Some world-class engineers dismiss reference tracks, but they're a useful tool for many music producers and practitioners working across different studio environments.
The more I explore reference tracks, the more I want to gather specific examples of sound rather than styles. A really thick but tight acoustic bass. A controlled sibilant male voice. Wide acoustic strings. Non abrasive trashy guitars. I’m still trying to find the right examples, but I’m leaning towards targets for problem areas rather than polished mixes.
Ps… is there something about how you’ve done your substack site that works differently between the Substack app and the web? I could post a comment here on the app as above, but when logged into Substack on the web, when I pressed “comment” it took me to your actual web site where I would have needed to create a profile if I was to comment. Is that what you intend?
“I think” it’s because it takes me to your external website ie not on substack & that site is configured to allow comments only if one has a profile for that site. Which may be right.
I’m probably not your preferred target customer (not intended to either cause offence or otherwise) but for info / what it’s worth… in my case, as a Substack subscriber (albeit free) I don’t want to create a profile on a site outside of Substack.
As I say… I’m not suggesting it’s wrong. It’s just not for me. Don’t change it cos of my views. It should be however you want to do it.
Thanks Mark. It's still Substack, just with a custom domain, so I'll look at the Substack settings!
Unless you found my webapp website which is an entirely different thing (https://musicfactory.nz) but if it's going to https://musicfactory.davejohnston.nz that's still Substack, so might just be a setting issue I need to sort out. I don't sign people up to anything else for the articles.
I’ll check the url where it takes me when next on MacBook. All I did was click the post to comment (from Substack web interface) so I’d assume from what you say it’s a setting in Substack then. No worries.
Thanks Dave. As I think you know I'm really trying to start at the basics here. I have started to build a library of reference tracks. For me, at this stage, it's about the feel, the rhythm if you like of said track. If you like I currently find it interesting that you can have say one song in a Key in 4/4 at 120 bpm that has a completely different feel to another one in the same key, same time and same bpm. They sound and feel nothing like each other. I've no examples to offer but I'm sure they are there. So for me, the clue is in the title, "reference" tracks. Nothing more, nothing less. Just for reference. Nice article thanks.
The more I explore reference tracks, the more I want to gather specific examples of sound rather than styles. A really thick but tight acoustic bass. A controlled sibilant male voice. Wide acoustic strings. Non abrasive trashy guitars. I’m still trying to find the right examples, but I’m leaning towards targets for problem areas rather than polished mixes.
Absolutely, I like this approach!
Ps… is there something about how you’ve done your substack site that works differently between the Substack app and the web? I could post a comment here on the app as above, but when logged into Substack on the web, when I pressed “comment” it took me to your actual web site where I would have needed to create a profile if I was to comment. Is that what you intend?
Oh I'm not sure - I'll look into that, thanks for pointing it out!
“I think” it’s because it takes me to your external website ie not on substack & that site is configured to allow comments only if one has a profile for that site. Which may be right.
I’m probably not your preferred target customer (not intended to either cause offence or otherwise) but for info / what it’s worth… in my case, as a Substack subscriber (albeit free) I don’t want to create a profile on a site outside of Substack.
As I say… I’m not suggesting it’s wrong. It’s just not for me. Don’t change it cos of my views. It should be however you want to do it.
Enjoyed the article.
Thanks Mark. It's still Substack, just with a custom domain, so I'll look at the Substack settings!
Unless you found my webapp website which is an entirely different thing (https://musicfactory.nz) but if it's going to https://musicfactory.davejohnston.nz that's still Substack, so might just be a setting issue I need to sort out. I don't sign people up to anything else for the articles.
Thanks for the troubleshooting!
I’ll check the url where it takes me when next on MacBook. All I did was click the post to comment (from Substack web interface) so I’d assume from what you say it’s a setting in Substack then. No worries.
Yeah that would be good actually, thanks!
Thanks Dave. As I think you know I'm really trying to start at the basics here. I have started to build a library of reference tracks. For me, at this stage, it's about the feel, the rhythm if you like of said track. If you like I currently find it interesting that you can have say one song in a Key in 4/4 at 120 bpm that has a completely different feel to another one in the same key, same time and same bpm. They sound and feel nothing like each other. I've no examples to offer but I'm sure they are there. So for me, the clue is in the title, "reference" tracks. Nothing more, nothing less. Just for reference. Nice article thanks.
Yeah absolutely, great to have a selection for different vibes depending on the track you're working on. Thanks for reading, Mark!
Great post as always.
Thank you Jeff, appreciate you always taking the time to read!