Trevorgordonofficial
New member
I personally love to use Kickstart for an easy side chain to give my bass room. It's easily one of my most used VST's.
My GREATEST trick? Hmmmmm.... focusing on the lead vocal and making everything else secondary. That, and focusing on the midrange... the highs and lows are relatively easy to work out, but the midrange is what the typical listener in a typical listening environment will hear the most.
Here are my general "Mixing Approach" Notes:
1 - Set Master Level at -18db to –12db
2 - Set all faders all the way day down
3 - Sort tracks by instrument groups (drums/percussion, leads, backups, vocals)
4 - Start with principal drum track; get it peaking at -10/-12db
a. Alternatives: Start with Vocal Lead, or Lead Instrument, then drums, then everything else.
5 - Mix the rest of the tracks against the drums or vocal, one at a time, then relative to each other
6 - Once overall initial track levels are set, Ride each track to best levels (using Automation and/or Item Volume)
7 - Use FX on Tracks or Folders/Groups of Tracks:
a. EQ, especially High Pass Filter
b. Compression: Start with Ratio 4:1, Attack 20ms, Release 85ms, Auto Makeup checked, Delay around 190ms, No Dry signal, Threshold down to -12db, then play with Threshold.
c. Reverb/Delay (leads/vocals)
d. A second EQ for High Shelf, if needed.
8 - Ensure there are no peaks (+0db or higher)
9 - Render/Mixdown a 24bit Wav file, review parameters vs headroom standards/targets.
10 - Aim for an overall level of -18 to -12 (max of -9.0db), of Rendered/Mixdown file to support the Mastering process.
-9db? You're sure?
I almost never go that loud, but once in a blue moon there's a peak (usually vocal or percussion) I'll leave in because it just sounds so great, and the re-recording curve is just too high...