51m0n

Bootsy's VSTs are all superb, but NastyDLA is without doubt the best charcterful delay I've heard in a computer. Some other good free VSTs are (in no particular order):- TAL series: great plate reverbs, nice distortion fx, some cool dub style delays too. G series: I use GMax a lot as a quick brick wall limiter Jerome series: Some really nice 'quick and dirty' limiters/maximisers, PC2 a superb no colour compressor TLS series: Excellent bunch of coloured compressors/limiters FlangerHand: weird flanger thing, nice to automate PushTec: clone of a Pulltech eq, kinda... NU-tron: wannabe mutron Voxengo: Some really useful free mastering tools (beeper, M/S, span) Ambience: another very nice free reverb bluenoise mydrumset: nice free vsti drumkit....

I am pretty hard to please when it comes to a DAW, mainly because I was used to working on a desk with patchbays, and basically that lets you plug pretty much anything into anything - you may release the magic, or just the magic smoke, but you can do it. The only DAW I have found that lets me do this is Reaper. Some of the grouping arrangements I come up with to help make a mix I am pretty sure you cant do in any other DAW at all. For instance I can make a group at anytime, put in a track with a reverb fx vst, put in a another couple of groups of tracks then change the number of audio channels in each of those groups , then arrange the sends from the tracks in those groups to go through the different channels, and send all of theose channels to the reverb. Why would I want to do this? It solves one of the biggest headaches in using aux fx off groups, that when you change the level of the group fader it doesn't change the level of the track sends to the aux. This may not sound like much, but it is very very significant to me as it means I cna reuse a single instance of a VST for multiple groups, which in turn saves huge amounts of processing cycles :0) For £25 that is simply staggering. Add in the superb fx it comes with, one of the best gates and certainly one of the best compressors (and multiband compressors) and an EQ that is sublime and you can not beat that particular package IMO. The rest of the time I use almost entirely free VSTs, the Bootsy stuff is amazing (not that Bootsy!), Molot is a phenominal drum buss compressor, FishFillets are fantastic, SIR reverb is mind boggling especially since you can now get Eventide H3000 and Acoustica M7 pulses free to run in it!

[quote name='Rimskidog' post='1241010' date='May 22 2011, 11:25 PM']So I was bored: [/quote] LOL! Yeah, that sounds about right, you got dem Teleeefun-kennn mics innit. Heehee!

Oh and one last thing about those levels, this looks to have been run into a brickwall limiter (Waves Ultramaximiser or similar), if you cant hear any distortion I wouldn't worry too much, he's using it to get a higher RMS to peak level, or in ocmmon parlance, he's making the mix louder. If you can hear it at all in terms of artiofacts then get him to back it off. Also make sure he sets the output level at about -0.4dB, some CD players cannot cope with higher output than that, and it is utterly irrelevant extra level.

