The Evolution Of Evolutionary Mixing

June 22, 2021 by Aaron

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

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 modern recording process has been set for quite a while. It goes:

Pre-Production (writing/rehearsing, etc.)
Tracking
Mixing
Mastering

Keeping these processes separate and distinct has its advantages. For example, a well written song composed, arranged and rehearsed is usually tracked smoothly, with fewer problems than ill-conceived ideas, even with non-traditional music like electronica. Well arranged songs also lend themselves to easier mixing. Mastering, meanwhile, needs to be its own process, with new ears and different gear, and of course getting a break from long tracking sessions and coming back fresh for mixdown can not only be more effective, but more fun and rewarding too.

The process has proven effective, but in the past 5-10 years, I’ve noticed a new paradigm developing for many musicians and producers, myself included.

In traditional mixdown, we bring recorded, edited final tracks to a mix studio, call up the tracks on tape, MDM or DAW and use a console and outboard processing to create the final mix. We move faders, dial knobs, make patches, and if our console isn’t automated (ie: the ubiquitous Mackie 8-Buss), rehearse and perform moves and changes in real time, sometimes working in teams (“move over, Bob! I have to twist the mid-range NOW to create that EQ wahwah! Make sure you fade channel 2 while I engage the delay…”)

These are often one shot sessions, with hours of listening on multiple monitors, boom boxes, computer speakers and car stereos to achieve translatable mixes. This works, but what if you make a mistake, or find out the mix is too boomy in Walmart? Can you recreate that session? Do you have the time and money to rebook? You can attempt to recreate an analog session, but it is painful and rarely works (remember the knob/fader sheets that came in 8-Buss manuals?).

Of course, DAWS and automated boards make it easier. A ProTools mix can be called up again and again, sounding exactly the same, especially if no outboard gear is involved, and an automated console can do the same. However even an inexpensive digital board sits in a single (expensive) room and so does a hefty ProTools rig, so there wasn’t necessarily a huge change to the process when digital boomed.

However, when laptops got powerful enough to handle multi-track audio, there was a bigger shift. In my own work, that shift was immediate and dramatic. Suddenly mixes could evolve over time. I could take the laptop everywhere, checking mixes and making small tweaks in video edit suites, project studios, theaters, houses or strange headphones. Add mp3s and stronger internet, and suddenly I was sharing evolving mixes with band members or label partners remotely, reading emailed feedback and correcting mixes while at coffee shops or on planes. Not only was there no longer a time crunch every session, I was listening in different ENVIRONMENTS, which is great for translatability. The result was lower cost and better mixes.

That change in process levels the playing field a bit, giving more artists another way to strive for world class material; but it can also change the fundamental recording process. With the ability to quickly tweak and change mix parameters (and save old versions), dialing in the sound can start earlier in the chain. Mixes can evolve with the writing, which is great for genres where the mix is a fundamental part of the composition itself, and while it can certainly be a double edged sword, if managed right, it can also lead to a more integrated and rewarding experience over all, and sometimes even to smooth as butter traditional mixdown and mastering sessions later in the process. Not to mention, there is a new sense of freedom there that wasn’t there before, and we artists do love our sense of freedom.

I like to call it “evolutionary mixing”. I wouldn’t call it a replacement for the traditional workflow. As I said, there are reasons that workflow developed, and some of the freedom afforded with a new outlook can be problematic. Mixing while writing and tracking can cause a loss of perspective, for example, and sometimes easier processes foster laziness. There’s also plenty of reason to hire and learn from masters of the trade. Having a laptop and an attitude is great, but taking that material back to an old master can really create that earth shaking sense of bridging past, present and future.

Personally, I still do my best to compose complete pieces first before doing much tracking, I’m adamant about hiring a world class mastering house, and on my next project, I’ll be combining the evolutionary mixing approach during tracking and editing to put my creative spin on things with a more traditional mixdown later in the process done by a whole different (better) engineer.

That all said, it is exciting to see technology changing the process in a way that increases access and creates new art and inspiration, not only for up and comers, but also for salty veterans who may need a kick in the pants. After all, new process: new result.

I’ve been searching for a good mix for 27 years. Most of the best ones have evolved over a little time. I’m currently outside…in fact I just took the picture at the top of this… talk to me about this and other music, creativity, and outside related things on my socials… @AaronJTrumm on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

The Importance of Going Outside

June 15, 2021 by Aaron

aaron j. trumm, aaron trumm, do it yourself recording, health, home recording, nquit music, professional audio, professional music, recording, recording magazine, work life balance, work/life balance

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!

I was talking to a friend on Twitter (ironic start to this I know), and he sent me a picture of a beautiful lake. We got to talking about that lake, and how his habit was to take long walks around it. I said I thought it was important to go outside as much as possible, and he agreed. I told him there was a similar (former) lake outside my department in grad school, and that I’d head out there whenever I wasn’t in the studio, but back then, that wasn’t very often. He shared that a certain recent song production had been finished while walking around that lake with a friend, and it occurred to me that there’s more than one reason to get out of the chair and hit the fresh air.

As engineers, producers and musicians, most of us spend the majority of our time squirreled away in dark clubs and darker studios. Night is the preferred (or necessary) time of work for most musicians, and isolation from the world is necessary both acoustically and emotionally. This isn’t bad, but we spend our energy mercilessly in the studio – people who have never mixed a record have no idea how much physical energy it takes. That’s reason one to get outside. It can kill a person to sit in front of a mix desk or a computer all the time and never see the light. Sitting has even been called the new smoking. So, it’s important to get up, leave the room, leave the building, and go outside. Take a walk, get some more serious exercise, or just look at something natural.

My Twitter friend pointed out reason two with his story about the song. Inspiration comes from “refilling the well” (to paraphrase Julia Cameron), and if you sit too long in your own production, you can run out of perspective and ideas. Personally, I’ll probably never write a lyric about a pristine lake; that would be boring to me. But refilling the well is more about replenishing energy than direct and literal inspiration. Sometimes a walk around the lake just causes that last, elusive idea to come.

In this case, getting outside is both literal and metaphorical. We need to get outside of our heads, outside of the room, and outside of our own thinking. We need an outside perspective. That’s why there are mix notes. That’s why great mixers clear out the control room. There needs to be someone who wasn’t there the whole time to come in toward the end and give an outside perspective. Sometimes it may even behoove us to hire an outside mixer, producer or player, or take a project to an outside studio.

