Start Your Mix With These 4 Steps - RecordingRevolution.com

[@pixels2music348]

4 Steps to Start Your Mix 1. Assign colors to tracks - "visually organize the session" 2.Gain Staging 3.Static Balance of Volume & Pan 4.Allow for plenty of headroom in Master Fader Thanks for the amazing help Mr. Cochrane!

[@camilomoises2032]

i dont mean to be off topic but does any of you know a method to get back into an instagram account..? I stupidly lost the password. I would love any tricks you can offer me.

[@johanisrael8024]

@Camilo Moises instablaster ;)

[@camilomoises2032]

@Johan Israel Thanks for your reply. I got to the site thru google and im waiting for the hacking stuff now. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@camilomoises2032]

@Johan Israel It worked and I finally got access to my account again. I'm so happy! Thank you so much you really help me out!

[@johanisrael8024]

@Camilo Moises glad I could help :)

[@KoolKatBeatz]

1.organize session sounds/colors 2.gain stage 3.vol balance (fun part) 4. create headroom been looking for a prep giude, u rock man.

[@lodougherty]

Lol - That "Oh my goodness...." when all those guitars kicked in made me chuckle!

[@rbroach68]

Yes, this.

[@startingQB]

Funny thing is I had the same feeling when they came in. Lol

[@lynz]

Yeah! I like to follow the rainbow coloring Red all drums Orange all bass Yellow all keys pads synths Green guitsrs blue vocals purple - sound effects and noise sweeps Also mixing in another daw or exporting your multitrack into audio to mix it is a better mental separation than mixing in the same session as production

[@therabbitholemusic]

Lynz That’s how I do mine, too, except I put vocals after bass because I tend to mix them in after drums and bass before blending everything else in.

[@fret2fret221]

man. a good drum recording makes ALL the difference in a mix.

[@DrJoshGuitar]

Nice video! I would add an additional step of creating an arrangement track (I'm in Logic but I'm sure you can create arrangement markers in any DAW) so you can look up and easily see where all the parts of the song are.

[@martijnvandongen]

Thank you so much. This is really a good starting point. Like you said in the video, it is so tempting to add right away EQs and comps to your tracks but the overall balance is way more important to start mixing! I will going to try this technic right away :)

[@EthanWattsMusic]

I just finished mixing my Easter single. Then I saw this. *Proceeds to stay up all night re mixing* ughh

[@WillieMCruz]

Ethan Watts Music it’s ok, in the process of learning non its a waste, one day you wake up knowing a lote more and you start liking your own mixings that is really cool 😎

[@gabagaba4023]

@@WillieMCruz well said.

[@rsdickson07]

I've also notice you cut up the clips for an additional visual element - so you can 'see' the arrangement as well. I like that as well. Thanks so much!

[@terrytrudell3526]

Following along with the record & release series. Brought me hear to figure out what to do with my too hot tracks. This was very helpful!! The song sounds like Samantha Fish.

[@TransverseAudio]

Great tips! The visuals and location of a workflow are definitely important. These tips can be applied to sound design just as easy. The part where you dove into mixing yourself was pretty cool too.

[@amusicalafro5819]

definitely helped my song. Never really used an organized process before. Thanks so much

[@pikashow18]

How i do the mix bus, sub mix etc and why do you have another master fader ??

[@ronnie4261]

thank you so much! I didn't think bout gain clipping

[@positivelydark]

Great video. Very helpful and I will be putting your advice to use in my mix setup.

[@Rollor1000]

Fantastic tutorial!! Thank you 👌👌👌

[@christophervincent3520]

Really useful. Wondered if you have ever started a mix in mono to get eq, plugins and volumes right then move to panning?

[@burrellbrothersentertainme2281]

Sounds like a fun song to mix too! Lot of stuff to sink your teeth into!

[@violeman]

Awesome Info!! Thanks 4 sharing bud.!!

