*** MC MC #1 ***

[Studioplayer]

Brina. I used a plugin by Helian called First Bass. One of the best plugins I've found so far for bass guitar. Works great !! You can find it here.

http://www.gersic.com/plugins/index.php?searchFor=first+bass&Submit=Submit&action=1

[Cary]

I assume that's why I hear a slight woobling (warbling) effect on some words. From autotune? 

Yes, exactly.

[Tacman7]

I worked on the vocals with some detail editing, then it was recorded to a stereo track with fx and compression.

I made a stereo track with the piano, and two rhythm guitars, maybe a mistake, hard to tell, I get shell shock after a while.

Takes me a few days for me to tell if I even like what I did.

Haven't got to the end of the song yet.

http://tacman7.com/MC2ndTac.wma

[Cary]

Here is my next mix, I am want to know what you all think.  I think I got one more mix left in me for this, then I'm gonna put it down as finished for me.  So give me what you think, and I will make one more mix and call it good.  In this mix I did some more eq on the lead vocal as Nick mentioned, then I did some work on the leads, added a few more parts, and panned it a bit.  I took all 3 lead parts, then used Har-Bal and tried to match them all up so they had the same eq/tone and such, then tried to match up the effects on each one, so as to make it sound like one lead track, instead of 3 different ones.  I ended up using parts from all 3 tracks. That's pretty much it.
Curtis

In my opinion, you did a real fine job with this.  Your first mix was real nice and this one is certainly better.  There's always a chance my headphones are fooling me, but I don't think so.

You took off some of the hype on the lead vocal?  It sounds very nice.  I love the treatment on the drums - lots of kick and snare, and the toms are huge.  I'd like to hear some of your drum processing details.  You've got a great balance on all the other instruments too.  You've done well to make the stuff that was an issue, not an issue.  I listen to this and no alarms go off.

Bravo!

[CurtisDowney66]

Thanks Cary, as for the lead vocal, the main thing I did different was use Nick's advice and cut the eq at 5k some, taking the edge off it some.
I will try to explain what things I did with the drums, but it is kinda hard to not be technical.  I use mainly the plug-in's that come with Adobe Audition, and alot of waves plugs.  I use alot of presets, then I tweek with them until I think it sounds good.  I will try to explain what plugs I used, and some of the settings I have them on....
The snare...
I use a waves compression plug called RComp. Setting I used with it are, Attack 50ms, Release 50.2ms Ratio 20.05
Eq...+18 at 50hz, +18 at 100hz, +6.65 at 200hz
Reverb...I use a unit called Anwidasoft LIV.  Settings are at 29 Predelay, 1100 Decay, and a LP cut at 16000, with a Dry mix at 35%
Audition has a setting called Pan/Expand, it is used mainly for vocals, but I use it on alot of things, hardly ever on vocals, except for backing vocals, I have it set on 240, where 100 is centered.

The kick...
On the kick I used the same exact settings as the snare, but I ran all the effects with 100% dry out mix, so like I say, the same settings, but alot more of the dry mixed in.  By moving alot of the kick hits around, I was trying to make it gel with the bass, and I think that helped to bring out both the kick and the bass guitar.  I made it so they followed each other, which made them feed off each other rather then fight against each other.

The Toms got the same effects also, and like the kick, I mixed in 100% dry out with them.  I panned them both +10 and -10 in the mix, then I used some volume envelopes on a few of them to tame them down a bit.

The closed hats...
I just used the same reverb unit, and mixed them at 30% with decay of 400, and a LP cut at 16000

The maracas....
I used a waves plug called 6 Taps.  What that does is pretty much spread it out in 6 parts, but I only used 3 parts of it, one centered, and the other 2 spread out + and - 45, with a small amount of delay on each. I then used the same reverb unit with 400 decay, LP cut at 2500, and a 50% dry mix.

The high agogo....
I used an adobe compression plug.  It is set with an output gain of 12db, Attack time of 30ms, release time of 15ms.  It has a high cutoff at 24000hz.  I then used the pan/expand plug at 240 where 100 is centered.

