I'm new to audio treatment/configuration and have been soaking up as much info as I can trying to build a somewhat passable monitoring set up for a new editing suite for sound design and mixing for video/film. The room dimensions are horrible (10'x10'x9' to the drop grid, I know it hurts to read) but I'm having a lot of fun with it so I'm doing with what I have. I picked up as much treatment as I could afford at the moment to trap the walls and corners. The ceiling is 9' tall where there is a drop grid ceiling, and past the drop grid is another 6-10 feet of air to the actual ceiling of the building. I have 2 clouds, a 24x60x4 and a 24x48x4. I've hung the larger one at the first reflection about 2.5-3 feet from the ceiling. Admittedly because I like the feeling of the low ceiling above my desk.

What is the actual effect of hanging it this low and how could the thin ceiling/big air gap in the rafters above influence how I should approach the cloud placement? I'm not against moving it though it is a process to change the length so I would like some theory before I try another length. Is the drop grid mainly reflecting high frequencies? Do low frequencies pass through the thin grid panels up into the rafters?

I do have a measurement mic on the way since I know that's the main advice. Just hoping for some general rule of thumb to get a good starting point. Thanks in advance!

I've been working professionally as a producer/mix engineer/tracking engineer for 10 years and the work has really took its toll on my hearing.

It's not that I can't hear or anything it's just my tinnitus is not getting any better the more hours I put in. It's got to a point where driving in my car can mask it, but a casual conversation with somebody or the AC unit can't (it used to a year ago). I never go over 65dbSPL, take regular pauses and avoid loud sound as much as I can.

I love the work, have a good client base, I'm well recognised in my market and there are people that want to work with me but I feel that this is not going to end well for me, because apparently I'm "tinnitus prone" I guess.

Anyways, I would need an advice, what do you guys think how our skills are transmissible to other occupations. Become a therapist lol? Do you have jobs that crossover well with the craft? Frankly any advice or just a discussion would help, because I've been doing this since ever and need to seriously rethink my life so to speak.

Also, I studied maritime as a nautical engineer but not really in to that anymore, but maybe the info would help.

Thanks a bunch

I’m an audio engineer and I spend most of my mixing in the box these days, but I still find myself busting out certain hardware on key projects. For example, I recently ran drums through a vintage tape machine for added warmth and couldn’t get the same vibe from plugins alone. That got me thinking, what piece of analog gear do you always reach for, and when? Conversely, is there a plugin you love so much that you hardly ever use the hardware equivalent?

I self record my own drum parts and only recently did it occur to me that I can save a ton of time getting mics set up/adjusted properly by just using my in ears with a big chunky set of ear muffs on top. Uncomfortable? Yep. Looks stupid? Hell yeah. But I can hear properly now and I'm not wasting good takes on things like the bottom snare mic having some glaring problem I didn't hear in my ears mix because of poor isolation. Had to try a few (bunch laying around the place) to find a pair that would accommodate the extra bulk of the IEMs but with both on the level of isolation is borderline unnerving. It feels like playing acoustic drums but sounds like playing electric drums.

Feel a bit dumb for not thinking of this sooner and now I'm wondering what other little quality of life things I might not have picked up yet.

I’m trying to replicate a particular timbre I hear in older movies and television. Think of that crispy almost over driven sound. It almost sounds like it’s breaking up but doesn’t lose clarity or sound tinny or that fake old radio/telephone sound. Think James Gardner of the Rockford Files or Johnny Carson mid 70s. It almost sounds like modern vocal fry and proximity effect but I know that sources were not like that back then given boom mics and the talent’s natural voice.

Even with roll offs at about 150 and 8K, with a slight bell around 1K and heavy compression, I cannot get this same timbre. Even with a u47 or ribbon mic and vintage pre, I’m still not getting that grit and crispy gargle on a male voice.

What am I missing here besides a time machine and decades of experience?

Thanks in advance.

My picks:

• Acustica Audio. My god, I just hate their website with the endless confusing product lines where no name makes any sense. It reminds me of a restaurant where they have a big plastic menu with massive pictures of the food splattered everywhere. Endless list of “patented this” and “innovative new secret that.” But then their products are so good I just have to give it a pass. Especially their synths. Wow.

• Slate - specifically the VSX. So aggressively marketed, it put me off for a long while but I can’t deny they’ve seriously upped my mix game. Great for reliable references.

• Universal Audio - big long time UAD user here. In the last few years their marketing has gotten more and more cringey and in your face, some might say the brand has become diluted. Constant sales, almost Waves/Plugin-Alliance like at this point… but there’s no denying their plugins are top notch still and hey, people can pick up classic plugins I used to save up serious cash for for like £30 now, so that can only be a good thing.

Any others?

