Flying Home, a Recap

So, I am now in the Paris airport on my connector from Venice, Italy back to the states. Finally, i have a Wifi Connection.

So, Florence was beautiful, but of the three cities I visited (Rome, Florence, Venice) it ranks third for me. Big surprise actually since most people i talk to that have been to all three pick Florence as #1. Not me. Dont get me wrong, Florence is a must see, but lacks the majesty of Rome and the charm of Venice. Florence's strenghts lie in shopping (not a big fan), and religion, as all of Italy does. Highliughts of Florence were seeing Michelangelo's statue of David. Its got to be about 30 feet high, and upon first sight, beyond description. As powerful as seeing the Sistine Chapel. I thought David was a much smaller statue, I was wrong, its HUGE. No wonder David beat Goliath, if David was that big, it should have been no contest. I also saw some great classic works from Botticelli, Da Vinci, and ALOT of religious art. I'm not really a fan. I respect it, but wow, its just a whole lot of the same thing, and seeing works like that in museums doesnt begin to compare to seeing similar works still hanging in churches and cathedrals all over Europe. Anyway, moving on.

Venice. The weather SUCKED. I finally got into Venice on Thanksgiving night at 11pm and found a snack bar open that served alcohol and sandwiches. I had a traditional Thanksgiving Ham and cheese sandwich toasted and a glass of wine, and I gave thanks that i arrived safely and got anything to eat at all.

Venice is unique in the world. In venice, there are no automobiles. No bikes. no motorbikes. only people walking. What a refreshing change. There's a grand canal that cuts thru the middle of the city and you can jump on water ferries at many points along the city. this is the only form of mass transit, and it provides a great view of the city. One of the big things your supposed to do in Venice is take a gondola ride (small long boat kind of like a big canoe) thru the small canals that criss cross the entire island. The weather prohibited that, unfortunately, so it gives me that much more reason to go back and visit again, as if i needed one. Visit Venice befoe you die, actually visit venice while you can still walk briskly, its so beautiful, unique and charming. I bought alot of art there as well. One piece in Rome, several in Venice. all very inspiring.

I'm boarding now, I have to run or i'll be stuck in Paris, and though i can think of alot worse places to be, I'd better run.
-Ken

Leaving Rome Blog

Prelogue..... I'm in the Paris airport, on my connector back to the states. This is the first WiFi connection I've been able to access my whole trip. Italy, although strikingly beautiful, is not on the cutting edge of technology......
November 22, 2005
Since I have yet to find a WiFi internet connection, I havent posted any of these blogs yet, but I'll keep writing anyway. Less than one minute ago, my train departed from Rome Termini Station enroute to Florence, Italy. I should be there in under 2 hours and I cannot wait. It's sad leaving Rome, for those of you who haven't been there yet, you must go. Rome ruled the world for around 1,000 years, having seen the city twice now, I can believe it. Rome also borders the smallest country in the world, Vatican City. Vatican City might be small, but its got more amazing art than many entire countries. I visited the Sistine Chapel today. Words cannot describe it, so i won't try. Seeing that alone made the entire trip worth it, seeing all of Vatican City, including St Peter's Basilica (largest cathedral in the world), is something I'll remember vividly til I die. I should also mention that there's not a religious bone in my body so my opinions are all art based and not religion based. I suppose if your Catholic, seeing Vatican City might hold even more for you.

My hotel was a five minute walk from a famous Bernini fountain (there are several in Rome), as well as the Spanish Steps. The Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and Trevi Fountain were also close by, all of the above are definite "must see" places in Rome. And of course yesterday i spent time at the Colosseum (think "Gladiator") and all around the ancient Ruins. I can't imagine watching real Gladiators killing each other as well as fighting lions and tigers, but it really happened, alot. I really didn't have much desire to visit Rome before i went, but having now been there, the experience easily stacks up to Paris, Prague or any other place I've been. I hear great things about both Florence and Venice and cannot wait to see them for myself, but I'll miss Rome and I hope to go back one day. For now, I'm racing thru the Italian countryside on a Eurostar train. This country is beautiful and its very easy to see why so many famous artists such as Michaelangelo, Raphael, and Bernini were born here.
-Ken

Even I Need A Vacation sometimes

Yes yes its rare that i even ponder the thought of going on vacation. This year i've only taken a few weekend getaways, and the rest of the year its been mostly seven days a week working, mixing, producing, creating, songwriting, you name it. Its been a crazy year, and a great year, but man I can use a break, and I'm taking it. Right now I'm 38,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean flying toward Milan, Italy, where I'll get my connector to Rome. I was working in London back in September and took a one day trip to Rome, flew in on a Wednesday morning, and flew back on Thursday morning. One day there and I was hooked. I knew i had to come back, though i didn't think it would be this soon.

