Vertex Boost demo (danelectro): Mark Lettieri of Snarky Puppy - How to Use Waves Vocal Rider for Automatic Makeup Gain

Vertex Boost demo (danelectro): Mark Lettieri of Snarky Puppy




I have the boost with seven or eight pedals
on my board and it still sounds like I'm just
plugging in and going. You can actually plug
the volume pedal straight into the boost without
having to plug the volume pedal into any of
your other overdrives or anything so it just

takes it completely out of the loop and still
works just like a regular volume pedal. It's
almost like when you click it on, it's almost
like you just walked back and turned up your
amp a little bit, and that's really what a
boost should do.



How to Use Waves Vocal Rider for Automatic Makeup Gain




Hey, guys. Eric Tarr here for theproaudiofiles.com.
I came up with a trick that I want to show
you that addresses an issue that shows up
all the time when you're working on a mix.
First, I'll talk about the problem, then I'll
get to the solution.
So, when you're working on a mix, a lot of
times you'll focus on individual instruments
and tracks, try and process them in a way
that improves the sound of the original recording.

So what you might do is add in a plug-in,
dial in some settings, and see if the plug-in
has improved the sound. Am I adding something
in that I like? Or, you have to check and
make sure that it's not doing something that
you don't like and making it sound worse.
An example, let me send a kick drum through
the Waves NLS channel.
I'll turn up the input drive to add in some
harmonics, and I'll see if I like what this
is doing.
[kick drum plays, bypassing and enabling NLS
channel]
Alright, so I think I like what tonal shaping
the plug-in is doing. Adding in those harmonics.
However, another thing that the plug-in is
doing is it's increasing the overall level
of my input signal, so when I A/B back and
forth, it's difficult to tell if it's the
tonal shaping that I like, or just the overall
level that I like. We need to be careful as
mixing engineers not to be duped into thinking
something sounds better just because it sounds
louder, or it sounds worse just because it
sounds quieter.
Good thing is, a lot of plug-ins will have
an output volume fader here that I can do
level matching between the input and the output.
So, let me show you the whole process now
that you have to go through to do the level
matching between the input and the output.
So now, let me turn my attention and focus
on just the level.
[kick drum plays, adjusting output level]
Alright. So there I've got the level set the
way it should be.
The problem with this though, is it's now
interrupted my whole workflow. Instead of
focusing on the tonal shaping of the plug-in,
now I'm focusing on the level, and until I
get the level set, only then can I turn my
attention to the actual harmonic shaping of
this particular plug-in.
Let's say, for instance, I've got the level
set now, but I think the harmonics are a little
bit overkill, and I need to back these off.
[kick drum plays, adjusting input drive]
Well, now my output level is too quiet. I
need to do level matching again.
[kick drum continues playing, adjusting output]
So, hopefully you can see that this is a problem.
This can certainly be a distraction away from
your general workflow, and turn your attention
away from what's most important when you're
working on a mix. It's not just the input
drive knob that does this, though.
In all kinds of other plug-ins, like an equalizer,
almost every parameter is actually going to
shape the level of the output.
[kick plays]
Right here, I've pulled in a Pultec style
equalizer. My output level is too loud, I
need to back it off.
[kick continues playing]
Let's say I want to attenuate now. Now the
signal's too quiet. I need to adjust the output
level for every single parameter essentially
that I adjust.
And yeah, something like a compressor, where
the whole purpose is to actually do attenuation
of the signal level. So you have to adjust
things like the input level and the output
level like this.
[kick drum]
The issue that comes up is almost every adjustment
you make to the input level, you have to also
make to the output level. If I want to drive
it less at the input, I have to turn the output
level up.
So, this can be very tedious when you're getting
through a mix, right?Now, some plug-ins will
have a feature on it that's very useful. This
is the “link input and output level” control.
So, on the Kramer Master Tape, the record
level stands for the input, and playback level
stands for the output. These are linked together
so that as I turn up the input level, the
output gets turned down. It's doing that automatically
for me.
[kick drum]
Now, instead of just worrying about the level
of the plug-in, I can focus on how hard I
want to drive the input, without worrying
about the output level getting screwed up
too.
Now, this is a very useful control. The problem
is, very few plug-ins have this. What I want
to show you then, is the technique that I
came up with, that can do automatic level
adjustment for you, no matter what plug-in
you're using for processing.
Not only does it just link input and output
level, but it is actually an automatic gain
control for your unprocessed and your processed
version together.
So, the plug-in that I'm going to be using
is from Waves. It's called the Waves Vocal
Rider. Now conventionally, this plug-in is
used to turn up the volume of a vocal track,
or turn down the volume of a vocal track,
and it's done relative to the mix of your
music. So all the background music is sent
in through the key input of the plug-in, and
