John Bonham would famously play a few bars in the studio (one overhead and one kick mic), and then go into the control room to listen to what he was doing. Once he identified problem areas, he would go back to the kit and make adjustments in his playing. This reinforces your thesis...
I'm a guitarist and I see this sort of thing online often - people ask if their tone is okay, and in most cases the tone itself is at least passable, but their technique is awful and their guitar isn't even in tune. They could've recorded through an epic $10k guitar rig and it still would've sounded like absolute garbage. Sure, gear and tone are important, but only to an extent. A $300 guitar with a proper setup running through free plugins can sound amazing as long as you're actually a good player.
While true, I find I can never get amp sims to feel right. Something about the volume in the room and the overly powered tube amp helping with subtle feedback and harmonics. The moving air and all the wierd stuff that makes the relationship between the amp and the guitar seem alive. I can't get those weird details with amp sims. Still holding out though and have yet to try Nueral DSP, who seem to have a good rep. To be clear, I often play in a manner that looks for response from the amp as opposed to just getting my tone correct. I don't have a "tone", I just bash the strings through whatever is available to me and lose myself in the joy of it
@@muyeikasamurabi1602 An amp+cab in a room has different acoustic properties compared to a pair of studio monitors. The monitors are placed in a stereo configuration at ear level, facing you directly. I think it's very rare for guitarists to place a cab at ear level with the speaker directly facing you. It's probably on the floor and probably not directly facing you as well. This is very important because the higher the frequency is - the more directive it is. Very low frequencies are omnidirectional (they spread out evenly from the sound source). The very high frequencies have a fairly narrow directivity cone - if your ear position is slightly off, the volume of these high frequencies will drop considerably. Try placing a single monitor on the floor (just like you would a cab) and run the amp sim through it. It'll sound way more like an amp in a room. You can also try placing your cab at ear level directly facing you, you'll find that it sounds way more like amp modelers - harsher, and with more high frequency content. As far as quality of the modeling goes, I highly recommend hunting for multitracks of professional productions. Simply relying on your ears to dial what sound good, in my experience, is a pretty bad idea, because your brain easily and quite rapidly adjusts to tones, so that even a crappy, harsh tone can sound okay to you after a few minutes of exposure. Only by A/Bing against known good solo'd guitar tracks (only use single mono tracks, do not compare double/quad tracked guitars) you'll know for sure that your tone is in the ballpark. And it has to be done on at least somewhat accurate monitors because headphones are all over the place with regards to frequency response, you just never know if they have a resonance at 4k, or a dip at 1k, or if they're low frequency titled, or whatever.
Opposite for me. This channel helped me appreciate that I prefer analog emulations in blind conditions. Then other channels showed me the same but with hardware vs analog emulations. So, now I'm buying and diy-ing hardware saturation units for a hybrid workflow.
Finally, common sense on display. People say technique is unimportant and that they play with feeling. Until you hit that red button. Then the truth is revealed. Garbage in, garbage out. Greetings from New Mexico!
When I was a session dude in LA, people used to ask me why I thought I was a better musician than big famous musicians. You hit the nail on the head - the red record light comes on and exposes all the famous rock star's technique issues that you don't notice in a live gig. They get what I call "studio fright", where others might have stage fright.
That's just misunderstanding that you need control and technique to apply feeling. This being apply nuance in how you're playing. Knowing how to hit your notes to achieve certain effects is technique
100% agree, in my early days as an engineer i drove myself to the brink of madness trying to figure out why i couldn't make the local bands that i was recording to sound like the mixes that I love, I spent thousands on mics, preamps, guitars, drum kits... only to eventually realise that it was (as you point out) technique issues from inexperienced players... very well explained and demonstrated mate!!
Great video and demonstration, thanks! 3 of my students just finished tracking rock bands made up of fellow students and now are mixing them. I showed them a multitrack recording of a professional band I had recorded a couple of years earlier with the same equipment, in the same rooms. They couldn’t believe the difference. I spend a fair bit of time in the studio working with the musicians to get the best performances knowing that it can save hours in the mix/edit and give better results. I’ve got a session today and these are the main things I’m thinking about going into it. It’s easy to pick a mic and put it in a good position but if the musicians sound like a hot mess when they play together your screwed.
My 2010 setup , MY BEST setup/sound I’ve ever had: Mackie 32/8 Lexicon Lxp15 Alesis Q2 Alesis Compressor Rane Parametric Eq (used only with Waves QClone) BBE Sonic Maximizer (the cheapest) in the Buss Cheap KRK monitors And with that I paid family, kid’s school, insurance, etc. with correct technique, knowledge and average tools you’ll have the battle won.
@@APMastering I haven’t mentioned this(and because you said something about Toys R Us) that once, I purchased a nylon strings guitar for kids for my daughter at ToysRUs. She wasn’t too fond about it so I took it to the studio and used it in countless recordings !! Hahah that was a blast 💥
@@APMastering with the setup mentioned before I produced my pop album plus a very basic AudioTechnica condensed mic and ART TubePac mic pre, ..basic. I was doing small things for a A&R guy that was a friend but never took me really seriously. I insisted to invited him to my studio to listen to the album and MAYBE have a chance with the label. He came and I play the entire album for him, he listened calmly. Then he ask me to play 2 or 3 songs again. The he ask me….” Did you do it entirely here..?..” hahah that was a prize on itself for me.
I think what's also overlooked very often is the arrangement. What improved my sound the most beside good technique is experimenting a lot with different instruments and parts. And also to discard a lot, even though it may sound interesting and kind of cool, but it doesn't fit or improve the song 100%. Thats really hard but record and rerecord and only make small eq moves and fx when necessary during recording. Do it until your mostly statisified and after that the song will mix itself.
Bro, 💯 arrangement is super key. I like to think about a full orchestra, and how those instruments are designed to sound good together without any help from post-production. Back in the classical days, instrument design and arrangement was like mixing before audio even existed! (well, and also stage placement I suppose)
@@zionjaymes4415been thinking about exactly this! the way that standard orchestra, band arrangements and instrument design was based around figuring out what fits together well sonically is so interesting. been realising how much of mixing is actually just arranging and if you get that right there so much less to do downstream.
I have a tendency to over-arrange because i like it and (bad) i have so many ideas in my head, i apply them and then confused about what to keep. My wife says that thats overwhelming for “regular people”, but im not regular. Still, i think that something should be complex and something simple…it all depends on preferences, goals and mood. And, most of all: the music should be music, not just some sounds and noise, and if it is a song, “artificial sweetness”, crying/begging for sex, angry outbursts, show off -not for me. Very picky.
@@DenisVolga i also really like a lot of complexity. But the challenge is: the more you have going on, the more you have to cut away in order to get everything to fit together and for the overall sound to remain balanced and focused. This is especially true if the arrangement has multiple parts playing in the same range, occupy similar frequency range with similar dynamics. Sacrifices must be made somewhere- and choosing what/where to sacrifice is part of the “art” of mixing.
@@zionjaymes4415 Completely agree with you. Lots of work and searching for all balances (volumes, EQ, compression, stereo placement). But thats the choice we make. I like to hear something new every time i listen, like to be submerged in ocean of sounds, melodies, harmonies and rhythm (not the real ocean though ;) ). Some people have done it well: Stravinsky, Paul Simon, Mitchel, Lynne, Brubeck,Sting,… Why not me? ;) At least have fun with it… In fact, im trying right now to fix what ive recorded 4 years ago: i was bad at recording, its messy, so many tracks,… but i want to fix it as it is because of sentimental value - i did it mainly for my mama, so i want to keep everything as it was, but make it nice, listenable. One piece of very variable music with a song at the end, almost one hour total (no, im not crazy…it just poured out of me, a mix of about 20 songs all related to autumn). A wrong computer, latency, bad electric wiring in the house, too weak or too strong signal, my condition,.. On top of that, somehow lots of files in one part of 21 minutes just disappeared and i decided to cheat and blend in the latest mix of it. Aligned it, the StudioOne asked “do i want to add that stereo track to the project”, yes … and 1500 files started copying…cancel… too late… 163GB out of one stereo track from nowhere to..nowhere (but comp memory is taken). Still didnt get any explanation or solution. Reinstalling Win11. Learning, trying. Just because we like or love something, it does not mean it should be easy. In fact, its just opposite. Experience, maturity. Its just i prefer to struggle with music - not to hit my head against computer ;) Life. But ive learned a lot (musically, technically, philosophically, spiritually). And i hope that if i have blessings to do more music, it will be more simple (by a sober, a no nonsense selection)…no “wild prairie”, but a “nice garden with no occupying weeds”. Complexity should be beautiful and harmonious, not just complex ;) Kind wishes to you!
