Dealing With Alignment & Phase

 When it comes to using more than one mic on any instrument you will immediately run into phase and alignment issues with your mix when tracking. This will result in flaming (slight delayed echo sound) and thin sounding drums as two mic's out of phase will almost cancel one another out. Even Mic's themselves respond to sound in different ways from type used (Ribbon, Dynamic, Condenser etc) and all these factors have to be addressed before any real recording is done.

Dealing With Phase

  Now most of these issues can be somewhat eradicated by setting up the mic's properly, by that I mean, having them both equidistant from the source they're going to pick up. A good engineer will spend sometime making sure mic's are in the right place for best tonal quality as well as the exact distance from the sound source (a snare drum for example) to avoid phase issues. It's also important in the case of 2x Drum Overhead mic's also being a matched pair, as even different mic's will pick up sounds differently.

Dealing With Alignment

 Alignment is something similar as phase and can be caused by some of the same issues, but as can be seen in the example below, the alignment of the close mic and far mic (set further back from source), has been caused by the sound being picked up on the one mic first and then the delay in the time it takes for the same sound to be picked up on the other mic placed. This delay between mic's picking up the same sound at different times causes alignment to be off. See in the pic below, from a Pro Tools Session, how the Kick (close mic) and Kick (far mic) are both out of phase with one another, one wave file is going up whilst the others wave file is going down. They should both be the same. 

 You can also see their alignment is off. The sound is hitting the Kick (far mic) first and then a delay in the mix before we see the same Kick sound on the (close mic). They should be perfectly aligned in the mix window. 

 I must admit I believe someone has labelled the session file the wrong way round as the sound clearly would hit the close mic first and then the mic placed further away from the Kick drum second lol. Mistakes are easily made, long hours and short sleeps will do that to a person.

How to Fix in the Mix.

 Now if the tracking stage is well and truly over and re-doing the recording is impossible your only choice is to fix it in the mix. This was easily done in Pro Tools using a bit of the zoom tool and a wonderful freely included plugin utility called (Time Adjuster).

 As you can see in the example above we firstly set our time grid to 'Samples' and then we, by eye only, highlight the distance between the start of the kick hit on one track with the start of the hit of the Kick on the other. In the transport view you can see it's reading 76 samples. So we simply type that into 'Time Adjuster' that fixes the alignment. Secondly we click the phase flip switch, that little orange button just to the right of where we type in the samples, and that flips the phase meaning when one track wave file is going up the other one is now doing the same. Viola all done both Kick mic's now aligned and in phase with one another creating a tight loud pleasant thump giving us the sound as it should be heard.

So What Is The Problem?

Well in Studio One 3 we don't have an included plugin utility that does the same thing as 'Time Adjuster' does in Pro Tools, so how can we achieve the same fixes without extra costs on shelving out for something like SoundRadix Auto Align ,which is far more advanced, but automates the whole entire process. Well watch the video below and all will be revealed.

Three Ways To Record - Pre-Count, Pre-Roll & Autopunch.

5..4..3..2..1 Record.

 When it comes to recording, especially if you record your own tracks at home on your own, Studio One has three little helpers to aid you in capturing that perfect take. The three methods are called Precount, PreRoll and Autopunch.

Pre-count and Pre-roll

 When recording audio or Instrument Parts, it is often useful to give the performer a count-in before recording begins, to alert them that recording is starting, and also to give a guide to the tempo of the song, so that they can play on-beat from the start. Studio One offers two ways to do this: Pre-count and Pre-roll.

 Pre-Count; [Shift+c] lets you specify a number of bars of metronome clicks to be played before recording begins. This helps to count the musician in and start playing to the correct beat and timing on the first note of the track.

 Pre-Roll; [o] lets you specify a number of bars in the Song to play before recording begins. This is helpful when you want to get used to the feel or groove, timing or tempo of the song before recording begins.

Autopunch

Autopunch; [i] lets you select a range, using the paint tool [5], on the timeline scale from which you can start and end recording on the selected clip/event.
 For example, if you wish to record over a specific phrase of a vocal part, but not before or after that phrase, you can automatically begin and end recording at specified points. This process is commonly referred to as “punching in and out,”
 If you use the Auto-Punch to record the newly recorded audio is automatically crossfaded at its edges with the existing Audio Event/Clip, so the transition between the old and new audio is not audible.

 As always these things are easier to show than to write about so please check out the quick video below for more practical help. Happy mixing.

