Recording - June 2018 - 4
FadeIn
Left brain, right brain, electronic brain
Let me start out by saying one thing that everyone's thinking but few people
want to say out loud: working with DAWs can really suck.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't use them. In his interview in this issue, CJ
Vanston quotes the late Greg Ladanyi, who had very little good to say about the
old-school process of doing everything on tape, and I'd agree. DAWs are fabulous
tools-infinite track counts, sample-accurate editing, piles of great-sounding virtual
instruments and effects plug-ins, 100% bit-for-bit backup of every single track for
safekeeping, and all at ridiculously affordable prices. Having said goodbye to
my last reel-to-reel nearly 20 years ago, I'd never want to go back.
That said, it's still true: working with DAWs can suck. Technology gets faster,
more integrated, and more powerful every year, but there's one element of the
modern computer-based music studio that hasn't been upgraded in a long time,
and which the rest of the studio has to work around. Namely, the one in the "NO
I CAN'T MAKE YOU SOUND LIKE JAY-Z" T-shirt.
Humans don't come with USB interfaces or flashable firmware or expansion
slots. We can't be externally upgraded to work better with our computers, so
we get frustrated when, to quote Frances Sternhagen, we have "this beautiful
machine and an old wreck like me trying to use it."
When a left-brain activity like running a DAW meets a right-brain activity like
playing music, we have to have a system in place that smoothly allows us to naturally
turn our creative impulses into good results... with as little technical messing
around as we can get away with. Sometimes playing with the toys is a reward in
and of itself, but sometimes we just want to get from here to there without having
to think too much about how we do it.
In my experience, the best way to accomplish that in the long run is to deliberately
avoid it (at least sometimes) in the short term. Set aside some time to let your left
brain do the work of laying down a smooth new track for your right brain. Spend
a session with your DAW and control surface, not trying to create a song, but
learning keyboard shortcuts for operations you do frequently, or building macros
to automate certain processes. It's tempting to have twenty plug-in compressors on
a track, but have you ever picked just one of them and learned everything it can
do on all kinds of sources, so you can just place it, tweak it, and go?
Simplify your tool box and learn the tools you do use inside and out. Do
important activities until they're instinctive, so you can do them without thinking
about the fact that you're doing them. Your fingers will fly while your right brain
is focused on the music, and your left brain won't get in the way and slow you
down or get you out of the zone.
In this issue, we talk about a variety of creative tools for making great music
on your DAW, and we offer tips on upgrading and working with it. Ultimately,
though, the one component you're stuck with is you. The good news is: you're
never obsolete, and upgrading your capabilities to make your DAW fly is just a
matter of practice.
There's real joy in doing a musical task that used to be painful and difficult,
getting a great result, and saying at the end, "Wow, that was easy." It wasn't-
you just learned how to do it like a pro.
Enjoy the issue.
publisher:
EDITORIAL
Mike Metlay
special projects editor: Lorenz Rychner
technical editor: Paul Vnuk Jr.
editor at large: Beto Hale
copy editor: Diana Smethurst
músico pro editor: Fernando Curiel
editor:
CONTRIBUTORS
Paul Vnuk Jr., Bill Stunt, Jon Hillman,
Darwin Grosse, Mark Mosher,
Marty Peters, Scott Dorsey
SOCIAL MEDIA
Brent Heintz, Paul Vnuk Jr.
ART & PRODUCTION
Joseph Hawley
production manager: Colin Courtney
web goalie: Colin Courtney
creative director:
PLAYBACK PLATINUM SERIES
Lorenz Rychner
editor/producer:
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Tiffany Sepe
circulation manager:
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vice president: Brent Heintz
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RECORDING MAGAZINE
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4
RECORDING June 2018
Thomas Hawley
Brent Heintz
associate publisher:
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - June 2018
Contents
Recording - June 2018 - Intro
Recording - June 2018 - Cover1
Recording - June 2018 - Cover2
Recording - June 2018 - 1
Recording - June 2018 - 2
Recording - June 2018 - 3
Recording - June 2018 - 4
Recording - June 2018 - 5
Recording - June 2018 - Contents
Recording - June 2018 - 7
Recording - June 2018 - 8
Recording - June 2018 - 9
Recording - June 2018 - 10
Recording - June 2018 - 11
Recording - June 2018 - 12
Recording - June 2018 - 13
Recording - June 2018 - 14
Recording - June 2018 - 15
Recording - June 2018 - 16
Recording - June 2018 - 17
Recording - June 2018 - 18
Recording - June 2018 - 19
Recording - June 2018 - 20
Recording - June 2018 - 21
Recording - June 2018 - 22
Recording - June 2018 - 23
Recording - June 2018 - 24
Recording - June 2018 - 25
Recording - June 2018 - 26
Recording - June 2018 - 27
Recording - June 2018 - 28
Recording - June 2018 - 29
Recording - June 2018 - 30
Recording - June 2018 - 31
Recording - June 2018 - 32
Recording - June 2018 - 33
Recording - June 2018 - 34
Recording - June 2018 - 35
Recording - June 2018 - 36
Recording - June 2018 - 37
Recording - June 2018 - 38
Recording - June 2018 - 39
Recording - June 2018 - 40
Recording - June 2018 - 41
Recording - June 2018 - 42
Recording - June 2018 - 43
Recording - June 2018 - 44
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Recording - June 2018 - Cover3
Recording - June 2018 - Cover4
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