making it sound good and bright

[Tfkeel]

I have what I believe is a good setup, bought almost entirely from
you at Sweetwater. My output recordings are clean, devoid of hiss,
pops, burps, distortion, fuzz, well-balanced, and have all the technical
issues such as levels, etc. resolved.

I now need advice about how to achieve a good sound. When I listen
to commercial recordings, they sound very, very bright compared to
mine. When I try to achieve brightness, my work starts to sound
"tinny". The commercial products I am using for comparison have high
brightness, but also have a "smooth" characteristic and do not lose the
main sound quality like mine do when I try to get the brightness with
the equalizers.

Can anyone point me to the knowledge I need?

[SteveR]

Commercial recordings go through many processes. Mastering houses for starters. These people are experts (or should be) at mastering and balancing. Some of them even famous for their own individual qualities. You may find that a mastering house will bring more of this sheen to your recordings.

Other than that. There are too many factors to consider from equipment quality to recording skills. Eq'ing something is a fine art that some are better at than others. Your ears are the best place to take you to where you need to go. Not sure what else to offer..

Good luck with other replies..

SteveR

[cmchamp]

What are you using for recording? I'm assuming a computer based HD recording system? Repost and I may be able to help more.

[Tfkeel]

I am using 32 Alesis ADAT channels and a Mackie 32x8 analog mixer,
have Alesis and Yamaha Compressors, BBE maximizer, and a few
Cakewalk plug-ins. Monitors are Mackie, also use Sony and Yamaha
headphones.

[michaelhoddy]

3 things which are never to be underestimated in the quest for bright, present sound without harshness are good microphones, good mic preamps, and great A/D conversion. I personally find that the Mackie preamps are a good starting place for midrangey harshness, especially if your conversion is lacking (are those blackface ADATs?) But even with average conversion, you should be able to get a decently good sound. So what mics are you using? How are you miking things? If you're having to resort to EQ from the get-go for brightness and presence, there's almost certainly something wrong on the way in. A great mic and a great preamp should give you that smoothness and presence you're looking for without having to do much with the EQ.

Mastering houses make good mixes sound better. If the mix you send to them has basic problems, there's only so much they can do.

[Tfkeel]

I have both CAD 200 and AT4033 mikes, I'm sure I could improve things here and with a good mic preamp, however, my Yamaha and Kurzweil samples (which are the majority of sounds I use, I do actually very little
recording of acoustic sounds) also lack the "shine". My ADATs are XT20s.

[John34]

Here's agood analogy-
Take a Ford Model "T" automobile. Now put it next to a Dodge Viper ( The Viper being where we want to be). If you take the motor out of the Viper and put it it the Model T, you'll still have a model T. It might be faster but everything else will be a slower, less advanced part of the Model T. Basically, what you're hearing on the radio was done so meticulously and probably with very high end gear paired with tons and tons of experience.

We'll get there someday!

John

[Geosync]

Do you have KDFX in your Kurzweil? If so, there are mastering tools that can be just what you are looking for. 1st Alg 999 Stereo Analyze could show you that your mix may be out of phase. 2nd there is a multi-band compressor that can give your mix "sparkle and punch"

There are more in the KSP8 but you may try using "Live Mode" in KDFX as a mastering box if you have it.

[Norm Guitar]

Has anyone had experience with using a mic preamp with digital output directly into the computer? NORM GUITAR

[gcjammin1]

I have been having the same problem with getting my recordings to sound like the pros. I finally realized that it was the brightness in their recordings that made the difference and, like you, got the same results with the tinny sound when I tried to brighten the instruments. Finally, I noticed that when I played my CD's on my stereo and turned the treble all the way up it sounded alot closer to the pro CD's. So, I patched my Aphex 104 into my main inserts and brightened up the sound and it sounded tons better even though it sounded a little tinny. My CD's sounded a lot louder than they used to. This leads me to believe it is the EQ of the room that needs to be addressed. I'm no pro, but I think I had a lot of low end in my recordings that I wasn't aware of. It always sounded great in my control room and crappy on the stereo. You might try to brighten up the entire sound scape, per say, during your mixdown. Try this with either an EQ, Sonic Maximizer or something similar. This will brighten everything up overall, but then you can cut the hi's or turn up the lows on the individual instruments and beef them up while still retaining the overall brightness and presence of the overall sound.

[monkey]

I'd just like to add.....
make sure you reference to a cd with the right tonal balance at key stages during the mixing. I tend to do it when I am faced with a decision or i am goiung round in circles!
It's very important that you match the levels correctly.
I believe that the secret of a good mix is based in the mid range and the way that the bottom end sits together.
Also, a little saying that i use to push myself.... " If it sounds like it needs mastering... you need to go back to the mix and start again!!!"

[Michael]

I strongly recommend the use of an SPL Vitalizer for mastering at the semi-pro level. Strongly. It imparts a transparency and very clean brightness I have not been able to achieve with any other piece of gear; it increases apparent loudness, esp. in the bass, with no meter change. I can hear no time tricks -- or any other apparent processing -- from this machine. Go to soundperformancelab.com, hit English version, then "products" at top left. A box will appear with categories. In "Equaliser" go to "Stereo Vitalizer MK II". Denzel Washington's voice was processed through a Vitalizer for his role in The Autobiography of Malcolm X to make it stand out. You cannot go wrong with this machine, and it is perhaps $600. Nothing leaves my studio (radio commercials, TV audio, industrial VO's) without going through it.
It is almost unheard of at the semi-pro level, but I see it regularly in the equipment lists of many studios which boast extremely expensive equipment.

[xstatic]

I recently picked up a MAckie UAD 1 powered plug in card to take a little heat off of my processor. What I was really interested in was the 1176 and LA2 modules it had in it. To my complete surprise, what I like the best in it is the Reverb, and the Pultec EQ. I have used many different aural exciter type programs in the past to attempt to add a little extra top end clarity and sizzle to my over all mixes, but none of them (in my opinion) even come close to the sweetness of a 4 db 8k boost on the pultec model. Now I have got to check out the hardware model:) What I liked about the Pultec versus other plugs, is that it seemed to add that perfect upper air to the whole mix without sounding gritty or harsh, it does not seem to make "s" problems, but all the other plugs, when adding that sweet top end, somehow either sounded to phasy, or they always tended to change the low end which I would innevitably have to counter with another plug. With the pultec? Turn it up, click mix;)

[David Klausner]

There are a lot of great points here, but one thing we often overlook in the whole gear game is arranging and choosing timbres. A great recording starts with a clear idea of how all the "space" - frequency, stereo imaging, front to back imaging (reverb, etc), and dynamics will be filled (or left open). If you are trying artificially to get brightness into a mix, try to think about what instruments have frequencies up there. If you are boosting frequencies in an attempt to fill a timbral space that isn't present, that can certainly cause harshness or tinnyness.