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Keeping your Ears Fresh During Recording and Mixing

Your ears are the most valuable and priceless gear you have. Not only will you need to take care of them for the duration of your life but also during day-to-day life and recording sessions. There is a well known music rule in our studio that never gets broken: Above all, protect your ears!

Here are five simple tips to keep your ears fresh while producing, recording and mixing in the studio for long hours:

1) Keep an Eye on Your Levels
Volume levels, that is.. If the bump of your speakers makes your coffee cup vibrate, you’ve got your volume jacked up way too high. It’s recommended to do all mixing in levels so low you could have a conversation without shouting. The reason for this is that over time your ears get tired and this can go unnoticed until it’s too late. The goal is to reference your music at conversation volume levels and only check the low end, high end and how everything fits in the mix at increased volume levels for increments of 2-5 minutes at a time. This method will keep your ears fresh for the rest of the day so you can produce, record and mix for the rest of the night.

2) When Recording your own Vocals
When recording yourself you juggle the roles of artist and recording engineer. It’s inspiring hearing everything come together. However, don’t be a hero and jack up the level in your headphones so that you’re screaming over the top. Typically most vocalists like to have one headphone cup off their ear and one on. If you’re doing vocal stacks it’s best to keep them both on and keep the volume level really low. If your volume is too high, it is easy for your vocal recordings to be sharp or flat. When recording, make sure to allow sufficient time for breaks, not only for your throat but for your ears.

3) Keep ‘em Clean
This may seem obvious but dirty ears are not only nasty but they hinder the sound quality of your listening. In any health food store you can purchase Ear Candles. These little bad boys will clean your ear canals so well that they actually warn you not to listen to music for 3 days after. Make sure you read the directions on the package carefully and follow them. You will be amazed by how much your hearing is improved by these. Try not to be grossed out by all the yucky wax and dirt that comes out of you either. Now I have had a few responses of people who do not agree or think this is a hoax. Maybe this option will help you, maybe it won’t, however, this is from my personal experience.

4) Editing Vocals
When editing double vocals or multiple tracks for long lengths of time, your ears can tire quickly. The way to work around this is to edit one phrase at a time until finding the best take and cut and paste accordingly. Listening to the whole take, take after take can get daunting and annoying. It’s much easier for your ears to pick up the differences in each track if you play it back phrase by phrase, take by take until you find the phrase that jumps out at you. Use the highlighting tool in your audio sequencer to mark which ones you like best and keep moving forward. You can also memorize an easy color system that reminds me which one is Best, Adlib, or 2nd Best, and so forth.

5) Take Breaks
When working on a project, reward yourself by taking fun breaks. After you edit the vocals, go for a short walk around the block. Done with mixing? Have your favorite snack. Make sure you take short breaks often. You’ll come back to your station with fresh ears and a fresh perspective every time.

Tutorial: Keeping your Ears Fresh During Recording and Mixing
1) How do you produce and mix your music (Headphones, Speakers, Both)? During your next session, pay attention to when you increase the volume and how long you listen to loud volumes. How long does it take to complete the project, do you have to redo the mix the next day, what do your clients say about your mixes – do you hear anything consistently?
2) Benchmark your system. In other words, set aside some time when you’re not busy, listen to commercially mastered CDs, reference conversation volume levels and increased volume levels, note the decibel level on your volume knob and then practice with your own material.
3) Let your ears rest. After a long session or when you sleep, put ear plugs in your ears and let them rest.

If you would like more info about volume levels, recording your own vocals and editing vocals,

3 Ways to fit Music Production into your Busy Schedule

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It seems that everyone today has one major thing in common. So many goals and so little time.. Especially when ‘life happens’ its easy to get discouraged from doing music. Family, friends and some people you don’t even know may say ‘why you doin music when you got all this other stuff to do?’… Next thing you know its been a few months and it seems like your music is stuck.

Also, with consistently developing new goals, fitting music into your daily schedule can be challenging. Between life, work and family, music can easily come last in line on our priority list.. Why?

The answer is simple – because it is fun!
It makes your heart sing and dance!
It is what you want to do every moment of every day!

Sounds crazy but its true – there is this inner critic that says if circumstances of finances, family life, and your job is bad, then you can’t enjoy music either… So let’s start there….

How to fit music production into your busy schedule:

1) Think about what you’re thinking about. If you’re in a bad mood, uninspired, bored, frustrated, 95% of the time you listened to someones negativity or got a hold of a bad thought. Thoughts are like a virus or medicine… which one do you want running around in your head?

2) Choose what is important in your life. Are you spending time on meaningless tasks or wasting time in front of the TV watching other people live their dreams? By eliminating meaningless tasks, you free up a clean slate of time that is fresh for music.

3) Schedule time for music and keep it. The only way to get anything done on a deadline is to schedule the appointment and keep it. This requires faith. If you don’t have faith, a music career is going to be a long and hard journey for you. When you commit to doing music you’ll find doors of creativity and opportunity will open up. Not only that you’ll finish the music your start! To create music daily requires you to be a self starter, highly motivated and passionate to go above and beyond when you are faced with obstacles. Remember, creating music isn’t ‘just creating music’. It is also learning the music business, marketing, taking photo shoots, developing your website and having relationships with your fans and clients.

Creative and Music Business Planning Tips for the Year

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Preparing for each year comes with a lot of planning, preparation and here are a few tips to help get focused.

Planning and preparation is different for everyone and it is up to you on what works best. Is it a journal, a notepad, digital recorder, smartphone or a computer that is always sitting by you? Do you always go back to the computer, journal or phone? If not, start this in the new year.

