Tips on Tracking/Mixing Rap Vocals, Part 1

The other day, Shane from http://www.platinumgoldstudios.com/ and I started sharing some techniques we use when tracking and mixing rap vocals, and we thought we should make them public so you all could benefit as well. We’re not trying to be comprehensive here. We just want our share of the theoretical millions available for bloggers. :-) In this post we focus on tracking. Part 2 will be dedicated to mixing.

Tracking (in no particular order of importance)

• On the pre-production side, we recommend matching the bpm of the backing tracks to the DAW grid. This will give performers an accurate click as well as make it easier to do on-the-spot things like timing delays, cutting/pasting parts, etc. Also make sure to map your session with markers so you can quickly navigate from one part to another without doing the old where-am-I? routine.


• It’s a given that you have a talented rapper, a decent microphone matched to their voice, and a quiet, acoustically treated tracking environment. Padded closets don’t necessarily sound the best, and could make the performer feel cramped. Used close-backed cans to avoid headphone bleed and don’t crank the playback for the same reason. Also, tell all the hoodlums in the background to keep it down during takes. If the performer has to rely on a lyric sheet (which we highly discourage), affix it somewhere stable as to avoid the crinkly-paper syndrome. You would think cell phones might solve the problem, but a) looking at anything divides focus and could hinder the performance, and b) the mobile might make an old tube mic cranky.


• Use a pop filter. Use two if you have to. Turning the mic slightly off axis will “smooth out” some voices as well. Play with the distance from the mic. You usually want a close, intimate sound, but there are times when you need the artist to back off the mic. Folks that move all over the place can benefit from backing up a little further, as their movements won’t cause as many dramatic fluctuations in volume.


• If you’re working in 24 bit, keep input levels conservative with the average hovering around -18dBFS and peaks hitting -12dBFS every once in a while. (If you’re working in 16-bit, slap yourself and move into the 21st century.) Digital clipping is evil. If you have a hardware compressor, set it to catch any stray peaks when (not if) the artist gets excited and delivers a line 15dB over their average. Keep the ratios on the low side, 2:1 – 4:1.


• Try using a different mic for the leads than the doubles/ad libs. Again, play with mic distance for ad libs, especially for the “in the back” effect. It’s easier to make this sound legit when tracking than tweaking during mixdown.


• Sometimes you gotta ask the performer to over-enunciate with clear projection. “Stylistic” slurring may sound good to the artist inside their heads but the mic could be “hearing” marbles-in-mouth. We’ll let it slide if you’ve been shot in the face like 50 Cent. :-) The point is that clearly articulated, energetic performances usually sound the best.


• Ad libbing is an art. If the performer doesn’t have a clue, it’s easy to make suggestions and capture takes in the name of experimentation (just don’t be annoying). Some styles need a bunch, others need very little. It depends on what’s currently in. If there is a producer, let him make the suggestions.


• For doubles, make them as tight as possible. Tight doubles should be almost identical in delivery, inflection, and length. The editor will hate you if they’re not. If you want that “on purpose” sloppy double for effect, then over stylize the performance. You don’t want it to sound accidentally sloppy.


• After tracking a take of ad libs/doubles, listen to them in solo to make sure they’re clear and confident. Too many times the buried and unprocessed ad lib will sound passable under the lead but is really an incomprehensible garble when soloed. Processing will reveal this fact, so catch it at the tracking stage before it’s too late.


• We recommend having the artist track a double and lots of ad libs. It’s way better to give your mixer options than none at all (just let them know that’s how you tracked). It’s easy to mute an unwanted double or excessive ad libs. It’s harder (and time consuming) to create ad libs or doubles out of the lead vox (not impossible, just annoying).


• Having a different voice on the hook can provide needed contrast to the main rappers on the verses. If one of the rappers is also delivering the hook, consider separating it somehow from the verses. If the artists/producers aren’t open to adjusting the arrangement, talk to them about mixing it up sonically. It could be as simple as changing tracking rooms (verses in small room, choruses in big room). You can wait until mix time to play with effects, but it’s more fun to get creative during the tracking stage when everyone’s in the zone. Experiment.


