by Andy Reynolds | Feb 15, 2016 | Studio Equipment, Studio Techniques
One major change that has crept in with the software revolution in the recording process is the replacement of hardware with software. This means less knob twiddling and more mouse or trackpad swiping. While the ability to automate and the repeatability is great this...
by Andy Reynolds | Feb 10, 2016 | Studio Equipment
I have always loved percussion, any kind of thing that can be hit, shaken, scraped or banged together to create unusual sounds. When record production works and the essential drum sounds are simplified to their essence then the addition of percussion adds the flavour...
by Andy Reynolds | Feb 6, 2016 | Drums, Studio Equipment, Studio Techniques
I have been trying a new way to mix live drums. I set up direct mics on kick drum, snare drum and hi hat and a stereo pair of condensers for the overhead capturing the whole kit including toms and cymbals. The kick and snare were gated so that the hi hat did not come...
by Andy Reynolds | Feb 2, 2016 | Bass, Drums, Guitars, Loops and Samples, Percussion, Studio Equipment, Studio Techniques, Stuff that really happened
When you really look at them and analyse why they work, a lot of classic songs and recordings of their success to a musical hook or a particular sound. From a music production point of view this can be called the capturing of magic. When the right player with a...
by Andy Reynolds | Feb 2, 2016 | Drums, Loops and Samples, Studio Techniques
Anyone who has tried looking for the right snare sound for a song will know that you can go through hundreds of snares that might sound good on their own but which don’t work in the track. Sometimes the only thing that works is a mic on an actual snare and yet...
by Andy Reynolds | Feb 2, 2016 | Bass, Drums, Percussion, Studio Techniques
When producing tracks that need a good kick and bass balance (that would be most if not all tracks!) it is interesting to see what happens when monitoring on small monitors or headphones. If there is no sub in the system then it can be too easy to overdo the level of...
by Andy Reynolds | Feb 1, 2016 | Song Writing
I have been asked to write an upbeat Jive song for an Irish female singer. So far I have narrowed it down to a tempo of around 200 bpm with a certain kind of drum sound, bass pattern, guitar upbeats, some organ, a bit of accordion, some harmonica and a bit of...
by Andy Reynolds | Jan 24, 2016 | Loops and Samples, Percussion, Sound Library
I have been meaning to start an online store selling loops and beats. It’s time to make that happen. I think that there is a room for a more useful format for loops where there is a lot more creativity left in the selection of sections of longer loops. I also...
by Andy Reynolds | Jan 17, 2016 | Studio Equipment, Studio Techniques
I have been thinking about where technology has taken the studio over the last 20 years. So much of it now is software based and the actual recording of sound seems to have taken a back seat to what happens in the computer. Sure, you can do a lot without ever...
by Andy Reynolds | Jan 15, 2016 | Studio Equipment, Stuff that really happened
Sadly it turns out that most bits of rack equipment just don’t stand the test of time. I have been digging out some old bits of outboard to add them to the studio set up again only to find that one after the other they don’t work any more! It is probably...
