How to Mix Orchestrals: Master Class with Grammy Award-Winning Sound Engineer, Dennis Sands

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⏱️⏱️VIDEO CHAPTERS⏱️⏱️
0:11 - TAXI CEO, Michael Laskow welcomes Day 2 of the Road Rally Sequels!
2:05 - Grammy Award-Winning Sound Engineer, Dennis Sands explains his mixing philosophy - how does the balance feel?
2:53 - The number one way to achieve balance is panning.
3:01 - Plays first violins of the mix.
3:24 - Rituals come in handy, an orchestral mockup, or simulating an orchestra with samples, visualize the orchestra from the conductor's view of a traditional orchestra layout.
4:38 - Dennis demonstrates the first channel - left and right, how does he pan them?
6:07 - The first thing he does with any track is to determine where he wants the tracks to end up, what stem does he want to record them to?
7:20 - Develop your rituals, do them over and over so they become second nature.
8:37 - He adds the FabFilter Pro-Q3 plugin.
10:35- Dennis adds more strings - a different section is played and reviews the panning technique.
11:39 - Adds reverb - Symphony 3D plugin from Exponential Audio.
13:54 - Reverb helps create a sense of depth.
14:27 - First is bussing, second is panning, then any inserts or EQ compression, and finally reverb.
14:46 - Use the best possible samples you can get. As a composer, some of the most important tools are a great series of music library samples and great stereo monitors.
15:48 - You can't make bad-sounding stuff sound great, a little better, but not great.
18:45 - Adds a room tone with the Altiverb plugin, he wanted a scoring-room-style of space for the track.
22:27 - Panning the cello section.
24:27 - Adds the J37 plugin, demonstrates how it works on the track.
25:30 - Demonstrates EQ using AirEQ.
26:08 - You have to judge by listening, it's not always a numeric thing, trust your ears.
27:09 - Demonstrates the air component within the mix, it gives it a little bit of clarity.
29:30 - Plays next cello track, a small part. He adds a little EQ first thing to clean it up, making it sound brighter.
34:04 - He tends to be light-handed with reverb, it's an action track and he doesn't want to smooth it out too much. There is a lot of energy and movement, if he piles on the reverb it will diffuse that energy.
36:13- Plays the next cello part, and demonstrates how he uses EQ and the same pan.
39:25 - Moves on to the basses. Dennis explains that bass panning is similar to the cello panning.
41:44 - For low strings, be careful, especially relative to an action cue, a lot of reverb in low strings can get muddy very quickly.
42:52 - Plays next bass track, adds some EQ from AirEq, and demonstrates. He pushes the upper range of the lower frequency to give the bottom end a little "oomph".
47:31 - Plays all together, blending nicely, and feels like a real orchestra.
52:02 - On next bass track, he thinks it has enough room and ambiance, just a bit dark so he adds EQ from the FabFilter Pro-Q3.
55:26 - Bass tremolo added, it supplies the tension needed for an action cue.
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[@andreiviievskyi2838]

What a great teacher! Thanks for that!

[@TaxiIndependentAR]

We agree! Marc is incredible!

[@jaketanner109]

What’s with the midi tracks? Far different mixing a live orchestra.

[@AynenMakino]

Is the audio from your DAW being recorded directly or are we hearing it through your speakers in your studio?

[@TaxiIndependentAR]

Direct from the DAW.

[@therockfacepodcast3646]

What is a dominant and non dominant channel? On my DAW (Logic), I just have stereo channels that I pan left, right and anywhere in between.

[@Zhazha2009]

Представьте что вы сидите за микшерной консолью. У вас есть 2 канала правый и левый на каждом треке. Для скрипок 1 доминирующий канал будет левый - тк они сидят с лева и записанны более в левом канале. Вспомогательный канал будет правый - в нем меньше информации и скорее всего просто ощущение комнаты. Для виолончелей доминируюший будет ровно наоборот, правый канал а левый вспомогательный.

[@newearthmeditation3040]

Thanks. Now it makes sense.

[@sourcefor]

This is from Marc Jovani’s course, that’s cheating! I thought you guys really interviewed him!

[@TaxiIndependentAR]

He's such a great teacher, we decided to let him teach, rather than interview him. His info come flying at you, and every word is important. Thanks for watching it!