ENGINEERINGATLANTA.BLOGSPOT.COM

A blog all about recording and mixing.
Showing posts with label study the craft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label study the craft. Show all posts

Friday, April 24, 2009

What up yall. Leslo in the building. I hadn't been on in a while but the posting below is a direct response to some youngster in the game that tried to disrespect me. You'll see his lame comments first, then you'll see how i RANKED him!

BRYAN'S LAME COMMENTS:
Plies and Chris J Mixed ITB

I just mixed this record completely in the box with waves and UAD 1 plugs.
No summing box or outboard reverbs. Im not saying its the best mix in the world because it was done so fast and not meant to be a final for me but it does give hope to people like me and some others on here that cant afford a 9000j but are trying to compete with that sound.. Ive been recording Plies for three years but it looks like now IM gona record , mix and make beats for his records. Wish me luck!
They put this song on blast today.

Ozone Magazine » Audio Randy's Playlist » Chris J. feat. Plies - “Don’t Need No Man”

The distortion happened in mastering. Plies first album was distorted as hell from mastering. That mastering job sucked. The volumes where uneven and the tracks were distorted. I believe this guy Glen did a good job. yeah its clipping a little but I think these days they do that on purpose. And I agree about his vocals being loud on his other records. I personally hate the mixes on the other records. Some of them are good but most of them are thin and bright as hell with the vocals loud as shit and the kick real loud. Plies mixes sound so different coming out of patch works than the other artists. I almost felt like they had something against him. I was in a strip club the other day and 2 plies songs came on and it sounded like shit. The volume dropped, shit got thin and all you could hear was his voice kik and clap. To me the feeling and life is in the Instruments not drums. Of course the drums have to hit but theres gotta be a balance. Outstanding mixes come out of patchworks and even some of Plies singles sound great but the album fillers seem to get the album fillers mix. Of course that drives me nuts because Ive not had a single yet but 8 album fillers!
This mix was done in less than a hour. They had them send the session so I could put breaks in the beat before we sent it to patch....and I was like shiiiiiit if I got the seperated files IM gona do a quick mix and hopefully win them over. Sure enough they picked this mix over the ones from patchworks, Plies said B how can I get this record to sound just like your mix and I was like.....umm.... send my mix to mastering! and thats what they did. Theres a few things I dont like about this mix. Plies fears me touching anything that he feels already works so I left it just how he liked it. The consummer will NEVER hear this stuff so who cares! lol Im an engineer that never went to school or was taught by anyone but studied and practiced endlessly. This site gearslutz played a BIG part of my development over the years so I felt it was appropriate to come post a industry mix they helped happen. . Add me on my space guys!
Deep Productions on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Videos
__________________
Thank You,

Bryan Tyson

www.myspace.com/deepproductionsinc
www.hallucination.com
www.pliesworld.com


THIS WAS MY RESPONSE TO HIS IGNORANCE:

Ok, first off. I’m no young buck in the game. I’m 15 years deep on this mix sh*t. RESPECT MUST BE SHOWN TO THOSE THAT PAVED THE WAY. I usually don’t address comments on the internet, but this sh*t was brought to my attention. I mixed a lot of the PLIES records referred to at patchwerk studios. So let’s get things clear.

1) I give PLIES the same quality and attention that I give EVERY other artist I mix.

2) EVERY group of files I received to mix was POORLY recorded. Vocals, Basslines, and Drums were usually somewhat distorted. Before anyone accuses mastering engineers or mix engineers of distorting things, they should check their OWN files first. (HINT: if your waveforms are squared off at the top, you are most likely distorting. Do I need to post screen shots of how the sessions looked before I mixed them ?????? hmmmmmm????)

3) EVERY ruff mix that I received along with the session files sounded HORRIBLE. When I’m in a room full of people and EVERYONE agrees that the ruff mix sounds horrible, then guess what……. You’re a long way from being me.

4) Even the most amateur of engineers know to use PROTOOLS (even LE if they can’t afford the HD system) and a MAC. Using NUENDO and a PC is pretty lame and gives us PROFESSIONALS a hard time mixing anything that comes from that setup.