I can hear what he's trying to do with the slap back, its not a bad plan IMO, it's fairly authentic, but its too pristine, the echo needs to have degraded and been filtered to sound more authentic. Backing it off by a couple of dB and taking off some top and bottom, even running it through a bit of dirt (just the echo this!) would all help it out a lot. It really needs to sound more like an old knackered tape delay IMO. To be honest for a demo the mix sounds fine, the playing is fine, the sound is pretty natural (other than the nifty slapback). So for that purpose its pretty much good to go IMO. However, if I were looking for a release off this, and my mantra is always treat every tracking session, mix session and mastering session like it'll be your last (its definitely the last one anyone will remember) I'd be wanting a bit more energy off the drums, maybe some parallel compression on the tubs to get a bit more oomph, I'd work on the snare to get it sounding fatter (eq) and bit crackier (compression) at the same time, the kick is a bit tubby (for my liking), I'd treat it differently eq-wise. The bass is good, a bit quiet, I'd give it a bit more punch, but I'd do some wee tricks to keep the kick really clear when it plays alongside the bass, nothing you'd know on hearing it, but it would still be there. I'd look to making the guitar a bit wider, send a reverb or subtle delay to the other side of the stereo field to get it wider, leaving a big whole in the middle for vocals. I'd also do some magicy stuff to the vocal, its fine as it is, but it could be a bit more 'wow', so I'd spend a lot of time on getting it to sound a bit swisher, taking the reverb and sending it super wide, very very careful choice of up to three reverbs to make the final sound is my normal modus operandi on a lead vocal (1 ambience, 1 plate, 1 room/hall). Not that you'd hear it very much, but it all helps make a vocal sound like its in a believable space. Careful compression, and more often than not some sidechain compression on the extreme top end, not to mention de-essing so that all that added clarity is not overpowering. Usually some careful automation is required to dip the breath noise after that compression but thats not hard these days, although it takes a while. The backing vox get similar attention, plus a darker (or less hyped) eq, no sidechain compression, and longer predelays on the reverb to help sit them in the background. Everything is grouped up, all the different groups are glued together with just a bit of the right buss compression, end result is you get a mix with plenty of dynamics and very high RMS levels compared to the peaks, which is very good for mastering. In fact it ends up sounding pretty much mastered out of the box. Of course all of that would make this sound less of a demo and more of a release (without it sounding over produced) which may seem counter productive, but people, whether they like it or even realise it or not, are bombarded with music with exaclty this sort of attention to detail in the mix literally every day, and if they get a band turn up with a similarly pro sounding demo they are far more likely to book you for a better fee. You simply sound better. After all this stuff is always just an illusion anyway. Unfortunately this kind of treatment takes time, and that costs money, you would be looking at something like 12 to 15 hours work per song to mix to that level. On the plus side I would try and get the project off of the engineer, it may cost a bit to get him to run off the stems, but at a later date you could take those to any decent mix engineer and have them turned into a release, the tracking certainly sounds good enough to me.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='1234716' date='May 17 2011, 06:53 PM']Mine are whatever sounds best in the room I'm in. Since every room is different acoustically my settings are different in every room .[/quote] +1 right answer...

When did you last change the battery?

ANother +1 to ER-20s, they do get a little uncomfortable after half an hour or so, but the woinder of pulling them out after a gig (playing or watching) and being able to hear a pin drop makes it all worth while!

Wow! Surprised by that disparity a lot. I have an sa450, and have used several different MB combos in reheasal studios, and have always had similar gain settings before clipping....

Excellent!

Zooms are superb. Any half decent PZM is going to be pretty stella too if set up right. Its what they are for....

Have a top gig mate!

[quote name='Geddys nose' post='1230077' date='May 13 2011, 04:00 PM']This is a cheap and easy way to insulate and soundproof- [url="http://www.planetinsulation.co.uk/ZGA3050.php"]http://www.planetinsulation.co.uk/ZGA3050.php[/url] We use it at work quite a lot for lofts/Studding ect.[/quote] That is completely unsuitable as sound insulation. No mass = no meaningful sound insulation below 1KHz

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1229988' date='May 13 2011, 02:47 PM']But are you looking for sound-[b][i]proofing [/i][/b]or sound [b][i]reduction[/i][/b]? Using double-layered PB will be an absolute pain in the arse, and will only apply to the walls anyway - the ceiling/roof will be no better sound-proofed than was originally planned. If I need to use double-layered PB to reduce the volume, then I'll do it. But if I don't need that level of aggravation to achieve my target, then I'll give it a miss thanks. [/quote] Its the same thing. You can only attenuate, you cannot entirely remove. Of course the level of attenuation is what matters, and whilst I understand you want to take off 10dB, realistically you are going to need to do the best job possible to achieve that. The roof is an issue, you will need to prevent spillage through that as drastically as everywhere else or your efforts are wasted. Sound is like water, if there is a gap it will find its way through.

Simple rule is for isolation you need a few things:- rigid and dense materials air gaps no transmission avenue (ie walls sitting on the floor unseperated by some form of acoustic dampening device) no gaps!!!! The reason plasterboard gets used is because it is so dense. It still needs to be double layered though! Ply wont do anything like the same job IMO.

Lets say I have 'some' experience in the real world sound engineering (tracking, mixing and live sound) from the last 20 years, but its not my day job as its really hard to get a gig that pays the rent

There's a lot to be said for working within limitations! There were definite limitations in recording those tracks, the drums were tracked to sequenced click/samples/synths (played back in the drummers cans from logic on a mac book pro) using a Zoom H4n in a reheasal studio with a couple of decent dynamic mics (one on snare, one on the kick) and the internal condensers as overheads. Of course this requires a drummer who can play to click and knows the tracks inside out. Kit tuning and mic position becomes if anything even more critical when working like this to capture the best sound possible. Love the result, even though the drums are quite low in the mix to make everything else sound really loud, they are absolutely definitely the drummer's kit, the snare timbre is particularly well retained. Super pleased with it! The rest of the tracking was done at the drummer's flat, using cheap mics, and a simple but decent audio interface into logic. By those standards this should sound like a cheap and nasty 4 track demo. Yet the advances in audio tech mean that the actual result thats achievable is frankly staggeringly good. Now is not a good time to be trying to make a living from a project studio IMO!

