jimmarchi1's forum posts 8022

They're crunchy/soggy.

the cyclone has a larger neck scale too, gibson 24 and 3/4, they're nice guitars

I prefer the ac4 to the champ in general. In champ type se amps supro and national made some of my favorites I've used but I dont really like se amps as much as push pull ones.

Edit: narcist still has that amp though. If you know h ou w to play into it it's got the goods

Bum bum bum bidda bum bum... under pressure

It had my account as inactive. I haven't sold anything in awhile, Michael.

Thanks guys. I made that demo for fellow moderator narcist when I sold him my ac4hw

https://reverb.com/item/38787756-greco-mr1000-mic-ralphs-signature-nitro-lacquer-fret-edge-binding-maxon-pafs-lawsuit-mij-70s-sunburst

Its a great guitar but I just don't play it enough and I need space in the studio to go up to a 24 channel frame console. Expect more old gear to emerge as I clean out my closets again. I do this every few years. Last time was effects pedals mainly... this time its the big stuff, mixers, studio processors and instruments.

I'm pressuring you.... you feel the pressure?

Bowie picked up a lot of theory and could hang with jazz players.... but yes, it was self taught and picked up from the great players he surrounded himself with at all times.

glad to see the OP's paying attention here.... lots of good info from Kenneth and educated guesses from myself above... and unsolicited advice too, the best kind

okay, sorry for the harsh words ebebebeb, I;m not precisely taking them back but your question was actually a statement that's just not true. Maybe there's a lower grade of cover band in the russian federation?

that was probably too harsh, but it was a pretty offensive statement... I learned to play in an ensemble in school jazz band and in early bands that had a few originals that were sketchy and a did a lot of top 40 rock radio stables because other kids wanted to hear that and I loved 80s and 90s radio, still do I guess. Those were the salad days. Dissecting those songs by ear taught me a lot about writing parts, style and most of all song construction. You can't learn that from a book.... I don't think. I essentially played covers between 92 and like 98 when I got really confident about playing my own stuff after I wrote about 100 mediocre songs that no one should ever, ever listen to.

define necessary....

Tired of point and click? Plugins that look like gear you saw in Mix and EQ that just never sound right? Not sure what dBfs means? Or what they mean by gain staging? Don't know a REsistor from a TRANsistor or a diode from a dual triode? Think transformers are all made on cybertron?

Stop worrying about it! Just let Uncle Jim mix your next recording in hs splendiferous home studio of doom. No job too big or too small, no recording too scrappy :-)

DAWs: protools harrison Mixbus 32C Cubase 11 Ableton 10 (soon to be 11) FL Studio 20 dell xps with i9 processor 10th gen and 64g ram, intel optane memory, dual 1tb SSD internals and USB 3.0 ports for external SSDs. Very very powerful. NO LOGIC! Apple ruined it, I miss emagic.... and I'm a mac hater now. I do have multiple boot setups for win10, linux and soon to be high sierra (blecjh) once they support all my plugins.... but screw apple and the horse they rode in on. Twice burned and once bitten, burned down, fell over and then sunk into the swamp? Fool me once, shame on, shame on... wont get fooled again. And there are tape machines around too. I can make your drums all retro if you really want that... I have smpte and mts timecode outs and machines that will record them on a track and sync to them. You don't really want that though, its an extra hassle, for what? All my youth we were trying tog et RID of tape hiss and artifacts.

i/o and conversion Motu 828es Motu 24Ao both have sabre converters, 10inputs and 30 outputs focusrite claret octopre with whatever focusrite gives you these days on the good gear, 8 in and 8 out up to 96k over smux. I mostly use the sabres... this guy isn't even hooked up anymore.

Consoles/mixers/summing: modified 82ish Soundcraft 400b 16:8:2 (with 4 independent stereo submixes, not just assignments and 4 mono aux returns) Crest X rack (when you need more submixes to create high customized aux sends and returns) ashly lx308 stereo line mixer rane stereo line mixers x4 mackie onyx 1620 and 1620i (HAHAHAHA, just kidding, I wouldn't use these to mix) another 24 frame soundcraft frame is headed to my buddy's tracking studio for repairs and mods now and I'm sourcing the channels and busses I prefer for it so eventually I'll be expanding.... what's a few more inches of floor space for 8 extra inputs?!

