elbandito
potential lunch winner
^ see, THIS is what I'm talking about! You two are like the Laurel & Hardy of HR.com.
M
moresound
Loud Sun Studios
Well this is an other fine mess you've gotten us into!
JimmyS1969
MOODerator
sgia
New member
I'll go out on a limb here - My guitarist says that the only way to record a song is to book a studio day, show up, play, and let the pros record, mix and master. HOWEVER, This IS a home recording forum, and any questions about a good vs. poor Mic is one made within the context of the home recording venue.
For those of us that break our heads about the right equipment, it's about getting the very most out of what we spend our money on. There is always the option to let someone else make the decisions for us (i.e. the sound guy at the studio) but that's not what it's about, at least not here on this board.
For those of us that break our heads about the right equipment, it's about getting the very most out of what we spend our money on. There is always the option to let someone else make the decisions for us (i.e. the sound guy at the studio) but that's not what it's about, at least not here on this board.
Steenamaroo
...
We're thinking of taking it on the road..
Take Henry..............No really, please take him!
I take Henry everywhere.............Trouble is he always comes back! Ba BOOOM.
Take Henry..............No really, please take him!
I take Henry everywhere.............Trouble is he always comes back! Ba BOOOM.
GuitarLegend
New member
Your guitarist is right. He should do what he does and leave what he doesn't do to those who do it best. But home studios ARE recording studios and many of them are very well equipped. The knowledge of many home recording studio engineers is formidable. "Home Studio" doesn't necessarily equate to "inferior production" and as many will argue, its not the size of your studio but how you use it that matters
G
Greg_L
Banned
Home recording is so easy now, you're almost a fool to spend money at a "real" studio. 
GuitarLegend
New member
Home recording is so easy now, you're almost a fool to spend money at a "real" studio.
Totes agree. But I do know quite a few musicians who are completely focused on performing and just dont have the interest in recording themselves. Thats good cos we can make some income off them
G
Greg_L
Banned
For sure. I'm just a DIY kind of guy. I'd even perform my own surgery and dental work if the potential for death wasn't so very real.
N
natecoemusic
New member
The more you sacrifice in the engineering process, the more the mix engineer will have to save your record. People say miss really doesn't matter but it absolutly does. With the wrong mic, you can easily say the sound is to muddy and start scooping out frequencies like 200hz-500hz which is a lot of body of a voice. By doing this, you can really lose a lot of frequencies that you really need in your mix and now you mix is compromised. In this situation is to find the right mic that translate the frequencies the way you want it in the mix.
When I engineer something, I try to use the mic and Pre-amp that gives me as close to finished sound as possible so in the mixing process, I'm being more creative than trying to make greatness out of crap. Just my opinion
When I engineer something, I try to use the mic and Pre-amp that gives me as close to finished sound as possible so in the mixing process, I'm being more creative than trying to make greatness out of crap. Just my opinion
D
danbortz
New member
I'm a voice-over guy (radio for 20 years) and engineer...and I can tell you IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE. I would never do V/O work over a kareoke rca $10 mic to achieve a crappy affect unless it was to sell the difference between a good mic and bad mic. So I guess...NEVER SAY NEVER...LOL.
TASCAM MAN
New member
The more you sacrifice in the engineering process, the more the mix engineer will have to save your record. People say miss really doesn't matter but it absolutly does. With the wrong mic, you can easily say the sound is to muddy and start scooping out frequencies like 200hz-500hz which is a lot of body of a voice. By doing this, you can really lose a lot of frequencies that you really need in your mix and now you mix is compromised. In this situation is to find the right mic that translate the frequencies the way you want it in the mix.
When I engineer something, I try to use the mic and Pre-amp that gives me as close to finished sound as possible so in the mixing process, I'm being more creative than trying to make greatness out of crap. Just my opinion
And a totally good opinion at that
sgia
New member
I agree that many home studios and homegrown productions produce professional results. As a musician however, how much energy do I want to spend on achieving that professional sound on the "other" side of the instrument / mic? The knowledge of some members on this site represents so many hours and hours of practice, trial and error and honed skill.
I think my guitarist is saying he'd would take the time to write his parts, come up with new material, etc.
That brings me to a query - How lofty a goal is it to "do it all" as a semi-pro or serious hobby musician?
