Mixing the Song Set It Off in Logic
01h 47min
(47)
Fab Dupont mixes the dance-pop song "Set It Off" from scratch, starting with the producer's rough mix, ending with a finished mix, all done within Logic Pro.
Learn how to mix a whole song : where to begin, what processing to apply to dance music drums, bass and vocals, how to give life and movement to a steady synth track by using side-chain tricks, and much more. The mix of this great radio-ready song is a concise illustration of the techniques that are used in today's musical productions, designed for optimal attention-catching from the listener, resulting in giving as much interest and character as possible to each individual track.
Using only plug-ins and no hardware, Fab Dupont takes the all-in-the-box mixing process one step further. Whether it's for creating specific tones for one track, or to give the whole mix a creamier and more consistent sound, Fab demonstrates once more than one does not necessarily need any outboard gear to achieve an amazing professional-sounding mix.
You can download the stems of this song for you to practice and import them in your favorite DAW (it does not have to be Logic)
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Once logged in, you will be able to click on those chapter titles and jump around in the video.
- 00:00 - Start
- 02:16 - Bass Drum
- 14:17 - 2-Bus Processing
- 17:58 - Snare Drum & Clap
- 25:17 - Hi-Hat & Other Drums
- 30:47 - Bass
- 37:32 - Verse Vocals
- 43:29 - Other Vocals
- 45:37 - Lead Synth
- 58:29 - Piano
- 1:00:23 - Ear Candies
- 1:03:08 - Other Keyboards
- 1:09:56 - Synth Automation
- 1:11:55 - Pre-Chorus Vocals
- 1:27:33 - Hook Vocals
- 1:34:27 - Forgotten Verse Vocals
- 1:37:56 - Adjustements
- 1:41:00 - More 2-Bus Processing
00:00:07
Good morning children!
Today, we're going to mix
a radio-ready pop song.
00:00:11
Incidentally, we're gonna mix it
in Logic Audio,
because that's the kind
of people we are.
00:00:16
The song name is "Set It Off",
the artist's name is
Starting 5 Productions, mixed by moi!
Side note: this is one of my favorite
tracks of the last few months,
if only for the lyrical content.
00:00:26
It's an old tale of revelry
and evening fun,
that starts with:
"Bitch! You've got some nerve!"
It should be fun... Let's listen
to the producer's rough mix.
00:01:43
This is a great track.
00:01:44
I'm going to keep the producer's
rough mix in the session,
because I like the vision of it.
00:01:50
I know I can improve on the mix,
but the vision is the vision,
I don't want to change it.
So I'm gonna be able to reference it
regularly by keeping it in the mix,
muted, just in case.
00:01:59
At this point, I would usually start
with the vocal.
00:02:02
But there's not one main vocal,
it's an ensemble of vocals.
00:02:04
So that's a lot of work, and I don't really
know where the rest of the track is going.
00:02:08
So in this case, I'm gonna start
with the drums.
00:02:11
Create a bed, drums and bass, and then
come back to the ensemble of vocals
and make them sound good, and then
dress up the rest of the track.
00:02:16
So first, bass drum.
00:02:23
That is a very deep bass drum,
with lots of garbage at the bottom,
I think we just woke up a couple of
people in China from here in New York.
00:02:31
This is gonna be a challenge, because
it has a lot of lingering frequencies
at the bottom, it goes "Woommm!"
And it's got a lot of "Pock!",
but it doesn't have a lot of fat,
so let's look at what we can do with it.
00:02:42
My other problem is if you look at it,
it's already clipping the bus.
00:02:49
I have no headroom.
00:02:51
The first thing I'm going to do is use
the standard Logic Gain plug-in
to take it down 6dBs, so that I don't
have to fight with headroom so much.
00:02:59
And listen to it!
I have a feeling that it may be better
in mono, it's a stereo sample.
00:03:08
If you can hear, there's a little bit
of stuff on the sides. This is the stereo.
00:03:14
And this is mono.
00:03:19
It's got less ambience,
but it's more to the point.
00:03:21
I'm not trying to be subtle here,
we're going "Boom! Boom!"...
00:03:25
So now I have a clean slate,
I have enough headroom to work,
and I have chosen a mono version
of the bass drum.
00:03:30
I'm gonna EQ it,
try and tame that bottom.
00:03:33
I'm gonna use the Sonnox EQ
because I know it very, very well.
00:03:37
And it's very intuitive for me. And...
00:03:41
Here we go!
The first thing I'm gonna do is see
what I can do on the high-pass filter
for that bottom, that "Woommm" thing.
00:03:48
So... I set it up pretty steep,
and then I high-pass it.
00:03:57
Compare before and after...
Start without.
00:04:04
With.
00:04:09
It's better. It's a little leaner.
00:04:12
Now I'm gonna try and get
some of that chest sound.
00:04:14
I have a lot of the "Pock!",
but I don't have a lot of the chest.
00:04:18
So let me look for something here.
00:04:33
Ok, that's cool!
So we started with this...
00:04:40
Now we're here...
00:04:46
It's pretty cool!
I still think that that "Mmmm"
is gonna be a problem.
00:04:51
If you remember the track,
there is a synth that's pumping.
00:04:55
So I think we should make the bass drum
pump to see how it feels.
00:04:58
To do so, I'm gonna use
the Sonnox Compressor,
which is somewhere here,
Sonnox Dynamics!
There you go.
00:05:07
Here's how you think about it.
00:05:09
First, I'm gonna need
a super short attack,
because I want the bass drum
to be full-on whenever it's on,
every "Boom!" has to be always on
and untouched,
so I'm gonna shorten the attack.
00:05:18
Then I'm gonna look for the threshold
that lets me just have
the full bass drum untouched.
00:05:23
Then, I'm gonna change the release,
so that it goes "Booom!", right away.
00:05:29
I'm gonna keep the other plug-ins up,
so that you can see what's going on.
00:05:33
Here we go.
00:05:43
That's good enough.
00:05:53
So... check it out! This is before...
00:05:59
After...
00:06:03
It's starting to have a vibe,
so I like that.
00:06:05
The next thing I'd like to do
is to make that more compact.
00:06:08
So I'm gonna compress it.
Turn it on... Listen to it...
00:06:20
Ok.
00:06:26
Cool.
00:06:31
Let me compensate with some make-up gain
so we listen at the same level.
00:06:34
Without...
00:06:38
With...
00:06:40
A little bit much...
00:06:49
You can really hear the... (sings).
I like that very much.
00:06:54
So we started here with nothing on it.
00:07:00
And now we're here.
00:07:06
That's wacky, I like it.
00:07:08
So I'm getting a lot of
the "Pock! Pock! Pock!",
I'm getting a lot of the "Rrrrrr"...
00:07:12
but I'm not getting a lot
of the "Boom! Boom! Boom!"
and I think I can EQ this
until I'm blue in the face,
I'm still not gonna get the "Boom!",
just because of the way the bass drum is.
00:07:20
So I can use a plug-in
to try and create that sound.
00:07:23
One of the great plug-ins for that
is R-Bass. Let's look at it.
00:07:29
If there's one Waves plug-in you're
gonna buy, it's gonna be R-Bass.
00:07:32
It's irreplaceable and quite special.
00:07:34
What it does is it adds frequencies
that don't exist in your signal.
00:07:37
For example, this is my bass drum
as we just heard it...
00:07:43
And this is my bass drum with R-Bass.
00:07:51
I'm gonna lower the Intensity, which
is basically the level of the effect.
00:08:00
Ok. And probably the Frequency too.
Check it out.
00:08:08
That's really yummy.
So we started here...
00:08:15
Now we're here.
00:08:21
Cool.
00:08:23
So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna
lower the output of this...
00:08:26
a few dBs, to give myself
more headroom.
00:08:29
The other thing I'm gonna do
is I'm gonna go here on my mix bus
and take it down 6dBs,
just because I can.
00:08:37
Let's listen to this again.
00:08:47
As a reminder, we started here.
00:08:50
No plug-ins.
00:08:57
And now we're here.
00:09:08
Good progress!
I still feel that this is not enough
for me to be able to rely on
as my main center/bottom/anchor
for the mix.
00:09:17
What I'm gonna do is probably
enhance it a different way.
00:09:21
I'm going to create a new track
next to the one I already have
for the bass drum... Here we go!
And I'm gonna copy
my bass drum part to it.
00:09:30
So now I have two bass drum tracks.
I'm gonna solo the new one.
