Extra Cables - Just today I dug into my trunk to pull out two extra xlr cables.  My trunk used to always have (2) xlr cables, (2) tt-xlr adapters, (2) 1/4″-xlr adapters, (2) guitar cables, and one speaker cable.  I know this seems like overkill but I was working at different studios all the time and you never knew what their supply of miscellanious cables would be like.  If you are bringing in extra gear this is even more important because many studios just keep enough cables to hook up everything that they have and might not have extras to accommodate your extra gear.

Any microphones you can’t live without -

You would be amazed by the number of Shure SM57s I can use on a tracking session.  I used to work at a very expensive studio that never felt the need to buy more than four of them.  I would post signs all over the place saying “you need to buy more 57s!!”.  The bathroom, the refrigerator, the owners office, everywhere I could.  I myself owned 12 at the time and here I am paying $1,200 to use your room and you have 4.  So I started keeping a few in the car.  Since then I was amazed by how many times it came in handy elsewhere.  A few times I went somewhere to watch a band and wound up loaning them a few microphones and cables to get them through the gig.

These days I travel with my go to vocal mic, a couple of 57s and a Shure SM7.

A pop filter –

It astonishes me what high dollar studios try and pass off as pop filters these days.  They usually only have one that is broken and dirty.  Many times I will ask for a second one to put over an acoustic guitar mic (yes it is necessary at times) and they don’t have an extra, so I bring one just in case.

Drum Accessories –

This is especially important if you are working with bands (i.e. not studio musicians).  Many drummers might not have various accessories because they have never needed them.  But you are trying to make them better… and better sometimes means that they need to do things differently.  A pair of cheap brushes is a must, not to mention maybe some multirods and mallets.  I even went so far as to have a soft kick drum beater in my trunk because drummers rarely have them and they really can make a huge difference.  If you are feeling really frisky throw a tambourine in there too, trust me you will wind up needing it one day.

You would be astonished how many drummers forget to bring a drum tuning key.  Even more surprising is how many drummers don’t know how to tune their drums.  That is another post altogether.

Guitar stuff –

Even though I have already mentioned guitar cables and an extra speaker cable I feel the need to mention them again.  Many guitar players only have enough cables to hook up their gear.  If you wanna run a spare DI (like Joe Gilder mentions) or need to hook up another pedal you are gonna have to dig into your box.  I also always have a tuner on hand.  Many acoustic players use a pedal tuner but in the studio you might be using a non acoustic/electric guitar and having a decent tuner with a mic really helps out.

Before I go into a studio with a band I tell them to get extra strings, and most of the time they do.  They never ever seem to have a string winder though so add that to the list.

Tools –

A flashlight and a leatherman or gerber multitool are a must.  I don’t even think I need to explain this one.  They are just good to have in your car anyways.

Personal Stuff -

If you are an assistant engineer a good book is nice to have on hand.  Go ahead and be well read while you are staying perfectly out of the way but perfectly available at all times.

Toothbrush, toothpaste, and deodorant are an absolute MUST!!  There are going to be days that don’t end.  You might as well be as well kept as you can for your sake and for the sake those around you.  I can’t begin to count the number of nights (or days) that I had to grab a couple of hours worth of sleep on a studio couch only to get up and start the day all over again.Oh, don’t forget an extra t-shirt and an extra pair of underwear.

Last but not least.  Keep a camera with you.  Hopefully you will be lucky enough to witness some pretty amazing things and you will want to have some pictures to remember the moments.  I finally went and got a really good camera because my cellphone wasn’t cutting it.  Sure I have a picture of Billy Gibbons playing slide with a bottle of tabasco sauce (it was the only thing we could find) but it was a crappy cell phone picture.  It doesn’t have to be an amazing camera or anything but something that doesn’t make you mad every time you see the picture on your screen saver will work.

Back in the day I used to freak out every time this happened. No more. The past few years I have learned that the work will come in and worrying about it won’t make it come any faster.

So what does that mean for you, the loyal Sonic Valentine reader? Well, expect more posts. Yes, I don’t post too often when I am busy. I work at the studio all day and sometimes the last thing that I want to do is write articles about work when I get home. For that I am sorry but that’s the way it goes. I realize this website will never get a truly strong following until I update on a regular basis and I am going to try my best to make that happen, work or no work.

