(09-01-2015, 06:33 PM)Caboney Wrote: Hey!
Any follow up on the snare soon?
Hi Caboney,
Thanks for giving my mix a listen.
I don't have Steven Slate Drums just yet, so I worked with the source material. I'm using Pro Tools 11.3.0, and I'll start off with what I did. I am learning, so please be constructive in your criticism as I am not coming from a position of authority. I'm only an enthusiastic neophyte that is having fun.
1. After first importing the audio tracks to a new project, I listened to the raw tracks all at once to catch a vibe for the song and get a 30,000 foot overview of what we had to work with.
2. I then normalized all of the audio clips (AudioSuite->Other->Normalize) to a Peak Level of -.3 dB to make the raw tracks easier to work with, and adjusted the placement of a few of the tracks as they where slid out of time.
3. Next was getting the drums to sound good, where I'll now continue focusing only on the snare.
3. I inserted a Fabfilter Pro-C instance for the first insert, and after listening and tweaking over the course of the entire song, I arrived at the following settings:
Band1
-----
Threshold: -23.62
Ratio: 9:1
Range: 100dB
Style: Clean
Attack: .180ms
Release: 239.1ms
Hold: 98.59ms
Knee: 2dB
Lookahead: .2ms
SideChain: In
Gain: 0dB
Filter Low: 99.92Hz
Filter High: 933.2Hz
Wet: 0dB
Dry: Off
Oversampling: Off
No Automation
4. The second insert is a Fabfilter Pro-Q2:
Band1
-----
Type: Bell 12 dB/oct
Freq: 731.34
Gain: -1161dB
5. The next insert is a Waves CLA Drums plugin:
Preset: Snare - Pop2
No alterations
6. The next insert is a Waves Scheps 73
Preset: Dirty Snare
Mode: Stereo
Input: 0dB
Output: -4.4dB
Preamp: On
Preamp Mic: -20M
Drive: Off
Drive Mic: -20M
High: On
High Freq: 12K
High Gain: +4dB
Mid: On
Mid Freq: 10KHz
Mid Gain: +7.3dB
Low: On
Low Freq: 220Hz
Low Gain: +2.9dB
HP: On
HP Freq: 160
Phase: Off
EQ: On
7. The next insert is an SPL Transient Designer:
Attack: +4.6
Sustain: +5.2
Output Gain: -5
8. And the last insert is a Waves NLS Channel:
Console: Nevo
Drive: +8.3
VCA Group: 1 (my Drums bus)
Output: -1.6dB
9. The Sends are as follows:
Send 1:
Output: REV-Room
Output Level: -1.7dB
Send 2:
Output: REV-Plate
Output Level: -12.9dB
10. The FX Bus channels referenced above:
REV-Room:
Insert 1: Lexicon PCM Native Room
Category: Medium Room
Preset: Ambience
Default settings, nothing modified
REV-Plate:
Insert 1: Lexicon PCM VintagePlate
Category: Instrument Plates
Preset: Just Plate
Default settings, nothing modified
11. Additional Notes:
The only plugin on my 2busses are NLS Bus instances set to their corresponding VCA group: 1 for Drums, 2 for Percusion, etc. using the "Mike" setting.
The only plugin on my Sumix bus is a Waves L3-16 using the stock "Enhance 2" preset, except for an Out Ceiling set to -.3dB.
I worked on the kick first and then tried to get a good snare level based on what I felt a good complement in the context of the musicality of the song.
I did perform a few Volume automations to bring out the snare in a couple of spots to emphasize the relevent song change.
I A/B'd all kinds of settings and compressors, et al, including reference tracks using the Sample Magic AB plugin that one of the Dave Pensado ITLs mentioned. I did this with track, chorus, and lyrical context.
To reiterate, I'm learning and trying to listen not only to the sound field but also to what I hear creatively in the music. As I mentioned in my first post, I removed a few "extra" chords played by different guitars in a few places to bring out what I believed the song wanted and was tring to communicate. I also took a few liberties with a couple of the guitar tracks to complement the aural interest, such as doubling (quadrupling) the opening/closing hook line, adding a tremolo/gating effect to another in the verses, and emphasizing a couple of unison complementary chord embellishments that, to me, wanted to come out. I can give more details if anyone is interested.
Some may feel the vocals are too loud or too soft. I felt the lyric was the message and needed to be expressed clearly and effectively using the vocalists timbres. I tried to keep them a little in front with nice wide choruses, but to still work as a team with the instrumentation. Additionally, I tried to find the unique musical nuances that each vocalist brought to the production and let them shine through. I made a few mixes with louder/softer snares, kicks, basses, etc., but settled on this one as a listenable first draft. Unfortunately, I have still not had a chance to listen to this mix on our 5.1 home theater system or in any vehicles, or even the old boombox in the garage for that matter. So, I am admitting this may sound terrible on those devices and welcome your comments on how it sounds on your listening equipment. I mixed for a stereo experience, so headphones will bring out some colors that will perhaps reveal a more comprehensive sonic panorama that I was striving for. Please let me know where I missed the mark.
For me, mixing is an experience where I become part of the band and collaboratively complement the original artists intention where the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Many of you, including the artists, may see a mixer's job as primarily a work-for-hire. I understand and appreciate your point of view and you are correct, but that is not the role I want to play in the process. For me it is an opportunity to help lift something to a greater height, but obviously not at the expense of either disappointing or offending the artist and/or listeners. My hope is to bring something to their effort where they hear even more in their music as the result of some unique perspective I may have on their work. Perhaps I'm injecting a little bit of "producer" into my mixing.
I welcome your interpretations and approaches to help mature my ear and technique.
Thanks,
Jim
P.S. I had the most fun painting vocals on the sound canvas. If you are interested I am happy to post details of those, as well.