00:09:34
I'm gonna use this plug-in
called apTrigga.
00:09:36
apTrigga is a great little
drum replacement plug-in.
00:09:40
I'm not gonna replace the drum,
I'm gonna enhance the drum.
00:09:43
This plug-in is $30 or $35, buy it,
it's great, it's simple, it works.
00:09:48
Let me find my samples... Fab Samples,
FatDrums... That sounds good!
Alright. Pick one sample
and start playing the track.
00:09:57
I'm gonna remove the dry signal,
leave the wet signal,
which is my replacement sample,
and listen to different samples
until I like something. So here we go!
No!
That's a little bit obnoxious...
00:10:13
Not gonna work...
00:10:16
It's a little too acoustic...
00:10:18
Not gonna work!
That is not a bass drum.
00:10:22
That is not a bass drum.
That is not a bass drum.
00:10:24
Not a bass drum...
00:10:27
That could be good... No!
No!
Don't call us, we'll call you!
Ouh! This is good!
Let's compare this with...
00:10:39
Let's listen to this in context.
00:10:43
It's a little too close to the same
pocket as the other one.
00:10:47
It can be a tedious process. I know
you're bored. I'm bored.
00:10:50
But the idea here is if you find
the right sample,
you'll work a lot less after.
00:10:55
If you just pick any sample, you're
gonna have to do a lot of work after.
00:10:58
So we're gonna do the work now...
00:11:00
and then we'll do less work after,
hopefully. Keep going!
No.
00:11:06
No.
00:11:09
No.
00:11:11
Not a drum.
00:11:14
Ouh!
I like that.
Let's listen to that in context.
00:11:23
Yes! Original...
00:11:28
New...
00:11:31
Both...
00:11:34
I think this is the beginning
of a beautiful friendship.
00:11:37
Let's work on this bass drum.
00:11:38
This sample is not
from a sample library.
00:11:40
It's a bass drum that I made
on a different song.
00:11:43
At the end of every mix,
I will print the bass drum
and the snare drum, and whatever else
sounds I like for the drums,
and have them in my archives.
00:11:51
So all the sounds you just heard
are sounds that I made myself.
00:11:54
So I know I like them, and I know that
the sounds that are in that folder
at least have been vetted by me.
00:11:58
I know that I can save time by going
through high quality sounds,
not waiting through hundreds
of samples of junk.
00:12:05
Of course, not every sound works for
every song, but I think we found a match.
00:12:09
I think that it's a little too fat
at the bottom,
because we already have a lot of stuff
on the other sound,
and also I think it needs a little more
of that "Woommm" thing. Check it out.
00:12:17
I'm gonna put some EQ on it.
00:12:19
I'm gonna be lazy and copy the first
settings over and alter them.
00:12:22
There you go...
00:12:24
Play the track... I'm gonna be looking
for a way to...
00:12:28
focus the bass drum
as much as possible.
00:12:34
The high-pass is too high.
00:12:38
And the slope is too hard.
I want more of the...
00:12:42
That's nice!
And then I'm gonna look at...
00:12:48
this thing here. I like what it does,
but it may be too much.
00:13:00
So... flat...
00:13:03
With...
00:13:08
That's cool. And now I'm gonna
listen to the two of them.
00:13:17
A little less of the new one...
00:13:25
As a reminder, we started our bass drum
a few minutes ago with... this.
00:13:38
And now we're here.
00:13:48
Now I have a very solid center.
00:13:50
I'm gonna play with it,
I'm gonna change the EQ maybe,
but I have the character
that the producer wanted,
and then I have what I need
to make it a pumping track.
00:13:58
Let's move on to the rest of the drums.
00:14:01
Let's solo all the drums and get a vibe
for what they play.
00:14:16
Great! I think I'm gonna actually
set up my 2-bus processing
before I do the rest of the drums,
because...
00:14:22
most of the energy of the track
is coming from here.
00:14:25
So I know that my 2-bus processing
is gonna be just right.
00:14:28
I like to set up my 2-bus processing
very early in the mix,
so I don't have any surprises later.
Let's do that now.
00:14:34
I'm gonna switch to the 2-bus
right here,
and I'm gonna put
some compressor on it.
00:14:38
Inspiration today... I would say
probably... a Universal Audio
Bus Compressor UAD 4K...
whatever!
So that, and then after that,
my traditional Sonnox Limiter.
00:14:53
I'm gonna explain why.
00:14:56
So the SSL Compressor
is there to do this.
00:14:59
Just keep things together
and give some punch to it.
00:15:02
And then the limiter is to make sure
I'm not blowing anything up,
and also it has a certain tone,
as you'll see in a second.
00:15:09
So I'm gonna keep the Threshold
wide open,
Make-up down, leave it on Auto, open
the Attack, and keep it 2 to 4 for now.
00:15:18
This is what it sounds like,
with the drums as is,
through the SSL Compressor on and off.
First, off...
00:15:39
It's pretty discreet, but it's doing
something to the bass drum.
00:15:42
I'm gonna enhance it a little bit
by lowering the Threshold,
it should do a little more, heightening
the Make-up gain a little bit.
00:15:48
Check this out. The Attack is open.
00:15:50
The reason for that is I don't want the
compressor to clamp down
on my transients and my attacks.
00:15:55
I want more attack, more energy.
It'll feel more buoyant, if you will.
00:15:59
To do that, I open the Attack, so my
compressor doesn't get rid of them.
00:16:03
I lowered the Threshold a little bit,
I heightened the Make-up gain a little bit.
00:16:06
See what it does.
00:16:08
Focus on the bass drum and the presence
of the bass drum.
00:16:10
It's subtle right now, but it's gonna get
more and more as we get through the mix.
00:16:14
So here it is without, 2 bars,
with, 2 bars.
00:16:33
It does this a little bit. Very nice.
00:16:35
It doesn't change the tone too much.
It actually kind of tightens the bottom.
00:16:38
All good! Let's listen
to the Oxford Limiter.
00:16:42
For the same reasons I just discussed,
I'm gonna open the Attack on it,
and lenghten the Release
a little bit.
00:16:48
It sounds like this without, 2 bars,
and with, 2 bars.
00:17:06
It's cool, right? That "Grrrr" thing
that happens at the very bottom.
00:17:09
I'll play it again. This is subtle,
but this is the difference
between a demo and a mix. It really
adds some density at the bottom.
00:17:15
It doesn't really compress anything,
it's just a tone.
00:17:18
Without, 2 bars, with, 2 bars.
00:17:35
And the two of them together...
This is without anything.
00:17:46
And this is with both.
00:17:56
It's coming together. Now let's go back
to the drums.
00:17:59
I'm gonna leave this alone.
I'll come check on it from time to time
to make sure that I'm not kidding myself
and overcompressing.
00:18:04
The first thing I'm gonna do is listen
to that backbeat thing,
and see if I dig it in solo.
00:18:18
Ok!
It's cool. It doesn't tell a big story.
Let's see what else we got.
00:18:29
That's pretty nasty.
00:18:31
Now you have to consider that
you're gonna have both at the same time.
00:18:40
I like that.
00:18:42
I think we can try and do
something cute,
like for example... What if we'd take
that clap-ish kind of thing
and spread it apart and give it more
space, and give it a cool effect?
Let's try that.
00:18:53
I can't do much, because I'm already
way too loud,
so I'm gonna copy the Gain plug-in
from the bass drum that we had earlier.
00:19:01
And probably not make it mono.
00:19:05
Ah! Headroom!
Then I'm gonna use Logic's built-in
Sample Delay,
which is cool, because you can make it
do things like this.
00:19:22
I like the stereo thing,
but I feel it's a little dry.
00:19:25
If you listen to this clap
with the bass drum,
the tail we made on the bass drum
and the original sample
suggests that you might wanna do
something in the same vibe for the clap
so it sounds like a song. Check it out.
00:19:42
I don't know. I feel inspired to try
maybe another delay,
like a Stereo Delay...
00:19:48
and give it a certain kind of like 80s
kind of bouncy kind of thing.
00:19:53
Just one thing, no Feedback, no Beat.
00:19:57
I'm just gonna do it manually.
How does it sound?
Maybe like... Make it darker?
I like that!
Maybe a little less...
00:20:21
Without...
00:20:28
I dig it.
00:20:29
I think it needs to be nastier though.
This is way too nice, way too polite.
00:20:33
So I'm gonna use...
Soundtoys' Decapitator.
