If I knew what the greatest ears and minds in the business know, then who I know would be because of what I know...and what I know would be sought after by those who know they want to know what I know will enable them to know their product will be what millions will soon know.

Funny how that works, y'know?:confused:

Kapt.Krunch

Kapt.Krunch, post: 397484 wrote: If I knew what the greatest ears and minds in the business know, then who I know would be because of what I know...and what I know would be sought after by those who know they want to know what I know will enable them to know their product will be what millions will soon know.

Funny how that works, y'know?:confused:

Kapt.Krunch

That is very well put,I must say,thank you.

The pop music scene is and always has been a big lottery. Mostly based on dumb luck and some talent. A lot of it is who you know in the business. A lot of it is, how much money are you willing to throw down, to develop a potential star? And what you deem that person's worth, to be. I thought Tori Amos was a solid bet. But the boss did not want to invest in a time or financial resources to her. So, Philip and I lost our opportunity with her. She didn't have a band and we put a band together with her. Then we did some nice work together but that's all the farther we ever got. And early on in her career, before any record contracts, we didn't have any kind of contract with royalties built into the contract. That would have been negotiated, at a later date, had we pushed forward with her, as an investment. And sometimes... opportunity knocks but once. And that's when you take a leap of faith. So, like so many other studios these days, it went out of business, years ago. So sometimes it's a huge investment that doesn't pan out, most of the time. And that's a heck of a risk to take. And if you want to play with the big boys, you have to be one also. Which doesn't mean low cost budget, entry-level equipment. It means having the good stuff right out of the gate. So while our console was worth about $30,000, it only cost approximately $10,000 for me to build up. And my salary did not come out to the other $20,000 LOL. Not in 1978 it didn't. When, I think my salary was, $175 per week? It wasn't until I got to Media Sound, NYC, that I started making $360 per week. Which I thought was big money back then? But it certainly wasn't enough even for a crappy cheap efficiency apartment in NYC. WTF? It was twice what I was making in Baltimore! And on that budget, you couldn't afford to own anything. And it wasn't until the early 1980s until I started making some real money at NBC. That allowed me to invest in my home project studio and the Remote Truck, Crowmobile.com . And so, in addition to that, I got some very good deals on some great used equipment. All of which pretty much required restoration, which took many months to accomplish. So I pulled hundreds and hundreds of capacitors off of circuit boards and replaced all of them. I had to ultra sonically clean every volume control and switch on that 36 input console. Some of which still required replacement due to failed mechanicals. And then there are the modifications you make to suit your workflow. And where Fabrice Dupont is actually completely reengineering the Neve I sold him. Essentially, he is building up a brand-new vintage Neve console where even the internal wiring harness has been completely rebuilt. This is a massive job. And this is some of the stuff you face, when trying to run a professional studio. It's not about going out and purchasing the newest whizbang toy you've seen advertised, available at the local music store. Most of those only resemble professional equipment. And in fact they aren't really professional pieces. They are however quite usable. Pristine? No way. Will record drums, guitars, keyboards and vocals, no problem but certainly also not great.

When it comes to professional equipment, had room is where it's at. If outputs can only deliver and only indicate +18, it's coming off of a single chip. And you are missing out on 6+ DB of that percussive transients headroom you'll need. And there's no doubt when you've heard the difference. Just listen to any of those hit recordings and you're hearing professional headroom.

Now that's not to say, that you can't come up with good recordings on a device that only offers +18 DB output capabilities. But your head will have to get around gain staging and understand what kind of compromises in the noise floor you might have to make? So to obtain better headroom, your average recording level will be lower as you want approximately +24 DB above your average operating level, for headroom. So instead of averaging -6, -12, -15, -20, you might have to average of around -24? And if you're going to do that, it didn't does become worthwhile to record at 24-bit because now you are 24 DB closer to your noise floor than you were before. Which means an increase in the HISS. Thankfully, with the ability to add downward expansion and/or software noise reduction, this should not be an issue. Not like it used to be. And while gating can sound obnoxious, smooth downward expansion goes virtually unnoticed.

Now at these levels, if one is recording and working in 16-bit, 44.1 kHz, you're not going to like the results as much as when you are recording at higher levels that offer better resolution. In the land of digital, resolution varies with level. The highest levels you can record at, offer up the highest resolution. The lower level recordings, have far less material to be digitized which makes them at a significantly lower resolution. And recording on analog tape was a little bit like that also. You wanted to stay well above the noise floor so we packed lots of level onto the tape. And we could afford to over some transients on the drums as it just provided for some soft limiting and that special je ne sais quoi, we call saturation. Not the same in digital. Because when you over record in digital you don't get je ne sais quoi. You get you get " junk near some Quack ". Which can still work if ya like the sound of a kazoo symphony? I guess?

I'm from Michigan and I don't know if they make kazoos in Kalamazoo?
Mx. Remy Ann David

