Notice: Would You Be Willing To....

[acoustic]

you know most of us realy just need a realy solid start in equipment & software If there was a kind of best of the best list and then work your way down to the less best
proven by how good the sound is you might have something that might help all of us with our music a lot wat u think

acoustic

[brandondrury]

The "best of the best" idea is something I've wanted to implement for a long time, but I didn't want to be the one to pick the stuff. I haven't tried everything so I figured a more democratic setup would be preferred.

The goal is to use my new reviews system (not yet finished) to create these "best of the best" categories.

Brandon

[acoustic]

and that is the prob most of the people who are recording a song like for some one to say your songs are good but are not thinking about the mics sound I have heard some realy good sounds on some realy bad equipment and the song realy sucked to
you know when a dude has every thing set right but the song just sucks?

acoustic

[brandondrury]

The performance and music is a given. ANY piece of gear can sound bad. That's EASY to do. I've made more bad recordings with Neve 1272s and Mytek converters than I care to admit!

However, when something sounds really good, it would be nice for the gear involved to be highlighted.

I have heard some realy good sounds on some realy bad equipment

It the sounds are really good, than the equipment is DEFINITELY NOT really bad! That gear should be highlighted too. That's the whole point.

Brandon

[acoustic]

you are right ha ha yep I did over do it on equipment but it would be nice to
to have a basic standerd plus easy on the pocket book

I hope you can put it all well you do more than most reviews do to help us
so
hats off to the wed master
I know you can do It


acoustic

[izzme]

holy cow brandon,another great idea,the more info the merrier!

[scottman]

Brandon, you are like so cool an' shit. (I am not worthy.) I agree that this is an incredible idea.

Hopefully no one will mind if I do some free-associating/babbling/thinking-out-loud in case something useful emerges...

It would be cool to have a sort of database (which may be what you're talking about) that might list each item in the "chain" (mic, pre, compressor, etc.) for, say, a female vocal. If you really wanted to get extreme with this database, there could be other chains listed for guitars, drums, etc.

Databases are useful for cross-referencing things. In this case, a person could hear a recording and ask, "How did that guy get that incredible snare sound?" The database could then allow you to trace it back to that person's chain. ("Ah, an SM57 through a Tascam US-122 preamp/interface with a Smack LE compressor plugin, etc.") Conversely, you could trace it from the other end by asking, "What kinds of snare sounds are people getting from the chain I happen to be using?"

Even though there might be only 2 or 3 components in each chain, the various combinations could get pretty busy. There's obviously no limit to possible listings - logging data such as distance from microphone, pickup pattern, eq and compression settings, yow! This would not only be a lot of data to keep track of, but a lot of information for people to have to list. However, any or all of that could be completely optional, yet provided for by the online data entry form. Of course if musicians/engineers tried to log everything, they'd never have any time to write, play, record, eat, sleep. But in its favor, not only could such logging of data help other people, it could help the person doing the logging, i.e. "What mic did I use for that great acoustic guitar sound on such-and-such song? If I'd only written that down somewhere..."

Getting back to planet earth now and the more practical side, I agree that it would be great if a person could at least "call up" her/his microphone on the web site database and get links to all the recordings having that microphone in common. Of all the links in the recording chain, the microphone is possibly the most important because it has the critical role of converting acoustic energy into electrical energy.

Scott Morrison
Van Nuys, CA

[bilco]

I would be willing to do this. I already leave notes in the mix window of PTLE to remind myself what worked so I don't have to reinvent the wheel every time.

I think the database with links to sound clips is a great idea. Maybe build the database in MS Access.....

bilco

[scottman]

Hey Bilco,

I don't know squat about databases or websites, but I'm sure MS Access or FileMaker Pro or whatever would work well, unless web-based protocols dictate otherwise. Creating a friendly user-interface for inputting the data might be the biggest challenge, don't know.

I just started using Pro Tools LE, and in lieu of a shared online database (such as the one being discussed) to log away such info, using the note section of the PT mix window is a good idea, except it doesn't get shared with anyone. Prior to this, I was using Mackie's Tracktion software, which didn't seem to have a place to keep such notes, so I resorted to keeping them in my web-based email drafts - a minor pain but still handier for me than keeping track of hard copy notebooks. With web-based online storage, I know that the info is always right in front of me, albeit a few keystrokes away, regardless of where I am or what computer I'm on.

The Recording Review database would likely be limited to only the recordings being submitted to share online. Otherwise, with everybody putting everything there for everything they record...well it would get real crazy real quick methinks. This is why I like your idea of keeping notes in the PT mix window. Thanks!

Scott Morrison
Van Nuys, CA

[brandondrury]

This would not only be a lot of data to keep track of, but a lot of information for people to have to list.

Keeping track of the data and manipulating it is very straight forward in PHP. The tougher part is the data entry and keeping it user friendly. We could really go nuts with this and maybe I will eventually, but I'm going to have to put some serious thought into how to pull it off.

Brandon