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Post by schmalzy on Oct 26, 2022 12:16:18 GMT -6
I'll have to check out the sE mics. I've wanted to get a V7 for a while and hearing that their ribbons are good makes me even more curious... as the owner of 5 Apex 205s, I cannot encourage you enough to get someone to pull out the extra mesh and stick a lundahl in there. worth every penny. I literally use them (at least 2 of them) on every session i do. Already done the mesh stuff. I haven't yet upgraded transformers. My plan had always been to get a second 205 and get transformers in both at the same time (and I expected to get both ribbons looked at/replaced at the same time to make sure they matched) but it all just hasn't gone that way.
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Post by schmalzy on Oct 26, 2022 10:40:50 GMT -6
Quick thought for everyone: The Apex 205 is inexpensive, definitely. But how many new/used ones do I have to buy (if I can even find one) to get a good one that shows up in good condition with a not-messed-up ribbon? Is there a ribbon mic out there that'll sound as good or better than this one for only the cost of the repair (I suppose it depends on the cost of repair but his site lists some costs that seem pretty low in comparison to buying something good)?
Any recommendations to a person looking for a sub-$500 ribbon mic that'll sound as good as this simple mic with a beautifully installed and tensioned ribbon?
The only ones I can think of are the ShinyBox stuff buuuuut...
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Post by schmalzy on Oct 26, 2022 10:33:23 GMT -6
Hey shmalzy, I just replied to your email, but thought I’d follow up here as well. The Apex mics are real inexpensive, so it puts things in a weird spot. Reribboning them certainly puts in a higher quality ribbon, but costs more than these mics originally sold for. I’ve ribboned thousands of the ribbon motor that is in this mic, so am uniquely qualified in that regard, but only you can gauge whether repairing it is worth it Regards Jon Hey, Jon! I'll also reply in my email back but say here: Thanks for getting back to me!
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Post by schmalzy on Oct 26, 2022 10:10:14 GMT -6
My approach? Layers.
I have a number of reverbs - 5 maybe - that are all active. Two of those get some additional routing to split them into left-only, right-only, and stereo. Those are my base level ambiences. Most things get a light touch of those and, depending on the size I want them to have and the arrangement, they'll get combinations of the left-only, right-only, or stereo. A hard-panned guitar in a radio rock song will probably only get the opposite-panned reverb for example. The remaining three are my methods for exaggerating the size/space/distance. I also sometimes add special reverbs like a spring or a shimmer.
Delays? I have a 1/8th, 1/4th, 1/2 delays; pingpong starting right and a pingpong starting left; a 1/4 delay with one offset side; a stereo Haas; a short untimed slap; a timed slap; and a lots-of-repeats delay set to whatever division the song needs. They'll individually get EQd in order to fit the vibe and the mix.
Most of all those things go unused on each mix but I like to play around with which one fits the song/part. Much of the time stuff will get a tiny amount of one of the base level ambiences and one reverb and/or one delay. Lead vocals often get a plate and one of the stereo delays. Backup vocals often get a mono delay (sent panned a specific way because they're often double-tracked backups) and a smeary-er verb. Lead instruments often get a stereo delay and a verb to make them more or less like the lead vocal.. If they're simultaneous to the lead they'll often get panned and get a mono delay instead.
Is it overkill? Absolutely. I like having options, though, and the success is often found in the restraint to use fewer of the right options rather than more options. Often I find I don't have my ambiences nailed down until my mix is nailed down...but I always want some ambience on the sources in the mix early to get the mix to find itself; cart, horse, egg, chicken, and all that.
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Post by schmalzy on Oct 26, 2022 9:27:18 GMT -6
Ulrigg. He hangs around here. Not so sure about the new kid at ENAK. Keep hearing bad service stories. Clarence is really just the face now, apparently. BigDMC is another expert. Then there’s Colepick’s (sp?), and Xaudia in the UK. Yeah for an Apex, I would probably send Uligg a PM before sending it in just so there were no surprises and if it was indeed a special one real expectations. I always prefer to hear the words “it might not sound the same “ before I send something in and give someone my money. Yeah, I have really no idea why it sounds the way it does (*ahem* did) but I really think it sounds great for my purposes (drums and guitars mostly). Simple mics, simple processes, simple techniques. I guess they just work sometimes! I'm 100% aware that it probably won't sound the same. I'm not that worried about it sounding the same to be honest. I'm most worried about making sure I can keep another (good-sounding) piece of garbage out of a landfill and making sure it continues to be an option around the studio. I'll see if I can hunt down this Ulrigg character (I bet that link above can help with that!) because I'm always down to work with the people in my community. Hopefully we can make it all work out! Thanks for the help, y'all!
