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Mixing from Scratch with Kevin McCloskey (DaBaby, Future, Juice WRLD) | Fix-The-Mix May 2026 — Transcript

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0:00What do we want to do, guys? Do we want
0:01to listen through the track first? Do we
0:02want to just dive into a breakthrough?
0:04Uh walk through what what's kind of the
0:06vibe?
0:07>> Yeah. Just uh tell us how you made the
0:09track, show us a little bit about it,
0:10and then tell us what you think might
0:12need to be mixed.
0:13>> Cool. Sweet. So, uh started the track
0:17with the hook. Um I I actually wrote
0:20this and then co-wrote the the rest of
0:22it with with Lucy, who's singing on
0:25this. Um the song is about imposttor
0:28syndrome. Um, so you know, if those of
0:31you are familiar with that, that's a a
0:34very um familiar experience for me. Uh,
0:37it's packaged in a in a dark pop song,
0:40as it would be being me, but um yeah,
0:42that's that's basically what it's about.
0:44Uh, so all vocals are tracked through uh
0:48through the ISA preamp. Two different
0:51mics, so the lead vocals and some of the
0:54the doubles are tracked through this
0:56manly ref. Um, and the a lot of the hums
1:02and the backing vocals are tracked
1:04through another mic. I tracked it
1:05through uh the Slate uh emulation mic. I
1:10forgot what it's called, but I tracked
1:12it through that on a um a ribbon
1:14microphone uh uh emulation to make it
1:18like more mid-rangey and darker so that
1:20there's more contrast between the lead
1:22vocal and the the backing vocals. Um, I
1:25always like to just track BVs and stuff
1:28if I can, either like on an SM7B or on
1:31like a darker microphone so that there's
1:33like just naturally more contrast from a
1:36uh a tonal standpoint so they sit in
1:39their own kind of space. Um,
1:42yeah. What else? What else did I record?
1:45I recorded
1:47these snaps
1:49through
1:51these are all my snippy snaps.
1:54Nice snaps.
1:56>> Yeah. Um, so I I I have got all these
2:02these uh layered in with my claps. Uh,
2:05not really much on there, honestly. Just
2:07a bit of reverb.
2:09Um, a bit of saturation on there. That's
2:13it. And a bit of EQ. Like nothing.
2:15That's just just how they sounded like
2:17when they came in. Um, I tracked them
2:19through the console mode so that there
2:21was a little bit of saturation on the
2:23way in just around the, you know, snaps
2:26are like really pokey. So, uh, I wanted
2:28to kind of warm them up and round the
2:30the initial transients of them. Um, and
2:33then some fun stuff. Let's have a look
2:36here. All my perks, pretty much all my
2:39perks are hand recorded. So, these
2:52just recorded that in with these
2:55on this SM77B. So, I just like tapped
2:58these and then I resampled it and then
3:00played in like played the pattern in.
3:03Um, I did some stuff to it. I definitely
3:07mangled it up a little bit. Um, I think
3:09I messed around with the pitch of them
3:10just to make it a bit wonkier and wacky
3:13and that kind of thing. Got some claps
3:15here.
3:23Just put like some saturation and stuff.
3:25This what they sounded like before.
3:29My sweaty palms.
3:31How sweaty they are.
3:34I'm just des sweating them. You see?
3:37[clears throat]
3:38So that's that's like the majority of
3:40the um the stuff that I recorded through
3:43and then I just layered in, you know,
3:45some some like splice stuff and that
3:49kind of thing just to build and and like
3:51support it. Um but whenever I've got the
3:54opportunity Oh, actually I forgot one
3:55other thing that I recorded. I'll show
3:57you that in a sec. But yeah, I was gonna
3:58say whenever I get have the opportunity
4:00to just record like home sounds, like
4:03foley stuff, just makes it a little bit
4:06more me, a little bit more imperfect, a
4:09little bit more like personal to like my
4:12surroundings and that kind of thing.
4:14That that just makes it feel a little
4:16more like unique to where I am and my
4:19environment and that kind of thing. So,
4:21uh, one final thing, I recorded some
4:23knives. Um
4:29there's like some delay and stuff on
4:30there, but I just took two kitchen
4:32knives and was just like slicing them
4:34together to to get that kind of, you
4:37know, weird uh percussion that just
4:40sounds a little bit different to just a
4:42standard high hat or shaker or that kind
4:45of thing. Bit more tonal, just a little
4:47bit more interesting. Um, so the perks
4:50just kind of like sound
4:53like this.
5:03That's all mainly just to track the
5:05stuff that I tracked through. Um, so
5:07whenever I get the opportunity to do
5:08that and the song feels like it kind of
5:10calls for a little bit more of that kind
5:12of DIY alternative approach, I always
5:15try and grab that. Um,
5:18yeah. What else, guys? What else do you
5:20want to see? What questions do you have?
5:24>> Let's uh let's listen through and maybe
5:26they'll prompt some questions.
5:28>> Sweet.
5:28>> All right.
5:31[music]
5:38[music]
5:43Little girl. [music]
5:46Ugly world. I'm alone in my head.
5:52Someone help me. [music]
5:55Everybody's rich and they're way more
5:57famous.
5:58[music]
6:00I don't have a chance. No. Hope I won't
6:02make it.
6:08[music]
6:10Heaven help me.
6:14I'm sick. Come myself
6:18above
6:20miles above.
6:22I'm out of love.
6:25When [music] they laugh, it's all at me.
6:31[music]
6:32Can't you hear it?
6:34Are you serious?
6:37[singing]
6:40Everybody's rich and they're way more
6:42famous. [music]
6:45I don't have a chance. No hope I won't
6:48make it.
6:53[music]
6:55Heaven, help me.
7:00>> I'm sick of myself. [music]
7:12>> [music]
7:18[music]
7:23[music]
7:26>> I said
7:28[music]
7:35you
7:38know
7:41>> [music]
7:44>> All right, that's it. That's our little
7:48um about imposter syndrome. Uh yeah,
7:50what questions do you guys have?
7:53>> Knives out.
7:55>> Knives out. That sounds good. Sounds
7:58really nice.
7:59>> Thanks, man.
8:00>> The vocals sound vocals sound good
8:02through that through that box.
8:06>> Yeah, they do.
8:07That's with minimal processing on the
8:09vocal right now.
8:10>> I'll show you exactly what's on here.
8:15>> An EQ.
8:16>> One EQ.
8:19>> Out some low end. And then uh just this
8:22little buildup here, which is my route.
8:25>> And then I just gain I just turn it
8:27down. That's it.
8:29>> Yeah, those those are going to sound
8:30great when they have verb on them. It's
8:33going to eat that verb up really.
8:34>> So dry, right? So, in terms of
8:38>> uh aside from balancing and Kevin doing
8:41his magic, locking in all the low end
8:44and the the relationship between the the
8:48transients and creating that real depth
8:50and width that he's just unbelievably
8:53good at. It's just like wet effects as
8:57well, you know, source like that stuff
8:59that we're missing here. Like there's
9:01not a lot of of that. there's not a lot
9:03of that kind of immersiveness in terms
9:05of of spatials on vocals on adlibs on
9:08like that kind of thing. So, um that
9:10would be the the main thing. Uh I think
9:14aside from the the foundation which is
9:16what needs work here.
9:17>> Yep. Still some stuff to do on it. It's
9:20going to be interesting to see the the
9:22all, you know, it already sounds great,
9:24but I think everyone will be surprised
9:26>> that Kevin's gonna noticeably make it
9:29even sound
9:30>> more deep and wider and richer and
9:33fuller
9:34>> and all that stuff, which is part part
9:36of mixing.
9:37>> Yeah.
9:37>> Awesome track, Chris. Thank you.
9:41>> And by the way, we never take a penny
9:43from any of the partners we work with
9:45for talking about their stuff. we just
9:47use what we use and we use the stuff we
9:50like. And so Chris, if he didn't like
9:52it, would would tell you so. So he uh
9:56>> he has no reason to uh
9:58>> to say anything flowery about it. But
10:00I've only heard good things about this
10:02this box. It's it's pretty new and it's
10:05pretty exciting.
10:06>> Only send me one.
10:09>> Yeah, it's shiny and blue and and
10:11>> I like the color.
10:12>> It looks great, man. I hate to be that
10:14type of person, but man, it looks it
10:16looks really pretty.
10:18>> Like when I put it in my rack, I was
10:20like, "Oh, [laughter]
10:22>> it's really pretty."
10:24>> All right, man. Thanks a lot.
10:25>> Yeah, of course.
10:27>> All right,
10:29let's jump back in really quick. Today,
10:30we're having the pleasure of watching
10:33Mr. Kevin McCloskkey mix. If you haven't
10:36uh met Kevin before, if you're not one
10:38of our programs, he's one of our great
10:39mentors in our reverse engineer program.
10:42But five times Grammy nominated, 2X
10:44Billboard number one, 32X Golden
10:47Platinum,
10:49he he would be he'd be really good if
10:51he'd have won one of those Grammys, but
10:53you know.
10:54>> Yeah.
10:54>> Sorry, man.
10:55>> No, it gives me, you know, space to
10:57improve. [laughter]
11:00No, he's he's literally one of the best
11:02mix engineers on the planet Earth right
11:05now. So, it's a pleasure to get to watch
11:07him this week. I'm excited to watch you
11:09work, man.
11:10>> I'm excited to be here, man. It's always
11:12fun hanging out with with the gang.
11:15>> Let's do a little mixing philosophy
11:16about what we're going to talk about
11:17today and then we'll dive into the
11:19demonstration. First question I want to
11:20ask is why do we mix? What is it really
11:23about?
11:27Why do we mix?
11:34to make it sound better.
11:41All of the answers that you're giving in
11:43chat are correct. They are all reasons
11:47why we mix.
11:51But at the core of everything we do, we
11:53have to remember, and it's just worth
11:54noting that it always comes back to
11:59giving that composition, giving that
12:01production, giving what Chris did in
12:02this case the highest possible level of
12:05emotional impact. Emotion has to speak
12:08to people. That's what music is all
12:10about. It needs to immerse and wrap
12:12around people and take them into an
12:14illusion that we create through the song
12:17that can influence them, affect them,
12:20alter their mood. That's what we're
12:22doing as musicians is trying to say
12:24something, trying to alter and
12:27ultimately uh affect people.
12:30So all of Kevin's moves, every move that
12:34Kevin makes through the whole mix
12:36process ultimately isn't just some
12:38technical thing, but has to fall back to
12:41emotional impact on some level. And so
12:43over the next three days, we're going to
12:44talk about how the technical things tie
12:47into the emotion.
12:49We'll start today by talking about
12:52immersiveness.
12:56One of the key things that we're doing,
12:59imagine the the listener sitting on the
13:00couch listening to the song. We want
13:03them to feel like they're inside the
13:06mix. We want it to wrap around them. We
13:09want to want it to feel like they enter
13:11into it.
13:13And immersiveness really comes down to
13:16three elements. We have height, width,
13:18and depth. Width in music is easy to
13:21understand. That's our stereo. That's
13:23our panning. That's our width.
13:28Height is usually pretty easy to
13:30understand, but if you haven't thought
13:31about the concept of height in music, it
13:33has a lot to do with frequencies. We
13:35feel frequencies in different parts of
13:37our body. We feel bass and low end in
13:40our gut, in our connection that our legs
13:43have to the ground. It's our the
13:45grounding element in a track. We feel
13:48mid-range in our chest and our heart
13:50area. It's the warmth that can wrap
13:53around us in our chest and then highs we
13:56feel up in our head and above us. So
13:59there's literal height happening in our
14:01perception of audio as we listen based
14:04upon frequency range that we have.
14:07Doesn't mean we always have to have the
14:08full range of frequencies, but immersive
14:10moments usually do. So, we need to think
14:13about where we're placing things
14:16uh in the frequency range that we don't
14:18have stuff uh building up too much in
14:20some frequency that it's masking other
14:22frequency ranges. That's why we do that.
14:24So, we can create this towering sound
14:27that people can enter into. And then the
14:30least understood I think element of this
14:32is depth.
14:35Uh we to we we've heard of depth, but
14:39one of the most common issues I see with
14:43more amateur mixers is that there's
14:47either too much depth
14:49or there's not enough.
14:52It's really easy to overcompress
14:53everything and everything's just right
14:55here. It's really easy to wash
14:57everything out and everything feels out
14:59there. But real depth is the distance
15:02between those things. These quietest
15:05pads, the verb, the bass, and our
15:07loudest transients. If you've never
15:09thought about what depth is in a mix,
15:10it's really that the stuff that's
15:12furthest away is usually our quietest
15:14pads, verbs, and our bass. And the
15:17loudest transients
15:19are the things that sound most forward.
15:21And the space in between is the is the
15:24the range the space that people enter
15:27into physically almost as they listen to
15:29this stuff. It feels like you're walking
15:32into it if you have great depth. So
15:36uh a big thing that we'll talk about
15:37today with this foundation first method
15:39is setting the foundation
15:42of the depth very first that we that we
15:46identify
15:47the key players in depth. some of the
15:50biggest elements in depth and that we
15:53give attention to those as we set our
15:55foundation so that everything else can
15:57build around that as we continue to
15:59build upon our depth uh later in the
16:01banks. So
16:05try to pay attention to how Kevin does
16:08that. It it's a method we give you, but
16:10I also want you to make sure that you
16:12hear it and understand the the uh the
16:14depth that he's creating.
16:17Another thing we're going to talk about
16:18today is balance. A lot of you said
16:20balance when we were talking about why
16:22do we mix but balance is essential for
16:25loudness. Later a mastering engineer
16:27would tell you and understand that uh
16:30frequencies that aren't balanced are
16:32very hard to master loud. But if you get
16:35great balance and especially like I said
16:37in your low end, you can actually get
16:39great loudness without it sounding flat.
16:42And so we're going to another thing that
16:44the foundation method does is it it
16:46helps you and allows you to set that
16:48great foundation of lowend early in the
16:51mix. We're going to get the right amount
16:53of low end. And what's great about this
16:55method is that we're going to use meters
16:57in a way that even if you don't have a
16:59perfect room, you can really understand
17:00how much lowend you're supposed to have
17:02in your mix. So this is going to be
17:04really handy for you.
17:07Uh
17:10so today's focus foundation first method
17:13set the depth balance the low end. We're
17:15also going to get into session
17:17preparation. I don't know how much
17:19you've had a chance to do of that yet
17:21Kevin but whatever uh you've done you
17:23can just kind of walk us through it and
17:25continue on from there. Any questions
17:27about any of this so far?
17:32Should
17:38we dive into the demo and answer
17:40questions as we go? What are transients?
17:43So, transients are the sharp spikes
17:47in in like a sound.
17:51So like uh a fast
17:54loud sound is a transient or the I guess
17:59more technically the the attack part of
18:02any waveform is the transient of it
18:06and the body of the waveform is what
18:08happens after that.
18:11>> Yeah. The initial hit in that in that
18:13moment.
18:17[clears throat]
18:17>> So the attack on a snare attack on you
18:18know a high hat. It can be on anything
18:20really, but it's easier to visualize
18:22with like percussion.
18:23>> Yep. Any other questions?
18:31Are you mixing using a sub?
18:33>> No, I typically mix on headphones, but
18:36if if I am mixing, yes, I like to hear
18:39like a full range of everything,
18:41especially what's happening in the low
18:42end. Some people don't. Um, but I don't
18:46really like to guess how things are
18:47reacting that low. So, I prefer to mix
18:50with a sub on, but not a sub that's like
18:52not balanced with the rest of the
18:54system. I just want to hear the
18:55extension.
18:56>> Yep. 100%. And and to answer a lot of
18:58the questions, replays are always sent
19:00out later today. We're going to send out
19:01an email. They also show up in the
19:03school group. So, if you're not in the
19:04school group, make sure that you're in
19:06there. And the multittracks will be uh
19:08given to you at the end of today. All
19:10right, let's dive into demo.
19:14Hand it over to Mr. Kevin. Watch the
19:18wizard work,
19:20>> man. Well, there I want everybody to
19:23watch this because I'm I mean these
19:25these multitracks are pretty awful. So,
19:27I'm really going to do a lot. I'm just
19:29kidding. The thing is these are great,
19:31right? Chris did an amazing job with
19:33everything from uh the vocal tracking to
19:35the sound selection. And we always have
19:38to keep that in mind is I'm sure a lot
19:40of us in here that's ever tried to mix a
19:41song, especially one that wasn't great.
19:43the amount of time that we spend on that
19:46versus the amount of time that we spend
19:48on something that's done really well
19:50like this. And you'll see even having
19:52these multitracks like how much easier
19:54it is to actually be creative, right? To
19:58enhance because the our job as as mixers
20:02is typically fix problems and then
20:03enhance. Well, if there's not really any
20:06problems to fix or very very small, that
20:08gives us all of, you know, our head
20:10space, gives all our energy into
20:12actually enhancing this. Um, and so just
20:17keep that in mind if you do feel like if
20:19you've been working on your own own
20:21music and you're not in the best
20:22recording environment or you don't, you
20:24know, you're not using the best sounds
20:25for production, really think about
20:27upping those, too
20:31mixing because it just makes it easier,
20:34right? It just sounds better if it
20:36starts out better. It's like using like
20:37terrible ingredients. Like we can use a
20:39bunch of seasoning when we cook. But if
20:41we have amazing tomatoes and amazing
20:42basil and you know the the most, you
20:45know, the best cheese you can have in
20:48the world, it's going to be tasty by
20:49itself. We're not going to have to do as
20:50much. It's the same thing when it comes
20:52to mixing. So
20:53>> instantly hungry,
20:54>> right?
20:55>> Thanks.
20:56>> That's why we hang out. Yeah. Kevin and
20:58I whenever we travel together, we have
21:01like a secret uh a secret order of let's
21:04find the best food places locally.
21:07>> Yeah.
21:07>> Always our adventure every time. So, we
21:09both love food.
21:12>> Yeah. It's, you know, and and you can
21:13find whatever analogy works for you in
21:15all this, but the the best thing you can
21:17do is get the highest quality everything
21:19before you start. And that's
21:21performance, you know, acoustics and and
21:24sound selection, uh production. And that
21:26that comes over time, right? So, um, if
21:30you're not there yet, that's fine.
21:31You're still going to learn a bunch of
21:32great techniques, but mixing is a lot
21:33easier when it sounds good. It's what
21:34I'm getting at. Okay. Um, what I'm I'm
21:38going to take off my hat. Just for
21:39anybody that ever mixes with headphones
21:40on, if you don't have like a
21:44uh suction all the way on it on your ear
21:48or the covering up, it can affect how it
21:50sounds. So, I always lose a lot of
21:52lowend when I'm wearing a hat or
21:54something like that. So, I'll take that
21:56off and let's take a look at this sess
21:58session here. So, I've sp up
22:00>> great Kevin,
22:01>> you said what?
22:02>> Your hair looks great today, Mom.
22:04>> I appreciate it. My barber and my backup
22:06barber are out of town today. So, um,
22:10anyways, we're going to embrace it.
22:12>> Um, we're not here for that. We're not
22:15here for me. We're here for the mixing.
22:16So, um, all right. So, I [clears throat]
22:20always split it up into uh groups. Now,
22:24you can do this however you want, but I
22:26do recommend it being in some sort of
22:29order that makes sense to you. Then I
22:32expect you to do this the same way every
22:35time once you figure out what order
22:36works best for you. So, for me, it's
22:39always um drums and I keep those blue
22:42because blue is default. Then bass is
22:45brown. So, we have a couple different
22:47bass and I kept the bass layers in here
22:49because they're playing exactly what the
22:50bass is playing. [snorts] So, I want to
22:53kind of treat those as one. Maybe I'll
22:55split off something like this this Braum
22:58right here on the chorus, but I don't
22:59know. Then pianos and keys are purple
23:02for piano. And then synths are pink just
23:05because I like that color when it's next
23:07to purple.
23:09And then usually vocal chops I'll put
23:11like as an orange or light orange or
23:13something. And then any effects are back
23:16to blue. Now, what I do in the middle is
23:19uh when I have a template, the only
23:21thing I typically do is routing on a
23:23template. Sometimes I have some go-tos.
23:25Like anybody that watches my stuff knows
23:26I love like these little this warm room.
23:30I use that a lot on vocals. Um and so
23:32these are are things that I I use. I
23:34have a few more I put in here. Uh but
23:37these are just reverbs and delays that I
23:39can access quickly if I need to. Um,
23:43and then I mix I I use a mix bus within
23:47the session. So like I kind of master
23:48within the session and so everything
23:50goes to a mix bus and then the master
23:52section I only use for monitoring. So I
23:54don't affect the don't use the volume at
23:56all and I print within the session. So
23:58like once the mix is done, I'll use this
24:00track to actually record the mix back in
24:02versus going file and um, you know,
24:06bounce mix and then um, and then vocals
24:10are down at the bottom. Now, if if it
24:13looks weird because these are split up,
24:17the reason is and I and I explain these
24:18like whenever we do these inerson
24:20sessions too, but if you ever go to
24:23[clears throat] a a studio that has like
24:24a large format console, anything that
24:27has more than probably 24 channels is
24:29going to have your master section right
24:30in the middle. So, that's where we're
24:32controlling the volume. We maybe have
24:34some VCA faders here or some some ox
24:36returns or whatever's going on.
24:38sometimes your master bus compressor is
24:40right there. Um or you know or mix bus
24:43the two bus compressor. And so a lot of
24:45times when I'm when I've ever done
24:47sessions over there, I'll put all my
24:49instruments on one side and then I'll
24:51put all my vocals on the other side. And
24:53the idea behind that is if I know I'm
24:55working on vocals, I'll just go to the
24:57right side of the board and then I can
24:59figure out where I'm at. If I need to
25:01work on on the instruments, I go to the
25:03left side of the board and it's all
25:04right there. Well, the same thing when
25:06I'm I'm working in the session. So, if I
25:07hear something, I'm like, "Okay, I wanna
25:10I want to work on the drums." Boom,
25:11boom, boom. Then I'm like, "Okay, I need
25:13to do now the vocals come in funny
25:14here." So, I'm going to scroll down and
25:16now my vocals are separate. So, I'm
25:18never trying to have to like go through
25:20and see like, okay, where's the vocals
25:21against the keys? It's like vocals are
25:23here, instruments are here, and then the
25:25instruments are always color coded.
25:27Uh, sometimes I will color code the
25:29vocals, but there's not anything going
25:31on on this, right?
25:33So, it's it's like I can visually see
25:35what's happening and I mix everything
25:37from the edit window. I haven't found a
25:42use of mixing it from the mix window. Uh
25:44I can do everything I can do on the mix
25:46window from the edit window right here.
25:49And but I can visually see what's
25:52actually happening. So, instead of like
25:54memorizing where our markers are at and
25:56all all those types of things, um it's
26:01it's just right here. I like to bounce
26:03around like that. Sometimes I will go
26:05through and put markers in. Um those are
26:08very very effective when you're like
26:10actually working with a client like in
26:12the room or something like that and they
26:14say, "Hey, go to course one, go to
26:15course two." But I can kind of see where
26:18it's like, "Okay,
26:20this is
26:22the verses. These are the chorus
26:23sections.
26:25Next verse, chorus section, outro with
26:29some adlibs, right? So, I can visually
26:30see that in my head. Intro right here.
26:33Um, so that's up to you. I'm just more
26:37of like a, hey man, let's get in. Let's
26:39get this, let's get it rocking. Um, and
26:42then if I do run into a situation where
26:44I need a little bit more organization, I
26:46might go in and just say like, okay, I'm
26:47gonna, you know, I'll come in here and
26:50set a marker, right? We'll call it
26:53chorus. That's not how you spell that
26:55word. Chorus one. Something like that,
26:58right? And so nothing crazy, not
27:02overthinking it. Um, and sometimes I'll
27:05do that while we listen through it. So
27:08that's sort of the organization. The
27:09last thing that I have on here is a
27:11meter, right? So I use this meter for
27:15all portions of my mix.
27:19So, I use the V uh the VU meter and the
27:22peak metering for when it's kind of
27:24pre-mastered volume. Then I use the lux
27:26meter that is in here. This is the SSL
27:29meter pro. Um I like it. The the
27:33technique that we're going to teach is
27:35based around VU and peak metering. So,
27:38you can there's tons of EU meters.
27:40There's tons of peak meters. If you can
27:42find one where they're both in one, it's
27:43easier. If you have to use two, it's
27:44totally fine. It does not change your
27:47sound. It's just what we're using to
27:48figure out what's going on. And then
27:51this is something called metric AB which
27:54in itself has some loudness meters which
27:56aren't quite as accurate as the meter
27:59pro in my opinion. But we can use this.
28:02And here's a reference that Chris sent
28:03me of the song so that I can check it
28:06just in case and just kind of get an
28:07overall feel. And I have it synced. So
28:10like as we go through the song,
28:13see?
28:17[music]
28:21>> So as I get to the point where I'm kind
28:23of getting it up up to volume, I'll
28:25listen back at this to say like, okay,
28:27maybe there's a part in it that that I'm
28:31missing or like a key part that needs to
28:33be way louder, way softer that I'm
28:35unsure about. So,
28:37um,
28:39yeah, that's pretty much in the session
28:41organization. Um, the last thing is is
28:44routing. So, I do a lot of bus work
28:49to save time. At least on vocals, I'll
28:51do a lot of bus work. Just just make
28:53sure that when you're routing this that
28:54they're routed to the right place,
28:55especially if you're using like an
28:56internal mix bus here. Uh, because
28:59sometimes if you don't route it
29:00properly, things will get left out. So
29:03all these that are routed to monitor
29:04left right, I really want these to be
29:06monitored to my mix bus.
29:09The only thing I don't do a lot of bus
29:11work on is like drums. I like to tend to
29:13leave those alone.
29:15>> So for for those of you we're we're
29:17keeping up with most of the questions in
29:18chat, but a really great thing you can
29:20do, especially if you're newer, is get a
29:22notepad out and start write. If you hear
29:25a term that you don't understand, you
29:26can ask about it in chat. I would also
29:27just write it down because a lot of that
29:30stuff is going to be different per DAW,
29:33like how you bust something in a in a
29:35DAW is going to be different logic as
29:36opposed to ProTools. And I would just
29:39write it down and then Google how to do
29:41that in your DAW later because that's
29:43that's not going to be foundationally
29:45important to overall mixing other than
29:47you need to learn it. But, you know, we
29:50we don't have time to break it down for
29:51every DAW here. But I would just get a
29:52notepad out and if you hear something
29:54you don't understand just jot it down
29:55because a lot of that's very googable
29:58and focus on the high level appro like
30:00the philosophy the approach the why
30:03behind what we're doing because that's
30:04the that's the biggest uh needle mover
30:08you can get over three days
30:12for sure. Um
30:15okay so we're going to start with this.
30:17So the thing that I want everybody to to
30:19keep in mind is that uh to me depth is
30:23is everything right? So other people
30:25might have different philosophies but
30:26the more depth that we can create the
30:28more appropriate amount of depth the
30:30more space it gives us to work in and
30:32the more that we can use our our
30:35frequency spectrum right from lows to
30:37highs the actual more space we have to
30:40work in. So, if we have bass and we're
30:43not pushing bass down, that's okay. It
30:45might be appropriate, but we lose we
30:46have to work in a lot smaller space this
30:48way, right? Same thing if we don't have
30:49depth, well, we have a lot less space to
30:52work in, right? I want to work in this
30:53much space and put layers in there and
30:56and and the whole idea is like
30:58understanding transients and how
31:00transients respond. And that's going to
31:01be something that that happens over
31:03time. But in general, what I'm going to
31:06do is
31:09above all else when it comes to mixing,
31:11uh, gainstaging is first, right? So, we
31:13have to do proper gainstaging. And what
31:16that is is just getting the appropriate
31:17levels the entire time while we mix,
31:20right? Gainstaging technically starts at
31:22the recording process. Um, and not only
31:26is it about like having levels where
31:27we're not peing, but it's also about
31:29where we're hitting sweet spots in gear
31:31and things like that. So, you know, I I
31:34wouldn't recommend being that person
31:35that retracts at like - 255 or negative
31:37-30, you know, below zero type thing.
31:40It's like you find the sweet spot. Give
31:42yourself, you know, we're looking for
31:43about 5 dB of headroom. So, I'm going to
31:45listen to sort of a dense part of the
31:47song, which seems to be this last chorus
31:48here. And I'm going to listen with
31:49everything playing. [clears throat] And
31:51hopefully when we get a mix that the mix
31:53is already balanced like this is. If
31:55not, then you can kind of start to gain
31:56stage individually if you want. um
32:00because once we start mixing, we're
32:02going to bring each track in one by one.
32:03But let's just take a quick listen here
32:05and let's see what our levels are
32:06showing us. Remember the what we're
32:07looking for is a zero VU and a5 peak. So
32:12the low end low mids are going to
32:14contribute the most to our VU
32:16and the transients are going to
32:19contribute the most to the peak. Things
32:21like kick drum, snare drum, things like
32:23that. So we're trying to find within
32:25fall within that range. And it's okay if
32:26it's not exactly there when we start,
32:28but we need to make sure we're starting
32:29with a good level. So,
32:33[music]
32:39I'm sick of myself.
32:42Okay. So, it looks good. Hypothetically,
32:45if we had something if we if we did this
32:47and let's just say what does it look
32:49like if it's all over the place?
32:54heaven.
33:02>> So, sometimes we'll get sessions like
33:03that and we're like, okay, we got to
33:04bring these down. And other times you'll
33:06get them where they're too low, we have
33:07to bring it up. So, what I like to do
33:09is, you know, you shoot for that zero
33:12VU, but if I'm at five here, um,
33:17I would rather bring that VU up, right?
33:18I'd rather bring the low end up to kind
33:20of match the depth that I'm looking for
33:21at a premastering level. And remember,
33:23this is only for premastering. We'll hit
33:26a step after we do the drums and bass
33:28where we get up to a mastering level. We
33:30don't care about VU anymore because it's
33:31going to be off the charts. So, the good
33:34thing is is that Chris really knows what
33:36he's doing. He has great gain staging.
33:39And when we get this session,
33:40everything's ready to go. So, this is a
33:42is a treat as a mixing engineer because
33:45we are in the enhance, right? we don't
33:48have to to start um fixing a bunch of
33:51problems or weird gainstaging problems.
33:53So, one more time, let's look at this
33:55section and we'll see that we're at
33:56about a neg five with the peak and we're
33:58a little bit under zero. That's fine.
34:00There's also you can calibrate these.
34:02They're typically calibrated to 18. So,
34:05if we were to leave it at a basic VU
34:06calibration like this, it'll probably be
34:09close to zero.
34:19Right. So, dead on forgative 18. The
34:22reason why I use 15 is because I like to
34:24live a little more dangerous. And all
34:26that's showing me is that my reference
34:28level is going to when I'm hitting zero,
34:31it's going to be just a little bit more
34:32base. So, we always recommend starting
34:34at 18, which is perfect where where
34:37Chris is at. Um, and just for me, for my
34:40personal preference, I found that 15 is
34:42closer to the bass levels that I like to
34:45hear when I mix. You might be at like a
34:4716 or a 17 or an 18. It can it can vary
34:50based on genre, but for now, for most
34:52modern genres, uh, that 18 is a good
34:54number. Um, but it's really just about,
34:56it just shows you where your low end is
34:58at compared to your transients. Now,
35:01stay with me if you don't know what I'm
35:02talking about. It'll all make sense, but
35:04um, but that's kind of what we're
35:06looking at now. So, my goal is a
35:07negative five here and a zero VU here.
35:09>> Couple Go ahead.
35:11>> A couple quick numbers to remember if if
35:14it's going a little fast. Zero VU and
35:17neg5 true peak. And these are going to
35:20tie into that depth that I'm talking
35:22about. two of the major players of depth
35:26in a mix ha happen to be your your bass
35:29because it's it's something we feel a
35:31lot but also like your kick and your
35:33snare which are often sometimes the
35:34biggest transients in the mix and so
35:37what Kevin's doing here is is directly
35:40related to that right we're going to be
35:42checking where that VU is which has a
35:44lot to do with measuring the bass and
35:46then that true peak is measuring the
35:48brightness of the transients of like
35:50your kick and your snare and this this
35:52is effective ly your depth.
35:55>> Correct. And also as we're getting this
35:57set pre-mastering, it is overexaggerated
36:01too. So as you follow these numbers, you
36:02might feel like, hey, this is like a lot
36:04or like that kick is really forward, the
36:05snare is really forward. And and as we
36:08turn up into in limiting, we're actually
36:10pushing it into the range that it needs
36:11to be at a mastered level because no one
36:13in here's ever heard a mix before.
36:15You've only heard mastered mixes. So we
36:17have to mix with that in mind versus
36:19losing our entire depth at the mastering
36:21stage. So, um, but yes, Caleb 100%
36:24right. What this is establishing is like
36:27where the bass, the sustain of the bass
36:29can hold to establish, you know, the
36:31back of our depth in the low end and
36:33then the transient forward. And the
36:34reason why we focus on these first is
36:36because these will be affected the most
36:38by the limiter, right? We'll hear if
36:40they're breaking apart. We'll hear if
36:41there's, you know, distortion, if if
36:43they if if they get like flubby or or
36:46something's weird about them. And that's
36:48really important is is channeling
36:50getting that low end really locked in
36:52first before you do anything else
36:54because the other vocals and other
36:57instruments are affected by limiter a
36:59lot but mostly in volume and sometimes
37:01in brightness. Um so we get these set
37:04first because it gives us a good depth.
37:06Get it up to a master volume then we
37:07continue with the rest of the mix.
37:09>> We're not worried about ls right now.
37:11>> Correct.
37:11>> You could use RMS if you want to but
37:13really just focus on VU right now and
37:16the true peak. uh which is that the top
37:19of the transient and we'll talk about ls
37:21in a second because we're going to apply
37:22a limiter to this and see what happens.
37:24>> Yeah. But like I said, let's not I don't
37:27want to go too far over everybody's head
37:29with the talking. Um let's get into some
37:32real world action. So I like to base
37:34everything off the kick. Remember mixing
37:36is organic. You have to start somewhere.
37:38But as we mix, we need to add each, you
37:40know, to that and make these elements
37:42work with those elements. So, I kick
37:44will always establish the low-end depth
37:47for me early on. I might adjust it
37:49later, but I'll start with kick. Um, and
37:52that's what what I recommend doing. You
37:54can start with bass, but a bass will eat
37:56up your depth if you're not careful, if
37:58your bass is too loud.
38:01So,
38:02let's see.
38:13[music]
38:14Okay. So, if I need more VU, the easiest
38:17way to achieve that is to add more
38:19low-end. Now, what these numbers say
38:22never outweigh how something sounds. So,
38:24I'm just going to try to get a good kick
38:26drum sound first and then see where it
38:28falls. Um,
38:31it's got plenty of attack on it, so I
38:33don't really want to like try to pull
38:35transients out of it right now. And, you
38:38know, or compress it. It's all kind of
38:40like the same volume, so compressing it.
38:41I don't want to do that. So, I'll just
38:43add some low end. Um, let's see what
38:45would be a fun plugin to use something
38:48different. Let's use a pool tag.
39:16Okay. So, as we add that, we get it up
39:18to zero. Boom. Now, our peak's too high.
39:20Right? So, this is something that
39:22happens. It's pretty normal. So, we're
39:24going to have to kind of massage this a
39:25little bit. We're going to have to maybe
39:26overshoot it and then back it off some
39:29and to see, you know, where it can, you
39:32know, where we can get it. Sometimes
39:33with a compressor, uh, like something
39:35like on an SSL channel, you can kind of
39:36shape it a little bit more. Um, in this
39:38case, I'm just going to move it around.
39:39I'll probably go over this number so I
39:41can bring it back some and see if it
39:43works.
