Hi everyone,

Just a quick post to help speed up your process when recording guitar, specifically acoustic, in your home studios. (I also added a “Random Thoughts” section at the bottom with some tools I’ve been liking a lot lately.)

Of course, there’s a million variations when doing this type of recording (type of mics, mic placement, type of song, type of guitar etc), but this tip we’re talking about today is a good choice to have when considering how you’ll be approaching certain songs.

Record direct or with a mic? Try both at the same time.

It sure is convenient to just plug in your acoustic direct to your audio input device like the
Focusrite Scarlett 2I2 Usb Audio Interface that we like in the Easy Home Recording Blueprint. But the direct signal from an acoustic guitar unfortunately defeats all the resonance from all the lovely wood and body of your acoustic guitar.

With a direct, line-in, recording what you’re really hearing during playback is your pickup’s “version” of your acoustic instrument. I can almost always hear when someone is going direct, because the acoustic guitar tends to have a quacky sound. (To me, it sounds almost like a Strat in the out of phase postion on the pickup switch.)

But… when you add a miked acoustic to the direct signal, well now you’ve got something you can sink your teeth into during the mixing part of your project.

So, as you saw in the video above, the goal here is to end up with two recorded guitar tracks except it’s from a single performance. So this is not really about doubling the guitar, which is a totally cool thing to do sometimes. This is more about creating a stereo recording of a single guitar.

What I didn’t like about the sound of the direct signal now becomes really useful in creating our sound – perhaps especially in a simple home studio

The track on your recording software with the direct recording of the acoustic will now serve the purpose of adding depth and sonic complexity to your miked track. That mid-range quack of the direct signal, when blended just behind the miked track adds like a kind of sonic spackle and fills out the more organic miked signal.

The miked track, as nice as it is to hear the real instrument on track, it tends to also have quite a bit of pick and strumming noise, which can lead the listener’s ear away from the actual warmth of the instrument.

The direct signal has almost no pick and scratch noise, so the notes within the various chords are right there. When blended in with the miked track, well that’s what I mean when I say sonic spackle. Fills everything out nicely.

Last Step: Pan and add some sugar

What I like to do is pan the direct signal pretty far left (or right depending on the other instruments’ positions in the mix) and then add some reverb to the direct recorded track as well.

I don’t add any reverb to the miked acoustic guitar track and I run the panning knob pretty well down the center.

I mix the direct track just beneath the miked track so the direct recorded track is not obvious and its reverb is really only a feeling and also not obvious – just adds depth, color and complexity to the single guitar sound the listener is consciously perceiving.

That’s pretty much it and there’s plenty of room in this scenario for you to experiment.

Random thoughts

All of you who know me have probably picked up on the fact that I don’t talk about stuff if I’m not personally interested or impressed with it.

That said, have you guys had a chance to check out the Writing Better Songs (“Techniques From the Hits”) material from Anthony Cesari I posted about? Man, the more I read his stuff the more I’ve been blown away with how in depth and useful it is.

I really think you should all download his free stuff right away and then seriously consider getting his full guides and vast array of bonus material. Love it. Get his free lessons and reports here and go from there.

I also have been having fun with the free DM1 drum program for the iPhone. It’s made by a cool company called Fingerlab. You can download it from the iPhone App Store.

Let’s see, what else have I been digging lately… Well, I’ve been using the
Izotope Ozone 5 Complete Mastering System in some very cool ways that I should write something about. It has turned out to be really useful to me in the mixing process and not just mastering (which, of course it is excellent for.)

I’ll talk to you all again soon. All my best to all of you,

Owen Critchley

Let’s talk about songwriting. You know, my plan by now was to create something like an Easy Songwriting Blueprint to go with my Easy Home Recording Blueprint and Musician’s Blueprint to Getting Heard books and videos. But, with the membership having grown for my Blueprint series and with my own recording and production duties, I haven’t been able to create a songwriting guide for you.

But, this is important stuff, so I have put together this songwriting blog that I will add to from time to time.

And luckily, I am pleased to say that I have found a guide that covers pretty much all the bases that I was planning on covering.

You can click here for more info on “Success For Your Songs” content at the bottom of this page.

After that, scroll back up here to the top of the page and watch my video (below) about one of my most reliable tips I use all the time to keep my writing juices flowing. The rest of this post continues after the video.

