My Old Mixes Were HORRIBLE
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- Опубліковано 30 тра 2024
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For fun, I recently decided to dig up a few mixes that I did back around 2008 and I gotta say...
My old mixes sounded ATROCIOUS.
In this video, I share these older mixes with you while also highlighting the mistakes I was making that caused my productions to sound so terrible back then.
FUN FACT: I also share a few of my later mixes that sound so much better...even though I was using the exact same gear and plugins!
It's not your gear or plugins that matter, it's your approach and system and this video is further proof of that fact.
Featured artist [the good rock mix]: Poeta ( / poetaband )
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All music in video mixed and mastered @ www.frightboxrecording.com
To be fair… that straight razor blade sound is something a lot of underground “true” black metal bands aim for. 😅
Yeah I think it sounds great lol
maybe the snare is too loud for me, but i agree, i like a lot this sound style
I feel like black metal against black metal would be a better comparison than black metal against a modern hardcore band
That older black metal mix was perfect.
Really??? It hurts for me to even listen to it!
it was perfect for trve kvlt lofi standards. It's supposed to sound like shit.
@@FrightboxRecording As Satan intended.
I honestly liked that black metal one a lot
@@FrightboxRecording Yeah. Harsh sounding production values can really augment the artistic intent for artist in that style.
Even accidentally amateurish production can work really well.
Love your philosophy and approach. you nailed it, .. there are NO magic bullets other than putting in the hard work with a good process.
I’m hungry for more content! Your new mixes sound great
100 af my problem. Thank you for all your info. You do so well to help music production make sense to me. Just since I started recently following you, I went from "ehhh" spending production to a demo track sounding similar to Cannibal Corpse's The Bleeding. Baby steps in the right direction. Thank you!
Super happy with our mixes from
You, especially that Poeta one ;)
Love the boominess on the rock "mix".
Black Metal don't need or strive for a polished mix. There are countless of albums that sound like that. But we get your point though.
I went back and listened to a couple of my pre Mix Crypt mixes from just 18 months ago. Holy crap.
Bobby, I love you baby! Keep the great videos rolling!
RemyRAD
Some of us had a meteoric, career. I was on a fast track early on. And then found myself at the same studio with Bob Clearmountain. So? It all depends on how you go about things. Don't sweat the stupid little stuff. Plug in any old microphones. High pass filter them. Plug in the limiter. Hit the limiter hard. Stick on a downward expander. Tighten up the microphone. You'll be glad you did..
And commit with limiters when you are tracking. Just do it. Don't worry about undoing it. You're not going to undo anything. You're going to use it as is. Learn how to. You have to. You will be thrown that curve one day. You might as well learn how to cope with it now. Before it becomes a surprise. To ruin your career. Because you can use no excuses. Plain and simple, none. It's all up to you. You can't say the equipment ain't right. No you ain't right. It's all up to you.
Bobby think certain things are not professional sounding. He is wrong. Sure. He's not going to sound like CLA, Clearmountain,, Massenburg or anybody else early on. You merely learn from them. You figure out how to make your stuff sound like them. With what you have to work with. It won't be the right stuff. That's for sure. You have to improvise. That's what it's all about. There is no perfect. If you deliver something. It's professional. Especially if you been paid for it. If you've not been paid for it? They are your guinea pigs. They are getting a free recording. They are helping you to learn.. Before you charge people for your services. But that's also a misnomer.
You can be awful at what you do. As long as you do it professionally. And deliver what you are being paid for. It doesn't matter how bad you think it is. They may think it's great. So don't tell them it's bad! Do not denigrate yourself God dammit! That's not being professional! That's being an amateur. Stop it!
I mean I am not just being funny. I am being absolutely serious while laughing through this. Because I know the pains everybody is going through. We all went through it. But those of us who have learned. Can deliver a sideways outlook. That is perfectly fine. And professional. No matter what you think.
So I think Bobby is a little too hard on himself but he is striving for perfection. Which doesn't really exist. And can burn you out. Listen to the way Bob Clearmountain engineers. My engineering is similar. He doesn't talk about the technical stuff of what he's doing. He doesn't put that in his forethought. He just does it. You just tweak a knob until it sounds right. Because sometimes. You cannot reposition the microphone. You are on the air live. And the microphone moved. Oh well.. Better make it sound good anyhow. That's what it's all about. More about Recovery than Perfection. Perfection is a phallus, see? It's all in how you put the audio words together. What you get up your end. It's really that simple. And you won't get arrested for a lousy mix. That's the best part. Smoke another joint and it might go better. Then again it might not? I can't do it without that stuff. Even when I'm live on the network coast-to-coast and the POTUS is speaking. I've got millions of people listening. You think I'm going to do that sober? That would be nuts!
As I'm an old hard-nosed Audio Engineer. Nothing bothers me. Nothing really challenges me. I deliver a professional product each and every time. Because I have to. I'm at the top. Of the Heap of Audio Engineers. As NBC only hired the best engineers. And they paid us well. Let me purchase my own studio. And that's better than the Sound City Control Room. It really was. For not pennies on the dollar. But pennies on the tens of thousands of dollars. That's a whole lot different. They really liked my Audio Engineering at NBC-TV. And they rewarded me in the end. With a pair of Neve consoles. I got for next to nothing. But. They needed total complete, rebuilding, refurbishment, recovery, repairs. And it would have normally cost $30,000 to do what I did. I didn't have $30,000. So I had to figure out a better way. A much better way. Then only cost me $3000. And nobody believed it was possible.
