Why do your recordings sound like ass?

[Flash Harry]

I've been using Reaper for a while as my main DAW, and recently I found this topic http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=29283&highlight=Mastering&page=1 in the Cockos Reaper forum. It's a generic 'How to' on improving your production quality which is very readable and informative.

I'm submitting this link after getting about half way through the topic. There's some good discussion and it's worth ploughing through. I'm not endorsing the software or the information in the topic, just bringing it to your attention.

[T.C. Elliott]

I read through a bunch of that a while back, I think. There are a lot of resources out on the net. I've learned enough now to improve and realize exactly how little I know. Which is actually a big help in not trying to do too much but trying to do what I can to the best of my ability.

http://therecordingrevolution.com/2013/06/17/the-beginners-guide-to-mixing-part-1/

http://therecordingrevolution.com/2013/06/21/the-beginners-guide-to-mixing-part-2/

http://therecordingrevolution.com/2013/06/24/the-beginners-guide-to-mixing-part-3/

and here are six common mixing mistakes. I've linked the first article and at the end of it links to the second etc...

http://therecordingrevolution.com/2011/10/24/6-common-mixing-mistakes-part-1/

The recording revolution has a youtube channel with five minutes to a better mix series that is pretty decent. I just tried one of their drum track tricks and it helped even though they are fake drums. It still helped!!!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0A5D662058525F1C

[T.C. Elliott]

And I jotted the following 10 tips down from the top of my head a little while ago for another discussion elsewhere. I'll include it here in case someone finds it valuable. (I hope you don't mind me kind of hijacking your thread with other resources. I figure the more the merrier.)

1- Imagine the sound of the track before you mix. Have an idea of what you want and then try to make your mix sound like it. Most of us tend to just try to make it better instead of making it hit the vision.

2- Use reference tracks. Try to find pieces of music that sound good to you and then reference them when mixing so you can get an idea of where you want to go. It's good to have very sparse tracks (guitar/vox or piano/vox only) semi sparse tracks (full band but with very minimal parts) and less sparse tracks all the way up to downright cluttered tracks in your reference vault.

3- Clean up your individual tracks before beginning your mix. Try to eliminate the noise... pick scrapes, small notes before the part starts (like in a guitar solo with a distorted guitar.. .usually some fret noise you can eliminate.) If there is a timing issue or two that you're gonna fix in the mix this is the time to do it. Get your track in time and as clean as possible before you start mixing.

4- Learn to use an EQ sweep for boost and cut. This will help you identify the frequency range that can bring out some pleasantness or that can be discarded or at least cut to make room for other instruments or even sometimes to make it sound better on its own.

5- Try not to mix a track in isolation. You can get that guitar part sounding awesome by itself, but if you mix in bass drums and keys and vox it might be masking some other instrument. A lot of times the acoustic guitar track that we are using as a bed or background to bring out a more full guitar sound (behind your electric for instance) can be cut quite a bit and still maintain the pleasant part. It can still sound good in the full mix even when it sounds like crap solo.

6- Don't be afraid to eliminate a part if it isn't working.... or delay it if you want to build energy. You might have a killer turnaround in the bass, but if you delay it until the second chorus it might add energy. You might love that cello part, but try blending it in slowly and letting it build up.

7- Don't be afraid to remove a part at some point in your song in order to spotlight another part. Be subtle.

8- Learn to use automation. This is where you can adjust the level of volume, panning or most effects at various points in the track and your DAW will remember to change those levels every time it replays. This is HUGE (as Ianuarius mentioned) in evening out tracks, but it's also VERY helpful in getting a cool delay effect to be more noticeable at the end of phrases or at certain points in a song. Or it's helpful in making space for a solo instrument. The possibilities are quite numerous.

9- Learn to use your dynamic effects. A simple gate can help eliminate some unwanted noise. A compressor can make things sound better or worse, or sometimes both. Learning to use it properly will be huge. (I admit I'm on the long road of learning the compressor... it's slow going for me.)

10- Know when to let it be. If you've ever spent hours on a mix trying to get it just a little bit better only to come back the next day and realize your ears were tired and you have two choices... starting over from scratch or going back before yesterdays marathon mixing session... you'll know that sometimes we can over tweak our mix to death. Or at least into mush.

[Geir]

Thanx for sharing.

Some really interesting stuff there

[Speed Demon]

Silence is as eloquent a statement as the notes being played and sung.

[AndyR]

Finally got round to starting to read this cockos thread yesterday lunchtime... er... not got a lot of work done since, and still only on page 4!!

Some very useful and interesting stuff from this guy. Loved the level-matching info early on. At first I thought "omigod am I doing it wrong?" .... then I realised that almost intuitively I am doing what he's advocating.

Got a bass-playing question for you Harry (from today's reading) - how do you play the thing? Have you got this magical light touch of which he speaks?

I'm going to experiment with it now, but I have to admit my finger-style is pretty much "dig into the b@stard" - it always seems (being a guitarist originally) the way to get the tones I want out of it (Andy Fraser, Jim Lea, etc... I'm going to have to watch footage of these guys playing again to see whether they're gentler on the strings than I'd imagined).

Right, let's start reading about "gain-staging". I've read stuff about this before, but I have a feeling this guy has wisdom to impart (that I'm ready for at the moment)...

[steelguitar]

And I jotted the following 10 tips down from the top of my head a little while ago for another discussion elsewhere. I'll include it here in case someone finds it valuable. (I hope you don't mind me kind of hijacking your thread with other resources. I figure the more the merrier.)

1- Imagine the sound of the track before you mix. Have an idea of what you want and then try to make your mix sound like it. Most of us tend to just try to make it better instead of making it hit the vision.

