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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 5, 2024 13:29:05 GMT -6
Are you thinking of that TK Audio module that was a wet/dry blend knob?
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 4, 2024 16:55:57 GMT -6
Does it not have a HPF on the side chain? I'm not sure I could mix into my Phoenix MP vari-mu without using it's HPF options. It does and that helps let some low end breathe. But still not sure the compression character lends itself to rock mixes. Or at least it seams like it wouldn’t be my first choice. We’ll see, I’m just speculating right now, later tonight I’ll have some time to try it on a rock mix
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 4, 2024 16:55:33 GMT -6
Contacted VK and so far the customer service has been great. This is my first major purchase from them ever. So far I’m very happy. Also, been playing with the compressor more and it’s definitely nice. Adds a nice round sheen to things. It kind of hugs the mix when strapped to the mix bus. It can clamp down on the low end, and change the transients of a kick drum in a big way. Which can be good or bad depending on your application. On a folk mix I just finished it sounds really nice. It glued the low end together nicely. Same for the country band I’m mixing right now where it makes the upright bass nice and round, and controlled. However I can see it sucking the punch out of a rock mix. That’s not really a criticism though, you can do that with just about any compressor. And my experience with vari mus on the mix bus is that they’re great for glue and warmth but not what you want when you’re looking for snap and punch. So I’m that regard the Gainlab is consistent with those results. Does it not have a HPF on the side chain? I'm not sure I could mix into my Phoenix MP vari-mu without using it's HPF options. It does and that helps let some low end breath. But still not sure the compression character lends itself to rock mixes. Or at least it seams like it wouldn’t be my first choice. We’ll see, I’m just speculating right now, later tonight I’ll have some time to try it on a rock mix
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 4, 2024 13:30:11 GMT -6
Contacted VK and so far the customer service has been great. This is my first major purchase from them ever. So far I’m very happy.
Also, been playing with the compressor more and it’s definitely nice. Adds a nice round sheen to things. It kind of hugs the mix when strapped to the mix bus. It can clamp down on the low end, and change the transients of a kick drum in a big way. Which can be good or bad depending on your application. On a folk mix I just finished it sounds really nice. It glued the low end together nicely. Same for the country band I’m mixing right now where it makes the upright bass nice and round, and controlled. However I can see it sucking the punch out of a rock mix. That’s not really a criticism though, you can do that with just about any compressor. And my experience with vari mus on the mix bus is that they’re great for glue and warmth but not what you want when you’re looking for snap and punch. So I’m that regard the Gainlab is consistent with those results.
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 4, 2024 13:23:48 GMT -6
Interested as well. I checkout out that first link and they look good, price is pretty affordable, I was expecting them to cost more. Let us know how they work out
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 2, 2024 22:25:13 GMT -6
So I got a great deal on a B stock Gainlab Dictator. My initial impressions are that it sounds great on vocals, really does a nice job pinning down a jumpy vocal while adding some nice saturation when the input is pushed.
Still experimenting on mix bus but so far it’s sounding nice.
Unfortunately it showed up with a wonky Vu Meter so I’ll need to call VK and see what can be done.
More to come
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 1, 2024 23:48:39 GMT -6
Hmm, this is a very interesting topic to me because I'm venturing into this sort of genre whilst being a contradictory knowledgeable yet at the same time completely clueless. I've done some mixing / mastering work in this genre but firstly that was years back and I've slept since then plus I was lucky to work with a group who knew what they were doing so it was mainly spit shine & polish. Myself however, I haven't sung on a track in well over a decade (but practice every day), I've forgotten most things about synths and I am dreading it a bit. Especially in a genre that's really all about perfection and if it's not great then you shouldn't really bother. Also quite a bit of this type of music creation is more about what the masses want if you get my meaning. I'm open to somewhat harsh constructive criticism, whatever it takes sorta thing and I do very much understand at some point I'll need some help. The expectations, the needs, the cost and the approach for that is a difficult one though. We often talk about this from an engineering side but not really from the client side, which as someone who's going down that path I am, again finding this interesting. I might just do rock & metal again LOL.. I have a feeling you’re being too hard on yourself I’m by no means an expert on pop production but I’ve done some work in the genre and produced lots of songs that aren’t “pop” per se, but borrow heavily from the pop aesthetic. If you ever want a second set of ears, someone to bounce ideas off of, or some friendly advice let me know. I’d gladly listen to your tracks and give you some constructive feedback.