5) BEGGING someone to mix their sh*t is not only tacky, but it’s a career killer. The fact that you have to “WIN SOMEONE OVER” means you got a lotta work to do homie. I’ve NEVER asked someone to mix ANYTHING in my entire career. Even when I was first starting out, THEY CAME TO ME. My work speaks for itself. When Cher asked me to mix her stuff because she really liked my mix on TLC, or when MARY J. asked me to mix her album because she heard OUTKAST, or when LUDA asked me to mix his ALBUMS because he heard 10 banging mixes in a row in the club, all of which I mixed – THAT’S REAL PLAYA SH*T. Begging for mixes is weak. The LAW OF ATTRACTION is a powerful thing. Read up on it.

6) If you have album fillers but no single, that simply means you gotta do better work. When you get to a place where you FEEL LIKE you should be further along than you REALLY ARE, then you head down a really destructive path. The universe unfolds as it should. When you start producing single worthy material, then you’ll get a single. SIMPLE.

7) the FEELING and LIFE of urban music, is in the DRUMS, BASSLINE, and VOCALS (all of which I previously stated are usually distorted when those sessions get to me). If you think the “FEELING and LIFE” are in the instruments, then that might explain why you have to BEG for mixes or haven’t had a single yet.

8) When an artist is stuck on a ruff mix its USUALLY because it’s the first version of the song that they got used to. It doesn’t mean that it sounds great. More often than not, its quite the opposite. Most artists just get accustomed to what they’ve been listening to since they recorded the record, which is usually a VERY SUB PAR mix. When the files are sent to a PROFESSIONAL, it comes back sounding so different to them that they often want to revert back to the ruff mix, NOT because the ruff is better, but because its FAMILIAR. When you’ve been mixing for more than a WEEK, you’ll learn this quite well.

9) I have absolutely nothing against PLIES. I admire the guy, and I often speak very highly of him. and as his engineer, you can’t just disrespect another fellow engineer and think its cool, there’s rules to this sh*t. To suggest that I would treat a PLIES mix any different from any other mix is straight up DISRESPECTFUL. If you gotta DIS my work and the work of others, just so YOU can get a mix on an album, then that means YOUR work doesn’t speak for itself. BOSS UP MAN. Instead of tearing someone else down, just BUILD YOURSELF UP. But first you need SOMETHING to build on. YOU’VE BEEN EXPOSED. VAMOOSE.

LESLIE BRATHWAITE HAS SPOKEN.

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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

IICRLT: John Mayer II

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.




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Sunday, April 12, 2009

IICRLT Part 7: Metallica's Black Album



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."






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Friday, March 27, 2009

Have You Ever...


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!


http://www.mercenary.com/readguidtovi.html

Learn All About It

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Thursday, March 19, 2009

Tricks of The Trade: Quantizing Audio In Protools


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.


Learn All About It

At for those who hate to read, I admit the article is a little hard to follow, I found a video straight from digi on quantizing.

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Friday, March 13, 2009

The making of Love vs. Hate

Studio at The Palms. The Dream. Tricky. Dave Pensado. Nuff Said, enjoy. Shouts out to B Luv, I see u.





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Thursday, March 12, 2009

BAAAAAAAD BOOOOOOY! : Diddy and Casie "mixing"

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.


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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

IICRLT Part 7: John Mayer At The Crib

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.






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Friday, March 6, 2009

HOW I GOT STARTED AND CHASED MY DREAM........


In response to quite a few emails and posts asking the same GENERAL question, here goes.....

I left St.Thomas when I was 18 years old in 1991. ….I enjoyed growing up in St.Thomas….BUT I was so ready to leave.
Immediately after graduation I was on a plane to Orlando where I attended FULL SAIL CENTER FOR THE RECORDING ARTS. My dad got me started by paying my rent for a few months, paying for school, and helping me get my first BUCKET of a car….(I am VERY thankful though). – I was determined not to ask him for ANY more help. During the year I spent at FULL SAIL, I worked in a blockbuster video store part time to pay for my apt and car.

