Just finished my first album of original rock. {i'm 57}. Laid all rhythm tracks with a drummer, live. Then I added bass, leads, vocals keys etc. All live. No quantizing. No grid. No click track. No AUTOTUNE...…. Sounds amazing , raw and real and just like I hear it in my head!!!
216trixie inspiration for my now “restructured” band. We’re all over 50. I must admit, all the studio trickerty is great to map out ideas and get things in line to go away and practice how to do it properly, but an honest production recording is unbeatable
LOL...sharing gear. I had a memorable incident at a gig where this band of spoilt rich kids were "headlining" (ie playing to nobody at the end of the night) and so they were soundchecking first. They didn't really have a clue what they were doing, and the guitarist broke a string on his wrecked Aria Pro II with a Floyd-esque thing, and didn't have a clue how to change the strings - he'd literally had the same strings on since his dad had given it to him three years ago. Anyway, It was getting to the point where we'd miss our own soundcheck because he was farting around, so I let him use my Jaden Rose Tele for soundcheck while I changed the strings on his crappy copy. He got off stage after the soundcheck and said, "Hey man, thanks but you don't need to bother finishing the strings. I'll just use this one." After I'd stopped laughing, I pointed out that there was no way in hell that was happening, but for his presumption and attitude he could finish the strings himself (I'd got about half way through). He ended up playing the gig with four strings, mostly out of tune. Yes, I'm a heartless bastard, but I like to think that he learned a valuable lesson that day.
19:00 Go for it. I perform metal myself live with a Beatbuddy and downloaded midi beats. I do a six hour band rehearsal every week in a rehearsal room and only have to worry about myself turning up. It can actually end up being very enjoyable. Plus getting 30 bucks for gig is more fun as a solo artist than as a 5 piece. Though I do occasionally miss having human buddies to celebrate with after a gig. Go alone just now if you're ready. The best musicians for you may be too busy to see your online adverts for band members. You'll meet them on the road. I'm happy with just me though.
When it comes to songwriting, having a songwriting partner makes writing songs so much easier. I can write lyrics no problem, but I can't write music for shit. On the flip side, my bandmate can come up with some hooky riffs which I can put vocal melodies over, but he can't write lyrics for shit. Together, we combine and coordinate our powers like the Wonder Twins, and have come up with several songs that we're very happy with. Now, if only we can finish recording and mixing them so we can -torture- entertain the world with them. Longer video = more topics to comment on = more verbose commentary.
50 CAL is by definition 1/2 inch the hole size we are looking for is more in line with a 40 mm grenade. Since it arms within 75 feet I strongly recommend placing the head inside this range . If you don't have a 203 launcher you can substitute a morter tube.
Hey Glenn, I love your take on all things recording. I have recorded jazz pop and some country for roughly the past 30 years. It took me 15 years of recording bands professionally (about half time) before I really felt like my mixes were pro level. The two things that ultimately made a huge difference on how my mixes translate are bass traps/room treatment and switching to primarily mixing on headphones. I typically use AKG K701 cans for EQing and most mixing tasks. They lack low end, but have very transparent mid range and highs. I use Sony MDR-7510 cans for balancing the instruments in the mix. They sound a bit boxy and are less transparent than the AKGs, but have a nice flat frequency response throughout the full range, which is great for balancing. My various midprice monitors in a string of acoustically treated rooms through the years have provided a decent reality check for stereo imaging along with summing to mono once in a while. For me the biggest lie is mediocre nearfield monitors in a room with a peaky bass response. Short of building a great room and spending many thousands of dollars on monitors, I feel that the consistency, cost effectiveness and portability of mixing primarily with headphones along with nearfields for additional perspective is my best solution in the genres that I record. Keep up the great work and Fuck you.
Regarding raw sounding vs polished albums: A coworker turned me on to a band called Portrait from Sweden. The drum sound on it reminded me of pre-Justice Metallica or one of the early 90’s Blind Guardian albums. Not sure how it was recorded, but it was the first album I’d heard in a while that didn’t sound like an over-polished modern record.
@@Gainovermg Hey there, in my opinion one thing is, that the kickdrum and the toms, don't have this much KICK. Sound to me like the engineer took the lower frequencies and added just as much kick to the toms and kick as needed to be heared. No "FUCK ALL THE LISTENERS, HEAR....SOME...KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICKKCCKK!!" as in more modern productions. And the other thing, the snare...I dont know how to describe it without making the noise I want to highlight. But I would say the snare wires are a big part of its sound.
Glen it's so cool your wearing shirts from viewer's bands. This why even if I don't agree with everything you say I still respect you so much. It's obvious you actually care about other people doing well in the business. That instantly give you more credibility than most people I have worked with.
I can definitely vouch for what you said concerning monitors. About five years back, I was really wanting to upgrade my studio, and after some research, I figured my best investment would be monitors, so I could learn and then produce better mixes, due to the increase in sound accuracy. I had an experience with that. Initially I did the cheap route, bought a pair for just under $100. I sent them back a few weeks later, they were just lackluster, to say the least, and quality was... Questionable. After that, I saw a deal for some JBL monitors, a pair for just over $200, I think it was, usually around $300 at the time. So I sold some gear I never used and placed that order. Five years later, I still love these things. Sound is clear and accurate enough for my needs, and built like a tank. My cats have knocked them off stands and desks too many times, and they just keep working. Moral of the story: spend a little extra, save a lot in the long run. Still, to this day, one of my best purchases.
They didn't "get rid of it", they just added a new option to use Cloud Authentication, which locks you down to 2 computers. The Pro for iLok is that you can use it on as many computers you want, as long as your iLok is plugged in. Quite handy if you go to a friends studio and want to mix some stuff on their machine.
some people here only wish for ilok not existing because they might had a chance of broken slate plugs like waves.... but no.... since anyone of us wants to get paid for his services so do those people who give us the tools to make it happen for us
Hey Glenn, Thank for answering my video question... forgot to mention that I'm using a Behringer 404HD interface and Reaper. The 1/2 outs go to a headphone mixer to run either headphones or my monitors but, the interface had a blend knob for direct and playback. Sounds like the direct signal is louder than the actual signal going to the DAW so, I'll setup Reaper to run the headphone mix on 3/4 outs and adjust sends on which tracks to monitor.... Thanks again for the direction.
Keep in mind, most young people today listen to music primarily through headphones, the age of the big loud stereo is fading out as more people are living in apartments with roommates. You're right about cost of recording. My parents had a demo studio in the 1980s and recorded local bands. They paid over $20,000 for used gear, 16 track reel to reel, multiple racks of effects and processors, every time we moved we had to build and equalize a new room within a room for recording. Now, everything done by that room packed full of equipment is done, with better sound quality, on a unit that I can hold in one hand, including auto-equalizing the room.
14:50 THAT is the question I was waiting for ! About the fake drums, i put some humaniser after making my drums, it sounds more realistic. I don't have any other choice :/
On the topic of putting the humanity back into sampled drums: I'm a guitarist and vocalist (and sort of bassist and kinda keyboardist) with a barebones recording setup in my room, and I've been recording my own music for a while, but I can't play drums. Even if I could, I wouldn't have anywhere to put them. My solution is using EZ Drummer by Toontrack, which is a very realistic sounding midi-triggered sample-ma-bob. My technique for keeping the humanity in is using a midi controller (a keyboard in my case) to actually play the part, but in separate passes. I'll do the bass drum in one pass and the snare in another and the toms in the next and then cymbals. Turns out I'm pretty good as a fourth of a drummer, so it winds up being a sound that makes everyone who hears it ask, "Hey, who played drums on that?" I do fix some rhythms in post, but I've also learned to intentionally misalign some things from the grid to get the sound I'm after. Hope that helps someone. Cheers
Sgoin on Glenn, I too have had this problem with headphones. I needed a sterile and flat set for college, so I designed my own. As a base I used the Coomber 1929s headphones, these are wired in mono by default, so I stripped all the wires out and re-wired it in sterio with a 3.5mm jack on the end. There was also a 600ohm resistor inside as they were originally disigned for children, this I removed. I put a small amount of padding behind the drivers to very slightly curve the sound but NOT TOO MUCH. The cushions were horrible and I prefer the kind that rest around the ears rather than on the ears, better for long periods of time. So I ordered some cushions for a pair of Audio Technica headphones online which happened to match the dimentions of my Coombers, the end result was great. Very flat sounding, yet comfortable as fuck! I could use these all day long. Not to mention the clarity is amazing, you should check out some old coombers man.
Do you think a Steam-like download client filled with programs for musicians like DAWs and plugins would work better than those type of certifications and ILok stuff?
About fixing room acoustics with software. IIRC the software which came with my tannoy precision monitors like 10years ago did that - you needed a mic with flat freq response (behringer has one really cheap), put it at listening position, and they software played sine wave over all spectrum, and made recommendations how to set built in eq. And you can do it at home - just get some sine wave vst ant scroll it slowly, especially in sub 100hz range. And try walking around your room to hear the shit that is building up. And while it helps a little with the peaks, where standing waves add up in listening position at specific frequencies, it does not do shit to the nulls - where standing wave cancels itself out. Only propper room treatment with a lot of low end freq absorption fixes that.
