When Linear Should be Not-So-Much

Please excuse this title, but I need to convey a point: sometimes, it is too easy to be “computer clean” when it would be better to be “humanly messy.” In this case, I’m talking about track automation, and the fact that most people depend on mouse-driven automation curves - even when they don’t do justice to the music.

Here’s an example: I did a simple piano track that needed to come down in volume over a few seconds. My first shot was using a standard automation ramp. Two clicks of the mouse and I was there:

What’s the problem? It started at a higher volume, and is now at a lower volume…

The problem is that it is as boring as sin. It was a move of expedience, not musicality. The cure for this is either extremely tedious editing or an automation control surface. Not being a fan of tedium, I went with the controller. I happen to have one (a $200 Frontier AlphaTrack) that only took a minute to get set up, and produced a very different result:

The result is definitely more complex, involving hundreds of automation points, but it also sounds more organic and musical. It was the result of listening to the track, then manually adjusting the sound as necessary - something that isn’t second nature when mousing along.

Let’s face it: music is human, meaning that it is messy and non-linear. But all of the mouse-based automation controls are AutoCAD-clean. Heck, I’ll bet my mom would greatly prefer that first automation: it’s perfectly straight, just like she always wanted my bed made. The problem is that the messy automation curve served the music, not the mouse (or my mom).

I’ve used almost every available control surface: one-fader units, Mackie Controls and Command-8, multi-touch surfaces and even larger Digidesign Icon boards. The result is always the same: by loosing myself from the tyranny of the mouse, and by using my ears and my hands to shape the music, the end result is always better.

The next time you are jonesing to buy something for your studio, try to bypass The Hot New Noisemaker and consider the value of hands-on manipulation of your existing noises. A control surface can change the way you interact with your tracks, and will add a little humanity where only mice tend to roam.

(Interesting side note: My original title for this artlcle was "When ----- Should Be &!%*#," which violated pretty much every standard I was given for blog titles. Messy and human indeed - I'm sorry!!!)