What rack gear could you not live without in your mixes?

[fragletrollet]

As much as I love my schmancy diy outboard, software sure is both convenient, cheap and practical. I do however struggle to have as much fun making tunes on the 'puter these days, as compared to noodling out on my modular/elektron setup. Not so much that the sound can't be reproduced digitally, it can, but that lovely workflow... no computer screen can make up for actually playing this thing I've designed and built to fit my personal workflow. Oh, and the analog mixer I built to sum/monitor it all on the way to my converters. Workflow > "sound quality" any day!


but I guess without my monitoring system none of it would be possible... ;=)

 

[Jelly]

tbh if you start labelling people as lazy etc based on their working practices then it's clearly offensive. I know this seems like "Management Speak' - You seem to prioritise process over outcome'.




Mmmm...you have a point wrt RHCP and LB there tbh Although I'm not clear on the timeline. I mean Andy Gill produced their debut (I believe there were 'disageements').



There you just being rude again for no good reason. You might think it's humorous. fwiw it's just not.

Alright, apparently I need to be more careful about how I speak(write) so I don't come off like a prick. I apologize. That's not my intension.

You seem to prioritise process over outcome'

I've heard this before. You may be right. I attempt to appreciate the person that's devoted themselves to build the perfect brick wall as much as the architect, knowing that they'll never be viewed the same. I'm very much a brick layer in this life, so I'm admittedly biased.

 

[Jelly]

I totally understand that you are not an Engineer, that have no experience whatsoever in this area , and also that you have no work or works that you can show/share.

It's clear that you have nothing useful to provide to this thread

Ouch, now who's being rude I am not a professional engineer nor at any point did I claim to be. Like I said, I'm a musician and a repair man(and a small business owner). I've offered my opinion to this thread whether you dub it worthy/useful or not. I'm sorry I can't immediately drop everything to show you some of my mixes. I don't have the luxury of spending my work days on the beach.

 

[Newmarket]

Whoops, if you like to work on the beach then you should work in Brighton UK. Iconic beach and as it's shingle you won't get sand in your laptop / headphones / shoes / food
Those Portuguese beaches - the details evade me atm but a shortish train journey from Lisbon and also Porto are wonderful though. And I'm not even a beach/sun person

 

[Jelly]

I totally understand that you are not an Engineer, that have no experience whatsoever in this area , and also that you have no work or works that you can show/share.

It's clear that you have nothing useful to provide to this thread

Here are some of my ideas for you to eviscerate. These are obviously rough and most are longer than they will end up being. There are plenty of clicks and pops to clean up after I decide the idea is worth pursuing and what will work together on an album. My process tends to start with an improvisation, often on something I'm repairing, then it gets put in a folder for a few months so I can forget about it. Then I'll listen back later with fresh ears and see if anything inspires me. This is obviously not pop music so if your looking for something catchy, to tap your foot to, then you've come to the wrong place. This is more for people that like to go on solo camping trips with 3 grams of mushrooms. I'm trying to hypnotize. There's a fine line between subtle and boring; I don't claim to be a master at differentiating the two.

AF cs-80: This one needs a lot of work. I haven't figured out how to start this one though it will probably start with a location recording of Cicadas since the H910 grainy bit reminds me of that noise. I'm playing with a theme for the first time in awhile. The transitions need work. I'm going for a bedroom/budget version of early Alice Coltrane string sounds married with Wayne Siegel piano and a stab at musique concrète. I aim high, hoping to land somewhere that's still presentable. My plate reverb used to be under-tensioned, which gave it a nice distortion that I miss since I fixed it. It sounds smoother now. The tape manipulation is done on my A77.

EML Chimes:This is a short clip from a Tony Conrad inspired drone I probably won't use. The swirly scrape noise is the thing I mentioned that came from a scratchy pot on my Echolette NG51 tape delay into a phaser I built designed by J. Haible.

Raga:This is pretty close to being done. The first half is a disintegrating SOS tape loop from running my EP-3 into my RE-301 to get stereo. The textured swells are done on my A77. The lapsteel has some plate(pre tensioned).

Synthex Drone:A short clip of a song. Me playing with a culture vulture. The rain sound texture is an Orban 111B spring with some processing. This has the scratchy pot into the H910. The rhythmic bits are playing a Sample and hold into the resonance on a son of tide flanger(another Haible design).

Synthex ambient:This one has the plate pre tension on the resonant playing in the background and the proper tension on the "string" swells.

