It's time for the second audio mystery. It involves a drum set, two audio techs, and a lot of head scratching. It started on a Wednesday night... The drums sounded dead. I'm talking "He's dead, Jim" dead. Steve and I were at front-of-house trying to dial in a good drum mix. There wasn't ... Read More
Today begins a series on solving audio production mysteries. There are two ways of seeing an audio mystery; as an unsolvable problem or as challenge. The challenge area, that's where you live whether you like it or not. You work in the realm of wireless microphones, high-end electronics, and ... Read More
"We don't practice until the morning of the service." "We have a mid-week practice." "Practice? I get a five-minute sound check and that's it." I've heard from audio techs the world over regarding their weekly practices / sound checks and it usually falls into one of those just mentioned. It ... Read More
[Guest post by: Jose David Irizarry. Jose does a great job of capturing the work required for vocal mixing. I call this the "shorter" guide because if you've read my vocal mixing guide, you'll know why. That being said, Jose brings in some great stuff not covered in the guide, such as mixing ... Read More
Once the initial excitement of working in audio production wears off, it leaves one with a few unfortunate realizations. I'm not saying audio work stops being fun. I've been doing this for a long time and I still have fun. I only wish someone would have cracked open the secret envelop and let me ... Read More
"I've done this before, I'm not an idiot," I thought while making the third pot of coffee in three minutes. The first time, I put in the coffee grounds but forgot the filter. The second time, I'd rather not publicly discuss. Let's just say hot water sans coffee. I've made hundreds of pots of ... Read More
Are you mixing with headphones? If not, you should be. If you are, you shouldn't be. Confused? Good. There's a right time and a wrong time for using headphones. When NOT to use headphones All of the time. I get it, headphones provide sound isolation and therefore make for easier mixing. ... Read More
Guitars can energize a mix or absolutely destroy it. I've watched rookies look dumb-struck at the mixing console because they didn't know how to handle mixing two guitars. Mixing two guitars is a simple process in which you do the same thing to each guitar channel EXCEPT with one added ... Read More
