I don't know why i have such a fondness for the process of compression & find EQ much more dull a process. I can't really explain it. Anyone else with such biased opinion over mixing & mastering? Its not that i dislike EQing its the fact that that i look forward to sticking a compressor on a track. Sometimes just doing it to past time.

 

unless for sum (mastering) or sounddesign (very clearly effects) using EQs on tracks during mixing is the brother of the gain staging process. both need fresh ears and bit of distance to the music itself, so do it with fresh ears tomorrow.

 

If I am still making track content or mixing, I will often put an EQ instance before, and one after the compressor.
Subtractive eq->Compressor->Additive eq. Ever tried that?

 

I find myself EQing almost everything, even if it's only a hpf/lpf. A thing that i hate even more than Eqs are blurred spectrum and this is very strong bias for me to Eq eveytime on a mix session.

 

My chain generally goes for Subtractive Eq->Compressor->Saturation. On my template i'm very picky with boosts, because when i'm boosting something, i'm feeding distortion on that frequency, even gain matching. But what works, works!

 

the thing that bothers me on EQing is when you have to be super precise, like cleaning annoying frequencies.
otherwise i kinda like messing with an eq

 

It's not dull or enjoyable for me when I use EQ or compression. I do it when it is needed. EQ is just a tool to change timbre or cut some unwanted frequencies. Similar to compressors with the only difference being that a compressor help to seat an instrument in a mix from the point of view of dynamics. Using EQ is like wash my own hands when they are dirty. Or put a bit of salt or pepper in a soup if it is tasteless. Or take a remedy if I am ill. Pure necessity.

May be you haven't tried cool EQs? I was very suspicious about Analog Obsession but some times ago I've tried it again and now I understand how good they are. They all (or most of them) sound differently. I don't intend to promote AO. Just try different emulations of hardware EQ from any developer. And listen what they do carefully. Preferably on a track in a mix. Learn EQing. It seems that you understand more or less compression but aren't familiar with EQs.

And another advice. Try to learn how an EQ (before a compressor) interacts with the latter. You cut some low frequencies and may get a significally different result comparing a result without an EQ...

 

Compressors you can throw on a track and you almost instantly get a better, more lively mix. I think many people file EQ under "work" because "EQ = fixing issues". It can be slow and tedious. Maybe, if you aren't already, try EQing by ear with a non-visual EQ, with the specific goal of making meaningful broad tonal changes.

 

Do you know about EQ and presence? It can really bring out a new character of the sound, as well as low and high shelving. EQing the master bus is a must, but compression not so much - soft clipping i think is more interesting.

 

So do I, but a lot of the times I will just use Logic's stock eq for really small moves or just hi-cut/lo-cut for ranges that have little to no information in them. I saturate a majority of channels too, if even just a tiny little bit. But I do move the saturation plugin around in the chain a little. My "Additive eq" is usually something with a little analog color going on, so like you say; it's going to end up how I think it sounds best with the material. My suggestion is more about adding the (maybe even temporary) processing to one channel's chain. Rather than thinking about it as doing mix-wide per processor type i.e. EQing everything, and then adding Compression, and so on. My mixer is not Large Format or any sort of high tech, or maybe I would do some more of that workflow.

 

Last edited: May 17, 2024

EQ's are one of my most valued tools.

And re: compressors, yeah, like verbs and whatnot, I usually eq prior, and sometimes if not always, after.

I don't know how one gets through mixing something for release without using eq's unless they are recording Paul Simon acoustic and have the perfect mic and outboard going right to tape/drive etc....

I usually utilize subtractive eq as with everything else, I don't turn shit up, if I want something to be heard, or made room for, I turn other stuff DOWN. And I use eq to sculpt.

hell, sometimes I just use simple filters (which is what eq's are)...

But I would rate filtering or eq (after the fact of recording source) to probably be the most important element outside of a fader.

 

you dislike the EQ or doing the EQing ? if the latter, you should try Ozone Clarity. It's some sort of an EQ but doing it while compressing. You'll love it.

 

I think this is it.
You are right its just easier to hear the difference but also i think because there is more going on like how it effects transients and rhythm, gluing & bring out certain instruments along with using as an effect or adding colour. Also i think when i first started out making music (a time before the internet), dynamics was the thing that took me longer to grasp so maybe i've got a bit mote fascination with it.
Eq is like a subtle final tweak in a mix a bit of carving & making space I'm just neutral on it. I do not dislike EQing or not understand its use its very much an art.
Maybe i didn't explain clearly, its just that i love compression & compressors so much i just find myself compressing for fun in the same way i enjoy writing & composing or using effects & instruments creatively.
I just wondered if anyone else had this fascination with certain effects that they will find themselves putting time in?

 

my vocal track has 12 sends to 12 different compressor plugins and I'll reconstruct the final vocal sound with 3 to 7 output of those compressors and tuck in the clean vocal as parallel. Reverse parallel compression. The result has everything flatten and no obvious resonant at all, no need EQing either, just balance the mix of compressed sound from each compressor. Compressor is definitely fun.

 

For a couple of years I was possessed by a desire to use spectral tools on everything (mostly MSpectralDynamics, Soothe and SpecOps).

I got into them out of necessity (trying to save a relatively poorly recorded session) but it turned out to be a much bigger rabbit hole than I expected. Next thing you know, I'm "remastering" Anatolian Rock songs from the 60s just for the pleasure of it. The fact that it happened during Covid lockdowns may or may not play a part in my nostalgic feeling for that period lol.

One early memorable example : I put SpecOps on a drum loop and started messing around. At one point the sound I got was eerily similar to human speech. When I shared it with a couple of friends and told them to guess what processing I'd used, they named every effect under the sun and all the possible combinations, but never got it right.

I started to tame myself when I noticed that I was "bettering" perfectly fine audio all the time lol.

 

Last edited: May 19, 2024

That sounds very interesting. Can you explain that a bit more? Which compressors do you use? How do you choose 3 to 7 out of 12? What ratios do you use - 2:1, 3:1, etc - or do you hit them hard at 10:1 or more, and then blend them back in, like parallel? Just curious. It sounds like something I’d like to try for fun. It’s kind of my approach to reverb and delays but I’ve never tried with compressors this way, at least not that number of them. Thanks!

 

It's Michael Brauer vocal mixing technique. You can learn more about it in "MWTM Michael Brauer Mixing Melissa Etheridge - Bones". He talked about it in details in those series. Another one is Puremix The Evolution From Analog to Digital "Brauerize", he didn't really talk much about that but you can see his full template. Another mixer that is known using this technique is Joe Chiccarelli you can test his IK Multimedia Joe Chicarelli Vocal Strip plugin that use that workflow. His other plugin Leapwing Joe Chiccarelli loosely has that workflow for the vocal section as well.

The idea is basically reconstructing the whole vocal with blend of different compression to one track. One for power, one for intensity, one for high end, one for bottom. The result is surely super smashed vocal sound, but then add another track that has clean vocal with full dynamic range in parallel just a little bit to add back some dynamic range. Usually the clean vocal will dominate the track and you tuck in the parallel compression a bit but this technique the smashed vocal from blend of those compressors dominate the sound while the clean vocal just to add some dynamic range.

About the compressors, it doesn't really need to be 12 or 7. It depends on how you like it. I somehow found certain thing I like about a compressor plugin then decide to make it available on the template. It took me some time to get good settings on those compressors, and once I got it, I just save and never tweak it, I only control the amount of SEND to that track. I have note on my template, because I don't remember most of them. This should give you some idea of how to create your own.



Vox DRY (BUS) - general tone shaping and clean up before sending the signal to the compressors. I do heavy De-essing here (sometimes stack 2 Deessers) because the compressors when smashed tend to make sibilant worse, so better clean it up before. Important to remember to manual clip gain the vocal track manually if it has excessive breaths, everything will be amplified. There's also a reverb in the chain, it's a super tight ambience, very small amount of mix. It's PCM70 "Locker Room". The preset is in Lexicon Native LexRoom - Medium Room - Locker Room, 5-6% mix. Vocal sounds better when smashed if it has a bit of reverb, especially those Vari-MUs, I stole this from Michael Brauer of course. A fast 1176 for peak leveling, Vari-MUs tend to respond better when the signal is less peak-y especially the Gates, so I cut down all the unnecessary peak here 1db, no sound or gain change. Some saturation and stuff sometimes, it's there but sometimes I use, sometimes I don't since the Sonimus Burnley has quite a solid preamp sound and works great for some minor EQing. All the delays, plate reverb, chorus FXs are sent from this track so the FX has dynamic range and it will create epic separation with the final vocal sound.

