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How To Get Great Drum Sounds
How To Get Great Drum Sounds From Your Home Studio
Nothing makes a home recording, any recording for that matter, sound better than great drum sounds. Pro engineers spend more time getting their drum sounds than any other instrument on their recordings and it shows. I've personally seen situations where engineers have spent days, several days in fact getting the drums to sound just so, before they'll move ahead with the rest of the record. What a bunch of wussies! Do they actually think the drum sound will sell any more records?!! Maybe not, but it's still very satisfying to get a great drum sound, and most engineers will go to great lengths to get one.
Kits are changed, heads are changed, cymbals are changed, heads are taped up, heads are un-taped, mics are selected, mics are changed, the kit is surrounded with mirrors, the kit is placed on wood, head damping devices are used, mini pads are cut in half and placed on heads, two kick drums are taped together (end-to-end), and after all these variations are tested, the whole process may begin again with yet another kit, or worse yet, another drummer.
The Rx
So without any further delay kids, here's my prescription for a great drum sound you can get in a (kind of average, these days) home studio: The imaginary studio consists of a console with at least eight inputs (let's hope it's a Mackie or something that has good head room and nice sounding equalizers. Let's also assume you've got at least eight tracks (although you won't need them all for this set-up) on your tape deck and seven decent microphones. My recommendations for drum mics on a budget are 4) Senheiser MD 421's, 1) Shure 57, and 2) Shure SM 81's. There are other more expensive mics that I would use in a pro studio, but I'm not going to mention them because this article assumes you're broke. If you had any money, you wouldn't be reading the crap that I write, you'd be reading the Wall Street Journal.
Rule of Thumb
If the mic has a "pad" switch, use it when recording drums. Always better to pad at the mic than the console.
The Killer Kick
Mic the kick drum with a Senheiser 421, but only after throwing a sandbag in the drum to weigh it down. Let the sandbag touch the head (that the beater hits) just enough to dampen out any obnoxious overtones, but not the good, natural sounding ones. The mic should be placed about half way in to the drum itself and pointing at the beater. If you bring the mic in from the right side of the drum and angle it at the beater you will be avoiding leakage from the snare drum which is a good thing to do. You can experiment with the depth of the mic, but always keep the mic pointed at the drummer's shin bone on the leg that controls the hi-hat and in line with the beater.
The Sumptuous Snare
For the snare drum, it's always a safe and highly effective choice to use the venerable Shure SM57. Bring it in from the audience side of the kit and give it a 45 to 60 degree angle with the capsule about an inch or two above the head. Again, the farther out it is from the head, the roomier the sound, but the more potential you have for phase problems. By the way, it's always a good idea to point the mic at the drummer's crotch - not that it's a particularly good sounding part of the anatomy, but because it's away from the hi-hat and any potential leakage problems.
Thunderous Toms
Mic all three toms with the 421's set at a 45 degree (or there abouts) angle to the drum head with the end of the mic (the capsule end) pointing at an imaginary spot about 2" past the rim nearest you as you place the mic (this is assuming you're working from the audience side of the kit). The floor tom mic can be placed a little close to the center of the head, but not too close. The distance of the mic from the actual head should range between one inch and six inches depending on how "roomy" you like your drums to sound. Once again, the further the mics are from the drums, the roomier the sound, but you'll have to pay more attention to possible phase cancellation problems.
Overheads Easy
For the overheads use the SM 81's with the roll-off kicked in. Place the mics about
And now here's the quick and dirty run- down on equalization and track assignments:
Kick drum - Assign it to track #2, and give it +2@ 100HZ for bottom, -2@300 - 500HZ for posterity, and +2@2.5 K for added attack. Set your mic pre to somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 o'clock (of course this will depend on your console's individual mic pre's). Your input levels should be peaking around -3db VU. Notice the "VU." If you're using peak meters, you're on your own. I was raised on VU's, and they remain my preference.
Snare drum - Assign it to track #3, and give it +2@100HZ, -2 to -4@300 - 500HZ, and +2@ 5K to8K for more snare and general crispness. Be careful on the top end, too much will make the snare sound thin and paper-like. Set your mic pre to somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 o'clock - possibly lower. Your input levels should be peaking around -2db VU.
Tom-Toms - Assign the high tom to track #4, the mid tom to tracks 4 &5, and the floor tom to track #5. Follow the same guidelines as the snare drum for the equalization. Again, set your mic pres to somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 o'clock or lower. Your input levels should be peaking around -2db VU. Pay special attention the mid tom. Because it's assigned to two tracks simultaneously and appearing down the middle of your monitors, it will generate less level at the meters and in your monitors and should be goosed a little to compensate. Have the drummer do a two-stroke on each tom in succession and you should hear a nice even "tacka - tacka - tacka" moving from one side to the other (I usually pan track #4 full left and track #5 full right).
