Biggest Ever Audio Mixing Contest is ON!
Sidechaining has been around for years; this is the process of using one signal to control another. A couple classic examples are using a kick drum to gate a bass part, or doing de-essing - isolating the high sibilant frequencies from a vocal, and using those to trigger compression so that the sibilants come down in volume.
Octave dividers aren’t just for guitar players: They also rock for bass, whether you’re getting mega-low sounds from the lower strings, or playing high up on the neck for very cool 8-string bass effects. It’s easy to do octave division with amp sims and DAWs, but there are some definite tricks involved.
Why is it so hard to get tracks that kill? Mixes that scream with emotional impact--music that holds up to the work of the masters of our craft?
By now, everyone was going to be loading soft synths into their laptops, and taking them to the gig instead of keyboards. Oh, and we were also supposed to travel around with personal jet packs and of course, flying cars.
Time for the third installment of the Mixing Rap Vocals series: Compression.
What makes a live recording sound live? The audience, of course. A live recording is all about the energy of the event, and that energy comes from the crowd, so some real thought has to be given as to how it’s captured.
The attention to detail that takes place in preparing a rock show can be mind boggling. For example, I listed out the factors we account for in setting up the lead vocal mic for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Some people want their music really loud, and there’s nothing wrong with that. If loudness is part of their aesthetic and the audience likes it, then I say let’s go for it. In order to deliver the most musically effective loudness, that goal must have been addressed in the mixing process, but not as directly as you might think.
The 2012 edition of Musikmesse at Frankfurt closed its doors on Saturday. The Audiofanzine team, has rounded up for you the top 10 products that made their mark at the show, in no particular order.
World renowned mixer/producer Chris Lord-Alge granted Audiofanzine an exclusive interview. The man behind Green Day, Paramore, Deftones, Madonna, Tina Turner, James Brown, among others, shared his working methods and ethics from his studio in Tarzana. Let’s see what the master has to say.
