Recording - Great Papers on Setting Levels, Mixdown, Mastering, and DAW Setup

chromium · May 13, 2008, 11:46:45 AM

I built my computer recording setup a little over a year ago. A friend of mine migrated to Mac, and got me setup with his old PC version of Cubase SX (ancient - v 1.0!!), a bunch of VST virtual instruments (most of which I don't use - too much of a "hardware" guy), and a handful of virtual effects.

I had no idea how to use this stuff! The recording software seemed wildly complex! I still fumble around in it to this day, but I'm getting more comfortable with time and practice. I'm just recently learning how to bounce tracks thru external effects, and things of that nature. I'm too ADD to sit down at the onset and digest all of the manuals. I have a tendency to learn the hard way- by doing it first, and asking questions later.

One of the biggest struggles I've had to date is the art of mixdown and mastering. Every song I've done has levels set differently, so when played against each other, some sound "loud", some sound "soft", and they all sound different to me (usually worse) when I hear them for the first time on a different set of speakers or headphones. I mix thru three sets of different headphones, and a set of nearfield monitors - and still don't get it right because I'm fumbling around and don't really know what I'm doing!

I found this set of articles over the weekend, and thought I would share them. I already found several tips that will help me, and hopefully yield more consistent mixes and mastering efforts.

Mixdowns for Beginners
Guide to Mastering for Beginners
Leveling, meters, and many other topics along the way...

These take a while to get thru, but are well worth it! If anyone else has any recommended reading on these subjects, I sure would be interested.

P.S. While these can apply to just recording bass, these papers are more holistic in nature - so please forgive me if this is not the right forum for this subject!

Barklessdog · May 13, 2008, 12:33:31 PM

Great article. I tend to listen to my mix downs loud. I am going to try the quieter approach mentioned and see what happens

I also listen to my mixes in three ways-through my head phones, in my car and on my computer at work.

hieronymous · May 13, 2008, 10:11:47 PM

I'm going to have to sit down and read those sometime.

For a while I was hanging out at the recording project but haven't for a long time.

Rhythm N. Bliss · May 19, 2008, 05:17:50 PM

I gotta do some serious reading to get down with Pro Tools.
Axed the guitard who was runnin' it for me, now I'm LOST.

hieronymous · May 19, 2008, 08:06:06 PM

Quote from: Rhythm N. Bliss on May 19, 2008, 05:17:50 PM
I gotta do some serious reading to get down with Pro Tools.
Axed the guitard who was runnin' it for me, now I'm LOST.

I use ProTools - if you need any help or have any questions, I'll do my best to help!

Rhythm N. Bliss · May 20, 2008, 01:27:11 PM

Hey~ Thanks a lot, m8!

Rhythm N. Bliss · May 23, 2008, 03:19:49 AM

Quote from: hieronymous on May 19, 2008, 08:06:06 PM
I use ProTools - if you need any help or have any questions, I'll do my best to help!

Ok~ I turned on my Pro Tools board & double clicked on the Pro Tools icon on the bottom of my screen. My board now went from "Offline" to "Welcome to 003! Open or create a new session."
Somewhere I've got my whole bass part recorded to one of my songs.
Now I'm ready to sing the song but can't find it.
Like I said...I'm Lost!

hieronymous · May 23, 2008, 08:19:13 AM

First question - are you using a Mac or PC? Did you try to open a file? If you're lucky, the last thing you were working on will appear - otherwise, you have to go digging around.

Rhythm N. Bliss · May 23, 2008, 01:35:07 PM

Mac. Yeah, I'm digging.

Oh~ & I'm diggin' NEW METALLICA!

http://www.missionmetallica.com/

They're recording toooo

...& NEW CRUE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sWpS8iSDIY&feature=related

Barklessdog · May 23, 2008, 02:04:38 PM

If your on a Mac why not use Garage Band?

It's so easy a caveman can do it. Just set you input & output for you USB interface, if that is what you are using?

Push record, then push play, my kids were recording stuff within an 1/2 hour.

Rhythm N. Bliss · June 03, 2008, 08:54:43 PM

Got my ol' pal Steve back here to record my songs & music. He may be a nightmare to have around, but he knows his stuff about music & recording. I'm gettin' into ProTools now. Stayed up all night Sunday & recorded 37 tracks!!!!!!!!! 2 & a half hours of music.
Gonna get 2 cds recorded straightaway!! I'm on FIRE!!!