Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
I completely agree that sweetwater is the way to go. Call them at the number below and speak to one of their sales engineers: either Mark Stein or Michael Soper, they will treat you nice and spend the time to discuss any of your questions in detail. SweetWater offers free tech support for any item you buy through them, no limits. I got a PT 9 CrossGrade from them and if I have any problems with PT, I call SweetWater, not Avid. But as is there admonition, their job will not be to offer training, but merely to help you address technical problems. It's my understanding that they have some pretty flexible financing options. ...might want to check it out. SweetWater 1-800-222-4700 Best, -Abdul On 7 Oct 2011, at 06:41, Christopher-Mark Gilland wrote: Excellent! I will take this other board back and ask them for my money back, then once the funds get back on my card will go through sweet water. Is there a dash in that u r l or just sweetwater.com Chris. - Original Message - From: Stephen Martin monkeypushe...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 9:37 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! The M=-Audio Fast track, and the Tascam US-122mkII are the to that were recommended I like the tascam stuff for a few reasons, the main one being that after installing the drivers you don't have to worry about loading its control panel software, it can be pretty much controlled in your recording software. As for getting fimiliar with things i buy online. Most if not everything has a PDF manual available online. I send it to a sighted friend and have them use it to go over the layout of the unit with me Evey manual has in it a picture of the item with a clear label and description pointing to each kfnob, button and jack on it. Another trick, if you have an iPhone, Android, or other modern smart phone with a good camera, call a friend on skype from the phone and hold the phone up to the device and have them tell you what each thing is. You could most likely get away with this using the the camera on the macbook as well, but i suggested a phone first since it's a little easier to hold over what you may want them to see.Back to the interfaces, both the mentioned interfaces gets u two ins, two outs and a midi in and out and headphones jack. The knobs are basically the gain for the individual inputs, the master and headphone volume, and on the tascam a knob to set the mix between whats coming in through the inputs, and whats coming back from the recording software. Simple basic and great to learn on to help u get decent recordings. On Oct 6, 2011, at 3:33 PM, Christopher-Mark Gilland wrote: My only concern with having a board shipped to me is now I got the board, but I don't know what the different jacks on it are, what the buttons are, what the different dials are, etc. I need someone who can go through the board with me, one on one, and as I am moving my hand around the board, can identify for me what the things are I'm feeling. Not just based on opinion of, it's a good easy board/surface, but also based on the problems I am having, which model from M-Audio or Tascam specifically would you advise I ask for? Remember, I ony have about $320 to work with provided Sam Ash reverses all the funds totally back to my card... which... they better! Chris. - Original Message - From: Monkey Pusher monkeypushe...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 1:44 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! I gotta agree with kevin here, Sonar and Pro tools are both capable of makeing commercials releases and come with great stock plug ins. Yeah they aren't the greatest in the world, but i have heard pro quality stuff done with just the built in plug ins in both. The trick is like its already been said learn the hell ou out of them, put the time in and get better at everything from how u record the source material to what u do with it once its in PT and recorded. Start by getting the best possible sound u can into pro tools, don't think you can fix it later as that will only lead to way more work, and chances are dissappointment. As they say, garbage in, garbage out, and you can't polish a turd. Oh and i was considering the Allen heath board you got at one point as well. Here are the reasons i didn't go with it. A) the USB out on that board only records the main s stereo outs, you can not send all 10 or however channels on that board to individual channels in Pro Tools. B) it does not work as a control surface. I highly recommend you return that board and get one of the simpler interfaces we recommended. It's simple and will help you learn the basics of getting a source from a mic into protools and sounding good. If sam ash wont sell you w one take your business elsewhere, I know for a fact that sam
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
Regardless, I think you need to stop asking every question that comes to mind on this list, and save the PT and Voice Over specific ones ffor here, because you are a beginner like many on this list, and there are plenty of other sources online where you can ask those questions, research that material etc rather than wasting the time of the experts on thie list, who are often far too hepful for their own good. Perhaps you should join an online home recording oriented forum or something of the sort to give you another source of knowledge. This list is an invaluable resource for experienced engineers making the switch over to ProTools, so please try to keep the non protools related questions to a minimum, so that when searching back through the archives the list is not clogged with irrelevant information. -- Of course, we will all from time to time ask questions and make mistakes which we think is a software problem and is in fact a lack of basic technical knowledge or a slip up. For example, as Kevin said, your understanding of recording something flat. Your mixers EQ can boost or cut frequencies, when at twelve o'clock it is flat or neutral, meaning it is ideally not effecting the signal at all. This is the norm for approaches to digital recording as you record the cleanest and best signal possible and later in the software you can make all the changes you want. So you see, it sounds like you had a basic lack of understanding about your mixer and what a basic EQ does rather than anything to do with proTools, which is fine, but these are things we all have to learn on triall and error. If you keep asking basic recording questions, then people might start ignoring your contributions on this list as many see it as a mis-use of the list, so you'll hamper your own efforts in that way. Its not easy having to learn these things differently to the average engineer, but you can learn so much theory online and most of all, with patience you can figure most of this stuff on your own the good old fassioned way through triall and error. Nobody can learn t his for you and you shouldn't need other people to be part of your triall and error process 90% of the time. I'll leave it at that as I'm not even a regular on this list and am simply observing to learn for a future move over to ProTools. Best of luck and I hope the learning goes well for you, Be patient, Regards, Brian. From: Christopher-Mark Gilland clgillan...@gmail.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 8:50 PM To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Brian, I have to completely disagree with you. I think this has all and everything to do with PT. When I record in say, Sonar, my recordings are not mainstream quality, no, but they're way cleaner. Maybe part of it is I don't exactly know how to mix, but I think all of it plays hand in hand. Fine, if you think, and I know you meant this in, and I quote: good spirit... that this has not much to do with PT accessibility, then let's dial it back home. As I said initially, what in PT could I do and what with VO is the best way to do so, to fix this clipping issue/mud issue? I'm sorry that you and others are so... good... and no everything. I can't help I'm starting out. For me reading a manual, just doesn't work! With my learning challengement, it makes things very difficult. I don't very easily comprehend what I read. This is why I need someone like you all who can make a few suggestions, let me try 'em, and see if they make things better or worse, then plan accordingly for the next step of action. I'm sorry I'm so stupid at all this stuff, but if I didn't wanna learn I wouldn't be here. Your suggestion to google was an excellent one, and believe me I have, but I'm getting absolutely nowhere, either the articles are completely irrellavant, or are thigns I already have tried taking into consideration, or they're the obvious things more for a basic person who just wants to say... voice chat with a 5 dollar pc mike and wonders why they're getting clipping. Gee, $5! Hmm, I wonder! Point is, telling peole to go google, or to RTFM, etc. though that might be a good idea eventually, maybe not right at first when you're starting and need to learn the fundimentals. If you still disagree, then I'll respectfully leave you alone, and agree to disagree, but maybe perhaps, someone should then make a list that strictly doesn't cover software, but more hardware, and more the concepts of audio production. Then everyone could join and post there, causing more e-mail conjestion, rather than consolidating to one list, and people like you who don't see the rellavance wouldn't have to worry about getting bombarded as you seem to be remotely implying. I'm a newby, so I'm gonna have a lot of questions, a lot of which may have to do with how to set things up to work
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
Yeah, i have dealt with Michael Soper myself as well in the past, nice guy. And yes its just www.sweetwater.com. I see someone posted the number for you as well. On 10/7/11, Brian Casey brian_w_ca...@hotmail.com wrote: Regardless, I think you need to stop asking every question that comes to mind on this list, and save the PT and Voice Over specific ones ffor here, because you are a beginner like many on this list, and there are plenty of other sources online where you can ask those questions, research that material etc rather than wasting the time of the experts on thie list, who are often far too hepful for their own good. Perhaps you should join an online home recording oriented forum or something of the sort to give you another source of knowledge. This list is an invaluable resource for experienced engineers making the switch over to ProTools, so please try to keep the non protools related questions to a minimum, so that when searching back through the archives the list is not clogged with irrelevant information. -- Of course, we will all from time to time ask questions and make mistakes which we think is a software problem and is in fact a lack of basic technical knowledge or a slip up. For example, as Kevin said, your understanding of recording something flat. Your mixers EQ can boost or cut frequencies, when at twelve o'clock it is flat or neutral, meaning it is ideally not effecting the signal at all. This is the norm for approaches to digital recording as you record the cleanest and best signal possible and later in the software you can make all the changes you want. So you see, it sounds like you had a basic lack of understanding about your mixer and what a basic EQ does rather than anything to do with proTools, which is fine, but these are things we all have to learn on triall and error. If you keep asking basic recording questions, then people might start ignoring your contributions on this list as many see it as a mis-use of the list, so you'll hamper your own efforts in that way. Its not easy having to learn these things differently to the average engineer, but you can learn so much theory online and most of all, with patience you can figure most of this stuff on your own the good old fassioned way through triall and error. Nobody can learn t his for you and you shouldn't need other people to be part of your triall and error process 90% of the time. I'll leave it at that as I'm not even a regular on this list and am simply observing to learn for a future move over to ProTools. Best of luck and I hope the learning goes well for you, Be patient, Regards, Brian. From: Christopher-Mark Gilland clgillan...@gmail.