How to EQ and Compress Strings
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- Опубліковано 4 лис 2016
- Hey! In this video I'm going to show you how to EQ and Compress Strings!
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Best explanation of what muddy sounds like 😂 Cheers man! That’s awesome
Hey @Next Level Recording,
At around 2:30 you say that you can't compress a violin because you will compress bleed as well. But you can compress certain frequencies. Compress specific frequencies to avoid compressing important elements in the track. Use your attack and release features to fine tune when and how long your compressor is active. Sidechain instruments to let them shine when they have melodies, automate the bypass of each sidechaining compressor to program when and where the sidechaining occurs.
Josh De La Garza yep! I didn't go into multiband compression or side chain compression here - just basic compression techniques! Thanks for the comment though!
I'm a string player that does a lot of recording. I'm not saying what you are doing is wrong, just that I often do the exact opposite. I find the muddy area is often where the woodiness, warmth and mellowness of the of the instrument is and too often that part is cut without being assessed as to how it sounds. Also, around 7k the violin can sound very harsh if you are not careful. That can depend on microphone placement, the range being played, the instrument itself and the needs of the mix. Again, not a criticism, just to add to your advice that ears are used on a case to case basis. If it sounds thin and harsh and peels paint off the wall then not good! Your strings certainly sound fine :)
Absolutely, however, in this video I'm showing what I did to fit these strings within the context of an actual song - though I didn't show it with the song. If they were just stand alone strings, I would do exactly what you described! Thanks for the comment!
This is insane. -.- For months I've struggled with muffled sounds due to not knowing what I was doing and HOW TO EQ. See, I play metal and basically the bass isn't in, instead there's a contrabass and loads of cellos and violas and lovely things like that. I couldn't manage to get the things to sound clear enough. Turns out, need to be ultra aggressive on EQ, and go instrument by instrument. Every little thing counts. Something I didn't get for all these months. Thanks. That's what I get for being new. :3 It sounds clearer now.
thanks man! and yeah, im gonna use those tips on my current session. some of these even gave me ideas for pads. thanks a lot! where can i find some finished product of yours??
Where can I listen to the entire piece?? It sounds amazing!
Hey there - well sorry for my late reply, but I wasn't able to release anything until the movie premiered and the soundtrack was released!! It's called 'Try' and you can find it here: open.spotify.com/track/0zwngjzzIchTqdLCHdqoza?si=SW--YnP2QAKD9V-3qM7L4A
@@GrimaldiSound I didn't get another notification from this comment until today lol. Thanks! I already gave it a heart in spotify. It's a great song!
Very interesting, thank you
Hi, thank you for the video! the violins are sent both to aux and master or only to the aux and then to the master fader?
Hey! I send mine to an aux, and then the aux to the master fader! I set up my aux tracks a little different though - I have ALL SUBS (sub mixes) - All Drums (with percussion), All Music (instruments minus drums), All Vocals and All FX. I send these Subs (aux tracks) to the master fader..
If you've never tried that method, try it! It makes making stems way easier.. If the label wants a mix without any FX, just mute the All FX sub.. No vocals.. mute the All Vocals sub.. maybe they want all the vocals to be up 2 dB.. just turn up the All Vox sub track.
Try it out!! I believe I made a video about my session set up as well - check that out to see exactly what I'm talking about! Sorry if this was confusing but thanks for your question!
Very helpful, thank you for sharing. I'm wondering if there is a way to remove the fingerboard sound from the violin take, apparently my mic was too close so it picked up my fingers tapping on the fingerboard while recording the violin. Thanks!
For sure! For denoising audio I use Izotop RX Advanced - it's the industry standard in audio restoration! Sometimes that's pretty cool though to hear in the music - depending on what type of vibe your going for obviously!
@@GrimaldiSound Thanks so much for the quick reply. Great, I'll look into that!
I only use bus compression on strings, often with a multiband, but never fast on the attack. FOr ex: UA Fairchild 670- preset "Slow Stirings". Im not even looking for much reduction its more of a case of being "switched in"
Remember that when you are using a synthesizer you don't need to compress sounds from it as they're already well compressed.
LucasBurnMusic for sure!! This video is more tailored to real strings than synth strings - I should clarify that in the title!
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Thank you so much! Any tips on how to tame a not so well recorded Cello in a String Quartet. I assume rerecording is the best solution but unfortunately no option for me...
Hey man! It depends what's wrong with it! Feel free to send it to me at Marcus@nextlevelrecording.com and I can give it a listen and throw some tips your way!
Thank you! How do you feel about saturation and/or tape emulator on a cello. (I record solo cello playing the melody, with pianos, etc accompaniment). Trying to find a good go-to group of plugins. I think I’ve been overdoing it.
