic.  Also, shoot me a tweet on Twitter; I’m @josh_walker. I’m always looking for new people to follow and engage with online.

At first listen, it is clear that Kenny has strong rock and country influences.  However, the country influence doesn’t seem to mesh quite right with his songwriting.  I encourage you to check it out and judge for yourself.  Here are my thoughts on a few of the tracks on the album:

Elvis Wine: It’s a song about two people trying to get away.  The track has a great early 90’s alternative rock feel with harmonica.  I personally have always liked this sound.

Damaged Goods:  Here Kenny combines a couple generes; rock with a slight funk guitar riff throughout. The drums keep a low-key groove going as a foundation.   This is a song about being okay with where you’re from.

All the Words I Can’t Say: The music is great.  Again, there’s a strong 90’s rock sound, this time with a rock organ underneath the band.  It has a nice, easy listening sound to it.  If Kenny does a full album in this vien of music, it would be even better.

Say a Prayer: On this track, Kenny reminisces and goes back to the place he grew up.  The musical content is well put together.  In addition to the rock organ, there is also a piano track that works well.  I feel that lyrically, this is one of Kenny’s songs on the ablum.

It is What it Be:  This is a good track to close the album with.  He shows a little more energy on this song, leaving the listener with a feeling of satisfaction.

You might feel the need to skip a song or two, as there are a few bridges and choruses that are pretty similar.  Kenny tries to change it up and does a good job with the individual instruments, but you’ll definitely notice the key and chord progressions that he’s comfortable in.  With the rock sound being his strength, I would look forward to a full barebones rock album from him.  You can follow Kenny Greco on Twitter and Facebook.  Check out his website, KennyGreco.com for more information about what he’s up to.

As usual, thanks for reading, guys!  I always appreciate you checking out the site and leaving feedback.

Cheers,

Josh

Are you a producer?

Most people think of music or record producers as the people that stand in the control room of the studio with their arms crossed, nodding their head either in approval or disapproval.  These type of producers are more of the managerial type, keeping the band on schedule and/or budget.  Others know producers as “beat makers”.  While the beat makers are legitimately producing musical content, they are by no means a record producer.  Their producing ends at the beat.

There are a huge number of people touting themselves as producers these days.  They believe that because they have a Mac with some beat software on it that they are a real producer.  If, instead, they take that software, write music with it, and then put a vocalist and instruments to it, they are on the right track.  If they’re just cranking out beats all day, they are not a producer.  Let me say that again.  Because you make beats does not make you a producer.  The beat is not what makes the song.  It’s the hook.  The melody line.  The intonation of the vocals.  And so much more.

For instance, take any pop song and remove the vocal track.  Listen to the beat.  It might keep your interest for 20 seconds, if you’re lucky.  After that, it’s boring.  So, again, if you want to be a producer, start producing music from start to finish.

What do they do?

A real record producer takes musical content, the vocal artist, and/or musicians and orchestrates it all into a finished, polished song. This might mean pushing the vocalist to get the perfect performance.  Other times it means actually helping the band write the songs.  Producers have a high level of creative input when it comes to the recording process.   They are, in essence, a part of the band.  They impart a particular influence on the finished album that otherwise would not have been there.  Some producers will even play instruments on some of the recordings on the album.  Many record and music producers are selected by bands and labels because of their individual influences, sounds, and styles.  Often times, the producer will work with a band for multiple albums because of the trust they’ve built, along with the workflow that has been established.  Everyone operates differently when writing music and recording it.  Every band, every producer, and every engineer.  When you’ve found a producer and/or engineer that really works well with you, don’t let them get away!  In short, a producer does whatever is needed to make the song what it needs and wants to be.

Does my band need a producer?

When you get a producer in the studio, you need to be well practiced and ready to record.  The studio is not the place to finish writing your songs as a band.  It is the place, however, to bring in a producer and have them give you feedback on your music.  While you’re recording and listening back to the tracks, a producer will make suggestions on ways to improve the song.  That producer is an invaluable set of ears that will be able to tell you if your music is attractive to the end listener.  What they do is act as an unbiased third party.  A producer has your music’s best interest in mind, not the guitar player or the vocalist.  Keep that in mind.  When your producer tells you to do a track over or change the pronunciation of a word, don’t get bent out of shape; just do it.  They want the music to be just as good as you want it to be.  They aren’t attached to the song emotionally like you might be, allowing them to see and hear things that you’re missing.

