Expert, wise, practical, advise needed

[chessrock]

I get the feeling that some of you guys are just plain insecure of your abilities or insecure with yourselves . . .

. . . so you find the comments and/or the very presence of certain people kind of threatening to you.

The fact that some of us are being brutally honest about this stuff might be painful to you to hear, if you have a fragile ego, but to the person who really wants to know what's going down, without any sugar-coating and political correctness . . . you're not helping them by getting all defensive with guys like me. In fact, you're basically just being rude and disrespectful towards me which kind of makes you hypocrites.

Get over it, okay? No one's attacking you, Gidge. And no one's attacking you, either, Crazydoc. Stop acting like I'm the freakin' Homerecording villain or troll or whatever. Find something else to vent your frustrations on. You guys are freakin' paranoid and you're creaping me out.

 

[Gidge]

im way above and past insecurities because I know my recording and mixing skillz suck...ill be the first to say so......

threatened by your words?....please, wigga.....

this is a home recording board assmunch....of course half the people cant tell a Audio Buddy from a Great River......but that is not sad.....that is to be expected.......

i dont remember anyone saying you are attacking them....you sound like Hyatt now......

villian or troll, im not sure......i just think you are a plain asshole.......

 

[chessrock]

Well, your statement "Sad, isn't it" just set my asshole detector off. If that isn't a knock on the folks here, then what does it mean?

It means it's kind of sad that you could spend $1,0000 + on a piece of gear, and the average person probably couldn't tell the difference between it and the $100 gear.

Read in to it however you'd like, but I think it's a little sad on maybe a few different levels.

 

[chessrock]

im way above and past insecurities because I know my recording and mixing skillz suck...ill be the first to say so......

Hmmm. Let me see:

"I don't have a self image problem, I just know I suck."



You're killing me, man.

But drop it already, okay? For your sanity and mine. You're not helping anyone by going all ballistic and calling me an asshole or whatever it is you're doing. And you're not contributing much to the discussion of audio, either. Go to bed. You're being moody again.

 

[Gidge]

what does mixing skillz have to do with self image?......youre killing me......

going ballistic?....hardly.......we can calmly and cooly let you know you are being an ass.......

 

[Richard Monroe]

Meanwhile, back at the mics. I'd probably just grab another MC012. If they sound bad together, use them separately. I'm willing to bet they'll sound fine together. Most random pairs of 012's are usable, some more than others. If nothing else, they'll make perfectly good overheads.-Richie

 

[chessrock]

we can calmly and cooly let you know you are being an ass.......

But you're not. You're acting paranoid, calling names, insulting, and basically, um, being an ass.

The guy who started the thread was looking for "Expert, wise, and practical advice." Not Gidge and Crazydoc acting like paranoid weinies.

 

[Gidge]

now youre just seeing how far you can pull a jackass without a rope......

my daughter wants to play Battleship......

 

[chessrock]

my daughter wants to play Battleship......

Spend some time with her, for cryin' out loud. And quit being such a grump.

 

[crazydoc]

The guy who started the thread was looking for "Expert, wise, and practical advice."

So what was it that prompted you to chime in?

 

[chessrock]

That was a good one.

 

[Gidge]

I whooped her ass....I sunk 5 of hers and she only had 3 of mine.......

Hows that for a positive self image.........

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

no......

I disagree....!

 

[Gidge]

so at what price point does matching stereo pairs become relevant, oh wise one?......

i believe if you are gonna stereo mic, matching them is relevant no matter what the mic costs.......

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

I picked $200 out of a hat.... my point wasn't about a specific price, it was that QA tolerances on budget-oriented mics (even if they are good, usable mics) are not going to be tight enough that one can worry about specs being matched.

And aside from that, sort of alluding to where I think Chessrock was coming from, many using mismatched pairs wouldn't know the difference anyways. Not because they aren't "good enough", but simply because their signal chain won't let them hear the difference.

The thing of it is, sweating the small stuff does matter - on the whole. But you have to tweak congruent areas to make a real difference.

