Secrets of the Gear, and other tips and tricks!

[MusicKat]

I wonder if we could share some "secrets" of different pieces of gear that might not readily be known. I will start, so you have an idea of what I mean:

On a Roland SRV - 2000, if you hold down the: write / rev. non lin / room simulate buttons all together and then turn the power on you will now have a very good digital delay unit.

Mentioned elsewhere on GS - which I believe is a tip from Fletcher:

On a distressor have the detector on LINK but don't connect a cable
to the link plug on the back which will then triple the DISTORTION
- thanks Fletcher.

The delay time to trigger an AMS sampler from a Studer A 827 synch head is 45.2755 ms
The delay time to trigger an AMS sampler from a Studer A 800 synch head is 57.00 ms

I know there are a lot more of these type of tips out there - so let's have 'em!!thumbsup

Thank you everyone,

MusicKat

[e-cue]

push all the ratio buttons in on the 1176 for a crush/destroy/kill compression

type "e.t." & execute on an SSL and it will beep. neato. type "hello" to make it stop.

if you want more extreme settings on a Neve Capricorn eq, set up a dummy fader and put an eq on it. Link the eq's and you can cut or boost beyond the normal parameters.

clients here... more later...

[MusicKat]

This probably has more to do with production and songs, but a number of years ago ZZ Top commissioned some sort of study into the "perfect" tempos for their songs.
So here are the "magic" tempos: 92bpm, 120bpm, 124bpm, 152bpm, 164bpm.
I think at least on the last few records, you will find that most every song fits these tempos.

MusicKat

[RoundBadge]

Originally Posted by MusicKat

On a Roland SRV - 2000, if you hold down the: write / rev. non lin / room simulate buttons all together and then turn the power on you will now have a very good digital delay unit.



Thank you everyone,

MusicKat

I also have a book of presets from way back in the day to completely reprogram the SRV 2000's reverbs.still use them all the time for some sort of tight/medium live ambiences,etc.

[e-cue]

Not really "secrets" but...

If you press the 4-5- and 6 keys on the remote of a KSP-8 at the same time and then press the unlabeled soft key in the menu, you can play an old school video game...g'Narley. Press the exit key to stop the game.


Track your vocals (or instruments, whatever) through Dolby NR, but playback without it... Insta-queen flangey vocals... (When I say "Queen" I mean Freddie Mercury, not Slipperman's nickname in the lockeroom at CRUNCH GYM)...


SSL automating Desseing (Thank god I still had this email I sent a while back... Cut n paste for president):

Step #1: Mult the vocal track (or track in question, works nicely on Hi Hats as well, but try not to limit your use of this technique) next to your vocal track, but make sure it isn't the same number of any group send in use because you'll be using your direct outputs of the console.

Step #2: Hit the CR button, which puts the eq into the channel. Filter off all the lows, even cutting lows, and boost as much as you can from 6k - 9k depending on the track in question. (Is it esses? tsks? pisses? male vocal? female? a cher transexual? etc...)

Step #3: Hit the MON button in your dynamics section. Compress with the fastest attack and the release times (put up on the release knob and leave it turned full counter clockwise). Set your ratio to infinity. Your threshold should sit nice around -10 or so, again, depending on the material.

Step #4: This one depends on the console you are on. Press the DIRECT, FLOAT, and READY GROUP buttons and lift the group knob to solo iso the channel. If you are on a 9000, take off LF Mix (so the large fader doesn't go to the 2 mix) and hit the LF ISO to isolate the solo of the channel.

Step #5: Hit the "LINK" button of the left of the 2 channels. It doesn't matter which track is on which side, which can make finding a channel that doesn't share a group send number a little easier.

Step #6: Automate the large fader on the channel you hit all the buttons on as your threshold. If you are on the 9000 series, don't let the release time LED's fool you. It shouldn't really matter because your release times should be as short as possible, but if for some reason you did a 1 sec release, the LED's DO NOT represent a 1 sec release time. (never understood that LED release thing myself). This can provide a very specific and effective Dess without sounding unnatural. Tweek parameters as needed..


To automate mutes an on a SSL 9000 to do what the gate is doing:

Put a gate on a channel. Goto Mix-Desk-Events and stab on the "Clips" box. Stab "Capture", and you'll get a popup that let's you choose which channels you want to capture clips on. Select those channels (this works the same way as online trims), and stab "OK". Play the track from your starting point to your finishing point. When you hit "stop", you can Save or Discard the clips. Save em. Select the
Mix-Desk/Overview display to see the captured audio for each channel. The closed gates will look like blueish blocks. When you do this whole process, if you don't start with the gate closed, it can freak the SSL out. Now, get your assistant to draw the mute automation around each one of these blocks.