First of all, musicians should work together and help each other. If the slots are small, you have to decide what gear (drums, bass and guitar rig) should stay on stage. I am allways willing to let other musicians play over my bass rig, when there is a gig with more bands and the time for changing the gear or aditional soundchecks is short. Sometimes only the cab, sometimes my whole rig. But I make sure to show them the functions of the gear - and tell them that I will be after them if they blow up something. Some years ago we played on a "St.Nick - Rock", together with 4 other bands. Every band had a slot of exact 50 minutes plus 10 minutes of changing gear (if necessary) and soundcheck. My rig contained an Ampeg SVP Pro - all tube preamp in 19" format and a massive poweramp (class A/B) with 2 x 700 Watt @ 4 Ohms into two 410"-cabs. I had a big note sticked on top of the rig, saying: "You are handling with 1.400 Watts! Be carefull with the bass- and the volume-knob! I assure you, you are fucking loud enough!" Another gig, another venue: Similar event, 5 bands on a small stage, drum set and bass rig (not mine this time) stayed on the stage for time saving. I played the rig, it was fine, loud and we had a great sound and a great time. Two or three days after the gig the owner of the bass rig (500 w class D - amp, 2 x 115" cab) called me, one of the speakers was blown. He asked me to give the bill to my liability insurance. Unfortunately I had none. So I told him to wait a bit, because I knew all of the bands of that evening and all bass players. So we collected the money for the blown speaker, and all was fine. Two weeks ago we had a gig, supporting a swiss band. The management told us, just to bring our amps, and that we could use the cabs of the headliner. Aah, and our snare and cimbals. As we arrived, I started talking to the bass player of the hedliner like "OK, I'll hook off your bass head and plug in mine...?", when he imediately told me "oh, you are wellcome to use my rig. Plug in your amp, if you're more comfortable with it, but you are wellcome". After the guitarists of the band heard this, they all said the same to the guitar players of my band. So we had no aditional work to do, and my guitarrists 've been able to play a Kemper with a Diezl profile plus Diezl cab and a Engl rig, I had the oportunity to check out a Mesa Subway with the new Mesa UltraLight Cabs (and was underwhelmed by the rig...). Ya, we changed the snare, but not the cimbals. If you don't act like a dickhead and take responibility for your actions, it is not a problem to use the same gear. I just make sure to talk to the bassplayers I am giving my rig to upfront, and I stay in the venue all the time, if my rig is played by complete strangers. Its like everywhere, just talk to the people, and you'll find a solution that suits everybody.
Question: would you be willing to insert a 20 second (tops) segment into VC about a band that doesn't suck that you listen to/that you've heard? And I'm not talking about BIG names, everybody knows Annihilator or Voivod - to use Canadians as an example - but maybe something that someone recommended to you and the band was not bad?
So some copyright troll can flag the vid and get Glenn's beer money? He mentions bands to check out all the time eh. Check out Armored Saint - Tainted Past for that bass intro @ 23:00, good tune from '91 I never knew existed.
@@Rebar77_real 1) I didn't say anything about showcasing the band's music. 2) I know he mentions bands but i'd prefer it being a separate segment, with band's name (not logo) being shown on screen since some of those have a fucked up spelling - not helpful when you're not a native. 3) I know Armoured Saint - they would be too big for the aforementioned segment. I was thinking more of the bands who are on their second album.
As a musician who has put on an engineers hat in the last few years to grow closer to my partner (as he has his degree in audio) I have found Goodwill is your best friend. If you have an outlet store near you check it out. I've gotten all my monitors there and now have 3 sets of speakers to mix on. Had to do very minimal repair work and got all 3 sets for under $30. I also got a 1969 TEAC 2 track reel to reel there for $10! It doesn't work perfectly but for the price it works pretty damn good. I also found a matching parts machine for $3. Anyway if you look hard enough you can find great stuff in odd places. My current 2 favorite guitars were even found at Goodwill. Glen, do you have a favorite place to find deals on gear? And do you recommend learning to fix gear in order to save money by buying used gear?
Glenn Glenn GLENN! I have a trouble with what I call "Artist's Remorse." I have been recording music for about 8+ years, and I noticed that I have now have hundreds of tracks recorded, but I rarely release them because, after listening back, I always get caught up in the mindset of "I can do better" so I move on to the next song. That being said, I feel like I've started burning out in regards to my creativity and incentive to making/writing & recording something new. So now this "Artist's Remorse" has created some form of writer's block. I guess my question is, how do I stay motivated to actually my own music out there? (even if I think that it "sucks" now) And how would you suggest someone would be re-incentivised to create new music? Cheers from the SF Bay Area, CA!
You can melt a perfect hole through your drum head by heating up a food can.Make sure to put something underneath the head like a piece of plywood etc... Place the can on the stove and heat it up to a reasonable temperature. Obviously you wanna use oven mitts. The hot can rim will melt a perfect circle into the head. When you pull the can away, there will also be a slight bead of melted plastic that forms a bit of a barrier. The re-enforcement rings are still valuable as protection against constant mic placement wear but using an exacto knife is not as 'exact" when creating a perfect circle.
Your comments regarding raw recordings are perfect. Keep the humanity. Musicians should play off each other in recording sessions whenever possible. It shouldn't impress anyone that a computer can perform a basic graphing function.
My good friend Adam Sagan was the drummer in Witherfall until he ultimately succumbed to the ravages of cancer. It's really cool to see you doing stuff with them.
Ah, cool! My band opened for Sanctuary new years eve 2011, was a fun gig and great show! I recall they forgot the intro music so they just walked out to silence!
The thing about headphones... I have a fairly nice pair of headphones actually marketed as "studio monitor" headphones, and a pair of plain old computer speakers that are neither bottom-end nor high-end speakers. And I notice my mixes, as rudimentary as they are, have improved since I started using basic fucking computer speakers as opposed to my more expensive, more "proper studio equipment" headphones. I can only imagine how much more they'd improve with a proper set of studio monitor speakers in a well-treated room. I'm thinking that improvement is that, despite the fact that these speakers are clearly not made for studio monitoring, I'm hearing more of the room while mixing, and getting more of, like you said, a sense of a center channel. Headphones are nice because they're convenient, portable, and silent to everyone but you, and they serve a useful function, but my next big goal for my home studio in 2019 is to get myself a pair of decent monitors.
In regards to monitors and headphones: monitors are in some ways a true measurement tool, it doesn't matter how good your video software is if your computer screen doesn't accurately display your image. It doesn't matter how good the wood or saws you use to frame a house are if your level isn't consistent. You can have the best music tools, but if you can't accurately hear what you are doing it will be warped in some way. It is literally the observer changing the results of the experiment. Nothing changed my production more than getting a "decent" pair of monitors. Yeah I could make a track sound great on a boombox, but all my mixes sounded inversely filtered through that boombox. However I do feel that you can get away with tracking and leveling on headphones, just make sure you check with some good monitors and do your final balancing "over air". Imagine the setting of your listener and mix for that, are they in a loud bar? Are they on a jog? Are they listening in ear buds in the office? What is your musics purpose? If it's metal for a long car ride don't mix it for someone jogging on a treadmill. All environments sound different and different activities require different focuses of attention. Mix for your audience, if you want people to blast your music, make sure it sounds good loud... headphones are literally not loud compared to PA systems
A comment on getting started at writing music: Start simple with the standard arrangements. Intro - 12-16 bars verse - 8 bars chorus - 12-16 bars verse - 8 bars chorus - alternative verse/pre-chorus - chorus. In other words: Start with a structure. It actually helps a lot. Now, some people might snob at this and call it too standardized but not everyone plays Progressive Metal at the beginning of their journey and a lot of successful bands still rely on the standard types of arrangements. If we have music based on the 4/4 pattern, changes should happen every 8 bars. That feels natural and the listener actually kinda expects that. The changes can be minor, for example just switching from Hihat to Ride on the drums or an additional guitar comes in and plays some small rythmic accents or even a melody.
@Jeff T The hump can be remedied and they need a subwoofer. And don't let anyone ever tell you that subwoofers are not for studio: if you don't have low end anyway it is better to at least have a sub. You don't need to necessarily drive it at maximum levels but having it is far better option than not having it.
Near field monitors are always preferable over headphones.....a decent starter pair will cost about 300 bucks....its well worth the money. KRK makes a really affordable set, Ive used the 5 inch pair for a few years now and its the best 300 Ive ever spent on any of my recording gear. Sound levels can be kept low enough to not annoy the neighbors yet still sound full and punchy. So please consider near field monitors before headphones, your mixes will thank you. Also....I enjoy your channel a lot Glen, tons of solid useful info and some laughs along the way.
Hey Glen I agree with your statement "lets not be slave to the grid", but I wonder if perhaps you also agree with the idea of ditching the idea of the click track as well. Is the click track something we "absolutely" need to worry about being in time with, or can we just rely on our drummers (like we do in practice/rehearsal) to keep us in time for recording purposes?
Hey Glenn, I mixed a band lately, I clearly asked to be mentioned on the credits before they released their tunes, but I checked on Spotify and other platforms and I was mentioned nowhere, same for the recording engineer, studio, and mastering engineer. What's your take on this? It's not only for visibility, I'm also an old fart, and loved to read the credits on vinyls, cassettes then CDs,... but nowadays on streaming services, there seems to be no space for that anymore, how sad... Love your show Glenn! Keep it up and F U !!!!
19:08 Believe it or not, I have seen a solo artist play lead guitar and vocals to a backing track (rhythm, bass and drums) with an elaborate stage set-up. If you do find yourself in that situation I'd recommend working with the sound engineer to be able to mix each track separately. The person I watched had all the other instruments through the one live channel and for whatever reason it didn't sound quite right.
Hey Glenn, have you done a video on the difference between monitor speaker sizes? I'm thinking about getting a set of the Kali but what is the difference between a 6 inch and 8 inch speaker? Over my recording career I've gone from 5 inch to 8 inch and I think the bass imaging is better but I currently mix in a fairly small room and I wonder if the 8's are too large for how close I sit to them. Thanks!
Several bands have had huge following using Drum Machines on stage: Big Black, Godflesh, etc. Hell look at some of the big performances here on RUclips from Ola Englund and Devon Townsend playing solo with backing tracks. Hell, look at the solo performance stuff people like Hungry Lights are doing here on RUclips to get their music out there.
Hey Glenn, Have you checked out the Waves Nx plug in for mixing on headphones? The plugin is designed to make the sound like you are in a room with reflections. Also, recently they added EQ correction curves for flattening the frequency response for certain headphones. I have used this plug in quite a bit and have noticed a change in my mixes.
I am a metal drummer and took your advice to buy the iD44 and ASP800 to record myself. My question is what analog gear in a reasonable price range should i buy for the inserts to sound even better ? Another one, mini k47 or the earthworks mics from the DK7 for OH ?
Oh yes that comment at about 15:00 is so true...For example the early albums by Shadows Fall are fucking amazing, no matter if the mix is not perfect and sometimes the vocals are a bit off. But they have power and a whole lot of character. Their last release sounds so cleaned up, it doesn't sound like Shadows Fall anymore!
