Messing round with plugins (Waves, Soundtoys content inside)

[TwilightOdyssey]

While my singer is away on vacation I've been boning up on improving the dynamic range and perceived power of my mixes.

While by no means definitive since I am not doing any EQ'ing (a waste of time without vox), level rides, etc, I am very happy with my progress thus far.

My earliest attempts sounded quite bad. It was tough finding a compressor I really liked on the drum overheads. I tried using Cubase's compressors and limiters, but really did not like 'em much. UA 1176? While I love it on vocals, I've never liked the sound of it on drums.

I downloaded the Waves Kramer PI Compressor and found that I really like it on kick and bass guitar, but again -- not so much on drums.

Then I remembered reading about the Sonictoys Devil-Loc; an emulator of the old Shure Level-Loc.

Wow, is that thing great!

In the end, the overhead effects chain is: Kramer Master Tape > Devil Loc > Kramer PI Compressor (as a limiter).

Kick and bass guitar are just the PI Compressor.

Guitars and synths are uneffected, aside from a bit of delay to fatten out the rhythm guitars. Echo on the leads and doublestops is from a hardware echo unit (Roland Space Echo).

Have a listen and let me know what you think!

http://soundcloud.com/bena/lone-rider-21-mar-12x

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: Messing round with plugins (Waves, Soundtoys content inside)

Very organic sounding which is nice. I don't know what you have going on so these are just a few things I do you could try. Try and carve out a little 340 Hz on the kick drum like - 3dbs or so and the see if you can define the beater and top end of the kick. I usually put a lo cut on my kick at 40Hz and lo cut on my bass at 50 Hz sometimes a high cut on the bass at 540Hz which opens up things for the guitars. On guitars lo cut at 120Hz and high cut at 11,000 Khz which is important when vocals are in the song.

You've probably done most of this already if not all. The power is in the mid range for the most part.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Messing round with plugins (Waves, Soundtoys content inside)

That is all very sound advice and thanks for taking the time to listen to the track!

Actually, these tracks are high passed only, not EQ'd (see my OP). The vox will throw off the tonal balance so much, it is pointless to EQ or do rides until they are there. Even these effects will be removed and I will start from scratch. (also in my OP)

This is mostly an experiment to see if I can get a useable sound while getting the dynamic range to about 9-10dB.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: Messing round with plugins (Waves, Soundtoys content inside)

My Bad! LOL

. The vox will throw off the tonal balance

As for this I wouldn't agree. You want to carve a hole for the vocal by clearing out the center of the mix with panning and eq. Even without it you should be able to do that.

 

[DankStar]

Re: Messing round with plugins (Waves, Soundtoys content inside)

dig it! while I like the snare sound, not sure if it gels with everything else. could just be cause it's a tad loud though, not sure.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Messing round with plugins (Waves, Soundtoys content inside)

Thanks for listening!

 

[James Rock]

Re: Messing round with plugins (Waves, Soundtoys content inside)

Sounds good I know you weren't eqing but the drums are a bit dark to my ears and I find that while a compressor may sound good at certain settings without eq it changes once you start adding crack to snare and hollow out mids in kicks etc.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Messing round with plugins (Waves, Soundtoys content inside)

Sounds good I know you weren't eqing but the drums are a bit dark to my ears and I find that while a compressor may sound good at certain settings without eq it changes once you start adding crack to snare and hollow out mids in kicks etc.

Oh yeah, absolutely!

Singer is back from vacation, so I will be able to revisit this song in a real way soon ... thanks for listening!