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ULTIMATE PRODUCTION TIPS 2015 Future Publishing Ltd. Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Tel: 01225 442244 Fax: 01225 732275 Email: computermusic@futurenet.com Web: www.computermusic.co.uk EDITORIAL Group Editor-in-Chief: Daniel Griffiths Art Editor: Mark White Sub-editor: James Russell Features & Download Editor: Joe Rossitter Editor, Computer Music: Lee Du-Caine Cover illustration: Mark White Group Art Director: Graham Dalzell CONTRIBUTORS Alex Hayes, Scot Solida, Philip Grainger, Ronan Macdonald, Jon Musgrave, Tim Cant, Reuben Cornell, Dave Clews, Leon Bailey, Joe Rossitter, Lee du-Caine, Owen Palmer, John Paul Braddock Photography: iStockphoto

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Welcome to a very special edition of Computer Music. You can call it a ‘greatest hits’ if you like as the mag you’re currently holding contains the very finest work from the collective brains of Computer Music magazine. We’ve debated and argued long and hard to compile our best features covering the broadest spectrum of topics. We get you grounded with 200 essential tips, take on making bass, beats, leads and more, grapple with sound design and slather the lot in lashings of lovely reverb and delay. And before we finish there’s massive features on mix secrets and the very modern guide to today’s mastering. And don’t forget that EVERY tutorial comes complete with audio and video to show you the techniques in practice. Just tap the links on the page. PLUS there’s the plugin collection to arm you with our famous bank of exclusive synths and effects. All you’ve got to do is head off to vault. computermusic.co.uk. Purchasing this magazine just gave you a ticket to entry. Register this mag as issue 30 and the goodies are yours. We hope you enjoy!

Daniel Griffiths, Group Editor-in-Chief www.computermusic.co.uk computermusic@futurenet.com www.facebook.com/computer.music.mag www.twitter.com/computermusicuk www.youtube.com/computermusicmag

ULTIMATE PRODUCTION TIPS 2015 / 3

ULTIMATE PRODUCTION TIPS 2015

contents 06 200 TIPS

200

It’s the big one. 200 incredible tips for every hi-tech music technique there is. Dig deep!

TECHNIQUES

08 Synthesis

Width & Depth

Drums

Mastering

Vocals

23 Ableton Live

Samples

24 Logic Pro

CM Plugins

25 FL Studio

Sound Design

26 Cubase

Melody & Harmony

Arrangement

28 Reaper

20 EQ & Dynamics

Reason

28 Sonar

30 SYNTH BASS

Today’s tracks demand it and today’s synths are more than ready to create awesome bass sounds from scratch. Our feature shows you how it’s done

38 MAKING BEATS

If your drums aren’t up to scratch, you’ve already lost the dancefloor battle. Get back in the fight right now with our heavyweight guide!

52 TAKING THE LEAD

87 RINSE AND REPEAT Send your sounds in new directions and give your tracks a fresh dose of energy by mastering the art of creative repetition

92 MODULATION

Flummoxed by LFOs or exasperated by envelopes? Get back on the path to sound design mastery with our huge guide

104 GET A GRIP ON DYNAMICS

Get a solid grounding in the art of compression, expansion and more. We’ve got the lot right here

118 AD VANCED MIXDOWN SECRETS

Want to get that high-end edge? Coat your mix with a professional sheen using these state-of-the-art topsecret engineering techniques

130 M ODERN MASTERING

Finish off your tracks with the sound of now! We’ll take you inside a contemporary mastering studio and show you how to apply 2015’s sonic polish in software

MODERN MASTERING

If your programmed synth lead lines sound too straight, inject some attitude and expression! We show you how

56 SOUND DESIGN

Get the know-how, the tools and the inspiration you need to bring the sounds in your head kicking and screaming into reality

72 T HE CM GUIDE TO REVERB

Give your sounds the right sense of depth, space and size with our expert guide to this essential effect

doN’T MISS YOUR DOwnload!