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 1, 2024 20:23:41 GMT -6
Sounds like this guy either doesn’t really know what he wants, doesn’t know how to communicate what he wants, or both. Ask for a reference track and spend some time with him identifying the things he likes about it and the things he doesn’t. (If you haven’t already). If this is pop music then there are really no standards for how things should sound. Mostly everything is VI’s, samples etc so there’s no real benchmark for how any given source should sound. It’s not like an acoustic guitar, or piano etc where you can, somewhat, objectively say what sounds good or bad. This makes it really challenging, and unfortunately yes you need to be producer as well as AE for it to work. Also, as others have said, mixing for more pop genres is very much about sample layering/replacing, blending reverbs and delays, sidechain compression, lots of distortion etc. It’s very different from mixing a more organic genre. I hear what you’re saying…but this is a budget mix. Not doing all that. I hear ya, there’s got to be a limit and your time is valuable. It’s rough sometimes but the power of saying “No” is real. A few months ago I had what was basically a free day in a commercial studio, (finished a project early and the day was already paid for). So I advertised a “deal”, come in and play a song live, acoustic and singing, and I’ll track and mix a song super cheap for you. Well, that turned into a nightmare fast. Had a guy hit me up asking about it, music was ok-ish but super mediocre, boring, and amateur. Not horrible, but nothing enjoyable about it. Not trying to be mean, but his songs were what you might expect from a 16 y.o. Two years into learning guitar and how to sing. Anyway, he quickly starts asking for more…it goes from just acoustic and singing (all live, no overdubs), to adding a drum machine, then to to bringing in a real drummer, having me play bass on it etc etc etc. No mind you this took place over like 4 phone calls, each time time it becoming more and more clear that he was a huge pain in the ass…so I told him politely that that was more then I offered but I’d be happy to quote him for full production for an album (did I mention he wanted to record 12 songs at this point?). I had to think long and hard…how much money would it take for me to not hate myself for recording this album? How much money would it take for me to sacrifice the time I’d otherwise spend with my wife and daughter? Well the number was north of $12k, not including mastering or the musician fees. All in, I quoted him like $20k lol. Needless to say he declined lol. After that he came back and told me he’d like to just take me up on the original offer, one song played live etc…I finally just had to say sorry, the session is already booked. Saying “no” never felt so good.
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 1, 2024 19:11:15 GMT -6
Sounds like this guy either doesn’t really know what he wants, doesn’t know how to communicate what he wants, or both.
Ask for a reference track and spend some time with him identifying the things he likes about it and the things he doesn’t. (If you haven’t already).
If this is pop music then there are really no standards for how things should sound. Mostly everything is VI’s, samples etc so there’s no real benchmark for how any given source should sound. It’s not like an acoustic guitar, or piano etc where you can, somewhat, objectively say what sounds good or bad. This makes it really challenging, and unfortunately yes you need to be producer as well as AE for it to work.
Also, as others have said, mixing for more pop genres is very much about sample layering/replacing, blending reverbs and delays, sidechain compression, lots of distortion etc. It’s very different from mixing a more organic genre.
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 1, 2024 15:16:19 GMT -6
Never tried C Vox but I use izotope quite a bit and am very familiar with its flaws. Our own Mark recommended I get Acon Acoustica and it’s been fantastic. I highly recommend it. Acon and Izotope sort of fill in each others gaps, they compliment each other well. There’s also a 25% off sale right now at Acon. Dude! So glad to hear it’s been working well for you! Yeah I’ve been meaning to hit you up and give you an update, all your recommendations turned out great! Thank again brotha.
