RAP5/3/22 Tonebarge "Train"

[Carey Carlan]

Nothing competes for my ear in this recording. It's amazing how much space
is left in a mix when you don't need a full drum set.

I just got an education in how to record congas. I should have paid
attention last week as I did a session with congas last Sunday and didn't
do nearly as good a job. More reverb than I'd use, but that's just a
question of taste.

[Roger W. Norman]

What? You didn't know how to record congas and have the audacity to show
your face here, ragging on every song on the Fifth of RAP CD? Well, give me
five. If there's one thing that's become evident over time is Tonebarge's
extreme finisse with a mix. Again, and I apologize Tone for mentioning it,
but this is done with a Mackie 1604 and ADATs for mixdown. So when you talk
about amazing amounts of space, that's just how amazing the space is from
that source. I'd actually put Tonebarge into the same sonic genius of
George Massenberg. There's space enough to drive a Hummer through and still
enjoy the music on the trip. There must be some magical lixor...

--


Roger W. Norman
SirMusic Studio
Purchase your copy of the Fifth of RAP CD set at www.recaudiopro.net. See
how far $20 really goes.




"Carey Carlan" <gulfjoe@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns93D9CA6D98CBgulfjoehotmailcom@198.99.146.1 0...
> Nothing competes for my ear in this recording. It's amazing how much
space
> is left in a mix when you don't need a full drum set.
>
> I just got an education in how to record congas. I should have paid
> attention last week as I did a session with congas last Sunday and didn't
> do nearly as good a job. More reverb than I'd use, but that's just a
> question of taste.
>

[Carey Carlan]

"Roger W. Norman" <rnorman@starpower.net> wrote in
news:bhoj78$227$1@bob.news.rcn.net:

> Subject: Re: RAP5/3/22 Tonebarge "Train"
> From: "Roger W. Norman" <rnorman@starpower.net>
> Newsgroups: rec.audio.pro
>
> What? You didn't know how to record congas and have the audacity to
> show your face here, ragging on every song on the Fifth of RAP CD?
> Well, give me five. If there's one thing that's become evident over
> time is Tonebarge's extreme finisse with a mix. Again, and I
> apologize Tone for mentioning it, but this is done with a Mackie 1604
> and ADATs for mixdown. So when you talk about amazing amounts of
> space, that's just how amazing the space is from that source. I'd
> actually put Tonebarge into the same sonic genius of George
> Massenberg. There's space enough to drive a Hummer through and still
> enjoy the music on the trip. There must be some magical lixor...
>
> --
>
>
> Roger W. Norman
> SirMusic Studio
> Purchase your copy of the Fifth of RAP CD set at www.recaudiopro.net.
> See how far $20 really goes.
>
>
>
>
> "Carey Carlan" <gulfjoe@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns93D9CA6D98CBgulfjoehotmailcom@198.99.146.1 0...
>> Nothing competes for my ear in this recording. It's amazing how much
> space
>> is left in a mix when you don't need a full drum set.
>>
>> I just got an education in how to record congas. I should have paid
>> attention last week as I did a session with congas last Sunday and
>> didn't do nearly as good a job. More reverb than I'd use, but that's
>> just a question of taste.

Followup on this topic. I returned to do the mixing on this track. A bit
of judicious (OK, radical) EQ improved my original track dramatically. It
still doesn't shine like Tonebarge's, but it's now respectable.

How about a parametric set 187 Hz, Q=8, lvl = -20 dB? Took out tons of
resonance and ringing and left a reasonable amount that finally revealed
the hand texture on the heads.

This was my first effort at tracking congas and I really didn't know what
sound I was looking for. I'll try different miking next time to track more
of what I want to hear, probably coming down from above. This time was a
coincident pair parallel to the heads less than a foot off the edge.

Feels weird to be talking about EQ settings and mic technique on RAP these
days. Didn't say a word about buying anything.

[Roger W. Norman]

I've found that there's almost alwasy "one more thing" that can be done,
BUT, I guess part of the job is to know when to quit, too. Sometimes I'll
find myself listening to something I recorded 5 years ago and it's already
out the door and paid for, but dumb me will sit down at the computer and try
to make it just a leeeeeetle better, and for what? If nothing else it makes
me look at more possibilities and learn how to cut back on some types of
processing or rearrange the way I do them. So even though I won't make
another penny off of it, I still can learn.

But congas after the fact is particularly hard to do. I'd rather spend ten
minutes getting a sound rather than hours and hours of listening trying to
recreate it. There are so many overtones in a conga and so many different
ways to strike it that changing something in one frequency screws with the
complimentary frequencies too.

And I apparently have never found the ability to have a track shine like
Tonebarge's do. I just haven't gotten to that point where magic takes over.

--


Roger W. Norman
SirMusic Studio
Purchase your copy of the Fifth of RAP CD set at www.recaudiopro.net.
See how far $20 really goes.




"Carey Carlan" <gulfjoe@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns93E06C55D50Dgulfjoehotmailcom@207.69.154.2 03...
> "Roger W. Norman" <rnorman@starpower.net> wrote in
> news:bhoj78$227$1@bob.news.rcn.net:
>
> > Subject: Re: RAP5/3/22 Tonebarge "Train"
> > From: "Roger W. Norman" <rnorman@starpower.net>
> > Newsgroups: rec.audio.pro
> >
> > What? You didn't know how to record congas and have the audacity to
> > show your face here, ragging on every song on the Fifth of RAP CD?
> > Well, give me five. If there's one thing that's become evident over
> > time is Tonebarge's extreme finisse with a mix. Again, and I
> > apologize Tone for mentioning it, but this is done with a Mackie 1604
> > and ADATs for mixdown. So when you talk about amazing amounts of
> > space, that's just how amazing the space is from that source. I'd
> > actually put Tonebarge into the same sonic genius of George
> > Massenberg. There's space enough to drive a Hummer through and still
> > enjoy the music on the trip. There must be some magical lixor...
> >
> > --
> >
> >
> > Roger W. Norman
> > SirMusic Studio
> > Purchase your copy of the Fifth of RAP CD set at www.recaudiopro.net.
> > See how far $20 really goes.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > "Carey Carlan" <gulfjoe@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> > news:Xns93D9CA6D98CBgulfjoehotmailcom@198.99.146.1 0...
> >> Nothing competes for my ear in this recording. It's amazing how much
> > space
> >> is left in a mix when you don't need a full drum set.
> >>
> >> I just got an education in how to record congas. I should have paid
> >> attention last week as I did a session with congas last Sunday and
> >> didn't do nearly as good a job. More reverb than I'd use, but that's
> >> just a question of taste.
>
> Followup on this topic. I returned to do the mixing on this track. A bit
> of judicious (OK, radical) EQ improved my original track dramatically. It
> still doesn't shine like Tonebarge's, but it's now respectable.
>
> How about a parametric set 187 Hz, Q=8, lvl = -20 dB? Took out tons of
> resonance and ringing and left a reasonable amount that finally revealed
> the hand texture on the heads.
>
> This was my first effort at tracking congas and I really didn't know what
> sound I was looking for. I'll try different miking next time to track
more
> of what I want to hear, probably coming down from above. This time was a
> coincident pair parallel to the heads less than a foot off the edge.
>
> Feels weird to be talking about EQ settings and mic technique on RAP these
> days. Didn't say a word about buying anything.