Yesterday I talked about about audio editing and why I do it. If you haven’t read that article yet, be sure to check it out and leave a comment. I’m intrigued to hear your thoughts.
As promised, today I want to share with you an audio example of editing at work.
Audio editing is obviously not some huge mystery. For the most part, it’s just about fixing timing issues. As I said yesterday, it’s not about creating a good performance, but simply enhancing a good one.
The example you’re about to hear is from my upcoming album. In fact, it’s the song featured in the HSC Production Club (which will be re-opening next week).
I played all the guitars in this song, except for the lead guitar, and my brother-in-law played bass. We’re both (if I may say so myself) good musicians and recorded good performances. However, I felt the song still needed some tightening up. Enter editing.
Read more...
In this week’s podcast I answer the question, “What is this mixing course all about?”
Also, you get a sneak peak..er…listen to one of the tracks from my upcoming album.
Links from the show:
Subscribe to the HSC Podcast in iTunes.
Podcast RSS Feed.
This whole “ear training” thing is pretty fun. Let’s do it again!!
This week we’ll take a look at acoustic guitar.
The Clips
I’ve got three clips for you. The first is the original acoustic guitar, no processing. The second clip has some processing. The third clip has more processing.
So the signal flow goes:
Clip #1 –plug-in–> Clip #2 –plug-in–> Clip #3
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to guess as to what processing I did to the audio. Be as specific as you can. This really helps you hone in your listening skills.
Don’t just guess “EQ.” Guess “a boost at 20 kHz, and a cut at 2 Hz” instead. 
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You may recall that a little over a week ago we did a little ear training with drums. If you missed it, finish reading this post, then head over there and check that out, too.
Today, let’s have a listen to a bass part. In my opinion, the bass can be the most unruly part of your mix. It can sound amazing, but it sometimes takes a lot of wrangling to get it right.
I’ve written about mixing bass before, but let’s take a listen to an actual bass part.
Ready Your Ears
I’ve got two clips for you. The first is the dry clip of a bass, as it was recorded. On the second clip I did some processing. Here they are:
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After listening a couple of times, leave a guess in the comments section as to what exactly you think I did to the signal. Be as specific as you can. Let’s see who gets the closest.
I’ll reveal the answer in a video tomorrow.
Ready? Go!
[Photo by tanakawho]
I’ve got another round of questions for your weekend.
Thanks to everyone for your submissions. Good questions this week!
Topics covered:
- Mixing & Mastering – Peak vs RMS levels
- Dealing with USB latency
- Monitor placement
- 808 bass drops/mixing
- Recording & money
Listen here:
Or download the mp3 here. [19 minutes, 22 MB]
[Photo by Horia Varlan]
Have you ever done ear training? If you studied music theory in college, you probably did.
I remember my Theory II class with Dr. Linton. He would sit at the piano and play an interval, and we would have to accurately guess. He started slow, but that didn’t last long.
Bum…BUM. “Major fourth!!” BUM…bum. “Minor third!!”
He would also play chord progressions, and we had to guess the chord AND the inversion. Pling…pling. “Four. First inversion!” Pling… “Five. Second inversion!”
A lot of folks hated it. I loved it. (Don’t even get me started on fixed-do solfege exams. Whew.)
Ear Training for Engineers
So if music majors in college are so focused on ear training, shouldn’t we as audio engineers focus on ear training just as much…if not more?
Probably so.
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Time for another rousing edition of Ask Joe. Today I’ve got seven questions. They deal with:
- comparing home recording to professional recordings
- using hardware processing with your DAW
- tube mic care
- using Pro Tools on two computers
- acoustic treatment
- time compression & expansion
- mixing, mastering, etc.
Listen here:
Or you can download the mp3 here. [11 minutes, 7.5 MB]
I recently emailed a lot of people on my mailing list, letting them know about the Ask Joe portion of the website. I got a TON of responses, more than I could feasibly write responses to in the HSC forums or here on the blog.
So, to both save some time and also answer all of these questions, I sat down this morning recorded my response to each of them…all thirty of ‘em.
There are all sorts of questions, and it was actually pretty fun answering them all. You can listen here:
Right-click here to download the mp3. [34 minutes, 46.9 MB]
Other Fun News
I’ve put together a free webinar for my newsletter subscribers. It’s this coming Tuesday, January 19th, from 7-8pm CST. Acoustic treatment expert Gavin Haverstick will be joining me to help explain acoustic treatment and answer your questions.
To access the webinar, you need to sign up for my mailing list. You’ll get a free copy of my new eBook Roadmap to Finishing Your Album, AND you’ll get all the information you need to sign up for the webinar.
Click here to sign up.
Yesterday I talked about about audio editing and why I do it. If you haven’t read that article yet, be sure to check it out and leave a comment. I’m intrigued to hear your thoughts.
