Distortion, clicks, and pops can destroy an otherwise good recording session, and these problems 99% of the time are manufactured by something simple and easily avoidable. So here are a few quick things to check if you ever run into these situations.
Update Firmware, Software, and Drivers
The first thing that you must do is make sure your system has been completely updated. Lets say you just updated your OS to OSX Yosemite and you installed the drivers from the disc that came with your audio interface. You should always go to the website of the software you are installing and check for the most current software and drivers. With quick things move in the computer world, it is not always possible to possess the latest driver on the installation disc that comes with your software, even if you just purchased it.
It is also wise to make sure any audio applications, software synths, and plugins you own are up to date as well. Always go check the manufacturer’s website and update according to what they say in their instructions.
Buffer Settings
The next to check after you have updated your software would be your buffer settings. One of the simplest fixes for these types of problems can be changing your buffer settings. Understanding why you might possibly need to change the buffer setting can be a bit more difficult to understand and will be discussed separately.
Fixes
For the simplest answer: If you are getting distortion, pops or clicks in your recording raise the buffer setting in your audio application. In Logic, click on Preferences > Audio. On the Core Audio tab you will see “I/O Buffer Size.” Regardless of what the buffer size is set to, move it to the next highest number. For example, if your buffer size is currently set to 32, change it to 64. If it is set to 64, then move it up to 128, etc. In GarageBand, it is a bit easier: Click on GarageBand & Preferences. Click on the Audio/Midi icon and you will see the following screen:
Change to “Maximum number of simultaneous tracks/Large buffer size.”
Pretty much every other audio application will have very similar settings. If you are not sure where to these settings then contact the software manufacturer or look it up on Google or YouTube. If switching the buffer doesn’t fix the problem, the next step is taking a look at other USB or FireWire devices you may have plugged into your setup.
Other USB or Firewire Devices
Quite often other FireWire or USB devices connected to your computer can cause problems if your audio interface is FireWire or USB. Conflicts with other audio interfaces, cameras, etc can usually cause the biggest problems, but external hard drives can also cause problems as well.
Solution
If you are having problems with distortion, pops, and clicks and you have other devices connected to your computer, try the following:
1. Turn off your computer and unplug all USB and FireWire devices except for your main audio interface.
2. After you turn your computer back on, play something from iTunes and make sure the audio you are hearing sounds clear.
3. If you have an external USB or FireWire device, connect it to your computer and try running your session again.
4. If you are still having problems it might be time to bite the bullet and reach out to the manufacturer’s tech support.
It is best to keep all other devices disconnected from the computer while working on audio. The new Mac’s on the market are amazing and extremely powerful. If your desire is to record professional quality audio then you might not be able to connect every USB and FireWire device that you own because there is a limit to what you can do with your computer and DAW. If that is not your desire, connect all your devices back up and just keep doing what you are doing.
The understanding of recording, mixing, and mastering hip hop, rap, and other kinds of music is no doubt a talent and an art form. Development of this skill takes time, and requires many mistakes, experiments and life lessons. To truly benefit and prosper in audio engineering, one has to have a hunger to go through and take in the vast amount knowledge out there on recording, mixing, and mastering.
Once you begin sifting through the knowledge and applying it in a real world setting, you will come to find there is a big difference between knowing something and actually getting it. The beautiful thing is, once you finally get something, the ability to master those techniques and others becomes exponentially easier. You will find that recording, mixing, and mastering isn’t really a job anymore, it is just a part of life.
Over the last 16 years, I have had to learn many hard lessons in the world of audio engineering. A lot of times I thought I understood what certain techniques were and how to apply them, but I often was wrong or just partially correct on those techniques. Some of my most memorable times in the studio were when I finally ‘got’ a certain recording or mixing technique. You can say these were my ‘a-ha’ moments.
1. Learning everything there is to possibly know about the hardware and tools I have at my convenience.
2. Compression: Much can be discussed about this subject, but one thing that is so crucially important is getting the attack and release times correct. Compression can really lift up a performance or it can shamefully destroy it.
3. The day I realized that pretty much anything in the studio could be automated in some form or another.
4. Low and High Pass filtering is truly my friend.
5. The first time I turned off my computer screen to listen back to a mix. Blew me away how much easier it was to listen, identify, and make changes to the mix.
6. The first time I recorded and mixed in a professional acoustically treated studio. The amount of detail and separation I could hear in the frequency spectrum almost startled me.
7. How simply cutting out a little 275-375 Hz on most close mic’d tracks can remove boxiness and really bring out detail to things.
8. Getting rid of frequencies, or subtractive equalization, is so much better than additive equalization. Its just easier and more natural to take out what isn’t needed than to artificially add it in.
9. Hearing live drums mic’d through a stereo pair of C12’s and PZM’s. I finally understood where the life and dimension of a recorded drum performance came from.
