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1. t mean your problem is solved A little foam will make the high frequency flutter disappear but lower frequencies are still resonanting though not as obviously You can 24 improve the absorption with a thick throw rug on several layers of carpet foam padding in the middle of the room At lower frequencies it gets harder to effectively absorb these higher energy standing waves A large couch placed along a back wall or even better a love seat that can fit into a corner corners are the spots where bass frequencies are most heavily reinforced makes a good low frequency absorber that does double duty as a place to sit Luckily for those of you who are handy with a ruler and a screw gun or have a brother in law who is there is an inexpensive way to build your own Helmholtz resonators and Bass traps to capture those lower resonant frequencies that are out to harm your recordings and mixes Resonators are large panel like devices which can be mounted to walls or ceilings They consist of two panels with an airspace filled with acoustic fiberglass in between The panels resonate sympathetically with the problem frequencies turning sound energy into mechanical energy which is dispersed as a very small amount of thermal energy The fiberglass inside also acts to dampen sound The great advantage of resonators is their ability to absorb lower muddy sounding frequencies without making a room entirely dead sounding Dead ro
2. A gunshot in an acoustically dead room sounds much quieter than one in an echo chamber The peak volume is the same in both cases but the duration of the sound is different so to our ears peak volume is relatively less important decay the hold of a sound For instance the echoing sound of a drum hit in a concert hall has a longer decay than a drum hit in a small room decibel a unit of measurement for sound level meaning one tenth of a Bel named after Alexander Graham Bell Since dB is a logarithmic scaled measurement 6dB higher is double the value digital audio clock digital audio consists of multiple samples see sample below and these samples must be taken at a steady rate Any device dealing with digital audio needs a stable way to take these samples Different devices also need to be synchronized usually by allowing one device to be the master and other devices to be slaves to follow the master clock See also jitter distortion not just what guitarists think of such as the pleasing sound of an overdriven amp Distortion in audio often refers to any sort of change in the sound quality from that which is desired In this respect a nice sounding distorted guitar track could be distorted in a not nice sounding way by for instance recording it at a too high level and causing clicks and buzzes in the digital file dither a random signal noise added to 20 bit 24 bit or longer signals before
3. Use the millisecond calculator for reverb predelay times as well this can really help clarify your mix by making sounds occur on the beat Level repeats decay Level is simply the volume of the delayed signal Repeats is obviously the number of times the input signal is repeated by the delay Some delays allow you to adjust the decay of the volume over multiple repeats of the signal This provides that trailing off echo effect High Low filters Some delays allow you to filter the delayed signal Removing highs aids in creating a classic echo effect The good old rockabilly echo can be cooked up with a short eighth note or sixteenth note delay three to five repeats and filter off the highs down to about 2 kHz or so Filtering lows is useful when adding delay to bass heavy sources Too many 102 repeats of low frequency material will cloud up and imbalance your mix so use that filter Finally filtering highs and lows can give you that CB radio effect which is popular right now don t know if this is a good thing hear far too many filtered whole note 1 bar later repeats of vocal lines in crappy modern pop Think of a new use for this idea Modulation An interesting think happens if you change the delay time while a signal is passing through the delay unit the pitch changes This is the principle behind chorus effects A mild modulation of the delay time longer shorter longer shorter etc occurs and the pitch
4. above This provides a clear image The side mic in figure 8 picks up the ambience and can be adjusted when mixing to widen or narrow the stereo image The signals from both mics need to be decoded in an M S matrix which can be set up on a console like this Mid Side signal signal m phase phase phase O1o G same level Take a listen to these examples First a spoken voice moving in the stereo field wav file EX14 Then we have a stereo recording of acoustic guitar wav file EX15 The stereo image is adjusted by adding more of the decoded Side signal and then returns to mono over the course of the track A very real 3 D effect We ll use this on other sources as well 44 Electric Guitar Mic Technique There are more voodoo stories about recording electric guitar than about than any other instrument Modified amplifiers variacs a one of a kind Shure SM 57 owned by producer X miniature amplifiers cranked to the hilt records cut in in taxicabs and telephone booths entire studios repainted for a bluer reverb chickens turned loose in the studio to defecate on the chosen amplifier Yes many of these things are true have seen them with my own astounded eyes heard them with my own forever damned ears will now tell you some of the stories to which have not sworn mortal secrecy The one and only rule for electric guitar recording is The right sound is the one that fits the song An en
5. in varying quality Luckily advancements in technology have improved conversion quality across the board Converters today are of pretty good quality in general with a major exception built in computer sound cards Often called consumer cards the built in A D and D A of most home computers are of poor quality are noisy and are very susceptible to jitter see vocabulary section If you plan on doing anything more than the roughest demos you will need to get yourself an interface which will do some decent conversion on the way to the computer The current generation of USB and Firewire boxes do a fair job of converting your signal to digital Focusrite Saffire Digidesign Mbox2 Maudio 410 1814 etc and Lexicon Omega have made careful compromises between cost and performance to make their units price competitive and still fully functional The difference is again that you get what you pay for As the tracks pile up during recording the sound quality of the inexpensive converters becomes apparent Listen to these two recordings the first is a melange of acoustic guitars and percussion recorded through the Digidesign MBox2 s converters the second is the same thing through an Apogee MINI ME s converters wav files EX11a and EX11b Granted the difference is subtle but do you notice the way the second recording has a more lifelike dynamic and a Clearer midrange and high end This is one of the finer points and worth
6. 2 1 to prevent clipping until you get a feel for it You can always play around with compression in the mix and experiment to your heart s content without writing anything in stone Here are some basic starting points for working on a vocal sound Style Ratio Threshold Attack Release 2 1 or less 5 to 10 Lower Start with slow Att thresholds will Rel and adjust sound dynamically faster for most flat natural sound Blues Classic 2 1 10 1 Some 10 to 20 Alow Start fast and slow it Rock Blues and rock _ threshold with a 4 1 down to taste The singers sound great ratio will make a stronger dynamics if they are singer sound very of Rock may require squeezed more in your face you to quickly with 10 1 If things a reduce volume sound unnatural peaks back down to 2 or 4 1 2 1 is a good start Adjust threshold Start fast ease up For a really punchy down while Setting things to fast Beatles y sound go increasing makeup can make the 4 1 to 8 1 gain to squeeze as compressor create desired pumping or breathing sounds Heavy Rock At least 4 1 You ll need to tame some Be careful not to go loud peaks If the wild grunts and too low 25 or track starts sounding screams so be you ll bring up noise too flat bring your ready and breathing threshold up and slow down the attack to allow more dynamic 2006 joe dochtermann 87 De essing Very important in processing a
7. 200 provides a slightly more affordable alternative to the RE 20 for use in bass drums It also has a little more high end click to it which is desirable in some styles of music 12 Condenser microphones Condenser microphones contain a very thin metallic membrane fixed to a metal back plate These elements are electrically charges and as sound pressure changes cause motion in the thin sensitive membrane a signal flows to the microphone output This requires the application of 48V phantom power to operate Because of the high sensitivity of the small metallic membrane condenser mics pick up far more detail in a signal than most dynamic mics making them ideal for sources with detailed high frequency response such as vocals acoustic guitar piano high pitched percussion and cymbals They can however overload easily in high volume situations causing unpleasant cracking and popping noises The most common pickup pattern also called polar response see definitions in microphones is cardioid but many condenser microphones are available omnidirectional or even switchable Condenser mikes are generally available with or 1 diaphragms The diaphragm mikes look somewhat like a large pencil sometimes referred to as pencil mikes The very small light diaphragm is highly responsive to sound sources with ample high frequency content such as high hat and cymbals on a drum kit The 1 diaphragm is
8. Make sure you label or name them appropriately Run a compressed one and an uncompressed one It is still likely that a good mastering house will have a much better compresser than you do but sometimes those moments just happen and your compressed mix will be The One A Mixing Checklist There are so many little details so many little dials lights and knobs that you may want to print this list of questions to ask yourself and keep it handy when mixing Did listen to each track for noises or glitches Fix these before starting Did disconnect microphones or unnecessary devices from mixer inputs to avoid unwanted noise Did EQ individual tracks to my liking Did compare my sounds to pro recordings favorite recordings Did build my mix from the bottom up Did leave enough headroom as went along If not start over and get it right Did consider my soundstage and pick fitting effects Are any instruments overcompressed or over processed Now get a rough mix happening and then Listen over different monitors systems Consider the lead vocal level Take a break for lunch dinner midnight snack then come back and listen again and make comparisons to other recordings Be sure of all the parts and arrangements This is the last chance to change anything 114 VERY IMPORTANT Don t do any fadeouts at the mixing stage Leave the fadeouts for mastering In the digital domain a fade does
9. Union This format is transmitted on an XLR 3 pin connector and is a standard for professional audio equipment amp short for amplifier amplify to increase the level of Example A guitar amp increases the level of an electric guitar s signal making it strong enough to drive the speakers analog from the word analogous meaning the same as An analog signal is the same as it s source only different in level and its resolution is theoretically very high much more detailed than a digital representation of the signal aux send or auxiliary send a signal path through which a copy of a channel s signal can be sent without affecting the output of that channel An aux send is typically used to feed a copy of the signal to a reverb unit and then the reverb unit s outputs are returned to the mixer via a stereo channel or two mono channels Some mixers have a dedicated aux return simply an input channel with no frills like EQ or compression bit In digital audio we often hear of 16 bit or 24 bit audio These are the number of possible steps of resolution 16 bit audio has 2 to the 16 or 2X2X2X2X2X2K2X2X2X2X2X2X2X2X2xX2 65 536 steps 24 bit audio has 16777216 quite an increase in resolution bus a path for a signal in a mixer The main outputs can be called the main bus Some mixers have multiple busses that can then be sent to the main output For instance you can send 8 different cymbal and to
10. a little deeper in the threshold down 15 or more This often brings up a sense of presence and proximity to the instrument Keep the attack and release on the slow side to start If you want to hear the compressor more speed up the attack and release and opt for a hard knee setting if available Listen again to the fingerpicked example how it is first and then with a compressor pushing the guitar and it s attack forward second wav files EX38a and EX37b e For capo ed guitar parts be cautious about too much compression The capo always seems to squash the dynamic a bit anyway would recommend a limiter style setting to catch the odd loud note so that you can increase the overall level of the part Try a 6 1 or 8 1 ratio with a higher threshold 5 or so so the compressor isn t doing more than catching big peaks If this setting isn t happening try the settings for the fingerstyle idea above and see if that helps Always consider the option of NO compression e For big juicy Beatles style rhythm guitars try really sqeeeeeezing that guitar track On some Beatles songs you can really hear the compressor working and pumping the sound a sort of attention getting shaky modulation What the hell turn everything all the way up Well watch the output knob don t blow your speakers Cranking the knobs to the hilt is a great way to get 90 to know your gear anyway and many a musician has fou
11. a LOT of math on your signal save this math for the very last step so it doesn t ruin your resolution Time to run the final mix Am l using 24 bit resolution Am saving the mix in a folder directory where can find it again Did turn off dithering plug ins Did decide to make a mix with master compression limiting EQ and if so did make one without Burn a CD take 10 and listen on another system Crack a cold one you re done for today 2006 joe dochtermann 115 Mastering Tips back to table of contents Anyone who is not a professional mastering engineer and lm not knows they are getting into hot water by saying that they can give advice on the subject The Pro Mastering Engineers are like Illuminati they may walk among us every day but they hold secrets that none of us will ever comprehend fully will however give up my few accumulated secrets quote a few mastering Masters and help you to avoid some of the pitfalls of self mastering master bating We have to start off by assuming that the production recording and mixing have been carried out to the best of your abilities After all Garbage in garbage out You have a 24 bit stereo mix with no extra compression limiting EQ dithering analog tape hype simulation and so forth To get a perspective on what mastering is we should think about the original purpose of the mastering process to create a final ver
12. a copy of the audio signal is applied causing long lasting vibrations in the plate These pleasant sounding after vibrations are picked up by a microphone and mixed back with the original signal adding decay to the sound sample A small portion of information stored digitally There are several ways this is used 1 You may hear reference to a drum sample in this case it is often a single drum hit recorded clearly and used to create a drum kit artificially in a sequencer or other program 2 When referring to sample rate such as 44 1k or 96k the sample is the smallest unit of measurement of the digitized audio 44 1k means that the incoming audio signal was measured and recorded 44 100 times per second scratch studio slang for a rough take of a part helpful in remembering ideas or representing how a final polished take will fit into the song Example Hey turn up that scratch vocal track forgot the words and need to hear what he sang there Oh O K hear it now he wasn t singing just taking another hit on his crack pipe sequence in the studio this most commonly refers to the recording of a MIDI signal A sequencer is a way of referring to a MIDI recorder SP DIF Sony Philips Digital Interface A digital format transmitted on a 2 conductor RCA cable It was designed as more of a consumer interface but is found on many professional units as well sync short for synchronize Can refer to a signa
13. a middle range band of frequencies within a certain range about 500 5kHz or so Graphic EQ is also familiar to us all It is the type of EQ with all the little sliders The whole frequency spectrum is broken up into bands a small range of frequencies There can be as few as 5 or as many as 31 bands in a graphic EQ Graphic Esq offer a little more flexibility in tailoring the frequency response of the EQ circuit and therefore shaping sound Like this 60Hz 120 400 500 800 4 in k 10k 2006 joe dochtermann 63 Parametric EQ offers the engineer the greatest flexibility For each filter on the parametric EQ there are often several bands adjustments may be made to the frequency affected the amount of boost or cut and the bandwidth or Q of the filter Setting the the Q adjustment to a narrow setting allows us to focus in tightly on a particular frequency like this 0dB 20Hz 1kHz 20kHz We may also set the Q wider to cover a broad band of frequencies 0dB 20Hz 1kHz 20kHz Adjustments to the Q are continuously variable between the widest and narrowest settings offering a tremendous range of options The advantage of the Q adjustment is in the flexibility this setting offers us when sculpting a sound We can boost or cut only a very narrow frequency range to emphasize a particular quality of a sound or cut out a problem frequency We can also set the Q to w
14. also creates a happening within the song helping to keep the short attention spans of the general public engaged Make your own reverb Don t forget the origins of reverb actual rooms or spaces of some sort fed with a speaker broadcasting the sound source and microphones to pick it back up Even if you can t make a lot of noise where you live and or record consider taking advantage of a friend s office after hours parent s house when they re away etc to create yourself a reverb chamber You don t need to do this live when mixing you can just record the ambience back to a track or two and mix it in as you like later You can even control the pre delay by sliding the track around in a DAW editor window Listen to this example of a bathroom used as a reverb chamber on an electric guitar melody wav EX46 It has a kind of hard bright character that we though was right for the intensity of the song Delay and echo First of all lets define the difference between the two Delay is generally thought of as an exact repetition of the sound source later in time Sometimes the level is lower or the delayed signal is otherwised processed but the basic idea is an exact repeat An echo is meant to simulate the way a natural echo sounds the repeated signal will be lower in volume and have less high frequency content as in a natural acoustic environment 2006 joe dochtermann 101 Since echoes are in essence a type of delay esp
15. bass or low midrange frequency content normalize a digital audio process which raises the level of the audio file so that the loudest portion is at 0 dBFS Not something you should do until mastering overdub adding more recorded tracks after the main recording is finished First developed by Les Paul of Gibson guitar fame he called it sound on sound and it made possible the addition of vocals or instruments to a pre recorded song It is fair to say that far more time is spent overdubbing in the modern recording studio than anything else For example you record a drummer guitar player bassist and a singer playing a song The singer is unhappy with his performance the guitar player played just one wrong chord and the others feel that the take was fine So the singer overdubs a new vocal and some harmonies The guitar player punches in the right chord then overdubs a second track on acoustic a solo and some more electric guitar fills The drummer overdubs a tambourine and shakers A keyboard player is brought in to overdubs some string sounds and on and on patch 1 As a verb patch means to connect referring to the patch bay a collection of connectors which brings all your audio connections to one location to make it easier to interconnect gear 2 A program on a synthesizer Example That Yamaha keyboard has a great string patch phantom power 48v power supplied to a microphone through the mic ca
16. be the first source of error messages The internal architecture is such that this is your only option Now go into your hardware settings and select the lowest latency you have available 128 samples for me Open up 8 tracks record enable them and let er rip If it doesn t hitch at the start let it run for a minute If you have dual processors select 2 and set the CPU usage to the maximum possible 90 See if you get an error upon stopping If you do get an error message reduce the number of tracks and try again Find your limits and remember them you will have to be realistic about what your system can handle If you haven t gotten an error message yet start opening up plug ins on the tracks Put an EQ on every track Then a compressor Sooner or later your computer will yelp for help This is your limit at that latency setting The good news is by increasing the sample latency to 512 or 1024 samples you ll get many more plug in instance for mixing time If you find yourself going nuts with a latency you can t seem to find make sure you are not using any plug ins on your master fader while tracking The internal processing latency of many plug ins is far too long even if you re set to 128 samples in the hardware options did this and was very relieved when discovered the problem 2006 joe dochtermann 39 Microphone choice and placement back to table of contents The microphone is always the first step
17. downside is that they can lack high frequency detail on more delicate sources like acoustic guitars strings or piano For these sources you should consider using a condenser microphone The Shure SM 57 80 is a required microphone for every studio This should be your first purchase It has been said that you will never get a fantastic sound with this mic but the track will always sound good Most pro studios have 3 or 4 lying about wired and ready to go The Shure SM 58 90 is another standard mic found in every studio It is geared towards vocals and will always give you a good sound It may lack some of the detail of high priced condenser mics but many engineers agree that it has a sound which just fits nicely into a track Here s a snippet of male vocal Compare it to EX 4a and 4b which are done on pricier condenser mics EX1 The Sennheiser MD 421 350 is a slightly more expensive mic which is excellent for drums as well as loud amplifiers Listen to the difference in sound between percussion and a guitar amp mic ed with a Shure 57 first and the Sennheiser MD 421 second wav file EX2 Some people describe the sound of the 421 as bigger and fatter than the 57 It makes a nice alternative to endless Shure 57 tracks The Electrovoice RE 20 400 is a well loved dynamic microphone for bass drum and bass amplifiers Its sound reaches down a little lower into those nice bass frequencies The AKG D 12
18. drum samples for you from my collection wav files SNARE1 SNARE CRISP SNARE _HI1 SNAREHI 2 SNARE _HI3 SNARE LONG SNARE LO1 SNARE LO2 SNARE REBOUNDS SNARE SHORT KICK1 KICK2 808KICK KICK_CRUNCHY1 KICK _CRUNCHY2 KICK REBOUNDS 2006 joe dochtermann 57 KICK_ROUNDSOUND and KICK_SOFT You may want to download the zipped files for these The really good news is that there are a variety of plug ins available now which can do the tedious sound replacement work for you You should still look carefully at the replaced track in comparison to your original to be sure that the replacer plug in has done an accurate job Triggering a sound from a drum hit is an old method for juicing up kits Time honoured methods are the 60Hz kick drum trigger and the snare drum white noise trigger The kick drum 60Hz trigger goes like this You need a track of a 60Hz sine wave This track should have a gate applied to it Send a copy of your kick drum to the gate trigger input When the kick drum hits the 60Hz signal booms through Set the gate release time to adjust the length of low end sine wave boom The snare drum white noise principal is exactly the same you just substitute the 60Hz sine wave for white noise then trigger the gate with the snare drum Have fun with the trigger idea you can also set sounds to trigger off the high hat toms whatever you like You may wish to trigger the room sound off the kick and or snare drum if you
19. few basic things you MUST do to get decent masters from your mixes Let someone else do the mastering Know we all like to be in control of our pet projects from beginning to end What you really need after all that tracking and mixing is a fresh set of ears If you can t afford a pro mastering house then see if you can talk a friend or colleague engineer into giving it a try Objectivity is your friend when it comes to the final stage of the production Then if you choose to master a project Listen in the most neutral monitoring environment you can gain access to This is not the time to switch listening environments often as can be helpful in mixing You want to build consistency from song to song and create an album out of multiple songs Predicatbility of monitors is key You may even be better off working in a large living room on an audiophile kind of stereo rather than in a small tracking studio The reflections off the console and walls in a studio can be poison when mastering Maintain the highest bit level possible through the mastering chain and dither ONLY at the end and ONLY when changing bit rate This is the same as have recommended from the very start by changing bit rates in the digital realm you are subjecting your music to a lot of math Avoid this as long as possible Use the most stable master clock you have available Some high quality converters available such as those from Apogee can provide you with an
20. handy Keeping the distance from the snare to each mic the same insures phase coherence for the snare drum relative to the two overheads EQUAL Distance Otherwise position the overheads within this measured distance to pick up an even blend of ride high hat and crash splash china etc cymbals You should record a few minutes of drumming requesting that the drummer plays all the cymbals at intervals and listen back 2006 joe dochtermann 55 When does it end Room mics and front of kit Now that you have all the individual pieces of the kit mic ed up you need to set up some mics to capture the room ambience Even if you don t have an excellent drum room give it a try you may be surprised how a little room sound opens up the sound See triggering below for a clever idea on handling the room sound Set up a large diaphragm condenser or a ribbon mic several feet in front of the kit The best way to find a good spot is to walk around in front of the kit while the drummer plays Listen carefully when it sounds like the sounds really come into focus at a particular place put a microphone right where your ear is This is recording at it s most logical Room mics are most effective in a good room with proper acoustic treatment but many garages stairwells and basements have good spots for some booming ambience The most famous example is Andy Johns hanging a microphone a few floors above Led Zep
21. it sounds good it is good quote attributed to both musician Duke Ellington and recording gear designer Joe Meek There are two schools of thought when it comes to effects and guitar tracks One school of thought is that you should record a guitar track without effects just a basic well recorded sound and then do any effects processing in the mix The other direction is to get the guitar sound you desire with all the fuzz tremolo chorus wah wah and echo already on it and capture that on tape disc The truth is it is not possible to remove an effect from a track when it has been put to tape that way You can t de fuzz un chorus or remove echoes These things can however be added later with freedom to experiment and remove the effect if it doesn t fit On the other hand an effect can be integral to a performance help you gain perspective on how the track fits into the mix and just be inspiring to listen to The delay effect on the guitars in Every breath you take by the Police is a great example of effects making the track come to life Anything by Jimi Hendrix is also a valid argument for printing effects to tape The way the performer reacts to the dynamics of effects setting can be lost if the effect is not printed and something in the effect changes on the next playback or during mixing My advice is to be sure or make sure your performer is of the choice of effect before printing it If the song was written aro
22. mystifying reverb names keep in mind that the type of reverb most often describes an acoustic environment or a device Hence room hall cathedral auditorium chamber and the like are usually meant to approximate the sound created by the reverberation found in those types of locations Some presets on reverb devices have clever names like Elvis Vox or Rockin vibe so you ll need to listen and look at the basic reverb in the preset menu to decide if it is right for your track Plate reverbs of course try to approximate the sound of a physical plate reverb a very smooth decay with no early reflections to give a clue as to the room dimensions So that brings us to the point where we need to understand the finer points within the reverb sound itself Predelay This is the difference in time between the original sound and the begin of the reverb Usually measured in milliseconds 98 Early reflection This portion of the reverb gives us the spacial cues our ears recognize as the size and shape of the space In a room hall chamber etc the sound source reflects off the walls floor and ceiling and makes a quick return to our ears These reflections are typically very short echoes and their level and tone quality gives us a sense of the type of material in the room as well A tiled bathroom has very loud bright early reflections In a concert hall these reflections will take a litt
