Should You Mix Over A 2 Track Or Stems?

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In this episode the guys talk about the importance of workflow and how it has an overall effect on your final product. Do you track your vocal backgrounds in sets of 2? Do you color code your tracks? Are you mixing on a 2 track beat instead of tracked outs? Lets find out?
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[@kerylmcjohnson9537]

Studio One got scenes. Same thing Devvon was saying. You can only see tracks you want to see/focus on. Alt + click + drag is the right way to go for duplicating

[@EHall-yx9xy]

Real talk….. They need a Studio One user on this podcast.

[@TheInsomniaProject]

These dudes keep getting more and more chaotic, these conversations just float from DAW clip duplication to Crank that Soulja Boy shout out Simon Servida and I'm just here for it all day.

[@HelpMeDevvon]

Im just sitting and talking to my friends lol

[@TheInsomniaProject]

@@HelpMeDevvon and thats what keeps people coming back for more! 😁

[@boseyhad2doit2em]

I love logic. It’s clean as heck. Quick to figure out. Whatever it is Apple even has tons of help on there site. And we can also hide tracks. But fl work flow for beats is incredible. The wrapper and sequencer and separation between mixers to arrangement window is insane

[@graykeyzmusic]

With all due respect, as GREAT as this conversation is... eff all that... Whats in Courtney's cup? #CupCheck for the Ableton Annihilator!!! 😂😂😂😂

[@HelpMeDevvon]

LMFAO

[@GNerroMusic]

I'm doing everything in one session even if my cpu hates me for it 😂 FL users can create multiple arrangements in one session. Avoids loading sessions back and forth if changes are needed in that 2 track.

[@Stoozy]

here to make sure Studio One got representation, stay strong boys

[@EngeniusBeatz]

Devon : I feel like mix is TV dont get his flowers, yall know mixbus TV? Courtney : No.. Devon : D***! 😂 This interaction was hilarious. S/0 to mixbus TV always dropping gems

[@nobodyspecialmusic]

David is that guy

[@simmyautomatik4436]

Courtney should be in audio court for not releasing “Hot Wings BTS” behind the pay wall

[@FanzOfTheCultureNetwork]

Studio one Is here. You can dooooo everything no need to switch to record vocals

[@freeentity_]

I swear they're sleeping 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@FanzOfTheCultureNetwork]

facts every week im bringing this energy@@freeentity_

[@darienwilson9443]

@@freeentity_ Bro here making beats and recording and mixing in Studio One so easy and way ahead of its time but if they had a Studio One user on the Pod then they would realize that Studio One is the best Daw on the market since like 2 years now

[@Koosa-kq2hv]

Studio One GANG!!! Innovative!

[@mihlemakapela]

The paint brush 😂😂 Devvon is funny...

[@LaghimaMusic]

There is literally never a reason to mix just a two track unless you have no other choice mixing stems gives you the most control other All the elements of the tracks

[@KudaKwashe]

Let me tell you, mixing on a 2 track is 95% of my business. You guys have no idea what I have to go through to survive, man.

[@TzoHill]

What would you say is the absolute most important things to know when mixing to a 2 track for a successful mix every time?

[@KudaKwashe]

@TzoHill gain staging aside, I think identifying those fundamental frequencies and harmonics that work together well between voice and 2 track is most important. I have to get the volume balance right CONSIDERING those frequencies then I consider the dynamics of all the other frequencies around what the 2 track is doing. All in an effort to have them gell together well

[@TzoHill]

@@KudaKwashe right I see. Are you a fan of sidechaining the Vocals to the Beat? Do you even touch the beat at all? (apart from frequency clashing as you mentioned)

[@KudaKwashe]

@TzoHill well, I often take the beat fader down to -10 and then the clip gain down to hit at -10 to -6 on the master. But I do accept the beat as is, maybe a little stereo widening. If I do sidechain then I use A.O.M Track Symbiosis plugin.

[@KudaKwashe]

Oh, and Gullfoss sidechain works

[@LionOfKingston]

Both are great, but the most impressive aspect is the ability to manipulate the stems of an instrumental track. In my home country of Jamaica, there is a practice known as "juggling," where multiple artists perform on the same beat, each mixing their individual sounds to create a unique and dynamic composition.

