Automation

[Klosure]

I was reading the CLA stuff and how he mentions Automation for getting stuff in your face.

So whats the deal. Its bloody hard ding automation I think in your DAW cos you have no faders, on the other hand you can draw them all in.


But whenever I automate it just sounds like ive turned stuff up or down. When I listen to records I cant hear that going on very much.

I am sure its subtle but I cannot feel it making much of a positive difference to my mixes. Any ideas as to where I might be going wrong in my approach.

 

[Trevoire520]

Automation is generally pretty subtle, and shouldn't be done for the sake of it. Use it when you need it.

Bringing in drum room mic's for choruses is pretty common I think. As is making sure your toms are sitting at the right level for each fill.

It really depends on the song though. I've done stuff where the only thing needed was riding a couple of words of a vocal at the start of the song.

Do it because when it's needed. Not just because you feel that you should be doing it.

 

[professorlamp]

If you like the idea of using faders then just write the automation using the faders (enable write automation), make sure you have a steady hand and already know the value you want to put in though

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Also, you can automate much more than faders; things like compressor thresholds, delay/reverb mix, panning, etc. are all ways to mix things up

 

[Emdprodukt]

you can pretty much automate all your effects. It's crazy how much automation is going on in my projects lately. The last thing I did (for the first time...) was automating the kickdrums hp-filter (slate kick samples need it... a lot). Whenever a fast kickpattern showed up, the filter went from 80hz to 110. thick whooompf for single kicks and no muds for fast doublebass patterns. awesome!

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Yeah, I definitely automated a lot of low-end taming with the Slate kicks on my EP during the fast parts as well! (dropping the threshold on the multi-band compression in my case though)

 

[Ermz]

Good stuff to delay is drum levels for faster sections, fills etc. Vocals between bridges and choruses, to inject that dynamic back in. But my fave is automating FX like verb, delay and whatever else. My sessions are usually full of that kind of stuff (when I can be bothered).

Automation is pretty common stuff, but hard to master. It's one of those things you get a better feel for the longer you mix. It's more important to be able to do the mix fundamentals well and craft a mix that doesn't inherently *need* automation in order to sound solid. Rather you just automate to make things gel and flow a bit better.

I think it was CLA that said if you need automation to compensate for your mix, then you're doing it wrong (not in so many words).

 

[Klosure]

its that bit of needing it.... it sounds like you shoudnt need it it, so I guess its just a taste thing