Month: October 2018

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If I can only afford one microphone under $500 to record vocals with what should I get?

songwriting tips, microphones

Mark Urso, Owner at River Song Music (Quora answer)

Maybe a Shure SM58. An SM48, which is extremely similar, can be had for fifty bucks. You’ll have a little money left over!

I’ll assume you’re not on stage making your recordings, and you have complete control over ambient sound, and you have good headphones. So you’re looking for, I’m assuming, a studio mic for vocals.

Cheap street is the SM58. It’s a standard mic, with a standard polar pattern, and is usually used on stage, but since we don’t know what your singer sounds like, what your singer prefers, or if you’re looking for a particular sound, why not have a standard-performing mic? It won’t cost $500 – maybe $100.

It’s far more important how your room sounds, how your singer Continue reading “If I can only afford one microphone under $500 to record vocals with what should I get?”

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What is the best way to go about mixing movie audio, and what are the best plugins available to achieve the best sound after using a field mixer to record the audio?

just words

Answered on Quora by Mark Urso, Owner at River Song Music

This is very ambitious! To “mix movie audio” is as deep a subject as mixing any audio. So the question includes a request for instructions on how to become an audio engineer and run a sound studio.

The answer is, the same way you would mix audio if it were not in a movie. Detach it first, bring it into your audio workstation, and fix it. I’d recommend doing your video editing first, if possible. If you can, then you know you won’t be slicing the video (and audio) and have to realign Continue reading “What is the best way to go about mixing movie audio, and what are the best plugins available to achieve the best sound after using a field mixer to record the audio?”

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Why is AA So Ineffective?

just words

A Quora answer by Mark Urso, Author of “A Candle Lit”:

The problem with AA is something that happens very early, when a person, a “sufferer,” is first introduced to the idea, sees a pamphlet or checks out his first meeting … the system can easily lose its credibility and feel either like it’s extreme, or members are jumping to conclusions …

People are simply scared away before they join.

In my book, “A Candle Lit,” I call them “leavers-before-they-enter.”

The three biggest problems are …

Ambiguous Permanence: It’s never been proven alcoholism is permanent, but members commonly insist it is. This is a credibility hit if the new person thinks about it … To make matters confusing, the words “alcoholic” Continue reading “Why is AA So Ineffective?”

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What great chord progressions have you found, transcribing popular music?

1200x630-FB-Songwriting-Pt-09-chords

For soft rock, people might be surprised at which songs are simple, and which use inventive and unusual chords. I’ve reverse-engineered hundreds of popular songs. I’ll toss out a few examples of what I’ve discovered:

The Easys

Certain artists, like Elton John and John Mellencamp, are not reinventing the wheel with the music they write. It’s extremely straightforward, usually 4/4 Continue reading “What great chord progressions have you found, transcribing popular music?”