I'm quite new to the whole audio engineering world. I've been in studios, I've watched people work on audio tracks, and I've always had a desire to start recording music on my own. Since day 1 I've had the general problem of money, I can't afford the highly priced equipment that many professional studios use. Keeping in mind that there are plenty of guys out there like me, I kept my hopes up and continued searching for cheaper equipment that didn't lack quality. The first Mixer I got my hands on was a Bi-amp 83. Many people say that older equipment is better than most new equipment, but when I cracked it open to look inside, the thing was barely functioning. The cheap plastic from the early 80's that made up the jacks were nearly all broken off. I tried my best to repair what I could, but it still functions poorly as anything but a live mixer. A year later I came across a usb audio interface called the ZOOM R16. Its an 8 track mixer essentially, that can record individual tracks into Cubase Le5 (which it came with.) for $300. After some trouble setting it up I finally had a simultaneous multi-track recorder. I purchased a few cheap microphones as well as 2 stands and the $50 Behringer C-1. The board has 2 external mics built into it as well to serve as a stereo mic setup (which I use to mic drums.) I was pleased with it, up until the day I realized how hard it is to edit tracks which have other instruments bleeding into the audio. I'm fairly ambitious, so I've been trying to seek out a mentor-ship program from local studios... unfortunately, most do not seem to have one in my area.
So guys, I'd love to hear from you. Any and all information is greatly appreciated. Here's an example of my work. It honestly has almost nothing done to it, I pretty much hit record and let it go from there. I added a few small effects, EQ'd a few things and set the levels for the tracks. (Dead Link Removed)
Comments
Your recording is actually quite nice sounding. You did a nice j
Your recording is actually quite nice sounding. You did a nice job. It's simple, basic just the way it should be. The guitar sounded very nice and your vocals were just right.
Microphones pick up what your brain filters out. We all utilize and deal with bleed. It's your friend. Your acoustic friend. Bleed can actually improve recordings. Like Led Zeppelin, Glyn Johns? The drum recording is essentially bleed, picked up by a microphone, outside of the studio with the door open and down the hall. I know, have talked to and have read about how other engineers got this great guitar sound from their guitar bleeding into a drum microphone. And without that bleed from the drum microphone, the guitar recording was hardly worth listening to. Yes, editing becomes difficult with bleed, when overdub has been done that is drastically different. No doubt about that. But hey! You're not spending 80-$150 per hour for your recording time. So, take two. Now take three. How about take four? Take 31? Sure. You can do that. Hit makers do that at $325 per hour or, $2500 per day. Sometimes more. You really didn't think making recordings was like getting a burger at the drive-through McDonald's did you? It takes lots of time to cook up a good recording.
In your discussion about cheap affordable entry-level equipment not being good enough in comparison to the top shelf high level expensive stuff, is simply not true. Marvelous recordings have been made by me and many many other people with just a handful of SHURE SM57 & 58's into a $600, 15-year-old Mackie 1604. Maybe a compressor/limiter or two and one or two digital effects devices. That's all that's necessary to make a professional sounding hit. And those 57 & 58's are some of my favorite recording microphones of all time. I'll take those over any cheap Chinese condenser microphones any day. Sure, I love using my really expensive microphones, really expensive console and really expensive effects and limiters. But I don't need those. I make a lot of recordings for my friends with their own home-based, cheap crappy, entry level stuff. Because, they know I am a superb audio engineer and get these outrageous sounding recordings on the worst, broken and cheap equipment they can throw at me. They also want to know how to utilize their own equipment to get a good sound. And that's not all in the instruction manuals. Though it does have a lot to do with knowing and understanding the equipment you are using. I can't push the envelope as much on the entry-level equipment. That's a for sure. So you don't. But you might have to push it in different ways? For instance, I operate a TA-SCAM 2600 analog mixer quite differently and quite unconventionally I might add in comparison to what TA-SCAM recommends for the operation of that mixer. That's only possible because I know exactly what it can and cannot do. And I want " headroom ", which is something that mixer was never designed to deliver. But I know how to get it from that mixer. And that's by trading off a little more noise which can be easily dealt with in software today, much more easily than I used to be able to do with actual outboard equipment that cost a bundle.
