anybody read mixing with your mind?

RawDepth said:
Compression is no mystery. Just learn how to work the damn thing. That is probably the trouble most newbies have.

RD


yup. i think people should start with glen's "Compression Uncompressed" or whatever its called. awesome tutorial, taught me how to use a compressor better than anything else. plus, that's free :)
 
I know how a compressor works. I understand what all the knobs do. I just heard he has a "unique" way of setting a compressor that I would like to try out. I was looking for a unique way of doing something I already "know" how to do.
 
cello_pudding said:
knowing what each setting does, and hearing what each setting does is different. from a quick google search and a 10 second read...this is what i got...


"work from the extremes backwards

ie: start with attack and release at the shortest settings, the ratio at the highest and the threshold low (you might need to adjust the makeup gain at this stage)

it'll sound very ugly at first, but as you increase the attack and the release, you will hear exactly what those parameters are doing

then decrease the ratio until the sound is the right size

raise the threshold until it sounds right (reduce the makeup gain)"

if you do this on the tracks you want to compress, you'll find out what the different knees, attacks, releases, and ratios really do and sound like for different instruments. it will eventually let you know what the track needs. it just takes a consistent method and a little practice.



yeah i've always worked from the extremes backwards on any effects i'm using. it was always the easiest way for me to hear how something really works, whether it be a compressor, or reverb or whatever. :o
 
Here is a link to the website if anyone is interested -

http://www.mixingwithyourmind.com/contents.htm

Bear in mind that I am not affiliated in any way with Michael Stavrou and have nothing to gain by him selling more books. I simply purchased the book and am very impressed with his credentials, knowledge and teaching skills.
 
Hm. Wondering if anytone in this thread is in fact a sock puppet for M. Stavros...?

I couldnt find anything much on google directly about this book, so I will not be spending my $80AD on it any time soon, unless the author feels like making it all a little more open.
 
He used to write articles for an audio mag here in Australia and they were very good. Often has very unusual suggestions, I had been doing the same thing before reading the articles and I have been using some of the others suggestions since with good results.

I have not read the book however as I have been an audio for a lot of years and a lot of the book I would be doing already, the book would really benefit people starting out.

AU$80 is only £45 plus postage if you are in the UK?

Alan.
 
I bought the book after I'd already been recording for 3 decades. I still found many parts of it useful and interesting. It isn't a "how to" book in the traditional sense. It's more of a "how to look at & evaluate things" as well as various strategies, philosophies and sometimes borders on the spiritual. I know some people for whom it was just the spark they needed to advance their discovery of the recording life. For some others, (those who just want a road map of "do this, don't do that") it was too touchy feelie New Age mumbo jumbo.

My take on it is that I'm glad I read it, it changed some of the ways I approached recording, and if recording is going to be a life-long pursuit, you should read it. The cost is worth the knowledge.
 
... For some others, (those who just want a road map of "do this, don't do that") it was too touchy feelie New Age mumbo jumbo. ...
It's on my bookshelf. I wasn't looking for a roadmap, just more info/POV, but confess it kind of hit me like that so I didn't really get into it or even finish it. (Things that remind me of the 60s/70s have that effect on me - still struggling to get through Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which I remember thinking was the best book ever written once upon a time :)) Anyway, I'll have to go re-open it.
 
Hm. Wondering if anytone in this thread is in fact a sock puppet for M. Stavros...?

I couldnt find anything much on google directly about this book, so I will not be spending my $80AD on it any time soon, unless the author feels like making it all a little more open.


I have read all the books on audio and 'mixing with your mind' is the best one by far
 
i have the book and I read it many years ago... i thought it made mixing a lot more fascinating or intriguing.

sadly i forgot most of it or didnt work too hard to apply it..

this is how I remember the compressors function explained..

if you sit in a car and turn your volume on the cd player up and down while listening to a song... ratio is how much you turn the knob up and down, attack is how fast you turn it up, release is how fast/slow you turn it back... and so on...

still his real good stuff lies in how to work the damn thing... Ive not put a lot of time or effort in it myself but I guess if Id read the book again I would feel inspiered to go ahead and mix.

Compression: Yes, You Can! – Going to 11

this is a guy going more into the details of stavros thinking when compressing
 
One thing Stavros suggested in an article I read was to use a limiting compressor in line before a milder compressor for vocal. Man this works. For example set the first compressor at say 10:1 fast attack fast release, but set the threshold so that it only works on the loudest sections of the vocal. Set the second compressor to say 3:1 or 2:1 milder attack and slower release, set the second compressor so that it works on the vocals generally as a soft gain rider. Te first compressor kills the peaks so that the milder compressor works in a much nicer way.

Never forgot this and use it a lot on vocalists that spit out some words and die out with other (no technique LOL).

Alan.
 
One thing Stavros suggested in an article I read was to use a limiting compressor in line before a milder compressor for vocal. Man this works. For example set the first compressor at say 10:1 fast attack fast release, but set the threshold so that it only works on the loudest sections of the vocal. Set the second compressor to say 3:1 or 2:1 milder attack and slower release, set the second compressor so that it works on the vocals generally as a soft gain rider. Te first compressor kills the peaks so that the milder compressor works in a much nicer way.

Never forgot this and use it a lot on vocalists that spit out some words and die out with other (no technique LOL).

Alan.

This is a good suggestion to keep in mind for a LOT of different instruments, to be honest - use the first, more aggressive, compressor to handle wild transients and bring the waveform into a more manageable dynamic range, and then use the second compressor for your actual dynamic shaping and control, now that it's not getting bent all out of whack by extreme outliers.
 
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