You guys must think I’ve lost it, right? Why else would I be talking about putting strings on an instrument that was recorded a month ago? Stick with me, because this one could really salvage some of your mixes…
Top engineers are always looking for ways to take on more creative control in the mix process, and time-based effects are one of the first tools they reach for to get them there.
If you haven’t noticed yet – there’s a common theme that runs throughout every great drum sound of at least the last 2-3 decades. It makes use of some of the most common studio post-processing in some of the most unconventional ways.
When you think of distorted vocals, I bet you’re thinking of screamed lyrics and guttural noises. It’s not hard to see why your mind would go there – distortion has been a huge element of rock and metal since the early days.
Struggling with harsh or even ear-piercing cymbals? What about a snare with too much ring that you just can’t seem to isolate? Then there are the guitars that don’t have enough bite to break through the mix…
How do you start writing a new song? For some, it all starts with the melody. I know guys who will flesh out entire tracks as instrumentals before ever approaching the lyrics.
Call it an echo or a delay, every musician, producer, mixer, and listener knows what it is. What they don’t all know is how to use them properly, what situation calls for what type of delay, and most will even struggle to understand how a tape delay differs from a digital delay.
Recording guitars for a demo can be a tedious task. For a lot of us, we know these demo guitar tracks aren’t going anywhere near the final mix. If you’re tracking guitars live for a demo session, you’re much more likely to set up a mic quickly – looking for a “good” tone, but not really dialing it in perfectly.
We’ve gone into how to use impulse responses in your mixes before, but we haven’t done a deep dive into what makes a good impulse response (and why it matters so much).