Following up on my Feb 12 Blog entry, here’s an example of an audio track before and after applying Compression & EQ on the final version of the track.
Here is a screenshot of the settings I used:
Category Archives: Production Techniques
More Human
Picking up from my March 5th entry, here’s a video with MIDI data before and after using Logic’s “Humanize” feature. It might appear subtle to some, but to me it definitely helps loosen up the rigidity that can happen with strict quantization.
Fix It In The Mix
Found this really cool chart mapping instruments and their frequency ranges on Audio Issues. The accompanying article is somewhat high level but really useful in explaining the ranges as it pertains to mixing.
For Kicks
One thing that I have been meaning to learn more about was how to tune kick drums/low pitched drum samples to the key of a song, at the very minimum to ensure that they won’t clash with other low frequency instruments. Sometimes this can be done by ear, other times it’s good to get more analytical about it.
First determine the fundamental frequency of the drum as described in this great article on Mode Audio. This can be done by opening up a EQ with a frequency analyzer (e.g. “Channel EQ” in Logic) on the drum track in question to see where most of the energy is being displayed, like so:
Then analyze the fundamentals of any other low frequency instruments that may clash in this range.
Look up the relative note names of the frequencies on a table such as this one from Liutaio Mottola.
Then you can tune the drum using techniques outlined in Attack Magazine’s article. The highlight of this article for me was: “A neat trick for making the job a little easier here is to transpose the kick upwards by one or two octaves, do the fine tuning, then transpose it back down by the same amount. It tends to be easier to determine the pitch of the drum hit and hear how nicely it interacts with bass notes when it’s transposed up an octave or two.”
Humanized
Had fun trying out the “Transform MIDI > Humanize” functionality in Logic, which I learned about through this really useful video on YouTube (starting at about 8:48).
One of the problems with not being a world class keyboardist is that I tend to rely quite heavily on quantization which is great for making things “perfect” but not so great for emulating real human performances. Essentially this “Humanize” feature randomizes your MIDI data within a defined range (default values being 10 ticks). Parameters that can be modified are “position”, “velocity” and “length”. Worked great!
Final Cut
I really enjoyed and got a lot out of Final Cut Pro X 10.3 and 10.4 Essential Training by Ashley Kennedy on Lynda.com. It’s really well done and has a bunch of really useful information in it.
I particularly enjoyed learning about color correction, how to use various scopes (Luma Waveform, RGB Parade, and Vectorscope) to get things looking good.
Here is a shot before and after color correction:
Acoustically Speaking
I was having trouble getting a recording of my acoustic guitar that fit well in a song that I’ve been working on. Everything I had tried was either too boomy or too thin. The song is really dense with a lot of sonic information in it already, yet I wanted the guitar sound to be full as it is a primary instrument of the arrangement. I did a quick search and found this video on YouTube.
The gist of this method is to place the mic in front of the sound hole but angled towards the 12th fret. That way you capture both the fullness of the body (without the boomy-ness of facing the sound hole directly) and the brightness coming from the fretboard.
While this was good I decided to add a second track, this time using a technique that I used when playing and singing at the same time. This approach involves placing the mic at about the height of and facing your right shoulder, above the guitar but below your mouth. It’s a nice warm and full sound, not too harsh or heavy.
Between the two tracks I was able to get a blend that worked well with the mix.
Molekular
I love creating ambience/textures in a song. Whether it’s to help shape the mood or make a sonic statement, I love creating “ambient environments”. Lately I’ve been working on a new song idea and wanted to take the main theme and tweak it into something new. I played the melody using a Mellotron patch in Logic, converted it from MIDI to audio and then ran it through Native Instruments “Molekular”. I dig what it turned into.
Here’s a clip showing before processing, after processing and in the mix.
Arrangement Markers and Drummer Tracks
One of the things that I love to do when working with Logic is to use Arrangement Markers to help generate Drummer Tracks. Arrangement markers are used to identify different sections of the song (Intro, Verse, Chorus, etc.). When building up a new song, I like to record a scratch/guide track (guitar or piano) and then add arrangement markers. Once that’s done I’ll add a Drummer Track. I found that adding the Drummer track _after_ the markers are laid out will cause the Drummer track follow the arrangement in terms of dynamics/parts/fills. Usually I’ll need to dial in which Drummer and/or Kit to use, edit some breaks, fills, etc. but often I’m surprised as to how close the generated track gets to what I want to use. Is it perfect? No, nothing compares to having a real drummer with great gear, in an awesome room, collaborating with you. But in terms of getting new ideas down quickly it’s fantastic!
Compression
I enjoyed Brian Lee White’s EQ course on Lynda.com so much that I decided to do his Audio Foundations: Compression and Dynamic Processing class as well. It’s another really great class presented clearly and methodically.
Particularly liked the idea of using gradual compression from multiple compressors to get a more natural sound. E.g. using a limiter to address only the peaks with the threshold and output linked followed by a compressor using a low ratio to create body on the average level of the track while using another compressor to give a touch of color (e.g. gain cranked on a vintage styled plug-in set to a low ratio setting).