I had designs on going to sourthern France and possibly Spain this year, but all that rioting changed those plans. Italy became the new destination, so over the next 8 days I'll be blogging from Rome, Florence, and Venice, Italy. Now, I'll probably talk a little shop while I'm traveling, but I'll probably also be blogging about travel, history, art, culture, etc.... All that boring stuff that you might not care about. tough. its my blog and I'll write what i want to, I'll try to tie some of it to music, I probably will by default as music is mostly what consumes me.

Anyway, I've now landed in Milan Airport and I'm waiting on my Rome connector. Its really odd to see super high end designer clothing shops in a dirty airport, but here they are. I'm not shopping for clothes. I hope to buy some art while I'm in Italy if i find some things that really inspire me. Flying over the Alps at daybreak was pretty darn inspiring. Probably the most beautiful mountain range i've flown over, although flying over the Grand Canyon at 35,000 feet was pretty spectacular, and actually, I've flown through a few mountain ranges in Alaska in a Sessna single engine propeller plane. That was a wild ride. We flew right up close to the tallest mountain in the US, Mt McKinley, and the pilot went sideways at one point so we could look straight down a 10,000 foot sheer dropoff. My lunch almost dropped off at that point but i held it together. I don;t know yet if I'll see the Alps again from Milan to Rome. I think i'll get to. Quite a sight. Anyway, I'm about to board my plane. See you in Roma.
-Ken

Lexicon 960 and other Reverbs

So i got a new reverb today. Not just any reverb, I got the Rolls Royce of reverbs, a Lexicon 960L. No i didn't buy it, I'm not nearly rich enough to consider dropping $11,000 on a reverb unit, even this one, which is worth every penny. I have it on extended loan from a record company that I'm doing alot of producing and mixing for. They weren't utilizing it and figured since I'm doing all their records for them, maybe their Lexicon should still be used on their records, so they sent it to me. Believe me, I'm not complaining for a moment. The 960L is actually 4 of Lexicons finest reverb engines under 1 hood, and I can run them digitally via AES connections straight into and out of my HD interfaces. Pristine spaces, imaging, depth, everything. I'll be making very good use of it on my projects.

I also recently got a few cool new reverb plugins. I wont begin to compare and contrast plugins with the Lex. Thought I've used the 960L countless times in big studios, It's going to be a while before i can write an honest compare and contrast, but eventually, I'll dedicate a blog entry to it. I will say this, I do actually really like the sound of plugin reverbs. I got the TL Space convolution Reverb, and though its a super DSP hog, it does sound pretty stellar. In addition to a bunch of halls and rooms, its got an EMT 140 plate simulation. I happen to own a real EMT 140 plate, and I've gotta say the TL Space might be the closest I've heard a digital reverb emulate a plate, it sounds alot like mine. I also have Revibe, Eventide Reverb, Reverb One, Oxford Reverb, Waves Renaissance Reverb, Even Echoboy does some interesting Reverb simulations. I use them all and I actually like them all. I usually uses WAVES or my real plate for reverse reverb efx, I like Reverb One alot, and its inexpensive. Reverb One has a great room simulation and I like its Hall as well. I think Eventide's strengths lie in shorter verbs and smaller spaces, but alot of the stock settings sound great. The Organ Room really does sound great on organ, and i love the Eventide Plate Reverbs, even though they dont sound much like plates, they sound really cool. Each plugin has something special about it, kinda like outboard gear. I've owned a Yamaha SPX 90 for as long as i can remember. Overall i think it sounds like crap, but it does one thing very well that makes me love the unit.

