If you’ve been recording in your home studio, you know that having the right effects plugins can make your track-cutting, mixing, and production pop. But trying to keep up with what’s out there? Well, let’s just say option fatigue is real.
We’re lucky. As Nashville-based producer-engineers who are also instructors at Belmont University in the Audio Engineering Technology program, we see and—more importantly—hear and use a lot of effects plugins. And while this article is by no means definitive, we are about to present you with an array of choices from the five essential plugin food groups—modulation (chorus, phasing, tremolo, vibrato), time-based (delay and reverb), spectral (EQ and panning), dynamic (compression, limiters, etc.), and filter (low-pass, high-pass, band-pass)—that you might consider investigating to fortify your recording diet. All of these will be easy to work with as long as you’re comfortable with your DAW, and all are compatible with Mac and PC operating systems.
Modulation
You’ve been hearing these effects all your life, in many of your favorite recordings, but there’s nothing quite like getting your hands on the controls of a wealth of modulation options to spice up your sonic menu. We suggest checking out the following.
• IK Multimedia MixBox ($79–$199 street, as well as a free version): One of our favorite go-to plugins is MixBox from IK Multimedia. From both a production and mixing workflow, the creative and sonic possibilities of this 500-series-style plugin are endless! On the topic of modulation effects, in addition to the standards (chorus, phase, tremolo, and vibrato), MixBox offers a unique selection of processors that include AM/FM modulators, Auto Pan, and Slicer. As the name suggests, the Slicer module works great for adding rhythmic slices and random patterns to your audio tracks. I’ve found that using the combination of the Pattern and Freq parameters allows for endless control of rhythmic and tonal variation when used with synth leads, etc. Altogether, this package offers up to 70 effects and processors.
• Eventide TriceraChorus Vintage Tri-Chorus ($99 street): When you think of the chorus effect, songs such as “Every Breath You Take,” “Come As You Are,” and the classic guitar intro to “Run To You” by Bryan Adams will immediately come to mind. This versatile plugin takes on the famed Tri-Stereo chorus, used on sessions by Steve Lukather and Michael Landau, and offers a wide variety of presets and features that can be used on guitar, bass, vocal, keys, and synthesizers to achieve the signature watery/lush and chorale effect.
“You’ve been hearing these effects all your life, in many of your favorite recordings.”
• Soundtoys PhaseMistress Analog Phase Shifter ($99 street): Phase shifting is an essential effect that has been used as a creative layer on numerous recordings over the decades, starting with Jimi Hendrix. And, of course, there’s the opening riff of Van Halen’s “Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love.” The PhaseMistress, whose name alludes to the Maestro Phase Shifter and the EHX Electric Mistress, is a versatile processor that allows you to dial in a variety of sounds that are modeled after the same analog pedals that guitar giants such as Jimi, EVH, and David Gilmour used. With all DSP plugins these days, we’re seeing more additional processing and signal chains. An added feature that really sets the PhaseMistress apart is the analog-style algorithms (Clean, Fat, Squash, Dirt, Crunch, Shred, and Pump) that also add a touch of saturation and compression to the signal you are working with.
Time-Based
These delay and reverb effects can lead you to wide sonic vistas and otherworldly locales, as well as classic guitar tones—creating depth and dimension, and enhancing the spatial impression of a mix.
• Eventide ShimmerVerb ($99 street): We love experimenting with different types of time-based effects for creative effect and spatial cohesion. For creating ambient and ethereal spatial texture, one of our favorite digital reverbs is the ShimmerVerb, a reverb plugin with parallel pitch shifters. The presets alone sound great, and there’s a wide variety of dreamy tones that can work perfectly for both live and recording situations. One of our go-to recording setups is running a Fender Strat with a Lollar Imperial pickup in the bridge through a ’65 Deluxe emulation with a slight touch of tremolo and the ShimmerVerb’s Radiant Caverns setting. Sublime!
• IK Multimedia T-RackS Sunset Sound Studio Reverb ($149 street): To our thinking, the Sunset Sound Studio Reverb should be in every mixing engineer’s toolbox. Based on the hardware at the historic Sunset Sound Studio in Los Angeles, this processor works great across many instruments and musical genres. The plugin offers seven different reverb types that include Chamber, Live Room, ISO Booth, Plate/Spring, and Studios 1, 2, and 3. What sets this reverb plugin apart from others is the ability to control the stereo image of the reverb width.
