kmsomethingmore
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New to this stuff!
Hi Everyone,
I hope you are all doing well.
I am writing to ask some suggestions you more experienced studio techs can likely help me with.
I know enough to be dangerous. That's about it. I have a "wee bit" of experience with Sonar 7 Pro, Audition 2.
I have just purchased some new equipment to get into recording, for a hobby, but I write so, I am going to work on a project of my own once I know how to run my new gear well enough. I have ordered an EMU 1616M Carbus for my laptop. AT4040 Condenser mic, with a monster cable for it. Sonar Producer 7. I did a lot of research before I bought. I think I'll have a decent start to this always changing to bigger and better equipment.
Anyway, what I am asking of you who read this, and care to share some useful advice for me, is what are the basic order of things one does when recording, mixing and mastering (in house)?
I plan to go track at a time. My style usually consists of drums, percussion of some kind, bass, piano and strings, acoustic guitar, lead vocals, and usually some basic harmonies to go along with in the right spots.
I will lay out here my plan along with some Q's as I go, and you can please offer me some tips as you see fit.
Per song:
1. Begin by laying down a drum track (that might change later) something I can play my guitar along with to get the timing right (so then the rythmn guitar track). I'd likely lay a bass track down around now also.
2. Then I might lay down my lead vocal. So now I have a foundation of drums, bass, guitar and lead vocal.
3. From here I can begin to add other lead instruments, harmony, etc.
Question: when do I start to work on the tracks themselves, things like compression, effects, EQ, etc? Wait till my tracks are all done (bare bones), or do some people like to begin mixing and EQing right away? Then add things as you go?
I just want to make sure I do the right order of steps so I don't get down the road too far, and need to back track, etc, or just all messed up and want to scrap the project.
I have thought of trying to burn a CD of all my bare bones recorded tracks (once they sound good of course with little mistakes in them) so I can draw from the original track if ever needed down the road in my mix. I assume in Sonar once I begin to add effects, etc, I lose my original recording? I want to have access to my tracks just in case I mess up big time.
Anyway, I could go on and on here, that's enough for now....
What do you thinks, what's working for you?!
Also, what good DVD's or books might be helpful to me at this stage?
Thanks for reading, and your time!
Kev
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yep
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RE: New to this stuff!
2007/11/11 23:05:47
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Studio recording is an enormous topic, and your questions are something akin to asking for step-by-step instructions to building a new theme park including rollercoaster design, safety regulations, concession needs, bathroom construction, and so on. It is not at all unusual that the level of expertise, skill, time and experience required to produce and/or engineer a hit song vastly exceeds that required to write and perform it these days, especially as the recording artists themselves are more and more likely to be further removed from any significant training in theory, arrangement, or composition. As a broad overview, some of the steps to producing a commercial record: 1. Pre-production, including song revision and rehearsals, and possibly outside assitance with creating more interesting arrangements or other song elements (often a MUCH bigger deal than many acts think, guided by an experienced producer who knows how to turn good songs into hits) 2. Tracking-- the band comes in to the studio and plays the songs. There are a million ways to do it, but one way to start is to have the whole band just play a rehearsal session to a click and use that as the foundational or "scratch track" that all the individual parts will be recorded to. 3. Overdubs-- again, often a much bigger deal than many acts expect it to be. This may involve outside musicians, string sections, horn players, or simply overdubs by the band members of multilayered parts. It is not at all unusual for some lessons to be involved. 4. Mixing-- a good mix engineer can make a HUGE difference. There is no short version. 5. Mastering-- do not do this yourself. For more info see here: http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=475013&mpage=1&key=Mixing That's about the size of it. Any of the topics could fill a thousand pages. The better you are at composition, arrangement, and performance, the closer you will be to being able to simply throw up a mic and record. Cheers.
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altima_boy_2001
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RE: New to this stuff!
2007/11/11 23:36:41
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ORIGINAL: kmsomethingmore
Per song:
1. Begin by laying down a drum track (that might change later) something I can play my guitar along with to get the timing right (so then the rythmn guitar track). I'd likely lay a bass track down around now also.
