ARCHIVE: Digital Home Recording

December 10, 2008

Turn Me Up: The War Against Sound Squashing Continues

Most modern-day popular music is heavily compressed (i.e. quiet sounds are increased in volume) to increase a track's overall "loudness" and apparent intensity.  Audiophile purists hate the trend, because it prevents the creation of truly expressive and "dynamic" albums.  Many... Read More

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July 07, 2008

Audio Tutorials: Read 'Em & Write 'Em

The same gang of creative folks that created all the Rockstar sites, such as PSDTuts, a Photoshop tutorial site, and Audio Jungle, an audio loop and sound effect ecommerce site, has launched the new audio tutorial site, AudioTuts.It only launched... Read More

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June 22, 2008

WellMixed Masters ProTools and GarageBand Projects

Isn't it awesome to be part of digital audio world where home recordnig is a reality?  As a musician or band, it's fantastic.  It can also be great for audio pros with good ideas that can adapt to the new... Read More

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April 20, 2008

Remember to Back Up Your Audio Projects, Kids

As much as people always tell me to back up my projects...I never have.  Stoopid, stoopid, stoopid.  I learned the lesson the hard way, but not the hardest way.  The most recent version of my lastest song project file was... Read More

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March 10, 2008

Microsoft Admits: Vista Stinks (Tragedy in Three Acts)

Once again, I am SO glad I stuck with Windows XP with my new DAW rather than up upgrade to Windows Vista.The NY Times has a great article that pieces together the events leading up to Vista's many woes using... Read More

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January 30, 2008

Riffworld - Song Collaboration and Social Networking

Riffworld.com is Somona Wire Works' entry into the music collaboration and social networking space.  Rather than re-phrase, I'll quote from the press release: Using the RiffWorks desktop recording application, up to four musicians can connect and collaborate on a song... Read More

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August 09, 2007

NJ Recording Studios 'n' Home Recording

I had the opportunity to provide a little commentary to another recording-studios-facing-threat-of-home-recording themed article published today by the Courier News, kind of similar to the recording studio article last week.My new hero is John Forrestal, a 19-year (old also quoted... Read More

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July 27, 2007

Big Recording Studios vs. Home Recording Studios

Scott Galupo of the Washington Times wrote an article titled Music from a Closet about the recent passing of many large recording studios (the Hit Factory, Cello Studios, Music Shoals Sound Studios, and most recently, Sony Music Studios), and the... Read More

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February 19, 2007

How Not to Produce Amateur Recordings

If you're new to the home recording scene, and want to avoid some classic pitfalls of an amateur recording, avoiding these top ten recording pitfalls is a great way to start.  Uneven  or muddy vocals, and especially acoustic bleeding caused... Read More

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November 21, 2006

HomeMade Hit Show Podcast Approaches 52nd Show

I'd like to extend congrats to the HomeMade Hit Show podcast for nearing its 52nd weekly episode.  Not too shabby at all.  The focus of the show, as its name suggests, revolves around music recorded by musicians at home studios... Read More

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October 27, 2006

Instruments and Gear Used in Spinning Daydream

Thanks so much for all the feedback I've received, everyone!  Most of it came through email, some of it was through the HomeRecording.com mp3 mixing clinic, and some came through the comments in the post with the song.  It's all... Read More

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October 23, 2006

Recording Studios Adapt to Home Recording

While some big-time recording studios fall in the wake of do-it-yourself home recording project studios, others have begun to adapt, and even cater to, the home recording artist.Check out Talmage Music, a recording facility which positions itself as an extension to... Read More

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August 08, 2006

Switching Home Studio Rooms in Mid Production

So, my wife and I, to lower the rent, are giving up the basement that went along with our 1st floor apartment.  It's a little sad, as it means losing a ping pong table, and it also means the loss of a... Read More

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June 12, 2006

Build A Cheap PC Recording Studio

Adrian Anders at CreateDigitalMusic wrote a nice piece about building cheap PC home recording studios, and will follow that up with a series of low cost, DIY solutions to recording gear, software, etc.  Good stuff.... Read More

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April 26, 2006

Recording Studios Adapting to Home Recording

The Boston Globe has a nice little article about how professional recording studios are adapting (some are not) to shrinking record label recording budgets and the increase in home recording practices.  Mike Denneen, co-owner of Q Division studios, said this:"This... Read More

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March 04, 2006

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

How I miss music.  I've been unable to write or record much lately due to a bit of traveling I've been doing.  That will continue this next week, but in a good way, on a beach in Mexico.  :)In the... Read More

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February 10, 2006

WikiRecording, Free Audio Recording Guide

Jeff Einowski recently started WikiRecording, a free guide to audio recording based on the Wikipedia engine (and under the same GNU license Wikipedia uses -- anyone can edit it).It's only been up for two weeks, and already has about 50 articles... Read More

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February 08, 2006

Interview With Peter Kirn of Create Digital Music

I had a chance to pick Peter Kirn's brain, the man/myth/legend behind Create Digital Music, about audio production, his blog, his book, his gear, and his sage wisdom.  (See yesterday's quick review of Real World Digital Audio if you missed it). ... Read More

