Pico's studio

[picostudios]

Welcome to my new website. It's still in the works, but it has pix!

www.geocities.com/picosstudio/

More pictures and some mp3 to come.

[Shakuan]

I kinda like ur web layout.

I would never host a professional shit on geocities tho.. ever.

[Michael Jones]

Pretend I'm a potential client, looking at your web-site for the first time.
Do you really think I'd shell out a minimum of 50 bucks, up front, to record in this environment?:

I'm not knocking you, but... that's pretty nasty!
Get some paint on those walls, fix that vent, and pick up around the house a bit before you invite people over.

[picostudios]

Being that it's not my house, I can't paint the walls. Yeah I know it's not the best looking place. But I do a damn good job. And that's what matters.

[Michael Jones]

Like I said, I'm not knocking you. So, don't take it the wrong way.

Its just that; if you're going to post something on the web, as an advertisement for your business, you'd (well, me anyway) would want it to look as sharp as possible.

Who says you can't paint the walls??
Any landlord would love to have his place painted.
Hell, just do it. Don't even ask.

A couple gallons of paint can't cost more than about $35, you've got more than that in cables laying on the floor. Spruce it up. Give it a little WOW factor!

Just a suggestion.

[picostudios]

Well, it's sorta my parents house, not mine. All the bands that record with me don't mind at all. I'm booked till june, and doind 2 full lengths in the summer. ;-) Looks aren't everything.

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally posted by picostudios
Yeah I know it's not the best looking place. But I do a damn good job. And that's what matters.

I'd *love* to hear a clip........!

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

All the bands that record with me don't mind at all. I'm booked till june,

Yea, but what are your rates. That is the real issue. I could be booked forever if I didn't charge anything. I'm sure bands will put up with most anything if its free, or cheap enough.
fitZ

[Jeff_D]

IE Sucks- I wont bother looking at anything on the web once my tool of choice is singled out. What web desinger in thier right mind wouldnt support all the possible platforms for the end viewer?

[picostudios]

Originally Posted by RICK FITZPATRICK

Yea, but what are your rates. That is the real issue. I could be booked forever if I didn't charge anything. I'm sure bands will put up with most anything if its free, or cheap enough.
fitZ

I charge $10 an hour. 5 hours upfront and, if the band spends less than 5, then I refund the unused hours.

[picostudios]

Originally Posted by Blue Bear Sound

I'd *love* to hear a clip........!

I'm still looking for good hosting. I know geocities sucks my *bleep*, but that's just temporary. Go here to listen to the most recent band I recorded.

http://mp3unsigned.com/Showmp3.asp?mp3id=1810&aid=101

Barkley Jordan(The Wild Western Cowboy Dog) & VELT are the most recent ones I recorded of this band. Susan ( was always right about my dyslexia) was when I recorded them with my old equipment.

[BlueBearSound]

Originally Posted by picostudios

Yeah I know it's not the best looking place. But I do a damn good job. And that's what matters.

"damn good job" compared to what???????????

Sorry friend.... I suggest losing the ego and concentrate on developing your recording skills a bit more................ "good job" I wouldn't be how I'd describe those clips....

[picostudios]

Thanks for the advice. I'm always up for constructive criticism which you just gave. I hate when people are just like "this sucks" with no actual advice to give.

I like to push the recording to as loud as it can possibly go. Most commercial recordings are like that anyway. I try to get my recordings to match up with the competition.

[picostudios]

When ever I do record, I make sure nothing is clipping. I do not own any external compressors. I use all the dynamic processing that Adobe Audition offers. So everything that is raw is not messed with. All the dynamics are left as is. I don't compress until after. I've only been recording for about a year now. I started off with a 4 track and n-track studio. I thought it was the shiz back then. Now that I look back on it, I don't even want to show anyone what I used to do. I notice now that I've improved a lot since then and can only get better.

I'm still getting into the whole mastering deal. Currently I use T-Racks for mastering. I know there is probably better, but that's all I can afford right now with school coming up and bills. I'm slowly building up ;-)

[picostudios]

Oh and if you are curious about my micing techniques, you can few some photos here:

http://www.geocities.com/picosstudio/photos1.htm

The band that you have heard, these are pictures for that session.

[longsoughtfor]

What is the point of the hallway picture anyway? It doesn't show anything usefull or appealing to the recording process. It only shows some cables in a hallway... big deal. Your web site should try and show how you differentiate yourself from other studios. Choose your pictures carefully.

