This is a guest post by Joe Gilder from Home Studio Corner. Many of you will already know Joe – if not, I strongly recommend you check him out – his site and twitter feed are crammed full of useful real-life advice to make your recordings and mixes sound better.
There are HUNDREDS of acoustical issues going on in your studio. And it may not make sense for you to invest in completely treating your space acoustically.
That’s fine.
But if there was ONE thing I would do if I were to do it all over again, I’d address one key issue:
FLUTTER ECHO
Flutter echo is that weird sound you hear when you clap your hands in a bare room. If there are any parallel walls (and there almost always are), you’ll hear the sound waves bouncing back and forth, making this “fluttering” sound.
[Ian says - I always think the flutter echo from a clap makes a "zoing" noise, but maybe that's just me...!]
This is an enjoyable short film about the making of Amon Tobin’s excellent Foley Room – a great album which you may already know about. If not, I strongly recommend it.
I talk a lot about classic albums, recording live instruments and ¨real, natural sound¨ on Production Advice, mainly because in this time of virtual instruments and laptop recording studios I think it’s becoming something of a lost art that needs highlighting.
BUT I have always had a passion for electronic and dance music – Jean Michel Jarre’s ‘Oxygene’ was the second tape ever played in my Sanyo personal cassette player (I couldn’t afford a Walkman !) and it would be hard to overstate the importance of Orbital in my music collection – to pick just two examples.
(What was the first tape ever played in my Walkman ? It’s too embarrassing to reveal in public, but ask me on Twitter and I’ll DM you the answer :-p )
OK, I think it’s time to come clean. This may shock some of you, so brace yourselves…
I’m not a Pro Tools expert.
…I know ! How can that be ?!? I’m a mastering engineer, a pro audio geek and I write blogs on music production – HOW can I not be a Pro Tools whizz-kid ?
Well, before you unfollow me, block my email address and blacklist my RSS feeds – let me explain.
[Edit - sadly this video isn't available on Vimeo any more, although there's a short snippet from it here. There are several other great Eno videos on the site, though - for example click here or here.]
Yes – another Brian Eno post ! But it’s completely worth it. This Arena documentary about possibly my favourite music producer is simply outstanding – partly because it contains plenty of Eno snippets for the enthusiast, but also because it’s beautifully made and put together – fascinating, intelligently chosen visuals and audio accompany the interviews throughout.
It’s also great for me to see Eno in his Suffolk habitat, because that’s where I grew up, too – and seeing the familiar serene, slightly surreal landscapes accompanied by his music and words somehow makes perfect sense in a way that hadn’t registered with me before.
I’m sorry things have been a little quiet so far this year – it’s because there’s all kinds of stuff going on behind the scenes that I’m really looking forward to telling you about… soon : )
Meanwhile, regular readers might like to check out my latest guest post on the RecordProduction.com site:
"Every now and again, one of those 'pay me for my advice' services is WELL worth the money - Production Advice is great ! I need to remember to flag up the service more often. It's the future :)"
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