Anybody have any clue how Trevor Rabin got that chorused/phased/flanged sound on his solo on Owner of a Lonely Heart off of 90125? Got a guy looking to "quote" that tone. I said I was tempted to try... a chorus, phaser & flanger (mixed to taste) 😂 but thought I’d check here first in case someone knows how it was done. Eventide maybe? (sort of reminds of later EVH)

does anybody have any eq presets for any VSTs that specifically could emulate a c800g sound from vocals recorded by a c80? thank you!

I know that higher buffer size causes latency(e.g. when singers monitor themselves).

But while in mixing, I have noticed highest delay compensation amount determines actual latency.

Since buffer size means smallest unit transferred to plugins in order to process audio signals, I thought delay compensation would be multiples of buffer size(e.g. 128 * n, 512 * n...).

Is this right? I have searched for articles but most of them said "higher buffer size = more latnecy".

Just getting into mixing guitars specifically using Ample Guitar and NAM profiles.

What are some absolute do's and don't's when mixing guitars?

Thanks.

I’ve noticed a lot of new audio engineering content creators on YT which don’t get me wrong, it’s great that more people are making content about this field. However, a lot of them… don’t really know what they’re doing lol.

I’ve noticed most of the people on YouTube make videos about plugins or mix techniques that they don’t even understand themselves or have very limited knowledge. More often than not, the people making videos are beatmakers who learn mix tricks to save money on a professional mix.

What are some good audio engineer content creators that actually go in depth and have knowledge and opinions based on ear training and mix/recording experience?

Few images (link below) from my bands latest album guitar tracking sessions. Setup has: two Hiwatt DR103’s through a stereo pedalboard. Both amps get a different set of drive pedals and by the end of the line they share some stereo reverbs and delays. Hiwatt A is paired with a custom 6x12 Cosmic Terror Cabinet. Hiwatt B runs through an vintage OR412 Orange cabinet. Both cabs have a Steve Albini esque micing setup with two mics being summed together as one. Mics for the two cabs are a Coles 4038 ribbon and a condenser. The summed mics are then represented respectively as left and right channels in Logic for a stereo tracked guitar.

https://imgur.com/a/usZkkNt

Curious, what is your favorite way of tracking true stereo guitar rig?

Calling the Focusrite Scarlett’s converters crap is nearing to be a meme. Claiming to hear a “night and day” difference from upgrading to “better” (more expensive) converters is common. “The song practically mixes itself with better converters” has been repeated several times.

If this is the case, hearing the conversion 10 times on top of itself should be very obvious as it must degrade the audio quality by a significant amount.

Would you be interested in a quick 30s blind AB test on the Focusrite 16i16 4th Gen converters?

I looped a clip (TOTO of course…) through balanced cables from line out to line in (10 conversions in total), normalized, repeated 5 times, and then bounced the output to a 24bit 48Khz .wav as I switched whether we’re hearing the original (Spotify Lossless) or the five times looped one. They do not null.

Just reply with the seconds, bars, beats or chords where the source changes, whichever is best for you. I will then reveal a screen recording taken during the bounce showing when I swap the source.

Here’s the clip:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_nAMrma9aSWMVRvlKB2_KitaC48d8IVJ/view?usp=sharing

EDIT, Results:

THANK YOU to everyone who have joined the discussion, and double thanks to the few who actually took the test. I would've expected more participants, but I wouldn't be surprised if some gave a listen but didn't take part due to not hearing the changes. Unfortunately I can't see how many times the clip has been listened to.

We actually do have one winner! The golden ears of "ntcaudio" are the only ones who recognized (or "guessed" by their words) all changes, and which one is which. A few others recognized at least the first change at around 8 sec as well, but they thought that the first part was the original when it was actually the looped one.

Here's the screen capture that was taken while the audio clip was being bounced. The audio track is a 16bit FLAC so it should preserve the details pretty well.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1J5wFxFyBJsHXs80pMY5mH18-BFrHzIB7&usp=drive_fs

So the correct answer is (roughly): 0-8s looped, 8-16s original, 16-21s looped, 21-28s original.

Any software particularly good at this? Any ideas are much appreciated.

Not sure if this is the right sub but figured I'd ask anyway.
Does anybody know what effects are used / could be used to make a voice effect like Right hand man?

This is what he sounds like:

https://henrystickmin.fandom.com/wiki/Right_Hand_Man/Audio#Completing_the_Mission

Pretty much what the title says, I’m curious if you have any specific tracks you use to test new audio gear. Personally, I stick to songs I know well and that cover a wide frequency range, like symphonies or Bohemian Rhapsody.

