Monitoring Outside
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Posted on Aug 05, 2010 10:00 pm
crux
Typo Szar
Member Since: Jul 04, 2002
didnt really know where this topic should go, but yeah, recording it is
considering that no acoustics is usually the best acoustics, would it just be crazy to monitor outside? in say a wide open yet quiet space?
i remember talk of ppl tracking outside, but wat if i did my monitoring and mixing outside?
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Aug 06, 2010 12:44 am You'd have near perfect acoustics.
That said, a lot of people don't know how to handle perfect acoustics... It's rather alien.
Not a lot different from mixing a concert inside vs. outside -- You tune into a whole different set of issues.
cruxTypo SzarMember
Since: Jul 04, 2002
Aug 06, 2010 01:52 am would it be worth it to learn how to mix in these near perfect acoustics considering it might be more financially realistic to mix outside than treat a room?
Aug 06, 2010 03:52 am thats a cool question. i heard some people say that mixing in a small room results to huge reverb and big rooms for the mix whereas big room-mixing tends to be more "in-the-face"
we used to mix and record in rooms where the walls have no parallels so the sound cannot build up standing reflections
but why not give it a try and go out with your board and mix the next project in the garden? reminds me instantly to some flower power sounds from the 70's ;-)
JovhatoMusic is everythingMember
Since: Apr 01, 2010
Aug 06, 2010 06:38 am If I remember right, RUSH did one or more of their early albums outdoors.
Dematrixhttp://www.reverbnation.com/2ndgMember
Since: Nov 27, 2007
Aug 06, 2010 07:20 am only problem is youll wake up next day and have to trim all your plants and trees coz theyll grow so much from the stimulation.
Aug 06, 2010 12:27 pm It's really a rough call -- It'd take a lot of self-training and a heckuva monitoring chain (and a big, flat field that goes on for miles, preferably sloping slightly downward in the distance).
I'd rather just treat the room... Even if it was bags of R-32 stacked in the corners. If you were going to do the outside thing, you could only realistically work on perfectly still days (wind pulls soundwaves fairly easily), bugs, birds, rain...
I mean, it sounds kinda fun, but I don't think it'd be really effective in the long run...
Quincysanhttp://www.unitedmusicians.infoContributor
Since: Nov 11, 2007
Aug 06, 2010 08:30 pm hahaha this is a very John Scrip answer.
"Sure, mixing outside sounds great...but you need to terraform your property, hire surveyers to mark a 3% grade 30% the distance of the potatoe patch from the pumpkins, and treat the fence at the back of your 20 acre mixing cornfield with R-32 (since you're trying to save on costs, but OC702 would be best). And there can't be any weather. Any. Ever."
cruxTypo SzarMember
Since: Jul 04, 2002
Aug 07, 2010 11:53 am We actually have down right DEAD days here in Thailand... but yeah i get it, everything has variables to overcome... i guess ill just go out, do a mix, see how it sounds and decide
still... treating my room seems like a huge investment.. i dotn even have a room that i can treat as of yet!!!
Im really sweatin the space as of late, just ranting, i feel like i know all the functions of gear and things, but ill never be able to utilize them considering how crap my listening space is...
Aug 08, 2010 09:09 am wehn monitoring outside there should be not too many reflexions, so you could trust the sound of the monitors.
but every room has its specific sound - as an engineer you could make any room sound excellent, even when mixed in the grand canyon
Aug 08, 2010 10:01 am Quote:
as an engineer you could make any room sound excellent
Going to have to disagree with that one -- Any space (room or otherwise) is going to be as accurate and consistent as it's going to be. Some can be fine, some will be wonderful, some will be terrible - and all decide how well your monitoring chain translates - Not the other way around. The space can be modified - But the space decides.
Sep 14, 2010 07:48 pm I never admit it but I have taken guitar amps outside and run sm 57's through the window. It is truelly perfect for us low budget music makers.
As far as mixing. I'm sure it would sound awesome, nut do you really feel like lugging all your stuff outside?
-says the guy who records out the window.
