Blue Encore 300 Microphone Review: Designed for live work, excels in the studio too!
Posted: August 5, 2015 Filed under: Studio Equipment, Uncategorized | Tags: blue encore 300, nashville tracks, studio Leave a comment“
Jenee playing fiddle into the Encore 300
If you check out customer comments on the Blue Encore 300 at the online music sites like Musician’s Friend, Sam ash and similar you’ll see over and over that “it’s a great live microphone!” A couple folks sheepishly admit they’ve “tried it on electric guitar in a recording situation with good results” or some similar lukewarm comment.
Political correctness can take a hike, this is one great sounding microphone! Not just for the stage, for studio too!
I own my own studio located in the Nashville area, have years of studio experience and use full time Nashville session players on my sessions. Just today I used the Blue Encore 200 on a fiddle session with Jenee Fleenor (Blake Shelton’s fiddle player). After the session she said, ” I like the sound of this Blue over other mics we’ve used in the past.”
The Blue Encore 300 excels on fiddle! Or should I say, “The Blue Encore 300 can excel on fiddle, depending on the song.” On some songs you may want a soft violin tone and go for a ribbon microphone, others you may want a very aggressive sawing sound and use a large diaphram mix with a hard peak in the upper frequencies. But in general, the Blue delivers a nice round tone that can work on a lot of tunes.
Yesterday I tried the Blue on a rap vocal. It worked great. Tons of presence, and great tone that cut right through the mix.
Other uses that worked out great, male bgv’s, male pop lead vocals and electric guitar.
One notable misfire:
Banjo: The mic’s transient response is not fast enough to track 5 string banjo well.
If you’re having trouble getting good, clean tracks packed with presence or simply need a good work horse studio microphone and can’t afford to pay over $200, I highly recommend the Blue Encore 300.
“But it’s not designed for recording!”
“I couldn’t care less what category some marketing guy in California decides to go with,” I reply, “I’m into results. Good sound is good sound!”
Need Jaw Dropping Online Violin and Fiddle Tracks? We Have The Best!
Posted: July 17, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
A Nashville Trax musician delivering yet another amazing violin part for a Fiddle Trax Online client
Violin and fiddle are the same instrument, the difference is in the approach the player uses. Our players are classically trained as well as fluent in country and bluegrass styles and can play either violin or fiddle at session quality. In fact, the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 Musician of the Year is a fiddlist who works here at Nashville Trax.
To add either to your project send an mp3 or .wav file to nashtrax@bellsouth.net and the $150 per song payment to the same e-mail via PayPal.com, be sure to cover any transaction fees. Tracks are normally turned around with 2 to 4 days.
For samples of our work, click on the photo above.
Mike Anderson Releases Single To Radio
Posted: July 7, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Songwriter and singer, Mike Anderson’s new release .
Bluegrass/Gospel artist Mike Anderson of Madisonville, Tennessee has released a song produced by Bill Watson and mixed at Nashville Trax titled, “He Will Set You Free” to bluegrass radio via Airplay Direct.
Bill Watson wrote the arrangement then tracked the music and background vocals. Mike did his vocal remotely from Madisonville, TN, sending it via Dropbox. Bill assembled the parts, mixed and Mike took over from there.
It’s posted on Bluegrass Today’s website. Give it a listen!
Self-producing a music project and need session quality instrument tracks?
Posted: June 15, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentAvailable this week with no more than 2 day turnaround time: fiddle/violin, viola, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, harmonica, B3 organ, and piano.
I’d need your rough mix on mp3 or .wav file and payment of $95 per instrument, per song, via PayPal.com. PM for additional details. Other instruments are available but would probably have longer turnaround.
Nashville Trax Fiddle Tracks Online
Pedal Steel Guitar Tracks Online
Other instruments are available under the “More” tab on the home page of the site.
How To Get Guaranteed Radio Airplay
Posted: May 28, 2015 Filed under: Music Industry News, Uncategorized | Tags: Radio Airplay Leave a commentOnce your song is recorded what do you do with it?