Oxford Reverb seems to be really transparent with longer reverbs being its best strength to my tastes. Some of its rooms are really nice. I like Logic's Space Designer Reverb alot, which i use on both of my non-mixing systems, but not on my mixing system. It doesnt interface well with HD/TDM so i usually dont bother with it. Revibe sounds alot different than any of the other reverbs. I dont know how to describe it other than to say usually when i attempt to use it, i like it. I created a great gated room for live Toms the first time i used it. its pretty flexible too.

I'm definitely not afraid to dig in and edit the hell out of a sound til i get what i want. I had the good fortune of using Lexicon 480's, TC M5000's then M6000's, PCM 70's, etc... when i was learning the trade. All of these reverbs are very editable, especially the 480L which i've spent countless hours just playing, trying different parameters to see how they affect the sound. It was such valuable training and gives me the confidence and knowledge now to really dig in and shape my effects towards what my ears want to hear. If you've got your own rig, you should do the same. Really find out what these things can do. Really listen to how a parameter changes the sound. You'll probably find many inspiring creative ideas by doing this. Good luck
-Ken

Vocal Comping

OK, so vocals seem to be a running theme this week so i'm just gonna run with it. So alot of you up and coming people probably dont know what vocal comping is. Here's a brief description. Vocal comping is like putting together a puzzle and creating a work of art all at the same time.

When i recorded "Seven Days" for Mary J Blige, we had her sing the song from beginning to end many times. Probably fifteen times the first day, and we kept the ten best takes. After she finished singing, she left, the producer went into the lounge, and I stayed to ....... comp the lead vocal. So, what does this mean? OK, I now have ten individual takes of Mary. I only want one take. Should i listen and pick the best single take and just use that one? Hell no! I listen to every line, every phrase, every word, every syllable on every track, and pick the very best pieces, then assemble all of the best pieces into a single "composite" lead vocal track. So, I end up with one lead vocal track, but it was created from pieces of ten different takes. And when i mean pieces, I'm not kidding. Often, I'll have a 3 syllable word in the middle of a line, and I'll use the first syllable from take 3, the second syllable from take 7, and the third syllable from take ten. Not kidding.

So, on "Seven Days", i comp'd those ten tracks down to one. Then brought the producer in to listen. He and i went over it. He asked me to hear a few alternate choices on a few lines. We decided which was best and finished the comp. It felt really good. On mix day, the producer asked Mary to come in one more time and take a few more passes at the lead vocal to see if we could make it even better. Mary sang the song 4 more times and left. I then took the original comp Lead vocal from the first recording day, and put that up against the 4 new takes, found the best of the best and put together a new comp LV. This Lead Vocal was stellar. all in all 14 kept takes, got comp'd down to 1.

I've repeated the above scenario in various forms on countless records. This is the way I prefer to cut vocals. I HATE punching in lead vocals. (do you guys who've never used analog even know what punching means? you should) I've done it alot. Back in the days of analog 24 track recording, alot of my clients called me "Blur" because I could punch in and out so fast they couldnt see my fingers. I had a knack for it, for the timing, and i was really good at it. I miss it actually. But i dont miss recording lead vocals that way. I've always liked giving the singer full takes, then going back and puttting it all together. It flows better for me, and I feel most singers perform better when they dont have to put one line under a microscope and they can just let a performance flow. Sometimes, actually often, i'll go a verse at a time, so they arent worn out by the bridge, or so they have all the energy they need when they hit the chorus. And I'll often sample and fly choruses, and of course now with pro tools its dead simple to copy and move pieces around. We used to have to do it with either digital samplers or my favorite method, flying choruses with an analog 2 track half inch machine. It sounded amazing if you could time it well.

So, nowadays, I'll record vocals until i feel like the singer hits a certain zone where they are really performing well. Then I'll try to get between 4 and 8 really great takes of each section, then afterwards, I'll usually go a bar or two at a time, put it in loop mode, and listen to each take of a particular line. Make my notes, and put together the best pieces of every line into a single comp lead vocal. Sometimes I'll also comp a double track against the lead vocal in similar fashion, if i think the song can benefit from a double track. This is easier than trying to have the singer go back in and double the comp vocal.

