The Brushfire War Album Reflection

I wanted to go through all the songs that group C recorded during the semester; which were part of the record, 'The Brushfire War.' Upon the final mix down date, I felt that there were a bunch of overlooked ideas as far as how everything sounded and how instruments were treated. I have been thinking of many ideas while listening to the record for over a month now; different approaches that I can take if I feel the urge to remix the songs in the future. I'm going to listen to the record in real time and record my thoughts as to what went well and what wasn't so hot...at the end I also have a section of thoughts that can apply to the overall sound/mixing treatments of the record.

1. Caught Up

The march-in vox and snare rolls should be more together. There are 3 percussion parts at the beginning, make sure they gell better. The vox reverb to the left is a little off. The percussion on right side comes in harsh, maybe they could pump too. The kick and snare just don't sit quite right...too much replacement? Make the second vox mic sound distortion is clear and doesn't mask lead. I feel like the OH's are slightly Left heavy. I think this is the case throughout the album(for the most part...) perhaps the mics weren't at the same level and I don't think we went back and tried to get them balanced... Probably also why some of the tom hits(on right side) seem smeared... probably over compressed toms too. Could be better is they were also sent to reverb, or more sent anyways. The guitar solo has a weird effect on it, making it not up front enough....too much verb! The gates for the snare fills need to be automated better....

Overall feelings: I think this is the most balanced song on the album considering instruments to clarity aspect. The bridge has a great feeling happening and the hard part of the bridge is just slamming. Can't believe that I didn't catch that the OH's weren't balanced correctly. The mix verb seems to be a little lifeless as well, seems like there is a lot of space still (perhaps because we didn't use 2bus compression on the record....

2. Neon Cannonball

Guitar Levels need to be more cohesive. Gates need to be cleaner on the drums. Verb is nicer than on the previous song. Guitar distortion is not quite right. The vocals could me cut more in the lower mids during verses. Kick a little cardboardy... Have the drum flange cut out a little sooner on the bridge. Try using the backwards echo that wasn't used. Click can be heard at the end, before outtro. Vocal compression is a little heavy and is darkening the highs.

Overall Feelings: Song has great vibe. A few level adjustments are necessary, still feel like 2bus compression could help. Automation could give the song more impact.

3. United Tragedy

Let the drum gates stay open when they are the featured instrument! (like beginning). Too much bottom snare in there... Vocal sounds a bit weak, though alright cuz its just the verse. The kick is a little uninspired (kinda farty). Seems like some clarity gets lost during the chorus with drums. Maybe have dual vox wider, seems to be chorusing too much. Some highhat delay might sound great during verse sections. Maybe some rythmic delay on the bells to seperate from guitars. Make bridge have greater impact (maybe bombastic room mic?). Acoustic too loud. Acoustic could fade out to big verb to fill bridge to chorus space. Outtro rolls not very polite and reverse verb to present.

Overall feelings: Somehow the bottom snare got brought up come mix time but I think it's just too present. Other than that I like the feel. A lot different that the others. Very much a Joe song...

4. Lover's Tree

The electric/acoustic guitar blend sounds great. Too much vibrato on lead vox. Song has a dark feel. The snare sounds a little dull, but not it a good way. Aux percussion sounds great. Snare rude for the entrance of 2nd verse and kick is pretty clicky for the song. Snare rolls sounds unpleasant. Verb gives it a huge sound.

Overall Feeling: Like the lush verb, though it would be too much for other songs. The drums sound open and all the instruments sound cohesive in the 'room' sense...great. The guitars sounded great!

5. Cindy Lopper

Like the pumping compression in the beginning, but then the snare just looses its attack once everything comes in. Guitar's aren't loud enough. The bass is too farty...the distortion could be adjusted. Drums could be cleaned up and tuned.

Overall Feeling: Like how different the song is. We just overlooked aspects of the songs because we were rushed...easy to make sound great.

6. Brainwashed

I felt that we mixed this one the best. Verb sound correct. Lead vox is siting great. Love the bass, drums. Automation could be greatly utilized to get things to pop even more. Things just sit properly and everything is working together. Some of the drum replacement could be moved to become more realistic. The feedback in the bridge was an accident...something weird with the board, but its alright (we spent time automating a high frequency cut at that point in the song.) The cleaner guitar during the second part of the bridge is way to loud. Also the buildup back into the last chorus need a little something else... During the outtro the guitar solo/keyboard solo could use some random automation to spice things up.

Overall Feeling: The levels of all the instruments were almost there. Just wish a few things were caught beforehand. Love the drums, bass, most of the guitar, vocals and all the weird sounds happening. In the future it might be beneficial to use different guitars for each part because it could help to make things more individual... and not all sound the same.

