Do you find it better to record in mono or stereo? Plus extra recording tips!

[Twisted Artist]

Absolutely love the rev2, sort of new to recording though. Do you guys find it's better to record in mono? (Then play about with stereo placement ITB). Also if you have any general recording and mixing tips to use with this powerful synth it would be greatly appreciated.

[Gerry Havinga]

Absolutely love the rev2, sort of new to recording though. Do you guys find it's better to record in mono? (Then play about with stereo placement ITB). Also if you have any general recording and mixing tips to use with this powerful synth it would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome Twisted, I totally agree with you, I also love the Rev2 and use it on almost every track I produce 

Perhaps you could elaborate a bit about your recording setup. I myself am recording mainly synthesizers and samplers, so I record everything in stereo to a Linux system using Audacity for recording and Ardour for mixing and mastering. Home made samples and sometimes singing voice(s) I normally record in mono.

[gravyface]

I record the A and B outputs (both stereo) separately, because sometimes I have a split patch with bass on the left, lead on the right and I want that to track separately in my DAW.

I think the one mixing tip with synths is that, particularly when you're layering, they can easily consume all of the "space" in the frequency spectrum, so it's a good idea to find the sweet spot of a patch in your mix and either shelf or notch EQ out frequencies that don't need to be there, leaving room for others. 

Bass and kick are two here that often compete in the same frequency range.

[Gerry Havinga]

I record the A and B outputs (both stereo) separately, because sometimes I have a split patch with bass on the left, lead on the right and I want that to track separately in my DAW.

I think the one mixing tip with synths is that, particularly when you're layering, they can easily consume all of the "space" in the frequency spectrum, so it's a good idea to find the sweet spot of a patch in your mix and either shelf or notch EQ out frequencies that don't need to be there, leaving room for others. 

Bass and kick are two here that often compete in the same frequency range.

Indeed I do the same. But I must say I am a bit lazy and focus on the patch sound design and composing. I leave the mixing and mastering to my producer, who is much better at working out the frequency spectra and what works together. That said if the combination of patches and effects doesn't sound right, I will try to adjust things on the fly. Sometimes by playing an octave higher or lower, sometimes by tuning the patch to fit better in the mix.

I often use two Rev2 patches and route them separately using my Soundcraft mixer. This also allows me to allocate additional effects (Lexicon MX400) to each layer separately. If I record both layers and use both effect channels of the MX400 I record 4 different stereo tracks into Audacity on Linux.

I can do the same for my other synths and Akai S5000 sampler connected to my other mixers and effect units. When I am done recording all synth tracks and all effect tracks I will put the wav files on Dropbox so my producer can start experimenting with them. Sometime I have more than 12 stereo tracks. This can be a bit tedious as I can only record 4 mono tracks (2 stereo) simultaneously. In the future I really want to build a "proper" multi-track recording studio.

In the meantime I do make my own mix using the separate (stereo) wav files into Ardour. Mainly to experiment with EQ and compression on each stereo track where needed. In this way I have a track I can listen to in the car or on other audio systems to see if I am happy with the composition. All stuff I publish on Spotify/iTunes is mixed and mastered by my producer, who is sooooo much better than I am at doing just that 

I just had another thought: most of my synths, including the Akai S5000 sampler, have pan available as a modulation destination. Recording in stereo allows you to make a track more dynamic in this way.

[Gerry Havinga]

I just had another thought. As you said earlier a bass and a kick can seemingly sit in each other's way. One technique to deal with that is to make sure the kick starts with a, very short, somewhat higher white/pink noise attack. Apparently the human ear / brain can detect the kick better when it starts at a higher frequency. Without changing the mix you can bring the kick into focus.

[Twisted Artist]

Perhaps you could elaborate a bit about your recording setup. I myself am recording mainly synthesizers and samplers, so I record everything in stereo to a Linux system using Audacity for recording and Ardour for mixing and mastering. Home made samples and sometimes singing voice(s) I normally record in mono.

Thanks for such an in depth response, i record it into a Focusrite stereo DI,i just find things can get very cluttered very fast, and have a hard time getting really good clarity and controlling dynamics. I use drum samples, vocals and sometimes guitars. So far i have been recording some ideas from the Rev2, trying to get the best sound i can from the machine.

[Gerry Havinga]

Perhaps you could elaborate a bit about your recording setup. I myself am recording mainly synthesizers and samplers, so I record everything in stereo to a Linux system using Audacity for recording and Ardour for mixing and mastering. Home made samples and sometimes singing voice(s) I normally record in mono.

Thanks for such an in depth response, i record it into a Focusrite stereo DI,i just find things can get very cluttered very fast, and have a hard time getting really good clarity and controlling dynamics. I use drum samples, vocals and sometimes guitars. So far i have been recording some ideas from the Rev2, trying to get the best sound i can from the machine.

What kind of headphones / monitor speakers are you using? I find that when I create my own mix I need to listen to it on different speakers and headphones, I even use my crappy car speakers to test the mix when driving to and from work. I have learned that if it sounds defined and well balanced on my car speakers it sounds good on almost anything else, ha ha.

For generic recording and having overall fun during the sound design and composing process I mainly use my good old (very cheap) Sennheiser HD201s. The HD201s are very comfortable on my head  , not too sweaty and so on. They sound OK, not very good and are not neutral, but it works for me. If I am alone in the house, I also switch sometimes to my office room hi-fi and play what I have composed / designed over the speakers (Kef). My partner really doesn't like hearing my twiddling and experimenting, understandably of course.

After I have recorded the tracks into Audacity, I import the wav files and I start the mixing and mastering in Ardour using my Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro. This really makes a difference for the mixing as they are reasonably neutral and it gives me better resolution to adjust EQ and compression. After the mixing I tend to listen to the track over my Kef Crest floor standing speakers. By this time I will have adjusted the sound enough to create a first (draft) master and I create a master flac/mp3 (insane high quality) to take with me to work and for in the car.

Most of the time I don't like what I am hearing and there is something missing, or blurred or too screeching and I go either back to re-recording a track, adjusting the patch or sample, or in Ardour adjust the mix. I repeat this process over a period of a few weeks till I am happy. If I don't get a good result after a few takes, I just throw everything away and start again. But that doesn't happen very often.

My samples are a mix of free downloaded drum, choir, voice and bass samples, single cycle wave forms, my partner's singing voice recorded and home / nature recordings. It can be quite tricky to get those nicely fitting in the mix. My last recording of a baking tray, which I hit with a wooden and plastic spoon and record into Audacity, transferred to the Akai, doesn't seem to work in any mix. Though the baking tray sounds really great on it's own, ha ha ;-).