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Mix Blog Live: Ten-Foot Kick

By Steve La Cerra ⋅ Published: 05/04/2021

We like loud, we like clarity and we like dynamics. That's what we do in live performance. But now is not the time to...

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Mix Blog Studio: 500 Series As a Gateway to Analog

By Mike Levine ⋅ Published: 04/27/2021

After years of mixing in-the-box, Mike Levine discovered a range of 500 Series units; he now employs a hybrid approach to his mixes that...

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Mix Blog Live: Spring Training

By Steve La Cerra ⋅ Published: 04/20/2021

Steve La Cerra was back at FOH last weekend, and that proved to be the easy part following a 17-hour journey from New York...

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Mix Blog Studio: Tear It Down and Build It Up

By Mike Levine ⋅ Published: 04/13/2021

Mike Levine can't get to his third-floor studio for a few more weeks, so he moved some of it downstairs, all the time thinking...

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No Need to Go It Alone

By Tom Kenny ⋅ Published: 04/12/2021

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past year of isolation, there’s no need to go it alone.

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Mix Blog Live: Muscle Memory

By Steve La Cerra ⋅ Published: 04/06/2021

After a long hiatus, Steve La Cerra settled in at FOH for his first gig of 2021 and, for a brief moment, found that...

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Mix Blog Studio: Loops By Subscription

By Mike Levine ⋅ Published: 03/30/2021

The software subscription model has made its way into pro audio, and Mike Levine finds that the new wave of loop sites provide great...

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Mix Blog Live: Vegas Reopens at 50 Percent

By Steve La Cerra ⋅ Published: 03/23/2021

While not a long-term solution, the move in Las Vegas to open venues at up to 50 percent capacity (or 250 people, whichever is...

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This One’s a Reader

By Tom Kenny ⋅ Published: 03/17/2021

I entered the graduate journalism program at Indiana University in 1986, about seven or eight lifetimes ago in technology years. In the summer of...

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Mix Blog Studio: iZotope and NI—One Plus One Equals…?

By Mike Levine ⋅ Published: 03/16/2021

A new alliance between two powerhouses in pro audio and music production has some intriguing possibilities for creators, including the incorporation of AI into...

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Mix Blog Live: GRAMMY Time

By Steve La Cerra ⋅ Published: 03/09/2021

Grammy Week and Music's Biggest Night will look a lot different this time around, but as Steve La Cerra points out, the performers are...

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Mix Blog Studio: Console Yourself

By Mike Levine ⋅ Published: 03/02/2021

Mike Levine is beginning to rethink his mix workflow by looking at console emulation plug-ins rather than mix-and-match dynamics and processing.

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Well, It’s Been a Year Now…

By Tom Kenny ⋅ Published: 02/23/2021

My daughters like to tease me that I use a few too many ellipses in my texts and emails. “Oh yeah, dad, he’s king...

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Mix Blog Live: Well, At Least Someone Cares

By Steve La Cerra ⋅ Published: 02/23/2021

While the public cheered recent announcements of limited-capacity venue reopenings, Steve La Cerra looks at the economics and calls it a non-starter; meanwhile, he...

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Mix Blog Studio: Real Drums Change Everything

By Mike Levine ⋅ Published: 02/16/2021

While producing an instrumental track for one of his bands, Mike Levine suddenly found that he had access to a live, remote drummer—a good...

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Mix Blog Live: RTFM

By Steve La Cerra ⋅ Published: 02/09/2021

In teaching a lesson to a student about following the proper steps for a project, Steve La Cerra ends up following his own advice...

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Mix Blog Studio: Hardware Shines at NAMM

By Mike Levine ⋅ Published: 02/02/2021

Mike Levine ended up spending time with the revival in hardware products at the recent virtual NAMM show, reminding him a bit of a...

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Mix Blog Live: Virtually NAMM

By Steve La Cerra ⋅ Published: 01/26/2021

Steve La Cerra really wanted to go to Anaheim this year to find new products and catch up with some colleagues, but mostly he...

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Editor’s Note: Welcome 2021, We’ve Been Waiting for You

By Tom Kenny ⋅ Published: 01/20/2021

It’s been a long, long year. Same number of seconds, minutes and hours, yes, but I think we can all agree that it sure...

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Mix Blog Studio: Happy Feet

By Mike Levine ⋅ Published: 01/19/2021

Mike Levine checks in virtually for NAMM Believe in Music Week and sets out to sate his appetite for new products and expert panel...

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Mix Blog Live: It Ain’t The Gig, It’s the Commute

By Steve La Cerra ⋅ Published: 01/12/2021

Steve La Cerra just had his second gig since the Covid outbreak, and while it went better in the house, the same could not...

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Mix Blog Studio: Pro Tools 2020.11 Boosts Performance, Adds Features

By Mike Levine ⋅ Published: 01/05/2021

Mike Levine is loving the host of new features and the reduced strain on his CPU load in the latest Pro Tools update.

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Mix Blog Live: Sending Out an SOS

By Steve La Cerra ⋅ Published: 12/22/2020

Steve La Cerra reports in on the latest from Congress in Covid relief to help venue operators and those involved in live sound and...

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The Importance of Vision

By Tom Kenny ⋅ Published: 12/18/2020

The Importance of Vision

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Mix Blog Studio: The Good Kind of Drama

By Mike Levine ⋅ Published: 12/15/2020

Injecting some storytelling drama into a song can take place anywhere along the way, from songwriting through the mix, and Mike Levine considers it...

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Mix Blog Live: My First Indoor Gig, Front to Back

By Steve La Cerra ⋅ Published: 12/08/2020

In his first indoor gig of the Covid era, Steve La Cerra finds that while the crew and backstage areas followed protocol, it was...

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Mix Blog Studio: A Place for Everything

By Mike Levine ⋅ Published: 12/01/2020

Mike Levine admits his own messy tendencies when it comes to studio odds and ends, which is why he reminds us of a few...

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Mix Blog Live: Memories of Bruce Swedien

By Steve La Cerra ⋅ Published: 11/24/2020

Steve La Cerra recalls the human side of Bruce Swedien, how they met over a story about Neumann M49s and how he ended up...

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Editor’s Note: 10 Months In, We’re All Teachers and Students

By Tom Kenny ⋅ Published: 11/23/2020

I believe in Science. Absolutely. And Science told us back in March that if we didn’t all take this virus thing seriously, by November...

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Mix Blog Studio: Analog Emulation—How Much Is Too Much?

By Mike Levine ⋅ Published: 11/17/2020

Mike Levine likes adding some analog flavor to his mixes, often through modeling and emulation plug-ins. Still, he wonders if he sometimes goes too...