OCTOBER 21, 2009
The Keys to a Great Mix, Part II: Dynamic Processing by Jake Hartsfield
In Part 1 of “Keys To A Great Mix” I talked about various EQ techniques to use when mixing. Now I’m going to follow up with tips on dynamic processing (compression and expansion) and time-based effects (delay, reverb, etc.). I’m going to give very specific settings & examples, but just remember that these are my personal preference and are not “correct” or “standard” by any means.
Why use Compression?
A lot of times, you want to control the dynamic range of an instrument (such as a lead vocal) so that it doesn’t disappear during softer phrases and blow out your ears on louder belted phrases. Also, compressing something like a vocal helps you place it in the mix and lift it up without overpowering everything else. For drums, compression helps you achieve a consistent sound/level for each hit (especially important with kick and snare).
Clean up your drums with Expansion
With drums, expansion helps to attenuate (get rid of) the unwanted noise from the rest of the kit when a particular piece (the snare, for example) is not being struck. With expansion, you’re basically singling out your hits so they sound almost like samples. This can help in mixing to clean up some of the extra noise and allow you to adjust the level of the kick, snare, or toms, without affecting the rest of the drum mix too much. You don’t always need to use expansion…it’s more of a problem solver (very useful in live situations) than a necessary key to mixing. You generally would only want to try using expansion on the kick, snare, and your toms. If it sounds good, use it. If not, don’t!
The expander will be “closed” until a sound hits the input high enough to cross a threshold (dB level) you set. For a snare, you want to set the threshold just above the noise level, so that only the hit from the snare is triggering it to open. To use an expander on a snare that’s consistently striking around -3dB, while the other noise from the kit is coming through at -15dB, you might want to try setting the threshold to -10dB. Set the attack time as fast as possible; the attack controls how quickly the expander opens up, and you want all of the attack from the snare. Listen closely to the snare and adjust the “hold” (how long the expander stays completely open) and “release” (how long it takes to close back up) so that you hear the full snare sound, and it closes smoothly and almost unnoticeably. I tend to keep my hold and release time longer than most to allow the snare to settle before attenuating it too much.
Compression Settings for Drums
Some of these settings may seem a bit extreme, and that’s because I’m using examples that would fit a pop rock sound with a drummer that hits fairly hard… In the end, the settings do not matter at all – it’s how it sounds. If it sounds great, go with it. Learning how to achieve certain sounds will help you know when and how to break the rules…and we like breaking rules in music
Kick – For a “tight” and “punchy” kick sound, try setting the attack at 30 ms (just enough to let the slap/attack through), the release at 60 ms, the ratio at 5:1, and the knee at 20 dB. Start the threshold at 0 dB (so that the compressor is inactive) and lower it until you’re consistently getting about -3 to -6 dB of gain reduction (GR). The threshold completely depends on your input level. Adjust the makeup gain when you have a nice sound to reach a useable mixing level.
For a “thumpier” kick sound, try adjusting the attack to .5 ms (you’re not letting the attack through with a fast attack), the release to 30 ms, & the knee to 10 dB.
Snare – I like to use moderate compression on my original snare track (to hear the attack/crack), then double it (send it by itself to an aux track at full volume) and compress the heck out of it to get that sweet pop…I like to think it sounds like a tennis ball being served.
Overheads - Use the same settings as the high-hat & toms. You can also experiment and try increasing the ratio to as much as 15:1 or 20:1 and see what happens. Since your snare drum is usually the loudest piece of the kit, you might see it peaking 3 – 10 db above everything else in your overhead mics. You usually want a nice smooth cymbal sound with your overheads, and you might want to try to compress them enough so that the snare is attenuated to be almost the same level as the cymbals. This gets a nice poppy sound from the snare and also makes your overheads easier to work with; you can bring your overheads up in your mix without bringing up your snare volume as a side effect.
