My nifty Wacom Tablet nestled between my Microkorg, laser mouse, and super-thin apple keyboard.

This might be old news to some of you, but I finally got around to hooking up a Wacom USB Pen Tablet to my computer for use in editing audio, and if you get through the adjustment period, this thing will save you a world of time. I initially only imagined using the tablet to finally be able to “draw” over waveform blips with Pro Tools’s “Pencil Tool.”  But as I got a sense of all the custom controls available I realized I could use the tablet to make some really fast workflows.

The Verdict:

The Wacom Pen Tablet works great IF the situation calls for it.  Automation-heavy sessions and fine-tuned dragging of regions and Midi notes seem tiresome on a mouse but completely natural with a pen.  The 6 customizable action buttons (2 on the pen and 4 on the tablet) give you a ton of flexibility and offer some unique setups.

However, the Wacom tablet was utterly infuriating in certain situations.  When trying to tab through tracks quickly, spot-listening to find the desired edit location, two-thirds of my clicks resulted in hair-thin “selections” that caused Pro Tools loop when I wanted it to play through.  I believe this happened because I my pen taps weren’t as precise as I’d like.  I also couldn’t find a setting to compensate for my lack of precise handling, although after a few hours of use I was starting to get the hang of it (though this problem never really went away).

Also, I found that there are just some things I’m faster at doing with key commands.  This might be the product of years of rote-memorization and practice, but there is a reason that Pro Tools’s “Command Focus” set of commands is so widely used.

Pen Tablet Setup:

First off, the tablet is the Bamboo model by Wacom.  These guys make a lot of pen tablets, and this one is definitely the cheapest – why?  Well it doesn’t come with any software aside from drivers, has a relatively smaller tablet space offers less tactile “resolution” and “depth.”  Think of it as being able to draw Midi notes and assigning only volume data as 10, 20, 30, etc. instead of all the values from 0-127.  Still, it’s more than enough for me as most of the fancier models are really aimed at visual artists who do fine-tuned digital artwork.

On a Mac, after you’ve installed drivers, you get a new mutli-tabbed pane on your System Preferences like this:

System Preferences tab for the Pen.

System Preferences tab for Tablet Settings.

That’s where you go to reassign all the buttons to either one of their generic options or custom keystrokes.

I set my Left and Right Arrow buttons to nudge buttons (+ and – on the numeric keypad) so I could do fancy nudging.  Thakfully they tablet’s buttons sync up to the normal keyboard’s modifiers so I can still use shift, ctrl, cmd and opt keys with the nudge keys.

The center circular touch wheel I assigned to do scrolling, which is handy for moving around big sessions, especially when you’re zoomed in.  (Hint: Hold down shift and scroll to go left and right with the wheel)

The two extra function buttons on the tablet I assigned to keystrokes I use relatively often.  The first being selecting 30 seconds from where I’m currently selected.  That usually involves using “/” on the keypad to select the edit selection length at the top of the arrange window.  Then “.” to get into the seconds portion.  Then “30″ for 30 seconds, and lastly “Enter” to finalize the time selection.  Using the tablet, I entered all those commands once, have them saved to the button, and instantly recalled whenever I press it.  That saves me only a few seconds, but TONS of thinking time.

My Custon Keystroke on my Wacom Tablet for Selecting 30 seconds in Pro Tools.

The other function button I assigned to consolidating regions, because that’s another function I find myself using often while editing, plus it’s an awkward key command.

Lastly, there are two awesome buttons on the pen itself, which when assigned creatively, let you pretty much do away with your mouse all together.  I set the lower button to be the modifier “ctrl” and the upper button to “option.”  Now I can hold down the lower button and tap with the pen for a right click, and do the same with the upper button for an opt-click (which in most audio software works like a “global” modifier – turning all solos on or all mutes off, etc.

Best of all, fancier tablets have more buttons and scroll thngs, etc.  So once you settle on a model that fits your budget and space, you can really tighten up your workflow and get away from mousing all over the screen.

Reaper 3

So this isn’t really a full post – really just a comment I left over on Synthtopia (which everyone should read btw) about Reaper.  But I spent so much time on the comment, I figured I’d just go ahead and post it here too.

My comment:

Got to say, Reaper is a fun change of pace from Logic and Pro Tools which I’ve used for years. I can understand getting frustrated with it, as it handles a lot of tasks different than some other DAW’s but if any new software is a TIME INVESTMENT.

It’s great when things just turn on and do what we want, but tuning a technical tool to meet the needs of a creative process requires flexibility – not pre-programmed functionality. Reaper’s Action List lets you see all sorts of key commands, even customize the keystrokes.

Beyond that it helps you build entire workflows. You can combine actions and commands in to larger macros that operate on at the touch of a button.

