Mixing: the ultimate guide / computer music
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contents
Mixing Basics Let’s start with the fundamentals… 11
THE ART AND SCIENCE OF MIXING
41
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
53 SENDING SIGNALS
So what’s this mixing lark all about anyway, and why are we doing it? Our primer has all the introductory advice you need to get your head ready for the rest of this Ultimate Guide
16
You’re going to need quite a lot of sound-shaping and corrective software to get your mixes sounding their best. Don’t worry, though – we’re not about to break the bank
22 GET ORGANISED
Your software DAW is an absurdly powerful mixing tool, but you do need to get it set up right to make the most of it. Taking the hardware mixing desk as our inspiration, we do exactly that
29 THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO EQ Shape those frequencies like a pro with our huge, in-depth tutorial on all things equalisation-related
THE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO EFFECTS
Not sure what a compressor does? Having trouble getting your reverb under control? Delays running wild? Get a grip on the nuts and bolts of software effects processing with our guide Whether you want to share plug-ins between tracks and sounds for creative purposes or just to save on valuable system resources, sends and returns are your keys to success
58 ALL ABOUT AUTOMATION
Take total control of your mixer and plug-ins with your DAW’s automation system and our walkthroughs
65 MASTERING FOR BEGINNERS Although we are, of course, all about mixing in this Ultimate Guide, we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least touch on the subsequent and final stage of production: mastering. Here’s our get-started guide
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Mixing masterclasses
Ear candy
74 THE ART OF AMBIENCE
134
Subliminal vocal support
135
Stacking vocals
136
Reverb wars
137
Vocal artifice
138
Transient design
139
Drum moments
Take your tracks to the next level as we bring mixing technique and creativity to the fore
As arguably the most essential of all effects, reverb deserves a tutorial all to itself. Get your rooms and plates in line right here
80 THE BALANCING ACT
Bringing the best out in any track involves getting the just the right elements in place in terms of both mix and arrangement. We show you how it’s done
87 THE MIX DIET
It’s not necessarily what you put in that makes a track sound great – often, it’s what you leave out. Discover the art of low-cal mixing
93 SMALL MIRACLES
The little things can make all the difference to the bigger picture, as our guide to the microscopic side of mixing reveals
98 MIXING FOR LO-FI SYSTEMS
If you want your mix to hit as many ears as possible, it needs to sound great on even the lowest-end of playback systems as well as the highest. We point you in the right direction
104 MASSIVE ATTACK
Add punch and definition to your mix by harnessing its transients. We deploy a range of plug-ins and techniques
A series of quick-fire production guides aimed at getting you mixing more effectively
140 Stereo enhancement 141
Stereo movement
142
Fat compressed beats
144
Reversed reverb
146
Snap compression
147
Parallel compression
148
Stop-starts
149
Quiet/loud
150
Boost your energy
151
Sonic tricks
153
Delay FX
154
Making it loud
156
Dynamic mixes
158
Perfect fades
159
Stutter edits
160 Mastering tricks
110 THIS IS THE REMIX
Master the art of remixing and take your tracks across genres with our massive in-depth tutorial
123 THE FAST GUIDE TO MONITORS
Everything you need to know to get your studio monitoring house in order, from how to buy speakers, to the pros and cons of headphones, to calibrating your room.
28, 40 SUBSCRIBE!
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> mixing basics / the art and science of mixing
It’s an age-old music production adage that no matter what gear and software you throw at a track, if it was crap to begin with, it can only ever be better-produced crap at the end. The moral? A good tune that’s badly produced is ultimately more worthwhile than a bad tune produced well. Except that these days that’s not strictly true. While we would never advocate releasing a string of exquisitely produced but mediocre songs, the fact is that in today’s climate, people simply won’t stand for badly recorded music. And the secret to producing music that sounds as good as it can is simply good mixing. Over the next few pages, we’re going to warm up by taking a look at what mixing entails, what makes a mix ‘good’ and what types of mixes there are. Then, throughout the rest of the Guide, we’ll get deeper into the techniques in question and see how they’re applied.
“The aim is to create a coherent yet exciting, distinctive sonic landscape” What is mixing?
