[sdiy] Advice

[Cornutt, David K]

> From: b 111 [mailto:popsicko at hotmail.com]

> Hey gang,
> I'm needing some advice. I do everything in my computer. 
> Synths, samplers, 
> guitar amps. I'm a laptop kinda guys. The only problem is 
> that I find the 
> sound to be a little "unhh" stale? 

Part of the problem is defining what we mean by "stale".
With stuff that is recorded in a home studio, and particularly
with electronic (and guitars/bassed which are recorded direct),
there's often what is called a "dry" sound where the music
sounds harsh and choppy because it lacks any room tone or anything
to give it any sense of having been in a physical place.  
The first and best cure for that is always a little reverb.
Some people run the whole mix through a reverb, but I personally
don't because I find that it muddies certain things (particulary
bass tracks) and because it can "overcook" tracks that have
already have some other spatial enhancement, such as chorusing,
applied to them.  I use a Lexicon MPX500 for reverb, but you
might want to check out some plug-ins.  I hear good things about
Altiverb, but it's pricey.

The other problem often seen in home recording is that the
playback level is low, the mix is noisy, and the sound is
indistinct and lacks dynamics ("punch").  First tip: when
you record, get your levels up as high as you can without
clipping on the peaks.  (Or maybe even tolerate a bit of
clipping, as long as it isn't too obvious.  Some people will
tell you horror stories about digital recording and how you
can't get anywhere close to 0dB.  Don't believe them.)
Second tip: do try a compressor, particulary on guitars,
drums, and vocals.  Used judiciously, it helps you get
the peaks and excursions under control so you can record
at a higher average level without clipping.

> I was wondering if you 
> might have advice 
> on something a newbie could build that I could run tracks 
> thru to fatten 
> them up a bit? 

Good reverb is really difficult to DIY.  You might want to
try building a spring reverb; there are lots of sources including
the Anderton books and (I think) PAiA.  But it's not exactly
the last word in reverb.  For fun, you might want to try putting
a speaker and a mic in your bathroom, run the playback through
the speaker, record it, and mix some of that back in with your mix.
It will probably sound "boingy" but if you play with putting some
EQ on it, you might get it to sound interesting.  Some people used 
to really get  into building reverb chambers in their basements and 
such back in the '50s, but no one does it any more that I know of.