Los Angeles (January 29, 2008) - Show me a guitarist who thinks s/he knows it all about recording and I''ll show you someone who probably isn''t up to speed on recording. Whether it''s keeping up with new technologies or revisiting the basics that you may not have learned properly back in the day, most of us could stand a refresher course or two. Tech Breakfast has announced first video of a new instructional series that will do just that -- bring you up to speed on the basic principals/techniques of recording and show you what''s going on behind the new technologies.
Tony Shepperd Master Series 1: Tracking and Mixing is the first three-DVD set in a series that takes you through the entire recording process from start to finish. Leading you through the process is renowned producer/engineer Tony Shepperd (Elton John, Whitney Houston, Kenny Loggins). The series represents a collaborative effort between Shepperd’s group, Tech Breakfast, and partnering production company WoW Digital.
Master Series 1, which is now immediately available, covers the fundamentals of tracking and mixing, demonstrating effective techniques in a variety of studio settings. The video follows Shepperd through complete recording and mixing sessions with the four-piece alternative rock band Silent Envy.To illustrate some additional tracking concepts and styles, Shepperd also records session musicians and an R&B-style pop vocalist.
“I’m really excited about this DVD series,” says Shepperd. “I’ve had this idea for more than ten years and it’s great to finally be able to share the experience I’ve learned from being in the biz for over two decades. We’ve crammed a ton of information into this series and I know that the tips and techniques I demonstrate will help others become better recording and mixing engineers because that’s what they’ve done for me.”
Disc 1 begins with the fundamentals, including an animated segment on the journey sound makes along the signal path. Following the ground-up tracking of Silent Envy, from pre-production to overdubs, Disc 1 brings viewers into a variety of recording environments to demonstrate how different facilities figure into an engineer’s tool set. Just as there’s a “right tool” for a particular job, choosing the right studio environments for each part of the tracking and mixing process can make a big difference in the resulting song or album.
Disc 2 shows you how to mix in Pro Tools 7.4, as Shepperd mixes the Silent Envy material, and explores through deconstruction both the how’s and why’s of his mixing decisions. Disc 3 contains all the data – the complete Pro Tools session files, sounds and Shepperd’s detailed notes.
Shot in high definition in four different studio locations in Northern California and Los Angeles, Master Series 1 has been produced at an exceedingly high quality. The audio feed comes right out of Pro Tools at 24-bit/48K and extensive screen captures display Shepperd’s settings at very high resolution.
The high quality media makes Master Series 1 a truly interactive learning experience, bringing viewers right into the studio sessions and session files for as hands-on a lesson as possible. “You see exactly what Tony does, how he does it, and can hear the song evolve as it makes its way from early tracking all the way to mastering and back,” says series producer Jeffrey Markham, a recording engineer and partner in Tech Breakfast. “The high quality video and audio allow you to observe firsthand precisely what Tony does that pushes his tracks to the next level. It feels like a virtual internship with a very seasoned audio professional."
While Disc 1 gets into a lot of “Recording 101” material on the tracking front, Disc 2 delves into more advanced territory with how to mix “in the box,” specifically in Pro Tools 7.4. Shepperd has led many a mix-in-the-box seminar, most recently at Tech Breakfast-organized events, where he encourages engineers to consider his philosophy: “If you record it correctly, then it will be easier to mix.” Now adapted for interactive DVD, that lesson forms the basis for this tutorial series; it’s comprehensive in teaching a successful method for record production to the beginner set, but will also prove useful to any recording engineer making the transition to mixing in the box.
Coinciding with Winter NAMM 2008, Tony Shepperd Master Series 1: Tracking and Mixing is now available for the special introductory price of $75.00 (US). The initial release is a standard definition, NTSC, all-region DVD. High definition and region-specific releases are forthcoming.
For more information:
