If you have or have not ever been to a recording studio, you should give this a read. This is all pretty basic stuff, but it is surprising how often I have to bring some of these things up.

I will be adding to that post over time and will keep you updated when I do. Be on the look out for my next article about the Mixing process.

- B

Thank you for checking in on the launch of the revamped Ozone Lair website(functionality wise at least, we are working on a new design and branding as well) and web presence as a whole.

We are going to try and take it up a notch this year to hopefully take this ball we’ve started rolling over the last year, and send it blasting down the road!

That being said, we can really use YOUR help getting the word out.  We need you to tell all of your friends and your family about our services.

We have set up several different easy ways for you to stay posted, including the Ozone Twitter and Facebook. If you use either of those services, follow us and tell your friends too!

If you haven’t heard any samples of our work yet, head over to the Portfolio and take a listen. Just hit play and let the flash player cycle through clips of audio that has been recorded, mixed, and mastered by the Ozone Lair staff.

We will be running specials every month as well as hosting and sponsoring some special events throughout the year, so keep your eyes and ears open.

Thanks for the love!

We are throwing a little party here at the Ozone Lair in celebration of the holiday season and our good friends Gunslinger coming down from Tennessee.

Their friend Jenny Wood is playing an early show in Atlanta and will be coming over to perform with them.

And of course the 13DM crew will do some jamming since it is their base camp.

We will be recording this as always so stay posted for some fresh tunes post party.

Party starts at 4pm
Bands start at 7pm

Keg
Grill
Eggnog

Bring your holiday spirit!

Here was the general setup:

Drums
- 2 DR-HX1 Condensers – Overhead
- 1 SM57 beta – Snare
- 1 DR-KX1 kick drum mic

Bass
- SM58

Guitars
- 1 DR-STX1

PA
- 1 DR-STX1

The sound, live in the room, was excellent, and that seemed to transfer over well onto the recording. The 13 Day Mission jam has everyone individually miced and no one running through the PA. Probably the best recording ever of the 13DM quartet and one of the best live recordings I have captured to date.

The other bands came across just as clean and even the stuff that came through the PA mic was not terrible. You can hear a clip of all the bands below.

13 Day Mission – MP3

Miles from Pangaea – MP3

Beatrix Kiddo – MP3

The Jungle – MP3

13 Day Mission
Beatrix Kiddo
Miles from Pangaea
The Jungle

Come out and enjoy some local awesomeness

http://www.theozonelair.com/music/OZONE/07-11-08a.mp3

http://www.theozonelair.com/music/OZONE/07-11-08b.mp3

http://www.theozonelair.com/music/OZONE/07-11-08c.mp3

http://www.theozonelair.com/music/OZONE/07-11-08d.mp3

http://www.theozonelair.com/music/OZONE/07-11-08e.mp3

http://www.theozonelair.com/music/OZONE/07-11-08f.mp3

Drums
- 2 DR-HX1 Condensers – Overhead
- 1 SM57 beta – Snare
- 1 DR-KX1 kick drum mic
- 2 DR-STX1 – Floor Tom, between other two toms

Bass
- SM58

Guitars
- Audix I-5
- 1 DR-STX1

For this live session we used the Audix I-5 again for guitar, but with better placement it did not pick up much outside noise at all allowing the guitar to shine bright. I moved the SM58 out from the speaker about 3 inches or so and that seemed to grab more of the low end much clearer than having the mic pushed all the way against the speaker. Also, we replaced the condenser mic over the toms with another dynamic tom mic. So the two regular toms and the floor tom are all being miced with the Digital Reference tom mics. This made a huge improvement in the quality of the sound of the toms, they came out much more natural as opposed to very crisp and bright.

Enjoy!

For a review of microphones and other ideas used, read on

Before the show I decided to hit up the music store and pick up a few more stands, wires, and a new mic that I had been eyeballing and hearing good things about. The Sterling ST51. It’s nothing too fancy but received quite a bit of good press throughout the internet and was definitely in my budget. Come to find out it is not the greatest at recording toms like I had hoped it would be, based on my previous use of the M-Audio Nova that seems to be a bit warmer. The Sterling is very bright and somewhat crackly the way that I used it for this recording. I look forward to testing the Sterling out with some vocals, and I am positive it would do better as a room mic for the drums than pressed right up near the toms.

