Mixing ITB: Your Kick Chain?

[Storyville]

REQ ---> Decapitator. Rarely anything else.


Occasionally the stock digi compressor.

[PettyCash]

For EQ, Neve usually gives me what I'm looking for. For compression, dbx 160 or UA 1176LN.

Love Decapitator. I like to use it more on drum busses though.

[PopularDemand]

I used Decapitator as well until I delved into the UBK-1. My Decap setting started out around the "A" or "T", drive on 5, mix about 8am.

[Storyville]

Drive at 2, "A" or "E" setting, mix 100%. Occasionally play with the "thump" hi-pass. I use the UBK-1 A LOT on vocals, haven't tried it on kick. Might have to check it out.

[PopularDemand]

Originally Posted by Storyville

Drive at 2, "A" or "E" setting, mix 100%. Occasionally play with the "thump" hi-pass. I use the UBK-1 A LOT on vocals, haven't tried it on kick. Might have to check it out.

Not to sway my own thread How are you using UBK-1 on vocals? I've tried it a few times and can't get the compressor to sit right on rap vocals. I'm either pumping or just not getting the action I want.

[TYPHY]

Q2 for a cut or two at bad boxy frequencies.
CLA-76 with the slowest attack and fastest release; getting NO more than 1db of reduction.
REQ for a boost or two.
Decapitator on the drum bus; mix at 5, drive at 6-8.

[ncoak]

allow me to be the first prick to pipe up with 'whatever that particular kick requires'

[TYPHY]

Originally Posted by ncoak

allow me to be the first prick to pipe up with 'whatever that particular kick requires'

you're no fun

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by TYPHY

you're no fun

Every cool thread needs someone to come in and act like a square. It could have been me, but I'm in a particularly good mood tonight.

[Storyville]

Originally Posted by PopularDemand

Not to sway my own thread How are you using UBK-1 on vocals? I've tried it a few times and can't get the compressor to sit right on rap vocals. I'm either pumping or just not getting the action I want.

I use it for "thickness." My general compression goes like this:

Do I need sharp peak control? Stock digi compressor used like a limiter.

Do I want thickness/forwardness? UBK-1, Saturation on the left half, at 50% mix or less, except in rare cases. Glue mode most of the time, occasionally smooth mode - %15 mix - 20%. There's a hint of pump, but it's worth it. Density on top mode, turned up a quarter.

Then if I need a touch more forwardness/thickness I'll do a little more with RVox or a parallel compression setup if the articulation on the vocal rounds off too much from RVox.

At least that's what I just did about ten minutes ago.

[Tnevz]

Logics stock eq and comp.

[Thysta]

most of the time, nothing is on the kick. maybe a EQ for either upper-middle boost or to cut some lows



this had no effect

[beat you down]

a kick that fits and some stock pt eq.

[DAH]

EQ, clipper, sometimes compressor. The initial sound is the king

[beat you down]

Originally Posted by DAH

...clipper...

forgot about that... indeed a clipper. i find gclip very useful for clipping drums.

[KT1]

Ahh a topic i like!

Actually not far off what you have said. I also like decap. The A setting is only when i want that sound of that compression.

E has the most clarity/detail. I actually like the Pent setting over Triode. I like to crank it and punish it and lower mix significantly. If i want some saturation a la the UBK - which totally works in that context i can lean on a whole host.

Most recently i have tried the Fabfilter saturn and well...it wins.

[KT1]

Originally Posted by KT1

Ahh a topic i like!

Actually not far off what you have said. I also like decap. The A setting is only when i want that sound of that compression.

E has the most clarity/detail. I actually like the Pent setting over Triode. I like to crank it and punish it and lower mix significantly. If i want some saturation a la the UBK - which totally works in that context i can lean on a whole host.

Most recently i have tried the Fabfilter saturn and well...it wins.

Also i've found a nice little trick is to use a waveshaper - Its significantly more easy to dial in a tone you like. The only problem is its consistency - I find thats where dynamics then come into play as part of the same chain. I prefer to use some volume automation instead of a comp after waveshaping.

[beat you down]

not to hijack this thread but...

yesterday i was browsing this mag, don't recall which one cause i browsed a couple, sorry.

it had an EQ special this month.

one of the kick EQ tips was to have a narrow spike of like 10 db boost or so (lettering was too small to tell exactly) around the root freq of the song to make it mash or sit better. the spike in the screen dump looked kind of extreme to me.

any of you tried this before?
or is it just one of those common practices i didn't know about.

i was thinking... if this works properly it would safe me a lot of time pitching kicks. will try on my next beat.

[bigyo]

Airwindows Ironoxide 2 and Lo-fi....protools stock eq for cleaning(if necessary)

[MarioContreras]

Interesting thread! I guess my chain would be Waves SSL -> RVox. Parallel if need be would be DBX -> Pulltec or API depending on what I need...Low end or attack.

[beat you down]

Originally Posted by MarioContreras

Interesting thread! I guess my chain would be Waves SSL -> RVox...

can you elaborate on why you choose to use rvox on kicks?

[MarioContreras]

Originally Posted by beat you down

can you elaborate on why you choose to use rvox on kicks?

I like what it does to the low end! I can easily achieve a nice round kick which blends very well with the bass. I guess it's attack and release times are just right. To my ears it's absolutely easy to achieve the sound I'm after by using that.

I find that unlike other compressors it doesn't emphasize so much the attack but rather creates a balance between the kicks low end and mid range.

[beat you down]

ok, thanks.

[jrides]

A kick and nothing else usually. Maybe another kick as a layer to help define the tone.

[chris carter]

Kjaerhaus classic compressor if I need attack and 1084 EQ if I need EQ. Sometimes I will buss it along with other stuff to an aphex 104c2 which I use kind of like an EQ.

EDIT: oops, sorry I didn't realize the thread was strictly ITB....

[Storyville]

Originally Posted by beat you down

not to hijack this thread but...

yesterday i was browsing this mag, don't recall which one cause i browsed a couple, sorry.

it had an EQ special this month.

one of the kick EQ tips was to have a narrow spike of like 10 db boost or so (lettering was too small to tell exactly) around the root freq of the song to make it mash or sit better. the spike in the screen dump looked kind of extreme to me.

any of you tried this before?
or is it just one of those common practices i didn't know about.

i was thinking... if this works properly it would safe me a lot of time pitching kicks. will try on my next beat.

Yes. It works pretty well. I do it on acoustic kicks more than samples, but I couldn't tell you why.

[illacov]

Gates Solid Statesman if I want body and attitude in the attack. (super fast)

Altec 1612b if I want sustain with snap and lots of color.

dbx 163x if I want medium attack snappy kicks.

valley people dyna-mite if I want dance kick/pumpy stuff.

NeveLA if I want gooey kicks.

Oh wait...ITB doesn't always mean plugins.

Plugins?


Dynamics:

Thrillseeker LA (LA2A hybrid) enhanced presence and punch

Blockfish dbx snap

Sknote Bus SSL Snap or 1176 grab

GTS39 Old school/thicker harmonics

Cuttertone Dirty Beck, Gorillaz style kicks

Classic Compressor out of the way leveling.

Saturation stuff:

TesslaSE
Roundtone
Sknote Strip

Peace
Illumination

[jeremycox]

Sometimes bitcrushing down to 12bits or so can be cool ;-)

[beat you down]

Originally Posted by Storyville

Yes. It works pretty well. I do it on acoustic kicks more than samples, but I couldn't tell you why.

cool, thanks.

maybe because acoustic ones vary more in pitch?

any further info? like q setting to start with and boost amount to start with?