Group Channels : Question for the pros

[RichieV]

How many and how do you arrange your group channels ?

I am also intested what method you compress.
For example do you group lets say all the hihat sounding sounds to one channel and compress that. Then put all the weird sounds onto another yada yada.

[interferron]

How many and how do you arrange your group channels ?

I am also intested what method you compress.
For example do you group lets say all the hihat sounding sounds to one channel and compress that. Then put all the weird sounds onto another yada yada.

every channel begins with a hipass/lo shelfing filter depending (bass and kick usually low shelfing, everything else hipass), then a noise gate. i also use minimal signal path when recording, cut the mixer out and connect external hardware straight to recording. after that, what ever a channel needs: compression, eq, sometimes slight overdrive/distortion for snares etc..

drums:

channel 1: kick --> bus 1
channel 2: bass --> bus 1
channel 3: snare --> bus 2
channel 4: hihats, crashes, rides etc --> bus 2
channel 5: percussions --> output or individual bus..

then "backing instruments", chords, pads etc usually go to --> bus3

melody, "main instruments" --> bus 4

buses:

bus 1: compression and eq, to get the kick and bass sit tight together
bus 2: compression sidechained to kick channel, so kick eats some of the snares and hihats away to give a more rhythmical feeling
bus 3: reverb to move the backing instruments a bit to the background on the "sound stage" and make them sound like recorded in the same space
bus 4: compression, slight reverb

so every channel usually with individual compression, _very_ easy excluding kick and bass which usually require hard settings, and then the bus contains further compression just to glue instruments together

for drums i use aux reverbs, make one bus start with a hipass filter then a good reverb and send hihats, snares and percussions to this bus so the drumset uses the same reverb

[djTequila]

Have you got any examples/clips of your work that I can download or otherwise obtain? That sounds like a really interesting set-up, and I'd like to see how it performs...

:)

T*

[interferron]

Have you got any examples/clips of your work that I can download or otherwise obtain? That sounds like a really interesting set-up, and I'd like to see how it performs...

i've got clips man. just don't have any web space where i could put them available :(

[djTequila]

Well, once I get broadband sorted out, I'll be able to take comtrol of my website again... Then I'll be able to offer a limited amount of space for people who want to show off clips...

In the meantime, do you have the ability to mail some to me? 'd love to get into a deep technical discussion about that setup, and reference material would really help.

;)

T*

[Dave Elyzium]

interferron: i will host a couple of clips for you if you like, I can sort you out with the details to upload to my space on an FTP server..

[interferron]

interferron: i will host a couple of clips for you if you like, I can sort you out with the details to upload to my space on an FTP server..

hey great! throw a PM at me and i'll upload two or three short clips there. thanks!!

djTequila: waiting to get into that hardcore tech detail conversation with you :)

[Dave Elyzium]

you have PM mate...

[djTequila]

Got the clips. It's a very professional sound!

How much of the system is hardware, and how much software?

T*

[interferron]

Got the clips. It's a very professional sound!
How much of the system is hardware, and how much software?

thanks.
on all the clips you got, all the sounds are from hardware: synths and hw samplers. we usually do most of the writing, sequencing and arrangements without any effects, so it's all about sequencing and sound design - perhaps an occasional built-in effect on a synth..
when the arrangement is ready, it's recorded with logic audio, in the way i described earlier: usually a song takes something like 8-12 separate audio tracks. after that, it's all done in logic with some plugins. mixing, effects, reverbs, compression. when the mixdown is ready, bounce that to a .wav-file and perhaps do something more in soundforge - on the clips i gave you, nothing more than a hard limiter to smooth down some harder individual hits..
plugins: just logic's in-built, they are mostly very good! tc native bundle also, the reverb and the compressor are great for some sounds, when looking for somewhat natural sound.

i got to admit it, software has changed the way i work when it comes to mixdown.. i still don't feel very comfortable with soft-synths, but when it comes to mixing i got a rack half full of hardware effects, a fostex 20/8 desk and a compressor, but all they do is gather dust nowadays. haven't touched the desk's eq's for about a year ;) logic can do all that, sounds good and is much nicer to use..