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New Video: Pre-Production Tip

Joe Gilder — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 19:40:24 +0000

Do you find yourself re-recording entire songs from time to time? This quick video talks about one way to save a LOT of time in the studio.

[flashvideo file=http://hsc-video.s3.amazonaws.com/arrangement_quickvid2.mov /]

Thinking about joining the HSC Production Club? Sign up to the interest list here: (disable pop-ups if you can’t see the form)

And here’s the link for tonight’s webinar:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/840427904

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Ask Joe #28 – HSC Production Club, Home Studios, and more [HSC Podcast]

Joe Gilder — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:50:38 +0000

Image by DTGraphix

You may have caught wind of this in the last few days or so, but it’s time for me to re-open the doors to the HSC Production Club!! Listen to the first part of this podcast, where I talk through the Club and discuss some new features.

Links from the show:

Got a question for the podcast? Leave a message in the official HSC voicemail. The number is: (615) 852-8472.

Subscribe to the HSC Podcast in iTunes.

Podcast RSS Feed.

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Editing: Why We Do It

Joe Gilder — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:34:20 +0000

Do you edit your recordings?

Once everything has been recorded, before you start mixing, do you edit the audio? Do you fix things? Do you think it’s cheating? Do you think it’s stupid NOT to do it? I’m going to give you my take on it, but be sure to let me know your opinion in the comments section below.

What is Editing?

An audio editor is much like a book editor. He takes the original audio file and adds or removes bits and pieces to make it better.

An audio editor at a radio station will take a spoken-word commercial that’s 34 seconds long and trim it down until it fits into a 30-second spot. A book editor will read the manuscript and suggest that certain parts be taken out…or certain parts be stretched out.

With regard to music production and recording, editing involves any changes made to the audio between the recording phase and the mixing phase. This can involve normalizing audio files, correcting timing issues, removing unwanted sections, or even changing the actual performance itself.

Editing is not just a digital thing. Back in the “analog days,” engineers would regularly cut and splice tape between two different takes.

Is it cheating?

One could argue that the musician’s performance should remain untouched. If the performance wasn’t perfect, that’s okay. That’s reality. That’s how the musician really sounds.

Others like to take a good performance and “touch it up” here and there to make it even better. A prime example? AutoTune.

Some people rant and rave against AutoTune. They write things in the liner notes like “AutoTune was not used anywhere on the album.” Others swear by AutoTune.

First, let me make a point here. You should be recording good musicians. No amount of editing tools or software or magic voodoo will make a crappy musician sound good. Let’s just assume we’re talking about good musicians and good performances.

So…is it cheating to take a good performance and try to improve it? Is it wrong to “pocket” the drums so they’re a bit tighter and more in sync with the click track? Is it wrong to pocket the bass, making it “lock in” with the kick drum? Guitars? Keys? Background vocals?

I can’t tell you if it’s cheating or not. But let me tell you what I think.

I’m creating a product.

When I’m working on a recording project, the end result (most likely) is a finished CD or album. I’m producing something that’s going to have my name on it. I want it to sound as good as possible. That’s why I work with good musicians.

However, what if there are mistakes in the audio? What if the bass comes in a little too soon in a few spots?

Well, I ask myself, what would be best for the song? Would it sound better if the bass was playing WITH the kick drum rather than a few milliseconds BEFORE?

My answer? Yes.

What’s best for the song? That’s what I ask myself. What will make this product I’m creating sound its best?

In my opinion, all these editing tools are just that…tools. Just like in any other industry, I use the tools I have at my disposal to make the best product I can. That means I almost always pocket the drums, then the bass, then the guitars and other rhythm instruments.

Even an amazing performance can stand a little tweaking here and there. I’m not talking about changing the performance entirely. I’m simply trying to enhance the performance. Chances are every change I make is EXACTLY what the musician was trying to do, but didn’t.

At a live show, the band can be REALLY tight, and it sounds great. On a recording however, the little sloppy parts are MUCH more noticeable…so I fix them.

