non-productive day in the studio...

[cobrahead1030]

i'm sure everyone has days like this, and i'm ready to pull my hair out right now

[skip to the end if you don't wanna read all this]

i finally got my band's drum tracks finished, and mixed decent enough to start on guitars...went down yesterday, set up my splawn 2x12 cab, threw some mics on it; shure sm67, senny e609, audix i5, mxl 990 (i'm really planning on using the 57/609 combo, the other mics are just on there to give me more options at mixdown should i need them) set my mesa mark III up in the control room, so all was good to go

i came in today, fired everything up...moved the mic positions a bit, did some eq tweaking and got a pretty decent sound

then i decided i'd try something new, so i stuck in KSE's 'end of heartache' and found a brief section on track 9 where only the guitar is playing...i spent a few minutes learning the riff, and recorded it alongside the one from the album...looked at the eq curve to see how they compared, and was able to adjust my amp settings and tweak the mic positions enough to get it pretty damn close on the eq curve, all was sounded pretty good and i did some minor amp eq adjustments to taste

so far..so good..i pull up a drum track, with some scratch guitars i recorded on my cobra, and spend a good hour or so recording some tracks; the cobra tracks weren't something i spent much time with, but overall i was happy with the mark III tone thus far...i did a quick mix with the cobra panned left/right and the boogie in the center, mixed it down and did some quick mastering on it and all sounded pretty rockin

i took a break from guitars to work with my singer on some vocal tracks for about an hour, go back for another listen and it all sounds like crap to me...just a muddy/boomy pile of garbage

i ripped it onto an audio cd, decided to call it a night and gave a few listens on my way home...still VERY unpleased with the outcome, i dunno if ear fatigue got to me quickly, or i did something wrong in mastering or what, but listening back i'm not satisfied with the guitar tone at all; it just sounds distant and muddy, but it was sounding really good to me earlier

...LONG STORY SHORT; i just put a good chunk of time into something i'll have to scrap, i know this kinda shit happens, and it's not the first time it's happened to me...obviously i'm not headed in the right direction

how do you guys deal with days like this? and as you get more experienced (and also set higher personal standards) do these days become fewer and far between? i'll quit my bitchin now...i'm just frustrated with not making progress and needed to vent, kinda wondering whose had similar experiences

 

[AStacy2]

Well for one, that's one of the downfalls of working on your own music. You're too close to it and lose perspective real quick.


After a while I think you figure out what's going to work and what's not. Then if you do make a mistake, you can use eq/compression/ect to fix it.


I would also tell you A/B a lot and don't change much while mastering since you are also mixing it.


Anyways, if it makes you feel any better I just had to redo 3 vocal tracks because for some unknown reason Melodyne wouldn't open the damn files! I think everyone has unproductive days though, that's why some bands take a year to record an album.

 

[cobrahead1030]

i think a good bit of it is just overall frustration...we just got finished spending 7 weeks (that's right!) doing drum tracks for 2 songs, and i still had to go back and fix some off-time hits

i should take a break from recording right now, we're already a month behind schedule as-is

i'd really love to not be in charge of writing, tracking, mixing, and mastering; just dealing with the first two would make me happy...but it's not financially feasible for us to do things otherwise at the moment

 

[AStacy2]

Maybe post some stuff up and some of the guys with freetime would mix/master for you?

 

[dontletmedrown]

how do you guys deal with days like this?

Record DI's so you don't have to redo the performance.

 

[cobrahead1030]

it's not the mixing/mastering i'm worried so much about, as the tracking itself...the mixing and mastering can be dealt with after the songs are recorded, i'm just frustrated with not being able to dial things in good enough to move forward with the actual recording

when i'm recording something just for fun, it's always much more enjoyable than when i'm actually working on something useful

 

[AStacy2]

Record DI's so you don't have to redo the performance.

Yeah, re-amping helps out tons with guitars. Great point. It might sound kind of expensive/unnecessary espicially if you're just starting off...but the first time it ends it being useful it pays for itself about 10 fold.

 

[sparkyness]

Had a completely unproductive weekend myself. I had the expectation of getting vocal tracks done for 2 or 3 new tracks and had the DAW throw a shitfit. Drives corrupted, video card died, etc. I therefore spent the weekend installing new components, restoring from backups and re-installing everything from scratch. No point getting worked up over it. Just get on with it and hope there's some creative rewards down the line.

 

[brandy]

Well, what's so bad with that day? I hear you... But i would say that you allready did some cool things on that day. You are just not pleased with the result. You have to work on it. Work hard. Don't give up. Try again. I am shure in the end you will be on another level.

I don't think there is someone outside who is actually "allways very happy" with his results. I am never happy. Ok, that's not true, but i am often still very critical even in the last minute.


brandy

 

[::XeS::]

I'm never happy also... When I try to record or to find a good riff for my songs, I have lots of non-productive days...every shit I play doesn't satisfy me at all...it's very frustrating!!!
Otherwise if I'm out somewhere I can think very good riff or song but when I go home and I try to record my ideas.........Nothing.
I hate this moments

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

Well, you learned something, so I wouldn't call that time wasted.

 

[kev]

This type of thing is a regular occurance for me lol

 

[cobrahead1030]

Well, you learned something, so I wouldn't call that time wasted.

this much is true

i guess the most irritating part, is that it all sounded like i was on the right track...atleast i have access to a place to record tho, so i have the option of listening after the fact, and deciding to scrap it or not; rather than having to put out something i'm not happy with

i'll probably look into some re-amping gear soon, the only reason i haven't bothered with it is because the playing/tracking aspect of it i don't really mind personally...it's my own music, and having to do things over a few times gives me more practice, and gets me closer to being able to nail things on a regular basis; rather than just recording and hoping for that magically good take

on the other hand, being able to track now and worry about sound later would be a huge help

 

[chadsxe]

Like Sinister mentioned it is never a waste of time as long as you learn something.

Or like Einstein said...

"I did not spend years failing at my inventions, I spent years learning what won't work"

 

[mjlaudio]

Ive found chasing other peoples stuff leads to unhappiness in the end.....its hard to get so and so's guitar sound mixed with band x's drums and this guys bass tone and have the whole thing come out cohesive.

guitars can be hard because you gotta have the amps up so loud to get things sounding cool, you have a relatively short window of time before your ears go

 

[cobrahead1030]

when i track guitars now, i have my amp in the control room with me and the cab in the next room over...that way it can be stupid loud and not kill my ears

i'm really trying to use others' tone as a reference, moreso than chasing it...KSE doesn't have the tone that i'm after, but they do have a nice mid/hi/low balance and that's what i'm trying to achieve

i'm going back down tomorrow with a different approach, i'm gonna throw down decent solid bass tracks and then work out the guitar tone from there...i always have a hard time judging how much low end is too much guitarwise, and end up with something that either clashes with the bass because i overdid, or sounds thin because i didn't use enough