tgrover

Nice review. I am working my way through the drums samplers. Never a big fan of BFD2 - Always preffered EZ drummer over it. Just feel the drum samples are closer to be ready to be mixed in EZ than in BFD. Both very powerful tools though and since Superior Drummers came out for me it just put it ahead of BFD. As SD now has the flexibilty and the sounds. One i tried and dismissed recently was addictive drums. But i guess its all down to personal taste.

have used sonar since version 3. Running at 8 now. Did use reaper for a period of time which i do really like but i know sonar inside and out and dont see the point in learning a new tool/system. I have sat in front of them all now and i dont see much difference between the platforms - very hard to say one sounds better than the other. Use the sonitus comp and EQ with in sonar but thats about it. Most EQ now with Voxengo Gliss. And for everything PSP.

This is one of my go to guitar plugs love it!!

i dont think you can really have a VST that emulates the pre amp stage - if i have read that correctly. the whole point of the pre amp stage is to get the sound as good as possible from the source. I have a joe meek 3q which for the price is pretty nice - it has some good options on - comp and eq. Does colour the sound so use it depending on what you are after. My main pre is True Systems - this unit has changed my whole approach to vocals.What this unit does for my vocals is gives me exaclty what the mic sends out. Keeps it pure and the signal recording now is so close to the finished article its great!! But if you are after vst plugins. I recommend the PSP audio mix pack 2. http://www.pspaudioware.com/

When recording vocals i always try to get as tight a sound as possible. I like to add everything later. I record with a AKG 414 or Solidtube mic about one foot from a wall which is layered with acoustic foam. The opposite wall about 8 foot away has a section of foam on as well. I always use a pop screen - two reason one to take away the pops and secondly this gives an uneducated singer a position to be. My mic goes into a True Systems P solo - which is a wired gain pre amp, at this point i record. All i have on tape is the uncoloured vocal take. In sonar - i use the plugins form PSP Audio. Usually Mix pressor first - then EQ - then if required i run it through the PSP mix saturation to just add a little ommhhppp. I will have a send on this track to the vst breverb which i will add as necessary.

thing with breathes is they dont seem to bad until you start to add effects to the track and sometimes they just sound awful. A singer with good recording technique should be able to elimate this from the recording. Some songs they sound good on - where its a more real take - more high quality productions you wont hear them. I generally take them out. I want to mix the singing not the breathes!

is waves GTR3 - now free.... worth looking at. You need very low latency via your host though.

I have a rectangular room which is helpful. So i have the desk facing towards the furfest away wall. Have used the mirror trick for placing absorbotion on the walls. Floor is carpet and the ceiling has been left alone. Its a very dry room for recording which is what i want and unless i really crank up the noise when mixing i dont ever get any bass builds up. Windows have thick curtains across.

depends how good your product is. I have been offered about 10 different publishing deals. Decided against them all. reason being at this moment in time i wont get much use out of a deal of this type - i am not selling and not about to be on the radio... and whilst i know i am not in a strong position doesn't mean i wont be in the future and when/if the decent deal comes along i will be stuck to a small publisher. But if this is the first offer they have given you they are offering a low deal. Why would they offer 70 % upfront when you might accept 50%. If you are after a real deal 'deal' then a lot of labels have sister companies that hold the publishing rights. By having a deal that does nothing for you could end up bittin you in the ass when a label comes along and realises it will cost them 50k to just buy the publishing deal.

If you dont want to sound like your influences. dont learn how to play their songs

a record label is just a company name that has been registed. It costs about 20 quid i think to set one up if you are to go DIY. Or you could try and get yourself a record deal. If you get a record deal then they generally look after everything for you. But you cant choose this... the company will have to choose you. So do you need one - everyone wants one but most dont get one. You need to tell us your aims to determine if you require one. I sold about 1000' cd's. I am not part of any label.

looking at the site. Just use cd baby. Looks like they get it on itunes etc as well for you. http://cdbaby.net/submit They take a cut of 9% for digitial download or 4 bucks per cd sold and its cost 35 bucks to setup. So ideally you dont want to do anything other than an album as you might only break even.

as an example. Get your songs copyrighted. Get registerd to be on itunes sell through them. Thats the simplest way. The money will be paid directly from itunes to your own company or if you want, use cd baby to sell as a 'real' product. Publishing is required if you are actually making money through air play etc, Are you at that stage yet? As they will make sure if you music is played you get paid. I did this myself and i still am owed money from HMV. It can difficult to do so best left to someone else. I am a bedroom producer. So i create the music. I pay for the cds to be burnt. I sell them via itunes and cd baby. Do we sell many? No. At this point you might then need a label, some A and R guys and publishing house to push the music out. But thats only if they want you.