[@BlitzyCobain]

Get this man in front of smack /URL dev 😂 , quick note I fw the podcast but whyyyy did yall stop showing ya laptops or screens that shit was DIFFERENT when y’all was explaining shit 🤯

[@alenaickproduction]

Should music producer book studio sessions even if they are not working with an artist for hope of networking with potential artists

[@vanessaadams3500]

Definitely! Who can tell you what to do in the session that you are paying for, especially as a marketing tool for your services? Thanks for the idea.

[@bigb009]

7:28 If FL stem separation was elite I would mix the stems. Although with me mainly getting beats from youtube I have to mix the two track.

[@treezyarroyo9129]

Aint gonna lie, I hate that feature from FL in which you click and it duplicates clips. Its such a mess. And there goes LJ saying he loves that feature 🥳😫

[@JarardKenneth]

0:25 Reaper really is clutch in the personalization area too, but meh carry on fellas. 🤷🏾🤷🏾🤷🏾🤷🏾🤷🏾 😒😒😒😒😒

[@jaytee5018]

Reaper Gang!!!

[@LuxFlowz]

Reaper gang forever underrated ya'll know the vibes lol

[@db4ks]

reaper gang!

[@ZAY________]

Big shoutout to David from MixbusTV. I've learned a lot from his channel. When I first heard of him, it was a clip talking about "Why would you mix into a limiter?...Never mix into a limiter...." He also says starting with Templates is bullshit... So that kinda differs from the Dave Pensado / Jaycen Joshua / HMD Community / ect. I def mix into the God Particle and Pro L2. Also, I've heard some top mixing engineers say that if the beat was made in FL Studio, they prefer the 2 Track because of the way the bounce gets glued together.

[@marc942]

What was this plugin he spoke of?

[@rohanthebeatmaker]

What I Love most about this podcast is the more yall talk about the deep things each daw can do, the more we figure hidden gems!

[@prod.xx808xx]

Fax

[@SIXFIGVENTURES]

what is your daw?

[@prod.xx808xx]

@SIXFIGBEATS I own FL, Logic, Maschine, Waveform11, MPC Software, and Bitwig 8-track version. The DAWs I mainly use are FL and Maschine on my Windows laptop. I can't really use Logic Pro right now because my Mac's storage is full.

[@rohanthebeatmaker]

My main is FL but as of recent I'm finding Logic a bit more better with my workflow as I like to tidy while creating music without thinking...idk if FL or other daws can do it but in logic you can save presets of the instruments you use (eg. Kontakt, Serum etc) and save the step sequencer settings you make as presets..faster workflow

[@prod.xx808xx]

@rohanthebeatmaker technically, you can do that in FL by creating then saving it as a project template. You can also "export project bones," but that's less intuitive than what you've described for Logic. Another thing FL needs to add is the ability to save mixing groups and channel routing settings.

[@sinnproductions6704]

I work in Studio One and i record over my beat sessions, easier for me to be able to work with stems, if i need to make changes i dont have to go back and reload the beat.

[@larryp.productionz]

Wow....I don't like the clutter either. I record in a different session.

[@SIXFIGVENTURES]

And in ableton we can maxthread wobble with the limiter in ableton. Only daw where this is possible and it sounds crazy, but literally has to max the threads that the daw can hold and it will make digital distortion through CPU clipping but its smoothened out by the warping algorythm in ableton. im 100% this will be the first and the last time u will hear this. and you may think "why the f would i do that and should i just add random vsts to max out the threads the daw can hold. answer is YES and u freeze it and flatten it, or just bounce the audio add the sample back oversample x4 and then bounce it again. and add it as an effect on your reverb(mix it in with ur reverb or delay like u would do with paralel comression on ur dry signal). You heard it here first. taught this to Louis Bell and he used it throughout the last the weeknd album. how bout that bruh. Ableton got the sauce

[@DimezEntertainment]

Use whatever you have at your disposal, underground artists don't always have the luxury of being picky. 2 Track it, til someone backs it... P.S. Some major artists prefer 2 tracks ex. Meek Mill & I'm a big fan of how high quality his mixes sound.

