Own The Mix.com

In the past few days I’ve come across a resource for church audio that I think everyone associated with house of worship markets should know about called OwnTheMix.com. I’ve never seen anything like this so please consider this a must investigate for your team!

From their website…OwnTheMix.com is a comprehensive audio training solution for the modern church. Created by Buckhead Church’s Audio Director, Dustin Whitt, and Music Director, Chris Green, you will learn secrets to creating irresistible worship environments. Whether novice or professional, there is plenty for everyone inside. Subscribers have an all-access pass to every video, and are connected to all of OwnTheMix.com’s users through a state-of-the-art social network that includes forums, blogs, and groups based on like interests or topics.  What makes this content unique is that there is an important balance between tech & music – they get the necessity of this unique partnership that is so critical to audio success in churches.

Training topics include basic EQ, compression, and gating for bass, electrics, keys, drums, & vocals, miking instruments, combat mixing, console gain structure, basic drum tuning for engineers, mixing musically, EQ and mic placement for speech, transitions, working with musicians, working with drummers, and much more.  There’s also training content that currently focuses on the Digidesign Venue platform, although videos are coming soon that will also train on Aviom & the Yamaha M7CL.  Finally there are several multi-part interviews with other members of the Northpoint audio team such as Dave Stagl and Chris Briley, and notable FOH engineers such as Jeff Sandstrom (Chris Tomlin).

A 1-year subscription starts at $200 for a single seat and the price per seat goes down as you add more users from your organization to the site.  The really cool thing is that if they were to put an accurate price tag on what is taught in this site, it wouldn’t be affordable for many churches.  The value is extremely high!  If you paid a contract soundguy $50 an hour to run your Sunday services just for one morning, you’ve paid for an entire year of training for a committed volunteer. The site really is one-of-a-kind and content is still being added weekly.

I’m proud to say Kensington Church has secured a license for our entire audio team and I will be leading our team through this content over the coming year.  It has been on my heart for months to find a way to focus on basic audio concepts and develop more of a culture of organized continuing education for the team but had yet to find a means that would be the right fit.

I showcased a new book I picked up this past winter called “Mixing Audio” on this blog that is the best resource I’ve ever read for the art of mixing music.  The problem is that a large percentage of our audio team are also campus tech directors or work full time jobs in other industries entirely, so I expected a tough sell to get everyone to read such a large, focused book and get together for discussions.

OwnTheMix is perfect for us because we can “assign” a handful of videos for guys to watch on their own time that are reasonably short for those with ADD attention spans (it seems most average 3-6 minutes) and pack lots of solid concepts in each one.  Then we’ll meet together every other week for an hour to unpack what we’re learning and discuss questions or applications.  I’m excited to see what God will do in our team over the coming months!

I can’t recommend this resource enough.  If you are involved in church audio in any way, RUN to this site and sign up for you and your team.  I’m certain you won’t be disappointed!

IEM Choices

The past few weeks have been spent doing research and preparing a proposal for an IEM system solution for our portable campuses.  The Troy main campus has over 90% acceptance of IEM over wedges and the results in lowering our stage volume have been awesome, especially in partnership with the on-stage PQ controllers.  However, campuses use wedges exclusively, only with the current exception of the drummer.

There are lots and lots of options when it comes to providing ear pieces for our music team.  Because these will be universal fit, the players are narrowed down a tad, but its still dizzying to consider all of the choices – Shure, Future Sonics, Westone, and Ultimate Ears.  Of these, the Future Sonics Atrio M5 series are my favorite sounding pieces at any price.  They are the only ones on the market that are 100% armature-free which also means a single full range driver with no crossover.  The result is thick, tight low end response and very natural high end that is pristine without sounding hyped.  The difference is pretty remarkable.

However, when it comes to outfitting a department, Shure’s inventory and support seems to be untouchable by the others.  If we’re going to own a bunch of universal fit pieces between 5 campuses, being able to stock bulk orders of the replacement foam becomes extremely important.  Shure is the only one I’m aware of who can meet this criteria.  They even upgraded the material in the past few months away from the yellow foam that was functional but too scratchy in the ear and wore out quickly to a new black material that is denser, sounds better, and stays cleaner longer.

Second, and just as important, is the warranty and support.  Recently I had a couple sets of E4′s that started having what I would consider driver issues where one side either stopped working or didn’t sound quite right (and cleaning them thoroughly didn’t solve the problem).  For less than $10 per set, sending in these broken units to Shure gives you a brand new set a week or two later.

