JDOD
therecordingrebels.com
I remembered reading this in a book a couple of years ago - Neil Young obviously liked it so much that he re-printed it in his autobiography. It's a quote from David Briggs, Neil Young's producer.
DM60
Well-known member
That is why Greg hates Neil, he is Neil. At least the quote from the second page could be his posting.
G
Greg_L
Banned
I don't disagree with the underlying principle of that quote at all, keep it simple for sure, the source sound matters the most, but I don't necessarily agree that a band has to be in a room and that multitracking is bad. Who wants to make "records" like the 50s and 60s? I don't. Neil Young sure doesn't. All of his horrid classic hippie soft-rock sounds like any other classic hippie soft-rock. He can keep on soft rocking in his hypocrite world.
JDOD
therecordingrebels.com
Now ^that^ is brilliant!
The crux of it though, is "get a great sound at the source, put the correct mic in front of that source, get it to tape (or in our case a DAW) by the shortest possible route" This is what I think the point of the couple of pages was in the book.
G
Greg_L
Banned
Yes, that I personally wholeheartedly agree with.
Good luck getting people to understand and/or implement that principle though. Modern DAWs and plug-in technology has confused and confounded everyone into thinking this shit is way harder than it actually is.
Good luck getting people to understand and/or implement that principle though. Modern DAWs and plug-in technology has confused and confounded everyone into thinking this shit is way harder than it actually is.
JDOD
therecordingrebels.com
Maybe that's why I am always so bloody confused on this forum - people keep using terms that I have no understanding of at all...
Make the guitar sound nice and press the red button.
DM60
Well-known member
There are two things working here, tracking and mixing. Tracking, yes, mic it record it. The only complexity is getting the room sounding the way you want it or finding a room with the sound you like. Other than that, mic, record go. But, when it comes to mixing, I think it is a bit more complex.
G
Greg_L
Banned
Many people also seem to focus a lot of energy on the wrong things. They worry about effects and processing before they've even recorded one good sounding track. A lot of people have really ass backwards and sometimes really stupid ways of doing things, but that's the way they do it, and it may sometimes work, but it's still stupid.
---------- Update ----------
Is it really though? Mixing is pretty easy if you recorded good tracks and have a good monitoring environment.
JDOD
therecordingrebels.com
Maybe a lot of the time its 'cos people have access to all this fancy shit they feel the need to use it or think that it must be more complicated than it actually is and that your not doing it right if you use loads of this fancy shit. That's another key point from the David Briggs quote "I can teach you everything I know in an hour"
DM60
Well-known member
You have said it a million times, and I really have to agree (after learning by doing). Get a good recording, the other stuff tends to fall by the wayside (it is hard to fix crap). Many of us make it overly complex and we over think it. But it is nice to understand what frequencies are doing what, how to get something to punch through, etc. And I really do think it take some effort to learn to do a good job. Knowing what knobs I am turning and why surely isn't a bad thing. You might also under appreciate just how much you know about this stuff.
I really think your second statement for many people is the part where many struggle. But it isn't hard: treat here, here, and here. But it does require more than just push record. Not complex, not hard, but some effort.
calimoose
New member
Greg has said many things on HR, often times delightfully and relentlessly politically incorrect things. But of the many posts I've read, one that's always stood out is the importance of the source above all else. That's actually where I personally struggle most, as I find myself trying to do many things on my own in ways that are not at all efficient. Most importantly: trying to find my mic's sweet spot for vocals. I'm too lazy, I just shove my face a few inches from a condenser and call it a day