[@nobodyspecialmusic]

Metro Boomin says he doesn’t send out stems cuz he doesn’t want anyone changing the sound of his beats. You can’t tell by listening though 🔥🔥🔥

[@SteviiWitDaSemi]

This podcast would be how me and my friends if we used different daws would be like 😂

[@beatgeekmuzic]

I captured God Particle with Controlhub and it was spot on!!

[@SIXFIGVENTURES]

MR.AVID aka devvon, can you sidechain the envelope drops from transients in stereo in pro tools? we can do that native in ableton and reverse it and sidechain a signal in mono triggered by LUFS. in Ablegang , got that devvon . make a short where you do this bro

[@Koosa-kq2hv]

Devvon be getting heated over his DAW🤣🤣🤣

[@PharezVantrez]

“Minnie was messing around with a Goofy” - L.Jean lmao

[@yugorpaul6927]

I’d really love to hear you guys talking about the best time to upgrade your gear and in which order to invest… Id love to receive the plugin I’m just starting out my career from mozambique

[@0_BC]

recording and/or mixing... ...over stems/in same session -> mad anxiety from whatever tf is or potentially could be going on under the hood; therefore sitting and crying until someone comes and changes a tire ...over 2 track -> like i'm driving a flinstones car, yt-to-mp3, "type beat" feeling; therefore directing traffic to just go around me lately, to move more efficiently, i'll do like you guys mentioned - consolidate and bounce out a handful of broad track stacks (e.g. percussion, bass, mellodics, fx). then, in a clean, alternate session (same daw btw), import them and commit to adjusting /only/ their levels and mayybe what effects (comp, reverb) are needed to massage them into place. that way, i haven't consolidated so much that i feel nasty, but enough to visualize what's going on production-wise without sitting numb-legged and tweaking little things. if i can maintain that visualization, i have more confidence as i'm recording and mixing over those few consolidated stems, even/especially after i'm done in whatever situation - someone else's studio, getting a second opinion, performing on stage... on the aux in whatever type car ...hood shut.

[@Ikas031]

MixbusTV, got my motu interface because of him.

[@Koosa-kq2hv]

Pro tools got all those 15 year old "NEW" features🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@brandonlewis5127]

at this point I use Ableton for mainly everything. For certain mastering i like to use Garageband/Logic. There’s something about the mastering there that is just great. for me it’s better clarity. Studio one is honestly pretty solid. my least used one.

[@MightyJoYung]

As a newb at ProTools, hearing Devvon defend it is hilarious 😂! I’m with you bro! I’ve used FL, Cubase and Logic for YEARS, them DAW’s been DRY as of late 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@RAWIZRAW]

You studio one is it why y’all in denial

[@db4ks]

nah that " i dont have to open up kontakt for a drum" was dirttttttttttty made my jaw drop.

[@prodbysxre]

db4ks spotted

[@JTFuller]

That's a different way to group Cortney.. I like that actually.. Ya'll jokas funny.. Im still waiting for ya'll to compare the Daws to the consoles.. I say Logic is Neve.. Boom..

[@larrytan73]

MPC is KING!

[@aninnervoice6546]

You can tell LJ be draggin the convos about how superior FL is 😂, shit be funny but it’s almost like overcompensating 🤔

[@EHall-yx9xy]

I created a Studio One template for beat making, recording and mixing all in the same session. All the routing is already done. In Studio One, I can hide what I don’t want to see, so it’s treated like a beat making only session. If later on I decide I may want to record vocals, I unhide the necessary tracks. This has been useful for me because I when I have artists come to the studio and I play the beat, they are ready to work immediately. This has been a blessing for me.

[@sancessounds]

Man, I LOVE this podcast, but I would love to listen to an episode where DAW conversations and roastings aren't taking up 10 to 15 minutes of the content. Sounds small but with the show being 35 minutes most of the time, that's like 40 percent of the show. It's funny at times but a little redundant now so many episodes down the line. Everything else, fire. Love it.

