INTRODUCTION

This tracks the production of my recent EP, "Its Beautiful E.P." and is meant to describe how a typical recording of a rock/pop comes to life in a simple home studio. Hopefully this will encourage others to embark on the path to producing their own music. The songs on the EP veer from Jeff Buckley-esque controlled mayhem to calm pop to a funky acoustic bendy jazz tune; sort of (hopefully) intelligent rock music without the spandex, the big hair or the unnecessary noodling. Samples of the tracks recorded and referred to in this article may be found at www.lenmusic.com.

I do not claim to be a top-notch producer, engineer or (least of all) mastering engineer, but this article is not designed for the Neptunes, Elliot Scheiners or Bob Ludwigs of the world, but rather the many unknown musicians and producers who, like me, record and produce music in their own project studios (which usually means a spare corner of the bedroom!). This article, in other words, is for someone just starting out and with whom I would like to share my experience.

HARDWARE

Microphones

1. Neumann TLM 103 large diaphragm condenser microphone - The cheapest in the Neumann range, but still provides that quality and warmth that Neumann have always been known for. Plus it never loses its value!

2. Audio Technica AT4041 small diaphragm condenser microphone - A bit of a workhorse, which provides some nice high frequency detail, and which is thus nice for instruments like acoustic guitar. Of course I would like to get a Neumann km84 some day, but this will do for now, especially given that I do not have a decent acoustic recording space (hallway, anyone?) to warrant a mic like the km84 anyway.

Microphone Pre-amps

3. DBX 386 Dual Vacuum Tube Preamp - Because I was recording using solid state (as opposed to tube) microphones, and because I was going to record into a computer, it was important to try and take some of the "edge" off the very clean and sonically perfect, but arguably clinical, sound of digital recording. Thus the use of a tube preamp to inject some warmth and, ironically, imperfection. The DBX 386 also has decent analogue to digital converters built in, which is a plus.

4. JoeMeek VC1Qcs solid state preamp/compressor/EQ - The sound of the microphone preamp here is perhaps "harder"/less warm than that of the DBX 386 and so less desirable to my ears. However, it has its uses - I used this mainly to record aggressive vocals and acoustic guitars in busy mixes (that is, the song "Its Beautiful" on the EP). I also used it for direct recording of the electric guitar and electric bass tracks. Indeed, this unit is fantastic for bass compared to the DBX 386, especially with the characterful compression JoeMeeks are known for. In any event, it managed to make my el cheapo Yamaha bass sound decent.

Compressor

5. SPL Dynamaxx dual channel compressor/limiter - This compressor is not particularly well known, but it is wonderful because it is a "set-and-forget" compressor, with automatic attack and release times, so you only need to determine how much compression you actually want. Its also very warm sounding. If I have one criticism of it, its that it appears to take away just a little bit of the high frequencies when more than light compression is applied. However, I believe this characteristic is also true of some classic/vintage compressors which cost ten times more.

Other

6. SPL Stereo Vitalizer Mk-2 - While this is usually used as a harmonic "exciter" for mixdown or mastering, I used it unconventionally, as a tracking device on one song, "Its Beautiful", in the manner described below.

7. Boss VF-1 Multi-Effects Processor - This is a small multi-effects unit that I usually use onstage for reverb and effects on my acoustic guitar when I perform with Sophie Barker (www.sophiebarker.com), but it also contains guitar and bass amplifier simulations - I used a bass amp simulation for the bass on "Its Beautiful", as it required a more aggressive sound than could be coaxed out of a straight DI sound through the JoeMeek.

Input Device to Computer

8. Yamaha 01X (www.01xray.com) - This firewire device functions as a digital mixer, soundcard, MIDI interface and software controller all at the same time. Its amazing.

Monitors

9. Alesis Monitor One Active monitors. An inexpensive, but decent, pair of monitors that sounds "flat" in the frequency spectrum, which is a good thing when you are trying to mix your songs so that they sound good on all sorts of speakers out there.

SOFTWARE

I got Cubase SX2, a popular recording program, and installed it on a PC, having never previously used a computer to record music. I was recording tracks for the EP in less than a month, so it turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. I had previously recorded a CD on a digital multitrack ("The Winter Sessions E.P.", Sound on Sound magazine's Top Tape in Sept 2002), but computers were a whole new ball game for me.

