The Chinese

If he can't even make edits w/o pops & clicks, chances are most of his other edits are lousy, too. Get the original audio project/OMF and do it right. Drawing a new fade takes 2 seconds. Trying to find a click can be a PITA. -Dan. This. In ProTools, Use the Pencil tool. Hold the Control Key and using the I Beam, scrub the audio over the click...Find it, and zoom in, Keep doing this until you can visibly see the click. Then draw it out. OP, Some of the tricks listed here are cool, but you said that the clicks are on Dialogue, so this will work. Waves De-click works well, Sonic No-Noise also very well. Todd A. Edit: Sorry, I noticed you're in Logic 8...Does not apply, but Logic must have a similar ability.

Well now i'm convinced I need one when someone in the recording forum gives props to a pedal! I use a modded SD-1 but it gets schrill with the tone past noon when recording it. It benifits with an EQ too somtimes. It's either an OCD or i'm savin my pennies for a Klon. What amp and how are you running it? Clean amp, semi-dirt amp?? Dude, OCD over the Klon. Seriously. I put both of them together and the OCD really outshined it. THe versatility there is amazing. I love the lower gain settings- you can really get it to push nice and grind like a pushed fender..think Bassman. Then as the other poster said, lower your volume on the guitar, and great tones. The only gripe I have with it is that it seems to have a very sensitive output stage that interacts with certain other pedals- it get louder and softer depending on what it's feeding... a bit strange. but manageable. -Todd A.

I've read this pattern scores of times. Now, for sure, stuff happens; musicians ARE flaky; kids do get sick; great aunts do die... But over and over I've read stories like yours... it just seems like these guys keep coming up with one plausible excuse after another. When they're on the buying end, one imagines, it might just be something as simple as cash flow. (And in the case of people who sell things they don't have yet -- as we must imagine some do -- it seems like cash flow can combine with seller issues on his end, as well.) But all too often in these stories, it's the good guy looking for a decent deal (not even a "too-good" deal... WC Fields notwithstanding, a lot of folks DO try to cheat an honest man or woman) who ends up holding the bag. Anyhow, it's a dang shame that folks like this screw it for the millions of legitimiate and responsible sellers and buyers -- but I'm afraid it's all part of the human comedy. It's just that sometimes it ain't so funny... BTW... if he posts here or you post something about this transaction at the DUC, be prepared for a blast of hostile, "wounded" emails from this guy. He'll say you're just not trusting or caring. He'll say you're jumping to conclusions. He'll say you're accusing him of being dishonest. Yadda yadda yadda... it's all part of the pattern. He he he...You should read this whole thread, it's already happened. Bottomline is that Charles is a pretty nasty guy. But it wil all come out in the wash, the Post production community is actually pretty small, and people with nasty streaks rarely work for long. As for the DUC, yes there was a blast of Charles' vitrol, which was promptly removed from the DUC by the Mods after I asked them to lock the thread. All in all, it was a difficult situation, $2k is a lot of money no matter who you are. -Todd A.

Just thought I'd revive this old thread to tell everyone the final resolution to this long year long saga... Turns out Mr .Rivera uses the Family is sick excuse very often....to the point where others have posted about it... http://forums.macnn.com/59/marketplace/289906/buyer-beware-the-shady-traders-list/ http://forums.macnn.com/59/marketplace/284371/mastersonics-is-a-scammer-fraud-alert/ Look for the post by deerock in the middle of the pages... So turns out that Charles is the POS that I though the was. unbelieveable. he he he. Also, Just for the record, Charles also initiated a Paypal investigation that froze my Paypal account for almost 6 months, that only recently got cleared. So, my lesson to you all is Buyer beware, and dont make the mistakes I did- Get the Phone Number, contact info, address and verify them. Don't be afraid to call, and certainly foillow your instincts- If you think you're being scammed, you probably are. -Todd A.