39:47Right. And don't be scared to put lowend
39:49into your kicks. Now, don't blow your
39:50speakers out, but it's all about um gain
39:54staging, right? So, the makeup gain or
39:56or the trim here. So, let's see.
40:03That's closer, right? So, now we're down
40:05to almost a four. So, let's see what
40:07happens when we take it down just a
40:08little bit.
40:11[music]
40:12That's a five.
40:14Let's see.
40:16Now, it's a little bit rounder, which is
40:18awesome.
40:20But we're losing a little bit of that
40:22punch. That's kind of fun cutting
40:24through on that. So, let's try to now
40:27use a transient shaper. Now that we have
40:29like a little bit more oomph in it,
40:30right? It's going to shift our bass
40:31down. We're shifting our frequency
40:33spectrum down to give us more space to
40:35work with in the mid-range. Um, let's
40:37see what happens when we get it to
40:40punch. And then see if we can lock it in
40:42a little bit more.
40:46There we go. All
41:15right. Has
41:38everyone here used a transient shaper
41:40before and know what it is?
41:47If you've never used it, it looks like
41:49there's a lot of you.
41:51It's a handy tool that kind of sits in
41:54between
41:58an expander and a compressor and a
42:04What else would you mix in there, Kevin?
42:07Yeah, it's like a it's like it gives you
42:08the sound sort of um what a slow attack
42:12compressor would do like a VCA
42:13compressor but without the artifacts of
42:16compression. So it only it analyzes
42:18where the initial hit of a sound is and
42:20then increases that right? So it makes
42:22the attack
42:24more. It it increases the amount of
42:26attack that you're getting, the amount
42:27of transient response that you're
42:28getting. So when we think about it in in
42:30concepts of like a cube, it actually
42:31pushes it forward in the cube. Um it
42:35makes it Like if you want to add more
42:37sustain or body, you can add that too.
42:40>> Correct. I don't ever use them for
42:41sustain, which you absolutely can. So I
42:43don't ever think of them in that in
42:44those terms, but yes. Or you can you can
42:46pull sustain back. So like say you have
42:48too much reverb on something, it will
42:50work for that or um it's really just
42:51like an envelope shaper kind of. Um if
42:54you're used to that, like if anybody
42:55that does production or does synth work
42:58and stuff, it's sort of like that. Um
43:01so yeah. So we're getting pretty close
43:03here. All
43:07right, let's see what the difference is
43:09here.
43:10Right.
43:19So, it's a little darker, but it's just
43:21a little it's more robust to me that
43:22it's a little rounder. Um, remember
43:25there are bass and things that are
43:27happening. Uh, and I'm also at the 15,
43:30so that gives myself gives me just a
43:32little bit of of room. Let's see what
43:33happens if I add just a hair more of
43:36like some subharmonic generation on
43:38here. Let's just see if it'll work. I'm
43:41going to blend this in. Uh this is a
43:43really great plugin from Safari pedals
43:45that I like. It's called Bull Submachine
43:47and it works a lot like kind of like RBS
43:49or BX Subs. Uh it kind of has the
43:51resonance tool you can use. also has
43:54some drive in it um if you want a little
43:57bit more uh distortion in the low end,
44:00but it does a good job of of adding like
44:02these subharmonics to it. So, I've got
44:04the blend all the way down. I'm going to
44:05blend it in a little bit. See if I can
44:06push this up to zero without getting too
44:09far over here.
44:13[music]
44:20See?
44:25Okay. So, that's cool. So, this actually
44:26brought back a little bit
44:30of of our output.
44:32So, Whoops. Do that.
44:364.5.
44:38See if we can bring it up here.
44:40[music]
44:42There we go.
44:47Right. All right. So now if we're doing
44:48it strictly by the numbers, we've got
44:51our zero VU where we want it and our neg
44:53five peak on these.
45:03So this is a good starting point. So
45:05without it
45:10with it.
45:17>> Great.
45:18>> Again, we'll we'll talk about snare and
45:20bass in a second, but even within the
45:22kick, we're creating depth, right? We're
45:24having the right amount of the low end
45:26in the kick which is deter which is
45:29showing up on our VU meter but then also
45:32we're watching the true peak which is
45:33the top end of that kick that the the
45:35attack of that kick right. They need to
45:38be in balance. So it's not easy. It's
45:40not just as simple as like turning it up
45:42or turning it down. It's the amount of
45:45punch low end and the amount of the
45:48transient at the top of it.
45:50>> Correct. And if you if you really listen
45:51to it, like if you think about the
45:52forwardness in it, that never changes.
45:55But what what does appear like psycho
45:57acoustically to happen is it does feel
45:59darker because we have more low end. We
46:01didn't roll off the top at all. We just
46:02added more low end. But what happens is
46:04it's almost it goes from being thin and
46:06too much depth, right? So like the the
46:08bass is too far down to bringing the
46:10bass where it needs to be, but we still
46:11have the difference between the attack
46:13and that sustain down there. Listen to
46:15it again.
46:22Yeah, baby.
46:25>> So, really that attack, well, the attack
46:26got maybe a dB or so louder, but you can
46:28still feel it. You can still, if you
46:30really focus on that attack, it's still
46:31there. But now, we've brought in the
46:33support from from from
46:36the bottom of the kick. So, a lot of
46:37times even in in almost all genres, no
46:40matter what what you're in, I always
46:44hear kick drums are very very thin,
46:46especially at like beginning and
46:48intermediate mixers. Um, and so, and I'm
46:52sure the problem is is a after you've
46:54added the low end, then you feel like,
46:55oh, it's too bassy or it's not sending
46:57out the mix like it needs to. And that's
46:59where understanding how the transient
47:00and sustain, you know, the the the the
47:02the peak VU relationship will give that
47:06kick the sound that you need to stand
47:08out in the mix, but also still support.
47:10So, you know, for anybody that has been
47:12having issues with their kicks, like
47:14push some bass in it, put, you know, I
47:16usually I might do 10 15 dB in kick
47:18drums a lot of times at like 60 hertz.
47:21Um, so don't be scared of that.
47:26Okay. So, Also, for those of you that
47:30have the binder, or at least the newest
47:32version of the binder, is it out yet? At
47:34least the digital version of the newest
47:36version of the binder has a range here.
47:39So, something that's like alt pop like
47:41this or hip-hop, we're we're going to
47:43shoot for that zero VU. If you're if
47:45you're working on like an acoustic track
47:47or even some rock tracks, we give you a
47:50range of where that VU could be all the
47:53way down from likeg -3 to5, even -7 on
47:57something that doesn't have much bass or
47:58transient information in it. So, this
48:01this will work for most things. I would
48:04say probably 80% of tracks, but a lot
48:07of, you know, something that's more
48:08stripped down or acoustic or something,
48:10maybe we're not going all the way to
48:11zero.
48:12>> Correct. This this is going to work
48:14mostly for
48:16modern top 40 stuff or like rock,
48:19country, pop, um, hiphop, any of the EDM
48:23stuff works great. That that where kick
48:25snare is really holding a lot of the
48:27foundation of it. If you're doing like
48:28folks thing, singer songwriter, you
48:30know, an acoustic cover with a guitar
48:32and a lead vocal, right? It's not these
48:34numbers aren't going to quite uh fall
48:36into place. And they're remember they're
48:38too they're just a guide, right? They're
48:39just they're just a starting point.
48:41You'll see as we get it up to a mastered
48:43volume how I will then adjust I might
48:46still adjust these a little bit, right?
48:48But it's just a starting point. Um,
48:50remember nothing is ever the same. And
48:53uh, but I'm sure there's been lots of
48:54times if people are like, "Hey man, if I
48:56could just figure out a way to do this
48:57consistently, a little bit closer, then
49:00I would get better results." And that's
49:01what this is about.
49:02>> So, if you don't have a binder, Chris
49:04just dropped a link if you want to grab
49:05one of those binders. They're a great
49:07deal.
49:08>> Um, okay. So the main things that we're
49:10going to listen for when we are building
49:11the foundation is kick, bass, and snare.
49:14It doesn't really matter where you fit
49:15snare in. So snare is really we're only
49:17focusing on the the peak value. Bass,
49:19we're only focusing on the VU value. Um
49:21so I'll just bring in the snare.
49:22Typically I make the I we recommend
49:24keeping that snare at a neg five. Um
49:26that can be a little bit loud and
49:27forward in a mix, but it's a starting
49:29point. So, out of all this, the one
49:31thing I typically might adjust the most
49:33after we get this set is the snare.
49:35Because the snare will determine
49:38how your vocals feel in a mix. So, if
49:40your vocal is a few dB below the snare,
49:41then it feels inside the mix. If it's a
49:43few dB above the snare, then it feels
49:44like it's on top of the mix. Um,
49:47so either one is fine, but in this case,
49:50I'm going to I'm going to work on the
49:51snare just in this one part, and then
49:53I'll go to the bass.
50:05Okay. So, I could determine, you know,
50:08if I if I brighten this snare up, what
50:11will happen is my vocals will be
50:13brighter. And this is okay. It's a pop
50:16song, but it's sort of a dark pop song.
50:18So, I could
50:22EQ it. I could just turn it up and keep
50:24it the same darkness. I don't know yet.
50:26So, let's fill. I'm just going to look
50:27at the peak here and see.
50:37All right. So, we're at like a negative
50:3818. So, let's just give it some volume
50:40here.
50:42Take this.
50:59Okay. So, that that's got about a
51:01negative 8 and a half. At this point, I
51:04feel like that might for the volume that
51:06I would need to get to that neg five.
51:08It's a little bit too much mud, too much
51:09mid-range. So, I'm going to bring the
51:12top up, but let's do it with a transient
51:14shaper. Um, for a lot of people that
51:17haven't used transient shapers, this
51:19this is going to be just sort of a crash
51:20course on it. Um,
51:23the I see someone says very pokey.
51:25That's good, right? Uh, the difference
51:26between like where the attack is and
51:28where that sustain is is going to give
51:29us depth in that sound and it's going to
51:31help establish these parameters that we
51:33can work within. Um,
51:36the cool thing about a lot of transient
51:37shapers is you can actually do multiband
51:39on them. So here, let's do a multiband
51:41mode on this. And let's boost
51:43everything. We'll go 2500 and up. And
51:47we'll see how that sounds. And then
51:48we'll boost the top, too. We'll push
51:49that up higher. 75. All right.
51:54Get back to it.
52:11Now, what I'm going to do is I'm going
52:13to make it a little bit brighter to and
52:15then pull it back some. So, I'm going to
52:16push it over that neg five. You can see
52:18I'm close to neg five here, but just to
52:20kind of get some of the mud out.
52:405.26. That's close enough.
52:43So without it,
52:49with it.
52:54Now, what I want you to notice, too, is
52:56that it it feels like it gets closer in
52:59our cube to us, right? And that's
53:01because we've increased the transient.
53:03they increase the transient off of of
53:06you know the sustain of the sound. So
53:08this part comes up closer to us. Um and
53:12so that's what we talk about controlling
53:14these transit controlling these depths.
53:16It's not just about frequency and
53:17panning and things. It's about where
53:18we're actually setting it in the front
53:20to back. And that's not just volume. Um
53:22because too much volume can take up too
53:23much space. But if we can control the
53:25transients on them um on things that
53:27have transients information, we can
53:29really really get a cool sound out of it
53:31and a lot of space to play in where
53:33everything's still being heard. So
53:34without it
53:37and this is how it comes forward
53:40forward.
53:45All right. [clears throat]
53:48And that's kind of the only thing. Now
53:50percussion loops, those are going to get
53:51brought up a lot with a limiter. So, I
53:53tend to wait till we get those to a
53:55master level. There's also another
53:57section in here that has um claps and
54:00snaps. And what I will do really quickly
54:03is just show you how I would go about
54:05these
54:07um
54:10because it's there's not like a we're
54:13working off the most dense section of
54:15the song, but there's also these are
54:16also really important, too. So, you can
54:18get them early or you can just start in
54:19one one section. But let's just I'll
54:22grab these, the clap and the snaps, and
54:25show you how I process those really
54:26quickly.
54:29Okay.
54:34So, these are almost sound like a glitch
54:36sound, right? There's like some
54:37distortion on them. Totally fine. Um,
54:39now when we look at them, what we'll see
54:41is that they are playing the exact same
54:43part. So, we have this and this. And
54:48these are zoomed in, too. So, um, I just
54:51zoomed in so everybody can see them from
54:52this window,
54:54but because they're playing the exact
54:56same part
54:59and they're different volumes, I'm
55:01assuming that that is the balance that
55:02Chris really wanted these to sound. So,
55:05I don't want to go back and mess with
55:06this unless there's some glaring issue.
55:08Most of the time there won't be. So, I'm
55:11going to take this and I'm going to
55:12create an auxiliary track.
55:15And we're going to call this
55:17uh clap snap.
55:20We're going to
55:22set a bus.
55:25Same thing, clap snap. And the idea
55:28behind this is we're going to process
55:29these at the same time together. So,
55:32everything we do affects both of them.
55:34Um
55:36both of them being played at the same
55:38time. And um and then that way we don't
55:42have to do a bunch of extra work.
55:45There's supposed to be like a layered
55:47sound, right? So uh make sure we're
55:49routing that to the mix bus. And then
55:50the last thing that we need to do is
55:51make sure that our claps and our snaps
55:53are routed to that auxiliary send. So
55:56straight from the output, we're not
55:57doing like a a send, but um like from
56:01[clears throat]
56:02from an actual send, we're routing the
56:04output to the input of this auxiliary
56:05track. I should have said send. I'm
56:06sorry about that. So now when these
56:08play, these will both play through here.
56:12If I mute that there, we lose it, right?
56:22So let's do the same thing. Let's get
56:23the volume up a little bit on this.
56:26Gainstaging is still a thing. We'll
56:28we'll gain stage from the clip gain, but
56:29we'll gain stage these together.
56:32See?
56:43All right. I don't want to go too crazy
56:44on this um because it's during the
56:46verses. So, I'm kind of like using my
56:48ears more on this one, this part. That's
56:50okay, though. Um and then I let's throw
56:53another transient shaper on here. Let's
56:55see what we can do. See what happens.
57:04Let's start here.
57:12[music]
57:31I'm looking for the izotope
57:35neutron
57:36five.
57:39Okay.
57:44All right. So with this, this is also a
57:46multiband transient shaper. The only
57:48difference with with neutron is that the
57:51bands are not independent of each other.
57:53So with there being four bands in the
57:56Trinity Shaper,
57:59they I can isolate certain areas. With
58:02this, I can do that, but I'm no matter
58:04where I move this, it affects where the
58:06other other bands are at. Um,
58:09so that's that's the only thing, but I'm
58:11really only looking to do the top end on
58:12this. So let's grab the top. Let's push
58:14that forward. And then let's see how
58:16that sounds.
58:19There we go.
58:25Cool. 5.6. So, let's listen to it
58:28without it.
58:34With it.
58:39All right. And I'll just I'll adjust it
58:41down just a little bit so it's not too
58:42intense. We'll go down 2dB there.
58:45And but we see we can feel how those
58:48claps even like the texture of the clap
58:50like it it's closer. And so what's going
58:53to be fun is now we can really play with
58:54that lead. We can play with the lead
58:56vocal against what's happening with all
58:58these transients to make it feel like
59:00certain parts of it are really in your
59:02face and other parts of it are just way
59:04far back. And we can get this this
59:06really cool maximum depth, especially
59:07with our spatial processing because
59:09there's so much space in this. There's
59:11so much kind of empty space. Um,
59:15so, okay, we got that. Cool. Now, we're
59:18going to go back to the dense part. And
59:20that's, like I said, if there's two
59:21sounds that are playing the exact same
59:22part, they're similar sounds, like two
59:24snares or two kick drums, and they're
59:26supposed to be layered, it's just a lot
59:27easier to process those together. Um,
59:29that's why I want to show you that. So,
59:31let's see what's going on with the bass
59:32now.
59:58Okay.
1:00:00So, this is another one of those
1:00:02situations where Okay, so we have um the
1:00:06sub We have an Let's Let's break down
1:00:10what's happening. We have a sub sound.
1:00:12Can
1:00:12>> you get the VU more on the screen?
1:00:14>> Yes. Sorry.
1:00:18>> Thanks.
1:00:19>> Okay. VU.
1:00:22Then we're doing like an 808 like a
1:00:24distorted 808 layer,
1:00:29right? So that's just kind of topend
1:00:31energy. Then we have another
1:00:35layer which is like even more like
1:00:38telephoneony mid-rangy.
1:00:40And then one more layer.
1:00:45And so all these things are meant to
1:00:48create this one sound, especially during
1:00:51this one part. Now neither of them none
1:00:54of them will get in the way of each
1:00:55other. So, because on this section
1:00:57there's only like the chorus and the
1:00:59sub,
1:01:01I'm just going to process these all as
1:01:03one. And I'm going to see if I can
1:01:04enhance this to try to make this a
1:01:06[clears throat] cohesive sound,
1:01:06especially towards the end. And
1:01:07hopefully as we go back, it will be it
1:01:11will fall into place. It should. I don't
1:01:12see why it wouldn't, but you never know.
1:01:15So, the the main thing that we're
1:01:16looking for at this section is as we add
1:01:18the bass that we're not pushing it over
1:01:20zero. Now, you think, oh, as soon as we
1:01:23add base, because base contributes to
1:01:24VU, that it will push it over zero. Not
1:01:27necessarily. Um, there's there's a lot
1:01:29of wiggle room in this to get there. So,
1:01:32let's just take a me I'll make these
1:01:35smaller real quick.
1:01:41All right, let's take this one section.
1:01:44I'm going to listen to the bass and then
1:01:46I'm going to route these bottom bass
1:01:48parts. Let's do this.
1:01:52just so there's a little color
1:01:53difference so I can see it. So these are
1:01:55all the core spaces. I'm going to route
1:01:56those to one um bass bus, this chorus
1:02:00space bus like I did the clap snap. So,
1:02:09okay.
1:02:21And the reason why I'm doing this first
1:02:23is because I'm I'm going to do all my
1:02:24adjusting from this range. The the gain
1:02:26stage is pretty good, but um it'll be
1:02:29easier if I kind of grab it from a
1:02:30plugin.
1:02:32So,
1:02:34uh,
1:02:35chorus base bus
1:02:39always lame. We're If anything, if you
1:02:42don't want to label, that's fine, but
1:02:45definitely label like your buses, like
1:02:47the bus one, two, your sins, like that.
1:02:49Um,
1:02:51because if you don't, you'll just get
1:02:53lost.
1:02:54of course bass bus and make sure that
1:02:56we're routing this to I'm using a an
1:02:59internal mix bus so I got to make sure
1:03:00it's going to the mix bus. All right.
1:03:05And make sure that the outputs of these
1:03:07are going to that auxiliary that bass.
1:03:12All right. So now it's here.
1:03:16Great. Cool. Now I'm going to add what
1:03:18I've already done because mixing is
1:03:20organic, right? We're going to use this.
1:03:24Awesome.
1:03:30Very cool. So, what we're seeing now is
1:03:31that we have a good
1:03:34balance with that that kick where that
1:03:36bass is at. So, the way that that Chris
1:03:39did this, it works. It it's effective.
1:03:42It works very well. Um, so we could
1:03:45technically leave this and not do
1:03:47anything and it would it would go well
1:03:50into our mastering chain. Um, let's see
1:03:53what it looks like if we turn things up
1:03:55or down, what the view might look like.
1:03:58So, let's just grab something like
1:04:02uh grab like this 1073,
1:04:09right? You see how the VU shoots way far
1:04:11over? Well, what that's going to tell us
1:04:13is that the bass, the low end in this
1:04:15bass is coming up too much and it's
1:04:17going to affect our depth.
1:04:24Versus if we're a little farther back,
1:04:26if we're too low, we'll be okay, but
1:04:29we'll still hear the bass, but there's
1:04:30probably some room to grow. So, we can
1:04:32kind of push it up. If you need more
1:04:33bass, totally fine. Uh, what's going on
1:04:36here?
1:04:38Oh, the bass is low.
1:04:57Right. So there we can go a few dB over
1:05:00and we're pushing it a little bit. Now
1:05:01sometimes when there's two hits it will
1:05:04go a little farther. That's fine. It's
1:05:05more of like single hits or like the
1:05:07instantaneous hit. Um, but anything in
1:05:09that range is good, but
1:05:12we don't have to leave it at that
1:05:14because I worry that sometimes that top
1:05:16end might eat up too much. Um, so what
1:05:19happens if we darken this bass up? So,
1:05:21let's switch this off
1:05:24here.
1:05:28I'm going to grab Spectre. And remember
1:05:30how we talked about moving that kick
1:05:32drum down because let's listen to it. If
1:05:34we don't have any processing on the kick
1:05:37and the snare, the kick fits with that
1:05:40bass, right?
1:05:46But we can get this bigger, right? We
1:05:47can get this more competitive. Uh we can
1:05:50give our spa oursel more space to work
1:05:52with down here. So now when we add this
1:05:55kick, now it feels like the bass could
1:05:57be darker, right?
1:05:59You can see how we didn't even affect
1:06:01the bass, but it actually made the bass
1:06:03impact feel deeper
1:06:09it
1:06:14with it.
1:06:16Okay. So, now let's see if we can get
1:06:18that bass to kind of match what's
1:06:21happening. Not notice like even already
1:06:23just with these couple of elements when
1:06:26he turns that on you, you feel it wrap
1:06:28around you more. There's already more
1:06:30depth in the mix. Do you do you hear
1:06:33that?
1:06:37Because we're changing the amount of
1:06:40separation between those two. We're
1:06:42adding in low end. We're adding in that
1:06:44the droney patty part of the bass and
1:06:47enhancing the transient on the top. It
1:06:49literally is deeper. So, you should feel
1:06:52that.
1:06:54>> Um, and this works for any genre, too,
1:06:56right? It would work if you if you have
1:06:57not just like program drums, you know,
1:06:59from pop or hip-hop producer. It works
1:07:01with a drum set. Like all the mixes that
1:07:04we think are really great of live bands,
1:07:06they they do the same thing. Um, of
1:07:09course there's different tambers to the
1:07:11instruments and and you know different
1:07:13mix choices, but one of one of the
1:07:15things that's almost universal around
1:07:17great mix songs is creating this depth
1:07:21and it's understanding the transients,
1:07:22understanding the low end, the sustain,
1:07:24understanding like where everything sit
1:07:26in that front to back space which is so
1:07:28important.
1:07:29>> Yeah. Um,
1:07:30>> and these meters are really help you get
1:07:32a a start. And Kevin said it a couple
1:07:34times, but it the meter is a great
1:07:36starting place, but you also have to use
1:07:38your ears to make sure you like how it
1:07:40sounds right in the mix. And you may
1:07:42find you're in a a rock mix or something
1:07:44and you're hitting zero and it just
1:07:45feels like it's too much. You just turn
1:07:47it down a little bit, right? But this is
1:07:49a good starting place for for especially
1:07:51for those of you who are mixing on
1:07:54headphones or are in a imperfect room
1:07:57where the low end is lying to you. This
1:07:59is giving you a way of knowing how much
1:08:01you should have without you having to
1:08:03have a perfect room. That's really
1:08:05really valuable.
1:08:06>> Exactly. You can take this anywhere.
1:08:07Understanding like that zero VU um in
1:08:10any any studio you go to your buddy's
1:08:12house or over here. Um, it is a way for
1:08:16us to know exactly what's going on. Cuz
1:08:17how many times have we had, you know, we
1:08:20thought the bass was great and then all
1:08:21of a sudden the bass is through the roof
1:08:22and it's something that we can't hear,
1:08:24right? Or there's not nearly enough bass
1:08:26in the room that you're in made you feel
1:08:27like there is. It's like, oh, why is it
1:08:29weak now? Well, these meters will at
1:08:32least tell you if if you're within
1:08:34range, right? If we're getting that type
1:08:35of low-end energy. Um, so and and and I
1:08:39I really have to go back to what Caleb
1:08:40said is that these are starting points,
1:08:42right? These are not they don't have to
1:08:43be your ending point, but this is a way
1:08:45for you to get maximum depth and then
1:08:46decide if you want to collapse that
1:08:48versus not having enough depth and then
1:08:51not being able to figure out how to get
1:08:52it to go like this because this is the
1:08:55hardest thing seems to be in mixing is
1:08:58that front to back depth, right? We can
1:08:59do left and right with panning. We can
1:09:00do up and down with frequencies. Um, but
1:09:03super important. So, um, now what I'm
1:09:05going to do is I'm going to theorywise
1:09:07I'm going to see if I can shift this
1:09:08bass down deeper.
1:09:17All right, we hear that. Now it's
1:09:18darker, but now my V went up. So, we got
1:09:22to turn this down a little bit. How much
1:09:23did we go? Uh, 4 dB. Let's turn.
1:09:31There you go.
1:09:40without it
1:09:45with it.
1:09:50So, what you hear is it feels like the
1:09:52top went down because it did. We could
1:09:54do the same thing with the shelf and go
1:09:55down with it, but we lifted the bass and
1:09:57then we brought the volume back to where
1:10:00it's kind of has the same energy. Now, I
1:10:03can use this and I might not do this
1:10:04this much at this point in the song, but
1:10:07I can take this and we'll say
1:10:10mess around with this bass and and can I
1:10:12pull out some of that energy that we
1:10:14lost when it came down? Maybe darken it
1:10:16up a little bit and see how it'll fit.
1:10:32>> [music]
1:10:35>> So, the only problem with where the bass
1:10:37is at with no processing on it is that
1:10:40all those
1:10:42um those higher uh distorted synths are
1:10:46in the vocal range. They're in the range
1:10:47of other things. And I would rather
1:10:51shift it low first and then maybe bring
1:10:53some of that back later u versus knowing
1:10:56that I'm having something that might get
1:10:58in the way of those vocals. So I would
1:11:00prefer to have this a little bit more
1:11:01like this on the lower side, the darker
1:11:03side to give me more space.
1:11:06And notice how it now the low end kind
1:11:08of like right it supports
1:11:12without it.
1:11:26All right. So we're close. It's all
1:11:27right if you're a little overg4. All
1:11:29that all that means is like headroom
1:11:30wise is that we have 5 dB or in this
1:11:32case 4.6 dB to go before we're clipping.
1:11:35Well, that's fine because the kick and
1:11:37the snare are going to be the most
1:11:38forward things in the mix because when
1:11:40we push it up against the limiter,
1:11:42everything else is going to be brought
1:11:43up. But we don't worry about that
1:11:45because we're actually mixing into the
1:11:46limiter. So, that'll still as we take
1:11:48this off, we should still have 4 dB, 3dB
1:11:51of headroom, which is plenty, right?
1:11:53It's still safe. Uh you don't have to
1:11:55look at that five as like we can't go
1:11:56over that. It's just try to hit that and
1:11:58if you go a little over, a little under,
1:12:00you're okay. Um
1:12:03you know, mixing is it's an art, right?
1:12:04It's not a science.
1:12:07And yeah, so here is where we would pop
1:12:10a limiter on. And this is when we get it
1:12:13get it up to a mastered volume. And the
1:12:15idea is if we can get it to a mastered
1:12:18volume with the impact and the depth in
1:12:21the low end that we're looking at, we
1:12:23can set whatever depth we want in the
1:12:25rest of the mix with all the other
1:12:26elements by just adding them in and
1:12:28mixing them with this limiter on. Um
1:12:32because like I said before, you've never
1:12:34ever heard
1:12:36a mix. Most of the time, you've only
1:12:38heard a mastered mix. And if you
1:12:39actually heard the mix on a song, you
1:12:41might be like, "Oh, that sounds weird.
1:12:43That's like the depth is weird or
1:12:46overexaggerated." Well, it has to be to
1:12:47get the type of volumes that we're
1:12:48getting to now, like, you know, five ls,
1:12:50seven ls, six ls. um
1:12:54it you you have to overexaggerate the
1:12:57transients and then kind of push them
1:12:59into that ceiling because the ceiling is
1:13:01is inevitable with these limiters. Um so
1:13:03we have to kind of push it in there the
1:13:05depth versus if you have perfect depth
1:13:07and a mix turn it up it hits that
1:13:09ceiling well then our depth starts
1:13:11collapsing. So the idea is we're
1:13:12overexaggerating getting maximum depth
1:13:15pushing it into the loudness that we
1:13:16want to have the proper depth.
1:13:20Um, so I'm just going to put a limiter.
1:13:22A lot of times I'll use two limiters
1:13:23just so it's not too much heavy lifting
1:13:25on these, but we're shooting for usually
1:13:28like a 111ish -10ish 9. Um, sometimes
1:13:33this may not get to it just because it's
1:13:35there's not a lot as much going on with
1:13:37the bass. It kind of comes in and comes
1:13:39off. So I'm going to push this until it
1:13:40feels the correct loudness. But we're
1:13:42really looking for these shortterm luffs
1:13:44to be about like a 11 to9 range. if you
1:13:48can get it, especially if you have like
1:13:50a sustained bass.
1:14:04Let's see where's my output at.
1:14:07Okay, just uh to simplify all that uh
1:14:10for those of you who are more beginner,
1:14:11now we're going to run everything
1:14:12through a limiter and we're going to see
1:14:15what happens. If we've done things
1:14:17properly, we we shouldn't lose too much
1:14:20depth. We shouldn't have any distortion
1:14:23or pumping or anything weird. It should
1:14:25sound pretty good. But if we if we put
1:14:27the limiter on, we bring it up to
1:14:29like1gative9
1:14:32uh lus and we're hearing it sound flat.
1:14:36If it's really shrinking it too much, if
1:14:38there's distortion, then we've done
1:14:40something wrong. And we're actually
1:14:41going to leave this limiter on through
1:14:43the rest of the mix and we're going to
1:14:44mix into it. So, we know what's going to
1:14:46happen later in mastering because
1:14:49mastering changes the sound. If you're
1:14:51not aware of how it's going to affect
1:14:52especially these, but uh instruments,
1:14:54but all of them ultimately, then it may
1:14:58get to mastering and sound completely
1:14:59different than than you were expecting.
1:15:02That's not what we want. like Kevin was
1:15:03saying, but you have to mix a little
1:15:05different
1:15:06>> considering what the mastering is going
1:15:08to do. So, we imitate that by putting a
1:15:10limiter on it. Okay.
1:15:11>> Yep. And and there can still be this can
1:15:14still be sent off to a mastering
1:15:15engineer. You just take the limiter off,
1:15:17you know, um or you could do another
1:15:18mastering stage with it at the end if
1:15:20you want. But the idea too is we're
1:15:23demystifying what mastering is as a
1:15:26mixer. Mastering for a client when
1:15:28you're the mastering engineer is a
1:15:29completely different thing. It's art
1:15:30form in itself. And there's lots of
1:15:31great techniques with that. When you're
1:15:33doing it as a mixer, we don't want to do
1:15:35heavy EQ moves, heavy corrective moves
1:15:38on a master because we'll just do it in
1:15:40the mix because it affects everything.
1:15:41If we're EQing a mix, if if there's some
1:15:45if we're trying to EQ some mud out of
1:15:46the vocals in a mix from the master,
1:15:48well, it affects the snare, it affects
1:15:49the sense, it affects the guitar, you
1:15:52know, all that stuff. So, we really want
1:15:53to use this the master as getting up to
1:15:56volume and then maybe some subtle
1:15:58enhancements, some subtle saturation,
1:16:00whatever you want. But technically, by
1:16:03the time we get done with this mix, it's
1:16:05mastered, ready to go if the client
1:16:06likes that. Um, and you'll notice too,
1:16:09the more you do this, that there's a lot
1:16:10of times mastering engineers will fall
1:16:12short
1:16:13um
1:16:16if if you don't have a good conversation
1:16:18with them. If if you don't if you're not
1:16:20able to explain to them exactly what
1:16:21you're looking for. um because you've
1:16:23kind of already done it.
1:16:24>> You can you can send this to them as a
1:16:27as a reference and their job is to then
1:16:29beat it.
1:16:30>> Correct.
1:16:31>> So um but let's see. Let's see where
1:16:33we're at.
1:16:41All right. So you'll see like when it
1:16:43kind of hits heavy, it goes up into that
1:16:4511. I'm going to put one more limiter on
1:16:47it. Usually you'll be maybe in like like
1:16:50a negative nine like not necessarily
1:16:52dynamic reduction but on a threshold of
1:16:54a limiter 910 um or a combination of
1:16:58two. So for this I really like the L4. I
1:17:02use the AL1 for the majority of it and
1:17:04then the L4 just a little bit at the end
1:17:06uh in aggressive mode. And all that
1:17:07means is that it's just got a faster
1:17:09release. Um the slower releases mess
1:17:11with your transients. They mess with
1:17:13like how open your mix is. Um, so I'm
1:17:16just going to add a little bit more and
1:17:17see how far I can push it.
1:17:33Yeah. So, we're like in the 10 11 range
1:17:35like when it's going. Most of the time
1:17:37this will hover like around that number
1:17:39like a 10 11 nine if your bass is like
1:17:41thinking about playing boom boom boom
1:17:43boom boom boom boom boom boom something
1:17:45like that and the boom boom boom boom
1:17:47boom boom like if there's more of this
1:17:49consistence you're going to get more lus
1:17:51energy over over this this shortterm
1:17:53time period. The problem is is that
1:17:55after this hits and it goes off, it has
1:17:57to calculate when nothing's playing
1:17:59during this as well. So we just have to
1:18:01keep that in mind. Um
1:18:03and let I'm going to push it too far.
1:18:05I'm going to turn the ceiling down, not
1:18:06the blowing body speakers out, but let's
1:18:09just see what happens, how it sounds
1:18:10like when you push it too far.
1:18:17See how the snare got thin, got flat,
1:18:19and the the kick got blah
1:18:23>> is flat.
1:18:24>> Yeah. So, we flattened it out. So, what
1:18:26we still want is depth. There'll be less
1:18:27depth, but we still need it. Um,
1:18:31so let's go put that back.
1:18:34>> Yeah. And inevitably, inevitably you
1:18:36lose a little depth here because it is
1:18:38squishing things. But that's going to
1:18:40happen later. We we just want to make
1:18:42sure that we still feel like we have a
1:18:44lot. So, it's not really about how much
1:18:46it's attenuating. It's not really I
1:18:48mean, you don't want it doing a lot, but
1:18:50it's more about how does it feel? Is it
1:18:52flattening things? Is it thinning things
1:18:53out?
1:18:54>> This is where our ears start to really
1:18:56come in
1:18:57>> for sure. Um, and so that that's what
1:18:59we're listening. We're, you know, I like
1:19:01to do it. how far can I push it before
1:19:03things break apart? Um before it gets
1:19:05uncomfortable to mix in that to where
1:19:07it's like reacting too much to it. Um
1:19:09but I I really like to to walk the line
1:19:11because
1:19:13unfortunately a lot of what we get
1:19:15judged on is our ability to do things at
1:19:17a loud level and these top percentages
1:19:18of loudness. And that's what's
1:19:20separating these big mixers from, you
1:19:23know, from the intermediate from the
1:19:24beginning mixer is not that your mix
1:19:27doesn't sound good. It's that they
1:19:29understand the assignment. they
1:19:30understand h how much it needs to punch
1:19:33and and they push that at these extreme
1:19:36volumes because as it goes from song to
1:19:38song, that's what jumps out to you. Um,
1:19:40and if you're ever in in a position
1:19:42where you're doing spec mixes or you're
1:19:44competing to people competing against
1:19:46people on mixes, usually the loudest one
1:19:48wins, but especially the loudest one
1:19:51that has depth, right? So, if you lose
1:19:54all your depth for loudness and it
1:19:55sounds like crap, [snorts] all right,
1:19:56you might not win it. But but if you can
1:19:59have depth and you're at a loudness
1:20:01bigger than everybody that you're always
1:20:02going to be perceived as um you know the
1:20:05more competitive mix. So uh just keep
1:20:08that in mind and understanding that you
1:20:10can make some adjustments within those
1:20:12levels to where it sounds good too where
1:20:14it's not just about loudness but it is
1:20:17something that that from a pro
1:20:20perspective that we you should be
1:20:22shooting for at a competitive range.