7. Deconstruction of a Hollywood Ending

The guitars could be cut more in the lower frequencies. The 'ohh' s could be brought up, and all the vocals for the intro. Use automation! Song has a good drum sound as well. Love the impact for the first verse, though the vocals are a tad hot though out the rest of the song. The kick has some flab or somethings a little silly sounding. Left side guitar is a little low. Take gates off drums during empty sections! The drum beat is a little iffy during the last part of the second verse. Make the harmony parts during the 2nd chorus more clear and make it speak more. The outtro needs something so that it can be more driving...sounds and craziness!

Overall Feelings: Great ending with the reversed march to make the album more cohesive. Just pay attention to the certain levels.

8. Cherish Your Day

Great clean sound through out. Somehow the bass gets a little out of hand at points. The telephone effect on the acoustic during the beginning somehow got lost...? Kick too loud (maybe use fast compression to make fatter)? Felt that the snare was appropriate considering how bad it sounded to begin with. Like how the song is close to mono and then opens up for the chorus. Vocals are a little low? Solo has sweet tone! Vocal automation into last chorus got lost (super quite)?!

Overall Feeling: Love how clean it sounds compared to what the actual recording was...drums were in the midilab! Pay more attention to the stand up and make consistent.

9. All I Ever Do

Too much lead effect during the beginning. The longer echo probably not necessary. Got that vocal compression hitting well! Clear and up front. A little to much snare verb. Levels are good...maybe drums a little hot. Could use creative delay automation to induce some movement between phrases of verses. There need to be backing vox and just different sounding things during outtro to push harder. The ebow parts could be brought up. Instrumental outtro is cool.

Overall Feelings: Critical and precise production ideas could have made certain sections a little more interesting. Good L/R balance for drum effects outtro. The rain adds a little extra as well.

10.No Man's Land

Drums don't sound so hot...recorded in midi lab. Snare hard to listen to. Vocals seem a little thin. Guitars and electric bass balanced well. Guitars could loose some lower end. Good transition, though its pretty abrupt...works. Love the spacious ethereal atmosphere for the middle section. Sometimes the guitar gets masked a bit by the vox. The ending verb and echo are very lush and appropriate. The snare delay cuts out a bit oddly.

Overall Feelings: For such a random and pieced together song, it has an appropriate flow. Without the echo and verb growing through out, I don't think it would have come together as cohesively.

General Findings and Ideas to Remember:

• Automation
• Over compressing toms (thanks to me...)
• L/R OH levels more balanced
• 2bus compression probably gels things better (this isn't a good example because we didn't use it for the record but I think it would have help a few songs on here.)
• Take advantage of room mics and automate them with song sections
• Compressors grabbing too much and making things dull. Use sidechains!
• Pay attention to the bass and how much impact it is giving to the song.
• Utilize Sidechains and effects, but don't overdo it.
• Take some time to dial in verb and then make send levels according to where you can see them on a visual stage. Create a better sense of depth.
• Understand that the MTA board isn't perfect and be ready for a ton of minor adjustments to make sure it isn't changing sounds on you. Though it might to something surprisingly welcoming like the feedback in brainwashed...embrace the spontaneity of the board!
• Pay attention to the final limiting application so that you aren't compromising the sound and not just going to the volume.

408 Production Synopsis 8

This week all the main lead vocal parts were finished for the album. We used the same set up and settings as we have been using for the previous weeks: CM7, Neve, Distressor. Everything has been going fairly smoothly with the exception of myself getting a little frustrating with my singing takes...I just need to practice and get better. We met twice outside of our scheduled lab time this week in order to rough in mixes so that we will be one step closer once mixing OTB time comes around. The first step that we are trying to accomplish is to use replacement on a lot of the snare hits. We also have been messing and playing with guitar tones as we tracked almost all the guitar parts dry and have been figuring out what tones we want coming out of the sansamp plugin. There are so many choices! On top of that, now that we know how to use elastic audio, it seems like we will never be able to work on the mixes enough to how we could ideally make them sound. Other than the snare replacement, we are working on cleaning up the drum sections, making the bass fit in the middle with the kick and snare, as well as getting the vocals to sit appropriately. We plan on finishing up all recording with a few auxiliary sounds such as wood block, tambourine, piano, vocoder, backing vocals and gang vocals.

techniques of 408 6

4 Independent Headphone Mixes

• Create 4 Stereo Aux tracks.
• Create independent bus mixes from each instrument track and send to any of the stereo aux outputs.
• Send the 4 HP aux tracks to B1, B2, B3, B4. These are now mono summed HP outputs.
• Go to the I/O menu to name each buss HP mix is going to be for each player (drum hp, bass hp, vox hp, guitar hp).
• Send TT out of B1, into HP 1 amp, out into A of room 100 HP patchbay.
• For multiple outputs of the same mix, create a send under the send section from an already outputted HP mix.
• Stereo In, Aux mono out; otherwise only 1 side of HP will work.