Reason three: Ears need breaks. Listening fatigue causes poor sonic judgement and especially if things are loud, ears can get damaged over time. Getting away from the sound at regular intervals is as important as keeping volumes reasonable and wearing ear protection. If you live in Manhattan, going outside may not help you here, but as I recall, it’s only about a 5 minute walk from Hell’s Kitchen to Central Park, so maybe all is not lost for you New Yorkers!

If health isn’t your bag, and inspiration is coming out your pores at all times no matter what, maybe reason four is enough to get you outside: You can’t get famous if you never meet anybody. One could argue that you can use the internet for that, but we all know that meeting people face to face is so much more powerful. Getting outside in this case just means out of your house, and you still may end up constantly in dark clubs, or once you achieve this fame, deep in penthouse suites drinking chardonnay and eating thousand dollar fish guts, but if you want that to last, I refer you to previous paragraphs regarding health.

I for one have changed the way I do business and make music. I get up in the morning now, I keep the windows and doors open 95% of the time, and I built my new office/studio in the sunniest room in the house. I never book a session longer than four hours (usually it’s two) and I stand up and walk out the front door repeatedly throughout the day. All-nighters are a thing of the past now, as is the romance of the dungeon studio.

For me, it’s more than just nature, sunshine and lakes, and it’s more than literally going outdoors. For me, it’s about work/life balance, something that people in other professions enjoy, but it seems that musicians usually don’t. For me, it’s about treating my dream job as WORK, and not a hobby, which means, I get to have a life outside of work/music. We don’t HAVE to be squirreled away all the time and miss the beautiful, varied, colorful things that live out THERE, not in HERE, just because we make music.

I may not ever meet my Twitter friend by the lake, but I’m glad he reminded me to take it outside. If you need me the rest of today, that’s where I’ll be.

I’m a vocalist, pianist, producer, engineer and – as you can see – writer. I’m currently outside, but when I come in, you can find me at @AaronJTrumm on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Feeding Back

June 8, 2021 by Aaron

aaron j. trumm, aaron trumm, do it yourself recording, get better at making music, improve my music, music critique, nquit music, recording magazine

Improving your tracks by soliciting critique

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!

Normally in the audio world we try to eliminate feedback. Nobody wants that high-pitched caterwauling ruining an otherwise perfect performance. That may also be how you feel about listening to someone’s opinion about your music, but the truth is outside opinions can be incredibly helpful.

Even if your goal isn’t a wildly successful professional career, getting an outside opinion or five can help you see what you’re missing in a way that time away from a track cannot. If you’re willing to take on the challenge, you can use these other opinions to dramatically improve your work. Just like a writer rarely submits a first draft to a publisher, a great song is hardly ever the first version. In fact, most great productions go through multiple iterations and some final versions are barely recognizable as the same song as version one.

That all said, there’s an art to soliciting feedback and using it wisely to improve a track. But done right, the circle of feedback, revision, feedback, revision is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal in the never-ending quest to sound better.

An Ever-Widening Circle

The first question that’ll come up when you’re ready to get critique is who to ask. Sure, you can ask just about anyone and if you know how to listen, every opinion will have value. But in practice you’ll probably want to strategize, both for time’s sake and for your own sanity. A good plan of action employed by many is the ever-widening circle approach.

The Inner Sanctum

Start with your closest and most trusted associates; the people who already believe in you, think you’re great, and you feel safe showing bad work to. This group may be the four or five members of your band, it may be the 2 collaborators on a long-distance project, or it may be your mother and your girlfriend.

This is the group you can show sketches to, to start to get an idea if a song is even worth your time to produce. This group is also well situated to feedback on multiple versions of a song and help as the song grows from an itty-bitty baby mp3 demo into a full-fledged mix. It’s helpful if one of this inner circle is an expert, but it’s equally helpful if at least one is not. Most important, they should understand you and your goals, and they should feel safe to be honest. This should not be a group that will say everything you do is great. That’s not helpful. They should, rather, know how great you CAN be, and hold you to that standard.

First Steps Into The World

Once your track starts to grow legs, you should start widening your circle. Seek out trusted industry contacts, other musicians and strangers who aren’t the general public. A good place to find new people at this stage are Facebook groups meant for production feedback. It’s helpful to be part of a few semi-private industry groups like MixMe where people bounce ideas and learn from each other.

The key at this stage is to present as finished a mix as you can, and then be willing to go back and change it. Luckily, these are not the days of 12-hour analog mix sessions that can never be recreated. Do a “save as” and create a new DAW file so you can implement changes without losing the older versions. If you ARE working in an all analog environment, you may consider having more people involved earlier in the process, and more people in the building when you mix.

It can be a hard pill to swallow to work hard on getting something to “finished” and then soliciting feedback, but once you start to involve strangers you want to put your best foot forward.

At this point, you’re still probably looking for general feedback, but you may start focusing down, maybe by seeking feedback from mix engineers on the mix, and songwriting experts on the song writing. Make sure to take notes on everything you hear good and bad, and don’t put your own filter on. If possible, try to implement every piece of feedback you get unless two people directly contradict each other. In that case, you’re the boss so use your veto power.

Going Semi-Public

Once you’ve solicited feedback from some fellow producers and extra friends and done a few more iterations, you’re probably feeling confident about the track. Now’s the time to get a little more public, and you can do this in a number of ways.

You could share the track on social media and wait for feedback. If you do it this way, it’s unlikely anyone will say anything bad to you, but you’ll be able to gauge how well the track is moving people by how extreme their responses are. If you get 3 comments on a Facebook post that say “neat. Great track, man,” that’s not a great response. It means people are being polite. If you get 43 comments that say “holy CRAP I love this SOOOOO much where can I download it PLEASE?” that’s a great response.

That’s a decent way to go about it, but in truth, it’s hard to get people to listen to songs on social media (a subject for a whole other article). If you’re really looking to test the track’s mettle, you may start reaching out to gatekeepers or professionals whose job is to critique songs. If you’re a Taxi member you can submit for feedback or find a listing to submit to and see what the screener says about the track. If the track gets accepted great, but you don’t really care yet, you’re just looking for feedback.

