Revolver

today was the second class. we met at MS and had an hour discussion on a variety of production and recording topics.

signal path: from microphone to record (digital or tape). microphone picks up sound waves and passes those as electrons to a pre-amp which amplifies signal (more electrons) and these are sent to the recording device.

some of the things that can go wrong in the signal path:
-microphone SPL (Sound Pressure Level). can the microphone withstand the rigors of the application? a booming bass cabinet will need a strong mic so the mechanism isn't just locked up with pressure.
- overloaded pre-amp. if signal from mic is too much for pre-amp, check if the mic has a pad.
- remember that gain knob may be too much and might use pad from board and then tweak gain
- effects adding too much gain.

"gain structure"

all the combined effects and amplifications add to gain. gotta make sure none are overpowering mix.

we talked about the philosphy of a studio producer. maybe the most important aspect is too find a lot of information before getting in the studio and recording. what does the band want? are they rehearsed? ask them "why" they are recording.

a practice/rehearsal session with the engineer/producer a good idea so they can suss out the dynamics of songs and decide on recording gear and song order. must keep the band interested and playing their best.

a mention that many devices were coming with their own channel strip features, meaning that there's gain, eq, sends, etc. say, on a drum mic pre-amp.

we talked a little guitar mic'ing philosophy. no substitute for a real amp cabinet. those little pedals that model diff. cabs are useless at the recording level. would rather get a mini amp, put it in a small room and mic it. aim to get right TONE.

distortion is a sound that guitar is going for. distortion means the speaker cone is being a little overpowered. some large amps would have to be screaming before they get that sound a guitarist wants and this can overpower the room. something to think about. that totally rang a bell. i could picture us playing in geoff's and the drums, even unmic'd would force guitarists to turn up to hear themselves which would force the mics to be turned up so high we got feedback. not even sure how equipment would have helped. maybe more baffling.

then we headed over to Revolver Studios. they're in a little (possibly oldest on east side) house a block from Rontoms. Nalin, the studio producer, was a knowledgeable and friendly guy. Jonathon went on a beer run for us. Revolver has a main "tracking" room and a few sound booths and a control room. this place uses old 2inch tape machines to get the sound they like.

1st, 2nd, 3rd reflections bad. after that they've lost enough strength that they're ok. go on internet and research sound baffling, "bass trap." http://www.johnlsayers.com/

the place was full of cool instruments. i wondered if many studios provided equipment or if bands preferred to bring their own. this equipment is called the "backline."

we did some overdubbing using a normal mixing board with pre-amps and into the pro tools file we'd recorded the week before. Jonathan was adding some electric guitar takes, 2. he got some goofy feedback and Nalin, in an example of how to keep theings funny, said over the talk-thru: "okay, i think the whales heard that and are on the way." good stuff.

Nalin talked about reference monitors and how it's a personal choice when picking them. "reference" meaning they're just a point of reference. you want to take your mix and play it on a lousy boombox, in your car, etc.. and then you can start to learn how your reference monitors play and what it will become.

when someone asked a technical question Graham pulled Yamaha's Sound Reinforcement Handbook off the shelf. everyone agreed it's the technical bible. i remember when i bought that years ago and was trying to read it front to back. that was probably when i first knew i wanted to be involved on the music production side. that was kind of a cool moment.

another great class.