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Tech Tips

inSync Tech Tips cover over 3,800 music and audio topics spanning 15 years of technological development. Look here to find answers to your tech questions, cool tips and tools for making music, and more.

Drums Tech Tips

Jun 14 2006, 12:00 AM

Getting the Most from the Bomb Factory PSA-1 #3

Last time we talked about interesting ways to treat drums with the PSA-1, and this time we'll delve into using the PSA-1 as an effect on vocals. The PSA-1 was great for mimicking the megaphone-into-the-mic trick that has been popular in recent years. To create this effect on a male vocalist... Read more »
Jun 13 2006, 12:00 AM

Getting the Most from the Bomb Factory PSA-1 #2

Last time we talked about the basic functions of the Bomb Factory PSA-1. Today we'll talk about using the PSA-1 on a drum track, either to beef up the track or as an effect. It's no big secret that bussing the drum tracks to a single stereo compressor can give the drums an overall fatness and... Read more »
May 12 2006, 12:00 AM

Getting Loopy with Gibson #5: Syncing the Echoplex to an external MIDI clock.

In the previous tip, we discussed using a volume pedal to control the loop feedback on the Gibson Echoplex. However, there are many more useful features that are difficult or complicated to access from the front panel during performance - and that's where MIDI comes in. MIDI interacts with the... Read more »
May 9 2006, 12:00 AM

Getting Loopy with Gibson #2

Today's Tech Tip highlighting the creative performance possibilities of the Gibson Echoplex derives from another technique found in electronic music composition. However, as opposed to the groundbreaking technique of the 60's we discussed previously, (see TTOTD 5-8-06) this is a modern idiom of... Read more »
May 3 2006, 12:00 AM

Quickie Guide to Mixing # 25

Generally when we apply reverb to instruments such as a drum kit, we tend to pan reverb in stereo (hard left and right) in order to create the effect of reverb as it occurs in a room. In mixing, there are two schools of thought regarding this. One school says do it; the other says no, because... Read more »
Apr 26 2006, 12:00 AM

Quickie Guide to Mixing #24

In a previous series of tech tips, we discussed using the Sony Oxford Transient Modulator to bring drums forward in a submix for clarity. This tip deals with clarity of another fashion; that is how to pan drums (that aren't fighting for space) for clarity. Let's assume that the drums are miked... Read more »
Apr 19 2006, 12:00 AM

Quickie Guide to DAW Mixing #23

Quickie Guide to DAW Mixing #23 Last time, we discussed creative EQ for drums (3-30-06). Moving to the more mundane, lets talk about finding problem frequencies with instruments like drums. Since the drum sounds go by so quickly it's difficult to use the boost the gain all the way and sweep the... Read more »
Apr 18 2006, 12:00 AM

How to bring drums forward in a mix using the Sony Oxford Transient Modulator. (Part 11)

How to bring drums forward in a mix using the Sony Oxford Transient Modulator. (Part 11) Having discussed the controls of the Trans Mod, now we can answer the initial question (see TTOTD 4-4-06). The example was a submix including electric guitar, bass, and drums to be mixed together with two... Read more »
Apr 17 2006, 12:00 AM

How to bring drums forward in a mix using the Sony Oxford Transient Modulator (Part 10)

At this point, we've covered all of the controls of the Trans Mod. If you've been following the series, you're probably anxious to get to the application mentioned in part one. However, before we do that, there is one application of the Trans Mod that's worth the detour. When used with a... Read more »
Apr 14 2006, 12:00 AM

How to bring drums forward in a mix using the Sony Oxford Transient Modulator. (Part 9)

Last installment we discussed the Overdrive control (part 8). Now, we'll take on Threshold, which is the last control we need to discuss. The Trans Mod acts only on signals above the threshold setting, ignoring all signals below the threshold value. For generating increased attack with positive... Read more »
Apr 13 2006, 12:00 AM

How to bring drums forward in a mix using the Sony Oxford Transient Modulator. (Part 8)

In Part 7 of this series, we talked about setting the gain control of the Trans Mod in order to prevent peaks from being lost forever due to clipping. However, if high levels of modulation are required, some clipping will occur. The Overdrive control offers some extra headroom, by allowing... Read more »
Apr 12 2006, 12:00 AM

How to bring drums forward in a mix using the Sony Oxford Transient Modulator. (Part 7)

In the previous part of this series (part 6) we discussed the Deadband control, which provided a method to decrease the sensitivity of the Trans Mod's process to transients. This brings us to the Gain control, which also appears on the GUI as a slider that can be set in positive or negative... Read more »
Apr 11 2006, 12:00 AM

How to bring drums forward in a mix using the Sony Oxford Transient Modulator (Part 6)

In the previous part of this series (part 5) we discussed the Rise Time control, which provides a method to decrease the sensitivity of the process to short term events. This brings us to the Deadband control, which also deals with decreasing the sensitivity of the Trans Mod's process to... Read more »
Apr 10 2006, 12:00 AM

Using Sonnox Transient Modulator to Bring Drums Forward

In the previous tip we discussed the Recovery control. Now we'll rise to the occasion and talk about the Rise Time control. The rise time value modifies the response of the Transient Modulator's envelope detector to fast transients and provides a method to decrease the sensitivity of the... Read more »
Apr 7 2006, 12:00 AM

More Using Sonnox Transient Modulator to Bring Drums Forward

Last time, we discussed the Overshoot control and how it can tune the response of the Sony Oxford Trans Mod to the program material (see TTOTD 4-6-06). The next control we'll discuss is the Recovery control. The Recovery control adjusts the envelope processing of the Trans Mod over time. Its... Read more »
Apr 6 2006, 12:00 AM

Using Sonnox Transient Modulator to Bring Drums Forward in a Mix

As we discussed in the previous tip (part 2), before we can effectively use the Sony Transient Modulator plug-in to bring drums forward in a mix, we need to understand the controls. Last time, we discussed the Ratio control and how it differs from other program-dependent compressors. The next... Read more »
Apr 5 2006, 12:00 AM

Bring Drums Forward Using Sonnox Transient Modulator

In the first part of this series, the question was raised whether EQ or compression could be used to bring drums forward in a guitar-bass-drum submix. The answer was, in a nutshell, "not really. " The best solution to the problem is to use the Sony Oxford Trans Mod plug-in. While The Trans Mod... Read more »
Apr 4 2006, 12:00 AM

How to single out drums in a guitar, bass, and drum submix for clarity.

Q: Recently, I had to record a live band with three guitars, (two acoustic/electric, bass, drums and three vocalists. Due to the band's physical location on stage and a limited number of inputs in the recording console, I had to submix drums, bass, and one electric guitar through a secondary... Read more »
Apr 3 2006, 12:00 AM

Using EQ during recording

Though it's generally not something that we'd suggest doing, there are instances where it's not a bad idea to apply a little EQ during the recording stage of a project. High-pass or low-pass filters can be used to reduce or eliminate bleed from other instruments. For example, use of a low-pass... Read more »
Mar 30 2006, 12:00 AM

Quickie Guide to DAW Mixing, Part #22

This tip deals with using EQ to add some interest, and the illusion of realism, to acoustic drum samples. The boring sameness of repetitive samples is well-covered territory, with drums being the primary offender. Since drums produce timbral changes based on how hard they are struck, we can... Read more »

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