Reincarnate - Maximal Overload (Sonic Department Remix) is available at:
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Delay can do wonders to your vocal tracks - really! We are so accustomed to it, that songs lacking some kind of vocal delay sound empty.
If you’ve ever tried to simply put a delay line on the vocal channel, you’ve noticed that it can make a real mess - it hurts intelligibility. To avoid this, we need to put delay only at the ends of words, so it doesn’t interfere with the rest. There are a number of approaches.

First, we could automate the wet/dry fader of the delay so it kicks in only where we want it. This gives a real presice control over the delay but the downfall is - it can take much ime to set up the automation for a long vocal clip.

Another approach is sidechaining the vocal track so it controls the delay volume automatically. In the following movie, I have my vocal track ready - routed to a channel named VOX. Instead of inserting the delay on this channel, I use a send named DELAY with a delay unit, followed by a Fruity Compressor. I have inserted a Fruity Peak Controller on the VOX channel, with rough settings as seen. Don’t forget to un-mute it, so the vocals can pass through. Then I link the compressor’s threshhold parameter to the Peak Controller’s Peak output. Notice how I rewrite te formula to “1-Input”. This means when the vocal level is high, the threshold will be pulled down and the compressor will choke the delay’s output. When there is a gap between words or at the end of the clip, the compressor allows the delayed signal to pass through.

Observe the channel strip VU and notice how the level od DELAY rises every time as VOX fades out. The compressor’s release depends on the particular material, the shorter the gaps between the words, the shorter should be the release as well.

Happy mixing!

The tried and tested method to make things fatter is layering, or multi-takes. The theory is simple - you record the same vocal parts multiple times, then use them to create an “enhanced” vocal track.

For examples of vocals I mixed using the methods mentioned here, listen to the samples below. These are songs of a hungarian hip-hop group Szawalók.

Download audio file (szawalok-keleti_oldal.mp3)

Download audio file (szawalok-egy_szo.mp3)

Now lets assume you have the takes recorded already, layed out in different tracks, routed to different mixer channels. What now?

When composing the vocal takes, make sure the timing is as close as possible. Audition the composite carefully, then if needed, cut and move parts. Always try tu cut in between syllabes or words. To make things even more smooth you can use fade ins/outs on the slices. If the take is really messed up (that means you have to correct more than 3 places), re-record it.

You can blend the vocal takes in a variety of styles and this is the moment you can go really creative. But to help you out with a good start, I will cover a few methods and tricks.

1. Stereo spread

This is usually done with 3 takes, one used as a main take - placed dead center and with the highest level of the three. The other two are panned left and right respectively. The exact level of panning is up to you. I usually give them a pan about 30-50%. This does not mean hard panning isnt an option, as I said before its up to your creativity. However hard panning can sound a bit obtrusive when the spread takes are too high in level, in this case simply lower them.

2. NYC compression

Well this trick with compression is usually used with drums to make them sound fuller. The main thing behind is that you make a copy of the track, apply an EQ (mostly a smile type, boosting lows and highs) then applying heavy compression to squeeze the sound. This track is then blended with the original and well… they sound cool together! Now who said you cant do this with vocals? However you can use the original take, to make things even more cool you can apply NYC to a new take, or even set up the EQ-Compressor chain on the two panned tracks from point 1!

3. A final sheen using a reverb unit

Notice the singular there - unit, not units. The reason behing using reverb on a vocal track is mainly to re-create the spatial feeling lost when recording with a mono mic. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing bad with recording vocals in mono. Stereo miking for vocals is quite rare. Imagine a vocalist singing in a room, facing you. You hear her with both ears, her voice is what hits you first (main track). But then her voice hits the walls, and the reflected sound hits your ears again (early reflections). Then the reflections of the wall are reflected again, now a bit weaker - depending on the material of the room (damping). These multiple reflections are brought to your ears as well, fading out in time (reverb). In the case the room is a bit bigger, you can even hear echoes (delay).

Notice the words in the brackets. You probably seen them on the reverbs interface - and now you can relate them to real world and use effectively and make the reverb sound more realistic.

So, to get back to our job. You set up a reverb unit on a send channel - this will be our room. One and the only room for the  main vocal track and all the other vocal tracks. Now make your vocal tracks “wet” (sounds sexy, eh?) by routing some of the signal to the send. The main/centertrack should be the most dry so the vocals remain intelligible and clean. You can give the spread channels a lot more reverb, they are lower in level nevertheless.

4. EQ it a bit

Two uses of EQ come in my mind now - corrective and creative. If your vocal comp sounds too muddy, you can try cutting lows, low mids or mids on the spread takes to give the main vocal more room. You can compensate this by boosting higs a bit, but watch out for excessive sybillants.

The creative approach is about experimenting, you can EQ the two sides differently for example or boost some areas a bit (works with vocalists that lack some “weight” in their voice).

So, happy recording and mixing!

