PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production Realtracks Sound v Studio recording sound?

Hi There Hugh .

I noticed some of the guys here have given you some great advice to take on board.


My advice is to give you this link: https://www.lynda.com/Pro-Tools-tutorials/Audio-Mixing-Bootcamp/87006-2.html

This is a link to a 9 hour long Tuition video series on Lynda.com called Audio Mixing Bootcamp , by Bobby Owsinsky

He performs on pro tools, but the Daw doent matter what type, the principles are the same. I also recommend you buy his book home recording handbook (I think) .., which will teach you the all important fundamentals like mic placement etc.

NOTE: You normally have to pay to watch these videos on lynda.com ... BUT .., you get a FREE 10 day full trial (after signing up)
...., This will give you enough time for the crash course, plus there is also stacks of other great video series also to watch and learn from.



Groove 3.com , MacProVideo.com are also excellent (and much cheaper than a lynda subscription) but do not offer free demo periods) .., and remember ..., there is no such thing as a stupid question .., so ask and seek .., all the best





Heres the full rundown of the recommended course : AUDIO MIXING BOOTCAMP .., by Bobby Owsinsky

Link : https://www.lynda.com/Pro-Tools-tutorials/Audio-Mixing-Bootcamp/87006-2.html

In this course, author Bobby Owsinski reveals industry tips, tricks, and techniques for producing professionally mixed audio on any digital audio workstation.

He offers recommendations for setting up an optimal listening environment, highlights the most efficient ways to set up and balance a mix, and shows how to build a powerful sound with compression.

The course also explains how to master the intricacies of EQ; incorporate reverb, delay, and modulation effects; and generate the final mix.

Topics include:

Optimizing your listening environment
Setting up sessions, subgroups, and effects
Understanding which mixing elements to avoid
Understanding the principles of building a mix
Panning instruments
Setting up the compressor
Using noise gates and de-essers
Understanding the concept of frequency juggling
Using the magic high-pass filter
Timing reverb and delay to a track
Using reverb to layer the mix
Understanding the Haas effect
Modulating guitars, keyboards, and vocals
Mixing with subgroups
Tweaking the final mix

..., and many more ...,

for interest , heres Bobbys blog , some great studio stuff : http://bobbyowsinskiblog.com/

Tobias, for the bass only, you can specify pedal bass and have that do something different from the other instruments.

Also Hugh , If your gonna start , dont skimp on your interface , large numbers of inputs are not important unless you are recording a full band at the same time , like a fully miced drum kit and more simultaneously ,
.., if not just start with a 2 or four pre-amped input interface .., but make sure it is the best quality ..
a 2 input model for you should be enough to start cheaply.

like for example the focusrite claret range , or their new scarlet range (not the older version) or Antelope Audio are also making excellent stuff .., and their Hi Z guitar inputs are excellent also offering low noise . But importantly. these new offerings feature very low latency.

https://us.focusrite.com/usb-audio-interfaces/scarlett-2i2

https://us.focusrite.com/thunderbolt-audio-interfaces/clarett-2pre


With mics , its better to save up and buy the quality mics you need for life , rather than a cheap and nasty one (that also sounds like crap) at which you need to upgrade later on .., as that is wasted money that could have gone towards the good mic.

And just buy (start with) i good condensor mike eg: RODE NT1 (about $250) it sounds good , and can sound as good as than some mics 3 times the price , and offers good bang for the buck. Its used for vocals, acoustic guitar , piano and can even handle the high spl's ok and lower frequencies like bass .., but generally more suited for mids to smooth highs - and later on you will always find a use for it ..

There is many other types but this advic is to just get you started without wasting money


next buy a Shure SM57 dynamic mic..., a tough , bullitproof studio workhorse , and a staple for guitar amps , drums (especially snare) and even used as a vocal mic sometimes (actually Bono and Micheal jackson liked to record vocals through one of these) .., but its vesatile .., so with these 2 mics and your decent preamp/interface you wont have wasted any money and youll be good to go .

Do your homework on what Daw you want its very subjective as to what the best (or easiest) Reaper is the cheapest, cubase best for midi, the list goes on .., and like I said all is subjective and each has its own fan boys .., good luck

To get what you want, you might have to step outside of the box...so to speak... take the tracks to a full featured, easy to use DAW, and do some audio editing to get the result you want.

