Squinting into the sunny glare coming off the Pacific Ocean, I felt the realization slowly creep up on me, like the kush and sativa wisps of smoke curling through the streetlights and sidewalk signs of Newport Avenue: It’d been a very long time since I last visited Ocean Beach. Even now, I was only here […]
It’s almost hard to “Believe,” but the Auto-Tune pitch-correction processor plug-in is over 20 years old now. I remember when I first read of its existence. The very concept of finally having vocals on my recordings that were as in tune with the track as I had always wished they could be was not only […]
I am hungry. Ravenous. Apparently, insatiably so. Not for food. Nor vice or any other natural or peculiar appetites. For music. New music or more specifically, new to my ears, whether released today or any time in history. If it’s good or great and I haven’t heard it before, I want to ASAP. Some might […]
In the arena of recording software reviews, the emphasis is undoubtedly focused on products that reside at the pricier end of the financial spectrum. It can almost seem like a snooty act from some “expert” poised upon a lofty perch talking down to you, as if they’re saying, “Well, if you’re a serious working professional, […]
In the rough and tumble world of developing tools, toys, and total domination in the world of digital recording (I mean as rough and tumble as it gets for coders clad in black tour t-shirts), Presonus keeps “bringing it.” For seemingly every other brand, the move from version to version is a significant stride with […]
While I have been a performing artist and studio producer for most of my musical career, there was a very brief period in the late 1980s when I was also a studio musician. Not as a guitarist or keyboard player. No, I would walk through the studio doors with my axe tucked under my arm […]
Difficulty is an elusive shapeshifter. What seems hard for some may feel like second nature to others. Oftentimes, mastering a task or skill may seem like an insurmountable hurdle at the outset, but as we slowly acquire the knowledge and experience required, we may suddenly find ourselves accomplishing far more than we even dreamed possible […]
In addition to the recording and production work I am often engaged in, I do quite a bit of mastering other people’s mixes into finished works as well. This usually entails applying a touch of EQ to sweeten a track’s overall sound; maybe cutting some lumbering lows or adding a pinch of high-end sugar at […]
Since 1901, the (kinda sorta inappropriately named at this point) National Association of Music Merchants has been welcoming music product retailers and distributors from around the globe to meet, greet, and tap those feet while rolling out the year’s hottest new products and innovations once or twice a year. The 2019 Winter NAMM Show in […]
