what makes a pro recording sound so much better than a home recording??

[gascap]

Re: Gascap

I have had the pleasure of hearing your stuff and I am impressed with the work you did for us at my meager little studio.

Ill bet if you shared how you can perform strings to the tracks and import them in a wave file to be uploaded. We would all be better off.

And if anyone needs string arrangements for thier stuff I highly recccomend contacting him.

Wow! Thanks for the nice words, Darrin!

I'm glad the parts worked out - much much more can be added to your artists songs too. Just let me know.

It's not a complicated procedure as to how I create the violn/viola/mandolin/string tracks. First I get to know the project in question. Once I have an idea of how I might add to it I get into Sonar. I then import the existing mix that I will add to and simply arm a new audio track and record. If I get a good track, I'll immediately mute it, arm another one and do another take. After 3 or 4 possible keepers, I do some critical listening and if necessary, do cross fading (clip envelopes rock here!) to produce one really good take - hopefully not too much, if any, cross-fades need to happen - but the world of digital makes it sooo easy. After that, I simply combine and export those tracks to a wav file ready to be burned onto a cd, and goofed around with by the producer.

A real kick is when I can record myself (or a small string ensemble - which is even better but more $) several times to generate a 'real virtual' string bed. This is rather time-consuming because actual parts need to be composed/arranged. But the pay-off is sweet. It doesn't matter how great the synth sounds are these days, nothing compares to the real deal. Multiple takes of real strings is a true poor-man's symphony.

BTW, I run all of my signal through the Aardvark DP 24/96 in Windows XP. Good times!

HA! I don't know if anyone is better off now, but that's my little method and so far it's been a real pleasure to work with.

Let me know how your project is going. We need to hook up again for some gear talk and such.

 

[Osbick Bird]

Re: Recording Space

Anyone ever built an isolation helmet?

Carl

If there's a story behind this I would love to hear it (maybe on another thread so as not to bastardize this one).

 

[Englebert]

Hi everyone! This is indeed very interesting thread and I feel it is appropriate to send my first posting here...

I think one big difference between amteurs and pros is that pros know what they are doing. That may sound like a big "duh" but let me elaborate.

I most certainly am an amateur and when I record something I tend to "go with the flow". For example: when I am miking a kick drum, I just go for some sort of overall good sound. Then I go through the same process with other instruments. I don´t have any big picture in my head, I just go one track at a time.

Now when you are an experienced pro, it´s a whole different ballgame. You don´t just throw a few mics around and think "Well, I guess it´s fine". A pro has a clear idea of the sound he is looking for in his head all the time. And chances are he´ll know exactly how to get that sound. When he records, say, guitar he doesn´t just go for a good sound, he goes for a sound that is good for the project.

I don´t think everybody has an inherent ability to recognize "good sound" when they hear it. I didn´t have it and many times I still don´t. I am not talking about ability to hear things: I can hear the difference in sound when I move a microphone few inches. But if somebody asks which position sounds better (let alone which one would be better for a particular project), I´m more or less lost: "I don´t know, what do you think?". When I record, it´s a hit´n´miss process. I don´t really know what I am looking for, I just try different things and hope the best. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

So it´s a question of experience: knowing your tools, and how to use them. And knowing what is good and how to get it.

 

[MikeA]

Englebert,

Very true about knowing what you are doing. You expressed that very well.
You mentioned micing a kick drum. I was working as an assistant with the engineer who did the original Shaft record many years ago. This was several years after Shaft was released. His technique was to use an EV RE20 and one of the little PZM mics. He would mic the beater head with the RE20 a little bit off axis and then he would tape the PZM to the side of the kick shell or to the padding inside the drum. The key to this mic was it was placed perpendicular to the beater head and he might have to move it a couple of times to get the sound he wanted from it. He would EQ the 20 (cut between 200 & 500 to get rid of the cardboard depending on the drum) and then he would blend in the PZM and add a little snap to it with EQ. There would be a very small phase difference between the two but by blending them he used that to his advantage to create a VERY solid kick sound that was extremely distinctive. The phase cancellations kind of dug a little trough in the sound of the drum but everything that was needed was there. Like you said Englebert, the pros know what they are doing. It's not a situation like what you described where you can't decide which position sounds better. It's innate to them.