REALITY CHECK #7: You Can't Do it Alone, Unless...

ATTENTION: Read these first:

- REALITY CHECK series Introduction
- REALITY CHECK #1: You Suck
- REALITY CHECK #2: Your Room Sucks

- REALITY CHECK #3: Your Monitors Suck

- REALITY CHECK # 4: Your Gear Sucks
- REALITY CHECK # 5: You Suck, part II

- REALITY CHECK # 6: Your Gear Sucks, part II

For the last seven posts I have dished out a healthy dose of reality about why most of us will never be able to create a radio-quality recording. Here's a brief summary of the topics I covered:

1) You don't have enough knowledge and/or experience
2) Your tracking/listening environment is problematic
3) Your monitors aren't that great and you haven't yet learned how to listen like the pros

4) You don't have a wide variety of quality gear that will allow you to capture signals appropriately
5) You aren't an expert songwriter/composer, performer, arranger, lyricist, and producer
6) You don't have a wide variety of quality gear that will allow you to process signals appropriately

Setting aside the gear issue, the bad news is that you can't do it alone. You're probably fantastic at several of those areas, but not an expert in them all. You're going to need help, and you know what? That's okay. Only the most superhuman creative ninjas can do it all well enough to produce radio-ready hits all by their lonesome. But the truth is, it's extremely rare that the hitmakers work alone. Artists need songwriters, artists and songwriters need producers, producers need great recording engineers, great recordists need kick ass performers, and everybody needs top-notch mixing/mastering engineers. You may be able to master your craft in a few of those areas all by your lonesome, but if you want to bring your genius out of the basement, it's going to require help from competent folks who can confidently do what you lack. Pay for it, barter, bargain, exchange services...whatever you need to do to get help.This is not new information. It's always been the case. To accomplish great things, people need other people. It's only been in the last 10-15 years that home recordists somehow came to believe the fallacy that they could write, perform, produce, mix, and master a radio-quality project in their bedrooms...in total isolation. I'm not sure who to blame, but I think it has to do with creative hope infused by the recent explosion of affordable quality gear.

Despite the insulting titles of the Reality Check posts, and contrary to the feedback I've received, my desire is not to squish your dreams into the slimy pulp of realism or demotivate you into a Ben & Jerry's assisted depression. All along my hope has been that simply letting go of an unrealistic expectation will allow you to once again enjoy your creative pursuits. Why not pat yourself on the back for what you are now able to accomplish without beating yourself up because you can't make your 808 as phat as "A Milli." Get some perspective and review how you've improved. (Make sure to check out Dan Comerchero's counterpoint to this series: Reality Check: You're Always Improving.)

The Good News
There is good news and here it is: creating a radio-quality track is no longer the end goal for a successful career in music production. In fact, I think many people who make music in their home studios just want to share something cool that has a little more class and quality than a youtube webcam performance. Of course there are those who desperately hope their mixtapes launch them into superstardom, but most of us just want a file that we can confidently post on Soundcloud.

Although we would all love to hear our tracks on the radio, competing with the hits doesn't have to be your Holy Grail. For those who actually want to generate an income with their musical creations, there are several opportunities for what is known as "broadcast quality" tracks. To me, I reserve the phrase "radio-quality" for songs that play on the radio or that possess the same quality and/or production value as a tracks that get mainstream airtime. "Broadcast quality," on the other hand, refers to songs that have an industry-expected amount of polish in both songwriting, performance, and recording, but that can't necessarily compete with the hits (oftentimes because of industry politics rather than musical quality). Let's be honest, the radio plays only about 10% of all the great music currently available. It's a very small niche. What about all the other music that has been well-written, well-performed, well-produced, well-recorded, and competently mixed/mastered? Those are "broadcast quality" tracks. The greatest difference is that radio-quality tracks have a very narrow standard for what is acceptable in songwriting, performance, production, and recording quality. For broadcast quality tracks, the standard by which each of those categories is deemed "acceptable" is much more broad, being entirely relative to the usage needs of the song. A slow, depressing guitar-vocal track might not get airplay, but would work perfectly in a poignant movie scene.