1:20:24>> Yeah. I love that there's something here
1:20:25for all of you who are at different
1:20:27places. There's something here for
1:20:28beginners, intermediate, advanced
1:20:29people. If you're more beginner, it's
1:20:31just like, okay, can I get my kick
1:20:33center bass to that neg 5 thing? Even if
1:20:37I don't fully understand transient
1:20:39shapers yet, at least I can get in there
1:20:40and play with them a little bit. Uh, I
1:20:42can use EQ to to add more low end, to
1:20:44add more brightness if I need to. I'm
1:20:46getting within that range, and that's
1:20:48all I'm really worried about now. And
1:20:50I'm starting to think as a beginner,
1:20:52someday I'm going to really start
1:20:53hearing the depth here, and I need to
1:20:55focus on that. For those of you who are
1:20:57more intermediate, you're you're really
1:20:58starting to focus on depth a lot. And as
1:21:01you get towards the advanced people,
1:21:03then you realize what Kevin just said is
1:21:05the gospel truth, which is if you can
1:21:08make your stuff sound both loud and
1:21:10deep, this is where you impress
1:21:13everybody. This is where the the awards
1:21:16are won. This is where you you really
1:21:18start to make a name for yourself. And
1:21:20it that's true for any genre. It it's
1:21:22it's this is part of immersiveness. This
1:21:24is part of it sounding big and beautiful
1:21:26and wonderful, which is always going to
1:21:28impress the client, which is always
1:21:29going to impress the labels or anyone
1:21:31else that you're working with. Okay? So,
1:21:33there's something here for all of you to
1:21:35take away and work on. And and this
1:21:38session is is probably the most like
1:21:39high level, like the easiest to go over
1:21:42your head if you're not used to hearing
1:21:43it or if you're a beginner or things
1:21:45like that. the other days like when we
1:21:48get into vocal mixing that'll be a lot
1:21:49more of like understanding frequencies
1:21:52and and hearing it and and that type of
1:21:54thing. This is a lot more of like theory
1:21:56philosophy and and the problem is is
1:21:59that you have to trust me, right? You
1:22:02have to trust yourself at this stage
1:22:04because it's not, you know, we're not
1:22:06doing the mix how we want it and then
1:22:08trying to get it loud. We're
1:22:09understanding that this needs to be set
1:22:10this way for us to get this loudness.
1:22:12And that comes with time. It comes with
1:22:13putting the reps in um and repeating
1:22:15these these variables and and trying it,
1:22:18messing with your tools, transient
1:22:20shapers, those type of things,
1:22:21gainstaging, some compression, some EQ.
1:22:24Um but really like understanding what
1:22:26that depth feels like at these volumes.
1:22:28And that will help you. And you'll see
1:22:30as we do the mix and and as we AB I mean
1:22:32I can AB it now and we'll hear a
1:22:36difference in in the actual depth,
1:22:38right? The original
1:22:42>> [music]
1:22:43>> Heaven help me.
1:23:00Right. So, the only thing here that
1:23:01we're hearing more than anything is that
1:23:03that snare is pretty loud. Um, but we
1:23:06hear way more depth, way more immersion
1:23:10into the mix while it's still not while
1:23:13we're not losing anything in it. We're
1:23:14just kind of gaining. And um,
1:23:18and that's that's the idea. And that's
1:23:21the reason why somebody wants to send it
1:23:23to a mixer, like a legitimate mixer. And
1:23:24that's what I want all of us to be in
1:23:26here. I want us to be the best mixers in
1:23:27the world. Not just good for as a
1:23:30producer or good for an artist or or for
1:23:32your neighborhood or your your city. I
1:23:34want you to be the best in the world and
1:23:35this is kind of how we get there. Um,
1:23:38>> also something for you producers, you
1:23:40can start thinking about this earlier.
1:23:42You don't have to wait till mixing to
1:23:44think about this stuff. In fact, that's
1:23:45why Chris is great because he got it
1:23:48pretty close already.
1:23:51>> Yeah. I mean, I I didn't fix any
1:23:53problems. I just made a few sonic
1:23:56decisions, adjustments. Um, and this is,
1:24:00you know, and I do think it's important
1:24:02as we talk about once we get it up to a
1:24:04master volume. Well, the the thing that
1:24:05really jumped out was the snare. Well,
1:24:07that's okay. We don't have to leave the
1:24:08snare there. Let's pull the snare back
1:24:09some and see how it feels.
1:24:17All right, we'll pull the snare back. We
1:24:19pulled it back maybe 5 dB or four,
1:24:21three. I don't I don't know what the
1:24:22difference was, but um but now what that
1:24:26will allow us to do is allow that vocal
1:24:28to sit a little bit more forward in the
1:24:29mix versus where it was at before.
1:24:34See,
1:24:37that's where it was.
1:24:47And if you notice too, as we pulled it
1:24:49back, we still have the attack on the
1:24:50snare, but what happened is that we're
1:24:53not hitting the ceiling as hard with the
1:24:55snare. So that tail that at the end of
1:24:57it doesn't jump forward as much. Um, so
1:25:00we're still getting that forward
1:25:02transient to help establish that, but
1:25:04it's not quite as as slammed forward.
1:25:07Um, and that's totally fine because this
1:25:08is what's going to allow us to make the
1:25:11decision, right? We're making all of our
1:25:13major mix decisions with this limiter
1:25:14on. Same thing if we were to listen to
1:25:18um you know I'll bring in some of the
1:25:21percussive elements on this one and
1:25:23we'll talk just listen really quickly of
1:25:25like where this might sound good without
1:25:27the limiter and how the limiter affects
1:25:29just the percussion. Um normally I would
1:25:31mix the vocals first but in this case I
1:25:34I'll pull it in just for an example. So
1:25:36let's see let's take these limiters off
1:25:40and let's add the percussion.
1:26:10Okay. So, like from a mix perspective
1:26:11now, the snare feels a little bit
1:26:12better. bring it back up to the volume
1:26:14that it was and now the percussion loop.
1:26:16But when we put our limiters on, watch
1:26:18how drastically the volume balance
1:26:21versus everything else changes in that
1:26:23percussion loop.
1:26:27[music]
1:26:33And you notice that now even though it
1:26:35sounds good, it takes up all this space
1:26:39in the mix.
1:26:42So that's where we have to really be
1:26:43careful at like understanding, okay,
1:26:44well the kick and snare and the bass are
1:26:47going to be affected in in the in the
1:26:49sense of like depth and distortion
1:26:51initially. We can make those
1:26:52adjustments, but everything else kind of
1:26:54needs to be brought in at that volume so
1:26:56we understand what it's what level it
1:26:59will be at a mastered volume and not
1:27:00what level it'll be at a mix volume.
1:27:03Um,
1:27:05so here I'll let's take that percussion
1:27:07loop again. I'll mute it.
1:27:20Right? And you see how I can bring this
1:27:22down 22 dB. I'm I'm doing something with
1:27:24like the threshold, but I can bring this
1:27:25way down and it's still holding space
1:27:28because of how it's reacting to that
1:27:30limiter at that mastered volume.
1:27:36>> [music]
1:27:39>> We can also affect the transients on
1:27:41this. Like say we wanted the transients
1:27:43to come out and for it to stick out.
1:27:45Well, we can do it now too here. And
1:27:46what this will do is this will pull the
1:27:48sustain that might eat up some vocal
1:27:50space. It might eat up some reverb space
1:27:52and and it'll still be heard but won't
1:27:55take up quite the amount of space but
1:27:57still stand out in the mix.
1:28:29Right. You hear it now?
1:28:44because the idea is that we need this to
1:28:47support whatever the star of the show is
1:28:49and that's going to be the vocals versus
1:28:51I don't want to make the vocals have to
1:28:53work with this percussion loop. I want
1:28:55the percussion loop to have to work with
1:28:56the vocals.
1:28:58So, yeah, it sounds good by itself or as
1:29:00a beat, but how is it going to sound
1:29:03when I put the vocals in? How is it
1:29:04going to sound when I put the vocal
1:29:06reverbs in? You know, I don't want
1:29:08anything. I'm going to take a lot of
1:29:10time and do, you know, use a lot of
1:29:12effort to get those vocals to sound how
1:29:13I want them to sound. And I don't want
1:29:16to have to force them to work with this
1:29:18percussion loop. They need to work,
1:29:20everything needs to work with what I do
1:29:21with those vocals in this foundation.
1:29:25So that's typically why why we're not
1:29:28adding like percussion loops and you
1:29:30know other auxiliary percussion type
1:29:32parts early on because it it'll dictate
1:29:34more of how we mix the vocals versus mix
1:29:36the vocals how you want, make them sound
1:29:38as good as they possibly can and make
1:29:39all these other elements work as we add
1:29:41them.
1:29:44Um but yeah, I think that's kind of it
1:29:47for the foundation cable. Is there
1:29:48anything else you want me to touch on
1:29:49for that?
1:29:50>> That's good. Um, are there any other
1:29:52drum stuff to bring in?
1:29:55>> Uh, let's see. There's a hat. Let's do
1:29:57the We can do the tom fills. That'll be
1:29:59fun. And reverse percussion. So, the
1:30:02hat's coming in here at the end. Let's
1:30:04see.
1:30:21So depending on how we want it to move
1:30:23with a high hat part like that, I don't
1:30:25think that those are actually like
1:30:26moving um
1:30:29are are moving the music too much. That
1:30:32that would be a
1:30:35a producer option, too. Um so I I would
1:30:39typically keep these a little bit lower,
1:30:40but let's mess with the trans. Let's
1:30:41pull the transients out on it.
1:31:00Remember, we want these to sit
1:31:02underneath the snare. Um, so we got to
1:31:05be really careful.
1:31:20These are a little bright. Let's see
1:31:21what See if we can dirty them up some.
1:31:26See how it sounds. It might work.
1:31:30[music]
1:31:38Remember,
1:31:49we we got to be careful not to eat up
1:31:51our depth, though. Um, tom fills. Let's
1:31:54see how these tom fills sound.
1:31:57[music]
1:31:59Okay, we can go crazy with these. Let's
1:32:01do Let's add that bull submachine. Get
1:32:03some lows in them.
1:32:06>> [music]
1:32:07>> See?
1:32:12[music]
1:32:19[music]
1:32:24>> All right. And then let's put some
1:32:26compression on it.
1:32:27>> Can you uh can you throw the master
1:32:29fader down just a little?
1:32:30>> Yeah. since we put the limiter on just
1:32:32so it matches our V vocal uh
1:32:37[music]
1:32:39is that better?
1:32:40>> Yep.
1:32:40>> All right.
1:32:42And I'm going to throw some
1:32:46heavy compression on this one. Let's put
1:32:48that the magma. That's a good one. The
1:32:49stress box. Nick put me onto that. Nick
1:32:52Algra is on here.
1:32:56[music]
1:32:57Right.
1:33:05[music]
1:33:07Just to make it kind of big. Cool. It
1:33:09might have too much low end in it. I
1:33:10don't We'll We'll figure that out. But
1:33:13uh without it without the processing
1:33:14that we did
1:33:17[music]
1:33:21with the processing
1:33:24[music]
1:33:26that compression really kind of brings
1:33:27up some of that sustain on it. [music]
1:33:34And so what I'm doing here too is just
1:33:36like gainstaging, right? So it's sort of
1:33:37like I don't want it to to blow them out
1:33:40of the water like that. Um, but it's
1:33:43important that
1:33:46we're not only listening to the volume
1:33:49increase that I'm getting from this
1:33:50plugin. Um, we're abing it,
1:33:54[music]
1:33:56right? Kind of cool. And Chris will
1:33:57probably want a little bit more of his
1:33:58top end back in. So, let's pull up
1:34:02another transient shaper. The TBTE.
1:34:04We'll put in multiband mode. We'll turn
1:34:06this down some. Let's see.
1:34:09>> [music]
1:34:10>> There we go.
1:34:15Cool.
1:34:16[music]
1:34:18Turn that up.
1:34:24[music]
1:34:26All right. So, let's do it before and
1:34:28after.
1:34:31[music]
1:34:37Cool. And then some reverse percussion.
1:34:39Let's see.
1:34:43I'm not even
1:34:48>> Yeah, it's doing some sort of weird
1:34:51DNE effect. So, we'll leave that.
1:34:55>> Inspired by
1:34:56>> Yeah,
1:35:02sometimes it's cool, right? Sometimes
1:35:04you don't need to touch it. Um, let's
1:35:06add our bass back in.
1:35:21The only thing is the the hats. There's
1:35:24a resonant frequency in the hats that
1:35:26I'm not all the way digging. Um,
1:35:28especially at louder volumes. Let me
1:35:29see. I'll just find it really quick.
1:35:31Search and destroy and then pull that
1:35:32out.
1:35:41There you go.
1:35:53[music]
1:36:01Okay. Yeah. And so that I think from a
1:36:03foundation perspective and then all
1:36:05these these percussions without hearing
1:36:06the vocals in there. Um I think it
1:36:10sounds really good. Um I think we've got
1:36:13ton of depth to work with and it gets me
1:36:16excited to mix these vocals tomorrow.
1:36:18>> Yeah, it's going to be great. Let me do
1:36:20a quick recap and then we will head over
1:36:23to the backstage session for those of
1:36:25you who are in the membership. Kevin and
1:36:28I will be over there in just a minute.
1:36:30But uh really quick,
1:36:34let's recap. So foundation first method,
1:36:38want to come in and gain stage. And
1:36:40really what I try to do is just make
1:36:41sure nothing's peing over neg 5 dBFS.
1:36:44And if I can get my kick to usually the
1:36:47kick is kind of the loudest, one of the
1:36:48loudest things. Kick snare, one of
1:36:50couple of the loudest things in the
1:36:51track already. And if those are already
1:36:53hitting next around negative 5 dBFS,
1:36:56then that I'm saving myself time because
1:36:58we know we're going to try to get that
1:37:00there in the next step anyway. So then
1:37:02bring in a kick zero VUE5 dBFS. That's
1:37:06the target we're looking for. Bring in
1:37:08the snare. We're looking mostly at just
1:37:10the true peak on that. The dBFS has neg
1:37:13five because it doesn't have enough low
1:37:15end to affect the VU very much. Bring in
1:37:17a bass. Zero VU. The opposite of the
1:37:20other one. Not worried about dbfs
1:37:22because there's not usually enough
1:37:23high-end to worry about. Add the
1:37:26limiter. Bring it up to negative 9
1:37:27leftish.
1:37:29111 to negative9 is fine, but get close
1:37:31to that negative9 so you can really see
1:37:33what happens when you push it.
1:37:35And then uh bring in the rest of the
1:37:37drums. Leave a limiter on for the rest
1:37:39of the mix. That is the assignment. So I
1:37:42would take these multittracks. I'm
1:37:44dropping the the link again in the chat.
1:37:48And I would do that much at least um
1:37:51today. You can you can carry on forward
1:37:53if you want to, but try this out. Try
1:37:56this method out and come tomorrow with
1:37:58where where did you get stuck? Did you
1:38:00struggle with anything? We can start off
1:38:02tomorrow by addressing some of that
1:38:04because you never really know what
1:38:05questions to ask until you get your
1:38:07hands dirty in there and then all of a
1:38:08sudden you're going to have a bunch of
1:38:10uh a bunch of uh questions. But grab
1:38:13these. We'll also send them out in the
1:38:15email. They'll also be posted in the
1:38:17school group. And um yeah, grab those,
1:38:21dive into this, and we will see you all
1:38:24>> tomorrow
1:38:26for the vocals, which is going to be
1:38:27insane.
1:38:30>> Excited to work with you. Great work
1:38:31today, Kevin. You sounded already. The
1:38:33depth is there. We got it.
1:38:35>> That's the hard part. Everything else
1:38:36easy.
1:38:37>> Everything else is easy. Yeah.
1:38:38>> All right, everyone. We'll see you uh
1:38:40we'll see you tomorrow. Thanks. Right.
1:38:51What's going on everyone?
1:38:53>> Hey y'all.
1:38:56>> Welcome, welcome, welcome. How y'all
1:38:58doing?
1:38:59Hope you're doing great.
1:39:10What's going on? Welcome in. Welcome
1:39:12back.
1:39:20It's good to see you again.
1:39:28Let's get this going.
1:39:31Fix the mix challenge day two.
1:39:35A happy Wednesday for another challenge.
1:39:38Did y'all have a good time yesterday?
1:39:47What were your biggest takeaways from
1:39:50from yesterday?
1:39:56Order of operations, transient shaping,
1:40:00foundation,
1:40:03depth, transient shaping, foundation
1:40:05with the depth.
1:40:09A lot of transient shaping. A lot of
1:40:11depth. How to balance VU
1:40:15mixing through a limiter
1:40:21depth metering shaping
1:40:274D sound.
1:40:30I love that. Yeah, that kind of covers
1:40:31it all. I think pretty much
1:40:34it's a really powerful concept. Um, I
1:40:38think I said this on the after
1:40:43party thing, whatever we call that,
1:40:46backstage pass.
1:40:48But, uh, the three things people
1:40:50struggle with the most, I hear from
1:40:52amateur mix engineers all the time,
1:40:55depth,
1:40:57balance, especially low-end balance, and
1:41:00getting the vocals placed right in the
1:41:02mix. Those are the top three culprits.
1:41:05Probably number four would be like
1:41:07improper use of reverb. We're going to
1:41:10tackle that more today. We're going to
1:41:11tackle the vocal stuff today. But two of
1:41:13those depth and balance, especially in
1:41:15the low end, we tackled yesterday in a
1:41:18major way. If you I know that there's
1:41:21like some numbers to memorize and
1:41:23especially for some of you beginners,
1:41:24you might feel a little bit overwhelmed,
1:41:26but it's it's really there's a lot of
1:41:28nuance to it, but ultimately it's
1:41:30something that anyone can do. And if you
1:41:32could get that foundation method down,
1:41:35in my opinion, you'll be light years
1:41:37ahead of people sometimes who've been
1:41:39mixing for years, who still really can't
1:41:42get a great foundation, have no depth in
1:41:44their mix. You'll shoot past them very,
1:41:47very quickly. So, that's a powerful
1:41:49concept. I would continue
1:41:52to study that, research it, practice it.
1:41:56Did y'all have any fun yesterday mixing
1:42:01uh the tracks? How was that?
1:42:08>> It's a fun track to mix.
1:42:09>> Yeah.
1:42:18>> Yeah, it's really cool. Sounds like a
1:42:20lot of you had a chance to
1:42:22to get that going.
1:42:29Well, let's see why I'm quiet today. How
1:42:31about now? Louder.
1:42:37Yeah, you sound normal to me.
1:42:40Maybe turn your headphones up.
1:42:43All right.
1:42:45[clears throat] And a special thanks
1:42:46again to Focus, right partnering with us
1:42:48on this. We never partner with anyone we
1:42:52don't use. We use the stuff. We love
1:42:54them. Our uh the president of
1:42:56mastering.com
1:42:58used to help run Focus, right? So,
1:43:01they're a good partner of ours and it's
1:43:03fun to have got some of their new gear
1:43:06and tested it out. They're doing great
1:43:08things. And if you weren't here
1:43:10yesterday in terms of introduction, my
1:43:11name is Caleb Loveless, director of
1:43:13education forming.com
1:43:15and we have Mr. Kevin McCloskkey here
1:43:16with us today. He's been mixing for us
1:43:19live. What a treat and honor we get to
1:43:22watch Kevin work.
1:43:24The accolades
1:43:27and beyond the accolades, I've seen
1:43:29people that have all these things and
1:43:32couldn't teach a bit. Kevin's a great
1:43:33teacher. We're lucky to be able to to
1:43:36listen and hang out with him.
1:43:39>> Appreciate I take after my mother.
1:43:41>> She was a nursing educator.
1:43:43>> She uh she could make she could uh do a
1:43:46damn fine mix as well, I guess, huh?
1:43:48>> Yeah. Don't tell her that. I'll never
1:43:49live it down, but she probably can.
1:43:52[gasps]
1:43:53>> Yesterday we did production overview. We
1:43:55did a session setup, but mostly we
1:43:57focused on the foundation first method.
1:43:59If you weren't here, go ahead and make
1:44:01sure you watch that replay. Replays are
1:44:03always available in the emails we send
1:44:04out after the event as well as in
1:44:06school. You can go to the school link
1:44:09and uh hopefully you're all joined in
1:44:12there. But it should be pinned. The
1:44:14replay should be pinned there for you to
1:44:15go check out.
1:44:20Make sure you do that. Today we're going
1:44:21to talk about mixing vocals. The allimp
1:44:25important vocal mixing. If you can mix
1:44:27vocals well, there's always going to be
1:44:30a place for you in this industry. That's
1:44:31what people want. It's where the it's
1:44:33where the money is made. So excited to
1:44:37watch Kevin work today. we can get some
1:44:39wonderful tips and tricks and
1:44:42ultimately the why behind all of it so
1:44:45that we can mix better vocals in the
1:44:47future. And don't forget, we have this
1:44:51contest
1:44:53today. We're going to send out a link
1:44:56with the replay. It'll also be posted in
1:44:58school, a place for you to upload your
1:45:01uh mixes. As long as you can do that by
1:45:03sometime late tonight, if it's a little
1:45:05after midnight, it's not a big deal. As
1:45:07long as we have them in the morning,
1:45:09that should work just fine.
1:45:12>> These are killer prizes.
1:45:14>> Well, even more. I just uh Rob just
1:45:16messaged me.
1:45:19He told me uh he told me that the
1:45:23first, second, and third place are all
1:45:26the same. They're all three of them.
1:45:30>> Oh, really? Each place gets all three of
1:45:31these?
1:45:32>> Each place gets all three of them.
1:45:34>> Oh, man. Man, I'm about to How is there
1:45:36a way to submit these under like an
1:45:38alias?
1:45:41>> This is awesome.
1:45:42>> It's tempting, right?
1:45:44>> Yeah.
1:45:45>> I guess I guess for second, and third
1:45:47place, get all three of them. That's
1:45:49crazy.
1:45:50>> That's very nice of them.
1:45:52>> So, make sure you get uh your mixes in.
1:45:57>> Uh not everyone can win, of course, and
1:45:58it's not really about winning. This is
1:46:00all to incentivize you to practice
1:46:04because ultimately this event and these
1:46:07prizes come and go, but what you get
1:46:09from it and what you can take forward
1:46:11into the future, that's where the value
1:46:13is for whether you're working on your
1:46:15own material or whether you want
1:46:17[clears throat] to do this
1:46:17professionally for other people.
1:46:20That's what's really important. And you
1:46:22really just have to practice. There's no
1:46:23way around repetitious practice. You
1:46:26could listen to YouTube videos. You
1:46:28could watch us and watch the webinars
1:46:30and you should do all the learning you
1:46:32can, but you got to you got to practice.
1:46:34You got to take the stuff you learn and
1:46:36get in there and uh get your hands
1:46:40dirty.
1:46:43With that said, did you have any
1:46:45questions that came up about the
1:46:47foundation method that we learned
1:46:48yesterday as you were doing it?
1:47:04Do you have any questions come up
1:47:17uh explain the depth again we'll be
1:47:18talking about depth throughout this in
1:47:21context so I I think the biggest thing
1:47:24if you're just starting to kind of think
1:47:26about depth and maybe Kevin you can
1:47:28watch the chat while I do this because
1:47:29there's flying by now. But
1:47:32um
1:47:34a depth in a track you have to think of
1:47:36as the quietest
1:47:39stuff in your mix compared to the
1:47:42loudest stuff in your mix. Compression
1:47:45brings those together. So really someone
1:47:46to overcompress it's like a really flat
1:47:48mix. In fact, there's some genres where
1:47:50you kind of want that. Like a lot of
1:47:52EDM, maybe they're overcompressed on
1:47:54purpose. But for a lot of genres, what
1:47:56you want is some depth because you want
1:47:58people to walk inside the mix and for it
1:48:00to be immersive for the listener as
1:48:03they're sitting there on their couch
1:48:04having an experience. The more you can
1:48:06make it almost physically enter into the
1:48:09sound, the better. So, what is quieter
1:48:12in our mix? Well, uh, droney things,
1:48:16things obviously with less volume, but
1:48:18drones,
1:48:19bass is further away than a bright
1:48:21sound, for example. Um, reverbs, all
1:48:25that kind of stuff pushes things back.
1:48:27So, there's a lot of things like volume,
1:48:29gain, droney, the type of sound that it
1:48:32is, and the reverbs that you that you
1:48:35use with all push stuff back in the mix.
1:48:37whereas something that's more dry,
1:48:41but especially
1:48:43um usually brighter sounds or sharper
1:48:45sounds, heavy transient sounds, those
1:48:47are going to all be more forward.
1:48:49They're going to be up in your your
1:48:50face. So, when we're doing the
1:48:52foundation, we're setting the difference
1:48:54between the two on a foundational level.
1:48:57Because if you think about the most
1:48:58important foundational stuff in a mix,
1:49:00bass is pretty important, kick is pretty
1:49:02important, snare is pretty important. In
1:49:04a traditional song, other than the
1:49:07vocals, those are really some of your
1:49:09main components of depth. It's not
1:49:13everything that will have depth in the
1:49:15mix, but it they're main they're major
1:49:17ones. So, what we're doing is taking
1:49:18those major components of both drone and
1:49:22bass
1:49:24and the most percussive things, kick and
1:49:26snare, and we're setting a really good
1:49:29foundation between those two uh early
1:49:31on. And not only that, but like even
1:49:33within themselves. So kick the top end
1:49:36of the kick and the bottom end of the
1:49:37kick that has can have depth in and of
1:49:39itself.
1:49:41We're setting that first so that now we
1:49:43can build around it. We've ska we built
1:49:46the scaffolding. Now we bring everything
1:49:48else in and build around that that solid
1:49:50foundation of depth and hopefully we can
1:49:52maintain that depth through the rest of
1:49:54the mix.
1:49:57Make sense? Any questions on that? Did
1:49:59you see any other questions there? Yeah,
1:50:02Patty asked, "So, do we intentionally
1:50:05keep the bass lower than the kick?" Um,
1:50:08it that's kind of subjective, but yes.
1:50:12Right. The idea is that we still have to
1:50:14establish forwardness of depth in the
1:50:16low end, right? Because we think about
1:50:18the cube, up and down is frequency, left
1:50:20and right is panning, front to back is
1:50:22typically volume and and transient
1:50:25emphasis. So, we do still want that
1:50:29depth in the low end. So, we need to
1:50:30have something for the low end
1:50:35to push off of. And that's where the
1:50:37bass is because there's not any other
1:50:38frequencies or any other instruments
1:50:40that are really supporting the way that
1:50:42that a bass typically would. Most of the
1:50:44time, it is a I recommend starting it a
1:50:48little bit lower than the kick. The
1:50:49problem is if you bring that that bass
1:50:51up, especially if we're like side
1:50:52chaining the bass to really push it
1:50:53forward, the bass will eat up the
1:50:55majority of the depth in the mix. Um, so
1:50:59you just have to be really really
1:51:00careful. A lot of times when we think
1:51:01about a record like hitting hard or like
1:51:04it's really bassy, it's not necessarily
1:51:05the bass. It's more of like how the kick
1:51:08is impacting um versus like this really
1:51:11sustained bass because if if the bass is
1:51:13super heavy constantly through the mix,
1:51:16there's not really any room for that
1:51:17that kick drum to establish the
1:51:19forwardness in our cube at those in that
1:51:22lower half. So to answer your question,
1:51:24yes, I typically recommend starting with
1:51:27the bass lower than the kick so that we
1:51:30get that depth in the low end.
1:51:36Um,
1:51:41I'm trying to think if there's anything
1:51:42else that I saw.
1:51:53I've been dropping the multittrack link
1:51:57in the chat.
1:52:02Uh, what is the importance of room
1:52:03correction? Well,
1:52:06if if you don't have a room that's like
1:52:09set up acoustically, right, that's
1:52:10acoustically sound, then I'd recommend
1:52:12probably using headphones. You can learn
1:52:14a room. Um, and if we're talking about
1:52:17room correction, something like the Arc
1:52:18Studio or or Trenov or things like that,
1:52:21they can help with phase alignment. They
1:52:23can help with with uh issues. But the
1:52:26more the more that they have to do, the
1:52:27more
1:52:29unnatural the sound can be just to fix
1:52:31it. So, it's better to either get your
1:52:33room straight or if you don't have the
1:52:35funds or the knowledge to actually make
1:52:36your room acoustically sound, then I
1:52:39recommend mixing on headphones.
1:52:42Um, trying to think there's anything
1:52:44else we touched on that's coming on
1:52:45here.
1:52:47Does reverb add to the depth even though
1:52:49it does flatten things out in the
1:52:51background? Um, reverb adds, I think,
1:52:54some of some dimension, right? So, we
1:52:56can kind of get a feel of a different
1:52:58space with it. It can because inevitably
1:53:00it's typically lower than than the
1:53:02direct source that's coming in. So, we
1:53:04can get a sense of front to back with
1:53:06that. I wouldn't re you don't want to
1:53:09rely only on reverb to create depth
1:53:13and and we'll show that that here. I
1:53:15think if we can create depth from more
1:53:18of like the foundational elements or
1:53:19other elements in the song, we can
1:53:21actually play with reverb in a different
1:53:23way versus saying like, okay, I'm going
1:53:25to put this big chamber reverb on here
1:53:27now and now it has depth. It doesn't
1:53:29doesn't exactly work the way I like to
1:53:30use the word dimension.
1:53:32>> Yeah. It's not just about time and
1:53:34space. It's actually about volume and
1:53:38the type of sound that it is. Transient
1:53:40information. [clears throat]
1:53:42>> Someone said, "Was it dumb of me to
1:53:43normalize all of the stems?" Um, the
1:53:47only problem with normalizing all the
1:53:48stems is that it changes the balance
1:53:50from the producer. Um, so something to
1:53:53think about is
1:53:55instead of normalizing,
1:53:58I recommend grabbing all the stems
1:54:00together. And we showed it, so the gain
1:54:01staging was good on this. We didn't
1:54:03really have to do it, but I kind of
1:54:04showed some examples on the first uh
1:54:06when we first started the mix, but you
1:54:08kind of group them all together and then
1:54:10move them up and down versus
1:54:11normalizing. What normalizing does is
1:54:13it'll put everything at this specific
1:54:15output level. So, say you're normalizing
1:54:17to a 5 or -10. Everything gets
1:54:20normalized to that -10, which is changes
1:54:25the balance of what the producer did. So
1:54:27in this case, because a producer did a
1:54:28good job, normalizing it throws off the
1:54:32balance and then I'll be required to
1:54:34figure out what that balance was
1:54:36originally. Now, if everything is all
1:54:38over the place, there's no like
1:54:40noticeable balance to it. You can do
1:54:43that if you want, but also remember
1:54:45mixing is organic, right? So we're kind
1:54:46of bringing things in in one by one, and
1:54:49you can just gain stage from each each
1:54:51uh individual sound as you're bringing
1:54:53it in. So that's completely up to you if
1:54:55you prefer to do that. you you can, but
1:54:59depending on how what the quality of the
1:55:01stems are,
1:55:04I don't always recommend that.
1:55:07>> Yeah. I I I always uh teach it that if
1:55:09you get stems over and they're a mess
1:55:11and they don't have a ton of
1:55:12correlation, go ahead and and normalize
1:55:16them if you want to because you're just
1:55:18going to kind of go through and do a
1:55:19quick like volume mix we call it where
1:55:22you're just quickly either using gain or
1:55:24the faders to just get everything where
1:55:26you're where you hear it. So if things
1:55:28are a mess like there's no correlation,
1:55:31but if there's good correlation then
1:55:33maybe don't do that and just keep
1:55:34everything the same. And I still like to
1:55:37go through and do a quick like check and
1:55:39quick little gain volume mix just to
1:55:42double check everything and familiarize
1:55:43myself with the track. But um you don't
1:55:46you don't have to do that.
1:55:47>> Yeah. Someone said define stems. So I'm
1:55:50using stems in in place of like the term
1:55:52multittracks or or the track outs. Uh
1:55:54sometimes we get them as stems. In this
1:55:56case there are it's a combination of
1:55:58multittracks and stems. Uh, most people
1:56:01refer to like something being completely
1:56:04tracked out as stems. So, I'm just using
1:56:07that term, but it's basically each
1:56:09individual part. A stem would be like
1:56:11subgroups of those individual parts. Um,
1:56:14so it just depends on on how you want to
1:56:17say it. But
1:56:18>> if you don't normalize, it just keeps
1:56:19the relationship the producer sent you
1:56:22more intact,
1:56:24>> right?
1:56:24>> Which could be a bad or a good thing.
1:56:26Again, if they send you a mess, then it
1:56:28doesn't matter. you're going to have to
1:56:29go through and rebalance everything
1:56:30anyway. So, you might as well kind of
1:56:32start from a good normalized place.
1:56:36But when you're when we're talking about
1:56:39um foundation method, the change that
1:56:42we're teaching now is that we're not
1:56:45normalizing as often. We're trying to
1:56:47gain stage to get everything around that
1:56:49neg five range so that we can have the
1:56:51kick in the proper place when we do the
1:56:53foundation part because we're going to
1:56:55be shooting for negative five anyway.
1:56:57So, we might as well kind of I I like to
1:56:59take everything. You'll usually find the
1:57:02kick is is one of the loudest things, if
1:57:04not the loudest thing. Maybe kick and
1:57:06snare are both the loudest things in the
1:57:08in the mix that that they send you. And
1:57:11then if I turn everything down together
1:57:13so that the kick is hitting about neg
1:57:15five or the snare is hitting about neg
1:57:17five, everything else should be below
1:57:19that. And I'll just double check that
1:57:20they are. But then I'm in the right
1:57:22place. Then I mute everything and start
1:57:24the foundation process if that makes
1:57:25sense.
1:57:28Yeah, I think the the main takeaway is
1:57:30is like we're kind of adding as we go.
1:57:33So, we're not, you know, um you you can
1:57:37gain stage it
1:57:39as one if you want or if you need to
1:57:41gain stage them each individually as you
1:57:43bring them in, but remember mixing is
1:57:44organic, right? We kind of bring them in
1:57:46and and work off the order of
1:57:49importance, the order of operations, and
1:57:52that's why we're gain staging as we're
1:57:53bringing those in.
1:57:55>> Yeah. Yeah, it works for any genre, too.
1:57:57[clears throat]
1:57:57Um, there's just maybe a little bit of
1:57:59range in where you could set your VU to,
1:58:02but it's
1:58:03>> you could pretty much on any genre, you
1:58:05could actually probably push it to that
1:58:07zero if you were good enough and have
1:58:09maximum depth and then pull it back a
1:58:12little bit if you need to.
1:58:14>> Yeah.
1:58:15>> What if you want the bass to shine in
1:58:17the mix? Yeah, it still will.
1:58:20And you can, again, this is a starting
1:58:22place. Then you have to use your ear and
1:58:25intentionally put things if it's a
1:58:28slight dB or to the character nature of
1:58:32the song. You still have to do that. But
1:58:34what we're trying to get you is in the
1:58:36range you should be in as a starting
1:58:38place to work from because most people
1:58:40don't even get to that range. They don't
1:58:42they're way off on the range. So they
1:58:45turn it up, turn it down, it doesn't
1:58:46matter. You're way off to begin with.
1:58:51Uh there's one other question I saw here
1:58:53and then we can move on.
