www.seandivine.net

Live @ The Fillmore June 16th, 8PM Tickets available at Live...

Fri, 18 May 2012 09:47:48 -0700

Live @ The Fillmore

June 16th, 8PM

Tickets available at Live Nation: http://www.livenation.com/event/0E0048AA95D76935?artistid=1732516&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=3

Hey Sean, I've been listening to alot of drake/youngmoneys stuff over the weekend an i was wondering if you knew the answer to this. how do i get a autotune on my rap to sound not like auto tune so its very suttle is there any skills you know of? because i know owl city are doing the same technique and i find it very effective i just don't know how to put it into practice cheers. 1

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:10:03 -0700

There are two different ways of using Auto Tune. First, simply using the Auto mode. In this mode, you can adjust the tracking to “relaxed” or “choosy”, depending on how many notes you want it to correct. Making the effect more subtle will come in adjusting the retune speed. The faster the speed, the more noticeable a-la T-Pain the effect sounds.

In graphical mode, you can tweak individual syllables and words, tune each manually to any note, with any tracking & retune speed you like.

Also, there is a certain technique to making Auto Tune react a certain way with your vocals specifically. It takes some practice to get the right settings but the easiest way is to set the plugin as a send and directly monitor the effect live. Then you can make adjustments on the fly until you’re ready to record.

The artists you mention are actually decent singers w/ good pitch. Therefore, the Auto Tune doesn’t have to “stretch” as much to the correct notes. This helps prevent the effect from being robotic and terribly noticeable as well.

When 808’s Attack Drum Kit 14 High Quality, Royalty Free...

Sun, 13 May 2012 14:23:00 -0700

When 808’s Attack Drum Kit

14 High Quality, Royalty Free Kick Drums

16-Bit WAV Format

If you’ve been looking for the clean, tight & punchy 808 kick samples, look no further. All fast attack samples were compressed and EQed on an SSL 4000G console, ready to knock through any mix. Enjoy!

Free Download: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/99lcrq

Video

Sat, 12 May 2012 09:05:36 -0700

Update 5.8.12

Tue, 08 May 2012 20:31:00 -0700

Hey Everyone,

I hope this finds you well and inspired…

There are a lot of exciting things in the works over here and I thought I’d share;

First, I have officially started a new album. No, it is NOT a beat tape NOR a collection of beats, similar to what you’d find for songwriting on my website. They are full song ideas and I’m exploring a lot of new sonic ground which I’m extremely excited to share with you all. This has been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but have been wrapped up in other projects and production work. I’m blessed to have the opportunity to do so at this point in my career…

I’ve been working out of a studio in Los Angeles over the past year but felt I needed the right setting and mindset to put together this project. Therefore, I am working on new material in the mountains of North Carolina. It is beautiful and peaceful, a perfect setting to be creative.

Second, I am planning to perform original material (including songs from this new album) in a live venue setting. There is already one event planned for June which I will post info here in the next week…

I will be continuing to update my website with instrumentals for licensing as much as possible.

This has already been such an exciting sonic journey for me and I hope you all will appreciate this new project for what it is when the time comes for release…

The Movement Lifestyle Check them out:...

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:11:07 -0700

The Movement Lifestyle

Check them out: www.themovementlifestyle.com

The instrumental is “Play For Keeps”

http://www.seandivine.net/contests

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:18:01 -0700

http://www.seandivine.net/contests

smile… (Taken with instagram)

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:01:11 -0700

smile… (Taken with instagram)

I was listening to tons of The Weeknd music lately. Any tips on getting those dark sounds? I am also lacking in VSTS since mi ditched hardware to do everything itb. do you think Omnisphere would be good at achieving this?

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:51:14 -0700

Lots of lexicon reverb, omnisphere and low pass filtering will get you similar results. I believe his producer (Illangelo) uses the virus TI as well.

Photo

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:25:16 -0700

Tone2 Saurus “Analog” VST Synth

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:15:30 -0700

Tone2 Saurus

“Analog” VST Synth

Taken with instagram

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 19:07:54 -0700

Taken with instagram

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 08:43:00 -0700

Taken with instagram

Heyo sean, i was doin' a project these days and had a concert piano plugin added. So i wanna ask ya for some tips and tricks how to make that piano sound natural, not synth like ... simply i wanna ask for EQ how to dont lose those low pads, get a nice clean piano sound and do i need to compress it or not ? Wish you a cold beer and so much fun this year day 'n' night ;)

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:13:07 -0700

I’ve found it difficult to find great sounding piano samples, especially natural sounding ones. I have a few go-to patches (one on my Motif keyboard and the other in Kontakt) that I like to start with.

