# Where's My Engineers At?



## ImTheFireMan (Feb 6, 2010)

any other audio engineers out there? 

anyone familiar with the terms DAW, pro tools, cubase, logic, ableton live, digidesign, toft, non DAWs such as reason and FL studio. 

lets talk equipment, compression or EQ or mixing techniques. 

anything having to do with recording. 
lets hear what you got, i'm no guru(yet)


but i'm also not the worst(by far)

if you have any questions on anything i might be able to help you with something. or vice versa,


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## Sadistikal87 (Feb 8, 2010)

I have been in several bands, played many shows, and have recorded many tracks. I will discuss this with you all day man as I to am hungry for knowledge, ideas, and criticism. Lets see where to begin... Well my recording set up consists of the following...

Microphones: 2 Nady DM80 bass drum mics (One for my kick and the other works really well for micing a bass guitar amp), 8 Nady DM70 Tom/Snare mics (I use some of these for my toms and ambient noise), two Nady CM88 mics (I use these for my overhead mics they do a great job at picking up cymbals. Also when recording guitar I put one far away from the amp to collect room noise produced), Shure SM58 Mic (I use this for my snare drum and for guitar tracks), Shure SM57 mic (Vocals), and a Nady starpower mic (Back up vocals). 

Cables: All Hosa and a few whirlwind 1/4 inch jack for guitars.

Mixer: Behringer Xenyx 2442FX Mixer.

Rack mountables: Behringer Multicom Pro-Xl Mdx4600 Processor (basically a noise gate, limiter, and compressor all in one)

Recorder: Fostex MR-8 Multitrack recorder

Studio monitors: Pair of Fostex PMO.4 Powered studio monitors.

Recording software: Cakewalk (the older version as I am more familiar with it and used to using it.)

I am always over critical on myself so I am never satisfied with my recordings but I have come a long way from where I was and can only get better.

I will leave you with that man as I'm not sure if you are interested in my other equipment or just focused on recording related stuff...let me know and lets get this thread going.
*

*


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## ImTheFireMan (Feb 8, 2010)

Sadistikal87 said:


> I have been in several bands, played many shows, and have recorded many tracks. I will discuss this with you all day man as I to am hungry for knowledge, ideas, and criticism. Lets see where to begin... Well my recording set up consists of the following...
> 
> Microphones: 2 Nady DM80 bass drum mics (One for my kick and the other works really well for micing a bass guitar amp), 8 Nady DM70 Tom/Snare mics (I use some of these for my toms and ambient noise), two Nady CM88 mics (I use these for my overhead mics they do a great job at picking up cymbals. Also when recording guitar I put one far away from the amp to collect room noise produced), Shure SM58 Mic (I use this for my snare drum and for guitar tracks), Shure SM57 mic (Vocals), and a Nady starpower mic (Back up vocals).
> 
> ...



hell yes. from the sounds of it, it seems like you have a very legit setup. 

i love most shure mics. i also like to use the 57s for Vox sometimes. 


i have the shure pg 6 piece setup for the drums plus i like to throw the cascade II ribbon mics for overheads.

i have a vocal booth as well when needed with a mojave ma200. this is probably the best mic i've ever used for vocals. i also have an AKG c214 i like to use on amps and vocals or recording acoustic instruments. 

plus a shitload of shure57s 


i have hosa cable running thru the walls that connect the 2 xlr panels, one on the control room side, the other in the live room. 

but i like to use monster cable anywhere else. it gets pricey but i think it makes the slightest difference. 


i have a C24 board that i run with protools but have been thinking about selling it with the desk to go full analog. i was thinking about going with the TOFT board. the board itself is compact and sleek looking. its 32 channel board. the EQs on this thing are so cherry and warm. 

i also run other software for recording. 
ableton live is a good one. 
so is cubase and logic but i think i'm most skilled with pro tools. 


on my racks i have a tube tech compressor, behringer t1954 sound excitor. this crappy behringer EQ i'm not too fond of and my patchbay on one side. on the other i have a roland v-synth xt sound module, this thing is bad ass. 
also i have a moog analog synth rack mount 
and a presonus m80 preamp stereo summing bus. which is ok. 


i like to take most of my recordings to tape once i have recorded digitally, and i have a teac and an akai 2 channel recorder for that. 

i have the Mackie hr824s for monitors. they are a little bass heavy, but i made a sweet spot in the room with acoustic treatment that sounds good with these monitors.

