In this free video combining excerpts from “Andrew Scheps Mixing Template” and “Andrew Scheps Mixing Lifeboats”, Andrew shows how he sets up parallel drum distortion. While there’s nothing unusual about how he does it (a simple send return loop), what is interesting here is exactly why he chooses the processing he does.
Phase and Parallel Processing
The processing Andrew set up here is extreme. For subtle saturation he likes Avid Lo-Fi and for brash distortion he likes SansAmp but he’s noticed SansAmp creates phase issues when used in parallel with the dry signal. For this reason, in this example he chooses iZotope Trash 2. The settings are very distorted, and in isolation sound nasty, but with some heavy EQ to remove the cymbals from the distorted signal, which don’t benefit from this treatment, the effect on kick and snare is helpful as an additional colour to be used subtly, blended in under the dry drums.
It is because this extreme process is being used subtly, blended in with the dry signal, that the phase coherence of the distorted signal is so important. If the distortion sounds cool on the snare but kills the kick drum it’s not going to be very useful.
Automation vs Clip Muting
In his article Muting In Pro Tools - You May Be Doing It Wrong!, Julian describes the reasons why, for many purposes, Mute Automation is best avoided. There are of course times when Mute Automation is the best choice and Andrew describes how he mutes the return of the parallel distortion using Mute Automation and is careful to always leave the Mute Automation playlist visible in the Edit Window so that he can manage this process and keep track of its status at a glance.
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