I'm a professional audio engineer answering any questions

>>72615415

me too

>>72615417
Cheers mate

>>72615426

you too

i doubt you've worked with anyone interesting anyway.

>>72615434
I've recorded/mixed for a couple #1 itunes charting artists and grammy winners and platinum artists, as well as for many of the top engineers in the industry. It's been my full time bread and butter for several years now as a mixing and tracking engineer.

Just hoping to toss back any tips to anyone looking for some decent tips since I used to browse mu way back when

Why do audio engineers all complain about the loudness war when they are the ones perpetuating it?

What's your favourite Zach Hill project?

>>72615491
That's complex, there's not really one answer. I think all heads of the music industry contributed. Albums can get shitty overcompressed during mixing, mastering, and by the label only accepting overcompressed music.

It seems and sounds like the loudness war has been reaching its end lately though, since I haven't heard much overly loud music that clearly sacrifices the sonics and low end of a project for the sake of making it 5dB louder.

>>72615505
I don't follow Zach, but I love Death Grips. Not enough time to follow music like I used to =/

do you have a degree?

what kind of skills would I need to do something similar?

>>72615588
I have a degree from a 4 year. A degree is unnecessary though,

What kind of work are you interested in?

>>72615600
No idea, really. What are some realistic options?

I fuck around on Ableton and have a pretty solid musical foundation, I actually play a couple of instruments. That probably doesn't matter.

What's your drum mic setup?

What's your all-round favorite piece of studio gear?

Any tips for a low-budget recording enthusiast?

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>>72615415
best free vst reverb?

>>72615608
Live sound is the most realistic option, and it can lead to other jobs in studios, tour gigs, and production gigs. It gets your engineering and mixing chops up FAST. Basically getting out to clubs. If you aren't in a big city, you'll need to move to one. Trust me, I tried for a year in a small town, and the moved to a music hub and it made all the difference. I can't stress this enough. It's EVERYTHING.

For production, you have to be very entrepreneurial. It's very doable, but there's no strict path that anyone can follow to make a living doing production. Some do Youtube, some do licensing, and who you know can make a big difference. Again, in a big city this becomes a million times easier.

Try to become as well rounded as possible. If you can do many things well, it seriously helps.

I had to work 2 jobs for a while to make rent, all the while holding down an internship at a successful studio to learn what to do and not do while making albums. If you can, try and shadow or get in the group with people who do music like what you want to. I.E if you want to become a post rock engineer, try and shadow at a studio that is famous and kicking ass for post rock albums. No shit right? Hope this helps

>>72615668
I'm pretty close to San Francisco.

I'm totally willing to work at a studio for cheap or even free to get some experience, and I have a pretty diverse skill set with a strong tech background as well.

I've been trying to find a group of people who care about this stuff as much as I do but it's hard here, is there any good way to do that?? I joined the Ableton user group on meetup for my area but haven't gotten to a meeting yet, that's probably a good way to start

>>72615614
I use 8-16 mics on drums usually

Kick in - d112, beta 52, or d6 depending on genre
kick out (in an isolated drum tunnel using blankets) some nice LDC (large diaphragm condenser) or an R88 w/ pop screen
Sn top and bottom - 57's
Hihat - Sm7 or Akg451
Toms can be Sennheiser 421's or the clip on mics
Ride or crashes - sony c800g
OH's - Neumann KH120s, Coles, or 414s
Rooms - any solid LDC's, usually compressed.
I usually include 1-2 "FX" mics that are either crappy mics or are run through old school gear to give the kit a bit of extra tone or vibe, circumstance dependant.


No more than 2-3 db of compression on my kicks or it sucks the life out. Snare can be more (up to 9-10db) but I usually have a faster release to keep them sounding full. Distressors can be great. I also love DBX comps for close mics, and rooms mics as well. No more than 1-2 db of compression on overheads ever, but I usually don't compress overheads until mixing. I make sure to add ample top and bottom end to toms.

If OH mics are not placed in XY, I make sure to measure the distant perfectly from the snare and kick to keep the mics in phase with those 2 drums.

If I'm ever using a 4 mic setup or less I go kick, Snare, and stereo OH in Glyn Jons placement.

If just 2 mics, I'll do a spaced pair in front of the kick, applying to the 3-1 rule to try and minimize phase. Sorry for the clusterfuck of a post, hope you get something from it!.

>>72615767
San Fran is dope. The only reason I didn't go there is because I was less connected to anyone an the industry than in other cities.

If your budget can afford it, I'd try going to local shows as often as possible. I'm not the only one who feels this way, every solid engineer who's ever offered me startup advice also ordered me to go to local concerts for networking purposes.

Try and get connected, and keep getting better at your craft. You always want to be ready in case you ever get the chance to impress someone you realllly want to work with.

Hold yourself to a high standard. It's okay to not be pro, as long as you know what to work towards to become a better producer, ya know?

>>72615778
Some helpful stuff, thanks! In a 4 mic setup, do you have the snare mic on top, bottom or does it depend? Also, it might just be the shitty equipment I have, but I've had some trouble with hihats leaking into the top snare mic too much, any ideas on how to minimize that?

please confirm recording music at anything beyond 24 bit / 48 khz is a meme, thanks.

