it would be really informative if you could talk about Recording/Mixing/NotMastering with Steven Wilson of PorcupineTree...... he has famously said that he doesnt care for sending his music off to a Mastering Engineer/MasteringHouse.......
Roxy Music was a major part of my youth playlist... Avalon was truly a pinnacle. I loved the whole era.. The Human League, Alison Moyet, Yaz, The Smiths(!), etc. so many more
Regarding the order of instruments in tracking, over the years I have learned that the most effective approach is to first track the instrument(s) that create the feel or groove of the song. This is not necessarily the bass or drums. More often than not, it is an acoustic guitar, piano or other instrument that was used on the rough demo. I've seen many sessions where the drums, bass and rhythm guitar are tracked and everyone is frustrated because they haven't managed to capture the "right feel". Take the time to discover which instrument or even voice carries the true feel or movement of the song. Sometimes it's a combination of instrument and vocal. It could be a shaker or other percussion. You never know until you hear it. Then record a solid take of that first and build from there. If you don't get the feel (groove, flow, movement) from the first track, you will struggle indefinitely trying to capture it, and if your song feels awkward, what have you got?
Oh, I've done it. Burned the better part of the day watching PLAP. Pretty caught up on past vids I've wanted to watch by now. NUMBER ONE RULE TO BETTER RECORDINGS ... SHUT OFF TH-cam AND GO RECORD SOMETHING!!
That should be absolutely standard on every DAW. It’s incomprehensible to me that (in Logic) I have to put a Gain plugin on each track to begin gain staging. I know, I have a template set up with them. But having a channel input gain knob is as necessary as having a pan pot. Ugh.
Warren we are grateful to you.Thanks for your opportunity and labors.You make great competitions and contents in youtube.congratulations to winners.we will always follow you .We wait for the next great competitions.Thank you very much .!
@@Producelikeapro Of course and I'm very happy with the success it's having, specially your channel which teaches a lot of good stuff and you always find a way to answer to comments...
Due to the limitations of my gear and playing by myself all the instruments, I always track rhythm guitar first using metronome, then I track bass and drums and overdubs...it quite works, and your channel is a huge inspiration for my everyday tracking, mixing and everything in the middle! Thanks Warren
I've been recording bass AFTER guitars and drums for a long time now. I feel that the bass gels it all together and gives it THE feel. Cheers! Thanks Warren! Aloha from Megantic Lake Quebec!
@@superscatboy haha but aren't all TV chefs skinny? Spend their life at a Gym looking good for TV? Haha However, I agree! 100's of channel teaching things that don't actually do themselves!
Thanks Warren, this was a really helpful video for me. I’m right at the start of my mixing journey and mixing on headphones (Beyerdynamic DT990) and I’ve been wobbling about whether I’m not hearing everything correctly. It’s really good to hear you say that we just need to work out a work around for what system we have available to us. It’s always tempting to throw more money at everything in the search for the ‘perfect’ situation. I’m going to go back to learning everything I can, with what I have available (and bending the ear of the rest of the Academy to try and sort through what I need to learn!). Phew, that was quite a lot of waffle, anyway, thanks!
another great tutorial. I found this one very useful. I am going to need a year or two to absorb all this stuff properly and test it out. Thanks again!
Thanks for another fantastic video Warren, what an amazing gift to receive, it speaks volumes for how you are loved and respected by those you work with. Thank you for explaining the ins and outs of headroom, this will certainly help a lot of us
Such encouraging words. Thousand roads lead to Rome: find the one that works best for you. Thank you Warren for again an inspirational video. Looking forward to the contest announcement 🤘💀🤘
Regarding the headphone mixing question. I can’t afford $2k open-backs - but I could afford the $34.99 NX Ocean Way Nashville plugin from Waves. All I can say is, try it. I was skeptical, but I was having problems getting my mixes to translate to real-world speakers without printing mixes and playing in my living room and another for my car, etc.So at that price I decided to try it. Wow! It works. I didn’t bother setting up the head tracking. Didn’t feel it was necessary and didn’t want my right left balances shifting on me as I work looking around at notes and things on side tables or whatever.
I've got the nx plugin, too, and I'm just getting the hang of it. What headphones are you using with it? I recently picked up some Sony 7506 cans and with the built-in preset, it seems to make them sound darker and bass heavy, but maybe that's my mix. 🤔
@@testube I have a set of TelefunkenTHP 29s that I’m using. Inexpensive but fairly good colorless monitoring headphones. But seems like what I hear when ai listen to my mix out in a car or on other consumer speaker systems sounds pretty much like I had intended it to sound, so I happy.
I really enjoyed this video. I'm a hobbyist with low-fi aspirations, but find the basic concepts are universally true. On the question about levels in the mix and making sure you don't clip or have spikes -- I collect records and make digital copies for my use. Sometimes, these records have terrible pops and crackles and I use my editing software to zoom in and manually drop the volume on the spikes. The result is smooth and pleasing and sounds much better that something compressed by a software to remove the pops and crackles.
What a great FAQ Friday video. I was always wondering about the Ace Frehley items in your studio propped up on your desk. Now I know the connection. And what a beauty that Les Paul is. Hope you enjoy it immensely. Also glad you mentioned the Bob Clearmountain episode. I will have to go view it because like you, Avalon is one of my favorite albums of all time. It's really top notch.
Speaking as a writer working on my own demos, I like to record a guitar first to a click and work the midi drums to suit the guitar and then the bass as I like bass fills in holes of the guitar part, maybe rerecord a new guitar part or change the drums again.
Sonarworks, I can't mix without it. Even using my wonderful new Sceptre 8 monitors which are nearly flat right out of the box, SW corrects for my untreated room and does it with no phase issues thanks to linear phase mode. Great video Sir..!
