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Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM
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Understanding Bass Management
With Bob Hodas, November 20th
Brought to you by Ex'pression College for Digital Arts and Mix
Bob Hodas explores best practices for Bass Management in your studio, explaining how to set up a bass managed system, what features to look for in a Bass Management box and much more.
Read more and register here.
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Mastering Stories
Our December issue will focus on mastering. We'd like to hear from mastering engineersŃtell us about your most interesting mastering project. E-mail us at mixeditorial@mixonline.com.
Remix Hotel News
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Avid Presents: Remix Hotel Los Angeles| Dec. 4-6, 2008 |
Hot off an incredibly successful event in Atlanta, Remix Hotel is gearing up for its final event in 2008: Remix Hotel Los Angeles. We're busy putting together a killer weekend of panels, production and more. Keep it tuned to remixhotel.com for registration and schedule details, and be sure to check out all of the amazing videos from Atlanta and New York! .
This Month in Mix
BRAINWORX BX_HYBRID 2
Equalizer Plug-In
The 11-band mono and stereo bx_hybrid 2 ($349) VST/RTAS EQ plug-in from Brainworx combines unique features with traditional tools. As you'd expect, filter choices include low shelving, high shelving, bell, lowpass, highpass and notch, with sweepable bass and presence-shifting EQs that are joystick-controllable. The extras include Auto-Listen modes; M/S stereo width and M/S “Mono Maker” controls; a dual-mono layout for linked and unlinked control of each individual feature; individual bypass switches for every feature; balance and phase correlation meters; and solo'ing capability for left and right channels, which puts the signal from the individual channel into both speakers. A switchable EQ panel with multimode EQ display ties all these fully automatable functions together.
The old-school core of bx_hybrid results from its creators' understanding of the mysteries of M/S. By applying M/S principles internally to a mixing/mastering EQ, brainworx has made this complex technique foolproof and easily accessible for DAW-based production. The Mono Maker control at the top of bx_hybrid's large and attractive interface allows you to change the low end to mono from 0 Hz up to any desired frequency. It creates a mono mixdown low while automatically compensating for any potential loss of overall bass amount in the mix.
When I applied bx_hybrid to the bass, drums, percussion and synth stems of an electronica mix, the benefits of this capability were immediately apparent. I started by making the bass mono at 44 Hz with a stereo width decreased down slightly from 100 percent (you can take it as high as 400 percent), resulting immediately in a nicely tightened, better-focused bass track. From there I introduced the Mono Maker and stereo-width controls, making incremental increases in those parameters for each stem. The result was a startling increase in control for placing each stem in the stereo field and articulating its presence, in a way that would have been either impossible — or at least extremely time-consuming — without the hybrid on hand.
The software's ability to solo the left or right signal in both speakers was invaluable for judging perspective on the mix, and the Auto-Listen modes — while tricky to comprehend at first — become intuitive with practice, allowing even greater insights as to how each band's Q, gain and frequency adjustment impacted the audio.
The only difficulty I encountered was CPU drain: Putting one across each of four stems on my PC (2.26 GHz, 2GB RAM) in Cubase SX3 affected performance, although I solved the problem by freezing tracks. That issue notwithstanding, I was impressed with bx_hybrid's ability to improve workflow and decision-making, which improved the final results in my mixes.
Brainworx, www.brainworx-music.de.
— David Weiss
Modern Recording and Mixing
This 2-DVD set will show you how the best in the music industry set up a studio to make world-class records. Regardless of what gear you are using, the information you'll find here will allow you to take advantage of decades of expert knowledge. Order now $39.95
Mastering Cubase 4
Electronic Musician magazine and Thomson Course Technology PTR have joined forces again to create the second volume in their Personal Studio Series, Mastering Steinberg's Cubase(tm). Edited and produced by the staff of Electronic Musician, this special issue is not only a must-read for users of Cubase(tm) software, but it also delivers essential information for anyone recording/producing music in a personal-studio. Order now $12.95
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