Pinnacle College

12/10/2015

Playing out live and getting radio airtime, though they may sound old school and obsolete, are still some of the best ways to get the word out. This is boots on the ground, beating the pavement stuff. These gigs also have the benefit of getting your confidence up by performing live and increasing your skill at your instrument. Let’s book some gigs and get you on the radio!

This is boots on the ground, beating the pavement stuff. These gigs also have the benefit of getting your confidence up by performing live and increasing your skill at your instrument. Let’s book some gigs and get you on the radio!

12/08/2015

Gates are great for cleaning up tracks and making room for other sounds in your mix, but there are a number of Music Production Techniques that utilize Gates as well. The examples we will go over are used to enhance recorded tracks. These techniques are used by the Pro's all the time and can help to make your tracks sound more finished and professional.

Techniques used by the Pro's that can help to make your tracks sound more finished and professional.

12/07/2015

In the second post of our Studio Construction series we will take a look at the owner's desired layout for the spaces. Starting with a planned vision will help define the construction methods and materials used. It is also imperative to define the layout before the installation of heating and cooling can proceed. Ready to get started?

Starting with a planned vision will help define the construction methods and materials used.

12/04/2015

Troubleshooting is something every audio professional does on a daily basis. As some of these issues occur we will share them here to help you develop your troubleshooting skills. In this post we will cover the troubleshooting of a 500 series OSA Mic Pre whose gain potentiometer suddenly stopped working. You will see that not all issues mean a trip to the tech, and sometimes the simplest solutions are the right ones.

Not all issues mean a trip to the tech.

12/03/2015

Pinnacles own Rob Cross released a video for his song "The Rhythm of Beauty" today. The video features dancers Natasha Adorlee Johnson and Sean Orza. Shot at Stable Cafe in San Francisco and edited by Roger Hall, the video features Love Poems being read in 8 languages ; French, Spanish, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Chinese, Japanese, English & Farsi. Check it out!

The video features dancers Natasha Adorlee Johnson and Sean Orza. Shot at Stable Cafe in San Francisco and edited by Roger Hall, the video features Love Poems being read in 8 languages ; French, Spanish, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Chinese, Japanese, English & Farsi. Check it out!

12/02/2015

Do you dream about one day owning your own studio? This post marks the beginning of a new series which will follow the construction of a recording studio. You will see the entire process from start to finish. The space, demolition, insulation, construction and more. Studio builds present unique problems and goals that other structures do not. In this series we will cover as much as we can! Ready to build?

Studio builds present unique problems and goals that other structures do not.

12/02/2015

Grammy Nominated Engineer & Pinnacle Instructor Brendan Duffey shows you how to improve your electric guitar and bass sounds by setting up parallel compression in Pro Tools.

11/25/2015

There's nothing wrong with being a one man band. Even though you may want to, you can't do all the work of marketing your music by yourself, and you need to enroll help from other people and maybe companies to get the word out about your band or project. Luckily there are lots of tools available to you to market and publicize your music, and to make it easy for you to spend a little money and see some results.

Even though you may want to, you can't do all the work of marketing your music by yourself, and you need to enroll help from other people and maybe companies to get the word out about your band or project. Luckily there are lots of tools available to you to market and publicize your music, and to make it easy for you to spend a little money and see some results.

11/24/2015

Apart from Side-chaining Compressors to help some elements stick out in your mix there is one processor that can help eliminate noises to make more room for everything in your mix from the start. Gates reduce or remove unwanted audio from the signal using gain reduction. The signal is gain reduced until the gain exceeds a set threshold. That means rather than spending lots of time making tedious edits, you can set up some gates and let the processor work for you!

Rather than spending lots of time making tedious edits, you can set up some gates and let the processor work for you!

11/23/2015

Today you will learn how to setup a Limiter through a series of easy to follow steps we have dubbed "The Limiting Procedure". After reading this post, not only will you have a better idea of what is happening to the audio during Limiting but you will also be able to use it more effectively in your tracks. The real benefit is that you will be able to make decisions about Limiting quicker with less trial and error.

Be able to make decisions about Limiting quicker with less trial and error.

11/19/2015

It's important that everyone is on the same page that is involved in any aspect of your album release. Once you have a clear understanding of peoples roles and what's been agreed upon as fair, it needs to be written down and signed, so there will be no misunderstanding. It may not seem important at the time, but when something happens and money starts rolling in, you don't want conflicts to put the brakes on a profitable deal from successfully going through. This whole process is about C.Y.A. (Cover Your Ass) Let's look at the most important agreements you need to have in place.

A look at the most important agreements you need to have in place.