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General Q&A

What do you do to add ambience? Two tracks composed of virtual drums, bass keys, guitar amps, et cetera to glue things together and make from sound more really so big topic, but oh, yeah, this is a really common one. This is a really great. So what I think is interesting is that a lot of the more modern things that are not things plug ins that have come out of this stuff are now have their heavy so, like, you know, slate and easy drummer and all that have that room tone to it. I often find myself just using those triggers for the room tone and don't use the direct stuff a lot of the time. What do you call it? Ah, but yeah, like as far as like going it together. I think that one, uh, there is a thing to doing some distortion that's similar to them. I don't consciously. I know when I was younger, I used to focus a lot on like, how do I glue this together? How do you just some of me thinks that there's like a lot of misguided knowledge out there about like, oh, you got to do this like, yo...

u gotta put them all in the same river by the same distortion to get up to go there I used to do a lot of stuff that I don't get his good results is like what I really just try to do is I just try to say what reverb sounds good on this and then if you blend those together and you do someone that likes stuff I was talking about of like getting better blends by listening quieter and listening in mono and panning around that stuff it tends to come a little easier the other thing I will say is that the biggest thing I find with that fake stuff is that one it takes more automation, which is one of the things we're going to show in the next two days and two it usually takes distortion you know, even those slate samples have you know, a good about of harmonics on him but like everyone in the slates and every one of these mixes has another just a little bit of distortion. What did it all them um so as faras gluing that stuff together I think that some of it is harmonic enhancement and getting it to sound like the other harmonic enhancements in it a ce faras the guitar sims go man, I think like there's really just been major strides made and you like recently and like the's guitar tones like you don't like, didn't you show me like, you know, you showed me that pool and I think that I think it's really like that technology is really catching up, but it's about not using like, you know, I don't I hate to do this, anybody, but like, you know that native instruments, guitar, farm or whatever they call that thing guitar reagan just doesn't sound good compared to, like a lot of these things, like the red wire impulse responses, yeah, ii are set, so the pie, ours and just, like, is next level, and I think some of it is like when you're hearing that like, oh, this person got a dope guitar sound from using and in the box or, you know, a epsom that it's look like get some of the new stuff like, don't mess with guitar rig and, like, you know, a pod version one and like, stuff like that because it's just gotten so better and the technology is getting like, I will say this that I've been shocked. How fast e q simulation tape simulation and guitar simulation technology I feel like that stuff zooming really, really fast right now that, like it's getting better, like on a quarterly basis, not a yearly basis like it used to be best with the kemper it'll I mean it's unbelievable, like how good a camper and an axe effect sound I think eleven it would do is the funny thing is I thought eleven sounded good when I first heard it a couple of years ago and then you hear the kemper in the axe effects you're like, oh, my god, like eleven sounds terrible compared to this, and the eleven blew me away at first, you know, even like, you know, like I will say this, like, one of my favorite records of all time is say anything is a real boy, and when I find out what's that of that movie, the female of the room, but also getting back to the topic of adding, like, ambience as a whole, you know, you've helped me. So for anybody out there, I use fake everything music I make, uh, and you know, jesse, help me personally, basically all the stuff that you've said in this class, it doesn't matter whether this is the stuff that made a dramatic difference in my music. It doesn't matter whether using like virtual instruments, orgiastic instruments, the same techniques, I think the baby thing I'd like to address with that is like I think that there's a bill of goods sold on the internet about this glue that happens when really the glue is a lot of just smart decisions of blending and queuing and harmonic balance. I don't think the glue like when I've read these guys like you got to send the kick drum the snare on the base, down the same compressor and that's what glues it together? I think that does work in a certain instance, but like I hear that bill of goods sold so often and I have here tons of other great mixes words there on a separate compressor on, and they have tons of glue, I think it's finding what works for you finding these recipes, but my glue is in my way of finding going the way I've watched anybody else who's mixes I've respected form of glue is is figuring out how you distort things, that blood things that cue them and move those favors so that they blend well together and that's where the glue comes from, and also having a master bus set really well, which will also be hitting brighten early tomorrow the next day. All right, well, let's, ask some more questions. Another question from breeze. Would distortion or saturation be a good way to make vocal stand out more in a track? It would be better than compression, or does that depend on the sound you're going for? I think in almost every vocal you're going