It’s all well and good saying you’re about to ‘do a mix’, but what does that actually mean, and what’s the best way to go about it? At its simplest level, mixing involves balancing the elements of the music so that they’re both individually present and making the best contribution they can to the overall track. At its most complex, it can involve replacing elements
and sounds, restructuring or editing the track, and sculpting both the individual and overall sounds using automation and a multitude of effects. Either way, some elements will end up being quite audible while others won’t, and in some cases you may have to change levels at certain points to achieve your objective. A useful analogy is to think of a mix as being like a city skyline. When you look at it, you pick out different specific landmarks (Empire State Building, Big Ben, Eiffel Tower) that identify that skyline, and in fact, most cities have a number of such tall and distinctive landmarks. But if any one of these were to stand on its own, without the backdrop in which it sits, it would just be a building. And so it is with a mix. It’s a sonic landscape, with backdrops, highlights and some parts that lie in between. And the aim when you’re mixing is to create a coherent yet exciting, distinctive
In the metaphorical mixing landscape, some of these elements will be the landmarks; others will make up the backdrop
Back in the day, mixers were huge, cumbersome and expensive. Now, all you need is a computer and the right software
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the art and science of mixing / mixing basics <
Keeping your perspective Getting a good mix can involve many specific techniques, but maintaining an overall perspective can be difficult. Yet in many respects this is the key to getting it right. Here are some hot tips to keep you on the straight and narrow in terms of getting your overall mix in focus.
1
Take some time to set up your mixing environment. If you’re going to achieve consistent mixes, you need a predictable space. Position your monitors properly (at ear level and not too far apart). Try to reduce the room ambience (having lots of stuff in the room can help with this). Finally, try to reduce visual distractions (dimming the lights can be a good trick in this regard).
2 One of the most powerful mixing tools ever devised!
Vary your monitoring levels. Once you get into the minutiae of your mix, it’s easy to work for ages without even thinking about the monitoring levels. Try working for short spells at different levels (say, quiet, medium and loud). Each will offer you a different idea of the balance, giving you a better overall picture.
interruption, and during the first few hours you’ll be fresh and able to get the basics sorted out.
4
Take a break. Mixing can be quite an allconsuming activity, and time will tick by without you noticing. Force yourself to take a break and rest your ears, as the more tired your hearing gets, the less productive you’ll become. Also, try to avoid mixing for 14-hour stretches, as you’ll just end up with a ‘studio hangover’ the next day.
5
Use different monitors. It’s good to have at least one alternative monitoring option in your studio, but this doesn’t have to be a pair of expensive monitors. Consider computer monitors or a portable stereo. Alternatively, bounce down a work-inprogress mix and listen to it in different environments such as a car, the kitchen or through headphones on an MP3 player.
7
Beware of extremes. Music software offers such a powerful array of tools, it’s very easy to go way too far. As a rule of thumb, if you find yourself applying large amounts of the same kind of EQ to everything, it’s quite possible you’re not hearing things properly. Be aware of what you’re doing and take time to re-evaluate if necessary.
8
Trick yourself by doing something else. At times it can be useful to not ‘listen’ but just ‘hear’ the track you’re mixing. Leave the door ajar, go and make a cuppa, generally distract yourself and see how the track sounds up against some real life interruptions. For vocal tracks, this can really help with vocal levels.
9
Phone a friend (or email them an MP3). If you think your mix sounds rubbish, be brave and play it to someone else. It’s surprising how levelling other people’s opinions can be, and their objectivity may bring something glaringly obvious to your attention. Who knows, they may even say it sounds amazing.
“Bass should feel you’re aiming for the 6 sound of an existing track or artist, line up some weighty and punchy, examples in your arrange window. This way you can Avoid mixing by highs should sound quickly switch between your committee. Artist and 3 Don’t get wasted. It mix and theirs and play spot band input can be very sound boring, but 10 exciting and smooth, useful, but at the start of a the difference. With a bit of booze may and drugs do all sorts practice you’ll soon mix, give yourself a few of strange things to your recognise how the various at least to mix on your hearing. You’ll probably be the mid-range should hours frequencies of their own. It’s much easier to try wasting your time if you mix production slot together. when you’re on one. be warm and musical” things out without sonic landscape. But how do we know what that consists of?
