{Pro Tools Mixing Tutorials}

Today we're going to be working on a basic mixing tutorial that is available online through the website About.com. This exercise will give you the chance to practice using the two types of processors that we have been talking about in class: compressors and an equalizers (aka EQs).

Before you can get going with this exercise, though, you will need to copy the Pro Tools session folder to your hard drive. I have put this on the Media Share folder for you. Please drag the following folder to your hard drive:

Media Share>Class Materials>Mixing Lesson (PT 5-6.9)

When you've got the folder copied, please go to this website:

http://homerecording.about.com/od/mixingyourmusic/ss/mixinglesson.htm

This is the first page of a 6 part lesson. As you finish each part, just click on the Next button at the bottom of the page. These are very simple instructions that are just designed to give you a basic understanding of what is involved with mixing a song.

FYI, this is not what I would consider "good" music. But that's not really the point. Mixing engineers spend a very large amount of time working on music that they wouldn't normally choose to listen to. What is important is that you begin to develop skills that you can apply to any mixing situation, including but not limited to your own music.

Here are some things you should be aware of on a couple of the pages:

• Page 1 - I've already given you the PT Session, so don't worry about downloading it.
  
• Page 3 - There is no compressor preset called "Basic Snare". Use the one called "Snare Comp" instead.
• Page 4 - When it says you should work with the "low end", use the section of the EQ called LF (the red one). When it says to work with the "High mids", use the section called HMF (the green one).
• Page 5 - When it tells you to add a "tiny bit of mid range", which section do you think you should use?
• Page 6 - You don't need to bounce the song out of PT (just show your work to Chris or Corina), but you DO need to try compressing at least one of the other tracks they suggest (acoustic guitar, keyboards, electric guitar).
  

When you finish, save this (you don't have to rename the session) and have one of the instructors check it out. Then, go on to the next Tutorial about mixing drums...

First, copy the following Pro Tools session file to your computer:
MediaShare>Class Materials>Mixing Drums Session

http://homerecording.about.com/od/protoolstutorials/ss/drums_pro_tools.htm

Fundamentals of Sound (part 4) - dynamics/compression

Okay, so we have been talking about and working with a number of different aspects of sound, mainly dealing with Frequency (Harmonics, Filtering, etc.)

Today I want to talk a little bit about the other main aspect of sound: Amplitude.

More specifically I want to talk about what is called dynamics.

Dynamics is the way the amplitude (aka "volume") of a track changes over time.

Just like frequency content is really important to the sound of your music and the way it hits people, the dynamics can also really affect the way the listener responds to your music. Think about the difference between listening to an R&B love song and an angry heavy metal song; how do the singers sing differently? How are they using the dynamics of their voices differently? Why do you think they do that?

Now, generally speaking, it can be really useful to have the dynamics of an instrument or vocal change over time so that you can give a song more flow - the loud parts of a song will hit harder if you have a soft part right before them. However, sometimes, when you have a performance that gets too quiet in certain parts, it gets hard to hear it over the other instruments. This is especially a problem with things like vocals, which really need to be heard by the listeners.

Fortunately, we engineers have a tool for adjusting the dynamics of a track: compression!

What is compression?

The short answer is that it's a type of processing that allows you to automatically control the loudness of your tracks. The type of device that allows you to perform this magical processing is called (wait for it)...a compressor.

For example, say you have a vocal track where the MC's performance is at a pretty consistent level for most of the song, but then he/she suddenly gets really loud at one part. In this case, compression could be used to just turn down the loud part and leave the rest of the performance the same. This is what compression was originally used for...

But, in most modern pop music, a TON of compression is used on pretty much every track. I know of at least one major producer who says that compression is "the sound of modern music production." Why? Here are a couple of reasons:

1. To make things sound smooth (aka "clean").
2. To make things sound punchy (aka "slap").
3. To make the song loud.

So, if you want your song to have any of the above qualities, you should probably take some time to learn how to compress your tracks properly.

The basic concept is that you set a certain volume level on your compressor, called the Threshold. If the volume of your track goes over the threshold, then the compressor kicks in and turns down the volume until the signal goes back down under the threshold. The amount it turns the volume down by is called the Ratio. These are the two most important settings on a compressor - they tell the compressor when to start working and how much. Check it out...

