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tips...012.
How to test your songs out on others.
So you think you have a nice song. What i used to do is try and get impartial feedback from
people. You could go to a local sunday market for example and try and sell a few CD's or cassettes,
and tune into what the "normal consumer" likes and doesnt about your songs.
for example a few years back i did this for fun. ie..."took it to the streets".
people who dont know you. cos family and friends are obviously biased.
for example one song i thought was pretty strong i didnt get good feedback on.
another one that i didnt like as much folks wanted cassettes of.
so go figure.
But its a jolly nice way to see what folks like and dont like.
for example one of my songs my wife detests because she isnt into heavy metal guitar laden songs.
but others told me they liked it. so i was confused. Thus i took it "to the streets".
well i can tell you i was surprised. everyone wanted a copy who was a headbanger.
In summary test your songs on a wide range of people.There are all sorts of genres and niches to fill.

The mic signal chain.(my suggested chain).
Heres the normal signal chain when recording from a mic.
mic>>>mic input of recording mixer(or mic pre) >>>line input of soundcard.
on the output side.
soundcard output>>>a second mixer>>>amplifier>>>monitoring speakers.
some folks leave out the second mixer. but i find it usefull.
for many things. particularly if you have a multiple output sound card.
You can mix the different channels coming from the fancy sound card useing the second mixer, and prepare headphone mixes for musicians etc or add some outboard
reverb for a vocallist that might need it in track laying.
years ago i once used one mixer but found myself disrupting settings to switch tween mic and line inputs.
the advantage of this approach is just ease of organisation.
for someone with just a stereo sound card you prolly wont need the second mixer.
It just makes things a bit easier. Typically a stereo line is tapped off the second mixer
to headhone distribution gizmos. What are these ?? Essentially they are a unit with many headphone outlets where musiciand playing together laying down tracks
plug in their headphones. but if its only you and a stereo sound card,
just plug a headphone into the amplifier phone jack and you prolly dont need the second mixer.
If you have no money and you need a cheap amplifier, maybe someone in your family has a old stereo receiver or amp you can use.
just plug the stereo line output of the sound card into the stereo amplifiers line input.
If you cant afford a mixer, plug a dynamic pro mic (via an xlr to quarter inch adaptor)
into a cassette dek mic input and take line out of dek to soundcard line input.

Setting levels/tasks before true recording/housekeeping.
Ok so youve placed the mic in front of your favorite guitar amp or say a friend with a sax or violin.
whats the next step after setting up ??
ANSWER. do a dry run recording. I hope before this you already created your song folder
and named the seq template and saved it in its song folder as i mentioned earlier ??
You should also have done pre-production planning.
ie..roughed out your song on paper with all the lyrics and arrangement.
I just use win notepad for this. You also might think about creating your own design of a track sheet
And do a stack of print copies.
Typically such a track sheet lists lots of info like song name.
lists the tracks and their names (reflecting the seq template layout),
and on this track sheet youll be writing down all the settings you used on the recording.
from simple things like mic used. how it was positioned.
and your friend the guitar player that uses a certain guitar gadget with a certain setting.
all this should be reflected on the track sheet.
The track sheet is essentially a log of everything done in the session while recording
the song. Thus haveing done the start of the track sheet.
carefully bring up the mic level and look at ptw's input meter.
Have the plyer or singer play or sing whatever and watch that meter like a hawk.
If you have a mixer with metering and an overload indicator on the mic channel,
also watch that too. you dont want the overload indicator on the mixer to be red
constantly. just the occasional flash is ok.
Now there IS LOTS OF ARGUMENT ABOUT WHAT LEVELS TO RECORD AT useing a pc soundcard.
some folks record slap dab to zero. i dont agree with this.
there is no margin of error. I normally watch the levels on the mixer LED's
and piw's input meter and with the singer singing or instrument player playing
record tween -10 db to -6db. in that range. This leaves some room for error in case
for example the player or singer jumps around in level.
But generally i record in this range. around -6db usually.

0db is digital brick wall.
Now do a test recording for 30 seconds.
To record in ptw click on the track number and click the record button.
(YOU DID SET THE TRACK FOR AUDIO RECORDING AND NOT MIDI DIDNT YOU ??)
HINT...midi tracks showa midi plug. audio tracks a little wavelet instead
of the midi plug.
stop ends recording. and say ok to save.
Youll now notice the waveform. play it back. how does it sound ??
Not happy ?? experiment with different mics and different mic positions.
This is a whole learning curve in itself.
redo in a room thats very dampened (with sound absorbing panels and traps)
versus a more "live" room .
notice the difference ?? Thus before proper recording starts you have to decide several things.
The mics to try, the various positions on the source to try and the different rooms to try.
For example if your in a house. Do a recording in a small cubby hole
or closet filled with dresses/clothes versus the main living room.
notice the difference in the sound picture ??
In summary location of recording plays a big part on sound picture and texture.
Think about this very very carefully. ie...the location you want to record in and its impacts
on the recorded track. ie...if your someone starting out experiment with different mics in different
rooms to test the impacts on a track and differences.
also experiment with mic positioning. putting the mic futher away from the source
will let in more room sound. think about this aspect.
In summary run several tests before actually commencing recording the track.
dont just slap up a mic anywhere and record the track.
THINK !! about the sound your going for.
If you feel you have a good sound now go ahead and record the whole track.
Notice after recording you will see the waveforms in the tracks, audio edit and bars n tracks window.
(i will get into the finer points of audio editing post recording..
eg..cleaning up a track later on).
If you dont see any waveform after recording but you saw it on ptw's input meter.
its likely a setting is muted in your sound card.
for example muting line input in windows mixer is another example.
(more on windows mixer later on).