The Recording Revolution recently featured a video of a gal who makes money off "simple" tracks made with a basic home studio setup: From the Home Studio to Television. They're cool songs, she has a unique voice, and the recording quality is decent, but they would never get radio airplay. Yet her tracks have been featured on several huge TV shows. She's making cash and she's doing it all by herself with a very modest setup (and did she say "no mixing or mastering"?).

My point is that even if you are lacking in all six of my Reality Check categories, you still can generate an income making broadcast quality tracks. Broadcast quality music (full songs or instrumentals) are always needed for:

- podcasts
- rappers who need beats

- multi-media presentations

- Satellite and/or internet radio
- music libraries
- television
- film

- etc.

And believe it or not, artists are still making money on album sales, digital downloads, and viral videos...without ever getting one second of mainstream radio time. It's an ever-evolving industry where the "out-of-the-box" approach is often rewarded unexpectedly.

The Point
Why am I going on and on about broadcast quality? Because I think setting your sights on creating broadcast quality tracks is a much more realistic goal for the "Renaissance Man" type home studio owner. It's not an easy thing to achieve, but at least it's realistic. I believe that a talented, hardworking, patient, determined, and studious home studio owner with modest gear and lots of time to practice their craft could achieve the broadcast quality goal in less than five years. And if you don't plan on tracking drums or your music is not too complex, then I bet it's do-able in just a few years.

A CMP follower, Mr. Kenner (@2ndLevelPro), is a great example of this. He recently landed placements in promotional videos for The Sacramento Kings as well as AVID. Check out his basketball song (at 2:15) and his baseball beat (at 1:30). People, it's possible!

In goal setting circles, goals must be a) specific, b) measurable, c) attainable, d) realistic, and e) timley (See http://www.topachievement.com/smart.html for an explanation of S.M.A.R.T. goals). Achieving broadcast quality in songwriting, production, and recording, and then landing one of your tracks in an industry project is way more S.M.A.R.T. than "I want my ballad to be on the next Beyonce album" (that is, unless you have the skills, connections, and financially-backed assistance from industry insiders). Goals are stars to steer by, not sticks to beat yourself with. Stop the self-flagellation and celebrate where you're at. Drop the stress and return to the days when making music was fun and unburdened with the futile attempt to find the "perfect" compressor setting for the lead vocal.

In short, ENJOY THE RIDE!


For daily tips/links on music production, recording, songwriting, and ProTools, follow Create Music Productions on Twitter: @CreateMusicPro

REALITY CHECK #6: Your Gear Sucks, part II

ATTENTION: Read these first:
- REALITY CHECK series Introduction
- REALITY CHECK #1: You Suck
- REALITY CHECK #2: Your Room Sucks
- REALITY CHECK #3: Your Monitors Suck

-REALITY CHECK # 4: Your Gear Sucks

-REALITY CHECK # 5: You Suck, part II

To be honest, I'm on the verge of beating a dead horse with this post since I've pretty much covered most of the main points in REALITY CHECK numbers 1, 4, and 5; But, in REALITY CHECK #4: Your Gear Sucks, I limited my discussion of gear to the front end (capture). For this post, I'm only going to talk about the tools you use after the audio has entered the computer (processing). This includes plug-ins, outboard hardware, virtual instruments, sample libraries, loops, etc. The first was about recording, this one is about programming, mixing and mastering. For these subjects, I need to address a few issues.

Despite the differences between capture and processing, my point is the same:

You don't have enough varieties of quality equipment to produce radio-ready recordings.

Before I go any further, though, I need to make one point clear: having a limited amount of "okay" gear is only a crippling hindrance in some genres. For example, I believe it's possible to produce a radio-ready instrumental electronica track by working strictly with Logic's stock plug-ins and virtual instruments. In contrast, I think it would be very difficult to produce a really authentic rock song using programmed drums and synth bass...no matter how awesome the sample libraries are. Another example: programming a "realistic" sounding brass quintet piece with sub-par sounds and/or bad technique may be next to impossible, but competently programmed string samples can fool the best of us in a pop context (Sandy Vee used string samples in Katy Perry's "Firework." See Sound on Sound April 2011, p. 133). Examples abound, so take only what may apply to your situation.