Well it was very possible. Because I worked out a new method. That has now become virtually the de facto standard. For refurbishing legendary audio consoles. I turned on my other technical friends. They tried it. It blew them away. They couldn't believe it. API consoles working like brand-new again. That they were going to get rid of they got so intermittent. But not anymore! Not after following my refurbishing recipe. It's a recipe. It can take a couple of weeks to do or more. But when you are done. You have a brand-new console. That will work 100% reliably for the next 20 years. It's an amazing thing. If you do it my way. As it comes from years of maintenance and manufacturing both. With some of the most legendary audio manufacturers in the industry. Not gobbledygook. Not entry-level garbage. The top stuff. The real expensive stuff. My audio console ways is much as a Mazda Miata. It's not portable. It's got 18 patch bays. And that's hardly enough. I could use a couple more. And I have over 100 patch cords. Sometimes they are all in use and I have run short. I have a lot of limiters a lot of gates a lot of effects to patch it. Sometimes up to 100 patch cords in the patch bay. And that's just crazy. It'll blow your mind. And I can't do that sober. You would lose your mind. You would overthink everything. And you won't get anywhere that way. Bobby's getting the hang of it. This stuff sounds pretty cool. I don't know how long it takes for him to do that? I have to do it in 60 seconds. Before they switch to me live with a musical gig. And upon the satellite for worldwide distribution. You don't want to be completely sober for that. You have to learn how to work in this other manner. At it takes a lot of practice! You have to smoke a lot! And get this down! So you can do it in any condition. That's what Audio Engineering is all about! It's rock 'n' roll! Right? Right.
So have fun and don't play in the street.
RemyRAD
I really dig audio. I always have. I was raised in recording studios starting at age 7. Along with radio and TV stations. And it sure didn't look like work to me. It looks like you can get paid to have fun. You can get paid to watch television. And you can be paid to do live rock 'n' roll broadcasts. Those are All, TAKE-1.No retakes. So you better be good and fast on the faders. It's all about the balance. It's not about the gizmos. It's not about the technical blah blah. It's only about the groove, the feel. Technical garbage should not even be mentioned. It either sounds good or it doesn't. Pick one. The cheap microphone might sound better than the expensive microphone. And generally does. The expensive microphone reveals all the stuff you don't want. The cheap microphone pre-filters out that stuff. That works for you. So you don't have to. Bandwidth limited microphones are intelligent to use. Like SM-57's. Don't bother with a, SM-7. It's the same capsule as the 57. Or so their engineers told me. When I needed engineering specifics. To write contracts with. Oh really? The same? The same one yes. Thank you.
So do not waste your money on SM-7's. Get the really big giant, gray foam pop filter. For your 57's. You've seen them. A pop filter as big as the entire microphone. That's what you want on your 57's. When you cut vocals. And you will get that sound of the SM-7. And you will sound like Michael Jackson. Because that's what was used on his lead vocals. Lead not backups. Backups were the old-fashioned vacuum tube, AKG/TELEFUNKEN's. On his backup vocals. That gave them the extra zip. The SM-7 gave his lead vocal the smoothness. And this is how you learn such stuff. In fact.
Many years ago. Back in the early 1980s. When we still spent X-amount per minute. On long-distance phone calls. I got my education via long-distance bills. I would call the companies up directly. I would get to the engineers. Not the customer service people. No. The engineers. And I would discuss the product with the engineers. It's amazing what you can learn that way. A free education and every phone call. For only 5 cents per minute. And my phone bills were hundreds of dollars per month. But I called Neumann. I called Ampex. I called MCI. I called Auditronics. I called op amp labs. I called up Gately Electronics. I called up Electro Voice. I called up SHURE Brothers. I called up Neumann. I called up Sennheiser. And I took any free seminars any of these companies were offering. Yes I had to go to New York City for a week a couple times. And then become a factory trained and authorized warranty service technician on Ampex, MM-1100 recorders and AG 440 C recorders. I think I took that course back in 1972? And I thought I was hot stuff. Traveling to New York City. At 16 or 17 years of age. I didn't even have a drivers license yet. I did get that until I was 18. But you can get one hell of an education that way. From the people that make the gear that record the hit records. And then strangely enough. They started offering me jobs. I don't know why? I was I school dropout. They said they thought I knew something. I'm glad they knew that. So I went to work for some of them. It was very educational. Building the finest studio stuff in the world. Yeah that was fun. You get to stop at other studios and stuff. And find your stuff in their studio. That's always very flattering. I know Paul Wolf was very proud of when he got API. And I helped him out with that. That's why I got the first 231 24 mixers ever made. One was the production prototype. It's a little funny inside. A little like a baby that shows up after 8 months. It's cute inside. And I like my first release versions. Better than the current ones. Though the current ones have a couple of other features I like mine don't have. Mine do things those don't have. But they are all cool. And they certainly don't sound like a Neve. I mean I like both. I cut my teeth on API when I was only 17. But started using Neve when I was 25. You really can't go wrong with either. But both sound very different. And you have to understand that difference. Bob Clearmountain does. And he can't use API. Other people like Jack Douglas prefer API. So who's right? Everybody. Who is wrong? Nobody.
It's simply up to you. How you balance the sound. To make it sound good for the listener to enjoy. It has nothing to do with technical blah blah. But we are aware of it. We don't concentrate on it. We know what we need it, to sound, like.
There's another difference in the way I record and mix. Because I've done all my stuff mostly live for broadcast and live recordings. I am occasionally given. Some of the bands latest CD releases. And I have an opportunity to hear some of them. Before I have to mix them live. And so with those. I have the advantage. Of hearing how they were presented. How the engineer presented them. And I will try to duplicate that. To the best of my abilities, live. Perhaps with a completely different console and processing gear. But I will get close.
That's a very different stance to take. To try and imitate the style of other engineers. To match that band up with their current release. In a live scenario. To the best of my abilities. And most other engineers never have to think about doing such things. Or knowing what that studio had they made their latest recording at. And having a feel for that texture and sound. And I could very much identify frequently. When there recording. Came out of a similar Neve, to mine. I can hear that console they used. They have a distinctive sound. So do SSL. So do Auditronics. So do MCI. They all do. I've used just about everything except a, Flickinger. I've seen a couple. He created a very interesting desk. Sly and the family Stone had one. I always thought there stuff sounded cool but weird. Now I know why LOL.
