tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2745345069062277822024-03-12T22:01:31.555-04:00Mixing and Production Workshops by Billy HumeBilly Hume conducts workshops for music mixing and production skills. Located near Atlanta, GA.Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-78604823438883844672010-12-02T11:02:00.002-05:002010-12-02T11:16:24.567-05:00Where have I been - Part 2This is off subject for this blog - totally personal. If you want to read about engineering or mixing skip to another of my posts. <br /><br />I'm sitting here looking at my blog with despair and dis-belief. I've tried to keep this going but have had such a hard time doing that this year. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my father was very ill for most of the spring and died in May. It was a very hard time for me and it took me a while to get back into the swing of things and actually start blogging again. Then, just as I was starting to post here again my mother died from an accidental drowning while in vacation in Florida. This just a little over 4 months after my father died. So again I'm knocked on my ass emotionally and have not been about doing any workshops or blogging about engineering / mixing.<br /><br />But time heals and I do eventually get back around to things. I am planning some more workshops and have a couple of other cool things I'm working on. I just need to put something in here to mark the spot and differentiate between before and after.<br /><br />BillyBilly Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-46646925312476861512010-10-03T13:24:00.002-04:002010-10-03T13:29:54.277-04:00Why is Chamillionaire Here?This is something I came across today because I subscribe to the <a href="http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php">Lefsetz Letter</a>.<br /><br />It is a video of Chamillionaire speaking at a <a href="http://techcrunch.com">Tech Crunch</a> conference. He's a really smart dude and had a lot of great things to say. Make sure to watch until about 12 minutes in where he is talking about his relationship with Universal Records.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/28/chamillionaire-is-here/">http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/28/chamillionaire-is-here/</a>Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-66168580430235426782010-09-30T18:29:00.010-04:002010-09-30T18:52:54.135-04:00The FG-X Virtual Mastering Processor - A Love StoryAs a mixer I find myself an unwilling participant in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war" TARGET=blank>"loudness wars"</a>. I have been mixing since the late 70's and have spent most of those years being hesitant to even add more than a touch of compression to my mix buss. But as the times have changed and my work has moved more into the pop and urban world I've found myself having to make my mixes more competitive on the radio. My clients also have an expectation of the mixes having a certain loudness as they're checking their reference mixes. No amount of explaining to them that it will be louder after mastering makes any difference - they want it loud now! And I've come to accept that for most of my clients the mixes DO need to be loud. So I've started to incorporate more heavy handed limiting into my mixing process from the get go so that I can control the final results better. But so often I'm fighting against the limiter and it's shredding harsh sound. And I've been frustrated with the lack of flexibility of most of the limiter/compressors I've tried. How can I get my mixes loud with out destroying the detail and dynamics I've slaved to bring out?<br /><br />Enter the <a href="http://www.slatedigital.com/fgx.php" TARGET=blank>Slate Digital - FG-X Virtual Mastering Processor</a>. You will not believe this thing! The first time I tried it out I had the the same feeling I had the first time I tried out a <a href="http://www.empiricallabs.com/distdes.html" TARGET=blank>Distressor</a> or my <a href="http://orangeamps.com/products.asp?Action=View&ID=118" TARGET=blank>Orange</a> amp which was - "I'm going to use this everyday"! I thought that it sounded like my mix, but louder. And I was just trying out the presets! There is a 'constant gain monitoring' button which by-passes the auto gain function of the plugin and matches the plugins output gain to the gain before the plugin signal. This allows you to turn the plugin off and on with out affecting the volume, thus a enabling you to objectively hear what it is doing to your mix. That right there is what really sold me on the FG-X. It really preserves my mix while making it louder and punchier (remember to turn the 'constant gain monitoring' button back off of course).<br /><br />There is a slider called ITP, which stands for "Intelligent Transient Preservation", which is the algorithm at the heart of this beast. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_UwwfTqCCK8w/TKURNqmGDaI/AAAAAAAAAHM/XdfI-W-yx_o/s1600/fg_x_p3.jpg"><img style="margin: 2pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 226px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_UwwfTqCCK8w/TKURNqmGDaI/AAAAAAAAAHM/XdfI-W-yx_o/s320/fg_x_p3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522839444509822370" border="0" /></a> It goes from a 'smooth' setting to a 'hard' setting. It is analyzing the incoming signal and making adjustments to how it is going to do it's thing to the signal. Which is what's very different about this plugin, it's not a static process. I can't explain all the technical details about how it works, but just be assured that moving that slider up and down allows you to fine tune the process. I find that I end up with it closer to the smooth side.<br /><br />The metering is pretty awesome too. It's very easy to see what's going on with large VU style and bar graph meters.<br /><br />I have always felt better about buying gear that had lots of knobs. My thinking has been that I'm getting more functionality for the price out of a piece of gear. Take my <a href="http://www.avalondesign.com/vt737sp.html" TARGET=blank>Avalon 737sp</a> for instance - it has 16 knobs and 14 buttons. At $2,250 that works out to $140.62 per knob. However my <a href="http://www.chandlerlimited.com/products/germanium_pre.php" TARGET=blank>Germanium</a>, which goes for $1,138.50, and only has 2 knobs comes to $569.25 per knob (ok... different kinds of pre's, and I do like the Germanium, but I like to have options). Well the FG-X has plenty of knobs and buttons. 9 knobs and 15 buttons to be precise. That's $33.33per knob, not counting the buttons!!!! What a deal!<br /><br />There is so much more I could write about the FG-X, but I really think you should head over to the website and download the demo and see for yourself. There is so much flexibility available that you will be able to get whatever you need. This is a must have for any in the box mixer or mastering engineer.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.slatedigital.com" TARGET=blank>http://www.slatedigital.com</a>Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-51576654681444451342010-09-16T13:04:00.005-04:002010-09-16T17:21:56.704-04:00Where Have I Been?Well, I obviously haven't been blogging. A lot has happened. I noticed the date of my last post and realized that it was about then that my Dad went into the hospital for surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain. He was supposed to be out in 3 days and instead was in pretty much a coma for several days and eventually had to be moved to a nursing home. <br /><br />Now I'm not going to go on a rant about doctors and their inability to communicate with each other regarding their patients, how you can feel pressured into following a procedure when it is not really necessary, how the doctor who is responsible for my Dad's condition wouldn't return phone calls or how next time I'm in a hospital for any reason I will be taking notes and pictures of every detail. But I will say it was the beginning of the end. My Dad was at a nursing home for a while before my Mom could take him home. She was able to care for him for a while but eventually it became impossible because he couldn't swallow anymore. We moved him to a hospice for several days where I stayed by his side until early one morning he took his last breath.<br /><br />But this is not a blog post about sorrow or blame or anything like that. My Dad had Parkinson's disease (possibly triggered by exposure from agent orange in Vietnam). It was going to kill him eventually. The botched surgery just sped up the inevitable. What I wanted to write about is how my Dad's last days made me feel.<br /><br />I do feel sorrow. But I can't say I've mourned yet because I've worked almost everyday since he died. My sister say's it will come. But for now I mostly feel grateful. My father was a great dad. He never gave me a hard time about anything (except my long hair) and tolerated all those band practices in the basement. I also felt lucky to be sitting at his side, alone, at the end. I can't really explain it. He was there when I was born. I held all my 3 boys when they were born and I was the first person my boys saw in this world. It seems fitting that I was with my Dad when he left this world.<br /><br />The other thing I feel or think actually is that I should be following my dreams. Just before my Dad went into the hospital I was at his house and he walked out of the room to ask me to help him get home (he would get confused like that a lot). I walked him back into his room and explained to him that he was already home. He got really embarrassed, but it got him talking. He told me stories of his time in college, meeting my mother, being a dad. But mostly he talked about Vietnam. He told me things he had never told me before. And what I realized was that my Dad had done everything he had set out to do in his life. Not many people can say that. But he did it. <br /><br />So now I have a different perspective as I move forward. I see things a little differently than before. And now that a little time has passed and I've gotten through a few challenging projects in the studio it's time to get back to the world.<br /><br />Please stay in touch with your parents and loved ones.<br /><br />Follow your dreams.Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-66654719279513947002010-01-27T13:45:00.000-05:002010-01-27T13:50:31.423-05:00No ExcusesThe only thing that matters is what comes out of the speakers.<br /><br />Excuses don’t matter. The <I>only</I> thing that matters is what comes out of the speakers. You will not have a chance to explain to anyone why the mix, vocals, production, whatever doesn’t sound as good as it should. It doesn't matter that the drums were recorded badly, the singer's timing was bad or something was messed up with the Protools files that were delivered to you. No one cares. No excuses will matter later when they hear your work coming out of the speakers. If you have to go in and work a little harder by replacing drum sounds, editing the singer or fixing the crap that was sent to you, then you need to do it. Your reputation is on the line and your reputation is what comes out of the speakers.<br /><br /> If you are producing an act and the guitarist can’t play or the drummer has bad timing, it does you no good to complain and do a lame job producing them because THEY suck. No! You were hired to make a professional recording and if that means replaying the guitars yourself or getting someone else to do it then that's what you do. If it means getting another drummer to play the parts or spending the time editing the drums then you do it. Because no one who hears your work later will be able to hear you tell your story about how slack the band was. They’ll just hear the music and read the credits with your name in them.<br /><br />I learned this lesson the hard way. Many years ago I was producing a band with a singer who was... a bit challenged, shall we say. She was kind of lazy too. She might come in and not be having a good night and just want to call it quits instead of moving on to other parts or seeing if she'll get warmed up. I started to get frustrated and impatient with the whole project and began rushing through the whole thing just to get it out the door. I figured that as mediocre as it was, and as lazy as the singer was, no one would ever hear it anyway.<br /><br />After I got it done this singer suddenly seemed to get some fire under her butt and began hitting the local scene pretty hard. She also got some money together and opened a rehearsal facility which brought her into contact with a lot of bands in the scene. It wasn't long till word got back to me how she was bad mouthing me for the half-assed job I did. I wasn't able to go around and explain to everyone how bad of a singer she was, what a pain she was to work with, how she was lazy and how she seemed to be satisfied with the way the project sounded. Just because the client is satisfied doesn't always mean it's done! Well, word got around and it hurt me. I lost gigs and it damaged my reputation in that scene. But frankly I deserved it. When someone hires you you are obligated to do your best work. And besides, you never know who is going to hear it. <br /><br />You will live and die by the quality of your work.Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-36940258956495688832010-01-24T15:52:00.000-05:002010-01-24T16:56:02.015-05:00Rockstar Success Myth VS Hip Hop Star Success MythI used to think that there was a conspiracy to keep good music off the radio.<br /><br />Of course since my music wasn’t getting on the radio at that time, that meant my music was good. Right? Certainly it was better than the junk I kept hearing. But this simple, and in retrospect funny, belief was based on 2 fundamental misunderstandings.<br /><br />#1 - That radio and record labels were actually interested in good music and that the ongoing quest of music, much like science and education, was to improve. It took me years to accept the fact that to most people, music is just entertainment. Music is my lifeblood. Back then I thought everyone felt this way, but in fact for many people <i>entertainment</i> is their blood. Like blood it must be cleansed and filtered, thus they must have fresh blood (content, music, entertainment) continuously. The masterpiece you might have created will only keep their attention and interest till the next youtube sensation overtakes it. I got into record production because of the album<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Side_of_the_Moon" target="_blank">Dark Side of The Moon</a> by <a href="http://www.pinkfloyd.com/" target="_blank">Pink Floyd</a>. That was my inspiration. It is a masterpiece. It is also an album that stayed on the charts longer than any other album in history (741 weeks - 14 years) and sold 45 million copies. But I think those days are gone on both the artistic side and the business side. We are now making candy for listeners to rapidly consume.<br /><br />#2 - That the key to success was good music. Period. I thought if you had great music it would be recognized and valued on its quality alone. All I, and my peers at the time, concentrated on was our skills as writers and artists. But later when I got into producing and doing work with artists that were signed to major labels, especially hip hop artists, I started to see things from a different angle. What I saw was a different creed, a different attitude about how they believed they were going to become successful verses the attitude of my peers from the rock bands I’d been in. I think it is very instructive as to why (at least one reason why) Hip Hop has done so well over the past decade.<br /><br />I call this the Success Myth. These are the stories you hear from kids in bands or young rappers when talking about the rock and hip hop stars and how they got where they are now. There are 2 kinds of myths I’ve heard.<br /><br />The Rock & Roll Success Myth<br />There are these young guys, all good friends, who form a band and rehearse in their parents' basements. They write some songs and start gigging at local clubs. At one of the gigs they get discovered by an A&R guy or a well-connected manager. They quickly get signed, put with a famous producer and BAM! They’re rockstars!<br /><br />It’s a Cinderella story. And though it is very unlikely to happen, it has happened just enough times for the legend to have spread and to cause bands to really think that this is how it is going to happen. Contrast this with the other myth I’ve heard- it goes something like this:<br /><br />The Hip-Hop Success Myth<br />There are these two kids from the hood. One raps and the other makes beats. They need to buy some equipment to record their songs. They do this by selling weed, crack, hustling, whatever. They make their cd / mix tape and go out and promote the hell out of it. They sell their cds ‘out of the trunk of the car’. They raise a little money from this which they re-invest in their business to buy better gear, finance touring and promotion. They do another record. They go out and promote and sell their cds like they did last time, but this time with more success. They keep repeating this process till they have built a small empire that includes their own distribution system to mom and pop type shops, a small staff and a touring circuit. They also create partnership/alliances with DJs, radio programmers, concert promoters, etc. At this point they are being approached by major labels. They are in a position to negotiate very favorable terms and get not only a huge advance, but continue to own their own label as an imprint on a major. From there they are bound for the stars.<br /><br />I like this story. It is based on a business plan and a recognition that hard work is required. It’s not based on luck, but proactive actions. It puts the power in the artists hands.<br /><br />I could go on about this, but I think you see my point.<br /><br />And it is what made me realize that there was no conspiracy. I realized that most people are in some way equal in the end. One person might be a genius at math or business but not be able to maintain his marriage. One person might be a great dad to his kids but can’t hold a job. And in music... usually the great singer has no head for business. Whereas the guitar player in that band that just got signed might be a crap player in a crap band, but they got some hustle and catchy songs. I lament the artists I’ve worked with who had ALL the talent, but zero social skills and no stage presence.<br /><br />It’s about the hustle my friend. Provided you’ve got a slightly above average amount of talent, it is really just plain old hard work and organization that makes the difference.Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-86315968342252721832010-01-22T03:08:00.002-05:002010-02-01T12:38:40.625-05:00That 1 Guy and His Magic Pipe - EPKI did an album with That 1 Guy last fall. Really cool stuff, great album. Here is a video that Johnny St. Ours did about him. A lot of it was shot in my studio:<br /><br /><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Bpc325WEsN8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Bpc325WEsN8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-30373829061142537652010-01-20T23:44:00.022-05:002010-01-21T00:34:23.955-05:00A List of things to consider when mixing.Here is a list of things to do when mixing:<br /><br />1. Before you start soloing tracks and tweaking, get a decent mix with what you have. Then when you want to start tweaking individual tracks, start with the worst sounding, most troublesome element.<br /><br />2. Don't get too caught up in details. Look at the big picture. Keep going back to your highs and your lows. Are they balanced? Can you hear the lead vocal? If it makes you want to tap your foot and sing along then you're half way there.<br /><br />3. Cleaner and clearer aren't the ultimate goals. You can tweak the vibe right out of a song. The overall purpose of the record is to evoke and emotional response from the listener. Not to impress them. Keep that in mind.<br /><br />4. Take frequent breaks and leave the room.<br />Maybe pop into another room and listen to the TV for a minute. It re-tunes your ears and when you walk back in that room you'll hear what you've been missing.<br /><br />5. Listen to your mix from the hall.<br />This is good because it takes the stereo aspect right out of it. All the sounds get smashed up together before it gets out to the hallway. And frankly I think this is more how your average listener hears music anyway.<br /><br />6. Compare your mix with songs you think sound great.