liven up my recordings

[billiamwalker]

right now i'm using a good sounding room and decent mics running into a firepod then to cubase. i'm not using any preamps or compressors besides the preamps in the firepod intereface and an alesis 3630 for tracking vocals.

what can i add (preamps, compressors) to start livening up my recordings. Should i buy, lets say, a preamps for the snare, overheads, and guitars, and compressors for the kick, bass, and some other guitar uses.

if so, what is some not-so-pricey peices of gear that'll start making some differences?

[JGriffin]

What about your recordings are you not happy with?

[billiamwalker]

What about your recordings are you not happy with?

i'm getting getting quality recordings... it's just kind of missing the presense that i want. some of it can be fixed by a better mix i'm sure... but i'm just trying to boost the depth of the recording.

what have you people added to your setup that really boosted the depth/presense of your recordings? i know it's hard to understand because it's all a matter of opinion of what things should sound like.

[kayagum]

Mastering?

[billiamwalker]

Mastering?

before mastering.

because most of my customers can't afford to have music mastered at a mastering studio and digital mastering isn't always the best option although it is always going to be done. i'm talking about something to help it from the get-go.

[JGriffin]

What about your recordings are you not happy with?

i'm getting getting quality recordings... it's just kind of missing the presense that i want. some of it can be fixed by a better mix i'm sure... but i'm just trying to boost the depth of the recording.

what have you people added to your setup that really boosted the depth/presense of your recordings? i know it's hard to understand because it's all a matter of opinion of what things should sound like.

I understand presence and depth to be different things. But that said, it's hard to know what to suggest when -for example- I don't know what mics you're using. Or what kind of music you record.

On the other hand though, one of the criticisms of this board is that the suggestions for better recordings always involve buying more gear and spending more money...so to that end:

--get better guitar tones at the amp. This step alone has helped me immeasurably.
--practice and learn subtractive EQ so that you don't have un-needed frequencies cluttering your mix.
--use less reverb. Think short delays with little feedback instead.
--EQ your delay return so it doesn't eat up too much space.
--resist the urge to put reverb on everything.
--close-mic for presence, distance-mic for depth (see what I mean?).
--don't compress things that don't need to be compressed.
--mute instruments during parts of the song where they're not playing. For that matter, try muting instruments when they are playing, as it may clean up an arrangement.
--tune the drums.
--think about your arrangements. Do you have two guitarists strumming the same chords at the same positions on the neck, with the same guitar tones? Bust that up. Send 'em to neutral corners.

[vvv]

Generically speaking, as a bedroom enthusiast (which probably isn't relevant ) and recordist, I would suggest that you have at least a couple different mic's, a decent compressor that you like, and at least a couple different pre's, in that order.

Asssuming that you've pretty much done dwlb's suggestions (to which I would add, change instruments; ex., Teles for rhythm and a Paul for lead, hihats on the verse and rides on the chorus, etc.) I answer based on my experience, and (low) budget.

[JGriffin]

I would add, change instruments; ex., Teles for rhythm and a Paul for lead, hihats on the verse and rides on the chorus, etc.

Good points, those.

[Timothy Lawler]

I definitely notice a difference in the "3 dimensional" quality that the (few) great mic's and pre's I've used can get compared to lower end gear.

But the good news, as we all know, is that a really good performance captured on cheap gear is better than the opposite. And having a good sounding room, as you mentioned you've got, is IMO a bigger deal than the gear anyway.

Maybe the biggest bang for the buck I got in upgrading was my Lucid AD converters.

Tim