00:20:37
Rock'n'roll! And just make it nasty.
00:20:53
So we started here.
00:21:02
Now we're here.
00:21:11
It's starting to get a vibe.
00:21:13
I think it could use
a little bit of a tail too.
00:21:16
Now we have an effect that goes "Clak-a!
Clak-a!", it gives it personality,
something I haven't heard on a track
like this for a minute.
00:21:21
So maybe now I can give it space.
00:21:23
Let's use the Space Designer,
it's a pretty good built-in reverb
from the good people at Apple.
00:21:33
But not with the default setting,
with our setting.
00:21:35
Let's see! Medium Spaces
usually works for me...
00:21:39
Rooms... Bright Chamber.
Let's start there.
00:21:46
That's kind of perfect, but it's too much
so let's bring it down.
00:21:54
Without...
00:21:58
With...
00:22:03
I dig it. It's too long I think,
so I can lower it here.
00:22:07
A little shorter... Like this.
00:22:16
Alright! So we started here...
00:22:23
We're here...
00:22:32
I dig it! Let's do the other snare.
00:22:47
Same thing, I have no headroom,
and it feels a little bland.
00:22:50
So let's copy the Gain.
00:22:53
Now we have headroom.
And maybe the Decapitator.
00:22:56
Let's see how it feels.
00:23:05
I like that.
00:23:06
And then, it's gonna feel dry, so why
don't I copy the same reverb?
And this is what it sounds like.
00:23:15
Definitely less of it.
00:23:21
Alright! Let's listen to everything
we've done so far... from here.
00:23:35
I feel that the clap could be louder.
00:23:46
Now that I have the claps
and the snare in place,
I feel that the bottom of the second
kick is a little kind of like...
00:23:53
So I'm gonna take the R-Bass and see if
I can coax a little more energy out of it.
00:23:56
Maybe at a lower frequency
than the other one
to kind of like mismatch it,
and see what it does.
00:24:08
I like that. I think it can take more!
Without...
00:24:19
With...
00:24:24
Yeah! And it could be louder!
Now is a good time to verify
that I'm not screwing up
and ruining the producer's vision.
00:24:41
So we're gonna listen to the first bar,
like this...
00:24:44
or the first couple of bars, and compare
between our mix and his mix.
00:24:48
It's practical, because there's only
drums on the first bar on his mix too.
00:24:51
So I'm gonna get rid of all the solos...
00:24:54
and listen to his. His rough mix...
00:25:07
And we have this...
00:25:17
Cool! I like the tones, I think we're
much fatter,
we're in a good direction.
I like the vibe of his stuff,
I think we're gonna have to model
everything a little bit.
00:25:24
Let's open all the drums
and see where it leads us.
00:25:27
Ok, let's open the hi-hat.
00:25:32
In those cases, I usually use
some sort of a tape plug-in
to soften it without having to EQ it.
00:25:38
I love the A800 from UAD.
00:25:40
I tend to go super low like this, 7.5.
00:25:44
250, because I like the sound of that tape,
crank it a little,
make sure there's no noise...
00:25:52
Without...
00:25:57
Listen to the "Tss! Tss!", the top,
and also when the hat opens,
when it goes "Kshhh!"
Check it out without, and then
I'm gonna play it again with.
00:26:11
Hear how it jumps? Now with...
00:26:18
It's distorting, it's fun, it's lovely!
Let's bring it down...
00:26:27
Nasty! Great! Next!
"Percussion Rough"...
00:26:36
Same thing. Let's just do
the same thing and see how it feels.
00:26:56
That works! Next!
Let's listen to that in solo.
00:27:13
That's an interesting part.
I like the... "Brrrr!".
00:27:16
But I don't like the "Psst! Psst!', that
tambourine is a little too loud,
and also a little bland.
00:27:21
So I want to change the balance of that.
How would I do that?
First, I could try to low-pass it...
00:27:26
I double-click on the built-in EQ,
and I low-pass it.
00:27:36
Ok, so this is without.
00:27:40
With...
00:27:44
Effectively, I'm lowering the tambourine
without touching the tom too much.
00:27:47
Fair enough! I think it's still bland.
00:27:50
I'd like to try some sort of a filter.
What do they have for filters here?
AutoFilter! Automatic! I like automatic
stuff. What does it sound like?
Not exactly ravishing. Let's adjust
the settings.
00:28:05
Let's try and look for a preset
that works.
00:28:07
I was looking for some Envelope stuff.
Is there something called Envelope?
Envelope Modulation, there you go!
If I do this, I'll get a call
from the producer.
00:28:19
So I have to tame it down a little bit.
First, the resonance is obnoxious.
00:28:34
That way, with a long decay,
I don't have that... (sweep noise)
It stays open longer, it's nicer.
00:28:55
That's kind of cool!
I'm gonna lower the output a little bit
so I don't clip the output bus.
00:29:05
It's got a vibe.
Let's listen to it in the context.
00:29:29
I like it, but it's a little dry.
00:29:31
I think it's a little disconnected,
it's a little kind of like...
00:29:34
vulgar by itself, so I'm gonna add
something, some low-end reverb,
to give some grain, or something,
and a little bit of a tail.
00:29:40
Let's look at what Logic has to offer...
00:29:43
The first one's called AVerb.
What does it sound like in solo?
Let's listen to this.
00:30:00
Without...
00:30:04
With...
00:30:10
It's silly-sounding, but it's great!
Check it out in the track.
00:30:22
Without, in the track...
00:30:30
With...
00:30:33
A little less reverb...
00:30:44
I like this, this is cool.
00:30:46
I'm happy with the drums,
I think they sound great.
00:30:49
The bottom is really cool.
So the rest of the game now
is to open every track, and make sure
that that doesn't go away.
00:30:55
For example, the bass!
What does the bass sound like
versus those drums?
It sounds like this...
00:31:09
So that 140Hz thing is definitely
in the way...
00:31:13
and it could be a little fatter.
So let's make that happen.
00:31:16
First, if you look at it again...
00:31:20
There's no headroom!
So the first thing I'm gonna do is copy
the Gain plug-in from before
and put it here... and see what it goes.
00:31:31
In solo...
00:31:36
So I love that "Rrr! Rrr! Rrr!",
the bottom part is cool,
but the "Mmm! Mmm!", the upbeat part
is kind of taking over.
00:31:43
The great thing about Logic is that if
you double-click on the EQ thing up here,
it adds a Channel EQ after whatever
plug-ins you have last on the chain.
00:31:50
It's very fast, it's much faster than
having to go in here
and then look for the menu.
00:31:54
Let's listen to this.
00:31:56
High-pass it... Super tight slope...
00:32:02
And then...
00:32:03
those notes...
00:32:06
Let's try and find them.
00:32:08
That, is annoying.
00:32:10
Get rid of it.
00:32:12
A gentler slope...
00:32:14
Without...
00:32:19
With...
00:32:23
Much neater, and it doesn't have
that peak there.
00:32:26
I think we could fatten it,
maybe in the 80 range.
00:32:31
Do you hear that "Grrr!", like...
like grease at the bottom?
Without...
00:32:44
Ok, that's cool, but it needs grit.
It's a little kind of like polite.
00:32:48
Ok, so in this case, I'm gonna try...
the Universal Audio Precision Maximizer.
00:32:54
It tends to be good
for this kind of stuff,
without being distorted, but still
have saturation and grit.
00:33:06
Maybe I can get into it
a little harder.
00:33:14
It's cute.
00:33:18
So we started here...
00:33:27
And we're here...
00:33:34
Actually, probably, I can take this down
a little more.
00:33:47
I like that, it's a good start.
Let's listen to it in the track.
00:34:01
Check this out. If I play the same thing
and I tune the EQ off,
check out what it does between
the bass drum and the bass.
00:34:07
That's the key here. Make sure that
the bass sits in the middle, fat,
and doesn't get in the way
of the bass drum,
and it's a block of sound
the two of them together.
00:34:14
That's what the EQ does. Check it out.
With, first, and then without.
00:34:34
The temptation for that kind of stuff
is to use a compressor
to get rid of those peaks, and that
kind of weird resonance.
00:34:41
But the idea is you use an EQ instead,
and you don't get the compression,
you still get the bounce,
it's still fluffy sounding.
00:35:02
No compression needed here.
00:35:03
Now the next step is I'd like to give it
a space, or its own environment.
00:35:07
To do so, I'm gonna use a delay, because
I think a reverb would make a mess here.
