Producer

“Sound Check” – A Weird and Wonderful Showcase of DIY Audio Makers

Are you an analogue synth head? Then you will definitely want to check out the Moog Sound Lab currently set up and awaiting visitors at Dublin Science Gallery (head for the Trinity Pearse street entrance)! You can walk in and play with a room full of Moog synth goodness. Alongside that are a couple of dozen other sound and music-focused exhibits on display at the Science Gallery’s current “Sound Check” exhibition. Don’t expect to find the traditional audio tech here, it’s all about novel ideas and weird inventions. The Moog Sound Lab is probably the most mainstream of the offerings

Read post >

5 Best Microphones under €400

As nice as it would be to have a studio full of top-end expensive and classic microphones at our disposal, for many of us it is just a pipe dream! But thanks to the ever-developing technology these days, there are so many affordable mics available to us that you don’t have to break the bank to get a decent sounding recording anymore. Even when buying them brand new, many microphones will be quite affordable and again even cheaper if bought second hand. Weather you are a home-studio hobbyist or a seasoned professional, many of the mics mentioned in this blog post

Read post >

A Brief Guide To Compression

Compression Many people say that it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Compression is a perfect example of this. One of the most used and most loved dynamic effects and fundamental tools we have at our disposal whilst mixing, recording and mastering music. When starting out producing, usually with electronic music, people will want their music to “pump” or “sound thick” and many will try beef up their elements by using a compressor (probably after a quick Google) without actually knowing how to achieve it or what device to use. This article is going to hopefully try

Read post >

Graduate Interview Series – Jamie McEvoy

  Jamie McEvoy is currently working as the resident in-house Assistant Engineer at The Pool Recording Studio in London, the studio is jointly owned by Miloco and producer Ben Hillier. He has worked with countless big names including Noel Gallagher, Placebo, Years & Years, Emeli Sandé, The Wombats, Skepta, Mumford & Sons as well as Stephen Street, Catherine Marks and James Ford. Jamie graduated from the Sound Training College in 2012 and has worked in a number of different studios across Ireland and the UK. We recently got a chance to chat to Jamie about his experience in STC and

Read post >

Plugin Presets

So you’ve just bought a brand new shiny plugin and you can’t wait to start using it in your tracks, so where is the best place to start? Loading up a preset and seeing what the plugin can do of course! This is all well and good but from experience I know that people can get very comfortable with using presets, I know this because I myself am guilty of it! Many will find it the simplest solution to getting a sound that they desire instead of doing what we all really should be doing as creative artists and dissecting

Read post >

A Guide To Buying A Computer For Music Production

Be sure to check out a full list of Sound Engineering & Music Production courses we offer both online and in a classic classroom environment at Sound Training Online & Sound Training College! At the heart and soul of every recording studio is of course the computer. Some people may argue that we rely too much on computers these days but the way technology has developed and is constantly developing it is hard to shy away from the need to keep on top of computer changes and upgrades, it is in the best interest for you as a music producer. The brainchild

Read post >

Stereo Recording Techniques

Stereo microphone recording techniques are commonly used in the recording process and can offer great flexibility and advantages to recording specific elements. Imagine you have landed a session in a church recording a 15-piece choir for example, you are hardly going to set up 15 individual microphones and lug along a desk or interface with enough channels for the session, it’s unrealistic, unnecessary and a huge amount of work. Employing one of the many different stereo recording techniques can be much simpler, faster and you can achieve high quality recordings with minimum mics. Below we are going to go through some

Read post >

Guitar Amp Emulation – Software & Hardware

Guitar amp simulators, loved by many, loathed by many. You can not be a guitarist in society today without hearing names such as Kemper, AmpliTube, Guitar Rig, the list goes on. As many of us have delved into recording at home with our own reasonably/not so reasonably sized bedroom/garage home studios, the idea of having a room dedicated solely to building up a collection of high quality tube and solid state guitar amps and heads, loads of effects and rack mounted gear has for the most part, been dashed. Many of us, can find solace with the number of hardware

Read post >

Expect Delays – A Brief Insight Into Delay

Delay In today’s ever growing realm of technological advancements, Delay has maintained its crown as one of the most effective and versatile audio effects there is. Delay, at its simplest, is a delayed or repeated audio signal that is fed back into itself. The sound is recorded, stored and then is played back after a certain length of time, which is determined by the setting on the Delay unit. Delay units possess many parameters that can help alter and manipulate the sound. Delay is commonly used on multiple elements including, but not limited to, Vocals, Guitars, and even Drums! Delay

Read post >

Understanding Reverb

Reverb is an essential tool in the arsenal of both the Sound Engineer and the Producer alike. It wasn’t until the late 1930’s that the first artificial reverb was created, which finally enabled the Sound Engineer to control and shape the sound of reverb. Skip forward to 1976, where the next big milestone in the history of Reverb belongs to EMT, as they created the world’s first digital reverb unit, the “EMT 250″. As the years went by, more and more companies began to develop and release their own styles of reverb units, each one with its own unique sounds

Read post >
side-on-desk

Graduate Interview Series – Philip Magee

We continue our series of interviews with Sound Training College graduates this month with Philip Magee. Philip graduated in 2002 and has gone from strength to strength since then. We caught up with him to discuss freelance engineering, hard work and water fights.

Read post >
mick sound training

Graduate Interview Series – Michael Heffernan

This post is the first in a series of interviews that will be conducted with alumni of Sound Training College over the coming months. The interviews are a great way to catch up with former students and see what they are doing now. There really is an interesting diversity of paths that have been followed, which we intend to showcase with this interview series. So if you’re wondering about where Sound Training College can bring you, make sure you check out each edition of this series. Michael Heffernan is a Sound Engineer / Producer from Dublin, who has been working

Read post >