1) Get better at mixing. This is a “no brainer”, at 27 bucks Dueling Mixes is a steal, and here is how it works…… Each month you get a ton of great content. You get to download the wav. files from the actual song that is being mixed. Next, you get two incredibly informative mixing videos, one from Joe, one from Graham, both mixing the song at hand.

2) The long running series, “The Office”, has ended. The final episode has aired, so now you have the time to learn mixing. Really, making the time for Dueling Mixes is something that you need to do! What excuse do you have for not making the time, once a month, to learn how to mix? This is something that will pay for itself over and over again. So, if you are like me, put the kids to bed, sneak back to the computer, and learn to mix! I wish I could explain how much I have improved, and in a very short time! It is a very massive amount.

3) Build up your resume! These Dueling Mixes songs are actually songs that you can send to clients as a resume! You can use these songs to obtain work. This should excite you. You will get your money back, plus make a living!

4) The Dueling Mixes community is so helpful! Critiques count! Opening yourself up to critiques is not easy, but it is a way to speed up your skills. Other Dueling Mixers leave feedback and comments for you. So, join today, post your mixes, and let the members help improve your chops! You can then help others, too, by leaving your comments and feedback.

5) Rocking the vote! Being able to cast your vote each month at Dueling Mixes is very cool. Leaving your comments is awesome. But it is a duel after all. Cast your vote and root for your favorite mix!

So there you have it. Five compelling reasons to join Dueling Mixes, as seen through my eyes.

It is true that I reviewed Dueling Mixes some time ago, and here is a link to my video review, but I have really gotten much better at mixing in a very short time! I believe in this idea, this product, and I will stay in Dueling Mixes for the long haul. Wont you join in the fun?

The Home Recording Weekly Podcast is now on iTunes, so please subscribe to that today, or find us on Sticher! Like us on our Face Book page, Google plus, and please sign up for our free newsletter today! The newsletter signup is different that subscribing, so please fill in the newsletter pop up to opt in!

The “Open end chords for the guitar ” EBook is now finished, and available on Amazon, and available for the Kindle too! If you have had a guitar laying around the house and just never got around to learning those first chords, then this book was written for you. This is the fastest way that I know to learn that first song on guitar.

 

This is the interview that I have been really looking forward to. It just seems like I am doing all of you a great big favor this time. I just love the hard work that Johnny, of Home Studio Trainer, has put into his website that much!

Johnny Geib is a wealth of recording, mixing, and mastering information. Johnny lives and loves to share it all with others. As a matter of fact, he has created quite a few ways to extend help to others, so please listen to the interview and see which might work best for you.

Johnny posts the Home Studio Trainer, and he has a great thing going. He knows PreSonus Studio One forward and backward. He knows studio gear, and he knows studio techniques. Johnny just knows. If you need help, Johnny is your man! I just can’t say enough about Johnny Geib, and if you check out his site, Home Studio Trainer, you will soon see why that is. He just loves to help people out.

Make sure you check out his live streams, his free sound files/sample packs, his awesome YouTube channel, and his Home Recording Video series.

In the interview, I mentioned that it does cost money to have a website and a Live Stream. It also takes great chunks of time. Please help Johnny out. If you get something from him, please let him know about it. Send him a note, an email, purchase a T-Shirt, or just make a simple donation. Nothing says “thank you” like lending a helping hand!

Studio One For Engineers And Producers, by William Edstrom jr., is the book that we discuss in the podcast. Please click on the image or the link provided for more information, or to purchase your copy today.

 

Johnny Geib mentions Vision Recording Studios in the interview, so please make sure that you give them a close look. I have posted one of their videos below, but that does not do Vision Recording Studios any justice, so please follow the link, and check out what they do. Here is a link to their YouTube video page.

YouTube video for Vision Studios

As always, you can download your free “Acoustic treatment made easy” EBook by clicking on this link. Sign for it in the upper right hand corner. You will then get the book as an email. If you have enjoyed the Home Recording Weekly podcast, will you please take the time to leave a review over at ITunes? It means a lot to me that you leave an honest, in depth review, and let me thank you in advance for the time it will take you to do that.