Basic Editing in Studio One 3.

The Tools of the Trade

Editing audio in any digital audio workstation is paramount when it comes to features. The easier and faster one can edit within the program can make or break the general appeal it may aspire to.
Studio One, for quite sometime, had no 'Smart Tool' and although you could still edit audio as much as any other program could, you simply couldn't achieve the speed or efficiency levels that other programs had. Thankfully that has been addressed and a new 'Smarter Tool' was introduced.

So lets introduce you to the original line up of eight editing tools that Studio One had and then we'll dive into the best of them all... the 'Smart Tool'.

The Arrow Tool (1) - Primarily the main tool used for editing. It can move and resize events (clips), create fades, adjust event gain and select single or multi events.
Modifier Keys;

• Spacebar - to drag things faster.
• Hold Shift - to temp bypass 'snap to grid' when dragging to new position on timeline.
• Hold Shift - to adjust both fade in & out at same time when setting fades.
• Holding [Alt]/[Option] on the keyboard and then sizing an Event from the right edge results in the Event being freely time stretched.

The Range Tool (2)- The Range tool is used to select a range, or area, within Events both singular or multi. click-and-drag over the area to be selected; a grey box is drawn over the target selection area.
             Modifier Keys;

• Hold Shift - To select multiple, non-contiguous ranges across any Event, on any Track.

The Split Tool (3) - Using the Split tool, single Events can be split into multiple Events. Just click once on the event (clip) where you want it split.

The Eraser Tool (4) - The Eraser tool is used to delete Events, just click on what event you want deleted.

The Paint Tool (5) - used to create an empty Instrument Part on an Instrument Track. This can be handy if you want to manually insert some midi parts. Using the Paint Tool on the timeline you can draw and adjust Loop Selections. Used when creating automation the paint tool and add nodes and manually draw automation lines. When working on the Piano Roll                   View it is used to insert midi information.

The Mute Tool (6) - In the Arrange view, the Mute tool is used to mute audio events, audio parts, and Instrument parts. Just click once on anything you want muted and again to un-mute.

The Bend Tool (7) - In the Arrange view, the Bend tool is used to manipulate, add, and remove Bend Markers. It comes into its own when working with transient detection and editing.

The Listen Tool (8) - In the Arrange view, click and hold on any Track to instantly solo the Track and start play back from the position you clicked.

Last but not least the most anticipated tool of them all... the 'Smart Tool'

The Smart Tool - with this selected you now have control over the Arrow Tool, the Range Tool simultaneously. You can then set up a third alternate tool by selecting the down arrow on the highlighted Arrow Tool and choose from it's drop down menu options. Simply hold down the [Alt] key to access and use your third tool of choice.

Check out some more practical editing, employing all the tools listed above, shown in the video below.

Making Custom Beats from Addictive Drums

It's All About The Rhythm

These days we are so blessed when it comes to recording. Technology has come on so much from the early perceptions of what was possible, so much so, that you can create, with ease, a full album of songs, to a professional level, in the comfort of your very own bedroom.
 Now when it comes to needing drums in your track we can't all squeeze a full sized kit into our small rooms, or possibly we can't afford one, or maybe we simply can't play drums either. No problem this is where virtual drum machine software, like Addictive Drums, comes into its own.

  Now here's the scenario. While Addictive Drums, likes so many others, comes inundated with loads of midi beats to choose from we may find we want to have more flexibility than that. Sometimes you know what beat you want but scrolling through the included samples is lengthy and when you have that idea burning in your head you want to get it down quickly. So how can we make use of it's many included samples but have the freedom to create our own beats? Well what I am about to show may seem a little complicated at first but once you get into the way of it, you'll be creating beats faster than McDonald's creates burgers.

 In the example below I've used Addictive drums but any other package such as EzDrummer, Superior Drums and others can be made use of in the same way. Yes of course there are a million ways to create drum samples, but this is just another way of using the power of Studio One to be more creative and adaptable to your specific needs..

Dive Into 'The Pool'

Swimming In The Deep End.

 For a lot of Studio One users one of it's most powerful features constantly gets overlooked. In fact most of us don't even realise it's there at all. Let me take this opportunity to introduce you to 'The Pool'. At first you'll be disenchanted but once you realise the hidden power that lies beneath the surface you'll be diving into 'The Pool' far more often.

So what's so great about this 'Pool'? 

