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

[Merlin5]

Thanks guys for the tips, you nailed it. Yep, my gain staging was crap. I needed to bring everything down. The main problem was that the backing track needed to come down in the mix much lower. I had kept it at about unity but it was obviously loud enough that my bass drum wasn't cutting through and there was no headroom to push the fader up before clipping.

So I started over pretty much. I muted all my EQ, and just soloed snare and bass drum making sure they're balanced. I brought the backing track down and checked the snare and bass were level with the song and then I added in other parts of the kit and bringing those faders down as well. Took me a while messing around with it but it was good fun.

None of the faders are clipping now, although the bass drum compressor is still showing a little and my final export of the mix showed there was 10.60db clipping. But I'm not worried about that as there's no audible distortion to my ears and I'm really happy with the way the remix has turned out, it's pretty clean. I'll be interested in your thoughts.

It's quite a different sound from the CLA Drums mix. Quite crisp and makes my CLA mix sound muddy to me now. The CLA mix is fatter but softer, whereas this mix is brighter, more focused and more detailed. Snare has more of a crack and woody tone now and more presence. Far from perfect of course, I'm only a noob. I'm just amazed that I could achieve this sound recording from my kitchen. I'm much more comfortable with how many things work in Studio One. I even cheated a bit, I used the split range to adjust volume of individual bass drum and snare hits where I was inconsistent.

https://soundcloud.com/user-689462784/2nd-happy-mix

This is how I ended up with my faders.

 

[ShortWarning]

Sounds really good, bud! I think I'd take a tad of the high end off the overheads possibly, other than that, awesome.

Are you sure you're not getting gain reduction mixed up with clipping (clipping is when you see your meters go into the red)? Nothing appears to be going above 0 in that screenshot. 10db of clipping would almost certainly give audible distortion. The problem with digital clipping is you don't really have any idea how it will sound in the real world because it depends on the DAC the end user is using. On some DACs you may not get any audible distortion and on another you may get a poo tonne so it's generally safest not to have any clipping.

 

[Merlin5]

Thanks! I agree, the overheads could be less bright as the cymbals are a bit sibilant. Yeah, the screenshot doesn't show it but there are some loud moments where the bass drum and overhead effects bus meters are occassionally hitting the red. The compressor meter is also hitting red even when there's no visible clipping on the faders. I guess that's clipping or is that gain reduction? I couldn't seem to get the compressor to not go into red without losing the punchiness of the bass drum. I was going back and forth adjusting the bass drum eq and gain and the compressor settings and input gain, and whenever I had the thump or amount of low end I wanted, the compressor showed red. I didn't notice anything sounding distorted but its a good point you make that it depends on what DAC people will listen through.

Regarding the compressor, there's 3 gain knobs which I find a bit confusing. Input gain, gain and mix. I also used a filter button on the compressor which has low and high cut knobs and gave the bass drum more attack or punch. I think my problem lies in getting the right amount of those.

 

[ShortWarning]

If you're kick drum and overhead faders aren't clipping but your busses are then it's your processing that's causing it to clip.

Input gain effects the level going in. So if your original signal isn't loud enough or it's not hitting the compressor how you would like you can raise the volume going in, similarly if your signal is too hot you can lower it. My compressors don't have this but it could be useful but if your signal is already quite hot I'd probably leave this alone.

Gain I assume is makeup gain. Compressing something makes it quieter, you use this to bring the volume back up to the level it was going into the compressor so that when you a/b you're not being fooled by volume change. If you're clipping, this probably where it's happening. This should never really be used to give you extra volume, this is what the channel faders are for.

Mix will be your parallel compression nob. At 100% all you're hearing is the compressed signal which is how most traditional compressors work. At 50% you get half the unprocessed signal and half the compressed signal. 0% would be no compression.

 

[Merlin5]

Thanks ShortWarning, you've explained that beautifully, I understand about gain and mix knobs now. And you're spot on about my processing. I spent some more time with it today. Too much treble on the overheads was one thing making it clip. I've also got the bass drum compressor and EQ gains perfect now and have brought the faders down more. Absolutely no clipping any more, not even 1dB, yay! The faders and master fader are a fair bit lower now, any higher would clip. So the exported mix is a fair bit quieter. Is there a way I could have raised the mix volume? Limiter? But doesn't a limiter compress and slightly change the overall sound of the mix?

 

[ShortWarning]

As Banja said, you should leave you master fader at 0, I never touch it, again if it's clipping turn everything else down.

As far as loudness is concerned, limiter is pretty much it. A balanced mix (eq and compression wise) by it's self should be louder at the same volume than an unbalanced mix but it's tricky. Yes, a limiter will compress so it's about finding a balance.

You shouldn't worry too much about loudness really, I think most online platforms normalise all the audio on there anyway. I like loudness but you will always compromise on the dynamics with a limiter (which accounts for 98%* of commercial music).


*I pulled this number out of my bum but it's high.

 

[Merlin5]

This is how my faders are set currently with no clipping and a balanced mix.



I have a feeling if I put the master fader up to 0, there'll be so much clipping I'll have to bring the other faders down so much, most of them will be practically at the bottom.

 

[ShortWarning]

Something strange is going on. If none of your channels are hitting 0b when at unity then they shouldn't be close to clipping the master bus when at those levels unless you're putting a crazy amount of makeup gain in there.