At Roberta Flack killing me softly? I almost purchased that console used. But it hissed like an angry snake. Just like it did on that song. It was all germanium transistor. And it looked horrible. It was a homebrew audio console. Painted flesh tone. Ugh! Yeah I passed on that one. Though I dearly loved that recording. The hissing was not from the audiotape. It was from the audio console. And that pretty much made me decide to build my own. After looking at that and some other worn out audio consoles. I was like I can't do that to ourselves. We need something new. That we can't afford. So I'm just going to have to build it. If you want something done right? You do-it-yourself. And you better do it right the first time. That's the tricky part. You need to build it so it's going the last, 10 years. Strangely enough. I just sold the last 2/3 of that console for, $4000, three years ago. It's still going strong. I build things good.. They have to last under strenuous professional daily use. No screwing around. No flimsy garbage. It's just not worth it. Go for better builds and less features. Keep it simple. Effects is effects. Effects ain't recordings. You don't need effects. You need to make beautiful sounding recordings.
And remember. ProTools ain't all that. And they recently, shot themselves in the foot. Deciding to charge a monthly subscription fee. And if you have the money and the plug-ins? Fine. But if not?
Reaper still sounds like the way to go. It's fully functional and free. With a nag. And I think they have a lot of audacity offering Audacity. Maybe it's gotten better? I thought it sucked and was clunky. But if you need free? Enjoy your misery. I won't waste my time with it. I was an early adopter of,, Cool Edit later becoming Adobe Audition. It has features I use in postproduction for both audio and video. It is unlike other software packages. I've been using it since 1996. It's better than all others. And it has some noise reduction capabilities second to none. Editing right down to the sample. Great native on board stuff. A great dynamics section.
(More Sideways Audio in the following post)
But Bobby. When I was 23. I started tackling, National Commercials and National Jingles. Without a synthesizer. Without any electronic instruments.
Yeah I used who I would refer to as the, Miami Ranking Crew. You know them. You've heard them on the Bee Gees, the Eagles, Joe Walsh, Jimmy Buffett, all those guys. Use the Miami Wrecking Crew out of, Criteria/Hit Factory Miami. Along with, one third of the Miami Symphony Orchestra Members. Overdubbed a few times. To basically get the whole symphony. 72 separate overdubbed tracks. All on a 8 track MCI at 30 IPS. And I had to develop, completely new recording techniques to do this. Back in the day before we had computers or software. And then. Then!
I had gotten this one new digital effects box. I wanted some digital delay. At this came with real-time pitch shifting called the Eventide Harmonizer, H-910. And we had one solo singer. The bosses son hired. That saying everything flat.. My commercial producer freaked out and asked me what the hell are we going to do with this? I said don't worry. I've got a plan..
And so in 1979. I did, Digital Pitch Correction. On this one lousy singer we had. And likely the first use of digital pitch correction in 1979. I had to punch in as I went. Change the pitch. Punch again. Change the pitch punch again. And again and again. Until I got him on pitch. And the coolest thing was. He kept on rushing the beat. But there was 36 ms of digital latency. And it put him on the backside of the beat. It sounded even better! Everybody freaked.
And I didn't do anything wrong. I still listen to those recordings and mixes I did in 1979. The old copies I have are 9 generations down in analog. And of course they sound a little floozy. Because the tape was sticky. And I could not hold tape head azimuth. It's all over the place. And these were just demo stereo mixes. We never released this way. And the boss and told me to record for strictly mono release. Until the sales force of over 50 across the country heard it. Call the boss and asked for some stereo mixes it sounded so fabulous.
Then the boss asked me for some stereo mixes. Stereo mixes? Leon you told me to do this strictly for mono when I wanted to do it for stereo. And you said no. He looks at me and says… So you can't? I said I'll see what I can do.
And at around 23 years of age. With only 4 headphones to go around. And 13 people in the studio. Originally designed for only 4 announcers. With no usable acoustics. And only 1/2 broken AKG, BX-20 E reverb spring I had to use. Two,, lightly modified, black 1176's. And a pair of Allison Research KEPEX-1's. And 8 microphones. And that's it.
And so I end up with 72 overdubbed tracks on a 8 track master. Mixed down to stereo. And how do you get 72 overdubbed tracks? By using virtual tracks in analog. All overdubs are done on separate pieces of 8 track tape. Synchronized in to the master 8 track. Via, Reel Tape Flanging. And you get virtual tracks that way. Before we ever had digital recording or computers to do that with. And I didn't go to school for this. I was a bona fide high school dropout with nothing more than a GED. I may floozy. And it sounds like this:
soundcloud.com/remyrad/remygolnickjinglesotdemomb2
This is 9 analog generations down. Coming off of 1/4 track, 7.5 IPS, copies. Copies of copies of copies. And think what my original masters must've sounded like.
And what was the console I used!? It was horrible! It was a Yamaha, PM-1000, crap PA board. I took out the output transformers and ran it single ended out. It was horrible sounding. The mid band EQ was virtually unusable. And I had no headphones to go around. So I had to blare the rhythm tracks out the studio speakers. And when you are recording violins and oboes. I am picking more of the speakers up in their microphones than I am them. And I have to get rid of that speaker bleed. So I have to do another pass. Combine the tracks out of phase. And Null out the studio speaker feed. Nobody had ever done this before. The musicians loved it. They didn't have to wear any headphones. The process has to be very exacting. A microphone cannot be bumped into. Otherwise it won't work.
