Re-amping

  • Thread starter Thread starter Schwarzenyaeger
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miroslav said:
Mmmmm....I guess that is possible....

....if the guy is editing only with visual cues from the graphics and not listening to the edits. ;)
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It actually depends on the room. If it is a far mic in a tight room, it's not a problem. If it's a far mic that has a decent amount of decay, you are screwed if you are changing the arrangement of the song, or trying to copy/paste the one time he played the riff well from the middle of the phrase to the end, or something like that.

I run into a lot of stuff I can't do much about, simply because I mix other peoples stuff for a living. People send me what they have already done, so I don't have the chance to catch it during the record phase or bring them in to retrack anything. When you are largely doing your own stuff, you have more of a chance to make it right the first time or just redo it until you get it. By the time I get these tracks, I have to just deal with what they gave me and find a way to make it work. You wouldn't believe some of the tracks I get.
 
Farview said:
It actually depends on the room. If it is a far mic in a tight room, it's not a problem. If it's a far mic that has a decent amount of decay, you are screwed if you are changing the arrangement of the song, or trying to copy/paste the one time he played the riff well from the middle of the phrase to the end, or something like that.

I run into a lot of stuff I can't do much about, simply because I mix other peoples stuff for a living. People send me what they have already done, so I don't have the chance to catch it during the record phase or bring them in to retrack anything. When you are largely doing your own stuff, you have more of a chance to make it right the first time or just redo it until you get it. By the time I get these tracks, I have to just deal with what they gave me and find a way to make it work. You wouldn't believe some of the tracks I get.
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How do you say it? oy-vey?

I also do much mixing for others that I have no control over the way it was recorded. Sometimes it is complete faking of a part on my end to make it work.

No, it is not the way it should be and I would rather have the parts redone. But, when it involves someone else in a continent the other side of the world, and I am asked to make it work, I do the best I can.
 
miroslav said:
I understoood Fairview to be talking about two mics...one close, one room...and about edits being easier to see.
Or was he saying something else....?

Sure, if you just visusally slice both tracks where the close mic tail ends, it will be too short for the room mic....but again, monitoring the edit will tell you where the right spot is.
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The trouble comes when you are editing a part together that doesn't naturally go together. Like flying a chorus that goes into a verse to replace the chorus that goes into the bridge, the decay over the first note of the bridge will be different than the decay going into it. Especially if you are changing the arrangement of the song and the parts never went into each other.

You run into the same problem editing drums, you fly a verse to another verse, do the edit and realize the drummer hit a different cymbal coming out of the verse you replaced, the decay doesn't match the hit...
 
Farview said:
The trouble comes when you are editing a part together that doesn't naturally go together.
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Sure, I know what you are saying.
I've done my share of "splices" ---taking just the tail of a note and adding it to the end of another note to make it work...but that drastic editing is only an occasional necessity, since I'm usually just working on my own recordings, and I know when I'm tracking if I already have some potential "clunkers" that might need editing (but I don't want to redo the whole track). So what I do at the end of the tack, is to record some more single notes or chords or whatever...in anticipation of needing them later for edting and to fly to other parts of the track.

I'm like surgeon with a scalpel.
I can splice boobs onto your butt and make you look good with them. :D


Of course, when you get stuff from other people, it is what it is....and at that point, if they didn't already do a dry track for reamping, you just have to go with what you have.
If they did a dry track, then who does the reamping after you do the edits.....?...you, or do you send it back to them?
 
Sometimes I send them back. Sometimes I reamp the stuff myself and try to match the original sound as much as I have to.
 
Interesting.
Do you just do it and make it work as best as you can....or do you tell the client. ;)


I've been meaning to do some dry/reamp stuff for ages.
I have all the necessary Radial DI/Reamp toys....then when I start tracking, I just never take that step.
Much of that has to do with the fact that I'm tracking to tape...and I'm working with 24 tracks only (unless I do a dump to DAW and track some more, which is rare)...so I tend to have all 24 tracks planned out for primary stuff, and doing dry tracks for later reamping always ends up being a secondary consideration.
 
I am just going to state that working with other peoples tracks that are recorded in an environment that is not controlled by the one mixing, leads to finding ways to make them work. I can only say what works for me.

Yes, typically you would tell the client what you did, if in fact they ask. Typically it does not matter to them, as long as it sounds good in the end. After all, is that not why they pay someone to make it sound good? Whether or not inexperience or just something as simple as wishing for another musician/engineer/whatever giving them their take on a mix is the reason for someone to hire me, is not for me to judge. I just do what I can to make it sound good for the client.

Again, I have just realized how re-amping could be a tool used in a way that I had not realized useable until this thread. I will be thinking about it as an option in the future.

:)
 
I tell them if they ask. Most of the time I can match the type and amount of distortion, then I just pick the tone that the song needs, since I have the chance. Most of the time they just like the mix and don't ask.
 
Don't ask, don't tell. ;)

Hey, I'm with you guys.
The times when I have worked on other people's music....I embrace it as if it was my own, and I'll do what I can and what I have to, to make it sound good.

Now....you have some folks that feel mixing is just *mixing*...and/or they don't want to be bothered with editing too much...but man, when I hear something bad, and I know I can fix it....I'll fix it.
Of course, you also get that other crowd that feels recording has to be "pure"....one-take, no edits, blah, blah....but I find that to be somewhat of an unrealistic approach, or one that often leaves you doing 85 takes...etc.
Not saying it's bad to keep doing as many takes as you need to....just that in general, more takes just wear me out, and I would rather go for those 3-5 really good ones, and then do the edits if needed....be it my music or someone else's.

Now I feel compelled to do at least one track with a dry safety so I can try the reamp (maybe on my next recording sessions). If for no other reason than purely for the experiment/experience to see how levels and settings fall...so in case I ever really need to do it, I have some idea what to expect and I'm not fumbling around.
'Bout time I used those damn Radial boxes!!! :D
 
Kick out your neighbors and family, get the tone right the first time, and crank it up.
 
Interesting. I never really thought of that. Could come in handy for a client that is a sloppy player for sure. Sucks, but it happens sometimes...
 
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