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mike12345 posted:Alright, I watched some Youtube-video, and played around with Hard Limits and Amplify. That Loudness app crashed Audacity, so that probably means I'm super-loud. Comparing it to other Retrowave/Synthwave songs in Foobar still makes it sound anemic, but whatevs. Would any of you guys maybe give it a listen and provide some feedback? I'd pm you the link, or email. Audacity crashing doesn't mean you're super-loud, it means the vst host functions of it suck. Consider trying Reaper as a host instead. If it sounds anemic, then it's probably quieter than what you're comparing it with.
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Apr 1, 2016 19:01
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mike12345 posted:Alright, I watched some Youtube-video, and played around with Hard Limits and Amplify. That Loudness app crashed Audacity, so that probably means I'm super-loud. Comparing it to other Retrowave/Synthwave songs in Foobar still makes it sound anemic, but whatevs. Would any of you guys maybe give it a listen and provide some feedback? I'd pm you the link, or email. I can do this tonight, PM me. EDIT: Out of curiosity, what DAW are you using?
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Apr 1, 2016 19:18
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Flipperwaldt posted:Foobar2000's replay gain uses EBU R 128 in its calculations, though it uses a reference point of -18 LUFS. You can use this to compare your track with your reference material. A track with a track gain that has been turned down more, was louder. Remove the tag after use or do the comparison with a copy of your files. Yeah, I was joking with the loudness crashing Audacity. Ok I dl'd Reaper and dropped the file into its window. When I run that loudness plugin it just says OVER. Hmm okay.
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Apr 1, 2016 19:24
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:I can do this tonight, PM me. Sent. I made the mistake of using LMMS, because whatever. Turns out it's not as feature-complete as I thought it would be. I did all the mixing in Audacity. I didn't use any VSTs, just sample-based everything. Plus my voice.
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Apr 1, 2016 19:29
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mike12345 posted:Yeah, I was joking with the loudness crashing Audacity. Ok I dl'd Reaper and dropped the file into its window. When I run that loudness plugin it just says OVER. Hmm okay.
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Apr 1, 2016 20:01
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Hi guys, I have a mixer question. I really know nothing about mixers, home recording or anything. But I'm looking to get a mixer for a streaming project to have more control of what the audience hears. But I need more 1/4 inputs than XLR inputs. I've heard some mixers dont like having non-instruments plugged into the channels with XLR inputs. From my research, as long as its a Line Input, even if its on the same channel as an XLR input(I'm not using a 1/4 and XLR on the same channel), there wont be any issues correct? Assuming I'm making any sense with this. I'm essentially wanting to run several computers/audio devices into a mixer, so I can adjust volume using it and have certain things set up that only the guy running the board can hear vs what the stream can hear. Hopefully I'm making sense
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Apr 2, 2016 22:37
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Not with any gear I've ever worked with, no, at least nothing catastrophic. The only issue would be perhaps if you plugged XLR and line inputs into the same channel, but you've specifically said you're not doing that, or if phantom power was turned on for a condenser mic somewhere. Also, on some models the gain settings of the channels with the XLR inputs have different gain scaling (I've seen some interfaces with inputs marked "instrument" because of this) but it's just a matter of adjusting levels or using something with a "pad" control or similar (basically something that cuts/adds a bunch of gain to a channel at the press of a button). But if a mixer has a 1/4 inch input, then it's there to be used and a signal is a signal, even if you have to fiddle with the levels a bit. One thing you might want to consider is whether you want a hardware mixer designed for live use, or an audio interface that plugs into a PC that lets you set the levels in the box. Assuming that you are using this to stream over the internet, I'd personally use an interface with a whole bunch of inputs and use a DAW like Reaper to mix the audio on screen, because it's much easier to add things like compression, eq and gating to separate channels, record the output for later use etc - this is what I did in my ventures into podcasting. Most good interfaces have multiple outputs and Reaper is particularly good at routing its audio around, so you can route your channels to headphones, to the audience, or wherever, and be able to do things like save your settings or make presets. Something to consider, anyway.