<br />You can do this by running a cd at the same time as your mix and A/Bing them. I have a post in the archives that gets more detailed into this.<br /><br />7. Mix at low volumes 75% of the time.<br />I mean LOW volume. You should be able to carry on a conversation over it. If you can make the mix sound balanced and exciting at a low volume it'll sound good at any volume. It doesn't seem to work the other way around.<br /><br />8. If the mix sounds messed up and you can't figure out what is the problem, start taking out elements. Start with all the drums. Then try the guitars. Then try keys and so on.<br /><br />9. Listen without looking at the computer screen. Listen in the dark.<br /><br />10. If something sounds really bad, and everything you do to make it sound better doesn't work, then flip it and try to make it sound worse. You might be surprised where it'll take you.<br /><br />11. When tweaking, be bold. If the vocals are too quiet, instead of turning them up in tiny increments and spending hours pondering if it is right, try turning them up too loud and move backwards instead.<br /><br />12. Don't be afraid to pan far left or right. It makes things interesting and can be easier to fit other sounds into the mix. People used to pan whole drum kits to one side and we all thought it sounded fine. However, I advise to keep lower frequency sounds more centered.<br /><br />13. Use 2 sets of speakers and alternate between them. Even if one pair is your home stereo speakers. It gives you something to compare to.<br /><br />14. Use distortion. A little bit can really help on vocals and drums. A LOT can help bass, especially on rock stuff.<br /><br />15. Please please don't use auto tune. Dear God please. If you need to tune any vocals try <a href="http://www.celemony.com/" target="_blank">Melodyne</a> instead.<br /><br />I'll probably think of a few more things to add later, so check back.....Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-1764985423878433322010-01-18T01:43:00.000-05:002010-01-27T21:18:53.948-05:00Keys & Beats Interviews Billy HumeCheck out my interview by <a href="http://www.keysandbeats.com/">Keys & Beats</a>!<br /><br />--> <a href="http://www.keysandbeats.com/index.php/Features/Interviews/billy-hume-south-producer-zone-records-lil-jon-polow-da-don.html">Keys & Beats interviews Billy Hume</a><br /><br />Re-posted from Keys and Beats:<br /><h3>KEY FACTS<br /></h3> <ul><li>Billy Hume is the owner of The Zone studios in Atlanta, where the biggest hits from the South are created</li><li>The Zone studios was originally a home that was later converted into a studio</li><li>Billy Hume mixes both Rock and Hip Hop tracks, and gives tips on both in this interview</li></ul> <h3><a class="jcebox" target="_blank" title="billy_hume_a.jpg" href="http://www.keysandbeats.com/images/stories/producers/billy_hume_a.jpg"><img style="margin: 5px; float: right;" alt="billy_hume_a" src="http://www.keysandbeats.com/images/stories/producers/thumbnails/thumb_billy_hume_a.jpg" height="99" width="150" /></a>KEYS: We are talking to <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>, owner of The Zone studios in Atlanta. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us. How are you today?</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: Thanks. Doing great! Working a lot on a bunch of really good projects.<br /><h3>KEYS: Now you’re the owner of one of the more popular studios in Atlanta. How did you get started up?</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: Long story really, here’s the short version. I’ve had that studio forever it seems. I used to live there (it’s in a house) and I had the main studio in the basement while I lived upstairs. The studio had functioned for years as my private studio for my bands, my wife's band and local rock and country bands that I knew. 15 or so years ago this air conditioner repair man, who saw my studio when he was working there, convinced me of 2 things (he is a very convincing dude and a friend to this day):<br /><br />a) That I should fix the studio up and expand to the upstairs with a B Room.<br />b) That I should get into mixing and producing rap music. I had done only rock and country up to that point. I thought , “what the hell? Might be fun!” And from the first session, with Bone Crusher, it was! The air conditioner repairman, Chris Vermillion, then talked me into doing a compilation of local rap artists and producers. We called it Full Contact Sports. It had Bone Crusher, Lil' Jon, Mina Mina Goodsong, L Roc (now producer for Jermaine Dupri) and a bunch more up and coming artists on it. We had Polow Da Don from Jim Crow and all the BME crew hanging out. We never made much money from the CD, but everybody in urban music in Atlanta heard it and heard my work. Lil' Jon and Smurf/Mr. Collipark ended up booking me constantly and bringing all sorts of people through. I worked so hard I don’t even remember some of those sessions. But at some point I suddenly had several songs shoot up the charts that I had either recorded or mixed or played guitar on and man.... the rest is history.<br /><h3>KEYS: So what are some of the day to day activities of running the studio?</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: First we’ve got to clean up from the night before. Backing up data is now a major task. We do it pretty regularly. Staying in touch with clients is very important. Maintaining the gear. But mostly it’s about coming in and working and making sure that everything I do sounds amazing, no matter what it takes. You live and die by the quality of your work.<br /><h3><a class="jcebox" target="_blank" title="billy_hume_ab.jpg" href="http://www.keysandbeats.com/images/stories/producers/billy_hume_ab.jpg"><img style="margin: 5px; float: right;" alt="billy_hume_ab" src="http://www.keysandbeats.com/images/stories/producers/thumbnails/thumb_billy_hume_ab.jpg" height="99" width="150" /></a>KEYS: I know you’ve got wide variety of musical influences. What do you think you’ve been able to extract from your eclectic taste in music and put into your own projects.</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: Mainly an understanding of music and the realization that there are more things in common between different music genres than most people realize. All music is about the communication of an emotion. You are trying to convey to the listener what you felt at some point and to see the world or a certain situation through your eyes. Yes, I’ve had to learn the different engineering and mixing styles for a wide range of music, but it is the vibe that counts more than anything. Now on a more technical level my eclecticism manifests itself in my putting 808 kicks and snares in rock and country songs, using mandolins and banjos in Hip Hop tracks, not using samples and being hired to replay or re-create samples.<br /><h3>KEYS: As a producer, how does your approach differ from working with Rock bands and Hip Hop artists?</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: Now that is a good question that is worthy of a whole article. But here are a few things: With a Hip Hop artist you just set up the time and they come in and we work. With a rock band you really need to meet with them, get to know them and discuss what we are going to do in the studio. A Hip Hop artist tends to view his art as his job, his career. He doesn’t really care what I think about him or what anyone else does for that matter and he is on a mission to dominate the world. He is ready to accept criticism because the bottom line is making a hit song. No fooling around with ego when it comes to this which is strange considering how much ego is projected publicly by Hip Hop artists. Because of this background he never takes anything for granted and wants to get things done quickly and move on the next thing.<br /><br />A rock band on the other hand takes their music very seriously. Sometimes too seriously. It is truly viewed as their art and thus tied directly to their souls. And their ego is wrapped up in every detail of their music from the melody to the amount of echo on the guitar to the type of drum head we’re using on the toms to whether we are going to cut the intro in order to get to the hook quicker. The typical band is also like a club you might have had as a kid with your friends in a tree-house with a sign by the door saying “No Girls Allowed”. They are suspicious of outsiders. And where my role working with a rap artist is more like a partner because I am helping create the music or if I’m mixing I am actively enhancing the mix to take it to another level (which IS expected in Hip Hop and Pop), in rock I am taking music that has already been created and performed and is viewed by the band as something akin to their child, and changing that. A bands first assumption about a producer is fear and suspicion that he will mess it up and change the bands identity much the same way many guys are fearful that their girlfriend is going to try to change them. Now this sounds pretty negative, but it is actually something I love about bands because through that tension arises great timeless music. I wish that bands could adopt a little of the practical business attitude of rap artists and Hip Hop artists would take their music a little more seriously as a true art form which it is.<br /><h3><a class="jcebox" target="_blank" title="billy_hume_ad.jpg" href="http://www.keysandbeats.com/images/stories/producers/billy_hume_ad.jpg"><img style="margin: 5px; float: right;" alt="billy_hume_ad" src="http://www.keysandbeats.com/images/stories/producers/thumbnails/thumb_billy_hume_ad.jpg" height="150" width="99" /></a>KEYS: Which artist is more difficult to work with?</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: Well, I guess that kinda ties in with the last question. Both can be difficult, but in different ways. Hip Hop artists are usually late for sessions. Rock guys often don’t want to put in the hours that a Hip Hop artist will. Over all it’s about the same to me.<br /><h3>KEYS: Speaking from a technical point of view, how does the mixing of a Rock track differ from Hip Hop?