by AstralFeedbackM » Tue Apr 07, 2015 2:03 am
Get Mike Senior's book "Mixing Secrets for the small studio". By far the best, most informative, and straight forward book on recording and mixing. You could have the best gear ever and if you don't know how to mix then you are pretty much fucked. Yes having room treatment will make your mixes better, but again if you don't understand mixing then it's a wasted effort and money. It's been said that monitors are important. You said you had the yamaha HS5? Then your set on decent speakers. Like it's already been said on this thread, give the best producers the worst tools and they will make a solid, if not excellent mix. If you record your vocals after the rest of the band, they shouldn't set perfectly above everything else and be "Final". Final is in the mastering process. If you are mastering and I doubt anyone on here can do it correctly (although I'm sure much of us, like myself have plug-ins to do it and we do).... It should be left for someone who is a professional and cost a pretty penny. Your vocals should sound good and close to final once you are done mixing. I never had a song that right after recording the vocals I thought "Yep that's final". If you record anything and you think that it is final and haven't listened to it compared to the mix you have a long way to go. Yes a lot of stuff can sound good once done recording but when mixing everything needs it's own spot in the mix. Otherwise you will have shit competing in the mix and that will leave something else not heard or sounding lite/weak. Learn how to mix, and learn how to mix well. That is far more important than treated rooms, $1000 microphones, and big studios. I live in a town of 40,000 people. We have one guy who has a half a million dollar studio. I can tell you that anyone on this site can probably mix better than him. Don't believe me, I'll send you tracks from a EP I recorded with him from my first band that was a grand for 10 hours of studio time. I can also send you tracks from his LP which he spent a year recording and mixing. You best tool is your ears. Someone before my post said it perfectly. Use your ears, go back to the books, then use your ears some more. Mike Seniors website actually has songs you can download that don't have a fucking thing put on them except the live recording and you can practice your mixing. I suggest if you're not getting the sound you want then do that, again, again, and again. I can tell you he can record in reaper with no other plug-ins besides the few basics that come with it. With crappier gear compared to yours and come out with a far better mix than anyone on this site.
My last thing is that today recording gear is cheap, that doesn't mean everyone should be a producer. If you love it and want to get better than it's probably for you. If it's just something your doing to get ideas down, then use it for that and pay someone who knows what they are doing. I meet way to many people who "Produce" or "Record Bands", and they really shouldn't be charging people for the work they do. I've spent years practicing and getting better at producing and I have only charged a few people to record. Yeah I can give them a better product than someone who charges out the ass for shit recordings, but I'm still learning and growing everyday I work on it.
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