Recording In Progress | The Music Documentary That Showcases The Genius Behind Our Favorite Songs

[Dinosaur David B]

Cool docco for those into this stuff.

[Dr Nick]

Doesn't seem to be available over here, just a trailer. 

Shame, looks interesting. 

[M11]

I was able to watch it using a VPN. My main takeaway from the documentary is that the real value in studios nowadays lies in the engineers working in them. You can have excellent home recording gear and be good at recording, mixing, and mastering, but a seasoned professional will make a difference. However, is it worth the effort and investment in an age when most people listen to music on earbuds, smartphone speakers, or laptop speakers?

[Dinosaur David B]

I was able to watch it using a VPN. My main takeaway from the documentary is that the real value in studios nowadays lies in the engineers working in them. You can have excellent home recording gear and be good at recording, mixing, and mastering, but a seasoned professional will make a difference. 
 

Not surprising that that's the prevailing opinion you get when you interview Engineers. 
Of course they can do better. And theoretically, you should get better sounds in a real studio.

OTOH, I can tell you I did NOT get better results the last time I was in a real studio, recording to real tape, with a paid engineer in (pre-digital) 1986. The drums came out lousy, and the engineer couldn't capture my bass sound at all. We couldn't spend too much time on it because the clock was ticking, and the experience cost us about $2K per song for that disappointing result. Nothing about those tracks or mixes came out anywhere near as good as what I get these days in my home studios. 

That said, real producers in real, tuned control rooms should be able to mix better, and certainly faster than inexperienced folks in home studios. Things like the Slate mixing headphones have leveled that playing field a lot for the amateur. But you still need to learn and know how to engineer and produce.
 
But as you mention, Mario, how much better? Is that amount of better worth your money? Or worth a label's money that you will owe them back later. 

If you can do it yourself, to your satisfaction, it's probably not worth the money. If you can't, maybe it is.

That said, I agree that it sucks for these guys that they are working for 1980s rates -- if they can stay employed at all. 
 

[Dr Nick]

Where I fall down is: everything I've done has been quieter than pre-recorded material, because when I finish off I (based on advice) don't let the track stray into the red to avoid clipping/distortion. I'm just using my laptop, so is it simply a case of processing power, or am I overthinking it? 

[Dinosaur David B]

Where I fall down is: everything I've done has been quieter than pre-recorded material, because when I finish off I (based on advice) don't let the track stray into the red to avoid clipping/distortion. I'm just using my laptop, so is it simply a case of processing power, or am I overthinking it? 

 

Guessing you're not Mastering it your recordings. In the simplest form, that means putting a multi band compressor on the output bus and squashing the shit out of it. That gets your volume back and makes it sound like modern recordings. The industry standard software for this is Ozone. The latest version's AI will analyze your track and do most of the work for you. 
 

[Dr Nick]

There are various preset mastering options in GB/Logic, I go through them until I find one I like (often a Pop one), then fiddle with the EQ. But I don't do much with the compressor, tends to be the preset. 

[Dinosaur David B]

There's usually a Makeup Gain knob somewhere to turn things back up.

[Dr Nick]

Just found this: 



Might play around with some old material, see what it comes out like.