My Take on Music Recording with Doug Fearn
91 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago -Doug Fearn draws on his 50+ years as a recording engineer, record producer, studio owner, and pro audio equipment designer to explain the art and science of recording for the audiophile, music lover, and people in the music recording industry.
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Episodes
Shawn Dealey on Dolby Atmos
March 14, 2024 14:00 - 57 minutes - 78.6 MBEver since its announcement, I have been interested in learning more about Dolby Atmos. I was skeptical at first, primarily because of my experience with “Quad” back in the 1970s. That 4-channel concept never gain any popularity with either the listening public nor in the recording community. I presumed that Atmos would be similar, just more speakers. The early demo sessions I attended left me convinced that this was going to be another dead end, like Quad. The early mixes I heard were gimmi...
Compression
March 01, 2024 15:00 - 41 minutes - 57.6 MBCompression and limiting are tools we use to modify the dynamic range of the music we record. In this episode, I present a brief history of where this technique came from, how it evolved over the years since the 1930s. I discuss the various ways that compression circuits work, from the variable-mu vacuum tube, to the optical compressor, the FET, the VCA, the PWM, and the digital limiters. I explain how these different approaches affect the sound in different ways. There are often a lot of a...
Audiophiles Guide to Music Recording - Part 2
February 01, 2024 17:00 - 41 minutes - 57.5 MBThis is part 2 of the Audiophiles Guide to Music Recording. You can listen to part 1 at https://www.buzzsprout.com/942952/14335456 Or you can access part 1 wherever you listen to podcasts. My Take on Music Recording is primarily aimed at people in the professional recording world, but there are a significant number of listeners who are music lovers and audiophiles. This episode provides an overview of the recording process for them. However, I think even people in our profession might enjoy...
Audiophiles Guide to Music Recording - Part 1
January 18, 2024 20:00 - 45 minutes - 62.2 MBMy Take on Music Recording is primarily aimed at people in the professional recording world, but there are a significant number of listeners who are music lovers and audiophiles. This episode provides an overview of the recording process for them. However, I think even people in our profession might enjoy how I attempt to explain the recording studio process in layman’s terms. This reflects my experience and how I work as a producer and engineer. I tend to carry over the tools and technique...
Reverb
December 19, 2023 13:00 - 38 minutes - 52.3 MBMusic is meant to be heard in an appropriate acoustical environment. But many times, we have to record in a space that does not have the right sound to it. Artificial reverb is often the solution. In this episode, I talk about good room sound in a studio, and the earliest methods of creating a reverberation sound. That started with spring reverb, then acoustic echo chambers, tape delay, plate reverbs, and finally the digital reverbs that are used today on most recordings. I discuss the ori...
Plug-ins vs Hardware
November 22, 2023 20:00 - 17 minutes - 24.3 MBIn this episode, I talk about software plug-ins vs hardware. It is a question that I get frequently from listeners. It is relatively short. Can a plug-in perfectly emulate a hardware device? What are the tradeoffs a plug-in designer needs to consider? What about a plug-in that has no hardware antecedent, but it something out of the mind of the designer? These are some of the topics considered. Thanks for listening, subscribing, and commenting. You can reach me with your questions for a fut...
Improving Acoustic Spaces
October 31, 2023 17:00 - 40 minutes - 55.5 MBEvery recording is made is some sort of space. It might be a room, and studio, a church, a concert hall, or even outside. The space where the music is performed, and where the microphones pick up the music always influences the sound of the recording. You might think that close-mic’ing in a dead room eliminates the contribution of the room, but it is still there, for better or worse. The room influences our perception of the performance. Our brain draws conclusions about the space. A liste...
Record Better
October 08, 2023 15:00 - 19 minutes - 26.6 MBHow do we make our recordings better? I have thought about this for over 50 years and in this episode, I have tried to distill what I learned into a dozen general rules. The best way to make great recordings is to start with great performers. But even if you aren’t recording the best talent in the world, there are still ways to improve what you get. email: [email protected] www.youtube.com/c/DWFearn https://dwfearn.com/
Recording Unfamiliar Instruments
September 16, 2023 12:00 - 28 minutes - 38.6 MBWhat if you were suddenly confronted with recording an instrument you had never had in the studio before? Or one you never heard before? Or one you never knew existed? How do you figure out how to capture its sound? Where do you place a microphone? What microphone will you use? In this episode I suggest various ways to evaluate an unfamiliar instrument or sound, using some examples from my own experience, and a few rules of thumb to get started. This topic was suggested by a listener. If ...
