Interview with Charles Dye
by The Gearspace.com Community
26th September 2023
Charles Dye is a Latin Grammy®-winning and Grammy®-nominated engineer who's worked with some incredibly big names in pop & rock music across the international spectrum. With credits to his name that include legends such as Julio Iglesias, Jon Bon Jovi, Shakira, Sammy Hagar, Lauryn Hill, Aerosmith, Jennifer Lopez, Gloria Estefan, Thalia (for whom he won the Latin Grammy®) and many more, Charles was one of the very first Q&A guests on Gearspace shortly after it was founded, and with over 90 million records sold he sure knew what he was talking about - from mixing tips & tricks to the early Wild West of Pro Tools plugins, it was an excellent insight into the state of DSP and ITB/hybrid mixing in the earliest years of the 21st century. Read on for the juice!
Low end clarity comes from two basic sources:
Those instruments that contribute to the low-end (e.g. kick + bass).
Even more importantly by cleaning up the low end end of the rest of your tracks.
I approach the cleaning up of the low end in a few steps:
- Charles Dye
I did my best to get what I heard in my head as a large, warm almost pillow-y verb for his voice, but I may not be able to help you. When people hear my Julio mixes they interestingly enough say the same thing Julio said when he heard them the first time, "I love it, you made me sound like Bono!" (Not really the reaction I expected, but he liked them nonetheless.)
So, if you'd like to know what verb I used to make Julio sound like Bono, here's what I did. I used a combination of verbs (three in fact), a delay + a harmonizer:
LexiVerb: Short Bright Plate (kind of like a Drum or Snare Plate), 1.0 - 1.2 sec
LexiVerb: Vocal Plate, approx 1.7 sec
TC|Megaverb: Large Hall (factory default setting) approx 2.2 sec
DigiDelay: 1/4 Note Delay, LPF approx 2k, FDBK approx 33%, with lots of the Lg Hall on the return (-6 dB) Set level of delay so you just felt it, but not sensed the actual repeat of the lead vocal. Almost blended in with the Lg Hall.
DPP-1: Split Harmonizer effect for a little thickening.
I started out with one reverb, but it didn't sound like enough (he does like his reverb) so I added another. It still didn't sound like enough, so I added the delay. Again, it needed more. So, lastly I added the Lg Hall and that sounded like I had it.
EMT 250
BTW--I now use Reverb One in place of both LexiVerb + TC|Megaverb. If you have it, you should have no problem coming up with patches that sound as good.
But for the real story, my understanding is the reverb Julio actually prefers on his voice when mixing (I somehow got under the radar) is the Emt 250 @ The Hit Factory/Criteria in Miami. Or in an absolute emergency he'll use the Emt 250emulation on a 251. So, for your mix, if you have a convolution reverb + can get an impulse response of an Emt 250, give it a try. That should give you the real Julio reverb.
And set the decay for real loooooooooooooooooonnnnnngggg.
- Charles Dye
I don't compress or widen, but I do EQ sometimes. On longer verbs, like plates + halls, if there is any muddiness I may use a HPF to clear it up. On gated verbs (I prefer D-Verb Non-Lin) I may EQ to make it darker, brighter or more mid range aggressive.
I have tried compressing Digital Reverb in emulation of compressing drum room mics. It kinda sucked. Didn't sound anything like the real thing. It only made it obvious that the reverb was fake. Haven't tried it since.
- Charles Dye
[top]I've got a Pro Tools LE system that's pretty taxed out.... Problem is, I like to treat a great deal of the tracks and instrumentation with Valve/Tape, comps, eqs and other plugs etc... but am running out of horsepower... In order to free up some cpu power.... Is it better to solo the track, do an internal bounce to disc (mono when the case), and end up theoretically with a new "printed" version of the track in order to free up the plug in space…?
Just to let you know, there is absolutely nothing wrong with BTD. I use it everyday to print my mixes. (There may have been back in the PT3 days, but no more.) That being said, I had to print tracks to free up DSP in my first few years of PT mixing with some of the larger mixes I did + my preference was to use the busses, because I could print multiple tracks all in one pass. Usually, the kick, snare, bass, rhythm gtrs + maybe toms all at once. I then had tons of DSP to finish the mix.
I always saved the source tracks (deactivated + hid), but if any of the printed tracks needed tweaking I would just pop another eq over them to do a little re-shaping. Usually the only things I would need to change were the snare or kick might need to be a little brighter, and maybe the low end of the bass + kick might might need a re-adjustment. In all the years I printed tracks, I never once felt it necessary to go back + completely rethink a sound or undo the compression.
The one thing I remember about it was what a real groove killer it could be. It always seemed to happen just when things really started to cook with the mix. That's one of the reasons I really love HD. It's just got so much power. With my HD system I've yet to run out of DSP.