10. Discovering that the more plugins I use in a mix, the more digital and artificial sounding the mix will become.
11. Distortion is a form of compression and a good way to add harmonics.
12. The first time I threw up a quick mix of raw audio tracks instead of attempting to dial in the perfect sound on every track. It increased the overall quality of the mix while cutting down average mix time.
13. It’s always good to get feedback, even if its from somebody without any musical or audio engineering experience.
14. Getting stuck in a mix, zeroing the faders, trashing all inserts and sends and then pushing the faders back up again. Valuable learning experience and test to the ego.
15. Dynamic Equalization via side chain compression. The bees knees!
16. Realizing that knowing how you want things to sound in your mix is so much more important than just knowing cool mix techniques and tricks. The tricks can sometimes help you get there a little faster though.
17. Musical arrangement is vitally important to the outcome of a mix on a song. It’s where the song can really be made or destroyed.
18. “Fix it in the mix” is a term that doesn’t always apply to every situation. Sometimes it is faster and easier to just re-record something if it is not right.
19. Parallel compression allows for smoother, natural dynamics overall and less aggressive compression individually.
20. When, after what seemed like centuries of recording amateur artists and bands, somebody of superstar status steps up in front of the microphone and shows how it’s really done. Wow!
Are you a beat producer who always has problems finding good drum sounds or patches to use in your productions? Are you tired of using cheap ‘out of the box’ sounds? Well don’t worry. It is a problem that every producer has had some point in their career. There are literally millions of drum samples out there on the market for free and for sale. It can really be quite overwhelming finding those perfect sounds.
The first good thing, if you have realized you have this problem, then you are already on your way to becoming a better producer. So congratulations. What people who claim to be producers forget is there is more to producing then just writing the song, there are the individual tracks that make up the song to consider and how each one sounds not only by itself but in relationship to the song.
Nowadays, it is important for producers to go about their craft with an audio engineer’s ears. This doesn’t mean you have to learn to become a professional engineer to make good beats, though it helps. It means learning to understand and accept when a sound or a track isn’t working in a song and what to do to fix it. At the end of the day, putting care into the way each individual track sounds will make for a better sounding song overall. Your beats will be easier to mix and sound smoother and more musical, plus will probably sell better too.
A good rule of thumb, if a sound is getting in the way or lost in the mix, is to replace it with another sound that doesn’t get lost or in the way of the song. Simple enough, but this can sometimes take time and patience. Remember, just because a synth patch or drum sample might sound cool on its own, doesn’t mean it will work with the rest of your tracks. Choose your sounds by listening to how they interact with the other tracks in your arrangement. Never force a track, that will never work.
Now one of the best places to find good drum samples are on your favorite records. Yes that’s right, your favorite records. Some would say that’s stealing, but we say that’s just sampling. So don’t be scared. Sampling drums off of records has been done since the dinosaurs roamed the earth. Not dinosaurs like T Rex’s, but dinosaurs like Bruce Swedien and Bill Porter. The best thing about sampling drums off a record, is that the drum sounds you are sampling already sound really really good. Using good drum sounds that don’t need much treatment allow you the producer to better add in additional tracks and sounds into your song. All your tracks will pocket better and will make you or your mix engineer’s job much easier when mixing begins.
Depending on where you are at with your music, there will be numerous different considerations when trying to complete your current or next recording project. It is important to understand that your initial recording is the fingerprint upon which your entire recorded sound will be built. In audio there are famous slogans that apply here; two that come to mind are “Fix it in the mix!” and the old classic “You can’t polish a turd”.
“Fix it in the mix!”
As a less experienced engineer I always wanted to believe that you couldn’t fix it in the mix….but, with the modern tools offered it can be done with a great amount of skill and expertise. But here’s the problem with trying to fix a recording in the mix; TIME. While it is possible to salvage an otherwise unusable recording through a perplexing toolbox of studio trickery, one must ask why this needs to happen. Unless the recording encompassed some magical take that could never otherwise be recreated, it makes more sense to get a better recording. This in turn will save on recording expenses in the mixdown and mastering processes. So with that said, trying to save money by recording yourself or recording cheaply may actually cost you more in the end! Invest in your recording from the start and you are on track to success from the starting gate. Which brings us to…
“You can’t polish a turd”
This is why rehearsal and practice prior to recording is so important. The only recording that should be done in the premature stages of rehearsal is to give yourself a recorded reference of what you sound like for the purpose of practicing and improving your performance prior to recording. No amount of studio trickery and repair is going to make something bad sound good. Be patient, work with your craft and prepare for the quality recording that you earn and afford yourself upon maturation of your artistic concepts. Recording is an art as well and that relies upon the rehearsal and time a musician puts into their work.
Recording is something that deserves respect and attention if you plan for a successful career in music. Treat your recordings with respect and they will do the same for you. To discuss recording in Chicago further contact us at Studio 11 312-372-4460 or at studio11chicago@gmail.com.
