The Lifeboats series is going to be a unique chance to see how the pureMix mentors each approach the same song with their own unique vision for the mix. See how Grammy winners Fab Dupont, Andrew Scheps and Mick Guzauski shape Will Knox's song with their own tastes and creativity.
In this first installment of the Lifeboats series, Fab Dupont challenges himself to leave his familiar home of Pro Tools for a mixing adventure in Cubase 8 using only the built in plugins and Cubase channel strip.
In this 2 hour long mixing tutorial, you'll learn:
How Fab's mixing workflow translates from one DAW to another
How to set up your session and markers for easy navigation throughout the mixing session
Mixing live drums recorded with tons of microphone options
Creating a bass tone using the VST Amp Simulator that sounds better than the real amp.
Finding the perfect balance of space and support around the vocal using reverb and delay
Combining and EQing multiple mics on the guitar amp to craft a great tone that cuts through the mix
Adding creative effects to synths to create a vibe that compliments the song
Balancing all of the track together and automating problem areas.
Fab walks you through his entire mixing process from the raw tracks all the way to the mix bus processing. Watch how a Grammy winning mix engineer works piece by piece and explains not only what he's doing but why he makes each decision along the way.
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00:00:08 Good morning children,
today we are going to mix
a song in Cubase,
using only the plug-ins that
the good people at Steinberg
have given to you for free.
00:00:16 Well, for the price of
the DAW but for free.
00:00:18 You know what I mean.
00:00:19 The song today is "Lifeboats"
the great Guinea-pig of all songs
by the amazing Will Knox.
00:00:24 Here we go.
00:00:26 No matter what DAW I work in
I use the same system, so that
I am basically always in my environment.
00:00:32 So, kicks
tend to go way up there.
00:00:38 There you go.
00:00:39 And as far as coloring you have several
ways to access to the color palette.
00:00:43 You can shift-click here
and then you have the color palette.
I still like the drums green.
00:00:53 Snare tends to go near the kick
in real life and in the DAW.
00:00:58 If you wanna work from the mixer
you can do that too
as far as colors go
and it's done here.
00:01:06 OK.
00:01:07 Let's go back to our full window. It's
easier for what we are doing right now.
00:01:11 Alright.
00:01:12 What are we gonna
put after the snare?
Most of the time, the hat.
There you go.
00:01:18 This may seem like a waste
of time to you but it's not.
00:01:20 Because most of the time spent mixing
is actually spent looking for stuff.
00:01:25 And if you put the stuff in
the same place everyday,
then you don't look for it,
because you know where it is. Because
there's where you put it yesterday.
00:01:32 If you noticed my work space
it's actually remembered
the size of the files
so I'm gonna do this
and I'm gonna update it.
00:01:40 That way next time
I switch between the two
Cubase will remember that I wanted it
to be this big, which is great.
00:01:48 Who's dying to hear the song?
No.
00:01:50 You don't get to hear the song until
you've done all your homework.
00:01:59 And now that we've done all this work,
it's a good idea to actually
save the session
so you don't have to do it again
in case you crash.
00:02:04 Not that anybody ever crashes
but you never know.
00:02:06 So we're gonna call this
"LifeBoatsFabmix1.0".
00:02:13 Save. Alright.
00:02:16 And now we get to hear the song.
00:02:18 But what I'm gonna do first
is I'm gonna create a marker track.
00:02:25 This mix is the raw mix
There are no plug-ins,
there's no EQ,
there's no compression,
there's not even a balance.
00:02:30 It's just the raw microphones
coming from the session.
00:02:33 Like everybody gets when
they get a session like this.
00:02:35 So, here we go.
00:03:58 Alright. Great song. This is gonna be
an interesting few minutes.
00:04:01 Side note:
This may have been
a slightly tedious process
but, in fact, no.
00:04:08 Why you set up your markers?
Which I strongly recommend you do
on every project you work on,
no matter how simple it is.
00:04:15 You're listening to the song,
you're listening to
the environment of the vocal,
the different instruments,
what the vibe is,
what the lyric is about,
and that gives you an idea of
what you're gonna do next.
00:04:26 Personally I use this marker pass
to figure out what I was gonna
do with the drums.
00:04:31 Trying to imagine
what I would like
the song to sound like
in two hours, six months,
when I'm done mixing.
00:04:39 And also
figure out if there are any problems.
00:04:43 And there are problems.
There's a really out of tune synth.
00:04:46 That's in the back of my mind.
Why did I let that go? I don't know.
00:04:50 And then
where's the apex of the song,
how's the balance evolving over time.
00:04:56 You know, am I getting a noise
bleed from the shakers?
Things like that.
00:04:59 That's what this pass is about.
00:05:01 And also now if I wanna
jump to the first chorus
I click on it here and I'm on
the first chorus, which is practical.
00:05:08 For some reason today I feel like
I have to start with the drums.
00:05:11 I feel that
if I start with the vocal and bass,
like I usually do,
maybe I won't be able to put the
bass drum exactly where I want it to be
because it's a weird animal.
00:05:20 Let's listen to that.
00:05:22 Bass drum.
Let's go to, say, the verse.
00:05:35 OK, so that's the inside bass drum.
00:05:44 Outside bass drum.
00:05:52 Some weird far-away microphone.
00:05:54 How about we do a quick
balance of those three?
I'm curious to know if that third
bass drum is in phase,
something tells me it's weird.
00:06:16 So, here in the channel strip
I have a phase flip, right here.
00:06:25 It's not great
when the polarity is on
and it doesn't sound the way I want it
when the polarity is inverted.
00:06:31 So basically it sucks both ways.
00:06:33 But we can fix that
because we have the technology.
00:06:36 Let's see.
00:06:43 For example,
I could decide to hi-pass that
last bass drum.
00:06:50 I cannot quite access
the hi-pass filter here
so I don't need to look
at all this. I can hide
the direct routing
and now I have everything I need.
00:07:01 Great. Let's hi-pass this
while listening to it.
00:07:19 Why is that possible that
I'm high-passing one of the tracks,
allegedly the fattest one,
the alt, which is probably
a Yamaha sub-kick
or something like that,
and I'm getting more bottom?
The reason for that is, when
you use a high-pass filter
on a bunch of low-end tracks,
don't forget that you're
screwing with the phase
(screwing being a technical term).
00:07:40 So, you have to be very careful
when you high-pass anything you want,
you have to listen in context.
00:07:45 So, when we do the bass,
whatever we do the bass,
the bass drum will be on at all times
Check this out.
00:08:04 I am much happier.
See the smile on my face?
So now, I'm gonna group
those three tracks
and...
00:08:12 Cubase lingo, is called link, not group.
00:08:15 And call it bass drum.
00:08:18 Interesting set of features here.
00:08:20 You can now decide what the links do.
Just the volumes,
sends, inserts, mute, solo listens,
I'm not gonna link the EQs on this one
because I think that I'm gonna have
different EQs on this one,
on a track per track basis,
but now that it's together
I'm able to treat them
as one, which is awesome.
00:08:39 Great, let's listen to the snare.
00:08:51 Notice that when I click the snare track
automatically Cubase shows
me the channel settings
for that track, which is awesome.
00:08:58 Another thing that's awesome
is you can click up there
and you have access
to the EQ right here.
