Home Recording Tips/tricks and conundrums etc. (1 Viewer)

[pissypants]

biggest thing I've learned?

Get the sound you want before using any plugins.

Oh hells yeah, so important. Use everything - eg. type of guitar, type of string, type of plec, type of playing style, type of amp, amp settings, type of room, number and type of mics, mic placement, type of preamp, type of recording medium - no plugin / post processing is going to beat this.

 

[Unicron]

Nearly finished my first mix using gaz's tips from earlier and I've discovered that automation and volume envelopes are my new best friend. It's a shame that I've been working on it the odd couple of hours here and there for weeks and only discovered that they were a thing on Saturday.

 

[GO]

Nearly finished my first mix using gaz's tips from earlier and I've discovered that automation and volume envelopes are my new best friend. It's a shame that I've been working on it the odd couple of hours here and there for weeks and only discovered that they were a thing on Saturday.

Sweet!

Well while its a bummer you're only devoting spare hours here and there to learning this craft..its better than none,but I can tell you now,you get out what you put in.I'm using the exact same gear I used when I started..same mic..same preamp..same monitors... but with pure experimentation,research,practice and experience,which basically boils down to putting in hours,I'm starting to coax out the sound I want from this meagre yet adequate set up..

The more I learn though the more I realise I don't know...but the possiblities opening up are seemingly endless...

like synthesizer pads..only started looking into these badboys this morning..they are ALL OVER pop music..of all kinds..you don't even hear them.

The journey has only begun!

 

[GO]

Oh hells yeah, so important. Use everything - eg. type of guitar, type of string, type of plec, type of playing style, type of amp, amp settings, type of room, number and type of mics, mic placement, type of preamp, type of recording medium - no plugin / post processing is going to beat this.

Yeah..thats all sweet if you have ant kind of choice about all those variables..most of us only have the one guitar and what have you.I see more about crafting the music with these limitations in mind..you can do an awful lot with a shitty sounding guitar..if the context is right

 

[pissypants]

Yeah..thats all sweet if you have ant kind of choice about all those variables..most of us only have the one guitar and what have you.I see more about crafting the music with these limitations in mind..you can do an awful lot with a shitty sounding guitar..if the context is right

Everyone has limitations. It's about being aware of what factors you can control within your limitations, and how best to use the equipment that you *do* have access to in order to get a sound closest to what you want.

 

[GO]

Couldnt have put it better myself.

Edit..speaking of limitations...my little monitors are showing a few today..I'm trying to compose a professional sounding futuristic dance/pop track at the min...its not that hard really once you've a good kick drum sample and a catchy chorus..if I could even hear half the kick drum I'd be all set!.

It'll be a learning curve mixing this.How do other people manage on nearfields I wonder?

 

[Unicron]

I have a lovely tape simulator plugin that I want to use across all the tracks on a song. Question is, at what point do I insert it on the master bus? Pre or post pre-mastering EQ and compression?

Current thinking is to do it post as if I was working with real tape all the premastering stuff that I'd do still wouldn't change the properties of the tape .

 

[RED(tape)MENACE]

Try both and see which you like better!
There'll be subtle differences, I'd imagine.

 

[Unicron]

Cool, thanks.

 

[lemonbravo]

Someone was asking me about online courses for recording/mixing the other day so I looked into a bit.
These look pretty good:
http://www.puremix.net/index.php
http://www.lynda.com/Audio-training-tutorials/20-0.html

Any other suggestions?

They wanted more structured type learning as opposed to a bunch of articles.