• For the hook, try capturing anywhere from 3-6 tracks to give it that beefy “I’m the chorus” sound. Add a double, possibly a triple. Sing it an octave above or an octave below. Throw in some harmonies and maybe even double the harmonies. Experiment with whispers, spoken lines, and lines delivered with more attitude than the others. Again, it’s easier to hit mute than to try to pull stuff out of thin air.

The strength of these tips depend on what’s currently in style and how “pop” the artist wants to be (if at all). Totally dry spit over a single sampled loop can be just as effective as an over-the-top pop production. Just because something’s possible, doesn’t mean it has to be done. Decide at the pre-production stage what the goals of the track are.

If you've got some tips we've left out, leave 'em below in the comments.

Happy Tracking!

Cory & Shane

Part 2: Tips for Tracking/Mixing Rap Vocals, part 2: Mixing the Lead

Check out Cory on Twitter @CreateMusicPro or online at http://www.createmusicproductions.com/


Check out Shane on Twitter @Gilligan204 or online at http://www.platinumgoldstudios.com/

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 #4: Your Gear Sucks

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

The only book I've ever lost sleep over was Mixerman's The Daily Adventures of Mixerman. In many ways, reading that book is what "woke me up" to the gulf that divides the home recordist from the industry pros. At one point, Mixerman needed to put in a gear order for the tracking sessions that lay ahead. After getting the "regardless of cost" go-ahead from the producer he proceeded to rent a vintage Ludwig drum kit (with a few other kits waiting on standby), plus 10 extra snare drums. Uh, hem...That's as far as we need to go.

When was the last time you had the pleasure of recording a vintage Ludwig kit? The last time you recorded drums, how many snare options did you have? One? Maybe two? Did you have a few extra kits lying around in case you needed to change out kit pieces? Never, none, and no.

You probably thought this post was going to be about how your gear sucks and how the pros have way better gear than you. Well, it kind of is. Great gear matters. If you've ever played through a sweet tube amp you already know that. But I'd be willing to guess that you have a nice guitar, or one awesome mic, or perhaps a killer pre-amp...maybe even all 3! So, you're totally ready to make recordings like the pros, right? Sure. But what happens when you need more of a Gibson sound but all you have is a Strat? What if the mic that complements your voice sounds awful on the female vocalist you brought in to track vocals? And, of course you love the coloration from your killer tube pre-amp, but what if you need it to be transparent? Ah, this is where the pros have an advantage over us.

In The Daily Adventures of Mixerman, after Mixerman dials in the drums, he turns to the guitars. He rents a bass head, a bass cab, a few guitar amps, and some guitars. The producer also brought in several of his favorite amps and guitars. Between the guitarist, the producer, and the rental equipment, they set up a wall (literally) of amps (quality amps, from Vox to Mesa Boogie) and had an estimated 50 guitars to choose from. Throughout the sessions, the three spent countless hours auditioning amps, dialing in the right tone, and arguing about the implications of sounding too vintage or too modern.

Contrast that to what we typically do in our home studios: We pick up the only guitar we have, dial in an acceptable (but not fantastic) tone from our combo amp, and mic it up with a single SM57 that's plugged in to a $200 pre-amp/interface. Upon playback is it any wonder why we feel like the guitar tone lacks something?

Now, your situation hopefully is better than this, although it's a fairly common set up for many home-recording folks. And I'm not even suggesting that you couldn't capture a broadcast-quality recording that way (more on that later). My point is that to capture a variety of great sounds on a wide variety of sources, you need to have A) great gear, and B) lots of it.

