Awesome Custom Ableton Live Controller

Here is a video of an awesome customer Ableton controller from Ander.  The knobs overlaid above the LED's add an especially cool touch to the units.  Ander does an excellent job explaining his work in the video below so I'll let him do the rest of the talking.  Enjoy!

Ron McMaster on Mastering for Vinyl

The video below is especially interesting to me as I've actually met Ron McMaster and got the chance to tour his studio while attending SAE in Los Angeles. 

I was standing in his room thinking about all of the creative musical works his hands had touched, and will touch for that matter.  This all of course ran through my head after I had the time to scoop my jaw up off the floor.  If you think about it, Ron McMaster has been influencing the sound of some of the greatest records ever released for the past 30 years.  That is something that few people can say, Ron represents a dying sonic art, big ups to Capitol for producing and sharing this excellent video.



In this video Ron takes you through his studio following the signal flow and gives us a nice little run down of the equipment and techniques he puts to work when cutting lacquer for it's eventual transformation to a vinyl record.  If you don't know what a vinyl record is please never read my blog again... ever.  Oh yeah, keep your ears open for the part where Ron talks about the direct to disk recording they used to do... Very cool.

I hope you all enjoy this little bit as much as I do.  Make sure you watch the video all the way through, at the end Ron gives you a bit of history behind his custom mastering console.



If you'd like to know more about Ron and his work at Capitol check out his Bio at the Capitol website. As always, thanks for reading and happy geeking!


All the best,

Nick

The TapeLake

This is way too cool to not share with all of you.  I won't give anything away by writing about it. Just watch it, words won't do it justice any how. You can think about how badly you want it afterwards.



The comment below got me thinking and I decided I should add another video of the Uokahd (TapeLake) in action with all of its strange sonic glory on display for you to hear, and see.



More about the man behind Uokahd can be found at www.danperrone.com


All the best,

Nick

Craig Williams Production Tutorial Videos

Art from Craig Williams Latest Release

So you're a producer?  You've got lot's of great ideas in your head and your ability to play and create music has become a passion but these DAW things and this idea of mixing, sampling and synthesis on a computer are going way over your head.  Worry not, there is a solution...  Learn by doing, and you can work along with a seasoned producer and audio engineer by the name of Craig Williams.  Craig has recently released a set of free you tube video tutorials that cover the various parts of one of his bootleg remixes featuring The Prodigy's Voodoo People.

Sound System 101 For Beginners

Curious about live sound?  Check out this video from 5MinLife!  It's not the most visually appealing video you've ever seen but it's full of knowledge pertaining to a live sound system.  Even if you're not into live sound, this video can teach quite a bit about an audio system in general.  They go over nearly every part of an audio system and sum it all up in a basic yet still very informative way.  Topics in the video include, but are not limited to; Mixing Consoles, Amplifiers, Speakers, Subs, Monitors, Cables Microphones, Time-Based EFX, Crossovers, DI Boxes, EQ's, Compressors and more!  This basic sound reinforcement knowledge is beyond important if your serious about getting involved with audio as a producer, DJ, or engineer.  I wish they would've spent time on general signal flow but, you can't always get everything you want.  Regardless, this is still a fantastic video to help beginners wrap their heads around what can seem to be a very daunting subject.  It's not, I promise, just check out the video and after it you'll know quite a bit more about what's going on inside of that big booth that sits in the middle of every concert you've ever been to!

Sound System 101 for Beginners

Benchmark Audio Masters From Their Day

Here's an episode from Benchmark Audio's Masters From Their Day Webisode Series.  This is the second episode and I chose it because I think this is by the most appealing and beautiful song featured thus far in the series.  The quick little 10 minute videos show you what happens in a recording session from beginning to end.  It's a great in depth look into what actually goes down in a studio to capture the sounds that eventually create an entire song.  If you've never seen how a recording session works I can't recommend this video series to you enough.  You'll see how passionate these engineers and artists are about capturing the perfect sound.  The studio featured is the world famous Pie Studios in Glenn Cove, NY and the band that's in the video is Annie and the Beekeepers.  The song is called "In the Water" and you can download it for free from the Masters From Their Day Website.  While you're over there make sure you check out the other 2 videos as well!  Enjoy!



Best,
Nick

Sound Design Profile for Inception Feat: Sound Designer Richard King, Mixers: Lora Hirschberg & Gary Rizzo

"Inception" Sound for Film Profile from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.
A Producer/Engineer/DJ friend of mine by the name of Craig Williams sent me a link to watch a video last night.  He didn't tell me what it was, he only mentioned that it was a really neat video and I should take a look.  When I opened it, I was immediately intrigued after reading the title.  I still haven't seen Inception but I know it had a multi-million dollar budget behind it which translates to dope sound design!  This is a little video showing you how they created, manipulated, recorded, placed all the sounds that make up the film.  It's extremely interesting and if you like film or audio this video is right up your alley.  It's extremely revealing and you get an idea for the amount of work put in by these engineers to help make some of your favorite movies truly amazing. Check it out!