We record our stuff during the creative song writing phase and in the end I make an "acceptable" mix down, then we practice and play based on that mix down so we go to the studio totally prepared and record it. Kind of like covering a song you just wrote.
To achieve the level of quality that they do with the end result is, for me, unrealistic. The equipment would be the easy part, that's *only* money and fixed by what you can spend, the room is doable if you have the space but the TIME and energy to hone the skills to produce the result - That's a different story all together. That's about discipline, time, patience, creativity, practice - oh, all the things necessary to write your own music in the first place. It would be interesting to hear what some of you have to say about that.
NOTE: The original question of this post was about mics and how picky are we when comparing differences, so excuse my deviation. (said the waitress to the bishop)
Cheers,
SG
I think my guitarist is saying he'd would take the time to write his parts, come up with new material, etc.
That brings me to a query - How lofty a goal is it to "do it all" as a semi-pro or serious hobby musician?
We record our stuff during the creative song writing phase and in the end I make an "acceptable" mix down, then we practice and play based on that mix down so we go to the studio totally prepared and record it. Kind of like covering a song you just wrote.
To achieve the level of quality that they do with the end result is, for me, unrealistic. The equipment would be the easy part, that's *only* money and fixed by what you can spend, the room is doable if you have the space but the TIME and energy to hone the skills to produce the result - That's a different story all together. That's about discipline, time, patience, creativity, practice - oh, all the things necessary to write your own music in the first place. It would be interesting to hear what some of you have to say about that.
NOTE: The original question of this post was about mics and how picky are we when comparing differences, so excuse my deviation. (said the waitress to the bishop)
Cheers,
SG
G
Greg_L
Banned
It's not lofty at all. You just have to want to do it. If you want it, you find a way to do it. If it doesn't interest you and you just wanna play, then that's fine too.
GuitarLegend
New member
You get out what you put in. But that typically amounts to several years...
G
Greg_L
Banned
No one is born just knowing how to do something. Everything takes practice. People have no problem spending hours a day practicing the same boring guitar licks or drum rudiments over and over. They do it because they want to play. If one wants to engineer/produce/mix they'll apply the same kind of practice to that and get good at it. You just have to want to do it.
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
Yup. It's all down to your own level of interest and commitment. To get really good results, you probably have to put darn near as much time into practising recording and mixing as you do into being a musician. If you're interested and enjoy it, this is easy but I'm sure it's not for everybody.
GuitarLegend
New member
A lot of people don't want to put the time into playing a musical instrument. Apparently only 3% of the population of the world actually plays a musical instrument and about a third of that play professionally. That is a good thing because we have lots of audience who wish they could be us if they had what it takes to do it. It is pretty much the same with audio engineering. It intrigues some of us into the wee hours of the morning. Others just can't be bothered. Again its a good thing for us. But as Greg_L says, you really have to want to do it.
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
I agree...it's not for everyone, and to touch back on what sgia was saying...there are musicians who just want to play and focus on the music. I don't think some of them could cut it in a studio environment even if they spent as much time practicing as they did on their instruments. I do feel that with any kind of discipline, you need the right mindset to really get good at it and to develop a deep, lasting interest for it.
I started out with recording mainly to record my songs....but very quickly developed as-deep an interest in the actual recording process, and I quickly got to a point where the recording process was as enjoyable and the actual music I was recording.
Yeah, I'm one of the guys who is screwing around with a tape deck issue or messing with file format conversions into the wee hours on many nights...and that's a normal part of the whole process that I enjoy.
To also touch back on another point that was raised by sgia...there are times when going into a pro studio is the right thing to do for some folks and some situations. You get the serious rooms to record in, and you usually get many more options than you will in a typical home-rec studio...not to mention, you do get the pro engineers who live for recording...though that said, the definition of "home studio" these days is very broad. From the laptop in the corner of the bedroom, right on up to some serious rigs...so it's all possible if you have good talent in front of the mic, some decent gear and some skills, but not everyone wants/needs to build a home studio just to record some tracks...and as mentioned, it does become a process that is as demanding as the music, and some people just don't want to get bogged down in the process...so they might be better off just walking into a studio and playing.
gecko zzed
Grumpy Mod
I read "and" as "as" in the above.
In which case, it was the same for me. Importantly, I discovered that recording was way more enjoyable for me that playing, and my only regret is not figuring this out much earlier in life, when I was all starry-eyed about performing.