Well lets dive into some of it's more powerful features. The first thing you need to know is that Studio One operates under a 'non destructive editing' basis. 

 What does that mean?
Simply everything you record, edit, add plugins to, use melodyne on, and everything else is held on record in the Pool. That means no matter what you do the 'Pool' keeps a record of it. 

 So what's the big deal?
Well say you've tracked a Di guitar, for instance, you've added some plugins, you've transformed to audio, to save CPU power and you've did a little editing there after too, but you find you hate everything you've just done and wish you could go back to the beginning. You could hit [Ctrl+Z] 'til the cows come home or access the [Edit; History] feature, but a more efficient way is accessing the original file from the 'Pool'. That is a very powerful feature right there and one we should be taking advantage of more and more.

Accessing the Pool.

To open the Pool, first open the Browser by clicking the [Browse] button (bottom right), then click on the[Pool] tab. You also can press [F10] on the keyboard to open the Pool directly.

Navigating the Pool.

The Pool displays audio Clips as waveforms. Clips can be sorted using the Sort by tab...options at the top of Pool.
The following sorting options are available:

• Flat: View all Clips with no order.
• Track: View Clips by the Track on which they are currently used or were previously used.
• Type: View Clips by Clip Type (Audio or instrument-oriented Sound).
• Location: View Clips by the storage location in which they exist on your computer.
• Record Take: View Clips by the order of record takes within your Song.

File Management in the Pool Tab.

[Right]/[Ctrl]-click in the Pool Browser window to select from the following commands:

• Rename File: Rename the file associated with the currently selected Clip.
• Locate File: Locate a file for the currently selected Clip (e.g., to find a missing file).
• Show in Explorer/Finder: Open the file location for the currently selected Clip in Windows Explorer/Mac Finder.
• Select on Track: Select any Events associated with the currently selected Clip in the Arrange view.
• Remove from Pool: Remove the currently selected Clip from the Pool. This does not delete the file.
• Delete File Permanently: Permanently delete the file associated with the currently selected Clip.
• Delete Attachments: Permanently delete any attachments associated with the currently selected Clip.
• Convert Files: Convert selected files in the Pool to the current Song’s sample rate and bit depth. The Convert Files menu appears, with file options. A new file is created for each selected file, replacing the original file in the Pool. The original file is retained in the current Song’s Media folder.
• Refresh: Refresh the contents list of the Pool to reflect the current state of your Song and computer.
• Locate Missing Files: If any files are missing in your Song—usually this occurs because the files were moved—use this command to locate the missing files.
• Remove Unused Files: Remove any Clips from the Pool that are not currently used in the Song. This does not delete the files.
• Show Media Folder in Explorer/Finder: Open the Media Folder for the current Song in Windows Explorer or the Mac Finder.

You can read more about the 'Pool' on age 200 of the unofficial Studio One Manual here;
PDFmanualS1

In the video below I promise not to dive in too deeply but show some examples of why you may wish to incorporate using the 'Pool' into your daily mixing and editing.

The Importance Of Recording Di Tracks

Keeping Your Options Open.

In a world of audio production, were no-one wants to commit to a sound and the choices are infinite, it becomes increasingly clear that a Mixer's work load has increased substantially. Engineers loathe it when they pull up a session they've been sent and find 100+ tracks and no clear distinct path has been chosen for the song. Nothing as bad as auditioning endless guitar, vocal, bass and drum tracks trying to make sense of a jumbled mess. Sometimes these sessions don't even have a finished demo and it's left to the Mixing Engineer to somehow put the jigsaw altogether and create a masterpiece.

So how can you make it easier for all those that come after your tracking and recording, with what you believe, to be the best song in the world? Simple, start recording Di tracks. What are Di tracks? They are simply the dry, unprocessed audio signal without any added effects.

The power of the Di track is several fold. 

 For one if you find out later in the mix that what you believed to be the most awesome capture of your guitar though your favourite amp, is in fact actually unusable or just not fitting the mix, then no problem. If you recorded a Di track it can be re-amped and brought back into the mix. You simply couldn't do this without a Di. You would have to painstakingly re-record everything from scratch. Now you might say what's the problem? Well imagine you were in the moment and you just played the greatest guitar solo you ever played, by having recorded a Di track you can simply be re-amped, recovered and saved. Without the Di all would be lost and trying to remember the exact notes, let alone capture that same feeling and vibe you had originally, is impossible.