Let's jump in.

In a recent Inside Track I noticed that mix engineer Ruadhri Cushnan used the Bomb Factory 1176, the D-verb, and the EQ-III (all stock plug-ins for ProTools) in several instances on "Little Lion Man" by Mumford and Sons (See Sound on Sound March 2011, pp. 142-3). Many folks will point to instances like this and proclaim: "If such-and-such stock plug-in is good enough for so-and-so pro engineer, then it must be high quality enough for me to use in my projects." My response is the dreaded... ...wait for it... ...it depends.

First off, some stock plug-ins don't completely suck. I can usually find a few things that a stock plug-in does great. But if you got the point of the first "Your Gear Sucks" post, you now understand that we're dealing with an issue of quality and quantity (of course, the pros have both, darn it). Stock compressor X may work great on a few sources but suck on others. This is where you'll need access to a cornucopia of compressors so you can appropriately match the compressor to the source. AND, they better be nice compressors. Quality does matter after all. What the stock-plug-ins-are-cool folks failed to mention in their rant was that Mr. Cushnan only used stock plug-ins 20% of the time. 80% of the processing that went into the "Lion Man" mix were were quality plugs from Joe Meek, Oxford, and Audio Ease (in addition to outboard gear by Neve, Summit, and Smart Research). The point is that you need a variety of great gear in order to processes a track in the way it's asking to be processed (assuming that you know what you're doing). Stock plug-ins may do the job, but you better have quality options on hand for when they don't.

Now, to throw an even bigger wrench in the home recording machine, many established mixers have deemed plug-ins unsuitable for important processing tasks. Mixerman recommends quality hardware compressors for the mix bus, hardware effects units for things like reverb, and a summing box for the final mixdown. He'll even print to tape if necessary (see Zen and the Art of Mixing, pp. 170-196). To him, DAWs are a necessary evil and he claims that getting an authentic sound is only possible by moving the signal out-of-the-box and into some analog gear. If this seems excessive, he's not the only one doing it. Notice that Cushnan did it for "Little Lion Man"? For Taylor Swift's Latest album, producer/mixer Justin Niebank used plug-ins from Waves, Sound Toys, Universal Audio, and AVID, but then sent the mix through a Dangerous 2-Bus (analog summing), a quality outboard compressor and EQ, an then onto 1/2-inch tape (see Sound on Sound, February 2011, pp.155-56).

But, that's just for rock, right? Not so. At the recent HRBC Fest in March, 2011, pop mixer Tony Shepperd laid out his hybrid setup, which included outboard reverbs and a summing box. He's not alone. In fact, many pros these days insist that working entirely in-the-box cannot give us the sound we crave. But, before you jump off a cliff (which I almost did after reading the "Gear" portion of Zen and the Art of Mixing), not everyone makes the same claim. Many pop productions are mixed entirely in the box. (Just remember that any "live" signals captured with a mic were probably routed through several pieces of yummy analog gear. See REALITY CHECK #4: Your gear Sucks). I predict that digital technology will eventually satisfy our analog craving and we'll all laugh at the idea of a patch cord. But until that day, many current mixing pros have already gone hybrid because some plug-ins just can't compete with the real deal.

So...depending on the genre you work in, your small selection of cheap gear could be keeping you from producing radio-quality recordings. Here are a list of things that could make your recording sound lame if used inappropriately:

-plug-in guitar tone
-virtual instruments that imitate acoustic instruments through synthesis
-bad sample libraries or great sampled instruments programmed poorly
-plug-in reverb (instead of a cool space, hardware unit, chamber, or re-amp setup)
-plug-in effects (instead of their analog counterparts)
-plug-in processors (EQ, compression, etc.)
-crappy analog gear

Please understand that I don't represent the analog-is-always-better-than-digital camp. There is a lot of crappy analog gear out there, too (make sure to check out David Schober's post: Just Because Something is Analog Doesn't Mean it's Better). I'm just saying that getting the right sound for some genres involves expensive outboard gear. For example, if your indie-rock track needs a Roland Space Echo, the plug-in version might not sound as authentic as the real deal. Even worse, if you need the Space Echo, but only have access to a digital delay and EQ, you're gonna be disappointed when you try to "fake it."