I decided that I was going to move to Atlanta the day I graduated and I did just that. I chose Atlanta because at the time New York and Los Angeles seemed too saturated with people looking for similar work. I had read an article while living in Orlando, about a young up and coming producer named DALLAS AUSTIN, and how he was opening a new studio in Atlanta. I made it my mission in life to find him and work at his studio.
2 weeks after graduation…….MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

In august 1992, I started out at the lowest possible level in the music industry. I was an intern at the studio. I didn’t make ANY money. I went on food runs, I cleaned the bathrooms, I made coffee, I packed up equipment and just about anything else they needed done at the studio.....FOR FREE. .....IN EXCHANGE, I got the opportunity to be around, observe, learn, and every now and then ask questions. It was an awesome exchange. Besides my part time job (to pay for my car and rent), I would spend every waking hour at the studio. Eventually I moved my way up the ranks and by summertime, 1993, I had became an ASSISTANT ENGINEER. I hadn’t quite started working with Dallas directly. Instead I was working with a handful of engineers and some producers he had signed to him in production deals. I would also work steadily with a host of outside clients that would book studio time there.

As things rolled on, more and more producers noticed that I was pretty good and had potential. Eventually Dallas himself started to take notice and that’s when things really got rolling. I would go on to record and mix my first hit record…Monica’s “DON’T TAKE IT PERSONAL” in 1995.

After that, I continued to work with Dallas closely and consistently as a RECORDING and MIX ENGINEER for the next 6 years. My career REALLY blossomed in that time period because my discography started to get full with names like MADONNA, BOYS II MEN, MICHAEL JACKSON, ARETHA FRANKLIN, TLC, DEBORAH COX, TONI BRAXTON, OUTKAST, BUSTA RHYMES, NOTORIUS B.I.G., 2 PAC, WILL SMITH, and many more big names.

During that time I also started producing records as well. I managed to produce records for 112, ICE CUBE, MACK 10, MONICA, SHANICE, SCARFACE, NIVEA and a few others. Production wasn’t really my focus though. I did it because It was fun, I was good at it, and I made some good money…………..BUT I was PASSIONATE about MIXING records.

In 2001, it was time for me to grow into my own and focus on becoming a MIX ENGINEER. I parted ways with Dallas and made my home over at PATCHWERK STUDIOS (right down the street) where I continue to work to this day. Patchwerk had (and still HAS in my opinion) the best mix room in Atlanta, so it was an easy choice for me……….I ONLY mess with the best.
Since then, I’ve mixed records for so many including JEEZY, CASH MONEY MILLIONAIRES, LIL WAYNE, JAY-Z, EMINEM, 2 PAC, RICK ROSS, LUDACRIS, CHER, SANTANA, MARY J. BLIGE, P. DIDDY, and so on.

I worked VERY hard to get to where I am. I stayed very focused all these years. I HARDLY EVER go out. I don’t goto nightclubs, stripclubs, etc. I don’t smoke or do ANY types of drugs. I rarely drink, AND ONLY when I’m not working. I’m never in the streets chasing women or attention. I take vacations, We goto Disney, Aspen, and Lake Lanier REGULARLY. Other than that…………..I wake up EVERY day goto the studio, work, have fun…………… and EVERY NIGHT, I go home to DORIS (and my unborn child).

This WAS……IS…..AND CONTINUES TO BE…….the story of my success.

I'm glad my story has inspired some in the past and hope it continues to do so for others in the future.

