Recording guitar & bass using T7 at

[Watchful]

Well, this is the big question. Mixing is very much an art, which is a polite way of saying "it's not as hard as people make it out to be, but not as easy as most people think." It's also a way of saying "For every 20 people mixing, there are 30 ways to solve a problem."

There is, alas, no single straightforward process to mixing, or it would have been replaced by software decades ago. Even if you find a method that works really well on one project, you'll likely flip and do a totally different process on the next. That's why so much information seems contradictory! YouTube can be a great source, but look for video produced by people older than 30. That sounds really bad, but there's truth to it (and I'm far from the only person who says this): a lot of younger guys focus on hip hop and EDM, which uses very different techniques and instruments. If you're doing more traditional instruments, you want someone who has literally used preamps and analog mixing equipment as well as software and digital: they're awesome at fast workarounds and problem-solving tips based on the nightmare situations and crappy equipment we used back in the day.

Some pointers:

1. Gain staging is key, and first. You're already well on your way. If your input is good, your output is so much easier to deal with.
2. Compress where you need to. Look at the individual track, at the group, and at the master bus.
3. EQ where you need to. Do you EQ or compress first? Generally, if your recording is good, compress then EQ. If your recording has issues, EQ first to clean them up then compress.
4. Watch your panning. Don't center everything, and don't push everything out hard left and right. Try to create a rainbow of pan positions for your tracks so that the listener has a hard-left to center to hard-right blend of interesting things to hear. This sounds dumb, but you hear panning differently in headphones than you do from external speakers, so a good spectrum of pan positions helps fill that out. In other words, have vocal tracks centered so they sound up front. Put pads hard left and hard right. Put basses and guitars halfway left and right, put backup vocals a little further out, and put drums just off center.

MAYBE: you should definitely mess with other positions and have fun. Just remember: the more centered your panning is, the more the listener perceives it as closer and to the center. By spreading panning settings out, the listener now hears the "band" spread out across the stage. By using reverb on individual tracks, (more reverb means further; less means closer), you can trick the listener into hearing depth of a room. With the right blend of panning and reverb, you can nearly create the impression of live musicians standing in specific parts of the stage. Like I said, experiment!!!

5. Set your levels. You might need to automate some tracks, especially vocals, to make certain words, phrases, or parts of the sound louder or software. "Riding" is where you adjust up-and-down throughout the whole performance to rapidly adjust the level of the instrument.

I'm leaving out 99% of the process, but these are the most skeletal steps, and you can experiment with the order you do them in with the exception of the first step (gain staging). With this in mind, a lot of the texts you read and videos you watch begin to make a bit more sense. It's okay to disagree! If the author/speaker is talking too much about peak gain or RMS, skip it. If he's saying stuff that just doesn't feel right ("always apply a filter on this type of track"), skip it. Those techniques work for them, but you need to get a process you like.

Check out Rob's videos on YouTube ("Musician on a Mission"). He provides some really great, simple tips and explains why you should follow some rules and break others. Very well organized, and ton of information. He relies on Logic a bit, but you can skip the Logic-specific ones. Usually, he's very good about explaining how to do things on any DAW, even though his video might use Logic as an example.

[I will follow]

Hello and thanks again for taking the time to provide all this information -as always it's much appreciated.

I've had a look at the Musician on a Mission on Youtube and I like the way he explains everything. I'm going to stick with this and see how we get on.

I never used to bother about this type of thing but I'm now enjoying learning about all these ways to improve my demos.

Thanks again.

[Watchful]

You're totally welcome! I will promise you the more you get into mixing, the better you get at music. It just is, and no matter how good a musician you are, and you obviously are, you still "improve" by understanding the sound process. Have fun, and thanks for joining us!

[I will follow]

Great - thanks!

[I will follow]

Hello

When using both stomp and rack effects when recording guitar, are there any guidelines as to what order these should be in? The stomps and racks effects are in different places so I'm not sure how best to order them.

When recording or mixing using T7, is there a correct way to order the plugins? For example I have a track which has a volume & pan plugin, level meter plugin, a compressor plugin, an EQ plugin and an Amplitube 4 plugin all sitting in the mixer section of the track.

Any guidance on the above would be much appreciated.

Thanks

[spoontechnique]

You'd want to follow a logical signal chain that you'd see in the real world. So for example:

Guitar input > Amp simulation > compressor or EQ > Volume/Pan > Level meter.

Picture a real recording setup. The guitar plugs into stompboxes, then into the amp/cab, then that's recorded by a mic into a mixing desk. Mixing desks usually have a compressor insert before or after the EQ, an EQ, then a pan knob and a fader.

[I will follow]

Thanks. Do rack effects come after stomp effects or does it matter in this case?

[Watchful]

How would you do it if you were using hardware versions? That's up to you, I suppose, and T7 can replicate that easily. Spoontechnique has got a classic setup, so you can't go wrong with that.

[I will follow]

Thanks again everybody!

[I will follow]

Good evening

I have a quick question I wondered if you could help with:

I use a Focusrite Solo 3rd Gen audio interface with Amplitube 4.

I'm trying to record some electric guitar but when I monitor the input levels in Amplitube 4 , the level is averaging at around -10 to -5 db

The output level is averaging below 06db

The gain level on the audio interface is barely at a quarter and showing green, but even when I move it further down or even to almost 0, I still can't get it to average at around the -18db level.

Am I missing something here?

Is the input level in Amplitube 4 only affected by the gain setting on the audio interface?

Any advice on this issue would be apreciated.

Thank you

[astey]

Good evening

I have a quick question I wondered if you could help with:

I use a Focusrite Solo 3rd Gen audio interface with Amplitube 4.

I'm trying to record some electric guitar but when I monitor the input levels in Amplitube 4 , the level is averaging at around -10 to -5 db

The output level is averaging below 06db

The gain level on the audio interface is barely at a quarter and showing green, but even when I move it further down or even to almost 0, I still can't get it to average at around the -18db level.

Am I missing something here?

Is the input level in Amplitube 4 only affected by the gain setting on the audio interface?

Any advice on this issue would be apreciated.

Thank you

Hardware: Turn down the volume of your guitar( on the guitar itself). Some guitars got a strong signal and don't need any physical pre-amps.
Software: place a volume/gain plugin before your amp simulation. turn it down to your liking.

[I will follow]

Great - thanks

Should average input be around -18db?

Does it matter if the input signal is hitting around the -10db mark as long my output is peaking below -6db and my VU meter is peaking at 0db?

Thanks

[I will follow]

Hello

Are the following 2 plugins good enough to mix my tracks (guitar, bass, drums and maybe a bit of keyboard)?

Waves Pultec EQP-1A
Waves SSL G- Master Buss Stereo Compressor

Any other suggestions for anything better particularly for guitar and bass and drums would be appreciated.

I don't want to be spending a fortune on compressors/EQ's and both the above get pretty good reviews

Thanks