Search results

I swear by these monitors. I'll be keeping the pair I have until they die.

http://www.littlekingstudio.com/photos My first out-of-home studio. I've got the same desk mentioned on the past few pages. I picked up a lot of this stuff based on your reviews over the past couple years. Thanks for that. It sounds the way I'd like it to.

Any of the engineers I know are still asking "how can I make it better" until they retire. You've identified "studio quality" as a level above where you're at - so listen to it. Try to define what "studio quality" is to you specifically. It's probably a mix of hundreds of things - the sound of...

With any piece of gear comes a specific sound. If you want THAT sound, you better get THAT gear. That's all there is to it. I was recording this female vocalist last week. Something wasn't right with the sound. I tried different pres, eq and limiting without things getting better. Then, I...

There's no rule that says you have to push the volume up so that the peaks are at -.02 or whatever. If you're at -12db RMS average, that might be good enough for your tracks. Don't worry about the peaks. Play the disc next to a similar sounding album and see how it compares. If it's a bit...

I have the Notepad and it's pretty nice for its range. I use it for monitoring. Note that the headphone output is after the main output volume, so if you turn down the mains, you don't get any headphones. Pretty shitty. Other than that, it's nice. Sounds good too.

I think Itunes would encode the mp3 at a higher quality and it's a free program. Stick with 192 if that's what you've been given. There are no rules. However, a cheap EQ isn't going to make anything sound better in the end. I'd suggest PSP Master Q. It's cheap and sounds amazing for the price.

Anytime you're clicking without listening, you're making a mistake. Take a few hours and apply every type of reverb to every mic on the kit - one by one. Long chambers, short rooms, plates, weird verbs, etc... They all have a purpose at one time or another. Look up the "convolution" verb...

UAD-1 Pultec Pro -- If I had to mix with only one plug-in, this would be it. 99% of the plug-ins out there make everything sound worse without even touching a knob. The Pultec actually makes it sound better most of the time.

Thanks to this thread, I started using the convolution reverbs. THANK YOU! I didn't know how bad most reverbs were until I started using the good ones. It's a genius idea for capturing the sound of a room and the SIR program pulls it off nicely. It's not perfect, but a LOT better than Waves or...

For some reason, I get the impression that you're adding digital tape saturation to your entire CD collection. I don't understand it, but... Try Magneto. It's supposed to make that tape saturation sound. Or, Voxengo has one in their Analog bundle that sounds weird but might be what you're...

Listen very closely to EQs. Some of them do mild damage to the quality of a track before you even turn a knob. The Waves Linear EQ is nice, as are the Universal Audio and PSP EQs.

I've often wondered how many shitty engineers would work on the "before" sample to make it sound even worse. It's easy to do and nobody seems to be concerned about it. I've opted for the policy where I'll sample a track if the band wants to hear a sample master. It's a much better method than...

A gate on vocals in a quiet environment is going to sound like ass 99% of the time. Try listening to the room for any noises that might be causing problems - buzz coming from electronics, an open window, etc. Or, maybe your mic/pre aren't designed for the job. Cheap equipment is going to be...

I've got two of the Apex ribbons and I'd definitely replace them if they broke. For the price, definitely pick one up if you have a preamp that can handle the gain -- usually the cheap preamps with a "make up gain" knob will be able to do it well.

It's all about the engineer. Can you get both to do a sample so you can compare? Different engineers could do totally different work on your recording.

Very few digital eqs can boost more than 1-2db without sounding like ass. Most of the time, they thin out the signal even if no boost or cut is applied. We have a long way to go.

For clips, check out a few tracks I've done recently at www.littlekingstudio.com/recording_demo . The TL Audio pres have been used on the snare, kick and toms on all three of those tracks with a pretty standard mic setup. In the TLA units, the "tube" feature is great on drums or bass, but...

I'm an avid user of the TL Audio stuff as well as the Tampa and a few Joe Meek models. I'd probably never use the TL Audio gear on vocals unless I was using it as an effect. They sound awesome on drums and as a bass DI though. The Joe Meek is a great preamp - thicker, darker and rounder than...

I find the EH has way too much gain. Is that what you're saying? It needs a gain pad, for sure.