Studio Tips - Signal
Processing, Synths, Samplers, Mastering, Plug-ins, Monitors
By Tom of Blue Flux
Dynamic
Processors and FX Units
Dynamic
processors appear initially as the least
exciting boxes money can
buy, yet when you use them on a regular basis you realise what a profound
difference they can make to the overall feel of a recording.
Whereas
a reverb effect gives a very immediate and noticeable improvement, the
value of a compressor or noise gate only becomes apparent when the song
nears completion, and everything still sounds nice, crisp and noise
free.
I would argue that, after a reverb unit, the very next processor
purchase
a recording musician should make is a compressor. |
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| For most microphone recordings I use a Joe Meek VC3
pre amp, with
opto-compressor and enhancer. This is a smashing little gadget, which
manages
to create a nice, warm sound with plenty of twinkle, and is ideal for
vocals
and acoustic guitar. It is also very quiet, and provides a balanced (3
pin) microphone input in case your mixer lacks one. The compressor is
easy
to set up, and is capable of some seriously tight vocals, if
required. |
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Other hardware dynamic processors I might use during
recording are the Behringer
Composer stereo compressor, the Ultrafex II enhancer, as
well as the SPL Vitalizer (left). |
However, now that I have moved to digital
recording with Sonar and the EMU 1616, native signal processing
takes care of the majority of applications. With track-specific effects
on tap, the golden rule of committing as few as possible effects to
tape (well, to hard drive) to retain the widest array of options for
the mixing stage is now much easier to implement.
Effect processors
are probably the most abundant studio gadgets on the market. Maybe
because
their instant effect on raw sound is very tangible, and well worth the
little money one needs to shell out for those magic boxes these days.
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A more recent addition to our ravenous
FX rack is the Lexicon MPX 550 - and a very smart new kid on
the
block it is indeed. |
Having always fancied a taste of that frequently
flaunted Lexicon sound, I'd had my eyes on its predecessor, the MPX
500,
for some time. But when the just-launched 550 turned out to be very
competitively
priced, there was no stopping me.
I wasn't disappointed. Its reverbs, in
particular the Halls and Plates, are extremely crisp, lush, and highly
editable to suit all needs. The Ambience programmes work exceedingly
well
in busy mixes, where they tend to add just the right amount of sheen
without
mushing out any background material. The MPX 550 also sports many
competent
delay (up to 5.5 secs!), modulation and dynamic programmes, but I have
to confess they hardly ever get a look in - the 550 is permanently
hooked
up as my master reverb processor.
The only difference between the 550 and
its predecessor is that every reverb programme now sports a compressor
as part of its algorithm, useful for some applications. Its operating
system
is extremely user-friendly, and my only gripe is that when modifying
and
re-saving an existing user programme the Lex insists on adding a
consecutively
increasing number after its name, instead of just overwriting the patch
with the same name.
All in all, the MPX 550 oozes quality
and class, and I feel it'll stay top dog in the rack for years to come.
| With reverb catered for by the above,
the one box that seems to do the bulk of the modulation and delay work
is the Alesis Quadraverb 2. This is an extremely flexible piece
of kit, with 8 effect blocks that can be configured literally any way
you
want. It uses a virtual patch chord system, and once you have become
used
to their operation, patching up delays to EQs to flangers becomes very
intuitive. |
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Because of this flexibility, real off-the-wall
effects can be programmed in a few minutes - more than can be said for
many other effect units I know. From any EQ under the sun to 4 second
delays,
from ring modulation to pitch shifting, the Q2 also features some very
high-quality reverb algorithm.
Alesis stopped making the Q2 some years
ago, and I bought one of the last units on the UK market. But should
one
surface on the second hand market and you're looking for a great
all-rounder
- snap it up quick.
Other units that get a look in: The Digitech
TSR12 multi FX - another great all-rounder, and though it's getting
on a bit, the chorus and dual pitch shifter in particular still sound
extremely
pleasing. Then there's the ageing Yamaha FX500 - mainly used as
a second delay processor, though it also features some mean and
extremely
cutting digital distortion.
Now that computer-based
plug-in effects are all the rage, it's hard to see where the
future for hardware boxes might lie. Personally, I'll be hanging on to
my own black boxes for quite some time yet, I guess. Especially on the
reverb front, something like a Lexicon MPX550 takes a lot of CPU-hungry
beating. Besides, with multi-channel digital interfaces now quite
affordable, there is no reason not
to incorporate some of your better effect units into the digital
recording chain. See my Digital
Studio page for more info.
