Using AIR near 100%?

[MERLIN]

Hi all,


I remember that in the original tutorial video, earlie tells us that he personaly only uses air at about 20% max-ish. Ive exported a finished vocal track into harbal , and am happy with the eq adjustments ive made. Im now adding air, and to me the vocals sound good with a lot of air(60% and up). Is this a bad practise to get into.

Should i just use a lot of air if it sounds good, or is there a sensible limit?

Btw: Ive got a home studio setup and recorded the material through matched pair of rode NT5's going into Presonus tube preamps>>>>into cubase.Im only using audio.(acoustic guit,bass,vox,drums,percussion)

[HarBal]

Are you saying that your vocal track is stereo mic'ed? If it is mono mic'ed then Air won't do anything but if it is stereo mic it will have an affect. Applied as an effect to a stereo track prior to mixing I'd say you can use as much air as you feel sounds good. For final mixes I'd argue using more than 20% is likely to have damaging side affects.

Regards,


Paavo.

[MERLIN]

Hi Paavo,

Yes, the vocal track was stereo miced, then i applied impulse responses on it in cubase.
So individually, the track could have more than 20%? Or should i just use air on the final mix?

Thanks

[HarBal]

If air on the individual stereo vocal track gives you the sound you want then use it by all means (even 100%). The bad side effects of air are generally only apparent with a full mix. Since in you case it is selectively applied to the vocal part only then it should not be a problem.

Paavo.

[zumbido]

I've done a few 'dance' tracks with a Swedish singer. We liked the 'air' setting at 50% on the entire mix.