other ooutboard gear i have is an mpc, a yamaha motif keyboard, a microkorg vocoder/synth all daisy-chained.

plus a few guitars and a bass. 

i've recorded various bands/groups and other artist and always trying to come up with different ways to do things. 


i have a long hallway to work with so sometimes i mic the guitar amps with 3 different mics, one close to the amp, the other in the middle of the hallway and the 3rd at the furthest end of the hallway. this gives the sound from the amp a more thicker feel. sometimes i do vocals like this too. 

i make a lot of my own music as well but lately only been using software/synths and less live/acoustic instruments. 

i think its because my mind is going into this scientific mode.


i guess i'll stop with this for now because i think i might have made this too long to read lol
i can go on for hours about this. 


but thanks for the reply brother, happy recording and .


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## Sadistikal87 (Feb 8, 2010)

Damn man you have some nice equipment!

"i have a long hallway to work with so sometimes i mic the guitar amps with 3 different mics, one close to the amp, the other in the middle of the hallway and the 3rd at the furthest end of the hallway. this gives the sound from the amp a more thicker feel. sometimes i do vocals like this too."

Using three mics to record guitar? Do you have the method of "Phasing" down? I cannot figure it out and it shows on my recordings, multi mic is really is the best way to record guitar from what I understand but it's hard to get it right. If you have figured out phasing I would love to hear your methods!

Shure mics are def. the way to go, But a friend in another band had a few nadys on his kit and for a fraction of the price the tom mics, bass mics, and overheads sound pretty good. Gotta have the sm57 for the snare though nothing else will do! Next thing I am going to upgrade is the bass drum mic any suggestions?

"i have the Mackie hr824s for monitors. they are a little bass heavy, but i made a sweet spot in the room with acoustic treatment that sounds good with these monitors.
" 
Are those self powered?

"but i like to use monster cable anywhere else. it gets pricey but i think it makes the slightest difference. "

I never came across XLR cables made by Monster. XLR boosts sound signal by 7 - 9 Decibels so that's what I always try to use.

Its hard for me to record anything because I do not have a control room my studio space does not permit me to section of a part of the room for this application. You can imagine my frustration while EQing anything as It's hard to distinguish if what I am hearing is live or in my headphones.

I have never used pro tools why do you prefer it to cakewalk or sonar?


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## ImTheFireMan (Feb 8, 2010)

Sadistikal87 said:


> Damn man you have some nice equipment!
> 
> "i have a long hallway to work with so sometimes i mic the guitar amps with 3 different mics, one close to the amp, the other in the middle of the hallway and the 3rd at the furthest end of the hallway. this gives the sound from the amp a more thicker feel. sometimes i do vocals like this too."
> 
> ...




*i think i prefer pro tools because its what i was taught at school. plus its industry standard right now so i try to keep up with all the methods. 

i was using sonar for a little while, its good its just harder for me to find some stuff and i'm not exactly sure of how to work all the bussing on it yet. 

but as far as pro tools being industry standard i think cubase or ableton live might start to be in the race with pro tools. 

i think i just like the overall summing on pro tools too. it just has a cleaner sound to me. 
*


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## Sadistikal87 (Feb 8, 2010)

K thanks for the info. I finally remembered my old bands myspace password and got in there after four years of in-activity lol. All of our final recordings are on my ex-guitarist's laptop the only one I could find to put on the myspace was an old one before it saw mastering just a raw jam track with only me and my old guitarist. The volume is next to nothing as I haven't done anything with it but you can still get a rough idea by blasting your speakers and taking a listen...

http://www.myspace.com/cliffordstower

The band has been broken up for 4 years now so the site is sloppy and not updated but check it out if you want.


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## ImTheFireMan (Feb 8, 2010)

Sadistikal87 said:


> K thanks for the info. I finally remembered my old bands myspace password and got in there after four years of in-activity lol. All of our final recordings are on my ex-guitarist's laptop the only one I could find to put on the myspace was an old one before it saw mastering just a raw jam track with only me and my old guitarist. The volume is next to nothing as I haven't done anything with it but you can still get a rough idea by blasting your speakers and taking a listen...
> 
> http://www.myspace.com/cliffordstower
> 
> The band has been broken up for 4 years now so the site is sloppy and not updated but check it out if you want.




haha ya talk about blasting, i would show you my music, but then it gives away who i am, so i cant do that right now.

but that was cool. you recorded that in your house?


