Recording Discussion Club
Thank you so much for your enthusiasm in the forum and in the live streams, I hope the tonebase academy recording course was as educational for you as it was inspirational for me! 
I urge you to put all the techniques you have learned over the course of this five weeks into regular practice, your recordings will only get better, you will discover more details and nuances not only in the technical process but also in your performance. I kept highlighting how important recording is as a feedback tool for yourself, listening back to your performance with an objective distance gives you great insight into your musical personality!
I created this topic as hub for all of your recordings you want to share in the future, I will post recordings of myself and of other musicians in here for you to enjoy, discuss and learn from! If you have any questions to the videos, feel free to post them as a reply to the video, if you have general questions on one of the lesson topics, post them in the dedicated forum topic to create a shared knowledge base for each of the topics!
The recording doesn't need to be a video, you can only share an audio file with us as well!
When share your recording, let us know about your mic placement, your editing and your signal processing with this template:
[introduce your recording with some words about the piece, why you decided to record etc.]
Mics and Mic Placement:
Interface (if applicable):
DAW:
Editing:
Processing:
Plugins used:
NLE:
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Regarding the comment I just made about Reverb level affecting overall volume of the recording, I did not mention that I reduced the left channel volume fader in Reaper by about 6db, as you indicated it was too loud by that amount. That obviously is really the main cause of the overall volume reduction. It is now too quiet.
So now the balance between Right and Left channels is good, and I think the Reverb sounds nice, but overall the recording is now too quiet. Please note the CM4 mics ORTF are about arms length, and the Focusrite gain on both channels were recorded at about 75% gain.
What would be the best solution to reach a proper overall volume at this point?
Thanks,
Barney
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Barney I'd recommend to re-watch Live Stream where I talk about "All about Dynamics" (or reading the associated workbook), especially the part about Limiting or Normalizing where we are aiming to bring up the volume to commercial level
The Plugin you want to insert in the last slot of your Master Channel is the "Master Limiter"!
Set the limit to "-1db" and lower the threshold until the the limiter starts to work. Make sure to play back the loudest part of your recording while looking at the "reduction" fader! When the reduction starts to take place, you are actively limiting your recording thus making everything louder!
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Hello everybody!
I wanted to share my second anime music project. Here is "Lilium", which is the OST of Elfen Lied anime series. I transcribed it myself from the original one, in which the melody is performed by a soprano. My first recording was few weeks before the recording course. After the course, I decided to record it again with the valuable knowledge coming from martin , thanks again for that. The course was all I needed, and I wasn't able to find anything about recording as useful as the course content before. This was a really great chance, and my recordings have really improved since then.
Mics and Mic Placement: Mono AudioTechnica AT2020 cardioid mic, 30-40 cm apart
Interface (if applicable): Behringer UMC204HD Sound Card
DAW: Ableton Live
Editing: Multiple recordings for difficult parts. Performance is playback
Processing: Equalizer (highpass filter and little modifications), reverb
Plugins used: None
NLE: After Effects for intro and background animations, Filmora Wondershare 9 for all other video editing
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Gokce Turkmendag Wonderful Gokce! Great use of all the techniques we've looked at in the Recording Course and I am very happy that the academy really improved your recpordings and that you can put your knowledge to good use! How is editing in Ableton Live for you?
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martin thanks Martin. Ableton is not the best choice for classical guitar editing, but I have been using it more than one year for my midi and electric guitar recording projects, and I am so used to it. Editing is not difficult for me anymore, but sometimes I think of using Reaper instead of Ableton for only classical guitar recording.
I have been working on a self-duo recording currently, so I am looking forward to your next recording session. It will be helpful for sure.
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Gokce Turkmendag Awesome, Tuesday's workshop will be a fun one! Since there is no right or wrong, we'll test different approaches on how to achieve a natural sounding guitar duo "in the box"!
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Dear Recording Enthuisiasts! We have another Excerpt Masterclass with Rene Izquierdo coming up and I invite all of you to put your newly acquired recording skills to good use to get wonderful insights by our regular LIVE guest Rene!
Gokce Turkmendag Barney Blaise Laflamme Giuseppe Gasparini david robinson Olli Robert Vilio Celli joosje Debbie
AAAaaaaaand since this is the Recording Discussion Club, I'd like to share with you a recording I did with tonebase guest Arturo Castro Nogueras!
