Automations & Transitions: Take Your Mix to the Next Level - Marc Daniel Nelson
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
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Song: Old Fashioned Way by Todd Kessler
In this episode of MakeMineMusic, Marc Daniel Nelson talks about how automation and transitions can make or break your mixes. This topic has been talked about a handful of times on TH-cam over the past few years, but what Marc feels is missing is a really good example of a before and an after. It is hard to really tell what the automation is doing if you aren’t given a good example of what the mix sounds like with it and without it.
Today, he is mixing a session from an album he produced a few years back. The song is called “Old Fashioned Way” by Todd Kessler. The mix is pretty much where he likes it, but he feels like it needs some more movement, some feelings, some transitions, to really take it up another step.
The print mix he is starting with is has no automation on it, and then he will do the automation on the whole project and print that, so that you can hear the difference between the two and really hear how the automation takes a good mix up another level.
Follow as he gives tips on how and why automation can enhance your emotional connection with the music. You can also download the multitracks to the song so you can truly hear the difference and also mix the song for yourself!
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How do you use automation and transitions in your mixes?
Before this video with accuracy and a little bit, because I doubted.
Volume automation on mix bus, make the chorus 0.5 or 1 dB louder in the end.
Automated low pass filters to make it feel like things are opening up and filling up with energy.
as an non-proffesionali either hand draw or use point to point in Ableton (automation mode) just to make the mix sound a bit more dynamic :)
It can usually take the song from avarage to "wow"
btw i could listen to you and Marc all day , every day and still learn new stuff so thx for these sessions :)
I didn't realize how to do it before, but I'm doing it like this from now on!!!
Whenever I see that there's a need for microdynamics, I manually edit the automation track for volume and sometimes panning. Riding a fader seems to be much faster and much more fun so I'm thinking of getting Fader Port. Thanks for yet another amazing video with MDN.
This is probably the most important video on mixing currently on TH-cam.
I dont know about that but its good, yes. Warren has made some very good videos as well. Many of them actually.
Wow! That's huge! Thanks ever so much Marc rules!
@@soulchorea Thanks ever so much!
@@johnwalter6410 you're very kind!
AGREE - this is a very clear demonstration of how mixing really is part of the artistic creation of a music. Reminds me of the "all hands on faders" team based mixing of the 70s. This is how one adds "life" to a mix, and it is completely logical! This is just one track at a time. The tip on end of phrase note raise is gold. Love this vid. Well done Marc.
What a beautiful song. Thanks Marc for caring so much about the emotion of music and for being so generous with it. I learned tons here.
Thanks ever so much Daniel!
I agree. The lyrics are killer and he has a beautiful voice.
A master class in the importance of subtlety and artistry in mixing, thank you so much Marc and Warren for putting this together and sharing it! I learned so much from this video, there were some real "eureka" moments. I had never thought of a mix as "breathing" before, but now I'll approach every mix with that mindset.
Marc is an absolute joy to listen to. He's really humble and really wants to explain. 100% achieved. Very clear, very detailed, very on point. I just wish this videos would have been available 20 years ago.. Marc and Warren are killing some frustrations I long had as an engineer. SO SO grateful. Cheers mates. ;)
truth great person the real deal .down to earth
@@teddinardo8944 indeed, and that's the only way to be a great human being. Knowledgeable, humble and altruist.
automating my longer reverbs and delays to "feather" the decay of a note is a classic. one of the most fun thing about finalizing a mix!
Thanks ever so much for sharing!
Dear Marc Daniel Nelson
Thank you. I'm a 58 yo musician working in Reaper almost daily for a year now learning learning learning. I watch a lot of recording videos and there are a lot of Peter Pans out there and I don't have time to watch them all. But man, when you talk, I listen. Really good video.
Thank you Todd!
I'm a simple man, I see Marc Daniel Nelson, I click. I've definitely become a fan of his because of this channel. Thank you Warren
Usually I dislike the music used in mixing tutorials but this song is really good
This is pure gold, can't believe this is free!
pssst... not so loud :)
Thanks ever so much Ian!
@@pascalmerschaudio haha I love doing content for Free!!
@@Producelikeapro thanks warren. I appreciate you Work ;)
The best teachers are those who are so passionate about their art that they want everyone to understand and love it. Absolutely brilliant guy.
Honestly, I’ve never hit subscribe so quickly after just a few moments of watching a video! There are so many mixing tutorials out there, but this is gold. Such a fantastic perspective. Thank you for sharing.
Same, then I realized I had already subscribed.
Produce like a pro is a goldmine!! Nothing better than someone in the biz giving You tips!!!
Thank you great stuff.!!! What console are you using in this video ???
Hello Marc. Great video! What headphones are you using?