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Post by schmalzy on Oct 25, 2022 23:01:30 GMT -6
During my last tracking session I noticed my Apex 205 was sounding super weird. Thinking it through, I realized I don't know of anyone repairing ribbon mics right now aside from the original manufacturers.
This Apex 205 sounds awesome when it's working properly. I think I got an accidentally really great one a while back. But the ribbon is super slacked now so I need to get it sorted out and fixed up.
Does anyone know of anybody who is repairing ribbon mics and could sort that out for me? I'd much rather keep using it than replace it with another mic (though ADDING a new ribbon mic to the cabinet AND having the 205 repaired wouldn't be a terrible thing...)
I'd love it if you could let me know who you know! Ya' know?
Thanks!
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Post by schmalzy on Oct 3, 2022 10:35:09 GMT -6
I'm not far off from what some others are doing.
A big difference for me is I'll put my parallel(s) outside the drum bus. That way I can get a great drum sound then smash the individual pieces in the ways I want. Some sections need exaggerated attack/transient because they're faster or whatever, so my "attack emphasis" parallel gets pushed up. Some sections need more drum tone, my "tone" parallel goes up. All outside my drum bus so the bus compression (and EQ!) on the bus isn't affecting my parallels.
Other things: layers of reverb rather than one reverb always feels more "real room" to me.
I also like to limit my overheads (stereo limiter, not dual mono) because often the snare is too loud in comparison to everything else in the OHs for my mix. Thanks Steve Albini for that thought.
If I have a mono room but need a little more dimension I'll put a reverb on it. Blend in about 25% on Valhalla Vintage Verb (you'll have to option through the reverb algorithms to find the right one) and you'll get a little width, a little size, a little dimension. Then send that through my standard room processing...often Console 1 (like everything else gets) with some EQ to manage any stuff (often I'll EQ a bit of the low end out of the track before it hits that reverb so help clean up the resulting length of that stuff after it comes out of the verb) then smash if space needs to be heard more or leave alone if space should be dramatically heard.
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Post by schmalzy on Sept 27, 2022 15:15:52 GMT -6
Yooooooo, y'all! I just got off the phone with someone who will probably be repairing my Cascade Fathead. One of the mics has had a sudden drop of level - like 20 db - and I think I know the problem (that I also don't have the skills or time to fix). The person I talked to mentioned they are a part of Pinnacle Microphones. In my discussion with them they pointed out that they worked closely with Cascade for a long time and will be doing repairs of those microphones going forward. So I did some internet sleuthing. Cascade's website is gone. Pinnacle sells microphones that are similarly named and seem to be identical designs. So a little more chatting reveals that Cascade doesn't exist as a public entity any longer. The people at Pinnacle are relatives of the owner of Cascade and wanted to buy it from the original owner. I think I'd love to have them update the look a little but it seems like - going forward - these are the people you'll want to talk to if you need Cascade microphones serviced or upgraded. pinnaclemicrophones.comSo in other words they wanted the buisness, but didn’t want to pay their relative for the most valuable part of the business the “ Cascade “ brand, sounds like most families. Since these were hot rodded Chinese OEM not that big of a deal other than the fun internet searches. Though Holidays with the family might be interesting 🤪 I can't include all of the details the person at Pinnacle told me because I'm not sure what I can or can't say on the ol' internet, but according to the people at Pinnacle everything was going forward for them to purchase Cascade from him before the sale was held up by something outside their or the owner's control. As of a year ago Michael Chiriac - the Cascade owner - mentioned on his LinkedIn page that he was looking for buyers for Cascade. That was his last post and I can't find anything about him since then. The last time the Cascade Website was visited by the Archive.org wayback machine was late June of this year. It's now "not configured." My bet is somebody missed a payment for hosting.
