Studio Solutions 96
Layering Acoustic Guitar in a Mix
In modern songwriting, the chorus is often king, supplanting the main ideas and melodies of a track in one easy-to-digest arrangement. When a big, presence-filled chorus is needed, layering additional full range instruments like an acoustic guitar is a great option. By learning the technique of properly mixing and tracking an acoustic guitar for the […]
To DI, or not to DI
If you’ve spent some time on any stage or in any studio, you’ve probably seen or used a DI box before. What is it about these magic boxes that seems to make every engineer’s job easier? Let’s take a look behind the curtain to reveal a little bit of information about DI boxes, as well […]
Best-Bang-for-the-Buck Audio Interfaces for Beginners
Ready to set up a home studio and start recording your music? A digital audio interface is a good place to begin building your rig. If you’ve already got a computer, one of these boxes will let you connect instruments and microphones via a USB port, and start capturing audio and MIDI into recording software […]
Doubling Guitar with Synthesizers
Many engineers have employed a “secret sauce” for mixing thick bass tracks that involves adding a synthesizer-doubled track to create a sonic profile with seemingly endless low end (at least to the human ear.) This is common knowledge to most recording artists and has been practiced for years on countless records and sessions in most […]
Using Auxiliary Tracks for Reverb
As one of the earliest and most natural recording effects, reverb has been a part of our listening experience ever since any one of us first listened to recorded music. As such, it’s also one of the first effects used by budding recording engineers as they start using DAWs. At first, it might seem perfectly […]
A Guide to Studio-Friendly DI Boxes
If you’ve ever played a show at a venue with a legitimate PA system, you or someone in your band has most likely needed to use a direct (DI) box. Direct boxes allow you to split your instrument’s signal, sending a balanced output to the front-of-house mixer, and the unprocessed “thru” signal to your amp. […]
How to Phase-Align Your Studio Monitor Subwoofer
Congratulations — you’ve just added a studio monitor subwoofer to your home recording rig! But where should you place your new sub? And what does the “Phase” switch do? This guide will help you find the right spot for your studio subwoofer, and phase-align it to your main stereo studio monitors. Why Sub Placement Matters […]
Mix Character into Drum Tracks with Wurst
A drum track can make or break a song, or even a record as a whole, so it’s of huge importance to nail the recording process of drums, and — in a perfect world — accomplish the tricky feat of adding character to your tracks. This is where the “Wurst” drum mic method comes in. […]
The Big ’80s Snare Sound
Although the 1980s have come and gone, the impact the decade left on studio techniques (and snare sounds) still lives on today. Yes, some studio tricks from that era can be quite over-the-top, but if you’ve never indulged yourself in how they’re done, you might be missing out on a broad palette of sounds. In […]
