Ryan interviews Vinny Pedulla about the tools a visually impaired person would use to work in the studio and Jon tells us all about the best of the free plugins out there for Pro Tools.
Links:
- Flux Bittersweet 2 – http://www.fluxhome.com/products/Freewares/bittersweet2
- Flux Stereo Tool – http://www.fluxhome.com/products/Freewares/stereotool
- Brainworx BX_Solo – http://www.brainworx-music.de/en/plugins/bx_solo
- Brainworx BX_Cleansweep V2 – http://www.brainworx-music.de/en/plugins/bx_cleansweep_v2
- TT Dynamic Range Meter – http://www.brainworx-music.de/en/downloadrequest
- Massey Plugins demos – http://www.masseyplugins.com/ (download the demos) CT4, L2007, Tapehead & TD5 are excellent
- Massey Tools (Mac only) – http://www.smassey.com/plugin.html
- Studio Devil BVC guitar amp – http://www.studiodevil.com/download/downloadBVC.htm
- Kontakt 4 player – http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/kontakt-player/
- KORE 2 player – http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/kore-player
- Free Kontakt patches
http://www.pettinhouse.com/html/download.html
http://www.samplelogic.com/trypack.html
http://www.humanworkshop.com/index.php?modus=e_zine&sub=articles&item=142
Hey guys in a few weeks I will be recording a band that wants to use a live grand piano. I have no experience recording pianos before and I wanted to know what experience or advice you guys had. What mics should I use? Where should I put them? Is it better to use a dead room or a room with some reverb? I’d be very interested to hear you guys talk about this as I imagine I would benefit a great deal. It’s just for a demo so it doesn’t have to be magic but I will definately try for the best result possible Anyway, any advice is appreciated.
Oh and the gear I have on hand to use: Shure ksm44, a few sm58s, sm57s, I also have access to a couple of rode shotgun mics, a couple of audio technica pencil condensers, and an audix d6. All this through a mackie onyx pre into a roland hard disk recorder. I’ll then later mix it cubase.
Keep up the good work
Wow Mikey that’s not a small question.
Are they bringing a grand piano to your studio or are you going to a pro studio to record it? This is one of those times when I would HIGHLY recommend taking the session to a pro studio (that probably have a well maintained grand) that know how to record it well and learn from them.
Either way it MUST be tuned before the session and NOT moved in the room after.
Where you place the mics depends somewhat on the style of music and where the piano is intended to fit in the mix.
From a recording philosophy standpoint I would prefer to hear the piano in the room so no mics closer than 10 ft. The closer the mics the less natural it will sound and the more mechanical sounds you will get.
Leave the dynamic mics and shotguns at home. A pair of large diaphragm condensers of highest quality available up high and spaced wide is where I’d start. Close mics brought in if articulation is lost.
bx_cleansweap v2 is only tdm or vst…. sad trombone…
Try again. It’s definitely RTAS. I use it on my m-powered system.
thanks for that jon, I think I can borrow another large diaphragm condenser for the gig. I’ll be recording the band at my home studio except for the piano. The piano will be recorded at school (they have a yamaha C5 tuned a month ago) and there I have the choice of using a small hall, which has really nice acoustics and natural reverb or a smaller classroom which is quite dead. I guess you’d suggest the natural room sound rather than adding reverb later???
Anyway, I’ll let you know how it goes, send you a rough mix once I record ’em.
Loved the show! I am a blind recording engineer (still learning) and am in love with music and recording. It’s always encouraging to hear other visually impaired recording engineers. Slau has been helpful, as well as Tim Burgess in the UK.
Thanks for doing the interview!
Hey guys in a few weeks I will be recording a band that wants to use a live grand piano. I have no experience recording pianos before and I wanted to know what experience or advice you guys had. What mics should I use? Where should I put them? Is it better to use a dead room or a room with some reverb? I’d be very interested to hear you guys talk about this as I imagine I would benefit a great deal. It’s just for a demo so it doesn’t have to be magic but I will definately try for the best result possible Anyway, any advice is appreciated.
Oh and the gear I have on hand to use: Shure ksm44, a few sm58s, sm57s, I also have access to a couple of rode shotgun mics, a couple of audio technica pencil condensers, and an audix d6. All this through a mackie onyx pre into a roland hard disk recorder. I’ll then later mix it cubase.
Keep up the good work