Members Kranak Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 I am a home recording hobbiest that records for myself and a handful of friends with styles that range from hip hop to rock to metal. What should be my internal goals be as far as a song that is in tracking stages vs. mixing stages vs. mastering stages? I know this is a pretty broad question but some of the info I am looking for would be like at what level should I try to reach at each stage to try to keep the song sounding its best, and what is generally speaking the best type of work flow to take advantage of my and my friends time? Also what are some templates that some of you have set up for each stage? Thanks for looking and I would be happy with even partial responses to any of the questions. I am just trying to gain a better understanding what I am doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boosh Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 What equipment do you use?What kinda D.A.W.?What is your goal?What is your friends goal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kranak Posted July 27, 2005 Author Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 What equipment do you use? Right now I have a dmp3 pre-amp and 8 channel yamaha mixing board, a sm57 mic, a sb audigy card, and misc musical equiptment. I am slowing adding pieces of recording gear.What kinda D.A.W.?I use sonar 4.0 pe, and I have cd architech.What is your goal?What is your friends goal?I know it is a long long ways of but I would eventually like to be able to reach professional level recordings. I understand that I need a lot more gear and better gear. I am just looking for 'good habits' to form now as I am learning that will help me grow as an engineer. So for now I guess I can say my goal is solid sounding demos with a foundation built to be able to move on to better sounding projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boosh Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 In my opinion you have everything to create some cool,pro sounding demos. I'm a real diy guy and the pros on here often tell me that you should leave everything to them but If you use your ears and reference CDs you could go a long way. I've heard great quality recordings coming from a set-up like yours and very bad recordings coming out of pro-studios. Mastering - Same story ,...I've heard crappy {censored} from very wellknown studios. The key factor in all this is : Are you driven enough and do you have good ears. And last but maybe the strongest advice : Listen to guys as Bill Roberts,Phil and Where02765(allways forget those digits),...These guys know how the stuff works and if you follow their rules 99 out of 100 times ya can't go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kranak Posted July 27, 2005 Author Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 Thanks for the reply and encouragement. What got me kinda thinking about this question is the normalization thread and how some replys gave some good guidelines for input volumes, mixing volumes, etc. I am interested in this kind of information. Kind of a target for each process of recording to help keep the audio quality at its best. I know there arent any absolutes, but guidelines and ranges are a great help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boosh Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 You can run a search on the old musicplayer forums. I've asked dozens of questions like that overthere and these guys allways gave me tips and hints. I'm using a similar set-up as the one you're using. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badgererer Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 I would really like a guideline on this as well...would find it very helpful indeed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted July 27, 2005 Share Posted July 27, 2005 Wow, that IS a lot of ground to cover in a single post, or a single thread for that matter. It may seem boring and difficult, but IMO, there is no substitute for getting the basics down... learning the fundamentals. We can try to help you out when you have a specific question or get confused or want additional information, but you really have to do some homework on your own. I would recommend starting with some good books and doing some reading. Which sounds like a good topic for another thread... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kranak Posted July 27, 2005 Author Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 I understand that it is definately a books worth of questions. I am more than happy to read information that exists for this, do you have some books that you would recommend? I will check out the forum mentioned as well. I am getting some results recording that I am happy with. So its not like I am just starting from scratch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members where02190 Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 My approach is this. At the tracking stage, I can, sith only pan and level, get a grreat mix. I never eq, and rarely use any dynamics processing when tracking. I change mics, position, pres, heads, tuning, etc., to capture the sound that I hear acoustically. In the mix stage, I start by doing what I use for gauging the trackign stage, level and pan. Editing and automation allow me to be more finessing at this stage. When the mix is kicking, I then ad some dynamic processing. Then I go to the eq, keeping in mind that less is more, and generally cutting what I don't want rather than boosting what I'm lacking. Finally comes effects. I'm fairly light handed here, unless there's something specific that the song/artist is looking for. (Remember there are never any rules really.) One thing I never do is put any eq or dynamics across the mix buss. That's for mastering. If it isn't siting right dynamicy or tonally, I find out what the source is, and correct there, rather than applying a global patch. Mastering, if I've done the previous two stages correctly, is simly a matter of balancing levels from song to song, and getting the tracks as loud as the style dictates. However I'll never compromise volume for dynamics. IMHO the loudness war is an idiotic waste of what was once probably some nice sounding tracks. If you want to listen louder, turn it up or get a louder stereo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kranak Posted July 27, 2005 Author Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 When you say you never use effects in the mix buss during the mixing stage, do you mean on master only or on any bus? Like for example say I have two guitars going to an effects buss that I want some reverb on. Nevermind,I reread your post and answered my question. And thanks for the reply. This is one thing I was wanting to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members geek_usa Posted July 28, 2005 Members Share Posted July 28, 2005 I always try to get the mix sounding as close as possible to what i'm aiming for before i send off my mixes to mastering. I sent my mixes off in late march, but then I realized that what I had sent off, I was not happy with. So I went back to the drawing board, re-tracked, re-mixed, and did a lot of the things over. What came out was a more polished, better sounding piece, and my Mastering Engineer even said, it's a huge improvement over what you sent me before. A common tip is that you should always try to get the mix sounding so good, that it doesn't "need" mastering (although technically it does, but it sounds so happening, well...you know what i'm saying). Mastering is not a fixing process, it is a polishing process. You can't master in the mixing process, and you can't mix in the mastering process. They're each their own, so make sure you (and your ME) do it right! So I guess what I'm suggesting here is don't be sloppy in the performance or the mixing. Take time to do it right, but don't be a perfectionist, as you can't perfect things. If you're getting frustrated or tired of mixing, take a break from it for awhile. Go do something else; then you can come back with a fresh set of ears and a clear head and go to work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Will Chen Posted July 29, 2005 Members Share Posted July 29, 2005 The most important thing to consider when tracking instruments is...be patient and experiment. First off, let me say that I'm happy to see you starting on an SB card. Too many times around here I see posts of beginners with a snobby attitude towards them saying their sound quality is poor. You gotta walk before you run! By starting with limitations, you have to learn work arounds and you start to trully understand what you need out of your gear and will be able to make more informed decisions when you step up. More often than not, spending money towards a couple different mics (maybe a condeser) will benefit you more in obtaining a good sound in the early stages than a new sound card. So, when tracking you need to have a clear concept of what the finished product should sound like. You will quickly learn that the goal you have (for now) is unatainable. Your common questions will be "The guitars don't sound full enough", "The bass just doesn't have that boom", "The snare sounds thin", "Where is the sizzle on the cymbals". You will find that the first step to answering all these questions will involve learning how to correctly mic/multi mic an instrument and choosing the right mic for the right job. The next stage will be "The vocals just don't cut through enough", "My mix sounds great in the car but bad at my friend's house" and you will learn how to make subtle corrective EQ adjustments to individual instruments based on the mix rather than trying to solo each track to get the "perfect" tone. You'll get there, you may be closer than you think (or than I'm giving you credit for). Just try everything and take all advice with a grain of salt as there are very, very few absolutes in this world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kranak Posted July 29, 2005 Author Members Share Posted July 29, 2005 Thanks for the tips. I am about to finish mixing two songs that I plan on putting up here so I can get some tips, and get a feel for about how far I have progressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Spirithunter Posted July 30, 2005 Members Share Posted July 30, 2005 Hi Kranak, I just bought a book called "The Art of Mixing" second edition and i think it is a really good read. You might want to check it out. -Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kranak Posted July 30, 2005 Author Members Share Posted July 30, 2005 Thanks bob, I think I will check that out. I have seen in recommended in more than one place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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