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 8:50 PM To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Brian, I have to completely disagree with you. I think this has all and everything to do with PT. When I record in say, Sonar, my recordings are not mainstream quality, no, but they're way cleaner. Maybe part of it is I don't exactly know how to mix, but I think all of it plays hand in hand. Fine, if you think, and I know you meant this in, and I quote: good spirit... that this has not much to do with PT accessibility, then let's dial it back home. As I said initially, what in PT could I do and what with VO is the best way to do so, to fix this clipping issue/mud issue? I'm sorry that you and others are so... good... and no everything. I can't help I'm starting out. For me reading a manual, just doesn't work! With my learning challengement, it makes things very difficult. I don't very easily comprehend what I read. This is why I need someone like you all who can make a few suggestions, let me try 'em, and see if they make things better or worse, then plan accordingly for the next step of action. I'm sorry I'm so stupid at all this stuff, but if I didn't wanna learn I wouldn't be here. Your suggestion to google was an excellent one, and believe me I have, but I'm getting absolutely nowhere, either the articles are completely irrellavant, or are thigns I already have tried taking into consideration, or they're the obvious things more for a basic person who just wants to say... voice chat with a 5 dollar pc mike and wonders why they're getting clipping. Gee, $5! Hmm, I wonder! Point is, telling peole to go google, or to RTFM, etc. though that might be a good idea eventually, maybe not right at first when you're starting and need to learn the fundimentals. If you still disagree, then I'll respectfully leave you alone, and agree to disagree, but maybe perhaps, someone should then make a list that strictly doesn't cover software, but more hardware, and more the concepts of audio production. Then everyone could join and post there, causing more e-mail conjestion, rather than consolidating to one list, and people like you
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
Awesome! Good good good. I got them in my IPhone. My godfather's taking me first thing tomorrow bright and early up to Sam Ash to turn that Alan Heath back in. I'll just have 'em reverse the funds to my card. Once they post back on my card, I'll be giving sweet water a call and asking about either the Tascam or the M-Audio. Ming while, I do! have a quick question for yall: I've never heard of SW until you all mentioned them, but I hear they're fairly decently known. SWo, what is their specialty? I mean, in other words, do they only basically do audio gear, or is it computer stuff in general, plus audio gear, or what? What is they're web site U R L, would like to look 'em up. Chris. - Original Message - From: Abdul D Kamara abduldkam...@googlemail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Friday, October 07, 2011 4:39 AM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! I completely agree that sweetwater is the way to go. Call them at the number below and speak to one of their sales engineers: either Mark Stein or Michael Soper, they will treat you nice and spend the time to discuss any of your questions in detail. SweetWater offers free tech support for any item you buy through them, no limits. I got a PT 9 CrossGrade from them and if I have any problems with PT, I call SweetWater, not Avid. But as is there admonition, their job will not be to offer training, but merely to help you address technical problems. It's my understanding that they have some pretty flexible financing options. ...might want to check it out. SweetWater 1-800-222-4700 Best, -Abdul On 7 Oct 2011, at 06:41, Christopher-Mark Gilland wrote: Excellent! I will take this other board back and ask them for my money back, then once the funds get back on my card will go through sweet water. Is there a dash in that u r l or just sweetwater.com Chris. - Original Message - From: Stephen Martin monkeypushe...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 9:37 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! The M=-Audio Fast track, and the Tascam US-122mkII are the to that were recommended I like the tascam stuff for a few reasons, the main one being that after installing the drivers you don't have to worry about loading its control panel software, it can be pretty much controlled in your recording software. As for getting fimiliar with things i buy online. Most if not everything has a PDF manual available online. I send it to a sighted friend and have them use it to go over the layout of the unit with me Evey manual has in it a picture of the item with a clear label and description pointing to each kfnob, button and jack on it. Another trick, if you have an iPhone, Android, or other modern smart phone with a good camera, call a friend on skype from the phone and hold the phone up to the device and have them tell you what each thing is. You could most likely get away with this using the the camera on the macbook as well, but i suggested a phone first since it's a little easier to hold over what you may want them to see.Back to the interfaces, both the mentioned interfaces gets u two ins, two outs and a midi in and out and headphones jack. The knobs are basically the gain for the individual inputs, the master and headphone volume, and on the tascam a knob to set the mix between whats coming in through the inputs, and whats coming back from the recording software. Simple basic and great to learn on to help u get decent recordings. On Oct 6, 2011, at 3:33 PM, Christopher-Mark Gilland wrote: My only concern with having a board shipped to me is now I got the board, but I don't know what the different jacks on it are, what the buttons are, what the different dials are, etc. I need someone who can go through the board with me, one on one, and as I am moving my hand around the board, can identify for me what the things are I'm feeling. Not just based on opinion of, it's a good easy board/surface, but also based on the problems I am having, which model from M-Audio or Tascam specifically would you advise I ask for? Remember, I ony have about $320 to work with provided Sam Ash reverses all the funds totally back to my card... which... they better! Chris. - Original Message - From: Monkey Pusher monkeypushe...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 1:44 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! I gotta agree with kevin here, Sonar and Pro tools are both capable of makeing commercials releases and come with great stock plug ins. Yeah they aren't the greatest in the world, but i have heard pro quality stuff done with just the built in plug ins in both. The trick is like its already been said learn the hell ou out of them, put the time in and get better at everything from how u record the source material to what u do with it once its in PT and recorded. Start by getting
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
Look for a forum app for your iPhone. I can't remember what it's called, but it's an accessible rapper for browsing forums. Go to midimag.org and subscribe be to the list. That's probably the furthest you'll need to go as those guys will definitely answer your questions. Kevin On Oct 7, 2011, at 8:32 PM, Christopher-Mark Gilland wrote: Brian, I think what you said was very well thought out, and you do have a lot of very valid points. Your last e-mail was quite harsh and almost taken a bit rudely, but, having said that, I do see, in your defense, where you were, and still are, going with this. That's not actually half a bad idea to join a forum. I just wonder how well forums work with Voiceover. I know this isn't the list for that so I'm not even gonna start on that topic, don't fret, but we'll just have to see. Are there any particular ones you'd suggest, or would it be more a matter of me just googling for one. Either way, I'm willing, and have nothing to lose. Chris. - Original Message - From: Brian Casey brian_w_ca...@hotmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Friday, October 07, 2011 8:53 AM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Regardless, I think you need to stop asking every question that comes to mind on this list, and save the PT and Voice Over specific ones ffor here, because you are a beginner like many on this list, and there are plenty of other sources online where you can ask those questions, research that material etc rather than wasting the time of the experts on thie list, who are often far too hepful for their own good. Perhaps you should join an online home recording oriented forum or something of the sort to give you another source of knowledge. This list is an invaluable resource for experienced engineers making the switch over to ProTools, so please try to keep the non protools related questions to a minimum, so that when searching back through the archives the list is not clogged with irrelevant information. -- Of course, we will all from time to time ask questions and make mistakes which we think is a software problem and is in fact a lack of basic technical knowledge or a slip up. For example, as Kevin said, your understanding of recording something flat. Your mixers EQ can boost or cut frequencies, when at twelve o'clock it is flat or neutral, meaning it is ideally not effecting the signal at all. This is the norm for approaches to digital recording as you record the cleanest and best signal possible and later in the software you can make all the changes you want. So you see, it sounds like you had a basic lack of understanding about your mixer and what a basic EQ does rather than anything to do with proTools, which is fine, but these are things we all have to learn on triall and error. If you keep asking basic recording questions, then people might start ignoring your contributions on this list as many see it as a mis-use of the list, so you'll hamper your own efforts in that way. Its not easy having to learn these things differently to the average engineer, but you can learn so much theory online and most of all, with patience you can figure most of this stuff on your own the good old fassioned way through triall and error. Nobody can learn t his for you and you shouldn't need other people to be part of your triall and error process 90% of the time. I'll leave it at that as I'm not even a regular on this list and am simply observing to learn for a future move over to ProTools. Best of luck and I hope the learning goes well for you, Be patient, Regards, Brian. From: Christopher-Mark Gilland clgillan...@gmail.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 8:50 PM To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Brian, I have to completely disagree with you. I think this has all and everything to do with PT. When I record in say, Sonar, my recordings are not mainstream quality, no, but they're way cleaner. Maybe part of it is I don't exactly know how to mix, but I think all of it plays hand in hand. Fine, if you think, and I know you meant this in, and I quote: good spirit... that this has not much to do with PT accessibility, then let's dial it back home. As I said initially, what in PT could I do and what with VO is the best way to do so, to fix this clipping issue/mud issue? I'm sorry that you and others are so... good... and no everything. I can't help I'm starting out. For me reading a manual, just doesn't work! With my learning challengement, it makes things very difficult. I don't very easily comprehend what I read. This is why I need someone like you all who can make a few suggestions, let me try 'em, and see if they make things better or worse, then plan accordingly for the next step of action. I'm sorry I'm so
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
