Starting a Mix From Scratch + Gain Staging - NO TALKING

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[@Davidchromatic]

I pray there is gonna be a part 2 please. LIKE THIS FOR PART TWO.

[@john-a5472]

I do this before I start every mix. Now I got to learn how to do it in 10 minutes. Dope Video!

[@cosmicwildling]

me abandoning every single misinformation I've been exposed to in the past couple of years through KZbin tutorials after finally discovering this channel and re-learning everything from scratch with fresh mind and ears. eternally grateful for this channel. KEEP IT UP!!!

[@mixbustv]

Happy to help!

[@JakeLewisReal]

Seeing you highlight + group then create a new bus output with the already highlighted tracks made me realize I've been doing it the long way. I've always created the new bus then highlighted the tracks, selected their outputs and selected the bus input, now I'll save an extra 30 seconds lol.

[@Melvin7727]

If you want to save even more time, use Reaper. You literally just drag and drop the routing button from the track you want to send, to the track you want to receive. And you can highlight multiple tracks to drag and do them all at once. Literally everything about Pro Tools I have ever seen is more clunky than Reaper.

[@JakeLewisReal]

@@Melvin7727 yeah I’m all set, far too quick with pro tools now

[@Melvin7727]

@@JakeLewisReal Definitely would not want to repeat a learning curve if you're already in. But if ever you change DAW's, try it out. It improves on everything. Happy mixing.

[@The_Absurdistt]

I didn't know "warp speed" was real... . Always a treat to see you in action David. Cheers.

[@joshbenzin]

Would love to see david take his try on a badly recorded mix💪🏻

[@kyriee160]

With talking :D

[@miqueflesh9278]

I hope he will do as most professional studio guy's do, throw it in the bin and tell them to re-record. 🙄

[@hadleymanmusic]

Its gotta be recorded into clean or its crap mix.

[@hadleymanmusic]

Like them punks LadenVain master tape

[@mixbustv]

@Mique Flesh yep

[@themagicianofsound]

Nice to watch this, thanks for sharing, videos like this are gold for those who want to learn the proper ways to start a mixing session. I'll never mix haha (except 4-5 tracks, my all time record is 10 tracks haha, truly I'm not done for this), I do not have the patience for it but I truly admire mixing engineers like you and a few others for the incredible quality of the work. It is such a great pleasure to master a perfectly mixed track, but also so rare that it happens. Best Regards from your friend François in Montreal, Canada! 🎼🎶🎵🃏🙏😃🌠

[@phadrus]

Literally exactly what I was looking for and this video pops up as new.

[@randyrawdingii5135]

Watching you work is pretty awesome. OBV, there's levels to this shlt...Just sittin here like, "I am SO screwed"😂🤣

[@garyroberts1843]

Thanks Champion I think I need to watch it in slow motion!

[@marihutten]

Very similar workflow to mine. I also do the Cmd+U to get rid of the silent parts of the files that get sent to me. I select the gating to cut any silences and then use "Dynamic Processing"saves processing that way. Also Color coding is life!

[@albertoskrico9412]

Great video David! Thanks once again 🔥

[@paulchikezieomari]

Great mix ,Me still learning

[@highpeakrecordings]

Fascinating viewing. Love to see a part 2!

[@didgegirl6]

Thank you for this. I learned a lot in this 14 minutes. 🙏

[@ProDoucher]

This is the best video on mixing ever

[@Bonzvy]

we need part 2 💪🏻

[@AlexeySolovievMusic]

Awesome video! Thank you so much David

[@joezazasin7]

It's crazy how mixing, producing and living in audiophile circle can improve your hearing and experience. There's a mix I've made a year ago thought it was the perfect mix, looking at it today i go dang that's nowhere near perfect

[@beatweezl]

BAM BAM BAM BANG BANG BANG like a well oiled machine.

[@toufanrecords]

So nice . Now with new pro tools update you can adding easy folder track . Also , I add location after this . And then start to mix.

[@marceloribeirosimoes8959]

That overture soundtrack sounds very familiar to me... ...I think that is from a first-person view video game from '90... ...that plays when you're "killed", as far as I can remember... ...what is its name, what is its name, what is its name, what is its name, ... ...oh, boy... ...my memory needs a deep refresh...

