Ultimate Studios, Inc
Charlie Waymire demonstrates how to use a Cascade Fat Head II ribbon mic positioned 3-4 feet in front of a drum kit to add depth and ambience. The ribbon mic captures a balanced relationship between the kick and snare, smoothing transients for a fuller sound. This setup is ideal for rock recordings, as it enhances low-mid frequencies, making the kick feel fat and punchy while adding body to the snare. Waymire highlights the mic's ability to handle cymbals without harshness, thanks to its natural high-frequency roll-off, allowing the drum kit to sound spacious yet cohesive. This technique effectively creates a natural room sound, adding beefy depth to the mix.
Reverb.com
Noam Wallenberg and Jessica Burdeaux demonstrate how to achieve a dry 70s drum sound using close miking and dampening techniques, inspired by Fleetwood Mac. By distancing the snare and hi-hat, Wallenberg minimizes crosstalk, while close miking with specific microphones like the AKG 414 on the snare and RE20 on the kick captures a focused, punchy sound. The overheads, captured with AKG 451s, are heavily filtered to emphasize cymbals without adding weight, maintaining clarity and separation. Tape saturation is used for dynamic control instead of compression, adding warmth and character. An EMT 140 plate reverb subtly enhances the overall ambience, excluding the kick drum, to maintain the dry, vintage vibe.
Eric Valentine
Eric Valentine showcases how Empirical Labs Distressors on the drum bus can inject energy, excitement, and aggression into a drum mix. He uses a 20:1 ratio with a slow attack to boost the drums' punch, adjusting the release to match the song's tempo for a musical swell without overpowering cymbals. Valentine emphasizes engaging the high-pass, presence, and link settings to prevent over-compression of the kick drum, maintaining balance. The high-pass reduces sensitivity to low frequencies, while the presence boosts high-mids in the sidechain path, resulting in a smoother sound with less strident cymbals. This technique, paired with subtle EQ shaping, dramatically transforms the drum sound, enhancing the mix's overall impact.
Record Production
Dan Austin demonstrates a creative technique for recording guitars by heavily distorting a room microphone to add energy beneath the main guitar sound. He uses a bright condenser mic, like the AKG 414, placed about 12 feet from the guitar cabinet. By cranking up the mic preamps, he achieves a unique distortion, adding a lively character to the mix. Austin emphasizes the importance of recording this distorted room mic on a separate track, allowing it to be blended subtly under the close mics for a fuller, more exciting guitar sound.
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SonicScoop
In this reverb masterclass, Richard Furch discusses four classifications of reverb: vocal, ambient, special effect, and throws. He focuses on using long vocal reverbs and short ambient reverbs to create space and texture in a mix, demonstrating his techniques with a session from R&B artist Leela James. Furch showcases the use of different reverb styles, like plate and spring, to emphasize how each affects the vocal's texture and presence. He uses creative descriptions to convey the subtle differences between various reverb effects, highlighting the importance of choosing the right reverb to enhance a track’s emotional impact. This session offers practical insights into how reverb can be used to shape the space and vibe of a track, making it essential viewing for those looking to refine their skills.
Tape Notes Podcast
Four Tet enhances bass clarity by layering additional sounds on top of the primary synth line using Spectrasonics Omnisphere. He subtly layers a bell sound over the bass line, which, while not overtly audible, prevents the bass from being buried in the mix. This layering technique adds depth and ensures the bass remains prominent and defined, contributing to a clearer overall sound.
Tape Notes Podcast
FKJ employs a modular synth setup to craft dynamic and evolving drum sounds through real-time automation. By continuously adjusting the settings of the percussion module, he introduces variation and intensity to the rhythm, making the drum sequences more interesting and less static. The modular system enables FKJ to alter elements like snare decay in real-time, adding a lively and creative dimension to the electronic drum sounds. This hands-on approach not only enhances the track's dynamics but also makes the process more enjoyable and engaging for the artist. These real-time manipulations are recorded as audio tracks in the DAW, allowing for further editing and comping, similar to traditional instrument takes. This method provides flexibility and creative control, resulting in a more vibrant and expressive drum sound.
