r/audioengineering • • 4d ago

Community Help r/AudioEngineering Shopping, Setup, and Technical Help Desk

3 Upvotes

Welcome to the r/AudioEngineering help desk. A place where you can ask community members for help shopping for and setting up audio engineering gear.

This thread refreshes every 7 days. You may need to repost your question again in the next help desk post if a redditor isn't around to answer. Please be patient!

This is the place to ask questions like how do I plug ABC into XYZ, etc., get tech support, and ask for software and hardware shopping help.

Shopping and purchase advice

Please consider searching the subreddit first! Many questions have been asked and answered already.

Setup, troubleshooting and tech support

Have you contacted the manufacturer?

  • You should. For product support, please first contact the manufacturer. Reddit can't do much about broken or faulty products

Before asking a question, please also check to see if your answer is in one of these:

Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) Subreddits

​

Related Audio Subreddits

This sub is focused on professional audio. Before commenting here, check if one of these other subreddits are better suited:

Consumer audio, home theater, car audio, gaming audio, etc. do not belong here and will be removed as off-topic.


r/audioengineering • • Feb 18 '22

Community Help Please Read Our FAQ Before Posting - It May Answer Your Question!

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49 Upvotes

r/audioengineering • • 7h ago

Discussion Today I found this Vintage Mic Shootout Catalog - Every mic speaking roughly the same phrase for direct comparison

19 Upvotes

I had to post this because I'm stoked out of my mind to find this. This creator has built an incredible catalog where they speak the exact same phrase into an insane collection of vintage microphones.

Because the speech sample stays similar across the board, it gives you a pure, direct reference point to actually hear how every individual mic shapes tone, character, and frequency response. It’s an absolute goldmine for comparing gear. If you love digging around for old mics and have a curiosity for them, this is a great spot to get an idea of what they would sound like.

Huge shoutout to Ron for putting this together:Ron Hummel's YouTube Channel


r/audioengineering • • 13h ago

Discussion Have my ears been destroyed by modern mixing expectations?

27 Upvotes

Disclaimer: Radiohead are my absolute favourite band of all time. Do me a favour: have a listen to Let Down. An absolute classic. Haven’t listened to it in years. But wow it’s so hard to listen to. So much 2k in the guitars, so much 4k in the overheads. All you can hear in the vocals is the sibilance… am I just having a bad day or has my taste been ruined by modern expectations?


r/audioengineering • • 4h ago

Bus Panning, Track Panning, Mono vs Dual Mono

3 Upvotes

I was having a conversation with someone and they mentioned panning their buses. I paused and said wait a minute, you pan your buses? I’ve never once thought to do this because I just leave them stereo, and pan the actual tracks how I want them to sit

  1. Is there any difference from having 1 guitar panned left 30% and 1 right 30% going to a stereo instrument or guitar bus that is a balanced 100% L/R pan? I’d think it makes no difference because within that bus stereo field, the guitars are still 30% L & R panned. It’s not like I need to match the bus to that pan level, correct? In logic that would be changing the bus from stereo balance to stereo pan.

If anything it just sounds like a workflow preference if you really want to pan your buses. Thoughts?

  1. Does sending a 100% center mono signal (no pan) to a stereo bus (effectively making it dual mono) or to a mono bus make any difference or is it exactly the same sound. I’ve yet to test it so sorry for being lazy but I’m curious what you got to say about this.

r/audioengineering • • 5h ago

Mixing Tips for shoegaze mixing

3 Upvotes

I am currently mixing my shoegaze project. The guitars have really just a tiny bit of reverb on them. I have double tracked the guitars and routed them to about 4 ambiance tracks. One has a 2 octave pitch increase and a lowpass filter on 3kish so basically white noise with a bit of high frequency hum, it has Valhalla's supermassive on a high reverb setting. another has a 1 octave pitch decrease acting as sub bass along with the actual bass, this one has a slightly lower reverb and is basically acting as extra sub for the ambiance. the 3rd one has no pitch shifter and is basically a delay with slight reverb. this one has the bass cut out. the 4th is a highly reverb and tremolo based layer and acts as texture. these all sit at around -15 dB.

My question is am I insane for doing this and will this mud the mix out? the link to a sample of the mix? the mix is only guitars btw.


r/audioengineering • • 1d ago

Discussion What made songs in the 90s sound so good?

72 Upvotes

I was listening to the Eels -Novocaine for the soul this morning and was completely blown away with the mix and it had me really thinking about the production side of 90s music.
The song could be complete garbage but still sound so good… why?
It feels like almost every song is mixed so good or maybe I’m just tripping…


r/audioengineering • • 11h ago

Discussion How do you guys cover your large format consoles?

5 Upvotes

Hey all.

I have an Amek Angela MK1 in my studio.

