Gain Staging

[lurgan liar]

Wow...i just learned about gain staging today ... what a difference ... theres no more noise !!!!! yeee haaaaw ....

This is great i learn somethin new every day to make my mixes sound better

What do I need to know next? so I know how to get my signal to sound cleaner .... what would be the ideal room to record an acoustic guitar ....

What setting should i set on my mixer when recording for an acoustic guitar ...

i have three EQ pots : High 12 Khz , Mid 2.5 Kjz, Lo 80 Hz... ?

i've heard a lot of people saying tht if you are putting a bass guitar into a mix along with acoustic guitar that you should roll off the bass on the acoustic ...what exactly would this involve ...

any advice would be great ...thanks in advance

 

[SKYflyer]

would you mind posting a link or something so i can learn about gain staging also?
thanks

 

[lurgan liar]

there are a few good links i found through google

here is one of them ...

http://www.soloperformer.com/Studio_Talk/cleaner.html

i think the moral of the story is boost early cut late

 

[reshp1]

i have three EQ pots : High 12 Khz , Mid 2.5 Kjz, Lo 80 Hz... ?

i've heard a lot of people saying tht if you are putting a bass guitar into a mix along with acoustic guitar that you should roll off the bass on the acoustic ...what exactly would this involve ...

any advice would be great ...thanks in advance

Rolling off the bass would mean turning the Lo 80Hz knob counterclockwise from center (unity gain).

 

[lurgan liar]

Rolling off the bass would mean turning the Lo 80Hz knob counterclockwise from center (unity gain).

When would be the best time to apply this EQ though ....would it be better to apply it on the mixer during tracking....or to record with all the EQ pots set to unity gain ....

then apply an EQ plug in on my computer during mixing ....???

 

[mixsit]

When would be the best time to apply this EQ though ....would it be better to apply it on the mixer during tracking....or to record with all the EQ pots set to unity gain .... then apply an EQ plug in on my computer during mixing ....???

Here it's a judgment call. Roughly it goes something like this. If you know from experience (or from some trial runs) how much eq will work in context of your song (IE; eq decisions aren't best made in 'solo mode, and how many and which instruments are fighting for the eq range in question), while tracking would be optimum. But as it's a cut you're not boosting any way, so doing it at mix is fine.
Wayne

 

[XLR]

What setting should i set on my mixer when recording for an acoustic guitar ... When would be the best time to apply this EQ though ....would it be better to apply it on the mixer during tracking....or to record with all the EQ pots set to unity gain ....then apply an EQ plug in on my computer during mixing ....???

IMO the best EQ on ac gtr is done by controlling mic position and room acoustics, and if EQ is needed during tracking it can usually be avoided by dealing with those aspects in some way.

But if EQ processing beyond that is desired it's best, IMO, if not done in a way that permanently affects the raw track. It's good to leave future options open for processing, and EQ'ing on the way in makes it permanent. The gear and plugs I have now for EQ, compression and reverb are WAY better than the stuff I had just a couple yrs ago and being able to use it on older tracks is good. Every time I've used EQ (or any processing) while tracking I've always regretted it later. I've got a few recordings done using crap mixer EQ (just bass rolloff actually) that I could kick myself over because of the veiled sound the EQ imparts that my current stuff doesn't.

Tim

 

[lurgan liar]

Ok lets consider this example... a song consists of drums, bass, acoustic guitar and vocals....

would i be right in saying that the kick drum and bass occupy the same frequency range ...so boosts and cuts are applied in certain areas to make them gel together...?

the bass can be rolled off on all of the other elelments in the mix ...i.e. acoustic guitar, vocals, snare, overheads?

so what you are saying Tim ...is that the mic should be placed in such a way that there isn't as much bass being captured from the strings during tracking so that EQ won't be AS necessary during the mixing ...

I hope i explained that properly?

 

[reshp1]

My personal feeling is that unless you know exactly how you are going to mix a song (for example, you did a scratch version with all the different parts mixed and just want to retrack with better quality/fix mistakes etc) you should try to track as nuetrally as possible. In other words, try not over or under emphasize any frequency, either by EQ or mic positioning. You want to track it as it sounds in the room (many exceptions but in general..). Do EQing in the mix, where you can undo it if you change your mind, chances are the plugin EQ is way more flexible than the 3 - fix band EQ on your mixer. My personal preference.

 

[XLR]

so what you are saying Tim ...is that the mic should be placed in such a way that there isn't as much bass being captured from the strings during tracking so that EQ won't be AS necessary during the mixing ...

I think the best quality sound generally will come if tracking's done with the end result in mind and gets the sound as much as possible the way you'll want it through mic position and room control. My experience is that every EQ filter used on ac gtr, even just bass rolloff, changes subtle aspects of the whole EQ spectrum, almost always making it a little worse in some way, totally separate from the actual EQ settings. A good source of info on the subject is the Google newsgroup archives... if one does a search with the terms, rec.audio.pro eq phase scott dorsey you'll get lots of expert info on why it happens. Scott Dorsey is the man when it comes to good explanations of physics and electronics and their effect on sound quality.

Tim