Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Introduction
This document contains all articles posted (as of the date mentioned on the cover page) on the
Lifesigns from the studio blog by Kim Lajoie, currently available at address
http://blog.kimlajoie.com/
(Note: the original blog address was http://kimlajoie.wordpress.com, the blog has moved to the new
web address in Jan 2012)
Even though released under permission of the blog author, this document is to be considered
completely unofficial and unsupported by Kim.
I started reading the blog a few years ago and article after article I had the increasing feeling that
the content exposed in the blog could be even more useful if collected in a comprehensive PDF file
for offline reference.
So, I spent a few hours in OpenOffice to transfer the content of all articles in this document.
I quickly realized that the same information arranged this way could be interesting for everybody
who likes digging into digital audio and songwriting techniques.
I then contacted Kim asking him if it was ok for him to release the document publicly; he was so kind
to reply and accept shortly after and there it is.
The posts are sorted in ascending chronological order, a table of contents with links allows navigating
and accessing them quickly. The PDF also has standard bookmarks and of course it's completely
searchable.
Each post heading in the document is a link to the original article on the blog, so that you can easily
go there to add comments, interact directly with the blog author, download additional contents and
have access to any other referenced material.
Thanks once again to Kim for his blog posts and for allowing free distribution of this document.
For any feedback or everything you can find and PM me (username: mabian) at the KVR or Cockos
forum; every time the PDF is updated I post about it on these two threads:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=295853
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?p=573859
That's it, I wish you enjoy the document like I'm doing and have a good time with it.
I personally consider the blog one of the most awesome goldmines of suggestions, tricks and words
of wisdom about the immense computer music creation world!
Table of Contents
2007/06/26
2007/06/26
2007/06/26
2007/07/17
2007/07/19
2007/10/22
2007/11/29
2008/05/31
2008/06/27
2008/07/04
2008/10/28
2008/11/19
2008/12/21
2009/01/01
2009/03/11
2009/03/11
2009/03/15
2009/04/16
2009/04/16
2009/04/16
2009/04/20
2009/04/21
2009/04/23
2009/04/26
2009/04/28
2009/04/30
2009/05/01
2009/05/03
2009/05/04
2009/05/05
2009/05/06
2009/05/07
2009/05/08
2009/05/09
2009/05/11
2009/05/12
2009/05/13
2009/05/14
2009/05/15
2009/05/16
2009/05/18
2009/05/19
2009/05/20
2009/05/21
2009/05/25
2009/05/26
2009/05/27
2009/05/28
2009/05/29
2009/06/01
2009/06/02
2009/06/03
2009/06/04
2009/06/09
2009/06/10
2009/06/11
2009/06/13
2009/06/15
2009/06/16
2009/06/17
2009/06/18
2009/06/20
2009/06/22
2009/06/23
2009/06/24
2009/06/25
2009/06/25
2009/06/26
2009/06/29
2009/06/30
2009/07/01
2009/07/01
2009/07/06
2009/07/07
2009/07/08
2009/07/09
2009/07/13
2009/07/15
2009/07/16
2009/07/17
2009/07/20
2009/07/21
2009/07/22
2009/07/23
2009/07/27
2009/07/28
2009/07/29
2009/08/03
2009/08/05
2009/08/06
2009/08/06
2009/08/10
2009/08/11
2009/08/12
2009/08/13
2009/08/14
2009/08/17
Speakers...................................................................................................53
Headphones..............................................................................................54
Dragging out the tools................................................................................54
Mixing in mono..........................................................................................55
The right vocal level...................................................................................55
Producers and producers.........................................................................56
Stability.....................................................................................................56
EQ on the mix bus.....................................................................................57
Familiarity..................................................................................................58
Devil Gurl and MAutoEqualizer....................................................................59
Variation and development.........................................................................60
Multiband compression...............................................................................61
Expectation...............................................................................................62
Monitoring gain staging..............................................................................63
Peak vs RMS..............................................................................................63
Theory vs creativity....................................................................................64
Compressing vocals....................................................................................65
Perception of time-speed............................................................................65
Buildups....................................................................................................66
Volcano: Advanced Tactics..........................................................................67
The vibe of a session.................................................................................67
Bit Depth...................................................................................................68
Extending chords.......................................................................................69
New Robot Child songs up..........................................................................69
Sample Rate..............................................................................................70
Writers block.............................................................................................71
Limiting vs Clipping....................................................................................71
Gain Staging..............................................................................................72
Drum programming Expectation and Excitement.......................................73
Sections of variable length..........................................................................75
Composing for Kick Drums 1.......................................................................76
Composing for Kick Drums 2.......................................................................77
Composing for Kick Drums 3.......................................................................78
Normalising...............................................................................................79
Beginning, middle, end...............................................................................80
Transition sections that are too long.........................................................81
Nested Structures......................................................................................82
What is saturation?....................................................................................83
Recording vocals........................................................................................83
Soft-knee compression...............................................................................85
Dont fill the frequencies.............................................................................86
Backing Vocals...........................................................................................87
Mixing with reverb 1...................................................................................87
Mixing with reverb 2...................................................................................88
Mixing with reverb 3...................................................................................89
Effects on a send.......................................................................................90
The case against compressed drums (articulation vs texture).......................91
Mixing with multiple reverbs.......................................................................91
Alternatives to reverb.................................................................................92
Masking.....................................................................................................93
2009/08/19
2009/08/20
2009/08/24
2009/08/25
2009/08/26
2009/08/30
2009/09/02
2009/09/03
2009/09/07
2009/09/14
2009/09/17
2009/09/28
2009/09/30
2009/10/05
2009/10/07
2009/10/15
2009/10/15
2009/11/10
2009/12/10
2010/01/04
2010/01/11
2010/01/13
2010/01/18
2010/01/25
2010/02/01
2010/02/08
2010/02/15
2010/02/22
2010/03/01
2010/03/08
2010/03/15
2010/03/22
2010/03/27
2010/03/29
2010/04/05
2010/04/12
2010/04/19
2010/04/26
2010/05/03
2010/05/10
2010/05/17
2010/05/24
2010/05/31
2010/06/07
2010/06/14
2010/06/21
2010/06/28
2010/07/01
2010/07/05
2010/07/08
2010/07/12
2010/07/19
2010/07/26
2010/08/02
2010/08/06
2010/08/09
2010/08/16
2010/08/23
2010/08/26
2010/08/30
2010/09/06
2010/09/13
2010/09/16
2010/09/20
2010/09/27
2010/10/04
2010/10/11
2010/10/18
2010/10/25
2010/11/01
2010/11/08
2010/11/15
2010/11/22
2010/11/29
2010/12/02
2010/12/06
2010/12/13
2010/12/16
2010/12/20
2010/12/27
2011/01/03
2011/01/06
2011/01/10
2011/01/13
2011/01/17
2011/01/24
2011/01/31
2011/02/03
2011/02/07
2011/02/14
2011/02/17
2011/02/21
2011/02/28
2011/03/03
2011/03/07
2011/03/14
2011/03/21
2011/03/28
2011/04/04
Obsession................................................................................................138
Development and momentum...................................................................140
Contour...................................................................................................141
Bouncing to audio....................................................................................142
5 remix ideas for an a cappella vocal........................................................143
Understanding Practice.............................................................................144
Its not amateur, its just undeveloped......................................................145
Does your song need a hook?...................................................................146
Dont make better mixes. Make better music..............................................147
Come into my Kitchen............................................................................148
Five ways to build energy.........................................................................150
How to make space for the vocals in the mix.............................................150
Six ways to get bigger beats.....................................................................151
(Dont tell anyone)................................................................................152
The #1 reason your song isnt exciting enough..........................................152
Are you making this common EQ mistake?.................................................153
What a good dance track has in common with pop music...........................154
How to make great music without vocals...................................................154
Mastering doesnt make your song sound good..........................................155
How to practice effectively........................................................................156
How to get faster without speeding up......................................................157
About preproduction.................................................................................157
Preproduction: Polishing lyrics...................................................................158
Preproduction: Tightening structure..........................................................160
Preproduction: Clarifying creative direction................................................160
So, Im on Twitter..................................................................................161
Preproduction: Enhancing expression........................................................162
Preproduction: Rehearsals........................................................................162
Who wants a Christmas present?..............................................................163
Are you cheating?....................................................................................164
Different types of limiters.........................................................................165
Music is open source................................................................................165
The best of 2010......................................................................................166
Make your synths bigger!..........................................................................168
Who wants my feedback on their song?.....................................................169
What it takes to write a killer bassline.......................................................169
How do you know when a mix is finished?.................................................170
Pan how you like......................................................................................171
Kitchen consultation: Larry Seger Think Of Me........................................172
Why you need direction and focus in your mix...........................................173
What makes a good melody?....................................................................174
Interview with me on The Home Recording Show......................................175
How to tell if you need more gear.............................................................175
How foreground sounds shape the character of the mix.............................176
Kitchen consultation: Jeroen Kerstens Rise..............................................177
How long should your song be?................................................................178
Everything louder than everything else......................................................179
Dont make good music. Make amazing music............................................180
Recording raw or with effects on the way in?.............................................181
The importance of getting it wrong...........................................................182
2011/04/07
2011/04/11
2011/04/18
2011/04/25
2011/04/28
2011/05/02
2011/05/05
2011/05/09
2011/05/16
2011/05/23
2011/05/30
2011/06/02
2011/06/06
2011/06/13
2011/06/20
2011/06/22
2011/06/27
2011/07/04
2011/07/07
2011/07/11
2011/07/18
2011/07/25
2011/08/01
2011/08/04
2011/08/08
2011/08/15
2011/08/22
2011/08/29
2011/09/05
2011/09/08
2011/09/12
2011/09/19
2011/09/26
2011/10/03
2011/10/06
2011/10/10
2011/10/17
2011/10/24
2011/10/31
2011/11/07
2011/11/14
2011/11/21
2011/11/28
2011/12/05
2011/12/12
2011/12/19
2011/12/26
2012/01/07
2012/01/07
2012/01/09
2012/01/10
2012/01/12
2012/01/13
2012/01/14
2012/01/15
2012/01/16
2012/01/17
2012/01/18
2012/01/19
2012/01/20
2012/01/23
2012/01/24
2012/01/25
2012/01/26
2012/01/27
2012/01/28
2012/01/29
2012/01/30
2012/01/31
2012/02/01
2012/02/02
2012/02/03
2012/02/04
2012/02/06
2012/02/07
2012/02/08
2012/02/09
2012/02/10
2012/02/11
2012/02/14
2012/02/20
2012/02/21
2012/02/22
2012/02/23
2012/02/24
2012/02/27
2012/03/01
2012/03/02
2012/03/03
2012/03/09
2012/03/09
2012/03/13
2012/03/14
2012/03/15
2012/03/16
2012/03/21
2012/03/22
2012/03/27
2012/04/05
2012/04/06
2012/04/07
2012/04/08
2012/04/10
2012/04/17
2012/04/25
2012/04/28
2012/04/29
2012/05/04
2012/05/16
2012/05/18
2012/05/21
2012/05/22
2012/05/24
2012/05/26
2012/05/29
2012/05/30
2012/05/31
2012/06/01
2012/06/02
2012/06/14
2012/06/19
2012/06/26
2012/06/30
2012/07/01
2012/07/05
2012/07/17
2012/07/19
2012/08/08
2012/08/19
2012/08/23
2012/08/25
2012/08/27
2012/09/05
2012/09/11
2012/09/12
2012/09/28
2012/10/02
2012/10/03
2012/10/12
2012/10/23
2012/10/29
2012/11/11
2012/11/20
2012/12/14
2013/01/04
2013/01/12
2013/01/17
2013/01/24
2013/02/02
2013/02/06
2013/02/13
2013/02/15
2013/02/18
2013/02/19
2013/02/26
2013/02/27
2013/02/28
2013/03/03
2013/03/11
2013/03/20
2013/03/21
2013/03/22
2013/03/23
2013/03/24
2013/03/25
2013/03/26
2013/03/27
2013/03/28
2013/03/29
2013/03/30
2013/03/31
2013/04/09
2013/04/14
2013/04/30
2013/06/22
2013/06/23
2013/06/24
2013/06/25
2013/06/30
2013/07/07
2013/07/10
2013/07/11
2013/07/12
2013/07/14
2013/07/17
2013/07/18
2013/07/19
2013/07/20
2013/07/25
2013/07/26
2013/07/27
2013/07/28
2013/08/02
2013/08/06
2013/08/07
2013/08/10
2013/08/14
2013/08/15
problem)...............................................................................................312
Who wants to be on a compilation?...........................................................313
Submissions for compilation......................................................................313
Why Im not listening to your early submissions (yet).................................314
Its not enough for your raw tracks to sound great.....................................315
Whos still planning to submit a track for the compilation?..........................315
Are you backing up? This is how I do it.....................................................316
A non-musicians experience in the recording studio...................................317
Submissions are closed!............................................................................317
Dont worry, I havent forgotten................................................................318
Half of life is showing up..........................................................................318
Community Kitchen Vol 1..........................................................................319
Explosions In This Guy Surrounded........................................................320
Moonphase to Dust...............................................................................321
Sifemanor A Winters Tale......................................................................321
Musikbasteln Tremo...............................................................................321
Omni-Psyence Beam Me Up...................................................................322
Cymazic City Burns Down......................................................................322
Karl Lost Got A Nerve............................................................................323
Mr. Kwazi Deluge...................................................................................323
Adam Brock Poplar Trees.......................................................................323
Josh Freund Clutching At Fading Memories.............................................324
I hope youre not scared...........................................................................324
Yoda was right.........................................................................................325
Find your voice. Or: Are you publishing your first draft?..............................327
Take charge of your creativity...................................................................327
Do you mix dirty or clean?........................................................................328
A new guide (finally, right?) How To Make Your Music Louder..................328
Rock what you got...................................................................................329
What if you only had ten tracks?...............................................................330
Artists have to believe in the process in order to believe in the results.........331
You also have to do the other kind of listening...........................................332
The Case For Starting Your Mix With Drums...............................................333
Everyone needs to know how to make their music louder...........................334
I turned quantise off................................................................................334
A closer relationship with your client (or: The Unlikely Advantages of Recording
in Your Control Room)..............................................................................335
Dont hang up your camera. Or your instrument........................................336
The only 5 (or 4) essential mixing tools you need.......................................337
Time for another compilation whos in?...................................................337
The 3 ways that I use saturation in a mix..................................................338
Submissions for the next compilation.........................................................339
A Case For Making Money From Your Studio (and why I do it)....................340
7 tips on making your music loud..............................................................341
How to be a mastering engineer. Or, how to be a master............................342
Submissions close at the end of this week!................................................343
How (not) to take the pressure off your vocal recording session..................343
Final call for compilation submissions......................................................344
Update on the compilation........................................................................344
Parallel processing....................................................................................345
2013/08/20
2013/08/29
2013/09/05
2013/09/10
2013/09/20
2013/10/13
2013/11/03
2013/11/11
2013/11/18
2013/11/25
2013/12/02
2013/12/09
2013/12/13
2013/12/16
2013/12/19
2013/12/23
2013/12/29
2013/12/30
2014/01/01
2014/01/09
2014/01/13
2014/01/27
2014/02/10
2014/02/17
2014/02/24
2014/03/03
2014/03/10
2014/03/17
2014/03/21
2014/03/24
2014/03/31
2014/04/07
2014/04/14
2014/04/21
2014/04/28
2014/05/02
2014/05/05
2014/05/12
2014/05/19
2014/05/26
2014/06/02
2014/06/09
2014/06/16
2014/06/23
2014/06/30
2014/07/14
2014/08/11
2014/08/18
2014/08/25
2014/09/01
2014/09/08
2014/09/22
2014/10/06
2014/10/20
2014/11/03
2014/11/17
2014/12/01
2014/12/15
2014/12/29
2014/12/31
2015/01/11
2015/01/12
2015/01/23
2015/01/26
2015/01/31
2015/02/08
2015/02/09
2015/02/14
2015/03/11
2015/04/10
2015/04/24
2015/05/27
2015/06/14
13
14
4) Collapse to mono. Distant sounds do not wrap around the listeners head. Theyre often not
wide (unless theyre truely huge sounds in movies). Sometimes a full mono collapse isnt
appropriate though it depends on the sound. You might want to retain a little width in
atmospheric sounds (like pads). Sometimes leaving a little width will improve the diffusion in the
sound (when a full mono collapse might make it more focussed).
5) Pan centre. This works for two reasons. Firstly, sounds that are panned to the side tend to
creep up closer to the listener. Imagine the soundstage in front of you as a semicircle the
sounds on the side can (all things being equal) actually get closer to the front than the sounds in
the center. Also, panning centre will hide the background sounds behind other foreground typically
also panned centre (such as lead vocal and snare, depending on your genre). This will make it
mroe difficult for the listener to focus on the background.
6) Compose it in the background. To support the above, you should actually compose the parts as
background parts. Again, this means understanding the application of psychoacoustics to
composition.
As listeners, we tend to focus on sounds that are:
- louder
- higher pitched
- moving quickly
- not repeating in short cycles (EDM- Im looking at you!)
- phrased (ie. not constant)
Likewise, background parts will be the opposite:
- quieter
- lower pitched
- moving slowly
- repeating patterns
- unphrased
Likewise, background is only ever a relative measure. If your background part isnt getting far
enough in the background, it could be that you dont have anything far enough in the foreground.
Just like everything else in music if everything is background, nothing is background.
Of course, this is all fundamental composition technique. Believe it or not, we all can learn from
the classics!
-Kim.
a snappy bass might work here, youll go with what the instrument guides you to the type of
sound that the instrument makes easy to design, and the type of sound that sounds good quickly
on that instrument (not sure if that makes much sense let me know if you want a better
explanation). On the other hand, if youre very clear about the exact sound you want (ie, you can
hear it in your head) AND you know your instruments well enough to know how to get it, then
youll fight harder to get what you want, but the end result will work better in a diverse mix.
If youre working on a project with several different instruments and youre finding a part isnt
quite blending with the rest, try this:
1) Pull the parts volume right down to silence. Dont use the mute button actually pull down the
channel fader.
2) Listen to your mix without the part, and IMAGINE the part. This is sound design, so dont just
imagine the notes or the type of sound (composition stuff Im assuming here youve already got
that sorted). Really imagine how it sounds in the mix frequency spectrum balance, dynamic
range, depth, height (seriously!), interaction with other instruments, etc. This isnt easy, and youll
need to practise in order to get good at it.
3) SLOWLY raise the channel fader of the offending part. Stop as soon as it sounds wrong (or, you
can hear the wrongness). Mentally compare the sound youre hearing with the sound youre
expecting. Try to pinpoint exactly what is wrong with the sound, and what changes need to be
made. Sometimes its just one aspect of the sound, often its a combination (which is why its
difficult to get the sound to sit in the mix if you dont know exactly what youre aiming for).
4) Fix the sound. This is where it really pays to know your tools. Sometimes its adjusting the synth
parameters. Sometimes its different eq, compression or other effects. If the sound is very wrong
and youve used a lot of channel effects (such as eq and compression), remove them. Clear the
channel and start again.
If you still cant get it to work, you might need to go back to the composition. What are you trying
to achieve with that part? Perhaps the rhythm isnt working well against the other parts. Perhaps
you need to transpose the part up or down by an octave (or less than an octave!). Maybe your
imagination has failed you and the music actually needs a different type of sound, a different
instrument.
Sometimes the music is simply better off without that part. Dont try to shoe-horn in a sound just
because you think its cool every part in the music has to support the music. Ask yourself what
is the music trying to do here? How is this part supporting it? These are difficult questions to ask,
and even more difficult to answer. With practice youll get better at it, and your music will thank
you for it.
-Kim.
make it difficult to compensate for (or keep) complex relationships between instruments.
Another trap is using 2-bus processing to compensate for mix problems, when a more appropriate
tool would be processing on individual channels. The obvious example is EQ. If theres not enough
bass (for example) in your mix, you might adjust the EQ on the 2-bus as a shortcut to adjusting
the kick and bassline individually. By taking the shortcut, youre adjusting the frequency spectrum
of the kick and bassline in the same way, by the same amount (when it might be better to make
more tailored adjustments). Youd also be boosting the bass of every other instrument in the mix.
Unintended consequences may apprear later, and youll be scratching your head.
Yet another trap is that 2-bus processing can be confusing. Again with the EQ example if youve
boosted the bass, you might be working on a background part and be wondering why the
frequency balance is skewed, when you might not have any EQ (or even different EQ) on the
channel itself. With 2-bus compression, instruments will sound different when solod to when
theyre in the mix sometimes radically so.
The other issue is the confusion between 2-bus processing and mastering. As Ive mentioned
before, 2-bus processing is what happens when you insert plugins on the stereo pair that goes out
to your speakers. Mastering is what happens when you prepare a stereo mixdown for a distribution
format or medium. If youre inexperienced, it can be easy to try to do both at once, when they
really are completely different tasks (that happen to use similar tools). In short mixing is the
process of making the individual tracks work well together, and mastering is the process of making
the overall sound work well in context (often next to other songs). By using mastering tools like
EQ or compression on the 2-bus while mixing, it can be easy to fall into the trap of making
mastering adjustments before the mix is finished. Of course, these mastering adjustments are
undermined when you go back and change a mix element, which means you have to go back and
change the mastering adjustments, and so on and so on.
What I do
As a general rule, I mix without any EQ or compression on the 2-bus. Pumping 2-bus compression
is not something Im particularly fond of (for my own work). I prefer dense multilayered
productions, which end up with very subtle and precarious balances between instruments. Mixing
into a compressor would make this almost impossible for me. Similarly, with EQ I try to mix as
close to the final spectral balance as I can in the first place without resorting to global EQ. EQ fine
tuning is done during mastering, and I very rarely need to make an adjustment greater than +/6dB.
On the other hand, I dont shy away from using 2-bus processing for special effects. Ive used
filters, stereo width manipulation, buffer stutter effects, even distortion and bitcrushing. These are
special though, and usually only engaged for specific sections of a song. Theyre usually
automated too, for extra fun.
-Kim.
First, do no harm.
Youre asking about dynamics, so Ill focus on that here.
In preparing a mixdown for distribution, you should consider dynamic range and overall level.
Theyre not the same thing: Dynamic range is the difference between the loudest parts and the
softest parts. Overall level is (in digital) the distance below 0dBfs.
If youre targeting digital distribution, then youre probably expecting your music to be added to a
listeners library (such as iTunes) and played alongside other music. If you want your music to be
perceived as normal or professional, then youll need your music to sound as similar as possible
to the other music your listener has in his/her library.
To best achieve this, you should select two or three other songs that you think represent a similar
genre to your music. The more similar (in genre, instrumentation, and overall sound), the better.
The more well-known, the better. This is your reference.
You should find a way to be able to switch quickly between the references and your mixdown.
Personally, I do this by starting a new project in my DAW and loading my mixdown and my
references each on their own track. By working with SOLO mode on, I can switch between tracks
as fast as I can press the up or down keys to switch to the current track.
Resist the temptation to immediately slap a limiter or mastering toolbox on your mixdown and turn
it up to match the references. Instead, turn the references down to match your mixdown . Dont
use meters use your ears. Make a note of how much you turn them down.
19
Lets pretend for now that you have two reference tracks, and you turned them down by the same
amount: 18dB.
Now you have your mixdown playing at the same overall loudness as the reference tracks. First
listen to the dynamic range of your mixdown compared to the references. Are the quiet sections
too quiet? Are there any loud bursts (not transients but whole notes or sections) that are too
loud? If so, you might find a compressor useful. Use it to subtly reduce the dynamic range of your
mixdown. Dont use it for colour, or to adjust transients. Typically Ill start with a fast attack,
medium-long release, low ratio and medium-deep threshold. If your compressor has an RMS (or
similar) sensing mode, use it. It might take quite a bit of fiddling to get this right. Remember to
bypass te compressor regularly to make sure youre doing no harm. Also remember to keep the
overall level of the mixdown the same. Resist the temptation to push it all louder at this stage.
Typically you wont have to do much to adjust the dynamic range of your mixdown.
Once youve got the dynamic range right, its time to look at overall level the distance below
0dBfs. Right now your mixdown is the same loudness as your references. However, the peaks on
your references are at -18dB (thats how much you turned them down), and your mixdown might
be peaking around -9dB or higher. This is where the limiter comes in.
What you need to do is bring the peak level of your mixdown to -18dBfs without changing the
loudness as you hear it.
Adjusting the peak/average level ratio this way will make it easier for you to hear when you are
doing damage to your audio. The typical method of pushing up the level of the mix makes it
difficult because youre changing two things at once the peak/average ratio and the overall
level as you hear it. Not only does this complicate the hearing process, but it also makes it easy to
ignore audio damage because the more damage you do, the louder it gets (and as you know,
humans tend to perceive louder music as better).
Unfortunately, most limiter plugins are configured for the above behaviour, sporting an easy-toabuse input level control. To get around this, you should insert two gain plugins, so your chain
looks a little like this:
gain1->limiter->gain2
Set the limiter to limit at 0dBfs. When you switch it on, you should hear no effect. Then slowly
increase the level of the first gain and simultaneously reduce the level of the second gain by the
same amount[1]. Do this 1dB at a time, and listen carefully to what youre doing to your sound.
If you get down to -18dB (or whatever your references are at) without reducing the overall level of
your mixdown as you hear it and without doing too much audible damage to your sound, then
WELL DONE! YOU WIN THE GAME! Turn your speakers down, remove the second gain plugin, and
render it!
If you couldnt get down to the level of your references, you need to adjust the settings on your
limiter, or use different tools. Unfortunately I cant give much advice here, as it depends entirely
on the kind of damage the limiter is doing to your sound, and what kind of damage youre willing
to tolerate. Sometimes you might need to reduce the bass with EQ (why its important to match
the spectral/EQ response to your references before you try to match the dynamics). Sometimes
you need to add some more aggressive clipping to retain the overall level as your reduce the peaks
(particularly if your reference are as loud as commercial pop). Sometimes you might need to use a
compressor beforehand to bring a spiking element into line (such as the kick drum in my track
Horse Head). Ive heard of some people using a series of several compressors or limiters, each
reducing a small amount (personally I havent needed to try it, it sounds far too complicated to
control effectively).
20
If youve done well, you should have your mixdown at the same overall level as your references
(as it has always been), but also with the peaks at the same level as well (-18dB in this example).
When youre happy turn your speakers down, remove the second gain plugin (which will pop your
mixdown up to 0dBfs), and render it!
-Kim.
[1]Unnecessary technical note: What this effectively does is move the 0dB point inside the limiter
plugin! This is a cool trick to do with any other dynamically-sensitive plugin, such as compressors
or distortion! Blue Cats free gain plugins can be linked in reverse, allowing this kind of two-way
gain adjustment to be done quite easily.
Layers:
No magic here just an understanding of foreground and background. I make sure the lead vocal,
snare, kick and bass are in the foreground. Everything else goes in the background. This ensures
there is a noticeable distance between the closest elements and most distant elements. Obviously
this contributes a great deal to the sense of space in a mix.
I also made sure that the foreground elements are all quite thick and full, and all the background
elements are actually quite thin. This ensures that the background elements do not obscure each
other (at least, not more than I intend), and they dont get in the way of the foreground.
Panning/spatial:
Again, no magic here. Just old-fashioned panning. Foreground elements are in the centre,
background elements are more spread. If I remember correctly, I only used one mix reverb CSR
Hall - and even then its not used much. The front-to-back distance that I wrote of above allows
me to create a sense of depth without drowning the mix in reverb.
Explosion at 2:16:
The widening you hear is just an automated mid/side balance adjustment on the 2-bus. Its made
more dramatic because in the preceding section I (sneakily) slowly collapse the mix to mono.
Compositionally, I do a few other things to dramatise the explosion. I take out the drums directly
after the explosion, removing the listeners main rhythmic reference. This give a sudden floating
(or even flying) sensation, as the vocal continues forward but the feet are gone. In the
preceding section, I also obscure the vocal (with DSP), creating in the listener a sense of
21
incompleteness and expectation fulfilled when the unobscured vocal is revealed again. Just
before the explosion, the background instruments also go into a very short repeated loop, almost
to the point of stopping altogether (notice the absence of the usual elongated chord/harmony
progression at 2:08 ). This has an effect of reducing the scope of the listeners memory, as each
logical chunk is much smaller. When the explosion hits, its almost as if the very fabric of the
music is suddenly huge.
want a heavier sound, I might want the bass to be quite low and deep, and emphasise the
percussive nature of the kick (shorter and sharper).
-Kim.
High-end gear in studios is not about high-end for its own sake. Its about not being
limited to low-end gear. Its about being able to choose the gear that helps YOU get
YOUR sound.
of course, you need to be intimately familiar with YOUR sound, and how you want to get there
(which is much harder than it sounds). If youre not, theres no difference between high-end gear
and freeware. You still suck.
One final analogy: A master concert pianist will choose an expensive grand piano to practice on,
because the pianist can take advantage of the nuance and expression available on such an
instrument. For the pianist, there is a world of difference between the right grand piano and a
crappy school upright. The pianist lives entirely in a world where controlling the tiny nuances is the
very thing that makes her a master concert pianist.
A beginner, of course, will sound like a beginner no matter what piano he plays.
-Kim.
hoard samples just in case you need one that happens to be the perfect sample. There is no
perfect sample. A sound is perfect because its the right sound for the mix, for the song. A sound
cant be perfect for the song before the song exists! Instead focus on choosing a sound thats most
suitable from a collection. Be satisfied with the sound being about 50%-80% of the sound you
have in your head. Bring it into your project and bring it the final 20%-50% using processing
(which may also include pitch and length adjustment). Of course, this only works if you already
have a sound in your head to begin with (this is creative direction!). If you dont have this, then no
amount of samples or processing will help you because you dont know what you want.
-Kim.
[1] Traditionally, the producer and engineer are two different people. The producer provides the
creative direction and the engineer implements it. For example the producer might say the drum
kit needs to be more snappy and the engineer would do that using whatever tools are available. It
would be just as out of place for the producer to start talking about compression ratios as it would
be for the engineer to start coaching the band. In the home studio, the artist is composer,
performer, producer and engineer (plus many other roles too!)
a medium release.
Each example was processed by one instance of a notorious free compressor with no parameter
readout so dont ask me for the numbers, I dont know what they are. I tuned the compressor
by ear, and so should you!
-Kim.
both sides) and the tone of the sound will drastically change if your mix is collapsed to mono (or if
you do any further stereo width adjustment further down the track, such as that in mastering).
Some other tools adjust the stereo image by using mid/side encoding to separate the centre
audio from the side audio (which represents the stereo width). They then enhance the side audio
which widens the stereo image. Basic tools do this by simply raising the volume of the side audio.
More sophisticated tools use EQ to let you control the stereo width at different frequency areas.
The advantage of this approach is that it can sound very natural if the original audio is already
stereo.
Use these tools when you have a sound thats already stereo (such as a stereo recording of an
instrument or a complete mixdown) that you want to widen with a natural sound. Dont use these
tools if your original audio is mono (including mono which has been processed by stereo effects).
-Kim.
2009/03/11 - How to achieve best results when mixing down to a stereo pair for mastering
knobs (attack, release, threshold, ratio, makeup)? Are there additional knobs (eg. knee, detection
mode, etc)? What about the relative size of the knobs? You might configure the compressor one
way if all the knobs are the same size and lined up neatly, or another way if the threshold and
ratio knobs are large and the attack and release knobs are small.
Hybrid processors can come in many flavours. At one end of the spectrum there are EQ processors
that apply some small amount of saturation (which compresses the sound somewhat). At the other
end of the spectrum there are compressors that apply some tonal shift in addition to gain
reduction. In between is a strange world inhabited by dedicated saturators, dynamic EQs,
multiband compressors, harmonic exciters, and more extreme tools like amp simulators and filters.
These tools are even more diverse than regular EQs and compressors, and as such the decisions
that went into their design play an even bigger part on how they interact with the audio, and how
you interact with them.
Saturation
Voxengo Voxformer Great for adding hair to a sound. Its a very dry scratchy sound, so too
much can sometimes make a sound pretty gross, but just a little bit often is enough to add some
life and colour to a boring clean sound.
Magix Am-phibia A lovely thick solid sound, especially with the two adjustment controls under
the advanced panel. Coupled with a VERY gentle compressor and some VERY interesting EQ and
exciter options, this is simply a great tool for locking down a sound.
Magix Am-track The tape saturation module here is great for smoothing out a sound. I tend to
use it more like a coloured limiter that behaves in interesting ways when pushed hard.
Occasionally Ill overdrive other plugins (such as Stilwell Oligarc or Audio Damage Dr Device and
Rough Rider) for a saturation effect, but this is on more of a most songs basis, rather than most
tracks.
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Compression
Magix Am-track This is my primary compressor. The modern mode is great for basic dynamics
control. It does exactly what its told to, with the exception that it never sounds nasty. I dont
know how they did it, but somehow it never sounds nasty even at extreme settings. Sometimes
itll sound inappropriate, but never nasty. The vintage mode is particularly good for adding some
vibe to drums and percussion it tends to shape the envelope more than control dynamics.
Audio Damage Rough Rider For when I need something extreme, this is what I reach for. It
pumps and breathes easier than almost anything else Ive tried. While Am-track never sounds
nasty, Rough Rider almost never sounds nice. It doesnt even have a neutral default setting the
plugin starts smashing the audio as soon as its plugged in. The top-end roll off is good too, it
often makes the audio sound more solid and compact. When Im applying this kind of
compression, a little colouring doesnt really bother me. If its too much, Ill usually boost the top
end going into the compressor. While the frequency response is flatter that way, its still far from
neutral and the built-in clipper does interesting things to the boosted top end before its rolled off
Occasionally Ill use other compressors, such as those Voxengo Voxformer (for convenience) and
Magix Am-phibia (for something special).
Reverb
IK Multimedia CSR What can I say? I love it. Feels just like it should. The hall and plate are my
favourite at the moment. Ive got several of my own custom presets that I use about 90% of the
time (often tweaked slightly for the song). If Im doing something more conventional (such as Erin
Shays A Day Too Long), Ill start with one of the factory presets and adjust it for the song. At the
moment Im rolling all the sibilance off the top, creating a darker sound that sits easily in the
background without drawing too much attention to it.
-Kim.
Using stereo wideners instead of panning is similar to using harmonic enhancers instead of EQ.
Who is your target audience?
-Kim.
Assuming youre ready to EQ, the approach you should be aiming to take is that of listening to
your raw sound and imagining in your head what the end result will sound like . If you can do this,
you wont waste much time playing with your tools. Obviously this is something that comes with
experience (which is why its important to make as much music as possible!). In the mean time,
what do you do?
There are numerous EQ guides floating around on the internet, with various EQ ranges (or worse
specific frequencies), accompanied by descriptions of what happens when you boost or dip each
frequency. While theyre interesting, theyre just opinion. I suggest you get your hands dirty and
and explore the frequency spectrum yourself, with YOUR ears, with YOUR tools, in YOUR studio.
Grab an EQ, and explore boosting and cutting at various frequencies on your own sounds. Start to
train your ears on what each frequency range sounds like. As important as the end result is, its
equally important to train yourself about what your raw sound is like. For example, if dipping at
100Hz brings you closer to the sound you desire, bypass the EQ and listen to the raw sound.
Reflect that this is what too much 100Hz sounds like (hence why youre dipping there). Similarly,
for example, if boosting at 100Hz brings you closer to the sound you desire, bypass the EQ and
reflect that this is what not enough 100Hz sounds like. Get to know your sound.
Keep in mind at all times that EQ is relative. Its never one-size-fits-all. Not even close. The EQ
settings you use depend entirely on what your raw sound is, and what your desired sound is.
-Kim.
be used to even it out. If the levels are constant, then the problem is with your monitoring
environment and compression wont help.
If youre using compression to even out changes in level caused by EQ or filter, its best to place
the compresser after the EQ or filtering. That way youll have the most control, and the
compressor will respond to what youre hearing. If you use EQ or filtering after the compressor,
then that might introduce more level differences that the compressor cant fix.
When setting up the compressor, youll want to start with a fast attack, medium release and high
ratio. Set the threshold so that the quietest notes are just reaching the threshold the other notes
should be over the threshold, thus triggering the compressor. Best to choose a hard knee instead
of a soft knee. If you can hear the level of the bass dropping after loud peaks, try reducing the
release time (this will make the compressor react quicker to drops in level). If the bass sounds like
its distorting, increase the release time (this will make the compressor a little smoother). If you
have some extreme processing and you want some notes to stand out (filter sweeps, for
example), reduce the ratio (this will make the louder notes punch through a bit more).
-Kim.
32
34
unison double and the singer isnt around anymore Ill use some of the other takes (with
editing/correction if necessary). However, if you really want a unison double AND your singer isnt
around anymore AND you only got one take (ie, you cant use the additional takes as doubles
which I recommend doing if you can) then your options are limited. Whatever you do itll still
sound like a single take, a single performance.
-Kim.
Gate
This is first in the chain so the gate has the full dynamic range of the original audio. The more
natural the dynamic range available to the gate, but easier it is to set the threshold and timing for
a natural sound.
EQ
Generally I prefer to use EQ before compression. This is so I can get the tone I want for the mix
before I adjust the dynamic range. It also makes it easy to highpass the audio so the compressor
doesnt respond to low-frequency audio (such as rumble) that isnt going to make it to the mix
anyway. Ive written more about the order of EQ and compression here.
Compression
I choose to apply compression to the final tone of the sound, rather than adjust the tone
afterwards. This helps the compressor react smoothly and naturally to the sound we hear, rather
than responding to sound that is going to have its frequency balance changed afterwards.
Saturation
I dont often use saturation of vocals. When I do though, its just after compression, and I use it
similar to a limiter - to catch the few peaks that are too loud even after compression. Usually I set
it up so that loud sustained notes are saturated, making them sound loud without overpowering
the mix, but most notes are left clean (not saturated).
De-essing
This is interesting. Ive found that I get the best results by applying the de-esser after EQ and
Compression. I find that the way I use EQ tends to enhance sibilance (tonal tilt toward high
frequencies and high-ratio compression). Using a de-esser earlier in the chain sometimes means
that the later EQ and compression counteract the effect of the de-esser. This forces me to apply
more de-essing, which ends up sounding (more) unnatural (at extremes, it can pump a bit but
36
not in a good way!). By de-essing after EQ and compression, only a slight amount of de-essing is
needed.
Reverb
Reverb can be quite sensitive responding to both tone and dynamics. In the kind of dense
productions I usually do, its best to feed the reverb as consistent a signal as possible, to avoid
widely-warying levels of ambience or a build up of mud. The purpose of reverb here is to add
ambience and air to the vocal sound not to be heard as an effect separate to the vocal. To that
end its important that the reverb responds to what we hear (similar to the compressor). Ill often
lowpass the reverb to keep it sounding lush and avoid it catching any sibilance.
-Kim.
37
hear it in context
And be shocked that it sounds nothing like what you thought it would!
And soon enough, youll discover the second difference between mixing samples and mixing a live
kit more bleed! Specifically, the snare drum will be picked up by several channels. This will at
least be the snare channel (the one you meticulously processed) and the overheads. The snare
may also be coming through the tom channels, a hihat channel if you have one, and even the kick
channel!
Zealously gating the bleed out of all the other tracks will ultimately produce something that doesnt
sound much like a live drum kit. Sorry you cant perfectly control every aspect of the sound!
It might be more appropriate to approach the drum kit as a single instrument instead of a
collection of individual sounds. Listen to the whole drum kit and focus on the snare. That sound is
coming from at least three channels the snare channel and two overheads. Solo each channel
individually and listen to how the channel contributes to the overall snare sound. When youre
imagining your desired snare sound and thinking about how to transform what youre hearing into
what youre imagining, consider that you might have to make changes to more than one channel
to achieve it. Also consider than no matter how much you may process a single channel, you will
only be changing one component of the sound.
Finally, keep in mind that the more processing you apply, the less natural your sound becomes.
Presumably, youre using a live drum kit because you want the sound of a live drum kit in your
song. If you process it so much that it sounds like a bunch of samples, you negate the main
reason for using a live kit in the first place!
-Kim.
41
As with all composition techniques, the best way to learn is to try it out for yourself! Compose
several tracks using sonata form and see where it takes you!
-Kim.
that consists of several sections of various lengths, one after the other. Without any transitions
between sections, each section will simply stop as the next begins. The effect will be similar to
that of changing channels on a television abrupt and unsophisticated.
To make a transition between sections work, you must make something of it. Articulate it in the
music, make a point of the change. Necessarily, there are one of two approaches you can take
with each transition a smooth transition or a contrasting transition.
Smooth transition
A smooth transition is one where the first section smoothly moves the listener into the second
section. A common example of this is where the second section is fuller and more exciting than the
first section, so the end of the first section has a build up into the start of the second section.
Similarly, if the second section is slower or sparser than the first section, the end of the first
section might pull back or slow down before entering the second section. The second section
might even continue to get sparser in the first few bars.
At an extreme, the transition between two sections might be long enough to be treated as its own
section. That is, a whole section in the song is dedicated to transitioning from the previous section
to the next.
