Do you gain stage tracks before mixing? | FAQ Friday - Warren Huart: Produce Like A Pro
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- Опубликовано: 24 авг 2024
- Do you gain stage tracks before mixing? Read more about gain staging here: bit.ly/2W4qTrP
What a great question! Yes! Quite often!
Not on stuff that I’ve recorded because I record it at a level that makes sense through my equipment, but definitely when people send me stuff. I get sent stuff that is super super hot, and then barely audible!
If it’s clipping, there’s not a lot I can do.
I’ll bring it down as much as possible- there are a number of plugins out there which can remove clips. There not perfect, but they do help.
More often than not, I see the opposite. Sometimes we’re sent tracks that I don’t know there’s audio on there until we zoom in 500% - 600% and then suddenly a track will start to appear. Usually that’s okay because it’s a digital only signal- so there’s no inherent noise in there.
There are times when, unfortunately, there is a lot of noise. You start amplifying the tracks so it’s actually loud enough to be able to use, you bring up the gain, but you’re also bringing up a huge amount of noise. Hence, the signal to noise ratio is not good!
Those are the times that I gain stage before mixing. As I said before, I don’t do it on my own stuff because we’re printing at nice big fat tones that I can do whatever I want with!
❤️We cover the following questions during this episode of FAQ Friday!
➡️When bouncing, how do you feel about master bus processing? The SSL bus compressor doing about 2 to 3 dB of compression for instance. (1:26)
➡️Do you gain stage tracks before mixing? (7:27)
➡️Do you think it makes sense to look for a mixing engineer who uses the same DAW as oneself? This way one could send the DAW files and the engineer could open the project and enable or disable the effects within the project himself without needing to go back and forth with the different tracks? What are your thoughts? (10:25)
➡️How much processing should be applied to a sampled drum kit in EZ drummer where there are perfect samples? Should compression and EQ still be applied to each sound and to the drum bus or is this just a taste thing? (14:33)
➡️How much reverb is enough? How much is too much? I often struggle balancing getting ambience in my productions without making them sound too wooly. (16:34)
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Leave a question below for next week's FAQ Friday! I look forward to reading all of your questions & comments!
Howdy, Warren! Before I get to my question, I'd like to thank you for the amazing content you release so consistently. I've learned so much from your channel and I always look forward to seeing the next Produce Like A Pro video show up in my feed!
Now for the question: I'm looking at venturing into the world of outboard gear. 😬 With regards to preamps, certain types seem to be available with or without an EQ section. For example, many 1073 clones will feature the original EQ section, while some (like your UK Sound 1173) include only a HPF option, while others might remove the EQ altogether. When you're wanting to introduce the "color" of a particular preamp into your recordings, how much of that sound is due in part to the additional circuitry of the EQ shaping the source directly vs recording through a unit without the onboard EQ?
Speaking about reverb and the Abbey Road trick in this video...some people say use the eq after the reverb, and some say use it before the reverb. Any suggestions?
Oh I have a question! I am going to be recording a grand piano soon with Neumann u86 mics. Do you have any tips for mic positions?
What is your opinion about audio engineering degree? is it worth paying 25k+ euros?
I absolutely LOVE your channel and your knowledge and enthusiasm... Berlin was great content, "inside the song" is great too, especially the Soundgarden one.. One question ; I am a 48 year old drummer, worked as an audio engineer straight from leaving school, formed a band (in my younger years) and have been signed to a major label, worked with some great producers and have been writing/producing my own ambient music and doing sessions for the last ten years. I want to go to university this September to study music production. Have I left it too late in life to study modern production? (I am obsessed with 70s era production btw)
I usually record- print at around -10 db. Also will make gain staging adjustments if needed to get around -10 db.This is what works for me to allow plugins to work optimally and keep some headroom on my Master Buss (-6 to-4db) for mastering later on. Been in the music business for 50+ years and have managed to keep up with the technology due to access to the many avenues available on the internet. Warren, you are most definitely one of the best mixing educators out there. During the last 6 months as a subscriber, I have learned much from you and your guests. I am a smooth jazz and world music artist. I usually play or program all of the instruments and compose, record, mix and master all of my songs in my home studio. I am having the best time of my life. I cannot put into words the great feeling it is to play and record music.... As you often say.... "marvelous". Keep up the great work and thank you....