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 1, 2024 15:15:04 GMT -6
Never tried C Vox but I use izotope quite a bit and am very familiar with its flaws. Our own Mark recommended I get Acon Acoustica and it’s been fantastic. I highly recommend it. Acon and Izotope sort of fill in each others gaps, they compliment each other well. There’s also a 25% off sale right now at Acon. What does Verberate sound like? Says its algos are a new step or something like that. I’m always down for better room sims. I don’t know yet, I didn’t even know what that was till I just looked it up, lol. The whole suite is still very knew to me. I’m in the middle of a very busy project and have just been using some of the de-noise software to clean up a bunch of location audio I recorded for a video project. Haven’t had any time to experiment but I’ll let you know when I do
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 1, 2024 13:56:42 GMT -6
I love ribbons, but a small room can be tough for any microphone. I’d look into controlling the acoustics of the room first. Maybe get one if those free standing GIK broadband traps like this: www.gikacoustics.com/product/pib-portable-isolation-vocal-booth/How tall are your ceilings? You could be getting some comb filtering from low ceilings.
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Post by Tbone81 on Dec 31, 2023 15:50:37 GMT -6
Shipping fees I see are crazy on reverb. I don't remember the USPS being that expensive. Shipping gear has become painfully expensive for folks who aren't getting volume discounts. It's made gear repairs pricey and sometimes not even viable. I feel terrible for people who don't have a decent tech in their area. In fact, I know many who have dead gear just sitting in their studio because the cost of shipping both ways to get it repaired is prohibitive on some items. I remember shipping guitars about 5 years ago for $75, and that was annoying because it had been $50 in 2015. Now, I'm looking at $175+ for an acoustic. I got a UPS 3-day quote of $360 last week. USPS might be a little cheaper but they scare me on high dollar items. They once lost a $6,000 instrument, only to find it was sitting in the local station for a week and everyone just ignored it (the driver who found it suspected the workers just didn't want to carry the heavy box). If I remember correctly this year (2023) started with a whole new round of additional taxes on petroleum products, oil refining and non “green” energy production in general. I forget the details, but I’m fairly sure that increase in both production costs and shipping has trickled down to every level of our economy.
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Post by Tbone81 on Dec 30, 2023 19:01:49 GMT -6
Inflation, Reverb Fees, supply chain issues, shipping costs, IRS coming after every penny sent through cash apps…none of it makes for a good market place
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Post by Tbone81 on Dec 30, 2023 15:38:42 GMT -6
It's a little, I guess just sad that lots of posters both demonstrate and cite the sense of community here, offer well-wishes to OP, and give perfectly reasonable explanations as to why one might want to step away in full. In contrast, one of the few people that directly financially benefit from this site seems unabashedly focused on how the OP's decision affects his business. At least you edited your first post to give a veneer of interest in the person's wellbeing. You know, like a community would. If that’s what you think about John then you haven’t been paying attention to this forum.
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Post by Tbone81 on Dec 30, 2023 15:17:44 GMT -6
Never tried C Vox but I use izotope quite a bit and am very familiar with its flaws. Our own Mark recommended I get Acon Acoustica and it’s been fantastic. I highly recommend it. Acon and Izotope sort of fill in each others gaps, they compliment each other well.
There’s also a 25% off sale right now at Acon.