“One of our go-to recording setups is running a Fender Strat with a Lollar Imperial pickup in the bridge through a ’65 Deluxe emulation with a slight touch of tremolo and the ShimmerVerb’s Radiant Caverns setting.”
• Waves Abbey Road Reverb Plates ($35 street): Of course, whenever you hear the name Abbey Road, you think of the Beatles. This plugin lets you apply virtual versions of the legendary London studio’s reverb plates to your audio tracks—plates that breathed space into recordings by the Fab Four, Pink Floyd, and many others. The Waves Abbey Road gives you four different modeled plates to choose from. Of course, as with most time-based plugins, this processor has built-in equalization parameters, pre-delay, and a dry/wet blend. However, unique features of the Waves Abbey Road Plates are the Drive and Analog options.
Dynamic
And now we enter the world of compressors and limiters, which, when used correctly, can burnish guitar and bass tones with the precision of a sculptor.
• IK Multimedia Lurssen Mastering Console ($149 street): One of our favorite processors to use on the master bus is this plugin suite, which offers compression, EQ, de-essing, and limiting. It has a wealth of features, like a push control for EQ adjustment and an input drive control, that make it easy and intuitive to use. We really like the 5-band EQ for adding subtle touches of low-end beef and high-end sparkle to tracks. We use the term “glue” frequently in the world of mixing. This plugin is the superglue that binds overall mixes together by adding a nice blend of overall dynamic and spectral enhancement. While final mastering is always best left to mastering engineers, the Lurssen Mastering Console makes pseudo-mastering your tracks more easily attainable.
• IK Multimedia T-RackS Comprexxor ($149 street): As soon as we got our hands on the Comprexxor, we were blown away. This plugin is definitely like a Swiss Army Knife. This is one of our favorite dynamic processing plugins to use for heavier/cinematic rock music. The Drum Squash Room setting has proven to be excellent when routing drums for parallel compression. Among the Comprexxor’s exceptional features are second- and third-order harmonic saturation, optical and mid-side processing, and the Tone Color Control parameter.
“We know that there are different benefits and practical applications of the two main types of equalizers: parametric and graphic.”
• Waves CLA-3A Compressor/Limiter ($49 street): The Waves CLA-3A is hands down one of the most effective and dynamic-enriching processors we have ever used. We recommend it for anybody who wants to experiment with mixing in a DAW. At times, it can be frustrating for up-and-coming engineers to grasp the concept of compression. When we use compression, we either want to add punch or beef to audio tracks—say, kick drums or bass guitars—or balance the dynamic range of certain vocals and instruments. Compressors also enhance and add tonal character to your audio signals. When you look at the CLA-3A plugin’s interface, you see two main parameters for controlling the compression amount and the makeup gain, labeled “gain” and “peak reduction.” Pretty straightforward, right? While I always trust my ears, it is also nice to have the CLA-3A’s VU metering display to see where the levels are hitting. For the low price, intuitive controls, and dynamic richness that this processor can add to your tracks, the CLA-3A is a must-have tool.
Spectral
EQ and panning open up an aspect of the listening experience that many home-studio engineers overlook, or at least underplay. For the early rulebook, consult Hendrix’s Axis: Bold as Love, but Radiohead and countless others have made their albums living, breathing organisms by using tools like these to change the sonic field and the range of their tracks.
• FabFilter Pro-Q 3 EQ and Filter ($169 street): Equalization is like sculpting: It’s about carving out space in your mix to make room for all the musical elements. The FabFilter Pro-Q 3 offers a robust set of features that give you enhanced control over the spectral landscape of your audio. The fresh look of this plugin’s interface immediately calls your attention to the parametric curves and the spectrum analyzer for visualizing the overall spectral balance. Two features of the Pro-Q 3 that really stand out are the intelligent solo mode and MIDI Learn. Perhaps you have heard the phrase “search and destroy” when it comes to finding problem frequencies in a mix? Using the intelligent solo mode helps you to better locate such problem areas and remove them from your mix quicker.
