The Mix Trix Thread

[pagan]

I use compressor for drums, flanger for pads, amp for e.guitars. It is nice to play 2 instruments separately on left and right channel the same melody, or 2 melodies in harmony. I use reverb and chorus for acoustic instruments, and bouncing delay on synth melodies. If there is short sound, then I use echo/time-tunnel effect to make it sound longer. I keep drums, pads and bass usually in center, they keep the music together and in motion.

[shredhead666]

Originally posted by eatsdrummachine what are you using to do your drums? reason I ask: when it comes down to what sounds good in the end, there's alot of similarities in theory between a real kit and sequenced sounds- but layering sequences and mic-ing a kit are distinctly different processes. I've sequenced alot of drums on an mpc2000 and I've used reason. and I've mic-ed a kit and gottin' good sounds. I think most peeps on this forum sequence beats only- but there are some that seem very savvy in mic placement and kit mix etc. what are you doing in your project? /johnny

Well, I'd be sequencing drums using Reason also, and not really mic'ing live drums for what I do.

Now then, that said, I do kinda favor the Trent Reznor approach where he'll sample a really crappy sounding drum, gate it like mad and quantize the hell out of a sequence using that crappy sample. That way it SORT of sounds like live drums, but it's sounds a bit too stiff to be live also.... Mix that with some high-quality drum sequences and it makes for a nice effect IMO.

But yeah, like I said, I'm a n00b when it comes to using Reason. How would I use it to effectively layer drum sequences and would you have any tips for how *you* like doing things?

[sporter]

I've been playing with SX's imput routing on my latest project. I set up 4 different input busses for my vocalist. Each one had a different effect Reverb, comp, eq, and completely dry. At the mixing stage, I was able to come up with a unique sounding vocal track..

This also works well if you're not sure if you want to use compression or reverb when tracking audio. I've heard engineers go on and on on the correct way to do it, but you can just do it both ways at the same time...cover all your bases so to speak.

[Roald]

Hey, I have a question: I have a Rhodes track, recorded dry and mono into Cubase VST 5.

Now, I want that swirly panning vibrato, using my panning tremolo VST plugin...how do I achieve that?

I tried it with a 'send effects' panning vibrato. That works fine, but then I also have the original mono signal coming through as well. I'd like to have ONLY the panning signal.

Then I converted the Rhodes to a stereo signal, and put the effect over it as an insert...doesn't work either, plugin only works on mono signals...

please help!

[Bendrz]

Occasionally I'll use my Eletrix MO-FX while recording out my vinyl as well as a clean recording then put it in Abelton. Recording through the Electrix pulls the mids forward and helps balance the over bassed parts. Then run both in tandem in LIVE and phase them. Use this technique as all these mixtrix sparingly though. Let the music speak for itself...these are just little bits to help liven up music they've already heard repeatedly. But also remember they've NOT heard this music 100 times a day as many of us have.

[EngineGuitarist]

Originally posted by BOBA JFET When I was talking about layering drums, it was mostly within the context of electronic drums. I don't think it would be a good idea with live acoustic drums like maybe you're thinking. To me that just sounds like a good way to muddy up a mix.

 

 

i think you may be mixing up the term layering with doing a double. true it is another layer, but its also another performance. With drums, layering is usually done with samples and a plug-in like sound replacer. You can do things like AW mentioned such as using a bunch of kick samples, blending it and sending the reult to a comp, eq, or whatever ya like/need. I find this great for snare drums because most bands i work with are lucky if they have one decent sounding snare let alone a variety. sometimes the wood snare sound isn't working as good as a metal snare would, or vice versa. blending in sample(s) is a great way to mess with the sound later.

 

While we're talkin drums, something I and many others like to do is use a drum bus. take sends from the kick, snare, and tom mics and send them into a stereo compressor with the appropriate panning between the busses. This compressor should be set to a high ratio and compress the snot out of the drums. Blend it in behind the uncompressed kit and the drums should be pretty slammin. Also, if the bass isn't 'moving' with drums I'll send that into the drum buss as well.

[BOBA JFET]

Well, the way I read the post that I was responding to, I got the impression that the guy thought he coupld pile several drum takes on top of each other and get a thicker drum sound, much like you would with guitar. He was calling that layering, and thus so did I. Doubling is a form of layering anyway, but it's all semantics.

[Etienne Rambert]

AW on Plosives: "

 

quote:Originally posted by Roald

PLOSIVES!

 

Here we go: Hang the mic upside down! No, seriously. Where the top of the mic (pointing down) is angled away from the singer. Benefits are three-fold:

 

 

[wetwareinterface]

on the subject of plosives

another great cure for them if you have the resources is to use 2 mics.
place the second mic about 8 inches past the first one.
run each to seperate tracks while recording
use the secondary track with an envelope follower/noise gate set to a fast attack and fast decay
and the primary (closer mic) to a slower attack and mix the two if you aren't comfortable with editing with an audio editor.

by playing with the sensitivity on the second mic's envelope follower and the level of that track you can match it in perfectly.

this will give a cleaner result than editing after the fact as you're still stuck with the pop from the mic diagphram comming through the track even if you envelope the levels just right

[Boom]

That's a cool idea, never thought of that.

