My first recording experience

nebzero · #1 12-01-2008, 08:32 PM

Hey all, this is my first post. This site has been a huge help for me, especially since I was heading in to the studio to record an album recently.

Okay, so my band went in to the studio a few weeks ago and it was the best experience ever!

We recorded at URL="http://www.soniciguana.com"]Sonic Iguana[/url] with Eli Snowberger engineering and Mass Giorgini mastered.

One of the best parts of the trip was that when my Squier was having insane intonation issues, Mass let me use his custom GPC "MassBass" J-Bass! It was so sweet to be playing the bass of such a great bassist.

I recorded DI through a tube-based DI, and we EQ'd and added cab emulation in post.

We're really satisfied with the results. If you are interested you can check the tunes on our MySpace page myspace.com/thelawnmowerincident.

Anyhoo, one quick question:

Does anyone here have many problems when you compress your recordings down to MP3s? The CD sounds great everywhere, but we lose a bit of fidelity when compressing. Normally I don't notice when I rip other CDs, but this one I have noticed.

Let me know what you think, if you care to.

Thanks!

-Ben

SuperDuck · #2 12-01-2008, 08:40 PM

Welcome to TB!

If I had to guess, the reason that you're hearing the compression more on this recording than many others is that after listening to your tracks over and over and over and over again in the studio you have become intimately familiar with almost every nuance. You've listened to it so many times on reference monitors and different system that you know exactly how it _should_ sound.

Most other recordings, even the ones you listen to a lot, aren't examined as closely as you've been doing with the record you just made. As such, you're going to notice when even the smallest detail is different.

Sound quality is the trade-off you get in favor of file size when using .mp3 files. It's a lossy format, which means that there's information that's permanently lost when the file is compressed.

nebzero · #3 12-01-2008, 08:43 PM

@SuperDuck:

I figured that a lot of the "problems" I heard were just me being overly critical.

To be honest, for a while I hoped I wouldn't have to hear the songs again. Ever.

I really love the record, I just hope people don't get the wrong idea just because it doesn't come across well on laptop speakers or something.

Do you know if MySpace itself processes the files any further once we upload them?

Thanks for the welcome, it feels nice not to be lurking for a change.