1:58:54>> Uh can you Oh, can you explain the point
1:58:56where you introduced limiting into the
1:58:58mix? Yeah. So it was after you set those
1:59:01VU and true peak
1:59:04uh numbers for the kick snare bass. Once
1:59:07you have that all set, you have thing
1:59:09the transient shape the way you want
1:59:10them. Everything sitting kind of in that
1:59:12range that we're talking about, plus or
1:59:14minus a little bit depending on your
1:59:16taste or what you think for the song.
1:59:18Then you throw a limiter on there. Why?
1:59:20Because we need to see what happens to
1:59:23the kicks snare bass at those levels
1:59:26when we push it into a limiter because
1:59:28that's going to happen in mastering. So
1:59:30if I don't do that, then I'm just
1:59:31guessing what's going to happen in
1:59:32mastering later.
1:59:34What if the way I've shaped things
1:59:36causes them that they all collapse and
1:59:38we lose all our depth? We we haven't
1:59:41balanced things actually properly and we
1:59:43lose all our depth or it's distorting or
1:59:45something bad's happening. I need to
1:59:46know that now. And I want to know that
1:59:48for the rest of the mix. So I throw the
1:59:50limiter on there. I push it pretty loud.
1:59:51Not not quite to mastering level, but
1:59:53within a couple dB of it. So we're
1:59:55negative910ish
1:59:57range. And just see what happens. I'm
1:59:59listening. Do I still have most of the
2:00:01depth? You're going to lose a little
2:00:02bit, but is it still pretty depthful
2:00:06or not? Is there any other problems that
2:00:08come up? If not, you're good to go. Then
2:00:10we move forward. We we keep the limiter
2:00:12on. We keep mixing into it. Yep.
2:00:16Yes. So limiting is a sneak peek of
2:00:18mastering sort of. Yeah, it's it's kind
2:00:20of letting you know what's going to
2:00:21happen. We [clears throat] can turn that
2:00:22off later when we send it to mastering.
2:00:24A mastering engineer is going to have
2:00:25some more tools. I'm not saying we do a
2:00:27bunch of compression or EQ or a bunch of
2:00:29stuff on the master bus. We're not
2:00:31mastering in a mix session. We're just
2:00:32seeing what happens with volume, which
2:00:35is the most important thing we need to
2:00:37know.
2:00:39Cool. All right. So, let's dive in so we
2:00:43can have ultimate time today for getting
2:00:45these vocals going. Couple things to
2:00:48mention on mixing philosophy for vocals.
2:00:49So, here here's the fun part. We have
2:00:52our foundation set.
2:00:55What did I say was the third thing that
2:00:58most amateur
2:00:59engineers mess up on?
2:01:02>> Vocal level in a mix.
2:01:04>> Vocal
2:01:05>> or reverb.
2:01:06>> Vocal level in a mix. Reverb was fourth,
2:01:08but they could be interchangeable.
2:01:09They're all bad.
2:01:11Vocal level's a big one though. I hear
2:01:14amateur mixes all the time. The vocal is
2:01:16either way back or way forward. It's
2:01:18just out of place. It's kind of hard to
2:01:21hear. You get too used to it. There's
2:01:23just something about psycho acoustically
2:01:25we we really lose the plot sometimes
2:01:27when it comes to vocals. So, let me just
2:01:29give you a really quick and easy way to
2:01:33once again put you in the proper range
2:01:35of where the vocal needs to sit most of
2:01:38the time in a mix. And that is very
2:01:41simply
2:01:43either one to two dB above the snare if
2:01:46you want your vocals to sit on top of
2:01:48the mix, a really forward like pop vocal
2:01:50or something like that or one to two dB
2:01:52below the snare for vocals that sit back
2:01:56like a indie indie rock record or
2:02:00something like that where you want the
2:02:01vocals to sit back a little bit or just
2:02:03be in the mix more. So we're listening.
2:02:06This isn't something we measure with a
2:02:07meter. This is not we're not looking at
2:02:10numbers anymore. We're listening and
2:02:12we're placing that vocal
2:02:15right about where we hear that snare
2:02:17plus or minus a couple depending on
2:02:19where we want it to sit. Okay?
2:02:23And there's a lot of reasons for that we
2:02:26can break down as we go, but ultimately
2:02:29that's where you'll usually end up like
2:02:3180 90% of the time. You might have to
2:02:33tweak it a little bit per genre, but
2:02:35that's pretty much where you're going to
2:02:36end up and where you want it to be.
2:02:39Vocals are are also very transient
2:02:41heavy. So, there's a lot of transient.
2:02:43It's similar to a snare in some ways.
2:02:45The way we hit T's and P's and stuff are
2:02:48similar to a snare. So, it should be
2:02:50right up there. And vocals are kind of
2:02:52the star of the show.
2:02:54The vocal is the thing that in a lot of
2:02:57music we want the listener to focus on.
2:02:59We want them to hear the lyrics. We want
2:03:01them to hear the emotion in the voice.
2:03:03Uh, a human voice is the most powerful
2:03:06instrument in the world. It's the most
2:03:07expressive instrument. It's also the
2:03:10most unwieldy, which is why it's hard to
2:03:11mix, but it is the most powerful
2:03:14important thing we could do. So, we got
2:03:15to get that sitting right in the mix.
2:03:19Uh, as far as backgrounds, we want to
2:03:21build those around the lead, often push
2:03:23them to the side, but be very careful
2:03:26with muddiness
2:03:28and siblance in background vocals. You
2:03:30can be really aggressive in cutting a
2:03:32lot of that stuff out. They don't need
2:03:33to be prominent. I hear mixes a lot of
2:03:35times where they've kept a lot of the
2:03:37mid-range in there on the background or
2:03:39they have the S's and T's and you hear a
2:03:41hit and it's like,
2:03:43right, we can really cut a lot of that
2:03:45stuff out because we have to think about
2:03:47it as not the star of the show. They're
2:03:49just a supporting instrument almost.
2:03:52We'll talk about avoiding uh
2:03:54distractions in a sec.
2:03:56And we also don't need to spend as much
2:03:58time on the background vocals as we do
2:04:00on the lead. Most of the time, we want
2:04:02to polish them up, make them nice, but
2:04:04there's a certain level of detail and
2:04:05attention that we need to give to a lead
2:04:07vocal that we can kind of uh get around
2:04:12spending the because time is important
2:04:13too. The faster we can work and not
2:04:16rabbit hole on stuff and the more time
2:04:18we can stay in a fresh perspective,
2:04:19fresh ears, the better. So, we actually
2:04:21do need to take uh any measure we can to
2:04:26save time as a and this is one of those
2:04:28spots. Okay. The other thing I'll talk
2:04:31about really quick is uh reverb because
2:04:34we will start using Kevin usually likes
2:04:36to introduce reverb on day two. We'll
2:04:38talk about it uh more tomorrow, but I
2:04:41want to introduce to you our method for
2:04:43for handling reverb. It's a template you
2:04:46can set up. Uh, I don't usually use a
2:04:49lot of templates, but this is one you,
2:04:50you know, I think is a pretty good way
2:04:52to do it. We call it the buckets method.
2:04:54So, let me explain the the buckets
2:04:56method to you. We basically have in our
2:05:00our effects sends these buses. What what
2:05:05we do for a template is just have a a
2:05:08lane for a short and a long reverb for
2:05:11drums, a short and a long reverb for
2:05:15instruments, and then for vocals,
2:05:17usually a short and a long and a delay
2:05:18and maybe a mix. And we have those just
2:05:20kind of set. And maybe we have some like
2:05:22really good starter reverbs on there
2:05:26just set up already. Why do I want that?
2:05:28Because when I'm in mix flow, I want to
2:05:30have some things that I can just kind of
2:05:33turn to quickly. I can change those
2:05:35reverbs later. We'll talk about when and
2:05:37why to do that. But when you have those
2:05:40set up, you can just turn to them
2:05:42quickly and work a lot more quickly. You
2:05:45just put the bus on, turn it up, hear
2:05:47how it sounds, maybe adjust the reverb,
2:05:48adjust the level, EQ it, or whatever
2:05:50else we can go from there. But at least
2:05:51having that set up. Now, why do we want
2:05:53a short and a long for each one? And why
2:05:56do we want them to be different from
2:05:57each other? Here's the concept. If every
2:06:01reverb on your whole track is the same
2:06:04reverb, it's going to kind of sound a
2:06:06little boring. It's going to be a little
2:06:09bit one note.
2:06:11Um, it'll sound like it's in uh like a
2:06:16it'll start to sound it doesn't go to
2:06:18this extreme, but kind of like you're in
2:06:20a tunnel or a cave. It's just all one
2:06:23sound. And that gets a little boring to
2:06:25the ear. It's not the worst thing in the
2:06:27world, but it gets a little boring to
2:06:28the ear. Whereas, if you have reverbs
2:06:31just like on every channel and they're
2:06:32all different, what happens is it gets a
2:06:35little too disconnected. There's too
2:06:37much going on. So what we found is this
2:06:40buckets method of a short and along for
2:06:43drums, a short and a long for
2:06:44instruments, and then like a short and
2:06:45along and a delay and maybe a mix for
2:06:49vocals is the happy medium between uh
2:06:53too much and too little. It's enough
2:06:56difference of reverb that it sounds
2:06:58interesting. It's not too one note or
2:07:01too cavelike, but it's not so sporadic
2:07:04that it feels disjointed because we want
2:07:06separation, but we don't want
2:07:08disconnection.
2:07:12Does that make sense to everybody?
2:07:15So, that's part one.
2:07:18Uh, part two is, and this is important,
2:07:22I think you really need to consider for
2:07:24each song the emotion of the track.
2:07:27There's a lot of emotion within reverbs
2:07:30and delays, too. How you use them, short
2:07:32and long, how much of it you use, all
2:07:35changes the emotion a lot. The type like
2:07:38a chamber versus a room [clears throat]
2:07:40versus a hall, they all are a little
2:07:42different versus a plate. They're they
2:07:43have a different character and emotion
2:07:45to them. And so we really need to think
2:07:47even though we have some maybe set up as
2:07:49a template, ones that usually work for
2:07:51drums, some that are usually work for
2:07:53instruments, some that are usually good
2:07:55for vocals, we don't just accept those.
2:07:59We have to take a second to step back
2:08:00and go, is this really fitting the
2:08:04emotion of the track? If not, then we
2:08:07adjust it. Okay? So, we're thinking
2:08:09about that. We're getting the right
2:08:10amount of balance between too much and
2:08:12too little, and we're thinking about the
2:08:14emotion of the space. Does that make
2:08:15sense to everybody? You can continue
2:08:17asking questions. I haven't been able to
2:08:18watch the chat because I've been talking
2:08:20about this, but uh I think that's the
2:08:24concept in general, right? So, you'd set
2:08:26it up something like this where you'd
2:08:28have, you know, your verbs up there.
2:08:31This is Logic, but whatever it looks
2:08:33like on yours, but a drum short, drum
2:08:35long, instrument short, instrument long,
2:08:37box long, box short, box delay, and mix.
2:08:40I I have a
2:08:43I think sometimes it's fun to have like
2:08:44a delay and a reverb on on the same
2:08:46channel because it starts to reverb the
2:08:48delay. So if you want something to adds
2:08:50like width, sometimes you can do like a
2:08:52ping pong delay thing that's also
2:08:55verbing. You kind of get this width
2:08:56thing. So that's kind of fun. Something
2:08:58like that.
2:09:02All right. [clears throat] The last
2:09:03thing I want to say, and this is just
2:09:05kind of a way to visualize
2:09:08the vocal in the mix, and I if you've
2:09:12been around, you've heard me talk about
2:09:13this before, but I think about a song
2:09:15sometimes, if I want to think about it
2:09:16visually, as a stage play. Okay?
2:09:20There always needs to be a star of the
2:09:25show. When I first pulled this picture
2:09:27up, who did you look at first?
2:09:30It's that guy up. It's not that there's
2:09:31not anyone else on the stage, and it's
2:09:33not that they don't matter,
2:09:35but they were secondary to where I
2:09:37wanted you to look. I wanted you to see
2:09:40the guy.
2:09:42Someone said the little kid. Well, he's
2:09:43distracting, right? So, this is object
2:09:45[clears throat] lesson.
2:09:46>> That's just the falsetto. Sorry.
2:09:48>> I want you to look somewhere. So, we
2:09:50have to think of when we're when we're
2:09:52mixing a song, we have to think, where
2:09:54do we want the listener to listen? We
2:09:57have to guide them through the journey
2:09:58of the song. Where do I want them to go?
2:10:00It's off in the vocal. Then it might
2:10:03switch to a little hook in the
2:10:05instrumental or a drum fill or something
2:10:07that takes them over here for a second.
2:10:10But then I want to guide them back. And
2:10:12the reason I'm talking about guiding is
2:10:14there's there ways that you can really
2:10:15shoot yourself in the foot when it comes
2:10:17to guiding people through a track.
2:10:20For example, if one of these people that
2:10:22were on the sides, we'll talk about this
2:10:24more tomorrow when we're bringing in
2:10:25instruments, but if one of these people
2:10:26on the sides were watching this play and
2:10:28it's we're watching it live, it's not
2:10:30just a photo and they they stumble and
2:10:32they trip and they fall,
2:10:35where does our eye go? Goes to them, of
2:10:37course, right? And in the same way, if
2:10:40we don't have consistency in a track, if
2:10:42we're bringing stuff in and all of a
2:10:44sudden this high hat is too loud or uh
2:10:46not controlled dynamically enough, my
2:10:49ear goes over here and it's it's not on
2:10:52the vocal.
2:10:54The same thing, and I'm creating the
2:10:56illusion of a track. If that lead uh on
2:11:00the play on the stage here, if that lead
2:11:02holding the gun there were to stumble
2:11:04and fall or to uh miss a quue or to trip
2:11:08or something like that, then I'm also
2:11:11distracted of the illusion. I I go, "Oh,
2:11:13what going on? I'm not in a play
2:11:15anymore. I'm not in this story. I'm just
2:11:17noticing a guy faltering." So, if we
2:11:19don't control our lead enough, if it's
2:11:22not consistent in the mix, if sometimes
2:11:23it's too buried or sometimes it's too
2:11:25forward or sometimes the S's or the T's
2:11:28start to distract the ear, then it's
2:11:31akin to a stumble and we break the
2:11:34illusion that should be being painted by
2:11:38this immersiveness that we're talking
2:11:40about. So, this is why we're going to
2:11:43use compression. We're going to use
2:11:46frequency balancing and multiband and
2:11:48all these different tools. You're going
2:11:50to see Kevin do a lot of controlling
2:11:52because we want that vocal to be very
2:11:54consistent so it's never distracting
2:11:57through the mix. Does that make sense?
2:11:58It's just like a good way for me. I'm
2:12:00visual sometimes. A way to visualize
2:12:02what I'm trying to do with the song.
2:12:08>> Yeah. The kids like a resonance buildup.
2:12:10He's so distracting.
2:12:14Sorry, I got a little dynamic EQ for
2:12:15him.
2:12:16>> All right, enough of me talking. Let's
2:12:19jump into Kevin.
2:12:20>> Yeah. No, I think that's a great
2:12:22explanation and and it's a really good
2:12:23segue into today. So, um, just to recap
2:12:27kind of what Caleb was mentioning. We've
2:12:29we've done the foundation. Now, we're
2:12:31going into the lead vocal, which is the
2:12:34star of the show. Even though we do the
2:12:35foundation first, it it helps establish
2:12:37our depth. It helps establish sort of
2:12:39like the framework in which we're going
2:12:40to work in, but
2:12:43we really have to make sure that this
2:12:45lead vocal is is killer. So, um
2:12:51it's and it's we can't ever get around
2:12:54something like performance, right? So, I
2:12:56can't change how Lucy sang this at all.
2:13:00What I can do I can fix timing. I can
2:13:02fix pitch. Um and I can like EQ,
2:13:05compress, and control like that. But,
2:13:07you know, a lot of times if we are
2:13:09starting with like a subpar vocal or
2:13:10vocal that's just not competitive,
2:13:12that's all it's ever going to be. Um, so
2:13:14just keep that in mind too if you're
2:13:15working on your own things or you're
2:13:16working on something for a client is we
2:13:18can only do so much. So when you have a
2:13:20killer vocal, like when we look at like
2:13:23somebody like Adele, right, a top
2:13:24vocalist, she sounds that way because
2:13:26that's how Adele sounds versus like
2:13:28really this is what's happening within
2:13:30in the mixes. And and and Austin, one of
2:13:32the mentors here as well, he can tell
2:13:33you he actually tracks Adele. So, um,
2:13:36it's she's just really that good.
2:13:38>> Nice flex. A nice flex for us.
2:13:40>> But it but I mean I I think it's it's
2:13:44really
2:13:45it's it's really important that that we
2:13:47discuss that, right? That it's that a
2:13:49lot of of what we consider good mixes
2:13:51are really good performances, good
2:13:53production, and and vocals are are they
2:13:56work exactly the same way as that. So,
2:13:58it's my job kind of as a mixer to make
2:14:00sure that Lucy stays the sh star star
2:14:02and I enhance her. But she did a good
2:14:04job on this. So, um, with that being
2:14:07said, I wanted to pull this up. And I
2:14:09also wanted to show everyone a little
2:14:12example too, which I think from
2:14:15an engineer perspective or a producer,
2:14:18anybody that's like tracking vocals, I
2:14:21actually pulled in some vocals from
2:14:22another mix of her that she did on a
2:14:24different microphone so that we can hear
2:14:25like how the same vocal sounds with
2:14:28different microphones. Um, which she
2:14:30tracked on another song with a U87. And
2:14:34so I wanted you all to hear the
2:14:35difference between the U87 and then this
2:14:37the manly reference cardioid that that
2:14:39they're using here um and and just like
2:14:43how the differences what they can be
2:14:46from a different piece of equipment
2:14:48really quickly um because I think it's a
2:14:50good example. So um I'm going to send
2:14:53you a request Caleb to share the screen.
2:14:55>> Oh yes sir.
2:15:01And if you could do what you did
2:15:03yesterday to give me the option to share
2:15:05some
2:15:10>> but I know like for me um one of the big
2:15:14things that I always want to hear is
2:15:16like hey what's the difference in
2:15:17conversion what's the difference in
2:15:20uh you know like the textures of mics
2:15:23and I think besides the vocalist right
2:15:26what makes the biggest difference is a
2:15:29microphone right so there's It's a big
2:15:30difference between a dynamic microphone
2:15:32and a cardioid, you know, and then or or
2:15:35a condenser microphone and then
2:15:38there's a difference between like, you
2:15:39know, a solid state condenser tube
2:15:40condenser, there's a difference between
2:15:42a ribbon microphone, those type of
2:15:43things. And so
2:15:46it's um
2:15:48yeah,
2:15:52and so that's one of the choices if you
2:15:54have those options. If you don't, you
2:15:56can you should be able to get it done
2:15:57with anything. Um, and so the U87 is is
2:16:01is a very you've probably heard that on
2:16:04more recordings than any other mic in
2:16:06history for things like vocals, for um,
2:16:09you know, on a lot of stuff. It's you'll
2:16:11always see it in a in a in a recording
2:16:14studio. The Manly Reference Cardioid
2:16:17is sort of like to me sort of like what
2:16:20we get out of a C800, but a little bit
2:16:23more on the U47 side. um as far as like
2:16:26how the the mid-range is a little warmer
2:16:28u but it has a lot of topend detail and
2:16:31so if you have options choosing the best
2:16:33option can make mixing easier for you if
2:16:36not you know something like a U87 is
2:16:38very pliable we can mix that I used U87
2:16:40for years um I mean 15 20 years it was
2:16:45my go-to when I didn't have the option
2:16:48of something like a 251 or 800 I'll
2:16:50always grab a U87 but I recently got a
2:16:54reference cardioid myself for manly and
2:16:57it is so much more detailed in this. So
2:17:01I just think it's a good example if we
2:17:03listen to like you know the raw
2:17:05recording of what she did with the manly
2:17:09reference and what she did with the U87.
2:17:12So here's an example of that. I'm going
2:17:14to start with the U87.
2:17:16>> That's a good point though. Like not all
2:17:18not all mics will sound the same on
2:17:21every voice too. like a female singer, a
2:17:23male, [clears throat] they're they're
2:17:24better mics for certain people, the way
2:17:26they sing to just kind
2:17:28>> and for genres, right? So maybe we don't
2:17:30want like the super high-fi vocal sound
2:17:32or the super detailed vocal sound. Maybe
2:17:34you want the warm, maybe you want the
2:17:35ribbon sound. Maybe we want, you know,
2:17:37like a vintage 47
2:17:38>> that sounds be like the rock sound
2:17:41>> 100%. Right. And so that's like one of
2:17:43the beauties of what what we do is is
2:17:47that you know if you look at I I like to
2:17:49think of microphones as like flavors,
2:17:51right? So like this microphone might be
2:17:52vanilla or this one might be strawberry
2:17:54or this one might be chocolate versus
2:17:56like preamps are actually going to be
2:17:58like the difference between a natural
2:18:00vanilla, a French vanilla, you know,
2:18:02another type of vanilla. So it's still
2:18:04vanilla from the mic, but we're just
2:18:06getting slightly different colorations
2:18:08and and transient responses based on the
2:18:11saturation of of of the components
2:18:13within the the mic pre, those type of
2:18:15things. So, um, yeah. So, but it's
2:18:19always good to hear kind of a onetoone
2:18:20comparison on an artist on on different
2:18:23different microphones. So, here is the
2:18:24U87.
2:18:34>> Right. And then let's make sure that
2:18:36this isn't running
2:18:38here. And this is the reference
2:18:42cardioid.
2:18:45I'm out of luck
2:18:48when they laugh.
2:18:55Can't you hear it?
2:19:02>> All right. Again.
2:19:12>> All right. And
2:19:13>> she's singing in a different register in
2:19:14her voice. So it's it's worth noting
2:19:16that. But try to listen for like the
2:19:18tonal things.
2:19:19>> Yes.
2:19:35>> Are you serious?
2:19:38[singing]
2:19:41So, you know, one of the things that
2:19:44you're getting out of the U87 is like
2:19:47sort of consistent across the frequency
2:19:48spectrum, but really what I'm hearing is
2:19:51that it's just in a place where it can
2:19:53be EQed how you want it to sound versus
2:19:55the manly reference on the the vocal
2:19:58that's actually on this song sounds a
2:20:00lot more kind of like the sound of it is
2:20:03predetermined for you, but it works well
2:20:05for this song. And it's almost like
2:20:07we're going to push into the sound
2:20:09versus we're going to pull the sound out
2:20:11of the 87. Um, and so that's why a lot
2:20:15of times with an 87, if you don't know
2:20:17the artist, if you don't know, you know,
2:20:19um, exactly how they're going to act on
2:20:22a track, it's a really, really safe bet.
2:20:24And it's really good cuz the things like
2:20:27the Manly Reference, they sound amazing.
2:20:28The C800 sounds great. the 251. You
2:20:31know, the problem is is that sometimes
2:20:33if it's not the right mic for that song,
2:20:37it's going to work against you. But if
2:20:39it is the right mic, it's a thousand
2:20:42times it ends up a thousand times better
2:20:44in my opinion. Whereas like the U87 is
2:20:46always going to be good, but is it ever
2:20:48like great or amazing? And that's what
2:20:50you have to determine. Um, but I I do
2:20:54think that this was like a good example
2:20:55of like the same artist and a little bit
2:21:00how these different microphones respond
2:21:02to different areas of of the vocal
2:21:05range. Um, so it's not exactly like a
2:21:08oneto one, but it's it's still a good
2:21:11example of of hey, this mic sounds
2:21:14different than this mic and when might
2:21:16you use it?
2:21:17>> Also, don't get hung up on it either. If
2:21:18you can't afford any of those mics, just
2:21:20use what you have and have great
2:21:21performance because a good singer could
2:21:23sing into a tin can and it'll make it
2:21:24sound good.
2:21:25>> Exactly.
2:21:27Exactly. Okay. So,
2:21:31let's jump into it. Now, when we look at
2:21:34this, I'll bring this up a little bit.
2:21:36It looks like volumewise on the lead
2:21:39vocal. So, we're going to start with the
2:21:40lead vocal.
2:21:41And there's some differences, right? So
2:21:45I would I would guess that a lot of
2:21:46these have to do with um the tamber of
2:21:50her voice. So like if she's going into a
2:21:52falsetto, she's probably more in like a
2:21:53falsetto range here and then she's
2:21:55probably opening up more into a full
2:21:57range here. Whereas this is probably a
2:21:59little bit more of like her natural
2:22:00range. Totally fine. Now you can go in
2:22:03and try to do um like some clip gain. So
2:22:07if we were to say like, hey, let's move
2:22:09this and make that visually a little bit
2:22:12closer. Or you could even do it, you
2:22:14know, um you might grab other parts like
2:22:18say these parts and you want to get that
2:22:20there somewhere where it's just a little
2:22:22bit closer. You could do that. Um the
2:22:25reason why I don't like to do that when
2:22:26it's closer in this range first is I
2:22:29would prefer to just start mixing it is
2:22:33it helps me understand how it reacts to
2:22:36what I'm putting it through. uh because
2:22:38sometimes when I I go in and and do too
2:22:41much of the volume automation at first
2:22:45that
2:22:47it affects how it's hitting the
2:22:48compressor and everything like that. So,
2:22:51it's sort of the same concept of how
2:22:53like we're mixing into the slimter, but
2:22:55in general, I just want to see how it
2:22:57reacts. I'll probably work off this
2:22:59section right here um that's that's a
2:23:02little bit heavier and and just see and
2:23:05then as I go back I'll I'll judge to say
2:23:08like hey do we need to bring these up or
2:23:12do we need to um
2:23:16do I need to actually split these
2:23:19sections off and process a difference
2:23:21because there's going to be a difference
2:23:22in in how everything's reacting if she's
2:23:25like
2:23:27right if she's
2:23:28like a falsetto versus like
2:23:31and so it may, you know, that's just
2:23:33going to be a decision that I make later
2:23:36on, right? If I can make it all work
2:23:38under one, I want to do that because I'm
2:23:41not trying to like
2:23:44break each line up and EQ each line
2:23:46differently and all those types of
2:23:47things. Um, I really want to make the
2:23:49work as as
2:23:52seamless as possible so that I can be
2:23:53more creative and not not more
2:23:54scientific. So that's sort of like my my
2:23:57thought process on on where we're
2:23:59starting. Uh we've kind of built the
2:24:01foundation around these parts, but the
2:24:04lead is sort of sparse, right? So let's
2:24:08look at what's going on here. The main
2:24:11thing I'm seeing is that in this
2:24:13section, these verse sections looks like
2:24:16a good place to start. Um but we really
2:24:19didn't do any bass processing on the
2:24:21verses. So, let's let's send the bases
2:24:25to this chorus bus that we did just to
2:24:29see if that kind of gives us a good
2:24:30feel. And let's
2:24:38[music]
2:24:40>> All right. And the snare feels a little
2:24:43loud here. [music]
2:24:49>> [music]
2:24:51>> because remember we basically worked off
2:24:53more of the hook section, which is fine.
2:24:56Um, but now that we're we're pulling it
2:24:58in here, let's let's grab
2:25:01let's make these quick adjustments. And
2:25:04we're never stuck with that, right? We
2:25:05can always go back and say like, hey, we
2:25:06need the the snare up a little bit, down
2:25:08a little bit. When we talk about focal
2:25:10level versus snare, as long as it's it's
2:25:13close and it's establishing the
2:25:14forwardness in our cube, um how it
2:25:17reacts against the ceiling, it's really
2:25:20kind of about the sustain, the tail of
2:25:22it. So, it's always going to push
2:25:23forward until we get it too too low. So,
2:25:26um yeah, and if we do want the vocals up
2:25:28a little bit, instead of like saying,
2:25:30"Hey, let's distort the vocals into the
2:25:32limiter," like you can leave them where
2:25:33you want and turn the snare down, now
2:25:34they're forward. or if the snare's a
2:25:37good place, you want the vocals to be
2:25:38inside the mix, just turn the vocals
2:25:39down a little bit. So, it's it's a lot
2:25:41more of like not looking at numbers and
2:25:43just feeling it uh when it comes to this
2:25:45point. So, everything after the liers
2:25:47limiter is more artistic.
2:25:49So, let's take a listen here.
2:25:52>> [singing]
2:25:52>> when they [music] laugh it. So let me
2:25:58[music]
2:26:00hear it.
2:26:06>> All right. And so what I'm going to do
2:26:07is I'm going to turn off all the
2:26:09elements of the mix that are that we
2:26:11haven't worked on yet. And we're going
2:26:14to focus on just the lead vocal.
2:26:21Laugh it so
2:26:27you hear it.
2:26:29Are you serious?
2:26:32[singing]
2:26:35Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:26:37famous.
2:26:40All right.
2:26:42So, we kind of have these two sections.
2:26:45Let's do it one more time. And what I'm
2:26:47doing right now is I'm just gainstaging
2:26:49these vocals. So, it's like, let me
2:26:51listen to these vocals.
2:26:53Let me hear exactly what's going on. And
2:26:55I'm trying to get these to a level that
2:26:57I feel like is a good starting point.
2:26:59Um,
2:27:11Are you serious?
2:27:14[singing]
2:27:17Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:27:19famous.
2:27:19>> Uh, also don't get caught up on the way
2:27:21these look. I have these zoomed in
2:27:24because so that we can all see them well
2:27:26on our screens and things like that on
2:27:28Zoom. Um,
2:27:30so I'm just kind of zooming in on the
2:27:32waves versus that, you know, this is
2:27:34kind of at the actual level and we can
2:27:37catch those with some some compressors
2:27:38and and and whatnot. Um,
2:27:41which is is what I would prefer to do
2:27:43versus like really going in right now
2:27:46and and gain staging these. So,
2:27:49here we go.
2:28:00Are [music] you serious?
2:28:11>> Okay, cool. So, I'm going to just work
2:28:13off this section. Um, so the first thing
2:28:16I think about is is what is going to
2:28:18cause me an issue, right? What are
2:28:20problems that I need to fix and then how
2:28:23do I enhance it? So there the few things
2:28:25that I'm hearing are
2:28:28uh top end, right? So there's some S's,
2:28:31there's some sibilance that's coming
2:28:33through that's not as smooth as I would
2:28:35want it to be. Remember this vocal is
2:28:36there's nothing to mask this vocal
2:28:40really in the mix. Um at least right
2:28:42now.
2:28:44And so it's really important for me to
2:28:47get the texture that I'm looking for.
2:28:49It's a little on the higher side. So, I
2:28:53might say like, "Hey, maybe I need to
2:28:54add some weight to it." And there's
2:28:56different ways to do that. Um, and also
2:28:58what I'm hearing is that there are some
2:29:02spots in it where the presence is really
2:29:06standing out. And so, I have to decide
2:29:08like
2:29:09how am I going to address that? Am I
2:29:11going to try to EQ those back or, you
2:29:15know, in other cases I might try to
2:29:17compress the body of it into the vocal?
2:29:20It's it's really just how you're
2:29:22feeling.
2:29:23Um, so yeah. So like that's what's going
2:29:25through my mind. And let's jump into
2:29:28what I would typically do. Oh wait, no,
2:29:31this is so this isn't routed properly.
2:29:34And this is very important as we as we
2:29:36watch these. So this wasn't routed
2:29:37actually to the mix bus that has the
2:29:39limiters on it. So I'm going to have to
2:29:40gain stage this again.
2:29:43And and that's why it's really important
2:29:45that you know that that we understand
2:29:48what we're doing and why we're doing it.
2:29:51And then well as this plays you'll
2:29:53notice that this is really loud. So I'm
2:29:54going to bring this back down.
2:30:06>> Are you serious?
2:30:12Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:30:14famous.
2:30:16[music]
2:30:17I don't have a chance. No hope I won't
2:30:19make it.
2:30:21>> Okay. So,
2:30:23do we notice now that how much that
2:30:25limiter made a difference, right? Not
2:30:27even just in like how it it sounded um
2:30:30as far as volume, but also like in in
2:30:33the frequency spectrum. So, the highs
2:30:35are brought out more. And so the reason
2:30:37why we're mixing against this limiter is
2:30:39one, it helps us understand what our
2:30:41volume's going to be and where we need
2:30:42to have it at, but also how the top end
2:30:44is going to react to having something,
2:30:48you know, in a limiter stage. Cuz how
2:30:50often have we put a limiter on something
2:30:52and all of a sudden it's super bright,
2:30:54right? The the top end just jumps out.
2:30:57Um, and that's something that we need to
2:30:58consider while we're mixing versus like
2:31:00hoping at the end that it magically
2:31:04doesn't happen or mixing it much more
2:31:07dull, right? It's like I don't like
2:31:08guessing what it's going to sound like.
2:31:10I want to know what it's going to sound
2:31:11like. So, here we are again. Let's find
2:31:14our loop and let's jump into mixing it.
2:31:16So,
2:31:23>> you hear it?
2:31:26Are you serious?
2:31:32Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:31:34famous.
2:31:36[music]
2:31:37I don't have a chance. No hope I won't
2:31:39make it.
2:31:45All right. And I do feel like the snare
2:31:47is a little dull
2:31:49um for these vocals. So, I'm going to
2:31:51bring up a little bit of brightness in
2:31:53there.
2:31:55You laugh it so
2:32:01you hear it.
2:32:04>> So, I can't emphasize enough that we
2:32:05have to listen to this. So, don't grab a
2:32:08template off of the internet and you're
2:32:10like, "Oh, this is the vocal template.
2:32:12This this is the order I'm listening.
2:32:15I'm doing a lot of listening right now."
2:32:16And as I'm listening, I'm like, "Okay,
2:32:18dsing, cool. Compression, cool. What
2:32:21type of compression? What do I need to
2:32:24do? Do I need to catch these peaks?
2:32:26Cool. I got that EQing. Maybe, you know,
2:32:29in my head, I'm thinking I need to do I
2:32:31need to finesse this compression a lot
2:32:33more than I need to finesse the actual
2:32:36um EQing right now because it sounds
2:32:39cool. It's like, man, I just need to
2:32:41kind of squash it and push it into a
2:32:43space where where the low mids come up
2:32:46to support the detail, right? But that's
2:32:48what I'm doing as I'm listening. I'm
2:32:49going through all those and I'm also
2:32:50understanding like vocals, you know,
2:32:54with the with the type of spatial
2:32:56processing that I'm going to do, how is
2:32:57that going to soften it up? And I know
2:33:01it might seem like, well, if I'm a
2:33:04beginner, I don't even know what to do.
2:33:05And that's fine, you know, just just go
2:33:07with what you do know, right? We need to
2:33:08control this. We need to get this into a
2:33:10place where it's good. But as you get
2:33:12further on in mixing, we're always
2:33:14thinking like five 10 steps ahead,
2:33:16right? We're playing chess, not checkers
2:33:17on these things. So, it's like what's
2:33:19the outcome is to kind of have like this
2:33:20really cool polished vocal. I don't want
2:33:24I don't hear this vocal as being like a
2:33:26super um grungy really distorted vocal.
2:33:30I hear it as being
2:33:34almost like um
2:33:37challenging what's going on in this dark
2:33:39pop beat, right? It's like, can we get
2:33:40it to sound just like money? Can we get
2:33:43it to sound super cool with without
2:33:46grunging it up? And maybe we add a
2:33:48little bit at the end, but um and that
2:33:50that's where your taste comes in. So,
2:33:54let's um
2:33:56let's do this. I'm going to probably hit
2:33:58it with a little bit of compression
2:34:00first
2:34:02just so that it feeds my DSER a little
2:34:04bit better. And so, understanding your
2:34:07tools, right? There's lots of different
2:34:08types of tools. There's um I like an
2:34:121176, so it's going to be a little bit
2:34:14faster attack on this. And I'm going to
2:34:17put there's different styles, right? So
2:34:19the the revision A has a little bit more
2:34:22top-end distortion, so it's going to be
2:34:23brighter. Uh revision D, which is like
2:34:26the normal one that we would buy now, is
2:34:28has a little bit more low-end
2:34:29distortion. But UED makes a great one
2:34:31that's a revision E, and I think it's
2:34:33it's got a really like nice smoothness
2:34:35to it. So [snorts] I'm going to grab
2:34:38that one,
2:34:40and I'm going to use this just to catch
2:34:43some of the peaks. And I would track.
