Grammy-Winning Steve Nowa Mixes DJ Khaled, Danity Kane and Trick Daddy with T-RackS 3
Circle House Engineer’s tips and tricks, and what’s essential from his desktop arsenal
"I use T-RackS 3 and AmpliTube on a daily basis. The T-RackS 3 EQ sounds ridiculously good on my mixbus, the highs have such a nice sheen and the bass is strong, it's colorful....but not too colorful... it does exactly what I need. I used it on a Trick Daddy song called "$*&^ Tha Otherside" on the new DJ Khaled album 'We Global'. It's one of the best sounding club records in the country. I use the T-RackS 3 compressor mostly on vocals and synths. I love how the compressor has a stereo imager on it, I've used T-RackS on Day 26, Danity Kane, Pretty Ricky and Juvenile to slightly widen the hooks. I start with the compressor's input at about -6, then I turn the output back up to make up for the dip at the input. I put the attack at medium and the release at fast, then I turn the release slower until the sound sits in a round pocket in the mix. I often pull the attack back a little bit so that the vocals still have some bounce."
"I use AmpliTube whenever a situation calls for distortion, usually guitars or vocal ad-libs. I go thru the amp model, then cabinet type to hear which best matches the situation. I compare with the speaker on/off, then I turn up the delay volume so it stands out, and then turn the delay knob until it feels good...usually a little after the beat. Then, I turn the reverb knob until the sound sits just a little (or a lot) behind the drums. I tweak the overdrive section, sweeping the tone with the distortion slammed until the sound I'm working on glues harmonically to the rest of the music without making the song cloudy. Next, I pull the distortion back to a reasonable space in the mix and head to the EQ section, usually dipping mids, adding highs, and turning presence until the sound is clear but not harsh."
"A lot of my clients are surprised that we use these plug-ins at such a major facility like Circle House, because they're very reasonably priced. The truth is that I love plug-ins that sound great and are easy to use. My clients are happy that they can use the same effects as the pros."
For more information on T-RackS 3 and how to use it creatively for mixing audio, please click here.
To get the sounds of distortion and more for your mixes, please click here to visit the AmpliTube website.
2009-02-25
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