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Mix Fu:

May 31, 2022 by Aaron

Audio Instruction, Instructional Stuff, Music Thoughts, Rants, Randomness, Published Work, Recording Magazine

aaron j. trumm, aaron trumm, do it yourself recording, home recording, mixing, mixing music, nquit music, professional audio, professional music, recording, recording magazine, the art of mixing

Learn, Practice, Forget

This article first appeared in Recording Magazine. I reprint it here with permission, and I encourage you to subscribe to that publication, as they are a stand up bunch of folk!

In martial arts, there’s a concept that goes something like this: learn the technique, practice the technique, forget the technique.

Music mixing is similar if you think about it. As we’ve mentioned in these pages before, there are two sides to mixing. One is artfulness and intuition – your ability to feel a track with your heart. One is technical knowledge, skill, and science – your ability to understand a track with your brain.

The Brain Side

On the technical side, it behooves you to study, study, study and practice, practice, practice; learn the techniques and rules of the masters, drill the technique, gain skill over time.

You should never stop learning new techniques and practicing the skill and science of mixing records. You can hone your listening skills by listening to great tracks. You can train your rhythm or do ear training work. You can read magazines and books, watch YouTube videos, and attend seminars. You can continually find new songs to mix and evaluate each mix you do with critical ears. And the more you understand the physics of sound, the science of audio, and the engineering concepts behind the gear and software you work with, the more refined your mix fu becomes.

All this will help you develop a skillset which will make you a technically great mixer. All the practice will deepen your skills and help you learn faster, becoming more confident in the mix. Building your mixing brain may even help you improve your intuitive side.

The Heart Side

Learning, understanding and practice is crucial. But when mix day comes, it’s time to stop thinking about all that. Learn, practice, forget. Mix day is the day to be an artist, and let your intuition take over.

Most great mixers will tell you to mix quickly and there’s a reason for that. Letting yourself follow your gut and move quickly will allow you to tap into your deep well of knowledge efficiently, without overthinking. Overthinking can kill a mix, because you’ll start to make technical changes that aren’t needed and fail to trust your ears.

After all, if it sounds good, it sounds good. The day you mix is the day to forget with your brain, and let your intuition take over. You’ve trained the scientist, now you can be an artist.

Many of us take a deliberate approach to this process, with rituals or methods that remind us to let go and feel the music. One famous story involves a famous Jamaican producer arriving at a studio to finish a mix and refusing to start before getting high. According to lore, this mixer got just high enough and spent the next few hours with his eyes closed and his hand on one EQ knob on the high hat, simply twisting and grooving until at last – voila! It is done!

You will probably do more than tweak one high hat, and you may prefer not to be really high, but you get the picture.

Sometimes a little darkness is good. Some mixers clear the room. Some meditate. I clean the studio and clear out all the physical clutter. I also set up many of the more technical, tedious aspects of a mix in a separate session (a job for the engineering assistant, if you have one).

It doesn’t matter what you do, only that you allow yourself to stop thinking and fall back on your accumulated knowledge and skill intuitively.

It Takes Both – Train, Practice, Forget

Some newer mixers rely only on feel and intuition. This is what Bruce Lee would refer to as the “brawler” – fighting only with passion, flailing and usually falling to the better trained “classical man”. It’s true, without passion and heart, you won’t find the magic in the mix. And if you overthink it and get too technical, you’re likely to create cold, lifeless (although sonically flawless) mixes.

But if you don’t do the work to train yourself and become technically adept, your passion will often fall flat. This kind of mix is often muddy, distorted, or overly odd. I have often suffered from this affliction myself.

To achieve music mixing greatness, you truly need both sides. Learn, learn, learn. Practice, practice, practice. Then call up the mix, turn off the brain, and let your bones do the talking.

Aaron J. Trumm is a lifelong martial artist and music producer. Talk to him about all these things on Facebook, Instagram, or email at aaron at aarontrumm.com!

Making money in music is scary. Subscriptions may help.

May 25, 2022 by Aaron

Instructional Stuff, Music Business, Published Work, Rebilly.com

aaron trumm, making money in music, music business, music subscriptions, nquit music

This article was written originally for rebilly.com. I repost it here because maybe it’s useful information. This isn’t comprehensive, and the point was to sell Rebilly as the subscription service you need, but still. Rebilly might indeed be the right way for you to do it, or perhaps Patreon or another solution. You’ll have to decide for yourself, but hopefully this at least is a start.

Look, I get it. I’m a musician and It’s tough out there. Traditional ways of making money in music have blown up.

Streaming is killing download sales. Downloads killed CDs. Touring is expensive and rarely profitable.

With so much scrambling, so many musicians, and such widespread devaluing of music, making a living – or even a buck – can seem like a lost cause.

It’s daunting, but there is good news!

It turns out, with the right kind of innovation and willingness to leverage new technology, now is actually the best time in history to be an independent musician.

A Possible Solution

There are many ways out of the mire, but a couple solutions seem particularly suited to indies. Many musicians are leveraging fans directly to fund records, tours and other creative projects.

You may remember Amanda Palmer from her wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, which convinced the music world that crowdfunding might actually work. The Pixies were almost as successful with their “PIXIES: A Visual History” campaign, and Music For Cats (yes, it’s actually an album for cats) raised over $240,000.

Since crowdfunding a single project has proven workable, now musicians are taking the next logical step. Amanda operates a subscription business on Patreon, and rakes in $37,000 every time she releases something. In fact many musicians are finding subscription services to be a great way to create predictable income while simultaneously building a strong fanbase.

Virtually unknown to the main stream, rapper Nino Bless makes a tidy income which allows him to remain fiercely creative and free of label influence. Using a combination of his subscription service and well placed product offers, he was able to grow from nothing to 17,000 rabid Facebook fans, all while actually making a profit. It took him a mere four months to reach that stage, largely because he was able to fuel growth with subscription income.

Could it be you?

Let’s be real for a minute. Subscriptions could be perfect for you – or not.

Here are a few things you need to succeed with subscriptions:

Consistency. Subscription based businesses can’t earn predictable income (or trust) if content and communication are sporadic. If you only make art when the muse happens to float by, you should learn how to be consistent first.
Popularity. This may be a hard pill to swallow, but the truth is “if you build it they will come” does not apply to crowdfunding. It’s best to build a following, remain consistent and when the time is right, launch your subscription service for your most loyal fans. For help with this stage, check out some thought leaders in digital marketing for musicians: Indepreneur and Music Marketing Manifesto.
Reliability. Once your fans start paying every month, they’ll expect you to be there for them, deliver whatever goodies you’ve promised, and provide support. You can delegate some of this, but it won’t work if you’re not seen as reliable.
Service. You’ll be interacting a lot with your fans who you’re trying to make ongoing customers, so your customer service skills need to be on point. That shouldn’t be hard for rock-star types who love interaction. It’s just a matter of making sure you’re putting your customers’ needs first.
Patience. Your wildest dreams are possible, but it could take time. The big numbers artists like Amanda Palmer pull in look great, but the reality is those are outliers. In fact only 2% of Patreon creators make more than minimum wage. Don’t get discouraged or quit too soon. Let your business grow over time, rather than hoping to explode.