So here is a list of articles that I have started and you will hopefully be seeing soon.

-What Every Engineer Should Have In Their Car Trunk

-Pro Tools LE or HD?

-Are Converters Really Worth The Money?

-Thoughts On Recording Schools

Hopefully many more as well.

I also want to get started sampling more of the instruments I have lying around.  On the weekends the wife and I love to go to weird junk stores and flea markets and I wind up buying my fair share of oddball instruments.  The problem is many of them are too out of tune to use effectively in a track.  So I sample them, tune them and load them into appropriate sample software.  I plan on giving many away and selling some as well.

So there ya go.  I can’t be much more up front than that.  When you notice I am not posting as much it isn’t because I don’t love writing and teaching my readers new things.  It is just that I am lucky enough to have work and I am probably learning more things that I can pass on to you guys.

Four cheap plug-ins I used everyday. from The Sonic Fedora on Vimeo.

Who says that plugs have to cost a lot of money? Well… Waves does. I have succumbed to spending a fair chunk of money on many of plug-ins. Many of them I hardly use or worse yet I don’t use them at all. On the other hand there are four plugs that I use on 98% of my mixes that can be had for little to no money at all. Here they are.

Aptrigga – Apulsoft $55.73 – VST/AU Mac and PC

I can’t say enough about the value of this plug-in.  For less than sixty dollars you get a sample accurate sample trigger.  Sure it may not have as many features as drumagog ($199 for the basic) but it does everything I ask of it.  Normally I trigger a couple of samples and to separate tracks and mix them in with the originals so I don’t need drumagog’s “stealth mode”.  As for Digidesign’s Sound Replacer… it is pure crap and I refuse to even talk about it.

ADT – vacuumsound $0.00 (yup… free) VST/AU Mac and PC

With 9 out of 10 free plugs you are getting what you pay for.  Not so with vacuumsound’s ADT (Automatic Double Tracking).  If you haven’t read Geoff Emerick’s Here There And Everywhere get it now.  In the book he talks about the ADT box at EMI studios.  Well… this plug does just that.  It is free… you have no excuse… check it out.  It kills Waves Doubler.

PSP PseudoStereo – PSP Audioware part of the $49.00 Stereo Pack – RTAS/VST/AU Mac and PC

I use this plug on everything from background vocals to acoustic guitars, drum rooms to keyboards.  It takes and mono signal and using comb filtering makes it stereo.  Phase is rarely an issue with it if used properly and it just flat out sounds great.  After watching my demo video (above) on my laptop I couldn’t hear the difference, but listen on a good set of speakers or headphones and it will sell itself.  Honestly the whole PSP stereo pack is great but this plug alone is worth far more than the measly $49.

PSP Vintage Warmer 2 – PSP Audioware $149.00 – RTAS/VST/AU Mac and PC

My go-to plug for a killer bass tone.  PSP Vintage Warmer is the most expensive on this list but it is still an incredible value.  Mean and dirty is the name of vintage warmer’s game.  I know people who use it as a two buss limiter but it is to tough sounding for me.  Killer on drum busses and to kill the hell out of loop.  Honestly though, I don’t know if I would ever want to mix a bass track without it again.

So here is my list of the most common mistakes I am forced to watch artists make… over and over.

1 – Not being ready to make a record – Just because you have written ten songs does not mean you are ready to make a record. By all means… go ahead… but don’t expect something that is going to stand the test of time. Many think that they know who they are as an artist, they think that they have a grasp of their artistic voice. Let me tell you, chances are if you have just started writing songs, just started playing live, you really don’t know what you have to say or even how to say it. Think of your first recordings as demos or experiments and try to budget accordingly.

2 – Picking the wrong producer – I’m not going to lie… more than once have I been an engineer on a session with an absolutely useless producer. The first step of not choosing a moron producer is easy… make sure they are actually a professional producer. I can’t tell you how many people call themselves a producer and have spent little to no time in a recording studio. Do your research, make sure that whoever you chose actually knows what they are talking about. Listen to other recordings that they have produced and even more importantly verify that they actually produced said recordings. This is probably one of the most damning and costly mistakes you can make as an artist. Not only will a bad producer produce a bad record. They will make your bad record cost more than a bad record should.