And oh by the way. In a happenstance meeting in New York City. These jingles got played for somebody who offered me some work. But I couldn't take him up on his offer at that time. He was shocked. I don't think he offered any other Americans any work? I'm not certain? His name was, Sir George Martin. You may have heard of him? He was known as the 5th Beatle. He was their producer. He heard these jingles. He asked me how I did them? I went into a very involved dissertation. He was extremely impressed. And offered me work at Montserrat Air Studios. And wanted me. But I couldn't leave my girlfriend. I was funding her career.. She became a famous opera singer later. Then she divorced me.. Oh well?
So I've never disliked any of the recordings I've ever made. Weren't you listening to what you were doing? Did you have some reference records to play? Didn't you know how things were supposed to sound? I guess not? It's okay. Everybody has to learn. I just knew how to do it. I don't know how? I think I'm talented? Yeah that must be it? Because I had to figure out what couldn't be done. And that took a lot of marijuana that I was never compensated for.
Some of the mono production mixes are also heard on this demo.. Some are just the music tracks in mono. There's a couple of stereo music tracks. There's a very up-tempo rock one. That was never used. It was too contemporary for 1979. I engineered for the 1980s. Before the 1980s. All the drums are gated. Everything is gated. There's downward expanders on all the vocals. There's an 1176 on everything. That's all I had! And the modification to that? It's unique.
It was a UREI recommended mod. You install a, point 5 µF, non-polarized capacitor. In line with the input peak detector. You connect that to a switch. You drill a hole on the front panel and insert.. And you now have a High Frequency Limiter/High Frequency De-esser. And it is used heavily on this. Why? The Yamaha board is referred to as a Baby Neve. Because it's circuitry. Mimics that of some old Neve's. But the transformers are horrible! And they turn the sound to mud. The second pass through.. I had to pass the audio through about 9 times over! And with each pass. Everything turned to mud. So?
I had to turn up the high-frequency EQ pot. Just about all the way. For every pass through. This made the high end come through. Shrieking terribly. And the high-frequency limit mod. Took care of the shrieking. While still retaining the high end you can hear. And it's 9 analog generations down. No noise reduction used other than a KEPEX downward expander. That's much more effective noise reduction than any horrible Miss tracking Dolby or DBX.
And I specified an MCI, JH-110 A. Even though the B version had just been introduced. And they recommended that over the earlier A. And I said I didn't want the new one. I want the old one. Because the old one had a problem that I wanted. And the problem was at 30 IPS. That I wanted to use. And I wanted the problem. What was the problem?
It caused an unnatural low-frequency rise. So at 30 IPS. The machine was flat down to 30 Hz. No other American machine could do that. Only the Studer''s could do that. So could the MCI JH-110 A's. Where the B's all cut off at 60 Hz at 30 IPS. So you got an extra lower octave at 30 IPS. You can hear it. There is more distortion. Oh well LOL!
And toward the end of the jingle demo. There are some actual commercials by our announcers. These were the commercials I was cutting. With the jingles I made. And jingles from the finest jingle makers in New York City and Chicago also. Then I replaced. For about 1/10 the cost. Because I could do what nobody else could do.
(More Sideways Audio in following post)
aside from mixing, i think that black metal one do feels well with "bad mix". somehow under certain situation it can't be "modern" or good lol
I worked at the same studio in New York City that Bob Clearmountain came from. I got to work with Bob a little. I think we work similarly. He's very organic. He doesn't think about the technical stuff. He just makes it sound right. He plays with the knobs and dials. He doesn't really record much. He mixes more than he records. Stuff that other people recorded. That he had no control over. They give you tracks. You do something with them. You make them come alive.
And when he does record. He mostly uses an older Neve. But he also uses his little transformer less single-channel older, Apogee, converter plugged into his laptop. At Hill record vocals or other instruments that way also. That's not a Neve. That's not an SSL. That's an old transformer list Apogee single-channel gizmo. He told me he liked the older one best. I said Bob. Do you know what you're saying about your wife's company Apogee? He said yeah I know but LOL I like the earlier one. I thought that was very funny. He didn't like the new or improved one. And I think I know why.
He also told me he did not like API. He told me he could not get his sound out of those. I know why. They are too damn clean sounding. They don't have the Neve grunge. They don't have the SSL grunge. And I understand perfectly. But hey they are just fine for Aerosmith. They were just fine for Heart. They were fine for so many others. But not for Bob Clearmountain. And I understand perfectly. I know his style. I know his sound. I know the kind of grunge and VCA intermodulation distortion he wants to hear. It's grungy. And works well with his mixing style and sound. Who doesn't like Bob Clearmountain? Every record I played at the FM station I really loved. I would look at the engineers name. Why does this guy Bob Clearmountain keep coming up? It sure does sound great. He does everything! Rock 'n' roll and R&B. And not bad with the Symphony Orchestra. He was just an electric bass player. Who was trained by Michael DeLugg. Who did all these jingles with Barry Manilow and his hit records. And he trained Bob. And I also worked with Michael. With the great jazz trumpeter I loved, Maynard Ferguson.
And if you think you need to turn on your pad switch on your U-87. With a screaming trumpet right up to the grill of the microphone. You are wrong. I learned of that. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. No pad switch on. He was just screaming into that 87. Going through a Harrison 32-CI think we had at, Media Sound. I think it was a 32-C? The same model Bruce Swedien did Michael Jackson on. And it sounded just stellar. It just took my breath away. And I asked Michael if he wanted me to turn on the pad switch? He said no. And I thought that was a wrong move? I was wrong. That can take more SPL than I imagined. And not give you crap. It was incredible sounding. And I guess that's how Bob Clearmountain also learned from Michael DeLugg.
