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

[ShortWarning]

Yea...using the look in teh meaters if they bounce into the "red" alittle, maybe jsut throw most of that out and go by my own years, spend more time during the mixdown etc?

Just turn any tracks that are peaking down or just turn the whole mix down. Use a limiter to make it louder after that. Hitting the red introduces distortion but not that sweet saturation that analogue desks introduce and it can sound different depending on the end listener's DAC. TBH, hitting the red slightly is rarely going to make a discernable difference but there's no benefit to it.

Also, almost all modern digital music peaks now but not because they peaked the masters (they almost certainly would have left AT LEAST -0.3db head room, likely more), it's because of ISP's (https://www.swiftmastering.co.uk/inter-sample-peaks-isps/) which are introduced when compressing WAVs.

 

[cu3ed]

Just turn any tracks that are peaking down or just turn the whole mix down. Use a limiter to make it louder after that. Hitting the red introduces distortion but not that sweet saturation that analogue desks introduce and it can sound different depending on the end listener's DAC. TBH, hitting the red slightly is rarely going to make a discernable difference but there's no benefit to it.

Also, almost all modern digital music peaks now but not because they peaked the masters (they almost certainly would have left AT LEAST -0.3db head room, likely more), it's because of ISP's (https://www.swiftmastering.co.uk/inter-sample-peaks-isps/) which are introduced when compressing WAVs.

Funnily I could have sworn there was a small programme about that tells you what to set gain etc too for different sites for each of there own compression.

 

[ShortWarning]

Funnily I could have sworn there was a small programme about that tells you what to set gain etc too for different sites for each of there own compression.

Mastering engineers don't really worry too much about ISPs because as you say, it could be different for the multitude of different outlets. Most artists/producers are just (rightly or wrongly) concerned about getting it as loud as possible.

I used to use this: https://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/mastered-for-itunes/

Now I just set the master -1db and be done with it which still peaks anyway once converted.

 

[cu3ed]

Mastering engineers don't really worry too much about ISPs because as you say, it could be different for the multitude of different outlets. Most artists/producers are just (rightly or wrongly) concerned about getting it as loud as possible.

I used to use this: https://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/mastered-for-itunes/

Now I just set the master -1db and be done with it which still peaks anyway once converted.

Maybe jsut time to pull myself back from teh rabbit hole, keep it all very simple.

 

[cu3ed]

Some more Synthy stuff, much happier with the mastering side of things.

 

[ShortWarning]

Been a while!

Finally finished the song that I laid some drums down for an eternity ago (damn lockdown):

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Been a while!

Finally finished the song that I laid some drums down for an eternity ago (damn lockdown):

One question - how you can you be London's premier rock band when this is your debut single?

I like it.

Reminds me so much of a friend's old band, Fly By Night. Annoyingly, I don't think they have any online presence any more.

 

[arc@css]

I'm trying to learn a bit about audio noise normalization and was wondering whether for spoken voice, e.g. commentary,

should I normalize all peaks or select max peak?

 

[SexyGreyFox]

I'm trying to learn a bit about audio noise normalization and was wondering whether for spoken voice, e.g. commentary,

should I normalize all peaks or select max peak?

try both and see what you prefer

 

[ShortWarning]

Big bump.

Anyone still making music at home?

I'm still recording a couple of tracks a year at home. Haven't bought any new equipment in God knows how many years but I still get suckered in by plugin sales and have bought a load I'm probably never going to use.

Still haven't quite figured out how to make tracks sound completely professional. Getting the low end right still alludes me.

Here's the latest metalcore track I recorded with some mates. Any criticism is welcome!

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AgNyiNdpsO6s4V_TDmgnb4TUZHhJ?e=gdPyoT

 

[Lowe]

What about the low end do you think you struggle with?

Still haven't quite figured out how to make tracks sound completely professional. Getting the low end right still alludes me.

 

[ShortWarning]

What about the low end do you think you struggle with?

I misspoke really. It's the low mids I have a problem with. 200-700ish. I cut them from bass/guitars and it sounds thin, I leave them in, and it sounds muddy. My listening environment is rubbish, I can't hear those frequencies in my untreated living room and I've never been able to get headphone mixes to translate very well.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

@Lowe
I've bought this for live stage use and for studio use.
We used it for the first time on Saturday live so I got two mates to watch us and they were texting me what to adjust so by time we finished the first set it sounded great.
The band were also telling me what they needed in their monitors and as soon as everything was OK I just pressed SAVE.

Now here's my question to you please:
The sliders look a mess, would you put all sliders to 0 (U) and then adjust the input gains or leave the input gains where they are?
The Master was on -5 while all the PA speakers were set to 12 o'clock.

 

[Lowe]

I misspoke really. It's the low mids I have a problem with. 200-700ish. I cut them from bass/guitars and it sounds thin, I leave them in, and it sounds muddy. My listening environment is rubbish, I can't hear those frequencies in my untreated living room and I've never been able to get headphone mixes to translate very well.

Yeah that’s pretty common to be honest. It’s that region that really separates the men from the boys with regards to monitoring, most 2-way ported boxes end up with a lot of colouration and resonance, and that’s before we get to room issues. Easy fix is get some room measurements and treatment then some nice near-fields but being realistic that’s a serious chunk of wedge.

