Happy Monday -
Korneff Audio started on a Black Friday five years ago, with one plug-in, the original Pawn Shop Comp. Five years later, we’ve got nine, and a bunch more waiting to see daylight. So, I guess happy birthday to us?
For this episode (producer/engineer John Agnello calls each of these an episode... sounds like an eventual podcast...), I thought I’d be extra useful by giving some info on our plug-ins, specifically going into how Dan and I use them in the studio, some design background, some usage hints.
There’s so much though, that I am splitting this into two emails, one today and one tomorrow. SO... keep an eye out for New Tuesday!
Factoids and Uses and Whatnot on All Our Plugins, going by age
Pawn Shop Comp/Pawn Shop Comp 2.0
It’s misnamed. It’s really a vintage channel strip consisting of a tube preamp coupled to a FET-style compressor. It works on everything, including the mix bus, but it’s el supremo on vocals and bass. Tons of saturation options because of the preamp, and the ability to switch in different tubes and transformers. The way we use the PSC is to put it on a channel, flip around to the backside, fiddle with the preamp and the tubes and transformer, and THEN adjust the compressor. Think of it as selecting the console you want to use before engaging the channel EQ.
Fun Factoid: The Operating Level control is a circuit Dan nicked off a cassette tape duplicator his Uncle Bob had given him when Dan was a wee teen. He liked how it sounded, so it wound up in the Pawn Shop Comp.
Usage Secret: I’ve mentioned this before... two of them, one right after the other, set one to respond quickly and the other a bit more slowly (play with attack and release). Swap the order in the inserts ’til you get something smooth.
Talkback Limiter
This beast is another FET-style limiter, based on a circuit found in SSL consoles designed to keep studio talkback mics from destroying speakers and ears. Hugh Padgham and Peter Gabriel invented gated drum sounds with this circuit.
Yes, it is amazing on drums. It makes anything snap and click and punch. It lives on our snares, kicks, room mics, etc. It’s probably the best overall drum compressor out there.
But, and I suppose it’s part of the FET transistor modeling, and the artifacts produced by an FET, the TBL adds a thickness to things. It’s hard to describe but I can hear it in my head. It has a similar sound to Neve Diode compressors. It makes me clench my jaw and want to bite something. If you know Neve compressors, you know what I’m talking about. Anyway, the TBL is really great on things like vocals and acoustic instruments provided you back the DRY WET BLEND way way down towards DRY. Like, barely crack it open. It adds a little beef and evenness. We typically follow it with another compressor.
Fun Factoid: for distortion effects, click around to the back and mess with the trimpots. AND for a real adventure, on the front panel, click on the power lights at the top and see what happens...
Amplified Instrument Processor
I wrote about this thing's monstrously good sounding EQ a few episodes ago. Further, I wrote a whole course on how to use it. If you want to be enrolled in the course, reply to this email and I’ll sign you into it.
Usage Idea: Put an AIP on each of your submix buses. Switch on the Proprietary Signal Processing button on the front, and then play around with the three different settings on the back - one is tube-ish, one is tape-ish, and one is California 1970s’ solid state-ish. Again, do this BEFORE you do anything else with the plug-ins. It’s like picking out different sounding channels for each grouping of instruments.
Micro Digital Reverberator
You know who likes reverb units with almost no controls? Me. I love messing around with compressors, and EQs, and delays but when I get to reverbs I just want presets that sound good. I don’t even like adjusting simple things, like the decay time. Maybe it’s from screwing around for hours on 480Ls and always going back to the presets. Who knows.
Do This: Even though the original hardware units this puppy is modeling were basically designed to go on an insert or across a whole mix, put the MDR on its own channel and feed it via a send. Why?
1) You want to be able to EQ your reverbs. This is a HUGE trick. This guy explains it better than I can, so go read this.
2) You want to be able to feed the output of one reverb unit into the next, and so on.
What?? Cascade the reverbs?? YES!!!! It’s total insanity and fun!
In fact, do this: Put THREE MDRs on three separate channels. One is a short small room, one is a plate, and the last is a huge concert hall. Use the small room to widen and add a touch of ambiance. Use the plate for vocals, but just a smidge, and then use the concert hall for pads, etc. NOW... feed a bit of that small room INTO the concert hall, but just a touch, to have some movement and depth way way back there in the speakers. For special moments, like the end of a solo, or a chunk of vocal line when the singer screams out his ex-wife’s name in anguish, or when someone has decided a certain single snare hit is incredibly important, feed the small room into the plate and the plate into the concert hall. Obviously automate this stuff.
Fun Factoid: Everyone overlooks this, but the MDR has stereo widening/narrowing on the back....