Another option is to submit your track to a service like Audiu, AudioKite (now a part of ReverbNation) or Fluence and read the reports. The feedback may or may not be specific enough for you, and your skin needs to be thick at this point, but the powerful part is these are not people that are trying to please you, and they’re anonymous.

At this point, it may be even harder than before to want to change things, because you’ll have worked hard, but if you’re willing, you can make your track just that much better. Just beware of one thing: context is decisive. That means that inside the context of you seeking “coaching”, you will probably never impress these people. Their job is to look for what’s wrong, so simply use what they say to polish up the track, and leave the accolades to your fans.

The Art Of Solicitation

Once you have an idea about who to ask, how do you ask? As is usual in any business interaction, the first rule is be civil, polite and humble. Be specific about what you need feedback on, and never ever answer back. When receiving feedback, especially face to face, it’s never helpful to defend a decision. This leaves people feeling unsafe to really open up, which will leave you in the dark about what they really think. Instead, simply nod, write down the note, and say thank you.

If you’re simply looking for people’s first responses, then you can simply ask “what do you think of this”, but as you move forward, you’ll probably have specific questions, like whether the mix is translating or if the lyrics seem trite. It’s good to let people know if the mix is just a rough and you’re looking for songwriting, or if the arrangement is set in stone, and you’re just looking for opinions on the bass. Whatever it is, being specific helps people narrow in on what you need and saves time and energy.

That said, it can be quite telling to NOT mention a particular problem you’re worried about. See if people notice it without you mentioning it. That’s a tell tale sign that your instinct was right and you need a change.

Of course, if you’re asking other musicians for feedback, be sure to be willing to help them on their tracks too! On most Facebook groups, the common etiquette is to feedback on other people’s work for a while before making your ask. People will be more familiar with you and feel more comfortable helping you.

Above all, be great with people, and receive all criticism with gratitude.

Giving Feedback

Since you’ll be reciprocating by helping people, you may want to think about how to give feedback in a way that creates a good relationship while still actually helping your fellow musicians grow.

The same basic rules apply. Be kind and courteous, and treat people with respect, even if they are brand new. Never pan work outright, and never criticize the person. A good rule of thumb when giving feedback is to assume everyone is a professional who knows what they’re doing. This means only providing feedback when asked, sticking to what’s asked for, and never talking down to people, even if they’re way newer than you.

You also don’t want to blow smoke. Just as with your work, it’s patronizing and unhelpful to simply say “yeah! Great stuff!” unless your mind is so blown that you can find nothing to improve. In that case, you will probably come up with something more anyway. By the same token, focusing entirely on a plethora of mistakes can be damaging and equally unhelpful.

So a good method to use is what management technique calls “the sandwich method”. This method is normally used to surreptitiously give negative feedback to employees, but when critiquing music can be the perfect approach. It goes like this: start with something positive, lead to something that could be improved, and end with something positive.

The key to the sandwich method NOT being disingenuous and manipulating is to really MEAN the positive parts. Find something that you truly like or love about the song, and lead with that. From there, move into the thing that you noticed that you think could be improved. Be specific, and offer an idea for something else to do. Then end with more positivity. That could be “great work!” or “can’t wait to hear the next version”, or even another specific thing.

For example, maybe your friend Joe asks you for general feedback on a song and the first thing you notice is a very muddy low end. Since that’s the first thing you noticed, you should listen again, and look for what you like. On second listen, you notice how great the songwriting is. So your feedback might go something like:

“Hey Joe! Wow this song is so well written. Amazing lyrics! I’m hearing some mud in the low end which obscures a couple lyrics, so I might try to carve out some 100hz in the bass and kick drum, and maybe look for other cuts in some of the ‘mud’ frequencies like 200 and 400-500hz. I’d love to hear it at that point. Really digging this one, can’t wait for the finished master!”

The best part about establishing this method of feedback is that if you boost people up while still actually helping them improve, they’ll do the same for you!

Go Around Again

Once you’ve got some good critique and a bunch of notes, obviously you’ll want to implement it. You’ll probably want to save a new DAW session file, and you may even want to make a couple of different versions at this point. Perhaps you’re not decided between one person’s idea that you make a song longer and another that you make it shorter. You can do a couple of versions and let them shoot it out. Or you may just make that executive decision. Either way, once you’ve implemented as much of the feedback as you can, go back around the ever-widening circle until you’re getting very little critique, and most importantly you feel satisfied and confident.

When you’re at that point, it’s time to put the song into the world, and after that don’t ask for feedback, because that sets up the context that the song is not finished. When you release to the general public simply project confidence and excitement. You’ll still get some unsolicited critique, and that’s ok. Carry that feedback forward and let it inform your next productions, and where and who you market the finished song to.

Wherever that leads you, you will find that vetting your work will give you confidence, better tracks and a lot more opportunity to interact with and work with people of like mind.

Here’s to feedback we want, and may you never hear the other kind of dreaded squeal again.

I’m a producer, singer and emcee who could have used some more vetting early on. Nevertheless, I’m now open to conversation on social media @AaronJTrumm.

Could It Be The Drums?

May 18, 2021 by Aaron

aaron j. trumm, aaron trumm, do it yourself drums, do it yourself recording, drums, home drum recording, home recording, nquit music, recording magazine

Modern use of drums is different now

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 just something about a live drummer. I’ve said this hundreds of times. Two records ago, I insisted on using a live drummer for every track. This was not easy to accomplish. In fact, I had to rebuild my home studio AND the drummer’s to finally get what we wanted. The result was of course dynamic, awesome, difficult to record and hard to mix, but ultimately super satisfying.

When I went to do the next record, I was really going for modern, and I wanted tracks that would work well for licensing, where new and hip is everything. When we listened to the previous record, one thing jumped out at us: It sounded a bit dated. “What could it be?”, I wondered. Oh my god, could it be the drums?

You may have read something very similar in my article “Changing Of The (Pick) Guard” last year in Recording. It seems that my love for real guitars, real drums and real bass led to a place of sounding old.

That’s a bit disturbing, seeing as how we often lament a declining use of live musicians. So I looked deeper, and the news is encouraging. Let’s dive into how (and a little of why) drums have changed, so that you’re equipped to stay fresh.