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Post by schmalzy on Sept 27, 2022 11:10:04 GMT -6
Yooooooo, y'all! I just got off the phone with someone who will probably be repairing my Cascade Fathead. One of the mics has had a sudden drop of level - like 20 db - and I think I know the problem (that I also don't have the skills or time to fix). The person I talked to mentioned they are a part of Pinnacle Microphones. In my discussion with them they pointed out that they worked closely with Cascade for a long time and will be doing repairs of those microphones going forward. So I did some internet sleuthing. Cascade's website is gone. Pinnacle sells microphones that are similarly named and seem to be identical designs. So a little more chatting reveals that Cascade doesn't exist as a public entity any longer. The people at Pinnacle are relatives of the owner of Cascade and wanted to buy it from the original owner. I think I'd love to have them update the look a little but it seems like - going forward - these are the people you'll want to talk to if you need Cascade microphones serviced or upgraded. pinnaclemicrophones.com
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Post by schmalzy on Sept 21, 2022 10:40:15 GMT -6
Are you planning to do nothing with this hardware unit for your foreseeable future? Has it been stored in way that would keep it clean and in good shape? I've been using mine 310 days a year for the past bunch of years and one knob is starting to behave oddly - the low mid gain encoder isn't always reading smoothly. Would you be willing to sell yours? $350 fair? That seems like it's in the ballpark. Let me do some scheming and find out how Softube's licensing deals with reselling/purchasing used this sort of thing. I'll hit you in private messages if it makes sense to go any further! Thanks for the reply!
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Post by schmalzy on Sept 21, 2022 9:28:12 GMT -6
Been thinking about giving Console 1 a try (although with Pro Tools). I've got to make my home set up more economic and get less dependent on the mouse. I bought a S1 but my desk kind of sucks and it sits too high and it's too deep. Furniture is such a headache Don't bother. Integration with Pro Tools sucks. Mine has been sitting in the garage for probably 2 years. Are you planning to do nothing with this hardware unit for your foreseeable future? Has it been stored in way that would keep it clean and in good shape? I've been using mine 310 days a year for the past bunch of years and one knob is starting to behave oddly - the low mid gain encoder isn't always reading smoothly. Would you be willing to sell yours?
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Post by schmalzy on Sept 21, 2022 9:23:55 GMT -6
I haven't update Logic for quite some time, although I have the latest. I know that was the line they were pushing, but I don't believe it was all on Logic's end. Bottom line, they sold a very expensive product that didn't work in one of the most popular DAWs on the market. A lot of people got sucked in to the marketing pitch and couldn't use it. I don't think I'm an especially smart person. I think I'm capable of a lot of things but I'm not some brilliant person. I also can't predict the future. I was, however, able to read the information on their website at that time saying which DAWs were fully compatible, which were partially compatibled, and which were not at all compatible. My DAW of choice at that time was fully compatible as was one of the ones I was considering switching to. I was also considering switching to another DAW and that one was not compatible at all. I decided I'd try some DAWs out and let that determine my workflow going forward. With technology stuffs - especially when two separate companies need to work together in order to get a potential future result - a single bird in hand is worth 9 or 10 in the bush. It's been great for me. Some people I know developed a workflow to work in the less-supported DAWs. Some people didn't like it/didn't like how it worked with their preferred workflow and sold it.
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Post by schmalzy on Sept 20, 2022 22:54:10 GMT -6
It only took them six years. From what I understand, it was an issue with AUs and Logic. Logic updated, Softube updated. Now all works apparently.
