All language subtitles for MWTM Q&A #8 - Michael Brauer

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hi I'm Mike Brower and I'm just wrapping

up another week second seminar this year

it's December and it was a great group

and it has become the custom now we have

a few questions at the end so let's

start with Anthony what is your approach

when you start the mixed process in

other words which instrument do you

start with and secondly when processing

a particular instrument do you use

compression up to the EQ in the signal

chain or the opposite give me an example

well what my approach for starting the

mix process is that I'm immediately

looking for what is the essence of this

song what are the two or three

ingredients that that I need to focus on

first and then build the mix around that

so it doesn't have to be drums and bass

quite often actually that becomes more

of a support so I'll start maybe with

the piano in a vocal or an acoustic

guitar in a vocal or maybe it's just a

particular keyboard feel and build

around that because that's what feels

good to me on and that allows the focus

to never get diluted because these are

the most important ingredients of the

mix and I that has to be center stage

and everything else I build around it

and I li EQ properly and as soon as I'm

starting to lose the main ingredients I

know that that new new instrument needs

to either be taken out or EQ differently

I generally compress after the EQ I mean

I usually EQ after I compress on and the

reason is that the EQ is going to be

triggering the compressor so if I have a

lot of compression going on and it's

it's

it's squeezing the sound and it's maybe

taking some of the top end off I want to

be able to EQ it and have the transience

of the EQ unfold a lot easier than if

I'm doing it before unless I want to do

that very thing I might compress after a

snare drum but I might arm I mean I

might I might EQ after I compress a

snare drum if I wanted to compress the

snare drum but I might EQ before a

compressor if I for example I

specifically the job of that EQ is to

trigger the compressor so if I've got a

bass and I wanted to control it a little

bit more I might push some 700 and that

will trigger the compressor a certain

way and so I can mould the compressor

and then I might EQ again afterwards so

that's an example of where I

specifically want to use the EQ to to

tone the whole sound and looking for

Sergio asks since your SEM

in our in 2011 I've been using a

technique and slightly changing it on my

own way lately I went from OTB to hybrid

and heard some stories that you have a

second smaller mixing setup I just

wonder if you have made some setup

downsizing in the hybrid way that would

be really interesting oh yeah for sure I

had to UM I've set up a second room it's

more like a low-budget room lower budget

and the hybrid is like a mini-me of the

main room I have one rack that has my

ABCD set up with summing amps different

sounding summing amps for a B C and D

which also shares the return of a lot of

my effects and the second rack has my

mastering compressor is the final stage

compressors equalizers instead of having

four different compressors to choose

from I have two the ones that sound the

most different from each other and I

also have a few um mono compressors that

I use for my vocal returns

so I'm condensing from maybe four or

five compressors down to three for my

vocal sound and that works great I still

want to maintain a hybrid I want the

sense of the analog that feel and that

seems to be a great combination heading

asks when

lead vocals I understand you sometimes

you're using one fader bus to three to

five vocal compressors when you do it

like this or your effects and delay and

reverb sends pre compression also do you

find that there are times when feeding

an effect processor an uncompressed

signal is preferable to the more

traditional other way around

let's not forget by the time I don't

think I have ever gotten a vocal that

hasn't already been processed and now

I'm processing it more so is never

really a time when it isn't already

uncompressed to a degree but yes you're

right because I'm sending post a fader

to four or five other compressors that

are down here I am mixing into the

compressor which are returning but the

reverbs and the delays that I'm sending

off the sends are from basically pre the

return of the compressors which I never

really noticed that I was doing until I

think maybe somebody pointed it out now

I

ayuh that's probably why it's

interesting how the reverbs seem to be

clearer and at the same time sometimes

hard to hear if I've got too much of the

returns because I can't match how much

I'm sending to the reverb so sometimes

they seem to like um feel I have to turn

them up more

so that's but I find that I prefer that

sound than going down to the other end

of the console and feeding those

compressors into the reverb off the

returns um you know are there time

when feeding an effect processor and

uncompressed signals preferable again I

don't know it's does it sound good yes

then that's preferable but also remember

that it's already processed to a degree

Haas Cal asks what is your method to

turn super busy arrangements into clear