Great Gear
"Great" gear doesn't necessarily mean expensive gear. Quality gear will usually produce a cleaner recording, so if you got it, use it. But a quality amp might not be what that trashy indie-rock guitar part needs. I'm suggesting that "great gear" is gear that gives you the sound the part needs. The sad news is that the Neumann mic you bought with your child's college money might sound horrible on that glam rock vocalist. So, yes, quality gear is great, but appropriate gear is better. This brings me to my next point...

Lots of Gear
This is where pro studios have an advantage over us home-recording guys. They have lots of quality gear. In other words, they have a variety of sonic options to choose from, which greatly increases their chances of finding just the right sound.

Before I continue, let me qualify what I mean by "gear." There is a debate among home-recording songwriters as to whether they should track a song themselves and then hire someone to mix it... -or- ...should they pay a studio to track the song and then mix it themselves. Usually this question arises among people who are not qualified to neither track nor mix, but that's besides the point. Too many people these days think that DAWs are magic and that you can put crap in and transform it into platinum later. It doesn't work that way. The pros record with the best tools and mix with the best tools. Having said that, a song that has been tracked by a competent engineer using great gear is going to sound awesome in the raw and be far easier to mix. In the March 2011 U.S.A. edition of Sound on Sound, Ruadhri Cushnan talks about mixing the latest Mumford and Sons album. He says :

"In the end, it's about how good your source material is. Some people think everything can be fixed with a good mix, but that's not strictly true. A band playing well, recorded in a good room by a good engineer and a good producer makes the mixing process a lot easier. If the source material is not very good, you're going to have to jump a lot of hurdles during the mix. In the case of Mumford and Sons I was given really well recorded source material with plenty of options, so mixing was fairly easy and the results came out great."

Get it? You can't polish a turd. Spray paint will make it look better, but it's still a turd.

Therefore, for this segment I will only address the gear that assists in capturing a sound, from source up to the computer. I'll address the processing side later in "Your Gear Sucks, part II."

Quantities of Quality Gear
What kinds of quality gear are we talking about? Let's lay out a couple typical signal chains to see what gear shapes a source:

Vocals: Great room > great vocalist > microphone(s) > cable > pre-amp > cable > compressor/limiter > cable > EQ > cable > converters > cable > computer

Guitar: Great room > Great guitarist > Guitar > cable > pedal(s) > cable > pre-amp > cable> power amp > cab > microphone(s) > pre-amp > cable > compressor/limiter > cable > EQ > cable > converters > cable > computer

At every point in a chain, the tracking engineer must audition, select, and combine pieces of gear that will produce the sonic bliss they're looking for. This explains why pro studios have rooms full of vintage guitars/amps/cabs, sought after synths and keyboard instruments, $100,000 mic lockers, racks of coveted analog gear, and why some cables cost more than a trip to Disneyland.

In contrast, a typical home studio signal chain looks like this:

Crappy room > Okay guitarist > Mid-priced Guitar > $10 cable > M-Audio Fast Track interface > computer > guitar modeling software.

For those who have this setup, I'm not making fun of you. However, I am trying to point out the amount of time, expertise, and quality gear that went into capturing the awesome guitar tone on Joe Radio's latest single. Of course you can't get Joe Radio's sound with the above setup. Accepting that fact might just keep you from pulling out your hair thinking you can transform a Hyundai into a Ferrari with some minor body work.

Remember, the point of the REALITY CHECK series is to point out why many home recordists can't make radio-quality recordings. Crappy gear is only one reason. And it's on the low side of importance compared to the other points I've written about and will write about. Many of you are to able to crank out pretty awesome recordings with only a modest variety of decent gear. Awesome! Many of you have no need for quantities of quality gear because you're only interested in recording in one genre. As long as you don't need your Marshall stack to sound like a Fender Twin, you're set. Many of you do electronica and/or MIDI and have no need of the kind of gear I've been talking about. Lucky you! (Although, hard-core synth-heads will continue their quest to acquire every analog synth known to man). However, many of you use loops and samples for drums, orchestral instruments, voices, etc. All of what I'm talking about in this post has already been done for you. But I have more to say about the quality of samples/loops, and I need to address programming and aesthetic issues. I'll talk about all that in a later post.

