When to say “NO” in the Recording/Mixing Process…

When to say “NO” in the Recording/Mixing Process…

Any good sound engineer knows that maximizing quality at source does wonders to the final product.  However, how did we get so tangled up with EQ’s, plugins, etc. after-the-fact?

Well, the job of a music producer used to be (as RobertDiFazio puts it on his YouTube interview series), to communicate on musical terminology the end result sought after in the composition.  That is why in the beginning, the music producer was also a music composer. 

However, with the evolution of musical transferability, and digitation of sound, the process of music production became a bit more open-ended.  Therefore, it is presumed that along with music recording capabilities, there also came the need to enhance the sound in order to imitate the live performance quality (or stray from it in some cases).  No one likes to hear on a record, a cold, and dry, emotionless sort of sound.

So, where do we draw the line when it comes to adding to the recording via excessive plugins, EQ’s, etc.?  Well, as stated in the beginning, the sound engineer (which may be the producer or not) should always try to maximize the quality of the recorded audio at its source.  Although there are countless ways to “fixing it in the mix”, as they say, it will never substitute a good quality original take.  So again, WHERE to put the potential excessive use of virtual/non-virtual EQ’s, plugins, and other available resources?  Well, there is a place for them, and these should be utilized for what they do best!  That is, to enhance the performance.  If too much is required, as stated by Bobby Owsinski, (a superb sound engineer and teacher), then you should really think about another take.    

For various artistic issues, we tend to swing from “Technical” to “Conceptual” approaches.  The idea should be to attain a solid end product without fearing experimentation along the way.  This will sometimes require that we say NO to the little indulgences of sound in the recording/mixing process.

Recording the electric guitar.

There are plenty of ways in which to get the sound out if an electric guitar into the recording gear whether this is a digital or analog piece of equipment.

Method 1 - Record the actual sound coming out of the amplifier with a microphone and into a microphone pre amp.  Then, from the pre amp, which could be built into an interface or part of a board, into the storage medium (DAW's hard drive for example).

Effective method for getting rid of transients:
Method 2 - Record from the guitar into a Direct Injection box or DI.  Then take the signal straight into the input of the interface you might be using with a built in gain knob (or into a stand alone pre amp).  And then straight into the DAW or storage medium.

The DI box in method 2 makes the signal compatible for recording the guitar directly.  Keep it simple, use a passive DI.  

In scenario 1, the mic is doing the transduction.  In scenario 2, the guitar is going straight in.

Recording upright acoustic piano, use physics to your recording advantage!!!

Recording upright acoustic piano, use physics to your recording advantage!!!

Although it’s pretty standard not to record an acoustic guitar with the sound hole pressed against the wall, sometimes we overlook this when recording an upright piano.  A great trick taught to me recently by Larry Crane shows a great technique when recording an upright.  It could be summarized into several factors to be considered when tracking the piano:

1    Pull the piano away from the wall.  Let the instrument breath and think of it like an acoustic guitar.

2    Take the front cover off and locate a pair of small diaphragm condenser microphones in there about 6 inches away from the hammers for some dynamic action.  Place them using an X/Y pattern.  Good idea to avoid phase issues!

3    Take another pair of small diaphragm condensers on a stereo bar using an X/Y pattern and place them in front of the pedals after you open up the bottom panel as well.  You may only use these 2 microphones on the bottom if you have a pianist/singer being recorded and want to avoid the voice reflection on the top microphones.  So only use the bottom pair if you need to get rid of some voice reflections.  These should be X/Y as well to avoid phase problems.

4    Finally, to further avoid vocal bleed and get a darker sound, you may just want to record the piano from the back of it.  This will give you a focused “high mid” frequency response without much vocal bleed.  This could give you phase issues since the microphones should NOT be set up in X/Y form.

So what you’ve done is taken acoustic and physical characteristics of an acoustic piano to make the tracking of it more artistic J

Microphone guide FREE from Sound on Sound

As an avid reader (or at least I try to be) on the topics that relate to mics, I was able to find a pretty useful guide provided by soundonsound.com

After some information, the book was pretty easy to download.  It looks extremely comprehensive.  A bit commercial but useful anyway.