23. paintings spices when cooking have provided some audio examples where the differences are obvious others where they are very subtle The important thing is to listen carefully and critically then you will develop a sense of hearing which will serve your creative goals We will cover recording techniques from the barest of basics through mic choice and placement and all the way to mastering your masterpiece Audio examples will be provided along the way so that you may hear what these ideas can do for you Here is a list of the topics covered 2006 joe dochtermann 1 By clicking on any of the topics in this list you will jump to that topic Additionally for those of you online with the computer connected to your studio monitors the examples EX are hyper linked just click on them and the example will open up from the web and start playing Save them by right clicking and save target as to a folder on your hard drive 1 Important terms good gear and bad myths 2 Setting up your studio 3 Monitoring 4 Adigital dilemma dealing with latency 5 Microphone choice and placement 6 Equalization 7 Compression 8 Effects processing and design 9 Mixer layout and Mixing 1 0 Mastering Some words of wisdom After reading and listening to this material you will be ready to get your gear fired up and get to the good part making and recording music Take your time to get familiar with these techniques and spend
24. play as much of a percussive role as the do harmonic melodic and should therefore retain a percussive quality e Ghostly unusual effects can be pulled out of pianos Wurlitzers Rhodes etc By heavily compressing them and reducing the attack significantly These kind of settings create sounds which are artificial sounding more of a pad or effect than a normal sound Radiohead has done some cool experimenting on albums like Kid A and there are many more new sounds to be discovered by abusing compressors in combination with keyboard instruments Multiband Compression Another of the major audio scene buzzwords in the last 5 10 years has been the multiband compressor Many engineers whether they admit it or not can t live without them anymore and the difference in quality they can make on an individual source or an entire mix can be astounding First of all what is a multiband compressor and what can it do for you Think of it as four compressors usually some have more or less in one unit The audio spectrum is then divided into frequency bands and these frequency bands are compressed individually So as some heavy low frequencies are being tamed the high frequencies aren t also pulled down in volume briefly Same thing goes all around a blast of buzz saw midrange on a distorted guitar can be compressed a bit without ducking out low end power What this all adds up to is a very intelligent compressor which operate
25. pull down an annoying sizzle or ringing tone without affecting neighboring frequencies Use your ears and bypass the EQ often and listen to be sure that you are not over processing Also be sure that you don t mix cymbals too loud High hat is often needed to drive the track but listen to how low crash cymbal are usually mixed on commercial records 20Hz 60Hz Not much here You can safely filter out these frequencies to get rid of room muddiness and low end bleed 70Hz 120Hz Not much in the cymbals but the toms have some important low end here so check out what you want to add to the toms like a little 100HZ bump 200Hz 500Hz gong lower and clang higher 600Hz 1kHz annoying in cymbals tubbiness in toms A little cut can be good here Just don t loose too much wood or body from the kit by cutting too much 2kHz 10kHz contains both the sizzle and the hardness of the cymbals as well as the sound of sticks striking and tom drum heads If there is harshness anywhere use the bump and sweep method to search and cut the offending frequencies Don t overdo the cut and make sure your cymbals aren t mixed too high 10kHz 20kHz The high frequency sparkle and clarity of cymbals A little high shelving boost is often nice but don t make em sizzle like bacon grease It can be difficult to get a smooth and clear cymbal sound without screwing up the toms so please make
26. reducing the resolution to 16 bits Dithering aids in maintaining signal detail in low level signals dynamic range the difference between the loudest and softest volume level of an audio source The piano is a great example did you know that the piano is really named the piano forte Translated from Italian that makes it the soft loud Imagine the quietest notes you can play on a piano barely pressing the keys Now imagine Jerry Lee Lewis hammering those keys so hard that he can be heard over a whole Rock band This shows the piano s wide range of dynamics EQ short for equalization fader a type of potentiometer set up as a slider for controlling volume The terms fade in and fade out refer to the volume control this device provides Firewire Also known as IEEE 1394 Firewire provides a method of connecting devices to a computer with a data transfer of up to 800Mbps megabits per second It allows connecting or disconnecting devices without the need for a computer restart and is a popular interface for hard drives for digital audio storage The term Firewire was coined after the protocol was invented because it disconnects so easily while you are busy working that you will pull it out of your gear like a garden weed and throw it into a fire ground loop a complex topic but for our purposes when two pieces of audio equipment are plugged into two different outlets especially when separated by some distanc
27. reverb tails decay are far too complex The best way to start is to use two delays one panned to the left the other to the right Set the delays for about 40ms Add a some HF roll off for a natural sound unless you want it to sound like a tiled room and set for no repeats as a start Begin adjusting these delays and get a feel for how this affects the sense of ambient space This is a very important method for adding depth to close mic ed recordings 2006 joe dochtermann 103 Take a listen to these home made delay ambiences wav file EX48a and EX48b Just a straight up kick snare pattern 48a is dry 48b adds delay ambience The settings are slightly different for the left and right channels both around 50ms and the LPF is cranked to to around 1kHz on both sides Keeping the left right settings slightly different builds a sense of stereo depth wav file EX 49 Here s a funky Wurlitzer part put through the same delay It starts with the effect in then the effect is off for the repeat Notice how you miss the ambience when it s gone If you like the part you have my permission to steal it Pitch shifting Real time pitch shifting involves digital signal processing and is best exemplified by the excellent devices manufactured by Eventide The main parameters is obviously which note you would like to shift to This is usually measured as an interval or a pitch change in cents above or below the original note You also m
28. rough mixes in other environments especially when you are working in a less than optimized acoustic space Common industry practice for those who feel that they are still unsure when the clock is ticking is to run a couple of extra mixes one with the vocal up about 1dB another with it down 1dB Then you can listen and choose later The real way to pan It is possible to pan instruments place them somewhere left to right in the stereo field in three different ways one simple the other two more complicated but far more effective The simplest solution we have is the relative control of volume between the left and right channels This is the simple pan pot control found on all mixers It is effective to a degree but nowhere near as convincing in creating depth and space as the next two methods The second possibility is to use a stereo mic recording of an instrument and pan the left and right sides of the recording somewhat skewed For instance pan the left channel hard left and the right channel to center The differences in the mic signals will enhance the depth of the sound and the panning scheme will locate the guitar in mid left field The final method returns us to our old friend the digital delay This is also a fairly processing economical method on the modern DAW it requires only a very short maximum 50ms delay To set up the digital delay pan place your source instrument on the left channel and a copy of that
29. some time trying them out Get a musician friend to be your guinea pig so you can twist knobs and move microphones while someone plays There is no single technique that makes a recording sound fantastic a great recording is the culmination of work on many small details which add up to a great final result Keep this in mind and you will create high quality recordings An old saying in the industry is garbage in garbage out meaning that even the best audio engineering cannot rescue a lousy performance It also means that the engineer must make the best possible recording with the available gear because a great performance that is poorly recorded is also a disaster So let s get to it Important terms good gear and bad myths back to table of contents Important terms The very first thing we must do is to get you familiar with the lingua franca of the recording world You don t need to read straight through this chapter but here are the basics you can refer to while reading The amount of unfamiliar vocabulary can be daunting at first but you will get used to it as you go Ys cable The diameter of the connector of very commonly used audio cable such as a guitar cable A D analog to digital Refers to the process or device that converts an analog audio signal into digital information AES EBU A format of digital audio interface developed by the Audio Engineering Society and the European Broadcasting
30. some serious listening time The Apogee MINI ME is a 2 channel A D unit with a street price of about 1000 800 used like mine The difference in the quality of the converters is quite obvious especially on multiple tracks Apogee offers a variety of units with up to eight channels of world class conversion Other great converters are available from Crane Song Lavry Benchmark and Prism but prices run into the thousands of dollars 20 RME Audio makes the 8 channel Fireface firewire converter for about 1500 an excellent unit that will get a lot of audio in and out of your DAW with very good sounding conversion Converters are another important step in the audio chain on its way to recorded immortality remember to make regular disc backups to insure immortality and shouldn t be underestimated When getting started in your recording hobby career you will start off with the converters you have at hand The point here is not to forget that conversion is part of the chain and that the pros know that there is another level of quality to be had in that link in the chain When you ve bolstered your studio with some good mics a few good preamps and some nice plug ins or hardware effects devices you may want to seriously consider upgrading your converters to give your sound that professional edge and Bad Myths back to table of contents One of the major problems with teaching any subject is overcoming preconceiv
31. the digital out you are converting it twice 3 Don t dither on your way to disc Some devices offer you the option of dithering reducing the bit rate at their output Try to record at 24 bits all the time Also make your mixes at 24 bits Reduce it only at the last possible step mastering 4 Monitor your tape disc outputs at least when checking the sound There are ways to avoid latency issues as described in a later chapter by monitoring the signal before it goes to disc Just be sure that latency aside you listen to the output of your DAW before you start tracking those magical notes of yours If you have a few boxes plugged in before tape you want to be sure you are not just recording the screech of some piece of gear with it s eyes crossed in a feedback loop Getting a good signal to tape The first step in creating a good sounding music recording is to record great sounding basic tracks It is hard to make good tracks sound bad in a mix It is even harder to make bad tracks sound good Using your gear to its fullest capability is an art unto itself It is of course impossible to know what gear you have at your disposal for recording at home or in your studio So we are going to look at the ideal recording setup and then look at how you can imitate this as closely as possible with the gear you are using This will get your gear sounding as good as it possibly can There are a few principles to apply when doing thi
32. there you will learn how to cook up effects which are unique A unique effect as opposed to one which everyone and their cousin has in that all in one box can really make your song stand out Misunderstanding the need for equipment My favorite example is the noise gate If you record your tracks cleanly a noise gate will be unnecessary We will learn how you can work to make your studio quiet enough so that there will be little or no noise to gate out 10 Additionally you are also better off investing in a pair of excellent microphone preamplifiers than buying for the same price a set of eight lower quality preamps In the long run your recordings will benefit most from the high audio quality you get while overdubbing with the two Let us start looking for gear that will be useful with this concept in mind Sound quality is both objective and subjective Objectively a recording of a voice or instrument that sounds just like the original source when played back can be called a good recording Subjectively a strange altered or distorted sound which is no longer very similar to it s original sound source can be good if it fits into context and if you like it Furthermore gear which affects sound in a way that you have heard before and you have liked sounds good to you With these concepts a bit of musical psychology in mind let s look at a list of some gear that can be found in any pro studio wort
33. track you can t remove it if it turns out to be the wrong setting The best bet when tracking a voice or an instrument is to err on the side of less compression have overdone it myself too many times running an acoustic guitar into a compressor and just sqeeeeezing the life out of it because it sounded cool in the headphones while tracking only to find out later that ruined the dynamic of the performance The major advantages of high end compressors are twofold First the high quality components do not or very minimally degrade the sound signal Compressors can cause a loss of high end Clarity and this is something we try to avoid at all costs Low cost units simply do not contain the proper components to preserve your nice signal s integrity Second some compressors are desired for their transparency some for their funky qualities A unit by Avalon Crane Song Focusrite or George Massenberg may be required for clean and invisible dynamic control in mixing or mastering whereas classic units from API Neve Universal Audio or Urei or modern reproductions and variations on classics from Chandler Empirical Labs Manley Purple Audio or Joe Meek are meant to color your sound in a particular way must admit that because the ever increasing quality of software compressors have sold off most of my own collection of classic gear holding onto just a pair of Urei LA 4 s which really love We ll hear so
34. undiscovered territory in the land of effects Let s take a tour of some of the most common effects devices and the ways they are most often used and misused Thinking up new ways to use effects and experimenting with these ideas is key to creating your own unique sound as an audio engineer producer or musician Reverb The classic effect is reverb and is really just short for reverberation which is a complex combination of multiple echoes and sound reflections which sounds not as one distinct echo but rather as an ambient decay or trailing off of the sound which is independent of the instruments own resonances The first reverb captured on recordings was simply a result of the acoustic environment in which the music was recorded Want more reverb Record in a bigger room The next step was taken when clever engineers began to place individual instruments into lively acoustic environments such as stairwells or grain silos Listen to an Eddie Cochran recording to hear this As technology and the clever engineer developed further the reverb send was invented It was a simple idea A copy of the signal to get reverb added was sent to a loudspeaker in a large room empty tank available bathroom etc On the other side of the reverberant space was a microphone to pick up the reverb created in the space This mic was 2006 joe dochtermann 97 returned to the console and sent to a fader that when raised into the mix added r
35. use dither EQ or other plug ins on the input to tape disc Check your manuals to learn what is exactly happening on the way to disc To review let s now imagine a perfect scenario and use it to set up your studio recording chain We have a fine quality large diaphragm microphone set up for the singer There is a short high quality mic cable leading to a world class mic preamp which is only a few feet from the mic The mic preamp is set to a proper level and the output runs at line level into the control room There is a high quality compressor or limiter as the next step in the chain set to catch any unexpected peaks in the performance The output of the compressor is sent to a top notch low jitter A D converter and fed to the digital input of the recorder The engineer is awake and sober at the record button Other than the last step of the above scenario this is what happens every day at the best studios in the world So how can this help you Well let s say that you have just a Shure SM 58 a Mackie 12 channel mixer a Behringer compressor and you computer with an audio recording quality sound card running Cubase A typical setup see all the time is this The microphone is connected to an input of the mixer The EQ on the mixer is boosting some highs and lows to get a fat sound The mic signal is sent to one of the mixer subgroups which are connected to the soundcard through the compressor The engi
36. vocal is getting sibilance under control Sibilance the sss sound that can be very prominent in a vocal track Silly singer slurs his words This is exaggerated by the proximity of the singer to the microphone combined with the little blast of air we release with the s sound This can be about as pleasant as a poke in the ear so we need to control it A De esser is a compressor which is sensitive to an adjustable frequency range from about 2kHz 10 kHz We can dial around to find the exact siblilant frequency which varies from singer to singer If you don t have a dedicated de esser a regular compressor with a side chain input will do The side chain allows you to put a signal into the control circuit of the compressor to affect when it compresses What you need to do is to take a copy of the vocal signal through a buss or an aux send and run it into an equalizer Use a fairly narrow Q setting and boost 6 or more dB around 4kHz Listen to this EQ ed signal and sweep the frequency up and down a bit until you hear the sibilance really jump out This EQ ed signal should now be connected to the side chain input of the compressor This can be done by way of cables the old fashioned way or simple by way of selecting the proper inputs on your software compressor The end effect is that only the sibilance will be reduced Set the ratio to 4 1 for starters and use the threshold to control the amount of reduc
37. warning Drummers hit things Don t put your proud new Neumann microphones on those toms unless you want them to get a good whack with a stick Sennheiser MD 421 s are a durable classic choice and there are great little Audio Technica and Shure dynamic mics built for fitting into the tight spaces between toms 54 Some engineers will add an ambient mic as with the kick drum to the floor tom A ribbon mic is also a great choice for this although in most cases an extra mic is unnecessary Individual cymbals rarely need to be separately mic ed the overheads will do a fine job would however recommend a high hat mic in every case A small diaphragm condenser is the right choice any one will do Just be sure that little blasts of air from the hats falling closed won t puff into the mic and cause distortion Overhead microphones Here s where a nice pair of AKG 451 s or Neumann KM184 s will make a tremendous difference in your recording quality have a pair of Sennheiser MKH 40 s which prefer over any other mic The overhead mics are going to pick up a stereo picture of the kit a certain amount of ambience and provide the clarity of the snare and cymbals Very important is again the way the snare will sound An excellent technique for assuring a solid snare sound is to measure from the center of the snare to each overhead mic Use a length of string a tape measure or just a short mic cable if that s all you have
38. you want Some of the most common mistakes made when purchasing gear and unfortunately have learned by doing are Buying much more than you need If you are only planning on making songwriting demos you probably don t need a 24 track fully automated digital recorder or a Pro Tools HD rig You will be much better off with a more portable and easily operated 8 track digital recorder which you can pack in a suitcase and take on the road If you just want to catalogue some ideas on an acoustic guitar while singing you may just want a portable MP3 recorder which will run for hours on a battery while sitting in the park Seriously consider your needs and be realistic Buying the wrong piece of gear for the job Example A Shure SM 57 79 can sound better on a guitar amp than a Neumann TLM 103 800 If you re doing a lot of electric guitar work the former is a better choice Another example It is much better to invest in a single high quality reverb that does the job simply and well than to get the latest all in one pitch shifter and flatulating flanger from hell just so you have the options First of all you will very rarely use the more far out effects and the reverb quality in an all in one box is not going to have the quality of a dedicated unit Second we are going to look at how you can cook up some unique effects by using the more basic building blocks in the effect processing and design chapter
39. your audio through an isolation transformer This is in essence a D I box Because a transformer passes a signal by magnetic induction through the air there is no physical connection through which the ground loop can occur The drawback is the additional component added into your audio chain and the added expense of the iso transformer Some software plug ins allow you to remove noise after the recording is finished This works on any sustained noise like computer monitor buzz or AC hum These software programs can actually be surprisingly effective and transparent sounding All that they do is ask you to highlight a region where the noise occurs alone like in between words on a vocal track or in the silence before the song starts and it analyzes the sound The sound of the noise is then subtracted from the entire track mathematically Always try it out on a copy of the track or be sure that you can undo the processing in case you are unhappy with the result Always be methodical in your search for the source of noise in your studio Try powering down one piece of gear at a time until the noise goes away Then you ll have the culprit investigate its audio connections power connections and proximity to AC lines or power transformers Take it step by step and you will be able to reduce the noise in your workshop significantly Educated gear connection Know and love the excitement of unpacking a newly arrived piece of g
40. your file in the proper format and bit rate 2006 joe dochtermann 121 6 When you have all your masters done you need to sequence the album This is not as fun as tweaking and juicing up the mixes but is just as important You will need a dedicated CD burning software which allows you to adjust the time between tracks or have already planned the pause into the master Always listen from one song into the next to decide the relative volume of the tracks And don t change your monitor volume Be aware of the style of each song with the big race for louder masters that is going on don t do something stupid like cranking up a ballad so loud that the following rocker of a song sounds quieter beleive that this is still punishable by tarring and feathering in 32 of the 50 states know your local laws 7 Save all your mastering settings One of the reasons that Mastering Versions of many analog devices are so much more expensive than their studio counterparts take a look at www mercenaryaudio com is the stepped switches built into them This allows exact repeatability of a mastering setting It may happen that an artist is later unhappy with an arrangement and cuts a section from or adds a section to a song and needs a re master The artist may also just want a minor addition of low end and is otherwise happy You never know you ll be happy you saved those settings Listen to these examples to get an idea of the progres
41. I TAB Funkenwerk V 78 or one of many offerings from Chandler LTD There are many other units available and some great deals on used gear You may even consider contacting the manufacturer before buying a used piece to ask if they can perform some light maintenance on the unit after you purchase it Considering that the parts are usually of such high quality there is little chance that something is seriously wrong and a little techie TLC will bring the unit up to good as new for introduction into your studio For those of us who don t have the immediate re ource to purchase high end preamplifiers there are a few options which will provide you with a clear clean sound which will be very useable at a mild price Focusrite traditionally a manufacturer of high end recording and mastering gear has in recent years made more offerings in the modest 18 budget end of the industry The OctoPre 8 channel preamp 800 will get you enough preamps to handle a small project without breaking the bank The FMR Audio RNP really nice preamp is a popular unit for about half the price of a Neve 1272 style preamp The designer s idea was to cutback the spending on components he found to be unimportant in the final audio quality to provide a high quality preamp for a fair price The reviews out there are good Check out www harmony ceniral com and look in the effects database You can search for gear reviews by manufacturer This is a gre
42. Thank you for purchasing Pro Techniques for Home Recording 2006 joe dochtermann www joedocmusic com This book will serve as a guide to making your home or project studio recordings sound as good as they can be At this point you will be able to download a small batch of audio examples demonstrating some of the microphones microphone techniques preamps and converters processing hints and mixing mastering tips These files will be updated and expanded so keep checking the site You may download all the files in four batches of 20MB zip files or you may save them as you listen to them for further reference Just right click on the link and save target as in a folder on your hard drive for future use and reference Click here BATCH1 BATCH2 BATCH3 BATCH4 There are many freeware unzip utilities available on the web Always keep in mind that some of the greatest recordings of all time were made using equipment that had a fraction of the capabilities of today s recording gear It is entirely possible to make a recording that sounds as good as or better than a chart topping hit on a small digital recorder a laptop or a personal computer Even a four track cassette recorder can create excellent quality recordings if used properly It will take a little time and practice to develop your critical ear This is the same when working in any media noticing light and shading differences in photography brush strokes in oil
43. a bit slower on the draw but handles lower frequencies better making it the standard choice for vocal recording Small 1 2 diaphragm e The Shure SM 81 350 is an excellent deal in terms of price performance and is used very often on acoustic guitar and drum cymbals A studio standard The Neumann KM 84 700 is not quite such a bargain at double the price you could be working in stereo with two Shure 81 s but it has that Neumann sound very detailed and somehow larger than life AKG provides a range of small diaphragm condensers from the C1000s 150 to the C451 500 The 451 holds it s own with the Shure and Neumann above The C1000 is probably better suited to live sound reinforcement it just doesn t have the smoothness and detail of big brother 451 2006 joe dochtermann 13 Large 1 diaphragm It is possible to spend many thousands of dollars on a large diaphragm condenser microphone and many pro studios keep heavyweight classic mics such as the Neumann U47 U67 M49 the newer M149 the AKG C12 or boutique mikes by Brauner Manley Lawson and other small production high quality microphone makers The truth is most home studio enthusiasts don t have the extra greenbacks for big mikes So what are we to do for a great vocal sound Here are a few under 1000 00 still a lot of dough but better than 6000 00 A favorite of mine is the Audio Technica AT 4030 300 Is a great car
44. a snare sound is getting a balance between the low end thud and impact enough midrange body and some crispy high end for definition To tell the truth most major recordings use layered samples of snare drums also other pieces of the kit to get a bigger than life sound as discussed earlier This is done by finding each snare hit in your DAW s editor window then creating some new tracks and lining up other recorded snare drum samples onto the new tracks with your recorded snare track A friend of mine recently did some work for Matchbox 20 and used four snare samples in total to get the sound they wanted Typically in such big productions you get the original snare sounding nice and full Then blend in a sample of a snare with a lot of low end punch for more impact Then add some nice crackin snappin high end sample for that extra cut and brightness The blend should serve the mix not only sound good on it s own Even if you decide to go the sample layering route here are some EQ ideas to get your original snare track sounding as good as it can 72 20Hz 50Hz Unless it is a very large snare tuned fairly low there isn t much down here to boost you would likely wind up boosting bleed from the kick drum 60Hz 100Hz This is the range with the deep oomph Try sweeping a 6dB EQ bump Q of 2 through this range until you find the sweet spot then reduce the boost to 3dB or so and adjus
