I took 2 semesters of audio school. The first thing my Professor said was "If you are serious about this, then you will learn more from talking and listening to your classmates than I could ever teach you." It was 100% true. Meeting people who made/produced completely different kinds of music than I was used to was the best thing that I could have ever done.
Must be nice to get paid to do nothing. Why am I not a professor? Oh yeah, those that can't, teach. I can, so I do. Exception being people like fucking Gregg. Always throwing a fish in the soup.
It's true. But he didn't say that you won't learn anything from him, just that you will learn more from each other if you are serious. That stands for all creative subjects in college/uni. That's the main value of formal education, you can learn from each other in an environment where you have time to do so, and guidance from an experienced teacher. You won't get that in your home studio watching a bunch of youtube videos. You won't get it from a commercial situation either, where the experts are run off their feet, and definitely won't have time to mentor a noob, or experiment with stuff that isn't directly relevant to the current job. Problem is that probably the majority of folk coming out of college and uni do have the qualification, but weren't serious enough to get really into the subject with their fellow students. Those folk are why employers don't value that piece of paper. Doesn't mean that going to college isn't worth it though - just that the paper qualification isn't the real value!
I saved a lot of money doing my own soldering projects. Pickups selectors broke? Fixed! Copper tape the innards of the guitar for a Faraday Shield? Check! Headphone chord ripped out one of the leads? No problem!
From Terry Pratchett: “The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”
Didn't expect someone screaming at the camera in a beautiful studio to have more useful and non-condescending advice than 90% of the content I've seen on the topic. And all that well-organized, without a 40-minute rant about how cable shielding patterns vary their results based on trout population. Thank you so much!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for mentioning the Station Nightclub Fire. I am a live sound guy and applied for a job at the Station the month before they burned down. Even when that happened i still had to tell people in the Rhode Island area not to use packing foam or egg cartons in their studio (especially when they were smokers. ) So many people just don't know. Even upholsterers.
Hard to believe that was 20 years ago! Some guitar picks are made of the same highly flammable celluloid as foam. I know how quickly a pick will go up in flames - I can't imagine an entire wall of foam.
I built 4 recording studios for EA Sports, (once upon a time) even made the sound baffles as well. The specs on the covers had to be Commercial Aircraft Grade Cloth. 'nuff said.
Just caught this vid- at random appeared in my feed whilst I was scrolling 😮. What a great blog. Dude I have a studio at home in my spare room and I have learned many of these lessons through bitter experience... great to see someone giving such wholesome common sense advice . If I want to spend hundreds on shitty equipment I just listen to your advice now, I can cut out the middle man and save time and just buy the stuff and then throw it straight in the bin 😊. In all seriousness and joking aside, thankyou! An informative effort - interesting, funny, but also conscientiously made- that fire was a terrible tragedy that could have been so easily prevented with a bit of fire prevention knowledge and some consideration and responsible event management. Fires happen, but if you cut corners on expense when it comes to safety it just means families get bereaved and you end up in prison or sued. Nobody wants someone's death on your conscience, living the rest of your life knowing you could have done more to prevent it.
Best not to spray paint the foam black for aesthetic reasons like the slum lords did at The Station night club a.k.a. tinder box. Couldn't spring for sprinklers or even ample amounts of fire extinguishers but they could spray an accelerant onto the acoustic foam that releases cyanide gas when ignited!
I've wasted too much money on bad gear - Line 6, Donner, Positive Grid, On-Stage Mic Stands... This will definitely help the younger/less experienced viewers for sure! Good on you, Glenn!
7:04 I can definitely vouch for the books thing. I played a show once in a tiny bookstore and it had the best acoustics of any room I've EVER played in! And this was no folk-y acoustic show either. It was a weird mixed bill with down-tuned Sabbath type stuff, sludgey shoegaze, a straight up punk band, and a lighter mid-2000's indie band.
Do the books absolutely have to be pages-out rather than spines-out to be effective? I get the physics of it but I like to be able to find a particular book at a glance.
10:17 If you can, stay away from cables with gold plugs. The idea is that gold is a better conductor and doesn't tarnish. Gold is great for connectors that will just stay plugged in all the time, but gold is soft and will wear off with a lot of plugging and unplugging. Quite often the metal underneath is exposed and will tarnish, which results in crappy connections.
Yeah this is spot on! My father is an electrician and he told me the same when I set up my current studio and consulted him on cabling/power wiring etc
@@IshaanKunwar I'm speaking from experience, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are articles about it. You're better off with nickel plated. Have you ever seen an old Les Paul with gold hardware, and most of the gold is worn off? It's like that.
@@zachw2538 I did floor decoupling to not annoy the downstair neighbors and bass traps on all corners as well as mid and high frequency absorption and some slight diffusion, room is killer and I can record real amps any time of day.
The thing about music-related school programs is that its 1+ years of - Being 100% invested in learning/improving (or else you waste your money) - Having the ability to ask teachers and students anything you want whenever you want - Meeting (potentially life-long) friends/colleagues who will mention your name in 5 years for a game-changing opportunity that they can't commit to It's all about the mindset that gets engraved in you. Whether or not its worth your money is up to you...
One lesson I learned in audio school that stuck with me was when we were recording a voiceover for a sound-for-picture class. We had an isolation booth with some XLR pass-throughs on it, and I used a series of adapter cables to send a headphone feed into the booth. The student doing the voiceovers reported a buzz in the headphones and that they didn't sound good. I started troubleshooting which adapter had a problem. The instructor came over, disconnected the whole mess, tied it in a knot, and threw it in the trash. "These broken cables just cost you a bunch of money, because you're trying to make them work instead of recording. This is time you can't bill for. It cost you more money than it'd cost to just replace the cables." (Paraphrasing; it's been about 25 years now.) We eventually just ran a cable under the door instead of using the jacks on the booth.
I was already at a University for something else (which I currently have a career in), and the music school had a studio that you could only use if you were a Music Tech minor. So, I did the minor, and it was great. The studio was the best studio I've been able to actually use since, and I ended up making money because the school allowed us to do gig work in there, and would even pay us on behalf of music students who needed recordings done. It was a great deal, a resume builder if nothing else. With school, you really need to know your own case. It could be a great idea, could not be.
I agree completely, I don't think a course like mine where I learned how to mix and record for film and TV, taking part in AV and live sound work whether itd be patching stage crew and foh and mon as well as theatre setups and using different daws and excess programs like rack, davinci and even unreal engine, plus on top of that getting time to engineer my own sessions with bands in the studios was completely useless. But I understand if glen's talking about courses that strictly teach studio music mixing as it's in industry that's impossible to get into. It really just depends on what you learn and how you apply it.
I've always assumed that connections and student production resume building would be the main benefit of formal music production schooling. You get access to some gear sure, but the studio work experience is the real benefit. Depending where you are and what your local scene is like, that might vary from useless to invaluable.
I give myself some of the best gifts ever ! I just gave myself a new Gibson Trad Pro V in Dark Purple Burst because I , uh , I was , uh , feeling down . Yeah , that’s the ticket !
Glenn, you are one of the most genuine producers on UA-cam, straight to the point, no bullshit. I have learned so much from you in such a short time! Keep up the badassery
Glen you are using the LINE 6 Spyder wrong, you need to have 6 of them, each mic'ed with a Blue Snowball and ran into each other in series. Then into a behringer interface
HA! I wrote an article on gear for spoken word (podcasts) for under $100. It was a Behringer BA-85A Mic, a UMC22 Interface (Midas preamps SO much better than Behringer's Xenyx ones which is why I avoid their mixers like the plague), cheap Neewer boom arm (it's a $25 mic for God's sake), and a cheap 10 foot XLR cable. Came to $97 total. While I had no delusions that this was anything other than adequate, I actually had someone argue with me for hours that you should just get (of all things) a HyperX Quadcast USB mic instead for $140. Missing the point of it being much more expensive than the target, and that you could replace bits and pieces of the XLR gear without losing your entire investment as you do with a USB mic. He claimed to be a degreed Audio Engineer so when he talked about what a waste of money that was, I had to laugh. I guess the point is, you buy what you can afford and look for the best bang for the buck. For the money, Behringer's USB interfaces aren't so bad (though granted there is WAY better)
Forget Behringer. Pyle is where it's at! You can get a Pyle mic for $20 or less and you would not be able to tell the difference on its mic and a Shure SM57(?) in a double blind test. The reason people get the Shures is because they are road-worthy. Cheaper mics can be used in studio use because you're not taking them 'on tour'. The sound quality is going to be almost identical and only a golden eared audiophile would ever be able to tell the difference and they're a rare breed.
@@Vertshark Agreed, but there are better reasons to avoid Behringer's mixers than the preamps, though that's certainly reason enough. For the sake of brevity, I'll name just two; the fact that the monitor sends are post-EQ (WTF?) and general reliability. The only reason I've never had one take a crap on me is because I've never bought one. The ones I used by necessity were warning enough.
I bought that while in Scotland. Was fun to play with, but not great. Then I get back to US, and buy a Line Six combo. Glad they had a great return policy. It sounded like it had a wet blanket over it, no high range. So I returned the head, kept the cab and modified it with a sub speaker to give my guitar system better live lows. I run it through a Marshall system but it has a pre-amp built into the cab to assert the sub. Better blend of highs and mid-range over the wet blanket.
I learned a ton from my community college recording/music production courses. And they were fairly inexpensive too! It is nice to have instructors who know their shit that you can bounce questions off in real time. Maybe it's not the best to learn how to produce a specific genre of music... But it can be a great way to learn some basics, get to experiment with expensive gear, and meet other people who are into music production.
Just watched this today and love it!! I myself bought a BBE sonic maximizer rack unit years ago to use in the loop of my JCM 900 head. I was told by a touring musician on Marshall forum that 900s respond GREAT with BBE, but outside of that, it's not much use. I got one and yes, it did make a GREAT difference in the amp. However, over time, I bought a distortion pedal to replace the distortion settings on my floor processor unit and go straight into return on both my marshall heads and the sound is MUCH better than using the BBE on my 900(I have a 900 head and DSL 2000 head). Going into return and simply not using the BBE gave me a better sound. Now, my BBE Sonic sits in my rack unplugged. One day I may try it out again, but at the moment, happy with the sound I get.
I went to an audio school in germany, and I do not regret it. Learned a lot, improved myself, even got a job afterwards (live sound engineer), but the work conditions for live events are not easy, so I switch to IT and made music my hobby again.
I also went to audio school, well technically, film school but majoring in audio engineering and sound design and I honestly kinda regret it. I made a lot of cool connections, but nothing I learned there was stuff I couldn't just find on the internet or in the library.