Hey Glenn, what's your opinion on boundary kick mic's. I got a beta 52a and it's a great kick mic and then my bass player (good bassist) who is a sound guy turned me ok to the shure 91a. I absolutely love this mic especially the two together. Less work, less processing, and it sounds great raw
3k vids away from the big 300! SOOO close Glenn! Great info on headphones - I admit, mixed on phones for a bit longer than I should have. :) Edit: oops, sorry, 3k vids would be quite the tall order. 3k subs might be a better goal.
In regards to the headphone vs monitors when it comes to mixing, would it not also be somewhat beneficial to also at least reference the mix with a set of headphones as that is how most people are going to listen to the music? Not that I do a lot of mixing/recording, just curious to see your point of view on it as I’ve heard a few say they reference with headphones.
You really really good at saying "I'll put the link in the description" and then not putting the aforementioned link in the aforementioned description.
I had to let out a massive 'eeeeeeh' about the whole 'not perfectly in time = making music thing'. Here's where it gets problematic, all of the technology we have makes things perfect, but it doesn't automatically make them boring. Yeah, bands with a preset Misha Mansoor tone they found on RUclips, with a Superior Drummer 3 default kit and some multilayered, pitch shifted growl, boring, but that's the entry level stuff, that's the soundcloud rap of the Rock world. Very talented people edit their performances, with pitch correction, it's so difficult to notice nowadays that you get people insulting 'that autotuned pop shit' without ever realising that their favourite singers are layered, tuned, edited to perfection, and their favourite musical performances of the modern era, in some cases, didn't ever happen, they were sped up, or quantised, or recorded beat by beat. With all this accessible, if we as musicians spend hours a day practicing (I'm a professional composer and guitarist, and I practice music about 12 hours a day), why should we sell ourselves short by putting forward performances that aren't perfect? With the practice I do, why should some bedroom warrior miming well over a sped up guitar solo that's inhumanly clean get to sound better than me, when I have the skills to play it at speed, and also edit out the tiny imperfections that I can hear in it? I've been lucky enough to sing at the Royal Albert Hall, I've heard RUclipsrs who want to be Power Metal singers pretending they have more range than they have by shifting their notes up a tone in Melodyne, why shouldn't I shift this note I've sang into place, to give it the clarity I want to hear? Morally, I'd also argue that sound engineers should embrace it, maybe you get a band in that aren't amazing, but are really passionate and enthusiastic, and they're paying, should the sound engineer feel good about shrugging their shoulders and saying 'Sorry, it looks like you're shit' when the record comes out of the studio messy as all hell? I dunno, I think this issue with 'the human element', is not as black and white as it's made to seem. But then again, I doubt 'Triggering and pitch correction can be alright and here's why' would make a catchy tagline.
The thing is, regardless of how great you are, you still have minor imperfections. When listening normally, it shouldn't be noticeable, but a quantised, autotuned to shit performance still stands out in a bad way. Triggered drums and, god forbid, programmed bass sound incredibly artificial. There is a bit of soul that comes with hitting the snare slightly harder during an intense part or NOT HAVING YOUR DOUBLE BASS SOUND LIKE A FUCKING MIDI
@@georgiykireev9678 But that's the issue, says who? People go on and on about this on RUclips, but still listen to records with pitch correction, triggered drums, and hugely edited performances, often without even realising it. There's a disconnect between what people are saying, and what the people are buying into, and that's why it's silly to dismiss things with overly simplistic "FAKE = BAD" arguments.
Must admit I really really love the Ilok! I just plug it in, and everything connected to it just works right off the bat. No additional registering, no need for a connection, no nothing, just plug and play. Literally. And if it breaks or gets stolen, I still have my account and can block the old dongle, getting a new one ASAP, and just reinstall everything on that one. Good shit :-)
Hey Glenn! I wanted your opinion on a situation. I went to a pretty awesome recording school in 2013-2014. It was a drill sergeant style learning where we crammed 2 years of learning into 1 nonstop year. I finished the class doing REALLY well and recorded a decent sounding EP, but during that time i was also interning, trying to scrap my way into some recognition and burned myself out hard. Then the depression set in. I haven't really touched anything I've learned for the last 4 years. Am i too far gone to put anything I've learned to use? Or is it like riding a bike?
Hey Glen. Fuck You and your amazing hair!! (Coming from a guy who cant grow any) Question for tracking kick... I have been using a Shure Beta52 just inside the hole, an sm57 with the transformer removed right close to the beater, beater side.. and a home made sub kick centered on the kick about 6 inches from the skin. the kick is tuned well and rather then use a pillow in the bottom of the kick i use a piece of 2" foam cut to length so that it wraps around the inside of the shell and rests just against the skins. my question is, should i be flipping the phase on the sub kick and the beta 52 or the the 57 that is outside the kick on the beater side... or should i flip the 57. or should i flip anything at all ? Thanks eh!
I just moved and gave away my monitors. Found I couldn't live without them. Bought the Kali LP-6 and got the Produce Like A Pro Academy discount and free shipping. Can't wait!
I just want to add some others great names on the list of bass player: -Steve DiGiorgio (Sadus, Death,...) -Ron Broder (Coroner) -Roger Patterson (Atheist) -Tony Choy (Atheist, Pestilence) In my opinion these guys are absolutely stunning. Cheers from Switzerland
Glenn my friend, I come asking your opinion for live tracking rather than the standard scratch tracking/individual performance route. Question is: do you think tracking the music together, but the vocals & overdubs after is the best route to take or should the vocals also be tracked during the live take for performance intensity continuity? Recorded in several studios and never done live tracking and am sick of the “perfect take” mentality individual takes creates. Much Chi-Town Love, Aaron
Hey Glenn, what are your thoughts on 20 inch kick drums for metal. So far I have gotten a very good kick sound out of it with plenty of attack and low end, but I am worried that it might not get a very power full sound. I had thought about upgrading it, but since it would either take forever to find a finish matched 22in (the session custom line has been discontinued by Pearl) or get another custom one of the same quality which would cost me at least $1500 USD, do you think that my 20in can still be used for metal? Cheers from Minnesota
Question : I'm recording my guitar (with humbuckers) through a a Radial PRO48 DI and Scarlett 6i6, using amp sims. But when recording in front of my computer, I have a lot of noise in my recordings that kill my sustain (if I sustain a note, it dies in horrible white noise instead of silence), a noise gate doesn't help. This doesn't happen if I'm 4 meters away from the computer, but it's more complicated to record. I guess this is some electric interferences from the computer, screens or cables. You must have that issue in a studio with all that equipment. Is there something I can do ?
Hey, Glenn, I don't know if you saw my previous question on this, but I thought it was important enough to ask again. Could you give some pointers about strapping down or otherwise securing gear while travelling? I was in a car accident last December and was nearly scalped by a saxophone case I just had laying on the back seat (still recovering from that) Cheers from Alberta.
Hey glenn! Whats your opinion on the bass mix of the Dum Spiro Spero album from Dir En Grey? I think toshiya's bass tone is something that ive never heard before. Cheers glenn!
Total bass player questions here. I own a solid state Trace Elliot bass head and due to living situation I can't run it loud through my 2x12 cab. Do I need to use a load box to use it? Sorry for the stupid question, but I'm not too sure
Hey Glen, Have you had a chance to check out the Waves Abbey Road studios stuff and what you say about it/ what uses would you recommend for it? Just purchased the bundle on holiday discount for $200 so no going back m, but curious what you would have to say! Cheers, Conor
My suggestion for anyone mixing on headphones: A-B. A-B. A-B. Find an album with a mix you like, and then find a few more. Since the albums will more than likely be mastered, use an application that has its own volume (iTunes/Spotify) to get it to a similar volume as your mix. Even if the guitar tone, drums, etc differ, you’re looking for how each instrument sits in the mix. It’ll still take some time to figure out how your headphones actually translate to other systems but this will generally get you much closer in the long run.
To the guy who was asking about using backing tracks, go and look at Abduction (UK) perform. He's one of the rapidly rising bands in the ukbm scene and he performs with his vocals, guitar and everything else on a backing track on his phone. There's a video of his performance at Bloodstock on his facebook page that's definitely worth checking out to see what one person can do on stage and people absolutely loved it. So yeah, stop worrying and in the immortal words of Shia Labeouf, JUST DO IT.
Drum head hole tip: Take an empty can of your desired diameter and heat it up on the stove. When it'll be hot enough to melt the mylar press it into the head (using oven mitts obviously!! Or ask the bass player to help you with that bit.) and it'll cut a neat circle!!
Also, I'm a bedroom (well actually living room if you want to get technical) player and I live in an apartment. Is it worth picking up monitors to mix with in untreated room with a placement that isn't ideal?
Have you heard of waves nx? I think that paired with sonar works reference would be a viable solution to mix on headphones. Also, Although I Primarily use my monitors for mixing, I HEAVILY reference using both my in ears and my headphones, as without them my mixes would have tons of problems with the low end and sub frequencies.
Another great video Glen. I was wondering what's your, if any, opinion on the Peavey vypyr series of amps. I currently have the vypyr 2 and it's been treating me moderately well for a few years. Greetings from Detroit
speaking of monitors, Yamaha HS8s (like $300 a pair) are basically cheaper than Kali LP6s (goes up to $400 a pair) in Indonesia, thanks to this import tax lmao, can you recommend them?
I've never really had an issue with my iLok. Even when I was working on a laptop with very few USB ports, I just plugged in a hub, tucked everything behind the screen, and forgot about it until I needed to move it. And now that I have a big desktop with tons of ports, I just stick it in the back panel and haven't had to fuck with it in years, except when I pull the pc out for dusting and unplug everything. So I'm curious, what specifically is the frustration with iLok? Has it been lack of ports? Did it not work right? Is it the principle of having to plug in a separate dongle?
In my humble experience, the only people who've moaned to me about using iLok, are people who want to use cracked plugins, or who can't afford the plugins that usually require an iLok. I've never met a working professional who moaned about it. I won't be so bold as to suggest that's always the case, I'm just reflecting my own experiences. I have seen people get pissed off however, about needing a multitude of different dongles for different software, and wanting evrything to standardise on iLok, since it is generally the least bothersome
I paid heaps for software, then lost my ilok when I moved house. I know I put it in a "safe place" but that was years ago so its gone now. Not a great feeling!
