Lessons

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Demo: Mixing an EDM Track Part 3

It's now I'm starting to realize that this vocal is probably something I want to start thinking about because I don't know the song very well and this is you know, kind of a different tune you know unlike the days of like rowdy I've mixed a million songs in my life where there's a singer with a guitar I don't know how much all this didn't seem before I get into my pants I want to hear what we're going to do with this vocal little so I can plan a bit so let's start figuring out what we want to do for this vocal sound company a son style nice oh there's something believe that somewhere so grass is this a sample of something I'm assuming this isn't you I'm actually jamaican uh you're making me crazy yeah I'm not jamaican this up touche no no it's ah it's a sample uh and to be honest I feel bad because I don't recall it it's from okay that's fine but yeah it's definitely don't want to get sued yeah cool so it sounds like this is pretty compressed so I'm not gonna go to cruz with that but I...

do hear frequency I'm not loving it something listen for that first thing really that somewhere on this yes one must must must well you have anyone from burn open up this month combination style oh there's something either its own way of this yes, month must must must well, you have a number on that this month so shockingly one of the world's least favorite frequencies for hundred hertz his signs like it's the culprits I do something for me that song with this yes month just the water energy I don't think it needs in there yes so interestingly we've been talking about this wave is double or being kind of a constant constant, but this is the type of vocal I don't know that it's going to need that waves doubler so I'm going to throw it through here, but I don't know that I'm going to end up using it because there's something not pop and polished, but there is something stereo that I could like with this so what's your we here with this way so here's something I should say so here's, the problem with importing your automation and from other songs is you get things like this where I decided to get totally weird with the part make the river go all crazy and that's those in your song, so you need to remember it over race your automation when you import it so right quick, I'm going to make sure I did that and I didn't want to make anything stupid on this panning wise on any of these trucks and left okay? So what's here with the stubble doing way I definitely know I don't like that so let me try though instead of just giving up on the idea of a harmless because let me also talk about this so one of the things that's really great about a harmonizer is your vocals penned up the center and it's a very mano thing the harmonizer because it's putting it up a few cents and down a few cents on each side really could be great for making your vocal stereo and sit a little bit better on top of the mix without having a habit as loud so that's why I'm fighting for the idea of having some harmonizer I just don't know if it's gonna work out so let me see if I could find something that sounds a little bit better than this pre set that we imported in let's give it a try let's also start at the top of these presets and see what I find we're not to wear the vocal is aria oh somebody that's on where this yes month when you haven't even proper open at this moment cos oh there's something funny that song with this yes month well you haven't even from lebanon this month company asian style oh here's something really that somewhere on this so I'm not loving this I'm going to give one last try to this by trying to use my other plugging that I use for this a lot which is called little micro ship from sound toys this also makes life really simple because it just has three common settings from the harmonizer this's also by the original designers of the harmonizer effect. So that's also of interest that it's very much like waves doubler could be a lot different than a harmonizer and does a lot more than a harmonizer does a lot of time. This is just very true to the original. So let's see what these three months too? Oh, there's something. You got something with this? Yes. Month. Wait so mode to sounds like it'll just help me get this without much other sound. Get this on top of the mix of summer. Try to bring that in. Yes, wait. Yes, killers. So this does actually work for me so it's pretty subtle in the mix, but I think this will help all primary balance as the mix goes. But so the next thing I'm hearing is I wantto lightly baiter ride this a little with the thing you see on every one of these vocals because I'm in love with it is suraj cerise my valentine? Yes, wait, wait. Yes. So as I turned this up, there's a harshness of the highs that I'm not totally loving bringing out so feeling like I want to be a little more conservative with this surround unusual so I'm really liking the character on this focus to the next thing I'm thinking about doing even though it might not be the last thing I do in the chamber I would kind of go down a few polling in so I don't have to move it later just planning ahead I might want to cross this more but I do know I want to do some sort of delay to give it some more character and even though there's tons of character on this I think that's tight delay would do it so we don't have the temple in the song that so even though graz is here and he might remember it I'm going to just show you how to do this on your own anyway because it's good to know in case you weren't here for class yesterday on dh I had apple I make this a nice round number for identify beat on dh it looks like it's seventy bpm cross do you think that's right uh if you multiply yes one forty huh? Yeah there we go excellent. So and that looks exactly right because I could see when I'm on my grid that that is right. So the reason I'm doing as I want to be able to walk up any delays to tempos because that makes our lives easier so I should have probably done this way earlier but this was the first time it came up usually I will do this before the song starts and I'll get the key just because I want to know what case I need to do anything so I'm now enabling mr walk up I'm going to find it the way I like I want something tight that just gives us a little bit more depth just like we showed in some of the other songs yes well you never former of notice my company's inside oh there's something even somewhere this yes one must must must well you have anyone someone open at this mine company asian style oh yes wait wait so that just gives me a little bit mohr three dimensionality in the vocal I just feel like I can reach in and hear it