Your best ideas, business possibilities and creativity comes when you’re not ready or least expect it so here’s what to do:

Tips for New Year Creativity and Business Planning:

1. Always have something available to write with. How many songs or business ideas have you lost already? This year, create a system of capturing your creativity anywhere at any time. Choose a journal, notepad, computer, voice recorder, smartphone, etc. Pick it and stick with it.

2. Prioritize your ideas by long term, short term and today. If you want to do a collaboration with a friend that may be a long term project. If you have to create your publishing company, that could be a today or short term project. There are many ‘little today tasks’ that if left to themselves can suck up all your time without you knowing it. The important tasks are the ones that are going to give you results. Then there are the small/today tasks that MUST get done. Think about what your working on, step back, get perspective and continue to prioritize. As a music professional this is an ongoing planning principle – the sooner you get good at it the better you’ll be.

3. Educate yourself always. If you are setting goals but have no knowledge, experience or direction, it’s possible you could be setting yourself up for failure before you even start. Here’s an example. I did custom training with a client recently and his goal was to finish three songs, print up a thousand cds and take them to radio stations, clubs and network. Ultimately his true goal is to write great music, create a fanbase and create a successful part-time or full-time music business. While his plan sounded great, it would have wasted time and money. How will he get his fans, his website complete, what does the artwork look like, is he targeting the right radio audience? Through our conversation we found many holes in his plan and I was able to educate him in the final development of his business before the expense of creating the product and marketing so he could have permanent fans that don’t miss the great music he was putting out.

What am I saying here? Get 2-3 professional opinions before spending time and money. You’ll never regret it.

4. Prioritize by importance. So now you’ll have organized a long term, short term and list for today and you’ll have sought professional counsel to help with the process. Now you can prioritize by what tasks in each category will get you the best results toward your overall goals. Remember, taking guesses gets you know where. Taking educated steps gets results.

5. Take Action. Plans don’t mean anything unless you take daily action. If you want a career in music, you must be working your plan daily. No one cares about your music business more than you. No one is going to motivate you, hound you or inspire you but yourself. If you are not a self motivator, you might be in the wrong business or you just need more education on how you can be self motivated :).

This year, plan your goals with the end result in mind and work yourself backwards. Focus on the bigger picture, consolidate your tasks to projects that are going to bring you where you want to go this year. Ignore the rest. You can’t do everything so stop trying! With this planning process eventually you’ll be able to do everything but you cant do everything in one go – make sense?

The only way to fail is to give up. There is no reward for discouragement or frustration. Only when you push through and never give up can you succeed.

With these simple steps, it’s not a matter of if your dreams and goals will come to pass, it’s only a matter of when…
If you need help planning for the new year, please take a moment and signup for a free consultation. Let us know how we can help you.

Making the Most of your Time

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Let’s face it; none of us knows how much time we have here on earth. None of us knows the time or date of our death and none of us knows if we’ll make it to old age. Being young we always assume that we will live long and it’s easy to take on an immortal attitude. But at any moment things could change. Each of us is given just 24 hours a day. Each day we have 1,440 minutes to invest or 1,440 minutes to waste. Martin Luther King had the same amount of time each day. So did Jesus, Albert Einstein, and Ludwig Van Beethoven. Bill Gates has the same amount of time. So does Michael Jordan and President Obama. What do all these people have in common? They all have managed their time well.

I heard a story of a man who was getting up in his years. He calculated that if he lived to be 75 years old that he would only have 1,000 Saturdays left in his lifetime. So, he went to the toy store and bought 1,000 marbles and put them in a huge glass jar. Diligently, every Saturday he took one of those marbles out of his jar. Slowly over time he watched the marble depth get smaller and smaller. This was a daily reminder to him that his time was limited. Finally, on his 75th birthday he appeared on a radio show and declared, “Today, I took the last marble out of my jar, every Saturday from now on is an extra gift to me, I am now on borrowed time.” With his little experiment, he gained a fresh perspective on the value of time.

Let’s say you are given 5 million dollars in your bank account today. The only stipulations are that you have to spend every cent by the end of one full week. Anything you did not spend would just be taken back and given to someone else. Now, if that happened to any one of us we would be sure to spend each dollar wisely. Think about how we would calculate a couple thousand here, a couple thousand there. We would make lists of who we’d give some too, lists of places to book travel, and things to buy. Why would we do that? Because money is valuable!

But there is one thing that is more valuable than money, and that is time.
Once you spend your time you can never get it back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Are you investing your time wisely? Are you making the most of every moment and spending your time on the things that really matter? I come across a lot of people who are ‘waiting’. They’re waiting to release music, waiting to get their big break, waiting for love, or waiting for the perfect time to act on a dream. The truth is there is no perfect timing. There is no reason to wait. There is no invisible alarm clock that’s going to go off when the time is just right. You just have to do things with excellence and hope for the best. Make a decision, stick to it, and go for it! Waiting will only get you farther from your goals because the longer you wait the harder it is to keep yourself motivated to follow through. Leaders and innovators understands the power of time; understand that we are each given the same amount each day. And that time is a precious commodity. Don’t take it for granted. Don’t assume you have all the time in the world. You have a destiny to fulfill and a dream to conquer.
So what are you waiting for?

“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” Abraham Lincoln

Tutorial: Making the Most of your Time
1) Do you know what the top 10 most important things in your life are? If not, time can definitely get away from you. Write down 10 things that are the most important to you. Things that if you were on your death bed and didn’t do, you would regret..
2) Now write a list of 10 things that interfere with doing your most important things.
3) Now give yourself some time and think of solutions to get rid of the things in your life that are keeping you from making the best of your time.