Example: Sure Reaper doesnt have an “export region” function as such. But if you’re thoughtful about it, then it’s pretty simple. Here’s one custom action to accomplish exporting regions (exporting audio on just one track of a multi-track project):

1) Track: Unmute All Tracks
2) Track: Unsolo All Tracks
3) Track: Toggle Solo for Last Touched Track
4) File->Render project to disk…

I setup this action on “E” and now to do quick audio edits and export i just have to make my edits, select a region by clicking or dragging and hit E.

The Render window opens up and i choose “render time selection” and all the other tracks are already muted.

Seriously – if Reaper doesnt do something you wish it did…there’s probably a way to get it done. Just have to look hard. OH and i’m still on evaluation license because i’m trying to determine if it will really work for me (they let you demo it for as long as you need).

anyway, one my writers (i’m the lead editor for AskASoundGuy.com) has some videos and other stuff about Reaper in action.

Extra Stuff:

If you’re really interested in Reaper, there are some other awesome characteristics going for it.

It works with a ton of file formats and lets you export/import in all of them.

The application itself is SMALL – I’ve got it on a flash SD card on my Hp Mini and it runs fine – with 40 stereo tracks.  That’s pretty spectacular. If you’re looking for a small DAW to take with you on the road, etc.  it’s a good choice.

Lastly – to actually edit Actions head over to “Actions>Show Action List” in the menus or just type “Shift /”  (which is listed as ?) in the menu.

Then hit the button that says “New” in the “Custom Actions” section of the popup window.

Now you can search for, drag over and combine actions from the List on the Left into your “custom action” on the right.  BTW: Actions in Reaper are the kind of functions you might assign to key commands.  Things like copy, paste, cut, split, etc.  But you can COMBINE them – putting a bunch in order to create larger functions.

Don’t forget to assign keystrokes to your custom actions.  Once you’re done creating it hit “OK” and then choose your action from the “Actions” list window that should still be open.

Next, in the bottom left, you can click “Add” to create a new key-command shortcut for your action.  Easy as pie.

As Sanjay’s been working on his series of compression tutorials, I’ve been posting them on various production forums and the reception has been pretty well. However, someone made a comment that I hadn’t thought about and rang very true: there’s tons of articles on what the knobs and parameters of a compressor (none as good as Sanjays, though!), but no real articles about how and when to use compression. Hopefully this article is the first, and even if it’s not, hopefully it’s useful!

Before we get going, you really should read part 1 and part 2 of Sanjay’s articles.

Compression vs Limiting

For right now, it’s important that you understand that there’s a difference between compression and limiting. Limiting IS a form of compression, but not the one you’ll be using in your everyday productions (unless you’re a mastering engineer). I will also be talking about single-band compression and not multi-band or de-essing, both frequency specific forms of compression.

Compression is generally used in two major ways: 1) to control the dynamic range of an instrument and 2) as an effect like in sidechain compression seen in most popular dance music. Limiting, however, serves two slightly different purposes: 1) to make sure the levels between songs on an album/EP are equal to each other 2) and, sadly, limiters are often made to make stuff horribly loud.

If you’re doing everyday music production (whether it be with acoustic instruments or otherwise), you’d probably be best to stay away from limiting. Stick to using a compressor.

Compression the Utility

Like I said above, compression is both a utility and effect. The utilty being the ability to control a sound’s dynamic range, making it extremely dynamic or squashing it to make it loud.

When Should I Use It? In a recording situation, a great example would be drums: most drummers are not able to completely control the velocity at which they hit their different drums, which can make a drum recording sound uneven and sloppy (depending on the drummer). You can even run into issues of a drummer hitting the microphone and/or clipping the preamp. So in this case you would apply light compression on whichever drums you think need to be controlled: usually the snare, toms, and kick. When I say light, I mean around 4-5dB of gain reduction. Of course, there are no hard and fast rules, so compress it to taste.

Likewise with a guitar player. Sometimes their strums can be real quiet or clipping-ly loud. So treat it like any drums you’d compress. You can also compress an electric bass lightly depending on what you’d like to do. All this is also a technique (along with EQ) to get your instruments sitting right in your mix, that is, get them playing along with each other.

Throwing a compressor on a channel isn’t the only thing you can do to compress your mix. Here’s a few techniques to consider:

• Parallel Compression: This is a technique that blends an uncompressed and compressed signal together. I guess it’s pretty arguable as to whether or not this falls under the utility or effect category, but it’s a nice trick either way. When using this technique, you’ll typically want to buss a group of something (usually used with drums, but can be done with a synth, guitar, or vocal group) to a stereo aux track. Place a compressor on it and smash it pretty hard. Then, blend in the heavily compressed signal on the aux with the rest of the mix.
• Buss Compression: Very, very, very simple technique. Simply place a compressor on your master channel. You should be lightly compressing at around 2-3dB of gain reduction. This is often referred to as “mix glue,” meaning it helps glue your mix together a little bit better. Be careful with this, though. I would suggest not using this while you’re recording or even mixing. Save it for the end of your mix. It’s very easy to get carried away with this!

