randy staub

[AStudio]

Its as if he autotunes his bass gtrs, as they always fit right in the pocket, sonically and musically.

I think he cuts his bass tracks to the kick aswell, literally manually cuts every bass transient aligned to the kickdrum in pro tools (giving tight as an otter pocket bass+kick relationship).

Hes definately a monster engineer.

 

[WestCoastCrush]

Randy is one of Vancouver's crown jewels of audio and a good guy to boot. I have to second Mr. Sneap's assertion that Randy always gets glorious drum sounds. Another great of this city (and who usually works mere yards away from Randy in the Warehouse Studios, though not usually in the same room) is Mike Fraser . If you don't know who he is, just head on down to www.letmegooglethatforyou.com .

 

[The Unavoidable]

Funny a guy that awesome did "Shot To Hell." I'm a huge Black Label fan, and I really don't like anything about the STH sound. The guitar tone is all bass, drums sound just rattly and very unbalanced with an inaudibly muddy kick. Add a snare that goes "BÖ" and bury the vocals under said guitar low end and you're in hell already. But most likely that was just the band backseat mixing, since they seem pretty set in what sound they are after.

Awesome guy though, love alot of his stuff.

 

[TheDude]

One of the best in my opinion. Has a great understanding of bass and his drums always sound great. Its quite annoying really

Ah, the good old Swedish envy pops out and....wait a minute?!?

 

[Fredrik-Ablaze]

Ah, the good old Swedish envy pops out and....wait a minute?!?

Well what do you expect? I bet half of the englishmen have viking blood in them somewhere so the envy was bound to surface at some time

 

[C_F_H_13]

Its as if he autotunes his bass gtrs, as they always fit right in the pocket, sonically and musically.

I think he cuts his bass tracks to the kick aswell, literally manually cuts every bass transient aligned to the kickdrum in pro tools (giving tight as an otter pocket bass+kick relationship).

Hes definately a monster engineer.

Yep, he melodyne's all the bass tracks (unless they come to him that way) and I'm sure he aligns them too. He has an amazing assistant named Zack (I think) who does alot of his "prep work".

The only thing I noticed/heard was that he does INSANE buss compression. Like 8-15 DB (SERIOUSLY!). It's so much, that he has a stick click hit sample before every song starts to get the compressor moving before it starts so there isn't a giant WHOOOSSSSHHH.

Also, Mike Fraser is amazing too. Working at the warehouse is pretty much the place to be if you wanna learn from those guys. Also, it's one of the nicest studios to work at, both in terms of equipment and just good vibes.....except that it's in cracktown.....hahaha.

 

[Machinated]

I love hearing stuff like autotuning bass tracks - never would have thought that would sound good, yet having an in tune bass is so important for everything. May have to experiment with that one day. Has anyone else melodyne'd bass tracks? does it sound alright?

 

[C_F_H_13]

I love hearing stuff like autotuning bass tracks - never would have thought that would sound good, yet having an in tune bass is so important for everything. May have to experiment with that one day. Has anyone else melodyne'd bass tracks? does it sound alright?

I've worked on a few records as an editor/engineer lately where it was required.

Melodyne makes it easy. Just load it all in, highlight all, and double click on a single piece and it all gets lasered in tune.

Some people (ok 1 guy) had me run it 2 or 3 times so it was almost just perfect sine waves hahaha. Not sure about how good that was for sound quality, but it was 100% in tune. After it's in tune, I had to align every note to a kick or grid space.

Then he had me automate every note to a specific RMS level, so the bass was in tune and completely un dynamic. Then I had to run it through his bass chain. Compression/EQ/Distortion ect. Then he finally added dynamics in with more global level rides. Bass sounded huge.

From what I heard through the grape vine, that's how Mutt did the new nickelback. Everything was automated to a insane degree, and the dynamics were "re added" by global automation on the console (or by icon in shippley's case).

 

[Machinated]

Crazy lengths, but done for a reason I guess!

I'm kind of curious actually, I'm sure I read a while ago you worked as part of a production team? how does that work?

 

[Seizure.]