Just tap the links to play video PLUS get all the files and the CM Plugin library from vault.computermusic.co.uk Head online and register this magazine as issue 30 ULTIMATE PRODUCTION TIPS 2015 / 5

thesis/Drums/EQ & Dynamics/Ableton Live/RECOR ase/Vocals/RECORDING/Logic Pro X/Synthes ms/EQ & Dynamics/Ableton Live/Cubase/Voc c Pro X/FL STUDIO/SONAR/RECORDING & EDITIN CM PLUGINS/EFFECTS/ARRANGEMENT/EQ & Dyna angement/REASOn/REAPER/SONAR/MASTERIN TEREo WIDTH/Synthesis/Drums/EQ & Dynamics/ eton Live/Cubase/Vocals/Logic Pro X/SONAR thesis/Drums/EQ & Dynamics/Ableton Live/CM GINS/EFFECTS/Cubase/Vocals/Logic Pro X/FL TEREO WIDTH/DYNAMICS/RECORDING/melody & ha GINS/EFFECTS/ARRANGEMENT/EFFECTS/RECORD SOn/arrangement/REAPER/SONAR/MASTERIN TEREo WIDTH/Synthesis/Drums/EQ & Dynamics/ eton Live/Cubase/Synthesis/Drums/EQ & Dyn RECORDING & EDITING/Ableton Live/SoUND DESIGN/ ONAR/Vocals/RECORDING/Logic Pro X/Synthes ms/EQ & Dynamics/Ableton Live/Cubase/Voc c Pro X/FL STUDIO/SONAR/RECORDING/melody GINS/VOCALS/EFFECTS/ARRANGEMENT/EQ & Dyn Rather than blowing out a silly number of candles on an angement/REASOn/REAPER/SONAR/MASTERIN TEREo WIDTH/RECORDING &celebrating EDITING/Synthesis/Dr ostentatious cake, we’re instead our 200th issue TH & DEPTH/SOUND DESIGN/SAMPLES/SYNTHESI by lifting the lid on as many essential production secrets eton Live/Cubase/Vocals/REASON/arrangem c Pro X/Synthesis/Drums/EQ & Dynamics/Ab /Cubase/Vocals/Logic Pro X/FL STUDIO/STEREO YNAMICS/RECORDING/melody & harmony/cm plu ARRANGEMENT/EFFECTS/STEREO WIDTH/ABLETON LIVE ase/Vocals/RECORDING/Logic Pro X/Synthes ms/EQ & Dynamics/Ableton Live/Cubase/Voc c Pro X/FL STUDIO/SONAR/RECORDING & EDITIN OUND DESIGN/CM PLUGINS/EFFECTS/ARRANGEMENT amics/arrangement/REASOn/REAPER/SONAR TERING/WIDTH & DEPTH/Synthesis/Drums/EQ OUND DESIGN/HARMONY & MELODY/MASTERING/RECOR eton Live/MIXING/Vocals/Logic Pro X/SONAR thesis/Drums/EQ & Dynamics/Ableton Live/HAR ECTS/Cubase/SAMPLES/Logic Pro X/FL STUDIO/ TEREO/EDITING/RECORDING & EDITING/melody & ha LUGINS/EFFECTS/SOUND DESIGN/CUBASE/SAMP son/ARRANGEMENT/REASOn/REAPER/SONAR/l

TECHNIQUES

download

Get all 200 technique-packed videos on your PC/Mac at vault.computermusic.co.uk

Spend some time peering over the shoulder of any studio professional while they work and you’ll soon lose track of the number of techniques and ‘tricks of the trade’ that they employ without a second thought. When taken in their entirety and used with taste and care, such tricks all add up to give that professional production aesthetic that can be hard to put your finger on and even harder to recreate yourself. That is, of course, unless you have access to a bulging library of production secrets, tricks and techniques… Here, then, we present the most epic feature in the history of Computer Music magazine: 200 Techniques! Representing the distilled knowledge and collective decades’ worth of experience of ’s team of expert producers and engineers, we gift you a curated selection of our finest tricks, tips and studio secrets, covering every core facet of music production as well as advice specific to all the main DAWs. Mere words only go so far, though, and as we intimated in our opening words, there’s nothing quite like seeing this stuff demonstrated by a