For a lot of people, it's the assumption that you don't own the thing you bought. It happens to gamers all the time. They buy a game with DRM, then a couple years later it doesn't work anymore because the suits at the game company decided their rights server is too expensive to run for the number of hits it's getting from Awesome Game 2008, so they just stop authenticating it. Or they decide that you can only install your copy of a game 3 times--ever. So after a few upgrades and reinstalls of Windows (very common on a gaming system), or even bugged game installs that have to be redone, your $60 game is unplayable. I have a game I can't play because it uses some DRM-CD-magic shit to authenticate the disc and Microsoft doesn't provide it anymore with Windows 10. Cause nobody uses CDs anymore, right? And nothing that ever came on CDs is worth using now that we have the cloud. Locked plugins are subject to the goodwill of the publisher. If they decide you shouldn't use them anymore, or if they go out of business, you're SOL. (Kind of ironic, given Glenn's comments.) Hardware "plugins" are yours until you can't fix them anymore. dbx hasn't "revoked the licenses" of people using the discontinued 166 compressor, but if a plugin you like gets discontinued good luck keeping it working. I guess some people are uncomfortable with the real-world ownership of a piece of equipment being virtualized into the assurances in an EULA. All this without any knowledge of how iLok actually works, or some kind of guaranteed third-party authentication in case of insolvency that is sometimes part of a license agreement, or anything like that. For all I know, the DAW plugin DRM experience is all lollipops and unicorns unless you're trying to steal them.
I totally agree Glenn. I just believe that because monitors are not cheap people dont use them because they can afford head phones. For myself I have bought 79.00 monitors just to have anything, but I have turn the bass boost off. I miss having my cheap 134.00 numarks that had a flat sound design.
I stand by my Beyerdynamic DT770 80 ohm headphones for mixing. I would still go to a studio with some good monitors for the final mix, but for recording demos, they're pretty flat.
19:10 I know a guy in the Cincinnati area who goes up on stage by himself and sings to backing tracks. Sometimes, he does a little bit of standup in between songs to keep the audience engaged. The Obnoxious Boot is what he calls his act and I love it. But yeah, go for it, dude. Could be a fun time.
Hey Glenn, you are my favorite Glenn in rock since Deep Purple Glenn Huges. Question: Do you think that its possible to use a PC + interface running an amp simulation software as a pre-amp to play live? I would either plug the interface out to my amp effects return or send to the house PA, (if it has any). I would do this because my bass amp has very bad EQ and i don´t have money to get effect pedals (chorus, compressor...). Thanks!
I'm new and dumb but one thing im learning about is that YES you can get a cheap "anything" IF you know what you are looking at. Like mics will give you diagrams of the frequencies they are strong and weak in. Or monitors the same thing. usually lower price lack the mids and lows. But there are some that actually hit 20 hz (Low Frequency) without a boost like a champ under $100. Learn frequencies and you can really learn to get your tracks to separate and sound so clear to each other. Been playing for over 30 years and less than 6 months into learning how to mix and master. So I am definitely no professional.....
So I purchased the year long subscription to slate digital and I have the ilok, I got it working but in the latest update it says my stuff isn't activated and I'm not sure what to do, slate digital says ilok is no longer required but all that means to me is my Shit stopped working and I didn't get any email on how to fix it
Question for next viewers comments video: in order to learn to record guitars, plug-in drums and bass...what are the steps to learn to make a song and not fail horrendously in the try? For example, how I use a daw, how I choose one that is more convenient? etc
Yeah, I have half a dozen licensing managers on my desktop. Ilok is perhaps the most onerous of them all, mostly because of the number of options they need to support just because they've been around a while. Ilok's idiocy is part history, part greed, and bad human factors design but as you said, we make money off of music stuff so if the guys who make the stuff we use to make music can't pay their rent while making their stuff, then nobody can make any good stuff. Also, as far as headphone mixing, the SonarWorks plugin makes a huge difference in taking a cheaper set of headphones and getting them to be closer to a reference set of headphones. I haven't determined if cost of headphones + cost of plugin > cost of comparable flatter headphones, but one thing they have that I haven't tried is their service where you send your headphones to them, they test them, and then send you back plugin settings for your specific headphones. Anyway, it's definitely an improvement. Them plus the the NX Virtual Room is "almost a virtual monitor" but it just quite isn't there yet.
Hey Glenn, have you ever done audio engineering for other media outlets such as video games, commercials, TV shows, or say short films? If so, how was that experience different from recording music (besides that fact that you don't have to deal with bass players)? If not, have you thought about testing the waters in that field? Thanks for the videos!
GLENN!!! (And everyone else) There’s a band here in Florida (shatter glass) who’s drummer had a pretty nifty idea. He has a mic permanently mounted INSIDE the kick drum. With an XLR adaptor side mounted. What are your thoughts on this?
Hey Glenn I'm a guitarist I've been having the itch to start writing my own songs. Honestly I'd rather record acousticly so I was wondering what's a good mic I can use to record my amp? You have some pretty awesome and informative videos and fuck you.
Sony MDR-v6 have a surprisingly close-to-flat frequency response (at least compared to any of the other headphones I've used). They're not my favorite to listen to music on, but they've done pretty well for me for for amateur at-home-mixing. YMMV of course.
I shall ask again. Since you're working with Waves, can you give your opinion on NX? It's one of those room simulation softwares for headphones, it's really cool.
Hey Glenn, a question that's been with me for a long while now is what your opinion is on multi-tracking vs. live tracking. My band and I have tried both methods of recording and we've figured that we can get our best sound by recording all together at the same time. What's your opinion on this and what is your preference? Is there one style that is better than the other?
As for the hole in the kick drum. This can be a huge debate. It really depends on the drum/size of the drum. I've heard plenty of cases where the "uncut" resonant kick drum head miked up sounded very slappy/clicky with tons of low end and life! There are so many variables to this one. To avoid arguments next time, BUY A HEAD WITH THE HOLE PRE CUT AND TRY BOTH :)
I bought a set of Mackie cr3s used for about $80. My biggest bitch is the frequency range is only like 70hz to 15khz but my mixes importantly improved. I'm in an untreated basement and the key is training your ears to your sound system IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT. Listen to some of your favorite songs on a regular basis through your setup in your room to get an idea of what you're dealing with
It's funny you mention Cliff Burton and Joey Vera... I've seen them both play live... on the same stage, at the same venue, on the same night (June 1,1986)... still have the t-shirts, too...
Looking to get my first set of studio monitors. I see some options from PreSonus that only cost slightly north of $100 for a pair. They are also only 3.5" speakers. Is this a good option for starting out, or is it worth it to save and invest in something a little nicer? What size speaker do you recommend? I pretty much only record drums and mix them to recorded songs for covers or just the drums themselves. Thanks!
To keep my recordings more "raw" is I treat my daw as simply a multi-track recorder as much as possible. Stay away from over processing and fixing in the digital realm as much as possible. Not to say I'm not using plug-ins and stuff for eq-ing and mixing, etc. But thinking of the DAW as a virtual 2in tape deck. If that makes sense.
Hey Glenn, I have a question about building a band. I was talking with one of my friends, and we got on the topic of having someone who works turntables and samples (like Sid Wilson from Slipknot, Joe Hahn from Linkin Park). I wanted to know what you thought of bands who have additional members outside of the traditional instruments (by this I mean extra percussion, turntables, etc.) Thanks so much!
I mixed on Headphones one time, sounded like crap when i played it back on my speakers. I have way better luck mixing it using my stereo. Thank you for all your help Glenn.
12:23 There was a period of time, probably over the span of about a year, in which I felt my bass foot seeming to become more and more out of time. I tried all sorts of lubrication on the pedal. It wasn't until I took it apart and took out all of the hair and junk that was in it and bam, instant timing improvement.
Thoughts on the new sonar works plugins that virtually acoustically treat a room. You could say. Also any thoughts on the beringer xr air 18 as a live mixer
Hey Glen! For recording guitars, how do you feel about Mesa Boogie's Celestion Dark Shadow? I believe it's a Celestion C90. It's in the Boogie combo Rectoverb 50. The guitarists sound is like a heavy as Kardashian's ass distortion with a style of playing akin to the Jimmy Hendrix Era.
what band and song is playing during the time around 21:00. I like it, that shit is bodacious. Should do like MTV use to and put the band name plus the song in the corner for the background music.
Just finished my first album of original rock. {i'm 57}. Laid all rhythm tracks with a drummer, live. Then I added bass, leads, vocals keys etc. All live. No quantizing. No grid. No click track. No AUTOTUNE...…. Sounds amazing , raw and real and just like I hear it in my head!!!
As a 55 year old your my hero
I’m 18 and my band recorded live off the floor In one take
@sallygo1234 😭😭😭😭
216trixie inspiration for my now “restructured” band. We’re all over 50.
I must admit, all the studio trickerty is great to map out ideas and get things in line to go away and practice how to do it properly, but an honest production recording is unbeatable
LOl!! You win! @sallygo1234
LOL...sharing gear. I had a memorable incident at a gig where this band of spoilt rich kids were "headlining" (ie playing to nobody at the end of the night) and so they were soundchecking first. They didn't really have a clue what they were doing, and the guitarist broke a string on his wrecked Aria Pro II with a Floyd-esque thing, and didn't have a clue how to change the strings - he'd literally had the same strings on since his dad had given it to him three years ago. Anyway, It was getting to the point where we'd miss our own soundcheck because he was farting around, so I let him use my Jaden Rose Tele for soundcheck while I changed the strings on his crappy copy. He got off stage after the soundcheck and said, "Hey man, thanks but you don't need to bother finishing the strings. I'll just use this one."
After I'd stopped laughing, I pointed out that there was no way in hell that was happening, but for his presumption and attitude he could finish the strings himself (I'd got about half way through).
He ended up playing the gig with four strings, mostly out of tune. Yes, I'm a heartless bastard, but I like to think that he learned a valuable lesson that day.
How on earth can anyone not know how to change a guitar string? It's pretty fucking obvious!
@@BWPT. floyds can traumatize short brained people
bro never share an instrument you are not an asshole that guy is an idiot
I wouldn’t trust a stranger who can’t change a string with handling my instrument.
