Production Advice

Wow.

When I accepted an invitation from the AES to go and speak at their regional convention in Mexico City during the Sound:Check Expo, I thought “it’ll be an adventure”.

I didn’t realise quite how right I was…

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So, the top prize in the 2013 Dynamic Range Day competition is…

an SSL Buss Compressor.

Wait, what ?!?

The prize in a competititon intended to raise awareness of the loudness wars is… a compressor ?

Exactly the kind of tool that was used to make many of those crushed, distorted “casulaties” in the first place ?

Right.

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Dave Grohl’s Sound City movie is fantastic – anyone reading this blog will love it. Grab it now !

(I do have some reservations about the film, which were expressed really clearly in this post from Tape Op magazine – but it’s still a great watch.)

BUT

At the end of the film, we see Dave recording an album inspired by Sound City Studios – and sadly the amazing analogue sound Dave loves so much and talks about into the film hasn’t survived 100% intact onto the final CD.

Not because of some imaginary intrinsic flaw in digital audio, but because of the Loudness Wars… again.

Take a look at the video to see what I mean – and if you agree with my viewpoint, please help spread the word by sharing it wherever and whenever you can !

You can hear the whole Sound City album here.

You’ve probably heard of Mixerman.

If not, now is the time to find out !

I first came across him way back in the early days of the Mastering Engineer’s Webboard(*) where he sparked a minor controversy by refusing to give his real name and credentials – in fact I remember things got pretty heated when he got into an argument about whether it was possible to get “big” sounding mixes using a DAW called Alsihad. (Never heard of Alsihad ? You need to find out about Mixerman – read on !)

(*) I was about to type ‘RIP’ because last time I checked the Webboard was offline, but it seems that it’s back ! That’s great news, there’s masses of information there, check it out.

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Watching Chris Lord-Alge mix is is like watching a virtuoso pianist.

Literally.

As you can see in the video above, he’s the master of Big Moves – swinging himself from side to side across a massive console; “conducting” the mix; playing air-guitar in all the solos and miming every drum fill.

But like an extravagant pianist, the truth is none of this has an influence on the sound whatsoever. It doesn’t matter what beautiful shapes a pianist makes in the air after playing a note, and it doesn’t matter how much of a flourish “CLA” makes when he hits the automation punch-in – the song will sound the same.

Or will it ? Actually, I don’t think that’s true. I’ll explain why in a minute.
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