[@VincentKearney1967]

Love it !

[@chadm4976]

Do Twitch sessions, watch your subscriptions grow.

[@codycreepcore]

i want more videos of this kind of thing.

[@mixbustv]

Buy my courses you have hours of this

[@dathonbell4008]

🔥🔥

[@Abhishek-kg3je]

I can't believe that beast of a system is still giving CPU overload error.

[@mixbustv]

Only because I'm impatient and I was playback while it was still converting the tracks, that's pro tools

[@JesusArmasOficial]

Great video. It reminded me when I started mixing. I love organizing sessions to be honest. Quick question. What do you use to get your Pro Tools audio to your videos? I tried voiceemeter back in the day but it was giving me lots of issues.

[@mixbustv]

Zoom H6 multed out from one of my outputs

[@PereRevert]

Thanks so much for sharing David !! Keep up the good work and the kindness of sharing your mixing routines over here. By the way, that opens up a new discussion about clip gain vs other gain methods prior to start any mix... mixing beasts such as CLA leans forward clip gain always, what are your thoughts in that matter guys ?

[@mixbustv]

I said it many times, clip gain is not for gain staging, you do it as you'd do it if you had control over the recording level, which is a gain knob, for a whole bunch of reasons I explained in several videos before

[@PereRevert]

@@mixbustv With respect, I don't know if we are confusing concepts but using clip gain is one of the simplest and agile ways I see to control the signal level that goes into any analog-like plugin... and to control his analog behaviour in order to process the sound in the expected "sweetspot". As I mentioned, CLA, one of the best mixing engineers of the planet doesn't care to do it that way into the digital domain even before reaching any other processor (analog or digital) in the signal chain of every of his tracks... no conflict please. Love your channel and admire your work too.

[@mixbustv]

@@PereRevert why conflict? There's no conflict man, I don't care what CLA does, he's great, but I also hear him say stupid shit. Clip gain for me it's there to adjust major level differences on the same track, due to different takes, different days, tracks comp'd wrong etc.. Any channel strip with a gain knob, that's what you use for gain staging. Also, there's not one way to do things. Every professional, me included, does things in a certain way because it's more efficient and fits the style and their workflow and every move is strictly correlated one another

[@PereRevert]

@@mixbustv Thanks David !

[@GetSongsDone]

Protools is brutal

[@Tallstack]

Really nice video! I work similiar to you. Seeing you doing it so fast pushes me hard! Thank you, please more vids like this! /m/

[@olofolofsson8544]

Man, things like this are SO much quicker and easier to do in Reaper. Requires some setup though. I can set a session like this up from scratch in like 5 minutes, easy, usually a lot quicker.

[@mixbustv]

Some people here seem not to get it, the time is not important. Maybe you guys mix for yourself, but this is a session for a client, tracks I've never heard before, I have no idea what lands on my desk until I open and import. This serves to me to get familiar with the material, listen to what's what, listen to how they are recorded and do gain staging. As for your "effects chains" and stuff, I despise engineers who use the same shit over and over to save time, that's why people come to me. I never use the same effect in two mixes. But hey, good for you you save 10 min

[@yvesvandendriessche6001]

I think Olof means reaper works more efficiently, not necessarily by using a template (with fixed fx) but by modifying the interface and shortcuts. I think he’s right actually (I toggle between PT and reaper), although it seems protools is quicker in adding the same plugin over several tracks (as I see you adding the ssl strip on each chain). Nevertheless, silly discussion, work whatever suits you I suppose.

[@olofolofsson8544]

@@mixbustv Sure, I dont't question the notion of getting used to the material while setting upp sessions. I agree with that philosophy. But. Why waste all that mental energy on setting up busses, coloring tracks, etc, when the DAW can do all that for you? I guess you will have to try it out in order to understand how smoother workflows will give you MORE familiarity with the tracks sonically, instead of less. Devote your mental capacity to things that matter the most, that's the real argument here. YMMV.