00:35:11
I'm gonna use EchoBoy, because
it has a high-pass filter built-in.
00:35:15
And I love it!
So I'm gonna turn it on
to the tempo of the session,
lower the input, high-pass it,
all this I know is gonna be necessary.
And then see what it does.
00:35:34
Maybe a little saturation,
so I can read it better.
00:35:48
I dig it! It's a little more personal,
it's got a little more vibe.
00:36:07
I think it could use a little more
texture in the low-mids.
00:36:12
My favorite thing for that is this guy
from Universal Audio again,
the Pultec Pro.
00:36:20
It has a really nice 200 on there.
00:36:22
Check out the bottom of it...
00:36:27
that "Mmm! Mmm!" thing,
the upper range of that...
00:36:30
where the real character, the "Rrrrr",
the grit of it is.
00:36:33
I'm gonna use this knob.
00:36:35
Check out what it does
to the top of the bottom, if you will.
00:36:49
Two bars with...
00:37:04
It's more fun with!
So let's have it on.
00:37:07
Now, here's how it sounds
with everything off.
00:37:19
And this is what we've done.
00:37:28
It's a little loud,
I take it down a bit.
00:37:31
I think we're gonna move on
to vocals now,
because I have a nice bed,
I'm happy with this.
00:37:36
This gives me a good bed to place
at least the verse vocal on,
and get a vibe
for bottom/middle/top.
00:37:43
Here's what the vocal sounds like
on the verse, raw.
00:37:58
Ok, it sounds good.
Let's just put an EQ on.
00:38:01
We're definitely gonna need
a little cleaner bottom.
00:38:05
I could use a bit of a tilt,
so that the high-end is more present.
00:38:08
This needs to be aggressive
and in your face.
00:38:10
So I'll do that, lower the frequency
here, maybe go down to 3k,
which is against all the rules,
but I like it anyway!
A little shine at 5k. I'm going
very fast, because basically,
I'm just shaping the tone,
then I'll adjust this in the track.
00:38:31
Maybe a little less of the middle...
the mids here...
00:38:40
Ok, again, check it out!
This is where we started.
00:38:46
This is where we are now.
00:38:52
Maybe I was a little over the top
on the shelf here...
00:38:59
That's good enough for rock'n'roll!
Let's move on.
00:39:02
I'm going to use the built-in Logic
compressor, whichever one comes first,
Compressor! Here you go.
That must be compressing.
00:39:10
And I probably want a FET-style thing,
like an 1176-style,
because I don't really want it to be
pretty, I want it to be like "Gnniiii!"
Aggressive, in your face,
and pumping,
and kind of like... wrong!
I wanna make it wrong.
00:39:22
So I'm probably not gonna compress,
I'm gonna limit.
00:39:25
I'm just gonna make it ruthless,
and have it be all the way in...
00:39:29
Open the attack a little bit to let
some of the transients through.
00:39:33
Leave the release where it's at.
Or maybe make it Auto-release,
and see what it does...
And go from there!
Compensate for level...
00:39:48
Without.
00:39:54
With.
00:39:59
I like "Come, come, cuz'...", I like
what it does to that.
00:40:02
That's kind of fun.
00:40:03
Use the limiter to make it even more
kind of like wrong.
00:40:11
Before...
00:40:15
With...
00:40:21
Let's give it some gain,
so I can fit it in the track
and listen to the whole thing.
I'm estimating like 10dBs, whatever...
00:40:27
I don't know! Let's go.
00:40:35
I like that, there's a good vibe.
00:40:36
Let's listen to the rest of the verse,
just in case.
00:40:52
It's cool, but it's still a little
kind of like... gentle.
00:40:56
So let's make it mean.
00:40:59
Soundtoys, always a safe choice...
Decapitator...
00:41:04
Let's check it out.
00:41:19
See, it's distorting. And I don't care!
Now let's put some weird...
like modulation on it,
and see if we can get something
that's viby.
00:41:27
Don't change a winning team,
let's put the PhaseMistress on.
00:41:38
Maybe a sine wave instead,
so it's not so aggressive.
00:41:46
So we started here.
00:41:54
And now we're here.
00:42:03
This sounds great.
I'm gonna add a little bit of a delay,
just to give it a vibe... I'm gonna use
the Tape Delay, and see how it looks.
00:42:10
And more importantly,
let's see how it sounds.
00:42:18
Obviously, that's too much.
00:42:19
But maybe an 8th note,
not a lot of feedback,
just to give a little bit
of a depth to it, so it's not so flat.
00:42:37
I kind of dig that.
Listen to it flat.
00:42:42
With.
00:42:46
See, it gives it kind of a depth,
but there's no garbage,
there's no trail.
00:42:50
What I've done here is I've lowered
the feedback,
because I don't want a lot of trail.
00:42:55
This is what I did here.
00:42:56
I just want it to go almost like
a slap back, but rounder.
00:43:00
If I leave the highs all the way up,
you can hear it a lot.
00:43:06
But if you lower the highs...
00:43:11
It's still there, it still does
the trick that I'm looking for,
but it's not as readable,
so it's more discreet.
00:43:17
I like it.
00:43:21
It could stand a little more...
00:43:28
That sounds great!
Let's move on!
Let's close all those windows...
00:43:32
I see there's a double.
00:43:35
So let's see what the double is like...
"Support Voice".
00:43:42
I'm just gonna copy the settings over.
00:43:46
It's kind of the same vibe.
00:43:50
Cool. Maybe not the delay...
Ah! Delay too...
00:43:54
It sounds like this.
00:43:57
Definitely no delay on the double...
00:44:02
Transition between no double
and double...
00:44:17
I like that.
00:44:18
What else do we have? I see that there's
2 tracks here that play at the same time.
00:44:23
It's this one and this one.
Let's see what they play.
00:44:25
I'm assuming they're gonna be in stereo.
00:44:27
And I'm assuming they're gonna be loud.
00:44:32
Ok, so that's supposed to be
on the sides and quieter.
00:44:42
Let's see what they sound like in solo.
00:44:49
It's kind of the same vibe, they were
probably recorded the same day,
so I'm gonna copy the same EQ
and compression settings.
00:44:55
It sounds like this.
00:45:01
That's cool. So... in the sauce,
it sounds like this.
00:45:11
Cool! So all the vocals were
a little dull, we made them bright,
because that kind of music, for me,
feels like it has to be
a little aggressive and in the front.
00:45:19
I have enough vocals now,
and enough aggression in the center
and on the side
to be able to figure out
what I'm gonna do with the music.
00:45:26
So I'm gonna figure out the music,
under the beat and the vocal,
and then, I will figure out the space
around the vocals,
once the music takes space. I'll see
what I have left for the vocals.
00:45:36
So... for music,
I see there's a synth right here.
00:45:39
It's this guy.
00:45:41
And it sounds like this.
00:45:52
Alright, that's awesome. I'm curious
to know what it does on the intro.
00:46:00
Same thing. At least, that's gonna
make it simple.
00:46:03
Let's listen to it in solo and figure out
what we could do to make it better.
00:46:07
Can we make it better? I don't know!
Let's figure it out!
I'd love to hear it with our bass.
00:46:26
Do you see where the plot thickens?
Speaking of thickening, let's listen
to it with the bass and the bass drum
to see what we're up against
in that case scenario.
00:46:45
It's great, but it sounds a little
computer-y to me,
it sounds a little bit like
a rendition of what it could be.
00:46:51
I think it needs to be a little grittier
and in your face.
00:46:53
I think it could pump more.
So if we put a compressor on it...
00:46:58
the standard Logic Compressor...
00:47:01
and see what we can do for the settings
to make it pump.
00:47:05
To do so, I'm gonna use a key,
a side-chain, from the bass drum.
00:47:09
The bass drum's on track 18,
so I'm gonna use that as my side-chain.
00:47:13
Here we go!
I like it. I like how it makes the groove
a little more lazy, a little gnarlier,
have more of an attitude.
I think it's good.
00:47:40
Tone wise... I think it's still a little
glossy, I think it should be dirtier.
00:47:44
Usually, when I'm looking for something
dirty with a plug-in,
I tend to go to emulations of old stuff,
like Decapitator as you've seen.
00:47:51
In this case, I don't think
Decapitator is gonna do it,
because it's just gonna be more
distortion, I don't want that,
it's distorted enough.
I'm thinking maybe using some UA stuff,
like a CE-1. Let's see what that does.
