Originally posted on July 28, 2013

In this episode, I talk about three songs that I have re-mixed and re-released since the original episodes. I talk about my upcoming move, moving my studio to a new house, and my career change to work on music full time.

I got an email from Nicholas who is a music educator in New York City. He was interested in a version of Rue’s Whistle that did not have the sax solo on it. I mixed Rue’s Whistle and Fusion without the improvised solos and sent them to him to possibly use in his music camp this summer. The new versions are on the site in the Songs section.

It’s been 7 months since my last episode of Making My Own Music. I’ve been listening to a lot of Home Studio podcasts. My favorites are:

• Home Recording Show with Ryan Canestro and Jon Tidey
• Simply Recording Podcast with Joe Gilder and Graham Cochrane
• Ask Joe – also Joe Gilder
• Home Music Studio 1 with Dave Maxey

I’ve learned a lot in the last 7 months about ways I could improve my mixes. I decided to re-mix three of my songs, and re-release them.

For Revolution Fan Podcast Theme, I basically neatened the timing, especially the woodwinds.

For Fusion, I used digital noise reduction to remove a hiss that was underneath two of the ride cymbal tracks. I used EQ to improve the sax sound, and added a short delay on the sax to give it some more depth.

For A Teenager In Love, I removed the doubled vocals, and made the crash cymbals louder. In order to get the crash cymbals at the right volume level, I had to turn all of the other tracks down. This was a new mixing technique for me, and led to a mix that was not as loud as it could be without clipping – a tip from Joe Gilder on Home Studio Corner. It’s OK for the mix to not be that loud when recording with 24 bits. The song can be made loud during the mastering phase.

I am changing my career. Starting in September 2013, I will make my living with music. You can hire me to compose music for you. You can hire me (through MyOnlineSax.com) to record a saxophone part for your song.

To contact me, send an email to tsnivelymusic@gmail.com.