UA Blog

The creative use of ambience is a vital color in the audio engineer's palette. Learn how capturing ambience was pioneered, and how it evolved into a creative sonic tool with forward-thinking engineers and hardware innovations.

Prior to his untimely death in 2013, Grammy-winning engineer Mike Shipley was one of the industry’s top mixers, with a hit-making career spanning over 30 years. Here, learn how Shipley used UA hardware and UAD plug-ins to sculpt hits for Allison Krauss, Maroon 5, and more.

The mastering engineer is the last step of the artistic phase, and the first step of the manufacturing phase. It’s the final opportunity to listen, polish, and make a change in the sonic presentation. It is also the first step of the manufacturing phase, because it prepares the master in the way that best suits the needs of the manufacturer. The goal is to listen to the broad picture; the actual content is immaterial. The mastering engineer is paying attention to EQ presentation, to level presentation, to dynamics presentation.

Learn the basics of audio compression, different types of hardware and plug-in compressors, and techniques for using compression on your recordings.

Of all the components that make up your studio environment, the two most important for producing high-quality mixes have to be, 1) your ears and 2) your near-field monitors. More specifically, the proper placement of these key components within your room will make all the difference in achieving accurate mixes that will sound good on the widest range of systems.

Learn the three most tried-and-true stereo miking techniques for recording acoustic guitar.

The CTC was noted for its uncanny ability to always sit perfectly in the mix and was used on many hit records, such as “Tell Me Something Good” by Rufus and “Low Rider” by War, for its spectacular short delay and doubling effects. Since its early discontinuation, the CTC has grown a very strong cult following and finds a home in such prestigious studios as Blackbird and Sunset Sound.

THD stands for Total Harmonic Distortion and can be used to estimate the degree to which a system is nonlinear. A THD measurement can be made by applying a sine wave as an input to a system, and measuring the total energy which appears at the output of the system at harmonics of the input frequency.