If you can create those things (and you can!), you’re on track for building a business that works!

The tools

In order to make your fan club go, you’ll need a few tools.

As it turns out, Rebilly has a thorough rundown of the tools you’ll need to launch your subscription business. Nevertheless, here’s a quick rundown of the tools you’ll need.

A Website – This should go without saying!
A merchant account (services like Stripe or Square come without upfront fees).
A way to take payments.
A subscription billing service, like Rebilly.
An email marketing tool. MailChimp and AWeber are great examples.

You might also like to use a customer relationship manager, a support tool, and a shipping tool, if you’ve got physical product.

What to deliver

What you give your subscribers is entirely up to you. People love exclusivity, and you can create a feeling of being one of the in crowd with a variety of digital products, subscription only content and access. Most successful acts get quite creative with what they offer their diehard subscribers.

Here are a few ideas to get your juices flowing:

Music. What a concept! You can simply give your subscribers regular access to new songs. You can release a new single every month which they get before the public, release exclusive remixes, even do a cover song every month. Jim Guthrie gives access to his entire back catalog of 14 albums – quite a lot of music.
Video. Video is super engaging, and it doesn’t have be all full music videos. Behind the scenes videos, explanations of songs or special performances are all options. Andrew Huang’s whole shtick is live performance videos, with a lot of cross collaboration thrown in.
Access. Fans love having access to musicians. This may be the biggest advantages indies have over major label artists, who are typically hidden behind a veil of mystery. You still seem like a rock star to your fans, and people will pay to get behind that wall. You can do live video with interactive chat, online performances, Facebook interactions, and even perform in person for your top tier subscribers. You can also seek feedback and let your fans be part of the process. Nino Bless takes the time to live stream, email and even call subscribers, and his fans really appreciate the attention.
Merch. Also known as physical stuff. For your higher paying subscribers, you could ship regular goodie boxes with shwag like shirts, buttons, stickers or even CDs. Just make sure to budget for shipping, production and packaging based on what subscribers pay, and leave yourself a profit margin. For $25 per creation, Amanda Palmer will send physical artwork that she makes. You can also increase revenue beyond subscription fees by offering awesome exclusive merch or discounts.

Above all, provide value and an ongoing, engaging experience. You’re beyond just making music when you gather paying subscribers. You’re creating an experience, and it can be quite effective!

It’s up to you

It’s an exciting time to be a musician, even if it’s a little frightening. Fans are gobbling up new music, and they’re dying for an experience beyond the anonymous, boring pop radio phenomenon. As an indie with some ingenuity, you’re situated perfectly to fish the teeming waters of people who want to be touched, moved and inspired, and want to be a part of the process.

It might take a little time, effort and new thinking, but it can be done, and it can be very rewarding.

I admit it, I don’t have a subscription program yet. I may do that at some point, but in the meantime just hit me up on Facebook @AaronJTrumm – or email me aaron @ aarontrumm.com

Signal Flow Part 2

May 23, 2022 by Aaron

Audio Instruction, Carvin Amps and Audio, Instructional Stuff, Published Work

aaron trumm, audio basics, carvin amps and audio, carvin audio, home recording fundamentals, nquit music, recording basics, signal flow

This article was written originally for the blog at Carvin Amps and Audio. I repost it here, and encourage you to check out Carvin’s amazing line of products!

In signal flow part 1, we covered the basics starting from ground zero. In part 2, we’ll cover some more advanced topics that shouldn’t be too hard to understand now that the basic idea of the directionality of audio signal is down.

Many of these more advanced issues come up in the DAW, but we can still get a better handle on them by starting in the old-school analog studio. We’ll also look at a couple of things to be aware of in live settings.

Splitting and routing

In part 1, we discussed simple set ups where audio flows in one “straight” line and doesn’t deviate. Now let’s introduce the concept of splitting, which will set us up to understand nearly everything else that comes up.

Splitting is simple. It just means that an audio signal can essentially be “copied” so that it goes to two places at once. Think of it as if you were walking down the street with your twin. At a fork in the road, you go right and your twin goes left. In the analog domain, splitting can sometimes affect signal level or quality, but its rarely a problem, and only when it’s overdone. In the digital domain, a perfet copy can be made.

Splitting is what allows things like aux sends, busses, monitor mixes that are separate from house mixes, and inserts. It can be as simple as using a y-connector or as complicated as multiple routing options on a mixing board.

Routing, meanwhile, just means telling a signal to go to a certain place. On a mix console (and in a DAW), routing is done with buttons. This is a kind of splitting, but it’s easier to think of it as multiplying. You could push the button that sends your signal to the main output, and also push the button that routes it to a buss.

Busses

A “bus” or “buss” in audio is a channel that mixes together other channels. So, technically the main output fader on a mixer is a buss, but when we talk about busses, we’re mostly talking about any extra busses. A console may only have the one main output, or it could have several busses. A mixer referred to as an “8 buss console” would have 8 busses besides the main output. Most DAWs let you create busses to your heart’s content.

Busses are useful for a variety of purposes. Probably the most common is mixing various tracks into one buss for easy manipulation of the whole group. For example, you might route all your drums (kick, snare, hats, overheads, toms, etc) to one stereo drums buss. This would allow you to control the volume of the entire drum set and apply processing to the whole thing at once. You would then route the drum buss to the main output for your final mix.

Splitting comes in when you decide to route those drums to a couple of different busses at once, or to the main output as well. You’ll have to pay attention, because on most mixers and DAWs, it’s possible to route tracks individually to busses and the main output – something you may or may not want. In our drum example, we’d want to make sure they were not routed directly to the mains.

In a DAW you could use busses for that same purpose, or to do things like route click tracks to the headphones and not the mains (if your audio interface has multiple outputs).

Bussing is also useful in a live setting for the same reason. Busses could also be used for a variety of other purposes but some of them would be awkward. Let’s say you have a great house mix but the band wants it a little different. Instead of a buss, the best way to handle this is an aux send.

Auxiliary sends

In that last example, you could use one of your busses (if it has its own physical output) as the “monitor” mix and use the main output for the house mix. That’s ok, but routing to busses is either on or off, typically. So, you couldn’t create a whole different mix – only turn off certain parts.

To create a separate monitor mix, you would need to be able to send different levels to your monitor buss.

Enter the aux send. An aux send is essentially a splitter with a volume knob. Most large mix consoles have several aux sends. The way they work is on each channel strip is an extra knob labelled something like “Aux 1” – there could be several. For every one of those, there’s an extra physical output on the console. Again, this is splitting, because signal goes to the mains (and/or any busses) and to the aux send.

