REALITY CHECK #5: You Suck, 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


Have you ever heard a fantastic recording of a horrible performance? The gut reaction is that the entire thing sucks, recording and all. Some amateur vocalists will pay big money to have a studio record their song(s) using professional musicians. Everything sounds amazing until the American Idol wannabe comes in with their sub-par droning. At that very moment the listener stops hearing a solid recording and starts hearing amateurish crap. Am I not right? Many song samples from local recording studios will sound that way, not because the recordists suck, but because something is lacking in the song that keeps you from appreciating the quality of the recording.

Here is a list of ways to make people assume your recordings suck, even if they're quality:

-Average/horrible sounding instruments
-Average/horrible sounding instrumental performance
-Average/horrible sounding vocalist
-Average/horrible lyrics and/or songwriting
-Average/horrible arrangement
-Average/horrible production values

Seriously, you could be the best recordist ever, but if one of those aspects is lacking in the song, no one's gonna notice how awesome your recording is (except for us audio nerds). Do you think anyone would admire the powerful simplicity of Audioslave's "Like a Stone" if the drum kit sucked, the bass player couldn't groove, and the vocalist wasn't amazing? Nope.

So, what's my point?

Even if you have the recording thing down, your song is not going to sound radio-quality unless you also shine as a performer, songwriter, and producer.

This post is really aimed at the "Renaissance Man" home recordist. In social circles the Renaissance musician is greatly admired for single-handedly using their multiple talents to create musical "masterpieces" from the humble location of his/her bedroom. That's an awesome ability. But in the professional world, rarely does anyone make anything great without the input, advice, help, assistance, or collaboration of several equally talented people.

Let's look at all the elements that go into a great song from start to finish:

-lyrics
-music
-arrangement
-performance
-production
-recording/editing
-mixing
-mastering

For every one of those stages, there is someone who specializes into doing just that:

-lyricist
-composer/songwriter
-arranger
-performer (studio musician)
-producer
-recordist
-mixing engineer
-mastering engineer

Record labels will introduce any of the above into the creative equation to insure that their product will be marketable. Can we compete with multiple specialists?

While I do think it's possible to be great at a few of those categories, I believe that none of us can truly master them all. People who become masters at something usually specialize in only doing that one thing. You know the saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none"? Yes, we might do it all fairly competently, but not at the level where we can actually compete with several experts doing what they do best at each stage of the song process. It's a sobering fact that we all painfully recognize, but don't have the time, connections, or money to do anything about.

I'm not trying to rub it in, but if you've got mad recording skills, have a great room to work in, listen through a decent monitoring situation, and have a fair selection of cool gear, you still need something worthwhile to record! If you can't get that radio-worthy vibe out of your tracks because the song or production is average, I don't think you can blame the recording. Maybe you're just a crappy songwriter/performer/producer? Or rather, maybe you're not an amazing songwriter/performer/producer who's surrounded by lot's of specialist collaborators?

What do we do with this self-deflating information? Like in the first four installments of the REALITY CHECK series, I recommend a mixture of acceptance and baby steps toward progress.

Acceptance

So you can't be an expert at every stage of your project, who cares? Stop pouting and just accept that you're gonna have to involve other people in your creative process. Once I tried to lay down a rip-roaring guitar solo in a song I was writing. FAIL. I swallowed my pride and called a guitarist friend who came over and laid down 3 usable takes in under 10 minutes. To him, the expert, it was no big thing. Even though I had to inconveniently schedule a time for us to track, I probably ended up saving time in the long run. Plus, my song now has a legit solo. Winning! Identify your weakest abilities and stop convincing yourself that you're "good enough." It's that kind of hopeful self-deception that leads to crappy tracks and -more importantly- keeps you from involving the people who can help you. Which leads me to my next point...

Baby Steps: Get Help!

