There are few mixers whose work has formed the sound of contemporary data fairly like Bob Clearmountain. His mixes don’t simply steadiness devices, they transfer, breathe and react like performances. That could be a large a part of why so lots of his data really feel alive a long time later.
On this dialog with Marc Daniel Nelson and Ira Becker at Combine This, Bob explains precisely why he nonetheless hasn’t moved utterly within the field, and why the reply has far much less to do with nostalgia than folks would possibly suppose.
When Bob explains why he has by no means absolutely moved within the field, it’s value listening fastidiously.
This isn’t merely about loving a large-format console as a result of it appears spectacular or as a result of it comes from a golden age of recording. Sure, the SSL console sounds nice. The EQs, dynamics, routing and summing all matter. Nevertheless for Bob, the true cause he nonetheless works the best way he does is automation. Extra particularly, the SSL G Collection automation system and the best way it permits him to carry out a mixture in actual time.
That distinction is all the pieces.
It Is Not About Being Anti-Digital
Bob isn’t saying trendy DAWs are ineffective. Removed from it. Professional Instruments, Logic and different programs have made recording, modifying and mixing extremely highly effective. We are able to do issues in the present day that will have appeared unimaginable within the period when SSL automation was first developed.
Nevertheless Bob’s level is rather more particular. There are particular musical, bodily and workflow-based elements of console automation that trendy DAW automation nonetheless doesn’t replicate in the identical speedy method.
That issues as a result of Bob’s method to mixing is not only technical. It’s performative.
When he’s mixing, he isn’t merely setting static ranges and sometimes drawing in an automation curve. He’s reacting to the music. He’s listening to the vocal towards the monitor, feeling the place the refrain lifts, deciding when a guitar ought to tuck again, when the strings ought to bloom and when the entire document ought to out of the blue breathe in a different way.
That form of decision-making depends upon immediacy.
The second the know-how forces you to cease and suppose, “How do I do this?” the musical impulse can begin to disappear.
The Magic Of Roll Again Be a part of
One of many central options Bob demonstrates is one thing he refers to as “roll again be a part of.” This may increasingly sound technical, nonetheless the musical concept could be very easy.
Think about Bob has already ridden the lead vocal throughout a track. These rides are working. The emotion is there. The phrases are sitting correctly. Nevertheless when he will get to the second refrain, he feels the entire vocal wants to take a seat a bit of louder.
In a typical DAW workflow, you would possibly trim the automation, draw an offset or attempt to write new automation over the present move. The issue Bob highlights is that while you rewind, the fader typically jumps again to the beforehand written automation place. The precise bodily place the place you discovered the brand new degree is gone. You’re left attempting to recreate it. You’re guessing.
On the SSL, Bob can flip off the fader motors, hear, transfer the fader till the vocal feels precisely proper after which roll again. When the refrain arrives, he can hit be a part of and the system applies that precise distinction, whereas preserving all of the detailed rides beneath.
That’s the key.
He isn’t destroying the work he has already finished. He isn’t flattening out the earlier vocal automation. He isn’t changing musical element with a blunt degree change. He’s protecting the efficiency of the unique journey and easily offsetting it by the quantity his ears simply selected.
That could be a profoundly musical technique to work.
The Distinction Between Mixing And Enhancing A Combine
That is the place Bob’s workflow reveals one thing vital in regards to the artwork of blending.
Loads of trendy mixing has turn into visible. We take a look at waveforms. We take a look at automation lanes. We draw traces. We copy and paste sections. We zoom in and sort things.
All of that may be helpful. Nevertheless Bob is describing one thing completely different. He’s making selections along with his arms, in actual time, whereas listening.
That sounds apparent, nonetheless it’s straightforward to neglect how highly effective it’s.
When Bob says he’s discovering the extent by listening, that’s the entire level. The console permits him to maintain the musical resolution related to the bodily motion. He hears the vocal, touches the fader, feels the change and commits it precisely the place it must occur.