then the plug-in listens to that music, and
adjusts the level so that as the music gets
louder, then the vocal gets louder. If the
music gets quieter, then the vocal gets quieter.
Instead of using it for that purpose though,
what I'm going to do is use it as an output
volume control for any processor that I insert
over here on my track.
So, I'm going to send in instead of music,
I'm actually going to send in the unprocessed
version of my kick drum, and then it will
be processing turning up the level of the
processed version of my kick drum. Whatever
effects I add in, it's going to turn this
up or down relative to the unprocessed, so
I can do the level matching automatically.
As an example, let me pull up my channel strip
over here. I'm going to be using this processor
for all kinds of different things, from changing
the input volume control, to doing compression,
to doing equalization. I want to show you
that the Vocal Rider will automatically adjust
and match the output level relative to the
input level.
I've come up with an entire workflow for this.
You don't necessarily have to follow it, but
something that I think is useful, where I
set up two auxiliary tracks.
One, I've called “auto-level,” and this
is where I'm going to be inserting my plug-ins
that are doing the processing. Just a channel
strip, or I can drag over any of these other
kinds of processors. NLS Channel, compressor,
and so on.
Then, I set up another auxiliary track called
the “original monitor.” Here, I'm going
to buss over my kick drum from this instrument
track. I'm going to buss it over and feed
it into both of these auxiliary tracks. This
one I leave unprocessed, so I can solo it
and A/B back and forth between the unprocessed
version and the processed version.So, this
is where the A/Bing is happening right here.
Then, what I'm going to do, is insert the
Vocal Rider after my plug-in effect, and it's
just going to automatically adjust the level.
Now, what I found is I actually decided to
use two vocal riders back to back. This is
because you'll see, there's a limit to the
maximum you can turn the signal up, and turn
it down. Each plug-in can turn up by 12 dB
or down by 12 dB. Sometimes though, if you
do dramatic changes to the signal in your
processor, you might need as much as 24 dB
to go up and down, and by doing two of these
back to back, you can actually go all the
way up to 24 or -24 dB, and still match the
level of your processed to the unprocessed.
Let me demonstrate this and you'll see it
in action. So, I've bussed the original signal
in here so the plug-in is listening to the
unprocessed version.
[kick plays]
I can level match. This is automatically going
to adjust for me. I've got my unprocessed
in the signal after it goes through this plug-in.
As a basic example, let me turn up the output
level here to the point where it should be
starting to clip, right? I've gone up by 12
dB, but the vocal rider is automatically adjusting
to turn the signal down so that it still level
matches.
I can also do the opposite. Let's say I pull
this signal way back. Turning it down by like,
20 dB here. You'll see that it will take a
little bit of time, but Vocal Rider, because
of the settings that I've got on it, it will
increase the level automatically. I'm not
touching anything. I haven't automated anything.
Vocal Rider will do the level matching, and
look at this. Now my processed version, where
I've turned it down by 20 dB is the same level
as the unprocessed.
So, let me go back to 0 dB. You'll hear that
it takes a second, but it's adjusting things.
Now, let me do something like turn up a compressor.
Look at how it automatically adjusts so that
the processed version matches. I didn't have
to do any level adjustment, it automatically
takes care of the output level of my compressor.
Similarly, if I turn this back down, let's
move over to the equalizer.
We can do a huge boost to my sub frequencies.
As much as 20 dB, and it's automatically adjusting
to make sure that this is the relative level.
I can cut, and you'll see that these will
automatically adjust and turn the signal back
up so that it matches.
Boost some high frequencies...
Do these things together...
So, the huge advantage of this is my attention
is just focused on the tonal shaping of the
plug-in. How it's doing compression, how it's
doing equalization and so on. I'm not worried
about the output gain level.
Now, certainly, after the fact, when I come
up with the end result of the processing chain
that I want to use, it's a good idea to make
the last one control the output level to make
sure it doesn't clip, but while you're just
A/Bing things back and forth, this can be
a very useful way of doing it.
Then, after I get the settings that I like,
it's just a matter of copying and pasting
from the auto-level track over here to my
kick drum.
Then, if I've got another instrument, I can
do a similar kind of thing. Let's say I've
got a snare drum. I can send that snare drum
into my auto-level and original monitor using
the same buss, and go through the whole process
again, and A/B some track back and forth,
figure out whatever processing I want without
even having to worry about adjusting this
output level of each of the plug-ins.
So, hopefully you guys were able to take something
away from that and understand exactly how
the routing is working. If you have any questions,
post them below, and I'll be happy to answer
them.
This is a technique that I came up with that
will hopefully speed up your workflow and
allow you to work much more efficiently and
faster, and make sure your attention is always
focused on what's most important in your mix.
Until next time, take care, guys.