Has anyone recorded acoustic instruments (violin, etc.) in a desert before? If so, how did it go - what was the result like? I would appreciate any examples if you know of anyone who has done it.

I'm looking for a better monitoring option when recording my upright piano. I use Sony MDR-7510s for everything but when playing piano with headphones on, I feel very disconnected from the acoustic sound of it, even with the mics turned up. I tried some bone conducting headphones as a workaround but the quality is awful!

Just wondering if anyone has experienced this issue in the studio/with musicians playing acoustic instruments? And if open back headphones would feel more natural? I don't think bleed on the mics would be an issue with headphones and while it would be great to play along with the speakers on, I think this would negatively affect the recording!

Im trying to replicate that like grainy flipnote effect and I don't know how

Hey there, I’m at an impasse, I have a need for a mixer unit and I have two options I can think of.

1. I have an old peavy 8 it was made awhile ago and I will provide photos on post or in comments. I need to get it serviced for noise and pops as well as broken buttons for power, phantom, and pan and level knobs.

My local electronics store quoted me 75$ fee which covers up to 25 dollars in parts and the hours to fix it. If they open it and find something crazy I might get charged addition for extra parts and unforeseen labor. Cost approx 75-125 8 week lead time

Option 2. I’ve been looking on Amazon for other boards. I have the same budget for them that I do the approx repair 75-125 I know we are in the digital age and I’m okay with it however I do not have the best faith in the drivers in new boards than an old fashion peavy analog board. I need 6-10 channels and like how newer boards more often have an effect out/in and an effect library as well as usb outs. I run a stereo guitar mix, a synth mono channel, and vocals for me and guest / an extra guitar or instrument input. I do have drum mics and could utilize more channels in right circumstances. I’m just worried a new board won’t sound as great as my old one despite having new more conventional features such as combo xlr/TRS inputs.

I don’t have much basis to compare. I just sold my x18 cause I never had to use it. Any advice? Words of wisdom? I’m feeling the indecision

I don’t quite understand the concept of working with Dolby Atmos. Do you guys start a project in “Atmos Mode” from the beginning, or do you first make a stereo mix and then switch over to Dolby Atmos to create an Atmos mix? Also, does Apple require a separate stereo master and an Atmos mix as two different files, or is the stereo version for people without AirPods or a native system just a summed Atmos mix? Thanks in advance!

Has anybody used the stepped Mastering pultecs ? I work at a studio that has a pair, and the 5k shelf is to die for. A little hint of boost (to taste) on that just opens up my mixes like crazy, and for the life of me i cant seem to recreate it in the box. Im trying to do everything in my power but call Pultec and try to ask someone what its actually doing to the signal. Is anybody familiar with the hardware and heard how that shelf sounds and has any ideas? Shoutout Dave Pensado for the settings

People here usually advise against purchasing the brittle-sounding low-cost LDCs that have flooded the home-recording market, but some of us either bought one in ignorance or were given one as a gift.

Have any of you found a recording application you like for that type of mic?

EDIT: changed to "recording" application because yes, I know the resale value will buy me a coffee.

I am a "hobbyist" "audio engineer" who dreams of being a pro musician someday. I was wondering of pro musician-engineers how audio engineering as a full-time career helps or hurts your progress towards achieving your own musical dreams.

I can definitely see the benefits: working with pro gear in a well treated space you know, with ample practice on engineering and mixing techniques, you should be able to -- in theory -- easily record a great album using all your practice and knowledge and skills if you have good songs. You also get to know a lot of talented musicians you might be able to work with, and can adjust your own schedule to prioritize your own projects when you want to.

On the other hand, I could see a career as a pro leading you down the path of either demotivation to create art, or stagnant perfectionism.

At least until you are successful enough to be able to pick and choose who you work with, the grind of making a living as a recording engineer seems to be taxing and that seems like it could wear down your inspiration. If you have the privilege of selectively working with bands and musicians you want to work with, that could be inspiring, but 90% of producers don't have that privilege.

When you have to do 40+ hours a week trying to save the crappy local metal band with a drummer who can't play, the random people without any talent producing some vanity project, the cover bands, the girl who thinks she can sing expecting you to turn her into the next Taylor Swift through magic, a bunch of artist playing styles you really don't like, etc. just to pay the rent, does music becomes less of a passion and more of a job?

A lot of producing seems repetitive, playing to genre expectations and radio standards -- and while I could see this all as honing your skills and problem-solving as a producer, especially if that is your preferred style to make, I know for a fact I would hate the reality of life as a pro engineer taking every job I can, because I hate modern music in general and think it would adversely impact my own standards and songwriting.

