BEST TIPS!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tekker
  • Start date Start date
Here are a few.

1- If it don't happen within 3 takes, do it at another time.

2- Always have the recording machine going (you would be surprised when some great stuff gets played! and some of the banter makes for great out-takes on the CD)

3- Mix more then just one version of the song. Try versions with different increases and decreases in instrument and vocal volumes. You will be surprised sometimes that a vocal up mix actually sounds more appropriate a few days later.

Good day!
 
1. Buy cd's at a wholesale place like costco...$14.99 after rebates this week. And use them silly. Burn the song as many times as it takes to get the right mix. I eve burn a copy when only the guitars are laid down just to make sure it sounds right on many different stereos ie. boom box, car, home, as was mentioned earlier...excrucially important when you have NOVICE ears.
2. I just tried my new joe meek pre with the pod and methinks i love my pod again.I'll let you know after i acually record a whole song.BUT it may be just the thing it needs to come to life.(I can't mic speakers or my wifey would call a divorce lawer)
3. This follows Blue bear's logic but my slant is...trust your instincts..ie if you are the primary recordist in the band you call the shots...fuckem...from experience-after listening to everybodies opinion who weren't involved with the process of recording the quality of our recordings went down not up and everything sounded like a bunch of mush.
Moral OF The Story...Too many cooks spoil the broth... unless they have at least as much experience as you!!!
 
my own 1 1/2 cents....

....Maintain proper track sheets.
 
If you are using a drum machine or sequencer for your writing process, try to record some of the overdubs using some live instruments. Even just one or two can make a track groove much better. Shaker, tambourine, bongos, congas, hi-hats. All are more expressive than a drum machine and not too difficult to play, if you put in the practice time. A 16" crash cymbal is a good thing to have because drum machine cymbals rarely have long enough decay times.

When tracking with heavy compression, every 10db of compression raises the noise floor by the same amount. So, let's say it's a guitar solo you're recording, either raise the fader manually just before the solo kicks in and lower it when it's over. If you have automated mixing capabilities use them to do the same thing. It will keep the track quieter during the silent parts. (assuming that is a problem)

When planning an equipment budget for your studio, just double that amount. You'd be amazed about what you don't think you need/want. I'm almost serious.
 
btw-

I don't find Bruce's ego all that out of control either, but he is hyper-active. He's got 329 posts in a month. Lay off the caffeine dude !

[Edited by Wide Awake on 02-22-2001 at 10:20]
 
Can't.......stop.........typing...........

...must...........help............others......... :eek:


:D :D
 
My tips from a drum standpoint:
1. Drummers come in wanting specific sounds out of their recordings....drummers should know that this starts with their equipment. You will not get a 10" deep snare to sound like a soprano or piccolo. You will not get a metal snare to sound like maple. 20" bass drums sound different than 24". Make the drummer hold up their end of the bargin by doing some research on how to get those sounds from the equipment they record with.
2. If the drummer can't tune, teach them; if you can't (or won't) teach them, have them borrow a kit from someone who can. For advice on tuning, check out the best reference on the web, Professor Sound's Drum Tuning Bible, at http://www.drumweb.com
3. Before going into a recording session, track down noise in the kit. Oil pedals, clean chains. If using a speed king, pack the springs and bearings with grease. Tighten clamps. If the throne squeeks, fix it or get a new one.
4. I spent two days taking off all of the lugs on my kit and wrapping the springs with cotton. You can get this in sheets at most fabric stores for a few bucks. Buzzing can start here without any warning, so planning ahead will save a lot of headaches. This also forces you to retune.
5. If you're going to record with a click, practice with a click. Most drummers can't do this.
 
My best tip is something I just figured out last night:

Make sure your monitors are positioned correctly. If I'm right, this means tweeters at ear level, and the speakers form an equilateral triangle with yo' head. Mine were reasonably close to this, but I got out the measuring tape and did it right. The other thing I did was move my mixer (mackie 24/8) off to one side and down low. Since most of what i'm doing now is all in the computer, having the mixer right in front of the speakers isn't of utmost importance. My point is now there's nothing in front of the monitors causing any reflections. I cannot overstate HOW MUCH BETTER everything sounded! I've been working on the same project for a good while now, and I'm very familiar with the sounds. Well, I thought I was. I was almost in shock listening to my tracks last night. Stereo imaging was a million times better, low end response was so much more accurate...honestly, I felt like I was in a mastering suite everything was so much clearer. I'm going on about this because I thought I had the monitors placed pretty well in the past, but just being scientific about it and moving the mixer out of the way made such a profound difference...

and one question for you experts: at the start of this thread, one of Tekker's tips is to have the singer facing slightly up. I was under the impression that you shouldn't do this as it causes the vocal cords to tighten, resulting in a, uh, "less good" sound. Opinions? And no disrespect intended, Tekker!
 
I find that if I make the vocalist sing with chin slightly raised, that the voice is improved on tape.

Also scraggs, what you said is amazing. I put my speakers on stands, away from the monitor, or the table surface, or any thing that causes reflections, and the first person who walked in the door commented on how it sounded better.
 
yeah, i couldn't believe the difference. I have my computer monitor on about the same plane as the speakers, you think I should move it back some?
 
1.Set your goal(s)
2. Get the perfect levels/sound with your outboard equipment (no matter how long it takes)
3. Write down the settings for reference
4. Experiment with getting the hottest levels on your recorder without clipping/distortion.
5. Go for it
6. HAVE FUN!
 
hey scraggs,

moving the monitor back some will not hurt. A realized something else. WHen your ears are above tweeter level, you get a darker tone, but at tweeter level or below, you get the same relative brightness.
I have my monitor below and behind my speakers.

for everyone. A word of wisdom from an established producer.