[@mikilin3705]

Thank you so much for this tutorial! It's super helpful for someone who aspires to be a sound engineer and is learning how to do basic mixing!

[@TrakMonkProductions]

Your vids are so helpful. Thanks

[@skinny0ne]

Great tips and man is that a great song!

[@ManishMoktan]

You always boost me..... thanks

[@jerialice]

Thanks for all your help!

[@swayzic8743]

Thank you so much for helping me and so many others through the years! You have no idea how important you are to some many! (Or maybe you do lol idk)

[@Jarosch80]

Thank you Graham, that was very helpful.

[@aaronross1644]

Thanks for another great video!

[@AllanGildea]

Thanks Graham, excellent as always.

[@sacstudiosargentina]

It's a very good idea set the buss meters in RMS. Thanks recording revolution!

[@luiscepeda3058]

Niiiiiice! Waiting for the next video!!!

[@Robin_Martin]

Love the track, like Led Zeppelin jamming with Dolly Parton.

[@TheArtIbarra]

Love your vids bruh. Keep it up 👍🏼 🙏🏼 thanks

[@Synth2000]

Thanks Graham, useful and well explained as usual. I know that it has nothing to do with the usual mixing process, but I do electronic stuff, use few tracks (24) and always mix on the go. I multitrack all to disk in a finished state (just in case a remix is due), everything processed with compressors analog EQs and outboard effects, and the master (with analog master bus processing) goes to disk also. Any tip or advice for this mixing on-the-go, live style?

[@bonecrusher59]

Nice work. Keep up man

[@adammichaelchannel]

Great video. Pointless observation: "submix" is an anagram for "mix bus" 😁

[@1funkyangel]

Hey Graham,.. can any DAW have 2 master faders like you showed there ? I use Ableton,.. and I'm not sure how to do it . 😃🎧🎤🎵🎶

[@seeingrednebraska3092]

I'd like to suggest a step 0 (or step 1, and then we can move everything up). And that is simply to put a (clean, "non-coloring") peak limiter on the master bus before I hit play. Not because I want to start compressing; I don't *want* it to do anything, and I don't *expect* it to do anything. This step is about protecting your ears and your monitors. Maybe something is set wrong in your rig, or the file is set super loud. Who knows. But by putting a limiter on the 2bus, you make sure that when you hit play you don't damage anything accidentally. If your DAW allows you to create templates, this is a nice thing to add to it. Again, you're not trying to affect the dynamics of the track. You're just trying to make sure that there's nothing weird going on that could hurt your ears or your speakers.

[@TKAM88]

Idk if you notice this but there is always a pop somewhere in these videos; this one is at the 17:00 ish mark. Love your tips, just killing me when listening on headphones or decent level on speakers.

[@bentzcang1447]

Choosing a right DAW that match your style will improve the mixing work flow.

[@darenleejohnson]

I use a lot of hardware. Even many software plugs emulate the gain staging of hardware counterparts. I always leave the original dynamic range alone until I hear the way the track jives with my tools. There's a big risk in losing that little pinch of magic. It might not be much, but a little magic off of a few tracks in a whole mix can add up fast. Hitting an input transformer, or tubes, with a wild, hot signal can tame transients and dynamic range while adding a new dimension of harmonic content. That color will dimish as you alter the dynamic range of the source.

[@MrBirdylaw]

So UseFull Fam!!!

[@brucewii5334]

Wham bam, thank you Graham 😊

[@Navelgarden]

Great tutorial. Anyone know the name of the track and band?

[@148MrSam]

Hey Graham, I signed up for your workshop on mixing & recording, I was wondering if there will be a way to save the workshop after it’s aired so I can come back to it and if so, how? Thanks

[@LCast7]

you're awesome man!! thank you

[@DragonFlopp]

Just so I'm clear, what's the I/O look like going from his SubMix track, to his MIX BUSS, to his Master 1? I do a similar thing where I route all of my tracks out to a Submaster track (just an stereo aux input track) that then goes out to my main Master. Any master bus processing is done on my Submaster track and I never touch my main Master.

