4 Ways to Take Your Recordings to the Next Level

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I talk a lot about getting it right at the source - #GIRATS - but what doest that look like? How do we know if we’ve gotten a good recording? This video gives you the answer.
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[@HomeStudioCorner]

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[@nuthinbutlove]

Thanks!

[@gregguarino563]

I typically play all, or almost all, of the parts myself. I usually start with piano, playing what to me sounds like a pretty nice part. Then I record the bass, guitar, organ, perhaps horn or string parts, etc. Invariably, once I have the whole "band" recorded, I find that I have played "too much" piano. Many of the other parts are too busy also. Here's the tip: Now that you have a whole "ensemble", play everything again. I find myself just naturally playing less, playing more strategically, playing parts that "fit" better. It's no surprise either. With an actual band playing together, the musicians will do much the same thing; getting things to gel a bit better with each run-through. For me, this is the ultimate way to "get it right" before you mix.

[@billderenzo8239]

Joe, the value of your channel and the time you give is truly a labor of love. I consider myself a professional as I've been in the music Business for over 50 years. I can remember recording way before the current state of the art and when it HAD to be right going in. No fixing in the mix. Most studios had a boutique processor. Most Of the time it was the console that provided the sound. Your tips on getting it right on the way in is the most important lesson you've taught. just today I agonized over my vocal moving the mic, eqing, etc. On the way in, until I thought I was going to lose my mind. The result? Success. Sometimes I feel guilty not taking your courses, but one or two things you may say during a video and the light goes on. A sincere thank you. God bless

[@Flyincowrecords]

One of my tricks is to run thru the entire process then render an mp3 then next morning listen in my truck, I pick up a lot of needed changes listening to it a few times with a clear mind in the am. I learn quite a bit being my sound critic the next day.

[@user-fr1dt1uh4i]

Listening to you talking about studio recording makes me glad that I spent my adult life in live sound. I go set up, do sound check, do the show, tear stuff down, and go home. I have learned how to get a good to great mix quickly. I can generally get what I want in one to three songs. Not to pat my own back, but I am very good at what I do. Now, due to health problems, I can't do that anymore. So, I play with Studio One. Fortunately, because of my former life, I am lucky to already know alot of what you are talking about. With that said, I really enjoy everything that you are talking about, and I occasionally learn a new trick or two. Keep up with the great content. By the way, I have had plenty of opportunities to work in the studio setting, and I found it too tedious. I got spoiled with the immediacy of live sound. I called it 'hit and git'. Again, thank you.

[@matthewmargetts8516]

Awesome style and pace as always, Joe. Thanks. I certainly will consider the recording course as I feel I could learn a lot from you. And btw I 100% agree that when people pay for stuff they put in the effort to get value from their purchase. It's like crossing the line from follower to customer.

[@OSWCrosshair2002]

A simple step in pretty much every part of the producing music process, is making sure you have fresh ears. Take a break. If your recording, mixing and our mastering. Rest those "Drums" inside your ear canals. It will make a world of difference. Great content, Joe. God Bless you, my brother. I hope that you, Pam and the kids are doing well.

[@artist79]

I love you my manh. No one talks about recording process, everybody is just how to eq this and saturate that. Whereas what this other creators dont understand is that most people make music from their homes. They are to face recording problems first before even they eq or compress. I am from india and here all the youtube creators do just shit talking. They have probably learnt from you guys only and they r teaching us with whatever shallow they have understood.

[@TheFIDASchannel]

That feedback loop thing it’s so important!!! I had to learn it the hard way. Thanks for another great video!

[@twinsprucestudios]

I paid the price, too!! I agree... this step is critical. Somebody finally gave this process a name... love it!!

[@DiNunno3284]

I love ur vids man. . Ur such a help....

[@foreheadlstudios2936]

Great info, as always! Now, can we talk about that cool leather portfolio looking thing?

[@JorgeEgrejasFrancisco]

Hi Joe. Nice topic and recommendations. Nevertheless, I must confess while completely agreeing with 1 (PAN definition at recording time) and 3 (Solo before recording) I do not follow entirely 2 and 4. The 2, because most of the times when gain staging at mixing time we will be able to normalize all tracks (recorded or simply bounced from MIDI) to a peak limit (e.g. -10 dB), before proceeding with the balance in the static mix; so, it will be irrelevant to try to impose a kind of rough mix with the tracking levels. The 4 due to some real constraints: I record in a distinct spot from the mixing desk and I do not have speakers available; so, I will just listen with good headphones after some recording is done (in principle, after checking the sound, a bunch of takes, in order to focus on the parts at stake at the moment) - note that I only record vocals, acoustic guitars and DI electric and bass, with all the rest ITB.