I like what you said about controlling the transients. It’s exactly the reason I spent the money on SPL 1502s for my studio rack. Gets me right in the ballpark of how I want my drums to sound even before going into the box. It gives me the ability to make my kit sound the way I want it to sound like in my headphones through the monitoring console and from there I know all I have to do is check my input gain levels for each channel going into the DAW, leaving me plenty of room for the dynamics of the track to move between -24 for the low point and -12 dB for the average high point - maybe maybe at the max -6dB for something incredibly loud like rim shot on a snare - and I can rest easy knowing I have tracks that can be level adjusted to their bus channels and finally into the 2 bus without nearing clipping after summing. Well at least this works for me.
Fantastic discussion! Yes, SonarWorks (learned about from one of your videos) has made mixing easier for me. Great advice. Also, I learned from the book Recording the Beatles that McCartney often added the bass later (because he'd play guitar or piano on the basic), and in doing it that way I've found it works well in pop music for the reasons you mention, and also because you know better what the track needs in terms of tone and -- especially -- not to over-play, when all or most of the elements are there to work against.
My mastering guy would often tell me, -4 peaks in a mix was a reasonable level to send to him....BUT, most important, don't send squashed or clipped mixes!. The two most important things I learned in recent years were, proper gain structuring and tasteful soft clipping. it makes EVERYTHING easier!! :-) I knew about them when working in the analog world, that was easy. However it took me Soooooo many years to understand how important they were when working ITB......hoping I'm not the only one who learned this many years after starting ?? :-/ Cubase has gain control on every channel ;:-)
I do calibrate my monitoring to 83 db SPL C weighted, each speaker at the time using -20dbFS reference pink noise. Then I set that level on my Apollo as my 'reference' to that combined SPL, of both loudspeakers playing at the same time, and I set my dim at -20 dB. I start mixing with dim, for levels and overall vibe, and then half way I monitor at my reference, maybe a bit louder at times. Depends how dynamic I want the music do be, I experiment all the time with my ''reference' on my monitor controller. When it comes time to automate the vocals, I put a small mono speaker as my reference (a radio) and then I finish the mix on that. Learn those tricks from Michael Brauer and Bob Katz, definitely check their workflows cause it really helped me!
I was just having a conversation about mix headroom with a friend of mine. Of course my friend was on the side of the -18dB rule. Where I was always under the impression that as long as it wasn't clipping and tickling the red (on the K-20 scale) that mastering was still very doable. That basically you're just doing some final E.Q.ing, compressing, and limiting. If you can get the mix to sound full and rich with it slightly flirting with the 0 point on the main out, brilliant! But it's not the be all end all. Ultimately, if it sounds good, it is good.
I use a VU meter. I make sure the drums are between-7 and -5 on the VU. Adding bass goes to -3 on the VU and then set panning levels for the other instruments. I then add a buss compressor and adjust levels until it sounds right. I then have a good basis to make further tweaks. I know it's not an exact process but I need a reference point to start with (that's just me) and this process works every time. I end up with a full mix and plenty of headroom.
I bought a pair of beyerdynamic DT-1990 pro headphones a little while ago. And holy cheese, i love them. I got a pair of focal alpha 80 speakers with sonarworks running and i live in an rental apartment (untreated). The upgrade to the beyerdynamics has helped my mixes alot!! Open-back is the way to go for me if i must mix with headphones!
Agreed, I have those as well. No good for tracking as too much leaks, but for mixing and mastering they are fantastic. I have some Audio Technica M50X for tracking acoustic / vocals etc, which are very good.
DT880 here , as I can not use my 1031a in my apartment at apropriate levels most of the time. I use the DT880 for listening purpose on a daily basis, too - this way I know them in and out. Sometimes I crosscheck with Sony MDR7506, sort of NS10s in cans format - if it works on DT880 as well as MDR7506 that's usually a good sign....
I learned a lesson recording drums and bass together in the studio, without a producer/outside ear. We could have had cleaner mixes with a bigger fuller sound if we had tracked the bass separately and after the drums. The problem we ran into was in the bass arrangement. The kick and bass were both heavy in the low sub region. If we had tracked the bass separately we would have heard the issues and been able to move the bass up an octave. The genre we were working in, traditional country, would have allowed for that. Maybe we would have run into other issues, but point is we could have addressed them
Recommendation is to output mixes at -6dbfs to allow for potential intersample peaks.. the lufs or RMS is genre dependant so yeah go nuts but be aware it may just be turned down with normalisation if you push it too hard
I think one of the takeaways from this would be to never let your musical creativity be hindered just because you don't have the, "most expensive" gear.... my 5 string bass was about $150, but I absolutely love it just as much as my Squier 4 string!...
Good God Warren. I love your channel, and have just discovered you worked on Ace Frehley's "Space Invader" album (and others of course). I absolutely love the sound of that album. Now I know why. :D
i like to use the (K-14) system, as it gives me plenty of headroom, even when dealing with highly dynamic drum transients. the FabFilter L2 set to K-14, gives you the 0dB=-14dBFS, along with a +4 range above, which is great to reference during chorus sections. so for example, the intro & verse sections can average -14 & louder sections like the chorus can "go into the yellow", upwards of -10dBFS or so. i can record elements in around -14dB or so & any transients are no issue. this allows for my processors to not have to work as hard, like over compression. i usually have an available 4-6dB of headroom on the master & that is after bus processing, parallel compression, FX sends, etc. however, i'm making hip hop/electronic stuff with most of my drums being samples. im not making film scores & soundtracks with highly dynamic material i would imagine any mastering engineer, as long as the master isn't clipping, can simply lower the master to whatever they need, to do their "magic" lol lowering the master fader doesn't negatively affect the mix
My older Denon AHD-2000s (relatively open-back sound) are freaking pristine. Cost about $320 at the time. No regrets, but I had to learn the hard way that you do NOT want to drop them, as the hardware breaks easily. They are super-duper comfy - like La-Z Boys for your ears, and they're also fairly flat with damn near zero distortion.