Contrasting transition
By contrast, a contrasting transition is one where the change from the first section to the second is
marked and noticable. It doesnt have to be sudden, but it does rely on the two sections being
quite different. An example of this might be the sudden jump from a sparse and soft introduction
to a song into the full and busy main part of the song. Another example could be a jump from the
second chorus of a song into a contrasting bridge section.
At an extreme, a deceptive transition can be used to further emphasise the contrast. An example
of this could be where the first section ends by building up as if the second section is louder and
fuller, but instead the second section is suddenly quiet and soft. Another example could be where
the first section ends by slowing down and pulling back (perhaps even pausing) before the second
section suddenly bursts in.
-Kim.
Packaging
How many songs will be in the release? Is it a single? An EP? An album? What is the order of the
songs? Of youre mastering for CD, will each song have a crossfade transition into the next? Will
44
Distribution
What will the target format be? CD? Internet download? MP3/AAC/WMV? Streaming? Vinyl? Radio?
Each of these distribution formats requires a slightly different mastering approach.
Target playback
Who will be listening to the music, and on what system? iPods and computer speakers? Audiophile
HiFis? Clubs?
Genre norms
On top of all this, different genres require different approaches modern rock can be thick and
loud, but an acoustic singer/songwriter album needs to be quieter and cleaner. Orchestral music
should emphasise dynamics and natural acoustics, but electronic music might need to be clear and
solid.
Without considering these factors, you risk compromising your mastering either getting an
ordinary job done or even an inappropriate job done. Mastering requires subtlety and diligence,
and its important that this final processing stage is approached the right way so that your music is
presented at its best.
-Kim.
without enough change to keep them interesting. Theres no easy rule to help you determine the
right length you have to use your experience and judgement. Shorter sections can be useful for
increasing excitement and expectation because they make it feel like the song is moving along at a
quicker pace. Longer sections are useful for building tension because the listener is expecting a
change that is postponed, or for maintaining and emphasising a hightenened level of excitement
during a climax.
Coherence
Coherence is about the amount of musical material in a song. An easy way of thinking about this is
to consider the number of different sections (or melodies, or themes, etc) in a song, as well as the
overall length of the song. A song with a high level of coherence will not have much musical
material it might have fewer different types of sections, or its sections might be very similar.
Conversely, a song with a lower level of coherence will have a lot of musical material either more
different sections or more variations. Some level of coherence is necessary in music in order to
give the song a distinct musical identity and so that each part sounds like it belongs to the same
whole. Too much coherence, however, will make a song boring and repetitive.
Time is also a significant factor contributing to coherence too. Given a certain amount of musical
material (say, for example, three different sections), you can increase coherence by increasing the
overall length of the song. Similarly, you can decrease coherence by shortening the length of the
song. This is an often-overlooked approach. If youre working on a song and you feel like its too
boring and repetitive, try shortening it instead of simply adding new material. Likewise, if you have
a lot of musical material (many different sections or musical ideas to organise) and the song is
feeling like it doesnt have a distinct musical identity, try making the song longer. This will let the
music breathe a bit more allow the musical ideas to expand and develop.
As with all composition techniques, using them in extreme is usually not the best approach some
judgement is required. And as with all composition techniques, practice is necessary for mastery!
You wont get the hang of this first time around give yourself a few songs to experiment, to
46
2009/05/19 - On Vibe
What is vibe? Abstracting for a moment, its something about listeners response to your music.
More practically, its the aggregate effect of your choices of timing, sound design, composition,
mixing, performance, etc. Really, vibe is the result of your taste in music. Its the multitude of tiny
decisions you make often without even realising there is a decision to be made. You just do it.
So how do you create vibe? How do you create music that has a distinctive identity, that
feels individual, that sounds like you?
This comes in two equal parts: you need to learn your tools, and you need to learn yourself.
Learning your tools is a topic thats been covered in great depth everywhere. The more of the
music production process you do yourself, the harder this is. Develop your composition skills.
Practice your instruments. Know your studio equipment inside-out. Become an expert at mixing.
Dont suck at mastering.
Learning yourself is more difficult, and isnt discussed very widely. This is about your taste in
music, and mostly comes from listening to as music music as possible and making as much music
as possible. As a music creator, music is your literature. Listen to as much as you can. Learn to
appreciate different styles. Fill your music library with classical, heavy metal, techno, rap, pop,
experimental, jazz, etc. The more different varieties of music you listen to, the more you learn
about what you like and what you dont. Youll also pick up interesting ideas to try out for yourself.
This also helps prevent getting stuck in a rut, or running out of ideas. When all you listen to is one
variety of music, youll find your own imagination becomes limited.
Making as much music as possible is also terribly important. The more music you make, the more
opportunities you have to try out different ideas, different approaches, even different styles of
music. The more experimentation you do, the better youll understand what works for you. Try as
47
2009/05/19 - On Vibe
much as possible to finish projects. Dont leave them hanging, and (more importantly) dont get
stuck endlessly refining and touching up. Youll learn more by spending a month finishing two or
three songs than deliberating over a single song.
How does this relate to vibe? The vibe comes from you. It comes from within. It comes from what
intrigues you, what excites you, what moves you.
-Kim.
Sidechaining
The two above techniques will fall down, however, on mixes with very strong basslines and
relatively weaker kicks. This is expecially so where the bassline is voiced very low and is fairly
constant (always sounding, without rests). In these cases, you might want to try true sidechaining.
This is where the compressor on the mix bus is operating on the whole mix, but is only listening
to a separate feed which has the kick drum on its own. Not all compressors can function in this
48
mode, and the ones that do can be fiddly to set up and control.
LFO modulation
Another approach is to use an effect with a tempo-synced LFO. Youd have to set the LFO period
to a crotchet (a quarter-note), and its shape to a rising saw. Then assign that LFO to control the
gain of the plugin. Volcano from Fabfilter[1] can be configured like this. Apparently Camelphat
from Camel Audio is also capable of this, though I havent personally tried it myself. The
advantage of taking this approach is that being able to adjust the shape and depth of the LFO
gives you different, and sometimes more intuitive, control over the sound of the pumping.
While its often written that the effect is always produced by side-chained compression, there are
other ways of achieving it. Sometimes the obvious solution is not the most appropriate one. And
sometimes trying something new can take you places you never thought youd go
-Kim.
[1] Disclaimer: I have a professional relationship with Fabfilter.
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The Space
The space you listen in is just as important as the speakers. There are many different types of
acoustic spaces, and if you want to get the best out of your space you should try to understand
the relevant acoustic properties. Spaces generally have three broad properties that you should pay
attention to:
The size and dimensions of the space
The surface coverings
The placement of objects within the space
The Speakers
The speakers are the most obvious component of a monitoring environment, but not necessarily
the most important. Its also not simple to choose speakers. For example, simply getting the
largest woofers you can afford is not always the best approach speakers with larger woofers
tend to be focus their energy and accuracy on the lower frequencies, sometimes at the expense of
accuracy in the upper mids. Conversely, smaller speakers might be more accurate in the upper
mids but weak in the bass, making it more difficult to correctly judge mix decisions for the kick and
bass critical in modern dance music.
Headphones
Headphones are also a part of a well-balanced monitoring environment. They offer a different
listening perspective to the speakers in your room. Generally, headphones allow more detailed and
focussed listening, which makes them ideal for spotting problems in recorded audio (such as
background noise or interference). The drawback is that the sound is generally drier and wider
than when listening with speakers, making them inappropriate for judging front-to-back depth. If
you choose well, however, you can use your headphones to compensate for weaknesses in your
speakers either using bright headphones alongside muddy speakers or deep headphones
alongside thin speakers.
I intend to address each of these topics in more detail in future blog posts.
-Kim.
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Hall
This is the most common type of reverb. As the name suggests, hall reverbs are usually designed
to simulate the kind of reverberation effect produced by large halls. A hall reverb is usually a good
choice for adding a three-dimensional ambience to your mix. Good hall reverbs tend to fill out the
back of the mix, adding depth without crowding the foreground.
Room
Room reverbs are similar to hall reverbs in that they are usually designed to simulate the natural
sound of an acoustic space. Unlike halls, rooms are (obviously) smaller spaces. A room reverb is
good for adding realism to instruments that have been recorded with very close mic positioning or
direct injection. Guitars and drums are likely candidates for room reverbs. A good room reverb will
give you the sense that the instrument is being played in a real acoustic space.
Plate
Plate reverbs simulate an earlier method for generating reverb by injecting sound into a large
hanging metal plate and letting it reverberate. Plate reverbs have a similar shape to hall reverbs,
except the sound is usually denser and flatter (two dimensional). Plate reverb is great for adding
length and size to a sound without making it sound distant or small. Snare drums and lead vocals
tend to work best with plate reverb.
Spring
Spring reverbs simulate a method of generating reverb that is commonly built into guitar amplifiers
by injecting sound into metal springs and letting them reverberate. Spring reverbs tend to sound
bouncy and lo-fi. Personally I cant stand them, but you might find them useful on guitars. Or
vocals if youre feeling particularly sadistic.
Inverse
Inverse reverbs simulate a backwards sound by generating a reverb that increases over time,
instead of decreasing like other reverbs. These are not based on any sound in reality and are
sometimes useful for special effects or unnatural ambiences.
-Kim.
51
Surface coverings
The type and arrangement of surface coverings will affect the reverberation characteristics of the
room. Uneven surfaces (such as bookshelves) will break up the reflections and make the
reverberation smoother (which is less distracting). Soft surfaces (such as foam or fabric) will
absorb sound and reduce the reverberation time and level. Again, correct treatment of surfaces is
a trade-off. Too much absorption will makes the room sound dead and unnartural, which may
encourage you to create mixes that are more dense and washed out.
Placement of objects
The placement of objects within the space also affects the sound of the room. Large objects can
help absorb lower frequencies that surface coverings cant absorb. This can be used to make the
room less boomy. Objects can also diffuse the reflections in the room, helping to make the
reverberation smoother.
-Kim.
52
2009/05/28 - Speakers
2009/05/28 - Speakers
The speakers are the most obvious component of a monitoring environment, but not necessarily
the most important. Its also not simple to choose speakers.
Full-range monitors
Full-range monitors usually have large woofers and are designed to produce sound down to low
frequencies (in addition to high frequencies). These monitors try to reproduce the broadest range
of sounds. Because of this, these can be attractive as first monitors. Be aware though, that
theres no free lunch. Reproducing those lower frequencies requires large cones, which are good at
reproducing lower frequencies but arent so accurate at higher frequencies. The top of the
frequency range is usually covered by the tweater, which is good at reproducing high frequencies
but not as strong on lower frequencies. This approach results in a speaker that is strongest at high
and low frequencies but might be weaker in the mid-range.
Smaller speakers
Another approach to the size/frequency trade-off is to use a medium-sized woofer with a tweater.
This approach focusses the strength and accuracy of the speaker in the middle and high
frequencies. This is good for making a lot of mix decisions, because the mids and highs is where
the most instruments are playing together and where its most important to get the balance right in
the mix. The drawback, of course, is that these speakers are weakest in the bass. This can be a
particular problem when working on modern electronic music, where the kick and bassline are
extremely important.
Subwoofer
A common solution to the problem of smaller speakers bass response is to add a subwoofer. This
is a third speaker focussed on the lowest frequencies. This has the potential for a more accurate
approach across the whole frequency range. The drawback, however, is that its easy to misconfigure the subwoofer (usually by making it too loud). The way the subwoofer works with the
other speakers depends greatly on the room their placed in, meaning the configuration is very
much up to you (or whoever configures your room for you). Its common to hear large amounts of
bass as pleasing or exciting, making it difficult to resist the urge to configure the system to sound
exciting instead of accurate. Another problem more common with cheaper subwoofer-based
systems is that the front speakers are too small to reproduce the lower mids (which are poorly
compensated for by the subwoofer) , and the subwoofer is too small to accurately reproduce the
lowest frequencies anyway.
Of course, a well-rounded monitoring environment consists of more than one set of speakers so
that the weaknesses in a single set doesnt become a weakness in the whole monitoring
environment.
-Kim.
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2009/05/29 - Headphones
2009/05/29 - Headphones
Headphones are a part of a well-balanced monitoring environment. They offer a different listening
perspective to the speakers in your room. Generally, headphones allow more detailed and focussed
listening, which makes them ideal for spotting problems in recorded audio, such as background
noise or interference. Theyre also essential for recording acoustic instruments such as vocals,
guitars or drums.
The drawback to using headphones is that the sound is generally drier and wider than when
listening with speakers. Personally I find they can be misleading for judging dynamics too the
difference between levels seems to be smaller than when listening to speakers. These
factors make it more difficult to use headphones for judging front-to-back depth.
What headphones are good at, however, is zooming in on audio. Headphones can be great for
hearing details that you might otherwise miss with speakers such as rumble, hiss, crackles,
breaths, background noise, distortion etc. Headphones can be excellent for surgical correction and
cleaning up. They can also be useful for judging subtle distortion when using limiters and
saturation to reduce headroom in mastering.
If you choose well, you can use your headphones to compensate for weaknesses in your speakers
either using bright headphones alongside muddy speakers or deep headphones alongside thin
speakers.
-Kim
54
55
2009/06/09 - Stability
Stability is the effect of a number of elements in the song all contributing to a sense of
predictability and comfort. Some techniques that can produce a sense of stability are:
Simple, regular rhythm; or repetitive or predictable rhythm (Not just drums, but rhythm of
other elements too).
Unchanging or predictable sonic texture.
Easy chord progressions.
56
2009/06/09 - Stability
Exposition of material. This is the introduction or presentation of new musical ideas. Stability is
useful for exposition because material is easier to remember when it is easy to digest (the mind
remembers material better when it doesnt have to work hard to interpret or decypher it).
Conclusion. Stability is usually a desirable attribute for a conclusion (ending) section because it
tends to resolve expectations (rather than create them), that is it makes it easier to finish
questions, rather than ask new ones. Stability is very effective in resolving tension.
The flip side of stability is instability. This is the opposite of stability where tension is easier to
create, where the listener has to work harder to understand the music. Instability is often where
things get much more interesting as well this is where the music develops and veers into new
territory. Instability is usually unpredictable and unsettling there are more surprises, new sounds,
and sometimes unpredictable patterns.
As a composer (or producer), it should be fairly obvious that its a good idea to aim for a balance
of stability and instability within a song. Beyond mere balance, think about deliberately controlling
the level of stability throughout the song so that it enhances the contour of the song. For example,
pop songs have most stability during the chorus. This reinforces the chorus as the most important
and memorable part of the song. It makes it easier for the listener to understand and memorise.
Conversely, the bridge is usually less stable. This adds interest and catches the listeners ear. It
also sets up the following chorus making the stability of that chorus more welcome. Sometimes
the introduction (intro) of the song is very unstable again, this is to catch the ear before diving
into the relative stability of the verses and choruses. While instability is useful, too much will make
the song difficult to understand and listen to. Conversely, too much stability will make the song
boring and uninteresting.
-Kim.
57
Group EQ is useful when you have several tracks that sound very similar (such as several takes of
a single instrument) and you wish to apply the same EQ curve to all those tracks. I often do this
when I have guitar or vocal stacks multiple takes of the same instrument layered for a thicker
sound. Applying EQ to the group saves time because I dont have to set the EQ on each track, and
it saves CPU/DSP because theres only one instance of the EQ (instead of several).
Automated EQ might also be useful on the mix bus as a special effect you might have dramatic
changes in your song which include a build-up with the whole mix high-passed or low-passed.
Applying this automated EQ on the mix bus is easier and more dramatic than applying it to
individual tracks.
-Kim.
2009/06/11 - Familiarity
Familiarity is a way of describing the effect that a section of music has on its listener when the
listener recognises something in the music. Of course, the opposite of familiarity is unfamiliarity
when the listener does not recognise something in the music.
Degrees of familiarity refer to the idea that we dont just have Familiar and Not Familiar there
are many levels in between. For example, we could speak of Not familiar, Partially familiar, and
Completely Familiar.
When a section of music is not familiar, it means the listener does not recognise it this is usually
because the material is new (has not been presented earlier). This can create uncertainty, but can
also have an effect of opening up expectations for a piece for example, a short unfamiliar section
right after the introduction of a piece can give the impression that more will be revealed, or that
the unfamiliar material will be developed (or revisited) later in the piece.
When a section of music is partially familiar (a bit familiar), it is often because is bears some
resemblance to previous material but it is changed, or developed. Some examples could be A new melody that shares the same rhythm of a previous melody
A bassline that matches a previous chord progression
A synth pad thats been vocoded with the chorus vocals.
Slight familiarity can be powerful when used effectively, because it is a bridge between something
known and something unknown. It can be used to soften a transition to new material. It can be
used to give hints of where we came from, of where were going to. It can be used to make a new
section feel more like it belongs to the piece.
When a section of music is completely familiar, it means the listener has heard it previously in
almost exactly the same form. This is usually the result of literal repetition (repeating some
material without changing it) and can be used to reinforce some particular material (like the
chorus of a pop song). Complete familiarity can also be desirable at the end of a piece at the
conclusion. This is very similar to my mention of stability at the end of a piece.
Layers of familiarity is what happens with some parts playing familiar material, and some parts are
playing unfamiliar material. Layers of familiarity are interesting for the same reasons as partial
familiarity it creates a crossover between known material and unknown material.
The concept of familiarity is not as concrete as some other aspects of music theory (such as chord
58
2009/06/11 - Familiarity
progressions, voice leading, or filter sweeps). This is not meant to be the focus for a composer,
and it doesnt really make sense to study it on its own.
Its something to keep in mind as you compose, something to think about in between figuring out
how many times to repeat that drum loop and when to bring in the next synth line.
Familiarity can be linked with Stability, and Expectation. Its important to understand, however, that
while these concepts may often correlate (when familiarity is high, often stability is high as well)
they are not the same, and interesting results can be achieved by mixing them in unusual ways.
-Kim.
1) A good mix. Automatic equalisation isnt a magic fix-it. All it does is adjust the overall tonal
balance. Mastering EQ is extremely limited in its ability to change the balance between instruments
or to change the tonal characteristics of individual instruments.
2) Generous and appropriate analysis material. I find the best results require giving
MAutoAnalyser several different songs to analyse for reference. This ensures the target tonal
balance is more average and doesnt contain any idiosyncratic irregularities specific to a single
song. As has been my practice for years, I choose 3-4 reference songs in a similar style, but from
different artists and albums. I just line them up on a track one after the other and let
MAutoEqualizer listen to them in one pass. Similarly, its important for MAutoEqualizer to analyse
the whole of the song being mastered.
-Kim.
59
Example one:
Lets say we have a drum pattern. Lets say we want to vary the position snare drum. If we were
to make a variation, we might randomly move the snare drum hits around, perhaps inserting
some or removing some. The variation will not actually be random wed be changing the snare
hits according to what we think sounds good. I use the term random because it helps illustrate
the difference between variation and development.
If we were to make a development of the drum pattern, we would use a defined process to alter
the snare drum hits. Defined process? Well, we could do something like move all the hits one
sixteenth of a bar earlier. Or we might gradually increase the density of snare drum hits (one hit in
the first beat, two hits in the second beat, , four hits in the fourth beat). Or we might make the
velocity (volume) of each snare drum hit increase as they progress throughout the bar. Or we
might do all three.
Example two:
Lets say we have some melody, and make a copy and we want to change the notes on the copy.
If we were to make a variation, wed change the notes randomly according to whatever we
think sounds good.
If we were to make a development, we might do something like transpose each note one step
higher than we transposed the previous note. Or we might change all upwards jumps to equal
downwards jumps (and vice-versa). (You might want to measure steps in your favourite scale, to
avoid getting wrong notes. Or you might like the sound of the wrong notes!)
The difference between variation and development, is that for development were using a defined
process over a period of time. You may also choose to think of it as a repeatable process. We
could take the process that we used, and apply it to some other tracks, or another section.
From those examples, you might already be thinking about some ways in which development may
be useful as an alternative to variation.
One advantage (that Ive already mentioned) of development over variation is that you can use
some process, and then apply the same (or a similar) process to other bits of music. For example,
you could perform some development on a drum track during a bridge section, and then do the
same thing on the bassline, or the chords, or whatever. Or you might make a development of the
60
main melody, then perform and inverse or opposite development on the bassline.
Of course, multiple develpment doesnt have to be just in parallel you could do them one after
the other. For example, you might have a really dense drum pattern. You might have it plain once,
then for the next repeat you could use some process to remove some hits. Then for the next
repeat perform the same (or similar) process on the previous development, and keep doing that
until the drum pattern is empty.
Another interesting approach could be to apply a similar process across different lengths of time .
For example, you could come up with a process to let you thin out a drum pattern rapidly so that
at the start of the bar it is complete, but by the end of the bar there is nothing left. You could then
apply a similar process to the bassline, but across two bars. Then do the same thing to the pad,
but across four bars. Then the melody, across eight bars. or something like that.
While Im using typical traditional western music constructs (notes, metric rhythm, drums, melody,
chorus, etc) for examples, these principals are appropriate to almost all kinds of music.
-Kim.
until the mix to fix things that should be fixed in recording or even composition!
-Kim.
2009/06/17 - Expectation
Expectation is what happens when a listener anticipates a future event in the music. Put another
way, it is when the listener has some idea of what will happen in the future of the music.
This is usually achieved through repetition. For example, if I present a pattern:
A A B C, A A B C, A A B ?
The listener would probably expect C to take place next (where the ? is).
Expectation can be a powerful tool for manipulating the experience of the listener. By being aware
of patterns and the degree of repetition in your work, you can have a greater understanding of the
expectations that the listener has as they are listening to the piece.
If you have a section of music where you think the listener will be expecting something in
particular, there are two things you (the composer) can do:
Fulfill their expectation.
Deny their expectation.
Of course, this is a very simplistic view, but will serve for the purposes of discussion. Feel free to explore the grey area in between on your own!
Theres not much to say about fulfilling the listeners expectation, only that it usually increases
stability and reinforces familiarity.
Denying the listeners expectation is much more interesting, because this is where the music
breaks the pattern and surprises the listener.
There are two special cases of expectation denial which are particularly interesting: that of
pushing back the expected material, and that of pushing forward the expected material.
What do I mean by this? Lets start with pushing back. This is when the expected material occurs
later than the listener thinks it will occur. Using the above example, pushing back might look like
this:
A A B C, A A B C, A A B B C
Notice that on the third repeat, the position where the listener would expect a C is actually
occupied by a second B, and the expected C actually occurs one unit time later.
Pushing back usually has the effect of suspending the progress of of piece. If done well, pushing
back can increase the expectation of the listener that is, make the expectation stronger. This is
common in pop music where there is a bar or two of something between the end of the second (or
third, etc) verse and the chorus. In this case, it makes the listener want the chorus more, and feel
more satisfied when they actually get it.
On the other hand, pushing forward means giving the listener what they expect, but earlier than
they expect it. Again, using the above example, pushing forward might look a little like this:
A A B C, A A B C, A A C
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2009/06/17 - Expectation
Notice that during the third repetition, the listener expects the C, but actually gets it one time unit
earlier.
Pushing forward usually has an effect of speeding up the pace of the music, and can also increase
the excitement of fulfilling the expectation.
-Kim.
dont have as much influence as longer sustained sounds. This way the RMS measurement is less
jumpy, and better represents how the audio sounds to us.
-Kim.
Unfortunate, really.
-Kim.
tempo. But first we must ask the question: How do we perceive time?
Imagine for a moment that you do not wear a watch, and you cannot see any clocks or other
time-measuring devices. How do you measure time? Probably by remembering a number of events
for a particular time period. This is not exact events means anything that happens, and time
period is your short-term memory. Both are variable. Consider two situations.
The first situation is that of sitting down, doing nothing for five minutes (or even better watching
the clock!). Time seems to crawl past.
The second situation is that of cleaning a messy desk in five minutes. Very busy, moving
everything in its right place. The busy activity gives the appearance of time passing quicker.
In both cases, the elapsed time is five minutes, but the perception of time is different.
The same principal can be applied to music.
If you want to slow down your listeners perception of time, use less events and introduce less
changes per time period.
If you want to speed up your listeners perception of time, use more events and introduce more
changes per time period.
For example, we could focus on a section of music, and look at how many times the drum pattern
changes, or how many chords there are, or how many notes (or note events) are in the melody.
Its important to note that while changing the number of events is useful, controlling the rate of
change is most important. This is somewhat similar to the (more classical) notion of rate of
presentation of material.
Another interesting way of looking at it is: Instead of measuring events+change per time period,
look at time period per change. Approaching it from this angle, you might count the bars between
each change, or look at the length of each section. A faster bit of music may have more sections,
each shorter; whereas a slower bit of music mayb have fewer sections, each longer.
-Kim.
2009/06/25 - Buildups
Buildups often require particular attention when composing. A buildup section is one immediately
leading up to a point of high energy. Commonly this is the climax of the song the most
important part of the song. The buildup is critical because it has to lead up to the climax in a way
that maximises its effect. This is best done by enhancing the listeners sense of anticipation and
expectation.
Ive written about expectation in this post, but that alone is not enough. For a stronger effect, also
consider sequences, precedent, linear movement and transition.
Sequences are repeated patterns in music. As explained in the post on expectation, sequences
play an important role in setting the listeners expectations. Worth considering, though, is using
sequences at different levels. For example, you could use repeated patterns within the buildup to
create a cyclic effect.
Precedent applies this idea to a wider scope whole sections. You could also make the buildup
itself part of a larger sequence. By having a smaller buildup leading up to a smaller climax earlier
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2009/06/25 - Buildups
in the song, you heighten the listeners expectation of a bigger climax at the end of a bigger
buildup.
Linear movement is important in a buildup. Many song sections are static they stay the same
throughout the section (the same level of energy, the same types of sounds, the same density,
etc). The buildup, however, works best if it is in motion. Typically, this works best if the buildup is
gradually getting louder, more energetic and more complex. The buildup section might start quite
subdued and understated, but at the end it might have enough energy to meet the climactic next
section.
Transition is related to linear movement. It might help to think of the buildup as a transition
section between the climax and whatever precedes the climax. Using the buildup as a transition
section also helps glue the song together because it links the two adjacent sections (rather than
sounding as a separate section on its own).
Another useful technique is to introduce a short gap in between the end of the buildup and the
beginning of the climax. As explained in the last section of the post on expectation, this pushes
back the climax and increases the sense of expectation and anticipation in the listener.
-Kim.
67
16 bit
Digital audio at 16 bit is most commonly found in CDs. 16 bit audio allows the audio to have a
dynamic range of roughly 96dB thats the difference between the loudest possible sound and the
quietest possible sound. This is fine for a final delivery medium the vast majority of music has a
dynamic range well within this limit.
On the other hand, 16 bit is not so good as a recording format. Often when recording audio, the
nominal level has to be quite low so that accidental peaks dont distort (the distance between the
nominal level and 0dBfs in a digital system is the amount of headroom). Because of this, low level
signals (such as the decay of notes, or subtle details in the sound) may be recorded at a very low
level below 0dBfs. When recording at 16 bit, any audio below 48dB (such as the decay of notes or
subtle detail in the sound) is actually captured with less than 8 bits. This can give those low level
signals a crunchy or distorted sound. This may be exacerbated in the mix by further processing
such as compression and EQ.
24 bit
Professional analog-to-digital converters can capture low level details at higher resolution. This
means that the low level signals can be captured accurately without having to record with less
headroom. Recording at 24 bit allows the finest details to be saved. 24 bit recording provides a
theoretical dynamic range of 144dB (compared to 96dB at 16 bit), but no analog-to-digital
converter records with this much range (figures of around 110dB are typical). However, capturing
at 24 bit is appropriate because computers are more efficient at handling data in 8 bit chunks.
The problem with 24 bit audio is that it can be limiting when mixing. Mixing often involves
summing a large number of tracks, each with several stages of processing. In this scenario, small
errors can accumulate.
32 bit
Many software mixers convert audio to 32 bit internally during processing. This goes some way to
reduce the effect of low level errors accumulating, and also has the added bonus of being able to
have audio that excedes 0dBfs without clipping - as long as it happens internally to the software
(that is, before it leaves the mix bus).
68
It is also sometimes worthwhile rendering audio at 32 bit. This would be a good idea if you intend
to further process the audio. An example of this is if you render a mix to a stereo file, intending to
import the stereo file into a mastering project. This means no resolution is lost between mixing
and mastering. 32 bit audio is not suitable for recording or distribution.
It might be a good idea to start with an approach of recording at 24 bit, mixing at 32 bit and
mastering to 16 bit for distribution.
-Kim.
69
44.1 kHz
This is by far the most common samplerate, as it is the samplerate used by audio CDs. Roughly
speaking, the highest frequency that can be represented is exactly half the samplerate so at
44.1kHz, the highest possible frequency is 22.05kHz. Seeing as most people cannot hear above
20kHz, this would seem like a good samplerate choice. The problem with this, however, is that the
accuracy of those high frequencies is quite poor. The closer you get to the highest possible
frequency, the worse the accuracy gets. As a result, the inaccuracies can sometimes be heard well
below the highest frequency. For this reason, many plugins oversample their critical processing
components meaning the audio is internally converted to a higher samplerate so the highest
frequencies can be processed with better accuracy.
48 kHz
This samplerate effectively has the same limitations as 44.1 kHz, except that its more commonly
used for film and other visual media. This is because it syncronises better with visual frame rates
(44.1 kHz doesnt divide evenly into 24 frames).
96 kHz, 192kHz
Most modern professional digital audio systems can operate at higher frequencies than 44.1 kHz or
48 kHz. This allows audio to be captured and processed with much higher accuracy, especially at
the highest frequencies. This usually results in a more open, natual sound. The trade-off is that
much more processing power is required. Working at 96 kHz will half your capability compared to
working at 48 kHz. That includes disk space (recording time), disk throughput (number of
simultaneous tracks) and CPU/DSP power (number of compressors/EQs/effects).
Working at 192 kHz cuts your capabilities in half again. Whether this trade-off is worthwhile for
you depends on the kind of work youre doing and your style of working. If you want to record the
clearest, purest sound with a minimum of processing, high samplerates might be appropriate. On
the other hand, if you want to do a lot of processing (especially if you regularly push your
equipment to the limit) then you might prefer the higher capabilities of working at a regular
samplerate.
Recording at these high samplerates also has an advantage for sound design and special effects.
Because there is so much more high frequency detail captured, slowing down a high samplerate
recording results in a much clearer sound than slowing down a sound recorded at 44.1 kHz or 48
kHz.
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If you work at 96 kHz or 192 kHz, you might need to convert back down to 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz
when preparing audio for distribution.
-Kim.
dont give yourself enough headroom early in the signal path, youll find yourself hampered by
your need to reduce dynamics for technical reasons instead of focussing on sound.
-Kim.
Expectation
We can create expectation by removing notes from our variation. The sense of expectation is
created because the listener expects (from the normal) a certain note to exist, but it does not. You
might say the listener wants something to be there, but it is not, so the listener is kept
wanting.
For example:
normal variation
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
* * * *,_ * * *
or:
normal variation
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
* * * *,* _ * *
If these examples dont make immediate sense, imagine that the first four beats (normal)
are repeated several times before the next four beats (variation) are played. If it still
doesnt work, turn up the volume.
We can take this idea further if we look at the concept that rhythmic patterns usually have a
hierarchy of strong and weak beats. Beats 1 and 3 are usually the strongest (at least in
modern popular music), then 2 and 4 are weaker. The rhythmic positions between the beats are
weaker still, etc.
73
Coming back to our discussion of expectation, we might observe that removing notes on strong
beats tends to (comparatively) emphasise the weaker beats. This enhances the expectation
because it creates more tension the pattern wants to resolve. Some examples:
normal variation
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
* * * *,_ * * *
or:
normal variation
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
* * * *,* * _ *
Again, imagine that the normal pattern is repeated several times before the variation is
played.
Alternatively, we could remove notes on weak beats. Comparatively, this tends to emphasise the
strong beats, and thus doesnt create as much tension, and doesnt reinforce the expectation.
Examples:
normal variation
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
* * * *,* _ * *
or:
normal variation
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
* * * *,* * * _
Youll observe that creating expectation by removing weak beats is generally not as effective
as removing strong beats. In fact, removing weak beats is more effective at thinning the
texture, and this is what is more likely to be percieved.
Excitement
The flip side of expectation is excitement. Excitement in rhythmic patterns can be created by
adding notes in. Example:
normal variation
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
* * * *,* * ***
normal variation
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
* * * *,* * * **
The reason this creates excitement is that the listener is (from the normal) expecting
nothing, and in its place they get something. Another way of looking at it is that the listener
hears something before they expect it. We can extend this technique by observing that
74
when an added note is close to an existing note, the added note can associate with its
neighbour.
To show an example of this, well need to double our resolution:
normal
1
2
*
*
3
*
variation
4 1
2
3
* ,* **
*
4
**
When an added note associates with an existing one, it can have an effect of reinforcing the
existing note. Additionally, the position of the added note (whether it comes before or after
the existing note) can also have an effect on how the existing note is reinforced.
If the added note comes before the existing note that it associates with (variation, beat 2), then it
tends to create the illusion that the existing note comes earlier than expected. This creates
excitement for precisely that reason the note comes earlier than the listener expects.
If the added note comes after the existing note that it associates with (variation, beat 4), the
effect is that of strengthening the existing note, or elongating it (making it longer).
-Kim.
How you come up with the lengths is up to you. I composed a piece a several years ago where
each section length was a Fibonacci number the sections were all lengths like 5, 13, 21, 34, etc.
Another piece I composed had section lengths chosen by rolling dice.
Of course, it doesnt have to be random. You might choose prime numbers, or the date of every
Monday in the year, or anything else. You could even choose the lengths as you compose the
piece, depending on the flux in the piece.
Its really just about making the sections have lengths which arent even multiples of four or eight.
-Kim.
four-on-the-floor kick drum pattern. It can still be effective, however, because it is just as stable
and predictable. It can be a good alternative to four-on-the-floor if the song needs space to
breathe or otherwise doesnt need the relentless kick of more upbeat music.
More coming
-Kim.
Off-Beats
Most kick drums notes fall on the beat meaning they are played on quarter notes (also called
crotchets). The two patterns discussed last time (Four-on-the-floor, and First and Third) have kick
drums played only on the quarter notes. Sometimes, however, it sounds good to play the kick
drum on an off-beat in between the quarter notes. Notes played on off-beats are less stable
and (mostly) less predictable than notes played on the beat. If you have a lot of notes played offbeat, and not as many notes played on the beat, the whole pattern will feel more unstable, more
unbalanced, and more unpredictable.
With a careful balance of on-beats and off-beats, funkier patterns are possible. These balance
stability with instability on a moment-by-moment basis. Typically there will be a kick on the first
beat (the downbeat) of every bar (or only every second bar!) to ground the listener and begin
from a point of stability. In the middle of the bar, however, the kick may be played at various
points on or off the beat. This creates a constant push/pull between stability and instability, and
can make a pattern much more exciting and interesting to listen to. The effect is heightened when
the kick only plays on the downbeat every second bar so the other bars dont even start with a
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kick.
Swing
Some very interesting things can happen when introducing swing to kick drum patterns[1]. To
hear the swing on a kick drum, it already has to be playing off-beat (thats how swing works by
delaying the off-beats). When a kick drum is swung, two things happen:
1. The kick plays later than expected meaning the listener is kept waiting in expectation for
a (very) brief moment. This contributes to the push/pull of stability and instability, which is
also related to expectation.
2. The kick aligns closer to the coming beat meaning it emphasises the anticipation felt by
the listener.
This further emphasises the subtle push/pull of the kick drum pattern.
More coming
-Kim.
[1] Sometimes I rhyme, but not all the time.
later.
Adding Notes
Adding notes as a variation is a more effective case of pulling notes forward. The added kicks are
heard as occurring earlier than expected, but the original kick is also heard. The added kick also
increases the density of the pattern, which also adds excitement.
Missing Notes
Missing notes is an extreme case of pushing notes back. Instead of simply changing the timing of
a kick so it is heard later than expected, the kick is removed altogether. This results in a sense of
anticipation that isnt fully resolved it is only partially resolved when the next kick hits.
-Kim.
2009/07/20 - Normalising
Normalisation is a process that changes the volume of a piece of audio. It does this by first
analysing the audio, looking for the highest peak. Then an amount of gain is applied to the entire
section of audio, so that the highest peak is at 0dBfs. Because of the need to analyse the audio
before applying gain, normalisation is an offline process meaning it cant be applied in realtime
(as a plugin, for example). Also, because static gain is applied, the dynamics of the audio do not
change. Its exactly the same as adjusting the fader on an audio channel, except that there is a
pre-calculation to determine how much to adjust it.
There are two problems with normalising:
1. You dont know or control how much gain is being applied. Thats because the amount of
gain is determined by analysing the audio.
2. The amount of gain being applied has nothing to do with how loud the audio is (as we
perceive it). Thats because the amount of gain is calculated from the peak level of the
audio not the RMS or average level (see here for more details about peak vs RMS).
Normalising audio ONLY makes sense if:
1. Your audio started higher than 16 bits; AND
2. Youre about to quantise to 16 bits (or similar) directly after normalisation; AND
3. You dont care what the average (RMS) level of the audio is after quantisation.
In other words, this is a process that makes sense where there are a series of offline gain stages,
and somewhere in the MIDDLE the audio is being quantised to 16 bits (but subsequent processing
is at a higher bit depth). The uncontrolled amount of gain is not a problem if later gain stages will
also be applied.
In these situations, normalising is a useful way to maximise the dynamic range of a low-resolution
digital system. This is because the audio is made as loud as possible before quantising so that the
higher noise floor (caused by the low resolution) is as low as possible relative to the audio. An
even lower relative noise floor is possible by using dynamic processing (such as compression or
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limiting), but normalisation is the best solution that doesnt affect the original dynamics of the
audio. On the other hand, if your task doesnt meet all three criteria, then there are more
appropriate processes than normalisation.
-Kim.
The beginning is significant because it introduces the language of the music to the listener.
When you listen to a piece of music, the beginning is the first thing you hear and thus, it is what
influences the expectations that you have for the rest of the piece. It is what sets the context for
the remainder of the listening session. When composing the beginning of a piece, consider that
this is the first thing your listener will hear.
The ending is (in this respect) the complete opposite the listener hears it in the context of the
entire piece. By the time the listener gets near the end of a piece, s/he has travelled through the
journey of the music, and (hopefully) understands the language[1] of the music. When
composing the ending, consider that the listener hears this after hearing the entire piece through
once.
The middle of a piece is also interesting, because this is (usually) where the scene has been set
the listener has some idea about what the laguage of the music is, and what to expect for the
rest of the piece. Most well-written pieces use a/the middle section to develop and enrich the
listeners understanding and experience of the world you (as the composer) have created.
All this, of course, doesnt mean that this is the way it has to be, or that this is the (only) way to
compose good music. As the composer, you are free to subvert the rules or discard them
completely. However, understanding how a listener listens to a piece will (hopefully) help you make
better informed decisions during the composition process.
-Kim.
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Transients
Saturation reduces the level of transient peaks by distorting them. However, because the transient
peaks are very short, the distortion is often not obvious. The excess level in the transient peaks is
transformed into upper harmonics. That is, the transients become noisier and dirtier. For some
kinds of music, this can be a desirable alternative to reducing gain using a compressor or limiter.
The power and impact of the sound is often retained (or even enhanced!), but at the expense of
fidelity.
Steady-state
Saturation of steady-state signals is often more noticeable because the audio is constantly being
saturated. This usually causes the sound to be brighter, as upper harmonics are being created. Too
much saturation will make the audio sound lo-fi or outright distorted. Used subtly though,
saturation can make audio sound more exciting, or even aggressive. In a dense mix, individual
tracks will sound less distorted than when listening to those tracks on their own (in solo).
-Kim.
important. This scratch vocal recording only needs to serve as my own guide for writing for and
recording the other instrumental parts. As such, it doesnt need to be a great performance it
might even have some mistakes in it! The bulk of the time in this session is not spent coaching the
vocalist its spent working on song structure and melody before the recording takes place.
3) Record other instruments. This is done using the scratch vocal as a guide for song structure
and mix placement. For vocal music its important to start with the lead vocal and build everything
else around that. This is important not only for arrangement, but also for instrument voicing
(which notes, how high, etc) and mixing. Producing a backing track without having a vocal to work
with will easily result in an instrumental song that sounds great on its own, but will struggle the
accommodate the vocal once its added.
4) Record backing vocals. Once the arrangement is worked out and most of the other
instruments are recorded, its time to record the final vocal parts. Its important to wait until the
track is almost finished, so that the vibe and energy of the music can influence the vocal
performance. That way the vocalist can deliver a performance that best suits the song.
I usually have the vocalist record the backing vocal parts first. This is because theyre not as
critical as the lead vocal. This allows the vocalist to warm up and familiarise himself/herself with
the song and the studio. It gives us both a change to fine-tune the headphone levels and
monitoring (usually some compression and treble lift) whilst still remaining productive. It also gives
me a chance to learn how to work with the vocalist to get the best results. Some will respond well
to relentless pace, some respond better to a gentler approach. Some nail it in the first couple of
takes, others need six or eight takes to get it. Some respond well to micro-advice (That fourth
syllable is dragging again), some need more general encouragement (That was great, now do it
with more energy). It also helps me learn about the voice. How hard can it be driven? How soon
until it needs a rest? Where is the sweet spot between warming up and tiring out? Are there any
difficult transitions between chest voice and head voice? These are all important issues to be
aware of.