and punchy mixes well whatever is busy

goes down and maybe out if it's too busy

I may just remove it to a point where

there's a reason for it but busy means

two people two sounds are fighting for

the spotlight so to make it less busy

choose which one is going to take the

spotlight and the other one either takes

a super support role or if in the case

somebody says yeah this is a lot

happening but I like it super super low

well I say get it to super super

out of here know what I mean hit the cut

rid of it if it's that low who cares

AJ asks uh wondering if you could fire

some suggestions for creating thickness

in a vocal without the mud and then the

second question which also kind of

connected why do all the lead vocals you

mix have that special distinctive sound

there's a special sound to the esses of

Chris Martin KT Tunstall and John Mayer

they're quite loud but far from harsh

there's a solid bottom to your vocals

but no boo meanness and the mids cut

through but never sound too phony

is it always the same processing chain

and do you ever use multiband

compression how much gain on the EQ

would you consider heavy EQ is it more

boosting or is it more dipping or

combination whoo it's about eight

million questions in one all right let's

start with

creating thickness well I am creating a

compilation vocal sound by sending to

four or five compressors each one of

those compresses on their own are okay

but they only give you part of the

picture I'm specifically finding

compressors that are part of the picture

if I wanted one to do it with just one

compressor I'd have to find one that

really does it best

but I'm not doing it that way so by

getting one that has good head tone good

throat good may be way more intensity

then the singer actually had I can feed

that in there I can make a little bit

more intense I can add maybe one that's

very aggressive sounding or little has

some distortion gives that some

thickness natural warmth um you know you

by doing this you have the option of

changing a bit the attitude of the

performance because sometimes it's

lacking and so by doing this approach

you can bring back or bring enters into

the performance what was lacking which

could have been intensity on so creating

that thickness is it kind of comes

naturally now maybe some of these

returns I'll take a little 300 out of it

so as you're joining them all they're

not they're not piling up on certain

frequencies so

yes I am basically doing that same chain

all the time that is part of the sound

um the de-essing you know because I've

got these four or five compressors

coming back in there again it depending

on I try to find one that that might be

bright in the upper mid-range and one

that's dull so I don't have too much of

a loading in the 4k area but um because

of that there is a tendency to for some

of the esses to be enhanced but I have

um two or three different dealers that

might be working I might have the the

Renaissance at the at the end of the

chain the arm the Oxford at the

beginning of the chain maybe even this

one that's called the fab fab something

fab s ER or something um somewhere in

the chain and my assistant will just

work those all carefully so that I have

a strong ass but not one that's causing

any bleeding in the ears but it gives it

solidness but it's it's silky its soft

because I don't like that I want to be

able to turn the speaker's up and I

don't want to be distracted by an S

because if you do it if it's to sizzle

II it just takes away from the

performance and I'm not believing the

singer anymore

because say it just sounds too hyped um

I don't use

Dabangg compression across the vocal and

this is what I'm saying it what the

question is you know quite often if I'm

before it even comes to the desk I might

be in Pro Tools if I hear there's a

problem I may choose a actually a

multiband equalizer that to me it's

doing the same job as a compressor and

I'll trigger

I'll find the frequencies that are that

are bothering me and then when whenever

that frequency is triggered it brings it

down a bit I use a just one plug-in

hoffa there's I'm sure plenty more you

can play with it or in waves on you

consider heavy qe3 DB or 5 DB i I don't

the first thing I want to do is

attenuate before I boost I want to clean

up the sound because if you clean up and

you may not need to boost because now

the problem you've just removed it so

now the natural sound is showing itself

but I I don't I don't know what heavy EQ

is what I want to do is get it to sound

right and I so I'm not looking at what

I'm doing if it's a lot I don't care

it's not heavy Q it's if it's it's not

heavy EQ if it was lacking 5 DB at a

certain frequency and all I'm doing is

actually boosting that amount just so I

go back to zero again where it's you

know where it should be so so they're

Minko he asks what are the three most

common mistakes in mixing and how to

avoid them

well mistake is you forget that it's

music have fun have fun is what it's

about

you've learned how to work one of these

things so once you've done that throw it

all the rules aside and have fun

on second mistake common mistake is you

think too much you should you forgot to