It’s Not Just The Instrument

There are a million ways to hit a drum or make a rhythm. Even the standard trap kit came about as a result of tampering with the known. So it stands to reason that HOW drums are used, regardless of the kind of drum or whether it’s played by a person, will evolve. Of course, the opposite is also true. As tools change, so does the music made with them. When it comes to drums, or more broadly, rhythm, there has been a lot of evolution.

With the trap kit came a style of play that lent itself to the way the kit was built. That, in turn, grew and spread, until many different styles of play emerged. In Jazz especially, virtuosity has battled with emotional impact for top priority for decades, and there are easily discernable eras where each ethos has come out on top.

Similarly in rock, hip-hop, indie rock, pop and any other rhythm-based music, trends tend to oscillate, and there’s a real tendency for some genres to emphasize the skill of the drummer, while others strip down. Rock has mainly turned into “indie” or “alternative”, and rhythms have simplified, even when there’s a live drummer on board. Metal, on the other hand, has remained metal to the core, and intricacy is key there. In fact, metal drums, characterized by the blast beat, are more intricate, full and detailed than ever.

In pop, drums are often de-emphasized as pop productions seek to stand out from the crowd. In the face of a thousand big monster tracks, pop producers are now trending toward sparse tracks. The R&B /hip-hop track on the stereo in this coffee shop, for example, consists entirely of an 808 kick drum and a kind of bell click that replaces a snare. There are no cymbals, no hi-hat, and no other percussion elements. Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You” de-emphasizes drums as the main focus, instead opting for a similar 808 kick that appears in the chorus. Over the course of the song, other 808 elements are added that add to the emotional build of the song, but on a conscious level are barely noticeable. Drums in that song are cool, but they don’t define the rhythm. An acoustic guitar does that.

The buildup over time of a track is common in pop now, and that’s a big change from a more traditional approach, where the drums are the solid, predictable element in a song. So, for pop or pop-like productions, sparseness and change over time seem to be the order of the day (for now).

In alternative rock (which often doesn’t sound like rock to a 90’s kid) very simple four on the floor beats or straight 8s are more common than funky grooves, and although there are live drummers in these bands, fills and big cymbals are less common, at least on the records. Listen to Muse’s “Uprising” or “Wish I Knew You” by The Revivalists for examples. Contrast those tracks to older rock tracks like Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” or “I Don’t Care No More” by Phil Collins. One could say that this indicates a lack of mastery on the part of modern bands, but I think it may have more to do with an attempt to get musicianship out of the way of the emotional message. It’s also a heck of a lot easier to mix a record that has a simple drum track.

In electronica, beats have gotten more complex rhythmically, while (at times) remaining more sparse timbrally. Half-timing and syncopation are more common. Double-timed drum tracks as in drum-n-bass are so 2001. Think about a track like Clams Casino’s “I’m The Devil”. Of course, there’s a huge crossover between hip-hop and electronica, and in that realm, there’s a return to the classic TR-808 and 909 sounds. In this world, live drummers have never been common, and the attempt to fake a real drum sound usually fails, so producers go all in on samples and strange timbres, making no attempt to sound “real”. Or they throw back to big samples or the 808 kick/snare. This has always been the case in these genres, but now it’s easier than ever to come up with an interesting new sound or conjure up a well done 808 sample. Still, while basic rhythms may be more complex, there are fewer rhythmic accoutrement like quick fills, flams or 32^nd and 64^th note craziness.

It COULD Be The Instrument

Above, we talked about changes to how rhythm tracks are designed musically, but there’s also plenty of evolution in the realm of timbre choice, and what instrument is being used to create rhythms. Obviously it’s not always a live drummer, but even when it is, different timbral and mix decisions are made nowadays. There’s a lot of throwback going on in this area. Gated snares are making a comeback in alternative rock and even in electronic genres, and as I mentioned above, the 808 snare has returned in a big way (808 kick drum sounds have remained a staple ongoingly). The TR-909 isn’t far behind in usage, but these two classics aren’t always being used to create a retro vibe. Instead, they’re often part of a lush, more legato landscape accompanying highly autotuned R&B or half-timed rap.

In the “rock” type genres, much use is now made of epic tom sounds and big reverb, but sparingly as opposed to throughout songs. Refer back to the fills that do occur in Uprising, or in many Imagine Dragons songs.

Not surprisingly, in electronica genres that aren’t hip-hop or R&B, there’s a wealth of creativity, especially when it comes to snare drums. Stereo spread sounds are common, and the use of claps and snaps on the basic 2 and 4 instead of snare is common. Snare sounds sometimes play support roles, and it’s not uncommon to see an instrument change over time or in choruses. Big snappy snares show up in boom-bap type tracks like “Shine On” by SomeOthaShip, accompanied by old school rap with some twist on the use of classic synths. While we’re on that subject, the “analog” or “8-bit” sound is all the rage in some circles. Check out Suzi Analogue’s “NRG NRG” for a great example of a NOT sparse rhythm track, using throwback sounds, multiple snares, and a completely out of this world and totally modern take on the use of “8-bit” synths.

Outside of metal, cymbals are often de-emphasized, and from a mix-engineer’s point of view, that’s not surprising. Cymbals are very noisy at high frequencies, and it can be difficult to mix them, especially if you’re new or less well equipped, which more and more producers and engineers are. In metal, though, the drummer’s ability to wreak havoc with steel is crucial!

It Could Be Both

I mentioned earlier that the tools often influence the music itself, and of course this is true for drums. It’s common knowledge that access to resources (or the lack thereof) plays a big role in how the newest music sounds, and lack of certain resources can create a world of creativity. Fewer young people have access to traditional music training now, and access to great “real” instruments and recording technology has always been rare. But most everyone has a laptop, and because speed and space is now enough, some interesting and surprising things have happened. Now you CAN access a real recording of a real drummer on a real kit in a real studio, recorded separately and correctly. Packs like Loop Loft or Drums On Demand can give an average Joe access to world class real drums, and of course some people still actually record them.

The point is, there’s no longer a question of whether the drums on a song are made by a real drummer or a drum machine. It’s very often both. This isn’t a new concept, as drum replacement plugins have been around for a long time now, and before that triggers allowed replacements to be made from old school drum machines like the Alesis D4 of old. Now, though, it’s common to see layers and combos. A trained ear can usually still hear when the track is truly just a drummer in a room banging away, but the line has been seriously blurred, and it’s not always clear who did what.

