December Mix Fest

Howdy! Busy December kicks off with a couple of CrowdAudio competition mixes. Another work related trip to Germany took some precious mixing hours away from me, but I'm still fairly pleased with the results.

Midnight Mixing Path

The two songs were totally different in genres and both had their unique challenges. Read on and take a listen.

New stuff #3 - Mautoalign plugin

Got some new stuff again. A plugin from MeldaProduction that allegedly fixes phase cancellation automatically. Just plug it in and the magic happens. I did a small test with an old recording of an acoustic guitar and made a demonstration out of it. Read more and check out what happened!

Mautoalign Plugin

Tips'n Tricks #1 - Wide guitar

Hello all! I'm once again introducing a new series called Tips'n Tricks. This will be used for sharing tips so miniscule that they are even too small for my Short'n Snappy -series. Also, this is a good way to keep the blog breathing with useful things (instead of kittens) with a relatively small effort, for those extra busy weeks.

Fat Guitar

Here's a quick tip for some extra Mojo for your guitar parts. A simple way to get your guitar sound wide and massive without any plugins. Enjoy!

Mix Breakdown #2 - Air Enough to Breathe

Here's my second Mix Breakdown. This time I'll be concentrating on vocal treatment. Welcome on board!

Air Enough to Breathe by Port Streets

 I'm a bit late with this weeks blog, but my baby girl had her birthday, which we celebrated with family and relatives. Therefore I decided to give myself some slack, and this time not even complain about the lack of time. Be sure to read on as I reveal my secrets!

Aatos K. Uolevi - Man Behind the Lobe

Meet Mr. Aatos. My new project, born so suddenly that even I was surprised.

Aatos by night

Storm clouds are said to have a silver lining, and indeed a bad day was turned into a fun new project. Read on and take a listen what Aatos has to say.

RL Malfunction #1 - RL job taking me away

Real life malfunctions keep jumping at my hobby.

Bang!

I had a busy week at work taking a trip to Germany which took most of my week. No time for mixing nor writing I'm afraid.

FLS Showcase #1 - Run Run Run

Introducing my Showcase-series with a sweet reggae mix - Run Run Run, by Arise.

Go ahead and take a listen. Check out FLS mixing in action. Onwards!

New Stuff #2 - Virtual friend for my Doctor

My trusty Dr. Z Maz 18 got a new virtual friend for home recordings. Everything is nice and dandy on the honeymoon period. Just as it should be. We'll just have to see if it can stand the test of time.

Meet the Doctor

If you happen to be looking for a guitar solution for the home studio or if you are just curious, have a look at my Live gear and the not so mysterious virtual friend. Welcome!

 

Shameless Plug #1 - Random Fates

Even though my introduction says (the Man - the Gear - the Challenge) that my blog is mainly about midnight mixing and mastering, I wanted to surprise you and decided to drop a shameless plug of another project I'm in - Random Fates.

If You don't mind my shameless ways then have a look and Welcome!

Analog Secret - Exposed!

The sweet eluding analog vibe has intrigued men since the creation of digital audio. There are countless number of plugins to destroy your crystal clear digital audio trying to emulate analog systems. I for one like analog sound because the equipment looks cool.

Analog adds a flavor of cool

Time to crack the mystery for us mere mortals. What makes the analog sound? My non-peer-reviewed scientific method will reveal the secret. Read on, if you dare!

Short'n Snappy #2 - EQ

Hello All! This has been a strange week. I don't really know what has happened. Maybe it's just me and my wonky brain, but I have felt that I have had ample time to concentrate on my mixing thingies. In addition to this, I went out and listened some live bands. Did some some recordings for our project band (cant wait to get this one out). And on top of it all, our cover band seems to have activated in to a more active state. And I like it! There are of course still lots of stuff on my desk to be done, but still my mind seems to be slowly approaching Zen-state.

Short'n Snappy Equalization

Here's the second installment of my Short'n Snappy series, featuring the fundamental almost all-mighty equalizator. The standard tool of choice for the ever vigilant mixer, seeking clarity, separation and infinite tonal shaping possibilities. Onwards to the Short'n Snappy road to the sweet sweet EQ, Welcome!

Short'n Snappy #1 - Compression

It's been a busy few weeks again. I finished one new mix (listen here) but mostly did some quick edits and tinkered (with a relatively low success) with some mastering gizmos on some recordings. In addition, our project band has got some new spark on recording our next song. Not to mention the home-front with all the undone stuff piling up. Therefore I decided to start a series of Short'n Snappy tutorialish snippets on all things mixing. These shouldn't take too much time and I'm sure that I will learn a lot, as I try squeeze my limited knowledge on a Short'n Snappy format. And who knows, maybe someone else can get something out if it too.

Short'n Snappy Compression

So onwards to the Short'n Snappy road to understanding Compression. Read why you would want to compress things, what compression does, what are the basic controls concerning compression and check out a bonus example of CLA-3A compressor on action. Welcome!

New Stuff - Recording Secrets for the Small Studio

Nothing much happening this week. Superbusy and supertired does not much accomplish. I did however get my hands on a brand new copy of a new book by Mike Senior. Recording Secrets for the Small Studio should get me to the fast track towards recording professional audio. I loved Mikes previous book (check my review here) and I have very high expectations for this one too. I have skimmed a few pages so I'll drop a quick preview for some easy bloggins. 

Mike Senior - Recording Secrets for the Small Studio

Mix Breakdown - August DM Mix Competition

August was a busy month. Among other things, I entered a mixing competition organized at the Dueling Mixes forum. It was great to see how all of the submitted mixes were so different. I was quite happy with my mix, even though it didn't rank at the top 5. So I decided to open up my mix and shed some light to some of the more interesting parts of my mix. Welcome to my first Mix Breakdown.

Home Studio Improvement - New Sheriff in Town

Finally, after a few more heat strokes from my old work horse, I got a new laptop for my studio. No more sweaty palms and panic accompanied by the sweet scent of electric burn. No need for the usual questions. When was my last backup run? Did I remember to save? Will it start again? Where's Matlock?

Now there's a new Sheriff in town. ASUS N750J taking control and asking no questions. A huge improvement, not only in reliability, but in performance also. But it wasn't all that easy. When it came to moving my studio software and audio interface, what started as a simple task, transformed into a vortex of licensing procedures sucking the life out of me.

It's getting hot in here

Things are getting hot around here. More heat related shutdowns while working with 40+ tracks projects. I'm hoping my new laptop arrives before this one makes its final shutdown.

Please leave a comment and keep your fingers crossed

Book Review - Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio

New to mixing and like to read stuff? Then instead of reading useless blogs, go get this book. It has it all.
 

The One book to rule them all

Portable home studio - Now available at your location

Home is where your studio is. And in these modern times of science and technical wonders, that can be anywhere.

A good friend of mine; avid cyclist,  beer enthusiast in principle and a visionary with a low wind resistance, first introduced me to the idea of a transportable mixing studio, while he was lugging around his own rucksack full of electronics. I thank thee my friend.

Introduction – The Man, The Gear, The Challenge

Time for the first post for my blog. Time for introductions. Time to face the challenge.

Frontal Lobe Studio was founded on a hot summer night. Sweating in the heat, while basking in the midnight glow of my studio laptop, I decided to do something. Do some blogging. Here’s a little story about me, my studio(gear) and the motivation for this blog.