I'm giving away recording gear leading up to NAMM...

[LukeCurd]

bobby can you be more specific?

I don't believe that I can.

How nice it must be for you to act with no conscious and be anonymous.

 

[Bob Savage]

How nice it must be for you to act with no conscious and be anonymous.

How could I even write this post if I was not conscious?

 

[LukeCurd]

How nice it must be for you to act with no conscious and be anonymous.

How could I even write this post if I was not conscious?

I just assumed you were a bot designed to follow me around. I had no Idea you we're a real person. Sorry.

 

[projectk2r4]

with sonic space and Psycho-Acoustics in mind , this is how I record.

Before I start, I decide how loud I want the song to be and my target audience. How and where will they hear this music and on what listening device. Ipod, Youtube, Laptop speakers, Car, College Bookshelf system, Audiophile headphones or a Hi-Fi Home audio System?

If I we're mixing strait to vinyl it would be easier fine tuning a mix to one listening medium. However times have changed and I what I listed above is what you might say is typical.

A simple word on Tracking Quiet and Mixing Loud. Mixing standard 85 dB. Which is background music volume. If someone is hopefully singing along or jamming out to the song its most likely to peak around 100 dB. Which is college girls, dancing on the bed in their panties volume. We know as source material gets louder the mid's fade and the bass and treble have a nice sweet ring to them. That's why we turn things up because it really sounds better that way. However if you mixed the song to peak out around 85 or 90 that 10 dB jump is going to make your mix sound horrid. Thin and Boomy right?

Lets talk mics.

Acoustic Drums: AKG D112, Senn MD421, SM7B or EV RE20 I center the mid eq sweep at around 800hz in the middle and 2k on the high side and 250k on the low side. I drop as little as -6 or as much as -12 db of gain till I get rid of the boxiness of the drum. The Shure Beta 52a already has this frequency response and which makes things plug and play. However, I would rather gain headroom in the mix by notching the eq.

Cymbals : Shure KSM-137 or AKG C541B. These are airy and articulate mics. Again I choose to use the EQ curve on the board vs the roll off filter on the mic. Anything under 500k you can shelve out.

Acoustic guitars I use the same mic but shelf around 100k. Mic at the 12ft fret about 9 inches out. 22.5 degree angle towards sound hole. You fill find some string noise to filter out in the 1-5k region. Depends on the guitar and strings and player. There is some boom from 250-500k that could use some massage however

Electric guitars: Senn MD-441 up close. This mic is also great for snare. It has a unique honky midrange and sweet roll off. As you suspect I use this to gather most of my upper mid frequency's. 1-4k. Then I have a Royer R-121 to catch all the tame high's and juicy lows and mids. About 1 meter from source and I eq this channel wide open. Now to give the guitars some Cut I normally take a DI feed off the amp. I delay this signal around 5-30 ms of time depending. The DI signal will hit the board faster than the mic signal so there will be a phase alignment that needs corrected. However with just a splash of this feed goes a long way. I normally send this feed a good dose of roomy verb to give it some natural compression and depth. From there the tracks sound pretty dry and straight up the middle.

Vocals are simple as getting the right mic for the right timbre and loudness. Hendrix sang into a M160, Michael Jackson SM7b, Trent Reznor SM57, Everybody else either a U47,U67,U87 would get an outstanding vocal track. 100hz to 500hz I notch for boxy and 2-5k I notch for raspy voices. For everyone else I run it wide open.

Now if your still with me we have everything tracked, Eq'd, and panned center right? Faders and unity and only limiting was used to prevent digital distortion.

My next installment I will cover mixdown, automation and mastering.

Got it, let me recap:

Know exactly what you are going to do before you ever hear the song, make no creative decisions and be sure to sound smug at all times.

If that's all it takes I am ready to go pro. I'll stay down here at my level if it's ok with you. Approval is for suckers, I've got my own, I don't need yours

 

[LukeCurd]

Got it, let me recap:

Know exactly what you are going to do before you ever hear the song, make no creative decisions and be sure to sound smug at all times.

If that's all it takes I am ready to go pro. I'll stay down here at my level if it's ok with you. Approval is for suckers, I've got my own, I don't need yours

How you extrapolate that from my advice is mind blowing. I think I only come off as smug if you don't value my criticisms. Since you see the act of recording as relative to technique there is nothing rational I could say to make you value the reasoning behind my statements.

There is a science involved in recording along with the artistic. If you become more familiar with the limitations of your environment you are free to be as creative as you wish. The tips I gave where more for your recordings in the rock realm. Oh well.

 

[projectk2r4]

Got it, let me recap:

Know exactly what you are going to do before you ever hear the song, make no creative decisions and be sure to sound smug at all times.