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professional. That’s why we took it upon ourselves to produce an expert video tutorial for each and every one of our 200 nuggets of audio wisdom, resulting in almost EIGHT hours of solid technique for your viewing pleasure. Yes, really! The sheer scale and depth of this titanic tutorial banquet means it’s not something you’ll chomp your way through in an evening. It’s an incredible resource that you’ll keep coming back to time and again, whether it’s to snack on inspirational synthesis ideas, satiate your melody-writing skills, down a few pointers on getting the most from your DAW, or take in tried-and-tested EQ and dynamics setups. You need only flip the page to begin delving into 200 Techniques, our most incredible feature ever. Make sure you’ve got the videos to hand as you do so, though – you’ll find them in our Vault at vault.computermusic.co.uk, on the DVD that comes with the print edition, or if you’re reading our Apple Newsstand edition, just tap any tip to see it come to life right before your eyes via the magic of internet streaming. Now sit back, relax and enjoy the show…

200 techniques / make music now <

contents Sound creation Songwriting

Mixing & mastering DAW techniques

SAMPLES

MELODY & HARMONY

MASTERING

CUBASE

SYNTHESIS

CM PLUGINS

ARRANGEMENT

ABLETON LIVE

REASON

DRUMS

VOCALS

recording & editing

EQ & DYNAMICS

LOGIC pro

REAPER

SOUND DESIGN

WIDTH & DEPTH

FL STUDIO

SONAR ULTIMATE PRODUCTION TIPS 2015 / 7

> make music now / 200 techniques

Synthesis video

Tap any tip to watch video

If your synth patch is tuned to a chord in major thirds, take a close look at the fine-tuning because small changes here can make a real difference to the timbre of the voice. The standard tuning we use for Western music is actually slightly out of tune, so if you flatten the major third, it will become justly intonated, reducing the shimmering, detuned effect usually heard.

Some synths have ‘hidden’ parameters that don’t have a control on the front panel but that can be accessed via the synth’s modulation system. For instance, Dune CM does not have phase controls for the oscillators, seemingly, but you can access the phase as a modulation destination in the mod matrix.

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Are your synth sounds clicking at the start or end of notes? This can be especially noticeable on pure tones like sine waves, but there’s a super-easy fix: just turn up the attack and elease very slightly until the problem goes away. Add punch to any sub bass sound by using an envelope to modulate its pitch by about +24 semitones. With the envelope set to an instant attack and fast decay, you’ll get a kick drumesque thump to the start of your sub. Oof!

Unison detune can create gnarly bass noises, but you will likely find that there’s noticeable variation in the level of the lowest harmonics, leaving the sub bass uneven – most undesirable for modern dance productions. Solve this by using high-pass filtering to kill the low end of your sound, then add another track playing the same notes using a super-solid sine wave sub bass to supply the missing low end.

The robotic ‘yoi’ bass heard in countless dubstep tracks is great fun to play with and very easy to synthesise. Set up a square wave patch with a high-resonance low-pass filter swept by an LFO or envelope. Add a bitcrusher effect after the synth and reduce its sample rate until you get that vowel-like texture.

07 Dune CM’s ‘hidden’ phase controls are in the mod matrix

Rock productions get super-wide guitar sounds by recording the same parts twice – or more! – and panning these subtly different (in performance and, sometimes, timbre) parts hard left and right. You can mimic this approach

Get super-wide synths with our double-tracking trick

with synths, giving girth to any sound. Duplicate your synth track, pan the original hard left and the copy hard right, then make a few tweaks to the patch on one – keep it subtle, though, unless you specifically want a lopsided effect.

Want that classic FM bell sound? Get started by setting up two operators, both sine waves, using the first to modulate the second. Offset the first operator such that its ratio is around 0.3 (or about -20/-21 semitones). Increase the modulation amount until you hear a bell-like ‘gong’, then program a suitable amplitude envelope. Add chorus and reverb for further effect, and play the patch in the upper octaves for a glassy DX7-esque bell tone.

