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Old 03-03-2009, 01:43 PM   #431
thinking allowed
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
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Yep, this is a great post!
Everything you've said is so right on!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by yep View Post
Following the above, and this is going to disappoint a lot of people, I'm afraid, we are going to start with the very un-glamorous back end of the recording chain.

Before you can do anything in the way of making polished recordings, you have to be able to trust your ears.

This cannot be over-stated. You must be able to trust what you hear, and only then can you start to make good decisions.
So true! My ears have been conditioned by every TV, boom box, aftermarket car stereo, computer speakers, and producer, to hear airy highs and punchy thump in recorded music, whether I like it or not. Even when stereos are in 'flat' mode, recorded music sounds like a far cry from 'real sound'.

I got my NS-10s a year and a half ago, and when I'd try to make a 'flat' recording, it always came out wrong. NS-10's are very friendly sounding, and you 'can' be 10 decibels off in some frequencies, and it will still sound way better than most any car stereo. But when you put on a reference CD, you will hear a difference.

For the longest time I was trying to make a mix that sounded like something good on my car stereo, with lots of highs, strong lows, subdued mids. I had to teach my brain to 'recall' what NS-10's sound like. And that meant I had to re-train myself to think what 'good sound' is supposed to sound like. Still, clients are always wanting me to make NS-10's sound like their car. I think your tips will help.

Quote:
Originally Posted by yep View Post
The main argument in favor of live recording is the ability to capture the authentic energy of the real performance. The main argument against it is the massive increase in technical headaches and/or severely limited flexibility compared with one-at-a-time multitracking.
In my town, 9 bands out of 10 think they're good enough to record live. Do you have any tips on the 'rattling snare' that happens during live recording in a small room? I figured out that low frequencies from the drums, guitar, bass all cause the snare's spring to rattle like crazy on certain notes. I swear that better drummers (with more expensive kits) don't have this problem as much. Am I crazy?
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