Recording - June 2017 - 28

Neutron and split the plug-in display
to show both simultaneously. The display
then shows frequency collisions-situations
where similar frequencies in two channels
might be affecting the clarity of your mix.
The Masking Meter seems a little
magical, because it works differently
than we are used to working. Plug-ins
tend to make you work on channels or
subgroups as standalone entities. The
Masking function breaks through that
limitation, giving you the chance
to work with pairs of tracks to
tighten their interaction. It's a perfect
tool to help bass and drums lock
tight, guitars swing open for
vocal lines, or horns cut through
a synth pad.

results expressed directly in the track's
channel strip settings.
It's best to place this automated
functionality where it makes sense. For
example, rather than putting a ton of
Neutron instances on individual drum
tracks, it can make sense to put it on a
drum submix; this way, you can get a
good quality blend of the overall sound of
the drums, and find a more useful place
for measuring potential masking issues.

Teachable moments

Neutron is a useful channel
strip, but it's when you allow
yourself to be a 'student' that you
will find out the power behind
Neutron. The combination of the Track
Assistant and Masking Meter functions
can help you-and probably anyone-
become a better mix engineer.
How can I make such a blanket
statement? It is because of the way that
Neutron probes the audio and points
to the places that it believes are areas
of concern. Depending on the system
settings, you will be presented with
suggested changes of differing aggressiveness. But it provides suggestions
instead of demanding change, and the
result is that you are presented with the
equivalent of a quiz:
~ Does this frequency help, hurt or
not affect the sound?
~ Does the suggested change help or
hurt the track?
~ Do the suggested changes help or
hurt the entire mix?
Giving yourself the chance to learn
from an automated system might seem
a little Terminator-ish, but the education
that you can get will extend far beyond
what you get in a less-helpful, more presetdriven environment. By watching the
Track Assistant at work, you get to see
the system determine the active frequencies
of the track-and you get to see the

28

RECORDING June 2017

School's in

I took the opportunity to use Neutron
for two projects: a remix project of deep
cinematic instrumentals, and an update
of a folk/pop album I'd originally mixed
a decade ago. I felt like I would get a
chance to see wildly different results
from these two very different sessions.
First up was the cinematic instrumental
release, which proved to be a great
exercise for the 'Masking' function of
the plug-in. As you can imagine, every
track in one of these rich mixes can use
up all the available frequency space,
so it is difficult to allow melodic lines
to step to the front without getting
completely overrun by thick backing
pads or clanging ostinatos.
I started by placing Neutron instances
on all the tracks, and giving each instance
its own name. This is important, because
when you are going to check for masking

problems, you select the comparison track
by the name you give each channel. I
then used the Masking function to help
find openings for the melodic structures
to breathe without being overwhelmed
by the background tracks. The Masking
Meter selection will display the second
track's EQ interface just below the current
track's EQ, and provides a dynamic display
of areas in the frequency range where
both tracks were competing for attention.
Since you have both EQs available,
you can immediately make adjustments, and then both hear and see the
change in the mix. Don't assume that
the masking indicator is demanding
that you carve out a track's EQ whenever masking exists. Rather, it's a way to
see where two tracks might have a potential conflict, and giving you immediate
access to the tools necessary to
fix things up. For me, this was
incredibly effective, and the
display of clashing frequencies
reduced the amount of 'frequency
fishing' to a minimum.
The folk album mix was a little
different: the individual instruments
already occupied unique frequency
spaces, and the tenor vocalist
already cut through the mix just
fine. But the album was showing
its age by having an overly harsh mix, a
bit of muddiness and too obvious dynamic
swings. I was quite sure that I knew what
I wanted to adjust, but I thought I'd check
out what Neutron would suggest.
In general, the results were as expected,
with some relatively basic EQ and compression tweaks along with a little exciter
applied to some of the instruments. But
one thing surprised me: most of the tracks
put in some sort of frequency adjustment
at around 300 Hz, something I wasn't
necessarily planning on doing. When I
started investigating what was going on, I
realized that there was a resonance in the
room that was being occasionally excited
during the live recording, and Neutron
decided that it was important to try to
combat that negative aspect of the sound.
I'd probably become used to this sound
and written it off because of the live
recording environment, but Neutron
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