Comping is incredibly time consuming and requires a heightened level of concentration and patience, but just so ya know, for you guys and girls out there trying to make major label level records with no budget, this is typically how its done. Not always. but usually. even with great singers like Mary J Blige and Mariah Carey. Now imagine before the days of autotune. But it can make a world of difference to the feel of a song. Now you have the best moments that the singer gave, not just the best single take.

Far too many young bands and artists dont spend much time at all preparing to record vocals, then recording vocals, and comping vocals. Then the singer thinks its a good thing that they "got the song in two takes". whenever i hear a singer say that, i know i'm in for a scary vocal. sometimes, rarely, i am surprised. Sometimes I'll spend 8 hours recording and comping a lead vocal. time very well spent. The lead vocal will make or break the song in the end. make sure its great.

A side note. I get ALOT of stuff in to mix. I always scratch my head when i get songs in to mix that were recorded in a home studio but the vocal is pitchy or not a stellar performance. If you have your own home studio to record your vocals, spend the time to make them amazing.

Anyway, I've got to get back to vocal comping right now in fact. E-dro gave some great performances tonight, and i need to dig thru each take to make sure i've found all the best moments. Just so you know that even great singers get comp'd, here's a short list of artists I've recorded and comp'd......... Mary J Blige, Usher, David Byrne, Lenny Kravitz, Ludacris, Soul Asylum, Diana Ross, Joe Budden, 702, Jaheim, Will Downing, Simply Red, Queen Latifah, Tyrese, Aaron Hall, SWV, etc..... are you getting the idea yet?

Last word of advise. When comping, frequently step back and listen to the big picture, listen to how your comps are flowing, do they make sense from line to line, verse to verse, or does it sound put together? a great comp should sound to the listener like the artist sang it one time and sang it incredibly well. Even the in between breaths. If you solo a vocal I've comp'd, you'll never hear a clipped breath and a glitch. it sounds like one take, even if it was 14 takes.
-Ken

Compression and EQ while recording

So i had a couple requests to write a blog about my views on using compression while recording, and I'll expand it to also include equalization, delays, effects, etc....

Now, if anyone read my blog a few days ago, you already know i compress vocals to tape. almost......... ALWAYS. I also almost always add equalization, at least a touch, but here are a few of the guidelines that my brain subconciously travels thru when I'm recording. First, follow your experience. I have the luxury of owning my favorite gear. Before i started making big gear purchases, i was able to use a ton of different mics, pre's, compressors, etc... on a ton of different sessions over many years. Then i went and bought all my favorite pieces and now thats what i use every day, mostly.

Rules. there are none. Ken's guidelines, here are a few. First, experience. I know my gear, I've used it ALOT. I have a pretty good sense of where to set the knobs for a given performer or vocalist. I almost always capture the first take. Sometimes its magic, most of the time its the artists warmup. For the 3 percent of the time that its magic, its preparation well spent. So, use your gut and experience for a starting point. Grab what you think is going to be the right mic/pre/compressor, etc... for what your doing.

I've heard many engineers say they always try to have the singer sing on 2 or 3 different mics, and mic chains to hear what the best sound is. If you are the engineer for a whole album, or a bunch of songs, or you are this artists main engineer, great, thats time very well spent, as long as the artist is in the mood to let you play. Find what sounds best on them, and use that. And further, if they have to go work with some producer who has his own engineer, do that guy or girl a favor and call them to at least inform them of what you think is the best vocal chain and why. Might save some headaches.

THE REALITY is that 90% of the time, the artist (and probably the producer) dont want to sit around and watch you turn knobs and swap mics until you get your idea of the most awesome sound. They want to record. Instead of the perception that you are doing your job to the fullest, the actual perception will often be "this engineer doesnt know what he's doing", and then before you've recorded a single note, everyone has already lost faith in your abilities, and the session vibe is blown. The most important thing in any session ever is the VIBE. A great vibe will usually translate to great feeling takes, which is a bit more important than the most amazing vocal sound. a bad vibe will equate to unusable takes, even is sonically they are wonderful. VIBE. believe it.

So, use your gut. Dont put an SM57 in front of Mariah Carey. Use your BEST judgement. and check your gear before the artist gets there. I've put up Tube U47's before that sounded like SHIT. a U87 can sound great or terrible depending on its wear and tear. But excpet on rare occasions, if its another session with another artist and your the engineer booked, man grab your best guess and go with it. If its really sounding bad, then stop and ask the producer if you can change up.

