Sun, 29 January 2006
 This week's show opens with a big thank you to Lane Sumner for the PSN theme music and our announcer Bob Brooks, the voice of PSN.Celebrity Interview: This entire show is devoted to a very special guest who's a premiere unsung hero of the business.
John gives us a fascinating insider's look into mixing for television and film. He tells us how "what you've done" is more important than just about anything else, including formal schooling. He shares with us how he got his start in the business, which is a blueprint for anyone looking to get started with any type of commercial studio today. He also outlines some of the unique challenges with creating mixes where the quality of the final presentation is in the hands of others who might not be particularly skilled in sound production. Mike closes the show with an exciting announcement! John is joining PSN as a regular field correspondent. His experience and expertise will be invaluable to you as he shares news and tidbits from inside the business. He'll also be presenting Master Classes on standard and surround sound mixing. Since this show ran long, the answer to last week's trivia question has been postponed until next week. That's not necessarily a bad thing as no one has answered it correctly yet. So, you have one more week to get your answer in by e-mail. Here's the question again: This Week's Trivia Question: What was the first #1 hit to have a playing time of more than four minutes? See you next week! Tags: music recording studio emmy award motorweek pbs audio post dave matthews surround sound |
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Sun, 22 January 2006
![[Show #3] Getting Great Guitar Tone, Wilson Pickett Dead At 64](http://assets.libsyn.com/content/2329193 "[Show #3] Getting Great Guitar Tone, Wilson Pickett Dead At 64")
First up, some sad news. Wilson Pickett, best-known for hits "In the Midnight Hour" & "Mustang Sally", died of a heart attack yesterday at just 64 years young. Mike and Al share some personal memories of his work.Spotlight: Al discusses the new Macintosh computers with the Intel chip inside and it's compatibility with timing-based applications (MIDI, audio, video, etc.). The new computers are using a translation program called Rosetta to run any application that's not been updated to run on the Intel processor. Rosetta does not handle timing-based applications very well and is not ready to function as a media production platform until updates of the applications are available. Even Apple's own pro media apps (Final Cut, Soundtrack, Logic, etc.) won't run on this new machine yet. Updates of these pro apps should be available after March. In the meantime, if you're an Ableton Live user, you're good to go with the new Intel Macs! Version 5.2 was just released and ready to run on this new platform. Live 5.2 will be available as a download in February. Hot News From NAMM! Digidesign is heating up the NAMM show with lots of great news and releases... Digidesign Acquires Assets of Trillium Lane Labs
Digidesign is pleased to introduce the Digidesign�® Advanced Instrument Research group -- a new division that is dedicated to creating powerful virtual instruments purpose built for the Pro Tools environment. The Advanced Instrument Research group is showcasing two new exciting virtual instruments at this year's NAMM convention: the free Xpand! sound factory workstation and the soon-to-be-released Hybrid analog/digital high-definition synthesizer. Xpand! Your Creativity with a FREE Pro Tools Virtual Instrument
At this year's NAMM convention, Digidesign is previewing two new toolkit offerings that can help you dramatically expand your music and post production options. Take advantage of powerful plug-in collections, an increased track count, the Pro Tools MP3 Option, an included upgrade to Pro Tools 7.1 software, and much more! Every Digi 002 Now Includes the Factory Software Bundle
Now Shipping: Synchro Arts VocALign PRO
Synchro Arts introduces VocALign PRO, a new and more powerful version of the unique VocALign automatic audio alignment tool. VocALign PRO provides audio, post production, and multimedia professionals the greatest flexibility and power to quickly complete audio alignment tasks -- automatically, within the industry-standard Pro Tools environment as an AudioSuite plug-in. VocALign PRO automatically stretches or compresses one audio signal to match the timing patterns of another, saving you time and money. FXpansion's entire product line is now Pro Tools 7-ready. They've been optimized for Pro Tools 7, which will deliver substantial performance enhancements across the board. Includes GURU, BFD, VST to RTAS Adapter. The new VST to RTAS Adapter v2.0 also adds support for multiple outputs from VST plug-ins, and offers compatibility with close to 2,000 VST plug-ins and instruments. All of these are fully compatible with Pro Tools HD, Pro Tools LE, and Pro Tools M-Powered software on Mac OS X and Windows XP. Crosstalk:  Getting a great guitar sound live and in the studio. Mike discusses the challenge of getting a great guitar sound in the first place, even before you're ready to record it. Amp and cabinet types are considered, as well as microphone choice and room placement. Modern processors like the Line 6 POD and Amplitube are compared to old school methods.Tweaking The Stupid Knob: "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962. This Week's Trivia Question: What was the first #1 hit to have a playing time of more than four minutes? Answer To Last Week's Trivia Question: Q: What was the most played song on American radio during the twentieth century? A: You've Lost That Loving Feeling - written by Barry Mann, Phil Spector and Cynthia Weil. (Congratulations to Chris B. who correctly answered this one!) Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil (still married: http://www.mann-weil.com) have written and/or recorded 53 top 40 hits so far. Here are just a few of them:
