Limiting your options

So i was in the Reaper.fm forum a few days ago ( been using Reaper as my main DAW  for a few years now ) and a convo about eq came up.  A post i saw there sparked the main idea for this new blog entry.  Today's topic : limiting your options.

Although I will mainly be talking about eq today, the principal i'm about to describe can be applied to a wide variety of task.  As with most things i write about, the concept is far more important then the tools i use.  Limiting my options is something i have been doing for a while.  I don't even think about it anymore.  It's a work flow i have adopted and that helps me get more consistent results.

So lets take my go to eq for example.  The TB eq has 6 eq band.  They can each be set to one of the 15 eq curves available.  Each band can be move from 20hz to 20khz.  Further more, each band can have a Q factor ranging from 0.10 to 10.00 ( 0.71 being a 2 octave Q width )  That's not what i would call limitations ( except maybe for the number of bands available )  Although the lack of limitations can be a good thing in certain circumstances, most of the time they are just overwhelming.

They are overwhelming because we often get stuck making too much micro edits as opposed to making macro edits ( micro = small, macro = big ).  Micro edits as i call them are Eq moves and level changes under the 0.5 dB range.  Changing the Q width from 1.00 to 1.15 is also a good example of it.  Spending 5 minutes A/B'ing  between two almost identical Eq plugin would also qualify ( like choosing between the SSL channel strip from Waves or the one from Duende ).  Now, i'm not saying that you shouldn't make such comparisons when you are about to buy a new tool but once you have made your decision, use the one you have/like/bought and live with it.  You don't have to spend your precious time choosing between two SSL channel strip on every drum track.

Micro edits are, in the better part, best left for the morning after.  Of curse while you are in the zone you can ear it all but i don't have to look very far back to remember some mixing sessions where i did a lot of micro edits after a 6-8 hours mix only to realize the morning after that they weren't making that much of a difference.  Not because they were not done right of because it didn't helped the song but because the 2% it gave me wasn't worth the 2-3 hour i spend on them.  And i'm a tweak head.  I can ( and still sometimes do ) spend a lot of time on eq and compression.  It just gets to a point where you stop moving forward and were you begin to run in circle. I agree, mixing is kinda like running after your tail because every time you change something it affects something else but this is not the point i'm trying to get at today.  So don't throw rocks at me just yet.

 A lot of classic gear as some of those limitations i'm about to suggest you.  Take the very popular SSL bus compressor for example.  It as 6 attack and 5 release settings and it as only 3 ratio settings.  Therefore you can't set the attack to 7ms nor can you set a ratio of  5.2:1.  It forces you to make a choice and believe it or not, that's a good thing.  Aside from the way they sound, i think this is one of the big factors why people like using hardware.  It's also a very productive way of working and a big time savor.  Classic consoles like SSL, Neve and API have "stepped" knobs.  You can't go between the clicks when you turn the eq db knobs nor can you set the input gain to 1.09 ( that's how the Amek console we had in school worked anyway ).

So here's a few tips that helps me not to get stuck in micro edit mode and that i do to limit my options.

1-  Work with the same Eq.  Like many of you i have too many Eq's.  TB is my go-to Eq.  I also use the Hornet Channel strip Eq because i use the comp in there quite a bit.  I do try different Eq from time to time but only on key tracks like kick, snare, vox, bass.  After a while, though, you start reaching for the same ones time after time cause you know what sound you are looking for.

2-  No eq moves under a 0.75db.  I usually start with 3 dB cut/boost and as the mix moves along i will allow my self to go to 0.75db. 

3-  Fix Q settings.  I mainly use 2 or 3 octaves width but i will allow my self to go down to one octave and to half an octave.  Nothing in between.  Of course i allow my self to use a notch filter if there's a really bad ringing somewhere but i don't go for a Q of 0.78 if  0.71 equals two octaves.

4- No more then 5 bands.  A hi pass filter, a low shelf and three bells or any other combination i may need.  Most of the time i don't even use the 5 bands.

Those 4 simple rules have simplified my life a whole lot.  I have stopped twiddling with eq parameters for hours.  I found witch setting sounds best then i move on. If i come back to it later on to tweak it, i will still fallow those rules and believe me, there's plenty to tweak even when you are limiting your options.  I'm also considering limiting my frequency options.  As i have not yet implemented them in my work flow i won't talk about it for now but it's worth keeping in mind.

You can of course do it with all sorts of things.  Track levels for example.  I again don"t go under 0.75 db move.  Most of my level moves are by multiples or fractions of  3db like 1.5db, 0.75db, 6db, 12db etc. So for example the volume fader on a bass track is set at -3db.  If i need to bring it down a bit i start with 1.5db.  So i put the fader down to -4.5db.  Still too loud ?  Drop down to -6db and so forth.  If it's still too much for you,  you could maybe go by half a db step instead.

Pan settings.  I never put a track else where then  -100%, -66%, -33%, 0% ( center ), +33%, +66%, + 100%.  A lot of people use the LCR method ( left, center, right ) when panning stuff around. Talk about limiting your choices.

Compression settings.  I rarely set the attack time at something else then 0ms, 1ms, 3ms, 5ms, 10ms, 30ms or 50ms, 100ms.  Same goes for the release.  It's either 30ms, 50ms or 100ms.  Above that it'll be a note value.  So let's say my tempo is set to 100, a 1/16th would be 150ms, an 1/8th would be 300ms and so on. 

So there it is.  Of course these are just some suggestions.  It may or may not work for you.  As always, found out by getting your hands dirty and mix something :)