I’m curious if anyone has similar support stories about the other manufacturers.  It seems the trend I see across large programs like ours is that while there may be other choices that sound better, Shure is the staple for ear pieces because of the ease of acquiring large quantities of replacement foam and a generous warranty/service policy.

What do you think?

Michael Braeur: maintaining a balanced ego?

Here’s one more snipet from Michael Braeur who I first wrote about a few days ago.  Anyone who has mixed FOH in a large church for any length of time knows how lonely it can become because few other positions in the church are so exposed to praise and criticism.  Interesting insite from Michael on this…I sense that there’s a lot of common ground in the need for thick skin and resting in the call of your work.

Your Coldplay mixes are very inspiring…so radio, yet so vintage-y at the same time. Have you ever had mixes that were rejected and remixed by someone else? How do you deal with that kind of thing? Any advice on maintaining a balanced ego?

Thank you, I’m proud of that record. Yes, rejection happens to us all. It’s part of life. It does not happen often, because if it did, I wouldn’t be working very much. I’m the guy that’s hired to do the remixing so if my mixes don’t fly, well…you know the ending.

I know in my heart that when a mix is completed and turned in to the record company, I did the very best job possible. No excuses are acceptable. I didn’t get lazy at any point in the process, I didn’t cut corners, I didn’t leave certain tasks or ideas unfinished. I took it all the way home. If they reject the mix and feel like someone else has a better take on the song, well, that’s their right because it’s their record. I’m going to sleep ok because I know I did my best. In fact, maybe I’ll learn something from it. Maybe my take on it was wrong. Maybe I made it a bit too slick and the original mix just had a raw power that, with all its faults, still felt better than mine. So next time, maybe I’ll pay closer attention to other elements of a song. I don’t like making the same mistake twice.

It doesn’t really matter if I listen to my mix against the one that was chosen and think wow, mine was way better. In fact, I wouldn’t waste my time. There are a lot of other reasons why a mix is rejected that has nothing to do with you. There is the real world of politics or name recognition that can help sell a product to a radio station.

Yah it hurts for a minute, that my mix isn’t always the best thing since sliced bread but I get over it. I have to, because I’m usually in the middle of mixing another one and I don’t want it to put a damper on the task at hand.  BTW, that mindset did not come naturally. I’ve been doing it for a long enough time that I’ve come to peace with it. Rejection happens; do what you can to learn from it. Turn it around.

Meet Michael Brauer

A few days ago I was introduced to the personal website for Michael Brauer.  I’m a big fan of his mixes – maybe you’ve heard a few:  Coldplay “Viva La Vida” & “Parachutes”, John Mayer “Continuum”, The Fray, Gavin Degraw, Ben Folds, & Matt Kearney.  It’s always especially interesting to find a well developed personal website for an engineer who’s work I enjoy.  Michael’s site has a rich Q&A/FAQ section and reprints of various articles featuring his work.  Definitely some good reads here.

Below are a few highlights of things in the Q&A section that struck a chord with me.

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Could you speak to the issue of how you achieve movement in a mix (or your philosophy about movement in a mix)? I read in one of your other posts of how you rode a pad in one of the Coldplay mixes. Do you generally ride all instruments/sources…or are there some sources that remain rather static and others source that your regularly “move”? If you can’t give a general opinion, perhaps you can comment on your philosophy in mixing with movement in mind. With the large amout of dynamics processing that today’s mixes go through, how important is movement in a mix when the song is going to get pulverized to 5 – 6 dB of dynamic range anyway?

The song will dictate everything that needs to happen. Not gear, not technique, not the “go to” button. It’s about the song and nothing but the song.

Dynamics are going to play a major role in giving the chorus the payoff it needs. I’m not necessarily referring to riding the stereo track up. I mean internal rides going into the chorus like riding the drums up on the last bar or riding up the first chord of the guitars. These are just tiny basic examples to get you started.

I’m riding a whole lotta faders during the course of a mix. I’m riding the vocal to drive the song, riding the bass, toms, cymbals…well pretty much anything that helps make the song come alive. I’m making the mix as animated as possible to get the message of the song across to the listener. Imagine you’re watching an action cartoon and that will be a good starting point for how dynamics work.

Of course, not all songs are going ballistic. I probably do more rides on a ballad than I might on a rocker. It’s the accumulation of many subtle rides that add up to an emotional mix. You can probably set a good level of a compressed string section in a chorus and just let it rip. I prefer to do internal rides within those strings and overall small crescendos of the group to accentuate the passage. I may very well compress them, but that may not be enough to do the section justice. The point is to add movement to the song in order to make it seem to come alive. You’ve got to ask yourself one question, “Do I feel lucky?, Well do ya punk?”…oops sorry, I mean, What rides can help a great hook?…punk.

