Native Changes the World

Avid has just released the new Native Thunderbolt. This amazing new device allows any Pro Tools user the ability to use Pro Tools HD on any computer. Instead of shelling out 13k for cards and 3k for an interface, this devices takes the position of the cards at just 3k. For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about here, here's a small breakdown. Pro Tools is available for anyone for a few hundred dollars and can be used on any computer. Pro Tools HD is far more powerful and far more expensive and normally requires specific cards and computer abilities to run. This has in the past made HD only available to full production studios or rich pricks who feel they need this sort of system in their home. Native brings this price pont way down. While the number is still high for the home user, it's perfect for small studios. 


Now you may be thinking, "Changing the world is a bit strong, don't you think?" It may be, but it just might change the music world. I have discussed a multitude of times about how home studio recording is a bittersweet movement that may threaten the integrity of the recording industry, but I think that this kind of stride is PERFECT. 

The price point means that it won't be idiots in their garage buying it. It'll be start up studios who do amazing work with little money that will realize the potential of an investment into this technology. The analog to digital battle is still roaring and while analog will never be dead completely, this a step in the direction of digital. This is also a step in the direction of smaller budget albums and more money for artists. While this may seem like a leap, I assure you it's not. 

With this new technology, small studios can make better recordings. These small studios won't charge as much and produce the same quality recordings. Bands can use less money to produce an album and ultimately no have to recoup as much for the recording process. This can lead more overhead and give bands the ability to try and experiment with new pricing options to counter the loss on record sales. Assuming any of this happens, Native changes the world (music world).

In a sad attempt to round this out to something about Management, I would say this why I feel it's important for managers to keep up on technology. Maybe look for a studios with this sort of technology in it. They can be guaranteed that lower cost studio really knows what they're doing and they get a little bit more security that they're doing all they can to get the best quality. Either way when I can afford it, I'm buying one.

iOs Recording, really?

Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of news on iOS recording. If you’re not familiar with any new technology and haven’t seen the internet or TV before, this is recording using iPads or Ipods and software that runs on these and other mobile devices. Many people are talking about how this is the future of home based recording. So is this a step in the right direction?

It’s no secret that professional studios are running scared of all this new technology available to consumer market. Just a decade ago, recording in your home and getting a sound even a tenth of the quality of a pro studio was impossible. The equipment wasn’t available but more importantly the computers weren’t there. Sure the early 2000s saw a huge jump in technology and computers were faster than anything we’d ever seen but they weren’t quite yet comparable. Now the cell phone everyone is carrying around in there pocket is more powerful than half the computers that were used to launch the first space shuttles to the moon. Everyone and their mom can make professional sounding music on a laptop, and the worst part is they do. Horrible recording are made everyday at home and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Now you don’t even need a computer, just an iPhone and minimal amount of equipment.

Now it’s hard for me to bash on the idea that everyone can record and not feel a bit hypocritical. I mean, I record at home, what makes me better? Well for one, I went to school to become an audio engineer and I have enough experience to make claims about my quality that I can live up to. But that aside, just because everyone can afford to buy a paintbrush, does that mean anyone who does is a world-class painter? I’m not knocking the at home musician who makes songs for himself and friends. That’s fine. Have a hobby and enjoy yourself doing. I’m knocking the guy who buys a Macbook Pro, downloads Garageband and tells everyone he’s got a studio and starts charging for recordings. It’s insulting to the education I spent time and money on.

I know that Mac really loves money, and I get that they just want to make more of it. In their position, I would probably do the same. But giving everyone the same tools makes it seem like the line between professional and consumer should be allowed to blur. Recording on tablet and phone devices is the beginning of the end of an era.

Auto-tune, good or bad?

There’s a new trend in music today. Someone goes into the studio, they sing crap, and polished, shiny vocals some how end up on the track. The culprit: Auto-tune. I myself, as a singer, use auto-tune and Melodyne and I will openly admit that I do. But I use it to clean and make sure everything is just how I want it. It’s not a fall back for me and certainly do just let bad takes get recorded because, “Whatever, it’ll get fixed later.” 

For all the good Auto-tune has done, it has done some serious bad as well. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive it for making Lil’ Wayne and T-Pain’s careers possible. 

But what I am really upset about it that for these years, Auto-tune has been tricking me. Making me think everyone who uses it must be a god-awful singer. Now I love to judge, and I certainly love to judge singers, but now I can’t. I listen to radio and everyone sounds perfect, all the time. There’s no dynamics and no emotion. Skills cannot be properly assessed. How would I know if any of these cookie cutter pop singers were good? 

Auto-tune has become so popular that the tone and overuse is a DESIRABLE sound. I cannot even get over how crazy this is. People in studios are actually saying, “I want this singer to sound like they can’t sing at all.” I’m sure not why I get so heated about this because the music it affects isn’t music I even listen to. Maybe it’s that all this overproduced crap is threatening my integrity as a singer. Or maybe it’s just that I hate Katy Perry and anything she endorses just turns into a steaming pile in my eyes (goodbye Pepsi). 