What makes a good mix?
The strange thing about mixing is that it’s highly subjective in terms of preference, but highly objective in terms of quality. Most engineers and producers will be able to agree about whether or not something is ‘well produced’, but they might not agree as to whether it’s sonically to their individual taste. In this respect, it’s probably easier to define a ‘bad’ mix first, and there are a number of common failings. For example, one key element, such as a bassline, might be overpowering the others to the point where it obscures them. The balance of the sounds might be skewed. The vocals might be inaudible. There might be hiss. It might be too trebly and hurt your ears. The levels of individual elements might fluctuate so that they’re audible sometimes, but not
Compare and contrast. If
consistently. You might not be able to make out individual parts or elements. It might be too bass-heavy and dull. Or it might be really boxy. Or clinical. The list goes on! So that’s bad, which means that clear-sounding musical parts that can be distinguished from one another (when required), and that allow you to hear what’s going on, thus demonstrating each element to its full potential, while combining to form a pleasing, exciting and consistent whole, are good. Okay, so it’s not exactly a catchy definition, but you get the idea. But if good isn’t good enough, and you aspire to greatness, you need to go a little further. Each sound must not just be clear, but must sound great and stand up in its own right. The mix should encompass great sounds, taken from right across the frequency range. Bass should feel weighty and punchy, highs should sound exciting and smooth, the mid-range should be mixing: THE ULTimATE gUiDE / 13
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ALL ABOUT
AUTOM Your DAW has a powerful system built in for adding movement and life
DOWnLOAD See page 6 and download this articles examples at vault.computermusic.co.uk
When you listen to music, whether it’s on your iPhone, laptop, computer, hi-fi or the radio, what do you hear? Are you so caught up in the energy or emotion of a track that you don’t notice the individual production elements, or are you constantly evaluating, assessing sound choices, picking the mix apart and analysing? As producers become more experienced, they start to fall into the latter camp, paying increasing attention to the detail of sounds and mix elements. How exactly, does that squelchy bassline open up through its duration? How does the delay on that vocal suddenly spring to life for the last word of a phrase, and how many times does it repeat before returning to silence? One of the most remarkable aspects of the modern studio is that, if you choose to, you can take responsibility for every single moment of the tracks in your arrangement and leave absolutely nothing to ‘chance’. If you’re working with live players whose performances vary too wildly in dynamic range, you can fix them. If you’re composing with electronics and you want to make flat, boring sounds come alive with parameter changes, entire worlds of possibility lie in wait. What we’re talking about, of course, is automation, the data lines that can be added to an audio or instrument track within any DAW you care to name. Usually, these take the form of multi-breakpoint envelopes, whereby you can choose the number of edits and the shape of the movement you’re looking to create. In other words, changes can be soft and subtle or wild and outrageous, and, depending on the results you’re after, either or both might be appropriate.
“Take responsibility for every single moment of your arrangement and leave nothing to ‘chance’”
In this tutorial, we’re going to look at automation in a variety of situations, exploring the ways in which it can be created, edited, tweaked and mined for extremely interesting effects. Some of our advice will focus on various methods of sound design, while other points will address more ‘administrative’ tasks, such as how to get a lead instrument to sit comfortably in a mix when the original recording fluctuates in volume too much. The net result of careful automation use is that your mixes can be transformed from being merely competent to sounding big, brash, dynamic and polished. By taking control in the ways we’re going to show you, you can ensure that each and every moment in your songs is special.
In the mode
Various DAWs approach automation and access to editable parameters in very different ways. With some, such as Reason, it couldn’t be easier: once you’ve set up the parameters you want to automate, just hit the record button and draw or twiddle away to your heart’s content, and automation data will be written as if it were just another line of MIDI notes. The more elaborate systems offered by the likes of Logic and Pro Tools have a range of automation modes, and it’s worth keeping an eye on which one is currently in operation on each track to prevent accidents from happening. Logic’s and Pro Tools’ automation modes comprise ‘Off’, ‘Read’, ‘Latch’, ‘Touch’ and ‘Write’. Off mode does exactly what it says on the tin, and it’s a good idea to stick with this for as long as possible while writing your track, to prevent your arrangement becoming unnecessarily complex in the early stages. Read mode is the one to switch to once you’ve finished programming your automation, as it simply tells the track to activate and playback all of the automated lines contained within.