Overheads - Assign the cymbal over the hi tom to the same track as the hi tom (track #4). That will help keep it in phase. Assign the cymbal on the other side of the kit to the same track as the floor tom (track #5) for the same reason. Cymbal mics usually don't need too much in the way of EQ, but you may want to use the high-pass filter to roll off the bottom end and add just a pinch of top end (around 8 - 10K). Keep the input levels of the cymbals fairly low as they have transients that can fool meters and blow tweeters faster than you can say, "Oops." Final Thoughts
Always check your drums in mono. If anything in the kit seems to disappear, then something's out of phase. Be systematic in tracking down the culprit.
If you follow this prescription closely and then, and only then, start to experiment with slight modifications of positions, level and eq, you'll find yourself getting a drum sound that just might sound professional. Of course, individual drummers have drastically different levels of "feel," and feel is very important to the sound, sometimes more important than the drums themselves or anything you can do in the control room.
During Michael Laskow's 20-year tenure as an engineer/producer, he worked with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Eric Clapton, Cheap Trick and countless others. He continues to write articles for magazines like Recording and Electronic Musician. He's also the founder of TAXI
20 tips on smooth studio operation
Paul White presents 20 ways to ensure your studio runs smoothly. If only he'd taken notice ofthem himself, he might be managing Abbey Road by now!
Even a relatively small studio setup is a complex, symbiotic organism strung together by innumerable leads and
often relying on several pieces of software to make it run smoothly. All it takes is one faulty connection and the
function of the whole system can be compromised. A little planning and preventative maintenance goes a long
way, but because it's boring, it tends to get put off. Don't let it! This month's tips concentrate on those simple
things that if done will help your studio run smoothly, but if ignored, can disrupt smooth running... I have done my
very best to resist the temptation to point out that if you really want a smooth-running studio, the only PC
computer in it should be used to do the accounts! And so, without further ado and in no particular order, here
are 20 things you can do to help keep the gremlins at bay.
1. Check all your mains cables periodically by removing the covers from the
plugs and tightening the connectors. These do work loose with time and give
rise to crackles and buzzes, not to mention the risk of electric shock. Ensure
cable clamps and fuse holders are tight and that the correct fuse value is fitted.
Budget distribution boards can be dismantled and the contacts tightened up
using a pair of pliers, but remember to unplug them first!
2. Wipe all jack plugs using a cloth sprayed with Deoxit (see right), and spray some into
your patchbay sockets as well to help avoid the build-up of corrosion and dirt. This stuff also works well on
mains plugs where it is essential to maintain a low impedance, especially on the earth pin. I don't know if I'd go
to Martin Walker's lengths of cleaning all the mains plug pins with wire wool, but it can't do any harm.
3. Make up track sheets to document your recording sessions, and expand your design to include
details on effects and processor settings. If the session includes sequenced sounds, keep a note of
all the synths, patch numbers, expansion cards and sample CD-ROMs used during the session. A
double-sided track sheet with one side for audio and another for MIDI is a practical way to do the job.
4. If your sequencer doesn't have a facility for showing the patch names of your various
synths, photocopy the relevant patch sheets from your synth manuals and get them
laminated. Many local photocopy shops do laminating quite cheaply and it saves the
sheets getting creased or torn.
5. Label all used tapes. Labelling the boxes is not good enough as tapes often
end up in the wrong boxes. Stick to the APRS labelling convention (for details
of which see the January 1995 issue of SOS) so that master tapes, production
masters and backups are clearly identified.
6. When you get a new piece of gear, take the time to learn it thoroughly before using it on a session where
other musicians are involved. Even if it's not a paid session, musicians will get impatient if you're messing
around with a piece of gear that you're not familiar with, and this in turn affects their creativity.
7. Many pieces of software have 'key-disk-installs' as a form of copy protection, and if you have a lot
of software plug-ins, it's easy to lose track. To ensure you don't miss any if you have to deinstall
everything from your hard drive, keep a notepad file with the names and version numbers of all the
key-disk-install protected software you have on the machine. It also helps to keep all your key disks
in one (safe) place.
8. Use a separate hard drive for recording your audio files and defragment it regularly. Failure to do this will
reduce the number of simultaneous tracks you can play back without suffering glitching. Try not to work with a
drive that's more than around three-quarters full as it can slow down noticeably.
9. Back up everything, especially if it's digital! Digital data cannot be considered
to truly exist unless it is stored in at least two, and preferably more, different
places! If you have a CD-ROM recorder, make a copy of your entire hard drive
so that it will be easier to reinstall your system in the event of a serious crash.
Of course you can't copy key disk installs to a CD-ROM, so you still need to
take care of these by manually deinstalling. The same CD-ROM recorder can be
used to store the audio files used in your sequences. If you make a lot of
changes, you might want to use a rewritable disk/drive, but standard CD-Rs are so cheap that it's
hardly worth it.
