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to anyone who does digital audio recording

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seyedaddy	Jun 8 2004, 06:37 AM Post #1
nFm [ not leaving ] Group: Private Member Posts: 76 Joined: 18-March 04 Member No.: 9	when using a software multi tracking program, what steps do you go thru to get the "warmest" sound that you can, somehting that you might hear on a music cd?

mcelb1200

Jun 8 2004, 07:51 AM

Post #2

nFm [ Level 1 ]

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Posts: 240
Joined: 29-April 04
From: Melbourne, Australia
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It kinda depends mostly on how you mike your subject on what kind of response you get. If you're using digital the recording is naturally gonna sound much sharper/harsher.

You can counter this by boosting 200-800hz on the eq, or you can try different mikes. If you're after that really bluesy-rootsy kinda tone on a particular track you can record it digitally then degrade the signal by copying out onto the old reel-to-reel and then back again. If you really want to degrade the signal, roll you're tape out (carefully) onto a flat surface, table, ground, etc and hit the tape with a hammer. I'm not kidding. It really adds a unique character to the sound.

I dug up some posts that had some other hints too.

BTW, what software are you using for your recording?

From Riffgod
http://www.homerecordingconnection.com/for...d&id=4393&frm=1

QUOTE

Lately I have been recording a lot more vocalists in the studio as I have been moving along and I found that a cool process for bringing out a nice vocal sound (if you have a good singer atleast) ;) is to:

1. Normalize the track
2. put a little bit of reverb on the track for warmth.
3. Normalize the track again
4. If it still doesn't sound warm enough repeat steps 2 and 3.
5. If its good, throw a good limiter on there to around 0db and you'll have a really in your face clean vocal that you can set in the mix very nicely.

If you are looking for more of an attack with the vocals from the singer directly for hard rock type stuff, just go with the compression and then limit at the last step which won't give you the warmth like the reverb. I usually find that about 3 layers of compression on a vocal sets it in nicely.

Another vocal trick that I tried that seemed to work cool was instead of having the vocalist do a second take for an overdub to double the vocals, I created a seperate audio track and copied the original take into the second audio track. Then I took the nudge tool in Pro Tools and placed it slightly behind the other track by anywhere from 1/32 of a second to 1 second and it gives you an "exact timed" double vocal effect almost like a reverb or slight delay that is cool for some songs for vocalists that cannot double their vocals very well. Mind you that it will sound like a machine did the second track being it is an exact copy only slightly off the original, but it sounds cool on some stuff. :)

Bass Cabs:

For bass cabs if you are looking for a very low bass sound, try putting your mic at a 45 degree angle from the left or right of the cab pointed in across the cone. This allows most of the highs to fly right by and the lows to pick up in the mic better. Adjust to your liking if you want more bass or more highs.

Also, you can also add a dynamic mic placed about a foot above the first mic and pointed 45 degrees in the opposite direction. Watch for phase cancellation on this one, but if you can get it right you can get a really phat punchy bass.

Third: sometimes it is cool to add a nice condenser to a bass mix in the back of the cab about 3-6ft back. This is like the old trick that you can use on guitar cabs, but it picks up some cool ambient room tones and some frequencies that you won't get in front of the cab that can be interesting for experimental mixes. :)

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... just let me see if I can get that log out of your eye...

seyedaddy	Jun 8 2004, 07:35 PM Post #3
nFm [ not leaving ] Group: Private Member Posts: 76 Joined: 18-March 04 Member No.: 9	im using a pretty decent mike, and and a yamaha anaolog mixing console, and recording onto audition 1.0, and most of my recordings sound harsh.

Audiyoda

Jun 9 2004, 12:20 AM

Post #4

Houston, we have a problem...

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From: S of Superior-E of Michigan-W of Huron-N of HERE.
Member No.: 64

QUOTE (seyedaddy @ Jun 8 2004, 03:35 PM)

im using a pretty decent mike, and and a yamaha anaolog mixing console, and recording onto audition 1.0, and most of my recordings sound harsh.

It could be anything. A decent mic to you I bet isn't a decent mic to me. And although most Yamaha mixers sound great, if you don't have the gain stages setup correctly, it will sound over or under modulated. Since it's an analog mixer, you may need to add hardware compression to the signal as well depending on the dynamics of what you are recording. Or it could be the pre-amp on your soundcard. Not to mention about 15 other things it could be from the quality of the mic cable to the isolation of the electrical you are using in your house.

And audio recording (digital or analog) is a learned craft. I wish there was some way to say "do it this way and it will be fine", but there isn't. Recording good audio is a skill, recording great audio is an art. And it comes with much practice and much patience. And the best part is, most everyone that is any good at this 'art form' does it a little differently.

mcelb1200

Jun 9 2004, 12:48 AM

Post #5

nFm [ Level 1 ]

Group: Full Member
Posts: 240
Joined: 29-April 04
From: Melbourne, Australia
Member No.: 94

QUOTE (seyedaddy @ Jun 9 2004, 05:35 AM)

im using a pretty decent mike, and and a yamaha anaolog mixing console, and recording onto audition 1.0, and most of my recordings sound harsh.

What type is the 'pretty decent' mike, and what subject are you trying to record?

--------------------

... just let me see if I can get that log out of your eye...

seyedaddy	Jun 9 2004, 05:49 AM Post #6
nFm [ not leaving ] Group: Private Member Posts: 76 Joined: 18-March 04 Member No.: 9	its a rode nt1a mic i beleive, definatly a rode tho. imusing a yamaha mg122/4 mixer, and the sound card is a sb live (i plan on upgrading soon enuff to a audophilr 2496 or whatever.

Audiyoda	Jun 10 2004, 01:20 AM Post #7
Houston, we have a problem... Group: Moderator Posts: 340 Joined: 23-March 04 From: S of Superior-E of Michigan-W of Huron-N of HERE. Member No.: 64	The Rode NT1 isn't a bad mic - not the greatest by any means, but not a bad one either. I'd say start by playing with your gain stages. You've got four: channel gain, channel dB, master dB and soundcard input gain. For the best recording, they should all be at unity except the channel gain. So you set things backwards: Set the soundcard's input gain to 0dB Set the mixer's master output fader to 0dB Set your channel strip to 0dB Set your channel gain accordingly so you average a -6dB signal in Audition.

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