Compression the Effect

The only thing I can think of, off the top of my head, is sidechain compression. You know, that thing that makes synths pump in dance music? (If you’re still not sure, listen to Deadmau5).

Sidechaining is when the compressor listens for an external signal to trigger it. So in typical-House scenario, you’d set up a compressor on your synth track and have the compressor’s sidechain listen for the kick. So everytime the kick hits, the compressor effectively compresses your synth and, with the proper settings, you’ll get the desired pumping effect.

You can also get the pumping going on basses and pretty much anything else you can think of. I’ve even heard it on crash cymbals. The pumping effect usually isn’t desired with most acoustic instruments, though. So if you get a bunch of it while mixing your rock bands’ tracks, you’re over compressing.

Frequency-Specific Compression

I said I wouldn’t go into detail on frequency-specific compression, but here’s a quick overview of those technologies:

• Multi-Band Compression: Like limiting, this is typically a mastering engineer’s thing. Multi-band compressors will give you the ability to compress various frequency ranges. Some offer options like low, low-mid, mids, high-mids, and highs. Others might be three band and offer low, mid, and high. A good MBC will also have crossovers so that you, the engineer, can have some freedom.
• De-Essing: This is a single-band, frequency-specific compressor often used to remove sibilance from vocal takes. It has a sidechain and allows you to listen to offending frequenices.  You can then compress and hopefully remove and irritating frequencies from your vocals.

Hopefully this article will be of some help to you next time you’re mixing. If you have other questions, feel free to email us: askasoundguy[at]gmail(dot)com

Logic's Vanilla Compressor.

Well, hopefully Part 1 was simple enough at explaining how compressors basically work.  Now comes the techy-stuff.  The Basic Control covered here are the ones you’re most likely to encounter on any compressor.  Some have fewer and some have more controls than these, so I’ll just cover the ones that are fundamental to understand how to start controlling your dynamics.

1) Threshold – The threshold is the most basic of compressor controls.  This the “listening volume” that you setup for your compressor to look for.  If audio get’s louder than this volume level, then the compressor knows to start working.

2) Ratio, Gain Reduction, etc. – The Ratio usually looks like 2 : 1 (spoken “two to one”) or 4 : 1 up to 100 : 1 or infinity : 1.  These ratios refer to how much to turn your audio down when it passes the threshold.  Basically if a snare hit is 4 dB above the threshold and you set the ratio at 2:1, then the compressor will turn it down by 2dB (or divide the amount that passes the threshold by 2).  If the Ratio was 4:1, then the compressor will divide that 4 dB by 4 leaving you with 1dB above the threshold.

An important thing to note here is that the compressor doesn’t say “this is the threshold and audio will NEVER pass it.”  Rather it turns things down by dividing them if the audio passes the threshold.  In both examples above, the snare hit is still louder than the threshold, just by less. What this means practically speaking, is that if you can still clip a track with a compressor on it because the threshold isn’t like a “safety line” destroying all audio that passes it (that’s a limiter/compressor with infinity:1 ratio).

3) Attack – The Attack acts similarly to the attack controls on a synth’s ADSR envelope – it’s a measure of time that determines how quickly a unit will start to act.  On a compressor that means the amount of time it takes a compressor to “hear” audio go past the threshold and turn down the volume to the full amount of attenuation.

The trick to understanding this is that compressors aren’t perfect units who instantly grab audio and turn it down.  They’re more like a hand on the volume knob.  You can’t skip straight from 50 dB down to 0dB by turning the knob.  You have to pass through 49-1 dB first on the way to 0dB.  Compressors have the same limitation, although some of them can work exceptionally fast – there’s still a certain amount of time necessary for turning down the volume.

4) Release - The Release control is a bit like the opposite of the Attack.  It is the amount of time it takes the compressor to turn the volume back to “normal” after the audio has gone back down below the threshold.

The Attack and Release controls are pretty important controls in that if you make them too quick you might hear some clicking and clipping, but if you make them too slow you can hear funny “sucking” or “pumping” sounds.  I know that doesn’t adequately explain how to use the controls but it really comes down to listening to the track that they’re on.  If you’re hearing weird things in you A/B the compressor on and off, then perhaps a tweak of the Attack and Release will make it sound more natural.

