I'm shocked and troubled about my first VST

[Gulale]

I highly recommend mixwiththemasters.com Why going after youtube while you can learn from the masters. Every time I hear them talking about audio I get a goosebumps. Highly professional. The reason I don't go to Youtube except Pensado's is that they all collect their knowledge from these guys and walk around the bush. This is one of free stuff which can bee found there. https://mixwiththemasters.com/video/dec ... x-8-part-1

There is no need to be cheap when its come to knowledge and with all honesty it doesn't hurt to pay that amount of cash for the knowledge they give.

But from a person who tells me to mix in untreated Room crappy headphone and speaker inside cyber cafe and coffee shop I run as far away as possible. That is the mistake i don't want to repeat and I tell people not to do that. With all honesty I don't advice people to spend on plugins before they invest on a decent pair of Studio Monitors and headphones thats how you listen what your gear does to your adjustment. I have realised it the hard way. Up until recently I got myself Adam a7x and I was about to cry.

[Marco Raaphorst]

It's hard to say since I am 49 now and doing this stuff for a long time but I feel it's a lot more easy to mix these days because of the tools and the quality of equipment.

I am mixing an old 24 track analog recording at the moment. The noise, the clicks, the headphone crosstalk, the crosstalk and noise on the drums, that is really something else than perfectly multi-sampled clean drums and a bunch of MIDI tracks imo. You just put some saturation on that 808 kickdrum and compress it right, man mixing a powerful sound is SO easy these days compared to the old days... check out Spotify, even very "small" bands sound amazing these days.

Getting a great guitar sound used to be a task which was like super difficult. I tried and used so many tube amps in the studio in the past, but never got a sound I loved. I am mainly a guitar player. And I was always a total sound nerd. I use Urei compressors on those guitars. Never, ever got the sound I love.

People say: that old 70s sound is so good. Agreed, some stuff is so good. But a lot of stuff is so bad sounding. See I love for example Eddie van Halen as a guitarplayer. But just check out his old records. That guitar sounds thin! His playing is great but that guitar sound... no one ever want it to sound like this today.

Guess what? It is SUPER easy to get a great guitar tone thesedays. Just get a great guitar (yeah, that took me some years...) find the right input value and bang! isanely good sound. From Free Plugins! (I LOVE Ignite Amps plugins)

Sure, things take a lot of time. I am lucky being 49 and having experienced so many mistakes. And hating that quantisation shitty noise of the old samplers. But nowadays we have so amazing tools. With just a MacBook Pro and some good headphones you can make amazing sounding stuff. Well, years ago that was simply not possible.

Sorry for the rant

[EnochLight]

People say: that old 70s sound is so good. Agreed, some stuff is so good. But a lot of stuff is so bad sounding. See I love for example Eddie van Halen as a guitarplayer. But just check out his old records. That guitar sounds thin! His playing is great but that guitar sound... no one ever want it to sound like this today.

Except that many do. A lot of those early recordings from the 70's and 80's have such a distinct sound because of the poor recording, that it's often preferable to recreate that exact sound - just to get that retro feel. It's when sounding bad ends up sounding... good? I think we're biased because of our age, though.

[CaliforniaBurrito]

But from a person who tells me to mix in untreated Room crappy headphone and speaker inside cyber cafe and coffee shop I run as far away as possible.

Yeah that's a lot of BS in my opinion.

On a side note, I actually learn a lot from people who advise on what to buy and what to do and then I roll that into my own methodology. I'm still learning though of course just as everybody is. There's a balance to everything. We don't have to go into madness accumulating a bunch of stuff that won't be used but we also don't have to handicap ourselves just to have the satisfaction of staying in the box.

[Marco Raaphorst]

People say: that old 70s sound is so good. Agreed, some stuff is so good. But a lot of stuff is so bad sounding. See I love for example Eddie van Halen as a guitarplayer. But just check out his old records. That guitar sounds thin! His playing is great but that guitar sound... no one ever want it to sound like this today.

Except that many do. A lot of those early recordings from the 70's and 80's have such a distinct sound because of the poor recording, that it's often preferable to recreate that exact sound - just to get that retro feel. It's when sounding bad ends up sounding... good? I think we're biased because of our age, though.

It's relative. But I personally do feel things sound the best nowadays. Even when recreating those lovely retro sounding odd harmonics or aliasing...

[Marketblandings]

I was an Essentials user until recently.
No compressor or gate on the SSL with that
MClass isallyou get.

The MCLASS is more of a mastering compressor really so it's quite transparent. At low levels of gain reduction you can't hear it.