One warning: more and better gear may not be what you need to improve your recordings. Many people "upgrade" because they mistakenly think that a $2,000 outboard compressor is going to solve all their compression problems. It will sound great, no debate. But if you don't know how to edit the parameters according to the needs of the signal, you're better off spending your money on Joe Gilder's Understanding Compression videos. (Plus, if you've been paying attention, you really need several nice compressors to choose from. Cha-ching!) Gear Acquisition Syndrome (G.A.S.) often strikes when the problem has nothing to do with gear. I'd be willing to bet that you need more education...not more gear.

The take-away for this week's entry is the same as the others: You can accept your limitations and/or take steps to improve your situation. Let's say you know what you're doing, work in a great room, and have a decent monitoring situation. If you can't get radio-quality recordings you may want to consider which piece(s) of gear you need to improve your input. But before you head over to http://www.sweetwater.com, I'd wait until I'm done with the REALITY CHECK series. There are several more posts that reveal limitations more devistating than having crappy gear. And you thought I was about to give you permission to satisfy your gear lust. ;-)

Enjoy the ride!

Special thanks to @Gilligan204 at for fact checking and making suggestions on portions of this post.

REALITY CHECK #5: You Suck, part II

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

REALITY CHECK #1: You Suck

(ATTENTION: If you haven't already read the introduction to the REALITY CHECK series, this post may feel a little out of context. Get the backstory here: http://createmusictips.blogspot.com/2011/03/reality-check-series-intro.html)

You suck, and I mean that in the most loving way possible. :-) Of course you don't suck. You're actually probably half way decent at recording. But that's not my point. My point is that the audio engineers who make hit records have WAY more knowledge and experience than you. Ask yourself the following questions:

-Have you been recording since you were 14?

-Did you go to school for recording?

-Did you endure a 1-2 year internship in a recording studio?

-Do you record daily for 60+ hours a week?

-Have you been recording professionally for the last 25 years?

People! these are the guys that make platinum selling recordings. Then why, oh, why do we become frustrated when we can't produce broadcast-quality recordings from our home studios with only 2-3 years experience under our belts? Do you see how insane that expectation is?

My point: Many of you who have been recording for only a short time ARE capable of producing tracks that are pretty fricken close to being radio-quality. That's awesome! So, stop beating yourself up about falling 10-15% short of your goal. You will keep getting better and better with persistent effort over time.

Now, if you're ready to upgrade your recording skills, it's time to get more experience and knowledge. We all read books and magazines on recording. We all watch tutorials and read blogs. We all experiment with techniques that we're unfamiliar with. We all attend conference-type events. Great! Keep doing that DAILY for the rest of your life.

But, if you want to improve exponentially, you must realize that experience trumps book smarts any day. Increase the amount of time you spend recording. Sign up for intimate recording workshops like @RonanCMurphy's Home-Recording Boot Camp. Take courses at a nearby college. Pay a local engineer their regular rate to help you through a mix. Get one-to-one assistance on the things that stump you the most from someone who has more experience than you.

The most effective way to gain experience is through a long-term apprentice-type opportunity with veterans of the industry. This may not be realistic given your job/school/family commitments, so think local. Offer to assist at your friend's studio on larger projects. Look into internships at a local studio. Do whatever you can to regularly bump elbows with those better than you. Get out of your studio and into the trenches!

If that's not realistic for you, well…I hate to say it…but don't whine when your track sounds like a gramophone recording compared to the singles on the radio. It's no secret: you don't have the experience or knowledge necessary to produce a radio-quality recording. However, if you accept that that's where you're at despite your lack of knowledge and experience, then maybe you can pat yourself on the back for the progress you've made thus far. Heck, your recordings probably sound better than many indie records made in the '90s. That's pretty cool.

Enjoy the ride!

