Articles by Wes Maebe

The Singer’s Gotta Be Snug As A Bug

Getting the recording environment right for vocals always pays off – says Wes Maebe I’ve come across several recording situations where all the energy and focus has been spent on recording all the instruments. Weeks or even months are dedicated to recording the backing tracks, overdubs, solos and then at the end of the studio [...]

Why Does Anyone Need a Studio?

Hey Wes, I’ve got a basement full of great gear. What does a pro studio have that I don’t? -Simon Hi Simon: I can sum up the answer in four words: Expertise, Acoustics, Vibe and Focus. Recording studios cost millions to build. The planning of the layout, the aesthetic and acoustic design of the recording [...]

Your Career on an iBudget

The Demo days are over –says Wes Maebe It’s long been a dream of many vocalists to “get signed” by a big label. Yet, the reality is that this far less likely to come true for fewer singers “as time goes by”. Falling revenues and a drastic change in the business models have led to [...]

Should You Auto-Tune Your Vocals?

Tweaking your tuning may not transform your performance -says Wes Maebe Back To The Future 1997 saw the release of an audio processor called Antares Auto-Tune; the following year it hit the market big time with Cher’s hit “Believe”. “And the rest,” as they say, “is history.” T-Pain regurgitated the effect with great success in [...]

The Engineer Meets The Vocal Coach

Wes Maebe makes the case for and against a vocal coach in the studio.

Wasting Money in the Studio

Too much precious money gets flushed down the studio drain –says Wes Maebe When you’ve made the decision to pay for a professional studio you don’t want to waste your money. And I’ve seen some money being wasted. There was a time when record labels threw budgets around by the truckload. You could spend years [...]

Pop Shields and Women’s Tights

Discover time honored ways to de-pop your vocals –says Wes Maebe Hey all you vocalizers – Happy New Year. We’re steadily rolling into February already and I hope you’ve had a fabulous time over the festivities, managed to rest your vocal chords, experiment with that new microphone you managed to get as a Christmas present [...]

There’s No ME In My Monitors!

To put it bluntly, if your monitor mix sucks, very likely, your performance is going to suck. I’m sure you’ve all read Bill Gibson’s 19th November post on crucial headphone mixes. It’s not a big leap to cross this over into the live monitoring field. Obviously, there are no hard and fast rules on what [...]

Monitor Feedback

Let’s talk about one of the most important ingredients of your live performance: monitors -says Wes Maebe Hey all. Great to have you back for my next rant. Some of you may have spent the entire budget on a killer studio mic (I would, but then again, I’m a GearSlut).   Some of you may [...]

Mics and Money

“How much do you need to spend on your mic?” -asks Wes Maebe