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Posted by: Todd Simpson Oct 23 2014, 04:20 AM

Welcome!!! This is your own private Idaho!!! Your very own window in to the soul and mystery of "HOME RECORDING" and "MIXING/MASTERING". I'll be your guide, and we will be asking other GMCers to join us as we guide you on your journey of discovery.

There has NEVER been a better time to build your own STUDIO. The time is NOW!!! Let's GO!!!!!!

For starters, let's cover the basics. Please respond to these questions.

1. PC or Mac?
2. What is your Audio Interface/Soundcard?
3. What is your DAW/Software of Choice?
4. Do you Have any Microphones?
5. Do you have a Good pair of Headphones? ( not earbuds)
6. Do you have a pair of good audio monitors?
7. Do you have any experience recording?
8. Do you have a video camera/Web cam?
9. Do you have a soundcloud.com account?
10. Do you have a dropbox.com account?

Posted by: Chris S. Oct 23 2014, 06:36 PM

OH YEAH!! Time to bring the pain... I mean gain!

I would like to start off by thanking you for helping me out with this, I really do appreciate it - the days of random EQ sliding is over!

PC. Samsung Laptop - mostly for personal use no flashy hardware, but it hasn't had any lag issues while running Pod Farm, Reaper and Beatcrat all at the same time (although I have to disable my Wireless Network Adapter when using Pod Farm or it cuts in and out randomly)

Windows 7

Intel Core i3CPU M 380@ 2.53 GHz (whatever any of that means )
3 GB of ram (2.86 usable)
64-bit operating system



Reaper for two reasons:

1) Essentially free
2) I'm not at a level where I'm writing songs beginning to end, mostly little snippets so I feel like investing in Pro Tools or something would be a bit of a waste until I develop my songwriting capabilities further.



Only a Samson Go Mic, a little $50 mic that clips onto a laptop - designed mostly for podcasts and acoustic playing.



Just bought Sennheiser HD380 headphones, a big upgrade from the $10 pair of Sony's I've been using



I do not, but I am on the hunt and should have a decent pair in the next few months.



I record a lot of riffs/licks and such to keep as both a reference and to track my progress, but very little editing. Mostly just random Volumes, Panning, and EQ settings.



My iPhone 5 seems to do pretty well capturing video, I can always use my Samson for any voice overs and there are plenty of freeware Screen Capture programs out there to record my screen that I can download.



https://soundcloud.com/stortzmusic

I use it mostly to upload little snippets or ideas to post on my mentoring thread with Cosmin for him to give me advice on.



Nope, but if it's free I have no problem signing up!


Right now my recording setup looks like this:

Guitar > Line 6 UX1 > Pod Farm 2.0 > Reaper > Headphones

I also use Acoustica Beatcraft from drums (want to upgrade to EZ Drummer as soon as possible) and Acoustica Pianissimo for any midi piano.

Let me know if you need anything else!

Thanks Todd!!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Oct 23 2014, 07:50 PM

Thanks for the info!!! From the sound of it you are READY TO GO!!!!!!

Posted by: Chris S. Oct 23 2014, 07:59 PM

Posted by: Chris S. Oct 24 2014, 04:43 AM

Hey Todd!

I'm new to Dropbox and I don't see a folder that says PUBLIC

I did compress the file and put it in my files section but I don't know if this is correct:

DROPBOX:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ki35kshfajugnqa/HearOurCries.7z?dl=0

SOUNDCLOUD:

https://soundcloud.com/stortzmusic/hear-our-cries-snippet

(I tried pasting the embed code but it just comes up as the code when I preview the post and not the actual player, I'm sort of new to this as well )

Just a little snippet of an idea to show how uneducated I am in mixing/editing

EDIT:

You'll notice that the drum track is just on a loop a long with the rhythm, I did it to make things easier - if I were to ever record a serious piece start to end I would actually develop the drums and play the rhythm beginning to end but I cheated for the sake of getting an example to you

Posted by: Chris S. Oct 30 2014, 09:04 PM

I really need to invest in some studio monitors

I created a drum track and it sounded pretty decent with my headphones but once I unplugged them and the sound came out of the laptop it was ear piercing

EDIT:

Thanks for helping me with the input issue on the Eleven Rack, I feel kinda silly since it was such as simple fix but I couldn't figure it out for the life of me!