I can't get enough of this feeling: I'm a huge noob, I would have asked all of these very same questions. And I just found out I'm doing almost everything right! I'm starting to get it!
I have started watching Warren's videos just to hear the word shnizzle in all kinds of variations and contexts....😂😂 actually it's a huge load of knowledge.... so valuable, much appreciated!
In the question regarding EZDrummer, I've noticed that they have been getting better over the years, and that the "randomizing" is extremely helpful in getting a good drum sound and "performance." I'm a big fan of EZDrummer for what it is.
I find that if I leave my speakers off while gain staging, it goes much faster and I don't get sucked into altering the tone or sound before I am done. I can just look at the meter and shoot for -18, then when I turn on my monitor with all faders at 0, the song is almost mixed! At that point it is obvious what is too loud and instead of lowering the fader, I will use subtractive eq first, since this will lower the volume and the masking at the same time. It is amazing to me how much gain staging before has made mixing easier!
I used to cover the meter on the SSL buss compressor to force myself to use my ear. However later when stems became very important I stopped using mix buss compression on the analog side. It became too common for changes needing to be made and with the stems I was able to save people a lot of money by bringing up the stems and making the tweaks without having to re-book the studio. But I couldn't print with the SSL compressor to make that work.
I remember once working on a project for American Idol where one of the engineers had printed stems through the buss compressor and they could not get the mix back from the stems for changes, thus requiring having to go back into the studio last minute. I had to calm the producer by showing him how the mixes we did would never have that problem, and I stopped my work to help the other engineer get his recall back up quickly. But it was a defining moment for me on buss compression which until then hadn't nesc saved my butt until then. And there are some great plugins for mix compression.
Thanks for putting the spotlight on SUCH an important step for a great sounding mix!
Warren, your channel It's getting better and better ....
really like it.
thanks and cheers from berlin.
sven
Hi Curtis Chip yanks ever so much my friend!!
The most recurrent issue I have with gain staging is setting the level of a guitar DI that will be fed into a hi gain amp simulation.
Usually it is way too hot, and it feels hard to get the right volume to have a low noise & a nice sounding amp, but keeping a nice sustain.
Great tips as ever, Warren. Think you and Rick Beato have the best 'behind the music' sites on the ''net! Always come away with some extra knowledge I can apply to my tracks.
Hey Warren - I just watched your video about adding a bass line played on a single D string through a wah to add some barritoney goodness to a guitar rhythm part. If you don't happen to have a bass to hand try it on the low string on a regular guitar and run the line through a pitch correct plugin - no pitch correct but with the formant adjusted down by a point or two - instant thicker strings! Take care and please continue to be marvelous.
Thanks again for your fantastic advice. In reference to gain staging, After 10 years of learning to record I stumbled on a great lesson that made clear pre fader metering. OMG! that changed my life! I didn't realize how much I was slightly clipping individual tracks by not managing the signal between plug ins. It's not hard to do but I couldn't see that it was happening post fader metering. My mixes are significally better cleaner, bigger, more musical. I would love you to show others what Im talking about. Once you start looking at your tracks through both lenses( pre fader and post fader) You can actually see what is happing to your tracks and make sure they are at that sweet spot (DB wise) when they show up ganging together at the 2 bus. Changed my life! It was like I discovered the rosette stone! who knew?
I found that working on the same DAW is super helpful for making music, I have a friend of mine that uses the same DAW as me and it makes mixing and working seamless. My partner that I work with mainly uses pro tools in his studio but he also has almost every DAW and almost every plugin you can think of. That is a great advantage and great for learning as well.
Thanks Warren! Have a great weekend.
Regarding question 3.... as a salesman (in a totally different field) I would say: charge more for mixing 1 song only, and if they like it and want you to mix the rest of the album, just give'm a discount of the same amount that was charged extra on the first song. Works both ways... client is happy with the discount or can back down if they are not happy with your mix... And if they're happy you get to do a full album!
