We get people bringing in recordings for us to Mix and this is always a lot of fun though sometimes i feel the final result could have been a bit “better” (there is no right and wrong in how to record and mix!) if the recordist had follwed a few guidelines. You will find people disagreeing with some of this in forums and other spaces, but if we are going to work on your tracks we’d prefer you to stick to these guide lines:

file format:

Wav/Aiff/SD2 makes no difference to the quality of the recording, we use Wavs in house but we can read anything except those weird 32bit files that some version of cubase can produce so please avoid these. If you are sending non ProTools files then you could save some time by naming files starting with numbers (“1 kick”, “2 Snare”….) that way the tracks are ordered in a meaningful way when we import them.

24 bit!

please record your session in 24 bit as long as you computer can handle this but unless your on a G3 Power Mac or some very old PC you should be fine. 24 bit recordings have more depth and less mid range clutter. We will be using compressors to bring out little details in room mics and the more you have recorded the more there is for us to work with.

Level

When recording drums and vocals try and make sure to leave enough headroom to never clip the signal. Unless your going for a totally overdriven sound on the vocals leaving 12dB of headroom (your recorded signals should not go above -12dB). This means if there is a extra loud snare hit it still should stay away from 0dB FS. Try and spend 5 min with understanding the metering in your DAW. Many “look” like they are barely recording anything at -12 dB but if your recording at 24bit it’ll sound better (and louder!) once it’s all mixed and mastered.

DI

If possible record a DI signal of bass and guitar tracks. These can be used to re-amp stuff. If you got a Killer tone, recorded in a nice room and preferably tracked some room microphones then we will just ignore these during the mix. however if you are looking for a  tight bottom end on the bass coming from a bass amp then our 2×15 rig might give a nicer and more balanced tone than can be achieved in lesser circumstances.

Room mics

I’m a fan. Of room mics. On everything. Drums are the obvious but if you have the computing power and inputs record a mic (or two?) further away from what ever you are recording: Electric guitar, Acoustic, Vocals…. if it doesn’t sound good we can leave it out of the mix but a bit of room on a guitar recording can put some air and power around the close mic sounds. A middle eight vocal or intro can be made special without sounding reverb-y or fake.

looking forward to hearing your sounds!

x