If you’re recording an album, whether an EP or full length, consider hiring a producer.  It is an expense you may not have planned on, but you’ll be happy you used one.  Even if you believe your music to be the best set of songs on planet Earth, you will do your music a great disservice by not have a professional creative mind and set of ears on the other side of the glass.   You may think that you have your songs nailed.  You just might.  It never hurts, however, to have another professional listen in and give constructive criticism.  All of the greats have had equally great producers; why wouldn’t you?

1. Passionate artists

There are plenty of artists in today’s arena.  Some are great, some are good, some are mediocre, and lots are horrible.  Will the groups in the charts today still be producing hits in 20 years?  If they are passionate musicians, singers, and songwriters, they stand a much better chance.  That doesn’t mean that all passionate artists will succeed, or that the guys that could care less won’t make loads of cash.  The passion a person possesses is simply one key element in their chances of a successful record and career.

2. Ideas that transcend

There are a million topics to write songs about.  Some get used more than others, such as love, breakups, dogs, cars, the club, patriotism, politics, and more.  To have a successful song or record, write about ideas that people can relate to whether they are 15 years old or 50.  When they listen to it in high school they form a connection with the song; it meant something to them at that point in their life.  30 years later when they hear it, they go right back to high school.  Here are some examples of songs that have done this:

- Dream On by Aerosmith

-Hold My Hand by Hootie and the Blowfish

- Let’s Get It Started by The Black Eyed Peas

And here are some examples of songs that will probably not bring back memories:

- Because I Got High by Afroman (though I guess that might take some people back to high school)

– Voodoo by Godsmack

– Breaking the Habit by Linkin Park

3. Quality team members

At the end of the day, you need people around you that care about your music as much as you do.  People that help market you to fans, use their contacts to help get you on shows with bigger acts, and above all, people that don’t lie or cheat you.  The music business can be extremely cut throat.  You may never fully know what angle someone is using or why.  If you and your team have earned each other’s trust, you should have no problem running your business.  It’s a matter of ensuring that you stay focused on your goals as an artist and track your progress.

4. Create a niche

Forget finding a niche.  Make one for yourself.  You are creating music.  It is art that you have developed, nurtured, and brought to life.  Do not waste your time copying someone else’s ideas or sound.  I promise that you will fail in the end if you copy.  Be yourself and create something that nobody else is.  They’re probably too busy copying someone else.  Take advantage of today’s diversity and run with it.

If everyone on your team understands the direction you want to go and you’re incorporating the above points, it should be smooth sailing.  Just don’t forget to practice.  As usual, thanks for reading.  I’d love to hear your feedback. Leave a comment and retweet this post!Tweet

Cheers,

Josh

While many of them are really good, there are many other artists out there that are just as good and sometimes better that are playing shows and putting in tons of hard work and lots of hours travelling, playing, and working at their career.  Does that discount the talent of  American Idol contestants? What do you think?

Look at Aerosmith.  Whether or not you like their music, you cannot argue the fact that they have been making music that people like since 1971.  Did they get on a plane to do an audition and then perform on TV for the country before being signed to a record label?  Not exactly.  It seems today that some people believe they can “get their break” by going on a reality show.  Whatever happened to gigging three nights a week after your 9-5 job, connecting with your local fan base, and making yourself visible to people that might be able further your career and showing them that you’re serious about yourself?  Sure, American Idol can help you get there faster.  But is it a respected avenue to success?

How do other musical artists look at those that take a “short cut”?

Will American Idol artists have the same longevity in their career as those artists that came up on their own?

If you’re an artist, would you take the opportunity to be known as an “American Idol” if it meant it could fast forward your career?

These are just some things I’d love to hear your thoughts on.  My apologies for the recent silence on the blog.  I’ve been slacking in the writing department. Thanks for reading!

Do I take my budget and go to a real recording studio or use the cash to buy my own recording gear and have my friends help?

