Gobbler – Back up solutions for audio and video professionals.

Through a tweet I hear about Gobbler today. Gobbler is a cloud based file sharing and backup solution for media professionals like musicians, studios, and video editors. Sign up to the site was easy and right now they are offering a 25 GB free account while the web site is in beta testing.

After sign up and confirmation of your email address you must download an application that catalogs your files. I searches your hard drive for session created by your DAW (digital audio workstation.) It recognized files by all the popular recording softwares including Logic, Protools, Garage Band, Cubase, Sonar and more. For a full list of compatible files visit the Gobbler website. When Gobbler has finished searching your computer is shows a list of files you can select to back up. The sessions you choose to back up are then put in a queue or fancy waiting line to be uploaded to the cloud. Once the file is on the cloud the it can be sent to another person by link in an email. The session will also be updated and continuously backed up on the cloud from that point on. One of the best features about Gobbler is it does not do anything while your DAW is open and you are working. It leaves that precious CPU for you to use on your session and plug ins. When your session is closed and you are watching reruns of the Jersey Shore on Netflix Gobbler gets back to work.

Gobbler seems like the backup solution musicians and studio owners have been waiting for. Back up products like Apple’s built in Time Machine are good but the danger lies in the back up being on site. Cloud based back ups are more useful in the case of some catastrophe like theft, flood, or fire. In an event like that your main hard drive and back up drives are in the same place and they will most likely suffer the same fate. Cloud based storage moves you backed up information off site.

I’ll be trying Gobbler over the next few months to back up sessions for my clients. Give it a try while they are still overing free hard drive space. It might not last for

These two video will walk you through how it works.

Part I

Part II

This is a quick snapshot of the mixer. Sorry I did not label it. You can still get a clear picture though. You are only hearing 3 drum parts. Kick Clap, and Hi Hat, but there are many different sounds layered together to make the track sound big.

* Please be careful with your speakers. Professional studios use fuses inline with their speaker systems to prevent them from overloading and being destroyed. All becareful not to have anything sitting on top on your speakers, especially your moms favorite crystal vase. It will fall, It will break. That’s said read on.

The first step to getting better bass in your beats is using better sounds. Its always better to start with a sound that has what you want right from the beginning instead of “ fixing it in the mix. “ If your just trying to add a really low sub bass sound look no further then the sine wave. After you’ve dialed up a sine wave in your synth or sampler begin playing your bass line . Try playing the bass line in a few different areas of the keyboard. While you do this listen to the sound and see where its sound the best. You’ll notice that certain areas of the keyboard have a very resonant and full bass sound while other sound very thin or in audible. Play around until you find what sounds best for your track. Kick drums also sound better pitched up or down sometimes. If you your using an MPC you can assign your kick drum sample to 16 different pitch levels, keyboard beat makers can use the pitch bend or modulation wheel to do the same thing.

The next easy way to build up your bass sound is to layer programs or sounds. To do this play your bass line once into your sequencer. After it is recorded copy the part to different track and midi channel and assign a different sound. You can do this as many times as you like or until the sound is thick enough to blow your speakers. When using different combinations of sounds look for contrast. I usually use two sounds for bass line and kick drums. One sound is usually for the attack or start of the sound. The other sound usually fills the bottom or body of the sound. By mixing a good hard rock kick drum with an old 808-kick sample you get a drum sound that has a clear attack and a killer bottom. This works with bass lines just the same. Try playing a bass line with a slap bass or plucked bass sound. Then double it with a fretless bass sound or sine type sound such as organ, or my secret weapon the general midi “whistle sound” down a few octaves. At least those general midi patches are good for at least one sound.

Tuning is also an important factor in making the back windows of the jeep buzz. At the bottom end of your beat there is no room for clashing kick drums, basses and subs.

If you main bass note or home tone is and E then you want to pitch your sub bass or 808 kick drum to an E also. To find out the pitch of your 808 you can plug it into a guitar tuner. Both hardware and software versions of these can be found for less then $20 dollars online at at your local music store. If your using an acoustic sounding kick drum that’s not really that low this really isn’t that important because it doesn’t coexist in the same space as your groovy sub.
You might notice that after you get this really hip low bass sound going you want to use it non stop in your beat. Don’t . Have your regular bass line playing when ever you want but only use the super bass to accent it. To much low end all the time will make everything very hard to hear. Things have much more impact when they are used sparingly in a track.

At this point you should have some pretty thick bass lines and kicks. If not your last chance to beef up everything is in the mix. Although everyone’s first thought would be to boost all the bass frequencies, such as 40hz to about 200hz , there is another option. Good equalization usally comes from cutting frequencies and slightly boosting. Since your not going to need the high frequencies in your kick drum and bass lines cut them. Try experimenting by cutting the frequencies about 200 or 400hz until something sounds good. Keep in mind that each frequency you cut alters the color or chareteristics of the sound.

If your still have problems making your dad’s house speakers explode its time to enlist some help. There is a plug in for everything. The answer to your prayers will come in the form of Max Bass. Although I won’t go into details about how it works I will offer some advice. Don’t over do it.

An engineer once told me the secret to his bass sound was an old Chinese secret. Until you uncover the mysteries of zen and the art of the low end try some of the techniques above to get your beats bumpin

Questions? Comments, Leave them below.

DrumsAndSounds.com – Questions

I would like to know some tips for mixing a beat in a small room 6×6. And which is better mixing before adding the vocals or after? Thanks
- Matthijp

Thanks for leaving a comment on the web site Matthijp.  To answer your first question about mixing in a small room this is they way i would approach it.

The first and most important thing to mixing in any room is to LEARN the room.  Learning to Mix music has a lot to do with learning what a “Good Mix” sounds like. Even Pro engineers will sit in room they have never used before and listen to Albums or Singles they know the sound of very well, or listen to other work they have mixed. In both situations your playing something you know and comparing how you know it and how it sounds at this point in the room your listening in. You’ll want to make notes to your self about the overall lows, mids and highs. Take a Good CD you know has a “Good” low end sound. Not necessary loud, but good. Play it in your small room. Can you hear it? Does it sounds to soft, to bassy? Now when you mix your music you know what bass should sound like in your room.   What your trying to do by listening to good records in your room weather it be 6×6 or 30×30 is to give your ear a reference point. Some place to refer back to and some place to compare.  As you start working on your mix you should also compare your mix to your reference mix directly. Switching back and forth. Recording engineers call this AB ing a mix.

Some other solutions to help your problem would be to add a small amount of acoustic treatment to the room.  Also you can check your mix in a pair of good headphones. You will also find that it will help to use small speakers and work at low levels in volume. None of these answers are exactly ideal how ever many  records have been made like this. If you have questions leave them in a comments section below.

Peter Weis
Composer, Producer, Engineer.

Distortion on recorded tracks is one of the biggest problems I find when mixing music by people learning to record. Unfortunately the only real way to fix distorted tracks is to record them over. While you are recording vocals you want to make sure you are not capturing any distortion. In the following video I’m going to explain where distortion problem usually occur and some basic ways  you can prevent them. In the tutorial I’am using Logic Studio. If you are recording with another program like Protools, Cubase or Sonar the same principles will apply. What will be different are how your the levels will look.

Please leave comments and questions below. Your feedback is important.

An Example of what a distorted vocal track looks like compared to one  that is not distorted.

The top track has distorted parts. You can see the top of a few parts have a square shape to them. The bottom track in comparison is not distorted. Each part has a rounded triangular shape to it. Using this technique is a very easy way to spot distortion if you are having trouble hearing the difference.