As part of our current competition where each week for 4 weeks we are offering one silver iLok for the best community tip, you are sending in some great tips which we want to share with the community. In this post here are some tips and tricks from community member Markus Grandegger....
Mixing a live recording of a small orchestra, I found a cost-effective way to greatly improve the interaction of the mic-signals, just using a small plug-in and the pan-pots. It just needs some time-investment and your ears and a small tool for phase-adjustment would be helpful too.
Time Aligning Tracks
Time Aligning the different tracks of multiple-mic'd recordings can be done in many ways. You can i.e. nudge the position of the whole clip, or dial in the amount of timeshifting in each track's delay-field, or you can use a phase-shifting plug-in. I use the UA - Little Labs IBP, for best results a mixture of these methods will probably do the trick.
Let's say you have 5 tracks to mix:
- First solo your main-track (on which you want all the other tracks to fit, i.e. the Room-Mic-Pair).
- Now additionally solo the second track (Shift+Solo Button) and tweak its time-position and phase, with whatever tool you have, until you have the impression "Nailed it!" You will recognise this point, when the transients sound clearer and more punchy than before.
- Now additionally solo the third track.. etc.
- After working through all 5 tracks your mix will already sound cleaner and clearer than before.
The next step will lift your mix to another dimension and I'm not exaggerating here.
Panning In Mono
The following panning-trick is not a secret at all, but I can imagine that it is overlooked by many of us because it seems kinda weird - Do the panning of your stereo-mix in mono. Yes, in mono!
- After switching your output to mono, as before you can start by soloing the first track and add the others step by step, tweaking the pan-pot all the way around until you find the sweetest setting.. You can't overhear it.
- After working through all 5 tracks you switch back to stereo and ...voila!
What you should find is that your mix, after adjusting phase & panorama, now has a deepness, contour and pristine definition, that you might not have achieved at all even with the most expensive gear or plug-ins.
Mike says - Thanks Markus for sharing these ideas and I guess its one of things you have to try to really understand the benefits.
Please note that just because we have published them doesn't mean you have won, its just what we want to share the best of your tips with the whole community. Each week we will announce one winner on the podcast, so listen out and see if you are the lucky one, each week.
What Do I Need To Do To Try And Win A Silver iLok?
- Send us your tips and tricks that help you in your productions. Use the Contact Us page please.
- Take a look at the community tips that are on the site to see the kind of thing we are looking for, and also to make sure we haven't covered the tip already.
- Each week we will pick out one winner for the next 4 weeks as we only have 4 iLoks.