00:09:03 So say you wanna EQ this bass drum
you can do it here, and then
you can now EQ the snare drum here.
00:09:09 Faster is impossible.
This is a really good design.
00:09:12 I added some high-end
to the snare drum. Fancy that.
00:09:16 Too much.
00:09:29 So one: a bunch of tracks are linked.
You have to use the option button
(which I used this finger for)
to change the ratio between
the three linked tracks.
00:09:40 If you don't use option
obviously they all move together
that's why they are linked
but you can clutch that like this.
00:09:46 And I think that less of that middle
the out bass drum microphone
will help us clear some of that
mask, I guess there is.
00:10:06 Maybe a little bit of shine on
the inside microphone would help.
00:10:33 It sounds more like a real bass drum.
Like this ugly
kind of like buoyant, crazy thing
that bass drums do when you are
in the room with a bass drum.
00:10:43 Our ears are so used to hearing this
super manicured like
(makes a sound) thing
which is not the way a bass drum sounds
in the room with a drummer.
00:10:50 Ask your drummer. He'll tell ya'.
00:10:52 So, I like this for now.
00:10:55 It may change.
00:11:04 I opened the hi-hat by inadvertence
I like the hi-hat. Let's check it out.
00:11:13 Clearly too fat.
00:11:15 I don't need all this information
from the hi-hat.
00:11:43 We could make the snare drum
a little more exciting,
by adding some compression.
00:11:49 I'm gonna use the channel strip
as much as possible.
00:11:52 It sounds great. It's very functional.
00:11:54 Remove the auto makeup gain
because you don't need somebody
to decide how much gain you need.
00:12:33 I slowed the attack down
on the snare drum compressor
which allows the transient to go through
and bring the snare drum forward.
00:12:39 Without being louder.
It just feels more forward
because it gets more transients
and the transients really
make things feel present.
00:12:45 And that's about it.
00:12:46 Maybe I was a little heavy
on the gain makeup. Let's see.
00:12:57 Good enough.
00:12:58 Let's compare with
the auto makeup gain.
00:13:00 So, this is my personal feeling
on what the makeup gain should be.
So this is without.
00:13:25 See the auto makeup gain
makes it a little louder
so you're always gonna like it better
if you leave the auto makeup gain
because Cubase will make it louder
and your brain thinks
that louder is better.
00:13:37 Turn that stuff off.
00:13:38 Alright, let's see what else
we could have there.
00:13:41 The toms (sighs),
maybe later when we grow up.
Let's listen to the overheads.
00:13:53 I'm gonna link those two
and I'm gonna decide that the EQ
are gonna get linked, and maybe dynamics
and everything that can
be linked will be linked
because... Except of course,
the pans
and always
name your groups or links
whatever, what you wanna use.
00:14:18 Cool. So I'm bringing up the EQ here.
00:14:22 I feel it's a little dry,
a little roomy more than overheady
so I'm gonna remove
some of the bottom here.
00:14:29 to see if I can lean it out.
00:14:33 Obviously too much.
00:14:41 In the context of the rest of the drums.
00:14:45 Bass drum, snare drum, hat.
00:14:58 I went too far in the high end.
I don't need that high end.
00:15:09 It creates a nice environment for
the snare and the bass drum.
00:15:12 Let's see on the chorus.
00:15:23 See, it is an overhead. The cymbals are
pretty loud, so I'm going to lower it.
00:15:36 Good enough for jazz.
What's the room like?
It's room like.
00:15:43 How about the far room, left and right.
00:15:49 Let's link them so
they're easy to deal with.
00:16:05 Mhmm.
00:16:06 Let's see with the bass drum
and the snare drum.
00:16:18 And with the overheads.
00:16:25 I don't like them on their own
but then I know myself
I know that I never liked the sound
of a far room on its own.
00:16:31 But it creates really nice distance
and it prevents the snare
from sounding so demoey.
00:16:36 Check it out, with
and without the rooms.
00:16:53 Maybe a little less.
00:16:54 OK. And how about the mid room there?
I like the focus that
it gives the bass drum
so I'm assuming it was some
sort of a ribbon microphone
in front of the whole kit,
pretty low.
00:17:17 That's nice. It's a good balance.
00:17:22 With the hats.
00:17:37 So turning the toms on
doesn't ruin the whole sound.
00:17:40 I'm pretty happy with this.
00:17:41 So, I have the bass drum as an entity.
00:17:44 I'm probably gonna
make the toms an entity.
00:17:51 There you go. Boom.
00:17:52 So what I'd like to do now is
treat the whole drum set
as an instrument,
as opposed to a bunch
of different instruments.
00:17:58 And to do so, I'm just gonna
select the whole drum set.
00:18:01 There you go. And...
00:18:04 create a
group channel.
00:18:08 And call it, you know what,
how about "drums"?
And by the way, by creating this group,
everything is done automatically,
Cubase routes all the drums
to this group here
and routes the group to
the output, automatically. It's neat.
00:18:29 I think I wanna put a little bit
compression on this.
00:18:31 You have the channel strip
and right now I'm looking
at the channel strip of the drum sub.
00:18:37 Maybe I should call it "drum sub".
00:18:42 Which updates the name
of all the sends.
00:18:46 While we're here let me show you
an easy way to think about this.
00:18:51 In the channel setting window,
you have inserts, which are plug-ins.
00:18:55 I have here a folder with
all the built-in plug-ins
so I can use only the built-in plug-ins.
00:18:59 And then you have the channel strip.
00:19:00 Those are not plug-ins,
those are permanent.
00:19:02 And you could choose whether
to use, say, the built-in EQ
or an EQ plug-in.
00:19:08 That's your choice.
00:19:10 The EQ here is very good, the compressor
is very good, everything is very good.
00:19:13 You may as well just start there
unless you have a problem and
you can't get the sound you want
or you need inspiration,
then you can start using plug-ins.
00:19:20 What they've done that's smart is you
can actually change the order of things.
00:19:23 So you can say, channel strip first
and then inserts,
or if you click on this button
inserts first in channel strip.
00:19:29 Which is very practical
if you're trying to build a sound.
00:19:32 For my drum set I'm thinking
I'm gonna try and use the channel strip.
00:19:36 So, I was thinking compression.
00:19:38 What I'm looking for really
is excitement so let's listen to...
00:19:47 This is fun and it really
sounds nice and full.
00:19:50 But what would happen if
I use a saturation system.
00:20:09 Again auto gain is your enemy.
00:20:21 I like what it does to the snare drum.
Let me exaggerate.
00:20:44 Tape saturation sounded good.
00:20:45 The tube saturation not really.
Let's see what Magneto does.
00:21:00 Nah... Tape.
00:21:21 I really dig the not-real
quality of it. It's nice.
00:21:26 Let me adjust the equalizer
a little bit.
00:21:40 Makes me wanna lower
the overheads a little bit.
00:21:54 I'm happy with this right now.
00:21:56 Let's turn the bass on
and see what happens.
00:21:57 So, bass amp.
00:22:13 So that's a 251,
large-diaphragm condenser microphone.
00:22:16 Same amp with a ribbon 101.
00:22:34 Two of them.
00:22:45 Let's link them
and call it "bass".
00:23:03 Let's listen to the DI.
00:23:10 I like the fat in this DI.
00:23:13 Let's listen to it with the drums.
