Miking up an instrument isn’t an easy thing. It’s not like a digital camera where you point towards what you want to capture and then click. Super cool vacation photo! You might not end up with a great photo, but you can certainly make it better afterwards. Not to offend photographers, but in audio, if you have a lousy source sound from the beginning, you are going to end up with a lousy mixed sound in the end.

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Last week we looked at how microphones work and covered everything you need to know to decipher how a microphone works from its name. This week, we’re looking at vocal microphone technique: how you might select a microphone for various vocal situations, and how to work with the microphone to get the best results.

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We’ve published a few lists of microphones for those in the market before, but we’ve never given you a proper introduction to microphones before today. Microphones are generally not well understood and one of those key elements that gives away a home recording is the wrong microphone used for the job. It’s actually quite easy to make microphone decisions if you know the basics, whether you need to pick one out or place it properly.

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Recording vocals can be one of the more challenging tracking phase processes you may run into. If it wasn’t enough of a tough cookie in the studio, you can be sure it’s a daunting task in a bedroom (or a home office or any other room you’ve set aside for recording fun that wasn’t purpose-built for it).

The sad truth is that you can’t get pro quality vocals happening at home. But you can improve the sound by a mile if you’re armed with a few tricks and tips, and that’s what I intend to give you.

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We’ve already published a wonderful Plus tutorial this week, but since it’s our birthday, we’re feeling generous! Today we mark the second day of Envato’s 3rd Birthday celebrations with an extra tutorial for Plus members.

In this special Birthday Bonus tutorial, Bobby Owsinski teaches us how to treat a room acoustically without breaking the bank.

To learn more about what you get as part of Audio Plus, read this. To take a peek inside this tutorial, hit the jump!

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MIDI controllers with control surfaces are quite common and affordable these days. They can control just about any aspect of your DAW, but their strength is in allowing you to control the DAW while at the keyboard as opposed to being used for a mixing session after tracking is finished. Since the Axiom doesn’t come with any Logic presets, let’s take a look at how to configure all those buttons, faders and knobs from withing Logic.

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When you’re in the tracking phases of a recording project and need to get the best takes out of each musician you’re working with, one trick of the trade is setting up headphone mixes. Musicians are able to perform at their peak when they’re getting the musical information they need to make the next take great — and that information may not make itself clear in the overall mix. Here’s how to create a headphone mix in Pro Tools.

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Field recording seems to be a dark art to many sound designers and composers, yet it is one way to create rich libraries of original material. Through some simple guidance and advice, this 2 part tutorial will give you a brief introduction to field recording. In Part 1, we looked at tools of the trade, some tips and and tricks for having a successful session, and a walkthrough of a recording session. In Part 2, we will examine one of my field recording sessions, address some post-processing techniques for captured sounds, librarianship, and what to do with your recordings once you’ve got them back in the studio.

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Whether you’re a full-time film composer or you simply write music to the occasional video for fun, using a second computer to host the video can save you time and make the process more enjoyable. This tutorial will show you how to simultaneously run two Macs with one controlling the playback of the other.

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Field recording seems a dark art to many sound designers and composers, yet it is one way to create rich libraries of original material. Through some simple guidance and advice, this two part tutorial will give you a brief introduction to field recording. In Part 1, we’ll take a look at tools of the trade, some tips and and tricks for having a successful session, and a walkthrough of a recording session. Part 2 will address some post-processing techniques for captured sounds, librarianship, and what to do with your recordings once you’ve got them back in the studio.

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