EQ: soundcraft board EQ, 4 band semi parametric w/hpf, similar to trident 80 series x16 modified and retubed klark teknic (behringer) pultec clones x2 orban 622b stereo parametric Urei notch filters x2 drawmer 1974 stereo parametric

dynamics: Warm Audio bus comp ART pwm limiter ADL stereo LA2A clone, modified Art pro VLA 1 and 2 matched pair chinese neve diode bridge clones, separate compressor AND limiter gates solid statesman 60s? diode bridge limiter (really a 20:1 compressor) attack as low as 3 microseconds, yes micro and the dirtiest line amps in town x2 orban 422 stereo symetrix 501 mono with idnependent comp and limiter sections x2 symetrix 522 comp/limit/expand/gate/duck stereo x2 symetrix 525 comp/gate stereo x1 Orban co-operator soft knee comrpessor and HF limiter modded alesis 3630 stereo alesis 3632 stereo RNC RNLA x1 (I probably won't use this, its funny though) alison research rack system w/ gain brain mono fet compressor x4 and kepex gates x2 (the sound of 70s drums) dbx 160a x1 dbx 163x x2 and probably some other stuff I don't like as much

effects: tapco solid state stereo spring reverb roland sre555 chorus echo (space echo with stereo chorus and spring reverb) dynacord dynecho tape delay lexicon PCM60 reverb Lexicon alex multifx Lexicon mx200 and 400 yamaha spx90 multi fx yamaha rev 5 and 7 verbs Lexicon PCM41 delay TC electronic primetime multifx art 8 bit delay 80s TOA 12 bit multitap delay, 3 independent delay lines with phase and other pwoerful features Muse receptor as plugin host for altiverb to be used analog w/o wasting outputs, receives audio submix from interface over ADAT or SMUX depending on sample rate Homemade pentode line amps, good for adding harmonics to lifeless busses or DI bass guitar.

Lots more stuff in my closets.

reamp boxes DIs and a bevy of vintage or not so vintage guitar fx as well as vintage tube amplifiers (send me some DI! I've got 60s and 50s gear)

plugins: plugin alliance mix/master suite slate mix rack waves mercury lots of other stuff, thousands... I use plugins sparingly and try to stick to what they're good at. Like typing a precisely calculated time cosntant where it siply MUST pop rhythmically.... or like bit crushing and IRs.... but some of the slate and PA stuff is quite good and covers sounds I don't have at my fingertips

Stop stressing out while you but up against the limitations of your computer, skillset and maybe even a prosumer interface, ust let the middle aged guy do it.... rates negotiable, samples available on soundcloud and I am happy to do half a song as demo before talking budget and downpayment. Balance not to be paid until you're satisfied (unless you ask me to ruin a perfectly good mix to humor a band member who wants to be hella loud, then you can have the bad version at a discount and don't put my name on it LOL). I am fast and friendly (ok, not really, but I'm working on it, I'm at least fast). I will not charge you hourly. Rates are per song based on recording and rough mix (or lack thereof) and the challenges it will pose me and the kidna attitude you have (I want to give you what you want, but I can't make the ramones into ABBA and I don't like being micromanaged in the way I achieve your vision although creative suggestions are more than welcome, let me worry about the gain staging and stuff though). If it takes me longer than expected I stand by my initial quote. I am available to talk during business hours EST 7 days a week until herd immunity is reached globally. Zoom available if you want to hear bad audio on a big delay and watch me nodding my head and scratching my chine, rewinding, rewinding, then cranking one knob and scratching my chin, looking all wise and sagacious. Its really boring for other people, trust me. That's why studios have lounges with pool tables!

I can start your project in late march or early april. I am currently involved in 2 projects, a metal EP due to arrive soon they need done by the end of march... and a long multi album live tracked trip hop thing that can be backburnered to put you on deck after the metal record.

I've pitched this before but the home studio is really tweaked out now since covid hit and I can do it up from home in the style I'm accustomed to. I've got a red velvety command chair that makes everything sound better when I'm sitting at my console. I'm bored and will work cheap to keep busy. Gear list is always expanding! Ask me about my fried pickles.

