Ever on the quest for a better environment, we’ve been working on a new room for mixing here at Gator-Studios.com.  Things are taking great shape!  The new room has been dubbed by my kids as “Studio 3″ because it’s on the 3rd floor, and I think it’s stuck…so Studio 3 it is!

Part of the plan was to have more room for live work, and I’m looking forward to plenty of that.  Another theory about bigger rooms says the frequency response should be a lot better, and so far I’m hearing it.  There’s still more work to do, get the acoustic treatment hung, get everything put away but it’s coming together.  I took some frequency response measurements in the old room before I left, and I’m anxious to see what the numbers say on the new room.

More soon!

Hey everybody, I hope the new year is treating you well so far!  A lot of people feel 2009 was a throwaway year and we need to make 2010 a much better experience.  So let’s get moving!  Here in the studio we plan to move to a much bigger room which should give us better acoustics, and room for some live work.  We planned for the same thing this time last year…and somehow the year got away from us just like a lot of you.

There’s no doubt that last year put a lot of strain and stress on many people’s plans, and even here in the studio the year somehow came and went before we could execute some things we wanted to do.  Some folks lost jobs, a lot more worried about losing theirs, and we all put our heads down, tightened our belts and fought on.  None of us will ever get that year back, and it’s important to not lose sight of what you wanted to do and make up for it this year!

Things in the world seem to have stabilized a bit, and though not ideal it’s time to get moving on again.  In all my life, I’ve never seen a “perfect” time so you need to seize the day!  Remember that CD you always wanted to put out, that you planned to do last year but were afraid to spend the money or time to get done?  It’s time.  You old guys (like me!), you’re not getting any younger.  And you young dudes and ladies need to get moving before, well, you wake up one day and it’s all in the past and all your shot at it never got off the ground.  Get fired up, not doing it only guarantees failure!

Whether you need a little production guidance, a backing track, some un-natural audio acts to your music, or full-blown mixing and mastering…we are here!  Since 2006 we’ve been the place to go for RiffWorks mixing, Mastering, and all sorts of help when you can’t quite get there.  In 2010 we’ll try to add some unique offerings to help you out in the trenches as well, so stay tuned.

Rock on!

J.J.

Gator-Studios.com

I guess the title says it all…Gator-Studios.com is still here, helping you get the most out of recording!  The only challenge this year has been time.  Time to do marketing, time to do new backing tracks, time for writing.  Oh well, some years enable and some challenge.  There is always next year!

We had some very cool projects to work on this year.  One good friend of the studio (despite being an FSU guy!), recently had us master his debut CD (Monsters, Kids & Dogs, by Escape The Maze–get it on iTunes here and Amazon here!).  This is a great example of excellent and unique songwriting that needs to get out to more ears.  I encourage you to grab this CD and spread the word about indie music!

Gator-Studios.com had plenty of projects to work on despite the level of marketing we like to do.  Marketing is one of the fun things here, we like to try new things constantly and see how they work out.  Sort of like fishing sometimes, you can’t always know what you will catch!  We had to throw most all the studio time into working on things, instead of the other business things.  Inevitably you have to do those things for continued success, but until they invent more hours in the day…
We had some big plans this year.  A bigger studio room and some equipment upgrades for example.  It turns out equipment takes a lot less time to buy than a new room takes to build!  While the room will have to wait until 2010, we have upgraded the converters, some software, and have some venerable NOS tubes up and running now.  Did you know we’re using the same D/A converters as Universal Mastering Studios?  This is not your typical bedroom with no treatment and a TonePort here…it’s the real deal, and not cheap, but soooooo worth it if you’re doing mixing and mastering.  If we can’t hear your music, how can we make it as good as it can be?

So…this is just a quick note to let you know we’re still here, despite the lack of blogs and front page updates that we like to do!  It’s been a tough year for all of us in music, and we all gotta do what we gotta do to survive.  We’ll start 2010 with the best laid plans again, and see how much gets done!  Whatever happens, we’ll leave the light on for you.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

J.J.