ANALOGUE TO DIGITAL (A/D) CONVERSION

Because it is important that the conversion from an analogue signal to a digital signal be as accurate as possible, in an ideal world one would have specialist converters such as those made by Apogee, Mytek or Prism. However, there is no point in having the world's best converters if the recording environment is less than perfect - the imperfections of the recording space and recording chain would mask any perceived improvement that the very best converters would give.

To that end, the A/D converters built into the DBX 386 preamp were more than sufficient. In fact, that is one of the reasons I got the DBX 386 to begin with - the fact that I was guaranteed some decent A/D conversion. The converters in the Yamaha 01X were also, to my ears, fairly transparent and clean.

THE PLAYERS

Me - Vocals, backing vocals, e-bow (on "Its Beautiful" only), electric guitars, acoustic guitars, bass, piano and B4 organ.

Sophie Barker (www.sophiebarker.com) - backing vocals on "Its Beautiful" and "The Road to You".

Frank Basile (www.livestudiodrums.com) - drums. As all recording was to be done in a stairwell at home, recording a live drummer was going to be a problem. That's where I discovered a great resource that was being launched at the time that I recorded this EP, www.livestudiodrums.com (and no I'm not getting any commission for this!). It worked on the simple basis that I would send a rough recording of my songs, without drums but strictly to tempo, with detailed instructions of what I wanted, to the nice session drummer at livestudiodrums.com, Frank Basile, who would then play and record live drums for that song and send the audio files to me. As I used the service while it was on its introductory offer, it was a complete steal. Even at non-introductory prices, it would be have been much cheaper than paying a drummer and a studio in London to record said drummer. The catch, of course, is that unless you are incredibly specific, or indeed record a drum pattern on a drum machine that you would like the livestudiodrums.com drummer to then reproduce the parts "live", you may not give you exactly the drum tracks you would like. However, with the editing power found in Cubase and other software editors, one can edit the drums so that it is closer to the vision one has (see under "Mixdown" below).

TRACKING

The typical signal chain for the recording is described below. All acoustic recording was made in the stairwell/landing in the typical tiny London house, with a double mattress propped up against the window to contain the reflections coming from all directions!

It took five days to record all the parts, mainly because I was the producer, engineer and performer all at once. In future a partner-in-crime to handle the equipment while I play/sing will be much welcomed.

Vocals - Neumann TLM 103 mic to DBX 386 preamp with SPL Compressor (as an insert) to Yamaha 01X/computer. In a few cases the JoeMeek was used to get a more aggressive sound. The DBX 386 has a hi-pass filter at 75hz which I used to cut out low-end rumble from my feet or from buses in the distance.

Acoustic Guitars (Larrivee L9 guitar) - Neumann TLM 103 mic and Audio Technica AT4041 to DBX 386 preamp with SPL Compressor (as an insert) to Yamaha 01X/computer. Typically I would have the Neumann pointing at the 14th fret of the guitar, with the Audio Technica pointing at the body of the guitar just behind the strumming/picking hand. In the case of the song "Its Beautiful", which has many instruments occupying the lows and mids of the frequency spectrum, it was important to try and get the acoustic guitar to "float" above those low and mid-range frequencies. This is where the SPL Vitalizer came in handy; it helped to bring out the harmonics in the upper frequencies so that the acoustic guitar could be heard at mixdown without having to boost its volume by inordinate amounts.

Electric Guitars (Fender Stratocaster) - DI into JoeMeek VC1Qcs, into DBX 386 for tube warmth and A/D conversion, to Yamaha 01X/computer. I then applied the Amplitube plugin to get the desired electric guitar sound. It was important, however, to get a good, clean signal into the computer first, which is where the JoeMeek came in handy.

Bass (El cheapo Yamaha bass) - DI into JoeMeek VC1Qcs, into DBX 386 for tube warmth and A/D conversion, to Yamaha 01X/computer. As noted above, the JoeMeek really helped in getting a decent sound out of this bass.

Piano (Yamaha P-80) - straight into Yamaha 01X/computer on songs where the piano needed to be bright and cut through the mix, otherwise DBX 386 preamp with SPL Compressor (as an insert) to Yamaha 01X/computer for a warmer sound.

Organ (Yamaha P-80 as MIDI controller) - the organ is basically the B4 organ, a software instrument from Native Instruments, which gives a nice Hammond B3 sound.

