Home Recording Tips And Tricks, A Thread about Home Audio / Video Recording |
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Jun 7 2010, 06:20 AM
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As hardware and software get cheaper and cheaper, more and more is available at a very reasonable cost. This thread will talk about various techniques and tips for getting the best possible sound out of your home recording gear.
Todd MIXING AND MASTERING: Some of you may notice that your recordings don't seem loud enough. This is something every musician has to work through when doing their own production. The secret is in mixing and mastering. Once you have done your initial "mix" it's time to master! What is mastering? It's the final step in the mix down process before "Authoring" or burning, uploading etc. Here is a link to a great Wiki article on Mastering WIKI- WHAT IS "MASTERING" IN AUDIO? Here is a spiff graphic to illustrate the audio meter bridge you typically see in your DAW or Editing Software  You want to try to get close to "Unity Gain" or 0 DB without going over and creating clipping or distortion in the overall signal. One way of doing this is to use a "Mastering Plugin" there are many available. I really like the IZOTOP OZONE plugin. It sounds great and has a tone of useful presets. The presets are not perfect but are a great place to start tweaking from. Here is a look at the Ozone Interface.  Here is a link to download the demo. It is cross platform and works in most software as a plugin. Give it a try just starting with some of the presets You'll be shocked at how much it can improve your overall mix especially at first. Be careful not to overuse it though as you will compress your sound too much and crush it. LINK TO DOWNLOAD OZONE Todd This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Jun 28 2010, 11:48 PM |
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Sep 25 2012, 10:50 PM
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QUOTE (vonhotch @ Sep 21 2012, 10:33 PM)  I'm planning on setting up my home studio in a few months and am doing research so I can purchase wisely. What kind of hardeware should be considered if I'm mainly going to focus on using emulation software to record. So far I'm thinking a power conditioner, a direct box, and obviously an interface. Is there anything else that's considered basic that I'm not aware of yet, or that I should not leave to software? That should at least get you started. Like playing guitar building your home studio is an endless process. But yeah with a computer, power, di box and interface your ready to start. Make sure you plan which DAW (reaper is a great place to start) and which AMP SIM (TH1 Triode is a great place to start) you plan to use as well. The DI box is not a "have to" really as your interface will get you going. But it's a GREAT idea and honestly the secret sauce to my tone. Without one, getting signal in to the interface with a low noise floor isn't as easy and IMHO does't push the sim hard enough. For most folks it's fine. But for me, I like a sickening amount of Gain  So the boost section on my Behringer Pro rack DI provides something I just don't want to be without. For example, this is all DIRECT RECORDING, no amps, no real anything. All VST and it sounds IMHO like your in the room with the amp. It's harder for me to get this level of tone with a real amp in the home studio just for volume reasons. My rig can sound like this, but only at crazy high volume which is a pain at 3:00 am. http://soundcloud.com/techniqueswithtodd/gmc-lesson-128-backing-six |
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Sep 27 2012, 02:30 AM
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QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Sep 25 2012, 09:50 PM) That should at least get you started. Like playing guitar building your home studio is an endless process. But yeah with a computer, power, di box and interface your ready to start. Make sure you plan which DAW (reaper is a great place to start) and which AMP SIM (TH1 Triode is a great place to start) you plan to use as well. The DI box is not a "have to" really as your interface will get you going. But it's a GREAT idea and honestly the secret sauce to my tone. Without one, getting signal in to the interface with a low noise floor isn't as easy and IMHO does't push the sim hard enough. For most folks it's fine. But for me, I like a sickening amount of Gain So the boost section on my Behringer Pro rack DI provides something I just don't want to be without. For example, this is all DIRECT RECORDING, no amps, no real anything. All VST and it sounds IMHO like your in the room with the amp. It's harder for me to get this level of tone with a real amp in the home studio just for volume reasons. My rig can sound like this, but only at crazy high volume which is a pain at 3:00 am. http://soundcloud.com/techniqueswithtodd/gmc-lesson-128-backing-six If a DI box helps to lower the noise floor and raise input signal, it seems like a worthy investment. I'm pretty new at recording but my hatred for excessive noise is growing quickly  . I am using reaper now and like it alot. TH1 looks pretty cool I was also considering guitar rig because of all the patches you have shared on here. Have you tried any of the free software available like acmebargig or lepou?