JHS Pedals
Explore the diverse world of overdrive pedals with a deep dive into five essential styles, each offering unique tonal characteristics. The journey begins with soft clipping overdrives, featuring the iconic Tube Screamer known for its mid-frequency boost, and the Blues Breaker style, celebrated for its transparency and natural sound. Next, delve into hard clipping overdrives, where the DOD Preamp 250 and MXR Distortion Plus set the stage for a more aggressive, clipped sound. The Klon Centaur, a modern favorite, stands out with its unique gain structure and clean signal blend, offering a distinct EQ profile. Finally, discover transistor-based pedals like the Blues Driver, which mimic the cascading saturation of tube amps. These pedals provide a natural, touch-responsive overdrive, perfect for players seeking dynamic control.
HAND
HAND delves into the basics of tempo manipulation using tape loops, focusing on adding character and movement to electronic drum rhythms. Utilizing the Uher Report 4000, HAND demonstrates how tape looping and delay can create more interesting and dynamic soundscapes. The segment includes an analysis of signal records and monitor output, particularly examining speed stacks and delays. The discussion highlights the practical aspects of delayed releases and tempo adjustments in music production, emphasizing the intersection of music quality and physics. For a deeper understanding, viewers are encouraged to watch the video for further insights.
Universal Audio
Thorp explains his approach to two-bus compression, emphasizing gentle, minimal compression to lightly squeeze the mix. He uses a medium fast attack and release, aiming for barely a dB of compression, to retain dynamics while achieving a cohesive sound. His preference for UAD plugins like Shadow Hills and API 2500 for mixbus compression is noted for their effectiveness in different scenarios.
Produce In a Minute
In this segment, the speaker demonstrates how to use Izotope's Ozone Imager to identify and manage phase issues in a stereo mix, focusing on a bass line. The key tool here is the phase correlation meter, which helps ensure a balanced stereo image by indicating the phase relationship between the left and right channels. A reading between 0 and +1 is ideal, as it suggests a good balance without phase cancellation. The speaker shows that increasing stereo width can risk phase issues, as indicated by the meter dropping below zero. Conversely, converting the signal to mono can achieve perfect phase correlation, highlighting the importance of monitoring and adjusting stereo width to maintain audio quality.
SonicScoop
In this reverb masterclass, Richard Furch demonstrates his approach to crafting vocal reverb by de-essing before the reverb stage. This technique prevents harsh sibilance from cluttering the reverb, allowing only the desired brightness to enhance the vocal space. Furch further refines the reverb by cutting low-mid frequencies with an EQ to avoid muddiness, ensuring a clear and splashy reverb effect. He emphasizes controlling brightness on the vocal track to achieve a balanced blend, highlighting the importance of a slightly darker reverb compared to the direct vocal sound. This nuanced control helps the reverb complement the vocal without overwhelming it.
SonicScoop
Matt Lange demonstrates how he uses Soundtoys' Filter Freak to transform bass sounds in electronic music production. By applying a six-pole low-pass filter at 135 Hz, he achieves a subby bass reminiscent of drum and bass styles, creating depth and warmth with simplicity. Lange adds another layer of complexity by using a custom step-sequence modulation. Syncing to tempo and using a four-pole bandpass filter, he crafts a dynamic bass line that evolves with rhythmic modulation. Pushing the input for extra overdrive and saturation adds warmth and grit, producing a rich, textured sound. Explore these techniques to add creative movement and depth to your bass tracks, making them more engaging and sonically interesting.
Reverb.com
Tame Impala's distinctive snare sound is achieved using an unconventional microphone setup, featuring a Sennheiser MD421 on the top and a Shure SM58 on the side of the snare. This unique placement enhances the snare's presence and character, providing a vintage feel by capturing more of the shell's resonance. Instead of the typical top and bottom mic configuration, the side mic approach allows for more sustain and a looser snare strainer setting, adding to the snare's sizzle. This technique is complemented by a mono overhead mic, strategically placed over the floor tom to balance the capture of the hi-hat and rack tom sounds. Kevin Parker's approach demonstrates that achieving a professional drum sound doesn't require a high-end studio. With creativity and strategic mic placement, you can replicate this sound even in a modest setting, using just four microphones.
