A very portable studio for 3 electronic music musicians

• Macbook running Logic Pro
• Focusrite Scarlett 8i6
• USB Hub
• Headphone distributor amp for 4 headsets - with 2 metre extention cables
• Akai LPK25 keyboard
• Miditech keyboard
• iPhone being used as controller for Omnisphere synth running on Macbook
• iPad running as any of

1. synth sound module (into Focusrite line in)
2. synth sound module with input from either of the keyboards (into Focusrite line in)
3. MIDI/OSC controller for any software instrument on Mac

How to get your song titles recognised in iTunes

Getting your titles recognised in iTunes is independent of which digital distribution/aggregator you use. iTunes gets its information from GraceNote.  You don't need to use CD Baby or any of the other service

1. You put your CD master in your computer and when iTunes kicks in and show you Track 1 Track 2 etc. - do NOT import into iTunes
2. Use File / Get Info to edit the titles of your tracks yet again, of course adding Artist information etc. 
3. When all this is done choose Advanced / Submit CD Track Names. 
4. There is a bit more to fill in the dialogue box - and this depends on the cross referencing with the Info you already completed. Gracenote does, for example, have a different categorisation of music genre than iTunes itself. 
5.  After you submit it, it takes 1 or 2 days to be accepted into the Gracenotes database. Next time you put your CD in, you should see it with the correct titles - and in case you think its remembered from when you edited on your computer, then try it on a different computer and you will see it really did work. 

You can register with Gracenotes http://www.gracenote.com/ but I actually don't think that registration is used at all in the process.

Buying Microphones on Ebay

I have now bought SM58 microphones twice on e-bay and twice refunded because they were fake. The conclusion to me is that if there is a new bargain on Shure SM58's the only thing you can be 'sure' of is that they are dodgy. Shure maintain a pricing policy in the USA, not legally maintainable in the UK but I am certain they will have their methods. 
The good thing about buying on e-bay and paying with PayPal is the buyers protection. In the first case I had bought 3 SM58s that turned out to be fake. There are plenty of websites that advise how to identify a fake SM58. The weight, the numbering on the pins of the XLR plug (often no numbers on the pins of the fakes) etc. PayPals conclusion was that I got a refund and must destroy the fake mics.
On the 2nd occasion, after winning the bid and paying, I noticed the same seller had sold a number of SM58s saying it was hardly used and to all intents and purposes a cut and paste. He used 2 different photos but the wording was identical on all. I then asked if he was sure they were genuine Shure product and related my previous experience - of course highlighting the destroyed mics. I had a refund by morning.
In fact the fake mic problem is not just the Shure SM58 but also the SM57 and a number of Sennheiser mics and earphones. These come fully branded, boxed and with all the paperwork - but they are still fake. If you fall victim to this you have full legal rights to get a refund but potentially could also have both the police and customs and excise on the case - though they probably would not be interested in small quantity counterfeit products.
With these microphones, probably if the price is too good to be true (50% - 70% of the new price) then it's wrong. 

Nord Electro 2

I recently updated my Nord Electro 2 samples - the organ sounds have always been great but I always hated the Swedish grand piano samples. Updating the samples from the Nord website (http://www.clavia.se) was something I never had time to do. When I did I got a bit of a fright as the downloadable software to do the update does not work on the latest operating system of either Mac OS or Windows. Fortunately I had a Mac server with an older operating system and did the updates from that. I now have the wonderful stereo sampled Steinway.

Lesson learned though: don't delay getting to know the downloads section for your instruments and synths.

Now to look at my Nord Lead rack - ah nothing - it's all analogue. Original patch set can be reloaded by SYSEX though. SYSEX uploads via MIDI are really old school but if you have old synths you will still need to stay with the ability to do this - another blog on that soon

On The Level

Your sound goes through a number of pre-amplification stages - on both recording and play back. If your levels are peaking above 0dB (in the digital world) on any of these stages that you will introduce unwanted distortion. If this happens at the recording stage then you may well have to re-do your recording. At the mixing stage this will just ruin your mix .....

Recording

Set your levels in this order, the order that your sound source will be travelling through

1. Pre-amp (if you have one). Usually these have a meter. Make sure the meters are not peaking into the red at the loudest notes and leave a little to spare as vocalists and guitarists tend to "go for it" a bit more after the level check when they do the real thing.
2. Audio Interface: Set this in conjunction with the input level on your DAW (Recording software eg Logic, Protools etc). With the gain on your DAW input set at 0dB your levels on that channel should not go above 0dB. You adjust this on the audio interface but are checking the result on your software. If your audio interface has a level/peak indicator, make sure it is not peaking there also but it is unlikely if you have checked it against the DAW input
3. Software input on your DAW. Keep this at 0dB for setting the levels as this does not affect the actual input level (on most DAWs)

While this article is focussing on peaks that are too loud, it is important when recording audio that the signal should not be too quiet as well. Otherwise you will introduce unnecessary noise and hiss. Also make sure you record mono signals such as microphones into a mono channel - otherwise the unused part of the stereo channel will also introduce hiss (the repair of splitting the stereo into 2, normally requires a special utility - but I won't cover that here)

Mixing

Don't let individual channels go above 0dB as that will introduce distortion

If some channels are above 0dB and your mix is sounding balanced, Look for your loudest peaking channel and for example say it 4.3dB - then lower every channel by the same amount - say 5dB to give a bit of headroom

If you've already started using automation that will be a bit of a pain as you have to reset it all. So get this done before you start adjusting the volumes with automation.