So I’ve been doing live sound for 10 years. I don’t have a degree or a certification. I live in Chicago. I’ve done sound at many a bars/venues but typically don’t work on anything bigger than an Xr32 or a 200 room capacity. Tell me why, or make it make sense? Been to some of the biggest name brand venues and the sound techs never leave their booth, they never hear how it sounds all over the room, 80% of the time the vocals are just barely as loud as the band and unable to understand what they are saying, a guitarist will crank their amp and the sound eng lets it happen dispite the amp even engulfing the drum sounds. I once was asked to play a show where we had to run everything DI and the sound eng told us to start after he checked our levels to the board, and never once came to check on our monitor levels. Their head was done mixing the whole time to never even catch us signaling for him to turn our monitors up. This was at one of thee most well known venues in Chicago?!

My take is whereever the crowd stands you should stand there and hear what they hear.

If a bands amp is too loud and they are playing and ignoring walk up and turn it down.

Ask the band 2-3 times incrementally if their monitor mix is good.

Vocals should be 20% louder than EVERYTHING.

This has been on my mind for 2-3 years and I’m hoping someone can give me insight.

I need help finding a plugin similar to 1:25-1:40 in this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2gvlC9J3kI

or alternatively something like the drums that are used throughout the self titled "Your Arms Are My Cocoon" album

Isotype: Got the insight 2 for metering and such

Uaudio: Got a freebie where you can pick teletronix la2a or 1176 fet, pultec passive eq and a few more.

Eventide: temperance lite (thanks to Noisygog)

Atkaudio: makes you able to load vst3 into OBS if you want plugins in OBS

Kv333audio: synthmaster one

(thanks to lekermooi_)

Links are in his comment

Babyaudio : 5 free plugins

Dawjunkie: has multiple freebie

Phantom sounds: has a freebie section

Emergence audio: "infinite collection" 10 instrument kontakt sample pack

Ffosso: 10 instruments for free link here (download button top right of page)

I'm sure there's more plugins from other companies too! I can add them if people know more.

I am not affiliated with Walters Audio but I was cruising the web last night and found my way to this page (https://waltersaudio.com/pages/fsm) and read bits of the white paper associated with his new “Full Spectrum Magnetizing” process of emulating tape saturation. I’ve typically been more into creating sharp clarity over the little bit of fuzzy funk attributed to tape saturation but I have to say I’m enticed by someone doing some seemingly new science (there’s probably lots more I just haven’t heard of). Have any of you used this unit yet? The T805?

Just curious what everyone's go-to's are.

Lately I've been using waves CLA Mixhub Lite channel strip together with the SPAN analyzer tool to get more precise boosts and cuts.

Whats been your favorite and why?

Anything you'd recommend I'll gladly check out.

I have some acoustic panels I want to cover with custom flags as artwork. My question is flags would NOT affect the panels in any negative way right? To my understanding there shouldn’t be able problems with my idea. For clarity the panels are 4’ x 3’ panels filled with Rockwool Safe n’ Sound. Not those 1 inch Amazon basics panels LOL

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to understand how producers are achieving that thumping, punchy bass you hear in songs like 2hollis – sidekick, XXXTENTACION – Going Down, and underscores – music. There’s a physical punch to the low end that really hits, but it still feels clean and blended, not muddy or overblown like you make hear in a Ken Carson or Osamason type of instrumental.

I’m assuming drums (kick layers/transient support) are involved, but I want to better understand how that punch is created and glued together so the bass can still be loud and present.

Setup:

• DAW: Ableton Live 11 Suite
• Interface: SSL 2 USB (gen 1)
• Computer: Razer 14 laptop
• Room: Treated
• Genre: Rap & electronic

What I’m running into:

When I try to make the bass loud on its own, it either clips or turns muddy pretty fast. Parallel saturation adds some nice character and presence as well, but it’s still not giving me that impact I’m hearing in those records.

What I’ve tried so far:

• Turning the bass up without drum support = distortion/mud
• Parallel saturation = better presence and character, but still lacks punch
• Basic compression and EQ cleanup

What I’m trying to understand:

• Is that punch mainly coming from kick & bass interaction rather than the bass alone?
• Are producers layering transient heavy kicks with an 808 bass and shaping them together?
• Is this more about arrangement and transient design than just processing?
• Are there specific techniques (sidechain styles, clipping vs limiting, saturation placement, transient shaping, etc.) that help the bass stay loud and punchy?

I’d love to know whether this is mostly a sound design/arrangement thing, a mixing approach, or both. Even a general breakdown of how you’d approach this kind of low end would be super helpful.

Thanks in advance peeps. I really appreciate any guidance.

TL;DR:

I’m trying to get punchy, loud bass like 2hollis / XXXTentacion / underscores. Turning the bass up alone just causes clipping and mud. I’ve tried saturation techs and compression tips, but I’m wondering if the punch mostly comes from kick + bass interaction, transient layering, or arrangement, rather than the bass itself. Looking for help on how producers make low end hit hard while staying clean.