2:34:45So, if anybody's ever seen me track, I
2:34:46like to track with an 1176. And you
2:34:49might hear a lot of people saying like,
2:34:50"Oh, you should EQ before you compress."
2:34:52It's like, "Yeah, but why do we compress
2:34:54before we EQ on the way in?" And you
2:34:58know, there is no rules. So, if anybody
2:35:00ever tells you, "Do this, do that, don't
2:35:02do this, don't do that," they're wrong.
2:35:05I'd be really skeptical. Like, this is a
2:35:07way to do this. This is a way that I
2:35:09might do this in this scenario. But um
2:35:13there is no right or wrong in this. It's
2:35:15really how it sounds at the end. So I
2:35:18like all the way slow, all the way fast
2:35:20on 1176. Remember the 1176
2:35:24at its slowest is still faster than the
2:35:27majority
2:35:29of analog compressors at their fastest
2:35:32settings. So I think it's like 08
2:35:34milliseconds or 800 microsconds here.
2:35:36So, like just because it's all the way
2:35:38slow doesn't mean that it's it's on like
2:35:41a a 10 millisecond or a 30 millisecond
2:35:43or 100 millisecond uh attack speed. It's
2:35:46it's very very very fast.
2:35:50[singing]
2:35:58>> [music]
2:35:58>> Are you serious?
2:36:02[singing]
2:36:07>> All right, it's not working. What's
2:36:09going on here? Let me see some gain
2:36:11reduction here.
2:36:15>> Interesting. Let's try one more time.
2:36:21[singing]
2:36:24>> So, I'm going to switch this. I don't
2:36:26know. For whatever reason, it's not
2:36:27showing me the gain reduction. Not
2:36:29saying that we necessarily need to see
2:36:30it, but I like to see it. Um, we can use
2:36:33our ears. Let's do the U8. We'll we'll
2:36:37do the DSP version.
2:36:42I like to use
2:36:45the nonDSP
2:36:47because then I can kind of take my
2:36:48laptop anywhere and I don't have to be
2:36:51uh
2:36:53I don't have to use my interface like to
2:36:55plug into it. But let's see.
2:37:06>> Are you serious?
2:37:12Everybody's rich and they're more
2:37:16[music]
2:37:19hope.
2:37:21>> Did you all notice how there were some
2:37:23distracting things about that vocal that
2:37:25even just applying this one compressor,
2:37:27it's smoothing it out enough that it's a
2:37:29little less distracting? Like those
2:37:31those peaks and things aren't jumping
2:37:34out quite as much. That's what I'm
2:37:35talking about with the the lead actor. I
2:37:37was thinking about those things and all
2:37:39of a sudden I'm like listening to the
2:37:41lyrics for the first time because
2:37:44I stopped being distracted by that by
2:37:46those peaks. So more and more layers and
2:37:49layers of that till it's like really
2:37:51consistent. Yep. That's a that is a
2:37:54absolutely great observation on this.
2:37:58And and that's one of the things too,
2:38:00like if we're thinking about locking it
2:38:02in with another compressor, well, where
2:38:04those distracting parts come in, right,
2:38:05when there's these like like these
2:38:07boosts of amplitude, even though Lucy is
2:38:08a great singer, there's still when she's
2:38:10switching between this falsetto and
2:38:12other things, like there is there's
2:38:13going to be fluctuations in the
2:38:14amplitude. And so this just kind of
2:38:16locks it in so that when when we use
2:38:17another compressor for character,
2:38:20something like an L2A or or a, you know,
2:38:23a PWM, like I like the V& Hazel rig,
2:38:27as it hits those peaks now, it it still
2:38:31it doesn't overload that compressor that
2:38:33has a slower release time, right? and
2:38:36and and so it's like we're getting it to
2:38:38a point where like okay now we can kind
2:38:40of shape it without having to worry
2:38:42about what's going on with the ups and
2:38:44downs.
2:38:46Um okay. Uh yeah. So here we're still
2:38:49listening. So let's listen back. What
2:38:51what might the problems be here? when
2:38:52they laugh it. So at me,
2:38:59can't you hear it? Now, something I want
2:39:02you to listen to, too, is if I make this
2:39:04this release long, right? Um,
2:39:10watch how it kind of grabs it. And we
2:39:12can do that in certain ways, but I might
2:39:13not want it here. So, it just depends on
2:39:16the song. This one, there's there's a
2:39:18lot of space. So maybe I I shorten or
2:39:20maybe I I lengthen the release so that
2:39:23it doesn't push it so much in your face.
2:39:24But I want you to just hear the
2:39:25difference.
2:39:36Are you serious?
2:39:41>> Now I'm going to make it fast like I had
2:39:43it. And watch how it keeps it in your
2:39:44face.
2:39:48[singing]
2:39:55Are you serious?
2:40:00>> So, it's a lot more reactive to
2:40:02especially that part. Right. So, this
2:40:04section,
2:40:07right? It when we have it too long,
2:40:09what's happening is that it's holding it
2:40:12while there's this this fluctuation
2:40:14amplitude. And maybe we don't need it
2:40:15that much. Um,
2:40:18and of course, this isn't the only one.
2:40:19We're just using this to control it. And
2:40:22I think it's worth stating, let's see if
2:40:24I just did a quick commit to this so
2:40:26everybody can see what happens.
2:40:30Um, I just want you to kind of see how
2:40:32the waveform changes and looks leading
2:40:34into the next one. Uh, 1176s have a very
2:40:38specific
2:40:40um, gain reduction, you know, like they
2:40:43have a very specific look to them as far
2:40:45as the wave goes, and they really lock
2:40:46it in, but they also kind of push the
2:40:48mid-range and push the vocal forward,
2:40:51right? They don't do that smooth it and
2:40:53set it back in the mix. They more of
2:40:54like control it and and get it closer.
2:40:59So, let's see. Of course, it comes in
2:41:00stereo, but let's see how it sounds.
2:41:05All right. Do we see how it's much more
2:41:07controlled in here across all of them
2:41:10versus here?
2:41:14Is everybody seeing that? So, like
2:41:16there's Right. We don't see this peak
2:41:17here. This peak's not as hard. This
2:41:19peak's not as hard, but it's still
2:41:20there. We're still getting that. And
2:41:21then there's this little one squeaking
2:41:23through there. That's fine. But you see
2:41:24how much how much more controlled that
2:41:26is.
2:41:29Um and and so that's why that's a great
2:41:31compressor to lead into another
2:41:33compressor, something like an L2A, an
2:41:34opto compressor, that's going to have a
2:41:36lot more character, but the problem is
2:41:38when we don't control it first, it's
2:41:40going to be too much character on
2:41:41certain parts. So now it's like what
2:41:43it's feeding in, we can give it that
2:41:44consistent 5 to 7 dB. Um, so that's
2:41:48really like one of the things that we're
2:41:49looking for and why something like an
2:41:511176 works really well in this. Um, but
2:41:54okay. So, I'm going to jump in. I'm
2:41:55going to do a little less talking as I
2:41:58do this and I'm just going to kind of
2:41:59finesse it a little bit. Um, but the
2:42:01main thing I'm looking for before I do
2:42:03any type of sweetening like with an EQ
2:42:05is getting an appropriate texture. So, I
2:42:08want smooth. I want a smooth top in. I
2:42:10want it to sound expensive. So, I'm
2:42:13going to use a combination of
2:42:14compressors, DSers.
2:42:23>> Can't you hear it?
2:42:26Are you serious?
2:42:29[singing]
2:42:32Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:42:34famous.
2:42:36[music]
2:42:37I don't have a chance.
2:42:44>> All right, let's make sure I'm looping
2:42:46playback here.
2:42:56>> Are you serious?
2:43:07>> [music]
2:43:10>> Let's see.
2:43:16>> Yeah, it's
2:43:27Are you serious?
2:43:30>> [singing]
2:43:33>> Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:43:35famous.
2:43:37[music]
2:43:38When they laugh, it
2:43:42me's
2:43:55rich and they're way more famous.
2:43:58>> [music]
2:44:00>> When they [singing] laugh, it
2:44:07can't hear it. Are you serious?
2:44:13[singing]
2:44:15Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:44:19[music]
2:44:24at me.
2:44:28Can't you hear it?
2:44:31Are you serious?
2:44:37Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:44:39famous.
2:44:40>> Okay, cool. So, now we're getting a nice
2:44:42little texture, but we can hear where
2:44:44there's certain aspects of maybe the
2:44:46room, like maybe around four or 500,
2:44:48where that's kind of being brought out
2:44:50by these compressors, and there's some
2:44:51things that maybe we need to do some
2:44:53corrective EQing. But but the majority
2:44:55of what I'm trying to do here is control
2:44:59those S's because I'm going to boost the
2:45:01top end eventually back into this vocal.
2:45:04So let's listen to it with nothing on
2:45:05there and then I'll go down the chain.
2:45:16Are you serious?
2:45:22Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:45:24famous.
2:45:27[music]
2:45:28When they laugh, [singing] it
2:45:32me.
2:45:41[singing]
2:45:43Okay, remember she's kind of going up
2:45:45and down in this. Um,
2:45:49so the main thing I'm listening for are
2:45:51those S's to where they still sound like
2:45:53an S, but they're not like because when
2:45:55I boost topend, if there is a lot of in
2:45:58it, then that sibilance gets like
2:46:00brought way up.
2:46:03Um, yeah. So, let's do just some
2:46:07standard dynamic EQing. I almost always
2:46:10for corrected use dynamic EQing.
2:46:13Um, I think one thing I want to do too
2:46:15before I do that is I want to add some
2:46:17weight to it. So, I use something like
2:46:20the Mix Wave, like the CA70S. This has a
2:46:22cool sound to it. Uh, it kind of softens
2:46:25the top, puts a little weight in it, and
2:46:27then um it just gives it a rich sound.
2:46:31When they laugh, it
2:46:34me.
2:46:38Can't you hear it?
2:46:40Are you serious?
2:46:43[singing]
2:46:46Okay, so cool. Those are kind of giving
2:46:48me now my texture. Now, what I want to
2:46:50do is I want to
2:46:53use my EQ
2:46:58to find the problems.
2:47:00reduce them and see if I can get it to a
2:47:04place where I can then bring up the top
2:47:06end.
2:47:17Are you serious?
2:47:20[singing]
2:47:23Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:47:25famous.
2:47:30>> So, normally I wouldn't use something
2:47:33like um a resonance suppressor,
2:47:37but it might be a good option right now.
2:47:40Let's see. Let's see if I change this to
2:47:42a high shelf.
2:47:44And the idea is, excuse me,
2:47:48we'll use like a dynamic EQ
2:47:51on this and see if it can catch where
2:47:54some of those resonant buildups are.
2:48:06Are you serious?
2:48:09[singing]
2:48:12Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:48:14famous.
2:48:17When they laugh, it
2:48:21me.
2:48:27[music]
2:48:30[singing]
2:48:33>> All right, let's do without it. They
2:48:35laugh it so at me.
2:48:47[singing]
2:48:51>> All right.
2:49:02>> Are you serious?
2:49:05>> [singing]
2:49:08>> Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:49:10famous.
2:49:11[music]
2:49:20>> Okay, so that's kind of catching all
2:49:21those low mid buildups, the mid-range
2:49:23buildups. Let's see if there's anything
2:49:24at the top that might be causing us
2:49:26problems. I'm just going to leave it as
2:49:27a shelf, but I could do this as like a
2:49:29bell curve or something like that with
2:49:30like a little bit higher dB per octave
2:49:34um to catch just that spot. So like say
2:49:37if I switched it to something like this,
2:49:39we called it curve.
2:49:42We did it like that.
2:49:54Can't you hear it?
2:49:57Are you serious?
2:50:00[singing]
2:50:02>> Cool. So, we'll just leave it as that.
2:50:05Let's see.
2:50:07one.
2:50:16[music]
2:50:20>> So, I'm looking for like little areas
2:50:22that are going to jump out because as I
2:50:23boost the top, I don't want those to be
2:50:26boosted.
2:50:35Can't you hear it?
2:50:38Are [music] you serious?
2:50:41[singing]
2:50:57>> Right. So those resonances are just sort
2:50:59of like from the the tube saturation
2:51:01from the harmonics.
2:51:03So I'm going to bring those down because
2:51:05I don't want those to jump out while I'm
2:51:06boosting. When they laugh it
2:51:20[singing]
2:51:25>> all right. I'm going to do one more
2:51:26little bit of dsing up here. Super
2:51:28transparent, the ProDS.
2:51:32Then I'm going to do some shaping.
2:51:33>> When they laugh, it
2:51:44serious.
2:51:46[singing]
2:51:54So, there's a lot of ways that we could
2:51:55do this. Like, a lot of times I'll grab
2:51:56like the Mog EQ or pool tech. Um, we can
2:51:59see what both sounds like.
2:52:02I kind of want to grab more like some
2:52:0410K
2:52:06from the the Mog. So, let's grab let's
2:52:09try that first.
2:52:20Can't you hear it? Are you serious?
2:52:26[singing]
2:52:28Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:52:30famous.
2:52:32>> Got it. [music]
2:52:44[music]
2:52:44>> Are you serious?
2:52:47All right, I'm gonna push it up in the
2:52:48mix a little bit. Let's do this here.
2:52:58>> Can't you hear it? [music] Are you
2:53:02serious?
2:53:04[singing]
2:53:07Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:53:09famous
2:53:11[music]
2:53:12when they laugh it. Cool.
2:53:18That feels good. Let's see what a pool
2:53:19tech sounds like. I'm going to bypass
2:53:21that.
2:53:24See if we can do a little shaping with
2:53:26one of those.
2:53:30When they laugh it.
2:53:38When they laugh it.
2:53:41Let me
2:53:46hear it.
2:53:48Are you serious?
2:53:54Everybody's
2:53:58>> bring the mug.
2:54:07>> Can't you hear it?
2:54:10Are you serious?
2:54:13[singing]
2:54:16Everybody's [music] rich and they're way
2:54:17more famous
2:54:21when they laugh it. So at me's
2:54:34[singing]
2:54:38>> Okay, cool.
2:54:40Let's take it back from the top of this
2:54:41verse.
2:54:50>> Miles above.
2:54:53I'm out [music] of love.
2:54:55When they laugh, it
2:54:59me.
2:55:02Can't you hear it?
2:55:05Are [music] you serious?
2:55:08>> [singing]
2:55:11>> Everybody's rich and they're more
2:55:13famous.
2:55:15[music]
2:55:18>> What's going on here?
2:55:23>> I'm out of [music]
2:55:27it.
2:55:33Can't you hear it?
2:55:35Are you serious?
2:55:39[singing]
2:55:41Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:55:43famous.
2:55:45[music]
2:55:47I don't have a chance. Hope I won't make
2:55:49it.
2:55:58>> [music]
2:55:59>> All right.
2:56:00>> So, the last thing I'm going to do is
2:56:01I'm going to try to use this
2:56:03tube tech here to try to get a little
2:56:05bit of texture out of it and just
2:56:08control it a little bit. [music]
2:56:21>> Can't you hear it? [music] Are you
2:56:24[singing] serious?
2:56:30Everybody's [music] rich and they're way
2:56:32more.
2:56:47Get my loop going.
2:56:49All right. So, yeah, I'm just going in.
2:56:51I'm listening. That's all. Um, I kind of
2:56:54worked off that one part where I felt
2:56:56like it was a little bit more dynamic
2:56:57just to make sure that I was I was good
2:56:58to go on that. And it's it's
2:56:59transferring well to these parts. Um,
2:57:06[music]
2:57:14Can't you hear it? Are you serious?
2:57:23Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:57:25famous.
2:57:28[music] I don't hope I won't make it
2:57:35above.
2:57:37>> Right. And so I'm just using this for
2:57:38like a little bit of control here and a
2:57:41little bit of um tone. So I've got it
2:57:45really I'm doing dry wet with it. So I
2:57:47don't do parallel compression like from
2:57:49an auxiliary send. I only do it from
2:57:54dry wet options on a compressor.
2:57:56So um this I think just kind of gave it
2:58:00a good good little bit of a texture and
2:58:02and so that feels like a good lead for
2:58:04this one section.
2:58:07above.
2:58:09I'm out of luck
2:58:11when they laugh it so me.
2:58:18Can't you hear it? [music] Are you
2:58:22serious?
2:58:24[singing]
2:58:27Everybody's rich and they're way more
2:58:29famous.
2:58:32I don't have a chance.
2:58:37>> All right, the last thing I might listen
2:58:38for, are there any little bit of
2:58:40resonances that jumped out as I boosted
2:58:43that top in? And let's see.
2:58:49[music]
2:59:00>> [music]
2:59:01>> Are you serious?
2:59:07Everybody's rich.
2:59:11[music]
2:59:12>> I don't have a chance. Hope I won't make
2:59:14it.
2:59:18>> What's your gun? There's one in the
2:59:21[music]
2:59:36sync up.
2:59:38>> There's also one a little higher up,
2:59:40too. Pretty really high up whistle tone.
2:59:42>> Okay.
2:59:44>> I keep hearing that's
2:59:50[music]
2:59:54>> like,
3:00:01[music]
3:00:02are you serious?
3:00:09Thank you there.
3:00:10>> Yeah, thank you. No problem.
3:00:12>> Starting to drill my drill my
3:00:14>> Yeah.
3:00:15>> And so,
3:00:17you know, it's there. What we want to do
3:00:19is we want to brighten it, but we don't
3:00:21want to make it scratchy, right? We
3:00:22don't we we we have to find those areas
3:00:24where
3:00:26where
3:00:29they might cause us those type of
3:00:30problems. And you saw like on those
3:00:32moves, I didn't even do these as dynamic
3:00:36because I just felt like the character
3:00:37of the microphone like that was just
3:00:38kind of coming through at like 10k or
3:00:41you know almost 11k 4400.
3:00:45It's just always there in everything
3:00:46that that was coming you know
3:00:49as I boosted it up. So I just I just
3:00:51brought it down. Um it's totally fine.
3:00:55[music]
3:00:57>> Remember this has no spatial processing
3:00:58on it either, right? So that will soften
3:01:00up some of this as well. And and now I
3:01:02feel like from a dynamic level, there is
3:01:04one more step that we would do that I
3:01:06typically wait till the end, but it
3:01:08would be volume automation on this. So
3:01:11now that we have it locked in, there are
3:01:12going to be times when like maybe it
3:01:14comes up a little bit or maybe it goes
3:01:15down a little bit just depending on how
3:01:16it's reacting. But I don't want to try
3:01:18to force it into anything else as far as
3:01:20like a compressor goes or or or whatnot.
3:01:23Um, it's really locked in. And I don't
3:01:27I'm gonna see how long this will take.
3:01:29I'm curious just to see if like just to
3:01:31see how this looks. Um,
3:01:34same way we did with the 1176. But it
3:01:38will um you should see it that it's
3:01:40probably going to be a lot more
3:01:43solid. And the idea too is that we don't
3:01:46do all this with one compressor, right?
3:01:48So we don't want to do like 20 dBA
3:01:50compression with one compressor. We're
3:01:52going to do it in different ways and
3:01:53we're going to shape it. It's just an
3:01:54envelope or envelope shaping with these
3:01:57compressors. But the ultimate goal is to
3:01:59have it react how we want it to react
3:02:00and for it to be locked in. So,
3:02:05as we can see now, right, there's still
3:02:07Oh, don't do that.
3:02:11It's very controlled, but there's still
3:02:13some dynamic levels, right? It still
3:02:15goes up here, and that's okay. Um, but
3:02:19compared to this, it's just a lot more
3:02:21manageable. And the idea is now we can
3:02:24take this and we can ride this, automate
3:02:26this how we want, but we haven't
3:02:28squashed the life out of it, right? We
3:02:30didn't turn these into like little
3:02:31sausages. It's it's just natural control
3:02:35because we really want the artist to
3:02:37shine. Sometimes it might call for that,
3:02:38but in general, we don't want to like we
3:02:41can compress a lot. We just don't want
3:02:42it to sound overcompressed.
3:02:45We want to each move that we make we
3:02:46want to kind of bring up or or control
3:02:49things in a different way. Like I want
3:02:50to bring up some of the character of the
3:02:54right but I also want to control the
3:02:56fluctuations in amplitude. So it's it's
3:02:58sort of you know everything's give and
3:03:00take with these.
3:03:03Um but the idea is we want to get this
3:03:05to sound as good as we possibly can
3:03:07against the foundation that we've built.
3:03:09And let's add in some um
3:03:13let's see, let's add in
3:03:16some spatial processing just so that we
3:03:18understand how it's going to sound, how
3:03:20it fits. So, I love
3:03:24room reverbs. Um, anybody that's ever
3:03:27watched any of my stuff, I do a lot of
3:03:28room reverbs. This is a favorite of
3:03:30mine. It's based on the uh SP 2016 from
3:03:34Even Tide. I have some settings on that,
3:03:36too, as well. Um, I mostly use the Verb
3:03:38Suite Classics because it I have all
3:03:40these emulations of all these these
3:03:42great reverbs and I think they do a good
3:03:44job with it. But I use a lot of the
3:03:472016, the SP 2016, the Lexicon 224,
3:03:52Lexicon 480, uh, and the BCasti M7.
3:03:55Those are kind of my favorite ones to
3:03:57use with this. But, so let's add a
3:03:59little room reverb. If we're talking
3:04:00about our buckets, this would be our
3:04:01short, right? So, let's add some short
3:04:04here. And and for full disclosure, like
3:04:06buckets is new to me and it's something
3:04:08that I do I realize that I have been
3:04:10doing. Um but I don't necessarily set it
3:04:13up for each one. But if you are learning
3:04:15and you're trying to figure out reverb
3:04:17and how it adds dimensions, short and
3:04:19long,
3:04:20great place to start. So um a lot of us
3:04:24will probably find that we're already
3:04:25doing some sort of of version of it. Uh
3:04:28so it's completely up to you if you want
3:04:31to use it. But it's if you are confused
3:04:33on where to start, buckets is a great
3:04:34great method to use to learn reverbs and
3:04:36delays. So here's the rooms
3:04:41above
3:04:44[music]
3:04:45when they laugh [singing]
3:04:48at me.
3:04:52Can't you hear it? Are you serious?
3:04:58[singing]
3:05:01If you notice too, as soon as that's
3:05:02added that it almost softens it some.
3:05:04Like we hear the dimension,
3:05:07but it it it takes a little the edge
3:05:10off, I think. So without it,
3:05:16[music]
3:05:23>> right? So we hear just it's short boop,
3:05:25but it sounds good. Uh, room reverbs are
3:05:28something that I I see people really
3:05:30sleep on. And and
3:05:33in the past, some of that room sound
3:05:35might actually come from the room,
3:05:36right? I mean, it's that's what it's
3:05:37made to mimic. And we we do like to
3:05:40track dry so that we can add whatever we
3:05:42want. But sometimes there's a really
3:05:43good sounding room. I thought the rooms
3:05:45when we were in New York at Quad, they
3:05:46were good sounding rooms. And so there
3:05:48was a little bit of room room sound in
3:05:50them that I thought worked in our
3:05:51advantage. If you're in places like
3:05:53Nashville or LA, there's some really
3:05:55great sounding rooms out there. or
3:05:56anywhere. It can be anywhere. But um and
3:05:59if you don't have that, dry is great,
3:06:00too, because we can add it. But that's
3:06:02sort of some of the magic that comes
3:06:03from it. Let's do let's try some of
3:06:06these. Uh this is a different chamber
3:06:08that I'm using, the CD chamber. This is
3:06:11from um
3:06:14the Bassi M7.
3:06:17If you use something like seventh heaven
3:06:20um or if you have a bassi there, these
3:06:23are just some of the presets on there.
3:06:25Let's see how this feels. So, the
3:06:26chamber's going to be a bit longer even
3:06:27though I have it as like a medium
3:06:29length.
3:06:30[music]
3:06:31[singing]
3:06:43All right, we're hearing that. We hear
3:06:45that little bit of tail on it. So, I
3:06:47only want it to be felt. It's actually a
3:06:48little bit heavy. I'm going to turn the
3:06:50pre-delay up on this so that it doesn't
3:06:53interfere with the vocals. Let's see if
3:06:54we can turn it down even to here because
3:06:57I just want it to tickle that space.
3:07:00miles above.
3:07:03I'm out of love
3:07:05when they laugh it.
3:07:13>> Okay, cool. So, I don't want you to hear
3:07:16these reverbs as much as I want you to
3:07:18feel these reverbs. I want you to feel
3:07:20the space that I'm creating.
3:07:23Um, another great another great chamber
3:07:27from the Brookcasti emulations is the
3:07:30sunset chamber. And I use that a lot,
3:07:31too, because it has a little bit more
3:07:32top-end information.
3:07:35So, let's send this to the Basti. And
3:07:38let's see how that sounds. miles [music]
3:07:40above.
3:07:42I'm out of
3:07:46[singing] it.
3:07:52>> Cool. You see how it's kind of like
3:07:54filling up that space? Let's see if we
3:07:56can brighten it. Let's see what happens.
3:07:59Not this one.
3:08:02They're a little dull, especially with
3:08:03nothing going on.
3:08:07I'm out [music] of luck
3:08:09when they laugh [singing] it.
3:08:17>> All right, I'm going to brighten it even
3:08:18more. I'm trying to get it sparkly. So,
3:08:20this is where I'm starting to listen and
3:08:22I'm just saying like, hey, like what
3:08:24might this need? What what can create
3:08:28the
3:08:29the story, the emotion that I feel in my
3:08:32head? And the key with reverbs is to do
3:08:35too much. A lot of times with EQing is
3:08:37to do too much and then dial it back in.
3:08:39So I'm going to push too much highend in
3:08:41this. Find out where I want to do that
3:08:43and then just kind of make sure it feels
3:08:45good. So I don't know. [music]
3:08:59>> Cool. That sounds good. I like that. Um,
3:09:02let's put this. So, we can do EQ.
3:09:06So, if we split it, the way that these
3:09:08work, we can do like EQ before dynamics
3:09:10or dynamics before EQ.
3:09:13Um, so we're going to do this post. So,
3:09:15if we take pre-off, then what that means
3:09:17is that I'm going to run it through the
3:09:19EQ and then I'm going to compress
3:09:22the the reverb signal afterwards to see
3:09:26if I can get a cool sound out of it.
3:09:31I'm out of love
3:09:33when they laugh it all at me.
3:09:40Can't you hear it? [music] Are you
3:09:44serious?
3:09:46[singing]
3:09:49[music]
3:09:51>> Then I'm going to bring it down here.
3:09:56Lord, [music]
3:09:58when they laugh it all at me.
3:10:05Can't you hear it? [music] Are you
3:10:09serious?
3:10:11[singing]
3:10:18>> All right. And then let's mess it up a
3:10:20little bit more. Let's put something on
3:10:21it that's going to do some sort of
3:10:23movement type stuff. Um, and so the
3:10:26reason why I'm doing a little bit more
3:10:28right here is just because it's it's a
3:10:30very open arrangement. Um,
3:10:35so I think something like
3:10:37the UAD, the MX or Philander Doubler,
3:10:41that one sounds awesome. Let's see how
3:10:43it feels on this.
3:10:50[singing]
3:10:51When they laugh it at me,
3:10:59you hear it.
3:11:01Are you serious?
3:11:04[singing]
3:11:07[music]
3:11:10>> All right. And the last thing I'm going
3:11:12to do is I'm just going to duck it a
3:11:13little bit. So, let's duck
3:11:17the cer
3:11:19here. Here we're going to do a little
3:11:20side chaining on it so that it comes up
3:11:22when the vocal's not going. But while
3:11:24the vocal is going
3:11:32vocal chorus, let's do vox left and
3:11:34right. So the lead vocal is going to
3:11:36trigger this or the things that are
3:11:38going into this. And we're just going to
3:11:40set this up to dip on only the midfield
3:11:43here. So we keep it on the sides.
3:11:48I'm out of luck. [music]
3:11:51When they laugh, it
3:11:55mearious.
3:12:06>> And I'm the sides.
3:12:12[music]
3:12:13When they laugh, it
3:12:17me.
3:12:20Can't you hear it?
3:12:23Are you serious?
3:12:29Everybody's rich and [music] they're way
3:12:31more.
3:12:40>> All right. And then let's add just a
3:12:43little bit of saturation. So we'll do
3:12:47something like
3:12:49[sighs]
3:12:52uh so I you know part of what's going on
3:12:55is just I'm just hearing things in my
3:12:57head, right? So I wish I could explain
3:12:58it a little better than that. Like hey,
3:13:00I just want this space to sound like
3:13:03this. And uh you can do whatever you
3:13:06want with this. You could make it dark.
3:13:09Dark would work good, too. Let's see.
3:13:11MCDSP makes this. I forgot the name of
3:13:13it. Analog channel, the AC 202.
3:13:15>> And don't worry, we can break all this
3:13:17down if you're starting to feel lost.
3:13:18Kevin's just kind of cooking here
3:13:20because he's got to actually mix, not
3:13:22just talk. So, we can break all this
3:13:25down at the end.
3:13:25>> Yeah.
3:13:27miles above.
3:13:29I'm out of luck.
3:13:32When they laugh it so me,
3:13:39can't you hear it?
3:13:42Are you serious?
3:13:48Everybody's rich and [music] they're way
3:13:49more famous.
3:13:53I don't have a chance. No hope I won't
3:13:55make it.
3:14:00>> Right. So, you can kind of make this
3:14:01sound however you want it to sound. Um,
3:14:07I'm just I just got a little bit of
3:14:09inspiration on that one reverb. I'm
3:14:11going to turn it down just a hair more.
3:14:15Um,
3:14:18and let's see. Let's do do something
3:14:20like I like this magnet stress box. This
3:14:23is a fun one, too. [music]
3:14:31[singing]
3:14:37Can't you hear it?
3:14:40Are you serious?
3:14:43[singing]
3:14:47>> Cool. All right. And then let's add a
3:14:49little bit of uh delay. So, I just I
3:14:51usually like to use some like offbeat
3:14:54delays or some delays that aren't just
3:14:56like on quarter notes and things like
3:14:57that. Um [music and singing]
3:15:03When they laugh, [singing] it all me.
3:15:10Can't you hear it?
3:15:13Are you serious?
3:15:16[singing]
3:15:19Everybody's rich and they're way more.
3:15:23[music]
3:15:24>> Cool. And let's bring the top end down
3:15:26just a hair on that reverb.
3:15:31>> [singing]
3:15:32>> I'm out of love
3:15:34when they laugh it.
3:15:41>> And let's see what uh let's add some
3:15:43chorus to it. I feel like that that
3:15:46would sound good on this.
3:15:48above. [singing and music]
3:15:50I'm out of
3:15:58>> All right, let's try something else.
3:16:00I'll try like a micro shift. So, I'm
3:16:02just putting a chorusing plugin on here.
3:16:04uh because it's really out there by
3:16:06itself and I thought maybe [sighs] you
3:16:09know we're getting into like processed
3:16:11pop vocal which is fine but it might be
3:16:15too much for the producer and that's
3:16:18that's okay if they pull us back but
3:16:19we're going to be risky, right? We're
3:16:21going to they're paying us for our taste
3:16:23here today. So, I'm really just trying
3:16:27to get a good lead vocal sound on this
3:16:30and something that just feels a lot like
3:16:32how I want it to feel. uh how it sits in
3:16:35the track. Let's see this. This is just
3:16:37micro shift. This is the basic setting.
3:16:39I like it on three uh Roman numeral
3:16:41three here. I have no idea what it what
3:16:43it does, but as far as like what that
3:16:45three does versus the other ones. So
3:16:50[singing]
3:16:55>> it solar at me.
3:17:01Can't you hear it?
3:17:03Are you serious?
3:17:09Everybody's [music] rich and they're way
3:17:11more famous.
3:17:14I don't have a chance. No. Hope I won't
3:17:16make it.
3:17:21>> All right, let's see what's going on
3:17:22with this ping pong delay. Let's, you
3:17:24know what? I'm going to add my other
3:17:25chorus I had on there. This is from the
3:17:26RMX16
3:17:29um from AMS. It's cool. Let's see what
3:17:32they sound like together. Maybe it
3:17:33works, maybe it doesn't.
3:17:38[music]
3:17:40They laughed so at me. [singing]
3:17:46Can't you hear it?
3:17:49Are you serious?
3:17:59[music]
3:18:05>> It's nice. [music]
3:18:07[singing]
3:18:10So now this is what I need to listen to
3:18:12that snare.
3:18:14Then I have to decide, does this vocal
3:18:15need to sit beneath that snare or above
3:18:17that snare? I feel like the vocal could
3:18:19come up a little bit for a pop song. And
3:18:21instead of pushing the vocal like crazy
3:18:23above the snare, I can bring the snare
3:18:25down a little bit if I want to. Um, so
3:18:27let's give it a little more volume and
3:18:28then pull the snare back and just see
3:18:30how that changes the feel. [music]
3:18:33[singing]
3:18:35I'm out of luck
3:18:37when they laugh it so at me.
3:18:44Can't you hear it? [music]
3:18:47Are you serious?
3:18:50[singing]
3:18:56>> Oh,
3:18:57it doesn't like the izotope. We'll bring
3:18:59this down. I'll do it from
3:19:02the actual fader.
3:19:05So, let's bring it down. Not 20, down
3:19:08two.
3:19:11>> Here we go.
3:19:12>> I'm out [music] of luck.
3:19:15When they laugh, it s's
3:19:28[singing]
3:19:31[music] rich and they're way more
3:19:32famous.
3:19:35All right, that's feeling good. Let's
3:19:38see. Let's add a little bit more flange
3:19:39to this one.
3:19:43>> I'm out of luck.
3:19:46When they laugh, it
3:19:53can't hear it. [music] Are you serious?
3:19:59[singing]
3:20:01Everybody's [music] rich and they're way
3:20:03more famous.
3:20:06I don't have a chance. No hope I won't
3:20:08make it.
3:20:11>> That's cool. The flange kicked in a
3:20:12little bit there. And let's get this I
3:20:14have a I have a ping pong delay in here.
3:20:16Let's see how that feels.
3:20:23>> So, what I'll do for this one is I'll
3:20:24just use this ping pong delay just one
3:20:26time. I just want to do one little like
3:20:28just engineer flex ear candy thing on on
3:20:32one of these parts and I'll just I'll
3:20:34automate a delay.
3:20:48Can't you hear it?
3:20:51Are you serious?
3:20:54[singing]
3:20:58[music]
3:21:00>> All right, that's cool. And then let's
3:21:02take some of the lows out of it because
3:21:03it kind of builds up some low end in it.
3:21:07And I might put some earlier on in the
3:21:09song, but like that's that's just what
3:21:11we're doing. We just do a little bit of
3:21:12that for fun. Uh, let's take some of the
3:21:15low cut. Let's bring a little bit more
3:21:18high in there and add a little feedback
3:21:20to that. All right, let's see.
3:21:24[singing]
3:21:34Can't you hear it?
3:21:37Are you [music] serious?
3:21:41[singing]
3:21:46All right. Now, I want to see what it
3:21:47sounds like if we switch these to eighth
3:21:49notes on the ping pong.
3:21:53And then we should be pretty good on
3:21:55that lead vocal.
