Re: [LAU] [OT] Help with mixing and mastering?

On Fri, May 8, 2009 at 3:35 PM, James Stone <jamesmstone(a)gmail.com> wrote: Absolutely impossible for me to tell from a simple email. Possibly you are expecting too much at this point in the process? Maybe it's real. We can talk through it, for weeks. I like this stuff. It hardly gets discussed around here. I am all for more. OK, breaking it down, how does the room compare to your studio experience? How do the mics compare? Don't assume that inexpensive mics will give an inexpensive sound. Don't assume that any personal inexperience means you must do worse than an experienced studio tech. But do understand it's harder for you at home to approach the results you'll get recording at Electric Ladyland with someone who's made 100 albums. Just keep at it. As for reverbs, they all sound different and it really takes some experimentation to find ones that you like. Jumping ahead, I head a LOT of things going on in your studio recording. If you're trying to duplicate that in the work you're doing at home then that will take some work to write down what the major components are in the sound and then working on each one , one by one. Well, I'd want to ask why you're using a compressor? I have a *strong* impression why, listening to the mp3, but I don't know what your current recording sounds like. (It is different, correct?) My initial guess, and it's just a guess, is that you my be falling prey to the two things most people do : 1) tracking WAY too loud. 2) Using boost instead of cut in your EQ. A big part of managing digital sound is never letting it get overloaded. you may end up with more background noise, recording at home instead of in a studio, but if you record the tracks loud to overcome the noise, then when you mix them together it gets louder and starts clipping. to eliminate the clipping you start using compression and this instills a new sort of distortion to the sound. It's subtle, compared to clipping, but it's distortion and doesn't sound clean and certainly doesn't sound real. Instead of recording at the top of your VUs and then having to lower levels and add compression, etc., try recording tracks at lower levels and trust that when you put it all together 12 tracks at -10db will come out near 0bd, whereas 12 tracks at 0db is a recipe for problems. Using boost in your EQ is the same problem, but only in certain frequencies. The problem is that it's the most natural thing to do. "I don't hear as much treble as I want so I raised the 2K band". Better to lower all the other bands just a little bit to preserve the headroom. Please note that the these are all guesses. I'd have to listen to the work, probably a few stubs, etc., to hear the different parts, etc. OK, this girl can sing, and I really shouldn't call her a girl 'cause everything about her sound was full grown woman. Great voice. Sexy. Confident. I did find myself wishing she really got edgy or even a bit mean somewhere in the mix, but that can be in some other song. Loved the line about lemon bitters. The playing was competent and fit the song well. Very present. Not compressed. The engineer used positioning tricks, not volume, to help bring the guitars forward at different times. Chris Isaak comes to mind for me. The overall tracking here sounds pretty clean to me, but the mix doesn't. It's WAY too loud on my system. It must be 6-9db louder than anything else I compared it with. Maybe that's just the way the mp3 got made. Keep in mind that it's VERY important to make comparisons at the same volume. I hear a lot of clipping and clicking, even when I turn it down, so that's not good at all. OK, I'll probably get banged on for talking nomenclature, but since you used the terms in your title I'll offer for your consideration: 1) Tracking - getting the individual instruments recorded 2) Mixing - combining tracks into a song, adding effects, coming up with a listenable piece of music 3) Mastering - the process of consolidating a bunch of different song mixes into a single database to make a CD. Adjusting relative song levels, balancing EQ between mixes to build a more coherent sounding CD. I get the impression that your first issue is tracking. To me compressors are things I don't use until I have a reason (read problem) to use them. Note that most of my stuff is more natural jazz/rock/pop. I've done a couple of Big Band CDs for friends. Live Big Band is tough and compressors there were necessary during tracking to get it on disk. Electronica could be very different. Barry's Satan whatever is to help create a specific sound. That's fine. It might be added later, or used during tracking. Whatever gets you the sound on the track you are looking for. Generally speaking reverb is for me something I try to hold off using at all until the MIX gets underway. The longer I listen dry the happier I generally am when I finally add it. I suppose what I'm saying as I run out of energy (I'm sick, bummer for me) is that I think you should really focus now on tracking your guitar or recording her vocal, and getting just that track to have a good sound. I understand that sometimes vocalist require reverb to do their job, but as the engineer you want to focus on how the voice sounds. Send the reverb to her headphones, not your speakers as much as possible, Are you capturing what she sounds like? Is it technically good. Play with mic distance, different breath screens, different mics. Sit in the room with her while she sings, assuming you're not using a booth. Ask her what she thinks of her sound. In my experience finding something that works at the track level leads to better mixes, and better mixes lead to easier mastering. And, cut, cut, cut, not boost. Hope this helps, Mark