Thank you. I'll do just that. Chris. - Original Message - From: driz...@att.net To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Friday, October 07, 2011 9:29 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! go to www.sweetwater.com There located in Fort. Wayne, Indiana! - Original Message - From: Christopher-Mark Gilland clgillan...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Friday, October 07, 2011 9:27 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Awesome! Good good good. I got them in my IPhone. My godfather's taking me first thing tomorrow bright and early up to Sam Ash to turn that Alan Heath back in. I'll just have 'em reverse the funds to my card. Once they post back on my card, I'll be giving sweet water a call and asking about either the Tascam or the M-Audio. Ming while, I do! have a quick question for yall: I've never heard of SW until you all mentioned them, but I hear they're fairly decently known. SWo, what is their specialty? I mean, in other words, do they only basically do audio gear, or is it computer stuff in general, plus audio gear, or what? What is they're web site U R L, would like to look 'em up. Chris. - Original Message - From: Abdul D Kamara abduldkam...@googlemail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Friday, October 07, 2011 4:39 AM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! I completely agree that sweetwater is the way to go. Call them at the number below and speak to one of their sales engineers: either Mark Stein or Michael Soper, they will treat you nice and spend the time to discuss any of your questions in detail. SweetWater offers free tech support for any item you buy through them, no limits. I got a PT 9 CrossGrade from them and if I have any problems with PT, I call SweetWater, not Avid. But as is there admonition, their job will not be to offer training, but merely to help you address technical problems. It's my understanding that they have some pretty flexible financing options. ...might want to check it out. SweetWater 1-800-222-4700 Best, -Abdul On 7 Oct 2011, at 06:41, Christopher-Mark Gilland wrote: Excellent! I will take this other board back and ask them for my money back, then once the funds get back on my card will go through sweet water. Is there a dash in that u r l or just sweetwater.com Chris. - Original Message - From: Stephen Martin monkeypushe...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 9:37 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! The M=-Audio Fast track, and the Tascam US-122mkII are the to that were recommended I like the tascam stuff for a few reasons, the main one being that after installing the drivers you don't have to worry about loading its control panel software, it can be pretty much controlled in your recording software. As for getting fimiliar with things i buy online. Most if not everything has a PDF manual available online. I send it to a sighted friend and have them use it to go over the layout of the unit with me Evey manual has in it a picture of the item with a clear label and description pointing to each kfnob, button and jack on it. Another trick, if you have an iPhone, Android, or other modern smart phone with a good camera, call a friend on skype from the phone and hold the phone up to the device and have them tell you what each thing is. You could most likely get away with this using the the camera on the macbook as well, but i suggested a phone first since it's a little easier to hold over what you may want them to see.Back to the interfaces, both the mentioned interfaces gets u two ins, two outs and a midi in and out and headphones jack. The knobs are basically the gain for the individual inputs, the master and headphone volume, and on the tascam a knob to set the mix between whats coming in through the inputs, and whats coming back from the recording software. Simple basic and great to learn on to help u get decent recordings. On Oct 6, 2011, at 3:33 PM, Christopher-Mark Gilland wrote: My only concern with having a board shipped to me is now I got the board, but I don't know what the different jacks on it are, what the buttons are, what the different dials are, etc. I need someone who can go through the board with me, one on one, and as I am moving my hand around the board, can identify for me what the things are I'm feeling. Not just based on opinion of, it's a good easy board/surface, but also based on the problems I am having, which model from M-Audio or Tascam specifically would you advise I ask for? Remember, I ony have about $320 to work with provided Sam Ash reverses all the funds totally back to my card... which... they better! Chris. - Original Message - From: Monkey Pusher monkeypushe...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 1:44 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! I
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
That's perfect, Kevin. Thanks. I'll have a look. Also, there is absolutely no rush, nor pressure, take your time, I know you're a busy guy, but let me know once you get a chance to make those ajustments to my file like you said you would do or if nothing else, maybe do the vocals to show me how you'd do it like you said. Off list, I sent you both the session, as you saw, as well as the actual backing track. NO stems, sorry. Hopefully you can do something with it, but again, there's absolutely no hurry at all, my friend. Thanks. I'll go see if I can get myself subscribed to Midi Mag. That would be excellent. Chris. - Original Message - From: Kevin Reeves reeves...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Friday, October 07, 2011 9:43 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Look for a forum app for your iPhone. I can't remember what it's called, but it's an accessible rapper for browsing forums. Go to midimag.org and subscribe be to the list. That's probably the furthest you'll need to go as those guys will definitely answer your questions. Kevin On Oct 7, 2011, at 8:32 PM, Christopher-Mark Gilland wrote: Brian, I think what you said was very well thought out, and you do have a lot of very valid points. Your last e-mail was quite harsh and almost taken a bit rudely, but, having said that, I do see, in your defense, where you were, and still are, going with this. That's not actually half a bad idea to join a forum. I just wonder how well forums work with Voiceover. I know this isn't the list for that so I'm not even gonna start on that topic, don't fret, but we'll just have to see. Are there any particular ones you'd suggest, or would it be more a matter of me just googling for one. Either way, I'm willing, and have nothing to lose. Chris. - Original Message - From: Brian Casey brian_w_ca...@hotmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Friday, October 07, 2011 8:53 AM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Regardless, I think you need to stop asking every question that comes to mind on this list, and save the PT and Voice Over specific ones ffor here, because you are a beginner like many on this list, and there are plenty of other sources online where you can ask those questions, research that material etc rather than wasting the time of the experts on thie list, who are often far too hepful for their own good. Perhaps you should join an online home recording oriented forum or something of the sort to give you another source of knowledge. This list is an invaluable resource for experienced engineers making the switch over to ProTools, so please try to keep the non protools related questions to a minimum, so that when searching back through the archives the list is not clogged with irrelevant information. -- Of course, we will all from time to time ask questions and make mistakes which we think is a software problem and is in fact a lack of basic technical knowledge or a slip up. For example, as Kevin said, your understanding of recording something flat. Your mixers EQ can boost or cut frequencies, when at twelve o'clock it is flat or neutral, meaning it is ideally not effecting the signal at all. This is the norm for approaches to digital recording as you record the cleanest and best signal possible and later in the software you can make all the changes you want. So you see, it sounds like you had a basic lack of understanding about your mixer and what a basic EQ does rather than anything to do with proTools, which is fine, but these are things we all have to learn on triall and error. If you keep asking basic recording questions, then people might start ignoring your contributions on this list as many see it as a mis-use of the list, so you'll hamper your own efforts in that way. Its not easy having to learn these things differently to the average engineer, but you can learn so much theory online and most of all, with patience you can figure most of this stuff on your own the good old fassioned way through triall and error. Nobody can learn t his for you and you shouldn't need other people to be part of your triall and error process 90% of the time. I'll leave it at that as I'm not even a regular on this list and am simply observing to learn for a future move over to ProTools. Best of luck and I hope the learning goes well for you, Be patient, Regards, Brian. From: Christopher-Mark Gilland clgillan...@gmail.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 8:50 PM To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Brian, I have to completely disagree with you. I think this has all and everything to do with PT. When I record in say, Sonar, my recordings are not mainstream quality, no, but they're way cleaner. Maybe part of it is I don't exactly know how to mix, but I think all of it plays hand
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
If you want a project to play round with for a while, try this. It's one I recorded on my gear at home, using a DI'd faith guitar, a Sure (however you spell it) SM58, all going through a M-Audio Mobile Pree, which cost me £150, into my Macbook Pro 13, using a Euphonix MC2 mixing desk to mix with, and a pair of M-Audio something or others monitors. I got it all from DV247.com, not sure if they apply to America as well, but I'm in England, so hey! :P Anyways, here's th link, and I'm afraid it falls under the catigory of almost dog crap, and my voice is quite heavily autotuned, because I had a bitch of a sore throat the day I did the vocals. That said, we had fun recording it, and it's the first thing I did in PT, so it's quite close to my heart! LOL. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4219494/Early%20Morning%20Rain.zip Give it some time to upload, then it'll be there. On 06/10/2011, Christopher-Mark Gilland clgillan...@gmail.com wrote: If possible, can you at least have a listen to my version of You Don't count the Cost I did with my multi-mix? If you know how to get the vocals for a definite! at least slightly more less clippy, that's my main goal right now for starters. The weird thing is, it doesn't sound all that clipity until I mix the track down to either an mp3 or wave. The clipping's there before, but not quite as bad. Chris. - Original Message - From: Kevin Reeves reeves...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 8:49 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Hey man. It doesn't matter what you use. That record you heard was done on a cheap $600 001 interface with a $200 mic. When I cut drums, I hired guys who were great engineers. They weren't big names, just some guys from a small town in Illinois. However, they knew how to dial the drums in. Then, I had it mixed by our own Slau. He knows how to dial it in. Would he have preferred that my stuff be tracked on better gear so he didn't have to doctor it up as much or do tons of subtractive EQ? Probably. But he took what he had and knew how to make it sound like a million bucks. What makes it sound clear is how you use it. Tons of folks are doing industry standard stuff in Sonar, logic, garageband, etc. It's all 0's and 1's. Obviously a Pro Tools HD rig running at 192 K will sound better than a $200 interface at 44.1 16, but that's minor. It's literally how you employ the tools you have. I've spent over 13 years messing with this stuff to get the sounds I want. When I first started out, everything I did sounded like dog crap. The trick, get something that's easy for you to use, learn the hell out of it, and record record record. You'll throw away about 90 percent of what you record. THen 80, 70, etc. As you get better acquainted with your stuff, the more you'll like what you record. After 13 years, I know how to dial it in. It's that simple, and hard, all at the same time. Sorry to be such a downer, but I feel bad that someone put it in your head that getting another piece of software would make you sound better. I use Pro Tools because it's my rig of choice. Go listen to stuff by Goldfingas, http://www.goldfingas.com, or have Brian Smart send you something he did in Sonar. That stuff sounds amazing. Hell. I've got stuff I tracked in Sonar while I had that rig. My pro tools rig sounds better to me than my sonar rig did. Not because it's Pro TOols, but because I know how to dial Pro Tools in. That's the ticket. In short, learn your rig. You're jumping from board to board without really learning it. Don't go for bells and whistles. If I were you, I'd get a Mackie Onyx if you can grab the smaller one. That mixer is so easy to use and integrates right into Pro TOols. No effects, no nothing. Just an analog board with a fully digital back end. Then, open every pro tools plugin and see what it does. Move every knob in the window till you figure out how it makes it sound. Use presets if you have to. You'll find what you need after a while. Again, sorry to piss on your parade, but that's the true honest answer. You have to just do it to get through it. Trust me. I've hated stuff I've recorded and wanted to sell everything off. It's just part of this journey. Good luck. Kevin= -- Take care, Chris Norman. !-- chris.norm...@googlemail.com --
