Resources on Recording

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jeremyb
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Resources on Recording

Post by jeremyb »

Thought it was worth starting a thread on useful reading / viewing for recording, heres some PDFs you may enjoy to start things off: https://vk.com/wall-107167378
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Resources on Recording

Post by dayl »

Cool!

Here are a couple GREAT and relevant articles that in my opinion are worth the read. Capture the performance, capture the minor imperfections they add to the integrity. Music matters (but hey, a decent mix/master is still good)

https://www.funkydown.com/downloads/shitty1.pdf

https://www.funkydown.com/downloads/shitty2.pdf

Two quick reads. Great advice.

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Re: Resources on Recording

Post by Molly »

When we're back at work I'm going to speak to the guy from Music about doing some cross-curricular. I'm sure my Year 10 kids would find digital music far more engaging that spreadsheets and it might give me a boost too (though I do really love a tidy spreadsheet...). Anyway, following this thread.

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Re: Resources on Recording

Post by jeremyb »

I kinda expected all the speakers in the quad to sound the same, will have to test this out with my 2x12!

Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Resources on Recording

Post by jeremyb »

I bought a copy of the recording engineers handbook on kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Owsinski-e ... 01MY9ZP2W/ it's quite good so far, starts off explaining about the different types of mics, and the history of them, comparing vintage with new versions etc, goes thru all the common types you would find in a decent studio etc... now upto the chapter on mic preamps and learning about those, its an easy read and really interesting for a noob like me! Quite keen to have a go at building some mic preamps now :lol:
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Resources on Recording

Post by jeremyb »

Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Resources on Recording

Post by Capt. Black »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmP9z-xTRz0&t=1782s

I really enjoyed this video. It's a longish 34 odd minutes but packed with interesting info and techniques. It's all about drum recording but that's really the bedrock of any good rock record. (Shhhh, don't tell the drummers)
The studio has different spaces and they go through the benefits of each. Albini talks at length about the mic choices and outboard gear he uses. (Many of which are available as good plugin emulations)
He comes across to me at least, as a great balance between tech nerd and fuck-it-if-it-sounds-good-it-is-good.

Three things I found really interesting were his kick drum recording technique and how his tastes in technique change. As in, he's not afraid to try different things for a while and see how it goes and maybe he'll stick with it or maybe he'll get bored... whatever.
Thirdly and most surprising to me, he placed very low importance on mic pres. He acknowledges that good press are good to have but he talks at one point about how wherever he ends up recording, he doesn't sweat what press he's going through. He's more worried about mic placement, taking advantage of the room or dealing with room problems and then mic choice.
Like he takes whatever he has available to work with and using a bit of intelligence and some suck it and see patience, make the best out of what's there.

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Re: Resources on Recording

Post by rickenbackerkid »

Yeah I've seen that before - super cool and gives great encouragement that great sounds are possible with good but not ridiculous gear, it's all about taking time, try stuff out, find ways to make it work

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Re: Resources on Recording

Post by jeremyb »

Watched that a couple of days ago, huge Albini fan here!!
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Resources on Recording

Post by jeremyb »

This series is kinda basic but shows nicely the tone differences between different mic positions, combinations etc...





Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Resources on Recording

Post by jeremyb »

I'm keen on building a ribbon mic to go along with my e906 for recording guitar amps, I've seen DIY kits out there, but stumbled across this today:



and...

Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Resources on Recording

Post by jeremyb »

How Royer do it!

Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Resources on Recording

Post by jeremyb »

I've been gassing for a ribbon mic to go with my e906, seems to really fatten out the sound, maybe instead of making one I might get one of these cheap MXLs which seem to be half decent: https://www.stlproaudio.co.nz/mxl-r144- ... icrophone/ and then get an amplifier for it to boost it as most interfaces can't produce enough gain (65db???) to get a ribbon to work at its best.... there are some cheapies on aliexpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32867449311.html or for the decent option: https://www.rubbermonkey.co.nz/Cloud-Mi ... -Activator

Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Resources on Recording

Post by jeremyb »

Info on that cheapie!



But from the comments...
I bought one of these and my copy was just as bad as yours. I opened up the unit and found the circuit
board number: SS-1. After googling it, I found an outfit called Simply Sound from Utah selling exactly the same microphone preamp:

Interstingly, a lot of folks that bought the Simply Sound SS-1 had the same problem as the MA-1:
The preamp activator was super noisy and didn't help boost any dynamic microphone at all.

My guess is the company Simply Sound designed the activator and outsourced it to Alctron China for manufacuring.
Alctron then, in turn, started to make its own activator calling it Alctron MA-1.

I opened up the unit and found the PCB had the follwing components: two WIMA 1800 100-SN caps, four K170BL8F type
transistors and nine resistors. It was quite hard to read the numbers, but a magnifying glass helped a lot. The circuit itself was quite simple. I figured the main culprit for the noise must be coming from the K170 type transistors.

I went on Ebay and searched for low noise K170 transistors and bought a bag of 10 transistors for $3.10 CAD from
a company in Shenzen, China. It took about a month to get the parts. After receiving the bag, I desoldred the four transistors from the Alctron MA-1
and replaced and soldered four new ones from the bag. The result: the MA-1 went dead silent, no hiss at all
and it did boost my Shure SM7b considerably with less gain from the mic preamp itself.

The desoldering and soldering took me about 20 mins. If you are handy, I am sure you will be able to fix it and
use it. I hope it helps. Good luck.
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Resources on Recording

Post by jeremyb »

Down the rabbit hole of budget recording options :lol: and the RS even stock them! https://www.rockshop.co.nz/shop/klark-t ... reamp.html

Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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