Recording - November 2011 - 22

won’t have absolutely perfect tuning. While that is arguably a part of the appeal of some artists, the big rock bands of today have grid-edited drums, samples layered in, vocals tuned and layered, and other studio trickery to give the illusion of grandeur. So, how do you compete? In this installment, we’ll tighten up the drums, and next month we’ll make the band and vocals really groove along. Check out the audio samples on the www.recordingmag.com website, in our online Resource Library under Magazine Extras > Audio And Music. Drum, drummer, the drummest Sound Clip 1 is our sample drum kit recording, before editing and enhancement. The kit is dry, meaning no reverb or ambience has been added, and the timing is the drummer’s natural feel. It feels a bit sloppy, and the sound is thin and weak compared to a finished CD. I’ll use Pro Tools Elastic Audio to tighten the performance. There are other such tools, depending upon your DAW, such as Pro Tools’ Beat Detective, SONAR’s Audiosnap, and others—or editing by hand. The concept is to put the playing on (or closer to) the grid, while maintaining the timing relationships of the mics. Enhancing the drummer’s performance Here’s how to tighten up tracks with Pro Tools Elastic Audio: ~ Group the tracks by selecting them and making a group (Ctrl-G on a PC, Command (Apple)-G on a Mac), and make sure you are in grid mode set to bars and beats. A 16th-note grid usually works well with drums.

The Mixing Workshop
Better Mixes through Creative Editing—Part 1 (Drums)
By Sean Shannon When the big boys make big movies, the computer graphics and illusions they create are very important to selling the story. Painstaking care is put into every frame, and the sequence of scenes is calculated to deliver maximum dramatic impact. Every aspect of the movie is scripted and constructed strategically to create the desired illusion of reality. In the recording studio, that same mindset can be applied to the construction of your mix. Each element of the mix can be processed, and the sections of the song can be balanced to maximize dynamic impact. One basic example would be mixing the verse with sparse instrumentation, to help make the chorus sound bigger through contrast.

Fig. 1: Elastic Audio settings menu

Fig. 2: Setting warp markers in Elastic Audio ~ Duplicate the drum tracks. Select the original drum tracks, and either mute them or select ‘hide and make inactive’ by right-clicking on the name of one of the grouped drum tracks. This gives you a duplicate copy to edit, and a backup of the unedited original tracks to go back to if you don’t like the results of the editing. To go back, just select ‘show and make active’ on the original drum tracks (select them in the ‘tracks’ pull-out window on the left), and mute or hide the edited tracks. ~ Turn on Elastic Audio on those tracks—rhythmic for drums, monophonic for bass and melodies, or polyphonic for guitars and keys—and let the process analyze the tracks. To do this, click on the little button right next to the “read” (automation) button under the track name. It looks like a little thermometer, and once you select it, a green light will be turned on in the button to indicate Elastic Audio is active. (See Figure 1.) ~ Change the track view from “waveform” to “warp” (select it from the pull-down view menu right under the

It’s about creating an illusion Back in the day, bands went into the studio prepared, played together live on the floor as much as possible, overdubbed some parts, and then the tracks were mixed. If there were performance issues, a decision was made to either re-cut the take or keep the imperfections. The path to a tight band sound was practice! Fast forward to today. Records can be created by one person in a bedroom with a laptop, a keyboard and a microphone, and the sounds are clean and ‘drum-machine’ tight. Vocals are routinely tuned and processed with powerful tools at the press of a ‘preset’ button. Performances can be not only corrected, but they can be created in the mix phase. A loose band will never lead to a great mix, and will actually make mixing more difficult. With the tools available today, tightening up the band is easy! Here are some tricks of the trade for polishing up the performance to pave the way to a great mix. The Big Records are tight Most mortal musicians will never sound as tight and steady as a machine, even when recording to a click track (metronome), and probably
22
RECORDING NOVEMBER 2011


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Recording - November 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - November 2011

Recording - November 2011
Fade In
Contents
Talkback
Fast Forward
PreSonus StudioLive 16.0.2
Mixing And The Stereo Field
TASCAM US-2000 USB 2.0 Audio Interface
The Mixing Workshop: Better Mixes Through Creative Editing—Part 1
Roll Music RMS216 Folcrom
Sonnox Fraunhofer Pro-Codec
How To Be Successful In Today’s Music Business—Part 1
Plug-In Outlet
Mid-Side Stereo Recording
iOS Music Tools: For Composers
For Your Bookshelf
Organize Your Mix Session
Reviewed And Revisited: iZotope RX 2
Shure SRH940 Headphones
Readers’ Tapes
Advertiser Index
Fade Out
Recording - November 2011 - Recording - November 2011
Recording - November 2011 - Cover2
Recording - November 2011 - 1
Recording - November 2011 - Fade In
Recording - November 2011 - 3
Recording - November 2011 - Contents
Recording - November 2011 - 5
Recording - November 2011 - Talkback
Recording - November 2011 - 7
Recording - November 2011 - Fast Forward
Recording - November 2011 - 9
Recording - November 2011 - 10
Recording - November 2011 - 11
Recording - November 2011 - PreSonus StudioLive 16.0.2
Recording - November 2011 - 13
Recording - November 2011 - 14
Recording - November 2011 - 15
Recording - November 2011 - Mixing And The Stereo Field
Recording - November 2011 - 17
Recording - November 2011 - 18
Recording - November 2011 - 19
Recording - November 2011 - TASCAM US-2000 USB 2.0 Audio Interface
Recording - November 2011 - 21
Recording - November 2011 - The Mixing Workshop: Better Mixes Through Creative Editing—Part 1
Recording - November 2011 - 23
Recording - November 2011 - 24
Recording - November 2011 - 25
Recording - November 2011 - Roll Music RMS216 Folcrom
Recording - November 2011 - 27
Recording - November 2011 - Sonnox Fraunhofer Pro-Codec
Recording - November 2011 - 29
Recording - November 2011 - How To Be Successful In Today’s Music Business—Part 1
Recording - November 2011 - 31
Recording - November 2011 - 32
Recording - November 2011 - 33
Recording - November 2011 - 34
Recording - November 2011 - 35
Recording - November 2011 - 36
Recording - November 2011 - 37
Recording - November 2011 - Plug-In Outlet
Recording - November 2011 - 39
Recording - November 2011 - Mid-Side Stereo Recording
Recording - November 2011 - 41
Recording - November 2011 - 42
Recording - November 2011 - 43
Recording - November 2011 - iOS Music Tools: For Composers
Recording - November 2011 - 45
Recording - November 2011 - 46
Recording - November 2011 - 47
Recording - November 2011 - 48
Recording - November 2011 - 49
Recording - November 2011 - For Your Bookshelf
Recording - November 2011 - 51
Recording - November 2011 - 52
Recording - November 2011 - 53
Recording - November 2011 - 54
Recording - November 2011 - 55
Recording - November 2011 - Organize Your Mix Session
Recording - November 2011 - 57
Recording - November 2011 - Reviewed And Revisited: iZotope RX 2
Recording - November 2011 - 59
Recording - November 2011 - 60
Recording - November 2011 - 61
Recording - November 2011 - Shure SRH940 Headphones
Recording - November 2011 - 63
Recording - November 2011 - Readers’ Tapes
Recording - November 2011 - Advertiser Index
Recording - November 2011 - 66
Recording - November 2011 - 67
Recording - November 2011 - 68
Recording - November 2011 - 69
Recording - November 2011 - 70
Recording - November 2011 - 71
Recording - November 2011 - Fade Out
Recording - November 2011 - Cover3
Recording - November 2011 - Cover4
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