45. accurate pair of AKG s or similar for more discerning listeners such as yourself If you are tracking multiple musicians simultaneously you will also need a headphone distribution amp so that you may connect multiple headphones and potentially create alternate mixes for picky singers Yes it will be the singer In this case you may want to go for that Behringer or other inexpensive unit Sound quality is important yes but when the bass player sets his Grape Slurpy on your headphone amp and condensation seeps down the side you ll be glad it was a cheap headphone amp All kidding aside there are a variety of options available today some of which offer connection via network cables multi band EQ for each pair of headphones and individual mix levels You will need to look at how many features you think you will need versus what you are willing to pay Don t forget that many things can give you an extra headphone amp in a pinch from a little Mackie mixer to that boom box all you have to do is feed it a signal from an aux output or mixer buss and you re in business 36 TRICK Some vocalists just aren t totally comfortable with headphones and if you re willing to take a little time and effort you can blast him or her with loud monitor speakers right at the microphone with very little bleed into the mic This trick is really like audio magic and takes advantage of the phase cancellation phenomenon To set this up you
46. age Alright here are the solutions to the guitar tones 1 is EX26 2 is EX24 3 is EX30 4 is EX28 5 is EX25 6 is EX27 7 is EX29 It s amazing the way simple tricks can create such a variety of sounds Not all of them are top notch in terms of clarity and tone but sometimes a full range tone will eat up too much space in a track and a little sound that s been run over by a few trains can really fit the bill 2006 joe dochtermann 125
47. allenge in the small studio mostly due to the limitations of the acoustic environment Orchestral instruments require a bit of distance from source to listener mic for the sounds to develop especially true for low frequency instruments Try to back the mic off 10 feet or so if you can and try different mikes to see which pickup pattern provides both a realistic picture of the instrument while suppressing unwanted ambience Then you can adjust your EQ a bit to reduce bad resonances Hey give it a try and then experiment what have you got to lose 2006 joe dochtermann 71 Drum EQ Now it s time to play with the grownups We ve learned to mic the drum set properly We ve recorded beautiful solid tracks of well tuned and well played drums right Now it s time to make em shine Because of the rich frequency content of most drum sounds we have a lot of leeway in sculpting the sound with EQ From full and tubby to thin and papery and everything in between drums take very well to EQ manipulation In a jazz blues or orchestral setting a natural unaltered sound is often the most fitting So don t do too much For rock and pop we want bigger than life and too much can be great Let s take the kit one piece at a time Snare The snare plays a central role in pop and rock cracking out that infectious backbeat and needs to sound as good as it can to insure a happenin mix The tricky thing with
48. amic range You should read Bob Katz s tips on mastering at www digido com he is one of the industy s best and he makes a very strong argument against overcompression and low headroom Try to leave a few dBFS headroom for the occasional peak and have most of the material kicking around 6dBFS Digital limiters are our friends The excellent L1 and L2 Ultramaximizer plug ins by waves as well as many other imitators out there do an excellent job of allowing us to increase the average level of masters with no audible artifacts Just start be setting the limiter to cut 3 to 6 dB off the peaks and you will get an immediate loudness boost without degrading your signal much at all Do not assume that you need any particular processing Yes it is likely that the mix will need a little EQ and maybe even compression But don t start with some swiss army knife setting and start mangling the mix have made this mistake myself too many times Oh this EQ and limiter sounded good on the last song so I ll start here Bad idea Always listen to the song through and then imagine what could make it sound better fully more intimate more dynamic etc Whatever the song calls for not what the mastering engineer would like Use the sweep and boost EQ method In the same way we EQ ed individual sources you should identify potential problems in the mix to be mastered But don t assume that you need EQ you may not if you di
49. and your mix goes from O K for an amateur to Damn dogk Snare Drum Mic Technique Aside from the lead vocal sound and in some cases even more so the snare drum is the most important individual instrument sound in a pop or rock mix Producer Danny Kortchmar with whom I have had the honor of working on many occasions is absolutely strict about snare sounds in his productions tracking doesn t start until the sound is knockin him out This can involve using amplifiers odd drums torturing gear It doesn t matter how you get there the important thing is that it sounds great The following diagram using two Shure SM 57 s is the standard and fairly foolproof way of getting a good snare sound Be sure that you phase reverse the top mic it moves away from the mic as the stick hits it and should be reversed The bottom mic will be O K then in phase with the top ww 4 Use the best preamp you have in your toolbox when on the snare drum The best choice is something with a nice fat transformer in the path A clinical sounding clean preamp can often sound too thin even in purist recordings of jazz or acoustic music TRICK So you recorded a drum track and later you realize that it would have been better to use a brass piccolo snare rather than that big old 52 wooden hatbox that the drummer chose at the session No problem we ll switch it after the fact Like this Set up a monitor speaker in the
50. are recording in someone else s studio ask a staff engineer where they have had luck Just remember to compress that sound Samples triggering and sound relacement Now that you ve gotten your good drums sounds the hard way you get to learn how the pros really do it They cheat Yes they do mic things carefully and use great gear and get super sounds but then they cheat and you can too With a DAW you can look right in close at every drum hit you ve recorded You can then create an extra track and line it up right next to let s say your snare drum track Then you can download one of the great recorded snare sounds that have provided and line it up with the snare sound you recorded Now play it back and BOOM Your snare sound has been pumped up to commercial record size Here s a track where we recorded the drums in a friend s living room because of the nice wood floors there s no added reverb on the drums it s natural wav file EX_DRUMS_W_SAMPLE The ambience and overheads were nice but the kick and snare were layered with samples because they just didn t snap in the mix This can be done with any drum hit kicks snares toms etc Even cymbals Sometimes you may wish to add several samples one with a crispy high end another with deep clear lows and so on You can even sample doors slamming handclaps phonebooks ripping in half whatever your devious little mind desires Here are some great
51. ase time to allow more dirt and grime to rise up after the attack the faster the release the more fretboard scum will float to the surface A hard knee compressor is essential for Frusciante s sound Acoustic guitar tracks can both lose and gain from compression A minor disadvantage of compression is the way in which lower level 2006 joe dochtermann 89 sounds become louder In the case of acoustic guitars the squeaking and sliding sounds of the strings can be made loud and irritating by too much compression especially when the strings are fresh and new It is important to pay attention to these sorts of distracting side effects and get them under control In the case of string squeaks try less compression a de esser tuned to the squeak frequency or automating volume dips at the squeaks in your editor window On the bright side acoustic guitar tracks gain balance solidity and a sense of depth and presence from the right amount of compression The settings are very material dependant but here are a few basic tips For an active strumming accompaniment track try about 4 1 ratio a threshold of 10 and a medium fast attack and release If there are any hard peaks or uneven dynamics try speeding up the attack and release to catch the peaks and smooth out the performance Be careful not to squash out any dynamics which are essential to the song arrangement For a fingerpicked part try a lower ratio 2 1 or 3 1 and dig
52. at place to research before you buy because of the averaging effect of many independent reviews You can also most importantly see if any complaints crop up again and again This can help steer you away from bum gear There are other companies offering low cost pre s that may as well warn you about ART and Presonus have owned ART mic pres in the past and couldn t get rid of them fast enough have no personal experience with Presonus but have not heard great things from engineer friends they have spoken of that cheap sound and of harshness Buyer beware Here are a few audio examples for your discerning ear to contemplate EX8 and 9 are coming soon wav file EX8 Acoustic guitar through the pristine sounding John Hardy preamp first versus the funkier Universal Audio 610 second wav file EX9 Electric guitar recorded through MBox2 preamp first and through a Telefunken V676 Second wav file EX10a and b Bass into MBox2 preamp EX10a and into Demeter HM 1 tube preamp EX10b 2006 joe dochtermann 19 The final step into the digital realm Now that your signal has been happily amplified to a proper level to be transferred to tape you need to convert it into digital ones and zeros to be stored on hard disc Putting it that way sounds like this is an easy task that any computer would do in the same way right Nope A D analog to digital converters as well as their D A counterparts exist
53. audio situations and give some 60 useful hints secrets and examples on how to make your recordings sound much better through the use of equalization The ropes Before we start twisting knobs let s keep our eyes on the big picture Unless your recording is of a solo instrument you need to make a sonic place for every instrument in the mix As a hobby chef like to think about cooking a great meal when EQ ing instruments and setting them into a mix The first thing every chef knows is that the raw ingredients have to be great to start with Wilted lettuce cannot be saved with dressing No matter how much gravy you dump on that dry turkey breast it is still going to have poor texture and taste So make sure your tracks your raw ingredients are as tasty as you can make them Of course all chefs a so know that the secret is in the sauce Asparagus new potatoes and thinly sliced Black Forest Ham is definitely improved with a ladle of hollandaise sauce Just like your well played well mic ed drum tracks will sparkle to life with the right EQ settings Most importantly as the chef puts together the meal a balance is created between salty sweet sour and even a little bitter to create a full taste experience Yes we may like sweet dishes but if every ingredient of every course of the meal is sweet then the meal is one dimensional and unsatisfying at best Again the same goes for your mix Bass treble warm clear a
54. ay blend the pitch shifted note with the original to create a harmony Smart pitch shifters are able to create fitting harmonies for a particular key This is important in some instances because you cannot just add a major third for example above any note you play and get diatonically correct that is to say in the right key notes out of the pitch shifter Aside from the typical use of a pitch shifter to create harmonies here are a couple other cool ideas to try A popular vocal effect uses pitch shifted short delays of a vocal panned left and right Try about 30 ms delay on the left 20 ms on the right Then change the pitch of one side up about 12 cents and the other side down 10 cents This will give you a thick vibrant sound on a vocal track which sounds larger than life Vary the delay times and pitch change to taste A way to add interest to reverb or echos is to feed the input of the reverb or delay with the output of a pitch shifter You can then have a guitar solo echo an octave lower Or higher Or try pitch shifting a vocal reverb up a diatonic third for a sense of harmony without a definite harmony track Try several tracks pitch shifted to different octaves each with a tremolo or gate on it set to different speeds There are a lot of possibilities here so start experimenting These ideas are especially easy to set up in a DAW 104 Volume based effects Aside from compression and limiting
55. b up the old one and post a sample If you re lucky enough to have a piano around try this great natural reverb effect Stick a mic down inside the piano near the strings Then put a weight on the sustain pedal to allow the piano strings to ring Place the guitar amp near the piano and mic as usual Print the piano mic track to a separate track and blend it in for a very airy cool reverb sound You may want to pan the reverb to one side and the guitar to the other works great on acoustic guitars and even vocals Drum microphone techniques O K you may be able to slide by with crusty acoustic guitar strings a beat up amp or a boozy old singer but drum heads really do sound like crap when they re too old Since the drums play such an important role in the overall impression of a song s sound this is the place to invest or get the band to invest before cutting tracks If you can t won t or just completely forget to get new heads for the kit then I ll try to help you save the day later with some great drum samples but this won t do much for your overhead or room mic tracks Start off with Ambassador or Pin Stripe heads for all the drums Be sure to stretch them out well Mount the heads then place the drums on a mat on the floor new head up Get someone of average build don t use a sumo wrestler for this to stand with one foot on the head to stretch it well Don t worry both drum and head can handle it just no t
56. bite of a sound 2kHz 5kHz Definition of notes Can be dipped down a bit to make a part more background 6kHz 10kHz Blowing sounds and metallic tones 10kHz 20kHz Breath and sparkle Too much boost makes things harsh Sometimes a dynamic EQ like a de esser is more appropriate for horns Tuned to a problem frequency the de esser can be set to reduce the frequency only when it exceeds a threshold that you set This prevents the sound from becoming thin overall but will reduce harsh peaks More on this in the next section 2006 joe dochtermann 79 Dynamic control Compression and Limiting back to table of contents Controlling dynamics is simple Ready Here goes If something is too loud turn it down If it is too soft turn it up Thank you That work for you Well good then lets move along to the next chapter Just kidding The important part to volume control is understanding how to make these volume changes or even more specifically how a compressor or limiter makes these changes Let s imagine that you are recording a vocalist who is singing a ballad which has a wide dynamic range see definition if necessary You set the microphone gain so that you have a nice level going to tape Then as the song progresses the singer sings louder and louder as the song builds At some point the level will be too high and your recorder will clip or distort So being a good engineer you begin t
57. ble Necessary only for condenser microphones Caution Phantom power must NOT be used with ribbon microphones as this can destroy the ribbon phones short for headphones pickup pattern see polar response polar response a way of describing the way a microphone responds to sound in terms of directional sensitivity The four major patterns are cardioid hypercardioid omnidirectional and figure eight See the section on Microphone choice and placement for graphic representations of these characteristics A cardioid polar response means that the microphone picks up sound in front of it in with highest sensitivity less at 90 degrees to it s side and very little from behind Hypercardioid response is more dramatic than cardioid the response is already very low at 90 degrees from the front and is negligible from behind Omnidirectional microphones are designed to pick up sound evenly regardless of what direction it arrives from Figure eight patterns pick up sounds from the front and back but little from the sides pot Short for potentiometer A potentiometer is a variable resistor which is commonly known as the volume know on a guitar and finds use in many pieces of studio gear 2006 joe dochtermann 7 preamp or just pre the device that raises a signal up to the proper level for recording to tape or disk The way in which a preamplifier amplified the signal has a major influence on the sound of your
58. c of any kind is good Be sure to engage the 10dB pad Ribbon mics are really nice and won t need a pad just don t let blasts of air from the hole in the front head hit them 4 For those of you who need that heavy metal click in the kick drum sound get out your credit card No dont mean that it s expensive but that you should tape a credit card to the beater head where the beater hits This will give you all the high end click you need and is really easy to do On second thought use an OLD credit card Or the singer s card 2006 joe dochtermann 53 5 Make sure the kick drum is firmly in place so it doesn t slide across the floor during tracking Now place a sandbag or a heavy pillow weighted with some stones or other weights against the bottom of the inside of the beater head This weight and damping of the inside head will help you get a deep solid tone weighted down pillow An old studio secret for recording kick drum is to take a Yamaha NS 10 studio monitor now hard to find and place it in front of the kick drum speaker facing the drum Then the speaker wire is fed into a preamplifier and the speaker used like a microphone have to admit I ve never tried this but it sounds very interesting You could use any speaker or monitor you like you just need to solder a connector to get the speaker wire into the preamplifier Toms and individual cymbals No big secrets here Just a secret word of
59. chniques out with a ribbon mic Listen again to the difference between a 57 and an Oktava ML 53 Ribbon mics love guitar amps they pick up a smooth low end and a little more ambience Shure SM 57 and Oktava ML 53 Now on to the dastardly fun stuff For kicks I m going to present you with a list of audio files and then a list of ways in which the guitar amp was set up Try to guess which is which and then check in the appendix answers to see what you get right You may not believe your ears wav files EX24 EX25 EX26 EX27 EX28 EX29 EX30 1 A guitar played through a busted set of headphones the earphone taped to the screen of a condenser mic 2 Played through a cranked tube preamplifier then run into a stereo Mic ed with a 57 3 A 57 inside a toilet paper tube and placed back about 6 from the amp 48 Guitar into Vox Pathfinder w 8 speaker 75 amp Guitar into Pignose G40V w 10 speaker 200 amp Guitar into Marshall 4x12 speaker amp Guitar straight into ProTools using Amplitube NYDN The great thing about a blind test like this is that you cannot start off by thinking The big Marshall amp sounds the best You have to use your ears to decide which is which and which you like so you remain objective Some of the very best sounds ever recorded have originated from some very unusual setups The reason these sounds made it onto successful records is that someone listened objectively If
60. cies as well as the lowest lows but let s not forget about the real world Many people still listen on a small home stereo or a boom box that won t reproduce frequencies much below 100Hz or above 10kHz In this respect it is important for you to have in addition to some full range monitors of your choice a pair of consumer fidelity speakers ready for comparison listening used to use a Sony boom box that had aux inputs via RCA connectors on the back could simply turn down the main monitors switch on the boom box and see what was happening Often would find that those deep satisfying low frequencies would either disappear on the boom box or just overload it s wimpy consumer power amp causing the little speakers to blubber for help The same goes for guitar tones Bad on the boombox bad everywhere if they re smokin on the boom box they ll sound great anywhere else For your main high resolution monitors be sure Decouple them from the surface they stand on with some foam padding This will prevent exaggerated bass response by means of physical conduction through solid objects Don t put them in a corner this will multiply the apparent bass output ruining the accuracy Don t set them on the mixing board get them up to a level wher you will sit up straight to listen This is not only good for your back after long hours of audio work but will prevent sound reflections off of the mixer which ruin the accu
61. ck as well as a mic ed track so that you have more options when mixing With a direct line signal recorded you can always run the signal back into an amplifier and have an opportunity to re mic the part Moogs and other classic synths generally need no EQ unless they are hissing and need a low pass filter or if an oscillator is creating a heavy low frequency which needs to be filtered out to avoid distorting the track Use your ears and work with the musician to create a sound that fits into the track and will therefore need less extra EQing Sampler and synth sounds are so incredibly varied that the choice of a fitting patch for the song is where the work is done After that a careful evaluation of the tone is necessary Often there is a fake cardboard sound to synth strings horns and pianos keys The perfect remedy is to search around 1kHz or so with a parametric EQ bump and sweep and then use a fairly wide Q setting with just a few dB reduction Then add a boost of high shelving EQ around 12kHz to add some air and realism to the sound Be cautious of low frequencies in sustained synth sounds Synth presets often add lots of deep low end so that the sounds will impress potential customers You may need to reduce these lows to ease the sound into the mix with the bass drums guitars vocals fire trucks and step dancers 78 From Baglama Banjo and Bouzouki to Xylophone and Zither Many of the stringed folk instrument
62. cussion and acoustic guitars In the mix the piano seems to lack enough attack to cut through the mix amidst all that percussion and jangly acoustic guitar We also want to increase the 84 sustain of the piano where the player held some nice chords in the bridge Let s start twirlin knobs Let s set the compressor to start affecting the signal at 10dB set threshold to 10dB This way we ll be sure to affect the signal to a fair extent Then dial in a 4 1 ratio and set the attack time medium to long and the release time fairly fast Turn up the output makeup gain 3 5 dB When a note or chord is played on the piano the compressor will react after briefly letting through the attack of the note because of the piano s fast attack dynamic and the compressor s slow attack reponse time This attack will sound louder because we turned up the compressor s output gain Then as the compressor kicks in it will reduce the output gain but increasing the gain quickly after the signal falls below the threshold again due to the fast compressor release time The final signal will be dynamically speaking more like this 0 db sustain SdB _ decay 10dB _ release attack The attack will exaggerated through the combination of the increased output gain and the time it takes for the compressor to kick in Through this visual example we can remember a rule for compressor settings Slow compressor attack times incr
63. d crossover point A lot of vocal energy will reside in the 1kHz to 8kHz range and cymbals will have their high frequencies above 8kHz making a last good crossover point You can then fine tune these ranges while listening Keep in mind that a faster attack and release may be necessary in the higher frequencies and a slower attack and release in the bass You should take a look at some of the devices preset settings and even audition them to get a feel for how the complex M B Compressor works A good old stereo compressor is not to be ignored Remember with the right settings you can a stereo compressor to give a mix some oomph The way in which a stereo comp moves the dynamic of the whole mix at once can really make a master dance and pump with the beat You need to start by finding the beats on which you d like the compressor to work Set a high ratio like 8 1 the attack time fairly short and the release medium Lower the threshold starting from zero until you see the meters reacting to the beats you d like to emphasize 2006 joe dochtermann 119 Adjust the release so that the compressor recovers the gain reduction is less before he next big beat accent of the song If the release is too long you ll squash the overall dynamic Too short and you ll catch and kill all the nice little accents Then reduce the ratio to 2 1 or less Now adjust your attack so that you allow a good oomph of beat through before the comp
64. d a well balanced mix If it ain t broke And if you do EQ a whole mix try to keep the adjustments small remember the EQ now affects ALL instruments equally Cutting out a bad bass 118 resonance is going to make the vocal sound thin If you re doing all your work in house consider a remix if you have big EQ problems Major TRICK A cool EQ method is to use a parametric EQ instead of high shelving Sweep all the way up to 20 kHz and set a fairly wide Q 0 5 to 0 8 then boost about 3dB This gives a steady slope up in the high frequencies and sounds better than a regular high shelving Compare the high end to commercial recordings Boost up to 6dB if you think itstill sound O K yu can boost quite a bit like this Use compression wisely Here is where a multiband compressor can really shine You can get the bass end pumping without crushing the highs The key is to identify the different frequency bands and set the crossover points properly The crossover point is generally where the fundamental frequencies of the next higher group of instruments lies Let s take our earlier example of drums bass piano and vocals The low drums and bass guitar will live below 200 Hz Piano may also play some low notes but will likely play chord inversions with a fundamental above 200 Hz That would make a good first crossover frequency The range of the piano fundamentals will likely not exceed about 1kHz so this may make a next goo
65. d drives and mouth breathing long haired guitarists Some of us are lucky enough to have a separate control room and tracking room The reality of living in a small house or apartment is often that the musician and recording gear are required to be in the same room With a little careful planning this problem will affect your recordings in a minimal way Dealing with fluttering ping ponging echoes is fairly easy The way to do this is to break up the sound reflections The best method is to create an irregular surface There are commercially available wood units built with small squares of varying depths but they can be quite expensive and are basically non functional for other uses The home studio equivalent is a book shelf Find the point where the echoes are worst and place a bookshelf at one of the walls Use this shelf to store a collection of books which are nice dense sound barrier material as well as your microphone cases equipment boxes cables etc You will organize and conquer echoes in one shot The echoes occurring between floor and ceiling require a little more effort as we can t lay a bookshelf on the floor If you are able to glue or screw things into the ceiling without losing your lease you may consider some acoustic foam treatment from Auralex Their lightweight foam can be glued to the ceiling with little trouble The room resonances Unfortunately just because you can t hear the ping ponging anymore doesn
66. d through my trusty Vox Pathfinder 10 Watt First just as it was next with a dip in the mids wav file EX35a and EX35b EQ the guitar signal before it goes to the amplifier This drives the amplifier in an entirely different way than EQing the mic ed signal later This is especially effective for getting chunky midrange sounds which would sound too harsh if EQ ed after the amplifier Avery wide mid range boost Q of 0 5 frequency 1kHz 2dB can be just the ticket for a rock guitar sound Many modern amps have a midrange cut built in and it can be refreshing to hear more of that range in a mix 2006 joe dochtermann 69 Bass guitar EQ Most good bass guitars require very little EQ What is very important is that the bass is played at the proper dynamic for the track that is not too softly on a loud song or vice versa The harder a bass is plucked the more high frequency attack tends to jump out This is true of both electric and acoustic bass and is strongly exaggerated if the string slaps back against the fingerboard The most important frequencies to consider are 50Hz This is generally the lowest fundamental tone produced by the bass although tuning a bass down lowers the fundamental If there isn t enough oomph in the bass try boosting here 100 200Hz Also an important bass range as many consumer boom boxes etc do not reproduce 50Hz signals very well You will want to balance out this frequency range