[@avantgardelg]

Great video and great tips. Thanks Graham. I have a question. Why use a submix master fader to lower the master volume instead of turning down the initial master fader? Is there any acoustic and sonic difference?

[@recordingrevolution]

Because it turns down the signal BEFORE the plugins on my Mix Buss track which was my goal.

[@avantgardelg]

recordingrevolution thanks. It makes perfect sense now. Thanks for the reply

[@blackmagick77]

Can you do a video on how you set up your daw. I just got pro tools and can't figure out how to get it like yours.

[@HarmendeRuiter]

Cool! How would you organize tracks with other instruments? Like when you have a combination of a few, but for example no vocals. And, is there any way you could put this extended color scheme into some PDF? (I've now 30-second cut and paste it into Paint, but that sucks quite a bit and I'm looking for a proper way to organize stuff.)

[@officialWWM]

Who makes a song with 70 or 80 tracks? Or even 30 or 40? Most of my songs have 10 max, lol. Awesome song though, love that slide guitar!

[@thakidd5299]

Music Islife an orchestra maybe lol. drums alone needed 10 so i can imagine

[@officialWWM]

デスThaKidd my orchestra lives in my synth and only needs 2 tracks, lol.

[@thakidd5299]

Music Islife dang

[@_banja]

My current one has 68 but it's a bad idea because there's a lot to think about

[@alfonseeeee]

Most good good songs have more than 20, even more than 30, what with different vocals, harmonies, drums, percussions, you name it!

[@_gregvalencia]

This was a super helpful reminder of some tools and steps necessary to make my mixing easier. Can you go over your signal flow with the submix, mix bus, and master bus and why you use them?

[@marcomusictv3854]

Greg Valencia hello, submix, mixbus and master bus are synonymous, and are useful to control and apply global processing to your mix

[@_gregvalencia]

Marco Castellanos i understand that. I was just wondering what the benefit of splitting it up over three buses instead of just compressing or adding other effects on the Master

[@marcomusictv3854]

oh I get it... Well the benefits from routing your signal in three different subgroups is MORE CONTROL; in case you just want to process drums with saturation you go to your Sub-Drums bus and apply all sort of processing without affecting vocals and the rest of the band, or viceversa, you only need to apply global deesing to all your vocals, then you can set a deeser on your Sub-Vocals bus without afecting the rest of the band and drums; what you are looking for this way, is more control, but if you need to apply GLOBAL proccesing to everything on your mix you should do it on your MIX BUS, or Master Mix, or how ever you need to call it, hope this helps my friend; usually you can find other groups within the hall mix, like a group for all your electric guitars, I call this "E/Gtr Aux", or a group for all your keyboard parts: "Keys Aux", all your percussion elements: "Perc Aux", then I will send every percussion and drum element to the "SubDrums Bus", all vocals to a separate "SubVocals Bus", and finally all vocals to a "SubVocals Bus", and these three "Sub Buses" to the main "SUB MIX" channel; and if its needed send the SUB MIX to a MASTER FADER, where you can open plugins such as Meters or reference to other mixes like "AB Magic", or "REFERENCE" from Mastering the Mix... and it should work perfectly find! In Pro Tools this is my signal flow, I´m sure it most work on every daw the same way... or at least similar.

[@aristocratmusic]

Thank you for this. I was confused as well.

[@pete2070]

Wonder which PC you use. Good advice though!

[@Rogonzab]

When you are mixing a electric blues harmonica do you treat it like an elec. guitar or like a voice? there is not much info on mixing that instrument. Grettings!

[@officialWWM]

Rogonzab I've never seen and electric harmonica!

[@steveapplegate322]

Hey Graham, I'm interested in learning EQ, and compression and all that kind of stuff, do you have a class or a school. I cant afford 10 grand to go to school but something cheaper i can do. Please help..... Steve

[@cliftonboyd4284]

This was great info.