- Charles Dye
With -100 as hard left and 100 as hard right (as in PT):
1-hats (-40 to -100)
2-kick inside (0)
3-kick outside (0)
4-snare top (0)
5-snare bottom (0)
6-tom 1 (-60)
7-tom 2 (0)
8-floor tom (60)
9-oh l (-70)
10-oh-r (70)
11 room l (-100)
12 room r (100)
I prefer to pan my drums drummer's perspective.
- Charles Dye
I just checked out Def's "Sugar" and it sounds like they went with the one singer approach (I didn't hear multiple timbres) doing multiple tracks with the singer going for a kinda air-y hollow style. In other sections of the song--the call+responses in the verse, harms in the Bsec + the big BGs singing the hook in all the choruses--I heard a larger "gang-style" sound, but still sounded like it may have been one singer. The verb sounded like a relatively bright plate set @ about 1sec.
For some insight, on both Pyromania + Hysteria the BGs aren't actually credited to any of the band members, only to two mystery groups: "The Leppardettes" + "The Bankrupt Brothers" respectively. But since both records BGs have a very smooth even sound which can usually only be achieved by multi-tracking one singer, I'm pretty sure it was really one person. I've heard the secret to their unique BG sound was that they were actually sung by Mutt Lange. (Apparently the same singers were available for Shania Twain's records... ;-)
Anyway, some techniques I use to achieve a gang vocal sound that you may want to try are:
Multiple people (4-8) around the mic. Put the mic in omni mode (if poss.) and place everyone in a circle around it. Depending on how football/soccer stadium you are going for you can use anyone. For a real crowd effect use a mixture of people who don't normally sing (drummer, studio receptionist, assist. eng., the more off key the better sometimes) and those who can.
In multiple passes do two passes with them singing melody in their regular register, two passes in high octave kinda girl like, and two passes of low octave.
For an even more giant stadium effect do two passes of high shouting, mid shouting, and low shouting.
To ensure that you will have enough in key tracks you can also do some tracks with just the real singers. By blending between the larger group and the real singer tracks you can control the gang quality.
Optionally, during the shouting passes instruct them to change their distance from (and poss. location around) the mic between each of the six passes to change the color of the ambience as their voice interacts with the room.
It's hard to say how many tracks is too much or little. This is clearly a taste thing, depending on the size you are going for.
When mixing, to give the song a feeling of growth, don't use all the tracks from the start. You can use fewer tracks earlier in the song poss. leaving out the shouting tracks. Add them in (or turn them up) as the song progresses. You can optionally build the vocals by saving the higher octave tracks for the second chorus, and the lower ones for the third. Or a combination of these two approaches.
For processing I like to bus all the tracks to a stereo bus and compress + EQ the entire blend and put any aux send effects off the processed blend.
For effects I like using more of the split harmonizer effect (see 3rd section More Effects: Pitch Shifter — Split Harmonizer Effect) than I would normally use on anything else. Maybe -10 or -11 dB. (I normally use about -17 to -21 dB for any other vocals or instruments I may put it on.)
I've also found that using gated reverb can really heighten the excitement of the vocals. You can make them big, with a shoutie like quality without mucking up your mix with long verb tails.
Of course there are times when the large hall or stadium verb is exactly what is called for with these kinds of vocals.
Play around with the panning. Hard left/right can sound big, but sometimes it sounds more realistic for these kinda vocals to be panned more center. Also try fanning the vocals to give the effect that there are people standing everywhere from left to right. Keep in mind if there will be a lead vocal going on @ the same time you may want to leave some space in the center for it.
- Charles Dye
Genelec 1031A
Genelec 1031's w/ the top end set to -2 dB. I also have a pair of Yamaha MSP10's that I like.
- Charles Dye
I agree with your approach. I'm a very big believer in getting the sound of an instrument as close as I can to how I want it to be in the mix when recording. Mic selection, placement + preamp selection are all critical, but I'll definitely use compression + eq when tracking drums, percussion, bass, gtr, keys (piano, organ, synth), + horns. With vocals I prefer to only compress + never eq while recording. It makes it much easier to match their sound for additional overdubs.
I never try to do in PT what I could before getting there. All analog v. digital issues aside I use the same philosophy presently when tracking to analog tape or previously when I used to record to digital tape. Why should you put it off? Get it sounding great now. One of my biggest reasons is that the musicians feed off of what they hear when tracking + overdubbing. The better the tracks sound, the more inspired they will be to give great performances.
- Charles Dye
[top]What happened to the dream, Mr Dye?? When you started out didn't you (like most of us) want to have a big console, with tape machines everywhere and lot's of outboard gear? With all respect, but it's hard to believe if someone says "All I wanted was a computer and Ricky Martin in the vocal booth".
Sony PCM 3348HR
When I started out SSL's + Sony 48 trks were on the cover of Mix mag every month. Sure, I wanted to work in the big rooms, with the big boards. Who didn't in the '90's? But it was not my love for expensive gear or posh studios that attracted me to record making, it was my love for music. And that love was what led me to build my first project studio, realizing that it would allow me to express myself as an engineer + producer with more control over my work.