The next two settings you need to consider are the attack and release. The Attack tells the compressor how quickly to start working once the signal crosses the threshold. The Release tells it how quickly to let go once the signal goes back below the threshold.

The last setting you should know is the Gain, or makeup gain. This setting allows you to turn the overall volume of the track up. Why would we want to turn the volume back up when we just used the compressor to turn it down? Good question. The short answer: the slap factor. Think of the gain knob as the slap control. BUT, the slap control only really works if you've set the other settings properly.

Here is a picture of the Digidesign Compressor/Limiter that comes standard with Pro Tools software. It features all the controls we just discussed, plus a few that you don't need to worry about just yet. You can Insert this on any of your audio tracks:


Here is a general formula for compressing a vocal track:
1. Solo a vocal track and insert a compressor on it.
2. Set the Ratio to 4:1
3. Now adjust the Threshold until you see a maximum of about -6.0 dB of gain reduction happening in the column called "GR"
4. Set the Release to about 150 ms.
5. Now turn the Attack all the way to the right and slowly start turning it left (counterclockwise) until you hear the vocal just start to get muffled. Stop.
6. Now adjust the Release until you see the Gain Reduction moving nice and smoothly in time with the music. Close your eyes and listen. The volume of the vocal should sound pretty even and consistent. If you hear any sudden jumps, then you should try to adjust the Attack and Release settings until the jumps get smoothed out.
7. Turn up the Gain to 6.0 dB.
8. Hit the Bypass button to check what the track sounds like with the compressor on and off.
9. Now unsolo the track and listen to it in context with the rest of the song. Turn the bypass on and off to hear how the compressor is affecting the overall feel of the song.

{Reason Assignment - Verse/Chorus}

Today I would like to have you all compose

Create a Reason beat that has all the following elements:

1. At least 4 different instruments (only 1 Redrum, please!).
2. Verse (16 bars) and Chorus (8 bars) sections.
3. Copy the Verse and Chorus so that you have at least 3 of each.
   

When you finish making this beat, please save it as: (your name)_beat_012609

DAS recording review

So thank you to everyone who came through on Saturday for our class. I hope that you feel like you got something out of that class and learned something about the process of recording live instruments.

Thinking back on that experience, I want to talk as a class about that process and the role of the engineer.

• What were some of things people found interesting or informative?
• Mic placement - what did you notice about the sound, based on where the mic was positioned?
• Engineer's duties - what were all the things we had to do/setup to make the recording happen?

Saturday class (1-24-09)

Here are the two groups for the class on Saturday. Remember that class will be from 10am-4pm. This will be a studio session and we have a limited amount of time, so please be on time! BAVC will be providing lunch.

Group 1 (meet at BAVC)
Rowvin
Robert
Taurean
Juan
Chris P.
Luis

Group 2 (meet at 410 Townsend)
Gio
Monica
Marisol
Victor
Tony
Monjaro

Fundamentals of Sound (part 3)

OK, after a little break, we're going to get back into talking about some of the properties of sound and see how they are actually applied to the music we make. One way to do this is to look at a common type of electronic instrument: the synthesizer.

What is a synthesizer?

Wikipedia says:

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing a wide variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies. There are three main types of synthesizers, which differ in operation; analog, digital and software-based. Synthesizers create electrical signals, rather than direct sounds, which are then processed through a loudspeaker or set of headphones.

So, basically, you've got a device that electronically generates one or more audio signals. And then by combining and processing those signals, you can create completely orignal sounds. There are several ways that different types of synthesizers operate. The simplest one is called analog, or "subtractive synthesis".

We are actually already familiar with the sounds of subtractive synthesis though working with our friend...

...the Subtractor!

So, obviously there is a lot going on with all these knobs and sliders and stuff. But once you know how to look at it, it really isn't so overwhelming. Today we're just going to focus on three sections, and from there you should know a lot about almost every instrument in Reason. The three sections are:

1. Oscillators
2. Filters
3. ADSR Envelopes.

We'll start with the first: Oscillators.

