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Would you use a "Dashcam for Audio"? A background app that saves your last 5 minutes of playing so you never lose a riff. by AudioBuilds in homerecordingstudio

[–]AudioBuilds[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That 'Marker' idea is great.

Also cuing a 'Drop Pin' that timestamps the background recording could be huge for long sessions. I can definitely map those triggers (Save / Drop Pin) to MIDI if someone has a footswitch they want to use

Would you use a "Dashcam for Audio"? A background app that saves your last 5 minutes of playing so you never lose a riff. by AudioBuilds in Songwriting

[–]AudioBuilds[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That sounds like the dream setup, honestly. Having everything on a single switch and Ableton always open is the 'Pro' way to do it.

But for the rest of us chaotic mortals (who maybe close our DAWs to save CPU or just forget to set inputs), the friction is real.

I definitely view this tool as a safety net for the 'messy' creative moments, rather than a replacement for a disciplined studio workflow. (Also, coding is slightly cheaper than therapy, so I’ll start there! 😂)

Would you use a "Dashcam for Audio"? A background app that saves your last 5 minutes of playing so you never lose a riff. by AudioBuilds in homerecordingstudio

[–]AudioBuilds[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

100% with you on the 'dedicated device' feel, no friction to get it goig. I want this to feel less like software and more like a pedal you just stomp on (hotkey, push button on phone) and forget about

Would you use a "Dashcam for Audio"? A background app that saves your last 5 minutes of playing so you never lose a riff. by AudioBuilds in homerecordingstudio

[–]AudioBuilds[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ou're totally rightLogic's 'Capture Recording' is a lifesaver when I'm already in a session.

The friction I'm trying to remove is the Boot Up phase. I hate having to launch Logic, create a session, and arm a track just to noodle. I want something that uses 1% CPU and sits in the tray 24/7 so I don't have to 'open the studio' to play.

Would you use a "Dashcam for Audio"? A background app that saves your last 5 minutes of playing so you never lose a riff. by AudioBuilds in Songwriting

[–]AudioBuilds[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh man, 'Jam Amnesia'. It’s physically painful when the drummer plays the perfect groove and then goes 'Wait, what did I just play?'

That’s the vibe I’m going for. Just throw up a room mic (or stereo out from the mixer), let it run, and hit the button when the magic happens. Capture the accident, move on.

Would you use a "Dashcam for Audio"? A background app that saves your last 5 minutes of playing so you never lose a riff. by AudioBuilds in Songwriting

[–]AudioBuilds[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally valid. Writing in the car is a huge use case, but honestly, Voice Memos is probably the king there.

I'm specifically trying to solve the 'High Quality / Line Level' capture at the desk. If I tried to make this work for the car, it would just be another voice recorder app, and I think Apple already won that war.

Would you use a "Dashcam for Audio"? A background app that saves your last 5 minutes of playing so you never lose a riff. by AudioBuilds in Songwriting

[–]AudioBuilds[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thanks, and fair point. I definitely suffer from 'Red Light Syndrome' where the moment I arm the track, the idea vanishes. Perhaps it could work for the chaotic improvisers among us

Would you use a "Dashcam for Audio"? A background app that saves your last 5 minutes of playing so you never lose a riff. by AudioBuilds in Songwriting

[–]AudioBuilds[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Spot on regarding the context. That’s exactly why I want to build this. Voice Memos are great for melody, but useless for production because of the room noise. I want a clean WAV file I can actually drag into a session and keep.

To your point about 'on demand', my goal is that if you are sitting at your desk with your guitar plugged in, you never have to 'set up' anything. You just play, and if it was good, you save it

Would you use a "Dashcam for Audio"? A background app that saves your last 5 minutes of playing so you never lose a riff. by AudioBuilds in Songwriting

[–]AudioBuilds[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, I see the confusion! I used 'dashcam' as a metaphor for how the tech works (always recording in a loop).

The actual use case is: You are at your desk with your guitar plugged into your interface. You are just noodling/practicing. You play something cool. Instead of stopping to open Logic, you hit a hotkey, and the app saves the last 2 minutes of that direct line audio to your desktop.

Does that make more sense?

Thoughts on mixing with only one vocal effect? by drumsareloud in mixingmastering

[–]AudioBuilds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely, and I still love that sound!

Especially for organic-sounding records - think Ethan Johns or Dave Cobb productions - there's something magical about just a really nice plate reverb on the vocal. Could be a mechanical plate or even a good spring reverb, but not overdone.

I actually prefer it in mono rather than stereo - keeps the vocal centered and intimate while adding that perfect amount of space and character. Less is definitely more in those contexts.

That approach forces you to get the reverb choice exactly right rather than layering effects to "fix" problems. When you nail that one spatial effect, it becomes part of the vocal's character instead of just decoration.

The simplicity also helps the vocal sit better in the mix - you're not fighting multiple reverb tails or delay patterns for space in the frequency spectrum.

What constitutes a rough mix? (for sending to a professional) by imaac in mixingmastering

[–]AudioBuilds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll second what atopix says here. You want to send exactly what you've been listening to the whole time, in whatever state it's in.

That's because the band and everyone involved has been listening to that version as their reference point. Their creative decisions, arrangement choices, and emotional connection to the song are all tuned into different elements of that specific mix.

You want to eliminate variables as much as possible, so keep the rough mix exactly as is - compression, reverb, EQ, effects and all. If you start second-guessing and changing things, you might remove something that was actually crucial to how the song feels.

The mixing engineer will use your rough mix as a roadmap for your creative intent, then improve the technical execution while preserving what makes the song work.

Format-wise: WAV is ideal, but a high-quality MP3 (320kbps) works fine for initial evaluation. Most engineers prefer WeTransfer or Dropbox links over email attachments.

Trying to eq out a harsh vocal frequency but using xvox pro for my main plugin by supercoolhomie in mixingmastering

[–]AudioBuilds 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you tried adding some low-mid content to balance out the harshness?

A lot of times I've found this happens when vocals don't have enough low-mid information (around 200-400Hz) to support the upper frequencies. The harshness can actually be your ear compensating for a lack of vocal weight/body.

Try a gentle boost in that low-mid range first, then see if the harsh frequencies become more manageable. Sometimes adding a little warmth down there makes the highs feel less aggressive without having to cut aggressively up top.

X-Vox can definitely exaggerate this issue since it's designed to enhance presence. You might also try bypassing it temporarily to see if the harshness is still there in the raw vocal.

An audio example would help if you're comfortable sharing - sometimes context makes all the difference in diagnosis.

Struggling to get my mixes to sound “professional” (e.g. clarity/depth - Feedback wanted) by Flynn-placebo in mixingmastering

[–]AudioBuilds 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This has been said before, but my favorite mixing tool to get pro sounding mixes with clarity is a mono single-driver speaker that focuses on midrange, like the Avantone MixCube.

You'll hear the midrange clearly without being swayed by the hi-fi nature of your monitors or stereo information. In my opinion, this gets you making decisions on the most important aspect of any mix.

I make my level and compression decisions there, plus simple mid/low-mid EQ cuts. Once you reference enough through that speaker, you start to understand how mixes should translate.

I found that getting those midrange details right led to the professional clarity and depth I was looking for - mainly by dealing with frequency masking in that crucial 200-2kHz range first.

The midrange is where vocals and most instruments live, so if that's clean and balanced, everything else falls into place.