tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36977748632180162332024-03-13T07:32:56.137-07:00One Take TrackHutchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10859283127518010524noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3697774863218016233.post-31531807743455564972012-07-24T13:37:00.001-07:002012-07-24T14:30:18.414-07:00Recording tips for bands (and recorders)Even though this blog is geared more towards home recording and DIY recording, there are some things that can be done to drastically improve studio efficiency not matter the level. The things that transcend all tiers of studios is usually on the side of the musician. Today I'm going to give a few tips on how to be prepared for studio time and help the process go smoother/better/faster/stronger...<br />
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1- Practice<br />
Ok, I know this one seems like a no brainer, but you'd be surprised at some people. In the weeks before you plan on being in the studio (or have people come into yours) musicians REALLY need to practice their songs so that they can nail them when the time comes. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have people come in and the guitarist asks the drummer about the form or the bass player gives confusing glares to someone who changed the whole song and didn't realize it. Being able to One-take a track tremendously speeds up the recording process so that the recorder (or sound engineer I guess) can get more actual work done and the performers aren't wasting time/money in the studio. It's a win-win situation.<br />
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2- Instrument Maintenance<br />
You know what also sucks when you're in the studio? When you're instruments won't tune correctly. Take some time to go get you're guitar set up or sit down and give your drums a good ol' tuning. If you have the budget get new strings, drum heads, and vocal chords. (Sometimes I wish) This can also help you lazy musicians that never actually do a check up on their instruments. I've had people com to my studio (and by studio I mean my garage) and find that their guitar won't tune because their neck has a crack going from just below the headstock to a quarter way down the neck. Tuning is essential to the recording process and makes the post-recording work of the engineer less of a nightmare, I don't care how punk you think it sounds.<br />
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3- Breaks<br />
While some people might disagree with me here, taking breaks can do wonders for the band and the engineer's productivity and sanity. If you're getting stuck on something, take a break. Listening to the band (even you're own songs) repeatedly can often make the song noticeably feel out of context. If you just sit there and try to drill the same 4-5 chords in this chorus over and over you're gonna forget what you thought you wanted the song to sound like and concentrate on just making sound acceptable. Sometimes you get stuck. It happens, and it's agitating. Just take some time to step back and take a breather.(The same can be said about the mixing process)I've personally had my band get what we thought were some quality recordings only for them to turn out bad because we and the engineers couldn't tell what it was turning into.<br />
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4- Be able to play along with a metronome<br />
This really simplifies the whole process. It makes your tunes sound nice, even, and in time. Also, since a lot of recording these days is multi-tracked and stacked on top of each other, it makes it way easier to punch you into the song at the right place and you be able to know what's going on and it also helps the engineer with the mixing process since all your playing is nice and even.<br />
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5- Don't expect absolute perfection<br />
This is the mentality that I go into the studio with. With DIY recording, perfection will rarely be achieved. You have to accept that sometimes things just go wrong. This doesn't mean that you should't do you're best to lay down a sweet track, but don't expect your recordings to sound like they came out of a huge-named studio. Also, you might find that things that go wrong can be fixed in the mixing by your engineer (and sometimes the engineer's problems can be fixed by musicians during the recording process)<br />
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6-Don't be dicks <br />
Come on guys. I know you're in a band and I know you like to have fun and party, but you're coming to this engineer's place to get you're tunes recorded. Also, a lot of sound engineer's these days (especially the DIY ones) do their recording in their own home. You don't have to be uptight and super strict, but don't yell throughout the house, break stuff, show up drunk/on drugs, get drunk/do drugs, knock on every house on the street's door, burn buildings to the ground... you get the idea. If you piss of the engineer he's not gonna care about your tracks too much and if you piss of the band they'll take their business somewhere else.Hutchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10859283127518010524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3697774863218016233.post-79844161653753254722012-07-23T18:16:00.000-07:002012-07-23T18:16:13.448-07:00Aaaaannnnd we're backWell that was fun, been doing a ton of things over the past year which i guess seems like a lifetime on the internet. While I Get back in gear, have a listen to one of the projects I worked on.<br />
