cheddatom Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 yeh. I don't really play bass much any more, but I use it for recording creep joint, and I use it if I want a simple jamming rig. It does Timmy C very well when you blend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phill Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 That's always good. I reckon a clean sig, the driven red llama on a signal, then the diefet on another signal and you won't even need a whammy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 That's an idea. At the moment, I have an ODB-3 with all the top cut off, blended with a selection of dirt with the bottom cut off. Normally i'd put the red llama in there, but if I swap it out for the ODB-3 it might be MEATY. There's a clean blend as well and compression etc. but that's been the basis of my sound for ages. I just kick the ODB-3 off when I want something less ballsy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simno Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Ohai everyone. Right I am a n00b at mixing, and really I'm only looking for fairly simple tips here. I've been recording demos using guitar rig (then programmed drums bass and misc other instruments such as strings, using midi, into sound font into vst), and audacity for compiling tracks , oh and I also record vocals using guitar rig cab/preamp emulation etc etc. What I really want to know is basically what range of frequencies to notch out/roll off and boost on the EQ's for the following.. a drum track a fuzzy bass track guitar tracks vocal tracks I don't have any way (that I know of or understand) in audacity of seeing where the track's frequencies overlap, so I've just been guessing at frequencies to remove to try and clear up the sound. I'm fine with panning and setting relative volume levels. The EQ'ing is really to try and just help bring out certain parts and also help the vocals stand out without making them sound like they are floating over the top. If there is any software I can 'obtain', even just for the EQ'ing part or for better mixing, I could at least then export the guitar/bass/drum tracks out of Audacity individually and mix them in there. Sorry for the ramble, all help very welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Sometimes overlapping frequencies can help a mix. Voxengo do a free VST spectrum analyser which you can add on each channel to view the frequency content. Your drum close mics should probably be EQd individually. You probably want to use some compression as well, but perhaps that's built into your amp sims etc? It's hard to give general EQ ideas because I don't know what sort of sound(s) you're going for. Feel free to e-mail me something if you want specific tips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simno Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Sometimes overlapping frequencies can help a mix. Voxengo do a free VST spectrum analyser which you can add on each channel to view the frequency content. Your drum close mics should probably be EQd individually. You probably want to use some compression as well, but perhaps that's built into your amp sims etc? It's hard to give general EQ ideas because I don't know what sort of sound(s) you're going for. Feel free to e-mail me something if you want specific tips. Cheers dude, will check that software, and mail if I get stuck. I'm still really up for putting this stuff together with proper bass and drum parts as we initially bantered about too. I'm just getting the 'ep' done in my own (shit) quality, to get all the ideas out if you know what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 yeh, that's cool. I find it very difficult to write about things like EQ unless i'm actually listening to what i'm talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don'tPostThePear Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 what i'd like to see is that someone uploads like 4 raw tracks (git, bass, voc, drums) or 3 plus drumtracks and some of the guys who know their shit will mix it and then everyone can learn fom it. (i think i saw some guys here who actually learned this stuff in school) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Some big bands have given away "stems" for people to mix and mess with. There are probably some forums where you can read about how the best ones were done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don'tPostThePear Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Some big bands have given away "stems" for people to mix and mess with. There are probably some forums where you can read about how the best ones were done. but founding them would require unprecedented amounts of searchbar and google abuse i was actually quite proud of myself when i found and bumped this thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milkybar=] Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 but founding them would require unprecedented amounts of searchbar and google abuse i was actually quite proud of myself when i found and bumped this thread i have stems of killer queen, can like them to you if you want i do music tech at college n will like to do it at uni, sounds like piss but to do it well is an art itself. beautiful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doog Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Ohai everyone. Right I am a n00b at mixing, and really I'm only looking for fairly