I love your approach to all of this! This will save me a lot of money in the long run. But I would love for you to maybe make a video about what are actually the essentials, I know it is different for everything, and convenience also plays a big role in justifying paying a lot for something, but what would you say is a gear list that will be fine for a small studio recording artists, instruments and producing / mixing. If this is too much to ask for, don’t worry, you are of great help anyways🙏🙏👍
audio interface, a couple of condensor mics, dynamic mics, stands, xlr cables, everything behringer. reaper as DAW. if you use it correctly you will have better audio quality than anyone had access to in the 60s and 70s
I get in trouble for saying this stuff every day. Engineers laugh at guitarists for their belief in magical tonewood, but they believe in magical Neve metal
As a sound guy who tends to be really anal and perfectionist in the studio, when I do live sound and I’m stripped of all my control, I often find myself humbly owing the great sound to the talent of the band. The song, arrangement, and performance really is the primary foundation of the sound anyway. The recording is secondary, and mixing comes tertiary. Sometimes I spend hours trying to get something to “feel” right in the mix, but not often enough in those moments of trying to diagnose the problem do I ask “does this song just suck?” Or “is the arrangement making this mix bad?” Or “are my recordings just ass?”. I can’t speak for everyone, but I definitely get Mixing Engineer Tunnel Vision.
I'd add one thing to your recommended Audio Engineer skill set - customer service. I'm a freelance VO artist, so I am both the performer AND the audio engineer. When I looked at some of the written feedback I've received over the last couple of weeks, praise fpr my performance certainly tops the list. But what they liked about my customer service came in a close second. (e.g., "Thank you for great communication throughout the process..." and "Communication was smooth and he responded quickly for my queries. He provided me with updates all the way...") And in my opinion, my focus on service and communication not only helped me deliver the VO performance they wanted, it positively coloured their reception of it.
Amazing! Thanks for this. It sounds stupid, but I've long suspected whether 'perfectionism' mode impacted my tracks - I'm more likely to play with caution when the red light is on, and in turn this makes it sound less confident. You've convinced me 100% that it's not just about timing and correct voicing, it's also the performance, the attack, the digging in, but of course not overdoing it and playing attention to nuances of good technique too. No amount of mixing will fix something that sounds like it was constructed by 'playing it safe' - sincerely thanks for the pointer on where I will be focusing on from now on!
Yeah I'm historically a live sound guy. My favorite is when the drummer plays so loudly that all the vocal mics are washed out with his cymbals and you have 200Hz buried in every other mic on stage to get rid of the snare. I've had bad drum technique causing the snare to trigger compression on the vocals and you've gotta play with side chaining to prevent it. Drummers are not the worst, though. Inconsistent bass players and guitar players with no right hand technique are awful, too. Untrained vocalists are pretty bad as well I've had to run -18dB gain reduction on female vocalists that go from quiet to loud without moving towards or away from the mic. Then you have some idiot tapping you on the shoulder to tell you "X is too loud/quiet" and you're like... must. contain. rage.
@@APMastering People don't understand why the sound guy is always in a bad mood. I didn't even touch on how the last guy wrapped the cables and didn't label all the stuff he found that was broken as such.
cable coiling is also annoying in studios where the other engineers wrap them around their elbow in some weird way and don't know how to twist it properly
For Sure, Totally Agree With the Video. That's why people that have the money to pay someone that Really knows how to play. I play piano and not only do you learn about these types of things, there also so a certain way to play without injuring oneself. I think that goes to show you to keep practicing your music skills and record your own to get the sound you like and also keep learning everything music. I Love Your Videos and makes a Lot of Sense when You Show Us the Real Situations. You Play Very Well by the way. Cheers.
Love the message here. Rick Beato goes on about this as well, he calls it self mixing, when he interviews drummers he almost always brings it up and they all agree with him that they are ‘self mixing’ and it’s a big part of the sound I also think some mixer engineers have talked them self’s up to be way more important than they are. The song and musicians, their approach particularly their playing dynamics make such a huge impact.
I completely agree. Cymbal bashers are my worst nightmare!! LOL!! Hit the shells with authority, and hit the cymbals with restraint. No wimpy picking!!
A good performance recorded on a cassette ghettoblaster in the middle of the room will e preferred over a studio recording with a bad one. The studio version is simply " shit, cooked perfectly".
I remember when I had a fostex x-26 4 track, I recorded a local artist and we took the demo to a record company. They said "this sounds great! What studio did you go to?" I said at my house. The label owner looked at his head engineer and asked, "why don't our music sound like that?!!? That was a proud moment. It was all about technique. I think technology has made me lazy. I gotta get back to technique.
Rick Beato interviewed some guy who was involved in finding new talent in the 90's, he said a ton of bands where being signed at the time but most of the couldn't play their instrument well enough and some of the big records at the time wasn't even the band playing, he said one producer even rerecorded the vocals him self when the band went home and they didn't even notice lol
Guitar players like Gilmour, Beck, Knopfler, Les Paul, Joe Pass (from very known) are great because of their inner music, very acute feeling of rhythm and sound and a complete unity (knowledge and connection) with instrument. The rest is just means to transfer all that. Thats why they are great. Funny, as i was finishing the last sentence, Jeff Beck came up on video. Something…
Great video, and I agree 100%. I get the point, but you must already know this - technique is the one thing that most musicians CANNOT change, even if they practice all day every day. That's why so many of us concentrate on the things we CAN change. Not in the hope that we will suddenly sound like a hit band, but because it's all we are capable of. The musicians who are able to grow and become better are more likely to get great results, for sure, but aside from those who prove themselves in that regard, there are millions of us who just want to have fun in our hobby and get a result that pleases us. [I speak as a musician, audio engineer and producer with over 40 years experience, and I can say with some confidence that the charts always have been filled with musicians of limited technique who have done just fine.]
i'm not talking about musical ability. i'm just talking about, for example, where you strum the guitar. this absolutely can be changed and i've said this in a recording session before and gotten an instantly improved result from the guitarist. many examples like that
@@APMastering Maybe you are better at people management than I am! Or you've moved in better circles. I've worked with people who simply refused to change, either because the very idea offended their ego, or because they couldn't do what seemed to me to be very simple. But I do understand your point!
@@periurban 100% some musicians are arrogant but after running a recording studio for a number of years, my experience was that most people were up for experimentation
@@APMastering Probably because they were paying you? Most of my experience has been with fellow troubadours, and at that point the egos are sharpened to a deadly point. "What do you mean the hi-hat is too loud? Just f**king turn it down in the mix, genius!" "It doesn't work like that. Why not just try hitting it softer?" "F**k you! I don't need this. I'm out!" You must have had those moments. No? Maybe I've just been doing it all wrong. lol
So true, but it is easy for (clueless/frightened) people to talk technicalities like mics, pres, wall padding... Mixing is never about gear (ok so you need some) but it is all about taking the performance and getting it across to the listener. Sure it is possible to reframe as was common with Record Producers like Mutt Lange (Def Lepard "Pyromania") but it was still all built on good performances and the Scene & Story of the Song and not lists of gear. Again I am glad to see you showing this. Sadly those most in need of taking this on-beard will ridicule it and go so far as to be abusive. :-)
The whole technique things goes all the way back to before Les Paul invented multitrack recording. Musicians had to play well because there was no punch-in, multiple takes, or mixing for that matter. Just put everyone in a room with one microphone for the singer and everyone else has to use their internal balance to mix the song well. And nobody seems to complain about the lack of gear in that music of old for some reason...
