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The
HOME RECORDING
6. Home Studio Construction Guide
10. Plan A Home Studio Budget
12. Home Studio Acoustics
14. Soundproof Your Studio
16. Home Studio Building Experiences
18. Lessons Learned From Home Studio
Construction
20. How To Convert A Shed Into A Studio
22. What They Dont Tell You About Home
Studios
VOLUME 25, ISSUE 8
24. Bang Gang Walks Us Through His
Home Setup
28. Darwin Deez Takes Us On A Tour Of
His Home Studio
30. 5 Pro Tools Tips For Better Recordings
32. How To Choose a DAW
34. Do You Need A Control Surface?
36. Incorporate Compressors In Your
Recordings
38. Performers Guide to Audio Plug-Ins
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Betsy Webber
issue
40. The Myth of Hi-Res Audio
42. Record Killer Vocals at Home
44. The Importance of Springsteens
Nebraska
46. PreSonus Studio One 3 Review
48. Flashback: The TASCAM Portastudio
Matt Douglas
PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 3
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Howdy, yall!
Breathe it in do you smell the odoriferous
aromas of burning tubes, hot transistors and
melted eardrums? Well then, welcome to the
wonderful world of home recording!
The issue youre currently fondling in your
grubby little paws is all about our favorite
pastime: recording music. And what better
way to create art than in the comfort of your
own home? We know a lot of newcomers to the
recording game can be intimidated and scared
off by the mountains of gear options and setup
issues inherent in designing ones own home
studio, and quite frankly, it can be a bit of a scary
proposition.
So, where do you start? How about here. We
promise to make the prospect of creating your
own home studio space not only less scary, but
even pretty fun. Trust us. Well teach you the
basics on planning a budget, constructing your
space, soundproofing it properly, choosing
performermag.com
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4 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
Volume 25, Issue 8
PO BOX 348
Somerville, MA 02143
CONTACT
the right hardware and software, and well Phone: 617-627-9200
even throw in some tips and tricks to get you Fax: 617-627-9930
up and running (and making better sounding PUBLISHER
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Phone: 617-627-9919
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Weve got guest articles from some of the top
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Benjamin Ricci
behind Pro Tools) and theres even a sneak peek ben@performermag.com
at the new Studio One suite from our friends at
PreSonus. DESIGN & ART DIRECTION
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Toss in some home recording history and EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
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HOME CONSTRUCTION GUIDE
S
o you want to build a home studio? I own
Night Train Studios in Westford, MA, a
1,000 sq. ft recording studio that I built in
2003 (thats a 12 x 15 Control Room, 12 x 18 Iso
Room A, 12 x 10 Iso Room B, 6 x 10 Iso Room C,
4 x 6 Iso Booth D and a 9 x 12 Lounge). Its in the
walkout basement of a 40 x 25 addition I built on
my home. Ive had lots of musicians ask me after
recording in my studio, How much would it cost
me to build one of these in my basement? As a
licensed building contractor, Ive learned to never
answer that question too quickly, because the first
number you give sticks in peoples heads. But here
are some ideas to be thinking about as you plan
your dream home studio
HEATING & COOLING
Just like other rooms in your house, your
6 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
studio will need heat in the winter and probably
air conditioning in the summer (an uncomfort-
able musician is not a happy musician). Your
control room, especially, is going to heat up
quickly with all the gear and people coming in and
out, so youll at least want to plan for air condition- LIGHTING & ELECTRICAL
ing in that room. If youre building in a garage or
detached building, you might get away with air
conditioners in the windows in the summer but
you will still need to heat the spaces. Can you zone
off of your existing HVAC system or will it need its
own system? Can you get away with electric base-
board heat? Consulting with licensed plumbers
and HVAC experts is a smart idea. In my studio,
I was able to create a zone off one of my existing
forced air systems so that I could get heat and AC
without needing a new furnace/compressor. To
reduce airflow noise, I used flexible insulated duct
that runs to each room in the studio (remember:
youll need a supply and a return duct for each
room and that can take up quite a bit of space so
plan accordingly).
You will probably want to run a sub-panel off
of your existing main electrical panel; in my case I
ran a 60amp sub panel off my 200amp main panel.
Youll need at least one 15amp circuit for outlets
to power computers, guitar amps, outboard gear,
etc. (I suggest 2 20 amp circuits for this). Make a
list off all the gear you have (and plan on acquiring
down the road) and estimate the wattage each one
uses. Dont forget that musicians will be bringing
in their own gear (and that sometimes means big
amps that draw a lot of power). Each amp in your
circuit generally equals 100 watts of available

How To Build
A Professional
Home Studio
Construct a Great Space & Choose The Right Gear
power, so a 15amp circuit can handle about 1500
watts before it becomes overloaded. I also would
try to keep your new electrical wiring at least 12
away from audio lines that you may be running in
the walls and ceiling. If electrical lines do have to
cross audio lines, have them cross at 90-degree
angles to reduce interference.
Lighting should be on its own circuits. A rule
of thumb for old school light bulbs was 3 watts per
square foot, but things are changing fast, with
new CFL & LED bulbs reducing lighting watt-
age drastically. Whatever you do, make sure you
plan to have plenty of light. I recommend having
at least a couple of different lighting options for
each space (wall sconces, track, switchable lamps,
recessed) each with its own switch. That way you
can adjust for different moods easily. In many
states, homeowners can do their own electrical
work (which will be inspected by the local elec-
trical inspector once before you close the walls
and then at final inspection). There are many good
books available for do-it-yourselfers, and I recom-
mend The Complete Guide to Home Wiring from
Black & Decker. Hiring a professional to do the job
is always a smart idea if you arent sure youre up
to the task.
FRAMING & WALL/FLOOR COVERING
Whenever possible, you want to minimize
parallel walls in your studio. So unlike regular
construction where everything is square, you
want to try (if possible) to have at least one wall in
each room at a slight (7 degrees or more) angle. In
my control room, one wall is elliptical, which looks
and sounds great (but was very difficult to build,
HOME CONSTRUCTION GUIDE
so I dont recommend it unless you enjoy wetting
sheetrock to get it to bend).
You want to separate your control room
sonically from the room(s) that will have the
musicians tracking in them. To do this you want
to create dead air cavities. One way to do this is
to frame your walls using 2 x 6 floor and ceiling
plates and stagger the studs, so that when air pres-
sure moves the sheetrock on one side, it doesnt
directly move the sheetrock on the other. Another
way is to build a wall like you normally would and
then after you sheetrock, build another wall half
an inch away (of course youll only be able to get
sheetrock on 3 of the 4 sides). In my case, I built
double walls and also doubled the sheetrock, so
there is 2-1/2 inches of sheetrock and 7-1/2 of
dead space between the control room and the
PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 7
HOME CONSTRUCTION GUIDE
iso booths. The drummer can be rocking out but
in the Control Room it sounds like hes down the
block. Of course you will want to use fiberglass
insulation in all the walls and ceiling cavities.
Will you need to see the talent tracking in the
iso rooms? If so, youll need windows two dou-
ble glazed panels installed out of parallel to each
other works well. And if your talent needs to see
each other in different iso rooms, youll need slid-
ing glass doors. Plan sight lines very carefully.
Also, the higher the ceilings, the better nine feet
is nice, try not to go lower than eight if you can;
theres nothing worse than low ceilings. If you are
building in a basement, keeping sound from going
up and keeping foot steps above from echoing
down into your studio is hard to avoid.
Plan on doubling the ceiling sheetrock with
acoustic clips in-between, so that the two sheets
are not rigidly attached to one another. Sheetrock
walls and ceilings do not generally sound very
good, so youll want to apply carpeting and other
acoustic treatments (hanging tapestries or
acoustic clouds, for instance) to certain sec-
tions. You can build simple acoustic wall and
ceiling treatments by making wood frames, filled
with fiberglass insulation and wrapped in a nice
fabric. Some floor areas can be carpeted, but its
nice to have some wood floor to give a room a live
sound you can always add throw rugs to adjust
the amount of liveliness. Again, if any of this
8 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
sounds out of your league, plan on bringing in a
professional to help.
PERMITS
In most states youll need to submit your plans
to the local building department for approval for
any type of major renovation (read: permit fees
and inspections). If your plans involve build-
ing walls, hanging doors, running electrical and
HVAC and you arent a do-it-yourselfer, then Id
recommend bringing in professionals. Work
that would take a hobbyist months can be accom-
plished in just weeks by professional tradesmen.
Building my 1,000 sq. ft, six-room recording stu-
dio took me about five months, and Im a licensed
builder!
CHOOSING GEAR
The first question you need to answer before
you head off to the store is, What will my typical
tracking arrangement be? Will you be recording
traditional rock bands, string quartets, singer/
songwriters or all of the above? You should deter-
mine how many channels you will need to record
simultaneously. If its a typical rock band, then 16
channels should do. If youre recording 13 piece
funk bands, then youll either need more channels
or youll want to break up the tracking sessions
into rhythm sessions, horn overdub sessions and
vocal overdub sessions. A digital mixer will be
one of your more expensive purchases I recom-
mend buying one that has built-in compression
so you dont need racks of outboard compressors.
The mixer will either directly plug into your DAW
(Digital Audio) via FireWire/USB or you will need
to purchase an audio interface to go between the
mixer and the computer. If this is all foreign to
you, then talk to a professional; things are chang-
ing fast in this area. Working with a pro-audio
sales person or a studio owner can save you lots of
headaches.
MICROPHONES
Depending on what kinds of musicians you
are planning to record, you will need microphones
and lucky you the days when only super expen-
sive microphones would do are over. Now there
are dozens of high quality microphones well
within reach, the only problem is that you will
need at least as many microphones as the chan-
nels on your mixer and each microphone has its
own purpose. Large diaphragm condenser mics
(usually some of the most expensive) will handle
tasks like vocals, acoustic guitars and horns.
Small diaphragm condensers are well suited
for drum room overheads, acoustic guitars and
strings. Dynamic microphones will be the work-
horses for drums and guitar amps. In addition to
the mics, you will need to budget for high quality
XLR cables (I recommend getting different colors
so that micing drums is easier) 20 feet is a good
length. You will also need a plethora of different
kinds of mic stands some for singers, some for
micing amps, drums, etc. I recommend getting
 HOME CONSTRUCTION GUIDE
specialized clip-on mic holders for drums, oth-
erwise you might have a difficult time with mic
placement on the kit.

HEADPHONES
Youll need a range of quality headphones
and a headphone amp with multiple outputs
and inputs so that each musician can hear while
tracking and overdubbing. Drummers tend to do
well with closed cup phones, while many singers
prefer open ones. Budget at least $100 per pair and
try to mix it up so that you dont have six pairs all
the same. I use aux sends from the mixer to give
each musician his/her own headphone mix. I cant
stress this enough all the gear in the world is
useless if the musicians arent getting really good
headphone mixes, so dont skimp on this step.

WIRING, MONITORS, SOFTWARE

All the wiring for the microphone inputs
and headphones should be wired in the wall with
jacks in each room to make connections. The cost
of these specialized XLR and1/4 TRS outlets,
as well as the shielded audio cable, can add up
quickly and take some fine wiring and soldering
skills. Youll need a good set of monitor speak-
ers that youll want to mount with adjustable
mounting brackets to the walls near where youll
be mixing. The type of audio software for your
DAW first depends on whether you are going to
be MAC or PC based and then on preference and
budget. You can spend as little as a few hundred
bucks on professional DAW, but dont forget about
additional plug-ins for reverb, compression, soft
synths, etc. Even if your software comes with
most of what you need to get started right out of
the box, it wont be long before youll want drum
loops, better sounding strings and other plug-ins.
Budget accordingly.
WHERE TO SHOP
I love shopping online at stores like Musicians
Friend and Sweetwater. There you can read
reviews and compare prices while wearing your
pajamas. Ebay and Craigslist are great resources
for cheap gear, especially if you know what youre
looking for. Used gear is a great way to get more
bang for your buck, and well-maintained micro-
phones or monitor speakers can be found at a
fraction of the cost of new gear. Realize that you
will be learning what works best for your studio
as you begin working in it. Often what seems like
a necessity at first turns out to be something that
sits unused in the mic closet. Start as small as
you can and expand as you learn what works best
for you. Dont believe all the hype you read about
every product some gear has earned its reputa-
tion in the industry but much is marketing glitz.
Read recording forums and reviews and talk to
other professionals whenever possible to glean
gear tips and recommendations.
FURNITURE
Make sure you budget for at least one comfy
couch and some durable desk chairs. As engineer/
producer, you will be spending a lot of time on your
butt. The band will also be spending much of their
time bothering you in the control room. Its best if
you keep them as far back from your workspace as
possible, preferably nodding off in comfy couches
rather than leaning over your shoulder, second-
guessing your every mouse click. Just kidding,
guys.
INSURANCE
Will you need insurance? Yes bad things
happen and youll sleep much better knowing that
if something goes wrong (like a break-in or a flood),
youre covered. Usually you can add the studio
equipment as a rider on your existing homeowner
policy. Remember, you are going to have expensive
equipment in your home studio. Depending on
where you live, a security system and additional
locks could prevent a thief from taking off with all
your hard-earned gear.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I worked for many years in studios in Boston
and L.A. and I made note of the things I liked and
the things I didnt. Wed all like huge rooms to
work with, but few of us have the luxury of huge
Abbey Road style halls to work with. Set up a
drum set in a small office and see what makes it
too tight. Is it better in the bedroom where there
are two more feet on one side? I have four iso
rooms in my studio, but we generally only use two
rooms for 90% of the work we do (and my tiny iso
booth hardly gets used at all). Could you live with
two bigger iso rooms instead of three small ones?
Could you have one big iso room and use gobos to
divide the drums from the guitars? My biggest
advice would be to visit some studios first and pick
their owners brains to help you figure out what
you need and what you dont in your dream home
studio.
And as you finalize your studio, keep in mind
that you and your artists should be as comfortable
and relaxed as possible. The studio space should
incorporate colors, artwork, lighting and design to
maximize creativity and reduce stress. Recording
is a science, but its also an art and should be fun.
Good luck on your quest for a dream studio!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zac Cataldo is a licensed contractor. He is also
a musician and owner of Night Train Studios in
Westford, MA and Black Cloud Productions, a
music publishing company that licenses music
for film, TV, software & commercials.

PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 9

THE BUDGET
How to Plan A Hom
I
ve been involved in the music indus-
try for ten years, and it all started
with the dangerous combination of
being in an indie band AND going to a
recording school at the same time. I
knew just enough to get my band
famously terrible independent record-
ings that eventually led to BETTER
recordings that led to INCREDIBLE
recordings once we finally got a proper
record contract and budget. Ive
learned a lot along that journey, and
producing out of the comfort of a spare
bedroom has never been more enjoy-
able and creative for me.
BE MOBILE
Ive recorded so many bits and
pieces on-site, while traveling, and
winging it. Half of these sessions
make it on the final recording. With
a budget. Why? The TAKE beats the
SPACE. The first lesson is that being
10 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
mobile is more important than that tricked-
out Trash Can Mac Tower. I know multiple
Grammy award-winning producers who are
tracking in the back of tour busses with killer
bands because thats the availability of the
working musician today. I know multiple
guys who have a travel kit that contains an
API Lunchbox and a MacBook. My 3-year-old
MacBook has upgraded everything and I am
nowhere near running out of DSP. Being porta-
ble creates more possibilities. And who doesnt
like multiple revenue streams?
FUNCTION OVER FORM
Do NOT spend money on looks to make your
space better until you have all the gear to sound
incredible. Ive tracked vocals in functional
closets that ended up charting on the radio. Its
NOT about aesthetics; its about how good it
sounds when you push PLAY. The chain in that
particular closet was a Reflexion filter to kill
the closet, a tube condenser, a BAE 1073 clone
and UAD plug-ins. The closet was the least

important piece of that chain. The song was #1,
the producer #2, the singer #3, the gear #4, the
SPACE dead last.
LESS IS MORE
In terms of inputs. I dont know a
single producer in Nashville who tracks
Being portable creates
more possibilities.
their drums in-house. They might track
some auxilia r y percussion or use a couple
ex tra inputs here a nd there, but I dont
know a nyone who rea lly uses much more
tha n two killer inputs at a time. Put your
money where you track most a nd focus on
one (maybe two, tops) great musica l mic
cha ins. Rent a space for your drums; the
reason you ca nt get killer drum tones is
because youre competing with studios
that have invested $500k+ into their gea r
a nd space a nd work in that environment
ome Studio Budget
And Learn The Hierarchy to Your New Purchases
EV ERY DAY twea king their tones. W hy
in the world would you wa nt to tr y a nd
replicate that? Rent the space. A nd f ind
a killer studio drummer to have on-ca ll if
the one in the ba nd sucks.
DONT DO TOO MUCH
The best recordings youre trying to
compete with are done by MULTIPLE people
who are ALL better than you, so why are you
trying to be a Swiss Army Knife? As a guy
that is a natural control freak, I have to limit
myself on each project. If Im producing, I
will NOT mix/master. If Im the mix guy, I
will NOT do any production work until my
mix is money and only if the song REALLY
needs it. I will not be involved in mastering
unless Im getting a two-mix, etc. If the best
guys in the industry wont touch multiple
parts of the process, why do you think you
can? I know its all related to budget, but
you arent getting better gigs because your
beauty reel sounds one-dimensional. Suck
it up and make pennies on a few projects to
be able to afford proper mix/master. The
quality will start to show up, and the qual-
ity of clients will start to show up! And who
here wants a better vocalist to track on their
next project?? THIS GUY.
FINAL HOME-STUDIO PURCHASE
HIERARCHY
Heres the order in which Ive purchased my gear
over the years. Its not perfect, it certainly had hum-
ble beginnings, and please dont do it all the same
way, but itll give you an idea of where to start/where
the priorities should go. Keep in mind I had NO
money; I was in an indie band! And Im a producer
so I lean more towards having toys vs. having mics.
PC laptop
Pro Tools LE and Mbox
Focusrite pres! Woo!
Sony-Pro headphones
Cheap condenser mic (mine was an AT4040)
Waves Diamond Bundle
Melodyne - critical for any serious pop production
External hard drive for backup
More cheap mics - small diaphragm con-
denser, dynamic, FET
Reflexion Filter - my space sucks, this helps.
Waves CLA Vocal Plug-In
THIS IS WHERE I ESSENTIALLY
STARTED OVER
UAD Apollo
MacBook Pro
Studio Speakers (Tannoy Reveals)
THE BUDGET
Latest Pro Tools
Native Instruments (not ultimate!)
3rd party unique instrument packs
Upgrade RAM
Nicer Mics - ribbon, tube condenser vocal mic
Acoustic paneling - bought most of these 3rd
party
3rd party plug-ins - UAD plugs (Unison
NEVE!), Plugin Alliance, Addictive Drums
NEXT ON THE WISH LIST
Upgrade Native Instruments
Solid state hard drive
More 3rd party plug-ins
Possibly an analog mic pre, but I do love the
UAD Unison. Just want something crazy
warm
There it is. If I had to do it all over, Id start
with the UAD Apollo, MacBook, and Sony
Pros. Then again, UAD didnt exist when I
started
Some trial and error here but Im getting
to a good place creatively. I have a couple great
inputs, a bunch of toys and candy that keep me
fresh and musical, and definitely last, a fairly
dead space that is appealing and inviting to cli-
ents. Happy creating!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jon Lewis is the lead singer/songwriter for
the Minneapolis band Hyland and now pro-
duces projects out of his home in Nashville.
Follow him on Twitter at @HylandJon.
PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 11
ACOUSTICS
How To Set Up Your Studio
For Sound Success
Performers Primer on Home Studio Acoustics
S
etting up a home studio holds the
promise of creating your own
great-sounding music any time the
inspiration moves you. Its exciting to buy new
gear, claim a spare bedroom or basement, and
embark on the production of your next mas-
terpiece. If youre like many home recordists,
in your excitement to get started, you may not
have paid as careful attention to the acoustics
as you did to the rest of the recording chain. If
the sound of your room is lying to you, theres
no way to make good choices for processing
and balancing your music. If you cant hear it,
you cant fix it.
SOUND ACCURACY & ISOLATION
The two issues to consider in the control
room are the accuracy of sound reaching
your ears, and prevention of noise from leak-
ing into or out of your room. Similarly, in
the recording space you want a true sound
12 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
Tiago Cassol Schvarstzhaupt
to reach the microphone, and isolation from Since sound transmits more efficiently in
adjacent spaces to prevent external sounds solids (e.g. wall studs) than in air, building a
from polluting the recording, or your sound double wall with independent, parallel rows
from interfering with the activities of others. of studs will increase TL without extra mass.
Adding insulation to the cavity in-between
Isolation can be achieved in two ways: further increases TL, as does spacing the
mass and de-coupling. The more mass a wall
has, the less sound is transmitted. Mass Law
is a rule of thumb that for every doubling of
mass, transmission loss (TL) increases by
6dB. If a wall with one layer per side of dry-
wall (GWB) stops 33 dB (TL33), increasing
the mass to two layers per side would yield Monitor triangle
TL39, and doubling again to four layers per
side should achieve TL45. It becomes evident
that using mass alone can quickly get big,
heavy, and expensive.
The best solution is to use mass in con-
junction with de-coupling, which eliminates
the physical connection between rooms.

walls farther apart. That TL39 wall with two
layers of sheetrock per side can improve to
TL57 when you put those layers on their own
studs spaced an inch apart with insulation
inside.
Double walls should have sheetrock
outside only. Adding a layer to an interior
side, even though increasing mass, creates
a triple-leaf system that actually degrades
performance, especially at resonant frequen-
cies. If youre curious why this happens, look
up mass-air resonance and coincidence dip in
your favorite search engine.
Double wall construction is often imprac-
tical for home studios. A simpler alternative is
to use resilient sound isolation clips. RSIC-2
clips are a great option with hat channel (fur-
ring strips resembling the shape of a hat when
viewed from the end) holding the drywall.
DONT BE AN ISO FOAM DUMMY
Hanging foam on a wall for soundproof-
ing is a fools errand. This will not increase
transmission loss. Soft materials, like foam,
fiberglass insulation, rockwool etc. serve
only to absorb sound within a room, prevent-
ing ref lections and reducing ambient sound.
While ineffective for isolation, carefully
placed absorption is essential for a controlled
and accurate listening environment.
SPEAKER SETUP IS KEY
Before addressing room treatments, lets
go over some general guidelines for setting up
speakers. A common technique is to arrange
monitoring on an equilateral triangle with
one point being the listening position and the
other two points being speakers aimed at the
listener at 60 angles. Symmetry is important.
You dont want to be twice as far from the left
wall as the right, or rotated with one speaker
farther from the front wall than the other.
Try to keep some space between speakers
and walls. Direct sound, following a straight
path from speaker to ear, mixes in undesirable
ways with ref lections from nearby surfaces
such as walls, tables, and mixing consoles.
The ref lected path, from speaker to wall
to ear, is longer than the direct path, result-
ing in a copy of the sound arriving just after
the original. Sound is comprised of alternat-
ing higher and lower pressure, or in electronic
transmission, positive and negative volt-
age. When a delayed signal combines with
the original, one may be cycling positive,
and the other, negative. These energies work
against each other, reducing level at certain
frequencies (destructive interference). Both
signals being in a positive cycle results in
reinforcement at some frequencies (construc-
tive interference). Neither case is welcome
because it changes the frequency response of
the sound from your speakers.
The easiest way to determine placement
of treatments to absorb early ref lections is to
grab a mirror and enlist the help of a friend.
While you sit at the listening position, your
friend places the mirror f lat on the wall, mov-
ing it until you can see a speaker. Center your
treatments there. Sound and light travel in
waves and ref lect in similar ways (angle of
incidence equals angle of ref lection), so the
mirror shows the first ref lection paths from
your speakers to your listening position.
Ceilings, f loors, and consoles also can be a
source of unwanted ref lections.
TRAP THAT BASS
Low-frequency absorption, or bass
trapping, is essential in small rooms, and
acoustically speaking, any room in a house is
a small room. Standing waves are a particular
case of constructive and destructive interfer-
ence between parallel walls causing certain
frequencies to either ring or all but disappear
at specific locations (anti-nodes and nodes).
One node will exist exactly half-way between
the front and back walls, so its best to have
ACOUSTICS
Double Wall Construction
your listening position in front or behind the
half-way point.
The poor bass response in un-trapped rooms
contributes to many home studio mixes having
problems in the low end. If you are missing bass
at your listening position, youre probably in a
node. It may seem counter-intuitive to trap bass
when you dont have enough, but thats exactly
what to do. The missing bass is caused by sound
bouncing between two walls, with the low pres-
sure in one direction combining with the high
pressure in the other, thereby cancelling each
other out. If you trap the bass, it wont bounce
back, eliminating the cancellation and restor-
ing an even bass response.
The simplest bass trapping is a thick porous
absorber in the corners or on the back wall, often
called a super-chunk. The classic material for
these and many other absorptive treatments
is Owens Corning 703 semi-rigid fiberglass
boards in a frame covered with Guilford FR-701
fabric. The thicker the panel, the better the low-
frequency absorption. Leaving a small space
between panel and wall also improves low fre-
quency performance. Four-inch panel depth
gets you into the lower mid-range, but for real
bass trapping, youll need it to be several times
thicker.
These techniques wont turn your home into
Abbey Road, but theyll help you get the most out
of your gear and ears, presenting your music in
the best possible light.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jay Frigoletto is a recording columnist for
Performer whos covered such topics as Com
pression, Limiting, Equalization, Reverbera
tion,Digital vs. Tape Delay,Active vs. Passive
Electronics, Speakers & Crossovers, Tubes
vs. Solid State, Microphones, Mic-Pres and
Phantom Power, Phase and Polarity, and
finally, All About Decibels. For more info
please visit www.promastering.com.
PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 13
SOUNDPROOFING
SOUNDPROOFING 101
This brief article is designed to give some basic
ideas about soundproofing your home studio.
I personally have built three studios from the
ground up and learned a lot as I have done so.
There is a wealth of information including
Sound Control Tables (STC) and a great variety
of sound control products available online and
I encourage you to check further, after reading
this, to find the best combination for you.
Soundproofing is a term most often used
to refer to the reduction of sound pressure
14 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
(sound level). Controlling sound levels is
essential to the operation of a studio. It may
be that you need to control the volume of the
sources that you are recording with respect to
your neighbors or it may be that you are trying
to reduce the sound levels from outside of your
studio so as to not interfere with your record-
ings or, more likely, both. There is nothing
worse than tracking that perfect vocal only to
have a motorcycle roar by and ruin it. The key
is to eliminate sound transmission as much as
possible through your walls, f loor and ceiling.
Eileen Kane
So, where to start?
WALLS & FLOORING
Ideally you are building your studio
as new construction. Doing that, you can
design your walls from the outset for sound-
proofing. But, if you are converting existing
space, there still are steps you can take to
control sound levels. Lets first look at new
construction.
If you are on a slab, your finished f looring