[@zantilla]

Real quick, Devvon, if you're looking into guitar pedals and you haven't heard of it yet, you gotta check out EUNA by 29 Pedals. Pedals will lose clarity the more you have chained together and that pedal is specifically designed to add back to the signal what gets lost in translation. Idk how it works, but I swear it's a game changer

[@cpthegenius]

* The sound I make when my mixes come out too clean in the car test *: 35:06 Kourtney what was that bro!? 🤣😆🤣

[@damillzelpluggo6142]

He said oooooooooooooooh!!! Maaaaaaan don’t nobody care care dat FL Studio can do that. Nah this is facts FL Studio just recently successfully started and able to record audio meaning vocals. Humble yall selves pleeeaaassse! 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@FNEshy]

That's why your pro tools project got shelved by the label... Sry but protools is trash... Audio Engineer is way easier than video production

[@bancodebeatz]

Logic has the key to my heart. I also don’t like recording in the same session after I I just made a beat in. It seems way cleaner having it pulled up in a separate session

[@nine27]

Ableton is the most unorthodox unorganized make no sense DAW to try and mix in and has the worst routing ever. So bad that they even admitted to me that Pro Tools is superior software 😂 deadass.. I couldn’t believe that the rep who was assisting me with some troubleshooting issues said that shit 😆

[@jamaalmc89]

I mix kinda like Devon I make it easy to mix !!!!

[@youngmarckson]

i dont like recording vocals on my mixed beat sessions neither, because recording my vocals with plugins on my instruments, increasing the buffer size causing delayed Latency is annoying. i need to hear myself in realtime so i can hear how i sound when i record. I just slap a vocal preset & readjust the settings so i can atleast get a reference of how imma sound on the track instead of guessing/trusting how i think i sound in my head is how immah sound with my voice, and personally to me it's less messy. I just export the mixed stems from fl studio to pro tools then record vocals.

[@thurdysixo]

What’s your reason for not just recording it in FL?

[@youngmarckson]

​@@thurdysixoFL takes 3 buttons. 1. Right click the red button on top, 2. Select "Audio", 3. Left Click the Red Button. Sometimes you forget the red button is still on so when you only want to listen to the track, FL will continue recording until you press the red button to turn off recording. Pro tools Takes 2 buttons. 1. Press the red button 2. press the "3" button on your "numpad" keyboard (the right side of the keyboard that looks like a pin code). you could leave the red button on and listen to the track without it recording if you accidentally/Intentionally press the play button. the red button is set on standby it will only record when you press the button 3 on your numpad keyboard. Plus you could set the recording to "Quick Punch" mode just press 3 at any part that the track is playing to record & you could set the recording to start after the last recording stopped. 3 clicks vs 2 don't sound like much, but when you have to constantly drag your mouse to the red button on top, then right click set it to "audio", & unclick/click the red button to Record/Stop Recording it becomes a drag. When Pro tools you just press the red button then press 3 on the numpad keyboard (right side of your keyboard) and that's it. If FL studio had it set like pro tools then that would've made the DAW elite, I personally still wouldn't record on fl even if they had it set like that because its not visually pleasing like pro tools is + I'm already hooked on pro tools quick workflow for recording. It just wont feel comfortable to me, but for new people coming to FL if they had that quick recording workflow it would solidify them to stay and be a blessing in disguise for them more then they know. I'm not against recording Vocals on FL I love the life out of FL for Making/Mixing beats, its compatibility with plugins, And if you know all the hotkeys and have presets for FL studio then you could speedrun a beat as fast as your thinking/humming a melody. I wouldn't mind recording on others Fl studio if they don't have Pro tools I can get around for sure, Matter fact I've done it many times. It's just that In my own comfort it wouldn't be my 1st choice.

[@thurdysixo]

@@youngmarckson bro just press shift+R. I was stuck in my ways with pro tools too until I wasn’t able to update it one day and was forced to record in FL. I never downloaded Pro Tools again, that was in 2020. Only thing I miss is the stock tape stop. PT looks ancient af to me now too lol but I feel where you coming from pause. You like what you like. Exporting stems to drag into a whole different daw that does the same exact shit just seems ridiculous though.

