My favorite part of pre-production is when you come to recording phase - you already have a complete track with all instruments. So it's feeling not like building something from scratch without proper goal and with different expectations about ending result (if we speak about band). It's more like improving your song by replacing demo tracks with new good recorded ones. And it's also more inspiring to play under the full song then under the soulless click :)
Ok so I guess I've been doing this right without actually knowing it's the right way. I assumed it was just the easiest way of doing it. If we weren't able to get together separately we would record each song separately as a full band in rehearsals and then I'd use that as my scratch track when it came to me recording my drums. Other times I would get the guitarist and singer to record on separate tracks as their scratch tracks so I can record the drums properly and then record the guitar tracks properly listening to the recorded drums and a basic vocal track and then the singer would do her tracks properly and then the bassist would have everything he needed to be able to do his bass tracks. Honestly didn't know that was the way to do things, like I said, I thought that was just the easiest way for all of us. Only downside though, none of us know how to master so that's the tricky part we don't know about
The biggest reason I did pre-production demos to all my songs is because that's how I write in the first place and also I needed to communicate to the people who participate in the final product what I want them to play. That's pretty hard to do if you don't play guitar. In my case an absolute essential is Shreddage by Impact Soundworks. It is the metal guitar equivalent of midi drums.
He ain’t lyin. Everything that I’ve done to make my music sound way better is because I followed Bobby’s videos and I’ve bought a few programs. It’s seriously that easy. Finish your writing before you finalize everything. And get those tones at the source and make sure you get your BEST takes it’s crazy how a hair off will ruin your song but when you record it right and EDIT to fit in the pocket there’s barely any tweaking you need to do.
This seems more like songwriting than preproduction to me. I can't believe people want you to mix stuff that hasn't even got this far! I don't tend to go into what i call pre-production until we've gigged the songs a few times. We'll have made some scratch recordings like this during the songwriting. Pre-production is where we decide on things we're going to add that can't be done live, overdubs background vocals etc.
I made 11 songs of pre-production just using my KZ AS 10 earphones with some EQ and with Line 6 Helix as interface and midi drums and bass. And it's great!
Sounding great already! I kinda view prepro as the modernized version of full sheet music. Me and my boys have a lot of success doing prepro by actually building out the guitar pro with everything on it including guitar fx and violins etc for the vocals. Pretty happy with that process. It does leave a little to be desired around things you can write to sheet music like vocal inflection or fx based vibe and pedal based sounds.
I don't know when you started recording, but as a for me, when I was a teen there was a thing called the Potra 02 by Tascam. It wasn't much, 4 track with 2 track simultaneous record, with only Volume and Pan. yet, I was able to get great pre-production with that. I believe you strip the gear down even more because of digital recording nowadays. However approach you use, pre-production is key.
Unreal information, thank you man. This is going to up my productivity. I did exactly what you said NOT to do… I’ve been going round in circles for a few weeks. Feel like I have the most efficient process with your tuition. Thanks again dude
working on music in a basement is best haha such a relaxed environment! maybe i’m crazy but i don’t like super tidy hyper professional studio environment, it’s stressful for me for some reason
The nonsense vocal track! I love doing this. It really frees you to focus on inflection, melody and rhythm of the vocals. Sometimes it even spawns an idea for the lyrics.
Awesome. Man, it is so inspiring. Can't wait to see the rest of this series..I'm putting more and more attention into Pre-prod thanks to you, and really starting to see some benefits in organisation, workflow and creativity..
You are such an inspiration dude ! i use fl studio because im a game dev and i primarily use it for game audio but with metal its been abit tough to get right ! Love from SouTh Africa !
Love the song! And I’ve learned from you the importance of pre pro. Game changer. Would really love to see your song/riff writing process also. That would be sick!
Hey Bobby, big fan, thanks for all your hard work and helping me so much with audio production. I don't know where I'd be without your help. I also wanted to say, I don't think this has ever been done before (?)! This is super interesting and a great idea, and I'm hooked and can't wait for more parts. Cheers from Western Canada man, thanks again.