</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: Drums man... drums. You might spend a lot of time getting the low end and kick drum right on a Hip-Hop record, but on a rock record it is the whole kit you have to address, which may have 20 tracks just for drums alone. You might have 4, 6 or more guitar tracks as well. And since they’re live and not sample they are not static, so one setting on EQ may not work for the whole song on an individual track. The focus on mixing Hip-Hop tends to be on the beat and the vocals. With rock it is about the music, mainly guitars and then vocals. The band tends to get really involved in the mix with each member putting in his 2 cents. In Hip-Hop the artist rarely has much to say about the mix. Over all I’d say mixing rock is definitely more of a challenge.<br /><h3>KEYS: As an engineer, you’ve had the opportunity to use both methods (digital vs non-digital) of working on a track. What is one thing that you enjoy about each method?</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: I dig digital because what you record in is pretty much what comes back out. I can edit easier. Analog did some of the work for you with tape compression. You were also forced to make decisions and commitments about your music.<br /><h3>KEYS: What is one thing that you dislike about each method?</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: With DAW’s you can have too many choices and take too long to get things done. With analog you would actually lose your high end the more you ran it over the play back heads. The tracks would sound different (and each track had it’s own characteristic to some degree) weeks after you initially recorded it.<br /><h3><a class="jcebox" target="_blank" title="billy_hume_ac.jpg" href="http://www.keysandbeats.com/images/stories/producers/billy_hume_ac.jpg"><img style="margin: 5px; float: right;" alt="billy_hume_ac" src="http://www.keysandbeats.com/images/stories/producers/thumbnails/thumb_billy_hume_ac.jpg" height="99" width="150" /></a>KEYS: Personally, I know that I struggle a lot with getting a good overall mix on a track. What tips would you be able to give to people for getting better mixes?</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: I think the most common mistake people make when getting into mixing is that they start looking at every detail in the mix and lose sight of the overall sound. Your average listener hears music as one big sound. Most people want to tap their foot and sing along, so address the rhythm and the melody. Don’t get me wrong, I love to tweak details and I’ll do it for hours sometimes. But you have to stand back and address the over all sound. Go stand in the hallway and listen to your mix for instance. Also, mix at a low volume. I spend most of my time mixing at a very low volume. We could have a conversation with out hardly raising our voices at the volume I mix. I do put it up on big speakers periodically to see how it’s going to pump, but 90% of the time it’s low. Almost anything sounds good really loud. Make it sound exciting at a low volume and you will sound good about anywhere.<br /><h3>KEYS: What would you say is the best/most affordable way to sonically prepare the room that you are going to be mixing in?</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: Make sure your speakers are at least 2 feet from a wall. You sitting position should be the same distance from each speaker as they are from each other... the 2 speakers and your head should form an equilateral triangle. Put a diffusor behind you. You can check these site out to get info on that: <a href="http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html" target="_blank">http://www.ethanwiner.com/<wbr>acoustics.html</a> or <a href="http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8456" target="_blank">http://www.canuckaudiomart.<wbr>com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8456</a> . At the very least you can put a bookshelf behind you and put randomly sized books on it. My friend Rodney Mills who does a lot of mastering in Atlanta did this in his studio.<br /><br /><h3>KEYS: With the rise of the “digital method”, we’ve seen a lot of people having the ability to make music and put it out there. What do you feel about this? <span class="il"></h3><br />Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>:<br />It’s killing the major labels. Kinda sucks in some ways for me as I got a lot of work from them in the past, but I always kinda saw them as the enemy, so I say R.I.P. My only reservation is that I have seen the quality of recording and mixing go down, which is why I started my Workshops and consulting business.<br /><h3>KEYS: It’s probably fair to say that the song “I Ain’t Never Scared” was your introduction to the urban world. What was the process like for making that track?</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: Well, I don’t make the track. It was done by Avery Johnson, however I did replace some drum sounds. I did mix that track and it changed my life.<br /><h3>KEYS: You’re probably one of few people who can say that they truly helped to create a style of music – Crunk - what do you think is the next “sound” that’s gonna’ be dominating the airwaves?</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: Ha! If knew that I could control the music industry! I do think there are 2 things moving right now. One is this European thing, the new techno/rave sound evidenced on the new Lady GaGa songs. Also, live music or music that can be performed live is important. Much of the income in music will be connected with live performances. And I think people are ready for something more ‘real’.<br /><h3>KEYS: What was your most memorable moment working with a Hip Hop artist?</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: I’ve got a bunch of them.... David Banner carrying an Uzi into one of his first sessions with me. Laughing so hard at Kaine from Ying Yang Twins that I almost passed out.. he is such a clown. 3-day mixes with Polow Da Don and thinking were about to wrap it up when he jumps up out of a dead sleep and starts reprogramming the drums. Getting in a Ying Yang Twins video (I Yi Yi). Working on a mix with Will Smith (he really gets it).<br /><h3>KEYS: What projects are you currently working on?</h3> <span class="il">Billy</span> <span class="il">Hume</span>: I’m working with the Vistoso Bosses. They are signed to Collipark / Interscope. Awesome artists, great album. The single drops this July. Working with my writing team Marv and Cash. Also working with Demun Jones from Rehab on his solo album.<br /><h3><a class="jcebox" target="_blank" title="billy_hume_ae.jpg" href="http://www.keysandbeats.com/images/stories/producers/billy_hume_ae.jpg"><img style="margin: 5px; float: right;" alt="billy_hume_ae" src="http://www.keysandbeats.com/images/stories/producers/thumbnails/thumb_billy_hume_ae.jpg" height="99" width="150" /></a>KEYS: Before ending off, I’m going to throw out some phrases, let us know what your first thoughts are.</h3> <h3>Best affordable microphone</h3> <p>- Audio Technica AT 4033</p> <h3>Best affordable monitors</h3> <p>- Not sure if this is the best, but for the price... Event 20/20.</p> <h3>Favorite song out</h3> <p>- I’m completely biased of course but the Vistoso Bosses “Delirious” produced by St. James, which has started getting some early plays. I also like this song called “The Climb”. I was suprised when I found out it was Miley Cyrus! Well, I gotta give it to her... she’s really doing it.</p> <h3>Up coming rock band to look out for</h3> <p>- Rehab, Jesse Harper.</p> <h3>Dream project to work on</h3> <p>- Getting paid to work on my own music! Ha Ha! But if not that it would be U2.</p> <h3>Links:</h3> <p>My blog - <a href="http://billyhumeworkshops.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://billyhumeworkshops.<wbr>blogspot.com</a><br />Vistoso Bosses - <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thevistosobosses" target="_blank">http://www.myspace.com/<wbr>thevistosobosses</a><br />Demun Jones - <a href="http://www.myspace.com/demunjones" target="_blank">http://www.myspace.com/<wbr>demunjones</a><br />St. James - <a href="http://www.myspace.com/nalstjames" target="_blank">http://www.myspace.com/<wbr>nalstjames</a></p><br /><a href="http://www.keysandbeats.com/index.php/Features/Interviews/billy-hume-south-producer-zone-records-lil-jon-polow-da-don.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></span></a><a href="http://www.keysandbeats.com/index.php/Features/Interviews/billy-hume-south-producer-zone-records-lil-jon-polow-da-don.html" target="_blank"></a>Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-11454528967279285622009-11-10T17:46:00.011-05:002009-11-11T02:05:18.874-05:00Being Prepared 101Last week our local Recording Academy (NARAS, Atlanta) held a "Meet and Greet". The purpose was to give our student and non-voting members a chance to meet the people who are on the board, voting members and other industry folks, as well as to get new-comers interested in joining. I drove down there with another producer friend of mine, Dan Hannon. Now Dan's a real straight shooter and he is going to tell you exactly what he thinks. At one point during this event I walked up to him as he was talking to some youngster and heard him say "Well that's 2 strikes against you! First you don't have a cd of your music. Second you don't have a business card and there is going to be a third if I don't have a drink in my hand in 2 minutes!" He was only kidding about the drink, but his experience was not uncommon. We talked about it on the drive back and we'd both noticed that there was not one single person there (that we'd talked to) who had their music on a cd or flash drive. Only a few had business cards, and almost all of them tried to get us to memorize their myspace address! This is something I've been noticing more and more the last couple of years. I get cd's sent to me with NOTHING written on them! I've had people hand me cd's at shows with NOTHING written on them! Are you kidding? One of the most basic rules I was taught as I came up in the business was that you always had your music with you and you put your name and contact info on EVERYTHING! Be prepared!