As an independent artist you can’t afford to purchase advertising and getting your song played on radio stations has been difficult.
Until now!
A new concept has changed the game for artists, songwriters and others who aren’t signed to a major label. It’s called:
- Free monthly radio airplay just for signing up!
- Additional airplay can be purchased very affordably!
- Report your spins to ASCAP or BMI and receive royalty checks!
- Build your fan base!
- Support download sales!
Nashville Trax Welcomes a new Dobro and Steel Player to Roster
Posted: May 19, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentNeed a dobro or steel guitar track to add to your self-produced project? Or maybe you need those instruments on a demo song or album you’d like Nashville Trax to produce for you?
To order dobro work for your project, visit steel guitar tracks online or contact Nashville Trax producer, Bill Watson, via e-mail at nashtrax@bellsouth.net
Starting production on Hall & Oates “She’s Gone”
Posted: May 1, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentDo you need:
Performance tracks to enhance your live act’s sound
Tracks to make your self-produced recordings sound more professional
OR
Quality tracks for karaoke at your next party
We have you covered with tracks you can download individually for total control of your mix, or pre-mixed on .wav or MP3!
First up:
“She’s Gone” by Hall & Oates
For more info please visit our “Cover Tracks” page:
Mandolin Tracks Online Delivered Over The Internet!
Posted: February 5, 2015 Filed under: Studio Services, Uncategorized | Tags: mandolin for recording over internet., mandolin track online Leave a commentDo you need a mandolin track on your project? How about a world class mandolin track?
It’s AMAZING how much a well played mando can add to some songs.
It’s EASY to add a mando part to yours! Just click here: Mandolin Tracks Online!
Nashville Studio Full Band Demo Price
Posted: August 4, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentHow much should you pay for a full band demo using Nashville session quality players?
Every studio will have it’s own pricing and overhead but this will give you a reasonable guideline,
Session musicians charge studios $50 to $75 per song for a demo session. Singers charge $80 and up. $125 is average but some charge much more.
Some musicians can play two instruments at session quality and may do a second pass at a discount.
There is also a studio rate which may or may not include the producer and engineer.
The typical full band demo will involve 1 day of work for the studio and production team. At $50 per hour that’s $400.
Five musicians at $60 each is $300. A singer for $125. Grand Total for a 5 piece demo: $825.– b.e. watson
Songwriting Tips On Avoiding Three Huge Amateur Format Mistakes
Posted: June 8, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: excessive use of diamonds, pushfest anyone?, Useless bars, Why re those bars even there? Leave a comment
A Bad Chart Is Almost As Bad As No Chart At All!
Wow! where do I start?
I received a Tracks Online Project yesterday. It was sent in by another producer who wanted us to add fiddle and steel guitar to it, probably because the area of the U.S. he worked in didn’t have any world class players on those instruments. Or on any instruments judging by the recording. But the biggest problem I noticed, and the fiddle player did too, was four bars of the root chord just prior to where a fiddle solo came in.
The bars were useless to the song. They added nothing. Worse, if we left them blank there was nothing happening which means: boring!. If we put a little fiddle in there it sounded like solo and detracted from the impact of the fiddle entering at the real solo point. The fiddle player and I looked at each other dumbfounded…knowing exactly what the other was thinking: “Why are those bars even there?”
Sometimes extra bars are indeed necessary. Maybe you end a chorus and need a tonic chord for a couple of bars so the singer ends on a note compatible with the root key or maybe to separate the verse so the chorus singing doesn’t overlap.
But songwriters have a tendency to place useless bars after verses, after choruses, in intros and other places where taking them out would benefit, not hurt. Other “too many bars” situations may include introductions that are longer than necessary and “turns” that are double the length they should be. Typically this “turnaround” would be four bars long. Eight bars is usually to long and it starts to feel more like the main solo area of the tune. Try it both ways and if the shorter solo or turn feels better, go with it. Nothing is gained from weirdness or boring your audience.
