Glue

[abbey road d enfer]

This comes as a reflection after a member has posted the following comment

I'm just hoping for it to help glue my mixed coming out the master bus.

Glue is a concept that describes the interaction between a music program, several pieces of hardware and/or software and the ability of an operator to make these working together.
A poor mix can't be "glued", a signal chain can't "glue" a mix if the operator sucks.
Actually I hate using this word for describing the very complex and somewhat miraculous process of producing a good mix.
A good mix is a chain, as such it's as fragile as its weakest link.
The use of this word seems to have been created by enthousiastic product managers who saw an opportunity to concentrate attraction on the product they had to sell.
It's no coincidence that the use of "glue" is contemporary with the mutation of the role of the mastering engineer.
Since digital audio has made the traditional mastering engineer redundant, this job had to become extinct or mutate. The latter happened.
Digital technology was to shorten the creation cycle, but in fact interested parties have managed to convince the public that an additional level of supernatural refining was essential.
Many SE's now are convinced they are not competent enough to deliver good mixes, that it's reserved to an elite, the ME's.

All this is, obviously, IMO, your Honour.

 

[Gold]

Recording is hard to do well. There is little training that will make a bad recordist into a good  one without the basic inherent skills.

Everyone has a recorder in their pocket. It is easier than ever to record audio. All you have to do is push the red button on your phone.

In days past Recording wasn’t part of what an amateur musician considered essential. Now recording gear is more like a musical instrument integrated into the music making process.

This means many more people want to acquire the skill set of a sound engineer. That’s where this new vocabulary comes in. Many of these terms I’ve heard for a long time but were used by professionals with a bit of tongue in cheek. Like mojo and glue. Truthy but exaggerated.

 

[bluebird]

Well everybody knows what the word means. So I would say its a good word. It can happen at mastering or mixing. A good mastering engineer knows if the song has it or not. And a good mastering engineer can provide it if needed.  I think your giving it to much credit/meaning/importance. Its art, its all subjective. And yes, its a descriptive word for marketing that does a good job if the product is a compressor, I see no harm in using it. I can think of many more descriptive audiophile words that are way more deceiving or meaningless than "glue".

A poor mix can't be "glued"

Sure it can! I do it almost everyday. Usually not with one magical compressor but by using layers of dynamics. A multiband compressor plugin. Compress the low mids, maybe expand the low end a bit. Get that going through a compressor with the right attack and release, limit that...Boom GLUE. Lol

IMO Obviously!

 

[ruairioflaherty]

Consider me biased as I make most of my living mastering records.

If I had to point the finger for the overuse or misuse of the word "glue" in the record making space it would be squarely at gear and software manufacturers and dealers. 

A friend coined the phrase "Mixdown Industrial Complex" and in my small and disruptive circle we have come to understand that as the gear/software/dealer/press machine that generates false, misleading or exaggerated stories to sell product or build status.

A good tip, if someone is offering you a destination rather than some help on the journey beware.  Trinnov fixes your room acoustics! A plug in "glues" your mix bus together!  A 5 hour video course will teach you how to mix like CLA!

Is there bad mastering? Yes, lots of it, maybe most of it, but I don't think we deserve much of the blame for this phenomenon.  If you could eavesdrop into my client conversations you'd see me helping clients to realize "glue" and all of the other positive attributes they seek a the mix stage, I want to do less, not more to their mixes.

Great topic.

 

[Tubetec]

The lets 'Fix it in the mix' type glue mentality was always around  ,long before the marketing men decided to put digital on the case work of your favourite sony headphones.
Back in the day talented musicians were allowed focus purely on the performance and not have to worry about the technicalities of recording . The technical/scientific and the creative are definately located in different parts of the brain , the creative side is mostly emotion driven , where the technical is mostly analytical in nature. 

A little of the creative goes a long way in technical circles , but I dont think performers/creators having to fret about the technicalities serves any purpose to be honest.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it 

 

[ruffrecords]

Seems to me that these days the only thing that is glued is the needle to the end stops.

Cheers

Ian

 

[abbey road d enfer]

Well everybody knows what the word means.

I wouldn't be so sure about it; I would be at loss to give a proper definition because I don't own this word at all. I've seen/heard/read people trying to define glue and apart from "it's what makes a good mix", they all had different conceptions.

  I think your giving it to much credit/meaning/importance. Its art, its all subjective.

On the contrary. But I'm disturbed by the importance that is given to mastering today by others. Most of my musician friends consider a record is not a record till it's been "mastered". When they listen to my mixes, they ask who's done the mastering! There's no mastering, just a good mix.