It doesn't always work and sometimes others treat it like a desk.. I'm looking for a way to cover it so it also gets protected from dust.

Any option that doesn't break the bank? Any cloth type that sits kinda heavy on the console?

I was thinking something like a very big mousepad types, which are thin but light and they don't get wrinkled..


r/audioengineering • • 1d ago

Mixing Sometimes I forget that I’m mixing in mono

140 Upvotes

I’ll be mixing a song in stereo then finish the last half in mono but totally forget by the end of it that I switched to mono… And think to myself hey this sounds pretty good. BUT THEN THE REALISATION: oh shit I’m still in in mono! The first listen when I go back to stereo…. The dopamine… so sweet, clear and full…. Feel like a fucking musical genius haha. This has to happen to other people too. (?)


r/audioengineering • • 13h ago

Studio in wooden house

3 Upvotes

I want to rearrange my studio and need some advice.
This is the layout: https://imgur.com/a/sO8wJKs

All walls are made of solid wood. They are not completely flat but lamellar, similar to a log house but not as extreme. Biggest worries are the windows, which I don't want to cover.
Personally I would prefer placing the desk on the right long wall, but afaik facing the short wall is better. However in the upper short wall is the window and on the lower one the door might be in the way.
Is facing the right long wall still somewhat acceptable?

Also I plan to treat the room wich leads to my other question. Does a wooden room need the same amount of treatment as concrete? I only found out that wood diffuses sound better than concrete but found nothing about treatment. The roof is sloping towards the left long wall btw.

Thanks!


r/audioengineering • • 22h ago

Vintage Urei LA-4?

8 Upvotes

Does anyone use one of these? If so for what? Considering getting one that is for sale near me..I own a distressor and a black lion audio seventeen currently.


r/audioengineering • • 21h ago

Discussion Does Adobe Audition ever suddenly have noise in your room tone after having a silent room tone prior?

5 Upvotes

I was recording yesterday with almost silent room tone and now after changing nothing I can hear noise. Does anyone have insight?


r/audioengineering • • 1d ago

Live Sound Is this how you would mic a percussion "junk" wall from behind?

3 Upvotes

I'm a percussionist who use to be in the show STOMP. I'm starting a new project and booked a show next month that's electronic music with a Roland E-Drum kit, live percussion, and a "Junk Wall".

Here's a stage plot I'm planning on sending the sound person this week (ignore the mixer, I'm plugging in mics straight to the house). The whole footprint is 8x8ft.

Here's the junk wall details:

- Photo of a larger one we used for a different event.

- Mine will be 6' wide by 4' tall.

- Will have sounds ranging from floor tom up to a snare.

- Only have around 3-4 feet behind the structure to place mics.

It's a small venue and he asked me how I want to mic this, so I pictured two overhead drum mics working well for this (on stands pointing at the wall from behind). Now I'm starting to wonder about the spread and if some of the lower end might get left out.

A friend of mine offered to lend me his AT2025 so I was going to get another one of those and call it a day. I wouldn't mind getting a pair for myself for future shows but can only spend like $500 for a pair. What do you all think? Would overhead drum mics work for something like this or should I be looking for something else entirely?

Thanks in advance for the advice!


r/audioengineering • • 1d ago

How do you like to mic guitar cabs?

7 Upvotes

Open discussion on miking guitar amps.

Do you have go-to methods?

Does the amp change the way you mic the cab?

Do you have preferred speakers?

What microphones do you use and where do you place them?

How does open-back vs. closed-back change your decisions?

I record rock guitar for the most part, and recently got myself an MD421. I placed a 57 and 421 on different speakers on a V30 (4×12) cabinet and had them both on-axis. Now I'm recording a 2×12 with T-75s and landed on those two mics again but the 421 is off-axis this time, which I find interesting.


r/audioengineering • • 23h ago

Software Trinnov Nova MIDI Control

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I’ve made a cool MIDI mapping tool for the Trinnov nova, it uses HTTP requests to speak directly to the hardware, and basically lets your integrate Trinnov automations in your routines. You can map anything you would be able to use with La Remote, and it also creates launchers for keystroke automation or Streamdeck (click Streamdeck - Create Launchers) then you can just drag and drop a tile inside your streamdeck 😁

I’ve also added an auto-off feature that’s super handy for shutting down the Trinnov as soon as you turn your mac off (uses helper to detect shutdown and sends shutdown request before network interrupts)

It’s fully free, so enjoy 🤪

https://github.com/skybrom/NoMoreRemote


r/audioengineering • • 14h ago

wanting to start a courier in audio engineering.

0 Upvotes

I was wondering, how many years of audio engineering college, do you need to actually start full career in audio engineering; is it true that you do need the certificate/certifications? Or can a person start out by doing audio engineering as a career without having the required degree/certifications? And if so, which is a better route to go?


r/audioengineering • • 1d ago

Very deep rumbling/vibrating noise on small diaphragm condenser mics?

