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Count The Beats: Interview with a mixing engineer
In the last year I've spent a fair amount of time doing some recordings. In particular, I've been working on some of my own material. Having invested a large amount of time and money into pre production and the actual recording sessions, what started out as a small bedroom demo soon escalated into something much more than that (I'm sure you know what I mean). It soon became apparent that I was going to need someone with a bit more experience and 'know how' when it came to post production, and in particular, mixing. After calling in some "favours," and reaching as far as I could into the "industry," as such, I was introduced to Mr. Stephen Harding. An exceptionally talented musician, producer, and up and coming mixing engineer. To my delight, I discovered that not only is he a pretty nice guy, he is also darn good at mixing, and he's a fan boy of all things Apple too! Amongst all our post production endeavors, Steve and I managed to sit down with a cup of tea and some rich tea biscuits to talk Macs, set-up , plug-ins, outboard gear and the art of approaching a mix backed by the stability of Mac OS X. Read on for some wise words on mixing, but be forewarned though, as is becoming customary in the Count The Beats series, there is some pretty heavy tech talk ahead. However, it does make for some juicy reading. Don't forget, if you don't understand, just nod your head and pretend you do like the rest of us! Enjoy.
Mac mini-based recording studio in a piano hits eBay
Ok, so it's not exactly a Mac Mini mod -- it's just sitting there -- but this so-called "Music Machine" is in a class of DIY projects all its own, taking an antique most wouldn't think of altering and ripping its guts out, stuffing it instead with recording and computer gear. At the core is the aforementioned Mac mini (a 1.42GHz model) complimented by a 17-inch LCD, a Lexicon Omega audio interface, built-in Klipsch Promedia Ultra 2.0 speakers, and an MXL 2006 Cardioid Microphone, plus a number of other peripherals. Alas, it seems the original piano keys didn't quite cut it -- they've been replaced with a Studiologic TMK-88 MIDI keyboard, but maybe that'll be remedied in the next version; the person behind this bit of retro goodness is selling the whole shebang on eBay to help fund a new-and-improved rig. Things don't look to have gotten off to the best of starts, however, with the starting bid still untouched at a hefty $4,000.
