So what we’ve done here is we’re talking about imaging part by part left to right, making a few initial decisions, you know, in our rough space before we start a process of processing.
So let’s talk about that. A processing would be to start to add EQ compression, various things to, to each instrument or each set of instrument in turn to create essentially what is a sense of polish, really it’s making things stand out as, as the song goes along.
So what, we’ll, what we’ll do is I’m at the moment, I’m gonna start from the sort of bottom up if you like, and look at some of these instruments. and maybe just leave the vocals till last. So, so to help that process, this is where these track stacks come in useful. I’ll just mute the vocal and I’ll just try and get the backing track sounding, you know, just kind of nice for the time being. so I’ve got the base going on here, and I’ve got here, which I set up earlier.
I’ve inserted the compressor on here. See as you see here in my plugin menu,) I’ve chosen the, studio FET setting, which is a good place to start for base. And, as you see, as I move through these different settings, the different types of compressors are engaged, okay?
Now they each have a slightly different characteristic, but getting to this point of working quickly and getting the essence of what the compressor is doing, you know, and getting a sense of that sparkle, I’ll leave you to play around with all the different types of sounds, but, and again, some people are gonna roll in their grave. It’s all a little bit of a much and a muchness to a degree when you’re first starting out. You, you are just talking about things sitting nicely together and elevating them from where they are at the moment.
So The thing about the base is, you want the front of the sound of the base to come through so you get the articulation. This is not the best bass sound to be working with ’cause it’s just an 8 0 8 bass sound. A-A-A-A-A mono synth bass. Let’s listen to it to start with. So relatively, very, very plain, but it’s doing a job.
I love it. I use it all the time. It just sounds super, sort of clean, contemporary, solid at the bottom. It’s got a nice little sort of click at the front of the sound. You listen, but we want it to sustain a little bit more if possible, and to just add a little sense of punch. So if I turn this on and just talk about what it’s doing, well, let’s, let’s, let’s show you to begin with.
I want the front of the base sound to come through, is the first thing. And but then I want the compressor to sort of keep that sense of the base moving and keep the volume of that up at the end. If I press play, let’s listen, watch the, the dial here.
Now my attack is set relatively late where the release is set really long. Now I’m gonna overdo it so you can hear, and I’m gonna over exaggerate it. So I’m gonna take my threshold down. So it’s gonna, it’s compressing loads. Also my ratio, sorry, my ratio is up. So it’s also compressing quite strongly here. You see how all this sounds disappearing?
(···3.0s) Sort of got a, the life is being sucked out of it. So if I bring this down, you can still see it’s doing a lot of work. I’m looking for this element of getting the front of the note of the base note here, which is why my attack is, is set quite) slow. So the front’s coming through, then the compressor’s kicking in, but then my release is set longer. So it’s taking a long time for the compressor to stop working.
So essentially it’s taking, it’s making the note seems though it’s lasting longer. And you can see this dial here if I take it off, see how, just feel how long the note lasts for, for instance. So the power, it’s got less power and punch if I turn it on. And here’s another thing for you to look at as well.
I want you to look at the meter here, over here. Now look at where the, the the, the base is metering Up here, minus 24. See there where it’s hitting, if I put this on here, you want to get the same sort of sense of punch, but you don’t want the false sense that just because it’s louder, it sounds better. Now here we are, the compressor’s working,) but it’s not necessarily being any louder than when it’s turned off.
And I’ve adjusted this level here, what’s called makeup gain. So I’ve adjusted this up a little touch you see from zero where it would naturally be, just so that the levels of what, so the, the effect that I’m giving this base is not just sounding louder and therefore better than what I had before.
Turn it down a little bit. Let’s listen without the compressor on when we’re, now we’re just listening to see, okay, so if what, what I’ve got the compressor doing, is that making it sound better? That sounds a bit wooly.
Turn it on. It just sounding sort of a bit more solid, isn’t it really? Now then I’ve slightly done it in the, in, in, in, in, in the wrong way round necessarily. But what I’m gonna do is just swap those around ’cause I like to EQ first and then I’m compressing what I’m listening to.
Okay? So let’s talk about, let’s talk about compressing. Shall we talk about, let’s talk about base, the EQ on the base now then if I got, I’ve got the EQ off at the moment. So let’s just watch. And this is very useful in these, logic plugins that, you’ve got an analyzer on there so you can see what’s going on. You’ve got lower frequencies down here, higher frequencies up here.
Now everything down here in this end of things, pretty much imperceptible to the human ear. So if I look here, you can see where the energy of the base is hitting. I’ve got some energy here going on. I just generally don’t want to,) I take too much away starting to lose a sense of the depth of the instrument.
But anything below 32 hurts really safe to sort of get rid of a little bit. That’s just sort of a bit of a, a good practice thing. Okay? Again, so turning these off, this is a good practice. Turn both plugins off, listen to where we were, turn it back on.
We’ve just got a bit more life, a bit more presence to everything haven’t we? Now then let’s move on to the piano, which I would say is one of the next most important instruments. I’m gonna, first of all, I’m just gonna solo this to begin with so we can hear the raw…..