@@leoncorbett4553 yeah if you can't handle your own gear you shouldn't be handling anyone else's
"Sucking at something is the first step towards being kinda good at something."
-Jake the Dog
Amazing words.
Facts 🤘
So true. Just look at any given workplace!
What time is it?
@@kimberlyjacobsen4148 it's ALWAYS adventure time
Hahahahaha! The Christian Heritage Party of Canada had an ad during my watching of this SMG. Made me laugh out loud!
19:00 Go for it. I perform metal myself live with a Beatbuddy and downloaded midi beats. I do a six hour band rehearsal every week in a rehearsal room and only have to worry about myself turning up. It can actually end up being very enjoyable. Plus getting 30 bucks for gig is more fun as a solo artist than as a 5 piece.
Though I do occasionally miss having human buddies to celebrate with after a gig.
Go alone just now if you're ready. The best musicians for you may be too busy to see your online adverts for band members. You'll meet them on the road.
I'm happy with just me though.
I like you haha
When it comes to songwriting, having a songwriting partner makes writing songs so much easier. I can write lyrics no problem, but I can't write music for shit. On the flip side, my bandmate can come up with some hooky riffs which I can put vocal melodies over, but he can't write lyrics for shit. Together, we combine and coordinate our powers like the Wonder Twins, and have come up with several songs that we're very happy with. Now, if only we can finish recording and mixing them so we can -torture- entertain the world with them.
Longer video = more topics to comment on = more verbose commentary.
Don't use a knife to cut a hole :o Use a tin can that you heat up! Classic trick and creates perfectly round holes that won't tear :D
A .50 cal from 50 feet can cut a good hole too...
@@TheDogPa Yes, it could, but that is not very practical. The can thing is.
50 CAL is by definition 1/2 inch the hole size we are looking for is more in line with a 40 mm grenade. Since it arms within 75 feet I strongly recommend placing the head inside this range . If you don't have a 203 launcher you can substitute a morter tube.
@@gilbertspader7974 what size mortar tube can launch a 40mm grenade? Never seen one smaller than a 60.
@@ChainsawChristmas Yes To much weed wanted to say use smallest motor
Hey Glenn, I love your take on all things recording. I have recorded jazz pop and some country for roughly the past 30 years. It took me 15 years of recording bands professionally (about half time) before I really felt like my mixes were pro level. The two things that ultimately made a huge difference on how my mixes translate are bass traps/room treatment and switching to primarily mixing on headphones. I typically use AKG K701 cans for EQing and most mixing tasks. They lack low end, but have very transparent mid range and highs. I use Sony MDR-7510 cans for balancing the instruments in the mix. They sound a bit boxy and are less transparent than the AKGs, but have a nice flat frequency response throughout the full range, which is great for balancing. My various midprice monitors in a string of acoustically treated rooms through the years have provided a decent reality check for stereo imaging along with summing to mono once in a while. For me the biggest lie is mediocre nearfield monitors in a room with a peaky bass response. Short of building a great room and spending many thousands of dollars on monitors, I feel that the consistency, cost effectiveness and portability of mixing primarily with headphones along with nearfields for additional perspective is my best solution in the genres that I record. Keep up the great work and Fuck you.
Regarding raw sounding vs polished albums: A coworker turned me on to a band called Portrait from Sweden. The drum sound on it reminded me of pre-Justice Metallica or one of the early 90’s Blind Guardian albums. Not sure how it was recorded, but it was the first album I’d heard in a while that didn’t sound like an over-polished modern record.
Cool! do you have a link?
SpectreSoundStudios Yep. The link Lars posted is the band. Pretty cool stuff.
@@Gainovermg Hey there, in my opinion one thing is, that the kickdrum and the toms, don't have this much KICK. Sound to me like the engineer took the lower frequencies and added just as much kick to the toms and kick as needed to be heared. No "FUCK ALL THE LISTENERS, HEAR....SOME...KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICKKCCKK!!" as in more modern productions. And the other thing, the snare...I dont know how to describe it without making the noise I want to highlight. But I would say the snare wires are a big part of its sound.
Glen it's so cool your wearing shirts from viewer's bands. This why even if I don't agree with everything you say I still respect you so much. It's obvious you actually care about other people doing well in the business. That instantly give you more credibility than most people I have worked with.
I can definitely vouch for what you said concerning monitors.
About five years back, I was really wanting to upgrade my studio, and after some research, I figured my best investment would be monitors, so I could learn and then produce better mixes, due to the increase in sound accuracy.
I had an experience with that.
Initially I did the cheap route, bought a pair for just under $100.
I sent them back a few weeks later, they were just lackluster, to say the least, and quality was... Questionable.
After that, I saw a deal for some JBL monitors, a pair for just over $200, I think it was, usually around $300 at the time.
So I sold some gear I never used and placed that order.
Five years later, I still love these things.
Sound is clear and accurate enough for my needs, and built like a tank.
My cats have knocked them off stands and desks too many times, and they just keep working.
Moral of the story: spend a little extra, save a lot in the long run.
Still, to this day, one of my best purchases.
Slate got rid of the iLok a few weeks ago. See their RUclips channel
well the dongle yeah but need the dank ilok bloatware, will always connected to the internet.
They didn't "get rid of it", they just added a new option to use Cloud Authentication, which locks you down to 2 computers. The Pro for iLok is that you can use it on as many computers you want, as long as your iLok is plugged in. Quite handy if you go to a friends studio and want to mix some stuff on their machine.
@@Aeronaut1975 where is the video about that and how can i use the cloud instead?
Finally , about FUCKING TIME
some people here only wish for ilok not existing because they might had a chance of broken slate plugs like waves.... but no.... since anyone of us wants to get paid for his services so do those people who give us the tools to make it happen for us
"I'd like to thank Benjamin for breaking my mic," they said. That's how Breaking Benjamin was born!
Hey Glenn, Thank for answering my video question... forgot to mention that I'm using a Behringer 404HD interface and Reaper. The 1/2 outs go to a headphone mixer to run either headphones or my monitors but, the interface had a blend knob for direct and playback. Sounds like the direct signal is louder than the actual signal going to the DAW so, I'll setup Reaper to run the headphone mix on 3/4 outs and adjust sends on which tracks to monitor....
Thanks again for the direction.
Thank you for answering my question Mr.Fricker!
Keep in mind, most young people today listen to music primarily through headphones, the age of the big loud stereo is fading out as more people are living in apartments with roommates.
You're right about cost of recording.
My parents had a demo studio in the 1980s and recorded local bands.
They paid over $20,000 for used gear, 16 track reel to reel, multiple racks of effects and processors, every time we moved we had to build and equalize a new room within a room for recording. Now, everything done by that room packed full of equipment is done, with better sound quality, on a unit that I can hold in one hand, including auto-equalizing the room.
14:50 THAT is the question I was waiting for !
About the fake drums, i put some humaniser after making my drums, it sounds more realistic. I don't have any other choice :/
On the topic of putting the humanity back into sampled drums:
I'm a guitarist and vocalist (and sort of bassist and kinda keyboardist) with a barebones recording setup in my room, and I've been recording my own music for a while, but I can't play drums. Even if I could, I wouldn't have anywhere to put them. My solution is using EZ Drummer by Toontrack, which is a very realistic sounding midi-triggered sample-ma-bob. My technique for keeping the humanity in is using a midi controller (a keyboard in my case) to actually play the part, but in separate passes. I'll do the bass drum in one pass and the snare in another and the toms in the next and then cymbals. Turns out I'm pretty good as a fourth of a drummer, so it winds up being a sound that makes everyone who hears it ask, "Hey, who played drums on that?" I do fix some rhythms in post, but I've also learned to intentionally misalign some things from the grid to get the sound I'm after.
Hope that helps someone.
Cheers
Sgoin on Glenn, I too have had this problem with headphones. I needed a sterile and flat set for college, so I designed my own. As a base I used the Coomber 1929s headphones, these are wired in mono by default, so I stripped all the wires out and re-wired it in sterio with a 3.5mm jack on the end. There was also a 600ohm resistor inside as they were originally disigned for children, this I removed. I put a small amount of padding behind the drivers to very slightly curve the sound but NOT TOO MUCH. The cushions were horrible and I prefer the kind that rest around the ears rather than on the ears, better for long periods of time. So I ordered some cushions for a pair of Audio Technica headphones online which happened to match the dimentions of my Coombers, the end result was great. Very flat sounding, yet comfortable as fuck! I could use these all day long. Not to mention the clarity is amazing, you should check out some old coombers man.
THAT DEATH NOTE SHIRT!
I just so happen to be binge watching it right now.
It's good!
Do you think a Steam-like download client filled with programs for musicians like DAWs and plugins would work better than those type of certifications and ILok stuff?
About fixing room acoustics with software. IIRC the software which came with my tannoy precision monitors like 10years ago did that - you needed a mic with flat freq response (behringer has one really cheap), put it at listening position, and they software played sine wave over all spectrum, and made recommendations how to set built in eq. And you can do it at home - just get some sine wave vst ant scroll it slowly, especially in sub 100hz range. And try walking around your room to hear the shit that is building up.
And while it helps a little with the peaks, where standing waves add up in listening position at specific frequencies, it does not do shit to the nulls - where standing wave cancels itself out. Only propper room treatment with a lot of low end freq absorption fixes that.
First of all, musicians should work together and help each other. If the slots are small, you have to decide what gear (drums, bass and guitar rig) should stay on stage.
I am allways willing to let other musicians play over my bass rig, when there is a gig with more bands and the time for changing the gear or aditional soundchecks is short. Sometimes only the cab, sometimes my whole rig. But I make sure to show them the functions of the gear - and tell them that I will be after them if they blow up something.
Some years ago we played on a "St.Nick - Rock", together with 4 other bands. Every band had a slot of exact 50 minutes plus 10 minutes of changing gear (if necessary) and soundcheck. My rig contained an Ampeg SVP Pro - all tube preamp in 19" format and a massive poweramp (class A/B) with 2 x 700 Watt @ 4 Ohms into two 410"-cabs. I had a big note sticked on top of the rig, saying: "You are handling with 1.400 Watts! Be carefull with the bass- and the volume-knob! I assure you, you are fucking loud enough!"
