the latest issue of EQ had 100 tips for this. (this might be the first issue of EQ that I have honestly found useful in quite sometime). I'm guessing the board can come up with 100+ more tips that will help out all of us.
(whaddya know, joel hamilton contributed my fav 10 tips.)
I?ve been a long time lurker on this board, I don?t really post that often, but I record music for a living and do it everyday so I feel like I should at least share what I?ve been learning on my own.
Be warned? I might not have any ?real? insight on how to do anything faster or better for anyone (the ADD level seems to be higher than normal these days).., but I've discovered a few things over my past few sessions that I would like to share.. but I think I?m almost writing this as a reminder or advice to myself. These tricks might not be right for everyone?
1) Another snare "reamp" trick: (i know reamping isn?t the proper word).
Run a gated snare track out of your tape machine or DAW to a small speaker or guitar amp and place it on top of a snare drum. (mess with the EQ to taste before you hit the speaker. sometimes i find that just allowing low frequency information out achieves a much more interesting sound on the snares). Also mess with the tuning and snare tension until you find something you really like. - I know this is all recycled info.-
BUT, this time, put a mic REALLY far away. My studio is in a converted attic space, so I'll run a mic to the room BELOW the snare drum. Record... then time align as needed. I've found I can get a really nice and BIG (but not 80s) snare sound with some believable room depth without even touching an outboard reverb unit. Tuck this track below your main snare track. Also great for the "wow, that?s really cool" client respect (gee-whiz factor?). Sometimes throwing a very slight stereo delay on there can really open it up as well?. I think digital reverbs on snare drums are the devil.
2) vocal sounds:
When doing your main vocal tracks for rock recordings...throw an SM7 up in conjunction with any vocal mic you are using. This seems to always be the best and "dry-est" starting point for lead vocal analysis that I?ve found. When it came time to mix the vocals on my latest session, the singer and I were having a hard time getting his main U87 track to really blend with the dozens of harmony tracks that had been dubbed since the main vocal was recorded. (we rented the U87, god knows I can?t afford on of those) He really loved his take, but the sound just wasn't cutting it. I pulled up the SM7 backup track of his main vocals and loaded up the Antares Mic Modeler plug-in. We were able to dial in a great new sound in a matter of seconds, plus we gained a new perspective on the overall vocal sound just by fiddling around with that plug-in. We didn't change EQ or compression at all. It's amazing what going back to a raw track of an original take can do for you once the numbness of loong mixing sessions start to set in.
3) Time management:
Never spend more than 1 hour of straight mixing on 1 song. If you can only afford a 5 minute break, TAKE IT. If you can move on to another song and then come back, do it. Listen to reference mixes often. Have the band bring in CDs of stuff they like. Referencing is great, but do it with some amount of discretion if the band is in the studio with you while you are mixing.
As a pretty anal guy in general, I can hyperfocus on tracks and sounds that really AREN'T half as important as major aspects of the song that I am overlooking. Sometimes just getting my attack and release settings on bass guitar compression will take up WAY too much of that valuable hour.
When you first start a mix, your time management is crucial. These first few listens are when you are going to make your biggest decisions that drastically affect how the listener perceives the song.
4) Pop mixing
When mixing pop music, leave the vocal mixing until you have your instrumental mix really close. The hooks of pop music vocals literally ?clog up? my frontal lobe. Over the years I think some sessions have really gone to hell because I didn?t spend enough time mixing the song without the vocals being stuck in my head yet.
If you are using a DAW consider tracking and mixing your vocals in a new session with only a 2 track stereo bounce of your instrumental mix playing along with your vocals. Not only does this free up precious CPU power -so you can use more plug-ins and tracks, but also - by temporarily ?freezing? your instrumental mix while you track and /or mix the vocals you will hear the ajor things that need to be fixed with the overall mix much easier.
Some projects I have been mixing lately have been up to 60+ tracks in the DAW world. That can seem really overwhelming. Breaking it up into two project files (vocals and music) and help a lot with getting a bulk of your mix close.