Oscillators are basically the heart of the instrument. This is where the sounds originate from. The Subtractor has a handful of very basic types of sound waves that it uses as the raw material for creating instrument sounds. Think of these as the block of stone that a sculptor starts with before he/she starts chiseling it into a specific shape. Here are the most common types of sound waves that are found in pretty much any type of synth:

1. Sine waves
2. Square waves
   
3. Triangle waves
4. Sawtooth waves

Subtractor has two different oscillators that it can combine to create more complex sounds. Let's check this out for a second...(demonstration)

OK, so besides being able to play back two sound waves at the same time, Subtractor lets you adjust the pitch of each each one. What do you think that does to the sound? It also lets you add noise, if you're into that.

Next, we have the Filters.


So, if the sound waves are the block of stone that a sculptor starts with, then the filters are like the chisels and other tools that he/she uses to shape it into what he/she wants. Now filters are what put the "subtractive" into subtractive synthesis, and they are a really common audio production tool in general. Think about it, what does a filter do?

We've got four basic types of filters to choose from, and they all reject different parts of the frequency spectrum. They are:

• Low Pass (LP)
• High Pass (HP)
• Band Pass (BP)
• Band Stop (aka "Notch")

Remember, the key word here is "pass"; what frequencies are being allowed to pass through the filter? In a Low Pass filter, the "lows" are being allowed to "pass". In a High Pass filter, the "highs" are being allowed to "pass". Here, let me just show you... (demonstration).

So, in Subtractor, you can select whichever filter you want to work with by clicking on the red dot. Then you can adjust the Cutoff frequency (the point where the filter starts working) by dragging the slider called Freq.

OK, so the last section of the synth we're going to cover today is the ADSR Envelope.

ADSR just stands for: Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release, and it's referring to the way the volume of a sound evolves over time. Check out this picture of a waveform:

What it is showing is the different parts of the total sound. Briefly:

• Attack - the quick rise of the volume up to the highest level.
• Decay - the drop from the highest peak to the average level of the sound
• Sustain - the average level of the sound
• Release - the fade out; how quickly the sound cuts off when you let go of the key
  

Here is a common diagram of an ADSR Envelope:

Now, every sound has these four basic qualities, but with synthesizers, you can actually control the points that these things are happening. You can do this in the section called Amp. What do you think "Amp" is short for?

OK, so if your mind isn't completely overloaded yet, know that you can actually use ADSR Envelopes for more than just the volume of the soundwave itself. One of the most common things is to connect it to the Filter and have the filter moving in a completely different way than the Amplitude envelope. Bottom line: more interesting sounds.

OK, we'll cut the lecture off here today and get into actually making a patch from scratch. We're going to use the Subtractor to make our own kick drum sound. Please do the following steps and be sure to play a key on your keyboard after you do each step, so that you can hear what is changing!:

1. Open Reason and create a new Subtractor.
2. Initialize the patch (right click on the folder button)
3. On Osc 1, select the sine wave. Set the Octave ("Oct") to 1.
   
4. Make sure the Keyboard Tracking light is off.
5. Find the Phase knob under Osc 1. Now find the three red lights to the right of the knob and click on the one next to the "-".
6. Turn the Phase knob all the way to the right. (This is basically going to thicken up the sound.)
   
7. Turn on the Noise generator and set the Decay to 40, Color to 0, and Level to 98.
8. Go to the Filter 1 section and set the Frequency Slider to 64. Select the filter called LP12 by clicking the light next to its name.
9. Now go to the Filter Envelope section and set A=0, D=40, S=0, and R=38. Turn the Amount knob to 65.
10. Go to the Amp Envelope section and set A=0, D=34, S=0, R=40.
11. Go to the Mod Envelope section and set A=0, D=36, S=0, R=30. Set the Amount knob to 70. Make sure that the Envelope Destination is Osc1.
12. And you're pretty much done. Click on the Save Patch button and save this to your folder as "My Kick.zyp".

Guest Lecture: MC Do D.A.T.

Today's and Wednesday's classes will feature a special workshop on lyric writing and artistic perspective by Davin "Do D.A.T." Thompson. D.A.T. is a performer, educator, and veteran of the Bay Area hip hop community. He is a member of the Oakland-based group, The Attik, and has shared stages with a number of hip hop legends, including Dead Prez, Mistah F.A.B., E-40, and KRS-One. He recently dropped and is in the process of promoting his new EP, The Skinny (available through iTunes and CDBaby.com). He is BAVC's resident Lyric Coach.