May 3, 2016
Most engineers would agree that recording vocals requires a great attention to detail. What does your singer sound like and what qualities of the voice do you want to bring out most for this particular track? How will it be mixed? With a little bit of planning, the microphone and hardware units can make a tremendous difference in the overall quality of your recording. As long as you have a good quality converter (article coming soon) and well-treated room there are two things that can get you to a professional quality vocal sound. First things first, the Microphone. This is the most important piece of the puzzle but it can be expensive, so when you are ready for final recordings, book a studio that has high-end microphones. Large diaphragm condensers are a good choice for capturing the full timbre of your source. We use a Neumann U87, which can be very forgiving, to smooth out the vocals when desired and give ourselves a more compressed sound to work with. Another option for those seeking clarity is the Neumann TLM 49 which is very open sounding and transparent; a great choice for experienced singers who want their signal clean for processing later. For a more classic, polished sound, with subdued high-end we might choose a Royer 121 Ribbon Microphone. Pre-amplifiers are important for our vocal track because it will boost the signal, transparently or in a distorted euphonic way, and add different harmonic quality depending on the components inside of the hardware unit. Here at the Fish Tank we have an assortment of quality microphone and […]
March 25, 2016
When listening in a room with multiple monitors such as these, there are many options and techniques that can be used depending on the needs of the recording engineer. The ADAM S2X monitors are very transparent and provide a realistic perspective of your mix. In the Fishtank recording studio, we pair those with our KRK 10" Sub to simulate the "wall of sound" and when switching to the other monitors the sub is removed. This makes them ideal for working with panning and depth in your mix as opposed to the other monitors in our studio. In comparison, the Genelec monitors have a more rounded frequency range and are used without the sub to provide a mix quality sound for referencing. These work great for mixing bass because you can check the presence of your mid range frequencies in a monitor where all the frequencies are combined and then switch back to your main speakers. We use the Yamaha NS-10 monitors to reference our mid and high range frequencies without the sub. These vintage monitors provide an ultra clear and present sound that is a bit harsh at first but very useful in hearing the subtle details of your source. I like to use these for referencing guitars, vocals, and overheads without the sub because they allow me to hear the full timbre of the instrument and determine which frequencies I want to adjust in my EQ. If I had to pick one of these pairs as my favorite, it would be the ADAM […]
February 24, 2016
CURRENT MOOD: Peoplewatch. Mixing engineer Paul Garcia working on final mixes for the Peoplewatch record 'Sideways,' which will be released on March 26th, 2016. Paul is using the UA 1176 Classic Limiting Amplifier Plug-ins in a serial chain. One with a slow release and another with a fast release. Depending on the source, either the fast or slow release 1176 is being used first in the chain. Before compressing the instrument bus, Paul sets a UA SSL E-Channel Strip. The "equaliserselect" button is a great way to get a different character out of the EQ without interrupting workflow. The onboard compressor on the E-Channel sounds great on rock guitars when the Ratio is set to 1, Threshold is set to -20, and the Release is set to .1. http://www.uaudio.com/store/compressors-limiters/1176-collection.html http://www.uaudio.com/store/channel-strips/ssl-e-series-channel-strip.html Come and create at our recording studio miami !