This might be heresy around here, but it's not the gear that gets me off, it's the results. One of the most exciting things for me is listening back to a song that I mixed or produced and loving how it sounds. For me, knowing that I contributed to that is an unmatched feeling.
If a keyboard, screen + trackball got me there. Whatever. My dream has always been to create music.
- Charles Dye
[top]I was wondering if you could shed some light on how you made it in the music business. What were some of the things u did that really paid off down the road? Did you go to a "recording school"?
I studied engineering at a university, and about a year in I did an internship at a studio that led to an assistant engineering gig. So, I dropped out of college + took the job. I assisted at Crescent Moon Studio's in Miami, Gloria + Emilio Estefan's studio where Eric Schilling was the Chief Engineer (and someone I consider to have real golden ears). Eric is a great recording + mixing engineer (endless Platinum credits, Grammys, etc...) and being able to sit behind him, learning by watching him work, training my ears by listening to him get sounds while mixing was an invaluable experience.
One thing I did that really paid off was that I started using hard disk systems pretty early in my career. In '91 I started with the NED Synclaviar + Post Pro, and the next year I bought a Sonic Solutions system together with Eric. A year after that I put together my first project studio, based on the Mackie 8Bus + DA-88s, and became adept at getting studio quality results in a project environment. By the time Desmond Child asked me to manage + chief engineer his new Pro Tools Studio in '95, my project studio + hard disk experience prepared me to make the most out of his studio.
At the time, it was accepted that you could get record quality results in a converted garage, but mixing a record @ home was just an obscene concept. I had made the transition from big studio recording to project studio, I felt why shouldn't we try to mix a record in one? Then in '98 the new PT MIX system debuted @ AES. When I came back from the show I told Desmond about it and said within a year we'll be mixing a record @ his studio. He simply laughed as if to say, "whatta ya nuts?"
Five months later we mixed Livin' La Vida Loca, Shake Your Bon Bon, and four other songs from Ricky's album there.
For me, the things I did that paid off down the road were:
Learning to apply engineering fundamentals in new situations.
Not being afraid of new technologies. Trying to spot trends before they emerged.
- Charles Dye
McDSP Analog Channel
Good question. The only plug-in I "mix through" is Analog Channel AC1. I definitely don't have the other plugs (RenComp, Focusrite d2, Tape + Wide) across the bus when mixing. It can be very misleading to mix into compressors and saturation plug-ins like DaD Tape, because as your adding EQ and doing rides – to boost dynamics @ a transition for example – the compressor + Tape will be constantly pushing backwards against your changes giving you a very inaccurate representation of what you're really doing. If you pull the plug-ins out, all of a sudden your mix will fall apart. It will have absolutely no power or punch. That's why I like to make the mix sound as big + powerful as I can without the plug-ins. And then when you put them in, almost @ the end (4/5's of the way through or so) the mix will just sound huge.
A couple of extra suggestions. Because these plugs are so important to my mixing method, I put them in @ the beginning of the mix and leave them in bypass to reserve the DSP. And I preset them with my starting point settings. Second, I generally mix at a pretty low level, so whenever I go to play the mix back to the client I of course turn it up (they always want to hear much louder than I mix), I also put in all the mix bus plugs – RenComp / Focusrite d2 / Tape / Wide. And I definitely don't tell the client I just added them. This is key. It creates a real WOW factor on their part, because the whole time they've been hearing the mix @ such a low level, that when they hear it back not only is it louder, but it is somehow now much bigger than they thought it was when they were hearing it at the lower level.
At the end of the mix, I then listen to it a number of times with all the plugs in and then make any adjustments that might be necessary. Normally it's just a few panning tweaks. Since the mix is wider a few things are now too far to the left or right, so I pan them a little back towards the center.
- Charles Dye
AKG C12 VR
I was fortunate when I started out to be surrounded by some pretty expensive gear. I've become a bit spoiled and my choices are not very adventurous (read: you probably won't learn a thing from them). Anyway, here are a few of my preferences:
Mics: C-12VR, and many other traditional, you hear their names everywhere, vintage large diaphragm tube/fet mics. Audio-Technica 4049/51/53a. I often prefer mics with color. Don't prefer the CS-800 too much—too bright for me.
Pres: Focusrite Red One or ISA series, Avalon is good, vintage Neve's (some applications), Millennia, to name some faves.
Compressors: LA-2A (original), Tube Tech CL1B, 1176, LA-3, Distressor
EQ's: Pultec EQP-1A, Neve 1073, GML, Neve VR Console, ISA Series
So, those are my basic faves. Again, from all the mics you've heard listed by others for drums, gtr, vocals, etc... I'd say I lean towards the more traditional choices. But I like trying different stuff sometimes to see if I'll fall into something cool, or to force me out of my habits. Doesn't always teach me much, but reinforce why I do things the way I do them in the first place.
For me it's not about the gear, there will usually be something in the room that will capture a great recording. For me it's about capturing a great performance.