So…like I said, I’m creating a product. I’d much rather listen to a song that sounds amazing and doesn’t have any distracting parts. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and you should never overdo any editing. You’re simply allowing the song to be the focus, rather than the individual components. Again…it’s all about the song.

Come Back Tomorrow

Perhaps you’re still not sold. Or maybe you’d just like to hear exactly what I’m talking about. I’ll be posting some audio examples tomorrow, and you can decide for yourself.

HSC Production Club Update

Editing is one of the topics I cover in depth in the HSC Production Club. I’ll be accepting new members next week, then the doors will close again for 12 weeks. If you’ve been wanting to join, or if you don’t know much about the Production Club, you can check it out here and sign up to the interest list. It’s a 12-week training course where I walk you through the recording process from start to finish. It’s a blast. More to come soon.

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Webinar Replay, and Other Exciting Things

Joe Gilder — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:35:48 +0000

Last night’s webinar went really well. Thanks to everyone who came out, we had quite the crowd! I always love interacting with folks and answering questions, etc., and I hope you got a lot out of it.

For those of you who couldn’t make it, I do have a replay for you! As you might have guessed, the HSC Production Club is now accepting new members. You can watch and/or listen to the replay over on the order page.

There are two parts to the webinar:

7 Home Studio Obstacles
HSC Production Club

I have the audio of the entire webinar posted, but I only have video for the second half of the presentation. That’s fine, though. You didn’t miss much visually during the first half. It was mostly me going through the seven obstacles.

Both the audio and video are fairly long, but I think you’ll get a lot of value out of them.

Also, while you’re listening/watching, take some time to read about the Production Club. If you’re looking for a place to learn a TON and be a part of a group of like-minded folks, I invite you to join. You will get a ton of value, I promise.

I’m only accepting 50 new members, so you’ll need to act fairly quickly if you want to join.

Bonus!!

If you sign up for the Production Club between now and 9pm CST on Thursday, February 4th, you’ll receive a FREE copy of my new video product Understanding Pro Tools. This is over 3 hours of in-depth Pro Tools training. I’ll be making it available to purchase here on HSC later this month, but for new Production Club members, it’s free.

Alright, head over to the order page and check out those replays. Got questions? Ask in the comments. I’ll be holding a live Q&A session later this week.

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My First Album, and Also the Sad Story of Bob

Joe Gilder — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:00:40 +0000

How did you record your very first album? My first one was a doozy. Imagine a clueless, 17-year-old version of Joe, hunched over an old PC in his parent’s living room, playing guitar and singing into the skinny little diction microphone that came with my parent’s computer.

You know the mic I’m talking about, right? It’s the same mic the computer nerd used in Ocean’s 11 to communicate with Brad, George, and the rest of the gang. Here’s a picture to jog your memory.

So you’ve got this mental picture, right? I’m sitting there with some recording software my buddy let me borrow, thinking I’m the coolest thing since sliced bread. After all, I was recording an album!!

You couldn’t pay me enough money to release those recordings to the public now. However, it was that first experience with recording that got me hooked.

Years later, I’ve gone from being a kid with $10 microphone to having a fairly nice home studio. (Click that link to check out the video tour of my studio.)

Do I have the best setup in the world? Not even close, but I do have a nice setup, and I can get some great-sounding recordings out of it.

How Did I Get Here?

Did I simply go out and buy up a bunch of gear? Not at all. In fact, it was several years before I even got an Mbox, Mac Mini, and Pro Tools. I bought the gear as I got better.

As I’ve said before, Gear Acquisition Syndrome won’t solve your problems. Better gear does not a better engineer make. (Does that make sense? I think it does if you say it out loud.)

In fact, buying up a bunch of nice gear could ruin your dreams of having a home studio. I had a particular customer at Sweetwater. Let’s call him Bob. Bob is a classic example of buying too much too early.

Bob had wanted a home studio his entire life. He saved up a huge sum of money to make it a reality. (We’re talking less than an Avalon, but more than a Corolla.) He had never recorded a lick of audio in his life.