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all about automation / mixing basics <
MATION to your mixes. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to make the most of it… When the time comes to start writing in your parameter movements, the recommended mode is Latch. This kicks into life as soon as you click the control you want to automate, whereupon any changes will be written into a separate lane underneath (Logic) or on top of (Pro Tools) the MIDI or audio track. Touch mode comes into its own when you want to overwrite specific sections of automation data written in Latch mode but leave the rest unaltered. Automation recording begins when you click the parameter to be changed and immediately stops the instant you let go of it. So this last is great for rewriting short parts of an otherwise-perfect automation line –
think of it as a ‘punch in/out’ for this type of data, as the moment you relinquish control, the recorded levels are restored. Write mode is potentially very dangerous and should come with a health warning: this erases all automation data on the track and replaces it with a ‘new’ line. So, not only does the currently selected parameter get another stream of automation data, all the other ones do, too. In fact, we can’t think of a single occasion when it might be useful, so our advice is to leave this mode well alone! Dialling in your changes with a mouse is pretty unintuitive, and as today’s DAWs use MIDI not just for note entry but for
automation writing too, we’d always recommend using a hardware controller for these purposes. On the next page, we’ll see how easy it is to prepare automatable parameters in Reason, but first we’re going to set up a controller on an old Roland JP-8000 synth to manipulate string articulations in Ableton Live. As soon as this connection is made, an automation lane can be recorded so that, in this case, the different playing styles for each of the string instruments can be accessed. Nevertheless, whichever DAW you use, it’s worth familiarising yourself with the automation modes available, as well as the best ways to read and write the associated data.
> Step by step Assigning hardware controllers in Ableton Live
1
Here’s a track we’ve sequenced using the Orchestral Instruments Collection in Live. It’s sounding fairly good, but we want to be able to change articulations for the string instruments in real time as the track progresses. Fortunately, Live makes this very simple. (Audio in the download: 1 Live String Arrangement.aif.)
2
To assign a physical slider or knob, make sure your controller is connected to Live and press the MIDI Map button in the top right-hand corner. All automatable parameters will light up blue – just click the one you want and tweak a knob to make the assignment. We decide upon string Articulation. (2 String Articulations.aif.)
3
We’ve assigned two more JP-8000 knobs and written automation data for the string Motion and Motion Speed parameters. These provide movement of the current articulation within the sample – tremolo and bow speed here, for example. Our part has added interest now. (3 String Performance.aif.)
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> mixing masterclasses / the art of ambience
The art of ambience
Reverb plug-ins can sound spookily realistic or deliberately synthetic, but whichever you prefer, you’ll get more from them with our guide
download See page 6 and download this articles examples at vault.computermusic.co.uk
Reverb is one of the few audio effects that occurs in the natural world, and it’s around us at all times, though we tend to take it for granted. Sound waves propagate from a sound source in a ‘spherical’ fashion, continually bouncing off surrounding surfaces and gradually losing energy until they die away to nothing – this is what we know as reverb. Just about the only place you won’t hear any reverb would be inside an acoustically-dead anechoic chamber. Many recordings are made using closemiking techniques, where the natural reverb of the recording room is kept to a minimum – most of us don’t have access to great-sounding recording rooms anyway, so this makes perfect sense. Indeed, computer musicians commonly record guitar parts directly into their DAWs, and many of the virtual instruments that we use don’t even exist in physical form. Reverb is therefore often added artificially, at the mixing stage. When working with real
instruments, it’s generally desirable to impart a realistic reverberation space, although with the widespread use of digital reverb units in the 80s, many began to apply the effect in a more creative fashion. And when it comes to electronic music – the vast majority of which doesn’t involve real instruments at all – this all applies even more strongly. Wherever you’re coming from, though, this tutorial is for you. Over the next few pages, we’ll be explaining just how typical digital reverb processors work, before going on to demonstrate some standard reverb mixing techniques and getting stuck into a few more creative applications. We’re using Ableton Live in our walkthroughs, but as with all mix-related tutorials, the techniques are entirely applicable to other DAWs, not to mention other musical genres. If you don’t have Live, you can download the trial version at www.ableton.com – then you’ll be able to load up all of the tutorial files included in the examples download.
