by Owen Critchley, LoudThud recording artist/producer and creator of the bestselling Easy Home Recording Blueprint

“Become a Blueprint recording artist and find out how to simply and affordably get your songs sounding the way they should.”

Hi everyone. It’s been fun putting this special section together for you on simplifying the process of how to eq vocals using a simple graphic equalizer. It’s pretty comprehensive because I wanted to take you right from the very beginning of a new project from the moment one decides to create a new recording right to the finish line EQ-ing the vocals and mixing them with the rest of the tracks.

This lesson will show you how to be in control of the vocal EQ process so you can concentrate on your creativity and de-mystify EQ so you aren’t stuck and slowed down by the technical part of mixing sound.

Watch the video version of this lesson but all the info is also included on the rest of this page in case you want to print the info.

I always believe it’s so important to create good working habits
because it breeds true confidence and ultimately, much better
recordings. I’ve recorded one of my tunes for this section and we’ll be
looking at the steps that were used in EQ-ing the lead vocal, as well
as how the many background vocal layers were EQ-ed and mixed.

I think it will be useful for you to have this topic targeted and put all in one section like this. I hope you enjoy it. Ok, here we go…

When it is time to eq vocals, you’ve already got a deep well of knowledge that you may not be aware of. The great news is you can tap into this well of existing knowledge to make learning quicker and to get better results when you are tackling something that you are unfamiliar with or something a little outside your comfort zone.

TIP: Your first vocal recording tip (and it has a direct effect on your vocal EQ success) is this:  Yes, the mic you choose matters. Because, vocal EQ is a lot quicker and easier if you make sure to use a decent mic that doesn’t unpleasantly “color” the sound of your vocal. BUT, you don’t have to spend a ton for a good mic. I use the mic shown in the picture below, and the EQ adjustments once I’ve recorded a vocal are pretty minor and straight forward, which saves hours of time during the course of a recording session and mix.

Check out the mic I use: Rode Microphones NT1-A Condenser Mic Bundle

TIP: Remember that every vocal for each song you record will be EQ’ed a little differently because each song will have a different “color,” mood and instrumentation that will determine how its lead vocal should sound and how it should best fit in the mix.

Pre-Production: Why Mixing A Vocal and Your Song is Like Furnishing a Room:

- A little mental trick before we start to take the mystery out of home recording and mixing

Here’s how this works: Many new tasks are directly relatable to everyday things you already know how to do. So, the trick is to find similarities in the new tasks you are learning with everyday stuff you already understand.  Because ultimately, everything you do is connected and comparable to something else you do. When you create the habit of taking a few minutes to find these connections and comparisons, it makes your brain more receptive and learning, improving and mastering the new task much faster.

We’ll use this technique to create real confidence next time you eq vocals. And very soon, you’ll be able to count on making great sounding vocal recordings and mixes every time.

What I’m trying to say is that, in a way, you already know how to do all of this. I know… it’s spooky. But really, we’re just re-using the mental tools you already have from one everyday task and putting these mental tools to use in your recording and mixing.

What everyday task can we compare to EQ-ing vocals that’ll make the recording process easier and clearer for our brains?

Let’s see… because any kind of audio recording has to occupy the same size sonic space, let’s compare eq-ing and mixing our recorded tracks to furnishing and decorating a room. Because the common sense that goes with placing and arranging your stuff in a room is very similar to choosing, placing and controlling how your tracks will each sound in your recording.

A room is a fixed space with a certain amount of floor space, wall
space and height.  And you have to choose places for each of
the things for your room based on the size and shape of each piece. And
you know without even thinking that two or more things can’t occupy the
same place in your room without things becoming messy.

In the room scenario, you are used to the pre-planning that goes into
imagining and then creating the kind of room you want before starting
to fill it, right?

You accept that you would start by thinking about your room, then do
some measuring, and then decide what can go in there. Want a couch? Get
out the measuring tape so we buy the right size.
TV? How big? Where will it go?

How about another two chairs and a coffee table? What size will
they have to be to fit? How tall can the lamp be? A
potted plant? Might not be room on the floor for it. Ok, so a hanging
plant then. Yes, now the plant will fit.

Arranging things in a room isn’t a mysterious task. And neither is
vocal EQ and mixing. These are the very same steps we should do before
starting any new song’s recording session. Hey, if we
understand the benefits of a little pre-planning for
furnishing a room, we should jump at the chance to do some effective
pre-production for recording our music.

Believe this: With good mental pre-production habits and clear visualization of how the recording should sound when it’s done, and then knowing how to actually achieve the results we want, we’ll be solving many potential problems before they even have a chance to happen.

“Headroom” – The Amount of Space Your Recording Has to Occupy

We have to effectively use, but not exceed, the sonic space
(“Headroom”) available for a recording. Exceed the headroom and we get
distortion. This means we will basically be alotting a certain
amount of room for each element of our recording. So we will
be placing our parts (i.e “mixing”) based on their size (i.e “volume”), shape (i.e. “EQ”) and position (i.e. “panning”).

Ok let’s start the process…

Pre-Recording Step 1: Clearly imagine/visualize your finished recording before you even start

So important.

“Hear” the finished song in your head before you even start recording.
Believe it or not, you already know what your song’s recording should
sound like, but you have to pause long enough before you leap into its
recording to ask yourself for some specifics.

• What should the tempo (i.e. speed) and what should the feel
  be like for
  this song?
• What should the instrumentation be for this recording?
• How should the lead vocal sound on this recording?
• Where should it
  “sit” in the recording? In other words, should the lead vocal sound
  like it’s hovering just above the band or should it be part of an
  overall band sound?

These questions will give you most of the answers
to how you will eq vocals for this recording before you even start the
project. That’s a good position to be in at the beginning of a session.
It sure beats the feeling of starting a recording project with no sense
of direction or feeling like the sound of the completed recording will
be beyond your
control.