I like your videos and appreciate the time you take to build your channel. I do disagree with one thing about this video. And that is....not mixing or "polishing" until you've completed a preproduction of your song. A lot of individuals like myself are doing this solo... so it's not several heads working together, but one person. And due to this songs aren't necessarily completed as fast as it is with four or five people writing riffs, drum parts, lyrics, vocal melodies, back ground vocal parts, etc etc... So when it's one guys who's doing all of that along with learning how to record and get a more professional sound, the task can be rather daunting when things just aren't "sounding right" due to lack of a rough mix and master..... You can't even really listen to the recordings (like in your car) while driving to work, because the overall volume is too low. So, even rendering a wav and sending it to your phone... it still very low, which again can be discouraging.
Last weekend I met up with some guys that had advertised for a singer, and just as a test of sorts, I took my laptop, Behringer interface, and two Neewer NW700 condenser microphones (the only mics cheaper are the ambiguous BM800s, but they're not cheaper by much. We're talking $15 USD for a whole kit, the articulated arm type stands would be worth more than the mics!). I was amazed at the recordings I got, much better than being in the room, which had 0 acoustic treatment! I just recorded it because I know how valuable recording practice be, and I wanted to test the mics, but it was damn near demo quality.
First off, 50 points to you for mentioning their full name, Mark of the Unicorn hahaha. Great video. To me, this is just the biggest problem with the whole internet mixing culture. Everyone focuses on MIXING to make their songs sound pro, when in reality mixing is kinda the easy part, if you have a good production. 90% of people out there looking up mixing tutorials really actually need PRODUCTION advice, not mixing advice. Soooo many different channels have done these mix critique things, and every single time they say they same thing. The songs are mixed decently, but the productions are awful. Until you have a song written and produced properly, you have zero business mixing it. I've personally made this mistake while track and writing, trying to mix every instrument after adding it. At first, you just need to record everything, no plug ins other than what you need to track. (not to mention it'll give you a LOT less latency, turning off all your mixing plug ins and focusing on only production itself first. By FAR the biggest problem I see in the culture today. Everyone thinks it's all about mixing when every mixer will tell you, the source is EVERYTHING.
I have been writing a project for almost 3 years now. My goal is to have 10 songs completely written before I even begin to record tracks. I have recorded like intro effect sounds for the songs that need them but that's it. I need a good drum plugin like EZ Drummer since I can't play drums and don't know anyone who can record their drums. I have a decent bass plugin to do the bass tracks but looking for something that can recreate progressive metal type bass lines.
I'm having a really frustrating time. I'm using ezdrummer 3 and amp sims (stl tonehub & neural DSP) as well as tons of great mixing plugins (waves, slate, Sturgis) and Ive watched tons of videos trying to figure out gain staging. I feel like I understand everything for the most part but Im getting all kinds of different volume finished products. I really feel like I need someone to make a video showing the ENTIRE process. Like the recording, setting levels(gain staging), mixing, automation, how, when and at what levels they export and how they go about mastering it all. I've watched all the different videos from multiple channels but nobody shows the whole process. Mainly they don't show the beginning when you actually track the guitars, bass, and when they bring the midi drums into the session. I wish someone would. In all honesty I really feel like I just need someone who knows what they are doing to sit down with my and tell me when I am doing something wrong. Sadly I dont know anyone who could do that lol. Ahhh the struggle is real!!!!
Back in the day all my preproduction was done in rehearsal studios. Get decent mics throw them up in the room to get the drums and a decent balance of guitars and bass. Take a stereo board feed and it’ll sound good enough to get the vibe down to track along to. After that it really depends on how many layers they want. Ideally this works well for straight raw bands vs more complex stuff that’s everywhere these days. It’s all about the vibe. And these days it’s even easier to get a great multitracked live recording. If the band has an electric kit you can get a 4 channel interface and do it all live. Midi/usb drums into computer, lead vocal mic, 2 guitars, and bass and done. If you can’t get the feel of a song and all of the parts in a live setting it likely isn’t something I wanna work with 😂.
well so, i'm just at the Pre production and that's it, i don't have tthe things I need to record a song properly, all those "songs" i wrote are on my channel
honestly to me its been easier to learn how to mix than how to write a good song. but i have to keep reminding myself the only way to get better is to write songs lol. even top level artist end up dropping songs that are completely finished and ready for release.