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Wednesday, March 4, 2009

IICRLT Part 6: Linkin Park and Hov: Collision Course


Hey there guys and gals, another post in my series "If I Could Record Like This". Silly I know but I tend to nerd out on this kind of stuff and really its how I came to love what I do. I definitely admire my peer's work and I stay reading credits on who does what. Anyone who knows me is hip to the fact that Jay-z is like me favorite rapper of all time. I know Brooke can relate, being a fellow Jigga fan, it's one of my goals to record him. I know that shit sounds crazy but it's true, I actually came super close to last year, but thats another story lol. I have all of Linkin Park's albums, probably my 2nd all time favorite band. Their music is just a mash up of all my favorite genre's of music. When MTV decided to do the Mash Up's album, I was stoked that these 2 titans of their respective genre's were chosen to be the first, and only I might add, of the series. It's scary how well the songs, configured from various mix stems and multitracked sessions, merged together almost seamlessly. Only a couple of vocal tracks were actually rerecorded for the album. Here's a clip from the airing taped for MTV. Watching this is crazy, Hov one taking his verses and Mike recording his vocals is amazing. If you dont listen to Linkin Park you should, Im not into their newer stuff, but the first 2 albums are classics. They record alot at one of my favorite studios in La, NRG located in North Hollywood. Cool place check out the site and make sure to peep the studio's, they have an awesome B room with a Moroccan motif thats amazing.


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Saturday, February 28, 2009

Tools of the trade.


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.




Here's another vid I found while researching the new version, Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park explains how hes using the new features in his production and recording techniques with his band as they record new material for their upcoming album. Very cool vid, Mike is simply an amazing Producer/Engineer.

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Friday, February 13, 2009

I'm goin in !!!!!!!!!!!


What up everyone, my name is Leslie Brathwaite.

i mix records
i snowboard
i play madden, halo 3, and grand theft auto
i'm about to be a father.

Jeremy invited me to contribute every now and then to the bloggernomics, so here i am......

I'M GOIN IN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ............................
.............the other day i got all pissed off at the MUSIC INDUSTRY and went on a rant.... here it its:


First of all, the internet DID NOT ruin the MUSIC industry. That would be like saying ATM machines ruined the banking industry. ATM machines make accessing your money easier and more convenient. Instead of making a trip to the bank to withdraw or deposit money, you can do it from a grocery store (where you can instantly use it). Same concept can be applied to music. The internet is simply a tool thru which you can access, distribute, audition, discover, and conveniently purchase music.

THE PROBLEM is, the music industry was (and in some cases still is) so focused on doing things the old way and destroying internet-music activity, that they didn’t focus any resources on harnessing the power of the internet to ENHANCE music sales. Instead of spending time trying to destroy the kid that came up with NAPSTER, record labels should have found that kid, put him on a payroll and charge him with figuring out a way to come up with a workable, and hacker-free solution to embrace the internet and its power of connectivity to effectively sell music.

APPLE beat them to the punch. They figured out what the record labels should have – if you come up with the coolest gadget to play music on (iPOD), then you come up with a cool interface for the gadget where you can arrange playlists, and PURCHASE your content (iTUNES), you can corner the market. SONY had the same relative game plan in the 80s when they gave us cassettes, but also gave us the cool gadget (the walkman) in which to play the cassettes.

Simply put, the music industry has not evolved enough to keep up with technology and the changes in the world. So…….of course not only do I present the PROBLEM, but here are some ideas for thought that could lead to a SOLUTION.

1. MAKE BETTER MUSIC
Seems like this would be obvious, but for some reason the music keeps getting worse. Now let me clarify something – good music does not ONLY mean live instruments and “taking it back” to live instrumentation with bands, etc. the problem with that is people who want live music or instruments usually tend to sound too old school or dated, especially in the R&B. They tend to focus to much on how things “sounded” before, instead of being PROGRESSIVE and visionary. I think alternative and electronic music is probably best representation of good, progressive, music these days. Hip-Hop is horrible. R&B is boring, Dancehall is pretty stagnant, everyone is either getting lazy, doing the same thing or trying to re-create an era that isn’t coming back.

2. REWORK THE MODEL FOR SELLING MUSIC
Sell the artist not the music. Give away the music and sell everything else. Rick Rubin had an extremely brilliant concept by suggesting iTUNES and other major internet retailers adopt a subscription based service. Pay a fixed amount monthly and download at your convenience. When people aren’t buying what you’re selling, change what you’re selling. When everyone stops buying music, sell the convenience – and everything else you can think of – merchandise, special edition artist based iPods, shows, etc. I touched on this in one of my previous notes when I described how Apple and AT&T re-shaped the wireless cell phone industry by focusing on offering the best PHONE instead of focusing on the SERVICE and the PLANS like everyone else who are all still struggling to catch up.


3. RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB
If you took a door, cut it in half, and retro-fit it to be used in a window opening, it would do a horrible job of being a window. Same concept applies to certain people and their jobs in the music industry. Too often, people in this industry want to do too much. Producers and writers want to be artists, A&Rs want to be producers and mixers, Artists want to be writers and producers. Its really f*ckin things up!!!!!!!!! Now I’m not saying that people can’t expand and broaden their horizons, BUT it is becoming ridiculous. I constantly have A&Rs calling me telling me to make a mix sound like an AWFUL ruff mix they’ve been listening to for 4 months. (which is the equivalent of hiring a professional photographer and asking them to use a disposable camera) I’M A PROFESSIONAL MIX ENGINEER, when I mix a record, its going to come out sounding “CLEAN” and professional - if you want your record to sound like a trashy ruff mix, call someone else to do it. Let the MIXERS mix. The fact that you would choose an awful mix (because its what you are accustomed to) over a clean sound means that you are NOT the right person for that job. Same applies to writers who have NO star power but want to be artists. When you have a really great song performed by a terrible artist, you are destroying the industry as a whole. The true stars can’t SHINE because all the very good writers are keeping the hits for themselves. They do the REAL stars, the song, and the music industry a horrible dis-service. USHER would’ve had an awesome album last time around if he'd gotten real hit records from the writers. Instead everyone was just looking out for themselves and not giving him the real hits he deserved. Imagine how much bigger of a record “BED” would have been if that was Usher’s record. (no disrespect intended to J. Holiday, just stating the facts) ............Lets put all the windows back in the window openings PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!

4. ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE
The best way to promote healthy growth of the music industry, is to promote its stars in a positive light. Usher and Beyonce’, two of our brightest stars, are often the targets of negative feedback. The urban stations, DJ’s, and websites tend to always promote all the NEGATIVITY, COONERY and BEEF that makes Hip Hop and R&B in particular look stupid. When CNN and other networks spend years promoting bad news, violence, and controversy – it ultimately lead many people to support the now currently ignorant war, which is largely responsible for our financial demise. Negativity promotes more negativity. Urban DJ’s and Gossip sites should realize this. BET should be cancelled. Its awful. The NFL and NBA have been so successful because they promote their BEST players constantly. The WNBA and the Music Industry could learn a lesson from that. IN THE SAME LIGHT, we should NOT continue to “celebrate” people who continue to use drugs, or make poor decisions. Whitney Houston at this year's GRAMMYs was pitiful, embarrassing, and hard to watch.

5. QUINCY JONES HAS A POINT
The story of music is important. The history, the craft, the passion. Most young artists coming into the game right now have no idea who Rick Rubin is, or how a rock producer was responsible for a huge portion of today’s hip hop. They have no respect for the game, or for those that paved the way. As a result, they don’t give it their heart and soul. They want fame and money and they think the game owes them something. I think it was very important for P. Diddy to make the season one crew of “Making The Band” walk to JUNIOR’S to get him some cheesecake, or when he made them learn all the lyrics to “Juicy” by Notorious B.I.G. – he wanted them to respect the come up, the grind, and all that came before them to pave the way. VERY IMPORTANT.

6. CHANGE YOUR VIEW OF SUCCESS
There’s a really annoying trend that breeds negativity in the industry. When an artist doesn’t go gold or platinum…OR if they don’t sell a million copies in their first week, they automatically feel like a failure. The labels help this ignorance by putting so much focus on record breaking sales. The math is simple. If you spend $300,000.00 making an album, and you sell 200,000 copies@ $8 per copy, then you just grossed $1,600,000.00 – That’s a success. You spent 300k and made 1.6 million! If the money were spent better, distributed more fairly, and accounted for more accurately, everyone would be happy. The greed by the labels cause them to try to spend less to make the album, which results in poor product, which results in poor sales. Its not complicated.