Aux sends have a multitude of uses, including creating separate monitor mixes (if you have multiple sends you can create a different mix for each player, for example), making separate headphone mixes in the studio, and for effects like reverb. For that to work, we need something called a return.

Aux return

If you’ve only used the aux sends in a DAW, you may not know that in analog mixing, sends usually have returns. This is a special input on the console which is connected to a gain knob labelled something like “Aux 1 Return”. This is designed specifically so you can route audio to effects like reverb and return the processed signal to your mix. Aux returns are then routed to either a buss or the main output.

In a DAW, this is handled differently. Individual tracks can have as many aux sends as you want to create, but instead of being routed to a physical output, you route them to a buss. Then you put the effects plugin on that buss, turning the buss into a “reverb” buss, and routing it to the main output. This recreates the “aux return” in an analog mixer set up.

Since this has gotten a little complicated, let’s review with two simple diagrams for analog and DAW mixing scenarios.

In a DAW, it would be more like this:

Inserts

We just have one more monkey wrench to put in, and that’s the insert. You probably won’t see an actual insert if you’re working in a DAW, but the plugin section on a DAW’s channel strip is akin to an insert in the analog domain.

An insert interrupts the audio signal and sends it out of the mixer via a separate output and accepts it back via the same connector. This is accomplished using a special cable called an insert cable.

The insert is used in recording and live scenarios for two main purposes:

During mix down or a show, inserts can be used to process a track, similar to the way you would use a plugin in a DAW. For example, you might want to use a compressor on our vocal track. You would connect the output side of the insert cable to the compressor’s input and the input side to the compressor’s output. This is exactly the same routing as a plugin chain, and just as in a DAW, you could chain multiple processors together in the analog domain by connecting the first processor’s output to another unit’s input and so on – finally connecting the last piece to the input side of the insert cable.

During tracking with a mix console, the insert is often used to route audio to a recorder while still being able to hear the live audio in real time via the main outputs of the console. This way, a player or singer can hear themselves separately while still recording. In this case, the input side of the insert is simply not connected, which allows signal to pass through (turning the insert into a splitter). This can also be accomplished via the “direct out” of each channel – but many mixers have no direct output, instead letting the insert act as a direct output.

In a DAW you might simply turn on software or hardware monitoring and listen to the live signal that way. The problem with that is you may have to deal with some latency, which could throw timing off. So even in a DAW recording environment, when a studio is equipment with a console, the insert method is often preferred to monitoring from the computer.

Similarly, during a live show, inserts are often used to split the audio out to a recording device, to record a fully separated multi-track performance (when there’s no direct output).

A note on live splitting: Sometimes, signal is split before it gets to the main console, in order to allow a totally separate monitor mix. In this case, splitters are applied at the mic connection, and that signal is sent to two separate mixing consoles.

Final notes, feedback, and sequential power-up

As a final note, you will have noticed by now that given the right equipment, it’s possible to route and audio output back to its own input. This what’s known as a feedback loop and it should be avoided at all costs, for obvious reasons.

This is related to the feedback you might hear in a live setting. That feedback is because microphones are picking up their own output from the speakers and feeding that signal back into their own input.

It would also be good to mention sequential start up here. Since devices such as mixers create a little surge of audio signal when they’re powered up, it can be damaging to equipment down the line to power up in the wrong order. For example, if a powered speaker is on when you turn on the mixer feeding it, you’ll hear a pop. That pop could damage the cone.

So, audio professionals always power up gear in order of audio signal flow. So, it’s crucial to remember what direction audio flows. There are devices that do this for you, like Carvin’s AC120S power conditioner. Just remember to hook up the power in the right spots!

There you have it. We couldn’t possibly have covered every possible scenario, but you should have enough understanding now to understand and adjust to any situation you might encounter.

If you have questions or want to talk, just hit me up on Facebook @AaronJTrumm – or email me aaron @ aarontrumm.com

What Is Quantizing and How Do I Use It

May 18, 2022 by Aaron

Audio Instruction, Flypaper by Soundfly, Instructional Stuff, Music Thoughts, Rants, Randomness, Published Work

aaron j. trumm, aaron trumm, flypaper, home recording, nquit music, professional audio, professional music, quantization, quantize, recording, soundfly, what is quantizing

This article first appeared in FlyPaper by Soundfly. I reprint my original version here, and I encourage you to check out their courses. You can get a 15% discount code on a subscription using the promo code AJTRUMM15.

What is quantizing, you ask? It’s simple on the surface. Quantizing is moving notes recorded into a MIDI sequencer or DAW in line with the “grid”, which makes a rhythmically imprecise performance perfect.

That sounds easy enough, but let’s dive a little deeper so we fully understand what this “grid” is, what quantization really does, and when it might be useful. Ok…deep breath….here we go!

Human Timing, BPM, and The Grid

It may not surprise you to learn that human timing is not perfectly uniform. If a drummer decides to play at a “medium” tempo, that’s a pretty arbitrary idea. Your “medium” could be my “way too fast”.

So, in production, we assign numerical values to tempo. 120 BPM means there will be 120 beats over the course of a minute. A beat here is defined as one quarter note. This numerical definition of tempo allows us to talk to computers about it, and to standardize our own definitions. BPM gives us exact timing for all note divisions.

Those precise divisions make up the “grid”. The grid is not arbitrary. At a given BPM, quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes – every note you can think of – lands exactly on a mathematically defined place in time. For example, at 120 BPM, a quarter note is precisely .5 seconds long.

But, even if we have a numerical notion of tempo, a human tempo could fluctuate over the course of a song (often desirable). Even if it doesn’t, a human will not hit notes exactly on those mathematically defined divisions.

This is sometimes great, if the player is great and the timing feels great, and everything is just great great great. Other times it’s bad. Say if a player is just off or inexperienced. More importantly, editing arbitrary rhythm that’s not “locked” to the grid can be tricky at best.

Enter quantization…

MIDI Quantize

Although most DAWs now have the ability to quantize actual audio, quantization is first and foremost a MIDI function, so that’s what we’ll talk about here. However, most of the concepts apply when quantizing audio.

Let’s say you play a simple drum beat with kick and snare into your MIDI sequencer while listening to a click track. When you play it back, you notice that the snare just doesn’t hit right in a couple of spots. Or perhaps you’ve laid down a piano groove or a bassline, but some notes aren’t quite right.

You could move each note manually, using a variety of methods we won’t discuss here, or you could apply quantization to the whole phrase.

Your notes are now magically aligned to the grid and your rhythm track is perfect. Boom, end of article!

Well not so fast. The fact is quantizing could hurt the track more than it helps at times. There are several ways this can happen. Way one is using the wrong quantization resolution.