Same got my laptop 💻 Scarlet and pro tools end of the story so far even if I producing myself under my label all my songs have been hit by Major labels anr recently so yes you can do pro home it's possible
Man, i can't wait to see whole process in this video series. I'm planning on recording my own EP from start to finish at home (mixing and mastering included) and gain some knowledge and experience throughout the process, so thank you for doing this series. What free guitars plugins would you suggest for blackened death metal in B standard on a 7 string? My Kemper is broken and i just can't seem to make plugins sound good. When i turn the gain down on them i find that my tone goes dead fairly quickly. I tried ML Sound Lab's Roots 2.0 and i liked it, but for some reason whenever i track more than 2 guitar tracks the plugin crashes on playback and severly stutters. I haven't had this issue with other plugins before. I did ask around for advice on how to fix the issue and even sent en email to ML Sound Lab, but they have not responded. I appreciate your work and channel so much and your videos have been a tremendous help for a curious noob like myself.🤘
Beautiful content and hey, this chlills me down a bit!! :) I am pre-producing my music since early 90's...no DAWs at all at those times, just my old Yamaha and Fostex 4Tracks tape recorders...the good old times!
The only problem is that I want my best guitar riffs and recordings....and that means those might need to be recorded first, and then I write piece by piece that way....I usually start with a very strong phrase and write maybe two guitar riffs....because I have already figured out the BPM that I think the cadence of the strong phrase needs, everything else seems to come after that....and I have written two songs that way, using my "recording rig." The 2nd one, to me, seems stronger.
great advice thank you for doing this just curious on how real drums are going to sound me being a drummer and having my own home studio. acoustic drums are harder to get good drum sounds compared to electronic drums.
What about doing a fully flushed-out Guitar Pro arrangement? It obviously wouldn’t be a legit “demo” per se, but if the only purpose of the pre-production demo is to lay out the arrangement and make sure it’s a well-written song, I don’t see why not use Guitar Pro.
Guitar Pro is great as long as everyone actually learns the parts before recording. I've worked with many bands that had great Guitar Pro files while most of the guys in the band didn't know the actual parts when it came time to record.
@@FrightboxRecording Yessir that's the big caveat. It's so easy to get carried away in guitar pro and write stuff that not only the writer has a tough time performing, but that is actually impossible to perform.
Hey guys , I'm just curious but have you ever had this experience: when I hear my mixes I have the feel that some specific frequencys are causing me ear fatigue, it's like my left or right ear feels like "closing" as if I were on an airplane, even if have cleaned all problematic frequencys on every instrument and every track, other people think my mixes sound great and there is nothing weird going on.. so I'm wondering if it's psychological because I work so many hours on a project and my brain is just never satisfied or if it's actually not so good mixed .
Something I often do is reverse the panning on my DAW, and later, in bed, simply swap left and right ear buds. I find this helpful, or perhaps I should say, reassuring, but if you were to do that, you'd know if it's your ear or the mix that's sounding weird. Just a thought! 🙂
Absolutely, ear fatigue sets in after about 45 minutes, and after that it's literally impossible to be objective because your ears are literally hearing it differently than when you first started. That's just science dude, it's our biology. So good guess, you're dead on. You need to take a short break every hour or two of listening to remain objective
Where is a good place to learn how to mix and master? I am on a very fixed budget so free would be awesome! Is there a channel that does a really good overview of both?
So the idea is you do a rough version of the song first ? It kind of feels you have to record the song twice or am I missing something? is the first version just to focus on arrangement and not worry to much about the quality of the takes ? , if you make your own music at home and aren't taking the demo to a studio I mean.
You should record the song twice whether you're recording your own music or if you're working with a pro producer. The first version is a demo that's low-pressure so that you can make sure your song works in a skeletal state. Playing live in a room is not enough and you'll always miss details....ALWAYS. After working with hundreds of local bands and musicians, the ones that skip this step are always the one that end up taking forever to record and sometimes never finish their music due to not having any idea of the details within the songs themselves.
@@FrightboxRecording Interesting , thanks I'll give it a go , I do music on my own and do a acoustic and singing guide , but never a full demo , but I do art/painting and doing sketches is essential part of the painting process , a bad sketch always make a bad painting , thanks!
