***The Official Home Recording Studio Thread***

[ShortWarning]

That is tremendous! I can never get my head completely around metal drums - they always sound too up in the mix (intentional, I know) - but they work well in this one and guitars and vox are great!

Have some of this, if you like.

Alone by SCM

Sounds good, it's got really nice separation!

Thing with metal mixing is you really have to break the rules. I remember watching CLA mix a snare and he boosted the high end by 12db and he was like "no ones going to die". There's a lot of ridiculous cuts and boosts, soft clipping (especially on drums), stupid amounts of compression on the vocals. I guess the idea isn't really to make it sound "real", just big.

Really struggle with the low end though. If the bass is too loud it pokes out too much, too quiet and the low end is missing. Haven't quite figured it out yet.

 

[darreny]

If you can,send the mixer back,

Waste of money

Buy this instead

Audient ID4 Audio USB Interface.

Had a look at some reviews on YT and seems a good bit of kit so will see if the price drops in the new year.
Going to keep the mixer for some karaoke fun at christmas

 

[Merlin5]

Merry Xmas home studio people!

I posted on gearslutz recently saying how I felt that my overhead mic recordings sounded a bit distant and not very present and focused. At first we thought it was bad room acoustics. I'm such a dumbass, turns out that I had the mics upside down, lol.

They're the Samson C01 large diaphragm condensers. I thought that the pick up would be equal from either side of the flat metal grill but clearly that's not the case. The little blue led on each mics indicates the front of the mic, the capsule only faces that way. Nothing in the manual that says that. I'm pleased it's an easy fix though. I recorded hi-hats today with just overheads. Both 30" height and equidistant from the hi-hat. First the wrong way and then at 0:37 the correct way to hear the difference. Massive improvement!





Can't wait to get back to recording the whole kit properly. https://m.soundcloud.com/user-689462784/overheads-test

 

[easyrider]

Merry Xmas home studio people!

I posted on gearslutz recently saying how I felt that my overhead mic recordings sounded a bit distant and not very present and focused. At first we thought it was bad room acoustics. I'm such a dumbass, turns out that I had the mics upside down, lol.

They're the Samson C01 large diaphragm condensers. I thought that the pick up would be equal from either side of the flat metal grill but clearly that's not the case. The little blue led on each mics indicates the front of the mic, the capsule only faces that way. Nothing in the manual that says that. I'm pleased it's an easy fix though. I recorded hi-hats today with just overheads. Both 30" height and equidistant from the hi-hat. First the wrong way and then at 0:37 the correct way to hear the difference. Massive improvement!





Can't wait to get back to recording the whole kit properly. https://m.soundcloud.com/user-689462784/overheads-test

DOH !

I've got some Ribbon mics I'm going to try as OH in the next day or so

So far they sound excellent on acoustic and vocals....Really smooth and thick but still with a nice top end.

 

[Merlin5]

DOH !

I've got some Ribbon mics I'm going to try as OH in the next day or so

So far they sound excellent on acoustic and vocals....Really smooth and thick but still with a nice top end.

Lol yeah, doh indeed! : D
Hey easyrider, that must be the T-Bone RB500 you mentioned. Looks really nice and I see the price is good at £87. It looks more expensive. Thomann seem to have quality good gear with their own T Bone line. I had considered buying T Bone drum mics a while ago. Have you tried them as overheads yet and how do they sound? Looking forward to hearing your tests.

I've got some questions for you since you know more about this stuff. I did another quick recording yesterday with just my overheads, snare and hi-hat.No kick or close mics. First dry unprocessed and then same again with some EQ, bit of compression and tiny bit of reverb. With your experienced ears, what do you think I should add or remove? Like more or less reverb or compression? I don't really know what I'm doing with frequencies and dB, I'm just pulling lines around and twiddling knobs until it sounds ok to me and I try to remove any boxiness from the snare. I'm not even sure if people generally compress or add reverb to overheads or just to close mics.


