Archive for 'Pro Tools'

Do you find yourself layering guitar parts in your sessions only have them wash together, sounding vague and mushy? Today I want to show you a simple way to bring some clarity and width back into your guitars. With nothing more than a little EQ we can subtly get that separation and focus you want when you have a dense mix of guitars.

I am proud to be part of the Pro Tools Generation. And when I say Pro Tools, I don’t mean just Avid’s Pro Tools software, but any recording/mixing software. I am part of a generation of mixers and producers who have grown up with and have learned on a DAW rather than an analog console. And today I must address why this is an important distinction to make.

DAWs Are Here To Stay

Like it or not, I think we can just about all agree that DAWs are here to stay as part of our recording and mixing workflow. They cost less than consoles and outboard gear, they don’t break down as easily, they are more portable, and they have instant recall on all aspects of the session. With computers getting more powerful every year and 24 bit converters sounding as amazing as they do now, we can expect to be working in DAWs for a very long time.

That however, is not my point. What we must address is that there is a real difference between a once analog guy who now mixes in Pro Tools or at least has Pro Tools as part of his modern workflow, and a young digital only mixer (like myself) who has always only mixed in Pro Tools and the like. We are two very different animals. Read More →

In most cases the lead vocal is the most important part of your mix. The best mixes out there always seem to find a way to get that vocal to sit right on top of everything else. How do they do it? Well there are a lot of small steps to get you there: vocal compression, riding the vocal with automation, and of course proper use of EQ. But today I want to show a super easy “hack” to making sure your vocal always sits on top of the mix nicely.

When you mix, you tend to gravitate to one main EQ and compressor for the bulk of your work. I know I do. If that’s the case, then why go through all the trouble of navigating for and inserting the same plugins on each track? Setting them up as your default EQ and compressor in Pro Tools can speed things up and get you mixing faster.

When you sit down to mix a song it’s wise to have a handful of “go-to” plugins in mind to help you sculpt your sound. I’m sure you own more than a handful, but do you really want to be spending precious mixing time scrolling through plugin menus and testing out effects? I know I sure don’t.

Your Weapons Of Choice

Mixing music is challenging enough as it is, so I don’t want to divert what little energy and brain power I have away from creative decisions and instead towards plugin sifting. And with many DAW owners easily clocking in upwards of 100 or more plugins on their systems, there are plenty of distractions to be had.

My advice, pick your top 5 weapons to damage to your mix. Identify those 5 or so plugins that you will use to do 90% of your mixing work. For me these are my favorite EQ, compressor, reverb, delay, and saturation plugin. With those 5 effects I can sculpt one rocking mix in no time. I’m familiar with how they sound, what they do to my audio, and even what the graphical interface looks like. No manuals or experimentation need. Simply well known tools just waiting to be used.
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Most virtual instruments and samplers in DAWs these days sound awesome, a little too awesome. Have you noticed that the strings and pads and pianos sound almost a little too good, a little too clean? One thing I tend to do when mixing with sampled or virtual tracks is to bring in a bit of distortion or lo-fi to them, just to grit them up a bit and make them not so squeaky clean.

Whether it’s some hand percussion or a killer bass line, loops are a great tool for any Pro Tools session. But how do you navigate all the loops on your hard drives and find the best ones for your songs? Pro Tools has a simple window called the Workspace Browser that can do all of this for you. Today’s video will show you how to locate, audition, time stretch, and import loops into your Pro Tools sessions fast.

There might not be nothing in music better than a killer drum recording. And to have a killer drum recording you need more than just great sounding drums, you need a great drum performance. Once you’ve captured the best possible sound and performance (usually a few takes) then it’s time to use the power of your studio to composite (or comp) those takes together into the absolute best take possible that will then go on the finished mix.

If you mix In-The-Box (ITB) with your favorite DAW then you might wonder what all the fuss is relating to analog mixing consoles and analog summing. You might hear people describe mixes as having “warmth”, “punch”, or “vibe” and some might even criticize mixing strictly ITB in your software, calling it “harsh” and “digital.”

I personally mix ITB in Pro Tools and love the results I’m getting. But I do know that there is something unique that the analog circuitry of an old mixing desk has to offer and when there is a plugin that says it has figured out how to model that, I’m interested. The latest plugin from Slate Digital (made up of veteran drummer and producer Steven Slate and genius french plugin guru Fabrice Gabriel) the Virtual Console Collection is supposed to be the answer for In-The-Box mixers like me.

Specifically in today’s video I review and demo the RC-Tube console emulation. Take a look/listen to how I used it in a recent mix and judge for yourself!

We’re at the end of round 2 of 5 Minutes To A Better Mix! If you’ve hung around all month then I’d like to say “Thank You” for your time. I hope you’ve found these videos helpful, insightful, fun, and motivating. Now let’s get to the final tip of the month!

Print Multiple Versions

You just never know what can happen with computers. Your plugins might not open, your DAW might change, audio files might go missing. It’s a good move to print multiple variations or versions of your mixes when you do the initial mixdown. I’ll show you a couple of examples.