The Self-Recording Band

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Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Benedikt's voice on this episode has been recorded with the Antelope Axino Synergy Core
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Wilson Harwood of soundproofyourstudio.com built his dream home recording studio in his backyard.

Now he wants to teach you how to build a soundproof recording studio.

We brought him on to talk about this on the podcast, because soundproofing is a complicated process that only an expert who's done it can properly explain.

It's a topic that is very relevant for many DIY producers, bands and home studio owners, trying to keep sound from going in and out of the studio or jam space.

There is tons of information on the internet, but how do you know what to believe?

Have you read books and watched endless youtube videos, but still feel confused?

Do you wish someone who has already built a soundproof studio could guide you through every step of the process?

Well, you can stop searching and start right here with this free, in-depth conversation about all things soundproofing before you continue your journey by diving deeper into the amazing resource that Wilson Harwood has built for you.

Enjoy!

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For full show notes go to: https://theselfrecordingband.com/135

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

BOOK A FREE IN-DEPTH 1-ON-1 FEEDBACK CALL WITH BENEDIKT:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/call

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
https://theselfrecordingband.com/community

Room Sound Drum Samples (The best in the game)*:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/roomsound

Benedikt's voice on this episode has been recorded with the Antelope Axino Synergy Core
-- 

When we ask "who's your audience?", most people don’t have a great answer. And many think that it doesn’t matter, because they just make the music they want to make anyways. 

Let’s discuss this. 

We believe that having an audience in mind and creating music you personally love are not mutually exclusive. And we also believe that your songs (and ultimately your band / project) will absolutely benefit from writing and producing for an audience. 

Asking yourself the right questions will help you figure out who this audience is, it will help you find or refine your unique style and sound, and it will help you overcome writer’s block. And it absolutely doesn’t mean that you’re gonna have to “sell out” or enjoy it less!

Only if you don't want anybody ever to listen to your music, you can stop thinking about an audience.

Listen now, find out who your audience is and learn how this will help you make better records that people actually care about, while staying 100% authentic.

--

For full show notes go to: https://theselfrecordingband.com/134

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

*affiliate link

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

BOOK A FREE IN-DEPTH 1-ON-1 FEEDBACK CALL WITH BENEDIKT:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/call

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
https://theselfrecordingband.com/community

Room Sound Drum Samples:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/roomsound

Benedikt's voice on this episode has been recorded with the Antelope Axino Synergy Core
-- 

Last week we talked about the importance of a good headphone mix for a singer. And that included using reverb and delay to make the vocals sound good and sit in the mix better immediately. 

Now let’s talk about what kinds of reverb, delay and other FX plugins we use on the vocals we record and mix. Let’s also discuss why we chose those and what we typically use them for.

There are many different reasons to use effects like reverb and delay. And, as always, being intentional and knowing what to reach for in any situation is critical. At least as a starting point. 

We’re explaining the thought process and “why” behind our plugin choices and the settings we start with or use most often. 

So you’re gonna have great starting points to achieve some of the common and popular vocal sounds or to just make things sit better in the mix, as well as some creative approaches that might inspire you to come up with something unique and exciting for yourself. 

--

For full show notes go to: https://theselfrecordingband.com/133

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

BOOK A FREE IN-DEPTH 1-ON-1 FEEDBACK CALL WITH BENEDIKT:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/call

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
https://theselfrecordingband.com/community

Benedikt's voice on this episode has been recorded with the Antelope Axino Synergy Core
--

This episode is about going the extra mile to make sure your vocalist feels as good as possible when its time to perform.

The performance matters more than anything. The best mic and vocal chain in the world doesn’t matter if the delivery doesn’t cut it. What you record has to resonate with the listener, there’s gotta be a vibe, it just has to feel right. So we need to make sure that a singer we’re recording can do his/her best job when it counts.

This is true for every instrument, by the way. But the vocals are such a personal, intimate thing and they are also the thing that listeners care about the most, so that we think it’s especially important to get a good performance here.

Besides making sure that the room has a vibe and the whole communication/psychology/coaching thing, there’s one major element that you as the engineer have control over: The headphone mix.

You want to make the artists you're recording and their songs sound as good as possible on their headphones, so that they feel like a star and perform like one.

So let’s go through what you can (and should) do to make that happen!