Memory Locations

• Apple, 5 on numeric keypad. Memory location menu comes up of all memory locations.
• Press Enter to pull up memory location dialog box. Select 'no time properties' (none). Under general properties, track show/hide, zoom settings, track heights, group enables.
• Erase everything you don't want to see (all except drums).
• Name 101 and select what you want (drums).
• Vocals 102...ect.
• To recall memory location, on keypad press . 101 . or 'period 101 period'.

OTB Compression

• Line 1 inputs
• Unity gain all faders
• Pan positions set
• Activate line 1 buttons
• Line 1 pot fully counter clockwise
• Engage mix button for each track
• Take off 2 track and mix button on master
• engage group 3-4 and take out mix button (after initial settings, sums to stereo)
• Put up group 3-4 monitor level almost full and pan hard left and right.

Parallel

• One dry, one compressed...mix to taste.
• Engage group 5-6 for compressed sound.
• Group insert send, to compressor.
• Group insert return, from compressor.
• Bring up dry drums, then mix up compressed drums underneath to taste.

2 Stage Compression

• Take group 3-4 and make insert send to Millennia.
• Instead of going back to insert return on group, send to 2 new channels on board.
• Use the 2 new channels on the board and group to 5-6.
• Now Millennia compression is going into Distressor and then out. Adjust to taste.

Drum Replacement

• Doing by hand is the most efficient approach.
• 1st create new audio track.
• Select drum section that you would like to use and copy.
• Make sure the tab to transient button is engaged.
• Press tab to go to transient.
• Press semi colon to go to blank audio track below.
• Press V to paste audio.
• Press P to go back up to original track.
• You should you the version that is the latest copied version so that it is the closest to the unadjustable threshold of the tab to transient.
• Apple + or Apple - is right hand side of region adjustment (on keypad).
• Option + or option - is left hand side of region adjustment (on keypad).
• Adjust the grid resolution to fine tune region selection.
• + or - to nudge region back and forth.

Elastic Audio

• Used to tweak performances.
• 2 modes of analysis.
• 5 different plugins.
• Polyphonic - for guitar, voice, orchestras.
• Rhythmic - drums and percussion.
• Monophonic - for bass, violin.
• Varispeed - affects pitch and acts like a tape deck.
• X - form - renders audio before playback so that CPU isn't utilized.
• To affect Vocals: Choose Polyphonic, go to analysis, protools selects markers for regions (event markers).
• Assign markers in analysis view.
• Option click to subtract markers.
• Double click to add markers where needed.
• Or remove by select selection, delete.
• You can also right click audio for elastic audio menu (when is analysis mode).
• Adjust sensitivity of event markers.
• For long sustained sound, don't use a lot of markers.
• Usually at start of transient.
• Add a bunch for glitchiness sound.
• After analysis, create warp markers .
• In order to change things, use 3 types of warp.
• Telescope - default setting - good for long phrases.
• Accordion - Shift click for 3 warp markers.
• Range
• Use the trimmer tool (time compression expansion tool or TCE) to adjust and warp region.
• Monophonic is just used for a different sound.
• Varispeed changes pitch and time.
• Most elastic audio plugs have window selection - window acts as a gate, while 'follow' is how the plug handles the regions dynamics.
• In rhythmic, 'delay rate' in window adjusts the gate time reaction.
• To fit bass and kick together, use monophonic. Assign analysis points. Put the bass transient slightly behind the kick (up to 15 milliseconds) so that tone sounds like it is coming from kick and EQ/Compression of the both instruments don't conflict.

408 Production Synopsis 7

During the last few weeks of tracking, finishing vocals has been the main objective. We have been using the Wunder CM7 in the midilab with the vocal booth walls as baffling. The main signal path has been CM7-Neve Pre-Distressor-PTs. The purpose of the Distressor has been to slightly even out vocals so that they are a little closer to being ready for final mixing down. Depending on the material, the parameters for the Distressor have been as follows: ratio either 3:1 or 6:1, input 5, attack 5, release 4, output 4, high pass engaged. We have finished vocals for 4 songs and are well on our way to being done with tracking. Other than vocals, we have been utilizing our time to complete a ton of auxiliary sounds. For the first song on the album, Caught Up, we have a military march sound happening. A marching snare was double tracked with a 57 in room 100 with a small amount of baffling. Marching bass was also recorded, though we have already talked about it not being necessary. Many tracks of stomping on the wood floor has been recorded, as well as chanting. Toms were also recorded with a single 414 in omni, they sound super open and huge. Toms and claps were also recorded for Neon Cannonball. A kaos pad was used on Neon Cannonball as well.

