By Scott Spain
By sparsblogger sparsblogger on
2/2/2012 11:11 PM
It is easy to get caught up in talking about gear and technical details, but it is important to remember that first and foremost, recording studios must provide excellent customer service. Many valuable lessons can be gleaned from the best practices of other service industries. For starters, here are the Four Ups to think about to shift your frame of reference to a more service oriented mindset.
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By David Schober.
By David Schober on
2/2/2012 11:25 PM
 As some of you may know, I post a series of recording tips from my twitter account, @davidschober. I am in the process of expounding on these tweets in my blog; this is #31 in that series and got a bit of some fun reactions.
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By Frank Wells.
By cyoung on
1/30/2012 10:35 AM
 Like a shooting star that illuminates the sky and fascinates those who
happen to be looking in the right direction, Kevin Gilbert had a short
but compelling musical career. Before he left life too young, Gilbert
created a body of work as a multi-instrumentalist, composer, lyricist
and vocalist that has spawned an intensely dedicated, if relatively
small group of fans. Gilbert had been working on a rock opera
at the time of his demise, a project finished by his friends and
released posthumously in 2000:The Shaming Of The True. During a recent listening event at Nashville’s Welcome to 1979 studios, a
group of those involved in the project gathered with Gilbert fans, and
some who were hearing TSOTT for the first time, for playback of
the full album followed by the alternate take on the newly reworked final track, “A Long Day’s Life,” and
a sampling of the other bonus material. The passion evoked by Kevin’s
music was evident as the project was discussed.
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By Rob Tavaglione
By Strother Bullins on
1/27/2012 9:12 AM
Sometimes audio engineering can seem like a pretty lousy job. If you've ever spent days away from sunlight, alone in a small room, dealing with repetitive and mundane tasks (quantizing drums, editing dialogue, tuning giant vocal stacks), then you know exactly what I'm talking about. A couple of weeks ago I got to do a location job that reminded how fun and rewarding corralling sound waves can be.
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By Clive Young.
By cyoung on
1/27/2012 12:39 AM
 It’s never easy practicing the Art of Omission when working on a mix. What stays? What do you get rid of? Anyone who’s ever sat behind a console has faced these questions at some point—even recording legends like George Martin, as you’ll see in this video clip that includes a “lost” guitar solo left off a classic Beatles track.
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By Clive Young.
By cyoung on
1/26/2012 9:22 AM
 Butch Walker isn’t a household name; in fact, from one point-of-view, he’s an also-ran who played in a failed hair metal band, a failed jam band and a one-hit-wonder power-pop trio before embarking on a career as, he concedes, a mid-level solo artist. That rendition only tells half the story, however, because simultaneously, he’s become one of the top producer/songwriter/engineers, knocking out hits for Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne, Pink, Weezer and others. And it turns out that’s only one of the ways he’s reinvented himself over his career, as detailed in his cool—and at times controversial—new autobiography, Drinking With Strangers .
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By Steve Harvey.
By cyoung on
1/25/2012 9:49 AM
 IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), which represents the recording industry worldwide, with some 1400 members in 66 countries, has published its Digital Music Report 2012. The good news? Digital music revenue increased globally by eight percent
to $5.2 billion in 2011, the first year-on-year increase since IFPI
started measuring digital revenues in 2004. The bad news? The
total market value fell to $16.2 billion, from $16.7 billion in 2010, a
three percent drop in total trade. That is at least better than the
previous year, when there was a roughly eight percent drop in trade
value.
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By Clive Young.
By cyoung on
1/24/2012 11:59 AM
 The history of 1960s Soul music has as much to do with the facilities it
was recorded in as the songs and performers themselves. As a result,
today studio names like Fame (Muscle Shoals, AL) and Stax (Memphis, TN)
are synonymous with the golden era when they knocked out one soul-shaking
track after another. What would it be like to be a fly on the wall
during some of those classic sessions? Now you can find out, thanks to this
recently uncovered 11-minute short, Le Blues De Memphis, made for French
TV back in 1969.
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By PSN Staff.
By cyoung on
1/19/2012 10:36 AM
 There's more than 1,400 exhibitors at this year's Winter NAMM show, so
it's not surprising that the days leading up to the convention are as
busy as the show itself. Sneaking in—OK, flashing an Exhibitor Press
badge to the guards—we took a look behind the scenes Wednesday afternoon.
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by Clive Young.
By cyoung on
1/17/2012 4:50 PM
 Over the years, Pro Sound News has reviewed all sorts of audio equipment: stunning mixing consoles, venue-shaking PAs, top-shelf microphones, boutique studio monitors, amplifiers, plug-ins, outboard gear and plenty more. I can safely say, however, that this is the first time we’ve reviewed a t-shirt with a built-in drum machine.
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