Biggsy

[quote name='cheddatom' post='315619' date='Oct 27 2008, 10:30 AM']Well if all your channels are clipping, and you bring down the master fader, you still tend to get distortion from the individual channels before the master fader.[/quote] Ah yes, of course... It's a school day every day

I like the mix! The guitar parts and bass sit together really well to my ears. I think drums and vocals are much harder to achieve 'professional' results with on a budget; Most studio's vocal mic's cost more than all of my music gear put together, and don't even mention the pre's!

I didn't know you could do that.. At the risk of sounding stupid, is that different from using the master fader?

I think as most people have said everyone has their techniques in getting a mix to sound good. It's probably a good idea to post what you have so far so people can give you some specific pointers. As Archetype says, when starting out it's best not to concentrate on volume so much and avoid mixing on the limit of clipping. That way it makes it easier to get the instruments working together and sounding more natural without runing the quality. Eq, compressors/gates and stereo field placement can be used to achieve the wall of sound you're after, so if you want to create more powerful mixes yourself they're good tools to attempt to master. There really is no substitute for knowledge and experience though, which is why mastering is such an expensive process. As a cheap alternative, if you've given yourself a few Db of headroom in the overall mix and got all the instruments and vocals balanced how you like, you could try using a piece of 'finalising' software (or even hardware) to maximise the volume and create a bigger sound. I've tried one called [url="http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/download.asp"]'iZotope Ozone' [/url]in the past which I was really impressed with, it's so easy to use.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='300453' date='Oct 6 2008, 01:29 PM']I recommend stealing as many different DAWs as possible to see which one you get on with best.[/quote] +1! (And shame on you Charic for damning Cubase!) Pro-Tools seems to be industry standard, but I turned to Cubase because it's a doddle. Cakewalk and Logic are both worth a go as well.

Perfect, that was the one.. Cheers

Hi Guys, I'm having a go at a DIY refinish on my Mexican Jazz. Not so long ago while browsing BC I stumbled upon a link to a forum dedicated to DIY refins. They also sold related things like seam-sealer, nitro cellulose (I think) and poly clear coats. Now I'm back to the wood it's time to decide on colours and order the bits I need, but I've lost the site Does that description ring any bells with anyone? I've been searching Google and BC for ages trying to find it.

There are Cubase tutorial vids all over Youtube too.. Really helped me get started, once you've got the basics it starts to become intuative..

[quote name='bassbonehead' post='236992' date='Jul 11 2008, 12:19 AM']There is a crossover. There are high and low output connectors on the peavey.[/quote] Are you sure the high and low outputs are a crossover? Maybe high is for passive speakers and low is for active instead? If you're getting the full range from your tops that would add up. Do you have any filer switches engaged?

After all that, please ignore my first reccomendation! After learning more today, the Mackie unit is flawed majorly.

[quote name='slaphappygarry' post='236519' date='Jul 10 2008, 01:45 PM']You do mean 44.1khz? You don't get 54khz as far as i was aware. Its i 44.1khz or 48khz (the film standard) and multiples of that going up (88.2, 96, 176.4, 192...) G[/quote] Yes, I do! God knows why I typed 54 The 828 has the 48Khz setting too.

[quote name='cheddatom']The firewire macki dealy looks great to me![/quote] When I was copying the link I thought you might like that one! It's all about the pre's [quote name='cheddatom']To be fair, I don't think i would spend that much money on an interface with a max of 4 inputs.[/quote] +1.. Although generally, I do find you get what you pay for. There are so many factors in achieving a decent recording it's all but impossible to find an interface that adequately covers all the bases without having to sell any internal organs. IMO, if you're on a low, low budget it's best to buy something realtively cheap and solid for now without any unnecessary bells & whistles (DFX etc) that has all the connectivity you'd need to expand on later but is enough to get you started. That way it'll probably still be worth something when you come to sell, too.. This is the exact way I've gone about it. I spent 130 quid on a used MOTU 828 (firewire) giving me 8 simultaneous channels, two channels of phantom power, in 54Khz resolution. (That's CD quality to you and me, but do bare in mind many people reccomend recording in 96Khz and dithering the final mix back down to 54Khz. I don't.) It can be daisy chained with other MOTU's to give you more channels, (even the newer generations which offer 96Khz recording) and it has every kind of connectivity I've ever heard of. I spent months and months looking into (and trying to understand) all of the different factors to note about audio interfaces, (to be fair I probably haven't touched the tip of the iceberg) and the above was the best solution for me. I based my decision on so many factors it would be quite frankly tedious to go into, but I'd be happy to answer any questions on it! I'd highly reccomend MOTU products, their driver support is incredible, which is important for resale purpouses. The original 828 can be picked up for around a hundred quid, which will be enough to get you started. The 828 MK2 is better in nearly every way, and I think I saw one for sale on here not so long ago for 250 beans. Regards to software choice, in my understanding Pro-Tools is favoured mostly because of it's superior hardware support. It's easier to set it up to control motorised faders and so on. (Is that right?) Aside from that, you'll find all the top 'sequencer' software basically does exactly the same thing in a slightly different way, so it's all about the interface and personal preference. If you know Cubase, I'd stick with Cubase.

That Peavey looks like it only carries a stereo channel to the computer, so only really good if you're going to be recording one thing at once, as it won't separate the tracks for Cubase to use. If you want to be able to record guitar, drums and bass at the same time (for example), but edit them separately in cubase, you'll need an interface that specifies more separate channels of output via the USB. Firewire seems to yield the best value for multitrack interfaces, if your computer has it I'd highly reccomend this: [url="http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/onyx-1220/12617"]Mackie Onyx 1220: New[/url] (You'd need to include the firewire interface at the bottom of the page) [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mackie-Onyx-1220-12ch-analogue-mixer-firewire-option_W0QQitemZ270252888440QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item270252888440&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318"]Mackie Onyx 1220: Used[/url] (Includes the firewire interface by the looks of it) An added bonus is that it has decent pre's, that you'd probably otherwise soon find yourself needing. I think there are USB alternatives but I don't know much about them to reccomend anything, but I imagine they'd probably have to use USB 2.0 to have enough bandwidth to support multitracking, like [url="http://www.inta-audio.com/products.asp?partno=mix-d-edim16dx"]this one[/url]. As for the monitors, actives will connect directly with no problem. I hope that helps in some way, I only have limited experience, hopefully other people will have more ideas to mull!

I just noticed that yesterday, shhhhh!

[quote name='slobluesine' post='231286' date='Jul 2 2008, 01:23 PM']any suggestions on a simple system for live recording, just a cuppla mics into something or other, i'm looking to buy a cheapish system, CD & DAT recorders still look expensive, Laptop will get nicked as soon as i plug it in, how about mics?[/quote] Just for practice / reference purpouses right? I've heard you can get a mic attachment for the newer iPods which is pretty decent for that kind of thing.. If it's for anything more than practice/reference material, you'll need a system that can take way more than just a couple of mics.

[quote name='obbm' post='225128' date='Jun 23 2008, 04:14 PM']No need to go down to 2-ohms if you get a secondary power amp. You can run one set of 4-ohm spekers from the Eden. Take a line out to the secondary power amp, and if it's a 2-channel device then you can run a set of 4-ohm speakers from each channel. 6 x 8-ohm cabs in total. Is that enough air movement?[/quote] That sounds perfect! Righto, off to ebay to search for cheap 2 channel power amps. I hear Crown and QSC are good. What should I look out for when considering bass-specific performance?