studiobee

At work, I usually use AKG C414's for vocals. I have access to Neumann U87's too, but I was never over thrilled with the result, and since they're kept in a different building, the walk is never worthwhile. Even on my own projects, I try to track vocals at work. We have better gear! But, you know, I've tracked vocals with a $99 Audio Technica AT-2020 at home, and it didn't sound a thousand bucks cheaper than when I re-did it at work with the C414! In fact, the two performances were surprisingly similar. Acoustic Guitars and pianos I always use Neumann KM184's. Love 'em. R.

I do this a lot with melodies. I once took a TV/film composing course. I had to write a game show theme. When I submitted it, my tutor told me I had totally ripped off a very well known TV theme. I had never watched the show, and had never heard the music (to my knowledge), but when I searched the theme on YouTube, sure enough, it was an almost note perfect copy. I did the same with a commercial assignment. Strange, the subconscious. I don't worry about this stuff (my stuff ain't really going anywhere!), but I don't think its a bad idea to let SoundHound have a listen and see if it can pick out a known song from my compositions when doing something commercially.

A few random thoughts of my own opinion... take from it what you like, and ignore what you don't. I think it depends on how wide you expect your distribution to be. Things can always go viral, but if that happens and you weren't expecting it, your audience will think its extra cool that your first release was low budget. If I were releasing something right now, I, as an individual, with no touring schedule (or any intention of having one), would self-master using my DAW and Izotope Ozone. I would arrange distribution through CD Baby. If I were uncomfortable mastering myself, I would have no hesitation in hiring someone else to do it. I'd look for someone with a proven record of success - either locally with good released products, or over the internet, with a good demo of successful projects. Understand that mastering is just the sheen and that a good mix is vital to a successful master... I've been disappointed with several masters in the past, and they were from reputable mastering engineers, not just local hacks. There are disadvantages to mastering yourself, but if you can remove yourself enough from the composing, performing, recording and mixing processes, there are also advantages - you can re-visit your mix if things don't work out to plan first time around. You also have more control over the final product. If you are doing it yourself, make sure you have plenty of high quality reference material that you know well, in a similar genre, to compare results.

I'm embarrassingly a bit of a software collector, though I'm definitely managing to wean myself off this addiction and am finally learning how to use it all (mostly because I don't have the gig income that I used to have!). A full list of what I'm currently using... http://studiobeemusic.com/?page_id=7 R.

I've been using Guitar Rig for years, but never really felt I quite got the sound I was looking for. I'm not a guitarist, so that's probably part of it. But recently I bought Trash2, and it has given me the basic sound I have been looking for. It doesn't have the effects that Guitar Rig has, but as an amp sim, I think its excellent. I actually bought it on a whim after demo'ing it on drums - I just put this preset on a limp drum sound, and all of sudden, I was throwing money at the monitor. It completely transformed my drums. Guitars came after. R.

I find RealLPC better sound wise than realStrat but they both work, in the right hands, especially when adding a good effects emulator like Guitar Rig or, depending on context, Trash2. It blows my mind that someone would suggest you buy a guitar. You know, unless you already know how to play one.