Newbie... second song -- Mother Nature Is a Serial Killer

NerveBag said:
LOL! No, but another mic and mic stand are, and my amp in my tiny studio, and more inputs and cables and more fiddling with stuff. I work ridiculous hours (should be logged on right now, honestly) and want to just come in, plug in and record. POD XT makes that easy. It may not be for the purists, but I'm not a purist.
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I'm not trying to convert you. It's a minority here who mic amps. I judge results, not process.
 
No not at all, I love trying to help. We all learn from each other, that's what's great about this site.

But yea, the Submix is just a Master before the Master. It helps me to keep things more organized, it helps in fixing any clipping issues I might have; meaning if something is clipping the Master, the actual Master wouldn't tell me because of the limiter. This way, the Submix will tell me, and I can make my adjustments where needed.

Also, the Master Fader's actual fader works a little differently than normal faders in Pro Tools. They are 'pre-insert', so you can do volume automation here (like maybe make the verses .5db quieter than the choruses for impact). If I had all my Master processing here, the compressors would react differently to the slight dip in volume. This avoids that.

The stuff on my Submix is just a console emulation, a tube saturator, Custom Lift is for adding sheen or body (or both), a harmonics enhancer of sorts (Revival), an EQ, then my compressor, and then a reel-to-reel tape emulator. Most are used subtly, but it adds up.

A lot of people use a Submix; some call it a submix, some call it a mixbus, some call it a 2-bus.

I also parallel compress the entire mix, minus the bass and drums, on what I call the "Rearbus". But that's another conversation. And I always parallel compress my drums and bass on their own.
 
This is what I heard:

as;ldhfapowdihfapsodihfpaosdihgpoasidhgfpaosidhgpaosidhgpaosidhgpoasidhgpoasidhgpaosidhgpaosidhgpaosidhgpaosidhfqpwoeihrfpqowiehfjnapsodijhf

LOL!

I'm totally out of my element. I appreciate all the tips and help. I either need to just keep recording shi**y music or give up and find a new hobby. You guys are way beyond my abilities.

I'll still enjoy coming here and listening to everyone's music. There's some really good stuff here.

Thanks!
 
He is saying he basically makes a second copy of the master channel, and that second copy is where he's doing things that effect the entire track, like the real master fader would, except that it processes the sounds a little differently. I should actually try doing that. I put all my "mastering" stuff (console, eq, comp, limit) right on the master fader. Sending everything to one extra channel before that might be a better option. I'll have to check that out.

On my master channel, I throw on a console emulation, eq (only very small changes here - if an instrument needs eq, don't make it here, go back to that instrument's channel and change it, since everything done here affects the entire mix), compression (usually around 1.4:1, faster attack and med release, only doing about 1-2db of reduction), another eq, another compressor (this one at a much slower attack and release, but I play with the settings so that the track doesn't lose high end with the release setting), and then a limiter.

With my master channels' inserts turned OFF, the music would be insanely quiet. I get most of the gain through adding around 3db from each of the master inserts' output gain. So, the console plug adds 3db feeding into the eq, then the eq feeds 3db into the comp, then the comp adds 3 db into the next eq, etc... the reason I do this is that because a lot of the master plugins I'm using feature very nice output gain - it's part of their "quality" or allure. So, instead of letting one do all the work, I take some of each of their gain. It might not be 3db, actually, it might only be about 1.5-2 for each. But you get the point. The mix is very quiet without the master plugins. BUT - I don't get all the gain just from the limiter either. That one usually is set to give about 7-8db of input, with, like I said, most of the gain of the mix coming from the previous plugins.

That's just how I do it now, though. That might changes in 6 months, for all I know. :)
 
I'm sure there are a hundred ways I could better route my tracks and master them. I'm not denying that at all. It's a question of time. I have MAYBE an hour or two each week to spare to learn the software and techniques -- not to mention actually record some music. As much as all the advice makes sense, I don't know if I have the time to learn everything I'm being told. So many of these suggestions are a little beyond my current skill set. I need to come to terms with where I am and how far I can go in the technical realm.

Definitely realize I've tried too hard to push these songs on volume and not spent enough time on the mixing and routing and technical issues that I don't know enough about.

I'm gonna try to remix a couple of these when I have time and see if I can find that sweet spot between volume and mix. It's just so daunting to think about starting over on all these songs. I may have to give up on this album and take all these tips into consideration on the next one.

Greatly appreciate all the comments. It's really opened my eyes to some of the things I'm doing wrong that I didn't realize. Hopefully, even if I don't remix the entire album, I can remix a couple of songs and get a feel for how to approach any new songs.

Thanks!
 
Songs sound good to me, but they are super loud, as you already know. My main suggestion would be to Google "Gain Staging" because it seems to me you are starting off with some super loud drums and tracking everything way too hot to match that. During tracking and mixing, just use your "volume" knob to turn it up if you want to hear it louder, making your final mix loud should be the very last step, not the first with putting your drums at -.1db and tracking to that. So track your songs at proper levels (see: Gain Staging) and rough mixing while tracking is fine as long as you understand that mixing and mastering are two separate processes and LOUD is part of mastering, not mixing. Once you have a good mix at decent levels then use Reference Tracks to set your mastering LOUDness on the final mix.

Also, using some pre-made EQ on an entire mix is not something you should be doing, even if you want the songs to sound like they came from the same "studio". Each song is unique and you should only EQ based on what you're hearing in each song. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks, Ujn. Yes, it does help. ALL the comments have been helpful. If I decide to keep doing this, I'll definitely crank back the SD2 levels, keep my raw tracks lower and get a mix I like before trying to squeeze the volume into it (though I have no idea how to do that if all the tracks are so quiet). I'm guessing I'll fail miserably the first few times. I just wish I had a couple of hours a day to fiddle with it instead of a couple of hours a week. It makes the process so slow and makes it hard to retain stuff you learn when there's so long between recording sessions.

I appreciate the listen and the advice.
 
Studying gain staging now. Some of it makes sense, some of it (like pads -- what?) not so much. But this hit home:

Conversely, the switchable highpass filter cuts out low-frequency information that you probably don’t want to hear anyway. To put it into perspective, this is the frequency range where stage rumble, handling noise, and wind are present. By judiciously filtering out the low frequencies from channels that don’t need extended bass (e.g., virtually everything except kick drums and bass), you can cut a ton of noise out of your system.

I pretty much use the same EQ for everything -- and actually CUT my bass in the 300 hz range, while leaving those FQs in on instruments that don't need them. Learning already! :-)
 
Also, I was duped by the Cubase preset EQs. I was leery of the curve on that, because it boosted many FQs over -0, but I assumed they knew better than I. I think if I just changed the master-output EQ on all the songs on this album (I used the same EQ on all of them) to CUT FQs instead of BOOST them, it would make a significant difference in the "brick-wall" sound of the songs.

I'll stop posting every thought in my head. LOL! Just trying to get my head around some of this.
 
Now this is more like it. Takes me back to NB days of old. The reference to the brain - I got a flash didn't you do a tune about a big brain or something along those lines years ago? I like everything about this jam except the snare for some reason. Vocals might be a touch forward. Reading some of your comments on the other threads it seems to me you're frustrated with what you believe to be a lack of technical knowledge and mixing know how and a lack of time to learn. The reality is to write and perform a tune that will grab people's attention and make them want to listen again is the hardest part. You already know how to do this so you're 90% of the way there
 
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