54 articles
Recording Lessons.
Recording and home studio tutorials: mixing, mastering, microphones and production.
Vocal Recording Techniques: A Master Class with Michel Martín
Using Microphones in the Studio
Home Studio: A Basic Guide for Beginners and the "Stuck"
An excellent, highly trained professional musician came by one of the ISP labs to record a few tracks and ask for advice on some software to install. When he saw the studio and…
The Story of a Home Studio
Twenty years ago, musicians recorded themselves at home or in their rehearsal space with small analog multitrack systems. People worked miracles with 4 tracks to sketch out ideas…
Turn Your Computer into a Recording System: From Scratch, for Beginners
Practically every musician, regardless of the instrument they play, feels the urge at some point to record their ideas. Tools for “portable” recording have been around for ages…
Musicians in Times of Pandemic: Diversify
The scourge of COVID-19 has been devastating for the vast majority of businesses and self-employed workers around the world. Once again, the cultural sector, and music in…
Choosing Studio Monitors: Which to Buy and Why
Given the high demand for information on educational and practical topics we are receiving these days, we have updated this chapter for those of you who are most confused about…
Getting the Most from Dynamics Processors
This time we will cover dynamics processors (compressors, limiters, expanders and noise gates), explaining their basic principles and many of the techniques commonly used with…
Microphones In Depth
Continuing our task of expanding on each of the elements we'll be surrounding ourselves with in our home studio, today, as we announced in the previous chapter, we focus on the…
Sequencing Drums: Do You Want Realism?
When we want a track to sound powerful, hard-hitting and real, we need the drums to sound authentic. Today we're focusing on the possibilities for recording drums through…
Mastering, Chapter II: Dress Up Your Work and Make It Shine
In the first article in this series we said it is essential to take into account the different stages of music production and their variables in order to reach the mastering stage…
Mastering, Part I: From Creation to Recording
Mastering is one of the essential processes that must be carried out on any audio product that will be released professionally in the audio market or for picture (video, film, or…
Character and Grandeur for Your Mix: Time-Based Effects
In previous chapters we have looked at different processors commonly used in recording studios (EQ, compressors, noise gates...) while discussing some interesting techniques. In…
Acoustic Drum Recording Techniques: Michel Martín Master Class
A drum kit is perhaps one of the hardest instruments to record. It is a musical instrument made up of multiple elements, most of which have little to do with one another: snare…
The Magic of Analog Tape
The 1970s and 1980s were defined by a very particular sound, an almost mythical medium that carried us from our homes straight into the recording studio. We're talking about…
Plugins and Delay Compensation
Plugin DelayWhen used in real time, a plugin takes a certain fraction of time to carry out its task. This time is called plugin delay, and its effect is that the signal passing…
Mic Preamps Explained
Most readers are clear on what a mic preamp is and what it's for, but once terms like solid state, tubes, Class A and impedance start coming up, things can get complicated.
The Ills of Digital Audio: Jitter, Aliasing and Quantization Errors
When I was asked to write this article, it was originally supposed to be about wordclock and the equipment available on the market for distributing it. However, as I was planning…
Recording Guitars in the Studio
For some years now, one important factor has made our work as musicians easier. It consists of the vast possibilities that technology offers us in the field of audio recording and…