Any of you who didn't catch my earlier blog entry (I think back in October) about Lamb Of God releasing the multi-track files to their album "Sacrament", I'll give a quick re-cap. They've released the files, and you can mix the songs yourself. You can add stuff, take stuff away, ect. It's pretty cool.
Well, I got it for Christmas. I've toyed with it for about 30 seconds, and here's my first reaction.
For only $14.95, it's worth it, but it has it's limitations.
The drums are already processed for you, and are on a single stereo file. The other instruments are likewise. They fit all the audio files in mp3 format on an audio CD.
Now, I know you may be thinking "YUCK! MP3'S THAT ARE ALREADY MIXED?", and I agree, but think about this. Like I said, it's only $14.95. What do you expect, every single snare drum hit on it's own wav file track unprocessed? After all, it's packaged with the album, so you're not just buying the multi-track files.
Also, consider this. If they were to include all the individual tracks in wav format, they'd need to put it on several data dvd's. I for one have not put a dvd drive on my pc that I got refurbished over the summer, so if this had been the case, I'd have been screwed. Also, making it full of data dvd's would've skyrocketed the price. This way, the average joe who has Audacity or Garageband can get their hands on the files and start working on their mixing skills.
So was it what I expected? No. Do I still think it's well worth it? Hell yeah. Go out and buy it, as I feel it's a great tool to help hone your mixing skills.
Currently
listening
:
Sacrament: Tour Edition
By
Lamb of God
Release date: 04 December, 2007
Adobe Audition 3 - using the 30 day free trial. ME LIKEE!
Ok, I'm using the free 30 day trial of adobe audition 3. Figured that since it was out now, I'd give it a shot.
I like.
I want.
I'm glad the upgrade is only a hundred bucks.
I haven't delved too deeply yet, but the coolest thing I've found in my three minutes of use is that in the two track editor, you can boost the gain of a selection just by selecting what you want, then adjusting a knob that appears at the top of the screen. Makes Normalization pointless, and this is a lot quicker!
Here's a screen shot of what I'm talking about.
And another cool feature that I'm dying to try is that Audition 3 supports virtual instruments. 1.5, which I use on the show, does not. So you can imagine my dismay at the fact that even if I wanted to, I couldn't use something like EZ Drummer! Well, version 3 supports those things, and I'm going to try a free virtual drumming package that was talked about recently on PSN. I'll keep you posted.
I'm not going into podfade, so don't worry. Getting some personal things taken care of, as I said in the last episode, and hopefully it shouldn't be long before I can get back in the saddle and bring another episode to you. Sit tight.
Hey, remember how I said at the end of episode 11 that I'd need some time before the next episodes came out? Well, it's been almost a month now, and I'm still working on a few things, but I wanted to update everyone on what's going on.
First of all, I've decided that the next episode will be my first in a series on recording Acoustic Guitar. I've been writing notes and brainstorming this one for a while, and it's time to take it off the back burner and do it.
Second of all, the following episode may be about reversing and some of the cool effects you can make with it (reverbs, textures, ect.)
Third, the mic shootouts are coming due, and I need to get the mics back to the manufacturers, so I'll be working on that.
Finally, I'll be starting a series of episodes explaining how I recorded and mixed "Preachin To The Choir (Cause They're Gettin Outta Line)" from Siddius. This should include an interview with the band about the recording process as part of the first episode, followed by episodes that break down each individual aspect of the mixing process for this song (the bass drum, guitars, vocals, ect.). I'd talk about one thing per episode so I can really go in depth on it. You'll be SICK of the song by the time it's over.
Oh yeah, Siddius is giving the multi-track files for the song for you to mix, and I'll release them during the episode where I interview them.
After that, it's all up in the air. I may sprinkle a guest segment in there somewhere to fill some time if need be, so feel free to make a segment and send it in to me.
Oh yeah, no word on where yet, or if / when it'll happen, but I may be relocating in the future. The show may be put off for a bit while I get that taken care of, but I'll let you know if that happens. Maybe I'll find another host to take over until I get things finished.....who knows. It's a thought. Then again, it's ALL just a thought right now.
Hang in there guys, and keep it metal. For those of you who celebrate it, I hope you had a good Thanksgiving.
Ok, here's an mp3 player loaded with the final mix of Preachin To The Choir from Siddius, as well as the four rough mixes I'd made before the final mix was done. The fourth rough hasn't been posted here yet, so this is your first time hearing it.
I know it's getting redundant, but some of you are asking for me to do an episode on the mixing process, so I figure this will be interesting to those who want that, as they can hear how the mix evolved from it's original state to what it currently is.
Since I'm about to do a series of shows using the song I recorded for Siddius, I figured I'd post these vids of them that I found on youtube. I also put them on The Metal Shop's Youtube Channel! I did this for two reasons. First is to help promote the band (not that they won't already get a bunch of free promotion from me and the show, but hey), and two because I thought they were cool clips.
The first one is of them playing at a local all ages venue / youth center called Rhino's. I don't know the name of the song, but it's a pretty good quality live clip. I'm guessing they were recording the board line-out feed or something to get the audio, but I tried that once with this band at this venue and it didn't sound this good. So who knows. It's odd to me because it's a better quality recording (in my opinion) than the ones they had on their myspace before I recorded them last month. I think they should've posted that one if they had the audio from it! Anyway..........Keep an eye on the bassists' right hand. His fingers are something to watch. They remind me of a taranchula pouncing it's prey! It's fucking awesome!
Anyway, the second video looks like it came from a cell phone or something. But I posted it because it (coincidentally) features about 30 seconds of the song we recorded! The audio sucks, and so does the video capture, but you can hear it's the same song!
Anyway, these guys were great to work with. They are very talented for being a bunch of high school kids. I've got my final mix of the song ready to go, and I'll be posting it here soon. In the mean time, head over to my freelance profile to hear it and other work that I've done.
Hoping I can have the band on the show soon when I feature their song. That'll be fun if I can get that all worked out.
Using some of the tips I learned while doing research on drum mixing for a future episode, I was able to dramatically improve the overall sound of the mix of "Preachin". Here's a player with all 3 of my rough mixes in it, from most recent to the fist one.
I'm very happy with the mix. All that I have left to do really is to do some track clean-ups (getting rid of amp hum, pitch correcting flub ups, fixing the false start at the beginning, things like that) and the song is done in my opinion. I may add a few things later, but I think this mix is pretty brutal so far.
And again, I'll be detailing what I do to the mix in future episodes.
I was doing some research on drum mixing tips, and I found this article that showed a picture of a good eq kick drum curve. I tried it on the kick in the siddius song, and it's helped. I'll post samples later.
I've been working on the mix for Siddius's "Preachin". Here's an mp3 player so you can hear what I've done so far. I've also included the old rough mix for you to compare it too. There's still a lot of editing I need to do to the audio tracks themselves in the mean time, so sit tight.
I'm thinking that I'll be going through this entire song step by step in future episodes..
Don't forget that The Metal Shop Podcast is being played on The Doogz Entertainment Network, which has been the sponsor of the last few episodes of The Metal Shop. I'll be on every Monday at 7:00 p.m. eastern, which translates into 4:00 p.m. pacific for those of you who are bad at math. lol.
Check out the programming schedule here to find out what other shows are on, and what times you can hear them. If there's not a show scheduled, it's likely just automated random music playing. Keep in mind that The DEN still has open timeslots and is looking for talented DJ's who are interested in hosting their own show. So if you're interested, log on to doogz.net to apply!