Originally posted by MrKnobs Terry D. Terry- I'll tell you why I feel the way i do. Often times, since I work on a large dubbing stage, with a more "traditional" setup, I often see andd pay the price for poor technique in Engineering. Not that Anna is going to send her mixes to a large stage, but in preparation for doing so. It's engineering, and the basic rules, IMO, should be somewhat followed so that when one travels to a {censored}kicker room with a more traditional setup they aren't fighting that kind of stuff. Where is spot on about that. I recognize that what Kiwi said is 100% accurate, and also agree in theory with you. I don't believe in Where's absolutism on this at all, rather I feel that it's a "Just because its there doesn't mean you should use it" type situation. another reason is plugin headroom- fine a mix buss is capable of infinite headroom, but may plugins are not. for example, I feel that Waves plugins have a definite limited amount of headroom, even on PTHD (this is the platform I use everyday, and is also my personal system). I find myslef with a much better sound by recording at 0VU ref to -20dBfs. Bottom line is that I see young engineers all the time coming into the Post world (this is my professional business) that have a difficult time recording a VO, and then wonder why it sounds so saturated. YMMV. Hope i explained myslef somewhat clearly. -Todd

Originally posted by Anna Log I understand the noise issue here. I thought we were recording at 24 bit no matter what the input level? So is everything that comes in under -18dbfs... under 24 bits? Or is it under -12dbfs. Where o where do I start losing bits? Yamaha said I should be at -12dbfs. Maybe I should make up better songs, then this kinda stuff wouldn't matter so much. Now you know ahy I said what I said at the beginning of the thread This conversation can be daunting. Don't say losing bits- you're not. Say you're losing resolution- the converter isn't as accurate the lowel your level. That's a separate consideration outside your Mix buss, which has to sum all those signals together. For now, just record healthy, but not hot. No peaks to 0. That will get you going. Just remember to listen- If you hear distortion or saturation you'll know it. Watch your clip Lights. None should be on. Now MAKE SOME MUSIC!!!!!! he he. -Todd A.

Originally posted by Kiwiburger OK - I give up. You are willfully ignorant he he he. where strikes yet another chord. Sorry you ran into this. You are 100% correct in what you are presenting here, at least in a very theoretical manner - you can't clip 32bit floating math. Don't let where get under your skin too far. -Todd A.

Originally posted by Kiwiburger (Donning flame proof suit ...) Flame away ... Nothing really to flame in your post.... however, It's a bit advanced for the original poster, which is why I kinda just alluded to it in my earlier post. I personally think that 32bit floating math is one of the bigest reasons that our engineering skills are falling by the wayside. I mean, you can keep tossing track after track after track with almost no thought. No longer do we have to meticulously record our tracks etc. bUt it all comes back to that converter....0dBFS is a real ceiling. Why not just record correctly and not pull your master down so far? my .02 -Todd A.

Originally posted by Anna Log Thank you for all the info! When I do that unity test thing, or what I think I'm supposed to do anyway, the level doesn't even reach midway thru it's travel. It goes to about 20db. The unit is a Yamaha aw4416, the meter says db on it, I may have the meaning of db wrong, I thought it meant decibel. What does dbFS mean? My mixes DO sound all mudded up. I have noticed a softer feel to tracks that I thought were recorded too low, but never thought of input levels because of my huge case of paradigm paralysis. I really need to get a handle on this, thanks again for all the input. Anna- dBFS= Decibels, Full Scale. In this case, 0dBFS= the maximum signal that Digital can handle. Unlike analog, Digital cannot go above this level without clipping. Ok, remember that, because there are cases where it can go above that level, but that's a more advanced discussion.... For now, suffice it to say that that is a hard ceiling. So when wwe say that 0dBVU= -20dBFS, then that means that the "0" level is 20dB lower than the full level that the converter can capture. OK, stay with me for a sec.... There are hard voltage levels that correlate to some of these- Audio guys needed a point of reference, so thus the "0dBVU" standard was developed. That voltage happens to be 1.224v=0dBVU That also correlates to yet another scale, "dBM" so now 1.224v= 0dBVU= +4dBm. So in a system that specs at -20dBFS, 1.224v= +4dBm=0dBVU=-20dBFS now in some equipment, the converter has only 16dB of headroom, thus it specs at 0VU=-16dBFS. So for that equipment: 1.224v=0dBVU= +4dBm= -16dBFS. OK, are you still with me? he he he. What you should notice is that while 0VU is a hard setting, dBFS, is not- it's somewwhat arbitrary depending on the equipment being used. I will say this- Is music there is no standard. DA-88's are -16dBFS, ProTools is -18dBFS (Factory), ADATS were -14dBFS. However, is the video word, the standard is -20dBFS in North America. This is part of why I say not to sweat this too much. There's too much variation in the gear for it to really make sense. So it comes down to leaving yourself some headroom and you'll be fine. Record healthy, but not hot. A good litmus test is to put all your faders at Unity gain and see how much you have to pull your master fader back in order for distortion to not occur. It's common to have to pull it back, but if you're pulling it 20 or 30dB, then you are most likely recording too hot, although that will also depend on how may tracks etc you have. Experiment and have fun. As for your mixes being muddy, look at your sounds at 140-250Hz, most likely you have a big buildup there ;-) -Todd A.