Bass Guitar – You want to smooth out your bass guitar as much as possible to have a solid low end. Bass can easily get out of hand if not compressed enough. For bass, compression settings can vary widely based on the player/musician. You might need to compress slap bass more than someone using a pick, more than someone thumping softly with their fingers. Try using an attack of 8 ms, a release of 600 ms, a knee of 20 ms, and a ratio of 4:1. You almost always want to see at least 3 to 6 dB of gain reduction, and up to 20 dB of gain reduction. Don’t be afraid to crush it. Again, this all depends on the style – you may not need to compress the bass much at all if you want an open, airy sound.
Electric Guitar – I don’t usually compress my electrics (until I compress the stereo guitar buss with a strong limiter) because the amp is already compressing the signal so much. This also opens up the field of sound a little so that there’s more room for the guitars to bounce around enough room for a little magic to happen... I can always count on the limiter on my stereo guitar bus to keep them from peaking.
Vocals – I tend to crush vocals (mostly in pop rock) because I like to hear the lead vocal up close and personal (similar to most vocals on Top 40 radio). A popular vocal compressor that can achieve this is the Universal Audio 1176. The Pro Tools plug-in called Bomb Factory is modeled after this compressor. Here’s what one of my Bomb Factory plug-ins looks like on a rock vocal.
You want to use a fast attack (1 ms) and a fast release (200 ms) on a vocal. You want to hear the “punch” of the vocal, but set the attack quick enough to clamp down and smooth it out. You don’t want to hear a “pumping” sound while you’re adjusting the attack and release.
The compression ratio can range from 2:1 to 20:1…until it becomes limiting. I like to use a ratio of 20:1, push all the buttons in on Bomb Factory (and the 1176) and listen to the magic happen… Pushing all the buttons in technically still has a 20:1 ratio, but lets the compressor start to act a little funny. Just shift-click two of the ratio selector buttons to try it and you’ll see.
Subtle Reverb and Delay Tricks
When you’re sending your instruments to your reverbs, try creating a dedicated Verb for your drums and instruments, and a separate one for your vocals. You can use more than one reverb and mix them together if you want.
Try soloing the lead vocal and just the reverb aux track, starting with the reverb fader all the way down. Slowly bring the fader up until you can faintly hear the verb. Try to hear it creating a nice bed for the vocal without it sticking out. Focus on the lead vocal and see if it still sounds clear and out front. If the reverb is distracting or too noticeable, turn it down a little. If you keep your effects subtle enough so they sound good when they’re soloed, they’ll sound great in the whole mix.
Try sending your lead vocal to 4 separate stereo delay aux tracks. Create a mono slap delay with the first (150 ms to 230 ms). Use the same method of soloing the vocal and the delay track and slowly brining up the fader until you barely notice it. It should be enough to add body and depth to the vocal – and even a little bounce – without sticking out enough for your audience to notice its there.
Use the second delay track and set it at the quarter note length based on the song tempo (you might have to tap it out or actually listen for it), the third delay track at the half note, and the fourth delay track at the whole note. By doing this, you’re creating your own manual “echo” or “multi-delay” effect… You may want to use one of those automatic effects, but this is my favorite way of adding delays to the vocal. Add in these long delays ever so subtly based on your taste… You may want to automate them to be lower in the verses and more prominent in the choruses.
Now when you add everything else back into your mix, your audience shouldn’t even notice that you have reverb and delays on your vocal – unless you intend for them to – and your vocal will have more body and blend with your mix much smoother.
If you want to hear the song I referred to for most of my settings, you can go tohttp://www.jakehartsfield.com, click on the DP logo, and listen to the first track by Kristen Jaudon.
I know that was a long read, but I hope it was helpful. It should have at least inspired you to think “oh yeah, I can mix better than this pretentious fool!” ;)
Why use Compression?
A lot of times, you want to control the dynamic range of an instrument (such as a lead vocal) so that it doesn’t disappear during softer phrases and blow out your ears on louder belted phrases. Also, compressing something like a vocal helps you place it in the mix and lift it up without overpowering everything else. For drums, compression helps you achieve a consistent sound/level for each hit (especially important with kick and snare).