10. When wiring your studio, always make the cables just a little longer than you need. There'll come a time
when you want to move something, and Sod's Law dictates that your cables won't quite reach! Line-level cables
can safely be made a few metres longer than necessary without compromising the signal quality, especially if
they are balanced.
11. Do a SysEx dump of all the user patches in your synths, modules and effects units and then
make further backups of these. You never know when the internal batteries may die, resulting in the
loss or corruption of all your patches (see page 42 for more on this). If you use RAM memory cards,
you should also back these up as SysEx dumps as everything is lost when the battery is removed.
12. Subscribe to an Internet service, especially if you use a PC for your music. Often the only way to ensure you
have the latest drivers is to check the manufacturers' web sites and then download what you need. The Internet
is also a useful place to look for answers to your technical problems, and of course the SOS site is brim full of
PC-related FAQs (see picture on page 200).
13. Even if you don't play guitar, buy a guitar tuner. There'll come a time when a guitarist turns up at
the studio without one and even if you do tune it to a keyboard, it's bound to drift out as the day goes
on. It pays to check guitar and bass tuning before just about every take.
14. Don't skimp on media, whether it's DAT tapes, CD-R blanks, ADAT
tape or whatever. You've spent a lot of time and money on your music, so
it makes sense to preserve it in the most reliable way possible. Also,
follow the manufacturer's advice on storage.
15. However much RAM your software tells you it needs to run
properly, always fit at least 16Mb more and preferably 32Mb more.
At today's low prices, it doesn't make sense to cut corners, and
having inadequate amounts of RAM can cause all sorts of
problems, including crashes.
16. Use the right cables for connecting digital audio. Cheap audio phono
leads may appear to work when connecting one S/PDIF device to
another, but you could end up with intermittent clicks and glitches. Buy purpose-made digital cables and keep
the connections as short as is practical.
17. Don't cut corners when choosing a computer monitor. Most audio software feels distinctly
cramped on anything other than a 17-inch monitor, but don't just buy the cheapest as you may end
up with a fuzzy display that strains your eyes. A really good monitor will cost a little more, but you
may be able to change the display resolution to make it display as much as a 19-inch monitor with no
loss of definition.
18. Arrange your equipment racks so that you can get to the back easily if you need to. No matter how clever
your patching system, the time will come when you have to string together something out of the ordinary.
Self-adhesive PTFE (Teflon) gliders fixed to the bottom of a large rack make it easy to move on carpet.
19. Mark up your patchbays clearly. I know you don't get a lot of space, but if your abbreviations are
too cryptic, visiting musicians won't have a clue as to what goes where. I print mine using an inkjet
printer with eight socket labels per line using tabs to set the spacing between sockets. Three strips
cover the full width of a 24-pair patchbay, and clear Sellotape gives a good protective finish to the
labels.
20. When you buy a new piece of equipment, stick the receipt to the bottom of the case so you can find it
quickly in the event of a breakdown within the warranty period. Those self-adhesive pockets used to hold parcel
documents are good for this.
20 songwriting tips
Every songwriter goes through times when the inspiration just seems to dry up, and the perspiration doesn't seem to be working. Debbie Poyser offers some guidance. Songwriting is a skill that is rarely taught: musicians more often than not tend to write instinctively, absorbing their ideas about form and structure from the music that's around them, and relying on inspiration for their melodic and lyrical direction. For many this works perfectly well, but there's no harm at all in trying to make a good thing better. You can improve your craft as a songwriter relatively easily if you accept that your work isn't just the result of some mystical process over which you have no control: certainly you need some talent to begin with, but you can hone your songwriting skills just as you can work on your playing or mixing skills. Here are a handful of simple ideas to get you thinking about how you write, and, if you're stuck in a musical rut, perhaps to help get you out of it.
1. If you've already got a chord sequence you're happy with for part of a song but are struggling with where to go next, try reversing the chord order of the part you already have and using it for the new part. It often works, but if it doesn't, try reversing just a section of the chord sequence and repeating it. Also, try doubling the length of time for which each chord plays and see where that takes you. For a bit of variation, halving note values for a chorus creates the impression of an increase in tempo even if there isn't one.
2. If you always write with a keyboard, pick up a guitar for a change and see if that sets you off in a different direction. Get a capo and put it in a stupid place on the neck - really high up, for example - and see how different that makes chords sound. Even the most basic chords take on a new resonance and generate new harmonics which your ear can pick up, maybe giving you an idea for a melody. Conversely, if you always write with a guitar, make a point of sitting down at a keyboard with a piano sound and picking out interesting tunes that wouldn't normally occur to you. You could even consider writing the verse music at the keyboard and swapping to a guitar for the chorus.
3. Keep a list of prospective song titles on your wall. Whenever you hear a good word or an evocative phrase, add it to your list to use when you're trying to come up with new material.