5) Makeup Gain - This is an “output volume” control desgined to bring the whole track up in volume after it’s loudest parts have been compressed.  The basic idea being that if the loudest peaks are now quieter, you can bring everything up a bit louder without those peaks clipping the track.  I’d say use this sparingly, especially if the compressor is one of many plugins on your track.  There’a bunch of math/programming behind why, but it basically puts your audio through unnecessary processing because your fader will do the same thing.  If using your fader, you can’t get the track where it should be, then I’d go to the makeup gain and use that to help the fader.

6) Auto-Gain – Crap.

Sorry, that’s just my opinion.  But Autogain is basically an “automatic makeup gain.”  As you compressor your loudest parts, the auto-gain turns up the whole track a corresponding amount.  The basic idea is to turn up the track after it’s been compressed, but using the amount of reduction applied in the compression phase as automation points for the makeup gain.  If that is kind of confusing, I’d suggest you just let it go and not worry about it.  Instead try turning it on and seeing if you like it.  Then turn it off but DON”T compare that to the auto gain.  It’s quieter and therefore your brain will tell you it’s worse.  instead, turn up the makeup again and compare THAT to the auto-gain setting.

Then just use what sounds better to you.

7) Knee - The knee control of your compressor basically blurs the threshold a bit, allowing the compressor to apply some compression BEFORE the audio hits the threshold.  It doesn’t work EXACTLY like this, but as an example it will help explain what it’s doing.

If you set your threshold at -10 dB and the ratio at 4:1, then when the audio is at -6 dB (4 dB above the threshold) the compressor will output at -9dB (just 1dB above the threshold).

If the audio coming is -12dB (2dB below the threshold) the compressor will do nothing because the audio is below the threshold and the knee is set to a “hard knee” setting which means it will act as usual.

Now turn your knee control to a soft knee setting on the imaginary compressor.  Now if the audio coming is is -12dB (2dB below the threshold) the compressor will apply PART of the compression to the track.  The compressor would see the audio that is 2dB below the threshold as approaching the threshold, so it would turn the audio down by say 1dB and output at -13dB.  That’s just an example and not PRECISELY what it would do.  But basically as the knee gets “softer” the range over which the compressor will apply “some” compression expands.

I like to use the knee when I’m using a compressor to add some character and pop to a track – setting it so that the compressor “rides” the track a bit, always applying a tiny bit of compression.

Well, those are the basic controls of a compressor, although there’s lots more to be done with them.  Also lots of compressors combine the controls into weirdly named things like Yamaha’s lower-end compressors on mixers (which sound surprisingly good).  Those compressors have just one control called ‘compression” which simultaneously affects threshold, attack release and ratio, etc.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of Intro to Compressors which will feature more interesting uses and techniques, and come of the weirder controls.

Logic's Vanilla Compressor.

It’s kind of funny, considering our target audience, that we’ve yet to do a basic intro to compressors.  It is especially important to cover when you think about how often they are used counter to their design.  In fact, men with much wiser than me have compared compressors to loaded guns pointed at your eardrums.

But I think if you take a little time to think about what they do and how, you’ll find you’ll be slamming things with loudness while doing much less damage to your tracks. Lets examine the general purpose and function of compressors.

Your compressor basically is a robot-volume knob.  It turns the volume down whenever the audio gets louder than a certain level (which you get to set).  To do this your compressor copies the audio coming into it.  The copy goes to the “sidechain” which is really the ears of your compressor.

The original audio actually gets “processed,” which means it get’s turned down by the compressor when the audio passes a certain level.

Hopefully, that’s not too confusing, but if it is just picture it like this:

How a compressor "compresses" your audio.

So it’s a little blurry, but you can see that if you audio (green) gets louder than the threshold volume (red) then it turn the audio down.  Also note, that the compressor is not “selectively” turning the loudest thing down etc.  If you’re compressing a whole mix, then it turn the WHOLE mix down during the parts that are louder than the threshold

So basically a compressor is an automated “turning down” knob.  You might wonder then, why compressors are used to get things really loud?  Well when you turn down the loudest peaks on a mix, you can turn the WHOLE TRACK up in volume without those peaks clipping.

So hopefully this made a little bit of quick sense of “how” compressors work on your audio.  Keep in mind that this isn’t the cleanest process.  If applied incorrectly, compression makes things sound weird like theyre sucking in and out.

Also if you compress too much and too hard/fast, then you’ll start to hear crunchy clipping and distortions of your audio.  Usually resulting in a nasty harshness.

That’s why it pains me to get sessions from bands and find synth tracks with compressors slamming them into incredible volumes while the fader on the track is pulled all the way down. It’s not that they’re doing anything “wrong.” In fact, if you wanted a super-compressed synth track without dynamics, which is sometimes appropriate, that’s one way to do it.  The problem is that most artists aren’t trying to create that situation – they just want the keyboard to sound louder or fuller.

