What are done to almost everything pro tracks?

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mikerecord

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Hi,

First of all I'm new so sorry if my thread is a bit on the noob 101 topics. I have been doing some research and have found out that almost all tracks go thru these process. Let me start the list...

Noise Reduction/pop
Hard limiting
Reverb
normalizing
vocals pitch correction
vocal EQ
compression

Nowadays modern pop/hip hop are running on Auto tune.
 
mikerecord said:
Hi,

First of all I'm new so sorry if my thread is a bit on the noob 101 topics. I have been doing some research and have found out that almost all tracks go thru these process. Let me start the list...

Noise Reduction/pop
Hard limiting
Reverb
normalizing
vocals pitch correction
vocal EQ
compression

Nowadays modern pop/hip hop are running on Auto tune.
Click to expand...

It's a pretty screwed up track that needs much more than eq and compression. I don't even do those unless I hear a need for it. It's a pretty screwed up studio that puts all that on every track by default. I've used pitch correction on maybe one or two tracks ever, and I've never used it as an effect. If I wanted a robot sound I'd just do my vocals with Xtranormal.

And most of the time reverb is added via a parallel effects loop, not put on the track (but sometimes I do it in special cases).
 
mikerecord said:
Hi,

First of all I'm new so sorry if my thread is a bit on the noob 101 topics. I have been doing some research and have found out that almost all tracks go thru these process. Let me start the list...

Noise Reduction/pop
Hard limiting
Reverb
normalizing
vocals pitch correction
vocal EQ
compression

Nowadays modern pop/hip hop are running on Auto tune.
Click to expand...

I disagree with most of that. "Pop" reduction on a vocal track may be accomplished in 2 basic ways. First, use a pop filter. If something still got through, you can run a high pass filter, which is just a type of EQ that rolls off everything below whatever frequency you specify. But it's EQ. True "noise reduction" is a digital process that really shouldn't be necessary unless the track was messed up.

Why in the world would somebody normalize a vocal track...or hard limit it? Certainly not both.

I typically don't even EQ a vocal track anymore...just compression and reverb. But I would agree that most vocal tracks are EQ'd.
 
I'm with BSG... I'd hardly suggest putting "all that stuff" (and that's a whole boatload of stuff) on every track...

Normalizing...? What is this - 1992? Do people still normalize? Is there anything "normal" about it for that matter? Hard limiting at the track level? Very rarely, but it can happen.

I'd love to hear a mix that had all the elements normalized and limited at the track level... I can only imagine the auditory chaos...
 
mikerecord said:
I wanted to know if there are any other (almost mandatory) process that studios do besides the ones I've listed.
Click to expand...
Yes. Proper tracking and micing techniques so that you don't have to perform ridiculous "surgery" with any of the far-from-mandatory processes that you mentioned.
 
Use whatever plug-ins/eq you need to take the song in the direction you want it to go. That's basically the only rule.
 
I use less and less effects as I improve. To me, I see most effects now as just a way to cover mistakes.
 
Right...it was the same thing when I use to do video editing for a couple of years....some of the guys would go nuts with FX since we had just gotten one of the early Avid systems, so they were like kids in a candy store with the digital FX, but most of the productions looked so overdone and like bad commercials.
I always stuck to basic cuts and fades...like what they do with film.

With audio...it's some basic "cut" EQ for the most part...light compression on some tracks as needed...and only some reverb on vox/leads, with most other tracks dry, or with bit of delay as needed. I try not to over-process, and you are right...I too find that the longer I've been recording, I reach for any of that stuff less and less.
 
I agree with all the others. There's nothing that is mandatory for every track. I add procession on an "as required" basis.

I have to say that I pretty well never use noise or pop reduction. If you get your mic and recording right in the first place these shouldn't be necessary--they're restoration tools that leave artefacts on your audio and should only be used when absolutely necessary.

EQ? Fairly often, more to make vocals sit in the mix than to "fix" anything.

Compression, normalising, hard limiting? Sometimes, as required--but rarely (if ever) all three on the same track.

Reverb? A bit more often but it depends on the style of track--and it's always better to be sparing.

Pitch correction? Well, that depends entirely on the vocalist (I record others, not myself) but in the ideal world it wouldn't be needed. (And, to get on my hobby horse, if you get the monitor mix in the earphones right, you can improve the performance of most vocalists.)

Anyway, short of plugging in a microphone, setting levels and hitting record, there's NOTHING I do on every track.

Bob
 
Bobbsy said:
Anyway, short of plugging in a microphone, setting levels and hitting record, there's NOTHING I do on every track.
Click to expand...

I tend to only plug in a mic about half the time. I never want to over-rely on them! :D
 
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