wow, I never thought anybody would have the guts to do something like that on the master fader! But it was brilliant. Recording the fader movement was like conducting the whole mix, added a ton of feeling to it!
+free man haha you can't be serious, nobody can be that cynical. I meant every word I said and was sincere, maybe you could never say anything positive to anybody but some people can and still mean what they say.
Here's a tip and something for you to try. Sometimes, I'll reverse a track then add compression and just a TAD of verb to the reversed track. Then I'll reverse it back again. It has to be subtle or it sounds like an effect. But if you keep it almost subliminal, it can add to the 'smoothness' of the track. (PS, my last name rhymes with 'fire')
Are you saying you layer it with the existing track then? Like a certain sound in the mix and keep both going? And if so why not just do that to the particular sound?
I'm talking about doing it during the mastering process for the entire track. The effect is to soften the transients and making it a tad more 'analog' sounding. No, it's not 'layered'... it's actually an offline process because you have to REVERSE the sound file, then add the short reverb (room IR or whatever), then REVERSE it back again to hear the effect.
Ahh, I see thanks! I will look into this. Have not really explored adding slight reverb to a full track during the mastering process. Curious as to why it would need to be reversed to hear the effect though at first?
The whole reason it works is because it 'ramps up' to the attacks of the transients. Since the short IR (room reverb) is added while the track is reversed, all of the reverb's tail will happen BEFORE the attack. Then after the track is reversed back, those short reverb tails will happen just before the attack creating a short of 'soft slide' into them. This is why it sounds more 'analog'. It has to be subtle or it will sound artificial... but if it's done sparingly, it is a nice effect for some pieces.
It's best not to choose a traditional type Reverb, but instead ambience... which serves to soften the attacks - which is the purpose. A short room works best.
I wasnt digging this teaching at first but I see why this trick is good. Throw a limiter and some minor compression on top of this on the master bus and youll have a very interest more 3 dimensional song that sounds more alive in the most subtle of ways. Great video Mr Pensado!
Volume automation is also golden when trying to save very old projects with the classic mix mistaces beginners make. Was an eye opener for me. I like that Dave recently points out the power of automation more than he did in early videos.
You can make bigger drops in EDM if you do this to your mastered track and automate the level back in bringing your quiet parts back to quiet. As long as the loud part is the loud part, nothing wrong with bringing other stuff back down. Greater impact, more drama.
Please correct me if I got it wrong - first you kill off natural dynamics with compressors/limiters and than add your own to your liking... If so, that is a new concept to me and a food for thought... Brilliant actually...:) Thanks Dave!
Very cool, shows how powerful automation really is. The way I see it is eq and compression are just to tools to get your mix ready to actually 'mix'. Mixing really starts with all the sweet automation moves, volume, pan, sends, reverbs, delays etc. Once you get your track singing and you can't help but dance then you know your close. On a side note, be careful with this technique, meaning when you go to automate your not accidentally increasing the volume. At the master fader, any volume increase will sound substantially better.
Great stuff as always. Must have missed this one somewhere along the way. Not found myself bumping patterns up and down rhythmically, more in terms of sections. Gonna try it out though. Cheers!
The original recording sounds so sequenced or quantised and devoid of feel. Maybe the fader riding is an attempt to put some dynamic variation into a track that should have had some dynamics from human player to start with ?
Very true but human dynamics could have added this element from the get go. But trust many times I have a great groove and after all the limiting and compression to get that oomph the groove just down a little as compared to raw unprocessed one. So this is still good after the final mastered version. An amazing trick
How do you get these square, regular automation moves that stick to the grid divisions? Has PT a keyboard shortcut for that? Didn't find anything similar in Reaper, not with usual keys (ALT, CTRL, Shift) that is.
This is actually really cool. Some of the ITL that Dave does I have a hard time hearing a difference when A/B'ing. This one really helped the mix I think.
