Recording and Mixing at Bad Racket Recording Studio

Bad Racket is a recording and listening space built to be a good listening environment free from distractions. We encourage you to turn off your phone, wear a nice comfortable pair of your own headphones, and be prepared to take notes, or focus on the next few minutes to get the best possible material we can. We are prepared to let go of all our music and sound prejudices to let your next project, Bad Racket is in essence, an empty vessel, a ready environment. You are in a good audience, and we also often sometimes take quick notes or offer help creating material to make your music production experience as easy and straightforward as possible. Report how you feel, and we will let you know how we feel about the strength in performance of whatever various takes we record. Together we can listen back and determine the best face to show, while capturing the emotional response in the fresh as you perform your music or recording. We want the whole sensory experience to be good for you, so let us know if you are trying to convey a particular emotion, but I have experience with almost many emotions in music sound and video.

By Machine Elf 1735 [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plutchik-wheel.svg

From Feelings of agitation and anger, anxiety, and arousal to feelings of calmness and confidence or confusion, a feeling of content, or defiance, from delight and ecstasy to feelings of deep depression and gloom, grief and gripping guild and losing all hope in humanity.I am Happy to record feelings of happiness, but steer away from hate and bad energy, like deliberate desperation without hope. With Joy and Jubilation I will record torment scorn sadness and sexiness and shock, sorrow and sympathy , nostalgic melancholy and the exasperation of evney and exiliaration of fury and rage. The infatuation with religious acceptance has become a principal, while my own quest for rightness and righteousness.

Great music can give you chills or make you start clapping. Lets click our finger and snap our tongues, for that feeling of exhilaration from music. A foot tapping head bobbing increase or decrease in heart of breathing rate. Great music makes you hold your breath, or you might start mouthing the words or start playing the air guitar or air drums, rubbing your hands or tapping your toes, you might start smiling and singing along, or get a tingling, or shed a tear, squinting and tilting your head to the side in confusion with your hand over your mouth.

Microphones, PreAmps and the Tools of the Trade

Microphones transfer sound energy into electrical signal that we can capture and playback. We convert the acoustic energy of the sound with microphones and transformers that operate by using inter connected loops of wire to capture the electrical signal of the sound. Condenser and dynamic microphones as well as Ribbon Mics are great tools to use in the trade of music producer, recorder and mixer.

Microphone in the Recording Studio

Microphones work by vibrating a small transducer in the microphone that generates an electrical signal in the cable that can be captured by a recorder or computer. Microphone generally fall into three categories (with a bonus 4th category)

Dynamic Mics

Dynamic mics  have a sturdy warm tone and have a slower rounder frequency response generally. They work great to record drums, or guitar. They work by moving a tiny diaphragm usually made of plastic, which moves a coil within a magnet to generate signal in the cord to send down the line.

Condenser Mics

Condenser mics work by charging a capsule with two thin metal plates which are called diagrams, vibrating the front or back plate, or combination of the two to generate signal. They require phantom power (usually 48V DC) which can usually be engaged or disengaged from the mixer by the audio engineer. While most dynamics will not be affected by phantom power, ribbon mics can be damaged by phantom power, so when working in a recording studio environment or other place where ribbon mics may be used, take care in patching, or engaging phantom power on any channels where ribbon mics may be present.

Early Bonus Category: Electret-Condenser Microphones

Many small circuit boards use electret condenser microphones. Very few recording or live sound microphones use this type of technology. Most recording microphones need phantom power, where electret condenser require less power, and have a smaller footprint, more ideal for circuit board or cell phone IC type technology.

Ribbon Microphones

Ribbon Mics work by vibrating a tiny little piece of crinkled foil within a magnet which generates signal. They have a warm vintage tone, and are rarely used outside of the studio due to their delicate nature. While  ribbon mics may be helpful for recording that special something, their inherent delicate nature and unreliability over the long term, leaves dynamics and condensers most often used in the live sound scenario.

Many dynamic mics are so sturdy, they could be used a hammer or used as a formidable weapon, and probably work fine. Condenser mics are somewhat more delicate, with the capsules being fragile and susceptible to water damage. Ribbon mics eventually just wear out. The ribbon falls down or bangs up against the magnet.

Most ribbon mics or any other mic for that matter, can be tested by plugging in (applying phantom power if it is a condenser mic) and simply turning it in space back and forth 360 degrees. If there are any loose parts, or things falling around, the microphone should not be used for any serious purposes.

Listen for the quietness in handling, which is important for getting the best sound possible, and not having a lot of crap, or strange noises to edit out. Many different microphones can be used to capture sound in great detail, and not always the most fancy microphone is the best. Different applications may require different sounds, and, while the most expensive option may seem like the best choice, often the character of the microphone may be too detailed for the context of the whole song. Often times the strongest, most focused parts, are simple and solid, with more detailed cymbal and synthesiser or vocal parts coming into focus in the more detailed high end frequencies.

Mixing and Post Production

Recording is Just one part of the final product. Mixing and mastering audio is my specialty. A renounced facility, Bad Racket is the ideal place for me to manage, engineer, record, and produce hundreds of artists since 2009. I have worked with many people within the industry, and won numerous award and accolades., Each week I have the opportunity to record, mix and produce a variety of content, from one time deals, to offering feedback and advice for people over the course of years, I do everything from mixing and recording to composing and producing cutting-edge music, to scoring and sound design for video games, television, film and the web. I work with DJs Artists, audio engineers, and other producers to bring music artists into the forefront of focus. I’m ready to work with producers and programmers as well as other artists to produce original music, or record dialog and samples, or collect data.

Mixing is as much a process on the computer now as anything, and being prepared to tackle the task of the vast and daunting multi track universe filled with different tracks recorded from our multi track recording process within the DAW or Digital Audio Workstation. From software Instrument VSTs and MIDI to digital automation, mixing and signal processing within Pro TOols or another DAW we can control almost every element of your audio recording.

Meet Audio Engineer James Kananen

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