7. STOP OVERTHINKING
I sit in sessions all the time where label execs, artists, and producers spend too much time overthinking everything. They sit there trying to make records for the CLUB or for the GIRLS or for the STREETS!!!!!!!!!! JUST MAKE GOOD RECORDS. The records will find their own way to the appropriate place. Everyone rushes to do a record with someone just based on if they are hot at the moment and totally forgetting about chemistry and vibe. I’ve seen people destroy their careers because they were overthinking what single should be first and founding their decision on all the wrong things.

yep, ......... i'm mad.

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Sunday, January 25, 2009

STILL still on it at PWR

Yessir...the work up here continues...as it's been going well writing and getting some ideas together. I'm still slipping on getting my camera game up to par, so please forgive me for now....

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This was our set up when writing with Eric Hudson. Dude is crazy talented, and is fun to record, because he doesn't sequence anything, he plays it all live...the closest thing you're going to get to rocking with a live band these days! He doesn't use any software synths (which I tried to help him get up on, cuz he travels a lot and his rental bill is SUBSTANTIAL), but uses the Fantom for a lot of horns, and the motif for a lot of stings and stuff. It was a good hang, and got some cool ideas put down.

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I'm not going off on a rant here, but to all the folks out there recording...PLEASE keep those sessions well organized and labeled. There is nothing worse than working on a session somebody else recorded and see the tracks labels audio 1-97. Come on man....we are professionals here, this is our science. Scientist label shit. End of story.

Stopped by the office the other day for a nice biz transaction with Ben Allen...results to be posted shortly during my gear extravaganza post...and saw Monica and Brad and the Milk Money mascots Juno and Coltrane!

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Well....that's what's been up for a few days....I'm working up that nice gear post....but will probably hit up some ridiculous topic like favorite studio foods first to balance out my nerdom. Hollertreezaleeezy 9000.

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Monday, January 19, 2009

Back In My Nike Boots



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.



Tube Tech CL1B

Super clean. Absolutely love this. Havent found an impractical use for it yet. Sounds great on just about anyone. Have cut alot of records through this and will pretty much end up choosing this guy without hesitation. These arent my setting cause to tell you the truth, every thing changes by the day or song, anyone worth their rate will tell ya that. Even recording he same person everyday it will change, trust me

Jon Hardy M1


Love the metering, very simplistic if i may say so myself. In combo with The CL1B and the C800 mic, and the artist of course, this works very well for me and find myself eq'ing less and just happy overall with the sound i get from jump. expect more posts like this from me and Miles on what gear we like to use while tracking in the studio. Peace

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Tuesday, January 13, 2009

New in ProTools World

So....first off, let me say, J I know this took way to long to come up with, but I hope it's up to par.  I know you doing ya thing out in vegas...just like my dude here:

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To everyone else, what's really good....this is Miles Walker.  I'm also an engineer based out Atlanta, GA.  I'm a self proclaimed gear head and full on studio rat too, and have been given the opportunity to share on my biggest homie's blog, so I hope I do it all justice.  For those that don't know me, I think an ichat convo between me and my homie AJ pretty much describe how J and I are linked in the universe...

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I've felt the key to a good blog is to keep it short and sweet, and have a lot of pics.  I hope I can meet those requirements....



It took a while to come up with a topic I wanted to hit the mean streets of gridlock with, but it's something that will undoubtedly become a part of all our daily engineering and production lives.  The newest version of ProTools...version 8.   Most all studios have not yet upgraded to this version, while I only know of a few comrades that have upgrade the LE rig.  I decided to NOT go my usual route on this one and get all the facts in and go ahead and upgrade to PT HD 8 for my personal rig.  There is a lot to be said about this update.  The most obvious is the HUGE interface  update.  The visual is completely different than older versions and takes a good deal of getting used to.  Things off hand that jump out are the change of pan sliders to pan knobs, additional 5 mix insert points (10 plugins per track, not 5), and improved audiosuite/disk performance.  Here's Killface holding a channel strip:


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Some things that don't jump right out, but are also nice changes include: DRAMATICALLY faster session load times, backwards compatibility without saving as a different session type (you do lose a few features however), as well as the option to load a session without plugins (for quick references), Some really nice bus and I/O listing options (as in, when you use a bus it is now color coded and easy to see) New included AIR effects plugins ( all kinds of distortion, modulation, filter, verb, etc), as well as AIR synths (piano, organ, drum mods, etc).  I think these upgrades are in direct competition with Logic, as the MIDI tracks and sequencing is also improved.  I'm not going to delve into that faction too much on this post, but trust....for a producer looking to use a software sequencer, I would have never recommend ProTools 7...but the more time I spend with 8, i'd consider it. 