I've also known George Massenburg since I was 15 years old when he was 23. And while we have crossed paths numerous times through the decades. We've never really talked. Even though we were both mentored by the same guy. And went to work for the same studio for our first jobs. As my capabilities are also up there. Though I'm very different from George Massenburg. Probably a little bit more like Bob Clearmountain? I relate more to Bob's engineering.. But I also love George's very much. He's got a unique style. He changed the entire industry. And I highly respect him for that. Though I don't really utilize his technique or style. His style is basically the one taught at the university level. And it's a valid way to get a nice even slather of homogenized sound. That does have the sound of precision to it. And not bloat. Heard into many amateur recordings. We are not enough high-pass filtering has been used nor utilized enough. Especially on vocals. We don't want low-end on vocals. High-pass filter heavily. You'll thank me later. And add a lot of limiting. Not compression but limiting on vocals. Push into the limiter. Do not be timid.
Because when you get the vocal right. It'll sound simply awful. When you solo it. But that's not the way you're going to listen to it. It will be in the mix. And you will be able to position it. Place it where you want it to be. It will stay there. Whether the singer is soft or loud. They will sound soft. They will sound loud. Their level will never change.
Quite personally. I really have virtually no dynamics in my rock recordings. There's a lot of limiting on everything. And to prevent the noise rushing up in the background. Virtually every limiter is followed by a downward expander or gate. All of my drums are gated. Except the overheads. I'll put a downward expander on a buzzing guitar. To hear no buzzing. I'll stick it on a keyboard. That has a leaky oscillator. That never turns off. I'll turn it off with a gate. I always put a downward expander. On the vocalist after limiting. I do not gate the vocal. Gating a vocal does not sound natural. A fixed amount of downward expansion. Approximately the inverse of the amount of gain reduction limiting. Will give you a beautiful vocals sound. That will blow your mind. It will tighten them right up. It'll get rid of the, hollow sounding room. I hate that sound! Small recording studios have lousy reverb times. They sound like a bathroom. Nobody wants to hear drums in your bathroom. Put limiters and gates on your drums. Leave the overheads alone. And add some algorithmic ambient reverb. It'll be so much better than your lousy tubby room sound. Put some carpet on your walls. Beige shagg, works great. It'll sound a site better than your bare walls. Ugh! You only want acoustic's that are good. And that requires a much much larger room. And since you don't have one. Ditch the room sound. This is why God created the Lexicon PCM-60 background 1984. I had one. It became my Portable Plate Reverb. Because I could not take my Plate Reverb out of the house. It's too large. It's too heavy. And you have to retune it every time. So that became impractical. And digital reverb didn't sound good. Until that affordable device came out for about $850. What a bargain! In 1984. I just sold it last year. It still worked great. But I also have a PCM-70. And a few others. LXP-1's, LXP-5. Yamaha and ALESIS reverbs. Some Delta Lab Affect Tron II 1024 ms delays. Everything in the Sound City, control room. I had in multiples. I had to. I had 7 UREI limiters, alone. And about 20 DBX. And a few Orban and Ann Altec Lansing Limiter. Yet not the good vacuum tube one. The transistor one. Their imitation of an 1176. I found it very nice on bass guitars. I don't care for it on vocals much.
I like 1176 limiters better than I like the DBX types. Both are good. I use them interchangeably. But you have to know how to. You really can't use one exactly like the other. But you can and I do. Most of the time I won't really care whether I have a DBX or an 1176. But I do care. I just might have the other plug-in. And I'll just use it. Because I'm not going to make any changes. I'll just roll with what I got. And that's a much different way of engineering. Guys and the studios would have a meltdown. And I am not that kind of, Obsessive Compulsive. There is just no reason to carry on that way. It doesn't make you a better engineer to act like a jerk. Though I know plenty who do.
(More Sideways Audio in following post)
You should do a video of remixing that black metal track and doing a "before/after," showing the changes in EQ moves, compression, etc. I think it sounds good for the style, but I know you could keep the character while giving it that modern Frightbox sheen.
Unfortunately nothing on earth can save that black metal recording 😂
It's like the saying, experience is a comb that gives you life when you get bald 😅. The last one is awesome dude !
I love your channel Bobby. You are very entertaining. And your information is quite good and very relevant. But!
I am that old timer engineer. From the early 1970s onward. And I've made my contributions to the Industry. Throughout my over 5 decades.
And since the just of Bobby's Channel. Is to give you folk. A good background in Audio Engineering. I just thought you should all know. What it really means. To be an, Actual Audio Engineer and Broadcast Engineer. As the two go hand in hand. Both Bruce Swedien and I started the same way. In radio. Public Radio. And we started making live recordings. Of jazz musicians mostly. I did a lot of operatic people also. And jazz musicians also.
And so we both first started in Broadcasting. And then started Recording. For those Broadcasts.
And so I have floated between, Top Recording Studios. And Top Broadcast Networks. I actually went in at the Top. And stayed there. Because you also have to have what it takes. You have to have this other little thing called Talent. Just because you want to do something. Doesn't mean you're good at it. And a lot of people find that out. It can be a bit crushing. When you know you can't compete. And that's difficult to swallow for anybody. But it does happen.
So read on. And you might get a better understanding. Of what it means to be an actual audio engineer. And how one goes about it. In the real world. Where I've never really hated any of my recordings or mixes. As everything I have ever delivered. Sounds professional. Because I know what that sound is and what it has to be. I built some of the stuff for the companies that made it. I'm from the inside. Deep inside. The top inside. The best companies. The most legendary ones. And I've turned down job offers from some of them. I never applied for. Because they know who are good. And they only want to hire the best.. You have to make yourself the best. You have to decide you are the best. Even if you're not. You have to take that attitude about yourself. You're not going to deliver anything crappy. Even if it is to you. And that's the way you must think. That's the way you must operate. And you make no excuses. Making excuses is not professional. That's the way it went down. That's what you have delivered. And it should be professional. It may not be to your liking. But it must be professional. At that's all that matters. Leave the technical nonsense out of this equation. It's not about the gear. It's about your capabilities with it. Whatever they hand you to use. You don't necessarily get a choice of. That's a very different way to engineer. And you better be real good.
