FILM SCORING: Tom's Mixing Process

[@RickBeato]

This is so valuable and interesting. Thank you Tom!!

[@VAIBHAVSINGHMUSIC]

And so is your content ♥ we are blessed to have people like you and Tom around us

[@hagaisatria]

my guru! respect!

[@sillyfello]

Hagai Satria Sure he is!.. #respect..

[@TheStudioFreq]

Tom, you are the first person I've ever heard describe all these roles in one sitting. Cheers!

[@sonoman247]

I created another YT account just so I could hit like on this video more than once! Junkie you're awesome!!

[@PereRevert]

Too much respect ! By the way, your mixing skills are awe-inspiring, man it sounds already gorgeous out of the box, even before being recorded by a real orchestra. An insight about more mixing details (plugin insert chains, use of reverbs, delays...) of one of your last works would be really welcome Tom !

[@J.Livermore]

You are one of a kind, Thank you !.

[@runcis182]

Thank you Tom for explaining this in such simplified manner, so that even person like me, who never have composed any music, can understand the process. I'm just a music lover and fan of your work. These videos really let's me appreciate movie scores that much more.

[@pedrobarrionovo]

Huge! All the process is awesome!tks for share, Tom!

[@chrismeyers7487]

Hey Tom! Thank you for always taking the time to share your knowledge! If you haven't already, could you please do an in-depth overview of your computer management/setup? You said before you have 5(i think) slave computers- How did you set up your computers to work together for all your samples, recordings, templates, storage, etc.? Could you maybe go over some of the terminology that we should know if building/organizing a computer? Thank you for your time, Tom! You rock!

[@andrewmushel1725]

Awesome and in depth answer to that question. It's hard to really imagine the scope of that kind of project without having worked on one.

[@omeshsingh8592]

I'm in shear awe of the scope of activities and collaboration involved in getting from step 1 to the end-product... even more so that someone in your position can find the time to share your knowledge and experience with us here on KZbin.

[@raymondspagnuolo8222]

Great information! Thanks for posting!

[@SergiuMuresanMusic]

Came back to this to comment on how fing amazing it is to have a top level person giving all this superb insider info into the process that takes place on every level of film music production. Thank you Tom, this is literally priceless.

[@joeydangermusic]

Awesome video! Thanks for sharing

[@antonisfakiris505]

So precious information you share!!! Thank you Tom!!!

[@SunofZMusic]

Many thanks JXL for such access and advice!

[@cinematicfilm8703]

Awesome video ! Thank you junkiex

[@DaveMcGarry]

Superb explanation of a complex process Tom!

[@burnmic]

yet another awesome insight into the world of scoring for film. Fascinating stuff, and very insightful - thanks Tom!

[@janminor1172]

So what about sends (e.g. Reverb)? Are those rendered as separate stems, too? Or are they rendered into the stems?

[@junkiexlofficial]

into the stems

[@MythixMusic1]

Such a complex and time consuming process

[@PatFlanigan]

Another captivating look at how it's done! I love these! It'd be cool to know more/get a tutorial on your personal mixing process for the soundtrack in itself - the product going to iTunes, CD, etc.

[@kswindia]

This is so Insightful. Thank you Tom!

[@nogoogleplus]

Thanks so much for sharing! Super interesting and informative!

[@Hell_Inc]

so much info. thank you, JXL. much appreciation and respect

[@vinnien]

fascinating

[@philippepaquet1041]

Omg man I was seriously asking myself that exact question. I love that

[@95TurboSol]

I always wondered about them mixing in a mock theature, I thought in my head that since music sounds SO different on every medium (car, home, headphones, theature etc) that they would have to test it in the medium it's destined for. That's so cool to hear they actually do that, but holy hell 10 to 20 weeks of mixing? Good lord no way I would ever be an audio engineer for film.

[@FedericoSolazzo]

GREAT as always!!!! Thanks Tom!!

[@ericdyer3883]

Great Info Tom! Much appreciated!!!!!!!!