And yes, its a descriptive word for marketing that does a good job if the product is a compressor, I see no harm in using it. I can think of many more descriptive audiophile words that are way more deceiving or meaningless than "glue".

My main problem is there is no "gluemeter", so it falls in the same category as warmth, grit, silk... It's something the person who talks knows what it means and assumes others have the same understanding; I've found it's rarely the case.

Sure it can! I do it almost everyday. Usually not with one magical compressor but by using layers of dynamics. A multiband compressor plugin. Compress the low mids, maybe expand the low end a bit. Get that going through a compressor with the right attack and release, limit that...Boom GLUE. Lol

And why do you think the SE that has done the mix has not done it right? Lack of time, lack of competence, lack of equipment?

 

[bluebird]

And why do you think the SE that has done the mix has not done it right?

1) Because the artist goes "wow what did you do? it sounds amazing now"
2) Because I support a 4 person family by making people go "wow what did you do? it sounds amazing now"

  ;D

 

[bluebird]

Most of my musician friends consider a record is not a record till it's been "mastered". When they listen to my mixes, they ask who's done the mastering! There's no mastering, just a good mix.

And I believe you. I don't think mastering and throwing around the word glue is even a necessity. As so many other things in music are not. But I'm happy there are enough incompetent mixers out there that I get to have a career fixing things. Or knowing when not to fix a mix like yours.

 

[john12ax7]

For me the right mix bus compressor with the right settings goes a long way towards getting the glue. Perhaps I place too much importance on gear,  but good tools just make things so much easier.

 

[cyrano]

Seems to me that these days the only thing that is glued is the needle to the end stops.

Cheers

Ian

Thanks, Ian. Made me smile. And thanks to the others too, for the opinions...

 

[PRR]

There's special glue for singers:

 

[Squeaky]

I don't make a living out of music (unsuccessfully gave it a go on the playing side mind you), so I don't live and breathe it daily like many here. But aren't terms like glue, warmth, grit, and silk just buzzwords to help describe how adjusting parameter such as: dynamics (relative loudness), eq and distortion have an effect on a track or mix? Don't all such kinds of terms, across a range of different industries, just help the client?

The use of "buzzword" type terms exists in many fields. Take wine tasting. The term "hot" is used for apparent high alcohol, "body" and "mouthfeel" can be related to things like ethyl alcohol, glycol and oligosaccharides, "burnt match" to reductive sulphur compounds, "capsicum" to methoxypyrazines, nail varnish to ethyl acetate, and variously mushroom, saddle leather and forest floor can be related to (among other things) brettanomyces... it goes on. Most punters don't talk about oligosaccharides and methoxypyrazines. Winemakers (and some aficionados) probably do.

My two cents.

Warmth - distortion

Grit - eq and distortion

Silk - eq and distortion

Thick - compression and distortion

Subjectively (my experience), along with track placement in a sound field, imparting a "glue" sometimes seems to result from a subtle loss of individual track identity. A deterioration of fidelity? Smearing? (to use another buzz word).

The term glue probably helps the client understand how a seemingly disparate collection of tracks (their attempt at a mix) was brought together, at least in some capacity, harmoniously (placement and interaction in a sound field)?

I used to be drawn in by the buzzwords used to describe processing tools, such as vari-mu compressors and eqs. However, the reasons I like vari-mu compressors now are not the reasons that I set out to use them. That took a fair bit of (largely uneducated) knob turning resulting in me at least starting to learn how these units were meant to be used (as well as abused). The point is it took time.

Just a thought, but I think that a lot of musicians might not understand the subtlety of distortion (thinking probably of heavy guitars instead of gentle clipping) and terms like "warmth" can be useful descriptors in that way. Frankly, there are a lot of musicians that don't understand a hell of a lot of anything.

A question, were does "tension" fit? Can you create or enhance a tension in a mix, i.e. bring it out of the performance using dynamic manipulation?

 

[Gold]

When people throw around vague terms like glue they generally mean “ make it sound like a record.” Which of course is equally as vague. It’s like porn. You know it when you see it.