If you want to take your music projects to the next level, you need to make some friends who are experts. Easier said than done, right? Okay, maybe you can't make friends with experts, but you can collaborate with people who are better than you at the things you suck at. In this internet age, friend making is easier than it's ever been. Start a recording meet-up group through Craigslist. Join Music Connection's AMP Network and find like minded folks in your area. Attend your local songwriting group's critique nights. Many of them (in the LA area at least) have industry experts who do the critiquing. Many online groups exist for the same purpose. Check out the Songwriting Lab, where you can get your work critiqued by a host of folks in the songwriting community. You may not get expert advice, but any advice is better than no external input at all. To overcome your blind spots, it's essential to examine a wide variety of perspectives other than yours.

If you want to stop carving the same rut that you've been carving, you're gonna need to get out of your comfort zone. I can't even begin to list all the forums and social networks you can use to meet people who have the skills you need. Don't just post and then retreat back into your cave. Make connections, establish relationships. Turn those virtual relationships into working relationships. Stop staring at your computer and start shaking hands.

Why would anyone want to help you? Because you probably have a skill they need. If you rock at lyrics and music, then hook up with someone who's good at production. You need their production skills and they need your songwriting skills. It's a symbiotic relationship. Beatmakers need rappers just like rappers need beatmakers. Songwriters need performers. Lyricists need composers. Producers need songs to produce. Vocalists need something to sing just like songwriters need vocalists to sing their songs.

The best part of today's virtual environment is that all this mutually beneficial back scratching doesn't have to take place in "real life." If you read recording-type magazines you've undoubtedly come across multiple articles about cross-continental virtual collaborations. Get a free Dropbox account and start sending your tracks back and forth with your Twitter friend in Norway. Why not? Have a New York rapper spit over the beats you made in Nebraska. There's this marvelous thing called the internet. Use it!

If you happen to have a small project budget, places like eSession have been hooking up amateur musicians with industry pros for years. Forget that stupid synth bass patch! Hire a legit bass player to perform and record that slap-pop line that you just can't play...for under $100! Some songwriting veterans like Jason Blume will critique your song for $20-$30. Once you're a member, TAXI gives you a free critique with every submission you make. Go to a Karaoke bar and find a singer who's willing to sing on your track in exchange for $20 and/or a copy of the recording. You'd be amazed how many vocalists want samples to use as resume builders or vanity tracks for their myspace page.

I can't list every resource available, but the 21st-century fact is that we're bursting at the seems with opportunities. Carpe diem!

Remember, this post is not about your recording ability. I addressed that issue in the first post "REALITY CHECK #1: You Suck." However, the music industry also relies on the "many experts" model to insure maximal product value. In other words, there's an expert at every stage of the recording process, too. In the big leagues, the recording engineer is usually different from the mixing engineer, who is different from the mastering engineer (exceptions abound, of course). Each expert works their magic to the synergistic benefit of the whole. Plus you have several other folks checking "quality control"at each stage, typically the producer(s) and record execs.

Soooooo, this means that you should also take advantage of all the real and virtual opportunities to get recording/mixing/mastering critiques, advice, and perspectives other than your own. The first thing that comes to mind is Ian Shepherd's Production Advice service, but many others exist as well. A free option is Recording Review's "Bash This Recording" Forum, where your peers rake you over the coals in the name of improvement.

In summary: you can't do it all expertly and you need help. It doesn't make you less of a person. I bet you can do some things expertly, so now you just need to collaborate with others who can expertly do the things you suck at. Or, just come to terms with where you're at. Many of us don't have the time, energy, desire, or people skills to involve others. That's okay. Just realize that the definition of 'insanity' is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. As long as you're aware that your solo efforts probably won't produce a Billboard chart topper, you're all good. Maybe with a little acceptance, the joy of making music will creep back into your sessions. That would be a good thing.

Enjoy the Ride!

REALITY CHECK #6: Your Gear Sucks, part II

Follow Create Music Productions on Twitter for daily tips and links on recording, songwriting, 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