5 More Ways To Enhance Your Mixes With Automation

1. Ride The Vocals

When it comes to vocals, compression often isn’t enough. Rely on it exclusively, and
your vocals will often end up sounding flat and lifeless.

Instead, aim to get 80 to 90 percent of the way there with compression. The vocal
should sit evenly without moving any faders. Then, flip on the automation and bring it
home. Ride up the words and phrases that get lost. Bring up any details that the
compressor missed. This approach will often produce much better results.

Learn how to apply this technique in detail here.

2. Make The Chorus Hit Harder

One of the best ways to make a chorus hit harder is to make the section right before it
feel ​smaller​.

You can use automation to make this happen. Turn down or mute tracks right before the
chorus hits. You can also bring your pan knobs in to narrow the stereo image.

By making the pre-chorus feel smaller, the chorus will feel larger when it hits.

Learn more about this technique here.

3. Ride Effects

Effects like reverb and delay don’t have to stay static throughout a mix.

You can ride them to create contrast between sections, emphasize words and phrases,
and enhance the arc of the song.

You can even apply different effects to different sections. For example, you may add a
short delay on the vocals in the verse, but switch it out for a long verb in the chorus.
This can give the song movement and enhance the contrast between sections.
4. Add Realism To Virtual Instruments

Virtual instruments—especially strings—can sound notoriously flat. But the right

automation can bring them to life.

Ride virtual instruments to give them movement. Create crescendos and decrescendos
between notes. Remember—nothing should ever sit still. This approach can make
virtual instruments sound much more realistic.

5. Fix Muddy Vocals

Imagine you’re mixing a track with a poorly-recorded vocal. During the recording, the
singer was swaying back and forth in front of the mic.

The vocal sounds fine in certain spots, but boomy in others. What do you do?

You can automate an EQ to cut the problem frequency when the vocal is boomy, but
leave it untouched when the vocal sounds fine. While this can take a bit of time to pull
off, it will produce transparent, natural results.

For more mixing tips, visit ​BehindTheSpeakers.com​.

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