Slau takes you behind the scenes at BeSharp, a recording studio in New York City. Listen to excerpts from sessions, gear reviews and equipment shootouts.

I actually did an episode back in early July but… well, it was just an exercise in Futility. Then, of course, my entire summer and half the fall were swallowed up by several projects and, well… you know how the story goes. Picking up right around where we left off: I did some vocal sessions with blessing Offor, a singer/songwriter signed to a development deal with EMI through Steven Ivy Music out of Nashville. blessing relocated from Nashville to New York and, fortuitously ended up about a 10-minute walk from the studio. It was the first series of sessions on which I used the DVA DR747 on vocals. What mic is this, you ask? Well, I'm sure I'll have to include the story in another episode but, briefly, it's a tube LDC based on a U 47. It was made by David Royer before he started Royer Labs. I'm still trying to get some nice photos of it so I can upload it to the microphone database at Recording Hacks. Soon… One of my favorite projects this year was an original cast recording for an off-Broadway production of a show by the award-winning Chip Deffaa called "One Night with fanny Brice." I had the pleasure of recording Kimberly Faye-Greenberg (vocals), Mark Goodman (piano) and Jonathan Russell (violin). It was an intense project because we needed to get it done within a tight budget. Everyone brought their best. Can't wait to see it on stage. Oscar-nominated actress Vera Farmiga will will be using a song I arranged and produced for an upcoming film called "Higher Ground" scheduled for release in 2011. It was from an album I produced for Ukrainian-American singer Olya Fryz. It's a children's song whose title translates as "I'll Plant a Pear Tree." It just so happens that Ms. farmiga is a fellow Ukrainian-American—we all know each other, didn't you know? It just so happens that this year, I did another production for Olya. This time, it's a Ukrainian Christmas album. The project took up several months of my time this summer and fall. Normally, a production might not have taken so long but, as it turns out, I did most of the playing on the album so, needless to say, it was fairly linear. I did get george Hrab to lay down some drums on several tunes. All in all, I'm really happy with everything. I wish Olya had room within her budget for having someone else master the album just for a different set of ears and all. I ended up doing everything from arranging through mastering. Oh, it's a lonely job… Thanks to Dave chick of Inside Home Recording for putting together some cymbal roll samples for the production. Guess what? After all that, I ended up using the real thing. hey, can you blame me? I mean, I was trying to avoid going out and buying several expensive cymbals. Lucky for me, George Hrab was generous enough to jump into his car with his cymbal bag and make the 90-minute trek to NYC to lay down the real McCoy. Also, Jon Tidey from the Home Recording Show was kind enough to remove a couple of noises in Andriy Milavsky's clarinet part on one of the tracks. What did we do before RX? I'll tell you what: we lived with the bench squeaks and the floor creeks. Man, how things have changed… I bought a few instruments at Mandolin Brothers for Olya's production: a wonderful 1910 Gibson "black face Plain A" mandolin, a beautiful Yamaha classical guitar and a Deering banjo. They were a source of much inspiration for many of the arrangements. Yeah, I love buying mics and preamps and all, but buying a musical instrument—well, that's just a whole different animal. I love these additions to my collection. On the gear front, I had rented a Universal Audio 2-610 dual channel tube mic pre from DreamHire for the Fanny Brice project and really loved it. I ended up getting one for the studio and pretty much used it exclusively on Olya's Christmas album. It's a fantastic pre/DI—not the quietest piece of gear but, hey, it's tube and that's to be expected. I've been looking for a pair of Neumann KM 84s for some time.

Direct download: SWS018-Warning__Tangent.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 12:06pm EDT

So, as many of you know, I've been recording albums for George Hrab for many years. In fact, this is his sixth album recorded at beSharp. It's always a blast and an adventure to record an generic cialis india album for him. This one was no exception, of course. I'll post a sort of "making of" episode soon that will include an interview with Geo. For now, thanks to geologic Records, here's the album in it's entirety. If you'd like to support the artist (and I'd encourage you, naturally), it can be found at CD baby and iTunes.

Direct download: George_Hrab_Trebuchet.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 6:27pm EDT

One of the biggest trends in the pro audio world in the last 10 years, apart from the resurgence of the ribbon microphone, has been the modification of lower-end gear to yield high-end results. In many cases, a simple tube or transformer swap can immediately make a noticeable difference in the sound. In some cases, additional circuit changes can transform a good piece of equipment into great equipment that might rival the performance of gear many times its price. Perhaps nowhere is this more prevalent these days than with microphones. Not only are there a ton of sites that offer DIY solutions for mic mods but there are several companies and boutique "mic modders" who offer these services for a reasonable price. Reasonable, that is, when you consider the price of the mics that these modified specimens are said to rival. For the average project studio owner, spending $5,000 or $10,000 on a microphone is usually out of the question, but spending a few hundred dollars on a mic and a few hundred dollars on modifications is a much more realistic proposition. These modified mics may not have the sex appeal of a vintage Neumann or RCA but they can often hold their own or even outperform their revered competition. Will they help 24cialisitalia.com a studio attract clientele? Probably not. Will they get the job done? Judging from my own adventures with mic modding—which I'll detail in this article—absolutely. Wouldn't everybody love to have the bragging rights that go with owning a beautiful U 47 in perfect condition? Naturally, but when your clients are paying $50 per hour, it's not easy to justify a $10,000 mic much less all the other items in the gear lust list. Having an affordable option in the "modded" category is a welcome alternative for a growing number of studio owners on a budget and, let's face it, these days, who isn't? As a studio owner, I've rented plenty of microphones over the years. I've often fantasized about owning many of the legendary mics that have come through the door. I could easily afford them all if I'd only increase the studio rate to $500 per hour. Need I pursue this scenario any further to illustrate my point? Putting myself squarely in the category of a studio owner on a tight budget, I began researching the possibility of modifying a few mics that could perform on a high level without the high price tag… To read the rest of my review of the Advanced Audio CM-12 Mod, please visit RecordingHacks.com. In this podcast episode, I interview Dave Thomas of Advanced Audio Microphones. We discuss their product line as well as details about the various modification packages. There's a little shootout between a stock Apex 460, the Advanced Audio CM-12 and an AKG C 12. How did the CM-12 compare with the two other mics? Well, naturally, you'll just have to listen to find out. :) If you'd like to compare the mics in your own DAW, you can download a zipped folder containing the 24-bit shootout samples here. For more information about Advanced Audio Microphones' products and services, please visit www.aamicrophones.com.

Direct download: SWS017-Advanced_Audio_CM-12_Mod.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 7:36pm EDT

Here's a round table discussion hosted by the guys at the Home Recording Show. If viagra online you're in to audio, you should Generic cialis cheap be subscribed to all of these guys' podcasts: http://www.homerecordingshow.com/ http://www.insidehomerecording.com/ http://projectstudionetwork.com/ http://www.ronansrecordingshow.com

Direct download: 01.roundtable.2010.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:07am EDT

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