Musicians Collaboration Studio
How To => Production Tips and Tricks! => Topic started by: Cary on January 12, 2007, 10:09:17 AM
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Welcome to the Musicians Collaboration Mix Clinic, aka MCMC. This purpose of these clinics are to improve our skills and to gain insight on techniques which will give us better sounding mixes.
The playing rules:
1. Think of this exercise as a pretend paying job to mix a song for a band. The mix that you provide should be something that the band will like listening to. They picked you to mix the song - put your heart into it!
2. You cannot add any instruments. No additional recording is allowed. We will allow sliding things around to correct timing, or to re-use parts for a different section of the song. For example, copying and pasting a cymbal crash.
3. Although it is very common practice among top mix engineers, drum sample replacements are not allowed. We want to learn how to use techniques which make parts sound their best. Simply replacing a kick drum with a sample isn't going to teach you anything.
4. You can use Autotune, Melodyne, or any other pitch tuning tool to correct or alter any part.
5. You do not need to use all the tracks. You can also mute sections of a track where you feel it's necessary. Keep in mind though, you should have a good reason for doing so and you'd need to sell the band on the idea.
6. Make your best mix and post an MP3 or Wma in the applicable MCMC thread. I recommend a 192 bit rate MP3.
7. Although it's not necessary, I strongly recommend a detailed description of the steps taken to create your mix. Things like plug-in use and settings, approximate EQ values, and production decisions are all good information that others can learn from.
8. During the course of the clinic, I will allow second and (third) final mix submissions. If you feel you've made some improvements based on listener feedback, outline the changes you've made and post the new mix. You must leave the previous mix for comparison.
9. Regarding 'mastered' mixes. There is no rule here. What we're typing to do is make good sounding music. If you want to do something along the lines of 'mastering', by all means do so. Keep in mind that more damage can be done during 'mastering' to an otherwise good mix. You don't get points for the loudest mix. What we're looking for is a mix we'd all want to listen to.
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This sounds like a great idea and some good fun.
So, where do the band tracks come from?
When does this begin?
Is the right thread to post this in or should it be seperate? I fear I may have missed some earlier announcement ;)
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Any chance you'll pick a song with only a few tracks?
It would be a good introduction for us novices who get overwhelmed easily. ;)
Jeff
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Uh...........This was from last January 2007 ;)
Mabe another clinic will come out of this though :)
Ken
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hehe...:)
Thats what I get for slackin in stead of workin'!
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We should do another one. :) We used a song from the forum here. One of Brina's. Lots of finished songs here to work on.
I've got a few I'm trying to mix right now. I have one with Kens drums all on seperate tracks & Todd's vocals. Could be a challenge ;)
Dave
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I un-stickied this topic since it's old and we can let it drift back into the forum at large :)
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Cool - Did you ever have a finished song and a winner on this ?
CD
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It was just for practice and critque. No winners.
I'd like to see another one done. But with more structure...using minimal number of tracks and limiting the processing tools to Compression, Reverb, EQ.
That would help some of us get a grasp of the basics.
Jeff
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I'd like to see another one done. But with more structure...using minimal number of tracks and limiting the processing tools to Compression, Reverb, EQ.
That would help some of us get a grasp of the basics.
Jeff
I second that!
Dan.
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What I'd like to see is someone (a pro from amongst us) doing a screen and audio capture of what they did and why they did it. That would definitely be a learning tool for me! I've thought about doing something like that for how I use BIAB and All That Chords as a songwriting drafting tool.
Paul
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What I'd like to see is someone (a pro from amongst us) doing a screen and audio capture of what they did and why they did it.
Me too.
Do we have anyone who does it as a profession ?
CD
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Well, from what I've seen CD you might be one of the most experienced mixers out there. :-)
Paul
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Well, from what I've seen CD you might be one of the most experienced mixers out there. :-)
Paul
Hmmm
I'm just a dedicated hobbyist....still, I've learnt loads whilst mixing other peoples songs and different styles.
I'd love to sit and watch a real pro do a mix
CD
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Well, from what I've seen CD you might be one of the most experienced mixers out there. :-)
Paul
Hmmm
I'm just a dedicated hobbyist....still, I've learnt loads whilst mixing other peoples songs and different styles.
I'd love to sit and watch a real pro do a mix
CD
Be careful of that word "Pro" lol. You have the skills too CD. Once you get paid to do it, you're a pro. I get paid to do this thing - part time, but yes, I get paid and they are generally happy with their product. That makes me a pro???? lol
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What I'd like to see is someone (a pro from amongst us) doing a screen and audio capture of what they did and why they did it.
Those screen caps can be tough to interpret. I'd just like to see a brief description of the EQ's, effects, etc., used on each track (ie. "low cut on vocal @ 250Hz").
Mark