If you’re confused by the multitude of common digital audio connections available today on many recording interfaces, such as ADAT, S/PDIF, AES/EBU, S/MUX, Word Clock, etc., you owe it to yourself to read this excellent article from Presonus:

Digital Audio Connections and Synchronization

by Jon Goad

The Behritone C50A

For quite some time now, I’ve known about the merits of checking your mixes in mono to test for phase problems, and having some “grot boxes” (cheap, lo-fi speakers) to see what your mix will sound like on a less-than-stellar playback system. The idea behind the mono grot box is this: who cares if your mix sounds great on your studio monitors if it sounds like garbage on most listeners’ playback systems? Continue Reading »

by Jon Goad

Most recordists will agree that acoustic drums are perhaps the most challenging instrument to record (and record well). One of the reasons (among several) is that a drum kit has so many moving parts that are prone to rattles, squeaks, buzzes, and other annoying sounds. It’s also quite a task to tune a drumkit, which always needs to be done prior to any recording session. Continue Reading »

by Jon Goad

Tunecore is a service for musicians that allows you to sell your music on the iTunes store and other digital retailers with minimal hassle. I recently had a client who was trying to get his music uploaded to Tunecore, but wasn’t sure how to create the specific file type that is required by them. Continue Reading »

by Jon Goad

When working in the studio, some producers/engineers prefer to record each instrument completely separate from each other. First, they’ll record the drums, then the bass guitar, then the rhythm guitar, then the keyboards, etc. It’s almost like building a brick wall, with each instrument representing a single layer of bricks. Continue Reading »

Between November 2010 and March 2011, I had the opportunity to do something I had never done before–record the audio for a short film. Some friends of mine who have a video production company here in Northeast Arkansas (Anthem Pictures), were producing it, and recruited me to handle the audio. Continue Reading »

by Jon Goad

How many times has this happened to you? You’ve been slaving away for hours, even days, mixing your latest musical masterpiece in your home studio. Everything sounds absolutely perfect. Then, you burn it to a CD, jump in the car, and pop it in your CD player. You’re ready to hit the open road and jam out to the greatest tune you’ve ever recorded. Then, the CD starts playing. You’re underwhelmed. The CD sounds dull and lifeless. There’s not enough high end. There’s too much low end. And what happened to the snare drum? You can hardly hear it at times because it’s being buried in the mix by other instruments. Continue Reading »

As the owner of a recording studio, and a musician who has successfully released a few independent CD’s, I’m often asked by aspiring bands and musicians about how to properly market themselves. One of the first things I tell them is, “you need a website”. And I mean a real website. Not just a Facebook or MySpace page–a real website. Having your own website separates the men from the boys when it comes to the business of your band. Here are a few of the reasons why you need your own website. Continue Reading »

by Jon Goad

About a year ago, I was looking for a decent mic to use as a backup kick drum mic and for miking a bass guitar amp. I came across the OSP DT-610 at a local music store for around $60, so I picked one up. Continue Reading »

by Jon Goad

I recently bought a second drum kit to use for live gigs to save myself the trouble of constantly setting up and tearing down, and to reduce the wear and tear on my main kit. So I bought a second kit used, but the only catch was that it didn’t include a snare drum. So I set out on a quest to buy one.

I began scouring the Internet for snare drums and came across the Ddrum Shawn Drover “Heavy Hitter” model. Continue Reading »