Pre- Recording Step 2: Choose an existing recording by another artist you want the sound of your recording to be like.

When you decide on an existing song’s sound as your goal for your own
recording, the existing song’s sound becomes a reference point and a
sonic “model” as you eq vocals and mix your own song.

All good engineers and producers keep a varied library of other
artists’ releases for references a way of “calibrating” their ears and
focusing their choices before they start the recording and mixing
process.

This is a huge help in successfully removing thousands of choices and
blind alleyways from consideration and you can concentrate on simply
achieving, step by step, the exact elements you need for your song’s
recording and production.

Let’s EQ vocals in a real recording

I wrote a song to record for you guys that has a bunch of little vocal
details so we can see how each sound and each vocal occupies its own
comfortable little space in our mix.

First thing is to imagine very clearly how I want this recording to
sound. So, for this tune I want a bit of the old school sound of Motown
but a warmer and more modern eq approach. I’m thinking I’d like to eq
vocals for this recording in the ballpark of someone like Jason Mraz.

Second thing is to put a very simple bed track down as a guide for the
lead vocal. Why? That way, by getting our vocal down early in the
process, we can tailor the rest of the tracks to go well with, and stay
out of the way of,  the all important lead vocal. This is a
good habit to prevent cluttered production, which sounds amateurish.

Third, I’m going to now record my vocal over the simple bed track I
added for this song. (In this case, it’s a simple keyboard part). As I said, I’ll add the rest of the band later.

Before we eq vocals for this song, let’s listen to the raw, un-equalized vocal recording over the basic bed track.

Pre-Production on Vocal NO EQ for “I’ve Been Around” by Owen Critchley

Tip: Make sure to get a good, healthy input volume going to the recorded track.

Right now the EQ of this vocal is un-touched.

Because of we’re using a decent mic like the Rode Microphones NT1-A Condenser Mic Bundle, we have a nicely
recorded vocal to work with that shouldn’t need much work to sound good in our mix. Let’s keep going.

NOTE: The Thing About Vocal Frequencies

The human vocal has a really surprising amount of ground it covers in
the eq spectrum. This means it is almost always going to “invade the EQ
space” of other instruments. For an effective mix we’ll have to shape
the lead vocal with some EQ tweaking.

Although the lead vocal works pretty well with our single keyboard
track, as more and more instruments and layers are added, we’ll
definitely begin to hear that the lead vocal is having to fight for EQ
space and it will become less and less clear.

So at first, the recorded tracks of a song are like a bunch of
furniture thrown into a room. It’s no shock that it looks like a mess.
It’s not a mystery that everything simply needs to be placed in the
place you have planned for it.

It’s the same thing with our tracks. Once we learn the language of EQ
we’ll have no trouble placing and arranging the pieces to make a mix
that is clear, wide and spacious.

Let’s Eq Vocals Step by Step on the Example Song

Here are the frequencies we are going to have to be careful about as we
EQ vocals for our recording:

STEP 1. The first place we always have to know there will be a crowd fighting for space with the lead vocal is down in the low bass frequencies. But that’s ok because the lead vocal really doesn’t need
to be down there anyway. The frequencies between 20hz – 63 hz are not doing anything to enhance our vocal. So we can pretty much roll them all the way down.

As you can see, we have started by rolling down the very low bass
frequencies entirely. A lead vocal simply doesn’t need to be using up
space down there. It’s really just rumble down there and adding nothing
to enhance our vocal.

STEP 2. Let’s look at the upper bass frequencies between 80 hz – 250 hz. This is a busy EQ area with bass and drums sharing space down there and low part of guitars and keyboard parts, so there are a few tweaks we need to make to prevent “mud” in the low end.

We definitely want the lead vocal’s eq to retain some presence in this
area for warmth and “weight” but we don’t want our lead vocal to get
tangled up with the bass and drums and become un-defined and un-clear.

In fact, we can actually “piggy-back” on the frequencies of other
instruments and tracks to give the illusion that our vocal has more low
end than it actually does.

TIP: If you’d to learn more about “piggy-backing” frequencies, as well as everything you need to know to simply and affordably make professional quality recordings at home, download your copy of myEasy Home Recording Blueprint.  We have built a great “Blueprinter” community that is growing bigger every day and new success stories are coming in all the time as more and more great sounding music is getting recorded at home using the “simple, perfect method” of the Home Recording Blueprint. Or you can even start with my free home recording lesson series.

STEP 3. Now let’s look at the low mid-range frequencies between approximately 250 hz – 800 hz.

Depending on the mic used and even the tone of the voice of the singer, a recorded vocal can have a certain “boxy” sound that can rob the vocal of clarity and/or sound muffled.

To deal with this we’ll always have a look in the low mid-range frequencies from approximately 200 hz to around 800 hz. As you can see from the image above, a well recorded vocal normally requires only small adjustments in the various EQ frequency band, so make sure to have a light touch and listen carefully to your vocal by itself (solo-ed) and with the rest of the tracks.

STEP 4. Ok, moving on to the mid- range, high mid-range and high frequencies as we continue to eq vocals for our example song.

The mid-range, high mid-range and high frequencies are what help a
vocal recording cut through, but that is exactly why they are probably
the most mis-used frequencies in self produced and/or home recordings.

It’s true that mid, high-mid and high can add clarity to a vocal, but
they so easily can cause harshness (especially between 2 khz and 4khz)
and can add a “quacky” and definitely amateurish sound to a vocal recording if they are mis-used.

TIP: You will find that once you tweak the “boxy” frequencies (see point #3 above) you may not even have to do much in the high mid-ranges between 2khz – 4 khz.  In other words, just by EQ-ing the vocal so it is less muffled in the low mid-range, the vocal will suddenly be clearer and seem like you’ve given it a high mid-range boost even though you actually didn’t touch it. It’s really very cool. So, just remember when you EQ vocals, or any track for that matter, the various EQ frequencies affect each other. If you have a well recorded vocal using a decent mic, each EQ adjustment you make on the frequency sliders will normally be quite small. As you can see in the image above, I have rolled down some of these mid and high mid-range frequency areas slightly so our vocal remains clear but still keeps its warmth.

