Posts by Andy Stewart
THE MILL REPORT: IMPROMPTU ACOUSTIC TREATMENTS
Often it’s the lack of experimentation with room treatment that leaves many a home recording sounding thin, resonant and harsh. Left unchecked, untreated room reflections can severely impact upon the clarity and focus of direct signals into a microphone, though initially this may be hard to judge. It’s often only when mix compression is applied…
Read MoreTOOLBOX REVIEW: HOFA CD-BURN & DDP – STANDALONE V1.6.9
New to The Mill’s long list of software recently has been HOFA’s CD-Burn & DDP – standalone version – a fairly simple but effective red-book audio CD burning and pre-master DDP (Disc Description Protocol) manufacturing program that runs rock solidly on the Mac platform (it’s also available for PC). HOFA, a German mob from…
Read MoreTHE MILL REPORT: GRADUATE OF THE INDUSTRY – QUALIFICATION ZERO
What do you say to someone who values your work at zero? Do you laugh them off and tell a dismissive joke to avoid confrontation? Do you calmly explain that your work is as valuable as that of any other professional or do you chuck a wobbly? If you haven’t experienced this insult first-hand you’re…
Read MoreIN MEMORIAL: CALUM ORR
THE ENIGMATIC ENGINEER 17th February 1968 – 21st August 2015 Yesterday I went to the memorial of one of my oldest and best friends, Calum Orr, who last week passed away peacefully after a 15-year battle with cancer. I’m still in shock and feel sick right now at the prospect of reducing my friend to a…
Read MoreTHE MILL REPORT: FUTURE REWIND
People, it seems, are re-discovering analogue tape… again! Just when you might have felt certain the format had gone the way of the steam engine, it’s back! How long analogue tape will return for or how the machines used to spin it will survive another resurgence is another matter. When the analogue tape recording format…
Read MoreTOOLBOX Review: AUDIO-TECHNICA ATH-R70x OPEN BACK HEADPHONES
I’ve probably reviewed Audio- Technica headphones once too often in recent times, and I promise this will be the last instalment for a while. But I haven’t been able to resist having a quick chat about the Japanese company’s new ATH-R70x open-backed reference model. It’s only just hit the streets, and surprisingly, it’s the first open-back model ever made by the company. They’ve made…
Read MoreThe Mill Report: MP3s – SCOURGE OF THE AUDIO WORLD
By rights, no-one should even remember the MP3 format by now, any more than people can remember Betamax or Hi-8 tapes in the video industry. Somewhere along the line the audio industry was sold a miserable lie that has all but poisoned our capacity to advance the hi-res digital cause. It’s time we woke up from…
Read MoreLISTEN HERE: RANTING, RAVING & MONEY WORTH SAVING
When it comes to audio production, one thing is certain; there are no rules. And for that we can thank people like Geoff Emerick of Beatles fame (amongst others). He used to break rules on a daily basis: put mics close to drum kits, feed line-level signals back into mic preamps, man-handle spools while the analogue…
Read MoreToolbox Review: AEA N8 BI-DIRECTIONAL RIBBON MICROPHONE
The latest microphone to come knocking on my door down here at The Mill has been AEA’s new N8 phantom powered, bi-directional ribbon; a mid-sized side-address mic that sounds superb on a wide variety of sources. From the moment it arrived here it’s been hard at work recording everything from loud drums and percussion to screeching…
Read MoreLISTEN HERE: It’s Like Staring At The Sun
All too often it’s the top-end that people reach out for consoles and in mix windows when a sound lacks clarity in a mix. it’s their go-to solution – a knee jerk reaction to a problem that’s often best solved by vastly different means. When this unthinking, reactive approach to mixing is deployed too often, the…
Read MoreThe Mill Report: B-Side Blues…
There’s a disease gripping the world of singer songwriters that’s gone undiagnosed for ages now. It’s brought on by a combination of things: the natural desire to be the best, a determination to sound amazing, insufficient funds and a lack of free time to finish a project without distraction. I call it ‘B-Side Blues’ or ‘Killing…
Read MoreTHE MILL REPORT: HALF BAKED IS HALF ARSED
When a song production leaves half its musical potential on the shelf, everyone gets disappointed. “If only they’d added X, Y and Z” people say… “the song would have been amazing!” Some musicians don’t have this problem, of course. They throw every conceivable overdub at a song, hoping something will stick… and sometimes things do……
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