Clean up your drums with Expansion
With drums, expansion helps to attenuate (get rid of) the unwanted noise from the rest of the kit when a particular piece (the snare, for example) is not being struck. With expansion, you’re basically singling out your hits so they sound almost like samples. This can help in mixing to clean up some of the extra noise and allow you to adjust the level of the kick, snare, or toms, without affecting the rest of the drum mix too much. You don’t always need to use expansion…it’s more of a problem solver (very useful in live situations) than a necessary key to mixing. You generally would only want to try using expansion on the kick, snare, and your toms. If it sounds good, use it. If not, don’t!
The expander will be “closed” until a sound hits the input high enough to cross a threshold (dB level) you set. For a snare, you want to set the threshold just above the noise level, so that only the hit from the snare is triggering it to open. To use an expander on a snare that’s consistently striking around -3dB, while the other noise from the kit is coming through at -15dB, you might want to try setting the threshold to -10dB. Set the attack time as fast as possible; the attack controls how quickly the expander opens up, and you want all of the attack from the snare. Listen closely to the snare and adjust the “hold” (how long the expander stays completely open) and “release” (how long it takes to close back up) so that you hear the full snare sound, and it closes smoothly and almost unnoticeably. I tend to keep my hold and release time longer than most to allow the snare to settle before attenuating it too much.
Compression Settings for Drums
Some of these settings may seem a bit extreme, and that’s because I’m using examples that would fit a pop rock sound with a drummer that hits fairly hard… In the end, the settings do not matter at all – it’s how it sounds. If it sounds great, go with it. Learning how to achieve certain sounds will help you know when and how to break the rules…and we like breaking rules in music
Kick – For a “tight” and “punchy” kick sound, try setting the attack at 30 ms (just enough to let the slap/attack through), the release at 60 ms, the ratio at 5:1, and the knee at 20 dB. Start the threshold at 0 dB (so that the compressor is inactive) and lower it until you’re consistently getting about -3 to -6 dB of gain reduction (GR). The threshold completely depends on your input level. Adjust the makeup gain when you have a nice sound to reach a useable mixing level.
For a “thumpier” kick sound, try adjusting the attack to .5 ms (you’re not letting the attack through with a fast attack), the release to 30 ms, & the knee to 10 dB.
Snare – I like to use moderate compression on my original snare track (to hear the attack/crack), then double it (send it by itself to an aux track at full volume) and compress the heck out of it to get that sweet pop…I like to think it sounds like a tennis ball being served.
For the original snare, try using an attack of 15 ms, a release of 45 ms, a knee of 20 ms, and a ratio of 6:1. You should adjust the threshold to see between -3 and -12 dB of gain reduction. These settings also work well for your bottom snare mic.
For the super-compressed snare, try keeping the settings the same, but bringing the threshold down -20 db from where you had it. You should see a nasty amount of gain reduction (12 to 30 dB)
Toms – Try using an attack of 30 ms, a release of 10 ms, a ratio of 4.5:1, a soft knee at 30 dB, and adjusting the threshold to see about -6 dB of gain reduction. You want to let the attack/slap of the top come through and compress the rest of the tone so that it sounds smooth and full.
High-Hat – Use similar settings to the ones I described for the toms (attack: 30 ms, release: 10 ms, ratio of 4.5:1, soft knee of 30 ms). These compression settings work well for most drums & cymbals (overheads)Overheads - Use the same settings as the high-hat & toms. You can also experiment and try increasing the ratio to as much as 15:1 or 20:1 and see what happens. Since your snare drum is usually the loudest piece of the kit, you might see it peaking 3 – 10 db above everything else in your overhead mics. You usually want a nice smooth cymbal sound with your overheads, and you might want to try to compress them enough so that the snare is attenuated to be almost the same level as the cymbals. This gets a nice poppy sound from the snare and also makes your overheads easier to work with; you can bring your overheads up in your mix without bringing up your snare volume as a side effect.
