We are the music makers - producers?

Just catching up on the mastering chat. I'm just slowly getting back into recording and as with 99% of everything I've done it'll be going up on Bandcamp and nowhere else.

To that end the extent of my mastering process is limited (arf) to so some very gentle Eq, compression and a limiter on the master bus. I always used Pro-Q and the Waves Fairchild "Lavyne mastering glue" and an L-1 (or similar). The trick for me is to manage my gain staging through the mix so that the master bus limiter isn't having to slam anything. It's effectively putting lid on the output at -3bd ish and perhaps a very gentle squash to bring the peak up to there.

My stuff is typically quite sparse, gently played acoustic, with lots of dynamic range in nature so it's kind of tricky to get the right level.

I'm in the middle of downloading the Slate everything bundle btw. Gonna bin off all the processing on the track i'm in the middle of recording and start with a fresh mix using my new toys today.

I'm a total ape-man when it comes to recording, most of the time I rely on blind luck to get decent results, I should probably drill down and learn how to do some of this stuff properly...

e.g. I tried to record my guitar amp with a mic the other day and it sounded really shit... Then I tried the recording/line out output on my Super Champ and that was OK but nowhere near as good as chucking a Strat straight into the interface and not bothering with all the lovely amps I've got lying around... Bit depressing really...

Last track on an EP I’m hoping to release in the summer

That’s really nice.

@>>>>>> I spent decades studiously ignoring studio trickery when I was in bands. The ignorance was almost a badge of honour until I realised how much i'd been holding myself back by not engaging with the basics. I guess i've been self sufficient recording-wise for about 10 years now. By no means an expert but I do have a few golden rules that I try and stick to, In no particular order: Hope this isn't patronising. I would have found it helpful when I started so i'm sticking it down here.

• The performance is everything. I don't even bother trying to record if I know i'm stressed, shattered, hung-over, sick or whatever. II try and set aside some time when I know i'll be free of distractions and get set up in advance.

• I also try and grab material in that magic moment between just learning it and getting too slick or rehearsed. That usually means starting recording when I haven't quite got the hang of it yet and recording a bunch of takes until I'm just about getting though it then comping the last couple of takes. Quickswipe comping in Logic is ace for this.

• Also I try and get myself as comfortable as possible and aim for vibe over everything. It doesn't always work. Recording vocals at 4pm halfway through your second drink is the sweetspot. trying to record a bass overdub when you're pissed is a fools's errand.

• Source. If the source sound is good it's just a matter of not fucking with it (within reason). if you have a guitars sound you love in the room you can probably capture 80% of the vibe with a single close mic. Maybe add another room mic if you're feeling posh but basically, great guitar sound though an SM57 on the grille and not fucked with, will still be a great guitar sound.

• High pass (shelve off some low end) ALL the things. For years I think I overdid this advice and had aggressive cliff face EQs below 100hz on everything but the bass. Lately the shelving I use is way less aggressive, but definitely still there. The logic behind this is essentially that any track you don't do this to will include an element of low frequency (especially a Marshall stack) and by the time you've stacked up a load of tracks without a high pass filter the cumulative low-end is really starting to take up a lot of headroom and energy and muddy up the mix and steam volume. It's not just removing low end, it's removing unnecessary low end that wouldn't really be audible in a mix anyway. It's a bit of an art to get spot on but gently shelving off below 100hz on anything that is't primarily supposed to providing bass is a good start.

• Gain staging. This is like plate spinning for me. I find it a nightmare. It's effectively making sure nothing's up against the digital limit or too quiet, but is presenting enough of a clean signal to the output so that the combined track signals create an output level that is the happy place of needing a but of subtle mastering lift. Too hot across the board and you end up with nowhere to go. Too cold you end up having to crush the shit out of stuff at the output and that never sounds great.

• Using Aux channels/Bus/Sends. Basic stuff but a game changer. Instead of putting discrete reverb and compression plug-ins on every track, Set up an aux track up for your basics and send as much or little signal to them s as you want. Saves load of processing power too. I usually start with three Aux channels: room reverb (sending a bit of everything that would have been played live in thee old days gives the impression of it all being in the same room), a vocal reverb and a compressor. Then I just use the send controls on each channel to decide how much of every channel you want to put though it Eazy.

