Last month, I had the opportunity to share my passion for music and music recording technology with a group of young men from my church group. For a couple of hours I gave them some background on the music industry, demonstrated cool recording tricks, gave them the opportunity to use loops and samples to create their own music, and guided them through writing and recording an original song completely impromtu... While only some of them were musically inclined, all of them had a lot of fun. Ne... Read Full Story

I'm not a drummer. Sure, I can bang out a fairly simple beat on a drum kit, but I've never owned a kit, never had lessons, and am not by any means a drummer. Back in Utah, I would sometimes have clients or bandmates leave their kit at my studio between sessions or practices, and I picked up a few basics by messing around after hours. I'm a habitual dashboard drummer, and pretty much 24/7 my hands and/or legs are shaking, tapping, or thumping on something. The first recording e... Read Full Story

I have added a bass track now to my track "Free". Using a Hartke 4 string bass with active pickups, I used the DI part of my Vintech 273 Preamp, passed through the Empirical Labs FATSO for some mild to moderate compression, and then into Pro Tools through my apogee converters. I had originally planned to track through an amp, but this signal path resulted in the right amount of tone and warmth to (1)Be consistent with the guitar track and (2)Fit the vibe of the song. After tunin... Read Full Story

In the last 2 weeks I've FINALLY actually started working on my album project in earnest. (I use that term lightly - after all, spending a few hours in the studio here and there isn't exactly "earnest"...) After a couple of short sessions doing a little clean up and light rearranging of some drum tracks, I have recorded my first audio tracks since moving into my new place. The song, "Free", is one of my "heaviest" songs - mixing dirty blues with a hard, ... Read Full Story

6 weeks after our move, I'm finally getting around to getting the music gear set up again. It's been sitting way too long and I'm getting stir-crazy. I've played my acoustic guitar a bit but haven't fired up the electric guitars, assembled my recording desk, or powered up any of the recording gear. That is, until today. The desk is being put back together and I'm finally starting to get this part of my life rolling again.Starting over in a new town and a new space h... Read Full Story

In the last couple of weeks, there has been a big development in my personal life. I have been offered a fantastic opportunity out of state, and will be relocating my family in the very near future.This means my home (complete with the studio featured in the recent construction thread) is for sale. If you are looking for a comfortable home in a quiet neighborhood with a great yard (almost 1 acre including woods and access to a small lake) and would like a modest but great sounding studio room... Read Full Story

Did I mention I really wanted a room with a vibe?The front section of my wall - which is recessed and then angled at the top - was finished from top to bottom with 1/4" cedar planking.The cedar planking looks, sounds, and smells great. It adds a lot of character to the room.With the planking done, I finished the front wall by adding a low-profile skyline diffusor.Lighting was installed, and ceiling tiles were mounted. I used a combination of absorbing and diffusing tiles, all mounted wit... Read Full Story

From here on out, I don't have as many pictures of individual steps... It's pretty easy to set down the screwdriver and pick up the camera, but not quite so easy when you have paint all over.For my main room and iso booth, I chose to do a venetian plaster finish. It adds a great deal of character to the room, and it's hard to really mess up. It was a lot of work though. The entire room was coated with a thin layer of a Tuscan-style orange, applied with a 4" puddy knife.From ... Read Full Story

Prior to moving on with the finish work, I performed some basic "baseline" acoustic tests in my studio.In this photo, you can see I have a measurement microphone, speakers, and a laptop set up. I measured overall frequency response in the room by using various broadband signals at different volumes, as well as using sine wave sweeps. I also measured an estimated RT60 time (the reverb in the room).Prior to even doing the construction of the room, I had used various online calculator... Read Full Story

One of the first things I did with my walls was to add "sleepers", also known as braces to the walls. This makes the wall more rigid, and strong. The last thing you want in your studio walls is for the studs to be able to wobble around easily. If the studs can be moved fairly easily, your wall is not rigid enough and sleepers should be added.There are a couple of interesting things about my walls. First, the builder used 2x6 studs, instead of 2x4 studs. I was thrilled about this as... Read Full Story