The take away from each REALITY CHECK series is that you should both accept your situation and take baby steps to remedy it. Hoping that you can produce radio-quality tracks with your 5 stock plug-ins is just going to result in tears.

So here's what I recommend, in order of importance:

1) Learn to use the plug-ins you have
Great gear is only as good as the person using it. Go as far as you can with what you have and you'll be justified in upgrading. This involves not just mastery of parameters, but also successful application of a plug-in to a task. If you don't know which of your two compressors works better over the 2-bus, you have homework to do. If you can't program somewhat realistic sounding drums with EZDrummer, then carve out 3 hours and edit velocities and articulations like the rest of us. Upgrading to Superior Drummer won't help you.

2) Decipher which gear is appropriate for each genre
Read, read, read and find out what the mixers/beatmakers/composers/programmers in your genre are using to get their sounds. Then read about what other genres use. Note which processors/instruments are universal and which ones apply to specific genres. Of course, don't limit yourself. By all means experiment. Just be mindful. That melt-your-face guitar distortion might not do well in a jazz context. :-)

3) Get a variety of mid-range plug-ins (processors, virtual instruments, etc.)
Quality is important, but if you still consider yourself a beginner, just recognizing the benefits, drawbacks, and character of a wide variety of plug-ins is more important. Figure out which ones work best for specific tasks. Find excuses to try them out in a variety of situations. This is part of your plug-in education. Really learn their sound. This will help you recognize and appreciate the good stuff once you upgrade. (Hint: besides searching for the plethora of free plug-ins available, I keep my eye on www.audiomidi.com for their "No Brainer" deals.)

4) Get some quality plug-ins (processors, virtual instruments, etc.)

I would get the UAD Satellite or a Waves bundle before I would buy analog gear. Why? A) You get a heck of a lot of great plug-ins for a 1/2 the price of one worthy hardware unit; variety is key; B) Because you'll immediately be amazed how much a great plug-in can sound awesome and make life easier; and C) You'll start to get an idea of the how some of the coveted gear works and sounds. (Just realize that plug-ins modeled after real analog gear may not sound or behave the same!)

Same thing applies to virtual instruments. Once you've gone as far as you can go programming orchestral sounds with Garritan, graduate to Vienna and be amazed. It's also much cheaper than hiring an orchestra. Trust me, I've done the math :-)

5) Get some quality outboard gear
Once you know your stuff, have confidently used the good plug-ins to transform your mixes, and have inherited $50,000 from your rich aunt Sally, then you can decide if getting some analog gear is worth it for you. Try renting a piece of gear first and do some A/B-ing. If your world is rocked, go for it!

The equivalent of "outboard gear" for those who use virtual instruments exclusively is actually hiring a studio to record real musicians. As of today, a talented human trumpet player will always sound better than a programmed part, especially if it's a solo. This means you'll want to consider spending Aunt Sally's inheritance money on hiring pros to play and capture your music. Can't afford an entire string section? Just hire a single violinist to play a layer or two of your string parts. Blend those real performances over the top of your virtual string section to make it sound way more authentic. Not easy, or convenient, or cheap...but hey, you just inherited $50,000 :-)

My Dad always says, "Money can't buy happiness, but it does make life a heck of a lot easier." With music production, the same principal applies. Newer, better, and in many cases, vintage gear won't suddenly transform your work into gold, but it will sound better and it will reduce the amount of time/energy you spend tweaking. Once you have a zebra, you won't have to paint black stripes on that white donkey anymore.

A few more minor points, and then I'll wrap it up...

About Virtual Instruments

Customize your patches! It's cool to start with a patch, but no patch fits perfectly with your song. You need to edit that patch to meet the needs of the track! This can include tweaking parameters in your synth, dialing back the room sound of your drums, and adding effects like distortion, delay, reverb, chorus, etc. Add something original to put your stamp on it. (This advice also applies to processing plug-ins as well.)

