Your top tip!

[eviljoker7075]

Ok then... so in a few weeks my band are recording... however, due to our limited funds I am going to be mixing the cd myself...

We are a 5 pieces with drums, keyboard, guitars, bass guitar and vocals... Again due to budget constraints I am using Kristal Audio Engine.

I was just wondering what your top tips are to me to get the most professional sound out of it?

[RAMI]

Practice...........

[eviljoker7075]

lol ok yeah... I have done quite a bit of that up to now...

Umm put it another way, if you click on the link in my sig to the AuteurTheory site and pick any one of those songs, what could I do to improve that mix? That uses the same equipment that I can get hold of for this project - don;t click on the Still Existng link, that wasn't me mixing!

[SuicideNote]

KRISTAL Audio Engine

* 16 audio tracks
* 32 Bit floating point audio engine
* 44.1 to 192 kHz sample rate*
* Downmix to 16/24/32 Bit audio files
* 3-band parametric EQ &
* 2 VST insert slots per channel
* 3 VST master effect slots
* ASIO low latency audio driver support
* 4 KRISTAL Plug-In slots
* Load/Save KRISTAL project files
* Supported file formats: WAVE, AIFF, FLAC, OGG Vorbis

Ok, at least you can max out your inserts and not cripple your CPU. Go here http://www.dontcrack.com/freeware/so...udio/Plug-ins/ and grab all of the free plugs.

If you spend enough time on your project, I'm sure you can succeed.

Get the best possible sound on disk as you record, don't think that you can make it sound better later on.

[eviljoker7075]

mmm ok... Thank you!

How about on the over all eq of tracks or compressors... what's a good idea to do with that kinda stuff? That's the bit I'm most new to...

[Greg_L]

Practice. All the trickery in the world won't help if yall suck.

[XLR]

The multitrack software you use doesn't determine sound quality. Other things do.

[eviljoker7075]

Timothy, that is good to know...

So what would you recommend in terms of those points I addressed earlier?

[zed32]

compress the shit out of ever track, and put a smiley face on the 31-band EQ for every track!

or maybe not. i forget.


here's a tip that i use sometimes:
to check the overall balance of a mix, leave the room while it's playing, and listen from behind the closed door. that way you don't hear much of the room, and you don't get fooled by the stereo field. it helps you when it comes to just checking levels and making sure everything sits OK.

[chessrock]

Originally Posted by eviljoker7075

I was just wondering what your top tips are to me to get the most professional sound out of it?

Have someone else engineer and mix.

.

Originally Posted by chessrock

Have someone else engineer and mix.

.

Isn't that what we all do here? I mean it's called 'Home Recording' so it should be pretty obvious that we're gonna hire a tracking/mixing engineer.

Originally Posted by zed32

here's a tip that i use sometimes:
to check the overall balance of a mix, leave the room while it's playing, and listen from behind the closed door. that way you don't hear much of the room, and you don't get fooled by the stereo field. it helps you when it comes to just checking levels and making sure everything sits OK.

I've done this without thinking about it. If you leave the room you can really tell if something is out of whack. For example, I had a song with just rhythm guitar and a lead over it. When leaving the room all you could hear was the lead guitar. After bringing the levels down on the lead everything sounded a lot better.

Another thing I do is start off the mix with everything panned dead center and then mess with the levels on each track. If it doesn't sound good like that then you probably need to retrack something or everything. When recording get the track to sound good for the mix so it fits in there naturally. It will probably take a lot of time setting up mics and adjusting amp settings and stuff to get it to sound right.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Originally Posted by eviljoker7075

I was just wondering what your top tips are to me to get the most professional sound out of it?

The earlier in the overall recording process something happens, the more important it is to acheiving your goal.

Like everybody says, *practice*. I know this gets monotonous to hear, but it cannot be over-emphasized. Make sure everybody in your band can play their parts error-free while blindfolded in their sleep. When you reach that point you'll know you only have a coulple of days more of practice beyond that before you're ready to record.

It's not just avoiding mistakes, it's the fact that the stronger and more relaxed the performance, the better it will record in a compounded fashon. A performance that's twice as good will sound 4 times better, not just twice better.

And do it in the best sounding rooms you can find.

Then, the next most important thing is the tracking itself. Get it right in the tracking. Don't just get a performance on disc and say, "well we can fix this and that in the mix." Every pro engineer will tell you this: the tracking should virtually mix itself.

Finally, when you do start to mix, do it in a room where you have at least some modicum of room treatment to make sure you're hearing what you're supposed to be hearing when you mix.

G.

[XLR]

Originally Posted by eviljoker7075

...So what would you recommend in terms of those points I addressed earlier?

