Audio Engineering Intro

[brandondrury]

The Audio Engineering portion of the recordingreview.com forum is intended to help beginners, experts, and eveyrone in between achieve the sounds they are looking for. This includes all the technical jargon of mics, preamps, compressors, etc. This forum is meant to be more technical by nature, but also covers issues that a producer may deal with.

This forum is not intended to cover the very basics. Questions like "What is an XLR cable?" should be directed toward the Getting Started Forum.

Specific questions about sound quality belong here.

Brandon

[kyl]

Why would I need external compressors, limiters, etc. if my software has these? I am upgrading my home studio, and sure I am facinated with all the stuff I can get to improve my sound, but I don't want to spend all my money just because I am "facinated". I also would like to have a physical mixer or daw control surface, but do I really need it if I'm using Cubase, a firepod,and a low end Casio for my midi controller and other sounds?

kyl

[richiebee]

Originally Posted by kyl

Why would I need external compressors, limiters, etc. if my software has these?

You don't. Ultimate quality often comes in the form of dedicated hardware, but for most of us, software does the job just fine.

I am upgrading my home studio, and sure I am facinated with all the stuff I can get to improve my sound, but I don't want to spend all my money just because I am "facinated".

Good. Don't spend money on stuff you don't need. You'll only regret it down the road when you decide you need something but don't have the money because you spent it on shiney things.

I also would like to have a physical mixer or daw control surface, but do I really need it if I'm using Cubase, a firepod,and a low end Casio for my midi controller and other sounds?

Need? No, you don't need a mixer or control surface. If it makes your life easier and you have the money, do it up. If it doesn't, don't.

My recording space is more compact than it has ever been. I've been doing this stuff since about '93. All of my outboard has disappeared and its now just a computer, interface, keyboards and monitors.

R.

[kyl]

Thanks, Richie,

Just what I needed to know.

[brandondrury]

I think Richiebee answered your question perfectly.

I don't know anyone who doesn't want a Distressor or LA-2A compressor (one is $1,500 and the other is $3,500 list). However, I know very few people who NEED one. I thought that the EMI compressor (for $4k) sounded better than any compressor I've ever heard in my life at Michael Wagener's but I don't have $4,000 for one channel. Even if I did, there are probably a billion other things I would buy first.

The same holds for control surfaces and stuff. Sometimes convenience really helps creativity. Sometimes it's not such a benefit.

If you have cash, really do the work to get your room in order so that your mixes really translate. This is 90% of the game. If you can get that part right, the rest will fall into place.

Brandon

[kyl]

Thanks, Brandon. I will concentrate highly on my room acoustics and go for what I know. When I get my Cubase upgrade, look for more questions from me, ok. You are the greatest! I mean it.


Karen

[brandondrury]

You are right. I'm the greatest Brandon Drury with a recording forum in the world!!! ha ha ha hah a hahah (That was an evil laugh).

If you have any questions or just want to chat, this is the place!

Brandon

[Riggs77]

I was listening to a mix you did Brandon and was wondering how everything sounds like it is so clean. Is it the mic's you use? Is it your interface or what. LOL I am using Cubase SE and a PreSonus FirePod currently I am using MXL 990 and a MXL V63M mics when I do electric guitar I mic it w/ a SM57. I just purchased a Behringer Multicom Pro XL Compressor, but I have not had the time to play with it.

[brandondrury]

I was listening to a mix you did Brandon and was wondering how everything sounds like it is so clean

I guess "clean" is a good thing to you. (That adjective is tricky for recording).

Is it the mic's you use?

Is it your interface or what.

Well, let me give you a hint. I hardly think about gear when I'm actually tracking. I do have some nice preamps, but the difference is in character, not quality. That character is a very subtle thing in the home recording world especially when my monitors are lying to me constantly.

I do have some very expensive converters to go with my Delta 1010, but no band has ever commented on hearing a difference.

I do have a $2500 microphone (Soundelux U99), which I used on about 1/3 of the record for Daniel Sexton. I also used a AT 4050 for most of it and a Shure SM7 some of the time. In the end, when I listen to the album now, I have trouble telling which mic I used. My memory is fading. So it's not like the $2500 mic is any better than the AT 4050 or the Shure SM7. Just different. I could have made the entire record with any of those 3 mics on vocals and no one would have noticed a difference.

I think the reason that "Don't Turn Away" turned out well is because it's a damn good song. I'm not sure if my producing did the song any justice or not, but it is what it is. My goal was to capture a mood. I think I acheived that goal. It's not mics, preamps, or any of that crap. It's paying attention to the intensity of the music. It's getting as good of vocal takes as you possibly can. You'd be amazed in the way that bad vocal takes sound like they are poorly engineered!

The drum samples we used were really good. I worked VERY hard on constantly tweaking them until I got what I wanted. It took A LOT of time to do this.

We took our time and made sure that each track was giving us what we wanted. Just grabbing a guitar and playing doesn't always work. Maybe the guitar doesn't sound right. Maybe we needed a specific acoustic guitar for a certain part and the guitar only sounded good when it was strummed extremely lightly. This makes 1,000,000 x the difference of any fancy interface, preamp, or mic. We paid attention to detail to make sure the sound in the room be what we wanted.

I made room for stuff. I had to cut holes in most instruments to make room for other instruments. This occurs both in the arrangment and in the mixing.

I used a Royer R121 on the guitars, but I could have just as easily used a 57. I like the darker sound of the Royer on this album. For all I know I ended up boosting the upper mids on the guitars anyway. I'm not sure. It probably depends on the song.

That's another thing. I track everything with the intention of not needing to use ANY eq during mixing. Of course, I do have to cut holes to make things fit, but that should be the extent of it.

I could come up with almost indentical results with the gear you have. I'm not super sure about the particular mics you have. They may be a little bright for my tastes (most cheap mics are too bright).

I did not use a single outboard compressor in that recording.

Anyway, I hope that helps you some. Feel free to ask as many questions as you would like.

Brandon

[bilpot]

Brandon: Im new to the home recording and I need some advice.. what I am trying to do is simple. I am a steel guitarist and vocalist. I use canned tracks to play and sing with. I have a recorder with a 1gb card and an alesis mixer. Ive tried to mic my steel using a seinhauser mic that I got for guitar and the vocals seem to be fine use the 990 microphone that I purchased and the recorder is a fostex mr8. when I make the wav file. the music is gutless it has no punch and now matter what I do the Steel Guitar has no tone quality to it. ive tried running it though the mixer and it sounds pretty good in the phones but the finished product has no umph!.. can you give me any tips as to what I might get... and what to do ... and what software would be the best.... would also like to know what microphone you recommend for vocal recording.


thanks
Billy