Quantize To…Or Quantize Resolution

Quantize resolution tells the computer how fine the grid should be. For example, if you pick 8^th note resolution, that means all notes will be moved to the nearest 8^th note position. If you happen to have played a rhythm that includes 16^th notes, your phrase will get changed in a way you didn’t intend.

If you use too fine a measurement, notes could be moved to the wrong grid space, changing the feel of the phrase or ruining it all together.

A good rule of thumb is to quantize to the shortest note you’ve played. If the phrase is all 8^th and quarter notes, use 8^th note resolution. If you have 16^th notes in the phrase, use 16^th note resolution. And so on.

Keep in mind that many rhythms might actually use triplets, so you might try using a triplet resolution if things aren’t coming out right.

Once you’ve got your resolution right, you may still notice the track sounding a little stiff and inhuman. If this is the case, you can play with “strength”.

Quantize Strength (or Amount)

Quantize strength works like this. At 100%, it will move the notes exactly to the nearest grid point. To keep a more human feel, you can use strength to simply move notes closer to the nearest grid point, but not all the way there. For example, if a note is ahead of the beat by 60 ticks, 50% strength would move the note back 30 ticks – half of the way home. This can help keep some of that human feel, while tightening the groove.

Swing

Another way to humanize a groove is to apply some swing. When a player swings a beat, they’re making the first note of a pair a little longer (or shorter) than the second. Swing distorts the grid so that each pair of notes is unevenly spaced. At 50%, no swing is applied. At 66%, the first note of the pair is twice as long as the second, and at 33%, the second note is twice as long.

Swing can also be a great way to change the entire feel of a track by swinging a previously straight beat.

Groove Quantize

To this point, we’ve been talking about quantizing to a perfectly even grid, that doesn’t fluctuate. What if you’d like to quantize to a grid created by, say, a live, wild drum track? (Note: “wild” here means not played to a click or other tempo reference – not crazy and awesome).

Groove quantize allows you to quantize to a human groove, or a groove predetermined by software presets. This is particularly handy if you want to lock the grid to a live performance to make editing easier.

Groove quantize works the same as regular quantization, except the grid is defined by the groove source. You may still have to play with resolution, strength and even swing to keep the quantized parts faithful and dynamic.

When, Why and Why Not

Quantization is a crucial tool for keeping productions tight and clean, but it’s not always appropriate. Here are a few times you’ll want to quantize and some you may not:

To Quantize:

MIDI tracks that need to be copied and pasted. The first note MUST be placed exactly on the one, or you’re in for a world of hurt when you try to paste a phrase to another measure.
When tracks need to be super even and tight – such as in EDM or dance music. A quarter note kick drum, for example, really doesn’t do its job un-quantized.
To tighten up a drum track, bass line, piano, or anything that forms the foundation of a song. Use strength settings to keep things from sounding mechanical.

Not To Quantize:

Any time quantization ruins the feel of a part. Undo!
If a part already sounds fantastic. Don’t fix what’s not broken.
Parts, such as lead lines, which have a unique human character. Character is often about subtle rhythmic “imperfections”.
Michael Jackson’s beatboxing. Never, ever, quantize the gloved one.
Tight live ensembles – unless using groove quantize to adjust overdubs to the original group’s timing.

Lock It Down

There you have it. A quick look at quantization, and how you might use it to better your productions. Quantize is an essential part of an audio/MIDI toolbox, and it can work wonders and make your life easier. But like anything, it’s not for every situation. Use it judiciously, and most of all, use your ears.

Here’s to keeping the beat.

Wanna talk about it all? Hit me up on Facebook or Instagram or aaron at aarontrumm dot com and we can vibe about music biz, making stuff, whatever man.

Cull the Herd

May 10, 2022 by Aaron

Flypaper by Soundfly, Instructional Stuff, Music Business, Music Thoughts, Rants, Randomness, Published Work

aaron j. trumm, aaron trumm, flypaper, home recording, music business, music submissions, nquit music, professional audio, professional music, recording, soundfly

The Definitive Guide to Deciding Where to Submit Your Music

This article first appeared in FlyPaper by Soundfly. I reprint it here with permission, and I encourage you to check out their courses. You can get a 15% discount code on a subscription using the promo code AJTRUMM15.

You can’t be everywhere all the time. Still, it’s hard not to fall into the trap of trying to do just that. In the music business, there are thousands upon thousands of gatekeepers, promotional outlets, and other “opportunities” where you can submit your tracks. Since promoting music is largely about submitting and submitting and submitting again, you can’t simply ignore this aspect of the business.

That said, there is no way you can realistically submit to everything, so you need to pick and choose. How to decide who should get your music can be a bit tricky to figure out. Plenty of people will advise you, and everyone accepting music will recommend you submit to them, but the truth is the right plan is different for everyone.

Knowing that your time is precious, here are some things to consider when evaluating whether to submit to a particular opportunity or company.

General considerations

Every category of submission opportunity has its own unique considerations, but to start with there are a few things to think about, no matter who or what you’re pitching to.

First off, think about your goals. Do you want to find new fans to go to your shows? Are you trying to make money as quickly as possible? Are you building a brand around a musical act, or are you a producer trying to produce instrumentals and make a living?

It may seem obvious, but you don’t need to submit to every category for every goal. For example, if your only goal is to place instrumental cues in video productions, you don’t need any press or radio connections. In fact in that case the only category you need to worry about is licensing.

Next, there are a few universal considerations to think over in every case.

Genre

Make sure the people you’re submitting to work with your genre. It may go without saying, but lots of musicians don’t bother to research this crucial aspect, and waste a lot of time in the process, not to mention annoying the people on the other end and damaging their own reputation.

Reputation

How reputable is the company or person you’re submitting to? Is there any risk to making a deal with them? We’ll talk about submission fees in a moment, but also consider whether the company will be hard to deal with, or whether the time you put in to deal with it will really be worth the effort.

Potential return

This consideration is closely tied to reputation. If the entity is a major player with a great reputation, you may stand to gain a lot more than with other companies. If the potential reward is big, you may be willing to go to more trouble.

Submission difficulty

Speaking of effort, some submission processes are easier than others. Sometimes it’s as simple as sending an email with a streaming link to your music, and sometimes you can find yourself spending an hour or more per song filling out forms and checking boxes just to be considered. When it comes to business efficiency, this can be a make or break consideration.

Submission cost

This is probably the stickiest and most contentious consideration. Quite often, pay-to-play is a red flag, but there are situations where it’s ok. If there is a fee, you should be sure that the company has a great reputation, and that your music is really on the mark for their needs. You also need to consider the potential return more seriously. It may only cost five bucks to submit a song to a brief, but if you’re playing a numbers game and submitting song after song, it can add up.

