After hundreds of requests, Fab Dupont finally takes on a full mix, in the box, all in Cubase.
Featuring the song Periscopes by NYC band Plastic Days, Fab mixes the song from scratch and describes every move he makes in detail.
Subjects discussed in this tutorial:
Working with acoustic and electronic drums together
Parallel processing
Synth processing
Reverb and delay sends and settings
Phase alignment
Tons of EQ and Compression decisions all along the way
Fab uses stock Cubase plugins as well as plugins from Sonnox, Universal Audio, Soundtoys, Waves and more.
As always, this tutorial also comes with the WAV file stems of the session so you can create your own mix of this song. This way you can practice your skills and mix this song using your own tastes, tools, plugins and put the tricks you learn from Fab to use right away.
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.
00:00:07 Good morning children! Today we're going
to make some Indie pop song.
00:00:10 If you know the difference between pop
and Indie pop, send me a postcard!
Till then, we'll be using Cubase, because
that's the kind of people we are
and built-in Cubase plug-ins,
and some of our favorites.
00:00:20 This song is called Periscope,
by a band called Plastic Days,
producer Benoit Muñoz, mixed by "moi".
Here it goes!
To get a vibe of what the song is about,
I'm gonna listen to the rough sent
by the producer.
00:00:32 What I like best is a flat downmix,
everything at 0, with no plug-ins.
00:00:36 That way, I can make my own version
of what I'd like it to be like,
and not be influenced
by the producer's vision.
00:00:41 I'm gonna figure out if it's acoustic drums,
electronic drums, or both,
synth bass, electric basses?
Distorted guitar, lots of guitars?
Keyboards, no keyboards? Soft, synths,
real keyboards? Lots of vocals?
Is it a verse/refrain? Is it a verse/chorus?
Does it need to grow?
Or is it an up and down kind of thing?
Let's listen.
00:02:49 And it repeats from there, and that's what
makes pop music!
We're going to focus on this part
we just heard, and mix that,
so we can do it in a semi-reasonable
amount of time.
00:02:57 What I heard structure was is this:
Intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus,
all the crescendo.
00:03:04 It's not like the verse is big,
pre-chorus small, and then chorus big
it really is a growth thing, so I have
to make sure that the mix supports that.
00:03:11 Second, I hear a lot of interaction
between acoustic drums and electronic drums,
that's gonna be fun to set up.
00:03:18 I have a lot of room for the drums, because
the vocal is very sparse, which is great.
00:03:22 I hear a real bass, some distorted guitars...
00:03:25 the guitars are used to lift the pre-chorus
so I have to give myself some room for that
and then the chorus is really made out
of the synth layers that come in just there.
00:03:34 So what I'm gonna do now is show you
my session layout.
00:03:38 Just how I set up every track.
Actually how my assistant set up the tracks
before I showed up, because I'm lazy.
I come after he does...
00:03:45 All the tracks are color-coded here.
In green, we have the drums,
which are all routed to one group track
called Drum Clean Sub, it's a submix.
00:03:55 There's also a Drum Parallel Sub,
which we'll talk about later
I always have it in the session
for this kind of music.
00:04:01 Then I have, in blue, the electronic drums
which are routed to a group track
called Electronic Drum Sub.
00:04:08 Then, in red, Amp and DI for the bass,
going to a group called Electric Bass Sub.
00:04:16 Then, a bunch of guitars
which are all routed to a Guitar Sub.
00:04:21 And then a bunch of keyboards, which are
routed to a Synth Sub.
00:04:25 And then a bunch of pianos that are routed
to a Piano Sub.
00:04:29 A bunch of lead vocals and doubles,
which are routed to a Lead Vox Sub.
00:04:34 And then a bunch of harmonies,
vocals routed to a Harmony Sub.
00:04:38 All those subs are routed to a bunch
of group tracks
that are all the way to the left
of the session
because that's where Cubase puts them
and you don't want to argue with the boss!
I call that set of group tracks "Stems".
00:04:52 We have an Acoustic Drum Stem,
Electronic Drum Stem,
Bass Stem, Synth Stem,
Guitar Stem, Lead Stem,
Background Vocal Stem and then FX Stem.
00:05:02 These are kind of like my Masters.
You'll notice that they're grouped together.
00:05:07 A clean drum bus and a parallel drum bus
are going to the Acoustic Drum Stem.
00:05:13 The Electronic Drum bus is going to
the Electronic Drum Stem.
00:05:18 Bass is going to the Bass Stem.
Guitars are going to the Guitar Stem.
00:05:22 Both the Synth sub and the Piano sub
are going to the Synth Stem.
00:05:26 A Lead Vox sub is going to the Lead Vox Stem
The Background Vox sub is going
to the Background Vox Stem.
00:05:32 And then the FX Stem is for all the reverbs
that I'm gonna show you in a minute.
00:05:36 Why am I adding a layer of group tracks?
For several reasons.
Number 1: I group them together
I have a full overall level for the whole mix
since everything is coming through this.
00:05:47 This is very nice if I'm starting to clip
my converters on my internal mix bus.
00:05:50 Second: if I aspire to go to analog summing
for example
all I have to do is reroute
every single stem
from going to the Mains
to going to a physical output
so now I can, say, prep my mix
on my laptop in the box,
go to the studio, stemming out
to a console, or to a 2-bus,
and have a mix with analog summing.
00:06:10 That's a very good setup to do that for.
00:06:12 Another advantage is that I can also add,
say a limiter, on the stem.
00:06:18 In this case, I'm gonna add a limiter on
the transient-heavy stems, the drums.
00:06:23 That allows me to create a louder record
using less compression on the individual tracks
but that's definitely material
for a different video.
00:06:31 So, the benefit of the stems,
to summarize, is:
you have a spot to the left of your session
where you can say: I just wanna hear the drums.
You just click, click...
00:06:39 you're hearing the drums.
00:06:41 And you have a spot where you can offset
the whole mix level
without having to search through
the different subs
You have a spot where you can insert
some final processing
and where you can reroute your entire mix
to an analog summing box
in five seconds flat if you want to.
It's a pretty neat way to work.
00:06:56 Next to my stems are my effects,
reverbs and delays.
00:07:00 My assistant sets this up by default,
he knows that's what I like this week.
00:07:04 Next week... I don't know!
In this case, I have the EMT 250.
00:07:11 RoomWorks, which is kind of like an Office
kind of like a short reverb kind of vibe.
00:07:16 A stereo delay to tempo, 1/4 note.
00:07:18 And the EMT 140, which is the one
I like to use for sauce.
00:07:22 We all need a little bit of sauce...
00:07:24 So! To summarize:
We have a whole bunch of audio tracks
with music on them.
00:07:31 Then a whole bunch of subs,
routed to a whole bunch of stems.
00:07:36 And then a whole bunch of effects.
00:07:39 Lastly, here's a cool trick
for Cubase users.
00:07:42 If you go all the way to the right
of my session,
and I put it there randomly,
because it's visually appealing
in the Arrange window here,
I have a reference track.
00:07:52 Because of the way Cubase handles
its solos and its mutes,
if I solo that track...
00:07:57 I can hear my reference track,
which is a different song.
00:08:05 But if I remove the solo,
it goes back to me mute it automatically.
00:08:09 What's the point of that?
Check this out...
00:08:11 I can have a reference built into my sessions.
00:08:14 For example, I can listen to my mix
and then, I click once,
I hear the reference
and then I click again on the Solo button
and I'm back to my mix.
00:08:24 This is amazing! I can now listen
to my current mix, and a reference mix
for example, another song
that's already mixed that everybody likes
and I can compare them with just one click.
00:08:40 Wich tells us that we have a lot of work
to do on this mix!
In the spirit of mixing a pop song,
I'm gonna start with the vocal.
00:08:46 Although he's not singing as much as
you would expect from a regular pop song,
I think it's good.
00:08:52 Also I like the lyrics, you should
pay attention to what he's saying.
00:08:55 So, I'm soloing the vocal,
I'm gonna listen to it raw.
00:09:02 Good recording, not the usual bright stuff.
00:09:13 Ok...
00:09:26 Cool! What I'm hearing is that
it's a little dark, a little dull
I like that, I don't wanna make it
too bright.
00:09:32 but it's a little thick, it's gonna be
a problem with the rest of the track.
00:09:35 I know already.
00:09:37 For some reason, I feel like compressing
first, in this case.
00:09:40 Usually I would high-pass or carve out
the tone, so I'm there before I compress
but in this case, I like the tone,
I like the darkness
so I'm gonna keep it as is.
00:09:48 Then I'm gonna compress, then I'll EQ
if I need it, to fit it in the track.
00:09:52 So the compressor I'm gonna use
is the Oxford. Here we go...
00:09:55 Dynamics.
00:09:58 And turn it on, and start compressing
a little bit.
00:10:05 Ok. I'm seriously in need of some gain.
Here we go.
00:10:11 As a reminder, without...
00:10:16 I probably should give a little more gain...
00:10:19 Like this...
00:10:20 So without!
With...
00:10:29 I like that...
00:10:31 Little shorter release, so that it pops back
out of compression rapidly.
00:10:47 Without.
00:10:59 Listen to the solidity of the track
to the steadiness of the bottom of it,
and also to the presence.