The engineer is doing their job the best when they are transparent to the session. When nothing they do is slowing down the creative process. Secondarily, the assistant has a similar job. If the assistant is slwoing things down, thats when i get REALLY F'ing irate, and most of the time i'm a pretty easy going guy. When you are assistant, you dont walk, you run. If the artist needs water, run and get it. they are waiting on you. if the producer needs a pad of paper, RUN and get it. they are waiting on you. Their idea might be lost by the time you stroll slowly there and back for paper.

OK, so back to the title at hand. YES. I compress and EQ vocals to tape almost always. and I have a great signal chain, and i still EQ and compress. yes, it is possible to ruin the sound with compression and EQ as easily as you can make it sound better. So, be careful, use your ears. use your ears, use your ears. are you paying attention...... use your ears. and let your ears guide you to the sound. BUT DONT SPEND ALL DAY GETTING A VOCAL SOUND. do everything you can to be ready with a great headphone mix, a great guess at vocal levels to tape, but dont keep the vocalist behind the mic to check the mic, get levels, get basic sounds, etc... all that can be done before the artists teps in the booth, and it should be done. I always have my assistant scream into the mic loud so i know where my loudest levels are going to be. Set your levels and compression accordingly. also, know what kind of vocal your going to be recording. if its really soft, obviously checking the mic by shouting probably wont help you.

One last tip. If your recording in pro tools, monitor the vocal back with another compressor plug in compressing it further. That vocalist wants to hear every subtlty they are giving. If every time they sing soft, their voice gets buried in the music, they arent going to be as expressive and dynamic. If you have a plugin compressor on the channel (not going to tape, just monitoring with it), it'll help the vocalist. I usually use WAVES RVox for this. its convenient and easy and sounds pretty good. So, dont get me wrong, even when i'm using a plugin compressor on the monitor back, i am definitely compressing with my Avalon and probably EQ'ing with my Avalon and/or my Lang. I dont always EQ to tape, thats where the whole "using your ears" comes in.

Vocal recording is an art. so many people are bad at it. The art of it is not only getting the best vocal sound, the art is in the flow of the session when you are sitting in the engineering chair. How comforable the artist is, the producer is. How good the vibe is. How quickly you keep things flowing. is everyone waiting on you between takes? Cuing up the song to the right place for the part you are recording. If you give them 16 bars of music before they've got to come in and sing, they are going to be bored silly by the time they have to come in. Man i could go on all day, but i cant give you almost 20 years of vocal recording experience in one blog. Back to my session at hand.
-Ken

Sunday Sessions and vocal recording tips

Started my day workin on Dilated Peoples. I'm so close to done I can taste it, the song is feeling really good (at least i think so, hopefully Dilated Peoples will think so too!!!) I hope to put the last nail in the coffin tonight. Its probably the most challenging songs i've worked on this year because of the type of work i have to do, but so far its been really rewarding.

I'm sitting here right now recording vocals with E-dro. He got back in town last night from London. We've spent alot of the afternoon writing clean versions of any of the songs in contention for singles or for film and TV placement. Plus we definitely need a "Wal-Mart" album of all clean versions, one of the realities of retail sales. I hate rap albums that have a ton of words all chopped out, so we're spending time to make sure we do creative clean versions that keep as much of the meaning of each line as we can. Some lines we find are just better muted, but as long as the main flow of the song keeps going I'm happy. Its also tough because BET makes you remove alot of stuff like gun and drug references in addtion to curse words, so you have to be ready for it. At least we will be ready for it. There are creative ways to get ideas across without getting censored.

Anyway, E-dro is currently in the booth murdering vocal takes. He sounds great today. So for you gear geeks (like me), here's the current vocal chain..... Sony C800G microphone (tube condensor) into an Avalon 737 then into a vintage Lang PEQ2 program Equalizer (amazing and similar to a Pultec but i like it better) then directly into the Pro Tools HD 192 interface. I have a high pass filter on the Avalon, around 70hz, nothing going on down there anyway on a vocal except stuff you dont want. fast attack release compression on the avalon reducing to a maximum of about 7 to 10 DB at most. a touch of Avalon EQ boost at 15K and also at 2.8K, also adding a touch of 5K and a bit of 160Hz on the Lang EQ. His voice sounds really big today.

