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Post by schmalzy on Feb 10, 2022 15:15:44 GMT -6
Thanks, I thought as much.. Anyway this is leading to another question , so instead of using an e-drum kit I was thinking about programming the track and swapping out the snare / HH with a real one. I'd dry mic the kit (57 on snare) / Beyer on HH, remove all the room / ambient from the VST and then blend them all in with a convolution "space" or room verb. Now, I've recorded kits a lot but I've never tried to split one apart, usually the extent of rock / metal electronic replacement is triggers used to layer the bass drum / snare. With this "frankenkit" approach I wouldn't layer triggers, I'd replace the snare / HH entirely. Anyone tried this? Bad idea? Good idea? This is kind of the opposite of what I do. I like to get the realism from a live pair of OHs and rooms, and then replace the kicks and snares (unless, of course, the real kicks and snares are good enough to use in the blend). I prefer to let the kick/snare samples define the "tone" of the drums and then everything else gets processed accordingly. But hey, try it out! It sounds like a cool idea. Worst case scenario, you don't end up liking it. Or it could end up being a major breakthrough. No wrong way to do this stuff. This is similar to how I work on heavy music, too, if I record the drums or if good drums are sent to me. Use AS MUCH OF THE LIVE KIT AS POSSIBLE - even blending in samples of the live kit if I need samples to lift the shells away from the cymbal bleed. If necessary add additional other close mic samples for flavor/impact/consistency/fill out the tone. If necessary add matching room mic samples to bring more cymbal-free ambience in.
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Post by schmalzy on Feb 10, 2022 15:08:12 GMT -6
My summing has gone through a few permutations:
16 (8 stereo pairs) out to passive summing to a mixbus chain. 8 of my DACs didn't sound as good as I wanted them to for this purpose and I'd rather send fewer tracks out on better DACs. That took me to...
8 (4 stereo pairs) out to passive summing to a mixbus chain. Picked up some love from my makeup gain channel strips and from a Stam SA 4000 compressor as my mixbus.
8 (4 stereo pairs) out to some hardware to passive summing to mixbus chain. Same mixbus hardware but with the vocals going to a stereo compressor, the bass and drums going to a compressor with transformers, the main harmonic instruments going to an unlinked pair of compressors, lead instruments and all ambience FX went straight to passive summing.
In my opinion, if you're leaving the computer for summing then get as much as you can from it. Hit as much hardware as you can, then hit your summing, then hit some more hardware if you want/need, and take that summed and processed stereo pair back into your computer.
Truth be told, thought, I abandoned all the summing and now I'm just going with a stereo pair out to the channel strips then to the Stam SA 4000.
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Post by schmalzy on Feb 10, 2022 14:53:24 GMT -6
Shotguns will focus the pattern on a couple people in the audience. Not a great idea for audience mics...UNLESS you point them away from the audience and toward something reflective. You could try pointing them at the ceiling or something if you REALLY needed (or already had) some shotgun mics.
A thing I've really liked for stuff like that when the mics have to be near stage is a condenser in figure-8. Narrower than Cardioid (meaning you can aim it beyond the front couple rows), picks up more ambience than cardioid and has really deep nulls on the sides.
If you're picking up too much of a specific portion of the audience, something you could do would be to get the mics higher up and potentially over the crowd. It'll change the ratio of distance from the first row to the last row. It won't be perfect but going as high as you can, using figure 8 to minimize the bleed from the PA, and cheating the direction of the mics' focus towards the middle/back of the crowd might add up to you getting a significant improvement.
One more thought: You could move your audience mics forward in time and reverse the polarity to try to phase cancel some of the PA spill. You'll still get the ambience from the room but you'll get way less direct PA added by the mics. It's basically the opposite of what we're trying to do when we're time-aligning PA speakers in different audience zones.
