SH Spotlight "Recording and Mastering Questions---Answered here. Cont'd."

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, Aug 10, 2006.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

  2. acjetnut

    acjetnut Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Well, I'll start this one off!

    How do you take into account of those pesky peaks when adjusting volume? Is there a limiting amplifier in your mastering chain (something like an LA-2A)?
     
  3. ZappaSG

    ZappaSG New Member

    Location:
    Philadelphia
    What's the purpose of a "mono reference tape" for a live show? Specifically the new Grant Green Live at Club Mozambique which claims to have lost the multi-tracks. If they are already recording a multi-track, why not use that for reference?

    :wave:
     
  4. DaveN

    DaveN Music Glutton

    Location:
    Apex, NC
    How much effort is made to create a soundstage that resembles the band's layout in a live performance? If this is not a goal, then what are the factors that are considered in producing the soundstage?

    David
     
  5. hoover537

    hoover537 Senior Member

    Location:
    Florida
    Steve, When you made the "Golden Age Of Underground Vol.2" Did you use the master tape for the song "Alone Again Or" by Love. It sounds fantastic!
     
  6. Purplerocks

    Purplerocks Forum Resident

    Location:
    IN
    I'm not sure how to put this, so here goes: this concerns placement of sounds in a mix. Say for example, on a pop or rock recording a drummers hi-hat cymbals in the mix; how is it determined whether to put them spot on in the middle of the stereo channels, or panned slightly left or right of center? I notice high frequency instruments (cymbals in particular) are very directional on some recordings and other recordings not nearly so much (at least on my home system). Slight movements of my head while listening will place the cymbals left of center, right of center, or perhaps spot on in the center.
    I'm just curious why some recordings are more likely to have this occurence than others.
     
  7. Another Side

    Another Side Senior Member

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Steve,

    I was listening to the DCC Stage Fright the other day, and I was noticing that the vocals seem to have quite a boxy or megaphony feel to them, particularly Levon’s. It’s clearly something that happened at the recording or mix stage. Did mastering this CD create problems for you because of the vocals being the way they are?
     
  8. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Limiter in my mastering? No way hose-aay. Pesky peaks are neat; they mean that the recording has some dynamic range. It's when there aren't any peaks that ear fatigue starts to set in during consumer playback..
     
  9. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Could be a reel to reel splice from the PA system or something; a tape for the musicians to listen to the next day... Not to be professionally released but just to see if they sucked or not.:) You and I have done it with our bands..
     
  10. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    It is more common of many mastering engineers to boost the highs than to roll them off. Has there been any case that you know of where the highs were actually rolled off in mastering?

    This question comes out of a disagreement that I have with an audio buddy. he asserts that you rolled off the highs on the DCC heart "Dreamboat Annie". I say you didn't.
     
  11. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Well I don't mix, but it depends on the era. If they only had three or four channels to record on there wasn't much thought of a soundstage. I can't really think of many rock records that cared at all; Deep Purple Made In Japan is one that comes to mind, even though the instruments are switched. Not many others though.
     
  12. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    30 ips tape copy of it.
     
  13. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter


    Depends on what the engineer and producer want. That's about it.
     
  14. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Problems? That was the least of 'em. Can't change history!
     
  15. Another Side

    Another Side Senior Member

    Location:
    San Francisco
    I guess what you’re saying is you felt that the Band wanted the vocals that way, so there was no point in taking out some at 1K for example to smooth it out.

    Was it difficult to master in general?
     
  16. ZappaSG

    ZappaSG New Member

    Location:
    Philadelphia



    :agree:
     
  17. varispeed

    varispeed what if?

    Location:
    Los Angeles Ca
    Do you ever work with stems..or if not...have you thought about whether you ever will? It sure seems like it would come in handy for difficult mastering.
     
  18. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Lots of distortion, etc. Todd's usual engineering style. Great album though.
     
  19. jkauff

    jkauff Senior Member

    Location:
    Akron, OH
    Someone interviewing Todd during the Liars tour asked about the Stage Fright mixdown. His answer was that he was flown to England, put in a studio that he was totally unfamiliar with, and told to do a mix. Glyn Johns had the same tapes, but he had worked at that studio before. They both mixed the album, and the Band picked a few Glyn mixes and a few Todd mixes. Todd said he no longer remembers whose mixes for which songs went on the album, and that he can't tell by listening to the finished product.

    Wonder how much of that is down to rock star hearing loss from years of live shows?
     
  20. I guess the ones with no mid-bass would be the Todd tracks (wild laughter).
    This from a certified Todd fan, too.
     
  21. Larry Mc

    Larry Mc Forum Dude

    I hope this is not too trivial for this post, I'm not a very technical when it comes to recording and mastering, but I have a vinyl question.
    What's the most minutes that you can get on one side of an album, and what's the longest album ever made?
    If this is common knowledge, please excuse my ignorance... at least it bumps the post back up.:)
     
  22. Joe Nino-Hernes

    Joe Nino-Hernes Active Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    Could we possibly make this a sicky thread??

    It is best not to go over 20 minutes per side. Anything more than this requires tighter groove spacing, and lower cutting volumes. This increaces the chances of mistracking on playback, and also raises the noise floor. I am not sure what the longest LP side is, but I do have a Beethoven piano record that is around 32 minutes. Sounds terrible! You have to turn the volume up so loud just to hear it, that when there is a scratch in the record, it scares the crap out of you with a loud bang! Sounds like firecrackers!
     
  23. Another Side

    Another Side Senior Member

    Location:
    San Francisco
    That's a limitation for stereo records only. Right, Joe?
     
  24. Joe Nino-Hernes

    Joe Nino-Hernes Active Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    It depends if the mono record is being cut with a stereo cutterhead or a mono cutterhead.
     
  25. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Also totally depends on the material, how compressed, how dynamic, how hi-fi the music is, where the instruments are postioned in the stereo mix, etc.

    We do a test run usually at the studio because ya never can tell.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine