People who have been doing this a while....how do you learn?

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Nutdotnet

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I know, I know PRACTICE, and I do, but sometimes I get so damn frustrated with what I come up with. I don't know, I guess that even if you practice a lot not knowing what you are doing in the first place or not really sure what you are looking for in the sound things can get rather tough.

I go to the MP3 Mixing Clinic quite a bit. There are people in there that are using a lot less quality stuff than I do and there stuff sounds 100 times better than mine.

I can get clear sounds, but they sound dry. Sound dead I guess, no feeling, etc.....etc......

Any good books out there or any online references to maybe help me out?

I am using my computer to record.
My genre is more acoustic rock more than anything.

I have a Rode NT-1 Condensor
SM-57
Blue Tube Preamp
Blue Max Compressor
Delta-44
Behringer Truth Montors

Not trying to gripe and moan, just been getting frustrated over the past couple of days.

Thanks in advance!
 
I did a lot of listening to my gear through headphones with nothing but an open mic. I had the can cranked.

I'd fiddle with all the gain stages in the signal chain to see where the *hhhhhhhssssssssssss* noises came from and learned where the sweet spots of all my gear were. I still do this with every track. If I don't my but gets kicked 4 days later when the tracking is done, I'm mixing, it comes to the fade-out and.....hhhhhhssssss. Arrrgh!

Anyway, clean signals aren't everything, they are just satisfying in a geeky kind of way.

Now I noticed you said acoustic rock. You and me both!! I hated the acoustic sound I got to tape until I discovered x/y stereo micing. Good lord, it was like the skies opened and the secrets of the universe come pouring forth- that's finally my guitar sound coming from those damn speakers!

We hear with 2 ears. Acoustic instruments, especially ones that occupy prominant places in a mix (piano, guitar) sound... fake... when recorded with only one mic. At least for one of my skills. I'm sure there are many here who can make an acoustic sound fantastic in mono.

The deal is that you need two of the same mics. I see that you don't have two of the same. See if you can borrow another 57 and try x/y micing your guitar. That's how I've gotten all of my guitars on tape. (At least the ones I let people hear...)

Don't borrow another nt-1 unless you are ready to buy another one and have the preamp stuff to go with it. You will, no doubt, like the sound, but this is where gear lust starts to take ahold. I haven't bought just 1 mic since I learned this... :D

And when you get frustrated, by all means do something else. I often find myself fussing with mixs or listening to some "reference mix" over and over and thinking "I'm working on my music...."

Bull! I wish I was working on my music, but I'm too burnt out to actually be productive. Time to take a break, take a walk, call an old friend, try a new restraunt, read a good book- whatever. If you absolutely must do something with music, you can always hang out here till 3:30 in the morining. :rolleyes:

Oy, its late. :)

Take care,
Chris
 
Research, research, practice, practice, practice.

There's a wealth of advice to point you in the right direction on this board and others. There's been a few posts on recording books lately. Doing a Search on books should find them. The only ones I've seen which go into actual detail about using a compressor, EQ etc. are the ones by Peter McIan - Using Your Portable Studio and Home Recording For Musicians. Both these books are very dated however. The equipment featured looks ancient - the Tascam 246 anyone? Most of the others I've seen seem too general and stop just at the point of telling you the things you actually want to know. In the end though, after taking pointers from other people wherever you can get them, there's no substitute for trying things out yourself, experimenting, seeing what works - in other words: practising - (my two pence worth.)
 
The only way is practice, Practice, PRACTICE... it isn't enough to talk about techniques - when you learn something new you need to try it out on some tracks and see how to work it...

Sure, research, read, ask questions here -- but get on the console and start DOING!

Bruce
 
Yo NUT.Net:

You need a reverb box to give your "dry" tracks some "feeling."

Not lots of reverb but it sure does help vocals. These days there are plenty of GOOD reverb box out there.

I didn't see any reverb box listed in your gear.

Green Hornet

PS Bruce is right. Practice and move the dials and sliders as I'm doing as I learn the Yam 2816.

And, Bruce, you were right. I can run the stereo sound out the back of the 2816 into tape and it sounds good. I haven't done the 24 bit yet but it will work. As well, there is a digital stereo out also but I don't have anything to mix that into at the moment.

GH
 
Learn you gear as well as possible. Position a mic, lay down 30 seconds, listen, move the mic and repeat this. Read and use the info. I learn new stuff for here and mags/books, then apply them. From there it may give me a new idea, or I may find something I like!
 
Dry sounds

Don't get too frustrated Wally, I think Chris put it best...Take a break, go for a walk, figure out what you might need without sitting in front of your system.
I remember when I got my first effects unit for my initial studio (tape). It was a Boss Delay unit. The difference was like night and day, but I didn't necessarily settle. Atwork had it right too,. Don't be afraid to experiment. Find out what the piece does, before you buy it. Looking through your equip. list, I didn't see anything in the form of delay. You've probably heard it many times before, but reverb can be done to death. Sometimes a little delay is all it takes to fatten up the vocals, and/or instrumentation. Keep pluggin' away. I'm pretty sure that one day it'll "BOING!!" happen. Good Luck.:D
 
Yeah, I had a feeling that stereo micing is where its at.

Problem I am having with the SM57 though, I am not able to get enough useable gain when using it with my guitar.

If I try to place it around the 12th fret and slightly pointing towards the soundhole I have to turn my gain pretty much all the way up to get any decent signal, but then it introduces a whole bunch of noise to the track........
 
yeah...a small or large diaphragm condensor is more sensitive than a (dynamic) 57...much better for recording acoustic instruments. but, like (who was it, bruce? i forget) said...you start to fall into the gear trap. not necessarily a bad thing...but i know it's a ride a lot of us wish we could get off of. some eventually do...that's probably when they start getting good.

right now I am recording my 4,000 dollar taylor with a Rode NT3...in about a month I'm going to be adding a second NT3 to that setup, so maybe I can "finally hear MY guitar coming through those damn speakers." ;)
 
Just wanna raise my postcount and agree wholeheartedly with Bruce.
 
Yeah I also agree with Bruce, while I'm pretty new at this myself, I've definitely done alot of reading/research but the most productive and rewarding is done just by messing around mixing. Sometimes I'll just record a bunch of really bad sounding records and practice trying to salvage the sound quality, it's fun too!


Laj
 
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