Harmonic Drone:I abandoned this idea awhile back because my friend that played the tabla was a little too loose though I may come back to it. I was going for a Craig Leon meets X.Y.R. sorta thing. Some nice aliasing on the H910 and some interesting Swirling artifacts into the RE-301

rough mix bits 3-27-23

I'm open to any useful comments and less useful trash talking

 

[Whoops]

Whoops, if you like to work on the beach then you should work in Brighton UK. Iconic beach and as it's shingle you won't get sand in your laptop / headphones / shoes / food

I’ve been in Brighton mate, you are right for sure, I will not bring any sand home

I promise that when I go to Brighton next time that I will mix there and show you guys the resulted mixes.

People feel the Portuguese beaches give you more silky highs and extra extension and roundness in the Lower end of your mixes.
While in Brighton the sound is more Tube like, with rich odd and even harmonics and with a nice vocal Mid lift.

I should tour different Beaches around the world to experience the different sound a mix can have from that particular place

Those Portuguese beaches - the details evade me atm but a shortish train journey from Lisbon and also Porto are wonderful though. And I'm not even a beach/sun person

You should come for a visit, I’m sure you will have fun and enjoy some really nice spots. Best time to visit is between April and September when the weather is nice.
I’m based in Lisbon, so if you come to Lisbon drop me a pm and I can show you around

 

[MicMaven]

I’ve been in Brighton mate, you are right for sure,

I should tour different Beaches around the world to experience the different sound a mix can have from that particular place

Ha! I, too, have been to Brighton, and it was lovely - BUT, even it pales compared to the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan, both as a beach and as a place to mix music, because we have what is called "Singing Sand" - a super fine (no stones) super clean pure sort of sand which produces a unique musical squeaking sound as one walks barefoot on the wet sand! No matter how good your beach is, this is the only place with "singing sand." What could be more appropriate for mixing music ?!?! Trust me on this one! Parenthetically, Lake Michigan is the larges body of fresh water that is completely in a single country. The sunsets are gorgeous.

Happy trails - Let me me know when you plan to visit and I will help you find the singularly best location for mixing and relaxing along the shore when you get here ! James - K8JHR

 

[Whoops]

No matter how good your beach is, this is the only place with "singing sand." What could be more appropriate for mixing music ?!?! Trust me on this one! Parenthetically, Lake Michigan is the larges body of fresh water that is completely in a single country. The sunsets are gorgeous.

Seems like a great and beautiful place to be inspired and creative.
I would love to visit for sure

Thank you

 

[MicMaven]

And keeping this discussion on topic, a bottle of good bourbon is another essential bit of studio gear. You can mix it with the bucket of coffee another guy considers essential.

But seriously folks, returning to the original subject:

Does anyone consider an AC power conditioner, with EMI/RFI, ripple and other filters, an essential piece of kit in the studio? Thanks. James.

 

[Electrobumps]

Does anyone consider an AC power conditioner, with EMI/RFI, ripple and other filters, an essential piece of kit in the studio? Thanks. James.

I have surge protect on all my power

 

[skipwave]

…Lake Michigan is the larges body of fresh water that is completely in a single country. The sunsets are gorgeous.

Continuing the sand tangent, I lived in Chicago a few blocks from the lake for 10 years. It’s not well known that Chicago has 26 miles of lakefront with lots beaches. The other side of Lake Michigan is lovely as well, with fine sand all around.

That sand is proof, nice things can happen by accident, which I hope will be a recurrent (to steal from Bjork) theme in this thread.

https://www.wbez.org/stories/how-ch...ine-sand/11920b0a-4044-4c3c-b554-659697dd59cd

 

[Whoops]

Does anyone consider an AC power conditioner, with EMI/RFI, ripple and other filters, an essential piece of kit in the studio? Thanks. James.

I have different experiences in this field:

- First studio I worked, a top notch studio, was built and thought after from the beginning with a separate power feed than the rest of the complex. It has Isolated power (big transformers) that receives feeds straight from the power company.
That studio was designed by Andy Munro.
Power is extremely clean over there, we never had any problems and no need for a power conditioner

- another studio I worked regularly was in an industrial area. It didn’t had Isolated power, neither a straight feed to the studio. Everything was noisy, and there were a lot of different noises coming and going, it was a bit random.
They bought a Furman Power Conditioner and installed it there, it didn’t solve any of the noise issues.

- In my Mixing/Mastering studio at home I use an “Online UPS”, in this type of UPS power always goes through the battery, so it regulates the input power and also includes noise filtering circuits to reduce electrical noise. I have zero noise or hum, everything is very clean, so I guess it works very well as a “Power Conditioner” also and provides me outbreak protection

 

[jasonallenh]

The Calrec PQ1549 EQ. It's almost impossible to make it sound bad on something. I think that a fully adjustable Q is just a bridge too far for me- more decisions than I want to have to make, so having a switchable hi/low is a godsend, and the bandwidth choices in that design are perfect. Jakob was definitely on to something with that EQ~!

