I just realised how much I suck...

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textingname

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...at sound engineering. I know somebody is gonna say in a patronizing way to "read through the forums" before I ask any questions, but I'm gonna ask anyway. Maybe YOU can point me to the right threads.

I just watched a producer master class with a guy named Ctrl-Z from europe. I had NO IDEA about things like rolling off the low end or grouping and separating frequency ranges in the first place. I didn't know that snares sit at so and so HZ and the vocals in a diff range, etc.

So what this vid showed me that I have to know is:

Is there a standard set of frequency ranges (in # Hz) that snares sit in as a general rule? What are all of these ranges for all of the various elements in the mix?

Is there an in depth guide (hopefully online and free) on how to use trickier effects one by one like:
Limiter

Compression

Stereo Enhancer

any I may have forgotten to mention..

Please ACTUALLY help me lol!

Last time one guy pasted a cookiecutter reply out of wordpad and another guy just told me to "Plug mic in and find what configuration of tube/solid state sounds best" and read the forum. Thanks alot for that btw lol. If someone who's not a smartass really took the time to answer me I'd really appreciate it!
 
textingname said:
...at sound engineering. I know somebody is gonna say in a patronizing way to "read through the forums" before I ask any questions, but I'm gonna ask anyway. Maybe YOU can point me to the right threads.

I just watched a producer master class with a guy named Ctrl-Z from europe. I had NO IDEA about things like rolling off the low end or grouping and separating frequency ranges in the first place. I didn't know that snares sit at so and so HZ and the vocals in a diff range, etc.

So what this vid showed me that I have to know is:

Is there a standard set of frequency ranges (in # Hz) that snares sit in as a general rule? What are all of these ranges for all of the various elements in the mix?

Is there an in depth guide (hopefully online and free) on how to use trickier effects one by one like:
Limiter

Compression

Stereo Enhancer

any I may have forgotten to mention..

Please ACTUALLY help me lol!

Last time one guy pasted a cookiecutter reply out of wordpad and another guy just told me to "Plug mic in and find what configuration of tube/solid state sounds best" and read the forum. Thanks alot for that btw lol. If someone who's not a smartass really took the time to answer me I'd really appreciate it!
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The problem is, the smartass who says "read the forum" or "read this book" is absolutely right. It's obvious you don't want to hear it, but there aren't shortcuts. Wait--that's not true--there is a big shortcut. It's called the internet.

Could you imagine trying to learn this 20 years ago? Nope, me neither. It's all out there. But there's no way someone can give you a one time brain dump and *BAM* now you know it.

So start with a single topic. Make it recording a snare. Go ahead and record one. If it sucks, start reading about it. Keep recording and mixing until your snare sounds good. Then move on to guitars. Then bass. And so on and so on...

And don't call me a smartass either.
 
WhiteStrat said:
The problem is, the smartass who says "read the forum" or "read this book" is absolutely right. It's obvious you don't want to hear it, but there aren't shortcuts. Wait--that's not true--there is a big shortcut. It's called the internet.

Could you imagine trying to learn this 20 years ago? Nope, me neither. It's all out there. But there's no way someone can give you a one time brain dump and *BAM* now you know it.

So start with a single topic. Make it recording a snare. Go ahead and record one. If it sucks, start reading about it. Keep recording and mixing until your snare sounds good. Then move on to guitars. Then bass. And so on and so on...

And don't call me a smartass either.
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Lol who said I was looking for a shortcut? I didn't ask for a magic mixing machine, I just want a quick link to the INFO itself. I just didn't want a half-assed answer issued by someone who's bitter that they didn't get sufficient help in THEIR beginnings and feels they have to keep secrets from others to keep their technical superiority, and trust me there is a LOT of that going around this wonderful net you refer to.

I simply asked for a real answer...I don't see why people bother posting some of the responses they do...it's almost like they want to tease you by alluding to their own knowledge about the subject and displaying their smarmy unwillingness to share it. It's all:

"Find out for yourself, that what *I* had to do".

Even though they know damn well they can clear up the issue easily if they wanted to help. But most of the time, they don't.

I for one am not like that.

As SOON AS I FIGURED out how reason works when I was new at it, I posted a vid on youtube to explain to others the things that the tutorials and help indexes just don't help with.

I'm just saying...the point of sites like this (and the net for that matter) is to help each other out, not look down our noses at people we could be helping.

Just a thought.
 
textingname said:
Lol who said I was looking for a shortcut? I didn't ask for a magic mixing machine, I just want a quick link to the INFO itself. I just didn't want a half-assed answer issued by someone who's bitter that they didn't get sufficient help in THEIR beginnings and feels they have to keep secrets from others to keep their technical superiority, and trust me there is a LOT of that going around this wonderful net you refer to.

I simply asked for a real answer...I don't see why people bother posting some of the responses they do...it's almost like they want to tease you by alluding to their own knowledge about the subject and displaying their smarmy unwillingness to share it. It's all:

"Find out for yourself, that what *I* had to do".

Even though they know damn well they can clear up the issue easily if they wanted to help. But most of the time, they don't.

