Mix with the Masters
Parallel distortion: Making vocals cut like The Strokes
Ben Baptie employs parallel processing to give The Strokes' vocals more character and aggression, making them cut through the mix. He duplicates Julian's clean vocal track in Pro Tools, applying Isotope Trash for distortion and thinning out the sound to emphasize the mid-range. Baptie uses a Waves C6 and a FabFilter Pro-Q to control the low end, followed by an 1176 compressor to manage dynamics. This processing occurs in the box, before the hardware main vocal chain, ensuring the vocal retains its dynamic quality while adding a distinct edge. Baptie creates a parallel 'mult' with plugins like the SansAmp and L1 limiter to further drive and limit the vocal. This approach crafts a middle ground that enhances the vocal's presence and clarity, resulting in a signature sound that is both aggressive and clear. To ensure accurate phase alignment, Baptie instantiates the same plugins on the original track but bypasses them. This serves as a safety measure against possible inaccuracies in the DAW's automatic delay compensation, maintaining the integrity of the combined vocal sound.
Mix with the Masters
Choosing and automating the limiter
Chris Gehringer demonstrates the use of Izotope Ozone 11's dynamic limiter to achieve a cleaner and more balanced master for Dua Lipa's track. He emphasizes the importance of selecting the right limiter settings to enhance the song's character and movement. Gehringer uses EQ to subtly boost the bass, complementing the limiter's inherent color and character. He explains that limiters can alter the frequency balance, so EQ adjustments need to reflect the limiter choice, and vice versa. To address specific sections where distortion or artifacts occur, Gehringer advocates for automating limiter settings. By adjusting Ozone's parameters like the transient setting and character speed, he ensures the song maintains its integrity and vibrancy throughout, highlighting the significance of tailoring limiter settings to different parts of the track for optimal results.
Audiofanzine
Balance kick and snare with strategic overhead placement
George Massenburg emphasizes the importance of overhead microphone placement in achieving a balanced, full-bodied stereo image for drum recordings. He advocates for positioning the overheads equidistant from the kick and snare to ensure a strong center image, which is crucial for many genres. To achieve this, Massenburg suggests visualizing a line running through the kick and snare, with the overhead microphones positioned perpendicular, or at a 90-degree angle, to this line. This setup ensures that the overheads capture a balanced stereo image, promoting a cohesive and dynamic drum sound. Massenburg critiques the common practice of placing overheads directly over cymbals, suggesting that this approach often leads to an unbalanced mix. Instead, he advises engineers to rely on their ears rather than visual intuition, adjusting the mics in the control room to achieve the desired sound. He highlights the technique popularized by Bill Schnee, which involves using the overheads to capture the full size and air of the drum kit, complementing close mics that focus on attack.
Reverb.com
Add excitement and character to the drum bus
To enhance the character of a Black Keys-style drum recording, Noam Wallenberg is using a series of processing techniques on the drum bus. The Decapitator is employed to inject aggressive distortion, immediately adding excitement and a sense of controlled chaos to the drum sound. To smooth out transients, the Satin tape emulator is introduced, providing additional distortion and excitement while taming the sharpness of the hits. The Oxford Inflator, though somewhat mysterious in its exact function, is used to enhance dynamics and add mid-range presence, making the drums sound more lively and engaging. Further refinement is achieved with a Distressor to regain attack, followed by a multi-band compressor to balance the frequency surges and maintain control over the dynamic range. Finally, a touch of subtractive EQ with the FabFilter Pro-Q 3 is applied to manage the mid-range, ensuring the drum bus remains balanced and characterful.
Produce Like A Pro
Balance the stereo image with mono reverb
Marc Daniel Nelson shows how to achieve a balanced stereo image by applying a mono spring reverb, panned opposite to a guitar signal. The original guitar track is panned to the right, creating an imbalance in the stereo field. By strategically panning the reverb to the left, Nelson subtly fills out the mix, enhancing its spatial depth without the effect becoming overly prominent or detracting from the mix's overall balance. This approach is especially useful in mixes where a prominent instrument is panned to one side, and there's a need to maintain a cohesive and engaging stereo image. It also works well with other types of mono reverb, delays or modulation effects.