--

For full show notes go to: https://theselfrecordingband.com/132

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

BOOK A FREE IN-DEPTH 1-ON-1 FEEDBACK CALL WITH BENEDIKT:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/call

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
https://theselfrecordingband.com/community

Benedikt's voice on this episode has been recorded with the Antelope Axino Synergy Core
--

Recording a band can be done by capturing a live performance where everybody (or parts of the band) is playing together in real time, or by recording overdubs, which means one player at a time. 

But which is better and how do you pick the right approach?

There’s an ongoing and probably never ending discussion out there on this topic. 

Purists say you need to record live in order to capture the right feel and vibe. Others appreciate the flexibility and control you get from doing it piece by piece. 

Maybe you find this confusing and are unsure about what to do. So let’s analyze were these opinions are coming from and what the pros and cons are!

Once you understand the pros and cons, potential pitfalls and technical requirements for both methods, you can make an educated decision and pick the right approach for your next project. 

And this episode will help you do exactly that.

--

For full show notes go to: https://theselfrecordingband.com/131

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

BOOK A FREE IN-DEPTH 1-ON-1 FEEDBACK CALL WITH BENEDIKT:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/call

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
https://theselfrecordingband.com/community

Benedikt's voice on this episode has been recorded with the Antelope Axino Synergy Core
--

Parallel compression is one of those advanced techniques, similar to multi-band compression, side-chaining, etc. that sound like a magic bullet or secret ingredient to pro mixes.

Let’s explore if this is true and when and how to actually use it.

Parallel compression is very powerful, but also dangerous (if not done correctly) and definitely not necessary. It’s another tool at your disposal that some people swear by and others don’t use at all. Understanding it properly will help you make a decision about whether it fits your workflow and style or not.

So let’s talk about if, why and how we use it, what to watch out for and which tools we use.

Let’s also explore some other techniques you could try that didn’t work for us, but are being used by other mixers successfully.
--

For full show notes go to: https://theselfrecordingband.com/130

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

BOOK A FREE IN-DEPTH 1-ON-1 FEEDBACK CALL WITH BENEDIKT:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/call

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
https://theselfrecordingband.com/community

Benedikt's voice on this episode has been recorded with the Antelope Axino Synergy Core
--

Do you need different files for different streaming services and physical mediums or is it one master to rule them all?

Which other deliverables do you need to create (or ask for, in case you're working with other engineers)?

Two things are for sure:

1. You want your music to sound as good as possible on any platform
2. You want to be future proof, which means ready for possible opportunities down the road.

So in this episode we explain how we set up our mixing and/or mastering sessions to be able to print all necessary deliverables and what exactly we actually deliver to the artists we’re working with.

There are 100 different ways to do it and definitely 100 different opinions out there, so let’s try and explain what really matters and what you as a DIY producer/engineer need (or don't need) to worry about.

For full show notes go to: https://theselfrecordingband.com/129

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

BOOK A FREE IN-DEPTH 1-ON-1 FEEDBACK CALL WITH BENEDIKT:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/call

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
https://theselfrecordingband.com/community

Benedikt's voice on this episode has been recorded with the Antelope Axino Synergy Core
--

We're super stoked to have Chris Eriksen as our guest on this week's episode!

Chris is the artist behind "Skov.", a multi-genre project that blends Rock & Blues roots with RnB & Electronic elements to create a unique Dark Pop vibe. 

Skov.'s single "Dark Ice" is featured in our online mixing course "Mixes Unpacked - Vol. 2", where Malcom Owen-Flood opens up his original session and walks you through every move he made while mixing the song.

In this episode Malcom and Chris explain how they built the perfect team and used a hybrid approach of both pro studio sessions and DIY-recordings to produce "Dark Ice".

They are talking about breaking rules, making bold moves, using elements of different genres, things they've learned along the way, engineering tricks and all the little bits and pieces which ultimately lead to the song that's now released. 

Check out "Dark Ice" on your favorite streaming service and get Mixes Unpacked - Vol. 2 to learn exactly how Malcom mixed the song!

For full show notes go to: https://theselfrecordingband.com/128

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

BOOK A FREE IN-DEPTH 1-ON-1 FEEDBACK CALL WITH BENEDIKT:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/call

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
https://theselfrecordingband.com/community

Benedikt's voice on this episode has been recorded with the Antelope Axino Synergy Core
--

We're super stoked to have Myk Robinson as our guest on this week's episode!

