What's on the console?

Bob Womack · #1 06-12-2014, 07:24 AM

I've got some interesting stuff going through my console right now and thought you might be interested in it.

The latest project is a group of songs for which I've been asked to re-record vocals for and to "sweeten." The vocals were a bit lackluster so they're going to try them again. The song mixes and arrangements, however, are where the fun comes in. According to the producer they just didn't get people out of their seats. My job was to see if I needed to augment the tracks with guitar or something and then mix them to make them more exciting. I asked for copies of the projects and then brought the producer in for a consultation.

This project is a gold mine for someone like me. I LOVE drums and percussion - that's what gets me moving. Without that foundation the song has a hard time taking off. The initial problem is that this song was mixed, for lack of a better term, too "white." This first song is an island-themed tune with Jamaican percussion. Basically, the hips don't lie. If they don't scream for motion, the mix isn't right. The song had been mixed with all the percussion, kick, and snare, way down and the acoustic guitar and bass dominating the mix. I went in and listened to the individual tracks and saw that the rhythm section had been grooving and there was some really cool stuff happening between the drummer and the percussionists that I could bring out. There was just one problem: the kick and snare recordings from the main kit were just plain old lackluster, too dull to be able to bring life to this piece.

I went into the library of drum kits I had recorded, found a kick and snare that would add some snap, and placed them by hand to preserve the swing of the original performance. The drummer had seemed a bit timid with his kick so I threw in some extra kicks to add grease. Next, I brought in my favorite percussionista and good friend, Pete, to help me voice the percussion phrasing. He pointed out one repeating figure on the congas that needed to be pushed up to the level of the snare in order to create a "dialog" between the drums and drummers. I ran through and lifted that group of four notes wherever it occurred and the whole track just clicked. POW! I'm reminded of the song called "Mamloi" from the Doobie Brothers Toulouse Street album - the percussion grabs you and sucks you into the groove of the song. Cool. Pardon the picture of the wrong era of the Doobies on this vid:

So, now we are waiting for the new vocal performances. We have just transitioned off Mac to PC with the DAW and in the process we are upgrading to Antares AutoTune 7. I'll be interested in seeing what the differences are in this version. Hopefully I won't be spending much time using it!

Bob

KevWind · #2 06-12-2014, 10:23 AM

Hey sounds like a fun project.
So you had to replace each kick and snare hit individually ? I imagine that took some time. Does your DAW have a "tab to transient" feature?

Bob Womack · #3 06-12-2014, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevWind

Hey sounds like a fun project.
So you had to replace each kick and snare hit individually ? I imagine that took some time. Does your DAW have a "tab to transient" feature?

Yep. Manual. I'm not aware of it. What we do have it a "detect silence" feature that cuts out the space between sounds so you can use the "next" button to hop to the next sound. There are a variety of ways to do it but given my short deadline it is often easiest and quickest to use this method.

Bob

Joseph Hanna · #4 06-12-2014, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Yep. Manual. I'm not aware of it. What we do have it a "detect silence" feature that cuts out the space between sounds so you can use the "next" button to hop to the next sound. There are a variety of ways to do it but given my short deadline it is often easiest and quickest to use this method.

Bob

What DAW are you using? Replacing a drum track with samples, by hand, went out in 1906

I think Pro Tools comes stock with SoundReplacer. I think TL Space has one as well as Antares. There's always gonna be some slight mis-interetation with this kinda software but replacing a kick drum (or snare or tom) track should be a matter of seconds!

Bob Womack · #5 06-12-2014, 03:16 PM

I'm working with Nuendo.

Bob

Joseph Hanna · #6 06-12-2014, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

I'm working with Nuendo.

Bob

Just in case you ever run across a similar gig.

http://www.drumagog.com/

Bob Womack · #7 06-12-2014, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

Just in case you ever run across a similar gig. http://www.drumagog.com/

Thanks for the steer! I do it all the time. My biggest problem seems to be getting the time to learn new software.

Bob

KevWind · #8 06-13-2014, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

What DAW are you using? Replacing a drum track with samples, by hand, went out in 1906

I think Pro Tools comes stock with SoundReplacer. I think TL Space has one as well as Antares. There's always gonna be some slight mis-interetation with this kinda software but replacing a kick drum (or snare or tom) track should be a matter of seconds!

I have yet to try Sound Replacer but I have used the Tab to Transient feature in PT, when I want to keep the timing of the original drum performance. It almost unfailingly snaps the curser to the peak of the hit. Although even with the key commands is still done one hit at a time.
Fortunately for me I am under no time constraints.

louparte · #9 06-13-2014, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

Just in case you ever run across a similar gig.

http://www.drumagog.com/

Drumagog is connected with the Auria people.
So it's probably a good product.

What's on my console? Re-doing vocals.
I have guitar compositions I'll probably never get around to.

I opened a bistro about a year ago. I haven't made music since.

Joseph Hanna · #10 06-13-2014, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevWind

I have yet to try Sound Replacer but I have used the Tab to Transient feature in PT, when I want to keep the timing of the original drum performance.

Sound Replacer essentially does the same thing as Tab to Transient. It analizes and identifies the transients, places a marker and inserts a sample, of your choice, at that marker. The only fundamental difference here is Sound Replacer does the whole shebang in about 4 seconds

As I mentioned earlier there are probably better 3-party application solutions out there now a days. If I was in the kind of facility that had to do a bunch of this type of work I'd be all over some form of that kinda solution!

MikeBmusic · #11 06-13-2014, 09:02 AM

On my console?
Tracked vocals (3 lead takes, 7 BU vocal tracks) for a Lyrical Challenge tune due by July 5 and did a bunch of drum track working on it. Lyrics were not great (IMO) but that's part of the challenge - doing something with them, figuring it can only enhance my creative abilities by doing these challenges (I was the winner on the last one - lyricalchallenge.com). Unlike most of my recent (and ongoing) projects, no acoustic guitar in this one at all, two MIDIed synth parts and two electric guitar parts. Need to figure out some lead instrument fills now, probably on a reverby piano.

KevWind · #12 06-13-2014, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

Sound Replacer essentially does the same thing as Tab to Transient. It analizes and identifies the transients, places a marker and inserts a sample, of your choice, at that marker. The only fundamental difference here is Sound Replacer does the whole shebang in about 4 seconds

As I mentioned earlier there are probably better 3-party application solutions out there now a days. If I was in the kind of facility that had to do a bunch of this type of work I'd be all over some form of that kinda solution!

hey thanks

P. S. Nothing on my console right now, rehabbing from surgery last week, so just lying around reading , surfing the Web, and TV