simple tips here. I've been recording demos using guitar rig (then programmed drums bass and misc other instruments such as strings, using midi, into sound font into vst), and audacity for compiling tracks , oh and I also record vocals using guitar rig cab/preamp emulation etc etc. What I really want to know is basically what range of frequencies to notch out/roll off and boost on the EQ's for the following.. a drum track a fuzzy bass track guitar tracks vocal tracks I don't have any way (that I know of or understand) in audacity of seeing where the track's frequencies overlap, so I've just been guessing at frequencies to remove to try and clear up the sound. I'm fine with panning and setting relative volume levels. The EQ'ing is really to try and just help bring out certain parts and also help the vocals stand out without making them sound like they are floating over the top. If there is any software I can 'obtain', even just for the EQ'ing part or for better mixing, I could at least then export the guitar/bass/drum tracks out of Audacity individually and mix them in there. Sorry for the ramble, all help very welcome! think with bass, guitar and vox tracks the specific mix eq depends a lot on what sound you want from them, and what sound you're getting out of your guitar/amp or the type of voice your singer has. drums are slightly easier because you want them to be clear, defined and consistent, so gates and compressors are more involved in a drum mix than eq is. generally I try to take some of the low mids out of the kick drum and the toms (~500hz, rising for the smaller toms) to get rid of some of the hum, and maybe add a touch of high frequency to add definition. the snare eq is dependent on the particular snare, but you'd usually want to remove most of the hum from the drum skins and just have the snare itself - you can use a bottom mic on the snare to help with this as well. exception to that could be if you tune the drum to the key of the song or if you just want more of a lo-fi sound. overhead mics need to be almost completely lacking in low end because it'll reduce spill from the drums. other than that you can pretty much leave the overheads alone, the cymbals produce plenty of high frequency already so it doesn't usually need to be boosted and you can just do some fine tuning with the mids Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 There shouldn't be any hum on your tracks in the first place! Removing low mids from toms and kick drums is a good bit of advice, 500Hz is a good pointer, it gets rid of "boxyness". How strange to link this to "hum" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haze015 Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Si, download Stillwell 1973 EQ. That should cover most of your EQ needs, the sort of EQ that often comes with DAWs are often far too overkill for most mixing tasks and only useful for very specific tasks. Frequency analysers aren't a smart thing to go by either in all honesty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doog Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 There shouldn't be any hum on your tracks in the first place! Removing low mids from toms and kick drums is a good bit of advice, 500Hz is a good pointer, it gets rid of "boxyness". How strange to link this to "hum" sorry, just my terrible way of explaining it. can't say I've ever heard the term "boxyness" though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*TC* Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 any of you guys got any links to places that have helped you learn about stuff like this? I was doing music tech in college but had to leave and tbh it was shit anyway because the equipment was substandard and we had to mix/master in cheap headphones. Now I want to learn it properly because I am in the process of applying to every studio in a 10 mile radius for an assistant job. I know they get a lot of prospective engineers and I don't want to go in and them expect me to know things that i have no clue about, which is definitely going to happen at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 TC - just experience really. Get yourself some stems to mix and some half decent monitors. I'm helping a young guy learn at the moment, and as much as I try to explain everything I do, nothing can replace experience. He learns loads more when I give him some stems to play with. sorry, just my terrible way of explaining it. can't say I've ever heard the term "boxyness" though You know when a kick drum sounds like someone hitting a big cardboard box? That's boxy IMO Hum is more like the noise you get from bad mains circuits etc. Si, download Stillwell 1973 EQ. That should cover most of your EQ needs, the sort of EQ that often comes with DAWs are often far too overkill for most mixing tasks and only useful for very specific tasks. Frequency analysers aren't a smart thing to go by either in all honesty. I would download ALL of the Stillwell free plug-ins. They're ace! I wouldn't say that the 1973 EQ covers all EQ bases though. A lot of the EQ I do has a much tighter Q (I don't know the technical term) than you can get with the 1973. EDIT: I probably come accross as arrogant when I talk about this stuff, but it's just that I do it a lot, i'm not an expert by any means, else i'd make a living from it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don'tPostThePear Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I would