ADAM A7

So I just got in my new ADAM A7 studio monitors. Where to even begin...

Well, it almost goes without saying, but they are absolutely phenomenal. But not in a way you'd expect. I have since read that the typical "Wow!" factor doesn't happen all at once, but over time. This is definitely true. It's hard to explain, but I'll put it like this: mixes on my older speakers translated fine to these. It's not like stupid mix decisions jumped out, or there was a massive imbalance that I didn't hear before. They still sounded good. It wasn't like going from Yugo to Jaguar. But at the same time, just because the jump wasn't huge doesn't mean it wasn't worth it. I made a little pro's and con's list to help demonstrate.

Pro's-
Well engineered recordings are mind-blowing on these speakers. And I don't mean well-mixed. I mean well recorded, at the source. Well, mixed too. But well-recorded instruments just jump to life. You can hear EVERYTHING. It's encapsulating.
The clarity and detail is astounding. You know when you listen to songs on a set of really good headphones and you hear a ton of things you never heard before? Same thing. In fact, the observation I originally made was I couldn't believe this much detail could be heard without headphones.
The imaging and stereo depth. I've been digging through every song I have for songs that utilize a wide stereo field with harmonies or arrangements. It's the first time in over 15 years I've been this excited to listen to music. And that's saying a lot about a guy whose whole life revolves around music.
Low-end definition is impeccable. Kick's and basses are more than just "low-end filler". They're actual instruments you can clearly make out and hear.

Of course, there are some Con's.
A little bright. It depends on the source for sure, and you do get used to it. At first listen I find myself saying "Holy crap, there is so much high-end going on." Sometimes it sounds that way just because of the comparison between that and the low end. But other times I can actually hear a ton of room tone, the sounds of the pick on acoustic guitar, etc., it get's annoying at first.
Not as warm sounding. This is actually a good thing in the context of needed truly accurate, flat speakers to make mixing decisions on. They don't add any character or color to the sound. Great for mixing, but for listening is a little sad. On certain songs, mainly rock, I expect things to jump out at me in the mids that don't.
Not much low-end. This is weird, because the frequency response of these actually go lower than my old monitors. But the low end just isn't there. I know I just said the low-end is impeccable, and it is. But volume-wise, it's lacking. This is why I'm spending a lot of time listening to songs I've heard a million times, so I can learn the speakers.

The ADAM's shine on acoustic/jazz albums. So what songs did I listen to to test out the ADAM's?

Sunrise- Norah Jones
Blue in Green- Miles Davis
Rikki Don't Lose That Number- Steely Dan
Kiss From a Rose- Seal
The Painter- Neil Young
I Will- Alison Krauss
Change the World- Eric Clapton (the absolute best sounding song out of the bunch)
Spend a Lifetime- Jamiroquai
Riding With the King- B.B. King & Eric Clapton
Name- Goo Goo Dolls
We're Forgiven- The Calling
Shadows- Rufus Wainwright
Gravity- John Mayer
Me and Mrs. Jones- Michael Buble
Stairway to Heaven- London Symphony Orchestra

I think this picture visually demonstrates the ADAM effect.

The left picture is okay. You're not missing any information. You probably wouldn't even consider it to be a bad picture until you see it in HD. The right picture is so clear and detailed. It might be a little crisp at first, but that's just because you're not used to seeing it so clearly.

Final Thoughts: Will they radically change my mixes? No. Have they made me fall in love with music all over again? YES! Worth every penny!