And indeed, Berlin is a WONDERFUL city!
About the mix bus when bouncing: Personally, I actually never apply any EQ or Compression on my mix when printing. I honestly feel that that's something the mastering engineer should do. If I hear something adding up on my frequency spectrum, I try to fix it on my channels. Also dynamic wise, you know that the mastering engineer is going to compress the mix, so why do it yourself? Even if it's 2 or 3 dB, when the mastering engineer uses his compressor (or 2), it's not just "adding up the amount of compression", it's multiplying!
How do you feel about that?
Totally agree with the drum plugins being randomized, it just sounds better.
Welcome back. Glad you had fun and thanks again for sharing your journey with us.
Hi michael tablet thanks ever so much my friend!!
Back again (excuse the pun) because I've been looking deeper in to gain staging this week. David at MixbusTV has some really good stuff on this, too. Hope you don't mind me name-checking another channel; I know you guys are friends & share a similar outlook. Between the topics of gain staging and level matching - finally understanding the topics and realising the benefits of, Doh! - I'm starting to get not only better results, but I'm listening more critically, applying more subtle changes, and if necessary using a meter (VUMT) When so many plugins, from the outset just boost the gain, giving the impression that it sounds 'better', when it's just louder. The penny dropped! I went from mixes that sounded brash and exciting, but were dense; cluttered with unwanted grit and artifacts, to mixes where I could here the space between sound sources, so could apply EQ and compression purposefully to the areas that I wanted, because I could 'hear' where they were. Also watched you video on referencing & level matching and downloaded AB-Level Match (your vid get's linked on tb-software's site, incidentally) All good stuff! More power to you elbow, mate
Love the FAQ Friday's... What a marvellous way to wrap up the week! 😎👍
I've using a VU meter on my input channel when recording.
Re. first question: got scolded by a mastering engineer for mixing through a bus compressor and then taking it off when bouncing stereos for him. His tl;dr: if you mix through it, leave it on because it will have influenced all of you mixing decisions. On the other hand, Joey Sturgis says he always wants to put his own stereo compression on. So as usual in audio, there's as many opinions as there's engineers out there. Communication with the people you work with is KEY. This is how I learned to decide on a mastering engineer before I even start mixing and just have a quick convo with them about how they would like you to prepare tracks.
Hey I’m sure there are a ton of us submitting tracks for sound libraries/jingles and such.. for maximizing our hourly rate I chose to master the song myself. With that I do have all those plugins ready on my master output. So when bouncing the song it’s mastered already, I do turn it off and on the make sure the sounds good both ways.
It is good to do all the amplification at the source of the recording, adding more gain later (in the signal chain or post) could lower your SNR of that track. If you're gating/cropping tracks in your DAW you can hide noise but, the given track's SNR will only get worse (maybe stay the same with perfect equipment) with more processing/gain/routing.
I record in so that the waveform size takes up about the middle 1/3 of the clip view for that track when set to 100% zoom (ie; meaning you could place roughly, 3x instances of the waveform within the clip view) so you can just eyeball it for anyone that wants to give it a go
this always gives me a strong enough signal to work with, to accommodate any peaks & volume spikes, without worrying about any noise floor
There is a gain-staging philosophy going around in which normalizing your multi-tracks to -18 dbFS (0 dB VU) will optimize the performance of analog modeled plugins.
Your thoughts?
@@maddielee4eva123 Are you saying that you're turning up tracks to get to -18 dBFS? I find -18dBFS to be extremely low by most people's ITB standards and often receive multi-tracks as hot as -3 dB that need to be turned down to NOT overload the plugin
@@thrale I appreciate the information, but technically -3 dB "works" too. I'm more specifically asking if Warren thinks there is validity to the idea of an "analog modeling sweet spot"
Michael Matthews there’s more to this than THD. It would (if valid) affect the way the detection circuit operates, which would considerably impact the way the compressor moves
LOOK UP THE K METER SYSTEM. IT REALLY TRULY WORKS GREAT NOW DAYS IN A DAW BECAUSE IT WAS BUILT TO WORK WITH THE CONSOLES AND RACK GEAR THAT ALL THE PLUG-INS EMULATE.
