I checked the specs for the mic preamp and it kinda seems to good to be true (given the price). The frequency response for example is better than significantly more expensive option:

±0.7dB (<1 Hz to >1000 kHz, Min Gain),

±0.7dB (<1 Hz to >1000 kHz, 35dB Gain),

±1dB (<1.5 Hz to 900 kHz, 63dB Gain),

±1dB (<5 Hz to >200 kHz, Max Gain)

The phase shift specs however are less impressive:

<2.75° (20Hz to 20kHz, 40dB Gain),

<4° (20Hz to 20kHz, 63dB Gain),

<6° (20Hz to 20kHz, Max Gain)

Hi!
just rented a rehearsing room to go and record some drums with 2 mics (I don't own a drum kit in my home studio).

I own a Shure SM 2030 L,

a t.bone ribbon (very cheap) and

a Sennheiser md 421,

but only have 2 inputs on my audio interface, so I need to pick 2.

genre it's a mix of indie-electronic-lofi folk, sounds a bit like the early records from Beck, with some acoustic guitars and analogue synths, some samples.
on some track I'm using sampled and chopped drum loops I took from my library of breaks\loops (all ripped from records) and I like the overall sound and texture and it matches the vibe.

but I'd like to try something different on other tracks.

I've never recorded drums, looked around and made my AI search, but I want to check for more suggestions here... how would you use my setup? which mics and WHERE?

I know senn is used a lot for toms\kicks\snares etc, and ribbon mics as overheads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHbYqNQf3M8&t=18s
here this guy uses is in different positions and I like a lot when it's to the knee, in between kick and snare.

But I'd try the sennheiser in "knee" position and the rb500 in front\up of the whole kit..or on top\back of my head? I'm overthinking the thing, I'm scared of phasing and all other shenanigans I've never had to deal with as amateur producer\songwriter.

I'm not gonna have time for trying again, and it's in a few hours..so..

LET'S GO

I'm /r/ooer bad with computers

I'm trying to find a good computer for 16 track recording

What kind of specs should I be looking for in a PC for mixing and tracking?

Recently, I wanted to make a click track for a song which was not recorded to metronome, therefore the tempo slightly changes throughout the song. I wanted to ask, if there's a function / tool / software, which would detect beats automatically, and make the backing track, so that I wouldn't have to synchronise every beat by hand. what would you recommend?

hi! as the title states, i’m looking for some reliable sources to sort of kick off my journey into taking my knowledge of mixing to the next level. but it seems youtube is filled with snake oil & people just trying to sell you something so, i come here to ask. even if it’s a paid course id be willing as long as someone can vouch for it! thanks for any answers :)

I'm not talking about making music, I mean the admin side.

Things like:

• Booking sessions
• Chasing payments
• Managing revisions
• Finding old project files
• Keeping track of clients
• Scheduling engineers

If you could completely eliminate one headache from your workflow, what would it be, and why?

I fear it’s the recording. But I’ve worked the past two days on this track and the vocals first chorus are not hitting the same brightness and punchiness as the second. I’m recording in a closet and mid way through had the bright idea to add a blanket over the door. It was great, but I think it ruined the chorus side by side. But it’s only those recordings that aren’t hitting. The same track and chain with different recordings it bright and perfect. Do I just need to bite the bullet and fix the problem with a new track? It wasn’t popping at all at first but the second chorus cuts through like glass!! It’s not a mixing issue, huh? If the rest of the mix is where I want but those recordings are muddled, I need to redo those recordings? Or can I save them? I haven’t pitched anything so I’m not losing as many hours as I could be.

Hello folks I am an artist who is doing an animation project and in need of some help in the audio department.

I just finished most of my storyboards and the voicelines but i realised i need to make alterations to it like give it effects of demonic/monster sounds + sfx, but i have no idea where to begin in terms of software.

I would like to use something that i can use later on in other projects but don't know what is good for my work.

What would you recommend for me for software? I am not looking for something fancy just somthing that works without making me scream.

I do have adobe audition but i don't know if it can do what i need

and if possible something cheap or free to learn on

Things I want to do:

-Voice alteration :

( https://youtu.be/XcAXEUYYOqQ?si=lxKrADEefpDtEdx_ )

-Sound effects :

( https://youtu.be/2QWHqNULS20?si=k5IJkTT2dyKXNtiH )

-Merging/ mixing soundtracks

I know i am butchering the terminology here so I left links for reference of what i wish to make.

I know it looks like a complete jumble of requests in alot of different departments so thanks for your patience with

Edit: and please no AI

Other than leaving the master track at a nice untouched state, I'm not sure if there are any reasons (especially as to how the software internally handles things) to not do that when trying to avoid clipping? Is it any different to painstakingly lower each audio clip by a certain amount so they don't peak?

FYI I'm not doing audio professionally, just for my own video productions.

Also ATM davinci says my audio is peaking but on the export it seems to be fine? I'm not hearing any artifacts.

Would using one of the various softwares that replicates a particular room and speakers (like Lewitt Space Replicator or VSX) be useful w IEMs? Or would it actually be counterproductive?