3:21:59Let's put them down to eight.
3:22:03And so the beauty of like taking this
3:22:05type of time to mix the lead is really
3:22:07shaping it, really getting it to fit in
3:22:09the track how you want is
3:22:14everything else just has to work with
3:22:15it, right? It's because it's the star of
3:22:17the show versus like we're going to
3:22:18spend three hours on background vocals.
3:22:19Like no, like we're going to come in,
3:22:21we're going to make sure that they are
3:22:22not messing up this lead vocal. Uh now
3:22:24there are times when the arrangement
3:22:26might call for that, but in general
3:22:28that's not really our ultimate goal
3:22:30here. It's really to get a great great
3:22:31lead vocal sound.
3:22:36[music]
3:22:38>> When they laugh [singing] it all at me,
3:22:46you hear it. [music] Are you serious?
3:22:54Everybody's
3:22:57>> All right. [music]
3:22:59I don't have a
3:23:00>> And this is cool. Let's add saturation.
3:23:02Let's turn the volume down so that we
3:23:04don't hear it as much. Turn the high
3:23:06cut, low cut back a little bit of that.
3:23:08Right. Okay. Cool. So, all I did there,
3:23:12and that's a lot, usually a lot more
3:23:14time than I would spend on like a lead
3:23:15vocal or vocal reverb effect on this.
3:23:18Um, I'm still not all the way in love
3:23:19with it. I might roll off some or do
3:23:21like a tilt on it to try to make it just
3:23:24a little bit warmer.
3:23:26But yeah, and as we see in here in the
3:23:29arrangement, right, there's just some
3:23:31stuff on like the lead
3:23:34on the chorus and then just a couple
3:23:35background vocals. So, and even in the
3:23:38arrangement rides, right, there's not a
3:23:40whole lot of stuff going on.
3:23:42Bass, let's see, keys and synths and all
3:23:45that stuff. Um,
3:23:48[singing]
3:23:50[music]
3:23:54>> Whoops. All right. But you see, like
3:23:57there's not a lot of things to get in
3:23:58the way of what we're doing vocally. So,
3:24:01it makes more sense to do some really
3:24:05cool reverbs like that. Um, you know
3:24:08what I think might sound cool here, too,
3:24:10is something like
3:24:12saturation from blackbox.
3:24:14Let's see what happens if we do that. I
3:24:16just want And then I'll leave it alone.
3:24:18It's It's never We're never done with
3:24:19this.
3:24:21So, Oh, no. Not that one.
3:24:27Let's go here.
3:24:41And let's look at we'll switch it to
3:24:44midside. Let's see what happens if we
3:24:45push it on the sides. [music]
3:24:52When they laugh it so at me.
3:24:59Can't you hear it?
3:25:02Are you serious?
3:25:05[singing]
3:25:08Everybody's rich and they're way more
3:25:10famous.
3:25:13I don't have a chance. No. Hope I won't
3:25:15make it.
3:25:19Mom's above. [singing]
3:25:21I'm out of love.
3:25:24When they laugh it [singing] all at me.
3:25:31Can't you hear it?
3:25:34Are you serious?
3:25:41>> All right, let's see what's going on
3:25:42with these background vocals. really
3:25:44quick.
3:25:52>> All right, let's get stage up down.
3:25:56[singing]
3:26:09Are you serious?
3:26:12>> So, I think this would be a situation
3:26:13where I like might automate these
3:26:15because they sound good. They sound good
3:26:16with the leads
3:26:18above
3:26:21[music]
3:26:25it.
3:26:30Can't you hear?
3:26:34So you turn that part up.
3:26:45>> Are you serious?
3:26:49[singing]
3:26:56>> All right. Yeah. So like with the
3:26:58backgrounds, they already kind of have
3:26:59some processing on it. Super cool. Um,
3:27:04we'll just do we'll run with the the
3:27:06wet. So, this is a dry and a wet on
3:27:09these multi-tracks. So, these are all
3:27:12kind of still running to the same bus.
3:27:14So, we're getting a lot of the same
3:27:15effects on them. Totally cool. Let's
3:27:17see.
3:27:22Heaven.
3:27:27All right. And if we're just going to
3:27:28get funky on this, let's just like let's
3:27:30pull the sides up on these and see how
3:27:32they sound. Um, we might go back. We'll
3:27:34make some more adjustments tomorrow on
3:27:38these. But to wrap this up, let's use
3:27:41something like the Vertigo.
3:27:43I love the DSM3.
3:27:47It's a super fun one.
3:27:50But let's pull. We're just going to add
3:27:53some harmonics and lift the sides with
3:27:54it. You can do this with a EQ. You can
3:27:56do whatever you want. I'm just really
3:27:58going in and just trying to do some like
3:28:00taste stuff. So,
3:28:05[music]
3:28:06heaven.
3:28:10[music]
3:28:14>> All right, let's see what's going on
3:28:15here. What if we do just for fun so that
3:28:20we can get it shot down by the producer?
3:28:22Let's put alter boy
3:28:25on that. Let's do little alter boy on
3:28:27that the lower part here.
3:28:31And we'll dry wet
3:28:33that. I don't recommend doing like big
3:28:36creative decisions like this. If you're
3:28:38getting paid to mix if it's your own
3:28:39stuff, go crazy. But let's do
3:28:43>> Yeah,
3:28:43>> do it. Just scare him to death.
3:28:48>> [music]
3:28:49>> Heaven help me.
3:28:54>> I'm sick of myself.
3:28:57>> Let's see.
3:29:01>> All right. Now, there's a resonance in
3:29:03there. And then we're going to distort
3:29:04it just for fun.
3:29:07Um,
3:29:09so let's control that resonance really
3:29:11quickly and then we'll be done. And that
3:29:14and we'll we'll mess it up. Right,
3:29:24that's where it is. Where you hear that?
3:29:26And now let's throw some cool distortion
3:29:29on this. And in my head, it's going to
3:29:32work. It probably won't. If it won't,
3:29:33we'll take it off. We're not going to be
3:29:35stuck on it. But let's do the 610
3:29:38B. Thanks, Brad. Brad, if you're on
3:29:39here, it's one of my new favorite
3:29:42plugins for a cool distortion.
3:29:58Not in love with it. Let's just take all
3:30:00that off.
3:30:02Can't have an ego in all this. Got to be
3:30:04confident, though.
3:30:06Um, yeah. So, I think that's a good
3:30:08place for today. We've gotten most of
3:30:10the vocals figured out except for this
3:30:12AdLib. Um, that's fine.
3:30:15and then whatever this is. But those are
3:30:17like little pieces that that get added,
3:30:19but I think we have a good lead against
3:30:20good uh against the foundation now. So,
3:30:25um what do you think, Caleb? That's
3:30:27that's a good good spot to wait to pick
3:30:29it up tomorrow.
3:30:30>> Yeah, that's good. Why don't you spend a
3:30:32second and go through
3:30:36everything you kind of did really quick
3:30:38from a high level? Just like here's what
3:30:40I was thinking or the problem I was
3:30:42trying to solve and here's what I how I
3:30:44did it.
3:30:45>> Gotcha. All right. So,
3:30:50here is the lead.
3:30:52And the main thing I'm trying to do with
3:30:54this is is texture, right? So, I want
3:30:56the right texture. Texture is very, very
3:30:58important.
3:31:00and control. Uh, so she has pretty good
3:31:02control and each one I'm I'm adding and
3:31:04I'll explain what I did. So the first
3:31:06one was this 1176
3:31:08miles above
3:31:12[singing]
3:31:15it.
3:31:20>> That one's mostly for control. A little
3:31:21bit of texture. Then I'm catching the
3:31:23S's because I really want to smooth out
3:31:25that top end without it making sound
3:31:26like a lisp. Um, and so I'm doing a
3:31:29little bit of DSing that I feel
3:31:30comfortable to where I'm I can hear what
3:31:32it's doing without it over DSing. And
3:31:34then I dropped another one after it um
3:31:38to catch the little bit of overs for the
3:31:41next one. And I use multiple different
3:31:43types of DS just for fun. They all have
3:31:44their own color to them. So, these are
3:31:46these are a little bit warmer DSers than
3:31:49something like the
3:31:49>> Prote
3:31:55[singing]
3:32:02uh I don't usually put them next to each
3:32:04other like that, but in this case, I
3:32:05really wanted to focus on that. Um, so I
3:32:08did it. Then for this then I'm doing
3:32:12more of like a
3:32:14vibier compression. So this is going to
3:32:17change the sound a little bit.
3:32:28Right?
3:32:30You see how much body it brought up? Um,
3:32:34and then I dropped this to just kind of
3:32:36give me some weight.
3:32:41[singing]
3:32:49Because the one thing I don't want to do
3:32:50is really thin this vocal out too much
3:32:52because
3:32:54there's nothing to support it, right?
3:32:55There's no guitars to support it or
3:32:57anything. There's like a little vocal
3:32:58chop or something like that, but the
3:32:59vocal is really out there by itself, so
3:33:01it needs some weight to it. And she's
3:33:03singing in a falsetto, and it's a female
3:33:05vocal. Um, and then here, a few things
3:33:08that I did, and this looks crazy. I
3:33:10don't normally EQ like this, but it
3:33:12worked. So, I use this the resonance
3:33:14suppression in just this band to catch
3:33:17how there is a resonance. It could be
3:33:19the from the room. It could be from
3:33:21anything. Um, but we're kind of hearing
3:33:24this this resonance move around
3:33:25consistently in the low mids. So, I use
3:33:28this under in resonance suppression
3:33:31mode, I think is what this is called, or
3:33:33spectral spectral mode. And it just
3:33:35basically reacts more on the peaks of
3:33:38the resonance versus like the whole
3:33:40band. Um, and then the rest of these up
3:33:43here are just little areas where there
3:33:44was frequency buildup because I was
3:33:46going to boost them back up. So, I'm
3:33:49really just still trying to get it to a
3:33:50very clean, smooth, pliable signal here.
3:33:58[singing]
3:34:06>> Can't you hear it?
3:34:09Are you serious?
3:34:12[singing]
3:34:15>> All right. So, a lot of times like
3:34:16something like Soothe will do that as
3:34:18well. I don't think they do it as good
3:34:19as ProQ. I haven't used a new Soothe. I
3:34:21actually downloaded it to use it today,
3:34:22but I didn't do it cuz I'm a Soo hater.
3:34:25Just kidding. Soo, it's a they make a
3:34:27good It's a good plugin. It just if you
3:34:28don't use it right, it can get grainy.
3:34:31Um little bit of DSing.
3:34:37I'm out of luck.
3:34:39>> And if you see right, it's only grabbing
3:34:41it when it hits the S's versus having it
3:34:43like some like
3:34:53>> And the idea is that we don't want it
3:34:54like cutting off the top end. Then I did
3:34:56my heavy shaping EQ where I did 5dB at
3:34:5810k and a little bit of of par
3:35:02parametric EQing. Well, well, I don't
3:35:04know if it's technically, but yeah, it
3:35:06acts like a parametric EQ, but we're
3:35:07just doing a dip at 160, 650, 40, and
3:35:11the sub. So,
3:35:21[singing]
3:35:24Okay. And then I'm using the R
3:35:25compressor to push the vocal a little
3:35:28bit more forward in the mix.
3:35:42Okay. And then the CL1B I'm using for a
3:35:44little bit of control and a little bit
3:35:45of tone.
3:35:50>> Do you hear how it softened it right
3:35:52without it?
3:35:58[singing]
3:35:59>> Now listen to the top end.
3:36:07And I'm I am compressing it pretty hard,
3:36:09but I'm running it in parallel. So, I'm
3:36:10not doing it's just a little bit on the
3:36:12dry side. Uh I mean, it's a lot more on
3:36:15the dry side. It's just just a little
3:36:16bit of wetness. I don't know what number
3:36:17this would be. Maybe like 15% or
3:36:20something like that. So, but you can
3:36:21still hear how that check texture
3:36:23changes.
3:36:28out of luck [singing]
3:36:30when they laugh
3:36:33at me.
3:36:36>> And as we do this, right, we're
3:36:38gainstaging. So, I don't want to like
3:36:39pop these plugins on and there be a
3:36:40drastic difference. So, let's see if I
3:36:42turn these off. Let's see where it's at.
3:36:45miles above. [singing]
3:36:47I'm out of luck.
3:36:50When they laugh, it
3:36:56>> mainly we're getting a little bit of
3:36:58gain, but it's pushing it forward. Uh,
3:36:59if anything, it's just um there. And
3:37:02then as we add, we're adding room reverb
3:37:13>> chamber.
3:37:15above. [singing]
3:37:17>> Excuse me. That's a delay.
3:37:25>> First chamber.
3:37:31[singing]
3:37:35>> All right, let's see. What's this? Uh,
3:37:37this is the chorus.
3:37:41I'm out of luck.
3:37:44>> And these are just to kind of get like a
3:37:46little bit different texture, a little
3:37:47bit dimension, just get it to sit in the
3:37:48mix. This is where we did a lot of the
3:37:51heavy lifting on this like really
3:37:54um
3:37:55vibe EQ viby reverb. It's sort of
3:37:58chamber.
3:38:06>> Yeah. And so it's just like flange, uh,
3:38:08some EQing, really boosting the top, um,
3:38:11some saturation, and then, uh, ducking
3:38:14it while it's going. So that, and then a
3:38:17ping pong delay that's mostly doing a
3:38:20throw on it. So here's the vocal without
3:38:22any of the processing. And then I'll pop
3:38:24the processes here on so you can hear
3:38:26the the spatial processing, what it
3:38:28does.
3:38:32talk
3:38:34when they laugh it so at me.
3:38:41Can't you hear it? Are you serious?
3:38:47[singing]
3:38:50Everybody's rich and they're more
3:38:53>> no processing.
3:38:57I'm out [music] of love.
3:38:59And they laugh it so loud at me.
3:39:06Can't you hear it?
3:39:09Are you serious?
3:39:12[singing]
3:39:17>> Right. So, we still might do I'll still
3:39:19probably do some volume automation on
3:39:20that, but that's like a good spot to add
3:39:23the other instruments into our mix.
3:39:27>> Perfect.
3:39:30Thanks everybody. So
3:39:33continue mixing. You have till, you
3:39:34know, I'd say probably two or three
3:39:38a.m. Eastern time to turn those uh mixes
3:39:42in. I've been dropping the link and I'll
3:39:44drop it a couple times in the chat for
3:39:46you to send them into. We'll also send
3:39:49it out in the email and in the post when
3:39:51we send the replay out later. Uh but
3:39:53tomorrow should be a lot of fun. Now we
3:39:55got to bring everything else in around
3:39:56it. We have the foundation set, which I
3:39:58kind of consider vocal to be kind of
3:40:00part of that foundation.
3:40:02>> And now it's like
3:40:03>> what's next most important? What's next
3:40:05most important? What's next most
3:40:07important? And you're kind of adding in
3:40:09the layers of an onion around everything
3:40:11else. And that's what we'll do tomorrow.
3:40:12As well as the mix contest results, let
3:40:16you guys choose a winner for that. And
3:40:18uh announcing a brand new intensive that
3:40:21we're starting at the end of next month,
3:40:24which is going to be really cool. never
3:40:25done it before. So stick around for
3:40:28that, too. We'll see you all tomorrow.
3:40:29Thanks, Kevin. Great work today. And for
3:40:32you backstagers, we'll see you over
3:40:33there shortly. Have a great one.
3:40:36>> See you.
3:40:47>> What's going on everybody? Welcome in.
3:40:51Patty.
3:40:53>> Patty's first in line, then John. You
3:40:56guys are fast. You guys are fast on the
3:40:58on the mouse.
3:41:02Yep.
3:41:05So quick. You You would have survived
3:41:07the Wild West. Let's just say that.
3:41:13Good morning, everybody. How y'all
3:41:15doing?
3:41:21Oh, signing in from Colombia.
3:41:23>> Oh, Sab uh is uh
3:41:28>> South America.
3:41:30>> Yeah,
3:41:30>> Bogotaa.
3:41:31>> Bogotaa.
3:41:33>> I think that's how it's pronounced. I've
3:41:34never been there.
3:41:34>> I think you're right.
3:41:35>> I'd love to.
3:41:36>> I think you're right.
3:41:40>> Hi from Italy.
3:41:43What's up, Canada? Hey, Texas.
3:41:47Got California,
3:41:49another Colombia. Colombia showing
3:41:52strong today. Germany, San Diego,
3:41:54Chicago, Finland, UK, Copenhagen,
3:41:57Sweden, Chicago again, UK, Atlanta,
3:41:59Switzerland,
3:42:01another UK. Whoa, it's going fast.
3:42:05Seattle.
3:42:06>> We're worldwide, baby.
3:42:08>> It's going too fast now. What's up,
3:42:10Portugal? I'll see you in August. Hey,
3:42:17What's up, South Africa, North Carolina,
3:42:19Warsaw?
3:42:22Make sure you set your chat settings to
3:42:23everyone instead of hosts and panelists.
3:42:33More Cali, more Texas, Sri Lanka,
3:42:40Bolivia.
3:42:44What's up, Singapore?
3:42:49You're showing strong today. You're
3:42:52representing your countries and states
3:42:54well because
3:42:57you made it to the end.
3:43:01If you're still here,
3:43:04my hats off to you. You're the true
3:43:06OG's. You're the true glutton for
3:43:08punishment. You're the ones who really
3:43:10want it. That's why you came back. You
3:43:12keep coming back. You keep pushing.
3:43:15You're the ones I respect. You've come
3:43:17all this way. Welcome back to day three
3:43:23for Fix the Mix Challenge.
3:43:25I'm excited to dive into today. And a
3:43:27special thank you again to Focusright.
3:43:31We only partner with companies that we
3:43:33use. We never take a penny to partner
3:43:36with anybody. We don't take bribes. We
3:43:39just partner with the companies that we
3:43:41respect that we use. Focus right has
3:43:44been making great products for a long
3:43:45time for uh many of our students. So
3:43:48thankful for them being a part of this.
3:43:51And if you haven't been here this week,
3:43:55my name is Caleb Loveless, the director
3:43:57of education for mastering.com.
3:44:00We have Mr. Kevin McCloskkey here. He's
3:44:02been mixing
3:44:04all week with us. the fivetime Grammy
3:44:07nominated 2x Billboard number one, 32X
3:44:09Golden Platinum. He's just going
3:44:11diamond, by the way.
3:44:14>> It's It's just got to be certified.
3:44:15We're going to get there, though. The
3:44:16the artist actually has a big summer
3:44:18record that's like number one on the
3:44:20Billboard on the hip-hop charts. So,
3:44:22hopefully they'll go in and and certify
3:44:24the rest of his catalog. We'll see.
3:44:26We'll see.
3:44:27>> Amazing.
3:44:28>> Might be a good summer.
3:44:30>> Also have Mr. Rob Maises lurking in the
3:44:32background. Hey, Rob. Yo, not in the
3:44:36studio today. It's out of action.
3:44:37Flooring's getting redone. So,
3:44:40unfortunately, no nice camera angle.
3:44:44>> All good. No worries.
3:44:48So far, we've done day one where we got
3:44:50the foundation set up. Day two was all
3:44:52about vocals. Who loved yesterday? How
3:44:54great was that? The attention to detail,
3:44:57how we just got that vocal sitting
3:44:59perfectly, popping in the mix.
3:45:02It's fun to watch a wizard work.
3:45:05It's our pleasure
3:45:08>> to watch you do your thing, Kev. Great
3:45:10stuff.
3:45:10>> It's a pleasure to to do it, man. It's
3:45:12fun. It's fun. This was actually a
3:45:14little more challenging than I thought
3:45:15it would be. Uh that lead vocal. So, I'm
3:45:17glad we had
3:45:18>> surprised you had to surprised you had
3:45:19to do how much you had to do on it. It
3:45:21was interesting.
3:45:22>> I think it's because it's really just
3:45:24out there by itself.
3:45:26>> Well, raw. Yeah. the more raw something
3:45:29is,
3:45:31>> it's like you hear every little nuance
3:45:35detail.
3:45:36>> Yeah, there's nothing to hide behind in
3:45:37this one.
3:45:38>> Yep. That was a great session. What did
3:45:40y'all take away from yesterday? What
3:45:42were the big takeaways?
3:45:47>> EQing the reverb. It's a great take.
3:45:49>> It's funny because I don't usually like
3:45:50do it that much if at all. So,
3:45:56>> two reverbs. You got to use a couple.
3:45:59>> Yeah.
3:45:59>> Impressions. Vocals are hard, man.
3:46:01They're just they're just, you know,
3:46:03let's shift that there. Here's here's
3:46:06how I view it because I think you could
3:46:07think of vocals is hard. And I think it
3:46:09can feel daunting, but think of it this
3:46:11way instead. Think of it as the thing
3:46:14that takes the the most attention to
3:46:16detail, but the most humanness. It's the
3:46:19part where you inject the most
3:46:20humanness, I think, in the entire
3:46:22process because of that detail and and
3:46:24because of how connected we are as
3:46:26humans to the human voice. We understand
3:46:28it in a way that a robot never could,
3:46:31right? So, we we know how to get in
3:46:33there and understand how the emotional
3:46:36flaw at the end of a phrase becomes
3:46:39important and we can bring that out and
3:46:41bring that up. We understand that stuff.
3:46:43So, this is really our canvas to paint
3:46:46on. Vocal is is everything really. So,
3:46:49take your time with it. Uh be detailed
3:46:52with it and make it really come to life
3:46:54and give the emotion of the song and the
3:46:56lyric.
3:46:59It's an art, that's for sure. Layering
3:47:01and effects. Miss day two and three.
3:47:03Well, welcome Frank. You can go back and
3:47:06watch the replays and you'll want to
3:47:08because it's been great. Yeah, more
3:47:11plugins than I expected to. Dave Kevin
3:47:14is amazing. That is true. In fact,
3:47:16>> right? Finally. Finally, someone sees
3:47:19it.
3:47:20>> It's only been your mom telling you that
3:47:21so far, but someone else noticed, Kevin,
3:47:24>> my grandma knew. She was right. She
3:47:26wasn't lying to me all those years.
3:47:29>> Absolutely. How long did it take to
3:47:31train your ear is a question.
3:47:34>> I don't know if my ears are trained, but
3:47:37um I mean I think every I feel like
3:47:39every day, every mix I get better than I
3:47:42was. Um, so it's just like this constant
3:47:45ongoing uh journey of developing that.
3:47:49But I'd say
3:47:52a couple, you know, a couple years of of
3:47:55fooling around with it. If I had more
3:47:57mentorship, it'd probably be a little
3:47:59faster.
3:47:59>> Yeah. Come take our program. We have
3:48:01something for you.
3:48:03Uh, how long have you been mixing for?
3:48:05Someone else asked.
3:48:07>> That's a good question. Uh, really
3:48:10probably about 20 years now.
3:48:15So, I've been in like receiving like
3:48:18higher like label accolades probably for
3:48:20the past 10.
3:48:24>> How did you start?
3:48:27>> Uh, like everybody else, I just I was a
3:48:29percussionist through college. Um, I did
3:48:32some production. I didn't know why my
3:48:34production didn't sound good, and I went
3:48:35down through that rabbit hole and worked
3:48:38in studios. And I uh the industry stuff
3:48:41I ended up being the engineer for like a
3:48:43big-time producer and uh worked my way
3:48:46up from there and then opened a few of
3:48:48my own brick-andmortar studios and that
3:48:51was about it. So just kind of like just
3:48:53went along for the ride with it. Trying
3:48:55to make my initially trying to make my
3:48:58beats sound better.
3:49:00>> Here we are.
3:49:01>> Here you are. It's a It's amazing how
3:49:05many twisted turns
3:49:07life gives you sometimes. I bet you
3:49:09didn't expect you'd end up with the the
3:49:13room you have, the plaques you have, the
3:49:14experiences you've had along the way.
3:49:16It's pretty cool.
3:49:17>> I know. You know, I think I just want to
3:49:18be like water, you know, just wherever
3:49:21the universe pushes me, I'll try to go.
3:49:23And uh when I do something and I commit
3:49:26to it, I try to do it at the best I can.
3:49:29Like so if it's like gardening or
3:49:32woodworking or any of those type of
3:49:33things, I would I think I would want to
3:49:34do them at at to the best I could
3:49:37possibly do it if I really loved it and
3:49:39it just happened to be music.
3:49:40>> Nice.
3:49:41>> So it worked out.
3:49:42>> Very cool. Well, we're honored to have
3:49:45you as part of our program. Thanks for
3:49:47being a great mentor and helped students
3:49:48in our programs and thanks for doing
3:49:50this event.
3:49:51>> Yeah, man. Thank you.
3:49:53>> So today, day three, we got to bring
3:49:55everything else in. This does, this song
3:49:57doesn't actually have a ton of other
3:49:58stuff. I mean, if there there'll be
3:50:01other tracks we've worked on where maybe
3:50:03we still got a 50 or 60 tracks to bring
3:50:06in at this point. We got the foundation
3:50:08of vocals set, but it's like we got a
3:50:10lot of other stuff. Background vocals,
3:50:12layers of background vocals, guitars,
3:50:15layers of guitars, all sorts of things.
3:50:16But today, I think it's somewhat
3:50:18minimal.
3:50:20So, again, that just makes the attention
3:50:22to detail even matter more. We got to be
3:50:25more sharp. on making everything that is
3:50:28in there sound the best it possibly can
3:50:30be. We'll talk about a little bit how to
3:50:33do that. I think when we
3:50:36think about this next phase,
3:50:39if you ever get lost in it, this is the
3:50:42isn't the only way to do it. But if you
3:50:44get lost [clears throat] in it, I think
3:50:46it's okay to look look at it as a
3:50:48hierarchy of importance. Think of it as
3:50:52what's the next most important thing to
3:50:54the song?
3:51:00The goal here is let's make that fit now
3:51:03around the foundation and vocal
3:51:05properly. We're going to be carving out
3:51:08frequencies to make space for that great
3:51:10foundation that we've sent. We want them
3:51:11to sit nicely in the mix. But it's also
3:51:15important to note that it's not the
3:51:16other way around because I've seen
3:51:18people mix. I've seen the process where
3:51:20sometimes people go a different way
3:51:22about this stuff and in the end what
3:51:23they're trying to do is fit the
3:51:25foundation into everything else or fit
3:51:27the vocal into everything else and then
3:51:30they're they're changing all of that a
3:51:33bunch to make something that's less
3:51:35important work. There's another way to
3:51:38approach it and think about it, which is
3:51:40let's bring these things in like layers
3:51:41of an onion. Let's bring them in one at
3:51:43a time. We're going to create depth with
3:51:45them. We're going to find where they go
3:51:46in the depth spectrum. We're going to
3:51:47find where they go in the stereo
3:51:49spectrum. We're going to fill out
3:51:50continue to fill out our our height
3:51:53dimension of the cube, but we're always
3:51:55going to carve around that foundation,
3:51:57which already sounds good. You can
3:51:59almost release the song as it is. It's
3:52:02got a beat, got bass, got vocals.
3:52:03There's some songs that just have that.
3:52:06So, everything else is a support. And of
3:52:09course,
3:52:11don't forget this picture because now
3:52:13we're talking about the supporting cast.
3:52:15We don't want anything to distract.
3:52:17We're still thinking about consistency.
3:52:19And that ties into the way we use EQ.
3:52:23The way we use compression is all tied
3:52:26to not having anything distract us from
3:52:29where we want to guide the listener's
3:52:31attention through the process. We still
3:52:33want it to go where we want it to go.
3:52:34Whether it's on the vocal or a hook that
3:52:36comes in for a moment, everything else.
3:52:39The reason we use compression, for
3:52:40example, is to even things out so that
3:52:43the ear doesn't pick up on the subtle
3:52:46discrepancy of something being too loud
3:52:48or too quiet in a moment. The ear will
3:52:49just start to pick up on those things
3:52:50and all of a sudden it's think it's
3:52:52noticing that stuff even just
3:52:53subconsciously instead of being focused
3:52:56and immersed and lost in the illusion of
3:52:58the music.
3:53:00The reason we use EQ is to carve out
3:53:02space so nothing is building up. So
3:53:04everything has space. Notice one thing
3:53:06is you can see every face pretty much in
3:53:10that photo.
3:53:13They all found their window.
3:53:15So we got to create space for everything
3:53:17within all of that space we have in the
3:53:19dimensions of the cube that we're
3:53:21talking about.
3:53:25Anything you'd add to that, Kev?
3:53:27>> No, I mean I think I think you're dead
3:53:29on with it. It's like something has to
3:53:30be the focus, but we can't lose
3:53:32everything else only focusing on that.
3:53:34And I do find that happening a lot of
3:53:36times with the foundation. It's like
3:53:37people get really good drums and really
3:53:39good lead vocals and they don't really
3:53:41know what to do with everything else.
3:53:43And that comes with time. Um but just
3:53:45keep that in mind is that even though
3:53:47something is super important like the
3:53:48lead, the other parts of it actually
3:53:50help with the energy, they help with the
3:53:52emotion, they help with the overall um
3:53:54vibe of everything that you're doing. So
3:53:56you got you do have to still pay
3:53:58attention to those things as well.
3:53:59>> Yeah. It's funny. The other thing I see
3:54:01on the other end of the spectrum with
3:54:02the foundation with students who are
3:54:04just starting to learn it is often times
3:54:06they have the other stuff come in too
3:54:07quiet. That foundation sounds so good,
3:54:11right,
3:54:11>> that they don't know really how to build
3:54:13everything around it properly. So they
3:54:15just keep everything really quiet.
3:54:17>> But there's stuff in the track a lot of
3:54:19times it's going to be almost as loud as
3:54:22you know the vocal and a snare are. Um,
3:54:24so we we we have to become expert not
3:54:28just in bringing things in, but really
3:54:30giving them as much energy and life as
3:54:32we can. Uh, not everything will be as
3:54:35big as everything else, but you know, as
3:54:37much as it's supposed to have, giving it
3:54:39that space, giving it that energy, and
3:54:41finding the right place for it in the
3:54:43mix. So, I think that's a that's an
3:54:47important thing to think about. So, it's
3:54:49not too much, not too little.
3:54:51>> Goldilocks.
3:54:53It takes time, right? We got to it's
3:54:55it's not something we can read about and
3:54:57do it, right? We have to we have to do
3:54:59the exercises. We have to put the work
3:55:00in. Um so,
3:55:04>> and yes, this is the great lay miz. This
3:55:06is the the great lay musical. Great one.
3:55:12>> Pull the session back up. Uh over the
3:55:14over in the night, it was bothering me
3:55:16just a little bit.
3:55:18um the brightness on that reverb. I kept
3:55:23thinking like, man, I want more weight
3:55:25to it. So, I'm going to do that today
3:55:26and then we're going to jump into the
3:55:28rest of it.
3:55:29>> Um but yeah.
3:55:31>> Oh, sorry. One last question that people
3:55:33asked that I saw should answer. It can
3:55:35be any genre.
3:55:37>> It doesn't matter.
3:55:41>> Yeah. Um Yeah. And if anybody has any
3:55:44questions or you need to answer them
3:55:46while we're doing this, totally fine.
3:55:48Yeah, I'll try to answer him in chat.
3:55:50>> We're just hanging out. So, like I said,
3:55:52the only thing is is like playing this
3:55:53back that I did feel like maybe I wanted
3:55:56just a little bit more weight in that
3:55:58really viby reverb that I EQed and
3:56:00compressed and it all. And um [snorts]
3:56:03so we'll see. Um and that brings up a
3:56:05good point, I think, when we're thinking
3:56:07about mixing because mixing works sort
3:56:10of both ways, right? If it's like, "Oh,
3:56:12I want something louder." Well, we can
3:56:14turn it up or we could turn everything
3:56:17else down.
3:56:19It depends on how much room you have,
3:56:20depends on what's going on. Same thing
3:56:22here. Like if it's too bright, well, we
3:56:25could back off some of the brightness or
3:56:28we could add some more low end to it,
3:56:30right? So, it's just give and take. And
3:56:31it all depends on like at what stage,
3:56:33you know, of your in your signal flow it
3:56:36is. Uh because everything kind of most
3:56:38of the time can affect other things, can
3:56:41affect other other parts of your chain.
3:56:44Um so yeah. So that's what I'm going to
3:56:46do here. I'm just going to see if I add
3:56:47a little weight just because for
3:56:48whatever reason it was just stuck in my
3:56:50head of like ah I don't know if that
3:56:52reverb didn't it was just a little too
3:56:55bright for me. So let's just take a
3:56:57listen.
3:57:02[music]
3:57:04When they laugh it all at me.
3:57:11Can't you hear it?
3:57:14Are you serious?
3:57:17[singing]
3:57:19Everybody's rich and they're way more
3:57:21famous.
3:57:23[music]
3:57:25I don't have a chance. No. Hope I won't
3:57:27make it
3:57:31above. [singing]
3:57:33I'm out [music] of love.
3:57:35>> Okay, that feels better. Now there's
3:57:37like some little mid-range thing. Let's
3:57:40see if I can catch it. Uh, the
3:57:41compression is going to push that up.
3:57:42I'm going to pull out just a little bit
3:57:44of mid-range from that and then we
3:57:46should be good. We'll just go with ProQ4
3:57:49again.
3:57:52Want to look
3:57:55when they laugh [singing] it all at me.
3:58:02Can't you hear it? [music] Are you
3:58:05serious?
3:58:08[singing]
3:58:10Everybody's
3:58:15>> That feels good. We'll leave it at that.
3:58:17Ton of plugins on that. But, you know,
3:58:20sometimes you might go in and try to
3:58:22tweak other plugins and sometimes you
3:58:24just might jump on the end of it. It
3:58:26there is no rules. There are I mean,
3:58:27there are no rules to this. You know,
3:58:29there is no one set way of doing it. Um,
3:58:32now there are fundamental
3:58:35that you can kind of like practice, but
3:58:38in this case, we're just like trying to
3:58:39catch a vibe with this. So, that's what
3:58:41it is. All right. Um, so I actually I
3:58:44think I've only listened to the song
3:58:46when when we played it through.
3:58:49Um, so I don't really remember what's in
3:58:51the song other than there's not much. So
3:58:53I'm just going to have a listen through
3:58:55with everything else how the producer
3:58:57sent it with no processing. I'm going to
3:58:59visually look to see what's going on as
3:59:01well. And it doesn't look like there's
3:59:03even one section that is dominant from
3:59:07top to bottom. Um, other than this
3:59:09percussion loop probably. So, um, yeah,
3:59:14let's I'm just going to have a listen
3:59:15and I'm just going to think about it as
3:59:16it goes through. [music]
3:59:24[music]
3:59:30Little girl,
3:59:33ugly world. I'm alone in my home.
3:59:38Someone help me.
3:59:42Everybody's [music] rich and they're way
3:59:43more famous.
3:59:47>> I don't have a chance. No. Hope I won't
3:59:49make it.
3:59:55[music]
3:59:56Heaven help me.
4:00:01[music]
4:00:01I'm sick of myself.
4:00:05Aove,
4:00:06miles [music] above,
4:00:09I'm out of love.
4:00:11When they [music]
4:00:12laugh, it [singing] all me.
4:00:18Can't you hear it?
4:00:21Are you serious?
4:00:27Everybody's rich and they're way more
4:00:29famous.
4:00:31[music]
4:00:32I don't have a chance. No hope I won't
4:00:34make it.
4:00:40>> [music]
4:00:42>> Heaven help me.
4:00:46[music]
4:00:46>> I'm sick of myself.
4:00:53Help me. [singing and music]
4:00:59[music]
4:01:03Oh.
4:01:10Oh.
4:01:13[music]
4:01:22Hallelujah.