I'd suggest asking questions that are more focused and specific.

[FALKEN]

1. record your tracks as though you will not have any eq or compression available to you come mix time. Really think about mic placement...if you think a guitar should be brighter, brighten it up at the amp. If you think the cymbals should be brighter, use a brighter mic or angle it up higher....

2. for vocals...its really worth your time to try every mic you own out before just settling for the one that says "vocal mic" on the box. you might be surprised.

3. use a single mono monitor while tracking

4. decide on the balance you want before you start mixing. There is no such thing as "make everything sound the same volume". I dare you to find a single CD in your collection that sounds that way. Some things will be louder than others period and that is what you have to decide. For instance, 50 cent the vocals are loud as hell. take the pixies the vocals are sort of drowned out.... fugazi is all about the drums. smashing pumpkins the drums are drowned out and the guitars are ridiculous loud. you have to know what you want and go for it....not just play with it till you stumble across something that sounds good.

[michaelst]

Less... is more.

Let your talent be heard, not the effects.

Record what your playing, not what you want to play.

[IronFlippy]

If it doesn't sound good before mixing, then you're doing something wrong already.

Think about the sound qualities of the room and the positioning of the mics. Also make sure your band is tight enough to record, don't iron out the songs during tracking. The better you guys/girls are at playing your stuff, the more it's going to show on the recording.

Other than that, read around these forums. There's no "magical" answer. Welcome!

[mrhotapples]

It's been said, but honestly...What do you think we did before we had all these effects and editing capabilities (not me, but you know, our forefathers).

At the dawn of recording time, the musicians were just really good at their instruments. Nowadays, drummers crash their cymbals way too loud, hit their drums like sloppy bitches, guitarists have no idea how important mids are to making their guitar present in a mix, bassists don't play with enough dynamics...

I think that aside from being able to play everything perfectly...Ask yourself...In a good room that isn't all echo...Can your band play and can everyone control their own volume? Can the drummer play quiet enough (that usually means cymbals, drums don't interfere with the guitar much) so that everyone can hear the other instruments?

Arrangement and dynamics man. Work on those if you're all top-notch.

[mrhotapples]

Your mixes are pretty good on that site. But that's electronic music, if you're playing something more organic, it will be very different to mix.

[eviljoker7075]

hmmm, wow! That is a whole wealth of knowledge right there!!!

Thanks for these tips, fi you have any more please keep em coming!

[noisewreck]

Originally Posted by SouthSIDE Glen

A performance that's twice as good will sound 4 times better, not just twice better.

How does one quantify that

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Originally Posted by noisewreck

How does one quantify that

Lacking an actual scientific survey? With a quality estimate based upon good eyes, good ears, and a good brain.

The numbers are actually on the conservative side, IMHO. I could easily have said that twice as good sounds five or six times better and been just as comfortable with the estimate.

The premise is what's important, not the numbers. I could have used more proper and less numerical language like "synergy" or "exponential", but frankly that kind of vocabulary doesn't work well in public discourse - especially in Internet forums; printed media frequented by people who don't like to read.

G.

[Flangerhans]

One thing I don't see addressed here is noise. Before worrying about compression, EQ, or anything else on the electronic side of the mics, figure out how to eliminate every bit of extraneous noise you can. Make sure every connection is clean and tight, every bit of gear in the signal path is quiet and the instruments are shielded wherever they can be. Use XLR or TRS cables when ever you can, and find a room that is well-insulated from external noise sources. Flourescent lights should be stomped to death and replaced by incandescent ones, and all equipment needs to be plugged into good quality strips. If you can get a good sounding source onto your media with a nice hot signal and little noise, you are already halfway towards having a good recording.

[MessianicDreams]

The most important stage in recording is everything you do before hitting "record".



If it doesn't sound right in the room, or if it doesn't sound right thru the mic, don't record it.

[Freudian Slip]

If your not happy with a track, retrack it. little glitches and screw ups have away of bugging the hell out of you down the road.

If it's obvious you used effects you used too much.

Put new heads on the drums.

Read some good books.

Good luck.

F.S.

[noisewreck]

Trust your ears not your eyes.

Be sober while recording/performing. Maybe not so much while performing, but most definitely while recording.

Don't be afraid to try things.

If you're tracking distorted guitars, use less distortion than when performing "live".

Gain staging, gain staging, gain staging. Every equipment has it's own sweet spot, find it. Even if the meters on your mixer/DAW don't clip, doesn't necessarily mean everything is hunky-dory. Make sure you're not clipping the mic, mic-pre, if you have some EQ or compressor before the mixer/daw/soundcard/converters make sure these guys don't clip/distort either.

All liquids should be off limits on or near the computer, mixer, keyboard, etc.