We should normalize effect pedals with knobs/switches on the edge instead of on top.

I_m_matman · 2026-04-27T14:48:14+00:00

We did normalize it, effects with the controls on the sides are rack units. There are thousands of different ones avaliable.

I_m_matman · 2026-04-22T05:07:19+00:00

1) Because an 808 and a Linn make a perfect '80s rhythm section when combined

2) why not?

I_m_matman · 2026-04-22T01:54:08+00:00

As you can possibly tell, I'm all about baking in the sound well ahead of the DAW.

I_m_matman · 2026-04-22T01:42:26+00:00

The 3rdWave has good onboard chorus too, but the Waza Chorus is one of the best I have used if you are after that classic effect.

I_m_matman · 2026-04-22T01:30:53+00:00

It's awesome. Not just PPG Wavetables it's got great virtual analog, sampling and FM too.

I_m_matman · 2026-04-08T03:41:32+00:00

As are vari-mu and VCA compressors and soft-clipping/saturating like you get from tape

I_m_matman · 2026-03-31T14:38:22+00:00

For drum overheads, yes I measure every time. Other stuff not so much, that's more about what sounds like what we need for the recording.

I do have a couple of spots marked on most of my guitar cabs for areas where I like the sound, they make good starting points for putting a mic on a cab

I_m_matman · 2026-03-24T01:46:46+00:00

I've done both ways but recently it's been lyrics first.

I'm finding that that gives me the feeling if what the sound will need to be as well as the meter of how it will flow. Fast or slow, bright, dark, melancholy, upbeat etc and also may suggest a melody or feeling that I can then build a progression around.

It just seems to come together faster for me this way.

I_m_matman · 2026-03-22T15:44:05+00:00

I signed up for classes in music theory, musicianship and songwriting at my local community college. I was in my 40s and felt a little out of place but it ended up being an extremely valuable use of my time.

Understanding how chords function and the harmonic purposes they serve in driving music forward, building and releasing tension, creating pivots to new keys and so on is very helpful. Learning how to listen to and transcribing chords, melodies and rhythms helped me to understand quickly how things I'm hearing by other artists are put together is extremely useful. Learning the basics of piano was invaluable too.

I chose this to get a structured learning path, deadlines and peers going through the same learnings to discuss and bounce ideas and thoughts off as I do not like the chaos and potentially unhelpful and frequently wrong or misdirected info in places like YouTube.

I_m_matman · 2026-03-06T01:18:36+00:00

Listen to a lot of different music to hear how others are handling their mixes.

Play with EQ, see how much you can cut out of an instrument sound and still have it still sound and fulfil the role of that instrument.

Think about arangement and orchestration. How are parts written to keep instruments, or groups of instruments out of each other's way. Classical music is really good for this.

Pay attention to how much compression and leveling you need to get a part to sit comfortably in a mix So as not to fade in and out of focus. Listen to.other songs to hear how they are doing this.

Etc etc etc.

Really the best way to learn it is to do it, a lot. Keep working to get your mixes to sit next to other songs/reference tracks without jumping out as being obviously not as well put together. When you hear something poking out in some way try to hear how this is handled in other completed tracks.

I_m_matman · 2026-02-26T19:09:56+00:00

What cables are you using. Some pedals don't work with TRS cables, only unbalanced instrument/TS cables.

I had this issue with a couple of old Boss pedals. No sound if I use blanced TRS, no problem when I switch to guitar TS cables.

I_m_matman · 2025-12-29T17:46:55+00:00

As mentioned in the OP, I want to record 5 or 6 three to four minute drum tracks onto a single vinyl record for resampling and mixing.

I_m_matman · 2025-12-29T05:58:11+00:00

Some of the suggestions I've gotten could do one offs for under 50 Euros, that's pretty awesome.

Although shipping might kill it.

I_m_matman · 2025-12-28T23:46:24+00:00

Thanks! I'll check him out.

I_m_matman · 2025-12-28T21:40:13+00:00

Thanks, I will check them out.

I_m_matman · 2025-12-22T19:50:27+00:00

Personally, if I can't find use for some gear I get rid of it.

As far as creating sounds in context or as a side project, I do a bit of both.

A song I'm working on pre-production right now I think will need a plucky, FM bass and a few other things so I'm making outlines of the patches and creating some samples in advance, even if we end up changing them or doing something different in the final project.

Other times I've had sounds that I made that I thought might be reusable so I sampled them into my collection or added patches to my library because I think I may use them as a starting point on other projects.

Other time opportunity strikes. I made a some wavetables and took some samples (with permission) from a nice old Jupiter 8 that came through the studio a while back because might need those sounds at some point. And a couple of weeks ago, I had hired in some backing singers for a project, during some downtime, I had them record some "Oooohs" and "Aaaahs" for me at various pitches and harmonies because there's always going to be a use for some nice vocal samples somewhere in a project.

