• I haven't seen a thread devoted to recording, mixing, mastering, tips, tricks, do's and don'ts or what have you. We all have different setups and I feel like there is much to be learned from one another when it comes to gear and techniques. Here's a few of my favorite producers and what they have to say.


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  • Ridiculous. After I logged off last night I figured I'd finally start a thread for this purpose today as it's been playing on my mind for a while, Shawn. The recent discussion in Ceddy's guitar-layering thread indicated to me that I'd best get it done now, and lo and behold, you've beaten me to it by minutes! :D


    Wuddun, mate, and thank you!

  • I've never tried this technique but after seeing this, and getting a good laugh (funny guy), I'm gonna give it a shot. :huh::D


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  • Back in the day I sometimes used 3 or 4 mic's - kick, OHL, OHR (or a single, mono overhead) and snare. Worked fine.


    The only "problem" I have with the video is, even 'though he seems to get results, I can't help but wonder if there's a little dumb luck involved, for two reasons:


    One is phase issues. Perhaps that's just 'cause I've always been super-sensitive to them. The distances from the kit components to the two main mic's, on paper at least, look like an anti-phase-freak's nightmare.


    The other is the concept of mic's' "seeing" something. He repeatedly talked about this when "aiming" them, as if they were cameras. This false understanding of mic's has been around for eons, and is, well, false. They don't "see" as a camera does. You have to use your ears when determining positioning 'cause sound sources don't radiate directly, line-of-sight-style, as objects being framed by a camera lens do. Well, they sort-of do, but as we know, the lower the frequency, the less-directive it is. Every instrument (and drum) emits sound of varying frequency and level from every "angle". Mic's don't capture what you'd see if they were lenses, but rather, they record what appears, by whichever route, at their precise point of location... just like our ears.


    When he positions the overhead, he thinks of it like a camera - "It sees [makes triangular shape with hands] this / like this". No, it doesn't. It picks up whatever sound reaches that point in space. The side mic's an interesting one too. "It'll see the snare", he said. Well, yeah, the whole room's gonna see the snare, but is that position going to yield a pleasing rendering of it? It might, but again, that'd be pot luck, and lucky if it doesn't cause comb filtering of the overhead's snare signal. Same goes for the other kit elements.


    Another way of explaining this:
    Stand in front of a kit and pick the best-sounding location by ear and set a mic up facing the kit in that position. Then choose the worst location. Now, if the mic's thought of like a camera, all you're gonna see is a slightly-different-angled view of the kit, with no clue as to how it'll sound comparatively-speaking. Placing that mic "intellectually", thinking in terms of a camera lens, will yield wildly-varying results. You might strike it lucky, but most of the time you won't. If you panned this "camera" along the front of the kit, left-to-right, you'd have no way of knowing where the sweet spots were, would you? All you'd see would be the varying angles of view.


    Bear in mind that the only reason we need to "aim" mic's is because of their polar patterns if they're not omnidirectional. Anything appearing at the sides or rear of these mic's will be out-of-phase to varying degrees. IOW, an omnidirectional mic (or hemispherical one such as a PZM in close-to-surface locations), IMHO, is the ultimate point-source "recorder". If something sounds perfect in a precise location to your ears, an omni should capture that (without aiming) pretty-well.


    So to sum up the Monkey Madness™, a microphone captures what arrives at a specific location in time and space, just like a camera... but not. :D


    PS:
    This stuff isn't from any book I've read or whatever; it's my own viewpoint(!) based upon my twisted thinking and limited experience, so...YMMV.

  • I've got 7 mics on my kit plus a room mic and while it sounds "good" I just have to wonder about this method. Like he said "open the mic amp 10db more than you should and lower the fader by 10db". I wonder if he's telling the whole story lol? While this' probably good for a rock/pop sound it may not be great for metal mixes, especially the tom toms.

    PS:
    This stuff isn't from any book I've read or whatever; it's my own viewpoint(!) based upon my twisted thinking and limited experience, so...YMMV.

    LOL, always like to hear your thoughts Nicky! Check out this Steve Albini vid. ;):thumbup:

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  • I just have to wonder about this method. Like he said "open the mic amp 10db more than you should and lower the fader by 10db".

    When I heard that I was already seeing anything he did post-recording as falling into polishing-turd mode. So yeah, you can polish a turd, but you're better off starting with a gold nugget as opposed to a Devil's Donut™.


    The methodology involves panning the two "overhead" mic's partially left and right. This mixes the two signals to an extent, another reason to be wary of the potential phase issues I mentioned earlier.

  • Back in the day I sometimes used 3 or 4 mic's - kick, OHL, OHR (or a single, mono overhead) and snare. Worked fine.


    The only "problem" I have with the video is, even 'though he seems to get results, I can't help but wonder if there's a little dumb luck involved, for two reasons:


    One is phase issues. Perhaps that's just 'cause I've always been super-sensitive to them. The distances from the kit components to the two main mic's, on paper at least, look like an anti-phase-freak's nightmare.

    I didn't watch the video, but a measuring tape is a recording engineers best friend. The general rule is 1:3, as in the mic needs to be minimum of distance of 1 from the sound source and distance of 3 from the next sound source (bleed). Use the tape to measure that your overheads and room mics are in phase with each other. (Multiples of the same distance from the snare top)

  • Correct weight, mate, but he not only didn't measure anything, but kind of poo-pood doing so, emphasising that his technique is super-simple.


    He said you simply aim the mic's as he did and you're good-to-go.


    Shawn, did you see how Steve pulled the patch cables out at the end of the session? Oh how nice it must be to have techs to take care of all your soldering. Call me OCD, but no matter how much money I might have, I'd take the hard road and grip the jacks themselves.

  • Brendan O'Brien ia also one of my fav's! Made some of the best albums in my collection. I need a piccolo snare now haha.


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  • Glyn Johns certainly works, but I'd always make sure the two mics were equidistant from the snare, otherwise you could potentially get some pretty awful snare sounds, depending on the snare and tuning, of course.


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  • Glyn Johns certainly works, but I'd always make sure the two mics were equidistant from the snare, otherwise you could potentially get some pretty awful snare sounds, depending on the snare and tuning, of course.


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    Typically I use spaced pair with a bit of an angle to pick up on transients. I'll finally have some time to try some of this soon. Thanks for this, Sam!

  • Here's a good channel that taught me a lot on mixing (his later vides start to be more product placement of "here's a great plugin go buy it").


    Most of it is electronic, r'n'b, hip hop etc. but the same techniques apply in rock and metal too.


    Watch the old Into the Lair clips, up to episode #100 or so and skip the rest. :)


    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFC57D274A1E94943


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  • This one is really concise and useful, lots of good advice here ( you don't need plugins ! ) . Some things I already figured out myself ( mix at conversation level, not louder ) but common sense is mandatory for a good mix


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