Loathe - Dimorphous Display

Ahoy - ‘new’ music is here - well new to this page anyway. I worked with the mighty Loathe on Dimorphous Display, released back in January (2022) on Sharptone Records. I wasn’t able to post about it at the time due to life reasons, but here it is. I recorded/produced/mixed and co-mastered this track, with lots of input from the band too, of course.

I love getting the opportunity to work on heavier music and these guys are some of the most talented musicians I’ve had the pleasure of working with; super keen to experiment and try new things, yet also really clear on the sounds and textures they want.

Check it out on Apple Music and Spotify, or click on the official YouTube steam below…

Oh, and enjoy some photos from the session, the cool black and white photos were taken by the multi-talented Feisal El-Khazragi (bass guitar in Loathe) - hence why he’s not in any of them!. He has his own photography Instagram here. The colour ones are just my iPhone snaps of the session.

There’s loads more I could share about this track, and more praise I could heap on the band, but I’ll let you listen for yourself.

Enjoy,

Ed ❤️🎚🎛

P.S. If any Loathe fans ever find this page, rest assured that despite what keyboard warriors and bedroom producers say on the internet, there were no drum samples used on this track, no amp emulators, no 808s…

Mansell - Goodbye Blue Monday

Finally some new music to share with you! I mixed and mastered this track - Goodbye Blue Monday - off Mansell’s forthcoming EP, which is out in April. These guys are so talented - beautiful songwriting, amazing voices, instrumentation and production - even the engineering is fantastic. When I get to work on their songs I feel like I get the opportunity to make a great piece of music even better, rather than trying to fix a bunch of issues. I can’t wait to share the whole EP!

You can check it out on Spotify or Apple Music, choose your fighter below. Rest assured that your stream will pay for them to buy 0.0000000001% of a cup of coffee or 0.00000004% of a guitar string which… is good I guess?

With love,

Ed ❤️🎚🎛

Jessy Allen - Rushbrook

Jessy Allen has one of the best and most powerful voices I’ve ever heard - or recorded. So happy to share her debut track ‘Rushbrook’ - a collaboration between Jessy, Dave Newington (Boy Azooga), Richie Hayes and myself.

Richie and I played on and produced the track, and it’s recorded, mixed and mastered by me, myself and I. It was really fun creating this, experimenting and hanging out with amazing people - it’s the first of a few tracks that we made together.

You can listen on: Spotify / iTunes / YouTube / Deezer (whatever the hell that is) and it’s on the BBC Wales and BBC Cymru daily playlists.

Really excited for Jessy and what she could create in the future…

With love,

Ed ❤️🎚🎛

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Mansell - Floyd

So happy to share another track that I mixed and mastered, by the amazing Mansell from Atlanta. I’m so happy with how it turned out - these guys are super talented and I’m loving everything I’m being sent!

You can hear their new track Floyd on Spotify or Apple Music or Soundcloud below. Oh, and the beautiful artwork is by the supremely talented Loo Gray.

More coming soon, can’t wait to share!!

With love,

Ed 🎚🎛❤️

Mansell - Good Form

Oh hello there - this is a post to tell you that I’ve been working with an Atlanta based trio called Mansell - I mixed and mastered their latest single ‘Good Form’. It’s beautiful and it’s really fun to work with a band that seems have a really similar combination of influences as myself - hip hop, indie/alt, soul, etc. Really feels like a good match working with these guys - great musicianship, songwriting and style.

We’ve worked together on a few tracks and I can’t wait to share more of their music with you, it’s quite wonderful. Really excited to see where these guys take their music, so much potential.

Check out good form on Spotify, or check the YouTube link below.

With love,

Ed 🎚🎛❤️


The Science of Art: Finding the ‘Perfect’ Compressor Settings – Every Time

Yes, I do realise that it's been a while since I posted, but I've been very busy recording an album. Isn't that nice?

Anyway, when it comes to compression, the truth is that even some experienced engineers and producers can feel frustrated when trying to set a compressor – especially the attack and release times. A technique popularised by Michael Paul Stavrou in his book Mixing with your Mind (a very expensive but highly recommended book!) helps to overcome this.

