Finding Your Groove-Pro Audio Gods PODCAST

Finding Your Groove-PODCAST

Finding Your Groove in the Wonderful World of Music and Recording

I'm an audio engineer (live and studio), producer, musician, and author. Anyone who makes it into the world of music an audio, eventually develops a skillset that includes some musical insights, some technical insights, a formidable desire to succeed, passion for great music/audio, and a huge capacity to persist where others might give up! 

Through school, hard knocks, online courses, and now a healthy dose of Google, it's possible to build a very functional technical and/or artistic skillset. But, a very exciting part of the journey through a career focused on the disciplines of music and audio is the realization of where you fit into the mix—or sometimes where the mix creates a you-sized hole. 

It used to be that everyone wanted to work in a big fancy recording studio because that was the ticket to being part of great music—I still love recording and producing projects in a big fancy studio, by the way. But your skillset, today, can take you into so many exciting activities that you never even thought about loving to do. 

Granted, music production at the highest level is available to all without the need for studio fat-cats ("the man") or record execs—see: Macklemore and Billie Eilish/Finneas O'Connell! If making music is your dream, go for it, and go for it with all your heart! Don't be denied! Persist! Adjust! Repeat! Take heart that a career in music and recording—well, pretty much any career—is a lot like songwriting. A great song is often rewritten, even if subtly, dozens of times before the song blossoms and starts touching hearts and changing lives. And often it’s that one last subtle lyric change that can bring a tear to listener’s eye. Keep an open mind and keep tweaking your career until it blossoms.

Here's the really exciting part. Your unique and exciting path lies right in front of you. You might find your way in audio production, audio for video games, musical composition, the broadcasting field, film sound and music, equipment design, manufacturing, sales, podcasts, video production, advertising, corporate presentations, and this list goes on and on. You don’t need to be a rock star to build a great life in music. But, there is one constant no matter where you find yourself thriving in your creative pursuits. Go for it! And, go for it with all your heart! Don't be denied! Persist! Adjust! Repeat!

I’ve done so much in this musical world. I’ve recorded and produced LOTS of albums (Uhh…CDs, projects, streams?); I’ve worked on films, written and produced music for video presentations; I’ve played thousands of gigs on drums, guitar, bass, and keys; I’ve produced and mixed an amazing blend of genres from pop to rock, alternative to symphonic, punk to rap, to vocal dowap groups to choirs, symphonies to country, rock-a-billy to urban, and grunge to bluegrass. I’ve produced countless instructional videos, and I have written and developed more books and videos than I can count—many with some of the music industry’s most lauded icons, such as Quincy Jones, Bruce Swedien, Al Schmitt, Dave Pensado, Sylvia Massy, Ed Cherney, Chuck Ainlay, Elliot Scheiner, Frank Filpetti, and George Massenburg! And, get this, I love every second of everything I get to do! And, believe it or not, I really couldn’t play all of these games without a tool belt that included my recording and musical skills. 

I encourage you to be open to opportunities that come your way. Be courageous! I’ve worked a lot with the METAlliance group (www.metalliance.com). A mantra among these industry icons is “Always say yes.” Each member of the group has at some point had the courage to take a gig that was new to them. We all have to do that at some point. Always be about getting better. Prepare! Success happens when preparation meets opportunity. But, once you have your tool belt filled with musical and technical skills, be bold and always be willing to apply them to the unique opportunity that opens before you. Go for it! And, go for it with all your heart! Don't be denied! Persist! Adjust! Repeat!

