Music Making

[Dusty Chalk]

I’ve lost a filling to them once, never again.  I don’t even remember what they taste like.

[swt61]

A little like a peanut butter and honey sandwich, without the 🍞. 

[Dusty Chalk]

(takes a deep breath)

If I could only remember to suck and not bite down, especially with my molars, I’d be fine, but I’m pretty sure I will forget myself.

(cue Steve)

[ironbut]

Yup,..

I don't eat candy much but I love getting these unexpected treats once in a blue moon.

Reminds me of Halloweeeeenie!

(a different Steve)

Edited September 24, 2020 by ironbut

[VPI]

I threw away around 20 packs of Sweetwater candy yesterday.  I am finding that shit everywhere.

Watched a couple of hours of some great recording details from UA today.  Think they are doing another one tomorrow.  

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by VPI

[acidbasement]

I got a used PC and installed Ubuntu Studio on it. Has anyone used a Linux DAW before? I think I'll probably start with LMMS for composition, and kick it over to Ardour or something for processing.

[Dusty Chalk]

No, I've been meaning to give one a try, but I don't even have a linux machine right now, need to finish that build (several years old at this point).

[swt61]

1 hour ago, VPI said:

I threw away around 20 packs of Sweetwater candy yesterday.  I am finding that shit everywhere.

 

 

Well, I guess trick or treaters will know who's house to egg. 😛

[grawk]

1 hour ago, acidbasement said:

I got a used PC and installed Ubuntu Studio on it. Has anyone used a Linux DAW before? I think I'll probably start with LMMS for composition, and kick it over to Ardour or something for processing.

reaper

[ironbut]

I love Reaper for live recording.

And for batch processing it's tops in my book! That's one of the reasons that it's become popular with sound designers/game sound producers.

The guys who make my interface, Metric Halo, are upgrading the recording functions/software included. 

Their aim is to produce the single best live recording program in the world bar none.

We'll see (unfortunately, I'm not going to be a great judge of that since my needs aren't exactly cutting edge).

[VPI]

Watched the UA show all day on YouTube, they managed recording drums, keyboard and bass.  Tomorrow is guitars and vocals.  Pretty awesome show with tons of useful information.  Did not have any idea that studios use reversed speakers to DI as part of a drum recording kit.  Seemed to make a big difference.

I have used Reaper and once you clear out a ton of useless shit in the interface it is pretty decent.  Now that I have tried several, I have to say the Luna setup is dramatically easier to use and better sounding than anything else I have used, if you are okay with “soft” hardware for everything in the lineup.  Also, of course only on Mac and really only perfect if you have their gear.

[ironbut]

3 hours ago, acidbasement said:

I got a used PC and installed Ubuntu Studio on it. Has anyone used a Linux DAW before? I think I'll probably start with LMMS for composition, and kick it over to Ardour or something for processing.

Let us know how it works out with Linux.

My guess is that the lack of native plugin's could be a pain in the ass.

When I first started using Reaper (during the early Paleozoic Era) I had to use a bridge on some plugins (32 vs 64 bit) and I kinda hated it.

Hopefully, things are easier or maybe I'm totally wrong about the need for a bridge with VSTs.

Cudos for the effort!

[ironbut]

1 hour ago, VPI said:

Watched the UA show all day on YouTube, they managed recording drums, keyboard and bass.  Tomorrow is guitars and vocals.  Pretty awesome show with tons of useful information.

You should check out the "About Us" info on their site.

UAD is probably the most storied audio engineering company in the US.

Started by the legendary Bill Putnum who designed and built some of the best sounding studios and recording gear (with endless copies and plugins modeled after them).

Bill Putnum Jr helps direct UAD now.

UAD started as United Audio and went on to become Urie (which  was bought and almost ruined by JBL). 

Someone we both know worked for them designing gear and still receives royalties from a DI box he designed.

I wonder how Craig Uthus is doing these days?

Edited September 24, 2020 by ironbut

[VPI]

I remember him.  You should tune in tomorrow to their show.  5-6 hours of Jacquire King teaching how to record music.  Really good outside of all the cheap fuckers in chat mad because they did not give out enough $100 coupons for plugins. 

Edited September 25, 2020 by VPI

[VPI]

Tomorrow at 10AM PT

[ironbut]

After thinking about it, I thought that just saying that Reaper was good for live recording and batch processing wasn't giving it a decent recommendation.

After all, it was my main DAW for 4-5 years and there are tons of "pros" about it.

Of course, which DAW is best for someone depends almost entirely on what they want to do with it and what I think of it is influenced by my needs.