00:23:22 Whereas the amp...
00:23:31 There's something diffuse about it.
00:23:33 Again, check it out, that's the DI.
00:23:42 And the amps.
00:23:47 There's something
woofy and diffuse about it.
00:23:49 I don't like it.
And even if I use just one.
00:23:59 I like the amp quality of it
but I don't like the tone of it.
00:24:02 It just doesn't have the...
00:24:08 ...you know.
So,
let's see if I can get
the sound I want with the DI.
00:24:13 And using an effect.
00:24:15 And I know from experience
that there's a VST bass amp
that's pretty awesome.
So let's see what it does.
00:24:27 Already better. Without.
00:24:35 Even fatter. Maybe too fat.
00:24:55 Maybe not but I like the idea
of having a special effect on it.
00:24:58 Use 'em if you got 'em.
00:25:17 It's got a weird quality. I like it.
00:25:19 And then the cabinets, let's see.
00:25:27 I'm happy with this.
00:25:29 What else you've got?
They've got effects, let's use them.
00:25:32 Sometimes it's fun to have a low-quality
compressor on a bass.
00:25:44 Without anything.
00:25:56 Super fat. Let's see in
the track with the drums.
00:26:10 It sits there by itself, right?
It's nice.
00:26:12 Let's compare with our real amp.
00:26:35 I like this better.
What do you know?
So, I have a bass and drum system, let's
see how it sounds in the second verse.
00:26:54 By the way I'm not gonna use
this track so I can hide them.
00:26:58 And I'm gonna hide them here too.
00:27:05 Here's the lead vocal.
00:27:10 There's a cool little feature here,
where you can choose the size
of the waveform, which is nice.
00:27:16 So let's see where Will hangs.
Here!
So we're gonna need
a compressor obviously.
00:27:53 By the way you can choose
where you put your EQ.
00:27:56 That's pretty cool.
Let's do it this way.
00:27:59 Turn the auto makeup off.
00:28:07 Slow the attack down
to make sure we don't kill the
beautiful stuff that he
does when he's singing.
00:28:19 You can see from the waveform right here
that it's quiet here
and it gets louder, here.
00:28:45 OK, we can hi-pass a little bit.
00:28:47 And then probably
open the top a smidgen.
00:28:57 A-ha, S's are coming out.
00:29:17 OK, clearly we have a de-esser problem
so, I'm turning the de-esser on.
Now I can decide
to super de-ess and EQ after
or to EQ and then de-ess.
We'll see what works best.
00:29:27 So, amount of reduction,
threshold, although threshold
never worked for me.
00:29:32 Anything automatic,
like, this machine
can't read my mind, can it?
Or maybe this machine knows
Will Knox intimately.
00:29:39 Don't think that it does but if it did
I would let it do its automatic thing.
00:29:43 Until then, I'll do it by myself.
00:29:45 Thank you very much.
00:29:50 Let me show you in solo with just the
vocals so you understand how this works.
00:29:56 You can solo the key.
00:30:02 We're looking for the "Ss".
Let's hear.
00:30:06 I can hear the "Ss" very well.
00:30:08 Then you can hit the difference button
to hear what the de-esser
is gonna touch.
00:30:17 So, we are zoning on the Ss
Now, we've got to decide how
much damage we're gonna do.
00:30:22 More.
00:30:33 OK, maybe a little lower
in the key here.
00:30:36 Higher here.
00:30:38 Oh yes. But less.
00:30:42 The reduction is good, I'm just being
a little heavy on the threshold.
00:30:45 So I'm gonna soften the threshold.
00:30:52 As a reminder, without.
00:31:01 Let's move the EQ after the de-esser
to figure out how it works.
00:31:10 Better right?
And remove the de-esser.
00:31:18 OK, we can play with
that in the context.
00:31:33 It's nice. And I'm curious to know
what the tape saturation will sound
like on this particular sound.
00:31:52 Let's just mute the stuff
we're not gonna use.
00:31:54 Selected all that, here we go.
00:32:01 I could use the bass though.
00:32:11 I still hear a little bit of a mask
in the low-mids here.
00:32:27 We started here, no channel strip.
00:32:45 Pretty nice.
00:32:46 Let's create some space
around this vocal.
00:32:48 So I'm gonna
create an FX channel
for lead vox
and this LA Studio thing
is actually awesome.
00:33:06 Check it out.
00:33:20 Isn't that nice?
So, we are gonna call this..
00:33:25 "Main space"
'cos I'm gonna use it as such.
00:33:36 I'm also gonna give it a bit
of a short room kind of vibe.
00:33:42 Give it another FX channel
and maybe use the same one
since it sounds good
and it's easy to use.
00:33:53 There you go.
00:33:55 Call this one "short space".
00:34:02 Let's check it out.
00:34:09 Obviously this preset is not gonna do.
00:34:12 What you've got?
Ballroom? Nah.
00:34:14 Echo Room? Nah.
00:34:16 French Stone Chapel!
Nah.
00:34:21 Don't want anything
french on this video.
00:34:24 NY studio A. Yeah.
00:34:30 Exactly. Let's shorten it.
00:34:39 That's good,
if we use less of it.
00:34:56 Hear the space in-between
the words, right?
Especially at the end "all around".
With.
00:35:10 It gets rid of that
you know "I'm-eating-the-mic"
kind of sound,
which I love. So that's good for me
and then the other one back on.
00:35:29 One more thing
I'd like to do on the vocal
is add a little bit of a delay.
00:35:32 So, I'm gonna move
the channel strip pre-insert.
00:35:35 So that my delay can be post-inserts.
00:35:38 And pick
some built-in delay.
00:35:41 I think they have a mono delay
that's gonna do the job
very well..mono delay, there you go.
00:35:53 Trippy.
00:35:54 Less of it maybe.
00:36:00 I don't need all that feedback.
00:36:06 Getting closer.
00:36:07 I don't need it to be so bright
I just want it to feel like
kind of like an after
thought of the vocal.
00:36:13 I don't need to be so fat either.
00:36:22 Even less.
00:36:33 And in the context.
00:36:52 Make it a little darker
and with.
00:37:12 Katie will come later.
00:37:13 Alright, this is nice.
00:37:15 Let's see what the harmonic content
of this song is.
00:37:18 If you see here, we have
a bunch of guitars
and it's Will Knox so
we know it's gonna be guitars.
00:37:24 So, let's listen to this
"guitar intro amp 122".
00:37:42 Same part with the 57 microphone.
00:37:49 Or the DI.
00:37:53 The DI is absolutely unnecessary.
00:37:55 Let's listen to the 57 plus the 122.
00:37:58 So we have a 57 which is SM-57
A Shure, small, dynamic,
you know, $80 microphone.
00:38:05 And then we have a 122 which is a
a ribbon by Royer.
00:38:18 See, when it gets (makes a sound).
That's a little fat.
00:38:23 It's fine on the 57.
00:38:27 But there's a ring on the 122.
Let's just get rid of it, quickly.
00:38:31 I bet you it's in
the 300 range or 200 range.
00:38:36 I bet you I was right.
And let's look at to the 57.
00:38:41 Maybe I was a little brutish on this.
00:38:43 Doesn't have to be 8dBs down.
00:38:52 Why don't I link this
as "intro guitar"?
And we're gonna...
00:38:59 We don't have to link the EQs.
