Record U - Reason Studios

Vocal Production and Perfection

By Giles Reaves So you finally finished recording all your vocal tracks, but unfortunately you didn't get one take that was perfect all the way through. You're also wondering what to do about some excessive sibilance, a few popped "P"s, more than a few pitchy lines and some words that are all but too soft […]

Tutorials

Recording Drums in your Home Studio

By Giles Reaves Drums are probably the oldest musical instrument in existence, as well as being one of the most popular. Drums are also one of the most basic instruments, having evolved little in concept through the years: at their most basic, drums are anything you strike which makes a sound! As simple as they […]

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Tools for Mixing: Insert Effects

By Ernie Rideout In the Tools for Mixing series here at Record U, we discuss a number of useful types of effects and processing in other articles: dynamics such as compression and gating, EQ types such as shelving and parametric, send effects such as reverb and delay, and master effects such as maximizing and stereo […]

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Tools for Mixing: Reverb

By Ernie Rideout Of all the tools we talk about in the Tools for Mixing articles here at Record U, reverb is unique in that it’s particularly well suited to make it easy for you to create clear mixes that give each part its own sonic space. Reverb derives its uniqueness from the very direct […]

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Preparing a Space for Recording (often on a budget)

By Gary Bromham When preparing a space for recording and mixing we enter a potential minefield, as no two areas will sound the same, and therefore no one-solution-fits-all instant fix is available. There are, however, a few systematic processes we can run through to facilitate vastly improving our listening environment. When putting together a home […]

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Recording Vocals and Selecting a Microphone

By Gary Bromham Performing a lead vocal is arguably the toughest job in the recording studio. This in turn puts more emphasis on the importance of capturing and recording the vocal performance as perfectly as possible. Vocalists often tire easily and generally their early takes tend to be the best (before the thinking and over-analyzing […]

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Tools for Mixing: Levels & Panning

By Ernie Rideout It feels great to finish writing a song, right? It feels even better when your band learns the song well and starts to sound good performing it. And it’s even more exiting to get in a studio and record your song! What could possibly be better? Mixing your song, of course. Nothing […]

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Tools for Mixing: Essentials of Dynamics Processors

By Ernie Rideout Mixing a song that you’ve lovingly composed, arranged, performed, and recorded can be a tremendously satisfying experience. But if you’re unfamiliar with the tools and techniques available for creating a mix, you might feel a bit of anxiety as you sit at your computer or in front of your mixer, staring at […]

Tutorials

Tools for Mixing: EQ, part 2

EQ types: high pass and low pass filters You’re probably very familiar with the simplest type of EQ: Fig. 9. Though an electric guitar’s tone knobs can be wired to apply many different types of EQ to the sound of a guitar, at its most basic, turning the knob applies a low pass filter to […]