A Look at Our Final EQ Settings

TIP: Regarding ultra high frequencies (20 khz) on our final lead vocal EQ settings:  Remember when I said that down in the ultra-low bass frequencies around 20 hz (hertz) that there is mostly useless rumble on a vocal recording? Well, way up in the ultra-high end frequencies of 20 khz (kilohertz) except, instead of rumble, we have the situation that, although there may be some sonic activity up there, human ears can’t really hear anything up there so we can roll down this frequency range as well. Accentuating that area can just use up valuable space in our sonic space (i.e “headroom”) Actually, I probably could have rolled down that 20 khz slider on the far right even more than I did. But things are sounding pretty good, so I’ll leave it only partially rolled back for now. If things sound a bit too crispy after I’ve lived with the mix for a few days, I’ll bring it down further, which is often what I end up doing.

Let’s Hear the First Finished Mix

Ok, I’ve done a mix for you of our example song. Let’s have a listen.
You’ll notice in the song that I’ve got some background vocal activity
and there are some simple but very cool tips for how to EQ vocals that
are going to used in a supporting role to the lead vocal. So after you
listen to the mix, we’ll have a quick chat about the backup vocal
layers on the song.

Motown Style “I’ve Been Around” – Owen Critchley by Owen Critchley

A Note about EQ-ing Background Vocals

Because the lead vocal is now establishing and occupying its correct portion of the frequency range, any background vocals added don’t necessarily have to be as thick or bright as the lead vocal.

The listener’s ears will give the backup vocals a kind of sonic “credit”. In a sense, the background vocals are piggybacking on the full rich tone of the lead and therefore the backups can actually afford to be a little duller and/or thinner than the lead vocal so they can avoid crowding the lead vocal’s EQ space. With the panning tool, we can further separate the backup vocals from the lead vocal.

By being aware of this as we EQ vocals, we create a situation where all the various vocal tracks remain clear and distinct to the listener. It makes their listening experience far richer and more enjoyable as they hear all the facets and little details of your song’s recording.

Song: “Taste An Escape”

This page is a real time test song promotion targeting the phrase “song about escape” as described in The Getting Heard GOLD LIST music promotion method.

What’s on this page?

• “About the song Taste An Escape“

• “Listen to Taste An Escape“

• “Licensing and Download of Taste An Escape“

• “Owen Critchley Song Giveaway“

About the song:
Sometimes a songwriter doesn’t write a song. Sometimes a song just goes ahead and writes itself. Sometimes I just go along for the ride.

“Taste An Escape” is one of those songs.

I was on the road listening to a typical regional news cast on the radio and I began to make up headlines of my own. I don’t know why. Maybe to break the boredom of driving.

“I actually ended up writing ‘Taste An Escape’ as an imagined “breaking news” story.”

For some reason, I imagined very clearly, the headline, “Teenagers of the World Became Self Aware at 2:10pm Today. More at 6.”

Listen to Owen Critchley’s “Taste An Escape”
Taste An Escape – Owen Critchley by Owen Critchley

I liked that idea, so I began to expand on the idea implied in my mock headline. Again, at this point I was just messing around. I certainly didn’t think I was writing a song.

A surreal story unfolded and the narrative ended up sounding a lot like lyrics to me; lyrics to a song about escape.

Licensing Information and Updates

“Taste An Escape” licensed for “Roadtrip Nation” – (RoadTrip Nation is a show covering the travels of 20-somethings as they live and travel in buses and go from town to town across the US (and Australia) finding and documenting conversations with people of interest. This song about escape fit the idea of young people hitting the highways perfectly.)

License or download “Taste An Escape” here. (Special version mastered by the legendary Brian Gardner (No Doubt, Red Hot Chilli Peppers etc)

Song Giveaway

Join me on Facebook for a free download of my
Billboard award winning song Come to London

Want to cover a song and need the license? Clear that song with Limelight today.

Compressing Vocals: Tips from the Easy Home Recording Blueprint method

Well before I even consider compressing vocals, the first thing I do is to use volume/mix automation to adjust each unnatural sounding volume spike (also areas that are too quiet) throughout the whole vocal track.

** Something to think about:  I believe people get into trouble when they immediately plug in a compressor to level the average volume of a performance on the recorded track. Just because you have a compressor doesn’t mean you should use it. (Sometimes old-school, simpler methods are the first place you should look for solutions.)

Remember compression added during the course of a recording session adds up quickly. You see, after compressing vocals to “level out” the performance, folks will often add more vocal compression as the mix is taking shape and/or more tracks are added.

Then they put compression on the whole stereo mix, and then the mastering guy compresses the whole thing again. Whew. That’s where all these squashed mixes that don’t breathe are coming from out there in Home Recording Land.

As I said, I try to hold off the vocal compression until I exhaust simpler means of getting the mix sounding close.

Here are the steps or priorities I generally observe when compressing vocals:

1. Level the track’s performance initially using volume automation (automated mixing tools are available on most recording software)
2. Use EQ as a mix tool for a track. (As people using the Easy Home Recording Blueprint know, you can bring a track forward or push it back in the mix, as well as give it more (or less) punch, using strategic and very simple EQ tweaks which often can take care of many issues that people are too quick to use compression for.)
3. Much later in the process, when the tracks are pretty much sitting well together, I’ll end up compressing vocals lightly to simply “enhance” the sound and give it a solid sound or tone.

** Something to think about: I try very hard NOT to use compression to “rescue” a track, but instead I save compression and use it as enhancement on a track that’s already sounding pretty good.