3 – Self producing – Trust me when the clock is ticking and every second is costing you money indecision is not your friend. Many artist freeze when they look through the glass and see a famous session player looking at you asking a question. A producer is someone to bounce your ideas off of, someone who can push you to try harder or have the where with all to know it is best to take a break. Most self produced records wind up costing more because of the artists lack of focus. More importantly most self produced records wind up sounding unfocused.

4 – Not setting a budget – Honestly, I suck at money talk. But you have to get it done and out of the way before you start working on your record. Ask the producer what their fees are and if there is a need to work out a contract. Ask the engineer, the studio, the assistant engineer, and the mastering house what their fees are. Your producer should be able to provide you with all of these answers (it is a big part of their job) but you don’t want to be held responsible for a bill you had no idea was coming. Common expenses that you should ask about are studio fees, assistant engineer fees, cartage fees, instrument/gear rental fees, and extra musician fees. It is the job of the producer to make you aware of all of this but some of you might be breaking another rule on this list and will be blind sided by the money jumping out of your wallet and punching you in the gut on it’s way to someone else’s pocket.

5 – Not having enough money to finish – If you want to record 5 songs make sure you have the money to record and MIX five songs. If you want to have a 10 song record make sure you have enough money for 10 completed mixed and mastered songs. Some artists think that they can come up with the money later to finish the record. This is a big mistake! It leaves time for doubt to set in and room for creative momentum to flow away. If you take time off between tracking and mixing your record 9 times out of 10 it will wind up costing you more. The other mistake that I have been a victim of is not actually having the money to finish the record. If you know that it is going to cost X number of dollars to mix your record make sure you have that money BEFORE you start and that it is locked away!! This way, when the engineer finishes mixing before you thought they would you are not scrambling to come up with the money to pay them.  Just try to keep in mind that you are an artist… but engineering/assisting/mastering/running a studio is their livelihood.

My second page of apps.

I am obsessed with my iPhone.  I don’t even try and hide it.  My wife would probably throw it in the ocean given the chance… that’s why I had to get her one… so that she could “get” it.

If someone asks me if I like it or tells me that they are thinking of getting one I tell them that an iPhone will change your life.  If something happened to my beloved friend I would go out that day and get another one… no doubt about it.  It not only changes the way that you interact with people it changes the way you do things.  I have two computers, my macpro at the studio and a macbook at home.  The macbook probably sees thirty percent of the use it once saw.

There are probably about fifteen apps that I use everyday.  I am only going to cover the apps that I use frequently as an audio engineer.  Some of them I use everyday.  Some of them I use once a month but they save the day every time.

Cleartune – bitcount $3.99

It is nice ALWAYS having a good tuner.

I use Cleartune about once a week.  I can’t tell you how handy it is to ALWAYS have a tuner in your pocket (how often do you not have your phone on you?).  Just last week I was “jamming” with my father in-law and we were less than in tune.  I whipped out the phone and away we went.

I did a lot of research before I bought a tuning app.  At the time Cleartune was the clear winner.  Well, much to my dismay a couple of weeks later Peterson came out with their strobe tuning app.  I love Peterson strobe tuners and use the strobostomp everyday.  Even though, if I had it to do all over again I would go with Cleartune over the Peterson app.  I have used Peterson’s app and while it is great I honestly don’t think you need a strobe tuner in your pocket all the time.  The majority of the time that I pull Cleartune out it is to put in front of someone else’s guitar.  Your average joe isn’t going to know how to use a strobe tuner.

Metronome TS – Thezi Studios – $3.99

Click, Clack, Click, Clack

Nothing overwhelmingly special here.  It is a metronome… and a good one to boot.  It has a fairly accurate tap tempo.  Does triplets.  It is loud.  Could you import it into Pro Tools and expect it to line up to a grid?  No.  But it will get you more than close enough.

