Help fighting the music industry goliath

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CHRISTOPHERIBEN

New member
Good Afternoon fellow Producers , audio engineers and musicians in general .

I Am a Singer, composer and Songwriter from NYC living and working in Brazil for a record label in Sao Paulo . Recently i have got tired of giving up all of my original songs or even my song's inspiration melodies to other singers and not being able to record myself singing them and perhaps having a clearer chance to become an independent artist of the industry.

long story short, i have decided to spend any of my free time out of work reading , practicing and becoming every time better on recording, Producing, mixing, and mastering my own songs.

So i have a few questions that i hope some of you that have already conquer those professions can help me.

1. How Can i make my recordings sound live or even how to record live using effects and plug ins like antares, reverb , delay and still dont get latency on my DAW?
2. Can Phasing problems when recording drums or vocals with more than one microphones be fixed after recording? , or if there is a phasing problem already because of the wrong positioning of the mics, it should be fixed before recording ? and how to fixed those problems if there is not a phase button on my microphones?
3. When Mixing, what other effect than compressor can i use to make my vocals sound more blend to the music ?
 
1. Actually play them live, with a band. If you are tracking everything separately, it will always sound like that.

Do not record with the effects. You won't know how much to put on until you are at the mixing stage.

2. Only use one mic for vocals. For drums, the phase problems come from the mics not being placed properly. No, it can't be fixed in the mix. Don't confuse phase with polarity. Phase is a difference in timing, the bleed inherent in drum micing tends to be the problem. Sometimes the phase can be minimized by flipping the polarity, but most of the time it just changes the problem.

3. Eq is a good place to start. What you need to.do is buIld the mix around the tonality of the vocals.
 
Welcome to Brasil, mate!

I hope you have a good time here. I am a few miles away from you in a small country town called Campos do Jordao.

:guitar:
 
Thank you very Much for sharing your experience with me Jay.

Let me ask you one more question please related to phase issues.

2. After miking the drums what would you recommend to listen to in the control room in order to been able to tell a really bad phase problem? from what i understand on recording drums there will always be some phasing problem because of the number of mics used, but how may i be sure that what i am about to record is the best that i can get without much phasing problems ?

3. thats a great way of seeing it . Some times when i am on the studio and i get some free time before a new artist comes to record, i set a microphone and start singing to it . trying to find the right signal flow chain for my vocals. What could you recommend me on experimenting as a signal flow design?
I usually do---mic--avalon preamp and compressor----saffire pro 40 interface (pre amp nobs at 0 level) --- to my logic pro x . and once inside Logic i set in order EQ---Reverb--Delay ----

Thank you very much for your replies, i really appreciate this opportunity to learn from another engineer.
 
Oi todo bem ?? Muito Obrigado por dar a benvina .
Eu conheco Campos do Jordao gostei muito de la e dos queijos.
Eu estou indo a um curso de ingenieros de som e produtores em sao Paulo com Dudu Borges em Março. Seria bom a gente se conhecer .

Muito boa produçao
e essa sua de Anti Amor ?
 
CHRISTOPHERIBEN said:
Oi todo bem ?? Muito Obrigado por dar a benvina .
Eu conheco Campos do Jordao gostei muito de la e dos queijos.
Eu estou indo a um curso de ingenieros de som e produtores em sao Paulo com Dudu Borges em Março. Seria bom a gente se conhecer .

Muito boa produçao
e essa sua de Anti Amor ?
Click to expand...

Hey Cristopher! You have a very good Portuguese – I will type in English then people around won't feel excluded ;)

Yes, this is a production of mine. :)

Like you I am a song writer and instrument player, but differently from you I do it only as a hobby (I am not a pro). This song is the first of a group of compositions that I started back in 2011. I started dreaming about of produce my stuff 30 years ago in the middle 80s but just recently I had this opportunity.

"Anti amor" was wrote, arranged, played and produced by me and my wife sang it. Unfortunately after about 5 songs songs my wife told me that didn't want to keep singing because this is not her stuff (she is not a singer and took part of the project just to help me with the initial kick). Then I had an hiatus deciding what I would do and returned last year, this time singing myself (soon I will publish the songs).

If you come to Campos do Jordao again, give me a shout, maybe we can hang out for a beer or two!

:drunk:
 
You are totally right , just showing off my portuguese hah

Thanks man ! i will do for sure. If i get the chance i will try to go to Campos again for sure. have a good Friend called Danilo Lima in campos that i want to visit.