There are no set rules for what stays static or doesn’t because every song is different, the recording is different, the parts are different, basically, everything is different. The point is to use dynamics to bring out the best a song has to offer. What can be done to make the story and the hook of a song burn into your brain forever.

Rides are an essential part of mixing a song to its full potential regardless of the amount of compression the mix is going to get hit with by the time it goes to radio. An emotional mix will help the song survive the squash. It’s all about the song. Repeat after me, it’s all about the song.

In your opinion, what do you think gives a snare drum stroke the ultimate catchy sound in a mix?

Thats a tough one to answer because there are so many variables.

For me every song is different. I decide early on how the snare should be placed and how important it is to a song. If the recorded snare doesn’t sound good in the the track I add one or a combination of samples to get the sound I’m looking for. I rarely replace the source kick or snare.

I like the snare to give the song’s midrange a brightness without interfering with the vocal. How bombastic, fat, funky, snappy, etc is determined by the style of music I’m mixing. If it’s funk, I’m not gonna give it a rock feel…unless it works. It’s always a work in progress.

The snare has over the years defined in what time period the song was released. Some snare sounds had a very short shelf life and dates a song so terribly that it’s hard to listen to. I decided many years ago to come up with snare sounds that would withstand the test of time. Many times, it’s the snare that gives the song it’s unique hit quality. Within my discography, Coldplay’s “Yellow” is probably a good example.

In general, i’m changing my snare sound every six months. As soon as I find one that is catchy, I drop it because I don’t want two different artists to share the same sound. It’s an easy temptation to just repeat the same snare sound but I think that’s lazy and eventually people would get bored by it, not to mention it gives every artist the same generic sound. That’s not the reason why artists want me mixing their record. It’s harder to accomplish but so what, it’s not as if I’ve got anything else to do.

Do you like the artist being present at the mixing session?

Hello? I’m not the artist, I’m just the mixer. It’s their vision, not mine that I want to mix. If the vision is unclear on a particular song, I can help.

The band has spent months making their record. They’ve been part of every decision, change, fight, and they’ve finally gotten their vision recorded and documented. The rough mixes are feeling great. And now for the most important part of the recording process, they aren’t allowed at the mix? Wrong, I’m not interested in mixing an album for myself. I want to know about each song including the story, the vision, the likes and dislikes of the rough mix, tracks that should be left off or changed, etc. For a new band it’s even more crucial because I want to help set up a sonic template that is unique to them that also sets them apart from other bands.

I make it very clear to the record company that if the band’s visionary or someone they completely trust to represent them isn’t at the mix, I’m not interested in mixing the record. There are very few exceptions to this rule. Sometimes the reasoning behind a record company’s request of “no artist attendance” may be valid, but most of the time I don’t buy it. I get the “they don’t know what they want”, “They’re too young to have a clue about the mixing process”, “they are such a pain in the ass that they’ll screw up the mixes”, “we don’t have the budget” and “they’re on tour.” In my mind, these reasons don’t qualify for them being excluded from the mix.

If the band agrees the producer or A&R has a better idea what is best for the band, then they should attend the session. If it’s a money issue, I can set up live Ednet sessions. The artist can be at a studio in London or LA and listen back to the mix in real time using the same speakers I’m monitoring. They can make comments via a talkback and they have visual via ichat . It works like a charm. I would prefer them to be in the same room, but this is a great alternative. And finally, I’m from NYC, nobody is going to want to be a pain in the ass for very long on my session.

It comes down to this: it’s their record, not mine. I have years of experience at their disposal. I have a short time to make their songs come to life and they have a lifetime to live with it.

Time Alignment Samples

Ok here we go…

The first sample is the snare and overheads.  I’m flipping the delay in and out on the snare channel every 4 beats.  The biggest place you’ll hear the difference is in the body of the drum.  The non aligned signal sounds really thin compared to the time aligned one.

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The second sample is the entire kit with delay and without delay.  In order to make it easier to compare as you’d like, I included these as separate files.  First, the delayed and time aligned kit.

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Second, the non aligned kit.

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As you can see, maybe its subtle – I’m not sure how its translating across the web, MP3 compression, etc.  In my room, the difference is pretty huge when you’re trying to get great individual tones and make everything play nice together.