Yeah I got a live sound gig after audio school. Hated it. Yeah stay up until 5am, get paid about10/hr (this was 2008), and deal with artists yelling at you because the venue’s analog gear sucks and is extremely limiting. only so much you can do without compressors, gates, FX, a few mic inputs, and only 3 band EQ. Clearly it’s MY fault it doesn’t sound good 🙄. Granted I’ve gigged at some higher end venues, but it always feels similar. Artist expects studio quality setup instantly despite your limited working conditions. And half the time live sound is just trying to control feedback.
yeah i have a music degree, audio tech not recording, and i learned a ton. having sanctioned music theory classes is really helpful if you care about composing. and i learned so much about sound programming and designing for video that i would not have grasped so quickly without veteran musicians.
As someone with a BSc, it definitely depends on the industry you're working in. Recording studios, live music and general freelancing? More about your connections than anything. Education, corporate, pro AV, games industry? More often than not you should get your bits of paper ready.
@John H although I would also argue after doing amateur live sound and production for years I definitely learned a LOT from doing a degree - so I'd say the quality of teaching and skills learned in that environment are important. On a good course there's definitely a breadth of skills you probably wouldn't learn working in a single role in one industry.
I've learned so much from more experienced guys being brutally honest and and properly shaming, less experienced guys into not doing dumb things. Thank you glenn and keep rocking! 🤘🤘
Lol, me too. Tbh, Mackie's CR series just seemed to be competing against the PreSonus budget monitors, which also sound terrible. I'm glad that Mackie at least rebranded it as a "multimedia monitor," so we know to avoid it for studio use. For now, though, Kali Lp6es are king, and maybe even Mackie's more expensive monitor lineup as well.
I did my degree in music, I feel like college/uni courses in music or music production are worth it if you would do the course even if they didn't give you a piece of paper at the end of it. If you're learning enough and getting enough experience while you're there, that's the important part.
Yes (good points!) But on the other hand - my band was asked to play at a local community college so the students could record video/audio of a performance. I was shocked by how little they knew. Their second year students knew less than my schools 1st semester freshman program. It was a nightmare. Not all programs are equal. Do your homework. YMMV.
Don't forget home studios where there before commercial studios, how do you think they got to commercial everything goes back to it's roots eventually.
I went to a specialized audio engineering and music technology school. I learned a lot, but couldn't finish because of the expense. Also the stress put on by peers and society at the time of you've gotta go to college right after highschool, you have your whole life ahead of you and you're barley an adult, you better have your shit together and figured out right this instant and go to college. This will determine the rest of your lifes work. Don't fuck it up! Good luck. Thanks Glen for the great content. I continue to learn a lot from your videos.
I'm sorry, but that's absolute untrue. The idea that college will determine the rest of your life is a myth. My dad was the worst student at university and he ended up with a brilliant 40 years career in audio-engineering after drop out. I dropped out of one of the best jazz colleges in the world and now? I work for Yamaha Canada as an engineer. It will NOT determine how your life plays out. I'm sorry but that's a dishonest salesman pitch to freak you out and make you get in debt for the next decade or so. No one have their "shit together and figured out right this instant" when they're 18 - that is just NOT true. Also, I was born in this industry, and I can assure you that no one will ever ask for you degree. 100% positive. I learned much more in 8 months of grinding PA gigs than in years o theory.
Number one hits home for me. I learned to record on my own from books and UA-cam videos when I was in middle and high school. I then went to a major university for recording. I found everything you said true. Limited use of the gear, limited experience and knowledge from teachers, and lessons that weren’t really catered to the types of things I wanted to work on. Oh and maybe one person I went to school with has a job in recording. I dropped out about halfway through because I felt like I wasn’t really learning anything new from the stuff I had learned from UA-cam and some books. The one class that really was great was my acoustics class where I learned about room design and the science of sound. Now I’m running my own studio, making money and have several albums under my belt. Recording school is more about networking. If you want that it’s great. Else wise dive in to your DAW and get going.
I did a 3 year BSc Audio and Music Technology Degree. About 50% was studio recording. The lectures were very upfront that it would be unlikely any of us would work in the dream studio scenario. We even did a module which was record 3 songs at a £500 ($700) budget and 2 higher quality at a £1500 ($2100) budget, it really opened our eyes to how much renting studio time cost and how low your hourly rate would end up if you agree to a bad deal. We did modules on Electronics, Live sound and Acoustics which were very useful too for real life situations. With all that said it cost £9000 ($12500), was it worth it? I'd say it largely depends on your character, I was that mid range student that did well and enjoyed it but didn't take every opportunity that I could have. We had studio rooms with hundreds of thousands of pounds of gear that we could book to use everyday if we wanted. It only started getting limits towards the end of the semester. If I'd just spent hours learning the gear and in the process training my ears further I definitely would have got more out of the opportunity presented to me. My career? Live sound engineer for 2-3years, then realised I would rather protect my ears and work more social hours so went into programming and do audio as my hobby now. I don't regret my degree for the social aspect and further figuring out my life, but I couldn't argue it was necessary.
God when I started recording my own stuff, I was ping pingong using 2 cassette decks. The resources available now for home recording at good prices just kills me.
Same. Acoustic nylon string guitar found in a trash, fixed and with DIY piezo, two decks where one was used as overdrive. Backing rhythm track done with Roland Jupiter-4 arpeggiator. Sometime later dad bought 4 track, and at some point he bought a second one that had... get this... REVERB!... And i was lucky, my dad repairs musical instruments so there is a lot of stuff, i had full PA in my room as a teen, 12ch Yamaha powermixer (but unlucky that rock was almost forbidden in our religious household)... but recording was always so expensive and difficult to get mics.. The ones we had were pretty much found from trash.
Gorilla Recording. I miss those days, you had to “make it” with what you had and learned so much. And it had a greater sense of satisfaction. Like using the left headphone in your acoustics f hole with scotch tape. 😜
i did it with a cassette tape recorder and a cassette player, so i had to keep swapping the tapes for each next track and the pitch would go up due to the speed differences. I remember i just about crapped a brick when i finally could get a 4track yamaha cassette. It was a dream come true since i could never afford a teac 3340 or w/e it was. then came the roland VS-880 with its crappy laptop HD but amazing effects and spdif outs right into the old soundblaster platinum.
I borrowed an Akai stereo reel to reel from a guy in my church (1977). I had it a full year before I discovered I could do sound on sound. I started piling up tracks and the noise grew and grew! It taught me to be judicious in what I put down. I learned a lot of great lessons starting from that place.
SO glad you mentioned "acoustic foam". Seems like every beginner gets sucked in by those (myself included, when I started). Stick to Rockwool & Owens Corning 703
sorta fell into this. my room isn’t completely plastered with foam, but i probably have a little bit more than what’s needed to treat it acoustically. i really just need to reposition my guitar rack and get some bass traps
Disagree. My whole room is a padded cell at this point, makes it nice and dry!! I can't stand an echoey room. My speakers sound clean, vocal tracks sound good etc. Just being in here feels still and calm But then again I only record vocals, I don't use monitors, but might get bass traps eventually
I just recently discovered your channel and thoroughly enjoy the content! I also appreciate the no-bs approach to sharing your knowledge and experience with us. It has been enlightening and educational. Noticed a trend of Robotech t-shirts in your videos; grew up on the cartoon and still have my old table-top source books!
17:31 I got a 4-year Bachelor of Music: Technology; Sound Recording at a private university. The first year was actually phenomenal. We learned so much because we had a great instructor. Once we got to year 2, however, the remaining courses were all taught by the same classical engineer who had no experience or expertise for recording or mixing any genre that gets heard in the modern industry. Classes revolved around what this guy wanted to do, and courses were generically called Audio I, II, II, IV, etc. While we did plenty of editing, we spent WAY too much time on the physics of Electrical Engineering (the professor's background), and there was little or no focus on specific topics such as mic choice/placement for different instruments/situations, modern EQ/gate/compression techniques, putting together a mix in any genre, etc. etc. The saving grace at this school was: in addition to the Sound Recording track, ALL music majors (tech/sound recording included) were required to pass an instrumental audition and continue instrumental study as a "field" major; and the general music curriculum at this school was actually pretty badass. And it also included a non-music "core" curriculum. So while the Sound Recording track had its flaws (which I have heard have since been improved), I think I got a pretty well-rounded college education. But it was quite expensive and I don't work in audio full-time. I do way more work as a guitar player than an engineer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The whole education system is a rackett. Whatever it is you learn in 4 years of Bachelor's degree education you can learn in less than a month if the job itself provided the course.
The BBE unit is a piece of live gear lmao. It's basically just an active EQ, once the mid range gets over a certain range it automatically boosts some highs to compensate. It also does some amplitude and frequency dependant phase compensation. If you're doing live shows and you can't afford a good DSP like a DBX DriveRack or another solution the BBE can help clean up your live sound a bit. But 50% of the time it makes things worse. It's an extremely environmentally sensitive effect, though we still like to have one around. You can also slam your drums through a BBE and get some really funky distorted drum sounds!
Yeah the Sonic Max is really for live work, especially mobile rigs where you're not sure about the environment. And I have only seen one guitarist get a great use out of it through his stereo rig. I have one, and I get good results from it but only because I know when to use it and when not to even bother.
I've heard professional musicians recommending it on guitars too. I guess if you lack a presence knob, it might help, but I personally have never tried
@@i-never-look-at-replies-lol "shitty gear" ok, I'm sure that's why the BBE units are some of the best selling pieces of rack gear in the live industry lmao
John McBride (owner of Blackbird Studios in Nashville and possibly more gear than anyone else on Earth) uses a Sonic Maximizer as a parallel effect when tracking drums. Turns out it sounds great. But hey - what does he know amiright?
I went to recording school, and while I don’t regret doing it I feel like real world experience would have been more applicable. The good things I took away from my education had little to do with audio and more to do with people.
Again, you don't go to a school for what you'll learn; it's for who you'll meet. The entire Ivy League is based on this principle. The guys in Matchbox 20 met while they were attending the school where Jaco studied, IIRC. I kinda agree and disagree with Glenn on this subject, because it's hard to get work, if you don't know somebody who's working and if you just buy the gear and start making records for your friends, well, then you're learning at their expense, not yours. Some might call that taking advantage, unless you offer a steep discount, but THEN....it gets harder to keep the lights on. Then again, everything in this life is a kind of balancing act.
@@m0j0b0ne honestly it helped me to realize how much I love audio and it got me into some really awesome rooms and I was able to work with some gear that I may never get to touch again. Did I mention that there were only 12-13 students per instructor. SAE full sail and all those schools wanted too much and offered nothing. The conservatory of recording arts and sciences. It did not result in me getting a job in audio directly after school but it did pour a ton of gas on my dream of recording music every day. Thanks for the response. I agree with what you said. Sometimes Glen can be a bit jaded but so can anyone in the trenches. I normally agree with him on most things. But not everything... even my favorite bands have shitty songs from time to time.