Strongly disagree with your approach to "pre-production". May advice is: Always use the best gear that you have access to, and approach each take as if it is the real production. I never record "demos", in the old sense, anymore. I can't remember how many great demo takes I've recorded, that were unsusable because of techical issues. I may even be beneficial to "lie" to the tallent, and tell them that it's a rehearsal. As long as the enginer treats it as a "real" take. I've even have had great takes while setting up. That's why I always record the setting up as well. There is nothing as hopless as trying to recreate a great demo take. You can often spend hours or even days, and still fail. One reason is that the talent usually tense up when "the red light comes on". When the pressure mounts, and they that now it's the real thing. Now I gotta perform! During rehearsal, they're relaxed, and that's when the gold happens. HD/SSD space is cheap. Great takes are priceless. That's my view.
I get what you're saying, but it really depends on the type of band and the genre of music. It's so easy for small details to go unnoticed when rehearsing in a room together. A lot of bands (almost every band I've every worked with) don't 100% know what each other is playing until the demoing phase...which is where things need to be tweaked.
►► Download your FREE Polished Production Checklist by clicking HERE: frightboxrecordingacademy.com/polished-production-checklist/
My favorite part of pre-production is when you come to recording phase - you already have a complete track with all instruments. So it's feeling not like building something from scratch without proper goal and with different expectations about ending result (if we speak about band). It's more like improving your song by replacing demo tracks with new good recorded ones. And it's also more inspiring to play under the full song then under the soulless click :)
Exactly!!!! You're a smart man.
Ok so I guess I've been doing this right without actually knowing it's the right way. I assumed it was just the easiest way of doing it.
If we weren't able to get together separately we would record each song separately as a full band in rehearsals and then I'd use that as my scratch track when it came to me recording my drums.
Other times I would get the guitarist and singer to record on separate tracks as their scratch tracks so I can record the drums properly and then record the guitar tracks properly listening to the recorded drums and a basic vocal track and then the singer would do her tracks properly and then the bassist would have everything he needed to be able to do his bass tracks.
Honestly didn't know that was the way to do things, like I said, I thought that was just the easiest way for all of us.
Only downside though, none of us know how to master so that's the tricky part we don't know about
The biggest reason I did pre-production demos to all my songs is because that's how I write in the first place and also I needed to communicate to the people who participate in the final product what I want them to play. That's pretty hard to do if you don't play guitar. In my case an absolute essential is Shreddage by Impact Soundworks. It is the metal guitar equivalent of midi drums.
He ain’t lyin. Everything that I’ve done to make my music sound way better is because I followed Bobby’s videos and I’ve bought a few programs. It’s seriously that easy. Finish your writing before you finalize everything. And get those tones at the source and make sure you get your BEST takes it’s crazy how a hair off will ruin your song but when you record it right and EDIT to fit in the pocket there’s barely any tweaking you need to do.
In a world where everyone has already made every video on music production, you found one that needed to be made and hadn’t get. Well done, sir!
This seems more like songwriting than preproduction to me. I can't believe people want you to mix stuff that hasn't even got this far!
I don't tend to go into what i call pre-production until we've gigged the songs a few times. We'll have made some scratch recordings like this during the songwriting. Pre-production is where we decide on things we're going to add that can't be done live, overdubs background vocals etc.
I made 11 songs of pre-production just using my KZ AS 10 earphones with some EQ and with Line 6 Helix as interface and midi drums and bass.
And it's great!
Sounding great already! I kinda view prepro as the modernized version of full sheet music. Me and my boys have a lot of success doing prepro by actually building out the guitar pro with everything on it including guitar fx and violins etc for the vocals. Pretty happy with that process. It does leave a little to be desired around things you can write to sheet music like vocal inflection or fx based vibe and pedal based sounds.
I don't know when you started recording, but as a for me, when I was a teen there was a thing called the Potra 02 by Tascam. It wasn't much, 4 track with 2 track simultaneous record, with only Volume and Pan. yet, I was able to get great pre-production with that. I believe you strip the gear down even more because of digital recording nowadays. However approach you use, pre-production is key.
Unreal information, thank you man. This is going to up my productivity. I did exactly what you said NOT to do… I’ve been going round in circles for a few weeks. Feel like I have the most efficient process with your tuition. Thanks again dude
working on music in a basement is best haha such a relaxed environment! maybe i’m crazy but i don’t like super tidy hyper professional studio environment, it’s stressful for me for some reason
SM57 is great for everything! Pre Production sounds very nice already!