@@maddielee4eva123 -18db digital is equal to 0db analog.
Maybe a video showcasing a before and after of a song you sent to a reputable mastering engineer? If possible letting us know what steps the M.E. has used to get to the final product? Do you mix with the intention that the M.E. will indeed make finite adjustments to your mix. Thanks Warren!
Thank you for this great FAQ, Warren. One thing about gain staiging. When you're mixing in a hybrid fashion, how hard do you hit your outboard gear and the SSL? Du you recommend a certain output level to start from? By the way, "Schnizzle Happens" would make a great sticker for my car ;-)
Thanks Warren, have a blessed and wonderful weekend.
You're very welcome! Have a great weekend!
Another "Schnizzle Dizzle great" Video, very entertainy, thanks!
Hello Warren, I'm sure you always see questions asking, How much comp, EQ, processing to use on a kick , guitars , vocals or what ever it may be, but of course there is no concrete rule on any of it... But I think the question is... What about the sound of a kick drum, or a snare, would influence how you mix it?
One way to get around the different DAWs when sending a mix to a studio is to render each track two times. Once with effects on and once without. Then its possible to hear what the musician wants, and reproduce it with the studio plugins.
I record live jam sessions in my home studio. The drummer is great, but when he dose fast double kicking the kick drum drops down a lot. How does one make the fast double kicking more audible in the mix when performed like that? Just turning it up seems to just cause cymbal bleed issues and gating gets harder as the transients are much lower due to hitting the drum softer.
Just joined your Pro Mix Academy and bought four different courses and love them already. Keep up the good work man.
Hi Warren. Thanks for the video. Can you address the use of a subwoofer for mixing and tightening low end kick and bass? Please if talking about room sizes re the topic specify what small, medium or large is in meters or preferably. in feet
Your videos are so great! You have one of the best channels on RUclips. Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom with us.
Watching your videos is so relaxing, because your approach is so undogmatic. Thank you!
Great advice Warren! I used to put a tonne of plugins on the mixbus but now it's gentle compression and EQ. Maybe a little limiting.
I like to apply small amounts of compression on each track (if needed), then a little on the buses, then that little bit on the mix bus. Sometimes there's a few parallel compressors on certain things like drums, guitars etc. Little bits of gain reduction gradually make for a nice big sound that's glued nicely!
Back with the "Boom n' Fizz" love that. You've just confirmed what I've instinctively doing, so thank you. I've been recording the demos for our band's next album. I don't have the luxury of much outboard gear. Would love a nice stereo compressor and a pair of Pultec style units one day, but for now the plugins are great. And yes, like you say I just like to tickle the master bus with a bit of compression or "glue." Then a touch of 60hz and 10k seem to really define the whole mix. Pultec style eq's seem perfect for this.
Two questions about gain staging if I may? When recording I go through an analogue desk or individual preamps for overdubs. Then I try to get everything hitting my Focusrite Clarett interface and Pro Tools at around -20db so that it's just dancing around the bottom of the yellow. Would you say this is the right kind of level going in?
Also, I've noticed that when I set up a Drum Bus, the Kick and Snare, etc will be going in at about -6db (once I've brought them up with a bit of compression and maybe the Massey Tape Head) but then the level at the master fader is much hotter. Like, up to around -3, -2db, which doesn't leave enough headroom for Master bus treatment! I realise I'm missing something here, probably a real doozy of a revelation, but shouldn't the Master meter be reading the same as the Drum Bus? This is with nothing else going to the Master btw, and also, without the Drum Bus, the Master will be reading around the same (-6db) as the Kick and Snare channels.
Great FAQ Friday as usual. I have a question about bit and sample rate. If I get multitraks at 32bit 44.1k, should I just mix as they are OR convert them to something else? If so, what should they be in, How should it be converted? What should they be sent to mastering as? Thanks, Warren!
I guess I should be more specific. I have been getting multitracks from clients at 32bit, 44.1k a lot recently instead of the usual 24bit, 48k or even 44.1k. I have chosen to mix them at the rates they were sent to me but was wondering if I should convert them. And if so, what is the best process for that. Will this really effect anything on the mastering end?
