This is a real-time shoot of a mixing session, with no smoke or mirrors. Going from rough mix to a final mix in an hour or so, complete with eqs, compression and reverbs. All steps are explained and commented.
Mixed with Dangerous Music Monitor ST, Dangerous Music Summing and Focal speakers, Avid ProTools HD|Native, UAD Satellite Quad, Great River EQ1-NV eqs.
00:00:02 We're gonna solo the vocal track.
And listen to...
00:00:06 What we did yesterday.
00:00:08 If you remember, we recorded the
vocal and the guitar at the same time.
00:00:12 And it still sounded pretty OK.
00:00:25 So now...
00:00:26 Let's listen to that again,
with the mindset of...
00:00:31 What could be better?
So we're gonna listen to the track
again and say...
00:00:36 You can close your eyes,
we've made sure that no one
will steal your wallet.
00:00:42 So close your eyes
and try and imagine what
could be better.
00:00:47 What could be better than
Will Knox singing?
Nothing. But the sound
of Will Knox singing.
00:00:52 What could we do better?
Here's what I hear.
00:01:18 I hear.
00:01:19 S's being a genuine problem.
00:01:23 Why is that?
The reason why is because we
made a compromise in the recording.
00:01:27 We wanted to be able to catch
all the emotion of will singing
while he's playing the guitar.
00:01:31 Consequently we had to put
the microphone in a way
where the guitar would
not ruin the vocal sound too much
and the vocal microphone
would not ruin the guitar sound.
00:01:39 Consequently we do not have
the optimal vocal placement.
00:01:41 It's still pretty good.
00:01:43 But it's not as good as
if we had Will
this far away from the microphone
in a perfectly well treated room.
00:01:48 We're gonna have to
deal with the S.
00:01:50 That's OK.
00:01:51 We have the technology.
00:01:55 Then I hear a little
build up in the middle.
00:01:58 I hear a little bit of a mask
in the middle of the vocal.
00:02:02 I'm lacking a little bit
of the air thing.
00:02:04 And most importantly
I hear a bit of a
peak action going.
00:02:10 You know? Here's really into it
and he's pretty close to the microphone.
00:02:14 The closer you are to the microphone the
more dynamic problems you're gonna have.
00:02:17 Because air,
contrary to the popular belief,
air is the insulation you can have.
00:02:22 And air is a great compressor.
00:02:24 And so,
if you are this
close from the microphone
you get less of the compression
action than if you are this far.
00:02:29 Consequently we get
a lot of peaks.
00:02:32 I'm gonna play a track again
and see if you can listen to
the S,
the mid-range,
the lack of air.
00:02:42 Ss, mid-range, lack of air
and also
that dynamic thing were
on certain words
the vocal sticks out.
OK?
Before I start fixing I'd like you
to be able to try internalize
the sound of the problem.
Here we go.
00:03:07 You hear the air.
Obviously.
00:03:09 If you don't that's OK.
00:03:10 It's an acquired taste
that comes over time.
00:03:12 But I want to point out
the dynamics to you.
00:03:14 The Ss are obvious.
00:03:16 But listen to that dynamics.
00:03:19 "I'm solid steel".
00:03:20 Listen to those two syllables.
00:03:22 If you have a plane on where
the vocals should seat,
those kind of move
this way, right?
And then, the "machine".
It's not peak...
00:03:30 There's a frequency peak
in the upper 3k.
00:03:34 It hurts your eyes a little bit
when you listen to it. Check it out.
00:03:48 It's actually "ma".
Do you hear the syllable on "ma"?
That got awful.
We're gonna fix that.
00:03:54 It's not you honey, it's me.
00:03:59 Today I wanna use nothing
but Universal Audio plug-ins,
with my trusty little
satellite thing.
00:04:05 The first thing we're gonna do
is de-ess. Why do I de-ess first?
I de-ess first because if
you start screwing with the sound,
specially if you are compressing
and doing stuff like that,
you're actually gonna make
your problems worst.
00:04:15 And magnify them.