Cheers
Kevin.

[picostudios]

I know the over all mix clips. I notice that about all comercial rock or metal recordings. Yet all the tracks seperate do not clip. I always make sure of that before I hit the record button. Yet if I were to open lets say disturbed or linkin park in my Adobe Audition program. It's a solid brick of sound and clips quite a few times. I figure, it's rock or metal music so it's supposed to be loud all the time. Now if I were to record a softer band, I wouldn't do the same thing.

I understand I will get better with practice. I'm always fooling around with different settings, seeing what type of sound and such. I love it. I just need some better mics. My drum mics are horrid :-(

I just can't wait for when I listen to a recording of mine and be like "woah...I did this..?"

[F_cksia]

"(2) Sure SM 57"

Yeah shure..

[picostudios]

Ha, sorry for the misspelling.

[picostudios]

Try looking up Linkin Park or Disturbed or Godsmack or Korn or Underoath.

If it's old metallica, then I don't expect it to clip. I know back in the day, everything wasn't limited and compressed to hell.

[ebeam]

Frederic-

Have you tried loading a modern recording into a wave editor?......square wave city man.

I got a project mastered at a professional studio here in Chicago and the guy wanted to normalize every mix to +2 dB. After listening to the finished product I had him redo it without the normalization. Its sad that this is what is going on, but it is.

Pico -

I think you are doing a decent job for your experience and equipment. If your customers are happy, thats all that really matters. Keep it up. I think the music is kind of interesting too, even though I generally am not that big of a hardcore fan. And by the way...I, for one, won't care if you tell Blue Bear to go to hell. It seems that every post I read of his is consists of him bashing someone, making hand-waving arguments, rattling off the same old one-liner 'axioms of recording' or blindly reiterating something someone else has said. But his post count sure is high. Wow. I think I know someone who needs to lose their ego....

[picostudios]

Originally Posted by BlueBearSound

"damn good job" compared to what???????????

Sorry friend.... I suggest losing the ego and concentrate on developing your recording skills a bit more................ "good job" I wouldn't be how I'd describe those clips....

What ego? I do a good job compared to some local major studios here in town that Charge 20-50 dollars an hour.

[picostudios]

Originally Posted by ebeam

Frederic-

Have you tried loading a modern recording into a wave editor?......square wave city man.

I got a project mastered at a professional studio here in Chicago and the guy wanted to normalize every mix to +2 dB. After listening to the finished product I had him redo it without the normalization. Its sad that this is what is going on, but it is.

Pico -

I think you are doing a decent job for your experience and equipment. If your customers are happy, thats all that really matters. Keep it up. I think the music is kind of interesting too, even though I generally am not that big of a hardcore fan. And by the way...I, for one, won't care if you tell Blue Bear to go to hell. It seems that every post I read of his is consists of him bashing someone, making hand-waving arguments, rattling off the same old one-liner 'axioms of recording' or blindly reiterating something someone else has said. But his post count sure is high. Wow. I think I know someone who needs to lose their ego....

Thanks alot man! I know there's alot of things that I need to learn and such. I will in time. That's all it takes, it's time!

[picostudios]

Originally Posted by frederic

Pico, I'm not going to argue with you... I'm thinking maybe somethings not right with your software, only because I have NEVER seen a commercial record, tape or CD clip. Individual tracks might have distortion, absolutely, but the entire recording should not be a distorted, clipped mess.

This is what brick-wall limiters and opto-isolated compressors are for, and why studios pay darn good money for such devices.

I'm sure this clip is not your cup of tea as far as genre goes, but its my example of "loud without clipping".

RIGHT CLICK ME

Its a piece of Paul Oakenfield tune I redid using Cakewalk Sonar XL driving various midi synths I have, mixed and compressed through the focusrite I mentioned earlier. Approximately a 5mb download.

See, loud as hell, no clipping.

This is pretty good! I like it. Makes me want to break out some glowsticks and do some X. Ha jk! I like the mix though. Very clean! ;-) How long have you been recording?

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally Posted by ebeam

......rattling off the same old one-liner 'axioms of recording'...

Maybe if more people started following some of the "basic axioms of recording" we wouldn't have this glut of crappy, half-ass recordings by wannabe engineers who aren't interesting in actually learning the craft.

(I'm generalizing - this is not directed at you, Pico)