In Case You Missed It...
August 16, 2023 17:00 - 19 minutes - 26.7 MBAfter three and a half years of producing the “My Take on Music Recording” podcast, I thought it would be useful to review the 80+ episodes and point out some of the interesting topics you might have overlooked. You might have missed some of the earlier episodes, or skipped over them because they did not interest you at the time. The most popular episode of all is the very first one, from March 2020, called “Your Hearing is Amazing.” Everything we do depends on our hearing and in this epis...
Justin Gray on Immersive Audio Part 2
July 19, 2023 20:00 - 50 minutes - 69.9 MBMy conversation with musician, producer, mixer, and mastering engineer Justin Gray continues, in this second of two parts. In this episode, Justin discusses how to provide optimum tracks for an immersive mix. He also talks about the minimum immersive monitoring system needed and why it will improve your tracks for remix into Atmos or another format. We explore loudness and how it affects an immersive mix. You can learn more about Justin Gray at his web sites: www.SynthesisSound.com And ...
Justin Gray on Immersive Audio
June 19, 2023 17:00 - 50 minutes - 69.1 MBJustin Gray is a musician, producer, mixer, and mastering engineer based in Toronto. His credits include many major artists. He was fascinated by immersive formats long before they became mainstream. In this first part of a two-part series, we talk about the various immersive formats, of which Dolby Atmos is best known. Justin explains how they differ and what they have in common. He talks about how immersive audio can enhance the listener experience, and provide the artist with an improv...
Music/Life Balance with Corrie Lynn Green
May 09, 2023 14:00 - 47 minutes - 64.7 MBMost people have time conflicts between what they do for a living and the rest of their lives. That includes time for family and friends, hobbies, obligations, and exploring new directions. Musicians also must confront these same issues. It is often more difficult for a creative person because music and any art not generally lucrative, especially for those starting out. In this episode, I talk with singer-songwriter Corrie Lynn Green about how she manages her obligations with her family li...
Troubleshooting
April 24, 2023 15:00 - 33 minutes - 46.4 MBStudios are complex technological environments and it is common for problems to arise. But a problem in the equipment might be a minor inconvenience if you have the skills to quicky determine where the trouble lies and understand how to fix it. Most problems in a studio are human errors. There are often ways to work around the problem. That keeps the session going and you may be able to solve or bypass a problem without anyone else even knowing. There is already enough pressure in most reco...
Dave Hill
March 24, 2023 19:00 - 23 minutes - 32.7 MBMost of you in the professional audio world have learned that Dave Hill, founder of Crane Song, died in February. Dave and I were friends for over 30 years. In this episode I tell some stories about our interactions over the decades. Not only was Dave an amazing engineer and designer, but he was also a wonderful human being. There is a terrific documentary about Dave, made by French filmmaker Alain Le Kim. It is now available on YouTube. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68...
Choosing the Right Microphone
February 10, 2023 20:00 - 35 minutes - 49.1 MBHow do you decide what microphone to use for any instrument or voice you will be recording? All microphones sound different from one another, which is a wonderful tool at our disposal. Making the right choice will improve your recording, eliminate many problems at the mixing stage, and minimize the amount of processing you need. In this episode, I talk about why I chose the mics I did on two very different projects. One was a punk session and the other an acoustic singer-songwriter project....
Headphones for Mixing
December 28, 2022 18:00 - 21 minutes - 29.8 MBThe typical music consumer these days is listening on earbuds or headphones. Or maybe on the tiny speakers in their smartphone. Few are listening on speakers, at least none of any reasonable quality. It makes sense for us to take this into consideration when we mix a song. Engineers have always had to make adjustments and compromises in order for their mixes to translate well for the public. Since most of your work will be heard on some sort of personal listening device, it is often good t...
