Danny Monk

Dan E Monk

© 2000, Dan Monk, All rights reserved. (You are allowed to copy and use this essay for your own non-professional use. You are prohibited from distributing copies to others for a fee or for no-charge. You may not publish or quote this essay without obtaining the written permission of the author.)
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Blog Posts

Author Insights

From the Studio

Too Much Reverb

Less experienced recording engineers and music producers tend to use too much reverb and to use it inappropriately. Using reverb in the wrong way can create very muddy mixes with vocals that lack punch. You have several options to help you avoid these issues.

From the Studio

Info About Reverb

You can find out about reverb here: Reverb – Reverb, Delay and Echo – Reverb (Definition)

From the Studio

Patch Bays Multiply Your Cables!

Be aware, at a minimum, for each socket you connect via your patch bay, you will use 2 cables, where it is the default connection. You will use 3 cables if you change it from a default to make a different connection.

From the Studio

Patch Bays Save your Sockets

Before I used patch bays at home, the sockets of more than one expensive item of gear were damaged. It’s an issue that no longer happens.

From the Studio

The Three Instruments

Working musicians carry three different relationships with instruments. Mostly, we never separate them out. There are the ones you play – where you’ve played an instrument long enough that we don’t need to think of technique. There are the ones you can fake – where retakes and the forgiveness of a DAW let you get a passable part down that holds up in a mix. Live, you’d be exposed inside eight bars. Lastly, are the ones you understand well enough to write for – instruments you might never play, but you understand them, the register breaks, the voicings a player would actually choose. That last category is often underrated.

Songwriter's Notebook

On Writing Chord Progressions

I find the circle of fifths useful, but also chord_files “Progressions” and “Dark Harmony”, for both piano and guitar, are very useful. Both can help take you in quite interesting directions, by opening up your available palate, no matter where you find yourself when you go down an arrangement rabbit hole.