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 46:05 — 53.1MB)

The opening segment, or what I have been calling the “bumpers”, just says it all. One after another, the good people that have come on the podcast sound off. That was just some of the great people that shared their precious time with us here at Home Recording Weekly. What a crazy, fun, successful year it has been.

I started this whole affair off with little planning, but with lots of ambition. I had little idea where it was actually headed, but I did have some hopes. I thought I knew how hard it would be to become a podcaster, but I was way off. I knew little of the time involved with getting professionals lined up for interviews, recorded, edited, show notes typed up, emails to send, FaceBook group page to manage, back injury and child eating up my best laid plans, and getting products lined up to review and/or give away. I also have a website to post, and YouTube videos to make. Phew, who said this is hard work anyway?

I asked myself what things I wish I had heard, way back when, when I was getting started recording with a DAW. That sort of became my mantra for show development, as well as interviewing people that have lots to offer. Training and/or learning is key (I feel), and I try to bring a lot of training video makers and audio instruction/school teachers to the show. Please let me know if that is working for you, by sending me an email.

Over the past year, on the podcast, I spoke with some of the leaders in the home recording movement, some studio owners, and some loop and sample makers too. I interviewed songwriting contest winners, and even spoke with a gold record holding rap artist from Maine.

The future, or this coming year, is going to be just as exciting. I have “some things” written in pencil already. Some things are still in the “idea phase”, and some things are getting done as I type this out. I love my followers, and I want the absolute best content for them, and the Home Recording Weekly Podcast.

You all have made this one heck of a year. I thanks each and every one of you, and I eagerly look forward to this next year. Thanks for being such a great part of my happiness! Here is a scattered list of people and places (in no special order) that came to be a big part of this, the first year of the Home Recording Weekly Podcast………

Here is my Amazon link……… So, if you are going to make a purchase, why not use Amazon? I thank you in advance for using my Amazon link. You rock!

KRK   Maker of amazing monitors and mixing headphones that I use every day, and could not live without!

Here is a link to the interview that I did with Dave Jackson, from “The School of Podcasting“. Here is a great guy, with a value to offer. If you are starting a website or a podcast, check out his site, and also check this out.

Graham Cochrane of “The Recording Revolution” and “Re-Think Mixing video“. Here is a link to my review.

Joe Gilder of “Home Studio Corner” and here are the links to the “Understanding EQ“, “Understanding Compression” reviews.

Ronan Chris Murphy of “Veneto West” and “Home Recording Boot camp”

Kevin Ward of “Mix Coach“, and here is my review of “Guide to Rock Mixing“.

 

Johnny Geib from Home Studio Trainer. An amazing resource for all things recording, and all things PreSonus.

12 Gauge Microphones. I just love my Greenie 12 Gauge Microphone, and they make amazing gifts too! Check out the website for audio samples and video too!

Karl “Kwick” Gambino, The man that made the amazing video intro for Home Recording Weekly YouTube videos. Here is a link to get in touch with him. You betcha, here are the most relevant of them. His YouTube is http://www.youtube.com/user/KwikGambino/ , his Sound cloud is here http://soundcloud.com/karl-adams-1, his Myspace is here http://www.myspace.com/musicbykwik and his Twitter is here https://twitter.com/Kwik_Gambino.  Look, if you need some video work done, do yourself the favor and look him up!

Ryan Gruss of “The LoopLoft“.

Jason Mallory of “Down East Pro Audio”.

Rob Crewe of “StillWater Studios” and “Advanced Audio microphones“, where I got the AA FET47 Large diaphragm condenser microphone.

 

Rob Crewe

Spose, His Official site, and his personal site “P-Dank“. This is the gold record recording artist and rapper from Maine that I interviewed on the podcast.

Stevie Z of “Badly Bent Records“. A former winner of the Home Recording Weekly Songwriting contest, and a home studio owner.

Oleg Cheb, “Oleg Cheb“. A former winner of the Home Recording Weekly Songwriting contest, and a home studio owner.

