Record Mix & Master

Band Mix Project Todd Martin

Each Day It Gets Better

DAY 1 BED TRACKS

BEAT DETECTIVE & ELASTIC AUDIO

DAY 1 MIX My goals for this mix is to use beat detective and elastic audio to even

out and balance the performance with a click track for alignment. Identify the meter and get the BPM using beat detective. Practice editing techniques, snap to grid, beat detective, elastic audio,

parallel processing, aux track effects, comping, mixing and mastering. 1st I organized the tracks in sections, groups, playlists, and color coding. 2nd did a basic balance and got some levels… After that I organized the drums to do snap to grid editing creating new

audio tracks for the new drums… Now I used the kick drum with tad-transient, checking snare & hi-hat. 2nd pass I tabbed without transient, using break feature with all drums

in a group. Now I drop the sections on the new audio/grid, checking and editing as I

go. I'm going to strip silence the kick drum and snare drums to put on aux

tracks with effects… Snare top reverb for a little spice Kick bottom with low 40+Hz tone for some punch with a little bomb-

factory after EQing If I have time I'll do some elastic audio on the bass track and some of

the other tracks until next session…photos

DAY 2 RECORD RHYTHM INSTRUMENTS

COMP VOCALS & EDIT

DAY 2 MIX On the 2nd day I focused on elastic audio the rest of the bass,

some percussion and some drums. After cleaning up the rest of the tracks, and organizing playlists, I

finished quantizing using elastic audio moving on to the Vocal tracks...

I organized vocal and guitars in groups, added some plug-ins. Today I began to EQ, gate, and add some reverb and later

compression. Put on a master track for mastering/EQ later. Now I begin to organize my vocals, setting up playlists for

comping and editing. Today I comped most of the lead vocals and some of the

background vocals after editing and elastic audio the other tracks.

At the end of today's session, I start to do a rough mix, with levels, solo/groups, panning, EQ, and time-based effects.

I like the bombfactory compressor, a little reverb here and there, some gating for noises & hums, and a little limiting on the master track to avoid clipping.

DAY 3 RECORD VOCALS

STEVE

EDIT TRACKS & START MIX

DAY 3 MIX Today I made several backup copies of PT session, and made more notes. I focused on Vocals today making a duet, and cleaned up some comping

adding reverb on AUX tracks, for the background vox bridge & verses… After that I deleted unused empty tracks in the vox & keys tracks, also got

rid of the CLIX hide & inactive Earlier today I EQd the guitars rolling off the lows and highs, also doing

the opposite in the bass My goal for today was to focus on finishing the Vocals and EQing the

guitars, after that clean up any loose ends, vocals still need more work I also wanted to work on levels, plug-ins and panning too. note self…start making nasty face as mix sounds a little better each

day….? Also only use 1 compressor on each track not 2, or none at all I had a little space at the beginning of the recording, rather than moving

everything or cutting off the lead-space I added a piece of a remix I did last term with some samples, tones, and reason/rewire-PT

it works a little like a DJ intro and fits nicely with the bass tone Cleaned up some of the keyboard stuff and did a little elastic audio to

tighten things up a little Tried to match the snare sound to the sample… Finished off finessing the EQs and compressors, getting rid of the

2nd/extra compressors adding maxims/limiters to all the drum tracks as Rob suggested, sounds much better.

DAY 4 RECORD ALL OTHER INSTRUMENTS

MIX MASTER BOUNCE

DAY 4 MIX Today I'm cleaning up and editing the rest of the VOCAL tracks, vox-duet with

drums gate/cut/edit, also use some other filters and de-Essers Next check overall levels and individually each track Already cleaned up the SNR/KICK drums edits and tracks double thump is the

player not my edits, not sure what to do, leave it alone Now I'm opening up the levels at chorus 3 and more at the Bridge When I get to chorus 4, I'm going to bring the levels back down and a bit

more at the CODA to the end. Did some automation for visual effects 'cause it looks cool like a real mixing

dude? Guitar player is quite good, but I'm not sure his playing really fits the style so

I tried to add some Rock' effects EQ, and PAN them in a semi-circle for effect, definitely bring him down in the mix.

Now I need to listen to the MIX on speakers, NEVE or other rooms??? I changed my fades to power from gain, and added a little S curve at the top

of cross fades to smooth things out a bit. I really brought down the 2nd duet vocal in the mix for a more live feeling. Also cleared unused tracks for more space… Got rid of room micas and kept the room mono bussed to the OH reverbs to

bus-9 Checked for all hidden and inactive tracks to removed or silence. Edited out the end cymbal rings on the hidden room micas did some

levels/automation and panning I cleaned up piano ending with longer fade, panning and levels, little longer

than other tracks.

BETTER YET……..…?