INTERVIEW (Part 3): Are you recording on the right frequency? Mastering engineer Art Sayecki talks with Scott G about EQ, mixing, samples, wavetable synthesis, dithering, encoding, and what you may hear on sessions using 192 kHz. Yes, it’s an earful. Let’s talk about how an arrangement can help or hurt the mastering process
INTERVIEW (PART 2): Getting superb sounding vocals, drums, and bass involves good recording techniques and proper use of equalization according to mastering engineer Art Sayecki. In an interview with Scott G, he freely provides advice to artists and producers.
INTERVIEW (PART 1): An audio mastering engineer can be a secret sonic weapon for every artist and producer. Scott G interviews Art Sayecki of Art Mastering and the result is 9,000+ words in a four-part article that reveals tip after tip you can use to make your recordings sound better than ever.
COLUMN: The marketing ideas behind many of the commercials may have lacked brilliance, but the music in the spots was frequently outstanding. Scott G gets into the sweeping orchestral scores, the pounding rock rhythms and the ‘moderne’ sound of lounge.
COLUMN: There were approximately 9,000 minutes of advertising during the 2007 Super Bowl and a great many of them had very well-crafted music. Sure, some were awful, but most sounded very good. Scott G tries to ignore the marketing message and concentrate on the sonics.
NAMM REPORT: The developers, inventors, creators and programmers found at NAMM (formerly the National Association of Music Merchants) are a fascinating bunch of people. Some are geniuses. Some are certifiable. Some are both. And we must face the fact that some are electronic device zealots with an expensive hobby instead of a 401(k).
NAMM REPORT: The National Association of Music Merchants, now known simply as NAMM, held a lovely little party for four days in January. With displays of gear from 1,500 manufacturers and the hallways packed with 85,000 attendees, it was a show that was a sonic circus of electronic innovation.
ARTICLE: There are deep, dark secrets in all of the heart-pounding and soul-melting music enjoyed by Valentine’s Day lovers and they are revealed by recording artist and commercial music composer Scott G (The G-Man). So sit back, relax, have some chocolate, and dip into some little-known stories behind those famous emotional tunes. Ah, the power […]
REVIEW: Take a pianist with a classical repertoire and a guitarist who grew up playing rock; turn them loose and you might get Davison/Coleman, whose first album wraps you up in melodies that reach back to the seventies and stretch forward to music that could come from a distant peaceful planet.
COLUMN: From chestnuts to carols, games to sleigh races, and loose translations to loose women, there are some interesting facts about the sounds of the season. Recording artist and commercial music composer Scott G presents some eyebrow-raising information about the most familiar and famous holiday music of all time.
COLUMN: Matt Forger. Michael C. Ross. Eddie Kramer. Elliot Scheiner. Joe Chiccarelli. Each one is a huge star in the world of recording. Scott G points out that you probably own albums with their names listed in the credits as engineer, producer, or mixer. Studio Expresso is what they all have in common.
REVIEW: Some music soothes you. Some seduces you. And some swaggers up to you and hits you over the head with a box of skateboard parts. Scott G (The G-Man) writes about an upstart new band called Manic Circuit that slams its way into your skull with songs of raw power combined with progressive structure.
COLUMN: Ever notice that some music artists suck? Sure you have. Ever thought it would be helpful to label these artists so we could avoid wasting time with them? Of course you have. In an interview with Brian Forest, Scott G explains how these worthless performers should all be lumped into a new genre of music that he calls “nada.”
COLUMN: Non-stop rock and roll, aerialists, pole dancing, costumes, wild props and cavorting with hoops are just some of the entertaining things in the current EU tour by Pink. The theatrical presentation is great. I know because I have been seeing it at Powder shows for the past few years.
INTERVIEW: Matt Forger speaks out on everything from working with Michael Jackson to producing new artists like Mutant Radio. G-Man: When people think of Matt Forger, they usually think of your work with Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Glen Ballard, and Bruce Swedien, yet when you hand out a CD with examples […]
COLUMN: With the “A&R Registry,” “Music Publisher Registry,” “Music Business Attorney Registry,” “Producer Registry,” and the “Film and Television Music Guide,” Ritch Esra and Stephen Trumbull provide vital connections in a rapidly-changing business. Scott G likes ’em and uses ’em.
COLUMN: Three personal managers of independent artists outline pathways for success in an increasingly competitive marketplace “An artist’s music must be something I love,” stated Jennifer Yeko of True Talent Management. “It has to be music I want to hear in my personal life as well as when I’m working.” This view was echoed by […]
A Special Report by Scott G (The G-Man): Where music meets licensing, there’s money to be made. How much money? “I have synched quite a few thousand songs into productions over the years,” states Peter Jansson of CRC Jianian Co., “and have charged anywhere between US$1.00 and US$250,000 for each one.”
GEAR REVIEW: Gleaming, smooth, player-friendly and finely-crafted guitars are a labor of love for Pat Wilkins, but that’s not how he makes his living. Instead, he’s the master of something that is on every guitar: the finish.
COLUMN: From songwriting to band politics, from rehearsals to touring, and from recording to making money, the Michael W. Dean book $30 MUSIC SCHOOL is superb, succinct and often subversively funny. Scott G thinks it’s worth about a hundred times what you pay for it.
Making money from music online: NARIP and the Hype Council help the advertising, marketing, and recording industries face the facts and expose the fiction – a report by The G-Man.
COLUMN: Jay Flanzbaum wants to change the way every indie band handles touring, promotion, booking, and the management of their careers. His creation is called OnlineGigs and it has the potential to shift the balance in favor of artists who want to do things for themselves.
COLUMN: Audio mastering is widely misunderstood, often mangled, and sometimes mistaken for mixing. It’s the audio step that comes just before manufacturing a CD, and some people would even say it’s a crucial step.
COLUMN: WireonFire is not exactly a record label, but to Earth, Wind & Fire and more than a dozen other artists, it’s not only the next-best-thing, it may be even better. Why? Because WireonFire provides almost all of the same services as a record company, but without the 70-page contracts and the penny-rate royalties.
COLUMN: Sat Bisla, Jeff Blue, Ritch Esra and Perry Watts-Russell have worked with and/or signed artists such as Radiohead, Meredith Brooks, Secret Machines, The Thompson Twins, Linkin Park, Macy Gray, Korn, Dido, Damien Rice and The Chemical Brothers, and they have a lot to say about the current state of the record industry and the […]