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the art of ambience / mixing masterclasses <
UNDER THE HOOD There are many types of reverb processor available, including mechanical hardware such as spring and plate reverbs, but the kind that most computer musicians will be familiar with is the digital (or algorithmic) variety, which attempts to mimic the real-world process of reverb in a room. We’ve already touched upon the fact that soundwaves propagate outward from a sound source in a spherical fashion, much as light radiates in all directions from a bulb. Consider what happens when you stand in a large hall and someone at the other end of it claps their hands: the first thing you’ll hear is the direct soundwave coming from the clap, which can be considered the dry signal. Next, you’ll hear the first echoes of that clap as it bounces off the walls – these are the ‘early reflections’, and already the sound will be coloured a little, as the walls absorb certain frequencies. The phase/timing of the soundwaves will also have been smeared a little due to this, softening the sound Shortly after comes the ‘tail’, caused by the many complex echoes that soon take place. Discrete echoes are no longer heard, as the sound diffuses into a smooth decay, and gradually fades away as energy is lost to the walls. As you can imagine, the shape of the room (and its contents) play a huge role. The material of the walls is also a prime factor, as flat, hard surfaces will reflect the frequency range more evenly, whereas soft surfaces will quickly absorb frequencies. Irregular surfaces will mean that the sound is broken up and diffused more readily too. Many digital reverbs take the approach of modelling the early reflections and diffuse tail independently, which, while not being exactly how real rooms work, gives a good approximation. The early reflections may be based on a series of short delays, whereas the tail might be created using a complicated network of delay lines fed into each other. Filters would provide damping of high or low frequencies over time, and all-pass filters may be employed to smear and diffuse the sound further. There are other digital reverb algorithms, of course, but what we’ve described is the classic one.
Magix VariVerb Pro is an excellent reverb plug-in, featuring many different algorithms, including but not limited to the type described on the left
Digital reverb parameters PREDELAY: This is simply a delay applied to the input signal before any reverb processing is applied. If you clapped your hands in a huge room, there’d be a discernible delay before you heard any reverberations bouncing back from the walls, so increasing this can make the room sound bigger. It also prevents the reverb from blurring into the initial part of the dry signal, which is good for preserving transients. EQ: Enables you to tailor which frequencies are passed through to the reverb. For example, cutting the bass will reduce boom. DECAY: Determines the RT60 of the reverb in seconds – that is, how long it takes for the reverb’s level to fall by 60dB. SIZE: Alters the perceived size of the room. In a classic digital algorithm, this may influence the length of the delays in the feedback network, which are essentially simulating the distances between walls. HIGH/LOW DAMPING: Not just a simple EQ, this controls how certain frequencies are attenuated over time. For example, with no high damping, the reverb will have a constant treble level; increase the damping, though, and the sound will become duller over time. This mimics how wall materials absorb sonic energy at different frequencies. In Live’s Reverb, this is the Diffusion Network section.