Recording studios are closing more and more often these days.  The reason?  Artists don’t have the money to spend $125 per hour and make a full-length album.  But they do have enough money to buy enough gear for a 16 channel rig.

So is the “bang for your buck” tradeoff worth not having your album recorded in a proper studio?  Here are some things to consider:

• The acoustics of your friends living room are not equal to those of a recording studio designed by Lawrence P. Swist, no matter how much egg crate you staple to the walls.
• You can buy a set of monitors for cheap, but they won’t reproduce all the frequencies that you need to hear while mixing. And they’ll be affected by the acoustics of the room that you’re in. (See above)
• While your laptop is great for Facebook and email, that Dell or HP machine is not designed to handle 11 tracks of simultaneous recording while playing back the other 27 MIDI tracks in your next #1 pop song.
• Not all microphones are created equal.  Believe it or not, you usually get what you pay for.
• You little sister is great at singing along with the radio, but she is not a studio vocalist.  She can’t even read music for that matter.
• You can watch YouTube videos for ways to tie a tie, but not so much for how to mic a drum kit or acoustic guitar.  It’s all about experience and actually hearing the placement of the mic.
• Studios have people with highly trained ears and technical abilities.

Audio engineers and producers are in these roles because we have the ability to take your idea and performance, capture it with the highest sonic integrity, and then help interpret that into a final mix.  We do this day in and day out.  We go to bed thinking about the best way to EQ the kick drum so that it’s not competing with the bass guitar track.  Believe it or not, the EQ we do on instruments changes from song to song, from band to band.  So please don’t call me asking for “settings” so you can really make your song slam.  I can hear it, and I know how to manipulate the sound.

At the end of the day, home recordings are home recordings.  If you’ve read about bands that have self produced their albums in their home, chances are that: 1. They brought in an engineer to do the entire project, or 2. One of the band members is also a legitimate audio engineer.

If you don’t know how to change your oil you probably wouldn’t risk swapping out a transmission on your own.

So why then would you risk harming the overall quality of your art that you’ve invested so much of your time and energy in?  Make it the best it can be.  Call the professionals.  You can reach me here.

If you’re not even sure where to start when it comes to parallel compression on drum tracks or microphone placement to get some natural reverb on your vocals, you need to book some session time at a studio.  Give me a call.

So far, I’ve found this event to be rather hit or miss.  Some of the workshops have been very watered down with just enough flash and tech talk to get the standard hobbyist interested in buying some new gear.  The Producers Forum, on the other hand, was a panel of Geoff Daking, Fab Dupont, Ross Hogarth, Dusty Wakeman, and Mitch Gallagher.  They went into how they became producers and what all that means to them individually.  They hit on topics such as running a session effectively and how to accomodate artists on a budget.  As a producer/engineer myself, it was great to hear these industry veterans reiterate a school of thought that I already subscribe to.

Things such as:

- Just because you “make beats” does not make you a producer. There is so much more to producing than most people realize.

- Software and hardware are not what make you a good engineer and/or producer. Knowing how to get a particular performance and sound out of an artist is what sets the best apart from the good.

- Avoid mixing with a timestamp. For example, the snare reverb of the 80′s.

- Try to create an environment for the artist. Sometimes this means doing the tracking sessions out of their home town.

These are some points I have always thought to be true.  I realized at an early age that there were people making music and putting food on the table at the same time.  But I knew that if it were easy, everyone would be doing it (and it seems now as though everyone is trying).  I knew that you had to have an ear for the entire process and be able to communicate with all different kinds of people.

This can be a huge downfall for some engineers.  They could care less about the comfort level of the artist.  They just want the person to play so they can record and edit it.  If you can’t effectively communicate with an artist and make them feel at home and comfortable, you will not get the best possible performance out of them.  This ability is what makes a good producer/engineer a great one.

There is a lot that goes into being a successful and appreciated audio engineer and producer.  Always remember that you are never done learning.

So, if you’re looking to get into the audio industry and are not quite sure if it’s for you, shoot me an email.  Or drop by the studio during a session.  And you can always come out to GearFest 2011 next year at Sweetwater.

Thanks for reading another slightly random post!