• Newfangled Audio EQuivocate Multi-Band EQ ($99 street): As engineers, we know that there are different benefits and practical applications of the two main types of equalizers: parametric and graphic. The EQuivocate plugin is a straightforward, easy-to-use graphic equalizer that gives you access to 26 filter bands that correspond to the critical bands of the human auditory system. In addition to the standard method of manipulating individual filter bands, EQuivocate has a draw curve parameter that allows you to quickly shape the frequency spectrum across multiple bands. If you’re new to the concept of using graphic equalizers, EQuivocate has a bank of custom presets that can give you a good starting place for mixing and mastering applications.
“Your DAW already has enough built-in effects for you to develop an understanding of what they do and how they work.”
• Waves V-EQ4 ($29 street): Neve introduced the 1081 console channel module in 1972 and deployed it in legendary boards such as the 8048. The VEQ-4 is an emulation of the EQ section of the 1081 that, to our ears, sounds just like a Neve EQ. This is a pretty simple box to use. It gives you the ability to add some high-frequency sheen or low-end thump—and everything in between. This EQ works well on just about any instrument or voice, doing subtle tweaks or broad curves. I like to use it on busses, and sometimes on the master bus, to color the entire mix. It’s a versatile and useful plugin for any style of music.
Filters
These frequency wranglers come in three varieties— low-pass, high-pass, and band-pass—and ride the sonic range hard, establishing cutoff levels. The simple explanation: High-pass filters will disable frequencies below a set cutoff point, low-pass will zap those over the cutoff, and band filters will affect only those in a selected band.
• McDSP NF575 Noise Filter HD Native v7 ($79 street): The McDSP Noise Filter is a very sophisticated device for removing low-frequency rumble and high-frequency hiss from your audio. With hundreds of presets and real-time analyzers, this may be the most effective noise filter we’ve ever used, and we’ve used analog and digital filters for many different kinds of audio clean-up. With seven precise notch filters, it’s easy to dial in the parts of a sound you want removed. You can solo a notch filter and hear exactly what you are removing, too. This is a very handy tool when you need to clean up or fix some audio.
• Waves Enigma ($29 street): While we use Enigma primarily as an EQ sculpting tool, since it is extremely useful when used to filter out particular frequencies, it also offers a unique combination of filters, reverbs, delays, and modulation—allowing you to create some totally original sounds. So, the addition of the other features makes this tool much more than just a filter. Using Enigma effectively may take some time experimenting to discover how to best use the different features, but you will be rewarded with fresh sonic possibilities for fixing problems or creating new sounds.
The Upshot
You can do a lot with a handful of simple plugins, so you don’t have to spend a ton of money on them to make great-sounding recordings. Investigate. Be selective. And your DAW already has enough built-in effects for you to develop an understanding of what they do and how they work. Learning to use plugins mostly requires you to simply use and trust your ears in order to get great sounds.
Fig. 1
Think about this for a moment: The vocoder was developed in 1938 at Bell Labs by Homer Dudley as a way of synthesizing the human voice for conserving bandwidth in telephone communications. That's almost a century ago! Aside from synth pioneer Bob Moog's early versions, the vocoder didn't hit the musical mainstream until 1970 when Moog and Wendy Carlos Williams built a solid-state, 10-band version based on Dudley's designs. Put simply, the carrier signal came from one of Moog's modular synthesizers and the modulator came from the input of a microphone presumably with someone on the other end speaking profound words.
Soon afterwards, the vocoder was featured on early groundbreaking recordings: Isao Tomita's Electric Samurai (1972), the Alan Parsons Project's "The Raven" from Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1976), and ELO "Mr. Blue Sky" from Out of the Blue (1977), to name a few. Since then, it has been used in TV (my favorite was the voice of the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica), and on more records by diverse artists including Stevie Wonder, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Michael Jackson, Daft Punk, and Coldplay.
It's a way to add another voice to the solo that might be so left-of-center that it's exactly the kind of crazy texture that you've been searching for.
Most of the time, a vocoder is used to synthesize vocal parts and create everything from monophonic (single voice) to polyphonic (many voices) textures. A typical way to do this would be to speak (or sing) into a microphone and hold some keys down on a vocoder and, voilà, you have a chord of your words.