download ALL of the Stillwell free plug-ins. They're ace! I wouldn't say that the 1973 EQ covers all EQ bases though. A lot of the EQ I do has a much tighter Q (I don't know the technical term) than you can get with the 1973. here's an another one for awesome (probably the best) free plugins: http://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/ plus this mad scientist type of dude's plugs: http://sirelliot.blog.com/ i think expect from the drum samples and ozone (i use this more for learning than mastering, it is not like i have to master anything) everything is free including the synths and the DAW from the stuff i use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doog Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 You know when a kick drum sounds like someone hitting a big cardboard box? That's boxy IMO Hum is more like the noise you get from bad mains circuits etc. I know what hum is I just couldn't think of a good word to describe the 'bad' sound you get from the kick/toms, and I went for hum because there's an element of that (as in general hum sound, not as in the technical term 'hum') in the resonance of the skin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haze015 Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Tom, I wouldn't personally use more Q than 1973 generally, often seems too much on these monitors, but seems to translate nicely on other speakers, so I trust it more than my own judgements. Obviously if I want to get rid of spikes or raise something specific or whatever, then it's not the tool for the job, but for basic bass/middle/treble, pretty much spot on. But that's just me. any of you guys got any links to places that have helped you learn about stuff like this? I was doing music tech in college but had to leave and tbh it was shit anyway because the equipment was substandard and we had to mix/master in cheap headphones. Now I want to learn it properly because I am in the process of applying to every studio in a 10 mile radius for an assistant job. I know they get a lot of prospective engineers and I don't want to go in and them expect me to know things that i have no clue about, which is definitely going to happen at the moment. In all fairness, even if the college had provided you all with a studio equivalent to Abbey Road, you'd all still be making shit records and you're generally expected to use your own headphones on any similar course, that's not the college's fault. But yeah, as cheddatom says, experience is all there is to it, there's no rules at all on how you do anything, so you really need to be the kind of person who'll turn everything on full just to see what happens with every piece of equipment, because you really do learn best that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 11, 2011 Author Share Posted March 11, 2011 Tom, I wouldn't personally use more Q than 1973 generally, often seems too much on these monitors, but seems to translate nicely on other speakers, so I trust it more than my own judgements. Obviously if I want to get rid of spikes or raise something specific or whatever, then it's not the tool for the job, but for basic bass/middle/treble, pretty much spot on. But that's just me. That's interesting. I've been using it on vocals, and drum buses, but I suppose I need to try it on guitars etc now as well. I know what you mean about it translating well. For me it feels like a "master EQ" if you know what I mean? Something to put at the end of the chain to define the general sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don'tPostThePear Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 When you use an ampsim, the volume of your recording will obviously alter the amount of overdrive in the amp. (a recording peaking at 0dB and averaging at -10db will drive the amp harder than a recording peaking at -18 and averaging at -30db) What kind of signal level (in dB) those amp sims except? (if they are true simulations then a to quiet recording would be like turning down the vol. knob on your guitar and a too hot recording would be something like using a clean boost in front of the amp) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haze015 Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 That's interesting. I've been using it on vocals, and drum buses, but I suppose I need to try it on guitars etc now as well. I know what you mean about it translating well. For me it feels like a "master EQ" if you know what I mean? Something to put at the end of the chain to define the general sound. I wouldn't use it for that, although the high shelf is nice on the master, try a Pultec EQ emulation on the master for a more of a master EQ. Might want to look at summing mixers as well if you're looking at ways to add a touch of "class" to a mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 I try to avoid doing too much mastering as I know I don't know what i'm doing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted September 6, 2012 Author Share Posted September 6, 2012 I finished a project a few weeks ago that i'm really proud of. I've had very little input into the music, but recorded and mixed the whole thing in my studio. Any criticism of the mix would be gratefully received, so please have a listen and let me know your thoughts soundcloud.com/musicbyemilio/sets/popular-myth-conflict/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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