Duct tape, WD40 and lots of patience. I have a couple of custom guitars made of Brazilian woods, not exactly a "gear" but that's the only different thing, besides that the basic usually works very well.
Pi is another plug-in by Sound Radix that’s a secret weapon on a mix. When inserted last in chain on each bus it dynamically phase aligns your elements in real time. So essentially one could run Auto Align 2 on individual tracks, and use Pi on your busses to allow the entire mix to be phase coherent. This method seems to work well on mixes I’ve done. Anyway, just thought I’d share a little random nonsense.
It's interesting to see how phase alignment has evolved from the days of just flipping the phase button on a console mic pre and /or moving a microphone to what you can do with a DAW and plugins like this. Would be great to see a comparison between the various methods. Thanks for sharing.
I won a copy of the first Auto-Align years ago from Graham at The Recording Revolution. Any plug-in I wanted, and I go for something seemingly boring. What a game changer it was! As for room mics, the original would let you progressively move them backwards in optimal increments to keep them sounding as good as possible. I assume the new version will do something similar. Can't wait to upgrade! Maybe I'll get lucky twice!
I mostly do live capture recording and I've been using Auto-Align since version 1 and I find it invaluable for restoring the live to my recordings. I don't just use it on drums but also for close spaced mics like horn sections. I now have version 2 and find it very effective on my live mixes as I can use it on all the tracks at once. Haven't had a problem with it bogging down the processor even when I've had 24 tracks active. I routinely record a 10 piece swing jazz band. I also have Drum Leveler and Surfer EQ. I like to use Drum Leveler to keep a live feel with with level control on live captured drums. Surfer EQ is great for controlling stage wash on live recordings. I had a double bassist that refused to use a pickup as "it kills the top" [of the instrument] since he was using a RE 20 at about 2', the stage wash nearly made the bass track unusable as he was standing between the piano and the drums at about the same distance from the other instruments as from the mic, but Surfer EQ solved the problem by tracking the fundamental of the bass in the final release. One of the new features of Auto-Align 2 is that it inserts itself first in the track effects chain. I also like [but it took me a bit to get used to it] the auto group sorting feature, it's a big time saver.
Holy moly! This is insane! It sounds like the drums lost a lot of the 1k area, but they sound thicker because it sounds like it’s fundamental in that 200htz range is lined up… super interesting! What a cool tool!
I use AutoAlign religiously on anything that has more than one microphone on it. It was my first "shut up and take my money" plugin about 8 or 9 years ago, and maybe it's time to upgrade. Another benefit: once you align everything, it saves you at least an EQ on every track, trying to bring back the frequencies you lost due to phase issues or comb filtering... what an invaluable tool!
I love the Oxford Drum Gate which is not a simple gate - for me a game changer! Great separation for live drums from bleed by detection (you can choose: kick, snare, tom), variable decay for better results and a integrated leveler. And it would be great to use Auto Align 2 next...
Ok, so, I just bought this plugin and,......IT IS F'ING AMAZING! I just redid to of two of my mixes with it and had to slightly rebalance levels, eq because it transformed the kick and snare so much -- so punchy now! Might be the single best plugin purchase I ever made in addition to the Kush plugins I use.
Hi Warren, @ 9:17 you expressed your concern about the room mics pre-delay disappearing when they get phase aligned. I get that. But as Moses Schneider proved during the Limusic Studio masterclass with his "Droom" microphone setup, the disappearance of the latency or pre-delay between the close mics and the room mics made the drums sound really tighter and the room sound longer. I experimented in my own studio with his "Droom" mics and it was indeed a much better and doubled length room sound. Kind regards, Patrick Peeters
U know I've always HATED editing, and manually phase correcting every track in huge mixes. Doing it yourself, takes forever and is so draining. Auto-Align 2 seems like a step up, however in the past the alignment plugins sounded very phasy and wonky. Guess I'll have to try this one and see if it works better. I've got the original Surfer EQ, but I hardly use it. Should give another go.
It’s probably old news for many, but I always have to give a shout out to the Metric AB plug-in. It helps me account for all the variables when I mix and get a consistent, great result every time.
so would this only be used on multi miced sources? would it not really make sense to put it on every track in the mix including virtual instruments or would that still be beneficial
Superb!! Great video, great tool!! One question, is it "enough" to use auto-align on the individual tracks or is it prefered to also put it on the groups as well to get a better result? Thanks for yet another amazing video! Cheers // Magnus
Wait a sec ... as I expected, when AA is on, the drums image is so much smaller, because the depth of micing is lost. Exactly as Wazza say at 9:30. Interesting nonetheless.
@@Producelikeapro old mate does make the claim that the phase correction can be used without the delay alignment, which makes me curious. Might just have to give that a spin. Also interesting is the automated approach to rigging it all up, as opposed to the previous manual method of stringing the dependencies together. 🤔 I'll confess that the old quote came to me: "so many great sounding albums were made with none of this toy-tech with the application of a basic set of rules and techniques." Still, a technical curiosity. Maybe it's something that will creep into the common parlance in the near future! Like automatic delay compensation, but auto phase compensation. Hmmm ...