The method is simple: using extreme threshold and ratio settings makes it easier to hear the effect of changing the attack and release times. The key step is to first apply the following settings to your compressor:

    •    Attack to minimum
    •    Release to minimum
    •    Ratio to maximum
    •    Threshold giving at least 15dB of gain reduction – preferably more

Loop up a piece of audio, such as a snare sample or drum loop you’re familiar with, and start to adjust the attack time until you can hear the transients poking through, and really understand and get a feel for the way that the attack works on the particular compressor you're using. Try to ignore the distortion and extreme compression and just focus on the attack transients; pay attention to when there's too much 'clamping down' on the transient.

Random picture of a compressor I took at KONK Studios

Random picture of a compressor I took at KONK Studios

I was going to included a screen capture video of myself, following the process with the built-in Logic X compressor, to show you how quickly it can be done - then I thought, you know what? Nah - you do it. You know? Okay, PERHAPS I recorded it several times, only to realise it wasn’t capturing the screen audio and would be useless to everyone, but let’s pretend that this is a lesson in tough love and DIY ethic.

Anyway, once you have the attack set to your taste, you can move onto the release. Listen for when it’s too fast and there’s too much distortion, or when extreme pumping occurs. Once the release is set move onto the ratio, and finally back the threshold down to give a more reasonable amount of gain reduction, and then set the make-up gain. How does it sound?

This is a great trick to try when you’re using a new compressor for the first time, and want to get to grips with it learning how it sounds and behaves. Be sure to adjust the settings in the following order:

Attack -> Release -> Ratio -> Threshold

According to Stavrou, you shouldn’t ever really need to go back and change the initial settings you chose, unless you decide to go for a completely different aesthetic. It’s a great technique, so give it a try! Bear in mind that different compressors sound… different! Some of them will behave in quirky, non-linear ways that you may or may not like…

You could do all that, of course -  or you could just get me to mix it for you, which will, of course, sound quite wonderful. 😎

Next up, we’ll talk about serial compression - chaining these lovely things together in a row for further awesomeness and sonic beautification.

With love,

Ed 🎚🎛❤️

New Boy Azooga - Do The Standing Still

Happy to reveal the latest Boy Azooga track that I recorded/produced/mixed and mastered (ooh la laa) - it’s a cover of The Table’s, comic book dead body dance floor classic ‘Do The Standing Still’.

The video (by Toby Cameron) features Kliph Scurlock, a polar bear and some confused members of the public. Have a good day. Long live The Table.

Catch the Azoogas on their UK and US tour on these dates - I’ll be at the Scala gig tomorrow (Weds 17th Oct).

With love and Azooga,

Ed 🎚🎛❤️


New Boy Azooga Single/Video - Jerry

Hello there and good day to you - there is a new single and video out for the song Jerry off the forthcoming 1,2 Kung Fu! album (which you can pre-order here in lovely pink and/or blue vinyl). It's a song about a dog 🐶

The video was once again done by Toby Cameron of ON PAR Productions, shot at Cardiff Dogs Home, (please donate here) and the single is out on Heavenly Recordings. It will be available on your radio dials soon.

With love and Azooga,

Ed 🎚🎛❤️

The Science of Art: Understanding Compression - Part III

OK, we're going to be talking about Side-Chain Compression. It sounds confusing but it's not at all. It's a relatively long post, but just imagine it's the olden days, when people read books and listened to vinyl and stuff. Everyone's obsessed with tape and vintage gear, but nobody wants to read an article full of lovely, free information? Come come now, you know your brain and music will thank you for it later.

Erm, anyway. Grab a coffee. Let's discuss.

Setting up side chain compression in Logic and selecting the kick as the input signal to turn down the bass guitar - but only when the kick hits

Setting up side chain compression in Logic and selecting the kick as the input signal to turn down the bass guitar - but only when the kick hits

7. Side-Chain Input: So, if we're using a standard compressor (as discussed so far) the level of the audio going into the compressor is used to control the amount of compression; the compressor detects the ‘volume’ of the incoming audio, decides if it’s over the threshold or not, reduces the gain of that audio, and then outputs it. OK, easy, we're on the same page.