67. dioid only mic that they don t seem to be making anymore so keep an eye out on eBay They sound great on rock vocals like a Shure 58 with more detail You can get an AT4050 for about 500 have the option of selecting polar patterns and they sound quite good as well e The AKG C3000 150 200 is often offered to newbie recordists touted as a great vocal mic etc but have yet to hear a great sound from it and they just ain t makin it into the pro studios The AKG C 414 800 is another story It sounds excellent for the price and is very flexible a studio standard for voice strings percussion and piano e The Neumann TLM 103 950 offers the small studio a taste of the big Neumann sound It is cardioid only which saves you quite a few bucks and has a very detailed clear sound on vocals acoustic guitars and as a drum room mic Listen to how the AKG 414 first compares to the Neumann 103 second on acoustic guitar wav file EX3 Listen now to an MXL V69 299 wav file EX4a on the same exact vocal track as a Neumann TLM 103 wav file EX4b It was miced with both the Neumann 103 and the MXL V69 simultaneously MXL has been manufacturing relatively inexpensive mics of good quality Though not a studio standard by any means the MXL mics are a low cost way to reinforce your studio mic cabinet 14 Ribbon Microphones Ribbon microphones are very delicately constructed a few micron s thickness of meta
68. e a different electrical potential relative to ground can exist This difference in potential voltage causes a signal to flow generating hum or buzz at the frequency of the supply electricity 60Hz USA 50 Hz in Europe Some people remove the ground connection from one of the pieces of equipment but do NOT do this Removing or lifting the ground is against electrical safety regulations in 2006 joe dochtermann 5 most civilized societies and is potentially very dangerous See the section on Setting up your studio for safe solutions impedance a circuit s opposition to an alternating current signal such as an audio signal When interfacing audio devices it is important to properly match impedances to avoid loss or distortion of the signal A transformer D I offers a practical way to match impedances of for instance the pickups of an electric guitar and the input of a mixing console circuit jack the socket into which an audio cable is inserted jitter undesirable variations in the digital audio clock These variations can lead to unpleasant sounding distortion and loss of definition and clarity in the audio signal Sound cards built into a computer are often plagued by jitter problems with detrimental effects on the sound quality latency The time lag between the input signal and the output signal incurred by computer processing Latency occurs in many links in the audio chain Usually measured in samples or mill
69. e in this range Make sure you ve got a balance of punch in this range with higher frequency definition 200Hz 500Hz Here is the mud again Go easier on cutting this in the toms as tom hits occur less often and need body If the song contains a tom groove you may need to cut more 600Hz 1kHz This can be the cardboardy muddy range in smaller toms and often sounds flabby in larger toms 2kHz 5kHz Impact and definition 6kHz 10kHz Crack and snap Make sure this isn t too prominent even this out with the low punch of the fundamental 10kHz 20kHz Not too much here again this can contain some cymbal bleed Big hint The best way to get rid of cymbal bleed and background noise on toms is to use your DAW editor Simply cut out the silence well it may contain sound but no tom hits between the tom fills by using the volume fader or just cutting out regions of the track Make sure to fade the edges in and out to avoid pops and clicks This will make your tom fills jump out clean and clear It really improves the tracks General percussion EQ Most typical studio percussion tambourine bells shaker should not be EQ ed but simply chosen for their sound in the first place One of the best tools a small studio can have is a collection of percussion trinkets Most are not very expensive 20 or so and others can be made by jingling keys bead necklaces stapled to a board rubbed with a drumstick
70. e levels of effects when making fader level changes More common is the post fade aux send which will reduce the send level when you reduce the fader level This is important if you wish to fade out a part and not still have its effects returns sneaking into the mix Keep this in mind if you re going crazy because you pulled down that tambourine fader but it s still in the damned mix I ve pulled out a few hanfuls of hair like this when overwhelmed with a new console in an unfamiliar studio The Frank Zappa drum mixing technique promised to explain this before so here goes Get your basic drum sounds EQ d to taste Then get your relative levels set Again build from the ground up Select both Buss 1 2 and Buss 3 4 on every drum channel Don t send them to the stereo output master fader they ll get there through the busses Frank was rumored to have used this idea on just the toms and overheads but you can do as you like Insert a stereo EQ on Buss 1 2 an EQ and a compressor on Buss 3 4 Set the Buss 1 2 EQ to boost 6dB at 10kHz and give it a little bump at 2 3kHz with a Q of 1 0 or so Cut 5dB at 400 Hz also about Q 1 0 This is your crack group the drums will have definition and clarity here Set the Buss 3 4 EQ for a nice bump at 60Hz and 120 Hz Keep the Q fairly narrow Then add some low shelving from 200 Hz with a little boost Run this into the compressor with a slow attack 112 and medium
71. e that do the sound very well Engineers have found that by cranking all the knobs and pushing in all the buttons at once the 1176 will do wild and demented things to the incoming audio This sound makes room mics on drums sound especially good The trick is to find a good balance of this sound in relationship to the rest of the kit Start with the faders for the room mics all the way down and then blend in more of the squeezed room mics until it sounds good in context This method can really add that professional sense of space and solidness to your tracks that is subtle but makes a tremendous difference Be careful of percussion compression on things like bells tambourine triangle etc These small bodied instruments need to let their transient cut through the mix that s what they are there for If you want more body to the sound try reverb or if your acoustic environment allows a room or overhead mic for a little air find that compressed tambourines sound fake and plastic in a mix Concentrate on a good even performance before compressing Bus compress your drums Once you have all the individual sounds compressed and limited run everything through a stereo compressor This often provides the glue to make the whole kit sound smooth and together Many engineers also run the bass into this compressed submix to create a tighter rhythm sound Try a 3 1 ratio and a medium fast attack and release Pull down the th
72. e the Neve 1073 3500 00 each Ouch Well the good news is that companies such as Vintech Great River Dan Alexander Electronics and Brent Averill Enterprises offer low cost alternatives to the pricey classic Neve units The veritable Neve 1073 includes some very high quality EQ circuits which although they are great sounding and nice to have are also very expensive The companies which offer lower cost alternatives often focus just on the preamplifier stage of the 1073 modules reducing the cost sometimes as low as 1000 a pair 1000 a pair still sound like a lot of money Well for many of us it is The good news is that this type of gear when well cared for does not lose value In fact sold a set of four API 312 preamplifiers for 400 00 more than bought them for just 4 years later The API 312 s are a also a studio classic high quality Class A preamplifiers with input and output transformers There are sort of two basic styles of high quality mic preamplifiers those that color the signal and those that aim for a pure sound One of the most important determining factors is whether or not the design includes transformers on the inputs and or outputs and which types of transformers are used Transformers act to isolate circuits match impedances and even amplify a signal slightly Transformers can be manufactured to be sonically very transparent but are sometimes intentionally used to color the tone of the c
73. e will not be ruined Myth 5 You can soundproof with egg foam and carpet Not entirely true We ll get to this in a moment but wanted to bring this up front though so you don t run out and spend fistfulls of money for no good purpose Myth 6 You can fix it in the mix lm repeating that this is a myth because you will hear it repeated in the studio Don t listen Myth 7 16 bit is CD quality so it is good enough This is an important issue when it comes to digital gear such as mixers The word length that the internal processing carries through is crucial to the sound quality of the gear 24 or even better 32 bit internal processing is necessary for the integrity of your signal If you think you are saving money by going with a 16 bit internal architecture device you are saving only at the expense of your sound Buyer beware ask salespersons and dealers about this specification before jumping in Myth 8 Louder is better We will see and hear why this is NOT the case Not for guitar amplifiers not for drummers not for mixes not for masters It is great and liberating to blast away but there are secrets at every turn Everything is relative especially when squeezed onto a CD or into an MP3 Myth 9 More expensive is better Whether it is the studio s rate the cost of a compressor or the rate for a studio musician the bottom line is sound not cost A musician who plays the right part to your ears is the right
74. ear the rrrrip of the packing tape the cloud of Styrofoam peanuts the flutter of the user s manual being tossed aside and Anhhh There she is rush into the studio grab a couple cables make some quick audio connections plug er in and start twisting knobs After cutting a few tracks questions start to pop up How do adjust a certain parameter What does this knob do Should the cat be allowed to chew on that power cable There are so many possible audio preamplifiers processors and manipulators out there that it is hard to set any rules on how to interconnect them There are however a few MUSTS 30 1 A microphone or instrument level signal must be brought up to line level to work effectively in another unit This means that you must preamplify Some units contain a preamplifier before their compressor or digital effects Be sure to evaluate this preamp and see how you like it If you have a superior preamp use that and then go into the line level not mic level inputs of the unit afterwards 2 Once you go digital don t go back The A D and D A conversion process can only degrade your signal Even the best converter s goal is simply to minimize degradation of your original signal Use the best converter you have to go digital and then stay digital all the way to tape disc Remember any digital reverb or effect compressor EQ etc coverts your signal to digital If you don t come out of this device via
75. ease the attack of the signal The other way around is also true use a fast attack setting to catch and reduce the attack of the signal This is especially important for limiters which are most often used to catch the peaks of a signal especially when mastering a mix to stop clipping so that the signal can be made louder Now notice that the sustain of the compressed signal is increased Once the compressor pulls down the output volume there is room to 2006 joe dochtermann 85 bring it back up as the compressor releases Even as the sound starts to decay the compressor continues to bring the level up back to our original gain setting this sounds like more sustain In fact this increase in sustain as well as the louder volume of the decay and release of the notes due to the raised output gain makes the whole audio signal louder to our ears This is another rule which applies to all audio not just the use of compressors The subjectively loudest of two signals measuring the same level will be the one with more sustain For this reason a shout in a cathedral sounds a lot louder than a shout in a carpeted living room full of furniture The echoes and reverberation in the cathedral add to the sustain and therefore the loudness of the signal The shout isn t really any higher in level You can explain that to the ushers as they show you the door Now that we ve looked at the theory of these things lets move alo
76. ecially when created on a digital processor let s look at the parameters of a delay and get to know how these adjustments can help us Delay time is simply the amount of time between the original sound and the delayed signal This is usually measured in miiliseconds and can vary from a few milliseconds up to several seconds Longer delays generally require more processing power TIP Keep that in mind when setting up delay plug ins on host based processing such as Nuendo or Protools LE Use the plug in with the shortest maximum delay time that suits your needs Longer delays with the delay time turned down still eat processing power Very important tip use this formula to determine the delay time for your music The formula is based on the fact that note duration is linked to the tempo of the song You ll need to know the tempo of the song in B P M BPM 60 x 1000 x note value delay in milliseconds Example 120BPM 60 x 1000 x 1 8 note 250 ms It s a pretty simple formula especially since there are so many songs at 120BPM TIP Once you have your exact delay time calculated for the type of note eighth sixteenth etc adjust it a little longer or shorter for a more organic effect Making it shorter than the actual note value creates urgency or a sense of racing ahead Longer than the note value sounds relaxed and spacious even lazy or drunk Use these ideas to further enhance the way you effects speak to the mix
77. ed notions misunderstandings and superstitions All of the following topics and more will be touched on throughout this manual but here are a few key points which come to mind Myth 1 Tubes sound warm We ve touched on this already but it is worth repeating Always do an eyes closed listening test to decide what you like best don t get fooled by the hype advertisements and my suggestions Use YOUR ears Myth 2 You can fix it in the mix This is a load of baloney usually served by lazy engineers who are in a hurry If you are not happy with a basic sound all the tweaking in the world will not make it great It may turn out O K or even pretty good but for a fantastic sound you need to cut it right from the beginning Myth 3 Cables don t matter If you want to say that cables don t make a HUGE difference then I ll agree But if you want that extra edge the investment in a few high quality microphone and instrument cables will be another top quality ingredient helping to make your mix all it can be TIP Keep your cable runs as short as possible longer cables reduce clarity Remember these details add up 2006 joe dochtermann 21 Myth 4 Once it has been recorded the audio is safe Nothing is ever safe Hard disks contain a very small sensor which can pick up signals from your brain and determine what is the MOST unfortunate time to crash Be sure to have double secret backups so your day song mix lif
78. eers for determining how to EQ a sound Practice it and you ll also become a pro EQ er 2006 joe dochtermann 65 Vocal EQ We are intimately familiarity with the human voice we hear it for better or for worse every day of our lives We are all good judges of what sounds natural and are quick to notice when something sounds strange Strange vocal sounds are therefore instant attention getters But let s start with a natural sound Simply using a mic with a fairly flat frequency response and not messing with the sound any further attains the most natural vocal sound This would be proper for acoustic music jazz and definitely for classical performances If the sound needs a little more air on top a few dB boost with a high shelving filter set to 12kHz will open up the top end a bit without sounding unnatural A pop or rock vocal has different requirements to get it to fit into the mix properly First be sure you have a good level in the mix Consider the interplay between the vocal and other instruments especially things like buzzing distorted guitars or 10 finger piano parts Hopefully the song is well arranged Before you start EQ ing that vocal is it possible to make space for the vocal by cooling out some frequencies in other instruments The most natural vocal sound is to not EQ it too much other than a hint of high end so consider that twice Now the singers personal voice character should come into cons
79. el to take advantage of your recorder s full resolution but leave 3 6dB of headroom to prevent clipping You may need to track with a compressor or limiter set after your preamp to catch unexpected peak on the way to tape disc Don t put any more crap in the way After your preamp get to tape as quickly as possible This may involve connecting your preamplifier output directly to your sound card computer interface or recorder inputs A mistake that a lot of people make is to route their preamp outputs to tape through a mixer By doing that you are putting so many more amplifiers in the signal path that you degrade your sound many times over Use the best possible A D converter at your disposal and do not return to analog once you go digital You must beware of the hidden pitfalls of using a digital box before you go to disc If you have something like a T C Electronics Finalizer or a Lexicon reverb that is great they have some great sounds in them But 32 once you go analog into them come DIGITAL out and connect to your sound card or interface via SP DIF or AES EBU Otherwise you are going through the A D converter of the effects box out through its D A converter and then into your computer or digital recorder through its A D Talk about torturing your poor signal If you re recording on a computer be sure that you or your recording software is not placing any processing in the signal path on the way to tape Don t
80. ennia Media provide the clarity and detail often preferred over the subjective color and vibe of the classic style preamps for recording acoustic and classical music If you are most often going to be recording instruments such as acoustic guitar mandolin dulcimer piano violin cello or choir vocals you may want to consider a preamplifier which will very clearly and naturally represent the abundant high frequency detail these instruments provide Natural acoustic music does not benefit as much from the coloration provided by the classic school of audio preamps as much as rock blues and pop music Jazz engineers need to make a choice between a warmer funkier sound and a natural uncolored representation of the music and let this choice influence their decision to invest in gear My personal choice of microphone preamplifier tends to go in the classic direction like the warmth and size provided by a big hunk of transformer iron in the signal path find that in the digital age any way to take the edge off a clinical digital sound is welcome And as noted above just because there is a little vacuum tube glowing away in your audio circuit doesn t mean that your sound is going to be warm and full The tried and true way to get this sound is by bringing your mic signal up to level with a preamplifier like the Vintech 1272 A Brent Averill Neve 1272 module an API 312 Universal Audio 610 Great River MP1 or 2 NV AM
81. everb to the instrument s sent to the reverb chamber Plate reverbs still in use today operate on the same basic principle Spring reverb long available in guitar amplifiers uses a set of springs and again the same principle to create a little decay on the notes you pluck into that old amp This is why you can hear a sproing when you thump an amp with the spring reverb on the physical motion of the springs is converted into sound Digital reverb devices use processors to mimic the way in which multiple reflections and echoes of a sound build what we hear as reverb The quality of the processing is of utmost importance because our ears are very critical of audio clues as to what type of physical environment we are hearing The industry standard has long been the reverb processors from Lexicon although there are so many companies creating quality processors that you must use your ears to decide which is best for you Always remember that no matter how many whiz bang little tricks a processor does the most important thing it will do for you is a decent room hall and plate reverb These are things you will use in almost every mix you do a flanged fuzz wah echo is not This next example uses a high end Lexicon plate reverb Surprisingly enough even their lower cost units sound pretty great although maybe you could beg borrow or um rent a PCM 90 or similar for one day while you mix wav file EX_GREATPLATE In the interest of de
82. extremely stable master clock providing you with a low jitter transfer of your audio all the way through the mastering process Use multiple tools for metering A VU meter a dBFS meter and a spectrum anaylizer are all helpful in the visual aspect of mastering and all tell you different things 1 The VU meter tells you how loud the material sounds Since it responds to average no peak levels it gives you a good idea of where your loudness sits If you can get the VU meter hanging around the top of it s range without sounding overcompressed you re doing good 2 The dBFS meter doesn t tell you much about the average level since it responds so quickly to peaks but that s what it s there for In the digital age going over OdB causes ugly 2006 joe dochtermann 117 digital distortion not smooth analog overload The dBFS meter tells us if we are in the danger zone 3 The spectrum analyzer gives you a visual representation of the frequency content of the audio material It may help you top better identify problem frequencies until you gain your golden ears or if you are in a less than optimal mastering environment Listening to commercial recordings through the spectrum analyzer is an excellent way to get an idea about the frequency balance of pro recordings LEAVE HEADROOM IN THE MASTERS There are far too many annoying sounding recordings out there which are compressed and limited into the top 6 dBFS of the available dyn
83. fast attack takes advantage of the fact that a compressor is a machine and can clamp down on that signal faster than a person can react catching peaks in the signal very quickly The attack time can vary from a few milli or even micro seconds up to a full second 4 Tell it how quickly or slowly it should stop working This is the release time When the unit reacts to an input signal above the threshold it pulls the output level down When the input signal goes below the threshold again it will return to normal but how quickly it does this is important The release time can range from a few milliseconds up to several seconds Release times mustn t be too fast or strange audio artifacts and sounds can occur 5 Input and output level output is sometimes called makeup gain allow you to control the signal level within the compressor If you use a high ratio like 8 1 you may need to raise your output a little to bring your signal back up to useable levels especially if your threshold is set low 6 Knee is an option offered on some compressors usually hard knee or soft knee This has to do with the way the compressor reacts as the threshold is approached It is independent of the attack time but still shapes the attack of the compressor does it cut in hard and quick or soft and easy If you want to hear the compressor working hard is good Soft knee is a smoother way of compressing whereby the compressor begins co
84. fast release Now when a drum is hit the compressor allows a low end blast through before clamping down on the volume this is your Fat group adjust attack time to taste and to fit the song So now as you mix you can easily balance your drum sound between Fat and Crack This is especially useful when you have a very instrument heavy mix As you add in instruments you may notice that the drums need some minor adjustments Instead of tweaking every single drum channel you can make easy balanced moves with just a few faders In this example wish could go back and just add a touch more bass and less drums but otherwise you can hear the snappiness this method brings wav_ file EX_DRUMSNBASS Keep in mind that if you do this with plug ins you will need to consider the latency of the plug ins on the busses Some DAW s do this adjustment for you but listen carefully for phase or delay problems between the two drum subgroups e Create a soundstage This is a very important general decision in mixing Be sure that the artist s have a strong say in this process and do some serious listening to recordings which you know and respect to get ideas The goal is to create an acoustic environment within your mix Instruments should have a sense of space and distance Choose a basic ambience and apply it to key instruments Always compare with recordings you like Refer to the effects chapter for help in making adjustmen
85. h can vary conisiderably Always make one loop the master reference and relate all bar lengths to it In this way you are assured a consistent tempo throughout the song and won t have problems with drifting beats and loops And finally should mention the programs like EZDrummer and BFD These programs are essentially sample libraries of very well recorded drums set up so you may play them like a MIDI instrument There are many layers of velocity that is to say the drums sound very natural because they were sampled many times at different hit strengths and a large selection of sounds I m a convert admit it love tracking real drums and you can t get as personalized of a performance with BFD as you can with a drummer but the time saving and tone saving factor is undeniable We ll listen to some ways to process the BFD sounds after we explore processing They can get reeeeeeeeealy good 2006 joe dochtermann 59 Equalization back to table of contents Right there in the word equalization is the word equal Although engineers have developed numerous wild tricks with equalizers through the years the most basic and important concept is to make things equal or to balance the sound Let s imagine that you are an engineer in the early days of recording That famous rockabilly band just laid down a real foot stomper of a take But while listening to the playback of the ONE micropho
86. h it s salt will obviously skip the 100 000 00 consoles and 25 000 00 digital workstations We want to know what is the standard gear that a home project studio can fit also into its budget This will give our recordings a familiar air and a solid tone that even the non musician engineer will find to be good sounding and that is key to good recording technique Microphones On the front line of every recording is the microphone It is the first step in capturing a sound and the proper choice of microphone is crucial to a good recording There are four major types of microphone dynamic condenser ribbon and crystal These types all exhibit unique characteristics and have typical uses We will get into mic choice and placement in a later chapter but here is a list of standard mics for you to consider when shopping around It is probably a good idea to have at the very least one dynamic and one large diaphragm condenser microphone 2006 joe dochtermann 11 Dynamic microphones Dynamic microphones function like a miniature speaker in reverse A coil of wire is fixed to a small cone which when sound vibrates the cone moves in a magnetic field and causes a signal to flow in the wire leads Dynamic mics are rugged and dependable and require no external power phantom power to function This makes them a great choice for loud sound sources such as drums percussion electric guitars organs and bass amps The only
87. h like this with low frequencies on the left and high on the right The horizontal center line is the reference level for no change between what comes in and what goes out 0dB 20Hz 1kHz 20kHz A line is then indicated on the graph to indicate the frequency response of a device like a microphone or equalizer What the line is telling you is that If you were to put a signal through me this is how would affect it To better explain this let s imagine that you turn up the bass and treble on your home stereo to make it sound louder and better The difference between what goes into that EQ and what comes out would be somewhat like this 0dB 20Hz 1kHz 20kHz Another way to look at this might be that you have a microphone that accentuates mid range frequencies The difference between what goes in and what comes out would be this Odb 20Hz 1kHz 20kHz So the last thing to understand is what types of devices we use to equalize There are the bandpass and shelving EQs graphic EQs and parametric EQs Keep in mind that Esq are also referred to as filters Shelving and bandpass filters operate just like the low mid and high knobs on a stereo receiver The low shelving filter boosts or reduces only sounds below a fixed frequency usually about 100HZ The high shelving filter boosts or reduces only sounds above a fixed frequency about 10kHz A bandpass filter boosts or cut
88. here into a sort of leave it alone category When dealing with classical instruments in a classical setting piano flute oboe clarinet violin viola cello etc think orchestra you should use EQ only to correct acoustic problems with your recording space such as a resonance at 300Hz for example Piano has the widest range of any instrument and if the performer uses a lot of this range as in a piano concerto cutting boosting EQ will sound more like the performer played some notes softer louder rather than actually affecting overall tone With woodwinds and strings the sound signal is relatively simple and EQ tends to disturb dynamics more than tone as well With that said a pop or rock context is another scenario entirely Strings may sound great if they are high and low pass filtered and distorted or woodwinds think Strawberry Fields where the Mellotron fake woodwinds sound so nice and crunchy Also the typical muddy 300 600HZz range on other instruments sounds lush and full in strings What a nice way to arrange something into that spot in the EQ spectrum A piano can be turned Honky tonk by filtering some highs and lows off adding a touch of chorus and a few random high Q parametric EQ dips for those missing keys A rock and roll piano can benefit equally well from the kind of wide midrange boost noted above for guitars 1kHz Q 0 5 2 or 3dB Recording orchestral instruments can be a ch