MIXDOWN

Mixing is, to me, even more difficult than recording the sources. There is a saying: "You only hear a song for the first time once". How true - it is very hard to keep a clear perspective on what each song is trying to say, and to keep the vibe of the song alive, when you are obsessing during the mixing process about bass, mids, highs, delays, reverbs, compression, "height", "depth", "spaciousness" etc. Tracking may have taken 5 days, but mixdown probably took more than a month!

We are also at that stage in history when it is no longer necessary to go to an expensive studio with a Neve or SSL mixing desk to mix our tracks. Certainly the costs of going to a "proper" studio cannot be justified for an independent release like mine. I thus chose to do it on my own "in the box" i.e. inside the computer.

At this stage, and when mixing in the box, the three most important things are:

1. a fresh pair of ears - its bad enough as it is that the mixing engineer (me) is also the person that recorded all the sounds (me - save for the drums), so its important to take frequent breaks and come back to the mix with a fresh perspective;

2. decent plugins - there are some great free plugins out there, but sometimes its worth shelling out a few bob for decent plugins (after all, you are going to run your meticulously-recorded audio through them!); and

3. decent monitoring - its not just the monitor speakers one has to worry about, but the actual room where the monitoring is being done. Keeping the speakers away from room corners, for example, can give a much more accurate picture; otherwise one might perceive "too much" bass, with the result that the final mix is bass-light.

Plugin Effects

I used a mixture of free and commercial plugins during the mixdown (none were used during the tracking process). While Cubase has a decent selection of plugins, I could not resist trying out some of the other plugins out there. Some I found to be better than that in Cubase, but the reality is that a decent mix can be accomplished using the stock Cubase plugins.

The plugins I used in the end were as follows:

1. Sonalksis EQ and Compressor (www.sonalksis.com) - worth every penny - a lot smoother sounding that the EQ and compressors in Cubase.

2. Cubase EQ, gate and stock delays. The gate is useful for cleaing up mic "bleeding"; for example, the snare drum mic is likely to pickup some of the kick drum and the hi-hat. A gate helps to reduce that spillage so that, for example, EQ-ing the snare will not have the unintended effect of affecting the kick or hi-hat sound.

3. SPL De-esser. This came with Cubase and was useful to keep the sharp "s" sounds at bay for vocals.

4. "Dominion" plugin from www.digitalfishphones.com. For the verse of the song "Could Be", I needed the attack (or "snap") of the snare drum to be reduced. Dominion does just that; it reduces (or, if desired, increases) the attack of any instrument, and it proved to be essential to the mixing of this song. There is of course the Sony Oxford Transient Modulator plugin as an alternative, but that costs £120…

5. Kjaerhus Audio Classic Chorus and Classic Compressor (www.kjaerhusaudio.com) - free and great-sounding.

6. SIR reverb (www.knufinke.de/sir/index_en.html) - this is a free convolution reverb which is just fantastic, when one considers that the equivalent from popular plugin company Waves costs about £500. In essence, it takes impulse responses from anywhere (expensive Lexicon reverbs, natural acoustic spaces) and lets you apply them to your tracks. Impulses were obtained from www.echochamber.ch and www.noisevault.com.

7. Amplitube guitar modelling plugin (www.amplitube.com) - very versatile and provides very good guitar sounds for the majority of us who do not have access to ten different guitar amps to record with.

8. Yamaha Vocal Rack - this came with the Yamaha 01X - good but not as smooth as the Sonalksis plugins.

9. Yamaha Studio Channel - this came with Yamaha 01X - standard, clean, functional Yamaha digital mixer channel. It includes a compressor, gate and EQ.

10. BBE Sonic Maximizer - I got this and used it initially but realised that in fact it degraded just about every signal I put through it so took it all off! A piece of rubbish software I cannot recommend to anyone. I thought it was important to include it in case people got suckered by the marketing (as I was).

General Approach

I am strictly of the "less is more" school, when it comes to recordings of "real" instruments (as opposed to electronica and synth based music, where anything goes). So EQ was never drastic, reverb was on the dry side (i.e. things were not swimming in reverb), compression was used sparingly (in general, although in a few cases heavy compression was required), and panning tried to replicate a typical sound stage, as though the listener of the CD were at a gig with the band on stage. Having said that, I am not such a purist that I would not do crazy things if needed, such as applying the Dominion plugin to reduce the attack of a snare, or to edit drum tracks so that the kick drum pattern is moved around.