@GregsGuitars Have a look at this guy’s channel. Everything is recorded with a simple mic on a simple amp to a simple berhinger. And it’s one of the BEST sounds. He’s a master, by the way
With my new mixing skills I wanted to redo our 2004 demo. I loved the track. So my guitar playing was weak and sloppy, editing didn't help, so I rerecorded it. Then I wanted put my favorite chains on the drums, but it was too softly played, so I replaced it. Finally the bass lacked real low end, consistency and EQ couldn't bring it up. My bass guitarist friend did an updated version. So only the singer's performance stayed, that reacted well to my new plugins and skills. I wish there were more full mix example where the drummer on purpose hits it well, and then on purpose hits it weak.
@@APMastering what can be an interesting video for drummers is to make them listen to the snare track and hear the extreme bleed when the drummer gets loud with the hats and cymbals and weak with the snare (or hits all over the snare). There's a widespread myth that it is super easy to balance a drum recording because "why don't you just bring up the snare track?", well because it is full of cymbal bleed and gating is not possible under a certain proportion.
I’ve always said the important things in making a good record: good song > good performance (what you touch on here) > good recording > good mixing > mastering. I don’t really think either of these techniques you mention are wrong though, they just don’t necessarily get the right vibe the artist may be going for. I also know tons of bassists who use the thumb almost exclusively (les claypool style). But yeah it’s rough when the musician sucks and i’ve experienced a bunch of weird stuff like that. Auto tune and all the compression in the world won’t fix a singer with no personality/attitude.
sure i'm not saying these techniques are bad in the right context just that it makes a dramatic difference to the sound of the mix with all else held equal
Not really a counter but definitely something to consider. There are artists and bands who had limits and even arguably a poor skillset. Think punk bands. But those bands would either 1) work on improving their technique to make it passable (or at least better than crap) or 2) lean into those weakness to define their particular character. If the latter was chosen, then you would need someone who could help “fill in the gaps” or make the most out of a limited situation. All of that said, it starts with the composition, the arrangement and the performance recorded. If none of those elements are there, no amount of mixing or mastering will ever transform something bad into great. P.S. The U87 was not what made the Beatles great. The U87 just happened to be the microphone. Granted it’s a solid microphone and it is rightfully admired for its technical components that aid in getting great recordings. But a U87 won’t give a piss-poor busker a Brit Award 😉
I know you mentioned it in the beginning, but good playing technique can't be overstated. As someone who mixed a bunch of local death metal bands I can say that the biggest problem to get that nice clean and punchy production all of those bands want, is their lack of skill and trying to play beyond their ability. I get sent bunch of messy tracks that even hours of editing and trying to quantize can't save from muddy messy sound.
The problem today is not many (if any) want to put in the time and effort it takes to obtain good technique, they just want things to happen with little effort.
@@APMastering I have this plugin for sale, for $249 (regular price $799) you can really make that guitar sing for you. Just install, move these 2 dials slightly, and there it goes! Subscribe to our newsletter and get an additional $20 off (limited time offer)
Oh, good ol' forgotten little things. Timing, tone and dynamics control AKA musician's technique. MOST important aspect of every recording. Period. We can keep fixing, but sometimes, even if effect is "good enough", it's not feasable financially (for artist, if we are paid ph then it's good for us - engineers, but a NIGHTMARE to work with, often not worth that money) ;)
Good recording, good mixing and mastering is never bad. For that one needs good ears, some skills and simple, available means (no need for fancy, expensive stuff). BUT there should be substance, essence. And it is music. A nicely recorded bunch of sounds, noise, “myauing”, screaming is not a good song. With a massive degradation of people (which is spreading faster and stronger), way too many can’t hear the difference between “a musical sound garbage” and music, an eatable so-called food and real food, an attachment with desire to enjoy and love,… Everyone has a different levels and stages. But what i hear and see (and smell) around - it is very scary and sad. Music should bring harmony, kindness, beauty and peace. If it does not, then it is not music to me, no matter how well it is played and recorded.
A good song played with good technique and well recorded does indeed basically mix itself. If in doubt of that, google Def Leppard - Rock of Ages multitracks, and there's a legitimate place where you can sign up and download the original studio recordings. It certainly doesn't need a lot of processing to really shine.
is the mail for Tracking purposes? I want to pass your apcomp to my group of musician friends. must they all use the mail or could I just send them a .zip
Everything you say is true. Above all, that "correlation != causation" is not understood by most people. On the other hand, they just don't want to hear it either. So your videos will never be as popular as all the other stuff that's out there tickling people's ears and egos. They don't want it any other way though! And instead of teaching them bit by bit that you can't buy success and skill, the marketing department shamelessly exploits the desire for recognition and success to make big fat profits. And in the end it is said that their success proves them right to do so. Morally this is absolutely reprehensible. But who cares about morality or social responsibility these days? The problem exists on both sides! (And it's no different in other aspects of life either...)
I got a record deal to Universal with shit I produced in my nans spare bedroom in Thornton Heath, Croydon. I got dropped when I actually tried. (Frankmusik for reference). The worst mix I ever got back was from Spike Stent. Go figure.
I agree with the point in the video - you need your players to be competent, but I don't like the implication that once you have good technique, nothing after that matters. I think you'll agree as well that after the instruments are played competently, recording techniques can still make or break songs. To me this video is not far off from saying that "if you play different notes your song will sound different". After you got good notes and good playing, there's a trillion different elements that still come into play, and that's still the producer's job. So unless this video is aimed at producers that don't realize the importance of proper playing technique, it's kinda preaching to the choir here.
i explicitly say in the video i'm not talking about notes or music. for the most part, mic choice, pres, desk, converters, tape or digital etc is almost completely inconsequential to the final product. i might make a video on this but i'd need to rent a studio
And here is me testing your hypothesis by Mixing the pieces and then seeing if those mixes in any positive way translate to the shoddy performances. Not at all. They make the shoddy performances sound worse by a similar degree to which the mix enhances the good performances: ua-cam.com/video/aBv2FXeAXsE/v-deo.html
I'm mixing songs from cambridge website and holu crap, it's not a website - it's crappy metal production collector. Metal songs sounds like they are recordede back in 2000 in creappy garrage
"Much of the audio industry is rigged anyway" That statement could probably be a video in itself. Whats rigged exactly? I really like the topics on this channel so far.
The idea is to impart an optimal amount and quality of information on the listener and as long as your average is high enough, you will have a good end product.
I 90% agree with the video. But try to get a rode nt1 to sound like a u87. The esses disconnect and the high end sounds entirely artificial. I believe that the mic is the only gear that matters because the chnages it makes to your recording are destructive. The ammount of work I've seen people go through to get their mic to sound good is absolutely a testament to this. The performances have been great, the room has been well treated, the song has been well written. I am absolutely begging you to have a look at how the u87 compares to the nt1 on the same performance because it is something I can't find on UA-cam and i swear it can't be fixed with a simple EQ.
Expensive gear is, amongst other things, a timesaver. That matters when you want to make a living out of it. Other than that the essentials are: Band->Song/Arrangement->Room->Engineer->Mics->Pres/Converters for recording and Engineer->Room for mixing.
really? i know andrew scheps has a travel rig which he uses most of the time but i think many famous engineers with lots of gear like CLA actually use it
@@APMastering Yes,and you mentioned Scheps....good example,having a pc dropped onto 3m$ SSD console plus 5m$ in gear,of course everything is made in a box.The gear price went up and going up since plugins were introduced,or you are telling me that 12k euros Weiss DS1 MK3 I could get for 500 euros as a plugin??
