Found a use for 8 bit dither - eq sweeping

[Kiwiburger]

Last night I was eq'ing a snare drum track that had an annoying little ring. I could clearly hear the pitch of the ring - but sweeping with the eq precisely was hard because the drum hits were intermittent. It was a bit like tuning a guitar to a piano - except the 'guitar' was cutting in and out all the time.

 

I usually create a sharp peak with hi Q, and then when i've found the ring, I reverse the peak to make it a notch. As long as there is some sound present, you can hear the pitch of the filter, like a synth filter.

 

Except there wasn't any sound present in between hits, and I started wishing I could mix in some white noise just to hear the filter. I use Cubase SX3, I thought about the white noise sources I had, but none of them could be mixed in easily with the audio track. (I suppose I could have created a group, and fired up a soft synth for white noise ... lot of work).

 

Then I remembered the Apogee dither plugin makes audible white noise on the 8 bit setting. It's ideal for this application - it's fast and easy to load this before the eq, and gives just enough white noise to hear your filter as you sweep. I'll be using this a lot more I think.

 

Afterwards, I though I could probably use a reverb with a long tail for a similar effect - it could prolong the snare ring sound, and provide some background noise so I can hear the filter.

 

For what it's worth.

[Badside]

You can also loop a very short section (like just the snare hit) so you can hear it continuously. That's what I do when I'm working on drum tracks

[A_Str8]

I do the loop thing

[Kiwiburger]

Yeah - I loop stuff too, I was looping a few bars as it was. But looping a single drum hit so it sounds like a stuck CD can drive you crazy.

 

This is just a trick that worked for me - it's like working with pitched white noise from a synth, its nice to be able to hear exactly the pitch of your eq when you want to.

[Picker]

Call me crazy, but I found it alot easier to try and correct the sound of the snare and adjust mic placement rather than trying to get rid of the ring in the mix.

 

I ended up just getting a drier snare head and using one of those mylar donuts to cut down on the snare ring. Record without the ring and no more ring

[Kiwiburger]

Agreed. Although I don't like those dead ringer things as much as some well placed gaffer tape. The rings have a sound of their own that I don't like, a sort of fluttery buzzy sound.

 

This was just a trick I found that might be useful to somebody some time.

[A_Str8]

Originally posted by Kiwiburger YeBut looping a single drum hit so it sounds like a stuck CD can drive you crazy.

 

That's never bothered me. I'm sure it drives my neighbors crazy though

 

One guy that lived in the same hall as me during college loves to tell people the story about the time I left some music looping and blasting for hours while I was away from my room. Oops. Apparently the whole hall was angry or something