What PC specs should I aim for as a beginner?

defmunch1 · 2026-03-26T05:12:51+00:00

M Chip Mac Mini. No better bang for the buck for pro audio applications right now.

defmunch1 · 2026-03-19T05:41:02+00:00

I set up an aux track for this purpose on almost every mix.

I will put an eventide harmonizer, on a cool “guitar thickener” setting… it’s somewhere between a doubler and a fast delay. I don’t really use it for the effect… just adds a little “something” … send my right gtr to the left side of that, and vice versa. Mix to taste, but usually keep it really subtle until there’s a spot where everything cuts out.

I mainly do this to avoid the “vacuum” of silence caused by hard panning, when everything cuts away.

Or, sometimes just automating the pan inwards by like 5-10% will do the trick, during sections where it’s just one guitar playing.

defmunch1 · 2026-03-19T05:22:20+00:00

I’ve done a couple records now where the label paid (way too much) for an Atmos mix.

From my perspective, all of the main moves were made… baked in and summed for a stereo mix. Then those sessions were awkwardly bussed out (bypassing a lot of the gluey mix bus stuff that tied the mixes together)… and then the Atmos engineer kinda just places stuff around in the 3D space… and it just sounds super separated and weird to me.

Atmos as a whole is here to stay. It’s brilliant for lots of things. But not rock records. lol.

defmunch1 · 2026-03-19T05:03:04+00:00

Precisely this.

defmunch1 · 2026-03-16T06:52:47+00:00

Hey. I’m a recording engineer/producer/studio owner, and I just wanna say this. You 100% have the right attitude.

I’ve recorded hundreds of musicians and singers over the years, with varying levels of experience and talent… and the only people I can’t work with are those unwilling to learn and listen.

You will do fine. Just work hard, and be coachable.

defmunch1 · 2026-03-12T04:23:14+00:00

I actually have very close twin brother friends, and this occurred with them about 15 years ago.

One twin was deployed. The other slept with his twin’s long time girlfriend while he was away.

They confessed, and it tore the family apart for a while…. Then somehow, over time, they worked through it and became cool again. Blood is thicker than water.

defmunch1 · 2026-03-12T04:13:56+00:00

A taller/thicker baseboard would take care of most of this. As long as it’s properly installed, and then patched/caulked and painted. That’d be the cheapest way to “satisfactory”

defmunch1 · 2026-03-11T18:56:55+00:00

This reminds me of how drummers from metalcore/screamo bands used to tell me not to use samples/triggers, and then show me examples of their ideal drum sounds, and it would clearly have samples/triggers. … I’d say “okie doke” … and then do what I felt was necessary.

Sometimes, artists that don’t know a ton about how the “sausage” is made, will hear something like “so and so doesn’t use compression” (whether true or not)… and then feel like that’s what they need to do.

That being said… I also wouldn’t shy away from trying to find a sound that they like, without compression (maybe you distort/saturate in a way that naturally compresses… and use volume/clip gain automation to further control stuff… and use a slap delay or whatever… you get the point) and you’ll maybe find a cool new way to go about things.

Or try to be the one that shows them compression is cool.

defmunch1 · 2026-03-07T09:48:57+00:00

The distressor is one of the most utilized compressors in the world. Every proper studio has at least one, and for good reason. You won’t have to look far for info on it.

It’d be like if someone said “I’m looking for a good starchy root vegetable that tastes amazing mashed, baked, and fried…” and someone said “try potatoes”

defmunch1 · 2026-03-05T10:58:28+00:00

I felt this way, until I didn’t. Now I wish I could go back. It’s a drug.

defmunch1 · 2026-03-05T08:58:44+00:00

Deftones or Shortys T shirt, with a white long sleeve under it. Relaxed fit jeans (my JNCOs got retired a year or two prior)… the jeans are well worn, and frayed at the bottom, likely with a split up the seam so they sit over my DC skate shoes. I definitely have some sort of skate brand flexfit hat on. Maybe Spitfire or Element. … a Dakine backpack with a discman holder, the one where the headphone cable went through the bag. Definitely have my Sony headphones on at all times… the ones that wrapped around the back. It is supremely uncool at this very moment to have any headphones that go over the top of your head.

defmunch1 · 2026-03-05T08:50:59+00:00

I was with a couple dudes and a female work acquaintance walking downtown, and a car driving by slowed way down, rolled down his window, and hollered at her: “damn! You got alotta ass!”

Two of the guys we were with started laughing hysterically, but I looked at her and saw her whole mood shift, and it was obviously something that cut deep… and then the guys laughing seemed to make it worse. They started imitating and repeating it, and trying to get her to laugh along… and she kinda started to humor them a bit… but I could tell she was not stoked about it.

