SLuiCe
New member
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(Sorry Steve, I was just remembering your Sarasota thread....
)
"I'm interested in what you think you do that makes your recordings sound the way they do. For example...I usually follow the same procedures with alterations here or there on most of my songs..guidelines if you will. Do you have any?"
I’ve been getting quite a few questions like this lately in my threads and PMs from people looking to compare methods and approaches, and I thought maybe I could more efficiently talk about them here and open up some discussion since a lot of us (I, for one) don’t have time to spend in the other forums. I choose to roam here where the actual music is.
I’d also like others to join in with their ideas. I know Pedullist did something similar to this that was very cool not long ago, but maybe in this one we can get a little more detailed. And I didn’t really get much of a chance to participate in that one. I’ll also answer any questions I can here. And hope others will to. There are a lot of new people here these days, and I know how it feels to just start out at this stuff. It’s goddam overwhelming.
Bare in mind, I don’t know what pros do. Instead of spending a lot of time reading their articles, I’d personally rather be finding it out for myself. But when I first found this site, I found some good starter help in some of the other threads for sure. Crawdad pointed me to the famous Sonusman article sometime last year (maybe someone will pull up the link), and that changed everything for me in terms of understanding the basics of EQ, etc.
So I’m not really qualified to say this is how it should be done, just what I myself do.
Approach: And I’ll try not to ramble, but to be as clear as my little brain will allow.
Here are some of my own guidelines, most of which I’ve learned the hard way:
You CAN NOT fix it in the mix. Just assume you can’t, and you’ll save yourself a ton of time and heartache and trips to this bbs. The most important stage for me is the tracking. Get it down the way you hear it in your head. If it’s not OK now, it’s definitely not going to be OK later. Record each track the way you want that instrument to sound in the mix. The thing to keep in mind I think while tracking is that you will most likely have to EQ that instrument if you have more than 3 or 4 tracks to be mixed. I thin it’s almost inevitable. So track it like you imagine it, and then later you can make the necessary EQ cuts that will allow each track to do its job. Almost every one of my tracks (other than synths which never get EQ’d) has at least some EQ applied. It’s the only way I know of to get a lot of very selfish tracks in the same room to play nice. More on that later.
Gear: The total cost of my recording-dedicated gear is about $2200. This includes my mics, pres, soundcard, monitors, and software. I did a bunch of research on the net and realized like rays of light beaming down from the heavens that there was recording gear that was affordable for us working folk. So if you’re just starting out, and looking around you going OH GOD I’LL NEVER GET GOOD SOUND WITHOUT WORKING 80 HOURS A WEEK, chill. Check out the gear forums and ask some questions. There’s a lot of good stuff being produced for musician-friendly amounts of money. By asking questions in the beginning, I haven’t yet had to replace anything I bought.
Process: 99.99% of the time I sit down to record I’ve already got an idea of where the entire song is going. If not, I consider it a scratch track, no matter how it turns out. Because with a little time away from it, I know I’ll see its underlying direction more clearly.
But assuming I already know how the story ends, so to speak, I create a click track upon which all things shall meet with confidence. Then I typically lay down my guitars, then drums, then bass, then maybe a synth pad or organ here or there if appropriate, then the vocal.
Technical: When I’m setting up my track to record, as I’m testing the signal I make sure it peaks at –12dB. For the uninitiated, this means that I have given myself 12dB’s of headroom before my track is rendered virtually useless due to clipping (distortion). Remember I am recording digitally, so running things too hot can be very bad. Hot tracks can give analog recordings certain warmth, but digitally it’s a bad idea. You can always slide the fader up later. Also, if you need to boost any frequencies via EQ, it will raise the volume of the track you apply it to. Recording at –12dB allows me to boost the occasional 1K on the guitar, or maybe 400Hz on the vocal without worrying about clipping.
If you’re recording vocals, stay still. I’m reading about compression ratios of like 1234569:1 @ –30dB from people. My vocal compression is almost always (unless I’ve got a lot of coffee in me) set at 2:1, sometimes 3:1 @ -10dB. For the rest I rely on voice control and proximity (distance and direction from the mic) to achieve a more natural voice recording that might actually possess some natural dynamic to it. I know. God forbid.