So I have written a little book here. I'm now retired. And I enjoy sharing my knowledge and my experience in the industry for over 50 years. At the amount of phone calls I made. The amount of phone bills I paid. To get my education via the telephone. Before the Internet ever existed. And books in the library are only so new. They are old. You need to talk to the companies. To find out what the current technologies are. They will tell you what they are doing. You will learn from them. You will hear words you do not know. You will look them up. You will learn. You will understand. You will soon become an expert. But it doesn't happen overnight. And just because you watched a UA-cam video. It's only getting you started. The rest will be up to you. Not the equipment. You can use just about anything that will pass audio. And make it sound good. With what you have to use. That's much more challenging. Then having all your little pigs in a row. And everything all perfect and just so. That's bullshit!
So learn how to make great audio. When everything around your recording is going to be bad. Everything bleeds into every microphone. And guys start saying to me they need Separation. We need Separation! And I tell them. What the hell are you telling me for? You need a Divorce Attorney. Because you're not getting any Separation. You're all onstage on top of each other. You'll just have to accept what I give you. And then you just do it.
And the idea is just to make it sound fun. It doesn't have to sound right if it's fun. And make it exciting sounding. Make it raucous sounding. Don't make it an even slather of homogenous sound. That's boring. That sounds, too perfect. That does not improve the performance. We want the Performance. It has to have Performance Value. Not just engineering tricks and gobbledygook. That's fine for people that don't have talent. I like people with talent. So I don't have to use Auto Tune. On their entire track. Just a note here and there may be. No overuse of that crap.. No beat quantize thing. I want to hear human beings. I'm not interested in listening to a computer. Stop overdoing the computer nonsense. It's fake. It sounds fake. It is fake. And you are trying to create stars with no talent? Have you always wanted to perpetrate a fraud? I don't. I won't. Get out of my studio. I've turned away a lot of work. I won't work with no talents that want to become famous. They want me to make beats for them. I tell them all I have is asparagus. And it makes your wiz smell funny. They will then leave. I don't want their work. I don't take their work. I will. I tell them. Only if they have a live band behind them. That gets rid of most of the wrappers. I mean who wants a rapper? I want the whole candy bar. They can keep the wrapper. They have nothing to offer. They just complain. Because they had to live in the hood. They didn't want to leave. I don't know why? They can stay put. I record musicians and singers. Or used to before retirement.
And so you might understand better if you read on. Enjoy.
RemyRAD
Would love to hear you remix those old songs and then do a comparison video?
Nothing can save those older mixes because they were recorded so poorly. A good mix starts with a good recording.
@@FrightboxRecordingTurd polishing would actually be a great series!
Lol, I like your black metal mix :D
Did you use coconuts for snare drums back in 2008? ;(
LMAO!! No, I just didn't know how to tune or mic drums properly at the time. I'd just throw microphones up on any ol' drumset and hope for the best.
Also… Akora? Fuck yeah. You know my stance on that album despite the mix. It’s a classic in my book.
Sure, a highly-polished production/mix has its place, but sometimes it's just the opposite. Sometimes, a crappy or otherwise highly idiosyncratic mix is what can raise a certain band's album to the genre defining status of classic. Case in point, something like The Misfits' Earth AD or Celtic Frost's Morbid Tales for instance.
I agree, but these clients wanted a polished mix and I wasn't able to deliver back then. I love the old Misfits stuff, but you have to remember that most modern bands are not looking for that sound.
@@FrightboxRecording Oh, I get it 100%. ;)
Maybe we should do an experiment and re-record it 👀…2024 mix lol
Has my vote! 🤘🏻👊🏻
Mix1 🔥🤘🐼
just some thoughts here around click or no click... I'm thinking blues, jazz, soul, blues rock require no click... it needs to be more playing with time for feel. Where modern rock, pop, metal etc, require tight to a click timing.
Sometimes that is all those "mistakes" that gives caracter to a mix. Black metal used to spend more money in make up than production... Burzum made a career even with his lawnmower sound 🤣
It sounded so great. Because a lot of these Acoustic Engineers don't really know what they are doing. They know the math just fine. It's not all about the math. It's not all about the textbooks. You have to know how to wire your speakers correctly. That's all. And the lousy acoustics virtually vanish. He didn't understand that at all. I told him he could leave. And he did. Completely confused. Because he was theoretically correct. And it wouldn't sound good. If you wire your speakers according to the manual. Or it won't sound good. With your $3000 pair of Active computer enhanced Monitors. Why?
Because all of the electrical engineers and all of the acoustic engineers. Made one silly mistake. They didn't take into account. What the microphones are doing? It's a silly little thing to think about. But you don't want your speakers. To mimic the motion of the diaphragms of the microphones. They are getting compressed inwards. That's what's happening with everybody speakers. Except for JBL. They were able to think this through correctly. And they did so somewhere between, 1968 and 1948. I don't know precisely when? I'm thinking 1948. That's when the company was started. And James B. Lansing died shortly thereafter. But the company continued with his name. And I don't know whether he was responsible for that? Or someone later in their employ? But I think Jimmy Lansing figured this out in 1948. When he left Altec Lansing. I think he had a disagreement. Because he figured this out. And everybody else told him he was wrong. He wasn't he was absolutely right. If it was he that figured this out? Everybody who was anybody back then is now long dead. And so we may never know? And it really doesn't matter. Because they got it right. I stumbled onto that in 1978. But I heard it in 1968. And I didn't know what I was hearing back then? But I knew they were different from everybody else's. And I wasn't certain why or how? But there was a definite difference. And now I know why. Now you do also..
None of the other speaker manufacturers have gotten this right. They are all indicated for Negative Absolute Polarity. This differs from phase. As everybody thinks phase and polarity are the same thing. They are not in the land of Pro Audio. And everybody gets this wrong. All of the electrical engineers and all of the acoustic engineers get this wrong. Because they are mathematically correct. They are acoustically incorrect.