Synthetics
Before the advent of
samplers and esotheric signal processors, synthesizers were really the
only way to obtain fresh, unique sounds. Some would argue they still
are. And with the recent synth resurgence, fuelled by the sheer
affordability and accessibility of their PC-hosted clones, it looks
like the market has prooved them right.
I've owned quite a number of synths over the years. Some finally went
the way of all inanimate objects (Ebay) to make room for others.
But here are those that I feel have the right
stuff to endure in our studio:
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The Yamaha TG33 is, in my view,
a much overlooked classic synth. When Sequential, an American
synthesizer
company, went into receivership, some of their brightest engineers fled
to Yamaha. They took with them their Vector Synthesis method, already
used
in their ill fated Sequential synths, and applied it to good effect to
the TG22, and its keyboardless brother, the TG33.
The joystick gives the game away - vector
synthesis permits fading between the 4 voices that make up the patch,
either
in real time, or as recorded data file that is saved with the patch. |
The voice architecture of the TG33 is quite
basic, but that also makes it very easy to edit. It is capable of very
convincing analogue emulations, great bass lines, and very atmospheric
pads. First released in 1990, these can still be snapped
up second hand.
Probably for a bargain price, too, given their other-worldly design and
the instant-street-cred vector joystick
| Small world - after
the Sequential engineers
spent a year with Yamaha, they jumped ship and joined Korg (no
surprise,
perhaps, since I recently learned that Yamaha hold a majority share in
Korg), where they also had a hand in the design of their Wavestation
synth. |
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This is probably the most important synth
I ever bought, because the sound-shaping potential it has to offer is
virtually limitless. It may be a bit complex to program, but well
worth the effort. Even today, a more than a decade after its first
release,
I can still recognise some of the Wavestations signature patches used
in
TV commercials and sound tracks - talk about longevity. And now that
Korg have re-released the Wavestation as part of their Legacy Synths
plug-in, this baby is going to be with us for a good while longer yet.
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If
you want to hear the Korg Wavestation in action, check out the Blue
Flux
albums Glass Walls and
Soulmining,
where it is used in abundance. |
| During the recording of our
all-guitar album "Sugarbeat" in 2001, synths never got a look-in. That
was the deal I made with myself, and the discipline paid off - no
keyboard
playing meant pinpoint focus on guitar performance. But as confessed to
on the "Making of Sugarbeat" page - my
fingers
were itching for some ten-digit exercise at the end of it. |
Korg Triton LE
|
Barely 2 weeks after the release of Sugarbeat,
that
thin piece of plastic got the better of me, and I found myself in the
local
music shop pumping the keys of that Silver Dream Machine above - the Korg
Triton LE. Fatal move! 30 minutes later my car boot snapped shut
with
a satisfied clonk - Triton on board!
The Korg Triton is one of the pinnacles
of performance-oriented synthesis in a workstation box. It's got a bit
of everything, without being shallow in any department. Knobs,
sequencer,
dual arpeggiator (fantastic!), effects, and sounds that make your
nostrils
flare like railway tunnels. The Korg Triton LE is the economy version
of
the Triton, but all that's missing is the sampler (though available as
a retrofit option), 6 separate outputs (you still get 4 outs), and the
touch screen. The latter is not really missed, since the 8 function
buttons
beneath that pretty blue screen of the LE are very functional, and the
menu is quite intuitive. My only gripe is that the buttons in general
are
a bit clickety clackety, which may be useful for positive feedback to
the
user, but I'd have preferred a softer touch. Many buttons are backlit
in
the "on" position, which is nice.
The arpeggiator is the jewel in the Triton
crown - especially since you get two of them. Setting up a new arpeggio
from scratch is dead simple, and many presets can easily provide a
useful
starting point for new ideas. It took me a while to realise that the
arpeggiator
output is recorded as MIDI note data to the sequencer. Although this
means
that data recorded thus is not easily modified (Arp Gate & Arp
Velocity
will have no effect after recording), it also means that there is no
limit
to the number of different arpeggiator patterns one can record into a
song.
|
The Korg Triton LEs Realtime Controls. Some are
fixed, others can be
assigned to any desired parameter. All movement is recordable to MIDI.
To the right - play mode buttons, with sampling
mode select, if installed.
|
In Combi (Multi) Mode, the Korg Triton
is an absolute MONSTER. I guarantee hours of bliss to anyone playing a
Triton in
Combi Mode for the first time, followed by zillions of ideas for future
songs. A word of caution, though - the onboard effect are heavily drawn
upon to make Combies sound as good as they do. If you intend to isolate
some voices to use in your composition, they really need the effects to
sound ace. Powerful and flexible as the onboard Triton effects are,
there
are still limitations. Best to select the pivotal voice you want in a
song,
and copy it with its respective effects into the Sequencer (Multi Mode)
setup. Additional Triton voices could then be sent to the two
individual
outputs, and treated with external effects, or routed through
individual
components (say reverb only) of the selected on-board master effects.
