Tracking...Charles

[djui5]

Charles,
You speak of only mixing in the box but I was curious what you do on the way in? I track to the computer a lot but use a ton of outboard gear on the way in so that after tracking the mix is half way there or so....do you also do this? Or is your focus on getting a really good sound using mic placement rather than tweaking on the way in? Like using lot's of room mic's and just using pre's on the way in?

Sorry if you've allready answered this, I didn't do a search..

Charles, what do you do if you get a song that's not tracked so well
Do you stay with just plugs?
I'm gonna add 2 Amek CIB's to my set up this week and when I get poorly tracked stuff, I'll use the CIB's and process 2 tracks at a time till I get something that is decent. For me plugins dont make up for a poorly tracked front end , so I'm gonna involve more outboard processing

[djui5]

bump....

[Charles Dye]

Randy,

Sorry for the delay. Re your question: I agree with your approach. I'm a very big believer in getting the sound of an instrument as close as I can to how I want it to be in the mix when recording. Mic selection, placement + preamp selection are all critical, but I'll definitely use compression + eq when tracking drums, precussion, bass, gtr, keys (piano, organ, synth), + horns. With vocals I prefer to only compress + never eq while recording. It makes it much easier to match their sound for additional overdubs.

I never try to do in PT what I could before getting there. All analog v. digital issues aside I use the same philosphy presently when tracking to analog tape or previously when I used to record to digital tape. Why should you put it off? Get it sounding great now. One of my biggest reasons is that the musicians feed off of what they hear when tracking + overdubbing. The better the tracks sound, the more inspired they will be to give great performances.

[Charles Dye]

NSY,

I find when I get tracks that aren't recorded that well that I can do everything I want to them sonically between DUY, McDSP + Waves plugs. I've never had to run a track out to analog to process it.

Can you give me an example of tracks that you would have to process analog?

Thanks.

Charles, I guess what I'm saying is that when I get stuff that isn't tracked all that well, I kinda find myself wishing for certain pieces that I've used with success in the past at other peoples rooms. For instance I used to have a pair of distressors and I often find myself missing a way to get the sound that I could easily get with the Distressors.

Also I don't have the duy stuff. May have to look into it

Man I don't get into the digital/ analog debates but I notice a drastic difference in my sound since I added a folcrom and began to sum outside of the box. My mix plus rig is giving me so much more of the sound that I want. I never had analog channel (other than a Mc DSP demo) either so maybe I"m just substituting for what can be done with plugins, but with the price of a folcrom @ $750 I simply view it as an analog plugin that requires no DSP

[Charles Dye]

NSY,

If it works for you, great. But yes, if it weren't for DUY's DaD Valve + DaD Tape and McDSP's Analog Channel I'm sure I would be looking elsewhere for the warmth + punch that these plugs allow me to add to lackluster tracks.

It seems like we agree that saturation is essential to mixing, no matter where you get it.

[Curve Dominant]

Charles.

Do you ever re-amp tracks to get a bigger/better sound?

I've been meaning to re-amp a few guitar tracks I originally recorded direct in, but not sure how to set it up with the 001.

[djui5]

Thanks Charles for taking the time to respond...

[Extreme Mixing]

Originally posted by Charles Dye
NSY,

I find when I get tracks that aren't recorded that well that I can do everything I want to them sonically between DUY, McDSP + Waves plugs. I've never had to run a track out to analog to process it.

Can you give me an example of tracks that you would have to process analog?

Thanks.

Charles,

One sound that I sometimes go out of the box for is a 160x on the snare. It's just a great sound and sometimes, it's worth it to me to re-record the snare. It takes about four minutes, so when I want it, it's easy enough to get.

Steve