Been thinking about compressors and which compressor I like the best - I think C3 might be favourite compressors!

1. It is extremely functional
   
2. has almost every feature needed
   
3. Different modes/flavours of compression
   
4. Side chain is great

And then i was thinking about compressors I dislike. I love softtube but dislike the CL1B compressor and i think its probz because i dont love that compressor!

anyways would love your thoughts

Whenever I work on subtle background sounds and ear candy, I tend to hyper-focus on those sounds. When I play the track back, I'm not hearing the full song anymore, I'm just hearing the details. This leads me to over-accentuate those details and lose sight of their relationship to the main parts. How can I prevent this from happening? How do I get my ears to "zoom out" and actually hear the background sound as background sounds?

I really enjoyed Pulp Circuit and was wondering if there were other magazines on audio engineering/audio electronics out there that focused on articles about techniques, how stuff works, interviews, news, creative writing, etc. rather than advertisements masquerading as product reviews.

I have a song with hard-panned distorted guitars. They kind of have a Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream sound. During the final section I want to highlight the rhythm guitar for at least a few bars. The thing is, it's the same tone as the earlier parts. I've tried raising the volume, but it still doesn't have the impact it needs. How can I draw the listener's ear to the rhythm guitar in this section and make it more impactful?

Went to Jensen’s website today for the first time in around a month to find it absolutely neutered by Jensen them selves. Product listings, gone. Data sheets, gone. White papers, gone. Direct to consumer sales….. gone. Jensen used to pride them selves as the only transformer company who published the full specs of their transformers and to remove all the information from their website spits in their founders face.

A beginner just starting out on mixing. How do you hear subtle delays on vocals when you're listening to the finished song? I cant tell them apart from reverb. I'll drop some songs below it would be great if you guys help me hear delays on these vocals.

https://youtu.be/M6o1SEj02t0?si=uj-_P0PUd2KFFHKY

https://youtu.be/Rr0RIWNG-PQ?si=xAdoQBgSd9cErQdf

https://youtu.be/x8VkB8ap_FQ?si=WNf35P5iNZxl0Nm2

I'm going to be recording a children's choir doing overdubs for a song in a small church soon, and we won't be able to use headphones.

The pre recorded backing track is piano, acoustic guitar, and small string ensemble and there will be a couple dozen kids. Their footprint is about 15-18' wide.

I am planning on recording a pass of just the monitor signals playing in the room through the mics with the kids in place, and using that to reduce the bleed in post by reversing the polarity, assuming I keep the playback levels the same throughout all the takes, and the kids don't drastically change positions.

I'm currently spec-ing out what to rent for the gig, and debating whether a single monitor source would be ideal for simplifying the reflections for my cancellation plan, or if I should use a pair, for the sake of the kids and the conductor and the performance.

My current plan is LCR KM140s slightly elevated, up in front, close ish to the kids, and 414s in omni as a high wide spaced pair in the back of the church to capture the ambience of the church.

I would place the compact PA monitors, also elevated, behind the conductor.

Any one with experience with a setup like this care to weigh in?

As I said previously, headphones are already not an option. I will run the playback as quiet as I can get away with and still have them performing in time.

I have a mixture of confidence and mild anxiety at this point.

I did post on a previous similar project for the same client (that I didn't record) and had the task of minimizing bleed for that one, and would like to do what I can to alleviate the issue on the day, but still keep things simple for the kids. At least there will be no drums this time...

Thanks in advance for any insights, thoughts, recommendations, or advice.

Hi All. After leaving my non music industry sector that I’d been in for over a decade I’m rediscovering my love of audio engineering.

I was wondering if anyone has a good recommendation for a U87 like microphone that won’t break the bank.

thanks!

me and my friends wanna make a podcast about random things. we are stuck on the topic, actually i am stuck on the topic what is the best audio recording software for us if we have a decent budget. I already used audacity and i didn't like it at all, i couldn't do things i wanted to.