EngineEars
In this mix breakdown, engineer Teezio dives into the process behind Victoria Monét's "On My Mama," focusing on vocal treatment. He uses FabFilter Pro-Q3 for surgical EQ cuts and iZotope Neutron for broader EQ shaping. A touch of DMG Audio Limitless adds subtle limiting, while "Fresh Air" plugin introduces airy texture. Teezio highlights the importance of treating each vocal section separately to maintain clarity and avoid compromise. He also shares his philosophy of working with existing elements when they sound "dope," instead of altering them unnecessarily. This approach ensures each track element is treated uniquely and effectively.
SonicScoop
Sylvia Massy advocates a top-down approach for mixing electric guitars, focusing on bus EQ and compression. Noting the individual tracks' inherent coherency, she bypasses EQ and compression on each track, opting instead for these processes on the guitar bus. This method not only enhances consistency, body, and presence more efficiently, but also unifies the individual tracks effectively.
NPR Music
Josh Rogosin from NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series demonstrates the classic Glyn Johns drum mic setup, a technique famously used to record drummers like Keith Moon and John Bonham. This method involves placing two microphones, each 30 to 40 inches from the center of the snare drum at a 90 degree angle and ensuring they are equidistant to avoid phase cancellation. This precise placement allows the sound waves from the snare to reach both microphones simultaneously, preventing a hollow sound and maintaining the integrity of the drum recording. Rogosin highlights the effectiveness of this setup, even with limited equipment, making it a valuable technique for achieving a full, balanced drum sound with just two microphones.
Waves
Michael Brauer emphasizes starting a mix by focusing on the emotion and message of the song. He listens to the rough mix and asks both himself and the artist questions about what they like and dislike, aiming to understand the intended feel and message. In the initial stage of the mix, he is highly spontaneous and intuitive, moving quickly to capture the right emotion without overthinking. He uses his gear based on the attitudes and tones they represent, making swift decisions to enhance the song's feel. He avoids soloing tracks unless necessary and aims to make the mix feel good within the first 15 minutes. By asking the artist questions, he ensures his mix aligns with their vision, making the process collaborative and emotionally driven.
Tyler Gilmore
BlankFor_ms demonstrates the sound of different tape machines from his collection using two different tape loops: a synth pad and a beat. This showcases the character of each machine This explores the creative potential of tape looping to add depth and movement to music.
Sage Audio
This bit delves into the use of linear phase EQ to address phase rotation issues caused by equalizers. By employing a linear phase setting, you can maintain phase integrity, avoiding interference and ensuring the phase stays at 0°, as demonstrated with the free Burum EQ analyzer. While linear phase filters are beneficial for preserving phase relationships, they can introduce pre-ringing distortion, which affects transients. However, this distortion is minimal, making the advantages of linear phase EQ outweigh its drawbacks. The bit also highlights the challenges of parallel processing, where phase interference can occur if phase rotation is introduced. By using linear phase EQ in parallel setups, you can prevent destructive phase interference and maintain the integrity of your mix.
Audiofanzine
George Massenburg explores optimizing kick drum sounds through multi-miking and phase adjustment techniques, using the Audix D6 and U47 FET microphones. He highlights the importance of mic placement and phase relationships, noting that the Audix D6 provides snap and punch, while the U47 FET adds size and weight to the low end. By adjusting the U47 FET's distance from the kick drum, Massenburg achieves a desirable phase cancellation that enhances the drum's heft. While phase alignment can be fine-tuned post-recording in a DAW by adjusting time delays between the two mics, Massenburg prefers to achieve this during the recording process. This ensures a powerful and well-defined low end right from the start.
Waves
Chris Lord-Alge emphasizes the importance of separating session preparation from the actual mixing process. He advises that all file preparation, including editing, cleaning up, and organizing tracks, should be done on a different day than the mixing. By doing this, he conserves his creative energy for the mixing itself, ensuring that when he sits down to mix, he can focus solely on the creative aspects rather than technical adjustments. Lord-Alge highlights that starting a mix with a well-prepared session allows him to immediately begin balancing and enhancing the tracks, rather than getting bogged down with corrections and edits. This approach helps maintain a clear and efficient workflow, ultimately leading to a more inspired and effective mix.
Waves
Tony Maserati's approach to mixing bass often involves a combination of a low-cut filter and a low-end boost. The boost adds weight and presence to the bass, while the low-cut filter is applied to remove excessive sub-bass frequencies. This technique results in a fuller, more controlled bass sound, enhancing the low end while maintaining clarity. In this particular instance, he is boosting at 50-60Hz and filtering at around 20Hz.