Analyze your song for unnecessary bars and eliminate them.
Excessive use of stops and diamonds is a second pitfall best avoided (a diamond is when you play a chord on the first beat of a measure then simply let it ring through the next three beats). Diamonds can sound cool in the right spot but overuse starts to give the whole song a disconnected vibe. Ditto stops where the band stops on the initial downbeat then comes back in after four or eight beats. They are great tools that can add interest, just don’t overuse them to the point your song sounds strange and disjointed.
A third sign of an amateur is over use of pushes. A push is when the band plays a chord on the upbeat before the downbeat where it would normally occur. Tap your foot as you play and see if some chord changes are happening when your foot is up instead of down. That’s a push that would be noted on a chart with a check mark above the pushed chord. Pushes can work well at times but Adele’s “Hello” aside. you don’t usually want to turn your song into a pushfest!
All that being said all these points aren’t set in stone and I could cite examples of hits that ignore these “rules”. It’s a song-by song thing. What sounds downright weird in one song and needs to be fixed might work well in another. – b.e. watson
Red, White and Blue Songwriter’s Shocking Feedback On Demo.
Posted: May 5, 2014 Filed under: Christian, Now Tracking, Uncategorized | Tags: Jenee, Nashville music producer Bill Watson, patriotic song arrangement, Red White and Blue, Rob C. Leave a comment
Nashville Trax Producer, Bill Watson
I was nervous about this one, after all I practically tore the original rough apart and rebuilt the song. A simple copy of it with better playing and vocals would have sufficed, ensuring the songwriting team who wrote it would be good with it.
But I’m not in this business for “play it safe,” “content” or “pretty decent job.” The aim is always higher… far higher.
Rob and his co-writers are elated with the prior two songs they had produced here, but rather than imparting a “no problem, we got this” sentiment, it only increased the pressure to outdo the previous two projects. Patriotic songs can be exceptionally difficult, because to work, they must evoke passion, stir the soul if you will, without resorting to male-female relationship emotive techniques. The arrangement has to do it.
I knew we had something special going on during tracking but decided to hedge my bets by working on the morning of May 26th, 2014 long enough to mix Red White and Blue. Crazy I guess, but it felt like the right thing to do.
Mixing a patriotic “troops coming home” tune on Memorial Day? Making this song exceed all expectations was no longer a vague hope or abstract concept, mentally backed into a corner, there simply was no other option.
When the mix went out and I didn’t hear back from Rob right away I started wondering if he hated it but didn’t want to say anything? A couple more days passed and all I receive is Rob cryptically saying he’d listened “but had to run it by his co-writers and others,” I’m really freakin’.
More time drags on. “Man, I thought we nailed that song to the wall so hard we busted right through to a place where eagles soar and Churchill is shouting, ‘We shall fight on the beaches. We will fight in the streets, We shall not fail!’ as the allies begin the D-Day assault. F-15s are tipping their wings to acknowledge our efforts as fireworks light up the sky.
“What went wrong?” I pondered.
Finally the word came in today:
Hey Bill,
I needed to get every one’s input, Jimmy love’s it, as so do I , and all that I played it for, Jenee is really incredibly talented and truly gifted, You All put you heart into this song and did a great job, BILL U ARE A GREAT PRODUCER, HAT’S OFF TO YOUR WHOLE TEAM !!! So thanks! GREAT JOB !! GOD BLESS AMERICA !! Rob C. and everyone in Winston Harold
Don Carr Resigns from Oak Ridge Boys Band
Posted: April 14, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Don Carr, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Java Jive, Oak Ridge Boys, Sweeetwater, The Oaks Leave a commentAfter 23 years in the saddle, The Oaks long time guitarist, Don Carr, has resigned to take a position with Sweetwater in Fort Wayne, Indiana. His duties will include teaching classes, clinics, shows and studio work at Sweetwater’s world class recording studio. Don has played on many tracks at Nashville Trax as well as at Java Jive We wish him well!
A Songwriting & Recording Blog 