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Post by schmalzy on Feb 10, 2022 2:21:30 GMT -6
Maybe, normally really low bass needs significant thickness of insulation to reduce energy. ASC claims there's some magic in the way their traps are constructed; some baffling on the inside and some physics all working together to reduce the energy of the low frequencies. I don't know what to say other than my studio changed signficantly just moving two 15" ASC Tube Traps into the room. Not even placing them somewhere relevant - just behind me a couple feet - and the deep lows got better. They're stacked in a corner of my current spot. The room went from anecdotally tough to anecdotally pretty good and predictable. We can observe a phenomenon in which a flat panel placed a few inches off a wall is more effective than a flat panel placed on the wall. Well, a Tube Trap is a combination of a 2" panel with an 18" gap to another 2" panel...and a 3" panel with a whatever-sized gap to another 3" panel (because we're also traveling at an angle through the trap). ASC says that absorption-gap w/baffling-absorption is more effective than the same amount of absorption all together with the gap. A less-engineered version of that design is what Eric Valentine claims made Barefoot usable. Gregory Scott from Kush Audio swears by the Attack Wall design of a bunch of Tube Traps. There just might be something to this design that works really well. I have not idea what it is that makes it work but my room got a lot better just by adding two of them to my already-treated room.
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Post by schmalzy on Feb 8, 2022 0:59:57 GMT -6
[...] I know most everyone knows this here, but room treatment is even more important than the monitor choice. Unless the monitoring choice is between actual monitors and two tin cans with string. I won't settle for anything less than Mogami string.
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Post by schmalzy on Feb 6, 2022 23:16:11 GMT -6
Yes. The caveat is "how much room do you have and how much are you willing to sacrifice?"
Here's a good place to start. His whole channel is really helpful, though. Also, check out the video about air gaps behind panels; you can make a lot of headway into your low end if you move your "not ideally thick" panels a little further from the wall.
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Post by schmalzy on Jan 31, 2022 12:29:33 GMT -6
I have a pair of V13s. I like 'em a lot!
I use them on most projects. The top end is unhyped and nice. The mids always feel good. Bottom is solid.
It's been good on challenging voices and good on great voices. It's been good on acoustic guitar. It's been good on drum overheads, drum close rooms, and drum far rooms. It does nicely with tambourine which can really expose some mics' lack of capability - the V13 is great in my book!
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Post by schmalzy on Jan 23, 2022 15:18:36 GMT -6
Most recently I used an M88 or TGX50. I've done a lot of things over the years, but oddly I seem to gravitate to DI, even when I record both, the DID is the main sound and the mic is the secondary 'flavor enhancer.' This is my bass mix method, too. Much of my sound comes from the DI and the character comes from the amp. Clank? Grind? Thump? Vocal mids? Whatever? I'll get that stuff from the amp. A lot of times it's the player's setup. Other times it's reamped through my bass rig(s). THE MOST PICKY BASS PLAYERS I've had in the studio - they absolutely NEEDED to set up their amp with their particular cabinets, and the volume is exactly what they think is perfect, and their pedal board, and their perfectly-aged strings, and their preferred plucking method. And then in the mix the DI is 80% of the sound. Those players are always looking for what they perceive is their signature, so I use their amp setup to get that. The most picky person I've had in the studio, though, played one song so badly that it was unusable. We were tracking live and everyone else was CRUSHING the takes - absolutely ripping - but that guy couldn't do it. I didn't belabor it because we had two more songs to get through that day. A few days pass and I do a quick bounce of the rough mix followed by discussion with the band leader. We agreed I should replay the bass part myself (Countryman Type85 DI and SansAmp RBI). The feedback from the bass player on the mix was "it's the best my bass has ever sounded!"
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Post by schmalzy on Jan 21, 2022 23:44:33 GMT -6
I use a PR40 on bass cabs and kick drums (and snare bottoms and sometimes as an additional mic on a guitar cab). I dig it!
It can sometimes be really present in the upper mids in an aggressive way...which is sometimes perfect for kicks or bass and has a decent-but-not-crazy top end that's really nice for a ratty snare bottom. It also represents the lows well without creeping into the sub area too much. Often on rock music the kick drum is driving the sub lows so the bass guitar being kept just above that by a mic's frequency response is a pretty nice thing that gets us closer to the goal faster.
I've also used an SM7b on a bass cab and loved it. I haven't stuck my M88 there yet but I definitely will after reading this thread. My AT 4040 did a great job there not too long ago, too
I also always take a DI so I can "overcommit" to a sound on the bass amp and have a backup plan.
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Post by schmalzy on Jan 10, 2022 16:55:43 GMT -6
This is my "retirement" dream. Maybe it's something you could consider?
