Korgscrew
Group: Super Admins
Posts: 3511
Joined: Dec. 1999 |
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Posted: Sep. 05 2003, 20:15 |
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Ktran and I have talked a little about this privately, but seeing as we have a discussion going...
Some very good advice from Satyagraha there...can I counter a few things, in the interest of balance?
The difference between the soundblaster and something more expensive: this may be something that doesn't appear in the specs. I can't speak of the soundblaster specifically, as I've not used any of them, but higher priced cards often use better quality convertors which have a nicer sound, capturing more detail and so on. Some of this can be don to the stability of the word clock and the amount of jitter present (and various things of that kind which are rarely found written on paper but which make a difference). Whether you can hear the difference, I can't say, but really if you can make it sound good, the rest doesn't matter. I've heard some people do good things with soundblaster cards, and that's what counts.
Also, if the card has a digital input, you can always upgrade to a better convertor later.
Mic preamps, even valve/tube ones aren't necessarily expensive - you could have a look, for example at Behringer's Tube Ultragain MIC100 which has a list price of £38 (or $70cdn excluding tax, according to their website). I just pulled that one out as an example, so it's not necessarily a recommendation, though their products are generally reasonable, if built to a price. There are absolutely loads of things on the market though, coming in at all price ranges, so if you want something to use as an external mic preamp, you should be able to find something that fits your budget. Bear in mind with valve equipment, that some of the stuff at the lower end of the price range just has a valve stuck in it as a fashion accessory, and it doesn't make much of a difference to the sound - it's worth both looking up as many reviews as you can, and ultimately trying things out, to see if you really notice a difference or whether it's hyped up junk. As with the soundcards, I think if it sounds good, then it does, and whatever anyone else says about it doesn't matter.
I'd personally be slightly wary of applying too much processing at the recording stage, as if you overdo it, you can have problems trying to correct it. I would tend to try and get a ballpark-sound by using mic positioning and then leave anything else to the mix stage, when it can be adjusted alongside all the other elements. Certainly too much in any one frequency range is a bad thing though, and it's often worth trying to 'bracket' sounds using EQ so that they don't cross over into each other's ranges too much.
I suppose that when you do the processing depends on what mix facilities you have - mixing on a computer with limited processor power, or on a four track recorder where you're having to bounce things down after a few tracks is of course going to govern when you apply your processing.
Don't dismiss the cheaper condenser microphones available now - there are some around which cost about the same price as an SM57/58 and have had good write-ups. As always, investigate further and see if they'll do the job you want them to.
I'd certainly agree about how indestructible dynamic microphones are...
Now, to the tips (and please, though I give serious considerations here, this is meant as tongue in cheek - Satyagraha has given some fine advice, and I don't mean to undermine it):
Don't be afraid of General MIDI sounds if they're what does it for you, but be objective, and use them creatively.
Be careful with compression and take care not to overdo it. Sometimes less is needed than you think.
Take care with removing noises, sometimes they're necessary. Also be careful of knocking out what seems like silence - if there's any background noise or sustaining notes, muting it out suddenly can be noticeable. Often fades are better than hard cuts, even if they're very short.
Use good headphones while mixing, but don't trust them absolutely. For a different slant on things, try a cheap pair of speakers - many people will probably be listening on something similar...again, don't rely on them exclusively. A good pair of monitor speakers which you are familiar with the sound of is definitely your best friend.
Beware of phase cancellations in mono. If things sound vastly different in mono, this may be why - it's then your decision whether mono compatibility is important to you or not (I think people are increasingly deciding that it isn't, though remember that there are still a number of mono radios out there).
Leave the door open and listen from outside - a good mix ought to still sound basically good from out there. Similarly, try putting it on a CD and listening in various environments to see what that reveals.
Above all, be objective, and pay equal attention to the side of you which says that what you're doing sounds great, and the one which says that what you're doing sounds awful - the truth is usually somewhere inbetween, though obviously the goal is to get it as far towards great as possible...
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