The volumes, yes.
00:39:27 So now we have
the guitar verse, which seems
to be kind of the same thing.
00:39:32 I'm not sure why they are separated.
00:39:33 Probably something bad happened
at the recording stage.
00:39:38 Or some editing or something happened.
00:39:40 And now the intro.
00:39:41 Oh no, I know why.
00:39:44 It's because there's an overlap,
so we had to have
two sets of track for the same part.
00:39:48 So why don't I copy this EQ setting,
since we're pretty sure
it's gonna be the same thing.
00:39:53 Copy and paste it
onto the 122 here.
00:40:00 There you go.
00:40:15 I didn't feel like having the guitar
in the middle, I don't know why.
00:40:29 I like that.
00:40:30 Little bit of space would be nice.
00:40:32 So, why don't we use the leanest one.
00:40:35 And assign it to the main space.
00:40:42 I said the leanest one only.
00:40:57 That's nice and peaceful.
00:40:59 Let's do the same thing on the 57.
00:41:10 I gotta match the pans.
00:41:12 Otherwise it's gonna
be weird for the listener.
00:41:14 The guitars are like
changing places and stuff.
00:41:17 We're not that kind of girl.
00:41:41 Alright so, that's good.
00:41:42 Let's get rid of the two DIs.
00:41:47 We don't need them, never
gonna wanna look at them, again.
00:41:50 Plus I don't like the way they
sound so they are banned.
00:41:53 There you go.
00:41:55 And...
00:41:57 I'm probably not gonna
need them here either.
00:42:02 And then there's one more
guitar on the chorus.
00:42:20 That sounds great.
The reverb is integrated.
00:42:22 We recorded it from the amp.
00:42:42 I turned the bass on
because I know that
the bottom notes of the guitar
are gonna fight with the bass.
I don't want that.
00:42:48 I wanted to be really lean and really
kinematic so I can't have too much mud.
00:42:53 So, I'm EQ'ing the bottom
of the guitar amp
that has a 122 on it,
the one that's fat,
while listening to the bass.
00:43:02 so I can leave it as fat as possible
without touching the bass.
00:43:04 And I'm leaving the other microphone on,
the 57, to make sure that
by EQ'ing the bottom,
the 122, I'm not screwing up
the whole sound phase-wise.
00:43:21 Let's link these two guitar tracks.
00:43:25 Let's call it "Guit skank".
00:43:37 And you know what?
I'm gonna link the pans.
00:43:42 And that way I can have
them be together.
00:43:52 How does it sound in the context?
I think we could use some
space on this, right?
So let's see what it sounds
like in a short space.
00:44:43 How about the big space?
Check out the verse.
00:45:05 Without the spaces.
00:45:32 It's nice. Alright,
so what else we've got.
00:45:35 We have a bunch of
really awesome keyboards.
00:45:38 Because I think
I looked at all the guitars. Yes.
00:45:42 So what do we have for keyboards?
I love this guy.
00:45:48 Check it out.
00:45:50 RS09, it comes in here.
00:46:04 It's an old Roland
machine from the 80s
that's clearly way too
fat for our purpose.
00:46:23 We're gonna drawn this.
00:46:42 It's supposed to function
with these guys.
00:46:44 The organ. So why don't we
make the organ into a group
so the organ is dealt
with as one instrument.
00:47:03 Here's the organ.
00:47:14 That's quite fantastic sounding.
00:47:16 Let's lean it out a smidgen
because I know that
it's gonna be a bit much.
00:47:31 And then on the chorus.
00:47:49 We definitely need some space on this.
00:47:51 I'm gonna use the main space.
00:48:01 And it's a little jumpy, right?
So, let's compress it.
00:48:04 "Solo" so you can hear
what's going on.
00:48:46 Awesome.
00:48:48 In the chorus, I see here
there's a bunch of pads.
Let's listen to them.
00:48:52 It says L.
Let's respect that wish.
00:48:55 This one says R.
Let's say they are together.
00:49:03 So that's an old ARP ensemble.
00:49:06 No midi was hurt in
the making of this track.
00:49:09 Let's call it "ARP ensemble".
00:49:12 And I'm definitely gonna
link the EQ on this one.
00:49:17 I'm super into hi-passing this.
00:49:44 I think it's a little bright sounding
so I'm gonna make it dark.
00:50:00 I dig that. Let's put some space on it.
00:50:04 Main space should do. Turn it on.
00:50:31 That's awesome. There's another
pad called "ARP wave".
00:50:59 Let's see the transition between
the verse and the chorus,
and see if all those crazy and weird
rawly-earthy pads work.
00:51:51 Piano Melody.
00:51:53 Yeah, I like melody.
What's that do?
Alright. This is a real piano.
00:52:05 As real as it gets.
Let's get rid of that pedal noise.
00:52:25 Here is my balance.
I have the guitar here.
00:52:27 I'm gonna put the piano there.
00:52:32 Little bit of space.
00:52:45 Maybe open the top a little bit.
00:53:03 I may have had
the vocal a little loud.
00:53:24 I'm not sure if I'm 100%
happy with the space.
00:53:26 I like what it does but
I was looking for something more,
less more, more or less,
more less than more.
Let's try something else.
00:53:34 Add FX channel.
00:53:37 Let's pick a different reverb.
00:53:39 There's one call RoomWorks,
that I usually have good luck with.
00:53:46 Let's see if we can fake some
sort of a plate out of this.
00:54:06 OK, let's make sure
that it's way only here.
00:54:13 Longer.
00:54:17 No pre-delay 'cos I don't want
to hear that thing.
00:54:19 I just want this kind-of-like
(makes a sound) thing.
00:54:35 That's just the mic
and a little bit of space.
00:54:46 I like that a lot.
Let's see in the context.
00:55:02 What it would sound like if I use
that "shhh" reverb on the guitar?
Let's see.
00:55:10 Maybe just one.
00:55:30 I dig.
00:55:31 So, let's do that again
on the verse guitar too.
00:55:57 So, on the chorus,
I remember creating a bunch of melodies
like this guy.
00:56:09 That is an old Yamaha SY1,
which was their first ever synth,
if I'm not mistaken.
00:56:16 And it's wonderful,
it's got amazing sounds like
sousaphone and Hawaiian guitar.
00:56:22 It can play one sound
and one note at a time
and also has its very own,
very personal sense of pitch.
00:56:30 So, let's fix that.
00:56:31 Here, in the insert,
there has to be some pitch correction.
Pitch correct, there you go.
00:56:37 Boom.
00:56:45 I want this to be very in-tune
and zero tolerance.
00:56:56 As opposed to.
00:57:03 With.
00:57:07 Life is good.
Let's put it in the context.
00:57:14 Obviously we need a little bit of sauce.
00:57:16 How about this one?
So, another melody here.
00:57:43 Obviously this was not meant
to be used this way.
00:57:46 Let's use RoomWorks.
00:57:48 And I'm gonna use RoomWorks
on the track itself.
00:57:51 I'm not gonna use this as a send
because this is really part
of the sound of the track,
and I don't wanna think
of it as an extra entity.
00:57:57 So, let's see what we have here.
00:58:13 I mean, pre-delay set aside,
I kinda dig this. Let's see.
00:58:28 This is meant to go with this.
00:58:46 Let's see in the context.
