May 2008
MAY 2008: THE SONGWRITER’S TOOL KIT
In a recent Reader Survey, we confirmed that as in past years, a strong majority of our readers are songwriters who want to make the best recordings of their ideas. In addition to our monthly features that are songwriter-friendly, every May we do our best to bring an extra-large serving of new ideas and tried-and-true techniques to the table, and this issue is no different... it’s just bigger and fuller than ever!
In this issue we give you a bird’s-eye view of a typical songwriter’s recording rig and explain what tools are needed to get ideas into a usable form quickly and conveniently. We take you to the South By Southwest music festival in Austin, walk you through project budgeting, and introduce cool new ways to build up song ideas -- even starting with a naked vocal performance! Our new series, Walking Tour, starts with Mackie Tracktion and takes you through the basics of finding your way around this unusual DAW. And we provide online resources, tales from the trenches, and much more, all aimed at helping your songwriting turn into beautiful music.
All this plus our monthly columns, Song Production in Pro Tools with Mark Hornsby, Readers’ Tapes with Marty Peters, and much more. Grab your tools and start writing—the May Recording will show you how!
Reviews
Roland SonicCell.
Audio interface, synthesizer, sample player, and more—a complete songwriter’s recording solution.
Review by Devon Brent
Mojave Audio MA-100 Microphone.
A small-diaphragm tube mic suggests unusual applications.
Review by Paul Vnuk Jr.
M-Audio MicroTrack II.
A portable digital recorder that offers a simple-to-use, powerful feature set.
Review by Mike Metlay with Justin Peacock
Plug-In Outlet.
TC-Helicon Harmony4; FabFilter Timeless.
Reviews by Paul Vnuk Jr. and Devon Brent
Recording’s Showcase of Sounds.
Platinum Samples Joe Barresi Evil Drums; Big Fish Audio Mahadhi.
Reviews by Paul Vnuk Jr. and Michael Nickolas
Once Over—Reviews In Brief.
Alesis IO|26 audio interface; Grace Design m201 mic preamp; AKG K 701 headphones; Samson GTrack USB mic/interface; X-Tempo Pok foot controller.
Reviews by Mike Metlay, Nick Casares, and Justin Peacock
Interviews
Quietdrive—How Perseverance Pays Off.
Up-and-coming band Quietdrive chose to do things the hard way and reap the benefits when they got noticed by the majors; lead singer Kevin Truckenmiller and producer Matt Kirkwold explain.
Interviews by Lorenz Rychner
Miracle Dolls—Two Turbocharged Twins.
What happens when a Grammy-winning engineer volunteers to play drums on a punk album? We ask Danny and Dezi Doll, and engineer/drummer Michael C. Ross.
Interviews by Lorenz Rychner
Features
A Bird’s-Eye View Of A Songwriter’s Studio.
Take a peek through the skylight and see the tools you’ll need to get your own powerful composing and recording studio started—with lots of suggestions for cool gear to help you along.
By Justin Peacock
Making The Transition From Songwriter To Recording Songwriter.
It doesn’t have to be stressful, and it sure is rewarding!
By Dave Hedin
Resources You Didn’t Know You Needed.
From songwriting and recording to networking and copyright—a grab bag of useful information.
By Lorenz Rychner
Mackie Tracktion—A Walking Tour.
This powerful DAW comes free with many Mackie products, but its unusual interface can prove daunting. An expert takes away the mystery on this guided tour.
By Brent Randall
Recording’s Drum Column. -- Download Tutorial --
Now that we know our way around Tracktion, let’s use it to beef up a wimpy drum part.
By Brent Randall
South By South West—Party Or Career Move?
If you can get past the revelers, Austin’s annual musicfest has lots of career opportunities.
By Marc Urselli
Recording’s Guitar Column.
The hassle-free path to choosing a good guitar tone.
By Andre Fratto
Recording’s Vocal Column.
Try this: Sing first—freely, then build the accompaniment later.
By D. Bruce Moore
Project Budgeting.
Thinking about the budget is a drag... but nowhere near as much of a drag as what happens when you don’t think about the budget...
By Eric Ferguson
Song Production in Pro Tools. Part 5: Recording Tools for Editing. -- Downloads --
We start the cleanup process for our demo song by explaining some of the tools we’ll be using.
By Mark Hornsby
DAW Details.
The critical process of choosing a motherboard.
By Devon Brent