Project Studio Expo 2015 (AES 139th Convention) Supporting Resources For Download!
This page contains various additional resources to support my Project Studio Expo seminars at the 139th AES convention in New York in October 2015. This site also hosts a huge range of free mixing and recording resources relating to my books, including the 'Mixing Secrets' Free Multitrack Download Library and the 'Recording Secrets' Library Of Mic Positions. To stay up to date with the latest uploads to this site, sign up for my monthly ‘Small-studio Secrets Mail’ mail-out - and if you have any follow-up questions about the seminar or these resources, don’t hesitate to drop me a line!
Seminar 1 - ‘The Five Most Common Project-studio Recording Mistakes’ (Friday 30th October 2015 )
Audio Files
Demonstration Audio Files: If you want to listen to any of the audio demonstrations I used during the seminar, download this ZIP archive, which contains the full Cockos DAW project I used. The evaluation version of Reaper is both cross-platform and uncrippled, you should be able to play it back without problems on either Mac or PC. (I also only used Reaper’s bundled plug-ins, so there shouldn’t be any incompatibility there either.)
Raw Multitracks: A couple of the recording sessions showcased in the seminar are available as full-length raw multitrack downloads from the Mixing Secrets For The Small Studio. To save you hunting through 359 projects listed there, though, here are the direct URLs:
- Flags: ‘54’
- How To Kill A Conversation: ‘Mute’
- Spektakulatius: ‘Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t’
Links
Demonstration Slideshow: You can download a PDF of the slideshow I used during my seminar here.
'Recording Secrets' Library Of Mic Positions: As mentioned in the seminar, I’ve set up a growing database of instrument recordings, extensively multimiked with identical microphones so as to provide an unrivalled insight into the art of microphone placement. Compare dozens of different mic positions and combinations around the same instrument quickly and easily, so you can fast-track your own productions and make the best use of limited studio time. So far the library features 450 audio files covering 20 instruments, including acoustic guitar, electric guitar, upright piano, grand piano, upright bass, kick drum, snare drum, cymbals, saxes, clarinets, and flute.
Further Reading
- Sound On Sound ‘Mix Rescue’ & ‘Session Notes’ articles: A number of the recording sessions I mentioned in the seminar have also been featured in ‘Sound On Sound’ magazine’s regular Mix Rescue and Session Notes columns. Follow the links below to read more – most of these articles are now free to view in the SOS archives:
- ‘Mix Rescue’ March 2011: See the lengths I had to go to in salvaging the problematic snare-drum and acoustic-guitar recordings I demonstrated in the seminar!
- ‘Session Notes’ January 2014: This article focuses on recording a singing acoustic guitarist, and features many more audio examples than the one I used to show the deep rejection null of figure-eight polar patterns. If you often find yourself recording singing guitarists, then this more general-purpose article may also be of interest, and it has numerous illustrative audio files with it too.
- ‘Session Notes’ January 2015: Find out how I managed to keep spill to manageable levels in a one-room rock-band recording setup, even though the guitar cabs were within two feet of the kick drum.
- ‘Session Notes’ June 2015: In this article (and its follow-up mixing and mastering pieces) I demonstrate how you can get great results in super-quick time if you use spill between instruments to your advantage.
Seminar 2 - ‘Mixing Ensembles’
Audio Files
- Demonstration Audio Files: If you want to listen to any of the audio demonstrations I used during the seminar, download this ZIP archive, which contains the full Cockos DAW project I used. The evaluation version of Reaper is both cross-platform and uncrippled, you should be able to play it back without problems on either Mac or PC. (I also only used Reaper’s bundled plug-ins, so there shouldn’t be any incompatibility there either.)
- Raw Multitracks: A number of the recording sessions showcased in the seminar are available as full-length raw multitrack downloads from the Mixing Secrets For The Small Studio. To save you hunting through 359 projects listed there, though, here are the direct URLs:
- Selwyn Jazz: Bill Ashton’s :’Much Too Much’
- Bruks: ‘Kak Tvoi Dela, Vova?’
- Spektakulatius: ‘Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t’
- Dunning Kruger: ‘Endance’
- Spektakulatius: ‘Christmas Blues’
Links
- Demonstration Slideshow: You can download a PDF of the slideshow I used during my seminar here.
- Polarity/phase Manipulation Hardware & Software: For hardware recommendations, check out this page in my ‘Recording Secrets’ resources. For software recommendations, check out this page in my ‘Mixing Secrets’ resources.
- Ensemble-mixing Videos: Watch me mix an ensemble recording from scratch in this three-part video series - complete with a project file in which you can examine all my settings, and raw downloadable multitracks so you can have a go at mixing the project for yourself.
Further Reading
- Sound On Sound ‘Mix Rescue’ & ‘Session Notes’ articles: A number of the recording sessions I mentioned in the seminar have also been featured in Sound On Sound magazine’s regular Mix Rescue and Session Notes columns. Follow the links below to read more – most of these articles are now free to view in the SOS archives:
- ‘Session Notes’ December 2012: This article details the process of recording big-band jazz on location. Although I didn’t do this recording myself, you can find out how I mixed it in this follow-up article.
- ‘Session Notes’ January 2015: Find out how I managed to keep spill to manageable levels in a one-room rock-band recording setup, even though the guitar cabs were within two feet of the kick drum.
- ‘Mix Rescue’ May 2015: In this article I describe a band recording I did in Moscow with engineer Haydn Bendall, and how I subsequently mixed it - first on location, and then in my own studio.
- ‘Session Notes’ June 2015: In this article (and its follow-up mixing and mastering pieces) I demonstrate how you can get great results in super-quick time if you use spill between instruments to your advantage.
- ‘Session Notes’ October 2012: Recording an indie rock band on location, with drums, bass, and two guitars all in the same room.
- ‘Session Notes’ August 2014: Here I talk about how I recorded to different classical duos (voice+organ and recorder+cembalo) on a budget, and without a separate monitoring environment.
- More Information On Phase & Polarity: If you want to know more about how polarity and phase affect different recording and mixing situations, check out this article: Phase Demystified.