Don’t Be Afraid of Bass
Having well-represented low-end frequencies in a mix is one of the true secrets to getting that phat, analog sound. But I find that two things keep this element from making it into a lot of mixes:
Inaccurate studio monitoring
Poor drum and bass tracking/mixing
Too much bass leads to a muddy, undefined mix. Too little bass makes mixes [...]
Times Are Tough…
As I was logging into my blog today, I saw the list of Google Adwords that fill the space just to the right of the daily posts (in case you never noticed them). One caught my eye…
Grammy Winning Production
Founder, Windham Hill Records
will produce your CD
Full Service Studio
Good lord…has it come to this? Will Ackerman [...]
The Genius in Not Screwing Things Up
On the heels of yesterday’s post, I’ll add a little p.s. here that sometimes the real skill in life lies in not screwing things up. And the best way to do this is STICK TO THE BASICS. Or, as the adage goes, Keep It Simple, Stupid (K.I.S.S.). Less is more. Call it what you want.
Let’s [...]
Correct Me if I’m Wrong
“Paul,
I was thumbing through the latest music catalog and stumbled
across a control room fixer plug-in/magic box.
It looks like they generally include a reference mic and software/EQ/faze reversal gizmos to make your monitoring more accurate.
Obviously, a properly tuned room would be best. Barring that, are these things worth their salt? “
__________
In a word, no. [...]
The Effectiveness of Print Advertising
I advertise for ZenMastering in a number of online forums: Google’s AdWords being the most prominent. But also weekly newspaper websites like OC Weekly and the San Diego Reader.
Last year I decided to make a more concerted effort to reach local musicians and ran print ads in three of San Diego’s biggest music events:
The San [...]
Extended Warranties
In general, I’m not a fan of extended warranties. My feeling is that if something survives the first year and is well maintained (not neglected), it will be fine. My exception on this rule is laptops.
I have a Dell Business account for ZenMastering’s computers. I started using them four years ago when I found that [...]
More Mids in Movie Mixes
My wife and I rent a decent amount of DVDs. We’ve got a pretty nice Sony home theater surround system that I’ve calibrated to be as accurate as possible from low-to-high.
Last night we watched The Dark Knight and it hit me that there’s a lot of low and high in movie mixes (especially action movies), [...]
For Shame?
Have the world’s best musicians finally stooped to the musical tricks that once seemed scandalous? Lip synch-d performances have been going on since the ’60s, but it seems weird for classical musicians to be doing it?
Normal or ridiculous? You decide.
The Recession Will Be Colorized
So in case you haven’t heard, we’re in a recession. Something people-in-the-know are saying is the worst since The Great Depression.
So what’s the difference? Well, no one’s quite sure yet…as we don’t know exactly where the deep end of the pool is. But we can at least go through this one in a bit brighter [...]
Recording Nylon String Guitar
I got this e-mail today through my Audio Recording Advice web site…
“I am recording classical guitar at home. I have a matched set of Rodes NT5 microphones and a Tascam DP-02 digital recorder. My problem is that the recording level seems low.
The Tascam has built in mic preamps and I am told that [...]
About This Blog
From Ohm to Om reflects the opinions of mastering engineer Paul Abbott, owner of San Diego's ZenMastering.
We welcome comments from readers...pro or con!