I would think physically it could also be taxing. Unless you block out time off work for yourself, when you have spent 50 hours engineering and mixing, your ears may need a break before you can focus on your own work. I work in IT so when I do music in my off hours I'm coming in with fresh ears every day.

On the flipside, for those who maintain the fire and inspiration even through the grind, you have all this top of the line equipment, this great space and every skill on earth, and I could see you constantly getting sucked down the wormhole of perfectionism. "It's not good enough" "I'll fix it in the mix" "No I wait want to re-record it after all."

You'll put more attention to detail to your own work than you will to someone else's, and this can be time-consuming, and with unlimited skills and access to any plugin and virtual instrument under the sun you can easily overproduce yourself.

And since you're a pro, you will likely need to get back to focus on producing others which could disrupt progress unless you can crank your art out quickly.

Also, there is pressure becaus,e barring a big hit album you produced that can use as your career resume, whatever you put out yourself kinda becomes your production resume, since you will never produce other artists with the same passion you produce yourself. And if you aren't the world's greatest musician, it could impact your career to put out something substandard.

Do you find your audio engineering career inspiring, uninspiring or mixed?

Hey, I've been looking for different file sharing apps that are more collaborative to help with communication between me and a client, especially during the mixing stage with the ability to give timestamp comments and such. One that I've seen is Boombox.io where you can do projects and add people to the project, it also doubles down as it accept image files so I can additionally use it for photography.
What file sharing services do you use that provide similar features that you have enjoyed?
Thanks!

Pretty much the title but the plan is to get moving blankets and attach the foam pads on top with foam bass traps to help sound treat the room.

I’ve learned that foam pads alone makes the audio sound boomy so is this a good cheap counter to the issue?

This is a short one but its fucking hilarious. This guy calls, and of course in the background is a screaming baby and loud music. He's like, "Yo what do you charge per hour?"

Me: Studio A is $95/hr. Studio B is $85/hr

Him: Whaaat? What if I don't need no engineer?

Me: I do not book studio time without me present.

Him: I got this artists in in town (Phoenix) and we need to do some vocals tomorrow-- who you recorded with?

Me: There is a list of recent clients on my website and insta.

Him: Well come on, gimme a name, I mean if you're charging so much you must have had some real people there.

Me: I've had Dua Lipa, DJ Snake, and some other A listers, but remember most A listers have their own spaces, these were people who were in town and their labels needed some things

Him: Who is that? I mean REAL PEOPLE

Me: Dua Lipa? Like one of the most popular pop artists in the world?

Him: No no, I mean Rappers!

Me: I don't think this is the best fit for you, I'd suggest you try another studio.

Him: hangs up.

Everyone loves to talk about the YouTubers who spread bad advice (without naming anyone for some reason?)

Does anybody want to list who they love watching and getting good advice / results from?

It didn’t allow me to post the photo, but I’ve been going through a good friend’s warehouse stuff. He’s been into recording most of his life (and taught me how to use my first 4-track in 1992).

At some point he had two Tascam DA-88’s, a huge 32-bus Maxie mixer for it, and random rack effects. The mixer requires two people to move it (safely). The snake and power supply itself it ridiculously huge.

My main point though is I had no idea how heavy these old DA-88’s were. It feels like they have gold bars inside (but with reversed value appreciation).

Anyway, this is more a “good old days” post than a question.

But I would like to ask the engineers who have been at it for decades- Was there a piece of gear you absolutely hated, especially when it came to moving it around?

https://snaptik.icu/blog/audionamix/

Hoping this doesn’t get taken down or anything. I’m 19 and I just got accepted into Belmont University. I’m double majoring in Audio Engineering and Songwriting. I guess I just don’t know if I’m excited or nervous. In a place like Nashville, TN (where the school is located), I know there would be a demand for this field of work, but I also know there’d be a lot of competition.

Apart from the geographical commentary, I start school in August and I’m having anxiety over my future financially…I have a passion for it and I do enjoy it, but bills don’t pay themselves and I (with all respect) don’t want to work retail or bussing tables for the rest of my life.

Can I look forward to financial stability doing this full time? In other words, can I make a living doing this? Or should I start putting eggs in other baskets? And if I can’t make a steady living doing this full time, should I even pursue this education? Belmont does have great opportunities and resources for me as a musician…but what about my future after school?

TL;DR: Should I feel optistimic about a career in this industry?

Edit: No need to downvote bomb, guys. I’m not hurting anyone by asking abt what my future could be like…that’s all.