The crashes...
First I split the crashes up, making a left crash and a right crash. I put a bit of reverb and echo on both, a little high end boost on both of them, and panned them -10 and +10.  On the right crashes I added the pan/expand plug, to make the right crashes sound a bit fuller then the left, making them sound a bit different.

Those are the only drums and percussion tracks I used.  I could have used more, but they sounded pretty good to me with just those, so I left well enough alone .
Curtis

[Cary]

Thanks Curtis!

[dogbizkits]

Now it's time to present my mix 

Sorry it's a web link because I can't figure how to upload tracks here at the moment. I'm sure someone will post something to help me in that department. I'm afraid "normal" idiot-guides haven't taken me into account yet 

It's a far-from-perfect mix... but I said I'd have it here for Saturday (latest).

EDIT --- Please go to my next post.  Dan helped me with my little file transfer problem.

I'll post the details of the approach I took and all the usual technical stuff once I type it up. Just wanted to make sure you got the mix today.

Rab 

[DoozerDan]

Sorry it's a web link because I can't figure how to upload tracks here at the moment. I'm sure someone will post something to help me in that department.

Rab 

Under the box which you type the text in, is a button labelled "Additional Options..."  Click that and it'll give you the options for uploading files. 

Cheers, Dan.

[dogbizkits]

Thanks, Dan 

If the "additional options" text was a different color saying something like "click here for additional options", it would have been a bit easier for me. See what I mean about "normal" idiot-guides haven't taken me into account yet. 

Thanks again, Dan. It appears to have worked 

Rab 

[DoozerDan]

Thanks, Dan 

If the "additional options" text was a different color saying something like "click here for additional options", it would have been a bit easier for me. See what I mean about "normal" idiot-guides haven't taken me into account yet. 

Thanks again, Dan. It appears to have worked 

Rab 

Haha, no probs, glad to be of some help 

Dan.

[Davidinoz]

I loved this song when it first got put up and Brina was throwing mixes at us
I just couldn't help it, I had to have a shot at it.

Here's my first mix, no real vocal processing yet but everything is pretty much in place.

[dogbizkits]

Mix Clinic 1 -- Funniest Things - Dogbizkits Mix 1

OK, here it is. I'll try to be short and sweet with the approach taken:

The first thing I did was to open everything up and do a rough balance to hear exactly what was on offer and to get a "gut feeling" of the way this one could go. Deciding to go for a big mix as opposed to a compact one with less tracks, I knew it would also need to be a "neutral" mix with nothing hyped.

After a series of critical listens to find the bits that had to go, I did a close inspection of all the tracks to get rid of any "anomalies" such as bumps, squeeks, farts [yes it does happen] - also paying attention to premature vocal cut-offs (as we noticed on the backing vocals) plus the usual guitar tail-offs that over-run their time and walk over "other" parts AND also to check out that the tracks were actually in-sync.

The track cleaning and alignment [prepping] process is a big time consuming job - but at the end of the day it seems (to me at least) to have worked out reasonably well.

To me, the song wanted to go into "launch mode" right after a short guitar / vocal intro. In my head I could hear a fairly "full" sound using most of the tracks supplied - so went with that general feel. I didn't go for anything radical in as much as adding extra drum parts or hyping anything, because (to me), the component parts were basically OK so didn't want to tamper with things to the point that would have changed the character of something I felt was already good (although some of the brickwall-limited and distorted guitar parts would need to be surgically removed.

Just a quick point that's a fact on Ray's vocal track. It's essential to get a "dry" vocal track. As for any track, a pre-processed one can be a nightmare for the mix engineer [who probably has better kit at his/her disposal to "fix" the vocals]. As long as the track has been recorded properly, there's usually no problems. I like Ray's voice just fine the way it is and it would have been great to get his track completely dry and unprocessed. I digress.

