Getting A Better Guitar Tone: Part 3

Today marks the last part of my series on getting a better guitar tone. Electric guitar is such a crucial part of many genres, and I hope that you take away something from these articles that can you help you get better sounding guitars in your mixes.

Let's get started!

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Getting A Better Guitar Tone: Part 2

Today I will start part 2 in my series of getting a better guitar tone in your mixes and recordings. If you haven't already, check out Part One and start there. Today we are going to talk about how you can get a big guitar tone, and how you can guitars to stand up front without covering up the vocal. This applies particular to alternative and rock music but you'll find this useful in any genre that needs the electric guitars up front.

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Getting A Better Guitar Tone Part 1

Electric guitars are the corner stone of rock music. Heck, electric guitars are a major part of most music today. Chances are if you are a songwriter or musician and you are into producing your own music, you are going to want to have electric guitars in your mix at some point. But how do you get a good guitar tone? When you hear the pro mixes their guitars sound huge, in your face, and punchy. How do you get that sound for yourself?

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Know That Your Mix Sucks

Discontentment isn't a good feeling, but can be one of the most helpful things you can feel as an audio engineer. If you aren't discontented with your mixes and recordings, then that means you are satisfied with the way they sound. If you are satisfied with the way they sound, then you aren't hearing what could be better. And let's face it, there is always room for improvement.

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Why You Should Mix And Record For Other People

A lot of you probably got into mixing and recording because you wanted to be able to produce your own music. I know that's why I did. I wanted to have the freedom to make my own music on my own time and not rely on other people to do it for me. Also, I didn't have a lot of money so it was a great way to create an album on a budget. Hopefully, if this is you, you have continued to try and hone your skills and grow as a mixing and recording engineer. That's probably why you are reading this blog. However, there is one thing you may not be doing that you need to. Doing work for other people. 

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Keep it Simple

When I mix songs for clients, one of the biggest problems I encounter is that they simple have too many tracks. Now, as a mix engineer, it's my job to create balance and get these tracks to play nicely together. I like a challenge as much as the next guy, but this isn't about fighting for space in the frequency spectrum. Sure, it's a lot more work when I have to make ten electric guitar tracks play nicely together, but the problem I'm referring too is a problem musically. Today I want to encourage you to keep it simple, and it here's why. 

More tracks does not mean a bigger mix. 

One of the number one lies new recording artists or engineers buy into, is that more tracks will equal a bigger mix. They think that if they have ten guitar tracks and three bass tracks and eight vocal tracks that their mix will sound huge. The sad truth is this: most of the time, it wont. You can record as many tracks as you'd like, but that isn't going to automatically make your mixes sound huge. In fact, it will usually have the opposite effect. I know it's counter intuitive, but you would be amazed at how big a mix can sound that has a really small number of tracks.

I think one of the main reasons we do this is sometimes we hear albums from our favorite artists and there is a lot going on. We start noticing all these different instruments and we think that if we record a lot of tracks, then our recordings will sound like that too. Unfortunately that just isn't the case. You will get there, but you need to master getting huge mixes with simple tracks. It isn't the number of tracks that make the professional mixes sound huge, it's the talent behind the engineers recording and mixing the tracks. Work on getting your skill level higher before throwing in too many tracks, or you are just going to overwhelm yourself. 

Too many instruments can mean musical chaos. 

This is where it really gets frustrating as a mix engineer. I can't tell you how many times I get songs from clients, and the song is just all over the place. Quite frankly there is just way too much going on. All the instruments are fighting each other, there are too many lead parts, too many melody repeats in tracks, etc. Most songs I get I believe would sound better if I deleted half the tracks. And that's actually still leaving a lot. I was working on a song today that had around twelve guitar parts. It was as if every guitar was trying to be front and center and play the lead. It was musical chaos and no amount of mixing was going to make it right. 

Next time you start up a recording session, remember to keep it simple! You can and will create huge sounding mixes with a smaller number of tracks. It's easier to manage, it allows some parts to be up front, and it sounds bigger than you'd think. 

 I offer professional mixing and mastering at an easy flat rate. Head over to http://willsterling.net for more info. 

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The Foundation of a Great Mix

If you've ever googled or researched mixing and recording tips, you probably come up with some crazy and cool techniques. I know I've seen my fair share of really neat EQ trics, compressor stacking, crazy mic placement,and just all kinds of cool and fancy ideas to get better sounding mixes and recordings. I'll be the first one to say, these tricks are awesome! There is nothing wrong with implementing these and using these sort of ideas to better enhance your mixes or recordings. However, there is a problem that sometimes arises from this.

