Can I get a reaper chain lol

On the mix buss just mute in and out and see what works and then dial in. You might not need anything but its there and for extra flavour and overall control.Thats me anyway.

We all wanted to be on that plane

I follow a couple of other mixer/engineers and don't get me wrong their insights are invaluable and have helped me a lot. But I never seemed to like their mixes(the actual output) because i hear the top-down mixing way too much rather. As a listener I hate it when I can't connect to a song because something about the production is too in the way. And it's exactly like you said: plasticy transients, and eq that sounds too post compression instead of pre compression, saturation that feels like it's smearing the song in a way that lacks finesse. Your mixes on the other hand sound like the records I am to get my mixes to be on a level with! Thanks for this tip! I was kinda feeling this for a while and you confirmed it for me.

Congratulations from the bottom of my heart! Only console + hardware!! I'm waiting for your videos about the console! (work / comparison with the mix ITB) Good luck to you!

Awesome reaction man. Would love to hear your reaction of a song off Creeds human clay

That's a great discussion. While i disagree with some things you said, many need to be addressed. Not everybody will have the opportunity to work in studio with great equipment and this is also why mixing on a laptop becomes more and more an alternative and plugins companies are targeting this audience by bringing analog gears into the digital world. It's more affordable and it's simply the future. Wether you mix in studio or on your laptop, it doesn't change the fact that if you have zero skills, using SSL plugins won't make a difference for you. It is important to learn the basics an progress. But here's the truth, I live in New York and had some of my tracks mixed in some decent recording studio. Of course, not the NRG type of studio but enough to get a much better sound that I could have done myself. Once I left the studio and and played it on different system, it sounded like shit. Plain and simple. It didn’t translate good in any system, huge problem with the bass, sounded muddy. What a disappointment . The reality is many people, even if they work in big well treated studio, simply don't know how to mix properly. It wasn't even a problem of not understanding my vision, it was really on a technical level. There is a lot of attitude. Studio sound engineering is a competitive field and for some people, when they get there : they think it's a proof that they are good, if not very good. I'm a music producer and sound engineer and I know some great grammy nominated sound engineer much more humble then many I met in those studio. And one of my friend, who is Grammy nominated, mixes from home now after years working in the big studios, for Universal and famous brand...when I asked him if he misses the big studios he told me : Not at all, fuck that. I have my pair of headphones and my laptop, all the clients I needs. I think he charges almost a thousand for a mix. The industry understands that they don't get to decide how and where people prefer to mix and they better to adapt. While I totally understand where you come from with this video, you need to understand that what's happening right now is creating new standards and they will become dominant wether we like it or not. The same is happening with music and the quality of music. How could we go from incredible instrumentation and melodies to such minimalistic music like Ice Spice for example. Even the quality of the mix on some songs is obviously pretty bad. So there is definitely a lot of change happening right now, in what we consider good or bad. But when it comes to mixing in studio with great equipment and mixing on a laptop, depending who is in charge of the mix : talent is talent, skills are skills. Many famous sound engineer such as Andrew Scheps mix on headphones, with a laptop and tools such as VSX emulating speakers and studio rooms almost at the perfection help getting great mixes this way. I did better mixes this way, rather than the sound engineer in that studio who couldn’t manage a great sounding mix that translates good anywhere.

very cool

hey Joel. I used to me a URM member ! long ago lol. great video , and I am completely on the same page with you. `want to know something funny? I had the same conversation with Maor ! over the phone and he absolutely lectured me. years after im in post audio now and I cannot tell you the improvements ive felt in my mixing. of course its not too similar to music mixing but what applies is the philosophical aspect you mentioned. not about the gimmick mixing tricks. for me its all about telling the story that needs to be told. and I tell you what , mixing on an Avid s4 is better than sex lol. it makes things so efficient. ive a long way to go and im always trying to learn from the best. I learnt alot of great things from you when I was starting out so I really owe u one. I hope all is well with you

Why would you automate pre-compressor? Then running through the compressor would un-automate it. Clip gain before the compressor but do the automation after. That is how I do it on mine. I am talking about channel compressors (inserts) not the buss comp.

