"Music Industry Chat"

Let’s talk about new inventive ways for an artist (in the music industry today) to create a following and revenue.   In my own personal opinion, traditional marketing tactics have drastically changed leaving old school methods of “creating a local or even national buzz” useless to a large degree.

I remember sitting at Kinko’s night after night making new flyers (several 1,000 copies!) Today, we have home computers and printers to make this task quite a bit easier! Unfortunately… where can you staple up a flyer today!?!  Due to major changes in the music industry, most “record” stores have closed their door.  Perhaps a good reply to this would be myspace, although from my recent findings, myspace has become more of a cesspool of spam rather an ideal place for picking up a fan base! 

I really feel like the usual “e-mail blast” is not as effective either.  I realize more and more people are utilizing social media sites like “facebook & twitter”, but what past methods can still be put to use?  And aside from that, what other roads can today’s musician or band travel to create individuality in this highly competitive internet based world?

I’m hoping to create a “hub of industry info” for new voyagers in this crazy modern music business we have at our disposal today”.  So please, give your thoughts ( as always ALL COMMENTS are welcome), lets create a “depot of new inventive ways to market yourself in the present music industry ”.

Thoughts?

 Tim Smith

The Soundscape Recording Studio

For years I would experiment in the studio with my interns working to create bigger drum sounds.  In fact, these techniques are not limited to just drums and are not even close to NEW!  Being a drummer myself, I am prone to being very critical with how “big” my kit sounds in the mix.  Although, not every song “needs” a big kit.. Johnny Cash for instance.  I think the “farther back/smaller drum sound” was exactly what his music called for.

When I listen to music I tend to analyze every little nuence.  So to me snare drums, kick drums and toms are signiture sounds within themselves.  A crummy sounding snare drum can kill a great mix.  Big snares (not LOUD) just big, are generally what I go for.  A few tricks I’d like to share will assist with getting the sounds.

Keep in mind, a great sound starts at the source!  With that being said, lets quickly break down 2 Ways to create bigger drum sounds. 

The First is a simple Multing Technique:  Typically what I will do is take the original snare drum track and duplicate it two more times giving me a total of three snare drum tracks (all being identical).  The objective here is to treat each of the three tracks differently to achieve a bigger and better sound.  For example I might take the first of the three and add some EQ and light compression to give a nice “crack” or enahance the “attack” of the snare drum.  On the second track I would dynamically process it to bring out the “beef” of the snare or the “body”.  Again, I might use an EQ and a compressor (not nessesarily in this order).  Next I could process the third track similarly but this time focusing on the “tail sound” of the snare. 

Once you have sculpted your three different versions blend them together to taste!  I have used this multing technique on many different projects and not only on drums!!  Play around and see what works for you.

The Second is a Parallel Compression Technique:Again, these tricks have been around for years, infact Motown Records Engineers used this one all of the time!  This can also be used on other instruments as well outside of drums.  I find myself using this one more and more often, especially on vocals!  Anyhow, lets discuss using it on the Toms.  For the sake of making your life easier in the end, I would first suggest Gating the toms to remove anything that you may not want to enhance.  Once more this will involve compression (lots of it), so clean up is important prior to this technique.  First duplicate your Tom (or Tom’s ) track one time only.  Next insert a compressor on one of the two tracks and rename ( the one with a compressor inserted) Tom CP (CP=Compressor).  At this point you should have two identical Tom tracks, one dry (no compression) and the other labled “Tom CP” with a compressor inserted into the channel. 

The fun begins:  Depending on the sound you are going for (Punchy, Smooth, etc.) the compression setting will be different.  I like “punchy sounding toms” for most of the rock that I produce, so lets run with this approach.  Start with a Ratio of 6:1 to maybe 9:1.  If your not sure, just remember this: the higher the ratio the more controled but at the expense of sounding a little bit smaller.  The lower the ratio, the less controlled and the bigger it will sound. (At this point, choose your battle!)  After you’ve dialed in the ratio, lets adjust the Attack to give us a punchy sound.  A medium attack should give us enough “smack sound” to cut through the song, the faster the attack, the less punchy it will be but the slower the attack the more likely that the compression will never take place!

Release.. Dialing in the release is just as important so don’t lose focus.  The faster the release, the more “Alive it will sound” although with that being said, too fast will create a “pumping effect” that is in most cases not very desireable.  A slow attack will almost elliminate the decay of the toms (natural room reverb).  Once again, choose your battles!  After this I will in most cases set the Threshold to cause my Gain Reduction meter to have about 10-15db of Gain Reduction.  Last but not least, set your make up gain to do just that… make up for the gain you just compressed!

Whew!!  Alot of work!  The hard part is over, we can now begin our “Parallel Compression”.  Our mission now is to “tuck the compressed track about 4-5db under the uncompressed track”.  For example you could have the uncompressed Tom channel at “Unity Gain” (0) and the compressed Tom Channel at -5db.  Now I would “Link” them together if your system gives you that option.  This way you can now control the “new bigger sounding Tom or Tom’s) as one and not disturb the reletive fader settings between the two channels.

Bingo!  Bigger Toms, Bigger Snares!  Both methods can be used on so many diferent instruments… I have even used latter of the two on a number of Mixes!

Hope these tips can help the newbie engineers!  If anyone has anything to add…please do!

After almost 30 years in the business, I can honestly say it’s not the same!  This industry has, for the most part, completely fallen ill.  Recently I found some pretty staggering news regarding our beloved field of work.  This information affects not only the big major labels but it also affects recording studio’s, recording engineers, music stores (CD & instrument sales), venue owners and local musicians just like you and me! 