Gator-Studios.com

I’m writing this blog today from 34,000 feet, somewhere between London and Raleigh. These long flights are a great time to catch up on reading and thinking about things, pretty much everything except catching up on sleep!

I’ve been to Europe twice in the last 3 weeks, and about 8 months of magazine and podcast backlog is now erased! I’ve read the SkyMall about 16 times too. Still a couple hours before I get home, so out comes the trusty iPhone for some blogging.
While over in London I received an email and secured a small job for the studio! The dude needs it done Friday for a gig Saturday, so it will be the first thing that I do when I get back and get it out. I’m always excited when a project comes my way whether big or small, but it was a bit frustrating to be so far away and not be able to get right to work on it.
While I sat here thinking random thoughts, I started the usual pondering of the meaning of life. I had great plans for this point in my life. 9 years ago, I planned to be sailing around the world now. The telecom/dot-com bubble came 1 year too early, and that plan went to the backburner. 3 years ago I planned to be at least a part-time songwriter by now, and wanted to be spending more time on stuff like that and less on being a corporate monkey. I changed jobs in my company to one that gave me more personal time and no travel a couple years ago, but the economy (and best-in-class lack of leadership) killed the company and I had to jump to a new gig last year to keep the lights on and food in the fridge. So I’m on a plane again, thinking about the saying “if you want God to laugh, tell him your plans!”

And I sit here and think about life balance. Should I chuck it all? Is this my destiny? Or is it like mixing…trying to find the sweet spot where everything fits just right.

I think of all the advice I see on various forums about audio and mixing, and wonder how much does more harm than good. Sure it’s all well-meaning, just like your mom telling you what to do in life, or your Uncle Phil telling you where to put your money. But how do you know you’re not inadvertently going down the wrong path and ending up in more of a mess than when you started?  The more I think about it, life is a pretty good analogy to recording. There are some big things you have to do well to tackle the main parts, and lots of little things that can make life that much better. 

Great tracking is like having a great relationship with your spouse, if you have it everything else is so much easier to deal with…if you don’t, all the beer (or compression) in the world won’t make it so.  Knowing how to mix is like knowing how to do your job well. A good acoustic environment is like a good boss…a bad room is like a bad boss. A good boss makes your work fun and productive. But even if you know how to get your job done, a bad boss or environment can really get in your way and have you pulling your hair out.

If you get the big things right, the little ones aren’t as big a deal and can add the sparkle to one’s life or song. The trick is finding the right balance, the sweet spot where you smile because everything is just right. You just know it when you see or hear it.  Sometimes it’s a smile from someone, or a half db of eq in the right place that makes all the difference in your day or mix.

Just like in life, nobody can tell you exactly how to get there on your audio production, though good advice always points you in the right direction. If you need good advice on recording, come by the GatorForum, we’re there to help. If you need life guidance, you’re probably better off asking your mom though, lest she show up on our forum too ;)

I’m in the process of finishing a mastering job for a client as I write this, the file is uploading for review right now.  Every job I do, every gig I get…I always learn something!  Sometimes it’s trying something new, sometimes it’s something more fundamental – like good communication is key to a successful project.

Working online has it’s benefits and challenges.   I can reach way beyond Apex, NC USA to help people around the world get the best out of their music through the wonders of the internet.  It can also make it a lot harder to communicate.  This is art we’re talking about, and trying to explain it in an email is rather difficult.  So I want to make sure we’re clear…

WE NEED TO COMMUNICATE WELL, and SOMETIMES WE MIGHT MISUNDERSTAND EACH OTHER…and that’s okay!  Really, it’s cool…we just need to make sure we’re communicating.

There’s a lot of “I’ll know when I hear it” that goes into what you are looking for in mixing and mastering.  Many times clients are not sure, and ask just to see what I come up with.  There’s tremendous flexibility at mix time, and I may come up with something that really blows you away…or something that makes you think I’m nuts!  It’s cool, just tell me what you think – after all, this is your project!  I promise, I’ll get to the best result possible for you if you’ll guide me to what is in your head.