EQ - In respect of EQ, it is always important to think about how the relevant frequency will be affected when you cut or boost that frequency. For example, if you boost 100hz for the kick drum and the bass and the vocals and the guitars because, individually, they sound nice that way, you end up with a huge amount bass and boominess at 100hz when all the instruments play together. In other words, never EQ in isolation. Think about which is the most important instrument (usually, the voice) and give that one the most space in the song. Cut frequencies from other instruments to allow for that space. In addition, make use of the automation in your sequencer (e.g. Cubase). If the vocals do not come in until one minute into the song, use the automation so that those frequencies that would otherwise fight with the vocals for space are only cut when the vocals come in. Finally, as a general rule, when boosting EQ, boost across a larger EQ spectrum so it sounds more natural. When cutting EQ you can afford to cut more narrowly; just those frequencies that need to be cut. Finally, its easy to end up with too much at around 200-300hz, ending up with a very muddy sounding mix.

In general, I tried to get a decent vocal sound before filling up the sound stage with the other instruments. But some mixing engineers also start from the drums, then add the bass, the guitar, the piano and so on until the vocal is put in last. The trouble with this second approach is that there may be no space left for the lead vocal after everything has been put in place. I think that experienced mixing engineers can probably start with the other instruments, but "green" engineers may want to start with the vocals first. There is no right answer on this one (or indeed on anything else in this article!).

Compression - Compression helps to minimise the dynamic range, that is, make loud sounds softer and soft notes louder. This is important especially in vocals, where at various points in the song, a word may be sung softly and fall beneath the general volume of the instruments and thus get lost. In order not to over-compress (and end up with a flat, lifeless sound), I also used automation of volume in Cubase. Thus, instead of over-compressing, I got Cubase simply to increase the volume of the vocals for those words which may have been sung softly. In the "old days", one would have had manually to "ride" the mixer faders, which achieved the same result, but required that you had to have, in some cases, more than ten fingers! I am not going to cover the details of compression here (attack, release, threshold, etc.) because they have been covered extensively in the links found at the end of this article.

Drums

Editing - In the case of the song "Could Be", I had to move the kick drums around quite a bit, as the www.livestudiodrums.com tracks did not quite turn out how I needed them to be, and there was no time to go back and ask for another take (which I could have done). I had to be careful, of course, that the kick drum "bleed" in the other drums mics was not significant in the first place or this could not be done. To take care of the bleed in the overhead mics, I applied a high pass filter of around 150hz on the overheads so that the original kick drum sound in the overheads was fairly minimal.

EQ - Kick drum: usually rolled off everything below 45hz, boosted at 60hz for "weight", cut at 250hz (to allow bass and electric guitar to come through), boost somewhere between 2 to 4 khz for the attack or "click" of the drum beater on the skin. Snare: roll off at 100hz, add at 200-300hz for weight, and add a little at 9khz for sparkle. Floor toms: boost at 110 hz for "oomph", cut around 300hz to get rid of some of the "ringing" sound. Other toms: hardly any EQ. Overheads: roll off below 100hz, cut around 700hz to give space to other instruments, and add a little shelving EQ at 12khz for "air".

Compression - on the kick, I compressed to get a more solid sound, and also initially compressed the snare and the overheads, but as time went on I realised that the snare actually sounded better without compression, and so I took it off in some cases. The lesson being that compression, even through a nice compressor like the Sonalksis, does not necessarily make everything sound better.

Panning - Kick drum centre, Snare just off to the right, Overheads around 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock. Some mixers prefer to mix the drums so that the Overheads are hard left and right, but that does not always work, as it ends up sounding like the listener is sitting in the drummer's chair, as opposed to, say, 25 feet away. Having said that, from what I can hear, Jeff Buckley's "Last Goodbye" was mixed that way, and the drums sound glorious!

Vocals

EQ - Typically, because I was recording in a stairwell, there were some "boomy" frequencies but these were dealt with by cutting a db or two at around 500hz using the Sonalksis EQ. Otherwise I would typically have a small boost at 5khz to give the vocals some "presence". I also tended to roll off everything below 90hz so that the kick and bass would come through.

Compression - on a song like "Its Beautiful" I had to compress quite hard to ensure that all the words could be heard above all the other instruments.