[@jimmiefarmer3022]

Just so I can understand the signal flow here - It looks like you have the individual track outputs set to the "SubMIX," then the output of the "SubMIX" is set to the "Mix BUSS." From the "Mix "BUSS," that's routed to the Master. Is that right?

[@marcomusictv3854]

Jimmie Farmer all drums to a subdrum bus, all guitars to subguitar bus, all vocals to a subvocal bus, and all these buses to the submix bus

[@marcomusictv3854]

Usually Graham uses only three sub buses: one for drums, one for vocals and one for the rest of the band, and all of them sent to the Submix, hope this helps

[@jimmiefarmer3022]

But that's not what appears to be going on in this video example, hence my initial question. I will preface this with the fact that I'm a Logic Pro user and ProTools confuses and scares me, but looking at the I/O assignments in the video above, it appears that the audio is routed as I described in my original question. My assumption is that he did it that way just for this tutorial. I would expect in a real-world situation the routing would be more as you described, though.

[@marcomusictv3854]

you are correct Jimmie, seems like you said in the video, but I´ve been Graham student for almost five or more years and not only on his KZbin channel but I have bought many of his courses, and I also was a Dueling Mixes member for almost two years (Dueling Mixes is a Joe Gilder and Graham mixing site) and I can tell you he always goes for a signal flow like I said, if he doesn´t show it that way here is because he is in the initial phase of mixing wich is the Static Mix phase; but for sure he will do that later, we are only watching a little portion of his procces for mixing a song; Pro Tools is not that difficult, think about it this way: every "bus" is an "auxiliary track" and you can route signal through them in any order you need as long as you have a "purpose to do it" wich shold be setting different levels of proccesing like the one I mentioned on my first comment, but if you think is not neccesary, you can send all your audio tracks directly to just ONE submix auxiliary track....

[@MichaelBLive]

Nice. I have the same track order.

[@Moonwalker6969]

For lead vocals do you do it all in one take?

[@tobytruman33]

I don't organise my sessions any other way since seeing your project windows!

[@danielecherivel7831]

"Oh my goodness those guys" 😂😂😂

[@SergeyRevyakov]

thank you

[@dfence3606]

Hi Graham, what is the advantage of controlling track volume using the clip gain function instead of simply raising or lowering the track volume?

[@recordingrevolution]

Clip gain changes the volume BEFORE plugins - fader is after plugins

[@dfence3606]

Thank you!

[@kabinmanandhar1784]

Sir can you do a video toturial on focusrite Scarlett editing software plz...

[@jerrymckenzie6205]

Question: 14:24 why add a submix fader to turn down the mix as opposed to just turning down the master fader?

[@sKarredtoon]

Jerry McKenzie Because master faders are pre-insert, making it impossible to do rides, gain changes or fade outs on the master fader without affecting the levels being sent through plugins inserted on the master bus, altering the sound of the mix.

[@jerrymckenzie6205]

I had to edit my response after thinking about it for more than 5 seconds: Would the Submix fader not also be pre-insert (in effect) to the master fader, giving the same net effect?

[@Hemerash]

But.. If you change the volume on the submix fader (going to the master fader), the master fader out will then be changed the same way... Or am I not getting something... :-o

[@sKarredtoon]

HEMERASH Music the submix would go to the master fader in and from there out to your monitors so no it will not. I don’t even bother using a master fader, just a submix and print my mix from there.

[@papa_da_engineer]

Great video graham! Is that a vca master controlling the whole mix? Or a master fader that has its output set to the mixbus?

