The diary of an amateur recording engineer...

Music for me is a pretty big deal. I like writing it, I like playing it, I like listening to it, I like going to see it performed.

I have a huge passion for recording music - the endless sonic possibilities enriched by modern digital recording and editing/mixing makes the computer a veritable audio playground. One of the hardest elements of the process, I find, is getting what I hear in my head to match up with what I hear from my speakers.

Here follow a few examples of things that often trip me up when recording...

Part Un - Recording

I constantly encounter problems in this, the first step of any project, probably something to do with being overcome with excitement and wanting to get my ideas down on tape. I'm a big fan of fixing problems 'in the mix', but I've learned from experience that the recording process is made exponentially easier if you get things sounding right from the moment you hit the 'Record' switch.

Instruments need to be in tune (where possible), and at the correct levels, i.e. loud enough for the recording. I like to play along to a click track, when necessary, so it's also important for me to be able to clearly hear the metronome, as well as the instrument I'm playing. This can often be difficult to achieve without an external mixer or headphone section (if you're using headphones…I usually do….especially when recording with microphones) - I use a cheap Behringer monitor/headphone amplifier which enables me to quickly control the level of the recording/the click track independently, and has plenty of headroom. You shouldn't need the click track too loud, especially if your headphones bleed sound which could be picked up on the mic you're recording into.

So many times due to eagerness to get results, I'll record an instrument out of time or sing off-key because I haven't taken simple steps to make sure I can hear myself correctly. If you get a decent 'sample' of sounds from the outset, you can usually fix any mix problems a lot more easily, without having to re-record. It also helps me to be more creative with my mix, as I'll often come up with new ideas on the spot that I can then incorporate into my recording, like banging on my glass for extra rhythm, or singing into a cymbal for shimmery reverb, or adding a whistle-track…. The possibilities really are endless.

Part Deux - Mixing

Up until I tried it for myself, I never realised quite how much work went into mixing - it can often be quite difficult to get a decent sounding recording, especially when working with lots of instrument tracks that each need to be heard. It's a lot easier when you're recording acoustic tracks or instruments with very different timbres, but when you're making dirrty rock & roll it can be difficult for a bitchin guitar solo to slice through a wall of distorted power chords.

I'm still an absolute beginner at mixing, but I've started to rely on several 'cheat sheet' techniques to help me get a decent sound. Little things, like…

A little Panning goes a long way - give your recordings an element of space by panning tracks left & right. Even a little bit of movement can loosen up a dull recording.

Reverb is about more than just making you sound like you're screaming in a cave on the moon. It can create the illusion of sounds being close or far away; think of it as lateral Panning - forwards & backwards rather than left & right…

EQ can hurt as much as it helps. It can help to fill out that part of the audio spectrum that is hitherto left untouched in your project, but overdoing it can make your beautiful recording sound crap. Best to use it sparingly to highlight the frequencies already present in your recording. Don't use it, for instance, to try and make your tinny, trebly guitar part sound more 'beefy'; it usually won't do anything but needlessly distort it (unless that's the sound you're going for, in which case there's absolutely nothing wrong with that....).

Compression is a term that's used more often than not these days in the perforative. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the technique of compression; it basically refers to reducing the dynamic level of an audio signal so that the quieter signals are made louder and the louder signals quieter. This can be useful when you have a very dynamic instrument which needs to be audible at all times in your track. The human voice is a great example of this. Voices sound different when sung louder or quieter, and if your recording has vocals then varying the singing volume can obviously add emotion and 'feeling' to the track. Compressing the track means that listeners should be able to hear the vocals or whatever clearly irregardless of the level at which they were recorded. Compression therefore, like EQ, is only as good as you know how to use it. I still don't understand all the parameters completely, but you can always rely on the user-made presets found in most computer plugins. There's no point compressing things like distorted guitar parts as they are usually 'compressed' during the act of distortion anyway. But if you have a drum track, for instance, that's getting lost in the mix, compression can really help to keep it afloat, providing you know what you're doing and don't overdo it, obviously. It's technically the same process as 'riding the fader', manually controlling the volume level of a track over the course of a recording, but it's usually more accurate than the human perception of dynamics.

Which brings me to another point of recording via computer. Since the advent of digital recording, the entire process seems to have changed. A lot of people nowadays, me included, seem to record with their eyes, reacting to the shape of waveforms on the screen rather than the sound in their ears. Which is clearly bonkers. Sound is the king here; it's the sound that's going to get people moving when they're rocking to their ipods, and they won't give a hoot if the section they're listening to looks dodgy through a spectroscope, providing it sounds good. Personally, I always find it hard to ride the fine line between sending track levels into the red or not being able to hear the track clearly in the mix. Let's just remember: VU meters are there to help you, but don't let them control you…. If something's clipping, it's not the end of the world. A little EQ here, a little compression there, or better still, just turn everything down. My most recent project went from sounding like utter crap to sounding like the best mixing I've ever done as soon as I stripped everything back, turned all the levels and the compression down, and then gradually brought each part back in, bit by bit, with more headroom. Of course then I added 4 vox parts and I was straight back in clipping hell, but that's another story.....

I'm sure I'll comment more on my adventures in sounderland as and when I have them. I haven't even started learning the art of 'mastering' yet. When I was just starting up, the problems inherent in recording were annoying enough to discourage me for a little while. Now that I've learned a little and gained a little more experience/half-decent equipment, I find that most issues can be solved by a quick Google search or a post on the Reaper forums.

At this point I should probably thank my DAW of choice, the fabulous 'Reaper' from Cockos, which is the cheapest, easiest, cleverest and mostest bestest recording program I've ever had the pleasure of owning.