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Testing Enviroment

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:34:03 +0000

Recently I’ve been checking out mini amps and doing audio reviews.

The following list is the equipment used when testing.

Recording Equipment:

Studio Projects – C1 Condenser Microphone

t.bone SC-300 Session Master SCM 300 Condenser Microphone

Trakstar Pen Condenser Microphone

Joe Meek VC3 Compressor

AKG N62E PhantomPower Unit

Behringer Xenyx 1622FX

Guitars Used:

Fender 1990 Silver Series Squier Start – Black

Danelectro U2

Fender Mexican Telecaster w/seymour duncan bridge pickup – Cream/White

Samick Greg Bennet Design Royale RL 1 – Semi Acoustic – Blue

Production Tips Part 1

admin — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:49:25 +0000

Vocals – From a production and performance viewpoint it can be good idea to split the vocal recording monto seperate tracks

ie 1 track for verse and 1 track for chorus.

This will help in controlling volume differences and will also help with allow you set different levels and fx.

It can also help on the performance side – mistakes can take up so much time -vocal cords get fatigued.

—-> be aware though. Record verses first then chorus and make a note of all your settings.

If possible record on the same day. Differences will show…

Vocals 2 – Double up vocals -

Record the vocal once then copy onto another track, leave one track alone and then compress the help out of the other track and mix together. Experiment with adding different eq’s.
Record perfrmances on two tracks of the same vocal and do as above.
As above using both techniques, auto tune/pitch correct one track only.
Both of these ideas can help thicken a vocal track – be careful though it can have the effect of sounding cheap – it’s good to mess around and experiment…

Compression – Try to avoid overdoing the compression, compressing everything will as well as killing the dynamics of your track will bring up noise levels.

Reverb – Setup one reverb for whole production. Too many different reverbs can make it difficult to get each instrumentsit properly in the mix.

Guitars – Mushy guitars can be cleaned up by pulling back on the gain or by mixing in a clean channel of the same recording. Also don’t be scared of bringing the guitars down in a mix. If mixed too loud they will cloud everything.

Record the same guitar part on 4 seperate tracks – mix full left and full right for a big stereo sound. Really useful on chorus’s if during the mix you have a simple arrangement of bass and drums.
Get the distorted sound you want and half the gain – record the guitar part 4 times and mix together.
Use different guitars. In the past I’ve used a cheap £30 nylon strung 3/4 guitar for palm muting. It’s not always the best guitar that is best for the job – experiment with sound. Acoustic guitars can sound as heavy as electric.
Different strings, amps, settings – mixing these up through a song can bring a peice of music to life but too many effects can lessen the impact of good music. Less is more soemtimes.
DI’d guitar in my opinion sucks – mic it if possible or mix the two sounds together.
Always experiment try different sized amps – a battery powered practice amp with a 50% battery has a tone of it’s own so mic it up. A twenty quid steel strung guitar with the worst action can make a great slide guitar. It’s all how you approach things. Cheap karaoke mics can sound nasty as hell so use that – buying expensive toys is nice but sometimes buying cheap and messing about can bring it’s own reward.

Remember recording and production as a hobby is about experimenting not about reading and following manuals. All the truly great producers were innovators and whatifs people.

Midi and Vst setup – Sonar

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:05:59 +0000

Click on the midi track number, As shown below.

It it will turn yellow

To assign the ‘Vst instrument’

Left Click the box the arrow is pointing at.

Choose Vst instrument.

For Vst Instruments that have several instruments assigned to different channels.

If you have setup your VST to have multiple instruments on channels 1-16 then you can assign a channel to this midi track.

