10 things I've learned about myself while recording my first song

[Sammy TWP]

1) I can't sing, well that's not entirely true, I can make sound come out and in some ways it resembles a melodic type harmony, but it doesn't sound all that good.

2) I can create a guitar harmony that's in key and has a nice feel and flow to it. Little simple maybe but not bad.

3) I can also create a bass line that is a good offsetting counter to the guitar, not just playing root notes

who knew?

4) I understand the need for headphones while recording, echo is a neat effect but it adds up

5) My mic sounds better when I use my bass amp instead of my guitar amp (although my voice still sucks )

6) It is possible to spend over 3 hours recording the same riff with every combination of effect only to go back to the sound that you started with anyway

7) Kids will always wait until the last part of your recording to knock on the door, no matter how many times you try it

8) I have yet to figure out levels for recording, I need to start taking notes about my settings

9) I know compression is important and I want to use it, but I have no idea what it's for

10) It takes a long time to do this, I must have a good 30+ hours invested in this project and don't even have any final tracks ready yet. Lots of test tracks and mixes though, part of that time has been learning the program as well.

 

The song creation part has been amazing, I've tried writing a song before but never got past a few lines or a few chords, this time it just kind of took a life of it's own. I think making songs is going to become a part of my music hobby. I already have a few ideas for another tune

[bibleboy3]

You

[Davepch]

one of my fav feelings is hearing a song come together, there's nothing like it:thu:

[Lucky #9]

11) More Cowbell...

[Synonym Music]

 

11) More Cowbell...

 

 

12) More low end.

[UstadKhanAli]

 

12) More low end.

 

 

13) until you find out that your monitors don't produce low end and your mix is boomy on other people's speakers

[D Charles]

I don't understand the part about your mic sounding better through the bass amp than the guitar amp??????

 

Your mic should be going through a mixer or mic preamp.

 

For level setting, check out any Mackie mixer manual. Really helpful.

 

A compressor levels your recorded part's dynamics so the part doesn't get too soft or too loud. You can't hear good compression unless you're running through a 'character compressor' that adds some magic to anything going through it.

 

The best way to learn how to sing is to record yourself over and over. It's hard to hear what you sound like while you're doing it, but you can learn tons just listening back to parts you've recorded.

[Sammy TWP]

 

I don't understand the part about your mic sounding better through the bass amp than the guitar amp?????? I'm talking about after the mixer, I don't have a PA so I have to feed the line back to one of my amps, and the point I was making was that my voice sounds better when it's the bass amp driving the sound instead of my guitar amp. I'm really just digging on my guitar amp because I'm starting to realize that I do not like it Your mic should be going through a mixer or mic preamp. it is For level setting, check out any Mackie mixer manual. Really helpful. A compressor levels your recorded part's dynamics so the part doesn't get too soft or too loud. You can't hear good compression unless you're running through a 'character compressor' that adds some magic to anything going through it. The best way to learn how to sing is to record yourself over and over. It's hard to hear what you sound like while you're doing it, but you can learn tons just listening back to parts you've recorded. yea that's where my realization about my voice came from, I used to think that I could at least carry a tune, not so much any more

 

 

as to level settings do you have any basic tricks of the trade to share? are there some basic truths that I should know as to level sets pre mix down?

[Synonym Music]

 

13) until you find out that your monitors don't produce low end and your mix is boomy on other people's speakers

 

 

14) Note to self: Get diffusors and a longer room. Projected budget for reconstruction: $100.

 

15) Buy sledgehammer.

 

 

as to level settings do you have any basic tricks of the trade to share? are there some basic truths that I should know as to level sets pre mix down?

 

 

So levels at the mixing stage?

 

Ew, no, none of those "The kick should be -6dB and build around that" kinds of rules. Those wreck my mix every time I try them. Sometimes the kick has to be much louder, and sometimes much softer depending on the music. I don't really know what to say except try to keep things clean and uncluttered; no buried parts, only less prominent parts.

 

I've heard the general rule of keeping the entire mix at an average -6 dB with peaks at -3 dB and it's helped. Before getting to mastering the mix should be a little quiet.

