I’ve been listening to a lot of Rick James over the past few weeks and I’ve come to realize that’s he’s a genius.
If you listen to the musical structure of the songs there is a lot to appreciate. Good use of instrumental counter-point, and a serious understanding of what makes a good groove. In addition to his talent for creating visceral funk music the lyrics he wrote went perfectly with the songs. Most of his lyrics talked about either getting laid, smoking pot or life in the ghetto. I wonder how the sound of funk would have continued to evolve after the 1980′s if hip-hop hadn’t taken off and displaced funk as the voice of black music.
Unfortunately, his slew of personal problems began to overshadow his creativity has time went on. I also think he let his bitter feud with Prince get the best of him.
Rick James is more remembered now for his criminal and drug exploits during the height of his fame but if you look past his notoriety at the music he created it was remarkable.
Hardware compressors such as the Universal Audio 2-1176 are a favorite among studios.
Mix-buss compression can be a confusing for those who are unfamiliar with how it works. Some producers throw it on every track to make it punchy, others prefer to keep the buss pure.
If you are going to use mix-buss compression don’t just throw it on at the end, start from the beginning of your mix process with compression on the stereo buss. Each fader change will affect the overall sound, if you throw on compression at the end of mixing the overall balance of your track can be thrown off.
Hardware or Software?
If you prefer to go the hardware route there are some great compression units out there. Just like how different mic pre-amps lend their own sonic character during recording, compressors also impart their own signature on a track. I’m a fan of Universal Audio’s hardware and software compression plugins. These aren’t “transparent” in color but for the type of music I usually work on they add a pleasant sonic quality.
A good way to find your initial compression settings is to watch the meters on your compressor, they should bounce nearly in time with the tempo of the track. If they are going faster you release time may be too short, if they are staying pinned the release time is probably too long. Attack time is a little more straightforward, the faster the attack the sooner the compression will kick in during the attack portion of the sound. Having a slower attack time will let more transients slip through but it may not work for the material you are mixing. Conversely, too fast of an attack can often leave a track dull and flat sounding. Once you are used to listening to how compression works you can trust your ears to tell you if there is too much. You’ll hear an audible pumping, if you hear this you’ve often gone too far unless it’s for a special effect.
For overall stereo buss compression you can usually leave the ration pretty low, 2:1 or 1.5:1 are a good place to start. Then adjust the threshold so you get a minimal amount of gain reduction. Less is more when compressing the mix buss.
A common mistake most inexperienced mixers make is just throwing on stereo compression to the mix to make their mixes louder to match commercial recordings. If you are going to get your finished tracks mastered I highly recommend against this. Mastering engineers usually add additional compression during mastering and if your mix is already brickwalled it makes it much more difficult to get a decent mastered track. Instead of having one massive stage with lots of compression, split it up. Put some slight compression on the individual tracks. Then some mix buss compression. Finally in mastering put on another level of compression. Three smaller stages of compression will always sound better than one massive stage. I would also avoid throwing on multi-band compression on the mix buss. If you find your track needs it, you’re probably better off going back and fixing the EQ and compression settings per individual track first.
I hope this gives a little insight into how compression on the stereo buss should be used. Happy mixing.
Finally got around to uploading some photos of the studio. Most of the summer was spent doing the construction. There are still some items left like sound treatment and equipment upgrades. For those in the know, the Mackie board does not touch the recording signal path, it’s strictly there for live and composition. Recording all goes through some nicer pre-amps.
I’ve been listening to some old tunes today…what else to do on a rainy day..and came across some songs that were definitely inspiration for Dr. Dre when he produced his album “2001″.
Check these out. I already knew about Backstrokin being the inspiration for “Let’s Get High” but these others surprised me. Some obscure vinyl digging going on.