Harmonies: A lot of my stuff is moody and dark. So for those songs I record ghosts in my background. I like my harmonies to be heard with clarity, but they’re often sort of lingering in the air, not really standing right next to me. For this, I’ll back away from the mic to remove a few unnecessary details in the lows. When I mix them in, I add a little more reverb than the lead, and pan them about 30% to either side. I want them behind me, but visible on my sound stage. There’s a temptation I think for people to spread their harmonies (especially 2-or-more-part harmonies) from like 80% left to 80% right. I don’t like that because it puts my backup singers right smack in my guitarists lap. And as you know guitarists have huge egos and so do vocalists, so the ensuing struggle can get pretty ugly. (This is of course figuratively speaking).
For more up-front harmonies for rock sections I usually just keep the verb down, maybe raise the level, but I still keep them close to the lead by about 30-40 degrees left or right.
Guitars: I usually pan my electric guitars from 75% to 95% L or R. If I’m really pissed off, I’ll put 2 gits at 75% L and R, and 2 at 95% L and R. That’ll show ‘em. I record them using a SM57 on my amp, about 2 inches from the grill- side of cone, aimed at center. I leave the low end turned up on my amp, and subtract it as necessary in the mix, usually to sit better with the bass and lower vocals. The bass will usually need a cut around 80Hz and the guitar will usually need taming around 170 Hz depending on the song. My own particular lead vocal usually enjoys a cut around 5-600 to sit with the guitar more easily.
My acoustics are usually sitting at 50% left and right.
General: Get to know your reverb device. Learn what pre-delay does on your particular device. Learn how a high roll-off affects your overall vocal sound. Are those “esses” being dragged out even longer than they should, creating even more sibilance that you’ll probably try to kill with EQ and chase your tail like a cat on peyote? And when you make that 4500Hz cut to kill that sibilance, are you paying attention to what else you’re killing? Here’s my solution. Get it in the tracking. Control your “esses.” Use a “z” in place of the “s” if necessary. There are better singers than myself that might be able to offer more on that, but try to take care of it with your mouth, not your mixing board. But if your reverb has its own EQ, learn its benefits by experimenting.
At this point I’m getting sleepy. I guess it turned out to be kind of a ramble. But if there are more specific questions, I’d like to be able to answer, so ask and I’ll try. And I’m sure there are more general rules others can add.
Unless this thread is just completely ignored, then at least I was able to try and explain it to myself.
(Sorry Steve, I was just remembering your Sarasota thread....
)"I'm interested in what you think you do that makes your recordings sound the way they do. For example...I usually follow the same procedures with alterations here or there on most of my songs..guidelines if you will. Do you have any?"
I’ve been getting quite a few questions like this lately in my threads and PMs from people looking to compare methods and approaches, and I thought maybe I could more efficiently talk about them here and open up some discussion since a lot of us (I, for one) don’t have time to spend in the other forums. I choose to roam here where the actual music is.
I’d also like others to join in with their ideas. I know Pedullist did something similar to this that was very cool not long ago, but maybe in this one we can get a little more detailed. And I didn’t really get much of a chance to participate in that one.
I’ll also answer any questions I can here. And hope others will to. There are a lot of new people here these days, and I know how it feels to just start out at this stuff. It’s goddam overwhelming.Bare in mind, I don’t know what pros do. Instead of spending a lot of time reading their articles, I’d personally rather be finding it out for myself. But when I first found this site, I found some good starter help in some of the other threads for sure. Crawdad pointed me to the famous Sonusman article sometime last year (maybe someone will pull up the link), and that changed everything for me in terms of understanding the basics of EQ, etc.
So I’m not really qualified to say this is how it should be done, just what I myself do.
Approach: And I’ll try not to ramble, but to be as clear as my little brain will allow.
Here are some of my own guidelines, most of which I’ve learned the hard way:
You CAN NOT fix it in the mix. Just assume you can’t, and you’ll save yourself a ton of time and heartache and trips to this bbs. The most important stage for me is the tracking. Get it down the way you hear it in your head. If it’s not OK now, it’s definitely not going to be OK later. Record each track the way you want that instrument to sound in the mix. The thing to keep in mind I think while tracking is that you will most likely have to EQ that instrument if you have more than 3 or 4 tracks to be mixed. I thin it’s almost inevitable. So track it like you imagine it, and then later you can make the necessary EQ cuts that will allow each track to do its job. Almost every one of my tracks (other than synths which never get EQ’d) has at least some EQ applied. It’s the only way I know of to get a lot of very selfish tracks in the same room to play nice. More on that later.