Electrical Audio
In this segment, Steve Albini and cellist Alison Chesley explore techniques for recording acoustic cello at Electrical Audio studio. Albini emphasizes using a high-quality microphone, like the Josephson c617, for a natural sound with wide frequency response, achieving a balance of detail and low tones. Albini discusses the benefits of positioning mics where the instrument naturally projects well, avoiding overly complex setups. A lavalier mic, like the Crown GLM 100, can be attached for close, detailed capture, particularly helpful in noisy environments or ensemble settings. By prioritizing natural sound over extensive EQ, they demonstrate capturing the true essence of Chesley’s cello. This approach ensures clarity and faithful reproduction of the instrument’s unique character, which remains crucial whether recorded acoustically or in amplified settings.
Audiopunks
Chris Coady shares his unconventional technique of applying spring reverb to the bass in verses, creating a special atmosphere that subtly enhances the song's vibe without muddying the low end. This contrast between the verbby verses and tighter choruses adds dynamic interest. For this effect, Coady uses Telefunken Echo Mixer plugin by Audiopunks and highlights its unique distortion and reverb capabilities, reminiscent of germanium transistor warmth, using it as a tone-shaping tool to add depth and character.
MusicRadar Tech
DjRUM highlights the creative potential of embracing imperfect edits, using a trill as an example. By intentionally leaving the editing crude, they create a unique blend of realism and digital magic, where listeners are left questioning the authenticity of the sound. Instead of meticulously aligning transients and perfecting crossfades, the producer opts for a more spontaneous approach, allowing the imperfections to be masked by other elements in the mix. This technique emphasizes the beauty of free recording and improvisation, demonstrating that not every sound needs to be flawlessly executed to contribute effectively to a track.
Tape Notes Podcast
Bonobo employs the TB Reelbus plugin to introduce tape modulation and saturation, aiming to create a more organic and less static feel in his mixes. While the plugin adds width and subtle saturation, it is primarily used for its tape wobble effect, which Bonobo uses to infuse life and excitement into synth sounds. This modulation enhances the overall texture, making the music feel more vibrant and engaging.
James Hype
James Hype emphasizes the power of simplicity in production, using his hit record "Ferrari" as an example. By employing basic elements like a 909 drum kit and minimal loops, he ensures that the main focus—the guitar and vocal—remains memorable and impactful. Hype highlights that while the house loop is pleasant, it serves primarily to support the track's core elements without overshadowing them. This approach contrasts with the tendency of some producers to overcomplicate their tracks, which can detract from the main idea. By keeping the supporting elements simple, Hype creates a clear focal point, allowing the primary sounds to shine and making the track more memorable.
Studio.com
Alexander 23 shares a tempo-perception trick he learned from a collaborator: when a song feels off-speed, don't nudge it a little in the right direction. Push it way too fast, then way too slow, then dial back in. The extreme swings reset how your brain is hearing the track, so you can trust the tempo you land on. He demos it live in Ableton on an acoustic guitar session, using warp to make the tempo sweeps instant and effortless. Even though the result confirms the faster BPM he suspected all along, he notes that going through the process is what makes him certain. The same principle applies beyond tempo. Whenever you're dialing in a level, an effect, or a compressor setting, sweeping both directions first can give you a clearer idea for what works and what doesn't, so the final decision comes with more confidence.
Apogee
Shawn Everett explores the idea of exclusively using contact mics and speakers for the recording of the song "Blurred View" from Big Thief, bypassing traditional microphones to craft a distinctive sonic palette. This approach allows him to capture unique, organic sounds that emphasize emotion and creativity. During the recording sessions, Shawn mixes live, ensuring that the rough mix at the end of each day is album-ready. This workflow requires him to adapt his mixing techniques on the fly, maintaining a focus on emotion and immediacy. Shawn employs unconventional methods, such as using a rewired speaker as a contact mic on a kick drum, to achieve unusual textures. He also creatively repurposes old Apple headphones as contact mics for guitar amps, demonstrating his innovative approach to sound capture. For vocals, Shawn tapes headphones to the singer's throat, resulting in a lo-fi vocal sound that adds a unique character to the track.