We need a professional software

We mostly have rode mics

edit: thanks to everyone who was kind enough to listen and give advice, reddit is a cesspool but you guys make it better. I'm gonna take a break for a couple days (at basically everyone's advice) and let you know what came out of it.

basically what the title says. I'm self-taught and still relatively new to mixing, but I seem to be able to EQ other people's vocals a lot better than my own (lack of perspective maybe? vocalist ego?). I've gone back to basics multiple times, EQ'ing other people's raw vocals using my ears and visual references, and I do a "closed eyes" test to see which version I like best and consistently much prefer my edited versions. Except when it comes to my own vocals. I just make it worse and I have no clue why. If anyone could have a listen and lmk what EQ moves you'd make... I'm at a loss and would owe you big time, I'm releasing this song as a single for my first album and was supposed to have it ready 3 weeks ago but keep running into problems with the lead vocal.

thanks!

lead vocal_chorus 1_raw

main issues I can see:
- resonant frequencies in the mids and upper mids (I record in a closed makeshift booth with acoustic blankets...)
- so much harshness (around 4-7kHz?)
- loads of sibilance between 7-8kHz (I'm doing a dental procedure that makes my usual recording technique not work as much, can't re-record because of it and this was the best take I could get sibilance-wise. especially in the word "pieces" it's bad. I know, not ideal, it's what I got for now so any advice I'd super appreciate)

Hello everyone, trying to get a mix to the finish line and I’ve brought in several reference tracks. It’s got a lil bit of a 80’s dance vibe with big guitars in the hook.

I’ve brought in several reference tracks: Get Lucky, Foster the People, Arcade Fire, and Queens of the Stone Age for the guitars etc. they’ve been volume matched.

The issue here is my kick and bass are generally either a little quieter or louder than the references so I assume they’re okay. But my midrange is consistently too loud and harsh.

I’ve got 6 guitar tracks playing either the same riff or an octave up. I’ve gone in and tried to clean up the offending frequencies/lowering the volume. Then I’ll go back to my limiter and adjust so I’m hitting around the same decibels as before. The limiter just ends up undoing any EQ volume changes and my midrange is still too much.

Literally chasing my tail here while I consistently make my mix quieter and quieter with no real tonal changes being made.

Advice please!

Hi. I just graduated this Friday with a degree in Sound Technology from ITLA in the Dominican Republic. I had the highest GPA among the Sound Technology graduates. All my classmates are celebrating, but I still haven't posted anything on my socials.

When I was about to start college, I had dreams of helping independent bands and artists in my country who might not have a lot of money, and of helping my church achieve a whole new level of sound quality. But somewhere along the way, while I was still studying, that light started to fade.

Now I'm depressed and questioning my existence after feeling like I've wasted my youth. All my friends are making good money, and I can't even find a job in my field.

AI stole my spark the moment I first heard an AI-generated merengue song in 2024. I knew us music producers had no hope.

On top of that, my institute focused almost entirely on music production. Our electronics class consisted of listening to the differences between types of saturation. I don't know how to solder a cable, let alone anything about electronics.

The same thing happened with acoustics. We were asked to draw a floor plan of our rooms and even design a studio in Autocad, but I don't have the slightest idea how to properly soundproof a room.

The live sound portion of the program, which is practically the only area offering job opportunities in my country, was also taught very poorly. I have no idea how to set up an entire sound system by myself. I barely know my way around the Behringer X32.

I sent my portfolio to a film studio here in the Dominican Republic, and they completely ignored it.

I spoke to my institute to ask whether they offered scholarships to graduates who wanted to pursue a second degree, and to my surprise, they told me they don't offer scholarships to former students. I'm screwed.

I wanted to hear some advice from someone with experience because I can't take all this mental shit anymore. I don't want to end up living on the streets.

I don't know whether pursue a bachelor's degree at a university abroad, take live sound courses here in my country or study a completely different degree unrelated to sound.

I've been going back and forth on this lately, especially with multi-mic drum recordings. It's pretty easy to look at the waveforms, move everything into alignment, and assume you've made the drums tighter. But sometimes the result sounds smaller or loses some of the character that made the kit sound good in the first place. I've been experimenting more with phase correction instead of just automatically time aligning every transient. The difference can be pretty noticeable on the kick and snare, particularly when you're balancing close mics with overheads and rooms.

For those of you mixing drums regularly, what's your approach? Do you always time align? Do you manually adjust polarity and phase, use a plugin, or mostly trust your ears and leave the timing alone? I'm particularly interested in workflows that improve low end punch without making the whole kit sound unnatural.

We are talking up to 8 hours of sustained 130-140F. Obviously acoustic guitars need to go and probably my synths too. I'm still unsure about the GIK acoustic treatment. I'm very unsure about my E8XT monitors and Kali IN-5's.

