Behind The Console
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Behind The Console
Top Recording Mistakes Ruining Your Songs!
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If you spend more time recording it right, you spend less time trying to save it later. We're breaking down the top recording mistakes that people make and how to fix or avoid them!
What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of Behind the Console. As usual, I'm Derek. And this is Dot the Engineer. So today we want to talk about something that's uh a pretty uh popular topic and questions that we usually get asked a lot by other engineers or even artists who are trying to record themselves. So is what are some of the top mistakes that engineers, artists, producers, anyone use uh that happens to anyone when they're recording? So off the top of your head, what's the first thing that you can think of? The recording side?
SPEAKER_03For the recording side. Um, I mean, man, we can this episode might be like 10 hours long. I think one of the the biggest things with a lot of guys that don't know what they're doing is I think the biggest mistake is not knowing what what you're doing. Okay, but more specifically, more specifically. Sending the microphone too loud, like setting everything too hot, yeah. Uh not understanding the tools that you have in front of you. Uh, you know, sometimes guys just want to use the compressor and EQ and this and that, but they don't really know what they're doing. So then you end up having the signal that is already cooked from the beginning.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's I think this is like the one of the biggest mistakes. But again, if you don't know what you're doing, you most likely gonna make that mistake. Right. So, so how hot are you usually recording your vocals coming into Pro Tours? It depends. Like, there's no such a thing as a perfect level because every song is different. Like, there's certain records that might record a little bit hotter than the other ones. Right. But when I say hot, I don't mean like when I record it hot, it's hot, but it's not red hot. It's not like distortion, clipping, unless I'm trying to maybe do like some uh ad libs or something in the background, like an effect. Sometimes I would like overload the the preamp and just like turn down, turn down the output and like really just clip the preamp. But that's like very, very you know, like for rare cases where I do it because I'd rather just do it with the plugins and uh in pro tools, right? Right, right.
SPEAKER_00So I think one of the the biggest mistakes that I also see definitely recording hot is is a big thing because if you're distorting your vocal on the way in, there's only so much that you can do during the mixing process to even fix those issues. For sure. But I think another big issue that I see is when people overprocess their vocals when they're recording.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So, you know, a lot of people these days, including myself, I record with my own vocal chain coming into Pro Tools, but sometimes like I'll open sessions people send to me, and people are recording on the way in doing 10 dB of compression. Their EQ is like a freaking science graph with like cuts here, dips here, boosts here, yeah, like everything. It just looks ridiculous.
SPEAKER_03But is that on like uh let's say Apollo site? Is that plugins or that's on the hardware side?
SPEAKER_00On the plug-in side. Oh, okay. Yeah, on the plugin side. So like if they have like a pro Q or any other EQ on their on their vocal chain, yeah, um, any compressor, but they're just doing too much. And I think what that does is first of all, when you're over processing the vocals too much when you're recording, you can't actually hear the true tone and the actual true nature of what the vocal sounds like.
SPEAKER_03But maybe they don't want to hear the true nature. Maybe maybe the true nature is nothing to be heard, you know?
SPEAKER_02I mean, I hope not. I hope not, you know, it's it's the reality, right?
SPEAKER_00So yeah, I think uh for me, my opinion is like it's you can definitely use um compression, use EQ when you're recording, but just do it very lightly so you can actually hear the the quality of the recording that you're making, not that not the overprocessed version version. So when you're actually mixing the the vocals later on, it's easy for you to to know like okay, how where do I need to take this? What do I need to do to make this sound better? Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_03I think another is it's not as common, but it happens. I've seen people recording with their microphone the other way. Backwards? Yeah. You've seen that before? Yeah, yeah. I've received vocals that were recorded like the other way around. That's crazy. So it's like, and you know, it's it's uh when you hear it, you're just like, what the hell is going on? And sometimes it's like it takes it a little bit to like, I'm like, why does it sound like that? So I would like ask questions, I'm like, what mic it is, and all that stuff, and they would tell me what mic that was and all that stuff. And I'm like, yo, what's this recorded backwards? Yeah, and they end up, you know, they're like, oh, I didn't know. They send you a picture of the mic like recording, and it's it's backwards, it's like the other way around. That's crazy. It happened, it happened, you know. I mean, not as often, but there's definitely uh true geniuses out there in this world.