I learnt how to add a bus for selected channels and like you suggested, I created one for the overheads so I could add effects simultaneously. I've also learnt about adding a VCA for selected channels. I understand that a VCA fader keeps all my selected faders in relationship to each other by moving them simultaneously. But with a VCA channel, I can't add inserts. So it would mean having both a bus and VCA channel to have the best of both worlds. I was wondering if you tend to bother with VCAs on Mixbus or when you used other DAWs? I must say though, I'm quite happy using Studio One as my default DAW. I know you recommend Mixbus but I'm starting to get familiar with Studio One and how it all works. I understand a bit about automation as well but don't think it's something I'll need to use, seems a bit complicated as well.

Here's my test recording and here's a screenshot of the EQ I used.

https://m.soundcloud.com/user-689462784/unmixed-mixed

 

[Merlin5]

Double post.

 

[easyrider]

Lol yeah, doh indeed! : D
Hey easyrider, that must be the T-Bone RB500 you mentioned. Looks really nice and I see the price is good at £87. It looks more expensive. Thomann seem to have quality good gear with their own T Bone line. I had considered buying T Bone drum mics a while ago. Have you tried them as overheads yet and how do they sound? Looking forward to hearing your tests.

I've got some questions for you since you know more about this stuff. I did another quick recording yesterday with just my overheads, snare and hi-hat.No kick or close mics. First dry unprocessed and then same again with some EQ, bit of compression and tiny bit of reverb. With your experienced ears, what do you think I should add or remove? Like more or less reverb or compression? I don't really know what I'm doing with frequencies and dB, I'm just pulling lines around and twiddling knobs until it sounds ok to me and I try to remove any boxiness from the snare. I'm not even sure if people generally compress or add reverb to overheads or just to close mics.


I learnt how to add a bus for selected channels and like you suggested, I created one for the overheads so I could add effects simultaneously. I've also learnt about adding a VCA for selected channels. I understand that a VCA fader keeps all my selected faders in relationship to each other by moving them simultaneously. But with a VCA channel, I can't add inserts. So it would mean having both a bus and VCA channel to have the best of both worlds. I was wondering if you tend to bother with VCAs on Mixbus or when you used other DAWs? I must say though, I'm quite happy using Studio One as my default DAW. I know you recommend Mixbus but I'm starting to get familiar with Studio One and how it all works. I understand a bit about automation as well but don't think it's something I'll need to use, seems a bit complicated as well.

Here's my test recording and here's a screenshot of the EQ I used.

https://m.soundcloud.com/user-689462784/unmixed-mixed

Not tried the Ribbons yet on OH but I will be soon I've been working on an project with the Ribnons , I recorded an acoustic guitar version of I am the walrus and it's project creeped into something else lol...

As for compression and EQ you could download the CLA drum plugin demo from waves and play with that. Watch some videos on it. It will give you a simple to use interface that allows you to get a brilliant drum sound quickly. You can then achieve similar results with your own stock plugins.

https://www.waves.com/plugins/cla-drums

Tbh I'm thinking of buying the whole CLA series as it's on sale for $69 p,us a 10% discount for all his plugins which is an absolute steal

https://www.waves.com/plugins/cla-drums

Anyway...play with the demo and post back you results, gives you a base when you are new to it all very easily.He explains everything in his video on that link using a green day track he mixed as examples. He talks about OH too.

As for VCA they are handy for automation when mixing as you can move the tracks all together with one fader. Depends on the size of the mix.

Studio one is great. So go with it. I love Mixbus as it's just simple and sounds Ace with EQ and compression on every track without the need to lead and faff with plugins all the time. But I'm recording alsorts not just drums.

Defo checkout the CLA drum plugin demo though It has EQ, compression ,reverb and gate all built into the one plugin

 

[ShortWarning]

Lol yeah, doh indeed! : D
Hey easyrider, that must be the T-Bone RB500 you mentioned. Looks really nice and I see the price is good at £87. It looks more expensive. Thomann seem to have quality good gear with their own T Bone line. I had considered buying T Bone drum mics a while ago. Have you tried them as overheads yet and how do they sound? Looking forward to hearing your tests.

