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Value and Success in the Music Industry
There was a humorous Cracked article “6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person” by David Wong doing the rounds not long ago about the need to define your value to others in order to make you a more worthwhile person. I recommend you read it – it’s a timely reminder even if…
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Zed Brookes – O Sweet Cacophony Album Released
I finally released my album in 2016 after changing the name to “O Sweet Cacophony” as it seemed more intriguing and different than “Deus Ex Machina” (which also reminded me too much of a recent film). Luckily a good friend of mine stepped in and helped me curate the final track listing, and even booked…
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Mixing Metaphors for Music – the Picket Fence and Shrubbery Metaphor
Mixing engineers and producers generally have a bunch of internal metaphors for visualising or handling the various aspects of a song mix, depending on what they’re working on and their own personal preferences. Some stick with the same ones all the time, but most dynamically shift between a selection of metaphors as they go. It…
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The Meniscus Effect – Blending Digital Audio Analogue-Style
Many engineers and producers love the sound of analogue, despite (or perhaps because-of) the superb quality of digital audio products. Analogue is felt to be more musical and it seems easier to mix songs done in analog formats. Why is this? Most people, when asked why they like the sound of analogue, focus on things…
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The Art of Conversation in Song
(Some thoughts on the idea of conversation as a way to visualise the interaction of parts within a song). Both music and its production involve various transactions, or a dialogue, or a conversation, between interested parties. This might be between the artist and the audience at a gig, as the audience responds to what the…
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Over the Top and Back – Avoiding the Uncanny Valley in Music Production
One of the dangers of nibbling away at mixing songs – commonly with your mouse rather than a dedicated audio control surface or mixing desk, is that it’s easy to be far too conservative when adding effects and the like. What typically happens is you slowly push the level of an effect up until it…
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About Zed
Zed has had 30-something years in the music industry, mostly as musician, songwriter, studio engineer and producer, with marginally less time teaching others about audio-related topics He spent nearly 16 years teaching audio, music software and game audio at MAINZ (Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand) in Auckland, where he was head of the…
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Deus Ex Machina Album
Update: The album was released as Zed Brookes – “O Sweet Cacophony” in September 2016 and can be found on the various music sites iTunes, Spotify etc, and also on Bandcamp. I’m currently trying to complete my album project “Deus Ex Machina”. It revolves around the idea of the organic and the machine converging. It…
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Thunderbolt arrives for the UAD Apollo – huzzah!
A large box for a small card. That image of the card is pretty close to “actual size” Further to my recent review of the UAD Apollo, I finally received my Apollo Thunderbolt interface card today. (More on what Thunderbolt is on Intel’s site and on Apple’s site) There’s a lot of chippage going on…
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3 Common Mistakes of Lyric Writing
As a producer, one of the things that is most apparent to me is the difference between an amateur and professional songwriter – even if that amateur is talented and doing well in their career. Many bands and artists come into the studio with what initially seems to be a great song, but in the…