Tags: music recording studio digidesign namm guitar wilson pickett ableton live intel mac fxpansion |
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Sat, 14 January 2006
![[Show #2] The Cabo Project & PSP Vintage Warmer Review](http://assets.libsyn.com/content/2329182 "[Show #2] The Cabo Project & PSP Vintage Warmer Review")
This week Mike opens with a news tidbit just for the country music musicians out there! This may actually be more of a safety warning.Spotlight: Big Al spotlights the new release of Apple's Garage Band 3 and a great site for finding cover art for your digital music collection: http://FindMyCover.com Mike spotlights a great web site (http://HollywoodHangover.com) that focuses on the Hollywood scene in the 60's that gave us so much of our early recorded rock 'n roll and many of our present celebrities in music and the movies. (Pssst! Mike was part of that scene too and will soon be appearing on this site, including pictures back when he actually had hair!) Celebrity Interview: Big Al interviews Mike about a new feature on the show, "The Cabo Project." This will follow a song from it's creation as words and melody (Mike is the composer of this song, Christmas In Cabo), to it's completion as a mastered tune ready to be included in an album project currently being produced by Hit Street Records. We'll follow the process and along the way learn why certain decisions were made, why tracks were added or deleted, how it was mixed, etc. A sample of the very first raw, scratch track is played. Click here to download the entire scratch track of Christmas In Cabo Gear Review: Big Al reviews PSP Vintage Warmer from PSP Audioware (available for Mac and Windows). This a single- or multi-band compressor/limiter with sound and saturation characteristics carefully modeled on those of analog tape machines. Also, the programmers of this fine plugin have agreed to come on the Podcast for an interview after the NAMM at the end of January. Here's a link to their site: http://PSPAudioware.com Big Al's Review Recommendation: He gives PSP Vintage Warmer 5 our of 5 VU meters!  This Weeks Trivia Question: What was the most played song on American radio in the twentieth century? E-mail in your answer! Hints: Although recorded by different artists, this song is the only one in history to be played over 8 million times on the radio. That amounts to about 45 years if the song was played back to back! There are 3 songs that were played 7 million times: Never My Love, Yesterday, and Stand By Me (in that order). And it's not something silly or a trick answer like Happy Birthday or White Christmas. Answer To Last Week's Trivia Question: The famous guitar player on the 1983 David Bowie cut, Let's Dance? Stevie Ray Vaughn! See you next week! Tags: music recording studio performing arts multimedia cabo vintage warmer garage band |
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Thu, 12 January 2006
![[Show #1] The Digital Studio Of Today Versus 20 Years Ago](http://assets.libsyn.com/content/2329173 "[Show #1] The Digital Studio Of Today Versus 20 Years Ago")
This week's topic:The Studio Of Today Versus 20 Years Ago. Mike and Al also interview each other about their experiences and background leading up to where they are in the music business today. They also discuss how you can get involved with PSN and appear on the show. The show format is outlined including Gear Reviews, Celebrity Interviews and even The Stupid Knob! Lane Sumner is introduced as the talent behind the show's theme. Once again, it's brought up that he really ought to be on the show since he did the theme for free. Maybe some day. This week's Trivia Question: Who is the famous guitar player on the 1983 David Bowie hit, Let's Dance? E-mail in your answer! Tags: music recording studio performing arts multimedia organ |
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Mon, 9 January 2006
Learn what PSN is all about and subscribe today!The PSN Podcast is dedicated to the both the amateur and professional recording musician. It features news, talk and reviews on all topics related to the performing and recording of audio and video. Join us every week for interesting insights, tips and tricks from inside the music business. The show is highly interactive and we encourage you to e-mail us with what you'd like to see on the show or questions you'd like us to answer. Would you like to be a guest? Would you like us to play a cut from your latest project? Drop us a line and let us know why our listeners would like to hear what you have to say or play! Tags: music recording studio performing arts multimedia |
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Where does Big Al go when he needs to look sharp? |
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