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Sep 30 2012, 11:02 AM
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QUOTE (vonhotch @ Sep 27 2012, 02:30 AM) If a DI box helps to lower the noise floor and raise input signal, it seems like a worthy investment. ... Not quite - all electrical devices add noise. What the DI will do is help match the impedence of the input to the output and provide the output as a balanced signal. If you are reamping as Todd does a DI is a good idea as it lets you interface an electric guitar signal to the line level XLR balanced input on the mixing console/desk or your AD audio device. -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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Posts in this topic
Todd Simpson Home Recording Tips And Tricks Jun 7 2010, 06:20 AM
Todd Simpson MY GUITAR LEVEL/VOLUME SEEMS TOO LOW WHEN I'M ... Jun 7 2010, 07:28 AM Todd Simpson Yeah that's not a mastering plugin Staffy is ... Jun 7 2010, 09:00 AM Berglmir By FAR a real noob regarding mixing & masterin... Jun 7 2010, 10:28 AM Todd Simpson Here are some quick tips to get more out of your h... Jun 15 2010, 02:42 PM Bogdan Radovic Here is a nice online magazine about home/studio r... Jun 16 2010, 01:59 PM Fran This thread is so helpful
I added it to the know... Sep 6 2010, 12:09 PM
Todd Simpson QUOTE (Fran @ Sep 6 2010, 07:09 AM) This ... Sep 21 2010, 02:45 PM
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Todd Simpson HOME RECORDING TIPS AND TRICKS (Now in easy to rea... Nov 16 2010, 02:01 AM Todd Simpson I get a lot of questions about Home Recording, thi... Apr 28 2011, 01:12 AM Todd Simpson I"m using my RAVEN microphone on this. The Ra... Apr 30 2011, 06:44 PM
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Todd Simpson WHAT IS A SUB-WOOFER AND DO I REALLY NEED ONE?
A ... May 29 2011, 10:25 PM Todd Simpson NEW GEAR IN THE STUDIO!
I just got a DBX COMP... May 30 2011, 06:12 PM Fran Just added the sub info at the tips and tricks wik... May 31 2011, 09:59 AM Todd Simpson Interested in "Mastering"? Don't kno... Nov 17 2011, 10:58 PM Todd Simpson A great video from the Legend of the frozen North ... Apr 6 2012, 06:11 AM Dieterle Thank you Todd ! Apr 6 2012, 06:28 AM Todd Simpson QUOTE (Dieterle @ Apr 6 2012, 01:28 AM) T... Apr 7 2012, 05:51 AM
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tonymiro QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ May 30 2011, 06:12 ... Apr 6 2012, 02:37 PM Todd Simpson KILLER Series from SOS about recording Heavy music... Apr 10 2012, 12:04 AM Todd Simpson QUICK AND DIRTY RECORDING TERMS:
AUDIO INTERFAC... Sep 3 2012, 12:16 PM Todd Simpson REAPER is an AWESOME DAW and IMHO, can go toe to t... Sep 29 2012, 07:56 PM Todd Simpson QUOTE (vonhotch @ Sep 30 2012, 08:19 PM) ... Oct 15 2012, 02:20 AM tonymiro QUOTE (vonhotch @ Oct 1 2012, 01:19 AM) S... Oct 15 2012, 10:12 AM
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Todd Simpson TAMING NOISE DURING GUITAR / VST / EMULATION RECOR... Jan 17 2013, 06:04 PM Todd Simpson E.Q. (Equalization) CAN RUIN OR SAVE YOUR MIX
Und... Jun 4 2013, 09:51 PM kklee100 Hello Todd, I have a question of tube amp recordin... Jun 17 2013, 04:02 AM Todd Simpson There are TONS of options but many require spendin... Jun 17 2013, 08:26 PM kklee100 Thank you Todd, it works!
And I have another q... Jun 19 2013, 05:39 AM Todd Simpson Happy to help (P.S. shoot me a P.M. if possible f... Jun 20 2013, 03:16 AM
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maharzan Wow, that EQ table is awesome. I will definitely t... Jun 19 2013, 07:27 AM Todd Simpson IS THERE A FLOYD ROSE IN YOUR HOME STUDIO?
The FL... Nov 12 2014, 06:05 AM
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