I don't think it will be long before artificial intelligence can do mixing technically better than humans. If there are then still some adjustments to make the whole thing a bit more human, it will make it very interesting, especially for small artists. We are already experiencing a small revolution here.
So question... I have Auto Align 2... how was he sliding along the waveforms in the Visualizer when then song wasn't playing? Not the on/off part, but when he was actually tracking along the waveform? I can't find any way to do that!
What's the most useful gear you own that everybody should know about?
I really like to use XLR cables on all my mics. I feel like people who don't use XLR's are really missing out and need to know this hack.
@tomjacobs8107with 414’s as overheads and U87 for room mic
Duct tape, WD40 and lots of patience. I have a couple of custom guitars made of Brazilian woods, not exactly a "gear" but that's the only different thing, besides that the basic usually works very well.
PS: I also build a few handmade pedals, like clones, but with different components, so a modded TS9, Rat with LM308 and 2N5457, PAL 800 using J201.
@@CrushingAxeshaha thanks ever so much for sharing
Pi is another plug-in by Sound Radix that’s a secret weapon on a mix. When inserted last in chain on each bus it dynamically phase aligns your elements in real time. So essentially one could run Auto Align 2 on individual tracks, and use Pi on your busses to allow the entire mix to be phase coherent. This method seems to work well on mixes I’ve done.
Anyway, just thought I’d share a little random nonsense.
Thanks ever so much for sharing! Not random nonsense at all!
It's interesting to see how phase alignment has evolved from the days of just flipping the phase button on a console mic pre and /or moving a microphone to what you can do with a DAW and plugins like this. Would be great to see a comparison between the various methods. Thanks for sharing.
That's a marvellous idea! Thanks Tom!
The difference in the snare is incredible.
Amazing
Auto-Align 2 is fantastic. Been using it for a month. Amazing on drum tracks recorded in less than ideal tracking spaces.
Thanks for sharing Mark!
I won a copy of the first Auto-Align years ago from Graham at The Recording Revolution. Any plug-in I wanted, and I go for something seemingly boring. What a game changer it was! As for room mics, the original would let you progressively move them backwards in optimal increments to keep them sounding as good as possible. I assume the new version will do something similar. Can't wait to upgrade! Maybe I'll get lucky twice!
Marvellous! Thanks for sharing
It does do this when you right click on the room mic track you keep hitting the next button until you are happy with the increment.
Plugins like these are simply amazing!!! I've been doing all of this manually since I started!
Marvellous! Thanks ever so much for sharing
Man Drum Leveller and Auto Align are life savers !
Yes, especially when given tracks that people have done that have very little phase alignment
This is insane. Hours of automation and work with just a few tweaks. Game changing stuff!
Amazing! Thanks for sharing
I mostly do live capture recording and I've been using Auto-Align since version 1 and I find it invaluable for restoring the live to my recordings. I don't just use it on drums but also for close spaced mics like horn sections. I now have version 2 and find it very effective on my live mixes as I can use it on all the tracks at once. Haven't had a problem with it bogging down the processor even when I've had 24 tracks active. I routinely record a 10 piece swing jazz band.
I also have Drum Leveler and Surfer EQ. I like to use Drum Leveler to keep a live feel with with level control on live captured drums.
Surfer EQ is great for controlling stage wash on live recordings. I had a double bassist that refused to use a pickup as "it kills the top" [of the instrument] since he was using a RE 20 at about 2', the stage wash nearly made the bass track unusable as he was standing between the piano and the drums at about the same distance from the other instruments as from the mic, but Surfer EQ solved the problem by tracking the fundamental of the bass in the final release.
One of the new features of Auto-Align 2 is that it inserts itself first in the track effects chain. I also like [but it took me a bit to get used to it] the auto group sorting feature, it's a big time saver.
Thanks ever so much for sharing! Yes, the Surfer EQ is excellent!
Holy moly! This is insane! It sounds like the drums lost a lot of the 1k area, but they sound thicker because it sounds like it’s fundamental in that 200htz range is lined up… super interesting! What a cool tool!
Marvellous! Thanks for sharing!
Great there's another plugin I need to buy. That Surfer EQ is amazing
Thanks ever so much
Love plugin developers like these fine people. Tools that just make our life easier!
I use AutoAlign religiously on anything that has more than one microphone on it. It was my first "shut up and take my money" plugin about 8 or 9 years ago, and maybe it's time to upgrade. Another benefit: once you align everything, it saves you at least an EQ on every track, trying to bring back the frequencies you lost due to phase issues or comb filtering... what an invaluable tool!
Man, this could save a ton of time on the session I'm working on right now.
Yes! Agreed
Amazing plug-ins never seen anything like this before
I love the Oxford Drum Gate which is not a simple gate - for me a game changer! Great separation for live drums from bleed by detection (you can choose: kick, snare, tom), variable decay for better results and a integrated leveler. And it would be great to use Auto Align 2 next...
Thanks ever so much for sharing!
Ok, so, I just bought this plugin and,......IT IS F'ING AMAZING! I just redid to of two of my mixes with it and had to slightly rebalance levels, eq because it transformed the kick and snare so much -- so punchy now! Might be the single best plugin purchase I ever made in addition to the Kush plugins I use.