Note: Korg have released at least one new operating system for this
synth, perhaps even more by the time you read this. I have installed
version 1.5, and found many of the improvements well worth having.
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Sampling - The Final
Frontier
Apart from the
guitar, I think it would be fair to say that the sampler has now become
my main instrument. A number of years ago I purchased the EMU ESi32,
a fine machine with superb editing facilities at the price. This was
fitted
with 32 MB of sample RAM, partnered with a 2 GB external hard drive,
which
now gives me all the flexibility I need for Blue Flux's music. An
upgrade
to OS 3.02 just before the ESi32 was discontinued has proved a cheap
way
to get extra features (like loads of new filters) without buying a new
sampler altogether. It supplies most percussive sounds, orchestral
samples,
and wacky effects, and I have built up a pretty good library. I use it
frequently to record some of my own guitar playing, which I then chop
up,
re-order and process, to yield rhythmical phrases and sequences.
With Sonar as my new studio hub, a software sampler
would seem to be the obvious upgrade, of course. But to be honest,
unless hours of sample memory were what I craved (I don't), there's
really no need. Our way of working is pefectly suited to the ESi's
capabilities. Besides, it has a friendly and reliable face which I
would genuinely miss in the studio.
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Mastering
it All
For Blue Flux at least,
mastering became the first studio activity carried out with the aid of
a computer. Previously, when the time came to assemble a new album, I
used to use a second
DAT machine to compile all the tracks on to
the Production Master DAT tape whilst applying a little bit of EQ and
level
matching on the fly. It worked fine, but obviously lacked the ability
to fine tune
the master material to the desired standard.
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The main screen of
Cool Edit 2000 - uncluttered, yet extremely
versatile |
Fine tuning, however, is exactly what computers
do best. And because mastering of stereo tracks does not require vast
amounts of CPU power, even a modestly specified
computer should be able to handle it.
I've used Cool Edit 2000 (CE2K)
for many years, mostly for simple editing tasks to prepare tracks
for mp3 conversion etc. Considering its modest price tag, this package
is extremely solid, and now even sports a recovery file option, which
permits
recovery of an unsaved session in the unlikely event of a crash -
brilliant!
 |
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| Frequency Analysis window
in CE2K |
Spectrogram, a stand alone
spectral analysis program which reveals at what frequency the energy in
your song does, or does not, reside. |
With Cool Edit capable of hosting DX plug-ins, here are the main tools
I currently use for post-processing our final mix:
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Izotope
Ozone 2 Mastering Tools -
Para EQ, Mastering Reverb, Loudness Maximizer,
Multiband Harmonic Exciter, Multiband Dynamics,
Multiband Stereo Imaging
www.izotope.com
Full Software, demo pack available
Excellent
mastering tool, though learning curve a bit steep.
Multiband (up to 4) Exciter and Dynamics especially useful.
Comes with many helpful presets, and an informative manual. |
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Ultrafunk Multi
FXs - Compressor, EQ, Reverb, Phaser, Modulator, Surround, Wha
Wha
www.ultrafunk.com
Good selection of standard FXs.
EQ and Reverb especially noteworthy |
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AIPL Warmtone
- Compressor / Tube Amp & Tape Saturation Simulator
www.aipl.com
Shareware
Surprisingly effective mastering compressor / maximizer / tape
saturation effect. Interface is basic, but simple to use. |
Plug-ins are available from countless manufacturers,
and even more locations on the web. http://www.hitsquad.com/
, http://www.fxpansion.com/index1.html
and http://www.thedirectxfiles.com/
are three good starting points.
Monitor Matters
Let's not forget the most important mastering
tool - our ears. In the end, every decision on how much EQ, what level
of compression, and which type of reverb, has to be ratified by our
humble
lugs. If it sounds right, it is right, right? Well, no. Every studio
owner
will have a story or six to tell about that fantastic mix that just
fell
to pieces on the family hifi.
Obviously, neutrality is the name of the
game here. The less colouring imparted on a mix by over-ambitious
studio
speakers, the higher the chance of your masterpiece still sounding
reasonably
true to its original intent on those dreaded Argos speakers suspended
from
your aunt's living room ceiling.