Once you've got all that down and a decent "mastering" chain sorted you're pretty much away.

Great advice.

I think for me as a musician who grew up touring, the bit that I always felt I needed to put effort into was the recording, because when you're gigging every night for months, the performance bit is priced in. But now as an older musician I find the production stuff should just not get in the way of the performance. As you say, performance is everything. The whole POINT of recording music, making film, doing radio, painting a picture, anything, the idea is to 'capture something cool'. And the only place that comes from is the performance. Everything else is there to capture the performance. If it distracts from the performance, then it's not doing its job.

I'm not even recording to click these days, I'm playing everything in live, and I don't think my stuff has ever sounded better. It's because I'm doing less work and using my ears more.

Yes dude!

It’s worth mentioning as well that mixing in a modern DAW makes gain-staging a lot simpler - turning down the master fader to tame a hot mix doesn’t degrade sound quality.
That aside, a ‘trick’ I use is to adjust the track input gain so the meter approximately matches the fader position - just means one less mental conversion to make, everything starts in about the same ballpark and it’s immediately obvious if your take is too hot (audible clipping) or too quiet (audible hiss).

Totally. First slot of every channel is gain. Took me ages to get back into gain management moving from hardware to a DAW. Why gain is hidden away in a sub sub folder is beyond me. Should be default at the top of every channel.

Great advice, thanks!

Work in 24-bit mode, your files will be larger but it gives you so much more headroom to play with and you don’t need to worry about the noise floor so much.

Be careful about slamming channel/buss levels and turning down the master after though, most plugins are designed around an optimal dB range that usually mimics the analogue domain. Overcooking it means you might not be getting the best out of your plug-ins.

https://valhalladsp.com/2021/03/22/week-8-gain-staging/

Thanks, Al, it's the technical stuff I'm not very up on so those last tips are very useful pointers for me...

It's funny that I've become a bit mic shy in my old age, I used to be a proper one-take Charlie in my band days and would get very frustrated with my cohorts' multiple takes... Now I can turn that frustration back on myself... 😘

I also need to replace my long gone SM57, have been putting it off for months... Cheers!

What are you using? It's one of the many things I like about Cubase - the gain and shelving is right on the front of every channel.

@Regal That's a fair point, I'm thinking more from the POV that you've got a good mix of XX number of channels but a hot master and rather than adjusting XX channels you just knock the master down. You can normally hear if you're breaking a plugin!

It's true, you can get away with an awful lot, but some plugins are more tolerant than others. Some you won't hit the limits of in an audible clipping/crackling way but they might not really be behaving at their best. I read a thing about that that I can't find now. I think it was talking about compressors.

I'm on Logic X. I really like it, but haven't used anything else so I don't have much of a benchmark.

Thanks very much! Will post the whole thing here once ‘complete’

Anyone here built a synth? Been scheming to make a simple dub siren, started looking at analogue versions using 555 oscillators but thinking to have a go building one with arduino, like this, the tape simulation is a really nice feature.

https://youtu.be/VJ9FtiL48HY

Would like to learn more about electronics so any pointers, books and websites would be great.

In terms of pointers. Get a soldering iron (Hakko is a great one) and start with kits of things you want to make. Then buy boards of things and order the parts from Mouser etc. and progress from there if you enjoy it. Including repairing stuff this is how I got involved with it.

I bought this book but don't get enough time to read it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521809266/ref=asc_df_0521809266/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310810203983&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6570966446373621043&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9044965&hvtargid=pla-432751831379&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

First busy week at work + cold = not much time for music. I did get to look at the Curve pusher website and see they deal with Curved Pressings so I'm going to contact them for prices for an EP.

👍

Thanks for the pointers dude. Sorry I've been well lazy but I will come grab those other bits from the GS1 at some point.

I meant to offer the option of postage but it would be great to see you again and maybe this time we might feel free to spend a bit of time in the studio. If you want it posted though just ask.

That sounds great dude, likewise. Be well up for giving some of your stuff a listen properly. I'll have a look through my rota and drop you a message.

I'm working from the workshop at home for 2 weeks. After that I'm going to be on site quite a bit but there's always weekends and evenings.

In any case the bits are here for you, safe and sound.