The same goes for mastering.  Although the flexibility is not as great here, we want to get to a good point of balance for the overall song and the overall CD.  Sometimes the result is fabulous, depending on the tracking and the mix.  Sometimes we need to decide together what the best compromise for the end sound should be, if things are not optimal.  I’ve never had a project we couldn’t get to a good result with some work and some communication.  You can indeed “fix it in the mix” or “fix it the master” but — it’s not going to sound quite as good as if things were right in the first place.  So it’s important to make sure we get to your best result possible that you are happy with.

Of course, if you absolutely love the result the first pass, I’m cool with that!  Yes it happens, about half the time.  Sometimes I get convinced that it will happen all the time and fail to explain we need to communicate well and there could be multiple passes required to get to a sound you are happy with.  So I thought I’d lay it out clearly

So, why Gator-Studios.com in the first place?  We have an outstanding track record of getting the best results out of CD projects.  We are renowned for being a premiere RiffWorks-capable shop.  And we make sure you are happy, without any of this “per pass” charging mess.  What the heck does that mean?

There are lots of places on the internet that do mixing, mastering, and other things all the way up to full production (you give a demo and they create the actual tracks and do the production).  It’s a very cool world!  But check the details, and you’ll find they have a price, and if you don’t like what they did to your songs, they charge you to do it again.  And again.  If you can’t really explain what you want, or they can’t understand…it will blow your budget right out or you’ll take something you don’t want.  We don’t do that!

With Gator-Studios.com, you know exactly what you are going to pay for mixing and mastering up front.  No “per pass” charges, if it takes 1 or 10 to get what you want, we’re here for you.  You’ve busted your butt getting to this point and we are here to bust our butts getting you all the way to the best end result.  We have additional services we can provide in a mix, but we keep them separate to keep your costs down unless you think you need them.  Need timing or pitch fixed in a Riffworks song, for example?  We can do that as an extra on a song by song basis, but we don’t load down your costs assuming you want that on everything.  We’ll let you decide how far you want to go, and get you the best result possible.  It’s nothing less than you and your music deserve!

It’s amazing how short-sighted people can be, at least in my opinion.  Some people do things that revolutionize the world.  Some people make a big splash evolving the world.  And we seem to go gaga over the evolution guys and not the revolutionaries.

Am I talking politics?  Nah, actually I’m talking music.  Les Paul died today.  On my birthday, of all days.  We all know him from the guitar that bears his name, but he’s far more fascinating and influential than just a name on a headstock of a guitar.  If you don’t believe me, spend some time reading up or watching biographies of the man.

Anywhoo, an old friend posted on facebook a nice farewell and how he touched so many millions.  I echoed the sentiment, and said  his contributions were so significant his coverage should dwarf Michael Jacksons.   And some dude, maybe I went to high school with, maybe who’s life is stuck in 1984, posted this:

“Les Paul memorials should dwarf the response about Michael Jackson.”

DING DING DING We have a winner for most absurdly hyperbolic statement!

Sorry, but let’s try and keep a dose of perspective on hand. Les Paul was a brilliant pioneer in a niche area that directly affected thousands. MJ was a global icon who at one point in time was, arguably, one of the most influential people on the planet.

Yeah…

So, let’s think about this for a minute.  Let’s skip the Michael Jackson of the last 20 or so years, let’s ignore allegations of all sorts of things, all the things we know he denied he did that we now know he did.  Let’s purely talk about his impact on music, and on the world.

Michael in his day was a fabulous songwriter.  A fabulous singer.  An amazing dancer.   Arguably in the early and mid-80s he was the best.  Like the Beatles in the 60’s were.  Like Elvis in the 50’s.  And the Bee Gees in the 70s.  He had an amazing run for several years.  And then pretty much only showed up on our radars when he wasn’t paying his bills, was holding his kids out windows, or in court.  Hey man, that’s fine, but has nothing to do with music.   For the last 20 years he’s been that guy who was amazing in the 80’s that now makes for good TV on slow news days.

