Let’s face it: bedroom pop, hip-hop, indie rock, and super affordable home studio gear have completely redefined how music is made. You don’t need a multi-million dollar studio tracking room to cut a hit record anymore. You probably read Billie Eilish recorded her vocals on her debut album in her bedroom with her brother/producer Finneas with a pretty low budget Audio Technica 2020 mic. Hey, YOU can do that too! But there’s a massive trap that home producers fall into every

Let’s be honest for a second: sending your tracks off to an online mixing engineer can feel terrifying. You’ve spent months, maybe even years writing, re-writing, and tracking your songs. They are your musical babies. Sending them to some engineer across the world feels a bit like dropping your kid off at a boarding school run by strangers. I’m pretty strange, admittedly! Will they destroy the vibe you worked so hard to build? Will they turn your gritty indie-rock track into

This week I read a post that made me laugh. Someone was lamenting that they "wanted to hear Billie Eilish’s wonderful voice as she is, not tuned," and expressed genuine shock that her vocal track had been "meticulously compiled from dozens of takes by her and her engineer" It made me laugh because, outside of a few specific genres, record-making has never been about presenting things truly as they are. It has always been about creating something beyond reality, especially in

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug when it comes to audio and record making, and the truth is there really are both pros and cons of “the old days” and where we are today. This applies to everything - to gear, to production techniques, to sonics, to job titles, to technology. Everyone’s a producer now, but hardly ANYONE is a producer if that makes sense. I just finished a hip hop project, something I don’t get to do many of, and it reminded me of making an album back in the day, a

In the mid-2000s, I was on a mission. I wanted to establish myself as a record producer. So, I hunted high and low for great bands to work with. I was looking for those who seemed to have some momentum. That was the way to make a name for yourself back then. It was a fantastic time for raw British indie bands. Shoreditch was the epicenter of all things loud and seedy before it turned into hipster central. You know the scene: fixies, retro facial hair, skinny jeans, and even b

When you go on the London Underground, and you take the escalator, on the way down, you’ll see rows of posters promoting everything from...

Some people get anxious when they think of working with an online mix engineer remotely, and I completely understand. Your music is precious! After all, if you’re not in the room, how is that going to work? Here’s the reality that most people don't consider: even if you sit in the studio all day while your song is mixed, you will eventually take it home to an environment you're familiar with... and it will sound different. We can get a better result by flipping that process.

This week, I finally got resolution on something that had been a thorn in my side for quite some time. Before I was a mixing engineer, I was yes, that’s right - just an engineer. The kind that worked in commercial recording studios for a living, making records and engineering for randoms off the street, iconic artists, major labels, and multi-platinum producers. The kind you had to be before you could magically get the title of "mixing engineer" if you eventually specialized

There’s something indescribably beautiful about seeing your work on the cover of a slab of 12” black vinyl. It’s a combination of the artwork real estate and the artefact itself. Have no delusions that I don’t think a lot of vinyl is nothing more than a cash-in opportunity/ego stroke and sounds like total arse, but if you take care and master for the format specifically - it can be stunning. Welcome to the we care a lot side of the fence, because here - we do. We care a LOT.

Are you tired of pouring your heart and soul into your music, only to feel like you're shouting into the void? The truth is, social media...

For some time I have been on a mission to put together the best possible mobile mixing setup with the least number of moving parts. I’d...

There’s nothin’ like a good dose of fear-mongering to get the blood pumping, so this week’s indie artist outrage is directed at a small...

Following on from our previous adventure, we arrive in 2025. What is the best mastering service or option? This is the mastering...

Backup Basics: Crucial Data Redundancy for Music Producers This topic is boring, I know, but they aren’t going to tell you this one at recording school and it won’t make a cool YouTube video for your favourite audio influencer bro, so no other fool apart from me is going to talk about it. But, since you're here let me share some tales of woe to convince you to do what you should be doing anyway: Backing that shizz up. We're reliant on thousands of files today, from session pr

Since everyone calls themselves a producer these days, let's look at what a producer is and the different kinds you might experience

…or the episode in which we drank the kool aid. I was super excited when I bought my first actual all tube mic preamps. Like everyone,...

I have to admit credits are one of the things that got me into this mess in the first place. I'd get a new record, throw it on for a...

here are five pillars that an artist that aspires to be a working, probably wanting to get signed artist generally pursues. Let’s look...

creativity and productivity are two of the cornerstones of success - with a few simple strategies, you can unlock your creative potential

This week everyone is talking about the news that Spotify is planning to make changes to the royalty payout model early next year, with...