Wow thanks guys! I'm always a bit nervous when posting to a new site, because each has a different crowd that listens to very different types of music. Honestly, when it comes to production, I have no idea what I'm doing for the most part lol.
I know the basics and the theory, but everything else is by ear which is why I'll be taking production classes at Berklee during winter term (not to listen to what other people tell me what should sound good, but to just build up my knowledge ... plus the Navy pays for it and college looks great on my evals haha). I don't even have monitors! I use my Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pros (@ 80 ohms) for tracking and mixing purposes. I have a Bose speaker system for my desktop that I use as a reference guide. It has a pretty dynamic sound so if something sounds off on one of my songs, I'll fix it. That and I'll rip mixed mp3s to my ipod, listen through that with shitty earbuds, then plug it into my surround sound system, THEN plug it into my car ... if it sounds good, then I'm happy. My ears are my best judge I suppose ... I still use EQ reference guides and spectrum analyzers to see how things are EQed by other bands to work it into my stuff sometimes. It's usually just trial and error for me!
These are the chains I use for the majority of my songs (all tracked through my Presonus Firebox):
Guitars: Main guitars are usually just dual-tracked (occasionally I'll add a third center track in some parts to give more oomph in breakdowns) ... POD X3L (custom Big Bottom and Chunk Chunk dual tone, both with cab simulation and room reflections off) > Voxengo Boogex (with ReCabinet impulses loaded in) > Classic Compressor (dunno the brand name, but it was a free plugin that has become one of my favorites because it's pretty damn diverse) > Voxengo Curve EQ. For for most leads, melody, and ambient tones, I just use the POD X3L and different tones and usually just EQ and add some compression for those. That clean reverse sound (as well as the reverse guitar volume swells) are becoming my signature thing it seems lol. I'm still trying to figure out what everybody means by sending processed and DI tracks off for studio use ... I just track through my PODX3 so I don't really DI my guitars. I guess when I send off my stuff to a studio for further mixing for my CD, I'm just going to have to rerecord the guitars completely clean I take it?
Bass: DI'ed through my POD X3L > Ampeg SVX > Waves SSL Channel > Classic Compressor > Voxengo Curve EQ > and then I use an EQ pass at 50hz and on everything past 6500khz
Vocals: As far as the vocal chain, I couldn't tell you for each song lmao. I know I was using different plugins for different songs because the vocalists would use different equipment and different mics and send me the vocal files as high-res mp3s that i'd convert to a wave file, but the chain is usually (i think) majority consist of using Melodyne > Voxengo Curve EQ > Classic Compressor > Waves DeEsser > Waves SSL Channel > Waves RComp > Voxengo Tube to warm up the vocals and give a bit of grit > Waves DeEsser (to cut any more harsh sounds) > Voxengo Curve EQ (as final EQ curve to find the post-processed vocals sweet spot).
Drums: Everything is mixed using Superior Drummer 2.0 (w/the Metal Foundry upgrade) so I don't use any added plugins believe it or not. It took me a long time to craft my kit sound!
Again, thanks for listening and giving feedback. I'm still sending my stuff for the CD to a studio for mixing, production, and mastering because I want it to sound as best as possible and I can't quite get it at the quality I'm looking for just yet. Hopefully by the time my next CD is ready I won't need to send it off for further production!