As always, you can download your free “Acoustic treatment made easy” EBook by clicking on this link. Sign for it in the upper right hand corner. You will then get the book as an email. If you have enjoyed the Home Recording Weekly podcast, will you please take the time to leave a review over at ITunes? It means a lot to me that you leave an honest, in depth review, and let me thank you in advance for the time it will take you to do that.

Here is to the next year!

 

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:03 — 40.5MB)

 

If you are not too sure about what “Guide to Rock Mixing” actually is, then this is the place to be! “Guide to Rock Mixing” is a training video that teaches you how to better mix rock music. This is a video with narration and over three hours of footage that uploads/downloads, and then plays where you want it to. I chose ITunes just so that I could watch it on my iPhone and my computer too, or when ever the mood strikes.

If you are not sure just who Kevin Ward is, he is “The Mix Coach“. He has spent a lifetime recording and mixing bands in Nashville, Tennessee. He has mixed a thousand records in his time, and he has a lot to show us. He also co-owns a record label, and has done just about everything you can do with music.

Guide to Rock Mixing is more than three hours in length! This is amazing since it sells for way under 50 bucks! If you have been here at Home Recording Weekly before, you know my stance on training videos. This one is no different, and a powerful way to learn. If you are considering working with live acts (recording live shows, editing/mixing live performances) or recording band demos, then “Guide to Rock Mixing” is a must have. This is an investment that will start paying you back immediately, and continue to repay you for life!

The title “Guide to Rock Mixing” is slightly misleading. Guide to Rock Mixing includes a lot of editing content too. Imagine if the band just packed up and they are leaving the studio. This is where Guide to Rock Mixing picks up. Kevin is working in ProTools in this video, but the things he teaches can be done with any DAW out there. That is the important thing to keep in mind, he teaches with ProTools, but it works in any DAW.

Guide to Rock Mixing starts out just the way I wanted it to, with editing drums. Kevin calls it “Pocketing the drums”, and he is good at it. Kevin wastes no time explaining things in ProTools like elastic audio/elastic time, quantizing, and Beat Detective, and how he likes to use these to their fullest potential. Did I mention that Kevin works very fast?

Here is the important stuff that you will want to know. Kevin’s’ years spent doing this stuff comes through well, as he goes on and on with time saving techniques that you just will not find any place else. He details each step of a process, and then shows you several different ways to do that process. His history in audio keeps coming back, too, as he is continuously giving tips and time saving ideas for us to keep in mind. He is always saying cool things like “always leave yourself a way out”, for just one example. Point is, Kevin is forever giving us a look inside the business with the clever things that he says.

I also love that Kevin not only shares so many great mixing ideas, but he explains in detail why he does it, and then he does it! For just one example, Kevin mixes in mono. He explains, in depth, why he chooses to mix in mono, why it is so important to mix in mono, and then he takes us through how to set up a mono mix enviroment. This is the good stuff!

Keystrokes and shortcuts save us time. These things add up and therefore we can mix more music in a day. More music mixed means more income. Kevin is constantly showing us his favorite shortcut key strokes to save time, in Guide to Rock Mixing, and getting more done. He also has some cool ways of doing things that shaves a lot of time off of the editing chores. Kevin is just good at explaining tasks so that we can all follow along. Kevin Wards workflow is a result of a lifetime in the business, and it saves us that much time just by watching Guide to Rock Mixing.

Kevin Ward is easy to listen to, and yet a great person to learn from. His easy going demeanor is welcoming, and I never grow tired of listening to him teaching. This is a great thing, as he talks as he moves along. Now that the drums are tight, and on time, lets keep moving. Speaking of moving along, next we move onto the bass.

Kevin likes to fix time issues and then get into “mixing proper”. That’s is the same way I like to work, so I am in luck. Elastic audio gets used again, and you get to follow right along as he zips through the off time bass parts. Boom, done!

Click the link to purchase “Guide to Rock Mixing” right now! That link is there just in case you have heard enough, and you want to just go purchase this amazing video!