And thats exactly what the school is for, and its rly important so stop with all the “school doesnt do anything” supercrap. Not saying to the comenteer nor anyone specificaly. I am ranting on behaviour itself
With regards to cables... in my personal opinion... buy a spool of decent quality cable and solder your own high quality XLRs to them. I've made a shit ton of these and they're basically the identical "quality" of Mogami, but cost half as much.
It's a good practice. Probably not the 'cheapest' option but ultimately worth it in the long run when you have the skills and materials needed to fix a cable; especially when you've got a show to do and all the local music stores are either closed or simply inaccessible.
@@Gainovermg I've used Mogami for most of my cables. Their bulk cable runs in the neighborhood of $1 per foot, has good shielding, easy to work with. I'll pair that up with either Switchcraft or Neutrik plugs (I'm partial to Switchcraft but Neutriks hold up well too). www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/mogami-wg2524-bulk-instrument-cable-black-sold-per-foot
I wasted money on three cheap desk chairs. 2 of them broke, all of them were uncomfortable. Just made sitting down to work with a track less pleasurable in general. I still have the third one, and it still sucks, but that’s my next upgrade! Looking forward to learning and working feeling less like a chore (for my spine).
One thing that made a big difference was making sure i was using balanced trs cables for my monitors. For the longest time I was using guitar cables, it wasn’t until my friend gave me a set of mogami balanced trs 1/4th inch to xlr that my monitors really came to life.
When it comes to computers in the studio, make sure to switch your hard drives to SSD’s, the read/write speeds are so much faster, and boot time will be cut by a very long margin. Thinkpads are a good budget option for laptops. Most have pretty decent CPU’s in them and are very easy to upgrade.
ASUS laptops are also very good. I've had two, and they've both been great. (The second was bought because the first was 5 years old and struggling to keep up with current software.)
Hruumphhh! I have been a music product rep for 30+ years. Thanks for this video! There are a million choices out there and this video will help people make right ones. Keep up the good no BS work!
Saw this on my front page of YT today; it seems the plan to keep glen & family fed while he takes time away is working and that makes me happy and believe in the kindness of others for the first time in a while!
I agree about the schools for the most part. I would add that some of the benefits I got were doing some projects in few commercial studios, using the analog gear, patch bays and all that. Also the mentors were there to answer and help with anything, and we could use two of the studios in the facility a lot. These are some of the things and experiences you can't get with online classes. Also (depends on where you are and what you want) I landed three jobs, each better than the former. One as a live sound engineer and two as tv broadcast sound engineer (national TV was one of those), and all of them I got because (well, other than my portfolio) employers were more inclined to give the job to someone with a diploma. I've also had institutions and companies reach out to me with a job offer... which is almost crazy in my country where people with even higher education than me can barely get a job as a waiter. That being said, what we learned were mostly technical stuff, no "tricks", no creative ideas to get a certain sound etc...
Technical skills on the chosen field is what all basic formal education is about. People come up with creative ideas all by themselves. How to make those ideas a reality is what you need the technical skills for. Singers don't go to vocal lessons to learn to sing more creatively. They go to learn how to maintain and improve their voice and singing ability. Heck, coders don't learn how to create interesting computer games. They learn how code needs to be structured and which languages work best for different implementations.
I use a maximizer in my bass rig. It makes the bass more deep and punchy, without it on it sounds like your ears are plugged. I don't really know what it does but it sounds pretty cool for me
Same here. Great device for certain uses. I have found several uses over time and would likely never be without one. Different strokes and all I guess.
I would give Dell machines (desk and Laptop) a wide birth too. Used to trust them for audio as they used to care about things like firewire chipsets etc but those days are long long gone. Now they have latency issues at a core level, the prebuilds are an actual fraud, and the last laptop I bought from them (new) simply melted its self after 18months (model inspiron 7567)
Everything I know about music and recording I've taught myself over the last 14 years. I didn't really have a choice and stumbled my way through it early on, but now a days its so much easier with just a little bit of research. That bookshelf thing will come in handy sometime down the line and I'll more into it when I get to that stage. This is honestly actually a very useful video for anyone looking to get started in making a home studio!
And when you get there you will be way better then everyone who walks through those doors even the teachers. You do not need to go at any point not even in the future, just because uncle sam said you did.
In my experience, Even high-quality cables need to be re-soldered at some point just far less often. I still have a Mogami from 10 years ago, I've soldiered the plug back on about 2 times and it's one of my favorite cables to use
Nothing's perfect, but cheap breaks fast, midgrade slow, and high-grade should have a good warranty you can actually take advantage of (doesn't count if it's more expensive to send it in than buy new cables).
For guitar cables, Peavey used to make them with a connector that would squeeze onto the conductor when tightened down, no solder joint. Not sure if they still make them that way, but they last forever. Still have one that I've had and used for about 25 years. I think I opened the connector once out of curiosity. Tightened it back up, still works like a charm. Also avoid cables that have inferior shelding or are too thin (weak construction). If you can make noise in the amp by slapping the cable on the ground, pass on it. A good cable needs to be able to take abuse, like being run over by your desk chair or an amp cab with no issues.
Always go for lifetime free replacement when you can. I've had very few ever break, and the ones that have I just bring to the local guitar shop that sells that brand and get a free replacement. Don't even need a receipt.
Glad to see Vim Fuego getting a shout out. Haven't heard much from him lately, but I hear he's been communing with some rather interesting figures from recent rock history.
The BBE Sonic Maximizer works great going through the effects loop of my guitar amp. To me, it sounds like someone removed a foam cover over my speakers. My opinion; I think it sounds amazing.
I like the bookshelf idea. It works, and it dual purposes to hold your (drumroll please) books, so you can get smarter. I ran into a problem getting two huge new displays for my studio, and I noticed I was getting some reflections behind me. I put the bookcase behind me opposite the desk . . . amazing. No reflections. Need Mogami gold cables? No. Buy bulk cable, Rean connectors, solder them yourself and you got Mogami gold cables at 1/4 the cost.
College Courses - I remember reading "The Daily Adventures of Mixerman" back in early 2000s and he said in there that he felt audio courses were a waste of time because the jobs just weren't out there. Although a former work colleague of mine studied an Audio course at my former University and regular works at Rockfield Studios here in the UK! Keep up the great work!
@@wasserhahn903 I'd be concerned if I didn't see him comment on a video about guitars and recording. This guy's becoming a celeb in the comment section lol
I have a really small studio 8 x 10 and I really like the atlas heavy duty round base stands. I ordered mine from sweetwater and they accidentally sent one of the ones that has air suspension ( maybe I ordered that one and forgot, I never checked ). Well the air suspension is great because the mic will never fall down if you un tighten the mic stand. It just slowly makes its way down. Perfect for tube mics like my tf51!
I have a buddy who swears by "magazine on top of a concrete paver", which seems to make sense since neither one is going to have the same resonant frequency as your desk, or each other.
Man, I keep repeating myself lol, but this has become just about my favorite series on the channel. Been a follower since the Metalsucks days. Awesome stuff, as always! 🤘🤘
Glenn is right about Cheap cables. I had a hodgepodge of name brand cables, and they worked. Then I bought a few Mogami wires our of pure curiosity. Mogami cables are stupid expensive, but they are probably the best upgrade I've made to my studio. I replaced all my cables w/ Mogami Gold cables.
I love your videos and advice Glen. Still remember the analog mixer channel video for that tone hack video I saw years ago from SpectreSoundStudios; You rock Mate.
I got a BS in Audio Engineering Technology and while it was expensive I think the technical/theoretical knowledge is worth it. It has set me up to further my study in audio in a way I don’t think I could have done myself. Plus, just having a BS in literally anything is an important prerequisite regardless of the industry nowadays. If I gotta get a degree, might as well be in something I enjoy
For metal at least, in my opinion, I’ve been able to get a decent listenable mix out of Reaper and all free plugins. I guess my tip would be to learn on free stuff first. I still haven’t bought a plug-in.
this! if you don’t know how to use a cheap/free compressor, you sure as hell won’t be able to use a very expensive one! a good brain & ears make an engineer, not the gear!
Thanks Glenn for the great tip on the lewitt condenser mic for vocals, it's just killer for the price! Keep it up luv the rants and straight up reviews!
I saw a lot of kids come into our venue with BBEs back in the mid 00s. Metalcore bands mostly, I have to say those guys often had extremely good tone, and they always attribute it to the bbe.
I've got one which I haven't actually used very much, but I do think it's got some decent applications. Definitely not on a whole mix but used sparingly on a single instrument as a creative effect it's got a place
Oh yeah, one of the guitarists in our band did this in our hayday. TS9 -> 6505+ -> bbe in the effects loop I always thought it sounded killer. I’d only use a bbe to tighten up high gain. I’m sure on cleaner tones it doesn’t do a whole lot of good
@@AAllinsonNN that was _the_ metalcore rig. Runner-up was with the XXX instead of the 6505+. And yeah, the BBE sounds like a broken DS1 on clean tones, straight trash. I am curious what the hell they actually do, though. I saw one comment here alleging that they flip mid band polarity of the signal passing through. When I worked at Guitar Center years ago, we were told that they add even order harmonics to the signal. I wouldn't at all be surprised to find out it's just a series of narrow EQ bands and gain staging (maybe even saturation?), especially after hearing the distortion-like quality on clean tones.
The instructors, too. The school I went to was eh but my instructors were amazing and really did a good job teaching us. I should also mention my school got shut down due to shady money transactions.
I did a year of audio tech college in like 2001. It was a good college though, and we got access to this guy as a tutor who was a proper gritty ex English rock circuit engineer. There was a studio with an mci desk in that had been used by led zeppelin among others. Apparently when they bought it for the college they cleaned out like half a pound of gear and resin from the fader strips. But I learnt a lot from the people I mixed with at college rather than the course per se. Definitely equipped me and a buddy with enough info to go set up our own home studio to record our band. That definitely taught me the most. And now your channel is sending out some real gems of advice that, even after years around this stuff, still surprise and learn me. Cheers Glenn from across the pond
my nitro didnt even last a year , started with two usb ports coming off. cpu fan sounds like jet engine , screen cracked, atleast i can still use it a paper weight now
@@Otondabeat That’s really surprising. To be fair, their builds are on the flimsy side but I’ve never had one fail on me. I still even have one from 2007 (xp, lol) that still runs Serato for me with no issues at all.
When it comes to computers, I always build my own. A few months ago I was considering going to an audio engineering school but it looks a lot like it's better to just do it on my own.
Coming from someone who always builds not only his own computer recording workstations but also alot of my own mics, midi controllers, and synths, you most likely have enough of the basic understandings to get what you need from books.