Now…let’s think about Michael Jackson recording like Benny Goodman did.  A couple mics, spread the guys around, play live, record to wax and hope everything is good enough to keep the take.  Michael always danced around, bobbing, snapping, tapping while he was singing, and they never could get him to stop.  The perfect recipe for a recording disaster, unless you can edit individual tracks.  Which brings me to the man.

The story goes in olden times you recorded directly to wax (which became the mold for record).  Somebody figured out how to record to magnetized wire, but it sucked.  Apparently those crafty German Socialists made magnetic tape work (when they weren’t busy trying to remake the world into what they thought it should be), and Les Paul was given one of the captured machines in 1946.  Short story is he is the father of looping, multi-track recording, and the guide of things we had to do until the 90’s, which is plan out the optimum order to record and bounce tracks to keep the song sounding good.  Ever wonder why the drums, bass and rhythm guitars usually get done early and the vocals get dones last?  Bouncing would lose it’s fidelity with every take and Les figured out these tracks could stand the degradation better but the vocals and leads needed to be clear, and thus recorded last.  We don’t need to do that any more, but usually we still do.  We are drones lol

This wasn’t like the Wright Brothers being the first to fly.  There were a bunch of other folks trying to be the first with a plane.  Multi tracking and looping was a concept so foreign that he disguised it as magic for a long time.  He confounded President Eisenhower and VP Nixon with it at the White House.  The trick was a novelty on TV.  He was the Criss Angel of the 50’s.

Les Paul fundamentally changed music forever.  All music.  Not just pop music in the 80s.  Think about Sgt. Peppers sounding like Buddy Holly.  Think about Dark Side of the Moon sounding like Chubby Checker.  Wolfman Jack talking over Pink Floyd.  Well maybe not that bad lol

Geez, I didn’t even mention the dude basically invented the electric guitar in the ’30s.  Or that he and his wife were topping the charts as performers for several years.  Or that after a horrific car wreck while on the road playing, he talked the doctor out of amputating his bum arm and instead into setting it permanently at a 90 degree angle…so he could still maybe still play guitar.  (Would the US government let him do that? okay okay…lol)  How about that he kept playing guitar for another 50+ years, and played out weekly almost until his death?

So we have one dude, who was top of his game for a while that got all weirded out, it eventually caught up with him and he’s dead.  Like a lot of other stars.  A month later another dude, who created groundbreaking concepts, figured out how to do them, enabled the world of music to be what it has been the last 40-60 years, beat all odds to keep playing music for almost a century, he’s dead too.

Why does the evolution get all the play, and the revolution gets a footnote?  Is it the freakshow aspect?  Is it because one guy was popular 20 years ago instead of 60?  Do we just gauge the relevance and importance by how the media treats it?

I won’t take anything away from Michael Jackson, he was incredible in his time and deserves any attention he got.  As a songwriter myself I’ve studied his works and he brought it all to the table.  And you folks in LA, if you want to throw a million bucks into holding a funeral you’re welcome to it.  But making Les Paul’s death a scrolling footnote on a news channel is not the way to be.   The man had an incredible life, was amazingly creative and smart enough to make the things he thought of work, which dramatically changed music forever.   And a great performer and guitar player in a time when folks didn’t dance or hide behind fog or explosions.

It just seems to me, it’s like comparing George Washington to Bill Clinton and saying “Washington just chopped down a cherry tree, and not a lot of people really care about cherry trees any more”.  Rarely do people come along in the world that have so much impact, especially impact that redefines a whole segment of life.  We should recognize and celebrate that.  So I celebrate the man and the revolution he created – he’s the reason why we can do what we do here.  The rest of us drones would have just kept doing things like we had before, and we’d still be cutting mono wax discs run by a falling weight.  Thanks Les!!!  This dude was inspired for a long time by you, and I will miss you.