The Echoleffe Tape Delay
This is one intimidating monster. I’ve seen grown mix engineers fling themselves into oncoming traffic when they discover there are individual EQs, bias, and pan settings for each of the three delay lines. I have stood over their mangled bodies, finally at peace, and I’ve whispered, “Did you know you also have complete control over wow, flutter, tape age, head bump, as well as tape formulation, and you can switch off the Echoleffe’s delay function and just use it as a tape saturation simulator?"
This thing is the opposite of the MDR. It’s bristling with controls like a pissed-off German porcupine. It’s a pity, because once you get the logic of the controls, the ETD is quick to use and impossibly versatile. It can do easy things, like adding slapback on a vocal (it’s overkill for that, honestly), but it excels at making sounds you’ve never heard before.
The ETD can turn a single note into a keyboard pad that modulates and moves. It can twist delays into reverbs and musically sync the whole thing to the tempo of the track.
Usage Ideas: Set the delay times to below 11ms - set all three of them differently. Pan them everywhere. Play the track, and adjust the feedback for each delay line on the front panel, then go to the Tape Maintenance Panel and futz around with wow and flutter — this will add modulation to the delay times and suddenly you’ve got flanging happening that is out of this world and panned all over the stereo image. Gradually increase one of the delay times to get pitch-shifting effects. Automate the changes of the delay times. Play with the REVERB DENSITY switch on the front panel to basically DOUBLE the number of echo returns.
Even if you never buy this thing, download the demo and spend a week writing songs with it.
Licensing
Our original five plug-ins are iLOK-based for security purposes. Yes, we are phasing that out and soon our original five will use our own proprietary licensing system developed by Dan, the damn genius. When will this happen? We are hoping very very soon, but no promises. But know that we’ve heard your requests to get the heck off iLOK and we are working towards that.
I don’t have a new record this week. I’m still listening to Kim Deal every day. It gets better and more creative and insightful with each listen. But here’s a great interview with her on the Broken Record podcast. She talks about everything, including the new album. And she’s really really funny! And so so smart. She talks a lot about Steve Albini, and sadly, she occasionally refers to him in the present tense, as though he was still alive.
Warm regards,
Luke
Happy Monday!
We started our Black Friday Sale today. And we added plug-in bundles, which people have been asking for. SO... 40% off plug-ins and up to 60% off on bundles!
Kim Deal
A few weeks ago I wrote about albums by older guys. I was in some sort of search for meaning, I suppose.
On November 22nd, former Pixie and Breeder Kim Deal, at age 63, released her first "real" solo album, 'Nobody Loves You More'. It's simply wonderful. Might be the best album of the year.
Kim had released a few things on her own in the past decade, things she recorded on eight-track tape — she's an analog kinda gal, but finally hunkered down in Florida, learned Pro-Tools (by bugging her friend, engineer/producer Steve Albini for lessons over the phone) and got to it.
Most of 'Nobody Loves You More' was recorded by Steve Albini, with Kim producing, along with a crackerjack bunch of players ranging from rock musicians to jazzers, to string players, and more. The record is lush, quirky, and ever-interesting. Songs evolve from sparse, punky Americana into a cha cha, or there's a pedal steel, or strings. It's all over the map, but it's held together by melody and Ms Deal's fascinating voice. It takes a bit to get used to — she sounds like an animated cartoon character played by a chain-smoking alcoholic, but it's the perfect voice to deliver the pain and magic of this album.
The record is full of pain. She lost her mom to Alzheimer's, and then, following in quick succession, her dad, her aunt, and her uncle — within one year. And then she lost Steve Albini — he died after 'A Good Time Pushed', the last thing he ever recorded.
But while it's a painful record, it's not sad. There's something gorgeous and content about it, triumphant and wise. And Ms. Deal has a great sense of humor, which comes out in the lyrics and the scatological arrangements. It's such a good record, and so worth a listen. In a fair and decent world, it would sweep the Grammy's.
But it won't. Because it's not something built to fit an algorithm and tweaked to within an inch of its life — there's not even autotune on it. It doesn't have guest rappers, songs written by fourteen people, or Max Martin anywhere near it. Kim has about 7,000 subscribers on YouTube. This music wasn't written with data science and AI pitching in on the lyrics. It's not statistically constructed to increase engagement. It ain't fucking "content."
It's a record by someone doubling down on the one thing all of us can double down on: being one's self. Unapologetically screwed up, vulnerable, perhaps a bit pissed-off, but playing your own damn game.
'Nobody Loves You More'
Some things on YouTube:
A short one this week. Have a lovely time - the holidays are upon us. Love love love.