- Charles Dye
Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor
I studied engineering at a university, and about a year in I did an internship at a studio that led to an assistant engineering gig. So, I dropped out of college + took the job. I assisted at Crescent Moon Studio's in Miami, Gloria + Emilio Estefan's studio where Eric Schilling was the Chief Engineer (and someone I consider to have real golden ears). From time to time he would set-up a sound and leave the room allowing me to do the punch-ins (this was with tape). Eric is a great recording + mixing engineer (endless Platinum credits, Grammies, etc...) and being able to sit behind him, learning by watching him work, training my ears by listening to him get sounds while mixing was invaluable experience.
In the beginning I assisted on projects for Gloria Estefan + Jon Secada, and later I began engineering and doing some of my first major label mixes for them. From there, I became Desmond Childs' chief engineer and worked on projects with Jon Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Billie Myers, Hanson, and Ricky Martin. I was a tracking engineer on Ricky's English debut record, but a mix I did for one song was accepted by Ricky, Desmond + the label to be the final. The song was "Livin' La Vida Loca" and that led to mixing five more songs on the album, including two other singles "Shake Your Bon Bon" + "Private Emotion". My work on Ricky's album also led to my first two Grammy nominations + a Latin Grammy nomination.
More recently I've done mixes for Sammy Hagar, Julio Iglesias, Poe, Jaci Velásquez, Robi "Draco" Rosa, + Ednita Nazario, as well as engineered for Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. And last year I was awarded a Latin Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album for Thalia’s “Arrasando”.
For more info you may check out my site charlesdye.com.
I have a few words of advice that you may find helpful.
Never stop telling yourself that you will succeed and achieve your goal.
Never give up. Persistence pays off more than anything.
Always put yourself into situations with people who are better at what you do than you are so you can learn from them.
If working on high profile sessions is important to you, then put yourself into situations where you can work with successful engineers, producers + artists, even if it means taking two steps backwards in your career.
The most important ingredient to success is desire. If you want to succeed, you will succeed.
- Charles Dye
Charles Dye Mixing Trick: The Bypass/Insert Head Bob
When I'm working on the sound of an instrument, it's soloed up and I'm fiddling with its EQ, compression, + other plugs, I've found that after I've gotten the sound I sometimes feel the compulsion to prove that all the work was worth it. So, I bypass all the plugs and listen to the unprocessed sound for a few bars, and then re-insert all of them to hear if I'm fooling myself or not. Did I just waste my time with all the tweaking or have I improved the sound? You might do this yourself sometimes.
I've made a few observations about this practice. One is the longer I work on the sound, the stronger the compulsion is to prove to myself I wasn't wasting my time (in the process wasting more time trying to prove I wasn't wasting my time.) Secondly, after listening to the bypassed sound and inserting the plugs to hear a few bars of it processed, I've noticed a little nod of approval I make to myself with my head. A pat on my own back.
The third thing I've noticed (and here's where the theatrics come into play) is that whenever I'm working with one of those over attentive clients who sit, elbows on the console's edge, following along with every single move I make, constantly asking questions (you know the ones I mean), that I behave a little differently. Since they're watching me so closely (they've got their own DAW) they are completely aware of the fact that I've been focusing on this sound, and when it comes down to the bypass/insert test they are also expecting there to be a marked improvement ("'cause he just spent so much friggin' time on it"—client's internal Monologue speaking.) So, subconsciously what I've found myself doing after hearing the processed sound for a few bars is not only do I nod my head up + down much more emphatically, but I've noticed this expression of macho Satisfaction coming over my face (eyes squinting, brow furrowed, lips pursed, like a quarterback who just threw a fifty yard touchdown pass and the only emotion he shows is the confident Satisfaction that he knew it was going to make it before it left his hand.) This somehow seems to help.
And it seems to have an added benefit. If the client was nodding in approval already, they will still usually look over at me to see what I thought, and when they see my little subconscious theater act their head will really start to bob up + down. Even to the point of their shoulders + body getting into it. And with each track this happens, the client will become more and more relaxed, and over time they will slowly melt back towards the couch, and eventually start reading a magazine. It kind of works out nicely that way.
[top]Mixing low end so it all "fits". I would like to know some tips and tricks to mixing low-end so it all has its own space and it all fits in a mix well. - Maskedman72
Low end clarity comes from two basic sources:
Those instruments that contribute to the low-end (e.g. kick + bass).
Even more importantly by cleaning up the low end end of the rest of your tracks.
I approach the cleaning up of the low end in a few steps:
- Listen to the mix for a minute with the kick + bass in.
- Mute the kick + bass and listen to the same passage. If you hear any low end, the instruments creating them may (but not always) be contributing to low-end muddiness.
- Locate + mute all the instruments in Step 2. that had low-end in them. In a rock mix for example this might be all the guitars. Turn on the kick + bass and listen to the same passage again, noting what your mix sounds like with the pure low-end of just your bass and kick. Shape the EQ further on those two tracks to give them the full tone you are looking for.