When I approach compressing vocals this way, I find that a little goes much further – i.e. I can use much lighter, less severe settings and they pack more punch than if I was adding it all through the project to solve every little thing.

Easy Home Recording Blueprint

*Free Bonus Lesson*

Official “Preparing for the Easy Home Recording Blueprint” Series

In This Lesson:

1. Easily mixing bass and drums -

getting big, tight and controlled bottom end

2. Quick and wicked EQ Tips for bass *VIDEO*
for bass and low end. *This is going to be a lot easier than you think

3. TODAY:
Special Home Recording Blueprint Opportunity -

Free lifetime access to the amazing copy-me-as-you-record videos of the
Deluxe Edition of Easy Home Recording Blueprint Owen,  I am an Easy Home Recording Blueprint owner and I am very anxious to view the new videos you have added for Blueprint owners this week. Thank you!

P.S. I love Easy Home Recording Blueprint!
- Nathan Dudley

- William (NC) Hi Owen. Thank you again for the Easy Home Recording Blueprint.
I can’t wait to see the new step by step videos.

- JC

- Marcelo Mansoldo

Subject: “What Being an Easy Home Recording Blueprint Member is all About“

Hi everyone,

Your bonus lesson is below, but first just a quick note. A few days ago, I was chatting about recording and mixing bass and drums, and recording bass and kick, with a brand new Easy Home Recording Blueprint owner, and I’d like to share with you the actual conversation and the one on one tips they received.

They wanted to get started recording their new song at home right away and were excited to use the Blueprint method, but they were a bit worried.

They never had any luck recording and mixing bass and drums in the past and they wanted to talk to me before they started their first project using the Home Recording Blueprint Method.

The conversation I had with this brand new Blueprinter shows the two most valued things for those who are already full Blueprint artists: Simplicity and stress-free communication.

In other words, the Blueprint method provides a simple solution and personal feedback where no question is too big or too small.

First thing I said to them was…

” because you grabbed
your easy Home Recording Blueprint system this
month, you do know that you also have lifetime access to the
Blueprint’s new easy copy-me-as-you-record videos, right? “

They were surprised and pretty pleased. So I sent them their special link and password to the step by step videos. The videos have just been added to the Blueprint method. There are now 16 videos and more being added all the time. Soon they’ll be part of the Deluxe Edition of the Recording Blueprint, but right now they are available free for all new Blueprint owners.

VIDEOS: “Copy-Me-As-You-Record”

So, for my free lesson subscribers, and for everyone else joining us here today, here are some of the simple tips on mixing bass and drums that I gave to the new Blueprint artist last week. I want you to see what’s it will be like to be a full Blueprinter and immediately ramp up the quality of your home recording to the next level fast… and simply.

And, most of all, I want you to know what it will be like, when you have a question, that there will be someone that will answer you with simple, easy to understand tips that you can use right away so there’s do delay and nothing in your way, and you can start recording great sounding songs.

Recording and mixing bass and drums the Easy Home Recording Blueprint way – Professional quality home recording made simple.

* The following tips are from an actual correspondence between
producer, Owen Critchley and a brand new Easy Home Recording Blueprint owner.

Q: Hi Owen, I just bought your Blueprint home recording method and I can’t wait to start. I have real trouble recording and mixing bass and drums. Especially the bass frequencies and the kick. Either it rumbles the whole room and you can’t hear the notes or I EQ it and they do get clearer but then they have no bottom end. Can you give me some tips before I start this time?

A: Sure, don’t worry. We’ll sort you out. First of all I want you to stop thinking of your mix as the finish line. In other words, don’t try to make your mix sound like a finished record, because it isn’t. A record isn’t finished until it’s mastered. And a mix and a master are two very different things. If you can remember that you’re already 90% there.

That’s important, because when you know that, you’ll never need to spend hours eq-ing, tweaking and squeezing your bass (low end) trying to
match what you’re hearing on a finished record. Remember, your song WILL sound like a record, but not yet. Not during the recording and mixing phase, and that’s good, because it isn’t supposed to. The main thing is to get whatever instruments that are supplying bass to your song recorded well and placed the way you want it in relation to the other tracks.

And that part is easy. Just follow the Blueprint method.

* So… let the bass rumble for now. Don’t start rolling off all kinds of low end or turning the volume way down in the mix. Everything is cool. We’re going to want those fat frequencies later.

* Keep your playback volume at a nice normal level and you are placing the bass and drums in their place in the mix. In fact, make it habit as you’re working on laying tracks to keep your playback volume at a nice normal level. In other words, as I like to say, “Work smart, not Loud.” You can crank it up later, but just keep it real for now.

* Now, we’ve got the bass, or kick-drum and/or other bass-heavy instrument recorded and we’re listening at a normal volume.

Now ask yourselves these questions:

1. What part of the bass sound (frequency) do you want to highlight?

2. Do you want the bass guitar or keyboard bass to have a clear “attack,” i.e. a plucked sound?

3. Or do you want it “rounder” with less attack and less definition?

* Call up your simple graphic eq in your recording software.

* To highlight “snap”, “attack” or a “plucked” sound, make gradual tweaks of the frequencies between 800 Hertz and 2 Kilohertz. Just make small adjustments, listening carefully and checking how your bass instrument reacts to moderate increases or decreases in each of these frequencies. This is a way of finding where a particular sound “lives.” In other words, the main frequencies that give this sound it’s main “color.”

* Most often, for bass instruments, you can start to roll off frequencies above 3000 KHz. And from 6 KHz – 20 KHz there is very little information up there (just hiss or “noise”) for many bass instruments so you can roll these frequencies all the way off.

* For a “rounder”, less defined bass sound, roll off the “attack” or “pluck” frequencies and define the notes of the bass more in the 250 Hz to 700 Hz range.

