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.
Splice
Programming organic, punchy kick and 808 grooves
Vaughn Oliver demonstrates how to perfect kick dynamics using manual ghost notes and phase alignment techniques in Ableton Live. By adjusting the decay and attack of the kick drum through volume automation and fades, he creates a more natural and organic feel, mimicking the dynamics of a real kick drum. He also employs sidechain compression with the Cableguys ShaperBox plugin to achieve a punchy and tight low-end, ensuring the kick and 808 bass are perfectly in phase.
Mix with the Masters
Building a huge string section from 5 players
Malay demonstrates how to create the sound of a large string section using only five players by employing layering techniques. He records multiple takes with a small group of string players, moving microphones and players around the room to capture different perspectives and avoid phasing issues. This approach allows him to build a rich, orchestral sound without the need for a full orchestra, making it a cost-effective solution for projects with limited budgets. By stacking these takes and adding harmonies or different octaves, Malay achieves a full, lush string arrangement. He then uses automation to create a dynamic mix that mimics the feel of a live orchestra, enhancing the illusion of a larger ensemble.
Produce Like A Pro
Bold pre-tape EQ shaping for kick and snare
Darrell Thorp enhances the kick and snare using API 550A and Pultec EQP-1A hardware EQs, focusing on achieving a bigger, more present sound with added weight. He emphasizes the importance of pre-tape EQ, not shying away from heavily shaping the signals directly on the board to achieve the desired sound. For the kick, Thorp employs a Neumann U 47 fet microphone placed inside the drum, preferring a close-miking technique to capture the full body of the sound. He boosts 6dB at 100Hz and 10kHz, and adds 4dB at 3kHz for presence, using the API 550A to shape the low-end and high-end, while the Pultec EQP-1A adds thickness and brightness. On the snare, a Shure SM57 captures the top, with Thorp applying 9dB at 10kHz and 2dB at 100Hz using the API 550A, complemented by a Pultec boost at 10kHz for silky air. The snare bottom, also miked with an SM57, receives a 6dB boost at 10kHz, ensuring a cohesive, well-defined snare sound. Thorp's approach demonstrates confidence in using EQ aggressively during the recording phase to craft a polished sound before it even hits the tape.
Puremix
Add depth and punch with a mono kit mic
Greg Wells shares his approach for adding depth and character to drum recordings using a mono kit mic, inspired by Eric Valentine. By positioning a mic like a U47 horizontally over the kick drum, angled towards the beater, Wells captures a focused, punchy sound. He enhances this mono mic signal with EQ and compression, adding low-end frequencies around 60-100 Hz and using compressors like a 1176, Distressor or LA-2A to squash the signal liberally. This processing creates a sound that, while potentially unusable on its own, blends beautifully with the rest of the drum kit to add weight and depth. Wells emphasizes the unique quality of mono mics, which can be cranked without becoming overwhelming, maintaining focus and clarity. They are particularly effective for enhancing the low-end of the kick drum, snare, and toms, providing a rich, full-bodied drum sound.
URM Academy
Low-end clarity through kick-bass sidechaining
Will Carson demonstrates his approach to using sidechain compression in the low-end, drawing inspiration from Jason Joshua, to craft a powerful, punchy low-end while maximizing headroom and loudness. By applying the Oeksound Soothe plugin on the bass bus and all low-end elements like 808s, Carson ensures the kick drum cuts through the mix. This technique ducks the bass whenever the kick hits, allowing the sub frequencies of the kick to dominate without overwhelming the mix, thus preventing muddiness. This method is essential for achieving a punchy, clear low-end that feels substantial without actually increasing the low-end content, optimizing headroom and overall loudness in the mix.
URM Academy
Sidechaining for a bigger snare room
In this session, Dan Braunstein focuses on using sidechain compression to enhance the snare room sound in a mix. He demonstrates how adjusting the attack and release settings on the sidechained compressor allows the snare's decay to shine through. The key is going for a longer attack time, so that the ducking makes room for the snare's decay rather than the initial snap. Dan sets up the sidechain to duck bass and guitars when the snare hits, allowing the room sound to pop through. Dan suggests sourcing the sidechain signal from the most direct snare track rather than the entire snare group, ensuring that the room's ambiance is effectively highlighted without overwhelming the mix. This approach is part of his broader strategy to make drums punch through the mix with clarity and presence.