00:59:02 I dig that. Let's copy this effect
onto its little brother
here "Pluck Low".
00:59:05 What does "Pluck Low" do?
I bet you it plucks
in the low range.
00:59:15 Yep,
it must be a harmony.
00:59:23 Yes it is.
01:00:17 So, we're almost there.
We've heard almost everything
Let's see what the Juno does.
01:00:26 It is a little fat.
01:00:27 Let's hear with the real bass.
01:01:06 I don't wanna do anything
to this. I love it.
01:01:08 I'm just gonna check
how it sounds with the bass
and the bass drum.
01:01:34 It's just fat as hell.
01:01:58 I think the SY1 is still too loud.
01:02:02 Maybe it's too in the middle.
Let's just put it to the side.
01:02:09 It's also too fat and it's just...
00:00:01 Alright this is going rather swimmingly,
as Will Knox would say.
00:00:07 On the chorus we have
this fantastic cameo by
Katy Holmes.
00:00:17 Alright, so Katy is right here.
00:00:19 Clearly a little too thick
for a background vocal.
00:00:27 It goes with this guy.
00:00:33 And I hear her as
kind of like a
disrupted flavor.
00:00:38 And I wanna put her
in her own space
and make a mess. That's the way
I thought about it when I recorded it.
00:00:45 So, what is REVelation? Let's see.
00:00:48 I like REVelations.
Uh! Hi, gorgeous.
00:00:56 Maybe we can do something with this.
Let's see.
00:01:09 Not a fan of the early reflections here
but I'm really a fan of the tail.
So, let's see.
00:01:24 How does it sound in the context?
Maybe a smidgen too much.
00:01:36 And even
too big smidgen.
00:01:38 So this is smidg-ish.
00:01:45 Alright I don't like it.
Next.
00:01:49 REVerence, OK.
00:02:09 This has a really nice grain.
Church.
00:02:22 That's very fat.
00:02:29 Let's try that.
00:02:47 That's nice.
Louder.
00:03:00 Even more.
00:03:15 If you need a little more gain
on a track and you already are here
you can go in the channel strip here.
There's a pre-gain button that's nice.
00:03:36 I like that it sounds wrong.
00:03:37 So, let's keep it that way.
00:03:40 On the second verse, right here,
I feel that the organ
is a little overwhelming.
00:03:46 What do you think?
So let's turn the automation track on
and see what we can do.
00:04:45 Not as nice as if you had a fader
but it's doable.
00:04:49 Let's go back to first verse.
00:05:04 I think the mix could
use a little bit of...
00:05:08 sauce altogether.
00:05:10 So, if I go to the stereo out
which is my main fader
maybe give it a little bit
of tape saturation.
00:05:20 Without the automatic gain.
00:05:52 Listen to the snare drum
and the relationship between
the vocal and the snare drum.
00:05:55 I think this is doing what
we need. Fancy that.
00:05:58 Without.
00:06:23 Don't forget that in Cubase
this fader right here
it's pre-strip, pre-everything
Which means that your saturation,
and if you were to use a compressor
is actually endangered on
this position of this fader.
00:06:35 So if you have a compressor
and you're hitting it too hard
you have the option
of lowering this fader
and it's gonna be less loud
into the compressor.
00:06:44 This can be counter-intuitive
to people who use other DAWs
but it's actually kind of useful because
your levels will creep up as you mix
and so you have this fader right here
that you can actually tame.
00:06:56 without any adverse effect.
00:06:57 So, you can kind of
gain-stage your whole mix
with this one fader.
00:07:02 If you are working with just one fader.
00:07:03 We are not using any stems here
because it's such
pure and simple music,
and it's not gonna add up.
00:07:10 On the dance floor I don't need
to separate the bass drum.
00:07:12 I don't need to do anything like that
so I'm gonna treat this,
and I've been treating this as a whole
not as a bunch of separate parts.
00:07:20 So, I don't have any stems.
00:07:21 Everything goes to output 1-2.
Everything is in the box.
00:07:24 In this case, when you work that way,
you have one fader to rule them all
Still feel like it could be
a little more open.
00:07:35 The whole mix.
00:08:08 So, that brought up the Ss, I'm gonna
try and open the air above the Ss.
00:08:39 7 dBs may be a little hooligan
but it's a nice feeling,
not to be a hooligan.
00:08:44 but to use 7dBs of something
makes you feel powerful.
00:08:47 Let's see the chorus.
00:08:54 Did you hear the saturation
freaking out?
Let's lower that.
00:09:17 So I had set the tape saturation
on the verse,
which is quiet, when we hit
the chorus freaked out.
00:09:24 Not a good look.
00:09:25 So, I had to tame it back down.
00:09:27 Maybe we need to do something
else now, we'll see.
00:09:29 Listening to it with a little bit of fuzz on the 2-mix
I feel like I'm loosing a little bit
of punch on the drums
and their place in there.
00:09:37 Kind of like mojo.
00:09:39 So, I'm gonna do a little
bit of parallel compression.
00:09:41 I'm gonna create
a parallel compression path.
00:09:45 With an effects channel,
like this.
00:09:48 And I'm gonna use some
compressor of sorts.
00:09:52 Maybe vintage compressor.
00:09:54 Go.
00:09:55 Then I'm gonna go fish for my track.
00:09:57 Hi, where have you been on my life?
(makes a sound)
Go play with your mates up there
There you go.
00:10:04 Alright, so this looks
and smells like an 1176
but you should know
a little interesting detail.
00:10:10 Somebody decided to fix
where the 1176 problems are
and to invert where fast and slow are.
00:10:17 So, on the 1176 this is fast,
this is slow
and here this is fast and this is slow.
00:10:22 So, if you have any kind
of habit using 1176,
make sure you don't use
them with this guy.
00:10:27 Let's go 20:1 and
start in the middle
FX 4. Let's call it "drum crush".
00:10:37 So, we have the drum crush
on all three bass drums.
00:10:42 We also need the drum crush
on the snare.
00:11:05 I don't think I need a super super low
bass drum in that crush.
00:11:42 I don't even need the Out.
00:11:44 See, what happened when
I turned the out microphone off
everything became more
parallel-compression like.
00:12:05 Doesn't really sound like an 1176
but it's fun to use.
Let's see what it sounds like
in the context of the rest of the song.
00:12:12 I'm gonna start with it
all the way down in
this aux and raise it.
00:12:30 So, check it out.
00:12:32 One bar with, one bar without.
00:12:33 Starting without.
00:12:50 Just the drums
so you can really hear it.
00:13:06 Let's link, this two
the drum sub and the drum crush.
00:13:11 I'll call it "drum+crush".
00:13:16 EQ definitely not. Volume and pan?
Sure. Why not?
Here we go.
00:13:37 This is taking shape nicely.
00:13:40 So,
what else am I gonna do?
Good question.
00:13:44 I'm feeling that the snare is
a little kind of like pedestrian.
00:13:56 I like it but it's like
it just goes "pluck".
00:14:00 Which is what most snare drums do.
00:14:01 But this one we're not
gonna let it do that.
00:14:05 Mono delay, here we go.
00:14:07 Let's see.
00:14:33 It's delightfully wrong,
ain't it?
I'm gonna leave it there until
somebody complains.
00:14:54 We'll see what happens.
I like this kind of stuff.
