In this article Julian reflects on the importance of the suitability of your material for the processing technique you are applying. One size doesn’t ever fit all…
One of the things which makes audio production both fascinating and frustrating is that the results you get are so dependent on context. For the same reasons that a compressor preset called “Rock Vocal” is of questionable use. Any technique you hear demonstrated can’t ever be anything more than an example of how that technique worked on that audio. Transplanting those settings onto your audio won’t ever yield the same results - by definition.
This leaves us with the question, what then is the point of presets, demonstrations or tutorials at all? The answer is of course that these demonstrations are only intended and an illustration of the application of a principle. To expect to be able to apply a technique parrot-fashion rather than to apply the principle behind any particular example isn’t realistic but we still see people on YouTube offering perfect settings which can be applied to any audio…
However it’s unfair to scoff at people who don’t understand the interdependence between the audio being processed and the process being applied to the audio. After all, If you paint something with red paint, it goes red, why then wouldn’t applying your “Rock Vocal” preset to my vocal not make my vocal sound like yours?
EQ Frequencies Which Aren’t Present
A great example of the interdependence between the audio being processed and the process being applied is trying to EQ frequencies which aren’t present. I used to teach music production and however tempting it is to laugh at someone trying to brighten a sine wave bass (seen it many times) the truth is that if you don’t understand the structure and characteristics of the sound you’re trying to process then you might well make mistakes like this.
A less extreme example is trying to boost frequencies which lie below the lowest fundamental of the instrument you’re EQing. We’ve probably all seen those pitch to frequency charts of all the instruments in the orchestra, usually reproduced without any context. The most important part of these charts isn’t the upper extent of these charts, the best differentiate between the fundamentals and the harmonics but these overlap enormously. The most important part is the lower extent. It shows you the point at which low frequency information is likely to contain more bumps and rumbles than pitched information. A low shelf boost at 40Hz will bring up the bottom end but at what cost, might a smaller move higher up be better on that instrument?
Compression is far more elusive, a moving target. Which is probably why it is so rewarding and frustrating in equal measure! .
While EQ moves are best made with an understanding of the relationship between frequency and pitch and just as importantly with an appreciation of how the harmonic series works, compression is far more elusive, a moving target. Which is probably why it is so rewarding and frustrating in equal measure!
Enhancing The Attack Of Soft Sounds
A good example I noticed the other day. A beautiful morning driving through the Cornish countryside in May I was listening to Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel, a great accompaniment to such an idyllic drive. It’s well known for being in 7/4 time but it was the bars of 4/4 before the chorus “Grab your things, I've come to take you home.” which struck me.
I’d been trying to accentuate the edge of a vocal the previous day with little success as the vocal was simply too soft. In the same way as you can’t EQ the top end of a sine bass you can’t bring out the edge of a soft vocal. That vocal of Peter Gabriel’s had plenty of edge, more than enough to pull out some extra aggression if it were needed. The technique is only going to work if there is an edge to grab hold of with the compressor’s attack in the first place.
“Ambient” Mics Which Aren’t Very Ambient
In the case of that vocal it’s a case of listening to what you have, not what you think you have or would like to have recorded into your session. Which brings me to my last example, again involving compression. The use of Crush busses, usually involving a room mic, a drum kit and 1176 on All Buttons In mode or a Distressor set to Nuke, is very popular and done well it’s a great technique.
The issue is that if you want a massive “Levee” drum sound you need ambient mics. By that I mean mics which are beyond the “critical distance” - the point at which the mic is picking up more indirect sound than direct sound from the drums. If these conditions are met you’ll have a truly ambient mic - one which is decorrelated from the close mics. If you have that then crushing you room mics will give you something like those results you heard on the demonstration which inspired you but if you’re running some overheads recorded in your living room through the same chain of plugins as you saw on the video, it’s not the microphone which is the problem. No technique can bring out something which isn’t there in the first place.