00:48:21
You hear the difference? How it's like
glossy and open without,
and it just gets kind of gnarly and makes
you wrinkle your nose when it's on?
It just goes like "Gnrrrr!"
I like that, because that's gonna
leave me some room for the vocals,
and it's not fighting
with the bass anymore,
and it's not fighting
with the bass drum. Check it out.
00:48:55
I like this! It restricts it
into a narrower bandwidth.
00:48:58
It's like smaller,
but more in your face,
which is exactly what I need,
since it's a pretty thick mix.
00:49:03
I think it needs a little bit of a space,
so I'm gonna go to a delay.
00:49:07
Because it has that grain,
I'm gonna use EchoBoy.
00:49:12
Slave the tempo to the session's tempo,
132, and check it out.
00:49:16
I'm gonna do it in solo.
00:49:25
Not bad, but not what I'm looking for.
00:49:27
I'm looking for something that's gonna
make it feel more majestic, more ample.
00:49:31
And the 8th note is just giving it
a trail, and I don't care about that.
00:49:34
So I'm gonna try a 1/4 note,
and maybe something with a little more
attitude, like the EchoPlex
with a little saturation.
Check this out.
00:49:46
Without...
00:49:51
It softens it nicely, right?
I like that.
00:49:58
In the sauce...
00:50:15
Perfect! Check it out...
This is where we started...
00:50:25
This is where we are now.
00:50:36
I dig it! Now...
00:50:38
I'd like to hear this in the verse,
with the vocals.
00:50:43
We had a lead vocal, a support voice,
and two side things there.
00:50:59
Isn't it amazing how different
the vocal level feels
once you have the music coming in?
Key! I think this is too loud...
00:51:06
and this is too soft...
00:51:22
It's a good start. Let's see how
the track feels from the beginning,
since that's the main synth.
00:51:57
I dig it! I think I went a little crazy
on the pumping,
so I'm gonna heighten the Threshold
so it's not as overt.
00:52:04
Also, I think I need to fill
the low-mids on that pump,
because when the bass goes away,
the track goes away, I don't like that.
00:52:11
So I'm gonna give it some 300
to replace that feeling.
00:52:15
And... not feel so much of a vacuum.
00:52:29
That's what I wanted.
00:52:30
Actually, I'm thinking maybe
this would be nice too,
a little 5k to do this a little bit.
00:52:35
Check it out!
I really dig this.
Let's see what other synths we have.
00:52:57
We have... this guy!
In the intro, apparently.
00:53:16
That's a great part. I still feel also
it's a little polite.
00:53:20
So another cool trick... to make synths
a little more... aggressive,
is yet again Soundtoys' Devil-Lock!
It's intense, check it out!
Now check out the attacks,
with and without.
00:53:58
I'm gonna start without.
Listen to the attack of the synth.
00:54:00
It's difficult because there's delays,
so there's always something going on.
00:54:04
But this thing can actually
kind of extract the attacks,
and make them sound gnarly.
Check it out.
00:54:16
With.
00:54:25
I dig that. In the sauce...
00:54:44
I like this tone, and I really like
the half-time vibe that the delays give.
00:54:49
I think I wanna actually enhance that
and add another delay...
00:54:54
Probably since we've been doing it,
let's use EchoBoy again.
00:54:57
Turn it on...
And here, I want the... (sings)
so I'm gonna go... 1/2 note.
00:55:12
I'm not hearing it enough,
at least not for my taste.
00:55:14
So I'm gonna use some model, something
that's really obvious, like a TelRay,
and LowCut, HighCut,
make it loud!
See when I bypass the delay,
it just goes like this?
That's what I want.
I want it to be ample like this.
00:55:51
And then probably, I'm gonna give it
its own reverb,
just because we can,
and make it huge.
00:55:59
And for that, I really like
this guy here.
00:56:02
From experience, I know this is gonna
give me that sheen I'm looking for.
00:56:06
Make it long...
00:56:07
and let's hear what this sounds like.
00:56:15
That's the sound! Now I'm gonna remove
the 100% Wet, and find the right ratio.
00:56:29
As a reminder, we started here.
00:56:41
Now we're here.
00:56:52
A lot dirtier, a lot less clear,
and in the sauce it sounds like this.
00:57:07
As opposed to this,
if I did not process it the way I did.
00:57:18
It's good! It's cute! But it...
00:57:23
It doesn't have the short skirt.
This does have the short skirt.
00:57:38
Cool!
If you are wondering why I'm using
a lot of dedicated effects per track,
as opposed to putting them
on an Aux track and use a Send to them,
it's because here I'm not trying
to create this ensemble tone
that I would, say on a folk record.
00:57:52
Here, I'm trying to create very special
sounds that stick out,
and have their own exact space.
I still wanna make a record.
00:57:59
But I really want it to be peculiar.
00:58:01
I want everything to be peculiar
and its own thing.
00:58:03
The easiest way to do that
and not to fall into a general vibe
is to actually put the effects
on the track itself.
00:58:09
You could put the effect on an Aux
and use a Send track per track,
but that's gonna be a lot of tracks.
00:58:15
In this case, I'm just gonna slap
the effects I'm inspired by,
on every track, separately...
00:58:21
as if I were sound designing
if you will.
00:58:23
This is more sound design
than mixing at this point.
00:58:25
I'm really creating tones
on a track per track basis.
00:58:29
Let's keep on looking at the session.
00:58:31
I just saw a piano track here,
I'd like to know what it does.
00:58:34
I'm wondering what a piano does
in this song. So where is it?
You're here! Here we go...
00:58:47
It sounds great. It's a little medium-y,
I'm gonna get rid of that.
00:58:52
Real quick.
00:58:56
Here we go!
We just taught it its place.
That's great! It's gonna be there.
00:59:16
In this part of the song,
it's against this background.
00:59:29
It's creating a B section kind of vibe,
or a pre-chorus kind of vibe.
00:59:32
So I'm gonna give it a vibe!
How about we copy something,
so we go quickly.
00:59:38
Let's copy the 250 here.
00:59:40
And make it obnoxious. In solo...
00:59:51
Flat...
00:59:57
With the effect.
01:00:02
That's cute!
Let's listen to it in the track.
01:00:19
I like that it's back there,
it's gonna work great with the vocals.
01:00:22
What else do we have?
We have "Perc Loop", oh!
I missed some drums. What's this about?
It's here. Let's listen to it.
01:00:36
This is already pretty processed.
Let's listen to it again.
01:00:45
Ok! Again, it feels really like...
01:00:47
Here I am! Just gonna Decapitate.
Let's Decapitate.
01:00:51
Where is it? Here. Boom!
And find the right setting.
01:01:01
Again... I like that, it's better!
As opposed to this...
01:01:10
Just a little bit of grit.
01:01:13
In the sauce...
01:01:19
I see. A little louder maybe?
It's all about giving everything
its own tone so it doesn't sound boring,
because it's not a lot of tracks,
it's just little events here and there.
01:01:34
There's a reverse cymbal here
that I missed too...
01:01:36
What was I thinking?
Alright, that makes sense...
01:01:49
It always works.
Let's listen to it in solo.
01:01:54
See that little peak of energy?
I think it just needs to be "Ffffff!"
Alright, a little EQ...
01:02:04
See what happens if I do this...
01:02:12
We can even high-pass it
and get rid of all that bottom stuff.
01:02:17
I like that.
Let's see how it works in the track.
01:02:26
That's cool. It comes back here...
01:02:32
It works! We may do something
with it later, but for now this is good.
01:02:35
What else did I miss?
"Transition"... What's that?
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
this is cool! Check it out.
01:02:46
That's great. I don't think
I'm gonna do anything to that.
01:02:49
You don't have to process something
if you feel that it's good.
01:02:51
Right now, I feel that it's good.
01:02:53
You may not, you can do your thing,
but I like it like this.
01:02:57
Oh! Louder! Let's put it louder.
01:03:08
I like how it sets the stage, it's cool.
01:03:10
So there's this keyboard called
"Long Transit."
That's smart,
it's a good production move.
01:03:23
Let's check it out in the track.
I'm gonna play 2 bars with
and 2 bars without on the verse,
and see its function.
01:03:29
I'm not gonna tell you yet. Check it out
first, then I'll play it again.
01:03:45
You can barely hear it,
but what it does is this:
the vocal's here, behind it, you have
this kind of like filler stuff.
01:03:51
Check it out again.
01:04:10
I dig it, but it's taking
too much room.