Warm regards,
Luke
Happy Monday!
I am guessing most of you don’t know Hawksley Workman. He’s Canada’s answer to the question, “What if Prince and Bowie had a baby?”. He plays everything, sings, composes, engineers, sometimes records entire songs in a single day, veering all over the map musically. Is it cabaret? Is it alternative? Is it noise? Only Ryan Corrigan (his real name) knows for sure.
Two Hawksley videos, and both are so worth a watch.
The first... early in his career, shot in one take and a Juno Award winner: Jealous of Your Cigarette. This is the best use of two and a half minutes ever.
And this, from a few years ago: Young and Wasted. Another simple idea, beautifully executed. What a melody, and what a voice to sing it.
Just one more - live mayhem in a studio. Teenage Cats. When I grow up I want to not care what anyone thinks as much as this guy.
After that 'Young and Wasted' song I feel like crying and missing my past. Oh well, onward...
Puff Puff Fun and Tips
We usually have a few specific use cases in mind when we design plugins. Like the Amplified Instrument Processor: it’s designed to go on electric guitar buses. But then it winds up on vocals, reverb returns, the master, all sorts of applications beyond its original scope.
Of course, this is exactly what’s supposed to happen. Plugins should add to your creativity and spark ideas. It’s never a bad thing to think, “How would this sound if I did this with it?"
We get a lot of new uses from you all, and here are two that I think are especially useful applications of the Puff Puff mixPass.
#1 Puff to Even Out Levels
Frase is a producer, composer, singer, engineer, bassist, multi-instrumentalist. A Canadian, like Hawksley.
Frase performs live and it’s a blend of DJ’ing and live singers, dancers, and players, with backing tracks served up by Ableton.
What’s been a problem for Frase is that he’s using material recorded across several years, mixed and mastered in different studios, and loudness is inconsistent because of different amounts of limiting and compression. Adjusting level doesn’t really work, and adding additional compression is a non-starter.
Frase’s solution: he runs the individual tracks through individual instances of the Puff Puff mixPass and then matches loudness by ear. Because the Puff Puff isn’t a compressor or limiter, the actual meter levels don’t really change, but the apparent loudness does. Once he tweaks the loudness, he bounces the tracks and he’s set.
This is the critical thing about the Puff Puff MixPass: it makes things LOUDER without really affecting amplitude.
#2 Puff to Undo Limiting
Another tip/application courtesy of Jason Soudah. Jason is another one of those guys that can play everything, sings, engineers, produces, composes, but the bulk of his work is in film and TV scoring. And he’s not Canadian.
Jason has been working on a major film soundtrack, and he’s riding herd over hours worth of music with thousands of tracks and an ungodly plugin count.
One of the critical things he has to do is make alternate mixes for different uses — with vocals, without, for live use, as a backing track, mixes for different languages, etc. But depending on the type of mix, there can be lots of minor alterations throughout. For instance, the horns might be pulled down a bit during vocal sections, but when it’s an instrumental only mix, then the horns are going up and down all over the place, so the automation needs to be re-written. And then that track is feeding through a limiter on the mix bus, but because the mix might be missing things, the way the limiter is responding can be weird, like it pushing down swells and sucking the excitement out of things.
So, Jason’s been running mixes through the Puff Puff AFTER the limiter, using it to restore loudness and match levels with other mixes. As a side benefit, the Puff tends to increase dynamic range because of the way it affects transients, resulting in bigger and brighter mixes without losing headroom, and in some cases gaining headroom.
Vault of Marco
Oh, that Marco... you never know what comes out of his vault... wonderful song by Big Star.
Lovely recording of acoustic guitars - small diaphragm Neumanns through a Spectrasonics console into an LA-176.
Something upbeat and gorgeous to one through the work of the week calls. Y’all be cool.
Luke
Happy Monday, Summer Campers!
This popped up on the Instagram feed of super-engineer Tchad Blake last week:
"There's no "best" eq for anything. All you can really say is what's your favourite at any given time. The (Korneff Audio) AlP has quickly become my favourite eq, ever. Analog or digital. Every time I use it on anything I think I'm hearing something new. It fits my ear/brain chain better than anything l've used before. Wtf...right?? How did these guys do this?? I'd love to know if anyone else out there is hearing just how cool this thing is or even, tell me how it's not. I've been using it every day for over a month and I'm still jacked up about it. "
This is a tremendous compliment, coming from this guy. Tchad Blake is king cheese, bacon from heaven. He's awesome.