00:11:06 Without again, and then with.
00:11:19 With...
00:11:32 Because this performance was probably
assembled from a couple different takes
I can hear slight differences
without the compressor.
00:11:38 The compressor puts it back together
as if it was one big take, which I like.
00:11:42 I also feel that the vocal could use
a little bite.
00:11:45 So I'm gonna use the built-in Warmth
of the Oxford compressor
It has nothing to do with warmth, it's more
like a saturation thing. This is without...
00:12:01 With...
00:12:09 If you close your eyes and listen
to the vocal
without the effect, and imagine a position
for it in the mix
and then when I turn the effect on,
see if you feel this happening.
00:12:18 Also, listen to "Under the stars".
00:12:20 There's a little bit of an edge coming in
with the effect. So first, raw.
00:12:31 With.
00:12:39 Just a little bit of an edge,
but I like that.
00:12:42 As much as I'm trying not to EQ this,
I feel I'm gonna have to do a little bit.
00:12:45 I'm gonna use my trusty Pultec
from the UA guys
Where is it? Here!
... and see what we can do.
00:12:53 First, I know it's still a little too rich
in the low mids
I'm gonna remove a little 200, and maybe
a little 100. It sounds like this. Raw.
00:13:08 And this is with... the removal.
00:13:17 Subtle, but useful.
00:13:19 Then I'm gonna open up the top a little bit.
00:13:29 You know how it feels like you...
like opening a blind a little bit
And then, maybe some bite at 1.5,
just a little bit of "uhhh".
00:13:43 I like that.
00:13:47 So, without any EQ.
00:13:59 See how it's a little muddy in the bottom.
With the EQ.
00:14:14 Better.
00:14:15 You may have noticed that I'm compressing
the vocal quite hard.
00:14:19 I can because the Sonnox is transparent
and I'm doing it for a reason...
00:14:23 I know that the electronic drums, the loops
are very compressed
I'll have to compress the drums to make
them sound like they belong to the same song
and this vocal will have to float
above all that
so I have to make sure
that my average level is tight
and is not moving too much.
So I'm compressing pretty hard.
00:14:39 I think the EQ does what it's supposed to do.
00:14:41 Listen to the vocal without anything,
and then with our corrections. So, flat...
00:14:57 And with the corrections.
00:15:10 What we've achieved is
steadiness between the phrases
no more mud at the bottom when he goes
in the low notes
and a certain shine,
and kind of aggressivity
not in a... annoying kind of way,
more of a bite.
00:15:22 I like those 3 things, I'm gonna keep this.
00:15:25 Next, I'd like to listen to the bass,
that's the way I like to do it...
00:15:28 personal pet peeve...
00:15:30 You might want to do triangle next,
that's your problem.
00:15:32 So let's listen to the bass.
00:15:39 Sounds great...
00:15:43 Here's the DI.
00:15:48 Sounds like a DI!
The two of them together sound like this.
00:16:00 This is nice!
The bass amp gives you the bottom
and the boom, boom, boom
and then the DI gives you
the clink, clink, clink. Good!
Do you notice something though?
Listen to the bottom of the bass,
when I have just the amp on
and then listen to just the bottom
when I turn the DI on. Check it out.
00:16:35 You noticed that when the DI comes in,
it adds the high end.
00:16:39 If you pay attention, it also carves out
a little something in the low-mids
because I don't think they're
very well in phase.
00:16:46 So, what I would do in this case is...
Check it out!
If I turn both on and then
flip the phase on the DI, what happens?
Check it out!
Flip...
00:17:01 Ah ha!
Again, this is with both tracks,
as delivered.
00:17:13 And now with the DI flipped.
00:17:21 Since there's a problem
between the 2 tracks phase-wise,
I'm not 100% sure it's just 180,
this button is just 180
So I'm gonna use the Little Labs
in between phase
to check out what's going on
in between the phase.
00:17:35 There it is.
00:17:36 So we're here... and then I'm gonna play
with the phase adjust here.
00:17:46 I kinda dig, this is gritty.
00:17:48 But it's not really fat.
00:17:50 What happens if I also flip the phase?
Oooh...
00:17:57 I like this.
00:17:59 So... without the plug-in.
00:18:05 With... the plug-in.
00:18:13 I like, this is grittiereedier, it's clearer
Sounds a little like rocky,
what's not to like?
Although I like what we have,
I hear a resonance on the bass amp.
00:18:22 Check it out. Here.
00:18:26 Fine...
00:18:27 Fine...
00:18:29 Fine...
00:18:31 It's a little shinier.
00:18:34 It shouldn't be. So let's use a quick EQ
and remove a little bit
here...
00:18:42 Something like this.
00:18:48 Without.
00:18:52 With.
00:18:56 It's a little dryer on that first note,
which will allow me to compress it better.
00:19:01 I'm gonna high-pass to get rid
of the bottom that I don't hear.
00:19:08 I like that.
00:19:10 Ok, the two of them together.
00:19:17 Adjust the phase a little bit
because of that
Ok.
00:19:24 Because of the sound and the music that
this kind of tone reminds us of,
it should'nt be too fat.
00:19:29 It should be fatter, because we're not
that kind of guy,
but it shouldn't be too fat,
because it won't sound right.
00:19:34 I'm gonna add some compression.
00:19:40 Let's see...
00:19:41 Open a little bit, so they have the attack,
compress it heavily...
00:19:45 close the release...
00:19:58 That sounds really good.
As a reminder, we started here.
00:20:08 And we're here now.
00:20:11 I'm gonna lower the level a little bit,
to compare at the same level.
00:20:16 Yeah.
00:20:24 I may need to make it fatter later,
but for now I just like how it feels.
00:20:27 Let's listen to the bass and the vocal,
and go from there, probably drums.
00:20:31 But I'd like to hear the two of them together.
00:20:37 Obviously, the vocal's not loud enough.
00:20:42 I'm probably compressing more
than I'm getting up.
00:20:45 Here. How's this working out?
Cool.
00:20:56 I like this, it's cool.
00:20:59 See the second verse...
00:21:15 Cool! Very nice, a good basis.
00:21:17 Let's listen to the drums.
The 1st verse is all acoustic drums
so let's do the acoustic drum sound.
00:21:23 I'm going to solo the acoustic drum stem
easily by just hitting Solo here.
00:21:27 I can hear both the clean sub and
the parallel drum sub when I have one.
00:21:31 The drums sound like this.
00:21:40 Ok. I'm gonna loop it, so I can focus
on just that.
00:21:50 Ok.
00:21:53 Bass drum first, let's mute the rest
overheads...
00:21:57 hat...
00:21:58 snares...
00:22:00 outside kick...
00:22:01 Here's the inside kick.
00:22:04 Lots of beater.
00:22:07 A little bit of snare, it's ok.
00:22:10 Here's the outside kick.
00:22:15 Lots of snare.
00:22:18 Everything sounds the way it should.
00:22:21 What if I put both together?
You notice that something goes away.
00:22:31 The In by itself sounds good...
The Out by itself sounds good...
00:22:34 the 2 of them together... uhh...
00:22:36 Maybe if I flip the phase on the Out...
00:22:39 it'll sound better. So, flat.
00:22:46 Ha ha!
See how the bottom becomes more
earth-shattering.
00:22:51 I'm gonna put them both at the same level.
Check it out.
00:22:58 Yeah.
00:23:00 Without...
00:23:08 That's good raw material.
00:23:10 Here, I don't have to play
with the phase more
I'm kinda happy with how fat this is
I can just EQ each microphone separately
and see what it does
I'm gonna start with the inside one...
00:23:20 put a little Oxford on it...
00:23:23 and probably go...
00:23:27 clean it up by high-passing a little bit.
00:23:29 Like that...
00:23:31 It's a little bright,
so I'm gonna low-pass it.
00:23:33 I like that, that's nice.
00:23:35 And then the Out one...
00:23:38 I can just copy the EQ here.
00:23:41 And then...
00:23:46 I'd like that to be really fat at the bottom
Without.
00:23:57 With.
00:23:59 Yeah, I like that little "whomm".
00:24:02 Cool, the two of them together.
00:24:06 That's cool.
00:24:09 I like this.
00:24:11 So we started here.
00:24:18 It sounds very raw and real.
00:24:22 And then, a couple EQs and a flipped phase...
00:24:27 Thicker, very nice.
00:24:32 I'm not gonna agonize with this forever,
I'm gonna leave it be
then I'll come back to it if I need to fix it.
Now I'm gonna move to the snare.
00:24:39 First snare is the top one.
I'm gonna unlink these for now.
00:24:44 Listen to just the first snare channel.
00:24:48 Top snare.
00:24:54 Sounds really good.
00:24:56 I could use a little high-pass...
00:24:58 Maybe I'll use the built-in high-pass
from Cubase right here.
00:25:05 Don't nurture it too much. That's cool.
00:25:10 Bottom snare.
00:25:12 Same thing.
00:25:14 This is very nice and clean.
00:25:19 Good recording.
00:25:22 There you go.
00:25:23 So this is with the 2 snares together.
00:25:26 They're in phase, it's nice.
With the bass drum.
00:25:30 Maybe less outside bass drum...
00:25:34 More inside...
00:25:38 Cool.
00:25:40 Ok!
