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The Motown
History Behind The Exciting Compressor
With the Motown mix
approach there were problems. If you wanted the lyrics to be heard
you had to use a lot of compression on the vocal so that the the
softer words could still be heard over the higher-level music. In
addition you boosted the "presence
range" (around 5 kHz) with an equalizer. The only problem with this
is that it took the life & natural dynamics out of the vocal.
The Motown Chief
Recording Enginneer came up with a brilliant idea. He took the vocal
and split the signal so that it when to 2 console channels. Before
the vocal signal went to the second channel, it went through a
compressor. Now he had two channels of the vocal - one compressed
and one uncompressed. On the uncompressed vocal he added very little
with the equalizer and he added the reverb. On the compressed
channel, he compressed the h**l out of it and added a ton of
high-frequency equalization. What he would do is bring up the
"natural" channel to full level to get the basic natural sound on
the vocal. On the other compressed and equalized channel, he brought
this up just enough to add excitement and presence to the vocal
sound.
The result was nothing
less than amazing. In the mix the vocal sounded very natural and
bright. None of the music ever "stepped on" the vocal and you could
hear each and every syllable in the lyrics. The vocal never got
lost.
Using The
Exciting Compressor In Place Of An "Exciter"
I don't know if anyone
at Aphex knew anything about this technique - BUT - the purpose of
their "Aural Exciter" product and the older Motown technique seen
basically the same. As you try this technique out you will find it
works for other instruments as well. Often the frequency of EQ needs
to be changed for the instrument. The vocal works well with tons of
5kHz to 8 kHz added to the "exciting compressor;" guitars work
better with 3 kHz - 5 kHz and bass guitars work better with 800 hZ
to 1.5 kHz.
For analog recording
or working with an analog console, splitting the vocal into two
console channels is easily done with a
Y-chord
or similar function at the
patch
bay. For digital consoles, it's a little harder; usually the
best results are obtained by actually having two vocal tracks
recorded on the tape. |