Forget the credit list and awards: Tchad Blake makes really interesting recordings. He's always experimenting and inventive. He records drums in the smallest room possible using a Binaural Dummy Head as an overhead mic, doesn't use much reverb, loves to compress and distort, pans things strangely, and in general makes super cool sounds. Listen:
American Music Club "Mercury" on Apple Music
On Spotify
On YouTube
Tchad asked, "How did these guys do this??"
This is how we do it
The EQ on the AIP is a 4-band fully parametric EQ that is especially sweet sounding. It has a weird interface that is based on its inspiration, the Klangfilm RZ062B.
From the name, one can guess that Klangfilm was German and involved in sound for film. Formed in 1928 by partnership between Siemens and AEG (Telefunken), Klangfilm amplification, speakers, preamps, EQs, and home entertainment equipment was top-notch. By WW2, Klangfilm was wholly owned by Siemens, and often the names Klangfilm and Siemens are used interchangeably. Klangfilm stuff from the 50s and 60s is especially coveted.
The RZ062 was a tube EQ built for film mixing consoles. It was a three-band passive EQ with high and low shelving and either a midrange tilt EQ (the 062a) or a presence EQ (meaning upper midrange) that had 4 different frequencies (1.4kHz, 2kHz, 2.8kHz, 4kHz) with up to 5dB of gain at the selected frequency (062b).
The 062 has some similarities to the REDD 37 console used by the Beatles on Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Peppers, The White Album: the REDD 37 preamps were made by Siemens.
The RZ062 is an amazing sounding EQ that is remarkably smooth and gorgeous sounding, but it's very limited in choices of frequencies, bandwidth, and overall versatility. Another common complaint is that most of the gain controls provide 2dB increments, and often a setting is either too little gain or too much.
What Dan loved about it, aside from the overall character, was the presence EQ on the 062b that worked perfectly for electric guitars.
So, Dan got his hands on the schematics and basically built the circuit digitally.
This is the usual way we make plugins—we model things at a resistor, capacitor, transformer, transistor, diode level. But what we also do is figure out what we can do with that circuit in the digital realm that would be impossible or, at the very least, difficult to do in the analog realm.
Frankenklangfilm
In the case of the RZ062, Dan decided to take a passive EQ and make it fully parametric. This makes the AIP 4-band incredibly versatile, with the sonics of the original expressed in a modern way. The AIP EQ can do anything a digital parametric EQ can do, from narrow deep cuts to ultrawide boosts, making it useful for anything from getting rid of hum and notching out vocals to finding the exact sweet spot on a snare to gentle "airband" style enhancements. The gain is adjustable out to a ridiculous 36dB of boost and cut, and we've even modeled some EQ curve goofiness that can happen with vintage passive equalizers.
Is it an exact recreation of a RZ062b? No, but at certain settings it can precisely replicate the response curves of the original. We consider it more the Klangfilm's mutant cousin. Frankenklangfilm.
One thing that hasn't changed from the original, however, are the tube/transformer input and output stages, which are a big reason the AIP EQ is so sweet sounding. The original circuit design tends to saturate the transformers a bit. The result is that the input signal is harmonically enhanced feeding into the equalizing circuitry, and then the EQ'd signal is rounded off a bit by the output.
So, that's the quick version of what's going on with the EQ on the AIP. If you want to grab an AIP Demo, click here.
Amazing Interview
Gearspace did an interview with Tchad a few years ago. It's detailed, funny, and he gives away the store and the secrets.
I have been sick with a summer cold and tinnitus all week, and I'm behind on answering a bunch of you that wrote in. I'll get back to you all this week. It's always a delight writing New Monday and hearing from you guys.
Next week I think we need to do a survey about how I can make New Monday better and more useful for you.
Warm regards,
Luke@KorneffAudio.com
Happy Monday!
Two things this week: we released a new plug-in, the Puff Puff mixPass, and Dickey Betts, the guitarist from the Allman Brothers Band, died at age 80.
The Puff Puff mixPass
Our latest is a dynamics processor. Using waveshaping, the Puff Puff adds harmonic content to "puff up" the apparent volume of a signal. It's not a compressor or a limiter, rather the opposite, but it has a similar effect: it makes things LOUD.
It also has controls to add character to things—distortion, overdrive and all sorts of fun sonic garbage.
I also made a video using it to enhance an Allman Brothers Band live recording. More on that below...
Dickey Betts and the Original Band
Forrest Richard Betts... a great player and a great songwriter—he wrote a lot of the best-known Allman Brothers Band songs, including their biggest hit, Rambling Man.
80 years is a pretty good run for anyone, but especially for a rock star who has had... adventures.
The original Allman Brothers Band line-up, brothers Duane and Gregg, drummers Butch Trucks and Jai Johnny Johanson, bassist Berry Oakley, and Dickey Betts, are generally considered about the best rock band the US ever produced.
