I spoke to a number of you over the past couple of weeks about your struggles in the studio, and your goals for production
In this video, I’ll share some perspectives after conducting these interviews for YouTube and behind the scenes with my most engaged viewers.
Plus a bonus segment about the Secret to recording and mixing, if you watch until the end.
First thank you to everyone who participated in these interviews, to you the viewer for watching, and to my subscribers who helped open these doors. Thank you for your continued support. I have so much more in store for you. If you like what we’re doing, subscribe now, and help amplify the message.
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Ok, Let’s talk about Dave Thomas, specifically his mixing and tracking rooms.
Dave’s room – humble homemade acoustic treatment, good enough for rock royalty Paul Rodgers.
Here’s a guy who has it all, and he’s still making his own panels, and diffusers. In another episode, I’ll show you how he builds bass traps.
Dave using a laptop with a huge console beneath. It’s a pretty strong statement when he is using the console as a desk for his laptop.
He gets a great sound on the way in because he works with amazing musicians. He captures their playing with fantastic microphones that he built.
Dave’s custom microphones are advanced replicas based on the ones he used during his days owning a studio.
The price of those original mics have gone way up, and in some cases the quality didn’t exactly follow.
Dave’s use is also very utilitarian.
He want’s it to sound great, but he wants to feel great doing it. It’s all about the workflow. As Dave pointed out, one of the downsides to using a laptop is ‘mousing around’.
There’s nothing like having dozens of buttons to push and knobs to twist, that give your workflow some variety.
And there was no shortage of buttons and knobs on the Helios console in the Rolling Stones’ Mobile Studio.
As Jason at mentioned it’s really easy to gush and fetishize this era of music, there’s no strings attached to these productions.
The Helios board is a great piece of technology that amplifies great art. The RSM Truck chased the greatest artists of its day around Europe, capturing their music in the highest fidelity possible.
Now it has become a Mecca for artists that want an authentic classical rock sound. But make no mistake, the true magic is found in the great performance.
Jason will speak more towards the end of the video.
Paul Johnston at Grant MacEwan, mentioned the ‘experience’ of working on a large console. He feels that it benefits students to learn with an hybrid workflow, recording with an analog console, into a computer with pro tools.
It allows students the opportunity to get hands on with a sound before its recorded into the computer. This is the focus of his intro to recording class, with ideas inspired by the McGill program, and recording live off the floor. In later courses, students learn the possibilities of post production.
Paul also mentioned that, ‘What big studios offer is not what your average recording application needs.’
Commercial studios offer very specialized tools, in a controlled environment, supervised by trained experts.
A wide selection of gear, quality rooms for recording and listening, With knowledge staff able to accommodate any sound you desire!
While that may sound like heaven
The environment is very different from a personal studio. You are only renting the space so you’re always on the clock, and you’re there to GET SHIT DONE.
A home studio is great for a lot of things, especially composition and production in a DAW. You can build an arrangement and experiment to record your ideas so you know exactly what you’re gonna play on the big day.
When you head into the studio, All your ideas, and lyrics should be finished, and everyone should have a clear idea of how you’re going to use your time. An expensive studio is not the time to experiment. I find it’s always better to focus on doing one song really well. But I’d love to know you would spend a day in one of these studios.
Maybe you’d use your time to track the drums for a handful a songs, Really make use of the room, and record the rest of the instruments on your own time. During my time as a recording intern that’s what I saw a lot of, bands Starting with drums to a click or backing track.
While the studio had some great techniques for bass, keyboards, and guitars, what brings in the clients is the big room for recording drums, and the selection of vintage mics, for recording vocals. Vocals are especially important and coaching is a great way to get the best performance from a singer.
But do you need these things to make a great recording?
If you have them, that’s fine.
If you can afford them, that’s great
But do you need to drag a console into your house to be a great recording engineer?
Everyone we interviewed has a console. But both Dave and Arnel have been more in the box recently. Both can be done, as Paul says “It’s in the hands of the user.”
What are you thoughts? Are consoles necessary? Is the experience of working with one worth it? What benefits does console workflow have in the box?
As Paul so elegantly put it, “Limits create magic”
I thought this is one of Arnel’s best points as well, when you have very little to work with, mix up those few variables as much as you can. We learn by deciding we don’t like what we’re doing, and then finding a better way to achieve that goal.
Constraints are good because they trigger ingenuity.
Put your best gear in weird places, or put Junky gear in the spotlight.
Something new and special just might happen.
You may also just think everything you’re making right now sucks. And that’s ok.
Arnel reminds us that, artists of ALL levels experience Imposter Syndrome. Especially if you’re a self starter who is getting your toes wet in a variety of new roles, The Dunning-Kruger Effect is gonna slap you across the face so often that you might forget what you’re actually good at. That’s normal.
As your journey continues you will need to learn additional skills and use them in new and interesting ways to find and develop your niche. It’s not long before you realize that:
What got you here, won’t get you there.
I reached out to a few long time viewers and asked for their thoughts on the interview questions.
What really stood out to me was the emphasis on collaboration.
John, a long time viewer of the channel provided this advice to producers making music alone:
“Try to find other people to work with, whether they’re musicians or engineers. Trying to do everything alone is really overwhelming and slows down your progress. Also, you will find different perspectives that can help to create even better ideas and music.”
I asked him, if he thought music is a Team Sport or can you solo the entire process?
John believes:
Music creation is very much a Team process. Every part of the process benefits from a different and specific mindset, a different set of tools and a different point of view.
“It’s important to have someone else to help you make that idea real.”
Robby, from Can’t Afford To Record, had a different approach.
He feels that you should try to solo every part of the process SO THAT you can find your strengths, and learn how you can contribute and communicate with a team.
Humans aren’t islands. We’re social creatures.
On that note:
If you’re still watching reading
Tell me what you want to see next. Who you’d like to hear from and what you’re struggling with at this stage in your journey.
Drop me a line:
Robert at Learn audio engineering dot com
Let’s connect!
