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If you like what your hear, then these tips might be for you if you are
working on your own music projects...Of course these tips should be used at
your own risk!
In no particular
order...
Randy's recording
experience started with two cassette decks...bouncing tracks back and forth,
as he added a new instrument each time. While that may sound ridiculous, it
helped him understand many nuances of recording at a very basic level.
Today, audio recording is all digital and done completely on the computer.
The flexibility is amazing. But the principles of good recording techniques
still apply. Randy has just about eliminated all his 'analog' equipment
(mixers, EQs, Compressors, etc) but uses tools (plug-ins) in the computer
environment that emulate the analog equipment...so he still have to think
analog. But the computer leaves the old tape machines behind. Take singing
for example. He used to punch in and out of one track until he got what I
wanted. Now we just sing the whole song several times, and then assemble a
single final track by taking the best pieces of all the previous tracks. Or
sometimes we just sing the background vocals for one chorus, and then
copy/paste them to the other chorus spots. Add to that the capability to
tune up parts after they are sung, and things start sounding really good.
We can't emphasize
enough the importance of MASTERING your final mixes. When we actually have
a budget, we like to take our final mixes to someone like Doug Sax at the
Mastering Labs in LA. There are some nice plug-ins that can accomplish much
of the final processing these days, although the value of getting a set of
golden ears on a project can really help. The objective is so get the
entire project to sound like it belongs together. That may mean some
overall EQ to make the tracks match up better and audio leveling techniques
to get the songs to have a similar loudness across the project.
Randy's favorite
tip for mixing music...you should feel it...not hear it. If you can hear
the changes you made in EQ, you may have gone too far. If you can feeeeeel
it, then you are probably spot on. If you can hear the reverb...back it
off...until you can feel it. Rules are made to broken, but this is a great
place to start.
Randy's acoustic
guitars are often recorded using a stereo mic technique called M/S. It
means Middle/Side. He points one cardiod mic directly at the guitar hole,
and another (with a figure-8 pattern) pointing Left/Right. If you take the
two signals and add them together a certain way, you get a wonderfully
natural stereo image. Here is how you sum them...
To get the left
signal, you add the Middle mic and Side mic together and pan full left.
To get the right
side, to add the Middle mic and an out-of-phase Side mic together and pan
full right.
Sounds a little
weird on paper, but it is sweet on the ears. The balance between the Middle
and the Side Mic determine how WIDE the image is (don't go crazy, subtle is
good). Also, this method holds up so well in mono...much better than using
two mics in a typical X/Y configuration.
Q: My songs are not
as loud as other songs. I have tried to use compression when I master the
songs but my music starts to clip. What am I doing wrong?
A: I think everyone
struggles with this...I have been mixing for 15 years and still lose the
battle once in a while. A couple of notes & thoughts though...
1) You will never
get optimum levels by trying to max out your tunes during mastering
process. It is just one of the steps. You need to be aware of the level
issues throughout the entire recording process. We used to compress sound
to push it further above the analog noise floor...with digital recording,
that is no longer as much of an issue...it is more of GET THAT TRACK UNDER
CONTROL issue.
2) Sometimes I
compress stuff *mildly* FOUR times. Once as it is going to tape (or HD),
once when I am mixing (once on the individual track, once on the overall
mix), and once when I am mastering.
3) I found that
using multi-band compression when mixing sucks too much of my MIX away. But
a touch at Mastering works well.
4) As more of the
music becomes active, back off the overall level. Depending on the music
genre, many songs start with some but not all the elements. Starting that a
little louder, then backing it off will give the ears the perception that
the song is louder overall.
5) Make mixing
adjustments WITHOUT overall compression, and then dial in the compression
as the last step to trim off a few extra dB. TIP: Once you hear the
squishing, not only have you gone too far, you've gone WAY too far.
6) Remember that
3dB = one relative listening level. So trimming away that even 6dB will
make a significant difference.
7) Some of these
tips are several years old...the latest, greatest technique involves
multi-band leveling tools. These are super intelligent compressors that dip
only the bits within certain frequency ranges making the compression
results much more transparent. Such tools have sparked "Loudness
Wars" across the recording industry.
All that being
said, some music genres allow more compression than others do. I prefer
letting the music breath a little more...meaning the music is a touch
softer than standard rock for example, but that way it doesn't feel FORCED.
Whew...hope this
helps...
Q: You talked about
'removing the blanket' from your mixes. What does that mean?
A: Ever since my I
moved into my new studio, I have struggled to get my mixes to
sound...well...like everything else I listen to. It sounds like there is a
light blanket over the speakers. So, I bump 5k up a bit (and roll it back
off). I also bump the bottom to add some 'weight' to the mix. I would love
to take this to guys at Mastering Labs to tweak everything in, but
sometimes that just isn't in the cards.
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