5) Record the final lead vocal. This is critical. The lead vocal is the most important part of the
song. As if that wasnt enough pressure, the vocalist only has a short period of time in the sweet
spot at which youll get the best performance. Youve got to know where this sweet spot is,
because going much past it will give you worse takes, and demoralise the vocalist. Coming back
another day often doesnt give you a better performance either (unless you screwed up and
scheduled the session when the vocalist is hung over or something).
My approach to recording lead vocals is the result of many years of working with vocalists.
Everyone will have their own methods, but this works for me:
5a) Run through the song once for practice. Often I see advice to record the practice takes. I
dont record them, because I know Ill get better later on. I try to minimise the number of takes I
record, because trawling through them later is a chore, and often doesnt actually get significantly
better performances. Some vocalists dont even need the practice take.
5b) Record one take of the whole song. This is the basic lead vocal. I only record one take of
this, unless there were any mistakes (in which case I delete the take and do it again). This is
usually a good fallback for syllables to comp[1] in.
5c) Record two takes of each section, in reverse order. After the first take, we record
section by section, in reverse order. So, well start with the coda, then the final chorus, then the
bridge, etc, finishing with the first verse or introduction. Each section is recorded twice on loop. Ill
only go more than twice if there were any mistakes. Recording each section in reverse order frees
the vocalist from thinking about the song structure, and instead focusses her/him in the moment
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the section being recorded. Recording each section twice on loop further enhances this focus. This
is sometimes the point at which the singer is in the sweet spot, and where youll get a good
balance between emotional performance and technical correctness. I record only two takes during
this phase in order to keep the momentum up (which keeps the singer motivated and interested).
By this stage, more than two takes rarely results in a better performance.
5d) Record one take of the whole song. At this point I have lead vocal thats three takes
deep, and is usually of a consistently high quality. I could use this material to put together a
decent composite. However, I ask the singer to do one more take the whole song through. This
time, however, I instruct the singer to focus on delivering an emotional performance at the
expense of technical correctness, perhaps pushing it a bit more than usual. I might even bump the
volume in the headphones by a decibel or two to assist. For some singers, this falls in the sweet
spot and results in a great performance. For others, its too much, so the take becomes a source
for the occasional emotional syllable. If this last take is not suitable, Ill usually use one of the
reverse order takes as the base for the comp. Most times, however, it is this final take that forms
the base from the comp.
-Kim.
[1] Comp = Composite. The process of assembling a performance from several takes.
loudest peaks. Set the ratio to the maximum youll need, and gradually lower the threshold until
the lower-level audio is being gently compressed. That way youll have the gentle levelling with a
low ratio, but the louder parts will be compressed at a higher ratio. Its a little like having two
compressors in series (one reducing the peaks, the other just gently levelling the audio), but in a
single compressor. Its also easier to control because its less complicated, and its a little more
sophisiticated because the transition between low ratio and high ratio is smooth.
-Kim.
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You should know the answers to all these questions before you lay a finger on any reverb
processors.
-Kim.
Short / Long: This decision should primarily be based on the pace of the song. Obviously, slow
songs will tend to need longer reverb and faster songs will tend to need shorter reverb. Keep in
mind that pace is not the same as tempo. A song with a slow pace may still have quick tempo, and
a song with a fast pace may have a slow tempo. The pace of a song depends on various factors,
such as the density and syncopation of the rhythms (particularly drums and percussion) and the
rate of change (both in the harmonic progression and overall structure).
Lush / Dry: This is more of a creative decision. Its a question of how much you want reverb to
be a part of the sonic signature of the mix. A lush mix is usually more dreamy and evocative,
whereas a dry mix has more clarity and immediacy.
Deep / Shallow: This is where things start to get difficult. The question of whether your mix
should have deep or shallow ambience is a question of depth, and its not directly related to the
depth of the other mix elements. A mix with a big distance between foreground and background
might still be best served with a shallow ambience. Similarly, a mix with a small distance between
foreground and background might be best served with deep ambience. Deep ambience enhances
the sense of depth and space in the mix, whereas shallow ambience enhances the softness and
blurriness of the sounds. Mixes that are dry and shallow will typically have very little reverb at all.
Natural / Unnatural: Natural reverb best compliments acoustic instruments. It doesnt have to
sound exactly like a specific room or acoustic space, but it should sound like an acoustic space that
might reasonably exist. A natural reverb would also be appropriate when integrating sounds such
as synths and samples into a more traditional instrumentation (such as vocal pop or a band).
Unnatural reverb is best suited to mixes where most of the instruments have no acoustic basis
(such as drum machines and synths), or where the sound of the mix is far from representing the
acoustic sound of the instruments (such as modern pop rock). Unnatural reverb takes a studio
production beyond a mere recording of an event to an artform in its own right.
-Kim.
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Short / Long: Obviously, youll need to adjust the reverb time. Thats not all though other
parameters can be used to change the apparent length of the reverb. Adjusting the reverb size
with the length can help keep the reverb sounding natural. Some algorithmic reverbs also have
frequency multipliers can change the reverb time specifically for low frequencies. How you adjust
these will depend on the mix.
A longer reverb time for low frequencies can be useful in warming up a thin mix. It can also make
an orchestral concert hall sound more realistic. A shorter reverb time for low frequencies would be
more useful in a mix that already has a busy low end.
Lush / Dry: A lush reverb treatment will require you to use more (wet) reverb than a dry
treatment. High frequency cutoff and high frequency reverb time also affect apparent lushness.
The more high frequencies in the reverb, the more noticeable it is. Some algorithmic reverbs can
have their attack shape adjusted too the parameter might be called something like shape,
build, or attack. Slowing the attack of the reverb can also affect its apparent lushness. A reverb
with a fast attack is often more invisible because the bulk of the reverb energy is actually
masked by the source sound this can make the reverb seem drier than it actually is. Pre-delay
can also serve a similar purpose in making the reverb more noticeable, albeit in a less refined
manner.
Deep / Shallow: This is where things start to get difficult. Often its not too difficult to decide if
you want to mix ambience to be deep (far away) or shallow (close). Its more difficult to hear this
depth, and most difficult to control it. Depth of ambience is the distance between the source
sound and the reverberation. For deeper ambience, hall reverbs are best. To go deeper, use a
larger reverb size. Lower diffusion settings make individuals echos more audible, which can help.
For extreme depth, use some pre-delay. Make sure the reverb is appropriately quieter than the
source sound (dont get too wet!). Conversely, rooms and plates are better for shallow ambience.
Use a smaller reverb size and higher diffusion. High frequency response can also help use darker
reverb for deep ambience and brighter reverb for shallow ambience.
Natural / Unnatural: Natural reverb best compliments acoustic instruments. It doesnt have to
sound exactly like a specific room or acoustic space, but it should sound like an acoustic space that
might reasonably exist. Convolution is an ideal choice for creating the illusion of a specific acoustic
space. Algorithmic reverbs, however, are better for creating a reverberation that is tailored to the
mix. Hall or room reverb algorithms are best, and should be configured within sensible boundaries.
Try some presets for ideas, and dont stray too far.
-Kim.
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sounds. This way, some textural background sounds and feature sounds would use the long reverb
and other sounds (particularly more percussive/articulative sounds) would use the short reverb. A
hall or plate would be suitable for the long reverb, and a room or shorter plate might be suited to
the short reverb. For a more unnatural sound, use a thick modulated hall for the long reverb and a
non-linear reverb for the short reverb. This approach is useful for complex mixes that dont need
to have a particularly realistic acoustic sound, such as electronic music and studio music.
-Kim.
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Depth, no diffusion
Depth is a sense of distance particularly a distance between the foreground and background of
the mix. A shallow mix will have very little distance between the foreground and background, a
deep mix will have a lot of distance between the foreground and background. Usually sounds are
pushed to the background by adding both depth and diffusion, but in some cases it is useful to
add depth without diffusion. A mix might need to be very deep, but also very sharp and clear
(which would require diffusion to be minimised). In other cases,a mix might already be quite
diffuse, and depth has to be created by using more obvious means (because regular reverb would
be lost in the general diffusion of the mix).
In these situations, delay is often the most appropriate tool. Longer delays (>150ms) should work
best. When tuning a delay for depth, rather than rhythmic complexity, its often worthwhile tuning
it by ear instead of snapping to the songs tempo. The sense of depth will come from hearing the
echos between the notes. This may be difficult if a tempo delay is causing the echos to be
perfectly timed to sound underneath foreground elements (so that the background echos are
masked by the foreground elements). Making the delay more audible by tuning it in between
tempo times will also allow the delay to be at a lower volume. This will enhance the sense of
depth in the mix.
-Kim.
2009/08/17 - Masking
Masking is a little-understood concept that is important to composers and mix engineers.
Essentially, masking is what happens when one sound makes it difficult to hear another sound. An
obvious example of this is two instruments playing the same note, with one instrument sounding
much louder than the other.
This can happen with notes or chords, where the voicing of one instrument covers up another,
softer instrument. It can also happen with frequencies, where an element of one sound covers up
an element of another sound. As with the example above, this happens when two instruments are
playing the same note or frequency range and one is much louder than the other.
It can also happen when the notes or frequencies are not exactly the same, but nearby. The effect
is particularly strong when both instruments are playing the same or similar parts, and the sounds
blend very well. A common example is of distorted guitars and distorted bass. On its own, the
distorted bass might have a heavy growl caused by a lot of energy in the lower mids and a
crunchy fuzz on top. Once the guitars are brought in, however, the bass is reduced to a lowfrequency rumble beneath the guitars. Even though the main energy of the guitars might be in the
upper mids, it masks the upper harmonics in the distorted bass.
Another example is vocal harmonies. A song might have a section where the main melody is sung
in parallel harmony perhaps a third or fourth apart. If both voices are similar (sung by the same
singer, in the same style, with similar processing), our ear will hear the upper harmony as being
much more prominent than the lower harmony. The effect is sometimes quite striking the lower
harmony simply blends into the upper harmony.
These are both cases of the higher sound masking the lower sound.
Sometimes masking is useful, as it allows a sound to be thickened or deepened by adding other
sounds to it. Other times it is undesirable as it makes it difficult for the listener to distinguish
between the different sounds.
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2009/08/17 - Masking
In the bass/guitar example, greater separation could be achieved by filtering or EQ so that each
instrument contributes a unique sonic component to the mix. Alternatively, each instrument could
be given a different depth. For example, the bass could be up front and the guitar further back in
the mix.
In the vocal example, greater separation could be achieved by instructing the singer to perform
each part differently such as whispering one part, or perhaps singing one part forcefully. Better
yet, have a different singer perform one of the parts.
-Kim.
going through a hole in the wall, or under the door) or record in another room (with long cables
for microphone and headphones). Sometimes the noise waxes and wanes studios in busy
neighbourhoods will be subject to traffic noise, for example. Learn the times that traffic is
strongest, and schedule non-critical activites for those periods. Backups, organisation, cleaning
and general maintenance can all be done during these periods. Schedule critical recordings for the
quiet times especially quiet or delicate sounds such as whispered vocals or finger-picked acoustic
guitar.
confusingly, these means are sometimes used in mixing, but in a processing chain that is similar to
mastering (such as using plugins on the mix bus).
So, to clarify:
Mixing is a process of combining the individual elements/instruments and balancing them so they
all work together. The end result is a mixdown.
Mastering is a process of taking the mixdown and preparing it for distribution. The end result is
music that translates well to all the expected playback scenarios.
The mix bus is a way to apply some mastering-type processing while mixing. Not all processing
on the mix bus is actually mastering though it depends on the intent. For example:
Mixing into a bus compressor is not mastering when its done to help the different sonic
elements fit together.
Using an EQ and limiter on the mix bus is mastering if its used to balance the overall tone
and loudness so that the music sounds best in a mixed playlist.
Using a limiter on the mix bus is not mastering if its used to make the sound pump in time
with the kick drum.
While mixing and mastering are two different processes, the use of the mix bus makes it possible
to overlap them so that mixing and mastering are both done in the same environment.
Additionally, not all mastering processes can be applied on the mix bus. Trimming and fading is
usually done in an audio editor. Encoding to mp3 or burning to CD are best handled by dedicated
software and hardware. Preparing a collection of songs for an album usually cant be done in the
same environment that was used to mix them.
-Kim.
An instrumentalist can spend years learning how to control these performance techniques and
then learning how to use them effectively. A seasoned performer will be constantly varying the
way in which the instrument sounds in order to better support the music.
Electronic instruments are even more versatile in their sound. A single parameter can dramatically
alter the sound into something completely different. Many synthesisers have real-time performance
controls, assignable parameters, modulation and pitch wheels.
Use them!
When adding a new synthesiser part to a composition, think about how you can change the timbre
of the sound throughout the length of the song. Try to do this in a way that supports the dynamic
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contour of the song. Make the tweaks in realtime if you can use a MIDI controller with knobs
anor sliders if youre using softsynths. If youre recording MIDI, you have the added flexibility of
being able to record the expression in multiple passes you dont have to do it all in one take like
acoustic performers have to.
The same extends to effects processing. Subtly adjusting delay or reverb parameters over time can
add drama and movement to song if it supports the overall contour. Alternatively, it can be used to
reduce the dependency on more obvious dramatic movement in foreground instruments (the main
instruments dont have to move as much because everything is moving). Automating insert effects
such as saturation, modulation (chorus, flanger, phaser), or more esoteric effects (such as ring
modulation or pitch shifting) can add movement to parts that are already recorded, or instruments
that dont have a lot of expressive range.
-Kim.
Trying to be original results in flawed decision-making, where techniques or sounds are chosen
merely on their being different - without regard of whether they support the creative direction or
aesthetic of the song.
Instead, try to make creative decisions based on what works best for the song. If the right choice
is something different, this is good. If the right choice is something conventionaly, this is also
good. It doesnt matter so long as its the right choice.
-Kim.
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2009/08/30 - Emulations
2009/08/30 - Emulations
I actually dont use the T-RackS compressors much. When I do, though, I choose them based on
their sound. Personally, it doesnt matter to me what it was based on or inspired by or copied off
The only important thing is the sound. The 670 compressor could be called Thick Gooey
Compressor and have an original interface, and itd be the same to me.
Software is not in competition with hardware. There are many reasons for using hardware, and
sound is one of them but there are other reasons too like workflow and studio strategy. I dont
think anyones going cancel an order on a hardware Fairchild because they can get a software
version that sounds similar for $99.
Its great to have software thats modelled on classic hardware. The reason some hardware
equipment is classic is that studio engineers have found them to be particularly useful. Using this
gear as the basis for designing software gives us these same design principals that can make the
software useful in a similar way. Still, I judge any piece of gear (software or hardware) on its own
merits. It doesnt matter how well it models another piece of gear whats important is how it
sounds on its own. I have some very accurate emulations that I almost never use, and some notso-accurate emulations that I rely on for every mix.
-Kim.
can be achieved through processing and mixing. Keep moving. Dont get bogged down. Perfection
is the enemy of completion. Accept that good enough really is good enough. Stop playing and get
on with making music.
-Kim.
Saturation point
The saturation point of a system is the level at which audio becomes noticeably clipped or
distorted. In analogue systems, this is the point at which the system is overloaded and starts to
behave non-linearly (often its when the signal is distorted by 1%). In digital systems, its Full
Scale any louder and the audio is mercilessly clipped.
Nominal level
This is the measurement reference point. Its the level that we call 0dB (or sometimes, unity). In
digital systems, this is always at the same level as the saturation point. In analogue systems, the
nominal level is some distance below the saturation point: 18dB or 24dB for example.
The levels of the noise floor and saturation point are measured relative to the nominal level. For
example, an analogue system might have its saturation point 18dB above the nominal level and its
noise floor 72dB below ths nominal level. We say the saturation point is at +18dB and the noise
floor is at -72dB. A 16 bit digital system has its noise floor 96dB below the saturation point, and
because its a digital system, the saturation point is also the nominal level: 0dBfs. Because the
noise floor is 96dB below the nominal level, we say the noise floor is at -96dB. The level
difference between the noise floor and the nominal level is also called the signal-to-noise ratio.
Dynamic range
The dynamic range of a system is the difference between the noise floor at the saturation point. In
the above analogue example, the noise floor is at -72dB and the saturation point is at +18dB.
Thus the dynamic range is 90dB. In the above digital example, the noise floor is at -96dB and the
saturation point is at 0dB. Thus the dynamic range is 96dB.
The dynamic range of a piece of audio is the difference between the quietest level and the loudest
level. If the dynamic range of the audio is greater than the dynamic range of the system, it should
be compressed. This will reduce the dynamic range of the audio so that it can be adequately
processed by the system.
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Headroom
The headroom of a system is the level difference between the nominal level and the saturation
point. In the above analogue system, the saturation point is at +18dB, thus it has a headroom of
18dB. In the above digital system, the saturation point is at 0dB, thus is has no headroom - in the
traditional sense.
The headroom required by a piece of audio is the difference between the steady-state average
level and the maximum peak level. In an analogue system the gain is often set so that the average
level is at 0dB. In these cases, the headroom of the system should be greater than the headroom
required by the audio otherwise audible clipping will occur.
The situation is different with digital systems. Because digital systems have no headroom above
0dB, it is common practice to set audio gain as if the nominal level is actually much lower.
Unfortunately, there is no standard practice or agreement for what the in-practice nominal should
be. Bob Katz K-System attempts to, among other things, set three standard nominal levels: -20dB,
-14dB and -12dB. Each has a different trade-off- between available headroom and overall volume.
-Kim.
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Personally, I almost always find that boosting sounds wrong. The only exception is the top boost
mentioned above adding more high-frequency energy often doesnt affect the general character
of a sound. Still, I probably apply cuts about 80% of the time I use EQ.
Ultimately though, the question of how to apply EQ should be proceded by the question of what
you want to achieve.
-Kim.
Physical Arrangement
Keep instruments such as guitars, keyboards, percussion, etc on hand. Within reach, if
possible. You dont want to have an idea for a part and have to get a keyboard out of
storage in order to realise it.
Have front-ends ready for instruments preamps, channel strips, even cables. Set up your
studio so you can plug in a single cable to your instrument and be ready to go. Of course,
you can adjust things if you want, but at least have something ready to capture that idea!
Ideally, have instruments always plugged in and switched on that way if you have an idea
you can simply arm a track and start playing.
Remove obstacles that you have to step over or walk around. Youre less likely to grab that
mic or patch that effects processor if you have to wade through piles of junk in order to get
to it.
Make sure your studio is a dedicated space. Having to share a space can make it difficult to
get working when inspiration strikes.
Software Arrangement
Set up a custom template for your DAW software, so when you start up a new project you
already have your favourite synths loaded up (if you use soft synths) and you have
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4) It took you longer to ask the question than it would have to try it for yourself.
This is primarily in response to questions about specific usage of tools or techniques. Its actually
quite quick to try something out for yourself. Plug it in, twiddle some controls, and pay attention to
what you hear. If you dont know what to listen for, reconsider your reasons for trying it. See the
first tip (above). If you try it out and still cant hear what youre doing, see the second tip (above).
-Kim.
disposal, so long as you use it in a way that evokes dirty electro rock for you. It could be
anything from pure synths to mangled samples to live drums and guitars.
Another advantage of this approach is that a larger-scale project (such as an EP or album) will
have a consistency and identity that makes sense to a regular listener. Non-geeks wouldnt know
or care if an album was only made with softsynths or hardware. Ten songs with the same guitar
could be as diverse as ten different genres. On the other hand, a collection of tracks all with the
same higher-level focus will sound as though they belong together even if the instruments
change, the harmonies change, or the musicians change. This focus, combined with your own
idiosyncrasies will form the sonic identity of the project. The stronger and better-defined the focus
is, the more coherent the music will be.
You dont need limits. You need focus.
-Kim.
(Inspired by this post)
Jarek
Windy Winds
Jarek is a rock band without a vocalist. With four guitars, a keyboardist and a drummer with only a
kick and a tambourine, Jarek play a kind of atmospheric instrumental rock that shifts between
evocative samples with ambient melodies and rocking out with heavy riffing. Their Myspace page
is here.
The band came to me having recorded an albums worth of material at another studio. I mixed and
mastered this single, and am negotiating to mix and master the rest of the album.
Erin Shay
1. Falling In Love
2. One More Last Kiss
3. Temporary Love
Erin Shay is a pop singer and songwriter. While her voice and melodies have a reassuring (and
impressive) familiarity, she has a characteristic approach to composition particularly harmony
and tonality. Her Myspace page is here.
Erin came to me having written a collection of songs, but in need of a producer as a third party
to advise on songwriting and composition, and to guide the recording and mixing process. The
drums were recorded at Debasement.
-Kim.
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approaches.
-Kim.
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Avoid recording it
by following these tips:
http://kimlajoie.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/tips-for-quiet-recordings/
-Kim.
2009/12/10 - How do individual tracks sound on their own before theyre mixed?
surgical and ruthless. The more produced a mix is, the more Ill tend toward aggressive filtering
to cut out the unwanted characteristics of each sound and keep the desired parts. The more
natural a mix is, the more Ill tend toward gentle shelving EQ to softly de-emphasise the unwanted
parts of the sound and emphasise the desired characteristics.
-Kim.
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Tone
Ive written before about filling frequencies. Obviously that is a highly artificial way of separating
instruments. Avoiding that technique, however, does not forbid you from deciding which parts of
each sound are more important for the mix. Some sounds mainly contribute to the low end of the
frequency spectrum. Some mainly contribute to the midrange, and others mainly contribute to the
top end.
Listening to a sound in isolation (solod) can create an expectation that it should cover the entire
frequency spectrum. This is fine if that is the only sound in the mix (or its a very sparse acoustic
mix), but in a denser mix it results in unnecessary crowding.
Instead, focus on bringing out the aspects of each sound that are most useful for the mix. If its a
growly bass, make sure you can hear the growl in the mix. If its a bright synth lead or guitar, you
probably dont need much low-mid energy. If its small percussion, make sure it pokes through the
top of the mix. The best (and most natural) way to focus the tone of each instrument is to use EQ
to reduce the energy in the areas that are not so important. Sounds may become thin and/or
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caricatured, but often this is necessary to assemble a mix in which each sound plays its part.
Depth
Even after focussing on tone, you may find yourself with several instruments that occupy a similar
tonal region. Classic examples are kick and bass, guitars and vocals, drums and percussion. In
these cases where it is not appropriate to separate the sounds by tone, you must separate them
another way. Depth (distance from the front) is an excellent way of doing this (its a shame that
many poor mixes have no sense of depth at all). Skilful and artful use of depth can make many
midrange instruments work together beautifully.
Using depth well, however, requires the mix engineer (and often the producer) to make decisions
about which instruments will be featured (placed in the foreground) and which will be relegated to
the background. This is often difficult because the mix engineer and producer, having uninhibited
access to the most intimate folds of a mix, can hear the beauty in every sound. It is certainly a
tough decision to be able to polish a beautiful sound only to bury it deep within the mix where
almost no-one will notice it.
Perhaps an admirable trait of a great artist is the courage to throw away good ideas.
-Kim.
In sync
This is the simplest way to write backing vocals. When the backing vocals are in sync with the lead
vocal, the timing is the same and the effect is of harmony reinforcement. Use a backing vocal
separated by a third or a sixth to bring out a colourful harmony (the bridge is often a good place
for this). Use backing vocals separated by a fourth or fifth to add grounding and stability (the
chorus is often a good place for this).
Out of sync
This is a bit more involved, and how you go about it depends very much on the nature of the
song. When backing vocals are out of sync with the lead vocal, they break out and are heard as a
separate part with its own phrasing. There are many ways of approaching backing vocals like this.
One of my favourites is to identify some key words in the lead vocal and stretch them out over
several beats either before or after the word appears in the lead vocal.
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Non-word vocalisation
Another approach is to use non-word vocalisation (such as ah or ooh) as part of the
instrumentation. This can be very effective in bridging the textural/tonal divide between the lead
vocal and the backing tracks (ever had a song sound like karaoke? This is the fix!). Long sustained
notes can function like a pad especially with several harmony parts layered. Its like a vocal pad
or choir pad found on many workstation keyboards and synthesisers, but made from the voice of
your singer! Short staccato notes can be effective in reinforcing a rhythmic aspect of the song. Be
careful though less experienced singers can have real difficulty with hitting the right intonation at
the very start of each note.
Parallel motion
When writing a backing vocal to sit behind a lead vocal, the obvious way to contour the phrase is
to follow the melody. When the lead vocal rises, the backing vocal rises. When the lead vocal falls,
the backing vocal falls. This can be useful for reinforcing the shape of the melody, and is often
useful in the chorus of a song.
Unlinked motion
Unlinked motion is a bit more interesting this is where the backing vocal breaks away from the
main melody and presents its own melody. This can be as simple as a slight modification of the
main melody to add interest and melodic variety, or it can be as complex as a completely new
melody (even with different lyrics and rhythms!).
Opposite Motion
An interesting hybrid of parallel motion and unlinked motion is opposite motion. This is where a
backing vocal mirrors the lead vocal. When the lead vocal rises, the backing vocal falls. When the
lead vocal falls, the backing vocal rises. The effect can be ear-catching, but is difficult to pull off for
long passages. Its not always easy to find suitable notes for the harmony that retain the mirrored
shape of the melody and also hit notes that support the overall harmonic structure of the music.
Additionally, this approach can sometimes be constrained by the range of your singer. Despite
these difficulties, opposite motion can be effective in small sections even single motifs.
Intermittent emphasis
Backing vocals dont have to be sounding for the same length time as the main vocal. In some
situations, its appropriate for the backing vocals to come in occasionally for certain words or
phrases. This allows you to emphasise some parts of the main vocal over others. This approach is
particularly effective for long verses or complex choruses, where its easy for the listener to get
lost. The backing vocals add some delineation and punctuation to help make the song easier for
the listener to understand. Of course, its also useful for reinforcing particular words or phrases in
the song that have emotional significance.
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Chances are, you need a new chair more than you need more music gear.
Despite what anyone else will tell you, acoustic treatment is sexy. It adds more sex appeal to your
studio than any plugin or computer upgrade. Acoustic treatment impresses people who dont even
know what it is, or why its important (youll recognise them as the ones who call it sound
proofing). Acoustic treatment is how people instantly know youre serious about your studio
especially if its a modern computer-based studio which isnt necessarily brimming with hardware.
Its also how you know youre serious about your studio. Acoustically treating your room will
motivate you and make you work more than you expect. It will make you excited to listen to
music, it will make you excited to work on your own music. It will actually make you more
productive.
And besides, theres nothing quite like telling people you spent $600 on foam!
-Kim.
3. Not compensating for your monitoring environment. This is a more general case of
the previous point. Be aware that youll have a natural tendency to mix with an overall
tonal shape thats influenced by your monitoring environment. For example, if your
monitoring is weak on bass, youll tend to mix bass-heavy. If your monitoring is strong in
the mids, youll tend to mix with the mids pulled back. If your monitoring has strong highs,
youll tend to mix dark. Solution: Be aware of this and make a deliberate effort to
compensate for your natural tendency. Use more than one set of speakers or headphones
for comparison. Listen to a lot of commercial music in your genre to learn how it sounds in
your studio. Bonus Solution: If mixing with a slight tonal shift helps you feel the vibe (or
in my case, I sometimes mix slightly dark because it helps me focus better and work
longer) then keep doing it. Just make sure you remember to compensate in pre-mastering
or mastering.
4. Using specific frequencies or settings just because someone told you to. Do I
really nee to explain this one? Those frequency charts are just guides. That helpful advice
is just one persons opinion, based on a monitoring environment you dont even know.
Those EQ presets are just an example of what it can do. No-one else knows your mix like
you do. No-one else knows the artist and the creative direction like you do. Solution: Use
your ears. Nuff said.
5. EQ even when you dont need it. This is an issue thats not often spoken about. In all
the flurry of trying to work out how to use EQ, its easy to forget to yourself if you need to
use EQ at all. Sometimes a part will sit perfectly in the mix without any tonal adjustment at
all. Solution: Interrupt your grab an EQ and start twiddling workflow. Pause before you
do it and ask yourself Do I really need EQ here? What does this track really need?.
Keep these tips in mind (or better yet print them out and stick them to your studio wall!) and
start to think about EQ more critically. EQs a great tool for an audio engineer; dont be afraid to
use it! Sometimes a track really does need some major surgery. Just be aware that it takes
discipline and restraint to use it where you need it, as much as you need no more, no less.
-Kim.
develop your techniques. You might feel that it would be unfair to share your knowledge for
other people to be able to use your techniques or take advantage of your experience without
having to earn it themselves. You might even feel that sharing your techniques would diminish
your standing in the eyes (and ears) of your clients and listeners. Effectively, you want to hold
yourself up by keeping others down. Maybe you even live in a slight fear that someone else will
discover your secrets on their own after all, thats how you discovered them.
Here are two uncomfortable truths:
1. Your clients and listeners dont choose you for your particular techniques. You might use
something esoteric like multi-bus compression (multiple parallel compressors on sends),
and it might even be a significant contributor to your sound. If someone else started using
your technique, however, they wouldnt suddenly be able to steal your clients or draw
listeners away from you. The same goes for tools.
2. Even if someone knew all your techniques and had all your tools, they wouldnt sound like
you. They wouldnt somehow steal your musical soul, your originality or your creativity.
Theyd still sound like themselves and youd still sound like yourself. If your techniques are
useful to them, theyll use the techniques to get better at their sound.
Clients choose a producer or engineer based on many factors. The most important are not even
remotely related to your tools or techniques they are factors like your creativity, your availability,
your ability to understand their creative vision, your ability to capture (and improve) the essence of
their art, your ability to make them feel comfortable and creative. Its all creativity and
relationships, with a good smattering of feel-good thrown in. Having a well-stocked studio merely
helps them feel more secure in the decision theyve already made.
None of these factors are diminished by the guy across the road having the same
compressor as you, or the same preference for chaining three saturators in a row.
Of course, to be successful you must be good at what you do. This is not about techniques,
though. Its about skills and creativity. This transcends techniques, and certainly transcends tools.
Its about being able to understand creative direction and be able to choose the most appropriate
techniques and tools to translate that direction into sound.
So if your tools or techniques are not your competitive advantage, what is? What is going to keep
you ahead of the guy across the road?
A wide musical vocabulary. This makes it more likely that youll understand your clients
influences and musical language. It also allows you to be more creative and choose from a
wider variety of musical ideas. Of course, the greater your own musical language, the
better youll be able to come up with an idea thats perfect for the song.
An open mind. This not only applies to music, but in dealing with people. Do your artists
consider you to be someone set in your ways, or someone always willing to try something
new? Are you artists comfortable suggesting strange and weird musical ideas, or do you
have a habit of telling people they suck? If people know you to be flexible and fun to work
with, theyre much more likely to come back and work with you for their next project.
Work ethic. Do you deliver? Do you come up with the goods by the deadline? Are you
eager, focussed, hard working? A solid work ethic also rubs off on the people you work
with. If youre dedicated and disciplined, your clients will treat you professionally. Your
artists will take their own work more seriously (and theyll love you because working with
you makes them more productive). Youll find your whole operation runs smoother and
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more efficiently. Best of all, less time and energy wasted on chasing people means more
time and energy for creativity.
The skills that pay the bills. You have to consistently produce quality output. This is not
about using any specific technique or tool, but being able to choose the right tools and
techniques for each situation. Its about knowing your studio, knowing your tools and being
able to get results quickly without wasting time. Your artists arent going to be impressed if
you spend half an hour tweaking a kick drum in front of them you just killed their
creativity. They came to you to capture their artistic vision and instead spent 30 minutes
listening to thud thud thud thud. Your clients arent going to be impressed if they asked for
an orchestral track and they receive something that sounds like a mid-90s GM synth. You
need to know how to get the right sounds quickly.
So what of helping others? Will you still keep your secrets, or will you share them? Let me suggest
that theres nothing to lose by sharing your knowledge, but theres certainly a lot to gain. Sharing
your knowledge will help your friends, your peers, your teammates. By learning engineering
techniques, theyll get better at realising their sonic vision. The less mindspace they use trying to
figure it out, the more mindspace they have available for being creative. And that results in better
music for all of us.
-Kim.
4. Leave your stereo widener at home. Stereo widening tricks might be fun to play with,
but theyll rob your mix of punch and power. If you want those foreground sounds (snare,
kick, bass, lead) to hit as hard as possible, stay clear of any stereo width manipulation.
Some subtle widening is sometimes useful for special background effects, but remember
if you do it, do it in moderation.
5. Be careful of the lower mids. The region between 100Hz and 1000Hz is the cause of
many troubles. Its very easy to put a mix together that has a lot of mud build-up in that
area. To get the ultimate clear mix, get brutal with an EQ! Make some big dips in the lower
mids for all background instruments, and make sure you dont have any excess lower mids
in your foreground instruments. You need to keep some lower mids, because thats where
your body and thickness comes from. Heres a secret though a mix with body and
thickness only needs a few foreground instruments to have that body and thickness. To put
it another way, a few fat foreground instruments makes for a fat mix. A lot of fat
instruments makes for a flabby mix.
With these mixing tips you should be able to get a few more decibels of clarity in mastering!
-Kim.
Now, go about adding some more parts! Fill in the gaps. Make it interesting. Build a musical
texture that has character and individuality. Even if its made up of loops, your choices and the
combination of loops will make for a unique sound. If you want to add a bit more individuality,
break out some crazy effects. Not just your regular EQs and compressors this is the place for
those strange modulation effects, sequenced effects, random beatslicers and other strange and
wonderful contraptions. Its the perfect place to use that cool experimental effect thats too drastic
for a main part, but you kept in your plugin folder just in case.
This doesnt just apply to electronic music. If youre working on pop or rock, mute the drum kit,
guitars, bass and vocals. Theres lots of room for adding extra background parts. Perhaps add
some more clean or distorted guitars. Try a different approach to micing your piano. Have some
fun with rhythmic vocal growls. Create new percussion parts from kitchen utensils. This is your
opportunity to try out a new instrument or recording technique. These are the kind of touches that
give a song a unique character, a sense of individuality.
By adding in these background parts, your mix will become fuller and thicker. It will also have
more character and texture. Even though your listeners dont usually comment on background
sounds, theyll notice something different about your sound. Try it!
-Kim.
Variety
Variety works in conjunction with two other aspects of the song length and coherence. For a
given amount of variety, a greater song length will result in more coherence . Similarly, for a given
song length, more variety will result in less coherence . Finally, coherence can be either good or
bad. Lets unpack that.
A song without enough coherence will sound fragmented and unfocussed because there are too
many unrelated musical ideas in it. A song with too much coherence will sound static and boring.
For a given amount of variety, a greater song length will result in more coherence. You hear this
happening when you have a great 8-bar idea and try to expand this into a full song without adding
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new material. What sounded fresh and exciting as a 20-second snippet suddenly sounds boring
and repetitive as a 4-minute song. Similarly, a collection of different ideas will sound jumbled and
random when theyre squeezed together in a sketch; give them space and time to breathe and
develop, however, and you have the makings of an interesting piece of music that actually makes
sense.
For a given song length, more variety will result in less coherence. You hear this when you have a
20-second loops repeated for a few minutes straight. This is a song with too much coherence its
boring and repetitive. Adding more variety will reduce the coherence making the song more
interesting. Similarly, if a song sounds too compositionally unfocussed, it could be that theres too
much variety. Reducing the variety (for example, by replacing some sections with variations or
developments of other sections) will increase the coherence and make the song sound more
focussed.
Drama
Being able to judge the right amount of variety in a song is an important skill to develop, but alone
its not enough. If youre trying to make your song more dynamic, its important to consider adding
more drama to the song. This involves two things increasing the difference between the
sections, and drawing attention to the changes between the sections.
Increasing the difference between the sections increases the scope and breadth of a song. Rather
than simply adding or subtracting layers, think about giving some sections a very different texture,
thickness, colour or pace. This also makes the song feel bigger because it covers a lot more
territory.
Drawing attention to the changes between the sections means paying particular attention to the
transitions. For gradual transitions (such as builds to a climax), think about ways to increase the
excitement and anticipation. A good way to approach this is to increase the rate of change. A
section of music will be more exciting if a change happens sooner or faster than expected. Make
more of the change occur in the second half of a transition. On the other hand, anticipation can be
increased by making a change occur later than expected.
For sudden transitions, try to emphasise the transition for example, for sudden transitions from a
low-energy section to a high-energy section, try making the end of the low-energy transition even
lower in energy, and the beginning of the high-energy section even higher in energy. Likewise, for
sudden transitions from a high-energy section to a low-energy section, try making the end of the
high-energy section even higher in energy, and the start of the low-energy section even lower in
energy. Make the transition even more sudden.
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How to combine
Quite simply, the techniques for combining instruments are the exact opposite to those for
separating them:
Similar register (pitch range)
Similar rhythms
Similar tonality (notes in the scale)
Similar volume
Similar sound character
Similar space (panning, depth)
And again, for best effect, you should use several of the above techniques when combining
instruments.
Of course, simply knowing how to separate or combine sounds is just part if the story you must
also know when to do it. When should you make two instruments more separate from each other?
When should you try to combine them?
When to separate
Youll get the best results in separating instruments when the parts played by those instruments
are already quite different. The best way to determine this is to think about the function each part
has what its contributing to the song or the mix.
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For example, you might have two melodic or harmonic parts in your song. You would be better off
separating them if one is playing long slow notes and is only heard during the climaxes of the
song, and the other part is playing small repeated arpeggios throughout most of the song. Even if
both parts are played with similar instruments, in the same pitch range and with the same tonality,
the two parts are definitely performing different functions in the song. To further separate them,
consider changing the instrument or sonic character, the pitch range, or perhaps the depth of one
or both parts. This will bring more clarity to the overall song. In other words you hear them as
different parts, so make them more different.
When to combine
The opposite is true when deciding when to combine instruments. If two parts are performing a
similar function in the song, theyre probably good candidates for being combined.
For example, you might have two parts that are playing short staccato rhythms (think of an
arpeggio with gaps between the notes). The two parts might be played by different instruments,
with different rhythms and different pan positions. Even still, they are both performing the same
function in the song. To combine them, consider making the pitch ranges, pan position, or sonic
character more similar. This will make your song more cohesive and and focussed. In other words
you hear them as similar parts, so make them more similar.
In applying these ideas, youll bring more focus and clarity to your music.
-Kim.
your mix sound suddenly smaller and (more) lifeless. But how much is enough? How do you know
when youve applied too much?
As usual, theres no single answer thats right for everyone. You need to consider where
your music will be played. Different targets and/or media will require different approaches.
For example, if youre expecting your music to be played in uncontrolled stereo spaces (such as
radio, shopping centres, or television) youd best take a conservative approach to the stereo space.
You dont know if people are going to be seated evenly between the two speakers, or if there even
will be two speakers. Ive had situations where my music was played back in mono by taking
only one side (not even by summing the two sides!).
On the other hand, if you intend your music to be enjoyed exclusively on headphones, or in
cinemas, installations, or other environments with a controlled stereo space you can afford to use
as little or as much stereo widening as you wish.
The difficulty comes when youre targeting a range of playback environments. You might have your
music available for download it might be the kind of music best enjoyed on headphones, but
youd also be happy for it to be played in cars, on computer speakers, or even iPod earbuds shared
with a friend. In cases like this, you need to find a middle ground where the amount of widening
doesnt compromise the audio quality in adverse environments, but is still sufficient to express the
creative intent of the song. Youll have to regularly check our mix in mono not just both sides
summed, but each side individually. Check your mix on headphones, on large speakers, small
speakers and earbuds.
Its a compromise.
-Kim.
that, if used effectively, can enhance the space in a mix. Try mixing a song entirely in mono
(or at least with every instrument panned centre), and then apply panning at the very last
stages of the mix. Youll hear the space open up in front of you.
5. Consider composition techniques. Although this post is mainly focussed on
engineering, composition has as much to do with creating space as mixing. Rhythm in
particular can have a significant effect of the sense of space in a song. You wont have
much space if everything is playing all the time (the effect is similar to the engineering
approach of making everything louder than everything else). Instead consider restricting
some instruments to off-beats, syncopated rhythms or using rhythmic counterpoint.
Similarly, consider the pitch range of your instruments. Greater pitch range and mobility will
open up space.
So next time your song is sounding too crowded, try this techniques and youll be on your way to
adding more space.
-Kim.
dance music is about as unexciting as it gets. Even if you have to use this for your kick drum (due
to stylistic constraints), theres a lot you can do with the other instruments to add excitement. Add
excitement by making musical events (notes, phrases, sounds etc) come in earlier than the listener
expects. This can be in the form of accents that come before the beat, or repeating patterns that
shift and change leading up to significant moments in the song.
Drum fills are a good example of this they add excitement leading in to a significant moment.
