J
jaynm26
New member
This is how I track as well lol
J
jaynm26
New member
Jesus???????..."The Gospel"
S
soundchaser59
Reluctant Commander
Usually reserved for the blue hairs. This is for the people who get to really have all the fun with the finished product.
Z
zillaclout
New member
I have "go to" plugins.....i know their "sound" so i know what to expect. That being said......i dont ever want to get complacent or lazy so often i do try different things......different combinations on the Master Buss, or Aux busses. Im pretty much sold on Slate VCC on all my tracks....i do that 90% of the time. Other than that.....and my API EQ on lead vocals....i cant say i mix from scratch.
somegeezer
4 Gazillion Rhodium User
I'm actually working on some template type stuff myself. I'm always moving between Reaper and Studio One for different instruments, But I have started with some really nice guitar stuff in Reaper, and generally know where I'm going for my bass and vocal stuff in Studio One. Just need to tweak the guitar still. Got lots I haven;t played with yet. But i have a couple of sounds I go to a lot. Need to actually start on some drum presets. I have various sample hits to play around with, so may end up with a pretty large kit setup. =P
Anything past the amp sim and EQ, and sometimes light compression, I don't do much in terms of effects right away. But it doesn't hurt to have a channel ready with some reverb, and even some delay, distortion and whatever else if you use them often enough. That way, I can just push channels into the effects as and when I need.
Anything past the amp sim and EQ, and sometimes light compression, I don't do much in terms of effects right away. But it doesn't hurt to have a channel ready with some reverb, and even some delay, distortion and whatever else if you use them often enough. That way, I can just push channels into the effects as and when I need.
Mo Facta
Farts of Nature
I never use templates. I never use presets. And I never mix from scratch unless I get hired to mix something that was tracked somewhere else.
I try not to get mind-fucked by the overwhelming amount of choice that DAWs offer, either. First, I try to get the best sound I can during tracking. For instance, with drums, once I have the tracking sound I want and have finished recording the drummer, I'll tell the band to take a break and I'll start working immediately on the drum sound and apply processing to get the sound I want then and there. This includes faking room sounds, compression, EQ, etc, if need be. I immediately start heading in the direction I envision. Once I get where I want to go, I'll pretty much stick with that sound for the duration of the production. Of course, there are always little tweaks along the way and production decisions get made on a song-by-song basis, but for the most part, I want to hear the sound I want to hear as quick as humanly possible. I don't believe in leaving things dry and sculpting them later. I like to have an analog approach in the digital world where decisions are made early on and quickly. Nothing irritates me more than belaboring over a snare sound for a week. Nothing kills vibe more than obsessing over minutia. Forest for the trees is a flow killer.
In my opinion, the best recordings were made by engineers who knew how to make decisions while recording. Compressing and EQ'ing on input, and imbuing THEIR SOUND onto the recording. This sometimes even entailed purposely tying the hands of the mix engineer because too many options for him meant a weak performance by the tracking engineer. I dunno, I like that idea. It's confidence and if you can compartmentalize your workflow this way, I think it will improve your recordings on all levels.
But maybe that's just me.
Cheers
I try not to get mind-fucked by the overwhelming amount of choice that DAWs offer, either. First, I try to get the best sound I can during tracking. For instance, with drums, once I have the tracking sound I want and have finished recording the drummer, I'll tell the band to take a break and I'll start working immediately on the drum sound and apply processing to get the sound I want then and there. This includes faking room sounds, compression, EQ, etc, if need be. I immediately start heading in the direction I envision. Once I get where I want to go, I'll pretty much stick with that sound for the duration of the production. Of course, there are always little tweaks along the way and production decisions get made on a song-by-song basis, but for the most part, I want to hear the sound I want to hear as quick as humanly possible. I don't believe in leaving things dry and sculpting them later. I like to have an analog approach in the digital world where decisions are made early on and quickly. Nothing irritates me more than belaboring over a snare sound for a week. Nothing kills vibe more than obsessing over minutia. Forest for the trees is a flow killer.
In my opinion, the best recordings were made by engineers who knew how to make decisions while recording. Compressing and EQ'ing on input, and imbuing THEIR SOUND onto the recording. This sometimes even entailed purposely tying the hands of the mix engineer because too many options for him meant a weak performance by the tracking engineer. I dunno, I like that idea. It's confidence and if you can compartmentalize your workflow this way, I think it will improve your recordings on all levels.
But maybe that's just me.
