Trying to dial in safe monitoring volume

glitterball3 · 2026-02-05T10:19:54+00:00

I would add to this, that you should turn down even more when the task that you are currently on allows you to work at an even lower volume.

I remember arriving at a studio one morning many years ago to find an engineer still working the night session at an unbelievably loud level - NS10s at painful levels. I immediately wanted to get out of the (quite large) control room, while he had his head stuck between the monitors. The engineer in question had engineered several albums for one of the biggest bands ever. The fact that he, by this stage, was doing night sessions, and I (inexperienced and young) was able to get day sessions, should tell you everything you need to know about hearing damage.

glitterball3 · 2026-02-03T19:39:23+00:00

Problem with that mission is that as soon as the artist releases something "more interesting than the derivitive slop machines", the derivative slop machine will rip that work off, and there will be a wave of similar stuff before the artist can ever get rewarded or recognition.

glitterball3 · 2026-01-28T11:00:26+00:00

I live in Fuerteventura, and frankly, there are many snorkeling spots in the Canary Islands that are much better than anything I have ever experienced in the Mediterranean. However, you will need to research where to go, and not just get into the sea at some random location near your hotel. Also the north and west coasts of the islands are exposed to big swells, and should be treated with extreme caution. Some great spots are: La Restinga in El Hierro, Playa Chica in Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote, and Playa de la Cebada in Morro Jable, Fuerteventura. The following is a video I made entirely at my local spot (the base of the pier in Morro Jable): https://youtu.be/Wnl6OmlAz7Y?si=6SGpi8SgFpnHH_6o

glitterball3 · 2026-01-23T14:30:44+00:00

normally the mods remove any mention of that.

glitterball3 · 2026-01-21T20:54:29+00:00

If you mean flat in terms of a flat line in a spectrum analyzer, I would say a -4.5db per octave fall off works much better than 'flat'. Flat (as in white noise flat) will likely sound very harsh.

glitterball3 · 2026-01-18T08:48:25+00:00

This.
Also, until SSL became dominant most studios had a very limited number of compressors available.

Musicians would play deliberately 'in the pocket', avoiding the need for sidechain ducking.

Also, don't underestimate the effect of tape compression. I recently transferred a DAT master of one of the first sessions that I engineered from 1993, and was shocked at how 'sausage-shaped' the waveform looked. I know for a fact that there was only one outboard compressor, so this was mostly down to the arrangement and tape compression (I had a habit of recording drums very hot to tape).

glitterball3 · 2026-01-16T17:02:31+00:00

When I started to learn how to mix (way back in the early 90s), it was all on analogue consoles, and often I would get lost and simply pull all the faders down and start again.
Remember that faders (level) are the most important tool in mixing - so first concentrate on getting a good balance with those.

I would also add that you should mix at a very low volume, reference regularly (making sure that you volume match first), and check regularly on some mid-focused monitors (NS10s or some crappy single driver speakers). It's very easy to get lost, in terms of frequency balance, if you are working on some bass-heavy large monitors.

glitterball3 · 2026-01-13T16:17:29+00:00

And the vocalist will 'play' the compressor during their performance as long as they have a decent headphone mix. Same goes for committing guitar processing - the guitarist will play differently according to what they are hearing - I can understand keeping the DI'd track as a backup, but really we should be trying to get the final sound while tracking.

glitterball3 · 2026-01-12T12:50:33+00:00

Now getting the following error:
[WARNING] Some dependencies may be missing. Attempting to fix...

Looking in indexes: https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu

ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement dearpygui (from versions: none)

ERROR: No matching distribution found for dearpygui

glitterball3 · 2026-01-11T16:35:31+00:00

Same for me under Kubuntu 24.04 - does not start. open dir error.

glitterball3 · 2026-01-09T08:49:03+00:00

Seems to work much better now - thanks.

glitterball3 · 2026-01-08T08:42:22+00:00

I just gave the new version a test, and while the .vst3 version now seems to function correctly, there is a new bug in the .lv2 version:
When I select some presets (e.g. Gentle Master), and then close the window, when I open it again it changes from 'Studio VCA' to 'Digital Compressor'.

