Thursday I did the most stupid thing ever. I didn't make a copy of the session of the track I'd been working on for the past 4 weeks... Then for some obscure reason (and the fact that I was extremely tired from my week) I dragged the folder to the trash (thinking it was some copy of some sort) and emptied the bin. Terrible.... The worst part that Mr L and I were extremely happy with this mix!
So today it was back to the studio and mix the whole song again. Although I remembered some of the work I'd done to it there was no way I could remember everything, so even after trying to match with the reference of the mix I had (I bounced the track before erasing it from my hard drive) things are still quite different.
After having spent 5 hours on it I managed to get a decent chorus and verse (although I've got a feeling Mr L might want me to tweak a couple of things here and there) so a little work on the middle 8, a few tweaks and automation on the vocals and we should be done!
The only positive aspect of this is that I think I can get the mix better than the previous version.
Needless to say that when I finished I made a copy on another hard Drive and another computer!
Loudness War
I was helping a friend move his stuff and after a a break we started on the subject of mixing and mastering and the discussion ended up on mastering.
Soon enough we got into the notion of how "loud" is "good" and I was half surprised to hear him say that pushing as high as possible was sometimes good to create the effect of intensity. If producers and engineers do not realise how detrimental the whole loudness war is, how can we expect the consumer to comprehend and to react?
The whole "Death Magnetic" uproar offered some glimpse of hope that the consumer might realise how bad things got but if the issue lies with then engineer/producer then I cannot imagine the issue being resolved.
Recently I have been involved in mastering a project and although the genre is clearly based on distortion, people need to understand that there is a limit on how loud things can be.
On this occasion I asked all the artists who had this problem to do a remix luckily enough I got them and managed to do something ok!
A lot of people are to blame for this problem whether it is directly or indirectly and the only way out of this is to have every "student engineer" be taught and demonstrated the catastrophic effects of the Loudness War. During my years in college, this was never mentioned and it's only because I picked up Bob Katz's book that I was made aware of the issue.
Soon enough we got into the notion of how "loud" is "good" and I was half surprised to hear him say that pushing as high as possible was sometimes good to create the effect of intensity. If producers and engineers do not realise how detrimental the whole loudness war is, how can we expect the consumer to comprehend and to react?
The whole "Death Magnetic" uproar offered some glimpse of hope that the consumer might realise how bad things got but if the issue lies with then engineer/producer then I cannot imagine the issue being resolved.
Recently I have been involved in mastering a project and although the genre is clearly based on distortion, people need to understand that there is a limit on how loud things can be.
On this occasion I asked all the artists who had this problem to do a remix luckily enough I got them and managed to do something ok!
A lot of people are to blame for this problem whether it is directly or indirectly and the only way out of this is to have every "student engineer" be taught and demonstrated the catastrophic effects of the Loudness War. During my years in college, this was never mentioned and it's only because I picked up Bob Katz's book that I was made aware of the issue.
First Post: Sound for Victor Wooten
So this is the first post. I wasn't sure how to start it but working with/for Victor Wooten is something quite special.
Tuesday Victor Wooten was doing a concert/workshop sponsored by Hartke. I was offered to do the sound and to record the session and obviously I couldn't refuse. Very simple setup 2 microphones on the cabinets, 1 Direct signal, 1 microphone for the voice and 1 microphone for the crowd. Not having done any live sound for a while I was feeling slightly anxious to work with someone like him.
Then Victor arrived, what a lovely bloke! Sound check didn't last 5 minutes, a couple of EQ tweaks on the desk then victor worked on the tone of his bass and suddenly the sound was magic! Amazing! The whole night went without a hitch.
Working with someone like him is a humbling experience and I realised what a pleasure it is to work with artists of such calibre. Things become easy and engaging. Victor of all people is the kind of person that is so inspiring when he talks or plays.
This morning I listened quickly to the recording and wow! With no processing done to it, it sounds amazing, so full of punch and well balanced. I can't wait to start working on the mix.
Tuesday Victor Wooten was doing a concert/workshop sponsored by Hartke. I was offered to do the sound and to record the session and obviously I couldn't refuse. Very simple setup 2 microphones on the cabinets, 1 Direct signal, 1 microphone for the voice and 1 microphone for the crowd. Not having done any live sound for a while I was feeling slightly anxious to work with someone like him.
Then Victor arrived, what a lovely bloke! Sound check didn't last 5 minutes, a couple of EQ tweaks on the desk then victor worked on the tone of his bass and suddenly the sound was magic! Amazing! The whole night went without a hitch.
Working with someone like him is a humbling experience and I realised what a pleasure it is to work with artists of such calibre. Things become easy and engaging. Victor of all people is the kind of person that is so inspiring when he talks or plays.
This morning I listened quickly to the recording and wow! With no processing done to it, it sounds amazing, so full of punch and well balanced. I can't wait to start working on the mix.
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