 

[bluebird]

There's special glue for singers:

Hahahaha

I think in general, "should" and "shouldn't" should be minimized in the artistic process. Technical perfection hardly produces a good song. Feeling, soul, magic, are all vague descriptors but are sometimes needed when trying to communicate what makes a song special. I think its when something is technically good but also has broken the rules in some way that makes it stand out. When the Black Keys put out "Brothers". Most of the recordings used only 10 tracks with minimal overdubs. They were going for a vintage feel by playing by the "old" rules. At the end, the mixer (Tchad Blake) ended up using a Decapitator plugin (distortion) with reckless abandon and kick samples to bring out what the band wanted to hear. Completely manipulating the original sounds and breaking all the previous "vintage" rules. The result was something new that blew people away.  The failure of the SE was fixed (or expanded on) and brought to a whole other level by the ME. Who knows what the mastering engineer contributed (Brian Lucey), but I can tell you he's quite famous  now... Happy accidents abound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIngadE1GCI

Talk about a pinned needle ;D

 

[Gold]

My general approach is to assume whoever come before me in the process did the best they could. Now it’s my turn. I try not to think of things being fixed. Only things getting closer to the vision of the project.  It doesn’t matter whether the knobs stay at zero or get turned to eleven. I try to do what I think is right for the project.

 

[living sounds]

I very much think of compression as providing glue. An SSL 4000 mixbus compressor can do that, at the cost of transforming the signal into something more artificial (which may actually fit the material very well). I've got Jakob's G24 passive agressive compressor, too. This one can make a busy mix much denser and homogenous without it sounding obviously processed. Quite remarkable, really, if you learn how to use it.

No compressor can save a bad mix or bad source material. I think you should always strife to make your source material and your mix so good that master bus compression is not actually needed. It is certainly possible, but neither easy nor cheap. Good hardware makes it easier to get there, with a purely computer based setup it is really hard IMO.

 

[abbey road d enfer]

From the various answers I have confirmation that each one his own, which I like.
I've always supported the idea that nothing is forbidden in audio matters, and nothing should be strictly enforced (except pouring Coke in the faders).
What I don't support is the idea that a mix needs mastering to be complete.
Imagine a painter that needs to have his piece completed by another, in order to be recognized...
The current mainstream workflow that involves extensive delegation sometimes produces good results, but it should not be mandatory.
Again IMO.

 

[zamproject]

What I don't support is the idea that a mix needs mastering to be complete.
Imagine a painter that needs to have his piece completed by another, in order to be recognized...
The current mainstream workflow that involves extensive delegation sometimes produces good results, but it should not be mandatory.
Again IMO.

I totally agree with that... especially today when audio material "substrate" is more or less the same out of a DAW (or ADDA for hybrid) than it's diffusion form... digital  binary memory device (mostly non mechanical now)

There is no transfer requested... so no mastering requested (in the first manner I can think of "mastering" expertise)

I'm nether understanding the "glue" concept, this word is ugly to define anything musical feeling.
With the time, aesthetic  become more and more obvious, the "sound" you put out as a mix engeneer get some kind of signature and I'm not sure it's a choice, but an undefined way you feel the sound waves crossing the air, to keep the idea in the most fondamental way.
I use comp, a lot, and in the mean time I like open, wild and dynamic music, I think both can help each other. But never with glue word in mind...

Best
Zam

 

[critterkllr]

I struggle with a lot of words used to describe musical characteristics/qualities. They often don’t translate to me. I understand what they’re supposed to mean, but it’s not the way my brain interprets music.

It is probably a good idea to shoot for some commonly understood vernacular though. I’ve known guys that connect musical characteristics with colors. When songwriting, they’ll say a part sounds “red” when they’re looking for “blue”. I’ve also had friends that think of audio in terms of inanimate objects. One musician told me that his guitar tone sounded like a “pencil” haha. The way I imagine or interpret musical qualities is complex and hard to describe to anybody.

That being said, glue is one of the words I actually do understand. Whether or not I want my mix to be glued is a different story. I interpret glue to be a blanket compression, saturation, or attribute to an entire mix that makes everything feel more harmonious. Kind of like a filter used in photography.

The hype surrounding the word  from salesmen or people trying to up their resale value is dangerous. I try to avoid that kind of thing at all costs, but am totally susceptible to brand names. Go figure.

What I don't support is the idea that a mix needs mastering to be complete.
Imagine a painter that needs to have his piece completed by another, in order to be recognized...
The current mainstream workflow that involves extensive delegation sometimes produces good results, but it should not be mandatory.
Again IMO.

You’re not alone in thinking this.  As a drummer, I’ve recorded in many studios and I can’t think of any engineers that were excited about sending their mix to somebody else to be mastered. I noticed the more experienced and in demand the engineer, the more they complained about mastering. This is all anecdotal, of course.

I think that the relationship between the person mixing and the person mastering should be a close partnership. It should be somebody with an ear you trust. Otherwise, just do it yourself.