Al Schmitt is a legend to be sure. That said, with regard to TOTO IV, he didn't mix that album. He tracked all the best songs on that album, and probably never used EQ or compression during the recording. The mix was done by a different engineer.
Hi Barry, I have no idea who you are but you can't be all bad living in Orlando, my hometown LOL. This video really hit home with me because I have been a musician forever and played all the hotels and major restaurants in Orlando in the 70's. Even recorded records at Bee Jay. I have been trying to learn how to make great recordings all my life. For that matter, I have tried to make a great live performing sound all my life. It took me a long time to realize exactly what you are saying in this video. I mixed everything the way I thought the voices and instruments should sound, but paid no attention to what they should sound like mixed. ( Am I making sense?? ). Finally understanding EQ, space in the mix and compression have put me in the right direction. I have a long way to go but everything seems to be getting better and shooting for a "better" tone on my tracks made a huge difference. Enjoy your content and channel. Thanks !
I love Orlando! Thank you so much for your comments and I find it encouraging that you can relate to the message I was trying to get across. It’s one of those things that once the light bulb goes on, it’s like, ok now I get it, now my mixes will start to sound better. It’s like the foundation, then there more to learn, but you can’t build a house without a solid foundation. Hope that makes sense. I promise to do the best I can to help people where I can. I don’t know everything, but like many what I’ve leaned was by making mistakes, I hope to help people avoid those mistakes if I can.
a good trick when you get a session where all the tracks are too bassy or have a consistent issue across the whole session is to put an eq on the master bus right at the start get a balance happening and do the eq correction for all of the tracks at once on the master bus.
I’m glad I found your channel. I’m learning a lot and been working on recording, mixing, and mastering for a year now. It’s amazing that stuff I thought sounded good then is crazy now. I also learned I have a habit of moving around a lot when I’m playing smh lol. I’m learning though!!
I totally agree about peoples comments. Be constructive or just don't comment. Now different perspectives are good but some just feel the need to be outright obnoxious.
All you said makes sense, Al Schmitt and the other Bob Clearmountain's, just about #ProduceLikeAPro #PLAP "spoiler alert" there are tracks where are problems implemented into them. These are made for the pro academy, if you can afford it, don't hesitate. About recording, a common fault is, the canvas from a speaker cabinet, hits the mic, which gives clicks, on guitar and bass even the bass drum. Mic placing on an acoustic guitar, pointing to the fretboard instead of the hole. There are a thousand things that can go wrong, you learn it the hard way. Because studio time is not cheap. One thing is my philosophy, use your faders, on your desk or your DAW and bring in plugins if you hear problems in the mix, like phase, and mix with your ears, not with your eyes. On about 70 tracks I use max 10 plugins, and balancing the mix. But like I said, it's a challenge and you learn it the hard way. But it's fun. And addicted hehe.
Yes, you are correct. And yes, I have been “that guy.” I let a guitarist record strumming parts using the neck pickup on a LP: he chose it because it said “rhythm.” The resulting blob of bass was pretty much impossible to eq. I learned not to be so polite and deferential, too.
There are way too many mixing videos and no tracking videos. I wanted a Fostex 4-track cassette recorder when I was younger. Now, that I want to take a crack at this recording thing, my shopping list is up to $5K.
I took a listen to Toto IV ... I feel like it needed some de'essing on the vocals :-) but for sure, it's top notch recording. One thing I do take pride in is being able to help raise the quality of less than perfect recordings to something that sounds as good as possible. Especially over the past year where to make music it was necessary to use whatever mics and equipment happened to be at the artists disposal. Generally agree that it's so much better to have clean recordings to work from. Appreciate your rants and thanks for the book recommendation!
Exactly what I was going to say… an honest mistake, and frankly anyone would be dumbfounded laboring under the illusion that album was done without typical heavy eq and processing so who can blame him? 😂 There are of course, a TON of fantastic examples of Al’s pure approach… Diana Krall etc. and the other points made here all still hold up.