Like my favorite super hero says, “With great power comes great responsibility.” While this seems a bit heavy to be about Auto-tune, I think it fits. Auto-tune is a powerful tool that used subtly and correctly can make a great singer sound incredible. This does not mean it should be used to make horrid rappers talking, sound like they have any musical skills at all. 

RIAA and a Dying Industry

It’s no secret that downloading has affected the industry greatly in the past decade. Everywhere you turn there’s new music out there and no one is paying for it. The idea that this is a bad thing is one I don’t agree with. Record labels are constantly struggling with the idea that they need to stop piracy and get back to fans paying for their music again. I think that the system is broke and we need to accept it. Things are never going to go back to the way they were. The Internet has made this impossible. We never going to have a huge genre wave again and no one is going to think that music shouldn’t be free.

The RIAA is one of the major organizations that are trying to hold on and keep people paying for music. In some ways what there are doing is a good thing and in others a bad. They’ve made it possible for bands to license their music out to other forms of media and this has become a huge source of revenue for artists. There are now over 400 licensing companies and the digital licensing revenue for 2009 was 3.8 billion dollars. But they are also responsible for copyright infringement acts which have really only become a nuisance. Anyone with semi-decent Internet skills can find millions of other ways to download and they do.

They also unsuccessfully brag about the streaming services they’ve helped create, which on the surface look great but really are just hurting artists. “Spotify racked up one million plays of Lady Gaga's 'Poker Face', and paid the artist just US$167 (GBP100) in royalties,” according to Gizmag.com. Lady Gaga is obviously huge and any artist who can’t pull that kind of play weight, which is most, could never dream to see a check even that big.

Luckily a lot of artists have just come to accept they aren’t going to make money from their recorded music anymore. They try,along with others, to come up with other sources of revenue to make up for the income that records can no longer bring in. A site called BandHappy.com gives fans the ability to take lessons from some of their favorite artists for a preset price by the artist. New and exciting things like this are the direction the industry needs to head.

The RIAA is a great organization that has been doing a great job in the industry for years but it needs to adapt to the times. The ideals of the company and the music world need to take a hard look at the future and make the changes necessary to keep artists alive and fans interesting in contributing. 

This is Broken

I watched a speech by Seth Godin last night called “This is Broken.” The point of the video was him talking about how and why things are done incorrectly and not fixed. This is an idea I think about everyday. I am constantly running into things in my life that don’t work and there’s no reason they should be like this.

Mr. Godin is certainly no the best speaker I’ve ever seen but he’s relatable and that seems to be his strong point. He comes off like someone you know and stays that way throughout his speech. Often times I see speeches, especially on TED, from “gods among men” and they are difficult to relate with. Their intellects are staggering and their resumes are endless. But back to his topic.

In his speech he identifies a base seven reasons for why these things are created. These seven things are: Not my job, Selfish jerks, The world changed, I didn’t know, I’m not a fish, Contradictions, and Broken on purpose. Now the most glaringly apparent in everyday life are not my job, selfish, and I’m not a fish, which is personally my favorite and a serious oversight in most designs.

Without going through all the examples and essentially restating his speech, I’ll go through the important ones. Not my job is obvious in that if something doesn’t work well or is broken, if it’s not your job, who cares. Selfish is another easy one because everybody is familiar with using things that work horrendously just because it’s better for someone else. The, I’m not a fish isn’t so direct and basically means whoever designed it was not the intended market of the product. They never had to use it and therefore, never saw it’s flaws. This seems like something that should never be overlooked in the design phase, but apparently only a select few designers feel this way.

Now these all are horrendous reasons to ever make something work terribly, but it happens constantly. Personally if nothing else, Mr. Godin’s speech makes me feel like this kind of thought process should be present in the creation of anything. I should never put my name on anything without going through all the ways my product could be used, looked at, or judged and make sure on every level it makes sense. Releasing products that make anyone question its purpose or design is unacceptable, ever.  

Good god, those speakers are how much!? : Beats by Dre Studio Review

Recently I’ve been seeing Beats by Dre everywhere. And honestly, I’ve gotta say, I’m appalled. These things are on the head of every idiot who thinks he’s a producer. The things are a goddamn three hundred dollars and the claim to be all that you need in headphones. Well, if you’re thinking about buying a pair and you don’t have a smart audio friend who’s already said this, DON’T. So anyway, here's my Beats by Dre studio review.

I like Dr. Dre for the most part, although I’m pretty sure he’s really only a doctor like Dr. Pepper is a Dr., but these past big moves of his are really starting to make me doubt whether I can respect him as an artist. I’m not a big fan of the Coachella Tupac thing, but if that goes anywhere I’ll have another separate post on that mess. As a businessman though, I really can’t think of anything more genius. Make a terrible pair of headphones for next to no cost, say they’re amazing, get Monster to endorse (ensuring quality ha ha), and laugh your way to bank twirling a tiny moustache and spinning your monocle.