The nonsense vocal track! I love doing this. It really frees you to focus on inflection, melody and rhythm of the vocals. Sometimes it even spawns an idea for the lyrics.
Awesome. Man, it is so inspiring. Can't wait to see the rest of this series..I'm putting more and more attention into Pre-prod thanks to you, and really starting to see some benefits in organisation, workflow and creativity..
On a side note, the song actually sounds like 2010s All That Remains lol
I would LOVE to see you guys live!❤
You are such an inspiration dude ! i use fl studio because im a game dev and i primarily use it for game audio but with metal its been abit tough to get right ! Love from SouTh Africa !
A fellow South African! 🤘 Video game sound design & audio sounds really interesting!💪
Love the song! And I’ve learned from you the importance of pre pro. Game changer. Would really love to see your song/riff writing process also. That would be sick!
Thanks man and stay tuned!
Hey Bobby, big fan, thanks for all your hard work and helping me so much with audio production. I don't know where I'd be without your help. I also wanted to say, I don't think this has ever been done before (?)! This is super interesting and a great idea, and I'm hooked and can't wait for more parts. Cheers from Western Canada man, thanks again.
I like your videos and appreciate the time you take to build your channel. I do disagree with one thing about this video. And that is....not mixing or "polishing" until you've completed a preproduction of your song. A lot of individuals like myself are doing this solo... so it's not several heads working together, but one person. And due to this songs aren't necessarily completed as fast as it is with four or five people writing riffs, drum parts, lyrics, vocal melodies, back ground vocal parts, etc etc... So when it's one guys who's doing all of that along with learning how to record and get a more professional sound, the task can be rather daunting when things just aren't "sounding right" due to lack of a rough mix and master..... You can't even really listen to the recordings (like in your car) while driving to work, because the overall volume is too low. So, even rendering a wav and sending it to your phone... it still very low, which again can be discouraging.
Last weekend I met up with some guys that had advertised for a singer, and just as a test of sorts, I took my laptop, Behringer interface, and two Neewer NW700 condenser microphones (the only mics cheaper are the ambiguous BM800s, but they're not cheaper by much. We're talking $15 USD for a whole kit, the articulated arm type stands would be worth more than the mics!). I was amazed at the recordings I got, much better than being in the room, which had 0 acoustic treatment! I just recorded it because I know how valuable recording practice be, and I wanted to test the mics, but it was damn near demo quality.
First off, 50 points to you for mentioning their full name, Mark of the Unicorn hahaha. Great video. To me, this is just the biggest problem with the whole internet mixing culture. Everyone focuses on MIXING to make their songs sound pro, when in reality mixing is kinda the easy part, if you have a good production. 90% of people out there looking up mixing tutorials really actually need PRODUCTION advice, not mixing advice. Soooo many different channels have done these mix critique things, and every single time they say they same thing. The songs are mixed decently, but the productions are awful. Until you have a song written and produced properly, you have zero business mixing it. I've personally made this mistake while track and writing, trying to mix every instrument after adding it. At first, you just need to record everything, no plug ins other than what you need to track. (not to mention it'll give you a LOT less latency, turning off all your mixing plug ins and focusing on only production itself first. By FAR the biggest problem I see in the culture today. Everyone thinks it's all about mixing when every mixer will tell you, the source is EVERYTHING.
This is basically how my band works. We also record in our rehearsal space after preproduction
I have been writing a project for almost 3 years now. My goal is to have 10 songs completely written before I even begin to record tracks. I have recorded like intro effect sounds for the songs that need them but that's it. I need a good drum plugin like EZ Drummer since I can't play drums and don't know anyone who can record their drums. I have a decent bass plugin to do the bass tracks but looking for something that can recreate progressive metal type bass lines.
Great tips, doing something similar with 3 or 4 songs that I'm working on at the moment that I think I'm going to release as an EP
I'm having a really frustrating time. I'm using ezdrummer 3 and amp sims (stl tonehub & neural DSP) as well as tons of great mixing plugins (waves, slate, Sturgis) and Ive watched tons of videos trying to figure out gain staging. I feel like I understand everything for the most part but Im getting all kinds of different volume finished products. I really feel like I need someone to make a video showing the ENTIRE process. Like the recording, setting levels(gain staging), mixing, automation, how, when and at what levels they export and how they go about mastering it all. I've watched all the different videos from multiple channels but nobody shows the whole process. Mainly they don't show the beginning when you actually track the guitars, bass, and when they bring the midi drums into the session. I wish someone would. In all honesty I really feel like I just need someone who knows what they are doing to sit down with my and tell me when I am doing something wrong. Sadly I dont know anyone who could do that lol. Ahhh the struggle is real!!!!