In the next installment, I’ll start to tackle the basic controls on compressors.

The third section will be advanced controls/techniques like sidechaining.

So stay tuned for compressor madness, because we just scratched the surface here.

The dreaded Sausage Waveform.

I’m going to begin this with a set of caveats (warnings).

1) Mastering your own music is a lot like doing your own dentistry.  I don’t generally master my own stuff, and I’ve taken classes, read articles and books, etc.  It’s really just a different skillset that isn’t as obvious as some of the principals of mixing.

2) Great mastering takes PRACTICE.  So if you’re gonna start mastering your own stuff, be prepared to do several versions of every mix, AND be prepared to start all over a few times.  It happens to us all.

3) Despite those first two things, you CAN get decent results that will help your tracks stand up to major releases in terms of ridiculous volume, if you work incrementally (apply processing gradually) and you don’t go overboard with cheap plugins.

So all that being said, here’s my simple mastering chain, that might be a useful starting point in trying to master your own work. This is a really easy set of plugins to use, and they all come with Logic Pro, so no extra $$$ required.  There are some great, not super expensive plugins to check out, but this article is gonna focus on Logic Pro’s tools.

1) Once you’ve got a stereo bounce of your song – you’ve mixed it and it’s ready for volume-slamming.  Make a whole new project with just one stereo track.

2) Put your final mix on that one track and route the output to your main output.

Plugins!

3) On your main output track (usually Output 1-2) put these plugins on the track in this order: Stereo Channel Eq, Stereo Compressor, Stereo Channel Eq, and Stereo Adaptive Limiter.

4) Opt-Click all of the plugins.  (This will gray them all out, which means they’re bypassed).

Channel Eq - No Additive Bands!

5) Play your mix through, and while it’s playing, un-bypass the first Eq.  Apply a lo-pass filter if you want to tighten up the low-end.  I usually try something around 50 Hz for recorded bands, but electronic music often calls for more low-end.

Also, this is the Eq to set up minor subtractions on.  Avoid ADDING anything with this Eq, because you’ll just be undoing that work with the compressor.  I use this as an opportunity to turn down anything that is sounding harsh or annoying in the mix.

6) Un-bypass the compressor and make sure your limiter is turned OFF.  Set the ration somewhere light like 4:1 or 2:1 and then set the threshold so that you’ve got something like 2-5 dB of compression (its the meter that goes from rigt to left over the square grid).

Compressor Settings - LIMITER IS OFF!

I usually like to bring the knee up, which makes the compressor work more gradually on your audio.  This is just to smooth our some of the peaks, and help get things louder.  If you’re seeing clipping, then pull back on the “gain.”  Avoid ADDING with the gain control, only use it to pull back a clipping signal.

7) Once satisfied, and hearing some overall gain and a boost in presence, then it’s time to un-bypass the second Eq.  This is your additive Eq, but it should be used SPARINGLY as in add 0-2 dB and with WIDE curves.  In fact, I generally only use the hi and low shelves if i think the mix needs some evening out.

Additive Eq - just a LITTLE bit.

8) Now TAKE A BREAK.  Seriously.  Leave it alone, and don’t listen to anything loud for ten minutes.  Give your brain time to reset. When you come back, bypass all the plugins again and listen to your mix before you started processing.  Then one-by-one bring the plugins back in.  If you’re pleased with your results, then continue on.  If NOT then undo the plugins in reverse order until you locate the plugin that you’re not liking.

In other words, if the compressor is set in such a way that you get nasty pumping.  Don’t leave the second Eq on while you tweak it.  Reset that Eq and turn it off and THEN tweak the compressor.  That way you won’t be doing weird over compression and THEN contradictory Eq.  If that didn’t make sense, just trust me on it.  If you have to back track, then just remove the previous plugins entirely and start over.

9) If you’re happy with things so far, then it’s time to do the final gain push.  Turn on the Adaptive limiter and set the output ceiling to -0.3 db.  That will stop audio from passing the ceiling of CD-R’s.  Next set the input gain up or down so that you’re getting the volume metters to peak near 0dB, but not clip.  Then turn up the output gain as much as you like.  If you hear things sucking away, or your bass going nuts then you went to far.

Limiter - Listen carefull as you adjust these settings.

Sometimes you haven’t gotten it loud enough after doing all these steps.  If you think that’s the case, then you probably need to have someone else master your work for you.

If you don’t want to do that, then you can try a couple of things.

1) On your first Eq, try bring your bass down a bit with a little lo-shelf Eq (-1 or -2 dB). The compressor and limiter will bring a lot of that bass back up while slamming your music.  It gives them more room to work with.