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Post by schmalzy on Sept 20, 2022 15:29:44 GMT -6
As someone fairly new to the engineering side of things (but MUCH more than experienced in the drumming-side of things), how much weight is given to things like just swapping out the actual kick drum, or moving whatever mic you have around a few inches, etc? I have basically every kick size and shape available. What does something like a Fet 47 offer in the final mix that tuning the correct drum combined with mic placement and EQ can't overcome? Does it come down to an engineer's familiarity with a given mic which leads to faster mixing and results? Some more thoughts around this but not directly answering any of your questions, I guess. More like...audio engineering musings around your questions, maybe? The right instrument with the right preparation (tuning, heads, sticks/beaters) is always step one. Tweaking the right instrument with the right preparation (tuning, heads, sticks/beaters) is often for me the last step. Sometimes you have more options than others. If you have every kick size, bearing edge shape, material, and head choice available and the time to try 'em then you're going to be in a great starting spot and have lots of options for tweaking it at the end. For better or worse, though, mics are necessary for sound capture and are absolutely not transparent in capturing that acoustic sound you've crafted. Mics are basically unreliable narrators giving their subjective opinion about the sound of the drum...and that opinion can change if it sees something from a different perspective. A microphone's opinion will inform the transmission of the sound of the drums to the recording medium so choosing the right microphone and position will provide the conditions to give us a favorable-to-our-intentions audio opinion of that really acoustically-great-sounding kick drum. If the mic has a good vocabulary and likes describing a detailed scene then you'll get a detailed account of the kick drum. If it is a little more focused on certain aspects of sound or has preferences about the sorts of things it will tell you about, you'll get a detailed description of those certain aspects. If it's prefers to sit back, space out, and let the sound wash over itself then the description of the drum will be a little more blurry but full of whimsy. Different mics in different positions are going to have different opinions about tweaks to the initial sound. I think a lot of people rely on a few different mics for the different uses in an effort to minimize variables and nail down the quickest ways to get where they intend to go. For example: an SM57 will never give you strong and tight 40Hz or a really beautiful capture of 3kHz. But it can give you a great 80hz and a really forward midrange sometimes with the downside of being really fluffy in the 300Hz area. My AT4040 gives me great 60Hz plus a good knock in the 800Hz area without seeming too pokey or forward or fluffy. That knowledge in my back pocket, I pick an instrument that makes the sounds to fill a role in an arrangement, I pick a mic that is flattering to the instrument's ability to fill that role, then I tweak the instrument again to make the result of the instrument and the microphone work even better in the arrangement. That was a lot of rambling from a person who doesn't feel like editing an EP's worth of guitar tracks right now...but he also knows he has to get back to it soon. My apologies if that's a really scattered bunch of ideas or if there are too many different metaphors flying around. Just a peek into my scattershot brain desperately trying to entertain itself and distract itself from editing guitars.
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Post by schmalzy on Sept 17, 2022 1:57:07 GMT -6
Audio Technica 4040 for me. It's always good there (and on driven/distorted electric guitars but that's a different conversation).
I normally position it as close as I can to the kick reso without the shockmount touching the head as it excurses. It leaves me with a good shove of low end, a bit of bang and grunt in the mids, and not much else...especially after I EQ it. Sometimes I set up more in the middle of the head and other times more halfway between center and hoop. It's a feel thing it seems. Some mics are placed with precision and tweaked for extra specific capture while that front kick always seems to feel like jazz. I listen to the drum, put the mic where I think I want it, and it always seems to be right.
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Post by schmalzy on Sept 15, 2022 11:34:06 GMT -6
D16 Frontier Limiter. It's always good when I need it. I went away from it for a while because I was/am dumb. I'm back. Still dumb but using Frontier again.
...and the Arturia Tape MELLO-Fi. Damn that thing does something cool.
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Post by schmalzy on Sept 15, 2022 11:23:15 GMT -6
I don't think I've ever understood the "fun" thing of hardware.
The fun part for me is literally the song. I love the songs. I love making the songs better. I love looking for ways to tie the emotional content to the audio content. I love looking for ways to make it all groove harder. I love creating moments. I love slogging through it all trying to find a way to make the bass lock more with the kick. I love the guitar vs banjo vs mandolin vs vocal dance...and I love when the song's done and I can move on to the next song I'm also going to love.
I set hardware, experience some anxiety about making sure I have good recall notes, tweak the hardware, tweak notes, tweak anxiety, tweak hardware, tweak notes, tweak anxiety, delete old photos from phone, tweak hardware, tweak notes, land on safe settings that are easy to recall, need a little more so I get it in the box, get revision notes from another artist, recall that analog, send a set of test signals, print the "can you add a huge bass drop here" mix, recall the previous settings, double-check the patches, absolutely fucking forget something...and it goes forever. Until the next day when I use everything for some drum tracking and I another mix revision for 10% more bass drop.
That said, damn I love running the master out through a set of preamps/channel strips and some analog compression. My Stam SA4000 MkI still sounds awesome as does my recently serviced-and-modded Alctron CPS 540 compressors. That stuff definitely sounds awesome.
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Post by schmalzy on Sept 12, 2022 21:28:25 GMT -6
I've used triggers a few times in the past. It's more of a pain than I liked and it ate up some of my inputs. If I had a bad-sounding room and/or didn't want the natural sound, I'd do 'em. More often then not, though, I want a range of room mics from my pretty good sounding room AND I want to retain the natural drums. I find the DDrum triggers a hair more easy to work with than the audio when it's REALLY fast and I intentionally make the drums really dead...but that's about it.