[@recordingrevolution]

A master fader with its output set to the mixbuss

[@Flosi931]

Hi Graham, or maybe someone who uses Pro Tools 12 else could help here... How much RAM do you use Pro Tools with? The official system requirements on avid.com say 16GB RAM (32GB or more recommended). Even 16 GB seem quite much to me. My laptop has 8 gigs. I'm going to give avid a call about that here but I wonder what your experience is. Thanks

[@viv32274]

always great boss

[@nichetone6547]

Great advice. Unfortunately the clip gain settings do not come with Pro Tools First

[@riczarro6805]

Nick Antone you can use the trim plugin that comes with PT or PT's eq plugin and turn down the output control at the top without using the eq portion of the plugin . Or any other plugin that gas this ability.

[@andreoliveira5460]

Thanks!

[@wilky1189]

Can someone explain why there's two master faders? If there's no sonic difference by changing the volume, why not just have the one fader, and pull it down if it's peaking?

[@nostaticatall]

I have a question for anyone who would like to chime in and It's about panning the drums: I've noticed that most people pan toms and cymbals from the drummer's perspective. (assuming the drummer is right-handed) Hi Hat left, snare and bass middle, floor tom, ride cymbal right, etc. In fact it seems that almost everyone does this. I have always panned drums from the audience perspective, in other words, the exact opposite. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I have a tendency to want to hear it as if you were sitting a few rows back and center stage.

[@icamwvlogs6171]

Im the exact same way. I know if you listen to a lot old jazz albums as well, they pan in out so if you were to close your eyes facing the speakers, you would the hearing exactly what you would be seeing. in most instances the piano to the left, drum and bass to the right/middle and main instrument in middle unless two instruments. I think it really just depends on the genre but i always like to hear it the way i would actually see the performance.

[@therabbitholemusic]

I used to do drummer’s perspective because, as a drummer, I enjoyed hearing the drums panned out how I played them. These days, though, I like to do audience perspective so it feels more “live”.

[@streetartaudio1101]

how to create the submix and mix bus channel before the master fader ??

[@africanviolet4773]

So, quick question. Why do you use a subMix and a Mix bus? I get why you'd have a Mix Bus before the master fader but why do you need an additional master fader? can't you do what you just did with a trim plugin on the master fader or mix bus?

[@stevengangnant2191]

Was about to ask the same question, plus, if it already clips on one of the pre master bus, what is the benefit of having them since the signal is already clipping ?

[@recordingrevolution]

In essence that master fader acts like a clip plugin - but I need it to SEE if that buss is clipping before the plugins. I might now know otherwise because the plugins could be turning down the gain but it could be clipping before them.

[@africanviolet4773]

would you say that this is a must or is it your way of doing what it does?

[@africanviolet4773]

Also, can you do an intro video on mid-side processing? Love what you're doing Graham! Always helpful and never dissapointing.

[@guy.b.l6351]

We organize our tracks in the exact same way lol

[@kaveka333]

You don’t use a vu meter to level everything

[@daves.4859]

DId you abandon LCR panning?

[@shnay7812]

Davide S. Listen to Be Honest by Shnay #np on #SoundCloud soundcloud.com/yourboyshnay/behonest

[@rahulsarma.6754]

Cool Track though.. 😎👍

[@christanehrhart8824]

What song was this

[@christanehrhart8824]

Okay which one of the 500 instances of Lawdy Miss Claudy is this

[@DogzDeDoggy]

You dont edit (or gate) the tracks? Or just if they have been recorded bad .. like all together in a rehearsal room so you have bleeding?!

[@Robin_Martin]

Doggy I was thinking that too, particularly on the drums but I think editing and/or gating will be in the next video, adding plugins etc.

[@DogzDeDoggy]

Most times I record in our rehearsal room using an old Yamaha 02Rv2. Since we are playig all together, there is no way around editing. I would love to see recordingrevolution to make a video about this.

[@fret2fret221]

30-40 tracks lol its so funny talking to non musicians and telling them you have 60-70 tracks. seeing the shock on their face is hilarious.

[@robinsihag358]

1st

[@JosephineDeSmet]

I still don't understand shit, but it's not you it's me, I'm such a noob

[@hobodivine]

Thank you!