10 Things Every Band Should Know Before Recording

1. Have a budget. This is one of the biggest mistakes first timers make. Recording isn’t cheap, and hours can add up really fast. The worst thing you can do is be in the middle of a project and realize you don’t have enough money to finish. Tell the engineer all about your project beforehand, and find out what his best guess is at how much it will cost. But it is a guess. One of the smartest things you can do is plan in your budget for mistakes, because there will be mistakes! Best case scenario, you come in under budget.
2. Have a time frame. If you are recording a CD or demo, have a completion date set. Some space between recordings is good. A lot of space can be wasteful and hard to get back into. It can be really easy to lose momentum and focus. Having a time frame can keep you motivated and on task.
3. Have an idea of what you want. Bring in CD’s or songs that show what you’re trying to sound like. A good engineer can likely tell what made a song sound a certain way, and use the tools he has to make you sound as close as possible to that. But be reasonable. Unless you’re using the same acoustic guitar, in the same room, with the same mics, the same distance away, and into the same preamps, as the recording you’re trying to match, don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t sound exactly the same.
4. Be prepared. This is for everybody’s sake. Know who is playing what, and when, and be beyond rehearsed. If you come in with a song you just wrote and you don’t know the lyrics, the melody, the guitar part, etc., you’re wasting your money and the engineer’s time. I know of the legends of the Beatles doing 300 takes and writing a ton of songs in the studio. They also had a record company paying for it. Do you have a record company willing to throw a stupid amount of money around for you to do 300 takes and write all your songs in the studio? Doing a little bit of preparation can go a long way with saving you money.
5. Be appreciative. It’s a bad economy. What an engineer’s services are worth and what he makes, well the numbers are pretty far apart. I’m not asking you to pity them, but please’s and thank you’s still go a long way. If it’s going to be a long session, bring him a coffee. If you’re going to break to eat, offer to buy him his meal. Yeah, he’s getting paid. But sometimes no amount of money is worth the tedious amount of hours lining up sloppy drum playing, or piecing together 15 different vocal takes. Trust me, a thank you and a coffee will go a long way.
6. Trust your engineer. Hey, if you can do it yourself, more power to you! But if you’re at someone else’s studio, respect that. If it’s a creative decision, that’s a different story. But if you’re arguing over the level of the guitar part 5 minutes into the mixing session, relax. Let the engineer say “Okay, now it’s done” before you give it a scrutinizing listen. Trust that your engineer has been doing this for a while, and knows what sounds good and how to get it. There have been a few occasions where I have been barraged with emails from everyone in the band picking apart the mix before it was finished. I end up having to write back asking them to wait until I’m finished mixing, and if they still have a problem we’ll fix it then. 9 times out of 10, any of their complaints had been fixed already.
7. Clean up your mess. You’re paying for my services as a sound engineer, not as a janitor. Making sure the studio is nice and clean before a client arrives is something every engineer should do. Leaving it in the same condition is something every client should do. Throw away your coffee cups, Subway wrappers, empty packs of cigarettes. Take your lyric sheets, guitar picks, and drum sticks home with you. Unless your big time record label is picking up the tab, pick up after yourself.
8. Be reasonable. Nit-picking everything to death will drive everyone crazy, and I can almost guarantee no one will notice the little things you’re harping on. There are lists miles long of famous songs that have major performance mistakes you’ve never even noticed. In fact, you can see not only performance mistakes, but engineering mistakes, here. Is that an excuse to get lazy? Absolutely not. BUT! Be realistic. 99% of the people listening to your music are listening to content, performance, lyrics, message, the feel, orchestration, emotional response, etc. The last thing they’re listening for is technical perfection. The only people who might be listening with that level of scrutiny are potential record execs, and trust me; they’ll be destroying the quality of your records way more than the engineers will.
9. You’re being charged to hang out. Personally, I’ve designed my studio to encourage ease and relaxation…for the sake of a stress-free performance. But if you’re going to spend the time shooting the breeze and talking about how great the latest Justin Bieber album is, you’ll pay for it. It’s your project; I don’t care if we do 5 hours of work or 5 hours of talking. You’re still using up 5 hours of my time, so I suggest we be productive!
10. Dammit Captain, I’m an Engineer, not a miracle worker! Ha! Seriously though, it’s not an engineer’s job to have an opinion about your music. We may dig it, we may hate it, but it’s not our job to like it. We take whatever you play and make it sound pristine. If you play good, you’ll have a great recording. If you play bad, you’ll have a great recording of you playing bad. Just be realistic with your performance. If you think you can do better, don’t wait until the song is almost done being mixed to say you want to do it over. If it has mistakes, but you know that’s as good as you could have done it, try not to let the mistake distract you from our job. Think of sound engineering like car detailers; we can buff, shine, and wax all day, but if you don’t like the color of your pink Hyundai Accent, there’s nothing we can do about that!