@@ir8123 i don't know exactly what you are talking about... schepps has a neve console which isn't worth any where near 3 million dollars. not sure what currency you're discussing.
Would I be correct to assume that this argument doesn’t apply to vocals? There’s thousands of videos online showing the difference between the same vocal recording before and after an audio engineer “corrects’ the pitch and the timing and applies a dozen effects them chops up 82 takes and chooses the best word sung from each track and edits them into a seamless seemingly perfect vocal performance. We’ve also all been present when an horrendous sounding public address system blasts out an unintelligible spoken message. That’s not spoken vocal technique, that’s horrific equipment set up in a way to produce a sound so ugly you cover your ears. And it’s just a guy speaking plain English into a microphone. It has nothing to to with his “technique” of talking.
My oppinion is this is also many times down to technique. With many of those "horrendous sounding public address systems" most times it isn't the system itself at fault, but the way it's been set up. Of course, bad speakers that are too boomy or too shrill can be to blame...but often times it comes down more to the placement and levels of those speakers (for that particular space) that cause the issues. But also...dont forget about mic technique. If a person doesn't know a correct distance to speak into the mic from, or the gain isn't set up at a good level...it will cause those issues. Same thing with stage monitoring. Public speakers and performers will often compensate by holding the mic closer or further if what they are able to hear from thier place on stage is drastically different from what the audience is hearing. So yeah.. it can be a poorly chosen system that sounds bad, but usually ite more down to the technique of how that system is set up and dialed in. Even a high end system that is improperly set up with bad mic technique will sound bad. As far as those vocal recordings you mentioned are concerned, that's a bit different category. All that editing is just compensating for "not great" performances and technique...and all the editing in the world can't "fix" that if it's bad enough lol. The better the performance is, the less that "needs" to be done it.
Expensive audio gear is like a golden pipe in a toilet seat, most of the time it's not crystal clear water that is passing through it, if you own a studio you know what I mean. First most important stuff in the studio after the very basics (computer, monitors, interfaces, etc.) is acoustic treatment + superb quality instruments played by people who knows how to do it, only then you'll have amazing recording, u47 tube+1073 in a shitty room is full crazy non sense.
Love the golden pipe analogy. 😄 Btw when you say superb quality instruments I hope you're not implying super expensive ones. I prefer the cheap Ibanez I have over the Les Paul and Strat that I've owned for decades. They're all superb instruments, all set up well, but the cheapest one plays and sounds the best to me proving that it's not about spending lots of money.
@@glennlittle7955 Sometimes it's about the expensive stuff, but mostly it's not. Superb quality to me has more to do with if it fully functions in the application you need it for. Guitars for example were never the problem in a record making process, I've had some cheap hot rodded $ 300 guitars in the studio that easily sounded as good as the $ 5K les paul next to it. One piece of equipment can make or break a record: cymbals; what you need to make the record sound amazing is in the higher pricing end. And there's the piano players, some can't perform great in non weighted keys and this is almost never cheap to solve. I'm convinced that you can make amazing records with cheap but capable gear, I do that everyday for two decades at this point. But I'll be honest, the same way that I used some expensive gear that were totally useless and disappointing, the best stuff I've played were also quite expensive, like the best snare drums and cymbals, custom shop guitars and basses, the best rooms, the best microphones, some of that more expensive stuff can be really special sounding if they're the right ones.
@@glennlittle7955 So all three you mentioned seems superb, you just like one more than the others and it ended up being the cheapest of the bunch. By superb I mean 'perfect functioning for the purpose and task'. For example: an expensive Les Paul can be a superb instrument in a studio environment, but they just don't hold up temperature changes, if you tour very large distances and don't have a tech you're just screwed. And don't get me wrong, I'm a total gear freak, I have hundreds of thousands invested in my studio but I tend to chase the cheapest gear that can deliver all the goods, I just love nerding out efficiency and I really find funny making better sounding records than some audio snobs with very little to almost nothing, that's where the fun lies to me.
Wait, are you saying a great band will sound great, even without all the bells and whistles? lol I mean, I might just be an azz-whole here but, does a band that can't be bothered to learn good technique BEFORE stepping into a studio, even deserve a good recording? Every music teacher I ever encountered, taught proper technique first and foremost. Whether it was guitar or drum lessons, the teacher wouldn't even let you keep playing, if you were using bad technique. Also, that "bad room", strangely enough makes that snare sound good IMO lol.
well I know drum teachers which have terrible technique and break all their sticks constantly. when I used to have drum kit, one pair of 7A sticks would last me months and months and I'd sound louder with 7As playing rock than some of the rock drummers I'd record playing with 2Bs
This is dumb. Its everything in the chain that matters and what is weakest. It could be the performance it could be the arrangement, it could be the recording, it could be the mixing, it could be..... saying its always one thing is infantile and just click bait. It doesn't matter if the technique is good is everything else sucks like a crap arrangement or a crap song, or a bad mix, or a bad master, or bad acoustics in the room ,etc.
John Bonham would famously play a few bars in the studio (one overhead and one kick mic), and then go into the control room to listen to what he was doing. Once he identified problem areas, he would go back to the kit and make adjustments in his playing. This reinforces your thesis...
I'm a guitarist and I see this sort of thing online often - people ask if their tone is okay, and in most cases the tone itself is at least passable, but their technique is awful and their guitar isn't even in tune. They could've recorded through an epic $10k guitar rig and it still would've sounded like absolute garbage. Sure, gear and tone are important, but only to an extent. A $300 guitar with a proper setup running through free plugins can sound amazing as long as you're actually a good player.
exactly
While true, I find I can never get amp sims to feel right. Something about the volume in the room and the overly powered tube amp helping with subtle feedback and harmonics. The moving air and all the wierd stuff that makes the relationship between the amp and the guitar seem alive. I can't get those weird details with amp sims. Still holding out though and have yet to try Nueral DSP, who seem to have a good rep. To be clear, I often play in a manner that looks for response from the amp as opposed to just getting my tone correct. I don't have a "tone", I just bash the strings through whatever is available to me and lose myself in the joy of it
@@muyeikasamurabi1602 An amp+cab in a room has different acoustic properties compared to a pair of studio monitors. The monitors are placed in a stereo configuration at ear level, facing you directly. I think it's very rare for guitarists to place a cab at ear level with the speaker directly facing you. It's probably on the floor and probably not directly facing you as well.
This is very important because the higher the frequency is - the more directive it is. Very low frequencies are omnidirectional (they spread out evenly from the sound source). The very high frequencies have a fairly narrow directivity cone - if your ear position is slightly off, the volume of these high frequencies will drop considerably.
Try placing a single monitor on the floor (just like you would a cab) and run the amp sim through it. It'll sound way more like an amp in a room. You can also try placing your cab at ear level directly facing you, you'll find that it sounds way more like amp modelers - harsher, and with more high frequency content.
As far as quality of the modeling goes, I highly recommend hunting for multitracks of professional productions. Simply relying on your ears to dial what sound good, in my experience, is a pretty bad idea, because your brain easily and quite rapidly adjusts to tones, so that even a crappy, harsh tone can sound okay to you after a few minutes of exposure.
Only by A/Bing against known good solo'd guitar tracks (only use single mono tracks, do not compare double/quad tracked guitars) you'll know for sure that your tone is in the ballpark. And it has to be done on at least somewhat accurate monitors because headphones are all over the place with regards to frequency response, you just never know if they have a resonance at 4k, or a dip at 1k, or if they're low frequency titled, or whatever.
i never liked amp sims compared to playing through a cranked vintage selmer treble and bass or something
shhhhhh. stop this. the tonewood guys may hear you.
