Making Records with Eric Valentine - Episode 19 - First Paint, New Cement & Comments and Questions!

In this Episode, You see the moment when the first paint goes on the wall in the renovation and the application of new cement in the big sound room. I also do another round of answering questions and comments from recent episodes.

[@RipperFromYT]

I was just rewatching your Nickel Creek episode and got notified of this video. Nice!! Seriously your mix on Celebrants is insane. I sooooooo want to hear the difference between the raw mic pre's and then the tracks post tape machine/processing. The way you got everything to sit and the distortion you got on everything is just fantastic!

[@amphlett7]

So amazing to share your time with us and answer the questions. I was blown away when I saw how long the video is 😮

[@elevateaudioengineering4892]

Love that it takes discussing acoustician's for Eric to drop a volley of F bombs. 🤣

[@soulflower8687]

Recently I went back and watched your mixing drums tutorial from Topanga, and I realised it was without doubt the best tutorial for mixing drums on youtube. When you get the barn up and running, would you be able to do a couple of shows on both miking and mixing drums in that new space, with particular reference to integrating vintage tube gear into the drum miking and mixing process ? I have some tube pre's and compressors but have not yet fully integrated them into my mixing chain in the way that you obviously have much experience with. Thanks for the consistent stellar work. I learn so much from your channel.

[@soulflower8687]

BTW, in my gear builds, for electrolytics I have found that in terms of tolerance and longevity, any of the Nippon Chemi-Con (NCC) caps rated at 105 celsius will outperform the similarly rated Nichicon 105 celsius caps over time. The NCC caps seem to hold their value higher and longer than the Nichicons. The Nichicon caps generally have the more famous name but that also commands a higher price tag. The NCC caps have been my go to for a long time.

[@marcelosuarez3027]

2 hour long video saved the end of my day, thanks for sharing Eric.

[@paulmichaelmusic1]

Congratulations and big praises to you, for doing what you’ve done for this channel so far, and for making the decision to do what you want to do moving forward. The content is just great and very much appreciated. LL&P! Lol

[@TimBuell]

QUESTION: Eric - I saw pictures on Instagram of your flooring install for the new studio and even checked out the link to the product you used. Could you talk about why you went with cork, and walk through your process of actually installing.

[@TimBuell]

Disregard. Just got to the end of the episode where you said you would do just that haha.

[@dandelay8377]

I’m always excited when these episodes drop!

[@EUGENELEONARD]

Omg Eric........ Mixing into the mastering chain.... Brilliant love it I'm gonna do it all the time now...

[@AdamGotheridge]

Thanks for answering my question, and thanks for all the little tidbits of info. Really liked your logic on eq before compressor, for one little instance. Looking forward to the next and the next. This is special stuff and really appreciated. Tell Grace some nobody near Chicago appreciates all her input too. ❤

[@distortion_plus]

Thanks for answering my question, I now feel better about my own record making anxieties😂

[@cleedev]

Bravo on the return of the MPEQ-1! Put me down for one, I have one and need another one! Probably going to have to get a couple of the MPEQ-500’s too…😊

[@Tonymeister87]

Fun fact - Louder Now by TBS was the first record I ever bought as a teenager that I looked up the producer on. I'd never thought about it before but it sounded so striking and amazing that I paid attention and it was the first time I saw your name in the liner notes. That's the album that got me into production as an art form in the first place and here I am, still making records for a living in my mid-thirties.

[@Gruvhip1]

I have an NG Leveler and it works great. I go from that directly into a Neve summing mixer. I also have a Bettermaker and that works really well too. Really love my Undertone Preamps too!

[@illbelieveanything]

I'd chew off my arm to visit this magnificent studio when it's up and running.

[@MartinMartin-yi9to]

Thanks for working towards art and not technical perfection. With computers in our work environments it's hard to detached from grids and perfection as it is so easy obtainable. Artistery comes first.

[@richeymcc]

Love to hear your process for mastering - especially when it comes to Lufs. In the pop world it’s nearly a badge of honor to get the master to between 5-7 Lufs when streaming services just turn them down anyway!