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Apr 3, 2016 01:26
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Axeman Jim posted:Not with any gear I've ever worked with, no, at least nothing catastrophic. The only issue would be perhaps if you plugged XLR and line inputs into the same channel, but you've specifically said you're not doing that, or if phantom power was turned on for a condenser mic somewhere. Also, on some models the gain settings of the channels with the XLR inputs have different gain scaling (I've seen some interfaces with inputs marked "instrument" because of this) but it's just a matter of adjusting levels or using something with a "pad" control or similar (basically something that cuts/adds a bunch of gain to a channel at the press of a button). Thanks! I dont know why I didnt think about that second bit at all. Just to make sure I'm thinking of the right thing, you're talking about like running a 6i6 Scarlett or something like that right?
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Apr 3, 2016 15:49
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I'm looking to upgrade from my cheap behringer C-1 for vocal stuff, something that emphasises warmth tonally, are there any good options that fit into the bang for your buck range?
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Apr 3, 2016 21:10
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cat doter posted:I'm looking to upgrade from my cheap behringer C-1 for vocal stuff, something that emphasises warmth tonally, are there any good options that fit into the bang for your buck range? Bangiest bang for your vocal Buck is probably a SM7, though I wouldn't call it especially warm - it's more focused/forward sounding without over abundant top end.
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Apr 3, 2016 23:21
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Oh, if that's the sort of price range we're talking about, I'll be sure to mention the Rode NT1. Ultra low self noise opens up more possibilities than you think in positioning as well as post processing.
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Apr 3, 2016 23:37
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Flipperwaldt posted:Oh, if that's the sort of price range we're talking about, I'll be sure to mention the Rode NT1. Ultra low self noise opens up more possibilities than you think in positioning as well as post processing. This looks like exactly what I'm after, thanks!
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Apr 3, 2016 23:52
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For the past few months I've been messing around in Garageband with an AKAI MPK25 and a Scarlett 6i6 direct instrument input to record some guitar/bass. I recently got my hands on a super cheap copy of Superior Drummer 2.0. At this point, I'm looking to switch over to Ableton or Pro Tools. However, I'd eventually love to do semi-serious recording and mastering. Would it be worth it to bite the bullet and learn Pro Tools from the start versus getting Ableton? Is Ableton really that big of a hurdle for professional recording?
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Apr 6, 2016 03:44
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Bazanga posted:For the past few months I've been messing around in Garageband with an AKAI MPK25 and a Scarlett 6i6 direct instrument input to record some guitar/bass. I recently got my hands on a super cheap copy of Superior Drummer 2.0. At this point, I'm looking to switch over to Ableton or Pro Tools. Any DAW will get you professional results providing you have the right workflow and know what you're doing. Protools isn't the be-all end-all of music production, it was just one of the first good ones and has a lot of legacy and experience behind it. Ableton is very capable at making music and a lot of commercial tracks are created using it alone, I doubt there is anything you can't do in it that Pro Tools can. Given that you're using a Mac I'd recommend looking into Logic Pro X, it's way cheaper than the other two (price can be reduced even further if you buy itunes credit when it's 25% off and buy Logic with that) and has a ton of included samples and instruments, and is a bit more pro-toolsy than ableton is in general layout/workflow. Plus all the experience you have with Garageband will roll straight into Logic, they share a lot of features to the extent that GB is practically a lite version of LPX.
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Apr 6, 2016 05:37
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RandomCheese posted:Plus all the experience you have with Garageband will roll straight into Logic, they share a lot of features to the extent that GB is practically a lite version of LPX. Let's not forget that everything you've done in GB should be able to be (natively) imported into LPX!  I mean, with proper exporting and preparation, this is the case for all DAWs, but I believe LPX actually reads GB project files and will keep everything the same.
