"How to make a channel" or recording and mixing: the maximum of the minimum

The sound was here

The bottom line is:

• 2013 has come;
• the loudness war has subsided (for it has reached a maximum);
• contact recordings got a recommended tab;
• software took over B on greater role for audio processing;
• sofa guitarists record their 100th album.

So how to correspond to time and achieve everything at once?
(wrote pathetic enough or is it even thicker?) I
’ll say right away that we will talk about recording guitar / vocals and mixing.
My article, based on experience.
There is much to argue about and there is no perfect information; taste also affects it.
This article will only show a real way with minimal costs and maximum results.
(Eh, again pulled on pathos)

Tools

Ableton 8.3.4 - DAW for recording, information. I tried almost all DAWs and settled on it.
It is the most convenient and functional for me. But here is a matter of taste.

Adobe Audition CS6 - cleaning tracks and other "delicate" operations.

Iron

Audio-technica AT2020 is a condenser microphone. It is quite suitable. Price: ~ 5k.
Sensitivity: –37 dB. Dynamic range: 124 dB.
In general, everything is as it should. As for the choice of a microphone, I will not breed holivars.
A condenser microphone is the minimum required to record something of a decent standard.

ART Tube MP Project Series USB is a fairly inexpensive audio interface. Price: ~ 3.5k.
Has everything you need for a single-channel recording. Phantom power and ADC> 100 db.

Schecter Omen Extreme-7 - a suitable stick for metal processing. Price: ~ 13k.
The built-in sounds are not bad at all, and the cutoff on the tone gives good maneuverability for the sound.

Let's do that!

We will look at the example of the Lacuna Coil cover on Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode, yes).
The first thing we do is to play the button, beat and bass parts. We get something like:

Addictive Drums 1.5.3 was used for the bumps, for the rest Nexus 2.
Here you should also not breed holivars, but this set is usually enough above the roof.

The guitars are recorded. 2 guitars per rhythm (double track to different channels) and 1 solo.
All guitars have only Amplitube 3.9. There is such a delicious MH-500, a rather good-sounding analogue of the iron combo from Fender. While we equalize tracks only in volume.

The last vocals. Now clean it in Audition. We put a compressor on top, not very hard, because the dynamics in the voice are as important as possible. And Izotope Nektar. A kind of all-in-one and de-esser and reverb are not soapy.
On this record is completed. But why does it all sound SO ?! Yes, if everything is written that way, then the master channel is now all so red and embarrassing.

Mix it out!

Let’s bring it down! In fact, mixing is cutting off from the tracks what they don’t need, but it prevents other tracks from opening up. But there are 3 ways:

• Put the compressor on the master and calm down;
• To reduce everything as an alpha sound and lose some tasty overtones, but everything will sound evenly;
• Make it a channel, yes, we can stick a little, cut a little.

And yes, we will do so the CHANNEL.
First of all, leveling the volume so that the master goes out only by half.
But this is not cheesy even once. This is not enough.
Then there are 100 times obsolete axioms and you can not read, but I like to summarize.
Shocks, even those already processed, require compression. Cymbals are only the top, the barrel is the bottom and the upper harmonica (catch it with your ear and select it if you do not want it to sound like a cauldron with shit), the worker is the midas and the top.
Bass needs him to “snort” like your girlfriend’s pussy. Catch the top overtone and emphasize it. (1000-1200 Hz)
From the guitars cut only very very low. Up to 90 Hz is everything. And yes, sometimes a parasitic resonating harmonic appears, kill it.
Do not touch the vocals with the equalizer. Never. The voice will lose its nature. But if the bottom is muttering - remove.

Limit your master!

They say that if everything is perfectly mixed, then the master should not be touched at all.
But our volume is everything, so Izotope Ozone is on top.
Here's the output: soundcloud.com/midasumi/midasu-enjoy-the-silence
And what’s actually on the output ... a clipping track. Yes. But he is not pinched and quite obedient.
I will not refuse to listen to opinions, even if they consist of one word that describes your negative reaction.
There’s a lot more to this about Midasu.