Answers to common questions: I get a lot of questions in private messages, so let me answer a few of the most common ones: Q: I have $XXX. What should I buy with it? A: When on a budget, I would prefer used/outdated but great quality over new and cheap. 10 years ago, people were making hit records with this stuff (so you cant blame your gear on why you cannot do the same). I would buy used, but do your homework first. Popular used gear can usually sell for what you bought it for, so in a way it is almost free in the long-term. Some new gear is really groundbreaking though and may enable you to work at your best, so be open to new gear too if it fits your style perfectly. Q: Which gear is better, X or Y? A: Most of the time that is an unanswerable question. Better for what? Do you care about longevity? Would you like a good resale value? So many questions. Q: What is the fastest way to be good at mixing? A: By being completely honest with yourself. Watch out though, because if you are completely honest with yourself you may realize that you are fooling yourself and mixing is just a distraction for your suffering ;) Q: I have this mic. What preamp should I get (second most popular question)? A: Optimal gear choice can vary per song, performer, room .. even PARTS of a song. Go rent a big studio for a few hours and try out a zillion mic/preamp combinations. The studio may even like you and give you an internship. Q: Ive been working on this song for several years and I just cant get it to sound the way I want. A: Release it now or delete it. It has been circling the drain since you started working on it. Let it go. Turn around and swim with the current. Q: What is wrong with my mix? (various answers) A1: The arrangement sucks and the parts are walking all over each other. A2: The drummer needs work. A3: The bass player needs work. A4: The production needs MORE EFFORT. A5: There is nothing interesting in the song or arrangement. A6: If everything sounds huge, nothing sounds huge. A7: If everything is loud, nothing is loud. A8: Too much reverb. A9: Not enough reverb. A10: Needs more cowbell. A11: The hot lead singer with the killer voice is buried in the mix (and she is standing behind the drummer in the photo ... WTF!?) A12: Nothing. Its great! Send it out and move on. Q: I cant get my interface to work. There is no sound coming out of it (I seriously get this one a lot, believe it or not). A: Let me Google that for you! Q: How do you mix in such a small room? A: The room was intended to be used for personal projects because I was doing my professional work out of other professional studios, but I soon discovered that the mixes were coming out great (mastering engineers that worked with these mixes seemed to think so too!). I think the reason for this is because there is concrete behind the walls up to four feet and all walls and ceilings are filled with sound insulation, acting as giant bass traps. The floor is concrete, but I chose very thin anti-static carpet tiles over hard-wood to keep the reflections under control. The monitors are mostly resting on a slab of concrete (there is a piece of thin wood between between the slab and the monitor). There is also a nice plush couch in the back that acts as a bass trap. Many years later, I am still mixing in this temporary room. Because of the size, I have two other rooms that support the mixing room. The machine room houses all the computers, interfaces, gear I dont need to adjust like my spring reverbs and noisy gear. The other room next to it is for editing and some tracking and has its own DAW, monitors patchbay etc... This auxiliary rooms patchbay is connected to the patchbay in the mixing room. Q: How can I get my vocals to sound just like the vocals on my favorite song? A: Let go of this goal. Focus on YOUR song and then someone may be trying to imitate your recording some day. Q: Will you mix my music? What are your rates? A: Send me a link to your music and well talk. Q: What monitors do you use? A: Currently I use: Yamaha NS10s with a Bryston amplifier, JBL LSR4328s, Avantone Mix Cubes and Yamaha HS50s. Q: How do you get clients in this business saturated with engineers? A: I built up the client base in a slow and steady way. I choose the people I work with carefully and developed a solid working relationship with them. Some clients I have had since I started 20 years ago. Most of may new clients are through referrals. Q: What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? A: African or European?
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 21:02:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015