You are here: Home / Archives for Chris Wesley

5 Tools For Better Project Studio Mixing

May 12, 2011 By Chris Wesley View Comments

Project Studio Mixing DeskMagazines are full of great tips for recording, mixing, even the initial building of your studio.

But you can’t hear the results.

And really, the one thing that is arguably more important than the gear you use, is the ears of the person who is using it.

That’s why my list is dominated by DVDs. You get to hear what you are being taught and you can do it through the monitors you use to record and mix your own music.

Not that books and magazines don’t have their place, because there are some great ones out there, but they are at their best when combined with some first hand knowledge of the sounds you are listening for.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Instruction, Music Mixing/Production Tagged With: , , , , ,

Build a Recording Chain for Less Than $500

April 21, 2011 By Chris Wesley View Comments

MXL Mic Pac Plus

The MXL Mic Pac Plus

Tired of finding $1000+ pieces of equipment in these kinds of lists? I am. So on this budget, I am not going to include your interface which I’m going to assume accepts either a ¼ inch cable or XLR cable. We’re only talking signal chain here, meaning how we get the sound of your voice or instrument into your recording device. I am going to confine this article furthermore to gear and methods I have used and achieved acceptable results with.

To make this fair, I Googled the microphone package I like for this exercise and picked a big online retailer. That retailer doesn’t charge shipping or tax, so we’re already saving money. I decided to buy new because that is easier for you to duplicate. You can most likely find better prices on gear using eBay or Craigslist, but again, it isn’t likely we’d find the same prices at different points in time.

I Googled the mics first, because as a package, I thought this might be the hardest thing to find. It’s also the first place you can screw up your sound and we don’t want that, at any stage. For the microphones I chose the MXL 2003 & 603 Microphone Pac Plus. At $169.95, it is a steal and you get two good sounding mics that between them, can handle voice, acoustic and electric guitars and piano.

When proper mic positioning is used, you can get a good amount of clarity out of both mics, then if you feel like, you can rough the sound up after you get your takes down.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Music Hardware, Signal Chain Tagged With: ,

How to Recover After Accidental Identity Theft

April 14, 2011 By Chris Wesley View Comments

How to protect yourself against identity theft


Some of us lose our identity slowly without even realizing it.

To complicate things, not every thief has ill intentions. Sometimes the perps unwittingly steal our identities from us while trying to help.

Whether the goal was malicious or not though, when it happens, we’re left wondering how we fit into the world and based on that, where to go from here.

In my case, the question of where to go next has resulted in a very long public silence while I move in one direction for awhile and then another completing nothing. The years worth of ‘helpful’ advice I’ve absorbed along with my own demanding nature left me unsure of where to begin again. It’s been a long time since I was the artist.

But using the following steps, I’ve got myself back on track and with a focus I haven’t had for one of my own project in ages.

I thought I’d pass them along in case they might help you. Keep in mind, you don’t have to be an artist to use them.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Intention and Manifestation, Relationships Tagged With: