M7CL tricks part 3

I’m going to wrap up this initial tips and tricks of the M7CL with my favorite uses of the effects processor in the onboard rack.

For VOX verb, the Rev-X Plate does it for me 99% of the time.  Between the reverb time, pre-delay, and hi/lo pass filters, it is easy and fast to create subtle yet effective verbs.

For VOX delay, my favorite preset on any Yamaha desk I’ve ever mixed on is Delay LCR.  This one is insanely powerful because you can quickly create any combination of straight ahead 1/4 or 1/8 delays to intricate left/right/center ping pongs.  Again, the built in hi and lo pass filters make it simple to adjust the sound of the delay so it can be subtle and musical.

For a Kit verb, again either the Rev-X Plate or the Rev-X Hall with one of the stock presets sounds great to my ear.

We also use one more instance of Rev-X Hall for a generic instrument verb that can be put over piano, violin, or acoustics as appropriate.

One thing I’m trying to wade my way through is that Kensington really taught me to go much lighter on my effects then I ever used to before KCC.  I’ve encountered most engineers here at NLC.tv who lean back towards that wetter (and, in my opinion, more dated) sound.  The reality is that unless we’re talking about a worship ballad, most music being released nowadays is far drier than it was even just a few years ago.  So the challenge is to find ways to give vocals and instruments spice in the mix in a timeless fashion without letting it go so far that the mix loses definition or takes a 1-way trip back to the 80′s.  More on this later because I’m sure I’m opening a can of worms here…

Mixing a Rock Show strategy

Since I’ve been on a Dave Rat kick as of late, I ran across this really informative video on Youtube a few weeks ago from Dave that explains a bussing and compression strategy he uses for mixing.  I’d read about this, maybe on his blog, a few years ago.  This is more concise and easier to follow than those articles.  Definitely worth the watch…

Mixing Techniques for John Mayer

Continuing the video blog Mondays format of the past few weeks, here’s another cool gem of Manny Marroquin outlining mix thoughts from John Mayer’s tune “I Don’t Trust Myself”. There’s good insight here.

Books Update

I’ve recently been through two music history-type books that are worth the read. There is so much to learn studying the work of engineers who have achieved greatness in our industry.

IN THE STUDIO WITH MICHAEL JACKSON by Bruce Swedien

No one was closer to Michael Jackson at the height of his creative powers than Bruce Swedien, the five-time Grammy winner who, with Jackson and producer Quincy Jones, formed the trio responsible for the sound of Jackson’s records – records that topped the charts and shook the world. Friend, co-creator, and colleague, Bruce Swedien was a seasoned recording engineer-plucked from a job at legendary Universal Audio in Chicago – when he began working with Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones on the soundtrack to The Wiz, and he was the master technician who gave the records their sound as the trio progressed to Jackson’s greatest triumphs, Off the Wall and the iconic, history-making Thriller, which revolutionized music and video and fixed Jackson in culture as the King of Pop. In the Studio with Michael Jackson is the chronicle of those times, when everything was about the music, the magic, and the amazing talent of a man who changed the face of pop music – and culture – forever. In his laid-back style, Bruce Swedien offers anecdotes about being part of Quincy Jones’ extended “family” and reveals the technical details of creating Michael Jackson’s biggest-selling albums, as well as Bad, Dangerous, and HIStory. Including over 100 photos, In the Studio with Michael Jackson provides an insider’s look that will thrill anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of hit making and the history of some of America’s most influential music.

HOW DOES IT SOUND NOW? LEGENDARY ENGINEERS & VINTAGE GEAR by Gary Gottlieb

Chet Atkins was playing his guitar when a woman approached him. She said, “That guitar sounds beautiful.” Chet immediately quit playing. Staring her in the eyes, he asked, “How does it sound now?” The quality of the sound in Chet’s case clearly rested with the player, not the instrument, and the quality of our product ultimately lies with us as engineers and producers, not with the gear we use. How Does It Sound Now? Legendary Engineers and Vintage Gear contains insightful interviews with 31 of the most famous audio engineers of all time on how they utilized (and in some cases invented) classic analog recording hardware to make some of the highest quality recordings of all time. Each interview provides a walkthrough of audio and music history as you learn how some of your favorite recordings came to be made. But the interviews don’t only reveal what gear was used and why. Throughout the discussions, each interviewee brings up how creating quality recordings was and always will be the ultimate goal of the engineer. And of course, a big reason why each of these legendary engineers was so successful was that their standards for quality were so high. The interviews are loaded with advice and insight on how recording is an art form and how one might go about becoming a master.

We Believe

If you follow my Twitter or Facebook accounts, you’ll remember lots of posts this past summer & fall about studio time.  After a year or so away from the studio, I took a project this past summer to engineer & mix a worship project for the church I was last involved with before going to Kensington.  I’ve been good friends with Chris Lindsey, who produced the project & sang lead vocals, for almost 10 years now but we’d never done something like this together.  It was a lot of fun.

Because of my heritage in the Church of Christ, I have lots of experience with acappella vocals.  I’ve always found this background served me well as an engineer.  If you can mix/blend 4 or 5 part contemporary vocal stuff, it seems like mixing a band is often times MUCH simpler.  My background made a big difference in mixing bands with money vocals like Avalon or Huey Lewis.

Below are some samples of what we did.  Everything you’ll hear, including the percussion, is all vocal.  Each song is comprised of 6-10 bed vocals – all doubled.  Add lead vocal, bass, and percussion and all told, most tunes come in with anywhere from 24-40 tracks.  I work exclusively in ProTools and this was my first project to do completely in new Version 8.  I have about 90 hours in the project – 35 tracking and 55 editing, tuning, & mixing.  My friend Michael Forehand, a great engineer himself, mastered everything for me and I’m very pleased with the finished result.  Check it out and if you’re interested in more about Chris or picking this up for yourself, head over to his website at chrislindseymusic.com

Let God Arise

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Oh The Deep Deep Love

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Mighty To Save

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Ambience Mic Thoughts

I’ve had quite a few questions regarding ambience mic technique, what to use, etc.  We now use three sets of ambience/audience mics, each with a different purpose for capturing the room.  Inspired by some great discussion on the Digidesign User Forum, my implementation is…

Mics #1 are a set of Audio Technica 835 shotgun mics (purchased for this project) on the outside corners of our stage, mounted just under our side screens, pointed out into the room.  These are the primary audience pickup source because so much of the audience’s energy is directed towards the stage that these do a great job of capturing without adding too much PA to the mix.  They’re inexpensive and sound good for what I’m using them for.  You could certainly upgrade the make/model here to something more boutique but this serves our purposes well.

Mics #2 are a set of Crown PCCs placed on the lip of the stage at the 1/3 and 2/3 lines from left to right.  These combine with the shotguns to provide some presence and immediacy to the signal since another set of shotguns wouldn’t be acceptable aesthetically in these positions.

Mics #3 are a pair of Shure SM81s hung from the first catwalk, almost at the half way point of the room, also on the 1/3 and 2/3 lines to the stage.  These mics serve almost entirely the purpose of room ambience – making the mix sound like it is happening in the auditorium rather than happening in a dead studio.

The three sets of ambience mics serve dual purpose for us – ambience for IEM and ambience for the broadcast/record feed.  In the IEM world, we lean most heavily on the shotguns at the front of the room at the corners of the stage and supplement that with the PCCs on the front of the stage towards the center.  These mics are used mainly because they provide localization of what the artist is hearing in their ears.  For example, when someone to the artist’s right calls to the stage, we want everyone on stage to turn their head in that direction.  Likewise, if someone on the front row is singing their heart out, it’s cool for the artists to be able to sense that from those PCCs on the front of the stage.  That localization goes leaps and bounds towards breaking down the isolation.  Every artist is different with how much ambience is just right.

We may still look to add an additional set or two but I’m stuck because adding them will mean needing to deal with delay times between those mics and the rest currently in place.  Two of my current three sets are directly in line with the PA so there’s little issue there.  The delay induced by the third set certainly does some phase stuff to the mix but the added space it puts in the mix when the speaker is up is worth the compromise to me.  So we’ve dodged the bullet to this point and I’d like to avoid having to go there with more mics.  This is one of the only limitations of creating the broadcast mix inside the Venue rather than in an outboard mixer/processor.  There is no way to have the degree of time alignment control that would be needed in the broadcast feed without making other more significant sacrifices.

The shotguns are the most important piece of the puzzle for me because their pickup pattern is most effective at picking up the audience and rejecting PA and stage bleed.  The PCCs are next important to fill in the center stage imaging – think of the shotguns panned hard left and right and the PCCs panned at 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock or 10 and 2.  The hanging mics are almost halfway back in the room and that time delay adds depth to the ambience space. For IEMs, it can be distracting.  But for broadcast, it enhances the size of the room and makes it feel more real when you’re listening back.