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Post by schmalzy on Jan 10, 2022 16:48:36 GMT -6
You had me at tequila old-fashioned. This is awesome. The unit I'm getting comes with the API and Neve strips so I'll have similar toolsets available. Plus a bunch of UAD stuff. Probably gonna keep it simple at first and just roll the SSL4k unless there's a specific reason not to on a given track. So! I see you're a man of culture! That damn drink is just super tasty. Give me a decent tequila, bitters (any pairing of chocolate, orange, or aromatic if I'm choosy) and a little simple syrup and I'm going to be pleased. Garnish with a lime and I'll kiss you no matter who you are. If you have a bit of UAD stuff you'll be in good shape. Especially since there's nothing quite like a good 1176. La3a on guitars I've been told is fantastic on distorted guitars (I like to use the API punchy compressor with the "filters to compressor" engaged at the hpf set to 600hz - it feels like it gets me a little more pick attack out of distorted guitars that I tend to want to be aggressive). I end up using a fast compressor (Boz +10db) in front of my vocals and use the Summit TLA-100 if I need gentle compression or the Neve if I need more attitude. Working with only the SSL for a while is a good idea. I started out there and it was helpful to have less to get caught up in while I was re-learning mixing with my hands. You'll find a comfortable spot between mouse, C1, and keyboard. If your DAW is smart like Reaper you'll even be able to scroll on one fader with the mouse and use the volume fader control on the C1 controller to control both faders at the same time. I use that a lot when balancing multimic'd guitars. Keep us updated with how it's going and any questions you have!
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Post by schmalzy on Jan 9, 2022 23:07:21 GMT -6
I use Console 1 on most channels of every mix.
In my opinion it's great!
I'm not using any UAD with it and it's definitely made my life so much better. Not just my music. My entire life. I get through mixes faster and more consistently. More time with wife. More stoked artists. More high-fives. More tequila old fashioneds. If I had a collection of UAD stuff I'm sure life would be even better.
I use it with Reaper. I basically set up keyboard shortcuts for my commonly-used configurations of Console 1. For example: Ctl+1 give me the SSL4k with an EQ in front and a specific saturation plug afterwards. Ctl+3 gives me the API strip with SSL EQ and the smooth compressor. Ctl+A gives me the full API strip with punch compressor. Ctl+5 gives me the Neve with the SSL shape section. Ctl+6 gives me Neve with API Shape and SSL EQ. I tend to use the same strip on similar instruments per mix. I also dig going through an extra bus and adding a Console 1 strip to that bus to hit a different console emulation. For example: on the LP I'm mixing currently all electric guitars getting the API strip with punchy compressor but routing through an Elec Gtr bus with the Neve strip then to an All-Instrument bus with the Summit strip but API Smooth Compressor). That's not something I'd typically do without Console 1 but my mixes tend to be better when I do...so I do. I'd have typically left one of those buses off.
The drive saturation goes from clean to subtle to soft clip pretty well. I've settled on the SSL4k it ships with plus the API, Neve, and Summit. I think I got one of those for free and the other two on sale. Sign up to the Softube mailing list because they do sales constantly but some only run for 48 hours. If you want a Console 1 strip 50% off be prepared to wait 4 months and check your email.
I'm considering getting the Console 1 Fader but I'm not convinced about the cost/desk space/usefulness ratio. I'll probably come around to it but - so far - I've not jumped on. If someone had a used one...hmmmmm....
Good choice, Gno9! I think you'll love it!
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Post by schmalzy on Jan 6, 2022 16:26:26 GMT -6
Big boy! OK how about this, I used to have that exact cabinet, and it did not sound that great and was a pain to haul around. That help? I replaced it with a custom birch, finger jointed cab modeled on the smaller Fender 2x12s and it sounds much better. (I have approx. 15 yo Weber creamback clones in it). That actually helps a fair bit. Thanks!
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Post by schmalzy on Jan 6, 2022 0:55:06 GMT -6
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Post by schmalzy on Jan 5, 2022 2:17:50 GMT -6
Like what do you do a vast majority of the time in the studio? I personally spend a LOT of time looking at a computer screen and using a K&M and some some control surface/device and notebooks/music scores. Like 95% of my time is doing that. 5% is turning knobs. So I would never want a big console in my prime seating position which would sit there unused 90% of the time. Can always install a console off to the side, like a piece of outboard. Have a friend who did that. In his room it basically is a piece of outboard. Never mixes through the desk its a bank of preamps & EQ. And right, depending on what needs to be accomplished maybe you don't need one at all. This is exactly what my situation is like. My console is off to the side and back a few feet so no sound is bouncing off of it and coming back at me. There was someone local to me selling their re-capped Allen & Heath GL4. They just wanted it gone because it was too much console at this point in their life. I got it for practically nothing. 4-band EQ, variable high-pass, polarity flip, 40 channels (only 24 in use; 16 channels pulled off the ends in buckets of 8 channels - the console was cleverly modular in that way). Basically the cheapest way for me to get a bunch of outboard preamps and the cheapest way for me to get a bunch of EQs. I also can't complain about all the routing it's made possible for me. Add in a loud-as-hell headphone amp and a way to submix other headphone mixes and it's a super cool, useful, decent sounding set of preamps.
