Mixing

[Matt Crooks]

This DVD is eye opening:

Amazon.com: Mix It Like A Record: Kagi Media,...

[Andy]

Hey Matt what tape sims do you use?

[Crucified]

Originally Posted by Matt Crooks

drumbs

i wasn't going to bring it up but two posts in a row warrents drums are not crumbs.

srsly.

[darren]

But are drumbs dumb?

[Matt Crooks]

Sorry... long running inside joke... drummers are dumb, so they must play drumbs right?

[Matt Crooks]

Originally Posted by Andy

Hey Matt what tape sims do you use?

Cranesong Phoenix. It's ProTools TDM only though, so without ProTools HD, you can't use it. I've read about some of the others, but I've never tried them.

Here's an article about the various tape sim and "warmer" plugs out there. Anderton knows his stuff too: http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/t...e/jul-08/85725

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Matt Crooks

I compress and EQ just about every single track. A few quick ideas:

• Put a tape sim on every track, this mild bit of compression will help things gel together.
• High pass everything except the bass guitar and kick drum. I'll high pass 7 string guitars at 70-80 hz. Yes that's above the fundamental, but it doesn't matter the "weight" of the guitars is in the low mids.
• Low pass everything that isn't a high end track... i.e. leave the cymbals alone, but a gentle roll off at 20khz will clear up the top end as much as the low pass cleans up the low end.
• Several light compressors in a row will get you the same dynamic control as a single heavy handed compressor, but won't suck the life out of the track.
• If the mix is very dense you'll have to notch tracks so that you can hear everything and not have a jumbled mess.

Humorously, since I never really compared notes with you about it, I did all of those things for the latest Division disc. (You're a lot better at it, though.) The tape sim plugs, especially, can make a huge difference in how the tracks sit in the mix.

I think part of the point, though, is to not over-use anything. I read all the time about the amateur mistake of over-compressing and over-EQ-ing, and I still fell victim to it when I started. It's hard to distance yourself one you get into the minutiae...

I should note... this is for a dense metal mix, not a power trio or singer songwriter type stuff. Metal has a ton of competing frequencies (guitars, drums and bass all in the same range) that other genres do not have. A good deal of the advice you'll read on the net is not really applicable to metal.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Matt Crooks

Cranesong Phoenix. It's ProTools TDM only though, so without ProTools HD, you can't use it. I've read about some of the others, but I've never tried them.

Here's an article about the various tape sim and "warmer" plugs out there. Anderton knows his stuff too: Tape Simulator Software Showdown, Craig Anderton

I'm not Matt, but I use Voxnego TapeBus (and his review is right on the money) and, for grittier stuff, the free Ferox plugin. It's really good for vocal FX, especially.

[Matt Crooks]

Originally Posted by Mike

It's hard to distance yourself one you get into the minutiae...

I also think it's much harder to mix your own music than music that someone else recorded. The albums I've done for other people were completed much quicker because I wasn't as personally invested in them. For my own records, I'll agonize over .1db of 10khz on the overheads... WTFBBQ? no one really cares, but when it's your own music it's really, really hard to let go.

[Andy]

Thanks Matt and Mike.