Welcome to The Studio Trenches!

[Phil O'Keefe]

Hi everyone, and welcome to The Studio Trenches. My name is Phil O'Keefe, and I am your most excellent host. Like Bill and Ted, I'm originally from San Dimas California. Really. :)

So what's going on in The Trenches? Our forum description sums it up pretty well: From novice to professional, pre-production to final release, it's all about the recording process -- gear, production, art, arranging, and more. If it happens in a studio - any studio, from the most basic home hobbiest setup all the way up to "big boy (and girl)" rooms, then it's an open topic here. I've got a lot of ideas I'll be sharing with you in the weeks and months to come, but to give you a preview of what's on deck, here's a few sample topics that I hope we can discuss as we go along:

Gear - what works and what doesn't, with a big emphasis on getting the most for every gear investment dollar you spend.

People skills - How to interact with clients, musicians, producers, other engineers, etc. How to "sell yourself", where to locate clients and how to approach them. What to charge. How to insure you get paid (it's always nice to get paid ;) ). How to increase your exposure, "name recognition" and demand. Advertising and promotion for yourself, your studio and / or your services.

Engineering techniques - how do you mic up a orchestral harp? Or a Brazillian Berimbau? How do you get that oh so important kick / bass guitar balance to lock in while mixing? Not just "what's cool" in the world of gear, but how to best utilize it in support of the song so you can get the results you're after.

Production techniques - spotting talent, developing and nurturing it. Budget considerations and project planning. And getting the talent to perform beyond their best when the red light goes on.

Art - musical considerations. How does it "feel"? Arrangements and the mix - how they're important to each other. Promoting the vibe - getting people comfortable and relaxed and performing at their best. Setting the mood and knowing when to push and when to come back to it later. And the Song. It's always about a good song.

Designing a "system" - Making everything "work together". Purchase decisions, acoustical considerations, connecting everything and troubleshooting problems. Workflow and ergonomics. How to get the best results from what you have. Determining where the weak links are in your setup and prioritizing gear upgrades.

I'm just scratching the surface here - like I said, there's a lot we can discuss, and I'll have more to share when we do the official "launch" on Monday. And YOU are a big part of it. So think about the things you want to talk about. Get ready... We're just a few days away from getting started.

And remember: Be excellent to each other. :cool:

[nursers]

Nice to be here ;)

Noob :mad: :p

[Phil O'Keefe]

Hey folks, look! It's Paul Hogan! ;) :D

Good to see you Nursers...

I see you have more posts than me - that's a switch. ;) We'll see how long you can keep that up. :p

[nursers]

Not for long I imagine :D

[Mike Martin]

Welcome Phil. Nice to "see" you as always.

[offramp]

I kinda like what you've done with the place; interesting color choices, Phil. Did the wife have the iron hand on this one?


:D

[bblackwood]

Welcome, Phil - hope you enjoy the new digs...

[Watershed]

If nursers is Paul Hogan, then I must be Strop!

http://www.memorabletv.com/dvdreviews05/images/paulhogan.jpg

[nursers]

Originally posted by Watershed
If nursers is Paul Hogan, then I must be Strop!

http://www.memorabletv.com/dvdreviews05/images/paulhogan.jpg

hmmmmm, don't images work here?

Strop rocks :D

[daklander]

Hi you down under wanks. Good to see you here. :wave:


Oh, Phil, nice place but fix the pane in the disco ball will ya?

[the stranger]

Thumbs up to the esteemed Phil-master!

[DigitMus]

Hi Phil!
Hope you enjoy the new digs. As a long time (if not prolific) MP poster (I'm S_Gould over there) I'm looking forward to more of the same great discussion here.


Scott

[Kid Klash]

Hi Phil,

So what's the difference between this forum and the Recording forum? :confused:

[forceman]

Hi Phil,

Thanks for letting me hang out here. You are an excellent moderator.

Best of luck!

Regards,
-steve

[younggunmn]

Hi all! :D

Just pokin my head in to say hi. It's cool to see people from MP over here, hopefully more will come soon. With Phil at the helm, I'm sure this board is going to just as awesome as the 'old' one :)

Cheers,
Matt

PS: Hey Phil, do you know if it's possible to turn on image posting? That can be super useful sometimes, and I miss the . ;)

[Phil O'Keefe]

Originally posted by Kid Klash
Hi Phil,

So what's the difference between this forum and the Recording forum? :confused:

Click here for the answer. (http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=992301) :)

[Phil O'Keefe]

Originally posted by younggunmn

PS: Hey Phil, do you know if it's possible to turn on image posting? That can be super useful sometimes, and I miss the . ;)