going a little deeper in the mix and that's making me not feel like it's so brazen so the one thing I'm noticing is I don't want a very trends are I don't want a very apparent reverb on this track if I'm going to use one at all so I'm going to duplicate this track is I'm gonna probably this is the only other track them the process this with so it's fine if it goes through here and I'm going to go in I'm going to get another reverb as I recall yesterday you know what let's have some fun I've never used this book and um so this is the ball how our room and let's get experimental because you know what I like about not having everything used. This one is this plug in isn't very inexpensive. So what show you that you could probably get something pretty awesome within an experts player. The one thing I don't like already, though, is there's. No preset there. Uh, there is here. Okay, so let's, scroll through and see what we can find. Yes. Wait, wait. Yes, coming this way. So I'm noticing that these reverb tales are getting a little long and there's some stuff at the beginning that was way cooler. Now we're getting in tow silly long river bs that might be cool for blasts and effects, but I want to try to focus. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Yes, well, if anyone from this month so I think this is cool and while it was a pot experiment, there's just something about the character this reverb that's not making me wildlife and I want to love life so bad. It's fallon times day um, so we're going to get again, go to our friend the hoffa reverb that has all these nice ones for vocal. And I'm gonna see what female pop star sounds actually that's going to be really wanted to point for two male pop stars shorter I want to short reverb so the reason I should also say this so you're reverb time and how short or long it is is probably the most important thing, so this half a reverb has a really cool thing where it just tells you the time of it I know from experience how long I about want one in one point three sounds about write to me for what I usually like on a vocal like this that I want to have the way but that even could be one for a vocal I want to go away I'll go is down as low as point five so something like these like course or like aliens those names centralised because I don't want chorus or aliens on the song but direction those air point zero five never mind would be more like this shower singing and I've wanted oh, this wonderful even zone where this yes one I thought this could be I feel like this could be great, so I'm gonna call this vocal for now, but we're not on oh, wait, wait yeah so that's really awesome now I'm like that's what I heard in my head for that so that makes me happy so let's start here this storm with a vocal so we could get the idea of what a vocal cutting through on it wait so I'm feeling like my multi big compressor isn't reacting the way it normally does so but check by head room and see how bad shape I am real quick and I'm gonna go to the dead is part of the song sure I am way way way past where I should be in my head room so I'm going to take this whole thing down and so because I haven't wanted made this song yet it should do it with no problem let me just clear any automation off there since that was important in that automation is off anyway and I'm going to turn this back on and I'm going to try to get myself back on course what's yet again loop a dense part of this orb so while I do this I should also say so what just hit to be off there is I know how easy my controls are and I know how easy a time I usually have getting these levels and a clear sign for me and as you get experimenting is that if you're having more trouble than you have usually that means you're doing something dynamically wrong I know right now that I'm was just struggling with that a lot more than I everwood so that gave me the hint that I should check my head room because that just does not seem right so let's see where I'm at now so the mix is pretty not right now from taking it down because I was mixing with bad head room which also shows you why you should not mix with bad head room and I got a little ahead of myself so now I have to do some resetting and that's what happens when you had the rock so now you're going to see what it commonly occurs when you mess up your head room when you have to restart is that everything is off balance which is why this head room is so important and why we're showing us when you see a lot of the big mixers talk about how why they throw their mixes down and they start over again all the time this is exactly why because you smoothed the synergy around then all of a sudden where you got is all messed up again all right well empty champion had asked do you reference tamano often while mixing mediums? I would be doing it mohr here but I like to do signal speaker motto and for me to do signal speaker model you have to keep turning the speaker on and off eventually today I'm probably going to just hit mono and make sure everything's cool anyway but yes, I listen amano far more than you're seeing me do here it's just not as easy for me to do it in this set up maybe you just touch on this because I know you have already but you know it is it is an interesting topic north and recording once no one you're mixing how do you take mastering into consideration so you know you touched on this a little bit but tell me a little bit during during this particular song how you're thinking about mastering we'll keep in mind I have a little bit of mastering I mean I have a bunch of stuff on the master bus so tell us tell us what's on your master bus so on the master bus we have this surat which is a fader rider program that I'm using all the time it's kind of like a compressor for a lot of people it's just taming some dynamics on having me q curve on here already I have a multi bad compressor this is a lot of what I usedto bastard trucks no matter what I might use a second alchemist with that up word our expansion I'm might put some tape saturation on later I have a multi bad compress around but yeah, I want to hear it as if it's a finished product and a lot of the mixers I admire do the exact same thing like the person I wear this room is up dave friedman who does everybody from flaming lips to that popular mgmt record dave friedman really takes that approach of you should just make a finished product and I know I get a better mix, even if I'm gonna send it. Alan jamal at west, west side, without any master processing, or maybe without just the loudness, maximize our also number two. In both ways, they may process it later, but I know. I want to hear it is, if it's finished, even if they're going to reinvent the wheel when they master.