Wow, a great help this one, which I was struggling with the multi tracks you gave me. So I was more or less on the right track, trim the tracks? And using EQ when there are annoying parts, like too much ring. Still learning. Thank you very much.
What is a good type of delay (and what are some good time,feedback, etc settings?) to use for hard rock vocals, like, say, Dream Theater, AlterBridge, and similar vocal styles?
I believe, the gain staging deserves a bit more in depth explanation. Because if you're recording on analog gear, you'll be at around 0 dbBVu, which corresponds to -18 dBFS on any DAW. At +3 dbBVu (where it's already clipping in analog domain) you're at -15 dBFS in your DAW. In my opinion, anything above +3 dBVu (-15 dBFS) would have an inherent micro distortion embedded into the wav, which you won't quite hear it, but it's gonna build up on the Buses and the Master Bus. And if you'll use plugins modeled after analog gear, they are expecting to see at their input 0dBVu (this is stated on any user manual from reputable companies).
And if you're mixing tracks already recorded, just lower them down with gain trimming plugins, before they hit any other plugin in the mix.
So, I guess, just ballparking it visually, and actually be on -10-5 dbFS it's gonna fire back really badly later in the mix.....just my 2 cents :)
Amazing answers as always... in Warren we trust.
Warrent, when you are mixing do Use external hardware for fx like reverb, delays or chorus ? Or do you use plugins To that? Thanks!
Hey Warren. I wish to hear your thoughts about using tape emulation on the master bus. Do you use it? And if so which ones would you recommend.
I love FAQ Friday! I'm learning so much.
Could you describe your process for gain staging during tracking vs with it already in the DAW as this video describes.
Another fun story related to using the same DAW from when I was an assistant. We got a PT session in where instead of printing the tuned vocals, they used plugins and left the plugins on. For some reason the autotune plugin came up in the wrong key. It sounded a little odd, but also very cool at the same time. So we assumed it was a clever artistic trick. It wasn't until the mix engineer submitted the mix to the label that they pointed out autotune was in the wrong key. To this day I still think it worked better in the wrong key. I don't think the label would have agreed with me and the mix engineer.
Unfortunately I'm one of those bedroom artists/youtubers that have to use drum programs due to space etc, I like your comment about using saturation etc on ezdrummer to make it not sound perfect. I've recently come across a company that does drum samplers and they don't sound perfect it's a small company call Ugritone (formerly known as It might get loud productions) I've used their NY hardcore style kit on a couple of my tracks and I'm really happy with the results, they sound raw and unprocessed.
Congrats again on 300k Warren! I'd love to hear back from you on this. I've a budget of 200$, and I'm going to buy some plugin. I know you're big on waves, so I'd like to hear what the best value of plugin variety - usability I could get for that money. Had my eyes on the CLA comps, but give me some suggestions please!
About gain staging before mixing - I’ve seen pros that are guests on the UA channel talk about gain staging to -18dbfs to make the plug-ins that you put on those tracks work at their optimum level.
What are your thoughts?
Hey man I also have heard this from DJ Axwell usually kickdrums are set to -15db to -18db depends on the type of song
"Somewhere in between not clipping and not visible on the screen"... I'm going to make a GIF of that. Can't even count how many times I've received "stems" (sigh) that, for whatever reason, had either been bounced at +6dB with waveforms that looked like Lego blocks or were indistinguishable from line noise on the graph... there are people out here who NEED your "common sense" tips
@Jean Dames if the audio's been completely ITB from the beginning yeah, but there's always that one (or two, or unfortunately many) engineer who doesn't quite understand the gain and trim controls on their preamps.
@@AustenBallard what does "ITB" mean ?