They work because the listener hears the drum elements (typically snare, kick and crash cymbal)
earlier and more frequently than expected. They shake up the listeners expectation that the
previous rhythm would continue. Experiment with taking a similar approach with other
instruments too shake up the established patterns at key points in the song. Making them faster
and denser will help add excitement. Also, think about other techniques too change the pitch,
the timbre (brightness open that lowpass filter!), the harmony (minor/major/etc), the interaction
with other parts there are endless possibilities.
With a bit of practice, youll soon be adding so much excitement to your songs that your listeners
will have trouble sleeping at night
-Kim.
should apply the same amount of change to the transient, regardless of how loud or soft the
sound is. Transient shapers are a subtle tool, and are best used when regular EQ and compression
tools are unable to be subtle enough.
As always, a clear understanding of your tools will help you create the sound youre imagining.
-Kim.
while leaving the mid channel (mostly) untouched. This is deliberate it allows the width to be
changed in a way that doesnt destroy the overall balance of the mix.
With these tips and a bit of practice, youll be soon finding your own uses for mid/side EQ.
-Kim.
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6. Get intimate with a neglected piece of gear. These are good times for musicians
instruments are more affordable and accessible than ever before. Chances are, youve got
an instrument that you havent explored as fully as you could whether it be a physical
instrument like a guitar or hardware synth, or a software instrument. Set yourself the task
of getting to know that instrument through and through. Compose some music using only
that instrument. Find creative solutions for sounds that the instrument isnt naturally good
at. Guitars can make percussive sounds. Monosynths can be overdubbed and layered to
form chords. Any sound can be completely transformed through effects processing.
7. Buy new gear. Or dont, and say you did. Yes, I said it. New gear is inspiring. The
more different to your current gear, the better. A good gear acquisition will actually
challenge you to think about making music in a different way. Its not just different
limitations and different possibilities, but a new way of navigating the musical space of
rhythm and harmony. The more you challenge your existing ideas about how to make
music, the easier it is to create new thoughts, new ideas and new music. Trying out new
gear is also fun and motivating. Even if you cant afford new equipment, you can still try to
imagine what your music might be like if you had an exciting new instrument. Try to push
your current gear to the limits while you try to recreate the sounds youre imagining.
By following these steps you should be refreshed and invigorated, ready to produce your next hit.
-Kim.
talk about the most. Try to move beyond the talk and take a good hard look at your work
environment, your workflow and practices. Be honest with yourself. Chances are, buying another
compressor or reverb isnt going to help you finish that project earlier or improve the quality of
your output. If youre serious about your music, you might be better served by spending some
time organising your studio space, or listening to fresh music, or simply spending more time
working (and less time watching TV, or browsing forums, or whatever your particular timewaster
is).
Another way of looking at it is this: If you have to ask someone else whether your tools are
adequate, your tools are not your limiting factor. If you cant tell whats wrong with them, then
theyre not holding you back.
The better you are at identifying your limiting factor, the better youll be able to push past it and
make better music.
-Kim.
Stronger velocity on off-beats (between the beats) for foreground parts or transitions (such
as drum fills).
No timing offset on the first beat. This just makes it easier to think about where the bar
starts.
No timing offset on the beat (1, 2, 3, 4). This provides a solid, stable beat.
Notes between the beats to be slightly late. You might already recognise this as swing or
shuffle, but Im talking about doing this much more subtly.
My usual groove within a beat is [0,10,20,10] assuming 120 ppq[1]. This means that instead of
every 16th note (semiquaver) being 30 ticks, the first two semiquavers are 40 ticks long, and the
next two are 20 ticks long. This means that theres a bit of lag between the beats. The effect of
this is that:
1. Strong notes on the beat have rock solid timing.
2. Strong notes on the beat have a bit of extra space after them, making them sound a bit
bigger.
3. Weak notes lead up to a strong note on the beat sound like they speed up leading up to
the strong note, adding excitement and emphasis.
4. Strong notes off the beat have a bit more funk and groove.
Combined with lower velocities for the offset notes, this is usually not audible as an obvious swing
or shuffle. For me, it adds just enough groove that I often dont feel the need to add additional
variations including random variations to make a part sound human.
Humanising is more than just adding random variations to timing and velocity (volume and tone).
The changes must be musical.
-Kim.
[1] PPQ: Pulses Per Quarter. One beat (crotchet) is 120 ticks. Half a beat (quaver) is 60 ticks. A
bar (semibreve) is 480 ticks.
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This is not to say that ugly vocals are bad theyre ugly in the sense of being unconventional,
interesting and unique. The challenge is that it can sometimes be very difficult to make them work
in a mix. And its easy to get stuck or waste a lot of time with techniques that dont work. So next
time youve got some ugly vocals to deal with, try think about these tips:
1. Pitch correction. No, dont turn your singer into a robot. Its worth trying, however, using
stronger pitch correction than you normally would use. It wont make a bad singer any less
bad, but it can help fit an instrument into the mix in a way that EQ and compression
(obviously) cant.
2. Low mids. Pay attention to the lower mids anywhere between 100Hz and 1kHz.
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Problems in this range can sometimes be quite difficult to identify. Sometimes all thats
needed is a dip at 250Hz. Dont overlook (or overlisten?) the possibility that you might need
more lower mids. This can be particularly true for thin or strident vocals. Sometimes a
subtle bump in the lower mids can bring back some much-needed warmth or weight.
3. 2.5khz. I almost always try a dip here. Be careful this is where a lot of the voices
character is. Sometimes, however, theres a bit too much character in a singers
voice. Dipping around 2.5kHz can make a voice sound smoother. Too much, however, will
make the voice disappear into mix itll blend too well and lose definition.
4. More compression. Another characteristic that a lot of ugly vocals have is dynamic peaks
the problem not being the tonal balance, but the strong peaks or wide dynamic range. In
these cases its worth trying stronger compression lower threshold, higher ratio, faster
response. It might make the compression more obvious, but it might not be a problem if
the voice already has an unusual character.
5. Learn to embrace it! In trying to reign in an ugly vocal, dont lose sight (or sound) of the
context. Try to capture, rather than suppress, the unique character of the voice. Dont get
carried away in trying to conform the vocal youll end up destroying the sound, destroying
the mix, and wasting your time. Instead, approach the character of the vocal as a critical
contributor to the character and identity of the song, the album or the artist.
With these techniques up your sleeve, you should be able to do something with any singer that
comes your way.
-Kim.
tuning your kick drum but keep in mind that your choices shouldnt be solely based on this! In
other words, dont let the kick or the mix suffer for the sake of tuning!
The other important thing to remember is not to hold yourself back from using a variety of chords
or keys in your song. Being too tied to the tuning of the kick might cause you to avoid this to the
detriment of the song. Its more important to express yourself musically using all the compositional
techniques at your disposal than it is to keep the kick in key with the bass all the time.
So next time youre thinking of tuning your kick drum, think about why youre doing it and make
sure you dont get carried away!
-Kim.
together all the sections of your song. To improve coherence, consider aspects such as these:
Instrumentation (sounds)
Tonality (key, chords, scale)
Groove (timing, rhythmic modes)
Melodic ideas (recurring motifs and melodies)
Contour (relationship in the overall structure in the song)
Of course, you need to strike a balance! Too much coherence will bore your listener, just as too
little coherence will confuse your listener.
The next step is to be able to deliberately vary the coherence in a song. Not just randomly but to
deliberately choose different levels of coherence at different points in the song.
For example, you might choose to have a high level of coherence at the beginning of the song, in
order to establish the musical language of the song and familiarise the listener with the principal
musical ideas. Similarly, you might want to have a lower level of coherence in the middle of the
song (or two thirds in such as the bridge), in order to surprise and provoke the listener, and
develop the song in a new direction. You might want to return to a higher level of coherence at
the end of the song in order to create a satisfying conclusion and provide a sense of arrival or
return for the listener.
-Kim.
Laziness in composition
Laziness in composition manifests itself in a lack of variation, a lack of contour, a lack of movement
and detail.
Sure, its ok to use loops. Loops are a great way of fleshing out the structure of a song to get
the length and pacing right once youve established the initial musical ideas, and to try out
different arrangements or instrumentations.
But to leave the loops unmodified is laziness. You song wants to develop over time, to gain
momentum, to move forward so why are your loops static and unchanging? Even minor
variations can make a difference. At the very least, include some variation leading into significant
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changes and transitions. Otherwise theres no difference between what youre doing and what the
Garageband kids are doing.
Its tedious. Sometimes its not much fun. But if you want to make the best music you can, dont
be lazy. Roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty, and get stuck in. Start by setting aside an hour
or two just for getting into the nitty gritty. Do it.
Laziness in production
Laziness in production tends to manifest itself as a lack of creativity. Youll see this when a
producer (such as yourself) makes the same choices for all the songs in an album the same
instrumentation, the same song structure, the same playing style, the same creative direction.
Sure, there needs to be some significant unifying factor across the songs, but it needs to be
balanced with a degree of exploration and creative freedom.
A lazy producer will also fail to push the artist and musicians to give their very best. An engaged
producer will often record several takes, including individual sections and punch-ins, all the while
providing specific guidance and coaching to the performer in between each take. A lazy producer
will capture a couple of takes and say its fine. Mediocre.
If you are the producer in this situation, take a good hard look at yourself. And put some effort in.
Do something interesting. Get engaged. Youre there to provide creative direction, to make
creative decisions. So make them. Make decisions, and make them creatively. And follow through
on your decisions. Dont be satisfied with mediocre performances. Dont stop when you hit good
enough. Stop when you hit the best we can get. Take no prisoners.
If youre the artist in this situation, pluck up the courage to tell your producer what your
expectations are. Tell her/him that youre expecting to be pushed, challenged, guided. By someone
competent. Otherwise, you may as well produce yourself.
Laziness in engineering
Yes, weve all been there. Let me count the ways.
Using the same chain of processors, no matter what the sound source is.
Presets.
Making edits without crossfades or filling in gaps.
Automatic pitch correction without note-by-note tweaking.
Presets.
Speaking about slapping on a processor, or playing with the controls.
Its my favourite microphone, it sounds good on everything.
Not backing up the session files at the end of every session.
Presets.
Stop cutting corners. Start caring.
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relative to the sound itself. It makes no sense for the settings to be determined by someone
without hearing the input signal. To drive the point home:
1. Its like adding salt to your food without tasting it first. How do you know how much salt to
add, or if it even needs salt?
2. Bright Snare preset? What snare? What style of playing? What song? What mix? Oh, itll
sound good with any snare? Really?
The exception here is for effects that change the sound so much that they effectively become just
as important as the source sound. The obvious example of this is guitar amp simulators, but
equally applies to a lot of creative distortion, filtering and delay effects. These types of effects are
as much a part of the sound as the original sound source, and their presets function similarly to
synthesiser presets there is often as much artistry in how its played as in how the sound is
designed.
Ultimately, you have to do whats best for the music. Using presets will only get you partway there.
-Kim.
PS. As a side note, a lot of fun can be had by by incorporating presetless effects into your
workflow! The best example of effects without presets is guitar pedals particularly analogue
pedals. Or things like this and this and these.
2010/07/08 - Obsession
This is a post about Obsession not the personality trait, but the project!
http://kimlajoie.bandcamp.com/album/obsession
Over the last year and a half I ran a project called Obsession. Its purpose was to showcase
several of the artists I work with and explore the grey areas between genres. It features twelve
artists most of which are singers and songwriters. We spent the whole of 2009 writing and
recording the album, and the first half of this year preparing for a live show (which was performed
in May this year).
From a production perspective, working on Obsession was an interesting process. There was a
wide variety of collaboration and working styles. Some artists wrote the whole song and then gave
me free reign to do what I liked with it. Others came only with a few ideas and we developed
those ideas into full songs together. Some artists were fairly hands-off, only coming to a few
sessions to record parts and keep track of where the song was at, other artists came to every
single session (either to contribute to the production process or to just watch and learn). Some
artists were very clear about the creative direction they wanted, some gently guided the process,
and others trusted my judgement and let me drive.
For me personally, it was a great change from working on my solo album. Where my solo album
was 100% my own creative direction, Obsession was a deliberate effort to hand creative control to
other artists, to make every song a collaboration. Id worked with other artists on projects before,
but not on something this big, and not on something where I was taking personal responsibility for
the outcome.
From an engineering perspective, this was a particularly interesting project to work on because it
was so diverse. There was everything from rock/metal to hiphop to folk to electronica and there
were some really inventive sounds too! It was a challenge to bring it all together and give the
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2010/07/08 - Obsession
2010/07/08 - Obsession
follower but where envelope followers are commonly used to drive compressors and filters, this
one was used to drive a pitch shifter (mod delay actually)! The main vocal is compressed (so its all
the same level), but the effect was triggered by the uncompressed vocal. You can ear the syllables
that were sung loudest were pitch shifted the most.
I Love You Baby I dont know where to start with this one. There are so many layers, so many
cool tricks. I just went crazy here lots of pitch shifted vocals, lots of live-performed distortion and
filtering. I even indulged in some trance stutter synths! The Guitar solo at 4:20 is one of my
favourite sounds. Ive used it on a few projects (hear it on Star at 1:37 for example). Does anyone
else use this sound?
World Order I almost didnt include this on the album, thinking it was too avant-guard. Turns
out a lot of people liked it, and it worked really well live! Loving the feedback it almost sounds
like a didgeridoo (especially at the end).
http://kimlajoie.bandcamp.com/album/obsession
-Kim.
Development
A song having a sense of development means that the listener hears the song grow and unfold as
it progresses. This makes for a more compelling and engaging experience for the listener because
there is a level of intrigue and surprise, simultaneously with a feeling of being taken along for a
ride. When there is new musical material, it is not like changing the channel it builds on previous
material, appearing as the next extension. In some cases, this can come across as the original
material growing out and becoming larger or more complex than before. In other cases, it can
come across as additional detail being revealed as if the listener is zooming in and seeing more.
To give your music a sense of development, you need to think beyond musical structure being a
collection of sections in a logical order. You need to think about each musical element. Not
necessarily instruments or tracks but musical elements. This includes:
Characteristic sounds
Melodies
Rhythms
Chord progressions
Think about ways in which they can be extended or expanded, and see how those extensions work
as developments of the original material.
Another approach is to take a musical element thats already quite complex, and reduce its
complexity. The reduced version becomes the original the form in which the listener first hears
it. As the song progresses, bring the complexity back in.
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Momentum
Momentum is a sense of moving forward. Think of it as using development with a deliberate rate
of change. The rate of change is key here.
Beginning composers often make music where the rate of change is too slow. This can be the case
if each section is too long even if the song has a good contour, and even if theres a good sense
of development. When the sections are too long, the listener gets bored and stops anticipating the
next section. In other words, you lose momentum. This happens regardless of how exciting
rhythms or loops are. Even if its 150bpm high-energy techno a minute of the same bar over and
over again has no momentum.
At the other extreme, a rate of change thats too fast will confuse and disorient the listener.
Instead of excitement, youll end up with randomness. If the listener cannot understand the music,
theres no anticipation and no momentum.
What rate of change is right? This is a matter of judgement, and different sections of a song will
require different rates of change depending on the contour of the song. As a composer (or
producer), you have to develop your own sense of pace.
With a bit more work in giving your music a greater sense of development and momentum, youll
make your music more compelling and keep your listeners coming back.
-Kim.
2010/07/19 - Contour
Contour is the overall shape of a song. While structure refers to the order and length of sections
within the song, contour refers to how those sections relate, how they react to each other, and
how they flow.
Contour includes the rises and falls in energy level, the establishment and return to main themes,
and the development of musical elements. When a song has a well-defined and sensible contour,
the listener will better understand the music and feel the anticipation and excitement as intended.
When a song has a poor contour, the listener will feel lost and alienated.
Energy level
A song with a good contour will have variations in energy level. Periods of high energy energise
and excite the listener, whereas periods of low energy provide relief and anticipation for the
listener. Effective placement of high energy sections and low energy sections is an important
consideration when designing the structure of a song. If the changes are too slow, you lose
momentum and the listeners attention. The changes are too fast, you dont give the listener
enough to recognise and latch on to.
Main themes
Musical themes give your listeners a way to remember parts of the song not just after listening
to the song, but during it. By establishing one or two main themes at the beginning of the song,
you can then guide the listener through familiar material and unfamiliar material. A good song
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2010/07/19 - Contour
needs both, for similar reasons as needing different energy levels. Familiar material provides
reassurance and recognition for the listener, whereas unfamiliar material provides excitement and
development. Of course, too much of either will make for a weak song (too much familiarity
becomes boring, too much unfamiliarity sounds like randomness). A good contour will require
effective placement of familiar and unfamiliar material to guide the listener through the song.
Traditionally, musical themes are entirely melodic (or harmonic) recognisable motifs, melodies,
chord progressions, or other such material. Depending on your own approach to music, however,
thematic material may also include characteristic sounds, or even distinctive effects processing.
Development
A song with good contour will unfold and grow over time and take the listener along with it. Not
only that, but the development of the song will occur in a deliberate way throughout the song
working together with the flow of energy and the placement of musical themes. Ive written more
about development here:
http://kimlajoie.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/development-and-momentum/
With a good understanding of contour, youll be able to make your music more engaging and
enjoyable for your listeners. More than simply being a collection of musical ideas, good contour will
give your song shape and cohesion.
-Kim.
(and for MIDI the performance), rendering those tracks to audio files creates a snapshot
that cannot be changed much (or without difficulty). This can be made part of a project
workflow to mark the end of one stage and the beginning of the next stage.
Obviously, there are a couple of downsides. One is the track space. In a DAW environment,
rendered audio files take up additional hard drive space. This is usually not an issue, because hard
drives are cheap and high-capacity. Its more of an issue with hardware recording systems,
because some have some very strict restrictions on how many simultaneous tracks are available at
once.
The other downside is that it prevents further editing of the track both the effects processing
settings and (for MIDI) the performance. This is usually mitigated by keeping a deactivated copy
of the original realtime generated track.
Personally, I use track rendering at two points in my workflow:
1. When the artist brings their demo to my studio. My artists work on a variety of
platforms, so I ask them to render each track to bring them into my studio for further work.
2. When using hardware instruments, hardware effects processors, or CPU-heavy
plugins. Obviously, this is to allow these tools to be used many times in a project. It also
allows projects to be recalled at later sessions (I use some hardware devices that are very
complex and have no presets). I also use a CPU-heavy amp simulator, which I routinely
render to audio as its being recorded because I prefer not to have restrictions on how
many guitar parts I use (and its no different to recording an audio file of a physical amp).
The decisions and if and when you render tracks to audio depends on your project workflow, your
studio resources and your preferred style of working. Obviously, there are no generic rules just
what works for you.
-Kim.
based on the old one, but stands on its own not in the originals shadow.
Chop it up into little pieces and throw it to the winds (granular synthesis). Use the vocal
recording as sonic material to be transformed into something completely different. This
applies to any extreme processing. Create new sonic textures or other musical material that
isnt melodically related to the original performance. This can be particularly powerful if the
processing retains some character of the original sound so that the resulting sound is
familiar but not recognisable.
Change the time signature. This can be a good idea if youre feeling low on inspiration or
direction. If the original is 4/4, recast it as 3/4. Or 6/8. Or 5/4 if youre feeling daring!
Taking this approach will instantly open up new musical ideas and provoke you to create
something inventive.
Record another performance of it. This is verging away from remix territory into cover
territory, but can be particularly effective if the new performance is combined with sonic
elements of the original song either original vocal snippets or other sounds and
instruments. Interesting things can happen if you blend the boundaries between remixes
and covers
These ideas should kick start a few of your own ideas. Experiment! Be creative! Whatever you do,
dont simply add a dance kick drum and call it a day! Theres a whole musical world of
transformations and recomposition go exploring!
-Kim.
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Often amateur music requires more focus and coherence with regard to main themes.
Development and momentum are lacking. Theres not enough contrast or dynamics. The contour is
not clear. The balance between stability and instability can be improved.
Its not that amateur artists are bad composers. It takes skill and experience to know how to hear
(let alone control) all these different aspects of composition. Theyre subtle more subtle than mix
engineering in many cases. But they are as subtle as they are powerful. And its this difference
that sets the more refined music apart.
-Kim.
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Composition
Dont work on your mix. Work on your composition skills.
Focus on what the listener will hear. No-ones going to care how analogue your kick drum
sounds if your song is boring and uninspired. It doesnt matter how tape-like your mix
bus chain sounds if the singer sounds like she just woke up.
Melodies. Doing interesting things with sound doesnt count for much unless youre also
doing interesting things with the notes. Learn how to compose an interesting melody. Dont
just read a few online articles practice! If you spent half the time writing melodies as you
do reading internet guff about plugins, youd be coming up with beguiling and captivating
melodies without trying.
Harmonies. Dont just choose four chords and repeat them forever. Develop them. Let them
grow and evolve throughout the song. Extend the chords. Use substitutions. Use slash
chords. Vary the pace for dramatic effect.
Rhythm. Enough four-on-the-floor. Disco is over. DJs have enough music to last until the
sun spectacularly devours us all. Do something interesting. Thats not enough. Now do it in
7/8. Alternate between 6/4 and 4/4. Seamlessly move between straight and shuffle. Vary
the amount of syncopation for dramatic effect. Use composite time signatures. Juxtapose
them. Some of the suggestions are silly, some arent and you wont know the difference
until you try them.
Preproduction
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Rehearsal
Dont work on your mix. Rehearse your parts.
Physical instruments. Yes, I know weve got Elastic Audio and Autotune and endless disk
space for multiple takes but theyre no substitute for a good performance. Editing can
turn a sloppy or lazy performance into a competent one. It cant, however, turn even a
competent performance into an inspired one. Editing cant add expression or feeling or
excitement to a performance. No technology can it comes from the performer. And the
performer can only do it after hours of practice and honing the craft. So get on it.
Virtual instruments. Oh, you thought virtual instruments are different to physical
instruments? Take a look at those black and white keys under your fingers. Take a look at
those assignable knobs. Make a performance of it. Put some expression into it.
Oh yeah. That sounds like a lot of work. Making music is a lot of work. Cry me a river. You think
you can become successful by being lazy? Yes, you do want to be successful. Success isnt a
record label contract or a sold-out stadium. Success is honing your craft. Success is becoming
insanely good at what you do. Success is shipping.
And if you see yourself exclusively as a mix engineer? Make sure your clients do all the above.
-Kim.
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Thats right dont make space for vocals in the mix. When assembling a mix, there are roughly
three scenarios you might encounter when working with vocals:
The vocal is the main foreground instrument. In this case, the best results will be had
by starting the mix with the vocal. If youve already got a mix that youre trying to
shoehorn a lead vocal into, its too late. Start again. Make the vocal really shine. Make sure
it sounds exactly how it needs to, and then bring the other instruments back in around the
vocal. The vocal is the most important part of the mix and the song dont compromise it
by jamming it into a sans-vocal mix.
The vocal is a background or supporting part. In this case, the vocal is not the most
important part of the song. It might be background vocal harmonies, or inconsequential
samples in an otherwise-instrumental dance track. For these situations, dont carve up the
mix to accommodate the vocal instead you should carve up the vocal to fit in the mix.
Often this means reducing the low mids (to make the sound smaller) and applying stronger
compression (to flatten the envelope).
The vocal actually doesnt fit in the mix, or isnt appropriate. In this case, the vocal
is probably masked by another foreground instrument. Dont waste your time trying to
perform an impossible task youll wear yourself out and destroy your mix in the process.
Instead decide whether the vocal is important enough to keep (that is, it falls into one of
the above scenarios). If it is, you need to identify and remove the elements of the mix that
are masking the vocal. This is usually quite easy to do mute the tracks one at a time and
listen for which tracks make the vocal clearer. Once you remove the elements are masking
the vocal, you can then follow the approach in one of the first two scenarios above.
Vocals are an important part of many songs, and have a distinct recognisable quality thats unlike
any other instrument. When mixing a song with vocals, its critically important to understand the
role of the vocals in the song. This understanding will guide you toward the best approach to
making them work in the mix.
-Kim.
Compression. Yes, drums love compression. Everywhere else has written about this, and
theres no need to repeat it all here. Try out a bunch of compressors and see which ones
you like the best.
Dynamics. This is not about compression. Of course youve read elsewhere about using
compression on drums. Of course compression is important, but dynamics is more than just
compression. Dynamics is the difference and changes between quiet and loud. Making sure
youve got a good balance of quiet and loud sections in your song is key when the loud
sections come in, theyll be very effective. If everything is loud all the time, it will be much
less effective.
Reverb. Its not just for pushing sounds to the background. Use a programmable reverb
and set it up with the biggest size, but shortest length. This will give you a great giant sized
reverb that doesnt muddy up the mix. You wont need to add much to the drums just
enough to give them some space. If your reverb processor is particularly good, use more of
it and compress the lot use a reverb->compression chain on a kick&snare group.
Space. Make sure the drums arent competing for space against the rest of the mix. A few
huge instruments (such as a bass and lead) are ok, but if everything in your mix is big the
drums simply wont cut through with enough power. Remember if everything is huge,
nothing is huge.
Theres really not much more to it. If you can abide by these guidelines, youll have beats as big as
you want every time. Sucks to live next to you.
-Kim.
It is a common mistake to make music where the rate of change is too slow. This is often where
sections are too long even if the song has a good contour, and even if theres a good sense of
development. When the sections are too long, the listener gets bored and stops anticipating the
next change. In other words, you lose momentum. This happens regardless of how exciting
rhythms or loops are a minute of the same bar over and over again has no momentum.
At the other extreme, a rate of change thats too fast will confuse and disorient the
listener. Instead of excitement, youll end up with randomness. If the listener cannot understand
the music, theres no anticipation and no momentum.
The appropriate rate of change is a matter of judgement it depends on the creative direction,
the musical material, and the expectations of the listener. Additionally, different sections of a song
will require different rates of change depending on the contour of the song. Faster rates of
change will add excitement and momentum, slower rates of change will provide relief.
-Kim.
listen to the sound in context in the mix. Sometimes the problem really is an ugly resonance that
should be reducing using a notch EQ but more often its something to do with the way several
sounds are interacting together. And these problems are most often caused by inadequate
monitoring or a lack of direction and focus.
-Kim.
Making instrumental music just as interesting and exciting is certainly possible. You just need other
ways of telling a story and keeping the listeners attention. Without vocals, you just have to work a
bit harder.
The first thing you need to get right is the structure of the music. A lot of vocal music follows
common song form (verse1-chorus-verse2-chorus-bridge-chorus), but instrumental music doesnt
have a default structure youll have to come up with it yourself. This requires consideration of
contour, proportion and coherence. Contour is the overall shape of the music how the energy
and the texture changes over time. Proportion is the relative lengths of each section. Coherence is
the balance between musical material and the time you have to express it.
The other important factor to consider is development. This is how the musical material evolves
and changes. If the musical material doesnt develop, the listener quickly becomes familiar with it
(and then gets bored). In order to maintain interest, the listener should be guided through a
musical journey. This is similar to a good film, where the characters grow and become more 3D as
we learn more about them, and as they themselves change in response to their situation. In this
way, your musical material are like characters.
Youll also need to make conscious decisions about focus. Most vocal music typically has a lead
vocal part in the foreground this is what is placed at the front of the mix, and what the listener
focusses on. If your music doesnt have vocals, youll need to think about what other musical
element is going to be the focus for your listener. This is more than just choosing something and
placing it in the foreground it has to be a part that is interesting enough to maintain the
listeners attention. This might be a melody, but it can be anything so long as it is interesting
enough to attract and hold the listeners attention. Obviously, clever development plays a big role
here.
Ive written in more detail about some of these considerations here:
http://kimlajoie.wordpress.com/2009/05/16/what-makes-structure-work/
http://kimlajoie.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/development-and-momentum/
-Kim.
should be as subtle and transparent as possible. The idea is to do as little damage to the creative
decisions that were made in the mix. The headroom adjustment is to ensure the sound is at an
appropriate level within the dynamic range limitations of the chosen medium. Obviously this
usually means making it louder, but also remember that not all music needs to be crushed to the
point where the character of the mix changes. Like tone adjustments, this should do as little
damage to the mix as possible.
The relationship between a good mix and a good master is similar to the relationship between a
good performance and a good mix. A good performance will still shine through a bad mix.
Likewise, a bad performance isnt elevated at all by a good mix. A good mix doesnt improve any
performance. Its just a clear presentation of that performance. And its the same for mastering a
good master doesnt improve the sound of the mix, its just a clear presentation of that mix.
Mastering cant make a good song better. It cant make a good mix better. And it certainly cant
make a bad one into a good one. Ive written more about mastering here:
http://kimlajoie.wordpress.com/tag/mastering/
-Kim.
song using only one kind of tool to really learn the ins and outs of it.
Whatever you do dont assume that talent will get you by, or that a lack of talent will hold you
back. A natural aptitude or enjoyment will motivate you to work harder, but its the hard work that
will really push you forward.
-Kim.
Polishing lyrics
Tightening the structure
Clarifying instrumentation and creative direction (sound and feel!)
Enhancing expressive performance
Directing rehearsals
Essentially, this is the point at which the songwriter has written the song and taken it as fas as
s/he can alone. Its at this point that an experienced third party (a producer!) approaches the song
with a fresh set of ears and provides advice and assistance to take it to the next level.
For a lot of music requiring live performances (such as bands), this is the perfect opportunity to
make these kinds of improvements. Sometimes its possible to to things like changing the structure
or a few lyrics after recording, but its usually difficult to make it sound natural.
For composers and producers working on electronic music (electronic performers?), this line is
blurred. Often composing, performance, recording and mixing all happen in parallel all together.
For these kinds of projects, taking time out to devote to preproduction probably seems archaic and
unnecessary.
However, even electronic music benefits from the advice and guidance of an experienced third
party even if that role isnt called a producer anymore. For the electronic music workflow, its
usually more appropriate to bring in the third party toward the end of the mix. This is when the
composer/producer has taken it as far as s/he can alone. For a traditional recording workflow, this
is too late because audio recordings of live performances are not easy to change but for the
electronic music workflow (especially when using MIDI and software instruments) even drastic
changes such as changing the chords or key of the song can be made after the mix is finished.
While this is essentially the same preproduction that traditional songwriters and producers know,
the name itself can be misleading!
Maybe we need a new name. Any ideas?
-Kim.
here, and Ive got some ideas for how we can do that even better.
When working on lyrics, often improvements fall into these categories:
Themes. Sometimes an artist will present lyrics that are unclear or confusing. This is often
the result of the lyric being pieced together from multiple scraps, having been written in
several sessions (often with big gaps in between!), or coming up with a great line and not
having the courage to throw it away if it doesnt fit the song. Often the artist doesnt (want
to) realise the song is confusing because s/he understands the intent perfectly the clarity
is lost in translation from the mind to the paper. Improving lyrics along thematic lines
require identifying the primary (and secondary) themes of the song, establishing the
thematic arc of the song, and shaping the lyrics to focus on those themes and fit within the
arc. Most of the time, this doesnt require much change a few strategic cuts and shifts is
often enough to break through.
Structure. Sometimes an artist will have great lyrics for a song, but the song suffers due
to too much repetition or not enough repetition. In some cases its just one section that
meanders aimlessly and loses momentum. In other cases the lyrics tell a story that doesnt
seem to go anywhere. Once structural issues are identified, its usually quite easy to
remedy. Its not about making a song conform to the standard verse-chorus-verse-chorusbridge-chorus structure its about assessing and understanding the song on its merits and
developing a structure that tells the story in an effective and memorable way.
Flow and melody. In a lot of cases an artist will have slaved over the lyrics for a song,
but the flow and melody appear to be an afterthought. The giveaway is when there are
unimportant words emphasised and important words de-emphasised, or there are awkward
moments where a lot of syllables have been squeezed into a short space of time.
Sometimes the solution is to simply change the melody. Other times the lyrics need to be
rearranged slightly. Not all words in a songs lyrics are equally important some words are
pivotal, some are emotional, some words are merely passing words necessary for clear
grammar. The pivotal and emotional words should be sung with more emphasis by given
them more time and giving them higher pitches in the melody.
A lot of the time, a songs lyrics dont need to be changed much. On the occasions that the lyrics
need a *lot* of work I usually spend a session with the artist identifying and discussing the issues
and tell her/him to rework the lyrics and present them again another day. As a producer, I avoid
writing lyrics for the artist. I sometimes suggest changes, but it is always up to the artist to make
the changes. Ultimately, the lyrics are the artists voice and s/he must be absolutely comfortable
delivering them.
-Kim.
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2. I (the producer) am the creative director. For these projects, I am in charge. I call the
shots. I get to make music that excites and challenges me. Where I use other collaborators
artists and musicians they are coming along for the ride. Where the previous scenario is
of the artist hiring me for their project, this scenario is more like me hiring the artist for my
project.
Once its clear who is driving the creative direction for the project, its then important to establish
what the creative direction is for the whole project, and for each song. This is a discussion that
need to be had in terms of colours, textures, feelings, instruments, etc. Sometimes this is quite
clear and direct, other times the artist is less clear either s/he doesnt know, or has difficulty
expressing it.
When establishing the creative direction for a project or song, its important to share common
ground common reference points so that you both know that youre understanding each other.
Often an easy way to start this process is to present some musical references I often ask the
artist to bring in some favourite CDs that capture some of the essence of what s/he wants to
achieve.
Another good resource for establishing common vocabulary is the AMG mood
list: http://allmusic.com/explore/moods. I like to choose a selection of words from this list that
captures the creative direction of the project. This selection of words is also a useful resource
when working with other contributors - such as session musicians and graphic designers.
Once the creative direction is established and agreed upon, the artist and myself can intelligently
and constructively discuss various aspects of the instrumentation and other musical aspects of
each song. I can make suggestions that the artist hadnt thought of but still support the creative
direction of the song. The artist can more easily explain the intent of the song. It gives us a
framework to decide whether ideas are appropriate or not. It helps give us the courage to discard
good ideas that dont fit.
Without establishing the creative direction for the song or the project, confusion and
miscommunication is inevitable. It makes it difficult to tell the difference between effective
composition/production and personal taste.
After all, how can you take the artists music to the next level if you cant agree on what the next
level is?
-Kim.
Ill be expressing thoughts about making music that dont need a full blog post.
Ill be posting and discussing links to other peoples websites and blog posts.
I wont be announcing my blog posts there. Its a totally separate thing.
I wont be linking to my own blog posts or music projects (unless someone asks me to).
Ill be happy to answer questions or talk about anything interesting.
Itll be a bit more personal, a bit more informal. See you there!
-Kim.
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Often an artist will bring in a demo recording using loops that are static (unchanging) throughout
the whole song. Even if the loops sound great and perfectly capture the vibe of the song, they can
make the whole thing a bit uninteresting to listen to. Verbatim repetition has an effect of flattening
the contour of the song.
Exploring and enhancing the range of the song requires exploring and enhancing the range of
each individual part in the song. Its not enough to simply add more layers at the high points and
remove layers at the low points. Its easy to fall into this trap because it works. Really. Simply
adding and removing layers is an effective way to shape the contour of the song. But theres so
much more that can be done. And the producers role is to dig deeper and go further than the
artist, in order to better realise the potential of the music.
-Kim.
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A producer can help the artist with the rehearsal process. In many cases, the artist is quite capable
of organising musicians, working out parts for them and conducting rehearsals. In some cases,
however, the artist needs a little help.
Organising musicians is something that a producer can naturally help with. Quite often, an
experienced producer has a wide network of musicians to draw upon wider than most artists
group of friends. For specialised tasks, a producer can often find the right musician for the job.
Writing parts for musicians is also something that a producer can assist with. This can range from
scoring string sections to jamming with a bassist. The producers experience in working with a
wide range of music provides the perspective and knowledge of how to make best use of
musicians for a project. A producer with classical music training is especially useful if classical
musicians such as string players are to be used on the project. Classical musicians often
require notated music to be provided. Alternatively, an arranger can be hired to score the parts.
Conducting rehearsals is another activity that a producer can do well. The producers skill and
experience in project management makes a big difference to the smooth and effective running of
a rehearsal. Rehearsals involving several musicians also has the added complication of having to
coordinate mutually-available session times and booking rehearsal studio time. Again, having the
producer take care of this allows the artist to focus on the song and the performance.
-Kim.
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164
and chord substitution, youll have a really hard time trying to understand the harmonies used in a
lot of music. Similarly, if you have no idea how a compressor works, you wont know why the
drums sound so upfront and powerful.
This is why is so useful to be able to ask for advice from more experienced people. They can hear
what you cant hear, and are able to explain what you need to know. This is why its so important
to find a platform (such as a community or online forum) that allows a lot of different people to
exchange ideas, and for more inexperienced members to learn from those with more experience.
-Kim.
Ok, so its not a single post, but I couldnt fit them all in otherwise! Seriously, preproduction is
really important no matter what kind of music youre making. Unfortunately its all too easy to
forget about putting the time and effort into preproduction when fun and exciting gear calls!
Preproduction isnt sexy, and I think it doesnt attract much attention and discussion. It could also
be because it doesnt rely on gear, so gear manufacturers arent drawing attention to it in the
same way they do to more gear-heavy activities such as mixing or playing live.
Dont make better mixes. Make better music.
Cranky Kim came out here, and while the tone was a bit acerbic the message was true. Theres so
many different aspects to making music, and so much discussion seems to be about just a small
slice of it. Its important to remember that theres a lot more to it, and to think about some of the
aspects that you might not have been paying much attention to lately.
Development and momentum
A lot of composers and producers need to improve here. Structure is much more than regular
forms
(intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-doublechorus-outro,
or
intro-beat-melodybreakdown-build-melody). Its about the subtle balances of all the elements that make up the
music and the structure. Two songs could have the same rough structure, but have very different
feels and listener experiences. Its not an easy topic to get your head around, and Im trying to
make it easier to understand and more importantly, put into practice. In fact, email subscribers
will be getting some more PDF guides this year focussing on structure
How to get out of a rut and rediscover inspiration
Not much to say here just a great collection of tips and advice to get back to work when
everything seems to fall apart. My favourite is the first tip (Dont take a break). Seriously, if you
want to produce great work, you have to work. Taking a break is a great way to stop producing
great work (or any work at all).
Your tools are not your competitive advantage
This one seems to have flown under the radar (no comments really?). Maybe its because it was
a bit too long, or because it wasnt about which compressor makes the biggest kick drums. Maybe
both. Seriously though, check it out if you havent already read it. Read it again. And then quit
squabbling over whos got the biggest subbass, or pretending that the reason youre not successful
is because you havent discovered the right limiter yet.
Thoughts:
Seems all your favourites are about practical advice for mixing. Seems all my favourites are about
why theres more to life than mixing. Notice anything? Im trying to show you something. Hang
around this year and well both achieve amazing things.
-Kim.
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168
The experience part is being able to hear in your head the main features of the bassline the
timing and groove, and the harmony and melodic movement. Its a skill in being able to say oh,
this song goes like *this*, it needs *this* kind of bassline. It requires having a wide range of
musical taste and knowledge, and being able to draw upon that in a musical context.
The music theory knowledge comes in when its time to choose the individual notes. Its a skill in
being able to work out what the harmony context of the song is (what the chords are, the
scale/mode, the melodic language of the song, etc) and using that to know what notes will work
well and best support the music.
-Kim.
doing doesnt support the song. And if you think its ok, it most certainly is.
-Kim.
with
the
kind
permission
of
Larry
172
A modern dense sound should focus on a more compact scooped sound. Start by bringing forward
the bass guitar and dipping the upper mids in the guitars. Make sure the bass guitar and drums
are as compressed as possible (without starting to sound silly). More noticeable mix bus
compression will also make a big difference to the overall vibe of the mix. Id suggest fast attack
and release times with a low ratio.
Which direction you take with the mix will depend on the creative direction of the project.
==
This is an example of a single Kitchen consultation. If you would find this kind of feedback useful
for your own music, get in touch with me.
- $20 will get you one consultation (basically the same as this example, but in private, with your
music).
- $50 will get you three consultations or one studio demo (where I do an exmaple edit or mix of
your music to better demonstrate how some concepts would apply to your music)
- $100 will get you seven consultations or two studio demos.
The consultations can be for multiple songs or multiple revisions of one song. Its up to you.
When youre ready, send me an email to kitchen at kimlajoie dot com.
-Kim.
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174
176
published
with
the
kind
permission
of
Jeroen
Also, the buildup at around 2:39 could be more dramatic. Some panned swishes or other motion
elements would add a lot especially if they can be automated to rise or speed up over the
duration of the buildup.
Mix
Overall, the mix is not bad. Theres nothing inherently wrong with it, and you should be
comfortable mastering this mix as it is. However, its width and depth can be improved. At the
moment, the overall mix sounds closed narrow and shallow.
The width can be increased by adding some extreme-panned background instruments or wider
pad/reverb elements. This will be most effective if it follows the contour of the song; rather than
being super-wide the whole time, the wider elements should be brought in during the most intense
sections (such as the peak at the end).
The mix could also be improved with more depth. At the moment its quite shallow with most of
the instruments sounding in the foreground. This is much like watching a movie or TV show
comprised entirely of close-up shots! Think about adding some smaller sounds in the background.