Also, submission fees could indicate something very important that you should consider seriously. They could mean that the company’s revenue model is based on your submissions. Companies like this will often encourage you to submit too often, overstate the potential of your return, or do any number of other shady things to keep you paying in. It also means that this company doesn’t really need to believe in you or your music to accept your music.

If you think a company might be worth it even though they charge submission or membership fees, check with peers and try to find out if anyone is actually making money. If your friends like the company, but can’t point to any revenue generated from them, that’s a big red flag.

When it comes to venues, you shouldn’t pay to play. If you’re renting a space, that’s a bit different, but don’t pay regular venues a fee to submit or play.

Specific considerations

Once you’ve gone through the major considerations above, there are some category-specific things to consider.

Reach

Applicable to press, radio and somewhat to label submissions, the question of reach is simply how many potential fans can this outlet reach? For press type outlets, check into their readership, website traffic or subscription numbers. For radio, what’s their listenership? For labels, look at how big their other artists are, what their overall budget is, and how many connections to press, radio and other outlets they have.

In the licensing realm, you’ll want to consider how many placements they have under their belt, and how widely exposed those placements are. A company that has thousands of placements in small YouTube videos spots may the biggest overall reach, but one that has dozens of national ad placements may also be a powerful ally.

Focus

Who you’re able to reach is as important as how many people you can get to. If your submission is genre-appropriate, you’re already in a good place here, but it’s worth it to further consider a company’s focus. If you’re looking at a label for example, they may have a very wide reach but be spread too thin. A magazine may claim to be national but only have a few readers in each city. Especially if your goal involves getting people to your shows, you’re better off submitting to press, radio and labels who are strong in the areas you want to play. Genre-specific blogs and playlists may be better for finding fans than generalized publications and shows.

When it comes to licensing companies, consider your own goals. Your basic genre may be on point, but if your goal is to produce songs and sing them, you may not want to spend much time with libraries that focus on instrumental cues. Some licensing firms are all around companies, and some specialize in very specific areas like advertising or film and TV. Consider where your music has the best chance of being used and go for the companies in that area.

Relationships

When you’re considering an agent or a manager, their biggest asset is industry relationships. Don’t just consider how many people they know, though. Consider how deep and lasting their relationships are, and how trusted they are.

Payment

Payment isn’t something you need to consider for promotional opportunities like press and radio. But if you’re submitting to labels, licensing companies or venues, you need to know not only WHAT they will pay, but HOW.

Consider the percentages they offer and what the terms are. This is especially important in licensing. Many licensing agreements are super unfavorable, with really long payment terms, clauses that allow non-payment for certain usages, or any number of odd chicanery that might not suit you. If you can, read their terms before you submit. If you can’t live with their terms, there’s no reason to submit.

Similarly if you’re submitting to a venue for performance, find out ahead of time how they deal with money. Do they pay a guaranteed amount? Do you share the door? Are you allowed to sell merch? Again, try to get some idea what you’re likely to make before you submit.

Exclusivity

Exclusivity is a consideration mainly for licensing submissions. Label deals are always exclusive, agent/manager relationships are generally exclusive, and exclusivity isn’t a question in promotional settings.

However, in licensing, exclusivity (or the lack of it) is a major consideration. There are a lot of opinions on what’s better – an exclusive deal or a non-exclusive – but when it comes down to it, your needs will determine what works best.

For the most part, artists are not asked to sign licensing or publishing deals that tie up everything they do. Usually, exclusive deals in this realm apply to individual songs or groups of songs.

Generally, if you place songs with licensing agents or libraries non-exclusively, it means that you’re free to place the same song with other companies, or shop it directly to productions yourself. The one main drawback is the risk of having multiple companies pitch your song to the same production. This can get awkward, so many licensing-focused musicians try to pick only one company in each niche (advertising, film, etc).

There may be an advantage to accepting an exclusive deal, though. Usually, an exclusive deal with a licensing company or publisher means that company will work harder to place the song. If the company is a good one with a lot of clout, it may be a no brainer to accept an exclusive deal. Just remember to vet the company first. There are a few bad companies out there offering exclusive deals, and you don’t want to be locked into one of those.

Competition

Finally, consider your competition. A healthy amount of competition isn’t bad, but too much could be. Anyone worth submitting to is getting hundreds of submissions, so you’ll have to deal with that no matter what, but there are a couple of scenarios where it’s a bigger concern.

Those situations involve licensing and labels. Specifically, consider how much other music is rostered on a label or licensing company. Are you one of a few powerful, handpicked greats that the company really believes in, or are you one of thousands? Being a face in the crowd isn’t always bad, but especially when it comes to any kind of exclusive deal like a label deal, you need to be aware of how much this company will really be putting into you.

If you’re offered a deal with a failing label owned by a struggling major superstar, for example, there probably won’t be many resources left over for you. Similarly if a licensing company is offering thousands of artists exclusive deals, that’s not likely to go well for you.

None of this is to say you should shy away from competition. If you have a chance to submit to an advertising brief worth $200,000, by all means do it! Sure there will be more competition, but you could win! Just be judicious about putting yourself in positions where you don’t have that chance.

Go forth and submit

It doesn’t take much time to consider these factors before making submissions, and when you do, you’ll save yourself a lot more by doing so. You’ll also find your success rate is better, and you’ll have more time to do what you really love, and that’s making music. So go forth, and efficiently submit your music!

Wanna talk about it all? Hit me up on Facebook or Instagram or aaron at aarontrumm dot com and we can vibe about music biz, making stuff, whatever man.

Chasing the Timeless Sound

This article first appeared in Recording Magazine. I reprint it here with permission, and I encourage you to subscribe to that publication, as they are a stand up bunch of folk!

There’s one term that’s a death nell when its associated with a record. It strikes fear in the hearts of producers, partly because nobody wants this brand, and partly because it’s incredibly difficult to define. As soon as you think you understand it, it’s gone in a puff of smoke. And as soon as you start thinking about it, everything sounds…

…dated.

Shudder.

So, what does it mean? What is it when a song sounds “dated”? Let’s start with a dictionary definition.

Dated: Old-fashioned.

That was easy! Dated means old. That means old stuff is dated, right? But old music doesn’t necessarily sound dated. New stuff that sounds old might sound dated, and it might sound “vintage”. So, using old techniques doesn’t always mean a track will sound dated.

If it did, that would mean that recording a live band in a studio would sound dated, because that’s been done to death – but it doesn’t work that way.

The fact is, “dated” is a lot like other subjective terms like “current”, “rockin”, “good”, or “bad”. What sounds dated to one person might sound fresh to someone else.

Maybe a better word for “dated” would be “unoriginal”.

One thing’s for sure. “Dated” is a real thing, just like “good” or “bad”, and you’ll know it when you hear it.

Does It Matter?

Leaving off trying to define it, does it matter if your song sounds dated? Not really. In the end if you love it, you made something worthwhile. End of story.