needs to be de-coupled from the slab. You
can do this by f loating the f loor. To do this,
you build a false f loor that rests on rubber
pads spaced evenly throughout the design.
That way the concrete wont transmit the
sound because the f loor is decoupled from
the slab. If a f loating f loor isnt practical
then isolate the finished f loor from your
slab with a rubber or rubber cork mem-
brane. Definitely not as good as the f loating
f loor, but you will benefit over no isolation
at all.
It is very important to also isolate or de-
couple your f loor from your walls. This can
be accomplished by attaching rubber under
the bottom plate of your walls. There are
products specifically designed for this or
you can go to a f looring supplier and buy a
roll of the rubber/cork material used under
carpets to control noise in apartments and
cut that into strips. That same material is
great under the finished f looring in your
recording room and control room, too.
Next, lets look at the design of your
walls; thats where your biggest challenge
is. Here is what I did in my current studio
and it has served me well. There are two
walls separated by 1 of airspace. Each wall
is insulated with rock wool (you can get this
from an insulation supplier).
Each wall also has a double layer of 5/8
drywall with the inside double layer (facing
the recording room) separated (de-coupled)
by Resilient Channel. Additionally, between
the wall studs and the first layer of drywall
is a 1/8 rubber membrane. Pictured is a
borrowed diagram showing most of these
ideas using their 440 Sound Barrier product
instead of the double 5/8 drywall I used.
CEILINGS
For your ceilings, I suggest a double layer
of 5/8 drywall attached to your rafters or
trusses and insulate it. I used blown insu-
lation with a factor of R-36. Finally, use an
acoustic sound barrier sealant. This applies
like caulking and helps seal the gaps at the
bottom of your walls and other places you
may have gaps. Note: Here is an important tip
unrelated to soundproofing but an important
element of studio design: make sure no two
walls are parallel. This helps eliminate stand-
ing waves in your recording room.
CONVERTING EXISTING SPACES
If you are converting an existing space,
you should try to incorporate as many of the
SOUNDPROOFING
steps above that you can. Building a second
wall, inside of your existing wall, will serve
you very well. If you cant do that, attach
resilient channel to your existing wall and
then add your double layer of drywall. Glue
them together with Green Glue (acts as a
de-coupler) and attach with screws. Adding
additional drywall to your ceiling will be
necessary also. Green Glue that as well to de-
couple the new layer from the existing one.
ACOUSTICAL TREATMENT
Now that youve done your soundproof-
ing, it is equally important to do some
acoustical treatment. This is for another
article but here are the basics. Leaving your
walls with the smooth painted drywall will
result in a space that wont sound very good;
sound waves will bounce all over the place.
There are a number of methods to use, from
sound control blankets to attaching carpet
to installing curtains or using acoustical
treatment products like those from Auralex.
Typical treatments include installing
absorbing bass traps in your corners and
adding absorptive panels spaced as needed
to dampen the live-ness of the room, but not
remove desired ambience. In many cases, you
can send your room specs to acoustical treat-
ment manufacturers and they will suggest
designs incorporating their products.
Good luck and happy recording!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jim Stafford is the owner of Eclipse
Recording Co. in St Augustine,
FL. For more info please visit
Eclipserecording.com.
PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 15
EXPERIENCES
Dont Let Gear Overwhelm
Your Home Studio
How To Make Meaningful Music On Your Own
I
ve spent the greater part of a decade putting
together a home studio. Its been a labor of
love and a test of sheer will. Ive thought of
giving up entirely - and just letting the pros do
it. However, Im finally getting to the point where
Im making recordings that I can be proud of. The
most important thing that Ive learned is that gear
really isnt important.
Dont get me wrong - obviously you need a
microphone, a DAW or a tape machine and few
other things to actually make records - but theres
a fine line between what you need and what you
want. Dont ever trust that feeling of want; its
deceiving and gets in the way of writing music and
making recordings. If you start thinking things
like, If I could just get that Neumann microphone
my voice will sound so much better! Or, If only I
had a Neve console my mixes will sound like the
big studios and then people will buy my music!
STOP.
16 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
I was fortunate to attend a college that
had an excellent recording program. I was
able to experiment with different pieces of
classic recording gear including API con-
soles, AMPEX tape machines, EMT plate
reverbs, Buchla synthesizers and lots of vin-
tage microphones. It was overwhelming to say
the least. But thinking back on those years in
college, I learned the most from the people
that I had met - especially my fellow students.
Collaboration can be an invaluable source of
learning. Sharing mixes with other people
and having it critiqued can provide you with
a wealth of new perspectives and lead you to
better hone your craft.
Listen to the recordings that inspire you
and think about what qualities are meaningful
to you. Is it the tone of the mix? Is it the timbre
of the vocals, the guitars or the drums? Is it the
simply just a good song? Find whats meaningful
to you and emulate it in your own music. Try
and find interviews with the producer(s)/
engineer(s)/artist(s) that made that recording
and learn from them. Often times youll find out
that its creative microphone placement - not the
microphone itself -thats responsible for that
sound. One of my favorite recordings, Bruce
Springsteens Nebraska was recorded using only
a 4-track cassette recorder, two Shure SM57
microphones and an Echoplex. With a modest
amount of recording equipment, input from
others and a lot of feeling, you can make bril-
liant records that are meaningful to both you
and your listeners.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Austin Potter is a Philadelphia transplant
from Olympia, WA. Hes a huge analog
recording fanatic, and as such produces all
his music in his home studio. For more info
please visit tapesandtubes.com.
 Lessons Learned &
LESSONS
Advice From A Home
Recording Veteran
FIND A MENTOR (WHETHER THEY
KNOW IT OR NOT)
The Internet is so rich with archival foot-
age and interviews that researching an artist
that appeals to you has never been easier. I
have always been a huge fan of Brian Eno
(pictured) as both an artist and producer.
The lesson that I got from listening to Enos
work in combination with reading about him
was that experimentation was key.
I have developed a work process based on
the concept of ambient loops. I use my home-
made loops to trigger a rhythm base upon
which I write original compositions featur-
ing guitars. The loops can be preserved or
discarded depending on how the overall writ-
ing process goes. Sometimes the loops stand
alone independent of anything else.
IT MAY SUCK AT FIRST BUT IT WILL
GET BETTER
I have always been an advocate of record-
ing everything. I rarely pick up a guitar unless
I am in a position to record and capture what
happens next, because it wont be there the
next time I plug in. Ive learned that lesson
the hard way. Record everything and revisit.
Be in a constant state of editing. An idea will
find a home somewhere down the line and the
presence of what can be perceived as work
product will promote progress. Have choices.
Quantity will get you to the quality.
DO NOT BE INTIMIDATED
Once you become familiar with the tech-
nology, it will be there to work for you. Your
goals should be both vast and selective at the
same time. Mastering the basics of clipping,
panning, and levels will inf luence everything
that you do. So figure out how to get a basic
sound recorded, and dont look back. Lasso
the technology and make it work for you.
GIVE IT A DAY
One of the most important lessons that I
have learned over the years, especially now
that I am getting older, is to let a new record-
ing/idea sit once you have captured the
essence of it and saved it. My artistic mood
varies dramatically from one week to the
next, and I have had some great success in
18 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
variety of not only compositional content, but
more importantly, mixes. Im constantly sur-
prised by my prior decision-making process
and I rarely if ever can remember the idea I
recorded the week before, so its a constant
process of rediscovery for me.
DO NOT DWELL
Always move onto something else once
you have achieved a certainly level of sat-
isfaction/quality with an idea that you are
working on. Approaching it from a different
angle upon return can only benefit the expe-
rience. Establish a work process that allows
you to bounce around to multiple projects at
once.
MOVE OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
I am a musician who has taught myself
to play multiple instruments by ear so that I
would simply have something to record, so I
dont really have a comfort zone. I do not read
music but I have mastered the basic language
of the notes on the neck of a guitar and that
has allowed me admission into a world of col-
laboration and artistic freedom that I never
would have imagined 10 years ago.
I made the leap to a DAW running
Propellerheads Reason through the Balance
audio interface two years ago out of neces-
sity. My Zoom 1608 was fritzing out and my
old laptop lost its battle against time, so I took
that as a sign that is was time to move on. It
took a while for me to find the sweet spot with
the new technology but once I did, it has been
an amazing experience. I dont regret wait-
ing, but now that Im here I feel like Im home.
My entire catalogue has benefitted from the
transition.
LOOK FOR ALTERNATE SOUND
GENERATORS
My iPhone has been the single most
important artistic tool available to me. No
boundaries as to what can be done when
sounds generated from Bebot or ThumbJam
are looped, enhanced, and manipulated.
TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF SOCIAL
MEDIA
I have posted over 100 original composi-
tions to SoundCloud over the past few years
and enjoyed the music of my peers immensely.
It is a wonderful outlet for home recorders
and for listeners. I have also participated in
many wonderful collaborative projects that
have added a voice to my extensive instru-
mental archive and given me courage to go
out and explore my voice.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steve Vercelloni is an artist and avid audio
recorder living in Long Beach, CA. His most
recent work is featured at soundcloud.com/
steve-vercelloni.
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 How To
THE SHED

Shed In
Genera
I
m a jazz saxophone player that doesnt
really like to play jazz all that much. I like
singer-songwriters, soul music, rock bands,
weird string bands, folk music, and electro pop.
Cannonball Adderley, Jan Garbarek, and Ornette
Coleman got me into the saxophone. Singers and
songwriters got me into songs and records. But
I never wanted to be a Clarence Clemons. I like
being a part of a section. Most bands cant afford
to tour with a horn section, so I got into making
sections happen in the studio. Enough people in
my widening circle of musical colleagues (most
recently The Mountain Goats, Hiss Golden
Messenger, Bhi Bhiman) wanted me to put
together woodwind parts for their records that I
thought it would be worth the investment to build
a studio where I focused on just that. So thats
what I did.

My wife and I bought a house in downtown

Raleigh, NC two years ago that had a detached
workshop in the backyard, and I renovated
the crap out of it. I ran super clean power to it,
installed a powerful mini-split heat pump/AC sys-
tem, insulated it with dense rockwool, replaced
the window and door, installed tongue and groove
flooring on the vaulted ceiling, created a slatted
wall to give the room some acoustical dimension,
and finished the existing yellow pine floors. To
give it a more cabin-like vibe, I built a small front
porch with an overhang. The total project took
about six months, though it probably could have
gone faster if we hadnt had a baby in the middle of
that, and we didnt exceed our budget of $10,000
by all that much.

Why is this an economically viable route to

take, you ask? Normally, if a woodwinds player
gets called to do a session in a studio they would
get paid a rate either based on the amount of time
spent or by the song. If Im in a professional studio
for a full day, I usually get between $200-300. A
totally fair rate. The idea behind my studio is that
I could charge similar rates for my services as an
instrumentalist, but the artist/producer wouldnt
have to be spending their valuable studio time for
my portion of the project. I dont feel like Im pull-
ing money away from established studios because,

20 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

To Convert Your

THE SHED
Into A Revenue-
rating Home Studio
in a lot of cases, an artist would either farm it out
to someone like me or just not have horns/ wood-
winds at all. With my arrangement, people can
still have affordable, orchestrated instruments
without impacting their budget too much.

