#16
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Agreeing with Kev,
In order to become a recording engineer/producer I spent a lot of time training my ears. In fact, forty years later I am still training my ears. If you want to do your own recording, I am the guy who you are competing against. If you want to compete, you need the right tools, and that means skills, not toys. Virtually all the automatic tools I've tried can only get you part the way there, even when operated by a skilled operator. One of your best tools in learning is comparison. Does anyone here remember Tom Scholz of Boston? Tom started out with no knowledge but, as a mechanical engineer, a lot of analytical skill. Tom bought a real time analyzer and played sounds he liked through it. He would snapshot the sound and then take a polaroid picture of it. Then he'd set up his own sound and compare the reference signal to his own via the RTA. Now, eventually the record company brought in a producer, John Boyland, who taught Tom how to record and mix. These days we have EQ plugs that can offer some of the same training to an analytical mind. These combine a comprehensive parametric EQ with a real time analyzer display and place the EQ curve and the RTA display together on the same screen. See a peak, move the EQ center to its center, set the Q to its width, and adjust the gain to eliminate it. The latest editions of the Waves Rennaissance EQs, for example, offer this. I can look at a vocal track, spot the capsule resonances, and take care of the most significant ones easily. The same is true of room resonances. While a trained ear gets you close, the RTA dials things in far more precisely. Once you get your skills up on basic EQ you can try dynamic EQ which is perfect for eliminating room resonances. So, my suggestion is to invest in developing your skills. In his Third Law, futurist Arthur C. Clarke stated, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Florence Ambrose developed his idea: "Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those who don't understand it." And there is a further correlate of it: "Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science." We spent hours analyzing guitar woods, construction, etc. Perhaps, if we are going to take on acoustic recording, we should study enough to distinguish between science, magic, and art, and learn to intelligently manipulate as much of it as we can. Bob
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"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' " Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring THE MUSICIAN'S ROOM (my website) |
#17
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I do spend a lot of time listening and my mixes have improved - the help I have received on our forum has been a big part of that. So, I will save my hard earned money and keep listening ;-)
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Burguet AC-007 (2003 - Cedar/Rosewood) Webber OM (2009 - Sitka/Sapele) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8A...2TVEhWes2Djrig |
#18
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#19
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Bob
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"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' " Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring THE MUSICIAN'S ROOM (my website) |
#20
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That's a good example of the effect of a standing wave and an experiment that anyone can repeat.
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#21
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Recording EQ discussions remind me of the similar threads that go on in the amplification section, where some people seem to need lots of fully parametric EQ to tweak their pickup sound. I suspect what they're trying to do is "fix" a bad pickup sound, or a bad PA sound. Others have found that if you choose a good sounding pickup and play thru a good sound system, then surgical EQ becomes far less important. Same with recording. Room acoustics, especially are huge, and you can't really address that with EQ. It's likely different if you're doing a full band mix, where you may need to carve out space for different instruments, but for solo guitar, if you get the sound right going in, EQ's just not as big a deal, for me, at least. If I have the track mastered, the mastering engineer may tweak things, of course, but that's a different stage.
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#22
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Burguet AC-007 (2003 - Cedar/Rosewood) Webber OM (2009 - Sitka/Sapele) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8A...2TVEhWes2Djrig |
#23
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I have voxengo Curve, and while I have not explored the 'Match EQ' abilities yet, I do like this plugin a lot.
Just draw the curve you want and hear the results. No messing with Q knobs or gain/freq knobs. I find it simple and effective and fast. But the best feature is hidden. If you click the command key (on Apple keyboard) and click on the display, it 'solos' only that part of the freq spectrum. Scroll mouse wheel up and down at same time to make it even more precise in terms of frequency. So.... It really helps you learn what 300 Hz sounds like on your acoustic guitar, if you click on 300 Hz for example. This helps A LOT to learn the freq spectrum as it applies to our beloved acoustic guitar. It has been very helpful for me so far. -Charles
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Scott McNeill 000 cutaway, hog/spruce Martin 00-18 custom shop cutaway Martin 000-Jr-10E cutaway Minerva 0 12 fret Edwinson Falcon 0 cutaway, sapele/spruce Edwinson Zephyr 00 cutaway, koa/spruce Taylor 612-C Maple Grand Concert (1997) Taylor 612-CE Maple Grand Concert (1999) |
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#25
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I was just looking at Voxengo's CurveEq. You can just draw the curve you want. Not sure if I want to blow $60 on it, though I think I'm going to get the trial version.
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