2) Try running the mix through the process with Eq-Compressor-Eq.  Then bring THAT bounce back in and start over.  Doing successive compression and EQ runs will steadily bring the overall volume up, although you’ll experience more weirdness and distortion over time.

3) If it absolutely has to be LOUDER, then try remixing with a louder mix.  Even try compressing the final mix a bit.

4) If it’s still not loud enough and you aren’t will to pay someone… then you’re s**t our of luck.  Unless you don’t care how terrible it sounds, you won’t be able to get it louder while still sounding like YOUR mix.

Final thoughts: this is NOT how I think mastering should be done.  I think it’s a difficult process that determines the finally aesthetic of an album as a whole – joining songs together, determining how the overall tone changes from song to song.  I think the LOUDENING just happens as a side effect, or at least it should.  If you want things to just be loud… then you’re missing the dang point with your music.  But that’s just me.

I figure if you have to get it loud, and a lot of artists feel like they have to, then at least study up on the tools you’re using, and try to do it as “gently” as you can.  For the sake of your own ears.

So after reading all that, if you still want to master your own stuff, then I’ll say “good luck.”  If you get good results then be proud, because it isn’t easy.  Not impossible…just not easy.

Sanjay here, from AskASoundGuy.com, showing you how to setup an 808 (Sine Wave) Kick using an Oscillator and Noise Gate with Sidechaining.

This is a cool, and easy way to add umph to your kick track/ get those sub-sonic LOWS for your club tracks.

Need more help? Something missing from the video? Send me an email at askasoundguy@gmail.com

Some Notes:

-You can use a anything that spits out a sine wave for your 808.  (it needs to be a plugin that lets you choose the frequency of the wave).  I used the “Test Oscillator” in Logic, but you could easily use a simple synth by using just one sine wave Oscillator and turning off most of the modulation/effects.

-Generally you’ll want to trigger the sine wave with JUST the original kick.  However, if you’ve got you’re whole drum beat on one track, like I do in the video, then being able to “filter” the sidechain becomes really important.  Filter out the high end stuff from the sidechain (don’t worry, eq on the sidechain isn’t audible in your mix)

-If you need help with Sidechaining, Ben’s done a video on Sidechaining in Reaper and an article on Sidechaining in Reason.

-There’s lots of extra/other things you can do with sidechains like parallel compression etc.  Hopefully we’ll be able to cover more topics soon.

Twentyfrets wrote:
I’ve been tryin’ to get these vocals for a song I threw down a couple weeks back
to sound a little more dreamy, but not extremely.. I want the reverb to come
thru, but not muttle the words, which happens sometimes for me. And then it
comes down to the mixture between the reverb on the guitars and the vocals
mixing too much and making it sound strange. Any ideas?

Thanks for writing in!  My first point would be that reverb is a tricky thing when you’re beginning to learn your way around mixing – this really has to do with the fact that reverb itself is a pretty complex phenomenon.  In any given space with any given sound, there are reflections and diffusions of that sound.  The reflections that arrive at the same listening point as the original sound at a later time basically make up your reverb (I’m oversimplifying but the basic understanding holds).

For example, say you’re in an average size bedroom – mostly square and not too big.  if you stand in the center of the room and speak you’ll hear yourself talking, and possibly slight “echos” of yourself.  Those echos are just your words bouncing off walls and furniture and coming back to your ears slightly delayed from the orginal sound.  That in a nutshell is how reverb devices work.  They find ways of duplicating, delaying, and processing (like Eq) the original sound to make it SEEM like the sound was made in a different physical space.

Now, that’s not how a lot of people use reverbs nowadays.  A lot of reverb isn’t about sounding natural, but about sounding “full” or “lush” or “larger than life.” I think the key to successful using reverbs comes from your understanding of what kind of sound you’re looking for, and then translating that into some sort of imaginary space.

Think of some old Led Zepplin recordings – the reverbs on the vocals especially tended to have an epic Arena-sized reverb.  Compare that to some of the shoegazer bands like Slowdive.  Their reverbs were often a kind of hazy glue that kept all the instruments sounding like one big wave of sound.  In there case it sounds like reverbs cascading into reverbs and delays and all sorts of exxtra processing.

In short, there is a lot to how reverbs work, and a LOT of things you can do with them if you’re not afraid to experiment.

But getting more specific to your question, I’d said you probably aren’t using a great reverb if you’re constantly battling between the verb not being audible enough and the vocals getting muddled.  Reverbs, like guitars have a wide range of sophistication and costs, and usually you get what you pay for.  BUT, thankfully, there are some tricks you can use that can get you a little more mileage out of your reverbs.

Mix and Wet/Dry Controls on two different Reverb Plugins.