4. Try a different time signature for a change. If you never use 3/4, for example, try and write a song in 3/4. To vary your rhythmic range, try strumming a guitar along to a selection of records, just trying to extract their rhythmic feel in a natural way. 5. Listen to as many of other peoples' songs as you can. Focus especially on those songwriters whose works are considered classics, and don't neglect the best of what's happening now. Always be thinking about what makes a classic song so good while you're listening to it. Try to pick up on arranging tricks and song structures, and remember them; even make a note of any you particularly like. This isn't stealing -- it's studying. Film makers have been doing it for years and make no secret of the fact.
6. Analyse your favourite songs and construct exercises around them -- writing a new set of lyrics for a favourite song, for example, or setting the existing lyrics to a new melody. Write a theme song for a film that doesn't have one, or an alternative theme for a film that does. Listen to a classic song in a genre you don't usually work in and try to write a song which copies its style (but not its content). 7. Always carry a notebook when you're out, so that you can jot down any song ideas that occur while you're going about your daily business.
8. If you usually write songs with a lot of chords in them, try restricting yourself to just three and see what you can squeeze out of a limited set of options. Conversely, if your songs never have more than three chords in them, try writing one with six.
9. Try 'free association' when you have something to write a song about but can't think how to start the lyrics: sit down with paper and pen (or a word processor) and write down every word and feeling that comes into your head about that subject: the process can give you a push in the right direction, and the resulting words are the ones that you'll need to work in if the song is to make a genuine impression on the listener.
10. Though some people find it hard to construct lyrics that rhyme, rhyming is important and is worth persevering with. As highly successful songwriter Janis Ian says in The Songwriters Workshop, "A rhyme scheme helps to hypnotise, to force its way into our listening selves." Others have observed that a good rhyme scheme gives the listener a pleasant feeling of resolution and security. Not every song has to rhyme, but so many of the good ones do that there must be something in it! Don't overdo it, though -- a bad or over-extended rhyme scheme can be irritating to the listener and can distract attention from what you're trying to say. If you have to make a line sound stupid in order for it to rhyme, throw it away and start again. 11. To help with the above, get a rhyming dictionary. This will save you from mentally running through the entire alphabet one letter at a time trying to find a rhyme for 'existential'. A thesaurus, which will give you a list of different words that mean the same thing, is also a good resource for a songwriter and could help you add more interest to your lyrics.
12. Add extra professionalism to a song with sophisticated background vocal ideas. Don't always slavishly imitate the lead vocal's phrasing and timing. Try extending the end of the odd line in a harmony, then pick up with the lead again when it feels natural and musical to do so. When your lead vocal is singing a long held note, look for something short and contrapuntal you can do with the harmony vocals -- with clever phrasing you can fit an entire line of a song as a harmony line under the last extended syllable of a lead melody. This is one area where arranging and songwriting are very closely linked.
13. Get some books to help you. There are several excellent ones around that will really make you think and tell you things you didn't know. Books I would certainly recommend include the following, which are all available from the SOS Bookshop (01954 789888): 88 Songwriting Wrongs and How to Right Them, by Pat & Pete Luboff (order code B254, ฃ11.95); Beginning Songwriter's Answer Book, by Paul Zollo (B253, ฃ10.95); The Songwriter's Workshop, edited by Harvey Rachlin and with an excellent chapter by Janis Ian and two cassettes (B260, ฃ15.95); and if you really want an in-depth reading course on lyric-writing, leaning heavily on training your mind and knowing your own thinking patterns as a way to write more effective songs, check out The Songwriter's Idea Book, by Sheila Davis (B250, ฃ12.99). If I was going to buy just one of the above, it would probably be 88 Songwriting Wrongs and How to Right Them, for its straightforward presentation and language. (All the above prices will need postage added to them, by the way -- check the SOS mail order pages on page 276 for details.)
14. Decide where you're going to keep your songwriting notes and keep them there. You don't want to blow a potential gem because you can't find the scrap of paper you wrote it down on. Use a notebook, which you always keep in the same place, or get a folder for loose notes. If you use a folder, keep a pen and some plain paper in it too, so you can always lay your hands on these as soon as inspiration strikes.
15. If you compose with a sequencer, always have it in record mode while you're doodling at your keyboard. Don't assume that you'll automatically remember anything good that comes up, because you won't. As it happens, the latest versions of many popular MIDI sequencing programs actually have a buffer that captures your ideas for you -- if you find that you've just played something that you wish you'd recorded, press a key combination (Option Record in Cubase) places the buffer's contents in a track (incidentally, the next update of Cubase will provide a menu item for this feature).
