How to Mix a Hit Record video tutorial (really long, lots of info)

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chris carter

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This is a How To Mix video I did of an incredibly successful record I mixed. It gives a good idea of how a pro mix engineer approaches mixing a record. It’s not fancy – I just used some freeware to generate this, and it’s pro-bono so I saw no point in investing anything into it. It’s very long (2:15) and walks you through every channel, buss, effect, automation move, etc. in insane detail going over not only what I did, but how I did it as well as WHY I did it.

Part 1 is mostly session organization and buss routing, followed by details on about half the music tracks/effect..
Chris 'Von Pimpenstein' Carter: How to mix a hit record - Part 1 of 3 - YouTube


Part 2 is mostly the rest of the music tracks/effect along with all the vocal tracks/effects.
Chris 'Von Pimpenstein' Carter: How to mix a hit record - Part 2 of 3 - YouTube


Part 3 is mostly automation stuff.
Chris 'Von Pimpenstein' Carter: How to mix a hit record - Part 3 of 3 - YouTube
 
Watched pt1 1/2 way thru pt2. Good stuff Chris, very detailed! I like all the sends/buses u have set up, although the "desk bus" i'm a little confused about. Anyway thanks, nice to see how a pro does it!
 
Tonight: Part III

More than likely, these will get another round of watch-through on my end. Two main points I've noticed in the videos are:

1. EQ sparingly and gently
You really only put it on when you had to, and all of the changes that were made were very subtle, smooth, & translated well in the mix.

2. Multing the attacks of the drum/snare
Great to see this actually explained in depth and demonstrated. What a difference it made to give things extra snap and presence.

3. The sine-wave bass explanation
Such an eye opener. (or is it...ear opener..?) *applause*


Thanks for sitting there for two hours to record all of this and explain it all. It was very helpful and informative. Great work.
 
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Glad folks are getting something out of this. It took me like two weeks to do the video finding little tiny bits and pieces of free time in my busy schedule.

@ MicoMurci - regarding the EQ, yes, I tend to use very broad EQ and try to mostly leave stuff alone unless there's something that needs fixing. Bear in mind with Christabelle's vocals they were all EQd with a 1084 on the way in. The EQ was (if I recall correctly) hip-pass filter at 45Hz, +1 or 2 bell at 4.8kHz and either +0 or +1 high shelf at 10kHz. So still in the subtle area. Any time I used a plug to EQ her vocal, it would have been in addition to that obviously since it was all tracked that way.

---------- Post added at 08:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:20 AM ----------

@ Mwandishi - the "desk" buss has a two (for stereo) inserts that go to a soundcraft desk with two open channels. Those two channels are +5dB and bussed to a stereo buss with those faders at -5dB. This results in unity (+0dB). This is simply for gain staging purposes because I will get better sound with this particular desk than going with the faders and busses all at +0. Those busses feed into an Aphex 104C2 and I believe I put the settings in the video. Note that I set the Aphex up for balanced operation, but feed it an unbalanced signal - dig on my facebook page for an article about that, it's a litlte trick. The output of the Aphex returns to the insert poitn in Cubase. So basically, with the soundcraft operating at unity gain, It's just like I set up an insert poitn in Cubase and plugging it into the Aphex, but with some extra electronics in the path that really do nothing but add a little mojo. Just to avoid confusion, this is a HARDWARE insert, not a plug-in. But in Cubase you assign hardware inserts just like you assign plugin inserts.

Hope that makes sense. That and the drum bussing are the two most complicated things in the mix.
 
calling for a sticky
calling for a sticky
come on mods
one of the best posts on FP mixing section ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
plus he uses Cubase :victory: lol




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chris carter said:
Oh shizzle... I've been stickified! I feel honored :sing:
Click to expand...
Well deserved. I actually downloaded (idm) the 3 vids, so I can dissect the finer points whenever I want. Thanks again. You really have me wanting to learn more about using buses, its like this sub-mix thing u got going on.
 
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