7 posts tagged “audio production”

---Michael Stone---

Adobe Audition 3 production software is coming Oct. 29th.

Since Adobe bought Syntrillium, and with it Cool Edit, a few years back, the updates have been coming fairly regularly. With each update, Audition has improved features that bring it into serious competition with the likes of Sonar and Pro Tools.

Adobe Audition 3 is for the "sound designer, musician, recording engineer, mastering engineer, or other audiocentric professional who needs an all-in-one toolset for professional audio production."

Adobe offers another audio product, Soundbooth 3, which has fewer bells and whistles, perhaps for the less demanding producer, and at a less demanding price, but more on that later.

Adobe Audition 3 offers 50 real-time audio effects including echo, flange, reverb and others. It also supports ASIO, VST, DirectX, and ReWire.

They improved the mixing window, quick punch in reality there are far too many features for me to discuss here. I have Audition 2.0 and after taking a look at what they have to offer, I'm seriously considering the Adobe Audition 3-Upgrade. Will this replace Sonar 6 Producer for me, probably not, but there are times I can see projects that I may want to use this software for.

In fact Adobe has a pretty nifty features page that will give you a video demonstration on many of the features available. Take a look and decide if it's for you.

---Michael Stone---
Singer-songwriter
Radio Personality
---Observer---
AudioPros.com

---Michael Stone---

I dis-like doing covers when playing live. The bottom line is that I only want to play my originals.

Reality check here Michael.

If you want people to give your originals a listen, intersperse them with covers, especially in a bar-club scene.

So, off I go to find some covers that I like and can learn quickly for an upcoming club gig. I found several through some quick Google TAB searches and was off to learn them. That's when I realized they were too high for my vocal range. OK, time to sit down and transpose to my range.

Then I thought, hey is there a transposition tool online. Here I go a Googling, and sure enough, here it is; a transpositon tool online. Enter the chords and lyrics, tell it what key you'd like it in and presto, chango, you've got a transposed version of your song. Pretty cool, huh?

It''ll save you some time. Enjoy!

Michael Stone
Singer-songwriter
Radio personality
---Observer---

From Michael Stone

When it comes to making a difference in your music and feeling good about it next to ANY other piece of produced audio out there, mastering is the essential final step.

So what is mastering?

If you're new to the concept, here's a basic description.  It's the process whereby your music, after recording and mixing, is sonically tweaked using EQ, compression and other skills and tools of the trade, to enhance and bring out all the best aspects, of that great music you're producing.

Mastering is some thing that takes top flight equipment, in the hands of skilled artisans in a room acoustically designed to hear every little nuance of a song.

This is not something that a low to medium end digital plus in is going to accomplish no matter how good your ears. Besides, it's to your sonic advantage to have a totally unbiased and objective ear on the job.

I guarantee when you hear an A-B comparison of your music done with pro mastering you will be absolutely blown away. Go here to listen to some before - after samples and I think you'll get an idea.

If you've never had any experience in mastering you should leave it to the pros to ensure a great product.

So you're thinking, hey, I'm a small Indie artist-Band, we can't afford the big guys.

First there are many mastering house some good, some not so good. Shop around ask for samples. But also, many do offer discounts on Indie artists and will offer package deals on mastering especially if it's an entire CD project.

I recently ran into a series of interviews on starter mastering on MusicIndustryNewsWire. The interview is with Art Sayecki of Art Mastering.

I think these interviews go a long way to help the Indie Musician understand Mastering and what you should and should be considering. You'll find the four part series here:
Mastering-Part 1
Mastering Part 2
Mastering Part 3
Mastering Part 4

Enjoy ! All the best!

Michael Stone
Radio Personality
Singer-Songwriter
----Observer----
AudioPros.com

Producing audio that grabs listeners by the ears is of course the challenge to all of us, no matter what our Audio preference.

We all do it utilizing all the tools, techniques and toys at our disposal. Whether it be musician, audio book, radio-tv commercial production or a podcast the attention to many minute details can be the make or break moment for whether your spot, music, YOUR message gets heard and noticed. After all your audience-customer is bombarded with thousands of visual and audio impressions daily. Rather than seeing it as competition, I see it as inspiration to better my product.