We spent hours on the phone putting together this big system. It took a long time to explain how everything worked, and I had to basically build up his recording knowledge from scratch.

I urged him to start small, but he wanted to go all out, so we did.

The result? I called Bob six months later, and he had still not recorded a single note. He had un-boxed everything, put gear in the rack, made sure it all powered on okay, but that was it.

Bob was overwhelmed. He didn’t know where to start. He was paralyzed. He had a room full of gear that would make any of us drool; yet he didn’t know how to use any of it.

Baby Steps

Any “What About Bob?” fans out there? Remember the “baby steps?” I honestly picked the name “Bob” before deciding to talk about baby steps.

If you focus too much on the gear and not the process, you’ll end up frustrated and overwhelmed. At that point, you may be tempted to give up music and recording altogether and take up boating or something. I don’t want that to happen.

What did I do? I took things slow. I studied a lot. I learned from people who knew more than me. I then took what I learned and tried to make sense of it on my own. I messed up a lot. I ran into a lot of obstacles, but I slowly learned how to overcome them.

Got a question? Leave a comment.

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7 Home Studio Obstacles (Free Webinar)

Joe Gilder — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:00:44 +0000

Obstacle. Roadblock. Hurdle. Challenge.

Whatever word you choose, we all have them, particularly in our home studios.

My goal for all the articles and videos here on HSC is to help you overcome some of these obstacles, or at least to get you moving in the right direction.

That’s why I wrote the roadmap eBook. I saw something in myself and in a lot of you. We have great intentions of finishing an album or a project, but we lack a plan of action to get it done.

Since releasing the eBook, several of you have emailed me to tell me that you now have a release date for your album. That’s awesome!!

Having a plan is certainly a challenge, but there are so many other challenging things about recording in a home studio. Perhaps you’re just dabbling in recording for the first time, and you’re completely lost. Or maybe you’ve been at this for a long time, and you’ve acquired a lot of nice gear, but you still aren’t happy with the results.

Let’s talk about it.

Free Webinar

Next Tuesday I’ll be hosting a FREE webinar called 7 Home Studio Obstacles. It will be at 7pm CST on Tuesday, February 2, 2010.

I’ve made a lot of dumb mistakes in the studio. I’ve run into all sorts of dead ends, too, and I’ve had to figure out how to get around them. Hopefully I can save you some time by sharing some of this at the webinar.

You’ll notice this webinar is NOT called 7 Super Top-Secret Recording Tricks That Have Never Been Revealed Until Now. I don’t have any secret ninja tricks for you. Sorry. I’m simply going to share with you my experience as a fellow home studio owner. I figured a lot of this stuff out on my own, and I also learned a TON from people who had gone before me. Now I’d like to help you.

If you like recording, come to the webinar. It’ll be fun.

HSC Production Club

If you’re new to Home Studio Corner, then you may not know about the HSC Production Club. This is a 12-week online training course that I launched at the end of last year. I’m having a blast with the first round of students, and I’ve managed to work out a lot of the kinks. So now it’s time to start it up again!

As a part of the webinar next Tuesday night, I will be explaining the Production Club and answering your questions. At the end of the webinar, I’ll be opening the doors, and you can sign up.

Even if you decide that the Production Club isn’t for you, there will still be a lot of value to the webinar, so come on out. I would be thrilled to have you join me. Here are the details again:

7 Home Studio Obstacles
Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 7PM CST

Click here to register.

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What’s the “Glue” in Your Mix?

Joe Gilder — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:58:09 +0000

One of the members of the HSC Production Club posted a question in the members-only forum that I think is a GREAT question. What’s your glue instrument? Or to broaden it a bit – what’s the “glue” in your mix?

Part of last week’s content involved me recording a B3 (organ) part for one of my songs. I was talking about how much I love the organ. It really fills things out. A lot of times it’s the “glue” that holds the mix together.