Now, here is where things get a bit more interesting. Obviously, the guitar is a chordal instrument. However, when we play a melody, or shred some single-note solos, we can essentially think of it as a "voice," but without formants: consonants, vowels, diphthongs, and other articulations that basically shape the way we speak and help create everything from languages to dialects.
For our purposes, we're going to use a pre-recorded guitar melody (or solo) and route the output of that track into a vocoder and then use a MIDI keyboard to add a note-for-note harmonized piano recreation. It's a way to add another voice to the solo that might be so left-of-center that it's exactly the kind of crazy texture that you've been searching for.
Fig. 2
I did this most recently on a record I produced where, during my pedal-steel solo, I wanted to double my single notes using a vocoder plug-in (Arturia's Vocoder V, $199 street). This vocoder combines both carrier and modulator, and greatly expands what a traditional vocoder can do. For example, you can load in your own samples, or take the output of one of your tracks in your session and use it as a keyed input to add some vocoder magic. That's what I'm going to show you how to do.
The astute might ask this question: "Why don't you just use any synth (analog or plug-in) and play along with your guitar parts?" Two good reasons. One, using this technique, the rhythm will be exact, so every start and stop of the track will be preserved no matter what key(s) you're playing on the keyboard. Two, it will sound like a vocoder trying to double your part and not another synth. Vocoders have a specific sound especially perfect for multi-part designs.
Try this: Find a guitar track in your session that has some tasty single-note licks. Next, route the output of the track to an aux bus. Name the bus GTR Vocoder (or something you'll remember). Create a new stereo instrument track and instantiate the vocoder you want to use. For this example, I'm using the Vocoder V by Arturia. On the vocoder, change the key input to GTR Vocoder (or whatever you named your aux bus [Fig. 1] and make sure the input is set to Voice [Fig.2]. Now, you've essentially tricked your vocoder into thinking that there is a microphone input, but it's really your guitar track! Have fun and be sure to play with the parameters of the vocoder to really mangle your sound and get into uncharted territories. As usual, I recommend coming by my website to see and hear this technique in action. Namaste.
Photo 1
Most often, when recording acoustic guitar and a vocal together, the challenge for an engineer is to get as much separation of each sound source as possible. That way, if it's a stellar vocal performance but the guitar had some wrong notes or missed chords, the whole take doesn't need to be immediately scrapped. Yes, it is true that some audio artifacts may be present. We are dealing with the laws of physics, sound waves, and using two mics. But you may be able to reduce the offending track's flubs with such aplomb that the world may never know. That all depends on … angles.
You may recall that back in January I devoted an entire Dojo to microphone polar patterns, and that knowledge will come in very handy this month. In particular, your knowledge of cardioid, hypercardioid, and figure-eight polar patterns.
Let's begin with cardioid mics. The vast majority of microphones on the market are cardioid, and they come in every variety within the three main mic categories: dynamic, condenser, and ribbon. Generally, small diaphragm condenser mics offer enhanced clarity and articulation of transients on acoustic sources. Regardless of what you may have, the placement of the mics becomes the most important thing.
"You may be able to reduce the offending track's flubs with such aplomb that the world may never know."
One of my favorite workhorse mics for recording vocals in this situation is the fixed-cardioid Shure SM7B ($399 street). I like to pair this with a small-diaphragm cardioid condenser mic, like a vintage Neumann KM84, KM54, or more recent affordable mics like the superb Rode TF-5 ($1,499, matched pair), or even the budget friendly Rode NT5 ($429 matched pair). Regardless of your budget, what you want are two microphones that are either fixed cardioid or have variable polar patterns that can give you cardioid and hypercardioid pattern choices. One of my favorite mics to use on acoustic guitar is the Beyerdynamic M 160 ($699 street). It's a ribbon mic (my favorite type of mic) and it's hypercardioid, which means it offers excellent off-axis rejection.
How to place the instrument mic.