The producer added a sample to the snare.
00:25:45 He was probably trying to achieve
a different kind of like more exciting sound.
00:25:49 Let's listen to it.
00:25:52 Ok.
00:25:56 I can see how that could be useful
with these two guys.
00:26:01 Right? It lengthens it a little bit.
00:26:03 Also you noticed that not all the acoustic
hits are the same, which is great.
00:26:08 The sample will peek through on those hits.
It's gonna be pretty cool.
00:26:12 I'm gonna use an 1176...
00:26:15 and open the attack, so it goes "Pppp"!
And then shorten the release, so that
the compressor lets go quickly
and you're gonna get lot of the tail,
and then push pretty hard into it.
00:26:26 If I try and match levels...
This is... with the compression.
00:26:32 And without.
00:26:34 Right? Without.
00:26:37 And with.
00:26:40 Very good! Now with the other snare.
00:26:45 Pretty nice.
00:26:47 Now what I'm gonna do here is adjust
the output
so that I can keep all my faders in the snare
pretty much at the same level
so they're easy to look at, but I'm just
gonna use the plug-in
to give me more of that bite.
00:27:04 That's cool. Ok, great.
00:27:06 With the bass drum...
00:27:12 I like that. Ok!
If you look at it, the top snare
gives you the wood.
00:27:22 And also the thud.
00:27:25 The bottom snare gives you... the flap
and the dirt.
00:27:34 The sample gives you impact
because of the open attack,
tail, which is unnatural sounding, but fun,
and also kind of like a synthetic vibe to it.
00:27:43 So you have the wood, and then the synthetic,
and you put it all together
and it sounds like this,
the 3 of them together again.
00:27:51 If I remove the bottom snare...
00:27:54 not as fun!
Better, more impact.
00:28:00 If I remove the top snare...
00:28:02 It doesn't have the impact.
00:28:08 Now obviously, without the sample
it's gonna fall apart.
00:28:12 Ok...
00:28:13 It really is a nice production move
from the producer
to have those three sounds together
to create this tone.
00:28:19 If we listen to what we've done so far,
it's starting to make sense.
00:28:28 I will season to taste.
00:28:30 Listen to the hi-hat mic
Just the hi-hat mic
Ok.
00:28:39 Pretty expected. I don't want
all that garbage at the bottom there.
00:28:46 That's fine just high-passed. I don't think
I need to agonize over this much more.
00:28:50 Here's the overhead.
00:28:54 Ok.
00:28:57 A little muddy, a little too much
of everything.
00:28:59 So let's be a little restrictive here
for a second.
00:29:03 Get rid of the kick bleed...
Like this, somewhere here...
00:29:08 Get rid of the low-mids a little bit...
Like here...
00:29:11 Not that much, obviously...
00:29:13 Like this, it sounds like that...
Maybe you can grab this, there you go.
00:29:18 Ok, that's better already.
00:29:20 Without.
00:29:23 With.
00:29:26 Subtle, but nice. Maybe a little bit
of a shine.
00:29:30 I like that.
00:29:33 Open the Q a little bit...
00:29:35 This is good. So we go from here...
00:29:41 to here...
00:29:45 Ok, I like that.
00:29:48 Now, if I solo the entire stem,
it sounds like this.
00:29:58 The snare drum's a little loud,
so I'm gonna group all three snare mics,
and link all of them, and bring them down.
00:30:09 There you go... A little more hi-hat.
00:30:15 Ok!
For this kind of music, I know I'll need
a big, enormous sound
for the acoustic drums, especially since
there's electronic drums coming next.
00:30:29 So I'm gonna set up
a parallel processing bus
compress the hell out of that and tuck that
back under the clean. Here we go.
00:30:38 Switching to the Send view, my assistant
has already created the parallel bus
because he knew I was gonna use this,
because he knows what I do.
00:30:45 So you can have it as a template.
00:30:47 I'm gonna send the outside bass drum
to the parallel drum bus
I'm gonna send the top snare...
00:30:55 Where are you? Here.
00:30:58 Bottom snare...
00:31:01 Probably not the sample,
because it's already pretty in your face
and then the overheads to have
a little squish on the cymbals.
00:31:09 There you go. Then turn them all on.
00:31:13 Make sure they're all Pre, by hitting
this little button here.
00:31:17 What I'm gonna do now is create a quick mix
by turning the clean bus down,
and listening only to the parallel bus
but there's no plug-in on it.
00:31:28 So it's really uncompressed.
00:31:31 Fair enough.
00:31:35 Then I switch back to Insert view
So it's drum compression, how about
an SSL bus compressor?
That seems like a good idea.
Here we go, SSL G bus compressor.
00:31:48 Lower the threshold.
00:31:51 Open the attack, try to make it pump.
00:31:54 Shorten the release, make it
super high ratio.
00:32:01 I'm not getting much love from this.
00:32:05 It's not gain staged right through
my current session, so I should try this.
00:32:11 Because the SSL just didn't work.
00:32:13 Not enough grit.
00:32:15 So same thing, open the attack, close
the release, make it obnoxious.
00:32:19 Go straight into it. Here we go.
00:32:24 Uhh...
00:32:30 It's a little loose, a little messy,
a little boomy...
00:32:33 Not digging it. Let's try something else.
00:32:37 How about a dbx 160, I've seen that
done before...
00:32:40 Let's compress like crazy, max,
and see what we have.
00:32:48 Well, that's fun.
00:32:53 I'm digging this!
Here's a fun thing: switch back to Send
view, I can now mix into this compressor
and use every mike to push what I want
from the tone.
00:33:05 So if I bring the overheads up,
the cymbals are gonna go crazy.
00:33:08 I'm gonna have to move that compressor...
00:33:12 up here, so it doesn't disappear
every time I touch my Send. Here we go.
00:33:18 It so does crazy, crazy cymbals.
Maybe less of that.
00:33:21 I could raise the bass drum.
00:33:25 You hear that "whomm" thing coming up.
00:33:27 I could raise the bottom snare
Top snare.
00:33:35 Let's see.
00:33:39 I'm curious to know what it would sound like
if I use the inside bass drum mike
as opposed to the outside bass drum mike
in the parallel compression bus.
00:33:47 Why? I can't tell you, but that's the way
it feels. So let's check it out.
00:33:51 Mute that one.
00:33:53 Assign this one.
00:33:54 Turn it on, make sure it's Pre.
Check it out.
00:34:01 As opposed to this.
00:34:05 See, the outside bass drum gives me
this "boom! ka! boom! ka!"
The inside bass drum gives "poc! poc!".
Check it out.
00:34:17 I really like that. That's gonna help me
get through the track much easier
especially since now I'm gonna turn
the clean drums back on.
00:34:24 So this is just the parallel compression.
Memorize that.
00:34:34 And now, both the clean drums,
and the compressed drums.
00:34:44 Sounds like a house, right?
Because you have both the super compressed
drums giving you the bulk and the fat
and then you have the transients
from the clean drums.
00:34:53 Remember, they sounded like this
by themselves.
00:35:03 With the parallel compression.
00:35:12 It's starting to sound good!
If this was too fast, or there were some
obscure parts
you should probably go look the dedicated
parallel drum compression video.
00:35:21 I know I'm gonna adjust this, this is not
the final sound, I'm gonna adjust
with the rest of the track, plain.
00:35:26 I'd like to show you another level.
00:35:28 If you remember the beginning of this video,
I put some processing on my stems.
00:35:32 We've been listening to this whole thing
with a limiter on the acoustic drums.
00:35:36 Check it out!
It does very little. You don't see it
move much. But if I turn it off...
00:35:56 Let me help you focus.
00:35:58 Listen to the bass drum, listen to
the presence of the drums.
00:36:02 Listen to the transients, and see if you
can hear a difference with and without.
00:36:06 First, without.
00:36:16 With.
00:36:24 Still not? Ok, let me help further.
Listen to the snare.
00:36:28 Listen to where the snare lives,
and listen to the height of the drums.
00:36:32 See if you can feel a little bit
of compactness.
00:36:34 It's subtle, there's no gain here, it's just
passing through the processor for its tone.
00:36:39 Check it out. Without.
00:36:47 With.
00:36:55 And then...
00:36:56 because this limiter has a nice Enhance
feature
which is a little bit of distortion,
saturation-ish
I'm gonna add a little bit of that,
because I like that tone
because I know this plug-in well.
I start at 0, and then I'll bring it up
Again... Without.
00:37:25 With.
00:37:34 I really like it because it's really
enormous sounding
and surreal sounding, which is what
we're looking for.
00:37:40 I'm gonna adjust the ratio between
the parallel processing
the crushed drums, the direct bass drum,
the outside bass drum...
00:37:48 all that stuff is gonna change.
00:37:50 But this is a good basis. Let's listen
to this and the bass.
00:38:01 Take the bass down a little bit.
00:38:10 Maybe a little more...
00:38:12 inside bass drum.
00:38:15 A little presence.
00:38:20 By the way, this was without the presence.
00:38:27 And then if I raise the inside bass drum
a little bit...
00:38:35 See how it does this a little bit,
just on the bass drum? I'll do it again.
00:38:38 This is with the bass drum at 0.
00:38:48 Plus, like 3dBs...