 

[Lowe]

@Lowe
I've bought this for live stage use and for studio use.
We used it for the first time on Saturday live so I got two mates to watch us and they were texting me what to adjust so by time we finished the first set it sounded great.
The band were also telling me what they needed in their monitors and as soon as everything was OK I just pressed SAVE.

Now here's my question to you please:
The sliders look a mess, would you put all sliders to 0 (U) and then adjust the input gains or leave the input gains where they are?
The Master was on -5 while all the PA speakers were set to 12 o'clock.

What the sliders look like has absolutely no impact on anything worth worrying about. You need to set your channel gain appropriately. Start with the fader all the way flat and start from the top of the channel strip down. Dial in some gain to the point where the channel is seeing good signal. Aim for somewhere close to about 3/4 of the way up the input monitor meter as a starting point, on most mixers this is typically the end of the green leds, starting to flicker into yellow. Every desk is a bit different in this regard, but like I say, ballpark are to begin with. This way you’ve got a bit of headroom for dynamics, should things begin to get louder.

Apply high pass filters where appropriate to keep your low end in check and then slowly raise faders to balance stage vs pa sound and build your mix.

Always start with what needs to be heard (typically unamplified instruments, vocals etc) when building the mix, and remember who the ‘money’ is. I.e who are people paying to see, is it the lead singer? The pianist? That’s where you start and get right. Not the kick drum because that’s who occupies channel 1

 

[SexyGreyFox]

What the sliders look like has absolutely no impact on anything worth worrying about. You need to set your channel gain appropriately. Start with the fader all the way flat and start from the top of the channel strip down. Dial in some gain to the point where the channel is seeing good signal. Aim for somewhere close to about 3/4 of the way up the input monitor meter as a starting point, on most mixers this is typically the end of the green leds, starting to flicker into yellow. Every desk is a bit different in this regard, but like I say, ballpark are to begin with. This way you’ve got a bit of headroom for dynamics, should things begin to get louder.

Apply high pass filters where appropriate to keep your low end in check and then slowly raise faders to balance stage vs pa sound and build your mix.

Always start with what needs to be heard (typically unamplified instruments, vocals etc) when building the mix, and remember who the ‘money’ is. I.e who are people paying to see, is it the lead singer? The pianist? That’s where you start and get right. Not the kick drum because that’s who occupies channel 1

and that is what I've always basically done in the last 50 years but you can always learn new things.
It's always bothered me that sliders aren't on the zero

I love this new desk because when you press the channel button all that blue part becomes 'the outboard gear' for that channel so you've got high pass filters, noise gate, compression, EQ etc.
Even setting up the AUX Inputs is simple
eg Drummer wants more bass drum so I press AUX 3 on the left and the 12 channels are now volume controls for his mix in his ears.
I bought this at Christmas and only got to use it on Saturday, last week a friend sold his Behringer X32 for a £1000, I would have loved that however he said on Saturday that it isn't as straightforward as this Presonus.

 

[ShortWarning]

Yeah that’s pretty common to be honest. It’s that region that really separates the men from the boys with regards to monitoring, most 2-way ported boxes end up with a lot of colouration and resonance, and that’s before we get to room issues. Easy fix is get some room measurements and treatment then some nice near-fields but being realistic that’s a serious chunk of wedge.

That would be the dream! It's not really possible to build treatment as it's the living room.

I've been looking at those slate headphones. IMO opinion slate has always released decent gear/plugins but they kind of reek a little of snake oil. I'd love to think they would be the secret to creating a perfect mix environment but I'm not convinced.

 

[Lowe]

and that is what I've always basically done in the last 50 years but you can always learn new things.
It's always bothered me that sliders aren't on the zero

I love this new desk because when you press the channel button all that blue part becomes 'the outboard gear' for that channel so you've got high pass filters, noise gate, compression, EQ etc.
Even setting up the AUX Inputs is simple
eg Drummer wants more bass drum so I press AUX 3 on the left and the 12 channels are now volume controls for his mix in his ears.
I bought this at Christmas and only got to use it on Saturday, last week a friend sold his Behringer X32 for a £1000, I would have loved that however he said on Saturday that it isn't as straightforward as this Presonus.

That sort of system is how bigger digital live consoles have been working for years - nice to see it finally trickling down into more affordable gear. Can it plug in to Wi-Fi and have a mic poo t via iPad? That was a game changer - being able to have someone on stage running monitors via this, or giving a troublesome Mai get their own monitor control is great

 

[SexyGreyFox]

That sort of system is how bigger digital live consoles have been working for years - nice to see it finally trickling down into more affordable gear. Can it plug in to Wi-Fi and have a mic poo t via iPad? That was a game changer - being able to have someone on stage running monitors via this, or giving a troublesome Mai get their own monitor control is great

The earlier Firewire version could with a dongle however this model needs a Laptop connected and then the WiFi from that can connect to a tablet and to the musicians on stage to do their own mix from their phones. I decided that since the mixer is always going to stay by me on stage that stuff wasn't needed.

Our ex Soundman has got 2x Firewire versions.

 

[simisker]

I recently converted/upgraded my home composition/mixing studio setup to be Presonus-based: Studio One, a Studiolive 32R mixer/interface* and a little Atom SQ controller for MIDI stuff.

Really happy with it


* Massive overkill for a home studio, I know - but it's an open invitation to justify the purchase of loads of analog synths