Mix with the Masters
Sidechain reverb swells for dramatic vocal depth
Catherine Marks demonstrates her 'Swell Reverb' effect on vocals using Valhalla VintageVerb and Avid BF-76 for sidechain compression. By applying a long decay reverb and typically keying it off the snare, kick, or a click track, Marks creates a dynamic swelling effect that adds dramatic depth and interest to the vocal track. Even with the return level kept low and subtle, this technique effectively enhances the vocal dimension without clouding the mix. Initially used with subtlety, it became more pronounced in Manchester Orchestra's album 'Million Masks of God', where vocal reverbs prominently swell and pump in the background, enriching the overall sonic landscape.
Tape Notes Podcast
Layer bass sounds for bigger low end
Four Tet demonstrates how to create a distinctive dubstep-influenced bassline using two layers in Spectrasonics Omnisphere. By combining a wobbly bass preset, "Swaggering Around," with a low sine wave for added sub-bass, he enhances the bass's depth and weight, showcasing the power of layering different sounds.
GGD
Parallel compression for aggressive drum punch
Adam 'Nolly' Getgood shares his approach to parallel drum compression using the Slate FG-Stress plugin directly on the drum bus. He opts for a 20:1 ratio with a high-pass filter in the sidechain, allowing the compressor to focus on the midrange frequencies without the kick drum overly triggering the compression. This setup, inspired by Eric Valentine, uses a slow attack setting of 8 and a fast release of 2.5, achieving a punchy and exciting drum sound with a mix level around 32%. Nolly complements the compression with EQ using the Slate FG-N and Custom Series Equalizer plugins. He applies boosts at 12kHz and 5.5kHz to add presence and aggression, while occasionally enhancing the low end at 60Hz if needed. This EQ strategy, which he previously applied to the entire instrument mix bus, is focused solely on the drums, contributing to a bigger and more defined drum sound. By integrating these techniques, Nolly achieves a drum mix that is both weighty and aggressive, with a presence that stands out in the mix.
Mix with the Masters
More exciting drum recordings with parallel compression
Sylvia Massy demonstrates the use of parallel compression on drum mics using the UREI 1176LN hardware compressor. By blending a compressed signal with the original drum tracks, she aims to create a sound that is more upfront, bigger, and more exciting. Massy highlights the impact of this technique by adjusting the levels of kick, snare, and room mics, showcasing the enhanced energy and presence it brings to the drum mix. This approach allows the drums to maintain their natural dynamics while adding a layer of intensity and excitement to the overall sound, already during recording.
Audiofanzine
Multi-miking the kick for weight and punch
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.
Mix with the Masters
Eq into compression: Pushing lows for vocal weight
Ben Baptie crafts a dynamic vocal chain for The Strokes using a Pultec EQP-1A to enhance both low and high frequencies, adding richness and presence to the vocals. By boosting the low end, he strategically shapes the behavior of the subsequent UREI 1176LN compressor. The 1176 compressor, set with a fast attack and release, manages dynamics by quickly grabbing peaks and exciting the lower range, making the vocal more engaging and weighty. The boosted low end from the EQ makes the compressor work harder, adding excitement and energy to the vocal. To ensure consistency, Baptie employs a Tube-Tech CL 1B with a slower attack and release as a leveler, smoothing out the vocal performance regardless of its intensity. Finally, an AMS Neve 1081 is used for its filters, applying a low-pass filter to remove any unwanted high-frequency sheen, ensuring the vocal sits perfectly in the mix with a textured, characterful presence.