00:39:00 So how this hit sounds with our vocal?
Let's get some vibe from the beginning
of the song. Where is the vocal?
Here... we go!
There's some parts missing here.
00:39:38 Cool.
00:39:43 This may be silly, because lots of parts
are missing
but it tells me the relationship between
bass, drums, and vocal is cool.
00:39:50 When the drums come in, they don't
overpower the vocal, I got room for that.
00:39:53 It's all dry, I'm gonna work on that,
but I like this.
00:39:56 It reminds me of something I got to show you.
Check it out.
00:39:58 Let me show you with a good meter
something that's very important.
00:40:03 Watch the dynamic range of this section.
00:40:05 Watch the peak over average.
00:40:07 In the middle here, look at how these two
little things here dance.
00:40:22 It's very steady, and it stays in place.
00:40:25 If I remove the limiter on the drums...
Check it out...
00:40:38 You noticed that it's now dancing
and being unsteady.
00:40:41 It's not a visual thing, it's not because
I wanted it to look pretty.
00:40:44 I'm actually taking care of the dynamic
range of my drums
without crushing them, just
making them steady
by using a limiter, which is gonna
take care of the peaks and the transients.
00:40:55 And my meter's telling me
that it's doing a pretty good job.
00:40:58 Why am I doing that?
I know there's a whole bunch of drums
and guitars coming in
that are gonna be screaming for space
in the mix.
00:41:05 If everything is unruly and flashing around
like this
with transients everywhere, that's gonna be
very hard to put everybody together.
00:41:11 There's a fine line between dynamic control
and crushing.
00:41:16 And you have to be careful about that.
00:41:18 If you're confused about the meter
and what I just discussed
you should watch the Recording level video.
00:41:24 Let's listen to the electronic drums
raw tracks.
00:41:27 So it's interesting to go in the arrangement
and figure out where the electronic drums
and everything are playing
I see here that everybody's playing
in the chorus, I should listen in the chorus
so that I'm not just listening to three tracks
and then be surprised by what comes in later.
00:41:42 I see that everybody in the E DRUMS folder
is playing on the chorus.
00:41:45 Let's listen to that.
00:41:52 Alright, that's interesting!
Let's switch back to the mixer.
00:41:55 First one is this.
00:42:01 Cool!
Clearly, this was designed to add
some bottom
some impact, and a little bit of tail.
Now listen to it...
00:42:09 ...very low, with...
00:42:12 the real drums, it sound like this. I'm gonna
raise it to taste... To my taste!
You may wanna put it elsewhere, you can do
with the files you're gonna download!
Without...
00:42:34 With.
00:42:35 Ok, that makes sense!
I like the "huun"!
There's another track called Lo Kick.
00:42:43 Let's listen to just the Lo Kick.
00:42:46 Ok. So that's for tail on the bass drum.
Like "humm! humm!"
Kind of a 808 kind of vibe.
Let's listen to all three.
00:42:54 I don't have to do anything to the loop
it's pretty much happy the way it is,
already pretty processed
and I like the way it tucks in.
This is a good production move.
00:43:05 Without.
00:43:09 With.
00:43:13 Nice!
Cool!
What else do we have?
We have a clap! Let's add the clap.
00:43:22 I don't think any of these two track
needs processing. I know I'm like "uhh"!
My hand wants to go for a processor
but I'm telling myself: don't touch it,
it sounds good.
00:43:30 Let's listen to just the clap.
00:43:34 Ok.
00:43:36 Great. What else do we have?
A "B" hi-hat, ok...
00:43:42 So now, I noticed that there's
one more track.
00:43:46 BFD Chorus, let's check that out.
00:43:50 I see...
00:43:57 What would be the purpose of that track?
We already have one electronic loop
one low kick
5 or 6 tracks of drums, plus a parallel
processing bus.
00:44:07 What would this be good for? Check it out.
00:44:09 If I start with that muted,
and the real drums soloed
it sounds like this.
00:44:19 And then I'm gonna add...
00:44:23 Ah ha!
See how that fake drum loop actually
kind of adds a little bit of a back wall?
Check it out. Without.
00:44:41 With.
00:44:48 So with such a this fake/real drum loop,
we don't really know
it's not being used for the tone
of the drums so much
as for the tone of the reverb,
and the room, and the tail.
00:44:58 That's gonna help me create a back wall
it's very nice from the producer, because
if he didn't do that, I would have to do it.
00:45:05 Thank you!
Let's turn all the drums on.
00:45:09 And it sounds like this!
Maybe a little less of the electronic.
00:45:20 A little more of the clap.
00:45:23 A little less of the hi-hat.
00:45:25 A little less of the "boom".
00:45:31 It's fun to hear the bass bleed
from the original acoustic recording
in such a track. I kind of dig that.
00:45:37 Let's listen to the progression from
just bass and drums
from the beginning of the song.
So, where's the bass?
Hello? Here!
Alright, here we go.
00:47:00 It's good to listen to the whole thing
for perspective
especially since we're working on
a growth-based thing.
00:47:05 If you listen, it's nice to hear all
those little details.
00:47:08 When the fake snare drops out,
you hear the real snare for 2 beats
it sounds small, but then it feels
bigger after.
00:47:14 Growth-wise, I like to hear all those
little details
that are making more and more exciting
things that are coming every 4 or 8 bars.
00:47:20 Also, you know that when the real drums
come in
when nobody's heard the sound before,
they'll sound really big.
00:47:25 When the electronic drums are gonna
come in, everybody's gonna go "Wow"!
When the chorus comes in with that
extra loop
it really feels much bigger.
00:47:32 That's without any other instrument,
just the drums and the bass.
00:47:35 We're on good way to achieve the growth part
of the song.
00:47:39 Now that I have the tone and placement,
or approximate placement
of all my loud stuff, I'm gonna take
a second to gain stage the whole thing
so I don't end up clipping my converters
or my 2-bus.
00:47:49 To do so, if you remember, I have my stems.
00:47:51 It's perfectly fine to just go here
and offset everybody
as long as your mother doesn't find out.
Let's try!
Too loud!
Alright!
A little louder...
00:48:09 Now I'm hitting my converter at
-16, -17 average
which means that I'm hitting my converter
at the sweet spot, so I'm hearing reality
and I have plenty of room
for more instruments.
00:48:19 Next one being probably the piano.
Let's go to the first verse.
00:48:23 This, in the past life, was a real piano.
Let's listen to it.
00:48:30 Ok. Sounds great.
00:48:36 I feel it's a little muddy, and definitely
too dry.
00:48:38 I'm gonna take advantage of this situation
to work with reverbs.
00:48:42 First, let's unmuddy the piano.
00:48:45 I just wanna tuck in a little the low-mids
on the piano with the built-in EQ.
00:48:49 This band, parametric, bring it down
a little bit like this...
00:48:52 As a reminder, this is flat.
00:48:58 With a little tuck in.
00:49:00 Yeah.
00:49:04 Again, without.
00:49:08 Obviously, this sounds fine here.
00:49:12 But does this sound fine here?
It's a little too muddy.
00:49:20 If I cut out the low-mids
when everybody else is playing,
it feels better.
00:49:26 Always try to plan ahead.
00:49:28 I'm starting to get a vibe for the fact
that there's gonna be a lot of people
in the 300Hz area
if an instrument comes in, that has
too much of that...
00:49:35 it's gonna go away.
00:49:37 Now, it's pretty dry.
00:49:41 So let's switch to Send mode
and start assigning some reverb to it.
00:49:46 What I like to do, this is just
a little practical trick
is I like to keep all the reverbs
in the same slots.
00:49:53 So, my FX1 always in slot 1
FX4 always in slot 4.
00:49:57 This is great if you're gonna add reverb
to a whole bunch of stuff.
00:50:00 When you're looking at it bird's-eye view,
you can tell what is what.
00:50:04 So I'm gonna turn the 250 on.
00:50:08 Grander.
00:50:10 If you wanna look at the setting on the 250.
00:50:13 Two seconds.
00:50:14 Just a little bit of a holy kind of vibe.
00:50:17 Just sauce, electronic sounding,
because it has to
in this particular case, I don't want it
to sound natural
I want it to sound kind of otherwordly.
00:50:25 And then a little bit of the 140,
which is set like this.
00:50:35 So, flat.
00:50:39 Really present.
00:50:42 And then with the two EMTs.
00:50:47 It's dreamier, I think.
00:50:50 This is 100% a question of taste.
00:50:52 You may like it bone dry, you may like it
very wet.
00:50:55 I'm doing this to create a contrast from
the piano that's gonna be here
and when the drums come in, they're gonna
feel... in your face
because they're gonna be very dry.
That's the idea.
00:51:04 Let's see if it works.
00:51:05 So, well, let's see if it works!
That bottom note sticks out:
to-di-dum, to-di-dum.
00:51:19 I don't want to automate the whole thing
so I'm gonna compress it.
00:51:22 Switch back to Inserts.
Put a compression on there. Here we go.
00:51:27 I can go along with this one. Compress...
00:51:32 Maybe not that much.
00:51:35 Ah ha!
Without. Listen to that third chord.
00:51:40 Fine...
00:51:41 Fine...
00:51:44 Ok, that's without. This is with.
00:51:52 Cool. I like what it compresses,
but it needs more.