I for one am not like that.

As SOON AS I FIGURED out how reason works when I was new at it, I posted a vid on youtube to explain to others the things that the tutorials and help indexes just don't help with.

I'm just saying...the point of sites like this (and the net for that matter) is to help each other out, not look down our noses at people we could be helping.

Just a thought.
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I'm sorry if you think I'm looking down my nose at you. For the record, I was going to link to the IRN site--but the very first response did.

And before you complain about my smarmy unwillingness to share--search some of my posts. Tell me I don't share. I've built entire websites with gear and recording process tutorials, complete with pictures and sound files.

That's sort of my point. There's tons on here. You could have searched on the words "snare frequency" and found this:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/search.php?searchid=1670524

Yeah, it's a lot to read. But sometimes reading more shows the why, not just the what.

And by the way--it wasn't 1 out of 4 responses. There were only 2. And they were both helpful. You just didn't like the help in one of them... :D
 
WhiteStrat said:
I'm sorry if you think I'm looking down my nose at you. For the record, I was going to link to the IRN site--but the very first response did.

And before you complain about my smarmy unwillingness to share--search some of my posts. Tell me I don't share. I've built entire websites with gear and recording process tutorials, complete with pictures and sound files.

That's sort of my point. There's tons on here. You could have searched on the words "snare frequency" and found this:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/search.php?searchid=1670524

Yeah, it's a lot to read. But sometimes reading more shows the why, not just the what.

And by the way--it wasn't 1 out of 4 responses. There were only 2. And they were both helpful. You just didn't like the help in one of them... :D
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Dude, I was simply talking about the general state of "help" on the net. Sorry you took it personally, but I don't remember referring to YOU specifically in that post. And I was only estimating for the total number of posts I've made since I joined this site, not just this thread. I'm sure you're a nice person, but I just had to clear up that I'm not looking for someone to give me a magic solution so I can be lazy and make stuff easily. That's kind of harsh to imply about someone.
 
i've been on this forum for over a year now and it's been incredibly helpful. I also got a book on my specific software (logic). I research it in my spare time, I read up on it all the time. I am always learning. I just love doing it so much.

practice and research i guess.
 
textingname said:
Last time one guy pasted a cookiecutter reply out of wordpad and another guy just told me to "Plug mic in and find what configuration of tube/solid state sounds best" and read the forum. Thanks alot for that btw lol. If someone who's not a smartass really took the time to answer me I'd really appreciate it!
Click to expand...

Do you wonder why he has the response on wordpad? Because questions are asked like this at least 20 times a day every day. One time is understandable, but after youve been informed the best way to find the information, and are too lazy to use the Search function, that's just ridiculous. You said so yourself that you knew you could read the forums, but you were asking anyway. That's why he has it on wordpad, the information he gives is really helpful. If he hadn't of told you it was saved on word pad you wouldn't of even know and would have been grateful. There are tons of experienced people on here who are more than willing, and actually enjoy helping noobs like you and myself. We only ask that you spend five minutes of research yourself first.
James
 
I hate to link to another forum, but over at the reaper forums there is a thread called "why do your recordings sound like ass?" that has some AWESOME info on mixing.

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=29283

I've been following since the beginning, and I must say it has helped my mixes tremendously.
 
didgijimmy said:
Do you wonder why he has the response on wordpad? Because questions are asked like this at least 20 times a day every day. One time is understandable, but after youve been informed the best way to find the information, and are too lazy to use the Search function, that's just ridiculous. You said so yourself that you knew you could read the forums, but you were asking anyway. That's why he has it on wordpad, the information he gives is really helpful. If he hadn't of told you it was saved on word pad you wouldn't of even know and would have been grateful. There are tons of experienced people on here who are more than willing, and actually enjoy helping noobs like you and myself. We only ask that you spend five minutes of research yourself first.
James
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Yes, I said I could look in the forum myself. But I was just wondering if someone could point me directly to the "nuggets" so that I could avoid the chore of trolling through insignificant and uninformative personal back-and-forths much like this thread is becoming, for example! There is ONE post on this thread with useable information. Perhaps someone like myself in the future will asked to be pointed to that. And instead of coming down on him for my perceptions on his attitude toward learning in general, *I* will simply point him to it! Your response is thoughtful and contemplative enough, but it doesn't help me at ALL with the immediate issues that made me post in the first place.

People only want me to tediously troll through here because that's what THEY had to do. Excuse me if I offend anyone by suggesting that we streamline what we call "helping" to make it more efficient and therefore readily useful. The time I'm wasting engaging in this crap is taking away from time I could be spending on making my music better (Why I Asked to begin with) so I'm going to stop now.
 
textingname said:
Yes, I said I could look in the forum myself. But I was just wondering if someone could point me directly to the "nuggets" so that I could avoid the chore of trolling through insignificant and uninformative personal back-and-forths much like this thread is becoming, for example! There is ONE post on this thread with useable information. Perhaps someone like myself in the future will asked to be pointed to that. And instead of coming down on him for my perceptions on his attitude toward learning in general, *I* will simply point him to it! Your response is thoughtful and contemplative enough, but it doesn't help me at ALL with the immediate issues that made me post in the first place.