Synthesise a Hammond-style organ by stacking sine wave voices tuned to the harmonic series (bit.ly/HSeries). Adjust the level of these voices as you would drawbars on a real organ. Add some chorus (or even better, a rotary speaker simulator) to mimic the ‘swimming’ effect of a Hammond organ’s Leslie speaker, a dash of room reverb, and you’re done!

The distinctive sound of an electric guitar can be mimicked by running a synth into a guitar amp simulator plugin. For the best results, though, you’ll need to dial in a suitable patch and use appropriate MIDI. Here’s how…

video

Initialise your synth and start with a plain saw wave patch with little or no filtering. Add a guitar amp simulator plugin to its track – we’re using NI Guitar Rig 5, but any will work. You should already be getting a decidedly guitar-like tone at this point.

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The saw wave sounds too static and lifeless, so use a tiny amount of unison detune on your synth to give a subtly wavering, thinner texture approximating a guitar string. Try using a second synth voice to add a high-pitched burst at the start of each note, mimicking pick noise.

MIDI programming is vitally important in faking realistic guitar performances. Research the limitations and typical playing habits of real guitarists, or get hold of some MIDI of real guitar parts to analyse. We go into much greater depth in our video, so check it out for more advice!

200 techniques / make music now <

Synthesis

Create more expressive patches by linking velocity to multiple parameters

17 Diva makes FM synthesis more straightforward without skimping on creativity

FM (frequency modulation) synthesis can be complicated, but some virtual analogues, such as u-he’s Diva, will allow you to modulate one oscillator using the other via a single simple knob. Automating this interaction using an LFO or envelope can give you evolving FM textures without any difficulty.

Synths either play in a monophonic or polyphonic capacity, meaning they will either play one note at a time, or more than one (chords). Being limited to one note might sound restricting, but it can open up the ability to create a range of textures. Try creating trills by placing a long MIDI note and then peppering very short notes on top. This will usually create a very fast sliding legato sound that can spice up any melody.

lf you want to design your own sounds from scratch, starting from a complex preset may well make doing so more difficult than it needs to be (unless it’s already in the ballpark of the sound you’re looking for, of course). Loading a synth’s initialisation patch, often named Init, is a shortcut to a blank canvas. If your synth doesn’t have such a patch, set one up and save it: dial in a single sawtooth oscillator, open the filter right up, create a basic amplitude envelope, and disable/turn down all modulation and effects.

Synths often feature a ring modulation control, which works by multiplying the signal with another. This can create weird digital sounds or even strange, bell-like tones. This can be great in pads if it’s a per-oscillator control, as linking a second or third oscillator’s ring mod control to a slow, sweeping LFO can create movement and texture within pads. The effect can get

overpowering, so experiment with how much modulation it’s receiving to create interesting sounds.

When making a lead sound, you’ll often want to give it an evolving quality to keep it engaging. It is, after all, often doing the job of a vocal. Vibrato can further enhance the expressive, lyrical quality of a good synth line, but consider using an envelope to control the vibrato amount so that it’s introduced gradually to the sound, gradually ‘wobbling’ more as the note is held. This gives an effect more in line with a real vocalist or instrumentalist, where vibrato is often introduced over time. As well as sounding cool, this approach has the added benefit of making sure every note is initially on-pitch, making it great for melodies that combine fast runs and sustained notes.

You can make vast-sounding synth strings by using saw waves, your synthesisers unison control with a fair few voices, and a splash of spacious reverb. Unison, which stacks copies of the oscillator to create a bigger sound, should be turned up above 2 on each of the oscillators you’re using, with the voices across the stereo field using the spread, pan and detune controls, or whatever the equivalent is on your synth. EQ the low end out if needed, and you’ve got quick synth strings.

Velocity and aftertouch are commonly used to control the volume of a synth patch, but consider linking them to other parameters. Linking velocity to, say, a filter’s cutoff will open the filter more the harder you press keys. This can lead to much more expressive, playable patches than simply using velocity to control volume.

The white noise oscillator is easily forgotten, but it is a very practical tool that’s hugely important in modern synthesis. For synth chords, layering white noise with the lows/ mids cut and the top end boosted can add the frequency-filling grit that brings them to life. It’s also very popular to layer noise with a snappy envelope on snares. Finally, don’t overlook noise as a potentially powerful modulation source.