Next, Kevin roughs in the guitars. In this particular song there are acoustic and electric guitars to rough in. Kevin pans and EQ’s guitars, explaining exactly what he is doing, and why he is doing it, all along the way. He is constantly showing more that one way to do these things, and then detailing why he does it the way he does in the end. This is awesome stuff!

Kevin, true to form, constantly shows EQ’ing tricks; like how he applies high pass filters, how he gets “like guitar tracks” to sound wide, compression tactics, and a lot of other great time saving ideas. This is worth the price of admission alone, plus you get all of this amazing mixing advice too! I like this “Guide to Rock Mixing“!

Kevin moves on here, by opening three buss tracks just to have a “reverb option”. These will become send tracks, or effect send and returns, and Kevin explains this all as he works along. You see and hear what he is doing as he fixes time issues, “pockets” all the tracks up, and then starts mixing proper. He is about to start eq’ing and compressing, and adding audio sweetener here and there, and I happen to love this part of mixing!

You can buy “Guide to Rock Mixing” right now by clicking on, and following, this link right here.

Drums lead the way. Kick and snare drum to be more specific, then the rest of the kit. Listen and watch as Kevin sculpts the rock tones out, and brings the drums to life! First, he brings the kick to life with ease. Awesome!

I love how Kevin uses stock plug ins when possible. That way, we can all do the exact same things that he is showing us!  Kevin keeps the great ideas coming in “Guide to Rock Mixing“. He says things like “I like to fix first, then accent” all the time. Great mantra, and a great tip!

Kevin also blows me away with a killer snare drum tip. I had not heard of  EQ’ing out fundamental frequencies in a snare, but he had! Thanks goodness for that, as I now I know about it too. Just yet another reason to say “Guide to Rock Mixing” is priced way too low.

Click the link to purchase “Guide to Rock Mixing” right now! That link is there just in case you have heard enough, and you want to just go purchase this amazing video!

Next, Kevin shows a great alternative to gating tom drums. First, he brings life to the toms, and then “The Mix Coach” makes sure that the rest of the drums bleeding into the tom mics (other kit pieces) will not be an issue! If you have ever mixed “live demos” then you know how hard this can be to do. Removing “bleed” is about impossible. This trick is where the value adds up for me. This is a working engineers training video, hands down!

Kevin continues with the little nuggets of wisdom about mixing, as he drops yet another one! He says “When mixing a song, it is not anything huge that you do, but it is a bunch of little things that all add up”. I love these truths that make us better if we only listen. Please be sure to listen close.

At this point in “Guide to Rock Mixing“, Kevin tosses in a bombshell. Kevin checks the phase of the kick drum, and also the snare drum. You will not believe what he finds out. He decided to go with the better sounding of the two phases, of course, but I would not have even listened to the two versions. The proof that I needed to mix with my ears, is right here in this video!

Kevin makes his living in music. He lives off of this stuff. Watching “Guide to Rock Mixing” you get a sense of why he is so successful at it. He constantly gives advice, and all throughout the video. Kevin talks at length about such important ideas like “always leaving yourself a way out”, how to give yourself added insurance while mixing”, and tons of great tips that will help your odds of getting a great mix. He shares these things freely, which very few studio owners would ever do. He explains these ideas (like having sample folders for drum triggering/drum replacement) as he works, so always be listening!

Next, Kevin finishes with the drums by adding a parallel compression track. Again, he details each step, and each idea, in length as he mixes along.

Kevin then moves on to the vocals. True to form, Kevin has some great tips and techniques for getting vocals to cut through a dense rock mix. He shares his favorite, time tested, compressor settings. He demonstrates the idea of multiple compressors, and why it works so well. Eq is added, “out loud” as usual, and thank goodness for that! I like to know what he is aiming for as he twists knobs! Kevin also gives a great delay versus reverb tip here. This is a super tip, as it might save your vocals some day. I knew this tip, but it has changed my mixing style. He also shows how to better use and even how to better tune a delay!

