Recording level in digital

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Doesn't matter what you are doing, its better to always use your head anyway:).
 
sjoko2,

what kind of gear are you using and how are you using it?

maybe we have comparable gear, but you're getting more out of it than i am?

inquiring minds want to know.

take me through your gear from guitar to DAW.
 
That might be a bit of a waste of time, as this is a commercial studio, therefore gear used might vary from project to project.
However, the 'heart' is pro Tools based.
 
Okay....well I posted this same question (why always record just under 0db?) in 3 different forums and I sure have learned a lot. I have received just about every response concievable.

Jim H, at least you addressed the question regarding the band that wants to punch in at the end.

In the end, for myself, I'm just not conviced that something like a hi hat has to be recorded just below 0db when you are confident that it will be WAY down in the mix-down. Of course, vocals drums or bass I think should peak near -03db. It seems to me to be a good idea.

Also I'm really supprised how some people who deal with this on a full time basis have time to respond to this forum on an almost daily basis. I thought most people who engineer and master are busy with that and doubt they would want to spend their extra time reading questions in forums and having constructive arguements. Anyway it has been a good learning experieince for me.
 
Well greggybud - we're just in the process of finishing the building of a recording complex, so over the last months I've spend a lot of time on the computer. Remind me to ask you for permission first next time.
All I do is offer some advise - which you can read, not read, take or leave. Just be assured that I'm only doing this to try and be of help, and comments like yours really make me question why the hell I bother.
 
sjoko2 said:
I'm only doing this to try and be of help, and comments like yours really make me question why the hell I bother. [/QUOTE

Gee Sjoko......Relax....take it EASY....Settle down. All I said is that I'm amazed at the response from people who are "professionals” and do this full time because I would assume they really would not want to do this in their spare time. So far I haven't seen Bruce Sweiden or Glen Meadows come into any forum and answer questions on a daily basis. Has Puff Daddy ever been here?

And just to set the record straight, Jezar never posted any of his comments in this forum as you claim. I simply read several of his opinions at Dreampoint and asked other people in this forum what they thought. You however came across as "The Authority” and "cease to be amazed" at comments of other recording engineers that have had extremely successful careers such as Jezar. You can have a multi-million dollar studio and years of experience. But until you reach the success of Glen Meadows (can you go any higher?) I wouldn't take cheap shots at other professionals such as Jezar. His track record speaks for himself. Of course as I understand it you will not release a list of your professional projects, or credits, and that is completely up to you.

I have read your responses as well as responses that don’t agree with yours. You make some good points and I have learned some new things that I didn't know about. Many other people have made good points and it’s been very educational for me. But please unless you have more credits than anyone else in this business maybe a bit of humility once in a while would be in order?
 
humility has never been my strongest point, but I'll take your advice, from now on I won't bother stating my opinions that often.
Do I have any strong points, huh I really don't think so, apart from perhaps making records that sell.
 
ha-ha... that was a good one.

unlike sjoko2 who does this for a living as a 'pro'. i'm a semi-hemi-quaver-pro (that means i make just enough to buy more gear) as a guitarist/producer/engineer. during the day, i'm a software architect for ibm with a 6-figure salary, but i teach at bowie state university part time for a couple of thou' a semester. i don't need the money i just like talking about what i do to people who need the advice.

ps. sjoko2 thanks for sparing my fealings regarding the 'gear' difference issue.
 
greggybud said:

You however came across as "The Authority” and "cease to be amazed" at comments of other recording engineers that have had extremely successful careers such as Jezar.

Greggybud,

Maybe you should do a little more reading and a little less typing before you come on here with this kind of crap. Sjoko IS one of "The Authorities" on this site. He's earned the right to "never cease to be amazed", if he sees something he deems not credible.

I believe that humility is indeed an attribute that sjoko possesses. He's worked with some of the biggest artist in the business. He was tracking worldwide #1's before you were probably born. But you'll never hear him bragging about it. It's almost like pulling teeth just to get him to talk about it a little bit.

Not every big name engineer in the business comes on here and gives us nobodies advice. Not everyone in the world is gracious and charitable. But some are.

We are very fortunate to have engineers like sjoko, sonus, Shailet, and Harvey Gerst, and others, that are willing to take time out of their personal lives to give advice and guidance to people like me and you.

I for one, don't appreciate you coming in here, as a newbie, and expressing a lack of appreciation and respect for sjoko, to the point of making him question the continuation of spending time to help us.

Taylor
 
Damn Zeke! don't make me blush! Don't worry, I don't take anything personal, I'm here for FUN, and to share a little bit of what I've lerned, that's all.
 