00:51:55 I'm gonna heighten the ratio. Here we go.
00:52:03 This is more even.
00:52:07 It also makes it sound a little weird,
which I like.
00:52:15 Cool.
00:52:32 I'm getting that front-to-back vibe
and everything.
00:52:35 Unfortunately, because the vocal is so dry,
it kind of ruins the experience.
00:52:38 We should take a second to put some reverb
on the vocal so at least it sounds like
you know, they're hanging out
in the same spot.
00:52:44 Back to Sends.
00:52:45 You remember, I put the FX1 on the
insert 1.
00:52:48 We're definitely gonna need some
Office to give a little distance
and the Plate 140. Turn them all on...
00:52:55 whatever the settings I can find...
Solo the vocal.
00:53:00 Make sure I'm getting everything
I need to get.
00:53:03 Come here, and check it out.
00:53:08 Ouuhh! Too much!
I also have the... double on here.
00:53:22 So I'm gonna put a little bit on the double.
00:53:24 But really, it's just for the lead.
The double is just to say we did it.
00:53:29 Check it out.
00:53:44 It's starting to sound good. As a reminder,
without the reverbs, it sounds like this.
00:53:52 The dry.
00:53:59 I'm gonna add just the Office
which is a little distance on the lead vocal.
00:54:07 That's subtle.
00:54:14 Cool. A little of the 250.
00:54:20 That's kind of a space-ish kind of thing.
00:54:29 That's nice, because it catches the s's.
Check it out, listen to the s.
00:54:37 Nice.
00:54:46 And then finally the Plate to give the tail.
00:54:53 Cool!
Very nice. A little bit of the reverb
on the double too.
00:55:06 Just because, and then we should probably
switch back
and copy at least the EQ to the double.
00:55:14 It sounds like this.
00:55:56 If you noticed on the 2nd part of the verse
when the electronic drums come in
there's a different piano track. It's not
the same sound, it's not treated.
00:56:02 It would be cool to do a little trick, or
make it sound a little different
or do special with it.
00:56:08 If we go there and we listen, it sounds
like this.
00:56:18 Basically, exactly the same as it did
on the 1st part of the verse
before we treated it.
00:56:23 Since the drums are coming in and they're
louder...
00:56:25 it's pretty much the same kind of vibe
as the 1st verse
it would be interesting to do something
different on this 2nd part of the verse.
00:56:32 If the producer separated the 2 piano tracks,
even though they're playing the same part
that's a hint, it's like: do something.
So let's do something.
00:56:40 First, I'm gonna copy the compression
because I know I need it, and then...
00:56:44 I'm probably gonna use some sort
of a distortion
and see what happens.
AmpSimulator, straight out.
00:56:50 What does that sound like?
Rock'n'roll!
Maybe not.
00:57:00 Definitely not!
No.
00:57:07 No.
00:57:12 Let's try that.
00:57:19 I'm adjusting to taste.
00:57:20 I'm trying to figure out something
that would make it interesting
but not be annoying, not be in the way, and
still be a good departure from the 1st verse.
00:57:28 This right now sounds like hell, but maybe
we can do something with it.
00:57:31 Let's try again.
00:57:36 Definitely too...
00:57:39 I don't like this, let's try something else.
00:57:42 That's cool.
00:57:49 Ok, why not?
And then maybe like a flanger.
00:57:54 Modulation, where are you? Modulation.
00:57:57 Flanger.
00:57:59 Here we go.
00:58:02 That's a little bit much.
00:58:09 Not bad.
00:58:10 Less fat, wide open, little less feedback.
00:58:13 No, more feedback.
00:58:18 Ok, maybe less.
00:58:22 In this case, I'm just trying to make it
fun and weird.
00:58:25 If I listen to it in the track, it sounds
like this.
00:58:32 I'm just playing, trying to find something
that inspires me.
00:58:35 You may use a phaser, you may use no
modulation
you may use a bit crusher, you may mute
the piano, you do whatever you want.
00:58:42 In this case, I'm inspired by this, plus
it's kinda odd to hear
the same part with a completely
different sound.
00:58:48 The flanger makes it dreamier, and
otherworldly, and not very real-sounding
which is what I'm looking for. I'd like
to put some reverb
I'm gonna switch to the Sends.
00:58:57 Add some reverb to this, probably
the same reverb as the 1st one
maybe a little more to create a difference
and then maybe the Plate too.
00:59:05 And it sounds like this.
00:59:12 That's nice.
00:59:14 Let's listen to the transitions,
see if it's effective. Here we go.
00:59:33 I really like it. I think I need
to compress more
because it's kind of annoying, it takes
too much room.
00:59:38 So let me compress more here.
00:59:40 And probably try a catchy attack,
so it's smoother. Check it out.
00:59:48 Maybe less.
00:59:50 I like that. Let's listen to
the transitions again.
00:59:53 I'm trying to make the effect happen,
get the feeling of it
but not be distracted from the vocal
or the rest of the song.
00:59:58 The transition sounds like this, with
more compression on the piano.
01:00:07 That's cool! A little less...
01:00:17 I really dig this, it's starting to really
feel like a track
I like this weird trick of changing from
a clean piano to a distorted piano.
01:00:24 At this point, we've been working for,
in real life, probably 2 or 3 hours
depending on how fast your are. You're
probably starting to lose perspective.
01:00:32 So it's a good idea to reference
when you have enough tracks, and it's
starting to sound like a record
and you can pass judgement on
what you've done.
01:00:39 If you remember from the beginning of
the video, I have a reference track.
01:00:43 If I solo it, it mutes everything else and
I hear my reference. I use it this way.
01:00:47 Play my mix, switch to the reference,
get back to my mix.
01:01:13 This is great, because it shows me
a lot of stuff at the same time.
01:01:16 For example, the other mix has a lot of
dryer vocals, maybe a little more present
and also, more acousticy, a little
linear drums.
01:01:24 Ok! Do I want to match that perfectly?
I don't know. Maybe that other mix is
fully approved
maybe that's the reference mix for
the whole record.
01:01:31 If yes, then maybe I want to go
in that direction.
01:01:34 How much matching do you want to do
from song to song across the record?
That's up to your taste, it's all artistry,
you'll decide.
01:01:40 I like to keep it in the same vibe
unless I'm trying to surprise the listener
and make a point.
01:01:45 In this case, I'm probably gonna want
to dry up the vocal on this mix
and get closer to the other mix,
so I have an overall record vibe.
01:01:53 So I switch to the Send view,
go to my vocal
dry up probably the 140, and a little bit
of the 250 here. Here we go.
01:02:17 I can feel I'm gonna have a vocal presence
problem on this mix
because there's so much stuff around it.
01:02:22 So I'm gonna finish opening
all the music tracks
and then I'll deal with that at last.
01:02:27 What do we have for guitar? Well, we have...
01:02:30 a little thing here, and then something
that comes on the verse
and then something that comes on the chorus.
Let's listen to this one first, solo.
01:02:46 It's called Edge guitar, appropriately.
01:02:49 It's got its built-in effect.
01:02:51 Ok. Fair enough.
01:02:52 I'm not really hearing much to do on this
except maybe put it in the space
by adding some of the local reverbs.
01:02:59 If you have an instrument that already
has reverb or delay on it
it's gonna have its own vibe. If you want
to unify it with the rest of the track
put it in the same reverb as some
of the stuff that's on the rest of the track.
01:03:10 That way, you get kind of like the sauce
between the two of them.
01:03:13 In this case, that's what the 250 does.
01:03:19 You may want to move it to the side.
01:03:33 It works fine enough.
01:03:35 Next, you can see here something comes in
on the verse. What do they sound like?
That's a cool effect! It's like some
guitar in some spring reverb or something.
01:03:51 So, in the track, it sounds like this.
01:03:54 I'll make them loud so you can hear.
01:04:00 And then bring them down, so that we can
understand what's going on in the song.
01:04:16 It's just a little nugget.
01:04:18 It's not uncommon for productions like this
where the guy has a real vision of what
he wants to do
for tracks to be fine the way they are.
01:04:25 He's probably been working on it
for like a year. It happens...
01:04:28 You're not gonna change that vision
if it's fine, right?
Let's move on to something we can work on.
What's the next guitar?
The Edge guitar comes back here
on the pre-chorus.
01:04:42 Ok. It's just a little filler.
01:04:44 And then here, the chorus guitars.
They sound like this.
01:04:50 Ok.
01:05:06 That sounds great! In context, they sound
like this.
01:05:24 We'll get to that later.
01:05:26 I like them, but I feel they could be
a little more edgy and aggressive.
01:05:30 They already sound pretty distorted,
I just want a little saturation.
01:05:34 Let me find a plug that will do that.
01:05:36 I'm gonna solo this one, and this one.
01:05:39 I'll just solo one, so that it's easier
to hear.
01:05:41 Let's start in the spot.
01:05:47 Ok. There's this thing called TAL.
01:05:49 It's a free plug-in, it's pretty cool.
01:05:52 TAL-Tube.
01:05:59 So, flat.
01:06:05 It adds a little creamy thing. I'll copy
that on the other side.
01:06:09 Just a little edge...
01:06:15 Without.
01:06:23 There's a little compression, it's kind of cool.
If you listen to it in the track...