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Apr 6, 2016 13:05
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Interesting, I hadn't considered Logic. I like that it comes with a lot of samples and virtual instruments. But I thought I had read somewhere that Logic doesn't support VSTs which made me hesitate. I split my time between Windows and my MacBook but end up doing most of the music stuff on my MacBook. It's good to know that pro tools isn't totally, absolutely required for pro level recording, the guys in my local music "scene" act like it is a necessary evil. Bazanga fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Apr 7, 2016 |
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Apr 7, 2016 03:02
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Bazanga posted:Interesting, I hadn't considered Logic. I like that it comes with a lot of samples and virtual instruments. But I thought I had read somewhere that Logic doesn't support VSTs which made me hesitate. Vsts, unless logic x is different, aren't supported natively, but you can get some sort of wrapper to run them. Don't confuse 'vst' with 'plugin'; the former is just a format of the latter. Logic csn and will handle any AU (Audio Unit) plugin you can throw at it. Also, with regards to that Pro Tools attitude, that mindset is laughable and indicative of an amateur (not saying that to you, but for those people you're referring to). I remember hearing in high school from a guy that he's going to download pro tools, because 'that's what Trent Reznor uses'. Yeah, good luck, buddy. You'll hear this from anyone in here with any sort of experience, but, with a few extreme exceptions, it's not the tool but the handyman.
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Apr 7, 2016 03:24
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Yeah I think that's where the attitude came from. They recorded at a "big" studio that used pro tools, so they started using pro tools because that's what the "big" studio used. Cargo cult stuff. I'll check out the wrapper for the AU/VST stuff. But I'm definitely going to check out Logic. Thanks guys!
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Apr 7, 2016 03:44
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RandomCheese posted:Any DAW will get you professional results providing you have the right workflow and know what you're doing. Protools isn't the be-all end-all of music production, it was just one of the first good ones and has a lot of legacy and experience behind it. Ableton is very capable at making music and a lot of commercial tracks are created using it alone, I doubt there is anything you can't do in it that Pro Tools can. Strongly agree, I've used PT and Ableton and Logic and Logic has my favorite effort:quality ratio. I've been very happy using Logic's native EQ and Compressor and Native Instruments' reverb, and most tracks don't need more than EQ and compression and reverb.
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Apr 7, 2016 04:36
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Bazanga posted:Yeah I think that's where the attitude came from. They recorded at a "big" studio that used pro tools, so they started using pro tools because that's what the "big" studio used. Cargo cult stuff. The wrapper thing probably isn't that necessary, almost every commercial plugin is offered in both AU and VST. The ones that are VST only are also usually Windows only too so you couldn't load the plugin on your mac even with a DAW that supports VST. Sometimes a wrapper needs to be used if the AU is 32bit only as Logic X only supports 64bit plugins, Sylenth is one of the more notable instruments that need this wrapping to be able to work, but in my eyes that just adds an extra point of failure so it's best to just use a synth that works natively instead.
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Apr 7, 2016 05:29
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I'm having some problems with recording and could use some help with setting the levels properly. My setup: Scarlett 2i2 connected to a Mac recording in Ableton MicroBrute connected to the Scarlet I can't seem to get the levels to sound right. For some reason it's coming out really compressed sounding, though other times it isn't. That's probably because I played with the levels but I don't know what I did to make it better or worse. Basically I can't figure out the right combination of volume on the instrument itself versus volume on the Scarlett. Does anyone have a good guide for setting levels? Edit: I should add that the volume isn't clipping. I've got it as loud as it can get before clipping, and the recording in Ableton is definitely not super loud. Sexy Randal fucked around with this message at 06:49 on Apr 9, 2016 |
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Apr 9, 2016 05:49
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Flipperwaldt posted:That probably means you're peaking at 0dB somewhere for longer than 3ms, which in some circles I'm sure isn't considered a problem as long as you don't hear it, but in engineering terms it's considered a fault. It's not a good idea for anything you want to eventually convert to mp3 in particular, because that process may make the distortion audible, but it seems a bit excessive of them not to let you meter the file anyway. If you're ok with the sound currently, normalize the file to peak at -0,3dB or below to circumvent it. Unless something weird is going on, in which case no idea. Ok I switched to Reaper, remixed it and now I think it sounds mostly ok. I mixed it in such a way that it peaked at -1 during the loudest parts, then used a normalizer to raise it to 0. The wave doesn't look like a sausage anymore, so I guess that's good. One thing that was weird is that after exporting to wav, the snare seemed to have gained some db. Maybe it's a weird trick of the mind or something about snare frequency range.
