You're always going to wish you had one more adapter or cable when you're working cuz someone will bring in something that requires a weird plug-in attachment etc
The smartest thing I ever got for the studio, in my 25 years of recording, is an evertune guitar. I realllly suggest looking into one. It’ll save you hours and hours of tuning.
@@BetterMixes Yeah! I feel like people don't quite get how much time is spent re-tuning guitars between takes in professional recordings. No matter how good a guitar is, tuning is something overlooked in so many budget recordings. And a good evertune for rhythm (and octave line) guitars has been a game-changer in my stuuuuude. Check one out!
I kinda think of the SM7B as the U87 of dynamic mics since the U87 is often described the same way you described the SM7B. Not usually the favorite/best choice, but hardly ever the wrong choice. I think to compliment your point about a good vocal mic, I think you should also spend some money on a good analog vocal recording chain. From my experience, it will enhance the sound of the mic a bit (depending on what you get) and tracking vocals with some nice compression is a time saver when mixing. It doesn't have to be super expensive either, especially if you go 500 series.
I would not spend money on a vocal recording chain, it would be way down on the list of priorities, but I could get the argument for a Vocal monitoring chain, but then you would be fine with digital effects, and if possible with midi control, so that the vocalist can ask of you to set it up. If you have a good pre-amp, and many interfaces do, but might need cloudlifter or similar for a SM7b (even if it looks on paper like there should be enough gain, it might not be clean all the way), the rest of forming the sound of the mic, is just about eq'ing it, and for compression, you would use your typical compression afterwards, most likely software. It is better to record as cleanly as possible, that way you can do whatever you like with the recording. And if you down the line get hardware, you can even re-amp the sound. In general, keep sounds as unaffected as possible when recording, and then process them afterwards, it allows for much more flexibility. The issue with the SM7b, is the off axis rejection, that can be great in studios with noise pollution, or not the best acoustics, but it also means that the singer has to stay within a very small space for it to pick the sound up, in the right way.
Bought myself couple of cheap monitors many years ago, recently upgraded to RCF ayra pro 8. I feel extremely stupid not doing that earlier (I was just spending money on hardware synths lol). Significantly improved my mixes and understanding of what I do.
Again, second, third video in a row f-ck Idk but, again all the points and advice spot-on your channel it's actually a mine on gold for those that are just getting started keep it up with the content you deserve to be one of the top's 👏🏻👏🏻
Most of them are really good these days. But you should probably look for one with 2 adat inputs, so there is room for expanding the number of channels, and it is alsways good if it comes with a good number to start with. The quality difference between interfaces is widely over exaggerated. The pre-amp may matter when using the last bit of gain on the control. But the A/D conversion, is clean enough on most interfaces that it doesn't really matter which one you pick. The headphome amp, may not be up to the task depending on ones headphones, but if you have outputs to spare that issue can be solved, possibly even using a spdif output.
It's hard to find a BAD interface these days - any of them at almost any price will test better than a million dollar recording studio from the 1980s. Figure out what FEATURES you need and go from there - the cheapest option that meets your feature requirements will invariably be more than good enough and won't be what's holding you back.
Just found your channel. Lots of solid advice here. I’ll need to check out your drums, as I’ve been critical of most drum software because so few are multi-sampled, and velocity layers. What tool would you recommend for the drum samples? Battery, Kontakt, …. I tend to use Logic Drum Machine Designer or Sampler.
I've pretty much always used Slate Trigger (and I include TCI files for Trigger with my samples), but for actually playing the samples as an instrument (as opposed to replacing existing sounds), I'm not sure what the best option would be. I'm going to look into Battery, I've only ever used that in the most basic ways, so I'm not sure how to work in the multiple velocities and all that. I'm planning on making a Kontakt instrument for these samples at some point, but I'm not sure just when I'll get to that. In the mean time, there's a free sample pack on my site, so you can download that and see whether they work for you or not!
@@BetterMixes Thanks. I just downloaded your Bonsai Kit 2. Great quality samples for drum replacement - but I'm having trouble hearing a difference between Kick Blend 1, Blend 2, Blend 3, etc. It must be subtle because they all sound the same to me {not being critical here - just curious}
@@jeffagoddard Your ears aren't tricking you, those should sound nearly identical! Those are the 7 different drum hits. The labeling is a little confusing on the kick, now that I think of it. Take a look at the snare or toms and it'll probably make more sense. I just started labeling them that way years ago and stuck with it 😆 Or if you look in the TCI folder (I know you don't have Trigger), you'll see that there's just one "Kick Blend.' That's because Trigger randomly selects between the 7 WAV files you're seeing to make it sound more realistic. I hope that made sense; I'm writing this 5 minues after waking up 😂
@0:45 hey thats a washburn a5, I had one of those. It looked like someone had used a steak knife to carve a place for replacement pickups. I loved it.
You're always going to wish you had one more adapter or cable when you're working cuz someone will bring in something that requires a weird plug-in attachment etc
So true!
The smartest thing I ever got for the studio, in my 25 years of recording, is an evertune guitar. I realllly suggest looking into one. It’ll save you hours and hours of tuning.