The kickpad thing is the right way to go for "I know we're going to replace this kick" stuff. Some guys can't hang with the feel of 'em, though. So what they'll do - often the tech death or grindcore guys - is tune a kick to a tension that rebounds well, STUFF it with blankets/pillows to deaden it as much as possible, and put a 57 right next to where the beater hits on the batter side near the beaters themselves. That way its shortening up the kicks as much as possible, throwing no low frequencies into the room mics, rebounding well to get out of the way for the next hit, and getting as cleanly isolated a tik as possible into the DAW.
For toms, I always cut 'em by hand. I can see where the stick hit is, so I just go through and cut the bleed on each one by hand. If you're going to sample replace/augment those then you can use the cut points to help you define where the trigger hits go. Just shorten the length of each audio item/region/whatever your DAW calls it to something like 40ms. My DAW Reaper makes that really easy. Trigger will love to see it and you'll get something pretty accurate. Definitely pay attention to the length of the ring if you're going into the recording knowing you're going to be sample replacing. You'll be much happier about hand-cutting tom hits if the ring is shorter.
For snares, I just resign to the fact that I'll probably have to automate Trigger a lot to make it happy. Reaper has a pre-fx volume envelope that can be automated plus I can automate the detail, retrigger, and sensitivity parameters in Trigger. For stuff like ghost notes, I'll cut 'em by hand and drop them to a second snare trigger track so I can set up for those in more detail.
It's all pretty labor heavy, this aggressive music thing. But it's a labor of love from my perspective!
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Post by schmalzy on Sept 1, 2022 21:01:04 GMT -6
Apparently this secret us widely known. It really works better than anything else. But yeah, compression too! Funny thing about compression is, it sorta "fakes" the 'bass behind the kick' trick to a degree. The kick transient's big fat voltage will tell the compressor to reduce the gain, effective delaying the onset of the bass's attack. Same kinda thing with the various ducking trickery discussed here. Still not as groovy-sounding as the 'real deal', but it works. And if you combine the various concepts, you can really get some LF mojo happening. ...or so I've heard. I still hate everything about all of my mixes, LF included. 🤣 This compression bit is 100% part of the way I hear stuff. In music that relies on a drum kit for rhythm, the kick attack is often much more immediate than a bass pluck (unless the bass is rushing by a fair amount)...and a lot louder. A medium-fast attack on the music bus compressor can emphasize the kick transient while de-emphasizing the bass transient if the bass is late (in a good way). You can also lock the bass and kick together more by going with a slower attack time and letting both the kick and bass transients come through in the (relatively) un-compressed portion of the attack/release envelope. I get most of my kick/bass agreement through EQ, arrangement, and individual track compression. I often try to make one of the elements more sustained and less transient-heavy in the low end while the other is more transient-heavy in the low end. They can potentially share similar top end spaces, too. I EQ to make sure they agree up there as well. Also, using EQ to leave room in one to make space for the other is a great idea. I'll often de-emphasize the loudest part of the kick low end frequency range out of the bass low end. And whichever of the two sources dominates the sub frequencies will cause the other one to de-emphasize the subs with a high-pass filter (often a really gentle and phase-coherent 6db/oct).
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Post by schmalzy on Sept 1, 2022 20:43:08 GMT -6
I don't know if I set up this pair of shortcuts or not but try these: Cmd+click Solo Button unsolos all Cmd+Click Mute Button unmutes All Not specifically for you on these, Christopher, but I figured these might be worth sharing with everyone. Other important ones I've added and forgotten wasn't there in the first place: Alt+p toggles preroll on/off Ctl+[any number 0-6 and also A, N, Q, C] loads an insert/insert chain. For example: I often use the stock EQ. I have it on Ctl+Q to save me from having to go into a menu. I have a specific channel strip - my custom Console 1 channel strips plus a specific other plugin or two set up for each of the Ctl+number H hides the selected envelope fn+Ctl+v Toggles the pre-fx volume envelope visibility. I use that a lot when I'm triggering drums or having to insert more dynamics into the front of a plugin chain than the source audio gave me. Shortcuts to go to individual markers #1-20 Created two custom screensets: One defaults to the mixer docked and filling the edit/timeline window and with only one row of faders. Toggling the mixer (Cmd+M) reveals the edit window/timeline. The other screenset defaults to just the edit window with no mixer visible. Toggling the mixer to be visible reveals the selected track as a channel strip on the left side of the window (kind of like how Cubase has all the track details/inserts/faders to the left of the edit/timeline window).
