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Can you often tell the brand of electric or acoustic guitar being used in songs you like or hear ? Like, could you always tell a Rickenbacker or a Gibson or a Hagstrom or an Epiphone or an Ovation or a Martin or a whatever ? I can't !

a] Poor lyric x Poor music = b] Poor lyric x Good music = c] Good lyric x Good music = d] Good lyric x Poor music = Is a] always worse than d] ? Can b] ever be better than c] ? Can a] ever be better than b] or c] ? Support your answers with songs, please.

Are there any songs that contain subjects that you are so opposed to that you won't listen to that song ?

This is supposed to be a fun thread....but it might not turn out that way ! Namely, what are those phrases that pop up in a home recording context that drive you up the wall or you just don't understand, still ? One of mine is when people talk about flipping the phase. I mean, I know what it...

Does anyone know when panning bass and drums to the centre of a stereo mix first happened ? Which song/record/engineer/producer ?

Variation 2. This one is a little more difficult and esoteric, but is definitely worth the sweat. Take a song, any song from any era. It might be one you adore or it may be one that you hate. Either way, it doesn’t matter because what you end up with is going to bear absolutely no relation to...

I’ve found this a few times to be a useful way of writing a song. It’s not exclusively aimed at someone with writer’s block ~ anyone can adopt this method. Maybe many of you already have. Variation 1. Take a song, any song. It could be a song you love, a song you can’t stand or one you’re...

Has anyone ever tried to use a headphone or speaker as a mic ? I'll often use a headphone when I want to quickly get an idea down and couldn't be bothered to go and set up the mic and cable. After all, I'll wipe it eventually. But if one wants a deliberately trashy instrument sound, sometimes a...

Of all the words and terms that have been at large in the history of recorded music, perhaps none has been quite as much used and yet so utterly undefined as that of "the producer." What does the producer actually do ? What is their function ? How has their role changed over the years ? Has it...

What has happened to the "allergic to digital" thread? On my feed, it's completely disappeared.

I never really noticed mix positions when I was younger and I didn't care for years about extreme panning. Then I went through a period where I would absolutely hate extreme bass and drum panning. I actually went through an exercise a few years ago where I converted a few albums to mono {via...

Here's a hypothetical question ¬> if, unbeknown to you, someone removed all the guitar/bass/drums/percussion/keyboards/strings/horns/woodwind {ie, any that apply} parts that you had recorded on a song and played identical parts to replace them, would you be able to tell ? Would you listen to it...

I've come to the conclusion that mixing contains an interesting paradox ~ the ability to hear not only with one's own ears, but, simultaneously, through the ears of many imaginary hearers as well. Does that make sense to anyone ?

There's generally been a negative reaction to the idea of vocal booths over the years, so I was quite interested to see this video and think again on the subject. What do people think of vocal booths of this kind ?

Well, does anyone ?

I've had my 5-string bass guitar since 2005 and done lots of recording and live work with it. I went over to flat wound strings some years ago, and I've noticed over the last 9 or so years that when I tune it using a tuner, the E, A, D and G strings are wonderfully in tune, but when the B is...

Well, can it ?

Does anyone here write instrumentals or have you written instrumentals ? Did they start off deliberately as instrumentals ? What was/is your approach to them ~ is there any particular way you go about them ?

When you hear a piano in a song {any song of any era} can you tell whether the piano part is played on a grand, baby grand or upright piano ? And have you ever heard piano sounds so authentic {on modules, VSTis, synths or stage pianos} that you couldn't tell that it wasn't an acoustic piano ?

When listening to music, be it home recordings or otherwise, can you tell whether a dynamic, condenser or ribbon mic was used on any particular sound source ? What are the essential differences between the different kinds of mic ? Is there anything intrinsic to each one that makes them better...