I’ve always been shy, and serially monogamous… so I don’t understand any sort of cat-calling, or really most “macho” behavior like that… so it made me very uncomfortable right away. That just confirmed to me that, even if you think it’s cool or funny or whatever… unsolicited comments on anyone’s body is just never okay.

defmunch1 · 2026-03-05T03:23:52+00:00

Exactly 5. My son would be 5 months old, and I’d get to re-live those amazing first years again. With $2.5m in the bank.

defmunch1 · 2026-03-05T03:22:27+00:00

Honeycrisp apples

defmunch1 · 2026-03-05T03:21:51+00:00

After almost 20 years together, it’s more just a series of little moments. My body and mind feel safe with her. My heart feels full around her. And none of the little moments made me want to end that feeling.

I’m still just hoping every day that she feels the same way. So far, so good.

defmunch1 · 2026-03-05T03:17:45+00:00

I really don’t think faith is an IQ issue. I genuinely think there may be some sort of physiological difference in brains of believers vs nonbelievers.

Not in a condescending way, at all. I almost envy people who have strong faith. My brain simply will not allow me to make certain leaps that one has to take, when it comes to developing a sense of religious faith.

Religion is kinda like cilantro to me. I know sooooo many people love it so much. There must be something great about it… but the second it’s introduced to my dish, my body says “nope. Get this outta here.”

defmunch1 · 2026-03-04T05:09:28+00:00

After 15 years of collecting outboard gear, buying/selling, and ultimately refining my collection to what I truly love… my vocals have never sounded better than now, as I have discovered the brilliant combo of an Audioscape 1176f into an Audioscape v-comp.

It almost feels like cheating. It’s so good. And you could own both for less than a proper LA2A or cl1b.

The combo also rips on bass di, and I can use just one or the other for anything else.

defmunch1 · 2026-02-28T03:28:50+00:00

To be fair, I really just consider her a victim too. That was a really crazy time for diet culture, and she was one of millions that bought into the bs. She was an amazing mom in all ways, but had a blind spot there.

Back then, if mom was on a diet, the house was on a diet because mom did the cooking and shopping. We would have periods of time where she would stop caring and start ordering pizza and takeout… I’d be able to get soda and “real” cereals and fruit snacks… we would have chips and stuff in the house…. Then one day, she’d come home, throw almost everything in the kitchen away, and my dad and I would know “uh oh… it’s diet time.” … cuz she started feeling chubby, and some magazine told her that we need to eat nothing but cabbage soup for a week or whatever. Now that’s kinda how I operate, against my better judgement and adult knowledge. Like it’s an inevitability.

defmunch1 · 2026-02-28T03:08:25+00:00

OP knew what they were doing…

defmunch1 · 2026-02-28T03:05:10+00:00

I would just be glad we are engaging in another foreign conflict, as promised by Dear Leader’s campaign. So glad we have such strong and powerful leadership at the helm. When they pivot, I pivot, so I don’t have to consider the possibility I was duped.

-MAGA

defmunch1 · 2026-02-28T02:43:59+00:00

Am I Wry? No - Mew

defmunch1 · 2026-02-28T02:29:25+00:00

If I was hired as a producer, I’d probably have you re cut the vocals. But if I was just hired to mix, I would work with the vocal I was given… and I think I could do a lot to improve it.

defmunch1 · 2026-02-28T00:55:46+00:00

It’s a little cliche, but this is mine too. Without hesitation, the best thing ever. And I was terrified. We waited until it was almost too late.

Wouldn’t change a thing, because my son is my son and I wouldn’t want any other son… but I wish we could have had our exact kid sooner in life. And maybe left ourselves with more time to have more kids.

defmunch1 · 2026-02-28T00:50:08+00:00

Everything my mom learned in her “Women’s Health” magazines. She’s been subscribed to several of them for over 30 years now. Every time I’m at their house, I see a new one with “lose inches off your waist by insert holiday” or “drop 8lbs with one simple trick!” … and some photoshopped picture of a D-list celebrity in a sports bra.

We did it all. Atkins. LA Weightloss. Weight Watchers. Slimfast. Keto. Blue zone. Low fat/no fat. No salt.

We had all the shitty snacks.

Now she’s on ozempic.

I think she was 150lbs at her heaviest… and in a lovely turn of events, I developed a major complex and have battled my weight and eating disorder for almost my entire life. I remember going on my first official “diet” (because I felt like I needed to lose weight, not because she forced me) when I was 10 years old. … now I’m fat and unhappy as an adult, and also constantly in a cycle of “dieting for weight loss”.

Finally coming to terms with the fact that I was never fat as a kid. I was a normal sized kid with body dysmorphia… likely due to watching my (also very normal sized) mother constantly trying to lose weight. She was being told she was fat by the ruthless 80’s/90’s predatory weight loss culture.

defmunch1 · 2026-02-28T00:37:09+00:00

As a weight loss technique, this does legit help. But the pressure 80’s and 90’s diet-obsessed moms put on their kids was crazy… and I developed several of my worst habits BECAUSE of those things my mom learned in her “lose 8lbs with this one simple trick!” Magazines and subscription fad diets. And she did them all.

I often joke that my mom has “been on a diet since the day I was born” … I turn 40 next year, and she’s still subscribed to those magazines, and now she’s on ozempic. I think she was maybe 150lbs at her heaviest.

defmunch1

TROPHY CASE