First Thing I do when setting up a reverb (and I always use and FX bus for this) is get the “Mix” or “Wet/Dry” control set to 100% or All Wet.  This removes any of the original sound from the output of the reverb and lets me hear and judge just the reverb effect.  If you leave some of the original sound in, it’s not wrong, you just end up fighting yourself in the mix.  It is a lot easier to use the faders on your track and bus to balance the reverb out than it is to open the plugin and fiddle with a knob.

The next thing to do, if you’re not too sure what all the controls do, is focus on getting the reverb as long or short as you want it.  That generally refers to thing like length, time, delay time, room size, seconds, milliseconds (ms), etc. These kinds of controls tend to correlate to the physical size of your imaginary space.

Pre-delay Controls in Two Reverb Plugins.

If you’ve got a control like Pre-delay, then that tends to add a set-time pause between the orginal sound and the beginning of the reverb.  This lets you mimic early reflections which are a vital part of how we interpret distance in and space with hearing.  For the non-physicist, I like to think of it as how far away the source is from the first reflective surface.  If you were in an arena the first reflections you hear might be so far delayed that they sound like an echo. Practically speaking if you’re finding you’ve got too much or too little of a “echo” or “delay” happening in your reverbs, then try tweaking this control.

Eq's Before and After the Reverb.

The last thing I’d say for just getting your feet wet with reverb is EQ those things.  A lot of cheaper reverbs get muddy in the frequency range right where your vocals sit, and they often try to process extreme highs and lows that you make them sound unnatural.  I always stick an EQ in front of and behind the reverb plugin on the bus I’m working with.

The pre-EQ is all filters – high pass up to 100-400 HZ to get rid of “bass reflections” that can blur my timing and phase-cancel important tracks. Sometimes I low-pass down to 12-17 kHz if I’m getting strange shimmers or “air” that doesn’t sound good.

The Post-EQ is all about cutting away at the parts of the reverb that muddle your tracks.  I often start with a big mid-range scoop out of the reverb and then  and then move it around until I find a spot that lets my vocals be clear while still having a nice long trailing reverb.

Here’s a little video on how I usually setup my reverbs.

The video might take a while for Vimeo to process, but it will up soon, I promise.

Mix Mondays is our weekly mixing help column, that helps you start the week off with mixing advice.

I remember my first mix in Pro Tools. I was given a copy of multi-track recording of Trent Reznor’s “Only” so that I could try my hand at mixing something that I hadn’t recorded. (He releases the multi-tracks to encourage remixing btw, so no subterfuge was required).

I spent hours and hours with this song, carefully soloing each track, listening to the drums, bass, various keys, and guitars. I remember thinking… I’m not sure what I’m listening to. This was part of my first course in using Pro Tools so, an instructor would periodically pop into my little mix booth and take a listen to what I had done.

Sad to say, after about three hours in…I hadn’t gotten much done. I had thrown Eq’s on a couple of things, but every time I thought I had a sound Eqed to perfection, I’d un-solo it and find all of its perfection getting lost in the mud, covered by something else, or so unnatural sounding that I wanted to trash the whole thing and start over.

Thankfully, my instructor knew exactly what I was going through, and he had a great idea as to how I could get past my roadblock – stop all the damn soloing. Soloing is a great tool in multi-track recording and mixing, because it allows us to focus in on tracks, diagnose problems, and make decisions. BUT if the first thing you do when you open up a multi-track recording session is solo the kick drum, how do know where it’s supposed to fit?

How do you know if its going to work better as sub-sonic, intestine-shaking club kick or a punch-to-the-chest, early Elvis Costello proto-punk kick? You don’t really know where any track fits in if you’re never listening in context. As an example – I tend to figure out faster what to do to a kick, when I hear it with with the snare and bass tracks.

The snare because in most genres it is the drum that kick plays against to form your rhythmic feel, and the bass because its the instrument that has the most frequencies in common with the kick and has the greatest chance of overlapping with it.

But then expanding on that, I tend to like to hear the Kick with the overhead mics or cymbals tracks, to see how much room reverb or phasing occurs if those tracks pickup any kick. This happens because they’re the mics on the drum set that tend to be farthest from the kick, so they tend to have some delay and pick up more reflections.

But then, how I can really get a sense of the kick’s contribution to the mix, without referencing it to the most up-front part – the vocals? So on-and-on I’ve found reasons to listen to the kick in context with almost all the various tracks in my mix. And what does this tell me?

Well, for starters, I always open up a new session, and hit play. Then I flip to the mixer window and start moving faders and pans. No Eq, no compression, no reverb, no nothing. Just volume levels and pan positions. Then as the song progresses, I start to take note (in my head and on paper) of major song changes, instrumentation, mud or overlap that I can hear, etc. Just start to note things that contribute to the decisions I will make when fine tuning. Notice I haven’t touched a solo yet.