If you have a problem,
like a genuine spotable problem,
take care of it first,
before you start compressing.
00:04:23 So, let's go for that.
00:04:28 I'm soloing the frequency
at which I'm gonna de-ess.
00:04:37 And then I'm gonna lower the threshold.
00:04:42 And maybe slow it down.
00:04:44 Maybe not.
00:04:48 OK. So, we start with this.
00:04:50 Flat.
00:04:56 And de-essed.
00:05:04 I went a little too far.
Right?
You hear it work.
00:05:09 The problem is that it is a
real problem with this recording.
00:05:12 Maybe I'm gonna easy a little bit.
I think I can fix that later...
00:05:17 In the mix.
00:05:28 That's great, so...
00:05:29 Without.
00:05:35 With.
00:05:41 OK? That's the built-in
UAD De-esser.
00:05:45 Very simple.
00:05:46 The next thing I'm gonna do...
00:05:48 I still have that "maaa" thing.
00:05:50 That "yaeae" thing.
00:05:52 There are several solutions to that.
I could automate an EQ
on that one word.
I could put an EQ on
and every time that frequency
annoys me I could just go 'rriiii'.
00:06:01 Right?
But I'm way too lazy to do that.
00:06:06 So no, I'm not gonna do that.
00:06:08 The next thing I'd like to do
is I'm probably gonna hi-pass this.
00:06:11 Because I hear the...
00:06:13 energy of the guitar
getting in the way.
00:06:15 I'm just gonna hi-pass the
bottom of the vocal quickly...
00:06:18 With a fairly...
00:06:20 steep, wrong button.
00:06:22 That's my problem, I use the
wrong button all the time
which is difficult in
my line of work.
00:06:31 I'm just gonna hi-pass
the bottom.
00:06:33 Hi-passing the bottom let's me
cleaning up the mud at the beginning.
00:06:36 Somebody asked Alan how to get
a clear mix. Is that person here?
Very good question, thank you for asking,
I'm still looking for the answer.
00:06:46 But...
00:06:47 The reality is there is a
mid-range build up.
00:06:50 And now with digital
there's a mid-range buildup
and a upper mid-range buildup
in the 3k area.
00:06:56 The part that hurts your
eyes and your teeth
that's the 3k area.
00:07:00 And then the bottom,
the area at 300 has always
been the problem.
00:07:05 And so I hi-pass a lot.
00:07:08 I do a lot of hi-passing.
00:07:09 Provided that I don't have any
phase problems. In this case
considering that everything
bleed into everything
I have to be very careful.
00:07:16 I'm gonna use very gentle curves
maybe not 36, let's be gentle,
almost British...
00:07:24 And use a very gentle curve.
Let's see this.
00:07:30 Higher.
00:07:32 That's too much.
00:07:37 Let's do that again.
00:07:40 Cute.
00:07:44 So we started here.
00:07:45 With no de-esser and
no hi-pass.
00:07:50 OK.
00:07:54 I'm gonna play that again
and point something to you.
00:07:56 When he says
"I'm solid steel"...
00:07:59 "I'm solid steel",
listen to the 'mmmm'.
00:08:02 Hear that little 'mmm'
round and resonance here?
See if you can detect
something in that family
on the flat recording.
Check it out.
00:08:11 You hear his nose on 'ummm'?
Yeah, you can hear that?
I had to point it to you.
00:08:19 Two mixes from now you're
gonna point it out to yourself.
00:08:22 Right? I have to show
you this but
once you start forming your taste
by listening to enough music
that will urke you.
00:08:29 You listen to this
you're like "arghhh"...
00:08:30 I get to get rid of that.
00:08:32 So...
00:08:33 It's something in the back in your
spine that just goes like 'uuurr'
So.
00:08:39 This is hi-pass filter at 45hz
18 dB per octave.
00:08:44 No, sorry, 66 and change.
00:08:46 Which is completely irrelevant
because I'm not even sure
if this numbers are real
but this is the way
it is right now.
00:08:53 OK, so check it out.
This is... Flat.
00:08:55 I spoke too much in between.
