The one thing I need?

[devin]

Apr 21, 2008, 10:22am, matto wrote:Dave, one thing I can see right away, you're gonna need a LOT more synths for that Spice Girls sound you so adore! Hahahahaha! Dave just sent me a song to listen to...let me try and transcribe the lyric he's singing....he called it "wanna be my mother in law". The verse is kinda generic, but his chorus was killer:I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really wantSo tell me what you want, what you really really want,I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna reallyReally really wanna zigazig ahIf you wanna be my mother, you gotta bring me a beerMake it last forever, the fridge is over hereIf you wanna be my mother, the guitar noise doesn't quitThe bus leaves in 5 minutes, please be under it (Poster's disclaimer: my mother in law is totally fantastic...my wife and I probably couldn't raise these kids without her help!)

[davekershaw]

Apr 21, 2008, 12:07pm, devin wrote:Hahahahaha! Dave just sent me a song to listen to...let me try and transcribe the lyric he's singing....he called it "wanna be my mother in law". The verse is kinda generic, but his chorus was killer:I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really wantSo tell me what you want, what you really really want,I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna reallyReally really wanna zigazig ahIf you wanna be my mother, you gotta bring me a beerMake it last forever, the fridge is over hereIf you wanna be my mother, the guitar noise doesn't quitThe bus leaves in 5 minutes, please be under itAw Come on Devin. I sent you that in confidence man!Yer makin' me look bad.First Ibanez, now Matto is on to me.Maybe I over did it; you know "the lady doth protest too much".Anyway, you know that line I thought was maybe off key.I think we should leave it. Makes it more authentic!An' as for that disclaimer; that's not what you said when we compared mother-in-laws!Old hag, Interfering bag, Pain in the ar'said at the time you shouldn't speak of her that way!

[davekershaw]

Apr 21, 2008, 3:28pm, feaker wrote:A serious side of Dave? Who would have thunk it? Do you play that fiddle shown in the pic, or are you a total midi guy?What! me serious? Now be serious!Actually it's the opposite.I play that Fender Fiddle, and have great difficulty with midi.Though I'm learning.Peace? With a mother-in-law like mine! Dave.

[davekershaw]

Apr 20, 2008, 3:40pm, devin wrote:Silvercord and I both went with the AKG 271 headphones. I find the isolation really good for acoustic guitar...and now I can hear alot more of what the mic is picking up. Aw Man! I just got some.They're Awsome!With the Sennheisers, I could still hear a drone.Now, I can't hear the mother-in-law at all!And being able to unplug the cable means I can keep them on all the time round the house.Absolutely brilliant!

[davekershaw]

Cheers,Wodinlord.

[davekershaw]

Apr 25, 2008, 8:55am, wodinlord wrote:You always have to do the best you can with what you have, but don't discount the benefit of having better.Hey now fellas.I ain't gonna argue if someone wants to slip me a million or twofor a top o' the range studio - preferably in the Bahamas, but I'll take L.A. or New York, I'm not fussy!

[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.