Next, in “Guide to Rock Mixing” Kevin shows us a killer vocal mixing tip. This is actually a technique that helps to get a better vocal mix. This is one I had not heard of, and it will save me a lot of time in the future. Saving time while getting a great mix is the name of the game, right? Kevin adds some automation adjusting tips, just for good measure, as he adjusts the vocal automations that he writes on the fly. These are great tips as well, and I can’t wait to use them in my next mixing job. I am actually excited by the things that I am learning!

Kevin comes across a great issue while automating a filtered vocal. His ears tricked him, and good thing! We get to learn all about exactly what happened to him, his ears, and how to avoid the exact same thing from happening to you!

Next, Kevin dives into the guitars. Ever heard of the attack principal? Neither had I. Here is where a simple mistake goes right into a learning trip. I just love his simple mistakes. Really though, I am learning a ton! Kevin continues with the guitars, writing automation, and building tension where he needs it. After all, mixing can sometimes be adding tension, or building tension, right? I love learning new things, and “Guide to Rock Mixing” is packed with new stuff to learn.

Click the link to purchase “Guide to Rock Mixing” right now! That link is there just in case you have heard enough, you are now convinced, and you want to just go purchase this amazing video!

Kevin Ward, again, gets a chance to use elastic time in ProTools. He uses it here in order to pocket electric guitars. This is good news for us, as it is another chance for us to learn. I forgot to mention the in depth discussions Kevin gives on quantizing throughout “Guide to Rock Mixing“. He brings it back up here, as he fine tunes the guitars. Call me a geek, but I love listening to this sort of stuff. If you do too, then this video is for you!

Lastly, Kevin moves on to the master fader. This part of the video is titled “Pre mastering and final mixing”, and deals mostly with a final EQ, and limiter on the master fader. Keep in mind that we are at over three hours in at this point in the video. That is a lot of killer content, and now this is the icing on the cake.

After some quick EQ’ing and some solid limiting, the mixing ends. Of course he explains each step of these two processes, and he details them well I might add. That is good for me because limiting can be confusing. I mean, how loud is too loud, right? As I stated, at this point in “Guide to Rock Mixing“, the mixing ends. This is not the end of the video though. Nope, time for bonus content!

What sorts of bonus content, you ask? How about snare drum replacement? Yep, Kevin Ward shows us, and shares with us his favorite ideas for replacing drum hits (and complete drum lines) in songs that he mixes. It is a longer approach for drum replacement, but it is better. Kevin knows what he is doing. He also cleans up a guitar edit, across several miss-timed guitar tracks, and bounces down the song.

Well, this really is a video worth watching over and over. Please, take notes, too, as you will use these tricks as you mix songs down in the future, I guarantee it!

I can’t tell you how much I recommend “Guide to Rock Mixing“, as the words do not exist! I love the content, the song that he mixes, and even his voice. The ideas expressed are easy to follow, and easy to understand. Kevin is a master at mixing, and a master at teaching too. My mixes have just gotten better, and just from watching “Guide to mixing rock” for the first time!

Thanks for working your way through this lengthy review. I wanted you to know exactly what this video consisted of, and how much I loved it. Look, I am not going to go on and on here. If you want to get better at mixing, then you owe it to your self to purchase “Guide to Rock Mixing” from Kevin Ward, The Mix Coach! The training video is a steal at just $47.00. You get over three hours of mixing goodness, plus a ton of great ideas and tips that will save you time and money. Consider this an investment in yourself, as you will get this money back from saved time and better mixes!

 

 

As a home studio owner, I try to keep a balance of work and play. Play time is recording and mixing my own music. Work is doing the same for others, maintaining a website, and recording/mixing a podcast or two in between.

I currently have a couple of podcasts that I record and mix. While I was listening to one of my own recorded interviews, I got an idea for a post. The idea goes something like this, “What things can I share with you that have made my interviews better and/or worse”. So, here are the details.