* The process is the same for eq-ing and recording kick drums as well. (NOTE: I won’t go into it now but in the Blueprint there is a very cool, and very simple trick called “Piggy-backing” that you will want to try when recording bass and kick.)

Every instrument or recorded track has sweet spots in it’s frequencies. In the Easy Home Recording Blueprint you will quickly learn to recognize and, more importantly, anticipate where the core of each of your sounds “lives” and eq and mixing becomes a breeze and your adjustments will become small, way less frequent and fast.

**Blueprint Tip**:

As you are sculpting the bass tone (“color”) with your EQ tweaks, pan your bass sound hard right and pan the rest of the tracks hard left. This separates and isolates the bass from the rest on the tracks and gives you a clearer picture of your tone and EQ adjustments. After an adjustment, return everything (including the bass) to its previous panning position and hear how everything is working together.

Q: Ok so we’re eq-ing and mixing bass and drums and they are now sounding the way I want and I have found their true “colors” as you say. But when I turn up the volume and listen to everything loud, the room is vibrating because my bass still sounds really… heavy.

How can I get a nice thick bass without blowing out my speakers?

A: Ok, don’t worry about that. That’s a good thing. That means you’ve got tons of sonic information to work with. And you’ve got a couple of choices, and you’ll like them both, because they are both really simple solutions.

You see ultimately, the only thing that will tame your bass frequencies when eq-ing and mixing bass and drums is some kind of compression. And compressors are notorious for tripping up home recording artists. They can be a real pain if you haven’t had the chance to use them much. But the good news is that the Easy Home Recording Blueprint shows us exactly how to avoid getting bogged down and leads us straight to the only thing we care about: great sounding records.

I’m going to show you what to do with those too-thunderous bass frequencies. But first… it’s important to remember this golden rule from your free Blueprint home recording lessons: The mix is not the finish line. Your recording is NOT finished until it is mastered. Ok? So, we do NOT want to try to make this mix sound like a master. For more about this, see the Blueprint bonus lesson on Mastering Tips.

*VIDEO* – I’d like to share a video I made for Easy Home Recording Blueprint owners.

I made this video specifically in response to some of their questions and chats we’ve had regarding their own recordings they are making using the Blueprint method. (I can promise you one thing, the recordings that Blueprinters are making right now, are going to blow a lot of people away this coming year.)

The video below shows some very simple recording techniques for a song I produced for a film project, using free plugins and no extra equipment for the whole project, including recording bass and kick and then mixing bass and drums for a song I produced for a film project.

And here’s the music video of the finished song recorded, mixed and mastered using the simple methods in the Recording Blueprint using free recording software:

Picture having access to video resources like this right now. Not just one video, but many short simple videos like this leading you step by step, directly to the finish line of a professional quality home recording of your own.

No distractions or frustrating technical problems, just a “Copy-Me-As-You-Record” method you can rely on to blow your listeners away.

Here’s a short list of some of the important points in the video:

* Bring up your simple graphic equalizer. Not a targeted EQ like a parametric or severe band-pass type filter (at least at first); just use your simple graphic EQ.

* Roll off all frequencies from 20 Hz and below. That will tame most of the room-rattling tendencies of your bass. OR… if the 20Hz adds a “certain something” that you happen to like in the tone of your bass or your kick sound, then in that case, just use the graphic EQ simply to roll off un-necessary high frequencies in your bass or kick sound. However, in this instance you should probably at least use a targeted “band-pass” filter plugin to remove the absolute lowest frequencies that are outside human hearing anyway. These sub-sonic frequencies eat up headroom that the mastering process will need later. See video for more.

* At this point you have a choice. You can stop there, realizing that the mastering engineer will easily tighten and define your low end with his array of targeted EQ’s and compressors, or if you still have a spike in the bass that shakes the room, you can look for a peak in the 80Hz to 120Hz range. If so, make very delicate adjustments on your graphic eq until the worst of the “boom” is tamed.

* Now set your volume of your bass or bass type instrument in your mix.

NOTE:
Remember a good mix should actually be a little dull and a little bit quiet. That’s right. You’ll see. It should NOT be trying to do the job of a “mastered” mix. A good mix should be prepared always with the mastering process in mind.

I’ve got a video just waiting for you that shows the transformation of a properly done, and simple to do mix in the brand new Easy Home Recording Blueprint’s “Copy-Me-As-You-Record” video section, that shows this simple technique in action.

There has never been a better time to become a “Blueprint artist.”

If you grab your copy of the Easy Home Recording Blueprint method today, you will earn yourself an incredible opportunity. Absolutely free, LIFETIME access to these step by step, copy-me-as-you-record-your-hit videos. Combined with your copy of the Easy Home Recording blueprint, you WILL be good to go. Starting today. Your next recording can be great. Ready to take that step?

Remember, I’ll be right here any time you have any questions. Become a Blueprint Recording artist.

Buy Beats – Worldwide Collaboration Era Has Now Begun

My Beats365 Test: I’ve been having a ball messing around with the over 100,000 beats over at Beats365 created by top hip hop producer Nebula 3. We took a straight up beat and blended it with a Sex Pistols type guitar riff and added a vocal by a young Reggae Dancehall singer.

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Test Recording #1
(Using loops, beats and sounds we edited a selection together for you. Using a beat and sound collection as big as this is bound to get your ideas flowing and expand the styles of song you can do)

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You see, when I buy beats like the massive choice of bed tracks, beats and sounds in this catalog, it instantly gets me going and trying different directions with my songwriting and recording. With access to thousands of grooves, beats and sounds, the possibilities are mind boggling and impossible to predict. How cool is that? Like the hybrid of styles we created above.

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Test Recording #2 Using BEATS365 – “Wall of Vocals Over House Style Beat”

Having A Good Collection of Beats and Sounds at Your Fingertips Busts You Right Out of Your Rut

Home recording artists have suddenly become a powerful creative force and are driving what is rapidly becoming a golden age for independent and so-called unsigned artists. Why? Never before have independent artists had access to many of the world’s top producers.