Some common occurrences are the combo of an electronic kick sound like a 909 or 808 with real snare, live drums appearing in choruses, use of programmed hi-hats to tighten up live tracks, layering snares and kicks, and augmenting sampled drum loops or programmed tracks with sparse real cymbal crashes in strategic spots. Combining modalities isn’t necessarily new, but it’s certainly an easier thing to do now, and thus, it’s done a lot more (even in metal).

It Could Be The Mix

It’s not just the method of capture or creation that changes how a drum track sounds and feels. That is probably a no-brainer, but it’s still worth mentioning. How drums are mixed in modern songs is also something of an evolving process. First of all in many genres, especially electronica, the mix develops along with the production. It’s not uncommon for the entire mixdown of a song to be done in Ableton or another creative DAW on the fly, and this means how drums and other instruments are emphasized can be more intimately woven into the fabric of the song itself than in a traditional setting, where a group is recorded and then mixed later. This doesn’t necessarily mean anything in particular, but it seems that this process can cause a de-emphasis on things (like cymbals) that might be harder to integrate into a mix.

Even in traditional mixdown situations, what we do with the drums can be incredibly variable. Early on the days of stereo, it was common to put the entire kit in one speaker (think Beatles). Low end elements like kick drums played a crucial role, but not the boom that we use them for now. This was mainly due to the limitation of vinyl. On a vinyl record, low frequencies take up more physical space, allowing for less play time and in extreme cases, a big boomy note can cause the needle to skip. Now that’s not an issue, so we can do (mostly) what we want with the low end. So, recordings after the days of vinyl tend to boom of more. As time has gone by, this has become more and more true. Even when mixing real drums, kick drums tend to be severely manipulated with cuts to mid and high frequencies, emphasis on the lows, compression, and a “rounding” of the sound. This isn’t particularly new either, but it’s still common.

Snare sounds have tended toward the throw back in the past few years, with more and more gating and softening of the high-end snap, and emphasis on the heavy thump around 200 khz or so. If not that, we see the exact opposite. In hip-hop and R&B it’s more and more common to use a very thin snare sound (which is easy to do with an 808 snare). Of course, we still see some cracky snappy snares, usually in throwback hip-hop tracks or in electronica.

In general, drums are mixed cleaner, tighter, more compressed these days, and in pop genres, less emphasis is placed on hugeness, and more on clean support of the vocal message. There’s far less use of long reverbs, and while drum sounds aren’t necessarily totally dry, they’re definitely more forward and present, even when they’re quieter in the mix. Harsher high frequencies are emphasized less, and in general drum mixes have more space. Even some classic songs have been redone with a subtle but noticeable change in the amount of space the drums leave for other elements.

It Could Be Everything

In the end, all of the elements of modern recording and production have evolved and changed. The process of writing we use, the instruments and sounds available, the way we capture, the way we mix and even the REASON we do it have all morphed, shifted and continue to change. Drums have always been the biggest challenge in production, and they’re often the main thing that makes a track either super cheesy or really fresh. They’re almost always the element I point to when a track just doesn’t work for me or sounds amateur or dated. Creativity and innovation in this area is a major indicator of awesomeness, so it’s not surprising how much drum tracks have changed in the last few years.

So, it really is everything! There are a million variables involved, and there are really no rules, so how you approach your rhythm track is up to you. If you want more ideas, you can check the Recording archives for my articles “Keeping The Rhythm” parts 1 and 2 (acoustic and programmed, respectively).

Hopefully, this brief and informal discussion of the ever-changing rhythm track combined with those pieces will help you in your next project! Go forth and make rhythm!

I play Chinese drums, produce records and pet cats. Talk to me on social media (aka Facebook) @AaronJTrumm.

Keeping The Rhythm – Part 2

July 28, 2020 by Aaron

aaron j. trumm, diy drums, do it yourself drums, do it yourself recording, drum programming, drum recording, drums, MIDI drums, nquit, recording magazine

DIY Drums – Part 2 – Programming

This article first appeared 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!

Last month, I talked about recording acoustic drums yourself within whatever limitations you have. This month, we’re expanding the conversation into programmed drums. Just like last month, the main thing I want you to get is inspiration to experiment and maintain your relentless pursuit of cool.

If you’re an EDM producer, dubstep guru or drum n bass oldie, programming drums is your bag. You may also be a singer/songwriter looking to do something fresh, an electropop person making licensable, “current” records, or you may just be completely without mics or recording space, relegated to headphones and a laptop, trying to make something sound “real”.

That last scenario is the root of all electronica, including hip-hop, and the thousands of genres that have been created over the last 30 years should be a testament to the idea that limitations really can be the mother of creativity.

Whatever your Reason (pun intended), here you are, wanting to make a sick drum track, or at least tastefully augment your tune. First, let’s talk about “reality”.

Keepin’ It Real

The first question when you start any drum track is whether you want it to sound like a real drummer. When you’re doing rock n roll, singer/songwriter, world or other “natural” music, the answer may be yes. In that case, start with my article on acoustic DIY drums from last month’s Recording. People aren’t easily fooled, and my experience is the more I try to make programmed drums sound “real”, the less “real” and legitimate they actually sound. Rather, I recommend letting an electronically created track sound electronic. That’s not to say you won’t have acoustic elements, but let each part do what it what it does best.

That doesn’t, however, mean you shouldn’t employ some techniques that people might refer to as making a track sound more “human”.

To begin with, picture a drummer. She has two feet and two arms at most. More than 4 different drum hits at the exact same time might not make sense to the ear. Then again, it depends on what they are. You can certainly get away with conga laid over drum kit, for example, because that could be a whole other person.

Another thing about human drummers is they’re never computer-perfect. Try using your software’s swing or groove-quantize (Figure 1) to create a more human feel. If swing doesn’t work, try sliding hits around a hair to make them a little less uniform in time. This is a technique not well suited for techno and dance genres but if you’re aiming for something more “real”, it could help.

Subtly randomizing velocity, phase or pan is great too, especially for hi-hats, to make the track more “lifelike”. Even if you’re not going for a natural sound, programmed hi-hats can get pretty boring and lifeless, so messing with them is often a good idea. I’m a fan of a little distortion and subtle (or not) auto-panning on programmed hi-hats.

