All language subtitles for 3. Maintaining perspective, mix buss processing, gain staging, working the artist and label, preparing for mastering_EN

I like to have the rhythm section going in
so I can get a idea where she's sit.

Because I like vocals
and rhythm to just drive the record.

So, as I bring in
the drums...

I also bring in the bass because…
give me a little bit perspective

of where everything
should be.

One of the elements that takes a lot
of space in the song is the piano.

So I bring
that in just to…

see where
it should sit.

The vibes also take a lot of space,
so I want to bring those in.

Now that I got the vocal in there,
bring the backs in as well.

Sound pretty good.

These horns…

Make sure they feel right,
so I brighten them up a little bit

so they can
stick out.

That's pretty much…

…the blend, just dialing
things in at this point.

So as I'm mixing, on my Mix Bus,
first thing I put on there

is my trusted NTI EQ
that I've used for years.

I just have a EQ setting on that I
love and it just…once I got the mix

in a 70% to 80% area,
I slap this EQ on the Master Bus

and it just brings everything to life
and it lets me know where I'm at.

It's like a magnifying glass
to the mix, it just clears things up

where I can see
what's really going on.

So I pop it in.

This is without it.

This is with it.

And I follow that up by a
little bit of virtual tape machines.

I love the Slate,
sounds pretty good.

Just add a little bit
of color to it.

Nothing dramatic.

I like this
little revival.

Actually, it sounds
pretty good on the bus.

Just a little top
and a little bottom to it,

a thickness of it
and some shimmer to it.

I got it followed by two trimmers
in case I need to adjust the level.

On this track, I don't think
I needed to do that.

But I just have it
there in case.

As you can see, there's a little
peaking going here,

so I might bring it down
a little bit here if need be.

I'm also listening
to see what it sounds like

because sometimes
that's cool.

Follow it up
by a little bit of EQ.

Just slight adjustments,
nothing crazy.

You can see I'm barely even,
a dB, half a dB here.

Nothing much.

Just opens up
some of the frequency.

And I like following it up
with my Manley Variable Mu.

I used to use this,
the real version a lot.

But this UAD version
sounds pretty close to it.

It's one of
my favorite plug-ins.

I kind of use it
to glue the song.

I'm not really using a lot of compression,
it just adds a little character to it.

So I'll finally use the stuff
very subtle in a chain

can make a big deal,
make a big difference.

I'll run it through a limiter just so
I can hear what it's going to sound like

basically when
it's mastered.

I've not really taken too much off,
not squashing it too much,

like a dance record or rap record,
but just bringing the level up

to get a master feel, so when
I send it to master I have a idea

of how I want
it to sound.

That's basically
my mix bus process.

I'm always tweaking things
as the song's going on,

as I'm doing
vocal rides.

I might change something in
the compression of the overall mix.

I might change some EQ things
here and there,

but I'm always moving
around as I'm mixing.

So, when I fit one thing to one piece
and fit something else into another,

so it makes the whole
mix glue together.

My gain structure, I'm just looking
at…I'll use this virtual tape

to see where I'm at because
it's got a good meter on there.

I like to try to start between -5,
right around there, between -7 and -3,

right around there, just getting
the vocal around there,

and I'll start building
around the vocal.

Now during the time to mix,
I might bring everything down overall

if the gain structure is getting too
high, or if it needs to be brought up,

I'll group everything
and bring them up.

But I'm always revising that as I'm
building the mix

because sometimes you'll have
a song where you're slamming a bus

and you need to
bring it back.

So I'll bring it
back as I'm going.

But I'm always monitoring the gain
structure as I'm mixing

different stages of the mix just to make
sure everything is where it needs to be

because I'm always also thinking ahead
what levels I got to be at

if I'm mastering, what levels I got
to be at for it to hit certain pieces

of outboard gear if
I'm using something on the bus.

So just keeping things together
so you don't get too much distortion

unless you're going
for that type of sound.

So, for me, it's just I'm always
monitoring, fixing the gain structure

as I'm going along throughout the mix
because sometimes you can get crazy

and you got to
tame it back.

Sometimes you
got to bring it up.

That's all based on the song
and how the mix is going that day.

I played it by ear,
where it felt good to my ears

and loud enough
for them to listen.

I didn't really have a specific
number I was going for

and say I wanted to have this
minus number for them to reference.

I just went by feel and
just listening to the song.

Did it sound too crunched?
Did it sound whatever?

I use this as a monitoring trick
just so I can get an idea

what it's going to feel like
in a mastering situation.

But I always print my stuff
with enough headroom

for the mastering engineer
to do his job.

I don't really pay a lot of attention
to the levels that I have it at

when I'm just monitoring
through the Pro-L.

But I am listening to the song,
listening to the sound of it,

and seeing
where that is.

So I think I was limiting
at -3, -4dB on this,

but it might vary
from song to song.

But I'm really using my ears to see
how it sounds and how it feels.

And after a while you know if it's
something sounds too crunched

or if it's not
loud enough.

I just rely on
my instincts for that.

I'm less about the numbers in every…
in particular where this has to be

and just relying
on my feel per se.

This project was very…
a lot going on with it.

We had a small amount of time
to get the soundtrack done.

As I got the mixes closer
and this song good,

I would send it off to Jennifer and the
label and they would just listen to it,

make their small changes and comments,
and then we'd go back and forth.

We got through this project
relatively quickly.

There weren't a lot of different changes
that she wanted to make

because we had something that we knew
that we were trying to capture.

It wasn't a brand-new song
from scratch.

We knew how the song should
sound given the blueprint

that Aretha
laid out for us.

So we just put a little bit more
of a modern spin on it,

but we tried to keep it in the same
neighborhood as the original song.

Once that process was done,
I sent it off to mastering.

I used Gene Grimaldi at
Oasis Mastering here in Los Angeles.

He does
a great job.

You got to have a good relationship
with your mastering engineers,

always a good
as a mixer.

I like to monitor what he's done
before I give him approval

because you never know, sometimes
you'll give a mix to a mastering engineer

and he might do something different
and might make your mix

sound different than
what you want.

So, it's always good to have a great
relationship with your mastering engineer,

and so you know
you're going to get

what you gave him, so,
you get back what you want.

This process went relatively smooth,
and Gene did the whole album actually.

And it came out
pretty good.

I hope some of my techniques
helped you out

and help your approach
to mixing records.