Also, avoid cheesy or dated sounding patches at all cost, unless that's the intent. "Cheesy" and "dated" are both relative terms, but you know what I mean. There are a lot of really bad sounding virtual instruments, especially the ones that try to emulate acoustic instruments through synthesis. Yuck! If your song starts sounding like a MIDI karaoke backing track, put on the breaks and start over. Unless, of course, you enjoy hearing the word "amateur" being associated with your creations.

About Loops
You have to be really carefully about using loops in your compositions. First, they better be quality (expertly performed and recorded). Second, you better use as many tricks as possible to hide the fact that they're loops. No contemporary track on the radio just repeats a few bars of drum loop throughout the entire track. Even sample-based rap tracks contain cut up measures, re-arranged sequences, re-organized slices, fills, sudden stops/starts, varieties of groove, etc. A great pop producer is a master at adding as much subtle variety to his loops as possible. Third, you better not use easily recognizable loops. This means GarageBand loops are out, unless it's low-profile ones (percussion, etc.). Fourth, don't even think about using loops for some genres. Looped drums for a traditional blues piece? No way.

In conclusion, this post does not justify your G.A.S. (gear acquisition syndrome) lust. Many of us who run into production roadblocks wrongly assume that it's the tools instead of the user (see my post RANT: "Due to Human Error"). So, before you run out and buy your coveted piece of gear, I would seriously consider spending that cash on education. But if the competent use of the tools you have is still keeping you from producing radio-quality recordings, a gear upgrade may just be the leg up that you need. My friend considers his questionably-legal acquisition of the Waves Mercury Bundle to be a "game changer." What will be your game changer?


And as always, Enjoy the Ride!

REALITY CHECK #7: You Can't Do It Alone, Unless...


For daily tips and links on songwriting, production, and recording, follow Create Music Productions on Twitter: @CreateMusicPro

The Adventures of One-Upping Yourself

Yesterday I spent all day in the studio trying to re-do a previous session that I thought sucked. I ended up spinning my wheels all day trying to one-up the last session and finally threw my hands up in despair, abandoning the new session completely. I took the rest of the day off and tried to forget that I just wasted another 6 hours with still nothing to show for my efforts. In my despair, the next day (today) I opened up the first session and re-listened to the files I captured initially. I was hoping to gain insight on what I needed to do to get what I wanted to get. Turns out, I loved everything I captured in that very first session. This means I can start tracking vocals and adding overdubs. Yea for me!

I learned two things from this experience:

1) My "perfectionism" hates anything I do initially, be it songwriting or recording. I usually have to get some time-distance between what I've done and listen with a fresh perspective at a later date, which could be the next day, several months, or even a year. Any create-music activity is myopic, and I've found that I need to frequently back away from the tree so I can glance at the forest. Many times the forest-view makes the individual tree look less odd.

2) Sometimes I have to try to one-up my last attempt in order to discover that that attempt was actually pretty good in the first place. This applies to every aspect of songwriting and recording. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to replace what I thought were crappy lyrics, only to flail in trial-and-error land for way too long. But somehow through the process I came to discover that my initial inspiration worked just fine. Same thing applies to tracking and mixing. Go ahead and experiment or try to one-up yourself. But don't be afraid to accept the original idea when nothing's turning out the way you hoped it would.

Now, sometimes I do come up with something better. In fact, that's usually why I attempt to one-up in the first place. Whether you fail or succeed, I actually recommend the one-up attempt because it's great education and practice all the way around. Sometimes it produces great results. But sometimes it's the only thing that can help you realize that you had something good before you started one-upping. And through the process you learn yourself.

I love the saying that an expert is someone who has made all the mistakes that can be made. The implication in this statement is that experts became experts by making mistakes, learning from them, and then applying that knowledge to their betterment. In the process, the expert-in-training eventually learns to trust their own judgements. However, this can take years and years of making mistakes to discover. Don't be frustrated about making mistakes; they're part of the joyride toward success.

Happy Creating!

