arrange • compose • conduct
Most of the time, the best instruction in a studio session is one word long. “Again.” Sometimes, “You can do it better. Again.” is more effective, but mostly the one word response is the way to keep the flow going. A good percentage of the time, you can skip speaking […]
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” Heraclitus Working on a recording project with the Aces reminds me of this lesson in three ways. These are all good things. We want the music to have life, […]
Where do you look when you’re mixing a concert? I learned this the hard way – by getting a stern correction from Steve Zegree during a concert – but maybe the only way to really learn it is by experiencing it both ways. The impulse of a sound engineer is […]
Sometimes the important work you do today isn’t what looks like the work. For example, today’s studio session was great – we tracked three songs for the Aces in three hours, plus a little bonus track really quickly at the end! They worked hard, grew, and put down some great […]
Studio recording is an entirely different experience from either performance or rehearsal. You’ll hear new things, have new reactions, and learn a ton. That’s why I love to take my students into the studio. But they’re almost always always new to the experience, so I start by giving a few […]
Whenever you always approach a type of problem with a certain strategy, it might be useful to ask: “What other approaches might work?” As a general principle, I often take a few months after a recording session with my ensembles before I sit down to mix it. The distance from […]
I never don’t think of Steve Zegree when I’m in the studio. All these years later, it’s absolutely consistent. I’ve been in the studio a lot this week: ten hours producing sessions with my ensembles, plus two sessions at home singing and engineering some part recordings. I think of Steve […]
These are three keys to success over adversity. Have a Plan B. Or, if not a plan, then the skills to pivot without preparation. (When my studio engineer student got sick, I was ready to jump in, knew who to ask for help, and got the job done.) Work with […]
Pacing in a studio session is one of the overlooked essentials of success. I’m obsessed with getting a new engineer up to speed on my strategies, preferences, and quirks before a session, and the reason is that those are the things that most affect pacing – the downtime between takes, […]