I'm LIVIN

[Tony W]

yep, I'm referring to the volume only. If you can get bluesberry to bite on this thread, he'll give you a great list of tips on how he produces his music, and it completely takes the randomness out of mixing and mastering.

If he doesn't jump in here, I'll ask his permission to share the notes he gave me on production. They have changed my approach completely.

[FuzzFace]

yep, I'm referring to the volume only.

But wait a sec, if I set the Volume Level of both the bass and drum tracks at, for example 95, that would be assuming they were input at the same level.

So for this to work, I need to use the little meters to tell me the levels as opposed to doing it by ear.

I'm just telling you my train of thought in order to verify if I understanding this correctly...?

If you can get bluesberry to bite on this thread...

I'll get him.  Bluesberry's my homeboy.

[Bluesberry]

Hey there Homies...what sup.  Yup Saint John, NB, thats the hood for sure.

What Tony is referring to is some advice I gave him, based on something I read.  The gist of the message is "Start with the rhythm section, the "body" of the song, then add vocals.  Next, add in the other individual instrument parts" also, "Don't vary the level of the drums and bass unnecessarily during a mix, as the rhythm section is traditionally the constant backdrop against which other sounds move. Natural dynamics within rhythm instrument parts is OK, but don't keep moving the faders on these sounds."

What I usually do is set drums and bass so that they are equal in sonic power, not necessarily volume level, its more about how is sounds, listen to just drums and bass and they should sit together, one doesn't overpower the other.  Then bring in vocals and bring vocals up as loud as you can get without clipping.  Then tweak the drums and bass to sit nicely with the vocals, not too loud to overpower the vocals, just sitting under anchoring the vocals.  Its about how it sounds, not so much the level or watching a meter, I tend to do this by how it sounds.  But you cant do this on headphones, you need good speakers to do this properly.  Now finally bring the rhythm track up.  I normally bounce all instruments that make up my rhythm track (guitars, piano, whatever, just no bass), bounce this to a stereo pair.  Bring this rhythm pair up under the bass/drums/vocals so that it sits good, clear, but not overpowering the vocals.  This gives you vocals out front, bass/drums strong and clear, and rhythm filling in all the rest without overwhelming anything.

Of course this is so much easier to do with my BR-1200 than my micro, but you can still get close with the limitations of the micro 4 tracks, it just takes a bit of juggling.  Bounce all rhythm to one stereo pair.  Bounce all vocals to  a stereo pair (including harmonies if used).  Now start with drums and bass, bring in vocals, bounce this all down to a stereo pair, bring in rhythm stereo pair and bounce this all down again. Its friggier with the micro but the idea is the same.  Start with bass/drums, add vocals, add rhythm, add solos, add anything else.  Now remember, this is for final mixing, for initial recording I usually start with basic drum pattern then record rhythm track(s), then bounce all rhythm tracks down to a stereo pair, then edit drum pattern to make it more complex, then record bass, then record vocals, then bounce all vocals tracks down to a stereo pair.  Then mix everything starting with bass/drums, add vocals, add rhythm, add solos, add anything else.


Good read on mixing tips:http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun98/articles/20tips.html

[FuzzFace]

Thanks!  This answered a lot of questions I've had lately!

[Ted]

How's that desk job going?

There's a spontaneous feel to this. I'd believe me if you said that you ad-libbed the whole thing. I thought your accent seemed a little off for "a Canadian living in America." But it doesn't really sound like your goofing a fake accent.

Blackout Bump - week of 2 May, 2010