Well I did. I’m 21 yr old. I graduated from SAE Institute New York. TBH it was my dream to work in the industry. I had knowledge on mixing and mastering basically but I felt alone and I went to the school 2022 to advance my career and graduated 2023. Sometimes I look back like damn lot of people quit ig this was not for them. After graduation things got hard I had to move from New York to New Jersey. I went broke and I’m in debt also homeless staying with my friend in Iowa. Family members think I wouldn’t make it but I’m never quitting on music 💪🏿.

Yes ofc I have other goals and careers. If ask me was it worth it? Yes! I network and met people, everything was hands on. I learn to work the SSL 4000G. I learn 10 careers in the music industry and I’m a certified audio engineer with multi records. I won’t give up on God.

I’m down to work!!.

I truly wonder why people like the pro-q4.

It does come with all these nice features, I agree.

but in my experience all that becomes unusable with the phase issues it causes. and my god is that massive. and if i put it on linear phase mode it just causes wayyy too many problems. crazy latency, lag, etc. its a god awful experience for me.

the spectral analyzer doesnt seem very intuitive to me.

meanwhile my FL studio eq's linear phase mode doesnt even cause the slightest bit of latency or lag. and i seem to get better results with it too, because its more passive and more forgiving. the spectral analyzer is more intuitive in my experience.

and there is probably some more stuff i could point out from my experiences.

So I just wanna ask, how are your experiences? Do you recognize these issues? if so (and you still use pro-q4), how do you work around them?

Sorry for the bad Simpsons reference in the title... I'm interested in hearing some perspectives about mixing kick and bass. I have trouble determining if the kick sound is weak, or if the bass is masking an otherwise serviceable kick sound. Perhaps those are two sides of the same coin, since masking can be addressed by boosting somwhere in one instrument, or by cutting somewhere in the other.

As an example, here's an excerpt from a song I'm working on: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cufkxMTsX1utKToCAHSFYfwbOmq8EHO6/view?usp=drivesdk

The drums are double tracked which adds a wrinkle, but I've got only one kick, so it should work for the purpose of this question. I don't hate how it sounds, but I feel like there's some missing clarity between kick and bass. In a sparse mix like this, I feel like I should be able to get great separation, but that's not how it sounds to me right now.

I'm kinda going for a kick and bass interaction like Green Earrings by Steely Dan, if that helps.

I can also post isolated drums and/or bass if that helps. Overall, I'm curious what y'all would do to get better separation in this case, and also how you like to approach this problem in general!

Example:

https://open.spotify.com/track/3gGMsx3jxYKfhXq8LMj1tz?si=PX24gx4ERemFslZd3I1JKw

How to get my synths, claps, hats, Kicks , Bass to Sound More Like This?

Lots of saturation I guess, but I cant really get close. Any idea what they did for that Sound?

Hey I'm currently building a home studio and I'm about to run cables from the control room to the live room. I was thinking of making my own cable box to keep everything organized and clean. Has anyone done this and have any tips? Last studio I built I went with PROAUDIOLA.COM they have legit cable box setups. This time I was hoping to save some money and build it myself. Any advice would be welcomed. Thanks! Cheers!

I just bought a microphone and my partner doesn’t know about it. I’ve been thinking about buying this microphone for months. I pulled the trigger when she stepped out to pick up the kid. It felt like an impulse buy but it wasn’t. I told her a couple of weeks ago that I would curve my pro audio expenditures as they are adding up rather quickly. The funny thing about this microphone is that I already have one. The reason I got a second one is because it has multiple polar patterns, and I wanted two of them to record in Blum line or phased array configurations. Also, the American examples are quickly disappearing, and the ones that are left are getting more expensive every day. I don’t know how I’m going to justify this to my partner or talk my way out of getting into trouble with her. I feel a tinge of guilt, but I also feel relieved because I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. For those of you with small home studios that aren’t bringing in the big bucks yet. How do you approach your partner?

Does Spotify and YouTube have different compression methods? Some songs on YouTube are so quiet but on Spotify way louder. Where do y’all get references from?

Even more for people that mix rap or pop. Is there a method To get a good reference track?

Hi everyone! I’m trying to improve my mixing skills and have been learning about bussing. One thing that I’m wondering is if when you bus, do the tracks you bus only go to the bus, which then goes to the master, or do they individually go to both the master and the bus

For example, if I have guitar track and a separate bass guitar track, both going to a reverb bus, is that the only thing they should go to?

So like Master <—— Reverb Bus <—— Guitar and bass guitar

Or, does each track have two routes, one going to the master and one to the bus?