 

[Jelly]

I totally understand that you are not an Engineer, that have no experience whatsoever in this area , and also that you have no work or works that you can show/share.

It's clear that you have nothing useful to provide to this thread

5+ listens and no response from anyone(thanks, scott2000). I guess I did okay? Do all these sounds seem simple enough to achieve ITB(I genuinely curious)? I know it can be more difficult to know how to mimic sounds like synths, where there's less of a preconceived notion of what they should sound like(unlike a snare for instance. I'm not saying all snares sound the same, but it might be easier to know what tools to reach for when you know what you're going for ahead of time? That's why I like ambient. There's no (often)lyrics to impose a story on the listener, but accompany's your story. There's no beat to immediately define the genre. When done well, it's subtle enough to not force attention, but rewards the the listener the more you take notice. It's dynamic and free of ego. Anyways, it's a new direction for me. I've been at it for a few years. Meanwhile the current project I'm working on just told me they got played on the Henry Rollins podcast. Easy listening by day, ear blistering harsh clipping by night.

 

[JMan]

Continuing the sand tangent, I lived in Chicago a few blocks from the lake for 10 years. It’s not well known that Chicago has 26 miles of lakefront with lots beaches. The other side of Lake Michigan is lovely as well, with fine sand all around.

That sand is proof, nice things can happen by accident, which I hope will be a recurrent (to steal from Bjork) theme in this thread.

https://www.wbez.org/stories/how-ch...ine-sand/11920b0a-4044-4c3c-b554-659697dd59cd

As a longtime Chicago resident who lives half a block off of one of the nicest south side beaches, I feel compelled to second this!

On the topic of the thread, not to be completely dull and obvious, but I could not live without a lot of I/O and AD/DA conversion. I don’t have the crazy expensive stuff myself because engineering is not my primary profession and so I can’t justify the cost (at least not to my wife), but I have made an effort to find the best intersection of quality conversion (a fraught internet topic if ever there was one) and channel count, as I generally prefer a hybrid approach that allows me to use all of the DIY gear that I’ve built!

 

[MicMaven]

5+ listens and no response from anyone(thanks, scott2000). I guess I did okay?

Um ... ahem ... only because you expressly ask for it ... my mother told me to keep quiet if I have nothing nice to say. JHR


PS - while I am not the Thread Police, it is sorta kinda impolite to hijack a thread to discuss a completely different topic. You have converted a thread about essential rack gear into a critique of your art. JHR

 

[JMan]

I wasn't even able to listen. When I clicked the link, it said the playlist was unavailable.

 

[Newmarket]

I’ve been in Brighton mate, you are right for sure, I will not bring any sand home

I promise that when I go to Brighton next time that I will mix there and show you guys the resulted mixes.

People feel the Portuguese beaches give you more silky highs and extra extension and roundness in the Lower end of your mixes.
While in Brighton the sound is more Tube like, with rich odd and even harmonics and with a nice vocal Mid lift.

I should tour different Beaches around the world to experience the different sound a mix can have from that particular place





You should come for a visit, I’m sure you will have fun and enjoy some really nice spots. Best time to visit is between April and September when the weather is nice.
I’m based in Lisbon, so if you come to Lisbon drop me a pm and I can show you around

Back to beaches and holiday locations
Yeah been to Lisbon twice (and Porto once). Love Lisboa and environs. Prob our favourite destination.
Alfama, Fado, Sintra, Cascais, Nata in Belem, 28 Tram (Well we are tourists there ). Love it all

 

[Whoops]

Back to beaches and holiday locations
Yeah been to Lisbon twice (and Porto once). Love Lisboa and environs. Prob our favourite destination.
Alfama, Fado, Sintra, Cascais, Nata in Belem, 28 Tram (Well we are tourists there ). Love it all

Nice, so you know a lot, you have been to the most touristic places. Actually unfortunately those places are becoming too touristic and cheesy at the moment and Portuguese are avoiding it.
They are for sure cool anyway.

Next time you can here I can show you around some other less touristic places that are great, and are more real Portugal.
I can even take you to the beach that "I could not live without in my mixes"

 

[Newmarket]

Nice, so you know a lot, you have been to the most touristic places. Actually unfortunately those places are becoming too touristic and cheesy at the moment and Portuguese are avoiding it.
They are for sure cool anyway.

Next time you can here I can show you around some other less touristic places that are great, and are more real Portugal.
I can even take you to the beach that "I could not live without in my mixes"

Yes. Lots of other great places/ things too. But I thought I'd better stop at the obvious !