thank you thank you thank you.

Was just listening to tracks under your myspace link, some very nice music!!

Looks like you guys need a better guitar amp, that would take you a few steps up.

nbarts-thanks. the Historic Stork stuff is my little one-man-band project. The Timeline Post is the band I play drums in, and Autumn Lights is a band I recorded. My stuff has no electric guitars in it so far, so I'm not sure which group you're talking about.

I just finished my first mixes for Autumn Lights' new album. I'm starting to really hear the weaknesses of the Firepod. I guess these things become more apparent in heavy mixes. There's just a lack of low end power from what I can tell. Tracks that were clear as day alone turn to goop in a full mix. I'm having to do things I probably wouldn't have to if I was working with better pres and converters. In any event, the band will be getting a great first 7 song album for much less than $1000.

I guess Autumn Lights was the one I heard.

Discolightning -- if you do heavy mixes I would strongly suggest you to take a look at this topic if you haven't yet
http://studioforums.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/739109386/m/9601085122/p/1

You can skip the RMS part and read what John says about levels during tracking.

i've read those. the guitar amp in the A.L. recordings was a Fender Twin Reverb if I remember correctly. It was borrowed from a friend, and I found one of the 12AX7's not working. I swapped it around a few times until the amp sounded better, and we went on tracking. We recorded those guitars before I found Bruce A Miller's technique. I wish I would have seen it before.

I'm sure everyone has those "coulda woulda shoulda" moments.

The Timeline Post update:

We've slowly been making progress on the album. Our singer got a job about a month ago, so tracking sessions are more sparse. The end is so near, but so far away! In the past week or so, I've been getting that "how in the world will i get through this one?" feeling a lot. I'll get halfway through a mix and quit out of frustration. The past two or three days have been especially unproductive. Maybe that's good. I have, on the other hand, been listening to more music.

Who knows, maybe now I can get something done!

I am all too familiar with that feeling. It's funny...when you're in the band you're recording and mixing, you tend to get a really skewed view of the project. Little things get blown WAY out of proportion...nothing seems to fit right...it's it like nothing is right or good enough...I've been there, man.

It's funny, because I just finished up a couple mixes for my new band...and it was hard at first...I got some stuff started but I was being way too careful. I was protecting the song (and the hours of recording) too much and not really doing my job as a mix engineer. I'm becoming a ruthless mix engineer...and when you have the capacities of being a producer as well, you can make some command decisions. Get ballsy. Do what feels good. For the second mix I did yesterday, I ran the distorted guitars through a compressor on stun. Why? Cuz I liked the way it sounded...it kept them a little more in check and mmade them a little less clinical...you hear more slop and bleed and it's just vibier. I submixed the overheads and the reverb I triggered with a snare sample and compressed the shit out of them...why? So I'd be locked into a sound and wouldn't agonize over it. I can tweak and tweez once the big picture is there. Getting to that big picture spot can be tough. Once you are there, though...it's easier to look at little tweaks...like..."oh...the guitars are a little buried under the drums and the vocals could fit back in there a little more...."

I really tend to submix and bounce a lot to mix.. One song had 32 tracks when I got it. I cut it down to about 20 through bounces. I'll pull the faders up and listen to things and see where it's at, and from there I'll pick out things to subgroup and bounce through my outoard and settle into sounds...then I'll lay on any delays or verbs and get my balances together.

At any rate...what I'm saying is keep your head up and be willing to just go for it...go balls out...the worst thing that could happen is that you recall it. Git 'er done, buddy!

quote:

Little things get blown WAY out of proportion...nothing seems to fit right...it's it like nothing is right or good enough...

Yeah.

It's weird, though, what can provide motivation. I was kinda down in the dumps yesterday, but decided to go ahead and work on mixing a song. No, I don't have great monitors. No, I didn't have a lot of things. In any event, I knew I wouldn't get anything done by waiting. Then I started looking at gear I couldn't afford and making mental wish lists for when I could afford it. Bad idea. Anyway, I moved on and started mixing "Coma Love." After spending about 3 hours on it, and making three different "masters," I burned a cd and called it a night. I felt way better, especially when the second test track passed the dreaded car test! I compared it to Mew's newest album, And the Glass Handed Kites (highly recommended listening!) and it even passed a horrifying A/B test! All that turmoil is starting to pay off.

Now, my biggest concern is being consistent. I've got several more songs to mix, and the album needs to be fluid. I realized after listening to a couple of other albums that those interludes really serve a purpose. They're not just artsy, but they can make an album worth of sonically different mixes sound like they belong together. I knew we would use interludes between songs, but now I can see where they're necessary and where they are optional.

A note about the producing side of things. We are a self-produced band at this point. We were planning on co-producing this album with our former engineer, but we became too much of a side project. The last studio session we had was in May '06, and we waited until December to try finishing at home. What did we get out of the studio? Some killer drum tracks. I'm not completely satisfied with my playing, but the sounds are too good to be replaced and I suspect I'm just being nit-picky. I really cannot give Bruce A. Miller enough thanks for the "Recording Electric Guitar" article. That mic technique has given us better results at home (with ok pres, not-so-great converters, rooms) than we got at the studio. Our guitars are not muddy or brittle as far as I can tell. With a full mix and even my feeble mastering, everything has its place now. Engineering is now completely up to me, and we all have a vision of where this record will be when it's finished. I'm grateful for that. We also do a pretty good job of pushing each other along, keepng things balanced.

I'm not usually one to write a bunch of words without pictures, but that's just how good today is.

i'm writing this after noting that there are (at this time) 666 views of my Journal. Cool, I'm probably doomed.

I have started talking to a local church group about recording an album/cd of the music they perform. I don't think they'll have any original material, and I'm not a big fan of praise and worship, but this will be a challenge. And it will be a paying challenge. With the down payment, I'll be able to get some converters, a mixer (for the pres), and hopefully some monitors. I'm corssing my fingers for some good eBay deals when the time comes to buy.

I have already picked out the Echo Audiofire 12 since I won't be needing digital ins any time soon, and since it will give me 12 channels of A/D. This will be a near infinite step up from my Audigy 2! The mixer is an Allen & Heath GL2000 32 which was FOH for a smaller church until it was hit by lightning. 5 of the channels are zapped and the sub groups all sound funky, but I'll be able to use the pres and EQ's after changing some jumper settings. I'm also expecting to get some KRK V8's. I will definitely go to Dallas to try some out first, and hopefully I can get a good deal.

After I am paid completely, who knows? Maybe a Pearlman TM1 will be a nice addition. Maybe I can get my Concertone sent off to Analog Domain, inc. That's what it needs. I'm not sure I want to go tinkering around with it too much. They'll be able to work some magic and give me some more features as well. That will be a badass preamp for tracks on the second The Timeline Post album. We're not even done with number one yet. Yikes.

I'm excited once again!

time for some sleepless updates. It's been 24 hours since I was asleep.

The church project is looking dim. They're waiting to find a new music minister, so the whole recording is on hold.

My band, The Timeline Post is going to be releasing its first album in about two months. First, we're sending it to West West Side Mastering in NY, then to Disc Makers. IT will be about 41 minutes long with 10 songs and an interlude or two.

I have a couple of wedding videos to shoot, so I'll be able to upgrade my computer and get some badly needed cymbals. Multiprocessing, here I come!