Thanks for the info! gotta try that myself sometimes

 

[LSD-Studio]

It's so much, that he has a stick click hit sample before every song starts to get the compressor moving before it starts so there isn't a giant WHOOOSSSSHHH.

interesting. so he's working with slower/auto-release instead of havinf release set to fastest, like most of us do

 

[C_F_H_13]

interesting. so he's working with slower/auto-release instead of havinf release set to fastest, like most of us do

My guess (and it really is a guess) is he uses the auto setting on the Buss Comp on the SSL. 4:1 and 10 or 30 ms attack. Just a theory.

 

[LSD-Studio]

My guess (and it really is a guess) is he uses the auto setting on the Buss Comp on the SSL. 4:1 and 10 or 30 ms attack. Just a theory.

yep, would make sense, I'd second that guess...might perhaps be 3:1 as well (3:1 on an SSL seems somthing like a magical setting to me , esp for autorel and higher reductions)

 

[C_F_H_13]

yep, would make sense, I'd second that guess...might perhaps be 3:1 as well (3:1 on an SSL seems somthing like a magical setting to me , esp for autorel and higher reductions)

I'll assume you mean 2:1 cause SSL 4000s only have 2,4,10 :1 ratios. And that's a good point, something I might have to look into.

 

[aramism]

ok PLEASE lets keep this thread going forever.

but aside from that i just mixed one song for a band and i got a DI track of a nice bass actually just terrible in tune and i melodyned that shit in 2 seconds just auto corrected at 100% with both settings and boom. sounded tight as shit.

good call on the aligning with each kick hit, i always was amazed how in the pocket the bass was.

 

[Ermz]

Great tips in here. I can't wait to try out melodyning and editing up the bass to the drums.

One question though... if Randy is hypothetically doing 8 to 15dB reduction on the master bus at 30ms, wouldn't the entire mix just be PURE attack? It seems a bit insane. He'd having to be seriously hitting it with a limiter on the back end.

 

[C_F_H_13]

Great tips in here. I can't wait to try out melodyning and editing up the bass to the drums.

One question though... if Randy is hypothetically doing 8 to 15dB reduction on the master bus at 30ms, wouldn't the entire mix just be PURE attack? It seems a bit insane. He'd having to be seriously hitting it with a limiter on the back end.

I honestly can't explain it myself. I've tried it on the SSL at the studio I work out of most days, and it's pretty impossible to make it sound good hahahaha. He might be using faster attack times, all I know is that when you get a finished mix from him, it's a F@cking square wave basically. He must send different mixes to the mastering guys, cause what we got were was just a block, yet not limited or printed hot or anything...like -14 or -18 rms?

 

[ParsonsMatt]

I've worked on a few records as an editor/engineer lately where it was required.

Melodyne makes it easy. Just load it all in, highlight all, and double click on a single piece and it all gets lasered in tune.

Some people (ok 1 guy) had me run it 2 or 3 times so it was almost just perfect sine waves hahaha. Not sure about how good that was for sound quality, but it was 100% in tune. After it's in tune, I had to align every note to a kick or grid space.

Then he had me automate every note to a specific RMS level, so the bass was in tune and completely un dynamic. Then I had to run it through his bass chain. Compression/EQ/Distortion ect. Then he finally added dynamics in with more global level rides. Bass sounded huge.

From what I heard through the grape vine, that's how Mutt did the new nickelback. Everything was automated to a insane degree, and the dynamics were "re added" by global automation on the console (or by icon in shippley's case).

Wow! Might as well just run a bass synth controlled by a MIDI.

 

[Ermz]

I honestly can't explain it myself. I've tried it on the SSL at the studio I work out of most days, and it's pretty impossible to make it sound good hahahaha. He might be using faster attack times, all I know is that when you get a finished mix from him, it's a F@cking square wave basically. He must send different mixes to the mastering guys, cause what we got were was just a block, yet not limited or printed hot or anything...like -14 or -18 rms?

That's crazy. You have to wonder what his working approach really is to mixing.

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

A lot of great guys use extreme SSL bus compression. Andy Wallace is another. It's just a testament to how great they are that they can make great mixes that breath even with such massive gain reduction. A lot of guys I know who do that use it as a crutch, Randy Staub and Andy Wallace are doing it totally intentionally and are totally in control. Very impressive!