john

Hey BS I've got an ESI 4000 if that's any help... And I still use it regularly... Cheers John

Hi BS Not fond of the Orbits, moby's of this world? I have to say I do like the Royksopp album... Cheers John

Hi I guess it depends on the music, and the reason you make it. A lot of music that is intended to get the user up to dance is pretty strict on the beat, where as tracks that are dynamic in emotions tend to interpret tempo and rhythm in a far free-er and lose way. As far as using electronic or midi based drums there are a number of ways to 'humanise' performances. 1. Record a real drummer using an electronic kit. The hits can then be edited in time and weight, and sound, very easily. 2. Set up a midi part in strict time. Now 'groove' quantise. This is a variation on quantise that pushes an pulls beats in time and weight to humanise the drums. In Cakewalk you can also approximate this using a CAL file. 3. Use a 'tempo map' or similar to adjust the playback tempo to emulate a more natural and emmotive interpretation of the music. This can be used to create the song section based tempo changes (Like Drumtracks breakdown of tempo variations) and prog rock elements. 4. Get Drumtracks to record your drum part for you! Cheers John

Hi Depending on your mixer, software or hardware, they can provide 'group' tracks. You can assign individual channels to a group, and manipulate the group from there. For example, for a drum mix, you can assign the drums to groups 1 and 2, as a stereo pair. Set up the pan, eq, and relative volumes using the individual mixer channels (channel strips). As the channels are all assigned to group 1/2, the group fader can now be used to fade up/down the entire kit, or send through an aux to a global reverb etc. So the kit balance between the individual drums and cymbals is achieved with the individual channels, the overall level of the drums in the mix is controlled with the group faders. tadaa! Cheers John

Steve Come on, don't be shy. You know as well as I do that there are more ways to put a track together than there are to please a woman. So for all the in-experienced mixers, share your 'pleasing' techniques! I'm sure you get enough of my opinions and advice without me adding more! Cheers John

Hi having seen a few tracks criticised for the mix I thought a thread about setting up a mix would be useful. So what do you do? How do you prepare? Do you have standard way to approach a mix? Cheers John

Hi One of my friends is looking for a new Bass amp. Until now he has used an Orange amp head with a Selmer 18" speaker cabinet. He uses a Rickenbacker bass, I'm not sure of the model. So what should he look at. The local music shops have some reasonable amps, but he's not kept up with bass gear and what's new, so, any suggestions? Cheers John

Hi Rudi XLR is a connection type like a jack plug. You'll have used these kind of 3 pin connectors on mike leads all the time. Phantom power is normally a 48v power supply used to supplly microphones that don't have a battery. Some desks have phantom power, or you can get a stand alone phantom power unit. If you're serious about a VS as a second hand purchase get a VS1680 or above. This has all the improvements I mentioned above. Cheers John

Hi BS Best use of an electronics text book I've heard of. Well done! John

HI Rudi I have a V-Xpanded VS880. Basically this is the VS880 with the FX expansion. Pros: Firstly it's pretty versatile, and after you've digested a few concepts it's pretty easy to use. The quality and portability are what makes it though. The fact that you can sync it up with your sequencer really helps, especially as this means you can effectively have 12 tracks at mix down (8 recorded plus 4 from the inputs). The FX are also really good, and versatile, Cons: The VS880 doesn't use mike xlr or phantom power. The screen is very small and not backlit. Only 1 aux and only 4 inputs at a time. These issues are all addressed in the later models. The big bug bear for me was that in order to use the external scsi cdrom writer you had to buy the Roland approved CDROM drive which was a quarter the price of the unit (as an addon). So I just mixed down onto my PC and used it's cd writer. To me the overall package was very worth the money. If you have any specific questions just post back. Cheers John

Hi KillerJoe I currently use Tannoy M1s. They're good but the bass response is a bit coloured. I'm planning on getting Tannoy Reveals soon. Cheers John

Hi Rudi You mean like the VS-880? Cheers John

Hi Rudi Not yet. Cash flow restrictions! I'm still looking about, any recommendations? Cheers John

Hi A decent mike will hear a pin drop. A Neumann will pick up the whooshing disturbance it makes as it falls through the air. So the rule of thumb is, if you want to get a decent vocal recording, get a decent mike. If you want whooshy air sounds too, get a Neumann:). Can you tell I can't afford one? Cheers John

