[This just in from Art Chaiyasothi, who has set up his new recording studio using PreSonus gear—and only PreSonus gear!]

You’ve proven your status as my target demographic by clicking the link that got you to this blog.

How did I know that? Well, you’re here, and that means you’re an online sort of musician. As such, I thought you’d like to know that Carl recently set up one heckuva handsome PreSonus-branded online storefront over on Amazon.com, where you can shop for all things PreSonus, and no things anybody else.

Click around. Read reviews. Get yourself some new Eris monitors—they, in particular, are killin‘ it over there, with a review score average of 5/5 from no less than 27 reviews.

Of course, if you’re of the old-skool mindset to hear/play with something before you buy it, you can always haul your true-analog butt to a local dealer that won’t deliver your new FireStudio Mobile via drone.

• Click here to find a dealer in the USA
• Click here to find a dealer outside the USA

They’re here! the iOne / iTwo interfaces allow you to record multi-track audio to your iPad, and then WIRELESSLY beam your tracks over to your laptop or workstation directly into Studio One via Wifi! How cool is that?

For more on iOne / iTwo, click here.

Jen Foster:

To call Jen Foster a singer/songwriter and leave it at that would be doing one of Houston’s finest a gross disservice. A complete solo artist in the truest sense of the term, Jen writes and performs her own award-winning music, runs her own record label, provides music for film and TV, and somehow manages to tour to packed houses and festivals all over the country. So far, she’s shared the stage with Melissa Etheridge, Brandi Carlisle, Edwin McCain, and many more. Oh, and she’s also on the Board of Directors for the Nashville Songwriter’s Association International.

Jen’s also a proud believer in music as a force for change, and is the architect behind songwriter series The Writer’s Share, which brought together Richard Marx, Keb’ Mo, Mike Reid, and Chuck Cannon to benefit the TJ Martell Foundation for Cancer, Leukemia, and AIDS. She followed up with the Christmas Time is Here video collaboration project and She4Marriage Equality.

A model Nimbit user as well, Jen’s slinging no fewer than four full-length albums, 11 singles, and a veritable summer collection of fashionable Foster-branded wearables, including beanies, rings, tank tops, t-shirts, bracelets, and—in perhaps a Nimbit merch first—CUSTOM DOG TAGS!

Click here to visit Jen Foster’s Nimbit profile and get her latest EP, You Stayed. Or dog tags.

If you’re going to be in Los Angeles on June 14, IMSTA FESTA is happening! You’re invited, it’s FREE, and you should click here to register. 

If you’re in the neighborhood, and into digital audio, then you should probably stop by. It’s an excellent opportunity to elbow-rub with world-class software manufacturers, and meet some of the great minds behind great software. Networking opportunities abound, and you’ll be surrounded with folks who love software just as much as you do.

Here’s some of the greatness that awaits, copy/pasted from their press release.

• Networking opportunity with LA’s “heavy hitters” in the music community.
• Obtaining hands-on experience with the latest music production products in the market.
• Learning tips & tricks from knowledgeable product specialists.
• Gaining unique insight into the music industry by attending highly educational panels.
• Winning prizes from top audio technology companies.
• Receiving a free gift for visiting our exhibiting companies.

Join Justin Spence as we get a visit from Terence Higgins and a few of his friends! The last time we had Terence come by, we broadcast nearly the entire production of “Swamp Grease II.” It remains one of our most-watched PreSonus LIVE episodes of all time.

Alongside Terence, we’ll have producer Wendel Tilly, Erica Falls,  and Andy Bourgeois together at the new PreSonus studio to record three full songs for Erica’s new album.

These are world-class players—don’t miss this one!

http://www.presonus.com/videos/presonuslive

[This just in from Donyea via YouTube.  He’s put together a great video on mixing drums in Studio One that I really thought was worth a look and listen. Have at it!  He says he’s got more videos like these brewing, so why not take a second to head over to his channel and subscribe. ]

Compression is an oft-misunderstood and sometimes over-used effect that enjoys (?) a wealth of online forum punditry. Sonic Sense has done an exemplary job here in plainly illustrating the rudiments of compression while cutting the crap. This video begins by demonstrating exactly what the basic compressor controls do, and then follows up with audible examples of the compressor being applied during tacking AND in a full mix, so you can very clearly hear the effect applied in the context of a full song. Demos include vocals, snare, and bass.

Thanks to Sonic Sense for not only clearing up some of the mysteries of compression, but also for choosing the ADL 700 as the right tool for the job.

[This just in from good friend and four-star general in the war against the machines, Brian Botkiller! He shares his latest track, “Morphogenic Residents,” and details some of the methods to its particular brand of oddball. When not repairing his Buddy Holly glasses with gaff tape or tracking down elusive rhymes for “morphogenic residents” and “triskelian,” Brian Botkiller is one of the main guys at OBEDIA, who have been slingin’ their brand of world-class recording technology training to the masses for nigh on ten years now. Strongly recommended.] 

I usually record and mix/master in Studio One, but I don’t do a lot of virtual instrument work, so I wanted to do a track entirely in Studio One and explore it a bit more. MC Tahina is an old friend and part of one of my favorite bands of all time, The Gluey Brothers. He wanted to do a track together, so I had him come over to Botkiller studios. He showed up, and while walking him in I said, “I’ve got the drums set up, and you can plug your guitar into Studio One if you want.”  He said, “I’ve only got lyrics,” which I thought was awesome. So, we needed a beat. I opened up NI Battery and Impact, and laid down a quick beat, then did some overdubbing with my DDRUM Dominion kit. I wanted to fool with the timing on the audio and MIDI, so I quantized it in some crazy ways and got a cool groove out of it without having to do more work, because Studio One does everything in the blink of an eye.

Next, Tahina did his vocals. I plugged straight into my PreSonus FireBox, my favorite audio interface of all time, and gave him a click and headphone mix, and he just went for it. We had vocals in minutes. I then opened up some previously saved channel strip presets (another favorite S1 feature,) and had a vocal mix in no time. We then laid down the bass, using Native Instruments Kontakt. Tahina did those, on the fly, on a MIDI keyboard straight into Studio One. I did some edits here and there, quantized fast, and boom, bass done. Here’s some video:

I wanted something else in the track, so I took out my turntable, dropped a plate on it, ran it into my FireBox’s SPDIF input, and did some scratches. I’m no Mix Master Mike, but I really liked how they added to the track. We then sat down and just mixed organically,  with me laying down some light backing vocals and other little bits. He was really impressed with how fast Studio One allowed me to work. I got everything done fast, and then jumped into mastering in the Project pane, and my song was done.

This was great because the weeklybeats project (http://www.weeklybeats.com) requires me to write, produce, and record a song per week. It has to be turned in by Sunday at 6pm MST, and I really like the project. It’s not a competition or anything, but just a personal challenge—by the end of the year, I should have written 52 new songs! I wanted to do it to get myself into the practice of writing faster, and releasing fast, instead of agonizing over a track forever. It’s really opened my mind and made me work fast and be creative. This is why Studio One is always in my workflow; I can’t do fast production like this in any other DAW, hands down. It’s the fastest daw in the west, east, or anywhere else.

As always, thanks for what you do and for being awesome.
Hear the track below.

Doug Gould of WorshipMD talks about how to take the best advantage of the Graphic EQ on your StudioLive AI digital mixer.

For info on the StudioLive AI digital mixers, click here. For more from Doug Gould and Worship MD, click here.