In Universal Audio’s LUNA DAW, “trim” is offered as an additional automation option.
In the modern world of immersive audio capabilities, knowing how to automate mix parameters is essential.
Let me focus on the paradigm shift in the mixing world—immersive audio. It’s been coming quietly for a long time, and I believe it might just survive the bleached-bone-littered landscape of previous multi-channel mixing technology incarnations that were left for dead and never destined for success, like Quad and 5.1 surround sound.
Unless it’s a live recording and you’re being true to the original audience experience, I’ve never really been that enthralled with the “static mixing” mindset—where once the instruments are placed in the stereo field, they never move—as has been the case on the vast majority of records over the last several decades. Especially when one considers immersive audio and the vast amount of possibilities to place and move musical elements of a song in space over time, listening to static mixes seems, well … boring. Granted, my attention span is shorter than a ferret’s on espresso, but c’mon folks, we’re 20-plus years into the new millennium. Onward!
The Good News
With the ever-evolving immersive audio environment and renderers, and breakthroughs in HRTF (head-related transfer function) technology, now more than ever we are able to experience decoded, folded-down 7.1.4 spatial audio mixes in a binaural audio format through a regular pair of headphones (or earbuds). Finally, we’re making progress.
With this in mind, your automation skills need to be on point in order to take full advantage of these new possibilities. This time, I’d like to highlight core types of automation for you to start employing (regardless of your DAW) to add some new dimension within your mixes. Tighten up your belts, the dojo is now open.
All Hands on Deck
I suppose you could say automation has been around and available to mixing engineers since the first time multiple pairs of hands were on a console and engineers were choreographing fader rides as the mix printed. One of my favorite, extreme examples of this is the classic, smash hit “I’m Not in Love” by 10cc, released in 1975. Remember all those gorgeous pads? Those chords were created by having the group sing “ah” multiple times, which created a 48-voice “choir” for each one of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale. With the tape machine looping the 12 tracks of “ah”s, the band rode the console’s volume faders for each track to create the appropriate chord progressions.
By the end of the decade, Brad Plunkett and Dave Harrison’s Flying Faders came online and allowed installed motorized faders to be automated by a dedicated computer. We still use this technology on our Neve 8078 console here at Blackbird Studios.
By the early ’90s, DAWs offered comprehensive automation capabilities within the program itself that spanned from volume and panning to console settings, MIDI data, and now, plugin settings for spatial audio parameters.
Latch or Touch
Let’s start with top-level volume automation choices. These are perhaps the most important to your overall mix, and there are various ways of writing volume automation. DAWs can vary in number of options, but most feature the five following choices: off, write, read, touch, and latch. The first three are very intuitive—don’t play back the automation, write it, or play it back. But what is the difference between “touch” and “latch?” It’s important to know, especially since this can be applied to every kind of automation parameter, such as advanced things like effect sends, MIDI data, and plugin controls that allow every parameter to be automated. I use “touch” for highly nuanced fader rides and “latch” for more general maneuvers.
“Now more than ever, we are able to experience decoded, folded down 7.1.4 spatial audio mixes in a binaural audio format through a regular pair of headphones.”
After your initial “write” pass, “touch” automation plays back any previously written automation and only writes over it when you touch or move the fader, and upon release. It then immediately goes back to reading the previous automation.
In contrast, “latch” reads and writes automation similarly, but once a fader is released, it overwrites any previous automation and stays (or “latches”) at the point where the fader was released. This can be useful if you need to have certain sections higher or lower in volume, or are using effects sends. But remember, as soon as you let go of the fader, it’s going to keep overwriting all previous automation!
Universal Audio’s LUNA DAW adds another level of fine control by adding the “trim” option, which allows you to reduce or increase the overall level of an automation pass while still preserving the underlying automation. This is helpful when you need to do stem bounces, vocal up/vocal down mixes, etc.
Now you know the main differences of writing automation and can let your imagination go wild by experimenting with automating every possible parameter available in your DAW—from MIDI to soft synths to all your plugins. Until next time, namaste.Blackbird Studio ace Bryan Clark breaks down the versatile studio technique and provides some advice on how to avoid phasing issues.
