finley sound: posterous

making the world a better place one album at a time

Finley Sound mentioned on the CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast!

If you're an independent musician and haven't discovered the CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast, be sure to check out Episode #79.  Host Kevin Breuner said a few kind words about my mix of his band's Christmas song. Thanks to Kevin and the rest of the guys in Hello Morning.

The DIY Musician Podcast features interviews with independent musicians, engineers, booking agents, marketing and promotion luminaries and more. I've been a listener since Episode #1 and it's an honor to have been mentioned on the show.  Truly a great resource for the indie musician.

Christmas mixing!

I recently had the opportunity to mix and master "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" by Portland based Hello Morning.  Nothing gets me into the Christmas spirit like Moog bass and well, bells!  The band is offering the song as a free download here.

Here's a shot of the Logic mixing session.

   
Click here to download:
Christmas_mixing_tag_announcem.zip (849 KB)

What's In The Box?

A subwoofer!

After purchasing and installing Adam A7 studio monitors last year, I've always felt my system lacked a bit of low bass. The A7s are extremely accurate and unforgiving until you get around 50Hz and then they really start to roll off (they're spec'ed down to 46Hz with a 3dB roll off).

The newly acquired Adam Sub7 reaches down to 31Hz and really fills out the low end nicely. I still need to calibrate the sub, but early tests seem to indicate a frequency response a bit lower than 31Hz, perhaps down to 28Hz. Bypassing the sub7's 85Hz crossover and letting the A7s roll off naturally seems to provide the smoothest response so far, but I still have some experimenting to do.

Please excuse all the cords in the second photo - I was anxious to get things hooked up!

   
Click here to download:
Whats_In_The_Box_tag_studio.zip (1344 KB)

Studio Construction: Studio Status = Online

I literally just finished hanging my guitars and some artwork.  The acoustic panels were hung over the weekend.  I did some test recording yesterday and everything works...and sounds wonderful. 

I still have a few more things to rack up and some miscellaneous organizing, but now I can get back to creating and mixing music!

Here's the finished product....

Studio Construction: Fire It Up!

The studio that is.

Yesterday, I finally hooked up enough equipment in the studio to give it a listen. My first impression was that the imaging was very 3D and life like. Individual instruments seemed to occupy specific places within the stereo spectrum, instead of being generally panned to the right or left. This added to a sense that the size of the sound stage had increased beyond the physical placement of the speakers.

The dynamics of the music were also more apparent, which either meant the song sounded extremely musical or completely lifeless. The difference depended on how it was mix/mastered and probably the intended target market. Unfortunately, for a few "radio friendly" albums that were compressed to sound as loud as possible, this translated into a flat and lifeless presentation. Sorry Coldplay. My mid-90's Able Cain CD, recorded in full 16 bit ADAT glory, sounded much more dynamic.

Did I mention that I haven't even installed the acoustic panels yet? Wow. The room is going to sound incredible.

 

Studio Construction: Finished

Ah yes, that glorious day is upon us!  The studio is finished.  The carpet was installed last Saturday and I spent Tuesday night assembling the Omnirax desk. 

Now the fun really begins...unracking and re-racking all my recording equipment. 

   
Click here to download:
Studio_Construction_Finished_t.zip (6922 KB)

Studio Construction: Carpet Update

I never thought that finishing the studio would be held up by carpet!

Just spoke to the carpet store and learned that the replacement carpet should be here by the middle of next week. They asked for photos of the defective spots on the carpet to help expedite the claim.  So, here they are in all their CSI glory.

   
Click here to download:
Studio_Construction_Carpet_Upd.zip (8383 KB)