Invalid Audio Volume

I've encountered yet another glitch in Pro Tools 6.4. And, I also know how to fix it.

I began an afternoon session as usual. I turned on my computer and external devices. Then, when attempting to start a new session, my Glyph drive appeared to have some problems. I received an error message: invalid audio volume.

I had no idea what that meant. When in doubt, call tech support. I did. They were great. Here's what happened.

When I was turning on my computer, I turned on my Glyph drive after the boot process had begun. This is a no-no. Always turn on all external hardware before loading the main computer. What happened was, in executing the improper sequence, I switched the drive function from "record" to "transfer." Hence, it was an invalid audio volume. Mac's are persnickety.

We fixed this by simply opening the Task Window in the Pro Tools tool bar. There it was, plain as day, set to "Transfer." I switched the "T" to "R" and everything worked fine.

Mandolin Strum (Part 2)

I had a thought last night.

What is the proper way to record a mandolin? Is it the same as an acoustic guitar? Or, is there a special consideration with it's higher register that must be taken into account?

Today, I did some experimenting. I found that recording a mandolin is very much like recording an acoustic guitar. Mic placement is key, but, in general, it sounds good when recorded with mild limiting and a slight shelf boost at 32K.

I enjoyed the spectrum of bass, acoustic guitar, and mandolin when recorded together. The mandolin helps with the high end and percussiveness that sometimes becomes a bit too crazy with just an acoustic guitar.

I'm enjoying it. I did a rough demo of a song called "Under the Sky" this morning with the mandolin. Everything was one take, except the mandolin. I needed a second pass to get the chords right.

Mandolin Strum

I think when Western Civilization finally does fall, it won't be because of gay marriage, inflation, or any of that rhetoric that's going around these days.

It will be from a lack of something that is growing more and more scarce.

Customer service.

I purchased a mandolin from Musician's Friend recently. It arrived today, but it didn't include some all together important instructions on how to change the strings.

I know how to change guitar strings. I can (and sometimes do) change 'em in my sleep. Mandolin strings are different.

It turns out that if you ever so slightly remove the tail plate from the body, the string anchoring system is revealed. It wasn't something that was intuitive...at least not to me.

I searched the MF web page and there wasn't any manual information on the Rogue mandolin...only more ads for more stuff I didn't really need at the moment. Finally, after combing a few web sites, I found a page about mandolin construction and "how to remove the tail plate." Frustrating.

Oh, well. Long story short, I figured out how to change the strings on my new mandolin. I hope to use this instrument on a few new recordings.

The Return of Spring: Post 2 (Vocal Tracking)

I finally got a few hours to myself this week. I've been wanting to work on the vocals for "Falling in Love Too Fast" for a while. Today, I was able to dial in the basic sound I want for the song.

I had to make a decision today. What kind of vocal sound do I see for this album? Well, seeing as how I'm good at delivering the style I have, I decided to stick to "business as usual." I like a straight-up, natural sound. I use a Neumann TLM-103 and an Avalon 737 pre-amp. There is some play with compression and EQ that can be done in the pre-amp stage, but I like to avoid too much tweaking on the front end. I usually limit at 4:1 with a high threshold and fast attack and release times.

My voice isn't suited for doubling as much as I'd like it to be. For that reason, I usually avoid doubling tracks. Although, for most of the Collapsis stuff I made a clear effort to double...hey, it was the 90's, right?

I enjoyed listening back to the tracks I've recorded for this sparse, acoustic based song. The hand drums are great. Also, the bass guitar has nice dynamics and range to it. I avoided playing low until the middle of the song. That helps to bring the song up a bit in the middle.

Next week, I'll need to spend a good amount of time getting the vocals just right. I think I can do it in a single three hour session. It's so important to not use Auto Tune on this album, as it's not transparent on acoustic songs. I inserted it for a second on my scratch track and it sounded silly. I really like the vocal sounds on the latest R.E.M. album as well as their early 90's stuff. It seems to me like they didn't use any pitch correction on these albums. Besides, pitch correction is cheating. And, I'm a good enough singer to not need it.

I'm really happy with the sounds I got today. I'll most likely use a Distressor in mixdown set to it's magnificient Opto mode; that setting helps to bring out the nuances in the vocal without obviously compresssing it.