Studio Advise and DAW Guide

Automation (P1)

 

Every parameter you would think off could be controlled by your Automation.

Every track needs some human element, it's really important, it is great fun and it can be very rewarding.

Listening to the raw melodies can't introduce enough excitement and sound lifelessly. 

On many occasions, the Automation process which is basically modulation of values for different components of the mix like Volume, Panning, Pitch, and Effects will change the feel, focus attention, make subtle changes.

Tuning volume to oscillator shapes can open some real opportunity's for a boring bass line with no life, especially when using a controller instead of a mouse.

Can we assign a volume fades to a sine shape oscillator? Of course, if needed.

Hi-Pass Filter automation has been written on the fly for Giorgia's Guitar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we need to give some legato to our notes but wish to make it on the fly than it would be much easier to work by adjusting the glide when the melody flows.

 

2nd. example of automation (P2)

 

I've opened the Macro Controls of my Audio Rack which contain (Low Pass Filter, Ping-Pong Delay and a Reverb). Mapped them once to my Effects, mapped them again to my MIDI Controller and set the min. and max. values for each one to set the desired behaviour for each parameter like so:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I've recorded my Automation for Filter Cut Off Freq., Resonance, Dry/Wet signal for Ping Pong Delay and  EQ plus Dry/Wet for the Reverb. 

I'm aiming for -6dB of headroom Iike in the First Project but for now, I've only -4dB. Overall output is pretty satisfactory and I'm going to stick to the rules till the finish (Mastering).

 

 

 

On the Return Tracks there is:

Reverb: I've applied reverb to clap and snare, which has added ambience, and moved them into the back of the scene

also: Hi-Hats, Crash Cymbal has some reverb on them. Recorded automation for Tb3.

Delay: Automated Dry/Wet signal for the Tb3

 

The Bass track has some Sidechain Compression which is linked to the kick drum which triggers the compressor every time it hits. 

 

 

 

 

Tape delay emulation.

 

By setting up a new Send/Return track with a Ping-Pong Delay I was able to imitate the effect of a Tape delay by changing the transition mode from Fade to Repitch- by right click.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've also needed to create a loop of the output of the Wet signal back into the effect unit by enabling Send option on that Return Channel which can be done quickly by making a right-click on the Send section a highlighting enable Send.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By controlling the Send Pot, I was able to set the right amount of signal back to the effect loop with caution not to exceed the Volume. I've also mapped the volume fader to the midi controller, added an Auto Filter for less resonance and a Limiter to prevent Clipping.

To trigger the sounds I've used the Ableton Live Sampler, imported a Vocal clip from my clip library, decided which part I was going to use by setting the trigger markers on the desired parts of a sample and adjusting how much of it I want to be sent into the Effect using the Send knob.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I've Recorded it using the Midi keyboard.
At the same time, I was switching between different delay times to find the best option for it. After that, I've chopped the Audio track and placed the coolest take in the mix.

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DUB DELAY FORMULA

 

CREATE A RETURN TRACK -ALT CMD T

APPLY A PING PONG DELAY

INSERT THE SAMPLER WITH AUDIO ON THE NEW MIDI CHANEL (SHIFT CMD T)

CHANGE THE TRANSITION MODE ON THE DELAY TO REPITCH (R. CLICK)

ENABLE THE SEND ON THE RETURN TRACK TO GET THE LOOP GOING (R.CLICK)

ADD LIMITER

 

 

 

Adding Delay and Saturation

 

The first effect which I focused on after adding Reverbs was a Delay effect for the kick drum, a very subtle short delay that creates a double-track effect and adds more bounce, Sync with the tempo on every eight-note with 21% Feedback.

 

Next was a second Reverb for the Snare. This time with 23ms. Pre-delay, Low Cut on 18kHz, 2.9s Decay Time and 12% wider Stereo. That made the Snare stronger and stand out. 

 

Hi-Pass filtering on some of the Vocal phrases to emulate the phone line conversation. Filtering out everything below 1.3kHz to achieve this.

 

Sync to the tempo the same Delay which was used for the Kick drum but with more Volume was added to the Lead Synth by Send/Return Track.

 

I've added the Saturator on top of the Bass Track to add more attack by adding upper

order harmonics which makes it also less muddy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recording (IR) Impulse Responses for making my own convolution reverb library.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm using Space Designer Convolution Reverb to reproduce the real-life acoustic environments

which I've captured around Glenrothes. To separate the dry signal from the wet sound I've put the dry signal all the way down, and wet all the way up.

I'm adding reverb to an Aux track, then bussing the signal to that Aux track. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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