I've got some questions for you since you know more about this stuff. I did another quick recording yesterday with just my overheads, snare and hi-hat.No kick or close mics. First dry unprocessed and then same again with some EQ, bit of compression and tiny bit of reverb. With your experienced ears, what do you think I should add or remove? Like more or less reverb or compression? I don't really know what I'm doing with frequencies and dB, I'm just pulling lines around and twiddling knobs until it sounds ok to me and I try to remove any boxiness from the snare. I'm not even sure if people generally compress or add reverb to overheads or just to close mics.


I learnt how to add a bus for selected channels and like you suggested, I created one for the overheads so I could add effects simultaneously. I've also learnt about adding a VCA for selected channels. I understand that a VCA fader keeps all my selected faders in relationship to each other by moving them simultaneously. But with a VCA channel, I can't add inserts. So it would mean having both a bus and VCA channel to have the best of both worlds. I was wondering if you tend to bother with VCAs on Mixbus or when you used other DAWs? I must say though, I'm quite happy using Studio One as my default DAW. I know you recommend Mixbus but I'm starting to get familiar with Studio One and how it all works. I understand a bit about automation as well but don't think it's something I'll need to use, seems a bit complicated as well.

Here's my test recording and here's a screenshot of the EQ I used.

https://m.soundcloud.com/user-689462784/unmixed-mixed

I had a little listen on terrible headphones.

It's tricky normally you're eqing/compressing to make everything fit together in a mix. If all you have is overheads really you should be asking what you DON'T like about the sound and ideally fixing it with mic positioning etc.

Listening to the unmixed vs mixed the main problem (for me) is the sound of the room. It sounds like you've recorded it in a kitchen (which from reading previous posts I think you have). There's probably not much you can do about this really. Spending some time close micing the snare/kick may help a little. You could probably move the overheads a little closer too but it will still sound like a kitchen.

EQ - Rolling off the low is good (although if you had a kick that wasn't close miced you'd probably be rolling off a little much, as it is is fine though). 9ish db boost on the high end is a little too aggressive for me on overheads (although I'll regularly add crazy boosts on close mics). It makes it all sound a little excited. 2-4db would be enough for me in this case (if at all). Cutting somewhere from 300-500 (normally closer to 500) can help with boxiness.

Compression - Those are quite slow attack and release times although it does bring out a nice ring to the snare. I'd probably give it a faster release and maybe attack too. What sort of gain reduction are you dialling in? I normally only use compression on overheads for effect because you're compressing every element of the kit, often it's just crushing the snare because this is going to peak more than the other elements. (For what it's worth I like a bit of pumping in my overheads but I normally deal with aggressive music).

Reverb - I probably wouldn't use any unless it's for effect, it will probably pronounce the sound of the room even more (which you may or may not want).

With all that being said, I don't exactly know what I'm doing either and I probably want my drums to sound completely different to yours. Experimentation is key, just keep messing around, there's rarely a right or wrong.

 

[easyrider]

With all that being said, I don't exactly know what I'm doing either and I probably want my drums to sound completely different to yours. Experimentation is key, just keep messing around, there's rarely a right or wrong.

Indeed, Do what pleases your ears. And you won't go far wrong.

@Merlin5 I treated my studio and it made a worlds of difference recording drums and even just sat there playing them.

I added Bass traps on each corner and a Acoustic Cloud to avoid reflections from the ceiling and the OH mics. And some acoustic foam on the walls....

 

[easyrider]

 

[Merlin5]

Thanks easyrider, I'll watch that video and try out the waves plugin demo. Love your room with all its acoustic foam treatment. I bet it would be great fun playing drums in there!

I've enabled a drum cue mix now via the audio I/O tab so I can hear the drums in my headphones. On my test recordings I couldn't really hear the drums before, which didn't help!