@@lilleeon In The Box, i.e. all digital
@@AustenBallard ahh thank you
Yes. Gentle is the key. If you hear it, yes that might be to much. Great video
EZDrummer is a complex piece of software. It does include a wonderful library of samples, nicely recorded drums. But there is great flexibility therein. The level meter within the plug-in will determine hit velocity. So if reduced, it will be as though the drummer is playing softly. The MIDI packs themselves are captures of a performance, so the velocities will reflect that performance, they will be varied. The plug-in when routed to a channel can allow the user to reduce the level, so a smashing performance can be mixed lower and vise versa. Soft performances can prominantly jump out of a mix. Further editing can be done traditionally via the Piano Roll, and this is one of the only ways to view velocity. EZD is a great time keeper, much better than playing to a click, and the performance can be built to the song afterwards, creating the diversity required. -James
Great video! When you master recordings what order do you put your plugins in? Recently we discovered that just by changing the order of 2 plugins when mastering it made an extremely noticeable difference,in a good way.
I try to go with
1.Span for analysing wave after mixing
2.EQ
3.compressor
4.Mulitband compressor
5.Ozone Elements
theres no set way. A good understanding willhelp you know
Hi, thanks for all the tips you're sharing with us.
Hoping you keep an eye on comments on old video as well, I would like to ask you something about gain staging: using a virtual instrument, the gain plugin should stay before or after the amp & cab simulation? What should be your choice?
Thanks for the interesting content, take care
Great video! Question; you say you use buss compression during printing and mixing. What about tracking? Do you have buss compression going during tracking? Thanks Warren!
One day I ended up with a bunch of violin tracks that turned out to be but a bunch of gritty, piercing high-end. No EQ or de-essing had helped whatsoever, still all that was audible was that now classic harshness. After hearing your opinion on using IRs, I thought to myself: "hmm, why not try applying a guitar cab impulse to a violin track?". It's still FAR from a good violin sound, but it's much less painful to listen to. If you guys ever end up in such situation when you're basically trying to save what's left, consider trying this out. Might help at least to some extent.
Thanks for the idea, Warren!
Cheers, all ;)
Another great edition of FAQ Friday! Very good questions and, as usual, very appropriate, and clever, answers. Nothing to add but, again, thank you Warren, and the team of PLAP! Have all a wonderful time! ;-)
Snizzle Creek! My man Warren I'm glad you're back!!!
haha. shnizzle happens
I just wanted to tell you I'm doing marvellously well!
Nice tip about high and low end in reverb. Thanks
Hey warren, when i mic my amp i use a sennheiser 609 and the emulated output since i have a blackstar. My question is my tone sounds really bright through my monitors but not before going in. Should i trust the sound from my monitors, or should i try to get the sound out of my monitors to more closely resemble my open tone? Also what do you think about hybrid recoding drums for example kick snare hat miced, and use steven slate for toms cymbals and overheads? Great stuff as always😎
As usual, great content and advice. But I was wondering, in reference to the gain staging topic, I get what you’re saying about a good recorded signal to work with, but I ‘ve heard others mention how much more finesse the faders have at 0 setting. How much importance do you place on this as your starting point?
I feel like gain staging is something I’m still pretty hopelessly inept at in a way. My “master fader” slider in GarageBand is essentially always in the red, and frankly, I can’t tell how much that matters - I don’t hear any real clipping, and the generic pseudo-/pre-mastering tips I’ve looked up and tried to apply don’t seem to really help, just kill dynamics and/or overall volume. What gives? 😝
Welcome back.
ksparbanie thanks ever so much!!
Up shnizzle creek! You keep it interesting!
I totally enjoyed this one! I'm ready to track and mix!
Hi Allen Locke yanks ever so much my friend!!
Controlling the bottom end of the reverb......that IS the reverb secret sauce!
Interesting... How do you do that? Do you insert a multiband compressor after the reverb or... ?
@@Kevin-vq6rv Well, one way would be to have the reverb on its own bus, that way you can treat it like a track with eq for example, you can high pass the low freq to your heart's desire.
Just a random comment. As a dj I love equipment, whether dj, studio or home stuff. And I have to say I really, REALLY love the tegeler creme. I like the look, the performance, and especially the price (hahaha, even though I still can't afford it).
Hey Warren how’s it going. I have a basic question I’ve never heard talked about yet. For my drum overheads and my two guitar amp mics should I pan them in my daw before recording or do it after it’s recorded? I’ve been doing it before recording.