I've been making music for ever, but, no body ever, showed/explained this to me -OMG, unbelievable - This gentleman and Warren, do not stop educating .. I learn so much through TH-cam, I've seen it be a rabbit whole - but - use it wisely - and it can be an amazing education
I'm loving all these Marc Daniel Nelson vids :)
Greta Thunberg's uncle is mixing the shit out of that song!
Amazing, honestly. I make downtempo and ambient electronica mainly, so computer music with no recorded elements. Do you think the same rules apply or would they be slightly different? I'll give it a go either way :) thanks for the great tip!
Great example of how to implement automation. My automation has never really been about "riding" levels, I more use automation to switch verse and chorus fx for example. This was a great vid 👌🏾
Thanks ever so much! Glad you enjoyed it! Marc Rules!
Great topic and course - I'm an automation addict. I feel it's the one thing that brings the coolest dynamics in the mix. Especially automating single parameters within FX is fun, for example the classic moving filters or even very specific stuff like formants in Autotune. You can get really creative with this.
Sorry it is too advanced for me, I can barely hear a tiny difference. I think in a blind test I wouldn't be able to tell if it is with or without automation. (Obviously I can't tell if there 0.5db of difference). I have listen with a good headphone (DT770) so maybe my ears are too old now :) Am I the only one or people are just pretending ;) - One thing for sure is that the original mix was already very good.
I have a few questions since this is concept is pretty new to me: When do you decide to raise and lower the volume for instruments? Is it based on wanting to bring out a specific detail on the instruments part or something else entirely? Secondly, I’m using Ableton so I don’t think I can reduce the automation like on pro tools, so is there a recommended db limit I could use instead? Like not adding or subtracting more than 1.5 decibels?
Thanks Marc. I learned some good things here. Appreciate you sharing your knowledge.
Superb Marc! what a lovely song and mix... i had a situation with engineer working on our material.. There was a session with many tracks, lots of effects on them in and out of the box, song was great but it sounded flat... When i suggested that he should start automating all those tracks to get some movement into mix he looked me like i was a complete lunatic.. I realized that he never ever used it, and was afraid to try.. song turned out ok, but could have been much better...
Great content but unwatchable due to all the ads.
Hay Mark, thanks for yet more excellent video content that (for me at least) goes well beyond most other offerings on the topic, whether for free on TH-cam, or on one of the pay to play instructional sights. Keep up the good work.......please! Much appreciated!
There is always something to learn! Amazing work as always guys!
Thanks ever so much!
@@Producelikeapro My pleasure!
Great video. I'm not the target demographic for that song but it was a good example to work with. Of course, the arrangement and performances need to contain the ingredients.
Could you tell us what headphones are you wearing for your mixing, please? Thank you.
So you are doing this automation after you print with compression? Because if you do this automation through a compressor none of this fader riding will be audible. Is that right?
The best youtube video about automation, I always had difficulties doing automation. this video helped me so much! Thanks Warren, Thanks Daniel!
Fantastic! Glad it helped!
Thank you once more Warren! Much information in this video, as in every other video of yours. I like the calmness and the will to provide help that I receive from all of your guests. Keep on serving the music man! Greetings from Greece!!!
This video...is the reason why I just bought two courses from your website. EXCELLENT VIDEO.
This video is a before and after for me and, pretty sure, for my next future songs.
Thanks ever so much! Glad to be able to help!
That's gorgeous, and very Paul Simon. You're adding dynamics.
Killer mix ...a lot of our favorite classic rock records had 6-10 hands on the board with rehearsed moves...automation used cleverly adds the polish no plug in can do ....Mut Lang automates EVERYTHING ...NUFF said...cheers
Well, now I don't feel so OCD about all the automated details I put into my tracks. To me, attention to detail is what separates art from craft. I hope everyone hears the difference you made - it swirls like a stream instead of just flowing like a faucet.
Thanks ever so much!
This is a gem, thanks for it!And Marc gives me such a peaceful vibe. Love from Italy!
Thank you 😊
Wow... that was probably best song I've ever heard in one of these tutorial type videos! Also, overall great video. Excellent info!
Thanks Marc! You are really do mixing with your heart. Love your 10% back
"It just sounds...
...freaking...
...awesome."
Hearing the frictives come to life in the title phrase, "the old FFaSHion way." Subtle yet undeniably enhanced when you're aware of the raw performance vs. the automation enhancement. Freaking awesome is right. The intent of the vocalist comes to life in such an organic way that no delay throws, contrasting section to section doubles, harmonies etc. can compete with. Like the vocalist turned up the "connect with listener" knob. But all the work prior to the vocal ride is what got me. Collapsing the guitar delay heightened the effect of winding down to a vacuum effect but in such an emotional as opposed to gimmicky way. The first guitar ride was remarkable and it just kept getting more magnetic as each instrument ebbed, then flowed, around the next. With the Rhodes ear candy dancing in and out, the reinforced kick in the chorus, the kit bump along with the bass...