ShortWarning, thanks very much for your advice. Yeah, I do have a complete set of close mics, I was only experimenting with the overheads for that test. You're right, it's in my kitchen. It'll sound a lot better once I bring the close mics into play. I've since found a better position in my kitchen to set up the drums and place some soft furnishing to effectively split the kitchen in half which really dries the sound up. As it sounds in that test, you're right, it doesn't need reverb. I've no idea about my gain reduction, lol. I'm not absolutely sure what drum sound I'm going for. But if I can get it to sound close to any of these, I'll be happy. These are three very different sounds from three different drummers. I think they all sound nice. Probably going more for the sound in the last video but I don't yet know which my final sound will resemble the most. The best recorded drum sound here is the first video by far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwCgo4Q79sY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhRlF1u4BqA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_ecP6n0CWc

Question for you guys. After gain staging all my mics so that there's no clipping, where should the virtual faders in Studio One be set to during recording or does it not matter? Should they all stay at unity default and then I just play with the faders during the mixing stage?

 

[Merlin5]

Just watched that CLA plugin video. Wow, simple as! Definitely excited to try it.
I've created an account and put it in my library but since it expires 7 days after activation I'll wait
until I've recorded something new to mix.

 

[ShortWarning]

Thanks easyrider, I'll watch that video and try out the waves plugin demo. Love your room with all its acoustic foam treatment. I bet it would be great fun playing drums in there!

I've enabled a drum cue mix now via the audio I/O tab so I can hear the drums in my headphones. On my test recordings I couldn't really hear the drums before, which didn't help!

ShortWarning, thanks very much for your advice. Yeah, I do have a complete set of close mics, I was only experimenting with the overheads for that test. You're right, it's in my kitchen. It'll sound a lot better once I bring the close mics into play. I've since found a better position in my kitchen to set up the drums and place some soft furnishing to effectively split the kitchen in half which really dries the sound up. As it sounds in that test, you're right, it doesn't need reverb. I've no idea about my gain reduction, lol. I'm not absolutely sure what drum sound I'm going for. But if I can get it to sound close to any of these, I'll be happy. These are three very different sounds from three different drummers. I think they all sound nice. Probably going more for the sound in the last video but I don't yet know which my final sound will resemble the most. The best recorded drum sound here is the first video by far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwCgo4Q79sY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhRlF1u4BqA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_ecP6n0CWc

Question for you guys. After gain staging all my mics so that there's no clipping, where should the virtual faders in Studio One be set to during recording or does it not matter? Should they all stay at unity default and then I just play with the faders during the mixing stage?

Gain reduction is essentially how much you're compressing the signal. As you raise the threshold you should start seeing some GR (I'm not sure exactly where that is on your compressor but you should see a bar start jumping at the peaks, I think it will either be at the sides of the graph but of the bar above it). Normally you won't touch that input gain (most compressors don't have that, you'd only really need it if your signal is crazy quiet) you then raise the gain nob (I'm assuming this is the make up gain) so that it's at the same volume as it was pre compression, this way you can hear exactly what your compressor is doing and not be fooled into thinking it sounds better because it's louder. It looks like there's an auto switch which may take care of this for you.

The faders in studio one shouldn't make any difference to your input signal so it doesn't matter where the faders are. Normally they would be at unity when recording but it won't really make a difference either way.

Funnily enough, I don't like the room sound of the first track either, it is my least favourite. It's funny how subjective music is.

 

[Merlin5]

Thanks for the explanation of those things, ShortWarning. Hah, yeah, music is certainly subjective.

The drum mixes I've heard that you recently did sound great. I think that because I'm into jazz, soul, funk and fusion, I probably favour drum sounds that perhaps you wouldn't really go for if your preference is mixing indie, rock and those types of genres.