One of the coolest effects that we have recorded thus far has been achieved by using the roland vocoder. It took a lot of getting used to, as the signal path was quite confusing, but we were able to get the hang of it. We created an auxiliary track in PT for the guitar track that we wanted to use as the vocoder music input. Sends were created from the guitar tracks to the new aux and sent out to the patch bay. From here, a TT to TS was used to send the signal into the vocoder's line level at 0dB. We used a 57 and plugged it into the microphone input on the vocoder to act as the vocoders 'voice trigger.' The microphone level was set to approximately 10 o'clock. The wet/dry mix was set to fully wet to ensure only the vocoder's sound was being heard and not what I was speaking. The volume was set to approximately 3 o'clock. The frequency adjustment had the biggest boost in the mid range, or between the 6 and 7 knobs. The lows were almost nonexistent and tapered off below the 6 knob. Above 7, 8-9-10 were around 0dB, while the knob 11 was fully 'off.' We used the 'Vocal Amp' output with the level selector at high. A quarter inch was taken from the vocal amp and into the millennia; from here the signal was routed through the patch bay and back into PT. A new 'voco' audio track was then made in PT to record what we were hearing from the vocoder.

It took quite a while to get used to tracking with the vocoder, as the guitar part that we were recording with was very syncopated, which isn't an ideal sound. In the end we used a couple of short phrases that went along with the lyrics of the song for a powerful birdge section.

Techniques of 408 5

This week we learned about detailed automation approaches. There are two ways to understand automation; through real time recording, or through graphic editing.

Real Time:

• Bring up automation window by apple, 4 (on keypad) or under automation, in the window tab.
• You can 'suspend' all automation if you want for all tracks.
• Click plug-in to automate plug in.
• When automation tab is red, it is enabled.

When looking at a track

• Go to write mode, put up volume level so you can hear what you are doing.
• Record and move fader to apply automation.
• Write mode overrides any previous automation points.
• Make sure selection is enabled in automation window.

There are 7 modes for automation

• 'Off' can be enabled to turn off any automation.
• 'Touch' mode only adds automation when you touch fader and then returns to what is already has been automated.
• Can be used to combine old automation with new adjustments.
• Under preferences, mixing, automated time (for setting up how slow/fast you want the touch mode to return to previous automation.)
• 'Latch' mode plays back automation that has been made, and once you move the fader, it stays in place and moves only when you adjust.
• 'Trim' function tweaks automation only slightly, creating a composite of both old and new automation.
• Trim can be enabled with the other functions as well.

Viewing and Editing Automation

• Use the grabber tool to create break points.
• Option, Click to erase break points.
• Apple, Click to add break points.
• The little arrow at the bottom left of each track can be used to show automation of specific automation. Click the '+' for other independent automation views to be opened.
• Double click to select entire track.
• Highlight section and Press Delete to get rid of all viewable automation.
• Use pencil tool to draw in automation.
• Select Wave type under pencil tool and select the resolution (bars and beats, and 1/8 or other appropriate beat type).
• Edit, Copy Special to send automation of volume, to pan as well, or whatever other automation you choose.
• Make sure to un-group to do automation for 1 track of group.
• Use selection tool to highlight and move automation.
• Hold Command key to fine tune automation.

Plug In automation

• Control, Option, Apple, Click pot button and select automation option.
• Go to latch mode with the plug in automation selected and edit in real time with the plug in.

Automation, things to keep in mind

• Write mode is destructive.
• Latch mode only applies to one automation.
• Use Escape key to scroll through edit menu tools.

Recording Presentation Week 1

The two presentations that were given this week featured two widely know producers: Butch Vig and George Martin. Early in his career, Butch is know for his work with bands such as Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins. He was able to create the heavily grunge rock sound that created a new direction in popular music in the early 90's. He was able to trick Kurt Cobain into double tracking all the guitar parts twice by telling him, "John Lennon double tracks." This lead Butch to be able to sculpt the heavy and raw sound that was heard on the early grunge records. Another interesting fact is that Butch made Billy Corgan play almost all the instruments on the Smashing Pumpkin debut, Gish. On that record, the drum mic set up is identical to the go to set up that we have at the school studio. A d112 and RE20 on the kick, a 57 on the top side snare, 414's as OH's and 421's on the toms.

