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How Do You Widen A Stereo Mix?

Big Al — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:59:16 +0000

Here are two great quotes from the upcoming book by Mixerman, Zen and the Art of Mixing (coming this Fall on Hal Leonard), which offer some sage guidance on mixing and the stereo image…

“It’s also not uncommon to have tracks delivered with stereo guitars, pianos, keyboards, etc. You are not committed to any stereo recording treatment. Filling the mix with stereo parts only serves to create a mess of instruments coming from no particular place.

“Mixes with multiple mono sources split across the stereo field are far more focused and interesting than mixes that combine many stereo sources. This may seem like a personal preference, but it’s not. This is about framing a strong track, and your track can be weakened considerably by the excessive use of overly symmetrical faux stereo instrumentation.”

Mixerman’s Official Site

How Do You Widen A Stereo Mix? is a post from: Home Recording Studio Guru

Balancing Your Mix Properly

Big Al — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:00:36 +0000

Just read this very poignent post by Otek over at the Womb Forums. There’s gold in these few sentences…

Balancing your mix properly is, as a basic methodology, actually the antithesis of relying on “gobs of gear”, because it’s all about getting your mix balance right to begin with, rather than trying to shoehorn your tracks in with a bunch of processing.

What a lot of people do is put the mic where they read on the “internets” that the mic was supposed to be , and then “carve” their sounds into submission using tons of plugins because “it doesn’t sound right”.

If you instead start by…

Getting your sounds right while tracking through use of proper mic placement

Making sure you record at moderate levels (don’t slam your A/D and keep levels cool internally)

Balancing your recorded tracks properly from the outset using faders and pan only

Keeping your levels at unity through whatever plugins you eventually end up using

…your sound will improve massively.

You will find the compulsion to use tons of processing goes away to a large extent when you do this.

Balancing Your Mix Properly is a post from: Home Recording Studio Guru

Turn Down Your Mix For Validation

Big Al — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:11:07 +0000

Sometimes you can speak volumes with few words.

Such is the case with this recent Tech Tip from Sweetwater. There is absolute GOLD in these two paragraphs. Read them carefully. Then read them again.

For a double value, print them out and tape them over your lava lamp. Tada! Great mixing advice and protection from the looming lava lamp conspiracy!

Want to do a final check of the relative balances between tracks in your mix? Turn the volume way down to where you can barely hear it. Now, listen. Can you still hear all the tracks? Is the vocal clearly audible? Is anything jumping out? Anything you can’t hear?

Assuming your monitors are neutral and that your room is reasonably acoustically neutral (and you know both well), this low-level listening test will tell you volumes (no pun intended) about how your mix will hold up at normal listening levels and at high levels.

Go forth and mix!

Turn Down Your Mix For Validation is a post from: Home Recording Studio Guru

A New Charles Dye Mix For Artist Griffin Anthony

Big Al — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 06:18:05 +0000

Here’s a new tune from Griffin Anthony that was mixed by Charles Dye. It’s called, “Above All” from the album “Crazy Ways.”

Using a screen reader? Click here for the video.

A New Charles Dye Mix For Artist Griffin Anthony is a post from: Home Recording Studio Guru

This Day In Charles Dye History

Bohemian Rhapsody…With A Bluegrass Spin!

Big Al — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 05:57:36 +0000

This is a music video from the upcoming Hayseed Dixie album, “Killer Grass,’ to be released February 2010. It’s from the included DVD included.

Here’s a cool twist…the DVD also contains all of the multitrack WAV audio files for the complete album (over 2 Gigs)! It also contains a bonus song, “Love Cabin,” which must be mixed by you to be heard. Sweet.

For more, visit http://Hayseed-Dixie.com

Using a screen reader? Click here for the video.

Bohemian Rhapsody…With A Bluegrass Spin! is a post from: Home Recording Studio Guru

Soundation Studio, The Web Based Sequencer

Big Al — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:48:23 +0000

Here’s another move towards music creation in the cloud.

Soundation Studio is the web based sequencer that enables you to make music, ringtones and audio clips directly from the internet without downloading any software. This beta version includes over 400 royalty free audio loops, 9 different effects, track automation, basic loop editing, loop audition, master channel control and mix down to desktop. Please give this beta a go and let us know your impressions.

Soundation Studio is developed by PowerFX, an industry leader with over 10 years experience producing and digitally distributing loops, samples and sound effects which have been included in music making software products from Apple, Cakewalk, Yamaha, Sony, Propellerheads, Abelton Live and Microsoft.

Screenshot Of Soundation

PowerFX is one of my favorite loop producers. I believe they’re responsible for a lot of the Apple loops in the SoundTrack application, some of which may also be in Garageband.

Click here to give Soundation a whirl!

Soundation Studio, The Web Based Sequencer is a post from: Home Recording Studio Guru

How To Change The Tempo Of A Loop In Pro Tools

Big Al — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:35:12 +0000

This is an example of how to smoothly change a loop’s tempo in Pro Tools. Follow this example and your loop will conform to any tempo changes you make in your Pro Tools session. In this example, Elastic Audio and the TCE Tool are used.