16. Every songwriter should know that a commercial song has to have a hook. But did you know that it should ideally have several hooks? As well as your main lyrical/musical hook, the high point of the song, try to work in secondary hooks to maintain listener interest -- short guitar, bass or piano riffs between lines of the song, a catchy extra chord change when nothing is happening with the lead vocal or to lead from the verse into the chorus, or perhaps a vocal ad-lib that will stay in the mind of the listener. If you think about these things while you're actually writing the song, when you come to demo it you'll find you've already got a head start for its arrangement.
17. Try to introduce plenty of dynamic and metric interest into your songs, so that they peak and subside rather than plodding along on one level. If a song's verse has lots of short words in a choppy rhythm, try using long, sustained notes for the chorus, for example. Try to make sure that the verse and chorus are not the same length -- vary short and long sections if you can, so that the song's structure does not become too predictable to the listener.
18. Make sure your songs are not all in the same key. It may sound obvious, but it's very easy to just stick with what's easiest for you to write or sing in, and if you don't keep an eye on this your songs could all end up sounding similar to each other.
19. Consider co-writing. Someone else's strengths can fill in for your weaknesses and they can bring unusual melodic or lyrical perspectives that would never have occurred to you.
20. If you've really run out of musical ideas, use technology. Those with computers can try an algorithmic composition or auto-accompaniment software package -- or even an arpeggiator! David Zicarelli's M, the king of interactive composition software, has just been re-released (for the Mac only) and can treat your musical input to predictable or totally weird transformations (www.cycling74.com/products/m.html). PG Systems' Band In A Box is available for various computer platforms, and lets you apply a wide variety of preset styles to whatever chord sequence you input, taking a lot of the strain out of song construction. Even Steinberg's sophisticated Cubase family of sequencing software has a so-called Style Tracks module, and similar facilities are found on many a sequencer-equipped synth.
วันอังคารที่ 26 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2551
15 REVERB TIPS 1
15 REVERB TIPS
Rather than trying to make everything in the mix in the same acoustic environment, why not use a couple of really diverse reverbs to add some strange depth to your tunes? A really dry, upfront vocal works nicely alongside a really 'drowned' string section or a small bright room setting on the drums.
Automate
Try automating return levels if you have a digital mixer so that the reverb comes and goes in different sections of the song. By tweaking the aux send levels, manually, during the mix you can add splashes of reverb on the fly to add interest to snares or vocal parts.
Take your time
Spend some time choosing or trying out different 'verbs. Different songs lend themselves towards different types and sounds. Don't just settle with what sounds good in solo...
Send that EQ
Remember you can always EQ the send. Most large consoles offer you a choice of high and low EQ on the aux sends. On small desks, route the instrument/voice to another channel via a group or aux send, float this from the mix and send this to the reverb effect. Now you can add EQ to the send and even automate it as it's now on a fader. This is commonly used for those delays and reverbs that you want to move easily during the mix, such as wetter vocal in the chorus.
Old tricks
Reverse reverb is an old trick, where you can hear a vocal before a singer comes in, or a snare before it plays, easily using tape as you simply turn the tape over and record it backwards. You can do it using a computer, but you will have to move the audio to the right place after recording it.
Use combinations
A combination of reverbs on things can be good. A short setting for the snap sound with a longer bright plate can turn a biscuit-sounding snare into a more live sound.
Old school plate
In the old days it used to be called delay to plate. You sent the signal to a loop of tape then sent that to the reverb. The speed of the tape would adjust the delay as the time it took to get from the record head to the playback head. This gives, say, a voice a dry sound before the reverb comes in, giving a more upfront sound while keeping the wetness, which would usually take it to the back of a hall somewhere! Some people still use the tape method today for that old school sound.
Simple drum one
Early reflections on drums can also give more of a tail or decay.
Experiment
A nice gated verb on guitars to old spring verbs on snares or even the mighty space echo can sound unique when balanced in the mix. That will give you more distance and room for placing things in a mix, while adding that extra sparkle to the sound.
More reverse
Rather than trying to make everything in the mix in the same acoustic environment, why not use a couple of really diverse reverbs to add some strange depth to your tunes? A really dry, upfront vocal works nicely alongside a really 'drowned' string section or a small bright room setting on the drums.
Automate
Try automating return levels if you have a digital mixer so that the reverb comes and goes in different sections of the song. By tweaking the aux send levels, manually, during the mix you can add splashes of reverb on the fly to add interest to snares or vocal parts.
Take your time
Spend some time choosing or trying out different 'verbs. Different songs lend themselves towards different types and sounds. Don't just settle with what sounds good in solo...
Send that EQ
Remember you can always EQ the send. Most large consoles offer you a choice of high and low EQ on the aux sends. On small desks, route the instrument/voice to another channel via a group or aux send, float this from the mix and send this to the reverb effect. Now you can add EQ to the send and even automate it as it's now on a fader. This is commonly used for those delays and reverbs that you want to move easily during the mix, such as wetter vocal in the chorus.