Many synths have effects built in, and it would be a crime to forget them, as they can transform your patches from forgettable to earcatching. Typically, you get reverb, delay and, importantly, chorus, but some go beyond these staples. For instance, NI’s Massive has a sampleand-hold effect that can transform the timbre of your synth patch.

If you’re after a plucky trance sound, you can use the amplitude envelope to give it a quick attack and short decay, but an alternative way would be to use a filter envelope to rapidly close the cutoff as the sound plays. This creates a similar dynamic while maintaining low-end warmth.

Try using a snappy filter envelope where you would normally use an amp envelope

ULTIMATE PRODUCTION TIPS 2015 / 9

> make music now / 200 techniques

Drums video

Whether using a sampler or a synth for drum sounds, if you have the relevant mode active (it’ll be called Gate or similar), adjusting the lengths of MIDI notes – and thus the sounds triggered – can have a radical effect on a groove. Try using a MIDI modifying plugin such as Live’s Note Length to adjust notes in real time.

Tap any tip to watch video

While there’s endless drum samples out there, why not take total control and make your own using synths? Any analogue or FM synth can be used to make amazing electronic percussion tones, but the likes of Sonic Charge Microtonic, Max For Live, FXpansion Tremor and NI’s new Maschine 2 Drumsynths feature focussed parameter sets designed with the creation of powerful drum sounds in mind. Every producer should own at least one dedicated drum synth.

Use a drum synth like Microtonic to craft custom hits

succession) can emphasise the offbeat – just keep it tasteful and don’t go overboard.

While for many tracks, realism is often desired, people have been applying out-there effects to acoustic drums since time immemorial. Whether you’re after a dab of psychedelic phasing or something more overt, there’s no sound or character that can’t be had using DAW-bundled or third-party plugins. If your processing is making the volume erratic, just throw a limiter onto the end of the chain.

While step sequencing or manual programming of drums is a route to accuracy, it’s much more fun – not to mention creatively more rewarding – to play them in live. OK, so you’re not a drummer, and you don’t have any drum pads… No problem! Your MIDI keyboard can be used in lieu of pads, and by slowing the tempo of your track right down and recording in cycle/ overdub mode, you can give yourself plenty of time and opportunity to hit the right notes.

Ghost notes are the quiet offbeat strokes and embellishments that many drummers play in between the main beats, primarily on the snare drum. They’re among the most important factors to consider in programming realistic acoustic drums, bringing life and syncopation to any groove. As well as single ghost notes, drags (two or three very quick, light notes in

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Many DAWs can impose the timing of one audio or MIDI groove onto another, which can serve many creative purposes, and systems like Logic Pro’s Groove Track can even match an entire project to the timing of one part. But more generally useful is being able to apply the timing and velocities of, say, a live drum loop to a programmed part, or vice-versa. A more creative alternative to transient-shaping plugins is to use the pitch and filter envelopes of a sampler to shape the bodies and tails of hits independently. The trick is to set the attack time to let as much of the transient through as you need before the pitch/filter adjustment kicks in. Or conversely, set the attack and sustain to zero and then adjust the decay time to process only the attack.

To jazz up a lacking percussion part, try applying an LFO- or envelope-controlled filter (low-, high- or band-pass – try them all) to it. We’re not talking anything too drastic – just enough cutoff frequency modulation to impart some movement, variation and bite. Play around with the LFO waveshape and depth, being sensitive to the timing and feel of the part.

The great thing about drum tracks is that – being essentially nonpitched – it’s easy to add to your regular kick, snare and hi-hat sounds with… well, anything! So, plug in a mic, grab some pots, pans and cutlery from the kitchen, take to the streets with a field recorder and go nuts. With the right editing, processing and programming, you can take your sounds in any direction and create unique end results.

Drum rudiments are a long-established repertoire of 40 sticking/pedalling techniques that skilled drummers will practice and employ much like a pianist practices and employs scales.

