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When I work in Pro Tools, I love listening to playbacks without looking at the screen. It's shocking how much easier it is for me to judge performances when I'm not "looking at" them. The brain can play some weird tricks. I can't imagine how I would function without a screen for most other parts of ...

A wise engineer once told me that you have to choose which one ? kick or bass ? is going to be the star of the low end. They can't be equal co-stars; one's gotta be the supporting actor.

I WANT a large room (there aren't any others that I'm aware of nearby) and I would love to consolidate all my gear in one place, but am I stuck in the past by thinking I can keep a large room busy enough to cover my expenses in this time where a lot of potential clients are all recording at home an...

Yeah, I like mine as a bass DI. Worth having around for that application alone, if you can find a cheaper one.

Thanks everyone -- some good insights here! In my current situation, these guys are friends, so I'm happy to do whatever's needed to make it work. But coming in to my place to retrack isn't an option because we don't live in the same city (and the band members themselves are scattered among a few lo...

What do you all do when you're faced with mixing tracks that are deeply flawed sonically (excessive noise, digital clipping, bad edits, generally poor sounds, etc) but the band is unable or unwilling to retrack anything? Do you clinically approach all the fix-it work first before even worrying about...

This article may be helpful/inspiring: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep04/a ... rfeldy.htm

So much depends on the room and the players, as you might expect.

joninc wrote:lots of time things sound roomy and i suspect its because there is drums bleeding into the vocal mic and stuff like that.

I remember reading a while back (maybe in that Tape Op article?) that a lot of the drums you hear on Heartbreaker are ONLY the bleed in the vocal mic.

Thanks guys!

I have been checking in mono and I think all is well. It's amazing how much the "tone" is affected by the length of the delay.

Nothing wrong with mono drums! Depending on your room, you may have more room tone/slapback on the drums than you originally wanted If you're in a DAW, maybe try nudging the room mic earlier in time to line up with the close mics. That won't get rid of room tone, of course, but at least it'll functi...

I've demagged my cassette machines (a 414 and a 488) only once, and it did make a bit of a difference, but definitely not a "huge" difference.

But yeah, clean those heads! In fact, don't record another note until you do.

I clean the heads literally every time I turn on the machine.

Question for those of you who master for vinyl: I've become a fan of the technique of applying 20-30 ms of delay to a guitar or keyboard and panning it opposite the original signal. If a mix that uses this trick is destined for vinyl, should I be concerned about any weirdness/difficulties for the ME...

I love the sound of my Rhodes through my silverface Vibro Champ. Super clean is definitely not what I'm going for... But it's not like it's mega-fuzz territory, either. For "apartment playing" you wouldn't have to crank it to 10.

I say try it, especially if you can borrow one first to test it out.

How about pairing it with a darker mic? Then just blend in a little bit of the MXL if you need a tad more high end.

I often write about music ? though rarely about recording specifically ? at my blog. Usually I'm talking about other people's music, but I've mentioned stuff I've worked on a couple times. Maybe I should do some more recording-related posts...