Cheers,

Josh Walker

On that note, Sweetwater is once again producing their annual GearFest 2010 event where they will be giving away $75,000 in gear.  This is a two day festival/conference where audio professionals and musicians alike will benefit.  There are workshops, a musicians flea market, live performances, tours, and more.  It is being held on Friday June 25th (noon-7pm EST) and Saturday June 26th (9am-5pm EST).

If you’re an artist, songwriter, recording engineer, band, producer, or involved in the music industry, it is a great place to find new gear and meet some new people in the industry.  After all, it’s all about who you know, right?  You never know either; you just might walk away with a new project studio setup!

I was born in the early 80′s, which means I was witness to a huge swing in the music pendulum come the early 90′s.  In the 80′s, we had Twisted Sister, Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Guns N’ Roses,   10,000 Maniacs, AC/DC, and plenty more.  And it was cool…in its time. If I had to describe the late part of the decade in one word, I would say: Reverb.  (Obviously that’s not the only difference; here I use “reverb” to describe the extravagant amounts of unnecessary delay and reverb along with hair metal guitar solos and tight leather outfits.)

Then came the 90′s, which introduced us to Soundgarden.  Stone Temple Pilots.  Nirvana.  Korn. Pearl Jam.  Sepultura.  Beck.  Rage Against the Machine.  Radiohead.  And many, many more.  Stripped down alternative rock.  Music with some raw emotion to it.  Lyrics that pushed the envelope in a different direction.  Each decade has its own artists that do this.  And we can appreciate them all accordingly.  I have to admit, though, that I am glad to have experienced the 90′s at the time that I did.  I was  a 13 year-old, keeping a blank tape in my deck so that when Bulls On Parade just happened to get airtime, I could hit record (and miss the first 7 seconds of the song on every recorded attempt).  This music was stuff that I could relate to.  Along with thousands of other kids, we threw out the music that our parents listened to (I must insert here that I was one of the exceptions: I did listen to my dad’s music.  He turned me on to White Zombie, Johhny Lang, B.B. King, and a lot more).  We found a new genre of music–music that we could identify with and hold on to.  Music that our parents wouldn’t understand.

Fast forward to 1999.  We start seeing another shift in the music trends.  You start hearing less and less alternative rock on the Top 40.  2001 we start seeing the emergence of “emo” music.  2006.  The bands still have long hair, but now they use straighteners to manage it.  Similar to the perms of the 80′s, only straighter.  2010 and it seems as though Pearl Jam should almost be on the classic rock station (I feel so old!).

One of the big reasons I was pursuing a career in the music industry was because of the music that I loved and was influenced by.  However, once I started getting into the industry, I realized that “my” music was not popular anymore.  Could I truly enjoy myself working in an industry where the music just wasn’t my thing?  Upon more reflection, I started realizing that the music industry and its trends are, for the most part, cyclical.  Sure, I was discouraged going into the industry because I was seeing more and more mediocre talent “making it” while the truly talented musicians were left in the dust because they didn’t have the look or the marketability.  It’s become much more about image than it is about the creativity and talent.  The record labels decide what they think we will like and then create a group or solo artist to fit the bill.  Autotune is hugely popular as an “effect” instead of the original intention of minor and transparent pitch correction for the occasional vocal error.  (On a side note, I am for the most part disgusted by the blatant abuse of Autotune and the masses of people jumping on the band wagon)

Had I been born a decade earlier, I would have been saying the same thing about the reverb-drenched vocals and snare drums of the late 80′s.  Thinking that music was in a downward spiral.  Then, just a few years later, the garage bands that had been getting the door slammed in their face time and again finally got some recognition.  They got it from the kids that were tired of listening to music that was all starting to sound the same.  They listened to music that was stripped down and real.  Minimalistic in a sense.

This is where we are headed.  A revolution where the real talented groups will take the helm and lead us into another decade of truly great music that will remind us why we listen to music in the first place.  I tell artists and bands that I work with to avoid the overuse of Autotune.  Invest in vocal lessons.  Practice.  The music of the next decade is going to be a stark contrast to what is on the radio today.  People will get tired of it and listen to something else.  If you are a musician, play what you want, not what you think people want to hear.  Your time will come.