Knowing rudiments isn’t essential to programming effective drum patterns, but it’s certainly important if you want yours to sound realistic. Perhaps the best known of rudiments is the drum roll, but there are actually several types of roll, as shown here and in the video.

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Paradiddle patterns work particularly well for playing fills around the drum kit. A single paradiddle is LRLLRLRR, while a double paradiddle is LRLRLLRLRLRR. By stringing such patterns together in combinations, truly pyrotechnic fills and solos can be constructed.

Drags, flams and ruffs (the last a member of the roll family) are probably the most frequently played of the rudiments, used almost unconsciously by the skilled drummer. Learn the basic variations of these rudiments and your drum parts will thank you for it.

200 techniques / make music now <

Drums

Add a subtle layer of extra funk to your drum part by sitting it on top of a ‘groove shadow’.

Go polyrhythmic by giving each drum its own bar-length before it repeats

You can apply a laid-back feel or a sense of urgency to a drum groove by pushing or pulling the beat – particularly the backbeat snare. By moving the snare hits on beats 2 and 4 forward in time, we can pull the beat back for a funky, lazy feel. By pushing them backward, we make the beat sound more frantic as the backbeat lands slightly earlier. Stick to tiny distances from the quantise grid, mind – too much and your drum part will start to fall apart.

Most DAWs offer ‘random quantise’ functions in the shape of a Humanise parameter that can be applied to MIDI. This can be incredibly useful for bringing life and authenticity to programmed grooves – particularly those triggering virtual acoustic drum kits. The biggest benefits are to parts where multiple drums/cymbals are struck at once, and on fast rolls. But don’t overdo it, or your part might sound more ropey than realistic.

For big electronic drum sounds, layering complementary (or not!) elements of multiple sounds into one can deliver better results than a single synth or sample alone. EQ and filtering will be your main tools for carving space between sounds, but using the attack of one sound to lead into the tail of another also works well.

Velocity is oft-overlooked in drum programming, yet it can make a huge difference, particularly with a sampler that supports velocity modulation of pitch, filter cutoff, etc. Even just lowering the velocities of less important notes can make beats more dynamic, human and interesting.

To create realistic virtual drum kit performances, you need to think like a drummer. A drummer, possessing – at most – two hands and two feet, can only hit a certain combination of kit pieces at the same time. No matter how much you like the sound of a snare, two toms and a ride struck at the same time, such acrobatics are impossible in the real world. Think about a real drum kit and even ‘air drum’ parts as you program them.

Layering rhythms of different lengths can throw up all sorts of interesting results. Have your hi-hat loop running over 13 16th-notes, say, while your kick drum runs the usual 16 and your snare hits on every 7th beat. FXpansion’s Tremor drum machine is great for this, enabling you to set different lengths for each sequencer track.

Quantise is such a life-saving function that many producers reach for that Q key without even thinking about it. But why not get a bit wonky with your beats and just leave those notes where they land upon recording? If your drum part’s only one or two bars long anyway, the overall loop will keep the listener anchored on the downbeat (which you should probably always quantise).

If your drum track is sounding cluttered, try thinning it out using the technique known as ‘linear drumming’. This just means removing hits from your part so that there’s only ever one playing at any time. The kit element most affected by this process will be the hi-hats or ride, since they normally play constantly on top of the kick and snare. The result should be greater separation between elements and a generally cleaner, punchier sound.

19 Linear drum programming can unclutter drum parts

lf there’s one thing guaranteed to reveal your hastily programmed acoustic drum track for the sham that it is, it’s the machine gun effect. This is where all of the snare and/or hi-hat hits sound exactly the same due to either laziness on the part of the programmer or a lacking sound source. Do everything you can to avoid it – many drum samplers do this automatically, but if yours doesn’t, get busy with velocity, filter cutoff and alternating ‘round robin’ samples.

A ‘groove shadow’ is simply the wet effected channel from another drum part. Rhythmically, it can be the same as, similar to or totally disparate from the original loop. Here we have a dry drum loop to which we want to add some character.

We start by loading up another loop in our DAW and inserting a reverb plugin set to 100% wet. If you bounce this audio as its own track, you can start to build your own library of shadow loops for later usage, and you can more easily mess with the audio part.