 Secondly the Di track can also be advantageous if a studio or mix engineer has better quality gear than you had originally and this allows for re-tracking through their superior equipment without wasted time having to have your mix sent back and re-recording parts and then sending it back to the Mix Engineer again. Time is money after all.
 Thirdly a Di track can help when mixing in your Daw of choice. The transients and audio waveform are much more pronounced and more visual. This makes editing a lot easier to do as things are more precise and easily identified. See the difference below, you can see how easy it is to see the transients of the Di over the processed track.

 Fourthly and by no means lastly, blending in a Di 'd track can enhance the recorded sound and add some presence that may have been lost, adding more realism to the audio.  That's the example shown in the video below.

 As you can see the possibilities are endless but one of the most important things of all, the Di track allows you the musician, recording your composition, to commit to a sound. Having the Di recorded means the door is always open for re-recording without the need for re-recording so to speak. It takes the fear factor out of the equation and worrying 'what if I want to change this later?' question firmly put to bed.
 Committing to a sound will speed up your mix and advance your workflow as well as that of anyone who will work on it later. Believe me your Mix Engineer will love you for committing and offering a Di for any later editing needs or requests. This in turn leads to less tracks in your session and the work load, for the Mix Engineer, becomes greatly reduced.

 In the video I demonstrate blending in two Di tracks to add presence and more realism to two guitar parts originally tracked through a guitar simulation package (Overloud TH3). But this can be done even if you've tracked through quality outboard gear too.

Distortion v Saturation What's the difference

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.

With all these new tape emulation plugins currently saturating the market, no pun intended lol, it would seem to the uneducated that this is the magic fairy dust your mix has been waiting for. Lots of mis-information being branded about and for those who never worked with the real analogue tape machines the hype is being somewhat over hyped to say the least.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying these plugins are bad, but knowing a little bit more about how analogue tape was used, may shed enough light to help you be more subjective as to whether you need to slap one on your mix, or individual track insert at all.

 Now distortion and saturation can get quite complicated if we delve into the world of mathematical equations in trying to explain what they both do respectively but I would like to take a more simplified approach so everyone can understand without the need for owning a degree in quantum physics. So deep breath, here we go;

Distortion.

"Digital" and "solid state" clipping (Distortion) are essentially the same thing, hard cutoff of the top and/or bottom of the waveform. Lots of people are doing this to their final mixes using huge amounts of limiting trying for the loud mix (the dreaded loudness wars). This turns the waveform, of your mix, from having nice healthy transient peaks to a solid mass block wave form. You may have loudness but you certainly don't have dynamics anymore. Thankfully this trend is seemingly near it's end and we are getting back to the dynamic side of audio rather than how loud you can make your mix.
 Loudness sounds best only at first but it will finally become tiring on the ears and you will switch off quicker. Dynamics on the other hand sounds initially quieter but due to more natural fluctuations in the sound, it is pleasingly less tiring to listen to. If we were to volume level match a mix, one going for loudness using limiting and the other with less limiting leaving the transients more in tact, no hard cut off, you will choose the best sounding mix as 'the more dynamic one' every time. But don't trust me listen to Ian Shepherd (Mixing Engineer) show you in this video example 

click link here; Loudness v Dynamic.

Saturation. 

Tape Saturation, on the other hand, is much smoother, much like a vacuum tube going into saturation - waveform peaks are "smushed down" rather than suddenly cut off. It's still distortion, but doesn't have as ragged and piercing a sound as does the hard clipping of transistor and op-amp circuits. Because there is no hard cutoff, of your wave form, and the transients are more folded over, it sounds more pleasing to the human ear.

What's the difference.

 Think of Distortion v Saturation this way, the best analogy I can give is this, Take a slice of bread, now say you don't like crusts, you take a sharp knife and cut the edges off, that's distortion. Sharp hard cut edges. Take the same piece of bread and pour water onto it until it can soak up the volume of water no longer and it gushes out through the softened crust, that's saturation. Watery soft edges.

 In the 60's they didn't use compressors and limiters as much as we do now (maybe just on a master bus or tracking vocals like Lennon did with a famous Fairchild 660) - the medium (tape) itself did the trick for the most part. Tape gave natural compression and saturation both caused by tapes own limitations.

Examples of use.

So how can these two effects be utilised in Studio One? In the video below I will give two classic examples, one for using distortion and the other for saturation. These are not the only ways of using distortion or saturation but they are definitely the most common used, and  frequently applied in the world of mixing audio.