to need to do something compression your I prefer to do it on the way in as the most thing, and then maybe if I have to do some more, I'll do it afterwards, but I also have an amazing vocal compressor, so it's, like I can get away with said, I would say, this is that I distort about or saturate what's called them both the same thing I put a tape plug in or a distortion plug in on seventy five percent of my vocals, but it's yet again, really, really like, I also do a lot of really heavy and aggressive music, so distorting aggressive vocals is like, you know par for the course that, like, you know, it's almost like that thing of, like, you know, especially like you watch, like kurtz classic that style vocal it's like, you know, you're going toe put some distortion of that vocal if you're doing cleaner stuff out like, you know, also this, like, you know, you wish to that first katy perry record there's tons of grit and distortion on her vocals and that's the same for like, a lot of pop vocals is like, you'll really be shocked as you start to experiment that stuff, how much of like that is the other thing I'll say is like for tapes patricia one of the things you're going to see me using a lot is on creon songs phoenix bullion and that thing is a great saturated that really could get rid of the ss and vocals now twice to get rid of not the way the dsr does after you've gotten your vocal ninety percent away there that thing khun round it out to the last ten percent in an amazing amazing way but like this is yet again that accumulation of subtleties yes a little distortion a tablespoon of compression a t spirit of distortion that's usually a great way to a vocal but that's some vocals need to be ultra clean like you know I think of bob I'm in love with that ward pure heroin record and that's what a clean vocal and like man I like I was that record three times last night it's so clean and so big that it's such a huge sounding record and there's like two things in it yeah there's not been based on half the songs I don't ever do that three fourths of the record there's no base it's amazing but like that's the thing is it's I would need to hear one the way you tracked the vocal into you did it it's all what you're going for you need the weren when they use that tool when now public yet again this is all recipes but you know if you have awesome recipe for papaya spicy papaya salad you don't always want to do that at your pastry gig all right I have another question from sunny who is patrick from denmark about noise because I saw a session with phil tran tan digging into a rhianna project I think I recall him using a track with a noise channel is this something you do yourself and why all so I came up in the late nineties and there is this atrocity of music we called trip up during that time and we was man we'd sample seventy eight rpm record noises and put it in the back but let me say this too I'm making fun of how bad that train was because it got so cheesy because everybody you know took uh there's significant home and had a little fun too that porter said record and got really into the mood all that noise was making and it became a really big trend but I think there's a great place for that stuff at times I could see I think he's actually talking about diamond because there is some weird thing that yeah noise could do it I think that this is like one of those things that yes is this on ninety percent over the tracks and music today absolutely not but can you do some really cool things like I think a bomb there's a noise that runs through bright eyes hole I ally it's like one of my favorite, like eerie things and, like, you know, there's so much cool stuff you can do with that. I would just more say this that when we're talking about fundamentals absolutely not. Is that one of the fundamentals of things that usually goes into a track that's, something that went in tow, that truck and that was a very special thing. That and what's also says hilton is a god, we should all about it. That man can mix another question on the hashtag defend pop punk tip from cemented clouds what man overboard record did you work on? And what was your outlook with tackling this particular project versus your other pop punk projects? Ah, well, I did seventy five different songs with man overboard. I did, uh, everything. The self title was the last record I worked on with them, but I did not mix that record by did everything with mike, my co producer and co owner, mike and I did human highlight reel reel talk before we met all the p's. Then they tracked noise upstairs themselves. Um, and, uh, we co produced into engineered on the self titled record, but as far as it approached, one of these things were going to really get into tomorrow is like the goals in the mix, and I think one of the most interesting things with those records, as we really always did go into that those records with, like, a plan, like one of the most interesting things is like the decision they made to tune to see, like wayne really wanted these bigger guitars. And so we made a really great plan of, like, how we wanted some of the aggression of, like, a hard core record in that band because we're seeing really cheesy bubble gum pop songs when we want, when we knew that if it was just all she's, if the bad was super polished, like they took, like, almost like the approach of, like, you know, a somerset type band, it would have been just told too cheesy with those lyrics that they have and the melodies that they have and like their bubble gum harmonies. So we made sure there was this really aggressive part of the band. I would actually push the guitars to be, like, way more raw than a lot of the other guitars. I would do in pop punk bands at that time because we needed to give the band