00:14:56 What else?
What's going on on the bridge?
Piano bridge.
00:15:10 I must listen to some context.
00:15:16 Let me mute the vocal for now.
00:15:26 I get it, that's the angry
part of the song.
00:15:28 Alright. So, let's high-pass
this 'cos it's a mess.
00:15:35 It's got a "ing-ing" thing.
00:15:36 that I really don't enjoy.
00:15:41 That.
00:16:02 The chords he plays are so thick
that I'm not gonna try
and have a good sound of its own.
00:16:08 What I'm trying to do is having a sound
that would fit with the rest.
00:16:31 You know what I mean?
It's no longer kind of like
clouding everything.
00:16:35 Don't want to listen it in solo but
nobody's gonna listen to it in solo.
00:16:37 Nobody will ever know, right?
You're not gonna tell on me.
00:16:42 Now the other thing that annoys me here
is this guitar is insanely loud.
00:16:46 We should probably
do something about it.
00:16:49 I'm gonna use my legendary
mouse automation trick.
00:17:43 OK.
00:17:44 Let's see what the vocal
does on that bridge
I can definitely copy. Actually,
why don't we copy everything?
Copy first selected channel setting.
00:18:03 Aye Aye Sir, paste.
00:18:06 There you go. So now we
have the same sound on both.
00:18:15 Obviously because of the entire
mess there is around.
00:18:18 and since the producer
decided to separate
the verse and chorus and bridge,
that gives me the liberty
to do what I want,
without telling the producer.
00:18:29 Because there are so much
held notes and chords and stuff
the vocal feels very dry.
00:18:34 So, I'm actually gonna
add some reverb and stuff.
00:18:52 Let's see the transition.
00:19:47 I like it.
00:19:48 I like the contrast between
the bridge vocal and the chorus vocal
in this particular case.
00:19:54 What else? I think this is it.
Oh no, we have shakers. Crucial.
00:19:58 What do those shakers do?
They shake.
00:20:04 This one says L this one says R.
00:20:06 I'm assuming is for positioning.
00:20:11 And then we have another one.
00:20:25 That's interesting, kind
of weird thing to do.
00:20:28 Let's ahmm...
You guessed it.
00:20:37 Boom.
00:20:47 And let's give them a little bit of,
you know, that.
00:21:02 Let's see in the context.
00:21:18 Let me check that my settings are
the way I want them to be..EQ.
00:21:23 And now I'm gonna make them darker.
00:21:25 Why am I doing that?
Because the time is not so good.
00:21:29 The playing is not in super time
and so, if I make it darker
I won't hear the transients as much.
00:21:35 I'll be able to have them louder
and they're filling that space
but they just not going right.
00:22:01 That's fine and well.
I really don't like
the tape saturation sound anymore.
00:22:05 It's just crunchy.
00:22:07 So, thanks for coming and no, thanks.
00:22:09 Let's see if we can find something else.
00:22:12 I think I saw Magneto II
here, somewhere.
00:22:20 Let's see what they have.
00:22:23 Warmth. We need that.
00:22:59 I kinda dig what it does, right?
It softens things a little bit, is nice.
00:23:38 It's nice.
00:23:40 It does that un-documentary
thing that I like.
00:23:43 Let's see on the verse.
00:24:18 Tough choice.
00:24:20 It's not as punchy.
00:24:22 It doesn't have the same...
But it's dreamier.
00:24:25 And I think it's better for the style
and better for what I'm trying
to do today with the song.
00:24:31 Tomorrow may feel different
but right now, until I hate it
five minutes from now,
I'm gonna keep it as is.
00:25:11 So, I feel like I've been
a little tamed on the organ
It's a really nice sound.
It's real B3 and it's pretty.
00:25:17 And it does a nice space.
00:25:18 But I've already automated it
and I'd like to change its level.
00:25:21 And that can be a pain.
00:25:23 What you can do in that case
is create a VCA which is a new feature
for Cubase 8.
00:25:30 And call it "organ vca".
00:25:33 Basically you can use
the VCA as an offset
for your already automated organ track.
00:25:39 Isn't that nice?
There are many uses to VCA
but let's use this one first.
00:25:43 And by the way, since
we are all civilized human being,
we call it what it is.
There you go.
00:26:05 I like it better like this.
00:26:06 What's a VCA might you ask.
00:26:09 Well originally a VCA was,
is, was...
00:26:12 a voltage control amplifier
on an SSL console
big gigantic piece of steel
with a lot of copper in it.
00:26:20 You could have one fader
remote control other faders
because you had like 48 faders.
00:26:25 And say you had 10
or 12 faders for drums.
00:26:28 And if you wanted to change
all the drums at once,
without running
them through a group,
it was difficult.
00:26:34 Somebody came up with the idea of this.
00:26:36 What if one fader could send
voltage to these other 12 faders
or 28 faders, since it was the 80s,
(28 faders for drums that is)
and then when you moved this one fader
all other 28 moved with it.
00:26:50 That was the VCA. So,
in this paradigm of all digital
nobody sends voltage to anyone
but you can think of the VCA
as a remote control
for other faders.
00:27:05 So, if you saw the beginning
of this fantastic mix,
I actually linked my drums
in different ways.
00:27:11 I could have used VCAs here
to be able to control
things in different ways
for example I could have
made a VCA for the kick
and then a VCA for the overhead,
a VCA for the toms,
and a VCA for all the rooms.
00:27:23 I would have had three or four VCAs here
and there I could have made
a VCA for all the VCAs,
and I could have grouped that
all together somewhere in my console.
00:27:30 That would have allowed me
to change all the drums
with the main level VCA
or change some levels within the drums
with the little VCAs, all in one place.
00:27:42 And then, as you've just saw,
the other advantage of the VCA
is that you can supersede existing
automation, which is awesome.
00:27:50 Kind of like a trim-function
in Pro Tools.
00:27:53 Let's listen to the song.
00:27:54 after all this philosophical
discussion on VCAs.
00:29:34 Anybody hear that?
Second verse,
check it out.
00:29:43 First verse.
00:29:48 See the difference
in positioning of the vocal?
That is because of the organ.
00:29:52 But I don't really want to
lower the organ further.
00:29:54 So why don't we just be bold
and raise the lead vocal?
And since this is pretty arbitrary,
I'm gonna do it manually.
00:30:42 Let's not get over-board.
00:30:44 Just a little 1dB bump should
create a good vibe.
00:30:48 Coming from here.
00:31:19 Something else that bothers me is
the guitar feels a little boring.
00:31:24 So, what if I open the top up a little?
That's too much.
It makes the vocal seem dull.
00:31:56 I like that.
00:31:57 That's in good enough taste.
00:32:02 I have to do the same thing
on the intro.
00:32:06 Here you go.
00:32:07 This one.
I'm doing this on the 57.
00:32:45 Now I have this desire
of adding a little bit of this thing
'cos I like it. This thing sounds good.
00:32:53 Whatever it does I don't really know
but I like what it does.
00:32:57 It's called Maximizer it must be good.
00:33:19 Obviously we'll not level match
but in this case I actually wanted to
give a little bit of "mmh" to the vocal.
00:33:23 So I might as well just do it.
00:33:34 I really like the way it sounds.
00:33:35 Without.
00:34:00 I don't wanna know what it does,
I just like it.