Hi Pops I think you have to go through a process of elimination to try and sort out which piece of equipment is colouring the sound. try monitoring the sound through headphones just after the preamp. For example take your preamp straight into a power amp and use the headphone output. To do this effectively you'll need to isolate yourself from the source. i.e. get someone other than you to play your trumpet. Double check all the signal paths on both your pre-amp and within your PC to make sue that settings are correct and that the signal you are recording doesn't contain a feedback loop. Are any other signals recorded through that channel tonally coloured in the same way? try another pre-amp with the same Mike and card. If both your Mikes are coloured the same way it's probably not the Mike. As I said you need to test each bit of kit in isolation. Is the pre-amp EQ switched in or out? Are the Mike boost/pad settings correct for the Mike type and signal levels? Do you have any other FX/compression etc in the signal path? Lastly: Are any other instruments recorded through this system using the same card I/O? Cheers John

Hey Steve I don't want to hassle you but I am interested to know... Cheers John

Hi I'm recording some new vocals where I need to get a vocal that uses a wide dynamic range. I like the vocal tone I get from close-ish miking, and I don't want to capture too much of the sound of the environment. I have a fair idea about how I would do it. What I wondered is how YOU would do it... Ideas in a post(card) please:) Cheers John

Hi BS If it is any use I have a soundblaster Live! I'm not using...not top of the range by any means but it's there. Cheers John

Hey Steve 'Perfect' recordings aside, it's really about what works. Although I have to admit, recording your acoustic guitar part without an acoustic is a bit radical! I look forward to hearing the results... Cheers John

Hi Steve Well, I'm in Glasgow. Sure you still want to visit? Cheers John

Hi Anyone created any real instrument patches from scratch? Pleased with the results? I thought I'd see if any of you were into actually creating the sounds instead of just using and tweaking presets. Sure they give the ability to work quickly, but to really learn the breadth and depth of a synth I think you have to at least try and create sounds from scratch. If not, sounds tend to take shape by accident rather than design. For me I think the sythesised sound I was most pleased with was a didgeridoo patch I created on my 01W. Its not the easiest of synth interfaces, and not the most flexible of synth designs but I was able to create passable imitations of several of the typical sounds created using a didger, all within one patch. I started by creating a reasonable pulsing drone, which I was able to inject tonal changes in, for rhythm, using aftertouch on the keys to give something close to the tonguing sound. I used the positive y-axis of the wheel to add something that resembled the variation in sounds you get as you change your mouth shape and the negative y-axis to add a change in the breathyness. Lastly I used the pich bend to vary the pitch to emulate the 'sung' notes So, what have you put together and how successful was it.... Cheers John

Hi Can you give any examples of scripts and why you'd use them? Cheers John

Hey Tom Sorry not to answer sooner! No, it's not what I mean. a channel strip (as provided by Joe Meek and Focusrite is basically like one channel from a mixing desk. The difference is that it is like a channel from a very good mixing desk, one that would be beyond the budget of most home studios. The channel strip can be used for signals that you want a lot of control of, and a high quality signal, such as vocals. Check out the Focusrite Platinum VoiceMaster as a budget channel strip. Joe Meek do something similar. TC Electronics do some excellent kit, but it's expensive. Hope this helps. Cheers John

Hi Tom What you read is true to a point. The mike can only sound as good as the pre-amp. If you have a good pre-amp you may be able to make the most of the mike you have, but ideally a pretty good mike and a good vocal channel strip is best on a budget. I'd look at something in the range of a Rode NT2 mike and eithere a focusrite or JoeMeek vocal channel strip. I don't know about the JoeMeek channel strips, but the focusrite gear is excellent. Dave Lang has both an NT2 and a Focusrite channel strip, so he should be able to give you some feedback. I have an NT2, and it gives a nice warm sound. I too like lots of vocals and vocal harmonies so finding a good mike was important. Although I want a vocal channel strip I currently just run the mike through my Spirit desk, and the sound is pretty excellent, especially in comparison to previous recordings. I guess what I'm saying is you might be better to aim to get a decent standard of both strip and mike, rather than puting all of your cash in just an execellnt strip or an excellent mike. Hope this helps. Cheers John

BS No idea! I'd have thought a synth head like yourself would hve tried it by now... Cheers John