STEREO WIDTH: A higher value generally sounds more ‘real’, but reducing this can give the reverb more definition. MODULATION: Many digital reverbs also employ subtle pitch modulation of the tail, to further diffuse the sound. This isn’t especially realistic, but it can certainly sound nice, and many of Lexicon’s famous reverb units use this to good effect. ER/TAIL: Some reverbs let you specify the levels of the early reflections and the tail independently. DRY/WET: Controls the mix between the dry signal and the reverb output. You should always set this to 100% wet when using your reverb on an auxiliary return bus. There’s a great degree of variance in the parameters offered by different reverbs, so check the manual of yours for the full lowdown. There are also convolution reverb processors to consider. These work very differently from those described thus far, and typically use samples taken from real rooms to recreate them digitally. A loud, sharp sound (eg, a clap or starter gun) is made in a room, and the reverb tail recorded – the resultant sample is called an impulse response and can be loaded into a convolution processor. Another way to create impulse responses involves sine sweeps, but we’re getting away from the point of this feature… mixing: THE ULTimATE gUiDE / 75
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What are transients, What are transients, and how can they bebe and how can they controlled toto improve controlled improve your mixes? Follow your mixes? Follow our guide and you’ll our guide and you’ll have punchier have punchier sounds inin nono time sounds time
By definition, acoustic and audio transients are short-duration signals that represent the non-harmonic attack phase of a musical sound or spoken word. In practice, this would include the ‘click’ of a beater hitting a bass drum, the initial ‘crack’ of a stick coming down on a snare drum, the ‘pluck’ of a plectrum against the strings of a guitar, or the hammer making contact with the strings of a Clavinet or tines of a Rhodes. Of course, there are countless other examples. If such a short instance of sound strikes you as trivial, think very much again. Audio researchers have long-since proven that transients are fundamental to the audible perception of all things around us. They provide you with a bearing of how far away a sound is in relation to your position and whether it’s being played with vigour or passivity. They also give you more information with which to identify a sound or instrument within a split second than any other sonic component. The Roland Corporation capitalised on this fact in the late 80s – when sample RAM was an expensive commodity – with the release of their legendary D-50 synth. Using a proprietary form of synthesis known as Linear Arithmetic, sampled transients of real-world sounds and instruments were supplemented by digital oscillators and filters for the cycled sustain portion of the sound. The results were groundbreaking then and remain impressive to this day. Owners of that synth and the subsequent D-70 – a full-sized weighted
keyboard synthesiser – truly had their ears opened to just how flexible the attack portion of a sound could be.
Endless possibilities
Imagine, then, the power in being able to isolate audio transients for discrete alteration. With no sustainable portion and a far greater magnitude of high frequencies than the harmonic content of a sound, transients don’t directly depend on the frequency of the tone they initiate. This makes it possible to boost the ‘thwack’ of a tom tom without increasing its ‘boom’, or emphasise the ‘click’ of a tonewheel organ without subjecting the entire track to massive compression. Of course, we can also reduce transients to smooth out a harsh-sounding guitar part, for example; or remove them entirely to re-groove a drum loop, say. And since the transients can be dealt with in isolation, so too can their sustain portions – opening the door to all sorts of very cool possibilities when it comes to mixing and sound design. Before we get into the software tools of today, let’s take a trip down memory lane to check out the original Transient Designer hardware and familiarise ourselves with the basic processes involved.
Old-school originals
Synthesists have long enjoyed the ability to change the attack and sustain of a sound using envelopes. However, doing this with non-
synthesised instruments was much more difficult, requiring the patient programming of gates, filters/EQs, compressors and limiters. That was until just over a decade ago, when Ruben Tilgner and Sound Performance Labs (SPL) came up with a ‘differential envelope’ technology that used a combination of VCAs (voltage controlled amplifiers) and envelope followers to sculpt the attack and release characteristics of a signal in ways previously not possible in a single device. Unlike traditional compressors, the SPL Transient Designer (still made today, in both 2- and 4-channel versions) isn’t governed by a signal’s level but rather by its dynamic characteristics. Clamping down only on specific areas of a sound’s transient events, all signals – whether loud or soft – are processed equally. The transitional time constants are automatically adjusted in a musical way according to the characteristics of the input signal, providing results that are both quick and natural sounding. Despite the apparent complexity of this process, the hardware design is brilliantly straightforward and provides extremely fast, easy and intuitive user control through just two knobs. Attack can be amplified or attenuated by up to 15dB, while Sustain can be amplified or attenuated by up to 24dB. This type of old-school simplicity has earned the Transient Designer a place on the shortlist of modern-day classics and certainly established it as a studio essential.