89. hm section sound The compression of these instruments together should be kept mild but enough to control any strong peaks within the buss group This help to keep rhythm section dynamics from also compressing down the vocals along with them The only thing left for you to do is to get your basic stereo mix level and begin making fine adjustments The most common way of building the mix is starting as many great mix engineers like to say from the ground up Start with a good kick bass relationship Then add the drum kit s other pieces Make sure this relationship is groovin this is the backbone of your mix Next bring in other accompaniment instruments in this case piano Make sure that you are leaving enough headroom space below Odb VU or dFS to be able to add further parts If you run out of headroom it is a good idea to build up from the bottom again quickly making sure that any fader level changes don t adversely affect your careful compressor settings Once all your levels are good decide on how much effects ambience you want in the mix and adjust the relative amount aux sends on individual channels and the master effects levels aux return faders It is quite helpful at this point to switch monitors listen in mono or take a rough mix out to the car 110 The most important volume level decision to make is the level of the lead vocal Getting this level right is a matter of practice and much listening to
90. ibe we wanted 106 Mixer layout and mixing back to table of contents have mentioned many mixing tips and methods for signal routing throughout the text so far now it s time to add a few more important Clarifications methods and a few good checklists to help you keep your eye on the ball when putting all your precious audio tracks together into a song One of the most important things to get clear in you head is signal routing Let s take a small standard mixer as an example and imagine that we have a song from a simple vocal piano bass and drums combo to mix We ll add some reverb and compression and look at ways of handling the tracks effects returns and stereo outputs There are many ways of mixing but for those of you with little experience with bussing inserts and auxilliary sends and returns this should make a nice tutorial First of all lets look at our mixer It doesn t look too fancy here but trust me it s a well built little unit We ll assume that all the individual tracks have been optimally EQ ed using all the tips in the EQ chapter and some careful listening Same goes for compressor settings stereo compr Buss 1 2 Master Let s imagine that The first three input channels are drums there would likely be more but there s no need to illustrate a huge mixer that won t fit on one page and the drums are EQ ed and balanced relative to one another 2006 joe doch
91. ide a piece of rack gear can induce noise in a neighboring piece of gear In this case try leaving an empty space in the rack between the offending unit and it s neighbors The last way in which noise can invade your otherwise perfect recordings is through a ground loop lf two electrical devices are connected to ground the ground is the third prong of the AC cable at two different points a difference in potential a voltage can exist between these two points When you plug in an audio cable the cables shield connects the two devices allowing a current to flow Z2zzzzzz The most practical solution is to ground all equipment to the same point This minimizes the possibility of a difference in ground potential Just be sure that the circuit can handle all that juice or you ll blow a fuse Luckily most audio gear with the exception of power amplifiers draws a fairly low current Do NOT repeat DO NOT just remove the ground plug by lifting it with an adaptor or cutting it off Should a short circuit occur in a piece of gear and you touch that piece of gear YOU become the shortest path to ground especially if you are holding something grounded like a microphone Remember Jack Nicholson at the end of One Flew over the Cuckoo s Nest Did he look like he could still engineer a good album Nope and the Chief didn t think so either 2006 joe dochtermann 29 As a last resort albeit an pricey one you may have to connect
92. ider sounds for a broad range adjustment to tailor the overall frequency response of a sound Before you reach for the EQ knobs doctor be sure that the patient is at the right level in the mix If you start saying It needs a little more treble Good Now a little more bass Uh oh Now the midrange needs a boost There perfect then you should shut off the EQ and adjust your level No unnecessary surgery please Then when you think you are ready to EQ follow the next few rules e Cut rather than boost Look for a problem you can equalize down rather than something you wish to increase This will sound most natural and lessen the chance that you will hear harsh artifacts of the EQ circuit Limit your EQing to about 6dB of gain change It is easy to start zeroing in on frequencies and cranking them up or down but this often leads you down a dead end If you have paid attention to good microphone and tracking technique you will rarely need more than a few dB of adjustment Bad mixes occur because they are built on a foundation of overprocessed tracks nothing sounds natural Be careful of high Q settings Unless you are in a very well acoustically treated monitoring environment it is possible that you are not hearing certain frequency bands accurately because of room acoustics High Q settings especially when boosted can sound nasty when listening later in other environments Always A B your EQed s
93. ideration Are they a bit nasal sounding In that case try a little cut in the 1kHz to 4kHz range If the singer sounds unclear you may try a boost in the above mentioned frequency range In general you are going to find that narrow Q cuts or boosts to a vocal will sound unnatural If a vocal sounds out of place in the track in general you may wish to try a very wide Q cut or boost Sometimes a wide midrange boost can give a vocal enough bite to ride on top of a big rock song You may want a wide warm low end boost on an intimate jazz track Be sure to keep these adjustments within just a few dB or run the risk of skewing the whole mix into sounding odd and unprofessional Background vocals should be kept both at a level and an EQ setting that makes them serve the lead not overpower it If background vocals cut through too much even at lower levels try dipping out a little in the 66 1kHz 5kHz range This will make them softer and breathier and set them back in the mix while retaining fullness of sound You can also have fun with vocals by filtering off all the lows and highs and leaving only the midrange Breaker one nine Breaker one nine Run this sound through an amplifier or amp simulator and you re on the radio from somewhere out on the lonely highway You can also do this to one track of a doubled vocal to add an attention getting resonance to the mix Most importantly compare your wo
94. in the recording process we need to become experts in microphone use in order to be great audio engineers Some sounds are easy to capture some are not so easy And you need to consider the bigger picture at all times how should this sound fit into the mix Should it be up close in your face It is it a background part that needs some air between it and the lead parts Should it sound crisp and bright or warm and fuzzy Let s take the topic of mic choice and placement on an instrument by instrument basis and will provide some examples of the way these methods sound in my home studio setting to give you some points of reference The most important aspect of recording is to use you ear Before you decide on a microphone and it s placement move yourself around near the instrument as the performer plays and find a sweet spot This will be a place where the instrument sounds balanced and clear just plain subjectively good Then turn on the objectivity switch Is the sound a bit bright overall Or maybe muddy sounding or bass heavy Is there too much natural reverb in the space These are questions that should affect your mic choice Here are tips for different sound sources Too bassy muddy Opt for a small diaphragm condenser they tend to have a bit less sensitivity to bass frequencies than large diaphragm condensers Consider a mic with a bass roll off switch to tame unwanted low frequencies Too bright t
95. io space wav file EX47 The effect is on at the start turned off and then back on again so you may hear the difference 2006 joe dochtermann 99 reverb ambience e owes RTAS 96 48 24 18 12 6 3 2 1 0 OUTPUT i a INPUT EEE W mix P00 5 I ALGORITHM sze DIFFUSION E JU DECAY ES PRE DELAY BEERS ib HF CUT EE U LPFILTER ME i D VERB High frequency damping In a natural space high frequencies are absorbed more rapidly than lower frequencies This effect is also dependent upon the materials in the reverb space A stainless steel tank will bounce high frequencies around a lot longer than a carpeted living room Try adjusting this parameter to control the brightness of the reverb and therefore again it s attention getting factor Sounds with more high frequency content simply grab our attention more If you are happy with the length of a reverb decay time but it still sounds too obvious try turning down the HF damping If your reverbs sound muddy or indistinct try reducing the HF damping for a brighter clearer sound You may then need to lower the level or the decay of the reverb to compensate Reverb Density The many later reflections after the louder early reflections which make up the decay of the reverb are naturally separated in time Denser reverbs have these reflections placed closer together making a smoother reverb well suited to drums and percussion In lower density
96. ircuit A transformer can make a sound seem bigger and warmer but generally at the sacrifice of transient detail A balanced trade off of a little high frequency detail can provide the coveted fat and rich bass response so often desired for percussion drums bass and electric guitars the so called classic sound The pleasant sound and helpful functionality of good audio transformers can drastically increase the price of manufacturing an audio circuit In a two channel microphone preamplifier 300 400 in parts can be spent on transformers alone So before you think that expensive preamps are a rip off or just some money making scheme think again you get what you pay for This is a good point to dispel a popular myth That tubes sound warm The truth is that there are audio circuits available that use tubes but still sound very crisp and clear as well as non tube designs that sound warm and fuzzy In fact driving a vacuum tube in the audio circuit like many cheap audio toys can sound downright distorted which may sound more 2006 joe dochtermann 17 harsh than warm and fuzzy and at a great sacrifice to the clarity and detail of a sound Don t let the tube hype spread by cheap equipment manufacturers infect you Use your ears first and foremost when evaluating a piece of gear On the clear and neutral side of the fence preamplifiers from Benchmark DACS Grace Designs John Hardy and Mill
97. ironment But the the de facto standard is a good close mic ed amplifier sound 2006 joe dochtermann 45 Now have a look at a few diagrams of mic placement options and listen to recordings of each mic position For each example there is a simple guitar riff played on a telecaster through a small tube amp combo set for a pretty standard crunchy rock tone EX16 Mic pointed at center of cone perpendicular to amp EX17 Mic pointed at side of cone perp to amp EX18 Pointed at side of cone perp to cone EX19 Pointed at center of cone 45 degrees off axis EX20 1 amp 4 EX21 1 amp 3 lt gt __t EX22 Front and back of amp choose best front sound add back mic flip phase ZA xS 2006 joe dochtermann 47 EX23 Subjectively best sound with room mic blended in I ee Many big studios have a closet full of mics so another way of implementing the multi mic techniques above is to throw a whole melange of mics in front of and around the amp and studio and then listen to different combinations in the control room For those of us with less equiptment to spare look at it this way the diagrams and sounds listed above are starting points An odd angle a mic on the floor at the side of the amp or a happy accident where the vocal mic set up across the room gets the best sound these can be great and you shouldn t rule anything out The next step if you have the right tools is to try these te
98. iseconds line level the operating voltage level usually about 5 1 5 V for signals in most professional audio devices mic or mike short for microphone Mic is the preferred spelling for obvious reasons mic level the relatively low level of signal as low as 1mVolt 001 Volts which needs to be increased to line level by a preamplifier to be useful by other audio devices meter a device that represents sound levels visually MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface mix to bring two or more audio signals together into one Often used to refer to the process of balancing all the tracks in volume and tone adding effects etc when preparing the song for mastering monitor to listen to a signal with speakers or headphones It is important to understand where in the signal chain you are monitoring the signal Input monitoring lets you hear the signal going to tape or disk output monitoring is listening to the signal coming from tape disc Output signals may sound different because they are directed through further effects devices When recording on a computer monitoring the output can cause increased latency MTC Midi Time Code A reference signal which carries bar and beat information and allows MIDI capable devices to synchronize muddy A common description of an audio signal meaning that it sounds unclear or dull There are many possible causes for this including poor room acoustics overuse of reverb and too much
99. iter to reduce peaks by about 3 6dB as a start This will allow you to increase the overall track level and you ll hear more body to the drums In a rock or pop context you really can t go wrong with this setting Ratio should be 10 1 or more and the attack and release very fast e Compressor settings should be made carefully on snare kick and toms If you dig in too deep low threshold and use a high ratio you ll start making popcorn your drum hits will sound like little pops with a weak transient and no body Always start with a 4 1 ratio or so and don t bring the threshold down below 10 or 15dB See how this sounds in context while adjusting attack and release Make sure that your drums have a nice balance of snap attack and body release is fast enough to bring up resonant tone e Cymbals often need more compression in rock tunes Don t squish them too much going to tape but be sure to try higher 2006 joe dochtermann 91 compression settings when mixing Some of that smashing pumping compresssion sound can add life to a track Try a low threshold with medium attack and release settings for a classic kind of compressor response Squeeze the hell out of room mics The most famous compressor setting for room mics is probably the Urei 1176 with all the buttons pushed in Although we can t all afford the 1176 or a repro of it in hardware version there are some great software plug ins out ther
100. l heat energy This will sound pretty awful on a recording making vocals unintelligible and instruments and percussion sound cluttered and odd 2 Resonant frequencies In the same way that blowing across the neck of a bottle creates a resonating tone depending on the size of the space in the bottle rooms will resonate at a frequency dependent upon their dimensions and volume The formula for this resonant frequency for each room dimension is f V 2d Where f is the resonant frequency V is the speed of sound and d the room dimension f 1120 feet per second 2 x the room dimension in feet So if you have a 15 x 20 room with an 8 foot ceiling your problem frequencies will be 37Hz 15 dimension 28Hz 20 dimension and 70Hz 8 ceiling 2006 joe dochtermann 23 It is not only these fundamental frequencies that are resonant but also their harmonics frequencies which are a multiple of the fundamental those in the 200 400Hz range are especially audible and problematic in a small room 3 Outside noise To contain the sound of your music making and prevent angry neighbors roommates parents spouses as well as keeping out the unwanted sounds of traffic lawnmowers screeching kids etc you will need a certain amount of sound insulation from the outside world 4 Inside noise While not a problem of the actual room acoustics every studio has some inherent noise produced by fans monitors har
101. l as clearly defined The same sample layering tricks are often used on bass drum especially where very deep clear tones are desired The old Roland 808 kick drum sample has been a staple of rap and hip hop for decades and everything from car doors slamming to phone books dropped on floors have been recorded and mixed in with bass drums on commercial 2006 joe dochtermann 73 records These are ideas you can easily experiment with on your DAW at home The basic tone of the kick drum is very style dependent as covered in the section on microphone placement Now let s look at some style based EQ tips 20Hz 50Hz Some engineers radically boost these ultra low frequencies some either ignore or even cut them You will have to experiment as this depends heavily on the instrument 60Hz 120Hz Use the boost and sweep method to find the fundamental of your drum and give it at least a 3dB boost This is standard for most music styles 120Hz 200Hz A little bump here can give the drum some more punch but can interfere with bass or guitars so be sure to consider the EQ of your other instruments 200Hz 400Hz A judicious cut in this range is important for pop and rock Boost sweep find and destroy Don t do that for jazz and be cautious for blues some of that muddiness can add to a swampy blues vibe 500Hz 1kHz If the kick sounds flabby look for a place to cut in this range but be careful not to
102. l designed to synchronize the operation or functions of devices such as MTC squash studio slang for to compress heavily take studio slang for one recording of a performance Example That vocal was out of tune let me try another take Mmm Hmm that ll work timbre pronounced tamber The classical music world word for sound quality or sound texture track one separately recordable channel for audio Example The guitars are on tracks one and two the vocal on track three and percussion on track four transient Often used in describing the time or portion of an audio signal where the signal changes rapidly For instance the transient edge of a percussion hit this would be referring to the detailed sound of the impact of that sound Transients contain much fine detail such as the pluck of a string or the hammers of a piano The clarity of this portion of the signal has a major influence on our subjective evaluation of the quality of a sound TRS Tip Ring Sleeve A style of 4 cable connector that allows for balanced mono signal or unbalanced stereo signal transmission truncate to cut off To send a 24 bit signal to a device that can only handle 16 bits will cause the receiving 16 bit device to simple ignore truncate 8 bits of resolution USB Stands for Universal Serial Bus and allows for connecting disconnecting devices from the computer without the need for a restart It i
103. l ribbon is suspended between the poles of a microphone and the motion of the air moves the ribbon in the field creating a very low level signal The sound produced by a ribbon microphone is warm rich and classic sounding Ribbon mikes are well known for their fine sound on vocals room ambience acoustic instruments and surprisingly electric guitar amps They are the secret weapons behind some of the greatest guitar tones recorded We ll hear some examples later The drawbacks to a ribbon mic are its susceptibility to damage by wind and it s low output Wind or bursts of air as in the P or F sound sung by a vocalist can tear the ribbon ruining the mic A wind screen or pop filter is a good tool to have around when using these delicate mikes You must also have a preamplifier that can provide enough gain to amplify the low signal produced by the ribbon mic to an adequate level without adding noise For instance the preamps on my Pro Tools MBOX 2 don t cut the mustard on my ribbon mic But if you re far enough along in your gear hounding to add a specialty mic to your arsenal then you should already have a fine mic preamp As with all microphones prices vary and you get what you pay for Lower cost ribbon mics tend to have less detail and clarity than the big boys But at 1 5 of the price can you really go wrong If you want to go cheap try an Apex 210 or a Nady RSM2 both around 250 there is also a Ger
104. le longer to arrive due to the size of the space and will likely be diffused by the design of the room to prevent distinct echos which can interfere with the timbre of instruments A carpeted living room will have early reflections with less high frequency energy due to the absorbing qualities of carpets curtains upholstered furniture etc Plate and spring reverbs due to their artificial nature lack early reflections making them suitable for creating sustain without a sense of room Decay The length of time it takes for the reverb sound to trail off It is important to find the right amount of reverb decay in your mix too short and the reverb is ineffective too long and things become muddy and indistinct The trend in recent years has been towards shorter reverb times In the 80 s many recordings were loaded with long reverbs especially on drums and vocals for dramatic effect Current production trend is to create a sense of space and room without long artificial sounding reverb trails TIP Decay can be a very interesting parameter to manipulate Imagine a tiled bathroom with the decay of a concert hall An auditorium church or concert hall with the decay turned down can become an excellent ambience reverb This is currently a popular variation on the reverb scheme Here is a little percussion sample with a church reverb set up to have an unnaturally short decay It actually sounds quite like a good stud
105. least a few chords on the guitar because for your own first experiments in recording acoustic guitar you will want to have a guitarist handy Start of course with a well strung set up and tuned instrument Poor intonation bad tuning and the crusty strings that were used at the original Woodstock festival will only cause you grief when trying to get a good sound Always start with the basics before you start mic ing up a source There is more than one way to mic an acoustic as the old saying goes A pretty standard choice for a mono track is a small diaphragm condenser like a Neumann KM84 Shure 81 or AKG 451 Place the microphone in front of the guitar about 12 away and about midway between the sound hole and the bridge Now angle the mic in about 45 degrees aiming towards the point where the neck meets the body like this 2006 joe dochtermann 41 This method provides you with a well balanced sound most of the time If the sound is lacking bass frequencies try aiming a little more towards the sound hole If you need more treble frequencies and pick attack aim for the bridge TIP To prevent a foot tapping guitarist from creating rumbling sounds in the mic due to physical conduction through the mic stand you may wish to place a layer of foam under either the mic stand or the guitarist s foot But don t forget especially for blue players that this foot tapping can be an integral part of the performance have eve
106. lectric piano because of the sustain it gives the instrument That sound can hold its own in the mix it has body and some snappy attack You can get a similar sound with a 8 1 ratio pretty fast attack and release and a low threshold Just be aware that you actually jose dynamic range with this setting Yes the sound is cool when your rocking along but it would be totally inappropriate for a ballad which needs to provide some dynamic counter play to a vocal it wouldn t allow for a delicate touch or subtle phrasing Many synth patches are already compressed so check internal keyboard settings to see what s in there Maybe you would prefer a compressor that you have in your rack to an internal keyboard one Check it out e Horns need special care always hated the horn sounds on Rolling Stones records like Exile on Main Street even though the album is brilliant think that someone overcompressed them and 94 the loss of the attack dynamic makes them sound like kazoos A little soft Compression can make a horn sound smoother and breathier by bringing up interesting low level sounds Just be careful not to overcompress the transient edge or you ll be in the kazoo chorus of the local Lion s Club parade Funky Stevie Wonder style Clavs and other keys can stand a little Compression A bit of limiting can cut over the top transients and make the sound fuller and fatter Be sure to remember that rhythmic syncopated parts
107. ll vibe created should support this through proper volume balance choice of ambience and effects and an interesting arrangement Mix with your ears and your hands not with toys boxes and effects The bells and whistles have their place but they come second to a proper balance of sound Always try to mix without radical EQ and compression don t squash and mangle the musician s performances right from the start If this is an artistic statement you are reaching for make sure again that it serves the song The best mixing engineers in the business start by pulling up the basic tracks listening and then setting relative levels The best sound is a natural one and a good natural sound can only be enhanced with effects and processing Get your sound happening by starting with those beautifully recorded tracks of yours and if you wander off track while mixing don t be afraid to go back to start and begin again Always make backups Always make backups Be repetetetive when working with digital systems music can become irreplaceably lost It 2006 joe dochtermann 123 WILL happen to you promise So be prepared and when you ask your computer to open up the project and it says Project What project you won t wind up doing expensive damage by kicking it s little silicon brains in If you re running your own little home studio use those rainy days when you want to do something but are burnt out on the music t
108. m tracks to a stereo bus so that you only need to adjust the bus fader to change the level of the whole mix of toms and cymbals Busses also offer insert points for adding compression or EQ to bussed signals This is very useful when mixing or processing tracks 2006 joe dochtermann 3 brighten to increase the high frequency content of a signal with EQ click studio slang for the sound of a metronome The click track serves as a reference for tempo to all musicians Class A A design for audio amplifiers in which both halves of the signal both positive and negative voltage values are amplified simultaneously That is to say that 100 of the input signal is used in creating the output signal The drawback to Class A amplifiers is their relative inefficiency Approximately half of the power drawn to operate the circuit is wasted dissipated as heat This makes the use of class A circuit design practical only for low level amplification such as a microphone preamplifier Heat build up can however still be a consideration and class A amplifiers should have ample airflow around them for proper cooling comp Short for compile not to be used as short for compression which some people get confused For example to comp a vocal track means to compile the best takes of a singers performances into one track by editing compress to reduce the level of an audio signal when it exceeds a defined threshold thereby reduci
109. man maker called T Bone making cheap ribbon mics They will give you a taste and may whet your appetite for more have heard tale that you may remove some internal windscreens which the manufacturers put in place to prevent damage by newbie recordists and replace the internal transformers with better models but still have no first hand experience doing this Oktava makes the ML 52 53 and Electro Harmonix licenses the same mic as the EH R1 both about 350 Listen to the ML 53 first in action on acoustic guitar as compared to the AKG C 414 second wav file EX5 Notice the classic sound of the ribbon mic and fullness to the low notes Now listen to the ML 53 first on a guitar amp as compared to a Shure SM 57 second wav file EX6a and wav file EX6b Getting to know these differences is what will make you a good recordist 2006 joe dochtermann 15 On the upper end of the scale The AEA R92 850 the Coles 4038 1300 and the coveted Royer line of ribbon mikes 1200 and way on up provide you with top notch electronics and craftsmanship which you can bank on to deliver world class tone Listen to this recording of acoustic guitar done with Royer ribbon mikes wav file EX7 Wow Crystal Microphones Crystal microphones function according to the piezoelectric effect which is the same effect as in the pickups placed into the bridge of acoustic guitars When certain crystal materials have pressure applied t
110. me examples of audio using these as well as some other units and plug ins when we get to the settings for instruments part Right now let s get to know what happens to your signal inside these units a bit better 82 always like using the example of a drum hit like a tom or a snare drum With it s fast attack and strong signal dynamic here is a simplified version of what a drum hit looks like in your editor window as a waveform 0 db headroom level time gt Let s imagine that that is the level you have set for a good firm snare hit You have a few of dB of headroom level to go before hitting OdB as a safety net But what could happen during tracking of the song is this ZZT Over 0 db level time 3 gt Oops The drummer got into it and sent you a big loud rimshot hit causing your recorder to clip and make nasty noises Let s do the following Set a compressor in the audio chain between mic preamp and recorder and set it to a 8 1 ratio and a threshold of 5 dB Remember this means that for the signal to rise over 5 dB the input signal must go 8dB over the 5dB threshold for each 1dB increase That means that to get to OdB the input signal must increase 5 x 8db 40dB That should keep our energetic drummer under control 2006 joe dochtermann 83 What happens now Well as long as the signal stays under 5dB nothing But as soon as that sig