Mixing – Using Compression – The Seedier Way

admin — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:15:05 +0000

If like me you have trouble with your mixing and mastering stage then the following article sent to me by the scottish reprobate Seedy Dave should help,

OK so forgive the obvious but a quick once over basic compression first, lets say you’ve got a track recorded on acoustic geetar and it peaks at 0dB, but there are sections where the volume is only about -12dB……….when ya listen to it it sounds fine but the quiet sections are getting lost……

If you set the threshold of a compressor to say -4dB and the compression ratio to 4:1

what’ll happen is that when the track is above this level (-4dB) it will be affected by the compressor,

and the effect on the track will be this, for every 4dB the track is above the threshold of (-4dB) the compressor will reduce its volume to a quarter of what it was (4:1 = 1/4),

so instead of having your geetar peaking at 0dB it’ll now be peaking at -3dB

(Try to think of the compression ratio 4:1 as 4dBs over the threshold will become 1dB over the threshold after compression………………..ditto 2:1 and 10:1 etc)

So now yer loud bits are quieter, and the quiet bits have not changed……….

so then you add your compressor make up gain which in effect brings the whole track back up to the 0dB mark again,

so the loud bits are back where they were and the quiet bits have been lifted by 4dB from -12dB to -8dB………..so basically what you’ve done is increase the average volume, so the track sounds louder and punchier at the same volume as before…..and there is less variance in the volume of the playing……..take the process to extremes and you’ve got the sound of the adverts.

The only other bits to get yer hied round are the attack and release times, so attack time first……..

Basically all you are doing with the attack time is deciding how long after the threshold is exceeded before the compressor kicks in…………..you’d think right away, but it ain’t that straight forward…………if yer acoustic track is a strummy thing, then the track will be getting driven along by yer playing,

so if you have a very quick attack time what’ll happen is that since the initial part of the strum is the loudest part (and therefore over yer threshold) the compressor will quieten that part and kill the groove by dimminishing the rhythmic impact of yer geetar………….so the trick is to set the attack time long enough to let the initial part of the strum through and then compressor can control the rest of the sound……..it’s the same for all instruments, you let the nose of the note through the compressor before you start squeezin’……..f** around with a snappy snare sample and it’ll make more sense.

Fortunately most Mix Bus compressors have automatic attack and release knobs that do it all for ya and they work fine.

The release time does what it says…….it sets how long after the sound drops below the threshold before it switches the compressor off………do it too quick and you can hear it cutting out, set it too long and the depending on the tempo of the track the next strum could take it back up over the threshold again. Basically you’re looking for a release time that is unobtrusive to the music and releases the compressor quickly enough for the next sound (strum) that comes along and exceeds the threshold.

Makin’sense?

So the Mix Bus thingy.

Why & How, from the SOS guide to Mix Bus Compression – taken from (Sound on Sound)

The whole idea behind this technique is that you are mixing through the compressor from the beginning of the mix process, you are carving your mix, dynamically speaking, through the compressor, and monitoring the compressor’s output.

The point is that the same set of fader settings will actually produce a different mix balance depending on whether you apply compression, and how much. Applying compression after the mix is complete will change the balance you have carefully set up, so unless you mixed into a compressor from the start, compressing the mix once the track is finnished is gonna upset all yer hard work.

When you mix without compression, the relative level of each element within the mix is entirely determined by the position of the faders. When you add a compressor over the mix bus, you’re adding another layer of dynamic management, one over which you have less control. It can feel as though your fader moves are ‘fighting’ the actions of the compressor.

Typically, the compressor will tend to react to the instruments that are already the loudest parts of your mix, such as lead vocals and drums, because these are the first and loudest signals to cross the compressor’s threshold.

Different compressor settings may tend to bring out different elements in the mix but, in general, you will find that the harder you hit the compressor, the less difference your fader movements seem to make to the predominant parts of the mix. Consider a lead vocal that was compressed during tracking and is also being compressed in real time during mixdown. If you are mixing this lead vocal, among other sounds,

through a bus compressor, the lead vocal itself will become even more compressed if it is the loudest part of the mix. So in absolute terms, mix compression will tend to make the lead vocal quieter, and you may need to compensate a bit more with positive fader values to achieve the loudness that you want from the lead vocal — but also consider that the louder you push the faders, the more you will compress the output! And,

of course, the gain reduction that is triggered by the lead vocal crossing the mix compressor’s threshold is applied to all elements of the mix at once, so the lead vocal’s apparent level relative to the other instruments may actually be increased by mix compression.

Typically, a stereo compressor setup with a low ratio such as 1.5:1 or 2:1, and a medium attack and medium release, is a great starting point for mix-bus compression. Begin by setting the threshold to give a minimal amount of gain reduction, perhaps -1 to -3 dB (Dats below yer loudest part of yer mix).