Mix with the Masters
Extend kick sustain for bigger impact
Jaycen Joshua demonstrates how to enhance the impact and power of a kick drum by extending its sustain. While he doesn't specify the tool used, a transient shaping tool would achieve this result quickly and efficiently. He explains that a longer sustain makes the kick sound bigger to the listener, even if the initial hit remains unchanged. This technique is particularly useful when increasing the attack or volume of the kick would negatively affect the mix. By simply lengthening the kick's duration, you can achieve a more powerful sound without increasing volume, providing a practical solution for achieving a bigger kick in your mix.
James Hype
Multi-band sidechaining for club-ready kick-bass impact
James Hype shares his essential technique for achieving powerful kick and bass separation in dance music using sidechain compression with Cableguys ShaperBox. He emphasizes the importance of selecting the right kick for each track and demonstrates how to use sidechain compression to eliminate phase issues with the bass that can cause the kick to lose impact. By visually analyzing the waveform, he ensures the sidechain is perfectly timed to the kick's length, maintaining its full volume and presence. Hype further refines the process with multi-band sidechain techniques, allowing the upper bass frequencies to remain audible while ducking the lower signal parts to prevent phasing. This approach ensures both kick and bass retain their power, delivering a club-ready sound that slams every time.
Reverb.com
More sustain with a kick resonator
Noam Wallenberg demonstrates a creative miking technique to achieve more sustain and a bigger sound from a kick drum using a kick resonator setup. By placing two kick drums in sequence, the first with no front head and the second with both heads closed, Wallenberg captures the attack with an AKG D112 microphone and the body with a Bock iFet microphone. This combination allows for a controlled, punchy attack from the first drum and a resonant, sustained low-end from the second. This approach is particularly effective for sparse arrangements where the kick needs to leave a lasting impact, providing both clarity and depth without sacrificing control.
Tape Notes Podcast
Playing softer for bigger drum sounds
Jack Antonoff shares his approach to achieving bigger-sounding drums by playing them softly. He explains that playing drums loudly can paradoxically limit their perceived loudness in a mix. By playing softly, the drums can be mixed louder, leveraging a psychoacoustic effect where our brains interpret the sound as being closer and, thus, more impactful. This technique is akin to the sensation of hearing a whisper clearly; when a sound is soft yet prominent, it tricks our perception into feeling as though the source is near. This creates an intimate and powerful presence in the mix, making the drums feel larger and more enveloping without overwhelming other elements.
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.
Produce Like A Pro
Add fullness with colored EQ
Marc Daniel Nelson utilizes a unique, hidden characteristic of the Helios Type 69 EQ to add fullness to the main guitar. The trick involves setting the low-frequency band to 60Hz, but without adding any boost to the band's gain control. This way the EQ circuit subtly shapes and colors the sound, enhancing its richness and thickness without introducing muddiness. The original inspiration for this technique came from Andrew Sheps.
Produce Like A Pro
Get bigger, more spacious guitars with panning
Marc Daniel Nelson showcases a technique to create a bigger, more spacious guitar sound by using two microphones (Shure SM57 and Beyerdynamic M160) and panning them hard left and right in the mix. This approach leverages the slight tonal and phase differences between the mics to craft a wider, more immersive guitar presence. Key to this method is adjusting the volume of one mic slightly lower than the other, enhancing spatial depth and reducing phase issues without losing the guitar's clear position in the stereo field. Nelson further enriches the guitar's character by applying bus compression with a dbx 160VU, ensuring a vibrant sound.
Waves
Adding subharmonics for bigger, punchier keys
Leslie Brathwaite uses the Waves Renaissance Equalizer and Waves LoAir to add subharmonics and enhance the low-end of Rhodes in a hip-hop track. He balances enhancing the low-end with the LoAir plugin while controlling it with a high-pass filter in the Renaissance EQ. This ensures that the meaty lower notes of the Rhodes are felt and heard, while maintaining brightness and presence in the overall sound. Brathwaite emphasizes the importance of experimenting with both plugins to find the right balance, often bypassing one or the other to assess their individual contributions to the mix.
