Home Recording Tips And Tricks, A Thread about Home Audio / Video Recording Options

[Todd Simpson]

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

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This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Jun 28 2010, 11:48 PM

[Todd Simpson]

E.Q. (Equalization) CAN RUIN OR SAVE YOUR MIX

Understanding which instruments live in which part of the sound (frequency) spectrum is crucial. Here is a quick and dirty list of typical ranges of typical instruments (Extended range instruments bleed in to Bass Guitar Territory). This is a handy chart gor general reference. IF you find something is not cutting through, or your noticing two things causing each other to sound muted/masked, you can often create a Sonic Fence around an instrument using an EQ to cut off below and above the instruments general frequency range.

DISCLAIMER: As TONY MIRO can tell you, this is a very general concept and DOES NOT work in every situation and isn't intended as an "Absolute Truth" without exception. It's a general guide to help you understand where instruments live in a given mix


Here is an example of using an EQ to carve out a place for a given track (kick drum for example).

Here is the Reference List

Kick Drum: Bottom or depth is usually found in the 60-80Hz region; slap at 2.5kHz.

Snare Drum: Weight, fatness or body at about 240Hz; bite at 2kHz; crispness at 4-8kHz.

Hi-hat: 'Gong' at 200Hz; shimmer at 7.5-12kHz.

Cymbals: 'Clunk' from 100-300Hz; ringing overtones at 1-6kHz; sizzle at 8-12kHz.

Rack Toms: Fullness around 240Hz; attack at 5kHz.

Floor Toms: Fullness around 80-120Hz; attack at 5kHz.

Congas: Resonance around 200-240Hz; slap at 5kHz.

Bass Guitar: Bottom at 60-80Hz; attack or 'pluck' at 700Hz to 1kHz; 'pop' at 2.5kHz.

Electric Guitar: Mains hum at 50Hz (UK) or 60Hz (US); fullness at 240Hz; bite at 2.5kHz

Acoustic Guitar: Bottom or weight at 80-100Hz; body around 240Hz; clarity from 2-2.5kHz.

Hammond/Electric Organ: Bottom from 80-120Hz; presence at 2.5kHz.

Acoustic Piano: Bottom from 80-120Hz; presence between 2.5 and 5kHz; attack around 10kHz; 'shrillness' at 5-7.5kHz.

Horns: Fullness at 120-240Hz; shrillness from 5-7kHz.

Brass: Warmth at 200-400Hz; 'honk' at 1-3.5kHz; 'rasp' at 6-8kHz; shrillness at 8-12kHz.

Solo Trumpet & Sax: Warmth at 200-400Hz; nasal tones at 1-3kHz.

Strings: Fullness at 200-300Hz; 'scratch' (bow and string noise) from 7.5-10kHz.

Vocals: Fullness around 120Hz; 'boom' around 200-240Hz; presence at 5kHz; sibilance from 7.5-10kHz. Matt Houghton

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This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Jun 4 2013, 09:52 PM

[kklee100]

Hello Todd, I have a question of tube amp recording.

I recently buy EVH 5150 III combo amp. And I have line 6 UX1 as audio interface.
I know the best way for recording is to put a microphone in front of the amp.
But are there other ways for recording using my amp's tone?

Below is the rear panel of EVH 5150 III combo amp.
Which jack should I use to connect the Line 6 UX1?



Thank you very much!!

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This post has been edited by kklee100: Jun 17 2013, 05:15 AM

[Todd Simpson]

There are TONS of options but many require spending more money to buy a hardware speaker emulator or such. For free you can always "do it in software" You can come out of your headphone out if you like and run in to your interface but keep the level out of the red.

You will then probably want to use some sort of speaker simulator. The most simple approach would be to download something like the FREE Version of AMPLITUDE and use a clean patch so it does a cab sim on it's way through the software.


http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/amplitubecs/

That will get you started

But to be honest, with a really nice tube amp like that, it's a shame to fake half the tone. You can get a guitarcab that is closed and reduces the noise to record with called an ISOLATION CAB but it does cost more money. You can get pretty close to the sound of that head just using software such as amplitude but it does take much tweaking. But it's worth a try as any tone experimenting is always worth doing Let me know how it works!

Todd

Hello Todd, I have a question of tube amp recording.

I recently buy EVH 5150 III combo amp. And I have line 6 UX1 as audio interface.
I know the best way for recording is to put a microphone in front of the amp.
But are there other ways for recording using my amp's tone?

Below is the rear panel of EVH 5150 III combo amp.
Which jack should I use to connect the Line 6 UX1?



Thank you very much!!

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net

Don't miss today's free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!

Don't miss today's free blues, jazz & country licks. Plus all our lessons are packed with free content!