First Mix Session: need Help?

[Dead River Studio]

I'm doing my first mix session and I'm a little nervous [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

1. What's up with normalizing? Do you run this on all your tracks that appear uneven in level (before using compressors).

2. Do you mix your drums first and then sub them to two channels or maybe one stereo channel? I know it's a matter of preference, but I'm just looking for pointers and CPU savers.

3. How do you set up your Reverbs? Do you have one on the Master and then set up others as needed on Aux channels and route them accordingly, like to vocals and snare and guitar (whatever)?

4. What do you have for plugins on the Master; compressor?, L1+, another Reverb? C4 if you've got it?

Any other pointers are appreciated.
Thanks,
Steve

[Jorge442]

Hi Steve,

welcome to the madness. First, DO NOT NORMALIZE, unless you´re only doing only one song.

Route your Toms to an aux channel and eq them there. You might also want a compression plug in to add punchiness and evenness

Set up a couple of reverbs(one long for vocals and lead guitars maybe, and one short for percussion for example)on aux channels and send to them whatever you need, on the snare you might even want both reverbs... but do not use one on the master fader (I wouldn´t).

I don´t waste CPU power by adding anything to the master fader. I´d rather set up a new ¨mastering¨ session, import your stereo, 24 bit mixes and use all your horsepower to EQ, Compress and limit until it sounds LOUD and clear.

Have fun,

Jorge

[DOUBLE EDGE]

1)dont normalize until youre ready to master the track or tracks. some tracks really dont need to be normalized so listen carefully.

2)i record the drums individually on each track then bounce them to stereo with dynamics printed

3)jorge is rite about th verbs

4) i also use a separate session to add plugs on my master fader.. q10>c1>big bottom/clarity enhancer> s1> L1+

[Dead River Studio]

I see quite a lot of people bounce to 24 bit stereo and then bring the mix back in to master. When you do your first 24 bit st mix, do you use the +L1 Ultramaximizer on the master? I've been reading my Waves manual and it says to only use the +L1 function if it is the very last time the mix will be edited (something to do with the dithering and the noise shaping technology employed).
Thanks for the pointers in mixing, that was all helpfull.
I'm still confused about Normalizing, like when and where? Is it most usefull on low level signal tracks? But I will avoid it for now.
Any other mixing techniques out there?

Thanks,
Steve

[j creasey]

the best thing to do is reference commercial cd's on your system
put on dark side of the moon on your pt system and go back to your mix then make a pot of coffee [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[lwilliam]

I rarely normalize at any point in the recording, unless I've made an engineering error and recorded the track levels WAY too low. For convenience then, I'll use the GAIN plugin or the Normalize plugin to get the levels hotter.

You can use the Wave L1 (not the L1+) on the master fader for your 24-bit mixdown file(s). Then you're not dithering the output. You don't need to dither unless you're reducing the number of bits.

When doing the 24-bit bounce, I don't push the limiter very hard (maybe a couple of db of limiting). It gives me more flexibility during the "mastering" session to then use the L1+ and the C4. The L1+ should be the final insert (unless you're using PAZ) on the "mastering" session.