For example, someone reading this now learns that matched mics are relatively important (or at least a good idea!) So they go to great pains at their local store to find matched pairs of mics. They take their prizes home and plug 'em into their 2-ch AudioBuddy pre.... unfortunately, when they bought their pre, they ddn't have an extra pair of 1/4 TRS Mogami cables available to run from the pre to the soundcard, so they used an old guitar cable on one side and a RadShack cable on the other channel. And they grabbed whatever mic cables (one 10 ft, the other 30 ft) they could find to test the pair.

So much for the specs on that matched set of mics.

IN the end - yeah, sweat the small stuff... but make sure you do so in a coordinated fashion such that your "tweaks" don't step over each other and become counter-productive as a whole.

 

[DJL]

Not because they aren't "good enough", but simply because their signal chain won't let them hear the difference.

And many people on this mic forum lack a trained ear anyway.

 

[DJL]

So what was it that prompted you to chime in?

I bet he chimed in to try and help... you should try it sometime.

 

[crazydoc]

I bet he chimed in to try and help... you should try it sometime.

Oh, I see. This, then, is a helpful post:

I'd bet over 50% of the people here wouldn't be able to tell the difference between something tracked with an AB and a GR.

Not saying there's not a differene, because there obviously would be. Just that I'd bet that the majority -- as in over 50% -- wouldn't be able to appreciate it.

Sad, isn't it?

Looks like a put-down to me. If you want a helpful and explanatory post, without the condescension, look at Blue Bear's last post here. That is something I can learn from.

And many people on this mic forum lack a trained ear anyway.

Now that shows the functioning of a logical mind far superior to any heretofore encountered on planet Earth.

 

[chessrock]

You know, Crazydoc, after looking back at the post again, I can see where you would have thought that remark was a put-down.

And as I said previously, someone who's insecure might have internalized that remark and thought I was being purposely condescending towards them.

On the other hand, I can also see where that remark might have been quite helpful. Where I'm getting at is I see way too many people here who think that a mic pre is somehow the holy grail to all of their problems and that if you want your recordings to take a significant step towards sounding professional, then you need to fork out $1,000 or more on a good mic pre.

Unfortunately, I personally know guys who are doing just that, oftentimes against my advice. Maybe you think this is a knock, and if you do, I apologize, but I would honestly bet good money that probably about 10-25% of the people on this board are using computer speakers to mix with. Just a guess, but it wouldn't surprize me. I'd also guess that another 10% or more are using headphones to mix. Throw in at least another 25% or more who are probably using their home stereos.

These are just guesses, but again, it wouldn't surprize me.

My point is that there are so many things that most people on this board -- not you, Crazydoc, but most people -- could do and so many areas that you can start improving. So much much more to practice and technique to refine . . . before you go throwing a thousand bucks or more at a mic pre that probably won't help you any.

But I have no idea why I even wasted my breath on this thread in the first place. It's obvious to me that most people around here aren't concerned at all with getting actual "wise, practical advice." Maybe they should say: "Expert, wise, practical advice sought that won't hurt Crazydoc's feelings."

Now that is a put-down. And that is also pretty sad.

 

[acorec]

I'd bet over 50% of the people here wouldn't be able to tell the difference between something tracked with an AB and a GR.

Not saying there's not a differene, because there obviously would be. Just that I'd bet that the majority -- as in over 50% -- wouldn't be able to appreciate it.

Sad, isn't it?

I think there is a post that reflects this to be true. The guy DID track with a GR and said that his friend, using a behringer, got better results. I think that what chessrock is saying is probably more true than not. CR is saying that too many people tend to go to the big $$$ equipment when they fail to get good results. It takes years to "get good" at recording and, sadly, in this era there seems to be no patience to learn by doing. I worked for frigg'in years with cheap equipment (for back in the 70s) and had to MAKE my recordings sound good. There was no choice back then. It is all in the skill and experience that makes it or breaks it.