A lot of times I've indulged so much into drooling over the maple flame tops, sweet overdrives and sexy amps, that I've overlooked (more like 'under-hear') the beauty of the song itself. Apparantly, music encourages emotions, gears encourages desires...
Taken from Gearslutz.com
Mixerman:
Vocals are often times what makes or breaks a mix. Get them too loud and you dwarf the track. Too soft and the vocal then seems unimportant. Too strident and they hurt the listener's ears. Too muddy and the listener might have difficulty understanding the words.
How you EQ and place the vocal has to do with a great many factors. I can tell you, if you find yourself wishing to give different EQs to different sections, you're not the only one. There are many factors that can contribute to this, some that might be your fault and many that could be out of your hands. For instance, if a singer has particularly bad mic technique in combination with a wide dynamic range, they could very well be hitting the compressor or limiter perfectly on the verse and way too hard on the chorus. This could make the singer either unusually strident on the chorus if you have the verse right, or unusually dark if you have the chorus right. Sometimes I do vocal splits as sends to the compressor to combat this particular problem.
On occasion the vocalist tends to shift around causing changes in the tonality of the vocal. This problem gets magnified greatly on those occasions that you have the singer using a dynamic microphone (And yes I've ended up with a dynamic on quite a few singers). Personally, as a producer, I like to deal with these tonality issues during the comping phase, but as a mixer, I have to deal with what I'm given. Analog tape was way more forgiving for these sorts of tonality changes, but it's not like I didn't have to do occasional splits when the preponderance of projects were coming in analog. So it's always been a necessary evil at times.
Now I'm not suggesting that you need to automatically start splitting vocals. Personally, I search for a compromise setting before I do that, and start splitting once I realize I have the best compromise I'm going to get, and it's still not good enough. However, if you feel as though you're chasing your tail from top to bottom of the mix, changing the EQ the whole mix, then you might consider getting the vocal right for sections by using different EQs and compression settings for those sections. If the vocal is strident in the chorus, compress a little less, and send more low end into the compressor to combat this phenomenon. Attack and release settings will also make a big difference where this is concerned.
The best and only way that I know for judging whether the vocal is in the right place, is if I feel like singing the song with the singer, while simultaneously physically moving appropriately to the track. As much as we'd like to have something a bit more concrete than that, this is what music is about, and really, how the song forces you to physically react is the best indicator of where you're at in the mix. But feeling the need to sing the song has as much to do with the instrumental as it does the vocal. One doesn't live without the other. For instance, if you have busy guitar licks stomping on the vocals rather than filling the holes between the vocals, the listener won't be sure where to focus, and not only will they stop singing, they'll probably hit the skip button. Your job as the mixer is to force the focus of the listener. When the vocal is on, that's what you want the listener focusing on 99.9% of the time.
Space is also an important consideration. If you're mucking up the middle of your mix with instruments that consume a similar frequency range to the vocals, then you're making your life more difficult. This is why so many mixers prefer to pan hard left and right, myself included. You'll see this referred to as LCR mixing, which means there rarely is anything that is placed anywhere in the field that isn't either Left, Center, or Right. Even with LCR panning techniques (reserving the middle for bass, kik, snare, and vocal in rock music), if you have too much of a buildup in the upper mid-range, you're going to find yourself really trying to thread the needle to get that vocal to sit in exactly the right spot.
Then there's the space around the vocal and how that helps fit it into the mix. Sometimes a complete lack of space (totally dry vocal) works the best, sometimes a delay tail or slap helps to fit the vocal into the track better. On big tracks a semi-short delay can be put on the vocal to help it sit better in the track, even though you might not actually be able to hear the delay in the mix. And don't be afraid to change how much delay return you use in the verse as compared to the chorus. A more dense section of the song might require more delay so that the vocal doesn't seem bone dry, despite being obviously wet in the verses.
Then, of course, there's the riding the vocal. In my world, it's an absolute necessity in mixing. If you want that vocal to sit exactly right in the track throughout, you need to ride the vocal and the track around the vocal. How compressed you're willing to have vocal sound, along with how well it was recorded, and how disciplined the singer is on the mic, will dictate just how much riding you need to do.
The vocals are where you earn your money. It requires patience and perseverance to get them in the right place in relation to the track. But they all live and work together, and you have to constantly ask yourself whether the track is positively affecting the vocal, and if not, fix it Dear Henry. Fix it!
Good luck!
Enjoy,
Mixerman
Monday, June 15, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Damien Rice - Cannonball
Video Link
Still a little bit of your taste in my mouth
Still a little bit of you laced with my doubt
Still a little hard to say what's going on
Still a little bit of your ghost your witness
Still a little BIT of your face I haven't kissed
You step a little closer EACH DAY
Still I can't SAY what's going on
Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannonball
Still a little bit of your song in my ear
Still a little bit of your words I long to hear
You step a little closer TO ME
So close that I can't see what's going on
Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannon
Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to cry
So come on courage!