Understand this: when you buy beats, riffs, grooves or full bed tracks created and pre-recorded by a top producer, you are literally and actually co-producing your indie project with them. No asking and begging them to get involved with your career because now you can “work” with them at will. Any time you want.

I Often Will Buy Beats From Top Producer Collections. Can You Recognize the Beat After the Song is Done?  Of Course Not… It is Now Simply a Part of My Original Music or Film Score.

By the time you lay your unique song and added tracks on top of these studio quality beats, do your edits and mixing, make no mistake, you will have a created a truly original work.

100,000 beats, sounds and grooves of Beats365

The 100,000 Strong BEATS365 Collection:
Click CODE for instant access – EHR-BEATS365-1

by Owen Critchley - Warner/LoudThud recording artist/ producer -Creator:Easy-Home-Recording-Blueprint

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A Pro Quality Home Recording in 1 Hour? New Online Beat Making Program Tested: Watch video of the session below

You can download the DubTurbo software here. I believe they are still offering the entire software and soundbank package for $29.95 which I think is brilliant. I hope we all can keep getting it for that price.

NOTE: **I just checked and as of January 17th, 2011 DubTurbo is still available at the price listed above. You can lock in DubTurbo’s price here.

“Why would we want to be able to create so many different styles of songs and music so quickly?”

Well, as you no doubt have noticed, we are in a very exciting time in the music industry. A time that is not only changing rapidly, but more important, the new music industry is one that is flooded with new and ever-expanding opportunities for indie recording artists.

The demand for original and varied music has never been higher.

From thousands of film and TV opportunities for our music, to video games and online content.

• The list of opportunities to place our songs and music is only going to get larger all the time.

• We simply have to meet these opportunities with quality AND quantity.

“In other words, we have to have the ability to work well… and work fast”

DubTurbo and the Easy Home Recording Blueprint method give indie artists a very simple and an extremely powerful pair of tools for indie artists recording at home to have it all: Quality, simplicity, affordability and speed to meet their careers head on, and on their own terms.

Special Opportunity

That is exactly why I created this video for you and why I’m excited and pleased to now be able to offer you 75% off DubTurbo’s normal price.

75% discount for the huge sound library and the full software AND all future upgrades.

And by the way, this is FULL access including any and all future upgrades and additions to the loops and sound banks.

As you can see, I’m pretty pleased with this powerful tool in combination with my home recording method, The Easy Home Recording Blueprint. The sound banks alone are worth more than this special price and are going to be a huge asset for my own composing and film music work. And as one of very few truly high quality web-based beat making programs I am even more pleased with this price.

This is another piece of what I call  “the Home Recording Revolution,” that is now taking place.

I recommend DubTurbo for quick and professional quality home recording, and with this discount we’ve got arranged for you, it is a real opportunity to immediately take a big leap forward in the quality of your next home recording.

DubTurbo 75% Discount

The whole process of building a release-quality recording is accelerated when we start with very high quality sounds. And compared to most online loops and/or beat making programs, DubTurbo has perhaps the best quality sound banks and pre-recorded loops and bedtracks. that means we started our session above in the best possible position.

Ok, so here’s the process we used in our session above:

• We started by simply dragging and dropping one of the pre-made loops from the hundreds that are included with the DubTurbo beat and loop making software, right into our recording software. (We used Garageband for this demonstration.)

• To make the loop our own, we used simple editing techniques from the Easy Home Recording Blueprint to slice the loops into original sequences.

• We then continued the process of personalizing our new song by adding vocals, a bass part and guitar, again using the Easy Home Recording Blueprint method to capture our recorded parts so they arrive to the track huge and powerful. (* Make note of the guitar sound used on this track. It was recorded using the direct-in method with no external amps or effects devices needed.)

• With all our loops and original tracks now in the recording software, we use the Blueprint quick EQ and mixing methods. Again, the broadcast quality loops and sounds in DubTurbo made this a breeze.

• I ended up by mastering the song myself, which took approximately 10 minutes. We now have a recording that meets or exceeds the quality needed for release, use in films and TV as well as submission to contests or licensing opportunities.

The entire process, including final mastering, took slightly less than 1 hour. As always, if you have any questions about anything I cover in the free lessons or the full Blueprint method, just drop me a line.

All the best,

Owen Critchley
(Here’s your link again for your special DubTurbo discount: Click Here to lock in your DubTurbo 75% Discount

Many of our members use a single source for over 100,000 pre-made, ready to use Beats. The beats (and full groove tracks) are available at what is now the internet’s largest beat, bed-track and groove database.

Just add vocals and your record is ready for mix and release. Read more…

Cell ring tone? New opportunities? What am I on about?

For indie musicians, something interesting is happening on your way to a career in music. Instead of heading down that age old road with the single goal of getting signed to a record label, (whose role in the new music business has decreased to say the least,) musicians now have a thousand paths they can travel to a career in music.

In the uncharted territory that is today’s music industry, the good news is the same as the bad news. And this good news/bad news is?

You’re on your own and you will have to do it yourself.

Plucking one example from the new environment, we don’t have to look any further than the cell ring tone. Who would have thought even 5 years ago that a downloadable ring tone would represent a way for a musician to earn a living from his or her music?

And yet, with the rapid rise of Myxer, now the most popular ring tone vendor, this is exactly what has happened. Hundreds of thousands of music fans now show their love of their favorite songs by flocking to Myxer to download cell ring tone versions of them. With Myxer’s rapidly expanding partnerships with recording artists big and small, and large entertainment corporations, the opportunity this represents for indie musicians can’t be ignored.

Why is this so significant?