Bruh you have no clue what the song even sounds like when you just play 5 seconds at a time. This is awful to watch

I really do love Zakk's drum mixes. As you touched on the more tame 200 range on the snare is rly neat

“Hey I’m Joel Wanasek I’m a pro mixer and amateur Ryan Reynolds lookalike.”

Haha! Who came up with this as a legit way to mix and then promoted it? If you have a stereo mix and nothing else, you have no other option, but, ONLY then and you’d better be very very careful. I learned 45 years ago NOT TO TOP DOWN MIX UNLESS THERES NO OTHER WAY, BECAUSE, IT WILL SCREW UP MASTERING.

Is the tremolo panned left and right?

if the mastering engineer that told you that the pros doesn't have anything on their mix bus is true, I don't think that this is about top down mixing,rather it's more about NO Mixbuss processing.

My 90s vintage Allen & Heath GS3000 is getting delivered on Monday, to say I'm excited doesn't even come close. I still love the music I grew up listening to, it was recorded analogue. My first trip to the studio, was also analogue. At university, we had a 16 channel desk with two ADAT tape machines, which wasn't quite analogue but it wasn't far off. I want that experience again, and now it's achievable since 90s gear is still quite inexpensive. I'm going to still be using my computer as a tape machine, I'm not crazy, but the workflow will still be mostly analogue.

you pause too much Im out!!

As long as you don’t mix from audience perspective, I think you’ll be fine

If you guys ever get Mudvayne on Nail the Mix, I will buy that shit the instant it goes up!!

Yeah, I agree to a point. I think my style is more of a hybrid, Mainly because I learned mix on protools Le systems that meant you had limited processing power, so stereo processing was always better as far as how much cpu you had available, but now with better computers, I still do eq/comp saturation on master and get more specific on individual guitars/vocals, and very hybrid on drums, almost stem mastering a drum bus. At the end of the day, whatever works for you, and whatever turns out killer tracks

your mix bus doesn't really seem like top down mixing, just adding stuff cause you have it

Please cover DBX 128

Henkka is always overlooked on this band but he carries so much of the pulse of the overall groove!

I think the guitar tone itself is a bit thin and fizzy tbh, but the way it's mixed is great. The bass is doing a lot of the heavy lifting with regard to palm mute chunks, and it's a nice balance between the two. One thing I do appreciate is that it's not too mid-heavy, which I think is a problem in modern metal guitar tones. It has a nice amount of saturation too, but the mic sounds a bit too close to the cap for my liking.

Finally someone who agrees that sending sessions is a no go

I absolutely love bands that have balls to be personal and not chase a certain sound. Luckily that covers most of my clients.

John Feldmann mixed and produced this album?

Naw, they should have fed it some crack, that is where the energy lives in the snare...biased hardcore drummer tho.

May i ask a stupid sounding question...I am German native speaker...when you guys talk about...to print something...what do you mean with it? Recording an analog signal flow back to the DAW? Great video and very inspiring...thx a lot in advance...Andy

Randy Staub is a genius! There is very little information about his style and techniques

Nice thanks.

The spectrum explained in this video : 1. We can't produce the tone we want, let's send DI and Midi to Engineer. 2. Can you copy this mix from [Insert top dog engineer] but cheaper

This is partly the exact same reason I'm trying to go analoug as much as possible! Except it's my shoulder and back .. but it's massively inflamed by using a mouse for more than ten mins at a time!

Can you route the short fader outputs back to the DAW and track them? Awesome video bro.

Hey Joel, what's your favorite In Flames record? Great video reaction by the way!

This album is top in metal writing and mixing. Perfection.

Joel Wanasek How do you feel about mixing without the dynamics of a 4000E series? These console manufacturers always cheap out, why not go all the way? Am I missing something is there channel dynamics not listed in their description?

Wow I am still trying to figure out my routing, connections and ssl xdesk features.. I am sure I will not be getting something on that level..maybe a 16 channel origin would be a dream. I am still in the learning stages of recording and mixing I am more of a singer songwriter/multi-instrumentalist trying to level up my own recordings. I am semi retired from my day job, so now I have more time to learn my equipment which is kinda dated…ssl xdesk, SSL xrack eqs and dynamics, ssl bus compressor, UA 6176, U87, SM57, Sm58, Neumann KM184,SSL Alpha VHD quad Pre amp rack, Avid S3, avid Dock, Macpro 2012 tower, Pro tools HDX..my soon to be future units, audioscape LA2a, 2 RND Newton channel strips, a Tegeler EQP-1, M2 Mac mini pro, updating my PT HDX 12.84 to the current version. I also signed up for a pro tools production certificate program at Berklee online…the PT fundamentals 101 and 110 certification courses were very challenging. But they force me to better wrap my head around the PT Daw.