111. mpare On one key input RTAS auto sate L BF76 PEAK LIMITER SE Bomb gp Factory Sy RELEASE 2006 joe dochtermann 93 Compare the dry track with this and notice the difference have made the settings a little heavier than I d probably use in a mix in each case so that the effect is obvious wav EX44 Here we have the drums packed through all the effects listed above wav EX45 This is the same as EX44 but with Massey s Limiter cutting the peaks down a little and cranking the volume WOW Compare this to the original track Keyboard instrument and horn compression Less is usually more when it comes to brass and keyboard instruments The main point is to get the dynamics to fit into the track The heavier the arrangement more guitars horns keys background vocals etc the more you may need to compress individual instruments so that they can hold their own in the mix Proper arrangement is of highest importance followed by relative level settings Before you reach for the compressor make sure that the balance of keyboards to guitars or horns to drums etc is all well mixed When you find that a piano part sounds too thin in the mix even though you were happy with the original sound in terms of micing and EQ then it may be time for some dynamic control Listen to The Beatles Lady Madonna that piano is heavily compressed and makes it sound almost like an e
112. mpressing by ramping up the ratio as the threshold is approached 7 Compress or Limit Some units allow you to make a choice of a range of settings Limiting is just like Compression except the ratios are generally higher 10 1 up to infinity 1 Make the freakin input as loud as you want and you ll only get one more dB outta me and the attack and release are often faster on a limiter allowing you to truly limit the maximum output level There are plenty of hardware and software dynamic processors that s the blanket word for a compressor limiter or expander out there so why do some cost only pocket change while others cost as much as an automobile 2006 joe dochtermann 81 Since we are investigating gear as well as how to use it let s look at the price performance aspect before we get into the details of compressor function As we know by now the parts which go into a unit are a major factor in the price of high quality gear So you ll realize right away the a Behringer Alesis or ART compressor for a couple hundred bucks or less does not contain high quality audio transformers discrete circuitry stepped potentiometers or hand soldered point to point wiring This is not to say that you cant make a fine recording with an inexpensive unit just that again you may wish to be conservative in your use of such a unit as a link in your audio chain during recording Once you record with the compression in the
113. musician even if she s not from the London Philharmonic The sound that your Radio Shack preamplifier gets on that kick drum big and crunchy is the right sound if it fits the track And so on Learn to be critical but use your ears at all times Now we ll start implementing all these ideas and some more to make your recordings sound better 22 setting up your studio back to table of contents Now that the research and shopping are done it s time to connect all that good stuff and cut some tracks The first thing that goes into the equation is the room s you are going to work in Acoustics Room acoustics is a complex subject and the way in which professional studios are constructed floating floors triple walls double doors etc is far beyond consideration for the home or semi pro studio We need to make the best of whichever room we have available in which to make our music There are a few basic things that can be done to improve the acoustics of a room without major cost or renovations First lets define a few of the common problems that occur in the acoustics of a small room 1 Standing reflections This is that ping pong or fluttering echo effect heard when you clap your hands in a hallway or in a room with hardwood floors Sound reflects from the floor and ceiling echoing to the opposite surface and back repeating until the sound dies away absorbed by the surfaces as a small trace of therma
114. n used an extra mic for the foot listen to EX_CHARLIE_FOOT wav That is not a bass drum butthe foot played back through an amplifier have also experienced big mysterious rumbles in an acoustic guitar mic caused by the performer exhaling at the mic This is hard to avoid during a concentrated performance so consider using a windscreen pop filter between mic and guitarist Here s what happened to one poor fellow at a session when we just couldn t get rid of the breathing noise Oe hte A good sport and a hell of a snorkeler The next method is what like to think of as taking a picture of the sound source Use a large diaphragm condenser AKG C414 Shure KSM32 etc and set it up 3 5 in front of the guitarist as you might set up a camera for a close portrait Use you ear to find a sweet spot while the guitarist plays then place the mic there Try an omni directional 42 pattern for starts In many home studios the room ambience and resonances will be less than ideal so consider switching to a cardioid or figure eight pattern if a trial recording picks up too much ambience Don t forget that many acoustics have a pickup nowadays personally hate the Ovation PXM pickup Dave Matthews sound but it has become popular so we have to live with it What I like to do is run an acoustic through an amplifier with a little edge to it Listen to this broken down Tom Waits style country intro the tremol
115. nal goes over the threshold the compresser turns it down according to the ratio and your hard hit snare rimshot will stay within bounds O K those are the basics of using a commpressor as a saftey net This is an important feature and is the original purpose of the device Of course using a device in a creative sound manipulating was is where the fun is at So let s look at the signal again in terms of it s four areas of dynamic development Attack Decay Sustain and Release Imagine that this following diagram is a visual representation again like in the edit window of a DAW of a note played on a piano A piano has a fast hard attack from the hammer sustains briefly before the sound decays to a lower level and then the note is release disappears in a bit of ringing strings and room ambience sustain elease attack Keep in mind now that the attack sustain decay and release am speaking of are properties of the sound not of a compressor Yes the compressor has attack and release settings but keep those separate in your mind The neat thing about the compressor is that we can manipulate this signal to create a different dynamic We can use the properties of a compressor to shape this signal in the way the dynamic develops more or less attack sustain decay and or release can be dialed in with a few tricks Imagine that we want a piano player to perform on a rock track which includes a lot of per
116. nd keeping the following handy as your budget allows an accurate digital tuner with variable reference tuning a string winder and a few sets of spare guitar strings a mic stand with a Shure 57 and a short cable within arm s reach blank CD s extra instrument and patch cables there is nothing worse than stopping a session because there is no working instrument cable This WILL happen to you so be ready a popper stopper or similar microphone pop filter in a pinch you can stretch a nylon sock or panty hose over a coat hanger bent into a loop an XLR to balanced adaptor and the other way around AD I box Whirlwind makes decent ones the Countryman D I is even better This can cure buzzing and noise in a hurry and save a session When your wiring is all smoothed out and easy to deal with it is time to be sure that you are comfortable in your workspace Proper lighting prevents eyestrain and headaches Beg borrow or steal some lamps and place them where they will give some indirect 2006 joe dochtermann 27 lighting soft on the eyes and conducive to relaxed working And sweet love Place mixers and computer monitors at a comfortable level to prevent back and neck strain A stiff neck will distract you from your work and your mixes will suffer If you can afford the extra space put a couch some bean bag chairs or some kind of comfortable furniture in the studio Aside from a go
117. nd a cool sound by saying Hey what does this knob do and twisting away In all seriousness you will need at least an 8 1 or 10 1 ratio a threshold of 20dB a medium attack and a fast release for that modulation effect Crank the input knob to squeeze more Listen to some strumming as is first and then with the Bomb Factory 1176 style compressor squashing the sound second wav file EX39a and EX39b Notice the increase in the presence of the pick attack and the interesting distortion added to the body of the sound Drum and Percussion Compression Due to the strong transients contained in many percussion sounds we often need to limit the maximum level of the percussive attacks to fit the sounds onto tape disc with a high enough level and without clipping For this reason a limiter is an excellent tool in recording or mixing drums and percussion Another advantage to dynamic control on drums is the way in which the resonant tones of the instrument are made relatively louder When the compressor or limiter clamps down on the transient and attack part of the sound the volume is lowered With the proper release setting the signal level is raised again as the drum sound decays and the body of the sound is made louder Setting your limiter Try not to overdo limiting during tracking You can t get those transients back so err on the side of caution until you become confident in your processing skills Set the lim
118. nd full spectrum midrangey and filtered these are some of the flavor counterparts of the EQ world You can t make all the instruments fat and bassy or your mix will sound the way it feels to eat a bowl of pork rinds in melted butter My former college roommate can be contacted for details on that feeling gorillaticklere yahoo com You will need to understand the basic types and parameters of EQ There are plenty of propeller headed names for the various types of devices and filters but all the names do is describe how the internal circuits boost or cut certain parts of the frequency spectrum in order to alter the sound Sound is energy transmitted through the air like waves transmit energy through water Sounds are composed of a combination of different frequencies measured in Hertz cycles per second Some 2006 joe dochtermann 61 sounds are fairly simple like a single note blown on a flute and others very complex like the sound of a drum We can hear deep bass frequencies 20Hz all the way up to what is for human ears high treble although some people argue that we can feel even lower and higher frequencies believe that to be true to a certain extent as well but we must accept certain limitations of our sound gear speakers etc and at some point say O K 20Hz 20kHZz is plenty for recorded music let s just get along and record something The spectrum of sound is often represented on a grap
119. ndard guitar a piano turned into a synth pad ghostly orchestral drum rumbles from a regular kit all of these effects can be created by using volume swells By removing the attack portion of a sound completely and then fading in the body of the sound you can turn your regular selection of sounds into a whole new palette of sonic colors This is easiest accomplished in a DAW by using the volume automation function Just turn the volume all the way down and then create automation events to raise the volume up to the desired level after the attack Fading back out is sometimes very effective as well Reverse audio There are effects boxes which can play back snippets of sound in reverse but the true reverse effect is best 2006 joe dochtermann 105 done nowadays with the reverse audio function in your DAW or sampler Cymbal and drum hits in reverse are a classic effect previously created by reversing the tape reels on an analogue machine but now even easier to line up to the beat in your editor window Don t forget to reverse pianos horns and guitar chords as well as percussion parts odd bits of ambient noise and other unusual sources you never know what you may find Don t overdo it but spend a rainy afternoon looking for a new sound which could set your mix apart from the rest Listen to the reversed echo effect on this guitar solo wav file EX FREEDOM along with those low ominous Moog notes it helped build the freaky v
120. ne on the ONE speaker everyone agrees that the bass is just too loud Well ya ll the singer says Ah ain t never singed it that good before an Ah don think Ah kin sing it that good agin So son The producer looks over at you skeptically Kin yew balance out that sound sorta eequahlize the instrahments Nodding you turn to the two story high equalizer machine at the side of the room dial in 100Hz and begin cranking down the level one dB ata time until the producer exclaims Well gaw lee It s just like black magic And the band members turn and level a suspicious stare at you Yes that is what it s all about having a door at both sides of the studio equal chances of escape from dangerous superstitious musicians No wait it is about balancing sound In the example above the bass frequencies were made equal with the others giving the impression of a more natural and balanced mix Fast forward to the days of multi track recording and we now multiply the ability to readjust to equalize the sounds by however many tracks we have What a great thing mean how can there possibly be a bad sounding recording made anymore ask myself that question all the time and the answer is that the power to change something doesn t necessarily come packaged with the ability to change it for the better On that note I m going to walk you through some typical and some not so typical
121. need to set up a pair of speakers and a microphone like this in an equilateral triangle o All legs of triangle equal L Then create a MONO mix of the music which the singer is to sing to Some mixers have a mono button or you can just pan everything to one side and use that Feed this mono signal to BOTH speakers Now reverse the leads on one speaker positive to neg and neg to positive this put that speaker out of phase with the other So the two mono versions of the music arriving at the microphone are out of phase adding up to no sound It sounds like voodoo but it really works You should record a bit of the music coming out of the speakers and hear for yourself if it is still loud in the mic double check your measurements The great part of this is that since the singer is not standing exactly at the phase cancellation point they can still hear the music loud and clear Tracking a vocal like this can be a great experience for a singer and may win you repeat contracts for your studio 2006 joe dochtermann 37 A digital dilemma dealing with latency back to table of contents Latency has become such a buzzword in the recording world in the last few years that it is almost sickening There is latency in everything When you take a class at the university and the professor standing at the front of the room speaks to you and know you are sitting in the back row slumped into you chair the wo
122. neer controls the volume of the microphone with the subgroup or channel fader 2006 joe dochtermann 33 Let s rewire this entire situation If the above situation was you try this and tell me what you think as the tracks start piling up Connect the microphone to an input and take the signal from the direct out connection on the mixer s back panel Even many inexpensive mixers have this option By doing this you by pass the EQ circuits fader subgroup faders etc Less electronics purer tone Now skip the compressor and go right to your computer s input Adjust the mic level so that the loudest level is 6 to 3dBFS Later you can use some plug in processing or internal processors to compress peaks and bring up the levels a bit The major advantage is that you will be able to change those plug in settings as you work compression that you do to tape is written in stone With this variation on the way to tape you will improve the quality of your recordings in a big way It is hard to hear the difference on individual tracks but it adds up There are many of you out there working with an MBox setup or something similar from Mackie Lexicon etc The nice thing about a dedicated box like the MBox Saffire MAudio 410 etc is the short self contained path to disc Plug in your mic and you re rolling No other connections But can this be improved Here is a series of recordings of acoustic guitar The first take is jus
123. ng the dynamic range of the signal This can be done manually by pulling down the volume fader as the volume peaks or by using a compressor a device built to do this automatically D A digital to analog The yang to the A D yin In order to listen to all your digitally stored sound DAW Digital Audio Workstation Usually a computer with a sound card or interface like an Mbox paired with software for editing and processing audio Some companies such as Fairlight manufacture their own systems and run on their own host software platform not Mac or Windows dBFS without getting unnecessarily technical this is how a digital meter functions We can see the signal level as well as short peaks in the audio signal which is very important for recording digital audio Digital audio devices clip distort harshly with a pop click or harsh scratchiness when the signal goes over the maximum allowable level OdBFS An analog device like a tape machine can handle mild overloads without harsh distortion so monitoring level with dBVU meters is preferred in that case dBVU the dBVU meter is the cool looking swinging needle meter Unlike dBFS meters dBVU meters display more of an average level of the signal The swinging needle requires time to move so the reaction to signals is very smooth This smooth motion is very practical for audio metering because it reacts as our ears do We perceive sounds with longer duration as louder
124. ng to some tips tricks and audio examples KEEP IN MIND It is assumed throughout that you have kept your recording levels set so that the average level is at around 10dBFS with maximum peaks around 3dBFS If your sound source recorded higher or lower in level the recommended threshold settings will need to be adjusted accordingly threshold is the setting which will vary most within the recommendations based on the source recording Vocal Compression Generally speaking any vocal track will benefit from a little compression A matter of fact even when recorded classical music used to sneak on a little 2 1 compression or even 1 5 1 very little to make the recording sound better No one was ever the wiser and they used to say my recordings just sounded better If you read this Steve Sorry for being sneaky but she sounded great right Vocal compression brings out the sense of breath and air making the recording more lively and in your face Remember it is the increase in output makeup gain and perceived loudness which accomplish this On the other hand an over compressed vocal begins to sound flat and mechanical this can be used to interesting effect and sometimes fatiguing hard on the ears 86 The key is to strike a happy balance On a cranking Rock track you will likely need more less on a quiet ballad In general would suggest tracking the vocal with just a little
125. o 1 Clean up wiring and improve connections Don t forget the coils of cable are antennaes and that cable runs along AC chords create noise Also think of connections which you have had to make repeatedly and see if you can wire them more conveniently 2 Build yourself some kind of improvement Check out hitp www johnisayers com phpBB2 index php for some project ideas Great site with some cool projects 3 Grab yourself some new ProTools plug ins for free at hitp www masseyplugins com can t beat the price and the full versions are very inexpensive Way to go Steven 4 Read up on some of the best production and arrangements ever sone at http www recmusicbeatles com public files awp awp html This series is at times a bit too analytical but it draws attention to some production and arrangement ideas which may change the way you listen Also Alan s repeated reference to the wisdom Avoid foolish consistency is not to be underestimated in any style of music Thank you again for your purchase of this book Please keep an eye on www joedocmusic com for the dates of each update to the book In the coming months will be creating many more audio examples and revisions additions to the text am also glad to listen to your mixes masters questions complaints and most of all praise at harrykipper yahoo com or through the website Happy mixing 124 Appendix 1 The guitar files listen to files p
126. o effected guitar is my favorite acoustic through an old Ampeg amp The acoustic just had more twang to it than an electric wav file EX_COFFEEBEER A very full and detailed acoustic guitar sound can be recorded by using a stereo pair of microphones The important thing is to keep the capsules of both mics as close as possible to avoid phase cancellations For this reason small diaphragm condensers are an excellent choice You can either set them up on two different stands or invest in a special clamp device that holds two mics at once Place the microphones at a 90 angle capsules one on top of the other like this Approx 90 angle aN J sound source The M S mid side technique can provide a very detailed and accurate acoustic guitar sound For locations with good natural acoustics this is an excellent way to capture the ambience and still have the flexibility to adjust how much of this ambience is used during the mixing stage Let s look at how to set up an M S matrix 2006 joe dochtermann 43 An M S mic setup requires two mics one with a cardioid pattern the other set to figure 8 The Mid microphone cardioid faces the source and picks up the sum of the left and right stereo image L R The figure 8 faces to the Sides and picks up the difference L R The major advantage of the M S setup is that you are facing the cardioid mid microphone directly at the source like the take a picture technique
127. o them they give off a small current By attaching a diaphragm to one of these crystals a microphone is created The Crown PZM mic is probably the most famous example of a crystal mic that is commonly used in recording studios It is popular for catching drum ambience and has a very particular clear sound with a strong transient attack Microphone Preamplifiers After the signal leaves the microphone it is the job of the microphone preamplifier to bring the signal up to a recordable level Mic pres are everywhere nowadays and they are all boasting about low noise low distortion high gain and professional quality so who is telling the truth Well they all are in a way You can t argue with technical specifications so what we need to know is what are the pros using Well no one with the responsibility for recording an album to be released by a record label other than Watercloset Records is using Mackie or Behringer mic pres to cut tracks Don t get me wrong there are some pro studios using these mixers to create monitor mixes or handle multiple sound modules But the path to tape is always something special One of the greatest tips for improving your sound is Invest in a good preamp You may only need a single preamp if most of your recording work is done one track at a time and the difference this will make is astounding as the tracks pile up 16 The most popular preamplifier in pro studios may b
128. od work chair for the mix position you need an alternate place to sit or lay and listen to your work The relaxed body allows relaxed and focused ears And sweet love Aqua de la Viva Electricity No matter where you build your studio your water of life is the electricity to run your gear Unfortunately AC Alternating Current electricity has a frequency of it s own 60 cycles per second 60Hz This frequency and its harmonics 120Hz 240Hz etc can sneak into your audio signals on occasion and you need to know how to deal with this First of all try to get clean power to your gear At the very least you will want to keep a surge protector between the wall AC and your precious gear Power companies are not too concerned with sending you pristine power they have enough trouble just getting it out to you So spikes in the voltage surges in power and general noise can be a problem The best protection you can have is a power conditioner that also provides you with a small reserve of power in case of power failure Since power dropouts are not uncommon especially in very hot weather when everyone is running air conditioners you may wish to have a UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply covering your back so that all your gear doesn t just flash off during that magic final vocal take Next we need to use a little common sense Some household devices such as refrigerators air conditioners and lamps with dimmers can introduce noise in
129. oms sound very unnatural One of the worst experiences ever had as a young engineer occurred in a band room tuned studio in the Bronx NY The studio manager wanted to make the room soundproof so he hired carpet layers and had the floors carpeted and the walls and ceiling The recordings made there sounded like well carpet The carpeting absorbed all high frequencies making the recordings dull sounding but provided no low frequency absorption resulting in a big mud bath of tracks had to leave the studio after three projects there was no way to get a good sound there and the bands wanted to kill someone Since this is a manual on studio technique not studio construction blueprints and long instructions are a bit outside the scope of this book if you wish to build your own Helmholtz resonator try this link http www lI referen m rial Low 20Mid 20Frequencies htm At http www ethanwiner com basstrap html there are simple designs and parts lists under 40 for a bass trap for some great sound absorbers 2006 joe dochtermann 25 For some further understanding of the basics of improving the acoustics of your studio without much more than a little elbow grease use this link http arts ms musi h kground TE 14 teces 14 html General studio setup and ergonomics One of the few exceptions to the rule that you should take the shortest cabling path for an audio signal is the patch bay A patch bay serves
130. ou set and feed it to the units they are connected to and return it through their channel to the stereo master fader It is important to understand and visualize this signal flow You can imagine the signal flow like this compressor Mix L Mix R stereo delay ambience The point is to realize where the signal goes in every case so that you know where to find each adjustment for each track Keeping your levels consistent is also extremely important It would be poor technique for instance to send too little level to the effects devices from the aux sends and then make up the missing level by cranking up the aux return faders This would amplify both the low level noise sent out by the effects units which are not recieving an optimal signal and could add amplifier noise from the return channels themselves Important note like to use faders for aux returns it s just a more hands on feeling than a little aux return knob Just be careful NOT to ever turn up the aux send on those return channels You will create a potentially speaker and eardrum popping feedback loop 2006 joe dochtermann 109 Back to our mixer insert compr insert de esser Delay Reverb returns returns Buss 1 2 Master Sf bass Z ox drums piano Strapped across the Buss 1 2 faders is a compressor Into this buss go both drums and bass this is a great way to get the drums and bass to blend well and create a rhyt
131. ound with the original A B is a term we often use meaning compare A the unprocessed sound with B the processed version You will often find you need to make less adjustment to keep the sound natural a little more to fix it or even that you need no EQ after all This is very important and the best engineers A B a sound both on it s own and A B it in the mix until they are happy This is a good habit and will save you having to later undo a whole house of cards built on poorly EQ ed tracks Audition different EQ s The difference in sound quality between EQ units varies widely For example the ProTools EQ 3 is quite clean and clear whereas the funkier JoeMeek and Steve Massey http www masseyplugins com EQ s add a whole new dimension to your sound BIG HINT In order to an offending frequency set the Q fairly narrow set the gain for about 6dB and then sweep the frequency through the range where you suspect the nastiness to be Go slowly while the sound is playing back and you will find a point where it sounds worse Now cut that frequency by 2dB or so and widen the Q a bit Listen again with the EQ bypassed and the again with it on Does this help Does it still sound natural If yes then you have done well If not start again on your search for the right frequency this takes some practice call this the boost and sweep method and it is the standard way among many many engin
132. pelin drummer John Bonham s head in a stairwell That sound became famous in the recording of When the Levee Breaks and has become a much imitated and sampled drum sound TIP The 1 3 Rule Generally speaking the more microphones you use on a sound source the higher the chance that things will start to sound bad Phase cancellation imbalances in tone quality comb filtering and other audio problems begin to creep in In this respect it is not wise to use an ambient kick mic a front of kit mic and room mics You may wish to set them up to see which sounds best but then remove your least favorite from the mix The 3 1 rule however states that as long as a microphone is THREE TIMES the distance away from the sound source as another microphone you will almost surely have no odd audio issues For example if you use 56 a front of kit mic five feet away from the kit your room mics should be FIFTEEN feet from the kit If your room is only twelve feet long then move the front of kit mic in to four feet or less To get your room mics cranking set the stands up high and set them close to the wall and near the ceiling for starts Listen back to them with heavy compression see the compression techniques section and then try some different positions Some engineers recommend facing the mic towards the wall and as close to the wall as possible You will need to experiment and get to know your recording space In case you