01:06:36 It's exactly what I wanted. Just an edge
but it's a little dry and feels detached
from the rest of the mix
I'm gonna put a little bit of the sauce
on it. Switch to Sends view.
01:06:44 And add some of the 250...
01:06:47 Here. A little less. And here.
01:06:50 250 please. Thank you your majesty.
01:06:54 Here. And also, you know what?
Some of that 1/4 note delay.
01:07:00 Just because we can...
01:07:04 It sounds like this in solo.
01:07:09 Less.
01:07:13 As a reminder, without the reverb,
it sounds like this.
01:07:21 With the delays...
01:07:28 And with the 250.
01:07:31 Cool.
01:07:33 And in context...
01:07:43 A little loud, I'm gonna bring them down.
01:07:45 I'll have to adjust the balance at the end
when I have everybody.
01:07:48 Right now, I'm happy with this.
01:07:50 What else we have for guitar?
It seems that on the chorus, something
else comes in. This guy.
01:07:56 That's nice.
01:08:04 That sounds a little too thick to me
so I'm gonna use the built-in EQ.
01:08:09 I'll do this.
01:08:13 Maybe a little presence.
01:08:15 That's nice.
01:08:19 I'm definitely gonna use the 1/4 note
delay on this
to give it kind of a pad vibe.
01:08:29 That's too much, a little less.
01:08:35 I like that.
01:08:39 Let's listen to it in context.
01:09:05 You may have noticed that when
the chorus comes on
the vocals are kind of dull.
01:09:10 I just noticed there's a different
vocal track for the chorus
and we didn't treat it. So I'm gonna
switch back to the Inserts
and copy those to the lead vocal
on the chorus
so we at least have some sort of a starting
point that's correct.
01:09:27 And also the reverbs, probably...
01:09:29 I'm gonna copy the reverbs' settings... -ish.
01:09:35 250...
01:09:36 It's good sometimes to have 2
different tracks
1 for verse, 1 for chorus, for the vocals.
01:09:41 That way, you can have different effects
without having to jump through hoops
and automation stuff.
01:09:45 Sometimes, I will copy the vocal part
on a different track
even if it's not done by the producer,
just so I have that kind of freedom.
01:09:52 I have a feeling that considering that
the chorus is getting so much thicker
maybe I'll put it a little 1/4 note
just on the chorus
Just like this. See how this sounds like.
01:10:01 Coming from the verse.
01:10:25 It now makes more sense, sorry about that
Let's listen to the chorus synths.
01:10:29 If you look in the arrangement here
there's a whole bunch of stuff coming on.
01:10:34 For example, I see that something
that's here since the beginning
called CS 80 Fender. Let's listen to that.
01:10:40 It's not playing here.
01:10:43 Is it playing here?
Ok, that's kind of a pad.
01:10:49 I already know, right away,
that it's too thick.
01:10:54 I don't have that kind of room anymore.
There's so much stuff. I'm gonna plug this in.
01:10:58 High-pass with the built-in EQ from Cubase.
Listen to this.
01:11:02 Ok.
01:11:04 Maybe even a little bit of this.
01:11:08 A little...
01:11:10 wider...
01:11:11 Q.
01:11:16 Alright, that's more useable.
01:11:19 And probably some reverb too, we will
see that after.
01:11:22 What else do we have? There's an Arp lead.
01:11:24 It sounds like this.
01:11:28 Ok, clearly designed to work with him.
01:11:33 So maybe I want to put it on the other
side of that.
01:11:38 Same problem, too much room.
01:11:40 High-pass it.
01:11:45 Like this.
01:11:50 As a confirmation that it's too much room
in case you have a doubt about my sanity,
listen to it with the bass.
01:12:01 If I mute the 2 EQs I just did,
it sounds like this.
01:12:08 Notice how the keyboards are in the way
of the bass.
01:12:11 If I high-pass them like I just did...
01:12:17 The bass is left alone, that's what
matters. Alright.
01:12:20 What else do we have?
Get rid of him, bye bye, thanks for coming.
Pro 53, interesting.
01:12:25 What could that be?
Let me mute the bass.
01:12:36 Ok.
01:12:40 That, I wanna hear in the context
of the track.
01:12:43 I'm gonna mute the other keyboards
I haven't heard yet
the Oddity, and the Mini Lead.
01:13:00 I'm wondering how it would sound
if I low-passed it
and made it a little darker.
01:13:05 Low Pass.
01:13:07 It would sound like this in solo.
01:13:14 As if the filter on the synth was
more closed
and that would leave more room
for the guitars and for the vocals.
01:13:23 In context...
01:13:30 See, it allows me to put it louder
in the mix
because it's darker and doesn't take
as much room
It fills that low-mid area very well
without being too muddy. I like that.
01:13:39 What else do we have here? Oddity.
01:13:42 Let's see if it bears its name well...
01:13:46 It's very quiet!
Maybe it comes later in the chorus?
Yes it does!
Same problem.
01:13:57 All that is too thick.
01:13:59 If I had started the chorus
with the keyboards
maybe I'd have kept the keyboards fat
and made the guitars thinner
but that's not what I did, so I'm gonna go
with my gut.
01:14:09 I'll start here.
01:14:20 Try and locate the part in the mess!
Is it important or not? I'm gonna play it
and mute it on and off.
01:14:33 I like it. For some reason, it's to the left
right here
I'm gonna put it in the middle, I think
it'd be great in the middle.
01:14:48 I'll do it again. It's the kind of part
that you don't really hear
when it's there, but you miss it
when it's gone. Check it out.
01:15:03 This is the kind of part that will also
help the chorus feel heavy
when it comes on, without being
that much louder.
01:15:08 It's just a little part tucked in, maybe
too loud, I'll bring it in a little bit.
01:15:11 The last chorus part is this thing.
What is it?
Ok, same thing, that's a really cool part.
01:15:26 Let's make it... more like that...
01:15:30 Just a simple high-pass.
01:15:33 Put it in the track.
01:15:52 That's awesome. I think it needs delay
to give it this otherworldly vibe.
01:15:57 So let's put a Quarter delay on it.
01:16:04 That's great. And also a little bit
of reverb, to make it feel wet
and kind of like grandiose.
01:16:13 Cool! Let's listen to the whole track
in context.
01:16:41 This is a perfect example of the several
kinds of parts.
01:16:44 You have the ear candy parts that you can
do without, but that's just for style
you have the parts that you don't really
hear, but you miss when they're gone
and the lead parts. It's nice to be able to
be in sync with the producer
when you choose which is which.
Here, it's pretty obvious.
01:16:58 Unless I get a phone call tomorrow
that I screwed up...
01:17:01 Let's listen to the whole thing
from before the pre-chorus, pre-chorus,
chorus
to see if it really lifts the way it should
with those keyboards.
01:17:48 So...
01:17:49 obviously, I got carried away with
the keyboards.
01:17:52 The balance is falling apart. When
the pre-chorus comes in
the guitars are too loud.
01:17:56 I like the tones, I don't like the mix
of them.
01:17:59 First thing I'm gonna do is adjust
the guitars on the pre-chorus
then I'll adjust the keyboards down,
so we don't loose the focus of the track
which is the beat.
01:18:06 So, pre-chorus guitars...
01:18:38 I really like this sound
and it's taking so much room, so I'm gonna
make it brighter
so I don't have to raise it, but you
perceive it more. Check it out.
01:18:47 I go back here, Mini Lead. I use
the built-in EQ.
01:18:51 Let's make this brighter.
01:18:54 Let's go to the right part, it helps a lot.
01:19:01 I don't like this EQ for this.
01:19:04 Let's use something else that's gonna be
sweeter.
01:19:09 Like, for example... the Pultec Pro.
01:19:13 In the 5k range...
01:19:15 That's nice.
01:19:18 Maybe a little bit at 10k...
01:19:21 Yeah.
01:19:22 You noticed the difference in sounds
between the 2 EQs, right?
This is the Pultec.
01:19:30 Then if I go back to the bult-in EQ
in this particular case, it's not
gonna work.
01:19:39 Pultec's better, right?
Yeah!
In context...
01:19:51 Without the Pultec...
01:19:58 With the Pultec.
01:20:03 You can perceive that part better.
It comes forward very nicely
without feeling too loud.
01:20:07 So. What next? This still has some
balance problems.
01:20:11 Everything sounds good
but the vocal is getting buried
in the chorus. Let's address that.
01:20:18 What's going here?
There's also a double.
01:20:28 Ok.
01:20:39 There's so much stuff going on,
and this is so smooth
I think we should make it less smooth.
01:20:44 Let's use something like... a distortion.
01:20:47 Decapitator. Let's see how that sounds.
01:20:55 A little edge, a little upper tone.
01:20:58 Yeah.
01:21:02 First, listen this flat
And then, I'll add the effect back on.
01:21:06 Listen to the quality of the tone
and also the edge, the upper edge,
the aggressivity of it.
01:21:17 With the Decapitator.
01:21:28 Can you hear how forward it gets?
So if I put that in context...
01:21:39 As a reminder, without...
01:21:48 With.
01:21:56 I love what it's doing, and if I copy it
on the double, it might help too.
01:22:01 Here we go... Chorus.
01:22:18 That's awesome. Now, if we listen
to the vocal on the verse...