Once all the prep-work was done, I could start to use the DSP's to allocate the buss plugins and select the relevant channel plugins. The main mix was going to be done entirely inside the box. The only external gear used was a TC Finalizer 96K for mastering. This was used very gently because I don't like to do "loud" or "maximised level" mixes that keep the needles pinned to the red (as they say). In the master, I aimed for the 12db or 14db peak-to-average level as recommended by Bob Katz for a "radio play" level that wouldn't be crushed by the stations compressors.

To get everything cooking in the mix, I use two TC Powercore DSP's and a collection of voice channel plugins to handle EQ, compression/limiting. Alongside those, I use Waves plugins for individual instrument [track] processing. Everything was routed to the relevant buss's to make the mix more manageable on its way to the main stereo outs. The specifics of plugins and particularly the settings used would be exhaustive here, but I'd be happy to answer any questions in that area if asked.

Of course, the mix is far from perfect (and no automation used) - but it's a fair representation of what I'd encourage the "client" to go for. I know exactly which way I'd have gone about things if everything started from scratch in a studio and I was able to track the musicians myself.

As said, if there's specific questions on how I did what, please ask. I think if I tried to explain in minute detail of everything done, you'd need several coffee breaks to deal with the overload. The good thing is that I think those who have done the Mix Clinic 1 song will appreciate the "problems" encountered - and just how much detail one could go into may be just a tad boring. The mix clinic was a great exercise for sure.

That's how I went about things and hope the above info helped in some way.

Naturally, I'll be back to edit my typos and errors.

Rab   

[Cary]

Ok,

Here's another go, worked with some of the drums...smashed the crap out of them.  Took Nicks advice on the eq of the guitars....still not happy they sound harsh compared to everything else to me....

Played with some different plug ins.....not sure if the drums are still too loud or not..but I'm liking the placement better....

let me have it

Tech wise, couldnt tell you everything except a little of this and a little of that......I'll take some time write it down when I look at the project again to morrow....been on this too long tonight already.

Brina

PS..I wanna know how to get the bass to sound like Dave's!!!!!!!!...

It looks like you have those crash cymbals ballanced with the rest of the kit - good.
At this point, the issues here are mostly with the level of the instruments.  The mix is lacking bottom end, so it seems very weak.  If I take your mix and increase the bass, already it starts to sound better.  However, don't just crank up the bass.  Start by making sure you're monitors are giving you the real deal.  How do store bought CDs sound through your monitors?  Lots of Bass?

Obviously, you have your ideas regarding the production - and thats cool.  So the main thing is the sound of the mix.  I think if you get more tuned in to the reference material, your mixes will become better ballanced.  On the other hand, maybe I'm out to lunch on my critique.  lol  I wish I could be more help at this point.

Someone else have anything constructive for the lady?

[dogbizkits]

Pretty much what Cary just said, Brina.

One of the biggest problems with monitors is that many of them don't tell you the truth about your mix. Buying a particular brand of monitor because something sounds particularly good on them isn't a good idea. For example, a bass player could be under the impression their monitors are great because their bass sounds fantastic on them. Invariably, in this example, the bass player would end-up with a bass-light sound because the monitors were fooling him / her into the belief there was enough bass to begin with. This "example" is so common and this is the beginning of the slippery slope to experiencing mixing problems. You really do have to make sure your monitors are giving you the "Real Deal", and that can be assessed easily by playing good reference material and listening carefully. Your listening environment also plays a very big part in that equation and if you're struggling with a mix, try turning your monitors down a bit so that the reflected sound from your walls is minimised. Good mixes can be achieved without blowing the windows out.

Hope this helps a bit.

Rab 

[Brina]

Thanks guys!!!!

I really appreciate that.

I was aware there was bass issues but just couldn't get it  "pumping" the way I wanted....

first mix was muddy sounding because of it, been listening to some commercial stuff on the them last few days and think I'll take another run at the mix later tonight when things are quiet here.

I really really really wanna actually finish this mix and have it right, hence all the crappy ones I was throwing at Dave and everyone before...and the attempts now....

dunno sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get it right.

Brina