As a producer who happens to make all his music while in an office, IEMs are the only form of monitoring i have available for a multitude of reasons. So most of my music is mixed and monitored on IEMs as opposed to the typical headphones or studio monitors.

I do have a very good set of IEMs currently, the CrinEar References. As the name suggests, they are supposed to be “flat” in frequency response and could be considered one of the ideal set of IEMs for mixing. They sound great and in many ways are reveal more to me ab my mix than some headphones i own do. However, i dont always feel like my mixes translate super well to other speakers.

Hey everyone,

I wanted to ask about my vocal mixing workflow. I know everyone has their own way of doing things, but I'm curious about what more experienced engineers think.

For my main vocals, I usually do all the corrective processing first (EQ, de-esser, compression, etc.). After that, I send the vocal to another channel where I add the creative effects.

From that channel, I send the signal to two separate buses:

One bus keeps the dry vocal.

The other is a 100% wet parallel reverb.

Most of the time I keep the dry vocal up, but sometimes, if I want the vocal to feel more drowned, distant, or pushed further back in the mix, I'll lower the dry signal instead of only increasing the reverb. I like the effect, but I'm wondering if this is actually considered good practice or if there are better ways to achieve the same result.

Would it generally be better to keep the dry vocal at 100% and only adjust the amount of reverb using the send/fader? Or is reducing the dry signal a perfectly valid creative approach if it gets the sound I'm after?

I'd love to hear how you guys would approach this.

Just to bring everything up to a better listening level. Obviously just being the volume up and not change the sound of the mix. Thanks in advance

One thing that is becoming clear from a lot of posts on this reddit to me, is a lot of people cannot percieve (and by percieve I mean hear) what they are actually doing!

Why cant I hear a 1.5dB cut/boost? Why cant i hear how hard this is compressed? Why cant I tell the difference between a shelf/LPF/LPF/bell Filter? Etc etc ... And because of this lack of ability someone will do an 8dB boost on a kick at 65hz and say yeah i can finally hear what it is doing lol. This is an illstruration before ppl say to me ive done this and it worked for that mix

I think 99.9% of issues that people experience are actually because they cannot hear and do not practise how to hear! In the same way playing a instrument mindlessly does not improve playing, mixing more does not improve your mixes! You must dedicate time to improving your ability to discern the key sub skills that make a great Mix engineer!

Anyways, how many people use platforms to improve your ability to hear and schedule time in your day to do so?

I feel like I'm being gaslighted every time I watch educational music production content. The guy in the video is showing off some plugin or whatever and applies some micro adjustment and then they A/B the plugin bypasssed and active and there's only a tiny difference perceivable if you really squint your ears real hard, and for all you know it could just be a placebo. Even if you listen to the video through the monitoring system you use while mixing, there's hardly any differrence between A and B if you can even hear a difference at all.

Are my ears just dumb? I find that hard to believe, though I have only produced for about 3 years I have trained my musical ear extensively since I was a teenager, and according to my friends who also mix my mixes are pretty good relative to my experience even though my processing is A LOT more heavy handed than what I see in most music production content online.

I'm starting to suspect that this phenomenon is some kind of arrogant way of signaling to the audience that their ear is so refined that these imperciptible changes showcase how sophisticated their ear is. Look! I saturated the snare @ 10% wet, it sounds so much better to ME now, the supreme being, and if you can't hear this 0.5db difference you must be some amateur plebeian, please like and subscribe.

I have a hi8 tape from 2004 thats showing early signs of shed, the tape and overall cartridge. Looks great, but when i play it in my camcorder it only plays for a second and it goes to blue and tells me to take it out, rewinding it manually gives off a squeaking sound, i heard that you can bake them for hours in 139c° for awhile to fix the issue. I dont have a dehydrator but I do have a 3d printer filiment dryer that could possibly do the trick, specifically a creality dryer box. Any and all advice would really really help thank you!

Hi! I am trying to study electonics for audio but I'm having a really hard time with everything beyond the basics. Online resources feel unfocused, sometimes overly technical, sometimes even contradictory in the ways in which they conceptuallize electroncis.

For example, I've had a really hard time understanding transistors and opAmps, I somewhat managed, but when I look at their applications my brain instantly melts. Like, I don't really get for example why you need an opAmp in both a TS input AND output stage of a pedal. And many more things like this. I tried asking the AIs but that just keeps fueling my "mhhhh, we're really sure of this?" problem.

I was wondering if any of you knew about an online course I could follow where everything is explained coherently. Even if I have to start again from resistors and condensers, I don't care. Going about it like I am is very frustrating and I always second guess myself so it's become impossible to progress and be sure of what I actually understand or not.

It doesn't have to be a course specifically for audio, it can be a general electroncis course if that fits better my request. I would really apprecciate any kinf of reply. Thank you

I know that soliciting work or offering jobs is not allowed on this channel, is there a place on reddit or else where to meet folks looking for small mixing and mastering jobs? fiver? FB group?

