Originally published at The Null Device Blog. You can comment here or there.

One of the nice features of buying cheap, non-“virtuoso” style Indian musical instruments (or any musical instruments, for that matter, but Indian instruments seem to have the biggest low-budget marketshare) is that I don’t feel too terrible “hacking” them.  Yeah, it’d suck ( Read more... )

Originally published at The Null Device Blog. You can comment here or there.

I decided recently that I needed a new studio desk. My previous desk was, in fact, designed for studio use, but it was also designed in the days of large CRT’s, not wide flat-panel screens, and it wasn’t really prepared to handle both a controller keyboard and a computer ( Read more... )

Originally published at The Null Device Blog. You can comment here or there.

As both a guy who makes music and a guy who masters other people’s I’ve encountered the tendency - sometimes even in myself - to write off some mix errors as just “stuff that can be fixed in mastering.”

While maybe it’s true that the mastering engineer *can* indeed fix ( Read more... )

Originally published at The Null Device Blog. You can comment here or there.

With the rise in the DIY Mastering ethos for independent studios, a number of companies have put out all-in-one mastering solutions, generally a single program or an all-in-one plugin that handles every major step in the mastering chain.  I can’t say I’m a huge fan.

With ( Read more... )

Originally published at The Null Device Blog. You can comment here or there.

It has been an annoying past few days in the studio.

Some things have gone quite well, of course.  I’ve re-engineered backing tracks to make them cleaner and punchier in the live environment.   I’ve been able to do this quickly and efficiently with the new machine, since I ( Read more... )

Originally published at The Null Device Blog. You can comment here or there.

Friday night was the late-night, barely-controlled chaos that was a Caustic show.  I mention that merely because I was rocking the theremin and some keys for that gig.  I also mention that because it meant I didn’t get home to sleep until well after 2am.

Ordinarily, a ( Read more... )

Originally published at The Null Device Blog. You can comment here or there.

Recursions is almost done.  I’m in the process of getting the final masters together.

It occurred to me, with a bit of prodding from Matt Fanale, that I’ve never actually talked about what mastering really is.  I’ve blogged passionately about what to do and what not to do, ( Read more... )

Originally published at The Null Device Blog. You can comment here or there.

My attempt to build something like Realtrap’s Portable Vocal Booth was a failure.

Well, kinda.  I suppose I could say it was too successful.

I’d used my remaining lumber and my last slab of OC703 to build two 2-foot by 2-foot panels, which I wrapped in musiln, then bolted ( Read more... )

Originally published at The Null Device Blog. You can comment here or there.

Long weekends are often stultifyingly productive. Thursday night I started a remix.

Friday was mostly given over to meat. And beer. Courtesy of our bassist-in-residence, Mr. Chuck. However, in the evening Wendy and I went to the CTRLSHFT/Caustic/Babyland show. It was ( Read more... )

Originally published at The Null Device Blog. You can comment here or there.

I’ve been doing a lot of research on this topic, as every studio move I make means I have to re-treat a room.  So I’m getting decent at doing this, usually on a budget.

What I can’t stress enough is just how important even just a little acoustic treatment is.  Good ( Read more... )