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Checking out drBill's awesome drum-mic shootout got me curious. With only a couple of exceptions, the samples ALL sound usable. I could probably pick favorites, or at least exclude a few that I'm not crazy about, but I'd be hard pressed to call any of the examples an obvious winner. So I...

What's your philosophy for using delay effects on vocal tracks? After reading Charles Dye's HDL, I started setting up every mix with 2 delay sends (a 1/4 note and an 1/8th note,) and routing tracks there to see what works. I really like this approach over my old style, which was basically just...

I can't find the reference right now, but I read a thread about putting a ribbon mic *inside* a kick drum, but sideways so the beater is in the mic's null. Supposedly gets a great tone off the shell. Has anyone here tried this? I'm curious, but afraid. (Even though I just have an Apex 210, I...

I'm recording a drummer who only has top heads on his toms. They sound OK, but I can't get them to shut up. His 10" tom pings every time he hits the snare drum, and his 16" floor tom resonates with every kick beat. Both, loud enough to be clearly heard in the OHs. The ping and rumble are at...

I get how to figure out where the worst nulls are in my room (using knightfly's technique,) and it makes sense why I wouldn't want my ears in one of these nulls ... But I don't understand why it's bad to place my speakers there. The axial modes don't change based on where I put my speakers. And...

I'm building some 2'x4' panels for my first reflection points. A simple pine frame with 4" Roxul S'n'S, wrapped in muslin. However, I feel the frame needs a rigid back for support. Most of what I've read suggests that the backing should non-rigid (notably, Ethan's oft-repeated advice that a...

Are there any tips or tricks for reducing the level of the hi hats in the overhead mics? Like, is there a dampening or shielding technique, or maybe an OH configuration that tends to pick up less hat than others? I've only got C4's to use as overheads, and they're top-heavy to begin with. I'm...

The cardioid capsule on one of my (brand new) C4's generates noise intermittently. Here's what it sounds like: http://www.lightningmp3.com/live/file.php?fid=4525 Basically, it's like someone tapping or blowing on the capsule. But that recording was made with the mic in its shock mount, on a...

The black coating is falking off the ear foam on my HD280's. Is this normal? Cause for concern?

This article from Studio Reviews has me perplexed: http://www.studioreviews.com/pre.htm The basic premise is that a quality preamp will make tracks more focused, and therefore easier to separate and place in a mix. The visual he provides is certainly compelling. And great professional mixes do...

Specifically, when introduced by an EQ, what does it sound like? I know what a phaser or phase-shift effect sounds like. I know how music sounds through my monitors when I flip the polarity on one of them. I even understand the basic principle behind EQ, that a signal is mixed with an...

Reading the Chuck Ainley article that middleman linked from this thread, one thing struck me: He didn't roll off the lows on anything. So unless the author of the article left out those details, I'm confused. How is the final mix not just mud? With a slide guitar, two acoustics, and 5 electric...

Other than Tascam's Gigapulse, are there any reverbs for Windows (VST or DX) that allow you to place the sound source at a specific position within the reverb space?

Is there any way to objectively compare the quality of different EQ plugins? Do the cheaper plugins degrade the sound in a specific way that can be measured? Or does the "which EQ is best" question only have subjective (i.e. personal opinion) answers? I ask this because I just realized, I use...

Is there a future-proof way to backup a project that has lots of per-track and per-bus effects (or, for that matter, DXi's and VSTi's)? My concern is that I may need to load a project in the future, but will have upgraded or switched my effects suite (for example, ditched Waves for UAD.) If I...

I just switched to a Firepod from a Tascam US224. Projects that only moderately taxed my system when using the US224 are now killing the CPU. I've tried increasing the Firepod's latency, and setting the CPU option to "low" but it doesn't seem to make any difference. A 14-track project with a...

I can use (for example) Sonitus:phase to convert a L/R stereo signal to M/S. But if I wanted to do it myself, manually inverting phase or whatever to find the mid and side, how would I do it? What are the steps required to generate a M/S signal from L/R stereo?

Does anyone know of a retailer in the GTA that carries Hearos or ER-20s or some similar type of musician's earplug? Or somewhere online that sells those items from Canada? The shipping and duty charges from the U.S. are extreme...

Does anyone know if Sonar 4 PE handles 16 bit projects with a higher resolution internally? I'm sure it must, but I can't find a reference to say for sure. After reading this discussion about 24-bit vs. 16-bit audio, it occured to me that, depending on how Sonar handles data internally...

I tested my room response with a sound meter, and found the erratic bass response that Ethan Winer describes as "typical" for an untreated room. With a white-noise level of 85db, I have a 22db variance, from a low of 80db at 100Hz, to a high of 99db at 150Hz, back to a low of 78db at 210Hz...