Basic Importing

Let’s take a look at the basics of importing your tracks from one project to another.

Open the Media Inspector and go to the “Browser” tab.

Navigate to your project folder. Double click on the project file — it should be the only file in the project folder apart from the subfolders (unless you’ve saved a Reason file or something else in there). If you’ve got a few files in there, it’s the one with an icon like the selected file in this image:

This is what the media inspector will look like once you open a project file:

Select the tracks you want to import, and then choose which data you want to import. There are five columns with checkboxes:

• Content (this means the audio itself)
• Plug-ins (all inserts and their settings)
• Sends (all sends and their corresponding aux channels with replicated inserts and settings)
• I/O (the track’s input and output routing)
• Automation (all automation data you’ve saved on the track)

Logic will only import the data you’ve checked off. If you just want the audio, ensure that Content is the only checked box.

If you’ve selected a group of tracks, ticking a box in one column will check the same box for all selected tracks. If you want all boxes across all columns checked, make your selection and then Alt+click one box. This will happen:

You’ll rarely want everything but it is handy to be able to bring in a whole swab of tracks including all their data.

Now, press the “Add” button in the lower right corner of the Media Inspector. Your tracks will appear in the Arrange and Mixer views!

We could end this tutorial here if we just wanted the most basic uses of Selective Track Import, but there’s a couple of more advanced issues to cover.

Importing Mixer Settings

Maybe you don’t want any audio, but you know you’ve got the perfect vocal channel settings for this song in one of your other projects. Selective Track Import doesn’t simply allow you to import tracks. It allows you to import settings and content onto existing tracks.

In this case, I’m going to import plug-ins and sends from the “Tape Echo Guitar” in one of my other projects and replace the “Beefy Rock Guitar” settings.

Select the track you want to import mixer settings onto. Make sure it’s got that light gray highlight in the Arrange and Mixer views so it’s definitely the selected track. You don’t want to replace other settings you’ve slaved away to perfect!

Open the Media Inspector again and click on the “Browser” tab. Navigate to the source project and double-click on the project file. In my case, I’ve gone to the same project.

This time, however, I’m only selecting one of the tracks. Tick “Plug-ins” and “Sends” only. Ensure everything else is left unchecked. I don’t have any sends on this track, so Logic will gray-out the checkbox and make it unclickable.

Click the “Replace” button at the bottom of the Browser:

The audio and automation will all stay intact, but the Inserts will change, and they’ll have identical settings to our other project’s inserts. Here’s a before and after:

If you do have sends to import, bear in mind that Logic will create the necessary aux channels and replicate the inserts and their settings. You may need to mix their levels in appropriately with the track.

Snapping Imported Audio in Time

What do you do if the audio you’ve imported is out of time with the track? There’s a good chance that it will be! Flex mode comes to the rescue again.

Select the tracks that need to be quantized in the Mixer so that you can create a group. To create a group, click and hold on the empty box just below the I/O settings on the channel strip (if you can’t find it, check the screenshot below with the yellow “1” in each of the boxes — that’s where you want to click). Select an unused group number — in this case number 1.

Enable Flex View by clicking on the button in the toolbar at the top of the Arrange window (it’s between Automation and Set Locators by default). Your tracks will probably get bigger and you’ll see a new menu in the track headers that says by default “Off”.

Click and hold where it says Off until a menu comes up, and select Slicing. Logic will process for a moment, and apply this setting to all tracks within the group. They’ll look a bit different afterwards:

If you play the project back, everything should sit nicely with the new tempo!

1. Different Types of Desks

In big recording studios, you usually
come across big mixing desks that have two types of faders on the
same track. These mixers are called In-Line mixers.

The SSL 4000 G+ In-line Mixing Desk

Photo by Pablo Albacete

This is the SSL 4000 G+ In-line mixing
desk. Without going into full detail of its complexities, notice how it has two faders per channel. It has a large fader
at the bottom, and then a small fader above. You use the different
faders for different things, depending on which stage you are in,
whether it be recording, mixing or overdubbing. When recording, this
desk jumps into a different position than when mixing.

The basic signal flow when recording on
the SSL is as follows:

• Signal gets picked up by the
  microphone and goes into the microphone input of the desk.
  
• It then Goes down the channel path to the
  large fader first.
  
• After that the signal shoots up to
  the routing matrix, which is the assortment of gray buttons at the
  top of each channel.
  
• From there it goes to the
  recorder, or multitrack. Now the large
  fader controls the amount of signal that gets sent into the DAW.
  
• Now we have to listen back to
  signal as it comes back to the desk from the multitrack. As you send
  the signal back into the desk it goes into the routing matrix again,
  down the monitor path to the small fader. The small fader are the
  tape return faders, where you listen to what’s coming from the DAW.
  

It’s important to listen to the signal
after it goes through all of the equipment as it might be changed
by the equipment. So listen how the signal is going to sound on tape, not
how it’s coming in. By being able to control both the level of the
signal going into the desk with the normal gain knobs, and then the
level going into the multitrack (DAW, Pro Tools, etc.), you get a higher
degree of control using an In-Line desk than a normal one.

Not a lot of people have the
pleasure of working with an SSL everyday. And some don’t even like
working on an analog desk. I find it tiring to work on the SSL
because if you are mixing and you want to come back another day to
finish, you have to take down the position of every fader, every knob
and every setting so you can recall it again when you come back. And
that sometimes doesn’t work because you find that you can never put
it back exactly as it was.