Multiple entertainment devices = multiple sales of the same song to the same listener

Read that again… “multiple sales of the same song to the same listener.” In the past and right up to relatively recently, a listener had 2 methods of listening to music: hear the song on the radio and then buy the song for their cd player. Therefore, for the recording artist, the relationship with the listener was complete. i.e. hear song, sell song… transaction complete. Now, however, that same listener may want that same song to be available on the many listening devices they own. And many of these devices use different audio file formats for playback. So… “multiple sales of the same song to the same listener.”

You see, we tend to take the extraordinary for granted, but by doing that, indie musicians have to be careful not to miss the opportunities all around them.

My cell ring tone experiment with MYXER -

Proof that the ring tone can be serious business for the indie musician

A few short months ago, I joined Myxer the downloadable ring tone provider, and I uploaded a song of mine to see if this was a realistic income opportunity for the aspiring recording artists who are using my Easy Home Recording Blueprint (now the bestselling home recording method in the vendor’s catalog.)

As part of the experiment I didn’t do a thing to promote the song I uploaded to Myxer. I assumed it would become buried under the thousands of other ringtones available at Myxer.

I went back to check on the progress of my little 30 second ring tone snippet as I was preparing this article. I was more than a little shocked and amazed to see that the song currently has been downloaded almost 5000 times… woah.

Have a look:

Cell ring tone - an experiment in music promotion

Now, multiply each of these downloads by however much the price you set for the cell ring tone, and you can see that this becomes a very useful part of an indie musician’s earning opportunities.

An account at Myxer also allows a personal text message from the artist to accompany each ring tone download. This allows further promotional opportunities as you direct your new ring tone listener to your website or to your online music, merchandise and/or live show ticket store. or you can simply direct your ring tone listener to sign up to your fan list.

For more on how musicians can earn in the new music business, I’m giving away the “Musician’s Blueprint to Getting Heard By Thousands” free with the…. Read more here

Recording Multitrack Audio – Part 1

(For part 2,  go to Home Recording Tips)

3 goals you should be setting before you record

1. Professional quality sound
2. Simple to use recording tools and software
3. Affordability

Although, everyone successfully guesses the first of the goals listed above, they often are misguided as they attempt to define the next two goals of an aspiring recording artist: simplicity and affordability.

This is because musicians start with the assumption that recording high quality sound requires complex and expensive studio equipment. In other words, they invest money first instead of investing in gaining an understanding what sound actually needs to be recorded well.

If we realized that sound actually has very simple needs to be recorded effectively, the number one goal of professional quality home recording suddenly becomes very achievable.

Recording Multitrack at Home – How to be big, bold and in control

Multitrack audio recording is of course, the process of separating the elements of our music so we may individually manipulate each part’s sound, volume and placement in a finished mix. What used to be achieved with two inch tape divided into 16 or 24 “tracks” is now achieved in the digital environment of recording software.

So, we use multitrack recording to give us increased control of our music. However,  the irony is that we are actually less in control if we use recording equipment we don’t know how to use.

The solution for taking control of the recording process and making sure it serves our needs as music creators, is obvious, but mostly overlooked. The answer is, we must find an effective way of using very little and very simple to use multitrack digital recording equipment if we have any hope of consistently producing competitive recordings. Otherwise, the aspiring recording artist will financially cripple himself or herself, and ultimately fail in the first goal of the home recording artist. i.e. achieving high quality recordings.

Recording Multitrack Sound at Home Professionally, Simply and Cheaply

It sounds like the quest for the Holy Grail, but recording professional quality records at home is not only possible, it should be expected. The truth is, absolutely any multitrack recording software that is available can more than adequately handle the task of release-quality recording.

All we have to do is give the multitrack software what it most needs:

• High quality sound

• High quality “capture”

• High quality input

• High quality output

The items above are the 4 pillars of a great multitrack recording. The good news, each item is achievable with minimal financial outlay and minimal technical knowledge.

Let’s look at each item and define how we will achieve it.

High quality sound:

High quality sound broadly refers to supplying either a good performance, on a good quality acoustic or electric instrument, or good quality electronic instrument and/or device, or some combination of the above. In other words, well played with no buzzing and hissing.

Achievable affordably and simply? Yes.

High quality capture

High quality “capture” refers to using a good quality microphone for voice and acoustic instruments and good quality cables for connecting electric and electronic instruments and devices. In other words, avoiding immediate loss of quality and injury to the original sound due to poor quality mics and insecure cables.

Achievable affordably and simply? Yes.

High quality input

High quality input when multitrack digital recording, refers to using a high quality in/out device, also known as a digital audio interface. The first step to having high quality input is to avoid using your computer’s built in sound card for recording purposes.

Simple pro quality external audio devices are available whose sole purpose is to funnel your sounds from the outside of your computer to the inside of your computer without degrading the sound’s quality.

Achievable affordably and simply? Yes.

High quality output

Although our in/out device is also supplying the output signal, our ability to complete a professional sounding mix is dependent the final stage of output which is our speakers (monitors.) There are excellent and reasonably priced home recording studio monitors available, but this is one area where we will have to make a moderate investment to achieve professional recordings at home.

Powered studio monitors (with built in power amps) are a good choice and save the expense of separate power amps and also make good use of limited space in most home studios.

Conclusion of part one

Easy Home Recording Blueprint is the bestselling step by step guide to producing pro-quality recordings at home using free recording software and very little equipment.

If copying the exact method I use to record music for movies, tv, cd release and licensing, sounds like a great way to kick start your music career, you will love the Easy Home Recording Blueprint.
Read more…..

You’d like to learn to produce music. Before you start, it’s important that you understand that good producers do not start their careers by learning how to use a ton of studio equipment. They do not even start by learning all the studio tricks. Instead, a good producer is someone who builds a relationship with how different types of sound work together to create a mood and an emotional response from their listeners. Understand this, and you are well on your way on the correct path for producing music with meaning and staying power.