I don't have a lot of experience with recording stuff. Most of my work is done with pre-recorded samples or VST Instruments. And most of my mixing experience is stuff I didn't personally record. But I'm starting to write and record my own vocals and I have some super decent gear (Warm Audio) I'm only one song deep but man is it ever a whole new world of "production" and creativity. I noticed my first recordings were "full" like you mentioned So by default I had to subtract...are you saying there's something wrong with that? Super new to recording...previous experience seemed like a lifetime ago and i just "winged it"
There are no rules when it comes to either adding EQ or subtracting EQ. The most important thing is when you capture the source, you try to capture it in a way that requires as little EQ as possible.
@@BarryJohns Right. I had enough awareness to back up off it so there was no proximity effect it yielded a cleaner and crisper tone. Appreciate your vids thanks for replying. Have a great day!
Christian, help me understand where that comment is coming from? There’s no music of any kind in this video. If you’re referring to my reference to my friends tracking session, I can assure you there was no polishing the turd.
Try being a mom guitarist and trying to get the correct time from a virtual guitar. I was losing my mind today trying to get the right time and to seat it correctly in the track. Long story short I give my self a D minus as a grade.
99% of producers love using EQ and compression because they want to put their finger print on the recordings and want to feel like they are needed more than they are. I am an audio engineer and producer and I refuse to use EQ and will not use any compression on my next session. If you need to EQ and compress, then you are not using the correct microphones and placements.
W.W.A.D.? is a mantra I hear a lot of people say now in the biz. Great video and my dad would be honored!
Hey Barry, I just realized you're in Orlando... I'm in Orlando as well. Very cool. small world
Al Schmitt is a legend to be sure. That said, with regard to TOTO IV, he didn't mix that album. He tracked all the best songs on that album, and probably never used EQ or compression during the recording. The mix was done by a different engineer.
Good talk!
Hi Barry, I have no idea who you are but you can't be all bad living in Orlando, my hometown LOL. This video really hit home with me because I have been a musician forever and played all the hotels and major restaurants in Orlando in the 70's. Even recorded records at Bee Jay. I have been trying to learn how to make great recordings all my life. For that matter, I have tried to make a great live performing sound all my life. It took me a long time to realize exactly what you are saying in this video. I mixed everything the way I thought the voices and instruments should sound, but paid no attention to what they should sound like mixed. ( Am I making sense?? ). Finally understanding EQ, space in the mix and compression have put me in the right direction. I have a long way to go but everything seems to be getting better and shooting for a "better" tone on my tracks made a huge difference. Enjoy your content and channel. Thanks !
I love Orlando! Thank you so much for your comments and I find it encouraging that you can relate to the message I was trying to get across. It’s one of those things that once the light bulb goes on, it’s like, ok now I get it, now my mixes will start to sound better. It’s like the foundation, then there more to learn, but you can’t build a house without a solid foundation. Hope that makes sense. I promise to do the best I can to help people where I can. I don’t know everything, but like many what I’ve leaned was by making mistakes, I hope to help people avoid those mistakes if I can.
what a great piece of content, thank you man!
I love Al
a good trick when you get a session where all the tracks are too bassy or have a consistent issue across the whole session is to put an eq on the master bus right at the start get a balance happening and do the eq correction for all of the tracks at once on the master bus.
I’m glad I found your channel. I’m learning a lot and been working on recording, mixing, and mastering for a year now. It’s amazing that stuff I thought sounded good then is crazy now. I also learned I have a habit of moving around a lot when I’m playing smh lol. I’m learning though!!
Keep it up man, always strive to get better and better. There are so many resources like RUclips that I never had, soak it all in!
I totally agree about peoples comments. Be constructive or just don't comment. Now different perspectives are good but some just feel the need to be outright obnoxious.