[@carmvecchio]

"Enhance something great instead of fixing something broken." GIRATS!

[@GeorgeOzier-gr5zq]

Excellent. You've helped me keep focus. Big thanks!

[@christopherturpin5028]

FANTASTIC advice sir! I greatly appreciate all your expertly explained tips. (And I’m adding “nonce” to my vocabulary now 😂)

[@pocket1684]

Hey Joe, I believe you have touched on this in other videos actually. Good vid none the less.

[@lar57jsy]

Thanks for mentioning the shaker level and hearing loss. I suspect that the "giving it some air" EQing I've been hearing about lately is really about compensating for (creeping?) hearing loss. ;-) I think before handing my tracks to a "pro" for mixing or mastering, I'd like to see a recent hearing test to show me the pro is doing the work with good hearing!

[@zazoomatt]

Thanks for THIS as I am just starting to use ALL of your Recommendations for recording basic Guitars, Drums EZ and the vocals are just as Terrible as I could make them :-). Guitars were given Plenty of headroom and Nailed it against the Backing track although my buffer size I reduced from 1024- to 256 and You were SO Right ! I hope to work up to getting your mixing course ASAP. Much Love for your Efforts from 4 years ago & Now !

[@nedim_guitar]

6:45 Just replace the snare using a thing like Slate Trigger. Problem solved haha! Seriously though, great tips in this video, it's important to make sure that the recording is good.

[@farber2]

Best advice I think.

[@rajivmodha3693]

A question. The first step in getting right at the source is recording each track with a healthy signal, not too loud but not too low either. General recommendation is to shoot for -12 to -6db level, by keeping the fader at 0 db and ONLY adjusting the output of the instrument/vocal and input gain of the interface. For example, an acoustic rhythm guitar part which will be at a lower level in the mix still gets recorded at -12 to -6 db level. Is that right?

[@nuthinbutlove]

Thanks!

[@TheFRiNgEguitars]

Another informative tutorial, but maybe something exceptional to the first point about panning, some of the finest rock recordings do have a lead instrument panned L or R. I do not think it's always necessary to balance another instrument to a panned solo section, since it will be up front stage Left or Right. Jeff Beck "Truth" is one of them. In "Shapes of Things" Becks Lead part isn't centered. If I remember which channel correctly (been awhile since I have listened) my Reel to Reel Left meter bounced to +3 during that solo, and it just jumps out at you.

[@andieondabeat]

if you still have your presonus eureka can you do a video on how to properly use it. there are no tutorials on youtube and i want to know how to get the most out of my channel strip

[@dillonadelman2094]

When I do my pre-pro to hash out arrangement, I play with compression and EQ here. Then when I re-record, I can apply similar settings on the way in. I'm not the best at mixing, but this makes mixing the final tracks really minimal. Is this a decent strategy, or am I overcomplicating the process?

[@akira_21_]

It's actually a really good strategy, imo. This way you get your source tones really close to how it sounds in your head (or even spot on). I use similar strategy, but in a slightly different way. I usually only record myself, and i usually mix as i record. However, when i ocasionally record other people, i use a pre-mixed recording template with all the tones dialed in beforehand, then tweak anything the track calls for (bigger/tighter drums, different flavours on bass/guitars/synths/vocals, different spatial threatment etc.)

[@lou-felixlaurierguerard9463]

Hi, I totally agree but at the same time I've heard so many times that when recording in a digital domain you need to have the strongest possible signal level before clipping. I thought I understood perhaps wrongly that it was to maximize SNR. Thanks

[@twinsprucestudios]

In the digital realm, there is a MUCH lower noise floor compared to analogue. What you have heard, and been told... is in fact true, IF you were working in analogue. But with digital, the noise floor is SO low, it is inaudible. There is no need to slam the meters when recording anymore... the last thing you want to do is clip. A loud signal will only have to be turned down during mixing anyway.

[@NoOne-ye5jf]

@@twinsprucestudios But in the digital realm you can also turn down clip gain and achieve the same effect of having recordings that are half way mixed with the faders at 0. I think that while the noise floor in digital recording is definitely much less of an issue that in analog it's still good practice to record as hot as possible while leaving a decent amount of headroom. If you record a vocal with 20db of headroom, that noise floor is definitely going to be heard in a mix.

