DIY Recording Guys

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  Have you ever played one of your productions for a friend or family member to get some critical feedback only to find out that they're not really sure what you're looking for? It's probably because they haven't been training themselves in the art (and science!) of critical listening.  When...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  Staying healthy in the studio may not be something you're thinking about regularly. Yet it's hard to think of something more important than your physical and mental health. Without either of these, how will you keep doing this? How will you get better? How will you reach your goals?  On th...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  Everyone has that list in their head. The list of the recording rules that "everyone" knows. The Recording Commandments.  Of course, both recording technology and our own skill levels are constantly evolving. Therefore, it's good to periodically question the "list in our head". What techni...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  Have you ever tried recording something using two microphones?  Occasionally you'll find that the sound of each microphone sounds good alone but that the tone changes when they're combined. Where did the low end go? Why does it sound so thin?  If you've run into this, you may have stumbled...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  If you've been at recording for a while, you may find yourself thinking "I wonder if I can do this for money? Wouldn't that be fun?" This is pretty much what happened to Vadim and Ben. The road they've been on from DIY musician to trying to earn a living in the studio hasn't been easy but...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  Have you ever had one of your songs randomly come up on a playlist immediately after a commercial release and wondered, "why is it so quiet...and thin?"  This can be a frustrating experience. It can leave you thinking that you just don't have the tools or the knowledge to get a "profession...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  How many unfinished songs are floating around in your notebooks, on your cell phone, on your computer hard drive and in that big noggin of yours? The truth is, all of us have a ton of ideas that we were once excited about, started developing and left unfinished. We all have excuses. Lack o...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  You've probably heard about online services that do mastering by algorithm. A number of different ones have popped up over the years.  How do these services stack up to a professional master? Can an algorithm REALLY give you a professional quality master? What about DIY mastering? Can the...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  What if there were people out there actively looking for artists like you in hopes of writing about your upcoming release and exploring the story behind your music?  These people are called journalists. Ever hear of them? And some of them do exactly this. For music blogs.  On this episode,...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  Have you ever heard a cheesy drum part or a wonky, thin piano and thought "Wow. That's MIDI. It sounds awful"!  The truth is that you've you also heard (without realizing it) hundreds of MIDI-driven instruments on recordings without ever realizing that it wasn't the real thing.  Many of ou...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  Have you ever thought "oh, this song will take me 2 hours to complete" only to find that you're still working through details a week (or a year!) later?  There is a LOT to do to get an idea into a finished song. Who will write the lyrics? Do we need a guitar part in the bridge? How will we...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  You've probably noticed an uptick in live streaming since the pandemic pumped the brakes on the live show industry.  In the early days of the pandemic live streaming was a free-for-all.  Now that some of the dust has settled a few things have become clear.  1) Live streaming is here to sta...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  Have you ever wondered why you can't just plug your guitar directly into a mixing board? Or why everyone says you're supposed to match the "ohms" of your amp to the ohms of your speaker cabinet? Or why your guitar sounds so small through a cable that's 100 feet long?  In this episode, Vadi...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  If you've been digging around the internet in search of recording tips, tricks and wisdom, you've certainly run across the "analog controversy". It is, of course, as silly as most internet controversies. That said, you may have awoken in the middle of the night, sitting at your computer wi...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  There are many ways to get a multi-track recording. You can build your song part by part to get the cleanest and tightest possible recordings but is this ALWAYS the best approach? Spoiler alert: it's not!  In this episode you will learn: Pros and cons of different multi-tracking techniques...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  How many times have seen this? You're scrolling through social media and you see a post from somebody saying that their "album is finally out" and asking you to listen to it.  Do you actually take the time to go listen to their album? If not, how come?  Here's the worst part: how many time...

In this Instagram Live replay, we discuss: What is a good DI signal chain?  The XY-cardioid mic placement technique. Programming MIDI drums tips and tricks. What pieces of analog gear we have and our general thoughts on analogue versus digital gear. Links Vadim's free DIY Recording eBook DIY Recording Facebook Community Vadim's Studio Site Benjamin's Studio Site

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  Last week, Ben took us on a journey of bass tone discovery. We looked at many of the components that go into a final bass tone and talked about the parameters we can play with to affect our tone.  This week we dive deep into the various recording techniques and how they affect our tone. We...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  Are you a bass player? Did you feel neglected over the last two weeks when Vadim did nothing but talk about recording heavy guitars?  Fear not! Ben is here to save the day with part 1 of our mini-series on recording bass.  In this episode Ben does a magnificent deep dive into the world of...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  In last week's episode, we talked about the Guitar Tone Pyramid and how to use it dial in heavy tones without losing your mind in the process. This week, let's talk about how to record those bad-ass tones.  If you're happy with the sound coming out of your amp, it doesn't mean you'll autom...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  Has this ever happened to you? You decide to dial in a tone with your existing setup or with a new piece of gear you just got. You spend hours tweaking pedals, amp settings, mic placements, guitar settings, etc., only to find out that you were happier with your starting point tone than you...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  Take a look at that guitar/bass/fiddle/violin/cello sitting in your bedroom. When was the last time you told it you loved it? The truth is, most of us probably don't show our instruments the care that they deserve. Not only can this be problematic for getting the best tone and performance...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  In this episode the guys talk about computer optimization techniques.  You will learn about: RAM recap and when it may be time to add more RAM to your rig Why your computer may be running a bunch of background tasks and programs that chew up horsepower - and how to stop it! How to make sur...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  Music theory. Did you cringe when you read that? We often associate music theory with tedious piano lessons, classical music, or reading sheet music. It can be all of those things but it doesn't have to be any of them! It turns out that knowing a little bit of theory can be a bit of a supe...

If you enjoy our podcast, please leave a quick rating . It only takes a minute and it means the world to us.  You've probably heard the term "gain staging" thrown around but how well do you REALLY understand what it means? Is it actually important for DIY recording or is it one of those esoteric recording concepts debated by nerds (like us) but that you can skip? The answer to the second question...