For sure! Most people use saturation to thicken things up, or let it poke through the mix in a busy arrangement. I use saturation and tape emulations all the time.
Saturation knob is great and it's free! I also use UAD tape plugins that work magically, but you need a Universal Audio interface to use them! Depends on the arrangement, but I'd do a tape emulation at 15 IPS. The slower the tape machine the bigger the low end bump, but signal to noise ratio is lower and it can be pretty noisy. But you'll be fine with 15 IPS on a digital recording. If you can select the tape type, I personally like 456, 1 inch tape at +6 calibration if you're able to choose that stuff.
All in all, if you use saturation and like how it sounds, move on and leave it be!! Gotta made decisions in mixing! So many people these days tweak something a million times instead on deciding it sounds good and moving on!
Happy mixing!!
Next Level Recording 🙏
Hello, what an informative video, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I just purchased Shure MV88+ condenser microphone and and installed it’s relevant app on my iPhone, which is MOTIV video app. I have adjusted HPF to 75 and compression to light, I’m confused about the equaliser settings. In my test recording violin sounds a bit metallic, nasally almost harsh. I was wondering how do I need to adjust this equaliser to make it sound more warmer, fuller and less harsh? This equaliser graph on MOTIV video app looks different than some other equalisers, so I don’t know how to adjust this. If you have experience with it I’d be grateful for a useful advice on adjusting this eq settings to improve the violin sound in my recorded video. Thank you 🙏🏻
Hey! I'm not familiar with that app! But this sounds more like a mic placement issue and maybe not the best room to record in!
I would first try placing the mic closer to the instrument to get a bit more body out of it! Also, make sure the correct side of the mic is facing the instrument!
EQ wise, to add more body and warmth to it, you can boost anywhere in the 200-350/400 range and it'll get some body to it! Don't overdo it though cause then you'll make it muddy!
As for harsh frequencies, search in the 2kish range. But boost the lower frequencies first as I stated above. Boosting those lower frequencies can help mellow out the harsh frequencies!
@@GrimaldiSound Thank you so much for your useful advice 🙏🏻 in this app I have, the graphic EQ has 5 bands only, so it’s sort of simplified, not a detailed EQ at all. I wish I could share a screenshot of this graph image with you but I can’t attach anything here on UA-cam. In the center there is 1k, and on its right 4K and 10k, and on the left 250 and 100. That’s it. There’s no 2k for instance. So this doesn’t give much room to adjust certain frequencies. Based on you advice I can boost in 250 then, to add warmth and body. But not sure how to tweak 2k since it’s not visible on the chart…. In terms the placement of the microphone to the violins, I’d say there’s about two meters distance. The mic is plugged into my iPhone with a short cable, so there’s no possibility to move to mic away from the iPhone camera at this stage. The room is a very large living room with high ceilings. The violins sound beautiful in that room usually, but they sounded tinny and metallic and almost nasally in the test recordings. I’ll try your advice on boosting 250 a bit in this simplified EQ and see what happens. Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it 🙏🏻
@@Truthinhands 2 meters (6 feet for anybody reading this) is way too far away and likely the reason your recordings sound thin. Move the mic a lot closer to get more body from the violin. I'd experiment with this - try .6 meters away (2 feet) and adjust closer or further from there based on what you're playing dynamically. If you're playing really loud, back the mic up a bit. If you're playing quiet parts, move it closer.
There's a thing called 'proximity effect'. Meaning, the closer you get the microphone the source, the more low end the microphone will pick up.
As far as the EQ - 2k was just a suggestion. Harshness can occur anywhere in between 1k-4k and sometimes a bit higher. This range is where human ears are most sensitive. So you can look at pulling down 1k or 4k as well!
@@GrimaldiSound thank you so much for your useful advice, I appreciate. I will explore those options 🙏🏻
Thanks for the video!
But there doesn't seem much EQing happening in your tracks. I always thought I would see complex looking EQ. But then again, this would make the sound more artificial than live. Just one question, though. When you lower the mids, you only lower them like -3dB. Is this consider big? Not even the bell shape is hitting the signal curve in your plug-in. Should I lower it more until I hit the curve?
Diego de la Vega Hey! Thanks for the comment! It really depends on the recorded material! These strings were recorded pretty well so they didn't need much eq! Don't get me wrong, sometimes I crush EQ with notches and whatever is needed, but the more drastic changes you do, the less natural it sounds!
In regards to your question, the 3dB isn't that big of a move. But it doesn't have to be! Less is more! Now again, there's times where I would take out 12-15 dB of a frequency!
Here's my #1 rule of thumb.. If you take out 3 dB and it sounds good.. Keep it! If you take out 12 dB and it sounds good. Keep it! Always remember, there are no 'rules'. I typically like starting at 3 dB and go up or down from there! Every recorded element is different so there aren't cookie cutter EQ moves!