And the Taxi listing read:

EASY LISTENING POP COVER SONGS AND INSTRUMENTAL TRACKS of HITS from the ‘ 70s and ’80s, a la Rick Astley, The Carpenters, Helen Reddy, etc., are needed by the President and CEO of a new publishing company to supply music for Film and TV placements, Video Games, Toy products, Hallmark music cards and more! This gentleman was the head of the library division of a Major music publisher and is now branching out on his own, so you are definitely in good hands. He is specifically looking for new arrangements and NOT copies or sound-alikes. He suggested picking a particular artist or band and then combining it with other artist/band styles, therefore making it somewhat familiar to the ear while creating a new and unique sound. He also said if the original was sung by a male, try it with a female lead or try something like taking a song with full instrumentation and doing it acoustic. Overall, you have the liberty to make a new arrangement and to make it interesting, just keep the original song recognizable. The one thing he was adamant about is making sure that you DO NOT ALTER THE LYRICS in any way. Some suggested songs to cover are “Together Forever” by Rick Astley to “Top of the World” by The Carpenters and “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy. They are open to hearing other songs but really want to hear these ones as well. Please don’t send in covers of anything too obscure, it should definitely be a “popular” song that was on the charts. Vocal and instrumental presentation must be top-notch! Broadcast quality needed (excellent sounding home demos are okay). Please submit one to three songs and/or instrumentals online or per CD. All submissions will be screened on a YES/NO BASIS ONLY – NO CRITIQUES FROM TAXI – and must be received no later than Wednesday, August 5, 2009.

Why did I not just bounce right past it?  I don’t do Easy Listening, I don’t even know if I could tell you who Easy Listening from the 70’s was.  The Carpenters?  Helen Reddy, for crying out loud!  But then there’s my wife.  Somewhere between knowing every 80’s hair band and metal song in the US, Canada and Western Europe she has some fondness for the cheese of the 70’s, a la Easy Listening.  So I pasted this one into an email and asked her if she wanted to work on a listing.  I figured like usual she’d get excited, never do anything with it, and at least I’d be continuing the effort in getting her involved.  Instead she actually went and did some looking and came back with a song from England Dan and John Ford Coley.  WTF?

I went off and listened to this particular tune and decided it probably fit the listing fine.  I’ve never done a new arrangement to an old tune, though I don’t think they want anything too radical here.  I guess it’s more like doing a backing track with some poetic license, which shouldn’t take too long.  The hardest part will be getting some different sounding vocals to the song out of her, but I think she gets what the listing expects.

So, I sat down and figured out how to play said song, laid out a scratch track with some acoustic, bass and a basic drum and my scratch vocal to give an idea of some different things that can happen.  If we get it done it may not get through the gauntlet, there’s no critique on this one, but every one that gets sent back is one more out of the way on the path to success!  I’ll post it if/when we get it done…we have about 9 days which could be easy to get done or impossible depending on what life throws our way.

And that’s what we’re doing in the studio this week!

—————————————

Follow up:  We actually got it done, just in the nick of time.  Yes, reality tried like heck to squash another song effort, but we just went balls to the walls and made something happen.  Crazy, I know!

Get your polyester suits on and think way back…

http://gator-studios.com/gatormusic/Kerry/rlysyt.mp3

Getting with the program here finally!  The GatorBlog now has a mobile optimized version for iPhones, Blackberrys and Androids.  The GatorForum also has an optimized view available for the smartphones, and one for the “not quite as smart” phones too.

Finally, we’re gonna give Twitter a go from the studio.  If you want to follow along, catch us at http://twitter.com/gatorstudios .

Hey, a short blog!  A first time for everything I suppose

Sonoma Wire Works has had FourTrack out for a while, but I’m just getting around to iPhoning myself so I’ll give a review of it!  First off, FourTrack is a four-track.  What the heck is a four-track?  Let’s look at some brief history.