Originally posted by where02190 Yea, he's my alterego. I spend sleepless nights thinking of ways to torment your sensitive ego. I posted my opinion. You keep fornicating this pissing contest to stroke your ego. Once again, don't like what I post, don't read it, it's that simple. Record at whatever the {censored} level you want, but please go piss in someone elses ear, I'm sure I'm not the only one sick of your whining. patience and tolerance.... I'm still laughing over that one.... Way to prove a point. -Todd A.

Originally posted by where02190 Wel Lee, that's your opinion and you're entitled to it, just as I am. If you continue to read my posts I suggest you learn more patience and tolerance, or use the ignore function. That choice is entirely up to you, but if you continue to read my posts, don't come whining to me about how I express my opinions. You have a choice to read them or not. Patience and tolerance, coming from you? that's about one of the most ironic things I've read on this forum in a long time. Dude, YOU need to learn tolerance and patience. leccturing someone else about it when you're the one tossing around attitude is inappropriate and only shows a decided lack of care about others that I could never subscribe to. -Todd A.

Originally posted by where02190 Can't take the heat stay out of the kitchen. dude, there's no heat you can toss onto me that compares to the reality of life. -Todd A.

Originally posted by MASSIVE Master I don't think he was arguing for irresponsibility - I think he was saying to get an understanding of what the rest of the chain is doing and then just roll with it. Once I see what a VU meter is doing, I don't really "worry" about what the digital meters are reading - I know darn well that there's no way something is going to approach full-scale without something drastic happening somewhere. I *think* that's what he was getting at... Thanks, you hit it on the head. -T

Originally posted by where02190 This is about the worst advise regarding quality recording anyone could give. Apart from the obvious mic choice, position tuning, etc., to get good sounds going in, proper levels are the most important factor in digital recording. Stay conservative, understand what your meters are telling you, and pay attention to them. Dude, get over yourself. I'm just tellin' the guy to enjoy himself. That's all. There's tons of time to worry about perfect recordings as his skill increases. The Music is what's important, not the perfectly captured Guitar sound or Kick drum sound. I don't know why you have such a hard on for me, but whatever. Maybe you don't really enjoy what you do, or are frustrated by your life or whatever, I don't know. What I do know is that you should really lighten up a bit, and recognize the validity of the big picture- it's music, and it's supposed to be joyful. There's been a number of people that you have gone out of your way to insult or antagonize- You've even had your own thread dedicated to you calling you out- and I just don't understand it. This is a place where we're supposed to help each other, so I suggest getting on board. -Todd A.

Originally posted by UstadKhanAli Send 'em over!!!! Slurrrrrrp! IIRC is a secret code among recording engineers. It's in the handbook after the section on secret handshakes, IIRC (If I Remember Correctly). Ooooops.... Ahhh...