The key for me is to get a sense of what the band or musician was hoping for as he/she/they were recording and writing. It’s all about how the parts work together – or get mixed together. That gives me something to think about as I start my soloing. Now when I solo my kick, I have a sense of where it needs to fit. I also know where to cut it back to make room for my bass. I might be wrong, and have to tweak my changes, but if I repeatedly un-solo it to hear it with the bass, I can verify or un-do my tweaks as I’m doing them.

There are some people who don’t solo a thing while mixing, and there are some people who solo everything (I think there’s more of us). But the key thing to remember is that soloing is a tool that lets you look at tracks in a particular way. But mixing is ultimately about the big picture.

So if you find yourself getting lost in endless tweaks because every change you make seems to get you further and further away from that perfect mix you hear in your head- perhaps stepping back and rough mixing without the solos will help bring back some perspective.

Just some food for thought. Until next week, happy sound hunting.

The 3 Dimensions of a Stereo Image.

 Mix Mondays is our weekly mixing help column, which aims to take the sting out of Monday with a little audio talk.

Engineers like to argue.  We like to debate about pieces of gear, signal chains, techniques and tricks.  We disagree about everything there has to do with production – as we should.  It’s a creative industry, and we can’t all be doing the same thing.  

There is one thing all old school engineers would agree on though – Meters Lie.  They really do.  They are great for things like diagnosing clipping, verifying signal flow, and monitoring processes.  But they don’t show tone.  They don’t show quality.  They don’t show you a real mix.  So How do you really “see” your mix?  You’ve got to see with your ears.

One way of thinking about mixing music to stereo (left and right) is to see the left and right speakers as creating a mix “wall.”  It sits in front of you in line with your speakers, and exists in 3 “dimensions.”

Red

Left to right, is represented to you with panning.  There’s a lot that goes into how we hear in stereo, and I won’t go into that here.  But panning lets you shift the “position” of a sound along the horizontal axis.  Panning devices do this by adjusting the volume of that signal in the two speakers.  Louder in the left makes the image “appear” to the left, and louder in the right makes the image “appear” in right.  Equal volume in the left and right speakers gives you a “centered” image.  

Purple

Up and Down is a dimension of mixing that relies on how we tend to interpret different frequencies of sound.  The treble of your EQ encompass the upper frequency range or the highs.  We tend to “hear” the treble frequencies as sitting physically above the lower end of music.  The bass or low end feels like it sits lower in the space of our mix.  I tend to think of what a physical drum set looks like when dealing with this aspect of imaging.  The cymbals sit up high, and the bass drum sits on the ground – lower than the rest of the set.  The toms tend to have an arrangement of higher to lower pitches.  

Blue

The Front to Back Dimension of mixing tends to be the most tricky.  You have to balance your use of volume and reverb to achieve your desired spacing.  On the simplest level, the more reverb you add to a signal in a mostly “dry” mix, the further back it seem to be.  But depending on how you mix, you can add reverb and delays to a signal and make it seem to sit in front of other elements in the mix.  I’ll give you an example: Say you’re mixing most of your elements into a signal large room reverb.  In order to make it stand out, might actually add a different plate reverb to give your vocal a strikingly different acoustic “space.”  There’s more math and science behind reverb interactions than I’d like to get into, but Reverbs and Delays tend to be a trial and error kind of processing.  Let your ears tell you if you’re getting the right effect. 

Other times simply keeping something louder than other elements of the mix makes it appear closer.  In a world where everything seems to be getting louder, this can be a real challenge.  So things like careful compression and volume automation come more and more into play.  Just try to keep in mind that you’re mixing for the sake of the song, not the meter.  It doesn’t always have to light up all the way for your mix to be “professional.”

Last Notes

Keeping some of these ideas in mind might help you setup your rough mix and open up space for items.  Just keep in mind that all the stuff you see in your programs is great – it’s just not the real picture.  The true image you’re creating has to be listened to thoughtfully. 

I’ve found that as a setup a mix for the first time, the best thing for me to do is deal with volumes and panning first.  Getting a rough idea of where things sit left to right and front to back.  Then I listen to the tone of tracks to get a sense of how their frequencies interact – especially noting where things “mask” each other, or overlap in ways that make one track hard to hear/comprehend.  Eq generally comes next with my main goal being to cut away those parts that are masking other tracks.  These two major steps help you do rough placement of items in your 3-D image and tend to make my job mixing a lot easier.  

Plus getting things roughly placed right away allows more time for the creative, lets-just-try-it moments, and we could all use more of those.  

Until next time, happy sound hunting.