RemyRAD, post: 397500 wrote: The pop music scene is and always has been a big lottery. Mostly based on dumb luck and some talent. A lot of it is who you know in the business. A lot of it is, how much money are you willing to throw down, to develop a potential star? And what you deem that person's worth, to be. I thought Tori Amos was a solid bet. But the boss did not want to invest in a time or financial resources to her. So, Philip and I lost our opportunity with her. She didn't have a band and we put a band together with her. Then we did some nice work together but that's all the farther we ever got. And early on in her career, before any record contracts, we didn't have any kind of contract with royalties built into the contract. That would have been negotiated, at a later date, had we pushed forward with her, as an investment. And sometimes... opportunity knocks but once. And that's when you take a leap of faith. So, like so many other studios these days, it went out of business, years ago. So sometimes it's a huge investment that doesn't pan out, most of the time. And that's a heck of a risk to take. And if you want to play with the big boys, you have to be one also. Which doesn't mean low cost budget, entry-level equipment. It means having the good stuff right out of the gate. So while our console was worth about $30,000, it only cost approximately $10,000 for me to build up. And my salary did not come out to the other $20,000 LOL. Not in 1978 it didn't. When, I think my salary was, $175 per week? It wasn't until I got to Media Sound, NYC, that I started making $360 per week. Which I thought was big money back then? But it certainly wasn't enough even for a crappy cheap efficiency apartment in NYC. WTF? It was twice what I was making in Baltimore! And on that budget, you couldn't afford to own anything. And it wasn't until the early 1980s until I started making some real money at NBC. That allowed me to invest in my home project studio and the Remote Truck, Crowmobile.com . And so, in addition to that, I got some very good deals on some great used equipment. All of which pretty much required restoration, which took many months to accomplish. So I pulled hundreds and hundreds of capacitors off of circuit boards and replaced all of them. I had to ultra sonically clean every volume control and switch on that 36 input console. Some of which still required replacement due to failed mechanicals. And then there are the modifications you make to suit your workflow. And where Fabrice Dupont is actually completely reengineering the Neve I sold him. Essentially, he is building up a brand-new vintage Neve console where even the internal wiring harness has been completely rebuilt. This is a massive job. And this is some of the stuff you face, when trying to run a professional studio. It's not about going out and purchasing the newest whizbang toy you've seen advertised, available at the local music store. Most of those only resemble professional equipment. And in fact they aren't really professional pieces. They are however quite usable. Pristine? No way. Will record drums, guitars, keyboards and vocals, no problem but certainly also not great.

When it comes to professional equipment, had room is where it's at. If outputs can only deliver and only indicate +18, it's coming off of a single chip. And you are missing out on 6+ DB of that percussive transients headroom you'll need. And there's no doubt when you've heard the difference. Just listen to any of those hit recordings and you're hearing professional headroom.

Now that's not to say, that you can't come up with good recordings on a device that only offers +18 DB output capabilities. But your head will have to get around gain staging and understand what kind of compromises in the noise floor you might have to make? So to obtain better headroom, your average recording level will be lower as you want approximately +24 DB above your average operating level, for headroom. So instead of averaging -6, -12, -15, -20, you might have to average of around -24? And if you're going to do that, it didn't does become worthwhile to record at 24-bit because now you are 24 DB closer to your noise floor than you were before. Which means an increase in the HISS. Thankfully, with the ability to add downward expansion and/or software noise reduction, this should not be an issue. Not like it used to be. And while gating can sound obnoxious, smooth downward expansion goes virtually unnoticed.

Now at these levels, if one is recording and working in 16-bit, 44.1 kHz, you're not going to like the results as much as when you are recording at higher levels that offer better resolution. In the land of digital, resolution varies with level. The highest levels you can record at, offer up the highest resolution. The lower level recordings, have far less material to be digitized which makes them at a significantly lower resolution. And recording on analog tape was a little bit like that also. You wanted to stay well above the noise floor so we packed lots of level onto the tape. And we could afford to over some transients on the drums as it just provided for some soft limiting and that special je ne sais quoi, we call saturation. Not the same in digital. Because when you over record in digital you don't get je ne sais quoi. You get you get " junk near some Quack ". Which can still work if ya like the sound of a kazoo symphony? I guess?

I'm from Michigan and I don't know if they make kazoos in Kalamazoo?
Mx. Remy Ann David

Well I must say REMY that you have an extensive history that anybody can grow from and I thank you for taking the time out your day to assist a person in their travels,however you pic do not depict that you were working in the 70's you must have good genes.Thanks again and I would have to read this more than once to properly digest it.

I know I got a little long winded there. Sorry about that. 1970s engineer? Yup, you bet. First job was the entertainment sound guy for the Miss Detroit Beauty Pageant, in the small Masonic Theatre. I was only 14 and working alongside all of these old unions stagehands that didn't particularly like having a 14-year-old in charge. I spent lots of time at all of the Detroit TV and radio stations when my dad would produce commercials for the advertising agency he and his father ran. And because he used to play violin for all sorts of R&B artists at Motown and United Sound Systems, studios. Also at Artie Fields studio and probably the only one I never went to. A broadcast engineer and DJ starting in 1971. Production engineer at the largest studios out of NYC in Baltimore in 1973-75. Overnight disc jockey on the number one rock station in Baltimore in 1976. Build Baltimore's second-largest studio in 1978. NYC's Media Sound, 1979. GOLNICK Advertising producer/engineer 79-80. And 20 years at NBC TV starting in March of 1981. Actually started working for NBC radio before I was transferred in to television in 1984. So I have virtually stumbled through my entire career LOL. A running stumble, if you will?

And along with all of that, I have closely studied Murphy's Law, LMAO. Nothing like having a $150,000 brand-new digital console lock up on you in the middle of the 6 PM news, during ratings week. Especially when you're the number one rated station in Washington DC. Ya Phrack Phrack heart attack. Nine minutes later, everything was fine and we probably had zero viewers? So much for those early SSL digital consoles running operating system version 1.0. Sheesh. So Murphy comes to help everybody out, no matter how new or how expensive the equipment may be. I mean it's pretty funny trying to argue with motorized faders.

Glitch has become a common term when talking about audio.
Mx. Remy Ann David

I must say that your life stumble career is what people like myself would love to be in something you love to do even if its not in it's totality however you had fun stumbling to it.Now that is what I call a great resume for one to follow by and improve on,so again I welcome your wisdom and if I need any assistance I know where to come.What a great road map you have laid out thank you!