Recording rules

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 11:49 am

I have a potentially controversial Rule # 12 to propose, but would like a little input on the wording:

Should it be:

It may never be great, but needs to at least be 'good enough'.

or,

Good enough is good enough. ?

Or, should I just STFU?

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 11:53 am

"It's not good. It's good enough!"

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

CurtZHP · Post by **CurtZHP** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 11:54 am

vvv wrote:I have a potentially controversial Rule # 12 to propose, but would like a little input on the wording:

Should it be:

It may never be great, but needs to at least be 'good enough'.

or,

Good enough is good enough. ?

Or, should I just STFU?

Or as one of my old bosses used to say:

"That's close enough for rock-n-roll."

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 12:46 pm

or as my grandfather used to say: "good enough is good for nuthin"

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:01 pm

My answer to good enough is "How will you feel when you listen to this in 5 years, when you play it for your kids, when you run into the CD when you move when you're about 50?"

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Mon Jul 19, 2010 8:41 pm

"A recording is forever"

Cheers

Jay Reynolds · Post by **Jay Reynolds** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 9:40 am

noeqplease wrote:"A recording is forever"

*Sung with Shirley Bassey-esque delivery*

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:57 am

drumsound wrote:My answer to good enough is "How will you feel when you listen to this in 5 years, when you play it for your kids, when you run into the CD when you move when you're about 50?"

I am 50.

That said, what I'm gettin' at is, perfectionism is for the truly defective.

You may quote me.

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 5:49 pm

werd clock wrote:
noeqplease wrote:"A recording is forever"

*Sung with Shirley Bassey-esque delivery*

And a slight James Bond-ish sly look...

Jay Reynolds · Post by **Jay Reynolds** » Tue Jul 20, 2010 9:25 pm

noeqplease wrote:
werd clock wrote:
noeqplease wrote:"A recording is forever"

*Sung with Shirley Bassey-esque delivery*
And a slight James Bond-ish sly look...

That's it! Go with a tux and affect a Connery-esque brogue whenever you're working. Clients will think it's freaking awesome!

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:02 pm

werd clock wrote:
noeqplease wrote:
werd clock wrote:
noeqplease wrote:"A recording is forever"

*Sung with Shirley Bassey-esque delivery*
And a slight James Bond-ish sly look...
That's it! Go with a tux and affect a Connery-esque brogue whenever you're working. Clients will think it's freaking awesome!

"I don't think you appreciate the gravity of your situation..."

In brogue..

Autodidact · Post by **Autodidact** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 10:57 pm

Maybe limit yourself to one mic per instrument and let someone else mix?

jgimbel · Post by **jgimbel** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:44 pm

Hey Andrew, I'm not a pro but I've gotten to a point where I'm happy enough with the sounds I'm getting enough to be able to "go for a certain kind of sound", and record other peoples' music as well. One thing I think about all the time is how grateful I am that I DIDN'T use the internet for recording info when I started. I'm a young guy but when I started recording either there wasn't quite as much recording info available online (this was long before I found the TOMB) or I just didn't think to use the internet as a tool for this. Now, my discovery of the TOMB for me marks the point where I changed from just fucking around to actually being happy with what I was doing, but the first reason that happened was not because I got all these ideas from other people that worked, but I got a lot of confirmation that the techniques I was finding got me the best results already were similar to things other people used in their own situations. It is so tempting to know that there is such a wide availability of incredible wisdom (especially on this board with such incredible people, which I'm thankful for every day), but even though I've been on here for a few years now I still feel like most the basis of the recording knowledge that's my foundation is from things I figured out myself, from being frustrated as hell that I couldn't make things sound how I wanted them. If you were to look back at my library of recordings since I started, you can hear how I started with one mic on drums, then two, then got a "drum mic kit" and close miced everything (and it sounded pretty terrible the way I did it and with those mics), then moved toward more minimalist setups. While I did spend money on things I ended up selling and I guess technically wasting a lot of hours, I would MUCH rather have learned this way than if I started out with a huge chunk of cash, got some 87s and APIs and Neves and had an incredible room and round it more easy to get the sound I was looking for. The inadequacies in my room, mics, instruments, and playing all FORCED me to work day after day to get the best sound with what I had. ALL of those rules translate, and have translated through each change in my setup. My room is better now, I'm using better equipment, I'm a better player now, but it is only the experience I've gained from trying every little thing and finding what works best for certain things that is responsible for me being happy with the sounds I'm getting. So the best thing I can think is to avoid the temptation to find how other things will do things and just try moving things around and adjusting things to see what works best. Most likely your situation will be different enough from others that you'll still be adjusting things even if you use some ideas others have given you anyway.

At the same time, one of the early posts on here about putting the mic a foot between the soundhole and 12th fret for acoustic guitar, 6-12" on electric cab or whatever it had said, that's not a bad basis at all. But I think even though those are great suggestions, I personally find it more valuable to come to those yourself after tons of experimentation (and THEN maybe others' suggestions if you really can't get something you're happy with - this is why there are a lot of threads on here like "how do i get this type of guitar sound", it's specific enough that it's easier to help).

But for the love of god, have fun! Never forget how amazing it is that we can do this. I'm not at all saying you are in need of hearing that now but every time I ever read it I get my fist pumping in the air. How incredible is it that we have access to this equipment and people ARE making incredible sounding things with really "poor" setups. Enjoy yourself!

miket · Post by **miket** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 5:17 pm

Hi Andrew,

I'm not a pro but have been doing the trial and error technique for a 16 years or so and agree with a lot of what folks are saying but have to mention....

probably the most important thing to make your recordings sound pro is playing in sync. If you're playing drums and doing overdubs of everything then its likely that your performances are not at a "pro" level for all the instruments.

this'll seem obvious but i 'discovered' the difference this can make when I moved from doing the kind of demos being discussed here to doing electronic and hybrid DAW edited style music using my own recordings as loops and samples.

i was using the same gear and techniques even some of the actual tracks from previous demos and the more I started cutting I noticed a huge difference in the 'quality' of the sound.

just wanted to point out that this definitely opened my ears to where the 'sound' comes from. I've sort of outgrown that phase of my engineering career but it has left a lasting impression on my approach.

the tighter your drum and bass tracks are with another the more 'pro' it will sound.

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