Mics and Mic Placement: 2x Sennheiser 8020 in AB main pair configuration and 2x Audio Technica 451b in ORTF
Interface (if applicable): RME Fireface UFX II
DAW: Sequoia 15
Editing: Editing has been stitched together from 2 concert days and 8 different performances. All these edits have been performed in a way that I can hand over the audio files with embedded markers so that the video editor knows where my edits have been done so
Processing: Subtle Low Cut (since the Sennheisers are so bass heavy) and very subtle compression to bring up the loudness for video. Further more audio restoration in Izotope RX since it's a live recording
Plugins used: Nimbus for envelopment, Elysia Alphafor compression, Fab Filter L2 for limiting
NLE: I didn't do the video this time (has been done by my dear colleague Anton Dann), he worked with Davinci Resolve.
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martin Do you have a recommendation for a fair-priced ribbon microphone with figure 8 similar to the CM4 you suggested for cardioid? And/or provide suggestions for low/mid/high price range? Also there is a difference between using a passive one with its own dedicated preamp versus an active one with the same preamp as the cardioid one?
Thanks!
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Blaise Laflamme Hey there! There are Ribbon Mics by a Company called "NoHype". I heard them once and found them to be quite noisy (which is a general problem with ribbon mics, and as the noise covers the whole spectrom, there is no point in de-noising the signal as you effectively just lower the volume), though they do have the nice ribbon-y warmth to their sound. It's about 190€, so very inexpensive
I am extremely curious to test the mics by BumblebeePro, a DIY assembly kit for active and passive mic systems. Their sound examples sound excellent, though it's always unclear how much processing have gone into these videos. Those are between 199€-375€ depending on whether you choose a passive or active mic!
If you decide to invest more, I'd look for a Royer Labs, as they kind of re-introduced the ribbon mic with their more modern approach to make these microphones more sturdy and usable in everyday studio situation. Those start at 549€ and can go up to 1999€ for their active microphones (or muuuuch higher for the sf24, a pre-installed Blumlein-ribbon-stereo-configuration or the R-122V active ribbon tube mic)
Generally, I would always aim for an active version (which is phantom powered, the passive ones are basically dynamic mics), as the guitar is just such a soft sound source! -
martin Thank you Martin for your time with this detail answer, I'll take a look at those. On my side, for higher-end mics, I've been looking at the AEA R88A (Blumlein-stereo-config), from all the reviews and samples I've been reading and listening to they seem to be quite good for the price range, and they are built in USA near me! Do you know them, or the brand?
I'm still playing and enjoying my CM4s a lot, but I have to admit I was more than impressed by what I've listened to from ribbon mics in Blumlein stereo config so far.
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Blaise Laflamme I've heard only good things about AEA! Since they are servicing the original RCA Ribbons as well I am sure they have great experience in manufacturing nice microphones!
Thing is, for me a ribbon mic will always be a "special mic". They will always introduce a lot of character to a sound source and imprint its own coloring to the signal. Since I am recording not only myself and don't look for one mic to rule them all, I always look for the most natural and neutral microphones, so that the different performers will always have their unique sound and recognize their instrument/voice!
But damn, I do wanna have a ribbon, haha!
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martin just went on NoHype Audio and their SRM-1 (stereo ribbon in Blumlein) looks like an interesting low budget solution to test out that special mic and disposition with quality results. So far all the comments I've been reading are just good!
Yeah I understand you, for my part I mainly have me in mind and I'm not an audio engineer or want to record other kind of stuff, so pretty specific in my case.
Thanks again for your comments and point of view, it's so precious advices.
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Dear Martin, hope you're doing well !
Here is a new piece for guitar I want to share. It is called "espagnolades" from French composer, my arrangement. I send you a dry and a mixed file, let me know your feedback !
Mic Placement: 2x C414 XLS, AB placement, omni-omni polar setting, placed 60cm apart from the bridge, at shoulder height, slightly to the right, pointing to the bridge (using the AKG stereo bar), Gain 36
Interface: RME Fireface UFX +
DAW: Logic Pro X
Editing: Assembled from 3 takes
Processing: Compression, EQ, Reverb and Limiter (see attached files)
Plugins used: just Logic's
best regards
Richard
ps: what do you thing about Totalmix dynamics and effects for recording ?
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Richard Hey Richard! This a great sounding record! At first a was a little skeptical to use compression, but since this a VERY dynamic piece with those rasgueados, it definitely makes sense! Well done! I would probably even try to record it in a cardioid pattern as those high energy impacts really activate the room! (this was after listening to the dry mix).
