Member Dana Nielsen
MemberForum Replies Created
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Wound up making a quick lil vid today on the topic… chime in with any thoughts!
https://mixprotege.com/2023/09/14/brainworx-bx_clipper/
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Sounding great man! 👏 Can’t wait to hear the mastered version when it’s ready 🔊🤘
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Yo! I mostly use harmonic distortion tools (console plugins, tape plugins, some distortion plugins, etc) and haven’t really messed w the clipping plugins on the market but have been curious. Are those what you’re talking about? Any you’ve found usefull?
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@Garry , @dolph , @Chappy , and @EvB … I’m curious: any of u using “clipping” plugins in your mixing? Anything worth checking out? I had my eye on this Boz Little Clipper for a minute, but never pulled the trigger. Also just noticing Brainworks makes one that I bet is included in my Mega Bundle thingy with them. Maybe I’ll give that one a try first.
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Yeah Jon! Really great job! Your friend sounds awesome – real Chris Cornell vibes 🤘. Mix-wise here are a few quick thoughts:
- The guitar gets very compressed and a bit distorted during the choruses – sounds like there may be a limiter on the guitar or the mix that’s working too hard during the choruses?
- [This note is directly related to the above note] The verses sound amazing and loud and clear but when the choruses hit and the mix wants to get louder, there’s nowhere left to go, headroom-wise, limiter-wise. The result is that your “big” moments like the choruses actually start to feel “smaller”, relative to the nice loud verses. Try the “Find the Drama” tip from my 5 Mix Power Tips freebie in the Shop menu. i.e. work on the last (loudest) chorus, get that sounding huge and clear and powerful and just the way you want it, and then work the mix backwards (using automation as needed, and/or arrangement changes .. like how you’re making great use of vocal doubles and guitar doubles for the chorus) making sure verses feel quieter or less intense than the choruses. I spend a lot of time working on transitions between sections, making sure the mix really “blooms” into a chorus from a verse, getting louder with no noticeable distortion or limiter artifacts ( … unless of course you want distortion or artifacts, which, for some styles of music, is just what the Dr. ordered!)
- Might be nice to add one more subtle element (backbeat tamb hits?) to the final chorus or choruses, just to introduce some new piece of ear candy to keep the listener engaged.
All easy stuff tho man! You’ve done a great job and are in the home stretch!
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Looking fwd to listening to this when I’m back in my studio, @Jon_Plett ! And Thanks, @shimmerisland for the helpful feedback! 🙌
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Sick, man!! And yeah, saw ur IG post about the orig console – that’s some “stars align” stuff right there ✨. Really sounding good. My initial thoughts when I listened yesterday were:
- crank dat bass! I bet the ol’ Saturn trick helped. AND … I know I said I almost never “sidechain”, but … one of the only times I will sidechain is to get an exaggerated bombastic effect where the bass and/or entire track move out of the way of the kick. Could sound cool on this song. Pre-fader send from the kick into the key input of a compressor set super aggressively — ratio way up and threshold way down to start, so it’s super obnoxious. This’ll help you determine the best grooviest attack and release settings. Then once u have it the way u want, adjust the ratio and/or threshold to get the desired amount of “sidechain effect”.
Snare could crack more or be louderI also referenced a track that I think it reminded me of, and might be fun for u to crosscheck against – more for vibe and volume and balance than for low end wallop.
https://open.spotify.com/track/0Z7b5GlC70FAES1YduhhqQ?si=f38cc0c1d4c149a6
- crank dat bass! I bet the ol’ Saturn trick helped. AND … I know I said I almost never “sidechain”, but … one of the only times I will sidechain is to get an exaggerated bombastic effect where the bass and/or entire track move out of the way of the kick. Could sound cool on this song. Pre-fader send from the kick into the key input of a compressor set super aggressively — ratio way up and threshold way down to start, so it’s super obnoxious. This’ll help you determine the best grooviest attack and release settings. Then once u have it the way u want, adjust the ratio and/or threshold to get the desired amount of “sidechain effect”.
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Right? So handy and fun controlling transients, preserving mix headroom, and adding “loudness” and vibe all with one tool and a few knobs!
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Right on, Jon, thanks for ur insight on the Boz! Gonna check that out!
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ok gonna check those out thanks @Michael !
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Right on man! Nice detective work on the RX, too. Love the tamb addition. lead vocal feels — dare I say — a bit bright and a bit loud and/or dry. Generally I’m all about a clarity and volume in a lead vocal! But I kept wondering, “what would this sound like w less top end on the vocal and the vocal tucked in a bit more, esp during the choruses and bridge where the gtrs want to rock out?” Maybe lead voc down and bgvs and guitars up in the big sections? Or actually, come to think of it, u could poss leave the lead voc where it’s at and just boost the guitars and bgvs during the choruses so they “rise up” 😉 to the level of the vocal. Coming together man!
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Damn, man, that’s you singing?? Awesome! Thought that was your friend/client. 👏
And very cool analogy within the film editing world – I’ve never heard of that one – fascinating, thanks for sharing! Keep up the great work, and hope u enjoy the “5MPT”! ⚡️⚡️ -
That’s it man – I always push these tools to their limits to really hear what they’re capable of!
I saw a video once that referenced a photo editing tip whereby you find perfect exposure or contrast etc by pushing the boundaries of each parameter to the extremes in either direction, rocking back and forth, 100% over-exposed to 100% under-exposed, back and forth over and over in smaller and smaller increments until the correct exposure reveals itself out of the extremes and into a balanced and pleasing exposure setting.
It’s a great trick I’ve used ever since in both photography and music in order to a) determine the entire usable “range” of a given tool/plugin/hardware/etc, and b) to not turn into one of those social media wankers who tries to sell me a new eq by demonstrating a 1db boost I can’t even hear on my cell phone. [Cut to me screaming in my bathroom at the person on my phone: “c’mon you weenie! Show me what that thing can really do!!!! 🙄”]
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Hahah – u know it! 🧹 And yeah, these things have Dolby ATMOS encoding and decoding built in, baby! 🔊
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😂😂😂😂😂😂 @CMN I literally took those pics thinking, “Charissa’s not going to like how dusty these are 😬”