I think you hit the nail on the head with the cable part. I’ve bought almost all big box store cables and have never regretted it. I’ve got one or two that’s been around for over 10 years. And if they mess up they will replace it for free. No need for the big price name brand cables that are all the same.
I made the mistake of buying an Acer laptop in the early 2000's. That thing would get so hot that you couldn't even sit it in your lap.. Worked pretty well for a coffee cup warmer though . lmao
@@user-xg6zz8qs3q Yeah...but we didn't know that they sucked at the time. For the time ,that Acer still sucked. Crashed from over heating over and over and over.
@@user-xg6zz8qs3q Also, I agree that Acer was not the only subpar laptop manufacturer in the early 2000's. My sisters Apple laptop from the same period ,was a nightmare . And let's not talk about Dell.. 🤣
BBE Sonic maximizer actually have pertinent application in live sound, where acoustically treating the room is not a feasible option. Picked up a cheap guitar pedal monophonic BBE to rectify a weird phase reflection interference issue from a room kind of shaped like a baseball Diamond, between the mains and the floor monitors sharing a monitor signal, and it cleaned it right up. All the BBE really does is allow you to do is linearly tweak the eq contour and phase bias subtlety on the fly. It’s got limited intermittent pertinent niche applicability in a live PA setup, but yeah, almost virtually useless in a home recording environment, cause you probably already have plugin or other dedicated hardware, and environmental control options which do the same more precisely, but also, you’re not usually sending multiple different mixes to different drivers wide out open in the air at the same time either, all at once in the same room. Also, I’m a live setting, less is more with the BBE, and frankly, you’d just be better off having a few guitar pedal style ones, and using them pertinently as needed on the channels you do, when necessary, than hauling a rack unit around.
Hey Glenn, about the Sonic Maximizer: I've never seen one used as studio gear, I've seen them used as guitar pedals mostly and those that use them rave about them Have you tried it as a sonic enhancer in a guitar chain?
I've used it effectively only as a piece of live PA gear on FOH main bus.....and ONLY with very conservative settings after RTA EQ'ing the house. As a guitar pedal .....I mainly hear it giving the effect of more 'scooped' mids - which makes the mix engineer's job tougher IMO. I would never pitch it as being useful for a recording / mastering studio application.
A friend of mine had the sonic enhancer in his fx loop for some time. For "amateur ears" it may sound cool and more "metal", but honestly it just sounds like garbage. It brings more low/high mids, but not like an EQ. Sounds overcooked
I have a Sonic Stomp at the end of my Guitar FX board. It brings the tone to life, its an always on pedal for me. Have not tried the rack version though.
Picked up a bbe 422 maximizer from a guy I met through reverb that happened to be local with tons of rack gear he was selling. I got one of these as a request for a friend for 50 bucks. Didn’t use it much until this past week on the mix bus and it had the bass sounding super super clean from the super distorted 808 I had to work with. Not to mention I was solely mixing an mp3 track from a song I did with a friend with a few years back to which I don’t have access to the protools session. I see how you may not have much of a use for it primarily in the rock/metal genre but the bbe did wonders on the 808s. My friend even said that was the best part of the mix! Yes it is cheap and kinda crappy build quality but it worked wonders on those 808s!
I know little about recording gear, but you can definitely tell the difference between guitar cables. You can tell the length difference between guitar cables made from the same materials, to about 2-3'. I made a set of cables in 3', 6', 10' and 20' with Planet Waves cable and Neutrik connectors. Each length gets noticeably darker in tone. From the instrument, the 3' vs 20' doesn't even sound like the same setup.
Currently in SAE in Melbourne myself and about to finish my associates and then onto the bachelor's. I think having project based work really helps out with getting the hands on experience we need rather than all that other crap the other places do
I've got the Mackie monitors and I'm really happy with them. My mastering engineer even said that my recordings are sounding better than ever these days (since I've been using them). But the thing is, my music isn't metal. That could be the key here.
Only heard bad things about mackie, both sound and componentwise. Here in Brazil nothing is cheap. Min wage is around 200$ and if something costs 50$ in the us/canada then is sells for around 100$. I was saving for a mackie but now im considering the presonus eris 3.5
@@lucasnunes2453 Eris 3.5 lack low end, the size is rly restrictive, you could buy a subwoofer but that's extra cost, more room space and it might do more harm in the overall sound in an untreated room, I would suggest speakers bigger than 5" or a good pair of headset, used market maybe is a good solution too, the cheaper 5" here is M-Audio BX5 D3 and I think they are good.
As someone who has an actual degree in recording/mixing and production, most of the stuff I know how to do I taught myself. Not that I didn't learn good things while I was at school, but it really only taught me the basics to set me on the right track to figuring out the more advanced stuff. I constantly learn new tricks and skills every day and am always open to learning more. My professor was an actual producer and very talented engineer, but I wasn't his only student so he wasn't always able to answer questions I had.
That's the way it's supposed to be. I'm a graphic designer, I have a degree, but the degree gives you the foundation. You can't help but learn more once you get out into the world and start working in your chosen field.
Yo. I do love those mackie monitors. They’re in my living room on my video editing computer and I use them to play music around the house and I do check my mixes in them. If the mix sounds good on those then you’re pretty good to go. But if they’re your only studio monitor then no they suck and your mixes will too.
I am in a surprised state of shock to see a young Glenn Fricker from back in the day, and comparing it to how he looks now... holy shit! That look of dissatisfaction has definitely remained the same. Honestly though no hate man, but definitely keep doing your thing.
I've always wondered why studios put a window right in front of the person singing. They have all that foam on every surface but the window and the window is in the perfect spot to reflect sound straight back at the mic. Why not make the room windowless and just use a screen and camera system to see in and out?
Funny, I actually used an upside down mouse pad as a monitor pad years ago. As far as acoustic treatment, I bought several types of that cheap ass foam and immediately sent it all back. Ended up making my own panels with 2" x 24" x 72" upholstery cushion foam mounted to 1/4" OSB and wrapped in duck cloth. Holy shit, MUCH better both acoustically, cosmetically, and monetarily.
I took 2 semesters of audio school. The first thing my Professor said was "If you are serious about this, then you will learn more from talking and listening to your classmates than I could ever teach you." It was 100% true. Meeting people who made/produced completely different kinds of music than I was used to was the best thing that I could have ever done.
Must be nice to get paid to do nothing. Why am I not a professor? Oh yeah, those that can't, teach. I can, so I do. Exception being people like fucking Gregg. Always throwing a fish in the soup.
It's true. But he didn't say that you won't learn anything from him, just that you will learn more from each other if you are serious. That stands for all creative subjects in college/uni. That's the main value of formal education, you can learn from each other in an environment where you have time to do so, and guidance from an experienced teacher. You won't get that in your home studio watching a bunch of youtube videos. You won't get it from a commercial situation either, where the experts are run off their feet, and definitely won't have time to mentor a noob, or experiment with stuff that isn't directly relevant to the current job.
Problem is that probably the majority of folk coming out of college and uni do have the qualification, but weren't serious enough to get really into the subject with their fellow students. Those folk are why employers don't value that piece of paper. Doesn't mean that going to college isn't worth it though - just that the paper qualification isn't the real value!
My professor said quit this course, and just get bob katz' book
Facts. Well said there!
Opens you up to a bunch of different techniques and tried & true methods.
Another video idea: 13 skills outside the studio you should learn.
Like soldering etc.
Wiping asses and noses of lead guitar players.
@@sqlb3rn ......making singers play an instrument
You really don't want Neanderthals running around with hot pieces of metal. I think this is a poor idea..., 👀
He should show how the crappy cords burn up ,when you try to re-solder them. That's usually my luck anyway.
I saved a lot of money doing my own soldering projects. Pickups selectors broke? Fixed! Copper tape the innards of the guitar for a Faraday Shield? Check! Headphone chord ripped out one of the leads? No problem!
Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth my Grandfather told me " Poor people can't afford cheap things".
heh I like that
In the same vein, a German proverb: "If you buy cheap, you buy twice."
From Terry Pratchett:
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”
@@individualmember Such a great passage from "Guards! Guards!", if memory serves me right.
We have the same sentence in polish.
Didn't expect someone screaming at the camera in a beautiful studio to have more useful and non-condescending advice than 90% of the content I've seen on the topic. And all that well-organized, without a 40-minute rant about how cable shielding patterns vary their results based on trout population. Thank you so much!
I "left" my Line6 Spider at a friend's house. When he sometimes mentions he doesn't know where it came from, I remain silent.
This might be the funniest thing I've ever read in my life about anything guitar related
100 % agreed ! 😂😂😂
Haha
I have one in my utility shed. I keep hoping rats or squirrels will eat it, but so far, no luck!
"please consider making a better product instead of suing someone for writing a bad review" Glenn is the best!
Except nobody ever sues for a bad review. It is fake heroism.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for mentioning the Station Nightclub Fire. I am a live sound guy and applied for a job at the Station the month before they burned down. Even when that happened i still had to tell people in the Rhode Island area not to use packing foam or egg cartons in their studio (especially when they were smokers. ) So many people just don't know. Even upholsterers.
Well, I’m glad you didn’t get the job, Sean!
Hard to believe that was 20 years ago! Some guitar picks are made of the same highly flammable celluloid as foam. I know how quickly a pick will go up in flames - I can't imagine an entire wall of foam.
As a smoking upholsterer, I disapprove of this message.
I built 4 recording studios for EA Sports, (once upon a time) even made the sound baffles as well. The specs on the covers had to be Commercial Aircraft Grade Cloth. 'nuff said.
Just caught this vid- at random appeared in my feed whilst I was scrolling 😮. What a great blog. Dude
I have a studio at home in my spare room and I have learned many of these lessons through bitter experience... great to see someone giving such wholesome common sense advice .
If I want to spend hundreds on shitty equipment I just listen to your advice now, I can cut out the middle man and save time and just buy the stuff and then throw it straight in the bin 😊. In all seriousness and joking aside, thankyou! An informative effort - interesting, funny, but also conscientiously made- that fire was a terrible tragedy that could have been so easily prevented with a bit of fire prevention knowledge and some consideration and responsible event management. Fires happen, but if you cut corners on expense when it comes to safety it just means families get bereaved and you end up in prison or sued. Nobody wants someone's death on your conscience, living the rest of your life knowing you could have done more to prevent it.
You giving the warning about the flamability of some foam treatments was awesome advice! Your advice may just save a life! Good for you!
Best not to spray paint the foam black for aesthetic reasons like the slum lords did at The Station night club a.k.a. tinder box. Couldn't spring for sprinklers or even ample amounts of fire extinguishers but they could spray an accelerant onto the acoustic foam that releases cyanide gas when ignited!
I've wasted too much money on bad gear - Line 6, Donner, Positive Grid, On-Stage Mic Stands... This will definitely help the younger/less experienced viewers for sure! Good on you, Glenn!