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178
Conversely, a song with too much coherence will have too much time and not enough material (or
development) to use it effectively. The song will sound boring and undeveloped. Listeners will be
bored and will probably not wait to listen through to the end of the song.
Whats the right balance? You have to be the judge. You have to use your experience and
judgement to decide what the right balance it. Fortunately, finding that balance isnt difficult
after a lifetime of listening to music you should have a pretty good sense of what level of
coherence to aim for. If you havent got it right in the past, its probably because you simply
havent been aware of it.
So what if the song youre working on isnt quite there yet?
If your song is sounding fragmented or there isnt a clear musical language, you probably need to
increase coherence. You can either increase the length of the song (to let the material develop a
bit further) or you can remove some of the musical material (which in turn gives the remaining
material more time for development).
If your song is sounding boring or your musical material is dragging on, you probably need to
reduce coherence. You can either reduce the length of the song (to make it tighter) or you can
add new musical material (which adds more breadth and variety).
-Kim.
Turn up the drums. Now the bass is too quiet, so turn that up
Now you cant hear your pads, so they come up too
Now the vocals are drowned out, so bring them up too
Now your drums arent punching through any more, so go back to step 1
Its a common beginners mistake. Youve lovingly crafted each sound, so of course you want every
sound to be heard clearly and appreciated by your listener. The problem is that most mixes dont
have enough space to feature every sound (the exception is very sparse mixes that only have a
handful of instruments).
What your mix needs is focus. You need to swallow your pride and make some hard decisions.
Some sounds must be placed in the foreground, other sounds must be placed in the background.
In most kinds of music, the vocals, drums and bass are in the foreground. Thats all. Other sounds
sit behind them, and may be partially masked by them. Ive written about this before its called
depth.
What if you still want to draw your listeners attention to your lovingly crafted background sounds?
You can do this be having pauses or breakdown sections in your music. This is where some of the
foreground instruments are not playing, allowing the listener to hear the sounds behind them in
more detail.
-Kim.
179
a person with song creativity and resonance. Or, a person with strong creativity and work ethic
could partner with someone with strong resonance.
Also consider that your weaknesses arent fixed. You can become good at something that you
were previously not very good at. Even though it might appear that some people are naturally
good in some areas, theyre actually skills youre not stuck the way you are. Of course, like all
skills, it takes a lot of hard work (years!). The improvements may seem unmeasurable at worst
and incremental at best. But it can be done. Just remember theyre not innate superpowers
theyre skills. And like all skills, they can be learned and acquired and developed.
No-ones holding you back.
-Kim.
In most cases, it makes sense to try to be as specific and make as many decisions as possible
early in the process. This reduces the options available in later stages. This is a good thing. By
locking in decisions early, later stages of production require less time because there are fewer
possibilities. The later you defer a decision, the more time and effort it takes to resolve it.
181
Consider the question of recording raw or processed audio. On one hand, mixing can be a long
and arduous process there decisions to be made and various options to consider. In extreme
cases, there might even be many more tracks recorded than are needed for the song (recorded
and kept just in case).
On the other hand, mixing can be relatively quick and painless if all the tracks are pretty close to
how they need to sound in the final product.
The interesting thing is that it doesnt take much extra effort to lock in a decision early in the
process, but it takes a lot more effort to resolve indecision later on.
Of course, its possible to make bad decisions early on and be stuck with them later in the
process. This is most likely to happen to inexperienced producers and engineers. Theres no easy
way to get past it inexperience is beaten only by experience. Make lots of music. Keep in mind,
however, that deferring decisions until later wont allow you to avoid making a bad decision. Youll
still make a bad decision, youll just take longer to make it.
Dont be afraid of making bad decisions! Be bold! Take risks! Make music!
-Kim.
182
world but youll still be mixing in the dark unless you know how real-world music sounds in it.
This is an example of a single Kitchen consultation. If you would find this kind of feedback useful
for your own music, get in touch with me.
- $20 will get you one consultation (basically the same as this example, but in private, with your
music).
- $50 will get you three consultations or one studio demo (where I do an exmaple edit or mix of
your music to better demonstrate how some concepts would apply to your music)
- $100 will get you seven consultations or two studio demos.
The consultations can be for multiple songs or multiple revisions of one song. Its up to you.
You can read more about the Kitchen here: http://kimlajoie.com/site/kitchen.html
When youre ready, send me an email to kitchen at kimlajoie dot com.
-Kim.
Or take it a step further what if, instead of trying to take opportunities, you become the person
who creates opportunities? In other words, dont be lining up for the jobs create the jobs that
others line up for
-Kim.
185
can be used.
Youre probably already be familiar with some of those techniques, but hopefully this list will give
you some ideas for taking your lyrics to the next level.
Also, keep in mind that good lyrics arent always necessary! Its possible to get away with poor
or unimaginative lyrics if other aspects of the song are strong.
-Kim.
kinds of decisions, however, requires that you understand your monitoring environment and
appreciate the way the different components interact.
Having a great monitoring environment is necessary, but not sufficient. To use it effectively, you
need to know what it does to music. You need to know how to use it. Doing this is easy simply
listen to a lot of music! Listen through your full-range speakers. Listen through your small
speakers. Listen through your headphones. Listen in different positions in your room. Listen to
different artists, different styles, different sounds. The more you do this, the better youll be at
gaining an intuitive sense for what sounds right in the space. It is this intuitive sense that will
guide you in your own mixes.
Ill leave you with one question: Does your music really need to sound good everywhere? What are
some circumstances where it might not need to sound good everywhere?
-Kim.
permission
Download
or
listen
to
the
song
Winding
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8068578/Kitchen/Winding%20Roads.mp3
of
Marat
Schacht:
Roads
here:
The mix and instrumental composition is competently executed. I think its a little unimaginative,
but that could be just your chosen style and creative direction. I wont fault you for deliberate
stylistic artistic choices.
The lyrics, on the other hand, could do with some work.
Some of the lyrics and delivery are a bit awkward. For example:
- I left behind the city/That used to be so pretty. The city/pretty rhyme feels forced. The first line
is fine, but the second line appears not to add anything significant to the story there arent any
other lyrics referring to the city being attractive (in fact, the song seems to be about the city not
being attractive). Hence, the line seems to be added in for the sake of the rhyme (and not a
particularly interesting one at that). Im sure you can find some more interesting and relevant
words that rhyme with city.
- Sneaking through the back door constantly hiding. This line makes no sense. Theres no other
reference in the story to anything related to sneaking, back doors or hiding. And the line itself
contradicts itself sneaking is an action, whereas constantly hiding implies motionlessness. Its
not clear at all what youre trying to say with this line, or what it contributes to the story. I suggest
thinking about what you want this line to contribute and think of some ways to do it that are more
relevant and consistent with the rest of the song.
- To be someone else. This line in the second chorus has an awkward delivery. The emphasis on
the second syllable of someONE is not how most people pronounce the word when speaking
naturally. Normally wed say SOMEone with the emphasis on the first syllable. I understand why
youve done this the melody works quite well like this (and wouldnt work as well if you
emphasised the first syllable). I suggest replacing the word or modifying the line to something that
more naturally fits the melody. someBODY might be a good substitute.
188
Another weakness of the song is the ever-changing chorus. As this song only has two choruses
(songs with three or four choruses are more common), its important to make the choruses as
memorable as possible.
In your song, the first chorus establishes the two lyric groups (Winding roads and All I see).
In the second chorus, however, things start to get a bit confused. We start halfway through (All I
see), then we get a totally new lyric group (To be someone else), then we return to the
original two groups. This might make sense if there were a narrative or poetic point being made,
but that doesnt seem to be the case here.
I suggest rearranging the second chorus in a way that makes more sense musically and lyrically.
Simply repeating the first chorus twice is the easiest solution, and would work, but by far isnt the
only (or necessarily best) solution. Some other potential approaches are:
- Include the two lyric groups from the first chorus, but then write two new lyric groups to follow
on. The new lyrics should extend the story and add depth and meaning to the first chorus.
- Convert the first two lyric groups into their own bridge section (similar to what youve started to
do with the first lyric group). Here you can use the same lyrics as the first chorus, but perhaps
pare them back a little by reducing the word density.
Either way, try to focus on the narrative the way the story is told through lyrics and the way it
develops throughout the course of the song.
==
This is an example of a single Kitchen consultation. If you would find this kind of feedback useful
for your own music, get in touch with me.
- $20 will get you one consultation (basically the same as this example, but in private, with your
music).
- $50 will get you three consultations or one studio demo (where I do an example edit or mix of
your music to better demonstrate how some concepts would apply to your music)
- $100 will get you seven consultations or two studio demos.
The consultations can be for multiple songs or multiple revisions of one song. Its up to you.
You can read more about the Kitchen here: http://kimlajoie.com/site/kitchen.html
When youre ready, send me an email to kitchen at kimlajoie dot com.
-Kim.
189
approach music as a process of creation rather than recreation you will probably find such
references to be inadequate in describing your creative direction. Also, if you draw your influences
from a wide variety of styles and sounds, you might find concrete references to be misleading. For
example, a rap/electronica hybrid isnt necessarily a Tupac / Chemical Brothers mashup. Some
adaptation of each element will be required to make it work with the other elements.
Clearly, a lot of situations will require a combination of adjectives and reference recordings. The
important thing is that you have a creative direction no matter how its expressed. Without
creative direction, all youve got governing your decisions is the question does it sound good? You
might like the sound of an instrument or song element, but that doesnt mean its appropriate for
the song. If youre just going by what you like the sound of, the end result is likely to be
unfocussed or haphazard.
-Kim.
Sometimes a song requires some compression on the mix bus. This can make the individual
tracks gel together, and even produce a distinctive pumping sound. It doesnt matter that
this is achieved by processing the mix bus (or even the stereo mixdown) mixing is
focussing on the sound of the instruments to make them blend well and express the
creative direction of the artist and producer.
Sometimes a song needs to be converted to MP3 (or other lossy format) for online
distribution. The processing that happens as part of the conversion is a part (hopefully the
last!) of mastering because its goal is to prepare the audio for distribution. It doesnt
matter whether this is achieved by an external program program or your built into your
softwares export function.
If you confuse mixing and mastering, youll lose focus of what youre trying to achieve. If you try
to master when your mix isnt finished, youll waste trying to solve problems on the mix bus that
are best addressed in balancing individual elements within the mix. Youll also be waste time finetuning a treatment (processing chain) for a mix that will later change. On the other hand, if you
try to adjust the balance of instruments when youre mastering, youll find it difficult to do it
effectively without unintentionally changing other parts of the mix. If you try to mix into a
mastering chain, youll easily find yourself chasing your tail in an infinite loop of adjusting the mix,
adjusting the mastering chain, adjusting the mix again to compensate, adjusting the mastering
chain again
Its important to separate the two processes not necessarily by using different tools (although
that helps), but by being clear in your own mind where mixing ends and mastering begins. It will
help focus your workflow goals and ultimately make your work more efficient, effective and more
fun!
-Kim.
we use as cues to tell us the shape and size of the space. Ambience is often added with reverb
and delay, but can also be manipulated by using dynamics processing to emphasise or deemphasise the natural ambience in the raw recordings. Even though ambience is at the end of this
list, it is still a very powerful tool. Like compression, it can often have an influence on the feel of a
mix affecting the emotions rather than the function of a mix.
-Kim.
published
with
the
kind
permission
of
Stu
together a bit more if you add a small amount of the same (or similar) reverb to the other
instruments. If the reverb is part of the drum room, an algorithmic reverb (rather than a
convolution/impulse reverb) will allow you to craft a reverb sound that will match it in the mix.
Depending on the creative direction for the song, some more synth would give the song a more
individual character and identity. You might want to explore doubling the guitars with a similar
synth part, or perhaps adding arpeggiated chords under main vocal in the chorus.
==
This is an example of a single Kitchen consultation. If you would find this kind of feedback useful
for your own music, get in touch with me.
- $20 will get you one consultation (basically the same as this example, but in private, with your
music).
- $50 will get you three consultations or one studio demo (where I do an example edit or mix of
your music to better demonstrate how some concepts would apply to your music)
- $100 will get you seven consultations or two studio demos.
The consultations can be for multiple songs or multiple revisions of one song. Its up to you.
You can read more about the Kitchen here: http://kimlajoie.com/site/kitchen.html
When youre ready, send me an email to kitchen at kimlajoie dot com.
-Kim.
4. Instruments. Now we start getting into the sound. Notice that the first three items are all
about the notes and the performance. Its only after these have had their effect that the
sonic choices start to matter. The choice of instruments includes the choices of which
family of instruments to use (e.g. guitars vs keyboards) and which variety of instruments to
use (e.g. Strat or Tele).
5. The recording engineer. The recording engineer is the person who is responsible for
capturing the sound of the instruments. This includes making creative (and practical)
decisions such as room acoustics, mic choice, mic placement, initial processing chain and
recording medium.
6. Recording tools. The relationship between the recording engineer and her/his tools is
similar to the relationship between the performers and their instruments. While it is the
tools that we ultimately hear, the decisions around which tools to use and how theyre used
are more important. Recording tools also include the recording medium (e.g. 44.1k vs 96k
or disk vs tape).
7. The mix engineer. The mix engineer is the person responsible for balancing the sounds
captured by the recording engineer. As a reader of this blog, you are probably a mix
engineer (possibly one of your many hats). Even though there are some neat tricks (like
reamping or pitch correction) at the mix engineers disposal, ultimately this job is limited by
what was captured by the recording engineer and what was played by the performers.
8. The mix tools. Noticing a pattern here? The relationship between the mix engineer and
the mix tools is just like the relationship between the performers and their instruments and
between the recording engineer and the recording tools. In this case, the mix tools include
the console/DAW, outboard/plugins and mixdown media.
9. The mastering engineer. Once the mix is done, the mastering engineer prepares the
mixdown for distribution. This requires a different set of skills and different way of listening
(compared to mixing). In many cases, it also requires different tools. The mastering
engineer is the person who makes decisions around how the mixdown is prepared usually
involving changing the tone and level (and sometimes, dynamic behaviour) of the mixdown
so that it compares favourably with similar commercial releases.
10.The mastering tools. And this is the end. The mastering tools are the least influential
part of the production process.
In this context, you can see that if you are responsible for making creative decisions, your efforts
are best spent on having a clear creative direction, guiding (or participating in) the composition
process, and ensuring the performers are all contributing their best.
Trying to achieve a certain type of sound through mastering is approaching it from the wrong end.
-Kim.
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2011/06/22 - Free guide for email subscribers Texture, Dynamics and Structure
Texture
Harshness / Smoothness
Denseness / Sparseness
Heaviness / Lightness
Stability / Instability
Foreground / Background
Intensity
Dynamics
Structure
Exposition
Development
Recapitulation
In Use
Variation
Contrast
Buildups
Excitement
Taking
It Further
Contour
Development
Momentum
Expectation
As with my other guides, the content is not a simple rehash of my blog posts its been written as
a whole, designed to go into more detail than these blog posts and link the various concepts
together.
-Kim.
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with
the
kind
permission
of
Matthieu
Mix
It might sound strange to hear, but I think your mix could do with more depth. At the moment, its
got a lovely ambience, but there doesnt seem to be much distinction between the foreground and
background. There are a few bits and pieces in the background, but it seems most of the
instruments are roughly the same distance from the listener.
Part of the confusion could be reduced by bringing the melodic elements further forward (consider
both the level and treatment). Make room to hear the background parts through the gaps in the
foreground. Adding some appropriately-treated delays would work well to add a sense of distance
and space.
I also feel the need to point out the stereo width of the gnarly synth bass. I realise its a key part
of the character of the track and its the kind of sound that is often restricted by genre choice. Still,
I suggest reconsidering the stereo width not for technical reasons of mono cancellation or phase
coherence, but of listener focus.
If the synth bass is a foreground part, it will have more focus and punch if it is mono. If it is meant
to be a background part, it should be much more diffuse. I think its current stereo width actually
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detracts from the sense of space and make the whole mix feel smaller. Think of it as there being
no space around the synth bass no matter how big the synth bass is, the whole mix is not
(much) bigger than it.
It also makes the synth bass sound itself quite empty (more so on headphones than speakers). If
you want the sound to be important, put it upfront and make it focussed and punchy. You wouldnt
make a kick drum or snare drum super-wide, so why do it to your bass?
==
This is an example of a single Kitchen consultation. If you would find this kind of feedback useful
for your own music, get in touch with me.
- $20 will get you one consultation (basically the same as this example, but in private, with your
music).
- $50 will get you three consultations or one studio demo (where I do an example edit or mix of
your music to better demonstrate how some concepts would apply to your music)
- $100 will get you seven consultations or two studio demos.
The consultations can be for multiple songs or multiple revisions of one song. Its up to you.
You can read more about the Kitchen here: http://kimlajoie.com/site/kitchen.html
When youre ready, send me an email to kitchen at kimlajoie dot com.
-Kim.
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Each stage is clearly-defined, having a purpose and outcome. Some stages require particular
equipment or people.
With experience, you can establish the needs of a project and determine what workflow is best.
Not all projects will require all the above stages. Some projects will require other stages. Some
projects are particularly complex and require long workflows for each song. Other projects might
be simpler and require fewer stages.
Once a workflow has ben established for each song on a production project, the next steps are to
determine how much time each stage requires and to schedule each session. If your plans are
realistic, you should be able to spell out exactly what tasks are being done, when theyre being
done, and when the whole lot will be finished.
If you do this well, youll bring a high level of predictability to your work (your project outcomes
not your music!). In turn, predictability gives you much better control over your projects. With a
well-established project plan, you can suddenly provide reasonable answers to these kinds of
questions:
How much later will I finish if I want to record more instrumentalists?
If I get sick for a week, how long will it take for me to catch up and get back on schedule?
If I want some extra help with post-production (editing, mixing, mastering, etc), when can
I start asking for that help?
If Im likely to find some extra time in a couple of months, how can I schedule my work to
be able to take advantage of any extra sessions?
What compromises do I need to make if I want to add another song to the album without
pushing out the release date?
Magic!
-Kim.
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Composition
Overall, this song hangs together pretty well. The first two verses and choruses maintain
momentum and give the song a clear contour.
Where I think you could direct your focus is to the bridge/outro after the second chorus. This is
where the song seems to fall apart a bit we suddenly lose the structure and shape of the first
half and instead meander off into unknown territory. At first it feels like a regular bridge that will
return to a final third chorus, but it just seems to lose its way.
Of course, this is very much a creative decision, and Im not suggesting you conform to a regular
pop song structure just for the sake of it. Instead, I suggest you carefully consider what youre
trying to do here. From my perspective, you have a few options:
1) Frame this section as a regular bridge by closing it off with a return to a final third chorus. This
will feel satisfying for the listener, but might not be creatively satisfying for you.
2) Extend this section, and make it into something quite different. If your intent is to use this
section to take the song into new territory, do so more clearly. If you want to introduce new
musical material, do so dramatically. If you want an extended freeform jam, give it a fresh driving
rhythm section. What Im saying is: Make something of it. Make a musical statement dont just
let it limp away into the distance.
3) Combining both those approaches can be very powerful. Make something special of that
extended section and then either return to the chorus as it was presented earlier or express the
chorus using the new musical language of the extended section.
Mix
Overall, the mix is not bad. Its got a good sense of depth and focus.
To improve it, the first thing Id address is the lead vocal. Its just a bit too heavy, and could do
with a bit less energy in the bottom octave (below about 250Hz). You dont have to be as drastic
as to use a highpass filter a low shelf EQ will be fine. You probably only need to take it down by
about 6dB-9dB. Thinning the vocal like this will help it blend with the mix better, rather than
feeling like its tacked on top.
The lead vocal could also do with some stronger compression in the chorus. This is because the
mix becomes thicker and some of the quieter syllables are getting a bit lost. The verses could take
a bit more compression too, but its not as necessary because the verses are sparser, allowing
even the quieter syllables to come through easily. I dont know what compressor or settings youre
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already using, so I cant give you specific settings to use. The approach Id recommend taking is to
lower the threshold, increase the ratio, and lower the release time. Again you dont need to be
dramatic about it you just need enough to make the level of each syllable more consistent.
==
This is an example of a single Kitchen consultation. If you would find this kind of feedback useful
for your own music, get in touch with me.
- $20 will get you one consultation (basically the same as this example, but in private, with your
music).
- $50 will get you three consultations or one studio demo (where I do an example edit or mix of
your music to better demonstrate how some concepts would apply to your music)
- $100 will get you seven consultations or two studio demos.
The consultations can be for multiple songs or multiple revisions of one song. Its up to you.
You can read more about the Kitchen here: http://kimlajoie.com/site/kitchen.html
When youre ready, send me an email to kitchen at kimlajoie dot com.
-Kim.
Preproduction / demo
Initial vocal recording
Instrumentation
Instrumentation
Final vocal recording
Edit+mix
You will need to know ahead of time whether you need your collaborator for the
preproduction/demo session, and whether this can be combined with the initial vocal recording.
Youll also need to know whether the final vocal recording will take a whole session for the song. If
it will only take half a session (or less), there might be an opportunity to save time by recording
final vocals for two songs in a single session if you can sequence your sessions correctly.
The same considerations apply if youre using other musicians to assist you in the instrumentation
sessions. It might make sense to record guitars or percussion for several songs in a single session.
To make this work, however, you need a good estimate of how much work is required for each
song. Youll also need to sequence your sessions so that you have the songs available at the
appropriate stage when your musician comes to the studio.
Working on each song in parallel
For particularly complex projects, it can make sense to work on every song in parallel, and
progress them in lock-step. This mean, for example, that youd do the preproduction and demo
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recording for all the songs before starting to recording initial vocals. Then youd record initial
vocals for all the songs before moving forward to record additional instruments.
This can be particularly effective if you are coordinating several people and they are only available
to you for a limited period of time. There are, however, some drawbacks to this approach. Firstly,
the rate of progress at each stage is limited by the least-productive team member. That means you
(and any other faster workers) will be sitting on your hands while you wait for the slower
member(s) to finish their bit. This can be particularly significant when musicians or artists need
several weeks (or more!) to rehearse a song before recording it.
The other drawback is increased existential risk to the project. Quite simply, working in this way
means there might be much less to salvage if a key team member leaves the project partway
through. If production of an album stalls halfway through, would you rather have twelve halffinished songs or six finished songs?
Working on each song in series
The opposite approach is to work on each song one by one. This means that youre not waiting on
one song before you can progress another one. It also means your musicians and artists can have
a comfortable period of time between recording sessions for rehearsing and preparing.
This approach works particularly well when you are working with people who need considerable
preparation between sessions either because the demands of the contribution are high (eg
writing evocative lyrics or performing expressive lead vocals), or because your collaborators have
other projects and life commitments that prevent them from devoting large blocks of intensely
focussed time.
Where this approach falls short, however, is that your collaborators need to be committed to the
project for the long haul. Your whole project relies on your artist or musicians showing up every
week, having done their homework. Someone taking a surprise overseas trip for several months
(yes, it happens!) can disrupt everything.
The other drawback is consistency. If youre in constant practice, your skills and abilities are
constantly improving. For a project that spans twelve months or more, you might have an album
that sounds disjointed or fractured. Your vocalists abilities are improving. Your recording and
mixing skills are improving. Your musical taste and creative direction are evolving.
So which ones best?
In most cases, it makes sense to choose one approach in line with the broad project constraints
and desired outcomes. Dont forget, however, that either approach can often be strengthened by
incorporating elements of the other.
-Kim.
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Most importantly, you need to always consider the creative outcomes of the project. Dont lose
sight of the goal and dont introduce efficiencies for their own sake. For example, if might not
make sense to hire extra help if youre recording your solo album and you want to do it all
yourself. Similarly, it might not make sense to record a band in your living room if they want a slick
professional sound. On the other hand, you might have an artist with not much cash but a lot of
creativity and willingness to experiment and quite happy to get a bunch of friends together in
your living room for a few weeks.
Ultimately, as the producer, youre in charge. Its your call. But dont be afraid to make the wrong
decisions. Get in there, roll your sleeves up and make some mistakes. And have fun doing it!
-Kim.
the compressor is working, the more audible the effect will be.
With this in mind, you should be able to make effective decisions around when and how to use
group busses.
-Kim.
around 2.5kHz. This will subdue the character of the sound in a different way, and might be more
appropriate in context.
Making a sound narrower will also help pull an instrument to the background. The smaller and
more masked it is, the less attention the listener will pay to it. Of course, this works best when the
overall volume is reduced as well.
Making background instruments more diffuse is another technique that may work well with this
mix. Obviously, this is not a lush mix so extreme or obvious modulation wont be appropriate
instead focus on more subtle diffusion. Try a single-voice chorus, or slight doubling.
==
This is an example of a single Kitchen consultation. If you would find this kind of feedback useful
for your own music, get in touch with me.
- $20 will get you one consultation (basically the same as this example, but in private, with your
music).
- $50 will get you three consultations or one studio demo (where I do an example edit or mix of
your music to better demonstrate how some concepts would apply to your music)
- $100 will get you seven consultations or two studio demos.
The consultations can be for multiple songs or multiple revisions of one song. Its up to you.
You can read more about the Kitchen here: http://kimlajoie.com/site/kitchen.html
When youre ready, send me an email to kitchen at kimlajoie dot com.
-Kim.
arrangements with partner businesses and tracking progress against the plan. Planning and
coordinating needs to be done in full knowledge of the time and resource constraints of the
project. This is the easy part.
2. Responding to changes. All projects have hiccups. Humans are beautiful and messy and
often unpredictable. Responding to changes can include activities that are primarily
mechanical such as rebalancing resources, readjusting schedules and even changing the
scope and outcomes of the project. Its important to understand, however, that responding
to changes often requires a human component too. Your artists and collaborators and
partners are human beings and have feelings and desires and fears and you need to be
mindful of this at all times. When plans change, people can feel hurt or disappointed. They
might feel responsible (whether real or imagined). They probably have a different
impression of you than you do of yourself and the less you communicate the greater that
difference will be.
-Kim.
the design and settings of the compressors. Like backing vocals, its common to compress
individual drums in addition to compressing the drum group bus. Used lightly, drum group
compression can give the whole kit a sense of glue and life and density. Just remember not
to overdo it too much compression will flatten your drums and make them difficult to
work into the mix!
Kick and bass. This is a technique that has been used subtly for some time, but has
recently become more fashionable with modern dance music. By grouping the kick and
bass and applying strong compression to that group, the bass will duck slightly when the
kick is sounding. This will make the low end of the mix more compact and solid. This is
now commonly taken to extremes with the use of side chain compression instead of
using a group bus, the bass is processed with a compressor that is keyed (side-chained)
from the kick.
Group busses are most useful when you have several tracks that all perform a similar function in
the mix and you want to either glue them together or otherwise treat them as a single unit. Of
course, you can group anything you like. Its important, however, to keep in mind that sometimes
it doesnt make sense to use group busses. Often it doesnt make sense to group tracks that arent
related to each other or need to remain separate.
On the other hand, you might find some interesting sounds by using group busses in unusual
ways
-Kim.
youre both keen to create something amazing. Great! Keep that feeling! But dont be ambitious
start small. Just commit to working on a single song together. Maybe even a small contribution to
an existing song. You need to establish a workflow. You need to settle on a common language.
You need time to explore each others personal taste. So take it slow. Take it easy. Dont put too
much pressure on yourselves to write and record an EP or an album just yet just have fun and
get to know each other.
So fast-forward a few months. Youre still going strong, youve got a few songs behind you, and
youre both itching to take on something bigger. Before you embark on a larger project together,
youll need to sit down together and agree on a few things. It doesnt have to be a legal contract,
or even a formal written agreement. It does, however, have to start with a conversation and a
shared understanding of what youre about to do. At the very least, you should consider these
questions:
What will be the creative direction for the project? What will it sound like?
What will be the creative contribution of each person? What will be the non-creative
contribution (equipment, studio space, time, other skills, etc)?
How much music are you going to make? Will it be an EP? An album? A drip feed of
singles?
What timeframe are you working towards? How long will it take? When do you expect to
complete it?
Whats going to happen when its finished? Will you perform it live? Will you sell it online?
If there are any costs, whos going to pay for them? If theres any income, what will
happen to it?
Its usually a good idea to write down what youve agreed. It doesnt have to be anything formal
even just a plain text file is fine. Even better if you email it to each other so youve both got a copy
to refer to. The agreement is not set in stone you can always change it later on if you want (so
long as everyone agrees to the changes!). Having it written and distributed, however, will avoid
misunderstandings and faulty memories.
Now, get to work!
-Kim.
you shake it up a bit? Put that snare somewhere else. Listen to how the other instruments
respond.
Some of these explorations might sound wrong when you listen back. Some might make you feel
uncomfortable. Some might be weird, or even interesting. Rhythm plays a critical role in
establishing the way the music feels. Is it quick and nimble? Slow and lumbering? Solid as a clock?
Wobbly and unpredictable? Its right there in the rhythm.
Even if you try out a bunch of ideas and eventually return to your comfort zone, youll have a
better understanding of why your comfort zone appeals to you. Youll be in a much better position
to deviate even if only slightly in a way that makes musical sense, rather than simply making
random variations.
Drums are usually the main contributors to a songs sense of rhythm. But dont limit yourself.
Break out of the usual rhythms you use for basslines, accompaniment parts, even melodies.
Still too easy? Try some less-common time signatures. Try 6/8. 5/4. Alternate between 6/4 and
4/4. If youre feeling adventurous, go for 7/8 or 7/4. This kinds of time signatures will force you to
shake up your usual rhythms. And youll invent something fresh.
-Kim.
relatively minor. The first is in the vocals in the breakdown section (3:18-3:46). The harmonies
work well most of the time, but occasionally the two vocal lines sing the same note in unison. This
has the strange effect of making two voices suddenly and briefly sound as a single voice. Its
distracting and unsettling. If you were to address this, Id suggest changing either the melody or
harmony so that they dont have any unison notes.
The second relatively minor issue is the timing of the side chain compression. Compared to the
other rhythmic elements, the side chain compression feels like its swinging too much. A little bit of
swing is often beneficial to a tracks groove, but in this case it feels inconsistent with the other
instruments. I suggest changing the timing of the side chain compression so that it swings a little
less, or alternatively you could modify the groove of some of the other instruments (especially the
hats) to swing more consistently with the side chain compression.
Mix
Overall, the mix isnt too bad. The only two issues are the vocal sound and the subbass level.
Generally, the vocals lack intelligibility. This could be because your monitoring environment is very
forward in the mids or because you simply went too far in smoothing the vocal by cutting the
mids. The fix here is simple bring back the mids. This is where the character and intelligibility
resides. You can still keep the soft and smooth sound you dont need to boost so much that it
becomes honky.
The other issue is the subbass level. Its slightly too loud. This is most likely a result of your
monitoring environment having relatively weak subbass. In the short term, you should be more
active in referencing your mixes to commercial releases while you work. Over the longer term, you
can improve your monitoring environment. Depending on your studio, this might include acoustic
treatment, adopting full-range monitors or adding a sub.
==
This is an example of a single Kitchen consultation. If you would find this kind of feedback useful
for your own music, get in touch with me.
- $20 will get you one consultation (basically the same as this example, but in private, with your
music).
- $50 will get you three consultations or one studio demo (where I do an example edit or mix of
your music to better demonstrate how some concepts would apply to your music)
- $100 will get you seven consultations or two studio demos.
The consultations can be for multiple songs or multiple revisions of one song. Its up to you.
You can read more about the Kitchen here: http://kimlajoie.com/site/kitchen.html
When youre ready, send me an email to kitchen at kimlajoie dot com.
-Kim.
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2.
3.
4.
5.
Notice that 60% of the production process happens before anyone start recording. By keeping the
song in your head or scrawled on paper, you retain a fluid flexibility and openness to development
thats different to what happens when a song is recorded.
Example 2
You might want to take more of a remix-style approach to writing your tracks. To achieve this,
youll want to start recording early so that you can chop up and rearrange performances as part of
the composition process. Such a workflow might look like this:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Notice that this process makes use of the sequencer right from the beginning. If its being mixed in
the same environment, some plugins or settings may be retained from the initial sketch all the way
to the final mix. Also consider that with this workflow, the vocalist is not performing to the final
track s/he is singing without knowing what the end result will sound like. Normally this might
result in a weaker performance, but that doesnt matter here because the vocal recording will be
chopped up and rearranged. This rearrangement will be a significant characteristic of the final
product.
Example 3
You might have some external constraints on how you organise your time. For example, you might
have access to your vocalist for only a short period of time to record several songs. In this
situation, a workflow like this might make sense:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Initial songwriting
Rehearsal with instrumentalists/band
Recording instrumentalists/band
Recording vocals
Mixing
In this scenario, sessions 1-4 would be completed for all songs before the vocalist would be
required. Then the vocals could be recorded for all the songs in a focussed series of sessions.
Example 4
You might be working with an artist that is quite capable of writing and recording their own songs,
but they need your help with composition advice. S/he might also wish to have the final mix done
by a professional in a properly-treated room. In this situation, this kind of workflow would make
sense:
1. Preproduction
2. Mixing
For this situation, the workflow (for you, as a producer!) is much shorter because the artist will be
writing and recording in their own time. This approach often makes sense when youre working
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In this situation, the initial vocal recording is used as a guide and template. The following three
sessions would consist of writing and recording different instrumental parts. The vocals are
recorded again in session 5 so that the vocalist can deliver an emotional and well-prepared
performances that responds to the almost-final version of the song.
Hopefully that provides some more detail about how workflow planning can work in practice.
Obviously, these five examples are just starting points its up to you to figure out how you will go
about producing a song. And as always, dont be afraid to make mistakes. Youll get it wrong
before you get it right. But youll only get it right if youre not afraid to get it wrong.
-Kim.
three (or more!) individual songs. Focus on getting more mileage out of fewer ideas. By varying
and developing fewer ideas (instead of simply adding more fresh ideas) your song will sound much
more focussed and cohesive.
Of course, the goal is to find the right balance. This is where judgement and experience play such
an important role, and why its important to listen for proportion in your own music and others
music. Try to identify when youre listening to music that feels like its repeating itself a bit too
much (like a sense of not knowing how long the song will go for) or when youre listening to music
that keeps switching between different ideas (like switching the TV channel or radio station).
Theres no magic ratio here. It depends on your personal taste and your listeners expectations.
Listen to a lot of music and youll know it when you hear it.
-Kim.
how that 12dB looks. If the gain reduction scale goes from -15dB to 0dB, those 12dB will look like
a lot of compression. And itll sound like a lot of compression too. On the other hand, if the gain
reduction scale goes from -30dB to 0dB, those same 12dB will look like much less. And theyll
sound like much less too if youre watching the gain reduction meter.
The same goes for EQ. That 6dB cut looks (and sounds) like a lot when the frequency analysers
graph scale is +/-9dB. Change the scale to +/- 24dB and suddenly everything changes.
But doesnt the same apply to on-screen controls (such as knobs and sliders)? Certainly but to a
much lesser extent because the controls dont respond to the music. Without visual feedback, you
perceive the music with your ears only. Theres nothing visual thats telling you what the music
sounds like. To go back to the monitoring analogy, your perception will be plainer and more
neutral.
Theres certainly a place for visual feedback. Ridiculous dancing graphics probably help car lovers
enjoy their sound system. Full-screen iTunes visualisations are great for parties. Visual feedback in
plugins are good for learning how they work and identifying what to listen for (its hard to listen for
compression if your threshold is too high!)
But if youre doing real work? Forget it.
-Kim.
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already have can take time and money. Look out for unrealistic expectations in your collaborators.
They might have great ideas and if theyre passionate and charismatic, they can drag you along
with them. If youre not careful, though, you could end up halfway through a project before you
realise youve committed to much more than you initially thought. The extra time and expense to
acquire capabilities that you dont already have can be painful. It can put you in a difficult position
if youve both already invested your time and money into the project.
By conscientiously addressing each of those four factors at the start of a potential collaboration,
you should be able to create some interesting music with a minimum of bruised egos or black
eyes. Of course, there will always be disagreements and misunderstandings (were human after
all!), but they can be managed and worked though if you put in the groundwork ahead of time.
-Kim.
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2011/11/28 - Everything you wanted to know about de-essing but were too afraid to ask
The filtered sidechain changes the compressors behaviour so that it only reduces gain when there
is sibilance in the audio. The filter is tuned quite high (usually above 5kHz) so that the compressor
doesnt respond to energy in the low or mids (where most of the vowel energy is). The
compressor, however, applies gain reduction to the whole signal not the filtered version. This
means that when the sibilance is being reduced, the actual tone of the voice is not changed. Its
just made quieter.
Some de-essors use dynamic EQ instead of a compressor. Theyre usually designed so that instead
of reducing the gain of the whole signal, they only reduce gain to the high frequencies. Imagine a
high shelf or parametric cut that only comes in when the voice is sibilant. This kinds of de-essers
require more care when theyre being set up because they work by changing the tone of the voice
(rather than just the level). If not configured well, they can make the vocalist sound like s/he has a
lisp.
How do I set up a de-esser?
I usually wait until the mix is almost completely finished before applying a de-esser. Ill make sure
the level of the vowels in the vocal are balanced well against the other elements of the mix. Ill
then use the de-esser just enough to bring down the sibilance to an acceptable level. Usually, I
aim for the lead vocal sibilance to be at a similar level to the hi-hats, snare or other prominent
high-frequency sound in the mix.
I almost almost insert the de-esser after EQ and compression (but before any time-based effects
such as delay or reverb, of course). This is because I use the de-esser to slightly modify a sound
that Im already happy with. Applying compression after a de-esser can actually counteract the deessing, as the rull-range compressor can bring the sibilance level back up.
What else is a de-esser useful for?
De-essers can be very useful for backing vocals. There are some situations where backing vocals
(especially stacked backing vocals) are a little messy. Most of the time its fine, but its most
pronounced in the sibilance. A de-esser will bring the sibilance right down, making the backing
vocals sound less messy. Use this way, a de-esser can be applied much more heavily the
intelligibility and articulation is carried by the lead vocals. Just watch out for any sections where
the background vocals are exposed heavy de-essing will make them sound weird without the
lead vocal.
De-essing can sometimes be useful on drum kits particularly on overheads when balance of the
kit is right but the crash cymbals are too loud. A de-esser can sometimes be effective in reducing
the level of the crash cymbals while still retaining the sense of room and space. Again subtlety is
the key here. Too much de-essing will suck the air out and make the drums sound unnatural.
-Kim.
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phrases or leading into section changes. For an even more dramatic effect, use a delay that
allows its feedback to be set above 100%. This will cause the repeats to get louder (instead
of staying at the same level or decaying away). If the delay has a saturation stage, the
repeats will also get more overdriven and distorted as they get louder. Dont keep this
going for too long, but for short periods its great for buildups and leading into section
changes.
-Kim.
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Boosting increases the volume levels of frequencies and it will easily lead to distortion,
muddy mix and cause other unwanted artifacts [sic] if you overdo it. Cutting instead
leaves more room for the instruments and sounds to breathe.
Theres nothing inherently wrong with boosting.
Distortion can occur if the EQ boost increases level (i.e. the overall level isnt turned down to
compensate) and theres a non-linear saturating device further downstream. If youre reading this
blog (and Pertis blog), youre probably working in your DAW and the only distortion youll get is
deliberate (or foolish).
Muddy mixes usually occur if theres a buildup of lows or low-mids. Yes, youll get a muddy mix if
youre inappropriately boosting a lot of tracks down there, but the mud isnt from the positive gain
on the EQ band. Its from the positive gain and the centre frequency for that band. You wont get
any mud by boosting above 1kHz (you might get honky or harsh sound though).
-Kim.
One of the most valuable production techniques an electronic musician can learn is the
sense of movement or subtle variation applied to individual sounds of a given track.
Subtle variation is what brings sounds to life. Its why live performance is so interesting. Its why
complex flawed compressors have vibe and mojo. Its why naive digital algorithms sound boring.
An envelope/LFO generator can go a long way toward adding some life to your tracks, but I
suggest that focussing more on performance will produce better results. Map a bunch of knobs or
faders to controls on your synth or effects and do some takes the whole way through the song. No
stopping. It might take a bit of practice before you come up with something youre happy with, but
its worth it.
Instead of the subtle (or not-so-subtle!) motion being cyclic or random, it will follow the contour of
the song and make the music more expressive.
-Kim.
Mix at a level where you can still comfortable hold a conversation with someone next to
you.
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Excellent advice.
Everything sounds great loud, but youll quickly tire yourself out and lose perspective. In addition,
its often important to listen at several different levels when mixing. I like to think of the monitor
level as similar to a zoom control. Sometimes you want to zoom out and see the big picture of
how everything fits together. Other time youll want to zoom in to focus on the detail of a track.
Too much zooming out and you wont see the details. Too much zooming in and youll be
overwhelmed and lose perspective.
Shorter attack and release times (smaller numbers) will make vocals sound more
energetic, louder, and will also bring out the breaths between words.
Longer attack and release times (higher numbers) will make vocals punchier which
obviously isnt as important for vocals as it is for other instruments like kick and snare.
Dont be put off by the title. Its a great comprehensive overview of compression and not just for
vocals.