Another gig, another venue: Similar event, 5 bands on a small stage, drum set and bass rig (not mine this time) stayed on the stage for time saving. I played the rig, it was fine, loud and we had a great sound and a great time. Two or three days after the gig the owner of the bass rig (500 w class D - amp, 2 x 115" cab) called me, one of the speakers was blown. He asked me to give the bill to my liability insurance. Unfortunately I had none. So I told him to wait a bit, because I knew all of the bands of that evening and all bass players. So we collected the money for the blown speaker, and all was fine.
Two weeks ago we had a gig, supporting a swiss band. The management told us, just to bring our amps, and that we could use the cabs of the headliner. Aah, and our snare and cimbals.
As we arrived, I started talking to the bass player of the hedliner like "OK, I'll hook off your bass head and plug in mine...?", when he imediately told me "oh, you are wellcome to use my rig. Plug in your amp, if you're more comfortable with it, but you are wellcome". After the guitarists of the band heard this, they all said the same to the guitar players of my band. So we had no aditional work to do, and my guitarrists 've been able to play a Kemper with a Diezl profile plus Diezl cab and a Engl rig, I had the oportunity to check out a Mesa Subway with the new Mesa UltraLight Cabs (and was underwhelmed by the rig...).
Ya, we changed the snare, but not the cimbals.
If you don't act like a dickhead and take responibility for your actions, it is not a problem to use the same gear. I just make sure to talk to the bassplayers I am giving my rig to upfront, and I stay in the venue all the time, if my rig is played by complete strangers.
Its like everywhere, just talk to the people, and you'll find a solution that suits everybody.
Question: would you be willing to insert a 20 second (tops) segment into VC about a band that doesn't suck that you listen to/that you've heard?
And I'm not talking about BIG names, everybody knows Annihilator or Voivod - to use Canadians as an example - but maybe something that someone recommended to you and the band was not bad?
Good idea
Yeah that would be a great vid. Im always searching for new bands to listen too. Its not an easy task.
So some copyright troll can flag the vid and get Glenn's beer money? He mentions bands to check out all the time eh. Check out Armored Saint - Tainted Past for that bass intro @ 23:00, good tune from '91 I never knew existed.
Best 2 chord band in the universe: ruclips.net/video/4h2DtJo0DqY/видео.html Killer drum sound, too!
@@Rebar77_real 1) I didn't say anything about showcasing the band's music.
2) I know he mentions bands but i'd prefer it being a separate segment, with band's name (not logo) being shown on screen since some of those have a fucked up spelling - not helpful when you're not a native.
3) I know Armoured Saint - they would be too big for the aforementioned segment. I was thinking more of the bands who are on their second album.
As a musician who has put on an engineers hat in the last few years to grow closer to my partner (as he has his degree in audio) I have found Goodwill is your best friend. If you have an outlet store near you check it out. I've gotten all my monitors there and now have 3 sets of speakers to mix on. Had to do very minimal repair work and got all 3 sets for under $30. I also got a 1969 TEAC 2 track reel to reel there for $10! It doesn't work perfectly but for the price it works pretty damn good. I also found a matching parts machine for $3.
Anyway if you look hard enough you can find great stuff in odd places. My current 2 favorite guitars were even found at Goodwill.
Glen, do you have a favorite place to find deals on gear? And do you recommend learning to fix gear in order to save money by buying used gear?
Glenn Glenn GLENN!
I have a trouble with what I call "Artist's Remorse."
I have been recording music for about 8+ years,
and I noticed that I have now have hundreds of tracks recorded,
but I rarely release them because, after listening back, I always get caught up
in the mindset of "I can do better" so I move on to the next song.
That being said, I feel like I've started burning out in regards to my creativity and
incentive to making/writing & recording something new.
So now this "Artist's Remorse" has created some form of writer's block.
I guess my question is, how do I stay motivated to actually my own music out there?
(even if I think that it "sucks" now)
And how would you suggest someone would be re-incentivised to create new music?
Cheers from the SF Bay Area, CA!
You can melt a perfect hole through your drum head by heating up a food can.Make sure to put something underneath the head like a piece of plywood etc... Place the can on the stove and heat it up to a reasonable temperature. Obviously you wanna use oven mitts. The hot can rim will melt a perfect circle into the head. When you pull the can away, there will also be a slight bead of melted plastic that forms a bit of a barrier. The re-enforcement rings are still valuable as protection against constant mic placement wear but using an exacto knife is not as 'exact" when creating a perfect circle.
Your comments regarding raw recordings are perfect. Keep the humanity. Musicians should play off each other in recording sessions whenever possible. It shouldn't impress anyone that a computer can perform a basic graphing function.
My good friend Adam Sagan was the drummer in Witherfall until he ultimately succumbed to the ravages of cancer. It's really cool to see you doing stuff with them.
Ah, cool! My band opened for Sanctuary new years eve 2011, was a fun gig and great show! I recall they forgot the intro music so they just walked out to silence!
The thing about headphones... I have a fairly nice pair of headphones actually marketed as "studio monitor" headphones, and a pair of plain old computer speakers that are neither bottom-end nor high-end speakers. And I notice my mixes, as rudimentary as they are, have improved since I started using basic fucking computer speakers as opposed to my more expensive, more "proper studio equipment" headphones. I can only imagine how much more they'd improve with a proper set of studio monitor speakers in a well-treated room. I'm thinking that improvement is that, despite the fact that these speakers are clearly not made for studio monitoring, I'm hearing more of the room while mixing, and getting more of, like you said, a sense of a center channel.
Headphones are nice because they're convenient, portable, and silent to everyone but you, and they serve a useful function, but my next big goal for my home studio in 2019 is to get myself a pair of decent monitors.
In regards to monitors and headphones: monitors are in some ways a true measurement tool, it doesn't matter how good your video software is if your computer screen doesn't accurately display your image. It doesn't matter how good the wood or saws you use to frame a house are if your level isn't consistent. You can have the best music tools, but if you can't accurately hear what you are doing it will be warped in some way. It is literally the observer changing the results of the experiment. Nothing changed my production more than getting a "decent" pair of monitors. Yeah I could make a track sound great on a boombox, but all my mixes sounded inversely filtered through that boombox. However I do feel that you can get away with tracking and leveling on headphones, just make sure you check with some good monitors and do your final balancing "over air". Imagine the setting of your listener and mix for that, are they in a loud bar? Are they on a jog? Are they listening in ear buds in the office? What is your musics purpose? If it's metal for a long car ride don't mix it for someone jogging on a treadmill. All environments sound different and different activities require different focuses of attention. Mix for your audience, if you want people to blast your music, make sure it sounds good loud... headphones are literally not loud compared to PA systems
Instead of studio monitors, does a good quality home audio system work? (I.e. two speakers connected to the tuner )
A comment on getting started at writing music: Start simple with the standard arrangements. Intro - 12-16 bars verse - 8 bars chorus - 12-16 bars verse - 8 bars chorus - alternative verse/pre-chorus - chorus. In other words: Start with a structure. It actually helps a lot. Now, some people might snob at this and call it too standardized but not everyone plays Progressive Metal at the beginning of their journey and a lot of successful bands still rely on the standard types of arrangements.
If we have music based on the 4/4 pattern, changes should happen every 8 bars. That feels natural and the listener actually kinda expects that. The changes can be minor, for example just switching from Hihat to Ride on the drums or an additional guitar comes in and plays some small rythmic accents or even a melody.
My Presonus monitors were cheaper than my Akg 240 headphones and made my mixes a lot easier/better.
Matthew Hart
Hi same here. Had good phones but invested in some Eris 5’s and realised how flabby my mixes were. Problem solved with monitors😊
@Jeff T The hump can be remedied and they need a subwoofer. And don't let anyone ever tell you that subwoofers are not for studio: if you don't have low end anyway it is better to at least have a sub. You don't need to necessarily drive it at maximum levels but having it is far better option than not having it.
@@squidcaps4308 Just say no to bass below a low E note.
Those ] little presonus monitors are actually surprisingly good
Near field monitors are always preferable over headphones.....a decent starter pair will cost about 300 bucks....its well worth the money. KRK makes a really affordable set, Ive used the 5 inch pair for a few years now and its the best 300 Ive ever spent on any of my recording gear. Sound levels can be kept low enough to not annoy the neighbors yet still sound full and punchy. So please consider near field monitors before headphones, your mixes will thank you. Also....I enjoy your channel a lot Glen, tons of solid useful info and some laughs along the way.
Hey Glen
I agree with your statement "lets not be slave to the grid", but I wonder if perhaps you also agree with the idea of ditching the idea of the click track as well. Is the click track something we "absolutely" need to worry about being in time with, or can we just rely on our drummers (like we do in practice/rehearsal) to keep us in time for recording purposes?
Hey Glenn, I mixed a band lately, I clearly asked to be mentioned on the credits before they released their tunes, but I checked on Spotify and other platforms and I was mentioned nowhere, same for the recording engineer, studio, and mastering engineer. What's your take on this? It's not only for visibility, I'm also an old fart, and loved to read the credits on vinyls, cassettes then CDs,... but nowadays on streaming services, there seems to be no space for that anymore, how sad... Love your show Glenn! Keep it up and F U !!!!
19:08
Believe it or not, I have seen a solo artist play lead guitar and vocals to a backing track (rhythm, bass and drums) with an elaborate stage set-up. If you do find yourself in that situation I'd recommend working with the sound engineer to be able to mix each track separately. The person I watched had all the other instruments through the one live channel and for whatever reason it didn't sound quite right.
Hey Glenn, have you done a video on the difference between monitor speaker sizes? I'm thinking about getting a set of the Kali but what is the difference between a 6 inch and 8 inch speaker? Over my recording career I've gone from 5 inch to 8 inch and I think the bass imaging is better but I currently mix in a fairly small room and I wonder if the 8's are too large for how close I sit to them. Thanks!
Several bands have had huge following using Drum Machines on stage: Big Black, Godflesh, etc. Hell look at some of the big performances here on RUclips from Ola Englund and Devon Townsend playing solo with backing tracks. Hell, look at the solo performance stuff people like Hungry Lights are doing here on RUclips to get their music out there.