Tips on Internships

I was just reading a thread by a studio intern who was doing some venting about the nature of internships. Like many interns, he spent long hours taking out trash, cleaning toilets, doing food and drink runs, building maintenance, etc. He rarely got a chance to sit at the controls, and wasn't paid. It was the unpaid thing that really got him down. Interning at a studio is often a full-time job, and it's pretty hard to have a second job to get by while you're doing your internship.

The thing is, this isn't communist China. No one put a gun to your head and said you have to be an engineer. It's a field you chose, you have to take the good with the bad. Putting in long, unpaid hours comes with most internships. Now lets talk about the kind of work you have to do- taking out the trash, cleaning toilets, sweeping, moping, etc. Yeah, it stinks. But guess what? It has to be done! It's not like it's work that the studio owner doesn't do himself- who do you think does all that when you're not there?! In addition to those tasks actually needing to get done, most owners aren't going to just let anyone walk off the street and start using their equipment. Just because you went to school for 6 months doesn't mean you know everything there is to know about the studio! Doing those crappy jobs is also a way to show your respect for the studio.

I had an awesome intern this summer, Luke. There was only one time early on that I asked him to come by and give me a hand cleaning. It wasn't really for him to prove himself, and it wasn't for free labor, it was merely for the fact that it had to get done. I think that was something the poster of the thread was confused on. He seemed to think his studio owner was giving him grueling work to be a jerk and get free labor. In reality, it was probably something like, "Hey, if you can stick out the crappiest times of running a studio, then you're in the right place. If not, this probably isn't for you."

Anyways, if you're looking to be an intern somewhere, not just a recording studio, here are some helpful tips from the threads:

"... but they need to make themselves invaluable. I'm a one man shop, and I cannot afford to pay someone to take 2 hours of studio time, explain to them exactly how I want it done, double check their work, and hold their hand for the same job that I could do in 45 minutes. If I have an intern (and that's a HUGE IF), they will get EXPERIENCE and they will get MENTORING, but they will not get pay -- UNLESS they are bringing something to the table that I cannot do better myself."


"Every studio owner is underpaid and overworked. Find a niche that make their life easier, less stressful and more profitable. "

"Generally I don't care how much they know, for me its all about attitude. Of course if they have more training and experience it can help speed along their development, but it is not as important to me as their work ethic and how they interact with clients and me. "

"I want an intern (or colleague) to act like he has the most grave responsibility on Earth without acting like he has the most grave responsibility on Earth."

What is "EQ"?

EQ is short for equalization. All sounds are made up of frequencies, and changing those frequencies changes the sound. This is done through EQ. So why would you EQ something? For 3 main reasons: to tame problem frequency/frequencies, to enhance the track, and to enhance other tracks. I’ll go into more detail with audio examples for each.

Taming Problems- Frequency imbalances occur due to either a problem with the instrument, problem with the acoustic environment, miking techniques, or a combination of the three. Fixing these problems can require anything from slight dip, to precision cutting with EQ. For this example, I’ll use a snare drum that elicits a nasty overtone. Normally, putting a piece of tape or something called a “moon gel” can solve this problem at the source. But in the event that neither is available, we can use EQ to find and eliminate the problem frequency.
Snare before:

Listening to the “before” track, you can hear a “whooom” that is quite annoying, and so loud it distracts from the rest of the snare. Trying to get this to work in a mix without first resolving this frequency issue will sound horrible.