01:22:31 I've been having a vocal edge problem
since the beginning of the mix.
01:22:34 So I may want to copy that effect
on the verse
but maybe have a more tame version of it.
01:22:41 A little less distortion, a little less
brightness.
01:22:44 So that when the chorus comes on,
it feels bigger.
01:22:47 So this is... say from the beginning
of the song
With a little bit of edge.
01:24:44 And it goes on, and on, and on...
01:24:46 So, that sounds great.
01:24:48 You noticed the background vocals
came in
let's listen to them, we haven't really
dealt with them, I just unmuted them.
01:24:53 And they look like this, in the sauce.
01:24:57 They come in...
01:24:59 here mostly, at the end of the chorus,
and a little bit in the verse.
01:25:03 Let's listen to it.
01:25:08 And...
01:25:12 Ok.
01:25:15 So it's ornamentation.
01:25:16 I might gonna go in every single track,
I could...
01:25:19 but one of the benefits of having a sub
is that I can put an EQ
on the sub, and it's gonna affect everybody.
01:25:26 So, I high-pass it a little bit...
01:25:29 I make it a little shiny...
01:25:31 like this...
01:25:32 Some shelving, that's too much obviously.
A little bit like 1dB-ish...
01:25:36 then remove some low-mids, because I can
expect it to be a problem.
01:25:41 This is gonna apply to all the tracks.
01:25:43 For example, this is the end of the mix,
I feel the drums are a little dark
I can just pop a little EQ on the whole
drum mix, or even on the stem
and jack it up a little bit.
01:25:53 I'm using the sub on the background vocals
to only have to process all the background
vocals together.
01:26:02 That's nice. Maybe I wanna put some
reverb on the whole thing
maybe the 250 would be nice...
01:26:08 Just on the sub.
01:26:16 Let's mute the lead here, just backgrounds.
01:26:22 It's a little much.
01:26:26 A little too thick, still.
01:26:28 Bring it up.
01:26:30 Low-mids a little lower...
01:26:37 And the other part is called "All I See"
probably just at the end here.
01:26:52 That sounds good. It actually could be
a little bitier
so I'm gonna take the Decapitator and
bring it on here.
01:27:00 Nice.
01:27:04 Sounds good. Turn the lead back on.
01:27:12 That's it! Really quick, a couple of minutes
to give the sound of the background vocals.
01:27:16 If I hear something sticking out when
I listen to the whole song
I probably will come back and do some
single adjustements
but I don't think it needs much.
01:27:24 Now, I'd like to show you
what you can do with stems
when you're getting near the end of a mix
and how you can use the stem tracks
to actually analyze
where everything is in the mix.
Check it out.
01:27:34 For example, let's go to the spot where
the electronic drums come in.
01:27:41 It sounds good.
01:27:45 What if I solo the electronic drums,
and the real drums, and the bass?
I have this feeling that maybe,
just maybe...
01:27:57 the clap and the loop are a little loud.
Check it out.
01:28:12 That makes more sense to me. It's more
difficult to hear with everything on
sometimes it makes more sense if you
mute a bunch of stuff
and it's really easy to mute if you have
the stems.
01:28:21 For example, you could listen to the whole
track with no drums.
01:28:33 In this context...
01:28:35 it's kind of singling out the fact that
those guitar and spring reverb tracks
are a little loud, and they stick out more.
01:28:41 I know I will notice them more if I put it
back in the sauce.
01:28:43 I'm gonna bring them down and listen.
01:28:48 That's cool.
01:28:54 And then turn the drums back on.
01:29:01 Now those guitars annoy me more because
it really pointed them out.
01:29:04 And I'm able to bring them down a little
further, and that will save the project.
01:29:09 Down...
01:29:15 Cool.
01:29:20 Another spot where it would be useful is
on the chorus.
01:29:22 If I listen to the chorus
with everything on...
01:29:33 What happens if I mute the guitars?
Cool.
01:29:43 I get the vibe. Mute the... synths.
01:29:52 So that... synths... our page of synths
is too loud.
01:29:56 At least it feels that way,
let's bring it down a tiny bit.
01:30:10 I'm digging this.
01:30:12 The stem controls let you do the pairing
thing, which lets you figure out
if anything sticks out much easier
than if the whole mix is playing.
01:30:18 But they also get you ready for
stem printing
which we'll take care of in a different video...
01:30:23 vocal ups and vocal downs...
01:30:26 two fader moves...
01:30:27 TV tracks-just mute the lead vocal,
instrumentals-mute all the vocals.
01:30:31 It's a very great way to work
even if you're not gonna use them for
the limiting thing, or for any other tricks.
01:30:36 It's a great way to structure your mix.
01:30:39 And now, the moment we've all been
waiting for
the before and after hair cut pictures:
mixed/unmixed.
01:30:45 We're gonna play both at the same level
and toggle back and forth, so you get
the vibe for what we've done.
01:30:50 Here we go!
Your mix will be different from my mix
it's based on what you've been
listening to, which is different
from what I've been listening to.
01:32:51 And also your idea of what this kind
of music should sound like in particular.
01:32:55 That is a factor of two things.
01:32:57 Tradition:
how much respect are you gonna pay
to the tradition
of what this kind of music sounds like?
How much are you gonna keep
your listener safe
by playing them something
they've heard before?
And how much evolution are you gonna bring
to the style
by creating something that's gonna
surprise them?
Tradition vs. evolution.
01:33:14 Et voilà!
Once logged in, you will be able to read all the transcripts jump around in the video.
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.
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.
it's a good video, but comparing to other fab's video, it seems this was not of the best days of him mixing in my opinion. good video nevertheless.
mystasynasta
2016 Oct 26
I'm surprised that the overheads being out of phase with the snare wasn't talked about on this one. It's one of those rare tracks where it actually fit better in the mix with it out of phase...
chrisNunchuck
2016 Jun 29
Great video. Super explanations. Following along using different plugins, I was able to improve the mix by the same amount as the conclusion of the video. A part II would be great to go over the finishing touches like automation. I'm glad I didn't have the same plugins as it forced me to better learn what my plugs were good at and how to compare to the sound you were going for. For instance, comparing 1176 clones and different EQs. ie PSP NobleQ has a much softer 5 and 10k for vocals than the PSP McQ equalizer. The latter being richer and would likely work better on a EDM track or rock.
ulrino
2016 Jun 27
I also hear a lot of artefacts like Markedgeller describes it.
Maybe re-encode the whole thing?
Markedgeller
2016 Jun 08
Some interesting artefacts in the audio of this tutorial. Mostly noticeable during the acoustic drums mixing. There some odd stereo-ness happening when the mono kick and snare mics are solo'd, like I'll hear a hit more in the left or right side (and it seems random). Some of the punch is missing in the centre, but occasionally comes back for the odd kick or snare hit. Makes it tricky to hear what you're actually achieving with compression. I'm unsure whether this is something to do with the quality of the stream or some plugin issue with my browser. Has anybody else noticed this happening?
ArekGolab
2016 Jun 01
I just love bypassed EQ "working" for Fab at about 25 minutes into video (on Snare bottom track hi-pass) :D (You can then see that EQ icon in mixer is yellow - bypased, not green - working - just as in Snare top track ;))
Chuck Mott
2015 Nov 23
I just want to clarify something. You are not setting up a buss send , you are sending your drums to the bus sub via the outputs rather then making a separate send. Correct. SO along the top , where y0u have the outputs, they are being send directly via the outputs to an aux channel. Likewise the outs from the aux channels are going to the separate bus stems. The outputs of those are stereo outputs. I think I have been doing it wrong for a very long time if this is indeed the case, I've been sending to the separate axes via sends on the send channels. Correct?
x6one3x
2015 May 25
Never mind, I somehow missed the first video. This is great!
x6one3x
2015 May 25
Hey, i have been using groups in cubase for a long time, but the "stem" mixing in cubase is new to me and I cannot seem to figure out how to open a bunch of stem channels that I can have bus channels routed too. Is there a tutorial on that?
P.S Awesome website! I went to Burklee Music College for Mixing/Mastering and I find this website is WAY more helpful!
heath1227
2015 Jan 04
Fab, thanks for the this video. I am really impressed with the less is more approach that you take to this mix. Nothing is over equalized and the plugins make sense with nothing drastic. you use the effects to blend things together and put them in their place within the mix. Very tasty.
I would be very interested in seeing what you did with your final processing on the entire mix. EQ, limiting, etc.
I love the fact you used Cubase for this as well. I am moving to that from Pro Tools because I am tired of being short on basic features just because I can't afford a HD system. Cubase 8 rocks.
Fabulous Fab
2014 Sep 01
soundshigh: If I did not address it it's because it felt fine to me that day. I may feel different about it today. That's part of the ever evolving quality of the process.
Hi pass filters with gentle slopes tend to be less harmful than eqs with sharp slopes. I'll hipass if I need nothing from the bottom of the track and resort to scoops if some of the material at the bottom is needed or if I feel the filter will emasculate too much.
Fabulous Fab
2014 Sep 01
@Kal: Great question. A chorus is a whole dedicated section that is standalone. A refrain is a tag at the end of another section. Most modern radio song are verse/chorus structure. MOst Beatles song were verse /refrain.s We are working on a video discussing the whole song structure problem
Fabulous Fab
2014 Sep 01
@alextkirk: I beleive that in Cubase pre fader is post plugins.
