Sharp Practise
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2/13/2009 9:40:33 AM
Mixing with automix
So, what do I do with those other two effects loops (keep your answers clean, please!)? Well, one tends to get used for backing vocals, with just a hint of room reverb and an extreme left/right panning placement. It’s surprising how much width and depth you can add to your bv’s this way. The other loop gets pressed into service wherever its needed - a bit of chorus to a pad keyboard sound or whatever.
Let’s see how this works out in practice on the mix for the opening track, Hook In My Heart. Although this is only a three minute song, it’s quite a complex mix, with instruments coming in and out and a restart after the second chorus. To cope with this (and the fact I only have two hands) I make a series of scenes (25 in this case). Each scene records the mix of a part of the song, e.g. intro, first half verse two etc. Then I use my automix facility to record this basic set of mix changes as I go along to create a rough mix. That way, I still have ten fingers free for faders to make any intuitive corrections as I mix.
I got one very good tip from Fran Ashcroft about making mixes on digital equipment, which is make sure the drum balance is right and get the vocal levels to sit well. More about this next time.
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