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<iframe src='http://www.reverbnation.com/widget_code/html_widget/artist_1920176?widget_id=50&pwc[design]=default&pwc[background_color]=%23333333&pwc[included_songs]=0&pwc[song_ids]=13169580&pwc[photo]=1%2C0&pwc[size]=fit' width='100%' height='104' class='widget_iframe' frameborder='0' scrolling='no'></iframe>Hutchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10859283127518010524noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3697774863218016233.post-73679973557638055812011-04-03T21:20:00.000-07:002011-04-03T21:20:10.055-07:00Small breakSorry for the lack of posting ladies and gentlemen, I've been out this weekend practicing and recording a local band's demo. I may upload a track or something later in the week when it gets closer to finished.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/c2MLMat7468?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Oh yeah, <a href="http://www.communityrecords.org/theflamingtsunamis/">The Flaming Tsunamis'</a> released a few tracks of their new album the other day, everyone should go check them out right now. They scare me sometimes.Hutchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10859283127518010524noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3697774863218016233.post-54859752289814057932011-03-30T11:28:00.000-07:002011-03-30T11:53:30.669-07:00RecordingHere's a recording that me and one of my friends (the guitar player for my band) made in about 5 hours of total work about a year ago!<br />
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<object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F12788142&show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=ff7700"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F12788142&show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=ff7700" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/hutchsmusic/these-hands-acoustic">These hands (acoustic)</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/hutchsmusic">Hutchsmusic</a></span>Hutchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10859283127518010524noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3697774863218016233.post-51008096436069484682011-03-29T21:12:00.000-07:002011-03-29T21:14:14.590-07:00Beta 52aToday I'll be reviewing the Shure Beta 52a<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O8OyLAQlVtc/TZKr9ciRkjI/AAAAAAAAABc/I_fvd4lJemI/s1600/shure_beta52a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O8OyLAQlVtc/TZKr9ciRkjI/AAAAAAAAABc/I_fvd4lJemI/s200/shure_beta52a.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The Shure Beta 52a is large diaphragm dynamic microphone designed specially for kick drums, bass cabs, and other low-frequency intensive sources. The frequency range on this microphone is awesome! It picks up the really lows, but can also pick up highs for overtones in your sound. Whenever I use this on my kick drums it gives it a nice punch, but my bass drum is also naturally punchy being a smaller size.<br />
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This microphone can also make a killer vocal microphone since it's responding frequencies are broad, and it's a dynamic microphone so it won't pick up TOO much and can be used for live sound<br />
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The only drawback that I've noticed is that sometimes the frequencies are too broad, and you have to rolloff the ending frequencies to make it sound cleaner and usuable<br />
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The Shure Beta 52a can be picked up for a little over $150 USD, and can also come in a sweet mic package that comes with this and 3 SM57s, which I'll get to another dayHutchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10859283127518010524noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3697774863218016233.post-788419826193893712011-03-27T22:53:00.000-07:002012-07-24T14:33:55.889-07:00NT1-A<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DwxbrOjAb94/TZAdd7seyII/AAAAAAAAABY/jDZmHdNynvY/s1600/NT1-A-Recording-Pack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DwxbrOjAb94/TZAdd7seyII/AAAAAAAAABY/jDZmHdNynvY/s320/NT1-A-Recording-Pack.jpg" width="320" /></a>Today I think I'll start off my reviews of microphones, starting with one of my personal favorites, the Rode NT1-A.<br />
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The NT1-A is a large diaphragm condenser microphone, slightly tweaked from the original NT1 and released in an anniversary package which includes...<br />
<a name='more'></a> the NT1-A, neat little felt bag, 6ft XLR cable, and a shockmount with a fabric popscreen attached. The NT1-A is a pretty significant upgrade from the NT1, having all its circuitry redone and its frequency response extended on both ends.<br />
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This is a phenomenal microphone. It's marketed as the quietest microphone available, referring to its super low self-noise, and for good reason. You have to crank the input of this microphone up pretty high to hear its own workings sound off, and before that you can pretty much hear EVERYTHING that is happening in the room that it's in and noises coming from your body you didn't know you were making. The NT1A is great for recording all types of vocals, acoustic instruments like guitars, woodwinds, piano and brass on occasion, and can even make a great overhead for drum kits.<br />
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The rest of the anniversary package is alright. The XLR cable is just a stock cable who's manufacturer doesn't stick out in my mind right now, nothing special. The sockmount is also ok, although the pop filter can't be taken off of it which is pretty annoying. Where the pop filter connects to the shockmount is pretty flimsy, mine has pretty much broken off already. If I move it wrong it may snap off at this point. But other than that the NT1A is a great addition to any studio!<br />
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EDIT: Since so many people asked, the anniversary package can be picked up for around $230 USD so you might be able to pick it up on it's own for less, while getting a stereo matched pair can cost up to $600Hutchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10859283127518010524noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3697774863218016233.post-71998496547126286622011-03-26T18:25:00.000-07:002011-03-30T09:56:40.132-07:00The Cat Empire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/kRUyRuouppw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>The Cat Empire is an awesome latin/ska band out of Melbourne, Australia and have been one of my favorite bands for a couple of years now. They're very energetic and relaxed at the same time. They play the perfect kind of music to go along with a day of cruisin' around. They play shows around Melbourne and other parts of Australia but they rarely come to the states from what I hear. The best album of theirs, in my opinion, is their first. The later ones are good, but nothing beats the first one. If they ever play in a town near me you can bet I'll be at that show<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/T8zXYeeHz0k?