Fabulous Fab
2014 Sep 01
@cristianr.mendezm: yes that's the routing. There are many more videos like this one on the site. We will do more Cubase content in the future.
Fabulous Fab
2014 Sep 01
@Fat Roonie: Eqs get picked based on mood, needed features, dsp load, amount of laziness involved with clicking around and then sound too. The mixing order does impact the sound of the mix. It varies by track but I always start with the vocal to make sure it's always on when I mix the rest. But all sounds keep evolving throughout the mix. It's a war with multiple fronts. Finishing by the vocal is the kiss of death for me. There would be no space left for it. I use solos more in videos to make sure you can really hear what is going on.
soundshigh
2013 Dec 12
Another question :)
I noticed you did not high pass everything that was supposed to be a midrange instrument - the piano and one of the pads I think - but you chose to carve out the low mids only. Is this because generally high passing could be considered a more degrading than band EQ?
Thanks!
soundshigh
2013 Dec 12
Hi there - first, thank you for the fine and elegant tutorial. The hint about all fx auxes going to their own stem is a great work around for the lack of VCAs I suppose. I noticed that Decapitator distorts the sibilants, which was most audible on the occasional "f" sounds...I do have a tendency to overprocess and try to perfect everything too much (which often results in crappy mix), so I am trying to learn where is the good enough line. Are those distorted "f" sounds just something to not bother about, or the tackling of this problem was not included for other considerations?
Christian Matthew Cullen
2013 Sep 14
This is fantastic! So nice to look over the shoulder of someone that really understands the big picture of mixing - thanks for helping develop my taste and ears, Fab! A+
Kal
2013 Jul 29
Hello Fab, can you explain the difference you make between "verse / chorus" and "verse / refrain", it's the same for me.
Best regards.
alextkirk
2013 Jun 27
Hey Fab,
Rookie question maybe: When you make your sends "pre-fader" does it not mean that you are also sending then without the process of the plug-ins?
alextkirk
2013 Jun 27
Hey Fab,
Rookie question maybe: When you make your sends "pre-fader" does it not mean that you are also sending then without the process of the plug-ins?
drumvarna
2013 Jun 13
Tradition vs Evolution!!!
Joseph Piccione
2013 Mar 24
Fab,
Very nice session, clearly taught and all at a smooth pace. I look forward to making a mix of Periscope. Good Stuff!
cristianr.mendezm
2013 Feb 18
By far the best mixing tutorial video that I've ever seen.
There's one thing that I would like to ask you about the routing. Did you send the tracks to a group channel and then the group channel to another group channel "Stemp" and finally to the mains?
I would really like to get more videos like this one.
You rock Fab
pshah
2013 Feb 05
Fab is Fabulously Fabulous! :D
Crpl
2012 Dec 15
Aloha Fab, I use your Periscope video as a standard to guide me through the mixing process. I am new to mixing and appreciate your video tutorials it sheds a new light on my perspective. Using Puremix Videos and experiencing the process unfold and explained by, in my humble opinion, the best in the business, affords visual-tactile learners, such as myself, the opportunity to grasp the concepts and fill in the missing pieces.
Thanks for creating this site.
kelu
2012 Dec 05
hi
like the room tone after the mouse click , ;)
Mario Oseguera
2012 Nov 24
thank you for showing us tips like this i learned so much hear. i went to collage and got a degree as an audio engineer but to be hones i feel like this website has been much more helpful because you show us the real deal. keep it up fab.
j-ro
2012 Nov 23
All is very clear and seems so easy ! Your explanations are very good ! It's really a great video to learn all the possibilities to make a good mix ! Thank you Fab !
eltiokaloyi
2012 Nov 21
It´s my first video and I felt really comfortable! Great job.
Fat Roonie
2012 Nov 21
I am interested as to why you use Sonnox Eq on one track, Puig on another and then sometimes Cubase built in eq's.
The other question I am interested in is How important is the order you mix in and how does it impact the mix. What happens to the first instrument in comparison to the last. I have read people tend to make the last thing they mixed stand out more in the mix, therefore it is best to finish on the vocals. Also You solo'ed everything to work on them, not in context with the other tracks. Was it just for the video or is this how you work? Anyway brilliant, lots learned here.
willmac
2012 Nov 13
Great stuff!! thanks for showing how you dealt with phase issues...this is something i need to be more aware of on everything I mix. Can't wait to see you do more full mix tutorials. Its helpful to see work-flow from start to finish.
Fabulous Fab
2012 Oct 02
@mrtele: moving the files is fine. It's a little gettho fengshui wise, but it's totally fine sonically, no difference.
@DenisD: Most reverb plugins have plate settings. Start there. They usually are at least serviceable.
As for the vocal treatment: there are many ways to skin a cat, especially a singing cat. I'm also trying to show a variety of techniques accross the videos
mrtele
2012 Sep 27
Good stuff! I especially liked when you pointed out the phase issues in bass.
How do you feel about doing the same trick without using the Little Labs, just by moving the audio file a few ticks ahead so that that the phase curves coincide? I think it`s all right not to have that CPR there. I learned more by doing the whole setup by myself. My mixes sound better now. I also inserted Uad Studer 800 on all of the stems.
Merci Pocu,
Jake
DenisD
2012 Sep 11
Great tutorial!Thank you so much! But I have a couple of questions. Why you didn't fix the vocal tracks like in "How to Eq Vocal" video? And what are alternative plugins to UAD EMT 250 and EMT 140?
Thanks for answer!
ps142
2012 Jul 17
"This (piano) in a past life was a real piano" ahaha! awesome!
OrrinPratt
2012 Jul 17
Hey fab, thanks for giving me a better sense of my plugins! Fabulous!
legramophone
2012 Jul 13
hi fab, excellent tutorial video, thanks! For the audio files provided, did you flip the phase on the Kick Out channel before exporting, or is it exactly as it was sent to you? Thanks again!
malaqsaab
2012 Jul 07
great vid!!!!! the drum mixing was AWESOME!!!!!
Adrian Tello
2012 Jul 03
Fantastic video. +1 to make the CPR available, Why?, cos’ it helps a lot to learn new workflows.
stpete111
2012 Jun 06
Fab, another great video. I'm most impressed by how you flew through that mix in 90 mins... technically much less b/c you wouldn't be doing the talking in a normal mix situation. I want to touch your hair. I feel that it could give me good luck in my mixing, like rubbing a genie bottle.
Fabulous Fab
2012 May 28
@sylvain177: this mix is an all in the box mix, no mastering occurred, no analog summing. Fab
sylvain177
2012 May 28
The stereo referent mix of the piece Periscope is it to masteriser, with a processing of somation analogical or just the resultat of your mixing?
sorry for my very bad engish ...
le mix stereo referent du morceau Periscope est il masteriser, avec un traitement de somation analogique ou juste le resultat de votre mixage?
thanks for all your artistics way
deang1983
2012 May 26
Best tutorial yet! Awesome to see a session worked on from beginning to end. Puremix does it right!
Fabulous Fab
2012 May 24
@Lupez: Logic mix vidéo coming soon. It's in the can, making its way through post production.
Plastic Days rocks. I had fun working on that record.
Lupez
2012 May 24
PS - I like this song a lot! These guys rock, even if they're pop (or indie pop? doh!)
Lupez
2012 May 24
Just finished watching the video and very much enjoyed it, although Cubase has the ugliest interface I've ever seen - very confusing and fatiguing for me.
I'd rather stick with Logic 9 Pro - please make a video with it!
ecstacy2012
2012 May 23
Fab,
Great Mix lesson. Your discussion of the principles, analyization and explanations of the individual task while instructing are far superior to any service like this out there! The work ethic and passion for your viewers is greatly appreciated and makes a true difference in someone learning not only something they can gain insight in but also something they can really use and still apply themselves!
method1
2012 May 23
I was also curious to see the cpr because your session is so nice and tidy, but I spent a bit of time pausing the video and reconstructing it myself so now I have a pretty good handle on it, this will certainly change the way I set up sessions from now, so thanks again!
Fabulous Fab
2012 May 23
@Kadir: Because we did not think of it?
I'm happy to go back and make one for you but what would the difference between that and having the raw stems that you'll drag in the timeline yourself? This is an in the box mix with no routing tricks and Cubase organizes the session for you mostly.
What am I missing?
Fab
Kadir
2012 May 23
Dear fab , do you can post also the CPR file for cubase project ?
its very usefull . Its only +- 500 kb file.
Please can I get the CPR file of the project ???
We payed money for it and some tutorials of lynd.com does also includes the CPR file , so why does puremix not include it ? in the files package ? ? ? ?? ? ??????????????????????????????????????????? WHYYYY ???? :( :(
jakes
2012 May 23
Wow you work really fast in Cubase ;-) And phase flip on the channel is cool thing, maybe I should try Cubase out.
Tnx again for a great video.
shabfish
2012 May 22
Wicked! another amazing video !!
:)
method1
2012 May 21
Wow! Really great. Any chance you could make the CPR available?
Even with the plugins removed just so cubase users can take a closer look at the routing? Thanks!