I love the on board tuner, it's actually slightly better than my head stock tuner that I usually use - which surprised me.

How does the FX loop respond to gain based effects? That's one of the few things I haven't tried out yet - I was wondering if using an overdrive would give you a realistic result or just your standard OD into a Solid State tone.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Oct 31 2014, 11:07 PM

Nicely done!!!! My first recordings sounded nowhere near that good Can you give me a breakdown of what you used for each track? software/hardware/fx.

Also, which patch on the 11 rack? or is it custom?

As for gain based effects, I haven't tried it yet, I"m buying a gain based preamp and plan to use it either on the front end or the fx loop whichever sounds better Put a tubescreamer or something in the loop and give it a test. So far, I"ve been very happy with all of the gain based stuff inside the 11. One trick. The PRE EQ.

You can download one of my 11 Rack patches in my 11r thread and see how I pre eq the signal before gain to get more out of it before it turns to mush.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=53054&view=findpost&p=699684

P.S. to embed soundcloud files, click the dropdown menu that says INSERT SPECIAL ITEM then click SOUNDCLOUD and past in the link in the pop up window.

Posted by: Chris S. Nov 1 2014, 03:03 AM

Don't be fooled! I was actually surprised myself at how it turned out but I promise that anything I usually record doesn't sound anything like that

I actually did this particular snippet with Pod Farm 2.0 - which surprised me as well because everything usually sounds pretty fizzy from Pod Farm.

I ran my Michael Kelly Patriot > UX1 > Pod Farm 2.0 > REAPER & Acoustica Beatcraft for drums.

I used a JCM-800 with a little bit of grit for the rhythm and then cranked the gain and added a touch of reverb and "analog" delay.

Any future takes will be with the awesomeness that is the Eleven Rack!



Thanks! I will definitely check this out!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 2 2014, 08:30 PM

Maybe use that project as a template for future work. Thats what I do I have a template that I start from and it saves a lot of time setting up projects. Especially if you have one that works well. You can always add/subtract tracks. My default project has 16 tracks of different bits ready to go.

Your gonna dig recording with the 11 Always record a clean track too as you record so you can reamp later with whatever you like, 11, or plugins. You can add this to the original guitar or replace it. You never know what a mix will need It changes as you build it.

Todd

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 5 2014, 12:05 AM

Bit of news! TOONTRACK, the guys who make the killer drum vst called EZDRUMMER are having a 40% off sale for METAL MONTH in November For you and anyone who doesn't have EZ drummer, this is good time to buy, and anyone who has it, this is a great time to get the METAL expansion drum pack.

here is the link.

http://www.toontrack.com/metal-deals/

Posted by: Chris S. Nov 5 2014, 02:58 AM

NICE! Hopefully I can scrape up enough dough to finally replace Beatcraft

Posted by: Chris S. Nov 6 2014, 02:36 AM

Hey Toddinator!

I was creating a little improvised idea in REAPER using my 11 Rack and I noticed that when I played the recording back there were a lot of pops and other strange sounds here and there - but when I rendered the mp3 they were gone

Is this something that is normal?

Thanks

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 6 2014, 05:07 AM

Sounds like it could be coming from your USB pathway? When you notice this, try to shut down your computer, let is sit just a minute, and restart. Don't start anything but your daw and see if it's still there

Todd

Posted by: Chris S. Nov 11 2014, 03:03 AM

Thanks Todd!

I have run into another slight problem.

I bought a beautiful Classic 50s Series strat with old school style single coils.

The problem is the noise. I mean even the slightest amount of gain and the 60 cycle kicks in, regardless of the selector position - the pickups sound great and I'd rather not swap them out which brings me to my question:

Have you tried running a noise suppressor into the fx loop of the eleven rack?