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By and large, transient processors are very versatile and not limited to drums and percussion, as is the popular misconception. Many of the new breed include harmonic distortion or saturation stages and are just as happy being slapped across a lead guitar or choir. They can even work wonders as part of a mastering chain! They present a very different approach to compression that most engineers find to be more musical and, often, the silver bullet for mix elements that aren’t behaving. Even if you’re not familiar with transient plug-ins, it’s quite possible that you already have one or two in your collection and don’t know it. Cubase and Logic both include transient tools among their bundled plug-ins, for example, and we’re starting to see transient sections sneak directly into drum applications, which we’ll look at later. It’s also possible that you know of them by different names. Such processors have been called everything from signal modellers and envelopers to shapers and transient modulators (or transmods). As we’ll see, many of the new plug-ins that emulate the original SPL hardware stay quite
faithful to the classic two-control design. Others, meanwhile, have taken the concept much further, adding considerably more elaborate parameters, but the general technical theory behind them all is essentially the same across the board.
Hidden gems
You may well already have a transient processing plug-in available to you without realising it. Cubase was perhaps the first DAW to bundle a transient processing tool, called EnvelopeShaper, back in version 4. Located within the Dynamics category, it can be used to manipulate attack gain and length, as well as release gain. This kind of full envelope control can be more desirable than simple set-andforget type devices (such as the Transient Designer) in that it enables the sculpting of ‘forced’ or unnatural sounding amplitude changes over time – ideal for sound design and effects applications. Superior Drummer 2.0 from Toontrack also has a great transient processor built in, powered by technology from Sonalksis. With controls for
attack and sustain only, it tears a page from the SPL book on simplicity – which kind of makes sense, because the intent is specifically to process drum kits, rather than full-on audio design. DOWnLOAD Users of the SSL Duende’s See page 6 and download this Drumstrip plug-in shouldn’t articles examples at vault.computermusic.co.uk overlook the powerful Transient Shaper section that’s built into it. Crucial to its ‘detection circuitry’ is the oversized input gain knob, which sets the threshold over which the shaper begins acting upon transients. Meanwhile, the Speed control enables you to trim the length of time the added attack takes to fall back to the normal signal level. Most handy during this juggling process is the Transient Shaper’s Audition button, which enables you to hear only the added or subtracted transient information. You can even invert the phase of the shaped signal, softening the attack and giving drums extra body when mixed back in with the original.
The original SPL Transient Designer in all its minimal glory – a magical modern studio classic!
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Ear candy
09
Fat compressed beats If you’re a hip-hop producer or just need beats that stand out from the crowd, compression is your best friend How come some records’ beats sound so much fatter than others? Well, it’s got a lot to do with the original sounds chosen for the backing tracks, but more crucially, it’s down to how they’re mixed. The Black Eyed Peas’ Boom Boom Pow, for example, features beats taken from Roland’s classic TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines, which are available to millions of producers who are either lucky enough to own one of the original boxes or have their sampled equivalents. So how come when the Black Eyed
Peas use these common sounds they end up on a hit record, but when you use them they sound a bit weak and flabby? Well, a huge part of this comes down to how they’ve been processed, particularly with compression. When producers talk about tools to affect the tone of a sound, they inevitably and correctly think of EQ first and foremost – and yet, when used with more extreme settings, compression becomes a tone control tool too. When you squash the dynamics of a sound using a compressor, you effectively change (or
reprioritise) its harmonic content. If a kick drum, for instance, contains quite a bright attack but a longer, subbier release stage, you can smudge the transition between these separate stages with compression, resulting in a sound with an even harder initial kick, or an even bassier second phase. Hip-hop producers have perhaps been the biggest pioneers of processing in this way, although some pop producers have now learnt these skills and are applying them to more mainstream tracks. Let’s find out how…
> Step by step Making fat beats
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On the DVD, we’ve supplied some raw material to work with. Load up the dry kick, snare and hats (Dry Kick.wav, Dry Snare.wav, Dry Hats.wav) onto three tracks in your DAW. We’re going to use the UAD Fairchild compressor first, although any compressor will do, so fire up your favourite one.
Rather than compressing the hi-hats, we’re just looking to add some sheen to them by losing a little of the harshness from the mid-range. We use Abbey Road’s TG14214 tone module and add some extra brightness to the top end using the Sonnox EQ. The result is much brighter and complements the kick and snare very well (Dry Then Processed Beats.wav).
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Let’s look at the kick drum. We select a high Gain and low Threshold while experimenting with the Time Constant dial (in the Fairchild’s top right-hand corner) to select how the compressor sets attack and release times. If these are separate dials in your compressor, don’t panic – that means you’ve got even more control (Kick Compressed.wav).
