If your not already following John Mayer on twitter,TWITTER you should be. Not only is he hilarious, but being a student of music for so long, he has a great appreciation for teaching music and sharing alot of whats going through his mind creatively. Very cool site BATTLE STUDIES where he posts his videos of what hes up too. This video is part 1 of the series hes doing while hes recording his latest untitled masterpiece.
Seems pretty safe to say that if you Title your 5th or 6th studio album with the word "Black" the chances it will become a classic are pretty high. With over 15 million sales in the US and 22 worldwide this is the definitive Metallica album. The legendary Bob Rock produced LP isnt my favorite album by them, but is definately theyre best overall piece of work as far as mixes, the production, and the individual performances each band member provided. James sounds amazing on this album, Kirk's unforgiven solo is impossible, and Lar's timing was as good as its ever been and its a credit to how well the took direction from Mr. Rock. Its really cool to take a look into some of the sessions and seeing how much work went into making an album like this some 18 years later.
Taken From Wikipedia, I think this best describes the band/producer relationship lol
"Metallica was produced by Bob Rock, who was originally asked to mix the album as the band was impressed with his work as producer on the Mötley Crüe album, Dr. Feelgood.[1] Initially, the band was not interested in having Rock produce their album, but changed their minds as Ulrich stated; "We felt that we still had our best record in us and Bob [Rock] could help us make it."[1] The Black Album's sound was a marked difference from the stripped down production of the previous album. Rock altered the band's working schedule and routine so much that they swore never to work with him again. The animosity and tension between band and producer was documented in the documentaries A Year And A Half In The Life of Metallica and Classic Albums: The Black Album. Both explore and document the intense and merciless recording process that resulted in The Black Album."
Wondered what made certain pieces of gear more desirable than others? Or what was the distinction between an 1176 siver face model as oppossed to the black face model? Well while searching the net for info like this back in my intern days I came across a dope article first published in Mix Magazine in 1996 on the Mercenary Audio Site all about vintage recording equipment and why some models are highly sought after more so than others. I usually dont nerd out on such facts but I have to admit a bit of this knowledge goes along way when choosing what outboard gear to use for certain sessions or clients. I was lucky enough to intern a major facility with a nice collection of outboard gear to try out when i wanted to experiment. But as anything in audio i suggest trying out what sounds good to YOU, to hell with what you read until you can decide for yourself if it sounds good or not. Peep the link and enjoy!
So me and some engineer friends were talking about how some producers arrange their drum parts all live with no sequencing. This may be a lil weird to some of us who are used to the producer programing his drums all in a drum machine, DAW, or using a keyboard. One of the engineers in session at the studio didnt know it was possible, so I decided to share a technique I found. So here's a cool article on how to do so using beat detective and elastic audio.
A cool vid I found with London working on a joint called "She's Gone" with the homie Ryan Toby and produced by the legendary Rodney J. As you all know I love seeing how other engineers work, and Tito is one of the best. I love his mixes and even though the quality of the audio from a youtube video is suspect,it sounds quite good. I see another dope engineer Mike Mill aka Snotty in the background chilling, if your ever at Patchwerk ask for him, he's dope. Rodney also drops some gems on working with MJ and capturing a classic performance.
Diddy at it once again, dropping some studio footage of him and Cassie in the studio "Mixing", Must Be Love, which sounds incredible, like those Bad Boy singles of old. Im sure Sean C and LV had their hands on this, Im actually excited to see Puff back on it again in the studio doing what he does best, stunting and making hit records. Im not sure how much "mixing" is being done but Im sure he wanted to blast this new song off on the net first and from first listen, the songs jammin.
So yet another IICRLT post inspired in part by my fellow blogger Apollo, (check out his blog to the right) about John Mayer. I saw that he had some really cool youtube videos posted in the last few weeks and it resparked my love for his music. His last album Continuum was my shit. He's our Eric Clapton, just an amazing musician and songwriter. His music translates so well, its no wonder why so many Hip Hop and R&B acts colaborate with the dude. Looks like he has a pretty decent home setup, I like that he's using an LE
setup to demo out some ideas and work on music that will later get recut im sure at a major facility. Make sure to check out some of his other vids.
Hey guys, just getting back in from the Music University seminar were Miles Leslie and myself spoke on engineering and mixing. It was really cool coming back for a second time to speak, the first time as a intern, and now as an established freelance engineer. Miles and Les were great sports, they were up from the previous night working, and just stayed thru this morning to speak. I know they had to be tired, but they still answered the questions and put on a show lol. Some of the other panelists were producers and executives so it was cool seeing all those guys in the same building chopping it up. Got a couple of offers to track and mix some stuff so it was pretty productive.
