Just cant seem to get proffesional sound.

[VitaminD]

- when you create a mix -- listen to it every which way. ...in the shitter...

IN??

[SaviorNeeded]

Hey, that's how I do it!

Tom

[SaviorNeeded]

Wait a minute--maybe that explains a few things...

Tom

[sonicsmurf]

[John-Paul]

My girlfriend says that nobody can compete with what goes on when I'm in there.

[Emoshag]

You want to get a professional sound? And you are new at this?

1. Build/Arrange/Modify a room that can be used as a control room. Most home studio owners didn't start with a good room. They started in a bedroom or a corner of the basement. But trying to get a good sound in a crappy room is an effort in futility. Things as simple as moving the computer/workstation to the center of the wall can eliminate bad pre-reflections to one side of the monitors.

2. Buy/Use a good monitoring system. If you are talking about mastering (which is an art and a science both) you will need to use a good system for monitoring. The best initial investment an engineer can have is a good set of monitors. You don't need to spend a fortune (look at the Roland DM20s... around 250 bucks for the pair and are great for a micro monitor system... I use them as a reference for my workstation). After all.... you can use a multi million dollar setup for controllers, outboards and recorders... but it all is worthless if you are monitoring on a home stereo or headphones.

3. Listen to other records of all kinds on this monitoring system. Learn the way the room works specifically with the setup. Basically, practice listening before practicing anything else.

Unfortunatly, and I hope this doesn't sound contrived... but recording and mixing are nothing compared to the difficulty of mastering. I think I am a great engineer... but I am a so-so mastering engineer at best. It is something that takes experience, patience and a little bit of education. There are some decent audio coursework books available and a few decent reference documents to be purchased... but basically it just takes TONS of practice. I don't master my own stuff because I know I am not near as good at it as "professional" mastering engineers. If you are doing home recordings for the purpose of producing a product for the community... send it to an engineer. Mastering can cost as low as 100 bucks for a 60 minute CD from a lot of mastering places.

I really didn't mean this to sound discouraging.... but the most important thing I have learned is that you must record to the best of your ability even if it doesn't sound professional or CD like. Get the ingredients sounding as good as possible then worry about mixing and mastering when all is said and done. Then practice your ass off mixing.

[Qaiphyx]

Wow, thanks alot for all the replies.

[TeeLangSun]

There's a certain "produced" sound that I wonder if it's at all possible to achieve with the current quality of software. I know that if I use sounds which are pre-processed with this sound/quality, the quality does remain when sequenced, but if I start with dry samples, I can't get close to this smooth lush sound that I hear in pro recordings. Of course, this is not necessary to have a good record, but it's a sound that I personally want to have and right now, I know that I could get it simply by purchasing a keyboard workstation, but what about software only? Is there anything in software that creates this sound. I listen to the demos of all the newly released software sequencers like Reason, P5, and FL Studio but I never hear this lush sound which seems to mostly effect the percussions and drums

[Left Headphone]

Use good samples... Like TLS said pre-processed is the way to good for people like me without the perfect studio.

[Emoshag]

Yes, if you can't wait to make that slick "My label paid the $28,000 fee for spending 2 months in a professional studio (of which I will have to pay back through questionable business practices on the labels end and further my own personal debt), then use only pre-engineered sounds and samples.

An old rule of thumb... Garbage in, garbage out.

[Hernan]

There's a certain "produced" sound that I wonder if it's at all possible to achieve with the current quality of software. I know that if I use sounds which are pre-processed with this sound/quality, the quality does remain when sequenced, but if I start with dry samples, I can't get close to this smooth lush sound that I hear in pro recordings. Of course, this is not necessary to have a good record, but it's a sound that I personally want to have and right now, I know that I could get it simply by purchasing a keyboard workstation, but what about software only? Is there anything in software that creates this sound. I listen to the demos of all the newly released software sequencers like Reason, P5, and FL Studio but I never hear this lush sound which seems to mostly effect the percussions and drums

By the way, where do you buy your samples? I'm also looking for a lush drum sound and noticed the opposite effect: most of the sample vendors I have seen sell samples that seem to have been processed to sound cheap. "In your face", if you may

Mind you, I'm talking about the MP3 samples the vendors have for preview, but even on an MP3 you can notice if they have sent the hi hats through a Big Muff Pi.

L

[sonicsmurf]

I'm also looking for a lush drum sound

Hi Lorenzo, well, I listened to this and since those drums (the DW kit from "DFH Superior") sound very real, I probably buy that sample module too.

[M'Snah]

You want to get a professional sound? And you are new at this?[...]

Of course the advice you give is sound, but nobody is going to invest in a new / redecorated room and expensive mixers, when they haven't set their first few steps on the mixing/mastering path.
If you don't know what you're doing, expensive monitors won't help, but if you start learning about improving the sound, there will be a point where you definately want to improve your toys, room and monitors. But it's not the first step.

Im using FL studio 4.5 and I cant seem to get that proffessional sound, I have downloaded some extra sounds and tried them out and stuff, but it still just doesnt sound right, what am I missing? Is it FL studio or am I just not experienced enough?

What do you know about mixing/mastering? Just starting? or did you already read and experiment a lot but it just won't work? If you're just starting, it will help to read up on mixing/mastering, either search this forum or the internet, or e.g by reading Bob Katz' book (or other good books about mastering), to get a better understanding what you're doing. There are no magical presets (or magical sounds) that will get you there without investing time and experimenting and learning.

[luxgud]

And the answer is: get BBE SonicMaximizer (i's about $70) and put it across your output. It clarifies your mix and boosts the loudness - it 'polishes' the sound in a 'pro' way. Download a demo and see how good it is for yourself.

This is only a quick fix really, people do this mixing shit for a living (apparently) but if you have a proper job and you just do this for a hobby then what I have suggested will amaze you.

I wish you luck.

[jens]

There's a certain "produced" sound that I wonder if it's at all possible to achieve with the current quality of software. I know that if I use sounds which are pre-processed with this sound/quality, the quality does remain when sequenced, but if I start with dry samples, I can't get close to this smooth lush sound that I hear in pro recordings. Of course, this is not necessary to have a good record, but it's a sound that I personally want to have and right now, I know that I could get it simply by purchasing a keyboard workstation, but what about software only? Is there anything in software that creates this sound. I listen to the demos of all the newly released software sequencers like Reason, P5, and FL Studio but I never hear this lush sound which seems to mostly effect the percussions and drums

if the percussion-/drum-samples are from acoustic instruments it might have something to do with the mics, pre-amplifiers, compressors, eq's etc. that were used for recording them.