Equalization
It is only after I have controlled the dynamics of tracks that I will reach for the EQ if needed. What most people don’t realize about EQ is that it causes phase shifts in the audio. This often causes parts of your track to disappear when heard with the rest of your audio parts. The only 2 ways you can avoid this is to buy the waves “phase linear” EQ or (the much cheaper option) use EQ very sparingly
This said, you will often find a need to add a bit of “air” to a vocal or other instrument. For boosting frequencies I suggest using wide Q’s (bandwidth). By doing this you achieve the result you are after without getting the “Obviously EQ’d” sound. For cutting frequencies I will use a very tight Q. this, once again helps to make the use of EQ not as noticeable to the ear.
Another tip I’ll let you in on is this. Say you want to emphasize a guitar part at 3Khz, try using a tight Q filter around 2.8Khz and cut by a few dB. I’m not entirely sure how this works, but I’m sure you will find the results quite pleasing.
For those of you that record a lot of your instruments I’d suggest you spend more time playing with mic placement and choice. I have played FOH engineer on a few shows where I haven’t needed to switch in one channel EQ (excluding voacals). I was stunned at the amount of effort the FOH rigger went to in picking mics. This is where the money is ladies and gentlemen. Pick the right mics and you will hardly need to touch you EQ’s. A bonus if you (like me) only have a few nice outboard filters.
Reverb
For electronic music these two effects are almost as important as filters. For example, where would trance be without reverb, or progressive house without delays.
When talking about reverb one name instantly springs (no pun intended) to mind, Lexicon. The reason for this is that lexicon has arguably the smoothest, richest reverbs in the world. And it’s for this reason the 480l sells for around $20,000 aud. Fortunately for us mere mortals, great sounding reverbs are available to us as VST, AU, HTDM and TDM plug-in’s for much less than this price. Some great reverbs I can suggest are Waves ™ Renaissance Verb and True Verb, SIR ™ Sampling Impulse Reverb, and PSP’s Vintage Verb. All these come at good asking prices and can deliver great results. However many engineer will tell you that “it’s not what you have, it’s how you use it” this is defiantly true of effects. An amateur can make a lexicon sound bad, a pro can make Cubase SX’s “Reverb A” sound good. Make sure you learn to use what you have well before shelling out for more expensive toys.
Reverb is often difficult to balance in a mix as it has the tendency to make vocals or instruments washy or push them into the background. A way I have to help avoid this is to use the density control. By making a reverb sound “rough” when heard in isolation will make it sound much more audible without burying a sound. Here is why. Have you ever heard an SPX990 in the studio? The reverbs are as rough as guts. However when used in a live sound situation they are quite smooth. The reason for this is that every room, club or stadium creates its own reverb. So if we go making ours TOO smooth in the mix process, they will drag everything they are applied to towards the back of a mix when heard in a large room full of people. Not a good thing, unless of course you sing as badly as I do!
So now to the mixing…
Now it comes to the actual mixing part. I always start with the kick drum and bass synth / guitar. The reason is this; they form the basis of the rhythm. Once I have a good inter-play going between these two I add the snare and hats and get them grooving along. I must remind all those people new to mixing not to sweep your EQ’s, you’ll just ruin your ears sensitivity to the frequency your trying to find.
Even though the lead vocal is always the last channel on my console, I add this to the mix now. My reasons for this are simple. I am lucky to work with some of Canberra’s best vocalists and I want them heard. In a lot of our music the vocal carries all the soul and I want to deliver this message. Your tracks may be different so once again your ears must be the judge.
After I have these main parts in I start at the left end of the desk adding all other instruments and spot samples. Once I’m happy with all the levels and EQ’s I’ll skip back to the top of the track and arm the automation. I then take a few hours looping the track perfecting all my automation levels. It may seen tedious to some of you but to me it is meditation.
After all my fader moves are made I will once again skip back to the top and start automating effects levels. Just the usual stuff, catching the last word of a verse with a delay. To me this is the icing on the cake.
From here I stick a blank CD in the burner, hit record and let the automation do the work!
This is a very basic set of tips. I am sorry if some of you reading this feel insulted by me writing to this level. There are plenty of good engineers here, but like me, we all need to go back to the basics every now and then. Let me first of all say thank you for taking the time to read this. Some engineer’s (myself included) often fall into the trap of using the same compressors, gates, limiters, reverbs on any given instruments. Most of us need to step aside from the process and remember that in the end
“It’s the sound that counts”
BTW, feel free to ask questions of anything ive written here. im more than happy to explain.
地址http://www.inthemix.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=128457
至少有几点我也开始玩了。