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## FreddieMercury (Feb 8, 2010)

Nice Thread.
i use SONAR 8 PRODUCER EDITION,

i have a few microphones but the best mic i have is the RODE NT-1A, (quitest condenser mic in the world)

i have a ROLAND MV-8000 Productin Studio... its sweet, 4X4 touch sensitive pads. sick for hands on sampling.

i have 2 acustic guitars both yamahas, 1 electric, 1 bass, Korg Triton Studio 88 key,

at the moment i am using some nice SAMSON monitors, RESOLV A5....

i have pro tools, ableton live, reason, most programs, but im more familiar with Sonar...


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## Sadistikal87 (Feb 8, 2010)

I have a recording studio set up in my shop ( half of it is my studio, half of it is my shop w. all my tools etc...) Once I have the money to invest I am partitioning off a section of it for a control room. That's where I recorded that many years ago.

"i would show you my music, but then it gives away who i am, so i cant do that right now."

You a famous washed up rock and roll star or something? lol


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## ImTheFireMan (Feb 8, 2010)

FreddieMercury said:


> Nice Thread.
> i use SONAR 8 PRODUCER EDITION,
> 
> i have a few microphones but the best mic i have is the RODE NT-1A, (quitest condenser mic in the world)
> ...



do you ever go into reason? 

i fuckin love that software, i even have a tattoo of it on my arm...
its not waveforms, its just midi, its so easy to use and the sequencer is super easy too.


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## ImTheFireMan (Feb 8, 2010)

Sadistikal87 said:


> "i would show you my music, but then it gives away who i am, so i cant do that right now."
> 
> You a famous washed up rock and roll star or something? lol



well no not exactly, but this is a weed growing forum, and i cant have people knowing who i am or where i live, that would be all bad.


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## Sadistikal87 (Feb 8, 2010)

Fuck it man I think this is the best place to list the rest of my equipment that's not specifically recording oriented. This is where I invested most of my money which explains why my recording set up is substandard.

Drums: I have a Pearl export select drum set that consists of an 8", 10", 12", 14" mounted toms. A 16" floor tom. And a 14" Pearl masters maple snare drum. A 22" Pearl export select bass drum. All are black lacquer finish with black chrome hardware. I have a 12" and 14" Sabian AAX china cymbals, 12" Zildjian oriental China, 8" and 10" Sabian HHX Splashes, Sabian Hand Hammered 18" Ride, 14", 16", 18" Sabian AAx Dark crashes, 14" Sabian AAX Hi Hats, 14" Paiste Brass Tones Hi Hats, and a 6" Zildjian Zil-Bel.

Guitar: An 80's BC Rich Rave 2 guitar, Mesa Boogie 4 12" cab, Marshall AVT 1250 Tube Head, Behringer 4 12" cab.

PA: Behringer 12 Channel powered mixer, 2 Nady 12" stage monitors

And a shitty Casio keyboard which is mostly used for making rap beats for my friends who are into that shit.


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## ford442 (Feb 9, 2010)

i have been making electronic tunes for about 12 years..

right now as far as recording audio i have an alesis mixer - FR-777 - SH-101 - Novation Nova - MS-2000 - Eletrix FilterFactory - XLR mic .. i have other equipment but not set up for working..

i use cubase studio 4 - but, now i bought a laptop so i have a copy of REAPER to learn as well.. i don't do all that much audio recording - i do a lot more with VSTi and MIDI.. i have a Korg MicroKONTROL for my main controller.. just got an Akai LPK25 also - really enjoying that thing..

i have Behringer TRUTH 2030A monitors.. i use two 20 inch non-widescreen monitors.. got an Intel Q9650 system right now..

i don't really enjoy working with reason - but i love me some rebirth.. in the past i have used logic, orion, pro tools, reason, rebirth, MODplug Tracker, cakewalk, cubase sx2 & se1, wavelab, fruity loops, lmms..

i make chill-out acid tunes - click my sig for some free songs and links to more..


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## Sgt. Floyd (Feb 10, 2010)

I've got an alesis io/26. Its a pretty nice budget front end. Running cubase for the software. A senheiser mic for vocals but I need something that runs on phantom power because I just can't seem to get much signal out of it. I need to get a couple of 57s for micing amps. I recorded acoustics once with some sm81 condenser mics and it sounded great but at $350 a piece they're out of my budget at the moment. Mics are where my setup is lacking at the moment.