Bass Guitar – You want to smooth out your bass guitar as much as possible to have a solid low end. Bass can easily get out of hand if not compressed enough. For bass, compression settings can vary widely based on the player/musician. You might need to compress slap bass more than someone using a pick, more than someone thumping softly with their fingers. Try using an attack of 8 ms, a release of 600 ms, a knee of 20 ms, and a ratio of 4:1. You almost always want to see at least 3 to 6 dB of gain reduction, and up to 20 dB of gain reduction. Don’t be afraid to crush it. Again, this all depends on the style – you may not need to compress the bass much at all if you want an open, airy sound.
Electric Guitar – I don’t usually compress my electrics (until I compress the stereo guitar buss with a strong limiter) because the amp is already compressing the signal so much. This also opens up the field of sound a little so that there’s more room for the guitars to bounce around enough room for a little magic to happen... I can always count on the limiter on my stereo guitar bus to keep them from peaking.
Vocals – I tend to crush vocals (mostly in pop rock) because I like to hear the lead vocal up close and personal (similar to most vocals on Top 40 radio). A popular vocal compressor that can achieve this is the Universal Audio 1176. The Pro Tools plug-in called Bomb Factory is modeled after this compressor. Here’s what one of my Bomb Factory plug-ins looks like on a rock vocal.
You want to use a fast attack (1 ms) and a fast release (200 ms) on a vocal. You want to hear the “punch” of the vocal, but set the attack quick enough to clamp down and smooth it out. You don’t want to hear a “pumping” sound while you’re adjusting the attack and release.
The compression ratio can range from 2:1 to 20:1…until it becomes limiting. I like to use a ratio of 20:1, push all the buttons in on Bomb Factory (and the 1176) and listen to the magic happen… Pushing all the buttons in technically still has a 20:1 ratio, but lets the compressor start to act a little funny. Just shift-click two of the ratio selector buttons to try it and you’ll see.
Subtle Reverb and Delay Tricks
When you’re sending your instruments to your reverbs, try creating a dedicated Verb for your drums and instruments, and a separate one for your vocals. You can use more than one reverb and mix them together if you want.
Try soloing the lead vocal and just the reverb aux track, starting with the reverb fader all the way down. Slowly bring the fader up until you can faintly hear the verb. Try to hear it creating a nice bed for the vocal without it sticking out. Focus on the lead vocal and see if it still sounds clear and out front. If the reverb is distracting or too noticeable, turn it down a little. If you keep your effects subtle enough so they sound good when they’re soloed, they’ll sound great in the whole mix.
Try sending your lead vocal to 4 separate stereo delay aux tracks. Create a mono slap delay with the first (150 ms to 230 ms). Use the same method of soloing the vocal and the delay track and slowly brining up the fader until you barely notice it. It should be enough to add body and depth to the vocal – and even a little bounce – without sticking out enough for your audience to notice its there.
Use the second delay track and set it at the quarter note length based on the song tempo (you might have to tap it out or actually listen for it), the third delay track at the half note, and the fourth delay track at the whole note. By doing this, you’re creating your own manual “echo” or “multi-delay” effect… You may want to use one of those automatic effects, but this is my favorite way of adding delays to the vocal. Add in these long delays ever so subtly based on your taste… You may want to automate them to be lower in the verses and more prominent in the choruses.
Now when you add everything else back into your mix, your audience shouldn’t even notice that you have reverb and delays on your vocal – unless you intend for them to – and your vocal will have more body and blend with your mix much smoother.
If you want to hear the song I referred to for most of my settings, you can go tohttp://www.jakehartsfield.com, click on the DP logo, and listen to the first track by Kristen Jaudon.
I know that was a long read, but I hope it was helpful. It should have at least inspired you to think “oh yeah, I can mix better than this pretentious fool!” ;)
Best of luck with your mixing!
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