01:04:13
So I'm gonna EQ it.
01:04:17
And you won't believe this,
but I believe it's in the 200 range.
01:04:22
I think!
Check it out!
I'm happy with this, let's move on.
01:04:42
I see two more keyboards.
This one here...
01:04:45
What does it do?
In context...
01:05:06
I'd like to find a way to keep it
that present and that readable,
but not take that much space.
01:05:12
So I'm thinking of actually being
a little rude on it,
just to see how it feels.
So first, I need to EQ it,
and remove those low-mids
that bother me.
01:05:22
I could almost copy that setting
from the other keyboard,
but I won't, because that's not
the kind of guy I am.
01:05:27
This is all handmade!
Without...
01:05:36
See that energy that's in your nose
(sings)... here?
Check it without.
01:05:45
With the high-pass...
01:05:50
Obviously, it doesn't sound as fat,
but I don't need it to be that fat.
01:05:54
There's already too much stuff going on,
and then I just had an idea...
01:05:56
that maybe if we make it a little
ubiquitous,
and move it from side to side randomly,
it'd be kind of cool.
01:06:03
And there's a plug-in for that.
It's called PanMan.
01:06:05
And just make it random and hard.
01:06:16
I dig this, it's kind of wrong.
Let's listen to it in the sauce.
01:06:32
As opposed to this...
01:06:42
It doesn't catch my ear the same.
So I'd rather have my ear caught.
01:06:56
This is useful too, because there's
so much stuff in the middle,
might as well use the sides. And there's
probably a whole bunch of vocals
in the middle coming up anyway.
01:07:02
The last keyboard is here.
01:07:11
That's the same patch they're using
on the chorus for... (sings)
I'm not gonna do the same trick,
because that would be lame.
01:07:18
Let's just...
01:07:20
make some room at the bottom,
and I want it to shine a little.
01:07:23
It sounds like this.
01:07:32
So why did I do that?
Because if I make it shine,
it reads better, I can bring it down.
01:07:38
Check it out. If I remove the EQ...
01:07:47
If I wanna hear this well,
I have to bring it up, right?
If I bring it up,
it takes a lot of room.
01:07:59
It's starting to fight with the bass.
01:08:01
But if I put the EQ on, I can bring it
back down, it still reads,
and it doesn't fight the bass.
01:08:20
It's starting to sound like a mix. We're
done with all the instrument tracks.
01:08:24
All we have left is pre-chorus and
chorus vocals. Let's check that out.
01:08:28
Whenever I'm at this point of the mix,
I like to take a second
and listen to the arch of the song.
01:08:32
I know I don't have the pre-chorus
vocals and the chorus vocals,
but at least I have the intro,
and I have the verse.
01:08:38
And I like to see if what I've done
really speaks to me
as a story from the beginning
to where I'm at.
01:08:43
Also it gives me a break from thinking,
just listening and feeling
what that track feels like.
01:08:47
So let's do that. Here we go!
So it feels good up until the verse.
I like the intro, the drums,
I like when the keyboards come in,
I like what she says...
01:09:32
I like all of that. But when it gets
to the verse,
it feels kind of like the same thing,
I don't feel a difference,
I'm not landing anywhere.
01:09:38
So the only thing that's playing
is this synth right here.
01:09:41
Check it out... Where is he? Him?
No! Him?
It's more of the same. What we should
do probably is automate that
and lower that level, just on the verse.
01:09:56
So let's turn some automation on.
Boom! And listen to the level.
01:10:06
So bar 13 is the downbeat of the verse.
01:10:09
I'm probably gonna want to lower it
from bar 13 to...
01:10:12
say bar 20-something here,
where it gets bigger.
01:10:15
So let's select that whole area.
01:10:20
Like this... And bring it down.
01:10:25
Check it out.
01:10:30
So how does it sound in the sauce?
It's a little brutal,
but it does the trick.
01:10:39
I'm gonna raise it a little bit.
Check it out.
01:10:51
Maybe still a little too much,
but I like what it does.
01:10:55
Also here at the end, I wanna take
advantage of this
to create kind of like
a ramp back in,
so I get that crescendo in the chorus.
01:11:08
And maybe... because I can, raise
that level on the last chorus
to make it more exciting.
It sounds like this.
01:11:25
That works for me.
01:11:27
What happens here is we have
one part that plays the whole time.
01:11:31
It's a cool part, but having it on
the whole time is kind of boring.
01:11:34
So we're creating peaks and valleys
and trying to tell a story with the mix.
01:11:37
So that bothered me while listening,
everything else was okay.
01:11:41
There's some things I heard,
but we'll deal with it later.
01:11:44
Next... pre-chorus vocals.
01:11:47
I'm gonna get rid of the automation,
at least not display it anymore.
01:11:50
And I'm gonna go here... Pre-chorus.
01:11:55
I see that the verse vocal
stops bar 20.
01:12:02
Ok! Obviously, bar 21 is the beginning
of the pre-chorus.
01:12:05
Let's see what this says... "Back".
What does that sound like?
That's cute. There's another track here
that does this.
01:12:20
Oh that's nice!
That's an accent on this part.
01:12:29
There's another track that says
"Prechorus Back"...
01:12:39
I got those 3 tracks from the producer
already pre-mixed.
01:12:42
So my hands are kind of tied,
but I like the way it sounds already.
01:12:45
I'm just gonna try and enhance that,
and make it exciting,
in the progression of the song.
01:12:50
The 3 of them together sound like this.
01:13:09
Hearing it like this makes me wanna...
01:13:12
(sings)
obviously that's the line. That "Come"
part, the one that's by itself...
01:13:19
is interesting.
01:13:23
I like that.
01:13:24
I think I'm gonna turn this
into a synth basically.
01:13:27
I wanna make this into an effect.
I'll keep this for last.
01:13:29
But I'm gonna use these 2 parts,
put them together so I know
that they belong together,
and try and make a tone. So we know...
it's a good producer,
I know they're working consistently
so I'm assuming that my settings from
the lead vocal are probably gonna work.
01:13:45
And since I'm lazy,
I'm gonna copy them.
01:13:48
Here's my compressor, here's my EQ.
It sounds like this.
01:13:55
That was a tremendously bad idea.
Let's change that.
01:13:58
I'm gonna remove this.
My goodness, was that aggressive!
Obviously, we need less compression.
01:14:17
It's crunchy, but I kind of dig it!
Here's an interesting Logic problem
you may or may not have noticed.
01:14:30
I just dragged my settings
from the lead vocal, right?
The lead vocal was a mono track.
01:14:35
And I dragged it to a stereo track,
because this was a background track.
01:14:38
What Logic does is it makes
my destination track mono,
instead of just assuming that I want
the same things on both sides.
01:14:45
That's why this sounds so narrow.
01:14:47
All you have to do if you make
that mistake is go here...
01:14:49
be diligent and switch it to stereo,
and it won't hurt anymore.
01:14:54
There you go. Check it out.
01:15:12
That's a great part!
Now, the way to ensure that it's tight
and within the track
is to probably listen to
what we just heard for a while
and see if the transition works.
01:15:23
It's gonna be dry,
it's not gonna be as refined,
but does it fit in the same song?
My urge was instantly, like my fingers
went straight for it,
compress it a little more
and make it a little louder,
to match what was happening
on the verse.
01:15:53
Let's move on to the next track.
01:15:55
I'm showing you this this way,
so you get a feel for the process,
and the speed of the process. You don't
have to agonize over every track for hours.
01:16:02
Just make it sound okay,
listen to it in the track,
and then refine if something
bothers you.
01:16:06
In this case, nothing bothers me,
so I'm just gonna move on.
01:16:09
I'm gonna copy the settings over
to the next track,
because it's faster that way.
01:16:17
Together...
01:16:30
That's a little vocal for the chorus,
we'll deal with that later.
01:16:33
Now that I switched to vocals,
I'd like to be able to create
some sort of a unity
between all the vocals.
01:16:38
It's nice to have very different vibes
on the instrumental tracks,
and make everything shine,
but for the vocals, I'd like to have
a unified impact and a unified tone.
01:16:47
To do so, I'm gonna share reverbs
and delays.
01:16:49
Basically, I'm gonna do
the exact opposite
of what I just said I was going to.
01:16:54
To do so, I'm gonna use this track
that I had created,
and that I have in every session,
called EchoBoy,
because I use EchoBoy a lot.
01:16:59
I usually have a 250 and an EchoBoy,
no matter what.
