Getting Better Performances with Monitoring
Back in the day I worked at a studio that had a lot of name musicians recording there. People like Slash, Steve Vai, Wayne Static, Bruce Dickinson, Rob Halford, to name a few. Many very memorable sessions. They all know how to deliver in the studio and one piece of that puzzle is monitoring.
So, let’s talk about how you monitor in the studio to get the best results.
In the studio, often headphones make the most sense because of bleed between tracks. The isolation headphones provide tend to make bleed a non-issue. If you’ve got your headphones cranked up super loud, bleed can still be an issue, so it’s important to keep your monitoring level to a reasonable level. This is especially true when you are playing to a click.
For example, a lot of times drummers will be playing to a click for studio recordings. During quiet sections a loud click can show up on your drum mics. Usually this can be cured with some careful editing, but not always. One thing I’ll do when recording with clicks is to automate mutes into the click track for tracking. You could also automate the clicks to go down in volume for quiet sections so you avoid the bleed.
Obviously if a musician’s voice or instrument is too low they are going to have problems. A vocalist may push too hard to be heard and strain their voice. If they are too loud it can screw up their performance in other ways. Personally, if I’m too loud in a monitor mix it can mess up my timing.
One secret to getting that “just right” level is to only listen to what you really need to keep your timing and tuning in check. To help with timing, often I like to have a click going in addition to the drum track. Depending on the tempo of the song, I’ll have a 16’th or 8’th note shaker in addition to cowbell on the quarter notes.
To keep my tuning in check (especially when singing) I want to make sure I have some guitar as more of a wallpaper reference. Because of where the bass sits in our hearing spectrum and since it can be harder to hear in headphones I pick pitch reference that are more in the mid range, like guitar.
If you are using headphones Sonarworks is a plugin that balances the frequency spectrum to match your model of headphones. I don’t monitor without it. There is also a version that works with speakers as well.
A couple more options to consider when tracking. One is to monitor out nearfields in the control room. Sometimes you can get away with guitar or bass for instance. Some people even do it with vocals.
Another option would be to track “live on the floor.” This can be done with or without headphones. With headphones will allow some isolation between amps for example. Without headphones will require the amps to be loud enough so they are heard by all. This can obviously lead to bleeding issues. Some people care about the vibe achieved by playing in the room together than bleed. Totally valid choice.
—————–
If you aren’t already, make sure you sign up for my email list. I offer discounts and other goodies for my subscribers. Go to rockmixingengineer.com to subscribe. You’ll also get a free guide on recording heavy guitars.
— — — — — —
Need More Fans or Clients? There’s still time to pick up your FREE copy of “Traffic Secrets”! This is an AWESOME book that I highly recommend.
Also, in case you didn’t know, I mix singles, EPs, and Albums for Rock and Metal bands. You can check out my work and get more info at mattclarkmixer.com/secdir/ as well as get prices, etc.