Hi Warren, @ 9:17 you expressed your concern about the room mics pre-delay disappearing when they get phase aligned. I get that. But as Moses Schneider proved during the Limusic Studio masterclass with his "Droom" microphone setup, the disappearance of the latency or pre-delay between the close mics and the room mics made the drums sound really tighter and the room sound longer. I experimented in my own studio with his "Droom" mics and it was indeed a much better and doubled length room sound. Kind regards, Patrick Peeters
Indeed! That has to be tracked that way though! AS long as we track the rooms as Moses describes them then we will be golden. It was great at Limoux!
As a beginner, Ive been using Auto-Align and Drum Leveller from Melda Productions for a while now. Very similar I suspect in general function.
Thanks ever so much for sharing
jaw went down 🤷♂ wow 🤩 this is another level of plugins
Marvellous! Thanks ever so much for sharing!
Impressive! we spend much more time to align the tracks comparing to what we saw in the video. Thanks !!!
Marvellous! Thanks Anthony
U know I've always HATED editing, and manually phase correcting every track in huge mixes. Doing it yourself, takes forever and is so draining. Auto-Align 2 seems like a step up, however in the past the alignment plugins sounded very phasy and wonky. Guess I'll have to try this one and see if it works better. I've got the original Surfer EQ, but I hardly use it. Should give another go.
Thanks ever so much for sharing this! Yes, give it another go and let us know how you get on
Been waiting on this!🤘
Marvellous
This is remarkable 👏🏾 A real time saver!
Marvellous
Audeze headphones are the best gear I own toghether with my Black Beauty Gibson Lês Paul.
Hi Warren. Is it Auto Align 2 or Auto Align 2 Post you are showing here? Great video by the way! Thanks.
Magic! Great plugin.
Thanks ever so much
It’s probably old news for many, but I always have to give a shout out to the Metric AB plug-in. It helps me account for all the variables when I mix and get a consistent, great result every time.
Thanks ever so much! Thanks for sharing
It's actually next on my list!
Wow! Awesome!
Thanks ever so much Luke
Yeah Studio One here. Sorry. It is rare to see Studio One on PLAP Channel. Great video, and great plugin
Thanks ever so much
Should have used the plug-in when editing this video... 😜 Great content as usual! Thanks!
when using the auto align plug-in, will the original audiotrack be modified? I need the track to be shifted in time only without editing its phase
Great stuff, could save alot of time. Technology is pretty good eh!! Thanks very much for the video
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it
so would this only be used on multi miced sources? would it not really make sense to put it on every track in the mix including virtual instruments or would that still be beneficial
Where can I find the song you were using in this video? Would love to hear the finished version
Superb!! Great video, great tool!! One question, is it "enough" to use auto-align on the individual tracks or is it prefered to also put it on the groups as well to get a better result? Thanks for yet another amazing video! Cheers // Magnus
Awesome stuff 👍👍👍👍
Thanks ever so much!
Would you recommend it when combining DI + reamped bass or guitar?
Hey, great video loved it. Just wondering what the Intro and Outro song is called?
Hmmm my theme tune? Haha good question! I should record it properly, a full actual song!
Wait a sec ... as I expected, when AA is on, the drums image is so much smaller, because the depth of micing is lost. Exactly as Wazza say at 9:30. Interesting nonetheless.
Definitely needs to used in a smart way!
@@Producelikeapro old mate does make the claim that the phase correction can be used without the delay alignment, which makes me curious. Might just have to give that a spin.
Also interesting is the automated approach to rigging it all up, as opposed to the previous manual method of stringing the dependencies together. 🤔
I'll confess that the old quote came to me: "so many great sounding albums were made with none of this toy-tech with the application of a basic set of rules and techniques."
Still, a technical curiosity. Maybe it's something that will creep into the common parlance in the near future! Like automatic delay compensation, but auto phase compensation. Hmmm ...
I don't think it will be long before artificial intelligence can do mixing technically better than humans. If there are then still some adjustments to make the whole thing a bit more human, it will make it very interesting, especially for small artists. We are already experiencing a small revolution here.
Wow!
Marvellous!
@@Producelikeapro Prozactly!
So EQ or Compression first in the chain?
Can it be used in live shows situations or the latency is too high
Sound Radix don't mess around
So question... I have Auto Align 2... how was he sliding along the waveforms in the Visualizer when then song wasn't playing? Not the on/off part, but when he was actually tracking along the waveform? I can't find any way to do that!
I think because he’s in Studio One, he could process without running the audio in ARA. He did mention that’s how he loaded it.
Amazing plugin.
In my mix it didn´t do anything...
Seems like they put pi into auto align...
:)
Wow. If these were available without ilok i would be totally sold on these.
Not a hater here, just think it is uncomfortable.
iLok is amazing when you travel! I bring it with me and are able to easily get up and running in any situation!
@@Producelikeapro well then I have to give it try, thanks for the feedback
FIrst! Also, this is very cool!
Marvellous!!
Or, you could learn how to properly track drums....
😂