For you young un's out there, any time you put a vocalist in the booth, make damn sure the headphones sound great, the best rough mix you can give them, make sure the headphones are loud but not deafening. and by loud, i mean pretty darn loud, most artists like feeling it loud. i do. Make SURE you check the mic before you put the artist in there. Have someone talk and shout thru the mic over the music, make sure your levels are good, and that the artist wont peak when they really dig in. Do anything you can to make sure that artist feels like they are making a hit record the second they put those headphones on, if they sound great when those headphones go on, you'll put them in a good zone, if they sound bad or the mix sounds bad or out of balance, the performance will usually reflect it. All of these things matter. The worst mistake i see young engineers make is to have the artist performing while the engineer gets a "vocal sound". I've seen engineers make the artist go thru two or three whole takes of a song while the engineer changes levels, EQ's compresses, etc.... The whole time the engineer is LOSING the performance and the vibe. A talented engineer should always catch the first take or at bare minimum have all their settings together by the end of the first verse of the first take. Some of the most amazing singers (like Aretha Franklin or CoCo from SWV) will literally only give you two takes total, or three if you beg. thats all you get, and they'll be amazing takes if you can capture them, but if you dont capture them, your screwed.

One last thing. You as an engineer or producer are the psychologist during vocal takes, or any kind of recording takes. What you say, how you act, your body language, inflections, everything affects the performer. You need to put them in the frame of mind they need to be in to perform the song. There's no formula for how to accomplish that, thats where experience and instinct come in.

So, i'm gonna get back back to these vocals, gonna be a great day of work, I'm hoping to finish Dilated Peoples late tonight. There are a couple other things on my plate but nothing i cant stay on top of hopefully. I hope all of your sessions are going as well as mine.
-Ken

Production and other stuff

Good evening. Yes, 1:54am still feels like evening. I'm in super focused mix mode (except for this ear break). I'm mixing this rock band from Switzerland called "My Play" right now. Total raw energy, loud guitars, washy cymbals, out of tune vocals, everything you'd ever want in an indie rock band. I worked all day on Dilated Peoples, thats coming along really well. Nearing completion i think.

Friday I'll be working again on Dilated Peoples, as well as cutting some bass tracks with bassist extrordinaire Rob Calber (who's main gig is playing bass in the Ari Hest Band, signed to Columbia Records). Every time i need a great bassline, I just call Rob, send him the song ahead of time, bring him in and just let him hit me with his ideas. They are always great. He's played on 3 E-dro songs so far, and tomorrow will be the 4th. I've also used him for a number of other projects ranging from heavy rock to hip hop.

I think part of being a good producer is surrounding yourself with talented people that you can call upon to do specific things very well. If i need a great live bass line, I call Rob Calder. If i need a string arrangement, I'll call Rob Mathes or Chris Demetriou, though quite often I'll put together my own string arrangements. I really love putting strings together, and I know the way i would put them together is completely different than the way an arranger would put them together. As a producer, I have to know when it should be me or someone else, and well, of course, the size of the project budget can often dictate who i use as well. If there's no budget and i need strings, its all me. Wait til you hear some of the strings on E-dro's album. Rob Mathes did arrangements on two songs and played piano on 4 songs (amazing stuff by the way, he's a musical genuis), I did some pretty darn cool strings on a few other songs. I'll post clips sometime soon.

I should be starting to mix E-dro's album maybe as soon as next week. I'm getting a Lexicon 960 reverb in next week, the Bentley of Reverbs for sure, as well as the SPL Mix Dream and an Apogee DA16X. I want E-dro's album to be some of the best work I've ever done, and I think it will be. Next big production project in the pipeline will most likely be Small Town Sleeper, as we're getting courted by a couple labels right now. You can hear one of their songs on my main page. I've got a few other production projects in the long term pipeline, if all goes well, next year is going to be a wonderful year to make music. I'm excited already. Of course I'll always have plenty of mixing work and sample recreation stuff rolling thru when i want it and/or need it.

