manual de-essing

Problem: your main vocal is too sibilant and compression just makes it worse.  you have no de-esser or the plug-ins are too nasty…. how do you solve this in the digital realm using just an editor?

the CLASS A way to do this transparently is just to manually separate all the esses and put them on another track with a fader… so either the “ess” track can be processed (compressed, whatever you want to do) on its own or the fader can be pulled down 3-6dB.

of course, it’s more time consuming than slapping on a waves de-ess plug-in but it’s more transparent. you’re literally lowering the volume of the “ess track” without touching the rest of the vocal… its the cleanest way to do it.  it also costs no money, only time.

this can be figured out just by understanding the toolbox…. what are we trying to accomplish?  de-essing a vocal.  what tools do we have available? digital editor, a multitrack, eq, compression, automation, etc… state the problem as simply as possible and the answer becomes clear.

Q: how are you separating them though?

grab the region with the ess in the main vocal track, separate it, drag down to the “ess track”, turn the fader down 3-6dB.

you have to manually edit where the ess starts and ends but this is really simple.  esses look like snare drums: sharp percussive transient, high freq, 6-7k, etc.  this is all we want to change about the vocal, right?  so isolate it on it’s own track and turn the volume down. what could be simpler to understand?  mission accomplished.

parallel thinking not serial.

(i really need to show this with screen shots)

converter resale rant

bad resale value is impatience… with a mod like this you have to wait around to find someone looking for that specifically. you’re not gonna get the ebay bottom feeders because they wont know what they’re getting.

also, to hell with resale value, get 5+ years of use out of your modded 002 and it wont matter. i understand the argument, having more money is better than less… but this is supposed to be about making records, not flipping gear.

IN OTHER WORDS, your LAST consideration should be “resale value” because you should be too busy making records with this wonderful piece of gear that you dont have time.

now, as for mod vs apogee: the thing to do is rent/borrow a better converter and compare both to that one. this will attempt to show the listener where both come up short, if at all. this is valuable information. you should hear a difference. you should be able to quantify this difference. you should be able to compare this difference to the fabric of your audio reality. you should be able to make a value judgment of this difference’s alleged importance. this is a life decision. careers are made or broken over less than this. wars are started. innocents die. empires crumble.

i interpret a lot of the “i got the mod and it was a waste of money” responses into meaning “i made shitty records before i got the mod and i make shitty records now.” in other words, sour grapes. pilot error. crash and burn. call in the FAA. moving any piece of the wreckage is now a federal crime. but that’s just how i roll.

this kind of test has educational value in of itself, because it teaches a methodology of self-examination… for example:

if there is no discernible difference between a Prism converter, the modded 002, or the apogee rosetta in your studio on that day, then you might want to investigate the rest of your signal chain and find out why you can’t hear it. because there will be a difference. there is always a difference. check your monitoring. check your room. rub the dimples in front of your ears for 25 seconds and listen again. pull the fader down, take a deep breath, flex your toes, push the fader up and listen again.

people can also fail by having bad mic placement… modding the preamp won’t help you there. people can fail thru improper gain staging. bad monitoring (genelec 1031s come to mind). having a piece of gear in the chain which sucks the life out of everything (mackie mixers anyone? no wonder ethan can’t hear anymore).

here’s a slightly illegal exercise for fun… fire up bittorrent and find the multitrack of stevie wonder’s superstitious… its pretty easy to find, *cough* pirate bay *cough*. now mix it. in your studio. with your gear. today. this is a multitrack of a hit song. people would KILL to be in THAT room. if you fail, it’s pilot error… here’s your chance to go platinum.

experience the folly of mixing in protools… how did they get that depth anyhow? buy a bricasti m7… fire up the stickiest of the icky, listen to the tape noise and analog furr on everything and dream of better days gone by.

“Yes you can mix with plugins”

the distinction to make here is between technique and tone. a pro mix AE will understand all the technique aspects that a novice wont. it’s not enough to know what each piece of gear does. the next step is to know when and where to use them within the big picture. one is micro view, one is macro. another way of looking at it is the 2 sides of the brain. (left micro, right macro). left brain (intuition) is much more difficult to teach.. but this is the advantage of experience. these are the black arts.

therefore, because the pro knows what should be done he’ll be able to make-do with plugins.

this is nothing like saying that plugins are “just as good” as high end analog gear. these are two mutually exclusive conclusions. for example, using a noise gate plug-in on close miked drum tracks:

sure, a drawmer DS-201 may sound better but the plugin will accomplish the task of “gating drum tracks.” an experienced mix AE will know that the finished record needs gated drums tracks to sound “official.” he’ll also know that a digital gate is better than no gate at all. (not to mention -in some ways- a digital gate is better. look-ahead is one example. or strip silence.. you get the idea.)

so this is what guys are talking about when they say a “real pro” can mix on anything. a full toolbox is the first consideration. the quality of the tools is a secondary consideration… within reason.

a real pro will have enough experience to know what should be done to get the tracks from A to B. he’ll devise strategies to work around the limitations he’s presented with, minimize the damage of cheap gear (gain staging is a huge one here), and optimize the end product… these are the kind of skills which will always transcend gear.

OF COURSE, better gear is always better. no one is denying this. but the best gear is of no use with a shitty skill set.. more choices, however, is not always better.

