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Okay, thanks! I see that a few controller keyboards are MIDI through USB (like the Akai MPK88 for example). Does this matter at all? Should I look into getting a MIDI-input-capable PCIe sound card or something, or is that pointless? My second question is about how the sound libraries work. I know they can plug in to a bunch of different programs, but are they platform-specific (e.g OS X vs Windows), or program-locked in some way, or can I use anything with anything else? The OP covers this but it's 6 years old so I'm unsure of how current that information is. If they are locked to a platform, which is considered to be better? I can work with either one. I'll probably play around with quite a few trial versions of a bunch of software to see which I like best, of course. Thanks again for the help! 
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| # ? May 14, 2013 19:27 |
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| # ? May 21, 2013 20:38 |
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This is probably a pretty stupid and basic question, but I've been trying to record myself on piano with a cheaper compact USB microphone and no matter how far away I position the microphone, the sound is always too loud for the microphone and it records really bad/buzzy sound quality. I've tried bringing down the levels of the mic through my control panel but that didn't seem to do anything. One time I actually managed to get decent sound quality so I know it's possible, but I haven't been able to recreate it by messing around with everything.
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| # ? May 14, 2013 19:38 |
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Wardende posted:Okay, thanks! I see that a few controller keyboards are MIDI through USB (like the Akai MPK88 for example). Does this matter at all? Should I look into getting a MIDI-input-capable PCIe sound card or something, or is that pointless? If a sound card says it has MIDI input, that means it can be used to connect MIDI hardware synthesizers, which use a round 5-pin plug. You don't need this if you are using a controller that connects over USB. Wardende posted:My second question is about how the sound libraries work. I know they can plug in to a bunch of different programs, but are they platform-specific (e.g OS X vs Windows), or program-locked in some way, or can I use anything with anything else? The OP covers this but it's 6 years old so I'm unsure of how current that information is. If they are locked to a platform, which is considered to be better? I can work with either one. There are potentially three layers of stuff: 1. A host software package, typically called a DAW (digital audio workstation) -- Reaper, Ableton Live, Cubase, Logic, Sonar, etc. For most of these there are versions for both Mac and Windows, with a couple of exceptions (Logic is Mac only, Sonar is Windows only). 2. Plugins, which run inside a DAW. The plugin code is OS specific, but the vast majority of plugins have both a Windows and Mac version. Basically all Windows plugins are VST format, while the Mac has both VST and AU. Logic and Garageband only use AU format plugins, but 99% of Mac plugins are available in both formats so this is hardly ever an issue. (Pro Tools uses its own plugin formats, like RTAS and TDM, which you can safely ignore). 3. A sound library itself, which may be packaged as a standalone VST/AU plugin, or may be a library, e.g. for Kontakt -- if something is sold as a "Kontakt 4 library" you can load it into any copy of Kontakt, OS doesn't matter, as long as you've got a recent enough version of the Kontakt plugin. Basically everything you're likely to encounter these days can run on any OS and inside any DAW software.
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| # ? May 14, 2013 21:15 |
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himajinga posted:I'll try some of this when I get home, though a large part of my desire is not to "humanize" them, but to make the mic placement sound less optimal or the drums to not be tuned perfectly/have worn heads and recorded in a suboptimal room. Are there lovely room reverbs out there? I guess I'm just used to what drums recorded in my old practice space on 3 mics sounds like and even though it sounds like garbage, it sounds 'right' to me. Haha I realize this sounds insanely specific, I should just rent a practice space for a month and do it the old fashioned way when I get to that point probably... Just to reply with my progress, I futzed around with the relative levels in EZ drummer which helped a little, but then I just threw Decapitator on it and with minimal tweaking got it sounding pretty close to how I want it. Easy peasy. tl;dr put Decapitator on everything, it makes everything wonderful.
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| # ? May 14, 2013 22:07 |
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himajinga posted:tl;dr put Decapitator on everything, it makes everything wonderful. Yes yes yes. Ditto EchoBoy.
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| # ? May 14, 2013 22:10 |
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h_double posted:good info Thanks! That's very helpful 
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| # ? May 14, 2013 22:18 |
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strangemusic posted:Yes yes yes. Ditto EchoBoy.
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| # ? May 16, 2013 02:11 |
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himajinga posted:Just to reply with my progress, I futzed around with the relative levels in EZ drummer which helped a little, but then I just threw Decapitator on it and with minimal tweaking got it sounding pretty close to how I want it. Easy peasy. Sometimes I feel like decapitator is colors stuff too much and really destroys the sound, I mostly only use it vocals and bass anymore, very rarely I'll use ut on a drum group too. If it didn't have a mix knob I would never use it, most of the time I never get the mix above 50%.