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Post by schmalzy on Aug 28, 2022 13:00:02 GMT -6
The only PT users who look down their noses at non-PT users are themselves phony wannabes with an insecurity complex. Not a single *actual* professional I know has that attitude about Pro Tools. In fact, most of us agree that PT is a deeply flawed piece of software published by an even more deeply flawed company, and were it not for considerable investments in time and money and expertise, we'd love to switch DAWs. On the other hand, Reaper users are the Crossfitters and Vegans of the audio world. They cannot WAIT to tell you they use it, and then list of a reason why you should too 🤣 As a professional user who considers himself DAW-agnostic (I use PT, S1, and Logic), I gotta tell ya: this thread is dripping with irony, you guys. You're right. In a thread called "switching from doing exclusively strength-training and Atkins eating to Crossfit Veganism" a lot of Crossfit Vegans are talking about Crossfit Veganism.
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Post by schmalzy on Aug 21, 2022 14:38:49 GMT -6
I've used PT, Logic, Logic's film-centric brother SoundTrack Pro, Adobe Audition, Cubase (a little), and Studio One (even less).
Reaper has been by far the best for me.
I could see switching to PT permanently if it had complete Console 1 integration like Reaper. I'd trade the "industry standard-ness" of PT for some of the Reaper ability (especially since I'm starting to work with more and more tracks recorded in Nashville and those guys - three different groups of people from different studios - have so far refused to bounce tracks consolidated to zero and will instead only send the whole folder song file folder and a .ptx file) but I definitely need the Console 1 integration. It's my console away from console. PT doesn't have that integration (and probably won't ever) so I won't switch. I could see Cubase if it worked better with my brain. It doesn't so I won't. I think I could get there with Cubase, though. If I have to go that route in the future I could do it and be fine after an adjustment.
I'm currently editing an audio book. I just made a custom action to split at a zero-point, turn ripple editing off, paste a pre-selected bit of room tone, add a fade, adjust it to a certain amount, turn ripple editing back on, and back up to play the line so I can check the spacing between the word I just cut after and the next phrase I'll have to edit into place. All the while, Reaper is happy to convert in real-time during playback some of the files recorded at the wrong sample-rate to the correct sample rate with no speed or pitch changes. It constantly surprises me with being able to do the thing I need it to do in a way that is customizable for my workflow. That's awesome.
If I WERE going to voluntarily learn another DAW...I'd pick up Ableton and learn that thing. A lot of people are writing in there and I'd love to join in with 'em!
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Post by schmalzy on Jul 31, 2022 22:34:38 GMT -6
I have been using the EXTREME ISOLATION headphones for years and years.... I really like them.... cheers Wiz Me, too! I think I have EX29s. I've had 'em for 8 years probably and the paint's all worn off. Good isolation. Decent sound. I've had to replace the drivers once and the cables once. They sell the replacement parts on their website and it's super easy to swap the parts. If I had to buy new ones today, I'd buy the updated versions of the same thing. They're great!
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Post by schmalzy on Jul 28, 2022 23:42:49 GMT -6
This is hilarious to me. Not you; this sentiment that "Now everyone..." is doing anything as though music and musicians aren't (and haven't always been) a vastly differing, wild, wiley bunch. What YOU see is different. What are you looking at? At the very same instant you were typing that someone else on some other message board was typing "Those cats could really play. They could play odd time signatures with groove - no editing! - and improvise a nine minute guitar solo. Now no one knows how to play an instrument." All the while Rick Beato rubs his hands together and starts talking about how the kids today don't know anything about anything and the way to save music from the stupid young people and hand it back to the REAL musicians is to buy his music theory book. And if you don't think he's right he'll parade his perfect pitch kid out like a beaten and reluctant show pony. LOL .... you read too much and yet not enough into my sarcastic statement - "now everyone is ..... " I never said the old guys couldn't play (I spent my youth transcribing (well trying to) complete scores of tracks from Yes and Crimson etc etc) I know those guys could play - what I said was they knew how to play for the song. It was of course a gross generalization - I thought that was obvious. No? Example, I went to see Lee Ritenour (70) and Dave Grucin (87) (who were incredible) - the drummer was Lee Ritenour's son, Wesley Ritenour (30) .... he completely ruined the gig for me and everyone I spoke too afterwards, OMG he played the shit out of his drums - too loud - too many notes .... talk about inappropriate it was a jazz club! - was his girl friend videoing him for Instragram I wondered? I hope his dad told him