This is flat.
00:09:02 And this is with.
00:09:10 But it doesn't sound processed.
00:09:12 It just sounds...
Sweet.
00:09:15 I still have the "machine' problem
so I'm gonna use"
this fantastic thing
that they just...
00:09:20 I was like...
"You really seen this?"
"Yeah."
This thing is awesome!
It's called the FATSO.
00:09:31 I've been using the hardware
unit for the longest time.
00:09:35 It's a compressor and
a tape emulator,
although I'm not quite sure
it really sounds like tape to me.
00:09:40 But it is so useful
and so wonderful.
00:09:42 And it has a circuit
called 'Warmth'.
00:09:46 Which has nothing to do
with Warmth whatsoever.
00:09:48 It's the biggest misnomer in
the history of recording.
00:09:52 It's actually a high
frequency de-esser.
00:09:54 It's a high frequency limiter.
00:09:55 You can't put the 'Warmth' on
if you have something
high-end that annoys you.
00:10:00 Something that just "eeeee"
you put the 'Warmth' on,
it gets rid of that.
00:10:04 That's what it does.
00:10:06 I'm gonna compress a little bit
on the bus compressor,
just because I can.
00:10:10 I want put the
transformer emulation.
00:10:12 Because it does good things
for transients.
00:10:14 And then I'm gonna put the.
00:10:16 'Warmth' on to see if I can
catch those annoying peaks.
00:10:19 Let me gain stage it.
00:10:20 This is all without
have done that, of course.
00:10:22 I'm being caught with
my pants down.
00:10:26 I put a belt.
00:10:34 Not enough gain.
00:10:42 More gain.
00:10:52 Not enough.
00:10:55 I'm gonna use it this way.
00:11:07 Again.
00:11:16 It's coming.
It's coming.
00:11:18 A little more.
00:11:21 A little less.
00:11:28 Aha, it's coming. Check it out.
00:11:46 As a reminder we started here.
00:11:59 And now we're here.
00:12:10 Rock and Roll.
Alright, so...
00:12:13 You noticed that we have
2 or 3 dB of compression.
00:12:16 Basta cosi.
00:12:17 Two or three dB
of compression. That's it.
00:12:20 Now...
00:12:22 It's so tempting.
00:12:24 There are so many plug-ins.
00:12:27 I mean, I have a LA-2,
I should have used it.
00:12:30 No.
00:12:31 It sounds fine, leave it alone.
00:12:35 It looks pretty when it goes
like this but that's not what we want.
00:12:41 We want it to sound pretty.
00:12:43 Different!
At this point in the mix I'm like:
'OK, I'm very content with this'.
00:12:50 But...
00:12:51 I feel that the vocal
is a little dark.
00:12:53 Right?
Still.
00:12:57 So I'm gonna show you another
concept of analog summing.
00:13:02 It's called:
analog integration.
00:13:04 Remember I told you
we have a source,
you have the Dangerous
summing box
and you have the recorder.
00:13:11 I love to be able to insert
say, and EQ
in between the converter
and the two bus.
00:13:16 It's the same as having an EQ
in-line in your console. Right?
Except here you can choose
everything. You just patch it in.
00:13:21 So what I've done, is on
channel 9 and 10
of my mix, I have inserted
a Great River EQ.
00:13:30 Ten is the vocal and nine is the bass
if you were paying attention.
00:13:34 I'm gonna start with the vocal.
00:13:38 One of the great advantages
of working with analog summing
is that you have a lot more
headroom, you don't clip as much.
00:13:44 I'm sure you had this problem
with your mix.
00:13:47 At a crucial point, about
four hours into the mix,
that point when you start
screwing up,
Everything is red, you think
it's Christmas in your studio.
00:13:57 The idea is, what's going on? You're
overwhelming the headroom of your mix.
00:14:02 No big deal, you just
take all your faders
and bring them down 6 dB right?
That's how it's done.
00:14:08 Have you taken the time to
listen, pre and post, that 6 dB move.
00:14:13 What it does to your reverb sends,
what it does to your 2-bus compression,
what it does to your stems.
