roman_sub

Sometimes people detune / change speed of mp3s they put on youtube... if it's the whole band, and original was recorded on tape, maybe the mp3 you hear was recorded when tape playback wasn't *quite* at the perfect speed. I think Pantera de-tuned around 10 cents flat on purpose (can't remember exact number). Another example is that I was looking at the multitracked session I did of a live orchestra performance - and these guys were as much as 24 cents sharp (against A440) by the end of the symphony, and they're highly trained pro's. However, most importantly, they were in tune relative to one another.... I've actually contemplated recording a full album tuned to A = 432Hz... just because I can! No such thing as absolute pitch - and don't even get me started on the inherent tuning problems within Western equal temperament tuning! ;-)

Warren is the real deal IMO, as far as real world experience goes. His credits include Aerosmith! I think he has a lot of good stuff online, but ultimately his aim is to get you into his paying PLAP program - which is fair enough. As with anything on the internet, I'd suggest taking a critical approach towards what is being presented. I'd suggest looking by topic (e.g. multiband compression, or mixbus EQ) from a variety presenters and taking bits from them, as opposed to trying to learn from one person only. That also reduces risk of you "learning" from someone who doesn't actually know what they are talking about - not naming names, but a polished youtube channel appearance doesn't mean anything...

that neck is really something! so sexy it should be illegal etc ;-)

looks sooo good so far!

another smooth deal, top guy!

nice set up! and yes, Moog filters are legendary Weoh-whoosh... etc

so how is it?

This makes a Wishbass look good!

I think I like it!

Thanks guys. Just a quick bump to say that I have identified an acoustically usuable (and cheap, at around £10ph!) space to record drums and/or a full band, in around Redhill / Surrey. I have an excellent set of drum mics and now a good space to record loud sounds in! I have recently recorded and mixed two classical sessions for a professional London orchestra, plus a number of contemporary music track mixing projects. I am now doing these on a chargeable basis. Still looking for experience recording and mixing full band - offering my time for free for a few projects. Hit me up with any opportunities please.

Ps this article may give you a few ideas https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/session-notes-elephant-tree

I would start by finding the place in the room where the drums sound best. Try walking around with a snare drum, hit it, and identify where the snare/room sounds the best. Set up the kit there. If you are mixing/recording in the same space, I'm assuming you won't be using monitor speakers at the same time as drums are being recorded (so you'll monitor via headphones). You may consider setting up the control desk so that you have line of sight to the drummer. Acoustic treatment for the control area will be somewhat tricky to get perfect. If money was no object, it would obviously be better to create two rooms, one for tracking and one for mixing.... Anyway I'd suggest focusing on getting drums sounding good acoustically within the room first, and get adequate monitoring on headphones. That will allow you to capture good sounding drum first, something you can't really 'fix in the mix' - unless you replace the kit with samples (yuck...) You'd have to make more compromises with your mixing space, but you can probably adapt this more and 'learn' it. Worst comes to worst, you could mix somewhere else. I think few project studios have good sounding live rooms but many are well set up for mixing. You can't however do much with badly recorded drums.

Properly applied compression will help the mwah come out. Ideally you want a compressor that lets you set the attack/release to enhance the sound. Some gentle overdrive/saturation may also help to bring out the the harmonics and give the bass more 'character'.

Really depends on whether you intend to mix in the same space as record. Room problems (standing waves, early reflections) occur in most household rooms that would make your monitors less "truthful" and make it hard to do mixes that translate well in other places! Adding channels via ADAT is an effective way of expanding your kit to record drums - i recently purchased Audient ASP800 for this very reason, and connect it via ADAT whenever I need more channels than my RME's have. I guess you should be careful about whether you are trying to optimise the space for recording, or mixing. Fashion nowadays is to record as dry as possible - which can be helped by doing things like hanging up duvets behind the singer. lots of good advice in Sound on Sound articles. That may work for a corner of your "mixing room", but an entirely different approach / new set of compromises may be needed if you want to record drums in the same space as you mix / monitor. Drums normally sound best in a good room, so making it completely "dead" is unlikely to get great results IMO... It is definitely a journey, so take your time, experiment, and try to understand some of the physics underlying what's happening - then you can address problems as you become more and more aware of them. I guess I'm saying that you shouldn't expect to have a great sounding space with perfect results straight away - but don't get discouraged! It's definitely a hugely complex area - with the key pothole being that you can easily sink lots and lots of money into things that make objectively little difference to the results. Studio gear GAS is even more dangerous than bass/guitar GAS, in my experience... you've been warned!

bottom left - summing box, and bottom right - AMEK limiters? very tidy, great job

Just finished mine, and tested it in anger at rehearsal. Thought i'd share the photo. I made custom length cables, took a few hours but saved a few bob . One spot CS12 power supply is secured underneath. Cali76 and Aphex are 'always on' tone shapers, others used as needed.