-Kim.
2012/01/16 - Are you making these five mistakes when mixing bass?
But if you find yourself looking at your song and wondering what to do to enhance the
build between verse and chorus, consider the power that can come from a pre-chorus.
Some great thinking here on how a pre-chorus fits into a mainstream song structure and how it
can make an important contribution to the song. Hint: Its not just a glue between the verse and
chorus.
-Kim.
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The vocal is everything to the success of a song. Make it loud enough to be able to hear
the lyrics. The problem is, if the vocal level is too high, all the energy of the track
disappears, if it is too low, you cant understand what is being said.
Also:
A mix with a bright vocal and a dull drum sound is really a problem. The all important
snare takes up a lot of spectrum and trying to brighten it with eq will make the bright
vocal even brighter and quickly become unacceptable.
This is a really important part of getting the balance right in the mix. And, unfortunately, its
something that a lot of beginner and intermediate mix engineers dont know about.
My general rule of thumb for pop music is that the vocal is usually about the same (perceived)
level as the snare and the sibilance is about the same (perceived) level as the top of the drums
either the hats, snare or overheads.
Also read part one of the interview. Great stuff.
-Kim.
Ive started putting PDFs of all the manuals for my gear on my iPad, instead of using
the hard copies. While I generally prefer having a physical manual when possible, its
definitely been nice having all my manuals in one place where ever I am. Plus it speeds
up looking for something too, since most manuals have indexes or as table of contents
that allows you to instantly jump to a topic in the manual.
I put all my manuals on Dropbox. That way theyre available whenever I feel the need to suddenly
double-check some obscure functionality of some of my gear.
I also keep copies of manuals for gear that I dont have, but am considering buying. You can read
all the marketing text in the world and watch Youtube videos for days, but nothing tells you how a
piece of gear really works as well as reading the manual.
Unlike Erik, I dont prefer hardcopies. Electronic documents are much easier to scan and search.
-Kim.
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Inevitably the automagical software will try to fix things that dont need fixing. Or it
will stretch the audio and leave noticeable, audible artifacts [sic].
Read the whole post. Dont just hit the magic fix button and hope the software knows whats best
for your music.
Joe writes about manual editing in the context of adjusting timing, but I think it also applies to
pitch correction. For lead vocals, I almost always use Melodyne and adjust the tuning by hand
instead of using an automatic process. Automatic software will always go for the technically
perfect solution, but a lot of the time a note will feel more right if its a little sharp or flat. Also, a
lot of the time a note thats a little bit out of tune sounds more natural it doesnt detract from
the performance. If it doesnt need tuning, dont tune it.
First, do no harm.
-Kim.
P.S. Joe follows up to reader feedback here.
chopped up breakbeats, however, try applying a phaser to the beat before you chop it up
and rearrange it. After you rearrange the drum hits, youll lose the characteristic cyclic
whooshing. Instead, itll sound like youre chopping up the LFO driving the phaser. Its a
cool effect and can be useful in bringing a boring beat to life or imparting your own sonic
signature to a generic beat.
Vocal effects. Dont do this too often. But if youre looking for some special spice for a
featured moment (and the usual telephone autotune isnt making you all hot and bothered
anymore), use a phaser. Set it for fast and shallow for a kind of space transmission sound.
As usual, go easy on the feedback. Rely on the LFO and increase the number of stages to
produce a distinctive sound.
Dont ignore any of your tools its important to bring them out every now and then and see if
you can think of some new ways to use them.
-Kim.
Torch
Lets start with the most difficult. This breaks my heart.
Torch was a project that started in 2010. In fact, most of the production was done in 2010
writing and recording five songs for release as an EP. The sound was one of my favourites heavy
downtempo electronica with emotional female vocals.
Initial goals
At the beginning of 2011 I planned to record final vocals and finish postproduction (mixing and
mastering) of the EP, commission graphic design and web design, and release it within the first
few months of the year.
Outcome
It was a disaster. The artist had stopped showing up after the rough initial vocals were recorded,
but had provided assurances that the final vocals would be recorded at some stage. I pressed
ahead with postproduction, in order to maintain our schedule while still remaining open to final
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vocal recording at any stage. The artist had been AWOL ever since the deadlines for final vocal
recording started to slip. By the time January rolled around, the message was pretty unambiguous
that the artist was no longer committed to the project.
I should say at this point that this was a personal project the artist was not my client (in a
professional sense).
The EP was mixed and mastered and the graphic designer got halfway through the design
processes when it all fell apart. As a courtesy, I provided some initial design concepts to the artist
for her thoughts and feedback. She wasnt happy. After a few terse emails back and forth, I found
myself accused of being difficult and unsupportive.
And so, fully mixed and mastered, the project was shelved.
Learning
Sorry I cant provide more details Ive tried to summarise it as best I can, but theres a lot of
nuance and history which I cant cover in this space. Its also still a sensitive subject, and theres a
personal dimension that Id rather not discuss in public.
Theres some good that came of this though. I learned a lot. I cant stress enough how important
it is to read and confirm peoples intentions early. I had an inkling early on in the project (in
2010) that the artists commitment might be questionable. Instead of addressing it with (what
would probably have been) an uncomfortable conversation, I chose to turn a blind eye and remain
unrealistically optimistic.
I was unrealistically optimistic about the artists willingness and ability to prepare for final vocal
recording. I was also unrealistically optimistic about the artists blessing to take the project over
the finish line.
If Id caught it early, I could have either worked with the artist to remove whatever barriers were
in our way. Or worst-case I could have saved myself the time and emotional investment I put
into trying to finish it.
A year on, Im much better at reading and addressing early warning signs. And Im better at
removing external dependancies from my personal projects.
scheme of things.
The problem was that it was a scramble. We had a lot of songs in half-finished states and it wasnt
easy to work out how much extra time each song would need for completion. Our workflow was all
over the place.
Learning
When embarking on non-trivial projects (basically anything over 10 sessions), its critical to have
everything in order. The reason we started the year behind schedule is because we werent
tracking our work very effectively. I didnt track how many sessions we did in 2010, but it was
probably about 20. It took us a further 42 sessions in 2011 to bring it across the line.
If wed made a proper project plan in mid-2010 when we started, wed have known earlier that we
had unrealistic expectations for how much work it would be and what rate of progress we should
have made. Knowing that would have allowed us to balance the project more effectively. It might
have even helped us avoid the mad scramble in May-July.
Fortunately, we finished the project and were happy with the result, but working so close to the
line increased the risk dramatically. Any small hiccup could have had a massive impact. And
hiccups happen people get sick, computers break down, families happen, etc. The thinner your
margins, the harder it is to respond to hiccups smoothly and gracefully.
Crash Honey
And now for something different. Despite the hard-hitting early single Truth, Crash Honey is more
about piano-driven rock ballads and self-reflection.
Initial goals
Crash Honey started up in early 2011 as a different kind of project. I assembled a songwriting
team a lyricist, a composer, a vocalist and myself as producer. The plan was to write and record
six songs over about seven months and release late in the year.
Outcome
Well, it all went pretty swimmingly until the lead vocalist vanished. Unspecified family problems up
the east coast. Nothing any of us could do about it.
Workflow was better, though. We planned to approach the EP in two groups of three songs. We
managed to record final vocals for the first three, and the disappearance occurred partway through
recording the next three. Unfortunately we didnt even record initial vocals for those three, so by
the time we decided to go ahead with what we had (the vocalist still hasnt returned), we only had
vocals for three songs. The other three are fully recorded as backing tracks, but without vocals
theres not much we can do with them.
Learning
Obviously, theres nothing I can do about people having family problems. But this release could
have been much more if wed arranged our workflow to record initial vocals for all six songs as
early as possible. Even if we didnt get around to recording final vocals or backing vocals, thered
still be a chance that what we had would be good enough to edit and mix.
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Gag Doll
Well, heres an interesting one. I hesitate to include this project here because it hardly got off the
ground. Sorry, theres nothing for you to listen to, but its an interesting case study.
Initial goals
This was going to be a somewhat different style of project. Like Crash Honey, Gag Doll was to be a
team effort. Unlike Crash Honey, I was going to have a much smaller role in engineering my role
would primarily be in project management.
The team consisted of a lyricist, three instrumentalists/composers and a vocalist. I had a pretty
strict workflow organised and made sure everyone knew what everyone else was doing.
The big wildcard was that almost everyone was overseas online being the only means of
communication. The vocalist was local, and wed planned to record vocals and do post production
at my studio but everyone else was hiding somewhere inside the computer.
Outcome
We got off to a good start, but things started to drag pretty quickly. Despite trying to keep
everyone on the same page with regular weekly email updates, progress was slow and
unpredictable. Some people did their work quickly, others took a while to get around to it.
Unfortunately, it kinda fizzled out. People lost interest. Things werent happening. Eventually I
decided that it wasnt worth chasing people when they no longer emotionally invested in the
project.
Learning
I think the collaborators checked out of the project because it didnt feel real. I certainly felt that
the team was looser and more disconnected than physical teams that Ive worked with. Things
might have been different if we were able to physically meet in person every week, or if I could
have picked up the phone and made some calls.
I suppose something like Skype or Googles new meetups might have helped, but it still feels
pretty ephemeral. Non-verbal communication is so important and its not just body language. Its
speech intonation, timing, microexpressions, posture, etc and how all these elements work
together. Ive done Skype video calls with some of my other artists and collaborators here in
Melbourne and the video quality and latency still get in the way. And thats when both parties are
in the same city. Itd be even worse across the globe.
For now, Im going to focus on working with local talent. Fortunately Melbournes got no shortage
of it.
Zen Do Rhyme
This is (yet) another project that turned out differently to how I intended. Noticing a theme here?
Did I mention I learned a lot in 2011?
Late in 2010 I met a poet/vocalist who really inspired me he had a great smooth flow and wrote
with vivid rapid-fire imagery. He was also keen to pursue his career and take it further with some
recordings. In fact, hed already started working with an amateur producer on a few songs, but
was disappointed with the producers lack of work ethic (a common complain I hear).
I offered him a choice at the beginning of the year to either hire me (for a fee) to realise his
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creative vision, or be a partner in a project under my own creative vision. He chose the latter.
Initial goals
As you can probably guess from the website, one of my creative goals was to generate and
(mostly) process all the synth sounds using hardware. I didnt do it much for the sound but to
explore the workflow. Up until then, my sound sources were almost entirely software-based. With
hardware, I had to manually wire things up, and I had the opportunity to do some not-quite-linear
things with signal flow and modulation. The Dark Energy and FreqBox, in particular, have a lot of
flexibility with their extra CV ins and outs. Also, the T-Resonator, while digital, can make some
sounds that are *very* rare in software mainly due to its multiple analogue feedback paths that
weave dual analogue filters through the stereo DSP.
The other aspect I wanted to explore was real-time performance with the hardware. Usually I use
software in a set-and-forget manner, which can often sound pretty static. Sometimes Ill automate
a few parameters. With hardware, however, I was able to adjust any and all parameters while
recording. And because I couldnt simply drag automation points for perfect linear transitions, the
adjustments were more organic and human.
Outcome
Workflow-wise, I had a lot of fun but I dont think Ill return to a 100% hardware workflow. Its
just too time-consuming to patch sounds and rehearse performances for every part. What Ive
been doing since Zen Do Rhyme is using the hardware for feature sounds and main parts such as
leads and basses.
As for the project?
Well, it was going to be an album, but the vocalist started losing interest halfway through the
project. His idea of where he wanted to take his music was diverging from mine. Unfortunately, he
didnt tell me straight away he was just coming to sessions less and less prepared, and taking
less interest in pushing the project forward. By the time we got halfway through the year, I had to
have a frank and fearless conversation about the future of the project. We finished the fifth song
and went our separate ways.
Learning
Well, aside from the fun I had playing with hardware, the real learning here was in people
management. I wont be embarking on major (album-length) collaborations with people Ive never
worked with. Im also much more sensitive to early indicators that might reveal that a person isnt
as committed or hardworking or reliable as I hope they are.
When I embark on a project with an untested person, I take on a risk that the person will flake out
and change their mind before the project completes. Similarly, they take on the same risk that
I will not follow through to the projects completion. We dont know each other, so neither of us
would be in a position to confidently assess the risk. In future projects under my creative direction,
I will be paying my collaborators. This is a form of compensation for their risk, as a token that I
believe in the project and will take it seriously. It will also reduce my risk by placing pressure on
the collaborator to make the project a priority and treat it professionally.
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Summary
Its easy to look back and see a trail of failures. But even though they didnt turn out how I initially
hoped, they werent a waste of time. I pushed myself. I took on challenges that I wasnt sure how
to fulfil. And I learned a lot. As Ive previously written:
The greatest success isnt measured by the quality of the thing you built. The greatest
success is measured by how much you learned while you did it.
And learn I did.
-Kim.
I used a delay plugin to add some filtered echoes just to the middle by disabling the
right side input.
In the next insert I used a distortion on just the right side. This brought out a lot more of
the reverb than was heard in the original loop.
A good explanation of mid-side processing, and a few off-the-wall suggestions to try. Not just the
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usual tricks.
Id just be careful about unlinked m/s compression. Too much movement can make your stereo
image expand and shrink in uncomfortable ways. Although, maybe that might be appropriate for
your music.
-Kim.
I hate to break it to you, but the FedEx guy will never deliver better recordings. Better
recordings happen when you commit to being in the studio and doing the hard (but
insanely fun) work to get betterusing exactly the gear that you own RIGHT NOW.
Double negative aside, this is excellent advice as usual from Joe. Gear is important, but its not the
difference between success and failure. Knowing how to get work done is.
-Kim.
Theres something that happens when the door closes. Im able to hear balances that I
dont hear when inside the room
Yes, youve probably heard this advice before. What occurred to me, however, is that by changing
the frequency response, room resonance properties and stereo image, its a bit like listening to a
different pair of speakers.
So if youve only got one pair of speakers and cant (yet) afford another, walk around your room.
Or outside your room. Find a spot where the music sounds very different. Note that spot, and treat
like a new pair of speakers. Its not quite the same (it wont give you a more accurate sound than
your current speakers), but itll give you a different perspective that can help you understand the
sounds behind the speakers.
-Kim.
audio input.
Thats some serious chaos.
And I realised that the Minibrute probably wouldnt offer me anything substantially different to
what I could already cook up with my existing gear and a bit of creativity.
Dont believe the hype.
Learn as much as you can. Try everything out. Learn to listen carefully.
But if you cant hear it, dont waste your time on it. If it might be useful, youll probably figure it
out later. Youll discover it when your skills catch up with your ambition. Or its something thats
been misrepresented and misunderstood as it passed from one person to another.
The trouble is, theres no way to tell the difference between the two until your skills improve. So
dont worry about it. If you cant hear it, dont waste your time on it.
And just to keep in in perspective if its something you can hear, but you have to squint your ears
to pick it out, chances are it wont make any difference to your listener.
A good example is dither. Im sure that on some music in some listening environments, crunchy
digital truncation at -96dB is audible and undesirable (e.g. delicate orchestral music in Bob
Ludwigs studio). But for my music and my listeners, anything happening at -96dB is totally
inconsequential. So I havent A/B tested a whole bunch of dither algorithms to work out which one
is best. In fact, sometimes I dont use any dither at all when I master. And I cant tell which jobs
they are by listening to them. And no-ones noticed either.
Another example is tuning the kick drum to the key of the song. I cant remember ever doing it. I
recently released an electro-rock album where it didnt even occur to me that the kick should be
tuned to each song. And I think the songs slam.
Maybe you disagree with me. Let me know. Maybe you hear something that I dont. As you know,
Im always happy to be wrong if it means learning and growing. But dont parrot truisms that you
dont have first-hand experience of. Just because you read it somewhere doesnt make it true.
-Kim.
Back when most recordings were made by experienced pros, the mixes coming in
tended to be of a higher quality and more ready to go. Now its more of a mixed bag.
Some of the home recordings that I work on sound amazing as good as a lot of pro
studios could produce. Others need a lot of work just to make them sound somewhat
normal.
I think this is one of the most interesting changes happening now. These days its easier to record
music and gear / experts are less relevant to good sound. The side effect is that theres much
more variability as inexperienced engineers realise that all the 1176 clones in the world wont
make their music great.
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The way to be creative is to make stuff. You wake up in the morning, have some breakfast, hit the work bench and get on it with it. [...]
You cant plan for creativity. You can only plan to do the work.
Dont wait for inspiration. Get working and youll be ready for inspiration when it comes.
-Kim.
In the days of mono, the needle only moved side to side while tracing through the
groove. Later, the format was designed so that the stereo information could be read from
the up and down movement of the needle. This was done to ensure that older, mono
only record players could still play newer stereo records.
This is the first Ive heard this, but it makes so much sense. Its very clever. Basically, the audio on
vinyl is encoded mid/side. The mid (mono) audio is the side-to-side movement (lateral), and the
side (stereo) audio is the up-down movement (vertical). That explains why the needle might jump
out of the groove if theres too much strong bass content in the side channel. It also explains why
the Fairchild 670 compressors mid/side mode is called lateral/vertical.
The article also has a good explanation of why audio fidelity is better on the outside of a record (at
the start).
-Kim.
Deciding which DAW is the best really depends on who is making the decision. Which
is best for you really depends on what you are planning to work on, how you like to
work, where you will work and who you are going to work with.
The writing is a bit clumsy and the design is a bit cluttered, but what I really like about this article
is the way it is structured. It presents scenarios based on what kind of projects you work on, who
youre working with, where youre working and what your work style is.
Aside from the utility of being able to recommend it as a resource for emerging artists/producers
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(if youre reading this, I assume youve already chosen your DAW), its nice to be reminded just
how varied peoples work styles can be. I use Cubase, and fit pretty neatly into most of the
scenarios where Ben recommends Cubase. Ive been using Cubase for years and its good to be
reminded of how the other DAWs fit into the world.
Although, I did have a chuckle at this:
I could have thrown my hands up that day. I could have deleted all the guitar tracks and
re-recorded everything. But I didnt.
The performances were actually really good. Plus, I simply didnt want to go through
that whole recording process again, so I moved forward.
I made myself mix those less-than-perfect tracks.
Yes, its good advice as usual.
What Id really like to point out is that I love the way Home Studio Corner is developing its
becoming more about honest self-reflection and personal improvement. Ive long said that learning
from your own mistakes is the second-best way to learn.
The best way? Learning from someone elses mistakes.
-Kim.
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2012/02/08 - What level should your mix be at before you send it to mastering?
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2012/02/10 - Choosing and learning new gear by reading manuals, not forums
Im sure this will cause some people to groan, but one of the first things I do when Im
seriously considering buying something is to download and read the manual. Doesnt
matter if its hardware, a DAW, a speaker, or a guitar, I like to read the manual front to
back before I make up my mind most of the time.
I do this too. Im a chronic manual reader. In fact, I have two folders of manuals on my computer
one folder with manuals for gear I own, and another folder with manuals for gear I might be (or
once was) interested in owning.
Sure, sometimes manuals are boring, but theyre the best way to cut past all the marketing
garbage and delve right to the truth. I use them to answer questions like:
The manual tells you how the gear really works. Fortunately almost all manufacturers provide
manuals for free online. And Im distrustful of any that hide their manuals.
And on a similar note, stay away from forum discussions especially negative ones.
Unless somethings horribly wrong (which is unlikely), most products work as theyre designed to.
A small minority will have problems. But that small minority are much more likely to be vocal about
it. Ten or twenty people complaining on an online forum looks like heaps but its actually way
under 1% if thousands or tens of thousands of the products have been sold. And if a product
doesnt work properly, you can always return it (except for software sometimes, but then usually
theres a demo to try).
-Kim.
before our eyes. Its not just the possibility of something going wrong (after all, computers crash
too), but the act of bringing music into existence from silence.
Its like the difference between theatre and cinema. One is not lesser than the other, but theyre
different artforms. A theatre performance that tried to recreate elements of the movie it was based
on by playing parts of that movie on a screen behind the actors would an insult to both artforms.
So, SBTRKT. If you havent heard their music yet, listen to a few songs here. The visuals arent
important here play it in a new tab and come back.
Back? Good.
So, SBTRKT. Yes, obviously this is sequenced music. There were sequenced elements that were
triggered by the performers. But they werent simply playing the studio version of the track. They
had individual elements from the studio tracks, but extended and reinterpreted with new material.
And as much of it was live as sequenced. Its hard to see in the above photo, but Jerome was
playing an acoustic drumkit (and pretty damn well too) in addition to triggering sequences and
playing theremin. Sampha had a couple of keyboards and did a lot of vocal looping as well as
straight singing.
The gig stood out to me because it presented the essence of the recordings while taking
advantage of the possibilities of live performance.
Of course, being a producer and engineer myself, Im always interested in what gear people use
on stage. But its more out of curiosity than anything else. In the end, however, SBTRKTs
performance wasnt reliant on any specific equipment.
Its the witch, not the wand.
-Kim.
from a blank canvas of silence. As a producer, your goal is probably to help the composer,
musicians and engineer bring the song to life with a clear creative direction. As an engineer, your
goal is probably to be the lubricant between the artist/producer and the technology. If youre
reading this blog, youre probably wearing more than one hat.
So what does this mean for spending money?
As a composer, your capital is creativity and composition skill. In other words, its having the ideas
and the capability to develop those ideas. So, if youre going to spend money, look at ways to
improve your creativity or your skill. To improve creativity, look at ways to improve your peace of
mind, bring intellectual variety to your daily life and reduce distractions. That might mean
spending money on things that seem to have no relation to music at all it could mean hiring a
cleaner, seeing more arthouse cinema or taking time off. To improve composition skill, investing in
some books or courses would probably be money well spent as well as making sure youve got
the time to take in the new knowledge and practice.
As a producer, your capital is project management and relationship management. In other words,
its knowing what to do, when and how to do it and how to make everyone feel amazing in the
process. So if your core skills in project management and relationship management are weak, tool
up with some books or courses. And then, focus on getting as much experience as possible. Every
project is different and every relationship is different. The more experience you get in both, the
better youll be able to recognise early indicators and steer the course effectively.
As an engineer, your capital is your capability to translate the often-vague-and-mysterious words of
the producer or artist into ones and zeros that get converted into analogue voltage that gets
converted into air pressure. In other words, any moment that a producer or artist is waiting for
you to make their sound (instead of listening, thinking or goofing off) is a moment that you need
to speed up. The best engineers are the ones that make a room that looks like an aeroplane
cockpit feel like the business-class recliner chairs. So, if youre going to spend money, focus on
reducing those bottlenecks. Make sure your gear helps you get the right sound right away. That
might mean getting more mic stands and mics so youve always got something ready to plug in
and go. It might mean getting a bigger room or more input channels so you can record more of
the band at once. It might mean getting more plugins (or getting to know your plugins!) so that
when the producer asks for a trance synth youve got twenty presets ready to audition before
youre asked how long will that take?. It might mean getting a faster computer so you never have
to say wait a few moments while I bounce these tracks. It might mean taking time to learn (or
define) more keyboard shortcuts. It might mean reducing the number of plugins you have so you
arent spending all day auditioning compressors. Or EQs. Or reverbs.
If youre wearing multiple hats, be honest with yourself. As fun as composition is, you might need
to brush up on your project management if youre self-produced. As interesting as preproduction
is, youll need to make sure your studio is up to scratch if youre a producer making your own
recordings. Focus on improving your weaknesses or spend the money outsourcing it. If youre a
composer/producer but you find writing lyrics a chore, you might get more done if you hire a
lyricist. Or if youre a self-produced songwriter but keep running over time and over budget on
your recording projects, it probably makes sense to hire a producer. Or if you love making music
but tire at the technical tedium of maintaining your own studio, it might make sense to hire an
engineer and record elsewhere.
Keep an open mind. Sometimes the best gear isnt gear at all.
-Kim.
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The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two
groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the
quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality.
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His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom
scales and weigh the work of the quantity group: fifty pound of pots rated an A,
forty pounds a B, and so on. Those being graded on quality, however, needed to
produce only one pot albeit a perfect one to get an A.
Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were
all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the quantity
group was busily churning out piles of work and learning from their mistakes the
quality group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to
show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.
Go make some music.
-Kim.
Its kind of like hanging out at somebody elses house. You dont know where
everything is, and you need a minute to figure out where the bathroom is.
I come across this issue a lot. Whenever I do a mix for someone, they have to bring in their
multitrack recordings. When I produce an artist that has already recorded some demos, they have
to bring in their multitrack recordings. When I record a drum kit at another studio, I have to bring
in multitrack recordings.
Fortunately, everyone uses different tools (can you imagine how boring it would be if everyone
used the same stuff?). I use Cubase. Some of my artists use Logic. Larger studios often use
Protools. In the past Ive also had to bring in recordings from GarageBand, Reaper, Reason and
various portable recorders.
The second part of Bjrgvins post is right on. Moving past the confusion of but you dont use
ProTools! and how do I render individual tracks?, sharing multitracks is actually pretty seamless.
Its probably even faster than importing a native session because I dont have to sort out which
plugins are missing or unravel bizarre group/sidechain routing. I just have to listen to the tracks
and make sure the filenames roughly matched their content (not always a safe assumption). The
only headaches Ive come across are when the recordings were made at the wrong samplerate,
and I have to make sure I resample them the right way to get the pitch and speed back to normal.
Regarding plugins, I usually tell people:
EQ and other tone adjustments are (mostly) nondestructive, so keep them on. Unless the
artist has never heard of mixing, their tone adjustments usually give me about 40%-60%
head start.
Distortion and compression is destructive, so I usually advise the artist to give me the raw
audio. The only exception is when s/he really likes the compression/distortion in which
case I usually ask for both (raw and processed), because half the time the audio sounds
like it was run through a Boss Metal Zone.
Reverb is always terrible. I dont want to know. If the artist really really really loves that
muddy metal tank, Ill hear what s/he was trying to achieve when I hear the rough
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mixdown. I know lo-fi is cool and all, but if you want to bring it to reverb, just use a
Karplus-Strong comb filter and be done with it.
Delay would normally be in the same boat as distortion/compression (destructive), except I
find most artists tend not to go stupid with delays. Thankfully.
Once my artists and clients understand this, collaboration is pretty seamless.
-Kim.
The direct guitar signal goes into amp plugin, then to the master output. The signal from
this track is also going to the delay track. It then goes into the insert plugin, out the
interface, into the delay, (set to 100% wet, no clean sound) and then into the interface
and to the same track. I hope this makes sense.
Once you get your head around the routing, sending digital audio out through a hardware loop is a
great way to add some texture and life to a sound. Often if Ive got a sound thats just feeling a
little too clean and dead, Ill send it out to something like my T-Resonator or FreqBox. Or if Im
really angry, Ill overdrive my Spring King, which does nasty things when driven hard.
Often a track only needs to have a little bit of the hardware-processed version mixed in under the
original (especially if the hardware-processed version is a bit extreme). And if this is done for most
of the foreground instruments, the whole mix will gain some more life and depth and attitude.
-Kim.
Buss compression is certainly not a new concept, however, it is an effective and reliable
engineering tool and its basic principles are vital considering you are affecting multiple
voices. When approaching buss compression, there are two essential tools at your
fingertips: Attack and Release these two tools, when properly utilized, will have the
ultimate say in the outcome of your efforts.
[...]
With this in mind, I have provided examples of effective and ineffective buss
compression, focusing on attack and release settings, for a few simple approaches.
Excellent audio examples. With bus compression, if you hear it, youve used too much.
You have to feel it.
-Kim.
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I was optimistic that it would all work out. I was in denial that the early indicators (lack of
correspondence, unqualified promises) would be predictive. I wasnt defensive enough in actively
keeping in touch and making alternate arrangements.
And I was arrogant enough to start writing this post about a mistake someone else made, when
I made the exact same mistake myself.
-Kim.
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Rap is generally an in-your-face, visceral style of music. The kick is physical, the snare
is physical, subtlety isnt really the overall goal. And the vocals are paramount. Ive
mixed a number of rap records where the vocals are lower in the mix, but never have I
thought it was a good idea. Generally I want the vocals to be equally as strong as the
drums or stronger, and I want them as forward as possible. Compression is usually a
part of that equation.
There are some really good ideas in that post. And it applies beyond rap music its a useful way
of approaching any vocals that need to be thick and aggressive. Itd be just as useful for rock or
metal.
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2012/03/03 - Compressing rap vocals (and other thick and aggressive vocals)
I mixed a rap/metal/industrial album last year, and I think I compressed the vocals almost
exclusively with Rough Rider, with pretty extreme settings.
-Kim.
Compared to the much of the animal kingdom, human beings have pretty terrible
hearing. We have poor powers of echolocation, especially for sounds that come from
behind us, we can only hear a relatively narrow bandwith of 20Hz-20kHz, and were
easily fooled by illusions.
[...]
As the votes came in, the crowd was split at first, and then began to veer in favor of the
software plug-in. Not only did a small-but-significant majority of listeners show a
preference for the sound of the plug-in, they also believed that they had selected the
hardware version, because they believed the hardware version should sound better.
Theres so much good stuff in there I could quote the whole thing. Go read it. Now.
Elliott Fienberg recently asked me on Twitter what bitrate I encode at. I use LAME MP3 @ 192kpbs
CBR. I use 192kbps because thats the point at which I cant hear the encoding. I used to encode
at 128kpbs back in the day, but started to hear the data loss at the top of the frequency spectrum.
And dont get me started on dither.
I think, ultimately, its not practical to approach hearing (audio reception) and listening (audio
interpretation). Our ears and brains are not microphones psychology plays an inseparable part in
our understanding of sound and music.
I also think that the quest in some circles for high-resolution audio as an endpoint format is
misguided. CD resolution (notice I didnt say quality) has a dynamic range that approaches 96dB
and a frequency range that approaches 22.05kHz. We can argue all day about the quality drop-off
at the extreme edges, but ultimately the music that we love fits within these bounds. Thats why
Dynamic Range Day isnt about higher-resolution formats. Its about making better use of the
resolution weve had available for the last thirty years.
What do you think?
-Kim.
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2012/03/09 - Practice (and perform) your parts dont just sequence them
Youve got a computer chock-full of samplers, romplers, synths, loops and other sound sources.
You start every project with an empty timeline thats as inviting as a swimming pool on a hot still
day or an untouched carpet of autumn leaves. Its pretty easy to sequence dragging in plugins
and audio and placing them on the grid in neat patterns like lego blocks. And like lego blocks, its
easy to arrange them neatly and be satisfied with the result.
But you can do better.
Sequencing can be dull and predictable. Notes and sounds come in exactly on the beat. Loops are
the same each time we hear them. Section changes are stark and abrupt. The track progresses as
a series of plateaus. Boring.
Life isnt a series of lego blocks. Life is rich and colourful and fluid. Whether life reflects art or art
reflects life, dont sell yourself short. And dont sell your listeners short. Lego blocks are a great
starting point, and a useful way to sketch out a structure. But if all youve got is lego blocks, all
youve got is a sketch.
So make your music breathe. Bring it to life. And I dont mean layering a riser or stinger or
drum fill or anything like that. I mean bring those lego blocks to life. Perform those parts. Bash out
some drum beats on some pads. Play those chords or bassline or melody. Assign some MIDI knobs
or sliders to plugin effect parameters. Dont get next step, hit record. Embrace the subtle
performance variations that give the music some contour, some push and pull, some shape.
You might not get it right first time. Surprise! Dont be discouraged. Practice it. Spend ten minutes,
thirty minutes, two hours if you have to. Dont be lazy. Put some of your self into the music. Are
you the speechwriter or the speaker?
Right now theres two kinds of people reading this blog post.
The first kind is those who are nodding and telling themselves Yeah, that sounds kinda
interesting, maybe Ill try it one day. And then they dont. They get back in their studio and
continue step-sequencing everything because its easier and they dont care that its soulless.
Expressing yourself with a mouse is like playing piano with one finger. And youre only allowed to
play at one volume level.
The second kind is those who are nodding and telling themselves I dont know if thatll work for
me, but Ill give it a go and see what happens. And they try it out. On whatever track theyre
working on right now. Maybe just one instrument. Maybe partially quantise (dont hard-quantise!)
the performance if its a bit sloppy. Maybe try another instrument on the next track. Maybe get a
bit better at it. Maybe in the process learn how to make their music a little better.
So which one are you? If youre kidding yourself that youll try it one day but know deep down in
your heart that youll probably forget about it once you move onto the next blog post, you
probably wont bother commenting here. Youre just a grazer. A window-shopper.
On the other hand, if youre really going to give it a go, leave a comment telling me the name of
the track youre working on, and what instrument or sound youre going try performing. Make a
commitment to trying something new that might improve your music.
Its up to you.
-Kim.
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For all you ladies out there reading my blog (and I know there are some!) I apologize
for the terminlogy [sic]. But the honest truth is your mixes are never done by
themselves. You could tweak away for years and still find things to improve or
try. The only way to be done with a mix is to man up and end the darn thing.
Of course this is a sexist comment. How are female engineers supposed to man up? Why should
they be made to feel that being good enough requires being a man? The fact that such sexist
terminology is still in common lexicon is unfortunate, and I could just as easily suggest that
Graham grow some ovaries, but theres a more fundamental question here:
Why did Graham think it was ok to use sexist language? He knew it was sexist (the preemptive apology doesnt make it less offensive) but he thought it would be acceptable to publish
anyway.
The audio engineering profession (like most other engineering professions) is male-dominated. I
think I counted only one female in this search. I expect most of my own readers are male (as is
probably Grahams expectation too). Almost all the interactions Ive had with other composers,
producers and engineers (both online and offline) have been with other men.
But that doesnt mean its ok to use sexist language especially exclusionary sexist language.
Lets do a thought experiment:
The only way to be done with a mix is to white up and end the darn thing. Nope, not
ok.
The only way to be done with a mix is to straight (heterosexual) up and end the darn
thing. Still not ok.
The only way to be done with a mix is to Catholic up and end the darn thing. Not even
close.
So why man up? Yes, its a common phrase, but that doesnt make it any less sexist.
Then again, Im fiercely anti-discriminatory. Do you think theres a problem with using sexist
language? Or do you think Im making a big deal out of nothing?
-Kim.
The readers who pointed out that its a synonym for something like be confident and determined,
have courage are absolutely right. And thats the problem. Graham could have written toughen
up instead of man up and it would have had the same meaning. But using the gendered
language reinforces a male/female difference that is simply not relevant here. Muscles and
testosterone have nothing to do with the discipline and courage to call a mix finished.
Maybe its no different to the many other metaphors we use to describe our work. For example,
we talk about being surgical with EQ yet no-one is offended by any apparent discrimination
against non-surgeons (although almost everyone is a non-surgeon!). We might play doctor with
some badly-recorded audio or use Autotune as cosmetic surgery. Are we making implicit
statements about these professions? Yes, of course we are.
Gender, however, is different for one fundamental reason. We dont choose our gender. Its the
same reasons we dont (or shouldnt) discriminate or disparage people for their race, age,
disability, or sexual orientation. Its the same reason we wouldnt say that a song is gay unless
were specifically talking about the music of gay nightclubs. Or if the lyrics are about same-sex
relationships.
But using the term man up as a synonym for toughen up is like saying something like Pro Tools
is for the real men. It alienates women by reinforcing a male/female hierarchy for no other reason
than traditional male dominance and female submission (a.k.a. its just a phrase thats been
around forever).
Its also unimaginative. Like rappers who swear the paint off the walls because they cant seem to
find the words to express themselves, resorting to gender-biased language reveals a lack of
thought or consideration. Its lazy writing.
By the way, Im not advocating censorship. The content of Grahams post could just as effectively
been communicated without gender-biased language. And theres nothing wrong with using sexist
language (or other communication devices) in art that makes a statement about sexism or gender
roles even if its something as crass as Ke$has Grow A Pear.
Theres something else that happened here though.
Ive been opinionated on this blog in the past. Ive written on controversial topics. Ive been
blunt and direct. Ive even publicly outright disagreed with bloggers.
But this is the first time Ive had my readers take the time to call me childish and pathetic right
here on my own blog. I know the internet is full of jerks, but commenting like that here is like
insulting me to my face after Ive invited you into my house for lunch.
I like having comments on this blog because its nice to have a bit of discussion to share stories or
answer questions. Lets be respectful of each other and well have a good time. If you want to
spew forth hatred, you can do it on your own blog.
-Kim.
PS its interesting that this article was published on the same day. Read the article, then check
out the comments. It seems exposing sexism and other discrimination really brings the worms out
of the woodwork.
PPS Yes, I did read the full text of Grahams post. I agree with it. Theres some good advice
there.
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Some would argue that fragile progressions have the greater potential for creating
interesting musical moments, as they are a little less predictable. But how exactly do
you create a fragile progression?
Read the whole post. I love fragile chord progressions. As a composer, they give me opportunities
to create unexpected harmonies, sudden turns and fanciful digressions. Theyre a great way to add
colour and movement to a song with otherwise-basic chord progressions.
One method that Gary didnt mention is chord substitutions. If youve already got a basic repeating
melody and chord progression, you can add movement and development to a song by changing
the chords under the melody. This is particularly effective if the first one or two iterations of the
melody have the regular chords underneath, but subsequent iterations introduce different chords
under the same (or similar) melody.
Obviously, its best to choose chords that still harmonise well with the melody and also move in a
direction that makes sense (i.e. not jumping aimlessly all over the place). Sometimes this can be
really difficult! In a pinch, transposing to the relative major/minor is an easy way to develop the
chord progression. For example, if your melody is usually heard over a chord progression like C C F
G, it will probably also work over a chord progression like Am Am Dm Em.
What are some of your approaches to making chord progressions interesting?
-Kim.
When I work with a vocalist, I tend to provide the basic rhythm and melody of a song so
they have something to build on. However its important not to overdo the production
beforehand, so as to leave enough space for the songwriter to come up with ideas.
Its always interesting to read about how other producers approach workflow. For me, a song
usually starts by working with the songwriter and recording a demo (just vocals and one
instrument usually piano or guitar). Satoshi seems to work on the skeleton of the track on his
own before giving it to the songwriter to write lyrics and melody for it. Its an approach that makes
a lot of sense for dance music because the sound character and groove are so integral to the
identity of the song. Id imagine that a lot of heavy metal songs start life as guitar riffs. And a lot
of pop songs start life as a clever lyric. Whatever element captures the essence of your song, start
with that and build the rest of your track around it.
What do you usually start your tracks with?
(Also, someone should tell Satoshi about Dynamic Range Day)
-Kim.
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The most valuable tip I can give is to just practice. Any form of drawing really is more
about mileage than anything.
This applies to any creative endeavour, and making music is no exception. The more you do, the
better you get (so long as youre aware enough not to repeat your mistakes).
Thats why its so important not to get bogged down in the search for perfection. Making great
music is only possible by making lots of terrible music.
Andrews article also raises another interesting idea that Ive had floating around my head for a
while. Unlike most visual arts (cinema excepted), music is experienced with fixed timing. The
listener (generally) doesnt speed up or slow down songs to skim over them or revel in their
intricacies. The listener isnt free to enjoy the music at her/his own pace.
Contrast with an art gallery, where patrons can observe at will quickly glancing over items they
dont fancy, while lingering and taking in items that resonate. Even when glancing over a painting
or sculpture or photograph, the patron can take in the entirety of the piece before deciding
whether it is worth further scrutiny. For most visual art, the first impression is the overview.
Further observation reveals details.
For music, however, the first impression is not the overview. It is the introduction just the first
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few seconds. Further listening reveals the overview. Its almost the reverse.
The introduction acts as a headline. For static visual art, the overview is the headline.
Interestingly, cinema is experienced in a similar linear way to music, except that the headline is
actually the teaser/trailer. By the time the audience is watching the introduction, theyve already
made the decision and commitment to watch the whole piece.
But a song that has a wide dramatic range may at various moments later in the song sound
quite different to the first few seconds. A person who listens to the introduction may know nothing
of the dramatic changes later in the song and may decide to skip it based on an incomplete
understanding of the whole song.
The obvious solution to this is making the introduction representative of the song, or at least
representative of the most exciting part of the song. And many songs start like this such as a
short instrumental chorus for rock songs or an early peak in dance music. But this is obviously in
conflict with some creative goals. For example, a dramatic build or surprising turn late in a song
has a different effect if the listener has already been primed.
I dont know is theres a solution to this, or even if a solution is necessary. But its interesting to
consider what an alternative headline for a song, EP or album could be.
What do you think?
-Kim.
takes a week to mix a song. Or a few days (i.e. in the range of 10-20 hours). That means either
spending huge amounts of time on each element or spending huge amounts of time making finegrained adjustments to the overall balance.
I think Id lose my mind.
Can you imagine spending an hour getting the kick drum to sound right? An hour of thud thud
thud thud thud thud thud thud continuously? Or can you imagine spending hours upon hours
listening for the minute details in the overall mix balance? Some of you dont need to imagine.
I find that the more time I spend on a mix, the less able I am to make good decisions about the
mix.
