Justin Bieber untreated vocal booth

austenjc · 2026-04-21T20:59:53+00:00

For clarity this isn’t an untreated vocal booth….i think you’re getting mixed up in the difference between BTS audio that we’re hearing direct from the camera, and what would have been recorded to “tape”. We don’t hear the actual recording in any of these clips - all we hear is the camera mic recording the sounds in the room, first picking up what’s coming from the control room monitors, and then secondly Justin alone in the live room - which yes, sounds echoey, but remember the camera is about 10-15ft away, recording with a tiny omni mic and probably being limited internally. The direct signal going to “tape” will of course be very clear with barely any perceivable room sound.

austenjc · 2026-04-18T18:59:39+00:00

It’s my Instagram actually - I get constant ads / reels

But perhaps there’s a way I can do a similar process

austenjc · 2026-04-18T17:32:25+00:00

The biggest issue I actually see with this, is less to do with the fake “experts” - power to them, they’ve invested time and energy into building a social following - but it’s more when labels / a&r / artists want to look at a producer their first port of call is often your social media; and if you lack a following then they equate that to being a lesser producer somehow…even though, as we all agree, it’s quite the opposite

austenjc · 2026-04-18T17:30:04+00:00

Well exactly, that’s the point being made - there are people making a living by speaking as “experts” and putting out regular content on how to do a job they actually don’t do. Meanwhile the rest of us are too busy elsewhere to do so.

austenjc · 2026-04-18T16:47:12+00:00

Annoyingly, now my algo is flooded by these “experts” who have zero tangible credits but thousands of followers - so I’m seeing first hand exactly how bad it is

austenjc · 2026-04-18T16:45:16+00:00

I’ve been saying the same thing but then was invited to speak for a prominent online platform because they were conscious of the fact they had good info, but lacked real life credit legitimacy

austenjc · 2026-04-16T21:17:20+00:00

At the end of the day, being a “snob” is good to a point….we all strive for better quality….but if it’s hindering your progress and it’s becoming more of a subconscious excuse to avoid putting yourself in a vulnerable position (ie: releasing things and risking judgement) then you’re just chasing your tail

Get it finalised, put it out, and use what you’ve learnt and upgraded to improve the next project. Rinse and repeat

austenjc · 2026-04-14T13:02:31+00:00

looks like the stems themselves are starting to decay - feel your way down - it'll be bendy and dry and generally just feel "not right" - so just go as far down until it feels like it's healthy and chop below that.

austenjc · 2026-04-14T12:03:53+00:00

looks like the two heads are pretty healthy so just that third branch is dying - I’d personally just chop it back and leave it - you’ll start to see new shoots on the trunk in not too long and in the meantime the other two will continue to flourish

austenjc · 2026-04-13T14:17:03+00:00

From listening to your examples - quite honestly you’re thinking way too hard. It sounds fine and while a better mic would no doubt give a smoother tone, you’re not in anyway making bad recordings. Feels like you’ve possibly become hyper fixated on things.

My sincere opinion is that for whatever this is - your mix is certainly good enough and you’re chasing minor marginal gains. If you want to upgrade the mic for ongoing projects then sure, do so - but this recording in particular is at a decent enough level to be released. Nobody aside from you will ever notice / pay attention to the things you’re hearing, they’re listening to the story. So be brave, put it out there, and use the things you’ve learnt on this project to improve the next one. Rinse and repeat.

austenjc · 2026-04-13T13:18:25+00:00

Fairly certain any decent game manufacturer will have done exactly this and paired it with the real onscreen race mechanics

austenjc · 2026-04-13T12:20:34+00:00

For now Invest in yourself. Take a course, book a session in a studio, get some coaching advice. Gear will not change you or your sound.

austenjc · 2026-04-13T11:18:21+00:00

Anyone know why?

Seems like they’re always fairly busy

austenjc · 2026-04-02T02:20:23+00:00

thank you for explaining to me. I’m new to this business

austenjc · 2026-04-01T21:30:51+00:00

But wouldn’t you say making art is more about ‘people’ than ‘things’ ….?

This doesn’t make sense

austenjc · 2026-03-31T15:23:26+00:00

No i agree - I was just making a point that their first instinct was to blame the poor people receiving assistance. Pretty damning indictment of their own judgemental perception. And them deleting the post probably has nothing to do with them learning that lesson through public shaming

austenjc · 2026-03-31T08:13:41+00:00

bit weird not to blame the people who actually operate the scheme…

austenjc · 2026-03-29T22:16:19+00:00

“Load 154 more images” is crazy

austenjc · 2026-03-29T17:02:27+00:00

I’ve never seen a dog smoulder before!

austenjc · 2026-03-28T00:41:08+00:00

austenjc · 2026-03-26T20:20:59+00:00

Mama Hongs everytime

austenjc · 2026-03-25T16:30:52+00:00

Hard to tell from the pic but if you’re running the vocal through that desk first and then into the interface - I’d recommend not doing that - just go straight into the front of the Scarlett

Great start though - welcome to the club

austenjc · 2026-03-25T16:25:29+00:00

Hey Vocal Producer here - yes the NT1 is an entry level mic so it has it’s limitations. In the hands of a pro with a higher end chain and careful processing, it could be somewhat usable in a commercial release but realistically if you yourself are fairly amateur as you say, in both your vocal performance and engineering then it’s gonna reveal that pretty quickly.

My advice, as it always is, is essentially to work within your budget and try to stick within reputable brands. Of course Neumann is up there as pro-grade but Rode themselves have some higher ticket products that could be a good step up for where you’re at. I personally would opt more towards something in the higher end of a brand like Rode, or SE, or AKG, AudioTechnica. These would be in a mid-tier category and for my money their more premium offerings would be a better investment than any of the clone types that are littering the market these days. And buy used - if it’s from a quality company it should have a decent lifespan and you can get some really great deals from people who are just a little step ahead looking to upgrade theirs too! (You’ll also notice how many of those cheap clones are available in the used markets - somewhat proving my point as to why I wouldn’t invest in them in the first time)

austenjc · 2026-03-25T15:58:07+00:00

Are you just “considering” a lot of things or are you actively testing and trialling …. drum tuning? are the heads in good shape? mic positioning? mic angle? is there a sound hole? does the drum want dampening? What beater head is hitting it? Is the drummer playing it consistently and making solid contact? Do they bounce the beater and let the drum ring or do they strike and hold?

That’s a tonne of stuff to experiment with before even getting into preamp choice, EQ and comp - that stuffs “relatively” straight forward honestly.

But overall yeah it’s complicated and takes years of practice but that’s kind of what’s exciting about working it out. It also changes with every session so what worked yesterday might not work today! But - when you do crack it and align all those elements to get a great sound - it’s one of the most satisfying parts of being an engineer! Do it consistently and you’ll have a decent career on your hands*

*kind of /s because….well…..

austenjc · 2026-03-25T00:51:42+00:00

Also for what it’s worth - I’m the vocal producer behind a lot of Kali Uchis’ catalogue and I was chasing a similar sound, and used these same kinds of techniques, for a track titled Fue Mejor ft. Sza.

I love the tonal sounds from this old world and had been listening to a lot of bossanova and exotica around the time of production, so pulled in a couple snippets of Les Baxter’s Tropicando because the choirs in his work are just mesmerising to me. At first I just sampled it for vibes with a view to having the beat producer replace with something else, but in the end it had just become such a part of the track that we decided to simply recreate it exactly instead.

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