The one thing I need?

[davekershaw]

Apr 25, 2008, 9:19am, wodinlord wrote:It was a once in a lifetime, 2 week long joy, doing a project for Island records! We even managed to squeeze in a little work while we were there.http://www.compasspointstudios.com/Wow! My mouth was droolin' so much I had to stop the movie and mop the floor twice!I like the "without Abbey in the name" bit.Thanks for that.

[devin]

I think we have to remember why Dave was after the cans: he's tracking in the same room as his DAW, by himself, and he's trying to learn and establish good mic position and compression settings (if he uses any comp on the way in) for his acoustic guitar.Working alone (like 90% of us?) requires quality headphones to reduce this experimentation...that was the recommendation I gave, anyway. Are headphones more important than monitors to an engineer? Not a chance...and Wodinlord has that convincingly covered. Are headphones with isolation for a learning musican/engineer/chief bottle washer a good investment? Heck ya! I bet Dave's money on it!Great discussion on monitors & room, etc. I've got a bit of experience doing that on a budget too...but mixing room treatment and speaker selection won't be an issue unless he's creating good tracks to start with, IMHO.Good job on the cans Dave...you'll learn ALOT in the next 10 hours of tracking, I think!(Now, if I could just learn enough myself to get a forward!!!!) Have a good (productive?) weekend all!

[wodinlord]

Apr 25, 2008, 2:01pm, milfus wrote:ok, let me try to be constructive here, i have about 24 credit hours, devoted directly to accoustics, so, uninformed is a bit insulting there chief.1. you can make a mix go platinum without monitors2. monitors make it easier, a studio suffers from time constraints and charges by time, this is why there is speaker emphasis, not because its impossible to do with out it3. the fact that you use an omni mic and a plugin to compensate for room accoustics, to flatten your sound completely, lends to the theory that you arent setting up said monitors in the first place4. don't whip it out and measure it, i am trying to be nice, but if we start name dropping, im pretty sure it will at the very least be a tie, and then ill be pushed to match you mix for mix without using my monitors as a proof of concept, you where a bit insulting, im a little defensive, i know this, so im sorry if i ruffled ya, but i dont say anything without atleast 10 supporting details, im not uninformed, im either informed, or im quietNo man, I'm not ruffled at all. I love a good friendly recording debate. Opinions are like noses, everybody has one and they are all partial to their own.1. I am totally open to hearing that platinum mix that was done completely without monitors. Post it, please.2. What?! Studios use good monitors because it is expensive to work there???????? This one I do not at all understand. No one said impossible, just better. Headphones are a useful tool, but I have never met or heard of anyone big who did mixes on headphones exclusively, by choice. I use them at home for tracking and programming a lot. I too, have a wife.3. ALL room voicing systems use calibrated omni mics. Whether you are using a White 1/3 octave parametric or computer correction. Check out the Genelec DSP system. Again, this argument just makes no sense. Even in a Berger designed room, they voice the room monitors. It just makes it better. That doesn't mean the monitors are bad or the studio doesn't know how to use them.4. I'm not even a minor bigshot. Just had some good opportunities and been doing it a long time. Mixing challenge - would be fun, but pointless. I mean, who would judge? Oh yeah, I ain't measuring nothing. I would probably lose that one. I did not at all mean to be insulting. Sorry if it seemed that way. As I said at the end, it read worse than I meant it. Dang it, so does this. I was just throwing out good general guidelines, not laying down the law. But, I truly believe that when that 24 hours turns into 24 years, you will feel differently. Do whatever works for you, you know what is best for you. If you are happy with your mixes done on phones, rock on. Keep at it and keep learning. I learn something new every day. Lately, it seems I forget a lot of it though.

[devin]

Apr 25, 2008, 3:14pm, billg wrote:The trick to getting the most out of your humble system is listen to commercial cds that you're very familiar FIRST, & listen a lot before you start working on mixes. Great point!I just tried it...what a good way to get calibrated. Thank you! I picked a "target" commercial song that has the feel I was after (in terms of production). I played it on my gear every now and then while mixing my stuff, and I can reference how my mix was shaping up.

[devin]

Jun 10, 2008, 2:28pm, diogenes wrote:The Vocals on Micheal Jacksons Thriller were done with a Shure SM7, available today as the SM7b for about $350., I haven't personsally used one but alot of people say they are the perfect rock vocal mic.Another small studio and I get together whenever we can to either do mic shoot-outs or to help each other with vocal tracking. We're both considered new, so the more ears/hands/gear on hand the better.We've tried the SM7 alot, and haven't gone with it yet for either male or female vocals...found it a bit dark each time (MJ does have a great clear vox though, so he probably got through well enough). For female, we always end up with a Blue microphones "Kiwi". Squids has a Blue "Baby Bottle", which is also rated highly for female.The Kiwi also does well for male voice, although a refurb U87 (1970's vintage) was usually used. We also have an AKG 414 that always seems to come in second place whenever we do the blind test (on both male and female), so that gets used too. The AKG was my first Large Diaphram Condenser because it is a decent all-purpose LDC...about $600 used on eBay for a pristine one.We've yet to track vox with the SM7 over the 414 (rock, hard rock, country, opera)...plus the 414 is much more versatile for acoustic guitar.Just my $0.02 of course! I personally tend to get just a bit more energy out of an SM-58 performance...probably because I know I can abuse it a bit more than the fancier mic that's strapped into the shock mount. Aerosmith uses an SM-57!

[mazz]

Jun 10, 2008, 4:30pm, devin wrote:Jun 10, 2008, 2:28pm, diogenes wrote:The Vocals on Micheal Jacksons Thriller were done with a Shure SM7, available today as the SM7b for about $350., I haven't personsally used one but alot of people say they are the perfect rock vocal mic.Another small studio and I get together whenever we can to either do mic shoot-outs or to help each other with vocal tracking. We're both considered new, so the more ears/hands/gear on hand the better.We've tried the SM7 alot, and haven't gone with it yet for either male or female vocals...found it a bit dark each time (MJ does have a great clear vox though, so he probably got through well enough). For female, we always end up with a Blue microphones "Kiwi". Squids has a Blue "Baby Bottle", which is also rated highly for female.The Kiwi also does well for male voice, although a refurb U87 (1970's vintage) was usually used. We also have an AKG 414 that always seems to come in second place whenever we do the blind test (on both male and female), so that gets used too. The AKG was my first Large Diaphram Condenser because it is a decent all-purpose LDC...about $600 used on eBay for a pristine one.We've yet to track vox with the SM7 over the 414 (rock, hard rock, country, opera)...plus the 414 is much more versatile for acoustic guitar.Just my $0.02 of course! I personally tend to get just a bit more energy out of an SM-58 performance...probably because I know I can abuse it a bit more than the fancier mic that's strapped into the shock mount. Aerosmith uses an SM-57! The PreAmp the mic is going through is just as crucial as the mic. My wife finished an album last year with Ronan of the Recording Boot Camp and he's got a ton of great mics and preamps. They did a shootout and found that an SM58 through some old preamps that were used on Neil Young albums worked out best for her voice and (and here's the key) for the songs that she was recording. They tried U87s and high end solid state and tube preamps and ended up with a 58 and an older preamp. I'm sure an SM7 will sound different depending on what it's going through. That's the art of recording, knowing the colors of the sound of the gear and when to use them.Of course, it always helps to have some stuff to choose from! Cheers,Mazz