...bringing a reaction in the listener that is closer to an emotional surge one might feel when genuinely moved, instead of the whizbang distraction from the writer's initial spark of an idea. We all do this but I've never see it done so connected emotionally with the performer and the listener.
Freaking AWESOME. Serious skills in the listening and reacting department. Thank you for the remarkably effective demonstration of your workflow. Inspiring. Freaking awesome.
Freaking awesome words Lee.
Wow! Such subtle moves, yet SO powerful. I really enjoyed the automation of the delay on the electric guitar. It really stirred something within me. Superb! :)
"Transition to the Transition talk". Ahh I see what you did theyre. LOL
at the beginning i thought, that the song already sounded super nice and wouldnt need any touches. The A/Bing at the end shows how wrong i was. Thanx for this intimate look into your mixing
Hi love your videos when you get the chance could you do a video on tommrow never knows by the Beatles thanks
Very well explained and demonstrated. Also enlightening, how little the actual moves turn out to be in the majority of the cases.
If I were nitpicking though, I'd complain about the A/B comparison not being matched in level.
Still, thank you Marc (& Warren)!
To be fair, the premise of the tutorial is to use automation, the majority volume, to create an 'ebb and flow' of elements and of the entire mix. He raised the volume on the master bus during the choruses, not to mention the drums and bass, so it is understandable that during the chorus the automated mix would be louder than the unautomated mix. The levels where closer during the breakdown after the chorus. I think the best way to judge the difference is to listen to the whole song unautomated and then automated. Cheers.
@@crunch6161 That's true. My point (if I'm nitpicking) was though that we do perceive louder as better. So yeah, there's more overall dynamic in the automated mix, there's emphasis that wasn't there before. But if the emphasis dynamic makes the mix better, and not the higher level, then we can take the more dynamic mix, match its loudest portion to the non-automated mix, and _even though it is not as loud_ we ought to be able to perceive it as better sounding.
Absolutely fantastic video. Thank you so much !!
This is my favorite video on youtube
Excellent video, another great trick, knowledge is power.
really beautiful song and great mix. thanks for this :)
One of my greatest studio memories was working with lengdary Leon Ware who came to a session one day and taught me very sam techniques. He also went into do quick re-arrangements using mute automation and creating emotion builds with automation swells on strings, background vocals and horns. Changed the way I looked at final mix. After that day I only wanted to work in studios with automated boards. Now we all have DAWS that allows us to automate more than just volume and mutes. This was a very secret sauce video... thanks for sharing!
Great video, Marc is clearly a great mix engineer, I just wish there were more adverts on it......... It also looks like I need to get a Fader Port now. More money!
Such a great song! Thanks Marc for this awesome tips, the song tooks another level of emotion with that little details. Just awesome.
I listen because .... we share the same choice and color of acoustic treatment.
This is simply the Crown Jewels of music production. Thank you.
Hi Frank! Thanks ever so much
This reminded me how I used to mix live sound. I always had one hand (finger) on lead vocals and the other hand on which ever instrument or entity that was fighting with the vocals for space in the mix. I was always pushing and pulling the faders (not as delicately as Marc here) but minimally and just enough to keep the mix in a constant state of flux. I also did this within live drums always looking to feature a quick tom fill or hi hat feature. This resulted in the listeners saying to me after the gigs they could hear everything perfectly. But what that meant was, they could hear everything perfectly when they needed to hear it. Amazingly I have just realised, by watching this great master class, that I have never applied this live mixing rule of thumb to my studio mixing/mastering, I have always manualy written the the subtle volume changes. Never too late (or too old) to learn, thanks Marc and Warren.
As always ... a great great video. It´s a pleasure to watch Mr. Nelson working and sharing knowledge. Not just a "how" ... he shares the more important "why". Greetings! And a BIG tump up to Produce like a pro making this possible!
Hi Ken! Thank you very much!
I really like this. A good addition to my lifeless synthwave. 💜
This is gold! Whatever genre you are mixing, this is a top tip.
Thanks ever so much!
Great video. Inspired me to dust off my Faderport Classic and jump through the hoops to make it work with Logic X. Thanks Marc!
🤟🏻
PLAP the channel that keeps on giving . Thanks and I will be trying this on my future tracks xx
Those subtle changes really to add up to something significant. Would be interested to know what other parameters he typically automates in the final mix to breath this kind of life apart from volume and panning (as well as the delay send).
Amazing tutorial thank you, now I gotta buy a mixing board 😊
What kind of headphones Marc using
Love this guy, he is full of knowledge and experience. Thank you for making series with him.
I would like to see his studio, it looks amazing 🙌🏽
One of the best videos I've seen on TH-cam. Thanks for the info!