If you have instagram please add me so we can keep in touch thanks

hipbop_studio
Christopher Riben
any of those two options will help you find me on instagram
was great meeting you and good luck with your new production hope to hear it soon

congrats
 
CHRISTOPHERIBEN said:
2. After miking the drums what would you recommend to listen to in the control room in order to been able to tell a really bad phase problem? from what i understand on recording drums there will always be some phasing problem because of the number of mics used, but how may i be sure that what i am about to record is the best that i can get without much phasing problems ?
Click to expand...
If you pan all the tracks center and none of the drums sound thin or hollow, you don't have phase problems.

The best way to keep from having phase issues is isolation. Obviously, having 10 open mics on a drum set, there will be some bleed. But if you can keep (for example) the snare at least 9db quieter in the tom mics than it is in the snare mic, phase wont be an issue. This is generally done by the drummer playing with proper dynamics. If the drummer beats the crap out of the snare drum and then lightly touches the toms during a fill, you are going to have problems because you are going to have to turn the tom mics way up in order to hear the toms...which brings up the sound of the snare and cymbals in those mics. That screws up the context of the bleed and gives you phase issues because of the timing difference between the sound of the snare in the snare mic and the sound of the snare in the tom mic.

CHRISTOPHERIBEN said:
3. thats a great way of seeing it . Some times when i am on the studio and i get some free time before a new artist comes to record, i set a microphone and start singing to it . trying to find the right signal flow chain for my vocals. What could you recommend me on experimenting as a signal flow design?
I usually do---mic--avalon preamp and compressor----saffire pro 40 interface (pre amp nobs at 0 level) --- to my logic pro x . and once inside Logic i set in order EQ---Reverb--Delay ----

Thank you very much for your replies, i really appreciate this opportunity to learn from another engineer.
Click to expand...
Preamp - compressor - interface is a good place to start. Once inside the daw, EQ and more compression might be needed to sit it in the mix. Reverb and delay should be used as send effects to give you more control. Inserting them on the track is a harder way of controlling them.
 
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great , yes thats what i have been figuring exactly out , but its hard cause, i dont like the avalon 737 pre amp much for vocals , so i am trying to use the pre amp from my interface and after that compress it with the avalon 737 , do you have an idea how i can do that ?

Also when i record live, would you mic the amps on the stage to record the performance ? Also, which PA system speaker should i mic to get the best out my vocals with a condenser mic ?

Thanks
 
CHRISTOPHERIBEN said:
great , yes thats what i have been figuring exactly out , but its hard cause, i dont like the avalon 737 pre amp much for vocals , so i am trying to use the pre amp from my interface and after that compress it with the avalon 737 , do you have an idea how i can do that ?
Click to expand...
You probably can't. Unless your interface has an insert, you won't be able to.

CHRISTOPHERIBEN said:
Also when i record live, would you mic the amps on the stage to record the performance ?
Click to expand...
Are you talking about guitar amps? If so, yes mic them up.
CHRISTOPHERIBEN said:
Also, which PA system speaker should i mic to get the best out my vocals with a condenser mic ?
Click to expand...
You don't mic the PA at all. Sing into the mic and record that. Do the rest during the mixing process.

Thanks[/QUOTE]
 
So in order to get a live sounding vocals, you wouldnt try to capture them on the stage, but instead just capture vocals straight into the interface and then mix it to get a live sound vocal?

wouldnt be also be a problem if my vocals coming out of the PA system bleed into my microphone that im recording vocals ?
 
Why are you recording with a pair system turned on?

The "live" sound has nothing to do with the PA system. It's more about the sound of the room and the audience.
 
For example, any live album that you have ever heard was recorded directly off the microphones, not by micing the PA system.

Most of them had large parts re-recorded in the studio later to fix mistakes. Judas Priest's Unleashed in the East was a studio recording with audience tracks and reverb added.

It's all about the mix, nothing to do with a PA system or even where it was recorded.
 
Got it !

So when they record live concerts , they record the singer's vocals straight into the mixer or the interface ?

Because i swear that for me it sounds like they are recording it in front of the stage with a microphone .

i have trying different chain effects that got from waves but i havent get that similar live sound
 
All the stage mics go into a split snake. One split goes to the front of house mixer, the other goes to the recording setup.

There are also some audience mics that get recorded. Nowadays, it would be the same mics that are fed to the performer's in ear system, so they can hear the room.

Any mistakes/problems are overdubbed in the studio later.

Miking a PA system would sound like total garbage. Besides, in an arena show, the PA system is really too big to mic. The subs are on the ground and the mids and highs are 30 feet in the air. There would also be no way to change the live mix, which are always lacking and mostly mono.
 
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