My plans are to use it as a point of reference.  One thing I have learned quite the hard way, is that not all mics are created equal!  There are good, bad, and mediocre imitations of industry standard mics.  However, it is truly not so much about the price, but about your vision and what you want to accomplish.

Check the book in an online format or download in PDF at:

Free guide to microphones from Sound-on-Sound

Compression: what and why?

"Compression", in essence, does nothing more than any other audio component does.  Compression controls the input signal of a sound and therefore, sets a new output.  Sometimes it's needed!

Compression also serves a basic purpose.  Basically, its purpose is to "breathe" with the track and make the sound "punchier".  It plays with the dynamics, but NOT with the sound.  The changes it makes to the dynamics of sound should be subtle ( +-3db but no more in actual tweaking).  There is a second part to compression that we will discuss at a later post that will take care of altering the sound itself.  For now, think of it as:  subtle changes in dynamics. 

You know when to use compression if you need to add color and brightness as well as fullness to a track.  To make the track sound more real. To make the sound "flow" better and "blend" better with the rest of the tracks. 

Should you use it before or after EQ?  My experience has been NOT to use it after EQ'ing.

Put prior to EQ because if not, the compressor will compress what's getting emphasized by the EQ.  Maybe, you have worked so hard at EQ'ing something that needed compression anyway.  And besides,  since compression is about dynamics, is a bit more fundamental.  EQ'ing is almost more artistic/stylistic. 

The following items are common in compression and it's beneficial to be familiar with what they do:

1. Ratio - for ex: for 4 db "in" to 1 db "out means that 25% of the input will be emphasized. 

2. Threshold - compression will occur above the threshold db and not below. 

3. Attack and Release - best at closest to midway point.  This is actually the "attack" and "release" of the sound.  So work on attack at longest and release at shortest. It's a good place to start!

4. Gain make up - make up the gain that's lost in compression.  Compression = Lost Gain therefore it may need to be made up for. 

5. Bypass - lets you hear how much gain is lost to help you decide how much to turn the Gain make up on.   

Procedures to set up of compression:
1. Click bypass to hear no compression first. 
2. Un-click bypass. 
3. Then Attack to its longest and Release to its shortest and work from there.
4. The rest of the controls will become clearer once you have figured your attack/release settings usually. 

Compression with vocals:
Usually on a pop song, the vocals have to be on top of the band.  Compression makes it seem more real. Words do not drop out and the voice is emphazised. Usually needed in pop.  For a stronger instrumental sound, attenuate the vocals to be more at the level of the band.   

Brief summary:
Compression affects Dynamics and it needs to be solid.  It keeps the dynamics real and without drastic changes in it by bringing down (compressing) the peaks and up (compressing as well :) ) the sounds getting lost.  Hence the word:  COMPRESSION. 

Recording the electric guitar...maximizing at the source.

Recording the electric guitar.

Direct injection boxes or “DI” boxes will take your electric guitar signal and bring it up to recording level.  There is not much more to that if you don’t want to get into the impendence factors involved.  Now, you can go one of 2 ways: active DI or passive DI.

Active DI’s require power while passive DI’s do not.  So, keep in mind that any active device has the potential to self distort.

But a simple way to record the electric guitar is to hook up to the DI and then hook up the DI to a preamp (or board with gain control).

Make sure that the signal is not clipping.  But always maximize at the source and attenuate later.  That way the signal will be recorded at its most healthy state.

A healthy signal can go a long way.  On the other hand, a weak signal usually will require some advanced tweaking later.  Therefore maximize “db” levels at the source instrument.  Also, make sure that the LED meter is “hot” but not distorted. 

These are basic key elements of recording.  

Recording the acoustic guitar...

As with any acoustic instrument, the guitar's frequency response could be a tricky issue when getting it recorded.  When in doubt, a decent omnidirectional microphone (a mic that responds to frequencies coming from 360 degrees/all angles) may be just the answer!  The instrument needs room to reverberate.  Therefore, leave some room for the sound to settle between the mic and the guitar.  Remember you are telling a story through sound.  I have found that using this technique will avoid directional issues.