Well it’s been a little while since I’ve been around the forums. The good news is because the studio has been busy and my day job has picked up! I just wanted to share an update of sorts on my previous post that was based on learning from a very challenging project. My work since has been very fulfilling and has really allowed me to confirm my insights that I previously stated. Some of this is a bit rehash, but I wanted to convey that I’ve taken some big steps in the right direction and my ideas brought before have helped me and held up over time as I’ve worked with better artists and worked on more projects.
To start, I have upgraded my studio quite a bit in the past year. I went from 2xDelta 1010’s to a Lynx Aurora 16 w/ a Lynx AES16. This really made a difference. The signal that gets to my hard drive is the signal that came out of my preamp, meaning it does not lose anything at the convertors. No more digital haze. Then I upgraded my preamp section to an API 3124+. So I now have an API 3124+, FMR RNP, and then a Mackie 1604 VLZ for any extra tracks I may need to record at one time. Having both of these MAJOR upgrades has allowed me to create a mix with a more defined soundstage, and give me some more confidence that the sounds I’m getting to/from my monitors are going to be what I hear in the outside world.
Speaking of translation, I also dropped a bunch of cash on some Gik Acoustics treatment. 18 pieces. My room has never sounded better, and my mixes have never translated as well as they do with the treatment. This was actually the first thing I did after my last little article on these boards. When a client walks into the studio, they now KNOW it’s a studio that means business. Sure, they don’t know why I have the stuff on the walls, but they see it and think “This isn’t just another basement studio”. They see the treatment and make a connection in their minds to the studios they see on TV or whatever. I can relate, I was the same way when I was inexperienced in a studio. I didn’t get treatment for this reason, and it’s actually worth it to get yourself some treatment just like everyone says it is… but I wanted to share that little bit because it’s a big benefit from doing up your room well. Make it look nice and people will notice and take you much more seriously. Even the Mackie 1604 gets a LOT of attention from clients. They see a decent sized mixer and assume it’s going to be used a lot; they don’t know it’s mainly extra pre’s for drum and used mostly for headphone mixes!
Another upgrade that has helped me is moving to learning and using UAD plugs. Putting the 1176LN and Pultec/Neve on a kick drum often is a good starting point for the rock mixes I do. The LA3A is probably one of my fav compressors. If only I had the cash to spend on one or two of these in hardware-land… 
So here’s some updates based on my last article:
The last time I wrote, the artist in mind was not well rehearsed. I’ve recorded some bands since then with all my new gear and I’d had much more experience, but the projects still turned out like junk (to my ears) because the bands or artists were just not tight with their material. I’m not one to sit and edit a song for 4 hours before I start to mix, which is simply my choice. I’ve realized that I enjoy mixing songs like the artist play them, as in I want to mix what the mic hears. Sure, I’ll put some delay on the vocals, dirty up the bass, get the kick to sit nicely in the track… but I’m not going to change your drummers horrible timing in every bar or pitch your singer’s every word if they can’t sing. The band who I’ve worked with who know their sh!t can come in, lay down their tracks with ease, experiment a bit, take my advice on tone or parts played, and leave happy. The guys who come in not knowing their stuff leave pissed at themselves or their bandmates every single time. The process is not fun when these ppl come in. Recording is meant to be fun and new for most of the people I work with, not something to frown while doing. At the end of the day, those who know their stuff are basically mixed before I even touch a fader.
The artist from my last post made me do 9-song in two weeks… including a home-brew mastering. I have a day job and a band of my own that plays out a lot. So when I get home, I do want to mix 9/10 days, but if I want to see my girlfriend I’d like to tell her that we have the night to hang out. If I get pissed off or over-worked, I notice that the work suffers. I rush through it or don’t make smart intuitive decisions. On a long project you will get sucked into using ‘presets’, that is, the settings from your first mixed song for the other ones. That often leads to a boring bunch of tunes because by the time your done everything sounds a bit the same… but hey at least you overworked yourself and made the deadline! Sure, you should work hard at your studio to make the client happy but the difference is when the artist is one of those who aren’t tight and yet ask for a rush job. Things add up to create either crap or gold!
If the artist knows the game, they will let you take your time. Most of the bands I’m currently working with simply tell me to take my time and be done when I’m done. That doesn’t always happen, but it’s nice when it does… and I usually work longer and harder for those people.
At the time of my last post, I would tend to rely on getting a workable source and trying to tame it later on. Now I take the time to dial in the amp, move the mic to the right spot, and just get it going right from the start. The thing is, this takes some experience because you have to keep in mind the sound you are going for in the end. You wouldn’t have the guitarist in a heavy metal band crank the gain, lower the mids, and later try to EQ the mids back in. If you want a clicky drum sound, get the right mic, get it in the drum, and make it happen while tracking. So now when you mix, you can sit there and say “Does this sound really need much at 5k? Do I really have to set the attack time so high on my compressor?” I often track distorted guitars and leave them as-is without any compression ITB or much, if any, EQ. If it sounds good, it IS good. Having said that, if it doesn’t sound good after tracking, then I try to get another sound.
In a nutshell…if you play like junk, your recording will sound like junk cause I’m not spending 4 hrs of my time fixing junk. You could say “Well then get them to play it until they get it right”. I charge by the project, not by the hour. One of the reasons is because I expect you to be ready to play when you come in. If you can’t play, then I’m recording your best performance I can get from you, but it’s still probably not top-notch. I can usually tell when someone isn’t going to be playing well after their 1st or 2nd take… and I’m sure most of you can as well… so once again why waste your time? Give them their recordings the way they played them.
I usually listen to a similar artist that I enjoy during the same time period as the project starts, give it a rest during the actual tracking process. then listen again before I mix. I don’t really listen heavily to a reference during the mixing session or anything because then I’ll try to ‘copy’ that artist. I’d rather have the ideas and concepts in my head while I mix so I end up with an original sound that fits the artist. This goes hand in hand with ending up with a recording that sounds like how you played.
This next point is painful for some people to realize and get across. You can’t be band X on the radio. The band you are recording loves their kick sound, is influenced by them, and wants their guitars to be as deep as band X, but you have to realize (or help THEM realize) that you aren’t in a million dollar room with a grammy-nominated mixing engineer and producer. Of course, you don’t say that… but a reality check is sometimes needed. Sure, I have API, some damn good mics, Lynx convertors, and now a decent ear… but that doesn’t mean I can put out the same quality as Andy Wallace working on an SLL. You get more than what you paid for when you come to me (IMHO), but there’s a limit. Apparently it’s hard for some people to say that… I’m always hearing crap from bands who go to a studio and are told they will sound like gold, spend a fortune, and come away peeved.
So those are some of the thing I’ve learned, and reinforced, in my little project studio. It’s been real fun, and I have more to write and ponder over but it’ll be posted in a separate blog probably very soon. I hope my thoughts have been entertaining to you. Cya ’round the net!
- Erik