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Apr 12, 2016 12:37
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mike12345 posted:Ok I switched to Reaper, remixed it and now I think it sounds mostly ok. I mixed it in such a way that it peaked at -1 during the loudest parts, then used a normalizer to raise it to 0. The wave doesn't look like a sausage anymore, so I guess that's good. One thing that was weird is that after exporting to wav, the snare seemed to have gained some db. Maybe it's a weird trick of the mind or something about snare frequency range. Oh man, really sorry for not checking out your recent mix last night, but I'll take a listen tonight. And as for the snare sounding different between mp3 and wav, when mp3s are encoded they perceptual encoding, which in very basic terms means that the sounds that the encoder doesn't think you'll hear are pretty much removed. Obviously that's not specifically what is going on here, but the change in snare sound could be a side-effect of that. Ninja edit: http://www.telecomabc.com/p/perceptual.html EDIT: vvvv What Flipper said, too vvv Rupert Buttermilk fucked around with this message at 14:38 on Apr 12, 2016 |
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Apr 12, 2016 13:14
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Didn't see him mentioning it was an mp3. Also, mp3 encoding at normal bitrates is pretty good these days and you wouldn't hear a difference between it and a level matched wav. My guess is the wav is playing at a different level and it's Fletcher-Munson rearing its head. Like, my audio interface has different maximum levels in ASIO and WDM modes and if I export something out of my DAW and play it back in a media player, suddenly it all sounds just that bit different, but it's just a couple of dB louder. Another rookie mistake could be dragging the exported file back into the project and forgetting there are effects enabled on the output bus. Normalizing from peak -1 to peak 0 is pointless at best. But doing the mix again and being happier with it is great. You were worried about maybe it being too quiet. At another point you said the old mix sounded wimpy. These are not the same thing. You can test how far you can go into sausagifying a punchy mix and end up with something louder but still cool. You cannot turn a confused mix into something punchy by turning it into a sausage, nor will backing up from the compression on a loud and wimpy mix automatically give you a punchy one. So if you have a mix you're happy with, however relatively quiet it is, you're in a good place.
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Apr 12, 2016 14:22
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Yeah, it was just the plain .wav after ripping it in Reaper, so it's probably this Fletcher-Munson thing. Interesting. Rupert, thanks for listening to the second mix, make sure it's the one I uploaded yesterday. I think the biggest challenge was in deciding the relative volume of the voice compared to the instruments. Like, do I want it to blend nicely and risk making the words inaudible, or do I really bring it forward and risk losing punch. In hindsight, maybe that's were automation comes in, but that's a topic for another day & mix. Thanks for the feedback.
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Apr 12, 2016 18:54
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A quirk of Reaper's mp3 encoding (it uses the LAME encoder like everything else, but this only happens when mixing down to mp3 in Reaper, not in any of the other stand-alone LAME encoders, probably because it encodes the mp3 as it renders), is that some things that peak or are very compressed (with near-instantaneous attack) can sometimes cause audio artefacts, weird chirps and clicks, or sometimes volume drops that sound like compression pumping. If you're getting weird things in Reaper's mp3 output that aren't present when you press play in Reaper or when you export to .wav, this might be the problem. There were a couple of tracks on my last album that Reaper would choke on every time if I exported them as mp3s. So try exporting as .wav and using a standalone LAME encoder (I recommend LameDropXPd) to encode them separately afterwards.
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Apr 12, 2016 22:55
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I always though Fraunhofer was supposed to be better than LAME, is that not the case anymore?
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Apr 13, 2016 12:40
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Can I get some feedback/opinions on my guitar tone? I like the fundamental tone but I'm umming and ahing between three EQ takes. Track is here: https://soundcloud.com/syntaxfunction/guitar-eq-compare First is unscooped, then a light scoop (3.5dB) at 1500, and third in heavily scooped (6.5dB) at 1k. Just curious as to what people would prefer as I am having deciding. The heavy scoop pops the surrounding quite a bit, the unscooped sounds raw and the light scoop sounds a little smoother. Opinions?
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Apr 26, 2016 08:18
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syntaxfunction posted:Can I get some feedback/opinions on my guitar tone? I like the fundamental tone but I'm umming and ahing between three EQ takes. Track is here: https://soundcloud.com/syntaxfunction/guitar-eq-compare Two bars of each before it changes yeah? I liked the immediate punch of the first tone as it landed, middle tone was eh, third tone was a bit better but I still think the first one sounds best. Don't scoop anything out of it, keep that fat tone and cut space in all the other tracks to make that tubby bastard fit.
