Production Advice

People loved this when I posted it on Twitter, and I thought it was well worth putting it up here, too.

If you think you put loads of effort into your recording and mixing – watch this, and think again ! Brings new meaning to the phrase “playing the studio”. No extra commentary is needed from me, I don’t want to spoil the fun – enjoy.

From the Production Advice Tumblr blog – originally posted by Bobby Owsinski

I have so much work to do at the moment I really shouldn’t be blogging, but this is just too good not to share.

The video above is number four in a sequence of song-writing tutorials posted by the awesome Artist’s House Music – if you aren’t already subscribed to their feed and Twitter account – do it now !

The post and videos speak for themselves – they contain a subtle but devastatingly effective songwriting rule:

Preserve the natural shape of the language

Watch the videos and see ! (Watch all of them, they’re great.)

But now comes the bit that made me laugh out loud and want to write this post. When you watch the video above, do you notice anything about the sound ? (Aside from what a great voice that girl has?!)

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There are plenty of moments to enjoy in this video with veteran mastering engineer Howie Weinberg – not least, proof that mastering engineers really do have a sense of humour !

I want to pick up on just one thing he says almost in passing though, and amplify it. People are always asking “What is mastering”, and it’s a question that lots of people have tried to answer, including me:

What is mastering ?

But Howie’s analogy is short, sweet, and very, very, deep. He says that a mastering engineer is like a photographer who specialises in retouching images in the darkroom to get the very best out of them.

I want to make that statement simpler, and explore the idea in a little more depth.

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Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends, We’re so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside…

I know, it’s been ages.

And, the way things are looking at the moment, it’s going to stay slow for a while longer yet…

So, stay tuned to the RSS feed for future updates, including a brief summary of all the goings-on of Dynamic Range Day – but in the meantime – enjoy this video about the recording and mixing of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

I was going to say “please enjoy this video”, but honestly, if there isn’t something to delight or amuse you in here, you’re reading the wrong blog.

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Yes, you read that right.

This post will tell you how to get your music really loud. Regardless of the fact that I’ve been interviewed on Radio 4 arguing passionately against the Loudness Wars, even though I’ve always said that the best way to get your song to stand out on the radio is to avoid pushing the level too hard, and despite having written 19 posts on my mastering blog about how bad Metallica’s “Death Magnetic” sounds because it’s unnecessarily loud…

Today I’ll tell you how to make your music loud.

Why ? As a response to this article on MusicRader.com

How to make your music loud

(Subtitled – “Win the loudness war with our step-by-step and audio guide”)

Now immediately I should say – I love MusicRadar. It’s a great site – I highly recommend it. Masses of news, posts, discussion and information for anyone interested in music and music technology. They were one of the first places to pick up and post about how bad Death Magnetic sounded, and link back to my blog. As a result, Wired magazine and the Guardian found the story and started writing about it, and the rest, as they say, is history. The bad press generated by Death Magnetic has done a fantastic job of raising awareness about this issue, and I for one am very happy about that.

So, MusicRadar rocks.

But that post is useless.

Sorry, but there it is. My reasons for saying so though, may not be what you’re expecting.

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