Click Here To View More Pro Tools Gear

How To Change The Tempo Of A Loop In Pro Tools is a post from: Home Recording Studio Guru

Automated Mixing? Waves New Vocal Rider Plugin

Big Al — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:18:42 +0000

Waves Vocal Rider Plugin

Waves new Vocal Rider plugin was just introduced at AES 2009. Vocal Rider is designed to match your vocal tracks to the rest of the mix and then keep the relative volume throughout the song.

All you do is instantiate it on your vocal track, bus a summed instrumental mix to the side-chain, and hit play. The plug-in fader then takes over, keeping the relative volume of the vocals and the rest of the mix constant. And, unlike compression, Vocal Rider doesn’t crush the dynamic range or color the vocal track at all.

Intelligent adjustment of the vocal track based on the dynamics of the music
Saves time doing the kind of automation you would have to do manually
Writes automatic volume riding to the track as automation for fine tuning

So, will it work? Or rather, will it work well? The idea is more than a little interesting to me. I guess only time and a FREEeee hands-on demo will tell.

Take a look at the video of it in action:

Click here to see more Waves plugins

Automated Mixing? Waves New Vocal Rider Plugin is a post from: Home Recording Studio Guru

Ask Big Al: Using Analog Mixers For “Color”

Big Al — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:54:47 +0000

This represents a new feature here on the blog, “Ask Big Al“. I get a lot of questions from a lot of sources, but recently a lot from my Twitter followers. Some answers are short and easy, and some aren’t. So, I decided to offer to answer the more complex questions via posts here on my blog. Here we go . . .

@LoPro311 asks:

“Was wondering if you knew what type of mixer would work well with the M-Audio ProFire 2626? Trying to get that analog feel.”

This is a very common question these days as ITB (“in the box”) trackers and mixers chase a little analog magic. Charles Dye has identified this “magic” as saturation and uses specialty plugins to add it back into his mixes without going out of the box at all. But, some still prefer the hardware. This can be in either the form of an analog mixer of some kind, or something known as a “summing box.”

None of what I’m about to cover depends on what interface you’re using. Some will have more or less flexibility in their input and output options making it easier or more difficult to achieve the end goal. Either way, all the same principles apply in most situations.

Option #1 – Mixers

The advantage of choosing a mixer is that it’s a multitasker. You can use it for its analog goodness while you’re tracking and you can sum through it during mixdown.

The downside is the price, at least if you want some decent analog sound. Most anything new in the under $5,000.00 range is mostly transparent (or low consumer grade). That’s not going to give you any of that analog color you’re looking for. However, between $5,000.00 and $10,000.00 there are quite a few really nice options.

My friend Bryan Stevens, from the Music Pro Show podcast and Bonzo Tunes studio in Atalanta, Georgia USA also craved some analog action. He recently removed his 32-channel Mackie console (a popular, but mostly transparent choice) to replace it with a Toft ATB24. It’s a 24-channel board and with the optional meter bridge has a street price of just under $7,000.00. Not only is it well made, it sounds great too. Bryan is definitely getting what he was looking for. Just ask him.

The Toft ATB Mixing Console

Along the way, he also considered console offerings from Allen and Heath.

Purchasing a used board (like a Soundcraft for example) can certainly get you more board for your money, but it can also deliver more pain per dollar when it comes to maintenance and repair. Buy carefully and plan on some ongoing expenses.

Option #2 – Analog Summing Boxes / Mixers

While this generally doesn’t offer you options while tracking, it does offer the analog color you’re looking for at a much lower price point than a full console. Some of your options here are:

Solid State Logic X-Desk 16-Channel Summing Mixer

To pass your signal through analog hardware while tracking you might consider adding a couple of nice analog mic pres to your summing box; like the Universal Audio Solo 610, Universal Audio LA-610 or the dbx 386. If you don’t need oodles of simultaeneous inputs, this could fit your budget very nicely.

Universal Audio LA610 Mic Pre

Bonus Option #3 – Carefully Selected Plugins

Yep, I’m gonna do it. I’m also going to recommend you try getting that same sound completely in the box. The best person to demonstrate this is the one that opened my eyes, multi-Grammy winning engineer Charles Dye. His approach changed my mixing life forever.

If you haven’t yet gotten your copy of his Mix It Like A Record DVD mixing course, it’s one of the single best things you can do for yourself. Check out more info on it by clicking here (you won’t be taken away from this site by clicking the link). Even if you still decide to go out of the box to access analog hardware, you won’t be disappointed by what you’ll learn from this multi-disc set.

Do you have a question you’d like me to answer? Drop me a line!

Ask Big Al: Using Analog Mixers For “Color” is a post from: Home Recording Studio Guru

Chris Lord-Alge Demonstrates Mixing Hit Records With The Waves CLA Plug-Ins

Big Al — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:43:00 +0000

In this two-video series, producer Chris Lord-Alge demonstrates mixing hit records with the Waves CLA plug-ins.

Chris Lord-Alge Demonstrates Mixing Hit Records With The Waves CLA Plug-Ins is a post from: Home Recording Studio Guru