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Hey there, come and see what we recorded yesterday with the guys!
Ohh, hit play, hit play!
We 're playing together...
And it's great... Yeah!
Hello and welcome to another episode of Sweet Spot!
Last time, we placed all the tin drums we use in our tracks, in the mix space.
Nikos: What?
The tin drums.
Nikos: What tin drums??
Those that you hit all day like an a****le!
Nikos: And what if this a****le, f***s you...?
Now we have to place our instruments in space too.
In time and not in space. Irrelevant!
We could say that there are 2 perspectives to do that.
The macroscopic one which is about, verses, refrains, intros, bridges...
...and the microscopic one, which is about note and rest values and note fades and attacks.
Looking at our track in a microscopic view, we have to think about which instrument play in every section.
In that way we have to plan which instruments have to stop, and which to continue,
so that either we will give cool attitude in part, or we can load it as it gets in the arrangement in order to reach a peak.
This has to be done, considering the placement of the instruments in space, as we also said before.
In that way, in every part of our track, we mustn't have 2 or more instruments that are in front of the mix,
that's the lead instruments, because they will be overlapping each over most of the times.
Finally, the instruments we placed in the edges of our stereo panorama, will have to maintan a balance, so the the mix won't lean more to one of the speakers.
By having a more closer look in our arrangement,
an important thing to do is to check so that instruments that belong in the same frequency spectrum, won't overlap each other.
For example, a guitar and a piano, that play together with the same rythmic pattern, will make our life difficult in mix.
And it will be almost impossible to give them a proper position in mix, even if we try all the placement techniques, that we talked about in the previous episode.
However, many times, that can't be avoided.
And mostly, that's because of the genre of the track we record. In that case we have to do something so that the note attacks won't be overlapping.
That usually happens, when we use quantize on midi instruments, or we use strict editing.
In this example, we can see that by moving the waveform, we can distinguish the hues of the instruments,
from their attack, even if they are placed in th same time and stereo panorama position.
Finally, since we have recorded and then placed all the instruments with a proper emotional and technical place in our track,
so that they serve the mix but also the message we want to pass through our music,
and before we start messing with compressors, eqs and othe stuff that..
...destroy the sound in the end of the day, we will have to tide up, the tails of our signals.
the TAIL!!!
So, a fast fade out, in instruments that stopped playing, but are still audible in the next part, out of place,
and that's the same for the effects, such as reverbs and delays, that reproduce even if they had to stop from the previous part,
will clean out our sound, before we even begin to mix.
That's all from me, we are waiting for you on our Facebook page, on Twitter and on our channel in Youtube,
for more questions, comments and observations.
Nikos Pavlou in next with your favorite! Sample rates and bit depth... See ya!
Hello there, from me too! In the previous episode,
we talked about sample rates and bit depth. In this one we are going to go deeper, and do a small revision.
The sound is transferred in waves. So let's suppose we have a waveform,
in theory, it has infinite samples since audio in nature is analog.
Infinite samples however, would also mean infinite space on our hard disk, in order to recreate a signal.
To avoid that, sample rate and bit depth, actually tear apart the sound, through time, and amplitube,
so that it will be easier to digitize it.
As about the choices we will make about the bit depth and the sample rate,
it is fine to work in relation to the format that our project is going to be released.
However at the same time, it would be awesome to work with the highest possible sample rates,
so that we will have better management of the signals in the mix.
With the bit depth, the things are easier. We always choose 24.
That's for a variety of reasons.
To begin with, the dynamic range we record, widens.
Moreover, we can record music genres that have high requirements in dynamics, such as, quiet and delicate parts, and other things like that.
To continue with, the noise floor decreases dramatically. And finally, the convertors work better,
since they don't get limited from the bandwidth of the 16 bits.
Sample rates on the other hand, are more of a russian roullete. Me for example, even if I want to work with high sample rates,
I don't want to push my computer to the limits, with simple things.
So, I made a list in my mind which says: Demo production 44.100Hz
Audio for video 48.000Hz Full Production 88.200Hz
And for DVD-Audio, I use 96.000Hz.