DAWs have what's called a 'Panning Law' which dictates the level of a hard panned channel. Circular Panning Law boosts the level of a hard panned channel, above it's maximum. Triangular Panning Law doesn't boost the level of a hard panned channel. The problem with Circular Panning Law is the compensation made for the boost involves reducing the input level, which can remove details. I record two different speakers each pass and can hard pan to select which one fits better, or center for both speakers. Dual pass recordings will have 4 different speakers, and this is panned to select it. DAWs can swap left/right as well, so in the event you want two left channels, one can be swapped to the right. -James
Ooh, ooh.., did you get to visit Tegel and talk to Michael? Can't wait for that video. I love my VTRC! Pro tip; sound like a real Berliner and pronounce it like 'Tay-geler Ow-dee-oh Manoofacktoor'. ;-)
Hi Studio De Bras Yes we did! FYI Michael was very specific that it should be ‘Tee-guh-lah’ I’ll let him know he’s wrong! Haha I had previously pronounced it ‘Tay’ around him and he had corrected me!
OK, a question (hopefully) for an upcoming FAQ Friday: While mixing, if something doesn't sound quite right, but is something you can't pinpoint, to what extent do you solo?
More importantly, how does one avoid the 'solo rabbit-hole'? ..and does avoiding it, hinge on the extent of time solo'd, or some other rule-of-thumb?
snizzle....can i use that Warren? another rad vid.As a Studio One user I was happy hearing you say Studio One
Yes! Use it! Thanks ever so much!!
Always love these FAQ Fridays! Such a great watch with consistently great advice, which is fantastic in that it's from someone with a very established career, and who's a delight to watch!
Here's my question, which a friend and I were discussing recently: If you're hired on as an engineer and/or mixer, is it your responsibility to find and pay the mastering engineer, or is that something better left to the artist?
WARREN A QUICK Q (as always lookin' for something and ended up here
Question: I have a session coming soon recording Mandolin. How would you go about recording the Mandolin? And what microphones should I use? 😎🇬🇮
FWIW - I've had great luck with an omni condenser (tube) ~1' away from the neck joint, recorded in a decently treated room.
Hello Warren! My question is: I recently recorded my first band. All the gear was brand new and everything was ran into a Presonus 24r digital mixer. I created individual headphone mixes in studio one 4pro and tracked them live in one room playing all together signing as well. We did 12 songs and the only problem was we were getting pops while recording. What can we do or look at doing to stop these pops from occurring. It was altittle annoying but the band played through it and when it came time for the processing/mixing stage there was a lot of time spent on cutting them out of the tracks. Thanks again and keep up the GREAT work!
Someone of the most pro secrets about mix!!!
Not dealing with gain staging, but in your final mixdowns do you create a mix for a balance between sounding good on speakers and headphones or just speakers. I have noticed lately a lot of my final mixdowns only get listened to on headphone or worse yet just a phone, I try to add higher frequency sounds to make to lower end like kick stand out in headphone but does not always work.
Can you address frequency allocation for a final mix where various instruments are occupying a lot of the same frequencies.
Love the eyebrow at the intro ;-) loving your work Warren
What’s IR? What’s it stand for
Impulse response
lancasteraudio.com/what-is-an-impulse-response-ir/
And also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impulse_response
Hope that helps ;0)
Hi Warren. Love your channel. I watch your videos all the time. My question is: Do you eq your buss before you compress, or the other way around? Also when you eq. Are you just barely touching it or are you doing broad eq strokes?
That is a yes and a yes. EQ into compression. And as Dave Pensado would say: "Just kissing!"
Nice.. thank you for the lesson! 🙏🙏
Hi Chromatix Records you’re very welcome my friend!!
Thank you Warren! Very affirming indeed!
Thanks Warren. My brain is grappling with the IR acronym. It is just befuzzled from acronyms from five different fields at moment . My guess is "input recorder."
Audrey Sims impulse response
Thank you sunnibird! 😊
Audrey Sims haha I hear you! Yes, Impulse Response!
All the videos are good, but this one was really helpful.
Re: the whole debate on "Top Down" mixing? I kinda do a combination.
