I just uploaded the mixing stems for the 80HD song “Do You Dance” to a remixing online community called CCMixter.  I have always been fascinated with the idea of releasing music and different material on the internet using a Creative Commons License.  By releasing your work under a Creative Common License, you aren’t giving up the copyright to your work, but allowing the public to have certain rights but only on certain conditions.  There are a bunch of different licenses you can choose from and you can learn all about them by visiting the Creative Commons Wiki.  Read more to find out how you can remix 80HD. Read the rest of this entry »

A lot of cheaper microphone clips and even expensive microphones have hardened molded plastic threads on the end of the mic clip that goes onto a microphone stand.

Although they are pretty hard, they still tend to break, bend, and fail all the time.  I have gone through tons of mic clips that become unusable because of this cheap design.  Along with cheap mic clips, I have also come across cheap microphone stands which have a silver metal microphone clip adapter.

I’m not entirely sure why they use these sliver caps because the mic stands work fine without them.  With that being said, if we take the metal mic clip adapter and attach it to our plastic mic clip, we get a mic clip with a metal threaded adapter.  This mating of the two pieces together gives us a mic clip that has a strong thread that is a lot harder to damage than the hardened plastic one!

Read more for more pictures of mic clip and metal adapter combos.

Read the rest of this entry »

With the advent of electronic parts being so inexpensive today, a lot of people are trying to learn how to solder in order to fix or create their own products. For an audio engineer, knowing how to solder correctly can lead to a lot more job opportunities, and also help you cut down on the cost of creating such things as cabling or custom adapters. Buying bulk microphone cable and then soldering individual connectors on yourself can sometimes save you up to 50% in cost and allow you to make your own lengths or even repair them when they break. You may not save a huge amount if you buy the supplies for only one or two cables, but buying say 5 or more will yield better savings. You can even sell the extra cables you make for extra profit. Go HERE for some great beginners tutorials on soldering basics.

Here is an example… Read the rest of this entry »

Here is an update of whats been going on for the beginning of summer 2008!

Just recorded mixed three songs for a friend of mine and his new project Underdogs of Nipomo. Everything was recorded in my living room using my Presonus Firepod and a PC into Cubase SX3. I will also be mastering the songs for their upcoming release as soon we finish recording and mixing the rest of their songs. You can hear the mixed versions of the songs over on there myspace: http://www.myspace.com/underdogsof. You can also check them out live at BereaFest on July 19th.

Speaking of BereaFest, 80HD will also be playing on the July 18th date. Read the rest of this entry »

With gas prices skyrocketing into the $4.00 plus per gallon price, driving can really up your cost of operation.  According to IRS.gov, you cannot directly deduct mileage that is calculated to and from your regular places of business (home to work, work to home).  Now this only means that you cannot deduct mileage to and from your house and homebase of work.  You can however deduct mileage cost to and from work sites that you do not normally work at.  Imagine if you arrive at your office and need to go on location for a recording or live sound gig, you can write off the mileage that is calculated from your office to your gig.  Below is the IRS announcement of its standard mileage cost for business driving and the guidelines to which you can writeoff business mileage.

IRS Standard Mileage Rates

IRS Guidelines for Business Mileage