——————————————————————————————————

Even more important than having great sounding recordings, is the need to start with great songs.

Even then, to make a career of creating songs for release and licensing to movies and other artists, TV and ads, we will not only need quality but also quantity.

There are a few reasons that a songwriter needs to create as many songs as possible. Competition is one reason for sure, but as songwriters, we also need tons of songs because there are just so many different types of opportunities out there. Being able to submit your songs for consideration in a wide array of projects, is the single best way to increase our odds that one or more of our songs will be chosen to be used.

Think of each of your songs and recordings as a ticket placed in a box at a neighborhood raffle. One ticket equals a single chance to win the prize. But if you are able to place 10, 20, or 30 tickets in that box, there comes a point when you can not just hope to win but actually expect to win.

Songwriters who are doing well know this fact very well, and make no mistake, this fact drives them, motivates them to write more and more songs.

They know that their career success is rarely based on a single magic song. Success is mostly achieved by scattering so many good seeds on the field to increase the odds to the point that something has to take root.

Ok? So quality and quantity have to go together when it comes to carving out your spot as a successful songwriter.

Music’s Universally Understood Cues – How Your Message, Ideas and Intentions Are Communicated

Even if you have written a bucketful of  songs, they really aren’t much use if they aren’t connecting effectively on an emotional level with listeners. That’s because it’s not just the idea within a song, it is how that idea is being communicated.

There is a “language of song” that we must understand. Clearly communicating the intentions of your song relies on the ancient (Seriously, literally ancient) cues that listeners need and expect in order to “feel” a song and understand it fully.

These cues have evolved over thousands of years and have now become part of the human experience on an almost cellular level.

Think of it this way:

Think of all the cues, physical cues and verbal cues, that we all expect and need when speaking to one another. The better you are at presenting the appropriate physical and verbal cues when speaking, the clearer your message and the more appreciated you and your message is to the person you’re talking to.

Picture delivering some kind of serious news to someone but instead of a quiet solemn voice and concerned facial expression, you choose to grin like a nut, and speak in a loud high pitched  voice, pausing to laugh every few seconds. Your message is the same, but you have totally confused and even offended your listener, who may or may not give you a black eye, simply because of the way you presented your message.

We all know these conversational cues and the appropriate way to verbally communicate because we have unconsciously learned them bit by bit since childhood by observing life around us. So, these conversational cues come naturally to us.

Less obvious, but just as important are the musical cues used in successful songs of every style to deliver the intended message to listeners. Listeners and fans may not know why, but they expect these cues, this guidance, if they are to be captivated by your song.

In songwriting, these emotional cues are delivered via:

• effective song structure (to effectively guide the listener, maintain his or her attention, through the unfolding of the lyric and/or story of the song)
• tempo/rhythm
• mood (mood is largely determined by instrumentation)
• chord progression/chord voicing (to effectively guide, and somewhat take control, of the emotional ups and downs of the listener)

How can I learn this stuff? How can I write better songs that consistently connect with listeners and fans?

The key to becoming fluent in the language of songwriting and appropriate song arrangement lies right in front of all of us inside the thousands of existing successful songs out there. Every device, every technique for delivering every kind of emotional message, is right there within the recordings of the last 70 or more years.

All you have to do is listen to learn. Listen to learn. Listen to learn. Never stop. Always listen to learn. And, oh yeah, make and keep notes. It really is like learning a language. And once you’ve learned it, you immediately set yourself apart from the crowd.

You’ll find that people more and more will “get” what you’re saying as a songwriter and feel your songs.

Every, I mean EVERY, successful songwriter has learned this. Song structure and the “meaning” humans have assigned to types of melody, chord choices and tempos, is like a vast oral history that has been handed down and shared among songwriters through the ages.

“ The songs of the present and the past are all part of a vast “how to” resource for songwriters. It should be a source of pride and honor for all songwriters to acknowledge, refer to, learn from and use this resource.  “

Songwriting is a constant process of referral and creativity. Successful songwriters REFER to many songs in the style they are currently writing and then accesses their own CREATIVITY to write an original song of their own.

Unlocking the songwriting lessons that live inside all successful songs

The first way to use existing songs as a songwriting resource is as a way of preventing or at least shortening that awful feeling of writer’s block. Here’s how:

• Let’s say you are all set to write a song but you are drawing a mental blank and aren’t coming up with a melody you like. Rather than force it and cause yourself to really get down, just break down the process into simple do-able steps.