All you said makes sense, Al Schmitt and the other Bob Clearmountain's, just about #ProduceLikeAPro #PLAP "spoiler alert" there are tracks where are problems implemented into them. These are made for the pro academy, if you can afford it, don't hesitate. About recording, a common fault is, the canvas from a speaker cabinet, hits the mic, which gives clicks, on guitar and bass even the bass drum. Mic placing on an acoustic guitar, pointing to the fretboard instead of the hole. There are a thousand things that can go wrong, you learn it the hard way. Because studio time is not cheap. One thing is my philosophy, use your faders, on your desk or your DAW and bring in plugins if you hear problems in the mix, like phase, and mix with your ears, not with your eyes. On about 70 tracks I use max 10 plugins, and balancing the mix. But like I said, it's a challenge and you learn it the hard way. But it's fun. And addicted hehe.
Yes, you are correct. And yes, I have been “that guy.” I let a guitarist record strumming parts using the neck pickup on a LP: he chose it because it said “rhythm.” The resulting blob of bass was pretty much impossible to eq. I learned not to be so polite and deferential, too.
Love that you reviewed this book, liked and subbed!
There are way too many mixing videos and no tracking videos. I wanted a Fostex 4-track cassette recorder when I was younger. Now, that I want to take a crack at this recording thing, my shopping list is up to $5K.
Thanks for being truthful dude!!
Nothing but truth here. I was fortunate enough to shake the hand (on a few occasions) of the Great Al Schmitt.
I am very jealous, what a great audio engineer amd mixer….thanks for watching!
I took a listen to Toto IV ... I feel like it needed some de'essing on the vocals :-) but for sure, it's top notch recording. One thing I do take pride in is being able to help raise the quality of less than perfect recordings to something that sounds as good as possible. Especially over the past year where to make music it was necessary to use whatever mics and equipment happened to be at the artists disposal. Generally agree that it's so much better to have clean recordings to work from. Appreciate your rants and thanks for the book recommendation!
I’m sure your love the book, for guys like us it’s really cool! Thanks for watching man I really appreciate it!
Don't forget the CLA technique where he IS boosting 15dB @8k on a snare. That's life-changing \m/
also Toto IV was mixed by Greg Ladanyi. def eq and compression on the mix though Al wouldn't have used it tracking it.
Exactly what I was going to say… an honest mistake, and frankly anyone would be dumbfounded laboring under the illusion that album was done without typical heavy eq and processing so who can blame him? 😂
There are of course, a TON of fantastic examples of Al’s pure approach… Diana Krall etc. and the other points made here all still hold up.
Enjoyed the video!
Thanks!!!
I’m in Indiana and been in the studio biz 30 years. Semi retired now
Barry you are in Orlando? We should hang out one time!
Yep, I’m here!
I don't have a lot of experience with recording stuff. Most of my work is done with pre-recorded samples or VST Instruments. And most of my mixing experience is stuff I didn't personally record. But I'm starting to write and record my own vocals and I have some super decent gear (Warm Audio) I'm only one song deep but man is it ever a whole new world of "production" and creativity. I noticed my first recordings were "full" like you mentioned So by default I had to subtract...are you saying there's something wrong with that? Super new to recording...previous experience seemed like a lifetime ago and i just "winged it"
There are no rules when it comes to either adding EQ or subtracting EQ. The most important thing is when you capture the source, you try to capture it in a way that requires as little EQ as possible.
@@BarryJohns Right. I had enough awareness to back up off it so there was no proximity effect it yielded a cleaner and crisper tone. Appreciate your vids thanks for replying. Have a great day!
I need this guys number. I need some unusable drums
Christian, help me understand where that comment is coming from? There’s no music of any kind in this video. If you’re referring to my reference to my friends tracking session, I can assure you there was no polishing the turd.
Try being a mom guitarist and trying to get the correct time from a virtual guitar. I was losing my mind today trying to get the right time and to seat it correctly in the track. Long story short I give my self a D minus as a grade.
99% of producers love using EQ and compression because they want to put their finger print on the recordings and want to feel like they are needed more than they are. I am an audio engineer and producer and I refuse to use EQ and will not use any compression on my next session. If you need to EQ and compress, then you are not using the correct microphones and placements.