1. I work just with the mix until I reach a point where I think it's right (whatever that means...lol!) When satisfied that I've got everything balanced correctly, panned and EQ'd correctly and think it's turning into a solid mixed project...
2.) ...I create a submix bus and throw in Paul Frindle's amazing DSM-2 mastering plugin. I do that as a "Final Check" to make certain I am not having ear fatigue or I have missed some low end or high end frequency lurking in the background waiting to pounce and to help whatever mastering I do in the Mix bus to not have to work as hard at any of it. I firmly agree with Ian Shepherd's concept of Less is More when it comes to mastering... just add that last bit of polisha nd sparkle.
Plus by doing it that way I can still control and play a bit with the loudness stuff in that submix bus so I don't have to re-do or re-work whatever the mastering in the Mix Bus is doing.
If anyone is interested in finding out more about Paul Frindle's DSM-2 plugin you can go here.... ruclips.net/video/iJb4P4--IQY/видео.html
For those who are not familiar with Paul Frindle... he is one of the engineers team who actually designed, and built the SSL-E & G Consoles.
And yes you can use the DSM as a mastering unit all by itself if you want.
Other DAW's probably also do this, but Studio One allows for one to send stems WITH effects (aka plugins) included or dry. And can also include those other plugins and sounds separate too... but I usually send two folders. Stems with effects in and stems dry.
Weill finally my question got answered. I guess better late than never.. The
Gain staging I was asking about is for the old plugins that were modeled from the analog days. They say if you do not gain stage they will weak havoc on your signal sine they were designed to operate as a set level.
Now if you can answer why do you use Pro Tool? I see many people leaving Pro Tools.
What order do you like your bus processing? EQ first?
Can you please answer this question? There seems to be so much misinformation on the internet about this.
Question. Is the Gain knob a Volume knob? What is the make up Gain knob? Is it a Volume Knob? Are Output "Gain Knobs" Volume knobs? Can a Gain knob be used as a volume knob to get a good sound?
Thank you :)
Please always explain jargon only those in the profession would know i.e.(IR). I don't know what that is.
Lockdownband1 Impulse Response. It’s a speaker cabinet simulation
@@@johncore363 Thanks
I've been struggling with noise coming from my DX7 MkI (1983). Additional processing like EQ or compression can bring the noise up… I took my DX7 to Yamaha service center and they said it's fine, it's just 12 bit DA converter… yeah.. but it's almost impossible to do highshelving on my DX7 tracks.. :o/
Hi Warren, as always very informative and helpful, glad you had a grand time in berlin, I sometimes record Synthesizer and vst instruments to another computer but I find that recording in stereo doesn't always work too well when I come to mix, I much prefer to get a great mono sound and then create my own stereo image, have you any tips when it comes to recording in stereo? Thanks for FAQ Friday, all the best, Darren.
Wholesome. Keep up the good work.
Hey PLAP-sters!! when using IRs or virtual amps and effects, would you recommend printing a guitar part when you have the sound you’re happy with to conserve CPU?
Raymond Shue yes, it forces you to commit to a sound, and just as if you were recording a real amp, you can then get on with mixing the sound you have rather than endlessly tinkering with the sounds. If you really need to go back you can, and if you have Cubase you can even use direct offline processing
What does "IRs" mean
what's IRs also I have not tried it but should you put reverb on both acoustic guitar and vocals once you finish recording?
IR stands for Impulse Response. For instance, if you want your guitar to sound like it's coming out of a tweed deluxe cabinet, most probably someone has created an impulse response for it by now, you will load that impulse response into your IR utility of your DAW on the guitar channel, your guitar in this case is an input on your audio interface, and voila! you'll hear almost exactly the same thing as if you're hooked up to the cabinet.
Mostafa K ok
Great stuff as always. QUESTION: Any tips for setting up your speaker levels to cover all scenarios? When tracking I might want to go quite loud but when mastering or at least going from an unmastered project I'm working on to a mastered song/session or even Spotify/etc, I sometimes accidentally blow my head off. Is it just me being absent-minded or do you find you have the same problem? Thanks, James