George Martin is sometimes referred to as the fifth Beatle. He was born on January 3rd, 1927 and began playing piano and eventually realized that we had perfect pitch. He found his way into working at Parlaphone (a division of EMI) records as a lead engineer. It was the littlest branch of EMI and he didn't always get to work with the biggest acts. He was always looking for band that had a unique sound that he could put his 2 cents on. At the age of 29, George took over Parlaphone and was in search of an artist that could be featured to create hit songs. Brian Epstien, the manager of the Beatles, met with George and agreed to listen in on a practice session. George was really excited with what he heard, other than the fact that drummer Pete Best, wasn't really the best... At the consent of George, Pete was replaced by a guy named Ringo Star and the rest is history. The first Beatles album was made in 12 hours at Abby Road Studio 2. The Beatles and George always were looking for ways to push the musical evolutionary envelope, which is heard in all of the Beatles material, especially the during the latter years. Automatic Double Tracking was created with the help of Ken Townsend during an experimenting session where the idea came up to barry the top of the playback head speed on the tape machine. In songs such as 'All You Need Is Love,' a mixture of Bach's Greensleeves and 'In the Mood' can be heard among other Beatles tunes. George went on to help the Beatles reach the top and keep them there by continuing to pursue the greatest sounds and performances that were possible, and of course composing all the background orchestrations and ideas.

Techniques of 408 4

This week in 408, we learned how to comp tracks using the playlists function and multiply ways to apply compression.

Playlist Comping

• Under Preferences, go to the operations tab of the setup menu. Select: automatically create a new playlist when loop recording, latch record enable buttons, link record and play faders.
• After creating and naming a new track for loop record pass, enable loop record via operations, loop record or use the shortcut option, 'option L.'
• Highlight a section to define the loop recording area.
• Add a bit of pre-roll if need be.
• Record takes!
• You can then select the 'playlists' tab and bring up all the takes.
• 'Promote' the best takes up to the top enabled track by selecting the area wanted, and pressing the arrow button on the left hand side of each track.

This is a very useful tool when you want to record a bunch of passes without stopping. Makes recording faster as well as being a lot easier to work with when editing.

There are 3 main types of multiply compression uses: Serial, Parallel, and Two Stage.

Parallel

• Used as a technique to achieve a 'fatter' drum sound, while preserving the natural attack of the drums.
• You could approach this technique by duplicating tracks and adding compression, but it's a lot easier by using busses.
• Start by creating a new stereo bus send, to a stereo aux track (summed drums)
• Create a second stereo aux track that has the same input as the previous aux track. Add a compressor to this track and adjust settings to taste.
• This second compressed track should be used to act as 'glue.' Creating a stronger image of the drums. Bring fader up to an appropriate level. It can also be useful to put this aux mix panned center to create a punchier and more full presence.

Serial

• Serial compression is essentially two or more compressors in a row.
• It is typically applied to run lower ratios to achieve more compression with less of the negative sounding effects that one compressor using high setting might contain.
• To start, set the first compressor to a 6:1 ratio, fast release (aggressive), a high threshold and little gain. Set the second compressor to a 3:1 ratio, normal release (smooth), a lower threshold and have this compressor handle all the make up gain.

Two Stage

• Start by taking the original signal and splitting it into two sends.
• The first signal bus goes to compressor 1. The second signal bus heads to compressor 2.
• Finally, send the compressor 1 channel to the compressor 2 channel.
• Adjust both section to taste. Remember that Compressor 2 channel now has the master output of the signal.
• Something to remember: send the source using the audio output path for compressor 1 and the sends section to send the signal to compressor 2.

Extra things that I learned...

• In the I/O section of protools, you can name the busses (verb, compression, headphones). This is useful for being able to visually follow a signal path.
• Plug-ins should be placed in the following order when working with kick/snare/toms: EQ, Compression, Gate.
• Plug-ins should be placed in the following order when working with gated verb: verb, EQ, compression, gate.
• Don't mix through a master fader!
• Making individual Kick and snare aux sums can be done even before going to the drum sum. Use serial compression: have a compressor on the actual kick channel, then put a second compressor on the kick sum channel.
• On the drum sum, you can place an EQ plug-in and boost the lows and highs to bring about more 'simmer' and more 'umph.'

Hot Keys!

• Change between active playlist track - control, P or Control, ;
• Promoting Playlist Section - control, option, V
• New Track Menu Options - control, command, up, down, left, right
• Toggle 'shuffle, spot, slip, grid' - tilda key
• Solo a track - shift, S
• Enable/Disable track - control, command, click
• Consolidate - shift, option, 3 (name the track afterwards so you know what it is)