[@Melvin7727]

Olof is right of course. Reaper is far superior on the things that are purely logistical, technical, and that DON'T have any bearing on creativty/mixing choices. Reaper has the best workflow layout, and it is pretty much indisputable when comparing apples to apples. None of that matters though, because the best workflow is mostly the one you are familiar with. It's just that if one was shopping for which to use or which to learn, it really ought to be Reaper. It let's you do in seconds the same thing that Pro Tools takes minutes to do, EVERY step of the way. Those minutes add up. And it is a complete straw man to suggest that this comes at the expense of mixing ability. No, you do not need to use the same plugins/FX. You customize templates as you see fit, which means color coding alone if you want it to.

[@DocKaosBeats]

Can you use SSL E Channel and do the same or is the G channel better for some reason?

[@mixbustv]

I like the eq better on the G, that's it

[@davejohnsonmusic]

I thought you have your routing matrix saved as a preset? Wouldn't that be quicker to at least add your busses?

[@mixbustv]

My gear changed, my computer changed

[@vyprrrgaming3490]

Hey David, great video as always! I have one question though... and that is, when you set the gain level on each of the buss tracks, was that number random or is there a reason why some were set at -2df versus -4db?

[@mixbustv]

It's just experience, gain staging depends on track count, I know how many tracks I have, I know what level I need to hit my 2bus hardware when everything is playing (without no processing) and adjusting the level becomes second nature. From that point on, everything will be at unity with or without the processing, so I set up my 2bus first, because the level hitting it after that won't change (if not for 1 or 2db)

[@vyprrrgaming3490]

@@mixbustv awesome! Will you be doing more videos like this? Maybe explain your thought process too

[@mixbustv]

@@vyprrrgaming3490 my courses on ProMix Academy are for that, hours and hours of it

[@AlexGibson]

Interesting way to gain stage! I learned gain staging with a gain plugin from my stock DAW. I guess it's a bit different. I just want to try your method, but I saw that you adjusted gains from your experience as you said. So, to not blow up my whole mix, can I put a meter on the masterbus and gain stage based on the meter but with the SSL console? If you could answer why SSL and not stock gain plugin, I would appreciate a lot! Thank you!

[@mixbustv]

Because in PT you still have to use a plugin for gain and I have been mixing on SSL or with an SSL style channel strip on every channel forever, there would be no reason to use an extra plugin for gain stagin when I can do it with that. (that now being Console 1 SSL 4K)

[@tinodadon]

Hey David, when you waa gain staging on the ssl channel, what number did you put in and how did you know how much db to drop? Thanks!

[@mixbustv]

It's just experience, gain staging depends on track count, I know how many tracks I have, I know what level I need to hit my 2bus hardware when everything is playing (without no processing) and adjusting the level becomes second nature. From that point on, everything will be at unity with or without the processing, so I set up my 2bus first, because the level hitting it after that won't change (if not for 1 or 2db)

[@thedrunkenfish5855]

Do you ever run chains with plugins sandwiched between hardware in one go ?!?

[@mixbustv]

Of course, all the time

[@JasonMontgomery]

Are you using an SSD? I only get that audio retrieval error message when I had regular hard drives in my system.

[@mixbustv]

Only got it because I'm impatient and I playback while it's still loading files, that's pro tools not the computer, I get them on both drives and ssd if I do that. PT can't do two things at the same time 🤦

[@JasonMontgomery]

@@mixbustv Gotcha.

[@NeymanOrigin]

Big thanks for tips. I just get confused when ssl inserted on mono tracks. will be stereo ssl? It makes any diference?

[@NeymanOrigin]

Probably because I'm not using pro tools. In your case will automatically assume mono vst if the track is mono or stereo if the track is stereo? Sorry I'm just learning

[@mixbustv]

Nope, it'll be mono

[@NeymanOrigin]

@@mixbustv u must be laughing a looot

[@rockerdavid44]

Do you commit to every track after you’ve added the SSL to save a bit or CPU or do you keep it on the whole time?

[@davejohnsonmusic]

I don't think so. He hasn't made any moves with the eq yet. It's just there as his default channel strip of choice.

[@mixbustv]

I don't need to save CPU power, and I use the channel a lot on pretty much all tracks so no, I wouldn't do that anyway

[@giulianogoytia8776]

So you can't bypass the plugin if you want to check the eq and comp added? You can't compare because of the gain diference

[@Greenmantislives]

Giuliano Goytia, he turned his master plugin volume down so his ability to turn eq and comp on and off won’ affect overall volume like bypassing the plugin as a whole will.