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Post by Tbone81 on Dec 30, 2023 14:50:50 GMT -6
Very curious about those ART tube pres. I def owned one long ago but hated it and sold it. Granted I only used it as a pre Sorta feel like I'm talking about some kinda secret that's actually not much of a secret... guys like Dave Fridmann & Joel Hamilton were talking about 'em eons ago. Even Vance Powell has one in his racks of doom... As a preamp they're kinda functionally average at best. To me they really excel as an effects box. It’s like any other distortion pedal or a Boogie amp, dime the input gain and keep the output low. Hit the boost button (+20 ?)... magic! Love them on synths & drum machines, scream-O vocals... drum room mics on "nuke" and sometimes even first call acoustic guitar DI. They can really chew the edges off a piezo pickup. All kinds of things that you don't want "wire w/gain" clean. The one to get is either the OG "DI" box style or the stereo rack. The other versions with compressor, VU meters etc all kinda suck. They don't "blow up" in the same way. Not as cool. Not as chunky & smooth. And while I've seen people say 'ya gotta stick good tubes, even NOS glass in there? In my book they don't make that much of a difference. Any good "modern" tube like a Sovtek / JJ or whatever is fine to me. Partly because they're only running about 50 volts on the plates or something around there. Its just not worth wasting big money old glass on them. I think you may have just saved me mucho $$$… I remember those boxes, they were everywhere in the early 2000’s. I just ordered one on reverb. I’ve been looking for something that can distort in a cool way for synths. I need an additional 4-6 channels to able to leave all my synths patched in and ready to record. I’ve been looking at the Phoenix N-8, Radial Space Heater, thinking of having someone modding a line mixer etc etc but these just might be the ticket. On a related note, do you have any experience with the Art Tubefire or OptoTube 8? They look similar in topography, are pretty cheap on reverb and people seem to really like them. I’m hoping they distort in a cool way. A rack mount 8 channel unit would be awesome. They’re cheap enough I just may buy one and try it out…
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Cubase 13
Dec 30, 2023 14:23:52 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by Tbone81 on Dec 30, 2023 14:23:52 GMT -6
I upgraded from v9 to 12 and absolutely hated the change in GUi colors. I bought a better monitor, and got blue blocking glasses from the optometrist, which helped a lot. But it’s like they were trying to make to bad.
Not sure when I’ll upgrade to 13, it has some great features I could use, but I hope it looks better than 12
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Cubase 13
Dec 29, 2023 9:28:31 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by Tbone81 on Dec 29, 2023 9:28:31 GMT -6
All I ask is for a piece of software not to crash. This software is incapable of doing that. what computer and OS are you running? I’m on Cubase 12, and I’ve been hesitant to upgrade to 13 as C12 is running great on my current system.
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Post by Tbone81 on Dec 28, 2023 15:20:30 GMT -6
I’d say any clipper plug-in that tames peaks without you hearing it working is a good one…unfortunately I can’t actually recommend one because I use HW inserts to achieve the same thing. What are you using? Cheers, Geoff I'm using CAPI vp28's, AML 1073's, and a Sebatron vmp 4000 (4 channels). I think the vp28's offer cleaner sounding clipping than the 1073's. The Sebatrons breakup in an entirely different way than either the CAPI or AML stuff, as you'd expect from a tube pre.
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Post by Tbone81 on Dec 28, 2023 15:18:01 GMT -6
Cubase is great, its more similar to Logic than PT. That said, they're all great. "Use what you like most" is my motto.
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Post by Tbone81 on Dec 26, 2023 18:51:02 GMT -6
I’d say any clipper plug-in that tames peaks without you hearing it working is a good one…unfortunately I can’t actually recommend one because I use HW inserts to achieve the same thing.
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Post by Tbone81 on Dec 24, 2023 23:18:59 GMT -6
My goals are to go part time at my day job, which I’m actively looking to do right now. Also I’ve been getting more dedicated mix work which is both cool and new to me. I’d like to continue that trend. I’m planning on releasing an EP if my own material and writing a full other album as well.
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Post by Tbone81 on Dec 23, 2023 18:19:22 GMT -6
I’m using NHT Super Ones. They don’t sound like NS10’s but why’re useful in a similar way. They’re very affordable That's a speaker I've never heard of. Do you prefer it over other options? I really like them. I first learned about NHT’s from reading about Joe Barresi and Sylvia Massey liking them. I think they used the A20’s. The SuperOnes are very useful speakers. They’re not voiced at all like NS10’s. They’re flatter sounding. And there’s not much bass but that’s a good thing because there is no false information there from woofers that are over hyped. Hook them up with a good amp and you can get slot done with them.
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Post by Tbone81 on Dec 22, 2023 11:53:49 GMT -6
I’m using NHT Super Ones. They don’t sound like NS10’s but why’re useful in a similar way. They’re very affordable
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