I started teaching guitar when I was 12 years old. I was a pretty good young player and my dad asked me if I would consider teaching one of his friend’s kids to play guitar for $2.50 a lesson. I couldn’t have said yes faster! I Teaching has been a big part of my life since that first guitar lesson. I had a full schedule of private students all through Jr. High, High School, and college. I was an Education major right up until I was set to student teach but got hired by Green River College as a music teacher when I was supposed to student teach so I finished my degree in composition and arranging. I was always very into recording and quickly ended up as the chief engineer at a studio in the Seattle area where I started teaching recording classes through an RIAA franchise. Killer Demos Hot Tips and Cool Secrests for the Home Multitrack User) with a buddy, Bob Slous, who had video gear and expertise. That all lead to creating a series of instructional cassettes for a small publisher who never paid my royalties, which all lead to writing three books for MixBooks in 1995. Since then there has been a long list of books and videos. I taught recording at The Art Institute of Seattle for a while, became way too busy to keep up a teaching schedule because an intense music production and publishing schedule, and I’m still always producing and/or recording a music project, doing live sound, writing books, helping develop other content creators, and I teach one course at Berklee College of Music Online. I’ve said “yes” to a boatload of new things for a long time! 

That eventually led to teaching my own series of private classes in a large studio downtown Seattle. That led to the creation of my first instructional video (

It’s a privilege to be able to share some of the things I’ve discovered about this wild world through the books and videos I’ve written, produced, and developed over the years. I hope that the fact that I still DO all of these aspects of the audio/music industry helps me explain concepts in a way that is easy to grasp. I love giving back and being at least a small part of helping raise the bar for music creators. And I love inspiring folks to go for it! And, to go for it with all your heart! Don't be denied. Persist! Adjust! Repeat!

Hal Leonard Publishes The Bruce Swedien Recording Method

Learn from the music engineer who recorded and mixed the biggest-selling albums of all time!

Montclair, NJ (September 19, 2013) – Bruce Swedien’s impact on popular music is undeniable. Engineers at all levels use Swedien’s recordings as a definitive sonic standard. The Bruce Swedien Recording Method is a timeless reference for anyone interested in capturing and mixing the best possible music recordings. From recording and mixing Michael Jackson’s albums (Off the Wall, Thriller, Bad, Dangerous, Invincible, and HIStory), to many Quincy Jones hits (The Dude, Back on the Block, Q's Jook Joint, and many more), to the music of greats from Count Basie, Duke Ellington, the Brothers Johnson, and Natalie Cole, Bruce Swedien has always operated at the highest level of excellence and expertise.

The Bruce Swedien Recording Method explains many of the techniques Swedien has used to capture unforgettable drum, bass, guitar, keyboard, vocal, string, and brass sounds. Learn his rationale for selecting and placing microphones; see the innovative techniques he has used to create a technical workflow that emphasizes the importance of musical considerations; feel the passion invested by this iconic music engineer into doing whatever it takes to find the perfect sound for everything he records, whether tracking or mixing.

The accompanying DVD-ROM contains never-before-seen footage of Bruce Swedien working through a mix, explaining what he thinks about and why he works the way he does during the recording and mixing process. He further reveals what he looks for in a recording and the steps he takes to imprint his characteristic world-class sonic signature on the music he mixes.

“For someone who wants to learn how to record great music, there’s no one better to emulate than Bruce Swedien. Pay attention to how he records music, but just as important, pay attention to why he records music and to the care and love that go into how he works,” writes Quincy Jones in the book’s foreword. The Bruce Swedien Recording Method provides the reader with a unique insight into the approach and the mindset Swedien used to record the best-selling records of all time.

About the Author
Five-time Grammy winner – and thirteen-time Grammy nominee – Bruce Swedien recorded and mixed the best-selling album in the history of recorded music, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, yet he was first publicly recognized in 1962 with a Grammy nomination for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons’ “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” Swedien has also been awarded ten Grammy certificates and two ASCAP composer awards, and has been nominated for five TEC Awards. His standard of excellence was established early in life as the child of active symphony musicians. Long renowned as the best in the business, Swedien resides in Florida with his high school sweetheart, Bea, and has a world-class studio on his property along with an amazing collection of new and classic microphones. He generously shares his recording techniques and philosophies in his master class, “In the Studio with Bruce Swedien.”