7:04 I can definitely vouch for the books thing. I played a show once in a tiny bookstore and it had the best acoustics of any room I've EVER played in! And this was no folk-y acoustic show either. It was a weird mixed bill with down-tuned Sabbath type stuff, sludgey shoegaze, a straight up punk band, and a lighter mid-2000's indie band.
maybe this is why npr tiny desk sounds so good. the whole room is lined with bookshelves
dude, that sounds awesome. playing heavy metal in a bookstore lmao
Do the books absolutely have to be pages-out rather than spines-out to be effective? I get the physics of it but I like to be able to find a particular book at a glance.
10:17 If you can, stay away from cables with gold plugs. The idea is that gold is a better conductor and doesn't tarnish. Gold is great for connectors that will just stay plugged in all the time, but gold is soft and will wear off with a lot of plugging and unplugging. Quite often the metal underneath is exposed and will tarnish, which results in crappy connections.
Interesting
Could you link me to more sources on this? I just bought a patch cable with gold connectors assuming it would be better
Yeah this is spot on! My father is an electrician and he told me the same when I set up my current studio and consulted him on cabling/power wiring etc
@@IshaanKunwar I'm speaking from experience, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are articles about it. You're better off with nickel plated.
Have you ever seen an old Les Paul with gold hardware, and most of the gold is worn off? It's like that.
Yeah, gold connectors are more or less just a marketing gimmick. And it's still a fairly rare metal, and yet look where it gets used. Ridiculous.
First big amount I spent was on an acoustician and room treatment, never regretted it and my translation game went up like hell.
I’ll second that.
Same here, lined my walls with some auralux and my mixes went from trash to listenable
@@zachw2538 I did floor decoupling to not annoy the downstair neighbors and bass traps on all corners as well as mid and high frequency absorption and some slight diffusion, room is killer and I can record real amps any time of day.
Still need to get mine up
i buy cardboard eģg cartons and spray the inside with foam. works perfect.
The thing about music-related school programs is that its 1+ years of
- Being 100% invested in learning/improving (or else you waste your money)
- Having the ability to ask teachers and students anything you want whenever you want
- Meeting (potentially life-long) friends/colleagues who will mention your name in 5 years for a game-changing opportunity that they can't commit to
It's all about the mindset that gets engraved in you. Whether or not its worth your money is up to you...
One lesson I learned in audio school that stuck with me was when we were recording a voiceover for a sound-for-picture class. We had an isolation booth with some XLR pass-throughs on it, and I used a series of adapter cables to send a headphone feed into the booth. The student doing the voiceovers reported a buzz in the headphones and that they didn't sound good. I started troubleshooting which adapter had a problem. The instructor came over, disconnected the whole mess, tied it in a knot, and threw it in the trash. "These broken cables just cost you a bunch of money, because you're trying to make them work instead of recording. This is time you can't bill for. It cost you more money than it'd cost to just replace the cables." (Paraphrasing; it's been about 25 years now.) We eventually just ran a cable under the door instead of using the jacks on the booth.
I was already at a University for something else (which I currently have a career in), and the music school had a studio that you could only use if you were a Music Tech minor. So, I did the minor, and it was great. The studio was the best studio I've been able to actually use since, and I ended up making money because the school allowed us to do gig work in there, and would even pay us on behalf of music students who needed recordings done. It was a great deal, a resume builder if nothing else. With school, you really need to know your own case. It could be a great idea, could not be.
I agree completely, I don't think a course like mine where I learned how to mix and record for film and TV, taking part in AV and live sound work whether itd be patching stage crew and foh and mon as well as theatre setups and using different daws and excess programs like rack, davinci and even unreal engine, plus on top of that getting time to engineer my own sessions with bands in the studios was completely useless. But I understand if glen's talking about courses that strictly teach studio music mixing as it's in industry that's impossible to get into.
It really just depends on what you learn and how you apply it.
I've always assumed that connections and student production resume building would be the main benefit of formal music production schooling. You get access to some gear sure, but the studio work experience is the real benefit. Depending where you are and what your local scene is like, that might vary from useless to invaluable.
Stony brook?
"I bought a dual rec as a wedding present to myself" lmao
Yeah,…. I thought that was hilarious as well!
Then he divorced it!
Congratulations!
I give myself some of the best gifts ever ! I just gave myself a new Gibson Trad Pro V in Dark Purple Burst because I , uh , I was , uh , feeling down . Yeah , that’s the ticket !
Glenn, you are one of the most genuine producers on UA-cam, straight to the point, no bullshit. I have learned so much from you in such a short time! Keep up the badassery
Glen you are using the LINE 6 Spyder wrong, you need to have 6 of them, each mic'ed with a Blue Snowball and ran into each other in series. Then into a behringer interface
HA! I wrote an article on gear for spoken word (podcasts) for under $100. It was a Behringer BA-85A Mic, a UMC22 Interface (Midas preamps SO much better than Behringer's Xenyx ones which is why I avoid their mixers like the plague), cheap Neewer boom arm (it's a $25 mic for God's sake), and a cheap 10 foot XLR cable. Came to $97 total. While I had no delusions that this was anything other than adequate, I actually had someone argue with me for hours that you should just get (of all things) a HyperX Quadcast USB mic instead for $140. Missing the point of it being much more expensive than the target, and that you could replace bits and pieces of the XLR gear without losing your entire investment as you do with a USB mic.
He claimed to be a degreed Audio Engineer so when he talked about what a waste of money that was, I had to laugh. I guess the point is, you buy what you can afford and look for the best bang for the buck. For the money, Behringer's USB interfaces aren't so bad (though granted there is WAY better)
even better, mic the line 6 spyders with razer seirens
Forget Behringer. Pyle is where it's at! You can get a Pyle mic for $20 or less and you would not be able to tell the difference on its mic and a Shure SM57(?) in a double blind test. The reason people get the Shures is because they are road-worthy. Cheaper mics can be used in studio use because you're not taking them 'on tour'. The sound quality is going to be almost identical and only a golden eared audiophile would ever be able to tell the difference and they're a rare breed.
@@Vertshark Agreed, but there are better reasons to avoid Behringer's mixers than the preamps, though that's certainly reason enough. For the sake of brevity, I'll name just two; the fact that the monitor sends are post-EQ (WTF?) and general reliability. The only reason I've never had one take a crap on me is because I've never bought one. The ones I used by necessity were warning enough.
I bought that while in Scotland. Was fun to play with, but not great. Then I get back to US, and buy a Line Six combo. Glad they had a great return policy. It sounded like it had a wet blanket over it, no high range. So I returned the head, kept the cab and modified it with a sub speaker to give my guitar system better live lows. I run it through a Marshall system but it has a pre-amp built into the cab to assert the sub. Better blend of highs and mid-range over the wet blanket.
I learned a ton from my community college recording/music production courses. And they were fairly inexpensive too! It is nice to have instructors who know their shit that you can bounce questions off in real time. Maybe it's not the best to learn how to produce a specific genre of music... But it can be a great way to learn some basics, get to experiment with expensive gear, and meet other people who are into music production.
Just watched this today and love it!! I myself bought a BBE sonic maximizer rack unit years ago to use in the loop of my JCM 900 head. I was told by a touring musician on Marshall forum that 900s respond GREAT with BBE, but outside of that, it's not much use. I got one and yes, it did make a GREAT difference in the amp. However, over time, I bought a distortion pedal to replace the distortion settings on my floor processor unit and go straight into return on both my marshall heads and the sound is MUCH better than using the BBE on my 900(I have a 900 head and DSL 2000 head). Going into return and simply not using the BBE gave me a better sound. Now, my BBE Sonic sits in my rack unplugged. One day I may try it out again, but at the moment, happy with the sound I get.
7:00 as a bonus, read a few of the books from time to time, and you might learn something new!
I went to an audio school in germany, and I do not regret it. Learned a lot, improved myself, even got a job afterwards (live sound engineer), but the work conditions for live events are not easy, so I switch to IT and made music my hobby again.
I also went to audio school, well technically, film school but majoring in audio engineering and sound design and I honestly kinda regret it. I made a lot of cool connections, but nothing I learned there was stuff I couldn't just find on the internet or in the library.
I'm from Germany, too.
Which audio school did you go to?
Yeah I got a live sound gig after audio school. Hated it. Yeah stay up until 5am, get paid about10/hr (this was 2008), and deal with artists yelling at you because the venue’s analog gear sucks and is extremely limiting. only so much you can do without compressors, gates, FX, a few mic inputs, and only 3 band EQ. Clearly it’s MY fault it doesn’t sound good 🙄.
Granted I’ve gigged at some higher end venues, but it always feels similar. Artist expects studio quality setup instantly despite your limited working conditions. And half the time live sound is just trying to control feedback.
yeah i have a music degree, audio tech not recording, and i learned a ton. having sanctioned music theory classes is really helpful if you care about composing. and i learned so much about sound programming and designing for video that i would not have grasped so quickly without veteran musicians.
What is your job in IT?
trust me as someone with a BA, no one has ever asked me my school degree
haha! and that was some time ago, eh?
As someone with a BSc, it definitely depends on the industry you're working in. Recording studios, live music and general freelancing? More about your connections than anything. Education, corporate, pro AV, games industry? More often than not you should get your bits of paper ready.
@John H although I would also argue after doing amateur live sound and production for years I definitely learned a LOT from doing a degree - so I'd say the quality of teaching and skills learned in that environment are important. On a good course there's definitely a breadth of skills you probably wouldn't learn working in a single role in one industry.
Haha yeah
“This tune ain’t that great”
“But I have a degree!”
“Oh, OK. It’s awesome then”
That's why you get a BM, cmon now
I've learned so much from more experienced guys being brutally honest and and properly shaming, less experienced guys into not doing dumb things. Thank you glenn and keep rocking! 🤘🤘
That feeling when you watch it on the Acer Laptop that is 6 Years old and never let you down!
5:11 "So now they're off fucking somebody else's mixes!"
I burst out laughing!
Same here. LMAO.
Lol, me too. Tbh, Mackie's CR series just seemed to be competing against the PreSonus budget monitors, which also sound terrible.
I'm glad that Mackie at least rebranded it as a "multimedia monitor," so we know to avoid it for studio use.
For now, though, Kali Lp6es are king, and maybe even Mackie's more expensive monitor lineup as well.
i just use my mackies as oversized computer speakers lol
This got me 😂😂
@@frabulouscrab9552 Same, They work great for that
I did my degree in music, I feel like college/uni courses in music or music production are worth it if you would do the course even if they didn't give you a piece of paper at the end of it. If you're learning enough and getting enough experience while you're there, that's the important part.
Yes (good points!) But on the other hand - my band was asked to play at a local community college so the students could record video/audio of a performance. I was shocked by how little they knew. Their second year students knew less than my schools 1st semester freshman program. It was a nightmare. Not all programs are equal. Do your homework. YMMV.