Here's one more drummer whose sound I love, particularly his snare and kick. I don't think you'll like the music but just the drum sound to me really pops and sounds pristine, crisp, clean and all drum voices nicely balanced. I won't get very close to his sound though as he has all Audix mics and excellent studio conditions. It's also very different from the sound in the first video you're not keen on, much closer and drier and less ambient.

https://youtu.be/Crjh7A9Fcs4

 

[ShortWarning]

For the record, there's very few genres of music I don't enjoy even if I don't listen to them regularly. I really enjoy listening to all types of mixes from all genres anyway because it's my passion.

The thing to notice about all of the videos you've posted is that they are all playing to backing tracks so they will have mixed their drums around this. This really helps focus on what sound you want. If you were to listen to the drum tracks on their own (even fully mixed) you'd probably be surprised how different they sound. They would still sound great, no doubt but different.

I always mix drums first but I'll make a lot of changes along the way when introducing other instruments. Drums pretty much occupy everything from 20hz to 20khz so it starts fighting with everything. I guess this is how a mix evolves.

If I remember I might bounce a track with and without drums to see the difference.

 

[Merlin5]

For the record, there's very few genres of music I don't enjoy even if I don't listen to them regularly. I really enjoy listening to all types of mixes from all genres anyway because it's my passion.

The thing to notice about all of the videos you've posted is that they are all playing to backing tracks so they will have mixed their drums around this. This really helps focus on what sound you want. If you were to listen to the drum tracks on their own (even fully mixed) you'd probably be surprised how different they sound. They would still sound great, no doubt but different.

I always mix drums first but I'll make a lot of changes along the way when introducing other instruments. Drums pretty much occupy everything from 20hz to 20khz so it starts fighting with everything. I guess this is how a mix evolves.

If I remember I might bounce a track with and without drums to see the difference.

Apologies for my assumption where I said don't think you'll like the music. You're clearly very open minded about all genres. It's just that I find people on most internet forums, even drum forums, tend to prefer rock and metal. I love pop and rock, not metal particularly, but I'm in a bit of a minority of those who prefer jazz and its sub genres. There's literally only one drum forum I go to called houseofdrumming where everyone is into jazz, gospel, fusion.

 

[easyrider]

Just bought the CLA signature series for £38

bargaintastic



£6.35 per plugin...

@Merlin5 The Tbone Ribbon MICS as OH with the soundtoys Sie-Q and the CLA Drums plugin sounds amazing.

I'll post a sound cloud shortly.

 

[ShortWarning]

Just bought the CLA signature series for £38

bargaintastic



£6.35 per plugin...

@Merlin5 The Tbone Ribbon MICS as OH with the soundtoys Sie-Q and the CLA Drums plugin sounds amazing.

I'll post a sound cloud shortly.

That is a very good deal. I need to stop buying plugins though, haha. I only use a handful of the (probably hundred or so) ones I own.

 

[easyrider]

Out of interest which ones do you use the most?

I have limited myself on purpose

Mixbus Daw- Console EQ and Compression $79
Abby Road PLate Reverb $24
Abby Road ADT $24
Soundtoys complete suite $199
CLA-2A, CLA-3A, CLA-76 Blacky & CLA-76 Bluey Compressors $72
CLA Signature Series
Waves H-EQ $42
SSL Drumstrip £12

 

[ShortWarning]

Pretty much use the below on every mix:

Slate stuff ranks at no 1 (VMS, SSL EQ, VCC, Repeater/verbsuite,monster often on drums, now their distressor - it's semi replaced the 1176, and sometimes one of their other compressors but rarely).
UAD - LA2A (on every lead vocal, it adds so much warmth/weight), often the 1176.
CLA 2a/1176/3a (because I don't have enough DSP for too many instances of the UAD version).
Soundtoys - Echoboy, decaptiator
Izotope Ozone
Valhalla vintage/room (although I use this less since verbsuite was introduced).
Stock EQ for surgical stuff.

That's pretty much what I wouldn't want to do without.

I've got loads of other things I'll use for FX or just to try something new.

If I had to pick one thing I'd recommend to everyone it would be the slate everything bundle. I'm pretty confident I could get 99% of my mixing done with just that.