The evidence is a bunch of live recordings from The Fillmore East, which was a concert hall in NY city that was open for a scant four years but is still remembered for the quality of the performers it attracted, and especially for the Allman Brothers performances. Their 1971 album Live At Fillmore East made the band's career, and the album is one the best live rock albums recorded.
The original lineup of ABB was a spectacular band. They had the power of Marshall amps and the listening skills of a top-tier jazz group. They had two fantastic guitarists, a killer rhythm section, and the most authentic-sounding white blues singer imaginable.
The Allmans played The Fillmore East a number of times, including the two nights that were recorded for the live album. They also headlined the closing, last show at The Fillmore East on June 27th, 1971.
The Allman Brothers Live - a bootleg
Duane Allman died young and left a huge legacy that, while well deserved, has somewhat overshadowed Dickey Betts. Dickey was a great player, perhaps not as adventurous as Duane, but technically probably better. Duane actually remarked a number of times in interviews that he thought Betts was the better player of the two. We hear about Duane Duane Duane, but what about Dickey?
We have this: I found a bootleg from that last performance at the Fillmore, and pulled out a bit that features both Duane and Dickey rocking out with the band and also in solo segments. It's amazing playing, to my ear better than anything on the great live album.
The guitar sounds are phenomenal as well: both are using Les Pauls through cranked-up Marshalls, and it's the damn voice of rock 'n' roll. Dickey is over towards the left, Duane is on the right.
Duane is amazing, but Dickey SCREAMS on this recording.
Fixing with the Puff Puff and friends
I ran the recording through a couple of our plug-ins. The guitars sound great, but the drums are lost, so I did what I could. I made a video of how I enhanced it, and also I put the finished recording up for the world.
I used the AIP, the El Juan, and the Puff Puff. It’s a deep dive.
Duane died about four months after that last Fillmore gig, Berry Oakley a year after that. The band persevered, with Dickey Betts assuming the mantle of leadership for a decade. Butch Trucks and Gregg Allman died in 2017. The last living member of the original powerhouse that was this fantastic group is Jai Johnny "Jaimoe" Johanson, age 79.
The original members remain family, naming their kids after each other.
RIP Mr. Forrest Richard “Dickey” Betts.
Have a great week. Celebrate your friends.
Warm regards,
The guys at Korneff
We love to hear from you all. Write even if you don’t have much to say!
Last week I wrote about Bias, and how if an amplifier or an audio component isn’t biased correctly it might not work or it might cause a lot of harmonic distortion.
This week: what the heck is harmonic distortion, and what the heck is a harmonic?
What’s a Harmonic?
So, first of all, what is a harmonic.
If you take a note, like a C, and play it on a guitar or a piano, because of the physics involved, not only do you hear the note C, you also hear, very quietly, other notes that are mathematically related to the C you’re playing. Like, you might hear a C an octave higher, and then another octave above that, and you might hear an E and G mixed in there as well. It’s actually quite a bit more complex than that, but the point is that if you play a note on virtually any instrument, you get more than the single note that defines the perceived pitch. That other stuff are the harmonics.
I found this video, which is an ok explanation - it could be clearer, but if you want to take a moment, a quick watch might help you understand some of the physics involved.
The harmonics of a note are caused by the physics of vibrations, and by the construction of an instrument, or of a persons’ face if we’re talking about the harmonics of a sung note. And, in fact, the harmonics of an instrument are a huge factor in why an instrument sounds the way it does. A guitar with steel strings has a different set of harmonics than a guitar with nylon strings. The two types of guitars have a lot in common in terms of harmonics — you can tell they’re both guitars — but the steel string is typically brighter and more metallic, and that’s because of its harmonics.
The harmonics have a mathematical relationship to that C you played (we can call that the fundamental), and the particular pattern of harmonics is what makes an instrument recognizable as an instrument. And some patterns of harmonics sound better to our ears than other patters of harmonics.
In fact, harmonics do tend to be high frequency information, and we will see why that is important in a bit.
What’s Harmonic Distortion?
Harmonic distortion is when harmonics are added to a sound, a signal, that aren’t there in the original signal.
Back to playing a C. If we played a C on a very simple instrument, like a flute, you would get a very pure sounding C — it wouldn’t have a lot of extra harmonics happening, unlike a guitar, for instance. The complex body and physics of a guitar actually add harmonics to the C. It’s a bizarre way to think of it, but you can consider a guitar a generator of harmonic distortion. So is a piano, a trombone, a human voice, etc. These all are sort of "harmonic distortion generators". But we want that particular harmonic distortion - it’s how those instruments sound.
