[UPDATED November 8, 2016 – Sadly, we had to reschedule our November 12 “Strum, Stomp, Amplify” event – the original inspiration for our discussion with Phil – to early 2017. The following post is edited to reflect this change.] Phil Bradbury of Little Walter Tube Amps has been making some of the best sounding (and coolest looking) […]
Listen to Some of our Recent Tracks on SoundCloud
Here is a playlist of some recent projects mastered at Airshow. (Please view each track individually to see engineer and credit info.) Be sure to visit our SoundCloud page for a lot more music mastered by all of our engineers. Dive in and enjoy!
Oral History: Capture the Best Interview
When I conducted oral history interviews as a college student, I knew something about interviewing (but not much!) and nothing about audio. Armed with a portable cassette recorder the size of a textbook with only a built-in microphone, I worked to gather recollections from elderly union members about events 30 years in the past. As […]
Audiobooks and the Independent Author Part III: Estimating production time and expense
Airshow engineers Anna Frick and Jon Gold joined me to pool our thoughts on how a self-publishing author can affordably release their ideal audiobook. In Part I and Part II, we covered pre-production, recording, and post-production. In Part III, we explore a real-world production and manufacturing budget for an audiobook narrated by the author. Download […]
Audiobooks and the Independent Author Part II: Recording and post-production
Airshow engineers Jon Gold and Anna Frick joined me to explore how we can deploy Airshow’s resources to support independent authors in audiobook production. In Part I, we raised a series of questions an author will want to address in pre-production. In this post, we share recording tips a narrator will find useful, and describe […]
Analog Tape Series, Part 3: Studio Settings and Collaboration
Setting Up Your Studio to Work Efficiently for Tape Recording Now that you have your tape deck and have completed the basic maintenance on it you can take a look at the gain-staging of your whole recording setup. Most professional studio equipment is designed to operate at a nominal +4dBu; when a VU meter on your tape deck or […]
Analog Tape Series, Part 2: How to Keep Your Tape Deck in Top Condition
Care and Maintenance OK, now you own a cool new (old) analog tape deck. The first thing to know is that tape recorders should be aligned before every session! The tape path should be cleaned every time you change a reel of tape, or more frequently. I often clean the heads before playback of each […]
Analog Tape Series, Part 1: What to Know Before You Buy
Over the last couple years, I’ve had a remarkable number of projects come through my mastering studio originating on tape. Some of these projects involve restoration on past work of notable artists including the Grateful Dead and Doc Watson, but many are new recordings by artists intrigued by the unique quality of analog sound and […]