Back in the day all my preproduction was done in rehearsal studios. Get decent mics throw them up in the room to get the drums and a decent balance of guitars and bass. Take a stereo board feed and it’ll sound good enough to get the vibe down to track along to. After that it really depends on how many layers they want. Ideally this works well for straight raw bands vs more complex stuff that’s everywhere these days. It’s all about the vibe. And these days it’s even easier to get a great multitracked live recording. If the band has an electric kit you can get a 4 channel interface and do it all live. Midi/usb drums into computer, lead vocal mic, 2 guitars, and bass and done. If you can’t get the feel of a song and all of the parts in a live setting it likely isn’t something I wanna work with 😂.
Hey
Those erris monitors are really good. I have the e8xt
well so, i'm just at the Pre production and that's it, i don't have tthe things I need to record a song properly, all those "songs" i wrote are on my channel
honestly to me its been easier to learn how to mix than how to write a good song. but i have to keep reminding myself the only way to get better is to write songs lol. even top level artist end up dropping songs that are completely finished and ready for release.
Hi Bobby before i blow money away do you think its worth buying the Seven Slate headphones for mixing many thanks
Same got my laptop 💻 Scarlet and pro tools end of the story so far even if I producing myself under my label all my songs have been hit by Major labels anr recently so yes you can do pro home it's possible
Man, i can't wait to see whole process in this video series. I'm planning on recording my own EP from start to finish at home (mixing and mastering included) and gain some knowledge and experience throughout the process, so thank you for doing this series. What free guitars plugins would you suggest for blackened death metal in B standard on a 7 string? My Kemper is broken and i just can't seem to make plugins sound good. When i turn the gain down on them i find that my tone goes dead fairly quickly. I tried ML Sound Lab's Roots 2.0 and i liked it, but for some reason whenever i track more than 2 guitar tracks the plugin crashes on playback and severly stutters. I haven't had this issue with other plugins before. I did ask around for advice on how to fix the issue and even sent en email to ML Sound Lab, but they have not responded. I appreciate your work and channel so much and your videos have been a tremendous help for a curious noob like myself.🤘
Beautiful content and hey, this chlills me down a bit!! :) I am pre-producing my music since early 90's...no DAWs at all at those times, just my old Yamaha and Fostex 4Tracks tape recorders...the good old times!
I miss 4 Tracking from the 90s! Great idea you should document your analog journey.
The only problem is that I want my best guitar riffs and recordings....and that means those might need to be recorded first, and then I write piece by piece that way....I usually start with a very strong phrase and write maybe two guitar riffs....because I have already figured out the BPM that I think the cadence of the strong phrase needs, everything else seems to come after that....and I have written two songs that way, using my "recording rig." The 2nd one, to me, seems stronger.
Super 55 deluxe ftw!!
Ever record a band in a warehouse space? Seems fun
great advice thank you for doing this just curious on how real drums are going to sound me being a drummer and having my own home studio. acoustic drums are harder to get good drum sounds compared to electronic drums.
Check out this vid: th-cam.com/video/BlxNaHtuDjk/w-d-xo.html
Those budgets prenous Eris 3.5 are badass in comparison to other studio monitor in the same price range
What about doing a fully flushed-out Guitar Pro arrangement? It obviously wouldn’t be a legit “demo” per se, but if the only purpose of the pre-production demo is to lay out the arrangement and make sure it’s a well-written song, I don’t see why not use Guitar Pro.
Guitar Pro is great as long as everyone actually learns the parts before recording. I've worked with many bands that had great Guitar Pro files while most of the guys in the band didn't know the actual parts when it came time to record.
@@FrightboxRecording Yessir that's the big caveat. It's so easy to get carried away in guitar pro and write stuff that not only the writer has a tough time performing, but that is actually impossible to perform.
