Production Advice

The picture above is the “Big Room” at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studios in Wiltshire.

Nice, isn’t it ?

(I’ve never been there, but personally am very curious to know how it sounds, with all those windows and hard surfaces – but, I digress…)

What may surprise you to learn is that this isn’t where Peter writes, records and mixes his records.

He does it in his shed.

Read the rest of this entry »

Double-tracking is one of my favourite recording techniques, and is exactly as simple as it sounds: just record something twice.

Small differences in the performances add subtle warmth & depth, adding fullness and richness without sounding processed.

Traditionally used to great effect on vocals and guitars – try experimenting with extreme panning for different effects. 

(From the Production Advice Tumblr blog)

Production is not all about technology, microphone placement and mixing.

Don’t get me wrong, there will be plenty written and discussed here about those recording techniques, but hidden between the lines of my earlier post is an important  message:

The secret of a great mix is to get a great performance and arrangement. Everything else will fall into place.

The question is – how ?

Read the rest of this entry »

This post will tell you everything you need to know about mixing.

OK, not really. If that was possible there would be no need for this site ! In fact, it won’t even  scratch the surface of everything there is to say about music and audio mixing – but it will tell you ten fundamental rules that – if you follow them – will enable you to make your mixes sound better and achieve the best possible results from your music and audio productions, every time.

But before I get to the rules, I want to point out a few things that DON’T matter. At least, no-where near as much as the things on the list. These things which are NOT important to achieving a great mix are:

Read the rest of this entry »