I was just thinking about that... IMG tags can be turned on or off for individual forums, and IMO, they definitely need to be "on" over here. They're a lot of fun, and for technically oriented topics, they can make explaining things a lot easier - a picture being worth a thousand words, etc. :) But there will be some rules about their use.... I'll expect people to be responsible about how they use that feature, and be careful about what images they post. Anything profane or obscene will be yanked immediately, and may result in banning of the person who posted it. :eek: So yes, I am going to turn that feature "on", but please use it responsibly folks. :)

[younggunmn]

Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe

banning of the person who posted it. :eek: So yes, I am going to turn that feature "on", but please use it responsibly folks. :)

Awww, man, well there goes my whole reason for asking :(
Just kiddin -- thanks Phil :D

[Kid Klash]

Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe


Click here for the answer. (http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=992301) :)

Thanks for the link.

By the way - your site www.philokeefe.com seems to be suspended... the message says "Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible"...

[Phil O'Keefe]

Thanks for letting me know about that - apparently Verve (my hosting company) screwed up when they moved my site to a new server. You should see a "temp" page up now, and most of the content should be up in the next day or so. :)

[Robman2]

Phil, September looms...more road trip ahead CEDIA and then New England, NYC, Levin's etc...

Any thoughts on when we eat?

R

[boosh]

I'll be dropping in Phil,...every now en then ;)

[DJDM]

Hey Congrats Phil! Nice place you got here... but no Avatars? Damn. :)

[Picker]

Welcome to the party, Phil

[Spencer Crewe]

You'd think that the 70's style wallpaper would make it look worse, but it adds a nice touch to the place! :p

It's good to be here....

Cheers!
Spencer

[TBush]

*pant*wheeze*cough*- finally made it here...

Nice digs!

[Lee Knight]

I'm finaly here. I took a right on Mohacky Blvd. instead of a left! Then I found a great Fat Burger and had to stop. Then I had to stop again...

...but I made it.

[Lee Knight]

I just noticed I'm a "Junior Member". I LIKE that!

[skunky_funk]

Hail Phil! :cool:

[Phil O'Keefe]

Good to have all of you aboard! Now get to talkin' and see if you can't get those post counts back up to your previous levels. You have until supper, so you'd better get busy. :p ;) :D

[Spencer Crewe]

Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe
Good to have all of you aboard! Now get to talkin' and see if you can't get those post counts back up to your previous levels. You have until supper, so you'd better get busy. :p ;) :D
Sweet merciful crap, Phil! It took me almost 5 years to get my 2500 at MP. That's a lot of smoke blown up people's asses to cram into a single afternoon, dontchya think? :p

Cheers!
Spencer

[Phil O'Keefe]

:D

Quit your complainin' Spencer... it took me four and a half years to rack up 17,500 in posts (I was #2 on MP - I try harder, but I could never catch Tedster... ;) ) and now I have to start all over again. ;) :D

I tell you what: Post three times before dinner and you don't have to eat your brussel sprouts. ;)

And just be thankful I have not started handing out homework assignments again... yet. ;) :D

[Spencer Crewe]

It's summer, dude! You wouldn't hand out homework during summer, would you?! :D

Cheers!
Spencer

[Phil O'Keefe]

Well, I did hand out one guitar recording experiment assignment... so far. ;)

[Phil O'Keefe]

Originally posted by Robman2
Phil, September looms...more road trip ahead CEDIA and then New England, NYC, Levin's etc...

Any thoughts on when we eat?

R

Still up in the air Rob, but as soon as I know at my end, I promise you'll be one of the first to know. :)

[Tedster]

http://www.hardscrabblefarm.com/80th/images/photos_reenactments/2002_newville_fall/WWI-Jason-Doughboy2.jpg When are we going over the top to get a shot at Gerry, Major?

[Phil O'Keefe]

Unscrew yourself Private Tedster; "Jerry" is spelled with a "J" and NOT a "G". You failed to follow one of the basic rules of warfare: know thy enemy. :rolleyes: ;) :D

[C. Bradley]

I see that most of you got to keep your name from the Music Player forums...