For daily tips on songwriting, music production, recording, including a daily ProTools tip, follow Create Music Productions on Twitter: @CreateMusicPro

When Silence is NOT Golden: Troubleshooting Silence During Recording

It’s happened to all of us: you’re in the middle of a session, everything’s flowing, and you’re in the creative zone. You quickly use your DAW to record a flowing melody, lay down a virtual instrument part, or capture a killer guitar riff. But—suddenly—for no obvious reason, you can’t hear what it is you’re trying to hear. You tickle the keyboard controller and…nothing. You “check—one—two” on the mic and it’s quieter than an anechoic chamber. You try to playback your vocal track through your “hit single” effects chain and the only thing you hear is your computer humming away. At this point, even crickets would be a welcome reprieve from the deafening void. You run through the troubleshooting checklist in your mind and hope it’s something easy. Mute? Solo? Wrong input? Nada. Nothing. Complete silence. So, what do you do when you’re in the middle of an important session and you just can’t make a sound?

There are almost a hundred reasons for silence in a typical DAW setup. Think about everything that could go wrong from sound source to monitor output. From the time it takes to open a session and become immersed in the sonic world of the song, the probability of making little engineering mistakes is high. Something technical is bound to go wrong, especially if creative frenzy has banished left-brain thinking into the naughty corner.

Speaking as someone who is simultaneously a songwriter, engineer, producer, AND performer, sometimes I don’t have the tenacity necessary to successfully unify all four personas with terminator-like precision. Usually the technical hat is the first to blow off into sloppy land. When something goes wrong, I am not in the frame of mind to systematically troubleshoot that kind of issue.

To help me stay in the zone, with minimal tech-think, I’ve compiled a simple checklist of categories of the myriad of things that could be wrong when I can’t hear my track, mic, instrument, virtual instrument, effects, send, or can’t record what it is I’m trying to record:
• Is the volume up?
• Is it routed correctly?
• Misc.
• Is it plugged in?
• Is it powered up?
• Bad equipment?
• If all else fails…

I explain all seven in the following post.

I’m speaking from a DAW perspective and as a ProTools user, but I’ve tried to make my checklist as universal as possible. My advice is geared toward the average home-studio owner. I’m assuming everyone has some combination of computer, interface, pre-amp, external hard drives, controllers (surface, pad, keyboard), guitars + amps, keyboard/synth, mics, DI, headphones, and monitors. I’ve organized the list with the most probable cause at the top and the least likely cause toward the bottom.


Checklist: Why Can’t I Hear What I Need to Hear?

1) Is the Volume Up?
This has to be the number cause of madness because it’s so hard to sort through. Think about how many volume-type controls there are in a typical DAW set up? You have a gain/trim knob on your pre-amp and your interface. Are those sending enough level? On the ProTools M-box, the mix knob controls input level verses mix level. Is that where it needs to be? Then your interface probably has controls for monitoring level and possibly separate controls for headphones. Are they loud enough? Maybe your headphones or monitors have individual volume controls? Is your instrument’s volume control where it needs to be (guitar, synth, keyboard, controller, etc.)? Did you accidentally knock a slider, push the wrong pedal, or rub a volume knob the wrong way? If you’re tracking a guitar playing through a pedal board and then through an amp, all being captured by a mic, think about the various places the volume could be hindered. Has the pad switch on your mic, interface, or DI box cut your volume dramatically? Is the fader on your control surface at unity gain?
Internally you must consider the level of each individual track, including audio volume, MIDI volume, aux tracks, etc. Has a track been muted? Is solo engaged somewhere in your session? Do you have any submix buses to worry about? Are your sends at the level they need to be? Is a send muted? Soled? If you can’t hear an effect on a soloed track, did you forget to solo-safe the aux effect? Are your plug-in effects and/or instruments giving you the output you need? Has something been bypassed? Is your master fader at unity gain? Did you forget about previous automation moves that either mute the track or lower the volume? Did you mute regions or MIDI notes?

