Soft recording

[jkeefauver]

Am working on remixing some old stuff a friend did a long while back. Biggest challenge is that he recorded so quietly on most things. Now I can gain things up, use comp or limiter or whatever. Noise not withstanding, my real question is about my sum mix back from my analog summing. The stems are super quiet and therefore my 2bus feed coming back into pro tools is also very quiet. So....would you raise levels on the stems before summing or just bring things up a bit on the 2bus once the signal has been summed? Feels to me that any color I'm getting from the analog summing isn't really happening cause there's no level there. Am I wrong?

[BScout]

Gain clips (stems). Just gain (no comp/limiter; I guess limiter if needed but you said these were quiet). Using a comp changes the stems (and usually increases the noise to signal); just straight clip gain (or raising the fader) is a cleaner approach.

To get color from a mixer, you need to saturate it so that means level entering it.

[jkeefauver]

So to clip gain the stem I would have to print it first, which i suppose is doable. Right now the "stems" are virtual (stereo aux's sent to 2BUS LT). If I just use something like an L1 to raise the level but dont hit the threshold, I hoped it wouldn't change the stem much.

[Sardi]

By virtual, I assume you mean VIs coming in quiet into the Aux channel. This would be a first, as most VIs are notorious hot in output level.

But if that is the case, just turn the aux fader up. No need to insert a limiter in the chain to raise the leve.

If it’s still not enough gain, then insert a trim plugin to give it some more level.


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[BScout]

What Sardi said.

If using a VI, use the mixer in the VI (like in Kontakt there is a mixer to apply some gain or in Vienna Ensemble)
Then apply gain with the fader in Pro Tools
Then apply gain with a trim plugin

Don't use limiters or compressors unless you want to use them for what they are intended for. There are plenty of ways to increase level before doing something that actually changes the signal by more than just level (frequency response, phase, added harmonics, etc.)

[jkeefauver]

Sorry guys, I wasn't clear. Not a VI. When I say the stems are "virtual" I just mean they are not printed, physical files. My summing setup:

1. I group like instruments and bus them to a stereo Aux (ex: 1&2 = Drums)
2. I send these groups (up to 8 stereo) out of the interface outputs and into a Dangerous 2Bus LT
3. Summing occurs and returns to the interface as a summed stereo pair
4. I bring that stereo pair back into PT on a 2Bus stereo Aux channel which I can then process and/or print to an audio track.

Ideally, I would clip gain the channels themselves up to something like -18dbFS (or so) and all would take care of itself. That can still be done but I'll have to remix 2 of the songs if I do that so was looking for a quick work-around that wouldn't involve me messing with my channel faders themselves.

The need to saturate the 2Bus LT (or lack thereof) was my initial question and BScout validated that for me. Regarding remixing those 2 songs - I'll take the time, clip gain the individual instruments and do it right. You would think I'd learn by now that workarounds don't really "work around" anything :) Thanks for the chat guys. Good stuff.

[musicman691]

Trim plugin on inserts? With same gain on each so mix balance doesn't go funky.

[Sardi]

Originally Posted by musicman691

Trim plugin on inserts? With same gain on each so mix balance doesn't go funky.

Exactly.

Will take 2 mins and achieve what you want.


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[LochNESS]

Originally Posted by jkeefauver

Sorry guys, I wasn't clear. Not a VI. When I say the stems are "virtual" I just mean they are not printed, physical files. My summing setup:

1. I group like instruments and bus them to a stereo Aux (ex: 1&2 = Drums)
2. I send these groups (up to 8 stereo) out of the interface outputs and into a Dangerous 2Bus LT
3. Summing occurs and returns to the interface as a summed stereo pair
4. I bring that stereo pair back into PT on a 2Bus stereo Aux channel which I can then process and/or print to an audio track.

Ideally, I would clip gain the channels themselves up to something like -18dbFS (or so) and all would take care of itself. That can still be done but I'll have to remix 2 of the songs if I do that so was looking for a quick work-around that wouldn't involve me messing with my channel faders themselves.

The need to saturate the 2Bus LT (or lack thereof) was my initial question and BScout validated that for me. Regarding remixing those 2 songs - I'll take the time, clip gain the individual instruments and do it right. You would think I'd learn by now that workarounds don't really "work around" anything :) Thanks for the chat guys. Good stuff.

I have some questions about this, if you're willing to enlighten me:

1. Can you not insert a trim plugin or gain-staging plugin on the stereo Aux channels? The whole reason I bus my drums to a stereo Aux is so that I can edit them simultaneously with one plugin (like EQ) in addition to whatever editing I've done to each drum mic

2. If the virtual bit is a problem then why not "Commit up to this Insert" and print them?

TIA. Hope to learn something new today. ~Nick