Rick's bloggings.....

Really into all things expensive...audio, acoustic music, Bluegrass and Photography.

Friday, July 29, 2011

New recording and other junk.....

New recording
We just finished our first Rock Ridge recording (Amazon Rock Ridge & iTunes), and we are ready to start the second project. I have gotten a bit of feedback, most of it positive, some negative, but in the form of helpful critique, which I actually appreciate.  Unfortunately, I knew some of the shortcomings of the recording and figured I would hear critique about this one aspect of the recording. It was the most difficult to deal with and frankly, I didn't get it under control, and didn't realize it until the mixing near the end. It was a result of tracking with headphones and thinking I will fix it in the mix. It was the bass, which had no definition, more boom, no wood, the Bass gave me fits. I will deal with this in one of many ways on the next recording. No more recording in bedrooms, we will be in bigger rooms, bass traps, I will not listening to mic placement with headphones. Seems OK but just doesn't work on bass. I am pretty sure that the bass mic was too close also, again, small room, close mic-ing, and fn headphones.

This may not make sense to those who haven't mixed before, but while mixing you create these chains, after one finds an issue, it is usually faster to fix the issue, only after a while, all the fixes add up and the audio can sound processed. The only fix is to really reset and start all over, which is impossible at the end of a project. In mixing, all mistakes are additive.......

Other Junk
I spend a great deal of time practicing the last couple of years, somewhere between 1-8 hours a day, depending on workload. Trying to get rid of that lameness in my previous recordings, although that may be impossible, it is certainly the goal. While recording the last project, there were thing that I changed to sound better. It was very time consuming and there was a lot of frustration and self-analysis, things progressed and hopefully this next one........ The band wants me to play more fiddle, so I am, and of course, that takes away from songwriting and Mando. If feels endless, and with work stress, there just isn't enough time to get a lot done. All would have been easier if I would have found Bluegrass as a child. Progress as an adult, nobody gives a shit.....but it is really fun.