EQ and Compression Techniques For Vocals and Acoustic Guitar
Compression
When I first started reading about compressors I was hopelessly lost. The terminology was technical in an almost mean-spirited way and I couldn’t make heads or tails of what was being written. To keep things simple, I think of compression as a way of evening out the loud and soft parts of any vocal or instrument so that its behavior is a bit more predictable. In other words, compression brings up the really soft spots and tames the really loud spots so that you’re not constantly reaching for the volume fader on your mixing board (or virtual mixing board on your DAW). In its simplest form, a compressor, whether a hardware unit or a plug-in, will squeeze the Read more
Microphone and Vocal Techniques to Record Like a Pro!
Having a good "Mic Technique" means two things:
Understanding that a microphone’s diaphragm reacts with varying sensitivity to your vocal performance.
Knowing how to adjust your body according to the dynamics of the delivery.
If you’re going to deliver a quiet, intimate vocal from start to finish, you can afford to position your mouth just a few inches (or even less) from the microphone. If the vocal is to be sung full volume throughout the song, you may stand a couple feet away. Quite often, though, a song is dynamic enough to require different amounts of air to be pushed at different times. Singers with good mic technique will move their body closer to or further away from the mic as the song unfolds. Ideally, your Read more
Ducking to Get Low
Ever wondered how to get your low-end right in your mixes while keeping it crystal clear and punchy? You should try this:
Duck your bass guitar under the kick drum hit.
This lets the kick drum stand out in the mix and makes it punchier. This technique is great for metal music with a lot of low-end and demand for a non-muddy low and low-mid range sound.
All you need to do is use your Read more
Reverb Settings
We are used to hearing our music played indoors in buildings with acoustic properties. The natural reverberation affects all the sounds in a building. Every sound has the same reverb.
Pop production tends to use a variety of reverbs within the same mix; each instrument can have a different amount of Read more
Metal Drum Production Doku Part 1