3 Upvotes

I bought some cheap Behringer small diaphragm condensers that, for whatever reason, rumble at a very low frequency intermittently, sometimes changing frequency or stopping completely for no apparent reason. I've tried to eliminate as much outside noise as possible, but I've never known this to happen before with other mics, even cheap ones.

Example where I caught the change in frequency and stopping:
http://sndup.net/3twcv


r/audioengineering • • 1d ago

Slight pops in the vinyl stamper..

1 Upvotes

how many is normal? I think on this 40 minute record ive heard two that are definitely in the stamper and not the press.. they are quiet.. one rotation.. like a dust pop but repeat on all test pressings..

is that normal? Im kind of micro-obsessing on these pressings I think.. listening on fancy headphones etc..


r/audioengineering • • 1d ago

How do you listen for problems in mono?

30 Upvotes

I'm reading The Mixing Engineer's Handbook and they mention the technique of listening in mono to hear certain things differently. I'm not sure how it's supposed to help, though. I put my song in mono and everything is masked, but in stereo it doesn't have those issues. Should I really base mixing decisions on what I'm hearing in mono?


r/audioengineering • • 2d ago

Andrew Scheps says he uses a slow attack when using parallel compression. Wouldn't a fast attack make more sense?

32 Upvotes

I'm learning about parallel compression and I was confused by this. I thought the idea was to get something hyper-compressed for the parallel compression, which I would think needed a fast attack. Why would you want to lose a slow attack?

He mentions it at about 4:45 in this interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuU6XdVebJo


r/audioengineering • • 1d ago

Discussion Warm Audio Mystery Box - what'd you get?

12 Upvotes

Anyone else order a mystery box - or boxes - from Warm Audio? What'd you score? What'd you hope for?


r/audioengineering • • 2d ago

Discussion Struggling to hear attack and release differences when compressing rap vocals

31 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I'm having trouble setting the attack and release on my compressor, and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I mainly mix rap vocals, sometimes with faster flows and sometimes with slower ones(melodic rap vocals). I usually use two compressors: CLA-76 to control peaks, and then RCompressor for the rest of the compression.

My problem is with RCompressor. When I use extreme settings with a lot of compression, I can hear the difference in attack times. But release is harder for me. For example, 40 ms and 140 ms sound pretty similar to me unless I use very fast or very slow settings.

The bigger problem is that when I go back to normal compression settings, with a lower ratio and less gain reduction, I can barely hear any difference when changing attack or release.

I've tried this on different rap vocals and watched a lot of YouTube tutorials, but I'm still struggling to understand how to set these correctly by ear.

How did you guys learn to hear these differences, especially with normal compression settings? Is there something I'm missing or doing wrong?

Any advice would really help. Thanks!


r/audioengineering • • 2d ago

Discussion EDM mixing engineers, are there distinctive techniques you use to get loudness and clarity in your genre?

15 Upvotes

I'm coming from a mostly analog based background. I mix in the box, but most of the material I work on is pop, indie, and alternative. There are synths and electronic elements in the tracks, like subbass and pads, but the overall approach is more from an analog mindset.

So let's say all things being equal on the technical side, like proper gain-staging, filtering our low end or high end where it's not necessary on the tracks, Standard Clip on the drum bus for the overages, panning, level, balance, all solid. What are some tools you use that are distinctively EDM?

For example, what clipper do you use for bass and why? Like, I use mostly UAD or softube because they're high quality hardware emulations, pro-q for the clinical clean up, Mixhead by metric halo is a great saturator for my summing busses, etc. Are there go to tools you use that just work with mostly digital sounds?


r/audioengineering • • 2d ago

Single WA-84… drums placement?

10 Upvotes

I gambled on the Warm Audio Mystery Box. Got a single WA-84, not too thrilled but stoked to have a nice SDC in the closet.
I mainly record drums (@justinvandommelen on insta), and I would love to find a way to utilize this new piece even though I only have one!
Any fun tricks or placements I could try? I’ve thought of it as a ride spot mic, or hat mic.

Thanks friends


r/audioengineering • • 2d ago

Discussion Audient ASP4816-HE 16 - Sound and Build Quality

6 Upvotes

Talk me out of this console. I use all outboard Neve preamps and outboard compression and need a centerpiece for aux routing, basic input EQ, and summing. This desk has pretty much everything I need - but I'm genuinely concerned about the sound and build quality.

My main concerned is if they can be driven as hard as an SSL or Neve before distorting. I'm also curious about the summing - is it pretty much just transparent line inputs? Or is there some harmonic color/transformers that add some extra to the output signal? Lastly, are the EQ's any good? Can they also be driven without sounding harsh.

For the price point, it's hard to beat. But I'm really curious if they are priced like that for a reason? Thanks.