Category: Daily Goody

(Coming Spring 2020)

The LUNA Recording System from Universal Audio is a new kind of DAW. And it’s FREE for all existing Thunderbolt Apollo & Arrow interfaces (Mac only).

Here’s a video from NAMM 2020 with more details.

Details from their website:

• • • LUNA transforms Apollo interfaces into the most inspiring and fully‑integrated Mac‑based recording systems on the planet.
    • DEEP APOLLO INTEGRATION – A Fast, Natural Workflow
    • BUILT-IN NEVE® SUMMING – Instant Classic Console Sound
    • INTEGRATED MULTITRACK TAPE – Warmth and Punch on Demand
    • ALL-NEW LUNA INSTRUMENTS – Incredible Realism to Fuel Inspiration

Do you think this will be a revolutionary DAW?

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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Weekly or monthly cleaning works well, but every now and then (every year or two?) you have to literally disconnect all your gear, dust everything, vacuum everywhere, and then put Humpty Dumpty (your studio) back together again.

This is also a good opportunity to:

• • • Tidy/replace/upgrade cables
    • Upgrade gear
    • Adjust/optimize the placement of your gear
    • And of course take new pictures of your clean, optimized studio!

So the question is: When’s the last time you cleaned and dusted your studio?

I did last week and IT FEELS GREAT!

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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SSL has just released these two interfaces – the SSL 2 and SSL 2+. They both have two input channels with XLR combo input jacks.

SSL is one of the most revered pro audio companies in the world, and I’m happy to see them make a small interface that’s affordable for podcasters.

Note: I haven’t tried these yet 😉

As per their website, these interfaces come with:

• • • Matchless SSL sonics and superior build quality
    • Legacy 4K button for instant analog mojo
    • Bundled SSL Native and third-party software

The SSL 2 costs around $230.

The SSL 2+ costs around $280.

If you want to know how they differ, check out the specs here.

Do you want one?!?!

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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The first thing I do when preparing my computer to record audio (after restarting of course!) is verify/change my computer’s audio input/output settings. Every. Single. Time. This is where you choose what device you want to use for the input of audio and the output of audio. You can see in the image that my input device is set to “MixPre-6.”

Because there’s nothing worse than “thinking” you’re recording your good microphone when unbeknownst to you – it’s your computer’s onboard mic (yuck) that is being recorded! Good luck trying to make that sound good in post 😉

So make it a ritual – every time you restart, and every time you’re going to record audio, check your computer’s audio input/output settings.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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What is Chris’s specialty area of audio engineering?

1. Tracking bands
2. Live sound
3. Mixing
4. Overdubbing
5. Mastering
6. Other

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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I believe each of us should have a good balance between quality and quantity of episodes that we produce for clients (and for ourselves).

On the one hand: If you strive to produce world-class audio quality for every single episode, it will definitely take much longer to produce episodes.

On the other hand: If you strive to produce as many episodes as is humanly possible, you’ll definitely have to settle for less-than-great audio quality.

Striking a balance between audio quality and production time is key to your overall success.

Are you balanced in this area? Or do you lean heavily toward one side or the other?

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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The Abbey Road Studio 3 plugin brings the acoustic environment of the legendary Abbey Road Studio 3 control room to your headphones, so you can have better reference for your mixes and productions wherever you are.

Check out the tutorial videos and example audio here.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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If someone has a bazillion umms and you remove them all, the remaining audio can sometimes have a very different vibe/flow than the original vibe/flow. When a person uses lots of umms their pacing tends to be very slow, so if you remove all the umms the pacing picks up. But, the tone and flow of their actual words can still feel slow, and this could cause the listener to feel like something is incongruent.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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When a person has poor mic technique (continually drifting closer and further from the microphone), their recording ends up being extremely dynamic and the color/tone of the sound varies drastically.

When the person is close to the mic, the sound is fine, but when they drift off-mic the tone has much less presence/clarity as well as more room noise/reverb.

Of course if you do nothing about this, you end up giving the listeners a bad listening experience.

So, one strategy to help reduce the effects of bad microphone technique:

1. First, level it generally (using a compressor with a longer release time, and/or an automatic vocal rider plugin)
2. Then use a multiband compressor to try to even out the major tone differences.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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Did you know that Focusrite Scarlett 3rd Gen Interfaces can help you record other audio sources from within your computer (e.g., the audio output from a web browser, etc.)?

From their website:

On the supported Scarlett 3rd gens (see note below) we have included a new feature, Loopback. Focusrite Control’s Loopback feature lets you record other audio sources from within your computer (e.g., the audio output from a web browser). Loopback uses the Scarlett’s ‘virtual’ inputs, which have no physical connectors on the hardware interface itself but may be selected in the DAW as signal sources for recording in the same way as any other.

Thus, by selecting the Loopback output as the recording source on a mono or stereo DAW track, you can record from another software application into your DAW. Note that your computer will assign DAW 1 and DAW 2 as the default sound output channels.

Here’s Focusrite’s article describing exactly how to use this feature:

NOTE: Scarlett Solo and 2i2 3rd Gen don’t have a dedicated Loopback feature. This is available when working with the larger devices in the range, Scarlett 4i4, 8i6, 18i8 and 18i20 3rd Gen.

Have you used this feature yet?

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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I just heard about Krisp and I hope to try it soon. (Available on Mac, Windows and iOS)

FYI, Justin Brown from Primal Video made a really nice video showing how it works and demonstrating how it sounds.