2) Is it Routed Correctly?
For the beginner, routing just plain hurts your brain. For the seasoned recordist, it still is a source of frustration at times. Externally, is the right cable going into the intended input? Internally, have I assigned the correct input and output on each track? Did I send the output to a submix or group bus that I forgot about? Are all my sends meeting up with the right aux track on the same bus? Is the headphone mix actually going to the vocalist? If a ProTools user, has the track been record enabled? After tracking, did you remember to take it off record-enable? Did you record-safe the track a while ago and forgot? What about MIDI? Think about how many communication failures can happen when syncing external MIDI devices or internal virtual instruments. Are the MIDI inputs and outputs assigned correctly? Are you communicating with your DAW on the right channel(s)? Is your MIDI track communicating with your virtual instrument through the correct channel(s)?

3) Misc.
Some common issues don’t neatly fall under the volume or routing category but can still trip you up during a session. Did you accidentally press or depress a weird button on your controller or MIDI device? Is a plug-in acting weird? If you can’t open a plug-in, is your iLok plugged in? Do you have input only monitoring engaged? Did you make inactive some of your tracks or plug-ins and forgot about it? If you have too many tracks, sometimes a DAW will freeze them or make them inactive. Did you pile on the tracks and forget about sequencer limits?
Then, you have to worry about computer glitches. Is your audio being routed through your computer correctly? Maybe the volume is down, muted, or the output is routed improperly? Maybe a driver needs to be initiated? Maybe a MIDI device needs to be set up internally before it can be used. If you plugged in your MIDI device after a session was opened, will your software allow this? (ProTools wants you to turn on drives and MIDI devices on before powering up or starting a new session.)

4) Is it Plugged in?
This sounds silly, but believe me, it’s happened to all of us. Is the cable plugged into your instrument or mic fully? Is that plugged into your interface/pre-amp/DI completely? Are your headphones plugged in? Monitors plugged in? Are all usb and/or firewire devices securely attached to both the device and the computer? Have any of the cables gone bad?

5) Is it Powered Up?
Is the power at the wall turned on? Is the power switch on your power conditioner, battery back-up, or surge protector leaning in the right direction? Do you have a device that requires external power or a battery, like a synth, MIDI keyboard, DI box, guitar pedal, etc.? Did you turn that device on? Is your guitar/bass active and require a fresh battery? Are the pedals on your pedal board connected securely to their power source? Maybe a power cable got yanked out somehow? Is the usb hub plugged in? Did you forget to switch on your external drives? Did you forget to engage the phantom power switch after plugging in your condenser mic? Monitors got juice? Finally, have any of the power cables gone bad? Did you blow a fuse? If there’s been an outage, sometimes I’ve had to unplug all powered devices from their power source and then plug them back in.

6) Bad Equipment?
This category comes near the end because it rarely happens. But if it does, it’s usually the last thing you consider. Failing equipment generally gives you some kind of indication that it’s on its way out, but not always.
Are you trying to play through a dead guitar jack? Did a tube give out in your amp? Has your interface finally given out or have a dead jack? Have your MIDI devices stopped communicating? Did your hard drive give up the ghost? Has your computer gone bonkers? Do you have the most current drivers or software update? Did your computer’s latest automatic update interfere with your recording software? Are your plug-ins compatible with your software’s most recent update? Is your sequencer too much for your outdated computer? The list could go on and on…

7) If All Else Fails…
I can’t give a technical explanation for this one, but computer geeks everywhere know the magic power of the restart. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone through the above checklist to no avail only to have a restart solve the problem. If a simple restart doesn’t work, then unplug all your powered devices and connections and wait a few minutes. Then plug them back in and Restart your computer and DAW. Why? Just trust me.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I have by no means created an exhaustive taxonomy of all the issues that could cause silence in your DAW environment in each of the seven categories. The explanations were meant to be suggestive. Hopefully the seven checklist items will save you from those “Oh, duh!” brain-fart moments where the obvious is playing hide and seek. Those moments are especially common in the throes of musical inspiration. If the checklist allows you to troubleshoot without thinking too hard about problem solving, I’ve succeeded with the goal of my post. With your brain successfully spared from functioning you can quickly return to your creative work. [Oooo, diss...insert sarcastic “ha-ha” here.]

Happy Recording!

Follow Create Music Productions on Twitter for daily tips on songwriting, recording, and music production: @CreateMusicPro