[@ReginatorNet]

Very interesting

[@achillesamusic]

10-20 weeks of mixing , WOWW :O

[@rolfmeyermusic]

Hey Tom, love the videos and the music! Can you to a talk about "spotting" and or the process of writing a theme/motif. How do you approach a film if the director doesn't have much knowledge in music terms or is undecided about what he/she wants for the music.

[@junkiexlofficial]

coming up in this segment

[@JoaoReiLobo]

I agree, writing motifs is hard. Spotting is a tedious! I can't imagine writing a motif without the spotting though.

[@VAIBHAVSINGHMUSIC]

This video was so good! I could visualize what happens in bigger stage. thanks alot sir for sharing these insights

[@thomasnielsen7229]

That was awesome! 20 weeks for the final stage mix - WOW. It would be interesting to see what plugins and processing you apply to all of your MIDI strings, brass, drums, sfx, and synths.

[@catface]

very interesting topic! thanks, Tom

[@victornoagbodji]

hey Tom, can you do a segment on writing new music for an existing old piece? would be great for beginners : )

[@sibannaC1992]

Great informations as always. I can only imagine how much fun it is to work in a studio like that.

[@fixederror]

No mention of Alan Meyerson? Does he only mix the orchestral components or does he do the final music mixes?

[@Spoilermixer787]

Respect!

[@TK_090]

How does one begin to be a composer and score for films? I find it fascinating but also daunting lol would love to learn more on how to start..

[@scifu7e91]

Here are some questions: 1.) Do you make the same steps if you make a song or make other steps like: sometimes begin with strings, sometimes the bass ... 2.) Have you ever heard a song/music or sound parts in your dreams and have try to "save" them ? (i have it, but i am not good to bookmark it) And it must be really hard if you have only a few weeks sometimes to make a full score :"(. *Great* *Respect* ♥. I hope that someone make a movie in 3d of The comic/game: "The Darkness" with new unknown Arctors and you can make a Electro/Metal score. The Best Comic and game (of a comic) for me ;). But that will ever be one of (my) many dreams. Have nice days, be happy and see you Tom ;D your SCIFU7E d^^bV

[@audiounit]

The thought 800-900 channel mixer 😳 blows my mind, is that all hardware channels? Is it all faders or with summing mixers? I would love to see pics of this, google wasn't my friend today.

[@Garthritis]

Google Skywalker Sound Dubbing Theater. There are pics of large consoles. Their channels likely go up to the hundreds but I suspect that they load up different pages of stems, not all of them at once.

[@Hemerash]

4:30 -> "It's Humongous." Well, for a Mad Max movie, it's "Humungus"...

[@Hartekist2France]

Nice. cheers

[@InLightTone]

Junkie do you practice keyboards so as not to get into a rut like playing in the same key and the same patterns etc.?

[@Albertmars32]

who are your favorites electronic music artist? do you listen to flume?

[@djanitatiana]

hey Tom, would be nice if you acknowledged Greg F and Steve also in the re-recording since they did so much of the heavy lifting esp the fx.

[@yonatanpandelaki]

Awesomeness!! Thank you so much for the insights and all the great work you're giving us. I'm really hungry to know more how you work as i'm making my own way into the industry as well.

[@junkiexlofficial]

good luck! I wish you best

[@kleonard4056]

Listened to another of your videos this morning and was amazed at your mixing skills on a real thick Batman/Superman fight scene....lots of layers but I could hear everything..( I think you said it was an earlier demo version also). My question is, are the stems you bounce for the movie mixer in Stereo or mono.... what do they prefer? Love your work. Ken Leonard

[@nirvanafan21191]

Damn, "The Stage" sounds intense.

[@jode4608]

I'm french and i don't understand everything, but thank you ! :)

[@Faarey_19]

❤️❤️❤️

[@sillyfello]

now i have great respect for the RR mixing engineers..

[@junkiexlofficial]

right?

[@wallididdly]

Do you add all the reverb to your music? Included in the stems? How can you judge how much to use when its mixed in a theatre? Actually any sweetening could be a challenge. Thanks times a million for your videos!

[@remon563]

yes the reverb is included in the stems :) well, they usually mix using a room which simulates a theatre very well because.. it is a theathre ; D

[@vtkz]

What Audio System do have in your Living Room (also dynaudio?) and what music do you like to hear beside your own ?