Terri Bright, SInger-songwriter and Behavioral Expert
December 09, 2022 18:00 - 1 hour - 84.9 MBRecording is a technological endeavor, but it also invariably involves people. The psychology of recording sessions has always fascinated me, so when a listener suggested that I have Terri Bright on an episode, I was intrigued by Terri’s dual career as a singer-songwriter, as well as a someone with a PhD in Applied Behavior. In this interview, we discuss how behavioral science can be applied to a recording situation, from Terri’s unique perspective as an expert in both worlds. Thanks for l...
Why Different Gear Sounds Different
October 25, 2022 13:00 - 37 minutes - 50.9 MBWhat makes one piece of studio electronic gear sound different from another, similar piece? When it comes to the physical gear we need to record, there are only a few basic categories. You probably use microphones, mic preamps, equalizers, compressors, converters, reverb devices, delays, monitor amps and speakers. And for each of those categories, there could be dozens of manufacturers, and hundreds of choices. How do you choose one over the other? And why would they sound different from ...
Ribbon Microphones
October 06, 2022 17:00 - 39 minutes - 53.9 MBIf you have listened to this podcast for any length of time, you probably know that I am a big fan of ribbon microphones. In this episode, I talk about my introduction to ribbon mics while I was in high school, and how over the years I tried to make them work for me. Eventually, ribbon mics became my favorite, and now I often do sessions that use only ribbon mics. I explain the characteristics of ribbon mics, good and bad, and suggest ways to get the most from this type of microphone. I co...
Doug Fearn Interviewed by Corrie Lynn Green
September 22, 2022 14:00 - 42 minutes - 58.2 MBFor this 70th podcast episode, things are reversed and I am interviewed by singer-songwriter Corrie Lynn Green. Corrie was curious about how I got into recording, and later into studio equipment manufacturing. We also talk about my views on what makes a successful recording, and what I look for in a recording artist. You may recall Corrie from the 3-part series we did earlier this year called, "Studio Technology for Musicians." Thanks for your support. Please share this and any other episo...
The Evolution of Contemporay Music with Chuck Anderson
September 01, 2022 14:00 - 41 minutes - 56.7 MBYou may remember Chuck Anderson from a 2-part episode we did in 2021, where Chuck and I had a wide-ranging discussion on many musical topics. You can listen to those discussions here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/942952/9161095 https://www.buzzsprout.com/942952/9247297 Chuck is a jazz guitarist, composer, and studio musician who has played with many prominent people during his long career. He is also a life-long teacher and lecturer. Today we talk about how the various musical genres evolve...
Listening
August 19, 2022 13:00 - 36 minutes - 49.5 MBFor anyone working in music recording, hearing is vital. But so also is our ability to listen. In this episode, I talk about the two ways of listening, and why both are important. Can you improve, even enhance, your listening ability? I offer some ideas on how you might do that. I also discuss how easily your hearing is damaged, and what you can do to preserve it. This episode does not go into details of how your hearing works, and how some strange anomalies in our hearing affect how we p...
Your Recording Style
August 04, 2022 14:00 - 19 minutes - 26.1 MBIf everyone recorded music the same way, everything we did would sound the same. But we don’t record the same way, and those differences are part of what makes up our recording style. In this relatively short episode, I talk about how I developed my recording style, and outline some of the things we might do to help us each come up with our own style. I would like to hear from you how you developed your style. Has it changed over the years? Do you have a different style for different types...
Studio Technology for Musicians Part 3 (with Corrie Lynn Green)
July 07, 2022 16:00 - 36 minutes - 49.9 MBIn this third and final part of my conversation with Corrie Lynn Green, we deviate somewhat from the technology of the studio and discuss the role of the producer. There are plenty of additional topics that Corrie and I could discuss, and if there is sufficient interest, we can do more the next time Corrie is here for recording. Let me know if you found this episode helpful, and feel free to suggest topics for this or any other area of recording that you would like to hear about. You ca...