If that's all it takes I am ready to go pro. I'll stay down here at my level if it's ok with you. Approval is for suckers, I've got my own, I don't need yours

How you extrapolate that from my advice is mind blowing. I think I only come off as smug if you don't value my criticisms. Since you see the act of recording as relative to technique there is nothing rational I could say to make you value the reasoning behind my statements.

There is a science involved in recording along with the artistic. If you become more familiar with the limitations of your environment you are free to be as creative as you wish. The tips I gave where more for your recordings in the rock realm. Oh well.

Those were criticisms of my mix? Wow, I missed that completely. I'll be back when I figure out how to wire a D112 and a 421 up to Superior drummer...stand by.

 

[projectk2r4]

Ah hell, I'm back. I just totally realized how much of a waste of my time this conversation was. Thanks for playing tho!

 

[LukeCurd]

Those were criticisms of my mix? Wow, I missed that completely. I'll be back when I figure out how to wire a D112 and a 421 up to Superior drummer...stand by.

Not your mix but rock mixes in general. I wouldn't pull mids out of a jazz drummer or use the same mics.
Oh there's your problem. I just listened to their clips on the site. Horrible samples. To my ear.

Carry on.

 

[Mailman1971]

Cool for you to do this! I am in!
Cant wait to see what you guys record at NAMM. Fluff has some of the best videos on this forum!
Sounds like it will be fun what you 2 are putting together.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Looks like I won a radial di..thanks Jason!

 

[racerevlon]

Classic-- I think all of the giveaway items have recently been on the Musician's Friend Stupid Deal of the Day!!

I'll subscribe and will see you at NAMM!!

 

[Milerky2]

I'm in too!

 

[Anonymous]

with sonic space and Psycho-Acoustics in mind , this is how I record.

Before I start, I decide how loud I want the song to be and my target audience. How and where will they hear this music and on what listening device. Ipod, Youtube, Laptop speakers, Car, College Bookshelf system, Audiophile headphones or a Hi-Fi Home audio System?

If I we're mixing strait to vinyl it would be easier fine tuning a mix to one listening medium. However times have changed and I what I listed above is what you might say is typical.

A simple word on Tracking Quiet and Mixing Loud. Mixing standard 85 dB. Which is background music volume. If someone is hopefully singing along or jamming out to the song its most likely to peak around 100 dB. Which is college girls, dancing on the bed in their panties volume. We know as source material gets louder the mid's fade and the bass and treble have a nice sweet ring to them. That's why we turn things up because it really sounds better that way. However if you mixed the song to peak out around 85 or 90 that 10 dB jump is going to make your mix sound horrid. Thin and Boomy right?

Lets talk mics.

Acoustic Drums: AKG D112, Senn MD421, SM7B or EV RE20 I center the mid eq sweep at around 800hz in the middle and 2k on the high side and 250k on the low side. I drop as little as -6 or as much as -12 db of gain till I get rid of the boxiness of the drum. The Shure Beta 52a already has this frequency response and which makes things plug and play. However, I would rather gain headroom in the mix by notching the eq.

Cymbals : Shure KSM-137 or AKG C541B. These are airy and articulate mics. Again I choose to use the EQ curve on the board vs the roll off filter on the mic. Anything under 500k you can shelve out.

Acoustic guitars I use the same mic but shelf around 100k. Mic at the 12ft fret about 9 inches out. 22.5 degree angle towards sound hole. You fill find some string noise to filter out in the 1-5k region. Depends on the guitar and strings and player. There is some boom from 250-500k that could use some massage however

Electric guitars: Senn MD-441 up close. This mic is also great for snare. It has a unique honky midrange and sweet roll off. As you suspect I use this to gather most of my upper mid frequency's. 1-4k. Then I have a Royer R-121 to catch all the tame high's and juicy lows and mids. About 1 meter from source and I eq this channel wide open. Now to give the guitars some Cut I normally take a DI feed off the amp. I delay this signal around 5-30 ms of time depending. The DI signal will hit the board faster than the mic signal so there will be a phase alignment that needs corrected. However with just a splash of this feed goes a long way. I normally send this feed a good dose of roomy verb to give it some natural compression and depth. From there the tracks sound pretty dry and straight up the middle.

Vocals are simple as getting the right mic for the right timbre and loudness. Hendrix sang into a M160, Michael Jackson SM7b, Trent Reznor SM57, Everybody else either a U47,U67,U87 would get an outstanding vocal track. 100hz to 500hz I notch for boxy and 2-5k I notch for raspy voices. For everyone else I run it wide open.

Now if your still with me we have everything tracked, Eq'd, and panned center right? Faders and unity and only limiting was used to prevent digital distortion.

My next installment I will cover mixdown, automation and mastering.

Where can I hear a mix of yours?

Steve