Do you usually use volume automation?

[darthjujuu]

Here's every single cymbal crash of a 12-minute song ridden and adjusted by hand from one of this week's mixes:

So...yeah.

are those MIDI velocities?? or an automation lane for overheads??

if that's automation of your overheads ... then that would be by-hand dynamics control, I believe you may have done better with some nice transparent compression, don't you think? dialing in the settings to be just right on cymbals can be a bit time consuming but compressing overheads for this very purpose is relatively common practice... if you get the thresh/ratio/attack/release all just perfect (and it does need to be all of them dialed to perfection for transparent level control...) you will be pleased with the results, minimal pump, which would most likely sound a bit more pleasant and natural anyway, opposed to the fader flying all over the place non-stop.

and of course, if the crash hits are really just that dynamic, then i believe the drummer may need to be scolded a bit ... and as we all know, drummers DO certainly need their discipline from us...

 

[bryan_kilco]

Is it wrong that I normally use 2 compressors in series along with a limiter to even out vocal dynamics? Seems to work pretty well for me.

 

[darthjujuu]

Is it wrong that I normally use 2 compressors in series along with a limiter to even out vocal dynamics? Seems to work pretty well for me.

is it wrong? no. is it good? yes. do I do it too? yes.

sturgis was once quoted as saying "i compress vocals until the waveform is a square block".

of course, it depends on the material, but generally for anything aggressive, *bombs away*

 

[bryan_kilco]

Yeah I'll normally go extreme settings on the first comp and a bit lighter on the second. But hitting like -12dB GR on the first, ration of 20:1 +, etc.