The Official 'Secrets of the Studio' Thread!

[Joey]

I don't care too much for mstrkrft but this tip is interesting. Is there anyone else this sound resembles?

yeah I'm not a mstrkrft fan either honestly, but any generic electro artist that does the whole super distorted bass synth thing uses the same technique... they were just the first to pop in my mind

[pflosi]

one thing not mentioned yet: sidechain comp on bass with kick driving it

pump it

[shaft9000]

if your FX need to sound pristine and forward - attention grabbing - then print them to their own track independent of the dry source track. This way you can automate the FX mix, EQ it for emphasis, run the printed FX thru another FX bus if desired...the possibilities go on and on. It's worlds apart from tracking w/ FX, and head and shoulders above typical plug-in FX returns.

[Maskin]

Tip: if you don't know how compressors work, leave them alone. They're bound to ruin the mix.
I personally don't use them, only -if nececcary- a slight double compression on the final mix to even out the peaks.

I don't really have any production secrets myself, perhaps my routings but they are rather complex and will only work if you have the exact same equipment.

[Yoozer]

Never interpret studio advices as rules. There are no rules.

To make a horribly late reply on this: Yes, there are.

The thing is that those rules are incredibly useful guidelines figured out by pioneers over the course of several decades.
The problem is that those rules are taken as laws, set in stone, without understanding on how they came to be.
The bigger problem is that because people blindly follow those rules, there's no experimentation anymore, and because they don't bother to figure out the reasoning behind those rules, you get ineffective or even adverse results.

If you read somewhere that increasing the frequency range around 100 Hz adds body to the sound of a snare drum and you read this at different places, it's a rule. Do test for yourself if it has much of an effect on your 808 or 909 snare drum, because those are of course different from regular, acoustic snare drums, for which the rule was most likely written originally.

I also see "just turn some knobs dude" written as an advice for people who've bought a synthesizer and have no clue on how it works. No - that's not the useful approach. When you learned to do calculus you didn't get polynomials combined with 2+2=4 - you learn in such a way that you start with the basics and then move on to the more complex stuff. Randomly turning knobs doesn't teach you anything and in most cases, it's more frustrating (in the beginning) than systematically exploring a synthesizer.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

[GeneralBigbag]

Tip: if you don't know how compressors work, leave them alone. They're bound to ruin the mix.

Every time I see a 'what compressor pumps?' thread, I die a little inside. That said, they are incredibly useful as to be worth learning how to use (i.e. not the Attack: Max, Release: Min, Threshold -120dB, Ratio: 20:1 school of compression)

I personally don't use them, only -if nececcary- a slight double compression on the final mix to even out the peaks.

That does make a lot of sense for the whole Basic Channel spacious dub style you've got going on, but it is true that a lot of genres benefit from the control over density which can be gained through judicious use of compression.

[ned-ryarson]

a simple one...

listen back to your song without looking at the DAW or mixer, either do a quick burn to wav and listen to it with those 'ambience' visuals, or just look at the desktop, or nothing...

helps you to hear your music as you normally hear music, and draw better conclussions and judgement.

[pflosi]

or check how it sounds outside ur room, in the floor or next room

[Sonic Nomad]

Hi,

Newbie to the forum but here's my 0.02cents;

- If you can afford them buy a couple Great River Pre Amps for tracking your synths.

- Some great plugins for mixing/processing synth based stuff are; MCDSP & SoundToys

- Try mixing through a compressor on the master buss. With the following settings start with the kick and snare peeking at around -10 dB;
Ratio 2:1
Attack 4 to 10ms
Release 200 to 350 (eighth note of the tracks tempo)
Threshold to taste - if you have a lot of compression on the single tracks then prob about 2 to 3dB of reduction should do the job.
Lately I'm using Waves RenComp for this and it does it well.
(the above is a tip I picked up from reading articles and posts by Charles Dye and is a very useful one)

- MCDSP's AC-1 is great for driving the input stage. Generally I use it as the first insert on channels when mixing.

I have others but am currently tired - will post more at another time.

[Stab Frenzy]

Back on topic please, stickied threads are no place for chit chat.

OT posts will be deleted from this thread.

[matia]

1. Cross audio and power cables at 90 degrees (forming a sort of cross intersection).
2. Label everything especially if using a lot of hardware.
3. If you care about your music, care enough to spend money on it (i.e. don't be afraid of saving some money together to pay an experienced engineer to mix and master your music) I can't stress this one enough. Just because you have the tools to do it yourself does not mean you will get the same results that a professional with a lot of experience will. I can buy most tools a doctor has but that does not mean I can fix myself when I am sick.
4. Monitor at a low level when mixing. The image, the mix, and the feel should come through at any volume.
5. No matter what your friends, girlfriends, spiritualists tell you, really and I mean really look at your environment objectively and realistically. If you live in a flat with no shower, have a drug problem, and don't do much but call yourself a musician and think you are destined for fame, please, seek help.
6. Have friends and interests outside the studio. Are you painting paintings for paintbrushes?
7. When you are tired, go to sleep.
8. Never trust words like 'industry' & 'standard'.
9. Use your ears not your eyes. (Turn the monitor off)
10. Be honest and carry yourself with integrity. Instill the same in your working space and be aware of the energy that you occupy. It will translate into the music that you make.

This is all coming from someone who has worked in 'professional' studios and with 'famous' people. This advice is sometimes hard to take, especially for myself , but it's good stuff to bear in mind.

-matia

[GeneralBigbag]

1. Cross audio and power cables at 90 degrees (forming a sort of cross intersection).

Why? It's been a while since I've done EM, but I can't see why running the wires parallel would be a problem...

[matia]

Here it is stated far more eloquently than I have time to go into:

Magnetic fields induced from other wires
Hign current carrying mains wiring can cause quite strong magnetic fields around the cable. If you run an audio cable near high current mains wiring it can easily pick up humming. It is a good idea to keep at least 0.5 meter distance between high current mains wiring and your audio cabling. If the audio cable must cross a mains cable then make this crossing at exactly 90 degree angle so the mains cable magnetic field will not be coupled to audio cable.

The interference coupled from mains wiring can become especially noticable if there are some problematic loads like fluorescent lighting, light dimmers or lots of computers connected to the mains wiring.

Quoted from: http://www.epanorama.net/documents/grou ... mming.html

[GeneralBigbag]

Ah - that makes good sense - thanks!

[Shanesaw]

one thing not mentioned yet: sidechain comp on bass with kick driving it

pump it

also a fun thing to do is to use side-chain compression on other track elements using various things to drive it.