About This Multitrack

[Mike Senior]

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

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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:
  • Drum tracks have been generated by a virtual instrument, under the control of a live drummer using one of Roland's V-Drum trigger systems. The simulated 'mic' tracks provided for mixing purposes are as follows: stereo overheads, containing spill from all the kit components; close mics for kick (in, out) and snare (over, under), also containing fairly realistic levels of spill; and spill-free signals for snare, hi-hat, ride, two crash cymbals, and three toms.
    
  • The bass is provided both as a miked cab signal and as a DI feed.
    
  • The single acoustic guitar performance was dual-miked, and a DI feed was also recorded at the same time.
    
  • There are five tracks of electric guitar, all recorded via a miked amp.
    
  • Two vocal tracks complete the line-up: a lead and one harmony.
    

• Challenges You're Likely To Face:
  • The pitch of the inside kick-drum mic signal seems slightly out of tune with the track as a whole, and also resonates in a way that obscures the bass line melodies.
    
  • Hi-hat spill is very strong in most of the main drum-mic signals.
    
  • The simulated spill signals generated by this particular virtual instrument don't fill out the drum timbre in the way that spill tends to do in a real live drum recording, and tends to sound rather phasey.
    
  • The bass doesn't have much in the way of low-end weight, but if you add lots of EQ boost down in the lower regions of the spectrum, what you get isn't well defined at all.
    
  • There's a lot of superfluous subbass on all the acoustic guitar tracks.
    
  • The tuning of the guitar and vocal tracks leaves a certain amount to be desired, which makes it tricky to find a good blend for these tracks.
    
  • The electric guitars have been recorded with delay/reverb effects, which clouds the important gaps in the rhythm parts in particular.
    

• Some Mixing Tips:
  • The way the bass and kick interact is key to this mix, in my view, so be sure to give those enough time and attention. Personally, I chose to add a subsynth part to underpin the bass, given that the existing low-end of that part wasn't particularly well-defined.
    
  • Don't expect to wheel out all your normal drum-mixing techniques when working with a simulated drumkit like this one -- you need to work from first principles, because the raw tracks respond rather differently to mixdown processing than live recordings.
    
  • If the bass amp track doesn't work well for you, then bear in mind that you can easily replace it by reamping the DI track.
    
  • You can reduce the apparent delay/reverb levels on the electric guitars by gating them.
    
  • Although there are no double-tracks in the raw recordings, it's pretty easy to edit together your own, given the amount of repetition in the parts.
    
  • I remixed this song for Sound On Sound's August 2010 'Mix Rescue' column, which not only shows how I approached this band's recordings myself in practice, but also includes a selection of audio files demonstrating the effects of some of my processing and layering decisions.
    

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