Reset: mixing
One of the big mistakes I’ve made lately is doing what’s so hip today and EQ the crap out of instruments. Unlike other people who’re stuck in one period of music I don’t see this as a necessary evil, but on the other hand I don’t feel that it’s a good thing for the kind of music I like either as it takes away the shitty feel, makes things too separated and surgical, and even kills of some of the ‘organic feel’. Actually, I don’t intend to do any proper mixing at all besides some automating of the levels, some 1-band EQing, maybe a little ’shit processing’ and using two or three ‘room busses’ perhaps.
I’ll have to be careful with mic placement but I’ll probably need a good EQ for mixing anyway. I don’t give a crap about if EQs are hardware or software and since I own some of the best software EQs ever made there’s no need to spend 2-5K on a hardware EQ. After my latest shootouts I don’t feel that Digidesign EQ 3 is up to par anymore, so I’ll probably leave Flux Epure or McDSP Channel G as the only EQs in my plug-in folder. Come to think about it, those two cover a huge spectrum of flavors. Unfortunately they cover a spectrum of the CPU meter as well but I guess I’ll have to live with that. I’m not too keen on not having a dedicated one bander but thinking about it, a few of the plug-ins in the list can actually do the trick by themselves.
While I don’t compress much I like to have the option of it, and I like compressing the drum bus so I’ll have to leave at least one compressor in my plug-in folder. Smack! is my favorite software compressor, if I could have a hardware version of it I’d buy it in a second. I also like Channel G and it’s already in with the EQs so I ‘have’ to keep it anyway. I’ll probably need a limiter every now and then as well - McDSP ML4000 is by far my favorite in ease of use, and even flexibility when it comes to the multiband version. It’s very intuitive, great sounding and to me really spanks the crap out of everything else IMO.
I don’t have any huge recording rooms so I will unfortunately need a reverb. TL Space will probably be it. It’s fairly easy on the CPU as well so I can mix on a MacBook in front of the TV when I need to get out of my prison room of recording. If I only considered sound I would have picked VirSyn Reflect instead and I might miss it so it’s possible it replace TL Space. I could actually even consider a hardware unit for reverb to get rid of some CPU usage and even track with it so that I don’t need to worry about it in the mix… We’ll see where I land money-wise. Delays are some of my favorite toys and I think the Digirack delay will be what stays. I usually process them a little but they’ve served me well for as long as I’ve used Pro Tools. Lately I’ve been trying out Ohmboyz and almost fallen in love with it. I’ll do some testing to see if it can work as the only delay, in that case I’ll kick the Digirack delays.
And finally some flavor. I find McDSP Chrome Tone very useful - not as a guitar amp (never really used it as such) but as a chorus and flanger tool. I usually like to record chorus/flanging but I often find myself wanting a little more in the mix. I also like Digidesign Lo-fi, Digidesign/Bomb Factory Sansamp and of course Ohm Force Ohmicide. Those three are all too wonderful not to use. I’ll might give it a try to live without Lo-fi and Sansamp but I usually find them very useful so I miss them. McDSP Futzbox will hang in there as well, and if I’m completely honest with myself I’ll probably want to use Analog Channel every now and then. Thinking more about it I’ll probably keep some noise generators as well such as iZotope Vinyl.
Because of this blog (and my curious nature) some plug-ins pass my folder. Right now Dynamic Spectrum Mapper, Mixpack, RX, Sonic Maximizer and the lastest McDSP plug-ins are in awaiting reviews.
Check list
Shortest plug-in list ever (that ended up being longer than I wanted).
- Digidesign: Digirack Delays, Smack!, Lo-fi, Sansamp, TL Space
- McDSP: Channel G, ML4000, ChromeTone, Futzbox, Analog Channel and probably DE555
- Ohm Force: Ohmboyz, Ohmicide
- Flux: Epure
- iZotope Vinyl
I’ll also try giving the brutally spartan version a go:
- Digidesign: Smack!, TL Space
- McDSP: Channel G, ML4000, ChromeTone, Futzbox
- Ohm Force: Ohmboyz, Ohmicide
I’m curious why digirackeq3 is not up to par? I have tested is against many eq, and my observation was differen than yours. Actually with some little more tweaking, it reached and sometimes surpassed much more expensive eqs.
Of course as always imho.
Tamas Dragon
By Tamas Dragon ~ June 17, 2008 kl 6:09 am
I figured someone would react to that seeing it’s a popular EQ. In the last shootout I did it pretty much came in last place for me on all tests. I know you can do a lot worse, and - as you say also pay money to do a lot worse! - but in that company I wasn’t satisfied with the results. Some of the other EQs were the Channel G EQ, AirEQ and Epure.
By stiff ~ June 17, 2008 kl 8:31 am
i’m guessing someone who says this: “I don’t give a crap about if EQs are hardware or software and since I own some of the best software EQs ever made there’s no need to spend 2-5K on a hardware EQ” has never actually owned or spent time with a high-quality hardware eq…;-)
By kj ~ June 17, 2008 kl 1:42 pm
What kj said…
By ckreon ~ July 7, 2008 kl 10:54 pm
But you’re wrong
By stiff ~ July 8, 2008 kl 2:28 am