Blue Strat was already taken. :(

nice P-14 Enfield there, Tedster. http://img3.harmony-central.com/acapella/ubb/icons/icon14.gif
Beware of that .303 with the Egyptian headstamp; it'll kick the dog crap outta ya and drops like a rock! ;)

[Phil O'Keefe]

Good to see you Blue Strat / C. Bradley! :)

Some MP members have been unable to "get" their MP screen names over here or have decided they wanted to use something different for a change of pace. Many of them have placed something along the lines of "AKA Blue Strat on Musicplayer" into their sig lines so that people would recognise them. You don't HAVE to of course, but if you WANT to.... ;)

Good to have you joining us! :cool:

[mentoneman]

fancy running into you here!

anytime you're in the redlands area on a sunday morn, stop by the packinghouse and say hi. and if you time it right, you can see brad too-

Pat

[Phil O'Keefe]

Originally posted by mentoneman
fancy running into you here!

anytime you're in the redlands area on a sunday morn, stop by the packinghouse and say hi. and if you time it right, you can see brad too-

Pat

I'm definitely looking forward to popping in over there one of these days... I have not seen Brad in forever, and he's definitely one of the "good guys" - an incredibly nice (not to mention talented) person!!!

Thanks for the invitation Pat - I'll try to give you some advance notice before I visit. :) But it might be a while - I'm pretty tied up right now. :(


Phil

[Bob Savage]

I guess I don't get out much, since I just noticed this forum.

Looks cool...

[Phil O'Keefe]

Hi Bob - good to have you with us!

I was just looking at your site and I saw the THD Univalve combo unit - I've got a Univalve, and a 1X12 combo for that would be sweet! I hope they eventually release that!

[Bob Savage]

Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe
Hi Bob - good to have you with us!

I was just looking at your site and I saw the THD Univalve combo unit - I've got a Univalve, and a 1X12 combo for that would be sweet! I hope they eventually release that!

Thanks Phil.

I'm guessing the combo cab is on the backburner, considering that picture is 3-4 years old.

[Rhino Madness]

Hey Phil,

You don't know how good it feels to retrieve you (and most of the gang) here!

Even though I had very few posts, I'd followed the old MP forums for a long time and after being away from computers for the whole summer I came back and found out I had lost all my longtime "friends"!!! It felt like the world went crumbling down while I was away... :(

So there you are and the world is turning again! :D Keep up the good work and thanks to everyone!

Rhino

[Phil O'Keefe]

Good to have you back with us Rhino! :cool:

So, where did you go this summer? I hope you had a good time! :)

[Rhino Madness]

Thanks Phil! I went back to my hometown of Montreal and while I was there under tragic circumstances, I also got to live some of the purest and most beautiful moments of my life. It was definitely a life-changing kind of summer.

It's good to be back!

Rhino

[bowman20]

Just want to say hi to everone here! I'm from Croatia, ex-radio technican and trying to get into studio recording.

I already learned a lot just reading around the forum. Also thx to all the people (especially Phil) for taking notice of my post and helping me.

Hope to be here for years to come learning and sharing with everyone!

Regards to all from Croatia!

[Phil O'Keefe]

Welcome bowman20! :wave: Nice to have you with us! :)

[UstadKhanAli]

This is kinda like the giant lobby with the chandelier and the two sweeping staircases, with Phil standing by the elegant crystal doors welcoming visitors in, huh?

[nursers]

That picture fits for me if Phil is in a ball gown ;) :p

[UstadKhanAli]

Originally posted by nursers
That picture fits for me if Phil is in a ball gown ;) :p

Nice. He's got the long white gloves on, too? Really an elegant picture we're painting for a class act like Phil.

[Phil O'Keefe]

:mad: :mad: :mad:

White gloves, yes - I admit to having worn those before. But they were not long. The gown however, is another matter all together. It was long... oh waitaminute... :eek: :mad: ;) :D

[UstadKhanAli]

Gown too long? Sounds like you need a second engineer to help you carry the back of the gown.

Look, if this is really the case, the amp/mic hang-out's gonna be quite interesting!

[Phil O'Keefe]

:D

[the stranger]

Ken says--->This is kinda like the giant lobby with the chandelier and the two sweeping staircases, with Phil standing by the elegant crystal doors welcoming visitors in, huh?

stranger says----> Who's the guy swinging from the chandelier?

[Phil O'Keefe]

Originally posted by the stranger
Ken says--->This is kinda like the giant lobby with the chandelier and the two sweeping staircases, with Phil standing by the elegant crystal doors welcoming visitors in, huh?

stranger says----> Who's the guy swinging from the chandelier?

Probably Nursers. He's from Globe - Wrong Side, aka Oz, so he tends to be more comfortable hanging upside down. ;)

[nursers]

Originally posted by Phil O'Keefe
Probably Nursers. He's from Globe - Wrong Side, aka Oz, so he tends to be more comfortable hanging upside down. ;)



:mad: :mad:



:wave:

[Phil O'Keefe]

:wave: :D

[RKobz]

My son has a Fostex MR8-HD. He has recorded audio onto the hard drive, and we transferred the files (I believe thay are wave) to the computer. What software do you recommend to edit, mix & burn the cd's? Something similar to pro tools (I believe?) at a more affordable cost. Cost is an issue, at least initially, but we don't want to deal with junk. Also, is that all we need at this point? My computer will burn the cd. Do we need a hard mixer?