I was thinking of getting a Boss NS-2 to tame the hum. The guitar sounds amazing when I kick the overdrive on in the eleven rack but I'd rather not have to listen to the hum in between my blues licks

Spanx!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 12 2014, 02:02 AM

Yup. Single coil pickups can be very noisey. I run a noise suppressor actually before going in to my 11 rack. There is a noise gate inside the 11 rack and it's fine for most things, but I"ve found that using one before the 11 for finer control works great while using the internal one for broader adjustments.

I"ve tried several anti noise solutions and the only one I have kept is the MXR SMART GATE. It's got very fine controls and is the best noise gate I've yet tried. As I always say, your mileage may vary but I"d suggest looking at one

I've never tried one in the loop though.

Here is a vid about the smart gate. I'd suggest avoiding the rocktron products for noise suppression as I've tried several and none had the control or power to work properly especially under high gain conditions. The rocktron HUSH products have been meh IMHO. Also, skip the ISP dedimator IMHO, as it just didn't have fine controls at all.

I've heard good things about the boss unit but I found the mxr before trying one out.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 12 2014, 05:36 AM

*What are "Studio Monitors"?
*Why do I need them?
*Etc!!!



Here are three of your best options for the price, compared in one vid

Posted by: Chris S. Nov 19 2014, 10:07 PM

WOW! Thanks Todd!

This really cleared up the questions I had with why studio monitors instead of headphones (other than going deaf with headphones )

What is your opinion on these?

http://www.zzounds.com/item--JBLLSR305

They're 5 inch (I have a small room), and the reviews seem pretty solid. A pair of those fit right into my budget.

EDIT:

So I downloaded some new plugins for REAPER to try and experiment and I came up with this:

https://soundcloud.com/stortzmusic/city-lights-idea

The problem is that I have all the tracks set to fade out, but the synth and midi drums don't fade out at the end. Do you have any idea why this may be?

Thanks Toddinator!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 22 2014, 12:20 AM

Those JBL speakers are a GREAT choice!! The 5 inch should be more than enough I've listened to your REAPER work (well done on getting it going!) and you are well on your way to being a home recordist extraordinaire Just like guitar practice makes perfect so record every day!

Posted by: Chris S. Nov 22 2014, 12:57 AM

Thanks Todd!

I've been watching a lot of youtube videos and reading through some threads here to get some tips.

On the City lights track I just posted, there is a synth string VSTi and a synth drum VSTi that I use.

I set both of those tracks to fade out but when you listen to the track everything fades out but it sounds like those two tracks won't fade out - so while the guitar and everything is slowly fading out the synth drums and synth strings stay at a consistent level, do you have any ideas why this may be?

Thanks!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 23 2014, 03:51 PM

I'll give it a listen. You should be able to fade the midi tracks as well Can you zip up the entire project and share it via drop box and I"ll take a look?

Posted by: Chris S. Nov 23 2014, 08:20 PM

If I zip the project will you have problems opening it correctly since I used a couple of plugins that you may not have?

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 23 2014, 08:30 PM

Always a possible issue, but I'm game if you are

Posted by: Chris S. Nov 23 2014, 08:44 PM

Link to the Dropbox file:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j77hr0xizkj9l3q/Upbeat.zip?dl=0

P.S. Saw a post of yours in the Chill Out section, always good meet a fellow Libertarian

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 24 2014, 04:52 AM

Cool! Thanks for the link I'll load this up and see if I can figure out why the atutomation on the VST is being wonky!

Posted by: Chris S. Nov 24 2014, 12:38 PM

Thanks Todd - I sure do appreciate all the help!

Posted by: Chris S. Nov 26 2014, 06:11 AM

Hey Todd,

I just saw this one too:



I have no clue what he is saying but I think it sounds great! It's a 15W tube head with an internal dummy load, speaker cab simulation built in right before the output and a USB port for direct recording into your DAW.

Definitely gotta some GAS for this one!

EDIT: the one in the video isn't USB but they have the same version with USB for $100 more.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 29 2014, 12:20 AM

This a a KILLER unit It's got all the tone from the BIG IRON laney but is much easier on price and much less weight to lug around. You could easily mount it in a small rack case to safely transport it and keep it protected. I must say I want one too!!!