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## ImTheFireMan (Feb 10, 2010)

Sgt. Floyd said:


> I've got an alesis io/26. Its a pretty nice budget front end. Running cubase for the software. A senheiser mic for vocals but I need something that runs on phantom power because I just can't seem to get much signal out of it. I need to get a couple of 57s for micing amps. I recorded acoustics once with some sm81 condenser mics and it sounded great but at $350 a piece they're out of my budget at the moment. Mics are where my setup is lacking at the moment.




you can never go wrong with a 57s. 
shure makes solid mics. 
and at around 88 dollars, cheap too.


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## Sgt. Floyd (Feb 10, 2010)

ImTheFireMan said:


> you can never go wrong with a 57s.
> shure makes solid mics.
> and at around 88 dollars, cheap too.


How about a list of mics that are good quality and versatile. A few that are must haves for a studio recording vocals, electric and acoustic instruments, and that could be used in addition to a drum mic kit( as overheads or whatever). A sm57 is a must but what about a large diaphragm condenser for vocals that gets good sound for the money? And what about a good unidirectional condenser? What about something like an sm81 but something cheaper but still good value?


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## ImTheFireMan (Feb 10, 2010)

Sgt. Floyd said:


> How about a list of mics that are good quality and versatile. A few that are must haves for a studio recording vocals, electric and acoustic instruments, and that could be used in addition to a drum mic kit( as overheads or whatever). A sm57 is a must but what about a large diaphragm condenser for vocals that gets good sound for the money? And what about a good unidirectional condenser? What about something like an sm81 but something cheaper but still good value?



for the lrg diaphram condenser the c414 has a lot of options as far as pattern selections. 
but with out the selection and for about half the price you can get a c214. 
i have a 214 and it kicks ass. i've used it for vox, overhead, amps, or whatever. 

as far as the unidirectional condenser, i dont have anything like the 81 but i borrowed an sm81 to measure the room for acoustic treatment years ago and it did what it was supposed to. 
from what ive been told its a great mic but i wouldnt even know where to point you in the right direction on that one.


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## Sgt. Floyd (Feb 10, 2010)

ImTheFireMan said:


> for the lrg diaphram condenser the c414 has a lot of options as far as pattern selections.
> but with out the selection and for about half the price you can get a c214.
> i have a 214 and it kicks ass. i've used it for vox, overhead, amps, or whatever.
> 
> ...


I used 2 81's and a large condenser, that I can't remember what it was, to record acoustic guitars once and it was the best acoustic sound I've ever recorded. One 81 pointed where the at the fret board at the 13th or so fret, one pointed between the bridge and the sound hole and the large condenser just in front of the player close to the spot between the sound hole and the neck.


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## brainwarp (Feb 10, 2010)

"You can even sit on the mixer's face" (Frank Zappa)


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## ImTheFireMan (Feb 11, 2010)

Sgt. Floyd said:


> I used 2 81's and a large condenser, that I can't remember what it was, to record acoustic guitars once and it was the best acoustic sound I've ever recorded. One 81 pointed where the at the fret board at the 13th or so fret, one pointed between the bridge and the sound hole and the large condenser just in front of the player close to the spot between the sound hole and the neck.



ya thats a good technique. i forgot the name, but i remember reading this in some book. 
the mic placement part anyways, i have a bunch of old handouts from school that have a bunch of techniques on how to mic in different situations for different sounds.
and i remember this being one of the first ones.


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## mexiblunt (Feb 11, 2010)

Another engineer here! Good info guys, I can't remember alot this stuff so I won't have much to add to this thread but one thing about recording is once you have the basic understanding of it all you can let your ears do the work. 
How many of you guys have spent an hour bobbing and weaving your head around a room in order to find a sweet spot for a mic? 
We were taught on pro-tools but I have used a bunch of other pc based sofware since, I still find pro-tools the easiest especially as one poster mentioned the bus system. 
I like to get blazed sometimes and kinda come up with my own effects for certain stuff, like one time I made my own tremolo/echo effect with lots and lots of copy paste but the neat thing was I would procces different eq/verb/phase into the copied pieces in different patterns that would give it a sound unlike any other effect combos. Took hours/days but it was like doing a painting for me. 
Rock on!!!!!


