FAQs
I’m looking at setting up a studio at home. What do I need to look for? There are a few things to look out for. - Available space. Is it in a bedroom, garage, basement, attic or a spare room? - Can your monitors be set up without having a window at the side or in front? - Can you treat the room? You can find out all you need in The Audio Apprentice. Chapter 2 - Setting Up Your Room. There you’ll find help with: Setting Up A Room At Home, Tuning The Room, Monitoring and Referencing.
Do I need to buy expensive gear and plugins to start with? In short, no. There are many cheap audio interfaces and free Digital Audio Workstation software available. Generally, the free plugins that come with the DAW will be enough to get you started. Nearly all the fancy plug ins are combinations of the basic ones you get. It’s a good idea if you learn how to use the basic ones first as this will help you understand the more complicated plugins.
Can I just use the presets in Plugins alone? It’s best that you learn how to use a basic plugin in getting your sound. Presets are a good place to start but they will need adjustment. A preset for a snare may not sound right but with a little adjustment it will get the snare sound great but you need to know what you are looking for.
What’s the best advice for recording? Get the sound you want from the source and without processing. Make sure you have a good level on your meters. A comprehensive guide to recording can be found in The Audio Apprentice Chapter 5 – Recording. There you will find topics such as Microphone Types, Microphone Choice, Processor Basics, recording all types of instruments, amplifiers and Microphone positioning.
I’m not getting clarity in my mixes. What do I need to do? Mixing isn’t just about Eq or compression, it’s about how frequencies relate to each other, where instruments are placed in the stereo field and then you think of Eq etc. Generally, the complaint is that they are muddy or thin. This has to do with either masking, not enough of one frequency or too much of another and placement in the stereo field. Its hard to pin point your problem without hearing it but in Chapter 7- Mixing in The Audio Apprentice it deals with everything from Frequency relationship, Eqing different instruments and placement in the audio spectrum and stereo field.
How do auxiliary send work and when would you use them? Auxiliary send (Aux Sends) are used to send signal from one channel to a reverb or delay or another effect or side chain. In you DAW, create an Aux send and an Auxiliary track from your create dropdown menu. Send the output of the send via a bus output and on the Aux track and assign the input to the same buss output of the send. Choose your effect and increase the volume on the send to suit. The send also has a pre and post fader option. The pre fader option sends signal to the aux track at the level that the track has been recorded at, irrespective of the fader position on the original track. That means that you can turn the fader right down and it won’t affect the level going to the Aux track. The post fader option is determined by the original fader position. If you turn the fader down to infinity no signal will get to the aux track. So if you want more of the effect than direct signal use the pre fader option. If you are using the effect as placement or to colour the sound then use the post fader option.
What level should I master to for streaming services? There is much debate on this subject. There are more than ten different streaming services that require different levels but many digital distribution companies only allow for one to be uploaded. Generally a level of -14LUFS is standard but many are still mastering up to -6 LUFS. This could be done for many reasons, mainly that the song sounds best at the higher level or they falsely believe it will sound louder – it won’t. For streaming services like Spotify, that will normalize the audio, it won’t matter because all audio will be at the same level. But for Lossless streaming there may be some advantage.
Should I Eq reverbs and delays? In some instances, reverbs and delays may make the mix sound muddy, retain excessive top end or not give clarity to the instrument. In these cases it would be advisable to shape the reverb or delay so that there is definition in the sound.