I had such an amazing 2004 (Kanye West, Janet Jackson, Usher, Beastie Boys, Lenny Kravitz, etc.... geez!!!) that i didnt have any clue how i was going to do in 2005. I get the sense this year that though I havent done as many big name projects (certainly quite a few, but not like 2004), 2005 seems like a much more rewarding year musically. Its also been a restructuring year as I've been working toward top level pop mixing. I mixed most of Jeannie Ortega's album for Hollywood, did some mixing for Nick Lachey, JC Chasez, CeCe Winans, and a bunch of pop artists working on their debuit releases. I actually passed up an opportunity to work on the MTV Video Music Awards with Puffy so i could produce E-dro's album. That might tell you how much i believe in him and this project. 2005 also looks like a pretty good chance that i'll get Small Town Sleeper signed after many years of development. That band is so amazing, any label that passes on them I'm planning to make regret it dearly in the coming year or two.

Anyway, earbreak over. Back to mixing some loud raw rock n roll. 2:22am, practically dinner time. Oh, in my last post, I asked if anyone had any virtual synth recommendations. Kevin Slack came thru with a recommendation for the Imposcar, once i heard the demo's I bought it. should get it in next week. Thanks Kevin. Anyone else using virtual stuff they really love? gimme the scoop!
-Ken

9 Days

Wow, its ben 9 days since my last blog. I am really slacking on my posts, primarily because i'm overloaded with my work. Lots of great stuff going on as usual project-wise. The Dilated Peoples stuff is coming out great. E-dro's album gets better every day, lots more happening as well.

I'm about to make a few more studio upgrades. For you gear geeks out there, anybody seen these analog summing boxes for "in the box" mixing? They are pretty darn cool, i hope, cause i'm about to drop a small fortune on one. I'm picking up an SPL Mix Dream (www.spl-usa.com), as well as an Apogee D/A 16X. So it'll be 16 outs from the Apogee into 16 in's of the Mix Dream, and I'll let the Mix Dream do all the summing in the analog world. See if it makes a difference.

For those of you not quite up on current mixing trends and technology, mixing in the digital domain is quickly becoming the norm, not the exception. For instance, the new Nickelback album, which includes the #1 single "Photograph" was mixed "in the box". My mix of the first single on CeCe Winan's new #1 Gospel album was done all digital. So many top mixers are going this direction now. I still hear some resistance from people who are married to big analog consoles, and hey thats all good, but for me, I'll mix on either format quite happily. I love mixing on big giant SSL's and Neve's, and I've done alot of it, and still do, but i honestly dont think its at all necessary for a great mix. Just ask Nickelback.

I'll write another post on the Mix Dream once i've finished mixing E-dro's album. I've already got some pretty slammin rough mixes going that are going to be hard to beat, so if the Mix Dream helps me put them over the top, i might become a believer, time will tell.

I've ben stocking up on new vitrual synths lately. The new Miroslav Vitous orchestral plugin sounds amazing for the price. I already have the whole vitous catalog, but having such quick and easy access and control over it is really wonderful. I also recently picked up Native Instruments "Komplete 2". Holy crap. This collection really has some great sounding stuff. Alot of it is really ambient and weird like Absynth 2 and Absynth 3, some others are staples, like the Hammond B4 Organ, and the Pro 53 Analog synth that comes with it. Its got other stuff, but these are the main things I've been using from it. Logic had made some recent updates. They improved their time stretching algorhythms. I was using them today for this Dilated Peoples record and they sound smoother and seem to operate faster. Anybody seen Pro Tools 7 yet? I havent. I'm sure i'll upgrade when i can. Anybody else using a "must have" soft synth? tell me all about it, I'm a sound hound. I've got the sickest sample collection I've ever seen, years and years and years of investing. Ha, speaking of investing, I've got a few stocks doing really well too, but i'm not gonna tell you. My luck, they'll tank and i'll have some angry bloggers yelling at me for posting bad investment advice. So far so good though.

Well, i have more than one session tomorrow and I need to get at least a few hours of sleep. so I'm off to dream. So there have been about 300 new songs posted on indieTunes in the last week, if your one of the new artists, welcome aboard!!!
-Ken