[quote name='scalpy' post='1229595' date='May 13 2011, 07:34 AM']Interesting. The gain on my LM Tube doesn't go past 8 before the light and the clipping come into play. I've been wondering if it will affect my ultimate volume when it comes to it. I really like the sound of this amp and the weight, but I must admit there are a few niggles that stop it being the answer to all my prayers. GAS for a Tonehammer 500![/quote] No it doesnt work like that at all. The input gain control allows you to tailor the amount of level hitting the power amp given a very wide range of input levels to the system. So if you have a very quiet instrument you need to turn up the input gain a long way to make up for that. If you have a very high output instrument you need only turn the input gain up a little bit. The effect on the signal is to make sure that in both cases the level hitting the power amp section is the same, regardless of the output of your instrument. In other words if you set the input gain correctly then the output of your instrument makes no difference to the output of the amp at the speaker connection. I have an 18v Roscoe and a passive Squire VMJ, guess which one is hotter! However if I change the input gain on my sa450 when I change bass the output from the speakers is the same volume, and the amp is happy.

Cheers! The flange and phase effects in the vocal samples was on the source tracks, and the bass guitar was tracked with an envelope filter, so I couldnt remove those even if I wanted to. Personally I think they work great, but I imagine some people may feel they are a bit obvious, which is kind of the point ) Reaper and a few free VSTs all that was used in the mixing process. Staggeringly powerful tools compared to what I started on in 1990, never ceases to amaze me how far audio has come in such a short time.

You can use half tennis balls if you like:-

If you want some better isolation then put your floor down on tennis balls. Seriously. But batten down around the floor area. Fill this area with old tennis balls. not literally but not more than an inch or so between the balls. Put your actual floor down on that. The balls will compress as more weight goes on, but they will support literally tonnes of weight. With enough weight the compression is such that the inner build doesnt roll off, until that point just secure the inner floor in place temporarily. Once your floor is in place, build battens off that and double layer it with plasterboard. The two layers of plasterboard should be caulked and at an offset so the seams dont line up. Dont use foam, high density rockwool is the way for some sound insulation. That and the air gap will be fine. Then whack a ceiling up and double layer that with plasterboard. The isolation will be good enough to support the use of this space for getting medieval on the sionger's a**se if he hits the notes wrong, you can supply your own pliers and blow torch....

Haha! I stand corrected How the hell they reproduce that live I have no idea, feedback beyond your worst nightmare!!!!

[quote name='cheddatom' post='1228778' date='May 12 2011, 01:33 PM']Just to add that emulated amps are not by default sh*t. Also, i've had great results recording a clean DI'd guitar and adding distortion and EQ afterwards.[/quote] +1 Absolutely! I've had great results, but you definitely need to knwo what you are doing more than if you get a great amp and stick a U87 and a Cole ribbon mic in front of it going into great preamps blah blah blah....

My 2 cents... Set all eq anf filters flat Set the bass volume and pup selection how you like Turn the master volume and gain completely off Play on the open E string as loud as you play your loudest Wind up the gain until the light flashes, back it off until it just doesnt - the amp is now running with its theoretical maximum input level before clipping. Good for maximising output to noise ratio! Note that MB dont advise you push harder than this, however much you like the sound... Wind up the Master volume to gigging levels Tweak the eq to get what you need - cut rather than boost if possible, it gives btter signal to noise ratios and makes it less likely that you will drive the power amp section harder than its intended to be. One BIG caveat. Not all ampos necessarily sound their best with the input gain maxxed, sometimes its worth trying to back off the input gain a bit further and make up the loss with the master volume, if you have the headroom. See if the tone changes for the better. This is gain staging - its finding the absiolute best sounding sweet spot. It is not always the same as the best S/N ratio. On a loud gig where you are lacking headroom, this is not an option....