What is "studio magic"?
 

A lot of people talk about unattainable tones and serious modifications done using "studio magic". What kind of tools do producers use to heavily modify tone?

Compressors, limiters, EQ, Reverb and Delays but most importantly a controlled environment so you can create the sonic atmosphere your going for without having to fight the elements of a room, volume, amps and so many other variables.

Also, sometime when I see the rig of some big name ... there so much stuff in the signal chain ... So in many insteance the tone and effect used on the album sound very different live ... EQ, the room and many other things have an impact.

then in a studio they can turn cr*p music into listening cr*p music by polishing it so much ... like the use of autotune ...

Studio magic = experience + skill

Get stuff into the digital domain and manipulate it there.

In digital, you can make a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy and it's identical to the original. There is no noise build up.

Now mess with the numbers and you can do stuff you can't do otherwise. Phase linear EQ is one example. There is no phase shift with the EQ at all.

All the compressors, reverbs, doubling, etc. all available in the digital domain. It's manipulating integers. It's not magic. It doesn't need to be. It's science. Tried and true. Predictable, repeatable.

As bluestarbass points out, it Still needs the experience + skill
+ musicianship.

That's not what linear phase means.

In addition to experience and skill, you need time, patience, good players, good listeners, advice, trial/error, etc. My philosophy is to alter one variable at a time until I'm satisfied with what I've done. Then I compare it to the clean, unmodified track and see if what I've done to the sound has helped or hindered it based on the overall picture. Listen to the track you've altered solo, with the mix, etc and try to achieve your goals that way.

Other accessory things you may need is a brick wall for your head, a pack of cigarettes for the ensuing headaches, ragefits and technological gremlins, and a few buddies to tell you if you're a genius or if your mixing/mastering is complete grade A BS. :)

There's a lot that goes into it, much of which has been mentioned.
Studios are very carefully constructed, for one, in order to keep out any kind of noise pollution from outside. Also carefully designed to control the internal sound environment as much as possible.

Then all the EQ, other techniques, and the experience of everyone involved comes into play.

So the "magic" is a carefully controlled environment, the right equipment, and knowledgeable people to make it all happen.

http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=207

http://theproaudiofiles.com/linear-p...imum-phase-eq/

...

My studio magic is playing live with my band on analog equipment. No dubs and in one room. And killin it

The biggest parts of "studio magic" are having a great room and high quality gear (ie low noise, and if it's either "flat" or has its own pleasing color to it). With these on hand, whatever you put into the recording should come out as good as possible. Obviously having a great engineer helps a lot, but the better the gear, the less important that is (ie a mediocre engineer at Avatar will probably still come up with amazing recordings). That's why so many home recordings just don't have that space and depth to them. They were recorded in someone's bedroom (or even worse, their kitchen), with cheap interfaces and mics, so the music tends to sound flat and lifeless even with someone pretty talented behind the controls.

This is all there is to it.

What about in direct in? The room's acoustics wouldn't affect it there... would it?

Studio magic = harmonic coloration. The reason a standard compressor plug-in doesn't sound nearly as good as a fancy expensive hardware compressor is because the hardware one is adding a lot of harmonics which are pleasant to the ear, literally "even better than the real thing". Premier studios don't advertise that fact because when folks figure out how to do that with plug-ins, their hardware becomes worthless. Instead they say that only their fancy hardware can get that magic sound, and anyone saying it can be done digitally is a hack.

Do the math, adding harmonic coloration is *artificial*. Which do you think is better at being artificial: analog, or digital? Fact is that plug-ins are getting good enough that many premier studios are unloading a lot of hardware in favor of Digidesign desks for convenience's sake. In other words, they're becoming more like home DAW's.

No, but... The acoustics of the monitoring environment will affect the tonal and ambiance decisions applied to that DI signal.

Look at some of the later Beatles albums. Studio magic. But unplayable live.

- Jimmy Rage

I laugh every single time.

Ask Brittany Spears, she knows all to well what studio magic is

^ This is the key. Please note it does NOT say "gear" anywhere.

Yes big studios have nice toys and acoustically treated rooms, but that's because they also have a bigger budget than you or me.

The truth is that it's not about the gear. While gear does play its part, even so called crappy (i.e affordable) gequipment can produce amazing results in the hands of a knowledgable person. It's about how well the engineer knows how to use the tools they have available, and how well the musicians can perform. If you need proof ask yourself this: have you ever see a local band at a club and their bass player has an amazing rig or bass, yet comes across as a total hack with a crappy sound? Same thing for recording studios. Having the latest and greatest shiny toy does not guarantee a good recording just like budget equipment doesn't automatically mean your recordings are not going to sound good.

Oh and don't fall for "We'll fix it in the mix". That's the same as our current budget issues; push it off on the next guy. The better source recording you start with the better the overall project will be.

Ok I'm off my high horse now. Now back to your regularly scheduled internet post. :D