Are you wondering about quality, now? Are

you skeptical as to whether or not I can produce
studio quality recordings in my shed? Well, I
was worried about that too. Obviously, the qual-
ity of the recordings matters a lot. I didnt want
people to be able to tell that I wasnt in a million
dollar studio. My approach to achieving this was
simple: after playing in some amazing studios I
figured out which sound I liked the best, made a
note of what the signal chain was (mic, preamp,
converter), and then bought that stuff.

Now, this equipment gets expensive. I figured

Id start out with a few choice things and go from
there. I like ribbon mics on my saxes, so I have a
decent AEA ribbon mic, paired up with a Great
River preamp, and sent into an Apogee interface
with decent converters. Those items cost me
roughly $3,800. I steer the ship with Pro Tools
and a souped-up Mac Mini. And it all works great.
I recommend also having a good dynamic mic,
like an SM7 or an RE20, and a midrange large-
diaphragm condenser mic like a Mojave MA-300.
As far as preamps, start a 500 series rack. Great
quality stuff that you can add on to later at a rea-
sonable cost. Not everyone is willing to invest in
quality home studio gear, so if you do, you might
even be able to make some money renting it out.
I buy pretty much everything on an online
stores credit card, and keep an eye out for zero
interest specials. The minimum payments will
have the balance paid off in the zero- interest
time frame. Financing $5,000 over 24 months
is only around 200 bucks a month, which can be
covered with just one session. Thats how I deal
with equipment expenses.
The renovation expenses were a combination
of gifted money, savings, and credit cards. All of
which are paid off now. Other than my monthly
credit card bill for equipment and maybe a
slightly inflated electric bill, the studio doesnt
really have any overhead.
Though theres an economic reason for hav-
ing this studio, my priority is having a space
where I can be creative on my own terms. This
is not a luxury item for a full-time musician. It
is a necessity. When Im not working on a wood-
wind part for someone, I can write, practice, and
experiment. The more Im able to do those things
for myself, the better Ill be at producing great
work for other people. Creativity and consistency
are the greatest assets for an instrumentalist and
session musician. But if you can also have a kick-
ass little studio in your backyard, all the better.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Matt Douglas is a trained jazz saxophone and
woodwinds player who floats between the
jazz world and the world of singer/songwrit-
ers. He continues to live and work in Raleigh,
North Carolina as a multi-instrumentalist,
teacher, and songwriter. For more info visit
www.mattdouglasmusic.com.

PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 21

WHAT THEY DON'T TELL YOU
WHAT THEY DONT TELL
YOU ABOUT HAVING A
HOME STUDIO
If only we could record whenever we
wanted, didnt have to pay outrageous studio
fees and we could try all our ideas without
someone holding us back, then wed have it
made. After all, it is most every musicians
dream to own a studio and achieve a creative
complete-ness isnt it? As a musician who
became a studio owner and is now no longer a
performing musician, I know these ropes and
let me tell you - they can tangle and pull you
off course.
Conventional wisdom: Recording in our
own studio will bring us closer together.
Reality: Its more likely to cause stress and
arguments. Whether your band is a straight-
democracy, democracy with a veto power
leader or a front-centric titular leader, you
may find that achieving group-think isnt
made any easierin fact, its often harder
without the leadership (and tie-breaking) of
a hired producer/engineer.
Conventional wisdom: Well save money.
Reality: If you record very frequently, youll
end up saving significant cash. But, qual-
ity gear is expensive, whether hardware or
virtual, and studios are notorious for nickel-
and-dimeing you to death. Youll likely spend
22 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
way more than you would in a studio for your
first full-length, break even on the second
and start saving on your third.
Conventional wisdom: Then well record a
lot, to save lots of money.
Reality: Recording is a big pain in the ass
and theres plenty of obstacles in-between
your vision and prolific productivity. Youll
only seldom record due to health issues, com-
puter issues, plug-in nightmares, neighbor
complaints, waiting on more crucial piece
of gear and the big onethe lack of urgency
created by always having a studio available.
Conventional wisdom: We will reach new
heights of creativity.
Reality: Yes, youll get plenty of opportunity
to fix mistakes and enjoy endless do-overs,
but more creativityno. Your left brain and
your right brain will likely feud enough to
prevent that (if your unruly band mates
dont), assuming youve got the deep chops
often needed to achieve creativity in a tech-
nical world where freshness is elusive.
Conventional wisdom: Well record every-
thing from free jams, to rehearsals, to demos
well never lose another good idea again!
Reality: Its hard enough to be on-time, in-
tune and always ret to go without having
to babysit the laptopand set-up mics, make
rough mixes, distribute files to the gang, do
DAW/OS updates, etc. Youll record every-
thing for a month and then that routine gets
old surprisingly quickly.
Dont get me wrong; a little personal dis-
cipline goes a long way towards beating the
distracted artist syndromes described above.
It is possible to have fun and save money if
you have an extremely stable line-up, tightly
aligned artistic goals and employ realistic
expectations. If thats a bit too much to chew,
try starting slowly with a simple rehearsal
recording set-up and then graduate to the demo
recording level. You may find that provides the
requisite artistic freedom, without the life-
consuming hassles of being a computer-tech/
musician/engineer/producer/entrepreneur/
coach/marriage counselor
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rob Tavaglione owns Catalyst Recording
in Charlotte, NC (www.catalystrecording.
com) and is a freelance writer/reviewer/
columnist/blogger for the pro audio
industry.
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Accepting applications for General
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brands and will be in new facilities
within a few months. Salary and
benefits are negotiable. Send resume
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HOME STUDIO TOUR

HomeStu
24 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
 HOME STUDIO TOUR

udioTour
Bardi Johannsson of Bang Gang Takes us
Behind The Scenes of his Icelandic Getaway

PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 25

HOME STUDIO TOUR
Essential Yamaha SK 50D and amps
Kiss doll and my first EP and two
of my best friends: Keren Ann and
Henrik Singapore Sling
26 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
W
hen I was in college I only had a gui-
tar, a Kurzweil keyboard, an ATARI
1040ST, headphones and Cubase. I
wrote most of my first Bang Gang album on that
setup. I did scratch vocals by singing in the head-
phones as they could somehow sense noise as a
microphone. I then went to a studio and synced
the computer with tape, and recorded everything
from the sequencer on the tape and did vocals on
top of all that.
Now 20 years later, I have my own studio with
a lot of more stuff in it. During my first record
I keep my studio quite
dark, so it always feels
like evening...
deal I got screwed by an Icelandic record com-
pany so I set my goal that in my late 30s I could
record what I wanted, when I wanted, in the best
quality available and would not have to rely on
anyone. I have always been into experimenting
with sounds and liked working with all kinds of
instruments and sources. I recorded sounds in
nature and tweaked them, made beats with my
feet, hands and mouth and made them unrecog-
nizable with an effects chain.
Now my studio is built around instruments
and gear that are essential for me. I have little
by little been cutting out things I dont use. Also,
I have been using fewer and fewer plug-ins. It
is so nice to have a clean track with all EQ and
fx recorded - making decisions before, rather
then trying to figure out afterwards in a plug-
in mess. I have Pro Tools HD X that is the core
of my recordings. Two sets of speakers, ADAM
S3XH and Mackie HR 824. When I write music,
produce and start mixing I use the ADAM as
they have a soft and fat sound. Then I end in the
Mackies. Basically what you hear in the Mackie
speakers, you will hear anywhere else. I think I
would choose them if I could only have one pair of
speakers. Maybe with a sub added.

I can record everything except live drum kit
and strings (if they are more then one at a time).
Normally I use my Neumann M149 plugged
in an Avalon vacuum tube, so it goes through
two amps. In an addition, I have a Shure SM57
through an EMI pre-amp. My guitar pedals are
combined with a chain of distortion and effects.
Normally I just use two distortion pedals and the
reverb of the amp when I play guitar. Sometimes
the Boss Slow Gear pedal gets on there and some
others, as well. It is when it comes to keyboard
recordings when I start to put the whole effect
chain together. Recording keyboards through
guitar pedals in a guitar amp is a lot of fun and
weird things start to happen, sonically. I did a lot
of that on the new Bang Gang album The Wolves
are Whispering. Also most of the drum machine
in the track The Sin is Near is recorded through
a guitar amp.
The songwriting process varies for me.
Sometimes the songs base is written on a gui-
tar or piano with vocals, and sometimes I start
making a sound universe and then work on
vocals afterwards. Recently, I started using only
outboard echoes when mixing and producing. I
plug each instrument either through the Chorus
Echo or a Korg Sampling Delay. I think 75% of
the delays on the new Bang Gang album are the
Chorus Echo.
When I record guitars, I always try a few
different guitars and sounds for each part. Then
afterwards I do freestyle sessions where I play
around with noise. After that I choose which
sounds fit best and go through all the freestyle
sessions to pick out weird sounds or clusters that
can bring the right ambience to the song. Most
of the time I record more than less; sometimes
I record an instrument even if I am 90% sure it
wont work, but since there is the 10% chance it
might work, I have to try it so I wont have any
regrets. It is better to regret what you have done
rather than what you havent done.
My guitars are mostly Fender, but then I
have a Les Paul for sustain reasons. Also an old
Rickenbacker that I use for most of the solos. The
synths are a combination of essential synths, SH
101, Yamaha SK-50D that I have used as a organ
sound on the last three albums. My song Inside
from the album Something Wrong is mostly an
SK-50D and a Fender Rhodes. Then I have two
Roland vocoders that I mostly use for high range
string sounds and sound effects. Then I make
strange sounds with my mouth through the
vocoder and it brings something special.
I also have a POG2 that I used on some of the
guitars in the song Sabazios O. It makes the gui-
tar sound synthesized and strange. In the guitar
solo on My Special One you can hear distorted
guitars double-layered in two octaves, with dou-
ble layered harmonies. On top of that I put the
HOME STUDIO TOUR
guitars through a vocoder and there is one layer
of that also.
For bass recordings I usually plug directly
into a Focusrite Trakmaster Platinum. I have
three different basses that cover all spectrums.
A Hofner if I want a retro sound where the bass
stands out, a Rickenbacker for fat low frequen-
cies and a Fender Jazz Bass for melodic lines.
Sometimes I add a delay on the bass to get a more
ambient feeling, if that fits.
I feel like todays engineers are often in
a hurry and think that they can fix the sound
afterwards. Little-by-little, I was going in this
direction too, but then I noticed that most often
it takes more time and effort to fix something
that doesnt sound right, than to actually re-
record it properly with the right sound. Now I
try to get good takes with all the effects from the
beginning. Also, I have been fortunate to have
drummers that sound good on takes, so I dont
have to treat the sound so much to make it large
and fat. It seems like some musicians think that Guitar pedals
if you play loud in a studio, it will sound loud on a
record. But that is not always the case. The softer
you play drums, the larger they sound on a record.
In the past I have used a lot of reversing and
pitch-shifting afterwards. For example, in the
song A Lonely Bird I am using both normal and
reversed guitars in the beginning. Sometimes I
also use a trick I learned in my film work, and that
is to pitch-shift a sound and play it with the origi-
nal to make it more fat.
I always keep my studio quite dark, so it Speakers, Gainsbourg and a whip
always feels like evening. In the winter we actu-
ally have 16 hours of darkness here, but in the
summer it is reversed. If I dont feel the difference Synths and Keren Ann
between day and night, time becomes abstract
and therefore it is easier to get lost in a timeless
space. Also it gets more moody when it is dark
and it fits my music very well. If I am recording
more ambient tracks, I like to play on them late
evenings or night as my mind gets more float-
ing at that time and I feel that the space in music
becomes more [pronounced].
Then I have three guardian angels in my stu-
dio. It is a whip I got from my friends for my 30th
birthday, a Kiss doll that sings Crazy Nights
and an ABBA jacket I got when I was young.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bardi Johannsson is an Icelandic musician,
composer, writer, TV show host (of the sur-
realist Icelandic TV show Konfekt), clothing
designer and film director. He is mostly known
for his work with the groups Bang Gang, Lady
& Bird (a side project with Keren Ann) and
Starwalker, a collaboration with Jean-Benot
Dunckel. For more, follow him on Twitter @
banggangband.
PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 27
 8.5 Reasons Why I Record at
WHY I RECORD AT HOME
Home and You Should Too
M
y first home studio consisted of a
tower PC running a MIDI sequencer,
a Korg DW-8000 synthesizer, and an
Akai S-2000 rack mount sampler. I made drum
n bass with that setup in my teens. I used to
download breakbeats off the Internet using the
family computer, cut them up in Cool Edit, and
transfered them via floppy disk to the sampler.
I saved my allowance for months to buy that
sampler. It could do anything the beloved MPC-
2000 could do, but it looked like a VCR rather
than a spaceships control console. I got the
S-2000 to save money, and saving money is high
on the list of reasons to record at home.
These days, the price of studio time is always
relative to the price of a new laptop in my mind.
And these days, a laptop running Logic comprises
the sampler, the synth, the sequencer, the four-
track, and a boatload of effects and digital sound
processing. So theres another reason to record
at home: the tools for composition come in the
same box as the recording gear. Now lets say
youre a strong-headed Aries who likes to be in
charge and not have to compromise with anyone
else. Youve just accessed the third reason to
record from home: complete autonomy. Oh
yes, and no hourly rate to worry about. Infinite
time. I spent two-and-a-half years writing and
recording my debut album at home in my Lower
East Side apartment. Thats kind of a long time.
My heroes at the time were Animal
Collective and Ariel Pink, lo-fi DIY masters
whose homemade sounds created an emotional
28 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
intimacy in the music. Im talking about the
debut albums of both artists. That first Animal
Collective album is mixed with so much treble,
you can almost hear their hearing damage. But
the compositions and the performances are
so full of magic and integrity that the lack of
audio fidelity just adds to the story and to the
uniqueness. The lo-fi quality makes it sound
authentic. I personally try (within reason)
to capture sounds with fidelity. But I always
know that any failing in that area only serves to
increase the authenticity of the artifact, to the
right ears. Theres a lot to be said for Quincy
Jones amazing productions, but theres also
My favorite approach is to learn
while doing, and its the most
intrinsically rewarding part of
recording at home.
something magical about Michaels home demos.
Thats another great thing about home studios:
the opportunity to learn by doing. I dropped
out of college after my sophomore year for two
main reasons: a) you dont need a degree to be
a musician, and 2) the way I learn things is by
diving into them headfirst.
One of my favorite experiences as an
autodidact was the ear training I did right
around the time I quit school. I sat with my guitar
and honed my ability to identify each chords
harmonic function within a song. With a simple
guess-and-check method, I began to collect and
recognize the sound of IV chords, as opposed to
the sound of V chords. It was hugely satisfying
to listen to Fine Young Cannibals She Drives
Me Crazy, and be able to correctly guess that
the chorus progression is I-IV-vi-V. To this day
I use my hard-won familiarity with chord sounds
to diversify my compositions on each album and
ensure that I am not accidentally traversing the
same harmonic pathways over and over because
I-IV-V in C sounds the same as I-IV-V in F. I
couldnt tell you what key the FYC song is in. I
dont think its relevant! Right, so how is all this
chord stuff relevant to recording at home, then?
There is so much to learn about engineering,
mixing, mastering, etc. There is always more to
learn. And there is always more music making to
do. And life is not just about one or the otherjust
learning or just doing. Just learningthats
like a technician who reads every manual,