SPEAKER_00Uh I mean, I guess that's another thing. Always double check your microphone is facing the right way if it's in in cardioid, right? Yeah, make sure it's facing the right way, so you're not recording from the back of the microphone.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, that's that's insane. But hey, everybody got the different. I don't know, some people, I I I think another big thing is just listening. People don't listen when they record.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, it's like everything is almost automatic. They see the signal, it's like, oh, and I I've seen it. I've seen when I when the when the you know I was I had Studio B at 669 and stuff, and it was like guys recording and all that stuff. It's like they don't really care much about how it sounds. There was no like, let me get a tone, let me get this, let me get that.
SPEAKER_02It's like, yo, the microphone's not working. Plug it in. Okay, it's fine.
SPEAKER_03And that that's it. Like, that's the whole entire process of thinking with the recording, right? So I feel like the true, I think the true art of it, but not even art, like just practicality of it is getting everything sound in the way how you want, like straight to the box. So even without processing it, it already sounds good. Like that that should be the goal of recording. I agree. If you, you know, if you don't follow those steps and you kind of just record to record, you're never really truly gonna get the the sound. I mean, unless you're going for that whatever sound, but like you're not gonna get the sound that you really will be happy about. Then if you're gonna be mixing it yourself, it's gonna be extra hours and hours on your end to get it sound good. Or if you're gonna send it to somebody else, to an engineer that is supposed to mix it, you're just gonna piss them off.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, 100%, man. Like a lot of times we've both probably received vocals that just sound like absolute garbage. And we're kind of like, all right, well, this is gonna take hours for us just to make it sound good. Especially when the vocals, when you get vocals, when you're looking at the meter and it's hot, but there's no presence. Yeah, those are like the worst type of vocals.
SPEAKER_03I mean, that's one thing, and we live in towns when people record stuff on iPhones.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's true too. And uh Apple, uh the Apple mics. And that's how they want it.
SPEAKER_03They're like, I captured the moment, man. It's the vibe, it's the vibe. It's the vibe. It's a look, it's it's a crazy time as we live in it, you know, but it is what it is. I feel like, I don't know, man. I'm not gonna lie, on my end, and that's kind of going a little bit not out of topic, but I'm I just want to, I'm just gonna start collecting a whole bunch of old stuff, like old effects, old gear, and all. Because even like with the ref set ref that I got uh the other week, I'm like, I'm playing with it, and I love just the way how it sounds texture-wise. You know, it's like, look, yeah, I can slap a reverb, any other plugin and all that stuff, but I just put it on and like just the way how it sounds, there's no plugin that sounds like that.
SPEAKER_00I feel you. You know what I mean? Is there a plug-in version of it or like some kind of emulation of it?
SPEAKER_03Is um like the what is it called? The responses? The impulse response. Impulse. Yeah, yeah. So there is uh I've seen the I've seen plugins. I think I even have the impulse response for that, not every single preset, but some of them. It's cool, but like it just doesn't sound the same. You know, it's it's just something. But anyway, well, why I'm saying that is because I feel like we reached a point where technology does not make things sound better anymore.
SPEAKER_00What do you mean by that specifically? I think Because don't you think with AI and how things are Yeah, because people are fucking stupid.
SPEAKER_03People are becoming dumb. People people think that AI is gonna make, is gonna fix everything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I'm gonna put the AI plugin, it's gonna make me sound good because I seen the commercial that said that it sounds good.