Whenever Marc hits play on his mixes, Im literally floored every time. Dude fuckin nails it.
(orders control surface before the video finishes)
Haha nice
The Non Automated version is a good mix of a soothing voice. The Automated version is multiple humans performing a great song! It's the difference between seeing a picture of a large conch shell and actually holding one (weird analogy, I know). Truly blown away by this demonstration. All the compressors and mastering plugins in the world can not accomplish what the simple touch of a human on a fader can do. You just changed all my perceptions about what's wrong with my mixes. They sound like a Hi Def picture instead of a song!! Now I know why! Thanks a ton.
What IEMs are those?
Exquisite. This really highlights the need for musicality on the engineer's part. But especially the need to be tuned in to the performer and understand what he/she is trying to accomplish artistically so you aren't trampling atop their creativity. I guess it's time I got an external controller-automation using a trackpad is exhausting.
Thank you!
Look into the Icon range. They are something else.
@@domdraper3221 Thank you.
So many ads but enjoying these MDN videos.
Wow lovely sounds. And super video thanks all.
Thanks for sharing so valuable knowledge.
Loved the video, and your way of automating and mixing. Learnt loads - thanks!
A great collaboration Warren! Loving Marc’s videos! And he has similar “lockdown” hair as I have now! Top man!
Awesome! Thank you!
He talks about controlling changes in audio velocity to induce "life" into your work. The benefit is a track that "moves and breathes" and creates a stronger emotional impact for the listener. This info was very helpful. Thanks!
Great. I used to make and mix music and back in the days I felt this technic added the emotion. Great for the insight. It inspires me to maybe make music again...
I've only used automation to bring the vol up and down for chorus and turn effects on/off. This is a great new tool and way to think about it.
WOW! Thanks for also doing it with this type of awesome material. Great experience!
👍
Great tutorial somewhat marred by the incredibly badly placed advertisements. However, I understand the reasons and it is an incredibly informative video. Thank you very much.
thanks Tim
Marc... Many thanks for imparting such valuable knowledge. I noticed that when you were riding the faders you were pushing them into positive territory... Was this because you were going to bring them back down your 10% or is it ok to leave them still in positive territory so long as the levels are ok?
Watching Marc work is therapy
Thanks man for sharing ... very cool
Thanks for watching!
Thanks! There were doubts and uncertainty, thanks to Mark (and you for sharing the video), this technique is likely to become another of the favorite techniques in mixing.
Complete side question. I looked up the stealth sonics and they look interesting but anything that I have to stick in my ear canals *really* irritates my ears. I don't know why, I'm just one of those people I guess. What I would like is a pair of in-ear monitors that I can integrate with a silicon custom mold for my ears. I don't want to mix with them per se, but sometimes it's nice to have smaller in-ear pieces that can still isolate background noise (for tracking and such but yeah sometimes for listening to music on an airplane). Can anyone suggest something that would work for this?
i also would love to "hear" if anyone knows of any like this..
Warren ...dude...firstly ..this is one of the best ballads songs I've heard in a long time...the feel is unbelievable, ....this production technique is also something I've been trying to do for a while now...and this vid is so informative right now...honestly I think this vid alone can up my mix quality significantly... this is why we are all here folks...;-)
Nice words Tim. Thank you
As someone who hasn't yet started to do any recording/mixing I learned so much. A ton of practical advice rather than mumbo-jumbo that only a pro engineer would understand. I'm sure I'll return to this video in the future once I do start to record and mix!
Thank you! Excellent content and a great song.
What did you do in first part? Volume automation?
what a great video. best i've seen in a LONG time.
I hope Bruce Swedien is happy where ever he is. Automation is the key to everything, and he let everybody know! Greater impacts, greater dynamics, avoid distorted lowend, so many things it can do, it's crazy. Especially on orchestral songs. Such a nice little ASMR episode, you've got here, Warren! I was browsing for files while hearing the song and the chorus struck me as a really nice little lyrical reality. Sorta how i keep on dreaming about meeting people in general, these days. This Online thing is so not good for us. The old fashioned way is the best!
I'm having to watch this in two sittings because there's just so much to take in. I love how much respect Marc has for the music and his craft
awesome video thanks
Love Marc's mindset and approach. Beautiful song, performances, and work! Thanks for sharing! - chaz
love the noise of the piano..and sounds of the mechanics. Takes me on a journey! Thank you.
Thanks Marc, this is rrealy helpful.
Wonderful tips, automation is so crucial to bring your mixes forward, thanks so much for this great tutorials!!! 🤘
This is awesome. Thank you! Reminds me how important it is! For this type of songs you can hear it is really important, but how do you do this on denser, more aggressive rock songs?
Lookup some Chris Lord-Alge mixing vids. He handles it well.
Awesome song and a great mix thanks for the tutorial!