Production Advice

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.

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Lots of people have asked me for albums I think sound great – so, here are some that spring instantly to mind. I should say upfront, this isn’t intended to be some kind of “top 12 best sounding albums ever” list, just some from my own collection that I love the sound of, for whatever reason.

If you take a listen, you’ll probably notice some pretty clear recurring themes – suggestions in the comments, please ! I’ve included the Amazon affiliate widget above so you can hear the songs, but if you live in Europe this Spotify playlist will be even better since you can listen to complete songs.

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Close the curtains, switch off the ‘phone and prepare to lose several hours of your life.

Legendary Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich has launched a new website and it’s awesome. I tried to finding an equivalent British superlative, but I couldn’t ! “Awesome” is the only word for it.

The site is called From The Basement and features exclusive live performances (all shot in gorgeous HD) of artists like Beck, Fleet Foxes, Eels, Gnarls Barkley, Iggy And The Stooges, Jarvis Cocker, Jose Gonzalez, P J Harvey, Queens of The Stone Age, Sonic Youth, Sparks, Super Furry Animals, The White Stripes and Radiohead themselves, all produced by the inimitable Mr. Godrich himself.

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I love this video – it sums up so many things that are true and important about music to me.

But how does it work ? How do we know exactly what notes Bobby wants us to sing, even though the only clue we have is which way he’s jumping – and how far ?

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I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – if you’re not using Twitter yet, you need to be.

Today @popsong3_0 sent me a link to the fantastic video above. Links like this are what Twitter is all about, for me, and I thought some of you would love to see it, too.

Watching the video reminded me of some of my own favourite Chapman Stick moments – but before that, in case you’re new to this particular instrument, here’s the one and only Tony Levin (surely the world’s coolest bass player ?) introducing it himself:

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