4:01:37Very cool. All right. Um, yeah. So,
4:01:42it's this is going to be interesting
4:01:44because we spent so much time on getting
4:01:46like the vocals in a good place that
4:01:51almost a lot of the main melodic ideas
4:01:54from the production are also vocals.
4:01:58Right? So, uh,
4:02:02if we take a listen here, it's
4:02:08right. And these kind of have a lot of
4:02:09presence in them. And, uh, I would
4:02:12assume that they they sound a bit like
4:02:14Lucy's voice. I don't know if Lucy did
4:02:16them, but they're sort of, you know,
4:02:17they're kind of in the same range. So,
4:02:18it's like, what do we do? Well, if I
4:02:22have to choose, I'm choosing Lucy
4:02:24always. Um, a few things that I did too
4:02:27was just go in and do a little bit of
4:02:29volume automation, uh, or just clip
4:02:31gaining down. So, like a little bit of
4:02:33gain staging to when I heard things that
4:02:36were really standing out. Um, so I just
4:02:39tried to bring those down. Some some of
4:02:41these I brought down by about 5 dB.
4:02:44Um, others a little bit more, but that's
4:02:48just like how it's reacting initially.
4:02:50And it's sort of like how we would do
4:02:51like a fader mix, right? where like if
4:02:54we brought everything up and then set it
4:02:55how you want. The reason why I don't
4:02:57recommend doing like just a static fader
4:03:00mix to begin with a lot of times um is
4:03:03because faders are like
4:03:07they're kind of turning everything down
4:03:08post
4:03:10processing. Uh which is fine, but
4:03:15if say you have something that's high,
4:03:17right? So, say that something maybe you
4:03:19only have one dB of headroom or it's
4:03:20right at at unity gain right at zero uh
4:03:23as far as the amplitude of it. If we try
4:03:25to do any type of additive EQing,
4:03:28right, and say we pull the fader down 20
4:03:30dB to get it to be where you want in the
4:03:32mix. Well, if we do any type of additive
4:03:33EQing at that point, then it's
4:03:35distorted. Um, so really what what a lot
4:03:39of people would say like, oh, you know,
4:03:41I want to do a fader mix. Well, we are,
4:03:43but we're doing it instead of grabbing
4:03:44faders, which maybe you have some faders
4:03:46in front of you or whatever, but we're
4:03:48actually doing it from a clip gain
4:03:49perspective. So, from here, right,
4:03:51versus grabbing a fader and doing it
4:03:54here. Um, and it would be I think if you
4:03:59were on a live board, right, it'd be
4:04:00less about grabbing these faders and
4:04:01moving them and more about moving where
4:04:04your input is, like like say you had
4:04:06input at the top, right? And we're using
4:04:08those faders. We're leaving those at
4:04:10unity gain and we're using those for I
4:04:11use them for automation or or small um
4:04:14dB adjustments. So like if we look at
4:04:16here, you know, the faders aren't all
4:04:18over the place. Um and that's just, you
4:04:21know, what I choose to do. You can
4:04:24absolutely if you understand
4:04:27gainstaging and and and where your input
4:04:29levels are at. If you want to use it,
4:04:31you know, use faders to move it around,
4:04:33it's fine. Especially in the digital
4:04:35world, right, we're we're clicking. If
4:04:36you have an analog board, use the
4:04:38faders. If you're um you know, if you
4:04:40have a control surface that you really
4:04:41like to use, totally fine. But these are
4:04:44the reasons why I'm doing it like this.
4:04:46So, when you see me grabbing these and
4:04:48pulling it down 5dB, it would be the
4:04:50same as if you know you were on doing a
4:04:53static fader mix except for the process
4:04:56or the order in which it affects um the
4:05:00plugins that you use. So, these are
4:05:03prior to the plug plugins, whereas the
4:05:05fader would be post. All right.
4:05:08So let's talk about it lead vocal and
4:05:12these um so when we talk about
4:05:14foundation and then doing the lead
4:05:17vocals which is a lot of times part of
4:05:19foundation the next step is like order
4:05:23of importance. Well how do we know
4:05:25what's important? Sometimes it's it's
4:05:27apparent right? So maybe you have like
4:05:29these rhythmic acoustics that that go
4:05:31through the whole session. But in this
4:05:33case, it goes from these hums
4:05:36to some keys with some synths and bells
4:05:39to some vocal chops that are different
4:05:42tamber um and transition and and then
4:05:45there's these really heavy chord stacks
4:05:48in here. So [snorts]
4:05:51it's up to you. I don't really have an
4:05:54answer because it's going to change
4:05:55every time, but it's it's what you think
4:05:59is the most important at the time. Now,
4:06:02another thing to think about is like if
4:06:04there was a lot of parts playing at
4:06:06once, order of importance is a little
4:06:09bit more relevant, right? Because then
4:06:11we have to say, okay, well, what's
4:06:12driving the song? What's, you know,
4:06:13what's going to get us the best possible
4:06:16result? But in this case, it's sort of
4:06:18each section just is doing its own
4:06:19thing. There's this one section right
4:06:21here where there's a few things that are
4:06:23stacked on top of each other.
4:06:26And it looks like it's just during this
4:06:27verse,
4:06:29but I will I think I'll just treat these
4:06:32as like, hey, we're just going to knock
4:06:33them out. We're just going to go down go
4:06:35down the list here. Um, and see where
4:06:37they sound good at. So, the hardest
4:06:39thing is probably going to be these,
4:06:42I would guess, these hums and these
4:06:43vocal chops. So, let's just start with
4:06:45the hums and see what we can do with
4:06:47this vocal.
4:06:49So, where does it start at? Here.
4:06:54And then it goes to here. Right. So,
4:06:56let's put a marker in just for fun. Call
4:06:59it phase one.
4:07:04Okay.
4:07:07So, here we go. Verse one.
4:07:12[music]
4:07:18Little girl, [music]
4:07:20ugly world. I'm alone in my hell.
4:07:25[music]
4:07:25>> All right. And I do feel like this is
4:07:27coming in a little hot um on the input
4:07:30based on the processing. Totally fine.
4:07:32I'll just pull it back some leading into
4:07:34it.
4:07:35>> [music]
4:07:36>> Ugly world. I'm alone in my
4:07:46way.
4:07:48>> Right. So, do you see right there? What
4:07:50happened is if we I brought it down I
4:07:52don't know about 23 dB or actually a
4:07:55little bit more.
4:07:57So, it was at 2.8. I think that's where
4:07:59we're at sort of across the board or
4:08:004.9. But what is happening is I'm using
4:08:03that same vocal chain that I used for
4:08:05this other part. And and what I'm
4:08:08realizing is based on the range that
4:08:10she's in now, right? So she's not in
4:08:12these falsettos.
4:08:13There's probably a little bit more
4:08:14amplitude and it's overcompressing,
4:08:22>> which is cool, right? It's it's a it's a
4:08:24sound. It's a vibe, but I feel like it's
4:08:28too much. So, instead of going back and
4:08:30reworking like a brand new chain on
4:08:32this, which I could do, but I'm I I
4:08:34don't really want to change like the EQ
4:08:35processing and things on that, I think
4:08:37that's okay. I want to
4:08:40focus on how much I'm actually feeding
4:08:42these compressors and these DSers and
4:08:44those type of things. So, um, so I just
4:08:48turn it down and I just find a spot
4:08:50where it feels like it's the right
4:08:52amount of compression feeding into it
4:08:53just by using the clip gain here. And
4:08:55the reason why I'm doing it now is
4:08:56because I can hear how it's reacting to
4:08:58the compressors. Um, this works most of
4:09:01the time. Sometimes I may have to go
4:09:02back and just process this section
4:09:05differently to try to make it match, but
4:09:07in this case, I think just pulling it
4:09:09down gave us a little bit more natural
4:09:11style compression, especially for this
4:09:12this beginning of the song when we don't
4:09:14need that much. Little girl,
4:09:19ugly world. I'm alone in [music] my
4:09:22head.
4:09:24Someone help me.
4:09:28Everybody's [music] rich and they're way
4:09:29more famous.
4:09:33I don't [music] have a chance. No hope.
4:09:34I won't make it.
4:09:36>> And so the thing is too, so we're
4:09:37playing these hums right now. We're
4:09:39playing these other parts, but I'm not
4:09:42basing anything off of these parts,
4:09:43right? These parts have to work with
4:09:45this vocal. So, what I'm listening for
4:09:46now is just the way the vocal sounds in
4:09:49this one section to make sure that it's
4:09:50appropriate before I do anything else.
4:09:52And then I I'll jump to those hums. So,
4:10:00>> I'm alone. [music]
4:10:03>> All right.
4:10:07Let's see. Let's do this.
4:10:13I just want to hear something.
4:10:16I keep going back to like this little
4:10:17alter boy
4:10:19sound in my head and I'm just so curious
4:10:23as to what it would sound like if we
4:10:25layered that in here.
4:10:28Uh, plus there's not a whole lot of
4:10:29stuff in the in the beat. So, those are
4:10:31going to be pretty easy. Let's drop this
4:10:33an octave and turn it down. See what
4:10:35happens.
4:10:39Or it at 12.
4:10:43All right, let's turn this down.
4:10:54[music]
4:10:56world. I'm alone in my hell. [music]
4:11:04Everybody's [music] rich and they're way
4:11:06more.
4:11:07>> All right, cool. I'll keep that there
4:11:09just in case I want it at some point
4:11:13cuz I'm going to want it. I know I'm
4:11:15going to want it. All right, now let's
4:11:16make this work. So, let's listen to
4:11:18these. All right, so Lucy has to win
4:11:20this. So, I have to choose on these hums
4:11:25what is most appropriate, what
4:11:28frequencies
4:11:29are most appropriate to get rid of so
4:11:33that Lucy stands out. Um, let's see what
4:11:36kind of processing is just on these by
4:11:38themselves.
4:11:42Okay, so just like a little bit of like
4:11:43a room or a hole. So, there are space
4:11:46there is space where I can like add some
4:11:48of the spatial processing that I already
4:11:50have. I can add it on there. Uh, but
4:11:52yeah, let's look at it. Let's try to
4:11:56make it sound good with that actual
4:11:58vocal. So, the first thing that we do is
4:12:03we want to mix it with that vocal going.
4:12:05So, we want to gain stage that [music]
4:12:11alone.
4:12:13[music]
4:12:18Everybody's rich and they're way more.
4:12:21[music]
4:12:27>> Okay, so the first thing I did was just
4:12:28get the volume right to where it's like
4:12:30now sitting behind Lucy.
4:12:33Ugly world. I'm alone [music] in my
4:12:37hell.
4:12:39Someone help me. [singing]
4:12:42Everybody's [music] rich and they're way
4:12:44more famous.
4:12:48>> I don't have a chance. No hope I won't
4:12:50make it.
4:12:52Ugly.
4:12:54I'm alone. [music]
4:13:01Okay. So, the cool thing that Chris did,
4:13:03which is a really, really smart move
4:13:04from a producer, is he did not make this
4:13:08section interfere with Lucid. So, there
4:13:11there's only one part like on this
4:13:13little hit,
4:13:16>> right, where that hits while she's
4:13:18going. There's just a few a few small
4:13:20parts where that happens. Great. So,
4:13:22that means that I don't have to worry
4:13:23about getting them out of the way as
4:13:24much. I'll still do it. I'll do a little
4:13:26side chaining on this one,
4:13:28but it it'll allow me just to kind of
4:13:30enhance it and let it fill in the spaces
4:13:33that she's not not going. So, how bright
4:13:35we make this is going to determine how
4:13:37bright the song sounds. Um,
4:13:40let's first and foremost, let's just
4:13:41take this. I'm going to drop it out of
4:13:42the middle. So, I'll start with 5dB. I'm
4:13:45going to change this just to the
4:13:46midfield here. And we're going to use
4:13:48this vocal bus to trigger it. So now if
4:13:52we hit this little button, this is
4:13:54external side chain for the key input.
4:13:56So we changed our key input and when
4:13:58Lucy, it will only do the dynamic EQing
4:14:01when Lucy is singing. And I'm only going
4:14:04to do it in the midfield. So somewhere
4:14:06in mid-range. I'll do it a little bit
4:14:08lower because it's a darker pop song.
4:14:09But [music]
4:14:12>> right, we see it's only reacting to
4:14:14Lucy.
4:14:17>> Ugly.
4:14:18I'm alone [music] in my hell.
4:14:22Someone help me.
4:14:26Everybody's rich in their way. So, and
4:14:29the the main thing that I'm I'm
4:14:31listening for here, too, is that um
4:14:36that Lucy's always winning, right? I
4:14:38need Lucy to win this competition since
4:14:40she's not masked at all by these
4:14:45>> ugly.
4:14:46I'm alone in my hell. [music]
4:14:50Someone help [singing] me.
4:14:54[music]
4:14:59>> So, uh, Louisa
4:15:02brought up a good point. She's like, I I
4:15:03never know what which frequency to duck.
4:15:05Well, the easiest way is to go in and
4:15:08and solo this and move it around like if
4:15:10you're unsure and with that lead vocal
4:15:13going at like full value and then you'll
4:15:16hear what portions of those frequencies.
4:15:18So, like a fairly wide cue like this and
4:15:23you'll hear it where it masks. Now,
4:15:24we're not going to hear it as much in
4:15:25this because it's not really going when
4:15:27the vocals are going. But, I want you
4:15:29all to get used to this move I'm going
4:15:31to do on this because it's going to
4:15:32allow me to put it in in a spot. uh it's
4:15:35going to allow me to make these sounds
4:15:36really come up and not interfere with
4:15:37Lucy but still hold space. You know,
4:15:40another thing to think about with this
4:15:43is um
4:15:47the what's it going to like the amount
4:15:50that you're doing. So if you feel like
4:15:52you know maybe you do a few dB I usually
4:15:54start with five and I usually maybe a
4:15:55th00and hertz 1k is my starting point.
4:15:59Um but if you need more pull it down and
4:16:01see like does it feel good? Are we
4:16:03getting a little bit more lead vocal? I
4:16:04wouldn't necessarily recommend doing
4:16:06like 30 dB, but I usually start with
4:16:07about five. That'll give it enough. Um,
4:16:11that'll give it enough to get it to get
4:16:13the party started, you know. Um, okay.
4:16:17So, let's add let's let's do some stuff.
4:16:20Let's let's make these more exciting,
4:16:22right? So, let's do some EQing on just
4:16:24the side fields and anything that you
4:16:26have. I could use ProQ for this. Uh, but
4:16:28I want to do some saturation type things
4:16:31just to see if we can make these sounds
4:16:33more exciting. So, we're going to unlink
4:16:35when we switch to midside mode. And all
4:16:38the midfield midfield is is when there
4:16:41are a sound is the exact same out of the
4:16:43left and right. And your side field are
4:16:45is the differences, right? So, when the
4:16:47left and the right are not the same. And
4:16:49so that that's like what you hear if we
4:16:52let's see if we do it from
4:16:59see if I can listen here.
4:17:02Okay. So like this is the midfield.
4:17:09[music]
4:17:15>> And that's the side field, right? So
4:17:17there's this information on the side
4:17:18that's different than exactly what's in
4:17:20the middle. And that's what kind of
4:17:21gives us like a stereo image, right? The
4:17:24differences between the left and the
4:17:25right. So we can EQ these things and we
4:17:29can lift and raise. A lot of times when
4:17:31we think about width, it's kind of the
4:17:32sides coming up some. Um there's
4:17:35different ways to do it, but so that's
4:17:37what I'm trying to affect on this is
4:17:38kind of bring the sides up.
4:17:43I'm alone in my hell.
4:17:47Someone help me. [singing]
4:17:51So, this is just the sides.
4:18:00Okay. And so, I'm going to pull this up
4:18:03and let's see. Let's saturate it some.
4:18:05Let's put some Let's put some low mid in
4:18:07it. Right. Everybody's scared of this
4:18:08like four or 500. Let's see what happens
4:18:10when we when we mess with it.
4:18:23And let's do
4:18:26do 5k. Make it big.
4:18:42I'm going to actually bring the mid down
4:18:43a little bit
4:18:50without it.
4:18:54All right, one more time.
4:18:57This is without the plugin.
4:19:01Ready?
4:19:08Okay, so now we have a lot more width,
4:19:12some more energy into it. Let's see how
4:19:13it feels with the lead vocal.
4:19:18>> Oh, didn't want us to be great today.
4:19:24>> Alone. [music]
4:19:30Okay. So, what I'm hearing now is like
4:19:32it is sounding good, but we're boosting
4:19:33a little bit of presence in 2K. And I
4:19:36want I really want this to sit behind
4:19:38the vocal like as far as like texture-
4:19:40wise. Um, so let's put this in stereo
4:19:44mode and let's find that search and
4:19:46destroy.
4:19:54[singing]
4:19:55>> All right.
4:19:57>> Ugly.
4:19:59I'm alone [music] in my
4:20:04>> cool. Very cool. Let's Let's throw that
4:20:07mix wave on there. Let's put a little
4:20:09weight on it. See if that does anything.
4:20:12[music]
4:20:22>> All right.
4:20:24And then
4:20:27we could do a little spatial processing
4:20:29with this. But that's feeling pretty
4:20:30good. What about that? Puts some weight.
4:20:32Let's What if we do like some
4:20:33saturation? Let's add some like grit to
4:20:36it. So,
4:20:38I've been digging these Safari pedals
4:20:40lately, but I haven't really got to
4:20:42explore a lot of them. What is this
4:20:44cassette bunny? Let's see what this
4:20:46does. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't.
4:20:50>> Ugly.
4:20:52I'm alone [music] in my hell.
4:20:56Someone help me
4:21:01ugly world. I'm alone.
4:21:05[music]
4:21:07>> All right. So, now let's listen to it.
4:21:10And we'll just get a loop here. Let's
4:21:11listen to it uh with no processing
4:21:13versus processing.
4:21:18Alone [music] in my hell.
4:21:22[music]
4:21:24Ugly world. I'm alone in my hell.
4:21:28[music]
4:21:29>> Okay, cool. Cool. Very cool. Um, so now
4:21:33it feels good. I'm not going to spend
4:21:34any more time on that. Let's, you know,
4:21:37at some point you just got to have to be
4:21:38like, hey, whatever. It's done. But
4:21:40let's add some spatial processing um now
4:21:43to see if we can make it fit a little
4:21:45bit more of the same space that Lucia is
4:21:47in.
4:21:49Ugly world. I'm alone in my [music]
4:21:55home.
4:21:57Ugly world. I'm alone in my hell.
4:22:01[music]
4:22:05Ugly world. I'm alone [music] in my
4:22:08hell.
4:22:13Ugly world. I'm alone in my
4:22:19home
4:22:22world.
4:22:24>> All right,
4:22:26then. So, that's feeling good. Just
4:22:30little stuff, right? We're just the the
4:22:32whole idea is like, let's make this
4:22:34sound sound like it's coming from the
4:22:36same space, right? Because if it's too
4:22:38disjointed, if even if the vocal sounds
4:22:40great, but these sounds don't sound like
4:22:42they're coming from the same place, then
4:22:43we're going to have a problem. So,
4:22:46[music]
4:22:53>> okay. So, that's feeling good. And let's
4:22:55pull this back just a hair in the
4:22:57middle.
4:23:01I'm alone [music] in my hell.
4:23:04>> And we'll do volume down just a bit
4:23:06more.
4:23:08[music]
4:23:09U
4:23:13[music]
4:23:15>> So what I'm listening for now is that I
4:23:18[clears throat] don't want to push
4:23:18everything to the front, but there's
4:23:20nothing to block this. There's nothing
4:23:21to get in the way of this sound. And by
4:23:25compressing it, because there's not
4:23:26really this dynamic difference between
4:23:28things, right? So we're not think if you
4:23:30think like a jazz saxoponist or
4:23:32something where there's like right so
4:23:34they're like hitting like these accents.
4:23:36Well that's important. We don't want to
4:23:37compress those out. But these are sort
4:23:38of like the same level. So having this
4:23:42having this locked in like that I can
4:23:44actually set it within the layers that
4:23:45we've already established from front to
4:23:47back. So we hear it you know we can hear
4:23:49it at these different levels. But if we
4:23:51push it to the front then it distracts
4:23:52from Lucy. So just just for experiment
4:23:56purposes, right?
4:23:58ugly world. I'm alone [music] in my
4:24:04>> We could put it there if we wanted to,
4:24:05right? Or we could put it [music]
4:24:10alone.
4:24:14>> I worry at that volume. The other
4:24:16volume, it doesn't really invoke the
4:24:18emotion, right, that I was expecting it
4:24:21to do. And then at this volume, it
4:24:23distracts from Lucy. So that's the idea.
4:24:26And and when we get really good control
4:24:28over this and we have a ton of depth,
4:24:30well, we can set these within that layer
4:24:31and we can hear the layers of our
4:24:33reverbs and where those go back another
4:24:34layer. So we have this front to back,
4:24:36right? And we think panning left and
4:24:37right space here, up and down
4:24:39frequencies, but even within this the
4:24:41depth, we have this layer, this layer.
4:24:43Yeah, maybe the snare kick and the
4:24:45vocals are up here, but then there's
4:24:46these layers. But then there's this
4:24:48layer back here. So if we make space, we
4:24:50can hear all these little layers.
4:24:53And we can play around with those,
4:24:54right? So, boom. That one's knocked out.
4:24:56I'm not going to play with that anymore.
4:24:57Let's see what's going on with these
4:24:58keys when this comes in. [music]
4:25:07>> So, it's just layering a little bit.
4:25:09Let's see what's Let's see what's
4:25:10happening with these heavier ones up
4:25:12here. [music]
4:25:18me laugh it all at me.
4:25:25Can't you hear it? [music] Are you
4:25:29serious?
4:25:30>> Okay. So, what I think I'm going to do
4:25:31is I want a little more weight out of
4:25:33these, right? I want some more low mid
4:25:35weight. Um,
4:25:39and so let's put it in. I'm going to
4:25:41still mess with the side field here, but
4:25:44let's put it I'm going to go pretty wide
4:25:46and we'll do something like uh Spectre's
4:25:48awesome. You can kind of get these
4:25:49different like even harmonics, odd
4:25:51harmonics. Let's go to We'll go to
4:25:54tubeove
4:26:01[music]
4:26:02it.
4:26:04me.
4:26:12>> All right. Just got Let's do I don't
4:26:15want to freeze that yet.
4:26:18I'm taxing it a little bit today, y'all.
4:26:22Take these. Freeze them.
4:26:27Just freeing up some resources.
4:26:28Sometimes with Zoom on Zoom calls, um
4:26:32the system doesn't want to let it do it
4:26:34and when I have to use my laptop screen.
4:26:35So,
4:26:45[music]
4:26:50Let me
4:26:54hear it. [music]
4:26:56Are you serious?
4:27:00[singing]
4:27:03Miles [music] above.
4:27:05I'm out of love.
4:27:08When [music] they laugh, it
4:27:12me.
4:27:16>> Cool. All right, we have this section.
4:27:19Now we're actually working on like the
4:27:20original section that we worked on.
4:27:22Let's add this. There's a lot of stuff
4:27:23going on here, too. Let's add our synth
4:27:25bell. See what's happening. [music]
4:27:31>> Oh, this is a good one, right?
4:27:34Because what we hear is this sound,
4:27:37right? And it has sort of the sustain
4:27:39sort of this dirt like it's going,
4:27:42right? It's giving us some of those low
4:27:44mids. Um, but the beauty in this is now
4:27:47we have some transient information,
4:27:48right? we have that we can probably pull
4:27:50out. Whereas on some of the keys and the
4:27:54those vocal chops there was, but they're
4:27:57more meant to be like a huh. These
4:27:59areoop
4:28:01we're bouncing the ball. So, let's bring
4:28:03that ball out.
4:28:07This is where we can get really funky
4:28:08with some of these transient shapers.
4:28:10And what we can do is we can make
4:28:11thisoop.
4:28:14We can make that stand out without
4:28:16bringing it up. So, if I don't do that,
4:28:18if I just bring this all the way up, I'm
4:28:19I'm going to use this to turn the gain
4:28:21up and not just like the transients.
4:28:23Watch how it how much space the the
4:28:26noise bed in it takes up.
4:28:29[music]
4:28:38[singing]
4:28:41>> Which is cool. But what did we lose in
4:28:44the chat? Does anybody notice what we
4:28:46lost as we turned those up
4:28:51that we worked so hard on?
4:28:55Almost. Almost starts with an R.
4:28:59Reverb. There we go. Chris, you got it
4:29:01first. You went ice cream cone. Um,
4:29:05yeah. So, so now we've covered up our
4:29:07reverb, right? We don't had that pretty
4:29:09reverb that that we really worked out
4:29:10for the vocals. Well,
4:29:13the reverb kind of lives in, you know,
4:29:15if we're talking about layers, let's
4:29:17talk about five. The le the reverb is
4:29:19really living in like four or five of
4:29:20our depth layer. Um, and I've never used
4:29:23these numbers before. I just maybe it
4:29:24works. Let's see. But say like we have
4:29:26these five layers of depth, right? So,
4:29:28they're like in this four or five range.
4:29:30Um, and so we're eating that up with
4:29:31that. But what if we leave that noise
4:29:34back like in that five so that the
4:29:35reverb still can sit on top of it, but
4:29:37we bring the bloop. What if we bring
4:29:40those out by increasing the transients
4:29:42in these? And let's see if we can make
4:29:44those stand out without covering up our
4:29:45reverbs. miles above. [singing]
4:29:49I'm out [music] of love.
4:29:51When they laugh, it sol me.
4:29:58Can't you hear it? [music]
4:30:01Are you serious?
4:30:04[singing]
4:30:06[crying]
4:30:08>> Cool. Right. So, now we've got theoop
4:30:12like those things. Super fun. um really
4:30:15help it move and keep it dark. Um now I
4:30:18actually feel like the keys are a little
4:30:20too bright, but I'll put another EQ on
4:30:21those just to dip out what I'm not
4:30:22liking. And
4:30:27we hear our reverbs, but now I have
4:30:28space. So let's do without it. All this
4:30:30is doing is I'm just bringing up the
4:30:31transients. I you can basically EQ
4:30:33transients with this. um
4:30:37it does a good job of like over the the
4:30:39course of a sound with something like
4:30:40instruments or even like a full mix of
4:30:42like bringing the transients out in a
4:30:43musical way where sometimes transient
4:30:45shapers get a little bit too like I
4:30:48don't want that. I just want it to keep
4:30:49the length that it has but just
4:30:52versus the the the the bed that's in
4:30:55there. So without it [music]
4:31:02When they laugh, it s
4:31:11[music]
4:31:14All right. And there's just one little
4:31:16frequency in this that I don't like in
4:31:19these keys. And maybe we do the mid
4:31:21thing again, right? Maybe we find it in
4:31:23here and dip it out with the when the
4:31:25lead vocals going.
4:31:29I'm out [music] of luck
4:31:32when they laugh it so me.
4:31:38>> All right, that one.
4:31:39>> Can't you hear it?
4:31:41Are you serious?
4:31:45[singing]
4:31:48[music] Aove,
4:31:50I'm out of love.
4:31:53When they laugh it [singing] all at me.
4:32:00Can't you hear it? [music] Are you
4:32:04serious?
4:32:06[singing]
4:32:09Miles [music] above.
4:32:12I'm out of love.
4:32:14When they laugh, it sol.
4:32:21Can't you hear it?
4:32:24Are you serious?
4:32:27>> Okay, awesome. Let's see what's going on
4:32:30here. We got these little vocal chop
4:32:32stack things.
4:32:34Let's see what's happening. So, now I'm
4:32:37just adding, right? We're just piecing
4:32:38it together because a lot of these just
4:32:40aren't playing at the same time. Um,
4:32:48let's see.
4:32:52Can't you hear it?
4:32:55You [music] serious?
4:32:58[singing]
4:33:01Everybody's rich and they're way more
4:33:03famous.
4:33:05[music]
4:33:06Okay, these are very present.
4:33:09Let's see what happens. We use a little
4:33:12trick here. It might work, might not
4:33:14work.
4:33:16Uh, this is like some some prolevel
4:33:18stuff that I use like one out of every
4:33:20million mixes. So, maybe it works.
4:33:26This is an auto panner, right? And we'll
4:33:30make the width max and we'll make the
4:33:32rate as fast as possible. Um,
4:33:38we'll go here back and forth. So, it's
4:33:40throwing it left and right really
4:33:41quickly.
4:34:02All right,
4:34:05let's get this just a little bit less
4:34:07here.
4:34:24Very cool. All right, let's throw some
4:34:26of this spatial processing on it. And
4:34:29normally I wouldn't solo it like this,
4:34:30but I do think it's just fun for you all
4:34:32to hear kind of like what I'm thinking
4:34:34on it. Um, so I'm kind of pushing it
4:34:36out. I don't know. It's just like auto
4:34:37panning super fast, but because of how
4:34:40rhythmic it is, it's working.
4:34:48[music]
4:34:51[singing]
4:34:52>> All right, now we're hearing it. So,
4:34:53let's turn this down a little bit. And
4:34:56then let's see if we can make it poke
4:34:58out with that transient shape or another
4:35:00one. Let's use a different one. Let's
4:35:01use a smack attack.
4:35:06See how it sounds.
4:35:12[music]
4:35:14[singing]
4:35:19>> Can't you hear it?
4:35:22Are you serious? [music]
4:35:25[singing]
4:35:28So, now we're hearing it. Um, we're not
4:35:30hearing anything that's like covering up
4:35:32the lead vocal. Um,
4:35:36you know, this would be this this is
4:35:38more exper experimental than I would
4:35:40typically go on a mix, but it's fun.
4:35:42We're doing it here. Um, and it's
4:35:44because they sound great, right?
4:35:45Remember when we talked about how much
4:35:47time or how much energy we have to
4:35:50enhance things. This is an example of
4:35:53that. Um, because there's not any
4:35:55problems. Everything we could leave it
4:35:57as it is and it works, but like what can
4:35:59we really do to enhance it to make it
4:36:00better to where it feels feels great.
4:36:03Um, and that's sort of the main parts.
4:36:04There's this Let's There's this heavy
4:36:06part here. Let's see what's going on
4:36:07with that.
4:36:20Okay. So, there's ad lips happening on
4:36:22this. Let's see what happens when we add
4:36:23the ad lips.
4:36:28[singing]
4:36:37All right. So, let's do the same thing
4:36:38with this. We're going to drop our ProQ
4:36:41on there with that mid scooped out.
4:36:42We're going to shift it up a little bit.
4:36:45Um,
4:36:46finally,
4:36:50[music]
4:36:56[music]
4:37:01[music]
4:37:05>> cuz we don't want to lose her. I might
4:37:08have to EQ her just a little bit to
4:37:09stand out in the mix because it's kind
4:37:10of washed out. But here, let's jump in.
4:37:14mess with the sides again on this uh the
4:37:16vertigo the VSSM3. So, this is just
4:37:18going to add some saturation. So, one of
4:37:19the things that I like about Lucy's
4:37:22vocal, especially with the focus, right
4:37:24pre that I'm hearing in that ISA channel
4:37:27that I'm not used to hearing with her is
4:37:29the grit, right? So, it's adding some
4:37:31harmonic saturation. And this these are
4:37:34great. The problem with a lot of these
4:37:36sounds is if she was on a cleaner signal
4:37:39like a U87
4:37:41that didn't have quite the harmonic
4:37:43content, it would be fine. We'd do like
4:37:46super hi-fi, but because it's a little
4:37:48grittier, but it's still detailed, I'm
4:37:51trying to bring out gritty in all these
4:37:53other sounds. Um, just to make them feel
4:37:55like they're coming from the same space.
4:37:58So, uh, this is a great great plugin
4:38:02for just some cool coloration. I usually
4:38:05like to start with this MS Master cuz by
4:38:07default it's kind of like brushed. I'll
4:38:10show you like as you pop it on. Um,
4:38:16[music]
4:38:20about it.
4:38:23So, it's actually working for this. But
4:38:24let's see what happens if we kind of
4:38:25lift up on the these sides a little bit.
4:38:27And so we can change like what frequency
4:38:28band we're lifting here. We can push it
4:38:30to mid or side here. Um and then add
4:38:33some drive in that. So let's put it on
4:38:37uh let's see how it feels in the mix. It
4:38:40felt I think it felt a little bit dark.
4:38:49It's just a hair dark. Let's see what
4:38:50happens if we if we add some to the top
4:38:51here. Let's do highs here.
4:38:55There you go.
4:39:01>> [music]
4:39:04>> Oh,
4:39:07I [music]
4:39:09wonder.
4:39:16>> Oh man, that is an awesome reverb at the
4:39:18end of that. I don't know where that
4:39:19reverb has come from, but it is sick.
4:39:22Great, great choice. Great production
4:39:24choice.
4:39:25um
4:39:28from Chris there from Takakota.
4:39:35[music]
4:39:45[music]
4:39:47>> All right. And let's do just a little
4:39:49bit more top in in those littleoop ploop
4:39:51ploops. Um, and this might be something
4:39:53that I automate for this section, but
4:39:55let's just see if it feels good in here.
4:39:58Let's actually use the TB tech. Let's do
4:40:00another transient shaper. Let's make
4:40:01just the top end of it poke
4:40:04compared to how it sounded before. We're
4:40:06going transient shaper crazy today,
4:40:08Caleb.
4:40:10>> We're all the way in. That's right.
4:40:11>> You always do.
4:40:14>> Um, okay. We'll bring this down. We'll
4:40:15bring this down.
4:40:16>> I think that's your favorite tool.
4:40:18Well, I'm so fascinated with depth
4:40:20because I'm I have senesthesia and I I
4:40:22really think that that's
4:40:25transient shapers help define within
4:40:28this whatever crazy psychedelic imagery
4:40:32that I have in my head from this music.
4:40:34And so it's like, oh, I can actually
4:40:36like
4:40:37refine what's going on within the depth.
4:40:40Like you said in lay miz, right? It's
4:40:41the faces. Right now I'm giving
4:40:42everybody faces even though they're not
4:40:44quite as bright
4:40:45>> as the character on the middle stage.
4:40:47So, and you can do this. Everybody does
4:40:49this differently, right? I'm using it
4:40:51this way because that's what I have in
4:40:53front of me. You'll give me the next mix
4:40:55and you won't see hardly any of this
4:40:56stuff. So, um, we just get this get this
4:40:59way by shooting in the gym, right? We
4:41:00got to put the reps in.
4:41:05[music]
4:41:13I [music]
4:41:14sing under.
4:41:18[music]
4:41:24[music]
4:41:32>> All right. So, now let's listen to it.
4:41:34Let's We hear it a little bit in
4:41:35context, which is good, right? Because I
4:41:37don't want to I still don't want to
4:41:38distract
4:41:50All
4:42:12right. So now what you notice is that we
4:42:14are hearing it on the sides, but we're
4:42:15also hearing it like poke through
4:42:16differently. And so we're I'm really
4:42:18just kind of trying to take out that
4:42:21space of where like this would compete
4:42:23with the lead vocal up the middle. So
4:42:25let's add in our ad
4:42:36[laughter]
4:42:41[music]
4:42:42myself.
4:42:49So, these are a little bit they're a
4:42:52little bit extra. And I'm going to pop
4:42:55one more EQ on the back because these
4:42:57harmonics are adding to this. I don't
4:42:59want to like pull it off before because
4:43:00that might mess with the way that
4:43:02they're like giving you what they're
4:43:04giving with the harmonics. So, we're
4:43:06almost done here. Um I know we still got
4:43:09to do our contest. So, um I'm just going
4:43:12to go through I'm going to add some of
4:43:14the other parts. A lot of times with
4:43:15sound effects, Atmos stuff, I'm just
4:43:17leaving them. I'm just making them sound
4:43:18good.
4:43:26That right there. [music]
4:43:29Let's do dynamic EQ so it only does it
4:43:30when we need it.
