Anarchangel recording EP thread

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Guitar time! Pat villager and myself are rolling up there now with like seven guitars two amps and beer.

[LMNO]

Don't forget to layer the rhythm guitars at least three times.

[AFK]

Fuck that, layer them 8 times.  I want the goddamned notes flying out of the speakers and hitting me in the face!!!!

[Nephew Twiddleton]

So far during the heavy part of stare at the sun we have two acoustic guitars (one tuned an octave up) one distorted guitar and were going to throw on a clean guitar track with arpeggios.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Also- im pretty sure bill used at least two different mics on the amp. Im very pleased with how it sounds so far. This is also a song were having anne maries sisters come in and so cello and viola on.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Guitarwise stare at the sun is done. It just needs keys vocals cello and viola. Pat and i started on trojan horse tonight.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Well- its been long enough that ive repeatedly played barre chords that ive scuffed up my index finger a bit. On the bright side guitars will probably be done next week. Now im waiting for the bus.

Lmno- would you be interested in mastering this? Bill apparently doesnt have the software for that. He could but wed have to spring for the software. Pat brought you up since you were interested in working on the demo.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Actually i should also know this but i dont. What is the difference between engineering mixing mastering and producing?

[LMNO]

Engineering: Setting up microphones that best captures the intended sound
Mixing: Blending the intended sounds together, and adding effects such as reverb and EQ
Mastering: Some sort of sourcery* that delicately smooths out any weird frequencies in the intended sounds, and maximizes track volume**.
Producing: Decides what the intended sounds should be.

So...
Producer says, "This kick should sound like it's being played in the Grand Canyon".
Engineer tightens the front head and places the mix just at the front edge of the drum.
Mixer jacks up 60-200Hz, and adds some deep reverb.
Masterer pokes it with a magic wand to improve the quality.







* Read as: "I don't know how they do it."
** Cf: Compression Wars

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Engineering: Setting up microphones that best captures the intended sound
Mixing: Blending the intended sounds together, and adding effects such as reverb and EQ
Mastering: Some sort of sourcery* that delicately smooths out any weird frequencies in the intended sounds, and maximizes track volume**.
Producing: Decides what the intended sounds should be.

So...
Producer says, "This kick should sound like it's being played in the Grand Canyon".
Engineer tightens the front head and places the mix just at the front edge of the drum.
Mixer jacks up 60-200Hz, and adds some deep reverb.
Masterer pokes it with a magic wand to improve the quality.







* Read as: "I don't know how they do it."
** Cf: Compression Wars

I'm assuming that means you don't have a magic wand and a grimoire handy. Damn.

[LMNO]

There was only one mastering class at Berklee, and it got filled fast.

I mean, I can take a listen to the final mix and fuck around with it, but I can't (won't) make any promises it'll sound better.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

AND I AM DONE WITH ELECTRIC GUITAR!

[Nephew Twiddleton]

AND NOW ALL MY GUITARS ARE DONE! WOOOOOOO!

[Nephew Twiddleton]

The only thing left is keys and vocals. We realized last week that we needed a band meeting to discuss the other things about the album, like what we're going to call it and such.

We decided that what we're going to call it depends largely on the album artwork.

Villager and Pat have been... suggesting a few, like these:









On this last one, note how the band name is spelled. Apparently Pete has to keep stopping himself from spelling it that way, which Pat was more than happy to mock. As was I, but I think the references to R'Lyeh were lost on some of them.

[Triple Zero]

Engineering: Setting up microphones that best captures the intended sound
Mixing: Blending the intended sounds together, and adding effects such as reverb and EQ
Mastering: Some sort of sourcery* that delicately smooths out any weird frequencies in the intended sounds, and maximizes track volume**.
Producing: Decides what the intended sounds should be.

So...
Producer says, "This kick should sound like it's being played in the Grand Canyon".
Engineer tightens the front head and places the mix just at the front edge of the drum.
Mixer jacks up 60-200Hz, and adds some deep reverb.
Masterer pokes it with a magic wand to improve the quality.







* Read as: "I don't know how they do it."
** Cf: Compression Wars

Now I wanna know how they do it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastering

Sounds like it's partly about preparing the final mix so that it is best recorded for the final medium and playback hardware, part oenology-like elite snobbery, and part audio magic.

The audio magic consists of "equalization, compression, limiting, noise reduction and other processes" (limiting is the opposite of compression, cuts out sounds below a certain volume, kind of noise reduction sorta). Then there's the part where you probably want to apply compression and limiting differently to different parts of the track (otherwise you lose all the dynamics), and you could possibly experiment with side-chaining the compressor/limiter with an EQ'd version of the same track, or a temp mix of other tracks in the same song, or something though I'm not sure if that would sound subtle, or more of a signature effect, like Pendulum's wet/plopping snare drums.

Also this: http://www.digido.com/mixing-tips-and-tricks.html which I'm going to read later.