NOOBS!!!BEFORE POSTING!!~READ THIS!! The Ultimate Newbie FAQ thread

**guitaristic** · 01-05-2012

If you're looking to have a good read about anything having to do with recording, mixing, or mastering, here is a compiled list of some of the books that other members at Homerecording have found really helpful and informative! (ISBN numbers included when available!) A simple copy and paste should get you where you need to go.

Behind The Glass (0879306149)

The Sound Reinforcement Handbook (0881889008)

Recording on a Budget: How to Make Great Audio Recordings Without Breaking the Bank (0195390423)

Mixing Audio, Second Edition: Concepts, Practices and Tools (0240522222)

Mastering Audio, Second Edition: The art and the science (0240808371)

Guerrilla Home Recording, Second Edition (1423454464)

Critical Listening Skills for Audio Professionals (1598630237)

Acoustics and the Performance of Music (0387095160)

Mixing Secrets for the small studio (0240815807)

Home Recording for Musicians for Dummies (0764516345)

Modern Recording Techniques, Sixth Edition (0240806255)

Thanks to rimisrandma, AL P, soundchaser59, grimtraveller, moresound, Capt Hair, GazEcc, and John Willett for helping to compile this excellent list!

**moresound** · 02-13-2012

Hey Merv - your back.

**azfz** · 02-18-2012

i am a newby of 1.5 years recoding with an 8 channel firewire audio interface. been recording years earlier though. here are a few critical things you need to know/check on when recording and mixing. if someone would have told me these things at first i would have had it much easier. you wont have to wade through 2 hours of posts and maybe still not know whats wrong. some of this may be causing you problems as it was me. i bought a mackie onyx blackbird 8 pre unit. i thought my interface had to be terrible because i was geting what i thought was lousy results when recording and mixing. it wasnt the equipment!
this may be long but take a read this will help a newby.
check these basic things

when recording drums i had multiple phase problems. for instance (and especially) the snare drum. if micing top and bottom there will be phase problems and cancelation. youre snare will sound like crap and will sound non dementional and flat like a wall in the mix. either use an adapter on the xlr cable or change it in the interface software. most interfaces have the feature. the difference is outstanding when you do this. not only is the snare this way, but the other drums have to have attention too. there are several ways to mic a kit so this makes a difference too. i was using two overheads and single mic per drum and top/bottom for snare. i later went to single overhead and single room mic with single per drum and top/bottom for snare. i finaly realized i needed to change phase on the overhead also. this made all the difference in the world. even though it was above the snare and other drums, it makes a difference.

drums sound flat like a wall in the mix?
i added a room condenser mic and added a reverb plug in and carefully mixed it in. now it sounds like you are in the room with the kit. they have a round sound and feel 3 dementional in the mix. thats how i remedied the problem. there are other ways i am sure. this is only a suggestion to help a new recordist get a sound that is not total crap.

most of these posts dont have this information.

guitar micing......
i am not an expert but i can tell you one thing. all these videos and posts that say just place a SM57 in front of the speaker and go to the inside for brightness and outside more for darker sound are good and all, but things are left out. i kept having nightmares getting all the high end out of the track. i had so much of it that you just could not do anything with it. and i dont load my setting up with too much excess high end on the amp settings. i found that the videos and posts leave out that you must cut some of the high frequencies down. for me i adjusted the presence on the amp to 5, i already had treble turned down considerably. this wasnt too bad. the guitar/amp rig still sounds good this way without too much compromise in your playing sound. you will still have to remove some high frequency for sure, but it is much better this way and managable. the mics are really sensative and pick up high frequencies like mad. there are other ways to remedy this but this is what i had to share.

mixing guitar and bass......
i also noticed that i could record a guitar track, copy track, pan both hard left and right, add a delay to one wet only and didnt notice a problem. i changed phase through my software(i can on any track in my DAW), and there was a noticable difference just like the drums. i was shocked. i only copied track, not actually record it with another mic to close. it does make a difference. the guitar sound is much more round and 3 dementional now.

mixing in general......
i also have found that when using EQ you will almost always be removing instead of adding something. i know, i know, you will add to shape the kick sound or not and toms, etc.... but removing something offensive to the mix is 90% of what you will be doing to make it sound good.

300 to 500......
i got a tip from a sound engineer i talked to. i was having horrible drum tracks and couldnt figure out why. i just hadnt learned that you have to get rid of some of the 300 to 500 range of frequency. i wont go into exacts but be certain, you will be getting rid of some of these frequencies to make your kit sound right. these are muddy and they make the track sound muddy. you have to have some, but it has to be shaped and cut right to have a kit that doesnt sound like total crap.

experiment! its how you will learn alot with just some friendly tips from soeone who spent a year finding out this stuff when someone could have posted all this beginner stuff.

recording rate 44khz,48khz,96khz,etc.... 16bit,24 bit?....
i scoured the internet to find one answer at a time it seems. i read some advice from a producer who said to record at the highest bit rate and khz that you can like24 bit, 96khz. the last step is to render the song to the lesser 44khz, 16 bit like for an audio CD or 48khz. so you do everything with the higher settings and render/mix down last to the lower rates.

its a great feeling when you get a little beginner knowledge and your recordings go from crap to sounding halfway decent. and there is so much more to learn. so many techniqes to try. i am only beginning. i hope this helps your recordings.

**kidkage** · 03-01-2012

We really need to figure out a way for people to actually read this

**Shleuven** · 03-06-2012

Thanks for the tip about Tweakz, I'll check it out!

**patrickjames** · 03-11-2012

hi there. i cant afford professional quality gear, and i dont really want it either. but i dont want my music to sound like a demo either. if anybody here knows how the strokes sound, well thats sort of how i see my music sounding in general. not amazing studio quality, but good. heres my question:

i think i can acheive this sound with a Cad U1 mic, a ThinkPad T61 (one of the best-processing pc's in the world), and Beats Solo HD headphones. DO I NEED A MIXER/INTERFACE/SOUND CARD???

kthxbai