Search found 88 matches

by SpencerBenjamin
Sun Mar 14, 2010 6:05 am
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: fixing a too reverberant guitar track
Replies: 15
Views: 5479

Very difficult to remove reverb once it's been printed. You could experiment with a gate then compression I suppose, maybe add some extra distortion...

Is re-recording/double-tracking out of the question?
by SpencerBenjamin
Sun Feb 28, 2010 2:26 am
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: Cassette duplication.
Replies: 28
Views: 11994

Theo_Karon wrote:Why not just make a bunch of CDRs labeled in sloppy sharpie-scrawl?
And a barcode. Otherwise it's Not Legitimate.
by SpencerBenjamin
Thu Feb 25, 2010 12:54 am
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: Need advice on mic-pres and stereo pair mics. I'm a noob.
Replies: 13
Views: 3935

Normal... or advisable? I think early on, it can be tempting to keep buying lots of bits of gear, in the hope that it'll make your recordings sound better. But if you read through alot of the posts here on TapeOp, the point is made time & time again that great recordings can be made on just about an...
by SpencerBenjamin
Wed Feb 24, 2010 9:41 pm
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: Need advice on mic-pres and stereo pair mics. I'm a noob.
Replies: 13
Views: 3935

The one time I used an Apogee Duet, I seem to remember being pretty impressed with its sound of the inbuilt preamps, for what it is. Try it, if you like the sound you're getting, there's your answer. The Daking will offer you a little more flexibility in terms of the adjustable Lo Cut, LED level mon...
by SpencerBenjamin
Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:30 am
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: Blasted my ears for a second with headphones
Replies: 26
Views: 10142

Pete Townshend, guitarist with (for many years) the World's Loudest Rock Band, supposedly blamed his tinnitus on listening to his Walkman too loud.
by SpencerBenjamin
Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:24 am
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: Any tips for fixing exceSSIve sibliance in the mix?
Replies: 13
Views: 5195

A while ago I read an interview with a producer who made the point that often sibilance is most noticed in the effects you add to the voice rather than the dry track. He used to draw the envelope on the effect send - usually reverb or a delay - dipping the send level on each sibilant consonant. In t...
by SpencerBenjamin
Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:07 pm
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: Recording guitars is easy right....wtf is my problem then?
Replies: 32
Views: 9458

For years I did recording sessions where the engineers were getting a thin reedy sound from my nice musicman amp. Then I did one session with a guy who pushed me aside and started fiddling with my knobs (ahem. on my amp). In this session the whole band were in one room, with some baffling between am...
by SpencerBenjamin
Sat Feb 28, 2009 3:50 am
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: cleaning your ears out...
Replies: 14
Views: 4758

I've had the doctor syringe my ear with warm water many times, about once every 18 months on average. It feels amazing, and everything sounds sparkly & new, and sometimes big pieces of wax come out. Once I had it done the day of a gig - not very wise. I discovered the definition of painful top-end. ...
by SpencerBenjamin
Tue Feb 24, 2009 5:37 pm
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: best sounding live records
Replies: 99
Views: 35156

Last night I heard Etta James Rocks The House for the first time. This is my new favourite live album. Recorded at The New Era Club in Nashville in 1963 on Chess Records. Recording quality is generally good, although there's the odd bit of extreme distortion & the stereo imaging is all over the plac...
by SpencerBenjamin
Sat Feb 14, 2009 8:29 pm
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: Use what you got, make it work.
Replies: 10
Views: 3705

You're right, the audio on the 'prosumer' cameras can be a little Micky Mouse. You probably know this already, but make sure the audio format is 16bit not 12bit (some cameras have the option to record 4 channels @ 12bit or 2 channels @ 16 bit. 16 bit doesn't give you alot of headroom, especially wit...
by SpencerBenjamin
Tue Feb 10, 2009 1:05 am
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: Use what you got, make it work.
Replies: 10
Views: 3705

I'll let others with more experience comment on mic placement for the music, but in terms of the camera: - Depending on the type of camera, you should be able to disable AGC and set up levels manually, so there is no limiter in play. Ideally try & feed some 1kHz tone (sometimes built in to mixing de...
by SpencerBenjamin
Sun Jan 25, 2009 3:24 pm
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: recording live comedy
Replies: 14
Views: 3771

I see what you mean now. Ideally in this situation we'd try beforehand to get an MC or warm-up guy or someone to basically get the crowd to yell & scream a bit while keeping quiet themselves - clean crowd effects, which can be inserted upon mix down wherever required, as well as covering edits. Most...
by SpencerBenjamin
Sun Jan 25, 2009 3:48 am
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: recording live comedy
Replies: 14
Views: 3771

It's possibly too late, but I would respectfully disagree with that. In my experience a couple of well placed audience mics will give a far better/clearer/less phasey image than a whole bunch of them. Having said that, I have worked on TV & radio shows where the Audio Director obviously disagrees......
by SpencerBenjamin
Fri Jan 23, 2009 11:57 pm
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: recording live comedy
Replies: 14
Views: 3771

Those MXLs should be fine. I wouldn't sweat on having too many audience/room mics, you'll just introduce a whole lot of phase problems later. I think the position at the FOH should be ok, although if you're pointing at the stage you'll likely get a fair bit of PA; the best place for PA rejection is ...
by SpencerBenjamin
Thu Jan 22, 2009 12:11 am
Forum: Creative Recording
Topic: recording live comedy
Replies: 14
Views: 3771

I'd recommend a hardware limiter. Comedians often do a fair bit of getting right up into the mic for an effect. Some light compression on the way in could help too. If you have the facilities, it could be worth splitting the mic on 2 tracks with different levels. That way if the comic's doing stuff ...