<br /><br />Now let me tell you about Ricky. Ricky is 8 years old. I first met him a couple of months ago at one of my son's birthdays parties that we had at my studio. I had all the kids in there wearing headphones and banging out some crazy music. After they had finished with that Ricky came up to me and said he wanted to record a new song on piano. I hooked up my midi keyboard and he played out a couple of A and B sections, not too bad actually. I thought it would end there, but no, he then wanted to add a bass. I got him a bass sound on the keys and he laid that down. Next he wanted drums and strings. After those were done he wanted to start editing and had very specific ideas about when certain instruments should come in and out. I asked him what the song was and he said it was his version of a live version of a remix by Daft Punk. He then went on to describe how he gets tracks off the internet, puts them in Garage Band and does remixes. Pretty cool. I've been told he has a <a href="http://rockingrobot.blogspot.com/"target="_blank">blog</a> going as well. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_UwwfTqCCK8w/Svn3NiMXSlI/AAAAAAAAAGU/r_c0_VI2SoI/s1600-h/Ricky.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_UwwfTqCCK8w/Svn3NiMXSlI/AAAAAAAAAGU/r_c0_VI2SoI/s320/Ricky.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402621039896644178" / VSPACE=35 HSPACE=10 ALIGN=LEFT></a><br />This last Sunday I had another birthday party for 2 of my other boys and Ricky was there. I asked him if he had done any new songs. He said yes. And before I could ask him to email it to me or ask where I could hear it he told me "I have it in my pocket!" He then pulls out his iPod, hands me the head phones and says "Tell me if it's too loud". Now talk about prepared! This 8 year old was more prepared than those 'producers' at the NARAS event of the previous week!<br /><br />I don't think he was thinking that he might run into someone in the music industry that he might want to play music for. He was just keeping what he loves and is passionate about close by. If you're not that prepared and that passionate about music, then you shouldn't be doing it for anything more than a hobby.<br /><br />Be prepared.Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-70011756858229973142009-11-06T14:35:00.001-05:002009-11-06T18:19:22.524-05:00Audio HallucinationsAudio Hallucinations<br /><br />25 years ago I ran sound for bands on the road. I cut my teeth in audio during those couple of years. Once I dealt with the obvious problems that every live mixing engineer deals with, my biggest problem was typically the club owner/manager. There were the usual complaints about volume, but often the owner would have suggestions about my mix. I would always consider the suggestion first, but often they were just plain wrong. In those situations discussion is not an option, so I started to keep a few idle faders pushed most of the way up so I could make a show of lowering them for the owner. Every time I did this the owner would be very happy, convinced that his change had been made.<br /><br />Years later when I started mixing and producing major label work I would often get input from an A&R or even the label head on a lot things, but mostly the mix. I know these guys want to feel involved and have some sort of creative input, but the fact is that usually it was just plain bad input. Once again argument and discussion will get you no where except not getting hired again. So what did I do? Just sent them the same mix again and thank them for their input. They would hear it and give me the thumbs up convinced that the changes had been made.<br /><br />It’s funny how people can be convinced about changes in sound and how much we imagine that what we are hearing is changed or better or different. But can we fool ourselves?<br /><br />Cut to last night. I’m mixing something and I want to automate the echo send on the vocals in this one section of a verse. Somehow I screwed up and ended up adjusting the volume automation instead of the send automation. Listening to that section several times I really thought that the 2 db boost I thought I was giving to the echo was just what it needed! Ha Ha! What I was really hearing was the vocal getting louder (and a little more echo because as I usually do my send is post-fader). Louder always sounds better. It took me a few minutes to catch what I did and not until I had done something else and come back. I’ve even had situations where I’m just tired and pushing myself and I grab the wrong EQ and start turning stuff, convinced I was doing something to the track I was targeting. Yet all I’m really hearing is something being EQ’d and my ear/brain fools me into thinking it is happening to the track I think I’m on.<br /><br />I call this Audio Hallucinations. We all have them from time to time. Take master clocks for example. For a while it was the rage (Audio Fashion) amongst the producers and mixers I was in touch with to get one for your rig. I bought 2 different high priced models for my 2 main rigs based on suggestions from other engineers who said that using a particular model would be “night and day” compared to not using one. At first I thought it was making a difference. I had to! I'd just spent a good deal of money on these things! But after much A/B testing, changing word clock cables (I actually witnessed a heated discussion between 2 fairly successful engineers over the difference in tone your word clock cable makes!), re-checking the manual and phone calls to the manufacturer to make sure I was connecting and using it right I came to the conclusion that any difference it was making was so small that I frankly just couldn’t hear it. I’ve kept the one master clock in my A Room because it has a lot of pretty lights and it makes my clients feel like I’ve gone the extra distance, but it really is smoke and mirrors. I was at an industry function last night and and related my master clock story to several engineers in attendance and every one of them laughed and agreed. They had the same experience! <br />One of the engineers went on to describe an experience at a gear shoot out he'd been to at a major studio here in ATL. The guys that were doing the shoot out were interested in finding out how people were influenced by what they heard and how they made decisions in choosing what ‘sounded’ better. They found that when A/B’ing 2 pieces of gear or 2 microphones that if one was louder then the other by even .5 db that almost everyone would just choose the louder one. And these were all established engineers! <br /><br />We all can get so caught up in sound and what we believe ‘sounds better’. We obsess over the smallest tweaks yet we lose sight of the most important thing. The one thing that you cannot fool yourself or anyone else into thinking is good. And that is the MUSIC and the VIBE. <br /><br />Years ago when I started doing more hard rock stuff I had an artist that I was developing who had some great songs and a voice that just caught peoples attention. We had no decent amps or guitars. All the songs were recorded with a cheap Crate amp, played on a fake Les Paul and mic’d thru my Soundcraft Ghost console. We really struggled to get it even listenable. I was convinced that I had done at best a mediocre job on the songs. But when we played the stuff for people everyone went crazy over it. I was told that it sounded amazing and the mixes were great. But what they were really responding to was the good songs, the great vibe we had and his voice. I still put those songs on my mixer/producer reels and I’ve gotten work from those songs specifically! I have a couple of other songs that I used to put on the reels from another band I did 3 years ago that I KNOW I nailed the sound on. Truly the best drum and guitar sounds I’ve ever gotten. Probably some of the best mixes I’ve ever done. All the audio components came together perfectly. But the band was in a weird funk and the songs were weak. I stopped putting the songs on the reel because I actually got negative comments on them.<br /><br />I know I’m going to get emails from engineers saying that tweaking IS what they do for a career. That those minute tweaks and differences is what makes their specialization valuable. Yes that is true, but people are buying music, emotion- the soundtrack of their lives. <br /><br />I just think the subject is interesting, funny and informative. Anyone have any good Audio Hallucination stories?Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-81809692487159369722009-10-17T12:35:00.003-04:002009-10-17T12:52:16.123-04:00The Magic PipeHere's a quick clip of a current project. The sound is a bit over powered by his triggers, but this gives you an idea how his instrument is set up. He (he goes by the name <a href="http://that1guy.com/" Target="_blank">That One Guy</a>) invented this instrument, which he calls The Magic Pipe. It plays like a stand-up bass but also employs triggers. He is playing additional drum sounds with foot pedals. <br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Cu9ru737ay8&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Cu9ru737ay8&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-26641908131687729092009-09-25T01:37:00.019-04:002009-09-25T12:32:27.322-04:00Notes On Recording Live DrumsI’ve been recording drums all weekend for an artist named Christian Lewis. Really good stuff. I think I got some of the best drum recordings I’ve ever gotten here in my studio, The Zone. I get a lot of compliments on my drum sounds so here are a few notes on what I did:<br /><br />(<span style="font-style:italic;">I'm not going to get into head tensions / tuning and drum heads. That is a whole other subject</span>)<br />I started by mic'ing up the drummer <a href="http://www.myspace.com/andrewfaletti"target="_blank">Andrew Faletti’s</a> kit, and recorded some short clips for him to hear. After he approved the drum sounds we had, I started replacing his drums with mine- starting with my <a href="http://www.ludwig-drums.com/snaredrums/snaredrums.php" target="_blank">Ludwig Black Beauty</a> snare drum. This model of snare drum has been called “The most recorded snare drum in history”. I don’t doubt it. Almost every time I compare this snare with whatever my clients bring in, the difference is obvious. I mic’d the top with a <a href="http://www.shure.com/proaudio/products/wiredmicrophones/us_pro_sm57-lc_content" target="_blank">Shure SM57</a>. I have a couple that I always use for snare as the SM57 can be a very inconsistent model of microphone: they all sound a little different. When using this mic it is good to try a few (if you have more than one) and pick the best one (I write on the side of the mic with a sharpie after I find one I like for the application I’m using it for). The mic was placed about 2 inches or so above the rim of the snare pointing down to just off center on the head (where Andrew was hitting the drum. I ran that mic into an API 512C and then an API 550b EQ which was eq’d at 10K + 4db and 8K +2db. From there I ran it into an <a href="http://www.empiricallabs.com" target="_blank">Empirical Labs</a> <a href="http://www.empiricallabs.com/distdes.html" target="_blank">EL8 Distressor</a> compressor at a 4:1 ratio, slow attack, quick release and 4 or 5db of gain reduction and then into my AD interface. <br />I usually mic the bottom of the snare with an AKG C 414 B which works great, but I wanted a little more snap, so this time I used something I’ve never used for mic'ing a snare: a <a href="http://www.josephson.com" target="_blank">Josephson C24</a>, which I ran into an API 512C (remember... flip the phase on bottom mics) and then ran into another Distressor with the same settings as the top snare mic’s Distressor. The bottom mic was set at the same angle and distance from the bottom head of the drum as the top mic was from the top head.