[@junkiexlofficial]

listen on headphones or laptop. Classical music; great electronic music; alternative rock; whatever is great!

[@mrbgnle]

junkiexlofficial still have that sepultura shirt? That piece of clothing almost became your trademark back in the nineties.

[@junkiexlofficial]

haha It did? I was wearing it forever

[@audios22]

Great insight. Albeit on a different level than I am used to working. In some cases, I am the composer, mixing engineer, sound designer, dialog editor and re-recording engineer on lower budgeted films. I would much rather hand off my stems to someone else for re-recording and editing. Mainly because I get the blame if it doesn't play well in a theatrical screening. For DVD, maybe OK. But unfortunately, i need to wear many hats to keep the rent paid.

[@daveus111]

Can you take your camera to this theater in show us the process?

[@nicksaya]

Tom. Are all your stems printed in surround ?

[@ABombs1]

Classic question - Do you ever get, and how do you solve writer's block?

[@h-voltage]

This was answered in 'Season 1'

[@ABombs1]

I never saw a season 1. I'll go search

[@Alreadygone-qg5qw]

Headphones

Wow, I already find it quite overwhelming that you mix the score on your own... Couldn't imagine you mixing the whole movie. That would be past insane! Lol Thanks for your videos, mate. Really appreciate them! Cheers!!

[@marctronixx]

"fill-um". I love your accent vriend! respect!

[@Garthritis]

Is there any info out there about your studio computer's specs, audio interface's used and the routing involved? All I can find is lists of your synths and other instruments.

[@junkiexlofficial]

Studio time season 1 also here on this channel

[@Garthritis]

Watched it all and it was great but they did not get into much of the high level nerd info I was also interested in. Were your studio's built/assembled by a 3rd party? Thanks for the quick response and great video's sir, very inspiring.

[@Pulse2AM]

Just curious are you a schooled musician JXL? Meaning did you study an instrument or composition and theory. Not that it matters since many great musicians haven't.

[@junkiexlofficial]

self taught

[@PereRevert]

Impressive.. that's what we call innate TALENT !!

[@Pulse2AM]

Cool, thanks.

[@ingoodmusic]

What about the effects(reverbs-delays and so on), do u take clean track to the studio or processed through the effects?

[@SkillGamingNL]

Alweer een goede video, Tom!

[@BartKuipersdotcom]

What about the 'mixing' or the placement of the sounds in surround? I know you do that in your studio already, but are there times the 'placement' (in surround) of the music is altered in the dubbing stage?

[@junkiexlofficial]

rarely, maybe some panning extra in surround or moving some extra stuff to centre speaker for punch

[@hamzah6106]

Can i use my computer keyboard in making those effects that can be heard in "Batman v. Superman Fight Cue - Studio Time: S2E5" 3:36 3:48 6:38, those drum beats that starts from slow intense then ends in high intense?. And, it is possible to do this using FL Studio 12?, since 90% of computer users here in my country uses MS Windows operating system, and those sounds like "dang, dang, dang, dang, dang, braammm". Thank you.

[@Body67]

Great explanation, please could you give more technical information ? what is the file format you have to provide for the final mixing ? and do you simply bring an external hard drive with the stems ? sorry for the basic question ;-)

[@junkiexlofficial]

wave 32bit 48khz surround or quad or LCR

[@neuronmind]

Due to this I just discovered my nuendo can export audio @32bits floatingpoint and 384 khz(did not even know that was possible )so why the low samplerate of 48.000 khz and the high bitrate ? Normaly I master @24 bit 96 khz and recalculate to 16 bit 48khz for publishing.(i only do music tracks ,no filmscores)What's best in your opinion ? thx 4 sharing your knowledge en groetjes uit Den Haag. p.s. your brimstone score is amazing just as the movie itself !

[@AhmadAli95]

If I'm not wrong, 48khz is the standard for video/modern digital cinema. 96khz is common too. My guess for the use of 32bit is to prevent clipping.