REALITY CHECK #2: Your Room Sucks

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

The REALITY CHECK Series: Intro

I once had a client ask me to come help her with a track she was working on. When I arrived, she played me the song, which was basically her singing completely dry over an assemblage of loops. After informing me that she had 30 minutes to spend, she literally said, "Now, can you just teach me how to make it sound like the songs on the radio?" I didn't know whether to pee my pants in laughter, walk out, or shake her like that scene in Airplane. Unfortunately for her, at the end of my 30 minute instruction she didn't come away with a radio-ready track; she came away with a sense of disappointment about how complex recording/mixing was.

Now, who do I blame for her naïvety? The internet. Why? Because everywhere you click there are blog posts, videos, and websites with titles like: "Compression Made Easy," "5 Mixing Tricks for Platinum Vocals," "Simple EQ Tips for the Perfect Guitar Sound," and "Learn to Record Like Bruce Swedien in 5 Hours!"

You want to know the truth? Recording is NOT easy, quick, or painless. In fact, here's the Reality Check:

The average home-recordist will probably never produce a radio-quality recording.

Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something.

Why am I smashing your hopes and dreams into tiny pieces, you ask? Because the truth can set you free. Freedom from what? Freedom from the disappointment, frustration, and embarrassment that you experience when you compare your track to others on iTunes. Why does the latest hit single sound warm, sparkly, loud, and balanced, while your track sounds like a 6th grade orchestra captured with a cassette recorder from 1981? I'll tell you why:

Home Recordists can't produce radio-ready tracks because they face several crippling limitations.

The goal of the REALITY CHECK series is to point out those limitations in order to help you understand why your track is only 85% there. I believe that coming to terms with "reality" will help you appreciate how great you're actually doing and hopefully encourage you to stop banging your head against the wall in desperation.

Unfortunately, many of us think our countless searches will eventually reveal that one tutorial that will unlock all the mysteries of recording. When that magical day happens, we'll be the King Midas of the recording world. Okay, you're not that dumb, but many home-recordists sometimes act like frustrated alchemists, mistakenly believing that it's possible to turn lead into gold. So, let me fill you in on the truth: try all you want, but recording a crappy vocal into a Mbox with a $50 condenser in your kitchen ain't gonna earn you a Grammy. Accept this fact and maybe you can start having fun recording music again.

The other benefit of understanding your major limitations is that when you are ready to step it up a notch, you'll know what you have to do to take it to the next level.

So listen, as a home recordist, you're probably producing some pretty cool recordings given your knowledge and equipment limitations. Will you ever produce radio-quality recordings with your existing limitations? Nope. But that's what the REALITY CHECK series is about. Figure out what those limitations are so you can stop beating yourself up about where you're at in your recording journey. Maybe then you can enjoy the ride.

In a few days, I will start off the series with the first post:

Reality Check #1: You Suck

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

RANT: "...Due to Human Error."

One of my favorite movies is Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. I’m not going to attempt to describe what it’s about, but I will say most of it revolves around “Hal 9000,” a supercomputer that runs the spaceship. Hal predicts that a part on the ship will fail, but the humans on the ship can’t find anything wrong with the part. The humans ask Hal if any computers like him have ever made an error. Hal confirms that the 9000 series “has a perfect operational record.” Hal can tell the humans are worried about whether he is malfunctioning or not, so he proposes his theory about the misdiagnosis of the failing part. “This sort of thing has cropped up before,” says Hal, “and it has always been due to human error.” What a great line!

My Dad used to work as an IT guy helping people with their computers. He had a saying: “You can usually fix a computer by replacing the nut at the end of the mouse.” His point? Most people cause their own computer problems. My point? Some people blame their music software for “sucking” when the problem is really the operator. Most of the time, I have to agree with Hal. If your music software sucks, it’s usually “due to human error.”

