My Noo Video for Noobs.

[TrevsAudio]

Hey guys!

I've just published a new video on my YouTube channel entitled, 'Getting started down the road to home recording'.

It's just a share of some of my experiences, and one or two pitfalls to avoid.

This is not a plug - my channel is not monetized. I just want to pay forward in the hope of helping someone who is just starting out on this magical journey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcSUkD_Wt7U

[ppayne]

Good job Trevor and I totally agree with the content

[TrevsAudio]

Thanks Patrick!

[ppayne]

Thanks Patrick!

If you had told me this 30 years ago, I would have saved thousands of euros and a lot of time

Now it helps other beginners

[TrevsAudio]

Yep, that's the whole point of my channel.

[ppayne]

I would have also wished in the past that someone had given some kind of guide for plugins at the start. So what do you really need for which goals? There are simply too many plugins today. Everyone who starts out thinks that everything only sounds right with the right EQ or the most expensive delay.

It takes a moment (sometimes 20 years ) to realize that it has almost no meaning. Even in 1970, ABBA was able to create songs without all that stuff that are still played on the radio today and sound technically excellent. In any case, they didn’t have a DAW with 1 million plugins.

In principle, you already say it in your channel. Maybe a really must have plugins video would also be something suitable for your channel. Some plugins are really useful and 99 percent are unnecessary. That would have helped me in the past. And today the number of plugins has increased extremely.

Patrick

[TrevsAudio]

Oh I totally agree!

One of my most used plugins (for EQ) is the very simple but effective TB EZQ - great to get you in the ballpark. Just move that little spot around until it sounds right.

And something I've yet to address - why have those $125,000 dollar studio monitors, when your audience will probably be listening on earpods on their phone.

Monitors.png (177.93 KiB) Viewed 431 times

[ppayne]

And something I've yet to address - why have those $125,000 dollar studio monitors, when your audience will probably be listening on earpods on their phone.

I've asked myself about that often

[ppayne]

The best thing of all is that not a single listener in the world thinks

oh! Oh oh! that song was done with Pro Fools and Fabfilter was used for $300. Nobody hears the difference between 30 dollar Music Maker result or Pro Tools with 100 plugins for 30 thousand dollars. Because there is simply no difference that you can hear

[TrevsAudio]

EXACTLY!

[ppayne]

The song and the mix sound good or bad to the average ear. End of the story. Unfortunately, money for more equipment doesn't help either.

Then there is the question of what you should really pay for?

In my opinion this is comfort or good usability and a good community and manufacturer. Maybe you could still pay for stability and performance if you have to record an orchestra with 20 microphones and you only have one shot.

Difficult to accept for home recording users when they have invested many years and a lot of money in hardware, DAW, plugins and stupid workflows on top The only argument left is “I use a major DAW”. A bit sad but true.

That's why I find your YouTube channel very useful and urgently necessary to save all newbies from this expensive self-knowledge. Perfect!

[Ray Cube]

The main difficulty I find is making a mix that sounds good on a mixture or devices. The hardest part for me is getting the bass area correct. Sounds great on my main speakers or headphones but muddy or overpowering on smaller, less capable systems. I do not use a ton of plugins but often end up with a lot of tracks vying for their 'space'.
I also find shorter mastering sessions more beneficial than long ones. Shut the project down. Walk away, come back another day. At least being a home enthusiast I can afford that luxury.
Great Job Trev.

[ppayne]

The main difficulty I find is making a mix that sounds good on a mixture or devices. The hardest part for me is getting the bass area correct. Sounds great on my main speakers or headphones but muddy or overpowering on smaller, less capable systems. I do not use a ton of plugins but often end up with a lot of tracks vying for their 'space'.
I also find shorter mastering sessions more beneficial than long ones. Shut the project down. Walk away, come back another day. At least being a home enthusiast I can afford that luxury.
Great Job Trev.

I always had that problem too. I now use Morphit for my headphones as the last plugin in the master bus. This works pretty well and delivers a more or less linear frequency response. Just switch it off before mixdown and everything will be fine.

[TrevsAudio]

Thanks Ray.

What I also find useful is the Ozone Elements plugin. It shows an 'average' for the genre with your mix overlayed. [and a whole lot more besides]

Ozone Elements.png (854.28 KiB) Viewed 351 times

[Ray Cube]

Hi Trev.
Interesting.
I wonder how they coped in the early 70s and before when all they had at most were stepped EQs, reverb, tape loops, and compressor expanders.
I think I want to train my ears more first as I wish I could actually pigeonhole half of what I produce into a genre. Whatever I start out to do rarely is the end result and as for classifying that end result, well. It was easier when there was fewer genres to chose from but now with all what seem to be either new ones or sub genres I am completely lost most of the time.

One thing I do notice is that different daws tend to drive me in different directions of how I compose music. With one I will have an idea and pretty much follow it through to the end. With another like Mixcraft it can veer completely off course and become something I hadn't envisaged, which I like the surprise of. It tends to keep my interest in producing new stuff more than other daws but at the same time also gives me new ideas of how I could tackle projects in the other daws. It's a sort of win win.
But I agree with the video. Content is often king as long as it 'sounds right'.

[edit]

Looking at morphit I'm not sure for me personally, as hearing is as individual as eyesight with no two people hearing exactly the same sounds or perceivement of stereo imaging so I'm not sure a corrective plugin would help evaluate what others would hear on other equipment. Also other people have different experiences listening to the same track or are either listening only to the track or it may just be background music when it is played.

One can get too involved with one's own work. This is one reason I will leave a mastering session several times until I can't remember what it sounded like the last time I listened. Personally I find that useful as problems often become more obvious, but horses for courses and my way of doing things can't always be practical, desirable, or useful to others.

Ray.