This channel is the nightmare of audio gear sellers and plugins sellers.
lol. i'm going to sell a plugin soon. i think good plugins are safe
Opposite for me. This channel helped me appreciate that I prefer analog emulations in blind conditions. Then other channels showed me the same but with hardware vs analog emulations. So, now I'm buying and diy-ing hardware saturation units for a hybrid workflow.
It makes this plugin seller very happy!
And a poorly playing musicians now :)
Finally, common sense on display. People say technique is unimportant and that they play with feeling. Until you hit that red button. Then the truth is revealed. Garbage in, garbage out. Greetings from New Mexico!
When I was a session dude in LA, people used to ask me why I thought I was a better musician than big famous musicians. You hit the nail on the head - the red record light comes on and exposes all the famous rock star's technique issues that you don't notice in a live gig. They get what I call "studio fright", where others might have stage fright.
💯
That's just misunderstanding that you need control and technique to apply feeling. This being apply nuance in how you're playing. Knowing how to hit your notes to achieve certain effects is technique
100% agree, in my early days as an engineer i drove myself to the brink of madness trying to figure out why i couldn't make the local bands that i was recording to sound like the mixes that I love, I spent thousands on mics, preamps, guitars, drum kits... only to eventually realise that it was (as you point out) technique issues from inexperienced players... very well explained and demonstrated mate!!
@@jackirving7075 exactly, this is a very hard and important lesson to learn in audio engineering
Very true. I like your engagement. A lot of work - respect.
Great video and demonstration, thanks!
3 of my students just finished tracking rock bands made up of fellow students and now are mixing them.
I showed them a multitrack recording of a professional band I had recorded a couple of years earlier with the same equipment, in the same rooms. They couldn’t believe the difference.
I spend a fair bit of time in the studio working with the musicians to get the best performances knowing that it can save hours in the mix/edit and give better results.
I’ve got a session today and these are the main things I’m thinking about going into it. It’s easy to pick a mic and put it in a good position but if the musicians sound like a hot mess when they play together your screwed.
My 2010 setup , MY BEST setup/sound I’ve ever had:
Mackie 32/8
Lexicon Lxp15
Alesis Q2
Alesis Compressor
Rane Parametric Eq (used only with Waves QClone)
BBE Sonic Maximizer (the cheapest) in the Buss
Cheap KRK monitors
And with that I paid family, kid’s school, insurance, etc.
with correct technique, knowledge and average tools you’ll have the battle won.
nice one! i used to have an 8 bus
@@APMastering I haven’t mentioned this(and because you said something about Toys R Us) that once, I purchased a nylon strings guitar for kids for my daughter at ToysRUs. She wasn’t too fond about it so I took it to the studio and used it in countless recordings !! Hahah that was a blast 💥
@@danyavilaoficial good call. i've used kids glockenspiel and melodica before
@@APMastering with the setup mentioned before I produced my pop album plus a very basic AudioTechnica condensed mic and ART TubePac mic pre, ..basic. I was doing small things for a A&R guy that was a friend but never took me really seriously. I insisted to invited him to my studio to listen to the album and MAYBE have a chance with the label.
He came and I play the entire album for him, he listened calmly. Then he ask me to play 2 or 3 songs again. The he ask me….” Did you do it entirely here..?..” hahah that was a prize on itself for me.
I think what's also overlooked very often is the arrangement. What improved my sound the most beside good technique is experimenting a lot with different instruments and parts. And also to discard a lot, even though it may sound interesting and kind of cool, but it doesn't fit or improve the song 100%. Thats really hard but record and rerecord and only make small eq moves and fx when necessary during recording. Do it until your mostly statisified and after that the song will mix itself.
Bro, 💯 arrangement is super key. I like to think about a full orchestra, and how those instruments are designed to sound good together without any help from post-production. Back in the classical days, instrument design and arrangement was like mixing before audio even existed! (well, and also stage placement I suppose)
@@zionjaymes4415been thinking about exactly this! the way that standard orchestra, band arrangements and instrument design was based around figuring out what fits together well sonically is so interesting. been realising how much of mixing is actually just arranging and if you get that right there so much less to do downstream.
I have a tendency to over-arrange because i like it and (bad) i have so many ideas in my head, i apply them and then confused about what to keep. My wife says that thats overwhelming for “regular people”, but im not regular. Still, i think that something should be complex and something simple…it all depends on preferences, goals and mood. And, most of all: the music should be music, not just some sounds and noise, and if it is a song, “artificial sweetness”, crying/begging for sex, angry outbursts, show off -not for me. Very picky.
@@DenisVolga i also really like a lot of complexity. But the challenge is: the more you have going on, the more you have to cut away in order to get everything to fit together and for the overall sound to remain balanced and focused. This is especially true if the arrangement has multiple parts playing in the same range, occupy similar frequency range with similar dynamics. Sacrifices must be made somewhere- and choosing what/where to sacrifice is part of the “art” of mixing.
@@zionjaymes4415 Completely agree with you. Lots of work and searching for all balances (volumes, EQ, compression, stereo placement). But thats the choice we make. I like to hear something new every time i listen, like to be submerged in ocean of sounds, melodies, harmonies and rhythm (not the real ocean though ;) ). Some people have done it well: Stravinsky, Paul Simon, Mitchel, Lynne, Brubeck,Sting,… Why not me? ;) At least have fun with it…
In fact, im trying right now to fix what ive recorded 4 years ago: i was bad at recording, its messy, so many tracks,… but i want to fix it as it is because of sentimental value - i did it mainly for my mama, so i want to keep everything as it was, but make it nice, listenable. One piece of very variable music with a song at the end, almost one hour total (no, im not crazy…it just poured out of me, a mix of about 20 songs all related to autumn). A wrong computer, latency, bad electric wiring in the house, too weak or too strong signal, my condition,.. On top of that, somehow lots of files in one part of 21 minutes just disappeared and i decided to cheat and blend in the latest mix of it. Aligned it, the StudioOne asked “do i want to add that stereo track to the project”, yes … and 1500 files started copying…cancel… too late… 163GB out of one stereo track from nowhere to..nowhere (but comp memory is taken). Still didnt get any explanation or solution. Reinstalling Win11. Learning, trying. Just because we like or love something, it does not mean it should be easy. In fact, its just opposite. Experience, maturity. Its just i prefer to struggle with music - not to hit my head against computer ;) Life. But ive learned a lot (musically, technically, philosophically, spiritually). And i hope that if i have blessings to do more music, it will be more simple (by a sober, a no nonsense selection)…no “wild prairie”, but a “nice garden with no occupying weeds”. Complexity should be beautiful and harmonious, not just complex ;)
Kind wishes to you!
I love your approach to all of this! This will save me a lot of money in the long run.
But I would love for you to maybe make a video about what are actually the essentials, I know it is different for everything, and convenience also plays a big role in justifying paying a lot for something, but what would you say is a gear list that will be fine for a small studio recording artists, instruments and producing / mixing. If this is too much to ask for, don’t worry, you are of great help anyways🙏🙏👍
audio interface, a couple of condensor mics, dynamic mics, stands, xlr cables, everything behringer. reaper as DAW. if you use it correctly you will have better audio quality than anyone had access to in the 60s and 70s
@@APMastering ok thanks. Might have to kill my ego and get some behringer gear
don't bother spending much money. if you want good gear go to a decent studio. your acoustics are going to be a limiting factor
@@APMasteringofcourse, thanks!
I get in trouble for saying this stuff every day. Engineers laugh at guitarists for their belief in magical tonewood, but they believe in magical Neve metal
magic!
One of your best video, in my opinion, so far. Nice playing by the way.
thanks
As a sound guy who tends to be really anal and perfectionist in the studio, when I do live sound and I’m stripped of all my control, I often find myself humbly owing the great sound to the talent of the band. The song, arrangement, and performance really is the primary foundation of the sound anyway. The recording is secondary, and mixing comes tertiary.
