XPRTNovice Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Hi everyone. I've been getting lots of requests lately for wind instrument collaboration, and it kind of hit me yesterday that very few people are familiar with dealing with live wind instruments in their mixes. So, while I'm far from an expert, I thought I might offer up a couple of tips. Others that have experience, pile on. I'll just touch on two of the biggest things I hear: dryness and variable volume. - Dryness. The major problem I hear is that the recording is too dry in the final mix. I know for me I try to record in as dead a configuration as possible, so if you were to just drop the wav into the mix it's going to sound really out of place, like someone with an actual sax is standing in front of your speakers playing along with the track. Made sure to add verb; I prefer to keep the reverb relatively dry, but it has to be there, and it should probably match whatever other reverb you're using for your other samples. If your other samples have baked in reverb and you can't just copy/paste the send effect, some light room verb is usually good enough. Adding a touch of delay is nice too, in the right circumstances. - Variable volume. A live instrument produces sound from a lot of different places at the same time. On clarinet, for example, it depends on how high or low the instrument is playing; sometimes the sound comes out at the bell, and sometimes it comes more from the fingerholes at the top near the mouthpiece. While 12 inches may not seem like a lot, it means a lot when you don't have the ability to really mic the instrument perfectly. Your samples/VSTs are ALREADY adjusted for this, but the live instrument isn't! If you were to just drop it into the mix as is, some notes would get buried and some would be screaming. I use a mix of compression and volume automation to get the even sound. It's not all about the mic placement, either. The dynamic range of a wind instrument is huuuuuge compared to most other instruments, so a player putting in some expression will often have a wide range of dynamics that you'll have to adjust for. Even a perfectly miced part (particularly if it's just a solo and the player is doing whatever he/she wants) will have more variation than you're probably used to. Just some thoughts from a wind player. Would love to see other people's comments/discussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theshaggyfreak Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 I think you hit it right on the money. You really do need to use both compression and volume automation to get things to sit properly in the mix. I tend to use compression to tame the extreme peeks. I'll then use volume automation to smooth it all out. You play a mean sax Mr. XPRTNovice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argle Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 (edited) Wind instruments can have peaky midrange resonance that needs careful EQ. Most specifically flute (all types) and oboe. For live recordings, plenty of compression is usually needed for non orchestral contexts. Edited November 25, 2013 by Argle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPRTNovice Posted November 25, 2013 Author Share Posted November 25, 2013 Wind instruments can have peaky midrange resonance that needs careful EQ. Most specifically flute (all types) and oboe. Q: How do you tune two oboes? A: Shoot one of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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