The Stereo Bus Blog - Daily Music Production Tips

This post focuses on how to group tracks to save CPU or DSP processing.

When I first started mixing using a computer, I would throw up inserts on everything.  Everything was processed independently.  As you might imagine, my mixes were insanely CPU intensive and hard to manage.  Soon I realized that many of the tracks were being processed in exactly the same way and that I didn’t need to have separate DSP processes on each track.

The solution?  Groups (or auxes in Pro Tools land)!
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This post focuses on the process of getting the vocal chain right for the given performer.

The signal chain for vocals is probably one of the most important production choices in pop music.  Of course, it helps to have a healthy selection of devices to choose from.  Every voice has unique qualities, some of which should be emphasized and some of which should be de-emphasized.  The tools available to accomplish this are, in order of affectiveness: microphone selection, mic placement, and preamp selection.

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This post focuses on the topic of using direct injection/input to bring clarity to traditionally recorded tracks.

When you were first starting out in the world of audio, you probably tried something along the lines of plugging a guitar or bass directly into your audio interface or mixer.   I know I did this and learned very quickly that the tone that results is less than stellar or interesting.  It’s extremely dry, lacks harmonic content, and sounds brittle.  But, in the right situations, these very same qualities can be a godsend when blended with a regularly amped sound.  Hence we end up with the technique of blending DI sounds with their amped counterparts, which is most commonly used with electric bass.
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This post focuses on the classic challenge of how to record a band in a single room and not have it sound completely awful.

Lots of us have small production studios and tons of bands have single room practice spaces.  Inevitably the question arises: “How can I record the band live in a single room and not have it all turn to mush!?”  There are some strategies for accomplishing decent results from this situation and, although it won’t sound like a record that was recorded in a multi-room facility or overdubbed, for some music that’s for the best.  It’s an incredible challenge that can be really rewarding.
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This post focuses on the basics of equalization.

Equalization is something that most people are probably pretty familiar with on a basic level, having some EQ capacity in their car stereos and portable players.  Essentially, EQ is cutting or boosting of frequencies or frequency ranges.

There are fundamentally two kinds of equalization: graphic and parametric.  Graphic EQ usually has set frequency points with sliders to boost or cut at those points.  Parametric usually has a set of moveable frequency ‘centers’ with a width control, combined with a cut and boost knob.

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This post focuses on convolution as it applies to audio - the capturing and reapplication of the qualities of sound.

A few years ago some new-fangled audio processing engines started to leak out of the lab and into the market involving a process called convolution. The name convolution comes from the type of math involved, but applying the process to audio signals provides for some pretty interesting opportunities.

Essentially, the process of convolution really requires two things: deconvolution and convolution. It’s actually a little backwards from the conventional use of the prefix ‘de’, although that again comes from its math roots. Deconvolution is the process of capturing the audio changes imposed upon a signal when fed through an environment, whether that be a physical room or a piece of equipment. Convolution is the process of applying those changes to a different signal. So, in essence, deconvolution would be ’sampling’ the way an environment affects the signal, whereas convolution would be making that sample into an effect, which is applied to other signals.
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This post focuses on tracking the snare drum, both on its own and as part of a kit.

I’m going to do a series on recording various instruments, from drums to woodwinds, and I’ve decided to do the snare first. Drums are a tricky bunch of instruments. They’re loud, bleed like hell, and generally don’t sound anything on tape like they sound in the room. Snare is probably the most complex of the standard components of the drum set. The top head is usually fairly tight and the material of the shell can be anything from aluminum to solid maple, each with unique characteristics. The bottom has the snares, strips of metal that vibrate against the bottom head when the drum is hit, which gives the drum its distinctive rattle. The top head is where the attack happens, the bottom head is where the crunch happens, and the tone is shared between the two. This means that you really need at least two microphones to get a complete picture of a snare drum. I would argue you may even need three to get the best snare sounds.

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This post focuses on the process of removing noise that has made its way into your content using digital processing.

While it’s always best to avoid noise in ther first place by recording in a quiet environment, using well grounded equipment, and using balanced cables, it’s sometimes unavoidable that some noise will have crept its way into your recordings. Also, often you’ll receive tracks from another engineer or an artist that have been recorded using less-than-optimal conditions. To illustrate the techniques used in this post, I’ll be using a free, open source program called Audacity (I’m a big fan of FOSS software, but most of the FOSS audio software has a ways to go before it is as effective and as stable as commercial software. I use Audacity in this example mostly because the techniques are more or less the same regardless of what application you use.)

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This post is going to focus on getting a solid balance between the two main sources of bass in pop music: the bass and the kick drum.

Few things are better than mix that gets the low end right. It can be really tricky to accomplish (or downright impossible if the environment isn’t right). But, there are a few general conventions that can help in the quest for the right thump.

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