All that said, if you need real sounding drums, another way to achieve that which wasn’t available even a few years ago is to use live loops. Loop libraries like Loop Loft use real live drummers to play loops and fills you can use. Some freelance drummers even keep loops lying around that they’ll sell or even give you, if you’ve got a good relationship!

I wasn’t a huge fan of loop libraries before multitrack versions started showing up; a pre-mixed stereo loop is too hard to mix and too generic-sounding. With separated tracks, though, you can treat them like you would anything delivered by a session drummer. EQ to taste, pan how you want, use distortions, compressors and pitch shifters, and make it your own. You can even stretch or compress to change tempo (within reason).

BYOB – Bring Your Own Beats

Most drum tracks created electronically make no attempt to sound like real drums. This is great, because what used to be a limitation is now an unlimited palette of options. This may be overwhelming, but like I said last month, you can start by thinking of the functionality of a drum kit.

My usual process is pretty typical. First I build a virtual “kit”, by picking a kick sound I like, then snare, then hat, etc. I make a basic pattern while I do this, usually starting with kick/snare. If you do this work for long, you’ll realize there are only a few workable kick/snare patterns in 4/4. You can always experiment, say by changing time signatures, but it’s not necessarily bad to start with a tried and true four-on-the-floor “pop” pattern. The pattern itself is only the first of many places you can be unique!

You can build drum patterns any number of ways. You can use a pattern editor (Figure 2), which is how old drum machines work, you can step enter into your MIDI sequencer (Figure 3), you can play live using your MIDI interface (Figure 4) and then quantize (or not), or you can copy/paste actual samples or MIDI data right into a timeline, such as with Ableton (Figure 5).

If you enter MIDI data rather than audio samples, you can easily experiment with different patches, or create remixes later by using different sounds with the same pattern. In any case, avoid placing different drum sounds all on the same track. Just like with acoustic drums or loops, you want separate kick, snare, hat, etc. tracks so you can control and manipulate properly in the mix. You can get away with having some stereo loops here and there, but you’re usually much better off giving yourself some mix control.

If you’ve played your MIDI performance simultaneously into one track, say by doing kick/snare or kick/snare/hat all at once, simply create a new track, select only one instrument (eg kick) using the filtered selection option (Figure 6), and cut/paste to a new track. If you don’t have this option, you may be able to route different patches to different outputs on your device or any number of other things to get your tracks separated. If there’s no way for you to do that, then play one part at a time.

Be Cool

Creating basic patterns is pretty easy, but you want them to be cool. Think of your basic pattern as a roughed in Michelangelo’s David. You can see that it’s him, but now it’s time to start chiseling in that six pack.

One of the best ways to improve a groove is with what I like to call tiered turnarounds. Consider this basic pattern:

If you loop this, you’ll notice an odd sensation of wrongness when it repeats. The second measure needs variance. So instead, I might do this:

That feels better, but on measure 4, we get a similar sense of wrongness, so I’d add another variant, a bit more like a fill.

I usually take this out to 8 measures, where I might even use both the last 2 measures as “fill”. Once I have an 8 measure groove, I feel more comfortable repeating it. Each of these little variances or fills, which usually happen over proportionately longer periods of time (ie: a quarter of the length of the loop) is basically a turnaround, which creates the feeling of balance in a passage. The number of tiers and variances you use may vary, but the concept is to create a push-pull while repeating. You don’t really want to NOT repeat – that would be chaos, but turnarounds work with repetition to keep the listener engaged. The same concept can be applied to any kind of riff – guitars, pianos, bass, etc.

Oh Yeah, The Song!

Hopefully you’ve already been considering the song as a whole, but if you haven’t, this is a good time to refer again to the song itself. Once you’ve got one pattern you like, consider a larger variance or different pattern altogether for your chorus, and maybe a third for your bridge. The song should have informed your basic pattern, and it will probably inform your chorus, and it should certainly inform you what to do with the bridge and other odd sections.

Thinking of the song as an arrangement when you’re building drums is one of the best ways to make your rhythm track stand out from the crowd, even if you’re starting with drums, and even if you’re not going for a standard song structure. If you’re going for a build over time track or a trance track with subtle progression, do these things in the drum track as well as any other instrumentation, rather than letting the drum track plod along with no change.

Once you’ve got an arrangement, start augmenting with effects, variable velocities, new parts, and even recording acoustic parts to go along, if you can. If you’re using hardware synths, you should probably record that audio to the DAW now, so you’re not fumbling around when you try to mix. This is a good opportunity to use cool things like tubes or even more drastic effects to give the tracks even more life, grit or uniqueness. Make sure to mute and record one by one (or use your synth’s L/R or aux outputs strategically) so you still have separated tracks. Don’t just record the whole stereo mix from the synth, especially if you’re sending tracks to a mix engineer.

Timbre And Flavor

Once you’ve got some cool sounds, killer patterns and an arrangement that doesn’t just drone on, try going back to timbre. Is anything off? Does your snare fit, is the kick awesome? You’ve probably already found some cool sounds to start with, but no matter what they are, they probably came from a sample pack or a synth, which means other people have access to them. That means you should start making the track your own. You might try layering certain tracks to strengthen them or make them cooler, or try adding elements in certain sections. You may even change something like the snare in a chorus or bridge, or bring in a vastly different sound for a one measure breakdown. Look at your arrangement again and see if there’s anywhere you can cut the drums entirely, or break down to just hats, or kick.

At this point, your track probably sounds pretty cool. You’ve probably already laid in any other tracks, if you’ve got them, and you’re well on your way toward a mix. You may have spent 4 hours, and you may have spent 4 weeks. Either way, it’s probably time to go outside!

Hopefully you’re inspired now to experiment and search. Drum tracks, like anything in the record making process, are a matter of purpose, an open mind and that relentless pursuit of cool. Groove on, baby!

I’ve been programming drum tracks for long on 25 years (well…more now I guess), and I’m still pursuing cool. Talk to me about it on Facebook or Twitter @AaronJTrumm

Capturing Your Voice

March 31, 2020 by Aaron

aaron j. trumm, aaron trumm, capturing your voice, do it yourself recording, home recording, music, nquit, recording magazine, recording on a budget, recording rappers, vocal recording

Vocal recording in a home studio

This article first appeared 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!