The types of studio monitor most home and
project studio owners will be interested in are near-field and mid-range
monitors. The former, as suggested by the name, tend to sit close to
the
listeners' head, typically between 1 - 2 meters. The advantage here is
that any offending room acoustics have less of a bearing on the
perceived
sound quality. The obvious drawback is the near-field's limited bass
response,
which is why they are frequently augmented by a sub-woofer. As for the
mid-range monitors, the above rationale begins to reverse itself. Bass
response, by virtue of their chunkier dimensions, becomes more natural
and effortless. But control room properties, particularly any untoward
resonant frequencies and unwanted early reflections, require a
significant
amount of attention.
Just to complete the picture, there are
of course full-range monitors. But given their
four-figure-upwards
price range, I shan't dwell on them other than to say that they're very
expensive...
| My longstanding mid-range (although some
would still call them near-field) monitors are made by Richard Allan, a
company no longer in existence. I doubt they'd deserve a 5-star rating
from distinguished studio owners, but I have latched on to their open
and
unfatiguing sound. As you can see, they are intended for sideways
mounting,
although I find their treble and bass homology suffers a little as a
result.
A passive design, they are driven by my separate Rotel amp. They are
wall
mounted on adjustable wall brackets from Argos - yes sir! |
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Okay, walk the talk, I can hear
you say - what with all the hype about ears at the beginning of this
section.
So I did (any pretext will do, you see!), got hold of a sack trolley,
and
carted a pair of active Genelec 1029A monitors into Groundhog
Studio.
Yes, they most certainly are weighty, despite their diminutive size.
The
heavy duty dicast aluminium enclosure lends them their extreme rigidity
to coax wicked sound pressure levels from such a tiny package. It's
probably
fair to say that, as near-fields go, there's not much competition
against
the 1029As for sound quality and bass response. They're not cheap, but
after the first listening test I knew where my money was going. |
I bought the Genelecs for three reasons. Firstly,
to provide me with an alternative to the perhaps less-than-neutral
Roger
Allans above. Second, since the keyboard rack stands at right angles to
the R. Allans, I wanted a pair of speakers for on top of the rack to
permit
stereo listening without cricking my neck. Thirdly, I'd planned to lug
them upstairs into the study for mastering on the PC - though that
turned
out to be unnecessary, as explained above.
Yes, I can recommend them heartily. They
impress by a very solid sound as well as build, feature a number of
(albeit
well hidden) dip switches to adjust bass & treble response for just
about any type of installation, and they sure look the part.
| Heads
Up
Especially when performing tricky edits,
it's vital to be able to discern every tiny glitch, click or mismatch.
Obviously a good pair of studio monitors are essential, but the volume
levels required during edits can be quite fatiguing.
I never used to like headphones as an
alternative, since their aural sound distribution always sounded wrong,
or at least artificial - the sound seemed to come from inside your
head,
and mixes sounding great on headphones usually disappointed when played
through loudspeakers.
|
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By chance I came across the AKG HEARO 888
chordless headphones in a hi-fi shop, which claim to generate a full
spatial
sound distribution equivalent to listening through speakers. That I had
to check out! And right enough, the "sound in your head" syndrome is
gone.
As a result, you forget you even have headphones on, which perception
is
further aided by their chordless design. You can wander around
the
house, listening to your latest mix in the kitchen - quite an
experience!
Their range is quoted as 50 meters (through walls), though
realistically,
after more than about 20 meters from base, you will get the odd
drop-out.
The sound quality is excellent, and the AKGs speaker simulation (called
IVA - Individual Virtual Acoustics) can be set to Stereo or Surround,
and
the Panorama (i.e. the distance between your virtual speakers) can be
adjusted.
The AKG HEARO 888s are very well made, comfortable to
wear,
and extremely revealing. They will not replace the need for good
monitors
entirely - some bass must be felt as well as heard - but I can
thoroughly
recommend them as a 'second opinion' sound source for editing and
mastering
of most material.
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And
Finally ...
For the recording musician,
the studio must fulfil many functions. But for me, the most important
requirement
is that it works the way it should. And that is synonymous with saying
- keep it simple, stupid!
Hassle in the studio means no output,
days of aggro and endless telephone calls, and probably the loss of
many
a good idea. A studio that works well should not be
touched, modified or upgraded unless there is a real creative
benefit to
be had. Some commercial studios have to sport all the latest gear to
attract
customers to pay their high rates, but people lucky enough to have
their
own studio need not fall into that trap. It takes time and effort to
get
a studio to run smoothly, to optimise ergonomics,
to get used to equipment, even to give the place a pleasant ambience.
Once happy
with it, all the time should be spent on using the studio for what it
was
built for - making music.
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To
hear the music
of
Blue Flux,
|
Any comments, questions,
suggestions ?
Please use the GUEST
BOOK. Or good old E-mail.
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Copyright Enthalpy Publications 2006
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