Teach me to be shy
'Cause it's not hard to fall
And I don't WANNA scare her
It's not hard to fall
And I don't wanna lose
It's not hard to grow
When you know that you just don't know
Still a little bit of your taste in my mouth
Still a little bit of you laced with my doubt
Still a little hard to say what's going on
Still a little bit of your ghost your witness
Still a little BIT of your face I haven't kissed
You step a little closer EACH DAY
Still I can't SAY what's going on
Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannonball
Still a little bit of your song in my ear
Still a little bit of your words I long to hear
You step a little closer TO ME
So close that I can't see what's going on
Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to lie
Life taught me to die
So it's not hard to fall
When you float like a cannon
Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to cry
So come on courage!
Teach me to be shy
'Cause it's not hard to fall
And I don't WANNA scare her
It's not hard to fall
And I don't wanna lose
It's not hard to grow
When you know that you just don't know
Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter
And so it is
Just like you said it would be
Life goes easy on me
Most of the time
And so it is
The shorter story
No love, no glory
No hero in her sky
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes...
And so it is
Just like you said it should be
We'll both forget the breeze
Most of the time
And so it is
The colder water
The blower's daughter
The pupil in denial
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes off you
I can't take my eyes...
Did I say that I loathe you?
Did I say that I want to
Leave it all behind?
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind off you
I can't take my mind...
My mind...my mind...
'Til I find somebody new
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Go for dedicated Firewire PCI !
Taken off M-Audio's Website
Q. Why is a dedicated FireWire card with a Texas Instruments (TI) chipset important on a PC?
A.
FireWire was developed by a partnership of Apple, Texas Instruments, and several other companies. FireWire is a great method for transferring streaming data like audio and video, which require a lot of bandwidth and CANNOT have the signal interrupted without serious degradation to the signal. Because this format was developed by Apple, the architecture is optimized for Apple systems. Some PC manufacturers don’t do as well as others integrating this technology.
PC’s base their architecture on a system of interrupts, and typically use synchronous data transfer. FireWire uses asynchronous data transfer, or a specialized version of asynchronous data transfer called isochronous data transfer. Synchronous transfer will guarantee that data packages will be delivered, but will not guarantee that they will be delivered at a certain time. Asynchronous transfer guarantees that packages will be delivered at a certain time, but if there is interference or delay, the packages may be dropped and will not be re-sent. This means that no data will be lost when using synchronous mode, but it could happen that packages are delivered late because they are re-sent if they are lost for some reason. For audio, it's useless if packages arrive late. Late audio is delayed audio and pauses in the audio. The guarantee that audio is delivered on-time is what s important to digital audio; and that's why FireWire audio devices use the asynchronous transfer. Any lost packages will appear as audio drop outs. So, as you can see it is important that FireWire data is not interrupted. However, PC architecture (ACPI) is built on the concept of interrupts. While the interrupts of Windows systems may be problematic, firewire audio can operate efficiently if the data is managed correctly.
This is where the FireWire controller chipset is VERY important. Because timing is so important, there are many controls which manage the FireWire bus to ensure the high transfer rate. The FireWire controller must initialize and release FireWire devices connected to the computer, communicate with all FireWire devices connected to the bus, assist those devices in dedicating a single clock for the timing of the entire FireWire bus, manage the electrical power distributed to the devices, construct a hierarchy of device priority in the system, and manage the data being transferred. There are several FireWire chipset developers that build chips that are significantly cheaper than Texas Instruments, and for this reason, PC manufacturers are starting to use these less expensive chipsets. Unfortunately, many of these other chipsets are not as reliable as those manufactured by Texas Instruments. M-Audio cannot simply say only use Texas Instruments chipsets, because some of these other controllers actually work very well, and M-Audio does not want to endorse any particular manufacturer. Some firewire chipset manufacturers are improving the quality of their controllers, but when problems are encountered, the chipset is the first place to look. When a chipset is in question, M-Audio does recommend using the controller chipsets which have a history of being the most reliable.
Even if your motherboard has an on-board FireWire controller with a Texas Instruments chipset, you may encounter problems because all onboard devices, including the FireWire controller, are run through the Southbridge of the processor. This means that there is a lot of traffic that the FireWire signal must compete with for access to the processor (all USB, onboard audio, onboard video, serial ports, network controllers, etc...). Data coming from all of these devices creates a bottleneck and greatly increases the chance of the FireWire signal being interrupted. The interrupted data is dropped to maintain the delivery time of the rest of the data. When too much data is dropped, the audio signal may be appear as distorted, completely dropped, or the computer may even drop the connection with the FireWire audio device. To avoid this on a PC, we always advise installing a dedicated FireWire card. This is because the PCI bus runs to the Northbridge of the processor. The Northbridge provides more reliable access to the processor because it only manages the data from the PCI, AGP, and memory.
Q. Why is a dedicated FireWire card with a Texas Instruments (TI) chipset important on a PC?
A.