This is something that perhaps you may brush off, but I want you to know that this is only the beginning of the end.  I only have hope that the industry can re-invent itself (I pray the same about the housing market).   The days a new band walking into a local recording studio, cutting a record and without a second thought walking down the street to the local radio station and having the DJ spin your new song are GONE!  lol. 

I know, I know..thats been gone for quite some time now!  But what I really want to talk about has just begun.  I can tell you first hand that selling music is a thing of the past!  Stealing music is a thing of the NOW!  Chew on this for a minute… It was recently brought to my attention that out of all digital music available for down load in the world wide web, only 1% is actually paid for!!!  That means 99% of all music available on the Internet is stolen!!

No, no…please.  Think about that a little bit longer.  The internet has brought a whole new marketing tool for many in the music industry but in many other cases has brought it to it’s knees.  I personally had the oppurtunity to tour this great country a few times, I can tell you first hand, there is more money to be made in T-Shirt sales than music these days.  Don’t get me wrong.. you can still sell music on the road (as long as it hasn’t been stolen first!)

So you want to be a rock star, support the industry you strive to be a part of.  Go to your local Mom & Pop CD store and buy your favorite artist new CD (or old CD).  It all starts there, trust me.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Tim Smith

Recording Mixing Engineer

The Soundscape Recording Studio

www.TheSoundScapeStudio.com

Let’s begin with the “Kick Drum”. The kick drum is a signature sound of the drum kit itself, meaning, some drummers have a certain kick drum sound (it’s that important). Everything we do is only a starting point and should ultimately be dictated by the style of music, the drums and of course the musician. When I am engineering a project, I prefer a 22″ kick drum with an Aquarian Super Kick II head and the batter side. In a perfect world I like to see a “ported” ambassador head on the front side. (Mic hole) To me, this combination is a great start, although, not every style of music will call for this scenario. Being a drummer of 22+ years, you can rest assured that I am not into creating crummy drum sounds!

Control is what I am after when it comes to my kick drums, with that being said, I like to gently stuff the drum with a small pillow. Just enough to take away the “boominess”. Remember, we can always add that flavor back later if we really want it. At this point, I ask myself “what kind of kick sound am I really going after?” A “thud”, or perhaps a more “clicky” type of sound? These are important factors that should be dealt with now rather than in the mix. If I am going after a “thud” type of sound, than most likely I am just about there. If I am looking to hear more of the attack (click), I might change out the kick drum “beater” or possibly even tape an old credit card onto the drum head at the point of impact (where the beater hits the head). In most cases, this is gives plenty of “click”!

Ok, enough of that.. let’s talk about mic choice and placement. Due to the high SPL we will most likely want to use a Dynamic Microphone. Even though a Condenser Microphone may have a faster transient response, its diaphragm unfortunately cannot flex as far. Therefore, a Dynamic would do us more justice. I am not going to go into creating a list of “Good Go To Mic’s For The Kick Drum” although I will give a few of my personal favorites.

Sennheiser E602, hard to find but to me it sounds great. Another might be the Shure Beta52 or the EVRE20. Aside from which Kick Drum Microphone you choose, finding a mic placement sweet spot is just as critical! I will say this, never place a mic where it looks right, place it where is SOUNDS RIGHT. A good starting point might be about half way into the drum (through the ported head) on a slight angle with the capsule of the microphone pointed towards the “Point of Beater Impact”. Be sure to make sure that the microphone is not sitting on the pillow, this will not make the drum sound good only muffled. This is my starting point for most kick drums, after I have it mic’d up I will take a listen and make adjustments as needed.

At this point, you should be getting some good kick drum sounds. If you’re not quite there yet, I suggest altering your mic placement (within the shell of the drum) or perhaps, add another microphone the kick drum. Placing a different mic inside the drum or even just outside the drum can add another level of color to your overall sound. Give it a try and see what works best for you. With that being said… check your phase! Comb filtering can get the best of you at this point!

We will move onto the Snare Drum next time! For now, stop on by The Soundscape Recording Studio! http://www.thesoundscapestudio.com

At The Soundscape Recording Studio we record all kinds of different instruments but recording drums are an everyday task! I have recently decided to give back to the music community by posting tips on recording various instruments as much as possible.

Today lets start by discussing The Art Of Recording Drums! Because this subject can not be summed up in just one paragraph we shall break this down into three different posts.

First lets talk about Stereo Microphone Overhead Techniques: For the sake of breaking this down quickly, I am going to assume that the bulk of our readers have a basic understanding of recording. With that being said, I will start with my personal favorite “ORTF Mic Set Up” (sometimes referred to as the “Near Coincident Pair”. An ORTF set up begins with a matched pair of microphones, ideally two condenser’s. Today I use the AKG C414’s for this, although in the past I have had great results with the RODE NT5’s.

These microphones need to be placed above the drum kit and spaced apart approximately 17 cm (about 7-8 inches). The height of the positioned microphones above the drum kit really depends on how large the kit it self is. Of course, the size of the room will also dictate how high the mic’s are placed as well.

Besides the height and the space between the microphones, you will also need to adjust the two mic’s so that their capsules are at a 110 degree angle from one another. To me, I find the ORTF (“Near Coincident Pair”) set up to be phase coherent, wider than an “XY set up” as well as having a natural sense of depth and spacial information.

Some other Drum Overhead Stereo Techniques might include the popular “Spaced Pair”, (sometimes referred to the “A-B Method”) and the “XY” (sometimes referred to as a “Coincident Pair”).

I think we have covered enough for today! Check back soon, and we will get into recording kick drum’s, snare drum’s and tom’s!

For more information about The Soundscape Recording Studio- visit: http://www.thesoundscapestudio.com