Have a look at photo 1. Notice that I've placed this cardioid mic, a Rode TF-5, close to the guitar. The capsule of the mic is aimed at the guitar's 14th fret, and it is also angled to almost 45 degrees relative to the floor. This placement will give you increased rejection of the vocals as long as this mic is around stomach-to-chest height and below the singer's mouth. Experiment with height placement and see what gives you the best results. I also like to place this mic directly under the vocal mic so I can use the upper mic as a makeshift baffle. This works best if the upper mic (the vocal mic) has a larger body than the lower instrument mic.
Photo 2
How to place the vocal mic.
Photo 2 shows how I've angled the vocal mic (a Mojave Audio MA-200, $1,199 street) upward towards the mouth from about chest/throat level. You can tinker with this height depending upon how the singer sits and plays. Most singers who are also playing will be looking down toward the neck of the guitar as they play, but if there is quite a bit of slouching, move the mic lower and increase the upward angle of the capsule. If the mic you are using can vary its polar pattern to hypercardioid, use that and listen to the differences. Ideally, at least one your mics would be variable enough to be hypercardioid, if not both. Also, place the mic that has the tightest polar pattern (hypercardioid in this case) on the guitar, since it will move the least relative to the voice.
Keep experimenting, and until next month, namaste.
DIY: How to Mic Your Acoustic Like a Pro
Photo 1: Waves Audio IR-1
Most of us add reverb at some point in our recording process, and most of that is through digital plug-ins found in our DAW or by third-party makers (FabFilter, Waves, Universal Audio, etc.) or through rackmounted outboard gear. (Photos 1 and 2 provide a look at the Waves Audio's IR-1 and FabFilter's Pro R in action.) Whatever type of reverb you add, I'd be willing to bet that your process might be similar to this: pull up a reverb, set the amount of wet/dry, maybe tweak the overall time, and you're done. But there's so much more you can do!
I'd be willing to bet that your process might be similar to this: pull up a reverb, set the amount of wet/dry, maybe tweak the overall time, and you're done. But there's so much more you can do!
First, let's look at the main parameters of reverb. In any given space (size doesn't matter), something has to happen that sets sound pressure waves in motion. This is called an impulse function (a loud clap, popping a balloon, a righteous, single, 100-watt djent, etc.). The measurement of that impulse function is called the impulse response (IR). The impulse response contains four main parameters of what we generally call reverb.
Fig. 1
Imagine Metallica is doing a soundcheck at your local stadium and they're going to perform "Damage, Inc." (Still one of my favorite songs!) You're in front-of-house position (FOH), where the mix engineer sits. After the layered reversed guitar intro (lasting 1:18, for those listening at home), the band kicks in with those devastating, staccato, "chunks." With each one, several things happen in rapid succession—remember, I'm relating this as simply as possible as it's really complex. Look at Fig.1. You'll see the:
- Direct sound: A certain amount of sound reaches your ears directly, without reflecting off anything. Obviously, you hear this first.
- Early reflections: These initial reflections are easy to hear and generally bounce off a few things before reaching your ears and arrive closely after the direct sound.
- Reverb: As more reflected sounds reach your ears with mosh-pit ferocity, the ears can no longer make out individual early reflections because of the buildup, and "reverb" starts.Length: Once reverb starts, the time it takes for the sound to bounce off the rafters and for the venue to eventually fall silent again is known as the reverb time or RT60. RT60 is generally the amount of time it takes for the IR to fade 60 dB and merge back with the inherent noise floor of the building.
- Length: Once reverb starts, the time it takes for the sound to bounce off the rafters and for the venue to eventually fall silent again is known as the reverb time or RT60. RT60 is generally the amount of time it takes for the IR to fade 60 dB and merge back with the inherent noise floor of the building.
Okay, now let's get down to business. Most reverb plug-ins allow you to adjust time, EQ, pre-delay, and mix (wet/dry). Some, like Waves IR-1 reverb ($29 street) and FabFilter's Pro R ($199 street) offer much more, but in very different ways.
Adjusting the Pre-Delay
Photo 2 : FabFilter's Pro R
Increasing the pre-delay will postpone the arrival time of reverb. Which means that you can easily defy the laws of physics. Since sound travels at 1,125 feet per second (at 68 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level), by adjusting the pre-delay, you can move the arrival time of the reverb to a later point (that's not physically possible), yet when the reverb actually starts, it goes back to obeying the laws of physics. This trick is often used to bring clarity to an instrument's articulation and to subtle parameters that might be getting washed out in the original reverb. This works extremely well on vocals, snare drum, acoustic guitars, staccato power chords, etc. Further, some pre-delay settings can be synced (quarter-, eighth-, 16th-note, etc.) to the BPM of the song. FabFilter's Pro R does this, again violating the laws of physics. Adding even more violations to the properties of sound, Waves IR will allow you to add a pre-delay to the early reflections before reverb.