 

Reaper is pretty close to an open source program so the users have a great deal to do with it's features and strengths.

This goes hand and hand with the fantastic Reaper Forum which is full of helpful and creative folks. 

How it looks and behaves is up to you. It's almost the opposite of Pro Tools in that respect.

With Pro Tools, it their way or the highway. With Reaper, you can decide almost everything if you wish. 

So some of the things I like have to do with layouts. 

First, you can have up to 10 default layouts that can be switched with a single key command. 

These "Screensets" can have different layouts for the Mixer, or the Arrange view or anything else for that matter.

You can create custom Toolbars with any command/action (thousands) or combinations that you create (Macros) to complete strings of actions that you need to do over and over again.

You can create Themes or import one that another user has created and make that your default skin.

Some are insanely elaborate.

Here's a couple of screen shots of one called Imperial from White Tie.

 

I can't help wondering if some of these guys ever get around to making any music!

Some other things that I like have to do with their Piano Roll/Midi Editor.

In Reaper you can have multiple, editable modulation lanes for each midi track. So you can have something like a lane with automation for a low pass filter with another lane for resonance open at the same time along with 10-20 other modulations lanes if your crazy enough.

You can also install Reaper as a "Portable Install". 

That allows you to install every file including your preferences for Reaper and all it's included plugins (which are excellent BTW) into a single folder. 

That means you can install it on a thumb drive if you want so you can take it to another studio, plug it in and open "your" customized version of Reaper anywhere.

 

Well, this just scratches the surface but I hope you get the idea.

So, why isn't Reaper my primary DAW anymore?

For the most part, it just never seemed intuitive for me. And I like the limits that Logic imposes (I don't get distracted by the DAW when I should be keeping focus on the music).

Edited September 25, 2020 by ironbut

[acidbasement]

Thanks. I'm hoping I can get Reaper working in Linux. It's considered experimental at this point.

[ironbut]

Lots of fantastic tutorials.

My favs are the ones from Kenny Gioia/ Reapermania/Kennymania 

Very comprehensive.

http://www.kennymania.com/reaper-videos/

Also Jon on The Reaper Blog is very cool and would likely answer your emails

https://www.youtube.com/user/audiogeekzine

[VPI]

Another stupid question, what does everyone like for instrument mics?  I have Earthworks and SM57s but I am thinking about Neumann 184s or the Warm Audio knockoffs of the 84 or the AT 4021s. 

Edited September 26, 2020 by VPI

[Dusty Chalk]

For drums, you should use specialized drum mics.

For electric guitar, there’s nothing wrong with the SM57 (presuming that’s a typo).

I’ve also seen the Sennheiser e609, e906, and Rode NTR recommended by professionals.  Not Dave, though, he told me to use the SM57.  I did get the NTR based on the specific advice from a virtual friend/professional on the PRS forum.  I haven’t tried it yet, though.

Don’t know about acoustic guitar or piano.  Am going to attempt to record piano soon, will bring several mics with me.

 I will tell you to experiment with mic position.  There are times when you want on-axis, and there are times when you want off-axis (from the cone).

I’ve also been sorely tempted to get the same setup that NPR music uses, specifically the microphone that features on their tiny desk concerts intro animation, whatever that is.  Maybe find a performance video that you admire?  E.g. Google “what microphone is that tiny desk”.

 I know I loved the sound of that Benchmark Masters of their Day series that Justin chased off with his negging.  

[VPI]

I am intrigued by acoustic guitar mostly as I have the Earthworks mics and the SM57s for mic’ing a guitar amp.  I am interested in grabbing small condenser mics that i can also use for stereo recordings so the Soyuz 013, Neumanns 184 or knock-offs seem like worthy contenders.

From what i can see, Tiny Desk uses just about everything from cheap to Schoeps.  

[acidbasement]

People use sm57 for drums, too. Most frequently on snare drums, but the batter head of a kick drum is common as well.

Sennheiser MD 421 are commonly used on drums as well but I can't remember in what way.

Edit: this book has a lot of info on mics and placement. Anyone wants me to look stuff up or scan some pages, let me know.

Edited September 26, 2020 by acidbasement

[VPI]

Oh no, I would not bother recording a band with a drummer.  Who wants those crazy fuckers around?

[acidbasement]

It's an excuse to buy microphones, duh.

[VPI]

Follow up stupid question.  If I am going to drag the Apollo gear and my laptop on location and have no access to WiFi, how does iLok work with my Luna license?  I use iLok cloud now.  Do I need to buy a physical key?