Drums
- 2 DR-HX1 Condensers – Overhead
- 1 SM57 beta – Snare
- 1 DR-KX1 kick drum mic
- 1 DR-STX1 – Floor Tom
- 1 Sterling ST51 – Toms

Bass
- SM58

Guitars
- Audix I-5 (picked up a lot of surrounding drum noise)
- 1 DR-STX1 (hardly any surrounding drum noise)

I would like to pick up a few more 57’s or 57 Beta’s for live guitar recording. From past experience they pick up very little noise from the sides unlike the I-5. The DR-STX1 that I used for this show is actually a tom mic but turned out a decent recording.

The entire set will be online in the near future, but for now enjoy this video plus a pretty solid mix of the audio.

Last night we managed to track drums, guitar, and bass for 2 songs to be used for an upcoming demo. Normally I do not like to do recording on weeknights, I like to leave enough time for everyone to be comfortable and not rushed doing their thing, it helps the creative process. I am glad we got this worked out though regardless of what night it happened on.

They showed up a little later than we had agreed but were prompt in setting up their gear, knocking out some rehearsals of the songs, and being ready to record. Within an hour of their arrival we were tracking drums.

He blasted everyone in the studio for a while but laid down some really solid drums. I opted not to use a room mic and instead used a mic on the beater side of the kick in hopes of a more awesome kick on the final mix.

Nate did the reference tracks so was already warmed up and ready to rock out his guitar parts, we busted through those and ended around 12:30 AM(when I saw my neighbor in the morning, I waved to her and she just gave me a stern look of disapproval…..uh oh).

Last up was Paul on bass, he toughed it out till the bitter end and then recorded his bass tracks with the quickness, probably spent 25 minutes on the bass total.

Attila was great to work with, very easy going and open to suggestion to overcome some small hurdles which is very beneficial when trying to do so much work in so little time. I am stoked to get some vocals on these mixes and have them finished up and ready for the people and their tour.

Drums
- 2 DR-HX1 condensers overhead
- 1 SM57 beta snare
- 1 DR-STX1 Floor Tom
- 1 M-Audio condenser over toms
- 1 DR-KX1 kick drum mic
- 1 DR-STX1 beater side of kick

Bass
- PostEQ Direct Line from MARKBASS SD800

Guitar
- SM57 Beta on cab
- 1 DR-HX1 condenser @ 3 feet

He has finally healed and brought the group to the studio. I was a little uneasy at first because the drummer, being the first one here, told me he had never met Willis or played with his group. Fortunately all 4 of the musicians that recorded were very professional and had no problem clicking together.

The guys got set up and worked out the first song, Red Clay. We tracked Drums, Bass, Trumpet, and Trombone first, then Willis and Davey went back over that with keys and guitar. Once they were satisfied we moved onto Tell Me a Bedtime Story. For this we tracked Bass, Drums, Keys, and Guitar, then Willis went back over it to lay down the trumpet.

The two tracks came out sounding great just as a raw mix, I was even a bit shocked myself at how good it sounded. With some quick mixing of EQ and some light effects the final mixdowns already sound pro. I think everyone had a good time and we were able to record some really good tunes. Willis is a beast on the trumpet, I would really like to hear him do some straight ahead jazz and let it all out, and the other musicians were all on top of their game as well. I look forward to doing more recording with each of them.

Drum Mics
- 2 DR-HX1 condensers overhead
- 1 DR-STX1 on snare
- 1 DR-KX1 kick drum mic

Bass – He played an Upright acoustic w/ a pickup attached going into a combo amp
- Direct line from combo amp
- DR-STX1 on amp

Guitar Mics
- SM58

Horns
- 1 M-Audio condenser

Keys
- Direct line from Hartke 3500 head

They set up and rehearsed a few songs while we started putting mics all over, things were already sounding pretty good. Once they got ready we started with the drum tracks(more info below), Jared started off a bit tense but ended up dominating the set over all.

Frank then tracked his bass, after having just done the reference tracks with Jareds drums. He tore it up though, I wanted to stand up and start cheering during the break down in The Green Door, he KILLED it. We took a food break then Dave laid down the guitar, and I have to say I am very happy with the tone that came through, it sounds really good.

Drum Mics
- 2 DR-HX1 condensers overhead
- 2 DR-STX1 under toms
- 1 DR-KX1 kick drum mic
- 1 M-Audio condenser on the snare/hi hat

Bass Mics
- SM58
- DR-KX1
- Direct Line

Guitar Mics
- SM58
- DR-STX1 @4ft
- DR-HX1 @ 6ft