Howcome you weren't using the SSL channel compressors, they have more character and you can easily perceive their effect. Even the SSL master buss compressor is aggressive and full of character.

[Nerveclinic]

(He even did one of his CD's in Reason instead of Pro Tools, used a single $70 mic, a $100 interface and mixed it all on $49 headphones in the middle of a noisy Starbucks! And yes, it came out pro sounding)


Link?

[Nerveclinic]

If your willing to spend a little more you can get the real thing:
the real thing.JPG

I put the Cakewalk RE-2A on most of my sounds. What good will an actual piece of hardware do? I would need 10 for each song unless I owned an actual recording studio.

[modecca]

If your willing to spend a little more you can get the real thing:
the real thing.JPG

I put the Cakewalk RE-2A on most of my sounds. What good will an actual piece of hardware do? I would need 10 for each song unless I owned an actual recording studio.

Just use the 9 crappy RE emulations on 9 crappy tracks and the real thing, on the 1 good track (kidding).
Seriously though it would be fascinating to be able to hear the difference from the Re and the 3,500 dollar hardware.

[selig]

I put the Cakewalk RE-2A on most of my sounds. What good will an actual piece of hardware do? I would need 10 for each song unless I owned an actual recording studio.

Just use the 9 crappy RE emulations on 9 crappy tracks and the real thing, on the 1 good track (kidding).
Seriously though it would be fascinating to be able to hear the difference from the Re and the 3,500 dollar hardware.

Software is so close to the hardware these days. But also, there can be as much variation from hardware unit to unit as between hardware and software versions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Exowildebeest]

Just use the 9 crappy RE emulations on 9 crappy tracks and the real thing, on the 1 good track (kidding).
Seriously though it would be fascinating to be able to hear the difference from the Re and the 3,500 dollar hardware.

Software is so close to the hardware these days. But also, there can be as much variation from hardware unit to unit as between hardware and software versions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Maybe the next step in hardware emulation will be differences between individual software "units"

[Ahornberg]

Software is so close to the hardware these days. But also, there can be as much variation from hardware unit to unit as between hardware and software versions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Maybe the next step in hardware emulation will be differences between individual software "units"

That already exists: Waves NSL emulates up to 32 different hardware mixer channels and Brainworx bx_console E emulates up to 72 different mixer channels.

[selig]

Maybe the next step in hardware emulation will be differences between individual software "units"

That already exists: Waves NSL emulates up to 32 different hardware mixer channels and Brainworx bx_console E emulates up to 72 different mixer channels.

I think he was referencing my comment about different LA-2a's sounding more different from each other than the differences between the software and hardware.

As parts age (capacitors, for example) their performance changes. There are even stories of engineers liking the way one unit sounds, then it gets 're-capped' and they don't like it any more! This also affects hardware mix recalls - you can't just rent "any" LA-2a or Fairchild for your recall, you need to know which specific unit was used on the original mix.

I worked with audio rental companies in Nashville for years and this was always an issue for rented gear. Folks would request certain microphones/compressors/EQs that were their personal favorites. One of their Fairchilds was so popular it was shipped to a plugin developer to model that specific unit!

So will software begin to emulate these differences? Sure, why not - there are few frontiers left to conquer in the modeling world, and this will likely be one of them IMO!



Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk

[Exowildebeest]

Would be pretty weird to have "aging" software

[CaliforniaBurrito]

(He even did one of his CD's in Reason instead of Pro Tools, used a single $70 mic, a $100 interface and mixed it all on $49 headphones in the middle of a noisy Starbucks! And yes, it came out pro sounding)


Link?

I don't doubt the final product but I think he sends the wrong idea to people who are still growing. It can be done with experience and using visual cues while mixing. I'd be interested in knowing how often he looks at such visual cues while moving along with experience that was already obtained in the comfort of his own zone.

[CaliforniaBurrito]

I put the Cakewalk RE-2A on most of my sounds. What good will an actual piece of hardware do? I would need 10 for each song unless I owned an actual recording studio.

Same here. Hardware isn't beneficial to me but my friend across town does a lot of organic, experimental jamming with unpredictable vocals.

[CaliforniaBurrito]

Would be pretty weird to have "aging" software

Weird for sure and too unrealistic. Something like a "character" parameter that can be changed at will would be so much more feasible.

[QVprod]

(He even did one of his CD's in Reason instead of Pro Tools, used a single $70 mic, a $100 interface and mixed it all on $49 headphones in the middle of a noisy Starbucks! And yes, it came out pro sounding)


Link?