To get an idea of a more drastic move, check out my video on how to EQ bass guitar or how to EQ kick drums! I throw in some pretty hefty cuts!
If you have any other questions, let me know!
So sorry for my delay in getting back to you about your question! I typically like to do small EQ moves because they sound more natural! 3dB is a great starting point but there are no rules - if you need to cut out 6 dB to get something to sound how you want it to, then take 6dB out!
Woah! Sorry for the delayed response! It depends really - strings and instruments in the higher frequency range - the more you take out, the more audible it is. Unlike bass instruments, you can take out more than usual. I didn't need to take out too much in these strings - subtle moves go long ways! Typically I try to stay around -3dB!
The best advice I can give you though is this - there are no rules. There might be 'guidelines' but if you have to take 5-7 dB or more to get something to sound the way you want it to, then go for it!
Happy mixing!!
-3db is actually something
-12db should not ever be needed ! that's actually about -400% : logarithmic scale
are you using the comp on each string or you put it directly into the Group? (Bus)
Dzasko Official for this particular song, I put a comp on the individual strings that needed the attention.. Like the 1st violin that carries the main melody in the song.. It had some peaks that I wanted to control. Then I did compression on the strings as a whole on the strings group!
Thanks for the question!! Let me know if you have any others!
Sounds so good! Any idea what mics and processing was used during recording?
a troeds I'm not sure actually! I received the files from a Movie Studio out in LA. There were no comments or mentions of processing and mics used unfortunately.
At 4:49 you say you have the slowest attack and quickest release but the attack is set to 1!? Isn't that 10 or 1 ms attack? and Release at 70 or 7 ms? I dont own this plugin but I'm still confused. Thanks for the video though!
Hey!! Thanks for the comment!!
1176 Attack and Release settings are backwards from other compressors!
1 = slowest attack/release (1 millisecond)
7 = fastest attack/release (50 microseconds)
I found the exact millisecond speeds on the CLA owners manual from Waves Plugins.
Thanks for sharing this knowledge. I didn't know that. Attack still is pretty fast on 1 millisecond dont you think? Never seen a compressor going so detailed down to microsecond except the RCompressor from waves. :-)
I would totally say that 1ms is still 'fast' but the 1176 it definitely reacts differently than other compressors - seems slower than 1 ms if you ask me! If you've never used one, I would totally start using them!
I know the compressor that comes with Pro Tools (Dyn3 Comp) gets super quick in the microseconds!
What music is this? I want to listen to the entire piece. Please link us to it.
AMW Ananda's Music Workshop hey! This is for a musical movie called "Stuck"! Unfortunately I can't release this yet! Send me your email and I'll send it when I'm able!
How to EQ for electric violin ...and compression
Hai, sir I am a violinist. I have a small home studio.. I am using cubbase 5 . Which reverb , delay is better for violin ?
Malayalam Piano Class hey there! I typically like using hall and plate reverbs on strings. It depends what kind of sound you're going for. Halls give depth and height and plates give a source to back of the room type sound - shows distance to the back of a room.
As far as delay, if I'm using delay on strings I like using Waves H-delay - either 8th or quarter notes. Sometimes I put a quarter note panned to one side and a dotted 8th to the other to give it some extra flavo ! But make it so you feel the reverb more than audibly hear it - unless that's what you're going for!
Next Level Recording Thank you ...
Sound to me like mud is a good thing on mixing strings when trying to warm up a track if putting a muffle or mask over certain frequency and not get that piercing high-frequency sound? And yet eq cutting in the 238 Hz range again on aux channel? And finally, letting eq air at the top during this final process with slight compression?
Like your video❤️👍🏻
Whats the name of the band or orchestra
Where can i find the entire piece... Its nice
waht bass did you use?
Next Prime not sure what you mean - bass?
@@GrimaldiSound idk what instrument it is but i hear it alot in film score it sounds like it could be a synth bass but idk it really drives some songs
Next Prime ah ok! There was no synth bass in this - these were real strings recorded in LA - just cellos and violins really!
1 A STRINGS
Sounds like Copyright infringement of the song "Bitter Sweet Symphony".
frankly, this sounds much better and musical than the mentioned lame, haunting, neverending loop...
no panning?
Andy Murray there is some panning in there!
im struggling with panning any pointers got 5 violins going
Andy Murray is it just violins or is it within an entire song?
in a song. 3 Viola plus 3 Violin.
I've panned 2 right one center and two left and EQed the four that are panned together
what song is tht
Chainsmokers - closer?)
i think people want to learn how to record bad shit, so we know what to do, in this case we learn eq compress, barly
It was a boring video There is no important information