There’s much more power there already, but we’re just getting started! Now it’s time to get some extra weight into the backbeat. The snare is a good foundation, but we want a greater sense of smudge on this beat. We’ve created a new part using Stylus RMX – add Dry Stylus Clap.wav to a new audio track.
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Now let’s get some extra snap into the snare. This time we’re using Logic’s compressor set to the VCA algorithm to give us a slightly retro feel. If your compressor emulates different compression types, be sure to experiment with these. Set a fast Attack time so that the front of the sound gets compressed (Kick and Snare Compressed.wav).
We’re compressing this clap using Stylus’ own compressor, though you can use any one you like. We’re looking for sharpness here, so we set a low Threshold and a high Ratio, while setting the Attack and Release controls to have a dramatic effect on the decay of the sound. Longer attack times ignore the initial transient of a drum hit (Stylus Clap Compress.wav).
142 / mixing: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE
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This is smudging the backbeat nicely, though there’s room for more power. Let’s add a detuned heavy snare from Battery’s Hip Hop Kit (Heavy Snare Dry.wav). Each of these snares has been played live and quantised to between 80 and 90%, so that the hits ‘smudge’. This also adds power as the speakers aren’t having to respond to lots of overlapping frequencies at the exact same moment.
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You can only feel the depth and weight of a track if there’s lightness and sparkle in it too. Our arrangement already contains tons of bottom end and mid-range, so it’s time to enhance the treble end with a subtle shaker part. This actually helps enhance the fatness of the bottom end by lifting the ceiling of the top end, making the whole mix deeper. Load Shaker.wav (created with Stylus RMX) onto a new track if you don’t believe us!
We use Logic’s channel EQ’s high-pass filter to remove content below 40Hz. We then cut by 2dB at 91Hz, then boost at 500Hz, 1.2kHz and 3.5kHz by 2, 3.5 and 5dB respectively. Next, we use the compressor within the Sonnox Dynamics module to squeeze the dynamics harder, using a medium-low Threshold and a Ratio of 4:1 (Compressed Bass.wav).
Let’s compress this sound too. We’re using KeyToSound’s Essential Compressor here, partly because it sounds quite cheap! That’s not intended as an insult – quite the opposite, in fact. The grainy quality this compressor provides is exactly what we need to add some grit and pull up the volume of the release tail, which is much thicker as a result (Heavy Snare Compressed.wav).
The beats are all working nicely on their separate channels, but we want to give a feeling of cohesion so all of these tracks sound as if they belong together as a virtual kit. To achieve this, we reroute the outputs of all our tracks to a stereo auxiliary bus, over which we place the UAD 4K Buss Compressor. We use a fast Attack and the auto-release setting, with a generous 4:1 Ratio and plenty of make-up gain (Buss Compressed Beats.wav).
Now load up Rhodes.wav, Piano.wav and Bass Sequence.wav onto new audio tracks. We’ve compressed the pianos, with almost identical settings – low Threshold, a Ratio of 5:1, and fast Attack and Release times. There’s no compression on the bass sequence, but we’ve used a high-pass filter on it to scoop out unwanted frequencies below 150Hz.
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There’s room for one more sound in the middle. Lots of hip-hop tracks make good use of sound design or unusual hits to complement the more traditional beats. We add a couple of these from a Battery 3 kit and compress them so that they sit comfortably with the beats. There’s a lot of mid-range here, so we scoop a little out using the TG14214 again (Sound Design Hits.wav).
Remember, the power of your beats will only become apparent when they’re mixed with other elements of the track. Their relationship to your bassline is perhaps the most crucial of all. Load Dry Bass.wav and place this on a new audio track under the beats. Like drums, bass sounds come alive with compression, and we’re looking to maximise this sound without it detracting from the power of the beats, which isn’t easy.
Now we slam the whole track through the Sonnox Inflator plug-in by placing one of these in our master output channel strip (any native or third-party loudness maximiser can do the same job). As it works like a limiter, it responds in the main to the bottom end, to create an even bigger-sounding final mix. Check out our Final Mix.wav and compare it to yours.
mixing: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE / 143
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