Continuing with the mix of "Keep The Light On," Jacquire works on the guitars, revisits the toms, and explains his monitoring levels when he's working on the track's energy and when he is working on the details.
See how Jacquire King:
Works on the verse guitars
Explains his preference for Toms in the mix
Adds dimension to the main verse guitar with a slap delay
Adds a Primal Tap delay to the lead verse guitar for color, stereo width, and to help it sit perfectly in the mix
Explains how adding a tiny amount of top-end eq boost on a guitar can change the focus and accentuate a guitar part
Explains how he finds the perfect level for the lead vocal
Watch Jacquire King mix "Keep The Light On" from Oak And Ash. Only on pureMix.net
00:00:22 For the moment, like I've mentioned,
I'm gonna do a little bit of
passive listening to the mix
while I work on some of the guitar tones,
just a little bit more.
00:00:32 That deferred some of that stuff until
I got the bigger picture going.
00:00:37 Just because the guitars are aggressive
and very mid-range focused
I wanna
wait just a little bit before
I do some specific EQ on those.
00:03:16 I added a little bit of EQ to the guitars,
my ear was a little bit drawn to
the Juno part.
00:03:21 It just felt a little bit loud and also,
I just added a little bit too much,
I don't know,
whatever I EQed there, little over 1 kHz.
00:03:28 There was a little bit too much
information boiling up in that area,
I wanted to add size
and sparkle to the Chorus
and where placed.
This is feeling a little bit too
nasal and forward in a place
where I don't want really
want a lot of presence from it
so I just EQed a
little bit of that out of it.
00:03:46 I'm gonna turn the speakers
up now for a little bit.
00:03:49 I made some EQ changes
on the guitars at a low volume.
00:03:53 I can't really quite tell what's going on.
00:03:55 I could hear a bit of a change on Rich's
but I wanna turn it up and feel it
and just kind of find
the right frequency
on the Helios that I added to the guitars
to get Rich's tone just a little bit
more forward and fuller sounding.
00:04:11 So I might crank the speakers up a bit,
I might go in the big ones too.
00:07:01 Cool, sounding exciting.
00:07:03 I flew around and did
a few different things.
00:07:06 There's been a thing on the
snares that I've been hearing
and it's primarily in the samples.
I think I did turn the snare,
the drum recorded snare
sample that we added,
I did turn that down just a tiny bit.
00:07:19 I find it and realize that it's
the second snare sample.
00:07:23 I had EQed out
a little bit too high.
00:07:27 So I'm hearing a little bit of the
boxy forward sound.
00:07:30 I wasn't really feeling like it was
relating to the drum-kit.
00:07:33 I was hearing too much of the sample.
00:07:35 So, changing that EQ point helped a lot.
00:07:38 Ended up deciding at a louder volume that
the same EQ point
that I had added on the Helios
for Chris
was also the best frequency for Rich
but I just needed more of it.
00:07:52 So, there's more boost
for Rich.
00:07:55 One thing that I really noticed,
Sugar is helping really
make those toms punch a lot,
especially with
that low frequency focus
stuff that I added in.
00:08:04 Somebody may ask me to turn
the toms down but I like loud tones,
it makes it feel like rock and roll,
it makes it feel a little more visceral
and just a little more wild
with those loud toms.
00:08:13 I know that I'm gonna be turning up
the guitars and vocals and stuff.
00:08:17 They feel a little hot right now.
00:08:19 I'm excited about it, I like it.
00:08:21 So I like
the change on the primary guitars.
00:08:26 I'm gonna come back
down to a lower volume.
00:08:29 You shouldn't listen
at loud volume for long,
a few minutes is good,
just to kind of get some perspective.
00:08:34 It kind of amped me up,
I got a little energy off of it, which is great.
00:08:37 That was fun but I also don't wanna
wear my ears out.
00:08:40 So, I'm going to now do
a little bit of busy work.
00:08:44 I wanna add some delays to the guitars,
I wanna check a couple other
spots on the guitars for EQ.
00:08:49 I'm gonna do that at a lower volume,
on the smaller speakers.
00:09:09 And just for the time being,
while I get the delay set
I'm just gonna solo the guitar up.
00:09:32 Quick slap delay that I'm kind
of panning to the opposite side.
00:09:35 It's almost like if I had a room mic,
it's giving a sense of dimension,
spread out across the stereo field.
00:09:43 I'll put the full mix back in
and turn the delay on and off.
00:09:46 It doesn't really take
the guitar away from
primarily feeling like it's on the left
but it helps spread the color out.