2. Then I might lay down my lead vocal. So now I have a foundation of drums, bass, guitar and lead vocal.
3. From here I can begin to add other lead instruments, harmony, etc.
Question: when do I start to work on the tracks themselves, things like compression, effects, EQ, etc? Wait till my tracks are all done (bare bones), or do some people like to begin mixing and EQing right away? Then add things as you go?
My general steps are: 1. Record or program drums 2. Record bass 3. Record guitar 4. Record synth and everything other instrument 5. Record main vox and then background vox This may give you a stiff or rigid result if you are programming all your drums. To counteract this, some people record a simple "sketch" of the song with just vocals and guitar or synth/piano, then program/record the drums to match it. Adding effects during the recording process is up to you. Some do and some don't. If you want to add effects and then go back and start from scratch it's pretty simple. Just re-save the project under a different name and delete all the effects. Then remix the project however you want. I tend to add some effects as I go and then do 2-3 remixes from scratch just to try different things. ORIGINAL: kmsomethingmore
I have thought of trying to burn a CD of all my bare bones recorded tracks (once they sound good of course with little mistakes in them) so I can draw from the original track if ever needed down the road in my mix. I assume in Sonar once I begin to add effects, etc, I lose my original recording? I want to have access to my tracks just in case I mess up big time.
Sonar is non-destructive unless you specifically choose to apply effects to the clip. 99% of the time you will bounce or export tracks to a new file to get the final results after applying effects and this leaves the original recordings alone. Backing up original tracks is a good idea though. ORIGINAL: kmsomethingmore
Also, what good DVD's or books might be helpful to me at this stage?
Do you live near a public/state university? They may have a ton of good books and videos dealing with recording and music instruction (the one I work for does). Most state citizens can usually get a card for free or a small processing fee.
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kwgm
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RE: New to this stuff!
2007/11/12 14:15:19
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Welcome. In this particular forum, a fellow poster, Yep, has written a half-dozen posts on specific subjects like EQ, Dynamics, Mixing, etc. They're jam packed with practical advice and you may find them quite useful. The web is full of stuff. The place I learned the most was via an online subscription to Sound On Sound (www.soundonsound.com), a recording journal from the UK, and imho, the best around. Their website has a collection of articles stretching back almost 20 years with info on just about anything you want to know. It's a magazine, and not a text book, so it will not go as deep as you may someday wish, but for an intro, it's great. Another place if your a raw noobie, is the Tweakheadz.com tutorial area. The URL is: http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm. Now, I don't agree with everything he says, and his website forum is full of desperate noobies who's write messages with subject lines like: "Emergency!!!" or "No sound from speakers?", so stay away unless you go in for that kind of drama, but look through the tutorials if you need to, as there's much to learn about basic MIDI, home recording, and the lot. If you can get past the bickering, the Sonar forum here is great for specific questions with Sonar, but we have our clueless noobies also, and we also attract some ill-mannered folk, so clarity and brevity is highly recommended (as well as a thick skin).
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Farmer Dave
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RE: New to this stuff!
2007/11/24 17:32:40
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Hello:
I am new to the forum. just wanted to check things out. I enjoyed your posts kmsomethingmore . I hope you got all the help you needed and your project is well on it's way since your original post. Keep on tracking
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contact@jondunn.org
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RE: New to this stuff!
2007/11/24 17:44:08
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"Question: when do I start to work on the tracks themselves, things like compression, effects, EQ, etc? Wait till my tracks are all done (bare bones), or do some people like to begin mixing and EQing right away? Then add things as you go?" --------------------------------------------------- YES WAIT until you have the all the tracks mixed, well at least, NEVER at the beginning of the process IMHO -JD
post edited by contact@jondunn.org - 2007/11/24 17:58:53
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contact@jondunn.org
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RE: New to this stuff!
2007/11/24 17:46:17
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ORIGINAL: yep
Studio recording is an enormous topic, and your questions are something akin to asking for step-by-step instructions to building a new theme park including rollercoaster design, safety regulations, concession needs, bathroom construction, and so on.
Cheers.
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC YEP YOU ARE MY PERSONAL HERO OF THE DAY 
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