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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....

Given your reliance on emulation I'd record clean (although feel free to monitor with any fx your system can cope with. Then sort the actual sound out afterwards. That way you should concentrate on the performance the most....

[quote name='lettsguitars' post='1228648' date='May 12 2011, 12:27 PM']eq! dist guitar-lose averything below 700hz and above 1k. and then add a couple of 2db boosts/spikes in the appropriate places according to your sound.[/quote] Err, I'd think losing everyinthin below 700hz and above 1KHz would leave pretty much nothing but a nasty honky sqawk.... [quote name='lettsguitars' post='1228648' date='May 12 2011, 12:27 PM']a little panning goes a long way. this aint the 60's. pan reverbs the opposite way.[/quote] I cant disagree with this enough. Har dpan the crap out of guitars, multitrack them pann half all the way left and half all the way right. Keep them the hell away from the vocal at all costs! Remember the vocal is the song, the chorus is the 'money shot'....

Dunno if thats a double bass, I dont think it is. Might be though, hard to tell. Sounds like it could be a P bass (at least a P pickup) with a lot of processing to me. Probably a mic'ed cab - sounds like amp overdrive and compression to me - and D.I for the extreme low end (very well done though) Plenty of eq too, lot of very low mid down to deep bass. Warm, almost muddy though, really aiming for the phat bass arent they Then more compression etc etc, and a mix meant to really flatter the bass sound, a lot of space fo rthe bass.... Top sound, reminds me of seeing The Silverfish live at The Zap in Brighton, 'kin hell was that a bass sound to peel your cheeks off!

Nope, I'm afraid you overreacted, IME a quippe like that would happen in a pub down here in the South East and wouldnt even raise an eyebrow. In fact you'd best stay well away from pubs in general if you're going to get that irate over something that inoffensive!

Oh, you're using some form of emulation for your distorted guitar rather than an amp? Oh boy... OK, not too much top, not too much top not too much top not too much top not too much top not too much top not too much top not too much top not too much top! Everyone new to this game makes fizzy sounding brittle as sugar guitars. Big distorted guitar sounds roar they dont fizz. A nice smooth shelf from about 3KHz all the way up taking things down by anything upto 10dB can really help guitars sound 'right' in a mix. You dont need a mass of bass, thats what the bass guitar is for - try a high pass at about 150Hz. You dont need a mass of top - it will cut through. You need to leave a space for the singer, so 4Khz is out too. Think around 2KHz for some presence (dont over do it!) have some weight around 400Hz (and scoop the bass a smidge there too), and kill some honk around 750 to 1KHz. Thats all a really really rough guess though, I'd need you to post up the guitar track itself to be sure. Hell I'd need the mix to be really sure, and I havent the time spare to take on anything at the moment I'm afraid....

[quote name='badboy1984' post='1228451' date='May 12 2011, 09:32 AM']Yeah i gonna do it tonight cos at work atm. but I've try this last night. I've done some testing last night again. Like I said, it sounded ok on monitor speaker and pc speaker. Thats a good start already. Sounded ok on my dad's bose sound system but on ipod you can't hear no distortion at all except some more nasty bass added to the song. I thought is the headphone that is bad so i use a different set of headphone instead of the ipod headphone. The result is even worse. So I tried the headphones again on my pc speaker and my dad's sound system, it sounded ok. So is not headphone problem. Only thing I've not try yet render the track with distortion guitar only and try play it back on the ipod to see can i hear the track or not. If it doesn't, i think i got some problem here .....[/quote] You are rendering this as a vrey high quality mp3 before listening on the ipod arent you?

Big subject! You need to be adept with panning, eq, multitracking, compression, reverb, limiting, etc etc etc to get a great mix. All of which is pointless if you havent got a well tracked source in the first place, good kit, well played in a good room, properly mic'ed with a decent mic are also required.

A friend of mine writes AI derived code to design sounds from scratch - clever stuff, and some amazing sounds he gets too, incredibly organic, just amazing.

[quote name='bremen' post='1227311' date='May 11 2011, 11:26 AM']Or: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3V2amJMlmE&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3V2amJMlmE...feature=related[/url][/quote] Embedded for you:- That is also scary!

[quote name='thodrik' post='1227294' date='May 11 2011, 11:17 AM']As a 24 year old male with no physical disabilities, I have never really been taken in by the argument that any piece of bass gear weighing over 12 lbs is just too heavy to be considered as a purchase.[/quote] When I was 21 I had the same attitude. One silly overconfident cockup later and I've been helping various osteopaths' pension plans for the better part of 20 years. Be careful out there all of you who like the heavy gear, a truly knackered back is for life, not just for christmas....

Thought I'd share some recordings I've recently completed for some very very good friends, Brighton based band Line Horizontal. Have a listen to The Individuils and Your Mouths Are Killing You (first two tracks on the page):- [url="http://www.invisiblelandscapes.co.uk/lh_music.html"]http://www.invisiblelandscapes.co.uk/lh_music.html[/url] Drums tracked to a click in a rehearsal studio with the most basic equipment, overdubs done in Logic on a Mac, some editing done there too. Mixed using Reaper, with a great deal of love. These aren't yet 'mastered' so you are hearing the unadulterated mixes before any fairy dust and leprechaun like magic from a mastering engineer with an audio degree fromo Hogwarts and enough kit to sink the Belgrano twice over.... I hope you like them!

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='1226463' date='May 10 2011, 05:21 PM']Or not. They're also sensible enough to know that the only thing that differentiates heavy gear from lightweight is that heavy gear weighs more. Moot. All that proves is that you prefer one recording to another. [b]A recording is only as accurate as the gear it was recorded with and listened to on[/b].[/quote] And how good the room it was made in sounded at the time it was made......

Go here:- [url="http://www.invisiblelandscapes.co.uk/lh_music.html"]http://www.invisiblelandscapes.co.uk/lh_music.html[/url] The first two tracks I tracked the drums with a Zoom H4n and a couple of reasonable dynamic mics. The H2 is just a two track version Enough said....

Oh dear God, Neo is NOT a fad, serious PA have been nearly all Neo for a very long time indeed, simply put the haulage cost for a big neo rig is significantly less than that of a ceramic rig. Too many other factors to say why you like the sound of rig a over rig b, but the actual weight of the rigs is the least of it IME. +1 to the utter tosh in the OP!

Boost around 1-2kHz Cut a bit (careful or you'll sound thin) around 300Hz New strings