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February 07, 2006

New Book, Real World Digital Audio, Rocks

Create Digital Music's Peter Kirn's new book, Real World Digital Audio, recently hit the shelves, and I managed to score a copy.  It's quite a whopper, covering everything from the basics of audio and digital audio physics, software, hardware, etc,... Read More

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December 23, 2005

Sonar vs. Cubase vs. Pro Tools vs. Acid

Digital Music Doctor, a site that sells 2-3 hour video courses for music product software packages, reviewed Sonar 5, Cubase 3, Pro Tools 7, and Acid Pro 5 to compare price, audio features, MIDI features, and special functions in an "Ultimate Shootout".Who won? ... Read More

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December 07, 2005

Real World Digital Audio, Peter Kirn's New Book

Composer, musician, writer, and teacher, Peter Kirn (though you'll know him best as the editor of the awesome music production blog, Create Digital Music) is about to launch his new book, Real World Digital Audio: Industrial Strength Production Techniques. It's... Read More

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August 09, 2005

Audio Technology Resource Directories

If you are hungry for more information regarding digital audio technology, try checking out Dave's Imaginary Sound Space. Dave has accumulated a number of extremely useful lists of audio-related resources, including media search engines, audio resources, audio plugins and patches,... Read More

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July 27, 2005

Home Recorders Partnering With Pro Recording Studios

Home recording studios are here to stay. Are professional recording studios? Yes, but their roll will significantly change. Dave Amlen wrote an article in Music Dish making a case for why home recorders should partner with professional recording studios. It's... Read More

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June 19, 2005

A Recording Engineer's Perspective

Pro Sound Blog presents the "Rants of a recording engineer & professional drummer." Editor Mediaguru, offers the following advice to recording engineer hopefuls: Stay away. You can't blame him. In one post, he shows pictures of four bounced musicians' checks... Read More

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March 20, 2005

Home Recording Studio Article in the NY Times

Home recording was covered by the Sunday New York Times, today. (Free registration required to read). Jon Pareles wrote about the increasing trend of musicians writing, recording, and mixing their music in home recording studios. More and more music is... Read More

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February 25, 2005

Rock Stardom: "Slow-Cooked Success"

A good article by Joe Taylor about the time investment required to become a successful performing and recording musician: Unless you stumble upon an extraordinary amount of media coverage in a short period (a la William Hung), it doesn't work... Read More

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February 18, 2005

Home Recording Software Vs. Home Recording Hardware

My own home recording studio preferences lean towards software-based digital audio workstations (DAWs). However, hardware-based workstations will remain a solid, niche market for quite some time. Dan Daley writes about the various home recording studio niches in the software- and... Read More

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February 09, 2005

Turning a Mac Mini into a Cheap Recording Studio

Barb Dybwad of Engadget wrote an excellent article about turning a Mac Mini into a low-cost recording studio. If you prefer Macs to PCs and are interested in diving into the realm of digital audio home recording with Apple's Garage... Read More

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February 05, 2005

Hit Factory Recording Studio Closes, Due to Home Recording

It looks like we (home recording musicians) are part of an industry-changing movement. In MTV.com, James Montgomery writes about the Hit Factory Recording Studio, well-known for producing hits by artists such as Springsteen, Lennon, Houston and 50 Cent, Michael Jackson,... Read More

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February 04, 2005

Locomotion, Inpiration, Perspiration, Music

What I wouldn't do for a few weeks with nothing to do but write and record music. A project without a deadline can be a difficult one to complete. I wish my problem was solely motivation-related. Recently, my creative projects... Read More

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February 01, 2005

A Dumb Digital Audio Home Recording Book

Though I don't like being marketed to as a moron, Home Recording for Musicians for Dummies is actually quite good. Despite the fact that it's a little out of date (published in 2002), it does an exelent job of outlining... Read More

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January 29, 2005

Cool Music Production Platform From Korg

Korg unveiled one of many, many incredible new digital music production toys displayed at the NAMM Show, the OASYS Open Architecture Synthesis Studio. Funky gadgets like this one almost make me want to convert from music editing software to a... Read More

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January 27, 2005

"Computer-Based Recording 101"

There are a TON of articles already written on the subject of setting up a PC/Mac-based digital music home recording studio. Rather than play a false Jedi, I will humble myself to the recording Yodas of the world. ("Geek, am... Read More

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January 26, 2005

Your First Digital Home Recording Studio

So, do you have a "Digital Audio Workstation" (aka DAW) set up? If yes, ditch this post and immediately burn a lick or a beat to disc. If not, welcome to a plethora of opportunity to dive in! The first... Read More

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January 25, 2005

Deciphering Digital Audio Recording Technology

Sometimes, it's fun to tinker with technology to see what makes it tick. Take something apart, reconstruct it, see what turns on and what explodes, etc. This is certainly the case with digital audio. There's a whole galaxy of digital... Read More

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January 21, 2005

Digital Music Empowering Musicians

Thank God for music. Thank God for digital audio. And thank God for the simplification and proliferation of new media applications to the masses. Seriously. Without the above, my most beloved and satisfying hobby would have produced nothing more than... Read More

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