A quick glimpse into all of the added features in Protools 8. I personally havent had alot of face time with it yet, but the things Ive seen so far have been really cool. I really like the look of it, even though its clearly looking more and more like logic, I think its in light of all the new users apple has acquired with Logic the last couple of years, mainly with producers. Digidesign certainly has stepped up there game in relation to music production, but I dont see them making a dent in that logic armour quite yet. With many of its new features aimed towards producers, with all the midi editing functions and added software instruments, it should have a couple of guys thinking twice about using it as more of a production tool. Even us engineers should be excited, added tracks in LE versions, its making workflow a breeze. With added playlist views, elastic pitch, and also being able to comp vocals even faster than before, it has me ready to cop and upgrade from 7.4 already. Here is a nice lil tutorial vid on some of the features mentioned above and more.This version is definately all about the customization and look.
I wanted to do a post outside of the studio but while i was stil working. Nowadays I spend alot of time doing stuf outside of private studios and comercial places that I frequent. Me and Miles both have rigs set up at our respective cribs and I like to have another option to do smaller things like edits and maybe even some mixing with smaller sessions. I have an mbox pro that i recently retrieved from a producer friend after letting him borrow it until he got his hands on a decent interface for his logic setup. Its nice being able to do smaller projects while im on the go. I pend alot of time away from my house unless Im tracking there or mixing a larger session. I had some mixes I needed to finish for The homie Don Cannon, just mixing some beats he had done in the recent weeks. I have PT version 7.1 running on an older macbook pro with tons of cracks on it. Shoutout to Miles it was his old mobile joint and Ive had for a while now. I pretty much use it to edit and do lil roughs here and there. Its actually pretty dope as you can see from the pics I got a lil mix going on this bad boy and its quick. It has alot of plugins I like to use and for the most part I do it all in headphones until I get it where I think its close then I bounce all the tracks down and burn them onto CD to listen to in the whip. Pretty easy days work I might add.
and please download Drakes Mixtape "So Far Gone". This shit shouldnt even be free its sooo good. Easily the best sounding mixtape Ive heard, 40 and Drake did their thang. Successful is my shit btw.
So i spent most of my day sleeping and chilling till it got close to game time. Went to a party with Ryan Good and My Arie. Had a blast, JoJo knows how to throw a party, felt like half of Atlanta was there. We slid out during halftime to watch the rest of the game at PWR with the crew. I find it important to balance work and just being around your peeps and enjoying the downtime. I usually take my sundays off to be with my friends and see whats going on and whatnot. Funny how i always end up at a studio some way some how lol.
Our last days pics from another night working with Justin and AJ. Had a great time working with him, and cant wait to see whats next for him. I got the habg of this whole slide show thingee now, ya boys making progress now lol.
Had another productive night at redzone with the guys working on Justin Beiber, 14 year old R&B prodigy who just signed on With La Reid and Ush. Hes really amazing, probably the most talented person Ive ever worked with. Hes 14 but carries himself like a star. The record we did tonight is crazy, we had a good time recording and just chilling.
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So another night of work, back at it with AJ now that hitland is once again consumed by water, were up at Triangle studios working on another project. We are gonna be here for the next 3 days working on demo's and maybe cutting with said artist on Sat. Here's some pics of the nights work. Enjoy.
LOL at goes to the nearest Sonoco. Funny as hell. Another night at PWR.
Mixing classics like the ones Tony's done in his career should be of topic whenever he does a mix related interview. Fantasy by Mariah Carey? come on that mix is incredible. Here in this part 2 of 4 series as he speaks on his influences and mixing back in the day.
Another night at Patchwerk, but what makes this night different is the fact I actually got a picture with me, Les and Mike in it. And it only took 4 years and some change but hey, it happened lol. Ima look back at this pic and wonder what the hell we were actually doing but as always pretty much nothing. Me and les are a lil out of focus but still cool, peep my hoodie...fresh
Being back in The ATL is great. Kinda missed being around and seeing my friends and all. But Im back lounging and what not till we get back on it later this week, hopefully here in Atlanta.
I get asked all the time whats my GO TO vocal chain. Well as of late Ive had the urge to kinda change it up so to speak, I picture myself as a minimalist, if thats even a word. I try not to impede or impact the source signal too much, if I dont have to. I love the way things sound natural, without any coloring, unless it needs it. Ive worked for the same person for almost 2 years now. I know his voice pretty well. I can tell when he has had the right amount of rest, or when he hasnt slept at all. I can hear when hes coming down with a cold or if his voice has been worked too hard with rehearsals and late sessions. Ive stopped him before to let give him a break because hes not sounding his absolute best, thats what Im there for ya know? He has such an awesome tone he doesnt really need much help in that department. What i use i consider a very clean and transparent Mic Pre and Compressor.
Was the studio, and working with P and Chad. Great people = great times. Had so much fun hanging with the assistants and staff at The Palms. Also I wanna shout out Mick for hooking us up with some BBC and Ice Cream gear. Definately had a great work experience meeting guys I really respect and look up to, and getting to actually work side by side was the shit. Heres some pics of the randomness that occurred. 
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