By underlaying our loop with this reverb ‘shadow’, the groove takes on a whole new character. By processing the reverb further – a gate, perhaps? – we can tailor it to our needs. Try everything from reversing the shadow to replacing the reverb with a delay plugin.

ULTIMATE PRODUCTION TIPS 2015 / 11

> make music now / 200 techniques

Vocals video

Tap any tip to watch video

Whether you’re comping vocals via the traditional audio-editing method or using advanced comping aids such as Logic’s Quick Swipe comping, you can still end up with unwanted by-products such as double breaths, which are a dead giveaway that a vocal has been comped. Editing out all breath sounds from a vocal can make it sound unnatural, so for a more complete-sounding performance, zoom in on your region boundaries and adjust them to ensure that there’s only a single breath between each line.

When compressing vocals, the goal is to even out the volume level so that every word can be comfortably heard. So start with a generally good overall monitoring level, turn up the ratio so that you can see the compressor’s gain reduction meter moving, then set the threshold so that loud phrases show a lot of movement but quiet parts barely move the meter at all. Finally, adjust the ratio so that the vocal doesn’t sound overly squashed and increase the makeup gain control to suit.

There are numerous plugins dedicated to the task of de-essing vocals, but if you find yourself without one, you can craft your own using a simple parametric EQ and any compressor with a sidechain input. Copy the vocal track and use the EQ to isolate the sibilant frequency, normally around 5-8kHz. Then insert a compressor across the original vocal track and send the EQed version to its sidechain input. The compressor will now reduce the volume level whenever a loud ‘ess’ sound occurs.

Combat mismatched vocal levels by combining light compression with volume automation

A combination of gentle compression and volume automation can produce great results on vocals. Set up a compressor with a ratio of around 3:1, then write-enable automation and adjust the channel fader as the track plays. Fine-tune the volume curve further if necessary.

As well as quantising the pitch of incoming audio to a set scale, Antares’ Auto-Tune can also accept target pitch information from MIDI notes, making it behave a bit like a monophonic vocoder. Click the Target Notes Via MIDI button, then either set up Auto-Tune on a MIDI channel as a MIDI-controlled effect and set your vocal as the sidechain input, or insert Auto-Tune across the vocal track and route the output of a new MIDI track to it.

TAL’s Vocoder II is a great way to get the classic vocoder sound. To get it working, strap Vocoder II across a vocal track, then set up a MIDI track and send its output to the vocoder. In Logic Pro X, it’s done slightly differently, by inserting the vocoder on a MIDI track as a MIDIcontrolled effect, then setting the track containing the source vocal as the vocoder’s sidechain input. Then just play your MIDI keyboard as the track plays to hear the effect.

The classic gated vocal effect can be achieved using any software noise gate with a sidechain input. First, copy the target phrase to a new audio track and place a noise gate plugin across it. On a MIDI track, load up a default sine wave synth preset with a short release, then record or program a new MIDI part, playing the required trigger pattern with this sound. Finally, route the audio from this part to the gate’s sidechain input so that it triggers the gate.

A vocoder lets you use your vocal signal to modulate a carrier, usually a synth sound

08 Straighten out excessive wobbliness with Auto-Tune’s Adjust Vibrato feature

Pitch-correction tools such as Logic Pro X’s Flex Pitch or Antares’ Auto-Tune can also be used to iron out excessive vibrato on individual notes. In Auto-Tune’s graphical mode, highlight the section you want to edit and set the Adjust Vibrato control to increase or decrease vibrato to taste.

12 / ULTIMATE PRODUCTION TIPS 2015

Once you’ve comped your perfect lead vocal, you can use any halfdecent unused takes as backing vocals. Compress them, pan them evenly across the stereo image, then either run the spare takes beneath the lead vocal track to fatten it up, or repitch them as harmony parts.

To get the popular momentary slowdown effect, put a pitchshifting plugin across the vocal and draw a pitch drop using automation. If you have Logic, you can go one better: set the Fade Out in the Region parameter box to Slow Down and draw across the target word with the Fade tool.

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