Using EQ With Space Echo And Reverb (Making Dub With Computers Chapter 30)

MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTER 30: USING EQ WITH SPACE ECHO AND REVERB
STUDIO DUBROOM TUTORIAL

WWW, September 16 2014 - It's often said how in Dub, the mixing board turns into an instrument at the hand of the engineer. Like a keyboard player touches the keys, the guitar player the strings. True, true, true. Pressing the mute buttons, using the sliders, and not just on the mixing board. The effect devices are not safe from the hands of the Dub engineer. 

During my live performances when I dub a band live, it happens that I have to use the PA of the hall. As I count the drops of sweat on the head of the engineer as I'm telling him how I am going to use his mixing board, I hear him think: "there goes my setting". When I continue to tell him how I want the delay and other effects routed back to the mixing board via a channel input, I see him watch the aux-out buttons while in his head he hears the feedback. Yes, the mixing board becomes an instrument.

Where an engineer usually fine-tunes his mix and explodes whenever someone wants to change anything, a Dub engineer continually changes these settings. No, just by (un)muting channels and not just by knowing where to drop what kind of echo and how to transform the echo feed with EQ like we did in the previous chapters. Here's another general guideline: whatever you can change with EQ, change it!

In this next video, it's not just the simple Dub delay with it's EQ and the reverb. Remember, we've added a Space Echo at Aux 3. That's what we're going to use now and we are going to use the EQ settings of the reverb as well. Before you press play, though, just a little bit more info about the "Space Echo".

There are many soft- and hardware devices similar to the Space Echo. Even free VST effects that are perfect to use, but that's for another place. In a way, you can look at the Space echo as a combination of Delay, Reverb and EQ. Where I use a separate EQ with my Dub delay and layer it with reverb from the mixing board, the Space echo does all that in one device. 

Watch as the "decay" (length) buttons and the EQ on the blue devices change. The blue device at top is the Reverb at aux 2, the blue device below the mixing board is the Space Echo. Read the extra information as you watch just how EQ and other things are used:

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Digital Dignity: Half a Gigabyte of High Quality Free Licensed (DUB) Reggae Samples In a New Studio Dubroom Feature

DIGITAL DIGNITY: HALF A GIGABYTE OF FREE LICENSED HI-Q (DUB) REGGAE SAMPLES AND LOOPS IN A NEW STUDIO FEATURE
STUDIO DUBROOM NEWS

WWW, September 2014 - Attention (DUB) Reggae producers and other visitors/users of Studio Dubroom: a brand new feature in the studio will provide you with over 560 Mb of free, legal, fully licensed high quality (DUB) Reggae Samples and Loops. We're talking drums, bass, guitars, horns, vocals, Dub effects and everything else you can think of in the field of the production of (DUB) Reggae Music.

It's called "Digital Dignity" and for a reason. There are too many online (DUB) Reggae artists that make use of jingles, loops and samples from well known or lesser known albums. For non-commercial productions that's quite a common practice but it will not lead you as a producer to the ability to release your music commercially. It's a common practice, but it doesn't really do anything else but make people think of the original.

Yes, it is better to get some dignity in your productions by getting some dignity for yourself: over half a gig of that material is waiting for you in our brand new Loopmasters (DUB) Reggae portal.

So what did we do and what can you do?

First, we've gathered all thirty (DUB) Reggae products that come with a demo file from the Sample Boutique and -second- created a page for each release. From that page you can directly download the Demo file attached to the product. You'll have to be registered and logged in to the Loop Masters website, but since that is a free thing and can even provide you with more goodies, registration at Loop Masters will not hurt you at all.

We are talking about samples and loops by Ariwa studio, Jesse "Dubmatix" King, the heavyweight champions at Drum Drops, and a lot more. A large part has authentic vocal loops and samples, but you can find some nice horns and other material.

Read the introduction page and start downloading. When you have a reasonable fast Internet connection, about 15 minutes of your time will deliver you a very valuable addition to your Sound library.

This is not a collaboration between Loop Masters and the Dubroom, this is the sole decision of the Dubroom and it is done out of a genuine appreciation with the good quality, service and prices at the Sample Boutique. 

CLICK HERE VISIT THE PORTAL

 

Dub Echoes and Reverb (Making Dub With Computers Chapter 29)

MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTER 29: DUB ECHOES AND REVERB
STUDIO DUBROOM TUTORIAL

WWW, September 14 2014 - Basically, the main thing a Dub engineer does is (un)muting channels and emphasizing these (un)mutings with effects, the two obligatory ones being reverb and delay, or echo. That's something we're going to look at as we continue our version excursion. Just how and where reverb is placed, and different things you can do with delay.