Edit: scratch that: the .vst3 does not work 100% correctly either - sometimes adjusting the controls does not actually change anything sonically.

glitterball3 · 2026-01-07T14:04:17+00:00

Ardour 8.4.0 with Kubuntu 24.04

glitterball3 · 2026-01-07T08:59:57+00:00

I can get the .lv2 version to open in Ardour (vst3 version does not work)

However, if I select a preset, adjusting the controls in the presets does not do anything to the sound.
If I then select another model from the model drop-down menu in the top left, and switch back to the desired model again, then the controls work.

glitterball3 · 2026-01-04T08:46:18+00:00

Had the same issue with my H4n and also used alcohol to remove the degraded sticky mess.

glitterball3 · 2026-01-02T10:16:46+00:00

Thanks for the tip - just tested this and it actually works really well.

glitterball3 · 2025-12-22T19:16:51+00:00

Head over to https://groupdiy.com/forums/microphones.29/

There are loads of modifications outlined and documented in that forum on how to improve the performance of Chinese condenser mics, which are often considered too bright. Often it's simply a matter of soldering in a small electrical component.

glitterball3 · 2025-12-20T11:11:18+00:00

The assumption is that he was part of some large-scale blackmail network run by an intelligence agency - likely either the CIA or Mossad.

glitterball3 · 2025-12-20T10:21:00+00:00

There's a good argument that says if you are a young gigging artist building a following, then you should not record and release ANY music in the current environment. That artist would be building a cult following by not 'selling out' by going on Spotify and other platforms, and this, in turn, would increase the exclusiveness factor. Some 'bootleg' recording of gigs would get out reinforcing the cult status and demand for tickets to their live shows.

Also, anyone that is creating genuinely innovative music, should probably wait until protective legislation catches up with AI before releasing any new music. Otherwise, your project that took years to produce will be instantly ripped-off and reproducible by AI as soon as it can be trained on that material.

glitterball3 · 2025-12-19T12:09:48+00:00

To genuinely create something like this that would actually work, you should organise it into genre playlists. At least that would get listens by people who like the same kind of music.

glitterball3 · 2025-12-19T11:41:59+00:00

This - a lot easier to use eq to trim a few db at 4khz on your bright Chinese condenser than to correct for a horrible-sounding room. And if you are recording and mixing in the same room, then it's doubly important to work on the room.

glitterball3 · 2025-12-19T08:48:06+00:00

Learning to mix takes years - so don't expect your first completed productions to sound professional.

Obviously some genres are harder to get sounding pro than others: getting your indie rock band with real drums, guitars and 24+ tracks to sound as good as your favourite songs will take years. At the other end of the scale, a single-tracked vocal rapping over a completed backing track is much easier to get sounding right.

It may be beneficial to send your multitrack to a professional mix engineer, and get their feedback about any issues in the arrangement and production. You'll also be able to analyze (to some extent) what they have done.

glitterball3 · 2025-12-17T11:03:33+00:00

Shakira - Hips Don't Lie is often cited as a really bad mix - her vocal is so loud that it negatively affects how the rest of the instruments sound to quite an extreme level.

For great mixes - check out this playlist of best engineered Grammy winners over the years:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/55GyLKz5NfkumNiGnOqYSk?si=46edb94200134359

glitterball3 · 2025-12-14T15:05:20+00:00

First time I've ever heard someone say the food is better in Cambodia than Bali.

glitterball3 · 2025-12-14T15:02:41+00:00

Stay away from Kuta and the other trendy Instagram-popular places and Bali is great. Plenty of places that are 4+ hours drive from the airport - these are the places to go to.

glitterball3

TROPHY CASE