From a professional standpoint it can definitely matter, especially in pop.

The music business fraught with requests for tracks that “sound like” some famous artist. “In the vein of Drake”, “with an Ed Sheeran vibe”, etc. Many requests even include the term “current”.

Ironically, the more you chase trends, the more dated you’re likely to sound. Even if you manage to hit the mark now, an overly trendy production may not stand the test of time.

Timelessness

Mysterious as the notion of datedness may be, we have established a few things. First, it’s at least partially subjective. Next, it has something to do with being unoriginal (another nebulous term). Third, you’ll know it when you hear it. And finally, chasing trends can lead to future datedness.

Other things seem clear. The latest cool computer trick – dubstep wobble base, for example – may not stand up long. On the other hand, staying stuck in an old way of thinking could make you sound stale. And copying a famous artist may sound unoriginal.

So, timelessness, which opposes datedness better than “current”ness, seems to be a delicate balance of subtle originality and bold creativity.

The truth is, timelessness is as subjective as datedness, so we could never definitively tell you how to find a timeless sound, but there are a few things that seem to help.

Vintage sounds can anchor a song while simultaneously bringing a fresh perspective to a current style.
Some things stand up over time, like spaciousness, great songwriting, or undeniable virtuosity.
Songs seem more timeless when they don’t rely on gimmicks, or when those gimmicks are so original as to be unrepeatable.
One element of a song may be timeless while others may be dating. Perhaps a lyric is timeless, but it’s sung over a cheesy 80s synth track. Maybe a super original track which will stand up forever is superimposed with slangy lyrics mentioning the year.
Certain styles come and go in repeating patterns. Big reverb, for example.

Just Keep Making

Styles go with time periods, and that’s ok. Does that mean that as we age we become irrelevant? Of course not. As we evolve as individuals, our music evolves, and so does music in general. Half of the reason genres change over time is because the same people make them, and those people have grown. The other half, of course, is new blood.

Outside that reality, the notion of a timeless sound is as nebulous as datedness. Given this subjectivity, it would stand to reason that in order to achieve a timeless production, you’ll need to a) trust your gut, b) don’t chase trends and c) don’t worry about it too much.

The main thing we can say is stay true to yourself but let yourself change. Your songs will follow suit.

I make songs that sound dated, cheesy, and unoriginal. 😉 I try hard never to release those. Find out if I’m succeeding at aarontrumm.com/audio or ask me on Facebook or Instagram

Recording Piano Wrong

September 14, 2021 by Aaron

Audio Instruction, Instructional Stuff, Music Thoughts, Rants, Randomness, Published Work, Recording Magazine

aaron j. trumm, aaron trumm, do it yourself recording, home recording, nquit music, piano, piano mics, piano recording, professional audio, professional music, recording, recording magazine

How breaking the rules can transform your piano recordings

This article first appeared in Recording Magazine. I reprint it here with permission, and I encourage you to subscribe to that publication, as they are a stand up bunch of folk!

The piano is an amazing creature. It’s ubiquitous in all kinds of music and its frequency range means it can play any role. It’s also so crazy to record that there are volumes written on how to record it right, including my piece “Caging the Beast” from May 2016’s Recording. Since that’s been done, let’s talk about the “wrong” way; nutso things you can do with piano recording that may yield something new.

Oddball Placements

A piano is huge, and there are a million “good” ways to mic it, including close miking, room miking, spaced pairs, mid-side pairs and so on. There are, however, several places considered not great, at least for capturing a traditional piano sound.

The Hole

Try a large diaphragm condenser like an AKG 414 placed right above one of rear holes. It turns out this might sound nice and can help isolate the piano in an ensemble. A dynamic like an SM57 pointed straight into the hole is a recipe for weird and muddy, but that may be perfect in the right context.

Under The Piano

There’s a whole world of tone under the piano that may not be considered normal, including a wealth of low frequencies that might even help a traditional mix. Try an omni-directional under the middle of the case and see what happens. Or try a ribbon mic to capture the movement of the pedal. Often that movement coincides with the rhythm of the tune, so there may be a rhythm track there.

The Foot

Nathan Rosenberg reminds us in his November 2004 Recording piece that “there is a wonderful place at the tail, just about where the back leg is, or often just outside the case. Here, the various registers tend to project in a surprisingly uniform manner.” This is a great place to place a stereo pair or even a single mic for mono capture. This isn’t particularly crazy, but it’s worth trying.

Wrong Mics

Tradition holds that the best microphone for piano is a condenser or ribbon. There’s good reason for this, as condensers and ribbons are good at capturing high-end detail. Mics like the AKG 414, the Neumann U87 and even the Rode NT1-A are common.

That leaves out dynamics, which are generally too sluggish to capture the detail a ribbon or condenser could. But that shouldn’t stop us from trying! As mentioned, an SM57 in a sound hole can result in something weird, especially if you were to, say, amp that signal?

Also mentioned before, the underside of a grand piano can be a treasure-trove of low frequencies. Maybe try something like an AKG D112 underneath and see what happens.

For that matter, what would happen if you placed that D112 above the low strings? As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what Recording contributor Jon Bare did on one location recording, and it made a baby grand sound like a 9-foot concert grand (see his article “Miking The Not So Great Piano” on Recording’s website).

Perhaps you could try that crappy vocal mic from your dad’s 1970’s live rig placed smack dab on top of the keys, or 17 omni-directional condensers under a closed lid, specifically placed to create phase problems. What if you taped a lavalier to the inside of the shell? The possibilities are endless.

Mess With the Piano

Next let’s try the instrument itself. There are tons of ways you can cause a piano to sound abnormal. Recently I put a sweatshirt on the strings to create a muted sound that proved useful for rhythms. Some avant-garde pianists spend hours before a gig preparing the piano contraptions placed on the strings, hammers and soundboards.

“Tack” pianos are made by sticking thumbtacks in the hammers so they make a tacky sound when striking the strings. (Beware: this is permanent, as it damages the felt.) Or what if the hammers were softer than normal?

You could prepare the innards of the piano, or you could mess with the outside. Try closing the lid, draping a storage blanket over it, and miking from above. You’ll probably get a dull sound, but what if you were to hold down the sustain pedal and let a ton of notes build up on top of each other?

For that matter, you could remove the lid entirely. In fact, that technique, which Elton John producer Gus Dudgeon was fond of, isn’t even rare.

Let’s not forget we’ve been talking about grand pianos this whole time. Uprights and spinets are a whole different world, and while there are “right” ways to capture them, there are also crazy ways. Most importantly, consider a bad upright. Perhaps you have an antique which can’t be tuned and has strings missing. Maybe there’s an opportunity for some interesting stuff by finding the worst sound it can make and recording that. This kind of buzzy, crackling thing can be great for creating interesting rhythm tracks, for example.

