Anybody here good at home recording with plugins and drum programming?

VESmedic said:
Compression: watch this video 12 times, then watch it again. Then watch it again in 3 months when you learn more stuff. Then 3 months after that when you’ve learned more stuff. Then 3 months later after that. I constantly rewatch videos that I didn’t quite understand for years the more I learn. And I mean quality videos, not youtubers who don’t make records for a living… stay away from these clowns.


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this is great
 
RevDrucifer said:
FWIW, my best mixes utilize barely any post-EQ and minimal automation. The *only* things that are the same from mix to mix is I use parallel compression on the whole drum kit and often send the snare to it’s own aux bus so I can automate a reverb depending on the section. I try not to use any EQ on the guitars but often find I dial my tones in a little darker than I should and have to add just a pinch of high’s to get them standing out more, but I never known that until all the synths/strings are in place.
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This seems to be a universal truth - the less post-eq and fuckery involved, the better the final result seems to be.

Especially with guitar, bass, synths, strings, I almost never use EQ - simple hp/LP filters, and maybe multi-band compression in a low end emergency, but that's about it.
 
I work a job, am remarried, in a band, have a kid and step kid, etc, etc so I don't like spending a ton of time on recordings. I do a bit, then take a break for a day or two. Nothing set in stone, just play when I'm feeling it.

Here is my super simple recording setup:
Guitar: Bogner pedal (or Keeley Katana) into a 4x12 emulator interface
Bass: Into Sansamp Bass pedal
Drums: Ezdrummer2 samples, no edits
Into Reaper DAW

My recordings are not amazing by any means but they are decent I think: I just did a country song as a challenge from my wife. I was making fun of country and gave it a whirl. I probably recorded this whole thing in an hour or so:

https://mikepuskas.bandcamp.com/track/steel-wheels
 
VESmedic said:
Compression: watch this video 12 times, then watch it again. Then watch it again in 3 months when you learn more stuff. Then 3 months after that when you’ve learned more stuff. Then 3 months later after that. I constantly rewatch videos that I didn’t quite understand for years the more I learn. And I mean quality videos, not youtubers who don’t make records for a living… stay away from these clowns.


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Hey- this is a great video! Thanks for posting that.
 
Mixing, and drums in particular, is a whole rabbit hole. And it takes time. And a lot of trial and error. You also can't polish a pile of shit, so the best thing you can do is get the best sounding source you can to work with. Hardware, plugins, whatever is another ball game and there are many ways to skin a cat and people have different approaches. But the worst thing you can ever do is have bad sources. Then find the people who do things how you like (soundwise), find what you can on their process and mindset/techniques and give them a shot with good sources. Also if you have bad monitoring and a bad room it will basically wreck you.
 
Mannnnn the scheme Omni channel is pretty great I will say. If I’m at a loss of where to go, slapping this on will probably be able to fix whatever issue I’m having. I did an entire mix today using almost just this exclusively that I’ll post.
 
VESmedic said:
Mannnnn the scheme Omni channel is pretty great I will say. If I’m at a loss of where to go, slapping this on will probably be able to fix whatever issue I’m having. I did an entire mix today using almost just this exclusively that I’ll post.
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It is a well thought out plugin and has essentially everything you could need. Scheps himself is very interesting to listen to. I also like Sylvia Massy.
 
VESmedic said:
Mannnnn the scheme Omni channel is pretty great I will say. If I’m at a loss of where to go, slapping this on will probably be able to fix whatever issue I’m having. I did an entire mix today using almost just this exclusively that I’ll post.
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Aight I’m intrigued. I’ll download this. Throw on master. Set ratio to infinite. Input and output set to Max. scoop at 2k -95 dB. We all mix like this right :)
 
Omni Channel's great and one of the best-value plugins out there IMHO.

I also agree about keeping plugin action to a minimum on as many tracks as possible. HPF and LPF I'd consider essential.

For drums I'd go Slate (SSD5). "Musical", ready-to-rock kits and simple interface right there. Superb sound too. Oh, and cheapest HQ option out there... arguably at any price.
 
I feel like Plugin Alliance and Waves spend more time in March-April-May-June-July-August-Fall-Winter-XMAS-New Year's BLOWOUT SALE PRICING than any other business I know. I get constant promotion pricing emails. If you wait a week, you will always get what you want on sale. BUT will you use it??!!!

BTW for API, people rave about UAD but the Lindell 50 is constantly on sale and it sounds really good. Some awesome features in there. Sonically, I preferred it to what I heard from UAD. I bring this up because we are talking about drums and I liked using the 560 on kick and the 550b on my toms. I was about to buy a real 560, glad I didn't.
 
I say just start with recording yourself on your telephone and cultivate from there.
F-everybody else’s methods.
Burn the midnight oil and find your own groove.
Anybody hear anything groundbreaking lately?
Yeah, I know, that’s why my heart never burns out
mining the seam of creativity.
 
Dino 939 said:
I say just start with recording yourself on your telephone and cultivate from there.
F-everybody else’s methods.
Burn the midnight oil and find your own groove.
Anybody hear anything groundbreaking lately?
Yeah, I know, that’s why my heart never burns out
mining the seam of creativity.
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Lots of vanilla in modern rock. The melodic chorus formula might be going down the same road that hair metal did in 1990.. everything sounding the same and sucking for the most part. There is some good stuff here or there but it suffers from the same polished production that all other bands do. More vanilla.
 
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