After transferring the playlist in Pro Tools in the Multitrack studio for Losing My Religion to my own Pro Tools on my MacBook, I began to edit the original ‘monitor mix’ to my own.
Purchasing Pro Tools has been a great help, as I would have not had the time to constantly add to, and manipulate my own mix in the University’s suites.
Also, the portability of a laptop and a high quality pair of headphones has enabled me to acquire various opinions as well as my own whilst balancing levels; also I have been able to play my mix through different sound systems, as well as at different volumes, to achieve a well-rounded sound.
Due to this being my first experience at mixing, I used the workshops as guidance and began editing the instruments as suggested.
I started with the drums; to me, this was one of, if not the most important instrument that I wanted to ensure sounded prominent but at the same time well balanced.
I muted everything in my Playlist and started with the Overheads. It would be of normal practice to pan each of these completely left and right, however, I thought it more appropriate to pan each to around 80%. This is because the overhead mics are positioned in a different place to where a drummer would actually sit and what he/she would here through each ear. Therefore I thought it necessary to combat this; for example, a drummer would hear a hi-hat mostly in his left ear (assuming he is right-handed), but also in his right (because of the natural turn that occurs in a drummers neck when playing a song that features the hi-hat as the biggest instrument in the performance); Whilst a Right Overhead mic would barely pick up the sound of the hi-hat.
Next I brought in the kick; to this I applied 7-band EQ to lower the high frequencies. I used a Low Pass Filter (LPF) to do this. Also by using Q, I heightened a mid-range frequency that ensured the ‘click’ sound of the bass drum was still enforced.
Next I un-muted the snare drum (first top then bottom); for this I sought a crisp, sharp sound that I could then add reverb to at a later stage. To do this I used 7-band EQ and depressed the lower frequencies using a High Pass Filter (HPF). Additionally, I slightly raised the high frequencies to increase the clarity of the snare. The same EQ was applied to both the top and bottom snare clips.
To each of the toms, I applied a LPF through a 1-band EQ, which cut the ‘buzz’ of the drums when they were being used. Throughout the piece, I silenced the audio tracks when the toms weren’t being used so that muffled background noise of the kit was reduced. I also used fades after the toms were hit, so that they didn’t sound sudden when they were used for fills.
I panned the snare and each of the toms according to how they sound in the ears of an actual drummer – I feel this sounds very effective especially when fills are heard throughout the song.
Finally I adjusted the volume levels of each of drums to suit the sound of the kit in the song. I then created a group (auxiliary input) for all the drums so that when it came to adjusting the volume of the drums when all instruments had been added, I could do this whilst the levels of each specific drum stayed constant.
After achieving a balanced sounding kit, I then started to add the bass guitar. When we recorded this we used compression on the bass whilst using a direct input (DI). Therefore when it came to adding this to the track, all that was necessary was to add the effect of a HPF through a 1-band EQ and a digital compressor – this created a sound which minimised unnecessary frequencies and promoted clarity.
Next it is of common practice to add the vocals – again, due to this being my first time at mixing, this proved valuable knowledge so I progressed doing this.
We recorded several tracks with two vocalists in the studio, however, I thought it necessary to use only two of the vocals from the same artist, double-tracked. In my opinion, this sounds very effective and due to Vashti’s voice, I think it would be unnecessary to have backing vocals in the piece.
I created an auxiliary input of which I added Vocal Plate Reverb to. I changed the output of this track to a bus (7-8) and to this I sent Vashti’s vocals as well as both snare drum tracks to this. I used the same amount of reverb on both snare tracks, as well as the same amount of reverb for the vocals (-4.0db on snares and -8.0db on the vocals). This added a lot of warmth to the track and I think this added well to the sound.
Lastly I added 7-band EQ to Vashti’s voice to slightly raise the high frequencies, which ‘brightens’ her voice up as well as depress lower frequencies which cut out unnecessary noise.
The last pieces of audio I added to the track were the guitars and keys. I mirrored the pan on these equally which added to the sound as a whole. However, I panned the ‘quiet bit’ guitar (the guitar that structures the bridge of the song) further to the right which I think sounds effective.
I used a LPF through 1-band EQ on the keys which took the unnecessary top end off the sound of it. We used a DI when recording so this was all that was needed to achieve a good sound.
I left all three guitars – rhythm, lead and ‘quiet’ completely unedited as I think this makes the piece more authentic and natural feel.
Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed recording and mixing the track and I feel my first time at a mix has been successful.