First off you can tell the headphones are crap before you even buy them by checking online for specs. They can’t be found. No self respecting headphone company would put up “studio quality” headphones without AT LEAST frequency range. But check on Musiciansfriend.com, and there are none to be found. That being said, you could even read reviews because frankly, they’re not very good, to say the least. You could go to studios and search you’re little heart out for anyone professional using these headphones to ensure that Dre couldn’t have possibly lied to you. But alas, you wouldn’t find them. Lastly look at the damn price. 300 dollars for these junky things!? Why!? There are a million things you could do better with 300 dollars. Someone could start their own blog with that idea. “A million things that could be done with 300 dollars instead of buying Beats.” I’d read that blog. Everyday.

Besides all my ranting, I heard em’ the other day and they just sounded terrible. You can create the same bass boosting effect on you iPod’s EQ for nada. Don’t play into the fad and waste your money. Go buy some Sennheisers or if you really wanna drop some big dough, buy some Grados.

Anyway, off this subject, Me and Cody are starting up some freelance work out of the home studio called “Saxony Lane Studios.” I’ll be posting about what we do here when it starts to take off. If you want some work done or whatever after reading my rantings, I’m amazed, but as always go to the about page for some contact info.

Live Instruments with MIDI, Make MIDI Work for You

With the advent of MIDI becoming fast, easy, and cheap, I hear a lot of people's home recordings filled to the brim with MIDI sounds and instruments. MIDI has changed the way we record and will continue to, but is it really a good thing? 


For those of you who don't know what MIDI is, it is Musical Instrument Digital Interface. In short, it is a way to take electronic signal and convert into a piece of data that tells a plug-in to a play a sound when triggered. This means anyone who knows how to play a keyboard can basically play any instrument ever made. It can also be used for sequencing which is the same process except that you "write" the notes in on the computer, making even knowing to play a keyboard unnecessary. To most this idea sounds great. I can play any instrument without having to know how to actually play it? Yes, but should you?


In the case of a low income studios or home studios, MIDI is great for creating instruments too difficult to record in a small space or with a lack of gear to accommodate. But now what we're getting into is overkill. Many hip hop tracks and rap tracks feature no musicians, other than the rapper or singer. What you get out of this digitalized process is stale, overused sounds again and again. Even worse than this is a song that has great sounding MIDI tracks and horrible sounding live tracks. Often I come across tracks where the drums sound great because they're not real and the vocals sound terrible because they didn’t know how to record live musicians well.
 
It has always been my theory that MIDI is last resort or only there to add to the live instruments. In this case there are tons of new plug-ins and tricks to help you use MIDI to your advantage. Here's just a few.


Add MIDI Sounds Behind Real Ones


On a track I recently worked on, we decided that we want a choir during the chorus to really fill out the mid section and give full feeling to chord progression. Obviously we don't have a choir at our disposal so we had to make due. Most people would then pull up a MIDI choir then sequence or play in a chord progression and leave it. Anyone who doesn't have an eight thousand dollar choir samples knows, they all sound terrible. Instead we recorded a couple of us singing the main lines and layered over and over again to make 4 people sound like a choir. Then we put a MIDI version of the progression low, behind the makeshift choir to fill out voices we didn't have. Now what you're left with is choir that has real human elements and full sounds without ever having to record a full choir, but also not resorting to an awful sounding MIDI choir. East West has some great samples that don't break the bank too bad and we have a great time using. I’d recommend them for almost any situation.


Use MIDI Samplers for Drum Replacement

Common practice now is to replace certain parts of your drum kit with samples and this is a newer technique I couldn't agree more with. Using samples for your kick and snare are usually essential, especially in rock and metal. The great thing about this is that your whole kit otherwise, is usually real. Most of the time, for a more human element, you can layer the sampled sounds over the real ones to add differences to the samples. The best drum sounds I've come across so far is Toontrack's Superior Drummer. It has amazing sounding samples and works great just for demo-ing out things where all MIDI isn't an issue. Superior drummer is a little expensive but worth every penny. If it's still too much, Toontrack's EZDrummer has more modestly priced options. Another great plug-in for this is Drumagog. It does drum replacement in real time and saves some serious time if you've got the processing power.


Make Your Own MIDI 


Most modern DAW's allow you to assign your own samples to MIDI notes. This a great technique for a lot of reasons. If you're creating your own drum samples you can record each drum specifically and get exactly the sound you want out of your own drums. You can "record" your set even if you don't have the means to record it all at once. The great thing about spending the time making great samples is other people want them. You can sell a sample library and good ones go for quite a lot of money. 


By no means do I hate MIDI and I don't want to make it sound as if that's the case. I think it a commodity that is being overused in the wrong applications. MIDI is great for assisting your recordings and helping add to the sound, but it shouldn't be your whole sound. Hopefully these tips can help you use it in more creative ways.