Here’s an excerpt from the Production Club Week 4 content:

I…love to use a B3 in my recordings. It can easily be overdone, and I’ve been known to use it too much, but when it’s done well, it’s subtle, but it adds a lot to the song.

While I use the organ as my go-to “pad” sound, the same principle applies to most synth/keyboard parts. If you feel like something is missing from your song, experiment with various pads playing lightly in the background. It can be the glue that holds the song together.

There are songs that I’ve loved for years, and only recently have I noticed the organ/pad parts in them. It’s not that they weren’t audible. If you took them away, it would completely change the song, but they’re so subtle you sometimes “feel” them more than you “hear” them.

How about you?

What’s your “mix glue”? Perhaps it’s a guitar tone? Or maybe it’s a compressor? (That Waves SSL Bus Compressor is unbelievable on the mix bus…whew.) Or maybe you actually whip out a bottle of Elmer’s glue and start squeezing?

Let’s hear it. Leave a comment and enlighten us all.

HSC Production Club

This is just one example of the many things we cover in the HSC Production Club. If you’d like to dive in and learn a TON about recording and production over the next twelve weeks, I’m currently accepting new members!

Sign up here.

I’m closing the doors on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 9 am CST. You’re gonna love it.

[Photo by rwkvisual]

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HSC Production Club Class #2

Joe Gilder — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:53:04 +0000

Last month I launched the HSC Production Club. The first class has been a great success. I’m having a blast doing it, and several of you have asked when I’m going to open the doors again. I have good news.

I’m opening registration again this weekend.

The introductory price of $39 per month was exclusively for folks who signed up for the first class. In 2010, the price will be going up significantly. (A lot of my current students feel that somewhere between $79 and $99 per month is what they feel the course is worth.) However, before the increase happens, I want to run a Christmas special.

You can sign up for the next round of the HSC Production Club for $49 per month.

Registration will be this weekend. The doors will open for 72 hours, starting Friday, December 11th at 9am CST. You will have until 9am on Monday, December 14th to sign up.

If you’re on the fence about it, don’t forget the money-back guarantee. If you’re not completely happy for any reason, I’ll issue a refund. No problem.

Head over to the Production Club page to find out more.

Alright, back to your regularly scheduled programming. I’ve got a cool gear review coming down the pipe later this week!!

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HSC Production Club is Open!

Joe Gilder — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:58:10 +0000

It’s official, the HSC Production Club is now open and accepting new members!!

You can join here.

Contest Winner!

Congrats to Julian for winning the contest for a free Production Club membership. Several of you tweeted and facebooked your way into the contest, but Julian came out on top. (And yes, I did actually draw names out of a hat.)

3 Days to Sign Up

I’ll leave the doors open to the HSC Production Club for three days. At 6pm CST on Thursday, November 12th, I’ll shut the doors and focus on getting to know the new members.

Will I be launching the Production Club again in the future? Maybe. However, I can’t promise that I’ll keep the price at $39/month. It will most likely be a good bit more.

If you’re on the fence about it, I understand. Let me assure you that you’ll be happy with it. And if you’re not? No problem. I’ll issue you a refund.

I hope you decide to join. I would love to have you be a part of the group. Several of the folks from the early-bird list have already joined, and we’re all really excited.

If you determine that the Production Club is not right for you, no worries. I would encourage you to continue to be a part of Home Studio Corner. I’ll keep putting out plenty of free articles and videos just for you.

Here’s the signup page again. Check it out. See what you think.

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Live Q&A Part 2 – 6pm Today

Joe Gilder — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:28:00 +0000

The live Q&A session yesterday was a lot of fun. Some of you couldn’t make it, so I’m going back on the air this afternoon to answer your questions.

You can ask me anything — questions about the HSC Production Club or just questions about recording in general.

You can watch from the HSC Production Club page.

You’re welcome to just come and watch, but I think you should sign up for a UStream account and join in the conversation!

Here are the details again. Today, Saturday, November 7, from 6pm until whenever.

See you there!

If you’re new to Home Studio Corner, I’m about to launch a 12-week training course. You can read about it here and here.