Hi all. In this thread I’d like to start a conversation about making music in VCV Rack and uploading videos on youtube.
Basically, every time I upload a video with my recent patch, the next day I’m not happy with it and always find something wrong. Mostly I find serious mistakes in the composition, the way how it was played/recorded or the overall sound character/mixdown.
Usually I have a problem with the sound. I feel like it’s too loud or not loud enough, doesn’t have enough low end or has too much low end. Sometimes I discover annoying sounds I left unmuted for the whole track, find problems with stereo correlation and so on…
I’m fairly new to VCV Rack so I’d like to throw a couple of questions that could be potentially useful to others:
-do you delete your youtube videos you don’t like anymore in order to keep only high-quality content?
-do you upload your videos the same day you record them or take some time to listen through them properly and fix mistakes before you share them?
-do you record from VCV Rack in multitrack and do a proper mixdown in a DAW?
-do you check your overall sound in mono to avoid phase-correlation issues?
-do you check your overall sound with a spectrum analyzer to make sure the frequency spectrum is nicely balanced?
-do you adjust the volume with a limiter to achieve -14LUFS so all your videos have the same volume level?
(You don’t have to answer all of them, just pick a random question✌️)
I listen to things over and over again before I record and then through the whole thing after I recorded it (even if it’s an hour long). Then I obsess over the visuals. After I’ve recorded it I just leave it and move on.
No to all the above. I never even use a DAW.
I general: I’ve been doing YT for 2 years having done very little electronic music (and no recording) before and I still feel I have no idea what I’m doing. It’s the journey that matters. I’d feel different if I had a Bandcamp and I were charging people but I’m not sure I’ve done anything that I’d be comfortable charging for. I’ve just looked at your channel and I guess I have to add you to the list of people who are better than me at this. You have nothing much to worry about.
Unfortunately I don’t have a YouTube channel (yet).
I can partially answer this question, audio-wise. When I’m making a track in VCV, I spend a decent amount of time building, adjusting, and planning out the arrangement before I press record. Sometimes I even leave the patch and don’t come back until later to finish it. I only ever usually record it once. If I end up making a big enough mistake, I will stop and start over with a fresh recording. After recording it, I put it away in a folder and don’t revisit it for a while unless the track is something I’m trying to get out right away. If, down the road, I’m trying to put together a release, I’ll go through and listen to what I’ve made, and sort it out accordingly.
I don’t do any of these things. (I probably should though. ) The only thing I do is always set -3dB on VCV Recorder. Apart from that, the tracks stay untouched. If I used a DAW, it would perhaps be to slightly EQ a place that I distorted in the song, or maybe a fade-out. I mainly don’t do these things because I’m new to this and don’t know a lot of stuff.
I listened to some of your tracks and they sounded fine, better than fine even, to me. Even if there are mistakes in there (not that I noticed them,) they don’t detract from the piece in any noticeable way. AKA, you’re music is quite good, mate.
) The only thing I do is always set -3dB on VCV Recorder. Apart from that, the tracks stay untouched. If I used a DAW, it would perhaps be to slightly EQ a place that I distorted in the song, or maybe a fade-out. I mainly don’t do these things because I’m new to this and don’t know a lot of stuff. 