Now the Mix: compression definitely helps to glue together the record! I'd try to go for a different kind of reverb and probably a little bit more pre-delay, I feel that the reverb gets dense very quickly and is a little bit too short (while being too strong). It's quite audible at 3:39 that the Reverb doesn't quite fit, it's very strong in the phrase before but dies very quickly! Which Space-Designer-Preset have you used?The Mics are just great, I think Thomas Viloteau records his album with a pair of C414 XLS as well! He usually goes into a nearby church for recording, so
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Richard Oh, and sorry for the late answer, it's best to tag me with Martin , then I get a notification!
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Richard Oooh, I really hate the Total Mix Compressor, haha! I've tried that for my Livestreams at even at a very subtle setting it get's very distracting! I REALLY love the transparency of my RME Fireface, I think they build the best preamps in the world, but their DSP (digital signal processing) doesn't work very well, at least for me!
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Hello Martin ,
after a few months of participation in courses and challenges I finally managed to produce what I can call a «first audio-video publicly shareable»
... thank you so much for all the guidance you have provided us! For the recording I've used a NoHype Audio SRM-1 stereo ribbon microphone in blumlein configuration paired with a pair of Line Audio CM4 cardioid microphones. They were placed about 24 inches right in front of me and they were connected to a Sound Devices MixPre-6 II preamp. I've used Logic Pro X as my DAW and edited the final audio out of 3 takes. I've added a bit of reverb, low and high pass filters and a bit of work on the 200hz range and applied a basic mastering setup at the end. The video was done in Final Cut Pro X out of two cameras angles using a green screen.
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Blaise Laflamme AWESOME! Damn, I love your tone, it is full, it is warm, the reverb is very subtle yet enveloping (could be a little bit more for my taste), I enjoyed ALMOST everything about it (...hehe
).
I'd recommend to add a dynamic EQ for the f# on the 4th string, it really jumps out of my headphones and is a quite important note in this piece! And I think I recognized a cut in 1:14-1:15 that might need a little bit more love.Bear in mind, this is criticizing on a very high level, I truly enjoyed your recording, let us hear more from you!!!
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Martin Thank you for taking time to analyse and advice me...
I'm still a beginner in this recording field and I'm looking to understand and improve myself and any criticizing is more than welcome, I have absolutely no pretension about what I humbly do.
You're amazing Martin, there is indeed a cut where you spotted it and it shows my basic skills at gluing parts, but that slowly taking place. You're also right about the F# and there is the open B string too, the thing is I usually play Savarez Alliance Cantiga and I was trying the Hannabach Goldin. I was really excited by them and enjoyed a lot about how they sounded and the feeling under my fingers, but after the recording was done I figured out that they are not harmonically responding the same on my guitar with my style of playing, but I decided to finish it anyways as a first audio-video example... someone has to start somewhere -
Martin BTW... what Dynamic EQ plugin would you recommend?
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Blaise Laflamme Could it be that there is no Dynamic EQ included in Logic Pro X? I did a quick research and couldn't really find anything, so you could use the Multipressor, it achieves a similar effect:
Sometime we want to attenuate a certain frequency ONLY when it gets too loud. A classic EQ would attenuate the certain frequency band the same way all the time, this why we want something input-level-dependent. This is the Dynamic EQ, you can set it in a way that it only reacts once a certain threshold in a frequency band is exceeded! In your case the f# would be untouched when you play it soft but attenuated once it resonates too strong (if you set your threshold and frequency band correctly, f# should lay around 184hz (or half or multiples, depending on the overtones you want to shape, but to me it sounds like an overly present fundamental frequency, so id' go for 92/184Hz)!
The Multipressor would act very similarly, here's a blog about the difference between a Multiband Compressor vs. a Dynamic EQ by Izotope, one of the biggest players in Audio Postproduction!
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Blaise Laflamme I usually use Fab Filter Q3 for all frequency equalization nowadays, but I have also successfully used Izotope's Ozone Suite and F6 by Waves!
I have all of them and all of them do exactly the same...
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Martin Thanks for the reference, I'll read that. I haven't found any Dynamic EQ in Logic and I only used the Channel EQ to apply low and hi pass filters and play a bit. I'll try the Multipressor plugin to see if I can wrap my head around this stuff
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