15 MISTAKES to AVOID When Recording at Home!

[AndyR]

Yep, Paul... Found it, the Trim pot of each Channel in the Console.

I also found how to do all the faders, or any other setting - keeping their relationship - select the tracks you want to mess with by using SHIFT/CONTROL when clicking on the channels. Then adjust one of them.

I've used the Mixtool method (rather than the Trim) on my learning demo and burned the effect into the audio to simulate "I recorded signals like this in the first place". In future, I'll use the Trim method on audio already recorded around -18dB.

I used the Trim method on the one midi track (drums). I actually found the output from the instrument was coming in to the channel too hot.

And yes, EVERYONE, changing the input going into ANY effect has a drastic effect on the outcome.
Especially compressors.
(A fancy preset called "Nice Guitar Compression" will do a vastly different job on two different guitar track when one is recorded hot and the other recorded quiet.)

So I removed ALL compressors I'd set up before, eqs, wotnots - from tracks and buses - and started again.

I set all peak levels in the audio events to approximately -18dB.
I sorted the trim on the midi track.
(Remember, in this demo project, this is to simulate me getting the levels right when I recorded them in the first place!)

I then set all the track Faders to 0dB and checked each track solo'd was registering the same approx -18dB at the input to the bus it was going to - it should be, and it was.

After checking the tracks, I then set the input on each bus (unmute all tracks, solo the bus, with it's Fader on 0dB check the level at the input to the Main).
I used the Mixtool this time, but in future I'll probs use the Trim. I adjusted the bus's input level until the Main was around -18dB too.

After each bus was set, I then unmuted all and used a Mixtool on the Main to bring its input back down to around -18dB when all buses are playing.
That's a bit quiet for a final mix but really nice headroom for ongoing fiddling on the tracks/buses.
I leave the main on 0dB and control the volume I'm listening to using controls on the outboard gear (headphone level or Master on the mixing desk).

HOWEVER, note that with all the faders on 0, a bit of panning (same as I was using before), and ... that's almost the mix!
And it sounds SO much better than it did before I went through this exercise.
It was clearer, wider and... although quieter at the moment, more powerful and lively.
Gain-staging works!! And it improves everything, gives you an idea of what the hell is going on and what to change if something needs fixing/improving in the mix.


It was then time to practice bringing some piano (audio) in before I got called away.
I found I had indeed been running my interface inputs VERY close to clipping.
I calmed those down and, to monitor a consistent recording level, I added the same VU meter with 0 calibrated at -18dB to the Studio One Inputs on the console.

WOW - doing it like this, recording and setting levels is even easier than I imagined when I did the guitars and bass a week ago.

I also learned more about editing and overdubbing into existing takes - there are SO many ways of doing it.
It's all going to be SO MUCH faster and more consistent for me than it ever was on the BR1600.
I'm going to be able focus more on the playing - the "engineer overhead" of being both the engineer and the musician seems so much less.

I roughly balanced the three piano parts into the existing mix using their faders.
Then I set their Trims based on the Fader values and set the Faders back to 0.
(I also gain-staged the new Keyboards bus)

Mix sounding not bad already.

Then I started added some EQ and compression.
Keyboards first - separate compressors on each track.
A further compressor on the bus
Shared EQ after the compressor on the bus (they all wanted the same).
BIG improvement.

Then I started on the rhythm guitars.
I put compressors and some EQ on 2 of the 7 - and then I got called away to family stuff for the rest of the weekend.

Note that adding comps/eq I made sure the level on the effected signal was still that magic -18dB after the effect or effect chain.
INCIDENTALLY, on the next pair of guitars, I'd made a start. And in that case, putting the effects on was "YEAH sounds groovy" ... lowering it back to -18dB showed that the effect had actually made it worse! The volume change was the best bit... So I undid the effects and have left it until I next get back to it...

I've also been working on the Mastering side (with rough mixes) - made some major breakthoughs on this. But note that the gain-staging above makes that work better too - masters are now LOADS louder and less squashed/congested.

We've had my sister to stay for the weekend - it's been fab - so I haven't been able to do anything else.

But I'm REALLY excited about this recording method now.
Still got Mics to practice with, and I want to find out about mapping midi from either the qwerty keyboard (via Studio One) or the piano to trigger drums in EZDrummer - not least so that I can use the Tap to Search feature for finding patterns to match the groove I want (clicking with a mouse does not "do it" for me!

I don't want to go down the full "midi rabbit hole" at the moment, though. I want to record some of the organic songs I've got up my sleeve, then we'll see about orchestras and wotnot (not sure my hard drive is big enough to download all the PreSonus software/samples I'm entitled to, though!)

[Mach]

When I first started watching Graham Cochrane's mixing methods at the Recording Revolution years ago I learned that Gain Staging was a must to get you in the right direction before mixing. Before that I made the mistake countless times by skipping that process. Here are some brief videos of his technique that I still use for digital recording/mixing. There are many free vst trim controls you can find online. I have used many different ones and all pretty much do the same thing.

I have used Klanghelm's VUMT meters https://klanghelm.com/contents/products/VUMT.html for a long time.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enhcve9Lblc


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asiSoV5BEJY

Mach

[TPB]

Good Stuff many thanks
Tim

[StephenM]

I've learned a ton of stuff on SC from posts just like this... and I learned about gain staging a while back and I am quite sure it was by digging into something Andy had posted...
anyway for me right now this is just too much in this post to sift through all of it... my mind is numb looking at it...

