Mumford and Sons' second album, Babel, set some new records for Glassnote in its first week. It sold 600,000 copies alone in the U.S. It currently holds the biggest debut album sales in a week to date this year. In almost four years it is the biggest sales week of any rock album as well.
The guitarist of Queen, Brian May, recollects some experiences from a haunted studio in Germany. A couple of other studios have some eerie tales that are also examined. The studio in Munich, Germany is said to be quite depressing. May said “people used to commit suicide by jumping off the top of that building quite frequently.”
Sony introduces Sound Forge Pro Mac 1.0, designed specifically for Mac. The new audio recording and editing software has new features including mastering capabilities and high resolution 64 bit capabilities. The PC version of this software has been out for a little while now and is currently in its 10th version. The Mac and PC version both have very similar features for multi-channel audio recording and editing.
One of the two most fundamental parts of mixing are broken down in Sage Audio's installment of The Basics of Home Recording. In this we will be going over EQ in depth and what to look for in the audio track. Equalization (EQ) is a component used to adjust the tone or frequency response of an audio system to achieve the desired sound quality.
In the music industry, whether its recording music, mastering audio, or distribution and sales, quality and value are of the utmost importance. Evolver.fm came out with an interesting article called “Music Is Still To Expensive To Be Free, Too Free To Be Expensive” and in this article they said “…any music service must, always, from here on out, compete with free.” While they may have to compete with free we don’t ever want to see quality go down because artists are going to go to places that charge very little and produce low quality in return. One reason why Sage Audio provides high quality at a fraction of the cost because we want to provide both quality and value for today’s digital music industry.
There are countless audio equipment manufacturers out there to choose from. Shure has proven year after year that not only do they produce a great product, but they are also one of the best companies to work for. The National Association for Business Resources (NABR) acknowledged Shure for “Chicago’s 101 Best and Brightest Company to Work For.” You can see Shure products everywhere audio is being produced. Their products are well known for live concerts, in the hands of celebrities like U2’s lead singer Bono, in the studio, and also in the hands of some scientists.
AKG, Waves, and Focusrite have released 3 pieces of new equipment that would be beneficial to any studio. With constant improvements in technology comes the constant need to keep your studio up to date with cutting edge gear. AKG celebrated its 65 years as a company with a special anniversary edition of the AKG C451. Waves released their NS1 Noise Suppressor that “intelligently differentiates between dialog and unwanted noise.” Focusrite released their Scarlett 214 which is their newest audio interface with a lot of great features and even has 4 USB outputs.
One might think that purchasing music digitally would be better for the environment than buying CD's. A recent study suggests that digital music actually has a bigger carbon footprint, and it is only going to get worse. Who knows if this study is completely accurate as it is hard to predict how much energy we will be using in 2027 but it is something worth keeping an eye on to see how it changes and we do as a society in the process. A suggestion to maybe remedy the situation would be to store all of the music ever recorded on a petabyte drive (1024 terabytes) and then anyone needing access to the digital music would need a paid subscription to access it.
After nearly 20 years, Hydra Head records has decided to call it quits due to lack of funds. The LA based label that has represented many notable metal acts will cut off new releases starting in December. They have represented metal acts such as Sun O))), Cave In, Harvey Milk, Xasthur, Jesu, Pelican, Lustmord, and Boris. During the next 6-12 months they will be focusing paying back their debts and wanted to thank everyone for their experiences and important music they have worked with.
The future of digital audio quality is constantly evolving. Often times engineers have to cater their production styles to the medium the music is being released through whether it’s a CD or a digital format. Apple launched iTunes Plus tracks and then shortly after posted a document called “Mastered for iTunes: Music as the Artist and Sound Engineer Intended.” ITunes has become the standard for digital distribution and has made vast improvements on the sound quality of music that they supply to the world.
Finding the best monitors for mixing can be a daunting task. There are countless options when choosing between powered and unpowered, flat or enhanced frequency response, cheap or expensive monitors. Finding the right set for each individual engineer in order to create high quality mixes that translate consistently through various sources is really all that matters.
The line that separates mixing from mastering is often blurred and unclear. Mixing and mastering are both complex entities that are equally important parts in the audio production process. It is nearly impossible to achieve a great sounding song with one and not the other. Understanding how each part works on its own will reveal the need to focus time and energy on both of these crucial steps to create professional, high fidelity music.
A mastering engineer has a background in acoustic engineering or audio engineering. A main difference between mastering engineers is the amount of years of schooling and years of experience in the field. Another big help to an engineer is making sure he has the right equipment suited to his needs so that you can get the best quality out of every song.
Understanding the frequency spectrum and where instruments are found can result in improved, professional sounding mixes. This guide will help in finding each instruments own space in the spectrum to provide clearer, full sounding tones to have the best mix possible before mastering. There are six major frequency ranges that are known as the magic frequencies. These are Sub-Bass, Bass, Low-Mids, High Mids, Presence, and Brilliance.
There is often debate of whether or not mastering is actually a beneficial service. A lot of artists believe that mixing is all their songs need to get them to sound the best. By spending a few extra bucks on mastering, the music will receive vast improvements in overall volume and EQ consistency that might have been missed in mixing. There are five major steps to the process of a music CD. These are writing and arranging the music, recording, mixing, mastering, and duplication so that it can be distributed.