Adjusting the EQ
Adjusting the reverb's EQ can add another layer of complexity. Boosting top end to make it brighter can make a heavily pre-delayed reverb sound like it would if it were closer to the source, but, because of the pre-delay, it would organically sound dark and dull. One other thing to try is adding a narrow Q to a frequency band (or several) and tuning your reverb to the key or a specific harmony you wish.
I encourage you to play with all the available parameters as much as you can and see what kind of craziness you can come up with. I'll be sharing some of mine on my website, bryanclarkmusic.com, should you want to see and hear some more examples. Until next time, stay open-minded and keep rocking! Namaste.
It's not news that recording gear has gotten cheaper in recent years. Nowadays, for the price you would have paid for a low-end 4-track back in the '90s, you can buy a mid-level interface, monitors, and a decent enough microphone to make studio-quality recordings. "If you've got a [Focusrite] Scarlett, an SM57, and Ableton Live, you have so much more in front of you than the Beatles ever dreamed of having," says Dave Fridmann, producer/engineer and owner of Cassadaga, New York's Tarbox Road Studios, who has famously mixed home-recorded albums by Tame Impala and his longtime collaborators the Flaming Lips. "There's no reason why you can't do anything you can think of with that gear. Anything." If that's not encouraging enough, consider that even major-label artists such as Fiona Apple and guitarist-producer Steve Lacy have, at times, avoided high-budget studio sessions, opting to record at home and use the same inexpensive tools that are accessible to the rest of us.
While those of us who want to can—and, during the pandemic, most likely did—get to work on our next masterpiece in the comfort of our homes, some limits remain. And for many of us who have been recording on our own, the biggest limitation may be our own ability to mix. What do we do when it's time to make the final decisions on how our tracks should sound? It might seem intuitive, but anyone who has ever tried to mix his or her own recordings knows that the right sound can be hard to nail down and the limitless list of plug-ins can be overwhelming. Lucky for us, there are plenty of professional engineers who are ready to mix our home recordings and elevate them to the level of sonic majesty. With that in mind, we tracked down four of our favorite engineers and discussed the process of having an engineer mix our home-studio tracks.
When Two Brains Think as One
Artists should feel free to reach out to their mixing engineers as early in their recording process as possible, says Jarvis Taveniere, who is happy to share helpful tips with his clients, from brainstorming mic placement to setting up a room.
The very first step is to find the right person for the job. You'll probably want to pick someone who has worked with bands you know, bands you like, or bands you think sound like what you're working on. You should feel comfortable reaching out to engineers and asking questions. Good engineers are only going to want to mix your record if they feel like they can add something to it, and you should feel the same way about them.
Jarvis Taveniere, who plays in the band Woods and has engineered albums by bands such as Fleet Foxes, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, and Real Estate, tells us that it's of utmost importance that an artist and engineer really click. "I don't want to have to convince people that their vision of their song is wrong," he says. "If I don't like their vision of it, then we shouldn't be working together, and I say that with love."
"It's cool to listen to yourself through one mic and be like, 'What does it sound like? Does this sound good? Does it sound harsh?'" —Jarvis Taveniere
You'll also want to consider how you'd like to work together. It's always fun and can be instructive to attend a mixing session, but if you don't have a good fit locally, remote mixing opens up your options to just about anyone you can think of—who fits your budget, of course. Technical details may narrow down your search, too. But don't be dissuaded if it doesn't make sense to work with the engineer of your dreams right now. Every engineer has his or her own way of mixing, and that means different requirements for the files you actually send them—more on that later. And if you've already recorded your album without your engineer's parameters in mind, you may have more limitations than if you haven't gotten started.