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 22, 2021 12:08:56 GMT -6
Cool plugin!
I'm not a plugin-gatherer. I like capability more than squint mode "this is slightly better than this" stuff.
BUT I'm always down to get a plugin that gives me something unique that I don't have. This does some stuff that I don't have in my arsenal yet. I dig the adjustable tape crunch. I dig the flutter/wow. I dig the slowdown. Super cool!
The authorize/install process didn't work as well as it did for the Juno plugin they gave out a few months back (which is super awesome...I'd have paid $100 for it knowing what it sounds like now):
I installed the Arturia downloader/assistant/licensing ASC thing. Clicked on the "Download now for free." That put the activation into my account. Some hours later it showed up in my ASC. I clicked Activate. Waited for the "install" to pop up in ASC...it didn't. So I went back to the page for the plugin and went to the "resources" section and dowloaded the installer. Ran it. The plugin recognized the registration as soon as I instantiated it in my DAW.
Seemed like a hassle at the time. Knowing how cool this plugin (and how it's saved me from having to make this sort of effect by hand for this song I'm mixing currently) is makes me forget the hassle and enjoy the result.
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 21, 2021 23:24:08 GMT -6
What's the opposite of thinning the herd? Thicken the herd? Yeah, time to thicken the herd. Gross. You should get that checked by a doctor.
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 20, 2021 14:58:30 GMT -6
I'll echo some others:
If there's any unpredictability in what I should be expecting: lots of patch/sound changes, moving quickly, not getting a good amount of time with a sound source before I track it - really anything that prevents me from knowing or very specifically knowing what it's going to be - I'll take it in stereo.
If I'm short on inputs I'll have a discussion with the player to figure out if the sound NEEDS to be stereo or if the only stereo information is a modulation/ambience effect. I don't need to record a not-very-good-sounding chorus effect. I have a few that are really cool so I'll use those if I need that sort of thing. I'll often dangle the possibility of the synth player coming back in after tracking and running the synths out to my/their pedalboards to play the effects in real time with their hands if they'd like to make something really special and unique.
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 16, 2021 5:25:29 GMT -6
Sooooo, he has a "Big Fat Snare" drum dampening device on the snare. I HATE those things. That snare drum sounds more like that dampening device than those preamps, for sure. bigfatsnaredrum.comI had a string of drummers show up with those things. They REALLY make the drum super short, kills any over-tone, moves the tuning a lot lower, and makes the drum a lot quieter in the room. Of course that short, quiet thud isn't great for the heavy music we were doing in all those cases. The couple of drummers who insisted on tracking and hearing their kit with that Big Fat Snare Drum in the mix learned an expensive lesson about the engineer/producer (me) having the good of the song at the heart of everything and it's not just some weird power trip with the engineer/producer trying to exert influence and have it their way. It's a cool sound if you need deep and thuddy. It's maybe a weird choice for a preamp demo.
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 11, 2021 15:40:25 GMT -6
If you're looking at a utility LDC in that price range, it's hard to beat an AT4040 in my experience. Mine sounds awesome, is relatively quiet, pretty reliable, and is good at everything it's been in front of. Plus it's matte black so it's sort of invisible on stage if you're concerned about that. If you're looking for SDC-style mics, the Lewitt LCT 140 AIR seems to be really popular among people who need multiple of something to do that sort of task. I'm staring down the barrel of buying some sE 8 SDCs from sE Electronics. They seem to be good and affordable. Single pattern though/Cardiod. Omni is usually better on a choir. If you have a good (or better) room. Chris Omni with a choir (unless you're in an amazing room, have a bonkers sound system tuned by top level techs, and have a significant physical gap between the position of the microphones and the speaker) is a terrible idea in my live experience...unless you have independent intelligent feedback suppression systems on each cabinet in your array/stack. If that kind of money is available we're not looking at sub-$350 mics. ...and even then it's a risky idea of there are wedges for monitors or sidefill.