Of course an audio interface that costs 4000 euros, will record better at 44.100Hz,
instead of an audio interface that costs 500 euros, and records at 96.000Hz.
That means, that we always have to take our gear into consideration.
To end with, I will refer to an urban legend, which says that, if we are going to release something on a CD for example,
we have to record in 44.100 or 88.200Hz. And not in 48.000 or 96.000,
because in the mastering process the downsampling has to be done with exact division.
However that's not true, because when we are talking about mastering...
Thanos: Excuse me! Isn't mastering that thing that you put in the last stereo channel and...
like the L2 of Waves and it gets louder, and it sounds like CD, album and you are ready for iTunes and stuff, and you rock? Cool?
No...
*sigh...* No...
When we are talking about mastering, we mean that we give our material to a mastering engineer,
who has a chain of external equipment, to make the appropriate processing.
So he will use our material to pass it through a digital to analog convertor (D/A),
and after that the rest of the chain, which can be consisted of an EQ, an exciter, a compressor, a maximizer,
and it will end up in an analog to digital convertor (A/D) who will do the sampling process from the beginning.
So don't worry! We are waiting for your questions, comments and observations, in our pages in Facebook, Youtube, and now in Twitter too! See you next time!
I have 2-3 tips to say too..
about the music production, with a pc and music software,
One from the tips, about midi recording is not to do strict quantize on the 8th and 16th notes,
Because in that way, we lose the attacks from all the instruments we quantize.
It is fine to use a random quantize for about 2,3 or 4 ticks, plus or minus, from the strict on beat quantize,
In that way we add the humanized feeling to the midi instruments and the attacks won't be hidden anymore.
Another tip I have to say, and this is about mixing,
Many of us mix, while using headphones. In that case we have to use a special plugin in the master bus,
which emulates the mix as it would be if we were listening from actual speakers.
Since headphones are strictly right and left to our ears, we lose the actual feeling of space and panning,
so using that plugin, decreases that strict left - right panning, and makes the mix in a way like we were actually listening from the speakers.
That was the second tip..
And another tip for now, as about recording line instruments like a bass or guitar,
is to be cautious about all the inputs and outputs in our chain until the sound reaches the input of our audio interface.
So, the signal has to be strong in any point of the chain, starting from the output of the guitar, checking the battery in the case of an active guitar,
The guitar volume has to be in the correct position, then the pedalboard has to be set in the correct gain control,
Then the output of the pedalboard, has to be configured correctly as well, so that the input of the audio interface,
will get the appropriate signal strength. That's the signal to noise ratio you've been hearing about. It has to be strong.
In that way, a fast fade out on intruments that leave..
What the f**k does it say?
*laughter*
So we have to add or subtract instruments, depending if we want to calm in a part and....
*pew pew pew pew pew*
*ta ta ta ta* *ta ta ta ta ta*
Take 6...!
Sample rates ar-are, dladalkdajfjajfpfafi
whatever we will do in the mix.. *Telephone ringing*
In the same time.. Pavlou it's the telephone again!
In the second in a row Sweet Spot episode the telephone rings!
Disconnect it!
The first tip I want to say is, that in all points.. Let's go again!
Take 4!
At the same time we mustn't forget the placement in the space we did for our instruments.
So that in some sections, uhhhh let's go again..
Those you are hitting all day.. The tin drums, how can I say it?
-They aren't tin drums! -And what are they?
I will f**k you!
*laughter*
You didn't say a****le and we have to use the beep some how!
Oh yeah right I have to swear in something. Is it good, what you think?
3,4,5,6 tips, which are 1,2,3,4,6,5,4.
Female distant voice: What are you saying???
Female distant voice: Keep that and use it! But only that! *Laughter*
Recording with huge reverb: "I'm gonna say with my turn..." WOW!
-Oh you also have reverb! That's it! -It f**ks!
You can even chant if you want!
Take 10!
*whispers* Now I will show you!
So don't worry, we are waiting for your little questions, your tiny comments, aaand.......
your observations, in our pages in Facebook, in YouTube and now in Twitter too... Tsiouuu!