I'm packing up my NS-10m's because I have Kali IN-5s on the way. I don't want to do battle with my monitors. However, I think I will miss the sound of guitar sims through the NS-10s because that's where they really shine.
AKG K240 Studio (semi-open) are inexpensive for those starting out, and Sonarworks offers a generic profile for them which has worked well for me. Plus, with Sonarworks, you can always change the % wet/dry to taste.
I prefer to add the bass after guitars. The bass often carries the feel and groove, so it is nice to have the guitars and maybe other instruments already recorded to groove to. I even sometimes lay down a scratch drum track with virtual drum loops or grooves and then go back and track live (electronic or acoustic) drums after some of the other instruments.
Great tips. FYI you can get an Affordable plugin for headphone mixing from Goodhertz. And great affordable headphones from Monoprice. Not paid for the plugs but I know what its like to get started and need to mix on a budget.
Lovely guitar. 😊 Scales and arpeggios... You should write some neoclassical rock if you ever get the time Warren! I'd love to hear you let rip on the fretboard. 👍 So true about headroom. I've put out a couple of mixes recently, including my submission for the metal mix competition and in trying to adhere to the streaming platform standards, I feel they lack some punch. I'm starting to think it would be better to push my mix to a level that works for the music (within reason) and just let the streaming services deal with bringing the levels down. Great info as always! Cheers. 😊😊
Only kidding about the neoclassical rock. I haven't listened to Yngwie since the late eighties. Although, I do still love a bit of Paul Gilbert and Jason Becker. My kids all love Drum & Bass, so it's always fun watching their faces when I crank up a bit of Racer X, or even Nicolo Paganini. 😂
Hi Warren. I love your stuff and have learned so much about mixing from your channel. It's really helped improve my own mixes. You talk a lot about headroom and clipping here. I've always wondered what the difference is in Pro Tools between the red clipping light and the yellow clipping light. Is the yellow light acceptable, or best avoided? Also when you import mastered music into Pro Tools, such as for referencing, why does the red clipping light go crazy?
Wow - a lot in there today - and all good stuff. As someone who has worked at a semi professional level (done a few projects for BBC over the years but mostly band demos and other Independent stuff) - firstly - yes I have worked with my own mastering and with others and that is correct - headroom isn't really the issue - unwanted clipping is the bane of everyone's life!! Secondly - now this was interesting - using headphones - believe it or not I have tried many different headphones to work with and (although I always end with using monitors etc) I have a crapload of TDK MP100 headphones - and they are about £20 each??? ..... why? ..... Well they just worked for me - using other headphones I found i was mixing too much bass frequency, or it was sounding muddy etc..... these cheap headphones just seemed to level things out - so when I got the monitors I was pretty close to the end product and didn't need to tweak much. That will not suit most people - but having got high paid gigs from it - I can't be doing it all wrong :) And third - yep - again I have mixed in a variety of ways - with bands I usually try to listen to them live and get a feel for who is leading the music - for example - let me ask you this - would a bassist like Mark King let the guitarist put down his part first??? - who knows - maybe on some tracks, but I know most of them were drum/bass first - and yet his later stuff which was done less organically (stem by stem) you get the feeling other instruments may have been laid down first and you get a really different feel/groove - so its an interesting way of working. I often build a song up as a demo and then re record the whole thing again in a different order to change the groove - especially if it feels "unglued" if you know what I mean. Great stuff again :)
Agreed, that bass was a real challenge from Dark Times. At first, I had problems following the tune and bpm. Very strange thing. And yes, the order was, Drum, Bass, Guitars, vocals. Meh my bad :)
Hello Warren, I request u again. Would u please do a video on what Producers should look for when they receive a final mix and mastered wav from engineers? A checklist at a high level. There seems to be none on You Tube........All the videos created are for engineers. Some want just listening and judging skills of a good mix as a Producer....
Well, since a while I always mix everything towards -14dBLUFS from beginning to end, always making sure the output limiter doesn't limit more than 3dB whilst having a minimum gain of 5dB. That said my 'input' on the 2Bus is always around -18dBFS (0dB on a VUmeter). If I cant achieve this, something is wrong in my 'mix'. From there any Mastering engineer should be able to do whatever he wants, plus I can instantly 'hear' any changes in my mixes as they are always level matched.
If anyone really wants to hear a real masterpiece of a recording and understand how to make a record with lots of space for instruments, vocals and headroom, I would beg you to stick a good quality set of headphones on and listen to Elvis Costello’s This Years Model (and Armed Forces for that matter). It is truly an incredible recording of some incredible performances with great songs.. The drums and bass sounds captured are astonishing. Every song is a masterpiece. I would love to hear your opinion on the album Warren, if you haven’t heard it then you really must.
Really loving the Beyerdynamic DT-990 (Openback) headphones - very flat and open sounding and at a really reasonable price ~$200 Also thank you for this video, I've been mixing to a -6db goal which LANDR seems to really like, was wondering if I was was mixing too hot, this makes me feel better! =)
As a bass player, I drastically prefer tracking last. I like to do things to tie the song together melodically, and leave space where it's suited. My hands are tied if I get a track with only drums and scratch guitar. It's like, hi kick drum, how are you? Let's hold hands for the next 4 minutes.
Never been a conscious decision but we always seem to end up having my bass player first and then retaking and doing it last. I think it’s exactly what you’re talking about. As the song comes together for real, he’s always kicking himself that there’s more he could have added, and without fail does when we retrack it
Warren, can you demo your entire IR Producer Pack from Lancaster audio? I'm super curious about the Vox with the Alnico Blues and the 412 with Greenbacks. There isn't any audio sample though on Lancaster. I know it's only 50 bucks on a blind gamble but money doesn't exactly grow on trees.