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
Hey Chris, It's difficult to advise you not having your gear and I'm somewhere along the same journey as you but +30db of gain on your mike?? that sounds like it would clip a whole bunch to me, so turn that down and try again. Just a thought. G On 10/6/11, Chris Norman chris.norm...@googlemail.com wrote: If you want a project to play round with for a while, try this. It's one I recorded on my gear at home, using a DI'd faith guitar, a Sure (however you spell it) SM58, all going through a M-Audio Mobile Pree, which cost me £150, into my Macbook Pro 13, using a Euphonix MC2 mixing desk to mix with, and a pair of M-Audio something or others monitors. I got it all from DV247.com, not sure if they apply to America as well, but I'm in England, so hey! :P Anyways, here's th link, and I'm afraid it falls under the catigory of almost dog crap, and my voice is quite heavily autotuned, because I had a bitch of a sore throat the day I did the vocals. That said, we had fun recording it, and it's the first thing I did in PT, so it's quite close to my heart! LOL. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4219494/Early%20Morning%20Rain.zip Give it some time to upload, then it'll be there. On 06/10/2011, Christopher-Mark Gilland clgillan...@gmail.com wrote: If possible, can you at least have a listen to my version of You Don't count the Cost I did with my multi-mix? If you know how to get the vocals for a definite! at least slightly more less clippy, that's my main goal right now for starters. The weird thing is, it doesn't sound all that clipity until I mix the track down to either an mp3 or wave. The clipping's there before, but not quite as bad. Chris. - Original Message - From: Kevin Reeves reeves...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 8:49 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Hey man. It doesn't matter what you use. That record you heard was done on a cheap $600 001 interface with a $200 mic. When I cut drums, I hired guys who were great engineers. They weren't big names, just some guys from a small town in Illinois. However, they knew how to dial the drums in. Then, I had it mixed by our own Slau. He knows how to dial it in. Would he have preferred that my stuff be tracked on better gear so he didn't have to doctor it up as much or do tons of subtractive EQ? Probably. But he took what he had and knew how to make it sound like a million bucks. What makes it sound clear is how you use it. Tons of folks are doing industry standard stuff in Sonar, logic, garageband, etc. It's all 0's and 1's. Obviously a Pro Tools HD rig running at 192 K will sound better than a $200 interface at 44.1 16, but that's minor. It's literally how you employ the tools you have. I've spent over 13 years messing with this stuff to get the sounds I want. When I first started out, everything I did sounded like dog crap. The trick, get something that's easy for you to use, learn the hell out of it, and record record record. You'll throw away about 90 percent of what you record. THen 80, 70, etc. As you get better acquainted with your stuff, the more you'll like what you record. After 13 years, I know how to dial it in. It's that simple, and hard, all at the same time. Sorry to be such a downer, but I feel bad that someone put it in your head that getting another piece of software would make you sound better. I use Pro Tools because it's my rig of choice. Go listen to stuff by Goldfingas, http://www.goldfingas.com, or have Brian Smart send you something he did in Sonar. That stuff sounds amazing. Hell. I've got stuff I tracked in Sonar while I had that rig. My pro tools rig sounds better to me than my sonar rig did. Not because it's Pro TOols, but because I know how to dial Pro Tools in. That's the ticket. In short, learn your rig. You're jumping from board to board without really learning it. Don't go for bells and whistles. If I were you, I'd get a Mackie Onyx if you can grab the smaller one. That mixer is so easy to use and integrates right into Pro TOols. No effects, no nothing. Just an analog board with a fully digital back end. Then, open every pro tools plugin and see what it does. Move every knob in the window till you figure out how it makes it sound. Use presets if you have to. You'll find what you need after a while. Again, sorry to piss on your parade, but that's the true honest answer. You have to just do it to get through it. Trust me. I've hated stuff I've recorded and wanted to sell everything off. It's just part of this journey. Good luck. Kevin= -- Take care, Chris Norman. !-- chris.norm...@googlemail.com --
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
Something that's worth mentioning here, which I'm not sure as you're aware of Chris, gain and fader level are different. Gain, is the level of your mic before it hits the speakers, and the fader level is after. When recording, you want to try and get the gain as high as possible when you're recording, then if it's too loud, just fader it down afterwards. While recording, all faders should be at 0.00 DB. HTH. On 06/10/2011, Gary Readfern-Gray readfern.g...@googlemail.com wrote: Hey Chris, It's difficult to advise you not having your gear and I'm somewhere along the same journey as you but +30db of gain on your mike?? that sounds like it would clip a whole bunch to me, so turn that down and try again. Just a thought. G On 10/6/11, Chris Norman chris.norm...@googlemail.com wrote: If you want a project to play round with for a while, try this. It's one I recorded on my gear at home, using a DI'd faith guitar, a Sure (however you spell it) SM58, all going through a M-Audio Mobile Pree, which cost me £150, into my Macbook Pro 13, using a Euphonix MC2 mixing desk to mix with, and a pair of M-Audio something or others monitors. I got it all from DV247.com, not sure if they apply to America as well, but I'm in England, so hey! :P Anyways, here's th link, and I'm afraid it falls under the catigory of almost dog crap, and my voice is quite heavily autotuned, because I had a bitch of a sore throat the day I did the vocals. That said, we had fun recording it, and it's the first thing I did in PT, so it's quite close to my heart! LOL. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4219494/Early%20Morning%20Rain.zip Give it some time to upload, then it'll be there. On 06/10/2011, Christopher-Mark Gilland clgillan...@gmail.com wrote: If possible, can you at least have a listen to my version of You Don't count the Cost I did with my multi-mix? If you know how to get the vocals for a definite! at least slightly more less clippy, that's my main goal right now for starters. The weird thing is, it doesn't sound all that clipity until I mix the track down to either an mp3 or wave. The clipping's there before, but not quite as bad. Chris. - Original Message - From: Kevin Reeves reeves...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 8:49 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Hey man. It doesn't matter what you use. That record you heard was done on a cheap $600 001 interface with a $200 mic. When I cut drums, I hired guys who were great engineers. They weren't big names, just some guys from a small town in Illinois. However, they knew how to dial the drums in. Then, I had it mixed by our own Slau. He knows how to dial it in. Would he have preferred that my stuff be tracked on better gear so he didn't have to doctor it up as much or do tons of subtractive EQ? Probably. But he took what he had and knew how to make it sound like a million bucks. What makes it sound clear is how you use it. Tons of folks are doing industry standard stuff in Sonar, logic, garageband, etc. It's all 0's and 1's. Obviously a Pro Tools HD rig running at 192 K will sound better than a $200 interface at 44.1 16, but that's minor. It's literally how you employ the tools you have. I've spent over 13 years messing with this stuff to get the sounds I want. When I first started out, everything I did sounded like dog crap. The trick, get something that's easy for you to use, learn the hell out of it, and record record record. You'll throw away about 90 percent of what you record. THen 80, 70, etc. As you get better acquainted with your stuff, the more you'll like what you record. After 13 years, I know how to dial it in. It's that simple, and hard, all at the same time. Sorry to be such a downer, but I feel bad that someone put it in your head that getting another piece of software would make you sound better. I use Pro Tools because it's my rig of choice. Go listen to stuff by Goldfingas, http://www.goldfingas.com, or have Brian Smart send you something he did in Sonar. That stuff sounds amazing. Hell. I've got stuff I tracked in Sonar while I had that rig. My pro tools rig sounds better to me than my sonar rig did. Not because it's Pro TOols, but because I know how to dial Pro Tools in. That's the ticket. In short, learn your rig. You're jumping from board to board without really learning it. Don't go for bells and whistles. If I were you, I'd get a Mackie Onyx if you can grab the smaller one. That mixer is so easy to use and integrates right into Pro TOols. No effects, no nothing. Just an analog board with a fully digital back end. Then, open every pro tools plugin and see what it does. Move every knob in the window till you figure out how it makes it sound. Use presets if you have to. You'll find what you need after a while. Again, sorry to piss on your parade, but that's the true honest answer. You have to just do
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
I gotta agree with kevin here, Sonar and Pro tools are both capable of makeing commercials releases and come with great stock plug ins. Yeah they aren't the greatest in the world, but i have heard pro quality stuff done with just the built in plug ins in both. The trick is like its already been said learn the hell ou out of them, put the time in and get better at everything from how u record the source material to what u do with it once its in PT and recorded. Start by getting the best possible sound u can into pro tools, don't think you can fix it later as that will only lead to way more work, and chances are dissappointment. As they say, garbage in, garbage out, and you can't polish a turd. Oh and i was considering the Allen heath board you got at one point as well. Here are the reasons i didn't go with it. A) the USB out on that board only records the main s stereo outs, you can not send all 10 or however channels on that board to individual channels in Pro Tools. B) it does not work as a control surface. I highly recommend you return that board and get one of the simpler interfaces we recommended. It's simple and will help you learn the basics of getting a source from a mic into protools and sounding good. If sam ash wont sell you w one take your business elsewhere, I know for a fact that sam ash is both a m-audio and tascam dealer. Like i suggested, give www.sweetwater.com a call and they can help u select the right piece of gear, and help uyou if you have any issues setting it up after. On 10/6/11, Gary Readfern-Gray readfern.g...@googlemail.com wrote: Hey Chris, It's difficult to advise you not having your gear and I'm somewhere along the same journey as you but +30db of gain on your mike?? that sounds like it would clip a whole bunch to me, so turn that down and try again. Just a thought. G On 10/6/11, Chris Norman chris.norm...@googlemail.com wrote: If you want a project to play round with for a while, try this. It's one I recorded on my gear at home, using a DI'd faith guitar, a Sure (however you spell it) SM58, all going through a M-Audio Mobile Pree, which cost me £150, into my Macbook Pro 13, using a Euphonix MC2 mixing desk to mix with, and a pair of M-Audio something or others monitors. I got it all from DV247.com, not sure if they apply to America as well, but I'm in England, so hey! :P Anyways, here's th link, and I'm afraid it falls under the catigory of almost dog crap, and my voice is quite heavily autotuned, because I had a bitch of a sore throat the day I did the vocals. That said, we had fun recording it, and it's the first thing I did in PT, so it's quite close to my heart! LOL. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4219494/Early%20Morning%20Rain.zip Give it some time to upload, then it'll be there. On 06/10/2011, Christopher-Mark Gilland clgillan...@gmail.com wrote: If possible, can you at least have a listen to my version of You Don't count the Cost I did with my multi-mix? If you know how to get the vocals for a definite! at least slightly more less clippy, that's my main goal right now for starters. The weird thing is, it doesn't sound all that clipity until I mix the track down to either an mp3 or wave. The clipping's there before, but not quite as bad. Chris. - Original Message - From: Kevin Reeves reeves...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 8:49 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Hey man. It doesn't matter what you use. That record you heard was done on a cheap $600 001 interface with a $200 mic. When I cut drums, I hired guys who were great engineers. They weren't big names, just some guys from a small town in Illinois. However, they knew how to dial the drums in. Then, I had it mixed by our own Slau. He knows how to dial it in. Would he have preferred that my stuff be tracked on better gear so he didn't have to doctor it up as much or do tons of subtractive EQ? Probably. But he took what he had and knew how to make it sound like a million bucks. What makes it sound clear is how you use it. Tons of folks are doing industry standard stuff in Sonar, logic, garageband, etc. It's all 0's and 1's. Obviously a Pro Tools HD rig running at 192 K will sound better than a $200 interface at 44.1 16, but that's minor. It's literally how you employ the tools you have. I've spent over 13 years messing with this stuff to get the sounds I want. When I first started out, everything I did sounded like dog crap. The trick, get something that's easy for you to use, learn the hell out of it, and record record record. You'll throw away about 90 percent of what you record. THen 80, 70, etc. As you get better acquainted with your stuff, the more you'll like what you record. After 13 years, I know how to dial it in. It's that simple, and hard, all at the same time. Sorry to be such a downer, but I feel bad that someone put it in your head that getting
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
How do I open this project in PT? No one's sent me an already done session, do I just open it from the new session dialog, making sure that all files included are unzipped and in the same folder? Chris. - Original Message - From: Chris Norman chris.norm...@googlemail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 6:17 AM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! If you want a project to play round with for a while, try this. It's one I recorded on my gear at home, using a DI'd faith guitar, a Sure (however you spell it) SM58, all going through a M-Audio Mobile Pree, which cost me £150, into my Macbook Pro 13, using a Euphonix MC2 mixing desk to mix with, and a pair of M-Audio something or others monitors. I got it all from DV247.com, not sure if they apply to America as well, but I'm in England, so hey! :P Anyways, here's th link, and I'm afraid it falls under the catigory of almost dog crap, and my voice is quite heavily autotuned, because I had a bitch of a sore throat the day I did the vocals. That said, we had fun recording it, and it's the first thing I did in PT, so it's quite close to my heart! LOL. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4219494/Early%20Morning%20Rain.zip Give it some time to upload, then it'll be there. On 06/10/2011, Christopher-Mark Gilland clgillan...@gmail.com wrote: If possible, can you at least have a listen to my version of You Don't count the Cost I did with my multi-mix? If you know how to get the vocals for a definite! at least slightly more less clippy, that's my main goal right now for starters. The weird thing is, it doesn't sound all that clipity until I mix the track down to either an mp3 or wave. The clipping's there before, but not quite as bad. Chris. - Original Message - From: Kevin Reeves reeves...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 8:49 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Hey man. It doesn't matter what you use. That record you heard was done on a cheap $600 001 interface with a $200 mic. When I cut drums, I hired guys who were great engineers. They weren't big names, just some guys from a small town in Illinois. However, they knew how to dial the drums in. Then, I had it mixed by our own Slau. He knows how to dial it in. Would he have preferred that my stuff be tracked on better gear so he didn't have to doctor it up as much or do tons of subtractive EQ? Probably. But he took what he had and knew how to make it sound like a million bucks. What makes it sound clear is how you use it. Tons of folks are doing industry standard stuff in Sonar, logic, garageband, etc. It's all 0's and 1's. Obviously a Pro Tools HD rig running at 192 K will sound better than a $200 interface at 44.1 16, but that's minor. It's literally how you employ the tools you have. I've spent over 13 years messing with this stuff to get the sounds I want. When I first started out, everything I did sounded like dog crap. The trick, get something that's easy for you to use, learn the hell out of it, and record record record. You'll throw away about 90 percent of what you record. THen 80, 70, etc. As you get better acquainted with your stuff, the more you'll like what you record. After 13 years, I know how to dial it in. It's that simple, and hard, all at the same time. Sorry to be such a downer, but I feel bad that someone put it in your head that getting another piece of software would make you sound better. I use Pro Tools because it's my rig of choice. Go listen to stuff by Goldfingas, http://www.goldfingas.com, or have Brian Smart send you something he did in Sonar. That stuff sounds amazing. Hell. I've got stuff I tracked in Sonar while I had that rig. My pro tools rig sounds better to me than my sonar rig did. Not because it's Pro TOols, but because I know how to dial Pro Tools in. That's the ticket. In short, learn your rig. You're jumping from board to board without really learning it. Don't go for bells and whistles. If I were you, I'd get a Mackie Onyx if you can grab the smaller one. That mixer is so easy to use and integrates right into Pro TOols. No effects, no nothing. Just an analog board with a fully digital back end. Then, open every pro tools plugin and see what it does. Move every knob in the window till you figure out how it makes it sound. Use presets if you have to. You'll find what you need after a while. Again, sorry to piss on your parade, but that's the true honest answer. You have to just do it to get through it. Trust me. I've hated stuff I've recorded and wanted to sell everything off. It's just part of this journey. Good luck. Kevin= -- Take care, Chris Norman. !-- chris.norm...@googlemail.com --
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
That was actually a typo! Parden! me! I meant 3! DB! Chris. - Original Message - From: Gary Readfern-Gray readfern.g...@googlemail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 11:29 AM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Hey Chris, It's difficult to advise you not having your gear and I'm somewhere along the same journey as you but +30db of gain on your mike?? that sounds like it would clip a whole bunch to me, so turn that down and try again. Just a thought. G On 10/6/11, Chris Norman chris.norm...@googlemail.com wrote: If you want a project to play round with for a while, try this. It's one I recorded on my gear at home, using a DI'd faith guitar, a Sure (however you spell it) SM58, all going through a M-Audio Mobile Pree, which cost me £150, into my Macbook Pro 13, using a Euphonix MC2 mixing desk to mix with, and a pair of M-Audio something or others monitors. I got it all from DV247.com, not sure if they apply to America as well, but I'm in England, so hey! :P Anyways, here's th link, and I'm afraid it falls under the catigory of almost dog crap, and my voice is quite heavily autotuned, because I had a bitch of a sore throat the day I did the vocals. That said, we had fun recording it, and it's the first thing I did in PT, so it's quite close to my heart! LOL. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4219494/Early%20Morning%20Rain.zip Give it some time to upload, then it'll be there. On 06/10/2011, Christopher-Mark Gilland clgillan...@gmail.com wrote: If possible, can you at least have a listen to my version of You Don't count the Cost I did with my multi-mix? If you know how to get the vocals for a definite! at least slightly more less clippy, that's my main goal right now for starters. The weird thing is, it doesn't sound all that clipity until I mix the track down to either an mp3 or wave. The clipping's there before, but not quite as bad. Chris. - Original Message - From: Kevin Reeves reeves...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 8:49 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Hey man. It doesn't matter what you use. That record you heard was done on a cheap $600 001 interface with a $200 mic. When I cut drums, I hired guys who were great engineers. They weren't big names, just some guys from a small town in Illinois. However, they knew how to dial the drums in. Then, I had it mixed by our own Slau. He knows how to dial it in. Would he have preferred that my stuff be tracked on better gear so he didn't have to doctor it up as much or do tons of subtractive EQ? Probably. But he took what he had and knew how to make it sound like a million bucks. What makes it sound clear is how you use it. Tons of folks are doing industry standard stuff in Sonar, logic, garageband, etc. It's all 0's and 1's. Obviously a Pro Tools HD rig running at 192 K will sound better than a $200 interface at 44.1 16, but that's minor. It's literally how you employ the tools you have. I've spent over 13 years messing with this stuff to get the sounds I want. When I first started out, everything I did sounded like dog crap. The trick, get something that's easy for you to use, learn the hell out of it, and record record record. You'll throw away about 90 percent of what you record. THen 80, 70, etc. As you get better acquainted with your stuff, the more you'll like what you record. After 13 years, I know how to dial it in. It's that simple, and hard, all at the same time. Sorry to be such a downer, but I feel bad that someone put it in your head that getting another piece of software would make you sound better. I use Pro Tools because it's my rig of choice. Go listen to stuff by Goldfingas, http://www.goldfingas.com, or have Brian Smart send you something he did in Sonar. That stuff sounds amazing. Hell. I've got stuff I tracked in Sonar while I had that rig. My pro tools rig sounds better to me than my sonar rig did. Not because it's Pro TOols, but because I know how to dial Pro Tools in. That's the ticket. In short, learn your rig. You're jumping from board to board without really learning it. Don't go for bells and whistles. If I were you, I'd get a Mackie Onyx if you can grab the smaller one. That mixer is so easy to use and integrates right into Pro TOols. No effects, no nothing. Just an analog board with a fully digital back end. Then, open every pro tools plugin and see what it does. Move every knob in the window till you figure out how it makes it sound. Use presets if you have to. You'll find what you need after a while. Again, sorry to piss on your parade, but that's the true honest answer. You have to just do it to get through it. Trust me. I've hated stuff I've recorded and wanted to sell everything off. It's just part of this journey. Good luck. Kevin= -- Take care, Chris Norman. !-- chris.norm...@googlemail.com --
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