.Zeke:

Don't misunderstand me he has given great advice and appears to be extremely knowledgeable. But even with a 30+ career and "#1s before I was even born" doesn't give license to criticize people and be so dogmatic about certain subjects that may or may not even have a "right" answer.

You assume quite a bit. Could you please list "the #1s" he had in 1960? Could you give any information about his track record? Who has he worked with? It's ironic he has plenty of humility to be successful for 30 years and work under pseudo names, but at the same time loves to play "the authority” in a public forum on a daily basis and criticize other professionals. And then another writer discovers plagiarism as he allegedly took another Australian recording engineer’s words as his own.....and then promptly deleted them. Any comments Sjoko?

I'm here for to learn. I have read quite a bit and will never stop gaining new insights into project studios and home recording. As I said it doesn't make a bit of difference if a person has one year or 30 years with platinum records covering the walls. Criticizing other people regardless of their thoughts is not a positive attribute for a mastering engineer, especially for someone with Sjokos 30+ years of experience.
 
Ok this is the last comment I'll make on this crap, because, gerggybud, its a waste of my time.

The "australian engineer" thing. A question was raised - I knew that he had written a good piece about it, so I just posted the relevant bit. When one smartass made the comment that I copied the article concerned I deleted it - as it was in response to his comments I posted it in the first place.
I never claimed it to be my own, very simple. So if you want to make comments or accusations, get your facts straight

Your other comments -
I will discuss anything about the art of recording, because I love it and live it. Note: DISCUSS.
I will take issue with things that are misleading or factually incorrect. Note: TAKE ISSUE WITH
Note the difference.
What you are doing is 'taking issue with'. The problem is that you are doing so without having the background or knowledge to evaluate if I was correct, or not.

c7, Zeke, Jim - thanks for your support

Oh and by the way, I was on Noah's ark to record the noise of every animal, but things went wrong and I had sex with Noah's wife And with his daughter, which might have led to inbreeding, so I'm responsible for all the morons in the worlds today. Just thought I ought to let you know

Also, it seems you feel I should disclose exactly who I am, what I have done, what successes I have had etc. Why? If I worked on #1's in the '60's, '70's, '80's would that mean you accept everything I post? Even tough we're using entirely different technology now?

I don't have a lot of patience, therefore when I see something wrong, I just state it. Thank goodness there are people like Jim H, who have the patience and, apparently, the KNOWLEDGE to explain and differentiate between fact and fiction.

So, in the future, please just don't read my posts, or do the exact opposite (and in that case, please post the results:)

Finally.... just couldn't resist this one:
Quote: "Criticizing other people regardless of their thoughts is not a positive attribute for a mastering engineer, especially for someone with Sjokos 30+ years of experience".

Mastering engineer's job description: Critisizing and correcting other people's work, total disregard for their thoughts.

c7, Zeke, Jim - thanks for your support

Oh and by the way, I was on Noah's ark to record the noise of every animal, but things went wrong and I had sex with Noah's wife And with his daughter, which might have led to inbreeding, so I'm responsible for all the morons in the world today. Just thought I ought to let you know now, before someone finds out.


:D :D :confused:
 
Last edited:
QUOTE]Originally posted by sjoko2

Mastering engineer's job description: Critisizing and correcting other people's work, total disregard for their thoughts.

:D :D :confused:
[/QUOTE]

"Total disregard for their thoughts?" Wow. Absolutely unbelievable. Or is that a joke?

Here is Masterfonics definition..."Mastering is both an artistic and technical endeavor. A mastering engineer must have the technological means to reproduce all manner of analog and digital master recordings and prepare those recordings for duplication. A qualified mastering engineer has listened to thousands of recordings in their reference listening environment. Precision equipment is used to finesse and polish a recording. While technology has allowed many individuals to purchase the equipment necessary for mastering, having the capability does not guarantee the sensibilities acquired through years of experience. Masterfonics Mastering is uniquely positioned to provide the highest quality mastering services available."

Glen Meadows has no reason to hide his client list.

C7sus...yes that’s what it's all about.....Common sense. I guess I just don't have enough of that to become a Sjoko groupie at this point. Maybe I'll be converted someday. Remember as he says we are here to have FUN and share information.

A couple days ago I wrote a post saying how interesting the responses were regarding the Jezar article and how all this is really educational. I'm afraid Sjokos thin skin ruptured when I mentioned I was amazed that people who make this their living also monitor and respond to this forum. (I.e. full time professionals) After all, if I spent 14 hours in a studio the last thing I would want to do is go to a forum like this in my spare time! No offense Sjoko. When I wrote that post I wasn't even thinking of you but then you replied by saying, "comments like yours really make me question why the hell I bother."

Of course most everyone would love to read your client list. Especially the number 1 hits! And yes I'll be the first to admit that I would accept more of what you posted if you revealed yourself to the cyber community. Gee, I probably already accept 95%. But I doubt that will happen.