I do need some new headphones, and endure that fatigue you're talking about all the time, including weird calluses around my ears and under my hair. I wear them almost all of my waking hours, and often wake up with them on. 🙀 I try to limit that from happening but it still does. So open backs could definitely help I think for my next set. Not just for music but almost everything I need to read unless it's in braille, which in the interest of speed to get back to work, I often listen to at 90 miles an hour speech. 🤯 There's just something clamped onto my ears all the time, and even when it's not, I'm listening to every nuance of ambient sounds coming and going as far as a mile in every direction from me while I hike down the street. I have learned the places I can rest that attention, but it's hard to find a person who really gets that fatigue. So, I hadn't thought about the open back headphones helping like that until now. Probably seems like I'm ranting. This just jumped out as the main takeaway from this video for me. I guess it makes me more aware of the importance of headphones to myself like both cars and glasses are, to other people and that's along with music permeating every part of my life as well. I need my ears to be naked more often, whenever they can be. I think the different space you did this in, also emphasizes the point about the open back headphones. Now I'm going back to relisten to the rest of this clip that came after that. So Sonarworks could help. 😉 Thanks!
Hey Warren! You need a savvy assistant/protege???.....my schedule is pretty clear these days! 😂 Just let me know! I could also cut some sick drums for ya!😀
Vocals actually come first if one has them, thanks to vocals one can drive the production forward even if the music gets stuck! Gibberish makes it work naturally! Doesn't matter if one can not sing, it's all about ideas for realisation...
@@nuvisionprinting not being rude but if you listen to the video again notice he says it doesnt matter as long as your not clipping. Ha..Ha.. Sorry bit funny I belive if you need more headroom in mastering you can just turn the input down. Not an expert at all just heard that a few times.
@@nuvisionprinting I do apologise had a bottle or 2 of wine last night and didnt realise my comments dont come out with my tone present. I cant be certain about absolute minimum but i have heard in the digital realm its not that important as in the analogue realm. What i was told is digital is floating point a confusing bit of maths that means the audio wont smear when turned up. Something that happens in the analogue realm due to amplification. so if you were mastering it your self say in ozone you could just turn up the input stage to the desired level or conversely turn it down. And as the video was pointing out not clipping. Im no expert just pick stuff up so sorry if theres any error in that. Your question isnt stupid I just saw the funny side. Take it easy mate. tat ar.
So basically, record the tracks in the order that best suits the song. Great example is Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel. The producer went back and added drums, electric guitar and bass a year or so later to the original recording.
Pretty much always try scratch track to metronome on guitar, then drums, then bass, which to me is the bridge between drums and guitar. If the bass player can't nail those syncopated parts you might need a better one... :) or, don't kill me, melodyne. How do you handle it when a player, bass, guitar, etc comes into the studio and just can't hang with the rest of the band?
Warrrrren !!! WHICH Analog Summing should I get for my 100% in the box Presonus Studio One 5 Pro studio ??? What would be an affordable (1-500 $) solution you could recommend ??
Leave your FAQ Friday questions below!
FAQ question: what is the best way to register your song if you are not a famous artist? :)
Do you have a guitar collection? Can you perhaps please record a video showing the collection?
it would be really informative if you could talk about Recording/Mixing/NotMastering with Steven Wilson of PorcupineTree...... he has famously said that he doesnt care for sending his music off to a Mastering Engineer/MasteringHouse.......
Tips on mixing a track with only drums ,guitar and bass. Making it full keeping it interesting etc.
How do you tell if it’s your mixing skills that are the problem or that you need better recordings/samples?
Roxy Music was a major part of my youth playlist... Avalon was truly a pinnacle. I loved the whole era.. The Human League, Alison Moyet, Yaz, The Smiths(!), etc. so many more
I love a good "cut to intro" joke. - Gave me a good chortle.
Marvellous!! Thanks ever so much
Regarding the order of instruments in tracking, over the years I have learned that the most effective approach is to first track the instrument(s) that create the feel or groove of the song. This is not necessarily the bass or drums. More often than not, it is an acoustic guitar, piano or other instrument that was used on the rough demo. I've seen many sessions where the drums, bass and rhythm guitar are tracked and everyone is frustrated because they haven't managed to capture the "right feel". Take the time to discover which instrument or even voice carries the true feel or movement of the song. Sometimes it's a combination of instrument and vocal. It could be a shaker or other percussion. You never know until you hear it. Then record a solid take of that first and build from there. If you don't get the feel (groove, flow, movement) from the first track, you will struggle indefinitely trying to capture it, and if your song feels awkward, what have you got?
That simple idea he mentions is great. I needed to hear that. Not letting issues pile up but aim for sonic sweetness at each stage.
"There are no rules. Thank you GOODNIGHT!" I almost spat out my coffee!!!
Haha thanks!
I've just find out my gain staging was all wrong, so this episode came just in the right time.
Using a VU meter helped me a lot with Gain-Staging...
I'll definitely try that.
Funny, how the basics are the most confusing sometimes :D
Hi Agent Viktor, I'm glad to be able to help! There is a lot of confusion out there!
@@agentviktor3297 yes, indeed!
@@eccentricworx indeed!
It's truly enjoyable listening you you explain things. To tell you the truth, I could probably listen to you all day long..
Thanks ever so much! I really appreciate it
Oh, I've done it. Burned the better part of the day watching PLAP. Pretty caught up on past vids I've wanted to watch by now. NUMBER ONE RULE TO BETTER RECORDINGS ... SHUT OFF TH-cam AND GO RECORD SOMETHING!!
I may be late to this party but been watching for a while now... FANTASTIC subject! Thanks for all you do Warren!
I like Cakewalk for this. It has a gain control on every channel independent from the slider.
Fantastic
Yup. And so does StudioOne.
That should be absolutely standard on every DAW. It’s incomprehensible to me that (in Logic) I have to put a Gain plugin on each track to begin gain staging. I know, I have a template set up with them. But having a channel input gain knob is as necessary as having a pan pot. Ugh.
Cubase, too.
And ye olde Cubase too!
Sir Warren, your advice is, once again, worth its weight in gold! What, about 11 stone? That's a lot of gold! Thank you.
Love your work Warren! Thank you for all you do for the industry and all of us whom are trying to make music!