SO what's it going to take for your piece of audio brilliance to stand out? Look at it from your perspective as a listener. That's a great place to start.

Here's a few quick pointers:

• Have interesting content: Time and again I'm struck by the lack of thought put into the creative process. An intelligent turn of a phrase can lift even the simplest of audio projects to a new height. The KISS theory applies here. Keep it simple.
  
• Utilize effects, but paint with sound. A dab here or there. You don't always need splash the canvas with wizardry. Find the appropriate time to use just the right audio technique to enhance, not obscure your intent. Be an audio chef. Too much of anything, no matter how good, can spoil the recipe. And always remember that reverb, flange or chorus effects can in the end, after a particularly complex mix, become an unmanageable audio nightmare.
  
• Sound effects can be powerful tools in your audio palette as well, but again be cautious to not over do it. The obvious sound effects are also usually the superfluous.

If you're a musician you also may find yourself tempted to use some of the bells and whistles, but again on a cautionary note, these things can muddle and even draw away from the original content.

The music that grabs me by the ears is first and foremost memorable no matter what the audio production techniques involved.

This was so true of the BEATLES. Even though George Martin's genius as a producer is a given when you hear the songs stripped down on the BEATLES Love cd, you realize the simple genius of songwriting.

Others that do this for me are Marc Cohn, Billy Joel, Marvin Gaye and my personal favorite, Cat Stevens.

One of my favorite songwriting quotes is this: "ah the wonder of three chords yet again!". It rings so true.

Here's to hearing compelling audio! Cheers.

Michael Stone-Singer-Songwriter-radio personality
AudioPros.com-Professional audio services

Working with all of the various audio recording software's on the market can sometimes be dizzying. I use many differing audio programs in my audio productions, depending on my needs and sometimes even my mood at times. It's all about personal comfort level, ease of use and how quickly does this project absolutely have to be done.

Some of those softwares include: Samplitude_Blank, a marvelous piece of software that's seen a comeback as of late after going out of business. I have Adobe Audition 2.0 (They bought Cool Edit and upgraded) I do like it and use it often. (boots too slow) But they have also released Adobe Soundbooth CS3, which they tout as the second coming. I can't comment, (haven't use it) but at under $200 it's worth taking a look at. specially considering the producers. An incredible free player on the Audio production stage is Audacity. This is great recording software for basic recordings and it's free, but don't expect bells and whistles or MIDI effects within.

Cakewalk Sonar 6 Producer Edition is my DAW software of choice, especially when it comes to music production. The capabilities of this product are astounding! But as with anything really worth using it comes with a steep learning curve.

That's why when I finally was able to enable and get the MIDI functions to work like I wanted. I was ecstatic. Now i can do what scores of other Independent Artists do everyday. Create custom drum and instrumental tracks for my music.

If you're having similar problems, I suggest Scott Garrigus' book Sonar Power. This is a comprehensive look at how to step by step unravel what seem to be insurmountable obstacles to getting down to basic process of recording your music. There is also a GREAT DVD for learning Sonar 6.

What amazes me is that the Cakewalk Sonar 6 Producer Edition manual has NONE, ZERO, NADA mention of Session 2 Drummer in it. This is one of the reasons I bought the software in the first place was to have a GREAT drumming program to help me the solo; locked in the basement; lair musician. Scott Garrigus' book Sonar Power will help you get past many hurdles. I wish I was as prolific and astute.

Oh and one other resource for discovering the many benefits of Cakewalk Sonar 6 Producer Edition is right here:

YEP! You Tube.

Michael Stone
Singer-songwriter-radio personality-audio production

It seems that last minute Audio Production jobs are the norm in this business.
It's one of those situations that I actually relish because the challenge is to exceed customer expectations. Produce, deliver and satisfy with a great voice-over or what ever.

Today is no different. A quick turnaround on spot for TV for Westchester. NY and their Armed Forces Parade. What a great client! Pronunciations included with the email.

They'll have within the hour.

Michael