- Once you are satisfied with the low end in your mix coming from just the kick + bass, unmute one of the other tracks that has low-end, let's use the main rhythm electric guitar. Listen to the same passage and now note how the gtr + bass interact. Elec gtrs are often recorded with lots of low end, but in rock the rhythm gtr may often be doing a part very similar to the bass. There may be a lot of overlap frequency-wise and some of the low end from the gtr might be unnecessary.
- Place a HPF filter on the rhythm gtr track and while listening again to the same passage slowly increase the hi-pass freq. It's important to note that low end interaction between guitar + bass is not necessarily a bad thing. A little bit of beating, that wah-wah-wah sound in the low end created by two notes that are ever so slightly out of tune with each other, can add a nice richness. So don't be too hasty and just strip all the lows from your gtr tracks. Listen to hear if combining the gtr's low end creates a richness, fullness, or muddiness. One trick can be to set the slope of the HPF to be as soft as you can (e.g. 0.71 on Ren EQ) that way you are lowering the lows, but not eliminating them all together.
- Once you are satisfied with the main rhythm gtr, add in each of the other muted low end tracks one at a time and repeat the process.
- Now, with all the tracks in, listen to the low end of your mix as a whole. To get everything to work together you may need to tweak some of the HPF's again, as well as re-EQ the bass a little. Do this without muting any of the instruments. And since you're now familiar with where all the low end elements are coming from, it will be much easier to find problem spots. Just remember that sometimes having a pure low end coming from only the bass + kick can sound great, and sometimes it can sound too sterile. Experiment to find the dirtiness that works for you.
- Charles Dye
[top]I see you have mixed some Julio Iglesias tracks. Could you please tell me which reverb you used? - Cachemira
I did my best to get what I heard in my head as a large, warm almost pillow-y verb for his voice, but I may not be able to help you. When people hear my Julio mixes they interestingly enough say the same thing Julio said when he heard them the first time, "I love it, you made me sound like Bono!" (Not really the reaction I expected, but he liked them nonetheless.)
So, if you'd like to know what verb I used to make Julio sound like Bono, here's what I did. I used a combination of verbs (three in fact), a delay + a harmonizer:
LexiVerb: Short Bright Plate (kind of like a Drum or Snare Plate), 1.0 - 1.2 sec
LexiVerb: Vocal Plate, approx 1.7 sec
TC|Megaverb: Large Hall (factory default setting) approx 2.2 sec
DigiDelay: 1/4 Note Delay, LPF approx 2k, FDBK approx 33%, with lots of the Lg Hall on the return (-6 dB) Set level of delay so you just felt it, but not sensed the actual repeat of the lead vocal. Almost blended in with the Lg Hall.
DPP-1: Split Harmonizer effect for a little thickening.
I started out with one reverb, but it didn't sound like enough (he does like his reverb) so I added another. It still didn't sound like enough, so I added the delay. Again, it needed more. So, lastly I added the Lg Hall and that sounded like I had it.
EMT 250
But for the real story, my understanding is the reverb Julio actually prefers on his voice when mixing (I somehow got under the radar) is the Emt 250 @ The Hit Factory/Criteria in Miami. Or in an absolute emergency he'll use the Emt 250emulation on a 251. So, for your mix, if you have a convolution reverb + can get an impulse response of an Emt 250, give it a try. That should give you the real Julio reverb.
And set the decay for real loooooooooooooooooonnnnnngggg.
- Charles Dye
[top]How do you treat your reverb returns? - Erwinor
I don't compress or widen, but I do EQ sometimes. On longer verbs, like plates + halls, if there is any muddiness I may use a HPF to clear it up. On gated verbs (I prefer D-Verb Non-Lin) I may EQ to make it darker, brighter or more mid range aggressive.
I have tried compressing Digital Reverb in emulation of compressing drum room mics. It kinda sucked. Didn't sound anything like the real thing. It only made it obvious that the reverb was fake. Haven't tried it since.
- Charles Dye
[top]I've got a Pro Tools LE system that's pretty taxed out.... Problem is, I like to treat a great deal of the tracks and instrumentation with Valve/Tape, comps, eqs and other plugs etc... but am running out of horsepower... In order to free up some cpu power.... Is it better to solo the track, do an internal bounce to disc (mono when the case), and end up theoretically with a new "printed" version of the track in order to free up the plug in space…?
or is an ITB bussing to a new audio track and a complete re-record the better way... ? Concerned if the dreaded BTD argument holds up when just using single passes... or if the bussing scheme is better... (if so, are there concerns of latency on the "new" track)...
or... is it better to just Audiosuite the file consecutively? - Bink
Just to let you know, there is absolutely nothing wrong with BTD. I use it everyday to print my mixes. (There may have been back in the PT3 days, but no more.) That being said, I had to print tracks to free up DSP in my first few years of PT mixing with some of the larger mixes I did + my preference was to use the busses, because I could print multiple tracks all in one pass. Usually, the kick, snare, bass, rhythm gtrs + maybe toms all at once. I then had tons of DSP to finish the mix.