Over the years, I might have replaced some compressors with saturation, so there's saturation among them as well. It's to complement the blend to add something missing. I mostly smash everything hard with low to medium ratio but pushed to 9 to 10 GR. The act of smashing will mostly flatten any resonances and keep everything tight to the bone. Don't worry about dynamic range, just tone. The dynamic range is added by the "parallel" of clean vocal later (also sent from VOX DRY)

This is example of Neold U2A setting below, the Peak Reduction is maxed out. U2A (LA2A style) is the body, the low mid of the vocal. So the setting is tailored to smash the high-end to death. I use Gates style compressor for "throat", got 2 selection of them will pick one. Then 4 of Vari-mu (RCA/Federal/Fairchild) style compressor, this is the midrange, the main tone, sometimes I pick the blend of 2, or 3 it depends. These are the ones that took the longest for me to find the one that works for me. Then 1176 for stressfulness/intensity which I copy Brauer's sound, from what I can gather during the video, the Q Bias setting is important, most other 1176s dont behave like this one, it need to be wild to get what I want from it. Then Distressor on NUKE for aggressive details, the "spittyness" if that's a word, the free Xtressor NUKE is awesome and done the job well, I used to use the Slate's one before. Need to be careful with the mix of this one can change the overall vibe from sad singing to angry singing, so need to find some sweet balance between them all. The 1176 and Distressor works together, so whichever that suits the track will dominate over another. Finally, a Fatso style smack is for the "teeth" or transient or knock, something like that. Another good replacement for this is Antares Punch which does pretty much the same thing. I only add small amount of this because it can go out of control real fast.

Then there's saturation from Inferno which is RCA style + Izotope Nectar on Distort mode, these two are to complement and and add what's missing from the reconstruction of the vocal and blend together. I think for pop I decided to not smash the high end too much as modern pop vocal is more airy bright style, so replaced it with a distortion which act like an exciter.

Im gad I have those notes on the tracks in the template, I have notes for all the 100 tracks in the template. 8 templates for different genres, impossible to remember them all. This one is for Pop & R&b mix. I think the one for other genre has different setup but roughly the same with minor changes to suit the genre better.

It takes some time to get a good blend of plugins and setting. Once you get it, it's just controlling the amount of SEND. Hopefully it gives you some idea.

 

Last edited: May 20, 2024

I recommend you guys paying attention to what @Stevie Dude wrote about MHB vocal processing trick. Once you have all under your faders, you can automate and give a sense of articulation and response that is hard to beat. Each Compressor has a vibe, a color and different balistics, which can change the feel in a very strong way. I'm more into that than boosting frequencies, for example. Feed that thing with compression and saturation instead of Eq boosts. Once you got it, it's hard to come back, since i'm almost all the time boosting something through a fader with parallel processing.

Dan Worrall also has an extensive list of content about parallel eqs with processing happening. This one has blew my mind back in the day:

 

Wow! Great info. Thanks for your detailed reply. I will save this post and reference it and give it a try. I’ll also check out those references. I’m anxious to play with this idea. It seems like it could yield some very satisfying results. Much appreciated, mate!

 

Yeah, automating those faders is key to get a nice flow for the vocal emotion and intensity to make sure the vocal hits correctly at every section. Good way to simply get a different intensity for say the verse and chorus, some automation with the FX could make them even better together.

You're welcome. If you got bored, I suggest you check out MWTM early days series, the first 20 episodes or something. You'd find a lot of gem and weird ass techniques in there, nothing much to learn from the newer ones. As an example not many knows that CLA actual mixing technique secret is tilting the whole mix around 5-7db (boosting low) on the stereo bus so it could extend his SSL4k low and high end range. He boost the low end that much at the stereo bus and mix in fairly low volume, apart from benefiting from Pultec's tube sound with the boost, the mix starts with sounding dark and everything needs an 8kHz boost considering the SSL 4K is not really full extended high end range but with tons of 8kHz boost you get a nice solid top end that rolls off naturally because of the console frequency range limitation. He also start the Kick and Snare with huge 7db high end boost on the API + Manley Pultec. The most important thing, with that enormous 8kHz boost he always do before compressing, the compressor will only hit the high end, so he can slam everything but only the high end get compressed and the track will never pump. That way, he doesn't need to tame resonant, or scoop the boxy part of the track. He never need sidechain filter either. None of his gear has one. One would've wonder how did he slam that much without the compressors pumping, this is it. Also the low end isn't compressed AT ALL so they bloom up nicely at the end because of the huge Pultec boost. It's to compensate with his gear's limitation at first but ended up become a brilliant technique. Hard to imagine and understand the concept at first. He never talk about it even once in all his masterclass, but if you watch him and follow EVERY settings, that's what you end up with. His reverbs sound epic in that setup. All his plugins too.

 

Last edited: May 20, 2024