[@twinsprucestudios]

@@NoOne-ye5jf What noise floor..??? Dude... you are sadly mistaken.

[@NoOne-ye5jf]

@@twinsprucestudios Man I know the noise floor is barely an issue most of the time but I've heard plenty of amateur recordings that definitely bring some noise with them when you apply a compressor or boost certain frequencies. Obviously in the specific case of a shaker that will never be a problem. I just believe it's better practice to record everything at a decent level with enough headroom and adjust in post if necessary. In a studio and with proper equipment the noise floor is never going to be an issue but someone using cheap equipment are going to have to work around it every once in a while.

[@D_punkster]

But I love shakers... 😂

[@AndyMangele]

People used to say "We fix it when we mix it" - certainly not the best approach!

[@gcoudert]

Serious question: why not record your shaker hot to minimise noise and use the gain knob (I/O Controls) at the top of each channel to adjust the volume, leaving the fader at unity level?

[@mateuszzawocki1405]

You can but as I understand Joe is pointing how to get as fast as possible some kind of pre mixed version of session without even tweaking in daw.

[@jokester5130]

Yea I've always been told to get a healthy signal for all tracks.

[@joeEnrique]

i notice my music sound better wen i dont do panning at all i do the panning and i dont like maybe is because i deciding at the end wen am mixing.

[@jimmyk9998]

You can’t drive a car when blind, and get there. Take the time to think the project through. Les Paul recorded at first on wax records. The final recordings were the result of first thinking through the presses recording it. And getting it right at the source. Yes those are primitive recordings compared to today, but they stand the test of time. Nothing has changed figuring things up first, then getting it right as a source more important today than ever. Les Paul could only record one track at a time today we can record 100 more tracks at this time. Les Paul made a mistake or something was set up improperly had to start all over again recording 100 tracks at once, if the source is off key or the Mike placement is wrong, you end up with 100 tracks of garbage unusable no plug-ins can fix. What Joe Gilder says is fundamental to recording every track one or hundred take the time experiment with what works for you? That’s the real fun of recording. What the listener hears after the whole process they enjoy. Instead of rushing through the recording process learn from it live the moment make the memories enjoy the growth. JK.

[@jerryk3280]

Solid advice right here.. Like a very important teacher once told me, you have to learn the rules before you can break them.

[@maseratifittipaldi]

Panning. Some guru's say mix in mono and pan afterwards.

[@_thaaatguy]

You might have misunderstood that "tip," panning is usually part of the static mix, i.e. before processing (eq, compression, etc), you set levels and balance or as Joe says, you do that while producing your track. The mixing in mono tip is meant to be done while you eq to make sure you're minimizing masking between tracks. I hope it makes sense to you.

[@soundsofveer1050]

Nobody here does time stamp anymore? Lol😂

[@NoOne-ye5jf]

I disagree with the levels thing. The whole point of recording as loud as possible is to have a big gap to the noise floor, recording quieter, while it may not be that big of an issue in most cases, can create problems. If you record a shaker at like -6db and then turn it down in the mix there's going to be virtually zero noise coming from that track. You could definitely lower the clip gain to send your audio files "pre mixed" to the mixing engineer and achieve the same effect of having a decent static mix with every fader at 0, but I don't think quieter recordings are a good idea.

[@mikewaldron4492]

If you record it at -18, you will have more than enough. You're just making more work for yourself, as you're never going to have it at -6. As for the noise floor, nah. That just isn't a thing anymore... 🤷

[@NoOne-ye5jf]

@@mikewaldron4492 -6 is an exaggeration but while noisy interfaces are rare as hell nowadays but I used to record with an sm57 and an older presonus interface and the noise floor was definitely a thing to be mindful of every once in a while. I just believe it's better practice to record at decent levels.

[@mikewaldron4492]

@@NoOne-ye5jf -18 is a very decent level. -6 is more of a figure to aim towards for a mix. If you think you need a shaker at that volume, you're just deluded. Even with a dynamic mic, you don't need anywhere near that. You're basically saying that you need it to be recorded higher than any signal that ever went to tape (+12), by quite a bit. You do you, but you're completely incorrect and need to go back to basics. This is a massive part of the 'girats' philosophy. Many people just don't 'girats'... 🤷

[@michaelstuben8748]

Get it right at the sauce!. Reduce the chicken-stock to 50% In other words: -compress it , so taste and sound gets intenser ! 🥂🤡