Recording & Mixing

Pro Audio Design Engineer Andy Bereza summarises his impressive career in a chat with Paul Gilby. Andy founded Allen & Heath Mixers before working for TEAC/Tascam, where he conceived the TEAC Portastudio the portable multitrack cassette tape recorder that revolutionised the home recording market in the 1980s. He then co-founded Bandive-Turnkey where he developed a range of budget signal processors and the famous Great British Spring reverb to sell to the rapidly expanding Home Studio Recording market. At the same time, he was a consultant for the Fostex X15 multitrack cassette as well as helping to steer further product designs. Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:34 - Getting Into Electronics01:45 - Building Custom Desks04:09 - Allen & Heath Mixers06:07 - The Minimixer08:54 - The Pink Floyd Desks12:24 - Allen & Heath Mod II Mixer13:20 - Expanding The Company15:23 - Moving To Tascam 16:58 - Constructing The Portastudio 21:57 - Setting Up Bandive / Turnkey24:55 - Creating Products For The Home Studio 29:03 - Fostex Releases in the 80s30:48 - Bandive Seck Mixers32:08 - Expanding Turnkey35:14 - Selling To Harman38:38 - Launching Digital Postcards41:07 - A Brief Career Summary42:13 - Proudest Career MomentAndy Bereza BiogAndy Bereza started his career as a Audio Design Engineer after moving to London in 1967 to study Electronics at Chelsea University. A chance encounter with Siggy Jackson in Tin Pan Alley gave him his first custom commission and many more soon followed, with Andy building mixers for Bill Shepherd (producer of the Bee Gees), Alan Price, Maurice Gibb and also a location recording mixer for the Clockwork Orange movie.In 1970 Andy became the Founder of Allen & Heath, where he initially developed the black range of mixers, then their first mass market product the Minimix. At the same time he creating custom quadraphonic live desks for The Who along with Pink Floyd's Pompeii and Dark Side Of The Moon touring desks.In 1975, Andy joined TEAC America and was employed to introduce Tascam into Europe. Then in 1976 he was contracted directly with TEAC Japan where he developed the iconic Portastudio that changed the face of the home recording industry. In 1977 he became one of the founders of Bandive Ltd and helped to develop further products for the home recording market and created the popular Turnkey By Mail catalogue during the late 1970s to mid 80s. Bandive then opened the Turnkey retail store in central London.Following the sale of Bandive / Turnkey to Harman UK in 1987, he briefly became their Marketing Director, before signing up to become Managing Director of Fostex in 1991. Later in the 90s Andy left the Pro Audio industry and turned his attention to multimedia where he developed interactive product catalogues on CD-ROM.Paul Gilby BiogPaul Gilby is the co-founder, along with his brother Ian, of Sound On Sound magazine in 1985. Having written many product reviews and interviews over the years he now heads up the Digital Media side of the business managing the team that looks after the SOS website as well as the video and podcast productions.Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Paul White and Hugh Robjohns discuss the basics of a good home studio setup, including choosing the right equipment and setting up your space correctly for achieving the best recording and mixing results.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:14 - Minimum Equipment00:54 - Audio Interfaces02:46 - Headphones and Speakers03:21 - Choosing A Microphone08:55 - Additional Accessories12:27 - Desks And Monitor Stands16:21 - Speakers And Acoustic Treatment21:06 - Choosing Studio Monitors22:35 - Subwoofers And Bass Traps26:16 - Cutting Reflections For Vocals28:48 - Recaphttps://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/studio-sos-making-small-room-sound-goodPaul White BiogPaul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Hugh Robjohns BiogHugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too!Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Not everyone has access to a professional studio with bespoke wiring. Here, Paul White and Hugh Robjohns discuss the best practises for avoiding and eliminating electrical noise interference in your home studio.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:21 - Arranging Plugboards In A Home Studio02:09 - Uninterruptible Power Supplies03:59 - Grounding Issues In Laptop Systems07:19 - Radiated Interference08:54 - Isolated Power Supplies11:10 - Procedure For Eliminating Noise12:38 - Breaking The Ground Pathhttps://www.groundology.co.uk/https://artproaudio.com/Paul White BiogPaul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/Hugh Robjohns BiogHugh Robjohns has been Sound On Sound´s Technical Editor since 1997. Prior to that he worked in a variety of (mostly) sound-related roles in BBC Television, ending up as a Sound Operations Lecturer at the BBC´s technical training centre. He continues to provide audio consultancy and bespoke broadcast audio training services all over the world, lectures at professional and public conventions, and occasionally records and masters acoustic and classical music too! Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.

Eddie Bazil gives us more pointers on constructing beats, incorporating useful tools such as Drum Replacement Software and pre-constructed Loops, then adding enhancements using timing, pitch and other processing tips.Chapters00:00 - Introduction00:33 - Drum Replacement Software01:41 - Example 1: Using Hit'n'Mix RipX DAW 05:41 - Example 2: Making Loops Your Own11:36 - Example 3: Enhancing A Kick With Pitch And Timing Track credit for example 1: Ice Box featuring Omarion, produced by Timbaland - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Box_(song)Eddie Bazil BiogEddie Bazil launched his music industry career at the age of 17 as a synth programmer for a range of Electro / New Wave bands including Art of Noise, Spandau Ballet, Pet Shop Boys, Bobin, Paul Dee, DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, Jets Orchestra. By his 20s he was working as a sound designer for Akai, Roland Emu/Ensoniq, eventually signing on exclusively with the latter. Later, due to a growing demand for software instruments and libraries, Eddie started to develop libraries for various software manufacturers, including Native Instruments, Kiesel, Sound Effects Library, Arturia and Propellerheads. A meeting with Phil Allen, a Capital Radio DJ, resulted in the company Samplecraze, which Eddie has spent 20 years developing as an educational resource. At this time he trained in music production and soon gained a number of prominent contracts working with some notable artistes such as Busta Rhymes, Greensleeves, 9 Bar, SFP, Sleeveless, Chris Campbell and Gam Productions. He contracted to Island Records and Chrysalis as a producer and remixer,  plus was commissioned to write the score for Macbeth that ran at 2 Way Mirror at Alexander Palace for the Cambridge Shakespeare Company. His ongoing development of Samplecraze has led to him offering educational workshops and classes, releasing four books via PC Publishing and becoming a contributor and forum moderator for Sound On Sound. Recently he has established The Audio Production Hub for online education and been invited by the Recording Academy to become a Grammy judge.https://eddiebazil.co.uk/https://samplecraze.com/Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts Get a print or digital subscription to Sound On Sound magazine.