SPEAKER_03You know, like there's like I feel like we got to the point where it's like people don't want to learn and understand what they're doing anymore. Everything is like every every new plugin that drops, what they say, AI powered, AI something, some some, it's gonna make you sound like this, it's gonna make you sound like that. I feel like, you know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna address it. Fuck that. All these companies that create plugins, and good example is plugin alliance, shout out to plugin alliance, the OG plugin alliance. But see, before when companies were creating plugins, the people that were running companies were actually musicians, engineers, like people that were involved within the the what we do, they understood like the tools that we need. Right nowadays, all the plugins is just like, yeah, they claim like, oh yeah, we are this and that and that and that, but like they just make plugins for the people that don't know what they're doing. I get what you're saying. Because like I'm personally like, I'm not interested in another AI plugin. I don't care because I'm like, what how is that gonna benefit me from achieving the sound that I'm trying to achieve?
SPEAKER_00You're saying like they're making plugins for dummies. Yeah, actually. Yeah, it's like it's like the book for dummies. It's like this one one fix-all kind of tool. You don't really need to know how to use it, just press this button and it's done.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, exactly. And like, look, waves had stuff like that, like Rvox and R whatever, like the one button, one knot plugins, and all that stuff. And we used all the town, but they were not like labeled as AI, this, AI, that, this and that and that. It was just like tools. Right now, everything, everything in music is, I mean, I and I get it, it's business, everything is marketing, everything is whatever it is. But I just feel like it's taken away from excitement of understanding how to use the tools, how to learn what you like, you know, spending hours, like for you to really learn a tool, you have to spend hours, you have to spend hours twisting every knob, understanding what it does, how it bends the frequencies, like what this does, what's the difference between like this knob and this knob, like the shelf and the the bell and this, like there's so many different things, right? Even even things like uh oversampling or dynamic phase, like there's like all those little features that the plugins have that change the way how the plugin responds. But it's like I feel like that's the whole fun about it. You have to listen to it and learn it, right? Um, and that kind of comes down to uh the mistakes that people do. Um people think that when they get the AI plugin with preset from X-Guy and all that stuff, they're just gonna slap that preset and all of a sudden it's just gonna sound amazing. It's gonna be like sounding like this, sounding like that. And like I look, I understand the whole concept of presets, but it's presets are also a scam. They are a scam.
SPEAKER_00Bro, most presets are always a scam. You know, it's like you'd like never trust those those guys on on YouTube, on Instagram, like, oh, uh, buy my preset, and you can sound exactly like Tory Lane's. Buy my preset, you can sound exactly like Drake or party next door. Like, bro, it they they don't work, man. Yeah, yeah. They don't work.
SPEAKER_03Well, the the number one thing is that they don't work because it's like, okay, let's say even even if you took the actual preset from the session that you had from Tory or whoever else, take that preset that was on whatever song it was, and you take the whole entire chain, and you're gonna save it as settings, you're gonna send to somebody, buy my presets for 50 bucks. You're gonna sell it for, you know, thousand, thousand times you get fifty thousand dollars and money in your pocket. You're getting more money from presets that you made from the mix, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. But the thing is that okay, right now those 50,000 people are gonna slap it on on their audio technic of 2020, recorded on a fucking focus, right? Yeah, there's no way it's gonna sound the way how it sounded before. And it's most likely it's not it's not gonna be tracked properly either. Yeah. You know, so again, it's like I understand that everybody's just trying to chase the bag and everybody's just like trying to get, you know, extract as much money from the from the everything that is happening, but I don't know, man. I I I feel like okay, even even like going back to to the plugins, right? We kind of go not really off topic, but like, because it all comes down, it all circles back into the process of like making mistakes because you think that something else is gonna make things for you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, so I'll I can tie this back together once you finish it.
SPEAKER_03But um, I didn't even buy the plugin. Somebody like we had a session that like I'm not gonna put no names out there because I'm not trying to diss. Well, what plugin is this though? I just giving out the plugin is gonna give away too much.
SPEAKER_02Why? That doesn't give out the person who used it. Yeah, it will it will give out the first because like the person that is promoting it is like all over Instagram using that plugin.
