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About This Multitrack
#1
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: This production has an awful lot of tracks, but it's nonetheless been put together in quite a disciplined way, so you shouldn't have to weed it too much.
    • The beat comprises three kicks, five snares, stereo claps, two hi-hats (open, closed), ride, three cymbals, and an explosion-style effects hit.
    • A single super-solid bass synth underpins the track, and there's also a good deal of low end available on the live grand-piano part.
    • Other synths comprise two leads, three pads, a three-track layered fill, and three tracks of SFX hits during the second verse.
    • There are stereo tracks for sampled tuba and horn ensembles, as well as a single sampled solo violin line.
    • The remaining 21 tracks are all vocals: two tracks of intro lead riffing; five tracks of sung chorus hook; two lead vocal verses, each with two double-tracks and an SFX track; four tracks of mid-section sung vocals (one continuing on to provide ad libs over the final chorus); and stereo tracks of layered shouts and whispers during the mid-section.
  • Challenges You're Likely To Face:
    • The kick is quite soft-sounding in its raw form, and competes directly with the bass line in the 50Hz region, so I reckon some creative thinking may be required to fit them together.
    • The low end of the piano is nice for some moments in this track, but will get in the way of the bass during others.
    • Maintaining the interest is always tricky in hip-hop, and although the arrangement here helps a fair bit, I feel that there still needs to me more variation to draw more attention towards important vocal moments.
    • The way the main chorus vocals are copied to all four choruses also makes it difficult to create a sense of build-up through the production.
    • Both lead synths are very dense and fizzy, so present a significant hazard as far as masking important vocal frequencies is concerned -- both during the verses and the choruses.
  • Some Mixing Tips: Although this isn't a mix I've attempted myself, here are some suggestions that come to mind:
    • Make sure you spend enough time getting the kick/bass relationship working. If that's not solid, then nothing else you build on top of it will feel right. Personally, I'd emphasise the 150Hz area of the kick drum, perhaps by layering in another sample, so that I could rely less on the 50Hz-100Hz region that the bass line targets so effectively.
    • Careful also that the 808 kick doesn't phase-cancel with some notes of the bass. If you want to hear this drum at all on smaller systems, you should probably also get busy with some kind of distortion processing on that channel too.
    • Mult the piano so you can adjust the bass levels (and maybe the effects sends too) when the bass is/isn't in the mix.
    • The pads and orchestral samples will likely all need some thinning to avoid muddying the mix, but bear in mind that the orchestral samples in particular will sound best if you nonetheless retain as much low-mid warmth as you can -- it's a fine line to tread.
    • For thinning out those lead synths I'd look beyond simple EQ to things like modulation effects, tonal reverbs, pitch-shifting, or comb-filtering.

If you have any other general questions about this multitrack, just reply to this post and I'll see what I can do.
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#2
How were the vocals recorded?
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#3
(13-07-2014, 01:42 PM)otwstudio Wrote: How were the vocals recorded?

I couldn't tell you in this case, I'm afraid. You could try contacting the artist directly and ask -- if you do find out do post to let the rest of us know!
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