Back in “the day” (as in way back in the early 1960’s and before), recording was a little bit different than today.  Good studios had things like record-cutting lathes, driven by a falling weight.  Gravity was much better at keeping time than motors of the day.  In these olden times, you didn’t mix tracks, you mixed people.  You moved the people around to balance the sound into the mic.  I guess if you told them to move closer in certain sections, they were the original automated faders!  They played live, it cut the wax, and if the take was good it was done.

I’ll skip the Les Paul part (you should read up on the man, we wouldn’t be here in recording without him), but the jist is it was figured out how to record more than 1 track at a time, with tape.  It cost a bunch of money, but it was doable so over time studios with a bunch of money started putting them in.  Let’s keep the cliff notes version going…in 1967 the Beatles released “Sgt. Pepper’s” which was recorded on…a four track.

Now let’s be honest with ourselves.  Abbey Road Studios has unique acoustics, and the very best equipment money can buy.  A large selection of the best mic’s, preamps, compressors etc. were at their disposal.  But all crammed down into 4 tracks of tape.  So while the iPhone mic is not exactly a Neumann, for $10 you’re at least mixing and making decisions like the Beatles!  Even better, you don’t have to limit yourself to 4 tracks at the end of the day.

The final piece of history is mine.  In the late 80s we borrowed a 4 track to record our band demo.  We couldn’t afford one, but it was the holy grail at the time for a band.  And we had what turned out to be a hell of an engineer make our tracks sing!  In 1992 I finally saved up enough for my own 4 track.  I also had a MIDI interface and a Roland D-110 to trigger drums off SMPTE code striped on the 4 track.  That plus the computer, was probably around $3K.  Ten bucks, plus being able to use Instant Drummers in RiffWorks would have been simply too hard to comprehend even in 1992!

My usual long and boring preamble being done, let’s look at FourTrack.  First, even though it’s from Sonoma Wire Works (makers of RiffWorks), there are no riffs or bars here.  It’s a linear recording program, just like a 4 track.  The program allows 1 mono track at a time to be recorded, while the other 3 play back.  You can pick a spot in the middle of a song to record on a track (a la punch in) with the time wheel (or whatever it’s called).  Each of the four tracks can be mixed and panned independently.  Just like a 4 track.

Some things to note:

- There is no input level control.  You need to mix like in the old days (move the sound source instead of the fader).  It’s not a big deal, just keep it from going over +0db.  One of the promo vids shows a drummer playing with some version of Hot Sticks to keep the volume down, and putting the iPhone behind pillows.  It worked fine.  Be creative!

- There are no effects in the program.  If we were stuck forever with the iPhone version, that might not make some folks too happy, especially since we’re recording on a little iPhone mic.  I’ll talk both why this is not a big deal, and what you can do if you really want to be crazy and actually record songs intended to be final versions on this thing!

- There is no foldback or monitoring.  In English, you can’t hear what you are recording through the headphones.  We’re all used to this, but it’s not the end of the world.  You can hear what’s playing, just slide the headphones off a bit if you can’t hear what you are recording.  This didn’t turn out to be a big deal.

- It’s been a long time since I used a 4 track recorder.  If this is all you are going to use, there’s things you need to think about before you do them vs. a DAW or RiffWorks.  Like the order you record tracks, which ones get bounced and which you’ll want to be separate at final mix time (like the vocals).  Fortunately you don’t have to think too hard about this if you use a computer to mix in the end.  I’ll explain more!

A real example

Like most dudes I learn best by messing around with something.  So I jumped right in to try and write something quick on the fly and record it.  For me, RiffWorks is the best songwriting tool on the planet.  FourTrack to me is the best “I’m in the car and have this idea” songwriting tool on the planet.  And you can take your stuff right into RiffWorks or any other DAW.  Best of both worlds! (Van Halen, not Hannah Montana lol)

First thing, you want to force quit Safari.  Things got stuck after goofing around just a bit, so I headed over to Sonoma’s site to see what was what.  There’s a lot competing for memory in an iPhone, and at Sonoma’s suggestion,  I force-quit Safari and had no hiccups after that.  Then it’s a matter of arming a track, sliding to record, and recording!

