Mixing

Mixing Tips! Parallel Compression on Drums

Mixing Tips! Parallel Compression on Drums

Quick drum mixing tip!!

While minimal miking setups on drums can be very, very effective they can sometimes lack focus or excitement that is needed for modern music production. I want to show you a great way to add some thickness and attitude to any minimally miked drum set. How? With Parallel Compression!!

Parallel compression is a staple for most mixing engineers. Why? Because it’s so effective in helping make certain elements of a mix stand out or feel bigger. I use Parallel compression ALL the time on multiple areas in my mixes.

For this tutorial I’m going to use stock Logic Pro X plugins only. I want this to be about the concept and not the gear. Once you understand the concept use the gear you have. Analog or Digital. Go to town and have fun!

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Happy Recording,
Charlie

About Ultimate Studios, Inc

Ultimate Studios, Inc is a full service recording studio, mixing studio and band development resource located in Los Angeles, Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Panorama City, CA 91402
https://www.ultimatestudiosinc.com

We believe EVERYONE deserves great sounding music!
Ultimate Studios, Inc is a boutique production facility for artists and bands to collaborate, create, and record.

Led by Producer/Engineer Charlie Waymire, our team assists artists through the entire creative process including recording, mixing, mastering, and video production.

Our ultimate goal is to help bands and artists build a strong brand for a lasting career!

Contact us for more information about how we can help you achieve your musical goals!

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Mixing for Taiwanese Artist “Mixer”

Mixing for Taiwanese Artist “Mixer”

Last year I had the wonderful pleasure of going to Taiwan and putting on several recording clinics with studios in Taipei and Kaohsiung along with my partners in crime Hao and Tao. Well they have opened up Ultimate Studios, Inc Taiwan and this year I got to mix a project they produced at their brand new studio.

The grammy winning band Mixer worked a new tracked at Ultimate Studios, Inc TW and was Mixed and Mastered here at Ultimate Studios, Inc in Los Angeles by myself and Ernesto Homeyer. They shot a new music video as well and a full behind the scenes video of the entire recording process along with Warm Audio.

It was so much fun having the chance to work on this track with them and the new studio. It’s a really cool band (even if you don’t speak Mandarin the melody is catchy!!) and I wish them all the best!

Have a look and a listen below!

Charlie

Lyrics | Sheng Hao
Composition | Ann
Arranger | ???Mixer
Vocal | Sheng Hao
Drum | Vincent
Bass | Eno
Guitar | Ann
Guitar | Bosy
———————————————
Producer | Tao
Recording Engineer | Hao
Mixing Engineer | Charlie Waymire
Sound Designer | Steven
Mastering Engineer | Ernesto Homeyer
Mastering Studio | Ultimate Studios Inc.
Powered by Warm Audio
———————————————
Director | Sheng Hao
Videographer | Bosy / Kyte / Choerhchun
Editor | Bosy / Kyte
Typography | Bosy / Kyte
Colorist?Bosy

Music Video

Posted by Charlie in Blog, Mixing, News, 0 comments
New Recording Studio Trailer!

New Recording Studio Trailer!

New Ultimate Studios, Inc Recording Studio Trailer

Recording, Mixing, Mastering, Video Production. Yes of course we do all of these things. Ultimate Studios, Inc is a full service recording studio in Los Angeles. Continue reading →

Posted by Charlie in Blog, Mixing, News, Releases, Tracking, Video Posts, 0 comments
Tita Hutchison Releases “Hello Love”

Tita Hutchison Releases “Hello Love”

I was fortunate to work with one of my dearest friends, Tita Hutchison, on her debut EP “Hello Love”. Throughout the years we’ve worked on many different projects and shared the stage many, many times but this project is the most special to me and I was extremely honored when she asked me to mix “Hello Love”. What I didn’t know then was that it would be so much more than just mixing….

“Hello Love” Available On iTunes

I got to spend about a week and a half mixing, arranging, recording, and re-recording with another one of my best friends Tim Pedersen. We had a blast and did a LOT of experimenting. On two songs we tracked drums using a gorgeous ’67 Rogers drum kit with a 20″ kick, 12″ rack tom, 14″ floor tom, and a 14″ Yamaha Anton Fig snare. Tim let me experiment with some very unconventional micing techniques too. The goal was to capture a sound that fit the emotion of the song with tons of vibe.