There isn’t a hole between intuition and execution.
That’s the reason he describes this type of automation as one thing he makes use of consistently. It isn’t a uncommon trick. It’s a part of his total mixing language.
Automation Is Half Of Bob’s Sound
One of the crucial vital factors within the dialogue is that automation isn’t handled as an afterthought. For Bob, it’s a part of the sound of the combo itself.
That could be a large lesson.
We frequently speak about “the sound” of a mixer by way of EQ, compression, reverbs, delays, saturation or monitoring. These issues completely matter. Nevertheless with somebody like Bob Clearmountain, motion is simply as vital.
A fantastic Bob Clearmountain combine breathes. The vocal doesn’t simply sit in a single place. The drums don’t merely stay static. Guitars, keyboards, percussion, results and backing vocals all transfer across the emotional centre of the track.
That motion isn’t random. It’s musical association after the association. It’s the mixer shaping the listener’s consideration.
Marc Daniel Nelson rightly factors out that Bob’s automation makes a mixture really feel alive, nearly natural. Bob agrees as a result of that’s precisely what he’s chasing.
He desires the weather of the monitor to really feel like they’re responding to one another.
That’s the reason the automation system issues a lot. It isn’t only a comfort. It’s the instrument by way of which Bob performs the ultimate emotional form of the document.
Native And World Strikes
One other lovely side of the SSL system is the best way Bob can work regionally or globally.
Within the demonstration, he talks about making a breakdown going into a bit. He can take heed to the track, resolve which components ought to drop out, select faders or cuts, roll again after which hit be a part of on the precise musical second the place he desires that breakdown to occur.
He can do that with one fader. He can do it with a number of. He can carry issues again regionally, or globally. He could make giant musical gestures with the identical immediacy as a participant hitting a chord change.
That is a crucial distinction. In a DAW, you possibly can completely automate mutes, ranges and breakdowns. Nevertheless the method typically turns into extra editorial. You choose, draw, copy, paste, trim and refine. On Bob’s console, it’s nearer to conducting.
He’s listening to the association and bodily shaping it because it passes by.
That’s the reason dropping this workflow wouldn’t simply imply dropping a chunk of kit. It will imply dropping a mind-set.
Why DAW Automation Can Really feel Like Guesswork
The video additionally compares Bob’s SSL workflow with a DAW-based management floor method. Ira demonstrates using a fader, writing automation, going into trim mode and looking for a louder degree. The difficulty seems when he rewinds. The fader returns to the automation place, which means the newly found degree is misplaced.
At that time, the mixer has to approximate the transfer once more. You may get shut, in fact. There are workarounds. You’ll be able to maintain the fader, attempt to catch the extent, or use trim instruments within the software program. Nevertheless because the demonstration makes clear, it isn’t the identical. It’s particularly not the identical if you find yourself attempting to do it throughout a number of faders without delay.
For Bob, that distinction isn’t tutorial. It impacts the texture of the combo.
If you find yourself attempting to protect a musical intuition, “shut sufficient” will be irritating. The extent you discovered whereas listening was the extent. The SSL automation lets him seize that precise relationship.
That’s what Bob means when he talks about saving the distinction between the present automation and the brand new degree.
It isn’t simply fader place. It’s intention.
Mixes Inside Mixes
One other massively highly effective a part of the SSL workflow is how Bob can mix automation from completely different mixes.
That is one thing each mixer understands instantly. A shopper, producer or artist would possibly say, “I like the vocal in combine three, nonetheless I want the remainder of combine six.” In a DAW, this could imply importing session knowledge, managing playlists, transferring automation between classes or fastidiously copying info throughout variations.
Bob’s SSL automation lets him work another way. He can be a part of particular channels, faders or cuts from one combine into one other throughout an outlined part. The unique mixes stay intact. A brand new combine is created. Nothing is destroyed. Nothing is overwritten in a panic.
