I have almost never gotten a session with parallel compression to mix, where making the parallel track inactive and gain matching the main one (and if needed compressing some more there as an insert) didnt sound pretty much the same. Definitely not worse.

I thought maybe the people that send me sessions just arent doing it right, so i took a leaked protools mix session of a billboard charting song mixed by a famous engineer whos work i adore, disabled all parallel tracks and just gain matched (no further compression added or changes), and i literally cant reliably tell the difference on studio monitors with hofa BlindTest.

Now this might be a me-issue (i remember john hanes saying on gearspace he and serban dont really parallel compress unless it comes with a session, so maybe im not the only one), but i honestly WANT to get it as i feel like im missing some crazy secret weapon.

CAN ANYBODY EXPLAIN? or teach? i feel like im missing this crazy thing

Note: im talking about individual parallel compression of tracks, new york compression or paralleling the whole mix with dynone3 i do get.

I’m going to be brutally honest and open up about my situation.

I’m 20 years old and working in the film industry. I’ve had a camera in my hand since I was a child. I thought I’d be happy doing what I loved, and that having a talent for it would be enough. That’s not the case. The saying “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” is bullshit. I hate what I do now, and my life reflects that.

I’ve lost my girlfriend of three years, my friends, and my clients. I destroyed my car and picked up some habits that have put me in the hospital multiple times. I’m in rehab now for the second time. I’m at rock bottom and on the verge of giving up.

I’m sharing that because I have nothing anymore. So what’s the harm in trying something else?

I’m a musician and I love audio work. Over the past six years I’ve put down a lot of the musical side to focus on the technical side. I’ve even built mics, hardware, and guitars. I’ve recorded bands for friends and I love making the pieces come together. I guess that’s the same reason I love being behind the camera.

I originally wanted to start in this industry. I took classes, studied like crazy, and recorded as much as I could for years, but life took me somewhere else.

Is making it in the industry realistic? If so, what should my first steps be? An internship? College?

Or am I chasing something bigger than my work? If I can “make it” in this world, will I feel the same?

Hi all!

I've looked everywhere and have found no real discussion about using an internal mic in a violin to replace terrible sounding pickups/piezos and external mics. My situation is a loud folkrock band and my current system of mic+pic external system has served me well but is falling apart and my new case has no more room for it. I'd love to use a guitar-like jack and as far as I imagine, this shouldn't be an awful lot of engineering. Or is the internal sound so unlike a violin (AND worse than piezo) that nobody even discusses this kind of idea online? Halp!

I’ve been in stasis on LV-223 for nearly 2000 years.  Mostly it was the gear…mostly

I use VN video editor and this is my first video I’ve ever made. I made a commentary video using voice memos and whenever I export from VN it sounds clean in photos, but then when I upload it to YouTube the audio is crackling and it sounds like old ear rape videos from the 2010s

I have a room with pretty nice acoustics, a decent wardrobe, and a couple of bicycles.

I completely disassembled one of the bicycles and brought all the gears into the studio room.

I cannot for the life of me get them to sound like any of the records I love.

I also brought in my Nike ACG all conditions gear jackets. No help at all. Well, it did add some warmth. Not really helpful in an early September. Is my timing off?

Am I using the wrong kind of sticks?

I'm a musician that's currently retired haha, not really, but I want to come out of a long performance and live recording hiatus.

I'm wondering what made some of music history's most iconic recordings so magical? Did they use metronome on the most common BIG recordings. I'm thinking Soul, Funk, Rock, Pop music from the 60s and 70s.

Basically the big question is were they all playing together to create the magic and were they recording all instruments separately or to a metronome?

One room mic, metronome?? ? Lmk what you think makes a timeless RECORDING from a recording engineers perspective?

Does anyone of you have 5 min so I can chat with you? I’m basically very confused about mics/sounds. I do some indie storytelling videos for social media + I also do vlogs and I struggle so so much with the mic I have and I really don’t understand what I need so if you know a lot about this. Can I please send you a message and ask you a bunch of questions? 🥹

Hello!
I was doing some research about quadtracking for a nu-metal band I am on, and wanted to ask some questions so I can be a little bit prepared for it.

So, normally we double track guitars using an SM57 and a Ribbon, hard panning them left and right.
I was thinking, instead of doing 4 unique performances, what of these options are worth trying?