4:43:35[music]
4:43:46>> [music]
4:43:52>> All right. I want you to hear now as we
4:43:54push this up on the sides just a little
4:43:56bit. We're taking out like the harsh the
4:43:59scratchy at this 3k here. And it's and
4:44:01when it reaches like the top, right, the
4:44:05highest amplitude, it goes almost even
4:44:07with the snare. So now I'm playing with
4:44:09my cube of like these sounds that are
4:44:11sustained energy, but they go and I'm
4:44:14letting that them stop right there.
4:44:20[music]
4:44:25[music]
4:44:26All right.
4:44:28Cool. So let's add these in.
4:44:32[music]
4:44:38>> [music]
4:44:43>> All right, got that. Let's see what's
4:44:45happening at the end.
4:44:50All right, so what I'm going to do here
4:44:51with those, I'm going to throw in the
4:44:54same reverb that I have and see if that
4:44:57just makes it feel a little bit more
4:44:58like it's from the same place.
4:45:02There we go. Let's add a little bit more
4:45:04of that first reverb. Let's put 25.
4:45:09All right, let's put some more room on
4:45:10it. Let's go crazy. Unity gain.
4:45:18A little off that.
4:45:28Let's add some of this 15.
4:45:36Too much pony. All right, cool. Uh,
4:45:40let's see what's going on here.
4:45:47[music]
4:45:52[music]
4:45:56>> Those are just a hair loud. Let's lift
4:45:58the sides on this. Let's get We'll get
4:46:00funky. We'll put something like CLA
4:46:02vocals on it. Right.
4:46:05So, a lot of times now when I start get
4:46:06towards the end of it, I get very like
4:46:09fast. I get very like vibe. I just
4:46:11because I already have a great vibe. I
4:46:12just want to add to it. So, I'm not like
4:46:14overthinking anything. Let's throw
4:46:16stereo on this on the top. We'll do
4:46:19something. We'll wet it up a little bit
4:46:21more. Let's see how that feels.
4:46:26[music]
4:46:26Heaven, help me.
4:46:31I'm sick of myself.
4:46:36>> Let's see what this is saying.
4:46:39[music]
4:46:42It's this one.
4:46:45Okay. So, let's get a little bit of this
4:46:46mid-range out of it.
4:46:49All right. We can see it right in there.
4:46:59that one right there.
4:47:01Let's do this. We'll go five. We'll do
4:47:04it on spectral.
4:47:06Let's make it wide.
4:47:09So, it's just going to catch it on our
4:47:10own. We don't have to have to go too
4:47:12crazy with it.
4:47:16[music]
4:47:17>> Right. So, listen how it's resonant here
4:47:19and now it's not.
4:47:23>> [music]
4:47:24>> because it's almost just like one tone.
4:47:26I mean, there is so somewhat of an
4:47:27overtone series. Um, but I put it on
4:47:30this spectral mode, which is a lot like
4:47:31what Sooth does. And it's just catching
4:47:33them as they go.
4:47:38[music]
4:47:43[music]
4:47:45>> And there's one little one in this one.
4:47:48There's a little a scratchy one up here.
4:47:56Heaven.
4:48:01[music]
4:48:07>> All right, let's do this.
4:48:09We'll throw the CLA vocals on here.
4:48:11We'll get Let's get some more of these
4:48:12effects going on here. Nothing crazy.
4:48:15Not overthinking it. Then let's throw a
4:48:17compressor on the back of it. We'll do
4:48:19that crazy one, the magma stress box.
4:48:21So, just catching a vibe.
4:48:33[music]
4:48:35>> All right. And I'm going to do this just
4:48:37to show you guys a cool little trick
4:48:38because I think it would be good. Um,
4:48:41and that seems to be it. Well, let me
4:48:43hold on. Before I do, let me see these
4:48:44background vocals. [music]
4:48:48When they laugh, it's [singing] all at
4:48:51me.
4:48:55Can't you hear it? [music]
4:48:57Are you serious?
4:49:01[singing]
4:49:03Everybody's rich and they're way more
4:49:05famous.
4:49:07[music]
4:49:09I don't have a chance.
4:49:16Let's put some more bass in that. So now
4:49:17as I'm hearing it, like there's a few
4:49:19parts that come up. Let's see what this
4:49:22one sounds like if we put more bass in
4:49:23it.
4:49:31>> All right, that felt good.
4:49:33>> I won't make it.
4:49:38>> All right, just we'll turn it down just
4:49:40a hair.
4:49:49>> [music]
4:49:51>> Last thing are these little snares.
4:49:54Um, so like I said, I know I'm moving
4:49:56fast, but just
4:49:58hang out with me. Stay stay here with
4:50:00me. I'll put a little room on these
4:50:02snares. I don't have a chance. No hope I
4:50:04won't make it.
4:50:10[music]
4:50:11Heaven help me.
4:50:16[music]
4:50:16I'm sick of myself.
4:50:20>> All right, cool. Run those. What is
4:50:22that? That come in super loud.
4:50:27[clears throat]
4:50:31>> [music]
4:50:33>> Heaven help me.
4:50:37>> I'm sick of myself. [music]
4:50:44Help me.
4:50:53>> [music]
4:50:58>> All right, cool. Let's automate these
4:51:00up. We'll just get one good one.
4:51:03And
4:51:05so we can write these in, but let's just
4:51:07play it like a musician because we're
4:51:08still musicians.
4:51:10[music]
4:51:20>> [music]
4:51:27>> Ah, it's hating on me.
4:51:30There you go. Almost there.
4:51:37[music]
4:51:45Cool. And so now when we see it, now it
4:51:48does the little automation that we made
4:51:50[music]
4:51:54>> right here.
4:52:00[music]
4:52:07>> [music]
4:52:10>> Cool. Uh, everything sounded good. All
4:52:12right. So, the last thing I want to show
4:52:14you is this. Then I'll do a little
4:52:15saturation on the mix bus and we'll be
4:52:17done. Is I think a reverse reverb would
4:52:20sound really cool here.
4:52:23So, to do a reverse reverb, what we do
4:52:26is we take this I'm going to duplicate
4:52:27this track
4:52:31and just slide it down. So, we take the
4:52:32tip of this song, the tip of the sound
4:52:37Right.
4:52:40Then you want to reverse it.
4:52:43So we'll go
4:52:46in audio suite in ProTools. We can
4:52:48actually apply a plugin like to an audio
4:52:50file and it prints it automatically. Uh
4:52:53but here we're just going to reverse it.
4:52:56And then we're going to keep this up and
4:52:59we're going to make a long reverb tail.
4:53:01So let's find a reverb.
4:53:03something like I always like these Manny
4:53:06M
4:53:07stereo.
4:53:38Okay.
4:53:42Then we render that reverb, right? So we
4:53:44see this reverb tail and then we reverse
4:53:46it again. Boom. Now we've got sort of
4:53:48this buildup into this part which I
4:53:50think would sound really cool here. and
4:53:52then I will listen to it and we will
4:53:55make it uh the correct length. So,
4:54:04>> okay. So, let's turn it down some. See?
4:54:12>> All right. It's doing it in like a funny
4:54:14key in a funny pitch. So, I'm not even
4:54:16going to mess with it. We're just going
4:54:17to leave it how it was.
4:54:20[music]
4:54:20Heaven help me.
4:54:25I'm sick of myself.
4:54:30[music]
4:54:33All right. And then let's bring this
4:54:36down. So I'll bring that miles above
4:54:37down two and a half dB. One more listen.
4:54:47[music]
4:54:48>> We'll go down five.
4:54:56One more because it's playing by itself.
4:54:58So, it's going to jump off that limiter
4:55:00and then that wall. Where's that wall
4:55:02coming from
4:55:04[music]
4:55:10[singing]
4:55:12>> somewhere in here? I don't know. Okay.
4:55:13So lastly, when we talk about mastering
4:55:15like within a session,
4:55:18um really what what we're doing is more
4:55:21of uh
4:55:24like saturation to me, like maybe a
4:55:26little bit of mix bus compression. So
4:55:28nothing crazy. I'll add kind of what I
4:55:31normally do. Let's do
4:55:35um maybe a little VCA compression on
4:55:38this. So I like the API 2500. It's great
4:55:40for this.
4:55:43And from here, I like to do in old old
4:55:47mode, so feedback mode. Rob can explain
4:55:49all feedback feed forward to you. Just
4:55:51send him a message. Uh we have long
4:55:53debates over this, but um it'll tighten
4:55:56it up just a little bit.
4:56:03[music]
4:56:05>> And what I'm going to do too here is
4:56:07let's I'm going to cut this down just a
4:56:09hair. I'm going to go to this more dense
4:56:12part
4:56:13when those these heavy synths are
4:56:15playing and because that's going to give
4:56:16us like a more accurate representation
4:56:18of what's going on the heavy parts.
4:56:28>> [music]
4:56:30>> Oh,
4:56:33I [music] sacri.
4:56:44[music]
4:56:45Then I like to use like a lot of preamp
4:56:47emulations kind of just to give it some
4:56:49a little bit more color. So the mix wave
4:56:51the C7S is great for that because it
4:56:53gives me that weight that I'm looking
4:56:54for. Um but I'm using it very sparingly.
4:56:57Right. So dry wet at like 85% but I'm
4:56:59boosting the lows here.
4:57:04[music]
4:57:05Got it.
4:57:12All right. Cool.
4:57:15Uh then we'll use something like uh
4:57:19infuse. We'll lift the sides a little
4:57:20bit. Let's see how that feels. Maybe add
4:57:22a little bit of saturation, but nothing
4:57:24crazy. So all these things that I'm
4:57:26doing are just very small moves. I'm not
4:57:27doing like heavy EQing or anything like
4:57:29that.
4:57:32[music]
4:57:36Ah, my computer's struggling today.
4:57:40[music]
4:57:45All right, one more. And I just recently
4:57:49I I love these plugins from MixWave, but
4:57:51this VT
4:57:53uh 15, it's based on the VT7, I think
4:57:56the VT8. Um, but they're together. So,
4:57:59I'm not going to do much with these. I'm
4:58:01just going to They kind of had a tone in
4:58:03its own. So, without it,
4:58:09maybe we get through it. We're almost
4:58:11there. Gotta let us got to let us have
4:58:13this one fix the mix here. Um, okay.
4:58:16Let's I'm just going to freeze a couple
4:58:18of these really quickly and then we'll
4:58:20be done.
4:58:22And so, all I'm doing here is really
4:58:23just using
4:58:27these for some coloration, right? I'm
4:58:28I'm maybe lifting the sides a little bit
4:58:30on on the mix bus. Um,
4:58:34and of course, like this would be a
4:58:36first pass. So, this is this would be
4:58:37something where I say like, "Okay, send
4:58:39this off to the producer to the client
4:58:40to see what they say." Um, let's do I'll
4:58:44do something like this on the attack.
4:58:48We'll make it medium threshold. Uh, fast
4:58:51release on this. Excuse me. Medium
4:58:54attack, fast release.
4:58:56A lot of times I would do slow and fast,
4:58:57but I feel like this one gets really,
4:58:58really slow. So, I'm going to do just
4:59:01like a hair bit of compression,
4:59:06about a dB, then I'll make it up here.
4:59:09We'll do a half dB up. Okay, cool.
4:59:12And
4:59:14see, we don't even need this one.
4:59:18Make it active.
4:59:23Didn't use the little ultra point. I
4:59:24thought we would. So, what I'll let you
4:59:26hear is like with the
4:59:32uh plugins off with just our limited and
4:59:34then what I added to it for our master.
4:59:36So, you just get an idea of like what
4:59:37I'm doing enhancement wise.
4:59:41This is with just the limiters on.
4:59:52[music]
4:59:53All right. And now this is when I add
4:59:55the plugins for my master. Just get a
4:59:57little more color.
5:00:00[music]
5:00:03Ah.
5:00:05So sorry about that y'all. One more
5:00:07time. I think it's cool. So I'll I'll
5:00:09switch in the middle.
5:00:14[music]
5:00:20>> Right. So it just kind of fills out.
5:00:23Yeah. And that is it. I I'll do one run
5:00:27through. Let me try to freeze some of
5:00:29these.
5:00:31>> Is that cool, Caleb?
5:00:33>> Yeah, one run through. Call it a day.
5:00:35Sounded great.
5:00:36>> Sweet.
5:00:37>> Lots of good questions in chat. Been
5:00:38trying to keep up.
5:00:40>> Yeah, thanks. I I see him firing off and
5:00:42I'm just like it's hard to
5:00:45>> only can only do so much.
5:00:47>> Oh, is Brad in here? I know Brad's
5:00:48talking junk.
5:00:50>> Yeah. He's like, "Dude, where are the
5:00:52guitars, dude?"
5:00:55[laughter]
5:00:58>> Brad's my guy. So, um,
5:01:01>> don't come at me with the poolside
5:01:02vibes, Brad.
5:01:03>> Right.
5:01:05>> He's like,
5:01:07>> I spilled my white Russian in, dude.
5:01:11[laughter]
5:01:12>> All right. So, in here here, yeah, it
5:01:14knows that.
5:01:17>> Uh, then we just label it really quick.
5:01:18We'll call sick of myself. Call it BP
5:01:23mix one.
5:01:25Look at that. And let's see if I can
5:01:27print it.
5:01:29Melissa. [clears throat]
5:01:32Hopefully there's nothing crazy going on
5:01:33in here that I missed.
5:01:38[music]
5:01:47Little girl [music]
5:01:50ugly world.
5:01:58>> All right, maybe I'll just try to play
5:01:59it.
5:02:02[music]
5:02:05[singing]
5:02:11[music]
5:02:12>> I don't have a chance. No hope I won't
5:02:14make it.
5:02:17[music]
5:02:20>> Well, that's what happens when you when
5:02:21you make it too good. When you make it
5:02:23too cool.
5:02:24>> It's too hot. I'll do one more thing.
5:02:27>> We'll freeze this and then if it doesn't
5:02:29work after that, you guys are just going
5:02:30to have to trust me. It sound pretty
5:02:32good.
5:02:33>> Well, we know it.
5:02:36>> So,
5:02:37the playthrough is really just for the
5:02:38OCD folks that are like, I got to hear
5:02:40it once.
5:02:41>> I got to hear it once.
5:02:43be okay.
5:02:47>> Too many transient shapers, man.
5:02:50>> That's right.
5:02:52>> Yeah,
5:02:53>> lots of things. I'm rocking on my
5:02:54laptop, too. Um, so I could use the
5:02:57screen, but you know, so some of us
5:03:00might have unlimited CPU and and that's
5:03:02awesome and you can do whatever you want
5:03:04and go crazy and I love that for you.
5:03:06Um, and then sometimes like you we have
5:03:09to figure it out, right? And so it's
5:03:10like when we have deadlines, we have
5:03:11stuff to hit, like, hey, if we know we
5:03:13like something, cool, freeze it, keep it
5:03:15going. And and that's a beautiful part
5:03:17about freezing it, too, is that we can
5:03:18really just,
5:03:20you know, leave it there. So the only
5:03:22there's not really much going on other
5:03:23than this crazy
5:03:26this crazy reverb channel. And I'll
5:03:28freeze that, too.
5:03:31That's going to take too long. All
5:03:32right, one more try. One more try here.
5:03:34Fingers crossed, everybody.
5:03:39>> [music]
5:03:48>> Little girl,
5:03:50ugly world. I'm alone in my house.
5:03:54[music]
5:03:56Someone help me.
5:03:59Everybody's rich and they're way more
5:04:01famous.
5:04:03[music]
5:04:04I don't have a chance. No hope I won't
5:04:07make it.
5:04:09[music]
5:04:14Heaven help me.
5:04:18[music] I'm sick of myself.
5:04:22A
5:04:24miles above.
5:04:26I'm out [music] of love.
5:04:29When they laugh, it all me.
5:04:36Can't you hear it? [music]
5:04:39Are you serious?
5:04:42[singing]
5:04:45Everybody's rich and they're way more
5:04:47famous.
5:04:49[music]
5:04:50I don't have a chance. No hope I won't
5:04:52make it.
5:04:58>> [music]
5:04:59>> Heaven help me.
5:05:04[music]
5:05:04>> I'm sick of myself.
5:05:10[music]
5:05:11Help me.
5:05:25>> [music]
5:05:27>> Oh,
5:05:30I see [music]
5:05:32myself.
5:05:36[music]
5:05:52She you got it.
5:05:55>> So yeah, on on listen through I might
5:05:57bring those vocals down like a dB and a
5:05:58half, two dB, maybe maybe a little
5:06:00mid-range stuff, but I kind of like them
5:06:02how like thick they are on that. Uh, and
5:06:05the last thing I I do want to really
5:06:07quickly look at what our lux level is.
5:06:09So I'm going to turn these back up. Um,
5:06:12so in ProTools, it reads post on the
5:06:15master faders. It's actually the plugins
5:06:17are post fader. Um, that's the only
5:06:19channel that does that. But I'm just
5:06:20curious like in this like heavy part of
5:06:22where
5:06:24where everything was at loudness wise
5:06:26because it feels really loud. Um
5:06:30so I don't know. Let's see. Just one
5:06:32quick listen and then we'll be done.
5:06:35Let's see.
5:06:50>> [music]
5:06:54>> So something to keep in mind, right?
5:06:55We're kind of fluctuating between like
5:06:56this seven and this nine. If it was
5:06:58continuous because it comes in and comes
5:07:01out, our lus reading is going to be
5:07:03lower. Um,
5:07:05but
5:07:07>> if
5:07:09you know
5:07:12you got to be really really careful with
5:07:13arrangements like this because like that
5:07:15reading if you're shooting for like this
5:07:16this specific number it's not going to
5:07:18get there. It's more about like how it
5:07:19felt and to me it felt loud and felt
5:07:21good and clean. So I just left it at
5:07:23that. But um but yeah, so that's that's
5:07:26the last thing like if if you guys are
5:07:28like a number seven stickler or
5:07:30whatever, like you might get that on
5:07:32this, but you might have to push it too
5:07:33far for it to be sustained at that
5:07:35because it's not playing that bass is
5:07:37not hitting all the time. So that's it.
5:07:40That's, you know, that's the mix for
5:07:41you.
5:07:43>> My job as a mastering engineer is to
5:07:44take that and push it further than than
5:07:48Kevin would want to get it sounding
5:07:51great.
5:07:51>> Yeah, man. Make it sound better.
5:07:56So,
5:07:56>> all right.
5:07:58Sounded great, man. Well done.
5:08:00>> We want to listen to some of these
5:08:01mixes.
5:08:02>> Yeah, let's do it.
5:08:04>> Excited [snorts] for this.
5:08:06>> Now, hey, hey, listen. If you made the
5:08:09finals, good job.
5:08:13There's still more work to do. Don't get
5:08:15complacent. If you didn't make the
5:08:17finals,
5:08:18there's still more work to to do. Don't
5:08:20get discouraged.
5:08:22Just keep going. This is for fun.
5:08:26Let's be supportive of each other. None
5:08:28of this. Ah, my mix was better stuff.
5:08:31Chris actually went through every one of
5:08:33the I think around a hundred submissions
5:08:36this morning. Listened to each and every
5:08:39one. He picked the final six.
5:08:45Feel me?
5:08:52But that said, congratulations to David
5:08:54Mitco, Jason, Aaron, Peter, John.
5:09:00Let's listen through these. Let's listen
5:09:01to a section. What's the best section,
5:09:04Kevin, do you think to judge? probably
5:09:07uh like maybe measure 29ish like where
5:09:11that you can see where it changes in
5:09:13there
5:09:14>> in or yeah maybe like 23 through
5:09:1943 or something like that so we can hear
5:09:21the two different variations.
5:09:24Um whatever you think is an appropriate
5:09:26amount of time for everybody but yeah
5:09:28something like in there.
5:09:30>> All right we'll start with David. Now,
5:09:31remember, we'll go through these a
5:09:33couple times quick, but remember uh
5:09:36these names because I'm going to have
5:09:38y'all vote on the top three that's going
5:09:40to get those prizes.
5:09:43Let's check it out. Let's make sure.
5:09:47Let's see. Make sure my volume's not too
5:09:49loud. How's this?
5:09:54>> Sounds funny.
5:09:56>> Good or bad?
5:09:57>> Bad. It sounds like it's coming through
5:09:59your speakers or something.
5:10:01Oh,
5:10:02>> the direct audio
5:10:03>> my audio settings and switch them to
5:10:04zoom.
5:10:09>> How about now?
5:10:14>> Loud enough or louder?
5:10:16>> That's good.
5:10:20>> It's good. Okay, let's check it.
5:10:27up above miles [music] above.
5:10:31I'm out of love.
5:10:33When they laugh, it's all at me.
5:10:40Can't you hear it?
5:10:43Are you serious?
5:10:46[singing]
5:10:49Everybody's [music] rich and they're way
5:10:51more famous.
5:10:54I don't have a [music] chance though.
5:10:56Hope I won't make it.
5:11:06>> Nice. Good stuff in there. What' you
5:11:08think, Kev?
5:11:10>> It's good. It's good. Um, I really liked
5:11:14uh the texture of everything. Like they
5:11:17had a really rich, very expensive
5:11:19texture on that.
5:11:21>> Let's do Let's do favorite thing and
5:11:23thing to work on.
5:11:26Yeah. Favorite thing I think was like
5:11:27like the texture, especially on the
5:11:28vocals. Uh thing to work on is is I
5:11:32think the kick and bass sound. I felt
5:11:33like the kick was kind of like flubby
5:11:36almost sounding like it didn't it wasn't
5:11:38as solid of an impact.
5:11:49miles above.
5:11:51I'm out of love [music]
5:11:54when they laugh it. So let me
5:12:02hear it.
5:12:04Are you serious?
5:12:07[singing]
5:12:10Everybody's [music] rich and they're way
5:12:11more famous.
5:12:15I don't have a chance I won't make it.
5:12:29>> What do you think there, Curve?
5:12:31>> That was cool. That was a cool snare
5:12:33reverb on that. That was a really cool
5:12:35snare reverb. Um, I thought the
5:12:37instrumental on that sounded really
5:12:39good. Maybe a little more bass, but I
5:12:42felt like the vocals probably maybe a
5:12:45little bit more treatment to those to
5:12:47get them to to shine in the track, but
5:12:49the depth was great on that one.
5:12:52>> They were a little raw, right?
5:12:53>> Yeah, they just felt a little raw
5:12:54compared to everything else.
5:12:56>> I agree. And sometimes that's the vibe,
5:12:58too. I've heard tracks like that.
5:13:00>> Right. If you like it, I love it.
5:13:04>> Here we go. Here's Jason.
5:13:07>> [music]
5:13:07>> I'm sick of myself.
5:13:12[music]
5:13:14[singing]
5:13:15I'm out of love.
5:13:17When they laugh, it all me.
5:13:24Can't you hear it?
5:13:27Are you serious?
5:13:33Everybody's rich [music] and they're way
5:13:35more famous.
5:13:38I don't have a chance. No hope I won't
5:13:40make it.
5:13:47[music]
5:13:48Heaven.
5:13:53>> Yeah, that was cool. There's some funky
5:13:55panning on that first synth hit which
5:13:57was cool. Um, you know, that's more of a
5:14:00production thing, but, uh, your center
5:14:02was really focused on that. I think it
5:14:04did a good job of like vocal, kick,
5:14:06snare, but, um,
5:14:09>> the energy up on around the sides like
5:14:11with the rest of the instrumental. Um, I
5:14:14feel like we could have got a little bit
5:14:15more out of that.
5:14:17>> Yeah, I agree. Just like more energy
5:14:18from everything else.
5:14:20>> But your center was good. Like your
5:14:22foundation was really, really solid.
5:14:24Yeah.
5:14:26Aaron,
5:14:29congrats. Here we go.
5:14:35>> Miles above.
5:14:38I'm out of love.
5:14:40When [music] they laugh, it all be.
5:14:47Can't you hear it? [music] Are you
5:14:51serious?
5:14:53[singing]
5:14:56Everybody's pushing. [music] They're way
5:14:58more famous.
5:15:01I don't have a chance. No. Hope I won't
5:15:03make it.
5:15:11Heaven.
5:15:16>> Another nice one.
5:15:18>> Yeah, that one uh good energy. It was
5:15:21good. I think across the board
5:15:22everything was like
5:15:24>> really solid on it. It was a good mix.
5:15:26Um I I do feel like it was like lacking
5:15:29a little bit of low end. Like the kick
5:15:31felt really tight, but then like the
5:15:34>> the bottom end never
5:15:36swelled up um to fill in that space.
5:15:41>> I was kind of hoping for just a hair
5:15:43more impact on the kick.
5:15:45>> Yeah, it was kind of real pokey.
5:15:49Just wanted that to I wanted to feel it
5:15:51a little bit more. But all these are
5:15:53great. Good job.
5:15:54>> And we were on a a time crunch. This is
5:15:57>> You had to get them in.
5:15:59>> And you always will be, by the way.
5:16:01>> That's right.
5:16:02>> Get used to it. Here's another Peter.
5:16:11[music]
5:16:14>> I'm out of love.
5:16:16And they laugh it solidly.
5:16:22[music]
5:16:23Can't you hear it?
5:16:26Are you serious?
5:16:29[singing]
5:16:32Everybody's rich and [music] they're way
5:16:33more famous.
5:16:37I don't have a chance. No. Hope I won't
5:16:39make it.
5:16:52A nice one. Yeah, I I like that one. I
5:16:55like that one on the hooks for sure. I
5:16:57thought that sounded really good. It was
5:16:59a little uh bright on the vocals, but I
5:17:03felt like in the verses it was also kind
5:17:05of scooped, which it was,
5:17:08you know, that's it. It it it's a cool
5:17:10variation between the two. But I really
5:17:12like the ver I really like the hooks on
5:17:13it. The choruses were were done really
5:17:15really well. If
5:17:16>> I had to guess, I think the problem
5:17:18would have come because there's some
5:17:19buildup around like 300ish area on the
5:17:21instrumental. So I think probably what
5:17:23you do then is to compensate for that,
5:17:25you're pushing the vocal brightness up
5:17:26to cut through. And all you really
5:17:28needed to do was carve out a little bit
5:17:30more of that uh that up like lower mid
5:17:34range.
5:17:34>> Yeah. Just let it be natural.
5:17:36>> Freed it up. But
5:17:37>> it's a little hot on the limiter, too. I
5:17:39mean, I like loud and I like dangerous.
5:17:41So, like that's cool, but um with
5:17:44something like this where there's not
5:17:45that constant thing, it'll sometimes
5:17:47push
5:17:48>> uh things like those low mids up a lot
5:17:50more. So, that that would make sense why
5:17:52we why those vocals are a little
5:17:54brighter.
5:17:55>> Kind of fun. I always think of when I
5:17:57teach about bringing all the other
5:17:59instruments around the foundation, I
5:18:00always talk about how you're like
5:18:02filling in sand in the waveform because
5:18:04that foundation is like the
5:18:05>> the depth between the the bottom of your
5:18:08waveform and the top of your waveform.
5:18:10So, it's like f there's room there to
5:18:12fill it in. If you look at the one
5:18:13Jason's that had didn't have as much
5:18:16energy.
5:18:17>> Look how less how much less sand
5:18:21>> is in there between the body and the and
5:18:24the peaks.
5:18:25>> It's just kind of an interesting way to
5:18:26visualize it.
5:18:28>> Yeah.
5:18:29>> Okay, one last one here. Mr. John,
5:18:33congrats.
5:18:38above
5:18:39[music] above. [singing]
5:18:42I'm out of love.
5:18:44When they laugh, [singing] it all me.
5:18:50[music]
5:18:51Can't you hear it?
5:18:54Are you serious?
5:18:57[singing]
5:19:00Everybody's [music] rich and they're way
5:19:01more famous.
5:19:05I don't have a chance. know if I won't
5:19:07make it
5:19:15help me.
5:19:21>> That was cool. That was cool. Uh yeah,
5:19:24that one definitely
5:19:26the energy.
5:19:28You really did a good job of like
5:19:30putting the sand in, right? Like Caleb
5:19:32was talking about filling in the spaces
5:19:34across the mix. Um, so and I'm not going
5:19:38to hold this against you all, but it
5:19:39definitely that one was almost like a
5:19:40tired ears top end to me to where like
5:19:44we start adding more top end as our ears
5:19:46get tired
5:19:47>> to compensate for it. So like maybe
5:19:50needed a little bit of DSing or or maybe
5:19:52if you boosted the top end on the
5:19:54master, like maybe not quite as much,
5:19:56but the the the fundamentals are there,
5:19:59right? The general direction is really
5:20:00there. It's just some tweaks, I think,
5:20:02to pull back that top end. But I I like
5:20:04that one. That is a given.
5:20:07>> Go through them quickly. Uh, again, I
5:20:10was going to give my vote personally to
5:20:11whoever fixed that clipping that
5:20:13happened in the the preamp phase for
5:20:16Lucy's vocal at around 33, but none of
5:20:18you did, so I'm going to hold off today.
5:20:20I was just hoping somebody caught that,
5:20:23including Kevin. Come on, man. Come on.
5:20:25>> I don't care about that, man. That's not
5:20:26make or break. Get out of here, man.
5:20:28>> Make break. Come on.
5:20:30>> We're on a deadline, man. Who cares
5:20:31about that? I should have done a better
5:20:32job tracking this what you get. This
5:20:34your fault, Chris.
5:20:36>> Chris is fired. [laughter]
5:20:38>> Real quick, let's do this drop part and
5:20:40then we'll uh vote.
5:20:46Everybody's [music] rich and they're way
5:20:47more famous.
5:20:51I don't have a chance. No. Hope I won't
5:20:53make it. I won't make it
5:21:00>> to do this part
5:21:15[music]
5:21:17>> I won't make it.
5:21:28Really cool idea on that snare,
5:21:30>> man. I wouldn't have done that, but he's
5:21:32d that's a dangerous dangerous person
5:21:34right there.
5:21:36>> Be dangerous.
5:21:52I don't have a chance. No, I hope I
5:21:54won't make it.
5:22:02Heaven, help me.
5:22:08>> I don't [music] have a chance now if I
5:22:10won't make it.
5:22:17Heaven, help me.
5:22:22I don't have a chance.
5:22:25I don't [music] have a chance. No. I
5:22:27won't make it.
5:22:34Heaven, help me.
5:22:39[music] I don't have a chance. No.
5:22:42All right, let me throw up a uh poll.
5:22:53Go ahead and vote. Who do you like?
5:22:59Know how to vote?
5:23:11Y'all did a great job and I'm sure there
5:23:13were other great ones in there, too.
5:23:28If you didn't make it and you felt like
5:23:30you should, it's possible. It's uh it's
5:23:34on us for missing it. But I don't think
5:23:37it does you very much good to think that
5:23:39way. I would just double down on what
5:23:41you're learning. Push harder. Keep
5:23:42coming back. Keep trying again. That's
5:23:45the mindset of successful folks.
5:23:50>> It's rigged.
5:23:54Oh, if it was rigged, I would have been
5:23:55in there. I I'd have won it.
5:23:58>> I would have I would have liked that
5:23:59push.
5:24:04The winner stole my mix. The die at my
5:24:08homework.
5:24:09>> That's right.
5:24:14>> We are uh
5:24:16>> Go ahead.
5:24:17>> 219 of 331 of you have voted. What the
5:24:23rest of you doing?
5:24:25Come on.
5:24:30We are dollists over here, right? It's
5:24:32like we we judge your mixes on the doll
5:24:35that you use.
5:24:36>> Yeah. Yeah. We're like, "Oh, this was
5:24:38definitely done in Reaper."
5:24:40>> For sure.
5:24:41>> Point.
5:24:43>> Somebody's on Pitwig in here. Let's get
5:24:44him out of there.
5:24:48Just kidding. Uh, all dolls are equal.
5:24:51It literally does not matter.
5:24:53>> A D Aman will come after you if you
5:24:54knock on Bitwig, man.
5:24:56>> That's all right. I'll just call
5:24:59everybody I know and ask them what doll
5:25:01they use.
5:25:02>> Just point at your record.
5:25:04>> They'll point all over the place.
5:25:05They'll be like, "Oh, Ableton, Logic,
5:25:07even some FL." And not one of them will
5:25:09say Bitwig. But you know what? I bet you
5:25:11I bet you it's a good doll. If Damian
5:25:13likes it, for as much as Damian is into
5:25:15all this, I guarantee it's a good doll.
5:25:18>> Yep.
5:25:20>> There's also no sound differences
5:25:21between dolls. It's just ones and zeros,
5:25:23folks. Use whatever you want.
5:25:28All right, I'll give you 30 seconds.
5:25:30Vote if you haven't.
5:25:34Only 68% of you have done so. Come on,
5:25:37make your voices heard.
5:25:50It's very close between first and
5:25:53second. A little drop off to third.
5:25:57But pretty clear winners. We'll give it
5:25:5910 10 more seconds to announce the
5:26:01winners. Who's going to get I think
5:26:03everyone gets that. All of them, right?
5:26:06>> Yeah. All three of them get the same
5:26:07thing. All three of the prizes.
5:26:12>> If you're a winner, reach out to me,
5:26:13caleb mastering.com. I'll probably
5:26:15forward you on to Rob. He'll take care
5:26:16of you. Uh get you connected with that
5:26:20stuff.
5:26:21For those of you who didn't win today,
5:26:24keep coming back, keep trying, keep
5:26:26showing up. Appreciate y'all. It's been
5:26:29a great amazing
5:26:32uh event. I really appreciated everyone
5:26:35being great in the chat, helping each
5:26:36other out, being encouraging, learning a
5:26:40lot, asking great questions. Kevin,
5:26:42thanks again. But without further ado,
5:26:45the winners of the May 2026 Fix the Mix
5:26:50Challenge Focus Right Edition are
5:27:01John. You did it.
5:27:03>> Yeah, man.
5:27:05>> That's your first one, isn't it?
5:27:09robbed.
5:27:12>> John Midco Peter
5:27:13>> it's a win being here.
5:27:15>> Mitco in the second Peter in the third.
5:27:27>> Peter, great job.
5:27:30John, you did it. Congrats, man. I know
5:27:32how hard you work.
5:27:34Mitco as well, Peter as well. All of
5:27:38you, great job. Hit me up. Happy to get
5:27:41you that stuff. Again, it's been great.
5:27:44Thank you all so much for being here.
5:27:46You're all uh coming away with a little
5:27:48bit more confidence, a little bit more
5:27:50information. Let's keep going. Let's
5:27:51keep pushing. And I hope to see a lot of
5:27:53you
5:27:56on the uh
5:27:59the very fun radio single event.
5:28:04We'll share that one more time
5:28:07just for those of you. This is the wrong
5:28:09one.
5:28:11Just uh some of you are asking for that.
5:28:13Uh
5:28:15here it is. Asking for that link again.
5:28:19Let's go. It's time to make some music.
5:28:26Here it is again.
5:28:28Till tomorrow. Get that 100 off. This uh
5:28:31code is without these by the If anyone's
5:28:34confused by that,
5:28:36this is the code.
5:28:40Thank you all so much. Go to
5:28:41mastering.comrs.
5:28:43Let's get uh this uh intensive filled
5:28:45up. We'll get rocking. If enough of you
5:28:48join, maybe we'll do some early bird uh
5:28:51meetups and something. Get get the ball
5:28:53rolling a little bit beforehand because
5:28:54this won't start for a few weeks. But uh
5:28:57yeah, happy to do that and excited to
5:28:58see a lot of you there.
5:29:01Thanks again, Kev.
5:29:03>> Yeah, thanks for having me. I'd love to
5:29:04be here. Anytime you want me, I'm
5:29:06around.
5:29:07>> Absolutely. All right, have a great
5:29:09Thursday, y'all. We'll see you on the
5:29:10next one. All right, y'all.

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