It’s a fine art, hearing your recorded voice and not dying of shock. But let’s assume you’re over that, and that you’re not accustomed to $500,000 recording budgets. You’d probably still like to record your vocal tracks professionally and efficiently. Whether you’re a crooner, a diva, a rapper or a writer recording demos, cutting a great vocal track at home is very doable.

Let’s dive into that process, so you have the tools to record vocals you can be confident about. I’ll talk from the point of view of a vocalist recording their own vocals, but everything applies to recording someone else in your space.

There are two major things you need to accomplish in any recording session, and it’s no different for vocals. First you need a killer performance. Next you need to capture it cleanly. Let’s tackle those in reverse order.

Recording

Before you think about your performance, let’s take away everything that would get in the way, and make sure when you hit your stride, it’s getting on tape. We’ll go from the ground up, starting literally with the room.

Acoustics

It doesn’t matter what your mic or voice is like, if your space isn’t right, your track won’t be right. There are a few ways you can go about adjusting your space, but the main is keep noise and unwanted room reflections out of your track. If you have a room that’s a little bit live and sounds awesome, that can be great sometimes, but I wouldn’t recommend printing a lot of reverb on most tracks. What I’m usually looking for is a super dead and even sound, so I have flexibility later. The best way to do this is in a booth. You can purchase a fancy vocal booth, or you can build one. I’ve always been fond of a coat closet, either treated completely, evenly and thickly with acoustic treatment like Auralex foam or ridged fiberglass, or chock full of clothes. My favorite vocal booth was a little bedroom closet we called “The Old Man Clothes Room”. It was full of about twice as many clothes as really fit, because I’d inherited a wardrobe from a friend of the same size who passed away. That “booth” was dead, quiet, and perfect.

What you don’t want is to stand inside a closet without a good amount of treatment. If you were to stand in an empty closet, for example, your track would sound incredibly boxy and probably nasally or wooden. You don’t want to stand in a normal sized bedroom with no treatment whatsoever, as you’ll have similar room reflection issues. No matter what you do, do not put yourself in a corner facing in. If you feel like you can’t treat your room at all, and you have no booth or closet, you could try vocal reflection filters like the sE Reflexion Filter or the Aston Halo Reflection Filter. These small “filters” surround a mic and block reflections. They’re ok, but they don’t really prevent reflections from the room behind and above you from coloring your sound. In a pinch, this may be better than nothing, but if you can, deal with your room. It’s not hard to do something quick and dirty like hang tons of blankets up or surround yourself in mattresses. Be creative.

The advantage of a booth over recording near your desk is that you can isolate better from gear noise. If that’s not an option, see if you can quiet your computer down by baffling reflective surfaces, or move your vocal position away, and/or use a directional mic aimed away from gear. If you’re in a booth or another room, you can use a remote or set up some lead in before the song so you can get into position. At home, where my mic is about 4 steps from the desk, I usually give myself 8 measures of click before the song, and then have the click turn off.

Speaking of noise, you will contend with noisy streets, barking kids and crying dogs. If you have the money, you can build a truly isolated room, but that’s rarely an option, so timing is your best friend. Understand when the quiet times are in your space and use that knowledge to your advantage. That may not be at night. I once had a studio that was very quiet EXCEPT at night, when crickets would blare outside the window.

Mic Choice

The “best” vocal mic is really the one you can afford that is compatible with your voice. That said, a large diaphragm condenser of some kind is probably your best bet. See if you can get a local music store to let you test some. I use an AKG 414, which I love for its detail, but sometimes I find it harsh for my tenor belting. You might find it perfect, or terrible. I’m quite fond of Rode’s selection of affordable condensers, and I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Slate VMS lately (that’s a mic and emulation package which could give you some nice options if you’re recording other people). It’s also nice to have a good directional dynamic on hand. Sometimes a classic Shure SM57 can surprise you. A ribbon might be a nice choice, especially for softer vocals, but try not to scream into it – most ribbons are very delicate.

Don’t just spend as much money as possible. A U87 is a pretty awesome piece of equipment, but it may not be right for your voice. When you’re shopping, start by asking friends or Facebook groups, and be sure to explain what kind of vocalist you are. Whatever you do, get a pop filter, or make one from a coat hanger and some panty hose. Of course, remember that the better your space, the better the mic will do.

Signal Chain

You can spend a lot of money on preamps and vocal processors, and there are a lot of really cool choices out there. The main thing you need is a preamp that you trust that delivers a clean sound, and a way of recording. I’ll assume you’re already set up with some kind of DAW and interface, and you’ve given some thought to the workflow and signal quality there. If you’re looking for a special vocal preamp, the advice is the same as for mic choice. Shop around, keeping in mind the type of vocals you’re recording, the style and your budget. I use a single ART Tube MP preamp, because I like the sonic flavor and the limiter comes in handy. That’s a pretty cheap piece of equipment, and most gear snobs would scoff, but it’s simple and effective. If you’re not planning on recording multiple tracks, you can save a bunch of scratch by going high quality, one channel. Don’t necessarily opt for a tube pre just because it’s cool. Again, test and ask, and find a mic/preamp combo that works for you.

Once you’ve got your gear in place, do a bunch of level checking, and get your gain structure right. Make sure you’re not sending a distorted signal to your interface, or too low a signal. Make sure your gear is clean and well organized, and while we’re at it, organize the space efficiently. Run your audio cables so that you don’t trip on them and keep them away from power cables and other noise sources. Standard studio stuff.

If you want, you can use a hardware compressor in your vocal chain. Put that between the preamp and interface. If you do this, I recommend subtle settings. You can compress more later, but you can’t “uncompress” later. Some subtle compression or limiting can help you keep your vocal signal even, and that can be nice. A lot of vocal preamp units come with built in compressors and/or EQs, and that could be handy, but I would be judicious about using EQ when recording.

In general, I wouldn’t print any other effects like reverb or delay onto your main vocal track, but if you want to use them to influence your performance, you can always record them separately if you have the channels. I usually just record dry and decide on effects in the mix.

