"Best Of" the TapeOp Message Board (FAQ)

evan · Last edited by evan on Wed Apr 21, 2004 1:14 pm; edited 23 times in total

BEST OF THE TAPEOP MESSAGE BOARD (last revised 4/21/04)

Be sure to message me if you have anything I missed, dead/erroneous links, or organizational suggestions! -- Evan

BASICS... (a good place to start for beginners!)
getting started (#2, #3)
balanced and unbalanced
mic, line & instrument level
aux's and inserts
budget all-purpose mic ($100, $200, $300)
cheap four-tracks (improving four-track setup)
recording your own band
volume
mastering? (#2)
EQ to fix a room?
caring for condensers
caring for ribbons
mic storage
cheap preamp (#2, other than RNC/DBX)
compression basics (#2, EQ & compression charts)
what's _(technical term here)_?
what's reamping? (#2)
what's phase?
what's a producer?
what's 'clean power'?
what's foldback?
phantom power -- will it hurt my mics? (#2, #3, #4)
tape echo?
gear ages like wine?
stereo system or cheap monitors?
places to upload MP3's?
reel-to-reel basics
wrapping cables

RECORDING...
vocals (singing up, lisp?, nasally/trebely?, really low?, weak?)
acoustic guitar (#2, #3)
drums (2 mics [#2, #3], 3 mics, hi-hat, kick drum [#2], toms, overheads)
electric bass (DI)
upright bass
electric guitar (mics, how far?)
piano (#2)
Wurlitzer piano
Leslie speaker
backup vocals
bagpipes
jewsharp
ukulele
singing saw (#2)
accordion
lute (oud)
djembe
harp
Mellotron
tamboura
tambourine
violin/cello (#2)
glockenspiel
foot stomps
hand claps (better handclaps?)

MICROPHONES... (lot o' reviews...)
$1000+ vocal
female vocals
battery-powered condensers
small-diaphragm condensers
$500 stereo pair
drum overheads (omni or cardioid?)
kick drum mics (#2)
best multi-pattern
best dynamic
tube mics
rare and unique (#2)
DIY mics

GEAR...
best cheap low-watt recording amp (Vox Pathfinder?)
favorite electric guitars
favorite electric basses
favorite reverbs
digital delay
looping pedals
mix/monitoring headphones (#2)
studio chair
guitar and bass amp
preamps with buttloads of gain
mini-mics
SM57 counterpart?

METHOLOGIES...
YOUR mics, YOUR uses
60's sound (#2)
60's bass
P.I.L.'s "Public Image" bass
Odessey and Oracle bass
faking bass
"old" sound
1920's blues sound
Nick Drake-ish sound
ELO drums
Joy Division drums
metal drums/drum triggers
50's/60's jazz piano sound
'London Calling' notes
rock-a-billy
getting different electric guitar sounds
strangest techniques (#2)
"fattening" sounds
"warming" digital
digital to tape (#2)
oversaturating tape (electronics/tape)
recording live (#2)
getting rid of unwanted bleed after tracking
bass distortion
compressing bass
compressing drums
distorting drums
preventing distorted drums
loud hi-hats
hi-hat bashers
snare with a 'snap'
crash without 'wash'
kick drum mic'ing
mono drums (#2)
one-mic drums
livening up drum machines
big drums
heavy mics on stands
sound dampening
distorting vocals
boy-band vocals
"choral" vocals
vocals at home
digital levels
preparing a mix for mastering
rough home mastering
mix depth
'cleaner', 'clearer' mixes
improving ProTools mix
subtractive EQ (#2)
soundproofing (#2, #3, cheap, temporary/mobile)
computer soundproofing
multiple mics to a single pre?
placing something outside stereo field

BUSINESS...
getting into it
recording schools
writing music for commercials
engineering lucrative?
posse in the studio?
getting paid
cover songs
movie sound
who owns the masters?
voiceover work
taxes deductions
commissioned music: how much am I worth?

TECHNICAL...
impedance and reamping
FET
16 vs. 24 bit
1/2" vs. 1" tape
demagnetizing
cold soldering
humidity
electret and small diaphragm
overcompression
normalizing
multing and signal strength
mic'ing the President

THOUGHTS...
"the process"
"you are part of the chain"
multiple mixes of same song?
gear minimalism
more drum mics, the better?
why mic the hi-hats?
where to put the drums in the room?
recording cymbals separately?
condenser or dynamic on bass?
why a pair of omni's?
compression (learning, addiction?)
double tracks
tape or not tape?
busses
rules
tuning your own piano?
recording your own band
recording solo
mono recording
mastering
leaving gear on
gear and airports (#2, #3)
those darned Oktava 012's
SM57's as overheads?
the weakest link: mic. vs. pre?
soldering
minidisc
MP3
ProTools
"good" recordings
fix in mix, or get it right to tape?
smoking around gear (pot)
mixing on drugs?
mix with a subwoofer?
real studio vs. DAW
Mac or PC?
equalization
gear snobbery (#2)
gear or you?
schematics and manuals
future of recording

trashy

nice, thanks!

A sticky, maybe?

BobG · alignin' 24-trk Joined: 07 Aug 2003 Posts: 63

Yes, Thanks!!!

dubphaser

Cool Evan. This needs to be sticky for sure!!!
_________________
~Jose Franco~
@jose_franco_

endofanera

Damn, Evan, nice work.

Definitely deserves to be a sticky.
_________________
"You get a kink in your neck looking up at people or down at people. But when you look straight across, there's no kinks."
--Mike Watt

theslumlord

that's actually pretty helpful.

But, man, how much time did that take? Question

evan

Took me probably a few hours...I kind of lost track of time after a while. Glad it's useful, otherwise I'd be devestated Shocked

It should be updated as time goes by, or if anyone else finds anything of notable worth...

**cgarges**

Damn, you've got a lot of time on your hands! Thanks for the great work! Hillary, take note!

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
_________________
www.chrisgarges.com
The Public Good - New album available now
Playing drums and hihat with Mitch Easter (GA, TN - Aug. 2010)

E-cue

How did we lose the Supahgreg posts?

Ah the great upgrade of 03'.

evan

It'd be a good idea to scour the archives too...I probably should add some of those.

EasyGo

Nice job Evan!
_________________
My reggae band's Myspace page

wenzel.hellgren · buyin' gear Joined: 09 Jun 2003 Posts: 560

This should be made a sticky, and continually added to.

rajbot2

this is a great reissue'd threat. BUMP!
_________________
falling behind; bad news travels slowly.

dwelle

good work, evan.

definitely sticky time....

evan

Added posts from the archives. For some reason the 2.0 archives aren't available...