About This Multitrack

[Mike Senior]

You can find the multitrack files for this project in the 'Mixing Secrets' Free Multitrack Download Library.

Before posting a mix, please read The Three Commandments!
Please post your mix as a new thread, rather than as a reply to this sticky.

Here's some more project info you might find useful:

• About The Raw Multitracks:
  • The drums have been recorded without any spill from other instruments, and the mics include stereo overheads and close mics for kick, snare, hi-hat, and two toms. Supplementing these are four mono tracks of MIDI percussion: cowbell, congas, shaker, and tambourine.
    
  • The bass is a single DI track.
    
  • The rest of the arrangement is filled out with four synth parts (three stereo and one mono); an amped electric guitar; stereo hammond; and two mono electric pianos.
    

• Challenges You're Likely To Face:
  • Neither kick mic has a tremendous amount of low end.
    
  • The snare close-mic has a couple of fairly strong pitched resonances, although whether you decide that's a problem or not depends on you.
    
  • The overheads mics don't catch a particularly pleasant tone for the cymbals.
    
  • The bass part is extremely wide-ranging, both in terms of pitch and performance techniques, which presents considerable mix-balancing challenges.
    
  • There's a touch of quite long printed reverb on the hammond organ.
    
  • The bone-dry bass and electric parts won't blend with the drums without some careful reverb/delay work.
    

• Some Mixing Tips:
  • I'd probably add at least 6dB of 70Hz to the outside kick-drum mic here, although I'd twin that with a high-pass filter to prevent the subs from smearing the details of such a sprightly part.
    
  • The snare mic's 510Hz resonance is in tune with the track, but I'd probably still dip it with a narrow peaking filter myself.
    
  • If the cymbal tone concerns you, then try adding in some samples -- there aren't many hits in there, so it shouldn't be a big job. The alternative is to EQ the overheads for a better cymbal tone, but this will impact on the nice snare sound coming through the overheads, and you don't have a particularly nice snare close-mic to bail yourself out with either, so I wouldn't recommend that approach here personally.
    
  • For some general tips on using reverbs and delays to bind together a mix like this (rather than as special effects), have a glance at this article -- this multitrack is exactly the kind of production that tends to suit the article's approach.
    

If you have any other general questions about this multitrack, just reply to this post and I'll see what I can do.