From their website:

• Mute Background Noise During Calls with Krisp App
• Speak Without Noise: With a single button, the background noise going from you to other call participants will be removed.
• Listen Without Noise: With a single button, the background noise coming from the call participants to you will be removed.

Krisp Supports:

• Any device: Microphone, Headset, Speaker
• Over 600 apps: Conferencing, Voice Messaging, Streaming, Recording

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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In my upcoming episode with audio engineer Chris Williams, he told me that this Aquamarine 4 plugin suite was probably his all-time favorite because it sounds so good.

So, after recording with him I downloaded the trial of this plugin suite and Holy Moly I was extremely impressed with the sound quality. It’s been a while since I heard a vintage-gear plugin sound this awesome. Going forward I’ll probably use Aquamarine on my vocal subgroup (so it affects all the voices in each episode).

The Aquamarine 4 suite is made up of:

• Aquamarine 4 (standalone Mastering discrete/optical compressor)
• Aquamarine 4 EQ (standalone Vintage Passive Equalizer)

I believe it normally sells for around €199 Euro, which equates to around $220 USD.

But the best news is that you can try this plugin for free 😉

A bit more info:

It includes a monster compressor that we sampled from one of the most highly regarded – and not exactly cheap – units on the market – featuring a smooth and warm sounding opto comp section and a super punchy, discrete VCA-style dynamic processor which can go from a subtle 1.2:1 ratio – for a gentle dynamic massage – to savage ‘Flood’ limiting, for more creative compression effects.

The discrete VCA section can invariably suit many different scenarios, plus the attack time has been exaggerated to reach almost zero. Aquamarine also features a high-pass filter allowing you to control the compressor’s response to bass frequencies and a mix control which builds on the original unit’s functionality by providing onboard parallel compression.

A ‘BRAND NEW’ VINTAGE PASSIVE EQ FROM THE 1950s: Aquamarine 4 now features an astoundingly precise recreation of an American ultra-rare passive equalizer from the 1950s. And when we say ‘ultra-rare’ we say it for a reason. The owner of this unit, which we sampled in Berlin, explained how only a few of these beasts – possibly less than 5 – can still be found in good working order. We don’t know how the others sound like compared to the one we are bringing you this time and if they present any differences due to component variations or simply due to maintenance. What we know, though, is that the DNA of Aquamarine’s EQ is the exact same one as its hardware counterpart and we like to consider it a tribute to this iconic piece of engineering.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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I’ve heard amazing things about O.C. White’s microphone boom arms.

Their Podcast Pro Boom Arm will be available soon.

The package includes a black mic arm, a table edge c-clamp, and a pre-terminated cable (9” of cable at the front and 6’ at the end) with a male and female XLR connector. Arm holds mics that weigh approximately between 1.4 and 2.5 lb. Just clamp to your table and attach your microphone, and you’re ready to go.

Have you tried their boom arms yet?

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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This microphone is coming soon, and it’s already making waves throughout the podcasting world.

It’s a cardioid dynamic microphone with both XLR _and_ USB outputs. The USB signal can be recorded up to 24-bit/96kHz. It also has zero-latency headphone monitoring.

For more details you’re welcome to read Allan Tépper’s article: https://www.provideocoalition.com/samson-launches-q9u-dynamic-hybrid-studio-microphone-at-ces/

Would you like to try this mic?

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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Before. Always.

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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SoundID is a paradigm shift in sound technology, delivering listeners perfect audio through personalization.

Try to get it asap if you want to try it.

How it works:

SoundID is created in a simple app-based test anyone can take in less than 90 seconds. The technology has three level machine level optimisation based on device calibration, hearing ability and sound preference. SoundID is visualised with a personal and unique pattern that is AI-based representation of the frequency response graph developed as an end result of your test.

Here’s an article with more details.

Want to receive the Daily Goody in your email, daily or weekly? Subscribe free here.

And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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In case you ever wanted to make sure your episode notes display properly, James Cridland of Podnews wrote this helpful article: https://podnews.net/article/html-episode-notes-in-podcast-rss

And if you’re not subscribed to the Podnews daily email and/or podcast, it is really great and you’d enjoy it so you may want to subscribe.

Thank you, James!

Want to receive the Daily Goody in your email, daily or weekly? Subscribe free here.

And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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Auphonic offers a very important and handy dynamic range control which will ensure all your audio is heard above the listeners background noise, and will avoid causing people to turn off your podcast because they can’t hear it well enough. Check out the graph here showing the results of a study which basically discovered at what dynamic range listeners will turn up the volume or turn off the audio, etc. (btw, problems start once the audio gets to around 6dB of dynamic range and above)

Full article: https://auphonic.com/blog/2019/08/19/dynamic-range-processing/

You could use it on full episodes in your final mastering step, and/or on individual tracks before mixing.

In my experience and research, I believe around 4-5 dB of dynamic range is a good average to aim for.

What do you think?

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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Simply put, if an Umm adds something valuable to the listener’s experience, don’t remove it.

Value could come in the form of:

• Information – sometimes when a guest is pensive and thinking hard about what to say next, you may want to keep that umm in the episode so the listener can feel the guest thinking/struggling, etc.
• Content – Sometimes the word umm can be part of a joke or punchline, so you wouldn’t want to remove it.
• Natural Pacing – if you want the pacing of the guests speech to be slower and true to their actual delivery, you could leave some umms in.

Can you identify other examples when you shouldn’t remove an umm?

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And please keep in mind, the Daily Goody is only a tiny little tip, fact or lesson everyday. Please don’t expect any of these posts to be long, earth-shattering masterpieces that instantly answer every single question you can think of and completely transform you into a world class podcast engineer. “Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

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