The Self-Recording Band

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

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Have you ever wondered whether you chose the right settings in your recording software? Do you fully understand what they all mean? 

Which sample rate is recommended? What about the bit depth? How do you make sure the signal flow and routing are correct? And of course, how do you achieve the lowest latency while recording without killing your CPU?

We've answered all those questions and a couple more for you in this episode. And we tried to keep it simple and not confuse you even further. Did we succeed? You decide.

Listen now and learn how to set up your DAW correctly, once and for all!

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/66


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

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It's probably the biggest challenge we're all facing when we're starting out making records and we can almost think of it as the audio engineer's job description. A problem you need to solve over and over again for every single record you're working on: Translating the sound in your head into a recording.

As some of the most frequently asked questions we get are also about this exact challenge, we decided to talk about it on the podcast and help you get there faster. 

Listen now and find out how to make your recordings match your vision.

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/65


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

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Recording a whole band live is one of the hardest but also most fun things to do. There are a lot of challenges that come with it and plenty of problems to solve, especially if you are in a small room.

Should you isolate everything as much as possible? If so, how? Should you try and keep the room out of the recording or make the sound of your room a big part of what you're capturing? Is it about the sound or about the vibe of playing together as a band?

Listen now as we answer these questions among others and dive deep into the topic of live recording.

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/64


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

--
Sidechaining is one of those things that get talked about a lot these days. Using the sidechain input of a compressor to create pumping or ducking effects has become a standard technique in modern music production. And not only in electronic music!

But there's more to it. The sidechain can be used to solve problems, create more space in the frequency spectrum, trigger gates to open or to gain more control over how a compressor reacts to the incoming signal.

But...should you care as a self-recording musician? Isn't that a mixing-only thing? Why would you want to understand this?

Let's discuss!

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/63


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

--
This is another episode covering a basic audio concept and tool. Or rather a whole category of tools, as gates come in many different forms with different feature sets these days.

While most people interested in audio probably have an idea of what a gate is, many still don't fully understand it. And using gates without really understanding them can be dangerous. It might cause damage to your recordings that can not be fixed anymore. Also, when you're recording yourself and working with a mixing engineer it's really helpful to know what a gate can and can't fix later in the process.

And finally, gates can not only be used to get rid of unwanted noise, but to shape the sound of your recordings creatively. Drums are a great example for this. 

We use them all the time in mixing and we sometimes do it in ways that are a little more advanced or rather uncommon for some people, so we thought we'd share it with you to help you get a better understanding of gates and also to show you some techniques that you maybe haven't thought of before.

Let's go!

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/62


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

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Whether you're recording, mixing or mastering your music, compression is one of those basic (but seemingly complicated) audio concepts that you just need to understand. 

Even if you're just demoing or writing with your computer/DAW and hire someone else to produce it, you'll find it very helpful to know what compression can actually do to your music as a whole and to specific individual tracks, what it can and can't fix and how you can use it creatively. 

You'll be able to communicate better, understand the whole process better and develop a sonic vision that can be brought to life. You'll also gonna be able to avoid unwanted side-effects and address problems that might have been caused by using too much or the wrong type of compression. 

Let's jump in!

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/61


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

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You've probably heard us talk about MIDI before. We use it all the time for many different things. Even in songs and genres that have zero virtual instruments. It's commonly used in writing, recording, editing and mixing music, as well as live music performances and lots of other applications. 

Have you used MIDI before? Probably. Did you know you used it? Not necessarily. MIDI is working under the hood of many audio tools without us even noticing. And then there's the obvious stuff like drum programming or using other virtual instruments, where we write, edit and see the actual MIDI events directly. 

It's a relatively simple, but super powerful tool that has been used since the early 80s and that is not going anywhere anytime soon. 

If you feel like you're not 100% sure what you're doing when you're dealing with MIDI, this episode is for you. If you want to know what the various values and parameters actually do, this is for you. If you just want to get a better understanding of the concept, routing, MIDI maps, keyswitches, articulations, etc., this episode is also for you. 

Let's jump in!

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/60


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

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Ok, real talk: 

What's actually good enough when it comes to DIY recordings? Is there a "good enough"? If so, what are the minimum requirements? What are the boxes you need to check to make sure your record will sound awesome in the end? 

The best indicator for "good enough" is when people don't even think about the production when they hear our songs. That's what we aim for.  As a DIY band we don't want people to notice right away that it's a DIY production, right? We want them to love our music!

If they find out afterwards and can't believe how great it sounds - even better! But we definitely don't want the "this song would be great, if only (insert sound issue)..."

That's why we've decided to do a series of episodes on common pitfalls, mistakes to avoid, minimum requirements and standards to aim for.

Here we go - grab a notepad and listen to part 3 of our checklist!

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/59


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

--
Ok, real talk: 

What's actually good enough when it comes to DIY recordings? Is there a "good enough"? If so, what are the minimum requirements? What are the boxes you need to check to make sure your record will sound awesome in the end? 

The best indicator for "good enough" is when people don't even think about the production when they hear our songs. That's what we aim for.  As a DIY band we don't want people to notice right away that it's a DIY production, right? We want them to love our music!

If they find out afterwards and can't believe how great it sounds - even better! But we definitely don't want the "this song would be great, if only (insert sound issue)..."

That's why we've decided to do a series of episodes on common pitfalls, mistakes to avoid, minimum requirements and standards to aim for.

Here we go - grab a notepad and listen to part 2 of our checklist!

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/58


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

--
Ok, real talk: 

What's actually good enough when it comes to DIY recordings? Is there a "good enough"? If so, what are the minimum requirements? What are the boxes you need to check to make sure your record will sound awesome in the end? 

The best indicator for "good enough" is when people don't even think about the production when they hear our songs. That's what we aim for.  As a DIY band we don't want people to notice right away that it's a DIY production, right? We want them to love our music!

If they find out afterwards and can't believe how great it sounds - even better! But we definitely don't want the "this song would be great, if only (insert sound issue)..."

That's why we've decided to do a series of episodes on common pitfalls, mistakes to avoid, minimum requirements and standards to aim for.

Here we go - grab a notepad and listen to part 1 of our checklist!

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/57


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]