01:17:02
And I'm gonna get EchoBoy on it.
01:17:05
There you go... Cool!
Slave it to the tempo, make it all wet
because now it's a Send track,
and let's listen to that track.
01:17:26
Dry...
01:17:31
With...
01:17:36
Listen to how it changes the space
and the depth of the mix,
and how it enhances the height
and the space behind the vocalist.
01:17:44
Without...
01:17:52
With...
01:18:01
Cool. Now I'm gonna add the same thing
to my other part, the supporting part.
01:18:18
In context...
01:18:27
And with the transition,
just to make sure we're happy...
01:18:49
I feel that this compressor
is kind of choking my track.
01:18:52
So I'd like to try something else.
01:18:54
In those cases when I get upset
with a sound,
I usually go back to an old staple,
and in this case, for that kind of stuff,
I like 1176s, because they never fail
to make me happy.
01:19:05
So this is where we are right now.
01:19:10
See the "Rrrrr" thing? I don't like that.
01:19:20
Let's try the 1176 instead.
01:19:34
That's much cleaner, check it out!
This is the 1176.
01:19:42
And this is the standard Logic...
01:19:48
It's a little smothered. It's not gonna
change the course of modern music.
01:19:51
You can leave the Logic compressor on.
But since we're scholars,
and special people, we shall use
the better one. Here we go.
01:19:58
And I'm gonna copy it here... Get rid
of that... Listen to the whole thing.
01:20:08
And in the track, I think it has
a better presence. Check it out.
01:20:32
I like it better. Now, the "Come" part.
Check it out.
01:20:39
What if we... like went overboard
and made it sound wrong?
On purpose! Because we can!
Make it bright...
01:20:50
Get rid of the mud in the bottom.
01:20:52
Try and make it a special effect.
01:20:55
Not that special effect...
01:20:59
I like that!
Then reuse a little sample delay trick
to make it stereo, remember?
Have you been paying attention?
Check it out...
01:21:08
Too much.
01:21:11
It's cute. Maybe less.
01:21:14
I like that! And then, you know that
Björk kind of effect
where she sings and there's a big trail
and it feels really good?
Maybe we should do that.
So I would put it in an effect
and I think I'm gonna use that effect
on several things.
01:21:27
So I'm probably gonna keep it common.
01:21:30
Put a 250, which is what's best
for that kind of stuff, in my opinion,
and it would sound
a little bit like this.
01:21:40
A little more...
01:21:42
Again.
01:21:45
That's cute!
And the three of them together...
01:21:57
I like it, it's cute.
01:21:58
It's a little bit of a bell.
In the song, it sounds like this.
01:22:04
A little more...
01:22:13
Pretty cool. I'm gonna make it brighter,
because I can.
01:22:16
There you go.
01:22:28
I think the "Come" part could benefit
from the same compression as...
01:22:33
the other two parts.
I'm just gonna copy...
01:22:35
the 1176 there. Check it out.
01:22:39
That's great! It's just insanely loud,
so I'm gonna lower it.
01:22:55
It's cool. Now having that reverb
available gives me other ideas
like for example, I think it would
sound great on the verse vocal.
01:23:02
Check it out...
Where is the verse vocal?
Somewhere around here!
They'll sound good there too,
but this is the part I like.
01:23:17
Yeah! So what if I use that big reverb
I put on the "Come" part, on this part?
Now it's a lot, it's obvious.
In the track, it won't feel that way.
01:23:32
I'm gonna raise the vocal a little bit
so you can hear it better. Check it out.
01:23:50
As opposed to the feeling of the track
without the reverb. Check it out.
01:24:03
You know how when she finishes
the "Babe...",
when there's no reverb, you really feel
like huh! That's the end of the line.
01:24:09
But with the reverb, you don't really
read the reverb that much,
but it's more like smooth and
in the sauce. Check it out.
01:24:15
So without first.
01:24:24
And then with the reverb.
01:24:34
So it doesn't read as real tail,
but it reads as space around her,
and I love that. And that makes me
want to put it on other tracks.
01:24:42
Which ones are gonna be
the candidates?
Me! Me! Let's see...
Support Voice for sure.
01:24:51
That's the supporting part here.
01:25:02
I'm not gonna put it on the stereo
doubles on the sides,
the high-pitched ones that we worked on
a while back,
because I want contrast between
the lead vocal in the middle
that should be smooth and airy,
and then those little yappy dogs
on the sides. Check it out.
01:25:38
I think the pre-chorus vocals deserve...
They're deserving.
01:25:42
Let's give them some space.
They feel a little vulgar without,
after all that beautiful space
on the verse,
so here you go... It sounds like this.
01:26:14
Great progress.
Let's do the chorus vocals now.
01:26:16
We heard a little bit of that hook
coming in here...
01:26:20
there she is.
01:26:27
We recognize that sound
from the verse tone while back.
01:26:31
So... laziness oblige, let's copy
everything and see how it works.
01:26:45
We could decide that
that does not work!
So we're gonna remove the Decapitator,
and probably the PhaseMistress
and the delay,
although the delay,
I think, is gonna stay.
01:26:59
Cool! It's probably gonna want
the reverb too.
01:27:04
Like this...
01:27:08
Maybe less.
01:27:18
Let's listen to it in the sauce.
01:27:28
That's a good basis. I know there's
doubles, I know there's answers,
let's keep going. I see... "Hook Back".
This must be it!
Ok... No need to reinvent the wheel.
01:27:48
Just go for it, the smoother kind,
and the reverb for sure.
01:27:57
A little loud...
01:28:04
Ok, it's in your face!
Ouh! Here's the lead line:
"We're gonna set it off."
Since that's the name of the song,
I suppose it's a fairly important line.
01:28:21
Ok. I'm gonna start fresh.
01:28:23
I think this is gonna need
different processing, but let's see...
01:28:28
Give it some context, so we can form
our taste on whether we like it or not.
01:28:51
So now we know
what it's supposed to do,
let's see if we can make it do
what it's supposed to do.
01:28:57
It's a little tame right now,
my gain stage is a little funny,
let's keep going, get the tone
and rearrange everything.
01:29:05
I think it would be a good idea to give
it the same grit as the verse vocal,
since that's kind of like a related idea,
at least in spirit.
01:29:13
So I'm copying the 1176 up there,
and I'm gonna use what gave
the verse vocal its tone,
which is the venerable Decapitator
on the A Mode.
01:29:39
This is a very nice plug-in.
Let's listen to it in context.
01:29:58
You saw me adjust the EQ
while I was playing it,
because I had a feeling
it was a little muddy.
01:30:03
The reality is I think the compressor
is clamping down a little bit too much,
so I'm going to open the compressor,
back up the Input, raise the Output
a little bit,
and maybe open the Attack,
and see how it sounds.
01:30:25
What else do we have?
On the chorus, we have nothing...
Oh no! We do have things!
Ouh la la! We have a lot of stuff.
We have these guys...
01:30:37
They wanna be in stereo.
01:30:41
Same vibe... Boom! Boom!
I'm copying the settings, so I don't
have to think about it too much.
01:30:52
Kind of fat... Let's see in the context.
01:31:02
These definitely call for the delay.
01:31:07
Like this...
01:31:10
And if I solo,
it's gonna sound like this.
01:31:17
I'm gonna leave them thick like this
to fill the low-mids in the vocal range.
01:31:21
And that's gonna feel really good.
01:31:31
Check it out, without.
01:31:33
Poum! Poum!
See how it feels less anchored
and less full?
With these 2 little parts, it feels
really full and accomplished,
but it doesn't feel too heavy,
it's really nice.
01:32:05
It works for me. Next part...
01:32:13
Gregorian chants.
So let's move it to here, and here.
01:32:23
I think they're still too thick.
It's gonna take too much room.
01:32:26
So I'm just gonna be brutal,
and remove all the low-mids,
so I can have it fairly loud in the mix,
so it does its trick,
but doesn't take too much room.
01:32:43
I'm gonna add a lot of reverb, and
try and put it in the back of the mix,
so when the chorus hits,
it actually goes deeper,
because there's that part in the back
that feels very far away.
01:32:52
Lots of reverb.
01:33:01
That's a lot of reverb!
And in the track...
01:33:19
Check this out! I know it's subtle,
but that's where the beauty is.
01:33:23
I'm gonna play the track with
the "Aaaah" with a lot of reverb on it,
and I'm gonna play the track again
without the reverb on it,
you tell me which one you like best!