I use this trick all the time. Works very well with this dancehall-ish rhythmn. You know you can simply turn the automation to "off" instead of "read" to hear the track without the automation changes Dave? Great advice either way!
nice video as always dave. In the video you mentioned that you had some compression and limiting going on. would you normally let those stay in the final mix as it gets printed out to a mastering engineer or take it out before mastering? Thanks
Dave, i am curious what you usually like you RMS level to peak at using FG-X. I usually find -11db or so sounds best, but some of my clients want to go as high -8db. I am not a mastering engineer, just either giving my clients a reference or "mastering" for low budget projects. Thanks!
That's a great idea! I liked the sound of it grooving a little better when the bumps were on the 2 and 4 instead of the 1 and 3. But I realize this is personal taste. It just 'felt' a little better to me with the volume bumped up on the 2 and 4. Great tip! Thanks!
Hey Dave......The artist name is pronouced Mar- shell, ( machel montano ) not like how you said it like he was a girl,LOL.....This is a very sweet Soca track,the red boys are hit makers from barbados.....I liked it the first time you did the automation,cuz the track had a smoother punch too it.....Your still the best dave,one love.
Crazy technique for Zouk!!! I do this sometimes on drum tracks, but I never thought of it as something special. Now I know I was onto something! If Dave does it, it's gotta be good! :D EV
Your real time automation has me eager to try hybrid mastering. I will be able to change the gain/volume of the track through an ART VCA compressor and into my AD converter, possibly with soft limit enabled. But I may throw a tape machine in the chain, too. fun fun
Loved this idea. It will make things very personal and give your personal flavor which will be refreshing after we have all run everything through the same plugins :-) Love it!
I´ve understand this is a Mastering Tutorial, but why does he apply the automation at a (Sub-) Mix-Bus and not at the Master Stereo Out Channel Bus? Why Dave plays this Sub-Bus back along with the Master Channel, when it is a Mastering Processing? Or is this even an Mixing Tip?
This Technique works better if you do it fractionally randomly on every buss... leave the master buss alone....So ever instrument is randomly moving a tiny amount then you will have a "organic breath" ....of sorts...
Some examples were difficult to compare because the volume wasnt perfectly matched. Most of the time there were only increases and no volume decrease to compensate.
This one felt like misinformation like a mug. Always on guard for that. Aye if anybody wants dynamics ADDED to their song just snag the free vst Ferrictds. I swear by it when mixing hip hop vocals into industry instrumental beats downloaded off the internet for a mixtape(helps tuck the vocals into the beat under the drums). Its as simple as turning a knob and watching the analog design meter bounce to know how much youre doing. Theres also a subtle yet character rich saturation knob among other things to add a bit of console emulation youre sure to love if you dont already use something of the sort. Just another piece to your puzzle of making your music sound great.
wOPPW realy something glue hier, )) and i i loved so much, and your way to make your tutorial is very soft and make enjoy this song, nice tast! im gonna take look more closer your chanel!! Congratulations!
RustyNotesTV They're all "old" technically. They're new when they're on the actual show, Pensado's Place, then get edited and released on their own later. That's another reason it's beneficial to watch the show, instead of just the ITLs.
oh wow, I forgot this existed. Now I can hear the difference, not clearly, but it's there. I think the first time I heard it several months ago, I wasn't sure what to listen to. But hey, I'm glad I can hear it now, whew :)
To all: Check out Airwindows "High Impact" for a similar function, although more linear (making the crest higher and the trough lower). Use it subtly and it can work. The true definition of expander. I can never get decent results with traditional expanders; the idea of expanding on one threshold seems limiting. I've actually used HI on orchestra stuff... probably shouldn't tell anybody that.
We really shouldn't come here to learn how to mix. We should come to get different techniques to try out on our own mixes or master that we might not have thought of. But you already have to know how to mix or master, and the only way you do that is HOURS AND HOURS of listening to audio, trying out different techniques (nofear,norules) and judging the results.. Its more feel and personality than it is technical the overall aspect. Learning the technical part is so the you can bring your vision to light or any other person vision to light.
Off topic but the mix of that song is just perfect
the clap hats
focus
@Maison Dustin fuck off
The first one, bump on the 2nd beat, actually felt a lot better. Cool trick. I've done this myself but never thought about it really :)
Wow and suddenly the part without automation sounded dead.... Brilliant technique Dave
^^ Boomer angst
wow, I never thought anybody would have the guts to do something like that on the master fader! But it was brilliant. Recording the fader movement was like conducting the whole mix, added a ton of feeling to it!