I talked about the old days of SMPTE and outboard MIDI to have a computerized drum or metronome to play to.  FourTrack includes several metronome options, including 3 actual drummers.  You can set the BPM on the metronome.  This is important if you are going to add Instant Drummers or other MIDI drums later.  Since you can’t export the metronome drummer, you’re gonna want to.  So think out the tempo of your song and record to it.

The simplicity of the whole thing made it go very quickly.  Sure I had my usual vast quantity of redoing tracks, but it was no slower than RiffWorks or a DAW.  With the ability to re-record or punch in a section, I was able to think up the lyrics a line at a time without having to redo them all.  I recorded 2 guitar tracks, a bass and a vocal in no time…while writing my short masterpiece in real time.  You are not worrying about effects or inputs (other than keeping the level within reason), so you’re focused on only one thing – playing.

So, with 4 tracks all used up, it was time to “bounce”.  For you young folk, bouncing goes like this.  You mix the tracks you have the best you can, and “record” the mix to 2 tracks for stereo, freeing 2 more tracks up.  For you older folks, yes I know we used to bounce 2 or 3 tracks to one mono one…how did we ever survive? lol  You can bounce to the current song, or to a copy.  I chose to bounce to a copy, i.e. a new song file keeping the original intact.  I like to be safe!

4 track thinking…or not!

With 2 free tracks, I decided to record a backing vocal and a solo.  Once these were complete, it was mix time.   At this point I discovered a problem.  I’ve long since forgotten my 4 track ways in favor of seemingly unlimited tracks in the computer.  My vocals were uneven, but were bounced.  No way to change any levels or re-record now!

I figured, this is just a test so not a big deal…it was time to get this tune out into the world.  To do that, it’s computer time.  I’m sure there’s somebody out there with no computer and just an iPhone (which would be odd, since you need the computer with iTunes to even activate the thing, but I digress).  For the 99.9% of the rest of us, there’s 2 ways to get the music out of the phone and into the real world.  First is through RiffWorks, either one of the paid versions or T4.  I’m a longtime user of RiffWorks Standard, so I fired it up, hit import, and it gave me the opportunity to import from the iPhone right into RiffWorks.  I picked the song file I wanted, and poof there were 4 tracks now in my SongLayer, still with their panning info.  Cool!

Now that each track was a RiffWorks layer, I could have added compression, eq or whatever to each one.  I chose not to, so I could show what the raw FourTrack song sounded like.  I did add one thing, which was drums.  The metronome drummer is very cool, but doesn’t come along for the ride.  If you have Instant Drummers in RiffWorks, you’re gonna get much better tracks anyway with the variation and intensity.  ”Uh Gator, there’s no drummers for the SongLayer.”  Yeah I know, but if you recorded to a metronome or metronome drummer, you know the BPM.  Simply make some new Riffs at that BPM, pick the drummer settings you want, and throw them up in the song bar for as long as the song is.  Think of the regular riffs now as your drum track.  Mix and match however you want.  Done.

Here’s the raw output of the recordings from the iPhone, on the iPhone’s mic, with Drummerheads “Four On The Floor” direct from RiffWorks.

http://iKeelin.com/music/FourTrack-test-mix.mp3

Abbey Road quality?  Nah.  Does it get the point across?  Sure does!  I’m a big proponent of writing first, then recording.  In other words, get the song worked out first, then focus hard on recording each track.  When they are the best they can be, then set about to working on the mix, the effects etc.  When that’s the best it can be, then worry about mastering.  FourTrack fits right in for me in that respect.

But, not being exactly content, the next night I went back at it.  When syncing to the computer, it gives you an http address for the phone with a specific port, or tells you you can import directly into RiffWorks.  The first time I went right into RiffWorks, so this time I thought I’d check out what happens when I point a web browser at it.  A nice interface came up, complete with both the original and the copied/bounced versions of the songs, and the ability to download each wav file individually.  Nice!  I grabbed the 4 original tracks I had bounced, plus the 2 new ones.  Now I had all 6 tracks!  That got me thinking, if I kept bouncing to a copy, whatever I recorded I could still get at all the original tracks when I got to the computer.  I could bounce 3 times and get 10 tracks.  Or keep going and get more.  This FourTrack is not really a 4 track, it just looks like one!