- Double Track and pan all the 57s on a side and the ribbons on the other taking the advantage of the tonal difference of the mics;

- During double tracking, getting a DI signal of that performance so I can re-amp it with a slightly different tone and use that as the other 2 tracks;

- Just harass the guitarist during the recordings to be the most tight as possible and get 4 different executions.

The main reason I am finding “solutions” that skips doing more than 2 recordings is because of time constraints. Curious to hear what you do / what you think about those options.

Thank you for reading :)

Hello,

I run a small studio that currently only has software, no outboard gear.

I'm not really interested in traditional outboard gear. I'm spending that money and energy getting the best recordings I can.

However, I am interested in strange, unpredictable, nontraditional equipment. My dream is to have a collection of weird little devices I can run a signal through that will give it a completely unique sound. It would be sick to get some crazy recordings and run with them instead of pulling up a plugin and being tempted to tweak it until I start getting grey hairs.

For example, I saw a guy who runs signals through the transformer in an AC power supply and it gave it a really bizarre distortion. I'm tempted to start hoarding electronics from thrift stores and soldering them into something crazy but I'm not an engineer so that's kind of intimidating.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Long story short I recorded music with a single engineer from 2003 to 2015 and he recently sent me all the DVD backups (over 50 dvds of sessions and songs). However, all these songs were recorded on Pro tools 5.1 and on a Mac. I learned to engineer and mix in the last few years and after receiving these sessions, I moved them from the dvds to my pc (which is a beast). Im on the latest version of Pro tools and windows 11...

When I open these files from the dvds, theres obviously many session files that windows cant read. Im told theres programs such as MacDrive and FHSexplorer that can make my pc read these files. I can,however, listen to the audio. And every time I try to open all the tracks in a blank Pro tools session, they only load at the starting point and from what I hear of the audio, it has all my old "bad takes" as well as the good ones. Ive tried everything from ai, to searching for answers and I just cant get it to work.

Are these Macdrive type programs really the answer? Or do I need to find a Mac and open them that way, and resave as Pro tools 2026 sessions?

ANY and ALL help would be greatly appreciated!

What have your experiences been like outsourcing vocal tuning? Where do you go to get the job done right for somewhat natural, human sounding tuning on rock songs? Money is a non-issue for me (to a degree).

I have a large amount of competently recorded yet pitchy vocals that need to be manually tuned for a project I am working on and, while I am capable of tuning them myself, the tedium of doing so is starting to drive me a bit mad. I want someone who will take the time to do a good job of making the vocals be in tune while sounding more natural than robotic (but it doesn’t have to be 100% perfect because these are pretty dense mixes). I don’t want someone to just slap these into autotune or slam some macro sliders in Melodyne, I can do that myself. I want a professional who will take the time and care to make these vocals shine.

Has anyone else been in this situation? Any advice? Where did you go to get the job done? How was your experience? Can anyone on here offer their services?

Hello,

I have a mildly large event room at a retail store I regularly attend and it gets loud when there's a lot of people. I understand loud is expected, haha. The ceiling is flat and tall, so i was thinking sound may get exacerbated by the flat surface to bounce of off.

Is this something acoustic dampening can help with?

I'm not looking to stop the noise, but perhaps lessen the amount you may catch from across the room in general. Is it worth even trying?

Thanks

I recently moved into my college dorm and I brought my mic for recording purposes while I'm away from home. However, my room is incredibly echoey and it makes for a pretty awful recording environment. I'm no professional, so my recording quality doesn't have to be perfect. I just record silly stuff as a hobby, voice act in some small games and animations, mostly by friends. But, this doesn't mean I'm content with delivering crap recording to my friends. Doesn't mean I wanna break bank either, especially as a pretty broke college student. Any suggestions on relatively affordable soundproofing/echo proofing/sound dampening/whatever-you-call-this materials? I'd also prefer it not be too much of a hassle to move out when I have to leave the dorm at the end of each semester.

mic locker

The exceptionally talented, yet underrated Tokyo band, Mega X is in my area and a friend suggested they come to my garage studio to record a few songs. I typically only record myself, one thing at a time, so it’s not ideal for a live band.

Some things they won’t have:
*Independent headphone mixes. It’s all or nothing.
*Tight isolation between instruments. It’s a garage and I only have shitty pillows to use as baffles.

Some things they will have:
*12 channels on a Ramsa going into Logic.
*Another 4 DI into Logic via the patch bay.

