Mixing/Mastering Advice

[Chang]

Hey guys, recently i've got the adobe auditionsoftware. Kinda playing around with it to master my recordings but i've some burning questions which i hope i can get answers from u guys.

1. I have a recording with everything recorded via one mike. The recording sound is pretty raw, and the drums/vocals are way louder than the guitars and bass. How do i approach editing this track? I mean what i would really like to learn is the order of laying the effects. Do i use compression over the entire track first? Or do i reduce the hiss first? Or do i use EQ to get the correct balance? Or do i apply reverb first?

2. When it comes to EQing, what does graph represent actually? Does it mean if i lower this particular point on the graph the volume of that frequency will be lowered? If thats the case, may i know which are the more "common" frequency ranges for bass and treble?

3. I read that by having a low pass filter at the 300hz, the vocals will be clearer. I tried and it kinda works, but it makes the track trebly and hissy. May i know the reason for that?

Umm i guess thats all for now. Hope i make sense to u guys. Thanks for helping!

 

[fibredrive]

u got yourself some very valid questions, which i believe the pros here can help you with. but if you got the time, hop on down to sospubs.co.uk to check out the articles there. very useful to me when i first staretd out. cheers

 

[seekz]

Well i can say that performances captured with one mic is pretty much gone case. However you can use a multi-band compressor to very minimally sort it out

But as to the usage of that kinda thing, i cannot really help you.

But i can tell you a few EQ stuff. at around 12k is where the cymbals get the sizzle. at around 80 hz is where the kick drum get the nice low end tail sound, and maybe from 150 to 250 is the "thud" of the kick

a snares crack can be emphasize or cut at around 500 to 900

Vocals can get a nice boost at 4k

But if everything comes from one mic, boosting 4k might drive the guitar sounds abit, so. Shrugs nothing much you can do.

 

[Vanderlow]

hey dude, coupla things..

1. never tried Adobe Audition before..

2. it would appear u only have 1 mic in your arsenal
(thats 1 mic more than me!)

Checked out the overview for Audition and they obviously support multitrack mixing. So.. perhaps u wanna try re-recording everything but in sections:

drums 1st on one track, followed by bass, rhythm, lead, vox etc.. in no particular order on seperate tracks. A bit more tedious, just use your current mix for the individual musicians to use as a guide track, but at least u'll have better control over the eq and levels.

Just my 2 cents. Cheers!

 

[bernardgoh]

the best EQ is from your mic. chose the mic that is suitable for your recording. :lol:

 

[Cheez]

the best EQ is from your mic. chose the mic that is suitable for your recording. :lol:

Absolutely agree. What is recorded raw is the most important. Actually, EQing should be kept to the minimal during mixdown. What is not there during the recording is simply not there - period.

 

[Chang]

Erhmm the way my band records is that we do use alot of mics, we mic up each amp, then send the signals to a karaoke system, which then lines out to a speaker. Then we mic the speaker and record tt mic. Reason being, we cannot afford a mixer. Secondly we arent sure if the signal out of the karaoke system can be sent to the computer. Kinda afraid tt it will blow up the soundcard.

Seriously speaking i'm still very new to home recording, so any tips and advice would be appreciated.

And umm back to the topic....i'm more interested to noe the procedures to edit the tracks. Like which comes first. I mean theres a million things u can do to the track...so which is the one that is usually done first, and which is usually left to the last.

 

[bernardgoh]

Hi, i really think if you're recording drum at home. go for midi programming or do sampling. use a software that you're comfortable on. what you need to record at home is just something like a song arrangement and stuff like that. to record a good drum sound at home in singapore is almost impossible unless you got a very big room, good mics, good pres, good drumset and ofcause good drummers. once you have all the hardware elements, you need vibes and the mood. just my 2 cents worth of comment.