Before You Hit “Record”
The engineers we spoke with agreed that, most of the time, clients don't reach out about mixing until their recording is mostly finished. But if you're considering tracking at home and can figure out who you'd like to work with before you begin, that mixing engineer can offer some insight about recording and collaborating.
Taveniere says contact before recording is his "perfect scenario," and believes it can be helpful to discuss things such as mic selection, mic placement, and even simple room treatment options to avoid potential mixing headaches. For example, he explains, "The room is important. If you're recording something at home, close-miking guitar amps is easy and you can do bass and keys direct, so the few things that can have ambience can open up the record. If you're in a room that's rectangular or square, with parallel walls, and you have a condenser on an acoustic, you're probably gonna hear some of the room, you're gonna hear some of those reflections." With the help of a sample recording and a photo, he's happy to help clients get a warm and focused room sound. "Throwing down some rugs, building or buying some 2'x4' absorption panels … it's fun to set up your space so you can have a good sounding room." Addressing such issues in advance will not only make mixing easier, it may give mixers like Taveniere more flexibility to make their mark on your recordings.
Colin Marston, seen here hard at work at his Menegroth: The Thousand Caves studio, advises you to keep your tracking levels low.
If you're not ready to commit to a mixing engineer before you start tracking, there are some simple tips you can follow that will make things easier later. "Use minimal mic setups, one or two mics at the most, especially when you're in a practice space," recommends Eric Bauer, who runs Bauer Mansion studio in San Francisco, where he's worked with Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, and many more. Taveniere agrees, adding, "It's cool to listen to yourself through one mic and be like, 'What does it sound like? Does this sound good? Does it sound harsh?' You can make adjustments if you go slow and think about it, and make decisions."
This is very easy to apply to electric guitar tracking. "If you put a mic in front of it and get a level that isn't clipping, that's good enough for me," says Colin Marston, who runs Menegroth, The Thousand Caves studio in Queens, New York, and plays in Gorguts, Krallice, and Dysrhythmia. This is also a reminder to be sure to record with enough headroom. Once a level clips, it can't be undone. As for common fears about recording too quietly? Marston assures us not to worry, saying, "With 24-bit audio, we have more headroom than you could ever hope to hear, so it's better to shoot a little bit conservatively when it comes to that."
Know Your Tones
Straight from Colin Marston's desktop: an organized session with easy-to-understand labelling.
Some guitarists who record at home are unable to capture the sounds they want. Others are capable of getting their desired tones, but need help taking their project across the finish line. For players in the former camp, Marston recommends reamping. This means the sky's the limit when it comes to guitar tones. And it's a godsend for guitarists seeking the sound of a big, cranked amp, but who can't get that at home.
"The definition of reamping is running anything through another amp," explains Marston. "If I take a signal that's already been miked and run that through an amp again [and record it with a mic, again], it's like a game of telephone: You're gonna get a really blurry, weird signal that no one is used to hearing, because it's being filtered twice through this process that we're only ever used to hearing it filtered through once." Because of this, it may be ideal to plan to reamp your signal from the start, and to perhaps record your original guitar part via DI. "For reamping to sound undetectable, it's gotta be via a DI signal of some variety," Marston adds. "That can be a straight DI or a signal that has been run through a simulator, pedals, or the preamp stage of an amp. Different engineers may have different opinions about which signal they receive."
"With 24-bit audio, we have more headroom than you could ever hope to hear, so it's better to shoot a little bit conservatively." —Colin Marston
Reamping can be a time-consuming process, since the engineer is effectively re-recording your takes, but it all depends on what you are trying to achieve. "That's one of those things you have to estimate at the beginning," Marson says. "Is this time and investment to shorten the overall session or is this going to unnecessarily add time where the tone they've got already is pretty good?"
But it's ideal to just find a sound you love and get it printed. "What's happening now is that people are recording flat: They stick a mic in front of something and they record it and then they shape the sound," says Fridmann. "I don't encourage people to do this. I think it's a much better idea to get a great sound, something with character that fits the tone of the song you're working on, and print it and be done with it and don't go back. I don't want to—and you don't need to—fiddle with plug-ins for six weeks. If you've got a sound you think is cool, print it and move on.