It's a strange thing, I know. But it's real. And the fix is free. It costs you nothing to do. And you can change it back in 2 minutes time. You won't. You won't want to. You shouldn't. This is the way your brain wants to receive electronically reproduced sound. In Positive Absolute Polarity. Which can only be done. At the output of the audio power amplifier direct to the input of the speakers. But there is a problem with that.
With passive speakers and external amplifier. You merely flip the connections. On both speakers.
But with active powered monitor speakers. You will have to be good with a screwdriver and a soldering iron. You must remove both the tweeters and the woofers. And you must reverse the spayed lug connections. With your soldering iron. Then reconnect the speakers. Screw them back in. And take another listen. It will change your life. This is a game changer. You will now hear things correctly. The way you always thought you should be hearing things. And blame dear acoustics. Blamed your equipment. And while your acoustics may suck. And likely do. The acoustics are not your problem. Your speaker wiring is your problem.
When you get those right. Your crappy acoustics. Will become far less noticeable. And your stereo imaging. Will blow your mind. You can stand or sit anywhere. And you will hear gorgeous stereo. You will be surrounded in sound. You will get surroundsound from only 2 speakers now. The sound will appear to come from in front of your speakers. Not from your speakers. That is a cycle acoustic phenomenon. When you are in Positive Absolute Polarity.. Check it out for yourselves. I've made this change in a lot of top studios. A lot of home studios. And broadcast stations facilities. Editing suites. On-air control rooms. And for a major television networks, NBC. And radio. Because some of us know what's going on. Others have degrees. Degrees of stupidity. I don't know what else to call it? They don't know what they are listening to or how it's supposed to sound? That's the problem. You have to know how it's supposed to sound. They don't.. Because they think they are correct. Therefore it must be. It's a religion of their own they do not question. Because they have a test to prove they are right. And it's a flawed test. And that doesn't make it right. You have to listen. You have to experiment. You have to flip polarity not phase. Phase won't make much difference at the input. Polarity will make a huge difference at the output. Because it has to move the air. Phase does not move air. Phase is a timing differential. Of low voltage. Polarity is a Power Stroke. And you don't want it going in the wrong direction. This is what everybody gets wrong. Except JBL. And they refused. To do it wrong like everybody else. Ask anybody. JBL speakers are all, " out of phase ". To all other speaker manufacturers, speakers. All of them.
And it just blows my mind. That many of these design engineers whom I know personally. They are my icons of design engineers. They don't get this either. And I am just dumbfounded by that. How could they not understand this? They designed some of the best equipment in the world. That we all use. That we all highly coveted.. And they don't understand this problem? How could they not I wonder? Are they that rigid and set in their ways? Apparently so. They have ceased learning. Nobody can be smarter than them! Oh yes I can be. I am. Thank you very much. You got this wrong. And I'm sure the engineers at JBL could explain it to you better than I can because they have college degrees and I don't. I'm just an engineer. Without a college degree. Because I didn't need one. I still designed and built big audio consoles from scratch. I don't know how I did it? I just did it. And it had to compete with both an API and a Neve. So it did. I did. When I was 22 years old. And a high school dropout. Only with a, GED.
So not many people will design and build a 24 x 8 x 2 x 4 audio console from scratch. With $10,000 worth of parts and pieces. Because we couldn't afford a $45,000 API or an $85,000 Sphere or Neve. But it had to work and sound like one. For $10,000 worth of parts. So I had my choice. API, Dean Jensen, op amp labs. I chose op amp labs modules. I changed the recommended gain staging and electrolytic capacitor values. My consul was flat from 10 Hz through 100 kHz. With so much headroom. You could peg the VU meters. And you couldn't get any distortion out.
I called up, Bella los Mandy. At, Op Amp Labs and told him about the changes I made. He was intrigued. He made a change also. He met my change halfway. I thought that was pretty cool. He split the difference between my values and his. And it lowered the overload potential. And also extended the response nicely. I also made some changes for Ampex, MCI and then went to work for Scully as their QC Manager and Final Test Engineer and overall, Technical Troubleshooter. Because the company's 2 electrical engineers. Couldn't figure out the problems? I didn't apply for the job. I was requested. I've been requested by a few. Because when you're good. You're good. And people know it. You gain a reputation.
And so now I'm 68, Sonny boy. And mostly fully retired. Though I miss what I used to do. But what 20-30 something-year-olds. Want to work with a 68-year-old, Tranny Bitch from Hell? I mean I get good results out of people. I'm fun in the studio. But I'm in oldster. I never wanted to work with anybody my age when I was your age. But hey if it's Bob Clearmountain, George Massenburg, Chris Lord Algae? Well then sure. But no name me? No.
(More Sideways Audio in following post)
Ear piercing. I got mixes as bad up until 2012 on heavy music
Isn't abrasive and amature the point of Black Metal
So when you tell me your mixes sucked. When you were a little bit younger. Well sure. The first couple recordings I made sucked. Until you figure it out. And you have to figure it out faster son. You're going, too slow. Come on now.. You do rock 'n' roll. You gotta be faster kiddo.
I think you're overthinking things too much. You just have to move on things. Let the music tell you how it wants to be mixed. It'll tell you. You can't force it the way you want it to go. You have to let her take on a life of its own. And facilitate its life. That's a different concept. And you'll live longer that way. You won't beat yourself up constantly. I've had other friends that have done that to themselves.
One of my colleagues and friends. Had a similar operation to mine. A remote recording truck. And he had worked at NPR for decades. While I was at NBC for decades. We worked only blocks of each other. And he was the older brother of Paul Reed Smith who makes guitars. It was his older brother Steve Smith.
And Steve like so many of us quality engineers. Would tear himself up. If he didn't feel his mixes were perfect And I said Steve, buddy. You and I are both fine well seasoned engineers. We are unique engineers. And neither one of us deliver crap. Even if it's not to our liking. Go easier on yourself.