00:34:09 So the vocal could use
a little more sauce.
00:34:11 What do we have?
Let's try that FX3.
00:34:16 Oh, I'm gonna copy that on the bridge.
00:34:20 And then let's see
what it sounds like.
00:34:33 That could be useful.
00:34:37 Ah, Jeez...
00:34:51 Neh, makes it sound thin.
00:34:58 So forget about it.
00:34:59 However on the bridge.
00:35:19 Great. I may have overdone
the snare a smidgen, let's see.
00:35:50 One more thing on the drums.
00:35:51 I like it all but...
00:35:54 Let's see.
00:36:06 I'd like to bring
the bass drum, like, here
just to create this thing
and I can't really do that now.
00:36:14 The reason why is this
It's going to a drum crush (this one)
and they're all kind of different
in the way they behave.
00:36:21 So, what I'm gonna do it's
I'm actually gonna create
a group for this.
00:36:31 And we can make it mono.
00:36:33 And call it "bass drum sub".
00:36:41 I can listen to it.
00:36:52 It's not longer going through
the drum sub here
it's going to its own thing, so it's
not getting a little boost we had.
00:37:00 So we can take care of it as
a separate entity.
00:37:04 and give it a little bit
of a boost here.
00:37:07 And maybe...
00:37:14 Yes. And hi-pass
it a smidgen here.
00:37:30 Let's see with the rest of the drums.
00:37:45 In the context of the song.
00:38:01 It's nice because I get that presence.
00:38:02 I'm losing a little bit of the
(makes a sound)
Whatever that means.
But we can bring it back,
this way.
00:38:11 (makes a sound)
Maybe I went a little heavy metal
on that high-end here.
00:39:37 So, what you see me doing right now
is, while I'm listening,
what I'm hearing is making me
feel a certain way
and I'm reacting to it.
00:39:46 I'm not gonna start transport for that,
I'm just gonna move and react.
00:39:49 But since you're here
I have to tell you. So...
00:39:51 The first thing that happened
it's the bass drum felt too bright.
00:39:53 It felt still a little like, you know,
Metallica. So I just
lowered the high-end,
lowered the bass drum.
00:40:00 It didn't feel as vulgar.
I liked it.
00:40:02 Then, I'm not saying
that Metallica is vulgar.
00:40:04 I'm just saying in this
context is vulgar.
00:40:06 Then, that made me feel like
the vocal was a little dry
so I'm like, I'm not gonna
add some reverbs
so I did a little bit of reverb
but I was like
I don't feel this.
00:40:14 Literally I couldn't feel it.
00:40:16 and then so, I was like well
I have that delay
Let's add a delay.
00:40:20 That was my thought processing
in the last 30 seconds.
00:40:23 And all that is based
on reaction to the track,
listening to it as if
it was the first time,
which is hard to do since
we've been listening to it for a while.
00:40:32 But that's the process at this point
At this point I could abandon this mix.
00:40:37 You never really finish a mix,
you abandon it
when you have to go to lunch.
00:40:41 And so, we are way passed lunch time
but I'm happy to abandon this mix now
so I can send it to the singer.
00:40:48 The problem is, of course,
the minute you decide that this is it.
00:40:52 That's when you start tweaking
because this really this isn't it.
00:40:55 So, let's "this is it".
00:40:59 Let's listen to it.
00:42:56 Definitely I have to do something
for this poor guy. Right here.
00:43:02 They're not loud enough. They (sound)
guitars. So I'm going to create a VCA.
00:43:07 And call it
"Skank VCA".
00:43:13 And I'm gonna assign that VCA
to the existing guitars skank link.
00:43:16 Now, I think I can raise the Skank Guitar
for the whole song
and it'll respect my existing
automation here.
00:43:42 Second for chorus.
00:46:01 Alright, I like this.
00:46:03 For those of you who
were paying attention,
couple of minutes back,
I lowered the master fader.
00:46:10 As I mentioned earlier,
because Cubase's
floating point, you can
lower the master fader
to avoid overs, peaks,
without anybody being killed.
00:46:21 If you were even more paying
attention, you've noticed that
turn on the brick wall limiter.
00:46:24 And the reason why
I did that is because
lowering the fader
will prevent peaks. Fine.
00:46:30 Turning on the brick wall limiter
will let this machine
kind of kiss those peaks that
make the record a little
too real for a Friday night.
00:46:39 If you know what I mean.
So, it's nice to
have the machine...
I mean it's a 0.1 dB.
00:46:45 Nobody's gonna get
a phone call for this one
but it's a little smoother
and, if it makes me feel that
it's a little smoother, then I'm happy.
00:46:51 So, at this point I would send
this mix to Mr. Knox.
00:46:56 Who's gonna write back
or call back
with ("I don't like this"..mumbles).
00:47:02 That kind of stuff and then
we'll make another mix.
00:47:04 But for today I'm content.
00:47:07 So, as a reminder, we started
with this.
00:47:56 Alright. And now we're here.
00:47:58 using Cubase 8 and the stock plug-ins.
00:48:47 Et voilà.
Once logged in, you will be able to read all the transcripts jump around in the video.
Fab Dupont is a award-winning NYC based record producer, mixing/mastering engineer and co-founder of pureMix.net.
Fab has been playing, writing, producing and mixing music both live and in studios all over the world. He's worked in cities like Paris, Boston, Brussels, Stockholm, London and New York just to name a few.
He has his own studio called FLUX Studios in the East Village of New York City.
Fab has received many accolades around the world, including wins at the Victoires de la Musique, South African Music awards, Pan African Music Awards, US independent music awards. He also has received Latin Grammy nominations and has worked on many Latin Grammy and Grammy-nominated albums.
Will Knox is an alt-folk troubadour from Hammersmith, London. Knox has supported artists such as Art Garfunkel, Pete Francis (of Dispatch), and Tyrone Wells.
His visionary melodies, hooks, and intricate arrangements create a stunning world where songs may hold shadow and darkness, but there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.
Will Knox is an alt-folk troubadour from Hammersmith, London. Knox has supported artists such as Art Garfunkel, Pete Francis (of Dispatch), and Tyrone Wells.
His visionary melodies, hooks, and intricate arrangements create a stunning world where songs may hold shadow and darkness, but there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.
Parts of this site and some files are only accessible to pureMix Pro Members or available to purchase. Please see below our membership plans or add this video to your shopping cart.
Great series! , I also appreciate to have short stems after all the goal is to experiment your own version and see how it compares to others and that's really very interesting. I am going through the versions and still not done with it but it's amazing how each one brings his own way of doing things mostly his own feelings and taste to this song. More of this kind ! thank you for bringing it in.
Roland
JohnnyMidnightHatSize
2021 Jan 24
Id like to see what DAW and what plugins and hardware Fab would really use rather than the Cubase commercial. The trouble is he puts his name to everything from software to hardware, you can't really guess what he would use given the free choice and his best view of value for the client/customer.
yasin.k
2020 Dec 18
please German subtitles
addjackes
2020 Sep 13
I downloaded the stems, started EQ-ing the kick drum, took me a whole day to just EQ the kick drum. I hope I get to that day where I can finish an entire song from scratch in a few hours. Thanks for the amazing tut.
philipp.h
2019 Jan 16
I have to say, I am not particularly impressed by the production. I do think though, that this sort of production quality is what people have to expect in day-to-day work, instead of the super high profile productions, where you just do levels and it already sounds like a record. What I also like about this fact, is that even with these highly regarded mixers, the song doesn't really transform into a bar of gold.