Panning - Vocals were always panned centre.

Reverb - I used the SIR Reverb with a lovely EMT 250 plate reverb impulse from www.echochamber.ch

Backing Vocals

EQ - Typically, I rolled off everything below 140hz, unless the backing vocals were an important feature (e.g. "The Road to You"), in which case I rolled off around 100hz. I would cut some at 600hz to give space to other instruments. I tended not to boost too much at the high end because a less hyped-up sound helps to make the backing vocals sit at the back instead of the front of the sound stage.

Compression - greater compression applied than on lead vocals, to ensure that the backing vocals could always be heard.

Panning - Generally panned hard left and right. I would always double-track the backing vocals so that I could then have two tracks of the same line, sung by the same backing singer, but on different takes. I could then have vocals from two different takes singing the same part at the same time, panned left and right for a full sound.

Reverb - I used the SIR Reverb generally with a hall reverb impulse from www.noisevault.com. I would also apply more reverb to the backing vocals than the lead vocals, to make them appear a little further away in the background.

Acoustic Guitars

EQ - These were the most difficult to EQ. Recording in the stairwell again meant that there were boomy frequencies, but at the same time it was difficult getting the high-end sparkle. To get some sparkle I had to apply a shelving EQ at about 10khz, which worked quite well. For most songs, the acoustic guitar formed the "pad" around which the other instruments played along to, so to give it its own space I typically rolled off everything below 140hz (to give bass and drums some space). In fact, using Cubase's automation meant that I could have the guitars rolled off at 140hz only when all instruments were going on. Otherwise, if the acoustic guitar was playing on its own (as on the intros to "Could Be" and "The Road to You", the roll-off point was much lower, at about 80hz; this would ensure that it had a nice warm low end when needed. Some of the mid range, particularly at 400 and 800hz, had to be reduced to remove some of the boxiness that comes with recording in a stairwell, which had the added benefit of allowing piano and electric guitars to come through more clearly.

Compression - This depended on the role played by the guitar. On a song like "Its Beautiful", where the acoustic guitar is in the background, I had to compress fairly heavily so that all the notes could still be heard over the other instruments. On a song like "Found Out", however, minimal compression was the order of the day, as the acoustic guitar was the primary instrument, and I wanted to keep the dynamics as much as possible.

Panning - On the first three songs ("Its Beautiful", "Could Be" and "The Road to You"), the Audio Technica mic was panned to 10 o'clock, with the Neumann mic panned to about 2 o'clock. On "Found Out", the panning was hard left and then 2 o'clock, so that the piano would come out nicely with its own space on the right side of the sound stage.

Reverb - I used the SIR Reverb with hall or plate impulses from www.noisevault.com

Electric guitars

EQ - to give the bass and drums enough room at the low end of the frequency spectrum, I would typically roll off everything below about 130hz. I would add a db or two at around 250hz to get a nice warm sound. A small boost at 2khz might also be necessary for the guitar to cut through.

Compression - hardly any used on the "heavier" track that is Its Beautiful - because the Amplitube plugin models an amplifier, which compresses as it is, there is no real need to compress again. However, on "Could Be" and "The Road to You", I was quite happy to increase the compression so that a nice sustained guitar sound (as was appropriate for those songs) was achieved.

Panning - I would typically pan the electric guitars just beyond the drums on the sound stage, meaning that, as the drums were panned 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock, the electric guitars would be either hard left/right or at any rate beyond 9/3 o'clock. This helped in giving a realistic sound stage and also allowed the guitar to have its own space without fighting with the drums in the same space. In the case of the song "Could Be", I double-tracked the guitar, so on the sound stage there would have been two guitar players playing (almost) identical parts, one standing to the left of the drums and another standing to the right. In the case of "The Road to You", I wanted just one guitar player, standing to the left of the drums (from the audience's perspective); this would counter the piano player, who was situated on the right of the drums.

Reverb - I used only the smallest bit of SIR Reverb with hall impulses from www.noisevault.com. The Amplitube guitar plugin already had a spring reverb that sounded nice, so there was no need to add much more at the mixing stage.

Bass

EQ - roll off below 40hz, boost a little at 200-300hz (basically, where the kick drum has been cut), boost a little at 2 or 3khz for the "attack" of the bass.

Compression - because I compressed with the JoeMeek during tracking of the bass, in most cases I did not apply compression to the bass during mixdown.