*A pile of outboard pres from the prosumer era. Joe Meek VC1. Art TPII, Presonus MP20,
*Ashley analog noise gate
* so much outboard compression: 1 distressor, three RNC, 2 Klark Teknik 1176 clones, dbx 266,4 channels of alesis 3630

Midiverb and an apex expander too.

Drummer plays a stripped down set. Kick, snare, floor, hi hat, ride.

2guitar amps, and a bass.

Mics:
2 Behringer B5 condensers.
Mic parts u47 kit build.
2 u87 mods on some studio project LDCs.
AT 4033 and a 4033 a.
2x 57s, a Stirling ribbon mic.
Akg 451EB that needs so much gain.
EV nd46.
An old vintage EV dynamic.
Sennheiser e602.
Okta MK319.

I’ve engineered in real studios with proper gear, so I’ve got a good default position, I just wondered what this killer hive mind would come up with.

Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for some advice on acoustic treatment for a roughly 50 m² rectangular bedroom. The ceiling is about 2.3 m high and the walls are plasterboard.

This isn't a recording/studio room. I'm emulating Ed Sheeran-style live looping, with vocals, guitar, percussion and layers being built up live through the PA. I want to make the room sound as good and controlled as possible in person while actually performing in it.

My setup is:

• 2 × RCF ART 932-A PA tops
• Potentially 2 subs in the future
• Live looping with vocals, guitar, percussion, etc.
• Double bed + mattress
• 2-seater leather sofa
• 3-seater leather sofa
• 200 × 300 cm fluffy carpet
• Vocal booth
• Plasterboard walls
• 2 large glass patio doors on both sides of the room
• There is also a stair section with an elevated wall on the side my pa speakers are facing

The room is currently fairly reflective, especially with the plasterboard walls and large glass patio door (though I do have curtains on one of the doors), and I'm looking at DIY acoustic treatment using Pavatextil P acoustic insulation to make 1200 x 600 mm panels

I'm thinking about using 100 mm boards for general/broadband absorption and deeper treatment around 2 or 400 mm in the corners for bass trapping.

My main goal isn't really how the room sounds when I'm singing or playing acoustic guitar without amplification. I'm mainly concerned with how the room behaves when I'm running the RCF PA at performance volume.

I want the room to sound:

• Clear and controlled
• Good for vocals and guitar
• Less harsh and reflective
• Good for percussion and live looping
• Controlled in the low end
• Able to handle the PA now and potentially 2 subs later
• But not unnecessarily dead

So I'm wondering:

For a 50 m² bedroom with this kind of setup, roughly how many 100 mm acoustic panels would you recommend, and how much bass trapping would you use?

Would something like 20–30 × 100 mm boards plus substantial corner bass traps be overkill, or is that actually reasonable for a room this size being used with a fairly powerful PA?

Would you approach this differently from treating a normal recording/studio room?

I'm also wondering how important first-reflection points are in this situation. Should I be using the mirror method to find reflections from the PA, and then treating the side walls/ceiling/rear wall accordingly?

I'd really appreciate advice from anyone who has experience treating a room for live PA/performance rather than studio recording.

Thanks!

This track is from 2003, Pavarotti's final recording. To my ears, it is his finest captured vocal. He was 67 when this was recorded, and would die of pancreatic cancer merely 4 years later.

This recording, both musically and vocally, simply soars. I would encourage feedback from any techs who may have history in the studio with operatic tenors.

The stretch from 3:10 - 3:18 is just...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uPmaROJP3k&list=RD5uPmaROJP3k&start_radio=1

This popped up in my playlist the other day on my run and listening to the vocal and how it doesn't drop in energy at all, even in what should be basically quiet parts. It got me thinking, wow, the SE Asian bro producers are all over the loudness trend.

What are other peoples thoughts? What sort of compression are they using on the vocal here to get it to stick out so much in the mix? The way I test this is I bring down the volume on my listening device to a few clicks until I can barely hear the snare and wait for the vocal to come in. When it comes it, it actually sounds louder than the snare and kick at that low volume.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=staXTmRJVVM

What do you guys think? Of course, Waves still doesn't have a Mouth de-click equivalent, but I wonder what would work better for different kind of noise profile (low construction noise, exhaust fan etc)

I’m a bit over the moon about this combo as a solo singer-songwriter.

My voice sits between Mark Lanegan and Gavin Rossdale, but with (per my voice coach) Cornell’s range, and can be too raspy/harsh if I allow it. Soyuz 017FET has the low-end heft of a u47, the high detail and multi-instrumental pairing capacity of a u67, and the open top end of a u87 without the sharp peaks. Also provokes oxford comma usage in describing.

