shud i just quit?

Posted on

giv me gear
Member Since: Jan 29, 2009

i knw i've said this before as well.but i don't have money for expensive gear and stuff.i do not have monitors.so does this mean i cannot make decent mixes?or is there an alternative like mixing with earphones or sumthing?

[ Back to Top ]


Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Mar 11, 2009 08:31 am

in your situation you may never make professional mixes, but with time and attention you can make decent ones...just quitting, well, that seems like a rather lousy attitude...

giv me gear
Member
Since: Jan 29, 2009


Mar 11, 2009 08:41 am

so any tips on how to go about the whole thing with speakers?

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Mar 11, 2009 08:42 am

whatever you use to listen to your mixes, you just have to get to know them, you need to know where they are strong and weak and how to compensate for them...

Czar of Cheese
Member
Since: Jun 09, 2004


Mar 11, 2009 09:03 am

Tinstryde,

There's a lot of guys on this forum that could take a Radio Shack microphone with and on-off switch and mix it through iPod headphones and still make better sounding mixes than I'll ever dream of. It ain't all about the gear. Like dB said, use what you have, get to know its limitations, and keep trying until you come up with something that sounds good to you!

Meanwhile, keep coming back to HRC and read all of the great tips!

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Mar 11, 2009 11:18 am

Like DB said, get to know your headphones if that's what you use to mix. Listen to songs you love and know by heart. That way if your bass comes out too loud you will know it.

But... man I struggled at first and did not understand. I started out with over $2000 worth of gear and it sounded like ****. Now i can use 1 mic, a $150 line6 and my $100 campfire guitar to make some pretty sweet tracks. But, if you have no dedicated interface you are severely limited imo.

I have just been reading online any amount of information I can get. If I hear a cool technique I research it. It just takes time to learn the tricks man. Read read read to get the best understanding you can, and then ask for help. It makes explaining easier and you will understand what's being said.

Prince CZAR-ming
Member
Since: Apr 08, 2004


Mar 11, 2009 11:32 am

It's more about the experience than the gear, as already stated.

Every time you work on a mix, you learn something. And that, is the experience.

When you get into better gear, you'll already have a ton of ideas and tricks on how to get what you want. Stepping up to new gear will rocket you into engineering heaven.

Think of it this way. You're training for a marathon, but you have to train with 5 lbs on each limb. If you train for this, and improve, then when you are able to take the weights off and race, you'll be WAY above where you thought you were.

So keep working through adversity, and gain that experience. When the time comes, you'll be totally set.


Byte-Mixer
Member
Since: Dec 04, 2007


Mar 11, 2009 12:25 pm

I'm going to follow up pjk's line of thought here with my own experience:

I've got some okay-ish monitors now, but 4 years ago or so, when mixing, and putting stuff together, I had a pair of infinity-RS2 speakers I was using. Now, those speakers were probably about 5 years old, and I don't know if it was age, or I had damaged them at some point, but they had lost a little bit of their top-end I think. They were very -very- "middy" sounding, even muddy, but not really bassy. For headphones, I had a 20-dollar pair of altec-lansing with the built-on microphone, and a cheap no-name dynamic mic that I got from my sister.

I think I knew what I was doing well enough at the time to pull off "okay" sounding mixes. (maybe I'll upload an old one for grins) I mean I hadn't gotten totally reamed on them, and they seemed to get good comments back when I used to upload onto modplug. That said, there was a lot of trial and error involved. I also switched to listen to stuff in my car, or over different headphones...friends houses, etc. etc. etc.

If you know the limitations of your equipment, and know how to work around them, then you can still produce some decent results. Later on, if you can save up bit by bit, then after a year or so, you can probably get some decent equipment. I mean I kinda pieced my current setup together over a spread of about 2 years. Got the amp and monitors first, then about 6 months later, a good midi controller. About a year later I picked up a better dynamic mic. (since I started doing vocals a little bit

The marathon analogy works well here. The lack of monitors is a handicap, but if you know what you're doing, and keep pushing forward, then eventually when you do get some good gear, you'll be that much more ahead of your peers. Don't sell yourself short. Experience and knowledge will get you a helluva lot farther than gear. Keep reading, keep learning, keep practicing and applying what you read and learn, and you'll be fine.

-J

(edit) OMG! HAHAHA! I STILL have a few old mp3s up on modplug central (artist-name Mazrim) oh God those were old. I think I still have the original midis they were based off. I'll have to remix them at some point, and bring em up to my current standard.(/edit)

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Mar 11, 2009 01:13 pm

I will post my first ever recording when I get home. Using a solid state crate 1x12, DR550 drum machine and one of those little beige PC mics (2$) into a SB Awe 64.