And because of the delay
and sort of the time throw that it's got
and it's in a rhythmic value,
it's gonna add a little bit to the feeling
of the rhythm and the motion of the song
but it's also gonna spread
the color out of what Rich's playing.
00:10:29 I'm gonna try one on Chris',
for his I'm gonna use the stereo delay.
00:10:42 And just noticed that he's kind of
counting his way in.
00:10:46 I hadn't really heard it
but I just saw it.
00:10:49 I might notice it later
when I try to turn things up.
00:10:58 And I've just moved the delays over
next to the associated guitars
that I'm sending to them.
00:11:15 I'm using the Primal Tap,
it's a stereo delay.
I've got two different delay settings.
00:11:19 I'm gonna actually change
the way this is set up.
00:11:22 I want the longer delay
all the way to the right.
00:11:26 The potentially shorter delay
somewhere in the middle.
00:11:29 I'm not gonna put it
right on top of what Chris is doing
because he's playing a very
staccato rhythmic part.
00:11:35 The rhythm is quick
and I don't wanna put a delay
right on top of it,
that's gonna muddle or confuse or take
the clarity and punch out
of what he's playing.
00:11:48 I like this delay because you can
internally adjust
the volume of the left and
right output or the delay 1 and 2.
00:11:55 It has independent feedback.
00:11:57 There's a lot of cool things about it.
00:11:59 High and low pass filters
and then there's 'Tweak'
where you can sort of
change somethings like
high-frequency roll-off.
00:12:06 Are you doing that on the output
or is it just in this feedback loop?
Different algorithms,
different delay settings.
00:12:13 I'm running parallel delays,
that means that they're
both getting the same input
and that they're working
side by side but independently.
00:12:21 Actually,
we're gonna roll some high-end off.
00:12:24 Because Chris has a bright part.
00:12:27 I just kind of want like
a warm delay so it's like,
it's sort of coming from the
back of a room kind of feel.
00:13:15 This Chris' part has a lot of really
cool dimension and having the two delays,
it kind of makes
it dance around even more.
00:13:22 I'm just gonna refine it
a little bit more
since this has independent feedback.
00:13:26 The shorter, closer delay,
I'm gonna have more feedback.
00:13:29 Because it's short,
and there's more feedback regeneration
it's gonna sound a little bit more
like a reverb, and I'm gonna make
the feedback, for the longer
delay that's panned all the way over
have less feedback
so it just sort of feels like there's
just this one event happening
on the other side.
00:14:14 Fantastic!
So, let me just solo this up for you so
you can hear this discretely happening.
00:14:37 It sounds very related to
the reverb that's already in the
sound on the amp
kind of rhythmically spreading it out.
00:14:44 So let's do that again with the track.
00:15:05 It makes it feel more fun.
00:15:07 It brings out some of the colors
that already exist in it.
00:15:10 When I turn it off it's like
'Oh, wow, some of the excitement went away,
I don't really feel like
dancing as much as I did a second ago'.
00:15:17 It's a very cool dancy part.
00:15:18 That simple little
thing adds quite a lot,
at least for me, in the Verse.
00:15:23 So, we focused on what's happening
with these guitars
in the Verse, let's go to the Chorus.
00:15:28 Now, because all of
Rich's stuff is on one track
with the addition of a second Chorus
amp sound sim that we made
Chris' parts switch to different tracks.
00:15:38 I just gotta see how we might wanna
manage what's going on with all that.
00:15:47 The first I'm gonna do is throw that same
delay send on Chris' Chorus part.
00:16:09 It does an equally nice thing
for the Chorus part
but I'm actually sending it a
little bit more level from the Send.
00:16:16 Let's hear it soloed up
where that riff is.
00:16:32 See how it moves across, because
we've got that short delay, maybe 130?
And then the longer delay is
all the way left and so it's like
a sound happens and it kind of
keeps moving across.
00:16:44 It's fun. And then,
we get to where he plays the
higher melodic riff in the end.
00:17:02 So let's hear with the track and then
I'll play one time with
and one time without.
00:17:38 Kind of boring.
00:17:40 I think Rich's sound
that comes in the Chorus,
the extra guitar sound,
I have a discrete
electric guitar reverb
emulation of an AKG BX20,
one of the best reverbs ever.
00:17:55 I'll just add a little bit of that for
the Chorus for Rich's second amp.
00:18:12 I'm panning the reverb return
that I just added for Rich's
second amp in the Chorus,
I'm panning it in a similar fashion
to the way I panned the delay on Chris'.
00:18:23 We have the source
all the way left
and then the reverb is kind of over here.
00:18:28 Just kind of giving it this feeling of...
00:18:31 It's giving the feeling
of dimension across the stereo image.