Thanks ever so much!
Thanks Warren! "And Bob's your uncle". I love it!!!
Warren we are grateful to you.Thanks for your opportunity and labors.You make great competitions and contents in youtube.congratulations to winners.we will always follow you .We wait for the next great competitions.Thank you very much .!
I needed this. Answered a lot of questions that people have told me wrong on, on many occasions.
Glad to be able to help!!
Depends on your workflow, usually if you use mix busses they take care of it as long as it doesn’t clip.
@@rumar4u indeed! What has been great is a couple of Mastering Engineers have posted this video which really means a lot to me!
@@Producelikeapro Of course and I'm very happy with the success it's having, specially your channel which teaches a lot of good stuff and you always find a way to answer to comments...
@@rumar4u thanks ever so much!
Thanks again, Warren - you're keeping me sane - I should be out on the road right now! Stay safe & stay well.
Thanks ever so much Andy!!
Love this series so much! Thank you so much Warren!
Thanks ever so much my friend
Due to the limitations of my gear and playing by myself all the instruments, I always track rhythm guitar first using metronome, then I track bass and drums and overdubs...it quite works, and your channel is a huge inspiration for my everyday tracking, mixing and everything in the middle! Thanks Warren
I have to work in a similar order.
I've been recording bass AFTER guitars and drums for a long time now. I feel that the bass gels it all together and gives it THE feel. Cheers! Thanks Warren! Aloha from Megantic Lake Quebec!
All I could think, as you're discussing levels and gain staging was: "taste while you cook."
Never trust a skinny chef :)
Yes, indeed Thomas!
@@superscatboy haha but aren't all TV chefs skinny? Spend their life at a Gym looking good for TV? Haha However, I agree! 100's of channel teaching things that don't actually do themselves!
Thanks Warren, this was a really helpful video for me. I’m right at the start of my mixing journey and mixing on headphones (Beyerdynamic DT990) and I’ve been wobbling about whether I’m not hearing everything correctly. It’s really good to hear you say that we just need to work out a work around for what system we have available to us. It’s always tempting to throw more money at everything in the search for the ‘perfect’ situation. I’m going to go back to learning everything I can, with what I have available (and bending the ear of the rest of the Academy to try and sort through what I need to learn!). Phew, that was quite a lot of waffle, anyway, thanks!
Ace is the reason I bought a guitar-WOW. ❤️
I hear that from so many of my friends in the US!
@@Producelikeapro It's the same up here in Canada! 😂👍
Same
I've never even attempted to try and record multi track demos...but this was such an inspirational tutorial. Very logical and reasonable information
Thanks ever so much! So glad to be able to help!
@@Producelikeapro thank you too I learned alot
Thanks!
another great tutorial. I found this one very useful. I am going to need a year or two to absorb all this stuff properly and test it out. Thanks again!
Thanks ever so much
Thanks for another fantastic video Warren, what an amazing gift to receive, it speaks volumes for how you are loved and respected by those you work with. Thank you for explaining the ins and outs of headroom, this will certainly help a lot of us
Great FAQ Friday, thank you, Warren.
Thanks ever so much Marc!
Such encouraging words. Thousand roads lead to Rome: find the one that works best for you. Thank you Warren for again an inspirational video. Looking forward to the contest announcement 🤘💀🤘
I think “headroom” is one word. I’ll show myself out. Love the channel, dude.
Haha indeed
Thanks Warren! We had a fabolous time at the chat tonight!
Regarding the headphone mixing question. I can’t afford $2k open-backs - but I could afford the $34.99 NX Ocean Way Nashville plugin from Waves. All I can say is, try it. I was skeptical, but I was having problems getting my mixes to translate to real-world speakers without printing mixes and playing in my living room and another for my car, etc.So at that price I decided to try it. Wow! It works. I didn’t bother setting up the head tracking. Didn’t feel it was necessary and didn’t want my right left balances shifting on me as I work looking around at notes and things on side tables or whatever.
I've got the nx plugin, too, and I'm just getting the hang of it. What headphones are you using with it? I recently picked up some Sony 7506 cans and with the built-in preset, it seems to make them sound darker and bass heavy, but maybe that's my mix. 🤔
@@testube I have a set of TelefunkenTHP 29s that I’m using. Inexpensive but fairly good colorless monitoring headphones. But seems like what I hear when ai listen to my mix out in a car or on other consumer speaker systems sounds pretty much like I had intended it to sound, so I happy.
we always appreciate your time!
Thanks ever so much Mike
I really enjoyed this video. I'm a hobbyist with low-fi aspirations, but find the basic concepts are universally true. On the question about levels in the mix and making sure you don't clip or have spikes -- I collect records and make digital copies for my use. Sometimes, these records have terrible pops and crackles and I use my editing software to zoom in and manually drop the volume on the spikes. The result is smooth and pleasing and sounds much better that something compressed by a software to remove the pops and crackles.
What a great FAQ Friday video. I was always wondering about the Ace Frehley items in your studio propped up on your desk. Now I know the connection. And what a beauty that Les Paul is. Hope you enjoy it immensely. Also glad you mentioned the Bob Clearmountain episode. I will have to go view it because like you, Avalon is one of my favorite albums of all time. It's really top notch.
Thanks ever so much!!
Speaking as a writer working on my own demos, I like to record a guitar first to a click and work the midi drums to suit the guitar and then the bass as I like bass fills in holes of the guitar part, maybe rerecord a new guitar part or change the drums again.
Always appreciate your advice! Invaluable!
Thanks ever so much
@@Producelikeapro My pleasure!
Good to see you man. You totally have a Bob Ross calming vibe.
You’re very kind my friend!!
Sonarworks, I can't mix without it. Even using my wonderful new Sceptre 8 monitors which are nearly flat right out of the box, SW corrects for my untreated room and does it with no phase issues thanks to linear phase mode. Great video Sir..!
