I've noticed quite a few singers lately have needed to resort to the one-ear headphone trick. (The one-ear button on my trusty, crusty ol' Behringer headphone amp certainly comes in handy.)

Then yesterday I was working on a new propaganda video for Killer Home Recording. It required my EXTREME voiceover talents. (Caps indicate sarcasm). Anyhow, at 192 samples, I couldn't tell what the hell I was saying. Okay, that may be a stretch, but the latency induced delay made it an AWFUL experience. In time, I gradually decided to ignore it. I can't say I ever got used to it. Switching down to 128 samples was noticeably better, but still "weird". At times it seemed like I was hearing distortion. ...the kind of thing my Distressor does in “British mode”. However, on playback, there was none. It was clear that this is FAR from an ideal vocal monitoring situation!

Conclusion: Singers aren't bitching entirely because they are crazy. They hate the latency when it mixes with the sound of their real voice. They can't hear what they are doing! With the voiceover work I was doing, I really didn't NEED to hear myself. I didn't care about my pitch or anything like that. In a real deal singing situation, this sound is entirely unacceptable.

Latency Causing Plugins

Another thing that shocked me was how random plugins added dramatically to the latency issue. For example, the stock channel EQ in Cubase 5 added significant latency. This got me wondering if using a brickwall limiter on the 2bus (which I use to save time as a way to keep song to song levels consistent in the headphones) is such a good idea. In fact, I wonder how many plugins I've stacked on vocal channels over the years. It's amazing that any singer managed to come even close to a performance. I worry that I've made a lot of really good singers sound bad.

Quick Points Of This Blog

1) Basically, when I used the same latency settings I've been given my clients for longer than I care to admit, I HATED it!

2) I wonder if I can improve things with a zero latency mix. Presently, I'm only aware of two interfaces in home recording land that can do a zero latency headphone mix with compression and reverb. One is the Steinberg MR816csx. The other is the MOTU 828mk3. I'm fairly confident I can scrape up a method with the DSP routing matrix in my Presonus Firestudio.

3) You MUST put yourself in the position of the people you are recording on a regular basis, particularly if they are complaining. There may be a problem and it may be your fault!

So that's all I got for this blog. The plan is to do a few A/B tests and report back to you guys. I've got a chick singer coming in who is notoriously crazy about here headphone mix. Maybe going with zero latency will do the trick.

Brandon

I've encountered two exceptional deals in the past month (that may or may not be still going on). Regardless, it's fairly clear that many people in the virtual product world are dropping prices to compensate for what I presume to be slow sales.

Deal #1 – Superior Drummer 2.0 for $149.

Deal #2 – Native Instruments Komplete 6 upgrade for $80.

(Ironically, both of these pieces of gear are on my Brandon's Bulletproof Gear List.)

This quick blog really wasn't to push any particular special or anything. I just have noticed there have been some awesome deals and wanted to point out that I expect there to be a few more very soon.

Brandon

I'm excited to say that he gave my Killer Home Recording: Setting Up book a tremendous two thumbs up! I knew that many, many of you have given outstanding reviews of the book, which is VERY appreciated, but it's another thing altogether when a guy who has recorded Michael Jackson recommends it!

You can listen to a replay of Khaliq's Interview with me here:
http://AttendThisEvent.com/?eventid=12393579

Of course, you can find out more about Khaliq at his website, http://www.khaliq-o-vision.com/

Make sure to tell him Brandon Drury said some dirty stuff about him. Har! Har!

Brandon

The Panipulator plugin allows the flipping of panning, flipping of left/right phase individually, and includes a mono button for summing stereo mixes. Not a mix goes by where I don't use the Panipulator plugin. I consider the ultimate utility plugin.

I have plans of creating specific guides for the Panipulator plugin that show you exactly how to use it effectively. In the mean time, if you have any questions feel feel to post on the Audio Engineering forum.

For more info or to freely download either the Mac or PC VST versions of Panipulator head to the Panipulator page.

Brandon

If you have a music website, list, etc and believe your members could benefit from my 13 PDF, 3GB Killer Home Recording system, contact me.

Brandon

The drums were done with Toontrack's New York Studio Legacy Series Vol.2 SDX.

Grand Prize
Superior Drummer 2.0, New York Studio Legacy Series Vol.2 SDX, and Nashville EZX

For Rules, Track Downloads, and Details head here.