00:18:34 And it helps kind of
tie everything together
and makes it feel wider
and little more exciting.
00:19:01 These things I'm doing are a bit
subtle but when you turn them off
the energy of the part and the focus,
it just falls a little flat
and it's not as colorful and lively.
00:19:12 I'm feeling good about the delays
that have been added to the 2 main guitars.
00:19:16 Let's listen to the second Verse.
00:19:18 I just wanna add a little touch
of EQ to Chris' Verse sound.
00:19:44 I'm adding a little bit
of 10 kHz to the guitar.
00:19:47 As we can see from
the analyzer,
there's not a lot going on there.
00:19:51 Just that simple little boost
opens the sound up
and just adds a little bit of sparkle.
00:20:13 And adding that brightness up there
kind of does a little even nicer
thing with the delay.
00:20:17 It's often that
we EQ around
where the primary focus of a sound is
to get it to sound more balanced,
just to fit in a mix.
00:20:28 Quite honestly, especially in a
sort of rock song like this
where there's a lot of distortion
the vocal is really powerful
in a higher timbre,
there's a lot of
information in that mid-range
so you gotta kind of
work to keep everything
with the intended voice
but find the places
where we can accentuate.
00:20:46 A lot of that,
especially with the guitars,
to open things is it actually gonna be
in the higher octaves
above where the primary frequencies are.
00:20:54 I mean, most guitar amps really,
when they get to be about 4 or 5 kHz
the speakers are designed to
roll the high-end way way off.
00:21:02 The other guitar sounds
that I wanted to quickly
get to were:
what's going on with the bridge.
00:21:07 Just give me a minute,
see what I see, see what I do
and then we'll talk about it.
00:21:23 I think that the Bridge could,
with this common delay that we
have going on for Chris,
what's interesting about this
is we have two amp sounds.
00:21:30 So, I'm not gonna send the delay
from both, I'm gonna pick one.
00:21:35 I kind of feel like I'm gonna do it from
the brighter Gibson amp that we added.
00:21:39 Just give me a second and we'll see.
00:21:45 Actually I'm gonna go
ahead and copy this over here
and then I can do it that way.
00:22:03 I'm sending it from the brighter amp,
it gives it a nice spread of dimension.
00:22:08 When I sent it from the Fender
it's a little bit darker sounding
and just kind of muddle things.
00:22:14 It didn't really add any excitement,
it actually took away from it.
00:22:18 That's also something to
consider if you have multiple
tracks or microphones,
however you've recorded something
to make a guitar sound.
Sometimes people print,
they've got two amps and a mic on each
and they print each separately.
00:22:33 In the case of Rich we had two amps,
two mics, we combined them in one track
but you might get something
like we have right here.
00:22:41 You have the opportunity
to pick and choose
what color you're sending to the FX
and tailor it that way as opposed to
sending the darker amp or both amps
to the delay and then try to have to
manage the sound of the
delay in a different way.
00:22:57 Sometimes I say these things
and it sounds a little bit silly
because it's maybe simple
but in a way it's not, either.
00:23:06 I didn't realize that when I started,
it's kind of trial and error,
it kind of took me...
00:23:11 I might have taken it for granted,
I feel a little bit silly saying it now
but at the same time I realize
it's a lesson I had to learn along
the way and something I figured out.
00:23:20 So, there you go.
00:23:21 We're happier with that,
let me just see if I wanna add any EQ.
00:23:29 And it actually, that darken amp,
I do think it would be served
to maybe tuck just a little
bit of the low mids out of it.
00:23:51 It clears it up a little bit.
00:23:53 This cool arpeggiated part,
I wanna see what's going on with it.
00:24:05 The brighter Gibson amp that now
I've got all the way to the left,
it feels to me like
it needs a little bit of that upper
boost air I was talking about
and probably could
use a little bit less of
something in the 1 kHz area.
00:24:20 Let's see how close I was.
00:24:39 Yeah, that helps.
00:24:41 It's kind of a blown out messy sound
and that's the feeling we want.
00:24:44 It's a little too cloudy the way it was
so doing that sort of
helps clarify it a little bit.
00:24:52 Actually, on the other side...
00:24:54 It doesn't need this EQ.
00:24:56 It needs
the same Helios.
00:25:01 It does one thing that I didn't explain.
00:25:03 You may know this because
this is kind of a popular suggestion.
00:25:05 I've engaged the low-frequency EQ
but I didn't make a gain adjustment.
00:25:10 I didn't add more of the low end.
00:25:13 But what happens by the virtue of the way
this analog equivalent and
this plug-in work
is that when you engage
the low frequency EQ it actually
thickens it and kind of boosts it anyway.