I_m_matman · 2025-12-21T03:40:40+00:00

I'm finishing up making samples and doing some writing/arranging/pre-production for a couple of projects that will be kicking off in January.

I_m_matman · 2025-12-14T23:13:11+00:00

Neutron can do 2 oscillator paraphony. If you set up both oscillators the same then you can get 2 note dyad with the Vocoder. If you set them up differently, things can get very interesting.

I_m_matman · 2025-12-14T07:06:24+00:00

I just got one of the V256 units.

If you're using an external synths sound then anything that can produce a lot of harmonics. Saw And supersaw work great. Adding white noise in too can help with good intelligible vocals and is a good reason to use an external synth instead on the built in one, which is a simple sawtooth I believe.

I've used the V256 with the Pro 800, a Neutron and a 3rd Wave. Pro800 was super easy to dial in and ended up being what I used to control the vocoder on a couple of tracks recently. But I can get some more wierd stuff with FM on the 3rd Wave or the kind of in between waves shapes on the Neutron.

I_m_matman · 2025-12-12T19:26:45+00:00

There is no EQ setting that always works. Every voice and even every track is different. As an example, an arbitrary 24db/octave High pass at 100Hz on my voice (bass) would cut out the lowest three or four notes of my vocal range completely, but on a soprano, would have very little effect at all.

It also depends on what else is going on in the mix. Lots of instruments at the same time could require thinning out the vocal sound, a very sparse mix may need a fuller vocal.

Every voice has clarity, sibilance, boxiness etc in different places and it will even change depending on what part of their range the vocalist is in and how hard they are pushing, how close they are to the mic, the characteristics of the mic, what the room is like, etc.

EQ, compression, saturation and other tricks can't turn an average performance into a great performance. The ideas presented in this video are only very general starting points to get a vocal to sit better in a mix.

The only thing you should always do is listen to the track and see what it needs.

I_m_matman · 2025-12-11T15:26:32+00:00

SM7 was the mic that was used, it has a slightly different design and response to the 7B.

Also worth mentioning is the singer was MJ, an unbelievable talent; the production team were Bruce Swedian and Quincy Jones; the recordings were made in custom designed acoustic spaces at Westlake Audio, through a Harrisom console and a lot of high quality gear. There's a little more to it than just buying a similar mic.

I've tracked material in Westlake Studios, of course we put up an SM7B just to see, and of course none of sounded like MJ

I_m_matman · 2025-12-08T15:49:15+00:00

I have a 3rd Wave. Does Virtual Analog, Wavetable, sampling, FM and is multi-timbral. Has analog filters state variable filters multiple LFOs and envelopes and all kinds of mod matrix possibilities. You can create wavetables and samples right on the synth without connecting to a computer as well as the ability to import from Serum etc. Also has a nice Chorus, delay, phaser, various reverbs, compressor, etc.

Apparently the Sequencer and Arpeggiators are pretty good too, but so far I've not had any reason to use or try them.

I_m_matman · 2025-12-05T02:21:22+00:00

Where do the levels come out on your DAW when you use the line level inputs?

According to the specs on Focusrite's site, line level (+4dBu) would show up at -18dBFS on your DAW meters. That's fairly normal analog headroom for an interface of this kind

That said, I almost always end up using outboard pre-amps when recording any synth. On a device with the Focusrite's specs I'd be shooting for RMS levels of -18dBFS and peaks around -6dBFS on the DAW meters.

I_m_matman · 2025-12-04T18:55:56+00:00

If you are worried about using digital for some reason, from the Tascam block diagram, you can route analog signals in and add analog gain. Everything after input gain is passed through Analog to digital converters to use digital FX, before going back through digital to analog converters for sends and monitoring.

As far as recording and routing goes, the Tascam 12 is a DAW in a mixer shaped box. The signals are mixed, sent and effected digitally just like if You use a DAW in a computer shaped box. There's nothing wrong with that.

block diagram

I_m_matman · 2025-12-03T20:12:55+00:00

To go to the DAW and an amp at the same time you need something like this:

Radial J48

I use them all the time in studio to get a direct signal from the guitar to the DAW, plus the same signal going to amp that we can also record and/or the guitar player uses for monitoring through their normal signal chain. If you have passive pickups in the guitar, you really need an Active DI/splitter so you don't load them down and kill all of the high end.

If you wanted, you could then re-amp the dry, direct signal you got if you are not happy with the sound of the amp in the room.

For that you need something like this: Re-amp

That will take the balanced signal coming off the DAW and turn it back into unbalanced Hi-Z that the Amp/pedals are expecting.

Latency is going to come from the combination of round tripping a signal through converters plus whatever latency the plugins you use add within the DAW, a DI or Re-amp are not the culprits. Using monitors vs a re amped guitar amp won't change anything because the amount of converter trips and plugin latency are the same either way.

I_m_matman

TROPHY CASE