"Don't listen to your speakers, listen THROUGH them".

If you somehow figure out how to do this, please share with me.
 
Lay off the caffeine??

Wow, like I posted a reply to a completely different thread and it put it here. Wierd man.
 
I'd have to say Heather Locklear, natural medium sized ski sloped.......... oh...... best tips! Sorry wrong thread.
 
Burn a CD with the mix you consider the final, and then play it on every CD player you see, at your car, or neighbour´s, ... Listen to the great changes you find each time.
 
ill bet a lot of people here have at least a decent pair of monitors....

but i got so sick of having to take my mix out to the car...up to wal-mart.....to my friends...on the computer ( and waste a cd or tape) just to hear how well its mixed to find out the bass is too loud or whatever....

if you add a small pair of radio shack 30 -watt speakers (the ones that come in black or white..) this will help you when it comes to getting that boom box/car radio mix

and if you dont have the cash for large reference monitors,.....i had a pair of those Huge pioneer 100 watt 12 inch woofer/ 1 inch tweeter speakers that really help you keep the bass DOWN in your mixing rooms....I know they arent monitors per se...but they are a good referencr as to what the mix will sound like when it get to a consumers home stereo.....

these, along with my good monitors, and headphones ( and a speaker selector swich ) .....helps me get several different mixes without having to burn a cd or go to wally world just to hear a mix and take it home and use it as a coaster....

by the way i have coaster sets -----100 for a buck.....

ha ha ha
for sale on e-bay...they look just like cd-r s

mike
 
hi Edgarbylive,

I agree with you about different homespeakers for monitoring. Some Floorstanding speakers sound sweeter than my studio ns10's.

But one thing to do is to burn several mixes of the same song, with vocal up, bass up, bass down, etc.

one more thing. Wal-mart is a mixing resource in its own right. If it does not sound good at wal-mart, it will not sound good anywhere.

Its also nice to put a mix on the currently active system, and then ask passersby "whose cd is that"

Well: duh: "they don't know but it sure sounds good.
 
definately....

ill some times make 15 different mixes of a song and go frome here to there like the car to radio shack and so on..as much as i hate having to leave my studio for anything, i still do it...

but having those4 or 5 different references, plus my computer speakers and the tv..i can hear what it will sound like on anything....it definately helps when im feeling lazy or dont want to put on pants just to go out....not that i stroll around naked or anything...well i do..but thats...oh...i..uh... id better go now

bye!
 
I'll bite.

This thread may be long since dead - but I'm just off a long forced hiatus from recording, and many of your old posts are new to me. :)

I used to keep a list of recording tips, but I've lost it! Here are a few things, though, that I can think of off the top of my head. These have all proved helpful to me.

Keep in mind, I'm no expert. I've been recording for only about three years. But I do believe that newer engineers will discover different things at different times. Maybe something I say will be helpful to one of you, or maybe someone who's only been recording a few months will say something that I'd never realized before. It can happen.


I don't post often, but I tend to write novels... sorry if this becomes boring.

-DIMINISHING RETURNS. Play a song over and over, and you're going to lose interest in it. QUICKLY. You might not even realize that you're becoming a robot. If you're of the David Gilmour school of studio perfectionism, this may not apply to you. But if you're looking to capture energy and emotion, most of that will be gone after the first 1-3 takes. Did you make a mistake? It might not be a big deal. Listen to any Led Zeppelin album to see what I mean. Jimmy Page was big into capturing energy over a technically flawless performance. Or as Roger Daltrey has said, "Gimme a bum note and a beat of sweat any day". Think "just one more take" will get rid of those mistakes? Maybe, but don't you dare get rid of those early takes unless you're SURE you're not gonna want them. Instead of recording 50 takes, I've got a tip for eliminating mistakes that's just gonna blow your mind.

-PRACTICE. The studio is not your practice room. At-home practice is where you don't have to worry about whether playing a song over and over is going to steal the fire that you have for the song. When you get into the studio. The fire WILL COME BACK. If it doesn't, well.... hey, buddy. You're in the STUDIO, RECORDING your song. If you can't drum up a little emotion for that, you've picked the wrong hobby/career. :)

-EARS GET TIRED. Don't mix a song down the day you record it. The next day, you'll wonder what the hell you were doing. I think this is as much mental as it is physical. Did you do a good job capturing the sound? Your job for the day is done. Go to bed, do something else, whatever. But don't mix it down until you can come back with fresh ears and a fresh mind. This is quite possibly the best tip I've ever heard. Now, here's one that I had to find out on my own:

-ENVIRONMENT. It means everything to a good recording, and it can include a lot of different things. Here are some examples. I've learned over the years that I'm much more productive musically at night. So I try not to record during the day, because I know I won't be as happy with what I do. Also, I think it's a really good idea to have all of your equipment set up exactly the way you like it, BEFORE you're even thinking that you might be in the mood to record. Back when I lived at home (I'm 21), I couldn't just leave my equipment out when I wasn't using it. So, once I decided that I felt like recording, I had to get everything out, and arrange it all just the way I like it - a good hour-long task. By the time I was ready to go, I was already feeling a bit worn out and frustrated. Now that I have my own apartment, I can leave my studio ready to go at all times. If I happen to be feeling "inspired" on a particular night, I can be laying down tracks in 5 minutes or less.

That's good enough for now, I think. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top