People only want me to tediously troll through here because that's what THEY had to do. Excuse me if I offend anyone by suggesting that we streamline what we call "helping" to make it more efficient and therefore readily useful. The time I'm wasting engaging in this crap is taking away from time I could be spending on making my music better (Why I Asked to begin with) so I'm going to stop now.
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Oh by the way, if you don't feel like helping, DON'T RESPOND! It's quite simple. I'm not asking for the help of someone who's going to grudgingly roll their eyes and give me a hasty and simple response, thinking I could never survive without them imparting their cynical "wisdom" upon me. If you're stuck up in any way, I don't need help from you.
 
textingname said:
Yes, I said I could look in the forum myself. But I was just wondering if someone could point me directly to the "nuggets" so that I could avoid the chore of trolling through insignificant and uninformative personal back-and-forths much like this thread is becoming, for example! There is ONE post on this thread with useable information. Perhaps someone like myself in the future will asked to be pointed to that. And instead of coming down on him for my perceptions on his attitude toward learning in general, *I* will simply point him to it! Your response is thoughtful and contemplative enough, but it doesn't help me at ALL with the immediate issues that made me post in the first place.

People only want me to tediously troll through here because that's what THEY had to do. Excuse me if I offend anyone by suggesting that we streamline what we call "helping" to make it more efficient and therefore readily useful. The time I'm wasting engaging in this crap is taking away from time I could be spending on making my music better (Why I Asked to begin with) so I'm going to stop now.
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And I will stop as well, with this:
I completely agree with your points about being helpful, I only think that there were some that were helpful, as said before you didn't like their help. I understand that it is tedious, but do not agree with the generalizations you made: "People only want me to tediously troll through here because that's what THEY had to do." Said "people" only get tired of repeating information that often shows up on the first page with a search. For the record most of the time I don't have to sift through tedious information. I do a search and 90% of the time I find what I'm looking for. I somewhat understand your frustration, we all do, and understand that being new you hadn't quite learned the "etiquite", however I do think you could have been less hostile, especially toward the information you were given, that was most likely helpful in some way. Some are too hard on newbs, but lets not generalize.
Welcome to HR and I hope you can look past this thread and stick around.
James
 
d.bop said:
I hate to link to another forum, but over at the reaper forums there is a thread called "why do your recordings sound like ass?" that has some AWESOME info on mixing.

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=29283

I've been following since the beginning, and I must say it has helped my mixes tremendously.
Click to expand...

Thank you...make that *2* posts. See there are 2 types of people on here obviously. People like you, and people I should just avoid.

Thanks man!
 
didgijimmy said:
And I will stop as well, with this:
I completely agree with your points about being helpful, I only think that there were some that were helpful, as said before you didn't like their help. I understand that it is tedious, but do not agree with the generalizations you made: "People only want me to tediously troll through here because that's what THEY had to do." Said "people" only get tired of repeating information that often shows up on the first page with a search. For the record most of the time I don't have to sift through tedious information. I do a search and 90% of the time I find what I'm looking for. I somewhat understand your frustration, we all do, and understand that being new you hadn't quite learned the "etiquite", however I do think you could have been less hostile, especially toward the information you were given, that was most likely helpful in some way. Some are too hard on newbs, but lets not generalize.
Welcome to HR and I hope you can look past this thread and stick around.
James
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Sorry I don't mean to come off as cold, but I've been struggling to understand this stuff for a long time. You're right it IS frustrating. After years of searching around for this stuff you start to expect certain things from internet people and get just plain wary of the whole thing. But I still refuse to give up. I know at least a few folks on here operate at my wavelength, as it were. Those are the ones I'm trying to find. Any hint that someone is like the common type kind of makes me defensive. But I don't say anything on here with hate. No one pisses me off on here enough to say I don't like them personally. The frankness is just a way of cutting to the chase. Cheers
 
no problem buddy. :)

They have two other threads by the same OP that are just as good. One on acoustics and a new one onproducing yourself.

I agree with you that a lot of people here seem to post but they often avoid the actual question and/or just rattle off the same things everyone has already said and heard.

I dunno, I do my best to stay out of those threads and stick the actual topic. Seems to work out :)


Anyway,

We all suck. That's why we're 'home recording engineers.' we all aspire to be one of the greats and that's why these forums are so important. If we all pool our knowledge together, maybe one day our starry eyes can reach that goal. Not because we want to show off or one-up eachother, but because we love the art and strive for perfection. :)

Good luck on your journey through the wonderful world of mixing.
 
Bristol Posse said:
Take a look at this

http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/main_display.htm
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Man I gotta say thanks again for this link! I browsed the site it came from and there's even more good stuff in there, like what all the terms mean and how processors work in the clearest english I think I've ever read. I now understand compression better than I ever have and I'm looking forward to learning the subtleties of the other machines in the chain. Awesome site!
 
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