Recording - December 2009 - 54

By submitting a Readers’ Tapes entry you automatically grant permission to Music Maker Publications to feature your submission here, on our website, and in our SPOTLIGHT e-newsletter. We might need to shorten entries for editorial reasons. By listing your name with the submitted work, MMP does not imply any assignment of rights to the submitted work. We can neither guarantee publication of a review nor engage in correspondence about individual submissions. Media can be submitted physically (as in an actual recording through the mail) or online at our website. For online submissions, please go to www.recordingmag.com and click on Readers’ Tapes, then select “Submit Your Recording” and fill in the requested information. We accept MP3 and AAC files of up to 5 MB size. File bitrate is up to you but we strongly recommend a minimum of 128 kbps; note that the higher the bitrate, the shorter the song that will fit in the 5 MB limit. You’re free to submit an excerpt of a longer song if that helps! Send physical submissions to: Readers’ Tapes c/o Recording Magazine, 5408 Idylwild Trail, Boulder, CO 80301. Please be sure to include: a) a CD, CD-R, cassette, DAT, or MiniDisc with only one song preferably no longer than 3:30 in length (or tell us which track you want reviewed); b) a credit list (who did what); c) a list of equipment used. Remember that CD-Rs with unevenly applied paper labels, smudges, or scratches won’t play back reliably. PLEASE state which part of your contact info we can publish (address, phone, and/or email)—if you don’t tell us precisely, we won’t print anything at all. So why then are we suggesting to Jody that he seek out “professional” mastering for his project? Well, a dedicated mastering engineer is a specialist. His/her equipment is specific to the job, as are the monitors, room acoustics and most importantly the education and experience required to do the job correctly. In Jody’s case, “gluing” his mix together will require some proper compression/limiting, and this is a talent that is not to be underestimated! To that end, should Jody decide to heed our advice we would encourage him to do a bit of research and find several mastering houses that have worked on releases that he admires in this genre. The general assumption that these facilities are financially beyond reach to us mere mortals is not necessarily the case, particularly in these tough economic times. Summary: Grab the glue gun! Contact: Jody David Taylor, lumberman@netscape.com. Tom Forsythe Equipment: Mac with MOTU 828 FireWire interface running MOTU AudioDesk software; M-Audio Audio Buddy dual mic preamp; Mics: AKG D310, Shure 8800, Oktava MK-210-01 (Room Mic); Guild D-44 guitar; floor tom, calabash rattle, leather ocean drum, tambourine, and cymbals. Jody David Taylor Equipment: TASCAM DP01FXCD digital recorder, AKG Perception 100 condenser mic, Audio-Technica AT2021 condenser mic, Alesis Midiverb II, Zoom G2 guitar processor, ART Tube MP preamp, M-Audio Studiophile BX5a monitors, Fender Telecaster and Precision bass, Regal resonator guitar, Yamaha DTXPLORER electronic drum kit, Yamaha DGX305 keyboard. Music: “Bones Along the Road” is a male vocal country song. Jody wrote, performed, and recorded the track in his home studio. Recording: Jody has submitted a very fine effort with “Bones Along the Road”, and the fact that it was done on an 8-track machine makes it even more impressive. The drums have a nice organic feel, the lead and harmony vocals are delivered without sibilance or overcompression, and the bass is nice and full in its support role. We also found the ambience on the Fender Telecaster to be very effective. This is certainly one of those cases where a recording musician has realized or exceeded the potential of his/her gear list! Now for the caveat. While we personally admire the “organic” feel to Jody’s recording, there are times when these types of mixes feel like they lack a bit of “glue”, and that is the case here to our ears. The good news is that the issue can be resolved with a touch of professional mastering. Suggestions: Mastering is one of the most crucial and misunderstood facets of our industry. In the right hands is the final step in the long creative process of recording. In the wrong hands, however, it can be the ruination of hours and hours of hard work, time and money. With the advent of computer-based recording and the rise of the home and project studio market, many of us have added mastering to our list of “skills”. After all, there are literally dozens of software programs as well as several hardware units available to do the job.RECORDING DECEMBER 2009 Music: “Worth Nothing Without Her” is a male vocal acoustic blues number. Tom wrote, performed and recorded it all. Recording: Mono! Tom, we love you! Mono, yippee! Tom tells us that he tracked his tune in mono because “he hasn’t figured out the whole stereo thing”. Well, at the risk of sounding flip, good for you, my friend. What Tom has figured out is how to create a sense of space and depth in his track that would put a lot of stereo mixes to shame. The difference is that this spatial goodness is front to back rather than side to side. Starting with a very cool shaker/rattle, Tom stacks his sounds. Rattle first, then the dry acoustic guitar, followed by a reverbed lead vocal and finally the percussion, which is treated with a great delay effect that really serves to set it back into the rear of the stack. Well done! Suggestions: There was a time back in the “good old days” when mono was king and stereo was the red headed stepchild, much like 5.1 surround sound is to stereo these days. Most if not all recording consoles were fitted with a mono switch, and the ubiquitous Auratone speaker was a fixture in practically every studio. In fact, one of the biggest complaints that arose during the beginning of the digital recording age was the loss of front-to-back depth in mixes. This has been blamed on numerous things over the past twenty years, from sample and bit rates to converters to the actual physical media itself. So how do we explain Tom’s results, then? Well, perhaps it comes down to familiarity and skill, rather than gear. Tom tells us that he’s into old acoustic blues and field recordings and that mono is a comfortable fit for his style. Because of this he has focused his skills in one area, and the results speak for themselves. Therefore, since we can find no obvious fault or flaw with his work here, our only suggestion would be for Tom to indeed “figure out the whole stereo thing”. Combining the gorgeous front-to-back depth that is evidenced here with some side-to-side action would no doubt lead to good things. Summary: Wait ’til he masters stereo! Contact: Tom Forsythe, tjfx@mindspring.com.

http://www.recordingmag.com http://www.recordingmag.com

Recording - December 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - December 2009