SonicScoop
Align phase between snare mics to avoid a thin snare sound
Sylvia Massy emphasizes the importance of aligning the phase between the top and bottom snare mics for a full snare sound. The phase inversion typically occurs because when the snare is hit, the top and bottom heads move in opposite directions relative to their respective mics – the top head moves away from the top mic, while the bottom head moves towards the bottom mic. This opposing movement creates a phase discrepancy, often resulting in a thin, papery snare sound when both mics are mixed. To fix this, Massey flips the phase on the bottom mic, thus restoring the fullness and tone of the drum. She points out that checking and correcting phase between drum mics (snare mics, overheads against the snare, etc.) is an essential step at the beginning of every mix.
Sam Evian
Add depth and bigness with vintage digital reverb
On top of a shorter delay-chorus effect, Owens adds a longer reverb for more depth and a bigger vocal sound. He expresses a fondness for the tone and character of vintage digital reverbs from the late '70s and early '80s, due to their distinctive and unique sonic qualities.
Universal Audio
Add tone and sustain with parallel compression
Joe Chiccarelli demonstrates how to add tone and sustain to hip-hop drums using parallel compression and EQ. On the parallel bus, he employs the UAD Chandler Limited Zener Limiter to extend the sustain and impart a classic 70s tone, followed by the UAD Chandler Limited Curve Bender EQ to enhance the kick drum's knock and bring out the hi-hats. By blending the parallel path with the original drums, Chiccarelli achieves a bigger, more defined drum mix that better projects through the overall track.
Universal Audio
Get a tighter, bigger low-end with EQ post-compression
Thorp discusses his approach to refining the mix bus's EQ by adding a bit of low-end around 100 Hz for warmth and size, particularly enhancing the kick and the bass. He also likes to cut a small amount of 250 Hz to clean up low-mid mud. He points out the importance of applying the low-end boost after the compression stage, which in his experience results in a tighter, more controlled bottom end.
SonicScoop
Wider, more energetic bass with harmonizing and parallel distortion
Sylvia Massy utilizes the JJP Bass plugin to enhance the bass, focusing on two key features: the 'width' control, which is a harmonizer adding stereo width and bigness to a mono bass signal, and the 'edge' control, which introduces parallel distortion for added character and energy. These techniques collectively expand the bass's presence and texture in the mix, and are especially effective if the mix has enough room in the lower mid and bass region to fill out.
Universal Audio
Bigger low-end with sidechain filtering
Joe Chiccarelli uses the UAD Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor on the mix bus to achieve a bigger and more natural low-end for a hip-hop track. He employs a fast release and slow attack with a 3:1 ratio, applying just 1-2 dB of compression to glue the mix together without making it sound overly processed. Chiccarelli opts for the nickel transformer setting to add sparkle and life to the mix. A key feature he highlights is the sidechain filter, which prevents the low-end from triggering too much compression, avoiding unwanted pumping and breathing effects. This technique ensures the low-end remains powerful and natural.
Mix with the Masters
Add width and size with short delay and chorus
Tom Elmhirst enhances the width and size of jazz and pop vocals using a combination of short delay and chorus effects. He employs the UAD Brigade Chorus to add warmth and width, creating a "cotton wall" feeling around the vocal without overwhelming it. Additionally, Elmhirst uses the Valhalla DSP Delay set to a slap delay with no feedback, providing depth and a sense of space while maintaining clarity and intimacy in the vocal performance. This approach ensures the vocals sound bigger and more engaging, fitting seamlessly into the mix.
Puremix
Add weight to kicks with a resonant filter
Darrell Thorp uses the UAD Little Labs VOG to quickly and effectively add weight and size to an otherwise thin sounding kick drum. He typically starts with the "maximum lows" preset and then adjusts the amount of low end boost to suit the track.
Universal Audio
Bigger, more open mix bus with EQ
Joe Chiccarelli uses the UAD Chandler Limited Curve Bender EQ on the mix bus to achieve a bigger and more open sound. By making subtle adjustments—just one click on the low end and one click on the high end—he enhances the overall mix without overwhelming it. For Chiccarelli, this EQ setting serves as the perfect finishing tool, adding the final polish to the mix and ensuring it sounds expansive and clear.