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 10, 2021 12:41:14 GMT -6
You can kind of do anything with USB as far as I understand it. If the software were written to accommodate it, a computer could could see two devices daisy-chained via USB the same way (through smart programming) MOTU's AVB allows a computer to see multiple devices daisy-chained via Ethernet cable, Dante allows a computer to see multiple devices via Ethernet cable, and the Apollo system allows a computer to see multiple devices daisy-chained via Thunderbolt cable. The specific sorts of data that travels through the connection doesn't REALLY matter as long as the connection method can keep up with the data throughput and everything else adheres to the connection method's standards. I think USB-C's data rates can pull it off if I remember correctly. Of course, I welcome the possibility that I've completely misunderstood how all this is happening. I'm just thinking about it from my not-too-terribly-recent programming past and what was possible way back when. The ability to daisy chain with other protocol isn't at question. Any networking option is of course allowing for that. And Thunderbolt has had it baked in since day 1. USB has not, although not regarding capacity or speed, but how things transfer. But even more importantly, how would you do without the ports? SSL doesn't say which level of USB this is, but audio companies are routinely building the interfaces with USB 2.0, even if it's a USB-C jack. I know USB 4 is supposed to be more similar to TB. I was suggesting a "Plus" version would come out down the road and that - if it did - it could make me cut my ties with my Apollo interface. I was imagining a possibility for a potential extra port on a completely not-based-in-reality product. ...but I think the MOTU AVB system has pieces that work as hubs. So - in this imagined reality full of products that don't exist and feature sets created specifically for me - maybe multiple BigSixes could plug into an SSL-branded hub. Do I think any of this WILL happen? No.
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 10, 2021 0:29:28 GMT -6
I don't see how you could daisy chain these. They talked about cascading a SiX into a Big SiX, but I'm thinking that was partially analog connections. Can you daisy chain via USB? You can kind of do anything with USB as far as I understand it. If the software were written to accommodate it, a computer could could see two devices daisy-chained via USB the same way (through smart programming) MOTU's AVB allows a computer to see multiple devices daisy-chained via Ethernet cable, Dante allows a computer to see multiple devices via Ethernet cable, and the Apollo system allows a computer to see multiple devices daisy-chained via Thunderbolt cable. The specific sorts of data that travels through the connection doesn't REALLY matter as long as the connection method can keep up with the data throughput and everything else adheres to the connection method's standards. I think USB-C's data rates can pull it off if I remember correctly. Of course, I welcome the possibility that I've completely misunderstood how all this is happening. I'm just thinking about it from my not-too-terribly-recent programming past and what was possible way back when.
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 9, 2021 2:18:28 GMT -6
If you're looking at a utility LDC in that price range, it's hard to beat an AT4040 in my experience.
Mine sounds awesome, is relatively quiet, pretty reliable, and is good at everything it's been in front of. Plus it's matte black so it's sort of invisible on stage if you're concerned about that.
If you're looking for SDC-style mics, the Lewitt LCT 140 AIR seems to be really popular among people who need multiple of something to do that sort of task. I'm staring down the barrel of buying some sE 8 SDCs from sE Electronics. They seem to be good and affordable.
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 8, 2021 12:29:32 GMT -6
Although, looking again... no transport controls. So I'd still need at least a single channel Faderport. I can never go back to mouse click transport when it comes to tracking myself especially. What is it with SSL and transport controls in their last few offerings? It's like Steve Jobs and on/off buttons. C'mon guys! We're not all Buddhist minimalists, some of us like useful buttons. So very agreed. I couldn't believe that their two new small boards (can't think of the model numbers) had no transport controls. Based on that, I'm not surprised that this one is also missing them, but it seems like a bonehead decision on SSL's part. -09 It feels like they're limiting the features here to encourage people to buy other components they've not released yet. I'm calling it now (partially because this is a scenario that would make me switch away from Apollo) in a year there will be an SSL BiG SiX+ with ADAT inputs, ability to chain multiple of the BiGSiX together via USB, and transport controls.
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Post by schmalzy on Dec 7, 2021 23:15:24 GMT -6
Just picked up this bad boy at a pawn shop. Shure SM59. I look forward to seeing how it is on guitar amp or snare drum.
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