DaytonaRik

8 minutes ago, Mcgiver69 said:

Nice one, that will get you as close as you can be.

BTW if you're getting a plugin in this Black Friday I would recommend you get this one, this will take care of gain staging over a considerable number of tracks in no time. At that price it would be criminal not getting it.

https://www.hornetplugins.com/plugins/hornet-vu-meter-mk4/

Thanks @Mcgiver69 - that looks perfect for buses/groups

2 minutes ago, Mcgiver69 said:

I can only advise to make it as flat as possible and use a lot of references to make your mix as close to whatever your reference track is. Like I said it will never be ideal because a well treat room cost a lot and we usually do not have the space to create such room.

I think that package you are buying comes with both (room and headphones) so I would then get the CanOpener to test my mixes with headphones, that will take it close to your speakers and will give you more points of reference (with CO and without). That's what I would do.

Thanks for the advice @Mcgiver69 - the more tools we have at our disposal the better.  I'm using the demo of SW Headphone edition and the improvements in bass response, especially around 70-100hz are incredible, plus by flattening the response from 1.1khz everything just seems fuller and more weighty! 

2 minutes ago, Mcgiver69 said:

Only headphones, if you're talking about monitors then Sonarworks is the best way to go, cheaper than IK Multimedia and still gives you great results.

The issue is that no matter what room you have the calibration will ensure your monitors will operate at the flattest possible. It's not ideal but there's no such thing when you have a home recording or small studio environment.

Agree - home studio environment is a nightmare and far from perfect but anything we can do to flatten the response and trust what we hear can only be a good thing

8 minutes ago, Mcgiver69 said:

I used them for 9 months (Free from Focusrite) and I liked it. Now to be honest you can do better work with Morphit paired with CanOpener. End up cheaper and your mixes will come out better as CanOpener do the crosstalk that happens with real speakers.

https://www.toneboosters.com/tb_morphit_v1.html

https://goodhertz.co/canopener-studio/

 

Do either of those actually work with monitors or just headphones?  A quick glance would show that it's the latter?  I also mix on a set of KRK Rokit 5's and want to apply correction to those as well which Sonarworks allows me to do.  Sonarworks also include a calibrated reference condenser mic (which is useful for RTA) in the price and make the profile of that individual mic available to you for your room measurements.  Black Friday deal is $179

2 hours ago, Steve Browning said:

If I recall they were supported by a band called Hustler. The following year they were supported by the UK band Mr Big (of Romeo fame). There were a superb band and the guitarist/singer (Dicken) was rushing about the whole time he wasn't singing.

show was filmed 31/3/'74 and they were supported by a Liverpool  band called Nutz who also supported (amongst others) Black Sabbath and they went on to appear at the Reading festival.   The bass player and guitarist are still very active in the Liverpool music scene.  Keith (bass) also played with Garth Rocket and the Moonshiners.

Thanks @Ramirez- the results on the K702s have been impressive enough for me to consider the full studio edition.  Have you tried it with your monitors as well?  If so then I'd be intrigued to hear your opinion.

Whole bunch of offers from Sonar Works - 

I've just downloaded a demo of Sonar Works Reference 4 Headphone Edition and the adjustments to the EQ of my AKG K702 headphones (which I always thought sounded great) were impressive, boosting the lows at around 90hz, taking a notch out of the low mids at around 1k and generally tidying up the whole response from 12k upwards (se attached before/after images)

Just wondered if anyone uses this as there's a Black Friday sale on reducing the studio edition from $299 to $179 which includes a reference microphone to accurately measure the response with your own room/speakers.  I know it's not a substitute for proper room treatment, but  from my demo of the system the results seem to speak for themselves and the software seems to have a few fans, notably producer/engineer Warren Huart (Korn, Black Veil Brides, The Ramones, Ace Frehley, Aerosmith) who runs the Produce Like a Pro YouTube channel.

The system will also emulate pre-defined curves such as hi-fi speakers, cinema system curves etc.

Thoughts and comments appreciated.

I've been getting by with a combination of an Apogee Jam, plus a Behringer XR18 and whilst both had allowed me to record neither are what you'd call leading edge on the old interface stakes.  Both had limited options of 44.1 or 48khz sample rate but neither were what you'll call speedy.  Using Reaper's built in latency The Jam has reported a latency of 7.0 m/s at 48khz with 128 samples.  The Behringer does better and get's down to 5.8 m/s with the same settings.

Enter - The Focusrite Clarett 2Pre!

I had been looking for a Thunderbolt interface and had all but given up of hope of finding one as all of their current Prosumer are now USB-C but I happened upon a new-old-stock Thunderbolt interface for sale on eBay and jumped at the chance.  The results are astonishing - running the same 48khz/128 samples setting the Clarett records just 3.3 m/s of latency according to Reaper's built in measurements, but upping the frequency to 96khz and 128 samples the Focusrite has an amazing latency value of 1.8 m/s.