5) COLOR CODE your tracks if you are using a DAW. I?ve been an huge fan of Sonar and Cakewalk products for over 5 years, and never once color coded a session until just recently. WTF? How could I have overlooked such a precious organizing tool. When you are staring a 2 LCD flat screens with a seemingly endless number of tracks and plug ins running, it can get really hard to let your brain fully focus on a section visually as well as aurally. I never thought color coding my tracks would really speed up my session as much as it has. I can instantly see where all the drums are, all the vocals, guitar leads, rhythm guitars, etc? just by glancing at the screen. Makes it much easier to find the track that you are looking for when the dreaded ?hey, did you just hear something? go back a few seconds? is blurted.
6)SAVE AS MULTIPLE FILE NAMES.
DAWs still aren?t as stable as we would like?and I?ve had numerous project files become corrupted on me at random times during a session. The audio is still saved, but the file with my mix and plug-in settings will just become non-functioning. Saving your file multiple times under different file names along the way will always make sure you have a working retrievable version of all your files.
6) DO NOT FEAR AMP SIMULATORS.
I know it isn?t very ?tape-op? of me to be obsessed with something as non-musical as amp simulation, but it has saved my ass on countless occasions.
Recording a simultaneous direct signal of your guitar tracks is painless and easy. I usually don?t even think about them until mixing time roles around. I just record them, then mute them, and sometimes I even save my project as a new file and delete them as more and more tracks are added?but I ALWAYS have them on hand in my backup file to drop in if needed. Amp simulators are sounding really good these days, and usually it can be the quick fix that you need for a new guitar sound and won?t discourage the rest of your creative decision making. I?ve ruined many guitar tracks by excessive eq, when in reality the problem could have been fixed by subtle or drastic amp simulation.
7) AMP SIMULATION isn?t just for guitar. This was briefly addressed in EQ. I have also had great success with using both guitar-rig and amplitube on everything other than guitar. Sometimes I?ll just run it on a bus and send a few tracks of the mix out to it and tuck it down below everything. You can do anything from subtle ambience tricks in the background to weird delay and room tones bouncing around behind the music. The possibilities are endless.
LIVE plug-in tweaking. (Knob twiddling in the digital world.)
I love the option that automation has afforded us in the DAW world?but automation can?t control everything?. - But if you run a track OUT of your soundcard, and then back in (even try going through a nice preamp or any other outboard gear) you can record a live performance of you tweaking your plug-in settings on the fly. I?ll comp a vocal and send it out though guitar rig, maybe a strange compressor or reverb, then I?ll hit a tube pre on it?s way back into the computer. I can mess with compressor settings on the fly, adjust my delay f/x in guitar rig, and basically do whatever I want while recording the track back in. This really puts the emphasis on the performance aspect of a mix, rather than just recalling the same settings each time and endlessly tweaking automation parameters until it is perfect.
Some of my favorite sounds have come from this exact sort of knob twiddling in both the digital and analog domains.
Try doing it with your favorite drum machine program. You can add and subtract beats while switching patterns on the fly? you can basically do WHATEVER you want and document it as a take. (guitar rig and amplitube are also both very useful with drum programming, and I can?t express how many great electronic drum tracks were done this way?and how little time it took in comparison to full on drum programming measure by measure)
9) Using LAPTOPs more.
After caving and buying a Mac powerbook recently to add to my PC arsenal of DAW gear, I realized how essential this piece of gear is. One of the projects that I really care about right now has just been lacking with the vocal takes. It seems like the demo that the songwriter brings in of the song always has more passion and personality behind the take. I taught him how to use the laptop and let him borrow a mic and pre-amp for the weekend. He did vocals at his house by himself and was able to get some of the best sounding tracks on the record. No matter how comfortable we might try to make the artist feel, they will never be as comfortable as they are in their own space with their own time. If you come across an album that you really care about consider going this route.
I know actually ?being there? is important to vocal coaching and brainstorming, but if the artist already knows what he wants, make it easier and let him do it himself. Plus teaching people how to use the basic functions of recording software is never a bad thing. There?s millions of times when I wish a guitar player just knew how to hit record and stop by himself. What if he could even punch himself in without me being there??that way I could go grab a sandwich or something while he painfully tried to nail a guitar solo that was already questionable in the first place. 
These are all the tips I can type for now. It is unedited ? and may not make enough sense. I?m on my pre-session coffee binge right now? (I?ve got a singer showing up in a few minutes to finish up his tracks)
Hopefully this will spawn an exciting discussion filled with more ideas to really maximize creative output and efficiency.
Any takers?
-matt