Hi everyone new to post production for audiobooks. Just picked up a gig where I master the audio for these long form books . What plugins are you guys using to hit the levels on the long form audio format? The levels they want me to hit are -16lufs and -2 true peaks. Is there a way to batch this for the files? At the moment I have 50 files and they are all supposed to hit this range. Am I overthinking it? What is the easiest way to do this? I am on pro tools of that makes a difference. TIA for any help.

I normally mix and listen on headphones (Sony MDR) because I have pretty severe high frequency hearing loss (roll-off around 1kHz coming to a complete cut-off point by 4kHz. Though lately, I've pulled out my old monitors (JBL 305's) and started experimenting with those again because I really like the stereo imaging of speakers.

My point of frustration is this: I really like not wearing headphones, and I really like how stereo sounds on speakers, but the problem is that it seems like whenever I'm trying to mix (or even just listen to my collection) on these monitors, I can't hear nearly as much detail as I can on the MDR's. The sound is much darker, and transients don't poke through very much.

That said, I fully acknowledge that my room is untreated. It's probably a good 16x20x14 bedroom and the floor is concrete. There's tons of stuff along every wall, so I'd like to think that helps a little bit, but probably not much.

So I guess I'm posting to ask, what do y'all think is the issue here? Is my hearing probably just too bad for me to use monitors effectively? Or do these problems sound like typical untreated room symptoms? Do you think I just need better/different monitors? Turn the volume up more? Skill issue? Would love any suggestions from more experienced people

EDIT: In case it's relevant, I'll just mention that I have noticed that my listening experience is much better when I EQ up the mids in iTunes' equalizer. It's not perfect, but it does seem to sound remarkably closer to how I'm used to things sounding on my headphones. I'm not sure if this is a clue that it may just be my ears

Not sure how Warm Audio is ranked , I heard they’re highly great .
But Im deciding between a Warm Audio WA76
or Warm Audio Bus Comp 2 Channel Stereo VCA Bus Compressor.
I’m slowly building a Rack mount and I got these in mind . I know one is mono and the other is obviously stereo. If you guys got other suggestions please let me know or have any warnings of Warm Audio .
I don’t mind plugins but I like to own my things.
I no longer have interest in spending money on plugins.

Hey everyone! I have been utterly fascinated with Tom Petty's Wildflowers home demo tracks from '93-'94. They have such a roomy vibe; I just love how raw and authentic they sound.

Here are some examples of what I mean:

Confusion Wheel (Home Recording)
Only a Broken Heart (Home Recording)
Leave Virginia Alone (Home Recording)

My budget is around $500-$550 CAD! I was wondering if any of you guys could give me some recommendations or advice to suit my needs?

My current microphone is just a USB Blue Yeti. Not anything shocking, and I don't think it is really the greatest for what I want to achieve. I am aware Tom used two mics, one for guitar, one for vocals + harmonica. I heard SM57s are very good, and that Scarletts are great for the audio interface portion. I already have a DAW, which is Reaper.

Non-gear-wise, how would I go about producing something equivalent to those home demos? To me, his vocals and guitar just sound like simple EQ and compression. I am also curious about how I would go about mixing harmonica to get a similar feel to the demos. They sound very mellow in the second and third tracks I linked.

All the help and support are highly appreciated!

Hello everyone!

I have enough money set aside for essentially one solid online course, and I want to find a course that will be most worth my while.

For context, I work full time teaching basic music production at both the primary school and university level. I live in the LA area and love attending synth expos and meetups, etc. I also produce my own music and hope to record my first album within the next year or two.

I really just want to take my knowledge to the next level. The main courses I am considering are mixer brain from Jeff Ellis, Greazy Wil’s courses (particularly the recording one) and of course Think Like a Synth from Anthony Marinelli.

My question is, would any of these (or other courses be worth the $400-500 they cost, or would I be better of learning for free online and putting the money toward something else?

Thanks!

Is there a program or plugin that can analyze the pitch of multiple samples at once?

I have a ton of one shot kick and snare samples, and it would take forever to check each one separately.

The way I do it now is to load a sample(s) to an audio track, then translate it in Melodyne. And then I have to go thru each one individually and rename the file....

Thanks.

Hey everyone,

I'm a 21-year-old software engineering and computer networking student based in Europe, and I want to break into the live sound industry. I have a massive passion for acoustics, physical properties of sound, mixing, and system engineering. I also have a tiny bit of practical experience from organizing a one day music festival, underground raves, playing in amateur bands live and music production in Reaper as a hobby.

I have a direct connection to the owner of one of the major regional rental companies (they do big arena shows, corporate events, and festivals). I’m planning to sit down with him soon to ask for a foot in the door.