For example: a guy contacts me and tells me that he’s about to give up on GarageBand because it “sucks.” “I knew I should have got Logic,” he keeps repeating. I inquire about his problems and recommend that he schedule a 15 minute slot with me via iChat. “15 minutes?” he asks confused. “I’ll be able to get you up and running in 15 minutes,” I assure him. See, he was hating GarageBand because it “wouldn’t line up the beats properly.” He also didn’t know how to loop regions and complained that GarageBand was a pain in the butt to use. Sure enough, I showed him the quantize feature in GarageBand, how to loop, and made a few other basic recommendations in less than 15 minutes. Turns out, he had no recording experience, never watched the free instructional videos, and was entering MIDI information by “playing” the tiny on-screen keyboard with the trackpad. I thought to myself, “Yes, it must be GarageBand that sucks.”

Now, in the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey it turns out that Hal the supercomputer was indeed failing and the humans were right. Sometimes that’s the case in our world as well. The Audio Geek Zine recently reported that ProTools 8.0.4 has some serious issues for Windows users . But most of the time, frustrations with music software have more to do with a faulty user than a faulty program. So, before you go blaming your computer or your software, please think to yourself, “What have I done to prove that I am capable of making an informed judgment about the benefits or limitations of my software?” It sucks to enter notes with a trackpad on a tiny virtual keyboard. Buy a fricken $100 controller! The beats won’t line up? Get some rhythm, or at least learn how to quantize! GarageBand won’t loop? Yeah, it’s probably because the program is glitchy. That recycle sign that comes up when you move your cursor in the upper right hand corner of the region has no purpose…it’s just there to look cool. I agree, you’re right: buying Logic will solve all your problems. Increasing the complexity of a piece of software usually results in an easier learning curve. You are detecting my sarcasm, right?

MY ADVICE: before you throw up your hands in despair because your gear sucks, please first make sure that the problem is not “due to human error.”

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

The Top Ten Mistakes of Newbie Pro Tools Users

During the day I work at a school where I teach teens music creation using Pro Tools. I also meet with people privately (in their homes) and online (via video chat) doing the same thing. In my instructional journeys, I’ve noticed that complete newbies to both recording and Pro Tools have the same kinds of problems. Fortunately for you, their pain is your gain. In the following post, I list the top 10 mistakes that Pro Tools newbies usually make either before or after purchasing Pro Tools…then I tell you how to remedy those problems. Simple as that.

1) No External Hard-Drive
People…use an external hard drive! When you save your session to your host computer’s hard drive, it has to work twice as hard to simultaneously run ProTools, access/capture audio files, AND run instrument and/or effects plug-ins. So, here’s what you do: save your session files to an external drive. Put your audio loops and samples on that drive. Love that drive. Back-up that drive. Whatever you do, just use one. Just make sure it's an AVID-approved drive spinning at least 7,200 rpm. Evil things can happen if it's too slow (like most of the "tiny 'n' cute" drives running at 5,200 rpm) or is running an incompatible chipset.

(@ObediaTutor correctly pointed out that AVID actually recommends using an internal drive that's separate from your host drive (partitioned drives don't count). My advice is geared toward laptop users, people who can't add an internal drive, or users who plan on transferring projects between studios.)

2) No Filing System
Unless “cluttered-mess” qualifies as a filing system, most newbies scatter their saved session folders all over the place. Or worse, they just save sessions to whatever black hole the default save-to window suggests. Both bad news when you need to find a session you were working on last month. My advice: Come up with a filing system and stick to it. That way you’ll always know where to locate your sessions.

3) No Mouse (For Laptop Users)
Using the trackpad on your laptop is a recipe for frustration and insanity. Using that confounded device will drastically hinder your ability to navigate your session quickly and efficiently. Just get a fricken mouse and stop saying, “Ooops…ooops…ooops.”

4) Crappy Headphones
Ear buds or $20 headphones won’t let you hear what you need to hear. Invest $100 or more on a decent pair of closed-back headphones and you’ll actually be able to hear what you’re doing. A good place to start is with the Sennheiser HD-280 Professional Headphones .

