My Take on Music Recording with Doug Fearn
Episodes
116 episodes
Basic Electronics for Recording Engineers - Part 4 - Gain Staging
The design of professional recording gear requires knowledge of how to best distribute the necessary gain through multiple internal gain stages. In this episode, I explain how that is done, and how you can use the same principles to achieve the...
Basic Electronics for Recording Engineers - Part 3
This is the third installment in a series on Basic Electronics for Recording Engineers. This episode focuses on equalizers and amplifiers. Why do we call them equalizers? And amplifiers are at the heart of every piece of audio gear, even if we ...
Basic Electronics for Recording Engineers - Part 2
In this second episode of a multi-part series on Basic Electronics for Recording Engineers, I continue with the fundamental principles of electrical and electronic devices, with an emphasis on practical implications. The explanations are simple...
The Weakest Link
The chain of equipment between the recording artist and the listener is long and complex. Every piece of gear, from the microphone to the listener’s speaker or headphones, has the potential to be the weakest link in this chain.In this ep...
Basic Electronics for Recording Engineers - Part 1
Music relies on technology, and music recording is entirely dependent on electronics technology. You don’t need to be electronics engineer to record, but some basic knowledge of electricity and electronics can be useful to any recording enginee...
Variable Speed Recording
Back in the 1960s and 70s, it was common to slightly change the speed of a tape machine when recording vocals, and sometimes other instruments. When the tape was played back at normal speed, the singer sounded younger and the performance was mo...
What Makes a Good Engineer?
What makes a good engineer? There are many skills required, both technical and interpersonal. In this short episode I talk about some of those skills and how they apply to a recording session.
Taylor Larson of MixWave
Creating software plugin versions of actual hardware is challenging. Acustica did a superb job of creating a plugin version of the D.W. Fearn VT-5 Stereo Equalizer several years ago, called Ruby. And now MixWave has done the same for the VT-7 C...
Assistant Engineers
Recording sessions can be technologically complex. There are mics to set up, cables to run, headphones to deploy, maybe patching in the control room, and software and hardware to configure. It is a lot for one person to handle.The job of...
Bleed Isn't Always a Bad Thing
Since the advent of multitrack recording, the goal of most engineers has been to keep the sound of every instrument totally isolated from all the others. That makes our job much easier, since we can adjust the mix of every track as needed, and ...
Spring Birds: How I recorded birds in the woods in DSD
I live and work in the woods, surrounded by wildlife. There are many species of birds and in the spring their songs are pretty amazing. Over the years, I have thought about recording those birds, but the background noise level was a problem. Al...
DSD Digital Recording
Virtually all digital recording uses a format called PCM. But there is another digital format that works in an entirely different way. It’s called DSD, for Direct Stream Digital, and you might find that it sounds better than PCM.In this ...
Does Quality Matter?
Does audio quality really matter?Our society in general has seen a major loss in quality of goods and services. Music recording has not escaped this trend.In this short episode, I give some examples, some possible explanations, an...
Building a Studio
Most recording occurs in a studio, and the design of that facility has a major effect on the quality of the recordings made there.In this episode, I discuss some of the things that I think are most important for a successful studio. I do...
Monitor Speakers and how to get the best sound out of them
Monitor speakers are a necessity for most of our recording. But I have always had a problem with the sound of speakers, and I explain why in this episode.Speakers always exist in a space with boundaries, even outside. Our control r...
Recording for Vinyl
Vinyl record sales have been increasing every year for a while now. Today, vinyl outsells CDs. Fans like vinyl for its unique sound, and the large format of the jacket.Record pressing plants are busy! Most are backlogged for months.<...
How We Learn Audio Engineering
If you are working as a recording engineer, how did you learn your craft? A formal recording program? As an intern with an accomplished engineer? Or maybe you figured it out on your own.All are valid ways to get started. Many successful ...
Single-Mic Recording
Using a single microphone, or one stereo mic, to record a musical performance all at once without any overdubbing can result in a recording that is very compelling to the listener. When everyone is performing in the same space at the same time,...
Choosing Microphones to Buy
When you are just starting out in recording music, you are likely to need microphones. And if you have been recording for a while, you may feel the need to add to you microphone collection.But how do you make those choices? In this episo...
Joseph Arnold - Violinist, Author
Joseph Arnold is a talented violinist that has played on a variety of projects I have produced. He is also an excellent writer, who just published his first book, titled, “Soul Force: How to discover your artistic purpose, create more freely, a...
The Art of Producing - Part 3 - Mixing & Mastering
In this last of three episodes on the art of producing, I talk about my process for mixing. It is all part of the concept of a song from the beginning. Mixing is where everything comes together to create the version of the song that the artist ...
The Art of Producing - Part 2 - Mic'ing
This is the second of three episodes on the Art of Producing. In this one, I talk about the mics and equipment I use in my studio, and the reasons why.The example used for this series features an album project for singer-songwriter Corri...
The Art of Producing - Part 1
The art of producing a record requires knowledge of music, mastering the technical aspects of the recording process, and an ability to work with people.This is the first of a three-part series about producing. In this episode, I talk abo...
Fletcher, Munson, and You
Our perception of frequency balance varies with loudness, a fact documented by Harvey Fletcher and Wilden A. Munson, two scientists at Bell Laboratories. In 1933, they published a paper called, “Loudness, its definition, measurement and calcula...
Getting the Best Vocal Recording
Almost all pop music features someone singing. Getting the best vocal performance is crucial, since most listeners respond to the words of a song and need to be able to hear them.In this episode, I first discuss the human factors involve...