If you organise your mix with busses this can also make this easier.

So for example I may define bus 1 to be drums; bus 2 to be synths; bus 3 other instruments; bus 4 main vocals; bus 5 backing vocals.

Then name and colour them in a way which make it clear what grouping of tracks you have routed to the bus. I also order the tracks on screen in the same order as the busses.

So if only the synths are peaking - you would still need to bring down the individual channels that are above 0dB but you could bring down all the instruments to match by reducing volumes on the busses in just one action.

Adding effects will also these levels, especially compressors, but even delay and reverb can add to the overall level and make it peak.

So you may have to repeat a little bit of this process. You may have a bus that is peaking, and therefore need to bring down the volumes of the channels that are patched to the bus.

So why not just put a limiter on the channel and the jobs done? Limiters should be used where needed but if you put a limiter on a channel that has not already been tamed, you will get unnatural squashing of the dynamics. If you apply a limiter to the bus - likewise you make get an unnatural dynamic and pumping of some sounds. (Of course you may want that - in which case fine!). I generally mix without the limiter in place and add it last of all to ensure that there are no rogue level peaks.

Hip-Hop recordings and demos

What qualifies me to write about making hip-hop? As artist management, I get countless mp3s, mixtape and youtube links sent to me everyday. I have released hip-hop on my label and recorded rappers in the studio. Apart from that, I am just scratching the surface of the genre .......

Unsuccessful promotion

• YouTube videos accapella singing or rapping with a major artists track that you are playing through your earphones
• Beats that take endlessly loop around the same 5 second segment from start to finish.

Pre-made beats
There are many producers out there who make excellent beats that are available for a few pounds/euros/dollars on a non-exclusive usage. That means other people can buy and use the same beat. Buy the beat - don't use the website sample especially when it includes the beatmaker's name check spoiler.

Here are just a few links

• Laztech Productions
• http://www.5starbeatz.com/
• http://www.mixscapeproduction.com/
• http://www.popbeats.net/
• http://iLL-it.com
• www.subconsciousbeats.com
• www.buyabeat.com
• Grand Riggty
• Misunderstood Beats
• Dizzee Sounds
• FisherBeats

Quality
Check what quality the beats are delivered from the various producers. Ideally they should be MP3's with a bit rate of 320kbps. An MP3 compressed to 128kbps is really too lo-fi.

There are other options too. Some will also let you buy the individual parts for re-mixing (still non-exclusive) and also if no-one else has bought it you have the possibility to buy an exclusive beat for a few hundred dollars or more.

Working with video voiceovers

Creating a voice over on video brings with it a few additional factors. On the one hand the audio is not as demanding as recording music, and then there are space constraints as the computer monitor(s) will need to be visible.

Equipment

1. Studio condenser microphone large diaphragm. To keep it simple you can use a model with a USB connector designed for Podcasting . This removes the need for Audio Interface device, less cabling and so easier to connect. There are some USB microphones at about £70 (entry level – but for talk-over quality will be fine), Samson CO1U USB or iSK CRU-5 USB (nice retro look!).  £150 would get a brand name more known for pro equipment such as Audio Technica AT2020 USB (but this is still their entry level)
2. A microphone stand, desk fastening with suspension arm as used in radio stations: RODE PSA1 Broadcast Studio microphone stand (about £75 though there are some cheaper chinese ones available)
3. A pop filter (large) £10 – though may get in the way so I would say optional. They are not used in radio stations. Likewise the cradle to prevent unwanted vibrations is unnecessary in most applications.
4. Acoustic treatment: the idea I had yesterday would be in the way too much and instead I would suggest 2 x Acoustic Treatment Foam Panels to go in front and behind the narrator. Total price about £180.  You can make a pair of hinged plywood boards to place behind the narrator and possibly stand up the other foam panel behind the computer monitors. This will not block out all unwanted sounds but will dampen it and prevent unwanted reverb within the room space

Post production

All the audio should be post processed to improve quality.

1. Compression. Makes the quiet parts louder and the loudest parts slightly quieter – evens out the sound. In professional recordings compression is always used and is applied to the appropriate degree to maintain dynamics
2. De-essing (maybe) removing sibilants
3. EQ: enrich the voice tone, remove hiss and hums (hopefully not too much there)
4. Remove noises ("transients")
5. Add reverb – The sound treatment will have removed most natural reverb, adding some controlled reverb back makes it more natural (ironically)
6. Maximising overall volume

1,2, 3 & 5, 6 would very soon become fixed presets (actually for each narrator) based on a known environment