So, the first pack is a set of 12 trance kick drums, you can download them here: Sonic Labs Trance Kicks

Another one is a set of hip-hop drums, downloadable here: Sonic Labs HipHop Kicks

All of the samples are royalty free and you can use them for any purposes except reselling them for money.

Keep the unbalanced wires as short as possible, the longer they are the more noise they pick up.

Unbalanced wires will be always noisy, balanced interfaces use difference amps to cancel out any picked up noise. They are a must on stage and come handy in the project studio too.

Never trust anyone who tries to sell you cables that sound better than other. Some materials have better electrical parameters than others but this will hardly reflect in the sound. Do buy rugged and strong cables instead - they’re worth the money.

Use surge protectors on mains, not only they protect from overvoltage but they filter RF and digital equipment noise.

Bass provides energy, midrange loudness and highs balance. Keep in mind when mixing or mastering next time.

A “disappearing kickdrum” can have many reasons. Lacks punch? Check sounds hitting with the start transient like the lead or percussion. Sloppy bass or phase problems? Bass synth is the usual suspect.

When setting up the microphones, first plug everything together, and then turn on phantom powering. If you leave a cable plugged in the preamp with turned on phantom, it can charge up and there is a risk of damaging the mic’s electronics.

If using equipment without possibility of saving settings, make sure you make a note of the knobs positions on a sheet. Using a notebook and keeping track of things will pay off.

Pan controls side position, lowering the volume and adding reverb pushes elements backwards.

A control room walls should be reflective only on the sides. Trapesoid shape of front,side and ceiling can be an advantage too. Forget hard flooring, go for carpets. While mid-highs can be absorbed by soft materials, bass needs more complex diffusers.

Use search engines to look for available information before asking on forums, you can save time for yourself and others ;)

In the early days of analog recording, there was no need for complex measurement. The engineers could get away with level metering on preamps, meter bridge on the console and the tape machine. Digital processing brought in some new rules but also many useful tools that could never work in pure analog. In this article I will focus on the digital in-box metering gadgets.

Peak meter

Perhaps the most basic one of the level meters. It’s sensing the actual level of signal and displays it as a bar. Because the signal changes are too rapid to be shown directly, all these meters use some kind of “visual management” to ease the movement of the meter. Peak hold feature and numerical readouts gives good insight about the happening on the channel.
When working with input/output channels, reaching the top of the scale (0 dB) means that the device is clipping and we are loosing information (speaking musically: the sound distorts). However just approaching the zero area can be dangerous, more on this later.

VU meter

Stands for Volume Unit meter, and it differs from a peak meter in it’s signal integration mechanism. That means the measured level is averaged for a duration of 300 miliseconds (typically). This behavior is not only eye-candy, but resembles human listening, so high levels usually mean high volume too.
Mastering engineers often use peak and VU meters simultaneously to determine the actual peak to average ratio of the material. Of course, this doesn’t mean other people cant use them :)
Recommended: PSP vintage meter

Spectral analyzer

Is a bit more complex than the former ones but is also more versatile. It is based on so called Fast Fourier Transformations (FFT) which divides the spectrum (lets say 20Hz to 20kHz) to different bands and their signal level is measured. The amount of these individual bands determines the accuracy in terms of frequency. A spectral analyzer can be helpful when dealing with conflicting instruments that need to be targeted with an EQ. I recommend inspecting various sounds and instruments with a spectral analyzer to see where these reside. One can learn more by experimenting and listening than by staring at – many times outdated – frequency charts.
My favorite VST for spectral monitoring is Voxengo SPAN
It’s ability to set up a restricted freq range is very useful, focusing on bass or mids was never easier!

Phase, stereo correlation meters

Are used to monitor the width of stereo-field. They are mainly the tool of the mastering guy to inspect unhealthy stereo movement in the low freq ranges when preparing vinyl masters. But as always, what can be done in the end is easier to handle ahead of time :o)

Inter-sample peaks

These are the problems mentioned in the peak meter paragraph. These are perfectly documented on the site of SSL, manufacturer of premium studio gear. To read more and get the X-ISM meter visit: http://www.solid-state-logic.com/music/X-ISM.html
I think many consumer grade players suffer from this phenomena and studios should consider using a meter like this. Another solution for home made recordings could be setting the master threshold to -0.3 dB instead of -0.1 dB

Happy metering!

Yes I am talking about over-limited songs that are hitting the charts in these days (and then fall quick). Right now I am listening to Beyoncé’s Deja Vu and man it hurts! Please don‘t get me wrong Please don‘t get me wrong – I do like her, she’s not only cute but can actually deliver the goods in terms of music. What is done poorly is that the track was limited in such way that the waves are totally sqared and the distortion is extremely annoying. This signature approach can be heard (and seen) on many tracks. Some have been affected just sligthly, while others hit 11/10.

Speaking technically, by chopping off the tops of sinewaves, one achieves a sound close to white noise. This actually blasts much louder than anything else, so using such treatment on single sounds like snare drums or the bass drum can be beneficial (particularly in hip-hop, contemporary pop). However this counts only if the counter-elements are kept lower in level to maintain dynamics!

