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Here
are some Separations guidelines
using a contemporary song format:
1.
Drums in stereo with any drum verbs and effects (be sure no other
reverbs or effects - other than drums - are on this separation).
Remember, if your project is a loud rock CD, we
highly recommend that you separate the drums from the
overhead/cymbals/room sound.
2. Bass in stereo with verbs and effects
(be sure no other reverbs or
effects - other than bass - are on this separation)
3. Remaining instruments in stereo with verbs and effects (be sure no
other reverbs or effects - other than these instruments - are on this
separation)
4. Vocals in stereo with verbs and effects (be sure no other reverbs or
effects - other than vocals - are on this separation)
5. Your full, final approved stereo mix
Name each song like this (for example the song title is "Good
Vibrations":
Good Vib Drums.aif
Good Vib Bass. aif
Good Vib Instr.aif
Good Vib Vocals.aif
Good Vib Full Mix.aif
If there are
particular issues you are concerned about, then separate
those elements. For instance if you're not sure about the blend between
the backup and lead vocals, then separate those two musical elements in
the same manor as the others:
Good Vib LdVoc.aif
Good
Vib BGVS.aif
If
you're not sure the brass tracks are blending right with the
piano/strings/synths, then separate out the brass from the other
instruments.
Good
Vib Brass.aif
Good
Vib Instr.aif
But don't go
wild and send 24 Separations! Don't send stems (which may
or may not have effects/verbs on them)! Keep to these guidelines and
the resulting quality will amaze you. You should be able to load the
full mix and the Separations into a new mix project and toggle between
the 2-track mix and the Separations, and be able to hear everything in
the mix, except that the Separations will sound wider and more open
than the 2-track version by itself. Remember to use excellent cables
and a revealing monitoring system. Once we load your project into our
system, the results will be even more dramatic! Remember, evven the
simplest Separations (• all instruments • all vocals) make a
differnce.
Note: Generally
we don't recommend more than a total of 8 stereo Separations (or a
total combined total of 16 tracks of stereo and mono separations).
While extremely flexible, this is to retain a mastering
approach and achieve ideal results for you.
Questions? Email
us!
Back
to the Mastering with
Separations article
Illustrated History of
Separations
How to record Separations
Here's a response from a client who used
both
Separations and traditional stereo mixes in their project: "Those songs which
focused
more on strength of vocals to propel the song benefitted most from
Separations. You were able to add a level of musicality to the vocals I
could not touch normally. Otherwise the traditional method was very
good for the songs we kept in stereo." - Eric
Created 03/12/05 *
Modified 5/03/06
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Mixing
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