Over the last few weeks I invested in some new gear. 10 channel Soundcraft Mixer, ART Tube Compressor and some Yamaha HS50 Monitors along with a new workspace (desk). The mixer alone brought my tracks a new breath of life. Decent mic pre’s and eq’s are important to give you a clearer more defined sound. The compressor really fatten and warms things up also. One thing most producers overlook is the importance of your workspace. I still need some more room for my turntable, but getting a bigger desk to layout things right makes creating that much more easier.

The latest track with it’s working title Inner City Epic (named that cause it reminds me of Marvins track) was done on my new gear. Beat composed on the MPC, bass was done in Logic and run through Guitar Rig (little secret there to get your synth bass to sound like a real bass) and I added some horns from the Miroslav plugin (one of the best orchestral plugins I must say).

I used a slightly different workflow on this track. The MPC is slaved to Logic via midi, but is being run through the 8 outputs into the mixer and the into the compressor finally into the apogee soundcard. Reason I don’t track into Logic, is I like to go stereo in and get my beat’s mix sounding the way I want without using the crappy digital eq’s in Logic. I get all my levels, pans and eq’s from the mixer, then fatten it up running it through the compressor. It really gives the track more definition against the other instruments that are all digital.As far as the monitors go, I couldn’t be happier with the Yamaha’s. There’s really no need to re-check your mix on another system, although you should, I find myself not second guessing when it comes to levels. The detail and accuracy of these little guys is amazing.

I no longer have my vocal booth, so we’re scheduling some time next week to hit the studio and record vocals. I’ll then bring the vocals back and mix the rest of the track.