REJOICE!

https://equipboard.com/items/warm-audio-bus-comp/reviews?cid=362735#nav-reviews

I still like how ebebebeb here psoted the question "how do I expect a similar sound as in this album"

I know its a language barrier thing and I can't make fun on that level because all I know about Russian is da, nyet, pravda, dosvidanya and my personal favorite, nekulturny...

but how do I expect to get it? I don't expect to get it. I would mix this project differently. There's nothing wrong with it, but its not my personality at all and mixing is a bit of client satisfaction, a dollop of technical 'wizardry' (nots and bolts knowledge in my book) and a lot of your personality. All the creativity is you. It represents the non-tech aprt of your brain and your style is your style. If my personality fits the song then its going to be a good mix, but I'm not going to try to be chameleon. I think my final advice to ebebebeb is to be himself. Bring some of himself to every mix, cover it in his fingerprints. Hopefully someone will dig it. I think you can't help but be you so you might as well embrace the thigns your drawn to, not as a fan, but when you're physically engaged in the mix. I love the mix on Buckley's Grace but I would enver mix like that. I'm not drawn to that sort of sound when I'm working. Its clean, tis really open. Its spanky attack and long, dwelling reverb that's EQed but not controlled any other way and I can't do that, its not me. Its great. I lvoe Andy Wallace. But I can't BE Andy Wallace, right? There is an Andy Wallace. He's named Andy Wallace.

@ebebebeb

master the tools at your disposal by doing the best you can with whatever you have... I began with very little and worked my way into studios by having a good reel of material recorded with pawn shop gear and budget prosumer shit from sam ash and eventually those early waves VSTs too, okay? But I squeeeezed that shit. I had mastery of my gear and my old bosses gear when I got to an SSL. Most of all try to have fun the whole time and be true to yourself in every decision you make. Listen to the roughs and imagine it in your mind, then make a plan in print and execute it with plenty of roomfor happy accidents and creative experimenting where thigns need to be dramatic like transitions etc :-) Make it sound as good to YOUR EARS as you can HOWEVER YOU CAN.

have a good time and remember you'll never be happy with the last thing you finished, you know where all the warts are and they're all you hear. If you can get it to where you don't cringe its probaby good to go.... or you're tone deaf LOL years from now you'll return and forget all the bad times and remembver how fun that project was and you'll turn your brain off and hear it like a regular person and say "I like that, did I do that? but boy is that snare sound dated now!"

See what I mean? Jim is your God for this kind of insight. Listen hard!

The other guy on here to talk to is Xaqary. Hes even more experienced than I am.

Those lurkers are going to steal our tricks, man.

I'm going to send you a counter offer with the 25 dollar discount. Ok?

These arent well known. Even the gates stalevel was pretty obscure until recently. These are secret we weapon type processors from the era where you wanted a sound you went to that studio. The bro as dcast stuff is very Nashville/Memphis.

I shouldn't be revealing these secrets on a public forum. The other soundguys might take ki e out a hit on me...

No no. The audimax is program limiter. Excellent on busses. You can use it to even out whole groups or stereo recordings like overheads or something like that. The volumax on the other hand is like a gates level devil, stalevel etc. But far more hifi. Some are tube but most are fet based. They're an excellent choice for rock vocals. A solo vocal in mono or groups of backing vocals if you have a pair. Actually the level devil is more like the tube audimaxes... so I guess you could use an audimax on vocals but I never have... usually reach for a gates if its available and flatten thatshit Johnny cash style!

Then theres the notorious gates solid statesman, the deathnell for gates as it cant compete with an audimax for radio. It was cheaper though but eventually killed off by affordable vca designs from orban and texar that are also great in a studio...

Real quick in defense of automatic gain reduction, it's been done for radio and done well. CBS labs made the audimax and volumax lines of broadcast limiter and compressors that provide program dependent AGC and time constants with zero artifacts due to expansion right in the side chain and some if the cleverest logic circuits of the 60s and 70s. We shall never see their like again... and certainly not in a matched pair for less than a used car! The 2u audimax IIs are amazingly transparent program limiters. Used in studios by guys who know. Make a plugin if that and it doesn't need a preset. It is a preset.

Most code jockeys know nothing about CBS/Thomson labs though.

If you only know the drawmer line you can be forgiven for assuming that only an AI can do auto compression... or those behringer autocoms lol. Funny sounding stuff. Not so automatic usually.

it could be eventide, but it sounds more like the lexicon plate from that time.... its defintiely not TC plate setting in 92... or for all I know its a very treated EMT actual plate, but I dunno

well, I gave you my equipboard buddy rate, shipping I can do faster as I only need my folks to watch Lucian for like 30 minutes while I'm at fedex :-) I'm not sure if Jeff willw ant to hang in the pandemic anyway, he wasn't having clients in the building anymore last time we talked over the summer.