When you’re experimenting with bus compression for your mixes, set the make-up gain so that the level of the processed signal matches the level of the unprocessed signal as closely as possible. This way, when you are in the middle of a mix you can bypass the compressor and hear what the compression is doing to your mix.

Although having the right compressor settings for mix-bus compression is important, you don’t want to be adjusting the settings in the later parts of the mix. The best thing to do is to get a feel for what the mix is going to be about early on, set the bus compressor then, and leave it be. Any changes that you make to the compressor settings later will change the internal mix balances. - (taken from Sound on Sound)

Any decent sterio compressor can be used for the job…….set the attack, release and make up to automatic and drop the threshold down to 3dBs below yer loudest bit.

Most upmarket ***** use outboard gear but f** it enough is enough…………if ya gots any questions please read it again.

- Seedz.

Note to reader, please never feed the Seedy one after midnight, don;t ask why, just don’t.

Computer Music Magazine

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 07:17:48 +0000

http://www.computermusic.co.uk/

New to computer aided recording this excellent magazine is crammed full features.

Reviews of software, samlples and equipment.

Thoughtful and intersting interviews.

Excellent tutorials – focussing on production, music creation, and software use.

The magazine also comes with a DVD crammed with nearly 9gb of stuff.

The DVD inculdes samples, pluigins and demo software.

A bonus of this is CMs own software collection – all the tools you need to create.

At £5.99 and available in USA/Canada it’s worth every penny.

Compression – Useful Articles

admin — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:25:54 +0000

Sound On Sound:

How & When To Use Mix Compression

Harmomy Central:

Compression/Limiting

Remixmag:

Tips On Compression Settings

Tweakheadz:

All About Compressors

Bluffing The String Section

admin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:47:56 +0000

Lets face it my instrument of choice is the guitar.

I know what it does, I know how to make it do what I want.

Bass – well I think like a bassist when I play.

Drums – apart from my aversion to cymbals I’ve got to grips with programming those.

Strings?

Well I’ve bluffed them before now. And I think got away with it.

Just.

But I want to know them better.

But it’s not like drums, bass or piano/keyboards.

I’ve known and played with people who play those instruments.

I’ve watched, listened and noted.

The good and the bad.

Strings, are a little more complicated.

Cello, Viola and violins – we’ve all heard them.

I grew up with music involving heavy use of strings yet I still know nothing.

This article is hopefully going to follow my attempts at getting to grips with them.

———————————————-

So ok, in the past I’ve used software based strings.

Synful, Garritan and Edirol’s orchestral VST’s

All perfectly workable but all expensive and processor hungry.

The expense is justified, I believe.

The work that goes into these packages is unbeleivable.

They sound great but it comes at a cost.

—————————————-

The route I’ve taken is this,

Two Emu ESI32′s fully loaded with 32mb each.

I know, 32mb’s not a lot.

But.

Combined with the Proteus Orchestral synth I have, I reckon that I can bluff it.

Because it’s the articulation you need.

Marcato: a bowing technique for playing a stringed instrument. Using the bow, one begins each note with a new attack, rather than slurring, which is a continuous motion of the bow from one note to the next. Marcato is similar to staccato, with each note played in a disconnected fashion, but is different because each note is played for its entire duration.

Legato: legato often refers to notes played with a full bow, that are played with minimal silence between notes. This may be achieved through controlled wrist movements of the bowing hand, often masked or enhanced with vibrato.

Pizzicato: Violinists and violists hold the instrument in the “banjo position” (resting horizontally on the lap), and pluck the strings with the thumb of the right hand. This technique is rarely used, and usually only in movements which are pizzicato throughout.

Spiccato: a bowing technique for stringed instruments in which the bow bounces lightly upon the string. The bow is held a short distance above the string and allowed to bounce, resulting in a series of short, distinct notes.

Staccato: Notes played abruptly and short. Notes are separated in a detached and distinctly separate manner, with silence making up the latter part of the time allocated to each note.

————————————————–

Useful Articles:

Sample The Orchestra @ Sound On Sound

Orchestral Manouvres @ Sound On Sound