When we hear old recordings, there’s a good bit of extra noise that gives the track a vintage feel. There are plenty of ways to add more effects and color after recording, but it’s a lot more difficult to remove them after the fact. In that sense, recording is similar to cooking in that you can always add more later, but you can’t (easily) take it out. Do yourself a favor and keep your original tracks clean and flat. You’ll have a lot more artistic leeway when it comes to mixing time.
You can read more on the subject here: http://audioundone.com/clean-and-flat
Archives for December 2012
Mixing and Monitoring – are your headphones up for the job?
Let’s face it, it’s easy to spend quite a bit of money on your home recording studio. A decent monitoring setup with a nearfield system can set you back over $2000, and that’s not even going to be the first, or last, expense. If that’s out of reach for the time being, consider using a pair of quality headphones to do your mixing. A significant portion of consumers listen to music or other audio via headphones. Since there is such a different stereo profile for speakers and headphones (about 60° versus 180°), it would be a disservice to your product not to at least listen through with both.
You can read more on the topic here: http://audioundone.com/headphones-and-mixing
KORG Legacy Collection update adds 64-bit cross-platform support
The KORG Legacy Collection compresses the cost and space of five KORG synthesizers into one piece of software. Keeping up with the technological times (and popular demand), KORG has updated the Legacy Collection to include support for 64-bit system architecture and operating systems for both Windows and Mac. If you already own the collection, the update is free. Otherwise, this is just one more reason in a long list to take a close look to see where this software might fit into your musical toolbox.
Get all the details here: http://musicindustrynewswire.com/korg-offers-64-bit-support-for-legacy-collection-software-on-both-mac-and-windows-platforms/
Mono or Stereo – Your output may vary
We all know stereo sounds ‘better’, so why bother recording in anything else? As a general rule, unless you are recording through more than one microphone you are recording a mono track. This track can later be panned left or right to provide stereo output. A mono track panned to the center is identical to a stereo track with identical left and right channel output. If you want the thick sound of stereo, you can layer mono tracks. It’s possible to copy and layer a single take, but the results won’t be quite as good. The extra time to record multiple takes to layer will show in your final product.
Take a look at the full article here: http://thedawstudio.com/Tips/Mono_and_Stereo.html
Metronome, click track, or neither?
Metronomes are tools to keep tempo, giving and audible click or beep at the set rate. They are available in wind-up mechanical varieties that click, or newer electronic models that beep. Each is frequently used by students and teachers alike to keep in time with music.
An alternative to a metronome is the click track, which is essentially a recorded track of a metronome. Some critics of the click track claim that it takes the human sound of the music away, leaving it feeling lifeless and mechanical. Keep in mind that a professional drummer is often likely to be just as accurate as a click track, and that without a steady beat it would be more difficult to be expressive through slight variations in tempo.
Also, if you don’t like the feel or sound of a click track, most DAWs (including Reaper) will let you replace the audio with something much more musical than the tick-tock or cleep-clop of a click track, like actual drum hits.
See our article on how to use both a click track and/or a metronome in Reaper here: Using a Click Track For Recording Music