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The Secret to Returning Clients

I'm sure a lot of you are just getting into recording or mixing to better improve your own music and help yourself as a musician. That's how I started. Shortly after however, I realized that I really enjoyed this and potentially could turn it into a profitable business. And for some of you, this may happen or you may already be in the same boat. With that said, this post is directed mainly to those who want to run a profitable recording, mixing, or mastering business.

Today I want to share with you a way that you can keep clients coming back time and time again as well as get more referrals.

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How to Run an Efficient Mix Session

Your time is valuable, and so it is important that you run efficient mixing sessions. Today I want to share with you some ways that you can run a more efficient mixing session in your home studio. These tips will not only help you get faster at mixing, but your mixes will be better because you'll be forced to focus on what is important.

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How to Start Recording and Marketeting Your Music

Creativity is the cornerstone of great music. It’s how you leave your signature in a song and how a song remains impactful years after listening. As musicians, we love to create. We love to pour our heart and soul into our music. But how do we share our music with others once we’ve created it? How do we get past the hurdles of going to a studio and getting our song out there?

Today I’m going to share how you can record your own music, get your song on iTunes, and promote your music.

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Three Items You Need To Start Home Recording

I get this question a lot and so I think it bears mentioning.

What do I need to start recording my own music? 

Although this answer will vary depending on the person you ask, here are three items that I think are very important when first getting into recording.

1) Recording Interface

When first starting out, it's crucial that you get some sort of recording interface. A recording interface is basically an external sound card with preamps that allows you to plug microphones and other instruments into your computer. You can usually get a USB or firewire version of one of these for around $150 and it will most likely come with some sort of free DAW. Which brings us to our next point...

2) Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)

That's just a fancy of way of saying recording software. You will probably want to have some sort of program on your computer that allows you to mix and edit your tracks once you have them recorded. These softwares also allow you to bounce your songs to down to MP3 or WAV files, so you can get them on your iPod or upload them to the internet. If you don't know what software you want to use, try starting out with something free like Studio One. We'll assume for the sake of the post that you aren't planning on going purely analog or bypassing a computer altogether.

3) Microphone

You are going to need a decent microphone, and contrary to popular belief, you don't need to spend a ton of money. Depending on your interface, you'll either want to start out with a dynamic or condenser microphone. If you go with a condenser microphone, make sure the recording interface you have has phantom power. Condenser microphones have a hotter signal than dynamics, but also require extra power. I personally think condenser microphones are a great place to start. You can get the MXL 990/991 package for around $80 and that gets you two microphones off the bat. This will allow you to record things like acoustic and vocals at the same time. If you can't get a condenser, then start out with a Shure SM57 or 58. These mics are great once you learn how to use them and practice mic placement. They will run you around $100.

So there you have it. Three things to get you started with home recording. Total cost of getting these three things shouldn't run you more than $250 to $300 depending on your choice of interface and microphones. Once you have these three things, you'll be on your way to making great recordings and learning the ins and outs of mixing.

Have a Recording but Need Your Song Mixed?

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Just Tell Me What Gear to Buy!

The other day I was browsing a forum on recording, and one post was a guy asking questions about beginner recording. He started off by saying that he wanted to get into recording, but didn't know all the gear that he needed. His father would apparently buy him any gear he wanted, as he supported his son's endeavors. So he began his post by naming off all of the gear that he already had, and then went on to ask what other gear he should get. He just knew that if he had the right gear, that he'd be ready to start recording.

This, unfortunately, is a trap that we all fall into as recording engineers and producers. We think that the gear that we have directly correlates to the sound we get out of our recordings. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but that just isn't true. Your gear is only as good as you are. Just like the guy in the forum, we fall into the trap that better gear will make us better producers.

Now I am not saying that gear isn't important. There are certainly differences between low end dynamic microphones and high end condensers. There are differences between high end studio monitors and low end monitors. But what I believe to be the most important aspect, is learning your gear. I would suggest to this guy starting out, to go out there and buy an SM 58 and an Mbox, and just start recording. Raw effort and hard work ethic is what will make you a better recording engineer. The guy who has done a hundred recordings with his SM58 will probably get a better sound than the guy whose done five recordings with his high end condenser microphone.

Another important reason to not fall into the trap of always trying to get better gear, is you'll do one of two things, if not both.

• Spend all of your money on continuously getting better gear 
• Never getting better at what gear you actually have

If you are at the point as an engineer where you feel like you have the knowledge and the experience to take your recordings a step further, but your gear is holding you back, then go ahead and buy nicer equipment. There is nothing wrong with that! Hopefully if you are at that point you will actually be able to utilize the gear that you have. 

Above all, remember that gear is only part of the equation. A good producer and engineer knows that getting a good mix is about hard work, experience, knowledge, and creativity before anything else. 

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