So... in your example... you want the bass to hold a note while other instruments play and change to other chords.

So.... in a DAW.... you simply let the other tracks play.... You insert a volume automation envelope and pull the bass OUT for the 2 measures. You insert a bass synth that sounds like the bass RT and play one note. waaa laaa.

I did that on piano in Fools Errand. The entire piano track is a RT that plays all the way through. But, there comes a part where the piano is playing single and double note chords... that's a midi piano played by me.

FOOLS ERRAND

the part occurs between 3:24 and 3:53. Even an intent listener will not catch that it's two totally different pianos because I took the time to match the tonal quality of the mid to the RT.


I do not hesitate to use MIDI in this manner when I need something that BB/RT's won't deliver easily. I find I have to think outside of the box quite often as I work with music. If I can accomplish it in BB/RB, well that's good and I do that... but if I run into the proverbial brick wall in BB/RB, I figure out how I can accomplish it in a different manner and set about finding that solution. It's amazing what you learn by doing that.

Huh?, What is Pedal Bass? I've seen it in the preferences but I've never used it for anything. Is it for midi only or does it apply to RealTracks also? I always assumed it was some option for organ players to hook up their midi bass pedals/bass foot paddles to or through BIAB.
What am I missing?

What I'm mostly referring to is the stop - restrike of every instrument at the start of a new chord when the intention is to only hear certain instruments strike the new chord. Ex: You are probably familiar with editing a midi strings or synth track between bars. In Piano Roll Edit Window you can see and hear the end of the chord at the end of a measure and the start of the very same chord at the start of the very next measure. And, drawing out the ends of each note to fill the gap or deleting the next bar to prevent overlap and then drawing/dragging out the note lengths to where you want them to end. The behavior I'm after is to have guitar striking a chord (and perhaps an different chord) at the beginning of a bar while the strings sustain through the guitars chord changes without striking a new chord.
Do you know how to create this behavior on a single BIAB chord sheet window?

I think you understand what I'm after. I think it's this restrike every chord behavior that makes a song sound like it was done in BIAB. As I, hopefully, explained earlier in this thread, my work around has been to re-make the same chord sheet window with held bass and/or strings chords or no new chord at certain bars for the instruments that I do not want restiking. I do that by inserting an audio track of the more active instruments from the previous chord sheet. Of course I give the chord sheets different names. NewSong.SGU and NewSong_BassAndStrings.SGU for example. That way I always have the original version. Then I import the stems I want from each version.
I just wish I could do it all in one chord sheet window 'cause I'm getting spoiled.

I wouldn't consider mixer just for an audiophile listener as your only considering 1% of listeners. You really want to mix for every enviorment, cheep earbuds, laptop speakers, cars, mono speakers, generally anywhere someone may be listening to your or anyone's music. The Audiophile thing is a joke. I read a post from an audio engineer facebook group about a guy who was aksed to make and aduiophile version of a song and only used stock plug-ins

Hi Islansoul,
There is no special recipe to follow , but there are some established guidelines. Rules are also made to be broken (except when it comes to the risk of digital clipping) but first you need to put in the required time it takes to learn and understand those guidelines . After that many great mixing ideas can result from happy accidents and from breaking rules.

Re; plugins , there is absolutely nothing wrong with stock plugins, they are just tools, but its the way in which these tools are used that makes all the difference..., just like a new car from the showroom that has it's OEM stock tires - even though there are better, more expensive tires on the market , that car still performs just fine with the stock tires.

Mixing (and tracking) is all about trial and error , and A-B-ing to find the right balance for "You" and it's various intended listening environments.

You will find a pro with a great range of 3rd party plugins would also be able to do a great job managing with stock plugins ..., you just need to "put in the time" to know your gear.

Just to give you an example , a great producer "Joey Sturgis" is well known for being able to complete a great mix in a pro studio and equally as well on a laptop with headphones (and stock plugins) while recording and mixing in anyones garage .., but he 'put in the time' to work out the differences in listening environments using lots of trial and error comparisons to work out the correct adjustments required to still make it sound good