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: This multitrack was created as a full-band recording in front of a live audience, so it's a good one for practicing working with phase relationships, as there's a certain degree of spill between all the different instruments. Note also that this multitrack is provided at an 88.2kHz sample rate.
  • The drumkit's stereo overhead mics are complemented by close-mics for kick (in, out), snare, hi-hat, and two toms.
    
  • Upright bass, acoustic guitar, violin, and lead vocal are all single-miked, with an additional DI signal available for the acoustic guitar.
    
  • Stereo room mics capture an ambient signal from the whole ensemble.
    
  • For more information about the recording of this multitrack, check out these video tutorials on the pureMix site.
    

• Challenges You're Likely To Face:
  • Given that most of the tracks here have a good deal of spill from other instruments, you need to be very careful with phase/polarity relationships between the different channels if you want to get the best out of the raw tracks.
    
  • The drum overheads present a very wide stereo image, while the stereo positioning of the different instruments in the room mics contradicts a lot of the traditional panning locations for those instruments -- the snare is hard left (but with a pronounced ambient tail in the right channel), the bass is hard right, and the lead vocal and violin parts are also well off-centre.
    
  • The close violin miking captures rather an abrasive tone.
    
  • The vocal has some slight plosive/sibilant issues to be resolved.
    

• Some Mixing Tips: I spent an hour or so building a rough balance of this track to investigate how it's put together, and here are some suggestions based on that:
  • Although the guitar DI here sounds quite good, it still inevitably won't give as natural a tone as the mic, so I'd be inclined to rely on it only as much as necessary to avoid balance problems from the mic signal's spill.
    
  • Because there's so much good stuff happening in the room mics (despite the stereo positioning issues) I'd probably fade that up fairly early on in the mix so I'd be less inclined to overuse the less natural-sounding close mics.
    
  • If you can make the spill do your blending for you, then there's little need to use blending effects at all. However, given the wide stereo image of the overheads, and the unusual room-mic stereo picture, it's likely that some kind of spread/space reverb patch will prove beneficial to paint out to the edges of the final mix's panorama.
    

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