Muddy recordings, is it the mikes?
- Thread starter Mastiff
- Start date
Odd-Arne Oseberg
Platinum Member
Tuning
Room
Mic placement
Then everything else.
Room
Mic placement
Then everything else.
Mastiff
Senior Member
Unlikely, since I don't know what RTA means?
rebonn
Senior Member
real-time analyzer
A real-time analyzer (RTA) is a professional audio device that measures and displays the frequency spectrum of an audio signal; a spectrum analyzer that works in real time.
DAW software usually has this.
This plugin from Isotope is included with Samplitude, the DAW I use as well as being included in various other recording software. It's pretty cheap on it's own. It's an EQ plus analyzer so you can see and tweak everything right there.
A real-time analyzer (RTA) is a professional audio device that measures and displays the frequency spectrum of an audio signal; a spectrum analyzer that works in real time.
DAW software usually has this.
This plugin from Isotope is included with Samplitude, the DAW I use as well as being included in various other recording software. It's pretty cheap on it's own. It's an EQ plus analyzer so you can see and tweak everything right there.
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Mastiff
Senior Member
I'm using Studio One, so yes. I think I've only seen this in the context of playing with an equalizer, but there must be a way to just pull this up by itself.
rebonn
Senior Member
I'm pretty sure Studio One's EQ should have an amplitude graph of the bands like Isotope Ozone above.
rhumbagirl
Senior Member
#4 node in that bottom pic is the narrow-band filter I was alluding to earlier. Mine looks the same, just on Ableton Live.
Bo Eder
Platinum Member
There’s so much to this. A lot of it is knowledge, but at the same time, your average recording studio with a competent engineer is so beyond what I could do in my little bedroom studio. And there are great engineers who can record an entire album with a Shure SM57 and a cheap mic pre-amp.
normal ninja
Member
it's EQ. use your RTA in conjunction w/ your EQ. have you lo-passed your kick mic & hi-passed your overheads?
are you close mic'd enough that you can keep your recording levels down to where you get fat tracks w/o a lot of cross-talk? (there'll always be some)
are you close mic'd enough that you can keep your recording levels down to where you get fat tracks w/o a lot of cross-talk? (there'll always be some)
I've been doing sound professionally for decades, and I'd bet your first and main problem is EQ. If you're close microns, the room will not make a huge difference, assuming your not in a gym! The quality of mics usually won't cause muddyness. It sounds like you've got the positioned correctly enough to get clear sound. Tuning could be a contributing factor, but if you're not EQ'ing correctlyrics, tuning better still won't reduce muddyness.
Mastiff
Senior Member
Thanks for all the input. I was able to improve things by just working with the EQ and other effects in the DAW, like dialing in the gates. I also found that the decay on the compression was adding to the "muddy" sound. Putting the compressors on auto in Studio One helped quite a bit. It's really sounding pretty decent at this point, though not as good as my favorite super crisp progressive rock style recordings. I've got a lot to learn.
cbphoto
Gold Member
Don’t be afraid to make big EQ adjustments to a track. It’s non-destructive! And with Studio One you can create scenes with saved settings, so you can A/B compare
Also, proximity effect is a huge culprit to muddiness, and the SM57 is not immune to an increase in low frequencies do to its proximity to the sound source.
As an example, here’s a response chart of the Beyerdynamic M201 dynamic mic. Note how it indicates a large increase in low frequencies at close proximity to the source.
Read this article from Bobby Owsinski, the author of The Recording Engineer's Handbook: https://www.prosoundweb.com/in-the-studio-six-tips-for-balancing-the-bass-and-drum-mix/
GetAgrippa
Platinum Member
On bass have you tried adding beater slam patch- maybe stick at quarter at contact between layers. It will definitely sound clicky slamming a quarter. I had a hard time getting it to stay- I was using tape. I bet between slam patch it would hold.
johnjssmith
Junior Member
This could be caused by a number of things, including but not limited to the microphones used, their placement relative to the drums, the heads, the tuning, the room you're recording in, your technique (are you consistently hitting the drums dead center?) and possibly even the drums themselves, and it might be solved by changing either of this things or somehow fixing it in post.
You'd have to post a clip for us to really tell you what the issue(s) might be.
You'd have to post a clip for us to really tell you what the issue(s) might be.
Steady Freddy
Pioneer Member
Think of EQ as tone controls on your cars stereo, If you take away the treble and mids with the bass cranked up you get mud. You just have to play around with it.
cbphoto
Gold Member
This is a good read:
tapeop.com
"I also found that moving these mics an inch or two in any direction brought them in and out of some very useful low-end nodes."
Drum Recording : Stop the Cymbal Splash
Tape Op is a free magazine exclusively about recording music. Subscribe (yep, for free) at tapeop.com.
tapeop.com
"I also found that moving these mics an inch or two in any direction brought them in and out of some very useful low-end nodes."
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