My Take on Music Recording with Doug Fearn

Doug Fearn
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Doug Fearn draws on his 50+ years as a recording engineer, record producer, studio owner, and pro audio equipment designer to explain the art and science of recording for the audiophile, music lover, and people in the music recording industry.

  1. 5D AGO

    Variable Speed Recording

    Send us a text Back in the 1960s and 70s, it was common to slightly change the speed of a tape machine when recording vocals, and sometimes other instruments. When the tape was played back at normal speed, the singer sounded younger and the performance was more exciting -- an important consideration back then. The tape speed was only changed a small amount, around 2% was typical. But the effect could be amazing. There were other applications for tape speed changes. For example, if a piano needed to be overdubbed on a song that had been recorded with the instruments tuned a bit off from standard tuning, the tape speed could be adjusted to bring the song to the tuning of the piano. And instruments could be recorded at speeds even farther off standard than you could get away with with vocals, creating an entirely new sound. Digital recording does not lend itself to variable speed recording, although some DAWs are capable of changing speed. But not too many engineers know about this classic effect. In this episode, I describe how it was done in the past, and how you can achieve the same thing in the digital world. You might notice that it has been a while since the last episode of this podcast. My voice was even worse than it usually is for a couple of months after getting a severe cold. I blame it on my 18-month old grandson, but he is worth the price I had to pay from catching his colds! email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com www.youtube.com/c/DWFearn https://dwfearn.com/

    18 min

  2. OCT 29

    What Makes a Good Engineer?

    Send us a text What makes a good engineer? There are many skills required, both technical and interpersonal. In this short episode I talk about some of those skills and how they apply to a recording session. email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com www.youtube.com/c/DWFearn https://dwfearn.com/

    16 min

  3. SEP 30

    Taylor Larson of MixWave

    Send us a text Creating software plugin versions of actual hardware is challenging. Acustica did a superb job of creating a plugin version of the D.W. Fearn VT-5 Stereo Equalizer several years ago, called Ruby. And now MixWave has done the same for the VT-7 Compressor. In this episode, I speak with Taylor Larson, founder of MixWave, about creating the VT-7 plugin. Taylor explains the process for the VT-7, and other plugins that MixWave has developed. Learn more about MixWave and their products at https://mixwave.com/ Our conversation covered a lot more than that, however. We discuss the engineering and producing aspects of music, vintage gear, and how our careers in audio evolved over the years.   email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com www.youtube.com/c/DWFearn https://dwfearn.com/

    55 min

  4. AUG 19

    Assistant Engineers

    Send us a text Recording sessions can be technologically complex. There are mics to set up, cables to run, headphones to deploy, maybe patching in the control room, and software and hardware to configure. It is a lot for one person to handle. The job of assistant engineer has existed as long as recording. It not only spreads the work around, but it is also potentially a stepping-stone to becoming a fully-fledged engineer. In this episode, I talk about the role of assistant engineer. What are their tasks? How do you teach them? I use an example of how I work with assistants in my studio, which may not be typical of most recording sessions, but it explains what my assistants do. I also discuss the same aspects from when I had a commercial studio. You, as engineer on a session, have certain obligations as a mentor to your up-and-coming engineers. And the assistants have skills to master, plus learning about the human factors when interacting with creative people. email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com www.youtube.com/c/DWFearn https://dwfearn.com/

    31 min

  5. JUL 30

    Bleed Isn't Always a Bad Thing

    Send us a text Since the advent of multitrack recording, the goal of most engineers has been to keep the sound of every instrument totally isolated from all the others. That makes our job much easier, since we can adjust the mix of every track as needed, and apply effects like equalization and compression to each sound individually as needed. But does that make the best recording? For some types of music, the answer is yes. But having all the players in the same room where they can see and hear each other often results in synergy from the musicians working together that can create exceptional music. Without baffles, isolation booths, or overdubbing, the music can be better. But this can create problems for the mix engineer, since there can be at least some of the other instruments bleeding into the mic of an instrument you want to manipulate. In this episode, I talk about this approach to recording, which can be very challenging. It requires a studio setup that works to help maintain the desired balance of the instruments. In essence, you are recording and mixing at the same time, although there will likely be overdubs added to the basic tracks. This isn’t an approach for everyone. But it might be a good technique to have in your repertoire when the situation is right. It will definitely stress your skills as an engineer or a producer. email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com www.youtube.com/c/DWFearn https://dwfearn.com/

    26 min

  6. JUN 22

    Spring Birds: How I recorded birds in the woods in DSD

    Send us a text I live and work in the woods, surrounded by wildlife. There are many species of birds and in the spring their songs are pretty amazing. Over the years, I have thought about recording those birds, but the background noise level was a problem. Although very quiet by most people’s standards, there is still a lot of man-made noise -- too much noise to make recording the birds feasible. But an opportunity arose in May of 2020 during the Covid pandemic when there was very little travel. I took advantage of that short window to capture the spring birds in the early morning. This episode is the story of how that recording was made. I explain the challenges I faced and the technical decisions I made to effectively make a recording that I find quite compelling. It is recorded in DSD digital, and it is available on Outer Marker Records through our international download distributor, Native DSD. You can listen to a CD-quality version of the album for free, and purchase it in several high-resolution formats, including DSD256, which is an exact bit-for-bit file of the original master. It’s also available on all streaming services, under my name, Doug Fearn. I hope you find this story interesting. https://www.nativedsd.com/product/om04100h-spring-birds-an-audiophile-recording-experience-from-doug-fearn/   https://www.outermarkerrecords.com/ email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com www.youtube.com/c/DWFearn https://dwfearn.com/

    30 min

  7. MAY 31

    DSD Digital Recording

    Send us a text Virtually all digital recording uses a format called PCM. But there is another digital format that works in an entirely different way. It’s called DSD, for Direct Stream Digital, and you might find that it sounds better than PCM. In this episode, I explain what DSD is, mostly from a practical, user, viewpoint. If it sounds better, why don’t we use it? Well, DSD comes with some serious limitations. I explain those limitations and the techniques used to get around them in the world of contemporary recording. Most people will find the shortcomings of DSD to be enough of a problem that they have no interest in it. But for those of us who are on a quest for the best sounding audio we can achieve, DSD is worth it despite its challenges. Here is a link to Native DSD, a digital distributor that has specialized in DSD digital downloads: https://www.nativedsd.com/ … and a link to Outer Marker Records, the label the Hazelrigg Brothers and I founded a few years go. All the releases on Outer Marker were recorded in DSD: https://www.nativedsd.com/label/outer-marker-records/ We think DSD is the most musical recording format there is.   email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com www.youtube.com/c/DWFearn https://dwfearn.com/

    36 min

  8. APR 29

    Does Quality Matter?

    Send us a text Does audio quality really matter? Our society in general has seen a major loss in quality of goods and services. Music recording has not escaped this trend. In this short episode, I give some examples, some possible explanations, and a bit of guidance on how recordists can do a better job. It benefits the listener, even if they can’t even describe the difference between a good recording and a mediocre one. email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com www.youtube.com/c/DWFearn https://dwfearn.com/

    18 min
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About

Doug Fearn draws on his 50+ years as a recording engineer, record producer, studio owner, and pro audio equipment designer to explain the art and science of recording for the audiophile, music lover, and people in the music recording industry.

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