What's your best recording tip?

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bluelot2

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I'm trying hard to make my current project meaningful and professional sounding as possible, and there have been some great tips I've gathered from this site and advice of others. Such as this one: "Record with eq's set on flat","Make it sound like you want before it hits the recorder". That should of been a no-brainer, but for some reason I had to fiddle all the time, or think I could "fix it later in the mix". Well it's a BIG difference since I record flat. The mud is gone! Wow! So here's the question, What was the most useful and valuable recording tip any of you ever received (this site or elsewhere) that turned your mixes from "god no!" to "I could be a pro!".
 
1980 I bought an Ashly SC-50 compressor from Twisted Sister at a club on Long Island. Used it on Vocals and bass with my Teac 3340. WOW.
 
Take the time to experiment with and listen to different mic positions, different spots in the room, on whatever sound you're recording.
 
Don't try to rationalize little mistake and imperfections by saying I can fix it in the mix, or that's good enough. If something doesn't feel right--re-track it. It's gonna take a pretty large time commitment either way; and those little things you let go will drive you nuts in the long run.
 
Spend your money once!
In other words... Buy one GREAT piece of equipment, instead of 2 or 3 mediocre pieces for the same amount of money. You'll be glad you did! ;)

(and my runner-up advice.....)

Use pro-quality cables!
 
Buck,

Does that mean you are or are not happy with the akai? Tell me. I feel like I'm a paycheck away from it.
 
maybe the obvious, but ditch the lousy players. People that know how to play, make all the difference in the world and know what it takes to be recorded well. Then the rest becomes a lot easier. You can screw around with an Antares all night long, and the EQ on that cowpoke's guitar who thinks he is the next Garth (puke) Brooks. If your nervous of capturing incredible takes, rather than worrying about the overall sound of the track, you're on the right track and surrounded by the right people.
 
Restraint

Less is more,most of the time.Less notes per solo,less overdubbed guitars,less distortion,less EQ,less reverb,less compression.Go for a situation where every note,every instrument,and every piece of gear used is an integral part of the identity of the music without which it wouldn't work,as opposed to doing stuff because you can.Your listeners will want more.
 
To clean up reverb muddiness - patch an eq before the 'verb and drop out the low freqs & *slightly* boost the highs... the reverb will have a nice sheen to it without low end mud... especially when adding more than one track to the same 'verb (when giving an overall "room" sound to the mix)

Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound
 
What? Give away my secrets?

Well, OK, then.
Two tips I figured out all by myself: :)

1. Avoid the effects return on your mixer! Run the output from the reverb/delay to a mixer input if you can. That way you get filtering.

2. Put the delay before the compressor! That way the compressor will lower the levels of the delay when you sing, and increase the lecels when you don't. The effect you get from that, is that you have a lot of space and room on the voice, but it doens't cover the voice in mud. Verrry nice.
 
I like to consantly check levels on mixing by droping the volume to a wisper ..exp. if I think that the vocal is too loud .I turn the control room volume way down and try to sit it in the mix just a little tighter to the backing tracks..It works for me
 
mixmkr _ hm?

"If your nervous of capturing incredible takes, rather than worrying about the overall sound of the track, you're on the right track and surrounded by the right people."

If you're nervous rather than worrying? Can you paraphrase your idea?
 
let's see...there are several kinds of *nervous* maybe (that I have experienced). The first one doesn't apply to what I was really saying but is worth mentioning. Back in my reel to reel days, I worked on a 16 track hybrid MCI/Ampex machine that basically had lousy brakes on it and if you weren't careful, that tape would like to streach on you during rewind/stop. Fortunately that never occured to me at the worst possible time..but always kept me aware and thinking about that...and nervous on playbacks late at night, after all the takes where recorded. Some great stuff recorded on that machine, but I'll always remember it for its shortcomings...and our lack of $ at the time to get it fixed...or find someone who even could help us fix it.

However..to paraphrase...maybe just the antsy-ness of trying to capture a [first] take (no official levels gotten maybe) of some mind blowing players, and/or just making sure everything was in sync from the machines being in record, to no other nasties etc.like an amp buzz, hum, etc. I must admit too, that being in the presence of some killer musicians sure makes me be a tad squirmy (but I'd never let it show ;-O)especially if I am just engineering and not playing. ...kinda like they are wailing, so I better too, with my side of the responsibilities. The problems don't seem to stem with the audio quality, but rather with issues like; going back to bar 137 in the middle of the improvisational free-for-all, in some Chick Corea type mind f**k, to punch in the three bad notes I never even heard...even on playback ("so where do I punch in?") And the bass player even thinks it was obvious too!! har!!
 
lazyboy.....
I started out with a Korg D-8, that's what I was talking about. Go ahead and get the Akai, you'll love it! ;)

Buck
 
.......lots of great tips in this thread.let me see....somebody already said use good cables,that's one of my biggies.....if you are working for hire,get at least half of the money up front,or make them pay by the session,and don't turn anything loose on tape or cd that isn't paid for.....don't be afraid to experiment,and break "the rules"....i don't know how many times i have found some really cool sounds by doing something unorthodox.the only other one i can think of is when you are mixing,don't monitor too loud and take frequent breaks to let your ears rest and freshen up.....good luck...peace
 
The cleanest audio signals are those that are unprocessed.
Every time you add more processing, you are adding crap to the signal (no matter how expensive the gear is). Fix your mic placement before you EQ. Ride the fader, if possible, before you compress. As for reverb/effects ... less is almost always more.
 
At the risk of redundancy - take the time up front to get the right mic in the right place. It's worth taking the time to get the best possible signal that captures the personality of the source straight in. Process while tracking (eq, comp) ONLY if absolutely neccesary. It's much nicer to refine than to fix sounds when mixing.
Only other thought is vibe will allways translate better than technical perfection.
 
tube amps tube amps tube amps

got a guitar track, maybe even a vocal, or a bass track that just dosen't seem to have much life? I like to run things from the board (or well a DAW) into a guitar amp (tube of course) mic the amp and send it back into the board. You can really get some nice sounds this way, make things mesh together a little better.

-jhe
 
"The cleanest audio signals are those that are unprocessed." Is this true with digitally processed signals?
 
Yes.

Processing is processing is processing, no matter if it's digital or analog. If you can make it sound good directly from the mic, then thats always the best option.

Or to put it in yet another kliché-type of saying:
The best way to get a good drum sound is to make the drums sound good. :)
 
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