manually/randomly tweaking levels during mixdown

[-J-]

I recall hearing somewhere (this was probably in the days of analog) that during mixdown, engineers would sometimes have their hands on the volume sliders and sort of keep tweaking them here and there - not a whole lot, but like little boosts and cuts, almost at random. I guess the boosts/cuts would probably hover around an ideal level for the instrument. Am I crazy and this didn't/doesn't happen, or do people do this, and is there a name for this technique? thanks....

 

[greyskull]

automation/ riding the faders pre ssl
most records are still mixed this way.
eq only does so much, automation keeps the music interesting

 

[-J-]

oh! I had thought automation meant at certain points in the song, the fader would move to a pre-programmed position determined by the engineer, at a part where mabye the guitars aren't supposed to be as loud or something.

 

[Unavailable]

oh! I had thought automation meant at certain points in the song, the fader would move to a pre-programmed position determined by the engineer, at a part where mabye the guitars aren't supposed to be as loud or something.

That's correct.

 

[colonel kurtz]

oh! I had thought automation meant at certain points in the song, the fader would move to a pre-programmed position determined by the engineer, at a part where mabye the guitars aren't supposed to be as loud or something.

automation and riding the faders have the same basic purpose...it's just that fader rides were necessary in the analog days, because it wasn't yet possible to tell a DAW or console exactly where/when things needed to be pushed up or brought down. the engineer would listen to the track repeatedly, mark where the changes needed to occur, then ride the faders as the console fed into the 2-track recorder

automation curves are meant to achieve the same effect, but tend to be 536808234 faster, and can also be stored/recalled