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| # ? May 16, 2013 02:17 |
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I think the exact point of Decapitator is to color stuff. It's a color box. Though I find it too harsh for some stuff like heavy distorted guitars even with the mix at 50% and I really only turn the input gain up to 1 or 2 max on most things. Though sometimes I'll use it for a really fuzzy direct bass or fuzzy lead guitar tone and you can get it up to 7 or 8. A or N model for vocals. Almost always using this as the first thing in my vocal chain now. E or N for fuzzy leads or bass. For bass you'll almost always have to follow it with a low pass filter set pretty low. 5 k-ish. Depending on where I want that lead to sit sometimes it's fun to suck all of the 2 k presence out of it and boost the high mids and pan it hard. It gets a little buzzy/irritating sounding in a good way provided said lead part is just touch and go. A or N model + a bass guitar with flatwounds or dead strings = instant BRMC bass tone. For EchoBoy I have some go to settings as well. 15 IPS tape echo preset is the whip. I'll play with the feedback knob to get the tail where I want it, though, I normally end up dialing it back from where the preset starts. The Echoplex preset is awesome too. I like to start there, put it into ping pong mode, and time the delay to midi. On the note timing I usually start around 1/8th note. It's an awesomely interesting stereo delay. Another trick I'll use with EchoBoy Echoplex preset is to set the mix knob to 100% wet and set the delay time to 0 ms. Boom, instant blown out tape effect. You can click edit and play with the style edit settings like wobble and rate to distress things even more. I've started using this technique in place of chorus type effects for vocal doubles. Dirty, interesting, totally rock and roll. You can put it on piano too and get a kind of crazy NIN detuned effect with it. Can you tell how much I love these? haha PS: Hey guys, I'm still doing more mastering than ever but I've gotten back in to tracking/mixing bands in the last 6 months in sort of a producer role for LOTS OF FUN as opposed to profit. It's been fun to pick and choose recording projects that I'm interested in and have more a hand in shaping the final product rather than when I was just a studio lackey recording whomever booked the studio I worked at which could be absolute TORTURE sometimes. Hogscraper fucked around with this message at May 16, 2013 around 03:55 |
| # ? May 16, 2013 03:50 |
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One studio I recorded in seemed to have this policy of not doing anything unless you were completely baked. And this was a fairy major studio too. I don't know why I thought of that, except it seemed like the only guys who were sober were the studio lackeys that had to fetch dinner. And the musicians. Well, at least until they recorded their parts. Share some of your recording studio horror stories!
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| # ? May 16, 2013 05:10 |
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LordPants posted:One studio I recorded in seemed to have this policy of not doing anything unless you were completely baked. And this was a fairy major studio too. I don't know why I thought of that, except it seemed like the only guys who were sober were the studio lackeys that had to fetch dinner. And the musicians. Well, at least until they recorded their parts. Hearing, from a drummer right before bed tracks started, "I don't ever play to digital click tracks but I can play to an analog click track." 
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| # ? May 16, 2013 13:53 |
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HollisBrown posted:Sometimes I feel like decapitator is colors stuff too much and really destroys the sound, I mostly only use it vocals and bass anymore, very rarely I'll use ut on a drum group too. If it didn't have a mix knob I would never use it, most of the time I never get the mix above 50%. Yes it destroys the sound, that's the point. But it destroys it in a way that still mixes well, much like running any old analog gear into the red. strangemusic posted:Hearing, from a drummer right before bed tracks started, "I don't ever play to digital click tracks but I can play to an analog click track."
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| # ? May 16, 2013 20:58 |
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Ok, this is a little bit out of the digital focus of the thread, but I don't know that it really needs its own thread. I bought an Akai GX-255 reel-to-reel system (http://stereonomono.blogspot.com/20...x-255-1978.html) at a thrift store the other day. It seems to work, I'm waiting for the tape I ordered to show up. I want to play around with recording on this, not for anything professional or important, just because I like playing with old technology. I thought I'd grab a highly-rated SM-57 clone (http://www.amazon.com/GLS-Audio-Ins.../dp/B001W99HE8/) for $30 and try just plugging it in via appropriate adapters, since as far as I can tell, the tape deck has input pre-amplifiers built in. My questions: * First, the info page for the recorder says it needs 600 ohm microphones, but the mic specs say it is 300 ohms. What's the deal here? Do I need a different kind of mic? Do I need to solder a 300 ohm resistor somewhere  * Would this even work? I have not used a reel-to-reel recorder before; I don't know if it expects balanced or unbalanced input on its 1/4" mic jacks. * To convert the XLR cable to 1/4", I'm seeing some adapters with 3 connectors on the 1/4" plug and some with 2. What is correct? I used to help set up sound for the concert band in high school, so I have a little understanding of this stuff, plus I'm a computer engineer so electronics chat is welcome. Anyone with reel-to-reel experience have some info for me?
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| # ? May 17, 2013 21:50 |
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Pham Nuwen posted:* First, the info page for the recorder says it needs 600 ohm microphones, but the mic specs say it is 300 ohms. What's the deal here? Do I need a different kind of mic? Do I need to solder a 300 ohm resistor somewhere 2) XLR is 3-pin, so "correct" would also be 3-pin, or TRS. Buy a TRS plug. 3) The general rule for that time period would be that a 1/4" connection is TRS (balanced). A lot of tape machines have RCA inputs and outputs and I would guess they'd use those connectors if they were unbalanced at the time. In any case, a TRS plug will usually work in a TS (unbalanced) jack, the ring will just short to the tip (ground). If you find out it's definitively unbalanced, you could connect both pin 1 and 2 from the XLR to the tip of your TRS plug, just in case. Hope this helps, but you'll probably want to find the service manual somewhere anyway. If you keep that thing for a while you'll more than likely need to learn how almost everything in it works if you want to keep it in working order.
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| # ? May 17, 2013 22:51 |
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| # ? May 21, 2013 20:38 |
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wixard posted:1) It probably doesn't matter. Anything measured in ohms instead of kilaohms is usually fine. It may have a slight effect on how much gain you can get out of the preamps, but most mics are in the 300 range. Thanks! I tested what parts I could by plugging the tape deck output into my stereo, then plugging an electric guitar into one of the mic input lines. It worked pretty well; the input and output level knobs were a bit scratchy, but I discovered that by working them back and forth for a bit it cleared up, might need proper cleaning later. Then I tried running the audio output of my laptop through the RCA inputs of the reel-to-reel system and back to the stereo. If those tapes I ordered ever show up, I'll try recording from the laptop and playing back. If that works, I'll go ahead and drop the cash to get a mic and the appropriate accessories.
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| # ? May 18, 2013 19:10 |
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