Recording

I’m the sound engineer with a group called Flyte, who are heading out on a mini headline tour of 150-500 capacity venues next month. I have the chance to acquire a little digital mixer such as a Behringer X32 rack, but I’m not sure if it would be worthwhile.

This month we listen to Easychair, Man Bites Zombie, Lukas Creswell-Rost and Lunacybot.

Brushes Held Like Hammers: Our recording engineer looks at ways to reduce spill without compromising a full–band tracking...

Brushes Held Like Hammers: Our recording engineer looks at ways to reduce spill without compromising a full–band tracking session.

Engineer Brian Humphries tells the story of recording Pink Floyd’s nine-part lamentation to their lost colleague, Syd Barrett.

Is ‘burning in’ studio equipment (monitors, headphones, tube gear, and so on) of benefit to certain types of...

I keep reading that it’s a good idea to use reference tracks when mixing, but when should I be referencing other mixes...

Tracking lead vocals: We demonstrate why the element that demands most listeners’ attention also demands most of the producer’s...

These files accompany the Session Notes article in the December 2014 issue.

In 1980 AC/DC were on a roll and nothing — not even the death of their lead singer — was going to stop them.

A lot of the music I’m enjoying seems to be going back to an old-school sound of being swamped in lush reverb. Examples...

A mastering engineer told me that, when playing back source files from his laptop into a high-quality USB-connected D-A, the...

Yamaha no longer make their Subkick drum mic, so I was thinking of making my own from an old loudspeaker. Does it have to be...

I’ve been trying to find a keyboard, sample library, plug-in or synth that provides superb vocalisations for ‘...

For anyone who is just starting out with home recording, they could do a lot worse than spend a few weeks recording and mixing.

Would it be overkill to add more compression to the EZdrummer kit as a whole on the bus channel?

This month we review releases from Dreamlake, Jimmy Brewer and Phillip Sandifer.  

I work in a facility where AES3 110Ω cables have been used to connect some splitter outputs to mic preamps. What kind of influence, if any, can this ‘impedance mismatching’ have on the signal quality?

Paloma Faith’s new song ‘Only Love Can Hurt Like This’ has been recorded out of tune by about 50 cents. This means that unless you have a keyboard that can be detuned, you cannot play along! What would be the reason for doing this?

If a song is in A, you’ll have lots of 440Hz, 220Hz, 110Hz, 880Hz, and so on — but so what? What are you supposed to do with that information? And what about all the harmonics? And all the other notes in the key of A, and all their harmonics? 

We overcome unfriendly acoustics and troublesome spill to capture a memorable gig.