Build quality is excellent - external power supply aside - with an all metal case, satisfying relay switches when swapping between line and instrument level and a clear easy to read panel.  Front mounted phantom power buttons per channel, and monitor and headphone levels are also on the front.  The interface comes with the excellent Control software which allows you to route the various inputs to the four 1/4" outputs or SPDIF ports.  It's a step up from the Scarlett, definitely more Prosumer than consumer.

A very impressive piece of kit and an excellent addition to the home studio.

I may have just purchased a Focusrite Clarett interface as well - oops! 🤪

51 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

By signing up to their site, they're offering the Vst 'Riot Drums' for $5, which I think is a very good deal, if Metal drumming is of interest. Just sayin'. 

Don't really need Riot Drums as I use Slate Drums 5.5 but some of their other offerings such as their IRs have appeal 🤔

1. Rode NT-1
2. KRK Rokit 5 Monitors
3. AKG K702 headphones
4. Reaper (finally!)
5. UgriTones midi drum packs

Think that's it...?

Head over, click the link, get the new CLA plugin

https://www.waves.com/lpn/black-friday-2020/free-plugin-signup?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=free&utm_term=midi&utm_content=image-v1&fbclid=IwAR3eOkuKWGdWmz9E73a7255dIO8SVbHGWv0RnJ0fSro-hXX5CGI2C7WbIAg

18 hours ago, christhammer666 said:

ive never been so scared of 3 pictures in my entire life 🙂

I work in IT so I've usually been keen to adopt technology when I can see a benefit for it...things like the XR18 mixer which I use an an interface, DAW control running on the iPad as a Mackie control surface to control faders in Reaper etc.  Any DAW is very logical if you've had any exposure to a recording studio or even a live mixer in some aspects.

Embrace the tech!

I've had so much fun during lock down learning about home recording, studio tips/tricks/techniques and enjoyed it so much that I've enrolled at my local college for recording and music production evening courses starting in 2021.

Maybe it helps that I also sing and play guitar so don't have a need for any external musicians with the exception of the odd guitar solo if I want something really special beyond my capabilities, but getting the home studio setup has been so good for my mental health during recent months, giving me something to focus on and expand my knowledge.

Just run through this for the first time in about 5 years - funny how it sticks in your head!

Duff does throw a few curve balls into this one with odd fills that he only plays once during the main verse structure, but i've found over the years that it's a similar story with a lot of the Duff's lines.

As most have said, get the fundamentals of the track down into sections then work on each section individually,  fine tuning them and making minor corrections as you go along.

Our guitarist asked if I'm going to start to look for bookings for 2021...not really at the moment was my reply!

Hope no-one gigging in England has any pub gigs booked for the next 4 weekends?

I'm using the Hi-Z input from my XR18 into Reaper and generally run 3 channels of bass - one is usually Positive Grid's BIAS FX 2 simulating a mic'd up cab, the 2nd is a 'free' Tech 21 pedal emulation available here https://www.tseaudio.com/software/tseBOD and finally a clean DI signal.  I also occasionally run a 4th track on a tip from Steve Slate which is the DI channel into a Neve pre-amp sim for gain/saturation.

16 hours ago, TwoTimesBass said:

I normally go via dedicated faders/channels, one per effect though, which I guess is 'dedicated FX return buss' in your question. I usually try and group any FX return channels on the right/bottom of my mix setup which is an old-school hangover from analogue days when the stereo channels were generally on the right hand side of the desk

 

Sort of similar - I know some people who take their individual FX returns and send them to a single "FX Bus" and control the whole FX return gamut from a single fader.  I'm with @Dad3353 - I tend to direct the FX returns that are associated with a given group to that group mix bus otherwise you can end up with unmuted FX returns, or an FX level that sits in correctly in the mix after adjusting the bus level.

Just a quick survey as to how most people route their FX returns?  I know that I can send them pretty much anywhere in Reaper so the how to isn't the question, the question is where do you direct your returns? Is there sonic difference?  Is there a practical reason why one option is preferential to the others?

I miss my Limelight for this very topic

2 hours ago, Beedster said:

Again, experiment Nicko, depending on what voice you're going for, a pop filter (spoffle as Hugh Laurie apparently named them), can take a little bit of the air away from a voice as well. I guess like filtering, don't put something between the source and the desk unless it improves something

I've seen the inside of my SM58 capsule basket - wouldn't want a studio vocal mic to end up like that!!! 🤮

I'm sure many of you will already have this - but for those that don't then head over to TSE and download their BOD Tech 21 VST emulation which I saw demo'd on the SpectreSoundsStudios YouTube channel.

https://www.tseaudio.com/software/tseBOD

Although it can be downloaded completely free of charge, TSE have a suggestion of a minimum donation of $5 for the software which is peanuts and it's a pretty good sim...very usable in it's own right for saturation as well as adding a little growl and bite to your recorded bass tracks.