Recording Tip 15: Make sure each track has only one instrument or part of a kind on it.

I realize a lot of my comments are based around preparing your sessions for an outside mixer. That’s because as a mixer these are things I see a lot. But even if you’re mixing your own projects these suggestions will help you as well.

What I’m talking about with this tip is track management. I think its much better to have individual tracks for each part. With most DAWs these days there are plenty of tracks you can create. And when you have separate tracks for each kind of sound you can more easily mix them instead of having to write automated pans and eq. It’s also helpful in that you can eq, compress or whatever specifically for that sound.

If you’re on a PT LE system and have run out of tracks, then you may need to put more than one thing per track. If you do, then manually rename the region so it’s clear that the sound has changed. Your mixer can then opt for creating a new track if they desire. But at least they know that track does have more than one kind of sound when they begin.

Recording Tip 14: Make sure every track is properly and logically labeled. No “Audio 1” garbage

I know it’s easy to jump right in and forget to do this, but I highly recommend labeling every track before recording. Of course you can do it later, but the reason for doing it first is then the regions will be labeled properly. This can really save your neck if you have some sort of disaster and either accidently drag a file to a wrong track or delete it from the edit window. If it’s labeled properly you can still pull it from the region bin back to its proper track. Once there, hit “Spot” and it’ll return to its place in the track

Also when you share a session with another player or it's mix time, then that will help as the track is seen in the regions as well as the track. That makes life much easier for your mixer as they get familiar with your song.

One last thing, try to title the track something that makes sense to an outsider. Labels such as “Gtr 1” “Gtr 2,” etc are better than nothing, but I’d recommend something descriptive like “Main Gtr” “Rhy Gtr” “Gtr FX.” These titles make a lot more sense.

Recording Tip 13: In Protools, the “Equal Power” crossfade will usually work best

You have a few options in making your crossfades. This is the one that I prefer, and again is also Bob Clearmountain’s preference. Using this setting will make it much more likely that the crossfade is inaudible. You can make it the default settings in the Preferences

Recording Tip 12: Never consolidate your files for your mixer. If they need to fix an overlooked bad edit, they can do it

This is one of those things in which some may disagree. But this is also the preference Bob Clearmountain states on his website. If you’re really good and listen carefully, then go ahead and consolidate the file. But you better be very sure all punches, etc are good before you turn in the fiiles to be mixed. I don’t mind mixing files which have punches. And I can’t count the number if times I’ve fixed bad breaths and other bad punches so please clean them up. But if in doubt, don’t consolidate the regions. If you do, you may have your mixer call you up asking you to fix it.

One last thing, when you’re done, select all the regions and use the “Lock” command (this is in Protools) so that during the mix, there won’t be any accidental deletions of a file. If the mixer wants to change something, they can still do it.

Recording Tip 11: When done recording, clean up your regions. Delete things not to be heard and clean up all punches and edits

There are few things which can bust a groove more when mixing than to have to stop and cleanup all the garbage left over from the recording session. Remember your mixer is getting paid for their time. And cleaning up regions is about as musical as doing taxes. It’s not a part of the mixing process and requires your mixer to stop thinking musically, but go into "cleanup mode" and you lose precious mix time.

Put fade ins and outs on all regions. And where there are punches, crossfade with the "Equal Power" fade and make sure they all sound good and natural. Also, I prefer any region not to be used to be deleted, not muted. If I see a muted region I then wonder if it’s something you may want, but not sure of. If that’s the case, and you're not certain, put it on a separate track marked “alternate” or something like that. I also ask that all extra takes and tracks, including midi tracks, to be deleted so the only things in the session are things to be used. Your mixer isn’t a mind reader. Let them know that what you want is what you give them.

Recording Tip 10: Always use a good pop filter when recording vocals

This seems pretty simple that most people know this, but it’s really worth a discussion. When some singers sing they can really hit certain consonants very hard. The ones to watch for are “b” “p” “th” etc. When those consonants are hit hard there will be a big bunch of air that rushes to the mic capsule and causes a pop. Some singers are better at not doing this than others, but you as the engineer need to put a pop filter in place to help that not to happen.

You can buy a pop filter, be it a metal one or one with a nylon mesh. You can even make them yourself with a needlepoint ring and pantyhose. By the way, if you do that, please use an unused pair. A good friend of mine once had an engineer in his home studio make one with a pair of his wife’s used pantyhose. My friend was about to sing, approached the mic, breathed in, and as he said, “Got a big whiff of foot” and almost gagged on the spot!

If you’re mixing and find a pop, you can used a filter at the offending spot and write over it with a high pass filter. Audiosuite in PT is a good way to deal with it. Put the filter at the point where the pop is gone and write over the file. Leave some space on either side to do a crossfade.

Home Recording Tip 9: If you get an analog tape machine, have it gone thru and setup by someone who’s learned how it’s done in a professional environment.

This is sort of an extension of my last post. As I said, I grew up in the analog age and know well the challenges of recording to analog. Different tapes, philosophies of recording levels, opinions of alignment, overbias, eq curves- be it RIAA or CCIR, head gaps, degaussing, tape tension, etc are all just part of what one needs to understand to properly setup and use an analog tape machine. Can you setup and record without knowing all that and get good results? Maybe..and if the machine arrived in good shape, probably. But it’s sort of like banging out sounds on a Nord when you have no clue what the knobs do. You’ll may get lucky and make some good sounds, but if you want something in particular or get a sound back to what you had two days ago, you need to know your gear.

You, or somebody really needs to know this stuff if you ever decide to buy an analog tape machine. When it arrives…OH YEAH! Your baby has finally arrived and you want to get right at using it. Forget waiting on the tech to show up! “Let’s record” you boast bravely, thinking you’re being cool and rock n roll, not wanting to get “bogged down” with the technical things.

It may work ok, and may sounds good. It even may be close to aligned for the kind of tape you happened to buy….for a few days anyway. You see tape machines don’t stay aligned. They will drift like a piano and need to be realigned regularly. Also each tape needs a specific kind of alignment. And each tape machine does even that differently.

The thing you may not know, is those great bands, the Beatles, Stones, Led Zepplin, etc had great engineers who made sure that EVERY DAY the machine was setup and aligned properly by technicians who’s job it was to take care of these machines. That’s part of why those albums sound the way they do. Of course it’s not all, but it is significant part. To not get a good setup of your tape machine makes as much sense as having your Dead-Head cousin refret and overhaul the ‘63 Les Paul Gold Top you just found in your uncle's attic. You’d have an expert setup a guitar. Your tape machine is no different.

My original tip said to have the tape machine “..gone thru and setup by someone who’s old enough to have been around when it was made.” I got challenged for that by one of my twitter followers as espousing ageism, so I changed it to say, “someone who’s learned how it’s done in a professional environment.” Of course the original statement is tongue in cheek, but I would maintain it’s not a bad idea. It is a bit natural that older guys know better how to keep an analog machine humming simply because younger folks haven’t been around them as long or at all. While it’s certainly true that young talented guys and gals can become competent doing this, it’s not something one can learn from a book. It’s much more a black art and is best learned by an apprenticeship. And there’s nothing like the experience of a guy who’s wrestled one of these babies around for years. But whether you pick and old fart or a young gun, just be sure they have put in the hours and know their stuff.