History In The Making

In my recent podcast episode, I talked about forward motion and the idea that a ton of what sets us back in the studio is mindset. Today, I want to expound on that a little deeper by giving you a mindset shift that has helped me tremendously! That being that as a musician, a singer/songwriter, a mixing engineer, etc you are doing more than just making music or JUST mixing someones music. Instead think of it this way, "I am making history"!

Yep, that's right, when we set out to do this monumental task of making an artistic imprint on the society around us we are doing more than just spinning our wheels, we are making history. Think about it, we are releasing something that has never been heard before. If it has never been heard before that means that in the minds of the world it doesn't exist and therefore when we do release it for the world to hear for the first time, it becomes a part of history. This simple mindset shift has helped me to keep trudging along in the trenches at times with a song I felt less than enthusiastic about. It has helped me to release more music than ever before, even if I wasn't completely happy with where the song was in its less than perfect state. This mindset has helped me to navigate through the pitfalls and woes of tweaking that guitar delay for an hour and also helped me to see the forest for the trees on a mix that was not my own.

I know it sounds simple, but hey that's why this blog is called Home Studio Simplified! I want you to make music, better music, and more of it. Music should not seem like a job, even if it is our primary source of income. Nor should it be a daunting task that we put off for weeks because of the fear and frustration of what may appear to us as failure.

The next time you set down to work on something, think to yourself, "Today, I am going to make history".


HSS Episode 025-Forward Motion


If you have any questions, show ideas, songs, or even a mix you'd like to share, you can email me: homestudiosimplified@gmail.com

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Today's Topic: Forward Motion

  • It took Paula Abdul's "Forever Your Girl" a total of 64 weeks - a year and three months - to go from entering the Billboard 200 to reaching No. 1
  •  Records that took a loooong time to record and release: Portishead - Third (11 years), Guns n Roses - Chinese Democracy (17 years), Brian Wilson - Smile: (40 years)
  • Whether its “glacier speed” or “Bugatti speed” it's forward motion that matters
 Major setbacks to Home Studio Hobbyists and Freelance Audio Engineers alike include:
  • Fear
  • Lack of self confidence
  • OCD
  • Losing sight of what really matters most
  • Thinking in terms of money more than music
  • Time

Find That Frequency:
Song: Peace In The Storm
Artist: Robert McClellan
Album: Unreleased Single as of now
Style: Acoustic Instrumental

Difficulty Level: Easy

Check out this episode!

HSS Episode 024-Do Expensive Cables Really Matter?


HSS Episode 24-Do Expensive Cables Really Matter?
In this episode I discuss some results I got when I did some A/B testing on some high end cables. Also, I recently installed a Furman PL-8 Series Power Conditioner. Was it worth it?
Gear Review:
New to the arsenal is a Nady RSM-4 Ribbon Mic, I cover briefly my thoughts on this new mic I just acquired for $75 on eBay. Full review of the mic soon to come. By the way, I actually used this mic to record the episode you're listening to!
A link to the PSN Podcast episode with Slau, where he gives some great audio examples of ribbon mics.
A New Segment: Find That Frequency
Listen to this short snippet of audio and try to figure out what the offending frequency is that's causing problems in the audio.
Thanks to:
Big thank you to Segoviashu who left an honest review in the iTunes store for the podcast!
Thanks to Justin Clark who left a great review on my Thumbtack profile for the Studio work we did together.
Another big thank you to Shi from sunny California for the kind words regarding the Youtube channel and the podcast, as well as John-Paul Ortega who found the episode on Room Acoustics very useful for getting better acoustics in his basement, and in turn he left some kind words in an email.

Thank you as well to all the email subscribers and Facebook “likers”! And thank you to all the YouTube subscribers as well!

If you'd like to join me on Hangwith.com sometime for live Q&A or just general randomness you can do so here: Hangwith HSS here

Check out this episode!

Are Expensive Cables Worth It?

So recently I spent some hard earned money on some cable for the home studio. My intention was to upgrade and expand as my mic locker is expanding as well. The hype out there is telling everyone that the incredibly high end cables will "dramatically improve your tone", so being the skeptic I am, I bought some to test. I thought I would document my findings to help others make better informed decisions about this issue so included below are a couple links to the cable shootouts that I just did. Are the high end cables worth it? You decide. Enjoy!

XLR Cable Shootout

1/4 Instrument Cable Shootout

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