Studio Technology for Musicians Part 2 (with Corrie Lynn Green)
June 30, 2022 16:00 - 1 hour - 83.9 MBIn the previous episode, I had a conversation with singer-songwriter Corrie Lynn Green explaining some aspects of studio technology and how it applies to musicians. In this second installment, we talk about headphones and how they can affect a performance; what happens to the microphone signal after it leaves the studio and gets to the control room; consoles, mic preamps, and digital recorders; mixing and sound manipulation; loudness and what it means; and reduced file size formats like MP...
Studio Technology for Musicians (with Corrie Lynn Green)
June 24, 2022 18:00 - 56 minutes - 77.9 MBFor many musicians, recording in a professional studio can be an overwhelming experience at first. There is a lot going on, it’s all very technical and mostly incomprehensible. Jargon is thrown around. Things often move fast. For a while, I have been thinking about doing an episode that explains, in the simple terms, the recording process for musicians. To help me, I asked singer-songwriter Corrie Lynn Green to join me in a conversation. Corrie is relatively new to recording, and I though...
The Future of Vacuum Tubes & What Might Have Been
May 16, 2022 14:00 - 22 minutes - 30.5 MBIn the late 1800s, researchers were seeking a way to amplify an analog signal. The vacuum tube was invented in the early 1900s, but scientists were also investigating the properties of semiconductor materials. A very crude version of a transistor was developed even before the vacuum tube, but the technology of the day was better suited for tubes than transistors, and once the tube was widely available, research into the transistor was largely abandoned for the next 40 years. Tubes became the...
Session Sociology
April 30, 2022 14:00 - 37 minutes - 51.1 MBMusic recording is a technological process, but it also involves people. The technology exists to serve musicians, and the process of recording must consider the personalities of the people involved. This episode looks at how those human interactions work, from the perspective of the recording engineer. How do you deal with difficult people? Or insecure people? What does it take to provide a comfortable working environment so that musicians can be at their best? How does an engineer facili...
Karttikeya of Music Together International
April 15, 2022 14:00 - 46 minutes - 63.8 MBThere are many different uses for recorded music, and we explore a somewhat unusual application in this episode. My guest is Karttikeya. He only uses one name. He is the engineer and often a musician for Music Together Worldwide, which produces music for early childhood education. Music Together’s goal is to instill a love of music in kids from infants, up to 5 years old. There are similar programs for older kids. You can learn more about Music Together at their web site, https://www.music...
Tuning
February 03, 2022 15:00 - 14 minutes - 19.3 MBThe instruments on a recording should all be in tune with each other, right? In this short episode, I discuss how instruments are tuned, and why even with today’s remarkable tuning devices, there’s more to tuning an instrument than looking at a colorful display on the head of a guitar. Thanks for listening, commenting, and subscribing on any of the dozens of podcast providers that carry My Take On Music Recording. You can reach me directly at [email protected] I am always interested to ...
A Recording, Deconstructed
December 30, 2021 18:00 - 40 minutes - 55.1 MBI take a behind-the-scenes look at a recent recording project I am working on as producer and engineer, explaining the technical details of the session, along with the pre-production planning. This episode has samples from the individual tracks, plus earlier versions and a close-to-finished version. The artist and songwriter is Corrie Green, and this is one song from a 12-song project we are working on. I welcome your comments. You can reach me at [email protected] If this proves to be use...
Recording Critiques - The first Five
November 26, 2021 17:00 - 47 minutes - 65.7 MBIn the previous episode, I asked listeners to send me their recordings for my critique. In this episode, I play five of the songs submitted and offer my comments. I try to limit my remarks to things that the engineer has some control over, like the mic’ing, amount of room sound, any eq or compression, the mix, the use of processing and effects, loudness and levels, and how the engineer might interact with the musicians to help them get the best recording. Of course, my comments reflect my ...
Recording Critiques
November 04, 2021 13:00 - 11 minutes - 7.72 MBRecently several people have suggested that I do a series of episodes featuring listener-submitted recordings for my critique. At first, I was not particularly enthusiastic about this idea. Sure, I can make lots of comments on someone’s recording technique. But where do you draw the line between technical issues and more abstract creative decisions? I’ve thought about this quite a bit and I’m not sure there is definitive line between the two. After all, we each bring our own aesthetic to o...
