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[j.hall]

it's your art, and your expression of said art.  only re-cut the vocal if it's what you want to do....

[Ryan Leigh Patterson]

Thanks J, well said.

[Thomas Lester]

First...   I think you voice is cool.... even with some tuning issues.  It gives it character and I wouldn't sweat it.  I think it would lose some feel if you tuned it all...

Second...  MELODYNE.  For those of you who do tune vocals...  for goodness sake, stop using Auto-tune.  Auto-tune is the worst sounding piece of junk on the planet.  Melodyne is SOOOO much better sounding.  More natural.  And if you really want to make it sound like Auto-tune (God forbid) you can.  

-Tom

PS.   I dig the mixes too....   sounds great.

[Thomas Lester]

Hey...  tell me more about recording in the cabin?  How did that go?  What did you bring with you?  How did you set up?  

I'm REALLY intrigued by this approach.  I hate the studio.  I'm an engineer first.  I've been making my living in studios (and the good ones... ) since 1992.   I now hate them.  Not because of me... but because it ALWAYS freaks the artist out.  Even really experienced artists.  Plus... it's not a very creative environment.

I now live in Florida.  I have to travel to most gigs.  But....  I can rent a beach house for a week for the price of a studio for 4-5 days.  Man...   watching the sun set over the ocean while tracking is WAY more inspirational than in a closed up studio.

So... please share your experience.  What problems did you have to over come, etc...

-Tom

[Ryan Leigh Patterson]

Hey Thomas, thanks for the kind words.

The cabin is great.  I use a huge log cabin that a friends dad built (on a lake in Southern Ontario) an I bring my portable rig in.  It's got a 27 foot ceiling, a mezanine and a huge stone fireplace in the center.  

I've done a few recs there.  I bring in my ibook g4 with a 002R and a Focusrite isa428 with the AD card, 8 channels of what ever I decide to rent (usually 2 API 3124+, but also Manley dual mono, Neve 1073, Avalon 737 etc), plus all of my mics.

I set up the drums in one particular corner that seems to work, put the guitar amp(s)  near a wall and build mini amp huts using couches, blankets gobos etc.  Depending on the the artist, I'll either put a bass amp in the room, and DI, or just DI.  Other than that, it's really a hit and miss thing.  Track the drums, then listen back through headphones and monitors, realizing that the montioring is not very accurate.  Make adjustments as needed.  

For me the best thing is the the layed back atmosphere and the quite surroundings.  Wanna take a couple hours off to go and fish, swim, have a campfire etc....go for it.  Plus the communal living does wonders for the musicians.

The key is really the room mics.  Place them everywhere you can think of...

All the power is supplied via solar or petrol generator....and in the winter heat is provided by wood.  

[jimmyjazz]

rattleyour wrote on Tue, 26 July 2005 13:07

Some folks have a harder time with pitch when using headphones. I've recorded some good takes with the vocalist in the control room singing along to playback on the nearfields.

Don't forget, you can cancel out 99% of the bleed by laying down a 2nd track and recording just the playback with the mic phase inverted.  Mix that track with the vocal take and the bleed magically disappears (except a teeny-tiny bit in the highest of highs, which probably has to do with slight differences in the amount of sound getting reflected off the now-displaced singer).

[Ryan Leigh Patterson]

Sorry Thomas, I didn't answer your post as well as I should have, it was late...

Problems with location tracking.  

Number one is lack of a control room and decent monitoring, but if you are comfortable with getting a sound up and running by having the musicians record quick takes and then stopping to listen back, this becomes less of an issue.  Most of us know our mics and pres well enough to find a good sound without too much fuss.  I also find that I spend less time adujusting mics and more time adjusting the actual drums (tuning, place in the room).

Volume....(earplugs under the headphones)
(Of course all the above) issues are void if the place has a room to use as a control room.

Bring a snake!!! Cables are a mess of course if you don't have one

Birds outside during vocal tracking...

Various rattles in the room, noisey AC...all fixed by finding the offening souce and removing it of putting some sort of baffle on it.

Colored vocals...(big room), but I don't mind this if the room sounds good...Plus I've also setup a mini booth there using couches on their side, mattress and blankets.  Some real gobos would be nice...

Lugging your precious gear around..... get good road cases and develop a set up that is ready to go out of the box.

Figuring out how to make the room work best for each particular app is really the key, like any real studio.  I've had much better luck in this particular cabin than in other "location" places...hell, I've had better luck there than in quite a few studios...

Hope this answers some of your questions.