Very common in Dub mixing is adding reverb to snare drum hits, like every 2nd or 4th. When the skanks play, hit one chord with a Reverb attack. Or unmute the skanks and hit the very first chord with a reverb attack. Or the last one, just before you mute. Use a pre-aux and put the volume slider of the drums close to zero while feeding the reverb device with the drums.

Echoes, or delay, can and should not be just a repeat of itself like in the previous chapter. You can change the sound of the echoes by adding reverb on them but also by applying (slight) EQ changes in the echo feed. Or both. You can let the echo run along with the drums while changing the EQ feed, or just make a long echo of let's say a horn hit and change that feed.

Again (un)muting is essential. Let the skanks play along with the drum and bass and mute them at an unexpected time. Or unmute the skanks every 4th or 8th hit. Mute the horns before the theme is over, or unmute the horn while the theme is already playing. Surprise. Shock. Do the unexpected. 

he following video contains all the elements described in the previous paragraph. You will see the Reverb device, the Echo and it's EQ plus the master mixing board. In fact, that's everything that's used in this mix. On top of the screen you'll see a few remarks about the mix. Press replay, pause, whatever. 

 

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(Un)Muting Channels and Using Echo (Making Dub With Computers Chapter 28)

MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTER 28: (UN)MUTING CHANNELS AND USING ECHO
STUDIO DUBROOM TUTORIAL

WWW, September 13 2014 - Create multitrack recording of instrumental Reggae track: check. Add effects and make a set up: check. Finalize it with a sound check: check! In principle we're ready to make our first Dub. At least, we're ready for an introduction into what this is all about: making Dub with computers. 

Dub is both a technique and a form of art. You can learn the techniques but without the art-istic approach it won't be much. On the other hand, creativity can so much be enhanced with just a little bit of technical knowledge. So, before we'll start to look in some actual techniques we really need to consider our actual artistic feelings and desires when it comes to Dub.

There are many, many different ways to start a Dub. We'll take a look at some of them later on in this tutorial. There's the thing, are you making a Dub of a track that is also to be released as a vocal, are you making a Dub for a single release or as part of a Dub album? All need a different approach. What is it you're trying to communicate with your mix? What are you trying to say with that one particular effect you're using? These questions should be answered in your final Dub.

Where there are so many different forms, styles and techniques in Dub, one thing that all good Dub has in common is the fact that the Dubs are remixes of full musical tracks, with or without vocals. Dub is the Art of taking away, and when there is nothing to take away, things become a bit weird. Dub is the art of transforming a musical track by the use of effects and changing of settings on mixing board and devices. You'll need a musical track to transform, even when you're never intending to release the original track you made the Dub from.

Before I make a Dub, I open the instrumental track in my DAW and save it under a different name. I usually give my riddims a number, like 201401master.rns which I then save as 201401mix01.rns just to help myself keeping track of what I do.

The actual Dub is made in exactly the same way as it would be done in a real studio, with a couple of extra features that were unable in the times when Dub came into existence. It means, that while the track is running you'll change sliders, knobs and everything else you can possibly change and record these changes. This is called automation and every serious DAW should have this possibility. Some programs require you to arm tracks for automation, others will automatically record movements on the mixing boards and devices. 

The last thing I do before I start recording my mix is to make an initial setting. Usually this means I mute every channel except for the drum, bass and effects (channels 11-14). When I don't do a thing, the drum and bass will just play. Only when I unmute another channel and/or mute channels 1/2 (drums/bass), you'll hear something else. 

I do this because one very important general rule is that the drum and the bass should be dominant, there should be many parts where it's just the drum and the bass (plus perhaps an echo), and there should be let's say at least three little parts in your mix where drum, bass, or both will drop out. You could call them "breaks", in a way. That was a tip I got very early on, a tip I gladly pass on.

Now, let's take a little version excursion: a first mix wherein some of the mentioned principles are being put into action. Let's just play a little bit with the track by muting and unmuting channels while channels 3-5 have a little Dub delay (aux 1). 

Take a look at the following video and also watch some basic use of the slider in channel 11, that basically functions as the echo volume:

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Finalizing the Set Up with A Soundcheck (Making Dub With Computers Chapter 27)

MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTER 27: FINALIZING THE SET UP WITH A SOUNDCHECK
STUDIO DUBROOM TUTORIAL

WWW, September 12 2014 - We have our instruments set up in proper sub mixes, we've added the effects for dubbing and for enhancement of the instrument's sounds, now it's time to actually enhance these sound and make a reasonable mix. We're going to do that in this chapter in word, sight and sound. Actually, this is pretty much the same as a live soundcheck just before a live performance by a band. 

Truth be told: I did a little bit of preparation by using some specific settings on both reverbs. In short, I use a longer, heavier reverb for the Dub mixing (the one at aux 2), and a short one for the instrument enhancement (aux 4). I've also set the Space Echo as a Space echo (aux 3) but we're not going to use that in the soundcheck itself. 

