I've had the opportunity to work with a bunch of local artists projects, and I wanted to share some things I've learned with you. I tried to keep it short, but useful! video at bottom
DAW
I'm using Ableton Live because I love how the interface looks, any other one works, Logic, ProTools, Cubase, Reason, Reaper. I just wouldn't use Audacity (although it has a place in my heart from my early days) because putting anything on the track is difficult, and for me isn't visual enough.
1 Tracking (yup! step one is just recording it!)
Try to Record each instrument/voice/thing separately at different times so that there isn't any crossover. Wear headphones so you don't hear the other noises you're recording with. Don't let yourself clip! (Clipping is getting too loud, like a phone recording does) It's perfectly fine to start with a quieter sound and make it louder later, especially if you have high quality gear.
All of it is pretty basic, but lots of problems can be solved with respecting this, and especially by looking up a few MIC PLACEMENT VIDEOS, and having a good RECORDING AREA*hint hint
Also gear, while expensive, is worth looking into to really start sounding good. (please don't use a USB mic😩)
2 Gate
The Gate eliminates the background noise. You set the THRESHOLD to say WHEN it starts working, ATTACK for how SOON it starts working, and RELEASE for when it STOPS working. you can get some really clear recordings if you set these parameters correctly.
3 EQ
Subtractive EQ is why people pay me to record. It's one of the most frustrating things to get starting off, and sometimes I still have problems getting it set up exactly how I'd like. The way I teach is that you pull the knob gain up, shift till you find a truly nasty sound, and then cut it out. It's illustrated well in the video.
One thing I didn't mention is that when you have multiple instruments (even just guitar/vocals) you want each to have its own space - then they will sound better together.
- An analogy would be if you had a band with 2 bass guitars. They're both in the low end taking up space, and you're not really sure which one you should be listening to. If you have a bass and a normal guitar one sits above the other, and they both have room to frolic. You may turn something down a bit in the highs so something else can fit there.
EQ is something you will want to read all you can on.
4 Compressor
Compressor evens out the instrument volume so that the volume is constant so that you can focus more on what you are saying/playing. It is hard to hear minute changes in volume, so a Compressor is easily one of the most misunderstood tools.
Threshold, Attack, and Release mean the same thing as with the gate (mentioned above) but have different results, as a compressor lowers the highest peak of a sound and a gate removes it.
It is best to use the compressor sparingly, or may decide to skip it for the time being until you have a firm grasp on how you're changing what you hear.
5 Limiter
A limiter ensures that you don't clip. You shouldn't need it, but I like to have it to add/subtract a few Db on at the end (I have all my automation (automatic changes) on my Limiter so that I can still use the master fader to change volume. It's just extra insturance I sound great!
6 Reverb (optional)
Adding verb can make you sound great. If you add on some verb and it's harsh or boomy, you can put the reverb on a Bus Track and then put an EQ that cuts out the lows and highs before the reverb.
Bus Track - a track used to send information to another track. ( a video for another time 😆)
There's lots of helpful material out there! Any questions, just shoot me them in the comments! Keep making!
