Following on from Less is More, I have been considering how to impose limitations that will lead to a better music mix (at the very least it will speed things up). Here are some ideas:
1. Stick to this plan for recording mic allocation: Kik 1, SD 1, HH 1, Toms 3, OH 2 (= 8 in total). Remember that this is at least twice the number used on many of the great songs of the 60s!
EG 1, BG 1 DI, Vocal 1. So a band recording can be done quite well using 10 mics and a DI.
2. Looking at the above it should be clear that 11 tracks are needed. Don't be fooled into recording 24 just because they are there (or worse still exhausting everyone because there you have an unlimited track count in a DAW). Obviously, you might want to do extra takes of guitar and vocal, but once the 11 tracks are recorded ask yourself 'does it really need this?' ,or 'is it really adding to the production?'
3. When it comes to mixdown on a DAW there is the temptation to keep chucking plugins on a sound. I suggest breaking the process into two stages: First execute a mix as it would happen on a physical desk. The players are faders, pan controls, EQ (typically 2 band parametric + HF and LF shelving). If you are on a top desk you also have a compressor for each channel, but a more typical scenario is to need rack gear. Thus the compressor is not used on everything but reserved for where it is actually needed. This will be vocal and bass. Then there is compressing a sound for effect (eg the kik). That would mean 3 compressors in all. Reverb, by the same reasoning, would use 2 or 3 units - one for the 'room', one for SD, and possibly a separate one also for the vocal.
Once the mix is as good as it can be using the above resources, then (and only then) start adding the fairy dust that extra plugins can provide.
Now, I'm not saying that more advanced techniques don't have a place but these days I see a lot of engineers trying all sorts of stuff while skipping the basics.
1. Stick to this plan for recording mic allocation: Kik 1, SD 1, HH 1, Toms 3, OH 2 (= 8 in total). Remember that this is at least twice the number used on many of the great songs of the 60s!
EG 1, BG 1 DI, Vocal 1. So a band recording can be done quite well using 10 mics and a DI.
2. Looking at the above it should be clear that 11 tracks are needed. Don't be fooled into recording 24 just because they are there (or worse still exhausting everyone because there you have an unlimited track count in a DAW). Obviously, you might want to do extra takes of guitar and vocal, but once the 11 tracks are recorded ask yourself 'does it really need this?' ,or 'is it really adding to the production?'
3. When it comes to mixdown on a DAW there is the temptation to keep chucking plugins on a sound. I suggest breaking the process into two stages: First execute a mix as it would happen on a physical desk. The players are faders, pan controls, EQ (typically 2 band parametric + HF and LF shelving). If you are on a top desk you also have a compressor for each channel, but a more typical scenario is to need rack gear. Thus the compressor is not used on everything but reserved for where it is actually needed. This will be vocal and bass. Then there is compressing a sound for effect (eg the kik). That would mean 3 compressors in all. Reverb, by the same reasoning, would use 2 or 3 units - one for the 'room', one for SD, and possibly a separate one also for the vocal.
Once the mix is as good as it can be using the above resources, then (and only then) start adding the fairy dust that extra plugins can provide.
Now, I'm not saying that more advanced techniques don't have a place but these days I see a lot of engineers trying all sorts of stuff while skipping the basics.