on edge and, like, you know, there was a million decisions made. I mean, I worked so closely that ban is a manager and producer, we're constantly developing different ideas of, like, even just like, how aggressive should a vocal be on this? Like, you know, there's that song on top eight and then there's the one I'm real talks sidekick where their program drums, and we want to make sure that they had didn't sound like, you know, a techno band, we want to make sure they sounded like a jimmy world record, but then with the mohr aggressive guitar or something, so we did a lot of planning and, like, you know, there was a big reason that, like we tracked those guitars and mixed those guitars toe have such an aggression and heaviness and, like, tooting way lower than the other bands and having wayne hit the strings harder than other bands and getting a guitar tone that has tons of attack by using less, gaining more master there's. So many decisions made in those records toe bring out who they were as abandon, accentuate all their characteristics so that's one of the things I think you always have to go into a mix or a record realizing and finding a way to do or else you're going to make another generic board record that everybody's heard before no one wants to hear yes, I mean, we started the day with you playing a track from your you had your intern last mix, and then you kind of went in and touched up a little bit since you brought up an intern in turning or you're using you haven't intern where tons through several interns where can somebody maybe he was watching or perhaps myself, you know, find an engineer if they're just mixing it home. Where can they find injured that they might wantto work with their help in turn anywhere? Do your interns find you? Okay. Yeah. That's a great question. I'm so what I suggest anybody is take some records that you really like the sound of and keep going toe all music dot com and see, when you see names re occurring, contact those people. Some people can travel far some people can't. Sometimes you might have to settle for more local bands that you just think the guy's doing work for. In my personal case, you know, I got really lucky that I started producing records at a really young age and with good. I made sure I surrounded myself around the people I want to be around. I went to west west side because allen worked with every producer I admired at the time and I really wanted to work for steve evitts and because I worked for allen and steve efforts comes a day at one day and I say, hey, I'll do anything you want for free that I have later of paying gigs with steve it's steve evans was an engineer for my favorite producer of the world. Aside from him, ross robinson, I said if ross everyone's needs anything, I'll do anything to work for him and then I have a call to work with ross robinson and I think it's just you have to, you know, so the best life advice is just find who you want to be near and put yourself near them and find some way to get towards them and, you know it's the same philosophy for any actress that moves toe l a or whatever like, you know, a start up kid who moves here to seattle or san francisco, put yourself where the talent you want to be is and do some research on who that talent is. Everything else is here like your style back so much yeah, I think we have one. I like your style to bin just looking spiffy today oh, your friendship just shines through all right unless sweet unless you have another you have a final question for the day. Okay? All right. So the final question of the day was from nico hello who said jesse of all the new tools that the last decade and a half has brought us which one is your favorite and why wow, you know, you make a body blow right before the ed what's my favorite tool I mean, pro tools is a really easy answer so as not to be a mixing tool uh shadow hills makes mike priests where I could switch between two different types of transformers and indiscreet channel and that like pre allows me to so to give you guys an idea if you don't know understand what this trade, sir? So you hear a lot about tubes and tubes warming up things in my opinion with tubes were this overhyped marketing thing and tubes are great when they're done well I'm not trying to diminish tubes but transformers or where the real money is in rock music and media transformers sound amazing when they're pushed on their distorted and what I love about a shadow hills gamma mike free is I can choose between three different sounds I could decide do I want this clean so I want this with some harmonics do I want with this with better base remarks so I have like that some naive clones, chandler, jermaine am I can choose all of those for the type of harmonics I want to instill on each instrument so that it makes my life. When I keep talking about how easy it is for me to mix my own stuff. This is some of why is I'm choosing which harmonics go on it as it goes. And this is one of those more advanced. As bin likes to say, things is that I think would make the biggest difference is a lot of this stuff of just that you can now choose your harmonic so easily and how you want things to go into your computer and what should go in way. So, for example, I like my symbols really clean, so I use a non transformer was mike priefer that, but I like my base toe have tons of low and harmonic, so I'll use a chandler jermaine iam for that, and just being able to do those things the past few years has made my life so much easier. Thea other thing I will say is the flux technologies alchemist multi band compressor was the first multi band compressor that ever sounded really great to me for an affordable price and man, I just love and as you'll see in the next two days I love and abuse that thing toe death