I have been going back and forth with a web/podcast celebrity. I love his podcast, but the quality is less than that of most. I urged him to do a little bit more, just to get a better show. He asked what he could do better, in order to have a better sounding podcast, and I replied with a host of things. “Acoustically treating” his space was at the top of my list. His show sounds as if it takes place in a gymnasium. This, I call “the room sound“.

Getting “the room sound” out of your recording should be a priority. You should sound as if you are inside the listeners head, and not in a large reverb filled space.

Treating your room does not have to be a laborious or expensive process. I offer a 100 percent free EBook that explains how to
“treat” your room. If you wish to download my free EBook that explains how to treat your recording and mixing spaces, here is the link to my website that has the sign up form in the upper right hand corner. Please take advantage of the free EBook, and get better, more professional sounding recordings starting today!

After you put up the needed treatment, and your space sounds good, you should take a look at your “recording chain”. This is also called the signal chain, and it means the equipment that you use to record your voice, and the voices in your broadcast and/or interview. Lets focus in on the microphones best suited for this type of work.

You should learn a few things about microphones. You should look into things like the different types of microphones, and all of the types of polar patterns these microphones might have. I am putting another EBook together that explains all of this stuff in one easy to understand writing style.

When it comes to microphone types, I like dynamic microphones. They are better at recording voices, and they are widely used for broadcasting, podcasting, and recording interviews. Condenser microphones (large and small diaphragm types) tend to pick up unwanted mouth noises due to their sensitivity. Stay away from “omni directional” type microphones too, as they tend “pick up” noise from a wide section of your room. If you choose a large diaphragm condenser microphone to do your podcast or broadcasting duties, then please use a pop filter. This will reduce the “pops” that come from pronouncing words that begin with the letter “p” and gusts of breath.

When it comes to microphones that I am familiar with (and use myself), I like the Electro Voice RE-20 Cardioid Microphone. This microphone is known for its very low proximity effect. Proximity effect is a build up of “low frequency energy” that makes your voice sound deeper the closer you get to a microphone. The Electro Voice RE-20 Cardioid Microphone does not seem to have a “proxy effect”, and that is good because I place my mouth right on the housing. Another great thing about the Electro Voice RE-20 Cardioid Microphone is it has a  “pop filter system” built right into the microphone that works very well.

 The Heil PR-40 is also a good choice for a broadcast/podcast dynamic microphone that is gaining popularity among the podcast world. I am not too familiar with this microphone, but my friends rave about them.

 

Yet another super cool microphone to use for speech, podcast, and broadcast is the Shure SM7B Vocal Dynamic Microphone. This microphone is of the “hyper cardioid” type, and it is popular choice due to its ability to reject “off axis” sound. The Shure SM7B Vocal Dynamic Microphone also has a fun proximity effect to it, and it will make your voice sound deeper as you get real close to it.

As far as conducting the interview itself, many other tips and great nuggets of wisdom come to mind. Here are a whole host of things you can use to get that killer interview. By the way, I have broken every rule of thumb, and learned all of this stuff the hard way. I wrote this very post just so that you would not have to learn the hard way too.

Here are some tips that I have learned along the way….

Try not to wear a lot of jewelry that makes a lot of noise. Jewelry makes noise that the microphones will pick up. I recently recorded an interview where I noticed, way too late, that the person on the other end was making noise as he “talked with his hands”. He was wearing noisy bracelets and that choice of jewelry made it into the recording, and the finished interview.

Do not interrupt the person that you are interviewing. Let them “carry the conversation”. Chances are that they have a lot they wish to say, so let them. This was a lesson I learned the hard way. I have since learned how to “bite my tongue” and just let the talent go on talking. Plus, rehearsing your story lines, or talking points, is always a great idea. Never do conversations go as planned, but having a “cheat sheet” is paramount. The interview will always go off target. It is up to you to steer it back on coarse from time to time. Listen close to what the person you are interviewing says rather than read question after question.

If you mess up, simply pause and then start over. You can easily edit out your mistakes after the fact. Trying to regain your composure is just too hard. Make sure that the person that you are interviewing is aware of this rule too.

