Inside The Recording Studio

Chris and Jody get into the weeks working on defining what is compression vs what is limiting. Hence Compression vs Limiting. Which do they tend to use and why. What particular compressors or limiters are their goto units of choice. There's even examples as to where each are used and why.

Chris and Jody go canyoneering to explore the use of delays. Come on a slot canyon adventure as they discuss different types of delays. What are they good for? What to think about when you select the time value of a delay and how it affects the song and a mix. Get ready for something more than an echo, it's creative uses for delays.

Chris and Jody get their hands on the Hyperswitch from Seymour Duncan. This is a rig rundown of what the Hyperswitch is, what it can do and how hard it is to install in your guitar. The world of multiple humbucker pickups in guitars with 5-way switches will never be the same. The Hyperswitch comes into the world literally destined for greatness and it does not disappoint. Come along for the ride!

Chris and Jody extrapolate from last week's listener request and talk about the concept of switching DAWs. Is it a good idea to switch to another DAW? What are things to consider? What DAW should you choose? What are the pros and cons to some DAWs and why does it matter? What DAWs do we use and why, it's all in here.

Chris and Jody get busy with a listener request to talk about when it's time to upgrade your audio interface. Get ready to feast on the dos and don'ts of when it's time to go for that little something or maybe even that super something better in order to improve your audio recordings.

Chris and Jody lay it on the line, the EQ and Compression line of when to use EQ before or after Compression. The straight dope about the how's and why's of EQ before Compression and EQ after compression. Also giving some real world examples of when we would use EQ and Compression plus in which order. There's even an extra bit of double EQ and double compression, find out when and where. It's also...

Chris and Jody crawl thru the weeds of mix templates. Discussing the concepts of creating them. What would go in them. Why should we have them? Do they provide benefits? And what separates the mix template from one mix engineer to another. Can you get multiple mix outputs from a single mix template? Let's get ready to mix!

Chris and Jody recap on the interim NAMM Show from April 2023. Find out what we saw. The good, the bad, the mind-blowing items that caught our attention and what we thought. What are our theories about NAMM, the timing and it's future. There's all that and more in this episode.

Chris and Jody go thru a simple little checklist for troubleshooting mics. What to do when a mic is suddenly not doing what a mic does best. Especially if there's bizarre noises or no noise what-so-ever. There's even a personal embarrassing story about a mic sounding bad and the reason why that is so obvious that it's funny it wasn't caught sooner. A solid means of understanding your mic and what...

Chris and Jody get down to the nitty gritty basement of low end. Talking about how to manage low end and get a handle on it. From the scientific things about your room and setup on to the creative end of things. Including monitors, software and bass specific plugins that can help. Let's get low!

Chris and Jody invite special guest Stevie Blacke. Stevie Blacke is an illustrious string arranger and "one man orchestra".  He works with some of the world's biggest stars and best musicians. He's played on dozens of top ten hits and hundreds of albums. Artists such as P!nk, Olivia Rodrigo, Timbaland feat. Elton John, Dua Lipa, Kylie Minogue feat. Keith Urban, Beck, Gary Clark Jr, Avenged Sevenfo...

Chris and Jody delve into how a mix engineer goes for getting a vision for where a mix can go. Listening to a rough mix to chatting with the client about their wants. Determining the type of music it is, along with the arrangement and feel will play a part in generating the vision. Listen to get even more ideas for how to fully realize the vision needed for a mix.

Chris and Jody return to the subject of reverb. Going over a review of the types of reverbs we have access to. Then discussing what types of reverb we use under various examples of particular instruments. Learn what both Chris and Jody use on vocals and some hidden secrets of layering different reverbs and why.

Chris and Jody look further into the world of modulation effects. This time the journey goes into Flanging. How it got it's start and where did it debut. Who original thought it up and where did it begin to branch out. What exactly creates the flanging effect? It's all in here plus a little dip into the Phaser pool as well. Plus find out how Chris and Jody make use of it.

Chris and Jody get down and dirty as helpful producers when it comes to songwriters having writer's block in the studio. Obviously not a great problem to have. Here we dole out 10 ideas to help alleviate writer's block in all kinds of ways. Plus there's even a story about a famous composer / producer that might make you hurl.

Chris and Jody waltz into the minefield of hardware vs software synths. What are the pros and cons to each side of the fence? What particular side of the fence do they land on? What is the practical application of each and what do some of the more successful musician producers tend to use in the studio or in a live situation? They're ready for the blowback on the controversial topic.

Chris and Jody detail the journey they have taken learning the ropes of choosing the right vocal mic. Discussing different types of mics and how they go about figuring out what mic will suit a voice. Plus what advantages we now have with modern mic setups that gives the end user a better way to choose the right mic to compliment a voice for a recording.

Chris and Jody look into the outer reaches of the effects to use for productions. What would be called Esoteric effects. What are they? Why would we call them that? How to go about putting some of them to use in productions and mixes. What are our favorites that we reach for when needed? It's all in here and a little more.   *****************************************   Gear We Used: Jody’s Mic & Vo...

Chris and Jody hit the autobahn of decisions. To tune or not to tune vocals or other instruments, that is the question. It's a subject many don't like to chat about. It's also an important part of modern music's DNA. What does the ItRS duo do? What do they use? What are the major players in the world of tuning? It's all here and a little bit more.

Chris and Jody delve into the tasty subject of production candy. What elements make up production candy? Why think about production candy? Are there overused elements of production candy? How can you implement production candy into your mixes and production? Should you implement production candy in them? It's all here and then some.

Chris and Jody delve into the inner workings of what makes up Chorus as an effect. Talking about how the sound is achieved and where it really got it's comeuppance. Explaining some of the common parameters that control Chorusing and describing how they use it. Plus divulge what their favorite Chorus units are.

Chris and Jody come with a partner chat about reference tracks for production and writing emulation. What are reference tracks for production and writing and do Chris or Jody use them? What's the point of emulation inspiration? Are there pitfalls to making use of reference tracks for this purpose? Where should they fit into one's workflow and what should be avoided if using them? That's the burnin...

Chris and Jody kick off 2023 with a chat about reference tracks. What are reference tracks and do Chris or Jody use them? What's the point of reference tracks? Are there pitfalls to making use of reference tracks? Where should they fit into one's workflow and what should be avoided if using them? That's the burning core of this episode.

Chris and Jody take stock of 2022. Talking about things they've learned, things they've changed and things they think the future will hold. Plus there's some added bonus of goal setting.

Chris and Jody take a side street with today's episode as we come down the alley to the end of 2022. It's parallel compression. How do you do parallel compression? The methods that can be used to achieve it. Why would you want to do parallel compression? What to watch out for and how often we use it. Is there a compressor we each use more often than others to work with parallel compression? Come a...