Panning - along with the kick drum and vocals, dead centre.

Reverb - none on all songs, except a tiny amount of hall reverb using SIR, on "Found Out", since there were hardly any other instruments in there.

Piano

EQ - roll off below 120hz, boost a little at 4khz and a little at 10khz.

Compression - on a song like "Its Beautiful", the piano had to be compressed fairly heavily so that the tail end of the notes could still be heard. Automation of volume in Cubase was also used.

Panning - generally panned so that it occupied 1 o'clock to hard right.

Reverb - SIR reverb usually with a plate or hall reverb impulse.

B4 Organ

EQ - roll off below 150hz, reduce mids at about 500hz, boost a little at 10khz. Because both the organ and the acoustic guitars are used as "pad" (as opposed to lead) sounds, and occupy much of the same frequencies, it was important to cut some of the mids from the organ (and the acoustic guitars) so that they would not cloud or overpower the mid-range (where the vocals also sit).

Compression - hardly any, as it is nice to hear the organ pulsating beneath a track instead of having it "in your face".

Panning - generally panned hard left and hard right to give a wide stereo image.

Reverb - SIR reverb usually with a hall reverb impulse.

MASTERING

Effects

1. Sonalksis EQ and Compressor (www.sonalksis.com)

2. Voxengo Elephant - not free, but a very transparent mastering limiter.

The process

Mastering is, of course, an art unto itself, and far too mysterious to describe in any great detail here. However, if you have mixed a song properly, the mastering process should be fairly simple and non-corrective.

EQ

In general, I found I had to apply 1db at around 37hz for "weight", cut 1db around 200hz to reduce the low-mid mush, and add 1db of shelving EQ around 17khz to get the sense of "air". I used only the Sonalksis EQ.

I would have like to utilise the SPL Vitalizer to tighten the bass and give a nice high-end sheen, but was concerned (perhaps needlessly so) about multiple D/A and A/D conversion which might degrade the sound. On reflection my concerns were probably uncalled for, so when I remaster this EP in the future…

In terms of compression, I found that I would simply switch the Sonalksis Compressor on and the mix sounded better and more coherent, although zero (or less than 1db) of gain reduction was occurring. That is, hardly any compression was applied at all, so that there was (hopefully) a "liveliness" to the mix, where the listener would be notice both the loud bits and the soft bits. In too many commercial releases (especially in the rock and pop domain), the songs are so compressed that there are no dynamics whatsoever. This is achieved by compressing the song so that there are no peaks or troughs; everything is just loud all the way through. Any peak in the song is mercilessly slammed down by a "brickwall" limiter. The most famous recent example of over-compression is probably Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca", which is...
VERY LOUD FROM START TO END AND SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE IS SHOUTING IN YOUR EAR THE WHOLE TIME, WHICH MAKES YOUR EARS GET TIRED VERY QUICKLY INDEED.
Incidentally, that is the literary equivalent of over-compression. So if you put on Ricky Martin's masterpiece immediately after my "Its Beautiful EP", you will need quickly to turn down the volume on your stereo or risk going deaf when Mr Martin's song comes on.

Reverb

There was no need to apply overall reverb as the mix did not call for it.

Limiting

Finally, the Voxengo Elephant limiter was extremely valuable in ensuring that no digital clipping occurred (digital distortion being very ugly compared with analogue distortion). This was used so as to catch the very loud peaks in the signal.

CONCLUSION

So there we are. Hopefully more people will get out there (or get into their bedrooms) and experiment and no doubt improve by leaps and bounds what I managed to do on the EP.

Its not difficult.

It can be done.

So go do it!

Useful Links

Books About Home Recording

www.digido.com - contains lots of information from a master of mixing and mastering, Bob Katz.

http://web.archive.org/web/20030216160020/http://www.studiocovers.com - the new home of studiocovers.com, which contains many useful articles on all aspects of the recording process.

www.soundonsound.com/articles/Technique.php - these are the "Techniques" pages of Sound on Sound magazine, probably the best recording magazine out there.

www.mindspring.com/~mrichter/dynamics/dynamics.htm - a funny analysis of over-compression in mastering (including an examination of the completely mangled waveforms of Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca").

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Anatomy Of A Home Recording ©2004 Len & The Virtually Acoustic Club
No part of this work may be reproduced or linked to without the permission of the copyright owners