It’s been a crazy year for me, full of endings and new beginnings.

In January, Traded to Racine played our final show in front of all our friends alongside Joan of Arc. The first few months of the year were some of the busiest and most fulfilling I had at my studio in Florida, Contrast Recording. In May, I finished the final mixes for Climb the Bell Tower‘s Separation EP and began the difficult task of moving my equipment out of and demolishing Contrast Recording in preparation for my move to Athens, GA.

June through August were spent getting situated in Athens. Patrick Ferguson gave me the opportunity to start helping out at Studio 1093 in August while tracking Easter Island‘s new record. That project is nearing completion and will be released in 2012. Ponderosa also spent some time tracking at 1093 back in September.

This past month, Patrick and I mixed a full-length titled “Broken-Hearted Dance” at 1093 for a great band called Mr. Mustache. I’m very proud of the work we did on that record and I can’t wait to see what these guys get up to in the future.

January is promising to be my busiest month to date and I’m very grateful for that. I’ve got a number of mixing jobs to get started on, beginning with a full-length for FL band Fero Lux. There’s a lot I’d like to post about, but I’m not able to just yet so you’ll just have to check back in the new year.

Thank you everyone for your support, here’s to another great year!

Richard Salino

The new mix room is starting to take shape. I’m finally getting the patchbay wired up and starting on the acoustics of the space. I ran some tests to measure the acoustic response of the room and it measures more favorably without treatment than my old room did with treatment. It still needs some work, but I’m very optimistic towards the outcome. It should be a great place to work.

Climb the Bell Tower’s “Separation” is finished and will be on iTunes soon. I will be in Florida for the CD release show on October 27th at Ft. Lauderdale’s Green Room. I will post one of the finished tracks soon.

Richard Salino

I recently assisted Patrick Ferguson on a session for the band Ponderosa at Studio 1093 here in Athens. I took a few pictures from the session and thought I would post them here so you can see the studio and some of the options recording there provides.

The first picture shows a concert bass drum set up in front of the kit to provide some extra low end and resonance when the kick and toms were struck. The second picture shows a wider view of the room and the drum setup with a pair of microphones in front of the kit and a single mic on the landing above to capture more of the room ambience. The last picture shows a pair of microphones (a Neumann U47 and an RCA 77DX) set up for vocal tracking. The two mics were tracked simultaneously so that their different textures could be utilized for different passages.

For more information and pictures of the studio you can check here.

Richard Salino

In the digital audio medium, few things are as aurally unpleasant as hard clipping. Unfortunately, I sometimes receive files to mix that have been clipped because of outdated information, hearsay, and a general misunderstanding of digital audio.

Digital clipping occurs when a signal surpasses the headroom of the system, resulting in distortion as the waveform is limited and squared off. This is referred to as hard clipping. In some analog systems, such as with magnetic tape or vacuum tubes, clipping is less dramatic and may even be desired (guitar amplifier distortion, for example). This is referred to as soft clipping and will be ignored for the remainder of this post.

The headroom of a system is defined as difference above normal operating level and the onset of clipping. Dynamic range is defined as the ratio between the loudest undistorted amplitude of a system to the RMS amplitude of noise in the system.

Simplified somewhat, digital audio is made up of zeroes and ones comprising binary words, each representing the amplitude of an analog signal at a particular point in time. The sample rate for CD audio is 44.1kHz. When converting an analog signal to digital for CD, 44.1 thousand words are written each second to represent that signal. The greater the bit depth, the longer the word and the higher the possible resolution. For example, a 16-bit signal (such as CD audio) has 2¹⁶, or 65,536 possible values. For each added bit of information, the resolution doubles. So a 24-bit signal has 16,777,216 possible values. The theoretical maximum dynamic range for a 16-bit signal is 96dB and 144dB for a 24-bit signal, limited by quantization error. In reality, limitations in the analog components of digital audio converters can reduce a system’s dynamic range and dither can increase it, making these figures approximations.

Now, what does that mean to someone making a recording at home?

In the days of analog tape, noise was a real concern and engineers employed a number of techniques to maintain an optimum signal-to-noise ratio. Performances could be lost if the signal was not loud enough. When digital systems first started to appear, 16-bit was adopted as the standard, and engineers continued to track with many of the same techniques used with analog mediums. With the limited dynamic range afforded by a 16-bit system (human hearing has approximately 140dB of dynamic range), noise was still a concern and “using all the bits” by pushing the signal level was important.

Unfortunately, this way of working presents some problems. Recording at the edge of a system’s operating maximum can be risky – a clipped signal is often irreparable. Also, many processes in recording and mixing can add gain to the signal. If there is no headroom left, the engineer will be forced to make adjustments to allow for the extra gain. Possibly most important of all, audio processors, both analog and digital, are designed to operate at an ideal level. Working at too-high a level in the digital realm can cause the input stage of these processors to overload, introducing distortion.

These days, however, every digital system should offer an option to record at 24-bit. If the reason for doing so hasn’t become clear by now, just follow blindly and do it anyway. Recording and mixing at 24-bit allows one to adjust a signal to peak at a lower level with no loss in resolution compared to a 16-bit signal.

As far as signal level, just keep it low. Tracking with peaks in the -18dB to -12dB range has absolutely no negative impact on the resolution of a signal. In fact, those 18dB equate to about 3 bits of resolution. By keeping your signal at a reasonable level, you’re avoiding clipping, even if the source being recorded becomes considerably louder before you can reach the input gain knob. In addition, you’re not overdriving your preamp, your processors, or your master bus. You may find your workflow is much more relaxed when you’re not constantly having to adjust your signal level to account for small changes in the performance and signal processing. Depending on your equipment, you may also notice a dramatic improvement in the quality of your recordings.