Old tricks
Reverse reverb is an old trick, where you can hear a vocal before a singer comes in, or a snare before it plays, easily using tape as you simply turn the tape over and record it backwards. You can do it using a computer, but you will have to move the audio to the right place after recording it.
Use combinations
A combination of reverbs on things can be good. A short setting for the snap sound with a longer bright plate can turn a biscuit-sounding snare into a more live sound.
Old school plate
In the old days it used to be called delay to plate. You sent the signal to a loop of tape then sent that to the reverb. The speed of the tape would adjust the delay as the time it took to get from the record head to the playback head. This gives, say, a voice a dry sound before the reverb comes in, giving a more upfront sound while keeping the wetness, which would usually take it to the back of a hall somewhere! Some people still use the tape method today for that old school sound.
Simple drum one
Early reflections on drums can also give more of a tail or decay.
Experiment
A nice gated verb on guitars to old spring verbs on snares or even the mighty space echo can sound unique when balanced in the mix. That will give you more distance and room for placing things in a mix, while adding that extra sparkle to the sound.
More reverse
Reverse your sample, add reverb, then reverse your sample complete with reverb back around the right way again. This way, the reverb trail leads up into the sample, instead of trailing away from it.
And again!
For a different angle on the same reversed reverb theme, have the reverb trail panned left on a separate track, then the original sample centre-stage (ie. mono), followed by a regular reverb trail on another track panned right. The result is a reverb that leads up into the sample and trails away afterwards, while panning across the stage, left to right.
Reverb over your mix
Pick out key instruments or sounds and highlight them with reverb while using reverb sparingly, if not at all, on the remaining mix. You may have to adjust reverb send levels as the track progresses so you're not left with the track sounding dry where the reverbed sounds are no longer playing.
Reverb and bass
Usually, bass and reverb don't mix too well, unless you're specifically after a warehouse sound. Unfortunately, this effect results in a loss of definition among the bass regions. Run your reverb returns into a couple of spare channels in your mixer and back off the bass EQ, or add a high-pass plug-in EQ.
Go mono!
Don't forget using mono reverbs at times as well. These won't conflict with your rich stereo reverbs.
Pre delay
This determines time taken for
the initial reflections to return back from room walls. Use a calculator from www.hitsquad.com/smm to get a pre delay value matched to your tempo.
A common technique is to set the predelay to eighth-notes and add the reverb to a straight quarter note kick drum pattern to create an off-beat bouncy feel.
FM
วันเสาร์ที่ 21 กรกฎาคม พ.ศ. 2550
20 tips on home mastering
Now that so many musicians are completing the entire album-making process in their own
studios, mastering is becoming an increasingly important skill. Paul White offers a few pointers
to becoming a Master of mastering.
There's a world of difference between what happens in a professional mastering suite and what the average
project studio owner can do at home. But as more computer-based mastering tools become available it's quite
possible to achieve very impressive results with relatively inexpensive equipment. Certainly there's a lot more to
mastering than simply compressing everything, though compression can play an important role. The most
crucial tool is the ear of the person doing the job, because successful mastering is all about treating every
project individually. There's no standard blanket treatment that you can apply to everything to make it sound
more 'produced'.
Every mastering engineer has preferences regarding the best tools for the job, but if you're just getting started
I'd recommend a good parametric equaliser, a nice compressor/limiter, and perhaps an enhancer, such as an
Aphex Exciter or an SPL Vitalizer. You also need an accurate monitoring environment with speakers that have
a reasonable bass extension, and some form of computer editor that can handle stereo files. The latter should
ideally have digital inputs and outputs, though if you're using an external analogue processor you'll probably be
going into the computer via its analogue inputs, in which case these need to be of good quality too. A
professional may want to start off with a 20- or 24-bit master tape or to work from a half-inch analogue master,
but in the home studio most recording is done to 16-bit DAT. This shouldn't be a problem for most pop music,
providing you proceed carefully.
Most mistakes are due to over-processing, and the old adage 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' applies perfectly to
mastering. Don't feel that you have to process a piece of music just because you can -- you might find that your
master sounds worse than the original material. And now for the tips...
1. Where possible, handle fade-out endings in a computer editor, rather than
using a master tape that was faded while mixing. Not only does the computer
provide more control, it will also fade out any background noise along with
the music, so that the songs end in perfect silence.
2. Editing on DAT is very imprecise, so when you beam the material into the
computer (digitally, if at all possible) clean up the starts of songs using the Silence
function. Use the waveform display to make sure you silence right up to the start of the
song without clipping it. As a rule, endings should be faded out rather than silenced, as most instruments end
with a natural decay. When the last note or beat has decayed to around 5% of its maximum level, start your fade
and make it around a second long. You can also try this if the song already has a fade-out, though you may want
a slightly longer fade time. Listen carefully to make sure you aren't shortening any long reverb tails or making an
existing fade sound unnatural.