I can understand 96, 192 khz, etc. for films and maybe TV, but not for purely music albums.

How does one get into live sound?
I've been considering getting into mixing and I'm living in London. Lots of big venues and stuff going on.

>>72615415
can i be a rockstar ?
i want to be a star of rock

>>72615964
I was saying only snare top. I place the snare mic very meticulously so that it is below the hi hat and off axis, so as to minimize bleed. I'll often gate that mic to remove hi hats after the fact. But let me double back offer you some separate advice.


Start with a stereo overhead pair in XY, pan them wide. Also use a kick mic. Listen to how that sounds. If you think any instrument needs more oomph, place your 4th mic accordingly. If you need more snare, try doing snare top or bottom. If your kit needs more depth, use it as a room mic.

SO MANY drummers hit the hi hat WAY too fucking hard and play the kit out of balance, and it causes the hat to sound too loud in the recorded audio. Make sure the drummer isn't killing the hat. Sometimes drum recordings sound bad even though all mics are placed perfectly because the drummer just doesn't play the kit in a balanced way.

>>72616017
Recording at above 48khz is useful for mixing since some audio plugins respond better to an unfiltered frequency. That strictly has to do with programming, and I record at 96 for this reason only.

Listening to music at 96khz for supreme audio quality is asinine. The only differences you'll find is negligible, and you're listening to music in the wrong way for the wrong reasons.

>>72616019
Learn how to use a mixing board as best as possible on your own, then contact local venues in person about job shadowing. Basically they'll give you gigs once you're competent enough to run sound on your own. Start small, get paid small, work your way up to big gigs, get paid big.

Youtube is awesome for learning signal flow and shit, but nothing compares to shadowing someone who knows what they're doing and asking well informed questions. Good luck!

>>72616039
Yes... Duh

>>72616075

interesting. now say you were working solely with actual hardware, no plugins, just the console, outboard pres, comps, EQs, etc., going into a DAW like say pro tools for example, would you still record in 96 or would 48 suffice? desu i wouldn't let a plug in make me record above 48 simply because it works a little bit better that way, plus, you gotta admit, 90% of the clients you've had wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway. obviously if a client requests something and you are able to actually do it, then you do, but do you honestly, personally, prefer recording in 96 over 48?

>>72616124
I totally agree. If the client is big and the project matters then I record in 96. Anything else and I go 48 or lower.

I hate all the astronomical file size of 96, it sucks to send 20 files online and take 3 hours of time.

>>72616124
To fully answer your question. I hate 96.

It's stupid to record sterile sounds for later processing. Just use whatever gear you got to make some cool vibey sounds that the artist vibes with, they'll perform better to that sound than the highest-fi sound any day of the week

>>72616216
>>72616161
thanks for that anon

What brand of palindrometer do you use in your rack?

>>72616043
Thanks again! I'm giving a try at recording my own punk band's EP this summer; I'll keep this in mind.

How do I record multiple distorted guitar parts at near peak and fill the entire stereo field without my mixes sounding like mush? This is especially troublesome with 5-6 overdubs and bass.

>>72616283
haha I had to look up what this means.

A studio I work at has one with 2 knobs for shimmer and phatness. A metal-god engineer I know tried to get me to patch it in until I had to wait until the band wasn't around to fill him in that the thing has no wires.

>>72615639
just get a crack for valhalla

>>72616315
It's hard to give you perfect advice without hearing your specific work, but maybe this will help.

Recording and mixing are different obviously, so get good tones you want for your mix at the recording stage. If everything sounds the way you want it, then it will make mixing way easier. For doubles and triples during recording it helps immensely to have the sound be different, even just by switching your pickup position on guitar, or adjusting the EQ on the amp. This will help you layer your guitars without it just getting loud and mushy.

Honestly, panning is huge during mixing. Try and see if panning similar parts to the same stereo spot works. If you're playing 2 different parts on 4 different takes, stack the similar parts to either side. I pan guitars hard right, left or center in almost every mix, usually wide though. The middle is better for snare, kick, bass and vocals.

If you're trying to use reverbs or delays, try sticking with delays since they're easier to keep mush-free than verbs.

Does any of this sound relevant?

>>72616343
>>72615639
Sorry I never touched on this. I think all stock Reverbs are good. They're all used on tons of records, so whatever you've got should work just fine.

If you're looking for something more specialized, $$$ verbs like altiverb, bricasti, valhalla, etc. are all great. It's just a different flavor of reverb to use

>>72615778
I'm really curious how you record overheads with KH120s, as they are loudspeakers

>>72616392
Yes that works. For a while I was recording all my guitar/vox in mono, and not satisfied as I was getting a sound too thin, so I started panning the room mic'd guitar and close mic'd guitar, and they didn't really work well with bass/drums/vox until I started panning them to about 60%. Delay does work better than verb on studio recordings.

Another thing is getting the right compression on vox, since using that with reverb generally multiplies the dynamic range, so a compressor in front of the reverb has at least helped me even out vocal takes.

>>72616438
haha sorry, km184s is what i meant to say. I love KH120's for monitors!

Aight I'm off to bed everyone! Hope you have all good week!