<br /><br />With the toms I started by using my toms, which are Bearing Edge drums. These are some of the best drums I’ve ever heard. I mic'ed the toms with <a href="http://www.sennheiserusa.com/professional_wired-microphones_instrument-mics_classic-dynamic-microphones_000984" target="_blank">Sennheiser MD 421</a>s which I ran into my <a href="http://www.soundcraft.com/products/product.aspx?pid=144" target="_blank">Soundcraft Ghost</a> console (a pretty good sounding board for the money). I usually pull some low mids out and boost a little highs and then some lows in that unique sweet spot for each tom (using a narrow bandwidth. The tom mics are about 3 to 4 inches above the heads, at a 45 degree angle to the head and pointing to where the drummer strikes the head.<br /><br />The kick drum was the drummer's AHA Custom kick which is made here in Gainesville Georgia. On the kick drum I mic’d the inside with an <a href="http://www.akg.com/site/products/powerslave,id,261,nodeid,2,_language,EN.html" target="_blank">AKG D112</a>. I keep the mic almost centered inside the drum, with the mic pointing right at the point where the beater from the kick pedal is hitting on the other side of the head. That mic is run into an API 512C and then into an API 560 graphic EQ with 500hz pulled all the way down and a boost at 125hz and 4K. The outside of the kick drum was mic'd with something a lot of engineers call a Sub kick, which (in my version at least) is just a speaker hung on a couple of cables suspended in front of the kick, and wired to a XLR plug (a speaker in reverse, and mine is still low-impedance). This works better than any mic I’ve ever used. You can buy a factory version of this - the <a href="http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/ContentDetail/PressReleaseDetail/0,6375,CNTID%253D29152%2526CTID%253D551436%2526CNTYP%253DNEWS,00.html" target="_blank">Yamaha Subkick</a>, but having used their version I have to say mine gets better lows. I think the lack of a shell and all that housing lets it breathe more. It was placed about 6 inches (tho I've often placed further out) from the head and off center. The sub kick I ran into a <a href="http://www.chandlerlimited.com/products/germanium_pre.php">Chandler Limited Germanium</a> with the “Thick” button in. (I gotta thank Producer <a href="http://www.myspace.com/glowinthedarkstudio" target="_blank">Matt Goldman</a> for the suggestion that I get one of these. Matt knows a lot about gear).<br /><br />On my overheads I used a pair of <a href="http://www.earthworksaudio.com/10.html" target="_blank">Earthworks TC30K</a>s. These are omni-directional microphones. I’ve tried so many mics for overheads, but something makes me keep coming back to these. They just make everything sound soooo big! I also like the way I get better coverage on the cymbals this way. With directional mics I always feel like there is one crash cymbal that isn’t as loud as the others. I placed my overheads about one drumstick height or so above the cymbals. I also make sure that they are over the edge of the cymbal and on the axis of the cymbal's rotation when they are struck (meaning that when the cymbal is pivoting or swinging after being hit, the mic is over the part that isn't moving up and down. That would be 90 degrees around the edge of the cymbal from the spot they are being struck. This gives a smoother sound).<br /><br />One of the biggest parts of the sound is my room mic. What I’ve been doing lately is putting an <a href="http://www.akg.com/site/products/powerslave,id,781,pid,781,nodeid,2,_language,EN.html" target="_blank">AKG C 414 B</a> straight over the snare drum up about 9 feet and run that into my Ghost console. Then I turn up the gain on the top of the channel until the red overload light is on. Then I turn it more right up until the distortion is crazy, then I dial back just a bit. I might EQ it, bit not always. (check phase!) This track gets gated and is keyed off the snare. Just a tiny bit of this in the mix will give the drums a very muscular sound and make the snare sound like you added a few inches of depth to the shell.<br /><br />I used a couple of spot mics as well. One Josephson C24 on the high hat and a shure SM57 on the ride. I don’t always use them in the mix, but I get them just in case.<br /><br />Here are a couple of clips I made from the session. These are the raw tracks just after we recorded:<br /><br /><div style="width:300px;"><object width="300" height="300"><param name="movie" value="http://media.imeem.com/pl/UYfxi_t0vk/aus=false/"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://media.imeem.com/pl/UYfxi_t0vk/aus=false/" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="300" height="205" wmode="transparent"></embed></object><div style="background-color:#E6E6E6;padding:1px;"><div style="float:left;padding:4px 4px 0 0;"><a href="http://www.imeem.com/"><img src="http://www.imeem.com/embedsearch/E6E6E6/" border="0" /></a></div><form method="post" action="http://www.imeem.com/embedsearch/" style="margin:0;padding:0;"><input type="text" name="EmbedSearchBox" /><input type="submit" value="Search" style="font-size:12px;" /><div style="padding-top:3px;"><a href="http://www.imeem.com/ads/banneradclick.ashx?ep=0&ek=UYfxi_t0vk" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://www.imeem.com/ads/bannerad/152/10/" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.imeem.com/ads/banneradclick.ashx?ep=1&ek=UYfxi_t0vk" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://www.imeem.com/ads/bannerad/153/10/" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.imeem.com/ads/banneradclick.ashx?ep=2&ek=UYfxi_t0vk" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://www.imeem.com/ads/bannerad/154/10/" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.imeem.com/ads/banneradclick.ashx?ep=3&ek=UYfxi_t0vk" rel="nofollow" ><img src="http://www.imeem.com/ads/bannerad/155/10/UYfxi_t0vk/" border="0" /></a></div></form></div></div><br /><br />You might notice from the sound clips that the drums are very ‘ringy’ and live sounding. I rarely muffle the heads and when I do it is very little. Many engineers will get a little freaked out by all the ring and over tones they hear as they are getting the drums dialed in, and start to muffle the drums. The problem is that by the time you add a lot of other instruments to the production your drums will actually start to sound small and thin, so you'll then start reaching for reverbs and other tricks to make your drums big again. If you just let the drums ring a bit you’ll find that you need less or no reverb in the mix.<br /><br />And finally, a good drummer and good drums cannot be overlooked and in fact are the biggest part of the equation. I've had drums set up in the studio and put a different drummmer on the kit to have it sound like a whole different kit.<br /><br />Well that’s about it.Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-90418260086856922582009-09-07T13:26:00.000-04:002009-09-07T13:27:10.440-04:00Recording "Party Like A Rockstar"<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/B73J_PR3e-k&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/B73J_PR3e-k&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com212tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-54477679152950053482009-09-04T13:39:00.021-04:002009-09-04T18:15:50.402-04:00Filtering vocals - High Pass and Low Pass(This is an embellishment on a post I did on <a href="http://www.gearslutz.com"target="_blank">gearslutz.com</a>)<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RQY2La4VL-uZ8XC91DOH6g?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_UwwfTqCCK8w/SqFU2CytjeI/AAAAAAAAAEU/c-0ot54Hkz8/s288/McDSP%20FilterBank%20E4%20example.jpg" / VSPACE=35 HSPACE=10 ALIGN=RIGHT ></a><br /><br />Like many engineers, I put a High Pass filter on my vocals when I’m mixing. Usually from 100hz to 150hz. (A little higher with female vocals.) <br />I do this because for the most part there really isn’t much down there that is useful or going to be heard in the mix (before I get any haters, let me say that if I were mixing a vocal and acoustic guitar only or a solo vocal than maybe I might approach this differently. I am mostly talking about dense mixes and production).<br /><br /><br />I do the filtering pre-compression so that any low frequencies won’t pump the compressor. This filtering will really clear up the mix a lot. For that matter I do a lot of high pass filtering on other sounds too, because low end is weird in that a tiny tiny amount of it can really screw up a mix. Even stuff you can’t hear will mess with a mix.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2SFshSTzkEMs8L0MXak3xg?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_UwwfTqCCK8w/SqFU2LYQhQI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/1Ro0TZreHr0/s288/McDSP%20FilterBank%20F2%20example.jpg" / VSPACE=35 HSPACE=10 ALIGN=LEFT></a><br /><br />But here is something else I do that I think is a little unusual: I often put a low pass filter on vocals as well, most of the time using a <a href="http://www.mcdsp.com"target="_blank">McDSP</a> plugin called <a href="http://www.mcdsp.