Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 21:00:03 +0100 (BST)
From: Mixing Secrets News <m...@cambridge-mt.com>
Subject: [mixingsecretsn...@cambridge-mt.com] Small-studio Secrets News --
26/09/2014
To: "mixingsecretsn...@cambridge-mt.com" <mixingsecretsn...@cambridge-mt.com>
Welcome the September 2014 edition of the
(all-new!) Small-studio Secrets News,
keeping you up to date with ongoing developments
to my free online recording and
mixing resources at http://www.cambridge-mt.com/rs-intro.htm and
http://www.cambridge-mt.com/ms-intro.htm.
It's been another busy month -- recorded two
albums in five days in a former pub
(as you do) and then flew off for three days of workshops at the AES's Central
European Student Summit in Moscow. (And both of those sessions look like they
might yield plenty of future upload goodies for you all...)
But enough chin-wagging -- on with the news! He-hem.
--------------------
NEWS HEADLINES
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* October workshops bonanza: L.A., Munich, Berlin, Hawaii...
* Crowdaudio.com 'Playground'
* Two new multitracks and a stems session
* The return of Kevin Reeves.
* A baker's dozen of new Mix Review critiques.
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OCTOBER WORKSHOPS BONANZA: LOS ANGELES
-----------------------------------------------------
It's official: the season of giving has arrived
even earlier than usual. This is
partly because I've been mixing a Christmas album all this week (rather an odd
experience in Autumn), but it's also because I'm
going to be doing a whole bunch
of free workshops!
First up are my hour-long sessions on the Sound On Sound-sponsored 'Project
Studio Expo' stage at this year's 137th AES convention in Los Angeles:
* Friday 10th October at 2pm -- The Five Most Common Project-studio Recording
Mistakes.
Here's the blurb: "Tearing your hair out at
mixdown? Then you've probably fallen
into one of the classic project-studio traps during tracking. Learn what they
are -- and, more importantly, how to avoid them -- in this down-to-earth
workshop with Sound On Sound magazine's "Session Notes" and "Mix Rescue"
columnist Mike Senior. The seminar will be specifically tailored to those
working on a budget, and will feature insider tips on equipment choice, mic
technique, and session psychology, with plenty of supporting audio examples so
you can judge the results with your own ears."
* Saturday 11th October at 12:30pm -- Mixing
secrets: Production tricks for any
DAW.
"Affordable DAW software now provides all the processing tools you need to
create commercially competitive music mixes within a home, college, or project
studio. As such, the overriding concern for budget-conscious engineers these
days should be to develop effective habits with
regard to studio monitoring, mix
balancing, and quality control. Important techniques in each of these three
areas are often neglected in small-scale productions, leading to mixes that
don't stack up against professional releases, or that collapse on some
mass-market listening systems. In this seminar Sound On Sound magazine's "Mix
Rescue" columnist Mike Senior will draw on his experience of thousands of
project-studio mixes to highlight the most
frequently overlooked studio tricks.
In the process he'll demonstrate how these methods can powerfully upgrade your
sonics without breaking the bank, no matter which DAW you're using."
For more details (and to register in advance for a free place), check out
http://www.projectstudioexpo.com. On the Friday
at 5pm I'll also be joining some
members of this mailing-list for beer and giggles, so do feel welcome to come
along and join us -- we're meeting at the Focal
Press booth before adjourning to
somewhere more comfortable...
On Sunday 12th October at 11am I'll also be
taking part in a Focal Press author
panel titled 'Achieving Big Studio Results On A Project-studio Budget',
alongside some of the top names in audio textbooks:
- David Miles Huber (author of 'Modern Recording Techniques' & 'The MIDI
Manual')
- Alex Case (author of 'Sound FX' & 'Mix Smart')
- Jason Corey (author of 'Audio Production & Critical Listening')
We're all there for your questions, so don't miss the opportunity to give us a
good grilling!
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OCTOBER WORKSHOPS BONANZA: MUNICH & BERLIN
----------------------------------------------------------
Following the AES show, I'll also be doing a couple of recording workshops in
Germany, in association with Audient and JustMusic. The topic will be guitar
recording, and in particular I'll be
demonstrating the powerful ways you can use
multimic techniques to dramatically expand the
range of sounds available to you
-- without any need for heavy-handed processing.
Tickets are free, but you need
to register in advance to secure a place, because space is limited. The two
dates are:
* 16th October 2014, 6pm-8pm at JustMusic, Munich
* 21st October 2014, 6pm-8pm at JustMusic, Berlin
More details about the sessions, as well as the all-important links to the
registration pages, can be found at:
http://www.soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=17693 (English language)
http://www.justmusic.de/de-de/cms.html?Path=News/Workshops (German language)
I've just checked the registration links, and it looks as if half the tickets
have already gone, so it's probably best to act fast if you'd like to take
part...