If it's not already you could change your master meter to sample peak, I don't know if this is the norm but it makes it easier to gain stage.

When I start a mix I pull everything down to -∞ then as I start pulling up the faders I make sure the master bus doesn't go above -6ish just to give plenty of headroom for everything.

 

[Merlin5]

Actually, I've increased faders again to what should be a decent volume when exported and soloed the overheads to check clipping. I notice a peak/clip level box at the top of the master fader (which is at 0) that goes red and shows a number that increases each time there's a spike. What it seems to be is 4 or 5 crashes and snare strokes which are occasionally too loud and clipping. The only other channel that has clipping is the snare which have a couple of spikes. All together, those spikes are what is making it just over 10dB clipping.

Turning the treble down on the overheads eliminated one or two spikes. I can also use spilt range to modify the volume of some other hits. Generally, the master fader is staying around -6db but fluctuating slightly above it particularly on crashes. How would you approach something like this? Keep faders where they are and modify the spikes or bring the faders down as I had them before where the spikes weren't clipping but where the overall volume was quieter?

 

[banja]

Limit or compress the overheads. Set the threshold so it only enages on the louder hits which are causing the overs.

 

[Merlin5]

Limit or compress the overheads. Set the threshold so it only enages on the louder hits which are causing the overs.

Good idea but no idea how to do that. My overheads already are compressed. How do I now get the threshold to kick in just for those specific hits?

 

[banja]

Set the audio to loop for a few seconds before and after the highest spike / hit on the track. Insert the compressor on the overheads (are they a linked stereo pair of files?) Set the ratio quite high for limiting, say 20:1, or lower for a more subtle compression (say 6:1) Play the loop then lower the threshold setting until the gain reduction starts to happen only when the loud hits happen. That's it basically athough there is obviously a lot more to it.

Attack and release settings are quite important, but that's another long lesson all on its own. Hit up youtube and just start watching / reading to learn more. Good luck

Edit - for this task btw I would recommend TDR Kotelnikov compressor. It's free and very transparent. So much so that when the compression threshold is not reached the uncompressed audio paases through the compressor completely unaffected. Lots of compressors are character compressors which add tone / colour to the sound. They have their place but if you just want to do volume control as trasparently as possible the Kotelnikov is an excellent choice.

 

[Merlin5]

My two overhead channels are linked by a bus I added which sends EQ and compression to them. I did what you said by looping a spike, opening up the compressor that is already on my overheads and adjusting the threshold until the spike didn't clip. But the threshold is staying at the new setting for the rest of the song and not jumping back to the previous position. So my apologies, I'm obviously not doing it right/misunderstanding.

 

[banja]

Actually the loudest spike is probably not the best one to use as the place to set the threshold. My bad. More useful would be the quietest spike that you wish to compress. That way all volume spikes above that one will be caught by the compressor.

The threshold won't move and will stay in the same place. When the audio goes above it the compressor will kick in and you'll get your gain reduction. Often two compressors might be used on one source - one as a general compressor which evens out the overall volume in a smooth way, then a second one which will limit the spikes. The order can be changed depending on choice.

In fact the compressor I linked to can do both of these in the same plug in. It's a little tricky to get your head around and understand the controls but once understood is very useful.

It is possible to change the threshold via automation but that's a bit advanced and probably not required at this point.

 

[ShortWarning]

Are they clipping without any plugins on at unity? If they are you need to watch your gain staging at the recording stage. If it's clipped on the way in you can't do anything about it because it's already clipped, live and learn. If it's not clipping at unity with no plugins really you just have to turn it down.

 

[Merlin5]

Thank you banja, much appreciated.

ShortWarning, I'm embarrassed to say that, yes, clipping with no plugins and all faders at unity. Going back to basics then, when I set my mic levels, I just watched the clipping lights on my interface. I guess I was meant to have my DAW open and monitor the levels, but I hadn't done that. I also probably played a bit louder during performance than at the gain staging and didn't leave enough headroom.

 

[ShortWarning]

Don't be embarrassed, we've all done it! It's much harder when you're recording yourself, especially drumming because it's really impossible to monitor the levels. Best bet is to leave lots of headroom, record a couple of takes just to check if you're clipping (or anywhere near) and adjust for the next take.

At the end of the day a bit of clipping probably isn't going to ruin a track or even be noticeable but there is absolutely no benefit in doing it in the digital realm so it's just safest to never clip.

Been working hard over the weekend. Recorded another classic cover and a track for another band. Got a week of editing then mixing in my lunch break ahead!

 

[easyrider]

Don't be embarrassed, we've all done it! It's much harder when you're recording yourself

Absolutely, messing up and fixing stuff is part of the process and learning curve...celebrate your **** ups!


I’ve decided to sort some stuff out it has always been a PITA to record drums . Running over to the PC starting the Record and then messing up a take and getting up and starting over so I’ve made some changes to my studio...

First thing is this and an Audient ID22



I’ll post some pics when I’m finished

 

[Lowe]

Nice pre’s, I’ve got a rack of those. The gain pot’s a bit weird, does nothing and then all kinda happens at the end. You get used to it though.

 

[banja]

I think the audient stuff is really good. I have the iD22. They've just anounced the iD44. The pres are great and so are the converters.