3. Once you've decided on a running order for the tracks on the album, you'll need to match their
levels. This doesn't simply mean making everything the same level, as this will make any ballads
seem inappropriately loud. The vocals often give you the best idea of how well matched levels are
across songs, but ultimately your ears are the best judge. Use the computer's ability to access any
part of the album at random to compare the subjective levels of different songs, and pay particular
attention to the levels of the songs either side of the one you're working on. It's in the transition
between one song and the next that bad level-matching shows up most.
4. If an album's tracks were recorded at different times or in
different studios, they may not sit well together without further
processing. The use of a good parametric equaliser (hardware or
software) will often improve matters. Listen to the bass end of each
song to see how that differs and use the EQ to try to even things
out. For example, one song might have all the bass energy
bunched up at around 80 or 90Hz while another might have an
extended deep bass that goes right down to 40Hz or below.
Rolling off the sub-bass and peaking up the 80Hz area slightly may
bring the bass end back into focus. Similarly, the track with
bunched-up bass could be treated with a gentle 40Hz boost and a little cut at around 120Hz. Every equaliser
behaves differently, so there are no universal figures -- you'll need to experiment.
At the mid and high end, use gentle boost between 6 and 15kHz to add air and presence to a mix, while cutting
at 1-3kHz to reduce harshness. Boxiness tends to occur between 150 and 400Hz. If you need to add top to a
track that doesn't have any, try a harmonic enhancer such as an Aphex Exciter -- high-end EQ boost will simply
increase the hiss.
5. To make a track sound louder when it's already peaking close to digital full scale, use a digital
limiter such as the excellent Waves L1 plug-in or Logic Audio's built-in Energizer. In most cases you
can increase the overall level by 6dB or more before your ears notice that the peaks have been
processed. A nice feature of the L1 is that you can effectively limit and normalise in one operation. It's
always good practice to normalise the loudest track on an album to peak at around -0.5dB and then
balance the others to that track, but if you're using the L1 to do this, make normalising your last
process, so that you can use the Waves proprietary noise-shaped dither system to give the best
possible dynamic range. Normalising or other level-matching changes should always be the final
procedure, as all EQ, dynamics and enhancement involves some degree of level change.
Proper re-dithering at the 16-bit level is also recommended if going direct via a digital output to the
production master tape, as it preserves the best dynamic range. Analogue outputs will be
re-dithered by the A-D converter of the recorder.
6. If a mix sounds middly or lacking in definition, the SPL Vitalizer can be very useful (even the very inexpensive
Stereo Jack version produces excellent results). This device combines EQ and enhancer principles in a single
box, and one characteristic of the Vitalizer process is that the mid-range tends to get cleaned up at the same
time as the high end is enhanced and deep bass is added. As with all enhancers, though, be very careful not to
over-use it: keep switching the process in and out, to preserve your sense of perspective. The same applies to
EQ and dynamics -- check regularly against the untreated version to ensure that you're not making things worse.
7. Have a CD player and reference material on hand to use as a comparison for your work. Not only
does this act as a reference for your ears, it also helps to iron out any inaccuracies in your
monitoring system.
8. Overall compression can add energy to a mix and even out a performance, but it isn't mandatory. Music
needs some light and shade to provide dynamics. Often a compressor will change the apparent balance of a
mix slightly, so you may need to use it in combination with EQ. Placing EQ before the compressor results in any
boosted frequencies being compressed most, while placing it after the compressor allows you to equalise the
compressed sound without affecting the compressor operation. Which is best depends on the material being
treated, so try both.
9. A split-band compressor or dynamic equaliser gives more scope for changing the spectral balance
of a mix, but these devices take a little practice before you feel you're controlling them and not vice
versa!
10. One way to homogenise a mix that doesn't quite gel, or one that sounds too dry, is to add reverb to the
entire mix. This has to be done very carefully, as excess reverb can create a washy or cluttered impression, but I
find Lexicon's Ambience programs excellent for giving a mix a discreet sense of space and identity. If the
reverb is cluttering up the bass sounds, try rolling off the bass from the reverb send.
If you want to add a stereo width enhancing effect to a finished mix, there are two main things to consider: the
balance of the mix and the mono compatibility of the end result. Most width enhancers tend to increase the level
of panned or stereo sounds while suppressing centre sounds slightly. Sometimes this can be compensated for
by EQ, but being aware of what's happening is half the battle. Other than the simple phase-inversion width
enhancement used in the SPL Vitalizer, which is completely mono-compatible, width enhancement tends to
compromise the sound of the mono mix, so always check with the mono button in. While most serious listening
equipment is stereo these days, many TVs and portable radios are not, so mono compatibility is important.
11. Listen to the finished master all the way through, preferably using headphones, as these have the
ability to show up small glitches and noises that loudspeakers may mask. Digital clicks can occur in
even the best systems, though using good quality digital interconnects that are no longer than
necessary helps to reduce the risk.
