john

Hey It looks like I'm going to have to buy a new laptop. Until now I've kept my laptop more or less for running Songstuff, but if I'm getting anew one I'd like to set up a basic mobile studio. I plan to use Sonar, as that is the package I use in my studio. Any recommendations for audio/midi devices? I'd like both midi and audio IO and if possible support for sound generation (i.e. built in synth / sampler support). Any suggestions, advice. Cheers John

Hey Does anyone have any recommendations for good Wavelab plug ins? Cheers John

It does make the promo shots for the album a talking point...

Hey Totally agree. It's not rule, it's a guideline. Judicious use, when you know the trade offs (what it gives you, what it costs and when) then anything can be use. Sometmies this is because of limitations in your recording set up, sometimes because of the source for the recording. Sometimes time. : Cheers John

Hey The advice about not adding compression during recording is very true. You can, it's just better if you don't. In general it's better to avoid "processors" like EQ or compression or "effects" like reverb during recording. The closer to the original information you can capture during recording the better. After all if you change it during the recording process the original information is never captured. One situation where this is commonly ignored is the when recording electric guitar and effects. This is often because the effect is integral to the way the guiatrist plays with sustain or echo etc. If the effect is not there the guitarist will not play the same. This is however just lazy engineering, or commonly because the guitarists effect unit won't be available during mixing. To record the guitar without the effects simply treat the monitor signal place the guitar fx unit in the monitor path (before the speakers/headphones) That way the guitarist hears the sound he needs, while you get the original guitar signal. This allows a good level of flexibililty during mixing where you can reapply the effects fine tuned for the mix. Or apply completely different effects. Cheers John

bot - short for robot, in cyberspeak, specifically a program used by search engines, spammers and others to visit sites, get content, and follow links. Search engines use them for cataloging, spammers use them to use mailing page, get email addresses (a bot process known as harvesting), and generally cause mayhem i.e. DOS (Denial of service) attacks. Cheers John

Hey Donna You can use compression to treat a signal at any point in the recording process from recording to mixdown and mastering. Cheers John

Hey You might find some of the Songstuff techie articles here useful http://recording.songstuff.com/articles.php. Steve also wrote a brief flash intro to PC based recording. I'll need to hunt the link. Oh Steve..... Cheers John

Absolutely.

It's like watching slow paced tennis. But more fun. Lets face it, both have their benefits. There are lots of geniuses, but one mans genius is another mans George Bush. It's subjective. Like comparing Mozart to Beethoven. Britney. Trash? News to me... Pop can be innovative, but it's far more likely to be formulaic. Pop tends to gradually change until an innovative subculture bridges the gap to mainstream, where upon pop gobbles up the ideas, processes it through the current pop filters and spews out a hybrid. The same is true for pop producers, or pop songs. Sure some break the rules, but not a lot. There are many who are innovative within the pop genre. The thing is, are they innovative enough?

Hi Donna No worries. It was all greek for every one of us at some point. If anything you just learn to get passed the embaressment of asking others. That and carry a Greek dictionary with you. Cheers John

What a sucker! :

Hey Although it's not about Spain, you might find the basic info in this article useful: http://www.songstuff.com/articles.php?selected=7 Cheers John

Thanks for the link Didier!

The thing is, most singers only have reasonable dynamic control, and microphone technique. I'll give the spindle a try. Sounds like an interesting tip. So what about headroom, compression, EQ, placement for your industry standard singer? I'm interested in both the recording and the mixdown stages. I have my own way of working, but it's always interesting to hear others! Cheers John

Hey The perenial problem for engineers is how to record singers with poor microphone technique, and untrained voices. The latter can be the most frustrating as the voice tends to have high levels of dynamic variation. So, does anyone have any tips for other boards users on everything from microphone selection, microphone placement, dealing with plosives like 'p' and 'b' (pop blast), EQ, headroom and compression. btw there are some articles covering some of this on Songstuff: Recording Articles - Songstuff Cheers John

Hey I meant to say in my last post, what's been discussed so far is really acoustics, i.e. shaping the sound environment for recording, rather than sound proofing, ie.e stopping sound escaping from your studio so that you can a) reduce external sounds spilling onto your recording, Keep your music spilling out of your studio. Back to your standing wave problem. Prometheus, what sort of frequencies are you having standing wave problems? There are several obvious changes you can make that are more focused on addressing the problem: Make the walls not parallel Use a bass trap focused on key frequencies Both! Using acoustic tiles, egg cartons etc can be effective at dealing with high frequencies, but they do almost nothing for low frequencies. For the parallel walls, the easiest is to put a thick strap of wood vertically down the middle of the wall. A thin strap on either side. For simplicity make this the distance of the width of plaster board. Nail the board to the strapping, creating a "V" shape on the wall. Fill the space between with rock wool. Cover the surface with fabric. It's pretty cheap and cheerful, but it can also be easily removed if you move your studio. I wrote a post somewhere on here about building a bass trap. I'll try and dig it out... Cheers John

Hey Interesting.. I still use a metal coat hanger with a pair of womans nylons over it. This is also effectively two layers, the width of the metal wire apart, and I don't have a pop problem even with close miking. Added to theat the hook of the hanger is ideal for attaching it to the mike stand. Make sure you use new nylons... Cheers John

I just thought you were lying down...

No one?

Hey What do you guys do for sound proofing your music studio? Cheers John

boink!

Hey Jim Dunlop. The sprung kind that you squeez like a trigger to open and release to clamp. I've been using it for years with no problems. Shifting the capo position is very quick and easy, with generally no re-tuning required. Cheers John

Hey Simple answer - No. For certain 'purists' who insist on making life difficult for themselves, I'm sure they can justify not using one, but really, then they should ban using a pick, or amplification for that matter. Cheers John