That is an extremely elegant technique to cope with revisions.
It additionally displays the fact of blending on the highest degree. Last mixes are sometimes constructed from style, comparability and tiny preferences. The very best vocal journey would possibly reside in a single model. The very best refrain carry is perhaps in one other. The very best intro steadiness is perhaps someplace else totally.
Bob’s system lets him deal with automation nearly like efficiency takes. He can comp one of the best emotional moments from completely different combine passes.
That isn’t nostalgia. That’s pace, precision and musicality.
The Floppy Disk Downside
After all, the system isn’t excellent.
Bob jokes in regards to the downside, the automation knowledge is saved on floppy disks. For anybody who grew up within the digital period, that sounds nearly absurd. Right here is likely one of the biggest mixers on this planet, counting on a system whose final software program replace was within the mid-Nineties and whose combine knowledge lives on a format many youthful engineers have by no means used.
There may be additionally a critical facet to this. Bob mentions that when his home burned down, 1000’s of these disks had been misplaced. Which means previous automation knowledge disappeared with them.
It’s a heartbreaking reminder that older workflows will be each extremely highly effective and extremely fragile.
Bob even says there must be a contemporary system that does all of this on a Mac or PC. That’s actually the guts of the difficulty. He isn’t arguing towards progress. He’s asking why progress has not preserved among the greatest concepts from the previous.
Why Hasn’t This Been Recreated Correctly?
Which may be essentially the most fascinating query raised by the entire dialog.
Trendy DAWs are astonishingly succesful. We are able to edit audio sample-accurately, recall total mixes immediately, automate nearly something, run lots of of plug-ins and collaborate throughout continents. But sure elements of basic console automation nonetheless haven’t been translated in a method that feels as easy as Bob’s SSL.
Why?
Partly as a result of software program growth typically prioritises options that look spectacular on display screen. Graphic EQs, spectral shows, clip acquire, plug-in chains, MIDI instruments and recall programs are all simpler to market visually.
Nevertheless one of the best automation workflows are about really feel.
They’re about what occurs when a mixer is midway by way of a move, hears one thing, grabs a fader, rolls again and needs to commit that emotional resolution with out breaking the circulate.
That’s tougher to clarify in a function listing. Nevertheless to somebody like Bob Clearmountain, it’s all the pieces.
The Console As A Musical Instrument
When Bob talks about having all of the EQs, dynamics and results sends in entrance of him, he’s describing the console as an instrument.
That isn’t romantic exaggeration. Anybody who has labored for lengthy intervals on a large-format console understands this. You construct muscle reminiscence. You recognize the place issues are. Your arms transfer earlier than you’ve got absolutely verbalised the thought.
On a display screen, we are sometimes opening home windows, deciding on channels, paging by way of controls, assigning parameters and specializing in one factor at a time. Once more, this isn’t fallacious. Many sensible data are combined that method.
Nevertheless Bob’s level is that the console offers him simultaneous entry. He can see and contact many elements of the combo without delay. The connection between the music and the bodily floor is speedy.
For a mixer whose sound relies upon so closely on motion, that issues.
What We Can Be taught From Bob
The lesson right here isn’t that everybody wants an SSL console.
Most individuals won’t ever have one. Many mixers are making unbelievable data totally within the field. The purpose is deeper than gear.
Bob Clearmountain reminds us that mixing is not only processing. It’s efficiency. It’s style in movement. It’s the artwork of understanding when one thing must carry, when one thing must disappear and when the listener’s ear must be guided someplace new.
The instruments matter as a result of they both assist that intuition or get in the best way of it.
Bob’s loyalty to his console isn’t about refusing to maneuver ahead. It’s about defending the musical connection between what he hears, what he feels and what his arms can do immediately.
That’s the reason, for him, the automation isn’t a technical function. It’s a part of the emotional engine of the combo.
And that’s the reason Bob Clearmountain nonetheless doesn’t combine utterly within the field.