12. Try to work from a 44.1kHz master tape if the end product will be a CD master. If you have to work from a
48kHz tape or one with different tracks recorded at different sample rates, a stand-alone sample-rate converter
can be used during transfer of the material into a computer. If you don't have a sample-rate converter, most
editing software will allow you to do a conversion inside the computer, though this takes processing time and
the quality is not always as good as that from a good-quality dedicated unit.
When using a software sample-rate converter, ensure that the tracks are all recorded with the computer system
set to the same sample rate as the source material. If you don't have a sample-rate converter at all, don't worry
too much, as transferring in the analogue domain via decent external A-D and D-A converters may well produce
better results than an indifferent sample rate converter (with free re-dithering thrown in too!). Alternatively, if your
master is for commercial production rather than for making CD-Rs at home, leave your master at 48kHz and
inform the mastering house so that they can handle the conversion for you.
13. When you're transferring digital material into a computer, ensure that the computer hardware is
set to external digital sync during recording and internal sync during playback. Also double-check
that your record sample rate matches the source sample rate -- people will often present you with
DAT tapes at the wrong sample rate, or even with different tracks at different sample rates. All too
often this is overlooked, until someone realises that one of the songs is playing back around 10
percent slow!
14. Don't expect digital de-noising programs to work miracles -- even the best systems produce side-effects if
you push them too far. The simpler systems are effectively multi-band expanders, where the threshold of each
band is set by first analysing a section of noise from between tracks. For this reason it's best not to try to clean
up your original masters prior to editing, otherwise there may be no noise samples left to work from. With
careful use you can achieve a few dB of noise reduction before the side-effects set in -- as low-level signals
open and close the expanders in the various bands, the background noise is modulated in a way that can only
be described as 'chirping'. The more noise reduction you try to achieve, the worse the chirping, so it's best to
use as little as you can get away with.
15. When editing individual tracks -- for example, when compiling a version from the best sections of
several recordings -- try to make butt joins just before or just after a drum beat, so that any
discontinuities are masked by the beat. However, if you have to use a crossfade edit to smooth over
a transition, try to avoid including a drum beat in the crossfade zone, or you may hear a phasing or
flamming effect where the two beats overlap. As a rule, crossfades should be as short as you can get
away with, to avoid a double-tracked effect during the fade zone. As little as 10-30ms is enough to
avoid producing a click.
16. On important projects, make two copies of the final mastered DAT (one as a backup) and mark these as
Production Master and Clone. Write the sample rate on the box, along with all other relevant data. If you include
test tones, document their level and include a list of all the track start times and running lengths for the benefit of
the CD manufacturer. As mentioned earlier, if, for any reason, you have produced a 48kHz sample rate master,
mark this clearly on the Production DAT Master so that the CD manufacturer can sample-rate convert it for you.
It's always a good idea to avoid recording audio during the first
minute or so of a new DAT tape, to avoid the large number of
dropouts commonly caused by the leader clip in the tape-spool
hub. You can, however, use this section to record test tones, which
will also demonstrate to the person playing your tape that it isn't blank! If you put DAT start IDs on each track,
check them carefully to make sure that there are no spurious ones, and don't use skip IDs.
17. When deciding on how much space to leave between tracks on an album, listen to how the first
track ends and the second one starts. Gaps are rarely shorter than two seconds, but if the starts and
ends are very abrupt you may need to leave up to four seconds between tracks. Use the pre-roll
feature of your digital editor to listen to the transition, so that you can get a feel for when the next
track should start.
18. When using a CD-R recorder to produce a master that will itself be used for commercial CD production,
ensure that the disc can be written in disc-at-once mode rather than a track at a time, and that your software
supports PQ coding to Red Book standard. Check with your CD manufacturer to confirm that they can work
from CD-R as a master, and take note of any special requirements they may have. Be very careful when
handling blank CD-Rs -- there are commercial CDs on the market with beautiful fingerprints embedded in the
digital data!
19. Be aware that stand-alone audio CD recorders usually
have an automatic shut-off function if gaps in the audio
exceed a preset number of seconds, usually between six
and 20. This may be a problem if you need large gaps
between tracks. Occasionally, even very low-level passages
in classical music can be interpreted as gaps. Also note that these recorders will continue recording
for that same preset number of seconds after the last track, so you'll need to stop recording manually
if you don't want a chunk of silence at the end of the album.
20. When making a digital transfer from a DAT recorder to a CD recorder that can read DAT IDs, it's best to
manually edit the DAT IDs first, so that they occur around half a second before the start of the track. Then you
don't risk missing part of the first note when the track is accessed on a regular CD player. Alternatively, there
are commercial interface units (or CD-R recorders with the facility built in) that delay the audio stream in order
to make coincident or slightly late DAT IDs appear before the audio on the CD-R