Side-chain compression works similarly, but the compressor has two inputs: one is the signal to be compressed and the other signal is used to control the amount compression. The "side-chain" of the compressor is the part of the circuitry that listens to the incoming signal to see if it should tell the compressor to... compress.

This can help to create the 'famous ducking effect’ or pumping sound used in electronic music – the kick is used as the side chain input, acting on the bass to ‘duck’ the bass sound (or perhaps all the instruments, if you want) while the kick hits, and then the music comes back in after the kick, helping create rhythm and groove (if the release is set correctly).

This can be used to... ahem, artistic effect as above, or it can be used simply to create more headroom and allow instruments to 'get out of the way of each other' – for example, if the bass and rhythm guitars are playing during a busy section in a mix and masking the kick and the snare, they can be ‘ducked’ a little in order to allow the kick or snare to bang through the mix a little more easily, as well as creating a little more headroom on the master bus (bonus!).

A cool and slightly advanced trick is to 'duck out' the rhythm guitars (or anything playing at the same time as the vocals) so that they dip out when the singer starts to sing. Go wild - you can even try using side-chain compression with a multi-band compressor and only compress the mid-range of the rhythm guitars when the vocals kick in! You only need a few dB for it to be worth it.

Additionally, using the side-chain gives you another important tool - it allows you to filter the input signal separately, before it is fed to the compressor. Using hi-pass and low-pass filters (see attached pic of Logic X compressor) you can compress the input signal, but only when the threshold is exceeded in the range of, for example, 10Hz - 100Hz. This way, when the signal has contains transients outside this frequency range, the compressor doesn't react. Get it?

Obviously, the settings you have on the compressor (Attack, Release, Ratio, Threshold etc.) will affect the character of the 'ducking'. The Release time might be the most important one here, as that will control the 'breathing' effect. Experiment. Stick it on 4:1, set the Threshold to give you -10dB of compression (i.e. enough so that you can hear it) and then experiment with the Attack/Release. You might like the Attack at the fastest setting.

Some compressors have a side-chain listen button that allows you to check which frequencies you're using as side-chain input (see the above GIF). If you push this, you send the side-chain signal straight to the output. Listening to this can really help you understand what the hell is going on.

Here is a picture of some compressors that I took at a session at Real World. It's just here to spice things up a bit, you know? Otherwise it's just a lot of text and people don't wanna read stuff these days. We need distractions. Plus, I think it l…

Here is a picture of some compressors that I took at a session at Real World. It's just here to spice things up a bit, you know? Otherwise it's just a lot of text and people don't wanna read stuff these days. We need distractions. Plus, I think it looks better. Spruces the place up, like a nice throw, some cushions, or a nice lamp.

8. Compressor  Metering - PEAK vs. RMS: OK, so we know that each compressor uses a side-chain circuit to measure the incoming signal, so that it knows when it needs compressing – it asks: ‘is the signal at the threshold, yet?’. But the important part to remember is that the compressor will behave differently, depending on whether the side chain detector responds to the average level of the input signal, or to the max/peak signal level of the input. What?

Well, some compressors can switch between Peak Mode and RMS Mode operations (don't panic, don't close the browser) – in Peak mode, the compressor responds more accurately to brief peaks in the audio - this ensures transients are more accurately controlled, but also introduces a risk that the output will be overly compressed if there’s a sudden loud, sharp transient sound. So Peak metering is usually used on drum and percussion sounds.

Most compressors use an RMS mode. RMS stands for Root Mean Square... which is *clears throat*.... "a mathematical means of determining average signal levels, which is designed to respond similarly to the human ear". Using a compressor in RMS mode means that the compression can sound more natural, but sharp transient sounds may pass through at a higher level than you expect, even with a short attack time. A great tip when working with RMS mode compressors is to use a limiter after the compressor to catch the transients, but be careful not to squash too much of the dynamics!

In the picture at the top (the Logic compressor) the options are 'MAX' and 'SUM' - which is the same as 'Peak' and 'RMS' respectively.

That's all for now. If you need any clarification on anything, just get in touch and ask. I love talking about this stuff. Next time, we'll talk about how to find the ‘perfect’ compressor settings - every time. I don't mean that in a spammy, click-bait way, it's a method I was shown years ago and it's pretty cool.