Posted by: Chris S. Dec 1 2014, 04:24 AM

Definitely on my list!

Another silly question but how are active monitors powered?

For the JBL monitors that I'm going to get in January - I understand that I would plug them into the left and right outputs of the eleven rack but where do they draw power - from an outlet? Or do I need something else?

Thanks!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Dec 2 2014, 06:38 AM

No silly questions! Only silly instructors

"ACTIVE" Monitors have their own built in amplification. "PASSIVE" Monitors require external amplification. That's all there is to it If they are active you have to plug them in to wall/outlet/etc.

You can use the 11 rack as your primary input/output device in addition to using it for guitar tones. It makes a great centerpiece to any recording studio and is not much more expensive than the plastic little boxes most of us start out with for our home studio audio interfaces and it will do HD audio if needed

Posted by: Chris S. Dec 22 2014, 09:29 PM

Hello again!

So I've decided to stick with my Casio CDP as my midi controller but I have run into another noob question:

Ok so it has a MIDI Out AND a MIDI In...

So if I use the MIDI out I can obviously run it into Reaper and use it to control my VSTis.

If I ran another USB to MIDI cable from Reaper back into the MIDI In will the sound of the VSTi come through the speakers of the Casio?

Thanks mate!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Dec 22 2014, 11:01 PM

Hmm.. Well, have you done any tests? Also, are you using a midi to usb converter? Typically you would only connect one midi port for what you are doing if you are using the casio just as a controller.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 7 2015, 07:12 AM

Did you find the fade fix? Also, is this project in REAPER? If so I can open it and take a look

Posted by: Chris S. Mar 8 2015, 01:37 AM

Yeah it's a REAPER project - it's weird because I will be using a synth VST, and certain VSTs will fade out with the track while others won't. It almost seems like it's not the VST but any delay or phaser that is built into the synth sound is what shines through while the rest fades out.

Stumped.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 8 2015, 07:48 PM

Are you using an FX from reaper? If so they will ring out after the synth fades. You can automate teh entire track to go quiet. I'll upload a version of your project after todays lesson.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 8 2015, 10:59 PM

I opened the project and the fades seemed to work. is it possible that your fx are happening inside your vst synth? Also, can you post a sound cloud example and embed it here?

Posted by: Chris S. Mar 8 2015, 10:59 PM

Usually it's built right into the Syntg VST. Like a certain sound will have a control to add delay or reverb - but I generally only add the Reaper FXs to guitar tracks.

EDIT: we posted at the same time haha, yeah it's in the VST itself, I will upload a soundcloud file when I get home from work

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 9 2015, 05:01 AM

IF it's in the VST it may keep getting signal despite being faded down. One way around that is to "bounce in place" and essentially bake the fx/sound on to a new track as an actual sound file. Then that can be faded down and the original track can be muted.

Posted by: Chris S. Mar 9 2015, 05:18 AM

So basically render that track as a wav file and then use that instead of the MIDI track?

I can see how that would fix it - I'll give it a shot!

Thanks

Posted by: Todd Simpson Mar 10 2015, 04:24 AM

Yup!! You still have the original track that you can change as needed, just mute it

Posted by: Chris S. May 1 2015, 03:41 AM

Hey Todd - two quick questions for ya!

In Reaper - when looking at a track is there a way to change the volume of a certain section of that track, rather than having to use a whole separate track?

Ex: Have the rhythm guitar track drop 2-ish DB once the lead comes in?

Also, can you only apply an FX to a certain piece of the track or does the FX always apply to the entire track?

Thanks boss man

Posted by: Todd Simpson May 4 2015, 03:33 PM

Sorry for the lag! Shoot me a PM or an email to [email protected] and let me know you've got a question and I"ll get back to ya asap

Onward!!

Ahem, SURE!! You can "automate" the volume/gain on any track in reaper. HEre is a quick vid to explain.



Also, you can "automate" your fx sends as well To wit!!!