Posts Tagged ‘expansion’

An example of expansion

Hi people

In my last article “Expansion…the lesser known dynamics tool” , I spoke about bringing out detail using expansion rather than compression. It wont work with all material, but in some cases, where the mix is just wrong somehow, it can bring back elements before moving to the compression stage.

This track is a good example of such material. Take a listen to the original Donald Fagen-Countermoon-source


No continuity in that sound at all hey!. The bass and snare being the culprits. I don’t think either was limited. In my opinion, what this creates, is a broken waveform going through the speaker cone. The unnatural peaks and dips force the cone to pull against itself, giving a very strange sound.


In this quick remaster, I used expansion in a few places, before moving to compression. Kind of meeting the dynamics needs half way between the two methods. I wont go into exact detail of how I went about it, but I used both multiband and wideband to lift specific lacking areas.

You will still hear what sounds like my dynamics work in a couple of places. But check the source, it’s mostly where the source issues have been made clearer….mostly .


Donald Fagen-Countermoon-remaster

As usual I’ll say this…It’s still not perfect. But it’s a more natural and listenable sound than the original.




Well, that was it, just meant as an example to the previous post. My next article on m/s eq is almost finished, so check back soon.


Thanks for stopping by


Tone

Expansion, the lesser known dynamics tool

Hi people!

Apologies for taking so long to get another article written. Been rather busy actually working on stuff.

“But Tone, what about the multiband series??”. Well…I had intended to make screencast video’s, showing and explaining with narration, exactly how to get one of these things setup. But the fact is, making them takes an age to do. So I’ve drawn up a new plan, where I will be making sets of tuition vids on many of the different areas of mastering, and the tools used. These sets will then be purchasable from the site. If you want an idea of what I have in mind, take a look at the talented Nick Maxwell’s site Nickstutorials.com .

I had never intended this to be any kind of ‘pay for’ site. But to give the best advice on tips and techniques takes a long time. So it’s a natural progression. Keep checking back for small demo’s of what will be available(when I get some time). I will however continue to post articles.

My goal remains the same…to hand on tips and methods to help you better understand your audio work, and get the best from it.

What is expansion

Simply put, it’s the exact opposite of compression . It’s main use is when working with already over compressed material, to add back dynamics. I was actually inspired to write on this subject, after working on a 70’s restoration job that needed a different approach.

The material came from LP, which as far as I can tell, had been kind of mastered by the guy who cut the disc. It’s full of nasty notches, a large wide mid lift(totally covering the low end) and a very thick sounding bass guitar. Don’t forget, this is an old recording, even if no compression was used during tracking and mixing etc, this has gone from 2 inch multitrack to 1/4 inch reel, then onto vinyl and back into digital. Plus with all the parts of the spectrum missing, it’s quite a strange sounding recording. Anyway, compressing the bass region was a no go, ….not immediately anyway. So here’s what I did:

So, to give me a more balanced start point, I used a multiband model, and expanded either side of the bass hump(which covered 80-200hzish) using shelves, plus a couple of  other expansion lifts at 190 and 250ish to keep the warmth in the vocals. I also used longer release times than I would normally, as the dynamics either side of the hump are jumping about all over the place.

What this effectively does is this: as the bass hump approaches threshold, the upper and lower shelves lift to match it “but Tone, now the whole thing is bouncing up and down”, yes, but that’s the point. Now I have a sound that I can start to push into shape, using the normal methods.

For anyone thinking “why didn’t you just compress the mid using multiband compression”, I did try that first, but it worked much better expanding first, and then using a small amount of mb comp to tighten the whole thing up. Sometimes, the way things are mixed, and the problems that are put in, need dealing with differently.

Setting up

1:Have an idea of what you want to achieve

2:If you’re using multiband expansion, find the places where you want the lifts. Find the sweetspots where the upper and lower shelves need to be, by using a small expansion ratio first, maybe 1.03:1 for example. Use a small attack time like 5ms. Too short and the expansion isn’t going to work right. Start with 100ms release. Set the threshold by hearing the blend. Don’t look at the meters!. The ones on my fav model are totally misleading(done on purpose I think).

3:Adjust ratio/amount of expansion to suit on each band.

4:Adjust attack times. Concentrate on the attack part of the music. Don’t be put off by a slightly wrong release phase at this time.

5:Blend in the expansion by adjusting the release times. Drag it around all the way from 50ms upto 1 second. Forget the numbers and dial in the sound you want.

6:Once you’ve done all that, go over the settings again and make sure it’s all working together.

Setting up a standard wide band expander is just the same as for a compressor. Set enough attack time to allow the kick through.

Once you’ve found the attack and release region you want, I find there is usually a few ms to play with for artistic input. That 1 extra ms on the attack can create a tiny delay, which can be very creative, and similar with release. Listen for a delay or hole(attack too long) or a slight thickness (attack to short). Similar deal with release times.

Conclusion

I know not everyone needs to use expansion, but it’s a powerful tool that will go some way towards fixing bad compression or mix problems. Next time you’re working on a mix where the kick is a bit loud, think “Do I want a thicker kick, by using compression, or should I lift the rest first using expansion, and then deal with overall compression.

A fellow M E recently told me “I know quite a few mastering engineers, and we all get to the end result in slightly different ways”. It’s exactly the same with different material. You could own the best compressor in the world, but it’s not always going to be the best tool for the job.

I’ll ask my customer if it’s cool to post before and after for you guys to hear.

Next up I’ll be explaining the very powerful m/s eq. So be sure to stop by real soon.

Till then, thanks for reading

Tone