Now the competition is at its highest the idea of 'making it' seems a stupid one. Even if you do then the financial reward is very small. And although not in it to make money - not getting paid doesn't pay the rent! So now i am just developing myself as a producer.Suprised how much i am enjoying it as well. About to release my debut album with my gf and about to finish the 3rd solo album.

what DAW software are you using?? I would go with EZ drummer. I think its as simple as can be for creating drums. Inexpensive for what it is. If you have a song that has been recorded in time, i dont mind doing you a drum track so you can see how good it is.

it was something that was written about 20 years ago. Dont know where the link is - dont think the author cares as its on every music board! will remove it.

you can be trained to sing 'better'. I can sing in key but my voice is not a voice that should be heard. I will never have a good sounding voice no matter how hard i train it. If you are tone deaf then you have not really got much of a chance.

no that was posted by the guy that mixes seal's music. Good link you posted didn't realise it was already covered

removed.

you can mix a song well using just three things. Volume. Panning. EQ. First two are obvious. EQ is the one that if you can learn about it will help you no end. Learning what instrument sits where. Which frequencies to boost which to cut. Not sure what cubase offers as i use sonar. But i do know that reaper has great tools that come free with it. When mixing dont reach for delay/compression/reverb etc. Reach for EQ. Its where you start mixing. IMO But on the other hand remember. You cant polish a turd, so if what you are working with sounds naff it will still be naff (maybe less naff) once mixed. My train of learning was. firstly to learn how to record an instrument well. This in turn makes the mixing stage that bit easier. As you will be mixing not fixing. But be aware. the internet is a source of good information. But also a good source of incorrect information.

If you are talking about singing live then you have to get the balance correct between performance and in tune. Mr Smith always went for performance and it let down the live show on many occasions. Where as in the studio i think you need to feel comfortable with what you can and cant hear in the headphones etc. If you dont get that correct then singer is not focused on singing they are trying to hear the mix. I am not a singer but have worked with many and what most dont seem to understand is that the voice is an instrument. It needs practise and in cases it needs lessons. But none of the singers i have worked with have every had a lesson and rarely practise. it seems that a lot of singers dont believe that the voice should be trained in the same way as some one learning say the guitar. Hours of scales, hours of technique etc. most singers let themselves down by not breathing in the correct places.

hmmmm girls aloud for breakfast

Hi John, I much prefere the fidelity of the older recordings. Nothing is comprimised. Heavily compressed songs just to get them as loud as the last song i think is an awful trend. I downloaded a song the other day called let it out. Was from a recent TV advert. It was the loudest song i have heard and totally shook my speakers. I would expect an ametuer to produce something that bad but this was done by a pro. The mastering guy i use generally goes for somewhere in between. I would prefere my songs to sound good than sound loud

Depends how out of tune the vocals are. Hendrix, Dylan and to a less extent neil young often put in great performances over key perfect vocals. Because they are close enough they get away with them and you are not drawn to the off keyness because the perforamce outways it. It depends on the song. Singer songwriter music imo has more scope for performance over perfect pitch - but if say someone like a boy/girl band were not pitch perfect then the song would instantly fail. Music i dont think should ever be always be about being perfect - sometimes being perfect can be stale. What kind of music do you play? Should help work out if your vocals will work or not etc.

three ways to record an acoustic guitar. Use the X/Y arrangement stereo micing technique. Use two exact models of SD. Start with both mics at a distance around 5-7 inches or so. Adjust the distance of both mics accordingly based on playing style. If you are doing primarily finger picking, you can get in tighter, if you are strumming, back it off a bit. The tighter in you go, the more detailed of a sound you will have… the farther out you go the more “body” you will pick up. Also experiment with the horizontal placement of the mics on the guitar. The X/Y is my go to method. You have a lot of flexibilty come the mixing stage. Another one i have used to good effect is the spaced pair. Also referred to as the A/B pair, this technique employs one SD pointed at or around the 12th fret, and another pointed at the bridge. You have to employ the 3:1 rule else you will create phase issues. Basically if the mic pointing at the sound hole is 7 inches from the source. Your second mic has to be three times the distance of the first mix. This method was what i used before i got stereo mics as only had two different mics. Last method is the over the shoulder. This is a variation of the spaced pair (A/B technique), with one mic placed aiming at the guitar towards the bridge (or 12th fret) and another aimed down at the body from over the performers right shoulder (assuming the player is right handed). The tight mic captures the presence of the instrument, while the shoulder mic emulates the perspective of what you would hear if you were playing the guitar. Work with varying distances, placements and angles with the shoulder mic to find the sweet spot. Again the 3:1 has to be employed else phasing issues arise. I have tried this method just once and found it a pain. If the guitarist moves too much it can effect the sound too much. And if the player goes to the toilet etc very difficult to get them back in the same place! With recording acoustic guitar its all about finding the sweetspot but never underestimating how bad phase can be if you get in proper placement. EQ. You can put on a high pass filter up to about 250hz. I tend to put a little in the 1-4 k range to add some sparkle. But general rule is removing frequencies to help sit it in the mix. Effects. An acoustic guitar has no effects as an instrument so you wouldn't want to add IMO. other than some room reverb. But thats only if you didn't capture any on the original recroding. My booths are setup flat so i generally add a post bus of room verb after the EQ. Just a tad though. easy to put to much on. Recording acoustic guitar is trial an error in regards to placement, just keep moving the mics around until you find the sweetspot but always stick to the 3:1 when using two mics (doesn't apply when using stereo placement) Hope that helps. Tim