2- Use reference tracks. Try to find pieces of music that sound good to you and then reference them when mixing so you can get an idea of where you want to go. It's good to have very sparse tracks (guitar/vox or piano/vox only) semi sparse tracks (full band but with very minimal parts) and less sparse tracks all the way up to downright cluttered tracks in your reference vault.

3- Clean up your individual tracks before beginning your mix. Try to eliminate the noise... pick scrapes, small notes before the part starts (like in a guitar solo with a distorted guitar.. .usually some fret noise you can eliminate.) If there is a timing issue or two that you're gonna fix in the mix this is the time to do it. Get your track in time and as clean as possible before you start mixing.

4- Learn to use an EQ sweep for boost and cut. This will help you identify the frequency range that can bring out some pleasantness or that can be discarded or at least cut to make room for other instruments or even sometimes to make it sound better on its own.

5- Try not to mix a track in isolation. You can get that guitar part sounding awesome by itself, but if you mix in bass drums and keys and vox it might be masking some other instrument. A lot of times the acoustic guitar track that we are using as a bed or background to bring out a more full guitar sound (behind your electric for instance) can be cut quite a bit and still maintain the pleasant part. It can still sound good in the full mix even when it sounds like crap solo.

6- Don't be afraid to eliminate a part if it isn't working.... or delay it if you want to build energy. You might have a killer turnaround in the bass, but if you delay it until the second chorus it might add energy. You might love that cello part, but try blending it in slowly and letting it build up.

7- Don't be afraid to remove a part at some point in your song in order to spotlight another part. Be subtle.

8- Learn to use automation. This is where you can adjust the level of volume, panning or most effects at various points in the track and your DAW will remember to change those levels every time it replays. This is HUGE (as Ianuarius mentioned) in evening out tracks, but it's also VERY helpful in getting a cool delay effect to be more noticeable at the end of phrases or at certain points in a song. Or it's helpful in making space for a solo instrument. The possibilities are quite numerous.

9- Learn to use your dynamic effects. A simple gate can help eliminate some unwanted noise. A compressor can make things sound better or worse, or sometimes both. Learning to use it properly will be huge. (I admit I'm on the long road of learning the compressor... it's slow going for me.)

10- Know when to let it be. If you've ever spent hours on a mix trying to get it just a little bit better only to come back the next day and realize your ears were tired and you have two choices... starting over from scratch or going back before yesterdays marathon mixing session... you'll know that sometimes we can over tweak our mix to death. Or at least into mush.

Really really good advice here!!!
Thank you very much
Jean-Sébastien

[Flash Harry]

Got a bass-playing question for you Harry (from today's reading) - how do you play the thing? Have you got this magical light touch of which he speaks?

I'm going to experiment with it now, but I have to admit my finger-style is pretty much "dig into the b@stard" - it always seems (being a guitarist originally) the way to get the tones I want out of it (Andy Fraser, Jim Lea, etc... I'm going to have to watch footage of these guys playing again to see whether they're gentler on the strings than I'd imagined).

It depends what I'm doing, the most important thing is consistency, control the dynamics, if you're digging in, dig in in a consistent manner, if you're playing lightly, make it consistent. Doing so means that you don't have to compress the bejeezus out of it. A good exercise is playing runs, pentatonics up all four (or more) strings with at least three fingers of the right hand and keeping an eye on levels and try to make each pluck the same level as the last.

Most recordings i make are made with the 'light touch', live I usually batter the hell out of it.

[AndyR]

Ah.... thanks for that, Harry. It is pretty much as I expected after I posted the question...

I've been getting away with "bash the hell out of it" on the recordings as well - it's one of the ways that I learnt to provide bass lines of any sort of consistency years ago. Incidentally, I've been aware recently that I sub-consciously apply a different level of "hell" appropriate to which string I'm on...

... so I suspect that I'm on the way to doing things instinctively. On my last one, I think I had compression on the track when mixing, but I seem to recall it was a lot less than it has been in the past.

What got me thinking was his comments that light touch on bass results in a part that can end up "bigger" and more authoritative in the mix. And seeing as I'd consciously chosen years ago between "light touch" (better for my fingers but, without lots of practice, prone to horrid loud notes and tentative playing) and "whack it one" (agony for fingers if you don't play enough, but delivers consistent and positive playing on a minimum of practice)...

...it led me to thinking, hey perhaps light touch is worth another go? - I'm a lot better bass-player than when I made the original decision, perhaps I could manage to train myself to do it now...

I'll give those runs a go

(Unfortunately, stuck in work, several hours away from a bass-playing opportunity! )


And, by the way, I'm getting tempted to give reaper a go now... looks like I might end up back on a PC rather than a standalone...

[Flash Harry]

What got me thinking was his comments that light touch on bass results in a part that can end up "bigger" and more authoritative in the mix.

I find when you bash it, the attack levels are so huge that you mix to the attack level and wonder why the bass gets lost, the transient is all you hear, which dies quickly, the gentle touch approach means that the attack transient and the sustained note are so much closer together in level, that you hear more of the sustain and therefore more bass. It gives a smoother fuller feel, but you lose a bit of that rhythm that the bass adds into the mix. Playing slightly harder to bring a bit of the pop back in means that you lose the sustain, which is when you can use a bit of gentle compression to bring the sustain level up closer to the attack level.
I find the bass the most difficult to record, maybe because I know what I want to achieve with it more than with other instruments. There are some good tips about eq'ing later in the topic which sound odd at first (cutting the fundamental frequencies for instance) but work, removing a lot of the mud and making the bass more prominent in the mix. I need more practice that's for sure.