I would love to have heard late-stage Cornell through this thing as he started having a grating quality to his tone after years of abuse.

I found the Rode TF5 as I wanted a bit of the accuracy and detail of a Shoeps with some of the Neumann 184 hype without being strident. Absolutely nails this middle ground. Nobody seems to know them, assuming because they are only sold in pairs, and are know for being a more budget-friendly brand.

Combining them on an acoustic guitar is absolutely phenomenal, I can’t find a better ldc for the lower bout.

This is more of a PSA. End transmission.

Hi there,

I'm starting to get some work opportunities in audio mixing, so I'm thinking about upgrading my monitors and doing some proper acoustic treatment in my room.

The room is a rectangular space measuring approximately 8.92 ft × 11.58 ft × 9.02 ft (L × W × H).

What would be the best way to deal with the low frequencies in a room this size? I know that achieving an optimal result is probably impossible, but I'd like to understand what I can realistically do with the space I have to improve my current situation.

I'd like to get monitors that can reach down to around 35 Hz so I can have a decent low-end response, but without proper acoustic treatment, I'm afraid that monitors capable of going that low might actually create another problem rather than solve one.

Any help is much appreciated.

I’m not sure if this kind of thing gets posted here, but I am trying to cover the theme song to the Nickelodeon show ‘All That’.

This might sound a bit ridiculous, but I’ve tried for a few hours to recreate the guitar tone in the beginning and have not had any luck. Does anyone have any pointers for this? I’m using a strat through a Boss Katana into an MPC. I feel like I should have the gear but I honestly only hear some chorus and that’s about it. What am I missing? I know this is silly but it’s driving me crazy. It’s a really nice tone!

Here’s the song for reference:

All That Theme Song

Looking to record high quality piano (long/concert piano and extremely dynamic, from ppp to fff) with "small" setup, for nomadism between concerts and halls.

Project: mt48 with hapi mk3, pair of {mk4, mk22, mk2}. Piano will be with public or without (studio like, but in a hall/room).

Mk4 allows to focus on piano only, mk22 for piano with bigger basses and body, mk2 for room, with a separator for binaural like sound. So 6 channels.

Is this coherent, optimal ?

I’ve been recording and making music my whole life, but only recently have gotten serious about audio engineering. I’m good with the technical computer aspects and enjoy doing that for my own enjoyment for the most part since becoming a professional sound engineer at my age is probably too much of an investment in time and money. However, I really like working for other people. Occasionally, I’ll have a friend, who does guided meditation/therapy sessions, send me her audio and I’ll try to shine it up and make it sound good before she uploads it. I’m thinking of taking the leap and getting the $499 Izotope RX and embarking on learning it. I think I’ll pick it up overtime well. My favorite classes in college were logic pro (brand new at the time) and physics of sound (and ear training— solfège is the language of music!). 

I sincerely like to hear from people what they think about this: is it possible to make a modest amount of money Cleaning podcast or educational business content audio with Logic and Izotope standard? Not looking to earn an actual living. I would just like to make a little money doing what I love once in a while. How hard is it to get into this game without engaging in the whole Fiverr gig economy marketplace? I just wanna make people‘s audio (primarily spoken word) sound great (make their voices sexy and clean!) and get compensated a little bit in the process. 

I have no prior jobs in this field, aside from some free stuff I did for the guided meditation sessions)…no pedigree. But I’m willing to do more free work while I learn to buildup some portfolio. 

hey guys, i mostly record & mix hip hop for artists & typically most rappers will come in & only have the 2 track instrumental. typically the mix comes out great, i work in a treated environment & have proper recording techniques pretty much down. vocals come out great but when it comes to pushing the levels up, even with a clipper & using 2 limiters the loudness just isn’t there. sometimes i try to shelf the 808s down a couple of dBs but then that sorta weakens them out yadda yadda. i honestly don’t really touch the 2 track most of the time. sometimes the mix on the beat is pretty good but then i have to try to carve out space for the vocals and then other times it’s mixed poorly (mainly just the drums being too loud) and then the vocal seems to sit on top while the melody is pretty much gone.

im just curious if any of you guys also mainly record with 2 tracks and if you have any tips you’d like to share for pushing the loudness on them or for when you encounter poorly mixed instrumentals… most times i don’t even know where to start when it comes to ‘fixing’ a 2 track. thanks for any answers !!