If you're mastering a record, take it to Peerless in Newton and tell him you're a friend of Jim from Under Your Bed and Indre recording

But for compressor presets... pardon my ignorance, but how the @3$% would that even work? Makers have to ship with presets, or face the consequences in both pro and consumer reviews... but the idea that you'd click a compressor preset that said like "rock drums" and somehow it would be right for whatever mic'd acoustic kit you may be feeding it... without you having to learn the plug inside and out and know what needed to be adjusted to fit the unique qualities of what you were putting into it... IDK... until those working on realtime ML/AI-based magic compressors make something so amazing that the industry is generally won-over, presets on dynamics processors (save for maybe brick wall limiting presets) feel, to me, like they're setting up false expectations for users new to this whole thing.

What am I missing?

nothing, the idea is idiotic, you go to 'rock snare' and you play with the threshold? that's what folks do and you hear the time constants fighting the song. And another VST compressor peeve here, stuff that's designed to slam can't be subtle, its so hard to make it just tickle the reduction meter at less that 3dB of reduction on big transients.... in rea life this is easy as pie. I have comrpessors that mangle stuff but its easy to tweak in a threshold that just gently massages peaks too or to get a tiny bit of RMS constantly working at low ratios. But no one simulqtes that behavior correctly cuz ITB jaggoffs making generic EDM all day are like "Hulk smash transients0! Hulk compress all tracks hard and run master through SLAM! and L2 ultramaximizer! And Hulk not duck master output down to .3bBfs or less, Hulk not care about clipping converters of end lsitener,. End listener need more loud and Hulk not have fans anyway Not even Hulk's mom listen to Hulk's music. Puny dynamics not important to Hulk. High frequency detail for wimps, not for Hulk. Harsh wall of distorted treble all Hulk need!"

ANGRIER RANT ADDED: kids will always be like, why didn't you master it, your record is so quiet.... dude, I don't have a mastering lab and I left lots of headroom and dynamics for the mastering engineer to do his job, duh... anymore I smash playbacks for clients if I think they're idiots or young people who don't know what music used to sound like when people cared about fidelity.

I hear lexicon reverb too, plate setting on a PCM unit I think, top rolled off via damping freq and high passed or soemthing at the return

Any experience with DMG Audio Compassion, or current compressors from FabFilter or iZotope?

Given the kinds of process visualization software affords, a big VU meter emulation is not my first choice... I understand why such skeuomorphism is so popular in MI, and I know it's the sound that matters most*, but animations of vintage meters are not my personal/emotional pref, given I have very little time logged with vintage hardware possessing such meters.

*Anyone looking to pull an Obi-Wan and tell me that vintage UI helps you learn to trust your ears over your eyes... spare me, please. Know this already, I do... drive me to the Sith, you will. :)

honestly I enver look at the vintage VU simulations, they don't act like real ones, they just look pretty...

I do not like any izotope gain reduction for anything but master bus work and then sued sparingly

I don't like fab filter anything/ It all works perfectly and is transparent apart from the distortion which isn't meant to be transparent, but I hate the UI, its almost as annoying as fake VU needles bouncing around incorrectly.... the compressor is my least hated butits similar to the Melda stuff and that's free. If you wanna add character with a non vintage GUI the melda limiter and comrepssor go from clean to mean and everything inbetween but you have to spend time with all the under-the-hood type controls like even order harmonics and time constant envelope curves etc. They cna be made to do virtually anything.... but the UI is not as intuitive as presswek. You just hook up virtual analog modules in rpesswork. I want a tube input stage, a VCA detector and like an 1176 makeup line amp? no problem! Om fab comp and melda stuff you hve to set that stuff by ear using harmonics controls etc and then you can finally comrpess.... or you tweak from a preset (shudder, vomit, collapse)

and also, get Arouser, its not a distressor simulation, its an Arouser, a software comrpessor that couldn't exist in real life, which is so cool. It does the job using the technology it was designed with and it does what it does so well

also look at sonnox oxford everything... like that inflator, I love that, nothing hardware does that. Whatever it is its doing.... its just tasty.

we had an SSL 4000G at indre and once I learned it it was really good at this type of thing. It got me addicted to submixed groups.