Snare After:

Using the Waves Q10 EQ, I can zoom in to the exact offending frequency and eliminate it. In this case, there were two problems- one at 197, and one at 202. Once I cut these frequencies out, the snare sounded listenable again.

Enhancing the Track- Every instrument, including voice, has defining characteristics that are represented in the frequency spectrum. For example, a snare between 200-400 Hz contains the “body”. Between 1-3k contains the “snap”, and 5-8k has the “sizzle”. Cutting these frequencies would destroy the essence of the snare drum. Boosting them will enhance it. To get each instrument to stand out better in a mix, we find their essential frequencies and boost them. For this example, we’ll highlight a drum kit.
Before EQ:


After EQ:


You notice that after EQ'ing the kit, each drum piece sits a little more clearly and can be heard better. The Kick is bigger, the Snare has more body and snap, and the Overheads have a little more high end to open up the sound. This will make each drum stick out better in a rock mix without having to turn the whole track up.

Enhancing Other Tracks- This is a continuation of the principal that every instrument has defining frequencies, but instead of boosting, we cut. For example, I know the speakers in a guitar amp rarely produce any tones higher than 5k. If the guitar was miked, that isn’t to say there won’t be any sound beyond 5k. There just won’t be any sound useful to the guitar. And in fact, all that noise above 5k if left in, will only get in the way of other instruments that do use that space. So we cut it out. But to enhance other tracks, sometimes we have to make them sound worse alone to sound better together. For example, depending on the style, an electric guitar does have some useful information below 200 Hz. However, in a mix setting priority should be given to the Kick drum and Bass guitar for sounds under 200 Hz. Cutting that from the guitar might make it sound strange on its own, but in the mix the Bass and Kick have more room to breath, and we really didn’t take too much away from the guitar.

What is "Mixing"?

I’m often asked by clients what I mean when I say a song is ready for “mixing”. They usually assume after they’re done recording that it’s finished. And it can be! But usually there is a lot that can be done to turn it from good to great. There are 3 main phases in recording a song/CD. Tracking, mixing, and mastering.

Tracking is the first phase, where you’re literally recording each track of the song. Even though there might be some processing involved, such as compression and EQ (more on this later), it’s generally not considering “mixing”.
Here is an example of a song after the tracking phase:

Notice how the sound field is completely unbalanced. The drums and vocals are off in a distance, the bass almost non-existent, and the guitars very loud. Everything seems mushed together, nothing is very clear.

Mixing occurs when we edit and process each track after it is done being recorded. This phase usually takes the longest, but is the most beneficial for the song’s quality. The goal of mixing is to get each track to sound its best and fit in with the rest of the tracks. This is done through the use of EQ, compression, reverbs/delays, panning, automation, etc.
Here is an example of a song after it has been mixed:

Now notice how everything seems more balanced. You can hear every instrument, and nothing seems to be fighting for space as much. Some effects have been added for a more produced sound, and with the use of compression and automation, the music flows, rather than staying the same volume.

Mastering is the final stage. True mastering shouldn’t be done by the mix engineer for a variety of reasons I won’t go into now. Where before the song consisted of many individual tracks, it is now “mixed down” into one stereo track. Similar processing takes effect in this stage as in mixing, but affects the overall song, not just one track. Mastering generally consists of EQ, Compression, and Limiting, although other processing is often used.
Here is an example of a song that has been Mastered. Note- I did this in 5 minutes and on headphones. It is far from the ideal way to master anything, but I'm using it for demonstration:

Notice how the song is more glued together. It's also a bit louder than the mixed version so it can compete with songs at similar volumes. The bass is a little more prominent, the stereo width has been widened slightly, and some high end has been added to give it some air. Though I didn't do it for this master, it also requires some DeEssing, as you might be able to tell from the harsh sound whenever an S is sung.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule. Some songs don’t need mixing, and some don’t need mastering. But hopefully this has answered general questions about the stages of your project.