 

[ann post]

The things i've been working on recently, staged gating has really helped get things closer to where i need them. Not so much on vocals, but along these lines:

Tony Visconti rigged up a system, a creative misuse of gating that may be termed "multi-latch gating",[7] of three microphones to capture the epic vocal, with one microphone nine inches from Bowie, one 20 feet away and one 50 feet away. Only the first was opened for the quieter vocals at the start of the song, with the first and second opening on the louder passages, and all three on the loudest parts, creating progressively more reverb and ambience the louder the vocals became.[8] Each microphone is muted as the next one is triggered. "Bowie's performance thus grows in intensity precisely as ever more ambience infuses his delivery until, by the final verse, he has to shout just to be heard....The more Bowie shouts just to be heard, in fact, the further back in the mix Visconti's multi-latch system pushes his vocal tracks, creating a stark metaphor for the situation of Bowie's doomed lovers".[9]

 

[GO]

http://www.menet.umn.edu/~kgeisler/EQ/primer.htm

 

[Unicron]

Had a massive breakthrough in my hearing last week.

No matter what I was trying I couldn't get my bounced out tracks to sound good in the car or on my earbuds walking around. There was always something that made them hard to listen to.

Thought they were cooking in the studio when I was listening to them.

I've been misperceiving a build up in the upper mids (8k or so) as presence, but I've actually been overpushing that area and what I was actually getting was harshness. Listened to a few other bounces I have on other tunes and sure enough, there's 8k buildups everywhere. I sent another thing off for mastering there recently and the ME, who did a good job on it, told me that he hadn't done much but he had to dip a little at 4k and 8k in the mid (as in mid-side) , plus shelf it down slightly at 15k. I listened back to his master and my mix and I could hear the 4k issue pretty easily once I knew to listen for it but the 8k problem I just wasn't hearing until the weekend.

It's mad the way that hearing develops, I couldn't hear mud for ages, and then I could. And then I was mishearing blown up low end as mud until about a month ago so when I was cutting the mix would work but there was never enough weight in the parts for it to sound good because instead of reducing my low boost on the bass or kick I was chopping out at around 350

Looking forward to getting back into the studio tonight, fingers crossed if I just bang a touch of saturation onto one guitar and then bounce it out, take it for a walk tomorrow and then I'll be able to send a single off for mastering. Going to try to be disciplined about it, all I'm doing is saturating that guitar, I'm not going to go hunting for other problems. Trying to get to the stage when I can listen to something and only say "I could have done xyz" and not "I should have done xyz." If you're only saying "I could" then the mix is probably done.

My previous recent discovery, the big problem you hear is probably the big problem and should be addressed first. i.e. Listening back and thinking "the snare is too loud all the time, and also maybe I could tweak the guitar a bit, and the bass has too much in the mids." Pull the snare back 1.5 db or whatever you need to do and then see if your bass is still too middy or if the mud in the guitar is still there.

I've no clue if I'm getting good at this or not. But I'm having fun.

 

[Anthony]

Jesus Christ 90% of this means nothing to me. Now I feel like I'M DOING IT WRONG.

 

[GO]

Jesus Christ 90% of this means nothing to me. Now I feel like I'M DOING IT WRONG.

I was listening to Important Information earlier.. sounds fantastic

 

[Anthony]

Eg. I don't know what a Bus is.

 

[Unicron]

Jesus Christ 90% of this means nothing to me. Now I feel like I'M DOING IT WRONG.

I think we all develop our own language for trying to explain the way that we hear things, and it's hard to vocalise because it's just our brains interpreting signals in their own unique ways. If I'm doing a listen back and taking notes on things I want to change I'll write down things like "try to fold guitar x in behind and below the backing vocals." What does "fold in behind and below" actually mean in the real world? Probably nothing but I've identified a problem and I've a vague idea of what I want it to sound like when I'm finished.

FWIW I think your stuff sounds ace, and I think my stuff (currently, ask me again next week) sounds terrible.

My big problem I think, has always been trying to recognise what a well balanced track sounds like.

 

[Anthony]

Needs more sparkle

 

[Anthony]

I think a lot of this starts with the songwriting. If a song is great you'll overlook a lot.

 

[ann post]

I agree with that.

I've gotten more methodical over the years too though, i would have gone instrument to instrument tweaking years ago, now I just look at the spectrum and work from there.