[@BlackenedNL]

Man I love all these videos, so cool to see the studio progress

[@davestanley357]

Another amazing video! In your last medium size studio in California, you simply used thick fibreglass insulation all around I think about 2 feet. That seemed to work very well according to your measurements. It would be great to have your advice about what materials would likely work best in small, medium and large spaces. Ie tube traps versus thick broadband fiberglass versus the resonant metal. If you were in a small space like an amp room or a booth, would you use one type over another? Many of us have entire studios that are very small. We use lots of real estate in broadband traps. What would you do in a small space if you really wanted as great performance as possible? Would your advice change if it was a tracking versus control room?

[@mattperreault3518]

Also Happy belated Birthday!!

[@redredredredhair3]

Super appreciate everything you do and your methodical approach to recording! How do you manage to keep momentum moving and morale high with artists while also experimenting and tone chasing throughout sessions? I find it hard to balance when most bands want things to expedite naturally, but also want to have the end product to sound as good as possible. You said in a previous episode that it's most important that bands have a great time while recording and that's what makes them come back. The perfectionist in me wants every song to be portfolio worthy so I find it hard to constantly focus on hospitality at the same time.

[@niekdriesschen3376]

Hey Eric, Thanks so much for putting all the effort in these video’s, we all learn so much here! I was wondering what you think about tape degradation? I own a (mainly analog) studio, and always loved recording everything with “a sound”, committing to summed signals/eq/compression/tape, and often use this workflow of monitoring from the playbackhead of the tapemachine straight into the computer, really makes the artist instantly vibe on a great sound and makes mixing so much easier, less use of plugins, instantly able to edit things quickly etc. I mainly use an MCI JH24 and have a bunch of 2” inch tapes, already used them alot, over and over and over again. I keep checking the calibration of the machine, and to my ears these tapes keep sounding great, waiting for the day i’ll have to buy new tapes.. Have you experienced any difference in sound when using tape over and over again alot? Also i was wondering, are you going directly from the tapemachine’s outputs into the a/d converters? On my MCI i had to turn all the output levels down to not clip my converters, as I often slam the shit out of the tapemachine’s inputs. I was wondering how you configured that, are you going to extra line-amps in-between? I’m also really inspired by your workflow of also capturing the raw mic pre signals, to be able to go back and refine all the hardware processing after the fact, really really smart, i’ll try that one day! Sorry for the long message, Thanks so much, love your productions and the fact you’re so open about everything and share your knowledge! Cheers, Niek from Far Out Sound Studio, the Netherlands

[@MartinMartin-yi9to]

Indeed the Buzz Audio Toxic looks interesting. I like that it's NOT crippled with knobs. 4 knobs and a few switches is very good. So many 500 units have way too many knobs and it's hard to set.

[@Journeymanlive]

Hey Eric! about the HEAT ZONES, it's a nice idea. There a another great idea in that effect: infra red heating pannels. They heat people and objects, just like the sun, even less wasted energy than a heated carpet. The room can be cold but you got a nice ray of warmth on you, think next to a singer stand or a guitar seat. It's Instaneous, people leave the room ? turn it off and save energy. I'm exploring that concept at my place! hope this gives another option. best. Syl

[@45aside]

I'm currently stuck on ME Geithain speakers and how neutral they sound to me, but really want to give the Strauss monitors a shot in my new mixing room. What amp do you pair with the nf-3s? P.S. You've inspired me to think entirely differently about mixing and manipulation of sources collecting to the larger organic energy of a song and I can't thank you enough!

[@fona24]

Have you looked into Smaart for microphone / speaker / room measurements? Ideally, you would be checking your mics against a measuring mic (with correction curve), to take your speakers and your room out of the equation.

[@jamessurprenant8509]

Eric, Thank you for everything you do for the community with your deep knowledge bombs. Any shot you know the name of that gentic therapy for tinnitus? Im a drummer who never wore ear protections for about 10 years and now im an aspiring mix engineer and the ringing is killing meeeeeee.