Its interesting to think about. A mix begins in a raw state, and by making a (huge) number of
(small) adjustments, I bring it (close) to an ideal finished state. The more time I have, the more
adjustments I can make, and (theoretically) the closer I can get to the ideal finished state. But the
longer I take, the less effective each individual adjustment is. Or conversely, the longer it takes for
me to make each adjustment because Im unsure and keep second-guessing myself. If I let
myself go long enough, Id reach a point where the mix isnt in its ideal finished state (it never is!)
but each adjustment doesnt move the mix closer to that ideal finished state. Youve probably
experienced the same thing.
The ideal finished state is an illusion. Its a destination, but you cant expect to ever reach it.
Otherwise youll find yourself in the endless revisionism hole.
The interesting thing is that I always get close enough within three hours. No matter how complex
the mix is (although simple mixes usually less than ten tracks can be done in an hour and a
half). Thats because I spend the bulk of the time on the most important 3-5 elements (usually
lead vocal, drums and bass). They have to sound right. The rest? Its in the background. Simply
turning the background tracks down and applying a simple EQ will get me 90% there.
If it takes you too long to mix a song, I suspect its because:
You dont know what youre doing, and youre still exploring how compression and EQ
affect the sound. Good on you. Keep going.
You are a neurotic perfectionist and you cant bring yourself to call it finished. Muster up
the courage to call it finished. Accept that youll never reach the ideal finished state.
You have too much gear (typically plugins!) and you waste too much time trying them out.
If you have ten compressors and you cant choose between them without trying them out,
youll never feel satisfied until youve heard every one of them. Reduce your gear and get
to know it better.
Does this resonate with you? What are you going to do about it?
Next: Why we improve our efficiency. Hint: its not so we can make more music.
-Kim.
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A control surface doesnt do a single thing to improve the sound quality of your mixes. I
promise you if you mix a song on a control surface, Im not going to be able to tell.
Instead of dropping $1,000+ on a glorified mouse, Id rather spend that money
improving the quality of my recordings.
Joes got a good point, but I dont agree 100%.
Hes right that control surfaces dont affect the sound. If youre looking to improve your sound, a
control surface of any kind will be a waste of money. Better to upgrade the weakest link in your
signal chain or improve your knowledge.
But things that dont directly affect the sound are sometimes worth a lot.
As I wrote earlier, there are three main things that will hold you back: skills, tools and time.
When youre at a stage in your career development that your skills and tools are holding you back,
anything that saves time probably wont solve any big problems for you.
But when your skills and tools are no longer holding you back, its only time. And something that
saves you time even just a small amount can be worth a lot. Especially if you charge a lot for
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Dont be afraid. Just get to work. Work hard. Educate yourself. Try new things. Make
mistakes. Get feedback. Have thick skin. Dont be so timid that you lose out. Theres no
magic bullet to audio recording and mixing improvement, only experience, time, and
hard work.
Exactly.
-Kim.
As someone who writes for a living it befuddles me why I never thought to research a
proper keyboard.
As a computer-nerd-slash-writer, I am always looking and advocating for the right tools.
But for years, I have always equated writing tools with software I own more text
editors than I have fingers to type with but it never dawned on me until recently that
a good keyboard could be equally as important as a good text editor.
I own a dozen different writing applications, a programming application or two, an
email application, and a blog-posting application. And what do they all have in
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common? They all get typed into via a single, solitary device: my keyboard.
Its a long post and it gets pretty esoteric, but the general message is clear: theres so much noise
about software (and, in our world, noise-making hardware) that its easy to overlook the lessexciting equipment. The equipment that might be boring or unsexy but we use every day. Some of
this equipment we use more than any actual studio gear. Ill bet you spend more time setting on
your chair, touching your (computer) keyboard/mouse/trackpad and staring at your screen than
you do using any individual software program or plugin.
Of course, the kind of keyboard Shawn is writing about is terribly inappropriate for our line of work
(I actually quite like Apples current keyboards because theyre relatively quiet). But the same
attention to detail applies to us. Think about your own studio. Are you still using a crappy
MIDI/USB controller keyboard? Whats the lighting like? Is the room large enough to feel
comfortable? Does your studio smell nice?
Ultimately, the work we do is creative. The fewer barriers to our creativity, the better work we can
do. And the way we feel has a profound impact on how well we can tap our creativity.
Is your studio a place where you (and your artists) feel good?
-Kim.
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Youll see a button on some mic preamps and other audio gear labeled Phase, Phase
Reverse, Phase Invert, etc. This is really Polarity.
I cant believe how often people get this wrong. Mix engineers without an *actual engineering*
background I can excuse they simply dont know any better. What surprises and disappoints me,
however, is when gear is labelled incorrectly. Seriously, this stuff is designed by *actual engineers*
who should know better.
Its like confusing frequency with pitch. For most people, the two terms are as good as
interchangeable. In some contexts (such as designing synthesisers), the difference between
frequency and pitch is the difference between pleasant music and a cacophonous mess.
Also, the linked article is pretty good. You know, science. It works.
-Kim.
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The interesting thing, however, is that this is the time when have my most significant creative
leaps and I move closer to solving my biggest challenges. This is the time when I connect the
dots. Synthesise disparate thoughts. Speculate. This is when my thoughts to things that I didnt
tell them to do. And thats important.
Do something
Get some work done. Got some free time? Use it to make yourself better. Push things forward.
Build a little more. Because if you know whats holding you back, youve not got a few hours to
iron those creases. Pump the drain. Clear those blockages. Torture those metaphors.
Heres the real key doing work in this time is only worthwhile if it pays off later down the track.
That is, if it makes a measurable difference in future sessions. So futzing about with plugins you
wont use on an actual session is a waste of time. Reading endless forum posts about the Virus
versus the synth of the day is a waste of time. Reading your emails when youve already got
another time set aside to deal with them is a waste of time.
But programming some presets as starting points for the kinds of sounds youll use is a time-saver.
Learning the advanced options on your reverb will allow you to craft a more appropriate ambience
(or intergalactic afterburner, if thats your thing) for your mix. Software updates can give you new
features or better compatibility. Reading your manuals can help you unlock features or discover
shortcuts. All this stuff helps you make better quality work in less time. And thats important.
Do what?
Its up to you. Do nothing. Do something. Vacuum your carpet. Daydream. But whatever you do,
do it deliberately. Make a conscious choice about how you spend your time, with the consideration
of how itll help you in the future. The time you have for yourself is the most valuable because if
you spend it well itll pay itself back many times over. You get to choose.
And thats important.
-Kim.
People care about the news. They want to pay for it. They want the light stuff and the
deep stuff too. They just dont want as much of it as we journalists and media makers
produce. But we forge ahead and produce it anyway. We love journalism so much we
create supply without demand.
Replace journalism with music and it translates beautifully.
That doesnt mean you shouldnt try. It means you should try even harder.
-Kim.
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Theyll be $20 each and Ill be writing a bit shortly about what to expect in each guide. Theyre in
various stages of completion, so I wont dump them online all at once. The first guide will be
Emotion in Music, and thatll be coming soon. Let me know if there are any other topics youd like
me to cover
Stay tuned.
-Kim.
Theres no such thing as a true story. As soon as you start telling a story, making it
relevant and interesting to me, hooking it into my worldviews and generating emotions
and memories, it ceases to be true, at least if we define true as the whole truth, every
possible fact, non-localized and regardless of culture.
Think of how this relates to songwriting. If youre writing a song about something that happened,
you might find there are some good reasons to stray from the truth. Sometimes rearranging or
omitting some details can make the song flow better musically. Sometimes enhancing or
embellishing the story can strengthen the emotional impact. Sometimes exaggeration is exactly
what the song needs.
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Dont get hung up on the facts leave the facts to journalists. The role of music (and other art) is
to communicate emotions.
Are you an artist or a journalist?
-Kim.
however, then thats the clue that you might need outside help.
Outside help can take many forms. It can be anything from paying for professional help to asking
a knowledgeable friend to posting on forums. No matter which way you do it, it involves making
contact with another person. It involves someone listening to your music and giving you some
specific guidance that you wouldnt have thought of on your own.
Obviously, you need to be careful who you listen to. Not everyone will be able to give you useful
advice. Musicians will often give advice that leads you to make your music more like theirs.
Beginners might have a lot to say but not realise when their advice is not useful. Forums can make
it hard to tell the difference between anonymous jerks and veterans giving tough love.
If you have the choice, seek advice from someone you know and trust.
-Kim.
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Tone is more than EQ. For vocalists, its about the character of the voice. Good singers will
be able to explore a lot of nuance here, but I usually start by thinking along the range from
smooth to rough sound. Tone is very personal to a vocalist and is controlled in more subtle
ways than pitch or volume. As such, Ill often give the vocalist a starting direction (e.g.
smoother or rougher) and then explore the different vocal tones from there.
Ultimately, the human voice is best used in music to communicate emotion. The better command
you have of your vocalists musical expression, the better youll be able to make a recording that
communicates effectively and powerfully.
-Kim.
Im not calling them books, because theyre not very long. Most of them will be between 10 and
20 pages. Pretty easily digestible. Theyll cover a lot of the same topics that Ive written about.
Long-term readers of this blog will know what to expect. Some of the ideas will be familiar. Some
ideas will have been developed and refined since I last wrote about them.
The biggest difference, however, will be the scope. The guides will be much broader and complete
than any single blog post. And theyll be more integrated and coherent than a collection of blog
posts. Those of you who have early versions of the Mixing Tools Reference Guide and Using Space
in the Mix know what Im talking about. And theyll be proof-read and edited too, so theyll be
clearer and flow better. In other words, the standard of writing will be a step above blog posts
(which are usually written start to finish with minimal editing).
So, the guides will essentially be an extension of this blog a way for me to write in more depth
and detail, with higher quality and better presentation.
Theyre not for everyone. If you prefer podcasts or videos, there are other people who do them
well. If youre looking for something more tailored to your work, thats what my consultation
services are for. If you want a book, Im sure there are a lot of decent books out there.
But if you like what I write on this blog and you want more, keep an eye out for the guides. They
might be just what youre after.
-Kim.
P.S. If youve read this far, go check out the first guide to be published.
Now Im back at the studio, ready to fight. Bieber is running late, I am told, because
hes procuring the boxing equipment. The PR lady, Melissa, warns me that Bieber boxes
regularly and that his father, Jeremy, is a former MMA fighter. Now Im starting to get a
little worried. Ive been waiting two and a half days, and I was looking forward to
teaching this kid a lesson about punctuality. But for the first time, its dawning on me
that Justin Bieber might be able to kick my ass. What if his Horny Teenager Strength
can easily overpower my Dad Strength? What if he knocks me out? What if he puts me
in the hospital? What if he kills me? Do I still get paid for this?
Sometimes artists or clients run late. What do you do?
For me, it depends on the relationship. Ill forgive someone running late as much as half an hour if
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its a one-off and weve got a good relationship. Multiple times, though, and I usually start to draw
attention to it subtly (and gently) at first of course. For the occasional late person, they already
know its a problem and dont need much reminding (if any at all). In my experience, however,
people who are regularly late dont simply turn around just because we had a discussion about
punctuality and professionalism. There are deeper problems ranging from poor time management
to self-sabotage. While its my job to help artists, some things are beyond my influence.
-Kim.
Look, if youre gonna burden your recording with little rules that dictate how it is
recorded thats great. Fine. Whatever. But when you do so please think about what that
will mean. Is it helping the songs?
So true. Recording is an artform, but only to you and me. When regular fans and music lovers
listen to music, theyre listening to the artists and musicians. If youre not the artist, your #1
priority should be to allow the artist to express her/himself. That means knowing your gear well
enough so that it doesnt get in the way. And it means conducting yourself so that you dont get in
the way.
Self-imposed limitations can be a constructive part of the creative process. When used like this I
think of it as creative focus, not limitations. But the limitations dont make the music. Theyre just
a tunnel through which you (or the artist) must squeeze. The fact that you made it out the other
end isnt a triumph of the tunnel. Its a triumph of the resulting creativity.
Also:
When you listen to a classic song recorded under primitive or simple conditions yet
the song sounds fantastic, a big part of it is because the performances were so damn
good. But its never because the technology was limited or the track count was low.
Never. Ever. Was.
This is why I think the idea of emulating specific equipment from the past is irrelevant (and why
Im generally dismayed by all the emulations in the audio world particularly the plugin world).
Your music wont be better because you used a more accurate 1176 clone. Joe Gilder sometimes
writes about mixing using nothing but stock ProTools plugins. Great mixes dont come from great
gear. They come from great music and great skills.
-Kim.
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Users want a predictable experience. When something is a link, users want to know it
without having to think about it. A link should behave like other links.
But users demand that these expected experiences simultaneously be delightful. For
most people, this idea is somewhere on a tangent, living on the opposite end of where
non-spontaneous Mr. Predictable does.
To bring this full circle back to music, one of the composers main jobs is to balance predictability
and unpredictability.
Predictability gives the listener a framework for understanding the music. It also provide a degree
of comfort and familiarity, which is critical for the listener to actually give your music a chance.
Unpredictability gives the listener a surprise! It what gives the music character. Its what causes
someone to fall in love with a song.
Too much predictability makes a song boring no matter how cool your sounds are or how
authentic your emulations are. Those of you who make music that looks like lego blocks in your
sequencer know what Im talking about.
On the other hand, too much unpredictability makes a song difficult to follow and difficult to learn
and remember. Autechre, Im looking at you.
All composers even rappers must dance between these two extremes.
-Kim.
2012/06/14 - If the gear doesnt matter, how do you choose what to get?
What is fascinating to me is that Great creation stories all sound surprisingly similar.
Something along the lines of yeah we went in the studio and put down some tracks,
and they sounded pretty good, and we had to redo a couple of things, and then when put
out the album. Disappointing, right?
[...]
Its our fault for expecting a compelling narrative. Our expectation of divining some
deep insight into their creative process is fundamentally flawed. They were just out
there doing their thing, just like they always do, and it worked.
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Its true. There is no compelling narrative. John Lennon didnt sit down to write Imagine planning
it to be his career-defining song. Beethoven didnt start writing his fifth symphony with the intent
that the four-note theme would resonate for over a century. Ark Music Factory werent thinking ok,
this one will make Ms Black an internet superhero.
They were just doing what they do best. Showing up, putting the hours in, doing the best work
they could at the time.
And they were Great because they werent worrying about the mechanics of making music. Theyd
hit their stride long ago and were focussing wholly on the art and craft. Would John Lennon have
written Imagine if he was still struggling to figure out how to write songs that resonated with a
generation? Would Beethoven have written a brilliant fifth symphony if he hadnt already
written four other brilliant symphonies?
For composition, the mechanics might be themes, contour, musical development, etc. For mix
engineering, the mechanics might be gain, EQ, compression and reverb. For production, the
mechanics might be creative direction, project management and relationship skills. And for all of
them, workflow is at the centre of it all.
How can you do great work if youre still figuring out what production step comes next? How can
you do great work if you havent settled on your toolset yet? How can you do great work when
you dont understand the basics of musical structure and listener perception?
The sooner you get this stuff sorted, the sooner you can go make something amazing.
-Kim.
[I]ts not uncommon for people to be asking the question, can you really hear the
difference? This is very good news for music and music lovers.
Rob then goes on to describe a particularly thorough method for conducting audio tests.
But it doesnt matter.
If you have to squint to hear the difference, the difference doesnt matter. Were talking about
comparing two different signal chains and the audio difference between them is so slight that you
need an ABX test to tell them apart. If thats the case, the minuscule difference will be dwarfed by
other practical considerations. You know, real-life factors like cost, ease-of-use, ability to impress
people, availability, etc.
MP3 encoding is a great example. Low-resolution (below 128kbps) MP3 encoding is easy to hear.
You dont need a controlled test to know when youre down there. But above a certain point
(192kbps for me), MP3 is *almost* indistinguishable from uncompressed audio. At that point, it
doesnt matter how close it is, because the fact that it takes a fraction of the time to transfer
online is far more important.
In fact, MP3 encoding is a great example because if youre encoding your audio with a lossy
format, you already dont care about perfect reproduction.
Amp sims are another example. They sound just fine. People doing extensive comparative testing
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are wasting their time (unless theyre developing amp sims themselves!). Amp sims suck. They
dont suck because they sound terrible. They dont (they used to, but thankfully were past that
point). They sound great. Amp sims suck because they dont give you the experience of playing in
front of a kicking amp (also, iso booths suck for the same reason!). A better performing experience
will give you a better performance. And that is what matters.
-Kim.
Im very like you version, and its realy sound more logical I think, the flow is more
natural, you make me look at the song structure from the different angle.
You give me very usefull and interesting thoughts about connection with listener, about
speaking with him in uderstandable language. To be honest I never thought about it
earlier.
Thank you very much againg for detailed studio demo, Im very happy with your
comments.
(I dont edit these quotes at all)
Thanks for all the advice, really appreciated it, and I have to say it is well worth
spending a bit of money for a proper opinion.
I will try incorporate your advice in my new productions and try fix my current ones
and I would be happy to ask you for another consultation once I think I have raised the
bar for myself again.
I get quite a few people having one consultation, then internalising the new
knowledge/perspective and working it into their other songs/tracks. They then come back after a
few months for a further consultation, and I can hear the progress theyve made since last time.
Thanks a lot for that kim, yeah my monitoring enviroment is awful at the moment i am
in a uni place so the walls are very thin and cannot feel any bass.
I can usually hear when someone has problems with their monitoring environment. When this is a
problem, I provide practical advice for how s/he can improve their monitoring environment without
breaking the bank. Most people dont have massive funds, so I advise on how to get the best
bang-for-buck.
Theres a bit more info on this page, but if youre reading this post here you already know what to
expect.
When youre ready, send an email to consultation at kimlajoie dot com.
-Kim.
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I made a crapload of mistakes when I first got into recording. (And as I mentioned last
week, I still make plenty of mistakes.)
Joe then goes on to describe eight different mistakes that he made when he started out recording.
Since the three of you reading this blog seem to make more electronic/dance music, and since my
own beginner experience was mainly with synths and samplers, I thought Id put a different spin
on it:
Focussing too much on execution and not enough on expression
How much time do you spend thinking about gear or mixing techniques? How much time do you
spend thinking about artistic expression and music? Exactly.
Chasing your tail
Its all digital. You can always go back and change things if you dont like it. Even after it is (or
should be) finished. Doesnt mean you should.
Not referencing commercial tracks
I cant tell you the number of times Ive finished a mix thinking I had it in the bag, only to
reference it later with commercial tracks and be sorely disappointed. Its something Ive become
much better at with experience, but for beginner and intermediate producers I cant stress enough
how important it is to get a real-world reference.
Not allocating enough time
Making music takes time. If you rush yourself, youll end up with a result that youre not proud of.
Of course. But what if youre trying something new and you dont know how long itll take? My
simple rule of thumb: make as realistic an estimate as you can, then double it. If you finish early,
you just scored yourself some free time!
Assuming collaborators want what you want
Let me count the ways.
Be savvy. Tiny things that give you the weirds turn into giant monstrous creative differences that
can sink projects and take whole relationships down with them. On the other hand, tiny things that
make you feel good about a person stay tiny.
Also, dont become jaded and cynical.
Working too late into night
Everyones different, but I find that after I work past a certain point (usually about midnight) my
brain really slows down and things take me twice as long and end up half as good. Know your
limits. Stick to them.
Not treating your room
It took me so long before I got serious about acoustic treatment. After years of ineffective
cardboard and thin fabric, I finally got some professionally-designed acoustic foam. The difference
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was astounding I could hear so much more clearly. Recordings, of course improved
tremendously too. Dont put it off.
Forgetting the feeling
This is the most important one.
The. Most.
Dont ever fall out of love with music.
Fortunately, Ive never come close to this, but Ive seen it in others. They throw everything theyve
got into their music for a few years and then get burnt out from focussing too much on the
business or the technicalities or the live shows or any number of other distractions. Dont be that
person. Youre reading this blog, so you probably Love music. Thats not with a little l. Thats the
big L. Always remind yourself of why youre doing this. Always remind yourself of the feeling it
gives you. Because even if were making music with machines, dont ever forget that its only the
emotions that make it worthwhile.
-Kim.
I think in general, if youre going to go for a longer song, the the biggest thing to keep
in mind is that you need enough material in the song to keep it interested to the average
listener for that amount time. A lot of times as producers we like to think that a solid
groove is enough for people to listen to for a long time, but more often than not it takes
more than this to keep people entertained for more than 4-6 minutes.
In case you missed it (I almost did!), Eriks really kicking goals on his Tarekith blog. The concept of
balancing song length with the amount of material is something I think all composers/producers
need to understand. Ive written about it here, but click through to Eriks post for some
suggestions specific to dance music.
Hes also got some good advice about mixing/mastering levels (which pretty much mirrors my own
advice) and some interesting discussion about DJing downtempo tracks.
-Kim.
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Meditation strengthens your minds ability to focus, which is essential in the studio.
Just as you go to the gym and lift weights to strengthen your muscles, meditation
develops your brains focus muscle.
Lots of good personal advice there. I dont agree with all of it, but its refreshingly honest. I
particularly like this comment about meditation its spot on about being like exercise for the
mind. But dont be quick to judge just like a physical workout doesnt have to mean beefcake
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weightlifting at the gym, meditation doesnt have to mean sitting cross-legged and chanting.
Approach it more broadly than that. Physical exercise is about practicing being fit in a controlled
way. Similarly, meditation is about practicing being focussed (i.e. distraction-free) in a controlled
way.
Speaking of distractions, I cant stress enough how important it is to remove distractions from your
work area. My studio computer is disconnected from the internet when Im working, and I dont
bring my phone into my studio. Time has a different meaning when Im working like this each
individual minute is so much more valuable.
Email is useful. Twitter is useful. Browsing the web is useful. Theres a time and place for all that,
and wireless internet and smartphones are making that time and place explode all over our other
times and places. I find it essential to deliberately cordon off my studio from the noise. Over the
years, the more seriously and effectively Ive shut out distractions, the more productive Ive
become.
And the more productive I can be, the more creative I can be.
-Kim.,
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Record, our means of getting there (creating it) became more versatile and flexible. It didnt take
long for overdubbing and punching in the 60s and 70s to become commonplace in mainstream
music, making it just as likely that A Record wasnt actually a record of a single event. But we still
called it A Record. And when sequencers and samplers and synthesisers became mainstream in
the 80s and 90s it became common for A Record to be a record of no event at all.
And now with digital technology and DAWs and iPhone synths and Max/MSP almost anyone can
create The Thing We Still (or used to) Call A Record without doing any Recording.
We still make A Record. But what is it a record of?
-Kim.
an exploring mindset when deciding on the order or length of some sections where you might be
less sure.
One of the important things to understand is that you probably need both in equal measure. Too
much exploring without enough finishing will leave you with lots of unfinished projects and an
unrepresentative portfolio. Too much finishing without enough exploring will leave you creatively
unsatisfied (or stuck making remixes and covers).
-Kim.
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Speaking personally, the biggest benefit is not having to worry about it anymore,
Taylor says. After Ive recorded and produced the thing, and wrote the thing and
played on the thing for 5 months, I dont want to have to worry about mixing it, too.
[...]
It was also great to be able to focus on production and on the bigger picture stuff, and
not to have to worry about 160hz here and there and get worn out on all that.
This is a really great article/interview that explores the difference between mixing and producing.
Of course, many people do both, but its very important to recognise that theyre different
activities, which require very different mindsets.
Whoever wears the producer hat is concerned with creative direction and songwriting and
communicating a message to listeners. Of course, its also about managing the people and the
schedule and the budget and the resources and egos and the lunch money. The producer is the
captain of the ship.
Whoever wears the engineer hat is concerned about making all the sounds work together. S/he is
all about frequencies and ratios and reverb shapes and phase and transients. The engineer is in
the engine room in the bowels of the ship operating all the machines. So that the captain doesnt
have to worry about operating the machines.
Know your strengths, and know what you want to focus on.
Are you a primarily a producer? Or an engineer? Or both?
-Kim.
[I]ts a reminder to myself and other musicians out there that if you keep your head high
and stick with it, the ideas WILL flow again. Every one of these lulls in my creativity is
ultimately followed by a beautiful period where Im able to create at an almost magical
pace, I just need to have the patience and positive outlook to see it through to that point.
Some people are gifted with the ability to create at will, to turn that spark on or off as
they see fit. For the rest of us though, its the struggle to get to those moments that
defines why we do what we do. We just need to have the foresight to remember that it
can take longer than wed like, but its always worth it in the end.
True words.
When I first read this, my thought was: I am that person. I never feel stuck for ideas or low on
creativity. But thinking further, I remembered that its not because I have a bottomless bag of
ideas (although I havent found the bottom yet). Its because each idea that I choose to develop is
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actually the beginning of a project. And a project can take months or years to see through. And
thats mainly work. Its often creative work, but Im not ever stuck for ideas because I already
have the framework (the project direction) for being creative.
The moments of pure creativity coming up with something from a clean slate only need to be
few and far between. I only need two or three each year. And in between, I come up with plenty
of other ideas that never get developed or shared. And thats ok. When it comes time to start a
new project, Ive already got several ideas that Ive been exploring and developing in my mind. I
just pick whichever one is most suitable or best represents my style of creative expression at the
time.
Do you ever get stuck for ideas? How often do you need to come with an idea from a clean slate?
-Kim.
As I looked at the work of the young me, I realized a couple of things: (1) I wasnt half
bad as a young kid, and (2) The pictures had a lot of technical imperfections and
limitations. Uh oh another project began to form in my mind. I needed to find out
whether the problem was the equipment of the day or whether it was my problem.
Read the whole article for Tenzings findings and conclusions.
Theres a bit of technical photography jargon. Dont worry about it. Actually if you dont
understand it, take it as a hint of how we sound to people who arent audio engineers. Think twice
before talking jargon, eh?
As an aside, someone recently asked me on Twitter how I deal with clients who want in-progress
mixes to be as loud as commercial masters. He said that when he tried to explain to his clients,
they didnt understand (or care about) headroom, dynamic range, or other esoteric concepts. I
replied that when the topic comes up (and for me, it hardly does) I simply explain that the inprogress render is quiet because its not finished yet. Itll be loud enough when its finished, but
first I need to make sure the sounds and balance are right. No jargon. You can use that script if
you want. Your job as an engineer is to understand the jargon so that your clients dont have to.
Anyway, the point of the article is that the gear is important, but not anywhere near as important
as the skill of the operator. If youre reading this blog, youll recognise that as an ongoing theme in
the audio world as well. No surprises.
I particularly like the second-last paragraph. Choosing the right gear is important because it helps
you work in the way you want to work. Gear is important because it allows you to capture (record,
create) art in different ways. Different gear works differently.
New gear or expensive gear doesnt necessarily give you better results, but the right gear
definitely will.
-Kim.
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pile of multitracks and I have to create a sound with them. The start and end points are set, and
my job is to get from A to B. I use the same set of tools and skills, but my creative contribution is
dramatically different.
In my music work, I make sure I have a balance of projects where I work for myself and projects
where I help other people. Its a balance of art and craft. For me, too much art is selfish (I love
helping people) but too much craft runs me dry (I need to create).
Finding the right balance is really difficult.
A few years ago, I was focused almost exclusively on recording and engineering my solo album. It
was long, solitary work. It was extremely satisfying creatively, but toward the end I started to feel
the need to use my skills and tools to help others. I felt restless.
More recently, I experienced the other extreme. Late last year I spent a few months doing almost
no production work of my own I was almost exclusively working on other peoples projects. I
found it satisfying, but started getting irritable because I wasnt making my own music.
Finding the right balance is not about formulas or rules or ratios. Its about feeling. Remember
how important emotion is in music? Its just as important for the process of creating music as it is
for embedding within the music itself.
-Kim.
of technical skill. On the other hand, Artist B might not have the best skills, but knows that
progress is made in small deliberate steps.
Ill tell you something.
A few years ago, I found myself in a situation where I was so busy I had hardly any time to work
on my own music. I couldnt even finish a four-minute song. Forget about an EP or album. I could
have given it up for a while or put it on the back burner but I knew that if I did, my craft would
suffer. Id find that upon returning to it later, my skills would have deteriorated and it would have
taken a while to get back into the workflow and mental habits.
So, instead I composed a series of one-minute songs. I didnt have time to work on longer pieces,
but I could see through one minute of music without losing context. It kept my composing muscle
active and gave me the satisfaction of finishing something. I could measure my progress even if
it had slowed down.
And when my workload started to clear, I could easily scale back up to full-sized songs. I already
had momentum. If I had stopped completely, it would have been much more difficult to get back
into it. Much more difficult.
I havent, and I wont, published those one-minute songs (although if youre in Melbourne you can
probably strongarm me into playing them for you in person). Theyre not very good. But thats ok.
They dont have to be good. And neither does your music if youre pulling yourself out of a rut.
They dont have to be good.
But they have to be finished.
-Kim.
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Ill
Ill
Ill
Ill
Ill
Ill
Got any more youd like to add? How are you actually going to achieve them?
Admittedly, this is as good a time as any to reflect on the past year and think about ways to make
the coming year better for our music.
But why wait until the end of the year to reflect? Surely you know how youre going all year round.
Sure, its a nice stop-off point to take a breather, look back on how far youve come and give
yourself a pat on the back.
But resolutions? Really?
Lets call them for what they really are (or aspire to be): GOALS.
And if youre serious about achieving your goals, they need to have measurable outcomes. And
they need to have definable steps (effort) to get there. Thats the key. Repeat after me: For each
goal, plan the effort and measure the outcomes.
1. Whats your goal?
Be specific. Vague hand-wavey resolutions like Ill write some more songs isnt good enough.
How many songs? Ill write twenty new songs is better. Remember it has to be measurable.
There has to be some objective way to determine whether youve met your goal or not. Its a bit
scary the first time you do this. Hang in there.
2. Whats your effort?
Break down the steps you need to take. For example, writing a song might mean writing lyrics,
composing some chords and melody and then recording a demo. SCHEDULE THE TIME TO DO IT.
How long does each step take? It wont happen if youre not sitting there with a pen and a pad
and a guitar.
3. What are your outcomes?
Remember youre not measuring the effort you put in, youre measuring the results of that
effort. So, your outcomes are not the number of hours you put in. Its not how hard you tried.
Your outcomes are the number of finished songs youve made. Or the number of manuals youve
read cover to cover. Or the number of new musicians youve collaborated with. Its the end result.
The real trick is to do it iteratively. Focussing on a single outcome 12 months into the future is a
fools errand. Its too easy to ignore because its so far away, and by the time you get close enough
to care you wont have done enough work. And its too big to learn from your experiences youll
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February: 2 songs
March: 2 songs
April: 2 songs
May: 2 songs
June: 2 songs
July: 2 songs
August: 2 songs
September: 2 songs
October: 2 songs
November: 2 songs
There is no doubt that even the greatest musical geniuses have sometimes worked
without inspiration. This guest does not always respond to the first invitation. We must
always work, and a self-respecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is
not in the mood. If we wait for the mood, without endeavouring to meet it half-way, we
easily become indolent and apathetic. We must be patient, and believe that inspiration
will come to those who can master their disinclination.
Inspiration is necessary, but it is not beyond your control. You can do things to invite inspiration.
You can be prepared and rehearsed and studied in order to capture it and make best use if it when
it arrives.
Your lack of work is not the result of a lack of inspiration. Its the other way around.
-Kim.
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Nobody writes their best work sitting in front of a DAW loaded with samples and
plugins.
O RLY.
But, reading on:
[W]ith the plethora of excellent sample libraries, effects and soft synths out there today,
its easy to make anything sound amazing, even if its musically bland. When you write
on piano, you dont have those sonic crutches. It has to be well-written. If not, youll
know instantly. You need to rely on your sense of melody and harmony rather than
amazing-sounding samples to wow your audience.
Its a good point. Good music is good music, regardless of the production or sonic crutches.
But what does that mean for a lot of modern electronic music where the production is the
composition? Im talking about genres like dubstep and glitch hop where some of the traditional
western musical parameters (note pitch, harmony) are almost ignored, yet modern production
techniques fill the gap. Ive always been fascinated and inspired by the studio-as-an-instrument
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approach to making music. And for this music, reverb automation and LFO-tracked bitcrushing is
Tolberts melody and harmony. The plethora of excellent sample libraries, effects and soft synths is
Tolberts three-line piano template.
Sometimes composition is about melody and harmony. But sometimes it isnt.
Composition is the arrangement of sounds in time. A good composition has balanced proportion,
depth, thematic development, coherent contour, momentum, contrast, etc. You can do it with an
Abm/C# or a granular pitch shifter.
-Kim.
Failing that, you can learn from a combination of clever observation of your mistakes and others
work. It takes a particular style of learner to do this effectively, however. And it usually takes quite
a bit longer than having a good teacher.
I should know.
-Kim.
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2013/02/19 - Its not enough for your raw tracks to sound great
couches, fit curtains, get windows reinforced, etc. But Ive been recording and mixing there for the
last few months and Im pretty pleased with how its shaping up. So while I sit here and write
about how you dont need any more gear, Ive gone and upgraded the biggest piece of gear of all
the physical structure of the studio itself. So now Ive got a space big enough for two bands, a
separate control room, and a separate kitchen/toilets. Speaking of which, the kitchen is still the
place to hang out and talk about music, next door to the place where we make music.
So anyway, whats going on in your world? What have you got cooking thats going to open up a
whole new bunch of opportunities? Whats your next bold move?
-Kim.
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Alex, the lead vocalist, spent 40 minutes on the first line alone. There were many times
that he heard something in a recording that he didnt like, but I couldnt, for the life of
me, hear the issue. I also felt a bit of loneliness for Alexall alone in the isolation booth,
and he couldnt even see the rest of the band. It was just him, his demons, and the
microphone.
The whole post provides an interesting perspective of a photography in a recording studio, but its
this paragraph that stuck with me. In particular, its the part about re-recording to correct
performance problems that non-musicians cant hear.
When recording performances, you cant escape human limits (much). Each take will usually be
better than the last, but after a while the performer will become tired (either physiologically or
psychologically) and subsequent takes will suffer. Thus, theres usually one best take from a
session. Its usually wise to identify this as soon as you can, and move on to the next step of your
workflow.
When making sequenced music (and with multi-day recording projects), however, theres a law of
diminishing returns. You can always come back the next day and make a small improvement.
There is always room for a small improvement. But each day the improvement gets smaller and
the time needed to make it gets longer. All the while, people get tired, bored, restless or
disgruntled.
At some point you have to make a call. You have to be prepared to say This is good enough.
Despite the folklore dichotomy that live performance is ephemeral and lucid while studio
recordings are perfect but sterile, the reality is that perfection in studio recordings is an asymptote.
You can approach it, but youll never get there.
So how do you decide where to draw the line between good and good enough?
Sometimes its Potter Stewart approach, and you rely on your gut instinct. Sometimes its available
funding, and youve only hired the studio for a set period of time. Sometimes its your project
schedule, and delaying production would push out your release plans. Or maybe its psychological,
and you find yourself getting bored with tweaking the same track over and over again.
-Kim.
value you highly for it. Youll find yourself being asked to do things that you think are beyond your
capabilities, but people will trust you and give you a chance. Your most valuable skills wont be
what you thought theyd be. Youll learn how to do things that you didnt even know anyone had
to do. But youll do it all. And more.
But you need to help people.
It also means you need to understand them. Really understand them. Try to remove your I need
a job filter. Listen to what they need. Listen to their goals and dreams and understand whats
holding them back. They might come to you asking for a recording, but maybe what they really
need is for someone to believe in them. Or maybe they need a pizza. Or maybe they need a kick
up the backside to motive them.
Sometimes you have do the other half
You also need to do things that are only possible when you dont show up. Get some distance.
Maybe go on holidays. Or maybe just blank out your calendar for a week. Whatever it takes, you
need to remember to step back from the trees and see the forest. Take note of where youre at.
Ask yourself if youre happy with how things are going. Are you heading in the right direction? Are
you making a significant contribution? Hows your life balance? If youre not satisfied with where
youre at now, where do you want to be? What are the next steps toward that goal? Even if you
are satisfied with where youre at, you will need to grow and develop. You probably wont be doing
exactly what youre doing now in five years time. What new tools will you need? What skills will
you need? What personal connections will you need?
-Kim.
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Im not usually a bit fan of gratuitous filter sweeps, but these ones are delicious and not overdone.
Also, I think this track works really well at this point in the album. It retains some of the
contemplative nature of the previous two tracks, but adds some tension and darkness. The drums
in particular are more agitated and restless. And that pulsating synth that comes in halfway
through really takes it to another place.
What could be better:
Theres not much to improve here. Id welcome some more drama though. Higher highs, lower
lows.
-Kim.
The mix could do with some work. The vocals get a bit buried in a few spots, the snares needed
some surgery to stop them chopping my head off, and theres quite a bit of background noise.
This is a good example of a track that was mixed quite dark. Normally, its not a problem when a
mixdown needs some tonal adjustment when its mastered. For mixes that are very dark, however,
some common problems can emerge. When mixing the a reduced top end, its more difficult to
hear the detail and nuance up there. Often this results in a dynamic range thats inappropriately
wide (resulting in sibilance). Sometimes particularly in this case the amount of top end boost
required in mastering can also bring up background noise that was previously inaudible.
-Kim.
Or sitting on the Internet. Youll know them by the ones who bitterly pronounce the illegitimacy of
others success. Theyll tell themselves stories about their own lack of success being because they
dont want to compromise their creative direction.
But, actually, theyre scared.
Theyre scared of being judged. Theyre scared of not being good enough. Theyre scared of
criticism. Theyre scared that they wont believe in themselves enough to take the blows and get
right back up to keep fighting. They fear harsh and unforgiving judgement and yet they
themselves deliver such harsh and unforgiving judgement without reservation.
Here at the open mic, the performers all chose to risk judgement. They all chose to trust their
audience. And, unsurprisingly, their audience acknowledges and respects that trust and returns
welcomingly and supportively.
Were all human being here. Were all insecure. We all doubt ourselves when we stumble. We all
feel a little jealousy when we see the success of our peers. We all start out a little scared. But
were also capable of trust, and were all capable of supporting and encouraging each other. If
were going to achieve anything of note, we need to work together. We need to help each other.
People want to help you.
But you have to be open to it. You have to ask for help. Dont be scared.
-Kim.
And of course your music has to be good. It doesnt have to be pop, but it has to be a clear and
effective expression of your creative direction. If youre not sure if youre good enough and youre
waiting for the world to tell you, let me shortcut that process for you: Youre not. You never will
be. And thats ok. Theres no such thing as good enough. You can always get better. You should
always get better. If you think theres such a thing as good enough, look inside your heart and ask
yourself why you need someone else to tell you to work harder.
Artists dont fail because theyre not good enough, or they didnt have enough fans, or their music
wasnt mainstream enough.
Artists fail because they give up.
Artists that dont give up know that success comes to them because they keep working when
everyone else has clocked off for the day. Artists that dont give up know that they have to lead
from the front. They have to be the first to show passion and excitement and tenacity and
empathy and love. Artists that dont give up will do whatever it takes to get to the next level. In
the face of detractors. In the face of doubting parents. In the face of indifference. In the face of
predicted failure. In the face of boredom, of poverty, of exhaustion. And, most importantly, in the
face of their own fear and insecurity.
We all experience fear throughout our careers (if you dont, youre not trying hard enough). Some
of us keep fighting anyway.
Yoda famously said to Luke Do or do not, there is no try. He was talking about commitment. If
you want to do it, do it. If youre not good enough, get good enough.
If you want to wait and see what happens, switch the TV back on.
-Kim.
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2013/04/30 - Find your voice. Or: Are you publishing your first draft?
2013/04/30 - Find your voice. Or: Are you publishing your first
draft?
When you upload a track to SoundCloud or Bandcamp, when you play your track to a nonmusician friend, when you share your sounds with the world Ask yourself: is your track a mature
and developed musical expression or a first draft?
If youre just starting out or youre not too serious about your music, your first draft probably is
your finished product. And maybe thats ok.
But if you take pride in your craft you owe it to yourself to push past the first draft. The first track
you mix, the first sing you write, the first attempt is not going to be your best.
Some of you might remember Ive been working on a dance music project. Hovering around
135bpm. Quite a bit more uptempo from my usual fare. I started out doing some demos on my
iPhone with iMaschine and Figure. Last year I got a bit more serious and started bashing out fulllength tracks with Renoise, Massive and the Maschine drum library. Ive almost finished the ninth
track, and Ill probably do one more before I start publishing.
See, its taken me that long to find my voice. Its a new style with new tools and new objectives.
The first track I made sounds ok, but its not really representative of how I want to express myself
through this new lens. The first track was a first draft. With each new track I further develop
mastery of my tools. With each new track I get better at finding the sounds that resonate with me.
Be in a hurry to make music and develop your skills. But dont be in a hurry to express your
aesthetic or tell your story before its fully formed. Share with people music that is ready to be
shared.
-Kim.
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2013/06/24 - A new guide (finally, right?) How To Make Your Music Louder
And if you think this doesnt apply to you because you make softly-softly music? Think again.
These strategies will help you achieve clarity and focus in your music. And thats good for
everyone. Itll also mean that the subtlety and natural dynamics in your music will be better
preserved through the production process. Less crushing is better for everyone.