Play With the Playing

By now we’re placing wrong mics in wrong holes on wrong instruments. Awesome!

Now let’s play with the playing. There’s an incredible variety of playing styles available to the piano. Super staccato, flowing legato, damper pedals, low registers, glissandos and tigers and bears, oh my! Even staying at the keyboard, you can probably think of a hundred ways to break out of the box. How about using the lowest two octaves to create a bassline, replacing a bassist? What about recording the same riff 7 separate times in all the octaves?

Beyond the keyboard itself, a piano can make a lot of sounds we don’t normally think of. Check out The Piano Guys for a litany of examples, from plucking and poking strings to hand drumming on the soundboard to threading a frayed violin bow through the strings.

The cool thing here is breaking these rules doesn’t lead to any particular genre. You could end up doing pop covers like The Piano Guys, avant-garde craziness ala The Mars Volta, or even create hip-hop track.

There Are No Rules

Just like music in general, there are no rules with the piano (as long as you don’t destroy a piano that’s not yours!) You can stick with the tried and true and there’s a world of creativity to be had with such a versatile instrument, but if you get bored, run out of ideas or have a sticky problem you can’t solve, it may be time to do things a little wrong. You never know what might come of it!

—–

I‘m a singer, rapper and writer who uses the piano in a fashion that’s not always right. You can talk to me on social media @AaronJTrumm

Art vs. Science in Mixing – and Life?

This article first appeared in Recording Magazine. I reprint it here with permission, and I encourage you to subscribe to that publication, as they are a stand up bunch of folk!

If you haven’t read a book called “Zen and the Art of Mixing”, stop now, order it, and then continue reading this.

Now that you’ve done that, I’ll tell you a story. One day not long ago I was sitting in a plush lecture hall in the Westin hotel in Los Angeles, listening to a workshop on mixing by Rob Chiarelli. If you don’t already know, Rob is a Grammy winning producer and mixer, known for working with such acts as Will Smith, Christina Aguilera, Pink, LeAnn Rimes, Janet Jackson, Stevie Wonder…and on and on and on.

Needless to say, we were all excited to hear what Rob had to say, and there were many enthusiastic mixers ready with a host of questions. As you might imagine, some of those questions were quite technical, and I remember early on somebody in the back asked something I thought of as – well – a little nit-picky. LUFS on pre-master mix buss, or something along those lines. Something that although I have the capacity to understand, would never have crossed my mind to ask, in 25 years of making records. Naturally I felt stupid.

I was prepared for embarrassment, feeling sure that Rob would pontificate in great detail on the proper way to handle whatever it was, but was pleasantly surprised when Rob scoffed. I don’t want to say he called it a stupid question (he was very magnanimous) – but kinda.

Rob’s answer was basically this: does it sound good? Does it feel good? He did talk for some time in response to that question, but the lecture was about what matters in a mix, and that’s the song. If the thing feels great, it feels great. If it sounds great, it sounds great, and if you get so caught up in the technical mumbo-jumbo and fail to pay attention to the feel of the mix, you’ll probably mess it up.

That was a great relief, but in the next few minutes, Rob did talk about some very technical points, and he did end up addressing the question in some detail. What struck me was the deep understanding he had about the science of audio, as well as the overall goal. Here was a guy who has a grasp of the balance between art and science. He hadn’t scoffed at this question because he was stumped. Not at all.

It seems this is a pretty fitting analogy for life in general. We need to understand the details, and science has the been the way we’ve achieved most of what we take for granted now. It was a physicist (Loud Tommy Dowd) who gave us multi-track recording and the fader. An electrical engineer (Max Mathews) brought us digital audio. But when we get caught in the details and forget the reason for them, we risk losing the art entirely.

We’re seeing that battle a lot lately, not just in music. Science is being thrown away when it shouldn’t be, but so is its counterpart, faith. This is a dilemma as old as history. In college lectures on medieval history, we called it the battle of faith vs. reason. In every era one trumps the other and there are always consequences.

Perhaps this is what’s so magical about music and mixing. You really can’t get it right without both. Fail to understand the science and you’re left guessing, bumbling, and making mixes that sound like cats fighting or elephants dying. Skip the crucial details and you could find yourself overloading a speaker, losing a job, or recording silence at a once in lifetime performance.

Still, if you can’t step back and feel the music, let it tell you what it needs, and worry less about technical terms, peak meters and the next fancy plugin, you could end up making cold, dreary mixes that move no one. In fact, too much emphasis on the technical and you could end up with the same muddy, screechy mix as your head-in-the-clouds counterpart.

There are two abilities that set great mixers apart from mediocre ones. One is the ability to hear details – pick out the high-hat and hear that slight 3k resonance or hear the kick phasing just slightly with the bass. The other is to turn that type of listening off and hear the big picture. Listen to the way the mix grooves as a whole unit. Turn off the brain, notice the goosebumps, and feel your head nodding. The ability to be both analytical and emotional – sometimes simultaneously – is what makes a mixer truly amazing. It may even be what music is for.

It’s hard to be two opposite things at once, or at least we’re led to believe that. But I think in mixing, as in life, the great goal is balance. I think and I feel, therefore I am a musician.

So, if you ask me whether art or science is king in mixing, I’d say they share the throne. Whichever side you tend to lean toward, I encourage you to lean the other way sometimes. See what you can find by valuing both. Maybe you’ll be able to mix art and science a little better (pun fully intended). Either way, keep doing what you do.

—–

I’m always trying to learn more about balance, art, science and sound. If you want talk about it with me, find me on Facebook @AaronJTrumm

Favorite DAW? PShaw!

Why choose only one?

This article first appeared in Recording Magazine. I reprint it here with permission, and I encourage you to subscribe to that publication, as they are a stand up bunch of folk!

A long time ago, in a studio far far away, there were many people involved in a song production, and the process included separate, distinct parts, each role played by a professional specialist. There was tracking, done in a tracking studio by tracking engineers. There was mixing, done in a mix studio by a mix engineer. And there was the dark and mysterious process of mastering, done in a mastering studio by a golden eared audio god immersed in single-minded technicality.

Now? Not so much. Yes, the traditional process still happens, but more and more it’s all one big jumble, especially for those of us producing track after track on tight budgets.

Of course, what has made this possible is computing. Gone (mostly) are megalith tape machines, and in their place the all-powerful DAW – digital audio workstation. Everyone has their favorite. Some people hate all the others. Debates are waged. Articles are written. “How To Choose The Right DAW For You”. “Which DAW is best?” If it weren’t for the loudness wars, the sample rate wars, and the regular ol’ guns and ammo wars, the DAW wars might rage uncontrollably.

But what would it be like if the world of the DAW was all kumbaya and lovey-dovey? What if you didn’t have to choose just one? What if all DAWs had their place in a wonderful world of DAW inclusion?

