"My Emails are written in good humour, and should be read with a smile"

"I have an acquaintance who runs a commercial studio...nice place. I have 'demo'd' there before and always got a very pro sound. I have always been more of a programmer than a producer...so I asked him what his mix down 'routine' was. He said he always gets the drums and bass right and then mixes everything around that ( But vocals are most important) 

 

You have been kind enough to explain to me at length the 0db theory. My concern is...is that if I have the drums and bass pumping at 0db what if the vocal is then too quiet, relatively speaking of course, when it to is pushed to 0db. Does that make sense?"

I replied: 

 

Nick 

You have now found out from other sources that all I say is correct...
 
The short answer to your voice/0db question is that if the voice is recorded properly, in the first place, then the level should be sufficient to almost give you an automatically good mix...particularly when you add effect, which will add more 'level' to the vocal anyway.

I would normally group the vocals together, the drums separately and the rest of the instrumentation separately again, so that I have total control over the relative levels of the most important parts of the mix.

Hope this helps

Thanks again for the advice it is appreciated!

'Grouping' - I meant to ask about that, I can do that on the bigger of my two mixers...so do I, for example, mix Kick, hat and snare on separate outs and then group them onto one fader? To have total control over the drums on one fader? Hope so, coz I've done this before, out of curiosity. Thanks so much Dec I'm learning heaps at the moment. My questions are coming thick and fast because I finally have a studio. and am about to embark on a serious writing stint and, as you say, want things right from the off.

 

I read a great quote from a guy who's made a hell of a lot of dance records called Chris Cowie who was in last month's 'future music' - he said something along the lines of 'People think having the latest box is going to improve their music - nonsense'.  He likened new gear to a 'remix' whereby it's the same old stuff re packaged with a few more knobs on

 

Hi Nick...

 

You don't realise it, but all these guys are quoting 'me'. This is all the stuff in my 'How To Make A $Million From Your Music' releases!

 

New gear has never made a HIT yet!  It's the musical input  that really contributes to the Hit...that is why I advise the Members to have piano lessons, learn the theory, then analyse and dissect chart TOONS....'ape' the great opposite sex soul singers to improve voice control and commerciality.

 

One of the members wrote a letter to tell of a deal with Sony for £500,000 and a six figure publishing deal....so it all works....I advised him by telephone when he was negotiating.

 

As regards mixing drums, to give you an illustration:

 

I normally use an Alesis D4 drum module [four outputs...kik out of Aux left to a single channel, snare out of aux. right to another channel, stereo spread of high hats, cymbals and other percussion out of Main left/right to two other channels. ]

 

I then might use an Alesis DM5 drum module in the same manner [it's much more 'dancy'...so it depends on the track I am working on whether I use it]

 

I then have my S950 hooked up to 8 channels and have various other kiks, snares, high hats available plus short samples [all the 'say what?' type stuff] then I have the S2000 set up for the bigger sample stuff...say acoustic guitars, orchestral strings to add to the U110 and maybe my Korg. That goes into a stereo two channels.

 

So you see, I use 18 channels with 4 auxiliaries for effects,....also an insert point is available on each channel for a specific effect send and return, or compressor.

 

All of these are on one mixer so that all of that mix comes into the main mixer to two group faders...so my total percussion section [plus the acoustic guitar, if I use it, and the strings] are grouped under two faders....I can just have all the drums on here and link the strings and acoustic [if I use them] over to the main mixer inserts, if I choose.

 

All the vocals are then grouped [using the little grey bus buttons] to another two faders. All the other instruments, live guitars etc. can be distributed to the other four group faders so that they can be faded in and out to maintain total silence......I have 8 group faders in all.

 

This is pretty much an industry standard way of working.

 

Once the mix is set up [all the fader movements are recorded in the Hard Disc computer memory which I use for the 'live' content] and the midi volume levels are recorded in the Atari memory...then all I have to worry about is the changes in effects levels and the basic relativity between the vocal /drums/rest of instruments...simple....so I am never 'fighting for a mix'.

 

I try to aim at a situation of just sitting back and listening as I am mixing down to two track [or 5.1]. That way you can be much more aware of the commerciality of the product...the jump, the bounce. and always remember that the excitement is in the vocals....nowhere else! The drums add dancability and the rest just adds gloss to an 'already hit toon'.

 

I don't need to say it, but 98% of guys have this completely wrong.

 

Have fun...