Don't forget home studios where there before commercial studios, how do you think they got to commercial everything goes back to it's roots eventually.
I went Computer Engineering major with Musc Technology minor
I went to a specialized audio engineering and music technology school. I learned a lot, but couldn't finish because of the expense. Also the stress put on by peers and society at the time of you've gotta go to college right after highschool, you have your whole life ahead of you and you're barley an adult, you better have your shit together and figured out right this instant and go to college. This will determine the rest of your lifes work. Don't fuck it up! Good luck. Thanks Glen for the great content. I continue to learn a lot from your videos.
I'm sorry, but that's absolute untrue. The idea that college will determine the rest of your life is a myth. My dad was the worst student at university and he ended up with a brilliant 40 years career in audio-engineering after drop out. I dropped out of one of the best jazz colleges in the world and now? I work for Yamaha Canada as an engineer. It will NOT determine how your life plays out. I'm sorry but that's a dishonest salesman pitch to freak you out and make you get in debt for the next decade or so. No one have their "shit together and figured out right this instant" when they're 18 - that is just NOT true. Also, I was born in this industry, and I can assure you that no one will ever ask for you degree. 100% positive. I learned much more in 8 months of grinding PA gigs than in years o theory.
That's untrue you would have still learned it, don't take this advice folks you can learn by yourself you don't need school. Don't waste your money.
Thru the years of my on off guitar playing this guy always give the good advice .
Number one hits home for me. I learned to record on my own from books and UA-cam videos when I was in middle and high school. I then went to a major university for recording. I found everything you said true. Limited use of the gear, limited experience and knowledge from teachers, and lessons that weren’t really catered to the types of things I wanted to work on. Oh and maybe one person I went to school with has a job in recording. I dropped out about halfway through because I felt like I wasn’t really learning anything new from the stuff I had learned from UA-cam and some books. The one class that really was great was my acoustics class where I learned about room design and the science of sound. Now I’m
running my own studio, making money and have several albums under my belt. Recording school is more about networking. If you want that it’s great. Else wise dive in to your DAW and get going.
I did a 3 year BSc Audio and Music Technology Degree. About 50% was studio recording. The lectures were very upfront that it would be unlikely any of us would work in the dream studio scenario. We even did a module which was record 3 songs at a £500 ($700) budget and 2 higher quality at a £1500 ($2100) budget, it really opened our eyes to how much renting studio time cost and how low your hourly rate would end up if you agree to a bad deal. We did modules on Electronics, Live sound and Acoustics which were very useful too for real life situations.
With all that said it cost £9000 ($12500), was it worth it? I'd say it largely depends on your character, I was that mid range student that did well and enjoyed it but didn't take every opportunity that I could have. We had studio rooms with hundreds of thousands of pounds of gear that we could book to use everyday if we wanted. It only started getting limits towards the end of the semester. If I'd just spent hours learning the gear and in the process training my ears further I definitely would have got more out of the opportunity presented to me.
My career? Live sound engineer for 2-3years, then realised I would rather protect my ears and work more social hours so went into programming and do audio as my hobby now. I don't regret my degree for the social aspect and further figuring out my life, but I couldn't argue it was necessary.
God when I started recording my own stuff, I was ping pingong using 2 cassette decks. The resources available now for home recording at good prices just kills me.
I started on battery powered Panasonic's. When Fostex came out with a 4 track it was unbelievable!!!@!
Same. Acoustic nylon string guitar found in a trash, fixed and with DIY piezo, two decks where one was used as overdrive. Backing rhythm track done with Roland Jupiter-4 arpeggiator. Sometime later dad bought 4 track, and at some point he bought a second one that had... get this... REVERB!... And i was lucky, my dad repairs musical instruments so there is a lot of stuff, i had full PA in my room as a teen, 12ch Yamaha powermixer (but unlucky that rock was almost forbidden in our religious household)... but recording was always so expensive and difficult to get mics.. The ones we had were pretty much found from trash.
Gorilla Recording. I miss those days, you had to “make it” with what you had and learned so much. And it had a greater sense of satisfaction. Like using the left headphone in your acoustics f hole with scotch tape. 😜
i did it with a cassette tape recorder and a cassette player, so i had to keep swapping the tapes for each next track and the pitch would go up due to the speed differences. I remember i just about crapped a brick when i finally could get a 4track yamaha cassette. It was a dream come true since i could never afford a teac 3340 or w/e it was. then came the roland VS-880 with its crappy laptop HD but amazing effects and spdif outs right into the old soundblaster platinum.
I borrowed an Akai stereo reel to reel from a guy in my church (1977). I had it a full year before I discovered I could do sound on sound. I started piling up tracks and the noise grew and grew! It taught me to be judicious in what I put down. I learned a lot of great lessons starting from that place.
SO glad you mentioned "acoustic foam". Seems like every beginner gets sucked in by those (myself included, when I started). Stick to Rockwool & Owens Corning 703
Totally disagree. Beginners can’t afford nice rooms to start with. Acoustic foam makes for a super great way to hide cheap paint and stains. :)
sorta fell into this. my room isn’t completely plastered with foam, but i probably have a little bit more than what’s needed to treat it acoustically. i really just need to reposition my guitar rack and get some bass traps
Disagree. My whole room is a padded cell at this point, makes it nice and dry!! I can't stand an echoey room. My speakers sound clean, vocal tracks sound good etc. Just being in here feels still and calm
But then again I only record vocals, I don't use monitors, but might get bass traps eventually
@@alukeofalltrades foam doesn't work. That's my point
@@adamgreenhill110 it really doesn't. It only absorbs high frequencies
I just recently discovered your channel and thoroughly enjoy the content! I also appreciate the no-bs approach to sharing your knowledge and experience with us. It has been enlightening and educational. Noticed a trend of Robotech t-shirts in your videos; grew up on the cartoon and still have my old table-top source books!
17:31 I got a 4-year Bachelor of Music: Technology; Sound Recording at a private university. The first year was actually phenomenal. We learned so much because we had a great instructor. Once we got to year 2, however, the remaining courses were all taught by the same classical engineer who had no experience or expertise for recording or mixing any genre that gets heard in the modern industry. Classes revolved around what this guy wanted to do, and courses were generically called Audio I, II, II, IV, etc. While we did plenty of editing, we spent WAY too much time on the physics of Electrical Engineering (the professor's background), and there was little or no focus on specific topics such as mic choice/placement for different instruments/situations, modern EQ/gate/compression techniques, putting together a mix in any genre, etc. etc.
The saving grace at this school was: in addition to the Sound Recording track, ALL music majors (tech/sound recording included) were required to pass an instrumental audition and continue instrumental study as a "field" major; and the general music curriculum at this school was actually pretty badass. And it also included a non-music "core" curriculum. So while the Sound Recording track had its flaws (which I have heard have since been improved), I think I got a pretty well-rounded college education. But it was quite expensive and I don't work in audio full-time. I do way more work as a guitar player than an engineer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The whole education system is a rackett. Whatever it is you learn in 4 years of Bachelor's degree education you can learn in less than a month if the job itself provided the course.
Yeah so you didn't learn everything in four years from one little class so what? Go and learn it then.
The BBE unit is a piece of live gear lmao. It's basically just an active EQ, once the mid range gets over a certain range it automatically boosts some highs to compensate. It also does some amplitude and frequency dependant phase compensation. If you're doing live shows and you can't afford a good DSP like a DBX DriveRack or another solution the BBE can help clean up your live sound a bit. But 50% of the time it makes things worse. It's an extremely environmentally sensitive effect, though we still like to have one around. You can also slam your drums through a BBE and get some really funky distorted drum sounds!
Yeah the Sonic Max is really for live work, especially mobile rigs where you're not sure about the environment. And I have only seen one guitarist get a great use out of it through his stereo rig. I have one, and I get good results from it but only because I know when to use it and when not to even bother.
I've heard professional musicians recommending it on guitars too. I guess if you lack a presence knob, it might help, but I personally have never tried
I mean, usually the way you make shitty gear work is to use it in ways it's not intended to be used. People don't seem to understand this...
@@i-never-look-at-replies-lol "shitty gear" ok, I'm sure that's why the BBE units are some of the best selling pieces of rack gear in the live industry lmao
John McBride (owner of Blackbird Studios in Nashville and possibly more gear than anyone else on Earth) uses a Sonic Maximizer as a parallel effect when tracking drums. Turns out it sounds great. But hey - what does he know amiright?
I went to recording school, and while I don’t regret doing it I feel like real world experience would have been more applicable. The good things I took away from my education had little to do with audio and more to do with people.
Again, you don't go to a school for what you'll learn; it's for who you'll meet. The entire Ivy League is based on this principle. The guys in Matchbox 20 met while they were attending the school where Jaco studied, IIRC. I kinda agree and disagree with Glenn on this subject, because it's hard to get work, if you don't know somebody who's working and if you just buy the gear and start making records for your friends, well, then you're learning at their expense, not yours. Some might call that taking advantage, unless you offer a steep discount, but THEN....it gets harder to keep the lights on. Then again, everything in this life is a kind of balancing act.
@@m0j0b0ne honestly it helped me to realize how much I love audio and it got me into some really awesome rooms and I was able to work with some gear that I may never get to touch again. Did I mention that there were only 12-13 students per instructor. SAE full sail and all those schools wanted too much and offered nothing. The conservatory of recording arts and sciences. It did not result in me getting a job in audio directly after school but it did pour a ton of gas on my dream of recording music every day. Thanks for the response. I agree with what you said. Sometimes Glen can be a bit jaded but so can anyone in the trenches. I normally agree with him on most things. But not everything... even my favorite bands have shitty songs from time to time.
Yeah man it's the same thing with Berkley, SCAD, etc., its who you meet and connect with. This biz is a who you know thing generally.
And thats exactly what the school is for, and its rly important so stop with all the “school doesnt do anything” supercrap. Not saying to the comenteer nor anyone specificaly. I am ranting on behaviour itself
With regards to cables... in my personal opinion... buy a spool of decent quality cable and solder your own high quality XLRs to them. I've made a shit ton of these and they're basically the identical "quality" of Mogami, but cost half as much.
I really want to do this sometime, partly for being able to have custom lengths to cut down on cabling mess
It's a good practice. Probably not the 'cheapest' option but ultimately worth it in the long run when you have the skills and materials needed to fix a cable; especially when you've got a show to do and all the local music stores are either closed or simply inaccessible.
I need to go this route. What’s a good quality cable you would recommend
@@Gainovermg I've used Mogami for most of my cables. Their bulk cable runs in the neighborhood of $1 per foot, has good shielding, easy to work with. I'll pair that up with either Switchcraft or Neutrik plugs (I'm partial to Switchcraft but Neutriks hold up well too).
www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/mogami-wg2524-bulk-instrument-cable-black-sold-per-foot
I certainly respect you for that!