This really emphasizes how important the right pre-production, arrangement and recording are.
Mario Kernn
2019 Jan 15
Hey Fab! I'm just too much jealous because you have a reaaaaaaly fantastic material!! To make a perfect mix in few hours is not so complicated. When you have "supermusicians" playing with crooked hands, one mic and few plugins - that's the life i love so much! Every day you meet new challenge: from "nothing" to do "the best". Resampling, reamping, quantising and Melodyne are your friend forever. I am really really jealous Fab! :))
I loved your video su much!! One day i will shake your hand!
P.S. I will do the mix by my taste ;)
Antonio Robbins
2019 Jan 13
Seemed like a commercial for CUBASE, not a mixing video. After seeing the other guys mix the song fab's mixing skills just aren't .... Let's say the same.
bobgt2002
2019 Jan 10
Hi Fab! Fab as always. My only comment, To me the snare could benefit from a little L1 so it gets tamed a little bit. Love the humour!
chris.massa
2018 Dec 27
Always insightful to watch Fab.
MarcoPolo
2018 Dec 27
*REALLY* would have liked getting all the tracks and the full song on this one, guys. No toms and fills (that happen more towards the end)? And no bridge (the high point and most dense part of the track)? I know it's at the artist's discretion, but this was pretty disappointing to load up ... Just saying.
MarcoPolo
2018 Dec 26
I like this concept - different mix engineers demonstrating using the same source material, and I waited till the CLA video was posted to watch them (Fab & Chris) back-to-back. Really enjoyed the approaches to production. Hope the next installment is not too far off? Great job, pureMix!
mindtwister
2017 Apr 19
I have another quick tip for using a VCA fader that i didn't see being used in this video. Use them to control your groups volume instead of using the volume of the group itself!. Why? because the individual tracks that are part of your group channel and are using post fader send fx will behave as pre fader when you touch the groups volume. So using the VCA for controlling the groups volume will leave your fx post fader as it was intended to do.
Rob_Herold
2017 Mar 19
My first puremix tutorial (I took a cubase related) and an easy but interesting one. Thanx Fab!
TalusT
2017 Mar 10
Thank you Fab.
Fabulous Fab
2017 Mar 07
@TaluT: I have an analog VU meter on my monitor section. Good point. Taken. Will think of something for future in the box mixes.
TalusT
2017 Mar 06
Why no use of VU meter or similar throughout the session to check levels?
TalusT
2017 Feb 21
Is there meant to be a 'series' associated with this vid? I searched "lifeboats" but only this one came up.
By the way, this is just an incredible access to a professional mixer/engineer/musician at work . This membership was the best thing I think I could have done for myself right now.
owenlt
2017 Jan 21
Two questions:
1. On several of the parametric EQ dips (low-mid cuts) I noticed you had the widest Q setting: 0. The default setting on other EQs (which I've seen on other Puremix tutorials) is more around 1.5 to 2.5. Do you tend to use wide Qs for clean up duty, or does it not make much difference?
2. The EQ cuts in this video also tend to be deeper (mostly around -6dB) than when using your trusty Oxford. I find the Cubase stock EQ seems to encourage bigger cuts/boosts because of the scale of the controls. You're basically at 3dB as soon as you touch it! Any thoughts?
owenlt
2017 Jan 21
Have a new-found appreciation for my stock plug-ins - and had never noticed the 'EQ Position' option in the strip before now.
One question: on several of the parametric EQ dips (low-mid cuts) I noticed you had the widest Q setting - 0. I never have my cuts set to anything like this width, and the default setting on other EQs (a setting I'm pretty sure I've seen on other Puremix tutorials) is more around 1.5 to 2.5, which is a lot narrower. Do you tend to use wide Qs for clean up duty, or does it not make much difference?
ilyaorlov
2017 Jan 05
I think that's where Fab shines! Nothing special happens and voila - sounds like a record :) Thanks a lot!
Guillepuremix
2016 Dec 19
Hi all, maybe someone can help me. I couldn`t follow Fab during the parallel compresion, so I don`t know which tracks are being compressed when the drums hit. Thanks!
viccieleaks
2016 Dec 03
A fine mix Fab!
chrisNunchuck
2016 Oct 07
I appreciate you doing this in Cubase and with stock plug ins, that was a bonus. I enjoyed the session, thanks Fab.
TheoKontonis
2016 Sep 09
Hey Fab! As an exclusive Cubase user I enjoyed this tutorial a lot! Awesome techniques and uses of Cubase's new features!
StudioSaturn
2016 Aug 30
Please Bring thing song for mixing contest?
mrksomporn21
2016 Aug 26
I want download VDO file for watching if I not have internet, How I can do?
Denis Boucher
2016 Aug 08
Don't know why the Juno Bass is used on this? Maybe just fat bottom glue?
Eurasianeyes
2016 Aug 07
This is the first video I have bought from Puremix. I've been able to download the files but not the actual tutorial video. Am I only able to watch this video on-line? That would cause me a problem as I don't always have internet access so if I could download the tutorial video to my laptop that would be helpful.
subtractor78
2016 Aug 06
Hey Fab...As a Cubase user thoroughly enjoyed the vids. Many thanks!
Guillermo
2016 Aug 05
excellent video
everything very clearly .
Greetings from Chile
Fabulous Fab
2016 Aug 02
@Studio Saturn: That's how it felt good at that moment. I may do it differently today. Not sure. I tend to like Will and his guitar coming from the same point though, because I'm used to hearing him play live in front of me and that's how it sounds.
StudioSaturn
2016 Jul 30
Hi Fab, Why didn't you make the guitar with is builtin with spring reverb a little bit bigger and spread through speaker? Rather than right around in the middle?
benlindell
2016 Jul 27
Hey everyone, we're working on fixing the mono audio at the moment, the updated video should be here in a day or so.
Sara Carter
2016 Jul 26
Great video, thanks Fab. I particularly love the before and after. Who doesn't love the "big reveal"? A useful technique to employ, to see if you have made things better or worse!
Il Pianista
2016 Jul 25
I hear mono here too!
Fabulous Fab
2016 Jul 24
@Jackeyyow: A floating point daw means that the mix engine has a floating mantissa that allows master faders to basically shift levels up and down the scale without loss of quality (I'm simplifying). It came to be at a time when fixed point math was not good enough to provide a confortable enough dynamic range. Now, with new technology, a 48 bit fixed point DAW will provide enough headroom to blow up your house. Some people swear by one or the other. I personally think that none of it matters these days. Feel free to offset levels with those master faders. No one will get hurt.
Jackeyyow
2016 Jul 24
Very nice tutorial.. but i don't understand one thing, fab mentioned :"cubase is floating point DAW " when adjusting master fader... whats that mean?
rawcorex
2016 Jul 23
fab is great! xD
L Pass
2016 Jul 22
Love it!
GavinS
2016 Jul 22
Fab, this is one of the most useful sessions I've every watched. Not just on PureMix but anywhere. Thank you for starting from the RAW tracks and walking us through your thought process to the final 1st mix. My entire perspective has been focused!
Please - lots more of these :-)