SPEAKER_03Okay, okay, okay. All I'm gonna say is like a dynamic processor. Okay. That's what I'm gonna say. And it and it's black, it looks very simple. But you know, we bought this plugin because uh she was like, oh, I want the kicks to kind of slab, and like, you know, the commercials kind of were like, oh, add this plugin is gonna make this and that and that and that. So she was like, she wanted to use, you know, I'm working on her project, so uh I'm gonna say her name, Cali. Shout out to Cali. Uh, but you know, she so she she was like, I want I want this this plugin on the project and the drums to make it like uh you know, snab and crack and all that stuff. So we were okay, cool. Okay. She got the plugin, we tried it out, and both of us we looked at each other, it was like this is a scam. Because the plugin just does not do what they're advertising. Yeah, it's just like it does something, but it just doesn't. The the type of hype that is behind the advertising is not the type of hype when you you know, it's and the thing is that it's not an expensive plugin, it's a$50 plugin, 50 USD, which is like$5 billion Canadian. You know, when you have a plug, when you when you do something, you sell$50 times X amount of money, you're making money. But the thing is that I feel like nowadays we got to the point where it's like it's so easy to write any type of code and just kind of package it in the in a nice, you know, uh GUI and just sell it to people. Right, right, right. You know, that's what I'm saying. Everything just feels like it's becoming a scam.
SPEAKER_00No, I agree with you, man. I think this this ties back uh into uh what we're discussing before because I think another one of the biggest mistakes that people make when they're recording is they rely on the mixing process to fix their mistakes too much. And the reason why they are relying on the mixing process is because they think they have these presets or these AI uh models or whatever plugins they have these days to just fix whatever issues they have. So when you're recording, it's like for a great song, you need a great recording. Yeah, yeah, 100%. Sometimes you could do stuff though artistically and stylistically that doesn't have to sound like a great recording, if it's very intentional. Yeah, yeah. You know, but always during the recording process, you need to focus on getting the right vocal, getting the right quality of vocal. So if you're a recording engineer or producer or artist, even recording yourself, it's like if you're recording yourself, adjust the mic, like change your distance from the mic, change your levels. If you're uh recording with compression, change the compression, change the threshold, change the attack, change the release. Like do whatever you need to do to make sure that whatever you're recording is pretty much almost gonna be perfect for when you start mixing. You don't want to focus on now, I'm gonna mix it later, I'll fix it later, I'll fix it later. Because you're creating more work for yourself, and sometimes the issues that you you make when you record, you can't even fix it when you're mixing it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you know, and I I I think what everything you said is uh is correct. I think one of the the solutions for that would be training your ears to understand what you're hearing. Yes, yes, you know, because um I even had this session uh a couple of like maybe two weeks ago or something. But anyway, uh I was working with someone, she recorded something at home, she sent me the stamps, and I literally I I I called her. I think no, I messaged her and I was like, yo, can you just come to the studio and just like re-record it? You know, but it's like I wasn't because like I wasn't trying to diss in any way, but it's just like what she thought sounded good when I put it in the session and like I played it. Number one thing, just the the actual Wi-Fi's were cooked. Everything was just like fried. So I'm like, yo, what did you record it on? Like what microphone and all that stuff? So she sent me the stuff, and then I'm like, I'm like, man, I know the microphone that she recorded, and I'm like, it shouldn't sound like this. Yeah. Because like I know the microphone. So I'm like, yo, it's not a maybe you got a fake microphone or something. Because you know how like SM7B, that was the microphone. Like SM7Bs, there's a lot of fake SM7Bs around. Like it's actually a I didn't know that. So the U87s, there's a lot of fake ones. I know that, yeah. 103s, a lot of fake ones, yeah. And the the SM1 SM uh 7B is another one. Oh, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00People made fake SM7Bs because if you're buying an SM7B, it's it's only like 400,$500.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but it's like, why would you no? I think it's a little bit more right now. Yeah, I think it's like around six bills right now. But anyway, what I what is like if you see uh if you see a microphone for whatever 600 bucks and then you see the same mic for 300, you're gonna be like, oh. That's true, yeah. You know what I mean? You see a half a price, you're not gonna think, oh, this is fake. That's true. That's true. But the thing is that they these guys might get it of Timu for five bucks. Yeah. Six bucks. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? So uh, but anyway, it ended up, I don't think the mic was actually fake. I like because I I I was like, yo, bring the mic here, I'm gonna check it out. We I plugged it in, recorded everything through my stuff, sounded perfectly fine. Oh, so it's how she recorded it. Yeah, it's definitely how she recorded it. So it's 100%, you know what I mean? And I was like, I I told her, I'm like, do this, do that, like set it up, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_00What uh interface was she using? Scarlet. Scarlet, okay. Yeah, yeah. That's so weird. I wonder what she did. Maybe she Oh, I know what she did. She overcooked it. Her gain was all the way up, fam. So when you got the vocals, it was just completely distorted? Like it was just like the waveform was just like a block.