Hey guys , I'm just curious but have you ever had this experience: when I hear my mixes I have the feel that some specific frequencys are causing me ear fatigue, it's like my left or right ear feels like "closing" as if I were on an airplane, even if have cleaned all problematic frequencys on every instrument and every track, other people think my mixes sound great and there is nothing weird going on.. so I'm wondering if it's psychological because I work so many hours on a project and my brain is just never satisfied or if it's actually not so good mixed .
Sounds like you need to take a break. I take an hour or two break every three hours when mixing an album.
@@FrightboxRecording definitely going to try involve more breaks in between!
Something I often do is reverse the panning on my DAW, and later, in bed, simply swap left and right ear buds. I find this helpful, or perhaps I should say, reassuring, but if you were to do that, you'd know if it's your ear or the mix that's sounding weird. Just a thought! 🙂
Absolutely, ear fatigue sets in after about 45 minutes, and after that it's literally impossible to be objective because your ears are literally hearing it differently than when you first started. That's just science dude, it's our biology. So good guess, you're dead on. You need to take a short break every hour or two of listening to remain objective
Pull up a reference mix and compare!
I write almost everything in guitar pro. Basically that's the pre pro.
PS: This Ninja Turtles mug is awesome dude!
Where is a good place to learn how to mix and master? I am on a very fixed budget so free would be awesome! Is there a channel that does a really good overview of both?
Check out the mixing vids on my channel. I think you'll find a lot of helpful content there.
Love the ninja turtle mug.
Yeah, I wonder who's his favorite. Mine's Raphael. 😊
I do the exact same thing
So the idea is you do a rough version of the song first ? It kind of feels you have to record the song twice or am I missing something? is the first version just to focus on arrangement and not worry to much about the quality of the takes ? , if you make your own music at home and aren't taking the demo to a studio I mean.
You should record the song twice whether you're recording your own music or if you're working with a pro producer. The first version is a demo that's low-pressure so that you can make sure your song works in a skeletal state. Playing live in a room is not enough and you'll always miss details....ALWAYS.
After working with hundreds of local bands and musicians, the ones that skip this step are always the one that end up taking forever to record and sometimes never finish their music due to not having any idea of the details within the songs themselves.
@@FrightboxRecording Interesting , thanks I'll give it a go , I do music on my own and do a acoustic and singing guide , but never a full demo , but I do art/painting and doing sketches is essential part of the painting process , a bad sketch always make a bad painting , thanks!
@@onoesmurlocs Exactly...that's a great analogy!
2012 Macbook Pro best laptop ever
I agree! I can't believe how much value I've gotten out of it.
@@FrightboxRecording I just bought a 1TB SSD to upgrade it... and soon the 16gb of ram 👍
It's the age old saying about writing a song. 'You can't polish a turd'
Just here to say I love your content and have learned tons from you and anyone that says otherwise can f*ck off.
What if I don’t have a basement 😅
A bedroom is just as good or better than a basement.
Yeah, basically doing the same thing.
Its the driver not the car..
Strongly disagree with your approach to "pre-production". May advice is: Always use the best gear that you have access to, and approach each take as if it is the real production. I never record "demos", in the old sense, anymore.
I can't remember how many great demo takes I've recorded, that were unsusable because of techical issues.
I may even be beneficial to "lie" to the tallent, and tell them that it's a rehearsal. As long as the enginer treats it as a "real" take. I've even have had great takes while setting up. That's why I always record the setting up as well.
There is nothing as hopless as trying to recreate a great demo take. You can often spend hours or even days, and still fail.
One reason is that the talent usually tense up when "the red light comes on". When the pressure mounts, and they that now it's the real thing. Now I gotta perform! During rehearsal, they're relaxed, and that's when the gold happens.
HD/SSD space is cheap. Great takes are priceless.
That's my view.
I get what you're saying, but it really depends on the type of band and the genre of music.
It's so easy for small details to go unnoticed when rehearsing in a room together. A lot of bands (almost every band I've every worked with) don't 100% know what each other is playing until the demoing phase...which is where things need to be tweaked.
This is a complete waste of time for me. By the time I’ve done all that, I may as well just record the damn song!
666 likes, I'm not touching that button.
😂
intro is way too long lol
20 seconds is too long?? I think short-form content might be killing everyone's attention spans.
EZDrummer? Ugritone drums. 😀