Quick Automation Demo
 

After replying in the "Two Questions space pair" thread, about automation and in order not to further side track that thread, I thought to post this one.

Sorry for this long wordy preamble but it sets up the situation

Some quick background :
I was needing to finish up mixing one of my original song sessions specifically to up load to Sound Cloud .( which presents some unique problems for me -more below ) In which I was using automation on a 1 band EQ to "De-ess" the Vocal . So I thought I would also do a quick screen recording to post here in AGF about the process.

For me Sound Cloud has always been an issue to post songs that are sufficiently loud BUT not distort on playback on certain parts specifically on my laptop speakers, on the most sibilant part of the vocal (S'es)

While often I do not hear any distortion ( even using ear buds plugged into the same laptop) ,, and definitely not on my studio monitors or studio Head Phone's I sometimes get a crackling on the S'es in the vocal

I do use arguably the one most sensitive Tube mics in the high frequencies ( modern version of the vintage Telefunken ELAM 251) and on my voice with tendency to be spitty and sizzley on the (S'es). But I use it because it has IMO the best most present "air" and overall best sound with my voice.

Ok so in this video rather than use a typical "De-ess" plugin on the entire vocal track which IMO tends to rob air out of the vocal .....I use a 1 band EQ set to reduce just the most egregious frequency for the S'es and use automation on the Master Bypass to have it engaged only on the worst (S) sounds and then be bypassed everywhere else .

You will see me move through a section of vocal , select any sibilant sound that stand out , quickly audition that section and then decide to EQ it or not

Unfortunately I did not fix the screen audio which is not revealing how sibilant the highlighted sections actually are but you can still get the drift of the work flow
If there are any questions pleas ask