Brandon

If you are new to audio recording and have no clue what gear you need to get started, have problems that you can't seem to solve, or just basically don't know what the hell you are doing, you are in luck. I just decided that I'm giving away 1/12th of my ultra mega Killer Home Recording series for free. You can have it.

I decided that way too many people have way too many problems buying their microphones, audio interfaces, recording software, studio monitors, etc. Way too many people buy the wrong gear in the first place for reasons that are rarely their fault. Even more people run into problems when they get their recording gear that they end up tearing their hair out before they get the stupid thing working.

Killer Home Recording: Setting Up is my answer to these problems. I'm positive I can save you headaches, hours of wasted time, and in many cases thousands of dollars.

The original plan was to charge $29.95 for Killer Home Recording: Setting Up.

Screw it! You can have it for free. Killer Home Recording: Setting Up.

We still have a few days left for an exciting contest that will definitely help you improve your metal mixing chops, give you more perspective of what goes into metal recording and production on the tracking side, and get feedback from us Gestapo Committee members here at Recording Review on specifically how to improve your mix.

All the while, you'll have a chance to win a mega package from Toontrack! The winner will be snagging Superior Drummer 2.0 , Drum Kit From Hell, and Metal Foundry.

Metal recording and mixing has a handful of specialized tactics (particularly on kick drum mixing) that most of genres don't have to deal with. By jumping in and going to town on a mix that all of the Gestapo Committee members have already got their faders on, we can help in ways that actually crush that of Bash This Recording, which WAS my go to method for improving the sound of your recordings.

When you download the big ol' zip file you'll get all drum tracks (exported from Metal Foundry), one bass DI, 5 guitar tracks, and a vocal track. So this contest is a great way to hone your metal mixing chops on guitars, bass, drums, and vocals. (Technically, they are all part of the same thing) but for beginners there can be huge value in breaking them up just a bit.

For those of you new to compressor and equalizer techniques, you'll be able find out what techniques are working for you and what mixing tactics aren't working. There couldn't be a better "how to mix" guide.

You'll also hear problems and flaws in my tracking that need to be sorted out at mix time. By seeing how the best sounding mixes turned out and asking those Recording Review members for help on specifically how they did it, you can acquire a ton of knowledge right off the bat. This is an opportunity that doesn't come around much so make sure you hop on it as soon as possible.

Head here for Rules, Downloads, and Prizes.

The last day to enter the contest is Sunday, Jan 3, 2010.

Also keep an eye out for Toontrack Mixing Wars: Country in January and Toontrack Mixing Wars: Techno in February.

If you have any questions or comments about Toontrack Mixing Wars: Metal feel free to post on the forum or contact me personally.

Make sure to check out other entries in the Toontrack Mixing Wars: Metal contest so you can see how others approached mixing the heavy metal song and you can gain perspective and ideas as to how to handle your own mix. In the contest category you'll see that I've included the MIDI files so you can run your kick, snares, toms through other drum samples. I've also included the DI guitar files so you can reamp the guitars or use your favorite guitar emulator plugin

Brandon

See instructions below to enter!

First off, every Recording Review member gets $15 of the Karma K35 if they order before 10/25/09

On to business.

You may be asking yourself, “How do I win?”. The answer to that is easy. You simply have to fill in the “Karma K35 Contest Entry” form below. You enter your name, email, and the LAST DAY to buy Killer Home Recording at the mega special price as part of the Recording Review Rocks promotion.

Listen to this piece of audio magic (sarcasm) for the crucial clue.

Crucial Clue Giver
[audio:http://www.recordingreview.com/audio/LaunchDate.mp3]

Make sure you enter it in the format shown. (MM-DD-YYYY)
So July 20, 1969 would be 07-20-1969.

Your email will be sent to Belinda at Karma Mics so she can contact you if you win.

About The K35
I've got a review on the way for this thing. For the money, it's tough to beat. It's a hair on the bright side, but it has real usable character. It's not nearly as bright as many of the mics in this price range and it has a tighter low end. In terms of character, it's leaning in the direction of an Audio Technica AT4050. I consider it be dramatically more flexible than an M-Audio Nova or Studio Projects B3, but a little more fun than an AT4040 (which tends to be fairly neutral).

Brandon

A few notes:

• Killer Home Recording will only be available for 4 and a half days.
• We'll be offering a special, exclusive introductory sale to RR members only.

Find out more on Killer Home Recording Launch