Setting up and optimizing a PC for ProTools

Setting up a PC for ProTools can be a Daunting task for someone with a limited knowledge of PC’s but with the advancements in the windows platform and also within the protools platform, especially the protools 10 platform, going from mac to pc is Read more »

Palmer Audio Tools review. PAN01 pro, Daccapo, PDI09

Palmer audio have been around for quite some time. And with a reputation for building exceptional guitar pedals and general routing accessories, sooner or later your bound to come across them. Today I am reviewing just a few of the many audio related solutions that Palmer supply. On show is the PAN01 pro passive DI Box, The “Deccappo” re-amping box and the amazing PDI09 “Junction” DI with speaker simulation out. To be honest, Palmer is a relatively new name to me. I had heard of the company quite a few years back but Read more »

Drum Recording Techniques for the Home Studio – Part 1

In the next three articles I am going to be discussing some techniques to get the best possible drum recordings at home. This can be a difficult prospect in a fully equipped recording studio let alone in your lounge or garage, but there are some useful techniques that can be used to improve your home recordings. One very important thing that is often overlooked is Read more »

Sibot Booked as Guest Lecturer – Bonus seats available.

Next week we have a real treat in store for our modern music production course students. Cape Audio College will be hosting a practical workshop with Cape Town based electronic music producer Sibot! Sibot needs no introduction here in Cape Town with a following that has been developed over a number of years from his involvement with some of the countries most beloved electronica, Max Normal, Constructus Corporation, Real Estate Agents and Playdoe have all been big names at home and abroad. Sibot will be doing more than just sharing some of his experiences of the industry with us, he will actually be Read more »

An artists guide for the first time in a studio

As a musician, being new to recording in a studio can be rather daunting. The pressure of having to perform perfectly isn’t easy, especially when you find yourself in a strange environment full of foreign looking technology and being judged by eccentric creatures behind glass windows. A few tips may help turn this foreign gear into an obsession and the creatures behind glass windows into beneficial friends. Studios can be like home as you hear your creations being blasted back at you in full force through the monitors, so long as you go about it in the right way. Here is a few things that you can do to help get the best results out of a recording session. Read more »

Vocal Recording Techniques for the Home Studio

The importance of a good quality vocal recording is paramount to getting a great-sounding mix. There are a number of ways of ensure that you result in a good vocal recording at home, with limited equipment. The most common mistakes made when recording vocals are recording them either too softly or too loudly. If your recording is too soft, you will end up boosting noise and room ambience in the mix. If it is too loud, you will end up recording distorted audio that is irreparable in the mix. The secret to overcoming this? Record vocals with a compressor. This will help to control the dynamics of the human voice.

13 tips for improving your mixes

Before I get started I just want to reinforce something – sometimes a reduction in parameters actually generates more creativity. Being aware of a set of limitations, or guidelines, can actually allow you much more creative control over your final mix. This could mean limiting the amount of effects that you allow yourself to use, or a more obvious one is to only use a particular set of effects that suits the genre or style. If you have the permission to do it, perhaps editing tracks or even muting/removing “surplus” instrumentation or vocal is the first step.

Approach-wise, ideally you want all aspects of a song to reinforce together and create a stronger impact, and if you aren’t aware of what you’re doing, it’s very possible (in fact more common than you think) to get a generally nice balance of instruments that somehow doesn’t “gel”. You can hear everything, but it lacks the emotional impact.

So here’s some ideas to think about next time you’re mixing a song. There are certainly many more ideas and concepts to experiment with than just this list, but I stopped myself before the post became a novel. Read more »

Audio Forum Roundup.

Little seems to be known locally regarding the wealth of information available to sound engineers. Forums have played a huge role in the development of the internet since the days of bulletin boards and 14k modems. Forums are like an online meeting place where the tech savvy sound engineer can discuss, compare and network with like minded individuals from all corners of the globe. It amazes me how few local sound engineers are familiar with the likes of gearslutz, audioforums.com and other audio related communities. So I decided to do a round up of just a couple of the more worth while audio forums from around the interweb. Simply click on the links below to have a look. And if you want to get involved dont forget to register and READ THE RULEZ!!! Read more »

2nd Year Advanced Post Production Project

For the past 6 weeks the Cape Audio College second year students have been working really hard on their latest sound to video project. For the first time in their course the students were required to compile an A/V Projects using only their own foley work and field recording, no library sound effects were allowed… so using the new Cape Audio College Tascam field recorder, they hit the Cape Town city and surrounds in their production groups gathering sounds in all sorts of places, building up libraries of their very own.

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Live Practical Assessment at Zula Bar

First years at Front of House

On Saturday the 23rd of October Cape Audio College hosted the first year students live sound practical assessment at Zula Sound Bar on Long Street. Wild & Marr kindly sponsored us a massive JBL VRX900 rig, run off a beautiful Soundcraft GB4 24-channel mixing desk, on stage and in-ear monitoring systems, as well as plenty outboard processing gear. Read more »