I think the problem here is not Top Down Mixing itself, it's the way you're using the technique. Some plugins that you had on your Mixbus chain are particularly for things that you might or might not need. f.e MaxxBass, you might need the bass frequencies to cut through small speakers or you might not at all! it all depends on the source . Same goes for the multiband compression and some other plugins as well. The main reason I use Top Down is for a sonic sound that i like , that adds to the track instead of shaping the track . Just like a Console board . And i even alter the settings after i get the initial balance and A/B to see what works better. You can't put things in the Mixbus thinking it will magically make your mixes better and expect it to work !! If you do Top Down Mixing , please stop using it wrong. It's not to make your mix better, it's for a sonic character that you're accustomed to, where you can mix into to it. Just even when you push the faders up , you instantly figure out where to go next and know what to do to the tracks . And if you don't want that and can work better without it, it's okay for you to not use it. But don't do it wrong and blame the technique for your fault 🤦🏻‍♂️ .

i think it works well with high dinamics sections only. But used along other gate methods, it will help a lot in the general sound of the bleed removal.

Top down is horribly flawed. There is nothing that should be on the mix buss..... There is no golden chain with golden settings so why would you mix into something balance the mix first and when the mix is almost there you can dial in the things you need to enhance or control on the mix buss or choose to do certain processing not on the mix bus but on groups or channels. The needs of al the different elements inside a mix are mostly not needing the same so there could not be a worse thing not noticing this due to the predetermined stuff on the mix buss which makes every move on the mix taking in account the consequences which you obviously notice and this makes the elements not better or synergetic. In fact it takes down the contrast which is making elements add and work together. Volume and EQ is masked by the predetermined 2 buss processing. It's like a cook starting with the seasoning before anything is properly cooked. It's no time saver it's a waste of time and delivers generic mixes.

The whole point should never be to do it faster and easier. I'm not a pro and it's becoming a pro means I have to give up doing it right for the sake of faster and easier than I don't want to be one. Top down never appeal to me because the only reason that mix bus processing exists is for formatting and sometimes gluing or correcting. Outside of that one of the most important things that you need in every mix is track isolation which is something you're working against when you put it on the mix bus. Yeah that's right that thing that we spent all those thousands of dollars on for many selections of microphone and preamps so that we can get just the right pocket of sound for each individual instrument and voice?

Rather stick with the Avid S6.

I think chasing aesthetics has always been a thing in the industry. Bands would seek out engineers, producers, and mixers to try and get a vibe, but we've just trended towards not letting the band's sound shine through. The black album came about because they wanted the guys behind Dr feelgood and slippery when wet. When you use that as a reference and compare to the black album, you definitely hear the influence of those records but it is STILL unmistakably Metallica. I feel your pain for real, it kinda kills me inside how especially in metal now people just want a very generic approximation of a particular mixer's aesthetic and want to just straight rip off a sound to a T. This is why I am placing restrictions on myself during the engineering and mixing stage of the album my band is doing. By setting a rigid list of hardware in front of myself and making our sound with just that gear, and minimal plugins, i am gonna sound unique. Whether that is good or not will be decided by the audience 😂

It's a tool, use it wisely and when appropriate. The key is to know what you want to achieve and how to get there.

I mitigate the pitfalls of top down mixing by only applying it once the mix is about 90% done. As a producer, I don't like to leave all the mix bus processing to the mastering engineer as I have a specific vision for my music. For me, I want my mastering engineer to do as little as possible in terms of shaping and dynamics processing. Ultimately, there is no right or wrong here. Music is art.

Couldnt even make it through. Bruh

Bro, you talk too much. The video played for 3 seconds and you talked for 10

We've got one on the way to The Plant in Sausalito, very excited for it!