Chris Saunders
but never even turns the power on. Just
doingthats like a carpenter hammering
away, oblivious to blueprints and how to
read them. My favorite approach is to learn
while doing, and its the most intrinsically
rewarding part of recording at home.
At a professional studio, its polite to let
the engineers handle the engineering. You
might walk away with a nice recording, but
you wont learn anything about engineering
if youre being professional in there. I make
records at home and maybe theyre good and
maybe theyre liked by some people. But
even if they arent liked by anyone, I still gain
experience and knowledge along the way. And
that makes it easier to devote myself to such an
unpredictable career path. It makes it easier to
accept my life. It gives me skills for when my 15
minutes are over.
So what if Im preaching to the converted?
In that case you just wanna know what gear
I use. So Ill tell you. For my debut record
released in 2010, rhythm guitars were played
through a Crate G10 practice amp, eBay value
about $20. Vocals, guitars and percussion were
miked with an AT-3035, which I bought used
for about $200. The preamp for everything
was a Behringer Eurorack 802 mixer. I tracked
the record on an old tower PC, pictured in the
liner notes, using Acid 4.0. Mix bus processing
involved a lot of Waves L-series Limiters. On
my second album, I used a Shure SM-7B, the
Michael Jackson mic, for all the lead vocals.
The preamp for everything on album number
two was an Apogee Duet 2. I tracked everything
that wasnt sampled at home in Logic and sent
the songs off to be mixed professionally (also in
Logic/Pro Tools). This record featured a mix
of my Hiwatt Custom 50 amp miked with an
WHY I RECORD AT HOME
AT-4047 condenser mic and amp simulators
from the AdrenaLinn III.
On my new album Ive used the AT-4047 for
all but two of the lead vocal tracks, again using
the Duet 2 for the preamp. For the other two lead
vocals I used the holy grail of vocal mics, a U47,
during one day at a real studio. The AT-4047 cost
me about $600. The U47s cost around $10,000.
Maybe check out my new record and see if you
can guess which songs feature the fancy mic. Its
surprisingly hard to tell! I always would have
wondered about that U47 though. Im glad I got
to try it out.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Darwin Deez is a New York-based independent
musician. His third album Double Down is due
out this September on Lucky Number Records.
Follow him on Twitter @darwindeez.
PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 29
AVID PRO TOOLS
1) Manage your working space with
Memory Locations
2 You probably already use Memory Locations
as markers, but did you know you can also use
them to create custom views in your session?
Memory Locations can remember which tracks
are shown, track heights, zoom settings, and
also the layout of Pro Tools windows 1 . For
example, you can store focus views of different
instrument groups. 2 shows a memory location
that recalls FX return tracks and uses a Window
Configuration to open the reverb and delay plug-
3
ins. Shortcut tip: To recall a memory location
from the keyboard, press period on the keypad,
then the location number, followed by period
again.
2) Save Time with Templates
Pro Tools professionals live by their template
sessions. A template saves a bunch of time-
consuming setup work by starting a project with
all your tracks, plug-ins, routing, groups and
view options in place. Any session can be used as
a template by choosing File>Save As Template
3 is a template for tracking a small band. There
TOP 5 PRO TO
30 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
4
FOR HOME R
are tracks ready for drum mics, a bass DI and
Mic, a vocal mic, and some guitars. Each group
has been color-coded and routed to a submix
(see tip 3). Shortcut tip: To change to several
tracks at once (e.g. set output, add plug-in,
etc.) select the tracks, then hold Shift+Alt while
making the change.
3) Route to Track
There are often occasions when you want
to route a track to another track. A common
example is routing the outputs of several
tracks to an Aux Track to create a submix
with processing on it. Other examples include
creating Sends on many tracks to a reverb
return, or to a headphone mix master. Recent
versions of Pro Tools make this an easy task,
with no need to make buses or tracks manually.
4 shows this trick being used to create a drum
master bus. The drum tracks are selected, and
the do to selected shortcut is being held. In
the Output Selector menu there are options for
Track and New Track, as well as the Output and
Bus menus. Choosing Track will let you route to
an existing track in the mixer, while New Track

7 isnt new. Avid released Pro Tools Free in
will bring up 5 , asking you to choose a track
type and name for the submix. Everything else
will be taken care of for you.
4) Elastic Time Tricks
Elastic Time and Pitch are technologies in
Pro Tools that you may have used to warp and
time-correct your recordings. Here are a couple
of other uses:
Audition in context:
The Pro Tools Workspace can audition
loops in time with your session. Right click the
audition button to see all the options 6 . Now if
your session is playing, loops will be previewed
in time!
Change tempo of whole session:
If you want to change the tempo of the whole
song and have all tracks follow the grid, do the
following: First enable Elastic Audio on every
audio track 7 . You can do this by holding Alt
while changing any tracks mode, or you can
select between polyphonic or rhythmic on a
track-by-track basis. Next switch every track
into Ticks timebase mode 8 . This means
the tracks follow the bars/beats grid instead of
TOOLS TIPS
RECORDERS
absolute time. Now any changes you make to the
overall session tempo or the tempo ruler will
affect the whole song.
5) Latency-free overdubbing
The audio engine in Pro Tools 11 and 12 lets
you set a very small hardware buffer and enjoy
low latency when recording and monitoring
through Pro Tools. Sometimes, though, you
get to work on the mix, then try recording an
overdub and hear a delay in the input signal.
This is usually because youve added plug-ins
with inherent processing latency, such as bus
compressors/limiters. No problem - simply
make sure that the output of the record track is
routed directly to the output you are monitoring
through, instead of to an internal bus. Pro Tools
will work behind the scenes to make sure what
you play is bang in time with the rest of the mix.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Simon Sherbourne is a Pro Tools specialist
at Avid and was previously a columnist for
Sound on Sound. For more info, follow him on
Twitter @simonsherbourne.
AVID PRO TOOLS
8
Get Pro Tools for FREE
Pro Tools | First
If youve never used Pro Tools before, or
if its been a few years since you tried it, you
should check out Pro Tools | First. Its free
and includes most of the features found
in the full version. Its also a great way to
learn this industry-standard software
for writing, recording, editing and mixing
music and audio used by the top pros to
produce music tracks and soundtracks for
movies.
The idea of a free version of Pro Tools
2000 with eight audio tracks to allow users
unfamiliar with Pro Tools to check out a
reduced feature set version of the software.
The current version of Pro Tools software
is available for a free 30-day trial, but
requires an iLok to run. So whats different
about Pro Tools | First?
Pro Tools | First has most of the
same features as Pro Tools. The notable
differences are the track counts, with
Pro Tools | First having up to 16 mono/
stereo audio tracks, 16 MIDI tracks and 16
Instruments tracks for a maximum of 48
tracks, compared with hundreds of tracks
for Pro Tools. You can save three projects
to the cloud but you can also work offline.
Pro Tools | First comes with more
than 20 Avid plug-ins including the virtual
instrument Xpand!2, with thousands of
instrument presets. You can also purchase
low-cost plug-in bundles specifically
designed for Pro Tools | First from the
in-app Avid store.
Avid has also published a six-part
video series, Get Started Fast with Pro
Tools | First, to help you learn the basics
of creating great music tracks. Give it a try
and download it now from the Avid website.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andrew Wild is the Segment Marketing
Manager - Music & Education at Avid.
For more information, please visit
www.Avid.com/ptfirst.
PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 31
CHOOSE A DAW

How To Choo
DAW For Your

32 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE


ose The Right
ur Home Studio
WHAT IS A DAW?
A fancy haircut, 23,000 Twitter
followers and national television exposure
are less crucial to an artists success than
customizing an original sound design by
choosing the proper DAW (Digital Audio
Workstation). I am a professional music
producer called Anything But Broke with
over ten years of music business experience.
I work with top-tier artists like Stacy
Jones, Nappy Roots and Soopa Groop. Many
producers lack a comprehensive definition
of what DAW means because the term DAW
encompasses a majority of the recording
studios components. The computer, digital
software and audio interface are all vital
parts of the digital audio workstation (DAW).
Exploring the basic ways to determine
which DAWs are right for individual
projects will best benefit the recording
process of any producer or DIY musician.
THE RIGHT HARDWARE
Picking the correct laptop or desktop
computer to produce music is a starting point
for any aspiring producer. Specs to consider
include the sound card quality, amount of
RAM and core processing units that will
determine the quality of sound when it
comes time to record and master a hit song.
Macintosh and PC platforms are both capable
of making great music. Mac users tend to
want to work within parameters while PC
users want to customize all aspects of the
computer. Laptops are best for DJs, solo-
musicians and producers looking to make
beats for vocal performers. Being able to make
music anywhere you go has its advantages.
DJs might want to tweak a song before a big
performance, solo musicians can record new
songs while on tour and beat makers can adapt
their beats onthe-f ly to complement vocal
performances instantly. Desktops are better
at capturing sound than creating it artificially
through electronic signals. Therefore,
desktops are best for analog producers, sound
engineers and film recorders looking for a
more realistic feel to their music or sound.
THE RIGHT SOFTWARE
Having a limitless number of programs
and plug-ins to create music can become
problematic for producers. While amateur
producers might swear by the legitimacy
of free programs including Audacity and
GarageBand, they will not produce industry
quality sound. Professional producers
including Skrillex use programs such as
Ableton Live Suite 9, Logic Pro X and Pro
Tools 12 to create their records. Dont be
fooled! These programs are not equal. Pro
Tools has been the industry standard for
a long time and has no intention of being
dismissed simply due to the fact that Ableton
Live Suite and Logic Pro are not standalone
programs capable of creating industry quality
songs with out help from plug-ins such as
virtual instrument programs like Massive
from Native Instruments or Sylenth1. Often
professional producers use iZotope 6 or
Ohmicide to create specific sound designs
that can create an artists signature sound.
THE RIGHT STUDIO GEAR
The last pieces of essential equipment
will be a mixing board, studio monitors and
studio headphones. While many people get
lost in the glitz and glamour of these final
pieces of hardware its important to snap
back to reality when making purchases for
your home recording studio. When it comes
to recording studio mixing boards for the
highest-quality masters, Solid State Logic
creates great analog soundboards that come
with warranties ( just be prepared to drop
considerable amounts of cash).
Digital boards can be just as good or better
than analog ones depending on the person
using its experience and utilization. If these
mixers are too expensive at around $20,000
for a home budget, producers must come to
CHOOSE A DAW
terms with the fact that they might not need a
pro studio mixing board to create their music.
In fact, the producer might be better off with
a simple control surface or more affordable
compact mixer, or renting a commercial
recording studio to record live instruments
and vocal performances. You can even
outsource mastering services at affordable
rates while keeping your DAW small at home
for basic songwriting sessions.
Most importantly, studio headphones
should never change the EQ of the song
playing through them before they get to the
producers eardrums. Brands such as Beats
By Dre and Skull Candy only bass-boost songs
and can throw off the entire mix of a track
that is already bass heavy, drowning out the
treble and middle frequencies before they
reach the producers ears. This results in a
bad mix - period. Audio-Technica makes great
studio headphones at an affordable price
that wont change the EQ of the audio being
processed. You want your studio cans to be as
f lat as possible without any sound coloration
the same goes for studio monitors.
After understanding that a producer
can be infinitely creative when choosing the
right DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), its
time to get down to the hard facts. DAW
encompasses a full spectrum of hardware
and software for the producer to create a
masterpiece. After all, you never heard people
say van Gogh had a superior paintbrush to all
of the other painters in the world. At the end
of the day a bad song is a result of a bad artist,
bad producer or bad songwriter. Only in
perfect harmony can a great song be written,
produced and performed to create something
lasting that resonates with listeners.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christopher L. Wanta is the C.E.O. of
Sacred Ghost Records LLC. For more info
please visit www.sacredghostrecords.com.
PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 33
 Do You Need a C
CONTROL SURFACE