off afterwards. Example, having recently run auditions for a new backing band I found the only players capable of playing only what was needed at the appropriate moments (some odd time signatures too) were the older guys - but I concede that's probably a function of age and experience. And I kid you not, the young "dudes" turned up mostly with their girl friends/ boyfriends who proceeded to video their audition .... for Insta and Tik Tok .... "babe" Whilst seemingly posing and over playing for the video (fan's of Wesley Ritenour perhaps) .... maybe the experience has coloured my view a tad and I get it - times change and I'm getting old and my patience has worn thin. So at 59 years old, having spent 41 of those years as a full time professional musician (is that as long as Rick Beato :-) I've almost earnt the right to be a grumpy old man I nearly spat my morning coffee out reading this - it's very funny. Maybe I wasn't clear enough. I wasn't attacking you. I apologize for not being careful with my words and for any distress/annoyance I caused. I was just saying that any generalization is incorrect because all sides of it exist in significant quantity simultaneously. There is a lot of "the kids these days" spewed all over the place in and outside of music and I - very much not a kid - think a lot of it is undeserved. I stomp it as much as I can any time I see it because the truth is the kids these days love music and are working on music just as hard as any other group ever did. They're just as smart and hardworking as any other generation ever was (except now the work looks different and the opportunities are different). There is new music coming out every week that is awesome. There is old music I'm discovering (or rediscovering) that is awesome. I get to help new stuff come out from a wide range of different types and ages of musicians and I couldn't be happier about it. If your portion of history is like any other portion of history ever; when you were 18 years old as a professional musician there were grumpy old guys complaining about you. No matter how good you were, or how cool you were, or how much harder you worked, or how often you volunteered to lug their gear those grumpy old guys were in the producer's ear, the artist's ear, the A&R's ear, the bookers' ear, the agent's ear, and the managers' ear actively trying to make sure they didn't hire you and make sure they continued to hire them because "these kids today." Do you think that was a fair and justified thing for them to do? Do you think their complaints about "you kids in your day" were valid? I've just had the best musicians I've ever met and a couple days later the worst/most delusional musicians I've ever met in my entire life in my studio recently. Guess their ages. If you're honest, whatever you're guessing you'll probably second-guess yourself for a moment. For good reason: there are talented people who have worked hard to hone their skills and not talented people who haven't worked hard to hone their skills in every age range. Sorry for going in so hard on this topic. I see it a lot. I hear it a lot. I hate it. A lot. All that said, 41 years as a professional musician is really fuckin' cool! I hope I can find the same sort of longevity and I'm sure you've forgotten more than I've ever known. Sorry if you felt attacked; that definitely wasn't my intention. I look forward to paying attention to more of your posts, learning from them, and being super encouraging and enthusiastic whenever I see 'em in an effort to apologize for being a bit of an accidental shithead toward you in this thread!
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Post by schmalzy on Jul 25, 2022 16:11:36 GMT -6
Yes, Chris Franz still often plays with his toms using no res head. Other than that, pretty straight forward. Chris is pretty much a tight dance/RnB/party style drummer. I think he plays a Pearl kit with much of the Heads and Tom Tom Club tours. Not sure if it was the same in the studio. He started off with a Rogers kits, like you see here. www.vulture.com/2020/07/chris-frantz-best-of-talking-heads-worst-of-david-byrne.htmlI think some of the enhancements came from a synth through a sequencer. Those cats could play for the song, if that meant 4 on the floor and one featured tom hit every four bars, if that served the song that’s what they played. Now everyone is trying to impress their Instagram audience. This is hilarious to me. Not you; this sentiment that "Now everyone..." is doing anything as though music and musicians aren't (and haven't always been) a vastly differing, wild, wiley bunch. What YOU see is different. What are you looking at? At the very same instant you were typing that someone else on some other message board was typing "Those cats could really play. They could play odd time signatures with groove - no editing! - and improvise a nine minute guitar solo. Now no one knows how to play an instrument." All the while Rick Beato rubs his hands together and starts talking about how the kids today don't know anything about anything and the way to save music from the stupid young people and hand it back to the REAL musicians is to buy his music theory book. And if you don't think he's right he'll parade his perfect pitch kid out like a beaten and reluctant show pony.
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