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OCTOBER WORKSHOPS BONANZA: HAWAII
-----------------------------------------------
Only kidding. Not that I'd mind a trip to Hawaii -- a bit more sun would do me
the world of good...
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CROWDAUDIO.COM MIX 'PLAYGROUND'
-------------------------------------------
Some of you may already know about Crowdaudio.com, which hosts mixing
competitions on behalf of real mixing clients --
the winner's prize effectively
being a paid mixing gig. It's a cool idea in
itself, but what they've also just
started is a 'Playground' area where members (it's free to register) take part
in friendly mixoffs, with the winner of each mixoff interviewed by the site to
explain how they got their results -- which is a pretty good learning
opportunity, I reckon. Furthermore, they're using the 'Mixing Secrets'
Multitrack Library projects as the basis for their mixoffs, so anyone who's on
this list will probably already have a headstart! Check it out here:
http://crowdaudio.com/competitions/playground/
-------------------------------------------------
2 NEW MULTITRACKS AND A STEMS SESSION
-------------------------------------------------
New in the 'Mixing Secrets' Free Multitrack Download Library this month:
A session I just unearthed on the Audio-Technica
site showcasing a wide range of
their microphones. It's a song called 'Loud &
Clear' with a big old production:
drums, bass, electric/acoustic guitars, violin, horn section, piano, multiple
vocal parts... but unfortunately no preview mix! I spent 20 minutes jobbing
together a basic balance, but at 30 seconds per track I have to admit it's
pretty ropey, to be honest... So I'll tell you what: my favourite Discussion
Zone mix of this multitrack posted within the next two weeks wins the preview
spot, and a credit (with your URL) in the
Library listing. Everyone's a winner!
:)
http://www.cambridge-mt.com/ms-mtk.htm#Audio-TechnicaDemo
A second great song from The Butterfly Effect, former band of Discussion Zone
member Marc Gosselin, a tune called 'Fairytale':
http://www.cambridge-mt.com/ms-mtk.htm#TheButterflyEffect
Plus, this month we have a special bonus
donation from Library favourite Wesley
Morgan, whose two songs 'Backroom In Tulsa' and 'Flesh And Bone' have already
had more than 70 mixes posted in the Discussion Zone between them. He's now
allowed me to upload some mix stems of another
fantastic song of his 'Poor Boy',
for you to practice your balancing and mix-finessing. Although most of the
material in the multitrack library is raw and
unprocessed, these stems give you
the opportunity to focus on finer points of the
mix without having to set up all
the processing from scratch, which a great exercise, and it also lets you get
inside someone else's vision of the mix and see where it takes you -- a very
different experience than when you've held the reins from the get-go:
http://www.cambridge-mt.com/ms-mtk.htm#WesleyMorgan
----------------------------------
THE RETURN OF KEVIN REEVES
----------------------------------
Probably the most popular artist in the
Discussion Zone is Kevin Reeves, who has
amassed well over 200 posted mixes since I
launched the forum a couple of years
back. Unfortunately, the download links on his site recently expired, so I had
to take his listings out of the Library. I contacted him directly about it,
though, and it turned out he was just migrating his site, and promised to send
me the new download links when they were ready
-- which he has, so everything's
good as new again! If you've not tried any of his songs yet then what better
exceuse to get acquainted?
http://www.cambridge-mt.com/ms-mtk.htm#KevinReeves
(Kevin also mentioned the possibility of hosting
some new tracks from his latest
album too, so I'll keep you all posted with developments as soon as I hear...)
-------------------------------------
13 NEW 'MIX REVIEW' CRITIQUES
-------------------------------------
The latest two issues of Sound On Sound magazine
have featured no fewer than 13
new critiques of commercial productions (both in
my Mix Review column and in the
Q&A pages), including:
* Kiesza: 'Hideaway'
* Rita Ora: 'I Will Never Let You Down'
* Duke Dumont: 'I Got U'
* Kaiser Chiefs: 'Coming Home'
* Mr Probs'Waves'
* Santana featuring Rob Thomas: 'Smooth'
* Lower Than Atlantis: 'Here We Go' (Bonus Q&A)
* Paloma Faith: 'Only Love Can Hurt Like This' (Bonus Q&A)
* Iggy Azalea: 'Fancy'
* Ariana Grande: 'Problem'
* Aloe Blacc: 'The Man'
* Imagine Dragons: 'Radioactive'
* The Scorpions: 'Wind Of Change'
You can read these (and more than three years' worth of previous Mix Review
columns) for free here:
http://www.cambridge-mt.com/MikeSenior.htm#MixReview
Phew -- just remembering all that critiquing makes my ears water...
Till next time!
Cheers,
Mike Senior.