Or at least what if you, as an all-in-one production team, realized there may be a reason to use more than one. If you think of audio as audio, and not as DAW projects stuck inside a particular format, there’s a whole world of possibility for improving workflow, sound, and creativity.

There are a few reasons for this. One may be obvious – certain DAWs are better suited to certain tasks than others. More than that, certain software may be better suited to your way of doing that task than others. Some DAWs have certain built-in functionality, or a unique sound, and yet don’t work well in other ways (for you). Certain DAWs may not run a favorite plugin or two, or embed video the way you like, or warp audio in a way that makes sense to you.

An argument can be made for warping yourself instead, learning how to most powerfully use your DAW’s features, and that’s definitely a good idea. Still, it’s nice to know there may be other options.

Another fabulous reason to use different software for different parts of the project goes back to the traditional way of doing things. If you’re a one-person production crew, it’s very helpful if you can get yourself in a different mindset for each part of the process. Exporting audio and changing software can go a long way toward that goal.

Indeed, that can be inefficient, but it can be super helpful.

That’s not all though. You may find yourself collaborating with people outside of your studio, and those people may not be using the same software. Wouldn’t it be nice if you were the genius who could handle multiple formats, change back and forth, work within someone else’s flow, and make everything come together?

And of course, having a working knowledge of multiple DAWs is quite helpful when you travel to a session at another studio and your preferred software isn’t available. Perhaps you’re a Cubase lover, but you don’t have a grand piano, and you’ve been granted access to a ProTools studio with a beautimous grand. You’re given the run of the place – as long as you can pilot the ship yourself. It might be nice to be competent with ProTools – and know how to bring the project back into Cubase.

It can be costly to run multiple platforms, admittedly. Although some very good software is free, and other packages are affordable enough that you could replace one you can’t afford with three you can. So multiple packages may be the way to go if your budget is extra tight. Or it may simply be the cost of doing business to maintain a wide array of options. It all depends on your situation.

Speaking of which, everyone’s flow is different, so we all have our quirky little setups. I’ll leave you with mine, just to give you an idea how things might come together.

Tracking: Cakewalk by BandLab. Or ProTools if piloting the aforementioned piano studio.
Editing: Cakewalk. I can’t wrap my head around ProTools editing, even after 25 years.
Voiceover editing: Audacity.
Loop based composition, warping, and live triggering: Ableton.
Mixing: Cakewalk, and then MixBus for final tweaks and that special MixBus sound.
Mastering: Reaper, because it seems to deal with my preferred plugins best.
MP3 Conversion: Sox, a command line tool. I wrote a script which uses Sox to make every deliverable I need in one fell swoop.

Yes, everything I do can be done in any one of the packages I use. But I find it freeing to move smoothly from one to another. Maybe you could too!

I work with Cakewalk, Ableton, Reaper, MixBus – and ok sometimes ProTools. We can argue about it on social media @AaronJTrumm.

It’s All About The Room

Why acoustic treatment should be your first expense

This article first appeared in Recording Magazine. I reprint it here with permission, and I encourage you to subscribe to that publication, as they are a stand up bunch of folk!

Being the adventurous, un-monied, and fairly non-famous soul that I am, I’ve been in a ton of low-end recording studios. Project studios, home studios, studios in strip malls, studios in cottages behind houses. I’ve visited rehearsal studios in Houston suburbs, band garages in Austin slums, electronica dens in Albuquerque, and video production suites in Oakland. I’ve also been in my fair share of commercial studios. And of course, I’ve built out countless bedroom studios of my own over the course of a 26-year career. Some were pretty bad, I admit.

That’s not to mention all the studio pictures I’ve seen and remote collaborations on Skype and Zoom. I’ve seen enough studio desks to last me a lifetime, and almost daily I see an image of some slick piece of gear I wish I had. Video monitors, big bad computers, control surfaces, pre-amps, mics, you name it.

It turns out that almost without fail, you can a tell a professional by the studio they keep – and it looks quite different than some might expect. You can also predict with reasonable accuracy how a recordist’s work will sound by looking around their room.

Given the topic of this issue, you may not be surprised to hear me say, it’s not the $50,000 Pro Tools rigs or high-end monitor switchers that make the difference. It’s not even the expensive preamps or vintage microphones (although those things don’t hurt).

What it comes down to is the room. Capturing audio is all about the space of course, but especially when it comes to mixing – we all know what a poorly responding room can do to a mix. So, it’s a harbinger of bad things to come when I walk into a studio that boasts $100,000 worth of shiny new equipment placed haphazardly in a hard square box.

Why does this happen? Who knows? Perhaps we gravitate toward the prestigious. Perhaps we need to be able to boast about our equipment to draw in clients. Perhaps we think acoustic treatment is only for top-tier, multi-million-dollar facilities. Maybe people just don’t know why or how to properly prepare a room for audio.

Whatever it is, that’s why we at Recording Magazine dedicate an entire month to monitoring and acoustics. And perhaps this issue should have come out in January, because your listening and recording environments should be the first thing you deal with.

Especially if you’re revamping or building a new studio, rather than spending as much money as possible on your recording computer, microphones, plugins, software, keyboards, and so on, start your spending (and your building) with the room.

Don’t be afraid of running out of money. With some ingenuity you can properly treat a standard bedroom for not much more than the cost of a Rode Condenser – if that. And you can make it look good too! Remember, you don’t need to build a million-dollar facility with 30-foot ceilings, non-parallel surfaces, and outer walls full of sand.

And here’s a tip: Although every room tests out a bit differently, the solutions are pretty much always the same. So, you can finish 90% of your treatment before you even pick out a pair of monitors. In fact, that’s what I’d recommend. Treat the room and make it sound great on its own before you even bring in the furniture. Then get some great monitors, bring them and the other gear in, and listen. Then, if you’re so inclined you can test the room and make tweaks.

It won’t take as much time as you may think, and it won’t cost as much as you may be afraid of. Make the quality of the space your first priority with monitors a close second and you’ll be working with a foundation that’s far better than most other studios.

It really is all about the room!

I work in a small, well treated room. I talk about acoustics quite a bit. I think about acoustics quite a bit. We can talk about acoustics a bit on Facebook if you want, @AaronJTrumm.

aaron-trumm

Mix Fu:

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Making money in music is scary. Subscriptions may help.

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Reach

Focus

Relationships

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Competition

Go forth and submit

Chasing the Timeless Sound

Does It Matter?

Timelessness

Just Keep Making

Recording Piano Wrong

How breaking the rules can transform your piano recordings

Oddball Placements

The Hole

Under The Piano

The Foot

Wrong Mics

Mess With the Piano

Play With the Playing

There Are No Rules

Art vs. Science in Mixing – and Life?

Favorite DAW? PShaw!

Why choose only one?

It’s All About The Room

Why acoustic treatment should be your first expense