Compression is one of those studio processes that is all too often taken for granted and not used to its full potential. Today’s producers think nothing of inserting compressors on every single channel of their DAW when mixing, but old school engineers had to learn to make the most of only a few units of compression—and this made us learn them inside out.

Continue Reading

Recording drums is a bit of a lost art. Engineers used to spend a year experimenting with mics before they were allowed near a Fairlight or a Synclavia (old school samplers for the young among you).

There was no Logic Pro, plug-ins or even very good effects, so it was all down to clever mic techniques and improvisation. Here’s a few tricks I picked up over the years—tips and tricks which come in handy time and time again.

Continue Reading

I’ve been a professional sound engineer for 18 years, so when I got involved in making an independent movie, I thought recording the audio shouldn’t present too many problems. How wrong I was. Here’s how to avoid all the mistakes I made, and record high quality audio for your movies.

Continue Reading

Last time, I covered everything you need to know to get you through the sound check of a live gig. This time I’m going to explain how to mix the show itself. I can’t tell you how to mix (you should have a pretty good idea already, or no one will employ you to mix for them) but I can point out some pitfalls and pass on some tips.

Continue Reading

Being a Front Of House engineer is a fun and rewarding job, but it can throw you a lot of curve balls and, as we all know, you’re only as good as your last show.

How do you lessen the chances of making a huge mess of the show that could be the one that leads to a tour or even a regular stint with a big artist? Read on, and I’ll do my best to point you in the right direction.

Continue Reading