Opportunities in Japan

[dstole]

Hi all. I appreciate all the help I have gotten here in the past, so I thought I would try posting this here to see if I can find some leads or get some suggestions.

This relates to the post I made a few weeks (months ago) about wondering gif I should go for it or not here in Japan. I have decided, yah, I wanna commit to this idea of recording and engineering other people's projects.

I have realized, however, that I am at the bottom of a very tall learning curve. That doesn't scare me per say, I just wonder how to start the climb. Yesterday I checked out berklee.com to see if maybe their on line courses would help, but it seemed a bit expensive and wasn't sure what I would get out of it. I thought maybe I could spend half that cost on gear and half on more gear :-)

Really what I need is to learn from someone that is local. Perhaps a Japanese engineer (I speak very good Japanese) or a foreigner that is here. I am looking for someone that is willing to pass on ideas and techniques. I would be willing to pay for that knowledge as well if that is what it took.

I looked into Japanese recording schools and they are very stringent about their ages. Most will only take up to 22yrs old, with 1 I found that will accept someone to 25. At 32 in July that leaves me SOL.

Any thoughts or tips, or even leads you might have that would help me get in the door? I am very passionate, dedicated and highly reliable and my ego is in check. If all I do is help Japanese pop artists fix their English Lyrics for the first year (or 2) while soaking up knowledge about how things are being recorded then that would be perfect. Or is school the only option?

Thanks again. I can't express how much I enjoy looking through the posts on this site and the ideas and knowledge that you all present is very helpful.

Leon
ps. Any books or resources you might suggest would be appreciated.

[BoomChuk]

Aloha leon,

Seems to me the japanese are big on digital based recording and analogue/techno/rap et al, so why not get a computer based system together and look into any college media courses? I dunno, I may be off base on this. You'd know better, since you're there. If you went this route, you'd be hangin' with the crowd you want to learn from. A few books on audio recording basix, and boom! You're on the fast track! --Thomas

[dstole]

Hey Thomas,
Thanks for the feedback.

I currently own a hardbase system. I have a portable rig (G4powerbook, Motu828MK2, and DigimaxLT) that I take to rehearsal studios to capture basic tracks and then bring home, dump to the G5 and use some of my outborad gear (mainly Sony and drawmer stuff at this point, but expanding). I also have turned a closet into a vocal booth, and have had a few clients in to use that. So I feel like I am getting started.

I also have read a few books on the subject...Sound Advice, Rocording Techniques, Mixing Engineer's Handbook, Music,Physics and Engeneering, Home Recording Made easy, Home Recording for Musicians, and my favourite (the first book I bought about 6 years ago) making the Ultimate Demo. I also reada monthly Japanese recording magazine called Sound and Recording. If you have some other texts you can suggest I would be grateful.

So it's not so much doing it as it is knowing if I am doing it right. Like phase. How do I know what phase issues sound like. Have read about it, and seen it described graphicly and charted, but I wonder if those two guitar tracks are in or out of phase. If I was sitting in a room with an engenner and he said, flip the phase switch, these tracks have a problem, then I would have a point of reference. Or maybe a CD learning system would help where there were examples presented.

I will continue to try and find a place to assist at, but may look at taking some on-line courses as well just to try and get some knowledge. Maybe the real basic stuff, critical listening, etc.

Thanks again Thomas
Anyone else have ideas or suggestions?

[scoop2]

As to critical listening, I always found the
Golden Ears series by Dave Moulton to be useful
and pretty fun, too.
details here
http://www.moultonlabs.com/gold.htm
I only ever used the first 2 volumes.
That is probably what you are looking for.

[littledoodler]

take all the $$$ you would spend for the school and buy gear. Then refer everything to gearslutz

[BoomChuk]

Aloha Leon,

Maybe a good way to learn about phase effects is to take a vocal track, double it and play with eq and delay. Not delay effect, but moving the trak out by 2-30 milliseconds. I dunno, I'm not an expert. Just tryin' ta' help ya'. When it comes to guitar phasing, I know it when I here it. When guitars are double tracked, like what I'm working on right now, I expect some phase effect. Hey, that's part of what makes the trax work. The interaction is sonically pleasing if it's natural. When it's not, frequencies bump up periodically, audio "honking" kinda' thing. Either you can hear it, or not. If you can change phase on your trax, try it when you experiment with vox.

Aloha,
Thomas

[scoop2]

Thomas-
The effect you speak of from instrument doubling is probably better
named "natural chorusing", or maye just "doubling".
"Out-of-phase" is a term that is usually reserved for speakers that
have been wired improperly,
or to describe the interference between two microphones
picking up the same sound or instrument (and performance).

[dstole]

Thomas,
Thanks for that. I will give that a play for the sake of experimentation, but I think that the issue I was bringing up was along the lines of what scoop was mentioning. I recorded a guitarist the other day. I used as SM57 on the edge of the speaker cone and an Rode NT2 about 3 feet above and away. I also took a line feed just incase we wanted to play with things later (re-amp etc). He wanted to double track it so we did two passes. 6 guitar tracks. I tossed 3 of them away and then used 3 of them. Line center and SM and Rode panned half left and half right. When monitoring the sound just seems sort of weak. Dull and like there are holes in it. When I flipped the phase on 1 of the tracks things seemed to open up a bit I thought.

Perhaps I should post two guitar samples here and ask people if there are phase issues.

Thanks both of you for your time,
Leon

(edit) PS. I have read that you should use a 3:1 rule when micing the same source to try and avoid phase. With the guitar I was right up close against the amp grill with 1 mic, and about 3 feet back with the other. Would it still be possible to have phase issues?

I will start a new thread about phase when I get home from work. Perhaps help me out there?

[BoomChuk]

Aloha Leon,

What I said about phasing was backwards! When it's there, it takes the life out. Kinda' like what you are describing. And yes, with some luck you could have phase cancelation issues between the ambient/close mic. The room itself can cause this too. Run the trax (without stereo fx) in mono or pans straight up to chek. Why not use one mic placed where it will sound the way you want the instrument to sound? You've got a NT2, back it away 4" or ? The 57 would be an easy choice.--Thomas

(Aloha scoop2, Kudos!)

[oortnyc]

Leon - I am a producer and I work in Tokyo quite often. Your post caught my eye because I may be doing a clinic at a recording school (ebisu) in late august. If it happens I may be able to get you in to observe. PM me your email and I will let you know.

Dennis

[dstole]

Dennis,

That is fantastic, thank you. I have PM'd you with my email.
Look forward to hearing from you.