Velocity & dynamics are very important w/ piano, especially if you’re going for the natural sound. Make sure you adjust the velocity curve of your keyboard to respond to a very dynamic playing style.

The amount of compression needed depends on the style of sound you’re looking for. If you want a piano that is upfront in the mix and lacking a lot of dynamics then you’ll want to compress it heavily. This is used in most dance and hip hop tracks to make the piano as present as possible. If you’re playing in R&B or acoustic styles, you’ll probably use little to no compression so you can maintain the natural dynamics of your performance.

I prefer a brighter sound, so I boost at ~7-9khz. A more natural sounding piano has a certain warmth and is more mid heavy so you may want to boost in that area instead and roll off some highs with the EQ.

Hope this helps, cheers!

Hello Sean I Ask You What Do You Use Vst For Mastering ?? Is Waves plugins Good And Easy To Use And What plugins You Always Use In Mastering ?? And How Can I Make The Kick Hard With The Bassline Like Johnny Juliano Or SuperStar ?? Thank You

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:28:00 -0700

I don’t use a certain plugin for all mastering, my stereo bus chain is usually different every session. I do consistently use Fabfilter Pro-L as a brick wall limiter. I also like to use a saturation plug in w/ some kind of analog characteristic on the master bus to add warmth. Aside from that, a good master EQ and some multiband compression cover it for me.

The Waves plugins are very good for mixing & mastering- the L1 is a good channel limiter and some of the other plugins like RBass, S1 Imager, etc. can liven up a track.

As for the Johnny Juliano/Superstar O kick and bass combo, I will start by saying they are very good at meshing these two elements in the mix. They also use great samples. There is more to it which I’ll cover later but here are a few tips:

1) You need a punchy, extremely fast decay kick sample. There are a ton of them out there, you can create a great sample using any 808 folder. ID Labs has some great 808 samples if you don’t want to create your own: www.idlabsbeats.com. Try using a distressor-like plugin such as Waves TransX to bring out the transients of the kick drum.

2) EQ is crucial to prevent the sub and kick from clashing in the low frequencies. If your kick is hitting around 50-80hz then you’re going to have to roll off some DB so it won’t interfere with the sub that is also sitting in this frequency range. I will go into more detail on my youtube channel…

3) The sub bass needs to be very heavily compressed and in some case distorted. The compression will help it sit better in the mix and you don’t want much (if any) dynamics. If you’ve noticed you can hear these style sub bass sounds without a sub, even on minimal setups like laptop speakers. This is due to distortion being used to add harmonic content. You can use it sparingly for subtle effect or extreme for some unique results.

I have heard Izotope Ozone has many useful tools for mastering built in but I have never personally used it. There is another mastering plugin by IK Multimedia called TRacks that may be of interest. Hope this helps!

Taken with instagram

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:25:15 -0700

Taken with instagram

Is it possible to give us some compressor, eq, reverb presets for vocals? In pro tools

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:57:00 -0700

Here are some presets for a vocal chain using stock Pro Tools plugins: http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/9pkqcw

1. SD_Vocal_Comp_Dyn3.tfx (Dyn3 Compressor)

2. SD_Vocal_EQ.3.7.tfx (EQ 3.0 7-band)

3. SD_Vocal_DeEsser_Dyn3.tfx (Dyn3 DeEsser)

4. SD_Vocal_Verb_SHall_Air.tfx (aIR Reverb)

To load the presets, click on the preset menu within the plugin and select “Import Settings”. Once you’ve done this, they will be in your settings folder and can be used at any time.

Again, these are just some starting points- you will need to adjust based on a number of factors. Listen and trust your ears!

I've noticed that you place your event studio monitors on the side instead of being up straight. I have a pair of Krk rokits will this damage them if they where and there side? Or can you do this with only certain monitors?

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:10:34 -0700

Yes, I do place them on the sides. I find that in terms of height and in relation to where I’m sitting this works best for me.

As far as I know, it won’t affect the speakers in any way. I’ve been using a number of monitors this way in my home studio for years as well commercial studios w/ no issues.

Try placing them on their sides and standing them up. Listen to what works best for you. I prefer to have the tweeters positioned on the outside (both speakers).

Photo

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:25:36 -0700

alecshao: Olafur Eliasson, Slow Motion Shadow, 2009

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:24:41 -0700

alecshao:

Olafur Eliasson, Slow Motion Shadow, 2009