A few months later Steve gave me a call. He said Remy. I never thought about myself that way. He told me I was right. And he felt much better about himself. He was far more at ease. In a few months later. He dropped from a heart attack and died. But at least he died. Knowing that he was a fine engineer and did a great job for everybody. He died in peace. Because I helped him understand. What we do better.
The great thing about what we do. It doesn't matter how awful your recording is. How lousy your mixing is. People are still going to enjoy it. And you will also. Weeks later. You won't even hear your mistakes anymore. And if you do. You'll realize that mistake worked great. And it wouldn't sound as good without that mistake. Because it's real. It's not fake. These people have talent. You captured that talent and that magical moment. It's all about the performance. It's not about the accuracy. That's what everybody gets wrong. It was a little different years ago. With big time record contracts. Those days are gone forever. We are into a new era.
And I am not adverse to using software. Don't get me wrong here. It's fabulous. But it can be overused and it is.
So don't denigrate yourself and your earlier work kiddo. It is what it is. It's a work of musical and audio art. There isn't any right or wrong. Only is it enjoyable or not. Like this set:
soundcloud.com/remyrad/the-nymphs
I really liked this group called the Nymphs. And I was setting up the microphones. And as I was finishing setting up the microphones. They just started playing. My control room is 2/3 of a football field away. I go running out to the truck. Slam the record button. Throw the faders up. Aunt fate up on the first song. I've got all these limiters already patched in. All these gates already patched in. I don't know what I want on anything. I have to tweak the mix. And by the 2nd song. I'm locked in for the rest of the set. And it's kind of funny. Between songs. He's very funny. And he starts talking about. My Foam Pop Filter on the SM-58. I only record vocals. With an additional foam pop filter on 58's. Unless they absolutely refuse it. Sometimes they do. Most of the time they don't. I get a much better vocal sound. With the additional foam pop filter. Because. It keeps their lips. Another 1/4 inch further away from the microphone diaphragm and excessive Proximity Effect. And then I use a lot of high-pass filtering. An awful lot. The vocals have no low frequencies on them at all. Everything below 270 Hz is cut off. This is what everybody misses doing. And you get these bloated Blatty sounding vocals that suck. And they never have enough heavy limiting. Everybody is overly timid.
When you listen to my recordings. They have virtually Zero Dynamic Range. Everything has a limiter on it. Virtually everything has a gate or downward expander on it. All the instruments are bleeding into all the other microphones. Everybody is crammed together on a small 8 x 10' stage. They are sitting in each other's laps practically. There is no separation against anything. Everything bleeds into everything. You can't possibly get a good mix LOL. But I have to try.
Most recording guys can't work like I do. Because nothing is right. I do everything haphazard. It's all spontaneous. It's all 100% organic. It's all fly by the seat of my pants. I don't know any of these bands. I have never heard them. They think this is the most fabulous they have ever sounded. One band immediately got a record contract. Another band was the, Matt Gilmer band.
I did know who these guys were? They were a local Austin Texas band. And they were real good. They sounded a little bit like Pink Floyd. And I told my associate engineer Tyler. I thought they sounded like Pink Floyd. As I was engineering them. And he says well, it's the Matt Gilmer band. I said yeah what does that mean? He said it's David Gilmer's son. I said but he's British.. He said yes. And his son has a band here in Austin. I said so this is son of Pink Floyd by recording? He said yeah. Holy shit!
So after the band was over. Matt came into my control room. And we sat and did a playback. He really liked it. He said I can hardly wait to play it for dad. Oh my God! I thought that was really funny. I was recording Baby Pink Floyd Band. So funny. I've recorded a lot of people. I don't even know. I recorded Dave Grohl once. I didn't know who he was when I was putting the microphones on his drums. He was the funniest guy I had ever bumped into.
And when I got off stage. Heading back to my recording truck. My friends all ran up to me and said do you know who you were joking with on stage? I said no? They said that's Dave Grohl. The drummer for Nirvana. I said oh yeah. I've heard of them. I don't like their lead singer much. Didn't he recently blow his brains out? Yes he did. This is when Dave came home to Springfield, Virginia. And got together with his old band called SCREAM. And they were awful. That's all there lead guy did was primal scream. And they were all riffing away. And people mosh pitting. It sucked. And then Dave forgot to pick up the recording from me. So I shall deliver to him in person one day at Studio 606 in, LA. One day. The recording is from 1994. He's never heard or seen it. As I ran a lousy lockdown camera so I could see the stage while mixing. And it was the 4th of July on the Washington DC mall. For alive day of rock 'n' roll concert I was recording. And he was just one of about 10 bands. All got free recordings from me. As the Coproducer for the show. Was the carpenter, for my studio. And I would show up and record numerous concerts he was in or produced. As he was also a drummer. He told me he wasn't a professional. He was better than lots of the professionals I worked with. He was really solid. And very steady on the beat. His name was Dave Johnson. I know about five guys by the name of Dave Johnson. I think that's very funny. He's my favorite Dave Johnson though. He helped make my dream a reality. Without any blueprints. He was amazing. How do you want it Remy? I would just tell him. He would draw it. Then he would build it. He said it will only last about 10 years. That was 33 years ago. It's still great. Still solid. And he did it for me for free and only the cost of supplies. He told me he knew that I knew how to build a recording studio. And he had to build one for somebody else. He wanted me to teach him. I did. And he built a nice studio for Uncle Punchy Studios. In Silver Spring, Maryland.
I actually got a, Acoustic Engineer, angry with my control room. This guy walked in. While I was mixing. And he got angry. And he shouts out in my control room. THIS CAN'T SOUND THIS GOOD! THE ROOM IS ALL WRONG! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
I informed him. That he did not know what he was doing with his Acoustic Engineering, degree. And he is correct. My control room was only 8 x 10 x 8. That is far too small to sound good. So why did it sound so great?
(More Sideways Audio in following post)