WOW!!! What an amazing gift!!! So stinking cool. Love that story.
Thanks ever so much!!
I like what you said about controlling the transients. It’s exactly the reason I spent the money on SPL 1502s for my studio rack. Gets me right in the ballpark of how I want my drums to sound even before going into the box. It gives me the ability to make my kit sound the way I want it to sound like in my headphones through the monitoring console and from there I know all I have to do is check my input gain levels for each channel going into the DAW, leaving me plenty of room for the dynamics of the track to move between -24 for the low point and -12 dB for the average high point - maybe maybe at the max -6dB for something incredibly loud like rim shot on a snare - and I can rest easy knowing I have tracks that can be level adjusted to their bus channels and finally into the 2 bus without nearing clipping after summing. Well at least this works for me.
Fantastic discussion! Yes, SonarWorks (learned about from one of your videos) has made mixing easier for me. Great advice. Also, I learned from the book Recording the Beatles that McCartney often added the bass later (because he'd play guitar or piano on the basic), and in doing it that way I've found it works well in pop music for the reasons you mention, and also because you know better what the track needs in terms of tone and -- especially -- not to over-play, when all or most of the elements are there to work against.
This is quite disorienting to not see Warren in the studio. Great video as always! Thank you Warren!
Haha thanks ever so much
My mastering guy would often tell me, -4 peaks in a mix was a reasonable level to send to him....BUT, most important, don't send squashed or clipped mixes!.
The two most important things I learned in recent years were, proper gain structuring and tasteful soft clipping. it makes EVERYTHING easier!! :-)
I knew about them when working in the analog world, that was easy. However it took me Soooooo many years to understand how important they were when working ITB......hoping I'm not the only one who learned this many years after starting ?? :-/
Cubase has gain control on every channel ;:-)
I do calibrate my monitoring to 83 db SPL C weighted, each speaker at the time using -20dbFS reference pink noise. Then I set that level on my Apollo as my 'reference' to that combined SPL, of both loudspeakers playing at the same time, and I set my dim at -20 dB. I start mixing with dim, for levels and overall vibe, and then half way I monitor at my reference, maybe a bit louder at times. Depends how dynamic I want the music do be, I experiment all the time with my ''reference' on my monitor controller. When it comes time to automate the vocals, I put a small mono speaker as my reference (a radio) and then I finish the mix on that. Learn those tricks from Michael Brauer and Bob Katz, definitely check their workflows cause it really helped me!
I was just having a conversation about mix headroom with a friend of mine. Of course my friend was on the side of the -18dB rule. Where I was always under the impression that as long as it wasn't clipping and tickling the red (on the K-20 scale) that mastering was still very doable. That basically you're just doing some final E.Q.ing, compressing, and limiting. If you can get the mix to sound full and rich with it slightly flirting with the 0 point on the main out, brilliant! But it's not the be all end all. Ultimately, if it sounds good, it is good.
I use a VU meter. I make sure the drums are between-7 and -5 on the VU. Adding bass goes to -3 on the VU and then set panning levels for the other instruments. I then add a buss compressor and adjust levels until it sounds right. I then have a good basis to make further tweaks. I know it's not an exact process but I need a reference point to start with (that's just me) and this process works every time. I end up with a full mix and plenty of headroom.
Great video as always! I love FAQ Friday! Thanks again!
Lock down in a new environment?
Great video again. Andy Newmark made one of the best jobs a drummer ever did on Sly's Fresh imo
Studio One now has an input trim dial at the top of each audio channel. Nice feature.
Thanks ever so much for sharing
I learned a lot in this one. Definitely sharing!!
Hi Mac! Thanks ever so much! Glad it was helpful!
Another great vid from the Master....cheers Warren
I bought a pair of beyerdynamic DT-1990 pro headphones a little while ago. And holy cheese, i love them.
I got a pair of focal alpha 80 speakers with sonarworks running and i live in an rental apartment (untreated). The upgrade to the beyerdynamics has helped my mixes alot!!
Open-back is the way to go for me if i must mix with headphones!
Agreed, I have those as well. No good for tracking as too much leaks, but for mixing and mastering they are fantastic. I have some Audio Technica M50X for tracking acoustic / vocals etc, which are very good.
DT880 here , as I can not use my 1031a in my apartment at apropriate levels most of the time. I use the DT880 for listening purpose on a daily basis, too - this way I know them in and out. Sometimes I crosscheck with Sony MDR7506, sort of NS10s in cans format - if it works on DT880 as well as MDR7506 that's usually a good sign....
I learned a lesson recording drums and bass together in the studio, without a producer/outside ear. We could have had cleaner mixes with a bigger fuller sound if we had tracked the bass separately and after the drums. The problem we ran into was in the bass arrangement. The kick and bass were both heavy in the low sub region. If we had tracked the bass separately we would have heard the issues and been able to move the bass up an octave. The genre we were working in, traditional country, would have allowed for that. Maybe we would have run into other issues, but point is we could have addressed them
Cool! )))
I used to tune bass guitar with Melodyne every time ))) and probably fix rhythmic issues by the way ))
Greetings Warren!
Recommendation is to output mixes at -6dbfs to allow for potential intersample peaks.. the lufs or RMS is genre dependant so yeah go nuts but be aware it may just be turned down with normalisation if you push it too hard
Abso-schnizzley fantastic episode!
Thanks ever so much
I think one of the takeaways from this would be to never let your musical creativity be hindered just because you don't have the, "most expensive" gear.... my 5 string bass was about $150, but I absolutely love it just as much as my Squier 4 string!...