I think to boil everything down from what I have experienced in the past vs. what I know now.....  if you are going to master on your recording deck...ie the BR then you can push the levels a bit higher...Greeny always gets big, very big sounding tracks and it seems he masters right on his micro BR so obviously he is pushing that little b***ard pretty hard...
I currently use LANDR to master...they use computer programs to master tracks...it's like polish, it makes it more "shiny".... I felt the tracks sounded a bit better than mastering on my BR1600...and I certainly would never master on my Zoom...it's just too easy to clip... lately I have been recording tracks on my Zoom and mixing on Bandlab and then mastering with LANDR....
I really appreciate all the help I have received on this site on recording in general...still to me it is somewhat an experience of experimentation...to see what one likes and I am more convinced than ever.... 10 folks are going to mix different than each other...every single time...you can take the same tracks and ask 10 people to mix them...you will 10 different mixes... so that is like art I suppose..

[AndyR]

Yep, more cool stuff Mach, thanks for posting.

I'm still fiddling with my little demo song in Studio One, and it now has a project for Mastering too.
I keep thinking "I might actually do some recording of an actual song soon..."

But then I watch a new video and go "omigod... can I do that?!?!" and suddenly the little demo improves some more.

I've learnt LOADS about "mixing" - I kind of knew most of it before, but couldn't apply it, or couldn't apply it in a way that I knew it was worthwhile doing.

I've learnt LOADS about "mastering" - I actually know what a multi-band compressor is doing for me (good or bad) now, and how to use the one in Studio One to learn what different frequency bands actually SOUND like. That has been amazing. That was kind of the key to it for me - once I understood what a soloed band sounded like (and what taking the band out did to the overall sound), then suddenly I understood what a multiband compressor brought to the party.

I also know how to make a limiter do what I want now (or the one I've been using anyway!).

Pretty much it's all happening in a "yeah, I know the knob's there but what does it sound like? Oh goodness... I see what you mean!!"

(By the way, interestingly, Stephen, you saying about "Louder" on BR mastered stuff - yeah, I can't get anything as loud as my last few that were done on the BR (yet!!!). Even using the same "settings" as the BR is reporting, the result from the DAW and interface is not as "loud". I think there's something very clever and forgiving going on in the old BRs...)

Anyways, last time I was on a DAW (and to some extent on the BR as well), I thought every track/channel needed to be "sorted" in some way.

Somehow, over the last few weeks, my entire attitude has changed. It's partly down to being able to "see" the stuff the way I couldn't before.
I'm not sticking, for example, a compressor on everything "just in case" anymore.

On the BR, like StephenM says, all you could do was use your ears and the knobs.
The problem is, what if you don't actually know what you're listening for??
I can hear "I don't think it's doing anything", and I can hear "that's too much for my liking", but I can't hear the "you were listening for this, but didn't you spot THIS!!!" problems...

Compressors in DAWs are showing you when they're doing stuff, even if you can't hear it (yet).
I'm finding that REALLY useful.

A: It helps me to hear stuff and spot what the difference is - suddenly I can use my ears more after I've gained that experience. Moving through "can't hear it" to "uh-oh" and watching the display helps me to understand how to recognise the sounds.

B: Often, I want to use a compressor to shave the peaks but not make a change to the sound - I just want the thing tamed so that it's easier to use when mixed in with everything else. On the BR, I couldn't hear this (I'm not sure anyone can to be honest) - so I didn't know if I was doing anything useful or just wasting my time. Now I KNOW what's going on and that when I combine the X parts together I can hear the improvement. The track sits better, it doesn't interfere or combine badly with others, I've got more leeway to play with.
To achieve this on the BR my workflow (for EACH track, eg a guitar part) was:

1. Record it, edit/compile it, clean it (remove the extra noises between actual notes).
2. Normalise it.
3. Lightly compress it to shave the top off of the peaks (2-3 db at most) - if I couldn't hear it doing anything I was happiest.

The normalising was to get the highest peaks to 0 so I knew I was shaving them with a 2-3 threshold.

4. Repeat 2 and 3 a few times. When normalising gives very little volume increase, or lightly compressing makes a difference to the dynamics, it's time to stop. On to the next track...

When, say, all the electric guitars are done, they could be bounced into a guitar submix.

In the DAW, I can do the same thing by adding multiple compressors to the channel. For each one in the chain: make sure the thresholds is set so it shaves the little bit needed (no normalising necessary), observe the gain reduction and make it up. AND, when I think the chain's ok, doing it's job, I can bypass it to check it hasn't degraded the dynamics in the performance. Then I can use the channel fader and my ears to bring the volume back down to where it was originally.

Net result is the same: track/part is in same place in the mix, but is no longer contributing those nasty peaks, that you couldn't hear, to the overall mix. So the final mix is clearer, has more headroom, etc, etc.

The difference is: 20-30 minutes (at least) per track on the BR. 2-3 minutes on the DAW.

The other uses of a compressor - to shape the track's sound in a mix - it's helping me understand (in a "I'm hearing it!!" way) that too.

Stuff like this, together with the "gain-staging" and the "-18dB sweetspot" thing discussed earlier do feel like a load of techie fiddling at the moment. And it's using a lot of brainpower... I couldn't do any for a week because of work ... when I came back to it this morning I could remember the theory/concepts but had forgotten all the controls/numbers/whatevers ... I had to relearn a fair bit of it.

But I can see already that all these things are little techniques and good practices that allow me to use my ears more than I ever could before.
I was straining to hear stuff I sort of understood but couldn't really hear, and having to make guesses based on that (on the BR).
For example, my old trusty presets I was using on the BR are pretty much going out of the window soon.

I'm NOT sure I'm making better sounds yet than I can on the BR (but I was never sure I could do that on the BR anyway!).
I'm not sure I'm even making sounds as good as I was... but I've got a couple of weeks off work soon, so the plan is to actually record something anyway. Except for vocals, I pretty much already know "how" to do everything I was doing before and then some.