This article was written by Nick Schenkel at Sweetwater.  Over the next few months, we’re publishing an entire series of articles in the Lounge from Sweetwater. Keep your eyes peeled and check back often!

Over the years, I have played in many bands. I have labored to get band members to show up to practice. I have gone home exhausted after load out with a paltry couple bucks in my pocket. I have dealt with the drama that can erupt between two band members that are at odds with each other. I have been through it all, and I quit.

When I first realized that I no longer wanted to be part of a band, I had tough decisions to make. Was I going to just do the singer/songwriter, guitar and vocal approach? Was I going to do the “band in a box” thing? How was I going to do justice to the songs I had written while keeping the act solo?

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This article was written by Stuart Niven at Sweetwater.  Over the next few months, we’re publishing an entire series of articles in the Lounge from Sweetwater along with contests and prizes. Keep your eyes peeled and check back often!

After producing/engineering and mixing bands in Australia for nearly ten years I have worked with artists from their first demo to national releases for indie labels and labels with some pre-production projects for majors like Sony and Warner as well.

In this time I have seen and experienced many pitfalls, made mistakes, and learned some lessons. My hope in this article is not to enforce any rules or preach any “thou shalt do” – this is after all music and should be approached with the imagination, passion and free spirit that is music after all – but rather I hope to give you some tips on how to succeed in the studio!

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This article was written by Yuval Fuchs at Sweetwater.  Over the next few months, we’re publishing an entire series of articles in the Lounge from Sweetwater along with contests and prizes. Keep your eyes peeled and check back often!

Haven’t taken the plunge into home recording yet?  Yuval Fuchs helps guide the debate between standalone multitrack recorders and home computers as total recording solutions. (more…)

This article was written by Simon Picazo at Sweetwater.  Over the next few months, we’re publishing an entire series of articles in the Lounge from Sweetwater along with contests and prizes. Keep your eyes peeled and check back often!

So how do you get to where you want to go with your music from where you are right now? Here are 10 key things to keep in mind.

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This article was written by Brad Lyons, the Senior Sales Engineer for Sweetwater.  Over the next few months, we’ll be publishing an entire series of articles in the Lounge from Sweetwater along with contests and prizes. Keep your eyes peeled and check back often!

Have you ever been told not to place all of your eggs in one basket? Or heard the classic line that “Rome wasn’t built in a day”? I often use both these sayings when advising my clients on purchasing gear for their studios. Whether your studio is used for personal enjoyment or to make part (or all) of your income, there are many things to be aware of when making a purchase. The idea is to maximize your purchases so the investments that you make yield the biggest improvements possible. (The key word here is “investment” not purchase — too many people buy what they want rather than what they need!)

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that it’s not about having the best product on the market, but the best combination of products.

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Tom Volpicelli, President of The Mastering House, took some time to answer your top questions regarding Mastering.  If you have additional questions for Tom, just leave a comment.

What is Mastering? What’s the difference between mixing and mastering? (For the laymen)

For some, mastering is a misunderstood art which conjures images of mad scientists twiddling with knobs or the Wizard of Oz. Others believe mastering simply makes a CD as loud as possible. Mastering, in fact, is neither of these things; it is generally considered the stage of audio production where the final mixes are enhanced and prepared for the formats that will be used during replication and distribution. In the case of CD, the final master is not really created until the replication process. Some may refer to this stage as pre-mastering rather than mastering, but we’ve come to use the term interchangeably.

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Boston’s Mike Davidson Recording presents the “MDR Checklist: 5 Surefire Ways To Improve Your Recordings.” These are money saving strategies that will increase efficiency while in the studio, intended for both the novice and seasoned musician. (more…)