Dave’s 5-step Speedy Vocal Microphone Audition

Written by Dave Martin on July 21, 2021.

How do you choose the right lead vocal mic for a project? There are many approaches; one engineer friend would regularly spend a half day or more auditioning various microphones with the artist, while...

Sweetwater Studios Engineer Rachel Talks GearFest

Written by Rachel Leonard on July 14, 2021.

Join our very own Rachel Leonard for a deep dive into June at Sweetwater, including highlights from GearFest Online 2021! You won't want to miss out on a special segment on why GearFest 2021 was so...

421 Day Recording Session Using Only Sennheiser 421s!

Written by Bobby Dellarocco on April 21, 2021.

During a break from an evening session on 4/14, I was grabbing a snack from the Sweetwater diner and checking Instagram when I came across an appreciation post for the AKG 414. It took me a moment to...

Sweetwater Studios engineer Rachel Leonard talks about the latest music gear news from March 2021

Written by Rachel Leonard on April 16, 2021.

Sweetwater Studios engineer Rachel Leonard talks about the latest music gear news from March 2021 — special thanks to Shure, Epiphone, Blackstar, Jared James Nichols, and Sweetwater Studios for making...

Sweetwater Studios Engineer Rachel Talks NAMM, Nita Strauss & Yamaha! (Video)

Written by Rachel Leonard on March 8, 2021.

Sweetwater Studios engineer Rachel Leonard talks about the latest music gear news from February 2021 including our NAMM Gear Roundup, Yamaha YC88 88-key Stage Keyboard Demo and Jordan West performing...

Lavine

Written by Dave Martin on March 2, 2021.

Elkhart, Indiana-based band Lavine came to the Sweetwater Studios a while back to do their first project with engineer Bobby Dellarocco, a four-song EP recorded and mixed in Studio A over three days....

10 Things to Have on Standby in the Studio

Written by Rachel Leonard on February 24, 2021.

Sweetwater Studios assistant engineer Rachel Leonard breaks down her top 10 must have items to have on standby to ensure a successful studio session. Power and lots of it! Power strips, extension cords,...

Building the Right Vocal Chain

Written by Dave Martin on October 6, 2020.

The first item in the vocal chain isn’t, as you might expect, the microphone. It’s the singer. Why? Because the singer is the source of the sound. Everything else in the chain is there to capture and...

How Many Mics on the Drums?

Written by Dave Martin on September 21, 2020.

As late as the 1950s, it wasn’t uncommon to record a group with no microphones specifically for the drums. At an Audio Engineering Society seminar in 2001, legendary engineer Bruce Swedien talked about...

Miking Your Acoustic Guitar on Live Shows

Written by Dave Martin on September 8, 2020.

There are a number of reasons to consider playing live gigs using a microphone to amplify your acoustic guitar rather than a built-in pickup and a DI. Perhaps you don’t care for the sound of the pickup...