I think my issue is more the e q than it is the gain or the level. If I turn the lows up too much, I get mud, yet if I back off, it doesn't have any deep thickness. if I turn my highs up to get the mud to go away, and get a brighter sound, then inevitably, I clip. If I back off the level a bit, it's too quiet, and then I have to turn the audio track fader up in PT to compensate, usually having to drive the hhell out of the audio pt's track fader. I also kind a wonder about my master volume level on the board if it may be too high, though I strongly doubt it, seeing everything else aside microphones sound clean and clear as a bell. Knowing when to turn things up or down in PT on the software side, vs. when to before recording, ajust on the interface itself, is another hurttle of mine, I think. So, yeah, we got several things here in factor. Chris. - Original Message - From: Chris Norman chris.norm...@googlemail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 1:18 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Something that's worth mentioning here, which I'm not sure as you're aware of Chris, gain and fader level are different. Gain, is the level of your mic before it hits the speakers, and the fader level is after. When recording, you want to try and get the gain as high as possible when you're recording, then if it's too loud, just fader it down afterwards. While recording, all faders should be at 0.00 DB. HTH. On 06/10/2011, Gary Readfern-Gray readfern.g...@googlemail.com wrote: Hey Chris, It's difficult to advise you not having your gear and I'm somewhere along the same journey as you but +30db of gain on your mike?? that sounds like it would clip a whole bunch to me, so turn that down and try again. Just a thought. G On 10/6/11, Chris Norman chris.norm...@googlemail.com wrote: If you want a project to play round with for a while, try this. It's one I recorded on my gear at home, using a DI'd faith guitar, a Sure (however you spell it) SM58, all going through a M-Audio Mobile Pree, which cost me £150, into my Macbook Pro 13, using a Euphonix MC2 mixing desk to mix with, and a pair of M-Audio something or others monitors. I got it all from DV247.com, not sure if they apply to America as well, but I'm in England, so hey! :P Anyways, here's th link, and I'm afraid it falls under the catigory of almost dog crap, and my voice is quite heavily autotuned, because I had a bitch of a sore throat the day I did the vocals. That said, we had fun recording it, and it's the first thing I did in PT, so it's quite close to my heart! LOL. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4219494/Early%20Morning%20Rain.zip Give it some time to upload, then it'll be there. On 06/10/2011, Christopher-Mark Gilland clgillan...@gmail.com wrote: If possible, can you at least have a listen to my version of You Don't count the Cost I did with my multi-mix? If you know how to get the vocals for a definite! at least slightly more less clippy, that's my main goal right now for starters. The weird thing is, it doesn't sound all that clipity until I mix the track down to either an mp3 or wave. The clipping's there before, but not quite as bad. Chris. - Original Message - From: Kevin Reeves reeves...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 8:49 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Hey man. It doesn't matter what you use. That record you heard was done on a cheap $600 001 interface with a $200 mic. When I cut drums, I hired guys who were great engineers. They weren't big names, just some guys from a small town in Illinois. However, they knew how to dial the drums in. Then, I had it mixed by our own Slau. He knows how to dial it in. Would he have preferred that my stuff be tracked on better gear so he didn't have to doctor it up as much or do tons of subtractive EQ? Probably. But he took what he had and knew how to make it sound like a million bucks. What makes it sound clear is how you use it. Tons of folks are doing industry standard stuff in Sonar, logic, garageband, etc. It's all 0's and 1's. Obviously a Pro Tools HD rig running at 192 K will sound better than a $200 interface at 44.1 16, but that's minor. It's literally how you employ the tools you have. I've spent over 13 years messing with this stuff to get the sounds I want. When I first started out, everything I did sounded like dog crap. The trick, get something that's easy for you to use, learn the hell out of it, and record record record. You'll throw away about 90 percent of what you record. THen 80, 70, etc. As you get better acquainted with your stuff, the more you'll like what you record. After 13 years, I know how to dial it in. It's that simple, and hard, all at the same time. Sorry to be such a downer, but I feel bad that someone put it in your head that getting another piece of software would make you sound better. I use Pro Tools because it's my rig
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
My only concern with having a board shipped to me is now I got the board, but I don't know what the different jacks on it are, what the buttons are, what the different dials are, etc. I need someone who can go through the board with me, one on one, and as I am moving my hand around the board, can identify for me what the things are I'm feeling. Not just based on opinion of, it's a good easy board/surface, but also based on the problems I am having, which model from M-Audio or Tascam specifically would you advise I ask for? Remember, I ony have about $320 to work with provided Sam Ash reverses all the funds totally back to my card... which... they better! Chris. - Original Message - From: Monkey Pusher monkeypushe...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 1:44 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! I gotta agree with kevin here, Sonar and Pro tools are both capable of makeing commercials releases and come with great stock plug ins. Yeah they aren't the greatest in the world, but i have heard pro quality stuff done with just the built in plug ins in both. The trick is like its already been said learn the hell ou out of them, put the time in and get better at everything from how u record the source material to what u do with it once its in PT and recorded. Start by getting the best possible sound u can into pro tools, don't think you can fix it later as that will only lead to way more work, and chances are dissappointment. As they say, garbage in, garbage out, and you can't polish a turd. Oh and i was considering the Allen heath board you got at one point as well. Here are the reasons i didn't go with it. A) the USB out on that board only records the main s stereo outs, you can not send all 10 or however channels on that board to individual channels in Pro Tools. B) it does not work as a control surface. I highly recommend you return that board and get one of the simpler interfaces we recommended. It's simple and will help you learn the basics of getting a source from a mic into protools and sounding good. If sam ash wont sell you w one take your business elsewhere, I know for a fact that sam ash is both a m-audio and tascam dealer. Like i suggested, give www.sweetwater.com a call and they can help u select the right piece of gear, and help uyou if you have any issues setting it up after. On 10/6/11, Gary Readfern-Gray readfern.g...@googlemail.com wrote: Hey Chris, It's difficult to advise you not having your gear and I'm somewhere along the same journey as you but +30db of gain on your mike?? that sounds like it would clip a whole bunch to me, so turn that down and try again. Just a thought. G On 10/6/11, Chris Norman chris.norm...@googlemail.com wrote: If you want a project to play round with for a while, try this. It's one I recorded on my gear at home, using a DI'd faith guitar, a Sure (however you spell it) SM58, all going through a M-Audio Mobile Pree, which cost me £150, into my Macbook Pro 13, using a Euphonix MC2 mixing desk to mix with, and a pair of M-Audio something or others monitors. I got it all from DV247.com, not sure if they apply to America as well, but I'm in England, so hey! :P Anyways, here's th link, and I'm afraid it falls under the catigory of almost dog crap, and my voice is quite heavily autotuned, because I had a bitch of a sore throat the day I did the vocals. That said, we had fun recording it, and it's the first thing I did in PT, so it's quite close to my heart! LOL. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4219494/Early%20Morning%20Rain.zip Give it some time to upload, then it'll be there. On 06/10/2011, Christopher-Mark Gilland clgillan...@gmail.com wrote: If possible, can you at least have a listen to my version of You Don't count the Cost I did with my multi-mix? If you know how to get the vocals for a definite! at least slightly more less clippy, that's my main goal right now for starters. The weird thing is, it doesn't sound all that clipity until I mix the track down to either an mp3 or wave. The clipping's there before, but not quite as bad. Chris. - Original Message - From: Kevin Reeves reeves...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 8:49 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Hey man. It doesn't matter what you use. That record you heard was done on a cheap $600 001 interface with a $200 mic. When I cut drums, I hired guys who were great engineers. They weren't big names, just some guys from a small town in Illinois. However, they knew how to dial the drums in. Then, I had it mixed by our own Slau. He knows how to dial it in. Would he have preferred that my stuff be tracked on better gear so he didn't have to doctor it up as much or do tons of subtractive EQ? Probably. But he took what he had and knew how to make it sound like a million bucks. What makes it sound clear is how you use it. Tons of folks are doing industry
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
Brian, I have to completely disagree with you. I think this has all and everything to do with PT. When I record in say, Sonar, my recordings are not mainstream quality, no, but they're way cleaner. Maybe part of it is I don't exactly know how to mix, but I think all of it plays hand in hand. Fine, if you think, and I know you meant this in, and I quote: good spirit... that this has not much to do with PT accessibility, then let's dial it back home. As I said initially, what in PT could I do and what with VO is the best way to do so, to fix this clipping issue/mud issue? I'm sorry that you and others are so... good... and no everything. I can't help I'm starting out. For me reading a manual, just doesn't work! With my learning challengement, it makes things very difficult. I don't very easily comprehend what I read. This is why I need someone like you all who can make a few suggestions, let me try 'em, and see if they make things better or worse, then plan accordingly for the next step of action. I'm sorry I'm so stupid at all this stuff, but if I didn't wanna learn I wouldn't be here. Your suggestion to google was an excellent one, and believe me I have, but I'm getting absolutely nowhere, either the articles are completely irrellavant, or are thigns I already have tried taking into consideration, or they're the obvious things more for a basic person who just wants to say... voice chat with a 5 dollar pc mike and wonders why they're getting clipping. Gee, $5! Hmm, I wonder! Point is, telling peole to go google, or to RTFM, etc. though that might be a good idea eventually, maybe not right at first when you're starting and need to learn the fundimentals. If you still disagree, then I'll respectfully leave you alone, and agree to disagree, but maybe perhaps, someone should then make a list that strictly doesn't cover software, but more hardware, and more the concepts of audio production. Then everyone could join and post there, causing more e-mail conjestion, rather than consolidating to one list, and people like you who don't see the rellavance wouldn't have to worry about getting bombarded as you seem to be remotely implying. I'm a newby, so I'm gonna have a lot of questions, a lot of which may have to do with how to set things up to work in PT correctly. if this isn't the list for that just boot my butt off of here, tell me why you're doing so, be polite about it, and I'll go my own merry way, and learn on my own. I think people like Kevin etc. would agree however I'm doing nothing wrong, and the only way to learn is to ask questions. Sorry for the long mail, but I couldn't just let your comments go undelt with. I see your point, in your defense, but put youself in my shoes as a complete newby. Wouldn't you want help rather than someone just saying RTFM, go google. To me that's almost pushing me away from the list which I feel is a priceless source for help when nothing else seems to make sense. Chris.