Stereo Mic'ing Techniques
October 07, 2021 22:00 - 24 minutes - 16.8 MBStereo has added new dimensions to our recordings, an effect that is difficult or impossible to achieve in monaural recordings. New immersive formats, such as Dolby Atmos, add even more dimensionality to music. You can achieve a kind of stereo by panning mono recordings of various instruments into the stereo field, but that is not what this episode is about. I talk about how to use a pair of microphones to pick up sound. I provide a very brief history of stereo to get started, and some sim...
Chuck Anderson, Part 2
September 23, 2021 14:00 - 50 minutes - 35 MBMy conversation with jazz guitarist, composer, writer, and teacher, Chuck Anderson continues in this episode. We talk about recording his early albums, his trio, solo guitar compositions, and practical advice to aspiring musicians. We discuss the value of silence, why we both rarely listen to music, and details about the recording of his latest album, “Spontaneity.” You can learn much more about Chuck Anderson at his web site, https://chuckandersonjazzguitar.com/?v=757e5b5109ed where you ...
Chuck Anderson guitarist/teacher/recording artist
September 08, 2021 17:00 - 48 minutes - 33.4 MBChuck Anderson is an amazing musician. Not only is his technique on guitar remarkable, he is also a solid businessman who has made his living from music since he was a teenager. Over his long career, Chuck has worked with the top singers in the music business. But his steady passion is teaching. Since he was 16, he has taught thousands of students. He instructs them not only on the technique of the guitar, but also how to pursue their musical dreams, whether it is becoming a rock star, a st...
Studio Drummer John O'Reilly Jr.
August 26, 2021 15:00 - 58 minutes - 40.5 MBJohn O’Reilly Jr. is a studio drummer who spends most of his time recording drum tracks for clients in his studio. He talks about his experiences leading up to his business, “Boom Crash Drum Tracks.” Our conversation covers much more than that. We talk about his philosophy of drumming and music, the challenges and rewards of providing drum overdub tracks, and his commitment to teaching. We discuss the state of current music, and music of the past. https://www.boomcrashdrumtracks.com/ We s...
Studio Drummer John O'Reilly
August 26, 2021 15:00 - 58 minutes - 40.5 MBJohn O’Reilly is a studio drummer who spends most of his time recording drum tracks for clients in his studio. He talks about his experiences leading up to his business, “Boom Crash Drum Tracks.” Our conversation covers much more than that. We talk about his philosophy of drumming and music, the challenges and rewards of providing drum overdub tracks, and his commitment to teaching. We discuss the state of current music, and music of the past. https://www.boomcrashdrumtracks.com/ We start...
DSD Recording with George & Geoff Hazelrigg
August 12, 2021 14:00 - 51 minutes - 35.4 MBDirect Stream Digital (DSD) is a different way to record music in a digital format. The concept goes back to the 1930s, and it has been used to record music for at least 20 years. But DSD has not been widely accepted in music recording because it has some serious limitations, which require changes in our normal workflow habits. This conversation with George and Geoff Hazelrigg is a continuation from the previous episode on audio quality. We do not get into the technical details of how DSD wo...
Audio Quality with George & Geoff Hazelrigg
July 29, 2021 14:00 - 55 minutes - 38 MBGeoff and George Hazelrigg are not only my business partners, but also superb musicians with decades of studio experience. We seem to always agree on what makes a compelling recording. In this informal conversation, we talk about how artifacts of any kind will detract from the listener’s enjoyment. We share what we have discovered to be the best combination of gear and technique to make recordings we are pleased with. The second part of this conversation, where we discuss DSD high-resoluti...
Dolby Atmos explained by Dale Becker
July 15, 2021 14:00 - 58 minutes - 40 MBMajor record labels and other music providers are committed to adopting Dolby Atmos and other immersive audio technologies. There is a huge amount of work available to re-mix a label’s entire catalog in the new formats. Dale Becker, of Becker Mastering in Los Angeles, has become an expert on the practical aspects of Dolby Atmos. You may remember Dale from Episode 16 last year. Dale is a sought-after mastering engineer with decades of experience. He masters many of the most important recordi...