FireWire was developed by a partnership of Apple, Texas Instruments, and several other companies. FireWire is a great method for transferring streaming data like audio and video, which require a lot of bandwidth and CANNOT have the signal interrupted without serious degradation to the signal. Because this format was developed by Apple, the architecture is optimized for Apple systems. Some PC manufacturers don’t do as well as others integrating this technology.
PC’s base their architecture on a system of interrupts, and typically use synchronous data transfer. FireWire uses asynchronous data transfer, or a specialized version of asynchronous data transfer called isochronous data transfer. Synchronous transfer will guarantee that data packages will be delivered, but will not guarantee that they will be delivered at a certain time. Asynchronous transfer guarantees that packages will be delivered at a certain time, but if there is interference or delay, the packages may be dropped and will not be re-sent. This means that no data will be lost when using synchronous mode, but it could happen that packages are delivered late because they are re-sent if they are lost for some reason. For audio, it's useless if packages arrive late. Late audio is delayed audio and pauses in the audio. The guarantee that audio is delivered on-time is what s important to digital audio; and that's why FireWire audio devices use the asynchronous transfer. Any lost packages will appear as audio drop outs. So, as you can see it is important that FireWire data is not interrupted. However, PC architecture (ACPI) is built on the concept of interrupts. While the interrupts of Windows systems may be problematic, firewire audio can operate efficiently if the data is managed correctly.
This is where the FireWire controller chipset is VERY important. Because timing is so important, there are many controls which manage the FireWire bus to ensure the high transfer rate. The FireWire controller must initialize and release FireWire devices connected to the computer, communicate with all FireWire devices connected to the bus, assist those devices in dedicating a single clock for the timing of the entire FireWire bus, manage the electrical power distributed to the devices, construct a hierarchy of device priority in the system, and manage the data being transferred. There are several FireWire chipset developers that build chips that are significantly cheaper than Texas Instruments, and for this reason, PC manufacturers are starting to use these less expensive chipsets. Unfortunately, many of these other chipsets are not as reliable as those manufactured by Texas Instruments. M-Audio cannot simply say only use Texas Instruments chipsets, because some of these other controllers actually work very well, and M-Audio does not want to endorse any particular manufacturer. Some firewire chipset manufacturers are improving the quality of their controllers, but when problems are encountered, the chipset is the first place to look. When a chipset is in question, M-Audio does recommend using the controller chipsets which have a history of being the most reliable.
Even if your motherboard has an on-board FireWire controller with a Texas Instruments chipset, you may encounter problems because all onboard devices, including the FireWire controller, are run through the Southbridge of the processor. This means that there is a lot of traffic that the FireWire signal must compete with for access to the processor (all USB, onboard audio, onboard video, serial ports, network controllers, etc...). Data coming from all of these devices creates a bottleneck and greatly increases the chance of the FireWire signal being interrupted. The interrupted data is dropped to maintain the delivery time of the rest of the data. When too much data is dropped, the audio signal may be appear as distorted, completely dropped, or the computer may even drop the connection with the FireWire audio device. To avoid this on a PC, we always advise installing a dedicated FireWire card. This is because the PCI bus runs to the Northbridge of the processor. The Northbridge provides more reliable access to the processor because it only manages the data from the PCI, AGP, and memory.
Art of Mixing Seminar by SSL
Dear Friends, Media Industry and SSL Enthusiast
Solid State Logic - The Art of Mixing Seminar
Damien Egan direct from Solid State Logic, Oxford•England a.ka. Phattbelly will present SSL’s Duende and Pro-Convert. These products are a must have for serious engineers/producers. Learn tips and tricks in perfecting your mixes using SSL's pristine audio tools. Phattbelly's previous success includes his work on UK's No.1 hit album "If You Come Back" by Blue signed to Innocent Records. He also co-wrote tracks for two others albums: ”The Artful Dodger" and "All About The Stragglers”, Which sold over 500,000 copies as well as the UK Top 20 hit "Luv U Anyway" by Denada. He also co-produced five tracks for kool & The Gang's "The Hits Reloaded" album.
Your are cordially invited to SSL- The Art of Mixing Seminar
Date: 23rd May, Saturday
Time: 2.30pm to 5pm
Location: Singapore Management University Administration Building
81 Victorial Street – opp Carlton HotelLevel 4, Seminar Room(pls park in SMU Admin Bldg, Nearest MRT: City Hall)
Presenters: Mr Damien Egan
RSVP, Jerome – 81112020, or E: jerome@steinbergasia.com.sg
We look forward to seeing you at the seminar.
Not often do we get such a free seminar. Thanks Steinberg Asia!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Bricasti Design's M7
M10 remote
Thanks Brian for loaning the M7 from Bricasti Design for testing.
It's a great reverb unit. Tons of very useful patches, which can be recalled at an instance. Hence it's versatility in enhancing every application.
I guess the only drawback is the lack of reverbs with more pronouced delays. Wasn't able to to set one that works during RP's Student Life Activity Fiesta '09. But it worked wonders for Dikir Barat and band performances.
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