This post focuses on the topic of creating a sense of depth in mixes.
It’s not too hard to make things sound big. It’s not too hard to make things sound wide. But it is very hard to do both while also creating a sense of depth. There are a myriad of tools available to the mix engineer to accomplish this, but there are three in particular that, when used properly, can create mixes that you can ‘walk into’.
Read the rest of this entry »
This post focuses on the use of predelay to allow reverb to be added to a sound without muddying it up too much.
A lot of producers are really reverb shy these days. It’s true that reverb can really date material… it was used so much in the 80s and 90s that a lot of what gives modern music its edge is its dryness. You’ll find that simply plopping a reverb effect on a track with often decrease its clarity or, in the case of vocals, its intelligibility. One way to account for this is to reduce the mix or length of the reverb. But sometimes you really want a long reverb tail and a really wet sound. What to do?
This post focuses on using delays to subtly add or change the energy of a sound.
I’m a big fan of delays. They add a lot of the depth and texture that people usually grab reverbs to achieve without taking up as much of the space. This distinction helps avoid sandboxing your mixes in the 80s and 90s sound (unless you’re going for that, of course). Delays also can dramatically change the feel of a sound, particularly with drums, in very subtle ways. Often a delay can be used to add energy in a way such that the addition isn’t obvious, but when you remove the effect it’s apparent that something was changed. The original vocal effect was a 15 or 30 ips tape delay, after all (heard all over John Lennon recordings, for instance).
This post focuses on the various ’standard’ ways to get a stereo image with microphones.
A class-A stereo image is one of the holy grails of audio engineering. It’s easy to get a decent image, but to achieve a stereo image that condenses down to mono, sounds rich, and evenly captures the entire performance is very difficult.
Most stereo techniques involve using two microphones but there are some that use more. Additionally, there are some very good stereo mics on the market such as the Studio Projects LSD-2 or the time-honored, appropriately expensive AKG C24.
This post focuses on making your tracks sound more dynamic with automation.
Automation has been with us for a long time. Before there were computers, it wasn’t too uncommon to see engineers, producers, and assistants all at the board to move faders and push buttons in real-time as the mix ran its way through the board. These days we have computers to do the handiwork for us, we just have to know when and how to automate our work.
Automation can be used for creation motion, enhancing performances, customizing sounds, and adding flavor with effects.
This post focuses on creating engaging sound for music production by combining pretty sounds and ugly sounds for contrast.
Something that the most successful producers understand is the importance of both pristine, pretty sounds and awful ugly, sounds. There have been countless examples of moments where engineers, producers, and artists have strived for creating something that is only pristine. Generally these sorts of projects fall short of the intended quality. When everything sounds good, it does not sound good together. This is one of music production’s dirty secrets. When Rupert Neve abandoned his iron-laden transformer preamp designs to achieve low-distortion preamp results, they didn’t have the bulky sound that people relied upon from Neve components. When solid state guitar amps hit the market, people bought them but discovered they didn’t have the same pleasurable distortion as tube amps.
The best producers know how to make pretty sounds sound really pretty by pairing them with really lo-fi sounds. A master of this philosophy is Nine Inch Nail’s own Trent Reznor. Take a listen through The Fragile and you’ll hear some of the ugliest sounds you’ve ever heard contrasted with some of the prettiest sounds you’ve ever heard.