Electronic components (amplifiers, etc.) also add harmonics to a signal. Usually a well-designed circuit adds a very, very tiny amount of harmonics, and we really can’t hear it because it's such a small amount. That is also harmonic distortion. A badly designed circuit can add enough harmonic distortion that one can really hear it. There are amounts of harmonic distortion that can be very noticeable, and certain patterns of harmonics are more noticeable, and some patterns sound good, and some sound like shit.
Harmonic Distortion = Sonic Finger Print
All the elements in an audio recording signal chain add some amount of harmonic distortion. Microphones, speakers, preamps, compressors, power amps, guitar amps, effects pedals — all of these things add harmonic distortion. Some are designed to add as little as possible, and others are designed to add huge amounts. Microphones sound different from each other, in part, due to the harmonic distortion they add, as do speakers, mic preamps, etc.
As mentioned earlier, some patterns of harmonics our ears like better than others. Tubes, whether in compressors or guitar amps, tend to have harmonic distortion that our ears like. Tubes are often described as sounding “warm.” That’s the mathematical relationship of the harmonic distortion (the harmonics added) of a tube circuit.
Solid state equipment also has distinctive harmonics patterns that it adds to a signal. That’s part of the reason Neve sounds like a Neve, and a Mackie sounds like a Mackie.
THD
THD stands for Total Harmonic Distortion, and it’s a measurement of the amount of harmonics a piece of equipment adds to a signal passing through it. The manufacturer of the equipment will usually specify this as a percentage at certain frequencies, something like, “Less than 0.5% percent THD from 20 Hz to 20 kHz at full rated power.” Some manufacturers specify it in much looser terms: “Less that 1% THD.” Generally, the better the gear, the lower the % of harmonic distortion, and the more specific the manufacturer will be about it.
Specifications from a Neve Shelford channel
What’s a lot of harmonic distortion, and what’s a little? Depends. 0.5% is pretty good for a tube component, but pretty awful for a solid state component. A really high end solid state device can have incredibly low harmonic distortions - like 0.002%.
Tube mics are typically in the 1% THD neck of the woods. 1176 Limiters have around 0.5%. A Neve 5211 is down around 0.0015%. Obviously, guitar amps designed for distortion have much higher amounts of THD. And also obviously, is that the more you turn stuff up (increase the power), the more you increase harmonic distortion.
But, THD is really only a small part of the harmonic distortion story. There’s also the “sound” of the harmonics added, the math of their pattern, that make a huge difference.
Even vs. Odd Harmonics
I made a video about this next bit, so you can watch the video and skip ahead, or watch it and then read so you understand it all that much better.
Quickly, let's look at the way a string vibrates.
A vibrating string is very complex. Back to our C, if you fret and pluck a C on a guitar, you'll get a nice loud fundamental, vibrating at 261.63hz. Let's round that to 262 to make the math easier.
Sine wave fundamental.
So, we have a string vibrating at 262hz, but it's also vibrating at twice that - 524hz. But it isn't vibrating with as much power, so this 1st harmonic is much quieter than the fundamental.
Sine wave 2x fundamental
There's also a harmonic vibrating four times as fast as the fundamental — 1048hz.
Harmonic 4 times the fundamental
When these vibrations all happen on one string, the result is a much more complex waveform than any fundamental or harmonic by itself.
A complex waveform
There are also other math things happening there. There's an E, which is the third, and which is around 1.25 times the fundamental.
Fundamental and the third - the basis of a major chord
These harmonic relationships that sound good to our ears tend to be even number multiples, often called even order harmonics. Our ears tend to not like odd number multiples - 3, 5, 7, etc. These particular odd harmonics sound kinda ugly to our ears — the 7x is especially dislikable, and they tend to square the wave off...
Fundamental and an odd number (x3) harmonic - notice it’s a square wave
In general, our ears think even harmonics sound better than odd. In general, tube equipment generates a lot of even harmonics. Does that explain to a large extent why everyone likes the sounds of tube amps?
Many Things Explained
Understanding some of the math of harmonics also explains why distortion seems to make something sound brighter: because what you're adding is harmonics ABOVE the fundamental, and those harmonics stack up and increase the apparent high frequency tonality of a sound. It also explains why too much harmonic distortion can sound harsh and painful — it's causing a lot of high frequency activity, and our ears don't like that very much.
Now, some of you might be thinking, "Even on a really good day people can only hear up to 20kHz. If I have something at 8kHz, then it's harmonics are at 16kHz and 32kHz and other frequencies, all high, and most of them beyond the range of hearing. How can this possibly affect what we hear?"
