Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[rvdsm]

I have little to know idea what I am doing. Sometimes it works out sometimes it doesn't. I think a lot of AE's techniques are based around the equipment they use frequently and the sound they are familiar with.

[JPRisus]

rvdsm wrote on Mon, 13 September 2004 09:54

I think a lot of AE's techniques are based around the equipment they use frequently and the sound they are familiar with.

I think the gear has to do with comfort and familiarity more than sound. Regardless of what gear is in front of me, i'm making things sound the way I want them to. But yeah I guess you're always limited by what's available.

[Thomas Lester]

Kind of....  for me, the method is to visuallize the music first.  Let's say I'm doing a typical 4 piece rock band...  I'll bring enough of the tracks up to get a feel for the song.  I then visuallize the space that I would expect to hear this in.  If it's a small club, I'd make a mental picture of what the room, stage, amps, etc would look like.  Then I start mixing to that picture placing "voices" in their appropriate places (left, right, back, front, top, bottom) to make the mix work.

The madness comes from the crazy spaces that I visuallize!  

-Tom

[judah]

j.hall wrote on Thu, 09 September 2004 03:45

this just came to mind over dinner the more i work with other AE's the more i realize that technique is crucial. professional atheletes spend their formative years learning and refining technique to better perform their task. i've found that audio is only slightly different. some copress more then others, some EQ more then others.....blah blah blah. what i've found to be true is an overall technique in treating audio resulting in differing products. the question is.......... is their a method to your madness?  or are you just literally fumbling toward the end result?

I think there must be a technique somewhere in our job. Excatly like most athletes has their trademark moves. That doesn't necessary means that I record and mix always in the same way but for sure I have a technique I follow. But for example I hate to see studios where you have a drum kit already miced with a "standard" setup (D112 on kick, 57 on snare, shit on toms, SD condenser as overheads). Most have even compressors and EQ already dialed in and that's offensive for audio engineering. I'm sure you've seen this kind of things a million times. That's what pisses me off  the most about a lot of recording studio and audio engineer. It's this kind of path to follow that disturb me. And after lurkin' around a bit here I noticed that where I do live and work (Italy) this is more true than anywhere. It's not uncommon to hear a D112 defined as a kick mick here. A kick mic and nothign more. You're either stupid or foll if you use it on a floor tom or for bass cabinets or guitar cabinets. Let alone vocals. This is just an example and I'm not saying that's the rule. I always tell my clients that there is no specific microphone for something. Every mic can be used for everything but sometimes it's difficult to make them believers. This is just an example and my opinion....

R.

[how_gauche]

judah wrote on Wed, 22 September 2004 04:54

...But for example I hate to see studios where you have a drum kit already miced with a "standard" setup (D112 on kick, 57 on snare, shit on toms, SD condenser as overheads). Most have even compressors and EQ already dialed in and that's offensive for audio engineering.

I agree with this so hard it hurts. We're making indie records, so why even bother trying to make them sound like corporate factory rock?

This is one of my biggest pet peeves about the underground right now, which is that computers have made it possible to make a decently clear recording on a minimal budget, so all of the indie bands are trying their damnedest to make the slickest record possible. You can blame Tortoise for starting this. The problem is, that Behringer condenser you've got ain't a U67, and you aren't mixing on an SSL. Even if you succeed your end product's BORING 'cause it sounds like all of the other bland alterna-rock.

Run your vocal mic through a blues driver! Put your room mic down the hall in a bucket! Go read an audio engineering book, assimilate it, and then for everything it says DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE. Innovate. Find better ways to work.

That said, a truly great band with great music, performed well, will sound great, whether they record at home on a 4-track tape deck or at a $1000/day 24-track studio.