SPEAKER_03The thing is that SM7B requires a lot of gain. Right. Right? So it's like the vocals were distorted in a certain way. It wasn't like overly distorted, like it wasn't like, you know, guitar distortion type of thing. But again, it's like if you understand what you're hearing, you're gonna hear the distortion.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_03If you don't understand what you're hearing, you it's gonna sound fine to you. Okay, I see. But for me, when I when I got it, everything was just muffled. Everything was muffled, it was like, it was high, but it didn't sound like it had the power. Like, you just just just you know, just regular stuff when it comes to like recording audio in the in the wrong way.
SPEAKER_00The thing too is uh with these vocals, too, is uh for people who are recording themselves, um they don't they also don't understand that once you send these vocals for mixing, yeah, after you add the EQ compression, you bring it up, you master the song, like all of those tiny kind of little details, distortions that you might not hear when you're just recording it, they all get brought to life once you start making things louder. So when you start mixing it, that's when you start hearing the issues more uh prevalent. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure, yeah. I think uh another big mistake that I think people make um are bad headphone mixes. Like just relying on headphones to do the mixes, or what do you mean? Like uh bad headphone mixes for the artists when they're recording. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So what they're sending to the artist is not accurate, and it doesn't it's preventing them from being in the creative space or the energy or the vibe that they need because every artist is different. Some artists need more reverb, some artists need more delay, some artists don't really like hearing the beat that loud, some artists only want to hear the beat, some artists like the vocal super loud, some like the vocals super quiet. So I think for certain artists they need to have the right headphone mix in order to capture the right vocal for some people.
SPEAKER_03That's true, but I guess when it comes to that, usually when you do like test run just to get the levels and everything, the artist kind of tells you, like, I want this, I want that, and all that stuff. That's what I would assume.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, and maybe not. I mean, if I for me and you, I would definitely ask the artist, oh, how do the headphones sound? Do you want more reverb? Do you want to hear yourself? I always ask every single person when I first start working with them. But you know, like you said, some engineers they don't care, they just plug it in, be like, all right, boom, use the headphones. All right, let's get started.
SPEAKER_03I also feel like, yes, everything that you said is correct, but I also feel like overdoing stuff in headphones is also gonna destroy the you know, because sometimes Pete Man, I'm not gonna lie, some people just crank the shit up. Like they just, I'm not gonna lie, a couple of times I was like, I would play something, uh, even at six, that was like six, six, nine, and I would go to the booth, and I just hear the headphones blasting, and I'm like, yo, yeah, yeah. How can you listen to this like that, bro? It's like it like makes no sense how loud it is.