[@TrueFallacy]

Is there any issue with leaving drum tracks as stereo tracks?? Mainly for rock mixing, I’m wondering if the main drum instruments could benefit from being summed to mono, recorded at a good level, especially if the main drums (kick, snare, etc) have matching peaks and AVG levels in the L and R channels, which would indicate they are directly in the center or the stereo image anyway > should these be mono? Or left as stereo?

[@mixbustv]

If the sounds are stereo are stereo, if they're mono, mono. You don't eye ball the levels, you split into mono (if in doubt) and flip phase on one channel. If they're mono sounds bounced stereo they will null, if they don't null, they're stereo. Simple

[@TrueFallacy]

@@mixbustv I didn’t think of that, thank you!

[@TrueFallacy]

@@mixbustv To restate the question > I’ve proven the stereo Kick drum I have is a mono source > should it be made into a mono track, or any issue with leaving as stereo track?

[@TrueFallacy]

@@mixbustv I loved the Rock Mixing Course on Pro Mix Academy by the way, learned a TONNE, thanks for that 🙏 Meet me at the Whiskey bro 😎

[@TrueFallacy]

@@mixbustv I’m thinking for me, because I have my levels of the stereo track recorded at -18 dB, then my Kick drum for example is twice as loud as it should be, since there are 2 channels at -18dB instead of just 1 channel at -18dB > I hope this makes sense and why I’m asking the question especially for kick and drums in general are the loudest elements of my mix, I don’t want them to be twice as loud as they should be unnecessarily > should I turn stereo Kicks and Snares into mono, or okay to leave as stereo?

[@dystopian186]

I don't remember where you said that, so I'm gonna leave my question here. In one of your videos you talked about professional mixing. You said "it isn't professional mixing when you adjust the volumes when you arrange your song" (or something similar. Bear with me, my memory is awful :P). But why did you say that? If it works and the song sounds awesome, what's the issue?

[@mixbustv]

Put it like that, that's not something I'd ever say or said, even trying to think of a specific context. The closest thing I can think of would be referring to a producer that simply adjust volumes while he's producing and call it a mix just like that, but I really have no idea.

[@dystopian186]

@@mixbustv Yeah this is what you said (sry my memory is awful). Is it a problem when you do that when producing?

[@mixbustv]

@@dystopian186 no it's not a problem at all, but it's not professional mixing, it's simply a rough mix

[@dystopian186]

@@mixbustv Ah ok. Now I get it. Thanks!

[@maksablesound]

Why lower all channels by - 10?

[@kyriee160]

Where is the coffee?

[@mixbustv]

I don't drink coffee anymore 👍

[@amirgrant844]

David, I am sure that you're fully aware that they're plugins out there designed to help you gain stage much faster. Such as one like I have which is the hornet vumeter mk4. Yet, you choose to gain stage manually. So I have to ask...why do you choose to do so manually still? Perhaps there is a flaw in "gain staging magic" type plugins that I'm not aware of. Although I hope not...

[@mixbustv]

I'm aware but not familiar, I wouldn't trust any automatic gain staging plug-in simply because gain staging changes every mix, based on track count and what I'm gonna use where.

[@amirgrant844]

@@mixbustv I get that. I actually got the plugin thinking ohhh so thats how the pros deal with gain staging mixes with high track counts. Who the heck has the time to sit there and gain stage 80-100 tracks? I realize now though that the pros dont do that. And by "pro", I'm not quite referring to that as a skill level because in this case, it's not really about skill but more so like level of how much someone truly cares about their audio quality.

[@mixbustv]

@@amirgrant844 to gain stage 100 tracks takes 5 minutes top

[@amirgrant844]

@@mixbustv Then it mostly likely is the fact that im not familiar with my DAW enough. I still have a whole course im taking for Reaper. But another thing I noticed is it seems for the most part, you're able to gain stage visually. I hear you play a sound here and there but mostly it seemed like you were changing track levels as if you already knew something was too hot or too quiet just from lookin at it. If that's the case, that would explain a lot

[@mixbustv]

@@amirgrant844 visual reference helps but I could do it without looking at the tracks, do enough mixes and you will too

[@saahaslalwani]

Clicked cuz it said no talking. 🤣

[@alwyzDTF]

Is the 2BUS channel just a pre master or what?