+free man haha you can't be serious, nobody can be that cynical. I meant every word I said and was sincere, maybe you could never say anything positive to anybody but some people can and still mean what they say.
I was thinking the same. cool trick indeed. I still learn after all these years.
Huh. Never would have thought about doing that to a full mix but now I am intrigued. Thanks for the tip.
Here's a tip and something for you to try. Sometimes, I'll reverse a track then add compression and just a TAD of verb to the reversed track. Then I'll reverse it back again. It has to be subtle or it sounds like an effect. But if you keep it almost subliminal, it can add to the 'smoothness' of the track.
(PS, my last name rhymes with 'fire')
Are you saying you layer it with the existing track then? Like a certain sound in the mix and keep both going? And if so why not just do that to the particular sound?
I'm talking about doing it during the mastering process for the entire track. The effect is to soften the transients and making it a tad more 'analog' sounding. No, it's not 'layered'... it's actually an offline process because you have to REVERSE the sound file, then add the short reverb (room IR or whatever), then REVERSE it back again to hear the effect.
Ahh, I see thanks! I will look into this. Have not really explored adding slight reverb to a full track during the mastering process. Curious as to why it would need to be reversed to hear the effect though at first?
The whole reason it works is because it 'ramps up' to the attacks of the transients. Since the short IR (room reverb) is added while the track is reversed, all of the reverb's tail will happen BEFORE the attack. Then after the track is reversed back, those short reverb tails will happen just before the attack creating a short of 'soft slide' into them. This is why it sounds more 'analog'. It has to be subtle or it will sound artificial... but if it's done sparingly, it is a nice effect for some pieces.
It's best not to choose a traditional type Reverb, but instead ambience... which serves to soften the attacks - which is the purpose. A short room works best.
Such a simple concept, yet so powerful.
I wasnt digging this teaching at first but I see why this trick is good. Throw a limiter and some minor compression on top of this on the master bus and youll have a very interest more 3 dimensional song that sounds more alive in the most subtle of ways. Great video Mr Pensado!
Volume automation is also golden when trying to save very old projects with the classic mix mistaces beginners make. Was an eye opener for me. I like that Dave recently points out the power of automation more than he did in early videos.
I really respect this dude! He is a master and professional at his craft, but sooooooo humble!
Now that's beyond dynamic that's GROOVE..... So so supreme... you share such a secret right there....wow
It’s so important that he mentions the names of all the engineers he works with.. respect for Pensado!
You can make bigger drops in EDM if you do this to your mastered track and automate the level back in bringing your quiet parts back to quiet. As long as the loud part is the loud part, nothing wrong with bringing other stuff back down. Greater impact, more drama.
Please correct me if I got it wrong - first you kill off natural dynamics with compressors/limiters and than add your own to your liking... If so, that is a new concept to me and a food for thought... Brilliant actually...:)
Thanks Dave!
Very cool, shows how powerful automation really is. The way I see it is eq and compression are just to tools to get your mix ready to actually 'mix'. Mixing really starts with all the sweet automation moves, volume, pan, sends, reverbs, delays etc. Once you get your track singing and you can't help but dance then you know your close. On a side note, be careful with this technique, meaning when you go to automate your not accidentally increasing the volume. At the master fader, any volume increase will sound substantially better.
I have done this on a live mix to pull the verb up on a snare through the front vocalist mic...great stuff Dave!
Great stuff as always. Must have missed this one somewhere along the way. Not found myself bumping patterns up and down rhythmically, more in terms of sections. Gonna try it out though. Cheers!
This technique can bring back the lost groove. Thanx sir
I love this episode, love them all but Dave is in the zone right here, Dave you are a Rock Star.
The original recording sounds so sequenced or quantised and devoid of feel. Maybe the fader riding is an attempt to put some dynamic variation into a track that should have had some dynamics from human player to start with ?
