Revealations to a newbie!

[Fox Mulder]

Mine goes long back. Circa 2005.
I was stoned. Listening to Megadeth on earphones. It kind of shocked me when I noticed the rhythm guitars from both channels, left and right. This wall of sound... I thought I was hallucinating...

After that my guitars started sounding awesome.

 

[ArnaudM]

@StephTD

You really made my day with your sharkey guitar pick !

Anybody elese than me hearing unrecorded elements behind the tracks after more than 24 hours working ? A very good technician told me one day it was the sign you were getting more professionnal hehehe.

 

[Firaxis]

One of mine was starting to actually hear the bass guitar in dense metal mixes. Hearing natural reverbs for the first time was awesome as well!

Talking of hearing things after tracking, I once recorded an acoustic guitar and whilst mixing noticed the guitarists breathing was rather loud! If I ever track acoustic now I try to hold my breath because of that.

 

[Djabthrash]

-noticing an extremely fucked-up premastering job (overcompressed, etc)
-noticing a loudness war kind of mastering vs a mastering that lets the mix breathe
-noticing a phasey guitar sound due to multi-miking phase issues
-identifying the type of snare being used (low fat, cracky, ...)
-hearing the drums reverb in the mix
-hearing the bass distortion in the mix
-noticing quadtracked guitars vs dual-tracked guitars
-identifying a specific player/guitar/pup/clean boost/amp/cab/mic/miking when listening to a guitar tone
-separating the instruments in your head (= solo-ing them in your head) while listening to a full-mix
-recognizing producers' work

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

1. Understanding and hearing compression. Regarding any technical knowledge, this was easily the hardest thing for me to truly comprehend.

2. Realizing "analogue" is a horrible and widely misused word when describing a sound.

3. Learning to appreciate the relationship between the music and the mix. When I started out, I struggled to get the mix into what I felt like was a good mix and I completely forgot about the music. After being asked to jump to the second chorus and realizing I had no idea where and what the second chorus was, I completely re-thought my way of approaching mixing. This was a huge eye opener for me. There are thirteen AE's in a dozen who can get a decent mix going, but one in a thousand who can create something unique that really flows with the music, and that's something I strive to achieve some day, one step at a time.

 

[Williamn]

When I found out how much you edit and "cheat" on records..
Tbh before I got into this I 100% thought what I heard on the record was just good players and good takes !

Also when I found out you sample drums and replace shells and so on.. mind was blown for a while haha

 

[bryan_kilco]

Finding out a snare drum was out of phase by reading about phase and then not being able to "hear" it. Then I inverted phase on top and bottom mics and finally "heard" it.


Finding out bands reamp/fix parts of songs on live DVDs and such.... :/

 

[PhilTheBeard]

Finding out a snare drum was out of phase by reading about phase and then not being able to "hear" it. Then I inverted phase on top and bottom mics and finally "heard" it.


Finding out bands reamp/fix parts of songs on live DVDs and such.... :/

When i found that out about live dvd's i was sad haha. And as for Miasma idk what it is on the guitar's but there is def some phase shit going on in those guitar's. But trust me i still love that album to death Miscarriage is the best song on the album for me

 

[Tommy Evans]

Many of you will roll hour eyes but fuck it, Joey Sturgis is the reason I became a serious recording studio/mixer/guy. I was desperately seeking a certain sound when listening to music. Not the music itself but the way it SOUNDED and then I heard Asking Alexandria's first album and found what I was looking for. Then heard We Came As Romans' first LP and the sound was there again. I found out that Joey recorded/mixed/mastered everything on both those albums and that opened my mind to so many new things and ways of seeing music and the recording biz.


Also, semi recently, drum samples/sounds that work freaking great with multiple genres. Specifically, my go-to snares for metal are often my go-to snares for pop music.

 

[blue_fAng]

When realized eq'ing the hell out of an instrument also takes the life out of it and its about natural eq (micing, not post-eq). Another revelation is treating your recording/monitoring rooms.

 

[derekmoffat]

Just had one today. It is insane how much of a difference there is by switching between two of the exact same cabs, while using the exact same amp settings, mic placement, cab placement, etc. INSANE. I switched between two Mesa Oversized cabs, both with v30 speakers, and it was night and day.

 

[Shinozoku]

1. The moment I figured out compression.

2. When I first was able to notice the reverb in any room I was in.

I still haven't figured out compression I just use presets for it for right now.

And I clap in rooms too! Especially if there's a lot of wood walls or odd angles.