[@prodbydramatic]

Yup that’s exactly what I do

[@youngmarckson]

​@@prodbydramatic ​@thurdysixo I understand yall. Yall figured out what i wasn't aware of with the hotkeys to record. Yes you knocked out the main problem. I understand the pain of updating with pro tools cause they pricing for updates and if not your forced to not use it. Like i said i have no problem using FL for production i just wouldn't use it, but yall point is solid none the less. I would/could make a new session on FL with the mixed exports. Pro tools have a different flow its visually pleasing plus the feature's it provide for recording. For me & even for the client's i record for & i know whatever gets the results & job done is what matters the most frfr weather it's one or the other just that for me it's what's more efficient to get around when recording.

[@MoveTrueRecords_]

Yo is it me or i never really heard music from Kortney. I gotta see what he about. Yall should all just make a track together on video. That would be mind blowing. Like use all daws to make a record

[@nobodyspecialmusic]

I’ve looked him up. He’s decent. I love him though lol

[@MoveTrueRecords_]

yea hes mad chill. Great dude.@@nobodyspecialmusic

[@Marcustrh]

Studio One left + click hide track 😉

[@theiammike123]

*13 minutes late* before the intro finally came in lmfao 😆😆😆😆😆

[@RXS999]

These guys saying a session is too crowded by having vocal tracks with instrumental stems is crazy how you call yourselves engineers dkm

[@enriquemccomas6273]

Man let’s see how y’all mix a 2 track 80% of ppl have two tracks and y’all talmbout stems a lot especially the low end of it Ik the rest

[@TeachMeZay]

I make my beats sometimes i mix em too FL Studio. I record and mix anything in pro tools. I tried to make a beat in pro tools and i hated it!

[@detreval9685]

I just group my tracks just like Courtney.

[@GregWilliamsTU]

Protools side chain is trash! Ableton can sidechain anything! Stereo or mono, hell even surround LOL

[@xaevyxae9624]

I dont think Lj knows how to make a beat outside of Fl.. (Insecurity Exposed)

[@ynghendricks8168]

i love y'all but this daw talk is getting kinda weak, it's the same every week..i miss when you had some real mixing gems in every episode like in the beginning episodes!

[@EricVito404]

Not gone lie as a PT user and educator I too don’t understand why we want sidechain in stereo. Don’t need it, but I don’t understand why we can’t.

[@benjaminlozano8156]

Illangelo mixes and masters with Ableton, just saying

[@scholarmusic2641]

This is more of a question then a comment what daws or daw would you say is on the come up as for myself i am a die hard Luna user #Lunatic scholarmusic_eos

[@emptytombprod]

14:08 14 minutes, but who's counting? 😂😂😂

[@jamarmoney4049]

Love the covo. Please continue to do more of this

[@enfektd8451]

recently got uad plugins and compared those tapes to the slate hands down love the slate digital one

[@drakejr8252]

Logic is one button to hide lol. But I’ve seen a lot of unorganized sessions from logic users😂

[@itsthewav]

once I'm ready to throw vocals on a track I do a save as first so I have a copy. The beat all goes into a folder so it's out of the way.

[@OrfinMusik]

Is this question serious ? You want your vocals to ride on the mix or be mixed in it

[@softboy9203]

Miss the days when I was just making shit. Now I over analyze it all

[@jus4242]

Yall match w camo/green pants in so many episodes it’s fire

[@JagtarSingh-se8lw]

Hahahahahah. 😂 Courtney Know us well. I’m recently working on some of songs And in those each project the Number Vocal Recoding takes Crossed 200. Hella funny he know that.🤣

[@JagtarSingh-se8lw]

Oh and another thing is I’m surprised you don’t know that even Charlie puth use Virtual Tape Machine from Slate.

[@bboymac84]

Thank to the new Ozone update it’s cool now

[@vanessaadams3500]

Change the track color....LMAO 🤣😂

[@JAY-tb5qh]

Y’all sleep on Uad for saturation plugins

[@BandHanana]

Lol I just put tracks in a "Disappear this shit" group

[@JarardKenneth]

3:07 I do three stacks for the melody and then two for each harmony

[@Reggi_Sample]

God Particle 30-60% no low end loss

[@detreval9685]

What happened to the contest. Who won ?