I always saved the source tracks (deactivated + hid), but if any of the printed tracks needed tweaking I would just pop another eq over them to do a little re-shaping. Usually the only things I would need to change were the snare or kick might need to be a little brighter, and maybe the low end of the bass + kick might might need a re-adjustment. In all the years I printed tracks, I never once felt it necessary to go back + completely rethink a sound or undo the compression.
The one thing I remember about it was what a real groove killer it could be. It always seemed to happen just when things really started to cook with the mix. That's one of the reasons I really love HD. It's just got so much power. With my HD system I've yet to run out of DSP.
- Charles Dye
[top]How do you pan drums in a mix? Let's say that 100 is hard left and right and 0 is center. Let’s also say that the kit is a standard 5 piece kit. - Maskedman72
With -100 as hard left and 100 as hard right (as in PT):
1-hats (-40 to -100)
2-kick inside (0)
3-kick outside (0)
4-snare top (0)
5-snare bottom (0)
6-tom 1 (-60)
7-tom 2 (0)
8-floor tom (60)
9-oh l (-70)
10-oh-r (70)
11 room l (-100)
12 room r (100)
I prefer to pan my drums drummer's perspective.
- Charles Dye
[top]Looking for tips on big "shouting" background vocals. I'm working on a song for a friend that needs a background vox vaguely similar to "thunderstruck" by AC/DC where they all shout, "thunder" and it sounds huge. I'm guessing it's a combo of several vox tracks and reverb, but could use some help here. - guittarzzan
I just checked out Def's "Sugar" and it sounds like they went with the one singer approach (I didn't hear multiple timbres) doing multiple tracks with the singer going for a kinda air-y hollow style. In other sections of the song--the call+responses in the verse, harms in the Bsec + the big BGs singing the hook in all the choruses--I heard a larger "gang-style" sound, but still sounded like it may have been one singer. The verb sounded like a relatively bright plate set @ about 1sec.
For some insight, on both Pyromania + Hysteria the BGs aren't actually credited to any of the band members, only to two mystery groups: "The Leppardettes" + "The Bankrupt Brothers" respectively. But since both records BGs have a very smooth even sound which can usually only be achieved by multi-tracking one singer, I'm pretty sure it was really one person. I've heard the secret to their unique BG sound was that they were actually sung by Mutt Lange. (Apparently the same singers were available for Shania Twain's records... ;-)
Anyway, some techniques I use to achieve a gang vocal sound that you may want to try are:
Multiple people (4-8) around the mic. Put the mic in omni mode (if poss.) and place everyone in a circle around it. Depending on how football/soccer stadium you are going for you can use anyone. For a real crowd effect use a mixture of people who don't normally sing (drummer, studio receptionist, assist. eng., the more off key the better sometimes) and those who can.
In multiple passes do two passes with them singing melody in their regular register, two passes in high octave kinda girl like, and two passes of low octave.
For an even more giant stadium effect do two passes of high shouting, mid shouting, and low shouting.
To ensure that you will have enough in key tracks you can also do some tracks with just the real singers. By blending between the larger group and the real singer tracks you can control the gang quality.
Optionally, during the shouting passes instruct them to change their distance from (and poss. location around) the mic between each of the six passes to change the color of the ambience as their voice interacts with the room.
It's hard to say how many tracks is too much or little. This is clearly a taste thing, depending on the size you are going for.
When mixing, to give the song a feeling of growth, don't use all the tracks from the start. You can use fewer tracks earlier in the song poss. leaving out the shouting tracks. Add them in (or turn them up) as the song progresses. You can optionally build the vocals by saving the higher octave tracks for the second chorus, and the lower ones for the third. Or a combination of these two approaches.
For processing I like to bus all the tracks to a stereo bus and compress + EQ the entire blend and put any aux send effects off the processed blend.
For effects I like using more of the split harmonizer effect (see 3rd section More Effects: Pitch Shifter — Split Harmonizer Effect) than I would normally use on anything else. Maybe -10 or -11 dB. (I normally use about -17 to -21 dB for any other vocals or instruments I may put it on.)
I've also found that using gated reverb can really heighten the excitement of the vocals. You can make them big, with a shoutie like quality without mucking up your mix with long verb tails.
Of course there are times when the large hall or stadium verb is exactly what is called for with these kinds of vocals.
Play around with the panning. Hard left/right can sound big, but sometimes it sounds more realistic for these kinda vocals to be panned more center. Also try fanning the vocals to give the effect that there are people standing everywhere from left to right. Keep in mind if there will be a lead vocal going on @ the same time you may want to leave some space in the center for it.
- Charles Dye
Genelec 1031A[top]I am wondering which are your favorite speakers? - Mihau
Genelec 1031's w/ the top end set to -2 dB. I also have a pair of Yamaha MSP10's that I like.