5) Template Fear
If you click “Create blank session” every time you create a new session, it will take you 10+ minutes to set it up the way you like it. There’s nothing that will kill an inspirational burst of creative energy more than setting up your session or creating tracks. The solution?: Make a simple template with all your favorite track types and settings so you don’t have to pull a Sisyphus and start from scratch every time you open a new session. It’s not hard, and there are tons of video tutorials on how to set up and create a template on youtube. In an upcoming screencast, I also intend on showing you all my favorite session settings.

6) Keyboard Shortcut Fear
Even with a mouse, you can waste a lot of valuable time clicking around everywhere in the middle of your session. For example, why would you drag your mouse over to the transport and click the play button if you could just hit the spacebar to start/stop playback? Exactly. I’m not talking about memorizing all 40 pages of shortcuts. But learning a few time-saving shortcuts could really make your Pro Tools experience more enjoyable. Here are a few common ones to get you started:

• Start/stop playback: spacebar
• Turn click track on/off: 7 on numeric keypad
• Arm transport and start recording: F12 or 3 on the numeric keypad
• Create new track: Shift + cmd + N (Mac); Shift + cntrl + N (PC)
• Activate the smart tool: cmd + 7 (Mac) or cntrl + 7 (PC) on the qwerty
keyboard
• Bypass a plug-in: cmd + click (Mac) or cntrl + click (PC) on plug-in
name in the insert section
• Undo: cmd + Z (Mac); cntrl + Z (PC)

(@CreateMusicPro posts daily tips about using Pro Tools, and many of those tips include useful keyboard shortcuts)

7) Using Too Much Reverb/Delay
I know it’s exciting…look at all the cool plug-ins you can use now! Yea! But here’s the thing: just because Pro Tools allows you to easily work with plug-ins doesn’t mean you have to drench your tracks in reverb, delay, and/or distortion. “But I’m embarrassed of my voice,” you say, “I have to use a lot of reverb.” I know, I’ve heard all the reasons. If you want to continue sounding like you’re making amateur home recordings in your bedroom then keep drowning your vocals in large cathedral reverberations. If you’re trying to out-fuzz all the stoner rock that’s ever been made, go ahead. But if you’d like to up the commercial viability of your music and improve the quality of your tracks, add reverb, delay, and distortion like you would add pepper to food. A little bit goes a long way.
In a related note, I’ve seen a lot of people use reverb as an insert. If you do this, skip to 9) really quick and read it…I’ll wait. Okay, thanks, I can now let you in on standard operating procedure for time-based effects: Learn to set up a send and put your reverbs and delays on aux tracks instead of inserts. Learn why from my book recommendation in 9).

8) Magic Bullet Mindset
Many excited musicians buy Pro Tools with the expectation that it’s gonna be the audio equivalent of a robot vacuum. New users soon discover that Pro Tools won’t do a damn thing on your behalf. There is no “set-it-and-forget-it” button. It’s a tool, and like most tools, it’s as only good as its operator. In a similar vein, many folks buy amazing plug-ins with a parallel mindset. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve helped that have Pro Tools M-Powered, a M-Audio Fast Track interface, AND have also somehow acquired the Waves Mercury Bundle (I’m assuming through “alternatively-legal” means). What’s the point of having the best plug-ins if you don’t know how to use them? Yes, their presets will sound better than your stock Pro Tools plug-ins, but presets generally suck. There is no “magic” setting that will work for every recording/mixing situation. Pro Tools and plug-ins are tools, not dust-sprinkling fairies. Sorry, but you’re gonna have to study daily and work hard to record/mix great music…just like every other mortal out there.

