26 replies to this topic

[antonio_hancolotykevitz]

Hey punks, I was just curious about everyone's trade secrets, crucial tips and tricks, and just all round advice they have learned over the years when it comes to techniques in the studio?

Ie: I find when mic'ing up vocals it's best to raise the stand a little bit high for the singer so they are forced to stand up straight and use their diaphragm. It saves a lot of takes esp with rookie singers who slouch and suck because of it. (sounds very basic but it really does get a better take out of it)
Also removing a little 1kHz from the vocals or just verb really cleans up a blurry mix. (1kHz as a starting point)
With a bad singer I use playlists in 'Tools, do several takes and then cut and paste the best lines together (they're not worthy of Melodyne)
When a band wants a loud track but still possessing it's dynamics I use the old Parallel Compression technique (we learned it in class last year but I found out about it a few years earlier). This is for when your mastering you duplicate the track, add a compressor (ie. RComp) to the duplicated track, compensate for any delay from the plug-in if using LE (thanks RB), set a massive amount of compression in the RComp (ie. thres -60dB, ratio 2:1, fast attack, mod release). Mix the comp and uncomp tracks to your liking. This effectively raises the floor of the mix while leaving the peaks of the original bounce. Then add a limiter (or 2) on the Master track and you have yourself a much louder yet still dynamic track. :cans:

I was just wondering what other helpful advice you guys had in relation to studio recording/mixing?

[tribalchris]

hehe - my rule in the studio is "Stay out of the engineer's way!" Your tips only reinforce the wisdom of that for me!

I've gotta give that parallel compression thing a go though!

[Anders]

Great thread!

I use that parallel compression trick myself to make percussive sounds fatter i.e. some bass sounds, drum aux, percussion aux. I find using Smack! in Tools with subtle odd harmonic distortion really gives the sound some balls!

My best advice though would be to take the advice of pros seriously! FFS don't just go home and forget it like most people do! Im talking about all those things that your mum told you like "Filter everything" "Give each sound its own space" "get it mastered professionally" "setup a decent sounding monitoring space" "cross-reference". Everyone knows these things but not everyone does them!

[Captain Terrific]

anything below 350hz i make sure is in mono

shall post more when i think of em

PS Great thread btw

[Anders]

Have you seen BX_Digital? Its a mastering plugin, it has a section called "mono-maker".

[Patti Vandal]

Cool thread! My all-time fav compression settings with RComp is threshold at -20dB, Ratio at 1.5:1, slow attack of 150ms, release of 45ms and the opto setting. It gives a nice subtle compression effect.

[Its Too Loud]

one of my favorite tricks to use on a vocal recording is to lightly bleed a bit of a Kareokee style verb into the mixe. it adds just a nice low mid verb while not overtaking the orginal track. can't place it off hand, but when i get the brain cells i've lost bacl enough too remember to look i'll post the actual verb specs for that kareokee style verb i'm "reverbing" too.lol ahh sometimes i crack myself up.

[antonio_hancolotykevitz]

Quote

I use that parallel compression trick myself to make percussive sounds fatter i.e. some bass sounds, drum aux, percussion aux. I find using Smack! in Tools with subtle odd harmonic distortion really gives the sound some balls!

Great idea, using parallel compression on individual instruments. I must experiment with that next! Sounds like it might even bring some dynamic friendly control to vocal tracks. Or maybe not. I'll go find out.

[Captain Terrific]

Quote

Have you seen BX_Digital? Its a mastering plugin, it has a section called "mono-maker".

i use a dedicated plug called BassLane for all my stereo -> mono stuff

and it's free!

[Vagrant Producer]

i tried the parrallel compression on a bass line and it worked a treat.. this thread is a bit of a gold mine!!

[Cheyne]

dope thread guys ... keep it up !

[TankF]

Quote

i use a dedicated plug called BassLane for all my stereo -> mono stuff

and it's free!

thanks mate, thats gonna come in handy.

[Captain Terrific]

Basslane is used in EVERY single track i've written.

real handy tool for controlling the width of your soundstage

[pan_down]

that basslane plug looks very cool...

[antonio_hancolotykevitz]

Piano Microphone Techniques

I found these handy tips for mic'ing up piano's by not using the dodgy yet ever present 'ah, that'll do' approach.
Correct microphone techniques should be carefully considered because when you think that the lowest note on a piano is 27.5Hz and the highest fundamental note is 4100Hz (with harmonics extending beyond 10kHz), there are a lot of frequencies that are present in there
Just for those of us who want to get the most out of an acoustic piano recording...


Far Mic'ing:


Aiming the pencil condensor towards the hinge of the piano lid at a 45^o to the horizontal of the frame, provides a lush and realistic representation of the piano's natural presence.



As far as recommended stereo close mic'ing techniques for the grand piano I have found that all three of the following techniques are effective but my favourite would have to be ‘B’ in the XY stereo positioning. I am a fan of the natural yet massive sound that can be achieved when you get this one just right. Plus I am a big fan of panning the crap out of them for the real experience. But if you have the inputs and the mics I recommend that you set them all up and then choose your favourite or even blend them together.


ps. These images are from Sound on Sound  magazine just in case you were wondering.


Needless to say, the room plays a very important role, as does the position of the instrument within the room. Experiment with this aspect before you even plug a mic in, because if the instrument is setting off room resonances, the recorded sound will always be shithouse.  :'(

Every piano presents its own unique set of problems and solutions so you should only really use this as a starting guide to setting up the mic positions but ultimately we should all be using our ears.

[wisefox]

haha shit... i can't believe i didn't see this threat before i started the same one...  :-[ x 10

[Captain Terrific]

i thought something was odd, i had the strangest sense of de javu...

[wisefox]

i'm glad you played along.. if it was ITM i would have copped 'already done fuck face!' 

[jude]

about piano micing...

i find a great trick micing piano's for a live show is to use PZMmics like the shure Beta 91. i gaffa tape these to the piano lid (underneath of course) one above the fret board and one right down the bottom of the piano. gives a really deep sound from the top end of the range right down to the bottom.

[rhythmboy]

Quote

i'm glad you played along.. if it was ITM i would have copped 'already done fuck face!' 

Well, we can cane you if you really want - just bring it on