Gear: The total cost of my recording-dedicated gear is about $2200. This includes my mics, pres, soundcard, monitors, and software. I did a bunch of research on the net and realized like rays of light beaming down from the heavens that there was recording gear that was affordable for us working folk. So if you’re just starting out, and looking around you going OH GOD I’LL NEVER GET GOOD SOUND WITHOUT WORKING 80 HOURS A WEEK, chill. Check out the gear forums and ask some questions. There’s a lot of good stuff being produced for musician-friendly amounts of money. By asking questions in the beginning, I haven’t yet had to replace anything I bought.
Process: 99.99% of the time I sit down to record I’ve already got an idea of where the entire song is going. If not, I consider it a scratch track, no matter how it turns out. Because with a little time away from it, I know I’ll see its underlying direction more clearly.
But assuming I already know how the story ends, so to speak, I create a click track upon which all things shall meet with confidence. Then I typically lay down my guitars, then drums, then bass, then maybe a synth pad or organ here or there if appropriate, then the vocal.
Technical: When I’m setting up my track to record, as I’m testing the signal I make sure it peaks at –12dB. For the uninitiated, this means that I have given myself 12dB’s of headroom before my track is rendered virtually useless due to clipping (distortion). Remember I am recording digitally, so running things too hot can be very bad. Hot tracks can give analog recordings certain warmth, but digitally it’s a bad idea. You can always slide the fader up later. Also, if you need to boost any frequencies via EQ, it will raise the volume of the track you apply it to. Recording at –12dB allows me to boost the occasional 1K on the guitar, or maybe 400Hz on the vocal without worrying about clipping.
If you’re recording vocals, stay still. I’m reading about compression ratios of like 1234569:1 @ –30dB from people. My vocal compression is almost always (unless I’ve got a lot of coffee in me) set at 2:1, sometimes 3:1 @ -10dB. For the rest I rely on voice control and proximity (distance and direction from the mic) to achieve a more natural voice recording that might actually possess some natural dynamic to it. I know. God forbid.
Harmonies: A lot of my stuff is moody and dark. So for those songs I record ghosts in my background. I like my harmonies to be heard with clarity, but they’re often sort of lingering in the air, not really standing right next to me. For this, I’ll back away from the mic to remove a few unnecessary details in the lows. When I mix them in, I add a little more reverb than the lead, and pan them about 30% to either side. I want them behind me, but visible on my sound stage. There’s a temptation I think for people to spread their harmonies (especially 2-or-more-part harmonies) from like 80% left to 80% right. I don’t like that because it puts my backup singers right smack in my guitarists lap. And as you know guitarists have huge egos and so do vocalists, so the ensuing struggle can get pretty ugly. (This is of course figuratively speaking).
For more up-front harmonies for rock sections I usually just keep the verb down, maybe raise the level, but I still keep them close to the lead by about 30-40 degrees left or right.
Guitars: I usually pan my electric guitars from 75% to 95% L or R. If I’m really pissed off, I’ll put 2 gits at 75% L and R, and 2 at 95% L and R. That’ll show ‘em. I record them using a SM57 on my amp, about 2 inches from the grill- side of cone, aimed at center. I leave the low end turned up on my amp, and subtract it as necessary in the mix, usually to sit better with the bass and lower vocals. The bass will usually need a cut around 80Hz and the guitar will usually need taming around 170 Hz depending on the song. My own particular lead vocal usually enjoys a cut around 5-600 to sit with the guitar more easily.
My acoustics are usually sitting at 50% left and right.
General: Get to know your reverb device. Learn what pre-delay does on your particular device. Learn how a high roll-off affects your overall vocal sound. Are those “esses” being dragged out even longer than they should, creating even more sibilance that you’ll probably try to kill with EQ and chase your tail like a cat on peyote? And when you make that 4500Hz cut to kill that sibilance, are you paying attention to what else you’re killing? Here’s my solution. Get it in the tracking. Control your “esses.” Use a “z” in place of the “s” if necessary. There are better singers than myself that might be able to offer more on that, but try to take care of it with your mouth, not your mixing board. But if your reverb has its own EQ, learn its benefits by experimenting.
At this point I’m getting sleepy. I guess it turned out to be kind of a ramble. But if there are more specific questions, I’d like to be able to answer, so ask and I’ll try. And I’m sure there are more general rules others can add.
Unless this thread is just completely ignored, then at least I was able to try and explain it to myself.
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I know i know!!!!!! the only guy's that got to hear it were stratomaster and jake owa.....the result's were.um...... let's say .......EAR SPLITTING!!!!! 
, i think i ruined jake's ear's!