Have a cool glass of water on hand. Sip from it as needed to keep your mouth wet. Refrain from using ice in your glass. Ice cubes will make noise. Coffee and most “sweet drinks” will make your mouth sticky and therefore make it more noisy. Spit out any hard candy and/or gum as you will hear it in the end recording. One of my clients continuously has to be asked to spit out hard candy; each and every time we record. It is true that you can “hear the candy” as he talks, so pay close attention.

Take a few minutes and write an “email-able” PDF file with all of this information in it, and then send it to the people that you will be interviewing. Chances are they will be thankful for it! That will also make you look that much more professional too! Then all of their questions will be answered, and they will feel that much more comfortable too.

“Record the audio on both ends”. Podcasters use a recording technique to obtain stellar sounding interviews. Podcasters “record on both ends”, for best sounding, and highest quality recordings. This method is also the easiest and the fastest way to edit interviews, and remove mistakes. The best way to explain this method is to detail how I perform it, so here it goes.

I use Skype to perform the bulk of the interview. I place a Skype microphone/headset on my head and go to town. The person on the other end should do the same. I use Skype Recorder to record the interview, and I save it into a folder on my desk top. More about that in a minute. Just make sure the person you interview saves “his end” and then emails you the recording.

As a home recording nut, I also have recording software and nice microphones. I open up a new recording session, and arm a track for “my end of the interview”, or just my voice. I record my end of the interview, via the nice microphone and recording software, as I interview the other person on Skype, with a headset. So, I am actually using two microphones. The Skype headset has one, and I place the second one in front of my mouth.

Once the interview is over, I stop the recordings. I save “my end” or my new session, and name it. I also save and name the Skype recording. When I start the editing process I bring the Skype recording in as a stereo track. This is simply a guide, to help me with timing. I also bring in the person I interviewed’ recording, and line up mine to that, using the Skype track as a guide. Edit to taste, and then remove the Skype track as you will not need it. This will give the interview a much better, polished sound then the Skype call would ever allow for. The bad part is that you must interview someone that understands this whole work through.

You should never sound better than the person you interview. That means that if they cant record a high quality version of the interview, than neither can you. I have bitten the bullet many times. It would be very simple to drop my end in the mix, but I would sound much better than the other person, and that is not fair.

Well, I could go on and on, but I think you have the idea. You should aim for the best quality recording for any interview that you record. After all, if it is worth an interview then it is worth high a quality recording, right?  You should do the best job you can do, weather editing, talking, recording, or emailing. You owe them for coming on your show and giving up the interview, and making them sound good is easy once you learn how. Good luck, and happy interviewing!

 

 

As I listened to an interview the other day, I heard a little piece of wisdom that I just feel compelled to share with all of you. The interview was between Kevin Ward, “The mix coach”, and Slau Halatyn. Here is a link to the video interview if you decide to check it out later.

The part that slapped me in the face was where Kevin discusses venturing out of his comfort zone to record an orchestra for the first time. You see, he had not done that before, but was asked to do it for income. He had a decision to make. Do I stay where I am comfy and turn down the job, or, do I risk “getting egg on my face”.

Kevin, so eloquently (with massive paraphrasing here), said that if you never put yourself in the position where you might end up with egg on your face, then you will never grow as a recording and mixing engineer. Growing is “uber” important, no matter what situation we apply it to. As I grow in my recording and mixing journey, I aim my sights at new and interesting things.

I am mixing styles of music that are new to me. I am not too hard core into country and ballads, but that is what I have been mixing as of late. I have put my neck out there, recently, by mixing several podcasts. I know that I am not the best person for the job, but I will never become the best if I do not try new things.

So, the reality of the “egg on your face” advice is to be as real as possible. I am not working outside of my reality. I know what I am capable of, and what is beyond my grasp. I like to take work that is somewhere between those two places. Point is, I know I don’t want to repeat what I did yesterday, today. I will, of coarse, and over and over again if it pays well. But if I could choose, I would take steps in new directions, each and every day. I want to get a little egg on my face. Just not the whole meal, right?