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38&Itemid=271"target="_blank">Filterbank</a> (F2 configuration). <br /><br />I usually do this on backing vocals or on ‘adlib’ tracks in hip hop. Usually I’m taking out everything above 10khz and even as low down as 6.5khz.<br />I’ve found that sometimes the vocals just get so harsh and I’m putting de-essers on all the vocals, so might as well take a short cut. It’s also because so many times when I’m mixing for clients it sounds like all the vocals were recorded using the same mic with the same settings. It’s kinda hard to to get a good blend sometimes when all the vocal stacks sound the same. <br /><br /><br />I read an article about how <a href="http://www.michaeljackson.com"target="_blank">Michael Jackson</a> recorded his vocals. He would do his leads on a condenser mic and back-ups or stacks on a dynamic (in the article they said a <a href="http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/WiredMicrophones/us_pro_SM7B_content"target="_blank">Sure SM7</a>). I think the point is to switch up the source; it gives a bigger sound. So when I’m mixing I’m trying to achieve the same thing with the tracks that are sent to me.<br /><br />Here’s something else I noticed while mixing. I would often get a nice natural sounding vocal and then in one part of the song want to get that 'telephone' filtered effect. I would always be surprised that after doing that that the natural sounding vocal just sounded boring. It made me start filtering the lows out of my vocals more and being a little more extreme in my approach. I also sometimes go halfway into that telephone type sound for my leads, even boosting the mid-range on my vocals. Remember, all sound systems sound different and you can never really be sure how your mix is gonna sound. But you can be sure that all sound systems do have mid-range and your vocals will be heard there if you treat mid-range as your friend.<br /><br />I hope this helps.Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com171tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-63648416175225220272009-08-19T16:00:00.003-04:002009-08-21T13:32:06.540-04:00Identity CrisisI’ve been thinking lately about identity. More specifically, an artist's identity or lack thereof. I think many artists have an identity crisis going on and they don’t even know it. What they think they are is often what they are not. And this is very important when we are all trying to be on the same page as far as production and mixing goes, because it all eventually ends up in how you are marketing your music. This is one of THE biggest problems I run into with new artists.<br /><br />Let me use some examples to illustrate:<br />I had a band a few years ago that I needed to produce a few songs for. On their rough demo cd there was this one song they'd added as an afterthought that was actually the best song in the batch. It was a mid-tempo rock ballad. Out of the 4 songs we ended up recording, that song came out the best and got the band a lot of attention. Everyone I sent it to lost their minds (even to this day if that song is on a producer reel I give someone, the first question from the listener is “Who is that?”). At the time we did these songs <a href="http://www.creed.com" target="_blank">Creed</a> had kind of dropped of the charts and <a href="http://www.nickelback.com" target="_blank">Nickelback</a> hadn’t hit yet. I explained to the band that there was a hole in popular music for that big ‘fake’ metal rock stuff (I didn’t quite use those terms with them but that IS what it is) and that they could fill it. They had the sound, the singer had the voice, the timing was right and the interest was there.<br /><br />The problem was that the band thought of themselves as a technical rock band more along the lines of <a href="http://www.systemofadown.com" target="_blank">System of a Down</a>. They had NO songs that came close to sounding like that, and the few that were technical were very weak in the actual songwriting department and weren’t even interesting in the technical department either. (The singer had some pipes, but the musicianship was very weak - another misconception in the band). What they did really well and what they sounded like was the big Creed/Nickelback thing. I couldn’t convince them to do more songs like that, and in spite of the attention the ballad was getting they wouldn’t even play it at all of the gigs! Needless to say they toiled for a few more years, actually got an indie deal and recorded another album of misdirected songs (without using any producer) and they went nowhere.<br /><br />Sometimes a band needs to step away from their egos and realistically look back on what they are doing, question their assumptions about themselves AND listen to the advice of their elders.<br /><br />Here is another example: I was mixing for a band and the music was kind of a pop/rock mishmash. Not recorded or produced very well, which always makes mixing so much harder. They kept bugging me to put weird effects on things that seemed incredibly inappropriate for the songs and was making everything sound worse and ridiculous. I kept asking them to explain what they were going for and was told “We want to sound like the Beatles”. Man.... how could they be more off? I had to explain that I was not a magician. If they wanted to sound like the Beatles they needed to write songs that sounded like the Beatles first, and then record and produce songs as well as the Beatles did. How could they have gotten all the way to mixing and not realized this?<br /><br />More recently I was at a rehearsal for a band I’ll be working with soon that has a very powerful modern commercial rock sound. They're a very good band, have great songs and the singer can belt (very <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AratTMGrHaQ" target="_blank">Jeff Buckley-like</a>). During a break the singer says he wants the drums to sound very garage band or maybe like Hendrix or Led Zeppelin and explains that he has spent a lot of time playing blues and old school rock. Now I LOVE those bands, but what he doesn’t recognize is that he has grown up in the modern age and IS a product of now. I think what he really wants to do is pay homage to the legends, which is honorable, but not a true representation of what he actually IS.<br /><br />This project is in it’s early stages and I have yet to see what will happen. It is very difficult to make young artists see that what they grew up listening to and dreaming about becoming is not usually realistic because the times, sounds and music business have changed and, most importantly, you must find your own voice, your true voice, to speak through.<br />- Do you really know what you’re best at?<br />- Can you accurately identify the things that are connecting with your listeners?<br />- Are you trying to be your favorite band from your childhood or are you trying to be what you should sound like in 3 years?<br /><br />Be honest with yourself. I’m not saying don't reach and stretch who you are, but do sit back and try to be objective. Be real about the things that ARE working and have worked. Stick with what you are good at.Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-29946481301669423742009-08-18T23:35:00.001-04:002009-08-18T23:36:18.276-04:00Wow!<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/sIFYPQjYhv8&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sIFYPQjYhv8&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-41841581159010015002009-08-17T00:53:00.002-04:002009-08-17T01:26:33.932-04:00Mix Compression: Two ApproachesI was on <a href="http://www.gearslutz.com/"target="_blank">gearslutz.com</a> and came across a very heated discussion about mixing compression on the mix bus. Someone had made a comment about not using it and it went on and on about whether you should, how you should use it, what gear or plugins you should use, and so on. I really don’t want to get into all that right now, but I will re-post what I posted on gearslutz here:<br /><br />There is no one answer to whether you should use compression on your mix buss or not. Everyone has a different approach and I have gone through my own phases where I did or didn’t compress the mix. (Presently I’m off it, but I do happily compress about everything else and I’m using a slight limiter on the mix.)<br /><br />I once had the honor of moderating a panel for NARAS that had <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_O%27Brien_%28music_producer%29"target="_blank">Brendan O'Brien</a> and <a></a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Douglass"target="_blank">Jimmy Douglass</a> on it. What a treat! I threw away the questions that had been prepared for me and asked all the things I had heard rumors about and wondered myself for years. One of these was about mix compression. When asked what each of them used on their mixes Jimmy's answer was "None", Brendan's was "YES! Lots! Sometimes 2 or 3 compressors in a row".<br /><br />Now I think this shows a fault in how people ask these kind of questions- or rather, the results they hope to achieve. They want to find an answer or technique that they can just plug in to their current routine to get the same results as the one that they are getting the advice from. But it is totally out of context. Whatever Jimmy is doing in other parts of his mix means he doesn't need to use comp on the buss. Brendan on the other hand is working towards using that, and I'll bet is running some sort of compression from the start.<br /><br />Mixing (and production) is like cooking. There are lots of ingredients that must be added at the right time, in the right order, in the right amounts to get the right results. Yet strangely it might come out differently the next time. And someone else might cook something equally as good, but take a different route.<br /><br />* * *<br />A few other interesting notes from that panel:<br />I asked both of them how long they spent mixing a song. Jimmy: 2 or 3 days. Brendan: 5 to 6 hours.