Hey Glenn,
Have you checked out the Waves Nx plug in for mixing on headphones? The plugin is designed to make the sound like you are in a room with reflections. Also, recently they added EQ correction curves for flattening the frequency response for certain headphones. I have used this plug in quite a bit and have noticed a change in my mixes.
I am a metal drummer and took your advice to buy the iD44 and ASP800 to record myself. My question is what analog gear in a reasonable price range should i buy for the inserts to sound even better ? Another one, mini k47 or the earthworks mics from the DK7 for OH ?
Oh yes that comment at about 15:00 is so true...For example the early albums by Shadows Fall are fucking amazing, no matter if the mix is not perfect and sometimes the vocals are a bit off. But they have power and a whole lot of character. Their last release sounds so cleaned up, it doesn't sound like Shadows Fall anymore!
Hey Glenn, what's your opinion on boundary kick mic's. I got a beta 52a and it's a great kick mic and then my bass player (good bassist) who is a sound guy turned me ok to the shure 91a. I absolutely love this mic especially the two together. Less work, less processing, and it sounds great raw
3k vids away from the big 300! SOOO close Glenn! Great info on headphones - I admit, mixed on phones for a bit longer than I should have. :) Edit: oops, sorry, 3k vids would be quite the tall order. 3k subs might be a better goal.
3,000 vids? That seems like a bit much... :)
HA! Great catch! Thanks!!
@Ron Gillespie r/woooosh
In regards to the headphone vs monitors when it comes to mixing, would it not also be somewhat beneficial to also at least reference the mix with a set of headphones as that is how most people are going to listen to the music? Not that I do a lot of mixing/recording, just curious to see your point of view on it as I’ve heard a few say they reference with headphones.
You really really good at saying "I'll put the link in the description" and then not putting the aforementioned link in the aforementioned description.
I had to let out a massive 'eeeeeeh' about the whole 'not perfectly in time = making music thing'. Here's where it gets problematic, all of the technology we have makes things perfect, but it doesn't automatically make them boring. Yeah, bands with a preset Misha Mansoor tone they found on RUclips, with a Superior Drummer 3 default kit and some multilayered, pitch shifted growl, boring, but that's the entry level stuff, that's the soundcloud rap of the Rock world. Very talented people edit their performances, with pitch correction, it's so difficult to notice nowadays that you get people insulting 'that autotuned pop shit' without ever realising that their favourite singers are layered, tuned, edited to perfection, and their favourite musical performances of the modern era, in some cases, didn't ever happen, they were sped up, or quantised, or recorded beat by beat. With all this accessible, if we as musicians spend hours a day practicing (I'm a professional composer and guitarist, and I practice music about 12 hours a day), why should we sell ourselves short by putting forward performances that aren't perfect? With the practice I do, why should some bedroom warrior miming well over a sped up guitar solo that's inhumanly clean get to sound better than me, when I have the skills to play it at speed, and also edit out the tiny imperfections that I can hear in it? I've been lucky enough to sing at the Royal Albert Hall, I've heard RUclipsrs who want to be Power Metal singers pretending they have more range than they have by shifting their notes up a tone in Melodyne, why shouldn't I shift this note I've sang into place, to give it the clarity I want to hear? Morally, I'd also argue that sound engineers should embrace it, maybe you get a band in that aren't amazing, but are really passionate and enthusiastic, and they're paying, should the sound engineer feel good about shrugging their shoulders and saying 'Sorry, it looks like you're shit' when the record comes out of the studio messy as all hell? I dunno, I think this issue with 'the human element', is not as black and white as it's made to seem. But then again, I doubt 'Triggering and pitch correction can be alright and here's why' would make a catchy tagline.
The thing is, regardless of how great you are, you still have minor imperfections. When listening normally, it shouldn't be noticeable, but a quantised, autotuned to shit performance still stands out in a bad way. Triggered drums and, god forbid, programmed bass sound incredibly artificial. There is a bit of soul that comes with hitting the snare slightly harder during an intense part or NOT HAVING YOUR DOUBLE BASS SOUND LIKE A FUCKING MIDI
@@georgiykireev9678 But that's the issue, says who? People go on and on about this on RUclips, but still listen to records with pitch correction, triggered drums, and hugely edited performances, often without even realising it. There's a disconnect between what people are saying, and what the people are buying into, and that's why it's silly to dismiss things with overly simplistic "FAKE = BAD" arguments.
Must admit I really really love the Ilok! I just plug it in, and everything connected to it just works right off the bat. No additional registering, no need for a connection, no nothing, just plug and play. Literally.
And if it breaks or gets stolen, I still have my account and can block the old dongle, getting a new one ASAP, and just reinstall everything on that one. Good shit :-)
Hey Glenn!
I wanted your opinion on a situation. I went to a pretty awesome recording school in 2013-2014. It was a drill sergeant style learning where we crammed 2 years of learning into 1 nonstop year. I finished the class doing REALLY well and recorded a decent sounding EP, but during that time i was also interning, trying to scrap my way into some recognition and burned myself out hard. Then the depression set in. I haven't really touched anything I've learned for the last 4 years. Am i too far gone to put anything I've learned to use? Or is it like riding a bike?
The iLok also helped fund Steven Slate's leather jacket and perfectly angular beard technology.
Hey Glen. Fuck You and your amazing hair!! (Coming from a guy who cant grow any) Question for tracking kick... I have been using a Shure Beta52 just inside the hole, an sm57 with the transformer removed right close to the beater, beater side.. and a home made sub kick centered on the kick about 6 inches from the skin. the kick is tuned well and rather then use a pillow in the bottom of the kick i use a piece of 2" foam cut to length so that it wraps around the inside of the shell and rests just against the skins. my question is, should i be flipping the phase on the sub kick and the beta 52 or the the 57 that is outside the kick on the beater side... or should i flip the 57. or should i flip anything at all ? Thanks eh!
I just moved and gave away my monitors. Found I couldn't live without them. Bought the Kali LP-6 and got the Produce Like A Pro Academy discount and free shipping. Can't wait!
I just want to add some others great names on the list of bass player:
-Steve DiGiorgio (Sadus, Death,...)
-Ron Broder (Coroner)
-Roger Patterson (Atheist)
-Tony Choy (Atheist, Pestilence)
In my opinion these guys are absolutely stunning.
Cheers from Switzerland
Glenn my friend, I come asking your opinion for live tracking rather than the standard scratch tracking/individual performance route. Question is: do you think tracking the music together, but the vocals & overdubs after is the best route to take or should the vocals also be tracked during the live take for performance intensity continuity?
Recorded in several studios and never done live tracking and am sick of the “perfect take” mentality individual takes creates.
Much Chi-Town Love,
Aaron
Hey Glenn, what are your thoughts on 20 inch kick drums for metal. So far I have gotten a very good kick sound out of it with plenty of attack and low end, but I am worried that it might not get a very power full sound. I had thought about upgrading it, but since it would either take forever to find a finish matched 22in (the session custom line has been discontinued by Pearl) or get another custom one of the same quality which would cost me at least $1500 USD, do you think that my 20in can still be used for metal?
Cheers from Minnesota
Question : I'm recording my guitar (with humbuckers) through a a Radial PRO48 DI and Scarlett 6i6, using amp sims. But when recording in front of my computer, I have a lot of noise in my recordings that kill my sustain (if I sustain a note, it dies in horrible white noise instead of silence), a noise gate doesn't help. This doesn't happen if I'm 4 meters away from the computer, but it's more complicated to record.
I guess this is some electric interferences from the computer, screens or cables. You must have that issue in a studio with all that equipment. Is there something I can do ?
Hey, Glenn, I don't know if you saw my previous question on this, but I thought it was important enough to ask again. Could you give some pointers about strapping down or otherwise securing gear while travelling? I was in a car accident last December and was nearly scalped by a saxophone case I just had laying on the back seat (still recovering from that)
Cheers from Alberta.
Hey glenn! Whats your opinion on the bass mix of the Dum Spiro Spero album from Dir En Grey? I think toshiya's bass tone is something that ive never heard before. Cheers glenn!
Total bass player questions here. I own a solid state Trace Elliot bass head and due to living situation I can't run it loud through my 2x12 cab. Do I need to use a load box to use it?
Sorry for the stupid question, but I'm not too sure
Hey Glen, Have you had a chance to check out the Waves Abbey Road studios stuff and what you say about it/ what uses would you recommend for it? Just purchased the bundle on holiday discount for $200 so no going back m, but curious what you would have to say! Cheers, Conor
My suggestion for anyone mixing on headphones:
A-B. A-B. A-B.
Find an album with a mix you like, and then find a few more. Since the albums will more than likely be mastered, use an application that has its own volume (iTunes/Spotify) to get it to a similar volume as your mix.
Even if the guitar tone, drums, etc differ, you’re looking for how each instrument sits in the mix. It’ll still take some time to figure out how your headphones actually translate to other systems but this will generally get you much closer in the long run.
To the guy who was asking about using backing tracks, go and look at Abduction (UK) perform. He's one of the rapidly rising bands in the ukbm scene and he performs with his vocals, guitar and everything else on a backing track on his phone. There's a video of his performance at Bloodstock on his facebook page that's definitely worth checking out to see what one person can do on stage and people absolutely loved it. So yeah, stop worrying and in the immortal words of Shia Labeouf, JUST DO IT.
Drum head hole tip: Take an empty can of your desired diameter and heat it up on the stove. When it'll be hot enough to melt the mylar press it into the head (using oven mitts obviously!! Or ask the bass player to help you with that bit.) and it'll cut a neat circle!!
Greatly enjoy the long videos, sir.
Also, I'm a bedroom (well actually living room if you want to get technical) player and I live in an apartment. Is it worth picking up monitors to mix with in untreated room with a placement that isn't ideal?
Have you heard of waves nx? I think that paired with sonar works reference would be a viable solution to mix on headphones. Also, Although I Primarily use my monitors for mixing, I HEAVILY reference using both my in ears and my headphones, as without them my mixes would have tons of problems with the low end and sub frequencies.
Another great video Glen. I was wondering what's your, if any, opinion on the Peavey vypyr series of amps. I currently have the vypyr 2 and it's been treating me moderately well for a few years. Greetings from Detroit
speaking of monitors, Yamaha HS8s (like $300 a pair) are basically cheaper than Kali LP6s (goes up to $400 a pair) in Indonesia, thanks to this import tax lmao, can you recommend them?