- Charles Dye
[top]You speak of only mixing in the box but I was curious what you do on the way in? I track to the computer a lot but use a ton of outboard gear on the way in so that after tracking the mix is half way there or so....do you also do this? Or is your focus on getting a really good sound using mic placement rather than tweaking on the way in? Like using lot's of room mic's and just using pre's on the way in? - Djui5
I agree with your approach. I'm a very big believer in getting the sound of an instrument as close as I can to how I want it to be in the mix when recording. Mic selection, placement + preamp selection are all critical, but I'll definitely use compression + eq when tracking drums, percussion, bass, gtr, keys (piano, organ, synth), + horns. With vocals I prefer to only compress + never eq while recording. It makes it much easier to match their sound for additional overdubs.
I never try to do in PT what I could before getting there. All analog v. digital issues aside I use the same philosophy presently when tracking to analog tape or previously when I used to record to digital tape. Why should you put it off? Get it sounding great now. One of my biggest reasons is that the musicians feed off of what they hear when tracking + overdubbing. The better the tracks sound, the more inspired they will be to give great performances.
- Charles Dye
[top]What happened to the dream, Mr Dye?? When you started out didn't you (like most of us) want to have a big console, with tape machines everywhere and lot's of outboard gear? With all respect, but it's hard to believe if someone says "All I wanted was a computer and Ricky Martin in the vocal booth".
So did you have a "dream studio", or did you only care for the best (in your eyes, I disagree) way of recording music, from the first day on? - Hans Hitmachine
Sony PCM 3348HRThis might be heresy around here, but it's not the gear that gets me off, it's the results. One of the most exciting things for me is listening back to a song that I mixed or produced and loving how it sounds. For me, knowing that I contributed to that is an unmatched feeling.
If a keyboard, screen + trackball got me there. Whatever. My dream has always been to create music.
- Charles Dye
[top]I was wondering if you could shed some light on how you made it in the music business. What were some of the things u did that really paid off down the road? Did you go to a "recording school"?
Was there a certain point in your career that opened a lot of doors for you as a producer/mixer if so what was it? Lastly, any tips/advice for upcoming producers or mixers regarding the music biz? - Silver_shake
I studied engineering at a university, and about a year in I did an internship at a studio that led to an assistant engineering gig. So, I dropped out of college + took the job. I assisted at Crescent Moon Studio's in Miami, Gloria + Emilio Estefan's studio where Eric Schilling was the Chief Engineer (and someone I consider to have real golden ears). Eric is a great recording + mixing engineer (endless Platinum credits, Grammys, etc...) and being able to sit behind him, learning by watching him work, training my ears by listening to him get sounds while mixing was an invaluable experience.
One thing I did that really paid off was that I started using hard disk systems pretty early in my career. In '91 I started with the NED Synclaviar + Post Pro, and the next year I bought a Sonic Solutions system together with Eric. A year after that I put together my first project studio, based on the Mackie 8Bus + DA-88s, and became adept at getting studio quality results in a project environment. By the time Desmond Child asked me to manage + chief engineer his new Pro Tools Studio in '95, my project studio + hard disk experience prepared me to make the most out of his studio.
At the time, it was accepted that you could get record quality results in a converted garage, but mixing a record @ home was just an obscene concept. I had made the transition from big studio recording to project studio, I felt why shouldn't we try to mix a record in one? Then in '98 the new PT MIX system debuted @ AES. When I came back from the show I told Desmond about it and said within a year we'll be mixing a record @ his studio. He simply laughed as if to say, "whatta ya nuts?"
Five months later we mixed Livin' La Vida Loca, Shake Your Bon Bon, and four other songs from Ricky's album there.
For me, the things I did that paid off down the road were:
Learning to apply engineering fundamentals in new situations.
Not being afraid of new technologies. Trying to spot trends before they emerged.
- Charles Dye
[top]Charles, concerning master fader plugins, Could you give a quick run down of which master fader plugs you "mix through"? - Pete Weaver
McDSP Analog ChannelA couple of extra suggestions. Because these plugs are so important to my mixing method, I put them in @ the beginning of the mix and leave them in bypass to reserve the DSP. And I preset them with my starting point settings. Second, I generally mix at a pretty low level, so whenever I go to play the mix back to the client I of course turn it up (they always want to hear much louder than I mix), I also put in all the mix bus plugs – RenComp / Focusrite d2 / Tape / Wide. And I definitely don't tell the client I just added them. This is key. It creates a real WOW factor on their part, because the whole time they've been hearing the mix @ such a low level, that when they hear it back not only is it louder, but it is somehow now much bigger than they thought it was when they were hearing it at the lower level.
At the end of the mix, I then listen to it a number of times with all the plugs in and then make any adjustments that might be necessary. Normally it's just a few panning tweaks. Since the mix is wider a few things are now too far to the left or right, so I pan them a little back towards the center.
- Charles Dye
[top]Charles, what's your favorite gear? - Mike Jaspe
AKG C12 VRMics: C-12VR, and many other traditional, you hear their names everywhere, vintage large diaphragm tube/fet mics. Audio-Technica 4049/51/53a. I often prefer mics with color. Don't prefer the CS-800 too much—too bright for me.