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Apr 26, 2016 13:33
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This might seem like an insane question but is there any way to take a wav file that has had eq applied to it and exported to the original wav file pre-eq to create an eq difference pattern and apply it to another wav?
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May 4, 2016 16:39
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himajinga posted:This might seem like an insane question but is there any way to take a wav file that has had eq applied to it and exported to the original wav file pre-eq to create an eq difference pattern and apply it to another wav? How well this works, sort of depends on how close source and target material match. It's not magic.
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May 4, 2016 17:15
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Flipperwaldt posted:It's called EQ matching and is typically done through a vst plugin like CurveEQ. The equalizer in iZotope Ozone can do this as well. Oh cool, that actually works like a charm with a little tweaking. A friend cleaned up a couple of my tracks that all suffered from the same room problems (boxy as hell) but had to leave town on short notice before finishing the whole set, the tracks are all from the same session and all needed similar correction. Thanks!
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May 4, 2016 17:26
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I've been having a bit of trouble. I tend to record using an M-Audio M-Track thing, on my laptop with Windows 10. I use Reaper. It was all working great before, but now it's started to cut out after a couple of minutes. The M-Track is still on, and I can still hear my guitar through it when I play, but when I try to record or play on Reaper it just freezes in place and doesn't do anything. The way I fix it is by closing Reaper, unplugging the M-Track, and starting up again - far from an ideal solution. I'm pretty sure it's not related to any power-saving thing - I've gone through control panel and disabled all of that. I'm not too good at this home recording stuff, and I've tried Googling around but so far no luck. Any ideas? I want to get back to recording my lovely raw black metal as soon as I can!
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May 10, 2016 17:57
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Could be the USB ports sleeping to save power, I've seen similar issues before caused by this. In the device manager if you select properties of your USB devices there's something on one of the tabs that says "allow this computer to put this device to sleep to save power", make sure that's unticked. Also try updating your USB drivers, often laptops have a non-intel USB3 controller that needs separate drivers so make sure you go to the manufacturer website and grab the latest ones. WIn10 is really aggressive about installing it's own drivers, they may have been "updated" to whatever microsoft thinks is the best for your system regardless of them actually functioning or not. If your laptop has both USB2 and 3 try the interface in both to see if the issue is still there.
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May 11, 2016 05:21
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Done a bit of poking around. Tried looking at the power saving settings again but no luck. Reinstalled the drivers, didn't do anything. Plugged it in to the USB 2 port instead of the USB 3 one, didn't do anything different. I fixed it by plugging the M-Track in through a USB hub. I have no idea why this works.
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May 11, 2016 12:56
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Ball Cupper posted:Done a bit of poking around. Tried looking at the power saving settings again but no luck. Reinstalled the drivers, didn't do anything. Plugged it in to the USB 2 port instead of the USB 3 one, didn't do anything different. If not; pretty weird.
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May 11, 2016 13:14
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Yeah, there's probably some setting I've missed The hub doesn't have it's own power supply. Weird thing is, when it cuts out, the device still has power, it just won't play back
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May 11, 2016 13:29
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I'd guess it's still a power saving thing, windows might be less likely to turn down the power to the hub in case it interferes with connected peripherals, and the hub doesn't give a poo poo what's running through it so it keeps everything on as well.
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May 11, 2016 14:22
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Ah hell, it keeps happening - at least partially. Playback works fine in Reaper if I use ASIO, but setting it to wavout craps out after a minute or so, along with not playing back in TuxGuitar (which I assume uses wavout, can't see anything letting me set it to ASIO). At this rate I'm gonna be chucking Windows 10 and going back to Linux so I won't have to bother with sound at all.
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May 11, 2016 19:09
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I got a kinda easy question about tracking and mixing that will probably boil down to personal preference. Alright so how do you guys track heavy metal when there's two guitar players, let's call them guitar A and guitar B? Is the proper approach to have each player multitrack their parts, IE guitar A plays twice and B plays twice and the sum total is the two As on the left and two Bs on the right? Or is it fine to just have them playing once for each track? Edit: for solos if just one player is doing a solo do you just have it on a different track and center it or have it kinda mimic how it would sound live?
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May 11, 2016 19:29
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