Delivering Your Tracks
Here's a quick check-list to help make your tracks mix-ready:
- Make sure there's no clipping on your track levels
- Label your tracks, clearly and cleanly
- Turn off master channel processing before bouncing tracks to a sharable format
- Send WAV files to avoid audio quality loss
- Use a sample rate and bit depth of at least 44.1kHz/24-bit
- Provide rough mixes with your tracks
- Use zip files or another means to compress files before emailing
"You can leave it up to the mix engineer, but I don't see why you would. From my standpoint, that's a production decision. If you send me a clean guitar that has no processing on it, but you're expecting it to be distorted, we've got way too much to talk about, and I'm trying to mix this song today."
Audio File Hygiene
At the start of every mixing session, Eric Bauer will run a client's rough mixes through his board to help them hear what they can expect from his signal chain.
Most of the engineers we spoke to ask their clients to send them separate synced audio files accompanied by a rough mix. This provides the most flexibility while letting them hear how you're imagining the final recording. Some engineers prefer to have a DAW session as well, so this should be part of any conversation before you get started working together.
If you're bouncing down individual tracks, it's important that you understand exactly what you need to do to make the compiled tracks work. And if you don't, talk to your engineer. Most DAWs make it quite easy to export synced tracks, while others, particularly GarageBand, do not.
"Use minimal mic setups, one or two mics at the most, especially when you're in a practice space." —Eric Bauer
Bauer explains the dangers of bad exporting: "People bring over files and they'll be not synced, not to the same length, so we'll have to sync them up in Pro Tools, which is never completely accurate. I'll have random guitar solos, an overdub of a guitar solo, and I'll have to move it. That's one of the big problems I get."
Whether you're sending separate WAV files or DAW sessions, every track needs to be effectively labeled in a universal way that will help your engineer quickly understand what they're looking at. In an ideal situation, your engineer will spend time mixing and not navigating extensive file names, trying to figure out what's going on with your tracks. That means keep your labels short and clear—Marston offers "GTR U87" as a short label anyone mixing a record would understand—and keep your folders organized.
Second That Emotion
Dave Fridmann encourages home recordists to focus on songwriting and getting cool sounds, and to let mixing engineers worry about the technical details.
When Fridmann mixed Kevin Parker's self-recorded Tame Impala debut, Innerspeaker, Parker flew from Australia to Tarbox Road to mix the album. When they completed the mix, both felt satisfied with the result. But Parker changed his mind upon returning home and flew all the way back to work with Fridmann on a remix. Sure, it was a lot of extra work, and Fridmann says both mixes sounded good, but he agrees that the final version was the better of the two. That just goes to show that there is more than one way to mix a recording. Everyone hears music their own way and the best finished product is what sounds best to the artist … and even that can change. What mixing engineers do is help us hear what is possible and bring that to life.
"If you've got a [Focusrite] Scarlett, an SM57, and Ableton Live, you have so much more in front of you than the Beatles ever dreamed of having." —Dave Fridmann
As artists, we can spend months or years listening to our recordings at home, and anything outside of that can sound surprising. We just need to keep an open mind. While Bauer says that artists often "have it in their mind that those roughs are the one," he has his own strategy to help them hear new possibilities. "At the start of every session, I'll put [the rough mix] up on my board just as they have it, and I'll do a rough mix of their mix running through my two-bus mixing chain. I'll have a bus compressor and a bus EQ, and I'll run their whole mix through that before I start doing anything. Then, we'll start mixing and I'll do it the way I think it should be done. When they leave here, they have three mixes to choose from: their original mix, their mix through my board, and my mix."
Eric Bauer cautions clients to make sure their files are synced correctly.
Fridmann cautions against getting bogged down in the details, because ultimately there's no replacement for good writing and solid playing. "You've gotta have faith in yourself," he says. "No mix engineer is gonna make you say, 'Oh wow, this was mediocre and terrible, but now it's great.' If there's some spark there, if there's something that's musically engaging to you already, then mixing will exemplify that.
"It's not about the technical issues," he continues. "Yes, we have to solve all of these things and maybe somebody hears something weird in some frequency range. Fine—we'll address all that stuff, but that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter when you hear 'Baby Love' and it doesn't matter when you hear 'Back in Black.' Those aren't technical issues that we're listening to—we're listening to emotions and that's what mixing is about to me."