Myk is an audio engineer, producer and content creator from West Tennesse, USA, who started a YouTube channel to begin sharing his love for all things REAPER, and also to begin teaching himself to edit video.

His audience on that channel, Let's Talk About REAPER, quickly grew to thousands of subscribers. Viewers tend to appreciate his laid back delivery method, with each video being short and to the point, but also packed with information and entertaining.

Myk has the heart of a teacher and absolutely loves connecting with other REAPER users. To be able to do that better, he also started The Unofficial REAPER Users Group on Discord, which took off pretty quickly, too.

Myk is primarily a guitarist and bassist and has played in several regional punk, rock, and metal bands for over twenty years. It's been said that you can always find a singer and a guitar player, but reliable drummers and bassists are a hard find for many. This concept lead to Myk learning to play the drums after having a drummer from one of his bands move out of state.

Of course, learning to play the drums lead to wanting to learn to record drums. So Myk has spent the past few years refining the art of tracking live drums, as well as editing multi-mic drum performances with multiple takes. He takes a light handed approach to editing and has an old school "get it right at the source" attitude, but also understands that technology is here to help, and ultimately desires to blend the conveniences of modern technolgy with some of the concepts taken from traditional "old school" recording methodology.

Myk is happily married, with three adult children and a rather large Brazilian Mastiff named Belle.

Some of the things we're talking about on this episode:

• Myk's career and music journey
• Why Reaper is his DAW of choice
• Reaper "hacks" every user should know about
• Modern music production vs old school music production
• The modern music landscape and how it has changed over the years
• Pros and cons of modern production tools and techniques
• Pizza and burgers
• Making exciting music that's authentic and also resonates with people
• Editing
• Imposter Syndrome
• Constantly second guessing yourself
• Being uncomfortable in public, around other people or in front of a camera
• Overcoming the fear of publishing your work
• Creating content
• Myk's collaboration with Warren Huart and Pro Mix Academy
• Using samples, programming drums and recording real drums

For full show notes go to: https://theselfrecordingband.com/127

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

BOOK A FREE IN-DEPTH 1-ON-1 FEEDBACK CALL WITH BENEDIKT:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/call

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
https://theselfrecordingband.com/community

Benedikt's voice on this episode has been recorded with the Antelope Axino Synergy Core
--

If you want to make your life easier when mixing, give yourself more quickly available options in the mix without headaches and tedious setup work, or make sure that your mixing engineer can get the most out of the tracks you deliver, then you need to prepare and export your MIDI tracks correctly.

Unfortunately some DAWs make it pretty difficult to export MIDI properly and it’s also different for every DAW. Plus, exporting and importing MIDI is often not as straight forward as doing the same with audio tracks, which can lead to all kinds of errors in the process. 

As a result of that, mixers like us often get MIDI files delivered that we can’t easily use. Sometimes they’re not usable at all and other times we spend a lot of time to get them to work, only to figure out that there’s still some mix-up somewhere in the files.

It’s very hard to tell you how to exactly export and prepare things in your DAW, because they’re all different, but we can tell you what to watch out for and what mixing engineers typically expect you to deliver. It's gonna be pretty easy for you then to figure out the specifics of your DAW, once you have that info.

This will also be super helpful if you’re mixing yourself, because there are a few concepts and techniques around using MIDI that will drastically improve your own mixing workflow and give you more creative options quickly, such as triggering phase accurate drum samples off of MIDI, opening gates, creating key spikes, etc.

Some of the things we cover in this episode:

• Understand that MIDI is not audio
• Include a MIDI map, or at least understand the concept of mapping MIDI notes and tell collaborators which map and sampler/instrument you used.
• Make sure the start and end points are correct, as well as the tempo and time signature (these things will often get exported and then re-imported with MIDI)
• Label everything correctly
• Double check that everything lines up correctly
• Understand that a mixer might not be running your MIDI in real time. They might print the samples at some point. So be intentional and commit to your production. 
• Understand that different samplers and instruments will react differently to your MIDI. This is important when you decide to switch to a different instrument. You might have to adjust things before you can use the MIDI in the mix.
• Adjusting MIDI and printing samples/instruments is production work, not mixing. It can serve as a safety net in the mix and adding drum samples, for example, is definitely common when mixing, but adjusting the performances, choosing and committing instruments, etc. has to be done before mixing or added on top of the mixing package you booked, which should be discussed before you start the project.

For full show notes go to: https://theselfrecordingband.com/126

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]