I've never really had an issue with my iLok. Even when I was working on a laptop with very few USB ports, I just plugged in a hub, tucked everything behind the screen, and forgot about it until I needed to move it. And now that I have a big desktop with tons of ports, I just stick it in the back panel and haven't had to fuck with it in years, except when I pull the pc out for dusting and unplug everything. So I'm curious, what specifically is the frustration with iLok? Has it been lack of ports? Did it not work right? Is it the principle of having to plug in a separate dongle?
In my humble experience, the only people who've moaned to me about using iLok, are people who want to use cracked plugins, or who can't afford the plugins that usually require an iLok. I've never met a working professional who moaned about it.
I won't be so bold as to suggest that's always the case, I'm just reflecting my own experiences.
I have seen people get pissed off however, about needing a multitude of different dongles for different software, and wanting evrything to standardise on iLok, since it is generally the least bothersome
I paid heaps for software, then lost my ilok when I moved house. I know I put it in a "safe place" but that was years ago so its gone now. Not a great feeling!
Daniel Shepherd, hardly the fault of iLok. Get in touch with them and see if you can reinstate the licenses.
For a lot of people, it's the assumption that you don't own the thing you bought. It happens to gamers all the time. They buy a game with DRM, then a couple years later it doesn't work anymore because the suits at the game company decided their rights server is too expensive to run for the number of hits it's getting from Awesome Game 2008, so they just stop authenticating it. Or they decide that you can only install your copy of a game 3 times--ever. So after a few upgrades and reinstalls of Windows (very common on a gaming system), or even bugged game installs that have to be redone, your $60 game is unplayable. I have a game I can't play because it uses some DRM-CD-magic shit to authenticate the disc and Microsoft doesn't provide it anymore with Windows 10. Cause nobody uses CDs anymore, right? And nothing that ever came on CDs is worth using now that we have the cloud.
Locked plugins are subject to the goodwill of the publisher. If they decide you shouldn't use them anymore, or if they go out of business, you're SOL. (Kind of ironic, given Glenn's comments.) Hardware "plugins" are yours until you can't fix them anymore. dbx hasn't "revoked the licenses" of people using the discontinued 166 compressor, but if a plugin you like gets discontinued good luck keeping it working. I guess some people are uncomfortable with the real-world ownership of a piece of equipment being virtualized into the assurances in an EULA.
All this without any knowledge of how iLok actually works, or some kind of guaranteed third-party authentication in case of insolvency that is sometimes part of a license agreement, or anything like that. For all I know, the DAW plugin DRM experience is all lollipops and unicorns unless you're trying to steal them.
I totally agree Glenn. I just believe that because monitors are not cheap people dont use them because they can afford head phones. For myself I have bought 79.00 monitors just to have anything, but I have turn the bass boost off. I miss having my cheap 134.00 numarks that had a flat sound design.
I stand by my Beyerdynamic DT770 80 ohm headphones for mixing. I would still go to a studio with some good monitors for the final mix, but for recording demos, they're pretty flat.
19:10 I know a guy in the Cincinnati area who goes up on stage by himself and sings to backing tracks. Sometimes, he does a little bit of standup in between songs to keep the audience engaged. The Obnoxious Boot is what he calls his act and I love it. But yeah, go for it, dude. Could be a fun time.
Hey Glenn, you are my favorite Glenn in rock since Deep Purple Glenn Huges.
Question: Do you think that its possible to use a PC + interface running an amp simulation software as a pre-amp to play live? I would either plug the interface out to my amp effects return or send to the house PA, (if it has any). I would do this because my bass amp has very bad EQ and i don´t have money to get effect pedals (chorus, compressor...).
Thanks!
I'm new and dumb but one thing im learning about is that YES you can get a cheap "anything" IF you know what you are looking at. Like mics will give you diagrams of the frequencies they are strong and weak in. Or monitors the same thing. usually lower price lack the mids and lows. But there are some that actually hit 20 hz (Low Frequency) without a boost like a champ under $100. Learn frequencies and you can really learn to get your tracks to separate and sound so clear to each other. Been playing for over 30 years and less than 6 months into learning how to mix and master. So I am definitely no professional.....
Helping move helped me to become friends with my favorite band when I was living in Oakland - you speak the truth Glenn!
So I purchased the year long subscription to slate digital and I have the ilok, I got it working but in the latest update it says my stuff isn't activated and I'm not sure what to do, slate digital says ilok is no longer required but all that means to me is my Shit stopped working and I didn't get any email on how to fix it
I like seeing the clip of the burning Power Mac G4 followed immediately by the video of you in the studio with a Mac Pro under the desk.
Question for next viewers comments video: in order to learn to record guitars, plug-in drums and bass...what are the steps to learn to make a song and not fail horrendously in the try? For example, how I use a daw, how I choose one that is more convenient? etc
Yeah, I have half a dozen licensing managers on my desktop. Ilok is perhaps the most onerous of them all, mostly because of the number of options they need to support just because they've been around a while. Ilok's idiocy is part history, part greed, and bad human factors design but as you said, we make money off of music stuff so if the guys who make the stuff we use to make music can't pay their rent while making their stuff, then nobody can make any good stuff. Also, as far as headphone mixing, the SonarWorks plugin makes a huge difference in taking a cheaper set of headphones and getting them to be closer to a reference set of headphones. I haven't determined if cost of headphones + cost of plugin > cost of comparable flatter headphones, but one thing they have that I haven't tried is their service where you send your headphones to them, they test them, and then send you back plugin settings for your specific headphones. Anyway, it's definitely an improvement. Them plus the the NX Virtual Room is "almost a virtual monitor" but it just quite isn't there yet.
Hey Glenn, have you ever tried the Ulrich Wild sum-to-mono method with a bass drum or a snare?
Hey Glenn, have you ever done audio engineering for other media outlets such as video games, commercials, TV shows, or say short films? If so, how was that experience different from recording music (besides that fact that you don't have to deal with bass players)? If not, have you thought about testing the waters in that field? Thanks for the videos!
GLENN!!! (And everyone else)
There’s a band here in Florida (shatter glass) who’s drummer had a pretty nifty idea. He has a mic permanently mounted INSIDE the kick drum. With an XLR adaptor side mounted.
What are your thoughts on this?
Hey Glenn
I'm a guitarist I've been having the itch to start writing my own songs. Honestly I'd rather record acousticly so I was wondering what's a good mic I can use to record my amp? You have some pretty awesome and informative videos and fuck you.
Sony MDR-v6 have a surprisingly close-to-flat frequency response (at least compared to any of the other headphones I've used). They're not my favorite to listen to music on, but they've done pretty well for me for for amateur at-home-mixing. YMMV of course.
I shall ask again.
Since you're working with Waves, can you give your opinion on NX? It's one of those room simulation softwares for headphones, it's really cool.
Hey Glenn, a question that's been with me for a long while now is what your opinion is on multi-tracking vs. live tracking. My band and I have tried both methods of recording and we've figured that we can get our best sound by recording all together at the same time. What's your opinion on this and what is your preference? Is there one style that is better than the other?
As for the hole in the kick drum. This can be a huge debate. It really depends on the drum/size of the drum. I've heard plenty of cases where the "uncut" resonant kick drum head miked up sounded very slappy/clicky with tons of low end and life! There are so many variables to this one. To avoid arguments next time, BUY A HEAD WITH THE HOLE PRE CUT AND TRY BOTH :)
Yeah, but that would require the drummer spending money. Good luck with that!
ME LOVE YOU LONG TIME GLENN!!! Err.. I mean, fuck you Glenn! ;)
I bought a set of Mackie cr3s used for about $80. My biggest bitch is the frequency range is only like 70hz to 15khz but my mixes importantly improved. I'm in an untreated basement and the key is training your ears to your sound system IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT. Listen to some of your favorite songs on a regular basis through your setup in your room to get an idea of what you're dealing with
It's funny you mention Cliff Burton and Joey Vera... I've seen them both play live... on the same stage, at the same venue, on the same night (June 1,1986)... still have the t-shirts, too...
Looking to get my first set of studio monitors. I see some options from PreSonus that only cost slightly north of $100 for a pair. They are also only 3.5" speakers. Is this a good option for starting out, or is it worth it to save and invest in something a little nicer? What size speaker do you recommend? I pretty much only record drums and mix them to recorded songs for covers or just the drums themselves. Thanks!
To keep my recordings more "raw" is I treat my daw as simply a multi-track recorder as much as possible. Stay away from over processing and fixing in the digital realm as much as possible. Not to say I'm not using plug-ins and stuff for eq-ing and mixing, etc. But thinking of the DAW as a virtual 2in tape deck. If that makes sense.
Hey Glenn, I have a question about building a band. I was talking with one of my friends, and we got on the topic of having someone who works turntables and samples (like Sid Wilson from Slipknot, Joe Hahn from Linkin Park). I wanted to know what you thought of bands who have additional members outside of the traditional instruments (by this I mean extra percussion, turntables, etc.) Thanks so much!
I mixed on Headphones one time, sounded like crap when i played it back on my speakers. I have way better luck mixing it using my stereo. Thank you for all your help Glenn.
12:23 There was a period of time, probably over the span of about a year, in which I felt my bass foot seeming to become more and more out of time. I tried all sorts of lubrication on the pedal. It wasn't until I took it apart and took out all of the hair and junk that was in it and bam, instant timing improvement.
Thoughts on the new sonar works plugins that virtually acoustically treat a room. You could say. Also any thoughts on the beringer xr air 18 as a live mixer
Hey Glen! For recording guitars, how do you feel about Mesa Boogie's Celestion Dark Shadow? I believe it's a Celestion C90. It's in the Boogie combo Rectoverb 50. The guitarists sound is like a heavy as Kardashian's ass distortion with a style of playing akin to the Jimmy Hendrix Era.
I have 3 mesa amps with that speaker,it's an amazing speaker, I have the rectoverb 25 and it's a killer amp
what band and song is playing during the time around 21:00. I like it, that shit is bodacious. Should do like MTV use to and put the band name plus the song in the corner for the background music.
19:28 Putrid Pile and Insidious Discrepancy are great one-man stage bands too! And they are actually real metal examples...