The answer is that we can sense frequencies we can't clearly hear, and very high, over 20kHz frequencies can affect the equipment we are using, especially digital stuff, and we can hear that effect.
Some stuff you just have to take on faith, you stumpy bastard.
SO... download a PSC demo or buy one, flip it around to the backside, turn up the PREAMP gain until you hear some distortion. Then swap around the three different sets of tubes we've thoughtfully included, and you'll hear the quality and frequency response of the distortion change. This is because we've modeled the different harmonic distortion characteristics of them into the PSC.
Adjustments to hear harmonic distortion on the PSC.
On the AIP, you can do this: Switch on the PSP and turn up the input gain until you hear distortion.
Front panel: switch in the PSP at the center
Go around to the back panel and click between TUBES , TAPE and SOLID STATE to hear three different variations of harmonic distortion. Turn up the INPUT TRIM to make the effect more easily heard. Don’t forget that turning up the trim can add a lot of gain and make things louder. Use the OUTPUT TRIM to readjust output gain down.
Next week, we'll talk about why cranking things up causes an increase in harmonic distortion, and we'll start talking about some recording techniques that take advantage of the physics involved.
Since we released the AIP, we’ve been getting the same question over and over again Should I put the Compressor before or after the EQ?
This question goes waaaaaay back in time, to when engineers first started patching in multiple processors on a channel while beating a mammoth to death with a stick. And the answer now is the same as it was back then: It depends.
But it’s a really useless answer, isn’t it? You can answer ANY question with “It depends.” Do you like sex? It depends. Do you have five bucks I can borrow? It depends. Does this sound like a hit to you? It depends.
Today, you’ll get an actual answer to the question, "Should I put the Compressor before or after the EQ?”
Usually the Compressor is Before the Equalizer When You’re Tracking
Close to 90% of the time, when you’re tracking, the compressor will be before the equalizer. When in doubt, the compressor goes first.
Why? Three reasons:
1) Because it will be less work for you
If the compressor is first, when you change its controls, it won’t affect the settings of the EQ much if at all. More gain feeding into an EQ doesn’t affect the way its knobs work. But a compressor’s main adjustment is threshold, and input gain will always affect the threshold settings.
If you put the EQ before the compressor, then whenever you adjust the gain of a particular band of the EQ, it results in a change in the output of the EQ, which means more or less signal feeds into the compressor, and that will affect the threshold setting. If you are constantly tweaking an EQ, you'll be constantly adjusting the compressor threshold to compensate.
With the compressor first in the signal flow, you set its threshold and whatever other controls the compressor might have, and you leave it alone basically. And then you can screw around with the EQ all you want and you won’t have to touch the compressor.
2) Compressors can lessen the need for EQ
Let’s say you’re working on a kick drum, and sound is missing some attack and thud. It’s missing that “cut." The kick’s transient has a lot of frequency content, much of it happening somewhere in the upper midrange anywhere from 2kHz to 8khz, and the thud - that “dead body falling off a balcony onto a carpet” sound is down in anywhere from 50Hz to 150Hz. Yes, you could sweep around with two bands of EQ and dial in some attack and thud... or your can run the kick through a compressor (might we recommend the Korneff Audio Pawn Shop Comp for this...) and get the attack and thud, and some added punch, just by setting the compressor right. If it still isn’t what you’re looking for, then you can throw an EQ on after the compressor, and fart around a bit until you have the sound you’re looking for.
The same goes for guitars, vocals, bass, etc. Usually the compressor first will even the sound out, fix a few issues, and the net result is less need for equalization.
3) Because you can compensate for the frequency response of the compressor
Compressors tend to change the frequency response of the signal a bit. Mash something pretty hard with a compressor and you’ll lose some high and low end typically, but even patching a signal through an 1176 that’s in bypass will do something to the sound. With the EQ after the compressor, you can adjust for the changes in frequency response caused by the compressor.
So, when you’re tracking, you probably want the compressor first. Unless you want it last when tracking... because... it depends.
EQ First to Fix Big Problems
KAAAAAHNNNN! Compress the bass!
You’re in the studio, recording a bass player, and his C on the 3rd string 3rd fret is really loud for some reason—crappy bass, neck resonances, crappy bass player with crappy technique, etc. When he plays it sounds like a a a a g# g# g# e e C C C C a a a. Damn that resonant C to hell!
You put a compressor on it, drop the threshold down, get a nice bit of click to bring out the attack, and it evens the dude’s playing out until he hits that damn resonant C. And then the compressor smashes the crap out of things because that one note is so much louder than every other. And if you set the threshold higher to not hit the C that hard, then the compressor does next to nothing on all the other notes. Damn that resonant C to hell!