[UstadKhanAli]

 

as to level settings do you have any basic tricks of the trade to share? are there some basic truths that I should know as to level sets pre mix down?

 

 

Don't overload the mix bus. Don't have things fighting and competing for space. Roll off the everything below at least 100Hz except for the bass and kick drum.

[D Charles]

For level setting, set your faders for channel and main bus at unity gain (0 db) and then turn your input up till your loudest bits don't overload the output, but show a strong signal approaching 0 on your recorder. Patching in a compressor makes this easier.

 

In this digital age, it's not nearly as important to get levels near 0 as it was for tape, especially at 24 bit recording. Just get a good solid signal showing the green in the meter and never hitting the red.

[Sammy TWP]

ok good tips thank you all

[Rubber Lizard]

I may be too late for your party but what the heck. On compression: You're listening to a song and the vocalist is nearly whispering on some parts, nearly screaming on others, yet it's never too loud or too quiet. What the? You probably just heard compression.

 

You're listening to the guitar, now, and it has great sustain, gnarly distortion, yet you can still hear the pick on the strings... compression again.

 

You're listening to the latest young guy rock band. The guitars sound the same all the way through -- droning on and on without ever changing. Come to think of it, that's how the drums sound, too... You just heard way, way, too much compression.

[albiedamned]

Here's my tip on level setting in the 24 bit world. When recording, make your target somewhere around -10db. That will give a signal which is plenty strong enough for recording, without having to worry about clipping. Later when mixing, try to only bring channel faders down, not up. Don't worry about the overall level of the mix, just the relative volumes of the parts. Then in the very final stage (call it mastering if you want), use a loudness maximizer/limiter to get the overall volume up to where you want it. I use Ozone 3 for that part.

[Dean Roddey]

 

Ew, no, none of those "The kick should be -6dB and build around that" kinds of rules. Those wreck my mix every time I try them. Sometimes the kick has to be much louder, and sometimes much softer depending on the music. I don't really know what to say except try to keep things clean and uncluttered; no buried parts, only less prominent parts.

 

 

The point is that the kick has to be at -6dB, but that you get the drum sound right, then build up from there. In most rock music, the drums are very prominent and at the loudest part of the song, the kick and snare are likely to be the highest peaks in the song. So if you get the drum sound correct, then set the peak levels of the drums appropriately at the loudest part of the song, that's a good way to end up with appropriate levels overall at the end. Obviously though if you are not doing that sort of song, then you wouldn't set the drum peaks at -6dB, but somewhere lower.

[Synonym Music]

 

The point is that the kick has to be at -6dB, but that you get the drum sound right, then build up from there. In most rock music, the drums are very prominent and at the loudest part of the song, the kick and snare are likely to be the highest peaks in the song. So if you get the drum sound correct, then set the peak levels of the drums appropriately at the loudest part of the song, that's a good way to end up with appropriate levels overall at the end. Obviously though if you are not doing that sort of song, then you wouldn't set the drum peaks at -6dB, but somewhere lower.

 

 

Okay. That makes things tedious, but fair enough. I'm also saying I don't use this method because I don't need it.

[Phil O'Keefe]

as to level settings do you have any basic tricks of the trade to share? are there some basic truths that I should know as to level sets pre mix down?

 

Record with your levels at about -18 / -15 dBFS. That is "decibels, full scale". What that means is that your average levels on your meters should be around 15 to 18 dB below 0dB (full scale) on digital meters. Occasional peaks higher than that are okay, but if you're recording a 24 bit file, there's no need to attempt to slam the signal as close to zero as you can... leave yourself a bit of headroom.

 

On playback, you'll be able to get those faders up closer to 0 if you record at that level. As far as where to put things at mixdown, that's entirely up to you.

[Dean Roddey]

I'm not sure I understand the RMS level thing (for tracking levels), or at least it doesn't make complete sense to me. Drums could have an average level that is very low, while having peaks that are very high. While a heavily sustained distorted guitar could have a very high average and very few peaks. So it just seems to me that using peak measurement is a more consistent way to meter than average because peaks are peaks and don't change based on the type of instrument. And, in the end, it seems that it's the peaks that matter, since the most important thing is not clipping.