Here’s one of the unique setups:

Tim Pedersen recording drums on Tita Hutchison's "Hello Love" at Ultimate Studios, Inc

On the kick we used an SM57. There was no hole in the kick and the 57 gave us a nice punch. We used a pillow against the outside head to make the note nice and short. An Audio-Technica AT4080 ribbon mic as a mono overhead placed above the floor tom, a Shure S55 placed between the rack tom and hi-hat, facing the snare and angled slightly down, and an MXL Cube for a mono room mic. All I can say is WOW! What a cool sound. Tim didn’t use any crashes. He used two rides instead; a Paiste Formula 602 and a Paiste Dark Energy Mark I along with 15″ Paiste Formula 602 hi-hats.

We re-tracked Tita’s vocals on one song too. She is such a fantastic singer and super easy to work with in the studio. We used an Audio-Technica 4060 tube mic going into an Overstayer VCA compressor and GAP Pre73 DLX mic pre. It sounded simply amazing. Of course when you have a great singer recording is easy! 🙂

Tim and I took quite a few chances during the mixing process too. I prefer mixing mostly analog so we had a pretty old school process. We used our hands for automation, we panned things in ways that modern music wouldn’t allow, and we treated mixes likes takes. Doing multiple passes until we got a good one. The entire process was very musically satisfying. I’m very proud of our work and I hope you all enjoy it too.

Tita Hutchison Recording

Tita put a fantastic cast of characters together for “Hello Love”. Michael Thompson on Guitar, Leland Sklar on Bass, Tim Pedersen on Drums (and producing!), Christian Klokovits on Piano, Lao Tizer on Piano, Justin Apergis on Bass, Travis Newlon on Guitar, Tim Mcintyre on Drums, Sahara Thompson on additional backing vocals, Zach Thompson on percussion

I would like to say thank you to Tita and Tim for the opportunity to work with them on Hello Love. I’m really proud of this EP!

Charlie

More info about Tita and links to purchase “Hello Love”.

www.TitaHutchison.com
Tita’s Facebook page
“Hello Love” on CD Baby
“Hello Love” on iTunes

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Lots Of Great Music Happening @ Ultimate Studios, Inc!

Lots Of Great Music Happening @ Ultimate Studios, Inc!

The best way to make great music is to work with great musicians. And that’s exactly what’s been happening at the studio! In our ongoing quest to bring great music to music lovers all over the world we’ve been trying to capture as many performances on video as possible. This is just the beginning!

 

 

“We’ve been hard at work on some really exciting projects that we’ll be releasing very soon. Both audio and video. I’m extremely excited and can’t wait to get this stuff out to music lovers everywhere!”, says Producer/Engineer Charlie Waymire

We’ve put together a playlist of some recent live studio performances. We hope you enjoy them and feel free to share!!!

 

 

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Drew Chadwick Recording Live @ Ultimate Studios, Inc! (w/video)

Drew Chadwick Recording Live @ Ultimate Studios, Inc! (w/video)

Drew Chadwick (formerly of Emblem3) was recently at Ultimate Studios, Inc recording a live version of his song “Jaiden”. He is an amazing talent and is currently working on his first solo release. We’ve been honored to have it at Ultimate Studios, Inc a few times now and captured a great performance, with video, at a session recently. He’s playin’ solo and using a loop box to build his arrangement. It’s pretty cool!

 

 

Charlie’s rundown of the gear!

“I’ve had a blast working with Drew. He is such a talented guy. When we talked about this session it was just going to be a simple acoustic song but he went out of his way to come up with a really cool arrangement using his loop pedal. It’s still just Drew playing acoustic and singing but the use of the loop pedal really allowed him to add some cool rhythmic and vocal layers as the song progresses.”

“For the vocals we used an Audio-Technica 4060 tube microphone. I really like how the 4060 sounds on his voice. We used it on a previous session and loved it. For the vocal that was going through the loop pedal we used a good ‘ol fashioned SM57 and it worked very well. Since it’s not remotely as open and upfront as the 4060 the layered vocals sat well behind the lead without having to do too much to it. We decided to take a direct feed of the guitar instead of a mic since he would be moving around while performing. It sounded good and made it easier for Drew. We split that feed; one direct into the Trident 88 and one to the loop pedal.”

“The loop pedal fed my Bugera BC30 amp. It’s clean and works rather well in a situation like this. We used two mics on the amp. An Audio-Technica 4050 large diaphragm condenser a couple feet away from the amp and an MXL R144 ribbon mic. They provided a nice contrast to each other and blended nicely together.”