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## Sgt. Floyd (Feb 11, 2010)

ImTheFireMan said:


> ya thats a good technique. i forgot the name, but i remember reading this in some book.
> the mic placement part anyways, i have a bunch of old handouts from school that have a bunch of techniques on how to mic in different situations for different sounds.
> and i remember this being one of the first ones.


I wish I had some formal training. I'm just a hobbyist but man is it a fun hobby.


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## Sgt. Floyd (Feb 11, 2010)

mexiblunt said:


> Another engineer here! Good info guys, I can't remember alot this stuff so I won't have much to add to this thread but one thing about recording is once you have the basic understanding of it all you can let your ears do the work.
> How many of you guys have spent an hour bobbing and weaving your head around a room in order to find a sweet spot for a mic?
> We were taught on pro-tools but I have used a bunch of other pc based sofware since, I still find pro-tools the easiest especially as one poster mentioned the bus system.
> I like to get blazed sometimes and kinda come up with my own effects for certain stuff, like one time I made my own tremolo/echo effect with lots and lots of copy paste but the neat thing was I would procces different eq/verb/phase into the copied pieces in different patterns that would give it a sound unlike any other effect combos. Took hours/days but it was like doing a painting for me.
> Rock on!!!!!


Sounds cool. One thing I realized when I started messing around with this stuff is that mixing and engineering and all the stuff that goes into making records is as much of an art form as writing the music.


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## ImTheFireMan (Feb 11, 2010)

Sgt. Floyd said:


> Sounds cool. One thing I realized when I started messing around with this stuff is that mixing and engineering and all the stuff that goes into making records is as much of an art form as writing the music.



i totally agree with you on that one.


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## ImTheFireMan (Feb 11, 2010)

Sgt. Floyd said:


> I wish I had some formal training. I'm just a hobbyist but man is it a fun hobby.



it definitely is. 
school basically connected a lot of dots for me. it hardened the foundation so to speak. 

i was into this ever since i realized you can plug the tops of the tapes with scotch tape or stuff a rolled up piece of paper in there and record your own tapes/vox/sounds directly on to the tape....

that amazed me as a child and i havent been able to stop since.


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## ImTheFireMan (Feb 11, 2010)

mexiblunt said:


> Another engineer here! Good info guys, I can't remember alot this stuff so I won't have much to add to this thread but one thing about recording is once you have the basic understanding of it all you can let your ears do the work.
> How many of you guys have spent an hour bobbing and weaving your head around a room in order to find a sweet spot for a mic?
> We were taught on pro-tools but I have used a bunch of other pc based sofware since, I still find pro-tools the easiest especially as one poster mentioned the bus system.
> I like to get blazed sometimes and kinda come up with my own effects for certain stuff, like one time I made my own tremolo/echo effect with lots and lots of copy paste but the neat thing was I would procces different eq/verb/phase into the copied pieces in different patterns that would give it a sound unlike any other effect combos. Took hours/days but it was like doing a painting for me.
> Rock on!!!!!


i know what you mean man....if you are the kind of person that gets bothered by repetition this might not be a hobby/career for you.

i cant tell you how many times i have done something similar and its like the same 4 seconds repeating for like 2 or 3 hours. 

or if i hear a song i really like, i will play it the fuck out, put that shit on repeat until i cant stand that song anymore.


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## mexiblunt (Feb 11, 2010)

Yep, but there is a downside to having knowledge in sound engineering, you loose respect for some of your fav bands and give it to their producer. And it can suck to engineer and produce your own band cause once it's done you can't stand hearing it for a couple years... kinda.


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## ImTheFireMan (Feb 11, 2010)

mexiblunt said:


> Yep, but there is a downside to having knowledge in sound engineering, you loose respect for some of your fav bands and give it to their producer. And it can suck to engineer and produce your own band cause once it's done you can't stand hearing it for a couple years... kinda.



i feel you. 

luckily i have a team of 4 other engineers besides myself at my studio. 

this why when i'm done recording and mixing something down, i hand it over to any one of these guys for final mastering... we scratch each others backs. 

but i see what you're saying, an artist is only as good as the engineer makes them sound.


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## Sgt. Floyd (Feb 12, 2010)

ImTheFireMan said:


> but i see what you're saying, an artist is only as good as the engineer makes them sound.


That's the damn truth, live and in the studio.


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