Very true but human dynamics could have added this element from the get go. But trust many times I have a great groove and after all the limiting and compression to get that oomph the groove just down a little as compared to raw unprocessed one. So this is still good after the final mastered version. An amazing trick
How do you get these square, regular automation moves that stick to the grid divisions? Has PT a keyboard shortcut for that? Didn't find anything similar in Reaper, not with usual keys (ALT, CTRL, Shift) that is.
This is actually really cool. Some of the ITL that Dave does I have a hard time hearing a difference when A/B'ing. This one really helped the mix I think.
I use this trick all the time. Works very well with this dancehall-ish rhythmn. You know you can simply turn the automation to "off" instead of "read" to hear the track without the automation changes Dave? Great advice either way!
I did a technique like this (automation volume) also, but in a mixing process. Thanks for telling me that it was right :D
nice video as always dave. In the video you mentioned that you had some compression and limiting going on. would you normally let those stay in the final mix as it gets printed out to a mastering engineer or take it out before mastering? Thanks
Dave, i am curious what you usually like you RMS level to peak at using FG-X. I usually find -11db or so sounds best, but some of my clients want to go as high -8db. I am not a mastering engineer, just either giving my clients a reference or "mastering" for low budget projects. Thanks!
This was interesting. I’ve drawn in volume swells on the master / mix fader in larger sections such as bringing up the volume on the choruses, etc.,
Amazing Tip 🔥🔥🔥🔥, Thank You Mr . Dave Pensado 🙌🙌.
I have been doing this every since I watched your first video in this!!! Awesome hack!
Cool trick, but just wondering are you doing it as parallel makeup or the track itself?
It's the master track automation lane from what I can see.
So this is just volume on an already limited track. Meaning it was important had already been limited ?
Holy crap. I have never thought to do that!
That's a great idea! I liked the sound of it grooving a little better when the bumps were on the 2 and 4 instead of the 1 and 3. But I realize this is personal taste. It just 'felt' a little better to me with the volume bumped up on the 2 and 4. Great tip! Thanks!
It is cool how it brings a human variation like the posture of the drummer. sounded cool .
I gotta' say,....(the true mark of a pro!) ....so subtle yet sooo effective!!
Yer the Boss, Dave,...thanks!!
Dave.. Can i get the name of that track? also a link to purchase it?
Hey Dave......The artist name is pronouced Mar- shell, ( machel montano ) not like how you said it like he was a girl,LOL.....This is a very sweet Soca track,the red boys are hit makers from barbados.....I liked it the first time you did the automation,cuz the track had a smoother punch too it.....Your still the best dave,one love.
so is dave essentially just automating the volume levels, I don't think he actually stated what exactly he was messing with...
Crazy technique for Zouk!!!
I do this sometimes on drum tracks, but I never thought of it as something special. Now I know I was onto something! If Dave does it, it's gotta be good! :D
EV
Your real time automation has me eager to try hybrid mastering. I will be able to change the gain/volume of the track through an ART VCA compressor and into my AD converter, possibly with soft limit enabled. But I may throw a tape machine in the chain, too. fun fun
Thanks for sharing Dave, always learning!
why there are 3 channels with the audio? is he actually doing parallel?
Love your childish madness .... :) that's what an artist is.
Loved this idea. It will make things very personal and give your personal flavor which will be refreshing after we have all run everything through the same plugins :-)
Love it!
I´ve understand this is a Mastering Tutorial, but why does he apply the automation at a (Sub-) Mix-Bus and not at the Master Stereo Out Channel Bus? Why Dave plays this Sub-Bus back along with the Master Channel, when it is a Mastering Processing? Or is this even an Mixing Tip?
Mix sounds amazing.
I like it, you could make a plug in. Call it “the conductor”, as it has a conducted feel.
is the automation after or before the limiter?
The feeling of it is much better once it does affect the vocal is all good....Machel Montano is a Great male Vocalist from TRINIDAD 🇹🇹 & Tobago 🇹🇹
That's such a great tip! Than you making me think outside the box
Way smart ... Thank you for posting.
This Technique works better if you do it fractionally randomly on every buss... leave the master buss alone....So ever instrument is randomly moving a tiny amount then you will have a "organic breath" ....of sorts...
Great job, Dave.
Any suggestions on how you set grid and automate the same way in Logic pro 9?
