Mixing Vocals and Dialogue With A Fader - No Plugins Required

[@DevilBirb]

I've been working in audio post for 10 years now and I still love watching your videos. This channel is the first thing I send people who ask for help learning the craft of audio post

[@ThomasBoykin]

Thanks, that means a lot to me

[@marklholloway]

Great overview! I watched a video a while back with an old mix engineer who demonstrated this technique on a console for a vocal session and said this is how they did it in the 1960’s. Love the human element this brings ❤

[@ThomasBoykin]

Nothing wrong with the old ways!

[@pranaykhara]

Great vid Tom! Keep em coming! Could you please make a video about sound designing an action film? Especially when you are working with cars in a chase kind of sequence. I find sound designing cars in a detailed manner quite daunting!

[@zab6stringer]

Great video , really grateful for your tips 😊

[@rrenguero]

Hello Tom! Thank you for this video; it has helped me a lot. I'm always thinking of things to ask you, but now I'd like to know if you could make a video showing what settings you use to start your session in the image editor (if possible, showing a session in the image software would be awesome) and how you integrate it into Pro Tools. Thank you very much, once again. Keep up with your videos! greetings from Argentina

[@jimschnobrich5078]

I agree. Pro Tools is and always will be best DAW in the world.

[@ThomasBoykin]

There can be only one!

[@bernardobento5943]

Hey Thomas! Awesome lesson as always! What I would like to learn from you is deessing a specific problematic dialogue. I know that we can attenuate with the fader but it's not always possible and that are some problematic frequencies that I just simply cannot reduce without making the rest of the voice sound like crap. Thank you!

[@ThomasBoykin]

Ok yeah, I can do one on de-essing, good idea

[@imjavierpalma]

Such an amazing tip, thanks Thomas.

[@ThomasBoykin]

Glad to share some ideas!

[@ChristopherTesta]

Great again. Love the knife.

[@ThomasBoykin]

It was my grandpas from the Korean War

[@Andrew-vk5fy]

Hi Thomas. Great video, thanks for keeping them coming! Would you be able to do a video on mixing MX,FX,VO commercials?

[@ThomasBoykin]

I haven't done commercial for a while, but maybe!

[@chrisbistrishki]

Hey Thomas! Yet again an excellent tutorial. I would like to submit a request for another idea, namely a dedicated overview on your use of the automation window in Pro Tools, when working on a film project. How do you use the functions preview, capture, punch, write to selection, etc. in specific scenes and film mixing scenarios? I get the general use of all of those, but I‘ve rarely seen an in-depth demo on an actual scene with some actual material on the different tracks. A lot of tutorials are just empty tracks where a guy would just go „so let’s pretend I have a dialogue, foley or whatever going on here“😅 I get it’s maybe sometimes difficult to show actual film material, but I still hope you could figure something out. Cheers! ❤

[@ThomasBoykin]

Good idea

[@andrewwest8334]

Another great video, I love that you talk about the human element, it’s something I take pride in as a mixer. I wouldn’t be with out my trusty Artist Mix! (Even if Avid are essentially disowning it and trying to get me to spend more money on an S1 🙄). I can’t believe I’ve never ridden volume automation at half-speed though! That’ll be great for when you want to push a low volume ‘th’ or ‘f’ at the end of a sentence forward, for example, where it’s really tight. Video suggestions… 🤔 How about mixing the same job for multiple formats? I.e. delivering something for broadcast that will also be sent for online / KZbin clips etc. Would you do two separate mixes or mix the broadcast spec and then maybe use something like Nugen Loudness Correct to export the latter? If that makes sense…

[@ThomasBoykin]

Good idea, I kind of cover that in my mixing deliverables video, but maybe worth a second look

[@wayneryalls2048]

Love this mate, it's been one of things I have been trying to master and that has helped massively. I've been working my way through your videos and I'm not sure if you have done one but would love a video on treating the room acoustically with bass traps etc etc and how important that is on top of monitor placement. Just finally related to this, what is your thoughts on vocal rider? I've used it on a podcast that I do purely because the sound isn't the best as they're interviews done through zoom and it just saves me loads of time. Cheers Wayne

[@ThomasBoykin]

Hey Wayne, I never got on with vocal rider. I could do a video on room treatment with REW, great idea!

[@wayneryalls2048]

@@ThomasBoykin that would me awesome mate, thanks.

[@paulkazibwesekyeru]

Thanks man. This is really helpful. I would like to see how you go about mixing production Dialogue from the first plug in to the last one you drop on a channel. How do you approach it?

[@ThomasBoykin]

I go through this in one of my mixing videos, but maybe a shorter one on this topic would be useful

[@Yadadamizzle]

Love your videos. Thanks so much

[@ThomasBoykin]

I'm happy to make them

[@bshupp]

Great stuff, thanks!

[@ThomasBoykin]

Appreciate it, and for the support

[@sonicart1808]

Great tutorial once again Thomas thanks! Would you use this approach if you were sent a film to mix? For example, Dialogue, Music and Effects?

[@ThomasBoykin]

Always! Every track usually gets a fader ride and detailed plugin automation.

[@sonicart1808]

Great thanks Thomas, I've not done a lot of full project mixing so it's good to know your approach on this.@@ThomasBoykin

[@brettrandolph6531]

@ThomasBoykin to be clear, you do this type of fader riding on nearly every track you touch? Or are there any scenarios in which you wouldn't use a fader rider for a clip?

[@Lurosza]

OMG Thank you so much!!!!

[@ThomasBoykin]

It was your idea, so thank YOU

[@lukaslulei1075]

Hey Thomas! One question - you said that you would do volume automation before compressor. Does it mean that you'd have compressor just on a bus, since compressors on tracks are pre-fader?

[@ThomasBoykin]

Depends! Sometimes I will do track compression, sometimes bus. My bus compressor is just to catch yelling, threshold usually around -14 or so. If I use a track compressor it will have a very fast attack, to knock down transients a bit and make poorly recorded dialogue less "spiky."

[@Coffinator101]

You could also coalesce the volume automation to clip gain so you compress for tone/taste reasons rather than technical ones - then you can ride the fader again with the compressor already dialed in to keep the human touch :)

[@Paulkruz1]

Nice Dagger Tom.

[@ThomasBoykin]

I’ve had a few clients unwilling to pay invoices, it is one way to convince swift payment!

[@Paulkruz1]

@@ThomasBoykin Thanks need to get 1 too i think. You reckon a samurai sword to accompany that would go well?

[@ThomasBoykin]

Haha, in your skilled hands, anything could be a weapon!

[@Paulkruz1]

Thank you for believing in my skills @@ThomasBoykin i will make you proud 😅

[@19Stride]

I love that you sound a bit like a friendly Eminem ✌🏼😄

[@ThomasBoykin]

I’m not quite white enough but I will take the compliment

[@wioletawnorowska4641]

Protools is not utilizing all Mac M2 and M3 cores, hahaha

[@wioletawnorowska4641]

And Reaper does (I'm not using any of them anyway :P)

[@ThomasBoykin]

Glad Reaper is working well for you. As professionals we have to use Pro Tools, since that is what all of the post production companies use. But for hobbyists or people who aren't expected to collaborate with other pros, any DAW will work!

[@BurgundyKRO]

At least 3 scam calls per day ;)

[@ThomasBoykin]

I usually ask myself, how can I make them waste the most resources on these spam calls?