I would bet that SSL G series is the same one they had at the time, it was probably still in production at the time. its a great baord. It has the least shrieky high shelf of any SSL.... it also has overeasy type VCA compression per channel and the bus comp we all love.

So a nice clean console like an allen and heath live board like a 2400 would be good enough and you will want a pile of dbx160a comps or alesis 3632s, RNCs will do I guess. They don't treat kick the same though. A warm audio or chameleon labs bus comp will be needed too as I guarantee you they're tickling the VCA bus comp on this mix... that's just for mixdown assuming you have the sounds going in

that snare soudns like it has something whacky on it bringing up the ring and ping for the chili peppers sound.... 1176 or gain brain maybe. Some sort of fet detection dealie I would think

everything is hitting the board pretty hard giving that glassy 80s/90s console top (or is it harsh? depends who you ask LOL)

Top 3. Yes. It cna do anything, its configurable in every way.

My top 3 do alls that can handle inserts and busses alike, with or without character are as follows:

1. Presswerk (read the manual)

2. Empirical labs Arouser (YES! I love you Mr Derr!)

3. Arturia dbx 160, my favorite 160/162 simulation. Nails it. Sounds better than a real 160a on everything but kick drum

honorable mention:

Pulgin Alliance Purple Audio 1176

ADHD levelling amp (yup, the free shit, you can dial out the character in places and its a nice slow leveller)

TDR feedback compressor 2 (not v1 and not the one they did that's more for busses, it works but this is fast and effective) and all the compressors on the really good channel strips and great. Brainworx focusrites and Lindell API VCA and FET modules are very effective even ons tereo content. I also like the channelcompressors in Harrison Mixbus 32C. not a lot fo control but they do the business usually for basic jobs. No fuss. Fairly transparent.

Waves Pye compressor

Top 3 pieces of do all gain limiting hardware that's somewhat affordable:

1. Allison Gain Brain (once you invest in the lunchbox these are dead cheap for what you get, they made tons, and you can also house kepex gates!)

2. symetrix 501, 522 and even the 525

3. orban 412 and 422

honorable mention:

alesis 3632 or modded 3630

RNC (the beginners can't fuck it up leanring module)

dbx 163x (one knob of truth)

you would want those musicians or the basic stuff they played on/thru and in that situation you would want to really hone your imitation of the style, so much of what comes out as a finished record is what went in. Its a recording. The gear doesn't make the music. People do.

and it would help to have some of the recording/mixing gear used. Or similar stuff. I just listened a little but it sounds like they put some time and effort into it. I feel like I'm hearing room mics so you need a nice space and extra microphones etc... its very compressed in places so you'll want good bus compression, master bus and maybe submixes or parallel busses... if you can find info on the record I can tell you more about how they probably did it. I'm an old soundman, this aint my first rodeo.

hey man, I msged you on reverb but I'll reach out to you here as well.... that offer is going to expire, do you want me to accept it and I'll just elt you off the hook and sell it to this other dude if the school won't pay?

and do you want me to ship it? I prefer fedex ground on the east coast if that's okay. Or do you want to pick it up? I can meet you part way if you want. I could use a roadtrip, really. I mean, I haven't been to see my friends at Peerless Mastering in a long while, maybe we could meet in Newton? Just a thought. I would need a sitter for my son, I don't think he could handle the roundtrip or would be interested in my conversation with Jeff.

you don't need an expander.... you need to buy me one because we're the same person

U-He presswerk is a gem

which means you're the same guy as NYC synth

Back when I was in art school, at the end of the previous century, I had a friend in the program who was all about the Juxtapoz magazine scene

This is why I like you... 99 tyler... my wife lived juxtapoz and high fructose though lol

I was just talking to my dad and apparently this board was likely used by robert to demo Cyndi Lauper's girls just want to have fun. Not sure. Might be mythology. But he did demo it. Not sure if it was in his home though...

I'm still a soundcraft man... because eurythmics and ska/reggae/dub

I put that mix on cans. I never listened to it after doing it. That does sound really good. Thanks guys. I'm going to pat myself on the back now.

I only take a master class from a master... like brauer or albini ... in electronic that would be the belleville 3... or like Alan wilder

Anything you do should be highly curated. Theres a lot of garbage around in hardware and software... and a lot of affordable workmanlike stuff that gets mo love because it just does the job and gets out of the way.

This. Yes.