Will Evans - Me And My Crew

[mikej]

Hi!

Latest mix was the 1.0 version - which does have bus processing, the only one that didn't was the one in post 12 or whatever it was.

No need to be sorry, it's a fair assesment!

I wasn't at all going for bounce - just a present kick. It's not a great mix really. It's also a much cleaner mix (aside from the limiting...) than I usually go for with these Telefunken sessions. Usually I just mix them with all faders up and don't bother about the bleed. I think just the last couple I did, I decided to clean them up quite a bit with gates and a little editing. Interestingly it seems leaving the bleed (vibe) in would seem to be the way to go. I also note the bus comp is not doing anything much really either in this one.

If you are curious about the kick - it's gate/eq/comp and a little room reverb. I just used the kick in mic. Eq is a digital parametric. Comp was 1176 style, 4:1 slow attack, fast release, 4-6 db of gain reduction.

For the general idea regarding the eq curves - check out the CLA kick presets on the Waves SSL channel if you can, and tailor that to your needs. It's basically just cutting out the mud and boosting the top and bottom end a little. Rather than the kind of wide low end boost you have to do on the SSL, I just do a little narrow boost on the fundamental, or thereabouts. (I don't personally use the SSL channel any more). I think Michael White has a good video on kick drums somewhere on his mixing with mike channel that's worth a watch. Yeah the CLA presets I found quite useful to study. It's not only what he boosts and cuts in each instrument, but also how they kind of all fit together too.

Other thing with the kick drum is mix balance - just listen to the kick drum whilst bringing in the other elements and make sure you keep it sounding as you want in the mix and that you don't lose the sound by masking or burying it or whatever. I find making sure you have enough headroom to move things about during the mix helps. You can always rebalance things as well, as I'll likely have the drums a little buried by the time I get through all the tracks.

Dunno if any of that is interesting/useful or not but I typed it out anyway!

(Edit: also it didn't stop my mix from sucking a bit either.... )

Cheers!

[Mixinthecloud]

Certainly you were successful with the kick drum and what you describe, in general, is what we encounter and endure with every mix we undertake, I think. Funny what you are saying about the SSL channel. I have the Waves E channel and sometimes I will bring it out on the bass but not much since I also have the Lindell 80 Channel and the Scheps OmniChannel. And the Presonus Fat Channel has some nice emulations in it including 6 compressors and 5 EQ types as well. The heuristics of the SSL channel are so different than what I am accustom too that I have not found a comfort level with it as of yet. And the Lindell API 50 Channel is really tugging at my sleeve.

[mikej]

It's not at all about the plugins - any digital parametric will work. There's really nothing special about the SSL channel eq, that wasn't my point. It's just that you asked about the kick and I found the CLA presets useful to study from a learning perspective - i.e. the general idea behind the boosts and cuts for different instruments and how they all fit together in a mix. Of course you have to adjust them depending on your source material. I personally don't find the SSL useful for bass as the low end q is fixed and the bands don't quite overlap where I need them. The SSL channel was quite useful for learning to mix with the ears and not the eyes.

Cheers!