SPEAKER_00It's crazy because it's some people like the the headphones so loud that there's bleed when you're actually recording. So it's like you're recording the vocals, you hear the bleed from the microphone, but then it's like, you know, sometimes you tell the artist, but yo, do you mind just turning down just a little bit? You know, I'm hearing some bleed, and then they turn it down, but then it's like five minutes later, it's all the way back up, you hear the bleed again, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Makes no sense. But hey, everybody got their own way of doing things. I I've recorded guys that would tell me that they don't want to hear themselves at all.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I have to mute the actual recording, you know, track. And I'm like, I mean, look, everybody got their own ways of working. I'm just gonna provide you whatever you want. You don't want to hear yourself, I'm gonna cut it. If you want to hear yourself, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna keep it so. Yeah. It really comes down to like how people are used to working.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And I think uh another big mistake that people make, again, I th probably one of the most common mistakes is just having an untreated room, having a bad room.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00How do you feel about um so for someone who's recording, like, say, for example, in their bedroom, right? You know, there's a lot of different ways people record. They could the classic uh go in your closet with all your clothes around, or egg cartons, or some people use like the eyeball. Yeah. What's your opinion on using like the eyeball specifically? Do you think it has a sound to it? Do you think it's a good solution, or do you prefer the what do they call the the guards? You know the guards that go around the microphone, like this?
SPEAKER_03Look, every single method of treatment that you mentioned, I've been through.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Every single one. So my reference point, and like you know, going from that, that, that to the actual panels, and you know, there's obviously levels to that. I would say like this anything is better than no treatment. Yeah. Even putting like uh your mattress, some people would just put their mattress up and kind of record around the mattress, that's gonna help. Yeah, recording in a closet with a whole bunch of clothes in it, that's gonna help. Um, you might not always get the best results, but it will help for sure. When it comes to um the chaotica and the shields and all that stuff. Um, I mean, look, one thing I wouldn't recommend doing is recording in the bathroom for some reason. So why do people recording in the bathroom? Yeah, there's there's people that would think that going and recording in the bathroom would would make it better.
SPEAKER_00They probably think it gives it a natural reverb or something.
SPEAKER_03I don't know what they think, but whatever they think is not correct. Um yeah, unless you're going with that bathroom sound. You know what I mean? No, because the thing is, I I was watching uh uh I was watching uh like a little documentary about the uh I don't know, it's a band from like 80s, uh Roxet, uh Roxet. They were like Swedish bands, but they they were pretty big in states and all that stuff. But anyway, there was like an interesting part where they said where they were touring the world, they had like 80 or 90 cities like worldwide. So they were like on tour for like most of the year, and they were they had to record another album. So most of the stuff, and mine, we're talking about recording the album in like I think it was either late 90s, like 89, or like early 90s, 91, or something like that. There's no interfaces, there's no Apollo's, there's the technology was not what it is right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was very, very different world. But they said that most of the album, that's how they did, they recorded that in the hotel rooms and all that stuff. So they would actually they had like four or five engineers traveling with them at all times. Four or five engineers, four or five engineers traveling with them at the whole entire tour. Like, and I'm not even talking about like front-of-the-house engineers, I'm talking about like recording engineers that had their gear, had the microphones, you know, the tape, like so the the times were very, very different. But one of the records, they said they recorded in the bathroom because that was the only option that they had. That's crazy. In the bathroom in the hotel.
SPEAKER_00And the thing is that how is that the only option compared to even just like the the the bedroom area?
SPEAKER_03They said that it just sounded the best in the bathroom.
SPEAKER_00Maybe they got like a nice slap, or I don't know. Yeah, that's the thing.
SPEAKER_03They had like they got that slab of the bathroom. Like the original. I gotta I gotta find the song, but like I I know the song, and the song was like number one. It was like actually a big hit. But because of that bathroom recording, it gave that feeling that you know they couldn't recreate with anything else. Right, right, right. You know what I mean? So again, in mind, this is time when there's no plugins, there's no like, you know, chamber reverb plugins, this and that studio UAD and all that stuff, right? It's just like you kind of play with what you have. So again, I wouldn't recommend recording in the bathroom nowadays, especially if you're doing like any type of hip-hop vocals or anything that really really needs to be like in your face and clean. But if you're trying to do some creative stuff and maybe utilize it in a different way, yeah, sure. It's just the thing is that when you're gonna go with those type of recordings, you automatically have to go with the very specific sound.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_03Because you're like, you know what, this is the bathroom vocal, we go with that sound. You can't change it after you can't change it. There's nothing you can there's nothing you can do after. You can't change it after unless you re-record it, you know. Chaotica is good. I've tried it multiple times. I think it has a sound though. It does have it. It have the thing is that I don't necessarily like what it does to the mid-range. Yeah, um, it does help with the reflections. It doesn't like, you know, it it it damps down the sound. I don't think it's perfect, but if that's the only available option that you have, it's gonna be better than nothing. Do you think that's better or a shield is better? Shields are good, but I don't think they work in very big spaces. Yeah. Chaotica would probably be a better thing in the bigger space. Shield would be better in like a medium to a small space. Okay. Or you don't have a lot of stuff going on.