00:25:24 So, just by simply turning the EQ on
I've added a little bit
of a low bump to it.
00:25:31 This particular sound, I don't want that.
00:25:34 So I'm turning it off.
00:25:35 Let's see if I'm right. I might wanna
change the frequency but I feel like
that this the direction I
wanna head for this amp.
00:26:07 It's helping get it to poke out
a little bit. I feel like I can now
take the volume and
tuck it back in a little bit.
00:26:13 I added a little bit of
10 kHz shelf at the top,
took the frequency up
and octave from 1.4 to 2.8.
00:26:19 Like I said, I turned that
low frequency stuff off.
00:26:22 Alright, so we don't have
any effects right now on this
sort of our Bridge arpeggiated part.
00:26:28 It feels like I could use a little reverb
and I'm gonna do it on
the brighter clear sound
that I just added the Helios EQ.
00:26:37 So, I'm gonna drag this reverb over.
00:27:01 Not totally sure.
00:27:03 It's fine for the moment.
00:27:05 I'm just wanna try this delay.
00:27:08 Just because of the panning
and the way that I have the reverb set,
the amp that
I'm sending it from is leaning
a little bit to the right and reverb
has been positioned to the right.
00:27:18 I don't feel like at the moment
that's important enough
that I automate and change where
the reverb is for this particular moment.
00:27:23 I'm gonna just check out
the delay real quick.
00:27:33 I prefer the delay.
00:27:35 I'm really close to starting automation.
00:27:37 One thing I just wanna address
and sort of talk about,
which for me is even tricky
and I'm thinking about it
because I'm in a different room.
00:27:47 Vocal levels
can be particularly
hard to know exactly.
00:27:54 I mean, most of the time I feel like
I get it within
half a dB or a dB.
00:27:58 But the way that I think about
balancing a vocal, like I said earlier,
I listen at
moderate to low volume,
especially in a song like this.
00:28:07 And most of the time, what I think about,
what is an element
of the mix
that I can relate the vocal
to have some sort of
gauge of where it's sitting.
00:28:18 And most of the time,
the backbeat, the snare drum,
is as very loud present, forward
element of...
00:28:26 as most music that we listen to,
that's got it,
like it's got something
that you wanna dance to.
00:28:30 And I say the snare drum, I mean,
obviously, the whole rhythm section,
the kick drum is very
important to the dancy feel.
00:28:35 I'm not talking about the feeling
of dancing, I'm just talking about
an element that I relate the vocal to.
00:28:40 The snare drum
is very much in the mid-range,
it's very much in the same
frequency department as the vocal
and on small speakers, on our phones,
everywhere out in the world
the things that you hear
the loudest most of the time
are the snare drum, or the backbeat,
and the vocal.
00:28:59 So,
I think about those two things together.
00:29:01 Now, sometimes the snare drum is a little
louder than the vocal,
most of the time the vocal is just
over the snare drum but they are
very close in relationship.
00:29:10 In the song I'm considering
the guitars, because they
have a lot of present mid-range
but I'm thinking about that snare drum
and balancing the vocal
against the snare drum.
00:29:20 When I'm putting a mix together like this
before
I've started automation
I think about that relationship and
I take the vocal
and I turn it down just a little bit
because vocal rides and the automation
that I'm gonna do are very important
to getting the vocal to sit
and front and center all the time.
And the way that I'm gonna do that,
the majority of the time
is I'm gonna be raising the volume.
00:29:44 So, I kind of
error on the side of just a little under
so that when I
do the automation I can
get it right to the right spot,
I can feel where it needs to be.
00:29:56 It's also the snare drum is right
in the middle, similar frequencies,
similar panning,
similar sort of spread of effect and room
with the way it kind of comes
from the center and fills out.
00:30:09 It's very similar to the vocals
so that's what I think about.
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Award-winning Producer, Engineer, and Mixer, Jacquire King, has worked with some of the world’s most influential artists in every role you can imagine in a recording studio. From being an acclaimed recordist to mixing and producing multi-platinum records (9X in the case of Kings Of Leon) by superstars like Kaleo, Modest Mouse, Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, Norah Jones, Buddy Guy, Cold War Kids, MuteMath, Melissa Etheridge, and James Bay.
To date, Jacquire has received several awards for his meticulous attention to detail and unique approach to creating records that withstand the test of time.
His discography is well-known for the variety of music encompassed from the past 20 years. When you see Jacquire’s tutorials on pureMix, you will have the chance to sit next to a true master at work, who strives to enhance the artist's vision and serve the songs he helps deliver to the masses.