With all 6 tracks downloaded to the PC, I decided to import them into a traditional DAW program, Mackie Tracktion.  They popped in with no issue, and I grabbed some quick grooves from Toontrack’s EZ Drummer for the drum part.  Since I had all the original tracks, I did some quick work to them.  The bass was problematic, since not only was that little mic not ideal for the task, it also was affected by my room and placement.  Bass and small rooms don’t mix very well, and a mic will pick up the big differences in frequencies.  I threw some heavy compression and EQ at it, and it came in line better.  The vocals got a little eq and some compression to even them out too.  The guitars just got a little reverb thrown at one of them to make it sound a bit bigger.  A little limiting at the end, and a quick effort results in a new track.

http://iKeelin.com/music/whoisgator.mp3

Studio quality?  Maybe not quite my studio quality, but it’s better than some things I’ve worked on in the past.  Not bad though, it stands up fine.  Given no opportunity to work out mic placement, or use of our beloved direct-in boxes like a GuitarPort/TonePort/PodXT etc. here, I’d say this little experiment worked out quite well.

What can be done if you really really really want studio quality out of FourTrack?

From the input side, it appears you can use an iPOD video cable (with the other end being the red, white and yellow composite output).  On the iPhone, the yellow would tie into the mic input (instead of video output of the iPOD).  This would give you some capability for input, though whether it’s normal line level I don’t know.  With that input, you could plug in a mixer, GuitarPort, etc. to get direct and controlled access for the recording input.  A mixer would also give you some ability to monitor directly what you are recording, be they vocals in a mic or a live guitar/bass.  From the output side, you could take the red and white and plug them to a mixer or monitors, giving you a better shot at a good mix than using earbuds or headphones.  It still won’t be Abbey Road, but it should be on par with any other 16bit 44.1KHz mono recording you could do in a computer.  And that’s something Sir George Martin probably would not have been able to conceive of back then!

Overall, FourTrack is really cool.  It’s $10 which is a lot in AppStore terms, but let’s think real world.  $10 for this?  Are you freakin’ kidding me?  Everybody should have a copy.

More info at http://www.sonomawireworks.com/iphone/fourtrack/

Okay, big deal.  A lot of you folks find time to record all the time!  Once upon a time I had the luxury of making recording a high priority.  I worked very hard at it .  I became pretty good at it.

Sometimes life hits you hard .  Unemployment where I live is north of 11%.  I’ve been here before, but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with, I just know what to expect and how to best survive through this kind of economy…you work your butt off, work some more, and keep working.  You pass out, get up and do it all over again.  Usually great things happen, but really we’re just trying to survive and some things need to take a back seat.  And so it is with songwriting and recording my own music, it’s below the line.

There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it though.  In my head constantly acting as my own producer on songs I’ve not finished yet.  Thinking of new song ideas.  Wondering…if I become an economic casualty, would I put the same enthusiasm and passion into songwriting that’s made me successful in my other ventures and make this part of the dream a reality?

Next week I’ll take a few days off to refresh, then spend a few days in the studio.  I plan to work with the lovely Kerry and the lovely Keelin and see what we can do in those precious few days.  Maybe we’ll finish something, maybe it will be something totally new that gets half-done.  I don’t know.

Why blog about it?  Because if I don’t, I’ll find some other thing on my huge to-do list I need to do instead.  If I post it, then I’ll be compelled not to look like an idiot by not following through.  And because I really need to do this!  I’ll even go so far as to kick off twittering from the studio next week.  Granted I haven’t made the studio twitter ID public yet (though a couple scam-bots are already following me), but I guess we’ll get the ball rolling!  Follow us on http://twitter.com/gatorstudios  m’kay?