Kevin offers quite a selection of amazing training videos for sale. He has some great titles to choose from. He is a recording/mixing/mastering engineer based out of Nashville, Tennessee, and he has a record label too.

 

Building your own website is fast and easy! This post is for all of you that have asked me about building your own websites and/or podcasts. I will also be posting some videos about the hosting and posting process.

Are you ready to start up your own website and/or podcast? If so, then that is good news, and I can help! Here are three quick and easy steps that will get your own site up and running today! But first you will need hosting. Consider this “step one”!

Bluehost hosting  is the one to use for hosting. Bluehost hosting is the most affordable and the most reliable hosting on the web. All of the successful websites that I know well all use Bluehost hosting. If you are not quite ready to launce your brand new website, please save this page to “your favorites” now, so you can always comeback and re-read the information, and you will ensure that you will always have these important links.

You can even use Bluehost hosting to find your domain, obtain like domain names, but please think your domain name carefully. You want simple, elegant, and a name that explains you, what you do, and who you are. Silly “spellingz” will not be easy to translate verbally to others. If you have to spell it out each time you tell others about it, so will others trying to find it, right? You want an easy to remember, “easy to tell others”, domain name.

I currently spend about 12 dollars each month for hosting, with Bluehost hosting, and that is a great price! I have a ton of content online like posts, videos, image galore, and even a podcast too! You pay once a year, for a whole year, and they leave you alone.

Step two of the process is to install a theme to your hosting. Most folks go with a WordPress theme because it is fast, free, and there are a million free plugins for WordPress sites. You can install WordPress themes right after you purchase Bluehost hosting, and right from their website. In fact, Bluehost will ask you if you wish to install WordPress.

When you need to install WordPress, you can watch some of their great “How to use WordPress” videos, and check out the Bluehost blog. Installing WordPress is fast and easy to do, and you can be posting posts in minutes flat!

Please feel free to use my affiliate link for hosting. CLICK HERE TO SIGNUP FOR BLUEHOST.COM Myself and my family thanks you in advance for using my affiliate link. This is not about making an affiliate sale, but making sure you use the best hosting service on the web today.

Here is a link that you can simply copy and paste into your browser….. http://www.bluehost.com/track/hrw.

Step three is to post your first post. This will require you coming up with a username and password first. A good tip is to open a blank Word document. Copy and paste your login information into the document. Copy and paste the link that WordPress gives you too, into that document. That way you will always have it, and you can copy and paste the link into your browser when ever you feel like posting.

Thanks for finding Home Recording Weekly, and please feel free to check out our other pages as well, like our Face Book page, You Tube page, and others pages too. The “image links” are over there on the right hand side of this website.

 

 

Hello, and welcome back.

I use a lot of Electric pianos in my music. Thing is, they fit in all sorts of popular music! I can’t name a genre that they do not work in, can you? That is awesome! Lets check out the new “refill pack” from Toontrack Music, called “EZ Keys Classic Electrics”.

To start, EZ Keys Classic Electrics works via the virtual instrument ” Toontrack EZkeys Grand Piano“.

Once you have the virtual instrument you can begin adding sample packs to that, and in this case we are looking at “EZ Keys Classic Electrics”.

Please notice the Donate button on the top and the right hand side of this website. Please feel free to donate now, either with a “one time hit” or a monthly share, and that will help this D.V.F.W. post this blog and the podcast. Thanks for all of you that have done so, and for you that are thinking about it. You all blow me away. This is how I pay to keep the website up, and how I continually get better quality video and audio too, so please help if you can. But please, only help if you enjoy the work that I do.

The Home Recording Weekly Podcast is now on iTunes, so please subscribe to that today, or find us on Sticher! Like us on our Face Book page, Google plus, and please sign up for our free newsletter today! The newsletter signup is different that subscribing, so please fill in the newsletter pop up to opt in!

The “Open end chords for the guitar ” EBook is now finished, and available on Amazon, and available for the Kindle too! If you have had a guitar laying around the house and just never got around to learning those first chords, then this book was written for you. This is the fastest way that I know to learn that first song on guitar.