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
Chris. Take it from guys who do this every day and make a living at it. It's not the software. You have to learn the basics of audio recording, how to set levels, how an eq works, etc to get the sound you want. This is not an accessibility issue at all. The only thing you need from an accessibility standpoint is how to read the meter and reset it, which we went over a few days ago. Now, once you get into editing and other tasks that rely heavily on vo, then it becomes an accessibility issue and that's what we're here for as a list. What you're asking is not specifically related to Pro Tools. You'd have the same issues with this hardware on a sonar rig. I mentioned this a few days ago. What you need to do is record everything flat. Don't boost or cut anything on your board. Then, you bring up an EQ and compressor and taylor the sound that way. Understand that that $70 multimix has an elementary EQ in it. It's not going to solve any of your problems. Also, it's not the best pre in the world, so you need to back way off of it. because it can't take a ton of input. I recommend about -10 DB. That's where your meter should be sitting at. Once it's in that range when you've sung your loudest point of the tune, Leave it. Later, you can crank it up in a compressor and shape the tone with an eq and cut or boost at will. I recommend cutting squelchy midrange. Everything is done subtly. It's all about nuance. Again I say. There is no silver bullet. Trust me on this. You've got to learn the basics of recording. Join the midimag list. Those guys will be able to help you suss out all the basics that you need to know. This list is designed for helping people with Pro Tools itself, which has nothing to do with your current situations. The midi maggers can go all day long on how to set gain, compression, etc. They'll tell you the same thing I'm telling you here. You've got to work it. Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called Outliers. It's all about what makes people successful and how folks get good at what they do. His premise is to get really good at something, you've got to put 1 hours in. Everyone he sites as being successful has put in the time. Those of us who do this full time, or have done it for several years can probably safely say that they're well on their way to their 1 hours, or they've already put that in and then some. We never arrive where everything we do is absolutely flawless and we're 100 percent happy with it all the time. We all still learn and grow. Part of recording is enjoying the journey of learning how it's done and how you can make it work. I can't stress this any other way. You've got to just put in the time. A ton of folks have given you some awesome advice already. Take that and build on it. We're all learning from each other. Start keeping a record of emails you get with advice that works for you and start building up your arsenal of knowledge. That's all I can advise. That's the only way this will work whether you're in Sonar, Soundforge, Pro Tools, Garage Band, Studio recorder, Windows Sound Recorder, whatever. Kevin
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
Did you happen to work with that track I sent you off list? I know you said you were going to and wanted me to see what you were gonna do with it. So, when you're saying flat, I guess you mean, on the board to run everything as far as low and highs totally down all the way, then use an e q to fix things through PT itself? BTW, if I implied no one was helping me, I greatly apologise as that was definitely not my intention. How do I sub to midi-mag. I've been trying to find the info, but can't seem to. Chris.
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
I haven't looked at the track yet. I'm shooting some video today, so may open it tonight. When I mean flat, I'm saying that the dials have to be at 12 OClock. When you feel the detent in the knob as your turning it, that's flat, it's the center most point of the dial. When you turn it to the left, you're cutting. When you turn to the right of the notch, you're boosting. Hope this helps. Kevin
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
Oh, Kevin! O? kayyy, That? would explain then why it sounded so bad! I thought by flat you literally! meant like flat, like nothing, like, all the fricken way down! like turn the dial high and low all the way to the left as far down as they'd go. No wonder it sounded muddy! God I feel stupid! I guess when you say flat, what you meant was more, half way up, straight up at 12. Why do I have to be so literal all the time. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! Chris. - Original Message - From: Kevin Reeves reeves...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 8:11 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! I haven't looked at the track yet. I'm shooting some video today, so may open it tonight. When I mean flat, I'm saying that the dials have to be at 12 OClock. When you feel the detent in the knob as your turning it, that's flat, it's the center most point of the dial. When you turn it to the left, you're cutting. When you turn to the right of the notch, you're boosting. Hope this helps. Kevin=
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
Here's why we call it flat. Think of a graphic EQ, which has sliders for each frequency range. If we leave them all at their middle positions, the panel looks like a flat line along the surface of the sliders. That's flat. If you start gradually boosting or cutting a range of sliders, it literally forms a curve. If you drastically cut a few, but not others around it, it's called a notch, which visually looks like a notch taken out of that flat line we had before. Oh, Kevin! O? kayyy, That? would explain then why it sounded so bad! I thought by flat you literally! meant like flat, like nothing, like, all the fricken way down! like turn the dial high and low all the way to the left as far down as they'd go. No wonder it sounded muddy! God I feel stupid! I guess when you say flat, what you meant was more, half way up, straight up at 12. Why do I have to be so literal all the time. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! Chris. - Original Message - From: Kevin Reeves reeves...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 8:11 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! I haven't looked at the track yet. I'm shooting some video today, so may open it tonight. When I mean flat, I'm saying that the dials have to be at 12 OClock. When you feel the detent in the knob as your turning it, that's flat, it's the center most point of the dial. When you turn it to the left, you're cutting. When you turn to the right of the notch, you're boosting. Hope this helps. Kevin=
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
The M=-Audio Fast track, and the Tascam US-122mkII are the to that were recommended I like the tascam stuff for a few reasons, the main one being that after installing the drivers you don't have to worry about loading its control panel software, it can be pretty much controlled in your recording software. As for getting fimiliar with things i buy online. Most if not everything has a PDF manual available online. I send it to a sighted friend and have them use it to go over the layout of the unit with me Evey manual has in it a picture of the item with a clear label and description pointing to each kfnob, button and jack on it. Another trick, if you have an iPhone, Android, or other modern smart phone with a good camera, call a friend on skype from the phone and hold the phone up to the device and have them tell you what each thing is. You could most likely get away with this using the the camera on the macbook as well, but i suggested a phone first since it's a little easier to hold over what you may want them to see.Back to the interfaces, both the mentioned interfaces gets u two ins, two outs and a midi in and out and headphones jack. The knobs are basically the gain for the individual inputs, the master and headphone volume, and on the tascam a knob to set the mix between whats coming in through the inputs, and whats coming back from the recording software. Simple basic and great to learn on to help u get decent recordings. On Oct 6, 2011, at 3:33 PM, Christopher-Mark Gilland wrote: My only concern with having a board shipped to me is now I got the board, but I don't know what the different jacks on it are, what the buttons are, what the different dials are, etc. I need someone who can go through the board with me, one on one, and as I am moving my hand around the board, can identify for me what the things are I'm feeling. Not just based on opinion of, it's a good easy board/surface, but also based on the problems I am having, which model from M-Audio or Tascam specifically would you advise I ask for? Remember, I ony have about $320 to work with provided Sam Ash reverses all the funds totally back to my card... which... they better! Chris. - Original Message - From: Monkey Pusher monkeypushe...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 1:44 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! I gotta agree with kevin here, Sonar and Pro tools are both capable of makeing commercials releases and come with great stock plug ins. Yeah they aren't the greatest in the world, but i have heard pro quality stuff done with just the built in plug ins in both. The trick is like its already been said learn the hell ou out of them, put the time in and get better at everything from how u record the source material to what u do with it once its in PT and recorded. Start by getting the best possible sound u can into pro tools, don't think you can fix it later as that will only lead to way more work, and chances are dissappointment. As they say, garbage in, garbage out, and you can't polish a turd. Oh and i was considering the Allen heath board you got at one point as well. Here are the reasons i didn't go with it. A) the USB out on that board only records the main s stereo outs, you can not send all 10 or however channels on that board to individual channels in Pro Tools. B) it does not work as a control surface. I highly recommend you return that board and get one of the simpler interfaces we recommended. It's simple and will help you learn the basics of getting a source from a mic into protools and sounding good. If sam ash wont sell you w one take your business elsewhere, I know for a fact that sam ash is both a m-audio and tascam dealer. Like i suggested, give www.sweetwater.com a call and they can help u select the right piece of gear, and help uyou if you have any issues setting it up after. On 10/6/11, Gary Readfern-Gray readfern.g...@googlemail.com wrote: Hey Chris, It's difficult to advise you not having your gear and I'm somewhere along the same journey as you but +30db of gain on your mike?? that sounds like it would clip a whole bunch to me, so turn that down and try again. Just a thought. G On 10/6/11, Chris Norman chris.norm...@googlemail.com wrote: If you want a project to play round with for a while, try this. It's one I recorded on my gear at home, using a DI'd faith guitar, a Sure (however you spell it) SM58, all going through a M-Audio Mobile Pree, which cost me £150, into my Macbook Pro 13, using a Euphonix MC2 mixing desk to mix with, and a pair of M-Audio something or others monitors. I got it all from DV247.com, not sure if they apply to America as well, but I'm in England, so hey! :P Anyways, here's th link, and I'm afraid it falls under the catigory of almost dog crap, and my voice is quite heavily autotuned, because I had a bitch
