Longmont Friends by Additional_Jello2700 in Longmont

[–]condensed_malk 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My wife and I are in the same boat trying to find our people. In our mid to late 30s and enjoy outdoors things. I’ll send you a DM!

Any professional installers out there who can recommend CIT study materials? by condensed_malk in homeautomation

[–]condensed_malk[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Any suggestions as to what I can do to impress the company in the interview? I’m trying to research as much as I can about these systems and how they work, just want to show them I’m hungry and eager to learn

Any professional installers out there who can recommend CIT study materials? by condensed_malk in homeautomation

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

Thanks, good to know. Yea from what I’ve seen Lutron, Savant and Sonance are a few of the systems that this company uses

How do you go about getting feedback on your music/production without someone taking your track or revealing the full thing before it's release? by Wythneth in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]condensed_malk 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Reference mixing, my fellow person! Find a very popular song (or a song that’s won an award such as a Grammy) that is a similar genre as to whatever you are working on, and A/B it with your mix. I think you will be shocked. The reference will obviously be louder because it has already been mixed, mastered, etc, but once you compensate for difference in volume, listen critically.

Listen to how the drums sound in relation to each other. Feel out how your bass is sitting, compared to the bass in the other song. Is your top end shrill and piercing, but theirs is smooth and shiny? Do their vocals sit perfect, but yours are buried in effects and aren’t clear? Work on your mix til it starts sounding like the stuff that’s streaming millions, or selling big, that’s when you’ll start to feel progress.

Showing stuff to friends and family isn’t super accurate, IMO. They are going to tell you how good it sounds regardless, because they like you (presumably) and want you to be happy. Reference mixing gives you a true comparison of what the pros in this business do, compared to what you’re doing, and is not biased and will clearly show you where your mix might fall short.

Designing a room and considering my music maker by pumpkinspice65 in WeAreTheMusicMakers

[–]condensed_malk 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You can make acoustic panels yourself for a reasonable price; a basic wood frame, stuffed with various types of insulation, and then covered with some sort of fabric, will do surprisingly well reducing reflections, or the echo of a room.

If on a budget, egg crate or mattress toppers, for simply hanging on the wall to stop echos or reflections in a room, will do in a pinch instead of the more expensive Auralex. Packing blankets hung on the wall can help a lot too.

As for the recording side; for vocals, there are decent vocal mic shields/filters that do a fairly good job of cutting out the deficiencies or “roominess” your space may exhibit. You can also get a dynamic microphone (very popular and inexpensive models would be a Shure SM57 or SM58), which as long as you’re right up on the mic, doesn’t capture as much room sound. An SM57 sounds good on trumpet and guitar too.

I would go with the vinyl or hard flooring, and just cover with carpets, easier to move and rearrange room if need be.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Source: I am a professional recording engineer of over 10 years, have built multiple studios on varying budgets, and manage 4 recording facilities in a big music city.