The Bruce Swedien Recording Method
$39.99 (US)
Inventory #HL 00333302
ISBN: 9781458411198
Width: 8.5" Length: 11.0" 334 pages
More at: www.halleonardbooks.com and www.onstageandbackstage.wordpress.com

Drum Tuning and Conditioning

Excerpt from: Instrument & Vocal Recording: The Hal Leonard Recording Method 2nd Edition

Drum Conditioning

To get good drum sounds, it’s necessary to be familiar with drum tuning and dampening techniques. A bad-sounding drum is nearly impossible to get a good recorded sound from. A good-sounding drum can make your recording experience much more enjoyable.

If the drum heads are dented and stretched out, cancel the rest of your appointments for the day. You’ll be spending a substantial amount of time getting an acceptable drum sound.

If the drums aren’t high-quality instruments, there’s a good chance that the shells aren’t smooth and level, and there’s a possibility that the drums aren’t even perfectly round. If this is the case, the heads won’t seat evenly on the drum shell and there’ll be a loss of tone, detracting from the drum sound. 

Tuning

Often, the primary difference between a good-sounding drum and a bad-sounding drum lies simply in tuning. The standard approach to tuning involves:

• Tuning the top head to the tone you want

• Making sure the pitch is the same all the way around the head by tapping at each lug and adjusting the lugs until they all match

• Duplicating the sound of the top head with the bottom head

If the head isn’t tuned evenly all the way around, it won’t resonate well and you’ll probably hear more extraneous overtones than smooth tones. 

Many drummers tune each tom to a specific pitch. In fact, inside the shell some drum manufacturers even stamp the name of the note at which the drum is designed to best resonate. 

When tuning drums to a musical note, keep the configuration of the band and the type of music in mind. In a guitar band, the most common keys are E, A, G, D, and maybe C. If the drums are tuned to notes that are common to those chords, such as A, D, E, and so on, the toms will typically have good tone but the fact that the guitars and keys play those notes often will result in strong sympathetic vibrations. Although the vibrations are strong, they will reinforce the tonality of the music and they’ll blend well with the mix.

Jazz bands typically play in keys with a lot of flats (Bb, F, Eb, Ab, and so on). In this setting the drums might blend better if tuned to common notes in these keys, such as Bb, F, Eb, Ab, and so on. 

It is possible to minimize sympathetic vibrations by tuning the drums to notes that don’t sympathetically vibrate as strongly in the normal genre-specific keys. For example, tuning the drums to F, Bb, Eb, and Ab in a guitar band would minimize the ringing toms. The only problem with this approach is that the pitch of the drums might fight the tonality of the music—the listening audience could feel like something was always a little off, or that the vocals or primary instrument was out of tune. 

It does matter how the drums are tuned. Every great drummer will be aware of how the drums are tuned and how they interact with the rest of the musical ensemble. In addition, every great recording engineer must be equally aware of the drums, their sound, their pitch, and how they fit with the rest of the group in the mix.

Masterclass in Anchorage!

I had a seriously great time in Anchorage, teaching at the Masterclass with Craig Anderton! They have a great music community and a fantastic group of people. The day-long class was PACKED full of audio stuff! An the state was showing off its beauty. Thanks to all in Anchorage for a great time and a new perspective on the music biz!

New Stuff

It has truly been a thrill to work with Quincy Jones! I look forward to the other two books on the docket, Q on Film Scoring and Songwriting, and Q's Proteges! There are also a couple yet to be announced things in the wind—as soon as they're solidified I'll share.

Another exciting aspect of the coming months is the growth of a new relationship with Hal Leonard Publishing—the nice folks who published Q on Producing. I am now their Developmental Editor , which means I'm in the middle of a LOT of book projects! When I told them I wanted to help other professionals write books, I never guessed it would be at the elevated level that lies ahead. It's all very exciting and very fun. I'lll just keep blogging. More to come, soon.

Quincy Jones on the Charlie Rose show

This is a very cool interview with Quincy Jones on

the Charlie Rose show. It runs almost 15 minutes.

Click HERE to follow link to the show.