just use your heart and base things on

on an emotional experience make

decisions on that don't be sitting there

old twinkling and stuff when you're

thinking and you're thinking you're

thinking because it it gets you tired

and and what are you thinking about you

shouldn't be thinking it's music just

react you know if you're a musician all

the more reason why you shouldn't be

thinking so much you're playing an

instrument

you're not thinking you're just feeling

so do that when you're mixing third the

mistake is building the song around what

should be a support role instead of the

main rule what is the essence of that

song build around that not around the

support factors just build around

support factors and you're going to try

and cram the main the main ones around

it it's not going to work the fount and

a foundation it's not like being a

construction worker where you have to

build the foundation of the ground up no

foundation can be the roof it can be the

acoustic guitar and build around that

not around the kick and drums and bass

not necessarily that could be just a

support factor around the way the song

was written which was around something

like a guitar or a keyboard and a vocal

so llego how's your pro

to get midrange separation to make the

vocals fit in the mix well that's making

the assumption that I built the whole

track up and now I'm just trying to fit

the vocal in the way I do it is the

other way around I'd fit the song around

the vocal because after all if this song

is telling a story and the vocal is

driving this song that's not going to be

the last thing I add to the mix that's

something I start early in the process

and build around that so I fit basically

the song around the vocal not the vocal

to the song quasi how do you deal with

the recall epidemic these days

especially from younger artists being

used to instant recalls not from a

technical POV I got that sort out with

my cell but from a business are you

doing flat rates how many revisions are

you including how do you do des rates

well there are many options and you

certainly find one that that works best

for your clientele and the budget I mean

you can't you can't be demanding stuff

that's beyond what the budget can take

but it's true I think a master mix these

days is more like a more like a recall

in progress the final decisions haven't

been made it's a good starting point

sometimes and other times it's done

the mix is done everybody is committed

to it and there might be some tiny

little tweaks on how to charge for it I

think my manager usually includes one

maybe two days on an album project of

four recalls and

um maybe on a single I don't know couple

revisions the bottom line is you got to

get these done and I do full sets of

stems now so I rarely have to bring back

on the desk a full recall because yes

you're competing with people who can do

a million recalls in in their mixing in

the box they hit it both everything is

back for those of us who are doing

analog or even all right well hybrid you

everything is pretty much being

untouched in a hybrid situation but but

what I'm doing is I'll I'll have all the

stems done and then while I'm mixing if

there's requests for recalls I'm having

my assistant in the bee room doing these

fine tweaks sometimes it's usually just

level changes so I'm not I'm not

dedicating a specific amount of time

where I'm not doing anything else but

these recalls I'll have my assistant on

doing the changes and then I'll go in

and I'll listen to and I'll go okay

that's good

send it on and some being very efficient

with my time I'm still mixing and I'm

dealing with the recalls at the same

time yarn after working on a mixer

several hours I feel that my work gets

worse and worse

I hear people working on a mix for 16

hours or more but I would start to

destroy my mix long before that how can

I improve my mixing stamina um you're

probably micro mixing that's why you're

getting so tired you're focusing on all

the wrong things you should be not

thinking you should just be putting up

the tracks finding the ones that feel

good have fun be having more more fun

and do not think the thinking process

comes way way later in the process when

everything automation is done

you've got the

way you like it you think it's good then

you listen to it on a small monitor like

a little boom box or something and then

you start thinking asking yourself

questions do is this sounding good or

why does why doesn't the chorus feel

good enough at this point then you can

start thinking and micromanaging but

until then spending hours on the drum

sound which is in a total vacuum because

you don't know how really everything

else is going to relate to it will tire

anyone out so stop arm stop focusing on

detail and just get the mix going you

should have a mixed feeling really

really good in under 20 minutes by

quickly defining the the things that

groove the things that feel good what is

the essence of the song find it quickly

and then start building around that

that's what I do that's what my friends

do and then you can get nitpicky later

if for a reason you're not quite getting

the feel you're looking for

that's it

you

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