Sometimes I spend hours trying to get something to “feel” right in the mix, but not often enough in those moments of trying to diagnose the problem do I ask “does this song just suck?” Or “is the arrangement making this mix bad?” Or “are my recordings just ass?”. I can’t speak for everyone, but I definitely get Mixing Engineer Tunnel Vision.
Very interesting thanks.
I'd add one thing to your recommended Audio Engineer skill set - customer service. I'm a freelance VO artist, so I am both the performer AND the audio engineer. When I looked at some of the written feedback I've received over the last couple of weeks, praise fpr my performance certainly tops the list. But what they liked about my customer service came in a close second. (e.g., "Thank you for great communication throughout the process..." and "Communication was smooth and he responded quickly for my queries. He provided me with updates all the way...") And in my opinion, my focus on service and communication not only helped me deliver the VO performance they wanted, it positively coloured their reception of it.
100%
Amazing! Thanks for this. It sounds stupid, but I've long suspected whether 'perfectionism' mode impacted my tracks - I'm more likely to play with caution when the red light is on, and in turn this makes it sound less confident. You've convinced me 100% that it's not just about timing and correct voicing, it's also the performance, the attack, the digging in, but of course not overdoing it and playing attention to nuances of good technique too. No amount of mixing will fix something that sounds like it was constructed by 'playing it safe' - sincerely thanks for the pointer on where I will be focusing on from now on!
Finally a video I can agree with. The skill of the engineer is most important. But the gear sounds nice, it's no magic button.
In short - If you have the Duracell Bunny playing drums in your band - You're screwed!
Actually energizer bunny but well :P
Yeah I'm historically a live sound guy. My favorite is when the drummer plays so loudly that all the vocal mics are washed out with his cymbals and you have 200Hz buried in every other mic on stage to get rid of the snare. I've had bad drum technique causing the snare to trigger compression on the vocals and you've gotta play with side chaining to prevent it. Drummers are not the worst, though. Inconsistent bass players and guitar players with no right hand technique are awful, too. Untrained vocalists are pretty bad as well I've had to run -18dB gain reduction on female vocalists that go from quiet to loud without moving towards or away from the mic. Then you have some idiot tapping you on the shoulder to tell you "X is too loud/quiet" and you're like... must. contain. rage.
lol nice comment
@@APMastering People don't understand why the sound guy is always in a bad mood. I didn't even touch on how the last guy wrapped the cables and didn't label all the stuff he found that was broken as such.
cable coiling is also annoying in studios where the other engineers wrap them around their elbow in some weird way and don't know how to twist it properly
@@APMastering *seethes in pure hate*
Great video, super valuable!
(And i dont even record much live music)
Musical technique & song arrangement are fundamental to good recordings.....great tutorial 👍
Facts.
For Sure, Totally Agree With the Video. That's why people that have the money to pay someone that Really knows how to play. I play piano and not only do you learn about these types of things, there also so a certain way to play without injuring oneself. I think that goes to show you to keep practicing your music skills and record your own to get the sound you like and also keep learning everything music. I Love Your Videos and makes a Lot of Sense when You Show Us the Real Situations. You Play Very Well by the way. Cheers.
Love the message here. Rick Beato goes on about this as well, he calls it self mixing, when he interviews drummers he almost always brings it up and they all agree with him that they are ‘self mixing’ and it’s a big part of the sound
I also think some mixer engineers have talked them self’s up to be way more important than they are. The song and musicians, their approach particularly their playing dynamics make such a huge impact.
100%. rick has good takes often
it seems to me that all this amount of knowledge should eventually be summarized in a book with a great title
I completely agree. Cymbal bashers are my worst nightmare!! LOL!! Hit the shells with authority, and hit the cymbals with restraint. No wimpy picking!!
yes!
My dude's a drummer. Nice.
A good performance recorded on a cassette ghettoblaster in the middle of the room will e preferred over a studio recording with a bad one. The studio version is simply " shit, cooked perfectly".
I remember when I had a fostex x-26 4 track, I recorded a local artist and we took the demo to a record company. They said "this sounds great! What studio did you go to?" I said at my house. The label owner looked at his head engineer and asked, "why don't our music sound like that?!!? That was a proud moment. It was all about technique. I think technology has made me lazy. I gotta get back to technique.
ha ha nice story. would be fun to hear the recording
@@APMastering I will try to find it. This was before CD burners. I'm old. Lol
Its the way u play ... Depends upon the player right? Not the recording ...
Rick Beato interviewed some guy who was involved in finding new talent in the 90's, he said a ton of bands where being signed at the time but most of the couldn't play their instrument well enough and some of the big records at the time wasn't even the band playing, he said one producer even rerecorded the vocals him self when the band went home and they didn't even notice lol
lol
Guitar players like Gilmour, Beck, Knopfler, Les Paul, Joe Pass (from very known) are great because of their inner music, very acute feeling of rhythm and sound and a complete unity (knowledge and connection) with instrument. The rest is just means to transfer all that. Thats why they are great.
Funny, as i was finishing the last sentence, Jeff Beck came up on video. Something…
Funky!! Lots of learn. The best channel ever!
Great video, and I agree 100%.
I get the point, but you must already know this - technique is the one thing that most musicians CANNOT change, even if they practice all day every day. That's why so many of us concentrate on the things we CAN change. Not in the hope that we will suddenly sound like a hit band, but because it's all we are capable of.
The musicians who are able to grow and become better are more likely to get great results, for sure, but aside from those who prove themselves in that regard, there are millions of us who just want to have fun in our hobby and get a result that pleases us.
[I speak as a musician, audio engineer and producer with over 40 years experience, and I can say with some confidence that the charts always have been filled with musicians of limited technique who have done just fine.]
i'm not talking about musical ability. i'm just talking about, for example, where you strum the guitar. this absolutely can be changed and i've said this in a recording session before and gotten an instantly improved result from the guitarist. many examples like that
@@APMastering Maybe you are better at people management than I am! Or you've moved in better circles.
I've worked with people who simply refused to change, either because the very idea offended their ego, or because they couldn't do what seemed to me to be very simple.
But I do understand your point!
@@periurban 100% some musicians are arrogant but after running a recording studio for a number of years, my experience was that most people were up for experimentation
@@APMastering Probably because they were paying you?
Most of my experience has been with fellow troubadours, and at that point the egos are sharpened to a deadly point.
"What do you mean the hi-hat is too loud? Just f**king turn it down in the mix, genius!"
"It doesn't work like that. Why not just try hitting it softer?"
"F**k you! I don't need this. I'm out!"
You must have had those moments. No?
Maybe I've just been doing it all wrong.
lol
@@periurban in my experience nobody was that arrogant but i guess it depends where you are based geographically
So true, but it is easy for (clueless/frightened) people to talk technicalities like mics, pres, wall padding...
Mixing is never about gear (ok so you need some) but it is all about taking the performance and getting it across to the listener. Sure it is possible to reframe as was common with Record Producers like Mutt Lange (Def Lepard "Pyromania") but it was still all built on good performances and the Scene & Story of the Song and not lists of gear.
Again I am glad to see you showing this. Sadly those most in need of taking this on-beard will ridicule it and go so far as to be abusive.
:-)
La última frase del video lo resume todo. 😂. Gracias por tu contenido, siempre es inspirador ver lo que haces.
Gracias por ver
The whole technique things goes all the way back to before Les Paul invented multitrack recording. Musicians had to play well because there was no punch-in, multiple takes, or mixing for that matter. Just put everyone in a room with one microphone for the singer and everyone else has to use their internal balance to mix the song well. And nobody seems to complain about the lack of gear in that music of old for some reason...
They didn’t complain about it because it was a new medium and they didn’t have any other equipment, so what are you gonna complain about?
You are spot on with this! Well said, it's a craft we are losing in this world today
That bass sounds so good!
@GregsGuitars
Have a look at this guy’s channel. Everything is recorded with a simple mic on a simple amp to a simple berhinger. And it’s one of the BEST sounds. He’s a master, by the way
Yes.
