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Notes About the Multitrack
#1
Hey everyone!

I'm sure you've figured it out by my username, but I'm Robert, and I wrote and recorded 'The Elephant.' I originally did it as a one month, on song challenge in 2017, where I announced on Facebook that it would be coming out in a month's time.

So, everything was recorded in my home studio in Presonus Studio One (Ver. 3 at the time) with some pretty affordable mics. My interface at the time was a single Presonus FireStudio Project. I mapped out the scratch track for the song using the drum loops and synths built into Studio One, and built the song out from there.

The drums were recorded with 7 mics.
2 Overheads - Samson C02 Pencils
Snare Top and Bottom - Shure SM57s
Kick In - Samson QKick
Kick Out - MXL 770 with a low pass roll off
2 Toms - Samson QToms

The Bass and Guitars were all recorded direct. Bass into an instrument input, doubled and run through the Waves GTR Cab plugin. The guitars were recorded through a Line6 amp head(I can't remember the model, sorryUndecided) and then direct.

The synths and the keys were all done with Pressence, Studio One's built in synth instrument plugin, and heavy processing done mostly with stock plugins.

My vocals were recorded through a Blue Spark microphone (which has become my go to for vocals).

That's about it! I had a blast making this track! Thanks to Mike for uploading it to the library.

Also, the drummer on this track is one of my good friends Cameron Alidor. He's a fantastic musician and he makes some really great educational materials for drummers. You can check him out here:https://www.facebook.com/smangitdrums/

Also Also, the guitarist on this track was a college friend of mine names Steven Reed Gilmore. He's a great engineer in his own right and he's in a fantastic local band called Sloth Racer. You can check them out here:https://www.facebook.com/SlothRacer/

Happy Mixing! I'll try to listen and give feedback on as many mixes as I can Smile.

- Robert
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#2
Nice to see you on board Robert. I had a lot of fun mixing this as the recorded material had a lot of character. Having listened to quite a few mixes I am surprised at how similar they are. Not sure what that says, but I think it is interesting. Again welcome and thanks to you and Mike for the tracks.
PreSonus Studio One DAW
[email protected]
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#3
Hey, I choose this song for my next project.
A question to the Pro`s. Until now i never referenced to a reference Song while mixing. This time i want to try it.
Should i use the original Song as a reference and try to mix as close as possible to this or should I rather choose another song?
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#4
Hi,

I think I get where you are coming from. Personally, I'd do both. I'm not a pro, so I suppose I shouldn't really be answering your question. Some thoughts that might help though:

- I feel the mix has got to at least match or ideally beat the library mix benchmark. If I don't reference, how will I know?
- The mix has to be able to fit in to current playlists and not sound worse than other mixes, so I have to reference other tracks.

- Referencing the library mix will give you some idea of direction, or at least give some general idea of intent of the artist I think?

If I really like the library mix, and don't think I'm good enough at mixing to be able to match it, then it's a real challenge to try and match it, let alone beat it. It can also be fun to try and work out how certain things have been done. It's also an opportunity to really work at listening skills.

- Do I really like the library mix, or is there one or two things I don't like, or things I want to change?
- Does the library mix match current trends?
- Are my own tastes and ideas actually better than the library mix?
- Do I really feel I know the genre well enough to go off and do my own thing with it?

- Is my mix too bright, too dark, drums too loud, vocals too loud, bass too loud, etc for the genre and current trends?
- Is the frequency balance of my mix way off because I've been mixing too long and I need a break?

If pro mixes that you know sound good start sounding a bit off, then this is a good sign your ears are tired and you need a break to reset.

If you don't reference against *something*, how do you know where your mix stands? Personally I don't know how anyone can mix without referencing!

I think these thoughts also apply to reviewing mix critiques too. How well does the critic know the genre, and how much listening to similar music has the critic done?

Hope that gives you some ideas to help you answer your question a little?

Cheers!
Just uploaded a mix/master?  Waiting for comments? Why not give back and critique a mix/master, or two!
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#5
Hey Mikej,
thank you for your response. So for this one i think i try to reference to another song.

But as you said there is a challenge to get to the same result as the producer. So this is in another project definitely something i`ll try out.
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#6
Yeah - it all depends on what your end goal is really as to how you approach it. Couple of things I didn't mention. I find it can be useful to listen to a playlist of tracks before mixing to kind of reset your internal frequency balance. I also find it helpful to adjust the mixes you are referencing to roughly the same volume level.

Anyway - best of luck with your mixing!

Cheers!
Just uploaded a mix/master?  Waiting for comments? Why not give back and critique a mix/master, or two!
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#7
thank you for this song man
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