Headphones

You’ll need some kind of headphones. For my money, the most important thing in your vocal recording headphones is that they make you feel inspired. It helps if you can hear everything, and it would be awesome if they didn’t bleed into the mic. This is truly a matter of taste. Some vocalists like to take one ear off so they can hear themselves better. I (usually) like to get a really great mix in the cans, so I feel like I’m already in a record. You might try an earbud type if you’re worried about bleed. I use the classic Sony MDR-7506s. The main point here is, do some work to get your headphone mix to the best place for you, in a way you can repeat. This isn’t a place I normally do a lot of experimenting.

Speaking of repeatability, work up front to get your setup wired in permanently. Create templates in your DAW, set up your tracks the same way every time, and permanently install your vocal station and signal chain. Having everything ready to go at the push of a button will do more for your energy and inspiration than any other one thing. The one exception is you don’t want to leave a condenser or ribbon mic up on the stand in the room. Just disconnect and put that away for protection, but don’t rewire the whole chain every time you want to record.

Performance

Now for the important part! Everything we’ve done so far is just ground work so the process of capturing is as transparent as possible and nothing gets in the way of what you have to say and how you have to say it.

You probably noticed by now that performing in a studio is vastly different than on stage (or in the shower). Some people thrive on a stage and shrink in a studio. Some people seem to be perfect in the studio and can’t find a pitch on stage. To get what you’re looking for in your recordings, you’re going to need to know yourself a little, and know what you’re trying to create. Are you trying to create a perfect replica of your live self? Are you trying to be perfect, clean and beautiful? Are you going for a sound that just can’t be done on a stage? This could be drastically different from song to song, but at least if you know where you’re headed and how you tick, you can get there.

Some things won’t change much. First of all, take care of your instrument. Recording isn’t different from performing in that you need to be properly warmed up, hydrated, and fueled. Some beginners make the mistake of thinking “oh I’m just doing the one song”, not realizing that you might have to sing for 3 hours solid to really capture that “one song”.

With that in mind, rehearsal is your friend. Earlier in my career, I felt a great pressure to cut a track the instant I figured out what I wanted to do, often while I was writing. While that method has some merit (spontaneity, etc), I no longer do that. I make a point of NOT turning on the mic when I’m writing. Instead, I “capture” the performance by rehearsing it a bunch while I write (which means I warm up even before I WRITE songs), and subsequently for a few days or even weeks until what I wanted to capture is captured IN ME. Later, I set up a session much like I might in a studio and perform what is now a well-rehearsed song. I need far fewer takes this way. Plus by this time its usually memorized, which gives me more room to “perform” and keeps me from rattling papers in front of the mic (a music stand solves that problem, too!). If you’re afraid of losing an idea, you can “jot it down” with a simple voice recorder app.

Of course, this may not work for you. You may feel an inexorable need to write (or learn, if you don’t write) and record simultaneously, and you may be completely happy with the results when you do. If so, do that but be willing to go back later if you need to. The great advantage of having a home studio is you can come back as much as you need to get it right.

The other advantage is comfort. As a vocal engineer, the job is largely to take care of the singer in the room so they’re comfortable and can perform their best. As your own engineer, the job is the same. Treat yourself well. Have tea, water or whatever comfort drink you need (but understand that slurring can occur with too much of certain beverages), record when you feel fresh, inspired and confident, and make the room the way YOU want it. Maybe you want cave-like darkness. Maybe inspired mood lighting. I generally like day time sessions, with plenty of light and nature visible. But this can change. Some songs require a new vibe, and it’s ok to give yourself the vibe you need.

You may also consider having an audience (or not). Once I’m confident with a song, a few people in the room or even just a video camera causes me to turn on my “performer” self a little better. However this can sometimes mess with my accuracy. Other times, I prefer absolute privacy, with no one else even in the building. You’ll need to find your own balance and listen to yourself.

As far as position, some singers like to sit or get on a stool, and some like to stand. It’s your choice, but in general I would recommend standing. It’s standard in studios to set the mic a hair above singers so they have to look up just a tad. This opens the chest for better breathing. I’d try this if I were you, but don’t crank your neck. Depending on your room acoustics, you may be better off stepping back 2 or 3 feet from the mic. You might feel a bit freer this way, and if the room is right, it can open up the sound. If you’re closer than about a foot and a half, use your pop filter. Even if you’re decently far away, you’ll want to cultivate the ability to really express yourself while not moving the position of your face, so you get an even recording. This is a tricky skill which usually causes stiff performances at first, but you can master it with practice.

Generally, what you want is to find the positioning and set up that gets your mind off the mic, the recording and the technical stuff as much as possible.

Finally, a word on editing and feedback. First, I wouldn’t edit too much while you’re in performance mode, unless you’re very comfortable with the DAW, such that being in that “techie” space for a second doesn’t take you out of “artist” mode. I tend to drag the front and back tails off my takes so I’m not cleaning noise later, but I don’t comp takes during a vocal session.

Next, once you’ve got it down, perhaps after an editing session where you’ve paired down to your best couple takes, or made a comp’d take using parts from your favorites, get feedback. Even though you’ve worked hard to get it “right” already, the best thing you can do for your quality in general is use feedback and be willing to revise. Since you’re recording in your space, it’s not like it costs $150 an hour to do so! That’s the biggest advantage you have.

Go Forth

It can be a challenge to be the engineer and artist simultaneously, and if you’re a vocalist and not an audio person, setting up your studio may seem daunting, but the truth is it’s all very doable. Just do some diligent ground work getting your workflow right, do some good checking and rechecking to get your signal sounding good, then concentrate on your best performance. Ease and efficiency are all about preparation, and that’s something anyone can do! Go forth and vocalize!

do-it-yourself-recording

The Evolution Of Evolutionary Mixing

The Importance of Going Outside

Feeding Back

Improving your tracks by soliciting critique

An Ever-Widening Circle

The Inner Sanctum

First Steps Into The World

Going Semi-Public

The Art Of Solicitation

Giving Feedback

Go Around Again

Could It Be The Drums?

Modern use of drums is different now

It’s Not Just The Instrument

It COULD Be The Instrument

It Could Be Both

It Could Be The Mix

It Could Be Everything

Keeping The Rhythm – Part 2

Keepin’ It Real

BYOB – Bring Your Own Beats

Be Cool

Oh Yeah, The Song!

Timbre And Flavor

Capturing Your Voice

Recording

Acoustics

Mic Choice

Signal Chain

Headphones

Performance

Go Forth