133. r mix sounds as good as you can get it before you start compressing and this goes double for multiband compression If you add too much low end to bass and drums in your mix and then crank up the m b comp you will still hurt the low end of vocals and other natural evenly EQ ed sounds There are varying opinions on whether it is O K to mix thru a compressor Some say yes some no say mix with a comp if you like just also save a non compressed version for the mastering phase would however advise against mixing through a multiband comp as this can really skew your impression of what is happening Now that you re tuned in to the major methods for adjusting the sound of your tracks lets look at some inventive ways to add interest and depth with effects 96 Effects processing and design back to table of contents The use of effects such as reverb delay and flanging is what set the late 60 s apart in recording history as much as the style of music developed then technology inspired by people In some cases the experimentation with effects led to the composition of songs people inspired by technology The right reverb a shimmering chorus a rhythmic delay or a frenzied distortion tidal wave these sounds can make or break a track Musicians such as Radiohead Producer Trent Reznor and Guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave have proved to us again in recent years that there is still
134. r room sound isn t top notch this will keep the room sound under control and you can use the gate hold time to control the length of it You could trigger a guitar track off the high hat for a tremolo style effect You could blow the raspberries into a microphone loop it up and trigger it off the toms for a fart stampede Sky s the limit Loops are another way to bring some variation and dimension into your production There are some great discs available with well produced hip hop rap house and other funky beat material which can really add to a song often use a loop for writing purposes and then later build some fills from individual hits or have a live drummer perform to the loop would recommend Loopzilla The L A Riots discs BIG samples Vinylistics the ultime old school sounds and for some real great kit samples Drum Works and The drummers of Motown CD s I ve also had luck creating my own loops by mixing samples with my own performances and then cutting the loops into usable 1 or 2 bar sections 58 When cutting your loop be sure to identify the beginning of the first downbeat and the end of the loop very clearly in your editor Listen carefully to multiple repeats of the loop and make sure it grooves You will often need to make a reference bar length in samples from the main loop you wish to use have often found that loops that are supposedly the same tempo and lengt
135. racy of the monitors 2006 joe dochtermann 35 Keep the listening volume at 85dB or below It is right and good to crank it up once in a while and see how it feels but it is both unhealthy and inaccurate to work like that First of all hearing damage is real When your ears ring they re saying you hurt me Don t do that often if you like music Second Our ears naturally compress at higher volumes so your sense of dynamics and detail is lacking at high volumes Not very professional Always follow the Last on first off rule Turn your monitors monitor amp on last and off first This will save you blown tweeters popped cones and shattered nerves Next up in monitoring is the tracking room side Headphones are very important here You will likely need at least two pairs of headphones and probably four or more would suggest doing some listening in a music store and buying both a pair that sounds very accurate and one that has a pleasing consumer sound extra lows and highs find that some musicians especially hobbyists would much rather hear a flattering sound in the headphones to get a vibe Consumer phones tend to add some bass and treble boost to give the music some thump and sizzle impressive but not accurate In a situation where you are tracking music in the same room as the recording equipment you will need to be wearing headphones as the engineer as well You should have an
136. rampoline tricks Giving the heads a stretch is as important as stretching out guitar or bass strings if you don t they ll de tune during the song and ruin the take Generally speaking you shouldn t dampen the heads with tape foam or other material to reduce overtones but rather tune them out of the drum If there is an annoying ring to let s say the floor tom try to solve it with as little material as possible Start with a little ring of duct tape sticky side out Steadily hit the drum and run your finger around the outside of the drum head to find the offending spot Place the duct tape doughnut there and see if that helps If you need more dampening stick a piece of cloth to the doughnut Don t overdo it those overtones are what give life and breadth to a drum sound once the mix fills with other instruments Also since we are about to get into some serious multiple mic ing keep in mind that phase is going to become a serious consideration 2006 joe dochtermann 51 when the same sound arrives at two different mics one a fraction of a second later than the other the resulting hollow phased sound can really suck the life out of your tracks This is often present as a swishy sound on cymbals sometimes making them sound as if they fade in and out after being struck We ll look at how to avoid these problems This can be subtle at times but is EXACTLY what this book is about take care of twenty subtle problems
137. rdboard or Honk Sometimes you want a boost here for that Queen sound or to bring the guitar forward in the mix Other times you want to cut back in this range especially for more chunk in heavy metal guitars 2kHz 5kHz This range contains a lot of the attack of the guitar sound Cut or boost as you need to settle things into the mix after you double check the overall volume level in the mix of course 6kHz 10kHz Contains the brightness of the sound but can be harsh Cutting here can make a high solo smoother sounding 10kHz 16kHz Most guitar amps do not produce frequencies much above 10kHz If an amp is hissy or there is high frequency noise you can usually safely cut back here to reduce it a bit If the amp was nice and quiet you can boost a bit to add some air especially to clean guitar sounds 16kHz 20kHz Not much going on way up here Play around and see if you find anything Some tricks and hints If you are creating a mix with many different guitar parts consider creating an EQ zone for each part based on the range it is performing in For example cut the lows and some highs off of a middle range lick that repeats often Then cut some of that remaining middle range out of a complimentary part Dip out a lot of energy in the 1 2kHz range to get a larger sound out of amps that were played through small speaker cabinets Listen to this riff recorde
138. rds he speaks must travel through the air at 1100 feet per second before they reach you If you are so unlucky as to have one of those big auditorium collective college courses you might be well 110 feet away from the professor That is a latency of 100 milliseconds 1 10 of a second So if you are accused of giving an answer too slowly explain to your professor that it s all about the latency Every digital device including the A D and D A converters incurs latency before passing along the signal so there is no such thing as latency free through your computer A well tuned computer of 1GHz processor speed is capable of fairly low latency monitoring check you hardware and software manufacturer s suggestions and look into support forums for experienced user tips on tuning up your computer for audio recording Extensive operating system tips are beyond the scope of this book An excellent way of getting around the latency problem involves a little extra gear but will work wonders Since all the popular programs compensate for the difference in time between your performance and the audio arriving to disc by shifting the recorded track the appropriate number of samples you needn t worry about that You just need to be able to hear yourself as well as the backing track with no strange delays between your playing and what you hear The blend knob on all the current USB and Firewire boxes Mbox etc gives you a direc
139. rebly Use a ribbon mic which tends to sound warmer and bassier especially at close range Large diaphragm condenser mics are a little less sensitive to high frequencies than small diaphragms and will downplay harsh and bright transients Consider a dynamic mic their slower transient response can also downplay overly bright sound sources Too much ambience reverb Many home studios suffer from poor acoustics For those of us living in apartments or spaces that cannot be heavily renovated into a music studio we have to deal with the acoustic limitations handed to us Three cheers for the directional microphone Obviously the cardioid mic somewhat ignores sound coming from the back so this will reduce any unwanted echoes or reverb So is a 40 hypercardioid pattern even better Strangely enough it probably isn t The extreme off axis rejection of sounds by a hypercardioid microphone can sound quite unnatural Hypercardiod mics are more at home onstage Surprisingly a figure eight pickup pattern like many ribbon mikes can often pick up enough ambience to give a realistic sound to the recording without picking up too much cluttered sounding reverb Don t ignore this classic polar pattern give it a listen and see what you think Acoustic Guitar Mic Technique There are so many guitarists out there suffering from a lousy sound that we have to start here It works in your favor as an engineer that many people can play at
140. recordings Class A amplifiers use both the positive and negative voltages of the signal at once to create the output signal remaining perfectly true to the input signal All other designs impart some change to the signal Class A amplifiers are quite inefficient in their use of power but are preferred for low level amplification due to their accuracy punch in to record over a portion of an already recorded track Example Il made a mistake in the chorus could you punch me in there So as an engineer you should wait until just before the chorus then on the first downbeat slug the singer in the solar plexus The drummer will now be your best friend When destructively recording you permanently overwrite the portion recorded over as with analog tape Non destructive recording is a nice development in digital recording making it possible to get back the portion of the track recorded over after punching in The only drawback to non destructive recording is the additional hard drive space required to store both the new recording as well as the old portion recorded over It can also be more CPU intensive on your computer resistor An electronic device which resists or stands in the way of electricity reverb short for reverberation Reverb is often produced digitally and simulates the acoustic properties of rooms halls or churches for example A plate reverb is a large metal plate or a digital simulation thereof to which
141. remove all of the sound of the wood 2kHz 5kHz This is where the slap of the beater lives Don t adjust for jazz or blues For pop and rock you ll want a little boost Use a lot of boost at a narrow Q 1 5 2 or more for metal and punk to help cut past all those guitars 6kHz 10kHz There is some clarity and definition in this area but be careful of too much boost as you can get springy twangy overtones in this range 10kHz Quite often this range contains bleed in from cymbals Probably best left alone but if cymbal bleed is bad you can cut here to reduce it Don t forget the credit card on the beater head trick from the mic technique section This gets extra 2 5kHz frequency content into the microphone so that you don t need too much EQ boost when mixing which can bring up bleed from other drums cymbals This technique is crucial for recording punk metal Try the amp simulator method as described for snare for the kick as well It can really bring out the impact and snap of the kick drum if needed 74 Overheads Cymbal EQ Overhead and cymbal microphones often pick up a fair amount of room ambience so you will need to keep an ear out for problem resonances from the very beginning Here are some very subjective descriptions of the sound of some frequency ranges for cymbals Boost or cut within these ranges to increase or decrease that timbre Sometimes a narrow Q setting can
142. reshold so that the compressor is just working on louder hits Listen in context and try squeezing more by lowering the threshold and raising the output Listen to this with some guitars vocals etc playing along Switch the compressor in and out to see how you like it Sometimes this effect is not necessary sometimes it sounds great when set to really work the sound hard Use your judgement Remember that less processing is often better for overall sound quality so remove the compressor if you don t think that it helps much Let s listen Here is a sample of stereo drums performed by BFD The sounds are well recorded in a world class studio with great gear Now 92 listen step by step as some clever ProTools EQ and Dynamics processing cranks up the sound adding life and a much more unique sound than the basic part had wav EX40 The unprocessed drums wav EX41 ProTools EQ3 adding the following EQ curve Audio 2 c 4 Band EQ 3 bypass RTAS F factory default 1 10 compare i auto safe L GD in are a Q Q wav EX42 The basic drums with Steven Massey s TapeHead plugin added This does a fair simulation of analog tape notice the mild distortion warmth added and the broad midrange boost wav EX43 The basic drums with some 4 1 compression via Bomb Factory s BF76 Like this Audio 4 bombfactory BF76 bypass Bl cfactory default l lal co
143. ressor starts working The effect should be subtle now Bypass the compressor and listen for a few minutes Now switch it back in and listen Do you like it You should also be able to increase the average level another few dB after the compressor The final step should be to dither your signal down to the proper bit rate This will most often be 16 bits Apogees UV22 process is really nice sounding in my opinion If you have multiple dithering options it is worth mastering through a few different ones and taking the masters around to a few different listening environments for a critical listen Check your sample rate too Make sure your output file will be 16 bit 44 1kHz for CD production have often made the mistake easy to do with Protools of dithering to 16 bits but saving the output file as 24 bits Du oh 120 The In House Master checklist or Mastering for Dummies dumb enough to do their own mastering For those of us who can t or won t afford to let a pro do their mastering here is a list of things to do and the order in which to set them up to do what like to call an in house master It won t be as good as the pros but will do a nice job of shining up an indie record or a demo to make it a little more competetive sounding 1 Set up your mastering environment Quiet calm no disturbances Best monitors you can get your hands on Set the volume to about 80 85 dB no more no less try no
144. reverbs the reflections are more distinct nice on vocals and non percussive instruments but can sound choppy or grainy on percussive sounds Diffusion This parameter relates to the behavior of the decay portion of the reverb In layman s terms the more diffuse the reverb the smoother it sounds The disadvantage to high diffusion can be a loss of the sense of room and shape to the reverb A room reverb typically has a low diffusion a plate or concert hall reverb a rather high diffusion If your reverbs get 100 cloudy and indistinct sounding again reduce this parameter to gain shape and clarity and consequently reduce decay and level to compensate Getting to know your reverb parameters is one of the more important steps in creating clearer bolder mixes Always turn a critical ear on your reverbs and try to make them distinct and be sure that they serve the mix and the overall vibe of the song An intimate vocal backed by an acoustic guitar may call for a room or ambience type reverb to serve the intimacy of the song even if a big juicy plate reverb sounds flattering Also consider the possibility of adding or removing reverb effects during the course of the song Perhaps a touch of plate reverb should sneak into the chorus or bridge of that intimate vocal and acoustic guitar piece that could be just the touch that adds a little drama to the song without creating a big washed out sound the whole way through It
145. rice corn or beans in a box or container jingle bells from Christmas etc Walk around with an open ear for percussion and you ll find it everywhere A unique sound can really make a track Of course a little high end 10kHz boost can help a tambourine sparkle Just be careful not to make things sound artificial unless that is specifically the sound you are after Congas bongos and other tom like ethnic percussion can be treated to the toms EQ ideas Try to give things a little distance from the mic when 2006 joe dochtermann 77 recording as mentioned earlier to capture an even picture that needs less EQ Cowbell and other harsh percussion can be cooled out by cutting around 1kHz although this often sounds like you have lowered the volume rather than used EQ Maybe that s all you need to do balance your volumes Unless you know that you need more cowbell Other keyboard instruments Wurlitzer Clavinet Rhodes Moogs synthesizers the list is too long to get into specific settings for every instrument so here are a few hints Wurlitzer Rhodes and Clavs are usually pretty well balanced and warm sounding on their own Very important is the amplifier the keyboardist plays through if they re using one If something sounds harsh use the bump and sweep method to find and reduce the offending frequency This is also a great place to experiment with amp simulator plug ins You may want to keep a direct signal tra
146. rk to commercial or your favorite it doesn t have to be commercial CD s Find a recording in a similar style with a similar sounding singer and A B your recording with the other Make general adjustments from there Be sure to listen and try to discern EQ curve from room ambience reverb and or compression effects so that you don t get confused This also takes practice Acoustic quitar EQ Acoustic guitars often need a bit of help Not every guitarist out there is playing a freshly strung Martin Gibson Taylor or other 2000 00 naturally good sounding instrument Typically acoustic guitars need a boost in the high treble 12 kHz to create a larger than life sense of clarity and sparkle that has become recording convention Alternatively sweep a parametric band up to 20kHz set to a Q of 1 0 and boost away 3 to 6dB or more this creates an increasing rise all the way up the audible frequency range The next typical adjustment is in the low mid frequency range Again the better the guitar and acoustic environment the less this is necessary If there is a muddy or cardboard sound to the instrument set a parametric EQ to 200Hz with a 6dB boost and a somewhat narrow Q maybe 1 5 or so Now sweep slowly up thru 600Hz while listening to the recording At some point the sound will be swallowed up in that muddiness Stop there and reduce the gain to 3dB or so and do some A B listening 700 1 5kH
147. ronounced Do the same for the high frequencies Cut everything above 8 or 10 kHz The lower the cutoff the more the sound will seem crunchy and lo fi Now give a hefty boost at 100Hz as well This will give you the thump Now pack the whole EQ ed mess into a compresser and smash it to hell Adjust your attack to let the thump of the kick drum through Back off on threshold if you feel that the dynamics get lost Listen to this example to hear it in action We ll look at how to set up these techniques on a DAW like Pro Tools in the Mixing chapter Individual Toms EQ The sound of the toms will vary greatly depending on their size from dinky six inch Roto toms to massive witch s cauldron floor toms with a fundamental frequency that can interrupt whale migrations Proper tuning and drum tone comes first Toms can sound pretty bad if you didn t do your homework so make sure you spend time getting you sound right before you track Look for a balance of attack fundamental tone sustain and even the reaction of the snare drum s snares for some rattle and sizzle Make sure not to exaggerate the low end so much that the mix suffers from huge syncopated bursts of low end energy at every change in the song 76 20Hz 50Hz Floor tom territory usually in the room mikes when the long low frequency waves have had time to spread out Don t overdo it 60Hz 200Hz Fundamental frequencies of various toms ar
148. s 2006 joe dochtermann 31 1 Select a proper microphone for the job You cannot undo your choice of microphone later For details refer to the next section on Microphone choice and placement Use balanced cables and minimize cable runs Shorter is better It is also best to use balanced three conductor cables whenever possible Most gear offers XLR or 4 TRS balanced inputs and outputs Use them You will not be sorry unbalanced cables are tone sucking noise antennas Minimize the cable length from the microphone to the preamplifier It is better to send a line level signal through a long cable than a mic level signal This may mean locating your preamp close to the sound source Listen to this An acoustic guitar recorded by connecting the mic with 50 feet of cable first and the same guitar and mic connected by six feet of cable second wav files EX12a and EX12b Do you hear the difference Pay close attention to the high notes open strings on the guitar can you hear how they are less present on the long cable recording Do you notice the loss of definition in the upper midrange These are the finer points at work Set your preamplifier gain correctly Do a dry run with the sound source Find out what the softest and loudest notes are going to be Keep in mind that especially in a rock or pop setting people are going to play or sing a little harder when tape is rolling Record the signal at a high enough lev
149. s more invisibly across the sound spectrum allowing the engineer to control peaks and therefore raise the loudness overall average level of the mix A normal compressor does this as well but heavy compression or the odd peak in the audio can cause pumping and breathing in the sound the sound of over compression and bad mixing 2006 joe dochtermann 95 Multiband compressors are fairly easy to operate as many have a selection of presets which operate smoothly There are of course enough parameters four stereo compressors to become rather crazed from knob tweaking The key to proper multiband compression is not to overdo it The initial sound of the m b compression is satisfying loud and fully of excitement and clarity but beware of making your carefully recorded mixes sound like F M radio find it more useful to view a m b comp as a dynamic EQ when certain frequencies become too loud the m b comp just reaches in and briefly turns them down This can be very useful in the home studio where odd room resonances and unfortunate sound reflections add up to an imbalanced EQ spectrum This is especially true with home recorded drums It can be very hard to get a balanced and punchy sound and if you use a parametric EQ to define problem frequencies and then tune a m b comp to control these frequencies you can get a much fuller and clearer sound than with EQ and compression alone Always be sure that you
150. s a popular method for connecting audio interfaces to computers USB 1 1 offers data transfer rates of up to 12Mbps and USB 2 0 up to 480Mbps in theory VCA Voltage Controlled Amplifier A device that can be used to compress a signal word clock The signal for synchronizing a device to an incoming digital signal is usually carried within the incoming signal but the receiving device may also be able to receive a sync signal to a clock input This allows you to connect one master clock to all digital devices in the audio chain creating a far more stable synchronization than several devices running at their own individual clock rates Word clock is this master signal word length 16 bit 24 bit How many bits in your signal is the word length In processing digital audio which is simply mathematical calculations the word length can change becoming quite long The internal word length capabilities of a digital mixer processor etc should be able to pass along these longer calculations without cutting off numbers and ruining your sound Ever read of 32 bit internal architecture This is what it is referring to A digital mixer that only outputs a 16 bit signal can seriously degrade your sound 2006 joe dochtermann 9 Good gear back to table of contents No matter how modest your budget for recording equipment you can get a decent sound happening The important thing to know is what you need not just what
151. s from mix to master MASTER_EX1 wav is an excerpt from the mix with no mastering processors added MASTER_ADD_LIM wav adds the Steve Massey limiter to trim a few peaks MASTER_LIM_COMP wav includes the limiter and the Pro Tool native compressor to raise the average level Notice the way everything suddenly sounds fatter Finally make a small correction in the low end to compensate for the compressor bringing up the lows and add a little wide midrange boost and a touch of highs in file MASTER_L_C_EQ Ready for CD 122 Final thoughts and Words of Wisdom back to table of contents Above all the musician s performances are the stuff that makes music sound great The engineer s responsiblity is to accurately capture these performances and aid in acheiving a tone that supports the performance When an engineer cooks up a great sound for a track this becomes a part of the overall performance The inspiration living in a fuzzing feedbacking guitar tone is a good example Listen to Jimi Hendrix s volcanic solo in Foxy Lady do you think he would have performed it the same way if the outrageous tone did not work with him Keep this in mind as you record performances whether you are the musician as well or just engineering on someone else s song When mixing keep an objective view of the song Every song has some kind of message and the mix is the stage on which the recorded performer stands The overa
152. s need no EQ at all Their development has been based on fitting into their musical position through the sculpting of the body and the tuning of the strings When used in pop or rock recordings mandolins banjos dulcimers zithers etc generally need only a mild boost of high end EQ 2 dB at 10 kHz shelving to make them competitive in the mix Perhaps a little cut at around 400Hz for clarity as well Before you carve up that banjo sound with EQ make sure you are really sure it really fits into that heavy metal ballad The same thing goes for vibes marimba xylophone and other pitched percussion A touch of high EQ will suffice These instruments produce very pure tones and EQ will act more to boost or cut single notes or a range of notes rather than affecting the overall timbre of the instrument Brass instrument EQ Crucial to a good brass sound is the choice of microphone Trumpets and Saxophone can produce some very harsh tones when mic ed up close and you need to have done your mic technique homework 20Hz 60Hz Only in tuba Probably OK to filter off of other brass instruments to cut wind noise or mic rumble 70Hz 200Hz The warmth area of the sound If you cut too much here you ll have a kazoo track 200Hz 600Hz This contains the honk of the horns You can reduce the goose by cutting here but again cutting too much can create kazoos around 1kHz Harsh area Cut here to cool out the
153. sion of the recording for mass production master which will translate well to all possible listening systems Originally this involved filtering off low frequencies and dealing with phase problems which could cause a record player needle to jump the groove This slowly transformed into a need to have one s record seem louder on the radio to grab the listener s attention Motown The current state of affairs is to produce masters with as much low and high end frequency range as possible for the big pricey systems while still sounding great on podcasts MP3 s and sattelite radio The most common misconception about the mastering process is that it is only about making things louder This is only partially true The fact of the mattter is that records which are consistently too loud cause the listener to lower the volume to avoid the pain threshold contributing to the giant little sound phenomenon The giant little sound is a recording with high level but no dynamics It is technically possible for anyone with a small batch of modern DSP plug ins to create a master wherein the entire song is cranked to precisely OdBVU you can t get any louder This OdBVU cranked up master will likely be completely unlistenable The dynamics will be crushed creating a wall of noise which vaguely resembles the original music To listen to the music at all you would have to turn it way down the giant little sound 116 There are a
154. snare drum in the room with the guitar amp Loosen the snares a bit so that they sympathetically resonate with some notes Lower notes tend to trigger it more but the randomness of it is what makes it cool If a track sounds sterile and needs some basement club vibe this is a great way to get some authenticity in there On this example wav EX_IWANNAHOLD went for a blowing up speaker kind of sound in the chorus of a cover of I wanna hold your hand This creates a sense of intensity in the refrain and clarity again when it drops out in the verse Double track with a Nashville tuned guitar This sounds like a great expensive 12 string and is easy to do Simply replace the low E A and D strings with lighter gauge strings and tune them an octave higher Try using the usual D G and B strings from a spare pack of strings those gauges are about right Then double the guitar riffs chords and melodies in the song on this guitar Listen back and see what you like This one requires some guts an affinity for Hitchcock films and a spare speaker Just take a steak knife and play Norman Bates on an old 12 guitar speaker Stab that baby full of holes Then to make it more rock and roll spill a little beer on it and leave it in the sun for an afternoon Many guitarists have used this technique to get more distortion and an 50 authentic been abused in lousy clubs tone lm gonna replace a guitar speaker soon so I ll sta