Very good! Thanks :)
So the takeway is to get the perfomance down from the get go and the rest will follow?
yeah. performance is most important
With my new mixing skills I wanted to redo our 2004 demo. I loved the track. So my guitar playing was weak and sloppy, editing didn't help, so I rerecorded it. Then I wanted put my favorite chains on the drums, but it was too softly played, so I replaced it. Finally the bass lacked real low end, consistency and EQ couldn't bring it up. My bass guitarist friend did an updated version. So only the singer's performance stayed, that reacted well to my new plugins and skills. I wish there were more full mix example where the drummer on purpose hits it well, and then on purpose hits it weak.
i tried my best in this vid. maybe i can repeat in a decent studio though
@@APMastering what can be an interesting video for drummers is to make them listen to the snare track and hear the extreme bleed when the drummer gets loud with the hats and cymbals and weak with the snare (or hits all over the snare). There's a widespread myth that it is super easy to balance a drum recording because "why don't you just bring up the snare track?", well because it is full of cymbal bleed and gating is not possible under a certain proportion.
@@drrodopszinthey don't care
I hope aspiring producers, engineers, and artists are listening closely to your wise words of wisdom.
I’ve always said the important things in making a good record: good song > good performance (what you touch on here) > good recording > good mixing > mastering.
I don’t really think either of these techniques you mention are wrong though, they just don’t necessarily get the right vibe the artist may be going for. I also know tons of bassists who use the thumb almost exclusively (les claypool style). But yeah it’s rough when the musician sucks and i’ve experienced a bunch of weird stuff like that. Auto tune and all the compression in the world won’t fix a singer with no personality/attitude.
sure i'm not saying these techniques are bad in the right context just that it makes a dramatic difference to the sound of the mix with all else held equal
Not really a counter but definitely something to consider.
There are artists and bands who had limits and even arguably a poor skillset. Think punk bands. But those bands would either 1) work on improving their technique to make it passable (or at least better than crap) or 2) lean into those weakness to define their particular character. If the latter was chosen, then you would need someone who could help “fill in the gaps” or make the most out of a limited situation.
All of that said, it starts with the composition, the arrangement and the performance recorded. If none of those elements are there, no amount of mixing or mastering will ever transform something bad into great.
P.S. The U87 was not what made the Beatles great. The U87 just happened to be the microphone. Granted it’s a solid microphone and it is rightfully admired for its technical components that aid in getting great recordings. But a U87 won’t give a piss-poor busker a Brit Award 😉
hey! that Dog buys all my merch and dances to all my songs at all my shows!
As the saying goes, "Garbage in, garbage out".
I know you mentioned it in the beginning, but good playing technique can't be overstated. As someone who mixed a bunch of local death metal bands I can say that the biggest problem to get that nice clean and punchy production all of those bands want, is their lack of skill and trying to play beyond their ability. I get sent bunch of messy tracks that even hours of editing and trying to quantize can't save from muddy messy sound.
exactly, quantised crap is still crap ha ha
The problem today is not many (if any) want to put in the time and effort it takes to obtain good technique, they just want things to happen with little effort.
seems like many people are after the shortcuts with modern tools but there's no substitute for playing well
@@APMastering 💯
@@APMastering I have this plugin for sale, for $249 (regular price $799) you can really make that guitar sing for you. Just install, move these 2 dials slightly, and there it goes! Subscribe to our newsletter and get an additional $20 off (limited time offer)
This is true for the post AI era. Services like UDIO will totally fix any technique problem in the future.
i doubt that if they can, it would be as undesirable as an AI girlfriend
❤
Oh, good ol' forgotten little things. Timing, tone and dynamics control AKA musician's technique. MOST important aspect of every recording. Period. We can keep fixing, but sometimes, even if effect is "good enough", it's not feasable financially (for artist, if we are paid ph then it's good for us - engineers, but a NIGHTMARE to work with, often not worth that money) ;)
PLEASE PLEASE cut this into a short/reel I can share. PLEASE.
Eric B -------------DONT SWEAT THE TECHNIQUE
technique and room treatment
Awesome
Good recording, good mixing and mastering is never bad. For that one needs good ears, some skills and simple, available means (no need for fancy, expensive stuff). BUT there should be substance, essence. And it is music. A nicely recorded bunch of sounds, noise, “myauing”, screaming is not a good song. With a massive degradation of people (which is spreading faster and stronger), way too many can’t hear the difference between “a musical sound garbage” and music, an eatable so-called food and real food, an attachment with desire to enjoy and love,… Everyone has a different levels and stages. But what i hear and see (and smell) around - it is very scary and sad.
Music should bring harmony, kindness, beauty and peace. If it does not, then it is not music to me, no matter how well it is played and recorded.
O, you have a Diamand bass ))))))) Cool ! )))
its not mine but it's cool
A good song played with good technique and well recorded does indeed basically mix itself. If in doubt of that, google Def Leppard - Rock of Ages multitracks, and there's a legitimate place where you can sign up and download the original studio recordings. It certainly doesn't need a lot of processing to really shine.
exactly! thanks for the comment
100% technique is everything…
Love it
2:19 please tell me im not the only insane person that immediately imagined a horse walking to this beat
is the mail for Tracking purposes? I want to pass your apcomp to my group of musician friends. must they all use the mail or could I just send them a .zip
the mail is so i can get in contact to issue updates. i'll have an improved version available in a couple of weeks with a few new features
smack dat snare!
🥁
One of the hardest things to find is a good mixing video that isn’t correcting bad source material with massive amounts of plug-ins.
that's because if you have a good recording it mixes itself
Everything you say is true. Above all, that "correlation != causation" is not understood by most people. On the other hand, they just don't want to hear it either. So your videos will never be as popular as all the other stuff that's out there tickling people's ears and egos. They don't want it any other way though! And instead of teaching them bit by bit that you can't buy success and skill, the marketing department shamelessly exploits the desire for recognition and success to make big fat profits. And in the end it is said that their success proves them right to do so. Morally this is absolutely reprehensible. But who cares about morality or social responsibility these days? The problem exists on both sides! (And it's no different in other aspects of life either...)
This is very noticable on drummers, get a good drummer and get a good drum sound with the same gear as the worse drummer with a horrible result
bernard perdie can make a toy drum kit sound better than an amateur on a blue oyster
I got a record deal to Universal with shit I produced in my nans spare bedroom in Thornton Heath, Croydon. I got dropped when I actually tried. (Frankmusik for reference). The worst mix I ever got back was from Spike Stent. Go figure.
99% of musicians dont'n know this.
I agree with the point in the video - you need your players to be competent, but I don't like the implication that once you have good technique, nothing after that matters.
I think you'll agree as well that after the instruments are played competently, recording techniques can still make or break songs.
To me this video is not far off from saying that "if you play different notes your song will sound different". After you got good notes and good playing, there's a trillion different elements that still come into play, and that's still the producer's job.
So unless this video is aimed at producers that don't realize the importance of proper playing technique, it's kinda preaching to the choir here.
i explicitly say in the video i'm not talking about notes or music. for the most part, mic choice, pres, desk, converters, tape or digital etc is almost completely inconsequential to the final product. i might make a video on this but i'd need to rent a studio
And here is me testing your hypothesis by Mixing the pieces and then seeing if those mixes in any positive way translate to the shoddy performances. Not at all. They make the shoddy performances sound worse by a similar degree to which the mix enhances the good performances: ua-cam.com/video/aBv2FXeAXsE/v-deo.html
great video!
I'm mixing songs from cambridge website and holu crap, it's not a website - it's crappy metal production collector. Metal songs sounds like they are recordede back in 2000 in creappy garrage
I Agree.. but it's not only metal there that sucks. most songs there are an uphill battle..
"Much of the audio industry is rigged anyway" That statement could probably be a video in itself.
Whats rigged exactly?
I really like the topics on this channel so far.
gatekeeping, licensing and royalty structures etc
@@APMastering yeah fair points.
