Fader Riding

Cool.

I can't possibly imagine a mix without fader rides. Flipping to volume views in one of my mixes might scare some people.....

I'll happily slam the living daylights out of something with compression/limiting, but then ride faders all around to get some life back into it. ALL around.   It's a VERY rare day when a track stays static for any length of time.  Sometimes a drum loop, but usually they get pushed around too.

Fader riding IS mixing.

I'm very surprised about how many "young engineers" (I'm in my late 30's so I'm still young, am i?) feel lazy about fader riding because 1, 2 or 3dB doesn't really make a difference.

I'll add to the post about fader riding: I always ride the fader down. I rarely ride the fader up if I want an instrument to be pushed

I have to admit that with very few exceptions I prefer drawing with my mouse over actually having the DAW read fader moves on my controller.  Also, and partly for sake of efficiency, I find that I use very few 'points' so I end up with a lot of linear fader moves. The advantage of this is that I can surgically align levels between words, phrases, spaces, etc.

I automate stuff that doesn't stand on it's own. Sometimes a guitarist plays a section a little too laid back, a few drum hits are anemic, singer didn't quite hit a matching level on a take, etc..

But for the most part, I find that the better the arrangement, the less the need to create fake dynamics in the composition as a whole. If you have to move faders a lot to get things to pop out, then there is too much going on during that time.

This concept is obvious where the interaction of feel/tempo is concerned, but I've never really thought much of the significance of its importance in terms of dynamics.  Very good point, drbill!

Bottom line - IMO, you have 4 basic choices in terms of fader moves and how you approach them :

1. Let dynamics "hold things in place" and end up with only "rebalancing" automation moves - yielding a mix that's ultimately going to be unbalanced and have things sticking out in spots because you were taught to do it this way. (This can be charming at times - 70's and 80's mixes were full of things "sticking out" or "getting lost" when they shouldn't have. Generally unacceptable in 2017. Typical problem examples - a Bass note resonating the room and sticking way out - but only when the player hits the low D and excites the room. Vocals - a word is lost, or a word sticks out too much. Often.

2. Use Compressors and Limiters to brutally and completely hold things "in place" without hardly any automation moves needed. This yields dead, flat mixes IMO. And of course is very popular with more than a couple world class mix engineers. I think we all know who.....

3. Ride levels CONSTANTLY like a musician would feel dynamics. (My preferred "traditional" method) Pushing more here, pulling back there - making the music more exciting and emotional. Unless the musicians all track together at the same time, or unless the musicians are ALL clairvoyant and know exactly how their part is going to sit in the mix when it's finished, and unless the producer knows EXACTLY how the mix is going to sound in their head and can communicate that to musicians and get their performances perfect - there WILL be parts of an arrangement that can/should be kicked up or pulled back to taste.

4, Use a combo of Dynamics processors to "get the sound" you want, and fader moves to get the arrangement working and emotional impact moving again like they should. (This is the direction I go for most modern styled projects.)

With the exception of accenting reverb tails and echo repeats I'm probably more likely to use fader moves to duck parts. But I don't actually think about it, just listen.

I always try to run through the songs with the bands before we hit record and do a little producing, even though I don't bill myself as a producer.  If I think things need a little more/less energy or things need to be changed to get more out of the songs, I tell the band.  They're free to listen or not, but usually they're stoked that someone is helping them out and almost always at least try harder.  It's amazing what kids these days don't know about songs.

I find this makes things feel a little more cohesive and dynamic than they would be otherwise, and reduces the amount of editing, automation and other trickery on my part.

One thing I've taken to doing is requiring the bands to do demos of all their songs on some kind of recording device (usually Iphone or something like this).  We sit down and listen before we record and see what everyone likes or doesn't like.  It's amazing that by getting an Iphone recording of a bunch of songs, that ultra-flat sound really lets you know what needs to be done differently for more feeling, much like listening through Auratone monitors will tell you everything you need to know about a mix you're working on.

It also gives the band more time with the songs and generally leads to multiple re-writes before they hit the studio, leading to better songs overall.

But kids these days just don't do this stuff anymore.  Most just get right to recording themselves and wondering why they aren't being noticed.

Great insights, everyone. Is anyone here using HUI control surfaces? Anyone fader ride a mix during mastering? I used Waverider on a mix I paid for that couldn't possibly have had much done in the way of fader rides due to the fact that I don't recall the guy doing much after the record button stopped. So far, I think it made it better. It must take a real talent to ride these things real-time.

Well, understand that when I talk about fader riding I'm talking about real time, not using it to write automation. If I ever get around to getting my flying faders working (probably after I fix the bad one) that will change, but the automation points still won't be written to the DAW.

And yes, it has everything to do with how one learned. I learned to mix doing live gigs back in the days when the "volume controls" were rotary knobs.


Funny, I would argue the exact opposite. dealing with a mouse (trackball, keyboard) and screen puts me at at least one level of remove from the music. I have difficulty mixing like that compared to just putting the fingers in direct connection to the ears, reacting to what I'm listening to. Mixing is not a cerebral exercise to me.