Burton's Realtime Automix Procedures
I had something of a breakthrough yesterday down at the studio and I promised in the past that if I ever perfected my real time automation mix process that I would detail it here. So here it goes.... Please forgive any minor inaccuracies, as I'm doing this from memory without the VS in front of me.
Once you've got the hang of real-time automation on the 880ex, it's
a breeze. However, some very key information is omitted from both the manual and the
application guide. So unless you happen to stumble upon it through trial and error (or
read it here), you're S.O.L.
First you should complete all your regular tracking, have all the proper V-tracks
selected, and set the mixer to green mixer mode. Next, here are the steps to creating and
editing a real-time automated mix.
1) Press the automix button.
THIS IS KEY --- During the automix process, the track select buttons (the top row of
buttons over the faders) are used to indicate the automation status of each fader. These
buttons should intially be flashing green. You change the condition of these buttons by
SIMULTANEOUSLY holding down the lit automix button while pressing the select button for
the desired track. (Roland didn't feel like telling you that!)The track select button
should cycle through the following conditions:
a) Flashing green - Automation "record" enabled. Once you begin to record your
real time automation, all faders with flashing green select buttons will have their fader
movements recorded. All faders should default to this status when you first press automix.
b) Solid green - Automation "read". Select this mode when you wish to playback
previously recorded automation for a fader and do not wish for new fader movements to be
recorded for a track.
c) no light - Automation is turned off.
For the first pass through your mix, you will most likely want to set all faders to record
(flashing green).
2) Zero the counter.
3) Hold the automix button and simultaneously press the tap button to place an automix
marker at the 0:00 location. I don't know why, but you have to do this...
4) Hold the automix button and simultaneously press the record button. The
"condition" (upper left corner of the display screen) should now be alternating
between "play" and "mix." This indicates that the automation recording
is enabled and once play is pressed, all tracks with flashing green status buttons will
have their automation moves recorded.
KEY CONCEPT - Be aware of the "condition" while in the automix mode. Anytime you
wish to be recording your automation, the condition must be alternating between play and
mix. When condition just says "play", you will be playing back your previously
recorded automation.
5) Press play. You will now be recording your automated mix, and the VS will be storing
your fader moves as you mix your tracks. When you have completed your mix, press stop. The
screen should say something like "updating" and then "completed"
You can now zero the counter and review your mix by pressing play. Even though the select
buttons will technically still be in flashing record mode, the "condition" will
now be "play" so the automation won't be erased.
So now you've listened back to your automated mix, and it's pretty good. Let's assume it's
almost perfect, except you screwed up the level of the vocals on the first chorus and now
you want to change that.
KEY CONCEPT - Editing previously recorded automation is a lot like editing previously
recorded audio tracks. You have to plan where you're going to "punch in" and
"punch out" so that the edit properly matches the rest of your mix.
1) Move to the location where you wish to edit your previously recorded automation. For
this example, we want to repair a chorus, so we'd move to a location just before the
chorus.
2) Set the automation status for each track. Hold down the automix button while
simultaneously pressing the select button for each track to change it to solid green. This
will set these tracks for automation playback. Then set the select button for the track
you wish to edit to flashing green.
3) Set the physical fader position for the track you wish to edit. Do this by moving to
the location of the edit in the song, and then pressing play. (You won't be recording any
automation at this point, and the "condition" on the display screen should just
say "play") Next, move the fader for the selected track. You'll hear the track
level lock to the fader position, and then you can set the level to the appropriate spot
for the start of your edit.
4) Press stop and then move back to the beginning location of the automation edit.
5) Now simultaneously press the automix button and record. The condition will again flash
between play and mix. You automix edit will begin as soon as you press play.
KEY CONCEPT - When you press play to begin automating, your faders are not active until
they are moved. Even if the vocal track in this example is set for automation record,
unless the fader is moved, the track will play back it's original automation data. Once
the fader is moved, automation will record the fader position until you press stop.
6) Press play and jiggle the fader (it should already have been placed at its approximate
starting position during step 3, above). Your automation is now recording. During
playback, record your fader moves through the point where you wish to make corrections.
7) Press stop. The screen will again say "updating" and "complete" to
indicate that your new automation is being recorded.
Go back and listen to the results and decide if your mix is correct. If not, simply repeat
the above editing process as many times as you'd like and voila', you've got your
completed mix.
Once you've got all this absorbed and working for you, there are lots of things you can
try. You may wish to begin by only mixing a couple of tracks, and then gradually, adding
in 1 track at a time while replaying the automation previously recorded for other tracks.
Also, there's no reason that automation must be used for a final mix. If you've ever gone
nuts trying to submix 4 or 5 guitar parts, simply automate the submix!
Hope this helps somebody out. I know it would have done me a lot of good to have this
information about 3 months ago. Let me know if anything I've written is unclear. Good
luck. Once you master this process, you're VS becomes a much much more powerful machine.
- REPOSTED BY REQUEST