SPEAKER_00So kind of like in a basement kind of vibe where people are recording themselves, you probably put a chaotica, just big space, reverbs, yeah.
SPEAKER_03It depends on how big the basement is, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But probably if you're in like a smaller-ish bedroom, you think the the shield will be better than the eyeball?
SPEAKER_03But the thing is that there's so many different shields too, right? It's like you have shields for like 50 bucks and you get shields for 500 bucks. They're gonna be uh they're gonna do a very different, uh, very different job as well, right?
SPEAKER_00So Do the more expensive ones uh have like a certain technology to it?
SPEAKER_03Like they diffuse the sound or they absorb it in the Yeah, they just they whatever they might because the cheap uh the cheap uh uh shields, they usually just use like regular foam. Just star foam. They just kind of put the foam around it, you know. It probably cost them like$10 to do to make and they sell for like$50 or whatever it is, right? Yeah. But then you have like those proper shields where they like hard and they have like you touch it, it's not a foam, it's like some type of material, and it's like covered with something, and you know, obviously it comes with the with the stand and this and that, how you how you mount it and all that. Some of them come with like uh I think pop filter or like chaotic comes with the pop filter and stuff, right? So yeah, it does. So different uh different shields are gonna sound a little bit different, but uh I I I think it's just one of those things. Whatever your budget is, you can probably get something within that budget. You just can't expect that you know, if you're buying something for$50, you're gonna get the same result as a$500 uh thing. Definitely, you know, so definitely, definitely.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Uh I think the last question I want to ask you too, or just to let people know, is what are your thoughts on recording um with compression? Are you a big fan of it? Do you always use it, or just here and there? Or is it a very stylistic choice for you?
SPEAKER_03I mean, look, if you if somebody knows what they're doing, 100%, you can put whatever you want on it compressure, compressor, uh, compression, saturation, EQ, and like do whatever. If you know what you're doing, you know the tone that you're going with, you can use anything. I personally record with a compressor on. It's always been. Um every session? Like 99.9% of sessions. Because like compression, compressor on the on like your chain in, number one thing is like you can, if you're using a hardware compressor, you can save yourself a lot of work in the box by just doing the that job uh on the way in. Um so because before what I used to do, I would like record with uh, you know, I would I would track something with a with a distressor, and then I would put the distressor in again on the insert, blah, blah, blah. So you use it twice, you're saying? Yeah, before that's what I would do. So on the recording side and then the in the mix side. But right now, it's like I do everything kind of on the way in, get the tonality. Before I was like, the reason why is before I had a little bit different mentality of using the compressor during the recording. When I was a little bit more conservative, I didn't want to like use too much. I'm like one dB, like very, very light, you know, compression. Where right now I'm like, let me get it where I want it, so I don't have to use compressor after in the in the mix. Like I would use a compressor, but like obviously maybe it's gonna be on my on my math on my vocal bus. Or, you know, I'm gonna just I'm just gonna use like Rvox or something. Right, right. You know what I mean? Like, I don't want to over overcook things with compression. I think uh yeah, I'm I'm I'm all for it. If you know what you're doing 100%, what about you?
SPEAKER_00I've tried recording with compression. Um, I definitely would agree with you, like if you know what you're doing, it uh it works, it works for the vocal. But for me, I don't know. I I think for me, I've always just preferred having the freedom and the ability to do that after I record it. So for me, I like recording without compression, and if I'm recording a very um like a vocalist with a very large dynamic range, like very loud, very quiet moments, I prefer just writing the uh the pre on my preamp instead, like the gain instead of doing actual compression.
