This was a reply to a personal e-mail to me from someone (who didn't wish for their e-mail to appear on the site) who wanted to become a songwriter. One of their non music-business friends thought that in order to become a songwriter, they also needed to be a full fledged producer, singer, and recording […]

Recently, someone was thinking about buying a digital recording system and was wondering if he really could get major label quality results from a low budget home studio system.  He was specifically concerned about whether or not he would be able to obtain the "warmth" he was used to from analog recordings with a computer […]

Here is a reply of mine to a person who asked "how do you become a professional producer?". First of all, realize that there is a difference between a "producer" and an "engineer". The producer is pretty much the creative director. He usually doesn't operate the equipment or anything like that. He's the one who […]

This is a reply of mine to one of the many young people who ask me how to get started in the biz. The first thing I want to say to all you young people out there who are sending e-mails to every producer, studio owner, and small (or big) record label on the net, […]

A collection of random recording tips to make your songs sound better. You must remember that in recording, the sound quality is only going to be as good as the weakest link in your recording chain. To improve your sound quality, start at the source. If the source itself doesn't sound good, then no amount […]

Often on newgroups or forums, people will ask how to achieve a certain vocal sound.  The following is my reply to one such post where someone was looking to achieve that contemporary up front, in your face sound, that is also wide (stereo) sounding and has some depth to it. Although trying to make the […]

Every microphone is different and imparts its own unique sound to whatever you are recording.  There is a very good reason why the best studios have a very large assortment of microphones.... Every microphone is different and imparts its own unique sound to whatever you are recording.  There is a very good reason why the […]

Random tips and thoughts on recording acoustic guitars taken from several of my postings to the newsgroups. Here are some random tips and thoughts on recording acoustic guitars taken from several of my postings to the newsgroups. -- The most important part of getting a good sound is the source itself.  If you have a […]

My simple explanation of compressors, how they work, and how you can use them. A compressor is basically a variable gain device that is used to either try to smooth out the dynamic range of a signal, or is also sometimes used as an effect.  Different compressors have different types of characteristics and sounds that […]

Here is a reply of mine to a person who asked about sound sculpting during a mix. Regarding sound sculpting, let me tell you about a very common mistake that beginners make during mixing (and sometimes tracking): An all too common practice during mixing is to solo up each sound all by itself and then […]