I don't doubt the final product but I think he sends the wrong idea to people who are still growing. It can be done with experience and using visual cues while mixing. I'd be interested in knowing how often he looks at such visual cues while moving along with experience that was already obtained in the comfort of his own zone.

Not sending the wrong message at all. I went to school for audio engineering and have learned plenty from watching his videos. Yes experience is what got him to get such a result with his $300 challenge but that's the point. He wants you to gain experience in actually using what you have before buying something else. He never says not to buy new things, just not to buy new things without understanding why you're buying it. Too many beginners buy lots of plugins to fix issues with out understanding how things work.

Here's the link to that video series https://www.recordingrevolution.com/cat ... challenge/

[EnochLight]

I think iZotope's latest FB post sums things up nicely:

mdern_recording.jpg (111.2 KiB) Viewed 2409 times

[CaliforniaBurrito]

Not sending the wrong message at all. I went to school for audio engineering and have learned plenty from watching his videos. Yes experience is what got him to get such a result with his $300 challenge but that's the point. He wants you to gain experience in actually using what you have before buying something else. He never says not to buy new things, just not to buy new things without understanding why you're buying it. Too many beginners buy lots of plugins to fix issues with out understanding how things work.

Here's the link to that video series https://www.recordingrevolution.com/cat ... challenge/

Ahhh fair enough. I wasn't aware of the monetary limit and startup aspects of the challenge.

That is a solid approach to get somebody down into the rabbit hole.

Propellerhead Mix/Master Rig is all the software you should want for another $300 though and even includes the RE-2A.

Let's make it a $600 challenge.

[Marco Raaphorst]

I think iZotope's latest FB post sums things up nicely:





mdern_recording.jpg

Mighty fantastic OGG Vorbis 320 kpbs I would say! Spotify can stream in ultimate quality.

I love new stuff

[CaliforniaBurrito]

Here's the link to that video series https://www.recordingrevolution.com/cat ... challenge/

Ok I just watched his closing video and his points are really just common sense. Stick with the same headphones, monitors, gear, etc. and utilize reference tracks. He acknowledges his end result wasn't all that great and makes the excuse of being unfamiliar with the cheap gear. Sure, if you keep on the same path, you're inevitably going to get better but why start off with crap when you can have a nice head start. This is why the Mix/Master bundle in the Prop shop is such a great deal. I would definitely go for that if I was starting from scratch. Cheerio.

[QVprod]

Here's the link to that video series https://www.recordingrevolution.com/cat ... challenge/

Ok I just watched his closing video and his points are really just common sense. Stick with the same headphones, monitors, gear, etc. and utilize reference tracks. He acknowledges his end result wasn't all that great and makes the excuse of being unfamiliar with the cheap gear. Sure, if you keep on the same path, you're inevitably going to get better but why start off with crap when you can have a nice head start. This is why the Mix/Master bundle in the Prop shop is such a great deal. I would definitely go for that if I was starting from scratch. Cheerio.

Most people don't have $600 to start with. $300 including the daw, headphones and interface is a more feasible option to do a challenge for people starting out. His end result was decent but not as good as his other stuff because of obvious reasons but also being new to Reason and only using the vanilla Essentials version (no RE). He didn't even have the full SSL. He normally uses Pro Tools. That will definitely have an impact if you're learning as you go on a time limit. I think it was only 1-2 months he did this for.

Also, I wouldn't exactly call the stock Reason stuff crap. It'll get the job done if you use it well. There are just other things that get a desired result easier or have a certain character. For instance, the RE-2A isn't the best choice for everything. For certain applications the MClass compressor will give you better results.

[CaliforniaBurrito]

Also, I wouldn't exactly call the stock Reason stuff crap. It'll get the job done if you use it well. There are just other things that get a desired result easier or have a certain character. For instance, the RE-2A isn't the best choice for everything. For certain applications the MClass compressor will give you better results.

Actually, my favorite EQ is the stock MClass out of all the EQ's I have simply for the fine functionality so yeah stock doesn't equal crap across the board. The stock compressor is long gone for me though like never ever being used again when I have RE-2A, Softube FET, both DCAMS and McDSP's.

[EnochLight]

I think iZotope's latest FB post sums things up nicely:





mdern_recording.jpg

Mighty fantastic OGG Vorbis 320 kpbs I would say! Spotify can stream in ultimate quality.

I love new stuff

Heheh - yeah, it's so frustrating these days. There's no parity in the formats, and you never know what you're going to get - aside from the vast majority being lossy.