SPEAKER_03And then like as they record, you would like write it.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And then um in pro tools afterwards, I can apply the compression or I could just gain stage the vocal. I know it takes a little bit more time, but to me, I've always just preferred having the the freedom and the ability to do that afterwards instead of like fully committing myself to a uh a compression uh method or style as I'm recording, if I change my mind afterwards. That's fair enough. Yeah, but I do think uh compression while recording is is very good, especially um if you know what you're doing and you know what you're going for.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean if you have a good compressor, if you have like a you know CL1B or even 1176, anything that you can really push and drive during the recording, might as well just just use it, you know. Yeah, but uh it makes sense, like doing things like the thing is that recording without compression is a safer bet because then you know that you can't really fuck it up during the the recording process. Exactly, you know, where I feel like and I've I've had recordings where like stuff was just overcooked with compression, you know. Super cooked, super cooked. So I just wish more compressors had the mix knob, yeah, the the dry wet. Um you know, most of the plugins do. Hardware, like some do, but most of them don't yet. There's a one-two that do, but um I think mix knob just on every single piece of gear would be uh would be a very, very beneficial thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I agree. How are you usually uh dialing in your settings when you're recording recompression? Your attack, release, etc.
SPEAKER_03I don't have any specific settings. It's more of a like I would use different compressor compressors too. As I like, you know, if if I want something smoother, I would probably go with the tracker. If I'm like, you know, I like tracker for like more RB stuff, anything that doesn't require like a lot of stuff in it, more like smoother, vibe or stuff. If I want to go with something that, you know, that is a little bit more aggressive, I would probably do the MC77. If I have uh sometimes I have the when I get the 1176, I might use the 1176 and stuff. Which is 77 and 76 are they are different, they look similar, they have the same like knobs and all that stuff, but they sound different.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh 77 is a little bit smoother than 1176. I remember before I did, I wasn't a fan of 1176, but it kind of grew on me. Um this dresser, like yeah, this dresser is always a good choice. But I I feel like it's also like it depends on like which preamp you pair it with and all that stuff. Because like certain preamps, I don't want to say they don't play well with other things because everything can play together. Uh, but just certain preams might just react a little bit different to transients and like you know, the dynamics of the of the vocals or the sound itself, right? So it's like you kind of gotta be cautious about all those little things, the nuances. But ultimately, it really just comes down to doing it the way how you hear it in your head, making it sounding good. So once you have it in the box and you press play, you're just like, okay, it sounds good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know. Make sure you're listening, make sure you're adjusting. Exactly. Make sure. I think the biggest lesson from today's episode, just make sure you're listening. Yeah, that's all it is.
SPEAKER_03Just listen and don't believe in AI that is gonna. It's not like don't believe in it, but like it's not gonna fix, it's not gonna do things for you if you don't know what you're doing. Yeah, but again, it's like we might get to the point where it's like people just won't have their own taste because they're just gonna believe in everything that is being like pushed onto them. Right. Because I feel like that's the whole thing. It's like to a certain period of time, it was all about your own personal pre uh preference, taste. I want things like that, I want things like that. Like you was learning how to get to that point. Yeah. Where it seems like right now it's just like, oh, just do this, use that preset, it's gonna do it for you. Oh, use this, it's gonna do it for you. Oh, use that, it's gonna do it for you. You know, it's like let's bring back critical thinking. Yeah, let's let's bring back that. Let's bring back the use of your brain. I wanna I I wanna I would say bring back a lot of things, but now I'm gonna get canceled if I'm gonna say that.
SPEAKER_00You know what I mean? So but yeah, man, I think this is a good place to uh wrap up the episode. Yeah, for sure. You wanna uh close it off?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I thanks guys for watching. We're gonna be back again next week. We're on it, staying busy and doing all that stuff. And uh thank you again and see you next week. Yes, sir. Thank you. Peace out.