[@jxnasty]

I FW YALL 😭🤣🤣”I crank” I was thinking to myself damn I be going 149 ish on god particle when dev was talking then y’all both said y’all go up 😭🤣 made me feel better

[@FTYEntertainment]

sometimes if your ear isn't properly trained you can be better off working with 2 tracks, assuming the producer arranged and mixed the beat well. also i got 70 kids lemme get that Rosetta gold eq for Christmas 🤔😅

[@alekofficial1st]

Ableton 12 got released guyzz!! NEW ERA COMMING!!!

[@MadebyKeezy]

YESSIR I'M TRYNA SIDE CHAIN THAT STERIO SIGNAL BABYYYY, all funny things aside, ableton and pro tools>fl, I need that Rosetta gangy

[@RicherPodcast]

Please take this as constructive, but every single pod takes like 20 mins to get into any value. I’ve been a listener from day one and used to really enjoy the gems y’all would drop throughout the pod. We love your personalities and banter, but it’s been like a year now and I really think you guys could get into an episode without wasting 30 mins talking about DAWs and the same old stuff that doesn’t matter. Again, we love the pod, but some of us are literally skipping halfway through because it’s predictable that the pod doesn’t start until the half way point. Just letting y’all know! Love

[@OkMarionPark]

“And you guys think you’re gonna pack me up” 💀 the subtle shock in his heart! That was the best reaction I’ve seen all year! Confidence is UNMATCHED!

[@ZynDromeBeats]

That brook shirt 🔥45°Gang #PTGang

[@DeezyCobain]

HOW TF DO YALL SMACK THE MIC AND BOOM AND THERES NEVER A SOUND BUT Perfect VOICE CLARITY ?! Are u secretly using lapel mics and the others are for show ?!

[@HelpMeDevvon]

We’re recording into pro tools with a podcast template that I’ve created! Maybe I should show the chain

[@DeezyCobain]

@@HelpMeDevvonmust be a noise gate then ? Yes absolutely do a vid on that

[@emptytombprod]

Ableton gang gang!!! And i color coat lol 😆 tracks, groups, and buss included

[@markbraziel4828]

I Love Standard Clip!

[@GStarrDaVinci]

why they always come for protools? gotta be number1... FL Gang need to get out the comfort zone tho thats why evrything sound the same and also just because you do something fast doesnt mean its good... lol Devvon you got fam out here gang

[@XVIIIPRO]

Logic user here, i just got done mixing a 158 channel mix in Logic every other engineer i spoke to that uses logic didnt seem shocked at all, haha Courtney is so correct! 😂😂🤣🤣

[@GregWilliamsTU]

The God particle has a weird sound on my mixes that I’m not really a fan of. My friends think I’m buggin but I agree

[@Now3bwx]

Yeah I agree w dude who use FL. I use FL too I dint like making a beat and then recording under it. I always do 2 tracks. But that's how I came up jus puttin pauses in the beat, Lo pass etc. Yeah. I'd take it to an engineer if it's gonna go further than that.

[@Now3bwx]

And the copy and pasting hooks man ion have time to move all that track out beat w the vocals he'll nah I feel like I'll leave a track behind or somn 😅

[@donnydarko7624]

I mean otherwise youre going to sit there and mess with all effects lanes and possibly throw timing off i you have to edit anything in the moment?

[@stuartnickolas503]

from step one to step done I'll do everything in FL studio I'm sorry but I refuse to believe mixing in Pro Tools is that much easier than FL

[@michaelkillebrew3114]

You guys need a logic user now too

[@ACI3D]

What do you guys think about channel strip plug-in…specifically the compression on them ..

[@EricVito404]

I wanna see the speed match vs between you three. I NEED TO SEE THAT!!! 😂😂😂

[@APJHNSNMUSIC]

35:06 Courtney sounded real sassy lol

[@bulletsandcaskets45]

Open up a piano roll 😂😂😂😂😂😂