So I hope we can stop this banter and get back to learning and sometimes even respecting each other’s thoughts, even if they seem bizarre, unorthodox, or are factually wrong.
 
c7sus said:
I don't think anybody expects an asskissing but showing a little respect isn't gonna hurt anybody. If you keep on the tack you are on don't expect a helluva lotta help when you really get in a jam.

Ditto,

I have to agree with you on this one C7sus.

I guess I'm a C7sus groupie now.

Are you new to BBS's in general Greggypud? Any half-witted person knows not to come into a new forum and start trying to set people straight. When you bring that crap in here, and start disrespecting respected people on the site, you're crapping in your own punch bowl.
 
greggybud said:
Of course most everyone would love to read your client list. Especially the number 1 hits! And yes I'll be the first to admit that I would accept more of what you posted if you revealed yourself to the cyber community. Gee, I probably already accept 95%. But I doubt that will happen.

Yea,

I'm sure he's just about to bust a gut to accomodate you, with your dipwad personality. He just won't be able to get a good nights rest until he can get you to accept that last 5%
 
Thanks Ed! I'll hang some garlic over my door

Funny things - some people. I once posted a list of credits and some people started creeping so much it made me puke.
So now I never do (and some people still make me puke) :)

The simple fact is, you're only as good as the last thing you recorded, everything past is just that, past, and hopefully you learn something from everything you do.
I do post some stuff, and that's only those projects which are MY projects, mainly demo's, recorded 'at home' (like Uru's demo's) or in a small home studio (like Pete Bardens). So judge me by those if you like, that's here and now, recorded under conditions pertaining to this forum. Other things I do, be it writing, recording, producing, playing, mastering, whatever ... that's how I earn my money, that's my business, and nobody else's business.

Forgive me my ignorance, but I would have thought that any normal person, without a bag of chips on their shoulders, would respect that.
Another funny thing I've learned; the people who shout loud about wanting you to prove your credits, will be the ones to boast about "knowing the guy who....." once you do.
Total bullshit!! (but on the other hand ... sometimes its pretty hilarius to see someone make themselves look a fool over here isn't it?)
Greggybud, dear boy, some people here know some of my real credits, some normal people without issues. You don't, you'd have to deserve that first.:cool:
 
I just record everything in a basement, so I can say it is "home recording"! :)

This thread took a very silly turn! It constantly amazes me that people feel that only a person with "hits" under their belt are "authorities" in recording. That is the biggest rubbish!!! When you work with the huge budgets, killer talent, top producers, in the worlds best studios to produce a product, it is sort of hard to mess it up too bad if you have done this for a while! Many of these guys with "hits" under their belt are not THAT terribly knowledgable about the "technical" aspects of recording/mixing/mastering. I have read some very interesting, misleading, inaccurate statements by some "named" engineers.

greggybud. I have NO "hits", or ANY CD's that I have worked on that you would have EVER heard of. But you know what, I have recieved many emails from engineers who have these credentials. Some have praised my work, and others have complimented me on how I described something about recording that made it easy to understand for a laymen. One of these guys stated that he didn't have my knack for taking some of the more technically hard things to explain and condense it into something that answers the question so people with less of a background in recording can understand it. I got the Kudo's! My point? Well, these dudes feel that I know my shit enough to help out. Me not having their credentials didn't make them feel that I was any less of an "authority" in explaining about recording.

I will attest that sjoko2 can assuredly be considered a VERY reliable source of information about recording. In fact, I will venture to say that he has been involved in developement of a lot of stuff you may or may not have heard of in this field. Some companies SEEK his advice and expertice. That is NOT something that can be said of every hangin' dick who has recorded a few hits.

Don't get caught up on titles dude! There are a few on this BBS who's "authority" would not be questioned in most any professional discussion about recording. If you only rely upon the "big name" guys as "authorities", then you are closing yourself off from getting the real skinny on many subjects.

Peace

Ed (no hits yet!) Rei
 
See ya all later,

This is enough bullshit. I was one who came in here and only stated my opinions straight forward. This offended people. Now it is the people here who will not get good advice from another person with pro background and access to people in the industry. I started to wait for awhile before I posted much to let things cool down and maybe gain a little respect. I then posted two cuts in the clinic to show I am not a bullshitter. The mixes were not perfect but a could easily get on the air. One track off that CD did. Guess what nobody had the balls to listen and give feedback, not even SJOKO. I at least figured Sjoko would. Hell I even posted a message pointing him to the tracks. 38 hits on that thread and no listen to my mixes. Maybe I didn't live here long enough but hey I am busy and only come here when I am bored.
 
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