good show!
I listened last night at work, so I'm trying to do this from memory.
This weeks discussions and "stuff"
Making home music videos
Cutting out all light to control the light seems to me to be analogous to cutting out the room for a mic to control the sound into it.
We need inspiration
sometimes you just need to sit down and do it (Dave) & sometimes you just need to go do other things (Tony).
Getting the Pro Sound
I was listening back to the newer mixes and the vocals just weren't there like before, just as tony mentioned.
what I really like about the new versions is the snare, but I think that's just a matter of no compression and using a smaller room reverb.
I was using Kjaerhaus' 'Church' and switched to 'Small Club', so I will probably go with one of the previous mixes and just change the snare.
my main frustration is that I feel like I have all the tools I need to make it sound 'Pro', some diagrams to get up and running, but no clear explanation on how to use them properly because the instructions are written in a foreign language.
I always feel I'm just missing a couple of things that will make it all fall into place. Like I'm really close, but take 2 steps forward and one step back or vice versa.
I think I'm probably going to just go with Tony's suggestion of trying a mastering studio to get it to the final stage. I found a guy that actually consults on a tiered basis.
I'm going to have my bass set up professionally, since that is one of my biggest issues. The previous bass had a better sound than the current one, so I'm taking the current back to the same guy when i get a chance.
The other issue is vocals. I switched mics and saw an immediate improvement, but the new mic seems to accentuate a problem in my voice and it also sounds a bit thin.
I picked up a Studio Projects B1 and an Audio Technica AT2020 today along with some Auralex Mopads. I went in thinking I would buy one of those and the MXL V67g that gets really good reviews and is on sale at Samash for $80. The sales guy let try them out briefly and I liked the fullness from the SP and the AT better. I will be testing them at home tomorrow.
I actually went in to get one of the Auralex room treatment kits with the LERND bass traps, but both GC and Samash were out of them. When I did the walk-up tests I got from somewhere, I found I had huge jumps in the 140-200Hz range. I'm thinking that hurting my ability to mix the bass properly. I'll start with the MoPads and go from there.
Tape Saturation
neither of the two I tried got me excited, so not worth the management of them to me.
Does listening to commercial songs help or hinder ?
It supposed to help, but think only works if you're getting a decent recording in the first place, I don't think I am, so it just adds to the frustration.
Songs:
Andrew Spicer - Artificial Love
- I liked Andrew Spicer's video, I thought his use o the light bulb as both the light source and a fake microphone was inspired.
Grandma Melonhead - Maisy
- sorry, but the little kid saying 'this is boring' was my favorite part.
Steven "Kern" Ramsdell - Kicking It Forever
swear I heard this or something like it before, somewhere, in summertime. (irrelevant joke).
Thanks for the show!