There are two types of electric guitar pickups: single coils and humbuckers. Single coil pickups came first. A single coil is just a single spool containing one or more magnets. The single coil pickup will typically have a more treble sound.  read more »

I did a post recently on this brainiac JP22. He was the one that had incredibly stupid comments and insulted everyone. Great reading by the way, check it out if haven't already.

Anyway, since then I've discovered a website dedicated entirely to the brilliant mind of JP22. Hilarious! This is some fun stuff. I also love the pictures of his studio...gold!  read more »

This is something you can try to get a different guitar sound. Connect your electric guitar to a direct box, and go from the balanced output to the recorder. Connect the 1/4" throughput to the guitar amp. Put a mic in front of the guitar amp as you usually do. Play through your amp as usual, only save the 'clean' direct track for later use. You will now have two tracks: 1. the guitar-amp/miced track and 2. the clean, direct from guitar track.  read more »

Have you ever said "we can fix it later?" If you're using those words in the studio, you're headed for trouble. But in certain situations, you can fix it later.

When you Punch in you are inserting new information into a preexisting recorded track. You basically hit or "punch" the record button on the target track at a sepcific time to replace the section with a new performance.  read more »

One piece of software that I use all of the time is Sound Forge. It's come a long way since 4.5, which is what I still use. I like living in the past.

Sound Forge is great when you have a final mix that you want to add effects to, or fade the entire song out, or just cut and paste something to the final song.  They even used Sound Forge when I was an intern at a recording studio.  read more »

If you play guitar, you should get an Ebow. It has changed my recordings dramatically. The Ebow is a hand-held magnetic bow for the guitar. You can use the Ebow to mimic strings, horns, and woodwinds with unbelievable sensitivity. The Ebow produces a powerful infinite sustain, with rich in harmonics for awesome guitar sounds.

The Ebow comes with an instruction book, and a cassette. Hopefully, they've upgraded the cassette to a CD? But it teaches you everything. The Ebow is really easy to learn and it's incredible fun.  read more »

Always use a click track when you record. A click track is just something that keeps time for you while you record your main track. Depending on what software you are using, most recording software will come with some sort of a metronome or click track. You can also use a drum machine, drum program, loops, or just a good ol fashioned metronome. But you have to use a click track. You have to have something that keeps time. Make sure you find something that isn't distracting and ads to the excitement of the song.  read more »

I just recently got a Roland Jazz Chorus JC-90 a few months back. Man does this amp sound killer!! If you're looking for an awesome clean sound, I'd look into one of these puppies.

Everyone keeps saying how bad the distortion is on these, but I was actually pleasantly surprised with the distortion. Wouldn't be my first choice for a metal amp, but overall I'm extremely happy with the Roland Jazz Chorus.  read more »

Digidesign announced on Friday the release of Pro Tools 7, a new version of the company’s digital audio workstation software. According to Digidesign, Pro Tools 7 offers significantly expanded MIDI and audio recording and editing capabilities, greater mixing power and flexibility, enhanced efficiency and improved ease of use.  read more »

• More Compositional Tools
• Tweaking Encouraged
• Greater Mixing Power and Flexibility
• Even Easier to Use
• Unique Hardware Options

If you are running a Windows computer in your home studio, there are a few tweaks you can do to make things perform better. These are just some basic settings that you can change in Windows XP to optimize for audio recording.

Processor scheduling should be set to background services
Click on Start, Settings, Control Panel, System, Advanced, Performance Settings, Advanced Tab, Background Services

Do not map through soundcard  read more »

One of the things that really hurts a recording is an out of tune instrument. It can be the take of your life, but if it's not in tune with the rest of the instruments, it's gonna sound like garbage (not the band).

Use a tuner. Don't trust your ears. I usually tune up before every single take. I know this can get a bit time consuming and repetitive, but it's worth it.    read more »

Digitech has a really cool product called the JamMan. The Digitech JamMan is a looper/phrase sampler.

"A looper?

A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. "

Not like a "looper" from Caddyshack. But a sampler that will loop your samples and gives you something to jam along to. The Digitech JamMan looks very cool. But the sticker price of $299 seems a little steep.  read more »

When recording in the home studio one of the most overlooked things is keeping your clean guitar. This will help reduce fret buzzing and any other extra noises created by bad strings and a gunky fretboard.

It is very important to clean your strings and your fretboard often. This will make your strings last longer and you won't need to change them as often. Plus it will feel a lot better when playing.  read more »

I really enjoy using Pro Tools. It has been a great addition to my home studio. But, did you know you can get Pro Tools for free? Yup. Digidesign has a special version of Pro Tools that they are just giving away to guys like us.

If you have never tried Pro Tools, you need to download the free version and give it a try. It's not quite the full blown version, but hell...it's free. For some home studios 8 tracks is an upgrade.

The free version includes:  read more »

Over at recording.org they have a great music recording forum. I found this thread today (about two hours ago) and I haven't stopped reading it. It has got to be one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.

It's basically some guy, we'll call him JP22. JP22 is looking for "expert" advice on recording guitar. But for some reason, JP22 just insults everyone and doesn't want to hear anyone else's advice or ideas. It goes on for thirteen pages. Classic!  read more »

Would you like to Makeover your Home Studio? Over at Guitar Center they are having a really cool contest. They have teamed up with Roland and Boss and are giving away a complete home studio. Pretty sweet. The recording equipment is valued at over $20,000.

If I only had $20,000 worth of brand new recording equipment....mmm equipment.

Here's the home studio they are giving away:  read more »

I've been using the AKG C 1000 S Microphone for a few years now, and I love them. When I originally set up my home recording studio, I had some really cheap microphones. I always wondered why my recordings sounded like a llama with bad gas. I thought, could it be my microphones? So, I went off to the music store to find a decent microphone with around $250 in my grubby little mit.  read more »