Learn to Produce Music – Approaching Music Production Like the Greats

What is a music producer really? Judging from the typical discussion out there, you would think that he or she is primarily a technical professional. Like a NASA flight engineer or an electrical contractor.

The truth is that great producers don’t dream at night of circuit boards and the latest studio equipment. Great music producers spend their time building and nurturing an intimate relationship with sound and the almost mystical way that different combinations of sound stimulate and play on our emotions in ways that words alone cannot.

That said, the sounds we use as accompaniment for a song, should be chosen to serve the words and meaning of a song. The sounds, instrumentation, tempo, rhythm etc serve as inflection and expression.

Think of it this way: Imagine that someone is telling you something very meaningful. First picture them telling you this important thing in the voice of The Terminator or an automated telephone operator. Then picture them telling you this important thing with a tremble in their voice and a tear on their cheek. You see, it’s the inflection and accompaniment with the words that make the words either profound or empty.

So, to learn to produce music like the great producers, you first have to learn to truly understand the mood, meaning and emotion of a song or piece of music. In other words, make sure you understand what you are going to say before you say it.

When you do understand the meaning and intent of a song that you are going to produce, the actual production of the piece becomes a much simpler, more enjoyable and much more rewarding task. Why?

Learn to Produce Music – A Producer’s Practical Examples

The reason producing a song gets easier if you take the time to understand the intent and meaning of a song or piece of music, is because certain choices of instrumentation become obvious. So, instead of facing infinite choices of sounds to support the song’s emotional flow and meaning, you instead are able to narrow down the choices to a few logical possibilities.

For example, let’s imagine a hypothetical song. Let’s say this song has a quiet section and the lyric is telling you that a character in the song is about to make a huge and perhaps dramatic decision. Let’s say the main instrumentation is a piano or acoustic guitar during this section.

Instead of facing a thousand instrumentation choices in this scenario, because you understand the drama and importance of the lyric, you might settle on a single low bell sound to support the piano or guitar, as if it is being struck with a felt covered mallet.

Suddenly the drama and profound emotion of this section’s lyric is made apparent to the listener and the all important “emotional response” from him or her is achieved.

Let’s look at an entirely different kind of song. This song is an upbeat house style and the lyric is simply about the joy of getting off work to go party the night away. Instead of a wall of sound from start to finish, you reserve an effective and memorable set of sounds for crucial moments in the groove.

So, in this case instead of typical back up vocals for the big chorus, you might decide to have the sound of a chanting soccer crowd accompany the lead vocal. This drives home the joy and excitement of the moment and sweeps the listener up in the chaos and electricity as the song describes the night that is unfolding.

Imagination first, recording second

Always keep your creative imagination as your first priority as you learn to produce music. You see, anyone can learn to record music effectively and use the tools of the trade, but those who go on to be great producers are the ones who use sound to tell a story. Learn the language and emotional power of sound and the whole world will listen.

I will continue this series of articles about becoming a music producer. Next time we will look at the actual recording process. We will look at surprisingly simple ways to record audio clearly and beautifully, using very little recording equipment, so the meaning and mood of our songs and music remains intact.

Ready to Really Get Started?

If you would like to learn to produce music that “stands up and stands out” you’ll love the methods in the EASY HOME RECORDING BLUEPRINT. Start with 6 free lessons or really dive in and get this bestselling home recording guide. The Easy Home Recording Blueprint, created by major label recording artist and producer….. Read more

by Owen Critchley
Warner/LoudThud recording artist

Song: “Before The Waves Come”

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I didn’t set out to write emo songs that make you cry, but apparently, judging by the reaction to the character of Melanie in Billboard Song award winning song, “Before The Waves Come,”  it has definitely become one of those songs.

Frame from upcoming video of Before The Waves Come

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Download “Before The Waves Come”

“Who Is Melanie?”

This is definitely the #1 question I receive from people after they hear Before The Waves Come.

Now that I’ve lived with this song for a while, I guess Melanie is a combined personality or symbol of many of the women that are, or have been part of my life. The song may well fall into the category of Emo Songs That Make You Cry, and that’s cool with me… but I think I’m more likely to put it in the Songs About Loneliness category.

All the women I’ve ever met seem to have a shared air of loneliness that always accompanies each of their differing personalities. In other words, I guess the character of “Melanie” is like an icon who represents all women that I’ve known.

*Still 2 from the Before The Waves Come video storyboard

How emo songs that make you cry, got me Punk’d by my own crew

Here’s a funny story that goes with the recording of these songs, that I’ll share with you. Like I said, even though I didn’t set out to write so called emo songs that make you cry, according to the crew around me, that’s exactly what I have done with a couple of my new songs.

You see, my crew and I always look for clever ways to rip on each other. So, when we all got together to rehearse these songs, they had obviously met beforehand, without me, and decided to make sure I got “punk’d” for these emo songs that I had written..

The crew decided to break into a chorus of absolutely hilarious sobbing and wailing as I began earnestly playing the song to show them the chords and arrangement.

I tried not to laugh, but when I made the mistake of glancing up at them and saw that two of them were holding each other and another was under the table weeping and sucking his thumb… that was the end of me. I collapsed in a fit of laughter until I had to pretty much beg them to stop.

Actually I just like to think I write songs about life…

Frame 3 from upcoming video for Before The Waves Come

Like I said, I never set out to try to write in a particular style. If I like the song, I’ll release it no matter what genre. I listen and appreciate too many artists to think much about genres and styles.

Frame 4 from upcoming video for Before The Waves Come

“Who is Daniel?”

I guess the character of Daniel in “Before The Waves Come” represents every guy who is ultimately helpless in understanding what goes on in the depths of a woman’s heart. He stands ready to help, to be sure, but her world is her own.

Frame 5 from upcoming video for Before The Waves Come

Songs about relationships, emo songs that make you cry or just songs about life… they will be written by songwriters forever, I guess.

Scene From “Before The Waves Come” -  Download mp3 now