Anyone get what I’m saying? If not I can draw a diagram. Basically asking if each track should have two routes, one to the master and one to the bus, or if each should have just one to the bus, which then goes to the master.

Thanks for any help!

There's a song from a game I like that has certain elements in it that are only in one of the audio channels, and by changing the LR audio balance on my speakers I can get these interesting "alternate" versions of the song. I want to remove one of the audio channels from the audio file itself, but the only editing software I have access to (iMovie) doesn't have this feature (because iMovie is hot garbage and lacks most useful features). Is there some kind of online service I can use that will remove one of the audio channels for me?

Hey All! Please be kind as I'm a noob and making discoveries, I just want to make sure I'm not crazy. I am recording everything from home with Neural DSP plug ins, through a 2i2 for guitar. And a SM7b through that as well.

I meticulously made sure I was hanging in the -20 to -10 range besides one off peaks.

I am finding myself turning the guitars to like -10db or lower for the more distorted guitars, (less for clean) and sometimes turning vocals up to like +2-3db to get the volumes sounding correct. At the risk of looking dumb - is that normal? I hate to ask "is that okay?" But is that okay? Also is everything okay as long as the stereo out is under 0.0? I may just be caught up on the actual visuals of low vs high but am concerned about overall quality.

Happy holidays to all and thanks for your support :)

Hey all. I’ve been improving slowly in terms of mixing my own (electronic and hip hop) music but what I struggle with is low end. I’ve seen places that say you need a sub. I’ve seen other folks say to use reference mixes, I’ve seen other people say to get bigger speakers, and I’ve seen some say to treat your room.

I am a bedroom producer with an untreated room and a pair of HS5s.

I sometimes try to mix on my headphones but I feel like I don’t hear enough of the low end.

I’m sure so many of these issues are just silly rookie mistakes but I’d love to hear what more experienced producers have to say about this and if you could possibly lend a noob a hand .

Thanks in advance!!

How do you prefer to process a stereo track from SD3 or similar? What hardware and/or plugs do you use? I’m not a big fan of some of the internal plugins inside the SD3 software but I also understand it can be much quicker than breaking everything out into individual tracks and doing your own processing.

Just had the kids do their first skate on an indoor (garage) ice rink I built but the sound is unbearably loud. Opening the garage door and the two little side windows don’t appear to help at all.

What can I put up that will deaden the sound inside and out?

Do I want sound deadening, absorption or proofing? I’m a bit confused by all the differences and would appreciate some experienced opinions.

Television Studio & Television Broadcast Audio Engineers!!

I have a question around best type of headset mic to use in a television studio / Live broadcast scenario setting.

I come from a stand on stage and deliver your presentation background, where we would exclusively use directional headset mics, something like the DPA 4x88 series, and the work great!

Recently I’ve started working in an environment where there is a studio style desk setting (think ESPN post show), but it’s not located in a isolated sound stage with controlled ambient noise. Instead it’s with in a larger room, where other people are milling around looking at booths in the background (think Comic-Con or NAMM). Historically they have been using OMNI directional headset mics for their hosts, who sit at a desk in the middle of all this. I personally think it brings too much room noise into the mix, but I know there are benefits to using Omni mics vs directional (I.e. theaters use them a lot, they have less reactions to plosives & don’t cause unnatural sounding voices as easily). But there are negative too (too much room noise haha).

So my question to you who have worked in similar environments before is,

• When using a headset mic in this type of noisy environment, but where you have a studio like setting, do you choose Omni or directional?

• What are the benefits of choosing Omni if that’s what you use? Why did you choose Omni?

OR

• Why do you choose a directional headset mic instead of Omni?

Thanks ! Look forward to this discussion. And if this is the wrong thread to post this question in, please point me in the right direction 🙂

I have an extra room in my apartment that I use mostly for practicing and recording trumpet. The building is old and my downstairs neighbors have expressed that it's quite loud, but they're pretty cool about it given that it's my profession and have said they can tolerate 1-2 hours of playing at certain times of day.

To give myself a little more flexibility, I'm trying to figure out how much I could gain from soundproofing. I know there is no such thing as true soundproofing an apartment room - I'm renting and can't do anything to the construction of the floors/walls. But I've also gathered that it's low frequencies that travel the most, and my trumpet doesn't produce anything much below 200 Hz. Most of what I've read about the futility of soundproofing an apt seems to center around those low frequencies.

If I could just get a 50-60% reduction in sound transmission I think my neighbors would be pretty happy. Could this be achievable if I lay a bunch of mass-loaded vinyl on the floor, put felt under the rug, and seal up the door with foam? Or with any other acoustic treatments under $1000?