Cheers
Mr Clean
AKA Teddy Wong
That all makes perfect sense to me. I just wish I could play the drums or even envisage the drums I want to be able to start with them. I just can't hear the drums naturally that I want until I've listened to the song build up a bit as I lay the other tracks. I am new to working with drums though so maybe as I learn more, they will come more naturally and I'll know what the song requires before I start recording.
Confidence was the key word in there for me. A lit bit goes a long way
R
Rod Norman
New member
This is one of the best questions ever. Here's the secret. Always, ALWAYS, place the same instruments on the same tracks and have your favoites bussed to those tracks. Whether it's a rhythm acoustic or electric or a lute doesn't matter. Keep your piano on one, synths one another, horns on another etc. For jazz you pull up 12345,17,18,19,20; for tock, 12345 6789,10. Get my point? Then you're way ahead of the game when mix time comes. I sometimes buss several tracks to a group and compress them there.
Now, the mix is always there. You were sending it in the headphones to the musicians as they played the tracks. If it made them do good tracks, use it as your starting point and don't stray too far from it.
Do NOT let your musicians sit with you as you set up the first mix. Make them go out and get some pizza and beer. You do the initial mix, called a reference mix, and then when they get back, play it for the,. Tell them it is not finished, has no effects or compression, and is just a reference mix so they can hear everythig that was recorded. Then they can decide what should go up and what should go down. (The truth is that you think this is the best mix and that they should just pay you, go home, and let your get on with your life.) Sometimes they do. Do make it a good mix.
Then you can carefully add eq, compression, FX and reverb. But you should do this several days later, when your ears are rested. Also listen to the mix once and adjust it before going to work on it. Remember this. A great tracking session, results in an easy mixing session, results in DON'T TOUCH THE DAMNED THING! Never add anything just because you think it will make it "sound" commercial or professional. No matter how good you think you are, you are not that good. The secret to every great song is a good tracking session where the instruments were in tune and the sounds were already awesome. I had two guitarists come in and retrack everything because they thought I was going to fix it in the mix. I had told them that I would capture the sound they wanted accurately. They were supposed to get the great sound first. Once they got that we set up again, adjusted their amps, retracked, and got the best sound ever. A great mix is always all about the tracking sessions. Good luck,
Rod Norman
Now, the mix is always there. You were sending it in the headphones to the musicians as they played the tracks. If it made them do good tracks, use it as your starting point and don't stray too far from it.
Do NOT let your musicians sit with you as you set up the first mix. Make them go out and get some pizza and beer. You do the initial mix, called a reference mix, and then when they get back, play it for the,. Tell them it is not finished, has no effects or compression, and is just a reference mix so they can hear everythig that was recorded. Then they can decide what should go up and what should go down. (The truth is that you think this is the best mix and that they should just pay you, go home, and let your get on with your life.) Sometimes they do. Do make it a good mix.
Then you can carefully add eq, compression, FX and reverb. But you should do this several days later, when your ears are rested. Also listen to the mix once and adjust it before going to work on it. Remember this. A great tracking session, results in an easy mixing session, results in DON'T TOUCH THE DAMNED THING! Never add anything just because you think it will make it "sound" commercial or professional. No matter how good you think you are, you are not that good. The secret to every great song is a good tracking session where the instruments were in tune and the sounds were already awesome. I had two guitarists come in and retrack everything because they thought I was going to fix it in the mix. I had told them that I would capture the sound they wanted accurately. They were supposed to get the great sound first. Once they got that we set up again, adjusted their amps, retracked, and got the best sound ever. A great mix is always all about the tracking sessions. Good luck,
Rod Norman
BroKen_H
Re-member
I start completely from scratch, but I have some set plug-ins I use for different sounds for final mix (my "mastering" suite.) I usually lay out what tracks I'm going to use (I hear the music in my head before I ever start...I know, it's weird) and then MIDI what I'm looking for and then start replacing tracks with live to the best of my playing ability. I only have one song with vocals and it's on my MySpace page. (remember I'm a songwriter, not a singer). Most of my stuff is for my own amusement and amazement anyway. I usually write my own soundtracks to sing at church (so I can play piano or guitar along with the track...something most performance tracks don't allow!) Check out Suddenly He Turned at BroKen | Free Music, Tour Dates, Photos, Videos The drums in this track are still MIDI because I can't play that beat! But most of my stuff is done with some e-drums in the studio. But if you can MIDI your music first, you can hear exactly what you want to play and then do the live so it feels (and sounds) live. Some of the guitar on this track is live and some is MIDI. But I'm using my own captured guitar for the MIDI and running through the same loop so it sounds pretty much the same!