• Ask yourself, “What style of tune would I love to write today?” Or, in the case of a songwriter who focuses on getting his songs licensed, the question would be “What style of tune do I have to write for this opportunity?” Either way, it’s a nice simple question that’s easy to answer.

• Next question you ask yourself: “What would be the ideal existing song or songs that represent this style?” Cool. We’re keeping things fun, and now we get to go over to YouTube to find and listen to some good tunes in the style we’re after.

So there you are listening and soon you’re thinking, “Man, that song by So-and-So works so well. Let’s check it out a bit deeper and see what’s under the hood and why it works so well”

• First you check the tempo or beats-per-minute of the song using a metronome.

• Then you look up the song’s chords online as well as the lyrics. (I always find comfort in looking up the chord progression for most popular songs because they are often so simple and elegantly put together. It keeps me focused and reminds me that with the songwriting process, simpler is often better.)

This is the point that I play the song on my guitar or keyboard starting by playing it at the tempo and rhythm that it was recorded.

As I play it over and over, I begin to make changes perhaps by leaving out one of the chords and substituting it for a new one.

Or maybe I play the chords in the reverse order.

Then, I may change the key of the song, which in effect changes all the chords entirely.

When things are sounding different, I am able to start humming my own melody over my new groove. (Note: My song in the video above started with me playing “Little Wing” by Jimi Hendrix. By the time I was done adding, subtracting, nudging and tweaking the two songs aren’t very similar at all.)

This technique for me, is always a fantastic way to bust out of a writer’s block.

I picture my mind like a room. Sometimes a room gets cluttered and isn’t functional anymore. The best way to clean a room like that is to take everything out and put it in the hall. Then you methodically re-build the room one item at a time.

NOTE: By the way, you can turn this technique upside down as well. You can refer to a song that is of a different genre you are planning for a song. Let’s say you want to write a song in a 70′s R & B style like Marvin Gay or Smokey Robinson. You can go check out songs and their structure and arrangement choices by other great writers in as different a style as Def Leppard or The Stones or maybe a girl-pop sound like Sixpence None The Richer. Use your imagination by appreciating and referring to the work of all other songwriters. There are gems of knowledge to be gathered from all of them.

Success For Your Songs – A great source of songwriting tips and how-to’s from Anthony Ceseri

As I said, if I wrote a songwriting guide it would include many of the tips and tricks for successful songwriting in Success For Your Songs by Anthony Ceseri.

How to access and download the free reports and tips:

Anthony has provided a free download link for the free tips version of his full guide. The report is called “Techniques From The Hits Vol.1″.

You will also receive his 8 followup tips email series as well as “How to Make Your Melodies 10 Times More Marketable”.

Signup for the report and email tipsheet here. (Or click the image on the left).

Anthony’s free content as well as his full guide, “Success For Your Songs” are full of great stuff that you’ll be able to put to use right away as you write your next song. You’ll see.

That’s it from me today. All the best to all of you.

~ Owen Critchley ~

Don’t forget to join me on Facebook. Click the “Like” button once you get there for real-time extra tips on home recording, songwriting, Blueprint updates etc.

Here’s 4 minutes worth of some real gems Davy shared about something he has noticed that some of the Blues legends, like BB King, have always turned to for their solos:

More Guitar Scale Pattern Tricks

John Boettcher has a ton more and has really mined this guitar scale patterns territory effectively and shares some real guitar soloing treasures in his videos here:

(Blueprint to Getting Heard and Easy Home Recording Blueprint Special Feature)

PART 1.

How Do You Get Copyright Permission? Should You Even Bother?

PART 2.

Choosing the Best Songs to Cover So You’re Found by More New Listeners ( *Find out the song we chose to cover below)

• A tip to increase exposure for unknown recording artists
  

I’m going to talk about what I think are the most effective things to think about when doing cover songs (songs already recorded and released by someone else), but the first question we should answer is, “How do I get copyright permission? Do I need to get it?”

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

Most songs that you will consider covering will have a copyright owner (the songwriter), a publisher and their song will be registered with a tracking organization like BMI, ASCAP, or their affiliate organizations in other countries. These organizations gather and then pay out royalties to songwriters and their publishers.