Pres: Focusrite Red One or ISA series, Avalon is good, vintage Neve's (some applications), Millennia, to name some faves.
Compressors: LA-2A (original), Tube Tech CL1B, 1176, LA-3, Distressor
EQ's: Pultec EQP-1A, Neve 1073, GML, Neve VR Console, ISA Series
So, those are my basic faves. Again, from all the mics you've heard listed by others for drums, gtr, vocals, etc... I'd say I lean towards the more traditional choices. But I like trying different stuff sometimes to see if I'll fall into something cool, or to force me out of my habits. Doesn't always teach me much, but reinforce why I do things the way I do them in the first place.
For me it's not about the gear, there will usually be something in the room that will capture a great recording. For me it's about capturing a great performance.
- Charles Dye
Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor
[top]How did you get your foot in the door? - Chae Ham
I studied engineering at a university, and about a year in I did an internship at a studio that led to an assistant engineering gig. So, I dropped out of college + took the job. I assisted at Crescent Moon Studio's in Miami, Gloria + Emilio Estefan's studio where Eric Schilling was the Chief Engineer (and someone I consider to have real golden ears). From time to time he would set-up a sound and leave the room allowing me to do the punch-ins (this was with tape). Eric is a great recording + mixing engineer (endless Platinum credits, Grammies, etc...) and being able to sit behind him, learning by watching him work, training my ears by listening to him get sounds while mixing was invaluable experience.
In the beginning I assisted on projects for Gloria Estefan + Jon Secada, and later I began engineering and doing some of my first major label mixes for them. From there, I became Desmond Childs' chief engineer and worked on projects with Jon Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Billie Myers, Hanson, and Ricky Martin. I was a tracking engineer on Ricky's English debut record, but a mix I did for one song was accepted by Ricky, Desmond + the label to be the final. The song was "Livin' La Vida Loca" and that led to mixing five more songs on the album, including two other singles "Shake Your Bon Bon" + "Private Emotion". My work on Ricky's album also led to my first two Grammy nominations + a Latin Grammy nomination.
More recently I've done mixes for Sammy Hagar, Julio Iglesias, Poe, Jaci Velásquez, Robi "Draco" Rosa, + Ednita Nazario, as well as engineered for Jennifer Lopez and Shakira. And last year I was awarded a Latin Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album for Thalia’s “Arrasando”.
For more info you may check out my site charlesdye.com.
I have a few words of advice that you may find helpful.
Never stop telling yourself that you will succeed and achieve your goal.
Never give up. Persistence pays off more than anything.
Always put yourself into situations with people who are better at what you do than you are so you can learn from them.
If working on high profile sessions is important to you, then put yourself into situations where you can work with successful engineers, producers + artists, even if it means taking two steps backwards in your career.
The most important ingredient to success is desire. If you want to succeed, you will succeed.
- Charles Dye
Charles Dye Mixing Trick: The Bypass/Insert Head Bob
When I'm working on the sound of an instrument, it's soloed up and I'm fiddling with its EQ, compression, + other plugs, I've found that after I've gotten the sound I sometimes feel the compulsion to prove that all the work was worth it. So, I bypass all the plugs and listen to the unprocessed sound for a few bars, and then re-insert all of them to hear if I'm fooling myself or not. Did I just waste my time with all the tweaking or have I improved the sound? You might do this yourself sometimes.
I've made a few observations about this practice. One is the longer I work on the sound, the stronger the compulsion is to prove to myself I wasn't wasting my time (in the process wasting more time trying to prove I wasn't wasting my time.) Secondly, after listening to the bypassed sound and inserting the plugs to hear a few bars of it processed, I've noticed a little nod of approval I make to myself with my head. A pat on my own back.
The third thing I've noticed (and here's where the theatrics come into play) is that whenever I'm working with one of those over attentive clients who sit, elbows on the console's edge, following along with every single move I make, constantly asking questions (you know the ones I mean), that I behave a little differently. Since they're watching me so closely (they've got their own DAW) they are completely aware of the fact that I've been focusing on this sound, and when it comes down to the bypass/insert test they are also expecting there to be a marked improvement ("'cause he just spent so much friggin' time on it"—client's internal Monologue speaking.) So, subconsciously what I've found myself doing after hearing the processed sound for a few bars is not only do I nod my head up + down much more emphatically, but I've noticed this expression of macho Satisfaction coming over my face (eyes squinting, brow furrowed, lips pursed, like a quarterback who just threw a fifty yard touchdown pass and the only emotion he shows is the confident Satisfaction that he knew it was going to make it before it left his hand.) This somehow seems to help.
And it seems to have an added benefit. If the client was nodding in approval already, they will still usually look over at me to see what I thought, and when they see my little subconscious theater act their head will really start to bob up + down. Even to the point of their shoulders + body getting into it. And with each track this happens, the client will become more and more relaxed, and over time they will slowly melt back towards the couch, and eventually start reading a magazine. It kind of works out nicely that way.