I want to be brutally honest with myself: I am 100% aware that having an IT background doesn't make me an engineer on the field. I suppose that for the first year or two, my job will be pushing heavy flight cases, wrapping muddy cables at 4 AM, and doing the dirty work which I am completely fine with. I understand that college teaches you practically nothing and I have a strong will to learn. I am brutally afraid of monotonous office IT jobs.

However, my long-term goal is to leverage my networking and software knowledge to become a System Tech / Audio Network Engineer.

Since all of the experience I have gathered during college is basic networking, systems administration and coding (basic as in elementary network setups, wiring, OSPF and VLAN configuration, DNS, ...) I suppose that the learning path will be rough.
I am looking to narrow down to a structured and well tested learning path.

I’m currently planning to get my Audinate Dante Level 1 & 2 which will be my first ever certs.

My questions for the experienced folks here:

1. What does the learning path look like for someone transitioning from pure IT/Networking into System Tech roles?
2. What are the absolute "must-know" concepts in acoustics and audio electricity that my IT college didn't teach me?
3. Which software should I start messing around with at home? (e.g., Soundvision, ArrayCalc, SMAART, SysTune, ...?)
4. How do I balance my IT brain with the reality of the field so I don't end up the "boss's little boy"?
5. This one I feel is the most important for me. Should I first brush up on specific details and knowledge needed for the role before actually contacting the boss or should I just do it and potentially learn there?

Any advice, book recommendations, YouTube channels, or harsh reality checks are highly appreciated. Thanks!

I recently was able to upgrade my set up and got some outboard gear. I got to test it out with one of my clients but I wasn’t getting signal in pro tools, here’s the set up:

Condenser mic > neve pre amp (mic level) with 48v > distressor compressor > Apollo x4 (I thought the pre amp brought up to line level) > MacBook

So basically I wouldn’t get signal unless I put the apollo on mic input, but I thought the preamp brought the signal to line level. What am I misunderstanding. I appreciate any help! Also first time posting on Reddit. Prepared to get roasted lol also now I’m scared I fucked up the mic. Still worked though, I kept the level pretty low to avoid any pops n stuff.

Recommendations for vocal chains

Anywhere I can find vocal chains to tweak ? Any good sources , sites, people , patreons you recommend?

I just need a good foundation point to build off from and customize, and fine paying too

Styles are for rock electronic and jazz, (ableton)

Thanks!

—

P.S I’m aware it’s best to build your own. I’m just looking for a good starting point to heavily customize

Hey everyone!

I've recently been getting more serious about audio engineering, specifically mixing vocals, and I'm looking to start investing in professional plugins that I can use long-term.

I'm currently deciding between the FabFilter Mixing Bundle and the Horizon Waves bundle I've been looking at.

Since I'm a university student, I can potentially get FabFilter's Mixing Bundle for around $365 with their 50% educational discount, compared to the $299 Waves bundle I was considering. However, I'm sure you're aware of the massive amount of plug-ins in the Waves Bundle (which I assume I wont use)

I'm particularly interested in mixing atmospheric R&B and darker, more experimental music, similar to The Weeknd's earlier work. I really enjoy spacious vocals, heavy reverb, delays, and creative vocal processing.

One of my biggest concerns with Waves is their Waves Update Plan (WUP). I've been reading a lot of criticism about having to pay for updates after the initial coverage expires, especially when upgrading operating systems or switching computers. Since I want to build a collection of plugins that I actually own and can reliably use for years, I'm wondering how much of an issue WUP really is in practice.

My current plan is to purchase the FabFilter Mixing Bundle as my main set of mixing tools, then gradually pick up individual Waves plugins during their promotions rather than buying an entire bundle filled with plugins I might never use.

However, I'd love to hear from people who have experience with both companies.

• Is FabFilter noticeably better in terms of audio quality, or is the main difference the interface, workflow, and flexibility?
• How has your experience been with Waves' Update Plan (WUP)? Has it actually caused you problems or additional expenses over the years?
• Would you personally choose seven FabFilter plugins for $365 over a larger Waves bundle for $299?
• Are there any specific advantages to Waves that you feel FabFilter doesn't offer?

Ultimately, I'm trying to build a reliable plugin collection I can use for years on both Windows and Mac, without constantly having to pay for upgrades or plugins I don't need.

I'd appreciate any advice, especially from people who have worked extensively with both companies. Thanks!