Loved this one a lot, David!
Thanks you,
Damn this is a pretty sick tip for natural dynamics
Some examples were difficult to compare because the volume wasnt perfectly matched.
Most of the time there were only increases and no volume decrease to compensate.
This one felt like misinformation like a mug. Always on guard for that. Aye if anybody wants dynamics ADDED to their song just snag the free vst Ferrictds. I swear by it when mixing hip hop vocals into industry instrumental beats downloaded off the internet for a mixtape(helps tuck the vocals into the beat under the drums). Its as simple as turning a knob and watching the analog design meter bounce to know how much youre doing. Theres also a subtle yet character rich saturation knob among other things to add a bit of console emulation youre sure to love if you dont already use something of the sort. Just another piece to your puzzle of making your music sound great.
Very cool ... I will experiment!
Can anyone tell me his routing? Is he doing the automation on a stereo bus?
This is a good one Dave , thanks!
wOPPW realy something glue hier, )) and i i loved so much, and your way to make your tutorial is very soft and make enjoy this song, nice tast! im gonna take look more closer your chanel!! Congratulations!
There is nothing cuter than having an old guy shuffling a slider with a touch pad. If i grow old, i wanna be like Dave.
Is there 2 tracks with the beats??? 🤔
That's a really cool idea
nice track as well :)
Great Video! Thank you!
how does he have any headroom at this point of the mixing process?
he didn't. he just hadn't adjusted to create more headroom yet.
Thanks Dave
isn't this an old ITL?`I have seen it before
You got it. But I don't mind it, do you? :)
No man :)
RustyNotesTV They're all "old" technically. They're new when they're on the actual show, Pensado's Place, then get edited and released on their own later. That's another reason it's beneficial to watch the show, instead of just the ITLs.
I've been producing for years, but I LITERALLY can't hear any difference before and after his automation. someone help me please?
Try and feel it in your body rather than only your ears.
its your monitors maybe
oh wow, I forgot this existed. Now I can hear the difference, not clearly, but it's there. I think the first time I heard it several months ago, I wasn't sure what to listen to. But hey, I'm glad I can hear it now, whew :)
wow that is sick!!! Thanks!!
Ahah It's a crazy tip! I've never thought that Dave uses these techniques))
Mind. Blown. !!
@5:25 End of the Road is also one of the most famous songs from Boyz II Men
What's the name of that track?
Machel Montano & Boyz II Men - Can't Let Go
soundcloud.com/socadoctor/machel-montano-boyz-ii-men
The quarternote volume thing 🤯🤯🤯🤯
To all: Check out Airwindows "High Impact" for a similar function, although more linear (making the crest higher and the trough lower). Use it subtly and it can work. The true definition of expander. I can never get decent results with traditional expanders; the idea of expanding on one threshold seems limiting. I've actually used HI on orchestra stuff... probably shouldn't tell anybody that.
i've preffered it when it was putting emphasis on the pair beat.
Good tips to know!
Thanx Dave
wow.. Machel Montano is a caribbean artist, lol.. Awesome vid as always!
what's the song?
The "nuts" part sounds cool.
Track's name?
Impressive!
Anyone knows the name of this track so i could purchase?
Can't let go by Machel Montano
+AlexFrancemusic Thank you so much man.. Much appreciated for the info.
No problem!
Dave. That beat is what we in the Caribbean call Groovy Soca. Where did that came from.
Cool video! Love this technique :-D
Top bloke....
Name of song ?
Nice!!! I´ll try!!
i always had a hunch that engineers were riding the masters. a lot of hit records sound like the volume oscillates with the feel of the track
im feelin it
Sure I've seen this before. Re-Post?
me too
interesting techniques!
We really shouldn't come here to learn how to mix. We should come to get different techniques to try out on our own mixes or master that we might not have thought of. But you already have to know how to mix or master, and the only way you do that is HOURS AND HOURS of listening to audio, trying out different techniques (nofear,norules) and judging the results.. Its more feel and personality than it is technical the overall aspect. Learning the technical part is so the you can bring your vision to light or any other person vision to light.
awesome !!
THAT SHIT WAS EPIC
Great!!