00:14:19 It's chaos!
I choose to bypass that.
00:14:23 And I use analog summing and
I never have to do this.
00:14:25 Because say I wanna add 6 dB to
my bass drum at the end of the mix.
00:14:29 I put it in between my converter
and my 2-bus.
00:14:34 I'm now no longer
in the digital domain.
00:14:36 I can crank the hell out of that,
and there's no problem
it just goes 'Boom, Boom, Boom'.
00:14:41 Which is conducive to dancing.
00:14:44 So what I'm gonna do right now
is I'm gonna insert
this bottom EQ on the vocal.
00:14:50 And I wanna see if I can
find a little bit of that shine
that we're missing
since the beginning.
00:14:54 I'm just good loop this
and show you stuff.
00:14:56 The first thing I wanna do,
because I can,
I'm gonna use the high-pass again.
00:15:05 That works.
00:15:08 Go look for some high-end,
they have and 18k range up here.
00:15:16 I'm gonna exaggerate so you can
hear what I'm doing
and then I'm gonna do reasonable,
civilized amounts of correction.
00:15:24 I'm on a peak thing here at 18k.
00:15:32 I can guarantee you that very
few people in this room hear 18k.
00:15:37 So, use your ears.
00:15:40 "I want add some 18k, I love
18k, 18k is my oyster."
But no really.
00:15:45 Just listen to it.
00:15:56 I like the frequency but it
brings the 'maaa' problem back.
00:16:00 I'm gonna use just
a little bit of it.
00:16:04 A little more.
00:16:10 Maybe I could remove more
of the 'maa' thing
since it's in the 3k range.
00:16:18 I'm gonna look for it.
00:16:26 How about this?
That's genuinely annoying
so I'm gonna take that out.
00:16:35 Now that I removed my
problem more
I'm gonna be able to boost
the high-end a little more
without any adverse effect.
00:16:47 Maybe I can even
start a little lower.
00:16:54 So we started here.
00:16:56 I'm bypassing the EQ.
00:17:07 Interesting.
00:17:14 I think that works.
A little less...
00:17:16 and I think it's gonna work
in context.
00:17:18 I'm gonna remove a little bit
of that low-mid build-up.
00:17:21 That's dear to our friend
over there in the back.
00:17:29 That. It sounds like he's
got a head cold.
00:17:31 He can't have a head cold,
he left England to no longer be cold.
00:17:36 Right?
That's not reality.
00:17:40 He's head is clear.
Let's remove this.
00:17:44 Not that much.
00:17:49 That removes too much body,
I need that body.
00:17:58 That's nice!
I'm gonna do the same thing.
00:18:01 I'm gonna add a little bit of
that fat at the bottom.
00:18:04 In the 180 range.
00:18:09 And add that but still
remove that head cold problem.
00:18:14 Too much.
00:18:21 I think this is gonna work.
00:18:30 A little less.
00:18:33 OK.
00:18:35 I'm gonna stay there for now.
As a reminder...
00:18:38 Don't be fooled by levels, it's very
difficult for me to match levels here.
00:18:41 But if I remove the EQ.
00:18:44 The de-harsher.
00:18:47 The high-pass.
00:18:48 And the de-esser, it sounds like this.
This is the original recording.
00:19:14 And this is what we've done so far.
00:19:40 Alright.
00:19:41 A lot more control.
00:19:43 A lot more together.
Ready to be integrated in the mix.
00:19:45 Not as buoyant. Right?
It doesn't have the
same vibrancy.
00:19:49 But in this particular case,
because of where we're going.
00:19:52 I think this is necessary.
To do this.
00:19:55 I know from experience, if
I don't do what I just did
I'm gonna hate myself in the morning.
00:20:01 Let's leave the vocal alone.
Let's listen to the bass.
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Fab Dupont is a Grammy 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 been nominated for Grammys 6 times, including two Latin Grammys and has received many other accolades around the world, including Victoires de la Musique, South African Music awards, Pan African Music Awards and US independent music awards.