So, enough chin-wagging. Check it out.
http://blog.kimlajoie.com/guides/how-to-make-your-music-louder/
-Kim.
upgrading your studio. Youve come a long way be proud of that. People trust you and
appreciate your work be proud of that. You have the best job in the world because you put in
the blood and sweat and tears while you ignored the doubters and naysayers be proud of that.
Sure, others have worked harder, longer, invested more, have better connections, etc. Thatll
always be true. But that doesnt mean that youre nothing. Dont succumb to black-and-white
thinking. Youre not nothing. Youve got skills and experience. Youve got people who trust you.
Youve got momentum and conviction.
Be proud. Youve got something. And you have to rock it.
Rock What You Got.
-Kim.
When I started on the main mix, now only 10 tracks, instead of 90, I was able to reach
my goal/vision a lot faster as well. No more of, maybe I should push the snare up by
another db or that hi hat needs some more upper mids. Instead, I had to listen to the
drums in its entirety.
This is a really good point. Deliberately limiting your choices is not about working with one hand
tied behind your back. Its about listening differently and thinking differently about how you get
from A to B. Its a different experience.
Limiting your choices without considering the effect this has on the way you listen and work is
counterproductive. Itd be like replacing your comfy studio chair with a bicycle seat. Sure, its a
limitation, but its just going to end up being a pain with no reward.
Erik Magrini also recently wrote about a similar experience:
As you can see, this song has only about 12 tracks in total, which I find is about the
limits of where my iPad4 starts to geel slow when navigating Auria. I can certainly
playback more tracks than this with no problems, but things like zooming and moving
around the arrange page starts to lag. Rather than deal with the frustrations of that, I
just aim to keep to a simpler song structure.
The limitations on track count forced Erik to make the most out of what he had, rather than simply
keep adding more and more layers. The result is a difference aesthetic, but not necessarily a
worse one.
-Kim.
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2013/07/07 - Artists have to believe in the process in order to believe in the results
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In my workflow I like to [send the drum tracks to a single group/bus] and then even
hide the drum tracks. Why? So Im not tempted to go fiddling with the individual tracks
again. One slight change and the whole drum mix can fall apart. Thats what is so tricky
about mixing drums. So by giving them special attention at the beginning, you can
know they sound good and you can move on from there.
This is excellent advice. Its not so much about where to start a mix (personally, I almost always
start mixing with the lead vocal), but the advice about grouping the drums and then treating them
for the rest of the mix as a single instrument is great. Its a different way of listening and
balancing. Once you have (and have convinced yourself that you have) the drums sounding great,
you can then focus on making them work with the rest of the instruments in the mix. Its an easier
and faster way to mix.
It also applies to electronic drums. Focus on making sure the kick and snare are sounding great
and balanced with the other percussion elements. Then group them all together and move on with
the rest of the mix, comfortable in the knowledge that you probably wont need to go back and
make major changes to the drums.
I do the same thing with vocals. I get the lead vocal and backing vocals sounding great, then
move on (and hardly revisit them). Its like drawing a line in the sand. This is the centrepiece of
the mix, and it sounds great. Now its up to everything else to fit around it.
-Kim.
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The problem with using Maschines sequencer is that its a pattern sequencer. It resists fills and
variations for specific song moments. Each variation requires its own pattern, with a corresponding
change in the trigger on the DAW MIDI channel. Its doable but its a fiddle. The other problem is
that I cant access my Cubase groove quantise template, because Cubase is triggering patterns,
not individual notes.
I wish I could import my groove quantise template into Maschine.
Incredibly, Maschine the groove production system doesnt support any kind of groove
quantise. Yes, really. Its robot or nothing. Sure, it supports 50% quantise, but its still moving the
notes toward the same robotic grid. You only get more Kraftwerk or less Kraftwerk. Its got swing,
but even the swing sounds robotic.
I could program my patterns in Maschine, then export the MIDI back to Cubase to trigger
Maschine as a sound module. In fact, thats what I currently do. I use Maschine to program the
patterns for the main sections, then bring the MIDI to Cubase to add fills and variations. But by
that time, its too late for groove. It makes no sense to program the drum patterns and set out the
structure of the song without the groove. The groove is fundamental. Itd be like changing the
drum sounds after the song has been laid out. It makes no sense.
So I did the next best thing. I turned quantise off.
Now the groove comes from my fingers. If I record a part and the timing isnt quite right, I erase
and rerecord. Sometimes I have to practice a bit beforehand. And this forces me to treat it even
more like an instrument and less like data entry. In fact, its very similar to how I approach guitar
parts and keyboard parts. Fortunately I usually dont have to adjust my timing after the fact.
And I get a result that sounds just as alive as any other live recording.
-Kim.
Even if you dont produce music yourself, recording an artist in the same room as you
can create a more intimate relationship if you are trying to get a good performance from
them.
Im not saying you should breathe down the singers neck, but being in the same room
creates easier communication. Its simpler to just stop and discuss a take or a
performance when you are both in the same room. You wont have to set up a talk-back
system, or god forbid, constantly keep running into the other room to make a comment.
All the points in that article are on the mark, but this one is key. Ive always preferred to record in
the control room when I can especially vocals. Its probably not a huge benefit if you just see
yourself as an engineer (and theres another producer on board, or the artist is self-produced),
because then your role is more focussed on operating the equipment. However, if youre
responsible for making the musician feel comfortable and getting the best emotional performance
then youll be better off in the same room as your musician.
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2013/07/17 - A closer relationship with your client (or: The Unlikely Advantages of Recording in Your Control Room)
In addition to being able to provide better direction, it allows you to more easily read he musicians
nonverbal cues. When youre trying to help them deliver their best performance, the appropriate
directions will differ depending on whether s/he is nervous, excited, tired or disconnected. And
unless youve got an excellent relationship most musicians will try to hide or subdue their actual
emotional state. Yes, theyll actually try to make it more difficult for you to give effective
directions. This can be for a number of reasons usually some combination of trying to be strong
or trying to impress or trying to maintain self-control. Either way, the nonverbal cues can be
subtle, and youve got a much better chance to reading them correctly when youre in the same
room together.
-Kim.
I also want to thank the leaders in this industry who pretty much hung up their cameras
to teach, sell stuff, and start web sites dedicated to helping people become the thing they
stopped being in order to start websites and workshops to help people be what they
arent anymore. Should I repeat that for the choir?
As a teacher. As a guy with stuff to sell. As a person who has been paid by a camera
company to give their products a run for the money, I dont want to be the person who
hangs up the camera. Those who stopped fishing to sell bait motivate me to keep
fishing. To keep trying harder to be a photographer than to be one who talks about being
a photographer
This is something I can relate to. I started out in this music business with a love for composing
making new music from a blank canvas of silence. As I developed my skills, I moved naturally and
easily into producing other artists, teaching (on this blog, and at a local university) and more
recently managing artists.
Among these newer endeavours, it would have been easy to let go of composition. I have to
deliberately allocate time to composing or otherwise being creative with music outside my other
obligations to help people or develop new skills. No-one has to hear my music, but I feel much
better when I allow myself to be musically creative.
Its also about credibility. What relevance is a teacher who does not actively practice? I can only
speak (or write) with authority when Im writing about the very tools and techniques I use every
day. I dont pretend to have all the answers you need, but I can promise you that Im not making
any of this up.
My advice to you is this: Dont ever forget what made you get into this in the beginning. Dont ever
forget what you fell in love with when it all began. Whether its scraping horse hairs across a
catgut, tickling the ivories or programming a baseline, dont let it fall by the wayside. Ive seen it
happen to artists and musicians they moved too far away from what they initially loved, and end
up giving up music entirely. Dont let it happen to you. Protect a part of yourself. Shield the naive
hope and exploration and enjoyment from the harsh realities of life. Keep a part of you unbroken,
uncompromised, undiluted. And, from time to time, when the coast is clear, when its safe Bring
it out. Let it breathe. Let it love.
-Kim.
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When it comes to mixing, there are in my opinion only five essential tools in your DAW
that are critical to getting great mixes.
Vincents almost right. The article goes on to describe the four most powerful mixing tools:
volume, tone, dynamics and ambience. That far, I agree 100%. In fact, I wrote almost the exact
same post two years ago and went into more detail in my second guide.
Where Vincent and I disagree is where he writes this:
Give width to your tracks with panning. Sure your mix has to sound good in mono, but
it can sound great in stereo. Pan your tracks to maximize stereo width and make your
song sound bigger.
I dont think much of panning. Not that it is or isnt useful, but that its largely inconsequential. I
wrote about this about two and a half years ago and my opinion hasnt changed.
-Kim.
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can have their decay emphasised and can end up sounding very tonal. Bright percussion (such as
shakers and tambourines) can sound very trashy when pushed too hard.
If you want to take this approach, youll need to think carefully about what part of the song (not
just the mix!) would benefit from this kind of emphasis. Treat it as a special effect.
Reading this, it might sound obvious. But like any other mix tool its useful to approach
saturation in a rational and deliberate way. That way you can be more focused and productive in
your mixing and avoid blindly trying different tools and approaches to see if they work.
-Kim.
What to submit
The previous compilation had a strong emphasis on electronic music, but its not a bias. Ill feature
any music that floats to the top, regardless of style or genre.
Ideally, Im looking for a representation of a sound or creative direction that youre working on at
the moment. Itd be great if youd submit something that youve recently finished in the last few
months that youre proud of. Its not an absolute rule, though. Use your judgement. Your last track
that youre really proud of might be from six months ago.
Obviously, the track should be one that youve composed yourself or had significant contribution as
a co-composer.
Your submission can be mastered, but be prepared to provide an unmastered uncompressed audio
file on request.
How to submit
Send an email to kitchen@obsessive-music.com with:
Even if youre not in this for the money, you should treat your studio work as a
business.
Theres something about being paid for your work that makes you step up your game.
And thats something you just dont get when you live in Freeville.
Joe makes a good case, but he didnt mention a big reason (for me, the biggest) to do it as a
business. The reason? To help more people. It seems counterintuitive at first. Charge money to
help more people? Surely working for free will help more people?
Not quite.
I went through the transition myself. I was doing good work, helping artists and having a good
time. I was also doing it in my spare time (paying the bills with a day job unrelated to music).
Eventually, I realised three things:
1. I was good enough, and in demand enough, that I had more projects in the pipeline than I
had time for.
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2013/07/27 - A Case For Making Money From Your Studio (and why I do it)
2. I was good enough, and in demand enough, that I could charge for my time and people
would happily pay.
3. If I charged for my time, I could work less in my day job, meaning Id have more time for
music. And Id be able to help more artists.
I was actually being selfish by keeping my day job and limiting how much I could contribute to the
music industry. My day job was very stable and paid very well. But I couldnt help many artists I
only had evenings and weekends to balance between artist projects, my own music projects, and
my personal life (girlfriend, housework, etc).
Ultimately, thats why I made the jump. To be able to help more people.
-Kim.
We need to understand there are two different processes at play when we are trying to
make a track loud: the production/mixdown stage and the mastering.
Ilpo, youre missing one. There are three.
In my recent guide, I cover the three production stages where loudness should be considered:
composition, mixing and mastering.
Composition is more than use good quality sounds. Its about making choices about which sounds
to include and what role they have in the music. From the guide:
When choosing sounds for loudness, you have to understand what kinds of sounds and
instruments sound loud. When arranging sounds for loudness, youll have to understand
how to combine sounds in ways that maximise the desired effect. As discussed earlier,
there are two fundamental attributes of sound relevant the way we perceive loudness
length and frequency.
And,
You could compose your music using nothing but long notes in the upper-mid pitch
ranges. That could make for a very loud recording, but it probably wouldnt be very
pleasant to listen to. As you know, most music that is interesting to listen to requires a
wide expressive range. That means youll need some low notes, some high notes, some
short sounds and some longer sounds. Confused yet?
But dont worry, not all is lost. To bring some sense to it, were going to introduce
another concept depth. This is the difference between foreground and background.
Quite simply, the foreground sounds have a much greater impact than the background
sounds on the final recording. The greater the depth (the distance between foreground
and background), the greater the effect. Furthermore, the fewer sounds in the
foreground, the greater the loudness potential.
This stuff makes a big difference to the potential loudness of a track. If you dont think about
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loudness until mixing and mastering, itll be too late. Decisions about foreground and background
have already been made. Decisions about pitch and timbre and tone have already been made.
Dont wait for mixing and mastering!
-Kim.
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Me: So, your release isnt going to sound like it was recorded by an experienced professional in
an appropriate studio. If youre ok with that, go ahead. If youre not ok with that, you probably
need to hire a professional.
The other misunderstanding some artists have is that recording it themselves will be cheaper or
cost less. For demos, thats half true (itll usually cost less). For a high quality release, itll cost
more to buy the gear and take longer to learn how to get good results than it would to simply hire
a studio. These days, you can record a decent EP within $2k and a few days if youre wellrehearsed. Tell me you can build a home studio thatll produce similar results with $2k and a few
days to learn it.
The exception is artists who are actually interested in developing their skills and capabilities as
recording engineers and/or producers. For them, it absolutely makes sense to go the DIY route.
Most producers I know (myself included) cut their teeth on their own solo projects before working
with other artists.
-Kim.
2013/08/07 - How (not) to take the pressure off your vocal recording session
Of course, sometimes people get anxious. And that anxiety can certainly hold back a great
performance.
But it is the job of the producer to make sure the musicians feel comfortable enough to make their
best work possible. That might include adjusting the temperature, giving the musician time to get
used to the room, kicking out anyone who is distracting or intimidating, burning a scented candle,
etc. It might mean taking a lightweight location recording setup to the musicians home or
favourite place. The producer should take the time to understand their musicians and artists and
get to know what to do to get the best performance out of them. Some people need a lowpressure relaxed approach Dont worry, we can record it a few different times and then go over
some of the more difficult sections. Other people need a firm hand to push them to their best
That take was about 40% there. Do it again, but better.
Bjrgvin says Next time you feel that your vocalist is feeling too stressed about performance, try
to take the load off by refocusing the session on something else. I think that as a producer if
your vocalist is feeling too stressed about performance, you need to develop your interpersonal
skills.
If you record a vocalist and your best take is the surprise/warmup/fun take, I think that says
something very unflattering about your skills as a producer. Furthermore, how will the vocalist feel
if the best take was the unprepared one? What does that say about their control and poise? How
will they feel about their ability to deliver a killer vocal?
Dont leave it up to chance.
-Kim.
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Perspective is everything.
-Kim.
2013/08/29 - Not all hired help is the same why who you
know really is so important
At some point in your travels, youll come across a situation that requires more than you can
handle. Maybe you need a session guitarist. Maybe your project requires mixing or mastering at a
higher standard than you can deliver. Maybe you need a great singer. Maybe you need to hire a
bigger studio (and a recording engineer to operate it). Maybe you need a real live string section.
You need some hired help.
But it can be hard to find good hired help. If youre considering hiring someone youve never
worked with before, there are a lot of risks. You dont know if theyve got the basic skills you need,
but even if they do, there are other pitfalls. Will they show up on time? Will they understand your
music style? Will they answer their phone or email? Will they be quick to blame others (or you)
when things go wrong? Will they educate you to help you understand what they do so yo can
guide them to get the best result for the project? There are many variables, and even people who
appear competent may not be a good fit and you may only realise it after its too late.
Thats why personal recommendations are so important. Your personal connections know you.
They know your style, they know how you work. Theyll be able to recommend hired help that has
a high likelihood of working out well.
Its what I do when people ask me for recommendations. Ill recommend musicians and studios
and other professionals that Ive personally worked with and can vouch for. Likewise when I need
hired help, Ill ask for personal recommendations. I know that Ill (mostly) only get
recommendations for people worth my time. And Ill get the result faster.
I recently needed an electric bassist for a project that needed a specific style of playing. I could
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2013/08/29 - Not all hired help is the same why who you know really is so important
have jumped on the forums and online listings and called (and met and auditioned) dozens of
bassists before finding someone suitable. Instead, I made one phone call to a guitarist I know who
gigs a lot and knows a lot of bassists. He made two recommendations and I booked the session in
the next phone call.
Cold contacts should be your last resort.
This is why who you know is so important. Because youll take on bigger and bigger projects as
you grow. And youll get to a point where you cant (or shouldnt) do everything yourself. And then
youll need hired help. And you can get a better job done with less fuss if you can pull someone in
who you trust, or who comes recommended by someone you trust.
-Kim.
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of the audio. It can work a lot like a multi-band compressor, except that the envelope follower
controls the gain of an EQ band instead of a frequency range. This allows you to get much more
surgical and specific with how the audio is processed.
The most common use of dynamic EQ is de-seeing vocals, where the high frequencies are turned
down when theres too much sibilence. Its also useful for other situations where a recorded track
needs to be cleaned up in a specific way, but static EQ or broadband compression are too blunt for
the job. Things like low frequency bumps or thuds, or the occasional odd midrange resonance are
sometimes good opportunities to use dynamic EQ.
Parallel processing with EQ
This is a good example of a more advanced pairing of EQ and compression. This technique works
best with a naturally dynamic recording such as a lead vocal or acoustic guitar. Duplicate the
track and heavily compress one copy while leaving the other relatively dynamic. Balance the two
so that the compressed track is dominant during quiet passages and the dynamic track is
dominant during the loud passages. This opens up a lot of interesting possibilities when the two
tracks have different EQ applied to them.
For example, you could make the dynamic track brighter and the compressed track darker. It will
sound as if the recorded instrument itself gets brighter in the mix as it gets louder. Or make the
compressed track warm and full-bodied, but reduce the lower frequecy energy in the dynamic
track. As the track gets louder, it thins out to make room for other instruments in the mix (which
might also be getting louder), but stays warm and full during quieter parts where its more
exposed.
EQing your effects returns
This is a good one. Its especially useful for reverbs. If youre mixing in software, insert your
favourite EQ after your reverb. If youre mixing in hardware, bring your reverb back on a regular
channel pair (not the less-featured stereo returns). Or patch a decent outboard EQ after the reverb
before it comes back to the desk. Many reverbs have some in-board tone control, but it probably
wont be as flexible as your desk EQ or outboard EQ. This gives you much more power to shape
the sound of your reverb and ambience at th back of the mix.
Happy with the reverb but its fighting a bit too much with the vocal? Give it a dip in th midrange.
Want more focus in the low end of the slap bass while still retaining the ambience and space in the
top? Bring in a gentle low shelf for a more natural cleanup than a low cut filter. Mix sounding a bit
dead? Add some more dimension by gently boosting the top without upsetting the mix balance.
And this is just scratching the surface.
All in all, theres a lot you can do with EQ. Much more than might be obvious at first. Give these
techniques a try and you might just find a new secret weapon thatll save your next mix.
-Kim.
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For this track, this was just enough. In the mix, I didnt have to add any general ambience jus a
touch of plate reverb for the vocals and snare to thicken them up a bit. And that was it.
And most importantly, I found that it was a useful approach that Ill likely use again soon.
So ask yourself what would you do differently if you couldnt use reverb?
-Kim.
FabFilter options. And thats before we start counting instruments (Maschine, Massive and Kontakt
get a pretty good workout) and specialty mastering tools.
And then I noticed something interesting.
As part of kitting out my new studio for recording bands, Id started accumulating hardware. Racks
of preamps and compressors and console EQ and reverb. And Ive been finding that the more
processing I do on the way in, the less I have to do in the mix. Dramatically so. My latest mixes
have only needed software for a touch of EQ, a little transparent compression and the regular
reverb.
In addition to the benefits of not using plugins, there are some serious benefits to using hardware.
The hands-on interfaces with a variety of different knobs, buttons and sliders make for a much
more satisfying engineering experience. Muscule memory actually means something. By contrast,
using a keyboard and trackpad reminds me of everything that was wrong with 90s 1U rack synths
having only a handful of generic physical controls to access an enormous array of parameters
and sonic possibilities. And also (as much as I dislike this), having a few racks and a console allows
me to charge more because it looks more like the studios featured in the countless documentaries
and photos from over the last six decades.
Of course, there are downsides. Hardware is expensive. Cabling suddenly becomes a separate line
item to budget for. Physical space is much less available and expandable than hard drive space. It
takes longer to install. It resists multiple instances.
But at this stage, the biggest drawbacks (cost and space) are smaller problems than they used to
be. And theyll continue to get even smaller in the future. And the biggest benefits (dedicated
hands-on physical interfaces and appearance) are more bugger advantages than they used to be.
And theyll continue to get more advantageous in the future.
-Kim.
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2013/12/16 - Three EQ techniques that many people use (and why theyre wrong)
2013/12/16 - Three EQ techniques that many people use (and why theyre wrong)
want faster than any EQ. You can fight and fight and fight with EQ, when a simple polarity flip will
do all the work for you.
It wont always work, but when it does youll feel like you just cheated a bit. Thats how easy it is.
So dont stop thinking, and dont stop listening. Dont take anything for granted. And dont forget
that the less EQ you use, the more integrity is retained in the sound.
EQ is a powerful tool. So I recommend trying to find ways to use it as little as possible.
-Kim.
genuinely surprised. He hadnt realised it at all. It was plainly obvious when I played a previous
recording of the song recorded only a few weeks prior. So we got talking about what was
happening, and it turned out he had a pretty good idea.
It turned out hed written the song for a girlfriend from whom hed recently separated. And while
the earlier recording of the song had an optimistic and earnest character, these current takes were
much more subdued and bittersweet.
With this knowledge, we tried another take, this time trying to give the song some if its original
lift. We got about halfway there, but the artist felt that he couldnt deliver an authentic
performance that came from an inauthentic feeling. And I think thats true in general.
You cant deliver an authentic performance from an inauthentic feeling.
If youre the performer, you have to feel it. If youre the producer, you have to make sure your
performer is feeling it. Its your job to help them find that feeling and bring it out through the
music. And its your job to know how close you are to it and to know how to get the performer
over the line.
And its your job to know when its not going to happen that day.
Fortunately the artist in my session wasnt on a strict timeline. We chose to reconvene at a later
date. Sometimes its better to prioritise the performance over the schedule.
Sometimes its better to wait.
-Kim.
No one goes to a rock concert because the band is in tune. They have to be close enough
to not be distracting, but being in tune isnt the point.
This is something that I think a lot of engineers and producers lose sight of. The production
doesnt have to be technically perfect. Even the performance doesnt have to be technically
perfect. Of course, it has to be good enough that its not distracting. But were not shooting for
technical perfection. Were shooting for emotional connection.
Ive often said that technology is best when we dont notice its there. When we can get on with
what were actually trying to achieve. When we can communicate and connect freely and easily.
And that applies to music too. Were not here to mess around with gear and twiddle knobs and
make the waveforms line up perfectly. Were here to make music. Were here to tell stories about
feelings. The technology exists to serve that goal no more, no less.
-Kim.
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2013/12/30 - The two things I do that make almost every artist pleased with my first mix revision
2014/01/01 - Well, that was a pretty big year (musically and personally)
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The channel fader adjusts the final level of the audio after it has been processed. This is the
control that the mix engineer uses to determine which audio tracks will be heard louder than
others. While the input gain is largely a technical setting, the channel fader is a much more
creative setting. This is where the focus of the mix (and the listeners ear) is determined. It the
biggest factor that determines whether a sound is in the foreground and background. The
important thing to understand here is that not everything can be loud, not everything can be in
the foreground.
-Kim.
Obviously, low energy is the opposite, and is the combination of these factors:
Not all these factors need to be present for a moment to have high or low energy, but the more
there are, the stronger the effect will be.
-Kim.
2014/02/10 - Headroom (and the difference between what we hear and what the equipment hears)
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If
If
If
If
you
you
you
you
want
want
want
want
the
the
the
the
sound
sound
sound
sound
Additionally
If you want the sound more present, turn up the middle frequencies.
If you want the sound smoother, turn down the middle frequencies.
Youll often but not always get better results by turning down (negative gain), rather
than up (positive gain)
-Kim.
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Simple rhythms
Simple harmonic language (including chord progressions and harmonic structures)
Predictable change (not necessarily gradual change)
Liberal repetition
Complex rhythms
Complex harmonic language
Unpredictable changes
Less repetition
Irregular musical
structures
How are you using stability and instability in your latest track?
-Kim.
youll give them what they want. Where your artists enjoy working with you so much that they
cant wait for the next session. Where your artists know theyll be proud to show off their
recordings.
Producing and recording music is a very intimate experience. Songs are presented bare for
judgement. Performances are dissected note-by-note. Creative direction can be called into
question. For this to be a positive experience, artists have to feel that theyre in a safe place. They
have to trust you to look after them. Obviously, you have to be 100%. You cant phone it in. You
have to be thinking several steps ahead. You have to know that youre the right person for the job
so you can engage with confidence.
You have to demonstrate that you are worthy of their trust.
And clearly, contracts have nothing to do with this. Contracts do not demonstrate confidence or
invite trust. They demonstrate fear and invite suspicion. So dont spend your time drawing up a
contract. Instead, spend that time understanding your artists. Listen really listen. Work hard to
understand them and work even harder to demonstrate that understanding. Be clear and upfront
about how youre going to work together to make a recording. Be sensitive to values, sore spots
and fears.
And dont forget to smile.
-Kim.
P.S. You can avoid getting stiffed for payment by being clear that you dont hand over final
versions of recordings until the account is settled. Or if youre prepared to increase your risk for
artists you like, dont start the next project until the account is settled (only if doing so will help
build the relationship). Or if you want to decrease your risk, request payment for each session in
advance and dont schedule the session until the payment clears. Ive been doing this for years
and havent had any problems. Not even funny looks.
Youll often hear that ____ is super talented. As to imply that he/she has some sort of
natural gift or ability that enables them to just show up and perform. Thats why I hate
the word talent. Because it does a disservice to everyone. It confuses people and it
distracts them from the amount of obsessive hard work that really goes into making
yourself successful at something.
This is something that I certainly agree with. I work with a lot of skilled and experienced people,
yet I only ever hear the word talent used by people who believe they themselves dont have any.
Its used an an excuse for their lack of application.
I like that Rob mentions the disservice. The concept of talent minimises or ignores the actual hard
work that successful people do, where instead it should be acknowledged.
-Kim.
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High frequency (HF) damping This affects the way the high frequencies are processed by
the reverb. HF damping reduces the high frequencies being reverberated. Low levels of HF
damping will make the reverb sound very live like an empty hall with a lot of hard
surfaces. High levels of HF damping will make the reverb sound warmer. Too little HF
damping will make the reverb sound airy and obvious. Too much HF damping will make the
reverb sound dead or damp. As with the other controls, the best setting will often be
somewhere in the middle, depending on the sound of the mix.
Pre-delay This control inserts a delay before the reverb, making it sound later after the
original sound. It can be used to increase the apparent size of the reverb. Because predelay separates the reverb from the original sound, it can also add clarity to particularly
reverberant mix. This is most useful for vocal-heavy mixes because it allows the vocal to be
quite reverberant without reducing its intelligibility
When adjusting reverb parameters, its often helpful to solo a single sound. Usually the lead vocal
or a sparse drum/percussion part will let you hear the reverb most clearly.
-Kim.
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2014/05/05 - Mastering for loudness. Dont do it. Or if you have to, try this
depth if a mix is already very diffuse (perhaps theres already plenty of reverb and modulation).
Delays can also be used in addition to reverb. Using a delay?reverb chain (or reverb?delay, theres
no difference) on a send can very easily produce very lush ambience and sonic backdrops. Stereo
delays (with a different delay time for left and right) are especially effective here. Use a feedback
level of about 50% for extra lushness.
Stereo delays with short reverb times (less than 100ms) can be useful for making a sound wider
and deeper. For foreground or percussion sounds this can often be distracting, but it works very
well for background sustained parts such as synth pads or backing vocals.
-Kim.
2014/06/16 - Microshifting
2014/06/16 - Microshifting
Microshifting is a way of using a pitch shifter to thicken a sound. The pitch shifter is set to shift by
a very small amount (usually less than a third of a semitone). Usually the pitch shifter adjusts each
side of a stereo sound by a different amount for example, the left channel might be shifted down
by 15 cents and the right channel might be shifted up by 15 cents. Sometimes a very short delay
(less than 50ms) is also added to the pitch shifted signal.
When the stereo pitch shifted signal is mixed with the original sound, the sound becomes thicker
and wider. This is sometimes used on vocals or lead instrumental parts (such as guitars or synths)
as a way of making them bigger without using backing harmonies or longer reverb/delays. In a
way, it simulates a unison recording (where the same part is played three times and all three takes
are layered). Microshifting has an unique sound, however, because the degree of pitch shift and
delay is constant, whereas a unison performance will result in constantly-changing pitch and timing
differences.
Microshifting is often used as an alternative to reverb in situations where a sound needs to be
more diffuse but without the wash from a reverb tail. Because microshifting has a distinctive
sound, it wont be always be appropriate. Its used commonly in pop music especially modern
energetic pop which often does not have much reverb. The best way to decide if its useful for you
is to simply try it.
As a side note, many pitch shifters have a much wider range of control, and also have a feedback
feature. This allows them to be used for outrageous special effects.
-Kim.
Kick drum ducking. This technique uses the kick drum for the sidechain signal. Its set up
so that the compressed channel (usually the bass) is briefly turned down when the kick
drum is sounding. It was originally used to make the kick drum bigger by reducing the
level of some other tracks (usually the bassline), the kick punches through the mix with
relatively more presence and power. Its most commonly used to compress the bassline
(either bass synth or bass guitar), but is also used to compress synth pads, vocals or even
other drum and percussion tracks. Its become a recognisable and characteristic sound in a
lot of electronic dance music.
Vocal ducking. This technique uses the main vocal channel as the sidechain audio. Its set
up so that the compressed channel is turned down when the main vocal is sounding. It was
originally used in radio broadcast so that the music would be automatically turned down
when the announcer or DJ started speaking. It can useful when mixing a song that
contains a prominent foreground part (such as a guitar or vocal harmonies) that should be
pushed to the background when the lead vocals come in. Ideally, however, this situation is
best avoided by careful composition and arrangement.
In day-to-day mixing, theres usually not much need to use sidechain compression unless youre
aiming to create a certain effect such as a pumping bassline for a dance song.
-Kim.
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Release This is the speed at which the volume is turned back up when the input sound
level drops back below the threshold. Lower values (fast release) will make the
compression more audible. High values (slow release) will make the compression smoother.
Very high values will make the compression almost inaudible.
Compressors can be very versatile tools, and some have a distinctive sound (behaviour) of their
own. As a starting point, try these approaches:
First, not all sounds need compression. Try compression, but dont be afraid to go without if
its not actually improving the sound.
For smooth compression on melodic instruments (such as vocals or other acoustic
instruments), start with a
low ratio and a threshold set so that the compressor is active most of the time. Set the
attack as fast as you can without distortion and set the release to a medium speed. To
make the compression stronger and tighter, raise the ratio. To make the compression
smoother and gentler, increase the release time.
For tight control, use a high ratio and a low threshold (similar to above so that the
compressor is active most of the time). Use the fastest attack and release times you can
get away with (without getting distortion or other strange sounds).
For punchy drums, use a longer attack time and medium release time. Make sure the
threshold is set high enough that the drum hits well above the threshold but quickly drops
below it. Higher ratios produce more extreme effects. Longer attack times will add more of
the initial thwack (the transient). The release time will have to be tuned by ear until it
works with the length of the drum decay.
-Kim.
Consonant tonality sounds like the harmonic and melodic content is clear and unambiguous. An
extreme form of consonance is a musical part where all pitched instruments are playing the same
note. Octaves, fifths, fourths and thirds are all quite consonant.
Unlike consonance, dissonant tonality usually sounds crowded and ambiguous. This is usually
caused by harmonic combinations that are complex and even clashing. Minor seconds, tritones,
and major sevenths can often be combined to create dissonant tonalities.
Like major and minor tonalities, exclusive use of consonance or dissonance can sound too stark.
Having some sections that are more consonant and other sections more dissonant is a great way
to give your song a subtle sense of ebb and flow.
-Kim.
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music, and yet right now I feel the least excited about it as Ive ever been. My other business
projects (and there are more coming) have motivated and invigorated me, but I dont feel a lot of
energy for making my own music. Maybe its because Ive been putting my creative focus into
other avenues. Maybe Ive been under too much stress to be as creative as Id prefer. Maybe I feel
some futility in putting so much effort into making music that few people will hear or care about.
Maybe its all of the above.
Im also feeling like I need a break from writing. Or maybe I need to take a break from structured
writing. Ive been working on a new book for artists thatll be released at the end of January. Ive
spent years writing on this blog. I think Ive probably said about as much as I care for now about
composing, producing, recording, mixing, mastering, etc.
So, what next?
Ive got a bunch of projects about to pop out of the pipeline. Thatll all become clearer over
the next month. Thats pretty exciting, and definitely my best work so far.
Im not sure what Ill be doing on the music front. Id like to continue Bare Toes Into Soil,
but I dont yet know what pace Ill take it. Ive also started a new music project all
distorted drum machines and angry guitars. After so many years of atmospheric
electronica, Im feeling that it might be the right time for me to return to some heavier
music.
This blog will continue, but I think Ill make it a bit more personal. It doesnt have to be a
technical resource. It doesnt have to be robotically published every Monday on the dot. Ill
write a bit more about whats going on in my world. It might be a bit more opinionated. It
might veer a little from production talk. It might not be published on Mondays.
Lets see what happens.
-Kim.
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So as much as Id love to use Maschine for a lot of the vocal electronic/pop work I do with other
artists, it just doesnt fit with my workflow. I usually do preproduction with the artist/vocalist on a
keyboard, acoustic piano or guitar and record a demo linearly to a click. Everything else gets built
up around that demo recording. Sometimes that includes adding or removing bars or sections. But
very often the very first recording for a project is the full length of the song. A lot of the
composition is done before getting anywhere near a computer.
This time, however, Im working differently. Im doing the composition using Maschine as the
instrument (in stand-alone mode, instead of a keyboard or guitar). Im not working with a vocalist.
I can choose to restrict my melodies to exclude anacruses. Im also recording guitar into Maschine.
No, I cant edit my performances, but its my own project so I have the luxury of taking extra time
to practice and record as many takes as I need. And I can come up with a well-developed
instrumentation and a pretty good skeleton for the song structure. I then render the multitracks
and bring them into Cubase, where I can do detailed edits and mix.
Ive also entered the final stages of writing my book. Its written primarily for artists musicians
who write, record and perform their own music. Its about making art that matters and connecting
with a supportive audience. The book itself is based on several years of talking to artists every day
and helping them with understanding their place in society. The conversations Ive been having
with artists have steadily been becoming more complex and nuanced, and so I started to realise
that what I have to say requires a medium with more scope and consideration than a blog post,
email or verbal conversation. The book will be fairly substantial approximately 15,000 words.
And Im aiming to have it released at the start of February. Its a pretty big undertaking and Im
looking forward to getting it out.
-Kim.
a specific problem, all bands are activated and configured to gently ride the audio level. In this
case, the bands are always being compressed, but only gently. This approach works best for mixes
that are rather weak overall and not well-balanced. It can improve the overall tonal balance and
dynamic behaviour in a much less damaging way than full range compression. As always, however,
this approach is only appropriate if its not possible to go back and revise the original mix.
?One of the important things to be aware of when using multiband compression is that even small
adjustments in one area can cause a perceived change in other areas. As with most other
mastering procedures, try to keep the processing as subtle as possible.
-Kim.
2015/01/23 - Three ways to critique your music (or: how to shake up your subjectivity)
sound, rather than how you want to sound. If you want some outside assistance, make sure you
only approach people who understand your music and your creative direction.
-Kim.
2015/01/26 - Dynamic EQ
Dynamic EQ is like a regular EQ, except that the gain of the bands can automatically respond to
the level of the audio. There are many different variations of dynamic EQ ranging from
automatic, with few additional controls, all the way to fully configurable (with all the complexity
that goes with it). Some dynamic EQs are designed to be coloured, where the processor has been
deliberately designed to modify the audio in a complex, automatic and (hopefully) pleasing way.
Other dynamic EQs are designed to be surgical and transparent, where the processor will only
make exactly the change that you dial in.
Because of the variation in controls and approaches (not to mention behaviour), its difficult to
provide specific advice for settings or configuration. Typically dynamic EQ will be used in
mastering, and in similar situations to multiband compression. Think of it as a kind of multiband
compression thats even more targeted and surgical.
Dynamic EQ is ideally suited to removing ugly resonances that appear intermittently. Regular EQ
would affect the audio even when the ugly resonance is not sounding, and multiband compression
wouldnt be surgical enough (likely to affect frequencies either side of the resonance).
As with multiband compression, dynamic EQ is best avoided unless its absolutely necessary and
the problem cant be fixed earlier in the mixing or recording process.
-Kim.
better in the last ten years, but I still havent been been very good at communicating that I can be
warm and friendly. So, this is something that Im making a priority. Part of that means opening up
a little more myself providing more information about me, being honest about my weaknesses
and shortcomings, telling a richer story about who I am and what I do.
Human connection.
-Kim.
Even when vocal recording begins, theres still almost no collaboration He doesnt provide
feedback on her lyrics, melody or vocal performance. Nor does he invite feedback from her
about the instrumental part. They dont contribute to each others creative work.
If he were just a musician, itd still be pretty disappointing. Can you imagine writing a song with a
guitarist, and he spends the first twenty minutes fiddling with his pickup/amp settings? And then
he says hes come up with three chords and asks you what ideas you came up with? Sounds like
amateur hour.
But hes more than a musician. Hes a producer. The title producer has many meanings, but
ultimately its someone who has much more responsibility than a musician in making a recording
happen. The producer is running the show. And in this video, he certainly is running the show.
Hes just doing a pretty poor job of it.
If youre a producer, your priority should be enhancing the creative output of your artists and
musicians. Find out what creative direction they have in mind really try to understand their taste
and style, work with them. Capture the lightning try to work as fast as they do, minimise the
time they spend waiting around. Raise them to new heights use your skills and experience to
improve their songwriting and performance (while also being appropriately sensitive).
-Kim.
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Doing that work on my own seems like a really good way to waste everyones time going back and
forth with revisions. Or a really good way to leave the artist unsatisfied with a product theyd be
happier with if theyd been part of the process.
Producing and engineering isnt a dark art. Its not magic. Its having the right tools and expertise.
The more involved the artist is, the better result theyll get.
-Kim.
P.S. If you disagree with that last statement, youre grossly underestimating your artists ability to
learn about and appreciate the production process. Of course, not everyones an expert. And Ive
had my fair share of dumb requests from artists who didnt know better. But part of my job is to
educate and inform artists to help them make better creative decisions.
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So I started to think about some of the ways that I know my mixes (or any other musical work,
really) are good enough. Theyre not that surprising, so I wont bore you.
1. Listen to your intuition. Trust yourself. Do you like your own work? Does it make you bop
your head? Does it make you jump up and dance? I think this is absolutely necessary. You
must like your own work. Of course, you can have a terrible mix that you love (happens to
me too), but I dont think you can have a great mix that you hate. You need to like your
mix first. If you dont, then thats when you need to switch to your analytical mind work
out whats working and what needs fixing. Sometimes this might mean stripping everything
back and starting from scratch. For me, its usually the drums if the drums arent
happening, the rest of the mix just wont come together. If I mute everything but the
drums, they need to sound right before I add anything else. In my early years I used to
joke that If the mix sucks, the drums arent big enough. Obviously now I take a more
nuanced approach, but the sentiment is the same. I need to like the drums before I can
like the whole mix.
2. Listen to similar music. These days I have a habit of listening to commercial reference
tracks while Im setting up a mix session. Right at the start of the session, Im usually
importing audio, renaming tracks, organising track folders and groups, trimming audio files,
etc. Hardly any of these tasks actually need me to hear anything. So for those ten-fifteen
minutes or so, Ill have some reference tracks playing at the same volume through the
same monitoring environment as Ill be mixing. Its a great way to calibrate my ears, and I
find that when the mix is about 90% finished and I have a listen to my references again,
Im much closer than I expected to be. A similar approach should also work if your focus is
composition, sound design, recording, etc.
I didnt think youd be surprised.
The more interesting question is this: Why do you think your mixes arent good enough?
Maybe its because you listened to your references and they all have a certain je ne sais quoi that
you cant quite identify or pin down. And maybe they do. Maybe your hearing isnt refined enough
to accurately analysis and identify everything thats happening in that mix. And thats fine. You just
need to spend a few more decades mixing and listening critically.
But it might not be that. Consider that you are hearing the end result of someone elses work. And
often, you are hearing only the end result. By contrast, you have heard your own work at every
step of the way from the raw recordings or presets or naked oscillators. Youve heard every
experiment and explored every cul de sac. And youre hearing all this when you listen to the final
mix, whether you like it your not.
Its not a fair comparison, and the unfairness has nothing to do with the listening experience of
someone uninvolved in the production process (i.e. your audience). No-one hears your own work
like you do. And the sooner you accept your bias, the sooner you can work at counterbalancing it
with more focussed objective listening. And less reliance on your intuition. Make no mistake your
intuiting is very good for determining whether your work stands on its own. But its terrible for
determining how it stands in comparison to others.
-Kim.
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2015/06/14 - I made a YouTube video of me playing a YouTube video. And sampling it.
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