Probably one of the most misunderstood concepts in all of audio science is that of the decibel -- what it means, and what it doesn't mean. This really isn't very surprising. Most books you'll find on audio production gloss over the subject, offering a rudimentary explanation at best. What's worse, you'll often see the term "dB" bandied about with little consideration given to the context in which it's being used -- are they talking dBu, dbV, dBm, dbVU, dBFS, dBspl, or what? And being a rather complex concept, the term doesn't lend itself well to a one or two sentence glossary-style entry. For example, if you look up "decibel" in a book, you might read something like "the smallest increment of sound which the human ear can detect" -- which only happens to be true in general, but certainly isn't an accurate definition by any means. What's more, this lack of understanding isn't limited to beginners. There are folks I know who've worked in this field for a long time who aren't clear on the whole thing -- even...

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The landscape of Marketing History is littered with ill-fated products, saddled by their well-meaning creators with monikers meant to cash in on the glittering reputation of their legendary namesakes. As we've all learned, however, sharing a name with a classic isn't necessarily an indication of repeated glory. Remember the Mustang II? The Exorcist II? Or, God forbid... New Coke? The lesson learned here is that, if you're going to adopt a name synonymous with Greatness, that you'd better be able to walk your talk. The pressure to excel, to succeed, to live up to heightened expectations is tremendous. Many have tried. Many have failed. Few are up to the task. But every so often, these untested heroes with the oh-so-familiar names surprise, delight, and even astound us. It can be done. Just ask Ken Grffey, Jr. Or, for that matter, ask the developers at Waves Ltd., who are calling their latest bundle the "Native Power Pack II." Whoa... wait just a minute here! Heck, we all know that this new bundle...

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The time has finally arrived. Your latest and greatest work is almost done. You started with what you feel is a damn fine song. You carefully planned the arrangement. You've captured some killer tracks. And then, you sweated every detail of the mix. You tweaked, pulled, pummeled, and then re-tweaked, re-pulled, and re-pummeled those tracks until it all sounded something like what you thought you were hearing in your head when you started. And finally, you now hold in your hands The Final Mix. No more hedging. You're ready to commit forever. This is the sound you're going to leave to posterity. Your magnum opus is now ready to be mastered. Right? Well, maybe. Or, maybe not. One of the most important things you should expect from any good mastering facility is a well-trained set of ears listening to and evaluating every minute detail of your music. That facility should then give you a brutally honest, totally objective opinion of the quality of your music and mixdown, presented in a constructive...

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I just love microphones. I am constantly scouring the classies, garage sales, web sites, and music stores for deals and steals -- the vintage, the obscure, and the just plain weird. I have a smattering of just about everything, from the common workhorses to the all-time classics to the super-el-cheapo pieces of junk. None of them are the perfect mic for everything (I don't believe any one mic can be), but all of them (well, at least the ones that function!) are the perfect mic for something. As my dear mother used to say, "there's somebody out there for everyone," and so I believe it is with microphones as well -- for every task there exists the perfect mic, and for every mic there is a task to which it is perfectly suited. I also believe that if you can acquire the knack of choosing the proper microphone for the job, and can place it properly to obtain the sound you're striving for -- before that sound hits the rust -- your job as a recording engineer is about 80% accomplished. It's in this vein...

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Welcome to the long-awaited third (and final) installment of All Things Being EQ-ual, a series of articles on equalization that started back in April 1998. This final article, a titanic, tussling tête á tête of software EQ programs for the PC, was supposed to appear in the June issue. It didn't. I won't go into the reasons for the delay here; suffice to say that I do sincerely apologize to all the ProRec readers who waited so patiently for this article to be published. I hope it will have been worth the wait! If you're jumping on this train late and missed the first two installments, or would like to review, please follow the links to check out Part One and/or Part Two. Have fun, and don't worry... we'll still be here when you get back. Back already? Okay... let's move on then. We'll be reviewing and comparing software EQ plug-ins from Cakewalk, Power...

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Part Two: Whatchoo Talkin' 'Bout, Lionel? Welcome back! As you will recall, in Part One of this article, I introduced this discussion of EQ on a mainly conceptual level, and gave an example of the most common role of EQ in modern pop recording -- as a tool to separate timbres across the frequency spectrum in a multitrack mix. While I tried to keep it as simple as possible, I did throw out a few technical terms and concepts with which you may not be familiar -- things you've probably heard about, but may never have fully grasped. The concept of audio equalization -- a process by which a specific part or parts of the audible frequency spectrum are either cut or boosted, in order to change a sound -- is very simple. The implementation of that process in the studio, however, is a little more involved. In Part One, we more or less focused on the "whys" of EQ. Here in Part Two, let's delve into the "hows" and "whats" a little more. In...

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Part 1: eQs and As As the competent and conscientious recording engineer that you surely are, you've taken great care to record your (or your client's) latest opus. You've gotten your greasy little fingers on some mics and placed them more or less in the general vicinity of the instruments being played. You've taken care to insure that these instruments were tuned to a scale somewhat resembling those normally heard in modern Western music. You even carefully placed some cool crash cymbals on that dodgy part where the overly-enthusiastic vocalist overloaded your A/D converters. You've soloed every track and listened. The bass sounds fat. The guitar is punchy and open. The kick is round and snappy. The snare is... well, it's very "snarey" sounding. So, how come your mix sounds like oatmeal? I was once asked, "If you could only use a single effect to mix a record, what would it be?" In real life, my first reaction would probably be, "Oh man, that sucks. Does this job pay scale, and where's the...

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