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Presets are great–I especially love exploring reverbs and delays. You’ve probably seen first-hand the value in presets when it comes to mixing; whether it’s big reverbs or biting distortion–but do they make you a better mixing engineer?
Here’s the thing: Scrolling for presets is a very limited, short term gain. They give you a quick “win” for your current mix, but they don’t teach you about mixing or how to use that plug-in yourself.
Not only that, but presets are often inefficient for your mixing workflow. Think about it this way: it took 30 minutes testing out the whole list of plug-in presets, when it could have taken 30 seconds to find the right settings manually.
Whether it’s a compressor, a saturator, or a reverb effect preset, your mixing knowledge will gain a lot of power when you have a sense of how the preset is working.
If you’re not sure about that, think about this for a second: Are you confident that the same presets on compressors, reverb, delay, saturation–the same presets on every song you work on–will they always give the best help to the track, every time? Or your mixing skills?
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For example, if I’m working with a plug-in, here are some questions I would ask myself when looking at these presets: Why does this equalizer boost here and cut there? What kind of sound does it assume the track has or needs? Why does this compressor suggest these settings for a kick drum or a vocal?
This is especially useful when working with a new plug-in you’ve just purchased and are exploring for the first time. Even if you don’t technically know what a parameter does, you can gain a sense of how it contributes to the preset’s effect on the program element.
Next time you’re mixing and you find a preset that you like, take a pause. Adjust the parameters away from, and then back to where the preset has them, so that you can understand how each parameter affects the sound–and then you’ll know what to adjust next time if any preset doesn’t immediately fit just right. It’s a lot of fun to scroll through presets and to experiment with how they sound. Enjoy presets! But study them, too.
A Better Way to Use Mixing Plug-In Presets Read More »
Sending a program element of your mix through a return track to a reverb, a compressor, or a saturator is one of the more exciting steps in mixing. Suddenly, that part of the song gains atmosphere, stability, or texture. The return track can transform a track’s tone and placement in the mix balance. But is it better to dial up the send level or to adjust the return level?.
It’s important to do it right. Return tracks require you to give attention to signal flow, and the kind of plug-in you choose will determine the levels you should set on both the send knob and the return fader. Some plug-ins are sensitive, while others aren’t affected by how much level is passing through them. It’s not always easy to determine–so here is some advice that will work for both.
Follow this approach to make sure the send and return levels are right, every time.
Plug-ins are generally of two categories: 1) analog emulation plug-ins that are encoded to reproduce the impacts that hardware circuitry has on a sound; and 2) non-emulation plug-ins that are designed digitally.
Since non-emulation plug-ins aren’t restricted to mimicking the characteristics of hardware, their coding tends to allow for flexibility with the amount of signal they are capable of receiving. Whether the signal passing through it is -30dB or -3dB, the effect will be the same.
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Listen to these examples. I sat down and hit a snare drum, then adjusted the amount I sent to the plug-ins. This first example is the Ableton Live Reverb.
They’re the same!
Like most digital plug-ins, the sound doesn’t depend on how much level is going into this reverb. It will sound identical. In this case, the only focus necessary is the volume of the return, coming out of the plug-in, so that the reverb effect is balanced properly with the rest of the program.
Analog emulations are often designed to respond differently to an incoming signal as the level changes. Saturation effects are a useful example–listen to the differences produced with the Ableton Saturator:
The changes are subtle, but noticeable! When more signal is driven into the plug-in, the saturator adds some brightness. It also softens the attack of the snare drum. This is what makes saturation effects so useful, yet it’s important to send the right amount of signal for a saturator to impact the sound but not too much that would overwhelm the plug-in.
Quick Tip:
This is the same logic used for actual tracks as well. Signal flow starts at the clip level, then through plug-ins and out the volume meter. Like clip level, send level is the first. Then the signal goes through the send channel’s effect and out to the master channel.
Saturation plug-ins impart the effects that tape machines and hardware circuitry give to a mix. But some plug-ins that are modelled after hardware components can be sensitive to incoming gain level–and some aren’t.
This is a result I was not expecting from the Red 2 EQ. The amount of level sent into it does not seem to have any impact on how the EQ treats the sound.
The Red 3 Compressor, on the other hand, does have some impact. In addition to the usual compressor controls, the plug-in adds some very light and pleasing saturation.
Compression depends greatly on the level of the incoming signal, which is why setting the threshold is important to achieve the right amount of compression. If incoming level is too low, the compressor won’t have any effect–the return will simply be a copy of what is sent to it. Too high, and the compressor will impact the sound. The same principle applies to analog emulation plug-ins, where the hardware is built to be capable of responding to a certain amount of level before distorting.
How to determine whether a plug-in is sensitive to incoming levels or not? As you know now, It depends! But if you want to make it easy on yourself, get in the habit of setting clip gain so that the track volume peaks around -12dB. That way, it will be at a good level before you add any processing. The sound will travel normally through digital plug-ins and will hit analog plug-ins right in the sweet spot.
This strategy clears away a lot of the potential stress of checking and double-checking send levels and return volumes. Since digital plug-ins respond the same regardless of level, they are less of a worry than analog emulations. But when you think about it the other way around: preparing track volume so that it’s sending into an analog plug-in at the right level means automatically that the digital plug-in will work great, too.
For more of these concepts, join my 5 Day Foundation and learn how to add this approach to your mixing process–plus much more! The 5 Day Foundation is a learning series that lets you fully understand five key mixing concepts one day at a time. Get started here.
Should You Adjust The Send Knob or The Return Fader? Read More »
The “Q” on an equalizer determines how wide or narrow a bandpass filter will be. The number or dial setting on an EQ is built on an equation that represents the “Quality Factor.” The quality of the band comes from this equation–but here is a simple way to remember:
High Q = Narrow filter
Low Q = Wide filter
Does the Q vary between parametric, graphic, shelving, etc., types of EQ? Yes! Each type of EQ filter (bell, shelf, cut, etc.) modifies the quality factor equation. But it still employs the equation–it just adds onto it. If you look at a shelving filter or a low cut filter, half of it appears “normal” like we would expect.
Narrow Q (<1 on parametric EQs): Use to solve problems with masking or overlapping between tracks. A narrow Q is useful to target specific frequencies, so using it to reduce a frequency zone by 2-3dB will help to get a track out of the way from another. A small boost with a narrow Q can also be useful–it can add resonance to the track, which can help to emphasize the attack on a percussion element.
Broad Q (2-5 on parametric EQs): Use strategically to create a sense of separation between tracks (for example, you could perform a narrow cut on one track and a broad boost on another track). Broad boosts are helpful for emphasis, while a broad cut is useful for de-emphasis.
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The Q is a powerful feature of your EQ processing: it makes EQ a very flexible tool that can be used to reduce a wide band of frequencies, or to narrowly chisel out a specific frequency area. It can also help to highlight a very precise frequency zone or to emphasize a larger part of the sound.
Remember: sometimes cutting or boosting great amounts is not the solution to a problem, so start with a smaller amount of about 3dB. Make sure that the filter is centered on the frequency area that contains the problem. From there you can adjust to six, nine, twelve, and beyond. But just do the amount necessary to solve the problem.
The “Q” part of an EQ Read More »