SM7b the Chuck Noris of Mic's
Contributor
Since: Jun 20, 2002


Mar 11, 2009 01:18 pm

this is a really good thread. The best thing anyone can do is get to know and work with what they have. I was lucky enough to have a few bucks to spend when i first got started, but i bought a lot of "beginner" semi pro gear. I had a set of monitors ( still have em, love em) and a # of things that started with behrin and ended with ger ( not bad stuff) . I was reading and reserch as much stuff as i could get my hands on ( still do) , my mixes at first weren't the best but the best i had ever done since my ol 4 track . I took my time got to know my gear , with a # of bands coming in and out of my home studio and i got better with every band becasue i learned something from each session. I only upgraded equipment recently to more expensive equipment and i sold and slimed down A LOT OF STUFF. now there is a guy that doesn't come by that often who had some great sounding stuff with a little 4 track tape deck , dynamic mic, and guitar and his stuff was/is great.

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Mar 11, 2009 01:21 pm

There is a LOT of valuable lessons to be learned in getting the most from the gear you have that will serve you well later...I have met people with loads of great gear and still can't record a good sound cuz they never learned to use anything, they just spent money...

"Flame" doesn't hang her that much any more, but he has (or had) a sound blaster and a couple cheapo mics on a slow computer...he's now making mobile media and ringtone professionally for some of the biggest names in the industry...and still using very modest gear.

I am not a crook's head
Member
Since: Mar 14, 2003


Mar 11, 2009 01:32 pm

I tried searching to find my first music post but I couldn't. I do know that this was one of the songs I posted, done with a plastic PC mic into a SB Audigy with Cubase:

www.aarvid238.com/tadpui/...nt%20(demo).mp3

The Audigy went back the next day, I bought a Delta 44 and haven't looked back since!

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Mar 11, 2009 01:41 pm

Which song is it tad? And how did you get so much song space?

edit: found it, What you want (demo). Pretty darn good actually.

I am not a crook's head
Member
Since: Mar 14, 2003


Mar 11, 2009 01:46 pm

Oops, I meant to link to that song directly. Most of my stuff is hosted off-site. I have a friend that's had web space for a long time now so I mooch off of him :)

I changed the link to go directly to the source.

Czar of Turd Polish
Member
Since: Jun 20, 2006


Mar 11, 2009 01:50 pm

Oh oh, I forgot we can list to offsite. I thought you were DB's special little guy for a moment :)

I am not a crook's head
Member
Since: Mar 14, 2003


Mar 11, 2009 02:19 pm

Well I am, but we don't talk about that in public ;)

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Mar 11, 2009 02:20 pm

hahaha

Member
Since: Jul 02, 2003


Mar 11, 2009 03:51 pm

The first 4 or 5 songs I did were done on an SB Audigy2, a 25yr old SM57 for a mic, and a Roland Cube 30 amp. All the stuff I've bought since IMO has made little to no difference in sound qualityany difference, the experience however has.

Dan

Byte-Mixer
Member
Since: Dec 04, 2007


Mar 11, 2009 09:44 pm

That reminds me, the soundcard I was using was the good ol' SB Live Platinum 5.1 on the Kx Audio drivers. And the speakers were powered off an old Sansui G5500 stereo receiver I pirated from my dad. :P so, add that in addition to what I wrote above :P

-J

Frisco's Most Underrated
Member
Since: Jan 28, 2003


Mar 12, 2009 02:50 am

If you are the type of person that quits something every time something gets difficult, or takes time and effort, then yes you should quit now and cut your losses. If you are the type of person who enjoys the process of learning, and likes to watch themselves get better, then maybe you should continue. If you understand your limitations, and can compensate for them, you can still turn out very quality mixes.

Larry bird didn't have the dopest monitors, but he still made the hall of fame.

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Mar 12, 2009 06:06 am

Quote:
Larry bird didn't have the dopest monitors, but he still made the hall of fame.


hahaha, that made me chuckle.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Mar 12, 2009 09:07 pm

Tadpui, I think that is it. I was checking my archives.


Yes, I have an archive of almost everything that was down loadable from HRC guys in the early to mid life of the site. I can't keep up with it these days. Although I was debating taking a week off to log all the stuff on here now.

I do believe the very first piece of music from someone other then myself or dB was by Flame. It was called No Cigarettes and that was done with one of the older SB cards on as dB mentioned a very slow old PC with nothing but the cheap plastic PC mic. It still to this day gives me the willies when I listen to it as it just has something that is lacking in most of the music you hear today. Just the kid and his guitar caught with a bunch of extra goodies. Simple and plain, but good and straight forward.

OK, I gotta go now. I'm crying. Oh the memories.

Related Forum Topics:



If you would like to participate in the forum discussions, feel free to register for your free membership.