[@ericfrison8868]

Hey Eric, I don’t think you’ve talked about this yet: how did you discover this RCA console? Did you use one a long time ago and have been pining for one ever since? Did you stumble upon it at a garage sale? What’s the story? Also, I don’t know if you still have the masters, but will you do a mix breakdown of a Persephone's Bees track? I love the tones on that album. Thanks for answering our questions!

[@chrisdover8507]

Happy birthday maestro

[@teenmen3835]

Hi Eric, thanks so much for sharing your experience and knowledge through these videos! Quick question on the recording set up for the Nickel Creek sessions: In your Pro Tools set up, for the “Raw” mic pre only tracks, is there a specific reason you use pre-fade sends to route those tracks to the “monitor side” chain of console processing, outboard and tape? Is there a reason you are not just routing the main outputs of those raw preamp only tracks to the console channels you are using for the monitor side outboard and tape processing? In the Nickel Creek session, were the main outputs of the “Raw” channels routed anywhere in particular or put to any specific use? (stereo headphone cue maybe?) Also, if trying this strategy of using double AD/DA conversion for a raw signal chain and processed signal chain … is there anything one should consider while using a native Pro Tools system vs. an HD system? Are there any latency issues (aside from the tape machine repro head) in either case that one would want to be aware of? I’m mostly just curious about trying this approach out on a Native system vs. an HD system…and if there could be any differences to the workflow. Thanks! - nick

[@teenmen3835]

One additional question. Do you also do this process during overdubs? I was experimenting with it a little this morning, and getting a little latency…which seems like it would make overdubs tricky.

[@darkironman07]

Hey Eric, Just had some thoughts on your FuzzMeasure use. You can measure a buch of different microphones and average(using the average fucntion in FuzzMeasure) them to get a results that should be indicitive of what your speakers are contributing to the measurement. You can then save that results and subtract it from your microphone measurements to get a more accurate frequency response of your microphone under test. Tony, the support tech at RØDE, was super helpful and would be an excellent resource for anything FuzzMeasure.

[@chrisdover8507]

Hi Eric, because you are somewhat the best at dialing in the midrange on instruments, how do you decide how bright it will be? Compared to what you hear from other mixers, do you deal with highend differently? You just seem to really know where the line is

[@TLCReference24]

Love the videos! Tried a similar setup with the safety net mic pres at ParSonics studio (Alan Parsons studio I’m house engineer at) In this video you said the artists are monitoring directly off the mic pre without the processing? I assume this is for latency reasons? Thought I heard you mention how cranking the 1176 on nickle creeks vocal recording helped him get the best performance? Was this during overdubs? Always found personally having the artist listening to their instrument processed resulted in the best performance. Thanks for all the knowledge and incredible gear! Got it all but the UnFairchild!! One day!!!

[@adamscott1142]

Of all the gear you discuss on this channel, hate to say it but that huge paint roller and tray are the best! Are they vintage or reissue? x

[@Bergatronmusic]

I LOVE THIS CHANNEL! You've mentioned in a few videos now that sample rate doesn't matter that much. I totally get what you're saying, but does your opinion of sample rate change at all when you're asked to time stretch, tune (melodyne) or use iZotope RX? I find anything lower than 96k stands a pretty good chance of creating artifacts when using elastic audio, melodyne and RX etc. Even if the time stretching or tuning is very minimal. The same goes for RX, artifacts can be more noticeable at lower sample rates. Any thoughts? You rule Eric.

[@DMKahn]

Since the Bare and Scared promo has been up for a bit, did you get many sales? Also the drum sound in that promo was absolutely insane, I’m assuming that was processed by Unfairchild correct? It was MASSIVE 🎉

[@mrwev]

You can see exactly ho that drum sound was done in this episode... kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2fCaJStarqIm6M&ab_channel=MAKINGRECORDSwithERICVALENTINE

[@fonte935]

2 questions: With your Mic Pre -> Pro Tools -> Gear ->Pro Tools setup, do you Playlist the returns back to PT, or just the mic-preed versions? As far as monitoring through tape, have you considered putting a tape emulation on the outputs of the return tracks just to kind of mimic the real tape machine sound if you don't always want to roll the tape? And a bonus question: if you record a lot of your own stuff in the new studio, how in the hell are you going to listen to the processed / tape machined returns while recording?!?!?! Loops the exact length of the accumulated delay??? ;)

[@nikgalanopoulos383]

Can't believe someone though acoustic engineering was to "Play Dark Side of the Moon and start turning knobs" :D

[@chrismitchell523]

Hey Eric. When heading towards the RCA, did you ever evaluate something like a Shadow Hills Gama 8 or similar paired with the Pyra-Sum, or maybe the shadow hills equinox.