The idea is to impart an optimal amount and quality of information on the listener and as long as your average is high enough, you will have a good end product.
David Tenant giving mix advice
lol just showed my wife and her friend a picture and they disagree i look like him but ironically someone said i looked like him the other day
@@APMastering spitting image
I 90% agree with the video. But try to get a rode nt1 to sound like a u87. The esses disconnect and the high end sounds entirely artificial. I believe that the mic is the only gear that matters because the chnages it makes to your recording are destructive. The ammount of work I've seen people go through to get their mic to sound good is absolutely a testament to this. The performances have been great, the room has been well treated, the song has been well written. I am absolutely begging you to have a look at how the u87 compares to the nt1 on the same performance because it is something I can't find on UA-cam and i swear it can't be fixed with a simple EQ.
@@foodwav it can be fixed with eq if you know how. i agree nt1 is overhyped in the highs but given correct placement and eq it's just fine
Expensive gear is, amongst other things, a timesaver. That matters when you want to make a living out of it.
Other than that the essentials are: Band->Song/Arrangement->Room->Engineer->Mics->Pres/Converters for recording and Engineer->Room for mixing.
Sitting in a multimillion studio and saying ''I do everything in the box'' is the norm.
really? i know andrew scheps has a travel rig which he uses most of the time but i think many famous engineers with lots of gear like CLA actually use it
@@APMastering I do not believe that someone,anyone sitting in a studio with 1.000.000+ worth of gear advocating that all is made in the box.
sure most people with all that gear will tend to use it, otherwise they'd just sell it and use the money for something else
@@APMastering Yes,and you mentioned Scheps....good example,having a pc dropped onto 3m$ SSD console plus 5m$ in gear,of course everything is made in a box.The gear price went up and going up since plugins were introduced,or you are telling me that 12k euros Weiss DS1 MK3 I could get for 500 euros as a plugin??
@@ir8123 i don't know exactly what you are talking about... schepps has a neve console which isn't worth any where near 3 million dollars. not sure what currency you're discussing.
Would I be correct to assume that this argument doesn’t apply to vocals? There’s thousands of videos online showing the difference between the same vocal recording before and after an audio engineer “corrects’ the pitch and the timing and applies a dozen effects them chops up 82 takes and chooses the best word sung from each track and edits them into a seamless seemingly perfect vocal performance. We’ve also all been present when an horrendous sounding public address system blasts out an unintelligible spoken message. That’s not spoken vocal technique, that’s horrific equipment set up in a way to produce a sound so ugly you cover your ears. And it’s just a guy speaking plain English into a microphone. It has nothing to to with his “technique” of talking.
My oppinion is this is also many times down to technique. With many of those "horrendous sounding public address systems" most times it isn't the system itself at fault, but the way it's been set up. Of course, bad speakers that are too boomy or too shrill can be to blame...but often times it comes down more to the placement and levels of those speakers (for that particular space) that cause the issues.
But also...dont forget about mic technique. If a person doesn't know a correct distance to speak into the mic from, or the gain isn't set up at a good level...it will cause those issues. Same thing with stage monitoring. Public speakers and performers will often compensate by holding the mic closer or further if what they are able to hear from thier place on stage is drastically different from what the audience is hearing.
So yeah.. it can be a poorly chosen system that sounds bad, but usually ite more down to the technique of how that system is set up and dialed in. Even a high end system that is improperly set up with bad mic technique will sound bad.
As far as those vocal recordings you mentioned are concerned, that's a bit different category. All that editing is just compensating for "not great" performances and technique...and all the editing in the world can't "fix" that if it's bad enough lol. The better the performance is, the less that "needs" to be done it.
yeah there's a lot to say for vocal technique. try and record enough space by the foo fighters with bad technisier
Capitalist channels mad RN 😆😆
>jolana diamond
are you czech or something?
they both sound the same to me? lost me
actually? they are completely different sounding
@@APMastering i will listen more closely
Expensive audio gear is like a golden pipe in a toilet seat, most of the time it's not crystal clear water that is passing through it, if you own a studio you know what I mean. First most important stuff in the studio after the very basics (computer, monitors, interfaces, etc.) is acoustic treatment + superb quality instruments played by people who knows how to do it, only then you'll have amazing recording, u47 tube+1073 in a shitty room is full crazy non sense.
yeah very minimal marginal gains from that kind of gear. decent room, instruments and musicians is key
Love the golden pipe analogy. 😄
Btw when you say superb quality instruments I hope you're not implying super expensive ones. I prefer the cheap Ibanez I have over the Les Paul and Strat that I've owned for decades. They're all superb instruments, all set up well, but the cheapest one plays and sounds the best to me proving that it's not about spending lots of money.
@@glennlittle7955 Sometimes it's about the expensive stuff, but mostly it's not. Superb quality to me has more to do with if it fully functions in the application you need it for. Guitars for example were never the problem in a record making process, I've had some cheap hot rodded $ 300 guitars in the studio that easily sounded as good as the $ 5K les paul next to it. One piece of equipment can make or break a record: cymbals; what you need to make the record sound amazing is in the higher pricing end. And there's the piano players, some can't perform great in non weighted keys and this is almost never cheap to solve. I'm convinced that you can make amazing records with cheap but capable gear, I do that everyday for two decades at this point. But I'll be honest, the same way that I used some expensive gear that were totally useless and disappointing, the best stuff I've played were also quite expensive, like the best snare drums and cymbals, custom shop guitars and basses, the best rooms, the best microphones, some of that more expensive stuff can be really special sounding if they're the right ones.
@@glennlittle7955 So all three you mentioned seems superb, you just like one more than the others and it ended up being the cheapest of the bunch. By superb I mean 'perfect functioning for the purpose and task'. For example: an expensive Les Paul can be a superb instrument in a studio environment, but they just don't hold up temperature changes, if you tour very large distances and don't have a tech you're just screwed. And don't get me wrong, I'm a total gear freak, I have hundreds of thousands invested in my studio but I tend to chase the cheapest gear that can deliver all the goods, I just love nerding out efficiency and I really find funny making better sounding records than some audio snobs with very little to almost nothing, that's where the fun lies to me.
So wait, are you saying that if the musicians play well the music will sound better than if they play badly?
no. "well" doesnt exactly equal technique. a drummer could play very well but not use the correct technique for the track
You and Ethan are going to be arrested for what you are doing.
That’s the way the world is heading…..telling the truth will get you arrested 😬😬🙈🙈😂
@@TechnoAssassin-vx6zf Im writing this from my prison cell.
😂dude can play really bad if you’re up to
Wait, are you saying a great band will sound great, even without all the bells and whistles? lol
I mean, I might just be an azz-whole here but, does a band that can't be bothered to learn good technique BEFORE stepping into a studio, even deserve a good recording?
Every music teacher I ever encountered, taught proper technique first and foremost. Whether it was guitar or drum lessons, the teacher wouldn't even let you keep playing, if you were using bad technique. Also, that "bad room", strangely enough makes that snare sound good IMO lol.
well I know drum teachers which have terrible technique and break all their sticks constantly. when I used to have drum kit, one pair of 7A sticks would last me months and months and I'd sound louder with 7As playing rock than some of the rock drummers I'd record playing with 2Bs
Both recordings are trash and I think 95% of the people who watch this could agree 😂
did you listen to what i said in the video?
This is dumb. Its everything in the chain that matters and what is weakest. It could be the performance it could be the arrangement, it could be the recording, it could be the mixing, it could be..... saying its always one thing is infantile and just click bait. It doesn't matter if the technique is good is everything else sucks like a crap arrangement or a crap song, or a bad mix, or a bad master, or bad acoustics in the room ,etc.
wrong. microphone choice, preamp choice, console choice etc, between reasonable working equipment, will not make or break a song but technique will
Everything matters to some degree. But not everything matters equally. Gear matters much, much less than a great song being performed well.
❤