Third Take

A lot of home studio recorders seem to mix as they go. After a tracking session, I like to put a rough mix together and hear how the tracks are working. I also think there’s a lot of utility to doing some preliminary mixing before you record additional instruments - especially in the case of drums. Fixing minor timing issues with AudioSnap before recording other instruments can have a huge impact on the overall “tightness” of the track.

However, I often get into a situation where I’m reluctant to change the panning and levels of some elements in my preliminary mix to set up the monitor mix for tracking a new instrument. Muting isn’t a problem, but if I’m recording bass next and the player wants to hear more kick drum, I hate having to upset the drum mix I spent several hours perfecting. As a solution, I’ve begun using Sonar’s excellent routing tools to create something I’m calling the Monitor Bus. Read more

Hit the Toontrack User Area to download the latest update for EZ Drummer.

Fixed in version 1.1.3:

• Audio Unit memory releases on de-instantiation
• Auto loading of projects in some hosts fixed
• Erratic graphics with some MAC hardware
• Host closing plugin editor while authorization page was up no longer lead to crash
• Deletion of presets with a name longer than 18 characters now possible

I previously mentioned the trick of getting a guitar amp off the floor to minimize the early reflections the microphone “hears” and tighten up the bottom end. As I said in that article, it’s something to try but not a hard and fast rule.

I recently did two recordings of the same amp, same guitar, and same player with the same microphone and preamp. The only difference was whether the amp was on a stand or not. I managed to get good sounds out of both positions, but with the amp on the floor I got that sound much faster with less tweaking of amp settings and microphone placement.

On the stand, I spent considerable time trying to get more bottom and fighting the high end. When the amp was on the floor, it was almost as easy as sticking a microphone in front of it and pressing record.

Looking back at all the electric guitar sounds I’ve recorded in the last year, all of the really great ones were amps on the floor. I think that will be my default position from now on, and I’ll only move it on to a stand if I can’t get the floor to work.

Toontrack just released an free upgrade for EZDrummer to version 1.1.2. Log into their user area to download it. According to Toontrack:

This free update provides bug fixes in various areas of operation
but specifically its purpose is to provide Windows Vista
compatibility and improved syncing for ProTools users. It also
features a leaner workflow for access to the main parts of the
program.

Read on for a full list of fixes. Read more

I recently purchased a pair of sound isolating earbuds for live use. At one of my guitar gigs, we have an in-ear monitor system and I wanted a nice pair of earbuds that would block out stage noise and let me hear the monitor system clearly. Then I had a brainstorm: why not use them when recording vocals in my home studio? Read more

If you want to export MP3s with Sonar, and don’t want to pay $19 for the Cakewalk encoder (or it doesn’t work on your system), there is a free encoder called LAME that can be integrated into Sonar. This tutorial will show you how to configure Sonar to encode MP3s with LAME. Read more

Most of us get into home recording because we want to record ourselves or our band. We soon realize that there is a steep learning curve, and making a recording that sounds “professional” is hard. If you are just starting out, your biggest obstacle is not lack of gear, software, or plugins, but lack of knowledge. You can make a good recording on minimal equipment, but if you don’t know how to work effectively, it can be very frustrating. There is nothing worse than getting several hours into a project and realizing that a mistake you made at the beginning has doomed your recording. Here are a few techniques to help you get off to a solid start. Read more

Electric guitar is one of the easiest instruments to record. Maybe it’s because I’m a guitar player and I know what I want a guitar to sound like, but I’ve never had a lot of trouble getting good electric guitar sounds recorded. Even so, there is a difference between good and great - here are five tips that have improved my recordings. Read more

I bought the M-Audio DMP3 Dual Microphone/Instrument Preamp a few months ago to add another two preamps to my system. I chose this preamp because of my positive experience with the preamps in my M-Audio Omni Studio, which are reportedly based on the DMP2, predecessor to the DMP3. I’ve been using the DMP3 for a few months, and am pleased with the preamp despite one major flaw. Read more

Are you tired of setting up EZ Drummer every time you start a new project? Sonar makes it easy to create a project template that will load your EZ Drummer setup when you create a new project file. This tutorial will show you how to configure EZ Drummer with multi-track output and save it as a Sonar template. Read more