[@junkiexlofficial]

correct

[@JD-KMbr]

Hello? how think mixing for sound better Db sounds good in many diferents midia sounds. exemple same song design sound for grant headphone, little headphone, mobile headphone, laptops sonds clients, little and big radio machines and all type speakers sounds (monitor) by public fans. what better paramter should follow in sound production and mixing to stay the best sound possible in all media? - thanks and cheers!

[@michaelpalombo470]

Its a pity that Avid Pro Tools is more or less still as a standard here

[@sanchitgide6316]

please make a video on your stem mixing

[@jordanhunton2409]

Maybe stupid question... When you bounce your stems and play back at unity... in order for that to be exactly your mix you would not be using a master chain right? because then that master bus would have processing on each individual stem and ultimately change the whole mix (even though it may be subtle). Are you just doing all the processing you need on each individual instrument and completely bypassing a mastering chain altogether ? Or am I missing something :/

[@junkiexlofficial]

there is no master chain. But every stem has its own master chain

[@jordanhunton2409]

Ohh ok I get it, understood! Thank you so much!

[@Mandy-Lane]

stems

[@AhmadAli95]

Thank you Tom! These videos are so helpful and informative. What about album releases? Do you use the same mixes or does someone tweaks things further?

[@junkiexlofficial]

I do unique stereo mix sessions for the sound track

[@turquoisecapricorn]

Really interesting info! It takes a lot of work, if you wanna do it good! greetz Jason

[@Riexn]

So this means the CD soundtrack releases have the mix that is before the dubbing stage mix?

[@junkiexlofficial]

no I do that separate

[@cyberpunkbg140]

I want to see how you make your sound design on FX . For me is very interesting i want to use in Techno :)

[@kosmikmusa]

Me too...

[@lahattec]

Thanks very much for these. I wonder how you tackle physically mixing with so many tracks involved. Do you just mix with the mouse? Thanks!

[@mirr1984]

Now I know why credit rolls are so long. :)

[@skrie]

I use only VST's... and I can't afford a large modular wall like that in my whole life. But those pot-meter knobs cost 12 euro for 50 knobs. And wood isn't that expensive. Maybe I should just build a wall of useless knobs so I can make videos with the cool kids again.

[@soundfx68]

OK, if it was a piece of stereo music you were discussing... "What's Your Mixing Process Like?"

[@junkiexlofficial]

my mixing is not in stereo but surround. And all stems are surround or quad or LCR

[@soundfx68]

I was just trying to glean some mixing details! Anyway, I'm not going to rephrase the question again... Thanks!

[@thomasbutton2716]

Hi Tom, do I understand you correctly, that you are mixing your stems to 0dB and not to -6dB? And the stems are subgroups of your instrument sections? I expected, that you stem every track and let them mix in the post-processing? Please excuse my question, but did it happen to you, that your mix doesn´t fit? And how do you deal with the problem of masking? Or is this impossible because you are using UAD-Plugins? Sorry! But you´ve said:"...Ask me anything...", so I do now. Kind regards Thomas.

[@junkiexlofficial]

I was referring to putting all faders up at 0db. Not level of signal

[@thomasbutton2716]

mea culpa.

[@michaelpalombo470]

Learn here to know more about film scoring working with the director www.spitfireaudio.com/editorial/features/scoring-a-film/part1/

[@MythixMusic1]

One question on this though if you could please answer: do you mix in that room? Doesn't look like a great mixing environment

[@LarsWilms]

1:38 de FILLUM

[@Alreadygone-qg5qw]

WHO

[@mupicap7927]

Damn. That looks like need a passion of job.

[@iggswanna1248]

TOM! CAN YOU PLEASE BE MY FATHER!

[@kaidoluht1957]

"We really can't choose our fathers can't we now?":Luke

[@MarcosHBolanos]

The title is a bit misleading...The question is "how´s your mixing process", and the video talks about the dubbing stage. I think it´d be more interesting to talk about the mixing process from the musician´s point of view rather than the re-recorder´s one, since we´re composer, no re-recorders :-)

[@Wazulon]

Question 1: Has your partner every wandered in to your studio and realised what you've spent all your money on? Question 2: Are you still together? He he he Awesome vids Tom. Thanks heaps for spending what little spare time you must have on doing them.