<br />Was it true that Brendan uses the same bass guitar that he’s had for years with the same original strings on every song? (this based on a rumor I’ve heard around Atlanta from a few people) “No!”, he laughed. While he does have a favorite bass and the strings might be old (he didn’t really know when they’d been changed, so they are probably old) he doesn’t use it on everything, just when appropriate. Again, think of the context. I’ll bet there are several rock producers who heard this rumor and stopped changing their bass strings.Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-85548410562531111522009-07-24T14:32:00.000-04:002009-07-24T17:15:46.218-04:00Learning How to Mix<b><br /><br />How did I learn how to mix?</b><br /><br />Man, I can’t really say. I’ve been doing it so long and have tried so many approaches- I've had a few work out great and had an incredible number of failures. I’ve read books & magazines, I've harassed older engineers. I’ve mixed loud, quiet, with headphones, on state of the art speakers and on cheap stereo speakers. I’m still learning and still frustrated with the outcome a lot of the time. But the one thing I’ve done that made the biggest difference was to train myself to listen. And one of the best ways to do that is by <b>comparing your mix to a great mix of a hit song that you are familiar with</b>. Here is how you do that:<br /><br />Take your stereo returns of the mix you are doing and the stereo return from a cd player (or your computer output if you can play cd’s from it independently of your Protools/Logic/DAW output), and put them side by side on your mixer. Go back and forth between your CD and your mix and check the levels on your mixer so that they are the same. Have your mixing un-muted and the CD channels muted. Now, as you are listening to your mix put your fingers of one hand over the mute buttons on your mix and your fingers of your other hand over the mute buttons of the CD channels and press at the same time, quickly switching between your mix and the mix of the hit song. Now the differences will really jump out! Your goal is to make your mix sound like the other. Just try copying it.... I dare you. It is harder than you think. Keep in mind that it helps if the songs are of a similar type, vibe, tempo and so on. The bass is very important, too- If your mix has a lot of short and fast bass notes, but the mix you are comparing to has really long notes, you will never match up because of how bass reacts in the mix, on your speakers and in the room (this is a whole other subject to be covered in my workshops or lessons).<br /><br />When I first started doing this it nearly drove me crazy. I could hear that my mix didn’t sound as good but I couldn’t place my finger on what the problem was. I had to start removing elements from my mix one at a time and see how that changed the comparison process. After doing this for years I trained my ears to hear things I could never hear before.<br /><br />Here are two other techniques you can use by applying the same process:<br />1. <b>Compare two mixes of two different hit songs against each other.</b><br />This requires two CD players. You will be amazed by how different the mixes will be sometimes. This is because mixing is not just a science- it is also an art. And a good mixer takes many aspects into account to get a good mix. Mixing is not just about sound but about emotion, and that has to be shown in the spotlight.<br />2. <b>Use the comparison process to define ranges.</b><br />Years ago I pretty much just mixed rock music, which is much more challenging to mix than urban stuff (for me at least). I was always concerned about my low end, how loud the vocals were and how much mid-range I had in the mix. What I did was use 2 songs that were somewhat current to compare to. One was the Goo Goo Dolls song <i>Iris</i> mixed by Jack Joseph Puig. The other was The Verve and their songs <i>Bitter Sweet Symphony</i> and <i>Lucky Man</i> (or anything else off that amazing album) mixed by Christopher Marc Potter. I noticed from comparing them that the Goo Goo Dolls had a tremendous low end, a scooped mid-range and a somewhat lower vocal level. The Verve mixes tended to have way more mid-range and the vocals were mixed a bit louder. So I would do my mix and then make sure that my mixes had no more low end than the Goo Goo Dolls and that the vocals were as loud or louder than theirs. I would then make sure that my mixes were no more mid-rangy than the Verve mixes and that my vocals were no louder than theirs.<br /><br />Of course then it was out to the car test, the hallway test and so on.<br /><br />This is just one of many techniques you can use to train your ears and improve your mixing. I hope this helps some of you.Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-23759534092884636712009-07-22T21:10:00.000-04:002009-07-22T21:13:43.218-04:00Pentagon Films Interviews Vistoso Bosses & Billy HumePentagon Films interviewed the Vistoso Bosses and me at my studio, The Zone. Check it out!<br /><br /><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LJEPVuBEBvg&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LJEPVuBEBvg&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object>Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-87983963271070593072009-07-16T00:36:00.000-04:002009-07-16T00:57:52.835-04:00Vistoso Bosses- new video<div id="utilEditBx"> <span id="snagEmbed" class="multiLn">Here's a project I'm working on- Vistoso Bosses, the song is "Delirious". These ladies are terrific, check them out!<br /><br /><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/aDwGPmRRBUs&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/aDwGPmRRBUs&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object></span> </div>Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-76610765541036244672009-07-13T15:12:00.000-04:002009-07-13T15:26:18.319-04:00When Mixing Doesn't MatterI surprise clients sometimes with my attitude about mixing in that I think it is one of the least important parts of the project. Now don’t get me wrong, I will spend forever on a mix and tweak till the wee hours of the morning. But what’s often overlooked in the process is the song. A great mix does not make a great song.<br /><br />I had a client in here that truly was the biggest pain I’ve EVER had in terms of mix revisions. Normally when I do a mix I will send the client an mp3 for every revision. Most of the time it never goes beyond 3 or 4. On this particular mix I had 20! And the tweaks involve minute changes to nearly inaudible sounds that frankly don’t matter because you can barely hear them and the song SUCKED! (When I am producing you are certainly going to get my input on the quality of the song. But in my role as a mixer I usually keep that to myself). What gets me is how obviously bad this song is in terms of lyrics, style, performance I mean everything. And these guys just can’t see what is so clear to everyone else. The mix at this point sounds great, but it won’t make a difference. <br /><br />I mixed “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj63G4MZpms">Party Like A Rockstar</a>” in 4 hours including recording the guitar part. It isn’t one of my better mixes for sure. I would have spent more time on it, but the song literally blew up in a matter of days and the label decided to just keep running with it. But it didn’t matter that the mix was so-so. The song was a hit!<br /><br />I spent several days mixing “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMFj0sWpIAI">Throw Some D’s</a>” and had countless revisions over a several month period. I thought <a href="http://www.myspace.com/polowdadon">Polow</a> was being a little picky about a few minor things. But then Polow is a great producer and he makes hits. This was a situation where some of the changes he made later in the process did make a difference in the outcome and we would never have gotten there if Polow hadn’t been tweaking like crazy.<br /><br />My point of all this is make sure your song is actually good before you invest so much time and money in it. Test it on people at clubs, performances, at work... anywhere. Be honest with yourself about your work.Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-6682091797619123062009-07-02T01:25:00.000-04:002009-07-13T15:28:40.369-04:00It beginsAttention mixers, producers, engineers and other music professionals:<br /><br />The Zone Recording Studios of Atlanta and Radiator Records are pleased to announce a new series of mixing, production and recording workshops by Billy Hume! Billy Hume has been building experience in the music business since 1977, first as a musician and later adding recording, production and mixing to his formidable list of talents. His personal studio The Zone was founded in the late 80s, and Billy Hume has used it as his secret headquarters ever since, quietly turning out some of the best sonic work available in the Southeast. For more information, check out his discography ( http://www.visualcv.com/billyhume ). Known and respected throughout the music industry, he has been asked time and again for help learning and troubleshooting from other music professionals. In order to meet this demand, Billy Hume has created these private workshops.<br /><br />The work shops are designed to teach practical mixing, recording and production techniques that can be used by anyone, whether they are in a large professional studio or a home studio- though the emphasis will be on home-based studios as Billy Hume has made his career out of mixing and producing hit songs from his personal home studio. These workshops are NOT about teaching how to use a particular type of software, but about practices that can be applied to any situation. Each workshop will be 8 hours in length with a 45 min break in the middle and will be conducted at The Zone Recording Studios, just North of Atlanta, GA.Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-274534506906227782.post-72918355549825073552009-06-02T00:26:00.000-04:002009-07-14T01:00:19.619-04:00Thank YouThank you for signing up for email updates. We'll keep you up to speed on Billy Hume's workshops and let you know when this blog is updated.<br /><br />If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, please contact us at billyhumeworkshops@gmail.com<br /><br /><a href="http://billyhumeworkshops.blogspot.com">Return to main page</a>Billy Humehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089223061416283912noreply@blogger.com