9) Clueless About Recording
Many people I work with haven’t a clue about basic recording principals. I know this isn’t directly Pro Tools related, but it definitely affects your ability to accomplish what you’d like to do. You bought ProTools so you could record, right? Then you need to become educated about how recording works. For example, it’s not uncommon for beginners to invest a decent amount of money on a great mic. Good move, if you ask me. But then they take that great mic and place it on a table (no mic stand or pop filter) in the middle of a large, tile-floored room. No joke. If you read Jeff Strong’s “Home Recording for Musicians for Dummies” then you would know that capturing vocals is best done with a mic on a mic stand with a pop filter that’s sitting in some kind of “dead” space. A walk-in closet with lots of clothes works way better as a tracking booth than in the middle of your tiled kitchen. But, I digress. My point is that you’re gonna need to acquire a basic understanding of how the recording process works before you can best use your software to produce the kind of results you expected when you first purchased Pro Tools in the first place. If we were all living in the Matrix, then I’d recommend the “Comprehensive Recording Skills” mental download, but we’re not, so I guess I just have to recommend a lot of book reading, online tutorial study (AudioTuts+ is good), and youtube searching (try WinkSound for ProTools specific recording tricks). I also suggest subscribing to Recording Magazine . Even if you can’t decipher what you’re reading initially, it’s a great way to gradually become acclimated to the weird world of recording. (In fact, I highly recommend reading through their "Beginners' Series." If you're brand new to all of this, most of the content might go over your head. But it's chock full of newbie goodness.)

10) Manual? What Manual?
Whenever I ask my Dad for help with a complex electronic device his reply is always the same: “Read the Damn Manual!” Let’s face it, to figure out how-the-hell Pro Tools works, at some point you’re going to have to read portions of that 1,000+ page document Avid calls the “Reference Guide.” Ignoring it like it doesn’t exist will just cause you pain in the long run. So, let me walk you through the “creative person’s way” to use any manual. First of all, always at least read through the quick start guide. That should get you up and running as well as introduce you to the terminology of the program. From there, treat the Reference Guide like any other reference: read it when you need it. If you can remember the correct terminology for what it is you’d like to do, then just enter that term into the “Find” box of Adobe Reader or look it up in the index. Search this way until you find the correct portion of the Reference Guide and then only read the applicable information in that section. Solve one problem at a time. You’ll be tempted to follow the many labyrinthine paths that lead off into the nether regions of the document, but beware… before you know it you’ll forget the original reason you turned to the Reference Guide in the first place. I’m assuming you’d rather be creating music, no? If so, then troubleshoot one issue at a time. Or, just hire me to solve your problems for you. Which method sounds cheaper?

11) Unrealistic Expectations
Hey, if Spinal Tap’s amps went up to eleven, then I’m allowed to make an eleventh point in a top ten list! Unrealistic expectations, while not Pro Tools specific, can hamper your progress toward recording enlightenment. Recording with Pro Tools will seem like a magic voodoo art for a while, especially if you took 9) and 10) seriously. I’ll be frank: at first you will not be able to hear the effects of some basic but crucial recording procedures. For example, when I teach clients about leveling out a vocal recording with a compressor, many cannot hear the difference when I toggle the bypass. Same with EQ. Subtle EQ moves are hard to hear. I’ve even had people struggle to hear a high-pass filter totally eliminating everything below 300Hz on a mid-range instrument. When this happens to you, you might find yourself saying, “Well, if X effect makes a barely audible difference, I don’t see why I have to use it…no one’s gonna notice.” Ooooooooo…bad idea. Subtle effects build up. Compare your dry vocal to a vocal that’s been processed with tasteful amounts of EQ, compression, reverb, and delay, and then you’ll hear the difference. Even when you can hear subtle effects at work, you may question whether it’s really worth all the effort it takes to add ‘em. Trust me on this one: processing audio with effects will take your recordings to the next level, just like basic “developing” and sharpening techniques in Photoshop will turn a cool picture into an amazing photograph. The hard truth is that it’s gonna take a while to hear like mix engineers hear. Then it takes double that time to be able to apply effects judiciously. Be patient. That dog-eared kind of hearing and knowhow will come through study and experimentation. Again, Pro Tools won’t do it for you. But once you get the skills, Pro Tools will allow you to execute most of your recording tasks quickly and easily.

Happy ProTooling!

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