Recording - June 2020 - 38

INSIDE THE
THE BOX DAW

with Joe Albano When Less Is More

EXCESSIVE

You can't be too rich?

The same can be said for enhancers like chorusing and reverb. I know producers who add a little bit of short-duration
time-based effects (chorusing, flanging, etc.) to almost every
track, for a little extra richness. While this does indeed enhance those tracks on their own, in the mix it may not really be
necessary. Despite the nice thick wash it adds, the mix might
actually sound a little more open and detailed without it. Bottom line: consider applying it only to parts where it really does
add something noticeably beneficial.

Too much space

Even though multiple reverbs are often used on a mix (allowing you to select and shape the optimal space and character
for each element), there's also something to be said for putting
all the tracks in the same space. Sending all of the instruments
to a single room-style reverb can really help gel a mix together
and make it sound more like a live ensemble performance than
an overdubbed and perfectly assembled studio track.

Double your pleasure?

Doubling is exceptionally easy to do in a DAW, but even
this common technique might be better if used in moderation.
While it can help to double and wide-pan for example a single rhythm guitar track, many mixes are made up of multiple
doubled and stereo-panned parts-this does do a good job of
filling up the stereo soundstage, but it also can detract from the
subtle performance details of the individual tracks.
If you pull out older mixes from the 60s and 70s, you'll notice
that in many cases, the individual parts occupy opposing sides
38 RECORDING June 2020

COMPING
of the stereo soundstage. Most often an electric rhythm guitar
on one side with keyboards or an acoustic guitar on the other.
Sometimes even the drums or auxiliary percussion live on one
side of the mix. When they work off each other, the resulting
combined rhythms bounce from side to side slightly, creating a
little extra motion and potential musical interest.

Chop chop chop

Comping (making a composite track out of the best bits and
pieces of multiple takes) is a routine DAW studio technique.
Most platforms feature some kind of dedicated comping workflow to simplify the process. I've seen some producers routinely
approach the comping of, say, a set of vocal takes as if they
were working on an assembly line, piecing together the final
comp track phrase-by-phrase, word-by-word or even syllable-by-syllable at times! The workflow is a breeze, but the result
may not be as 'musical' as a live, end-to-end performance.
Singers tend to create a musical arc when they approach a
song, ebbing and flowing from section to section, often building to a climax at certain spots; in essence, this evolving dynamic is a big part of what sells the song to listeners. The arc
itself may differ from take to take, and a comp track that mixes
up too many bits from different takes may lack that compelling
arc-and the entire song can suffer for it.
A better approach to comping might be to select the best take
and use that as the primary material for the comp, including the
natural musical arc of that particular performance. Comp edits
can then be made as needed or desired, but always looking to
preserve the initial musical arc for a more musical result.

Recording - June 2020

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