“All of the mics and direct signals were recorded through the Trident 88’s discreet class A mic preamps. They are fantastically open and full sounding. Everything just sounds really good through them. I also mixed the song back through the console using a little eq here and there. Not too much but the eq on the T88 is wonderful. A little here and a little there and I get just what I need”

For more information on Drew Chadwick visit him at:
www.facebook.com/truechadwick
www.twitter.com/truechadwick
instagram.com/truechadwick

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Posted by Charlie in Mixing, News, Tracking, Video Posts, 3 comments
View All 3 Trident 88 Teaser Videos!

View All 3 Trident 88 Teaser Videos!

The new Trident 88 console has been working overtime since being installed a couple of weeks ago. We’ve been completely blown away with how this Trident 88 sounds both while mixing and tracking and are excited to show you this fantastic console!

 

 

I am extremely excited to have the Trident 88 at Ultimate Studios, Inc. Whether I’m tracking drums, guitar, bass or mixing the Trident 88 just makes everything better. There is a reason why some of the best rock records of all time were recorded on Trident consoles and the new Trident 88 is destined to continue that tradition!” says Ultimate Studios, Inc owner and engineer Charlie Waymire.

 

Check out the 3 Trident 88 teaser videos below and be sure to follow Ultimate Studios, Inc on YouTube! Learn more about the Trident 88 at www.TridentAudioDevopments.com.

 

 

 

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Trident 88 Teaser Video #1 (w/video…duh)

Trident 88 Teaser Video #1 (w/video…duh)

Judging by all the messages we have received there is a lot of interest in the new Trident 88 Console….Well we’re going to tease you with a few short videos while we’re working on some bigger stuff.

Visit www.TridentAudioDevelopments.com for more info on the new Trident 88.

Here is the Trident 88 Teaser Video #1!!!

Featuring:
Charlie Waymire – Drums
Ernesto Homeyer – Guitar
Pete Griffin – Bass

Stay tuned for video teaser #2 tomorrow!

 

 

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Ultimate Studios, Inc Installs new Trident 88 Console!

Ultimate Studios, Inc Installs new Trident 88 Console!

The control room at Ultimate Studios, Inc received a major upgrade last week with the addition of the new Trident 88 recording console from PMI Audio. The Trident 88 is a new console that pays homage to the classic Trident sound and quality while adding new features to fit the modern workflow.

 

 

“I am absolutely loving the Trident 88! It sounds great, feels great, and is fun to work on. The folks at PMI Audio and Trident really did a great job of bridging the classic console with features that make it easy to integrate into modern studio setups.

I like the feel of working on a console. Having the ability to turn knobs and push a fader up or down, getting an immediate connection with the music is extremely important to me. I don’t get that from a mouse. Don’t get me wrong, I use the tools that are in my DAW too. However, the Trident 88 has allowed me to use them a lot less as this board sounds amazing and is very intuitive. Bottom line is this console is a beast, a sonic beast.

A HUGE thanks to everyone at PMI Audio. You guys are awesome!” says engineer Charlie Waymire.

 

You can learn more about the Trident 88 at: www.TridentAudioDevelopments.com. We’ll have video very, very soon! In the meantime check out some photos of the new Trident 88 at Ultimate Studios, Inc!

Posted by Charlie in Charlie's Big Mouth Blog Entries!, Mixing, News, Tracking, 0 comments
Mixing w/Leslie Jones (w/video)

Mixing w/Leslie Jones (w/video)

Leslie Jones of Right Hand Rule was back at Ultimate Studios, Inc remixing the bands single, a cover of Bill Withers’ Use Me, off the bands debut EP. This remix is made for the radio and will be the bands first real push on the airwaves.

 

 

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Mr. Jones for a long, long time. First as the drummer in his band and now as his recording and mixing engineer. There are few people in this business that I respect as much as Mr. Jones. Not only is he an extremely talented actor and musician, he’s also and amazing person. Right Hand Rule is a direct reflection of Leslie’s diversity and I highly recommend catching them in concert when you have the chance. Mr. Jones in part of my musical family and I can’t wait to hear what’s next.” says Engineer Charlie Waymire.

The mixing is finished and now moves on to mastering engineer Ernesto Homeyer before it’s pushed out to radio. We’ll let you know when “Use Me” hits the airwaves. In the meantime hop on over to iTunes and get your copy of Right Hand Rule’s debut EP!

Check out this fantastic interview with Leslie Jones!

Posted by Charlie in Mixing, News, Video Posts, 0 comments