While the artist or the band is playing their tune I whip out Metronome TS and tap in the tempo.  Go into the control room and set up my click/grid.  Nine times out of ten it is dead on.  The one time out of ten it is probably my lack of rhythm to blame.

I use about 40% of what Metronome TS can do.  There is a playlist function and a tuning tone… I guess someone would use that stuff.

iProRecorder – Bias $1.99

I use this to record the weird noises my dog makes...

Walking down the street and think of a guitar part or song idea… hum it in.

Yes iphone os 3 comes with a voice recorder.  This one is made by Bias though!!!  I love Peak… use it everyday.  This was kind of an impulse buy based on brand recognition.

There are two things that I think set this recorder app apart from the others.  Number one, the massive amounts of gain you can add on playback.  20dB I believe.  Plus it distorts a baritone uke into another world if you want it to.

The second feature I love is the ability to share the files over ip.  The app will give you a website to go to and you can listen to or download your recordings right from your browser.

Pay up mofo..

Invoice2Go – Invoice2Go - $9.99

Not gonna lie… this is the most important of the batch.

I used to say walking out the door “I’ll email ya an invoice” and then a few weeks later wonder where my money is.  Oh ya… never sent the invoice.  Well no more excuses.  I actually send the invoice as I am sitting there talking to the person.  Put in their contact info (or select from your contacts) select from services and prices you pre set or put in new ones.  Hit email and mail out a PDF invoice with a link to pay via paypal.  I can honestly say that this app has gotten me paid immediately twice when I would have normally had to wait weeks.

I love this app… I love it soooooooo much.

Ahh crap... the new John Mayer is really good.

Rhapsody – Rhapsody – free (14.99 monthly subscription)

I can’t tell you how useful Rhapsody is to me.  There is no way that I could possibly go out and buy every cd someone tells me I should.  I don’t really listen to pop music but right now I am working on pop music.  All of this research would be very costly if it weren’t for Rhapsody.

Sure it is $14.99 per month… about the cost of one cd.  I have found many many artists I like (and for that matter, found out I don’t like many too) for free.  If I really listen to something a lot I go out and buy it.

It beats my old system of downloading a song from limewire just for research.  At least the artist gets paid something.

Digital Performer – Tuning and Key Commands from The Sonic Fedora on Vimeo.

Ben’s Badass List of “Key” Key Commands

-Under “Edit Menu”-

E – Split

-Under “Region Menu”-

T – Transpose
Q – Quantize

-Under “Audio Menu”-

⌘F – Fade
B – Create Soundbites From Beats

-Under “More Edit”-

R – Quantize Audio Pitch
C – Clear Audio Pitch
G – Set Bite Gain…
O – Move To Original Time Stamp
U – Move To User Time Stamp
⌘U – Set User Time Stamp from Sequence

-Under “Tool Navigation”-

A – Pointer Tool
S – Scissor Tool
D – Pencil Tool
F – Mute Tool

-Under “Transport”-

SPC – Play/Stop toggle
0 (on keypad) – Play Stop Toggle
3 (on keypad) – Record
2 (on keypad) – Fast Foward
1 (on keypad) – Fast Reverse
* (on keypad) – Go To Marker
F1 – Set Memory Start To Counter

Consolidating files in Digital Performer. from The Sonic Fedora on Vimeo.

hey ben… how’s it goin man? got a question for ya! is that entry level pro tools, that sells for about $249, good to get your ideas and songs together on? for about 4 years i been usin this fostex unit that’s a bitch to use.
i want somethin easy to use and a computer based program.
thanks man,
m

Instead of responding directly to Merrol’s email I decided it was about time I write another article.

I met Merrol about three or four years ago when Dan Baird and I recorded his band Miles From Nowhere. Merrol was the lead singer, lead guitar player, main songwriter. Very, very talented “salt of the earth” kinda guy. Can I imagine Merrol getting along with pro tools or some other program equally as good? Short answer… not at all.