Good God Warren. I love your channel, and have just discovered you worked on Ace Frehley's "Space Invader" album (and others of course). I absolutely love the sound of that album. Now I know why. :D
Wow! Thanks ever so much Allan! I really appreciate it
Hi Warren, always very helpful advice, be well my friend, all the best.
i like to use the (K-14) system, as it gives me plenty of headroom, even when dealing with highly dynamic drum transients. the FabFilter L2 set to K-14, gives you the 0dB=-14dBFS, along with a +4 range above, which is great to reference during chorus sections. so for example, the intro & verse sections can average -14 & louder sections like the chorus can "go into the yellow", upwards of -10dBFS or so.
i can record elements in around -14dB or so & any transients are no issue. this allows for my processors to not have to work as hard, like over compression.
i usually have an available 4-6dB of headroom on the master & that is after bus processing, parallel compression, FX sends, etc. however, i'm making hip hop/electronic stuff with most of my drums being samples. im not making film scores & soundtracks with highly dynamic material
i would imagine any mastering engineer, as long as the master isn't clipping, can simply lower the master to whatever they need, to do their "magic" lol
lowering the master fader doesn't negatively affect the mix
My older Denon AHD-2000s (relatively open-back sound) are freaking pristine. Cost about $320 at the time. No regrets, but I had to learn the hard way that you do NOT want to drop them, as the hardware breaks easily. They are super-duper comfy - like La-Z Boys for your ears, and they're also fairly flat with damn near zero distortion.
gorgeous guitar that
-6 db on the master bus has been working well for me through the years..
Was rockin your hoodie yday in pride😁👍🏽
Thanks!!
I'm packing up my NS-10m's because I have Kali IN-5s on the way. I don't want to do battle with my monitors. However, I think I will miss the sound of guitar sims through the NS-10s because that's where they really shine.
Thanks ever so much for sharing Loren
AKG K240 Studio (semi-open) are inexpensive for those starting out, and Sonarworks offers a generic profile for them which has worked well for me. Plus, with Sonarworks, you can always change the % wet/dry to taste.
I prefer to add the bass after guitars. The bass often carries the feel and groove, so it is nice to have the guitars and maybe other instruments already recorded to groove to. I even sometimes lay down a scratch drum track with virtual drum loops or grooves and then go back and track live (electronic or acoustic) drums after some of the other instruments.
That white background has a really nice contrast with your black hair and shirt. It's a shame it can't be the norm.
I didn't realize you liked Queen Warren. Who knew! Love your vids!
Haha yes, closely guarded secret!
@@Producelikeapro A closely guarded secret that everyone knows, a bit like the existence of the U2 spy plane in RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus! :-)
Welcome back man in black...
Great tips. FYI you can get an Affordable plugin for headphone mixing from Goodhertz. And great affordable headphones from Monoprice. Not paid for the plugs but I know what its like to get started and need to mix on a budget.
Your hair looks really marvelous today Warren.
Lovely guitar. 😊
Scales and arpeggios... You should write some neoclassical rock if you ever get the time Warren!
I'd love to hear you let rip on the fretboard. 👍
So true about headroom.
I've put out a couple of mixes recently, including my submission for the metal mix competition and in trying to adhere to the streaming platform standards, I feel they lack some punch. I'm starting to think it would be better to push my mix to a level that works for the music (within reason) and just let the streaming services deal with bringing the levels down.
Great info as always!
Cheers. 😊😊
Only kidding about the neoclassical rock. I haven't listened to Yngwie since the late eighties. Although, I do still love a bit of Paul Gilbert and Jason Becker.
My kids all love Drum & Bass, so it's always fun watching their faces when I crank up a bit of Racer X, or even Nicolo Paganini. 😂
Hi Warren. I love your stuff and have learned so much about mixing from your channel. It's really helped improve my own mixes. You talk a lot about headroom and clipping here. I've always wondered what the difference is in Pro Tools between the red clipping light and the yellow clipping light. Is the yellow light acceptable, or best avoided? Also when you import mastered music into Pro Tools, such as for referencing, why does the red clipping light go crazy?
Wow - a lot in there today - and all good stuff. As someone who has worked at a semi professional level (done a few projects for BBC over the years but mostly band demos and other Independent stuff) - firstly - yes I have worked with my own mastering and with others and that is correct - headroom isn't really the issue - unwanted clipping is the bane of everyone's life!!
Secondly - now this was interesting - using headphones - believe it or not I have tried many different headphones to work with and (although I always end with using monitors etc) I have a crapload of TDK MP100 headphones - and they are about £20 each??? ..... why? ..... Well they just worked for me - using other headphones I found i was mixing too much bass frequency, or it was sounding muddy etc..... these cheap headphones just seemed to level things out - so when I got the monitors I was pretty close to the end product and didn't need to tweak much. That will not suit most people - but having got high paid gigs from it - I can't be doing it all wrong :)
And third - yep - again I have mixed in a variety of ways - with bands I usually try to listen to them live and get a feel for who is leading the music - for example - let me ask you this - would a bassist like Mark King let the guitarist put down his part first??? - who knows - maybe on some tracks, but I know most of them were drum/bass first - and yet his later stuff which was done less organically (stem by stem) you get the feeling other instruments may have been laid down first and you get a really different feel/groove - so its an interesting way of working. I often build a song up as a demo and then re record the whole thing again in a different order to change the groove - especially if it feels "unglued" if you know what I mean.
Great stuff again :)
Thank you!
Always Thanks. 👍
Agreed, that bass was a real challenge from Dark Times. At first, I had problems following the tune and bpm. Very strange thing. And yes, the order was, Drum, Bass, Guitars, vocals. Meh my bad :)
I hear you! Always a challenge!
Great topic. Thank you
Hello Warren, I request u again. Would u please do a video on what Producers should look for when they receive a final mix and mastered wav from engineers? A checklist at a high level. There seems to be none on You Tube........All the videos created are for engineers. Some want just listening and judging skills of a good mix as a Producer....
Well, since a while I always mix everything towards -14dBLUFS from beginning to end, always making sure the output limiter doesn't limit more than 3dB whilst having a minimum gain of 5dB. That said my 'input' on the 2Bus is always around -18dBFS (0dB on a VUmeter). If I cant achieve this, something is wrong in my 'mix'. From there any Mastering engineer should be able to do whatever he wants, plus I can instantly 'hear' any changes in my mixes as they are always level matched.