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
Excellent! I will take this other board back and ask them for my money back, then once the funds get back on my card will go through sweet water. Is there a dash in that u r l or just sweetwater.com Chris. - Original Message - From: Stephen Martin monkeypushe...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 9:37 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! The M=-Audio Fast track, and the Tascam US-122mkII are the to that were recommended I like the tascam stuff for a few reasons, the main one being that after installing the drivers you don't have to worry about loading its control panel software, it can be pretty much controlled in your recording software. As for getting fimiliar with things i buy online. Most if not everything has a PDF manual available online. I send it to a sighted friend and have them use it to go over the layout of the unit with me Evey manual has in it a picture of the item with a clear label and description pointing to each kfnob, button and jack on it. Another trick, if you have an iPhone, Android, or other modern smart phone with a good camera, call a friend on skype from the phone and hold the phone up to the device and have them tell you what each thing is. You could most likely get away with this using the the camera on the macbook as well, but i suggested a phone first since it's a little easier to hold over what you may want them to see.Back to the interfaces, both the mentioned interfaces gets u two ins, two outs and a midi in and out and headphones jack. The knobs are basically the gain for the individual inputs, the master and headphone volume, and on the tascam a knob to set the mix between whats coming in through the inputs, and whats coming back from the recording software. Simple basic and great to learn on to help u get decent recordings. On Oct 6, 2011, at 3:33 PM, Christopher-Mark Gilland wrote: My only concern with having a board shipped to me is now I got the board, but I don't know what the different jacks on it are, what the buttons are, what the different dials are, etc. I need someone who can go through the board with me, one on one, and as I am moving my hand around the board, can identify for me what the things are I'm feeling. Not just based on opinion of, it's a good easy board/surface, but also based on the problems I am having, which model from M-Audio or Tascam specifically would you advise I ask for? Remember, I ony have about $320 to work with provided Sam Ash reverses all the funds totally back to my card... which... they better! Chris. - Original Message - From: Monkey Pusher monkeypushe...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 1:44 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! I gotta agree with kevin here, Sonar and Pro tools are both capable of makeing commercials releases and come with great stock plug ins. Yeah they aren't the greatest in the world, but i have heard pro quality stuff done with just the built in plug ins in both. The trick is like its already been said learn the hell ou out of them, put the time in and get better at everything from how u record the source material to what u do with it once its in PT and recorded. Start by getting the best possible sound u can into pro tools, don't think you can fix it later as that will only lead to way more work, and chances are dissappointment. As they say, garbage in, garbage out, and you can't polish a turd. Oh and i was considering the Allen heath board you got at one point as well. Here are the reasons i didn't go with it. A) the USB out on that board only records the main s stereo outs, you can not send all 10 or however channels on that board to individual channels in Pro Tools. B) it does not work as a control surface. I highly recommend you return that board and get one of the simpler interfaces we recommended. It's simple and will help you learn the basics of getting a source from a mic into protools and sounding good. If sam ash wont sell you w one take your business elsewhere, I know for a fact that sam ash is both a m-audio and tascam dealer. Like i suggested, give www.sweetwater.com a call and they can help u select the right piece of gear, and help uyou if you have any issues setting it up after. On 10/6/11, Gary Readfern-Gray readfern.g...@googlemail.com wrote: Hey Chris, It's difficult to advise you not having your gear and I'm somewhere along the same journey as you but +30db of gain on your mike?? that sounds like it would clip a whole bunch to me, so turn that down and try again. Just a thought. G On 10/6/11, Chris Norman chris.norm...@googlemail.com wrote: If you want a project to play round with for a while, try this. It's one I recorded on my gear at home, using a DI'd faith guitar, a Sure (however you spell it) SM58, all going through a M-Audio Mobile Pree, which cost me £150, into my Macbook Pro 13, using
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
Hey man. It doesn't matter what you use. That record you heard was done on a cheap $600 001 interface with a $200 mic. When I cut drums, I hired guys who were great engineers. They weren't big names, just some guys from a small town in Illinois. However, they knew how to dial the drums in. Then, I had it mixed by our own Slau. He knows how to dial it in. Would he have preferred that my stuff be tracked on better gear so he didn't have to doctor it up as much or do tons of subtractive EQ? Probably. But he took what he had and knew how to make it sound like a million bucks. What makes it sound clear is how you use it. Tons of folks are doing industry standard stuff in Sonar, logic, garageband, etc. It's all 0's and 1's. Obviously a Pro Tools HD rig running at 192 K will sound better than a $200 interface at 44.1 16, but that's minor. It's literally how you employ the tools you have. I've spent over 13 years messing with this stuff to get the sounds I want. When I first started out, everything I did sounded like dog crap. The trick, get something that's easy for you to use, learn the hell out of it, and record record record. You'll throw away about 90 percent of what you record. THen 80, 70, etc. As you get better acquainted with your stuff, the more you'll like what you record. After 13 years, I know how to dial it in. It's that simple, and hard, all at the same time. Sorry to be such a downer, but I feel bad that someone put it in your head that getting another piece of software would make you sound better. I use Pro Tools because it's my rig of choice. Go listen to stuff by Goldfingas, http://www.goldfingas.com, or have Brian Smart send you something he did in Sonar. That stuff sounds amazing. Hell. I've got stuff I tracked in Sonar while I had that rig. My pro tools rig sounds better to me than my sonar rig did. Not because it's Pro TOols, but because I know how to dial Pro Tools in. That's the ticket. In short, learn your rig. You're jumping from board to board without really learning it. Don't go for bells and whistles. If I were you, I'd get a Mackie Onyx if you can grab the smaller one. That mixer is so easy to use and integrates right into Pro TOols. No effects, no nothing. Just an analog board with a fully digital back end. Then, open every pro tools plugin and see what it does. Move every knob in the window till you figure out how it makes it sound. Use presets if you have to. You'll find what you need after a while. Again, sorry to piss on your parade, but that's the true honest answer. You have to just do it to get through it. Trust me. I've hated stuff I've recorded and wanted to sell everything off. It's just part of this journey. Good luck. Kevin
Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it!
If possible, can you at least have a listen to my version of You Don't count the Cost I did with my multi-mix? If you know how to get the vocals for a definite! at least slightly more less clippy, that's my main goal right now for starters. The weird thing is, it doesn't sound all that clipity until I mix the track down to either an mp3 or wave. The clipping's there before, but not quite as bad. Chris. - Original Message - From: Kevin Reeves reeves...@gmail.com To: ptaccess@googlegroups.com Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 8:49 PM Subject: Re: Bad quality: I just don't get it! Hey man. It doesn't matter what you use. That record you heard was done on a cheap $600 001 interface with a $200 mic. When I cut drums, I hired guys who were great engineers. They weren't big names, just some guys from a small town in Illinois. However, they knew how to dial the drums in. Then, I had it mixed by our own Slau. He knows how to dial it in. Would he have preferred that my stuff be tracked on better gear so he didn't have to doctor it up as much or do tons of subtractive EQ? Probably. But he took what he had and knew how to make it sound like a million bucks. What makes it sound clear is how you use it. Tons of folks are doing industry standard stuff in Sonar, logic, garageband, etc. It's all 0's and 1's. Obviously a Pro Tools HD rig running at 192 K will sound better than a $200 interface at 44.1 16, but that's minor. It's literally how you employ the tools you have. I've spent over 13 years messing with this stuff to get the sounds I want. When I first started out, everything I did sounded like dog crap. The trick, get something that's easy for you to use, learn the hell out of it, and record record record. You'll throw away about 90 percent of what you record. THen 80, 70, etc. As you get better acquainted with your stuff, the more you'll like what you record. After 13 years, I know how to dial it in. It's that simple, and hard, all at the same time. Sorry to be such a downer, but I feel bad that someone put it in your head that getting another piece of software would make you sound better. I use Pro Tools because it's my rig of choice. Go listen to stuff by Goldfingas, http://www.goldfingas.com, or have Brian Smart send you something he did in Sonar. That stuff sounds amazing. Hell. I've got stuff I tracked in Sonar while I had that rig. My pro tools rig sounds better to me than my sonar rig did. Not because it's Pro TOols, but because I know how to dial Pro Tools in. That's the ticket. In short, learn your rig. You're jumping from board to board without really learning it. Don't go for bells and whistles. If I were you, I'd get a Mackie Onyx if you can grab the smaller one. That mixer is so easy to use and integrates right into Pro TOols. No effects, no nothing. Just an analog board with a fully digital back end. Then, open every pro tools plugin and see what it does. Move every knob in the window till you figure out how it makes it sound. Use presets if you have to. You'll find what you need after a while. Again, sorry to piss on your parade, but that's the true honest answer. You have to just do it to get through it. Trust me. I've hated stuff I've recorded and wanted to sell everything off. It's just part of this journey. Good luck. Kevin=