I wasted money on three cheap desk chairs. 2 of them broke, all of them were uncomfortable. Just made sitting down to work with a track less pleasurable in general. I still have the third one, and it still sucks, but that’s my next upgrade! Looking forward to learning and working feeling less like a chore (for my spine).
One thing that made a big difference was making sure i was using balanced trs cables for my monitors. For the longest time I was using guitar cables, it wasn’t until my friend gave me a set of mogami balanced trs 1/4th inch to xlr that my monitors really came to life.
When it comes to computers in the studio, make sure to switch your hard drives to SSD’s, the read/write speeds are so much faster, and boot time will be cut by a very long margin.
Thinkpads are a good budget option for laptops. Most have pretty decent CPU’s in them and are very easy to upgrade.
Agree on the Thinkpads. Easy to upgrade and service, and can take more abuse than most consumer-grade laptops.
Plus, there are no moving parts in SSDs, making them entirely silent!
absolutely, SSDs are a MUST for your OS system drive. (and they run great when you have more than a couple just to run games or other media/programs)
ASUS laptops are also very good. I've had two, and they've both been great. (The second was bought because the first was 5 years old and struggling to keep up with current software.)
Ok....I'm about to get a new laptop....can anyone recommend with a good price range?
One of the most useful videos about audio recording I've ever seen. Plus mega points for the Skull Squadren t-shirt!
Hruumphhh! I have been a music product rep for 30+ years. Thanks for this video! There are a million choices out there and this video will help people make right ones. Keep up the good no BS work!
Saw this on my front page of YT today; it seems the plan to keep glen & family fed while he takes time away is working and that makes me happy and believe in the kindness of others for the first time in a while!
The best piece of advice ever 👍🏿
I bought in the 90’s a “Berhinger” effect unit, Jesuschrist what a nightmare
I agree about the schools for the most part. I would add that some of the benefits I got were doing some projects in few commercial studios, using the analog gear, patch bays and all that. Also the mentors were there to answer and help with anything, and we could use two of the studios in the facility a lot. These are some of the things and experiences you can't get with online classes. Also (depends on where you are and what you want) I landed three jobs, each better than the former. One as a live sound engineer and two as tv broadcast sound engineer (national TV was one of those), and all of them I got because (well, other than my portfolio) employers were more inclined to give the job to someone with a diploma. I've also had institutions and companies reach out to me with a job offer... which is almost crazy in my country where people with even higher education than me can barely get a job as a waiter. That being said, what we learned were mostly technical stuff, no "tricks", no creative ideas to get a certain sound etc...
Technical skills on the chosen field is what all basic formal education is about. People come up with creative ideas all by themselves. How to make those ideas a reality is what you need the technical skills for. Singers don't go to vocal lessons to learn to sing more creatively. They go to learn how to maintain and improve their voice and singing ability. Heck, coders don't learn how to create interesting computer games. They learn how code needs to be structured and which languages work best for different implementations.
I use a maximizer in my bass rig. It makes the bass more deep and punchy, without it on it sounds like your ears are plugged. I don't really know what it does but it sounds pretty cool for me
yep it makes my 6505 sound much thicker live. it works.
Same here. Great device for certain uses. I have found several uses over time and would likely never be without one. Different strokes and all I guess.
when you said don't be a "whiney suckhole" for some reason I broke out in uncontrollable laughter, do I need a professional?
If you don't laugh at bafflingly ridiculous things every now and then, you aren't human.
Piss waffles.
I read this at the exact same time he said it lol
I wonder if the word/phrase "Psychosocial" is appropriate here? lol
Nah you’re perfectly normal I went to comment the same thing. Wait
The blinking offensively part made me choke on my smoke
I would give Dell machines (desk and Laptop) a wide birth too. Used to trust them for audio as they used to care about things like firewire chipsets etc but those days are long long gone. Now they have latency issues at a core level, the prebuilds are an actual fraud, and the last laptop I bought from them (new) simply melted its self after 18months (model inspiron 7567)
Great advice on the Acer . My older one had no issues . My new one although more powerful in all areas is a big problem .
Everything I know about music and recording I've taught myself over the last 14 years. I didn't really have a choice and stumbled my way through it early on, but now a days its so much easier with just a little bit of research. That bookshelf thing will come in handy sometime down the line and I'll more into it when I get to that stage. This is honestly actually a very useful video for anyone looking to get started in making a home studio!
And when you get there you will be way better then everyone who walks through those doors even the teachers. You do not need to go at any point not even in the future, just because uncle sam said you did.
In my experience, Even high-quality cables need to be re-soldered at some point just far less often. I still have a Mogami from 10 years ago, I've soldiered the plug back on about 2 times and it's one of my favorite cables to use
Nothing's perfect, but cheap breaks fast, midgrade slow, and high-grade should have a good warranty you can actually take advantage of (doesn't count if it's more expensive to send it in than buy new cables).
For guitar cables, Peavey used to make them with a connector that would squeeze onto the conductor when tightened down, no solder joint. Not sure if they still make them that way, but they last forever. Still have one that I've had and used for about 25 years. I think I opened the connector once out of curiosity. Tightened it back up, still works like a charm. Also avoid cables that have inferior shelding or are too thin (weak construction). If you can make noise in the amp by slapping the cable on the ground, pass on it. A good cable needs to be able to take abuse, like being run over by your desk chair or an amp cab with no issues.
Always go for lifetime free replacement when you can. I've had very few ever break, and the ones that have I just bring to the local guitar shop that sells that brand and get a free replacement. Don't even need a receipt.
I have a Planet Waves cable I bought in 2005 that only just now has started to crackle and cut out at certain angles.
@@AnWe79 good advice. Thank you!
Glad to see Vim Fuego getting a shout out. Haven't heard much from him lately, but I hear he's been communing with some rather interesting figures from recent rock history.
The BBE Sonic Maximizer works great going through the effects loop of my guitar amp. To me, it sounds like someone removed a foam cover over my speakers. My opinion; I think it sounds amazing.
I've played a guitar rig with one as well, and it was awesome.. I feel it's more for live gig rather than studio tho.
I found they are great at making an amp sound great at lower volumes.
Not so much for playing live with a band.
I like the bookshelf idea. It works, and it dual purposes to hold your (drumroll please) books, so you can get smarter. I ran into a problem getting two huge new displays for my studio, and I noticed I was getting some reflections behind me. I put the bookcase behind me opposite the desk . . . amazing. No reflections. Need Mogami gold cables? No. Buy bulk cable, Rean connectors, solder them yourself and you got Mogami gold cables at 1/4 the cost.
College Courses - I remember reading "The Daily Adventures of Mixerman" back in early 2000s and he said in there that he felt audio courses were a waste of time because the jobs just weren't out there. Although a former work colleague of mine studied an Audio course at my former University and regular works at Rockfield Studios here in the UK! Keep up the great work!
man your sledge hammer technique has room for improvement: should have flattened the U87 clone on the first blow. It's all in the aim..
gotta start with separated hands. let the top hand meet the bottom on the way down
Clearly, he was a drummer in a past life.
like a baseball, keep your eyes on the microphone
Should have saved the case for a DIY clone project.
4:58 OMFG I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT 😂😂😂
I just spilled water all over my desk
There he is. I expected to see you here.
@@wasserhahn903 I'd be concerned if I didn't see him comment on a video about guitars and recording. This guy's becoming a celeb in the comment section lol
I forgot about Tori Black, haven't seen one of her videos in years
@@Ignore14 She's an icon 🤣
How fuking cheesy. He said a name and your water just got spilled automatically. Stupid
I have a really small studio 8 x 10 and I really like the atlas heavy duty round base stands. I ordered mine from sweetwater and they accidentally sent one of the ones that has air suspension ( maybe I ordered that one and forgot, I never checked ). Well the air suspension is great because the mic will never fall down if you un tighten the mic stand. It just slowly makes its way down. Perfect for tube mics like my tf51!
You have some of the most entertaining as well as useful videos. Always manage to laugh out loud a little which is much needed these days
Soft cover books, in a pinch, arent half bad as monitor pads either.
yo thanks for the tip
gonna do it right now :)
I have a buddy who swears by "magazine on top of a concrete paver", which seems to make sense since neither one is going to have the same resonant frequency as your desk, or each other.
Now I know what to do with the girlfriends romance novels that are stacked to the ceiling in the closet...lol
folded up towels here work just fine
I've used that for years before I invested in some nicer looking pads. Works just fine!
A big Hell Ya to Glenn’s Macross shirt
Man, I keep repeating myself lol, but this has become just about my favorite series on the channel. Been a follower since the Metalsucks days. Awesome stuff, as always! 🤘🤘
Glenn is right about Cheap cables. I had a hodgepodge of name brand cables, and they worked. Then I bought a few Mogami wires our of pure curiosity. Mogami cables are stupid expensive, but they are probably the best upgrade I've made to my studio. I replaced all my cables w/ Mogami Gold cables.
just get shielded cables and check the soldering job. Ensure the shielding is intact, and the rest is just for appearance.
I love your videos and advice Glen. Still remember the analog mixer channel video for that tone hack video I saw years ago from SpectreSoundStudios; You rock Mate.
I got a BS in Audio Engineering Technology and while it was expensive I think the technical/theoretical knowledge is worth it. It has set me up to further my study in audio in a way I don’t think I could have done myself. Plus, just having a BS in literally anything is an important prerequisite regardless of the industry nowadays. If I gotta get a degree, might as well be in something I enjoy
Dude you’re hilarious and I’m grateful to see guys who genuinely want to help others save time and money. Great video 👏
For metal at least, in my opinion, I’ve been able to get a decent listenable mix out of Reaper and all free plugins. I guess my tip would be to learn on free stuff first. I still haven’t bought a plug-in.
this! if you don’t know how to use a cheap/free compressor, you sure as hell won’t be able to use a very expensive one! a good brain & ears make an engineer, not the gear!
Thanks Glenn for the great tip on the lewitt condenser mic for vocals, it's just killer for the price! Keep it up luv the rants and straight up reviews!
The intro of this video told me this is EXACTLY what I wanted to watch. THIS is quality content with a REAL perspective 👌
I saw a lot of kids come into our venue with BBEs back in the mid 00s. Metalcore bands mostly, I have to say those guys often had extremely good tone, and they always attribute it to the bbe.
I've got one which I haven't actually used very much, but I do think it's got some decent applications. Definitely not on a whole mix but used sparingly on a single instrument as a creative effect it's got a place
Oh yeah, one of the guitarists in our band did this in our hayday. TS9 -> 6505+ -> bbe in the effects loop
I always thought it sounded killer. I’d only use a bbe to tighten up high gain. I’m sure on cleaner tones it doesn’t do a whole lot of good
@@AAllinsonNN that was _the_ metalcore rig. Runner-up was with the XXX instead of the 6505+. And yeah, the BBE sounds like a broken DS1 on clean tones, straight trash.