It isn’t because I think Merrol is dumb or anything. Merrol is the type of guy who wants something to do it’s job and not get in his way. I think Merrol is one of those people who would have loved a couple of ADAT’s and a Mackie mixer. Can I recommend to him that he gets ADATs… no way. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. But there is something to be said for their simplicity. Arm the tracks… hit record… play… done. I have a friend who used to make very good recordings on his ADATs. One day he hired me to come over and set up his pro tools rig, show him how to use it and basically get him up and running. Have I heard one recording he has done since that day in his home studio? Nope, the technology got in his way.

Many people watch professional engineers using pro tools or another program and see them flying around making it do whatever they want it to do in no time. What they might not realize is while you were practicing your guitar we were practicing editing. Pro Tools and others like it are not easy to use at all, and even worse is the fact that they are only as good as the computer you use it with.

A $249 version of Pro Tools will work great on my computer… I spent around 5 grand on the computer though. If you don’t have an up to date, speedy little computer… it could turn out to be a $249 drink coaster/paper weight combo. I can’t tell you how many hours I spend maintaining my computer (backing up, disk maintenance, software upgrades and many more tasks) in order to make sure that the people I am working with never lose a minute because of a computer error. All of this comes with the territory of being a Pro Tools user.

I don’t want to steer my friend wrong and tell him to get a computer based system when I honestly don’t think it will serve him best.

So let’s take a look at what I think Merrol needs.

1) At least eight tracks of recording.
2) Easy to use interface… plug in, hit the red button and go
3) The ability to burn a cd of his recordings
4) The ability to export wave files in case he want to take his idea to the next level.

I have never looked for a unit like this but let’s see what I can dig up at sweetwater…

Alright… using Merrol’s price point of $249 the only thing near that cheap that looks like a good buy is the Zoom R16.

It doesn’t have a CD burner but there seem to be a lot of other things going for it. I like the fact that it has a built in stereo microphone so Merrol can record song ideas or even record a band rehearsal without having to set anything up.

I always love products with backup plans. This zoom can also be used as an audio interface and control interface should Merrol choose to start diving into computer recording. It even comes with a copy of Cubase, a more than usable software platform.

My overall advise… stick to stand alone boxes if you are just trying to get song ideas down. Don’t let the technology get in your way. Don’t let it get ya down… I can’t write or sing a song to save my life.

Preparing a Pro Tools Session for mix and archival. from The Sonic Fedora on Vimeo.

I doubt the semi-sauced country boy who told me this joke intended it to be a morality tale, but if a lesson has to be extracted it might go something like this: It doesn’t matter what system is used, as long as the desired results are achieved.  It is with this in mind that I approach the topic of Pro Tools Preferences.

Like many other recording enthusiasts, I spent several years mostly ignoring the Preferences window (which can be found in the Pro Tools pull down menu in the top left corner of the screen).  I would open it only when something was not working the way I thought it should, and then spend several perplexing minutes trying to figure out how my “problem” might be worded into a preference.  I would occasionally find a box I could check or uncheck to remedy the situation, and then put it out of mind until the next time the issue arose.  The trouble comes when you are searching for a quick fix in the middle of a session and seconds feel like hours.  As my father once told me “You don’t have to wait until the warning light comes on before you check your oil.”  It is my habit before each session to open the Preferences dialog box and make sure everything is exactly as I like it.  

So here you have a partial list of the preferences I am looking for, and why they are important.  Keep in mind, this is not how things SHOULD be set every time, it is just what works best for me.

Display

There are only a few things in the display window that matter to me.  

Peak Hold/Clip Indication: Peak and clip ARE NOT interchangable terms.  Peak is used to express the maximum level a signal has reached, and Clip is the red “Over” light that screams “TOO DAMN HOT!”  UsualIy, I set Peak Hold to 3 seconds, but I don’t really care.  Clip Indication, however, I set to Infinite.  If I happen to be paying attention to something else the ONE TIME in the song that the drummer hits his low tom and it clips, I want to know about it whenever I get around to that side of the mix window.  Otherwise, it is an unpleasant little surprise when I start mixing.  

Draw Grid In Edit Window: I like to have a visual representation of the grid.  It especially helps when I have to fly the banjo part from the first chorus (the only time the banjo was in tune) and paste it into the other choruses.

