Recording Studio Rockstars: All Through the Creme
- 27.09.2020
- Victor Weiss
- Creme
Video from July 2018 (13:23 min).
Have you always wondered if there is a studio device that makes everything you send through it sound better? Lij Shaw of Recording Studio Rockstars shows you how you can send the individual tracks from your DAW into the Creme to optimize the sound. At the very end, the master track is also processed with the Creme to really bring the mix to life.
Just as he used to do at the beginning of his career, when he recorded limited-budget bands in small project studios to get their first record deal, It worked then - and still works today!
What Happens in the Video
Lij Shaw first explains the front panel – bypass, side-chain low cut (full/120/60 Hz), EQ before or after the compressor, low boost 20–200 Hz, high boost 10–24 kHz ("basically just air frequencies way up high that just opens up the air of your sound and your mix"), threshold with gain-reduction meter, attack 0.1–30 ms, release up to auto, ratio 1.5/2/4/10 – and characterises the ratios: 4:1 for an aggressive, powerful rock sound, 2:1 softer, 1.5:1 very gentle, 10:1 more of a limiting feature. He then takes a rough mix of one of his own songs (his daughter Soraya wrote the chorus in the shower at age seven), sends every single track out of Pro Tools through the Creme and back onto a neighbouring track – kick drum first –, sets each one as if he were still tracking it, builds a new rough mix from the processed tracks and runs that stereo mix through the Creme once more. For recalling the master-bus setting he uses the Tegeler plug-in on the master bus.
What Lij Shaw Says About the Creme
"It's a stereo VCA compressor and EQ that is awesome for processing your tracks. You can either record through this thing or you can mix through it." – Lij Shaw, video, July 2018
"We basically enhanced every single track as an individual track in this whole song." – Lij Shaw, video, July 2018
"One of the coolest things about Tegeler Audio Manufaktur is that they make plugins, custom plugins, that will interface directly with your hardware." – Lij Shaw, video, July 2018
What the Creme Is – and Why It Sits on the Mix Bus
The Creme is our bus compressor and mastering equalizer: a passive Pultec-style EQ and an SSL-style VCA bus compressor in one 2U unit. The order is switchable – EQ before the compressor or compressor before the EQ. On the mix bus the compressor pulls the separate parts into one whole, almost inaudibly at a 1.5:1 ratio, with a rhythmic signature of its own at higher ratios and faster timing; a side-chain filter keeps frequencies below 60 or 120 Hz out of the control circuit. The EQ offers a bass boost between 20 and 200 Hz and a high boost between 10 and 24 kHz, each 0–5 dB, every value on a rotary switch – which is why every setting is exactly reproducible. If you want plug-in recall, the Creme RC with motorized pots has it: Amazona.de reviews our Creme RC.
Here the complete video:
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Related: Home Recording Made Easy Reviews the Creme (Video) · Streaky Reviews the Creme · Mixing and Mastering with a Little Creme