If anyone really wants to hear a real masterpiece of a recording and understand how to make a record with lots of space for instruments, vocals and headroom, I would beg you to stick a good quality set of headphones on and listen to Elvis Costello’s This Years Model (and Armed Forces for that matter). It is truly an incredible recording of some incredible performances with great songs.. The drums and bass sounds captured are astonishing. Every song is a masterpiece. I would love to hear your opinion on the album Warren, if you haven’t heard it then you really must.
Cool Ace story and guitar
Thanks ever so much
Cheers! Really enjoyed your Diango video... among others!
That’s very kind of you! I’m a huge Django fan!!
Yes! Honestly who isn't? He saved Black Sabbath!
Haha exactly!! Love that story!
Really loving the Beyerdynamic DT-990 (Openback) headphones - very flat and open sounding and at a really reasonable price ~$200 Also thank you for this video, I've been mixing to a -6db goal which LANDR seems to really like, was wondering if I was was mixing too hot, this makes me feel better! =)
And Andrew Scheps mixes on Sony 7506.
As a bass player, I drastically prefer tracking last. I like to do things to tie the song together melodically, and leave space where it's suited. My hands are tied if I get a track with only drums and scratch guitar. It's like, hi kick drum, how are you? Let's hold hands for the next 4 minutes.
Never been a conscious decision but we always seem to end up having my bass player first and then retaking and doing it last. I think it’s exactly what you’re talking about. As the song comes together for real, he’s always kicking himself that there’s more he could have added, and without fail does when we retrack it
@@richardmcarthur40 that's a good way to do it
Warren, can you demo your entire IR Producer Pack from Lancaster audio? I'm super curious about the Vox with the Alnico Blues and the 412 with Greenbacks. There isn't any audio sample though on Lancaster. I know it's only 50 bucks on a blind gamble but money doesn't exactly grow on trees.
I do need some new headphones, and endure that fatigue you're talking about all the time, including weird calluses around my ears and under my hair. I wear them almost all of my waking hours, and often wake up with them on. 🙀 I try to limit that from happening but it still does.
So open backs could definitely help I think for my next set. Not just for music but almost everything I need to read unless it's in braille, which in the interest of speed to get back to work, I often listen to at 90 miles an hour speech. 🤯 There's just something clamped onto my ears all the time, and even when it's not, I'm listening to every nuance of ambient sounds coming and going as far as a mile in every direction from me while I hike down the street. I have learned the places I can rest that attention, but it's hard to find a person who really gets that fatigue. So, I hadn't thought about the open back headphones helping like that until now. Probably seems like I'm ranting. This just jumped out as the main takeaway from this video for me. I guess it makes me more aware of the importance of headphones to myself like both cars and glasses are, to other people and that's along with music permeating every part of my life as well. I need my ears to be naked more often, whenever they can be. I think the different space you did this in, also emphasizes the point about the open back headphones. Now I'm going back to relisten to the rest of this clip that came after that. So Sonarworks could help. 😉 Thanks!
Hey Warren! You need a savvy assistant/protege???.....my schedule is pretty clear these days! 😂 Just let me know! I could also cut some sick drums for ya!😀
Vocals actually come first if one has them, thanks to vocals one can drive the production forward even if the music gets stuck!
Gibberish makes it work naturally!
Doesn't matter if one can not sing, it's all about ideas for realisation...
I don't. I know it. I think I like it though.
Nice guitar dude! I didn't even know you did space invader! Good work there sir!
Thanks ever so much! Yes, that was a fun album!
I leave about -3dB of headroom on the master bus
Marvellous!
@@Producelikeapro is -3db enough from a logical perspective? Cause i've been told -6? Is that too much?
@@nuvisionprinting not being rude but if you listen to the video again notice he says it doesnt matter as long as your not clipping. Ha..Ha.. Sorry bit funny I belive if you need more headroom in mastering you can just turn the input down. Not an expert at all just heard that a few times.
@@arnolddawson5747 i was more hinting towards what an absolute minimum level. I have a rather stupid way of asking questions at times.
@@nuvisionprinting I do apologise had a bottle or 2 of wine last night and didnt realise my comments dont come out with my tone present. I cant be certain about absolute minimum but i have heard in the digital realm its not that important as in the analogue realm. What i was told is digital is floating point a confusing bit of maths that means the audio wont smear when turned up. Something that happens in the analogue realm due to amplification. so if you were mastering it your self say in ozone you could just turn up the input stage to the desired level or conversely turn it down. And as the video was pointing out not clipping. Im no expert just pick stuff up so sorry if theres any error in that. Your question isnt stupid I just saw the funny side. Take it easy mate. tat ar.
So basically, record the tracks in the order that best suits the song. Great example is Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel. The producer went back and added drums, electric guitar and bass a year or so later to the original recording.
Such a wonderful song!
No matter what, what Warren is saying is, lower your volumes in the mix. Look at all tracks, they add up on the master bus.
:)
love the hair!
Haha thanks ever so much
your speedy, nonchalant guitar noodles were delicious. 🍝
Warren's team... what is the program you are currently using to facilitate live broadcasts? Thanks in advance:)
Pretty much always try scratch track to metronome on guitar, then drums, then bass, which to me is the bridge between drums and guitar. If the bass player can't nail those syncopated parts you might need a better one... :) or, don't kill me, melodyne. How do you handle it when a player, bass, guitar, etc comes into the studio and just can't hang with the rest of the band?
Warrrrren !!! WHICH Analog Summing should I get for my 100% in the box Presonus Studio One 5 Pro studio ??? What would be an affordable (1-500 $) solution you could recommend ??
Hahaha the joke outro got me! Almost woke up the little one from her nap.
Haha thanks ever so much
Cubase has a gain control on every channel. Be amazed how many who use that DAW don't realise it's there.
Use the gain in Cubase all the time ;-)