RSR017 – Mark Rubel – Blackbird Academy & Pogo Studio

A: I can’t believe I’m about to give you a ProTools tip, but this is a fun and hidden trick… When you’re working on a particular place in a song, you can create a moving marker for what you're working on and it is marker number 999. You’re at the place where you’re about to record and you hit period on the numeric keypad, zero, and enter twice. Marker 999 will appear on the marker strip from then on whenever you want to go to the place you’re working now, you hit period, zero, period and it will always take you there.

A: There are so many, but let me mention a few affordable things, Akai made little microphones that go with reel to reel tape decks they start with ADM 9, 11, and 13. They average about $10, they make good drum mics. There's another one I recommend, a remarkable good mic Nady StarPower series, SP5 & SP9 cost me $9.95. They will outdo much more expensive microphones.

A: I like the emulations of the transient designer, the SPL plug-ins. That’s a highly useful thing for getting drums to speak. A transient designer is an interesting device that has two knobs, attack and release and it actually changes the attack and release times of things.

A: A guy named Joe Montarello, he has a company called Studio Insurance Program. Something we don’t think about but is a great resource for a studio of any size. His program is excellent and allows for things like new room treatments or backup hard drives if an unfortunate event would occur. He backs up Blackbird and my own personal studio.

A: As far as equipment, whatever was at hand. I could be very happy with an Apollo and a laptop and a number of reasonably good mics. I would go to where the artists go to congregate, and making ends meet... That’s difficult to say maybe I would teach. If you can edit well, especially drums, and you know how to tune vocals, I think there’s work in that sort of thing.

A: I would say to be alert and alive, to be engaged and curious, and to always be listening and always paying attention to every kind of art: music, literature, poetry, film. To be completely engaged and passionately devoted to what you do. Always have a quest to learn more.