We'll start that soundcheck with the drums. It gets some extra EQ-ing, and a little bit of reverb. The bass is next, gets some extra EQ-ing as well. Then the skanks and the horns. Both submixes have their own phaser, and they are put in action. The balance between the instruments is made in the submix, and then the skanks and the horns are balance with the bass and drums. The last part is for the accompanying elements: the guitar and the clavinet. While you could also add a phaser to that submix, for this tutorial we'll leave it at that. 

I've made three temporal midi tracks for the horns, to make them play the theme all over again. After all, we have to make a setting. After the soundcheck, I reinstated to original horns track. 

This is the sound check, live and direct.

 

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Finalizing the FX Set Up (Making Dub With Computers Chapter 26)

MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTER 26: FINALIZING THE FX SET UP
STUDIO DUBROOM TUTORIAL

WWW, September 11 2014 - The previous chapter gave us a little feeling about the Dub we're going to make later. We've set up a simple but effective Dub delay and this chapter we will add more effects. Before we will, though, let me separate between two kinds of effects and briefly explain their function in a studio where the purpose is to make DUB.

Let me exaggerate a little bit, just to make a point. Let's say that until DUB was first created (or perhaps even discovered by accident), effects like delay and reverb had the function to enhance the sound of instruments and singers. Still, in much form of musical recordings this is the way effects are used. With the introduction of DUB, the effects became instruments just as much as the engineer became a musician if you will.

I know, there's all kinds of "buts" and thing when it comes to the actual historical unicity of DUB when it comes to the transformation of effects from enhancements to instruments if you will, but for this tutorial it's more than perfect and the reason for that is, that you actually want effects that enhance the instruments while you want to keep playing with other effects. 

In our case, we will use a reverb which we'll apply just a little bit on every channel where we'll use the reverb we already created as a Dub reverb. We will also add just one more effect, preferably some sort of simulation of the Roland Space Echo. An echo device that in itself lets you do all kinds of weird things. When you do not use Reason 3.04 or up, you could use some kind of VST effect or something like that. It doesn't really matter, after all it is your inspiration and choice of effects that will make your sound. This is merely a guideline. 

We'll put the Space Echo on Aux 3 and the Reverb we'll use you enhance the sound of the instruments at aux 4. Make sure (if possible), you select aux 4 to Pre rather than Post. When you do so, opening aux 4 will give signal to the Reverb device even when the channel's volume slider is put all the way down. When you select "post", the volume of the aux out will correspond with the volume on the channel volume slider.

We'll also add two phasers. Or three, if you like. Since we made sub mixes, it should be possible to send an aux out from that sub mix to an effect device and route it back to the submix. We'll add a phaser to the horns and the skanks submixes. This will give us a phased skanks and horns rather than dry ones. It's just a little bit nice. Of course, you could add another effect like a filter or flanger, chorus, what have you. 

Take a look at the following video, where you can see everything in action. It sounds more complicated than it actually is, once you discover the logicalities behind everything. Remember, what we're doing is making it as easy as possible for ourselves so that when we're Dubbing we don't have to worry about anything else.

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A Simple, But Effective Dub Delay And Reverb (Making Dub With Computers Tutorial Chapter 25)

MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTER 25: A SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE DUB DELAY AND REVERB
STUDIO DUBROOM DOWNLOAD

WWW, September 10 2014 - With five input channels at our master mixing board ready to be processed, it's time to add the effects. Before we'll dive a little deeper in fine tuning and stuff, though, we'll add a delay and a reverb which we'll use later in the Dub mixing. You will see why the returns on the mixing board are of little to no use: after all, they're just inputs without any other possibilities attached to them. 

It's best to set up the effects according to the following principle: Aux 1 goes to an effect, the output of the effect lands in channel 11 at the mixing board. Aux 2 to channel 12, aux 3 to channel 13 and aux 4 to channel 14. Take a good look at the following video, where you will see (and hear) all of this explained in about four minutes:

By not using any feedback in the delay itself but rather looping it back to a channel, you give yourself full control over the echo's. Unless you really want to have that specific effect, a Dub echo is not just a repeat of itself. The flow of an echo changes, for example by applying certain EQ on the echo's channel input or -as was done in the video- by adding reverb over the echo. And that's what you want: you want to add layers of effects on top of each other. 

Bypass the whole return options. Rather treat the effect devices as instruments by giving them their own input channel. By doing so, you have established a potential of countless different effects. You can add EQ over a Reverb, Reverb over a delay, or make even a four layer effect in an instant during your Dub mixing session. Makes it spontaneous instead of pre-programmed.

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