[Light em Up]

A couple of tips to avoid--as mentioned earlier

There is no point in cutting everything below 25 on every track. Its a waste. That cut is made on the master bus--once

Second--using drum samples from actual pro mixed songs is ludicrous.

Those have already been processed to their *End. With what will be going on the master bus and then in Mastering--you will processing those sounds to their doom. Plus, those sounds have been processed to fit a particular song--not yours. You'll never learn to mix with that advise

The last thing is dont boost the highs on Background vocals. High Freq alert the ear that something is close--not in the background. .(think of a car whizzing by cranking his stereo--what do you hear?---the bass only). So Cut the highs to set them back where they belong

[The Audacity Works]

Originally posted by Light em Up There is no point in cutting everything below 25 on every track. Its a waste. That cut is made on the master bus--once

Uh... except you're filtering your tracks at completely different frequencies, some all the way up to 600Hz or more.

 

Besides, that sub-audible energy affects your MIX, and the whole point is to make your MIX sound as good as possible. If you don't filter that crap out, you'll be hearing things differently, and will therefore mix differently. If you save it for the mastering engineer, what you'll hear there will be a surprise.

 

So basically, you have no idea what you're talking about.

Second--using drum samples from actual pro mixed songs is ludicrous.

Ludicrous? They can't be turned down to afford headroom? Whatever you say, slick.

 

Who are you to argue with nearly every hip hop and pop engineer in LA?

[JMS 2]

Excellent stuff here !

Originally posted by Boom - subject :Stereo delay effects - level : Beginner/advanced I'll start by stating that most beginners use too many stereo tracks in a mix. Sure a couple stereo tacks in mix is nice, but if you have 24 tracks of stereo, you have a mess. You can turn a mono track into a stereo track and it's often more effective than just recording it stereo to begin with. This tip is for basically taking a mono track and turning it into a stereo track that really stands out in the stereo field. I've had really nice results with this on hihats, but you could also use it on guitars, synths, etc. I basically take a mono track and pan it all the way to the left. Then I will insert a delay onto a bus. You want a delay that can go down into the milliseconds, something really precise. Set the delay very low, start with 10 milliseconds, make sure it's all wet signal, feedback should be down low. I will then pan the bus all the way to the right. Then I will adjust the send to the bus on my track. If your settings are correct, as you send more to the bus you will begin to hear your track pan to the middle of the stereo field, and you should hear a pretty nice effect happening. Experiment with the delay settings to get what you want. You may want to insert a compressor after the delay as well.

Wouldn't you achieve the exact same effect by just copying the mono track, pan each one hard left and right and push one track a few ms to the right in the record software ?

[kooki_sf]

the reason for mixing with gain knobs- silly!

but there still is a reason.

in the circuitry, the gain control is a potentiometer that directly effects the signal. the fader however controls a VCA which then effects the signal. VCA's are noisy (relative to pots), thus some people choose to mix exclusively with the gains. however, its really not a significant difference with the level of noise that most pro-sumer level mixers put out on their own..

so its kinda silly

[Awake77]

Hmmm...mix tricks...

Using reverb effectively eluded me until recently when I really took time to study the effects it had on different tracks. Reverb can be used to effectively provide a sense of depth to a track, but if over done..well we all know how that sounds.

I like to thow a nice mastering reverb (Waves Rennisance is my current favorite - nice and warm) on an effects bus and then tinker with each track send levels, listening intently with my eyes closed and trying to place each part in the soundstage. Using the bussed reverb for each track makes everything appear to be in the same acoustic space.

Also, because frequencies disperse more over distance the higher they are, rolling off the high end on the parts you want to appear further back can also help add to the sense of space and depth.

[BillyWa]

How much reverb is required for a live mix?

[wes37]

Rule #1: Always pay lose attention to your levels. Weak signals and overloaded signals will both screw things up.

Rule #2: No matter what instrument you play, it is vital to get the bass drum/snare/bass guitar mix right first, then add in everythng else. When I was an Audio Engineering student at USC we used an analog SSL board and we were taught that in order to get the best signal on tape, we needed to get the BD/S/BD to about -3 to -5 db and then add everything else in. This would normally ensure the entire mix was right. Still works, even with digital.

Rule #3: The "primary" instrument (usually vocals), needs the primary space in the mix, which means that every other instrument in the same range must be mixed a little lower and EQed so that it doesn't step on the Vox. This does not mean going to extremes, and the mix can be altered when the Vox are not active, but a mix will easily get cluttered if you don't make some choices early about who gets what sonically.

Rule#4: Listen to the whole mix at different volumes...the final mix needs to work at more than one level.

Rule #5: Record dry, add effects in the mixing stage.

[kooki_sf]

real grand piano+distortion=