Track Color/Region Color/ Marker Colors: Every Martin Luther King Day, I set all my color coding to None.  I’m doing my part.  

Operation:

The only box I check-mark in the transport section is Play Start Marker Follows Timeline Selection.  

Timeline Insertion Follows Playback: For a semi-detailed explanation of this preference, see here: Sonic Valentine – Behind The Scenes

Back/Forward Amount: I set it to one bar, or 1|0|000.  Let us assume I have dropped location markers in the song during tracking.  The guitar player wants to fix bar six of the first chorus.  I can locate the first chorus marker (Quick Key hint: in the numeric pad, hit period/location number/period to jump to the marker) and then by tapping number 2 I can advance in increments of one bar (tapping number 1 goes in the other direction).  From the Chorus marker, I advance three bars, and tell the guitar player we will be starting playback from bar four and punching bar six.  

I do this because musicians often don’t want any more preroll than they need to get into the fix.  At a medium or slower tempo, two bars is plenty.  

Auto Backup: Enable Session File back-up, Backup every 1 minute, keep 99 most recent back-ups.  This has saved my job more than once.

Open Ended Record Allocation: Limit To: 30 minutes.  Pro Tools runs smoother and responds quicker when you limit the Record Allocation.  It is rarely a big difference, but if Pro Tools is being sluggish and you’ve tried everything else, try switching this pref.  

The only time I Use All Available Space is when a band is rehearsing. Often, I just leave them in record in case they accidentally do something brilliant.  Also a good idea if you made the mistake of agreeing to record a local jam band.  

Editing:

Without going into specifics, I will say it is a good idea to leave the first five boxes in the Region column checked.

New Tracks Default To Tick Timebase: This preference gives regions the ability to follow the tempo grid.  I make sure it is NEVER checked.  Imagine that you track a song and the drummer is generating the click track.  Each musician makes several fixes to their part.  Later, you decide to align your Pro Tools grid to the song tempo and meter.  As soon as you change the default tempo in Pro Tools, all of your unconsolidated regions jump to a new location!  Nothing lines up, there are gaps in the audio, it is all around bad news.  There are certain instances where tick timebase is a nice feature, but tracking is not one of them.

QuickPunch/TrackPunch Crossfade Length: Ever since Pro Tools 7 introduced the ability to drag a fade, I like to set a default crossfade of 7 or 8 ms.  I do it because sometimes a producer or artist’s opinion of a performance is unconsciously affected by the “click” of a bad punch.  It doesn’t sound right EVERY time, but it works more often than not, and it provides a little extra protection from mix engineers calling to yell at me because I missed a bad punch before consolidating my tracks.

Default Fade Settings: Through a little trial and error, I have decided the default crossfade that is most versatile in combination with the above QuickPunch Crossfade Length is an “S-Curve” shape on both ends with an Equal Power link.  

Levels Of Undo: 32.  Better to be safe.  I am sure I have tracked down a mistake I made 31 mouse-clicks ago at one time or another.

Mixing:

Sends Default To -Infinity: Fedora and I were telling studio horror stories the other night, and this one came up.  I was working with a producer/engineer whom I have long admired.  It’s not important who it was. We’ll just call him Mr. X.  …no, make it Z.  For the sake of anonymity, we’ll call him David Z.  Anyhow, we were recording a vocalist who requested a little reverb.  Z asked me to set up a reverb aux in Pro Tools, and I figured it would be a good idea to put a reverb send on every channel, just so the option was there, should he want to use it.  What I did not know was that this preference wasn’t checked, and consequently all the sends were instantly created set to unity, INCLUDING ONE ON THE ACTUAL REVERB AUX.  Feedback is never pretty, and this was the ugliest feedback Nashville has heard in a long time.  

After I realized what had just happened and quickly fixed it, I crawled into a hole in the earth, and a part of me is still there to this day.  

Conclusion:

So there you have an abridged list of the things I am looking for when I open the Preferences dialog.  With time and experimentation, you may find a way that works better for you.  That is why they are preferences, and as long as the results are good, your method for achieving them is valid.  Of course, your method may have consequences, and like the man in the opening story, you will end up with a corkscrew-shaped penis.  -Scotty Valentine