[@mattperreault3518]

Any chance you could get Larry Jasper on here some day? Would be cool to get to meet the legend!

[@Ramplcro]

For room acoustics my dream would be to try (or hear in person) a Phillip Newell approach (without rigid front wall and speakers in it). It's basically (starting from the outside/soundproofing wall) - 4 inch cavity filled with insulation, then sandwich of 2 drywall panels and limp mass (in between drywall), then another 4 inch cavity finished by limp mass absorber (about 5 kg/m2) with some kind of fiberglass/mineral wool glued and facing the room. All the walls and ceiling. Then 2 feet wide (60 cm) hangers (3/4 plywood panel with limp mass and fiberglass glued) everywhere you can put them (back wall is a must). Then you end up with very small room and mix on tiny desk and tiny speakers 🤣😂 (Frank Zappa anyone?) Problem is if it does not work you have spent a quite of bit of money for nothing 😁.

[@bulletproofzest]

Eric, do you have any suggestions/tricks on rock guitars without doing a double? If I use two mics on the cab and pan them it just sorta sounds like slightly larger mono. Also can’t stand the duplicate/delay trick. A solution I’ve used is to lightly pan guitAr and bass of center (like 50%) then send them to a buss and sim frequencies below a certain point to mono. Worked well but not in every situation. Curious if you’ve had creative solutions on that front

[@SamPura]

Eric, how are you setting your API 2500 and what do you like using it on?

[@ianfait170]

Have you checked out any of the analog obsession plugins? Do their Vari Moon and Kolin compressors come anything close to a real tube compressor?

[@idrum.iproduce]

❤

[@LesonDeson]

Was Kissing Tree done at Barefoot? Of your discography that I know it's the closest to a certain Stevie Wonder. Coincidence? :)

[@Xithers]

How did the drum part come about on Helena?

[@EricChesek]

Careful with those electric heating pads! Sometimes they can throw lots of 60Hz hum.

[@ericfrison8868]

But isn't it more or less the same system with a heated floor? Or maybe the concrete add some insulation from the hum? I'd be curious to find out because I'm thinking of doing it for my studio next winter...

[@EricChesek]

@@ericfrison8868 I don't have experience with heated floors, so my comment could be off base. If the general idea is that there's a closed loop of a conductor that heats up when mains electricity (in some form) is applied, then it could act as the primary of a transformer that sends hum right through your guitar pickups and microphones. Like anything else, it is possible there are good designs that don't result in any significant noise.

[@ericfrison8868]

@@EricChesek Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately honestly the electrical stuff is a bit out of my wheelhouse...would that mean that classic electrical radiators could have the same problem? Would it make a difference if it was hooked up to a solar panel system instead of classic electrical power?

[@ericfrison8868]

@@EricChesek Cool, thanks for the insight!

[@buhlir]

Dude I am the same way with so many things you said, I to have completely lost my connection with modern music/mixes, I hate the insane amount of limiting and boring sonics that sound "modern" or "normal. Im so tired and bored of it haha. converters don't matter, I am currently setting up the same type of hybrid set up recording to tape and daw through old ass tube pres and mixing the same way you are. albeit with cheaper gear haha. And i've been all about my hearing lately too. Its crazy, wavelengths man..

[@cornerliston]

I was hoping for 2:11:44 of painting. Or “painting.”

[@erakarerecording]

Hi Eric! Thank you for for the wealth of expertise, and your gracious sharing of the most precious of commodities...time! Could you elaborate on CAT5/CAT6 and the grounding issues you mentioned in a previous episode? Cheers!