Oh that's a good one! I've been thinking about getting one of those for a little while now.
@@BetterMixes Yeah! I feel like people don't quite get how much time is spent re-tuning guitars between takes in professional recordings. No matter how good a guitar is, tuning is something overlooked in so many budget recordings. And a good evertune for rhythm (and octave line) guitars has been a game-changer in my stuuuuude. Check one out!
@@scottykomer9992 Thanks for sharing. Very impressive.
@@scottykomer9992 Oh I know, I sometimes feel like half my day is spent tuning! I'm definitely looking forward to getting my hands on one.
I kinda think of the SM7B as the U87 of dynamic mics since the U87 is often described the same way you described the SM7B. Not usually the favorite/best choice, but hardly ever the wrong choice. I think to compliment your point about a good vocal mic, I think you should also spend some money on a good analog vocal recording chain. From my experience, it will enhance the sound of the mic a bit (depending on what you get) and tracking vocals with some nice compression is a time saver when mixing. It doesn't have to be super expensive either, especially if you go 500 series.
1000% agree about the sm7 / 87 comparison!
I would not spend money on a vocal recording chain, it would be way down on the list of priorities, but I could get the argument for a Vocal monitoring chain, but then you would be fine with digital effects, and if possible with midi control, so that the vocalist can ask of you to set it up.
If you have a good pre-amp, and many interfaces do, but might need cloudlifter or similar for a SM7b (even if it looks on paper like there should be enough gain, it might not be clean all the way), the rest of forming the sound of the mic, is just about eq'ing it, and for compression, you would use your typical compression afterwards, most likely software. It is better to record as cleanly as possible, that way you can do whatever you like with the recording. And if you down the line get hardware, you can even re-amp the sound. In general, keep sounds as unaffected as possible when recording, and then process them afterwards, it allows for much more flexibility.
The issue with the SM7b, is the off axis rejection, that can be great in studios with noise pollution, or not the best acoustics, but it also means that the singer has to stay within a very small space for it to pick the sound up, in the right way.
You have a very bouncy chair…:)
Good for the back.
Bought myself couple of cheap monitors many years ago, recently upgraded to RCF ayra pro 8. I feel extremely stupid not doing that earlier (I was just spending money on hardware synths lol).
Significantly improved my mixes and understanding of what I do.
That's exactly how I felt when I upgraded my monitors a handful of years ago!
Again, second, third video in a row f-ck Idk but, again all the points and advice spot-on your channel it's actually a mine on gold for those that are just getting started keep it up with the content you deserve to be one of the top's 👏🏻👏🏻
Once again, thank you! I'm so glad you're liking the videos!
I think the best money you can spend and should never skimp on it a quality audio interface.
Most of them are really good these days. But you should probably look for one with 2 adat inputs, so there is room for expanding the number of channels, and it is alsways good if it comes with a good number to start with.
The quality difference between interfaces is widely over exaggerated. The pre-amp may matter when using the last bit of gain on the control. But the A/D conversion, is clean enough on most interfaces that it doesn't really matter which one you pick. The headphome amp, may not be up to the task depending on ones headphones, but if you have outputs to spare that issue can be solved, possibly even using a spdif output.
It's hard to find a BAD interface these days - any of them at almost any price will test better than a million dollar recording studio from the 1980s. Figure out what FEATURES you need and go from there - the cheapest option that meets your feature requirements will invariably be more than good enough and won't be what's holding you back.
Great advice!
Just found your channel. Lots of solid advice here. I’ll need to check out your drums, as I’ve been critical of most drum software because so few are multi-sampled, and velocity layers. What tool would you recommend for the drum samples? Battery, Kontakt, …. I tend to use Logic Drum Machine Designer or Sampler.
I've pretty much always used Slate Trigger (and I include TCI files for Trigger with my samples), but for actually playing the samples as an instrument (as opposed to replacing existing sounds), I'm not sure what the best option would be. I'm going to look into Battery, I've only ever used that in the most basic ways, so I'm not sure how to work in the multiple velocities and all that. I'm planning on making a Kontakt instrument for these samples at some point, but I'm not sure just when I'll get to that. In the mean time, there's a free sample pack on my site, so you can download that and see whether they work for you or not!
@@BetterMixes Thanks. I just downloaded your Bonsai Kit 2. Great quality samples for drum replacement - but I'm having trouble hearing a difference between Kick Blend 1, Blend 2, Blend 3, etc. It must be subtle because they all sound the same to me {not being critical here - just curious}
@@jeffagoddard Your ears aren't tricking you, those should sound nearly identical! Those are the 7 different drum hits. The labeling is a little confusing on the kick, now that I think of it. Take a look at the snare or toms and it'll probably make more sense. I just started labeling them that way years ago and stuck with it 😆 Or if you look in the TCI folder (I know you don't have Trigger), you'll see that there's just one "Kick Blend.' That's because Trigger randomly selects between the 7 WAV files you're seeing to make it sound more realistic. I hope that made sense; I'm writing this 5 minues after waking up 😂
A good chair! Mixing is hard on the back.
Yes! 1000% worth it!
Nice@
Thanks!