Just a last minute reminder that I will be doing a Drum Recording Master Class tomorrow at Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center in Wheaton Maryland, July 16th 2010 6-8pm
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online
I am also trying to organize a post workshop dinner hang for people that want to hang out with myself and other recordings that show up.
Chris Lord Alge Signature Series plugins seminar at Mix LA Studio.
I recently had a chance to see a presentation by Chris Lord Alge in his studio, Mix LA, in Tarzana, CA. It was presented by Waves so I knew it was going to be a bit of a dog and pony show for some plugins, but I am always trying to learn, and I was not about to pass up a chance to learn a little bit from the most successful mixer in the world. If you think you are not familiar with CLA, just turn on pop or rock radio in any city for 10 minutes and you will probably hear something he mixed.
As expected, it was a presentation for the new Chris Lord Alge Signature Series plugins from Waves. While I have not used them in the studio, I can give you a mini review: It seems pretty cool and has a very user friendly GUI. They sort of designed it so a monkey could use it and get some pretty usable sounds. Aside from the fact that it seems very CPU intensive, It will probably be a cool thing for less experienced mixers, and an interesting creative tool for those a bit more advanced, but I have a 
feeling more experienced mixers will get frustrated at the lack of fine tuning capabilities. That being said, even though I am a pretty advanced mixer, with a big analog console and a wall of outboard hardware, I would probably be tempted to pull it up from time to time and get the CLA spin on things. It contains a lot of his default start points for EQ and delay etc, and just checking that out was a bit of a learning experience.
After the event I was a little bit disappointed that Chris had not spent more time talking about his particular techniques, but while driving home it struck me that he might have accidentally given us the secret to his sound……
I don’t think its the gear he uses. I think it’s this:
I realized that during the entire presentation CLA only referred to sounds as “exciting” or “boring” (or some variation of those). Not once did he ever apply one of his presets and comment on a sound being linear, or lush, or smooth, or having depth, or warmth, or even complimentary to the other things in the mix. He just kept applying processing and noting how much more “exciting” it got, and how “boring” or “plain jane” it got when he took the plugin off.
As I thought about it, I realized that I had just stumbled onto the secret of the Chris Lord Alge sound. I do not think he cares at all about many of the subtle nuances or details that many of us mixers get obsessed with. His mixes are all about the excitement, and whether you love his mixes or hate them, few people are neutral about a Chris Lord Alge mix. Listen to albums he has mixed for the likes of Daughtry, Green Day, My Chemical Romance, or even an artist like The Dave Matthews Band, and the mixes practically take your head off when you listen to them loud on high end studio monitors, Even though I am a big fan of his work, it’s tough for me to listen to lots of his mixes back to back on the big speakers, but they have an excitement and energy to them that translates really well to car radios, boom boxes, laptops and many of the places people consume music these days. Chris Lord Alge focuses on making excitement jump out of the speakers, and love him or hate him, that is probably the reason all the labels keep hiring him, and why the first Daughtry album sounds so amazing in my crummy car stereo.
Just announced. I will be teaching a drum Recording Master Class at Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center in Wheaton Maryland on July 16th. Details to follow as they develop.
Get the details at the Chuck Levins Web Site
Also we still have a space left in the 6 day Recording Boot Camp starting next week July 14-19
Today would have been day 3 of the Recording Boot Camp in Italy but the Volcano in Iceland canceled the flights of every single student. Of course this is a big pain for all involved, but at least I am trying to make the best of it hanging out with good friends here, doing some work with a few Italian artists and eating very well.
We are going to re-schedule the Boot Camp in Italy, probably for September. Since a couple of of the students are choosing to reschedule for my next Recording Boot Camp June 14-19, there will be some spaces available for the Italy Boot Camp when we put the new date on the books. Booking is still open for the Home Recording Boot Camp in LA June 14-19
If you do not follow Ronan’s Recording Show, just letting you know that there is a new video posted there about drum recording that you might be interested in.
http://ronansrecordingshow.com/2010/04/drum-recording-advice-miking-for-two-rock-drums-sets/
Ciao from Italy
The Lion of Saint Mark - Symbol of the Veneto
In this episode we take a look at the elusive art of mastering. This is not an instructional “how to master” video, but a non technical explanation of the process, and how the art of mastering audio has evolved over the years. What is it that all those guys like Bob Ludwig, Stephen Marcussen, Greg Calbi and Bob katz are actually doing? Get the part of the answer here.
I shot this really fast on a break in a studio in Italy with REALLY bad lighting. I will replace it with a better looking video when I get some time.
If you want to watch this on your ipod, download the m4v version
A lesson for beginners on understand DIs, Direct Boxes or Direct Inject boxes. Ever wonder what Direct boxes are used for? An explanation of what they do, how to connect them and use them in your home recording studio.
To watch on your ipod, download the m4v file
Information for beginners about Mic pres. What are they? Do you need one? What does it do and advice about integrating an external microphone preamp. Also discussed are the benefits of using higher quality mic pres and why some one might choose Neve or API or Great River, etc over the pre in their audio interface.
To watch on your ipod, download the m4v file
Welcome to the adventure of Home Recoding. In these videos we will help you understand the basic building blocks of the recording studio and how they apply to your recordings.
I am working in Italy for 5 weeks. Producing 3 singles for various artists and also doing the Italian Villa Recording Boot Camp (which still has one space available) In addition to the work I am having a lot of fun enjoying the food, wine and Italian culture. I am doing a somewhat regular video diary of my time over here and posting them on youtube.com I am posting my 4th right now. The first few are mostly about having fun and food and such, but they are going to be more and more about recording stuff as the month progresses. Click on the video below to see the others and subscribe to the youtube channel for updates, because I will not post about them here too often.
Ciao
Ronan
We have scheduled a six day Recording Boot Camp June 14-19, 2010.
Please note that we had this one was schedule for May but have moved that session to June. Contact us if you are interested in attending.
Also, although we have a couple people interested in the last spot of our Italian Villa Recording Boot Camp, as of now there is still one spot available.