[Dean Roddey]

 

Okay. That makes things tedious, but fair enough. I'm also saying I don't use this method because I don't need it.

 

 

There's nothing tedious about it. It's a very, very commonly used system and it works well. If you take the highest peaking instrument in the loudest part of the song and set that track so that it meters appropriately at that point, then everything else can be built around that and you know that you'll end up with an appropriate peak level at the end (or very close anyway.) Drums are commonly that instrument, but they might not always be.

[Synonym Music]

 

There's nothing tedious about it. It's a very, very commonly used system and it works well. If you take the highest peaking instrument in the loudest part of the song and set that track so that it meters appropriately at that point, then everything else can be built around that and you know that you'll end up with an appropriate peak level at the end (or very close anyway.) Drums are commonly that instrument, but they might not always be.

 

 

Uh.... Yeah there's plenty tedious about it when you're relying so heavily on metering. How is it that I don't use this method but come out with finely balanced mixes? It's not because I'm shooting in the dark...

[Dean Roddey]

You're only relying on metering to set one thing, which is the highest peak of the loudest instrument. Everything else is done to sound right against that. It insures that you end up with an appropriate overall level for the mix in the end, which sounds good as well, since it's created the say way you are doing yours, i.e. by what sounds good. It sounds just as good AND it ends up at the desired overall level, by just taking one extra step. So it's hardly that tedious and gets consistent results without guessing. This type of scheme is not used by so many people for nothing.

[Synonym Music]

Okay.

 

I tried this method today and it didn't work that well, but mainly because I was using a premixed drums track (the doldrums of remixing folks... Ugh). That and the sample choice was bad, recording quality was mediocre, etc etc.

 

The mix was so annoying that I'm going to give a big tip: RECORD THINGS WELL, OKAY, PLEASE? Because you can't fix much later. Pro Tools can fix timing (to an extent), Melodyne and Autotune can fix intonation (to an extent), but you're pretty much flat out {censored}ed if your drum recording sucks.

 

 

 

There I said it.

[twostone]

as to level settings do you have any basic tricks of the trade to share? are there some basic truths that I should know as to level sets pre mix down? Record with your levels at about -18 / -15 dBFS. That is "decibels, full scale". What that means is that your average levels on your meters should be around 15 to 18 dB below 0dB (full scale) on digital meters. Occasional peaks higher than that are okay, but if you're recording a 24 bit file, there's no need to attempt to slam the signal as close to zero as you can... leave yourself a bit of headroom. On playback, you'll be able to get those faders up closer to 0 if you record at that level. As far as where to put things at mixdown, that's entirely up to you.

 

Great advise until the master SE gets a hold of it and turns your well dynamic mix into a 2x4 wave:eek: i assuming that's why you leave the headroom.

[Sammy TWP]

so then, it's better to record at lower volumes for individual tracks and then increase the vol for the master track....clipping is a big no no....and build around the loudest instrument in the music (although I can see that being a problem for me, as I'm not a drummer)...yes?

 

what about accents? there are a few bass riffs that I'd like to stand out, now to do this I just play them harder, but can't I also increase the volume for that in and of itself? remember I am using audacity (suggest something better if it's downloadable and free)

 

thanks for all the info guys btw, I really do thank you for it

[Dean Roddey]

You record the tracks lower than 0dB so that you aren't at risk of clipping during the tracking and, once they are all added together and you start working on the overall mix, you have some room to maneuver at the end.

 

And there's also some concerns about overdriving any analog equipment (pre-amps, DI boxes, etc...) and the A/D conversion in the sound card, by trying to get the signal in too hot. This can introduce distortion of bad sorts that you don't want.

 

You would use volume and EQ automation to showcase specific phrases of a given track, to make it temporarily stand out (or you may just reduce the volume (or change the EQ) of some other instrument that is otherwise masking that track you want to showcase, instead of turning up the one you want to hear more. There are a lot of possible variations.