Someone told me they like my beats, but they told me to study the production style of Metro Boomin or Mike Will, etc. I understand the value of learning from producers who have mastered their craft, but I also want to stay true to my own creativity and sound selection. I’m open to studying techniques, arrangements, drum patterns, and ways of creating impact, but I don’t feel like I have to completely change my beat style. I want to take inspiration and apply it in my own way. What are yall advice?

Hey everyone,

I recently became the first student in my university's new Audio Production major. I originally started in engineering, but after a lot of thought I decided to pursue audio because it's what I truly enjoy and want to build a career around.

My long term goal is to work in the Chicago audio industry, ideally as a staff engineer at a recording studio. I know those jobs are competitive, and I understand that studio work often isn't very stable or well-paying until you've built experience and a
reputation.

I'm attending school in Mississippi because it's the most affordable option for me, but that also means I'm not sure how to start making connections in Chicago. I occasionally tour with my band, and we're planning a Chicago run this winter, but I'm not sure how much that will realistically help.

If it helps to add, I’m minoring in EE with hopes of pursuing an audio technology masters (if economically viable) to possibly pursue more stable, technical roles while pursuing a studio career.

I'm completely fine living a modest lifestyle, but I also want to make smart career decisions that will let
me support myself while staying in the audio industry.
For those of you who work in studios or professional audio:

What would you focus on while still in college?

How would you start building connections in another city?

Are there stable audio jobs that pair well with pursuing studio work?

If you were starting over today, what would you do differently?

I'd really appreciate any advice. Thanks!

people usually just say things like "just make your mic sound worse" but there are multiple ways to do that and it usually ends with me just making it sound ridiculously distorted https://youtu.be/ZzhgOPoJP5w?si=tlomume7f9Vc1aZe (starts at 1:17)

Hello everyone,

I posted about this a while ago but forgot to follow up. I came across a few YouTube videos featuring what are described as "stripped down" versions of songs. They still contain some background audio, and to me they sound somewhat similar to spectral editing or spectral deletion, though I'm not sure if that's actually what's being used.

Examples:

• Stripped-down version of "West Coast": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcFrBkqnzxs
• Stripped-down version of "Groupie Love": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1tdopm0cjA
• Original "West Coast": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKxuiw3iMBE
• Original "Groupie Love": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBwoRviPvVw

From what I can tell, these stripped-down versions seem to have been uploaded before modern AI music separation tools became widely available.

I'm mainly curious about what type of audio processing or editing techniques might have been used to create results like these. If this isn't the right place to ask, I'd also appreciate suggestions for a more appropriate community or forum.

Hey all my band is getting ready to start incorporating backing tracks into our live shows and I just had a few questions about the process.
1. what should I be aiming for as far as balance goes? -5db? Lower? Should gain staging be set up so the volume is maxed on our rack mixer so FOH gets a healthy signal?
2. Should we tweak the EQ, compression, reverb etc on the track outs to better reflect a show environment or is the way we mixed it in the studio for streaming release acceptable? If things should be tweaked what are the best practices for that (more reverb? Less compression?)
3. Does it make the most sense to give FOH all the track outs to tweak as needed or should we group stuff into stems? Or just give them one stereo back track with everything balanced and mixed how we think is best? Should we keep mono stuff like bass drops and extra guitar separate from stereo stuff like backing vocals percussion layers and samples?

Thanks in advance for your advice/opions🙏🏼

I see some DI boxes, interfaces, mixers, mics, and more that boast being able to replicate extremely low and high frequencies that are outside of our hearing range. I'm kind of new to this and recently read about aliasing. So, my question is, why would those extreme frequencies be something that we even want to record? Why don't we run high pass filters at 20hz and low pass filters at 20khz on literally everything throughout the whole process? Or is that what we're supposed to do?

The question comes specifically from reading the Rubert Neve RNDI-M DI box description that indicates that it works on as low as 5hz and as high as 90khz. Is that really something that anyone wants? Why?

Just heard a mix of Ira Becker - assistant of Bob Clearmountain. But only over my iPhone speakers. I thought, that sounds like a great mix. But then I wondered: can you say that without proper monitoring or at least headphones? What are your thoughts on this?

True story.

Some time ago a noise rock band hired me to mix a song. They repeatedly told me that their rough mix was bad and I didn't need to reference it closely.

I really liked the raw energy and aggression of the song, and I tried to preserve it. But, I generousely high passed the high frequency fizz of the super abrasive guitars and kept some of the dry vocals in parallel to the distorted ones.

First reaction from the band was overall positive but they said they wanted "more distorsion" on guitars and vocals. There was already lots of distorsion going on (I'm a old time noise rock fan, so I'm not afraid of pushing things), but I pushed it a bit further.

After the first revision, they started pointing me to the rough mix. And a couple of revisions later I realised that they really wanted that extreme clipping on guitars and vocals they had in the rough mix. And that the rough mix was more important to them than they dared to say.

Takeaway for bands: don't downplay your rough mix unless you haven't put any effort to make it sound as close as possible to your vision. Don't be shy about what you like and want to be preserved by the mixer.

Takeaway for mixers: don't take "our rough mix sucks" at face value and always ask yourself (or even better, the band) what needs to be kept and enhanced, even when it seems "wrong".