Still concerned with “using all the bits”?

Richard Salino

A lot has happened in the few months since I posted last. I now live in Athens, GA and have been spending some time becoming familiar with the area, music, and studios around me. Coming from the endless city of South Florida, the environment is a welcome change. The city is rich in history and strikes a comfortable balance between the comforts of a larger city and the familiarity of a small town.

I am busy setting up my new mixing room, which will house the equipment from Contrast Recording. Some of the equipment will be mobile to allow me to move between any of the other studios in town, or to work out of a band’s practice area or house. Since the internet makes it possible to mix files recorded anywhere on the planet, I have the flexibility to work with anyone, regardless of budget, location, or aesthetics.

I finished mixing for Climb the Bell Tower’s new EP “Separation” before leaving Florida. The record was mastered by Brian Lucey at Magic Garden Mastering, and will be released officially on October 27th. A pre-release run of 50 was printed and some copies are still available. The record will also be released on iTunes within the next month or so.

This marks the resumption of weekly Sunday blog updates. In the next few weeks, I will post about some of the great resources available to musicians seeking to record in Athens, and also post in more detail about the new Contrast Recording.

Richard Salino

I started recording out of curiosity and necessity while playing in a punk rock band in South Florida. The community of bands in the area at the time afforded me the opportunity to grow into a professional engineer and open my own studio. I feel truly lucky to have been part of something that showed me such support and encouragement.

As I move the studio north to Athens, GA, I want to express my gratitude to everyone who has helped me along the way. To my friends in Miami (and elsewhere now) who trusted me when I was starting out, everyone I’ve ever played with, those who helped me build the studio (physically and otherwise), and especially my family for supporting me in every way every step of the way, thank you from the bottom of my heart. My life would be a lot quieter without you.

Contrast Recording is relocating to Athens with an emphasis on mixing. I am moving towards a more flexible tracking setup, allowing me to work out of any of the great studios in town, at a band’s practice space, or any other location. Budgets and aesthetics vary and I want the opportunity to work with anyone regardless of those factors. If you’re out of town, I’m happy to travel and I can mix remotely via the web.

Salut!

Richard Salino

I started tracking a record for reggae band Bushwood last week. The band wanted a record that would accurately represent their sound and emotion so we decided to track live. To maintain separation while still allowing all members to play together, the drums were tracked in the main room, bass was recorded direct, and the guitar amp was set up in smaller booth. Having everyone playing in the same room allows for a more organic creative process. There were a number of semi-improvised sections that made it onto the record that would not have been possible if the band had recorded each instrument separately.

Their drummer, Jon, uses a kit with slightly smaller sizes than what has become the standard rock setup. This allows the drums to sit a little higher, pitch-wise, and opens up the bottom end for what reggae is all about – the bass! I’m a little disappointed I couldn’t think up a clever way to snag his hi-hats without anyone noticing.

The band knocked out the basic elements of nine songs in one session. Vocals and some lead guitar work will be completed later this week. Everything is sounding great so far, should be a fun record!

Check them out here.

Richard Salino

We’re almost done tracking the Climb the Bell Tower EP and I finally have some time to talk about the recording process. We’re using a lot of vintage instruments and equipment coupled with a more modern approach to tracking and overall aesthetic. Everyone in the band is into a lot of classic rock, blues, and roots music, and I think that comes across in the instruments that are making it on to the album.

The drums are an early-’60s-era Ludwigs with a modern brass DW snare. At that time, Ludwig was producing drums using three plies of mahogany and poplar. To keep the shells from deforming, reinforcing rings were installed at each end of the drum. Modern drums generally use six or more (thinner) plies of wood (usually maple or birch) and no reinforcing rings. This results in a higher glue to wood ratio, which affects resonance. The bearing edges (the point of contact between the shell and the head) of old Ludwigs are more rounded than modern drums. These differences in construction give the Ludwigs a more controlled, deep, thuddy sound with solid tone from the shell without unwanted head ring. The cymbals used were all Zildjians from the last 15 years or so. To see a video of the setup, check this post.

Bass tracks thus far have been a Fender Precision Bass through a 60s Ampeg B15. The B15 is a low-wattage, all-tube amp that has become a standard for recording bass. The direct signal from the bass was also recorded. Some of the songs are calling for a more modern tone than the B15 would give us, so we’re going to either use the direct signal or do some more tracking with a different set up. We will make that decision depending on how the bass is sitting with the guitars as we track them.

We’ve been using a number of different guitars, including a Gibson ES-335, Les Paul 1960 VOS, Les Paul Tribute, and a Rickenbacker 330. Most of the rhythm tracks were done with the 335 and the Les Paul VOS through either a Hughes and Kettener Puretone or a Vox AC30. A modified Deluxe Reverb, modified Bassman, and an AC15 have also made their way onto some tracks.

We have some more guitar stuff, lead and background vocals, and some percussion left to finish.

Richard Salino

For one of the songs on Climb the Bell Tower’s EP, we wanted a really huge sound for a bass drum, hand claps, and other percussion. Rather than use an artificial reverb processor, we decided to go old-school and find a space that had the sound we were looking for.

As it happens, there’s a hallway nearby that sounded really cool, so we set up some equipment and recorded the chaos.

Here’s a video showing some of what went on:

Richard Salino

Climb the Bell Tower has started tracking for an EP, due to be released over the summer.

Here is a short video showing the set up for the drum tracking:

Richard Salino