Daily Blog - July 27th 2021

Mixing yourself is hard enough, right? So should you even try to learn mastering? Is it worth it? Can home studio mastering lead to great results at all?

Daily Blog - July 23rd 2021

I don't have much time these days, as I'm mixing record after record while working on new things to help you make better records. So I decided to let others speak on the blog for a couple of days. After the community Q&A posts that I just published, I want to share some quotes from amazing engineers and producers that hopefully inspire, educate and/or entertain you!

Daily Blog - July 22nd 2021

I don't have much time these days, as I'm mixing record after record while working on new things to help you make better records. So I decided to let others speak on the blog for a couple of days. After the community Q&A posts that I just published, I want to share some quotes from amazing engineers and producers that hopefully inspire, educate and/or entertain you!

There's one thing that we immediately pick out as listeners...

...even if we don't have very trained ears and even if we're not very experienced or familiar with the genre:

We immediately notice when something is way too loud or way too quiet.

And we subconsciously notice when the song doesn't feel right, maybe because it's hard to make out the bass line, or the drum groove is just not hitting hard enough, or there's this weird, buried thing in the background that's distracting us, while something else is jumping out too much.

We might not be able to put it into words, but we definitely notice when there's something wrong with the balance.

So there is one skill that we have to learn and constantly improve as engineers and mixers if we want our music to translate well and deliver all the emotion and energy with minimal distraction: 

Balancing. Simply finding the right levels for every track in every part of the song and every mic on a every source that we record.

Technically it's super simple, but it's also incredibly difficult to get right. If you get it right, however, assuming that your source tones are good, you're 80% there. Without touching an EQ, compressor or effect.

Let's discuss!

Jacob Hansen Is Joining Us For This Episode!

Jacob has worked with some of the biggest names in metal and alternative music. He's produced and or mixed records for bands like Volbeat, Amaranthe, The Black Dahlia Murder, Heaven Shall Burn, Evergrey, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Primal Fear and many many more. 

We're getting to pick Jacob's brain and talk about

• DIY recording
• getting amazing guitar tones
• mixing records remotely
• reamping
• the most common home studio pitfalls
• guitar tuning
• workflow and efficiency
• communication
• collaboration best practices
• the future of (home) recording
• evertune bridges
• amp sims and Kempers

among many other things.

Enjoy!

Daily Blog - July 8th 2021

Who said you should use one microphone for the whole song, let alone the whole record? In fact, there's often a good reason to use different mics for different parts.

Today we have a challenge for you that will help you learn and grow faster than ever before:

Write a new song each jam. Record what you have at the end of the jam, no matter what. That's right: Schedule your next 5 practice/jam/writing sessions with your band or alone, then write a brand-new song after every session and record a demo version of it. 

Daily Blog - June 28th 2021

I don't care which DAW you use. What you use doesn't matter to me. But it definitely matters to you. And you should take that decision seriously.

Daily Blog - June 25th 2021

Some of the most exciting records have been created by artists who transitioned from a completely different genre to what they're doing now. And some of the most exciting projects I've personally worked on, have also benefitted from a diverse musical background of everyone involved.

Daily Blog - June 21st 2021

We don't know what we don't know. Our song might sound great to us because we can't see (or hear) the blind spot. That's why getting feedback is so crucial. And perspective really matters.

We can't be experts at everything.

We know our main genre very well. We might even know a lot about various different genres. But we can't know everything. So there will come the day when we're supposed to add something to our music or deal with something that got sent to us from a collaborator that's not in our wheelhouse.

These are excellent opportunities to learn and grow. But we can only grow if we realize we don't know everything, get feedback, an outside perspective and let others show us our blind spots.

Maybe you can play and record incredibly punchy, big rock drums and you're also comfortable engineering super hard hitting drums for metal and hardcore songs. Now you want to collaborate on this really cool indie song that calls for a smooth, soft, tight and bone dry pulse instead of a huge sounding kit. Can you pull that off just as well?

Try it, do your best, educate yourself and when you're happy with it, show it to others. You might have a blind spot. Let them show it to you and next time, you'll know exactly what to listen for.

-Benedikt

PS: If you're looking for an amazing community to get feedback from and provide your own expertise for, check out The Self-Recording Band Community. It's 100% free and can be the growth accelerator you've been missing all the time.

PPS: Downloading one of our free guides and joining our email list is also a great way to connect with your peers, as we will invite you to events and keep you in the loop about what's going on in our community. We just had an amazing video meetup last weekend and together we helped 5 people improve their recordings, arrangements and mixes by listening and giving collective feedback live on the call. Join us now!