for Your Hom

I
n the good old days of analog recording,
when something needed adjustment on
the mix you reached out for a fader or knob
and not the mouse. Somewhere along the way
someone decided that doing all the work in one
box work was the way to go.

If you are limited on space or are using a

laptop for portability, then you most likely do
not need a control surface for that rig. However,
if you have a stationary system, you should read
on.

A control surface is the digital version of

the old analog mixer in many ways. Instead of
grabbing the mouse to tweak this or change that
you reach up and move a sliding fader, push a
button or twist a knob.

Most control surfaces on the market allow

the use of the HUI mode (that is short for Human
User Interface). It is a standard protocol much
like MIDI in that allows different programs and
hardware to talk to one another. Most DAWs use
this protocol.

These control surfaces allow you to adjust

data and not the actual sound. That being said,
the majority of them have absolutely no audio
capabilities at all. Just think of them as another
piece of outboard gear.

Most control surfaces today use standard

MIDI connections and some use the faster
USB connections. Speed is the main difference
but the functionality is very similar. So we are
going to focus on functionality and not the
connectors.

Some keyboards out there allow you to do

some limited work to your music via MIDI.
These are not in-depth enough to be considered
serious for this purpose, so lets look at a real
control surface.

Ill start by discussing the Mackie Control

Universal (often referred to as the MCU),
which is pretty much considered a standard for
recording, from home rigs up through pro level
studios. Most functions will translate into other
control surfaces like the Behringer BCF-2000.

34 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

Control Surface
ome Studio?
A quick first look at the MCU leaves the
novice scratching his or her head. It looks like a
plain 8 or 9 channel mixer with a bunch of knobs
and buttons on it. To most, this first look is way
too confusing and they move on. But you need to
dig a little deeper, especially with the amount of
money you can spend on them.
Those sliders actually can access as many
tracks as you have. You can slide electronically
either a channel or a bank of 8 at a time left or
right. So whether your mix has 8 channels or 48
channels or more, you can use this board on them
all. Does that make it more useful sounding now?
At the top, above the channel strips, are LCDs
that tell you which channel you are on as well as
other important track information. You can set
the record state, mute and solo for each channel
as well as pan and volume with the slider.
The master section had dedicated areas
and buttons that allow you to do automation,
change parameters on your plug-in, set in
and out points, and adjust loops. You can even
scrub back and forth to find an exact location.
Yes, just like an old analog tape machine where
you could free spool the reels to get where you
wanted to be and you could hear what you were
doing, as well.
You can swap between the edit window and
the mixer window with the click of a button. You
can pop from one marker in the timeline to the
next quickly and easily even if you are not on the
edit window.
Another huge plus of a control window is
the transport. Just like old tape decks, you have
buttons for rewind, fast forward, stop, play and
record. There is even a feature that gets you to the
start or the exact end of the tracks. This is a huge
time saver to any of us doing recording. Trust us,
physical transports are great.
Yes most of these things can be done with
a mouse click and drag or by remembering
shortcut keystrokes that allow you to do it.
But when you stop and try to remember that
information you lose your creative flow and
often interrupt what you are doing enough
to have a negative impact on the session. And
this is all about the music, right? And not
memorizing hot-key-combos?
CONTROL SURFACE
Another great plus for the control
surface over most keyboards is that you
can plug in a peda l and set it to start, stop
or punch in. So you have your hands free to
play. Yes, that is another one of those things
that you can set an auto punch in/out for.
If you do, though, you will again be taking
your eyes off the prize and possibly turning
a stellar take into a so-so take because you
had to take off the musicians hat and put
on the engineers hat.
So stop being afraid of this strange looking
piece of gear and embrace it. There is really
nothing like pushing a button or twisting a
knob and watching your computer (and tracks)
respond instantly.
A control surface puts the fun back into
digital recording and you will find that your
sessions will improve and your production will
be less stressful. Enjoy!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dash Wilson is an avid home recorder,
currently using the Mackie MCU control
surface for his own projects.
PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 35
 Ignore The Big Kno
COMPRESSORS
to Know About Com
H
eres the thing about compressors:
theyre not used for what you think
theyre for! And, how you think about
using them fully determines the results youll get
from them. Most people are taught, or assume,
that compressors are for controlling the level of
a sound. In fact, that is why they were invented,
as auto-leveling amplifiers, but weve gone way make the drum seem louder, or more importantly,
past that application now, and frankly, track
automation is probably better for that anyway.
Compressors are really used to change the
tone, or the waveform of the signal. So, you see
that this is not about level but rather about the
way in instrument sounds in the track.
The quintessential compressor has 4 knobs:
Threshold, Ratio, Attack and Release.
There are many variations on this, but theyre
essentially the same. In fact, there are so many
variations that I had trouble finding a good
example. However, the stereotypical version,
like the revered Avalon pictured below, has 2
large knobs, Threshold and Ratio, and two
smaller knobs, Attack and Release.
See Figure 1
A classic plug-in like the Waves Renaissance
Compressor, while using sliders, essentially
draws your eye to the two big sliders in the center,
Threshold and Ratio, while the Attack and
Release are on smaller sliders at the top.
See Figure 2
Notice that the layout tends to reinforce that
the key controls are the Threshold and Ratio.
In fact, those may well be the first controls that
you need, but are not the ones that require your
greatest attention. Once you have the Threshold
and Ratio set you can practically forget about
them. Where the magic really happens is when
you start to adjust the Attack and Release.
The tonal shaping abilities of your
compressor are best understood using an
example. Let us consider snare drum: any drum
hit consists of a very rapid transient, that is made
by the stick hitting the drumhead, followed by a
decaying tail that is the energy being transferred
36 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
to the shell of the drum and the shell vibrating
in a damped fashion. The interesting thing is
that the very fast transient is so fast that our
ear doesnt really hear it. However when our
playback system is set to play such a large burst
of energy without distorting, the tail or body of
the drum hit seems very quiet by comparison. To
more present, we need to change the relationship
between the height of that transient and the body.
We do this by adjusting the attack and release.
By adjusting the attack to a very fast setting
we are able to apply the compression to that early
large transient. Then by adjusting the release
to something that is also very quick we prevent
the compression from being applied to the body.
Now weve changed the relationship between the
transient and the body of the hit, functionally
making the body louder and changing the tone to
emphasize the body characteristics of that drum.
See Figure 3 , 4 & 5 . Showing drum
hit before, after, and the settings of the
compressor.
We could, of course, apply the same scenario
in reverse. If we have a dull and lifeless snare
because it has no pop, we could apply the same
compression but with a slow attack and the slow
release to emphasize that initial transient. The
fun, or the art, is in finding that sweet spot for
both attack and release that balances the crack
of the stick hit with the tone of the body.
Bass guitar is another instrument where
this trick is handy. Most often the bass feels a bit
choppy if the bassist isnt really attuned to his or
her dynamics. By applying compression with a
medium attack to just let the finger or pick attack
through, and then a medium release to contain
some of the growl, but allow the distant tail to
remain uncompressed, we can even out the note
and give the track a fuller, more consistent feel.
Vocals often need compression, and often
fairly complex compression. Remember that
different compressors will differ in how well they
handle certain sounds, and that compressing
really hard with one compressor is usually not
as effective as two machines working less hard.
1
In pop music, often the vocal is compressed to
hell. Typically, this means one compressor to
shape the tone as weve discussed, for example an
Avalon 737 could be used with light compression,
medium attack and medium release to even out
and thicken the performance, followed by a more
brutal assault, say with an LA-2A, to gel the track
and get that in your face sound weve become
so used to. (Notice that the LA-2A doesnt have
Attack and Release settings at all, but uses
the input knob to drive the circuit, creating the
reduction, and the attack and release vary with
the level of input and the amount of reduction).
Now that you know, forget about those
Threshold and Ratio knobs: set them to get the
machine working, but then dial in the tone with
your Attack and Release. This is the stuff that
makes tracks go from demo to hit!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Award winning mix engineer and producer
Jordan Tishler runs Digital Bear Entertainment
in Boston. With a large Augsburger designed
mix/overdub room with SSL console and
racks upon racks of analogue outboard gear,
tape machine, and gazillions of instruments,
Tishler has credits including B Spears, JLo,
Iggy A, MOTi, Justin Prime, SIA, and London
Grammar. Contact me about producing your
next record, or mixing the one youre working on
now! Fore more visit www.digitalbear.com.
nobs: All You Need

COMPRESSORS
ompressors

4 5
PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 37
PLUG- INS
A Complete Guide to Plug-Ins
For Your Home Studio
I
n the May issue of Performer, I wrote
about analog tape machine plug-ins. This
month were going to focus on plug ins for
home studio owners.
A home studio can be a million dollar
facility owned by a rock star, trust fund
kid, etc, or a laptop-based system in a spare
room owned by the average musician with a
dream. If you have a million dollar studio, you
probably have a million plug-ins!
If you own a home studio using a Digital
Audio Workstation (DAW) or are ready to
upgrade from GarageBand, youll want to
know about plug-ins specifically, which ones
will help you the most when getting started.
38 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
WHAT ARE PLUG-INS?
Plug-ins are software additions for your
DAW to enhance the sound of your recorded
audio tracks and are inserted on a channel
in the mix window of your DAW program.
This is similar to an outboard rack mounted
compressor or EQ that is inserted on an
analog mixing console channel, bus, or master
output.
W hen you purchase DAW sof twa re for
your home studio, the developer usua lly
includes a few basic plug-ins. Ty pica lly
these a re compressors, equa lizers,
reverbs, delays, vir tua l synths, etc. These
a re usua lly ver y basic, but they re still
powerful.
FORMATS & COMPATIBILITY
Most DAWs and associated plug-ins
run on a Mac or PC and are cross platform
compatible these days. Your DAW software
will require your third party plug-ins to be in
a certain format, usually AAX, VST, RTAS,
or AU.
If you are using onboard R AM for
Digital Signal Processing (DSP), plug-ins
are limited by your computers processing
power. If you are using an outboard
DSP processor (PCI card, Firewire or
Thunderbolt unit), you can scale your
system to do much more processing. Be
careful that you dont get carried away by
going plug-in crazy!