With.
01:34:01
I like it better with!
It just feels more elegant,
and it's got more height.
01:34:05
And height is good!
Let's listen to the whole track so far.
01:34:20
I'm missing tracks. I'm not hearing
this, and this here,
and that seems to be crucial
to the verse.
01:34:31
I like the lyric.
So we're gonna keep this alive...
01:34:35
Compare settings with this,
if that works.
01:34:46
It sounds good, I think it needs
to have a little more vibe.
01:34:48
I have this delay available here,
I'm gonna use it.
01:34:51
Boom! And here... Boom!
It sounds like this.
01:35:00
That makes a lot more sense.
01:35:02
And I think the "Wack-oh, Wack-oh",
or "Wah-oh, Wah-oh" needs a little reverb
just because we can.
01:35:12
In the sauce...
01:35:20
Louder.
01:35:54
Did you notice how on the pre-chorus
the bass comes in really loud?
And then it makes the chorus feel
a little lackluster,
because the bass was so loud on the
pre-chorus. We should take that bass down.
01:36:04
Let's look at the automation playlist
for the bass.
01:36:06
We can see that it's actually a lot
louder here for some reason.
01:36:09
I'm gonna select that area...
01:36:13
and...
01:36:16
lower it.
01:36:31
That does the trick!
Lowered the bass in the pre-chorus,
let it go back up to full range
on the chorus to create the energy.
01:36:37
Here we go! Ok, I like that. We can
get rid of the automation playlist.
01:36:42
What else could we do? Now it would be
a good idea to compare
what we've done and the tone we have
with the original producer rough mix
to make sure we're actually, you know,
thinking about the same song.
01:36:51
I'll play the first part of the verse
with my mix,
then I'll play the first part
of the verse with his mix,
and I'll make sure that I am in the same
vicinity, or on the same planet,
potentially in the same galaxy.
Here we go.
01:37:10
Ok. We've heard this one
for a couple of times...
01:37:22
So it's the same song,
it's the same vibe.
01:37:24
His snare is a little more electro
sounding, a little less lush sounding,
but I think I like mine better.
01:37:29
So until he screams at me for it,
I'm gonna keep it the way it is.
01:37:32
My mix again...
01:37:41
My snare may be a little soft.
01:37:44
Let's just raise it here, and raise it
here, and see how it feels.
01:37:55
You know what?
Actually I think it's a little... dry!
So, why don't we use the vocal reverb
on the snare?
It sounds like this.
01:38:26
Same as with the vocal: it worked,
but I think it's nicer with.
01:38:30
It creates kind of a space, it thickens
the mix, I like it.
01:38:34
That gives me an idea: where else could
we use that reverb to make it sound cool?
Maybe on this. Check it out.
01:38:44
Remember that cymbal? What if we use
that reverb,
that long one, on the cymbal?
It would sound like this.
01:38:54
Mmm, I like that. In the sauce...
01:39:04
Even more, let's not be shy...
01:39:11
It's not working for me.
Let's use a dedicated one.
01:39:14
I'm gonna put another 250... Solo...
01:39:26
That's cool!
Again...
01:39:36
What if I use the Space one?
That crazy thing.
01:39:39
Check it out.
01:39:45
I like that!
Let's just make it loud
and be obnoxious.
01:40:04
Of course, now I have this cool trick...
By the way, without, it sounds like this.
01:40:13
Not the same.
01:40:14
But I'm not gonna use
the same trick twice.
01:40:17
Prince said: If you have a good trick,
use it once.
01:40:19
I do whatever Prince says.
01:40:21
In this case, I see the same reverse
cymbal
before every chorus, or every section.
01:40:26
So why don't we turn on the automation
playlist for the reverse cymbal,
look for the Bypass button automation
for that insert, which is number 3...
01:40:34
make a selection...
01:40:37
for this...
01:40:39
and just...
01:40:42
make sure that it's only on
for the first one.
01:40:51
And the second one
will sound like this.
01:40:56
So now you have variety,
just a quick automation move.
01:40:59
That's cool. What I'd like to do now is
go take a look at my 2-bus processing.
01:41:04
Remember at the beginning, we said:
Hey, you know, it's fine, like this...
01:41:07
We have to keep an eye on it
to make sure we're not abusing it.
01:41:11
This is what it looks like.
01:41:31
The mix is getting maybe a 2dBs,
1.5-2dBs on the SSL compressor,
and 1.5-2dBs on the limiter.
It's not that much.
01:41:39
What does it sound like if I remove
that stuff? Check it out.
01:42:03
Let me help you...
01:42:05
First, I'm gonna do another pass.
Listen to the claps on the side.
01:42:08
Remember the clap that we spread
in stereo?
Listen to that, and listen to that
in relation to the bass drum,
and listen to that in relation
to the vocal.
01:42:17
First, with the 2-Bus processing.
01:42:39
One more time...
01:42:52
Without.
01:43:02
See how the clap goes from here,
vis-à-vis the vocal,
on the limited and compressed part,
and it just goes "Woah!", like this,
on the uncompressed part.
01:43:13
It's no longer in the same record. It's
early for the next record if you will.
01:43:17
The 2-Bus compression and limiting
gives it a certain feel of togetherness.
01:43:23
I'm gonna do another pass. Focus on
the clap with what I just told you,
and then listen to where the bass and the
bass drum sit in comparison to the vocal.
01:43:31
The way I hear it here
is that on the limited version,
it's like this: the bass is below
the vocal,
a little bit in front, yummy, creamy.
01:43:41
If you remove the 2-Bus processing,
it just moves back a little bit like this.
01:43:45
Check it out. This is without.
01:44:04
With.
01:44:22
It's subtle.
But it really is the difference
between something that's gonna
sound good after mastering,
and something that's gonna
sound "Gnnn" after mastering.
01:44:29
The idea here is that the compressor
and the limiter
help you create that sense
of togetherness,
that glue that you read about
in the forums.
01:44:37
It's really a way to keep the transients
all together,
and create a play space
for all the tracks to hang together.
01:44:44
Every time you make a decision,
you push the snare drum,
the compressor's pushing a little bit, and
the limiter takes care of the transients.
01:44:50
So if you're gonna push it louder,
it's not gonna be as loud
as if there were no limiting,
or no compression.
01:44:55
Having the combination of all that,
and everything working together
makes it like gooey and together.
It's nice!
I strongly recommend you do it.
Now, don't abuse it!
If you see more than 2 or 3dBs
on the compressor,
or 2 or 3dBs on the limiter,
you're screwing up!
So back off a little bit.
01:45:10
I'm gonna play the whole track now,
so you have a vibe of the whole thing,
preferably with the lovely
2-Bus compression and limiting.
01:46:26
Pretty good, but not quite there.
01:46:29
The problem with mixing is that
the first 90% take 6 hours,
and the next 10% take 6 months!
If you know what I'm talking about,
send me a postcard.
01:46:38
In this particular case, I feel that
the bass drum may be a little under.
01:46:41
But I also feel that the lead vocal
on the chorus is a little too loud.
01:46:45
Now, will it still feel too loud
when I raise the bass drum?
I don't know. What I know is that
if I take the lead vocal down,
then the background vocal
"We're gonna set it off"
is gonna feel too loud too,
I'm gonna have to take it down.
01:46:56
And then the "Woo-ah Woo-ah" is gonna
feel too loud, I'm gonna take it down.
01:46:59
Now, if I take all that stuff down,
what will that do to my snare?
And then, what does that do
to my bass drum?
It's all interconnected.
It's complicated.
01:47:08
That's the problem!
That can't be taught.
01:47:10
That's only learned through experience.
And that's why mixing's a bitch!
And it's got some nerve!
Et voilà!
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- UAD : 4K Buss Compressor, Studer A800, Precision Maximizer, Pultec-Pro, CE-1 Chorus, EMT 250, 1176LN
- Stock Logic : Gain, Channel EQ, Stereo Delay, Compressor, Sample Delay, Space Designer Reverb, AutoFilter, AVerb, Tape Delay
- Sonnox : Oxford EQ+Filters, Cambridge EQ, Oxford Dynamics, Oxford Limiter
- Waves : RBass
- ApulSoft : apTrigga 2
- Soundtoys : Decapitator, EchoBoy, PhaseMistress, Devil-Loc Deluxe, PanMan
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.
David Crosby
Queen Latifah
Jennifer Lopez
Mark Ronson
Les Nubians
Toots And The Maytals
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