But just to clarify…

The actual checking up, monitoring and policing of who is using a song legally or illegally is pretty much on the shoulders of the publisher and/or the original songwriter. And the truth is, it’s impossible for them to be aware of all the unofficial or illegal uses of their songs.

And “boom”, right there is where we come across our first important point because it answers another big question that will come up the minute you decide whether to record some cover songs to build your own exposure:

The question is: “I see cover versions all over YouTube. Some get banned but most don’t.” So…

The answer is sort of “yes and no.”

If you have your own website and you have a variety of songs you’ve recorded and covered that is simply available to be streamed and listened to by your visitors, then there’s no pressing need to get song permission for the cover songs. I suppose, in a strict interpretation of copyright law, you are supposed to, but if you’re not selling downloads of your cover versions, then I think it’s perfectly ok to operate in the grey area of copyright law in this case.

Here’s the thing about uploading cover songs to YouTube…

Personally, I think everyone should be allowed to upload their non-commercial cover versions to YouTube or anywhere else. It’s just plain wrong for labels and publishers to think this is harmful to their artists.

In fact, when they pursue legal action against unsigned artists’ cover versions, the labels and publishers are totally looking a gift horse in the mouth, because the truth is, this is free promotion for their artists and their music. But nobody ever accused record labels and publishers of being the sharpest tools in the shed. (But they are definitely being tools when it comes to this.)

And YouTube’s (i.e. Google’s) position on this is really wimpy. They really aren’t committed to any point of view. Sure, they pretend to have a point of view if someone at a label squawks. They move swiftly to remove the video and often permanently ban the user who uploaded it. But their dirty truth is, their whole business model relies on copyright infringement all the time.

So what should indie artists do about uploading cover songs to YouTube?

Here’s my advice. If you have set a goal and really want and hope that your cover song video will go viral and be shared and viewed by the thousands, then you should probably get permission to use a song so you don’t wake up one day with a permanent ban on your YouTube account. Because, ironically, the more successful you are with a cover song video, the more likely someone at a label or publisher will squawk. And that’s all it takes for YouTube to throw you under the bus.

>>> Clear ANY cover song in minutes at SongClearance.com. Get Started Now! <<<

And of course, if your goal is to include a cover song on a CD or to profit from it directly in some way, then you simply must make the small investment in getting copyright permission. You will be protected legally, but also it’s the right thing to do, whether any publishers or artists are monitoring you and your project or not. It’s a sign of respect and support to your fellow recording artist and means you are part of the forces for good and not harm.

Ok, let’s move on.

Correctly chosen cover versions is a great way to get found and heard

Let’s talk about “cover songs” as a way of building an unknown artist’s exposure.

Why do cover songs?

Well, as those of you who own The Easy Home Recording Blueprint and its free companion guide, The Blueprint to Getting Heard know, before an unknown artist can “get heard” he or she has to “get found.” And one of the best ways to get found is to have your music present itself on the first page of Google or YouTube when a new listener and potential fan is searching for music like yours.

You see, music fans are most often going to be searching for established songs. If you are an unknown recording artist, obviously your songs are not going to be something potential fans are going to be searching for by name. Before that happens, we’ve got to get the ball starting to roll by getting some listeners finding you and hearing you.

That’s where cover songs are so useful.

Because not only are listeners looking for established songs by name, thousands of listeners actually actively search for interesting alternate versions, or “covers,” of the songs they love.

**TIP: How to Be Smart About Which Songs to Cover – Targeting “Low Competition” covers

Although recording a cover version will give your recording some “recognizability” and will guarantee that many listeners will be carrying out YouTube and Google searches using the song’s name, your choice of which songs to cover will have a direct effect in determining your success in increasing your exposure.

The trick here is to start off by choosing songs that are LESS likely to have been covered by thousands of other artists. In other words, we’ll call these “low competition cover songs.” Why?

Although there will be fewer fans searching for these songs, the important upside is that you will be guaranteed to show up very high in the search results on Google and/or YouTube.

In contrast, if you choose an incredibly popular song i.e. “high competition cover song,” there many be hundreds of thousands of people searching that song’s name, BUT… your version is very likely to be buried very far down in an avalanche of other search results showing hundreds and hundreds of other versions of that song as unsigned artists and bands all clamoring to hitch their wagon to a current hit song. You are unlikely to increase your exposure or gain new listeners if you cover a “hot” song.

