General
have deadlines
Am I having fun?
if something doesn’t feel right, stop and think
My goal is to transfer their performance to an audio file. I need to learn the things that can go in between those two points, but before doing something I have to ask: is this going to convey the musical idea more clearly to the audience?
If you have a GSM phone, turn it off.
Playing
simpler is better
don’t overplay
Recording
EQ at the source: play with mic positions and mics and such to get the most accurate sound before you touch any plugins
Always compare your recordings to how the source actually sounds. You want to make an accurate reproduction, so try to listen for differences and fix those.
don’t be afraid to record through affects and make things sound the way you want in recording, not in mixing
stand about a foot away from mics
Label your clips!
Decrease buffer size for reduced latency from the DAW.
Loopback
set the DAW 1 and 2 to go to the loopback interfaces in MixControl
record inputs 15 / 16
Mixing
Make little adjustments.
simple is better
Try to get away from the mix for a while and then come back so you can realize where you completely overdid things.
double compressors might be good on vocals
ride the vocals: automate vocal levels throughout the song so that you don’t have to use too much compression
mixing is all about balance
thus your priorities are (in order):
1. volume balance
2. left-right balance
3. using effects only if they increase the balance
think like a listener
don’t make changes unless they improve the balance
try a 10 minute mix: spend ten minutes only, and just adjust volume and left-to-right balance to get your gut reaction
then save that as a reference so that when you go changing a bunch of stuff you no if you are on track
Mix in mono: do the panning later so that you don’t trick yourself into thinking you have clarity.
beware phase shift
Don’t do anything by default: only make changes when they make things sound better.
If things are acting weird, try increasing the ASIO buffer size (at the cost of increased latency).
automate your effects
do de-essing first
process vocals in different ways and mix them in to add various textures
Make sure your effects aren’t clipping tracks (unless you want them too).
tweak effects while listening at full wet and then adjust wet/dry afterwards
you can use audio racks as a dry/wet controllers for those that don’t have them
Equalization
try get rid of low frequencies <100Hz except on the lowest instruments
maybe 400Hz too
a three step process for vocals:
high pass
top shelf
sweep for “offensive” frequencies and decrease those a bit
high pass filters have a small bump around the cutoff point
cutting is usually cleaner in EQ than boosting
narrow EQ cuts can be used to reduce the loudness of certain notes in a track
beware bass notes will not come through as much with smaller speakers
a mid-side rack can be used to only affect certain parts of a stereo recording
Delays
a sidechained compressor afterwards will let the delay come through at the ends of phrases but not muddy up the part
Ableton Reverb
may need some gain increase before you put the reverb in
Mastering
On CD’s the interval is -90dB to about -0.02dB. Therefore your masters should always reach this point of -0.02dB because the highest accuracy is around 0dB. So you use compressors to decrease dynamic range, and then you increase the level so that your song reaches 0dB. However, at this stage the loudness will still be much lower than the loudness of songs on professionally mastered albums which is were limiters come in.
Room Treatment
pads for the mics feet to absorb low frequencies
quilt covers stuffed with white fluffy stuff from a craft store to hang around
combine absorbers and curved diffusers
make distances equal on each side of speakers and such