You are not doing anything wrong and you are doing everything right. If you are talking about the bleed between your acoustic guitar and vocal microphone, yeah, there will be problems doing that. Not all hit songs came from a single take. Many are composites of multiple takes to create one good one. It's not the accuracy that's important. It's the performance that counts. Bleed is just something you have to live with. In my first and recent visit to MIX Magazine MIX Nashville, their first panel discussion with leading hit making engineers and producers was entitled " Bleed is good for you ". I had a lot of fun listening to these guys because they were saying the same thing that I am saying here. The youngsters also attending the convention and this particular lecture, were exclaiming their problems with bleed. Well that's an amateur issue. It's not a professional issue. It's a professional reality.
I love bleed. Why? I specialize in live on location radio and TV broadcasts and live album recording. You don't get a choice of proper acoustics. You don't really get a choice for completely proper microphone placement or even selection. And everything is bleeding into everything. Of course no overdubs are done. People really freak at the incredible stereoscopic spatial mixes I get. And it's all thanks to bleed. I don't give a damn about acoustics. In pop music recording acoustics is a misnomer. I utilize software and hardware devices to fix acoustic issues, electronically. A downward expander a.k.a. a gate, can solve most bleed issues. And I use those religiously, on most anything and everything. And it solves all those problems when overdubs need to be done and even when you don't need to do them. It gets rid of room noise, tightens up the mix, shortens reverb times, eliminates bad acoustic environments, makes things sound more intimate, isolates items. No physical acoustic corrections necessary. No foam. No bass traps. No nothing. My recordings ranged from people's basements, garages, backyards, nightclubs, bars, theaters, stadiums indoor and outdoor up to 65,000 people. The funniest situation was a live broadcast for the number one FM rock station in the Baltimore/Washington area and the cable TV network for the Counting Crows. This particular broadcast included one of the few rehearsal sound checks I so infrequently get. Adam gave me a directive that he wanted " NO REVERB WHATSOEVER ". After the rehearsal, Adam came into the truck to listen. And he heard all of this incredible amount of reverb. He got quite annoyed by that and said " I SAID I DIDN'T WANT ANY REVERB AT ALL! " I then told Adam, all of the reverb units are off. What you are hearing is the actual on stage reverb of the Meriwhether Post Pavilion of this incredible outdoor theater. He was truly shocked and amazed by that. I was equally amazed that he had never run up against this before? Maybe this was the only live recording they ever made, professionally? I had his latest CD release album and it had no reverb at all. When I play my live mix for folks and then play his studio CD without any reverb, everybody and I mean everybody's preference was for my live version with all that reverb. It was shortly after that, that he had his nervous breakdown. Maybe it's because he couldn't have full control over reverb, everywhere? LOL. People in our business are quite strange. This is why God created producers so that groups like his and him, get what the producer wants. So don't sweat the bleed. Learn how to utilize it to your advantage. It's there for your advantage. It's all good and it's all right. Good engineers make good recordings regardless. Entry-level folks have more problems because they don't know how to take advantage of these natural occurrences. Or they simply don't know how to reduce or eliminate it through software or hardware manipulation, should one desire it that way.
4 AM and it's time to watch some mindless television.
Mx. Remy Ann David
bleeds how i learned about phase on a cheap drumkit in a basemen
bleeds how i learned about phase on a cheap drumkit in a basement w/ cheap mics, and a 4trk. after a while it just started to sound good. your recordung sounds good thru my hr's in the living room. i like how the vocals are 'rounded' or 'warm'. keep up the good work.
kyle
Good recordings require good songs, good instruments, good music
Good recordings require good songs, good instruments, good musicianship, good equipment, and a ton of know-how. There just aren't any shortcuts. A good way to get knowledge is to read through threads in this forum. There is a lot of good solid recording info. here. Don't expect busy professionals to walk you through what you can get by reading. Read read read.
I like the direction you are going with your music. Keep at it.