The idea is to not be part of the herd. Remember, as soon as one sheep walks away from the herd, that’s the one that will be noticed and get the attention.

Cover Song Example 1:

Let’s say you are a roots rock artist in the mold of The Rolling Stones. Instead of covering a huge Stones song, it would pack more punch if you either:

• * Did a cover of a relatively obscure Stones song or…

• * Reach back in time and do a version of one of the pioneers of that style. The artists who influenced the Stones in the first place.

This would have the dual effect of impressing true Stones fans who would know about their “non-hits”, and in the second example, you would attract and gain credibility with die-hard fans with knowledge of the history of roots rock n’ roll. Either way, you would likely “start a conversation” about your cover and your music, which is what it’s all about.

Cover Song Example 2:

This happens to be the example we chose for the cover song we recorded for this article. we chose a song by a popular local artist. He is extremely popular here, but pretty much unknown in the rest of the world. In other words, he has thousands of fans, not millions.

“Why would covering a song by a mid-level artist like this be a better opportunity to get found and heard than if I covered a recent hit song?”

The answer to that is that the artist who we chose to cover for this article, Joel Plaskett, has a very passionate fan base and I’m sure his fans wonder why he isn’t better known. In fact, I’m sure they have noticed that not many people have recorded cover versions of his songs.

HOWEVER, very soon, when these fans do a search for Joel Plaskett, they will be in for a surprise when they are presented with our version of his song in the top of their search results. So, on one hand there are thousands of people searching for this music, but almost nothing in the way (i.e. other cover versions) of our version getting heard.

Our goal is to cause a “holy cow!” reaction from the fans who are searching online for this song.

I can pretty much guarantee that they’ll be thinking, “Somebody out there actually knows about Joel!” and they will almost certainly be highly motivated to click through and listen to our version of his song, “Nowhere With You.”

We simply wouldn’t get that kind of response if we covered a huge hit or world famous song. Now, some of Joel Plaskett’s fans may not like my version, no doubt.

But you can bet they will be talking about it. And that’s totally cool, because reaction and discussion is what we’re after for this exercise.

Especially because we did his song in a totally different style. (His version is 142 beats per minute (BPM) and to make our version distinct from his, we’ve done the cover version as a half-time reggae style at 72 BPM.)

Here is Joel Plaskett’s original version of “Nowhere With You” in his signature pop/rock style, followed by my cover version.

My cover version of “Nowhere With You” Nowhere With You (Edit 1) – Cover by Owen Critchley (Joel Plaskett songwriter) by Owen Critchley

So again, the idea here is that I have chosen a song that has very few cover versions (because the song is only well known in a certain part of the world.)

This means my cover version will face next to no competition when someone is searching for the song by its name, “Nowhere With You.”

Now that I’ve recorded the cover, the next phase is to create some kind of video so I can give my version a YouTube presence.

The video can be a simple photo or simple frames showing the lyrics. The main thing is to use the song’s name somewhere in the video’s title.

As I said, before uploading a cover song to YouTube, I recommend making sure you take care of and answer the question, “how do you get copyright permission for a cover song?” This will protect your YouTube account from the threat of cancellation and it will enable you to offer your cover version for sale on iTunes etc.

This following link will take you to a simple process for getting song permission:

Secure the required mechanical licenses for any music at Limelight. Get Started Today.

Credits:

1. The cover song for this article was recorded using the “simple, perfect method” of The Easy Home Recording Blueprint.

2. This recording was mastered using: Izotope Ozone 5 Complete Mastering Suite

3. Some of the “getting found and heard” techniques are from The Musician’s Blueprint to Getting Heard and The Getting Heard GOLD LIST

And Finally…

It’s been a cool experience recording this cover tune and writing this for you, and we’ll continue to cover some of these strategies and more in your Easy Home Recording Blueprint newsletter if you already own the Blueprint.

If you aren’t an Easy Home Recording Blueprint member, you are, of course, invited to become a Blueprint recording artist. You will always be welcome, and welcomed by this great community of home recording artists around the world.

Don’t forget to join me on FaceBook and get real time updates, tips and “Blueprinter” success stories:

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.

Alternative content

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.

Alternative content

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…