This can be useful to determining when (timecode) the downbeat of the song is for a head mute. Go before the song, pull the master fader down, put it in write, then do "goto" and enter the TC number, then pop out of automation... when you playback the master fader will ride up right at the beginning of the song).

The negatives to using this function should be obvious to any experienced engineer, but hey, at least it's there.

[andymixer]

Go out and buy a 500 meter quarter inch thick steal chain, strap it to your Studer A800 or Sony 3348. Then take it out on your favorite large sized yacht and drop it wherever you feel like parking. Also adding the chain to the machine will substantially increase the market price as large boat anchors command a much higher price these days than advanced professional tape machines.

[andymixer]

P.S.

It has been rumored that a container ship in Long Beach mistook an SSL AWS 900 as the boat anchor for the new U.S.S. George Bush "Nimitz" class aircraft carrier. It was shipped to the San Diego ship yards and was never seen again, although some dock workers were puzzled when the latest 9000K showed up and wondered if they had made a mistake.

[Labs]

HAHAH ! Boat anchor jokes! thats ****ing funny, I wanna make sexy time with your funny mouth

Gustav

[andymixer]

Sexy time reserved for hot danish model!

[AlphaDingo]

...new U.S.S. George Bush "Nimitz" class aircraft carrier

Thats "numbnuts" class. Common mistake.

[AvS]

On a Nordlead 2 synth: If you hold down the shift button and press the filter type you will get a noth filter.

[e-cue]

If you link a DBX 163x compressor and DBX 463x noisegate, which ever is the "Master", the slave will mimick. So, the gate would become a compressor. If the gate was the master and you linked it to the comp, the comp would become a gate. Of course, this is in stereo situations, but could be useful.

[goldphinga]

You can do the 1176 all ratio buttons in trick on the 1178 as well and it sounds great.

[Sunn Ra]

Slash yr Amp and you're a Kink.

[Sunn Ra]

Snide-comment-as-first-post... "Floodgates be damned" or "it's outta my system".

[superwack]

Originally Posted by Sunn Ra

Slash yr Amp and you're a Kink.

For ALL of the day AND ALL night?!?!?

Damn.

[Unclenny]

Originally Posted by superwack

For ALL of the day AND ALL night?!?!?

No......

For all day and all OF the night.

Kink yr Amp and you're Slash.

[Showcase]

Originally Posted by MusicKat

Mentioned elsewhere on GS - which I believe is a tip from Fletcher:

On a distressor have the detector on LINK but don't connect a cable
to the link plug on the back which will then triple the DISTORTION
- thanks Fletcher.

MusicKat

Im not sure but arent you suppose to also have HP engaged in the detector to get this, still very cool on synth sounds

[bgrotto]

Nothing ground breaking, but here's some old standbys:

PCM 42 is a cool sounding limiter.

Old shadow hills mono gama amps engage a pad when you pull the gain knob.

A lotta ribbon mics are voiced differently on their negative side.

[_GriZZly_]

There's a hidden synthesizer in the Clavia Nord Rack/Lead 2 (NOT the 2X versions).

Nobody actually knows which parameter does what in that "Pelle's mode". Even the guy who made it lol.

If you want to try that, keep your speakers volume DOWN, because it can make drastical changes with only tuning a bit, and all the knobs are functioning different.

Find out more here: http://nm-archives.electro-music.com...le%27sMode.htm

Scroll halfway to see how to activate the "Pelle's mode".

[audibleobsession]

The Access Virus TI has a fantastic hack that allows you to layer an infinite number of patches (until it crashes with a terrible buzz) and alter parameters in unpreditable ways (sometimes grouped, sometimes not grouped). Great for instant Eno soundscapes.

[gian]

How about some sweet spots on pres?

[gian]

No one have any setting for the best sounding sweet spots on certain pres, comps?

[glitchfactor]

I just found out on UA's website that an 1176 can be bypassed. A decade of using this thing and I never knew that....sad.

"By turning the Attack knob fully counterclockwise to the OFF position, the unit can be used as a straight line amp just for its unique sound. "

Universal Audio’s Classic 1176 Compressor — A History - Blog - Universal Audio