Another interesting phenomena is that these tracks were made with a big budget but in the end their sonic quality was killed by the oh-so-great marketing idea called „louder is better!“. I still can‘t quite get the point what can be achieved by squeezing in these 2-3 dBs for any price. Plus by doing this the mastering engineer‘s struggle to sonically enhance the sound is virtually flushed.

Stop this madness. I do like Hell, I heard there are plenty of hot chicks :) but this sonic hell is not good…

Day 2: OK this one will be quick, after loading up the project you realise that the vocal tracks are full of horrible sounds capable of blasting your monitors when turned up. Now what you have is real POP :) to be exact, a couple of pops… they happen nearly on all stop consonants (mainly B, P). Another signature problem is excessive sibilance which is also quite annoying, but needs more sophisticated approach to cure.

To be able to deal with these effects, one should understand what causes them (this should be your golden rule either). If you examine the vocal tracks in your Wave editor, you should see a lot of bottom-end energy on the mentioned areas. Often there are loud spikes resembling cracks and clicks on the beginning. These are caused by sudden mechanical stress on the microphone’s capsule when the air from a vocalist’s mouth blows in. The grille on the mic is too airy to prevent this. Manufacturers don’t usually mount dense filters between the capsule and grille because the mic could lose too much high-end and may become bad sounding with certain instruments.

Rescue time

Vocal tracks with pops present CAN be corrected with a high rate of success. As stated before, pops are low frequency bursts on beginnings of plosive consonants. Notice the two key parameters - frequency and time. All you have to do is to use an envelope controlled high-pass filter to shave off the low seamlessly on a defined passage of the word. One should use spline (smoothed) curves, if available, to avoid abrupt changes in the filtering frequency. I have used a special preset created in Adobe Audition’s Dynamic EQ plugin, then I have set up a hotkey to allow quick editing. I bet you can find a similar tool in your favourite editor.

Now let’s talk about a permanent solution to plosive garbage. You have probably seen it before, that strange object between the vocalist and the mic is called a pop filter, plosive filter or wind screen. As with any other studio equipment, you can purchase one in your shop (or elsewhere :-) These have some really solid mechanisms allowing to attach them on a variety of mic stands and to position them to fit your acoustic needs.

Another way is to make your own. Don’t be afraid it’s really easy! But I won’t bother writing another step-by-step tutorial, you can find a few on the web :) My opinion is that following steps can teach you something only when you understand the dependencies. So let’s point out the basic requirements for a good pop filter. It should block bursts of air effectively while remaining transparent enough for the highs, it should be big enough to cover the mic even when the vocalist moves and finally it should have good mechanics to connect and position.

Here is a tip to check the first (and most important) requirement: Blow onto your fingers a few times from a similar distance than the vocalist used to keep from the mic, say a few B’s and P’s to feel the air. Now hold the candidate for the filter in between your fingers and mouth and repeat. The attacking character of the blows should be much more subtle, often only a feeling of warm air remains. Now move to your speakers and play back a track you are familiar with. After a short listening, cover the tweeter with the filter as close as you can. Listen if there are big differences between the covered channel and the other, also try moving the filter away and back. If the sound is not degraded in means of openness, the filter should do its work in front of the mic.

Happy recording!

Huawei E220 is built with an internal antenna, that means you can‘t attach an adapter to use third-party antennas commonly employed in areas with bad GSM/HSDPA coverage. Resources on the web stated there is a hidden connector inside the device. Further inspection of the cover proved that there is a hole preparation above this socket. Unfortunately, measurements have shown this jack is not wired to the GSM module. (red circle on the photo)

During my experimentation with a unipole GSM antenna attached to my roof, I accidentally touched the internal antenna‘s metal resonator (red arrow) with the lead wire. The module immediately started communicating with the network, and this was also audible on my stereo nearby that was turned on (loud). The actual wiring used was a cut-off WiFi pigtail that fits in the FME jack on the external anntennas cable.

When I tried to disassemble the device, I broke the „safety pin“ inside, which is in fact a screw holding the two pieces together. This screw can be accessed after removing the top cover (the one that has a bump for the LED indicator). This way one could open the device with enough care and thus leave the warranty untouched.
An important part is the ground connection of the RF cables shield/braid. It should be attached to the metal casing of the GSM module (green arrow), using cellotape is effective. Grounding wire MUST NOT touch the HOT wire attached to the metal strips of the internal antenna. Their shorting can cause damage to the module. Using foil shielding over the insulated wire connection and the cases top part fixes RF leakage.
I assume using directional high-gain antennas with the device can further improve the achieved signal rates.

UPDATE

I have taken a few shots of the disassembled and assembled modem. This mod works quite well for me, and the RF leakage is minimal. When the external antenna is removed, the modem is unable to operate due to the shielding.

2nd UPDATE

A big thanks to Waaahsabi who have posted a great link to an article showing how to attach an external antenna through the connector. Read on:
http://e220umts.blogspot.com