About
Musical Shape Shifters
The musicians in Beach Wave grew up together in the same Phoenix, Arizona neighborhood and bonded over their shared passions for sound, rhythm and beats. Each member brings a unique musical aesthetic to the band and over the years we’ve grown comfortable jumping genres and mashing up influences.
Born of One-Nighters
Starting out, the idea of living the road band life was the last thing on our minds. After we did all the local gigs, we realized the only way for us to evolve as a band was to hit the road. Over the next five years, we logged thousands of gigs — with the occasional festival appearance — in cities across the country. Our time on the road proved crucial in shaping our sound.
Looking to the Future
We’re packing up the gear for an extended U.S. tour in support of our new album. Our set list will prominently feature the new stuff but also dive into favorites from our previous releases. Check out our tour page for when we’ll be playing near you.
Music Production -
The world of music has changed.Decades ago, if you were a musician, and you wanted to record an album…You and your band played your asses off in bars and clubs every night…And prayed that some big-shot producer in the audience who would impressed enough to give you a shot.But not anymore.Today, the trend in music production is shifting more and more toward home studios.
Often with little more than a computer, a USB mic, and some headphones.Record a song, post it online, watch it go viral..and you’re famous overnight.While it’s not that EASY, it is that SIMPLE.But before any of that can happen, you must first know the process of how music actually is recorded.And so in today’s post, I break it down for you in 4 steps…from start to finish.Let’s begin…
The 4 Steps to Recording a Song -
Step 1: The Recording Process
In the earliest days of the music recording…The process was much simpler than it is today.Entire performances were recorded in single takes, sometimes with just 1 or 2 mics.Today though, we use a more sophisticated process known as multitrack recording…Where each instrument is recorded separately and combined later in a “mix”.
This offers two BIG advantages:
It allows engineers to mold and shape the sound of each instrument independently of the others.
It allows each instrument in a song to be recorded one at a time.
With this new method, it meant that one man could now do alone, what used to require an entire team of engineers and musicians.While the actual steps in the process vary from engineer to engineer.
Step 2: The Editing Process
Now that you’ve finished recording your tracks, it’s time to clean them up.Because no matter how careful you were in the last step…There will always be SOME mistakes that can and should be fixed…With the amazing editing tools now available in the DAW’s of today.
Typically, editing is made up of 5 common tasks:
Arrangement
Comping
Noise Reduction
Time Editing
Pitch Editing
With arrangement, you take an overall look at everything you’ve done so far, to evaluate what works, and what doesn’t.
Step 3: The Mixing Process
Once the tracks are arranged exactly as you like…The next goal is to make them blend as one cohesive unit…though the process of “mixing“.While mixing is an art form in itself, and can be done in many ways…There are certain fundamental tasks that everyone does…
Common examples include:
Balancing Faders – which is done so that no instrument sounds too loud or soft in relation to the others.
Panning – which gives each instrument it’s own space in the stereo-image, much like each musician has his own space on-stage.
Equalization – which crafts a unique space in the frequency spectrum for each instrument, so that no two sounds compete for the same band of frequencies.
Compression – which levels out the dynamic range of an instrument so each note is heard clearly, and the mix sounds louder as a whole.
Step 4: The Mastering Process
Before your song is ready to be mastered…All tracks must be re-recorded down to a single stereo file…Or “bounced“, as it’s commonly known.Once that’s done, various mastering techniques are used to put the finishing touches on your song…So it sounds even better.
Common techniques include:
Maximizing Loudness – through further compression and limiting, so the average signal level over time is as high as possible, without sacrificing too much dynamics.
Balancing Frequencies – through further EQ, and a process known as multi-band compression, which can compress individual frequency bands separately from the rest of the spectrum.
Stereo Widening – with a special plugin designed to add an additional sense of “width” to the higher frequencies in your mix.