Robin Eaton: Songwriter, Musician, Studio Owner
July 01, 2021 14:00 - 1 hour - 43.1 MBRobin Eaton is a songwriter, musician, vocalist, and studio owner based in Nashville. I’ve known Robin for over 40 years, since he lived in nearby Wilmington, Delaware. He came into my studio around 1980 to record demos for several songs and I was blown away by the quality of his compositions. In this informal and wide-ranging conversation, Robin talks about his early influences, such as writing poetry when he was five years old, his adventures in the music business in the U.S. and Europe, ...
Tracking, Mixing, and Mastering
June 18, 2021 18:00 - 19 minutes - 13.4 MBIn the days before tape recording, records had to be made “live,” with the performance going directly to a master lacquer disc. In the 1950s, when recording to tape became possible, the mastering step could be detached from recording, but the performance was still captured live. When multitrack tape became universal in studios in the 1960, the concept of mixing after recording emerged. In the decades that followed, many engineers chose to specialize in one of the three steps made possible ...
Harpischord Recording
June 04, 2021 16:00 - 15 minutes - 10.9 MBIn this short episode, I describe the process I went through on a recent recording project. We were recording a harpsichord, an instrument I had some experience recording, but never before as a solo instrument in the studio. Here is a link to a video made during the recording session. https://youtu.be/Kkg3m6Whydo We were recording a Bach Fantasy and Fugue piece, played by George Hazelrigg. George has been playing harpsichord all his life, although the piano is his main instrument these d...
Location Recording
May 23, 2021 21:00 - 20 minutes - 14.2 MBMost of us record in studios of various types. But sometimes it is necessary, or advantageous, to record on location. I’ve had a studio most of my career, but in the early days, I recorded entirely on location. More recently, before I built my present studio, I did quite a few location recordings, in many types of venues. Some were concert halls, theaters, or sports arenas, but many were in churches, community spaces, outside, or even in people’s homes. Those location recordings taught me ...
Vacuum Tube Fundamentals
May 10, 2021 14:00 - 58 minutes - 40.5 MBEver wonder how do vacuum tubes actually work? Tubes are one electronic device that you can actually see how they operate. I explain vacuum tube fundamentals in this conversation with Matthew Glosson. Matthew has been working for D.W. Fearn for the past year, mostly with Geoff Hazelrigg on the manufacturing side of the business. Recently he constructed some prototype circuits for me, as part of my new product development. Matthew recently graduated from the University of the Arts in Philad...
Theater of the Mind
April 26, 2021 15:00 - 25 minutes - 17.2 MBThere is a story from the early days of television. A reporter asked a young boy if he preferred to watch a baseball game on TV, or listen to it on the radio. His answer was immediate. “On the radio. The pictures are so much better!” We work with sound, and except for music videos and live performances, the sound recording is all that people have to experience the work of a songwriter and artist. Part of our job as recordists, I believe, is to provide a rendition of the music that evokes t...
Latency and Delay
April 09, 2021 18:00 - 33 minutes - 22.8 MBWe tend to think that electronic signals travel instantaneously, but they do not. They are merely very fast. And the time delay can be perceived by humans under some circumstances. In this episode, I tell the story of hearing my Morse code Amateur Radio signal coming back after circling the Earth, and how there was significant delay in the time it took for broadcast radio network signals to travel through thousands of miles of dedicated telephone lines. Our digital audio world is full of ...
Obie O'Brien: A Life In Music -- Part 2
March 27, 2021 12:00 - 1 hour - 41.7 MBThis is the second half of the conversation I had with engineer/producer/mixer/musician/songwriter Obie O’Brien. Obie is best known for his long-time work with Jon Bon Jovi, but as you will hear, he has done many things in his career. In this final part of our conversation, we talk about re-mixing Motown hits, digitizing a thousand reels of 2-inch tape from the Bon Jovi tours, and his latest venture, a vinyl pressing plant. But we started off talking about his own studio in Pennsylvania. I...