Working with another engineer in the studio.

Well this can be one of two things from the start, amazing and the smoothest session ever or the worst project of your career. How do you deal with that asshole know it all that you have to spend 12hours a day with in close quarters when there are points of argument every few minutes?How can you deal with this without going insane and ripping your hair or their's out? Here are a few tips that can get you out out of a shitty situation with out losing your job.

First off, is he above you on the food chain? This important to take serious because when you are lower on the pole than them you really cant give to much input and really just have to do what they say. Remember you will be in their shoes one day. Really with this you can just block out what they are saying, or ignore them and just do what they say. the artist will see them being a douche and if they are a true person you will look good in their eyes for not blowing up.

Now, if the individual is on the same project with you and at the same level things get complicated. because here no one has power to over throw the other and most arguments happen between this group of individuals. Everyone needs to seem to want to compare "dick size" if you will, while in the studio with others. Now the trick is dealing with an ego trip like that and staying calm and collect in front of the client or artist. Two options, Punch them in the face or be a sneaky bastard and make them look like a fool. Well i hope you went with the second because if you can just sit back and really make them destroy their own image in front of the artist. Because the will try and try to set you off but after a while they will snap and just blow up or say something stupid. just let them burry themselves.

Thats a few ways you can deal with some studio workplace conflict. Remember though, every situation is different and just like you cant really EQ the same every time you can react and handle a situation the same every time. so good luck with the assholes guys!

Best Microphones for under $1000

So you just started looking for a new Mic. Saved up about a grand for this purchase and now you have to make a huge choice. Heres some help on that with a short list of 5 of the best mics for under $1000.

5- Sure SM57 ($100)

This is a microphone that you cant beat for the price and the versatility.

From live to th

e studio to pretty much anything you cant go wrong with having a few of them lying around.

4-Sennheiser SM7b ($350)

This is an excellent vocal microphone. Its used in radio,

studio, film ADR, and lets not forget that this microphone recorded the album Thriller.

3-Blue

Bottle($300)

This is the perfect entry level vocal

and guitar mic. Its super clean and has great class A circuitry. This is a condenser mic and it has a small frequency boost at 200 Hz and also at 5 khz.

2-Neumann TLM 103 ($700)

At $600 used or $1300 new it's a great value, just get one (or more) and use them. Don't be influenced by poor judges of microphones who live in the p

ast... this is THE greatest achievement and best built mic to come out at this

price point until the competitors started trying to match it.

1-AkG c 414 ($1000)

It has five switchable polar patterns -- omnidirectional, wide cardioid, cardioid, hypercardioid, and figure 8. The mic has three switchable bass cut filters and three pre-attenuation pads. The control you get over the sound is unmatched today.

Upcoming articles

-What preamp/interface best suits you?

-Starting a home studio, The breakdown.

Blue Baby Bottle

Hey guys,

First off, if you have 300 spare dollars lying around for a mic and your a project studio looking for a good mic then pick this puppy up. I purchased this mic to handle my own recordings and i have not found anything minus putting it on drums that it wont work for. Now This is a condenser mic and it has a small frequency boost at 200 Hz and also at 5 khz. For a single focus on this mic i feel it really shines on Vox and Guitars. From acoustic guitars to amp cabs it will sound great!

Now on to some problems. First off i really hate how blue pitches this to mic drums, and other large instruments when the mic has such an awkward shape and how it mounts. Out of the box, without a diffrent mount i feel it would be a pain to mic anything but a guitar cab or vocals. Next, i really dont know if its just my mic but the XLR jack will not clip to all XLR cables only 2 out of the 5-6 i have will actually work. But other than that this is an amazing microphone and it really kicks ass!

Following are also links to the Tech Specs and a Small Demo Video.

I really feel within the 1000$ mic range the baby bottle comes in first!

See you guys next week!

Upcoming articles

-Best Mics under $1000?

-What preamp/interface best suits you?

-Starting a home studio, The breakdown.

Focusrite's new ISA428 MkII

First off, its good to see a nice clean rack mountable 4 channel preamp.

the back has your standard 1/4" and XLR ins and outs for each channel. This unit also features 4 instrument inputs right on the front of the unit. Now i know a lot of people here are wondering about protools and its hellish means of no compatibility with most any other product.

Well, the A-D converter accepts four line inputs in addition to the signals passing through the main channels of the ISA428 MkII, creating eight high-quality digital streams with a superb 122dB dynamic range. Thanks to its convenient 25-pin D-Type connector, the A-D converter option integrates seamlessly with most digital workstations, including Pro Tools HD. With this said you wont get the Le or M-powered support you'd like but then again i don't think a $1,700 preamp will be in a project studio.

-Jeff Silveira

Welcome.

The team here at silverstone would like to welcome you guys and talk a little bit about us and how we choose our teams. well right now we have 3 people on staff that all have to work together to get the job done. In our industry building a "team" or network of people you can go to when the time calls for new skills and ideas on the project at hand. I choose people based on their work ethic and on how they carry themselves. I feel that even if your a great worker but your an arrogant son of a b****, no one else on the team will work with you. there has to be a good balance of confidence in a control room, you need that vibe that even that artist will feel. As for getting in touch with the members, i prefer calling or meeting in face. If its a trivial endeavor then yeah email me but if its life changing, at least act like it.

hope you guys come back and read some articles.