Fig. 1
This time-proven approach can help keep vocal and guitar tracks at the fore.
Hello and welcome to another Dojo. This time, I’d like to explain sidechaining and how to use it on different sources for greater control and expressivity. Sidechaining typically involves routing the output of one track to control the dynamic range or volume of another track. Think of old-school radio broadcasts. Remember how every time the DJ spoke the music would “duck” or reduce in volume. This technique made a very quick transition into studio and live recordings, as mix engineers used it as a way to keep the lead vocalist on top of cymbal crashes, guitar solos, horns, background vocals, etc.
You may have also heard this technique in EDM-based music when a synth-bass line pumps (dips and swells in volume) in between each beat of the kick drum. This is what happens when the kick drum is bus-routed into a compressor on the synth-bass track.
Keeping this guitar-centric, sidechain compression can be valuable for many reasons that range from keeping your solo on top of rhythm parts to adding crazy textures to your power chords. You’ll need a compressor plug-in that accepts a side-chain input, and there are many to choose from. I’m going to use Fab Filter’s Pro-C 2 ($179 street), but another great choice is Waves’ Renaissance Compressor ($29.99 street).
Let’s get started. First, create two tracks in your DAW: one virtual instrument track (the source) loaded with a drum kit, and one audio track (the destination) where you will soon record a cool chord progression with held chords (clean or distorted).
You may have also heard this technique in EDM-based music when a synth-bass line pumps (dips and swells in volume) in between each beat of the kick drum.
On the instrument track, create a nice drum-kit groove (try something funky or even prog metal). Then, mute all the other parts of your virtual kit except the kick drum (for now) and hit record. Next, record yourself playing that cool chord progression with held chords on the audio track you created. (Play along to an unmuted version of your drum kit groove if you need it to record your guitar part.) Now, insert a compressor capable of sidechaining on this track’s effect insert [Fig.1].
At this point you should have: a kick drum loop on the instrument track and a chord progression recorded on the audio track. The compressor will be on the guitar track only.
Now, the fun begins. We are going to route the output of the drum track to the compressor’s input on the guitar track. Thus, every time the kit drum hits, it will trigger gain reduction on the guitar track.
These days I find myself tracking and mixing in at least two different DAWs, and every DAW has slightly different ways to do sidechain compression. This time, I’m going to use ProTools since it has been around the longest and (like it or not) is what most professional recording studios continue to use. There’s excellent intel for non-Pro Tools users at Fab Filter’s website support page, with directions for Studio One, Logic, Cubase, and Ableton.
Fig. 2
In Pro Tools, open the FabFilter Pro-C 2 that you’ve placed on your guitar track earlier. Click the sidechain window button at the bottom [Fig.2] and set sidechain from internal (In) to external (Ext).
Fig. 3
Now select the triangle next to MIDI Learn and make sure Enable MIDI is deselected [Fig.3].
Fig. 4
Next, in the key input menu of the plug-in interface, which is just above the FabFilter logo [Fig.4], choose Bus 1 instead of the default no key input. The compressor is now looking for an external source to trigger compression.
Fig. 5
Now, let’s bus-route the drum track to the guitar track’s compressor. In the sends slot of the drum track, select Bus 1. The bus view window for Bus 1will pop up: set its level to 0.0 dB (so it will send audio signal to the compressor) and select ‘PRE’ (pre-fader) [Fig. 5]. You’ve now routed the audio (using Bus 1) from the drum track to the compressor’s side chain input on the guitar track.
If you mute the drum track, you’ll be able to hear how it is affecting the guitar track. Now you can play with the threshold, attack, ratio, and release. Start with a quick attack (.010-.025 ms), a low threshold, and a fast release time (75-200 ms), then adjust to taste. The right release time depends upon the tempo of the song. Ideally, you want the compressor to be fully reset before the next kick drum hit.
Now that you understand sidechaining, you can experiment with other effects like sidechainable gates, EQs, and delays. More on that next time. Until then, keep experimenting! Namaste.