What you have to do is bring down that loud ass damn resonant C using an EQ first, and THEN run the signal through a compressor. Patch in a parametric EQ, set it to a narrow bandwidth (say 1/4 or 1/8 an octave), set the frequency to 65Hz, and cut by 6dB or so. Patch the EQ into the compressor, and now the compressor will respond to the signal much more consistently.
Where did the 65Hz number come from? That is the frequency of a C, 3rd string 3rd fret, on a four string bass that is tuned to A 440Hz.
So, if there is something in the frequency response of a signal that is excessive, then an EQ first is handy to nip out the crap before compressing it.
Cleaning up problematic sounds before compression is also handy for getting control over woofy sounding kick drums, spiky sounding cymbals and hi-hats, and midrange heavy vocals. You’ll find very often with vocals that high pass filtering them, or cutting, say, everything below 300 Hz with a shelving EQ (like 2 or 3dB worth of curt - doesn’t need to be a lot) will actually help the compressor work more effectively across the rest of the signal.
Compressor Last on the Stereo Bus, Sub Groups, or when Mastering
Probably all of you put a compressor across the stereo bus, or the master bus, depending on what you call it, for your final mixes. You might also be putting a compressor across each of your sub mix busses (the guitars bus, the keyboard pad bus, the vocals bus, etc.) This is actually a common application for the AIP.
In these applications, the compressor last in the effects chain seems to work better. Perhaps it has to do with how the EQ "pushes in" to the compressor. There's a whole bunch of vague things I could write here, but the point is it: compressor last sounds better.
When the compressor is last, the separation between the elements of the mix is clearer. I notice more details and overall I can "see" into the mix a bit better. With the EQ last in the mix chain, I've noticed that the whole mix is thicker, but more smushed together and sonically homogenized.
Compressor last in the mix bus chain also seems to tighten up the mix rhythmically - the "glue" people talk about. This is due to the main rhythmic elements - typically the kick and snare, being the loudest elements of the overall mix, and hence hit the compressor hardest and "drive" it a bit, causing it to sound tighter as the overall mix dynamics are changing because of the kick and snare pushing the compressor. Imagine if you grabbed the master fader and moved it a tiny bit on beat—you’ll get a rhythmically tighter mix. See how that works? You can even play with your EQ settings a bit to make a particular frequency range sort of “lead” the compressor.
This is a good thing to experiment with, whether you're mixing in the box or working hybrid. Flip the compressor and EQ around in the bus chain and see what sounds best to you. My rule of thumb, though, for overall bus processing, is to put the compressor at the end of things.
Filters -> Compressor -> EQ
Filters, EQ, a Compressor... the AIP is your huckleberry.
Often things can get recorded that are beyond the range of speakers to reproduce, and often beyond the range of ears to hear. Low end thumps, perhaps caused by a vocalist taking a step while singing, or a resonant rumble caused by an air-conditioner, can get recorded and can be really loud, but basically unheard while you’re working on the track because your speakers just can’t quite get down there. But even though those low sounds can’t be heard, they still travel through your signal chain, and power and dynamic range is used up as equipment tries to reproduce a basically inaudible signal. This results in moments of distortion and overload that cause problems in audible frequency areas. Similarly, loud high end signals can do the same thing.
High and Low pass filters were originally put on console channels to deal with this sort of problem, and you should be using them to clean up crap that doesn’t belong. Reaching into the bottom end using a High Pass filter and getting rid of excessive lows, especially on instruments that simply do not have significant information way down there, will often tighten up things down there and make room for the instruments that do need authority down there. And the same thing goes for the high end: Low Pass off instruments and sounds that don’t extend meaningfully in the high end.
In fact, the old school way of doing things, which is still a good idea (and exactly how Dan Korneff, me, and loads of engineers approach a mix, incidentally), is to start by setting up pass filters on every channel and getting rid of what isn’t needed. You might be thinking that you need all the lows and highs of every instrument, and if you were to listen to individual channels solo’d out that might be the case. But in a mix, it all blends together, and space has to be shared. Bright keyboards with lots of high end will clash with the highs of vocals. Decide which part deserves the space and cut accordingly.
Once you get rid of the crap, run things into the compressor to even out the performance and perhaps add a bit of attack, then give it some polish with EQ last in the signal chain.
Depends = Adult Diapers
Remember that in all creative things, the main rule is that there are no rules. In audio, what sounds best is best. If you always put your EQ first, compress after and it sounds great, then excellent love sandwiches for you. I write these things mainly to give you ideas and inform your thinking, never to pin you down with rules and dogma.
So it does depend.... but usually the compressor goes first! Or last!