Thanks,
Randy K

[1DZReverendDavidLee]

Hi everyone, and welcome to The Studio Trenches. My name is Phil O'Keefe, and I am your most excellent host.

Hey Phil - I'm here :wave:

I have alot of reading to do :o

:D

[The Gooch]

Hey Phil, New to HC, I produce three to six records a year and I wanted to get some of your thoughts about the most effective way to do Pre Production... I keep feeling like I sit in the control room rehersing a lot of my clients, as much as I try to get clients to be prepared, few of them ever are. While my pocket book doesn't mind, I am just getting a little board and it makes it tough to really stay engauged in the project... any advice?

[Lee Knight]

Hey Phil, New to HC, I produce three to six records a year and I wanted to get some of your thoughts about the most effective way to do Pre Production... I keep feeling like I sit in the control room rehersing a lot of my clients, as much as I try to get clients to be prepared, few of them ever are. While my pocket book doesn't mind, I am just getting a little board and it makes it tough to really stay engauged in the project... any advice?


Great idea for a thread.

[Kojak]

Howdy Phil,

Just a newbie musician here wondering if this is where its at ???:poke:



Something i'm stuck on at the mo is fine tuning your EQ's....

By 'EQ tuning', i mean that process when you tune the individual eq's of the instruments in your DAW, kinda like EQ mastering i guess, you know, how you sweep the frequencies till you find their mid-point then boost/cut accordingly.

Hmm, i'm not quite sure any of that made sense.

Do you know what i mean?

anyway, idea for discussion??? "EQ tuning in ten or less steps" :p

Mind ah'd want the easy version...:lol:

btw, how come you got your own icon. what did you have to do to get this> :phil:


cheers

[robel08]

eople skills - How to interact with clients, musicians, producers, other engineers, etc. How to "sell yourself", where to locate clients and how to approach them. What to charge. How to insure you get paid (it's always nice to get paid ). How to increase your exposure, "name recognition" and demand. Advertising and promotion for yourself, your studio and / or your services.

[Dogmover]

I'm in the process of building an analog recording studio in Modesto, CA. I've been collecting vintage analog equipment for four years, however, I know you've gotta have some digital. Several local 'experts' have been pointing me in the direction of Apple Logic, still others insist I must use Pro Tools, any suggestions?

[Phil O'Keefe]

Hey guys... all of these questions would make excellent thread topics! :)

[travelrehab]

Cool icon of yourself. Someone posted it a couple of posts up. I'm curious how you created something like that.

[woodeo]

Phil,
Are you still available for recording in your Riverside studio?
If so, what's the best way to contact you?

[Clarino]

Is there anyone out there who knows how to operate a Digidesign 003 Interface? I'm having a problem getting it to go in "record mode". it keeps saying that no tracks are "enabled" I guess my question is this, how do you enable the tracks? I'm using Pro Tools LE 8
I have the manual, but it's not very clear. The manufacturer (digidesign) only gives you "one month" of telephone support! After that, they want you to purchase "support" for $249! Unbelievable!

Help,
Clarino

the.lemons@comcast.net

[Lee Knight]

Is there anyone out there who knows how to operate a Digidesign 003 Interface? I'm having a problem getting it to go in "record mode". it keeps saying that no tracks are "enabled" I guess my question is this, how do you enable the tracks? I'm using Pro Tools LE 8
I have the manual, but it's not very clear. The manufacturer (digidesign) only gives you "one month" of telephone support! After that, they want you to purchase "support" for $249! Unbelievable!

Help,
Clarino

the.lemons@comcast.net

It can be a bit confusing starting out with PT. Pardon if this is too rudimentary for you. It wasn't for me the first time in PT.

Create a track in PT
In that track assign an input (AnalogMic1)
Plug a mic into that input (Mic1)
Click the little "R" on the software track (channel strip) you created in PT

You should now see your meter jumping about if you clap your hands.

Click the record button on the transport window. That's the one with the play, stop, etc. icons. The record button is the one with the round dot. It should now be red. Click play and start screaming like a banshee!!!

[slatzdeal]

Thanks for this, Phil! Btw, is your quote in reference to the Mel Brooks line from "Robin Hood: Men In Tights" ?