Well...i'm going to cut it short there for my first big outting...but if you guys have any particular questions about PT 8...just hit me on my beeper

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Sunday, December 21, 2008

JD And Trey Songz Living The Life

If you dont keep up with JD's Youtube page and his Living The Life series, you should. For him to actually stay taping and posting these vids with an inside look at his process is amazing. I wish I had this when i was younger, JD being one of my fav producers ever and one of the reasons I even moved to Atlanta in the first place. Dope vid check out the rest of his series via youtube.com/jd1472


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Sunday, December 7, 2008

My everyday essentials.

I wanna dedicate more posts toward what I do day to day. I dont do as much freelance site to site as much as other guys having a pretty steady client for the last 1 and a half, but there are things I still like to have with me when I head out to a session. I usually carry the same bag with all these things in it. Most thigs I use every day, others are for just in case circumstances.



I always carry a portable drive for tons of reasons. While recording Here I Stand, it was important to keep several backups for mix uploads, making Mp3's for the label, or those awesome 4am sessions all over Atlanta. I guarded this drive with my life while tracking all those songs, after the album dropped I exhaled and immediately did a backup of this drive and erased it. Hence the "Instant Death" written in sharpie on it.




An extra set of headphones can be a lifesaver and just a generally good thing to have if ur ever doing ruffs in an unfamiliar place. These 7506's are pretty standard sets around the world, Im pretty used to them and know exactly how they sound.




I Stay on MLK, nuff said.



Any engineer who is worth their day rate owns a few " Go To" plug ins. For such things these ilocks contain the licenses for said plug ins so they can operate on any computer you decided to install them on. I own a couple joints, not as many as some but they are very valuble to me none the less. Master X, Melodyne, SSL, and Filter Freak to name a few. I also keep a couple of jump drives for quick transfers and backups, and my Logic 7 key.




Hands down the most important thing I take with me besides my harddrive is my laptop. I would lose my mind if I didnt have my lappy with me on most writing sessions that occur at the 2 spots I work at. I have most of my LIFE on this thing. I always back up my itunes and the entire HD for that matter using time machine, which is great cause we all have had a drive go bad one time or another. Im currently graphing my joint out, I need to go ahead and hit up SK8TIQUE for some stickers and finish it off.




Now this I cannot front is probably pretty silly to most guys. So instead of keeping my fingers crossed and hoping the studio Im working at would have one ( doppler never does lol) I just decided to keep one on deck at all times. Now dont get it twisted, I'll track with anything but I prefer to have this joint simply for the side to side scroll action and it being so easy to carry around.




My manuals. Now i dont refer to these all that much but I do believe its important to always be up to date with the latest programs and staying in the loop so to speak with the standards set by our industry. Miles turned me onto Melodyne and is a must for R&B sessions though its kinda time consuming to use during a session i usually wait till after the client leaves to break it out and start tuning vocals.

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Thursday, November 27, 2008

Almost Too Perfect

I was looking on youtube today (Happy Thanksgiving yall) and found this vid of Mike recording "We Are The World" and I have to say this is a lost art. The man freakishly doubles himself with accuracy to the point Im sure it was phasing cause it was so exact. I was laughing at how he was jammin at the end dancing while he was waiting to do another take. Mike was and still is the absolute shit.



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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Cannon On Atlanta

My big bro speaking on what made atlanta music special to him.


Get your urban news at DimeWars.Com

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Monday, November 24, 2008

Beyonce is a BEAST

Please tell me.....who is fucking with this chick right now? RiRi's performance was garbage. All hail the queen.




Plus here's some studio footage of her getting it in on some tracks from B-day.




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