If you have a home studio, focus on making
music and keeping things simple. You dont
always need the latest greatest Plutonium
Bundle with a zillion plug-ins!
PRACTICAL USES
Think of plug-ins as virtual outboard rack
gear. They can also be virtual synthesizers,
guitar amps, or guitar pedals. If you have a
MIDI/USB keyboard controller, you can use
a virtual synthesizer plug-in on the track that
you are recording to and change the sounds
at any time. If you have an electric guitar or
bass, you can record it cleanly (dry) through
a direct box and add a virtual amplifier and
stomp boxes when you mix. This leaves your
options open during mixdown.
COSTS
The cost of plug-ins versus owning the real
thing is substantial. Imagine using a plug-in
that emulates the sound of a $5,000 vintage
compressor. The plug-in version may only cost
you around $100. You can use that compressor
on multiple channels as a plug-in. Now,
imagine the cost (and electric bill) of owning
even one, or try 24 of those compressors! It
would be impractical, even for the largest
world-class professional studio!
When I started working in my home
studio over 30 years ago, I was plugging
in guitar pedal compressors, overdriven
cassette tape machines, and wah wah pedals
into my 4-track TASCAM cassette deck!
Today, at the studio where I work in
Connecticut, Dirt Floor, we are running a
32-channel Pro Tools HD System and have
over 300+ different plug-ins by many different
manufacturers. With so many choices, its
easy to get lost in all of the different options,
but really we only use about 10% of them on a
daily basis.
RECOMMENDATIONS
A tried-and-true piece of equipment
(microphone, outboard rack gear, or plug-in)
shows up in every recording studio in the
world and has become industry standard for
a reason.
As a home studio owner, you need to
watch your budget on plug-ins, and just about
everything else for that matter! I tend to use
plug-ins that are modeled after hardware
units, because I know the settings on the
plug in will give me about a 99% accurate
representation of the hardware counterpart
that its emulating.
My favorite go-to plug-ins are the
Focusrite ISA 110/130 (EQ/Compressor),
the Waves Puigchild (Fairchild Compressor
- PICTURED), Sound Toys EchoBoy
(delay/echo), and the Universal Audio
PLUG -INS
Studer A-800 (analog tape emulation).
These show up in all of my sessions.
When you find a plug-in that works for
you, start building presets to save time and
speed up your workf low. Youll eventually end
up with a handful of useful plug-ins that will
become your go-to ones as well.
There are a lot of plug-ins that are
available for free. Just Google free audio
plug-ins and see what you can find. Make
sure they are compatible with your DAW
before you download them.
Some plug-ins require an iLok USB
hardware dongle or require a challenge-
response code via an Internet connection.
Most manufacturers give you a two week trial
period to test drive their plug-ins or allow
you to use the plug-in for a certain amount of
time in your session before it goes into bypass
mode.
Having a home studio allows you more
time to be creative and try things out
without having to watch the clock. So, put an
amplifier plug-in on a vocal or a radical EQ or
compressor on the drums. Get creative, dig in,
and try something different because you can
always undo it if you dont like it!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steve Wytas is the Chief Engineer at Dirt
Floor in Haddam, CT and owner of Audio
911, LLC. He has been involved in recording
since he received a Radio Shack cassette
recorder at the age of 10. Visit www.
dirtf loor.com or www.audio911.com
PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 39
 The Myth of HIGH-
HI-RES AUDIO
RESOLUTION AUDIO
H
ave you seen the new gold and brown
Hi-Res Audio logo on a website
or a new piece of high-end audio
hardware? Maybe you learned about high-
resolution audio from Neil Young and his
Pono initiative, the one that resulted in the 3rd
largest Kickstarter campaign in history. Jay-
Zs purchase of TIDAL attracted mainstream
press because his site offers high-resolution
streaming of over 20 million albums. It would
seem that high-resolution audio has arrived.
Unfortunately, its all a mytha mix of
opportunism, greed, spin, ignorance and arro-
gance. Basically, the push for high-resolution
audio is a clever marketing campaign cooked
up by a few self-appointed experts supported
by the major labels and music organizations to
get you to repurchase high-resolution ver-
sions of the older standard resolution catalog
at premium prices.
High-resolution audio does exist but its
not the content that available on Neil Youngs
PonoMusic website. Do you really think that
playing lossless CD quality audio files on a
very expensive portable device will magi-
cally transform the 44.1 kHz/16-bit PCM files
into audio nirvana? Even the portion of the
PonoMusic catalog that sport 192 kHz/24-bit
specifications arent any better than the ana-
log versions that we had 40 years ago.
Ive been recording and producing real
high-resolution audio since 2000, when two
competing optical disc formats intended to
replace the compact disc. Sony and Phillips
developed the Super Audio Compact Disc
(SACD), a 2.8224 MHz 1-bit DSD-based
scheme while the DVD Forum and the rest of
the audio industry moved forward with high-
resolution PCM digital audio. Both formats
offered 5.1 surround and stereo music mixes.
Music consumers were pitched a new
advanced resolution audio experience.
Higher fidelity was promised because of the
new higher specifications and in the case of
DSD, a whole new method of encoding audio
that was closer to analog. Its true that these
new formats offered the potential for greater
audio fidelity than what we were used to and
that 5.1 surround mixes were more involving
40 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
And Why It Matters For YOUR Recordings
than traditional stereo. Unfortunately, all the
releases in both SACD and DVD-Audio were
sourced from existing catalog mastersmean-
ing the fidelity of the sourced analog tapes was
already locked in at the time of the original
sessions. The potential of the new formats was
lost by focusing on older classic albums from
The Doors, Queen, and Fleetwood Mac rather
than making new high-resolution recording
using 96 kHz/24-bit PCM or DSD.
It may be hard for some to accept but a
recording made on a 2 24-track analog tape
machine, mixed to another analog tape and
finally mastered to yet a third analog tape mas-
ter doesnt begin to compare to the dynamic
range available on a 16-bit PCM systemif it
matters at all to the producers and engineers.
And it gets even better when recording engi-
neers are given additional headroom with
24-bits during sessions. The point is that
the high-resolution audio albums that are
derived from analog tape recordings can only
achieve the fidelity of analog tape. I would
think this notion would be obvious, but that
not what Neil Young, Jay-Z, Sony, and a host of
other high-res advocates are saying.
Neil Young has rediscovered the soul of
music with his PonoPlayer and the music files
that he sells at PonoMusic. If you purchase
Harvest at 192 kHz/24-bits, are you likely to
hear the soul of the music over the original
vinyl LP? No. There is no sonic information
above 20 kHz and the dynamic range doesnt
require anywhere near 24-bits. Neils selling
very large bit buckets that arent even half full.
And hes not alone.
Of the 2 million tracks available on
PonoMusic, only about 15,000 are new analog
conversions to 192 kHz/24-bit PCM from the
analog master tapes. The rest are ripped from
CDs, which is a format that Neil railed against
as having killed music for decades. Now 44.1
kHz/16-bits (which can sound amazing when
done right) is the highest resolution avail-
able and dominates his catalog. That may be
a true statement but it strikes me as deliber-
ately deceptive and vague.
The 192 kHz 24-bit FLAC downloads
of analog masters should be called master
quality sources instead of high-resolution
audio. The fidelity is as good as were ever
likely to get. Its the sound that the artist
approved at the mastering studio but its not
the same fidelity as new high-resolution for-
mats are capable of. Its only new recordings
that are specifically produced to maximize
fidelity that will benefit from 96 or 192 kHz
sample rates.
Are their artists, engineers, produc-
ers, and labels interested in using all of the
potential fidelity of the new formats? Yes,
but they dont work with Dave Grohl or Taylor
Swift or Georgia County Line. Labels like
Norways 2L, Channel Classics, Linn Records,
Sound Liaison, MA Records, and my own AIX
Records achieve amazing results by minimiz-
ing dynamic processing and exotic plug-ins. If
you havent taken the time to hear a real high-
resolution audio track, you might want to stop
by my daily blog site (realHD-Audio.com)
and click on the FREE HD-Audio tracks ban-
ner. The music may not be to your taste, but I
guarantee youll never hear fidelity like this.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Waldrep, Ph.D., is founder, president
and chief engineer of the specialty audio-
phile label AIX Records and iTrax.com.
These two companies produce and distrib-
ute award-winning, high definition audio/
video music recordings on DVD-Audio/
Video discs and through the Internet.
Brooklyns premiere music recording

& video production studio

since 1991.

metrosonic.net 718-782-1872
RECORD VOCALS
10 TIPS FOR
RECORDING GREAT
VOCALS IN YOUR
HOME STUDIO
Invest in a decent mic
Each voice has its own tonality and texture
and no one microphone is a perfect solution for
all voices. Big studios will often line up a bunch
of pricey mics at the start of a vocal session
to see which one works best for that particu-
lar vocalist. That being said, the mic on your
mobile phone is not likely to give you that spark
you are looking for in making your record. I
recently bought a decent mic for under $100
used from an online classified site. You can
find something in the hundreds range that will
be sufficient, but you may end up finding it isnt
the best for your voice and swapping it out until
you find a good fit. If you have a budget to make a
record, while you dont have to spend thousands
42 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
on a Neumann, dont skip holding a few hundred
aside thinking the cheap mic from an old DJ
mixer is going to do the trick.
Acoustically treat your mic room
In my last setup I was lucky to have a walk in
closet (never happens in NYC!) which I painted
and treated with some acoustical foam bought
cheaply online. The foam did not soundproof
the room so a loud singer could be heard outside
of the booth, but it did kill most of the reverbera-
tions so the mic did not pick up so much sound
bouncing around. You want a dry, clean signal
going into the mic and not a built-in reverb,
which you cannot later remove. Foam can also
get pricey, but you dont have to cover every inch
of a space to kill a lot of the reflections. Another
trick is using mic stands and draping moving
blankets over them, or even bedspreads. There
is a level of air (the hissing sound of too much
space) which records on a mic if it is in a large,
open, untreated space.
Follow signal path & balance levels
When first hooking things up if you method-
ically walk through the steps of your audio
chain, you will save time figuring out where your
signal is in the chain and properly manage your
levels all the way from the mic to mic switch
(if it has one) to the mic cable, to the snake, to
preamp and so on. I have been in major studios
when much time was wasted by not following

David Martyn Hunt
this simple rule in the face of any problems like
noise, lack of signal to your DAW, etc. only to find
out after an hour that it was the mic cable. Most
gear (such as your audio interface and DAW) has
meters so you can also check your audio level
at different points in your path. Dont make the
mistake of thinking the recorded level should
be maximized, but rather keep your peaks in the
middle or just about it, making sure not to hit the
roof (thus causing distortion/clipping).
Dont overuse compression
If you squash everything in compressors it
may be easy to hear your favorite parts, but with
nothing jumping out at you in a mix there is no
element of surprise or dynamics for the listener.
I love it when an unexpected vocal chop almost
takes my head off like a low-flying plane! Do
leave some life in your takes.
Learn to wear different hats
It is very important that you see yourself in
a different light as recording artist, engineer,
computer guy, etc. There is nothing that wrecks
the vibe of an otherwise great session than hav-
ing something go wrong and suddenly you go
from having that perfect inspiration to being
zapped of all creative energy, faced with a dead
signal or nothing in the headphones. First of
all if it aint broke dont fix it! Beware the lure
of updating to the newest version of the free
plug-in you hold so dear to your heart. Updates
to anything on your workstation can cause your
whole system to go down if you are not careful.
You will regret it when you lose two days re-
installing the whole shebang because one little
update caused an instable system. Secondly, get
used to sliding under the different hats. When
you sit down to record the perfect guitar take
only to find out you hear nothing, put on your
tech hat and root out the problem. Following the
signal path of course! Then, after you resolve
the issue and everything is a go, take a break and
reset your brain to the creative guru you long
to be before stepping back in to lay down guitar
perfection.
Learn basic editing in your audio
software
Basic editing, where you can take multiple
passes on the mic then cherry pick a grand vocal
take from several snippets, will usually yield
some great results. Look for the interesting,
unique moments and string them together and
you are likely to have an interesting vocal track
with character. Beware the different vibes that
can show themselves on different passes. Your
masterful edit can sometimes sound funny on
playback when you realize the headspace you
were in when you recorded each take may have
been different. The better and faster you get at
editing takes, the more you will understand
when to re-record and when to edit so that a per-
fect vocal track can be forged.
Get easy-targeted help by searching
for online videos
I have picked up many a tip for my record-
ing software by searching the specific thing I
am trying to do on the Internet. So many folks
have uploaded how-to videos and I have solved a
problem which I spent two days trying to figure
out in only five minutes watching a hip-hop pro-
ducer take me to school on YouTube! You will be
surprised how many tricks you can pick up: from
modern production techniques to the science of
microphones.
Properly warm up your voice
A quick search on Google could easily
RECORD VOCALS
find you some vocal exercises you can use to
properly warm up your voice before record-
ing. Your vocal session will go much better
if you open your voice gently for a period of
12-15 minutes. You will be in better shape
from the first take, but you are more likely to
stay relaxed and last longer in the vocal booth
if you oil the machine a bit first. Try playing
one note on the piano five times in a row and
cycling through the vowel sounds A - E - I - O
- U and then moving up to the note, and so on.
Use dynamics in your vocal tracks
The best vocal producers know that build-
ing dynamics is key to making a great record.
The singer must keep this in mind at all stages
of the track. At the start, you may sing more
breathy and soft, as there could be only one
instrument in the track during the intro or
first verse. Once the chorus comes, there are
normally more instruments coming in, the
drummer kicks it up a notch and the vocalist
must follow suit. If the music gets louder, the
vocals should become more intense. Singing
with dynamics will keep you from sounding
boring. Shift gears with different parts of the
song but also keep some contour along the way
by emphasizing certain phrases or syllables
over others. Inf lection, diction and pronun-
ciation go a long way and dynamics are tied to
your emotion.
Learn how to connect with your emotion
in the vocal booth
You put your tech hat down, the head-
phone mix is perfect and you consumed your
favorite legal substance or studio snack: now
its time to make magic! One trick for get-
ting in the right vocal headspace is to turn
the lights low and imagine you are on stage
and the drummer, bassist and guitarist are all
standing next to you. If you close your eyes
and imagine the music is also being recorded
live, it can get you to that blissful place called
emotion. First you should have methodically
gone through the lyrics, really thinking about
how to tell the story emotionally and how you
would sing different parts of the song. Often
you then try the opposite of an approach and
it works better than expected; so do remain
open to experimentation. In the end, you must
overcome the clinical nature of headphones
and the vocal booth and feeling like you are
under a microscope. Dont fall in the trap of
self-doubt just because 10 takes in a row are
lame. It could be that next one that has the
special sauce on it.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Rob Nolfe is a producer, songwriter and voice
instructor at Voice Academy NYC.
Kat Nolfe is a professional vocalist, song-
writer and founder of Voice Academy NYC.
For more, visit www.voiceacademynyc.com.
PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 43
 Independence Day: Bruce
NEBRASKA

Springteens Nebraska Opens

Up A World Of Home Recording
Warren McQuiston

I
n January of 1982, Bruce Springsteen
recorded a group of fifteen demos in the
bedroom of his house in Colts Neck, New
Jersey. The last three albums he had recorded
with the E Street Band had each taken an
extraordinary amount of time to reach comple-
tion. Frustrated, Springsteen decided to come
up with a new strategy for the recording pro-
cess. Instead of recording demos straight onto a
boombox, now the songs he was recording would
be high quality, professional grade demos with
overdubs and effects, maybe a little percussion
added to show the band just what he wanted.