The dam singer pins the meters with screaming. what do i do ??
This is a common problem. particularly some folks get comfort by
holding the mic and/or swallowing it.
heres the solution. get a cheap mic you dont care about.
you wont be recording with it. let them hold it, scream into it...
whatever. and pretend its hooked up. then place the proper mic on a stand in front of the screamer,
with pantyhose strung around a hangar placed on a mic stand tween the singer and the real mic
youll be recording. and set the real mics levels useing the mixer and watching ptw's levels.
end of problem. OR have the singer read the next topic.

Working the microphone.
this is an art in itself. mastered normally by professional singers for example.
who know that belting into a mic can overload it.
various techniques are emplyed by the artist. for a more intimate feel
they move the mouth closer to the mic with less vocal volume and move their mouth
away from the mic for the "volume blasting" notes.
If you have a problem vocalist its best to gently explain this technique.
notice also as you get closer to the mic you get more proximity effect.
once again the further away the more "room sound" is introduced.
if the vocallist is agreeable...explain gently working the mic techniques.
but if not , and your levels fluctuate wildly you will have to
plug in a limiter of some sort as a patch insert in your mixer.
to control the wild fluctuations in level...before they hit the sound card.

What microphone.
Theres are many different types of mic.
useing google i would spend some time visiting various manufacturers
sites to see the vast array of recording and broadcast mics.
Its massive. mic choice is a massive article all unto itself. but i'll try and summarise.
For a small studio you should have at least one good dynamic lioke a shure sm57
(used on lots of hits) and a condensor mic.
The latter normally needs some type of phantom powering.
normally 48 volts dc. Thus youll notice a lot of mixers have
this feature. You will need to turn it on for these types of mics.
Typically dynamics are used on robust sound sources like guitar amps and vocals.
but not always. condensors are normally reserved for "sensitive"
sources like acoustic guitar and various orchestral types of sounds.
But once again there are no firm rules except IF IT SOUNDS GOOD IT IS GOOD.
As i said before rules are made to be broken.
THUS TRY BREAKING THEM.
One thing i should warn you about. Condensor mics are very
sensitive beasts. Thus they will be more prone to pick up your noisey computer fan !!
if you have one and your doing lead vocals with a condensor mic.
Also on some vocallists and sound sources you might be surprised to find a simple dynamic
will sound better.
Now..let me make a point about the old venerable sm57.
some folks new to recording dont like it. but a lot of very seasoned engineers do.
why the disparity ?? the answer is simple.
The 57 is very sensitive to the mic preamp or mixer its signal is being sent to,
or as is known in the trade "looking into".
For example you might not be too impressed with it hooked up to a 50 buk mass cheaply produced mixer.
but now hook it up to a rented hi end mic pre costing 2k buks..
and you might hear a whole different beast come alive.
in summary dont judge it on one situation alone.
Now i dont want everyone going out buying hi end mic pre's they cant afford.
I just want you to be aware of this issue.
From my tracking down of the issue its prolly related to when it was designed years ago and the type of
impedence it likes to look into. You see on some hi end mic pre's you can change the input impedence.
on some low end mixers you cant.
Therefore if you encounter this problem its prolly that
your mixer doesnt handles the sm 57's unique characteristics possibly as well as some other
esoteric mic pre solutions re impedence.
Thus if you cant afford a hi end mixer or mic pre.
(who can starting out ??)
you might audition many differenty dynamic mics from different vendors.
maybe one will suit you better if you have a low end mixer.
One other point i'd like to make.
Lets assume your great aunt emma was kind enough to leave you a trust fund.
or HA HA !...your worried that your sinking fund might sink...so you decide you might want a vintage mic.
Thats all well and good. Some folks swear by them. Me, i'm kinda this way n' that.
In my opinion instead of spending 2k on one vintage mic, 2k will buy you a nice mic cabinet if you
shop around. There are some quite nice inexpensive mics around these days.
Some folks poopoo the chinese mics for example at 50 buks.
Others like them. Its up to you to audition various mics and decide.
I'm showing my own biases here. But if i were asked to build a reasonably priced mic locker.
I qould prolly look at a combo of mics. Maybe a shure dynamic like a 57, Or the older shures.
sometimes you can get them for a cheap price. or used EV dynamics for 40 buks.
Mixed in with a couple of the newer brands. One being the CAD mics which have gained a good rep.
And i think overall it doesnt hurt a budding studio to have at LEAST one beyer mic.
ive always been a beyer fan of the M88.
but there are loads of others. Often its how you use a mic.
For example a friend gave me some cheapie no name dynamic 58 type mic.
It sounds bad on some things. But occasionally if its feeling kind it just seems to be right for a
track. In summary keep an open mind.
(more tomorrow..will prolly take a month to post all the tips.)