I am curious what the hell they actually do, though. I saw one comment here alleging that they flip mid band polarity of the signal passing through. When I worked at Guitar Center years ago, we were told that they add even order harmonics to the signal. I wouldn't at all be surprised to find out it's just a series of narrow EQ bands and gain staging (maybe even saturation?), especially after hearing the distortion-like quality on clean tones.
My time in audio school was absolutely essential. I think it really just depends on the college you went too.
The instructors, too. The school I went to was eh but my instructors were amazing and really did a good job teaching us. I should also mention my school got shut down due to shady money transactions.
"For the love of Crom"? Bravo! Banging my spear on my shield.
I did a year of audio tech college in like 2001. It was a good college though, and we got access to this guy as a tutor who was a proper gritty ex English rock circuit engineer. There was a studio with an mci desk in that had been used by led zeppelin among others. Apparently when they bought it for the college they cleaned out like half a pound of gear and resin from the fader strips. But I learnt a lot from the people I mixed with at college rather than the course per se. Definitely equipped me and a buddy with enough info to go set up our own home studio to record our band. That definitely taught me the most.
And now your channel is sending out some real gems of advice that, even after years around this stuff, still surprise and learn me. Cheers Glenn from across the pond
Me: Watching this on my Acer Nitro 5 that's been acting up lately
*smiles and silently sheds a tear*
my nitro didnt even last a year , started with two usb ports coming off. cpu fan sounds like jet engine , screen cracked, atleast i can still use it a paper weight now
Never trusted acer lmao
I've... actually never had issues with Acer. I don't use it for recording anymore, but I never once had a issue with when I was.
You just answered a question I asked about using it for a recording device rather than for gaming. Rock on! Thanks!
@@Otondabeat That’s really surprising. To be fair, their builds are on the flimsy side but I’ve never had one fail on me. I still even have one from 2007 (xp, lol) that still runs Serato for me with no issues at all.
When it comes to computers, I always build my own. A few months ago I was considering going to an audio engineering school but it looks a lot like it's better to just do it on my own.
Coming from someone who always builds not only his own computer recording workstations but also alot of my own mics, midi controllers, and synths, you most likely have enough of the basic understandings to get what you need from books.
11:37 What do you mean!? It's got an insane mode! That means it's gotta be good!
@Marshall Fairbrother It was so painfully obvious that I was being ironic that I can't believe it went right over your head
LMAO
I think you hit the nail on the head with the cable part. I’ve bought almost all big box store cables and have never regretted it. I’ve got one or two that’s been around for over 10 years. And if they mess up they will replace it for free. No need for the big price name brand cables that are all the same.
love your tshirt...and videos! so cool! great inspiration!
I made the mistake of buying an Acer laptop in the early 2000's. That thing would get so hot that you couldn't even sit it in your lap.. Worked pretty well for a coffee cup warmer though . lmao
Laptops in the 2000s sucked! Why is everyone harping on Acer!? Asus never got the criticism they deserved.
@@user-xg6zz8qs3q Yeah...but we didn't know that they sucked at the time. For the time ,that Acer still sucked. Crashed from over heating over and over and over.
@@edwincrain986 My Asus laptop from 2009 heated a lot and turned off due to thermal throttling.
@@user-xg6zz8qs3q I never owned one but sounds like it was junk too.
@@user-xg6zz8qs3q Also, I agree that Acer was not the only subpar laptop manufacturer in the early 2000's. My sisters Apple laptop from the same period ,was a nightmare . And let's not talk about Dell.. 🤣
ART makes a really nice one channel tube preamp for like 40$ that I love to use for my bass DI :)
What? No mention of the Klark EQs?
Is this Glen or an impostor?
@Marshall Fairbrother that makes sense, but by that logic what would the mesa cab clone IRs do here?
I don't know, kinda sounds a little sus if you ask me. lol
BBE Sonic maximizer actually have pertinent application in live sound, where acoustically treating the room is not a feasible option. Picked up a cheap guitar pedal monophonic BBE to rectify a weird phase reflection interference issue from a room kind of shaped like a baseball Diamond, between the mains and the floor monitors sharing a monitor signal, and it cleaned it right up. All the BBE really does is allow you to do is linearly tweak the eq contour and phase bias subtlety on the fly. It’s got limited intermittent pertinent niche applicability in a live PA setup, but yeah, almost virtually useless in a home recording environment, cause you probably already have plugin or other dedicated hardware, and environmental control options which do the same more precisely, but also, you’re not usually sending multiple different mixes to different drivers wide out open in the air at the same time either, all at once in the same room. Also, I’m a live setting, less is more with the BBE, and frankly, you’d just be better off having a few guitar pedal style ones, and using them pertinently as needed on the channels you do, when necessary, than hauling a rack unit around.
Good call on the cheap mic stands. I had too many break. I got a Hercules and it’s been great.
Hey Glenn, about the Sonic Maximizer: I've never seen one used as studio gear, I've seen them used as guitar pedals mostly and those that use them rave about them
Have you tried it as a sonic enhancer in a guitar chain?
I've used it effectively only as a piece of live PA gear on FOH main bus.....and ONLY with very conservative settings after RTA EQ'ing the house. As a guitar pedal
.....I mainly hear it giving the effect of more 'scooped' mids - which makes the mix engineer's job tougher IMO. I would never pitch it as being useful for a recording / mastering studio application.
A friend of mine had the sonic enhancer in his fx loop for some time. For "amateur ears" it may sound cool and more "metal", but honestly it just sounds like garbage. It brings more low/high mids, but not like an EQ. Sounds overcooked
@@loeffel999 I am not saying it sounds good, its just how I saw it used
I have a Sonic Stomp at the end of my Guitar FX board. It brings the tone to life, its an always on pedal for me. Have not tried the rack version though.
@@loeffel999 Not remotely being used properly. ALL devices sound like crap when ppl can't figure how to use them properly.
"I donated them and now they are off fxcking up someone else's mixes" best thing I've ever heard!
Lmao
I converted mine to passive only, got rid of the active circuit noise.
Hilarious, this man is the 'Lewis Black' of music gear.
Definitely agree. Tons of useful info too.
Jesus Christ no he isn't. Lewis Black writes jokes and is actually funny, this is just a guy who mistakes being loud for humor.
Picked up a bbe 422 maximizer from a guy I met through reverb that happened to be local with tons of rack gear he was selling. I got one of these as a request for a friend for 50 bucks. Didn’t use it much until this past week on the mix bus and it had the bass sounding super super clean from the super distorted 808 I had to work with. Not to mention I was solely mixing an mp3 track from a song I did with a friend with a few years back to which I don’t have access to the protools session.
I see how you may not have much of a use for it primarily in the rock/metal genre but the bbe did wonders on the 808s. My friend even said that was the best part of the mix!
Yes it is cheap and kinda crappy build quality but it worked wonders on those 808s!
I know little about recording gear, but you can definitely tell the difference between guitar cables. You can tell the length difference between guitar cables made from the same materials, to about 2-3'. I made a set of cables in 3', 6', 10' and 20' with Planet Waves cable and Neutrik connectors. Each length gets noticeably darker in tone. From the instrument, the 3' vs 20' doesn't even sound like the same setup.
I attended SAE institute.. and tbh, that was a very positive experience
Yeah, SAE Is right on!
Currently in SAE in Melbourne myself and about to finish my associates and then onto the bachelor's. I think having project based work really helps out with getting the hands on experience we need rather than all that other crap the other places do
Glenn should be sponsored by some elite shampoo company. his hair is so amazing. top notch....compliments from a bald guy.....
Looks a tiny bit dry
@@flaccid6pancake just needs a good cut and argan oil
Holy crap I was gonna buy the Mackie monitors soon but whewwww Glenn saved me, gonna save up for some Cali probably 😆
I've got the Mackie monitors and I'm really happy with them. My mastering engineer even said that my recordings are sounding better than ever these days (since I've been using them). But the thing is, my music isn't metal. That could be the key here.
Great idea. I love my Kali LP-6
I'm also happy with my Mackies.
Only heard bad things about mackie, both sound and componentwise. Here in Brazil nothing is cheap. Min wage is around 200$ and if something costs 50$ in the us/canada then is sells for around 100$. I was saving for a mackie but now im considering the presonus eris 3.5
@@lucasnunes2453 Eris 3.5 lack low end, the size is rly restrictive, you could buy a subwoofer but that's extra cost, more room space and it might do more harm in the overall sound in an untreated room, I would suggest speakers bigger than 5" or a good pair of headset, used market maybe is a good solution too, the cheaper 5" here is M-Audio BX5 D3 and I think they are good.
As someone who has an actual degree in recording/mixing and production, most of the stuff I know how to do I taught myself. Not that I didn't learn good things while I was at school, but it really only taught me the basics to set me on the right track to figuring out the more advanced stuff. I constantly learn new tricks and skills every day and am always open to learning more. My professor was an actual producer and very talented engineer, but I wasn't his only student so he wasn't always able to answer questions I had.
That's the way it's supposed to be. I'm a graphic designer, I have a degree, but the degree gives you the foundation. You can't help but learn more once you get out into the world and start working in your chosen field.
Yo. I do love those mackie monitors. They’re in my living room on my video editing computer and I use them to play music around the house and I do check my mixes in them. If the mix sounds good on those then you’re pretty good to go. But if they’re your only studio monitor then no they suck and your mixes will too.
I am in a surprised state of shock to see a young Glenn Fricker from back in the day, and comparing it to how he looks now... holy shit! That look of dissatisfaction has definitely remained the same. Honestly though no hate man, but definitely keep doing your thing.
Hilariously, the opening ad to this video was for Full Sail... Hahahaha.
Sooooo the Mackie came with the foam pads, does that count as 2 sins?? Love ya Glenn
I've always wondered why studios put a window right in front of the person singing. They have all that foam on every surface but the window and the window is in the perfect spot to reflect sound straight back at the mic. Why not make the room windowless and just use a screen and camera system to see in and out?
I’ve always felt it’s like singing to the perfect listener - super critical and super appreciative.
Funny, I actually used an upside down mouse pad as a monitor pad years ago. As far as acoustic treatment, I bought several types of that cheap ass foam and immediately sent it all back. Ended up making my own panels with 2" x 24" x 72" upholstery cushion foam mounted to 1/4" OSB and wrapped in duck cloth. Holy shit, MUCH better both acoustically, cosmetically, and monetarily.
15:18 *accepting my fate and preparing my patience while watching from my Acer laptop*
writing this comment on an acer desktop and it suffers from the same issues as the laptops
all I can say is, good luck