A month earlier he had sent his guitar

tech Mike Batlan to buy an easy-to-use cas-
sette recorder that he could record overdubs
on. Batlan came back with a Teac/Tascam
Portastudio 144 4-track and two Shure SM57
microphones. After doing some additional
acoustics work on the bedroom, The Boss got
started.

Towards the end of the River tour, after the

election of Ronald Reagan, Springsteen began
talking about Woody Guthrie and what he stood
for. He talked about reading Joe Kliens biogra-
phy Woody Guthrie: A Life and what it taught
him about his country. He said his next song
wasnt a song for schoolchildren to sing. This
song is a fight song, he said. Then he proceeded
to go into This Land Is Your Land. At home
after the tour, he watched Terrence Maliks
movie Badlands, about Charlie Starkweather,
who had gone on a two-month long killing spree
through Nebraska and Wyoming, killing eleven
people and two dogs. Guthrie and Starkweather
were two men who had done a lot of thinking
about what America actually was and what it
meant. The two men would have a profound
effect on the songs Springsteen was writing.
These songs had the dark insides of Guthries
most harrowing material, like 1913 Massacre
and Pastures of Plenty, songs about children
killed by union-busters and hunger and des-
peration. Like Guthrie, Springsteen wrote an
outlaw ballad. He called his Starkweather. It
took images directly from Badlands. He later
changed the name to Nebraska.
In 2015, as nineties revivalism is coming
around, its hard to appreciate how dark the
1980s were in America. But its when everyone
realized cocaine was addictive. Home record-
ing hadnt progressed much beyond recording
one performance at a time. Alan Lomax thought
modern home recording equipment was primi-
tive (unsubstantiated). Jack White thought it
was perfect (possibly). There were various ways
to record yourself, but everything had to happen
at one time in one take. Musicians recording
demos at home was not standard practice. They
went into the studio and showed everyone else
how the song went.
In 1979, TASCAM came out with the
Portastudio 144. It was affordable and you could
multi-track. And you had four tracks, just like
the Beatles had for Sgt. Pepper! Processes like
mixing had been simplified. The damn thing
was easy and almost foolproof. It was perfect for
Springsteen and Batlan.
So, Springsteen and Batlan set up the new,
cutting edge, thoroughly modern home studio to
record demos for what would be Springsteens
oldest sounding songs yet (ever). These demos, of
course, became the album Nebraska. Most of the
songs on the album were recorded on January 3,
1982. The demos were mixed through a Gibson
Echoplex onto the aforementioned boombox,
only now it had fallen into a river, died and came
back to life after getting hosed off. That cassette
is what Springsteen played for his manager and
the E Street Band.
All hands gathered at the Power Station

44 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE


recording studio in New York City to record the
songs Springsteen brought in. As he later said,
the more he tried to add to them, the more he
made them worse. According to Springsteens
long-time engineer Toby Scott, Springsteen
would pull the cassette out of his coat pocket
and say, I want it to sound more like this.
Eventually, he asked Scott if they could get a
master off of the cassette. And eventually, three
mastering studios would be listed in Nebraskas
credits.
Nebraska was promoted as Basic. Brilliant.
Solo Springsteen. The albums liner notes notify
the world at large that this Bruce Springsteen
album was (r)ecorded in New Jersey by Mike
Batlan on a Teac Tascam Series 144 4-track
cassette recorder. Cleary, the story being sold
was that Springsteen recorded the album all by
himself at home, like Paul McCartney had with
McCartney (McCartney, however, was using
very different and much more sophisticated
equipment). Imagine being one of those musi-
cians starting out in the early 1980s and youve
just spent a small fortune on recording equip-
ment. You and your buddies have been playing
around with this Portastudio, recording some
stuff to try to hustle gigs or impress the guy/girl/
guygirl youve been trying to talk to for weeks.
And then the biggest fucking rock star on Earth
releases an album that was made on the same
beginner-level contraption with the red, white
and green knobs youve got in your bedroom.
Youd look at it a little differently, right?
The success of Nebraska strictly as a record-
ing project was the emperor has no clothes
moment. You could make a record at home, a
real one that, and if done right could be good
enough to be released on Colombia Records.
Marginalized musicians went from meta-
phorical finger paint (boombox) to brushes,
canvas and a pallet. The freaks had the keys!
Underground music exploded; from Daniel
Johnson to Ween to Neutral Milk Hotel to Iron
& Wine to Bon Ivor and on and on. It became the
de facto home studio device in early hip-hop
circles.
Vermont guitarist and proud independent
musician Scott Tournet is an artist who recorded
several great and criminally underappreciated
albums of material on Portastudios, parallel
to his career with Hollywood Records record-
ing artists Grace Potter and the Nocturnals,
who did not record on Portastudios. Using the
Portastudio was great for me because it gave me
as much time as I wanted for experimenting.
Experimenting on my own, free time and not on
studio time. It also helped me spend necessary
time working on my vocals. Its really helpful if
youre shy about singing or playing in front of
NEBRASKA
other people.
In hindsight, it seems fitting that it was
Bruce Springsteen who expanded the possibili-
ties and reach of the Portastudio. Think of your
image of Springsteen and what he stands for.
Shouldnt that be the guy to popularize a device
that took the need for expensive studios away?
He opened up the Myers Park Country Club for
everybody.
Including me. Like many musicians who had
been frustrated by an inchoate creative vision,
when you read Neil Young records everything
at once and he never edits. Genius! or Bruce
Springsteen wrote some songs and recorded
them in one night on the beginner recording
deck. People love it! I turned my ear to the
sirens calls of Neil Young and David Briggs and
Bruce Springsteen. I tried many times to get
one Nebraska quality song. That didnt end well.
There were no survivors. My point is that the
Portastudio is the tool, not the talent. Even Neil
Young (now more than ever) needs an editor.
Find the way that works best for you. Let that
become the new story.
Authors post-script: Seriously, check
out Scott Tournets Everyone You Meet
is Fighting a Hard Battle. Then buy it. Ill
autograph it.
PERFORMER MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015 45
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ing suite without the subscription pricing
model.
The package we received for the new
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version and contains, well everything. Plug-
ins, 5 Virtual instruments, and over 2,000
audio loops. The download of all the extras
clocked in at 29GB! The software is available
for either Mac and Windows systems, and the
minimum 4GB of RAM (8GB is suggested)
means not having to make a major hardware
upgrade to run it. Our install was seamless
and easy.
For this release there are a few new
features: Scratch pad enables the user to
organize a songs development, without the
need to save multiple versions. In short, it
helps develop demos into songs without ies, Studio One 3 has an interface that makes
getting lost along the way. Keeping things
organized is key and the Arranger function
allows easy mapping out of arrangements
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ect without a lot of hunting. Extended FX
chains allow the routing of any of the effects
(Native plug-ins, VST or AU). It works like a
f low chart, and can make complicated effects
routing super easy. One of the other new fea-
tures is Mai Tai, which has pretty much every
vintage poly synth inside this function!
The interface isnt all that different from
other DAWs you may have used in the past, as
far as look and feel are concerned. The set-
tings and control functions lie under similar
menus and headings, so transitioning from
any other system shouldnt be a real big issue
(Pro Tools users in particular who are ner-
vous about switching should rest easy). Even
Quick Key Commands from other programs
such as Pro Tools, Logic, and GarageBand,
can be imported to ease any transitions. And
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drag and drop.
There are unlimited Audio, MIDI, Virtual
instruments, effects buses and the like, so
youre never gonna be cramped for track
space. And audio quality can go up to 64-bit
and 384kHZ. For beat-makers and loop junk-
out.
finding a loop easy, especially one that will
actually work for what kind of track may be
needed - no searching through useless pre-
sets that may not apply. Its not just limited to
audio, either; with a video importing function
it can easily work as a platform for film scor-
ing or audio/dialog replacement in your next
video project.
With Studio One 3, theres no need for
any specialized hardware connection, just
connect your interface, it recognizes the
hardware and its ready to go. Its also meant
to work with PreSonus fantastic AI mixers
(which we reviewed last year), along with
their specific settings and inputs. There is
also a remote function, making an iPad the
control surface over Wi-Fi, enabling the pro-
ducer to not be stuck behind a glass window.
From demo to final mastering, it has
everything that could be needed for any
recording project. Overall its a lot to take
in (we tacked for about two weeks and still
didnt use every function or option), but the
learning curve for a new user shouldnt be
that tough (and trust us, that was one of our
biggest concerns). Whether its an upgrade to
an existing Studio One release, transitioning
from another DAW platform, or even if youre
a home recording newbie, its worth checking
 Chris Devine

46 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE

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FLASHBACK
1987 Tascam Porta Two Cassette
Four-Track Tape Recorder
BACKGROUND
The Porta Two is a portable cassette four-track
tape recorder manufactured by Tascam in 1987.
Teac/Tascam are a huge influence in home
recording. The Teac 144, the first cassette four-
track recorder, was released in 1979. The 144
kicked off the cassette recording revolution.
The Tascam Porta One was released in 1984
offering battery power. In 1987, The Tascam
Porta Two offered a six-channel mixer, an fx
loop, and battery power.
HOW IT WAS USED
The cassette four-track allowed any musician
to make quality home recordings at an afford-
able price. The media, cassettes, is cheap, so you
could record lots of music. You had four mono
tracks to work with. A typical format was to
record drums or drum machine on track one,
bass on track two, guitar on track three, and
vocals on track four. If you needed more than
four tracks you could record tracks one, two, and
48 AUGUST 2015 PERFORMER MAGAZINE
three with music and bounce/mix them onto
track four. Now committing to your mix on track
four, you record over tracks one, two, and three
for a total of six tracks. Recording with four
tracks forces you to commit to performances
and mixes early on in the creative process.
LESSONS LEARNED
Todays engineers and artists can learn the
fundamentals of music production with a four-
track cassette recorder. The transport controls
on the Porta Two are laid out just like a modern
DAW. Recording with a four-track, you learn
about microphone placement, how to achieve
optimum recording levels and decision making.
The Porta Two also allows you to learn about fx
loops, graphic EQ, preamps, signal flow, prob-
lem solving, bouncing tracks, and mixing music.
Lastly, a cassette four-track teaches you about
analog recording and sound, tape machine
maintenance, and how to have fun with a pencil
and a cassette tape.
HISTORICAL NOTES
Bruce Springsteen recorded Nebraska on a
Teac 144. Cassette four-track recording is
often referred to as the lo-fi movement. Other
notable artists who recorded with cassette four-
track machines include Guided By Voices and
Ween.
CAN BE HEARD ON
I recorded Roland drum machine and synth
bass parts onto my Tascam Porta Two for the
song BP Oil Rap (How Can You) from For Real
by Aslan King.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Torbin Harding is a graduate of
Berklee College of Music, B.A. in Music
Synthesis Production 1995, and founded
Lo-ZRecords in 1997. He currently
works in both the analog tape and digital
recording mediums. For more info visit
www.Lo-ZRecords.com.
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