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Hutchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10859283127518010524noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3697774863218016233.post-1982505750042432522011-03-25T19:18:00.000-07:002011-03-25T19:18:50.143-07:00The Coming Month<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/elyQ4ShVw-Y?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe>This April seems to be shaping up to be a good one for me, there's a couple of good shows coming through Texas which is almost a rarity these days. I don't know why, but it just seems a lot of artists avoid Texas at all costs. It was really cool when the Aquabats came through though.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Gogol Bordello is coming through. I LOVE these guys, their style is very unique and their shows are always full of energy and a blast to go to. They're a Ukrainian gypsy punk band that will rock your pants off.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Not to mention that Eugene Hutz is one interesting dude. He's been the base for a couple of characters in movies and books like the ukrainian guy in Wristcutters: a Love Story. He's even acted in a few movies.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ypCdGNe3Bvs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Sometime after that I'll going to see a Protest the Hero, a prog metal band out of Canada. I've recently been introduced to these guys, but I really like their sound.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I'm pretty excited to check these guys out especially since they'll be touring with Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. I've been told those guys have sick sets</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Mixed in there will probably be a few shows of my own, one with local hardcore/metal favorite Kublai Khan, maybe hop on a few with On the Shoulders of Giants, and would be EPIC if we could get one of my personal favorites out of north Texas to come out: Informant</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.myspace.com/informanttx">http://www.myspace.com/informanttx</a></div>Hutchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10859283127518010524noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3697774863218016233.post-14156208115339719862011-03-23T10:59:00.000-07:002011-03-25T09:13:23.490-07:00A few reviewsI recently came into a number of pretty neat pieces of electronic equipment. Since I do a lot of work with music I guess it seems natural that I come across a lot of equipment<br />
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</div><div>Firsts off I want to talk about my new headphones. </div><div><br />
</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JitxiVs9Ybw/TYowL7GdJYI/AAAAAAAAAAw/yxi941BUNzg/s1600/Monster-Beats-Solo-HD-Headphones-ControlTalk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JitxiVs9Ybw/TYowL7GdJYI/AAAAAAAAAAw/yxi941BUNzg/s320/Monster-Beats-Solo-HD-Headphones-ControlTalk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Dr. Beats solo hd. These things are pretty sick. I strolled on over with a best buy gift card and picked these bad boys up. The quality of these is amazing, and they can get really loud. The world is pretty much dead to you if you have it above half volume, and they articulate bass frequencies better than any other headphone I've tried to date</div><div>There are a few drawbacks though. The on-ear style makes them mildly uncomfortable after a few hours of wear. And the cable that plugs into the headphone gets pulled and stripped easily, the first cable on mine already has internal wires exposed. The cables are produced by monster though, so maybe they'll replace them for free like they do their other cables?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-AduUxWVfhXk/TYoymDHtjDI/AAAAAAAAAA0/EyUuijxC50E/s1600/tascam_us_800-600-600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-AduUxWVfhXk/TYoymDHtjDI/AAAAAAAAAA0/EyUuijxC50E/s320/tascam_us_800-600-600.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Moving on to my new mixer/audio interface, the Tascam US-800. This thing is pretty sweet, small and portable, but still has functionality. It has "8" inputs, 6 of which are XLR so you can plug in mics or some quarter-inch junk. The other 2 are MIDI inputs so... yeah i guess they could be good for a live setting but in a recording situation a lot of computers already have MIDI interfaces available. It connects through USB so it's compatible with most computers. It says it can sample at rates up to 196 kHz but that's pretty much a lie, I think I could only get mine to go up to 88.2 or 96 kHz. It's really not cut out for live sound since it only has volume settings channels, no efftects, panning, reverb or the like built in<br />
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I think I'll leave microphones out for another time, and i could do a review of my phone, but we've all heard enough of the iPhone 4 and junk. too bad I'm still stuck with at and t</div>Hutchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10859283127518010524noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3697774863218016233.post-13372257248728084532011-03-20T14:51:00.000-07:002012-07-23T19:19:28.012-07:00About MeWelcome, everyone! It seems that you have stumbled across my little corner of the internet.<br />
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A few things about me:<br />
-My name is Hutch and I live in north Texas<br />
-I'm an avid musician<br />
-I'm an avid video game player<br />
-I'm currently a college student<br />
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What I want to accomplish with this blog:<br />
-Give some information on shows I play or go to<br />
-Talk about bands, music, instruments, and equipment<br />
-provide tips on how to do some sweet homebrew recording<br />
-Whatever else I feel like posting about I suppose<br />
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I hope to see more of you in the future!Hutchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10859283127518010524noreply@blogger.com3