With love,

Ed 🎚🎛❤️

The Science Of Art: Tip #0003 - Narrow EQ Cuts Will Save Your Life & Make You Rich

Tip 3.) Cut down on nasty/harsh ringing in the 3-4KHz area - it can/will make your tracks sound sharp and amateurish. Learn to work with an EQ band set to a super narrow Q (Q = EQ bandwidth) to hulk smash horrible frequencies; it works great on drums (video ex.1: drum room mics), guitars (video ex: 2) and especially lead vocals (video ex. 3).

Obviously you could automate on/off on certain sections, or adjust the gain/amount of cut on certain sections (e.g. the singer sounds fine until they start belting it out). The EQ curve might ‘look wrong’ but it often sounds fantastic, especially if you have a frequency hunter EQ like PSP Neon (used in the below example) or FabFilter’s Pro-Q; experiment with Linear Phase EQs, too. I’ll dip out 20dB on a lead vocal, no problem - I'm fearless, like a tiger. Try it. Don’t be scared homie. 🎚 🎛 ❤️

The Science of Art: Tip #0000

A little while back I started jotting down a bunch of short mixing/mastering/song-writing and production tips that I’ve learned over the past few years. I thought it might be a nice idea to share these, one or two a day, until the end of time. Perhaps I'll even post them all in one post, one day.

I know that there are tons of other accounts (Twitter, blogs, etc) that do this and I’m not trying to suddenly pretend to be some sort of sage on music creation. Some people aren't following me to try to learn how to make music, and yes, social media is gross. But if one of them help anyone, then hopefully it's useful. I do hope that's OK with you?

Really, I created these as reminders for myself - I still look at them all the time when I’m struggling - but perhaps they’d be useful for anyone that makes music and cares to read them. They’re might be a specific piece of direct advice/suggestion, or it could be an Eno-esque Oblique Strategies style snippet, to encourage a bit of thought and intentionally left open to interpretation. Context is not required/lack of context is encouraged.

I do hope you find these useful - if you’d like me to expand on any of them (I'll go as in depth as you like, and post it here, with examples), just get in touch: ed@edboogie.com

Have fun and make great music ❤️ 

Ed 

Listen, Like, Love: Sera - Little Girl

I spent a lot of 2014/2015 working on an album for Sera. She's a folk/country/americana artist, and came to me with a bunch of songs written on piano or guitar, plus vocals/lyrics, and we worked together to make an album. She's a really brilliant songwriter. 

The album's called 'Little Girl' and was released on Folkstock Records - it's had play on BBC Radio London, BBC Wales & Cymru, Absolute Radio, and I'm sure a bunch more that I'm not aware of.

It was a LOT of work - as well as recording/mixing/mastering the album, I played guitar, synth/keys, bass, drums, percussion and even did some backing vocals (!), so it was quite a labour of love. We wrote the final track 'Through The Night' together, and I'm really proud of the whole album. 

It also features songwriting collaborations with Sion Russell Jones and Gordon Mills Jr (The Bluetones, Ed Sheeran, Lissie, Newton Faulkner and Lillian Todd-Jones), as well as violin by Jenn Williams and cello by Sion Lewis.

Sera/Folkstock also released an EP called 'Rocks' which features a subset of the rockier songs from the album.

Thankfully, both the album and the EP have had some great reviews - I generally am not a huge fan of posting quotes as it makes me feel a bit queezy, so I'll leave you to check out the Huffington Post or Americana UK if you really feel like it. Still, here's one last one from From the Margins, just to flatter one's ego a little (hey, if I don't no one will etc?): 

Her last EP, Straeon, saw a first musical collaboration with the producer of this album, Eddie Al-Shakarchi, who contributed by playing on Mond am Eiliad and Agor dy Galon. If anything has changed to make this new album something a whole stratospheric level above what, however excellent, she has recorded before, it must be this new working relationship. Al-Shakarchi is also a multi-instrumentalist - and his contribution of often spare but dynamic percussion is particularly important here in breathing life into the music.

Isn't that nice? You can stream Rocks below, and if you like it, please check out the whole album on BandCamp or iTunes / Apple Music. Thank you and have a lovely day.