155. so that the bass is not too sub bass for the average stereo 200 500Hz Again the muddy range It can also be very important in giving a feeling of body to the instrument esp for jazz bass sounds so be careful about cutting too much 700 3kHz This range contains a lot of the attack and plucking string sounds of the bass Very important for slap styles 5kHz the sound of fingers on the strings and the harmonic content of higher notes lies here If you are using a shelving EQ you can set the shelf frequency much lower than you would for most other instruments since a bass will rarely sound harsh Acoustic bass tends to produce stronger fundamental frequencies than electric bass due to the increased string length and body size There is a lot of feel down around 40Hz on the low notes of acoustic bass For electric bass you may wish to blend a mic signal with the direct signal check your phase and use the strong points of each signal to create a round sound For instance accentuate the clean clear low end of the direct signal and boost some midrange on the amp signal for string attack and general vibe Remember you can t boost what isn t there and since the amplifier speaker duo acts as a bandpass filter lowest lows and highest highs just aren t reproduced you may need that direct signal for the 60Hz sounds 70 Strings piano and classical instruments have lumped together a few instruments
156. studio with the speaker facing the ceiling and run your original snare drum track into it at a fairly loud volume Then set the new snare on top of the monitor speaker Blast the old track into the new snare and re mic the new snare track The new snare drum will bang and resonate along and re track the old track very nicely Be sure to record some room tone too This method is not totally foolproof but it does a nice job of following dynamics and ghost notes unlike the sampling methods we will get into later Try blending the re tracked snare with the original if the re tracked one doesn t have enough oomph Kick Drum Mic Technique A good solid kick drum is what you need to get your listener s feet a stompin so here s what you need to do 1 Make sure that the kick drum is tuned properly You should look for a clear resonance and a strong fundamental tone Some people remove the front head more common for rock and pop and some leave an uncut front head on jazz and blues The compromise is to cut a hole in the front head so that you can mic the beater head closely from the inside 2 Good microphones for the inside beater head are the AKG D 12 EV RE 20 Shure Beta 52 or even the old Shure SM 57 that s Chad Smith s kick drum sound on Blood Sugar Sex Magic 3 Add an ambient mic a few feet in front of the kick A classic is a Neumann U67 but since very few of us have one a large diaphragm condenser mi
157. sure your cymbals are mixed low enough Always compare your mix to others Then when a tom fill comes along use your DAW s volume automation to boost the tom fill In the case of a regular mixing board get the drummer to ride the fader up and then back down 2006 joe dochtermann 75 Frank Zappa used a suave technique when mixing drums He would make a submix of the toms and cymbals then send a copy of that signal to two separate stereo mix busses One bus would then be EQ ed to boost some high midrange and treble the other bus would get a fat low end boost and then be run through a compressor This way Frank could easily blend the crack of the high end with the fat of the compressed low end Making a general mix adjustment to the toms and overheads was a breeze developed my own take on this idea by creating a crunchy submix With the popularity of hip hop and drum n bass sounds adding an element of lo fi to your drum sound can fatten the mix and provide another mix possibility for creating breaks fills and drops Use an aux send or a buss to get a copy of the drum mix to a stereo channel or a pair of channels Then set up a stereo EQ and a stereo compressor On the EQ set a high pass filter to 60Hz with a very steep cutoff Cutoff filters cause a bump a resonance at the cutoff frequency In this case a cheap EQ or an older plug in may work better because this resonance will be more p
158. t signal totally dry and boring like to run the outputs of the MBox 2 into a little cheap mixer have and send a clone of the input signal to the mixer You can do this with a second mic on the instrument or with a second output from your preamp if you have it then have a hands on monitoring mix which is a good feeling in itself sometimes get annoyed and uninspired when forced to mouse click around when trying to be creative and the mixer in front of me lets me grab a knob or shove a fader without affecting the signal going to disc 38 also have an old Boss reverb hanging around on its last legs but it s good enough to add a little verb to the monitor mix If you re not an old packrat like me with extra gear lying about you can still grab a cheapo mixer used for under a hundred bucks and solve all you latency problems in one shot And considering that the latency issue is one of the only things separating the big time DAW s from us project studio types that is a pretty inexpensive upgrade For you ProTools LE users This is my current DAW of choice so do have a few tips for you Just for your reference am using an Intel Mac MacBook Pro with dual 2 GHz processors and 1 GB of RAM opted for the Mbox 2 even though am aware that Firewire is a bit faster see definition of Firewire First off for other Macbook Pro users only connect the Mbox2 to the LEFT SIDE USB PORT If you are not doing this this will
159. t the mic into the MBox 2 wav file EX13a The second recording is a Demeter Class A tube mic pre into the MBox bypassing the MBox preamp line in wav file EX13b The third recording goes from the mic pre to an Apogee A D converter and then digitally into the MBox in essence bypassing the MBox entirely it just passes along the digital signal wav file EX13c Compare the recordings and please excuse the shaky playing These types of interfaces can do a fine job of recording your signals but it is important to understand how much of a difference each step in the recording chain can make This will help you decide what is most important when investing you hard earned money in new gear for your all consuming hobby 34 Monitoring back to table of contents Now that we are wired up and ready to roll before we start laying it down let s take a look at how we are going to listen to all this wonderful music Being able to hear what is going on in the studio is of utmost importance and this doesn t count just for the engineer but for all involved musicians producers and assistants There are many fine studio monitor speakers available today and am of the opinion that it is not as important which speakers you use but rather how well you know those speakers So instead of rattling off a bunch of brands want to look at the broader picture It is important to be able to hear the highest high frequen
160. t to have the monitors set too close to walls or where you ll get an immediate reflection off of a mixing console Mastering at home is a compromise 2 Make sure you re using the right files There are often many mixes lying around Get them all organized and lined up in your DAW or on DAT whatever before you start 3 Once you go digital stay digital and use the best master clock that you have Dither only at the very end Check to make sure that any digital processors you have in the chain are not dithering and or changing bit rates at their outputs This is about the 100 repeat of this advice but you really can t afford to forget it now 4 Set up your mastering processors in the following order e Limiter set to catch a 3 6 dB peaks and give you a little more level EQ use the boost and sweep method to find don t EQ more than a few dB Compressor multiband or stereo don t kill your nice dynamics stereo imaging stuff such as Spacializers and so on Only if you like it or feel you need it this is the place Don t overdo these they can sound cool at first but stupid later and can ruin your mono compatibility and general clarity Dither to 16 bits with your best dither 5 Do the song fade outs if necessary You may also need to plan in the amount of silence you need before tha next track will begin if you don t have a CD burning program which allows you to adjust this value 5 Save
161. t your Q 120Hz 200Hz Here lies the punch and impact of the sound Try the same trick as above A little boost in this range insures good translation to low fi systems 200Hz 500Hz Although this is typically the muddy area on other instruments be cautious of cutting too much here on snare drums lest you lose body Try it and see that s the best way to hear what mean by body 600Hz 1kHz This range can be tin can and annoying You may however need a boost here if the drummer plays a large snare tuned deep Try and listen 2kHz 8kHz Here is the crisp and crack to the drum where the sound of the snares comes out Use the boost and sweep method to search for good and bad and even out the sound if needed 10kHz 20kHz Add here for more clarity and presence Too much boost will make the sound papery Dirty trick With all the great amp simulator toys and plug ins out there consider beefing up a wimpy snare sound by running a copy of it or an aux send through a virtual amplifier Flip through the amp models while listening to your mix until the sound strikes you Be sure to watch the blend between real and amped to keep it in check You may need to use your editor to re align the processed track with your original to compensate for processing latency Kick drum EQ Equally important in your mix is the big old bass drum This is the backbone of the downbeat and must be solid and deep as wel
162. termann 107 Input four is the bass In the insert point of the bass there is an external compressor inserted bass audio out to compressor compressor output returns to channel Inputs five and six are the piano recorded in stereo If an M S matrix was used to record it then you would use the setup shown in the Mic technique chapter The vocal is on channel 7 and we ll imagine that since the recording was a little ess y the insert is connected to a de esser Aux 1 feeds a delay set to create a stereo ambience effect and is added to the bass piano and vocal The drum room mics provide natural ambience Aux 2 a plate reverb is turned up a bit on the snare drum piano and vocal Let s look at the mixer again insert compr insert de esser Delay Reverb returns returns stereo compr bass rs vox drums piano Now on the mixer there are typically selector switches at the bottom of the channel strip which allow you to choose where the signal goes after the channel fader The choices are typically master or stereo out buss 1 2 buss 3 4 on so on for however many busses you have available 108 So we ll send the piano and vocal to stereo output and all the drum channels and the bass to buss 1 2 After passing through buss 1 2 and its compressor the signals will continue on to join the piano and vocals in the stereo mix The aux sends take a copy of the signal at the level y
163. the wonderful organizational purpose of bringing all those audio connections around from the back of your gear and up to a single interface where you may easily interconnect audio as you please The patch bay consists of two rows of cable jacks in vertical pairs Cables can be connected to both the front and the back Generally you use short cables to bring the inputs and outputs of the gear to the back side of the jack rows and you can then make connections from the front with short patch cables have always used balanced patch bays from Neutrik 99 and have had no trouble or sound degradation The convenience of not having to climb behind my gear was worth every penny The nice thing about a patch bay is that you can set them up so that connections on the back panel are normalled together This simply means that the top row of the back is normally connected to the bottom row on the back unless you insert a cable An example for a normalled connection is that you may always want the outputs of your favorite mic preamplifier 1 amp 2 connected to the inputs of your recorder 1 amp 2 So you connect the outputs of the preamp to the back top row jacks1 amp 2 Connect the inputs of your recorder to the back bottom row jacks 1 amp 2 Now your mic pre outs are normalled to your recorder ins Now imagine that you would like to put a compressor in between mic pre 1 and input 1 of your recorder to do some vocal recording All
164. there are other effects which can be created by creative volume control The interesting side of this is what can be done by combining and altering the standard uses for these effects Tremolo A steady increase and decrease in volume of a sound creates the classic tremolo effect This was especially popular in the guitar sounds of the 50 s and 60 s and is experiencing a bit of a comeback The recent Green Day hit Boulevard of Broken Dreams prominently features an electric guitar with heavy tremolo almost a gated effect Panning The volume in the left speaker reduces as the volume in the right speaker increases and the sound source seems to move from left to right That is panning in a nutshell Aside from dramatic sweeping across the soundstage effects panning can be used as a sort of stereo tremolo effect by rapidly panning from left to right Panning delays or echos can be used to add interest to vocal tracks percussive sounds or solos Gating Is the hard cutoff of the volume of a signal This can be set to occur periodically like the Green Day example above or to occur when a sound falls below a certain volume threshold Gated reverbs were popular in the 70 s and 80 s and were a big part of the Phil Collins Genesis drum sound The reverb output is run through a gate and is set to cut the reverb off quickly after a short decay time Ba boom boom boom Volume swells A classic pedal steel effect from a sta
165. tion lower threshold more reduction Be sure to set your attack and release times VERY fast so you don t chop off non sibilant syllables Guitar Compression A good rock n Roll guitar track becomes fatter and punchier acoustic guitars gain presence and sustain and blazing solo gets smoothed out and brought forward in the mix without hurting the ears all with can be yours with good compression technique The key to good guitar tracks lies in controlling the attack A heavily distorted guitar needs a bit more punch that 24th fret wah wah and fuzz guitar solo needs less attack or maybe a de esser set to cool out annoying frequencies 88 Since overdriven or downright buzzsaw fuzzed out guitars are so common in recordings it is important to remember what distortion is a clipped signal Clipped means that the waveform was chopped off a bit because the level got too high the signal is compressed This audio haircut also chopped off some of the punch and impact of the sound so let s create some Set a ratio of 4 1 turn the attack to it s fastest setting and set the release to medium fast A release of approximately 100 ms is good for more active guitar playing set it faster so the compressor recovers quicker but not too fast or you ll lose the effect Now listen to the guitar track with the threshold set so that your compressor is reducing the gain around 3 6dB Slowly increase the attack time until the g
166. tire encyclopedia could be written about the guitar sounds recorded through the years so the ideas presented here will not be comprehensive by any means But you will have enough ideas to fill up hundreds of defenseless little tracks with pulsating slashing electric guitar euphoria The idea of close mic ing an instrument was for a very long time in studio recording history simply not a consideration With a large number of musicians to capture on tape and a limited number of tracks and inputs most sound sources were picked up from a moderate distance to sort of snap a picture of the music It is no wonder that the first multitrack recordings and recording devices were made by a guitarist Les Paul His innovations ushered in the modern era of processed bigger than life recorded guitars Hail to the chief The basic tools you ll need An SM 57 an amp and a guitar The possibilities with this modest tool kit are numerous Add another 57 to the formula and we approach limitless You can of course substitute in other microphones such as the Sennheiser MD 421 MD409 or it s modern remake the e609 But for now let s look at and listen to some of the possibilities for microphone placement using the ubiquitous 57 It is still a good idea to place an additional microphone 6 10 feet in front of the amplifier to pick up a sense of air and space An M S stereo mic pair is even cooler capturing a 3 D picture of the acoustic env
167. to or create spikes in your power Try to get all of your studio gear onto a separate circuit breaker than other household toys Vacuum cleaners and blenders are able to transmit their whirring and humming right into your recorder Very important when wiring your studio is to use balanced three conductor wiring whenever possible Balanced wiring can help cancel out noise from stray currents that may find their way into your 28 gear Additionally keep cables as short as possible for every application A long cable is essentially an antenna and will eagerly pick up stray noise from computer monitors hard drives radio stations and T V broadcasts All AC power chords in your studio are also broadcasting noise so never run an audio cable alongside a power cable In fact keep them as far away from each other as you can Obviously they will come close at the gear but avoid contact until then If you absolutely must cross an audio cable over a power cable cross them at a right angle thereby minimizing the contact of the AC noise field with your audio line DC power lines like those coming from a wall wart power adapter are not noise producers but the wall warts themselves are notorious noisemakers Keep your audio cables far away You may want to run a separate power strip for these adaptors to keep them as far away as possible to prevent their transformers from inducing hum into your audio lines Sometimes the power supplies ins
168. track on the right channel You can also just send the output of the delay set first to Oms to the opposite side The sound will appear to be in the center Now add a delay to the right channel and increase the delay time by a few milliseconds The image will take a different position dependent on this delay time Listen to these examples A percussion loop volume panned 85 left wav file EX50 The same loop panned 100 left with a signal delayed 4ms in the right channel Notice how the pan position appear similar but is much more lifelike and spacious wav file EX51 2006 joe dochtermann 111 The possibilities are interesting considering that many DAW s allow us to automate parameters such as delay time More mixing tips Let s look at a couple more important points which initially took me a little while to understand Maybe can save you some time and frustration 1 ee 2 3 4 5 Pre post fader aux sends A pre fader aux send will maintain it s set level no matter what you do with the fader If you lower the channel fader completely the aux send will still send audio to the reverb delay etc that you have connected As a result you will still hear the reverb delay etc coming from that channel This can be useful for creating ambient effects when dropping out parts reverb from background vocal is all you can hear or if you wish to simply maintain the relativ
169. tric guitar There are simply so many possible sounds from clean sparkling sounds to rabid distortion and everything in between So what am going to do is make a subjective list of impressions for particular frequency ranges Hopefully this will help you focus into areas you wish to cut or emphasize Keep in mind that the ranges are approximate and will vary slightly with the room mic guitar amp and song Afterwards we ll look at a few tricks for some special sounds 20Hz 60Hz Generally electric guitars and amps do not produce frequencies this low These frequencies may be cut down if there is any rumble or boominess especially in the room sound of an electric guitar recording Some larger amps may however respond to pick attack and special guitar tricks with some low frequencies that go this low 70Hz 100Hz Cut here if the guitar sounds flabby or boomy Add some here if you need fullness 120Hz 200Hz These are the fundamental frequencies of the lower strings Many instruments contain a lot of energy in this area so you may need to focus in on particular regions of this band and boost or 68 cut a little in different frequencies for instruments such as snare guitar piano and vocals Often you should just leave this area alone 200Hz 500Hz This is the famous mud area Use the technique from the section on acoustic guitar EQ to identify and reduce problem frequencies 600Hz 1kHz Ca
170. ts to effects units Try to create a cohesive soundstage for the music which unifies the instruments Sounds which don t fit in will stand out for better or for worse Bit rate questions Your final mixes will eventually wind up as a 16 bit CD so you should mix to 16 bits and dither and all that right WRONG The conversion from 24 to 16 bits is a Mastering process We will get to that in a minute so leave your mixes as stereo 24 bit audio files You should ask the mastering engineer which file format they prefer and bring them the proper files e To compress or not to compress This is the question It is pleasant to listen through a compressor while mixing It gives you a sense of what the final product will sound like The downside is that uncompressing the mix should you want a different style of compression when mastering is nigh on impossible There are two 2006 joe dochtermann 113 possiblities to overcome this problem and maintaining a bit of flexibility during mastering Neither takes much extra time 1 Monitor through the compressor as you mix and then disconnect the compressor when you run down the final mix Be sure to note or save in software the compressor settings and bring them to the mastering session This allows the mastering engineer to know what you really want but allows him or her the flexibility to make their fine tuned decisions as to how to make your mix sound best 2 Simply run down two mixes
171. uitar track starts to gain some attack Now listen to the track in the mix Continue to adjust the attack time to find the right blend Listen to this example to hear how this can breathe some life into a track A Keith Richards style guitar riff first and then with some the compressor tuned in second wav files EX37a and EX37b An interesting side note Since was having trouble with the amp s power supply there is some 60Hz hum in the track Notice how the compression effect makes this appear louder the overall level is increased for better or for worse The key with electric guitars is to create an audible effect The electric guitar is not a very natural instrument anyway and we can use more audible changes to create more interest For clean electric sounds try a 6 1 ratio with a 15 threshold and a fairly fast attack and release This will get you a Police Every Breath You Take kind of dynamic as the compressor allows a hint of the pick attack through before clamping down on the note to create a smooth texture Increase attack time for more pick John Frusciante RHCP is a big fan of compressed clean guitar sounds He exaggerates it to the point where pick scraping string noise and the dirt under his fingernails can all be heard on the track Try a 6 1 ratio and dig DEEP with the threshold 20 or more Start the attack time very fast Then slow it down until you get the right edge to the sound Use the rele
172. und a particular tremolo and spring reverb effect then it may be essential to get this onto tape the way it is But beware of the temporary thrill cotton candy effects lots of fluff with no substance which are fun to play with for five 2006 joe dochtermann 49 minutes but will sound out of place annoying or just plain silly in the track later Now a couple of fun tricks and helpful techniques To aid in finding a good mic position some engineers will put on a set of headphones and take the mic in hand in front of the amp The headphones are set to monitor the microphone and the amp is fed an input of white noise random noise with an average of equal energy from all frequencies like the T V with no input cables connected Now by moving the mic around in front of the amp you can choose a position which doesn t sound harsh emphasizes low frequencies etc as you choose This is an excellent way to attain a natural EQ setting If you get the right sound at the mic you re on your way to a killer track imagine that almost everyone has heard of this trick now but here goes Get an assistant to twirl an SM 57 on a cable preferably not your best mic or cable just in case in front of the guitar amp while the guitarist plays This is a great natural Leslie speaker effect and costs exactly 0 00 to build EX_swirly1 and EX_swirly2 To increase that funky ambience on a track especially for Jazz or Blues set a
173. urning the level down as the singer gets louder Then as the song comes to a quiet section the singer begins to whisper sweet nothings you turn the level up so that you don t just record nothing What you are doing is compressing the dynamic range of that signal You make the loud parts quieter and the quiet parts louder reducing the range form soft to loud Now imagine that you have to do this for 23 takes of the vocal Getting tired of riding that fader yet How about we invent a machine to do it for us That is all a compressor is a dynamic controller easier living through technology So what info do we need to give this machine to make it work the way we want it to Here goes 1 Tell it when to start turning the signal down This is called the threshold the level above which the compressor begins working 2 Tell it how much it should turn the signal down This is the ratio We dial this in as a ratio how much goes in to how much comes out For instance a 2 1 ratio means that for every 2dB of signal level above the threshold the output will only increase by 1dB That is a fairly mild compression 8 1 means that the signal must increase 8dB above the threshold for even 1dB more level to come out And so on 80 3 Tell it how quickly or slowly it should start working when the signal goes up This is the attack time A slow attack acts like it takes the compressor a moment to react much like a person would act A
174. varies slightly on the delayed signal This can also give a little life to echos especially for guitar synth or brass solos Be cautious it draws attention to itself To create a chorus effect from a delay set the modulation and then reduce the delay time to a very low setting this way it seems as if the source signal is modulating because you can t hear a distinct echo Flanging A flanger is really a zero delay chorus in a way You simply add a time modulatedcopy of a signal back to the original with no delay between the two This can t be done with all delay units because many do not allow for a delay setting of 0 ms The original flange effect was created by synchronizing two tape machines which were playing back duplicate tapes One machine was then slowed down and released repeatedly by literally pushing against the flange of the tape reel by hand This technique was also pioneered by recording genius Les Paul Using delays to design effects is one of the basics of creating your own sounds We just looked at how to create a chorus from a delay unit also found it very interesting that Butch Vig producer for Nirvana among many others preferred to create his own reverbs from delays He found that reverb units sounded fake and seemed to just add a lot of mud to the mix so he stuck with delays The concept is fairly simple you just need a few delay units You will really be creating ambience rather than reverb as the complex
175. you have to do is plug a patch cable into the front top cable jack 1 to get the output of the mic preamp This disconnects it from the recorder input Now plug this cable into the compressor input Take the compressor output and patch it into the front bottom row jack 1 it is now reconnected to your recorder input 1 If you think about the gymnastics this would require without a patch bay you ll understand why a busy studio couldn t function with a patch bay 26 A normalled patch bay is likely the most common wiring although half normalled and denormalled have their uses as well Denormalled is easier to define There is simply no normal connection from top to bottom Only front to back have a denormalled patch bay for effects devices and compressors so that can keep their inputs and outputs over each other without causing a feedback loop output connected to input yeaoOOOOOWW This is useful just for organizing things Half normalled is just like normalled except that plugging in a cable does NOT disconnect the top back row from the bottom back row This can be useful when you need a copy of a signal for something like a compressor side chain to create a de esser more on that later Abnormalled what you will become if you actually try to memorize all this patchbay shit in one sitting Patch bays are the height of convenience allowing fast connections and improving spontaneity in the studio Additionally recomme
176. z can contain a sort of plastic dull sound on acoustic guitars Try a little cut here if you re hearing a cheap artificial sound Always A B it Be cautious of the area from 2 10 kHz have found that you are often better served re cutting a track with a different mic or guitar than 2006 joe dochtermann 67 monkeying around heavily in this frequency range with more than a slight wide cut or boost You tend to lose the sound of certain notes or chords rather than balance the instrument You must do some trial and error work to learn the ropes A final trick like on acoustic guitars is to set a high pass filter a steep Q shelving EQ to cut off all frequencies below 40Hz Sometimes you can get a mandolin like sound by placing a capo on the neck and cutting up to 120Hz or more on the low cut filter It doesn t sound completely natural but can often compliment a second natural sounding track or just tighten up the overall sound by leaving the lowest low frequencies to the drums and bass Let s hear the sound of the ProTools EQ3 versus the wonderful Steve Massey EQ Neither is better you would need to see how it fits into your mix to make the choice Listen to my favorite rockabilly riff again with a 3dB low shelving and 3dB high shelving boost through the ProTools EQ first and through the Massey EQ second wav file EX34 Electric guitar EQ An entire manual could be written on the art of EQing elec

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