Recording tips

Typed this up for a friend and thought I'd share it here as well.....


I'm going to go through some basic stuff real quick. I'm sure you probably know most of this.

1. Double track your guitars (pan one left and the other right) This needs to be a separate take. Duplicating/copying one track is NOT the same.

2. EQ everything!!! Low end sucks the energy out of recordings and makes them muddy. SO I will concentrate on that. Basic rules of thumb.


High pass all of this in separate eq's on each track.

50hz kick

30-60hz bass

120-200hz guitars

If I had to nail it down I'd pick..

49hz kick

60hz bass

150hz guitars


That is going to go a long way in reducing muddyness. You may also want to run a high pass on the master @ 30hz to cover all the bases.

 
3. Run a limiter on the master track.

This is going to reduce any random peaks you may have. Allowing you to have an overall louder/fuller recording. No sense in lowering the the master just for a couple/few peaks that try to sneak through.

That way your recording will be comparable in volume (without clipping) when compared to other commercially recorded sources.


4. Use a reference source to compare your recording to.

Grab your favorite cd/mix and refer to it while you are mixing your recording. This way you don't get "lost" in your own mix. After hours of fiddling, its to easy for your ears to become used to your mix. Only to find out the next day that it sounds like crap.


5. Mix at low volume.... Louder almost always sounds better . Mixing at low volumes allows you to get the most out of your recordings.


6. Leave the master strip @ 0db. Use the volume knob on your monitors/amp to control how loud it is. Adjust your individual tracks to give you the desired output to the master strip.


7. Compression.

Run a separate compressor on the kick, snare, and bass guitar tracks at minimum.

4:1 ratio for kick and bass guitar.

General : Each recording will require it's own settings. There is nothing set in stone. And there are no rules. This just meant to be a basic guide.


What I like to do... get some basically good setting in my DAW , use it as a template (starting point), and save it. Then you can adjust from there. If you save your basic settings, using it as a template, you will save a lot of time in the mixing process IMO.


Individual tracks will generally sound like crap solo'd. But that does not matter. What matters is how they sound together. Each instrument affects the other. You should almost always be mixing with all of the instrument playing. Soloing tracks occasionally.

Two tracks that are important to get working together are the bass and kick drum. These must work together.

Each individual drum is it's own instrument. Snare, tom, kick, hi hat, etc. That is why I break all of those out into thier own tracks in the DAW.

And finally, to get your guitar to cut through the mix try this....


Put an EQ on the guitar track. Select peaking (not highpass or lowpass) Set a relativity narrow Q. Turn the gain up to +3 or so. Now slowly sweep the entire frequency band, concentrating on the high end. You should know when you hit the "sweet" spot. Once you have that tweak to preference.


Those are the best quick tips I can come up with ATM. Hope it helps.


Remember me when you become famous.