This matter should be considered carefully and studied diligently. — Musashi

audio engineering is a thankless job, haha. it’s either the talent or the gear, never the engineer. like Dennis Hopper’s character in Apocalypse Now, “He is a great man. I am a small man..”

to continue the metaphor, it’s more important to have A Noise Gate than it is to have a Drawmer DS-201 specifically. we want a full toolbox, not a screwdriver set and dremel tool. the way to understand when and where to use each tool in the toolbox comes with experience.

in digital’s defense, it is capable of a lot of techniques that analog isnt.. but digital has no personality. it’s strength is it’s weakness. by design it has no personality. it’s supposed to be repeatable. anyone can buy a plug-in and get that sound, whatever it is, good or bad. your sound should never be reducible to a preset.

so yeah, pro mixers can mix ITB because they know the techniques to get a good mix and can approximate them with ITB legos.

also remember, we also have the added haze of the loudness war constantly lowering the bar… these aspects work in synergy. the prevalence of ITB mixing does NOT mean it sounds better.

personally, i think a huge weakness of ITB mixing is the lack of decent reverb. the other aspect is the lack of personality… autotune, beat detective, elastic audio all have dehumanizing qualities.

the trick here is to strike a balance between right and left brain. analog personality and digital precision.

pie charts

soloist + band: 50% each

• stevie wonder “superstitious” – 8 tracks of clav our of 16 total. plus vocal tracks.
• christina aguilera/kylie – lots of vocal stacks vs rest of music

band (2 stars): 33% each

• U2 – 33% bono (vocals), 33% edge (wall of GTR texture), 33% adam/larry (bass/drums)
• RHCP – 33% kiedis, 33% flea, 33% GTR/drums

Chandler Ltd Little Devil EQ & Compressor 500-series modules

• chandlerlimited.com
• gearslutz.com thread
• vintage king:  EQ $1250, compressor $1050

from wade goeke:

“They are like all our stuff – some old and some new. The EQ is very much like a 1081 or 33115 eq but is built to sound like wade. It also runs on MUCH higher voltage and that gives it a great tone.”

“The Comp has elements of our Germ Comp and also the 2264 compressor. I don’t think it sounds exactly like either but has a nice tone. I developed some new curves (i.e. Germ Comp) for it that I’m super happy with. I wanted to add them to the GERM Comp if they would work.”

“Since the GERM circuit is a single amp you cant really put typical output fader on it. Putting an attenuator after it kind of works but compromises the sound/headroom.”

“I have been working on transformer switching that nicely adjusts down output gain as well as noise floor. Im experimenting with a GERM super pre that has more features than I think any pre ever has Was thinking about a ‘Mastering’ Germ comp that can do these things with a bunch of new curves and more…”

“IF people like these I will put out a Little Devil mic pre. It would be priced very reasonably and have the low cut section from the EQ… I would like to do it…”

“The EQ is a smaller version of one I built for my NEVE 5316 console and does sound nice. I really like the hi/Lo shelf. It is much more colorful than 1081/33115 types and the mids are quite flexible.”

“This is a bit hard to explain but here goes… Firstly, even though it uses a lot of vintage circuits I never once compared it to an old module. The only thing I referenced was the EQ shape for the mid-range. I wanted it to sound like me even though I was doing some borrowing.”

“The eq uses the Class A input stage from the 1073 without mods. The eq section uses highly modified 1081/31105/33115 amps. All were about the same The Hi/Lo shelf and filter sections come from a Custom Portable Broadcast module. The mids are highly modified 1081/31105/33115 type, and the output stage is, again, 1081/31105/3115 type. Custom transformers. Take all that and run it on 8 extra volts for improved headroom and nicer character (IMO). Again it is based on a custom eq that I built for my 5316 Neve Broadcast desk and they sound WAY better than the 33114/33115s that it has…”

“The Comp: Same rules as above. 1073 input stage. 1081/31105/33115 output. The sidechain is literally half GERM Comp and half 2264. Here come the fun part. I dropped the diode bridge that the 2264 uses and replaced it with a FET setup like the GERM Comp uses so I could do some of my Curve and sidechain stuff. The Curves/Knee choices are Germ and Zener but are completely new. The Zener does not sound like the Germ Comp Zener setting or the Zener limiter. Its almost the opposite. The way its set up it has almost no knee and is the smoothest curve Ive seen on a compressor (that part was so fun!). Super smooth and full of harmonics. Love it “

“8 extra volts again for more headroom and improved tone… How does it sound? Well a little like both of them I have been pleasantly surprised by the result. I dont think its a secret that the GERM Comp is my favorite Chandler piece but this little s**t gives it a hardcore race down the track.  Make any sense at all?”

“For two buss I use the GERM Comp. I like that you can really dial in the perfect amount of compression. Curve selection, sidechain filter, slower attack, and then a touch of dry. For me, it adds a lot of the right tone, harmonics, and glue but does not have the drawbacks I always disliked about the SSL/Alan Smart and 33609, like loss of transients, negative change in tone, and mostly making the mix mushy and muddy. I found I use much less eq on stereo buss and submixes with the GERM Comp.”

“I know thats a big statement but I never never been happy with stereo compression and have always ended up not using it. The Germ Comp changed that for me, but also keep in mind I designed it to sound exactly like I wanted it to sound “

coming soon: new organization

just watched 4hrs of vids on wordpress so i’m in the process of reorganizing content.. stay tuned.

the OLD way i had it setup was to use pages.. but that was too confusing.  there were a lot of “hidden” articles which no one saw… i added a pages widget to the sidebar where they will show up temporarily.. at least until i finish the reorganization.. until then, look to the right under the search box.

cat drama!

a dramatic episode of feline interaction

equal tempered tuning table

equal tempered tuning table useful for finding EQ freqs @ octaves, among other things.

this one is cool because it accepts a value for A440 and recalculates the chart.

sound on sound magazine

interviews on music production

reverb is back

bricasti design m7 reverb