Digital Studio Desks

Because digital audio has gotten better
and better over the last decades, digital mixing desks are often
used instead of the old analog mixers. In a digital mixing desk you
can save all your settings when you leave, and recall them exactly as they
was before. This is a huge advantage when you aren’t the only one
using the desk.

There are two types of digital mixing desks out
there: one has built in EQ, compression and effects processors,
effectively working like a normal mixing desk; and the other is
only a control surface. A control surface looks like a mixing desk,
but it only controls the DAW you’re working in.

The Control 24 Pro Tools Controller

Photo by Pablo Albacete

This is the Control 24 Pro Tools
controller. Although it has pre-amps, it isn’t actually a mixing
desk. It’s hooked to Pro Tools in a way that whatever you do on the
desk, moving faders, panning etc, happens directly inside Pro Tools.
So in a way, it’s just a really cool and powerful mouse. These types
of controllers come in handy when you like mixing inside the box, but
want to be able to push faders and twist knobs for a more human feel.
I prefer moving faders on a console than moving them inside a DAW
with a mouse and I imagine most of you like that too.

When you only want your audio program
to act as a big playlist, and like using built-in EQ or compression
of a digital desk, there are a few options out there for you too.
Normal digital mixing desks are hooked up to an audio program and
each channel inside the program linked to a dedicated fader. You
don’t have to use the audio program more than you want to, as you
have built-in processors on the desk, but by using both things at the
same time you can get best of both worlds. For instance, you can save
the processing power of your computer by using the EQ and compression
of the mixing desk, and then using more dedicated effects, or
automation inside the program.

The Tascam DM-4800 Digital Mixing Console

Photo by Pablo Albacete

This is the Tascam DM-4800 digital
mixing console. It has built-in EQ and compression and two
multi-effects processors. This one is hooked up to Logic and can work
as a controller, like the Control 24. But it is more powerful than
the Control 24 which only controls Pro Tools, and doesn’t have any
internal processors. As said before, many people like working in
digital because it allows them total recall of every setting they had
the day before. On the Control 24 you just save the Pro Tools file
and the desk recalls it exactly as you save the file.

On the Tascam
you save your session inside the mixing desk itself, and when you
come back it will recall every setting from it’s memory. With digital
there comes convenience, and although many people still argue over
the sound quality of digital versus analog, you can’t argue that
digital mixing desks are way more convenient than the analog ones.

Mixing Desks in a Live Situation

In live sound situations you don’t need
all that excess baggage of an extra pair of faders like on the SSL,
or the need to control Pro Tools remotely. You aren’t recording
anything and you only need the sound to go straight into the desk and
out again to the PA (public address system). So live sound mixing desks have
a more simplified look and signal flow.

The Soundcraft GB2 Live Mixing Desk

Taken from Soundcraft.com

This is the Soundcraft GB2 live mixing
desk. Notice how much simpler it looks. It only has one set of
faders, the control room to the right is a simple affair with only a
master fader and two sets of group faders. This mixer is much easier
to handle compared to the SSL with it’s various modes, routing
matrixes, faders and groups.

The signal flow is as easy as it gets
as well:

• The signal goes from the microphone to
  the mic input of the desk.
  
• The signal goes down to the fader at
  the end.
  
• The signal goes to the master fader
  and out to the PA.
  

That’s as easy as it gets.

There are digital mixers available for
live sound as well. These work in a similar way to the Tascam DM-4800
as they have built in processing such as EQ and compression. With
normal analog live mixing desks like the GB2 we need dedicated
outboard processors and effects to enhance the sound, but that’s
built-in to the digital mixers. So in a way, as the sound industry
becomes more digital every day, our lives become easier. At least we
have to lug less stuff around in a live sound situation.

2. Different Types of Sound Engineers

There is also a difference between live sound engineers and mixing engineers, and the way they work. Some
studio mixers need their rack of effects and a lot of time to mix
their music, while the live sound engineer has to make do with what he
has.

Even if the studio mixer only mixes inside the box with his DAW, the result is bound to sound much better than some of the garbage sound systems the live engineer needs to work
with.

Do you prefer this?

Or this?

Photo by Pablo Albacete

3. Difference in Time and Creativity

There is a benefit involved with being
able to take your time in the recording studio that you also don’t
have when you are trying your best to make a live band
sound tight. In the live venue, you only get one shot, and there’s
only one performance by the band. So you’d better make sure that
performance sounds great because there’s no undo button, no punching
in for a better take and certainly no editing.

Being able to get the best performance
out of the artist is a great thing in the studio, and editing
together the perfect take is a joy to mix afterwards. Studio and live
performances are a pleasure to mix, but if you get an insecure
vocalist for example, you can’t edit his good takes together in a
live venue. At least in the studio, you can end up with a convincing
performance after heavy editing.

Time for creativity is also more
available when you are working in the studio. A live sound
performance only has the members of the band playing their
instrument, so the general sound of the concert is dependent on how
tight and good the band plays. But in the mixing studio you have room
to play around with delay, reverb, overdubs and layers. You have
more tracks to choose from, more time to tweak parameters and
generally more creative freedom. There are no mixing engineering
secrets in the live venue, it’s all dependent on the band.

Conclusion

Although the field of studio sound and live sound encompasses the
same basic principles, the approaches needed for each one is
different. Whether it be different attitudes or equipment there is a
certain uniqueness to each situation.

Live sound is based on fast
paced decision making where the music in going on right in front of
your eyes while a studio mixer might be able to take his time,
fine-tuning his mix to perfection. The same applies to the equipment,
where a live sound desk needs to be easy to navigate and control,
while the studio mixing console has more complexities in it’s signal
flow.

In my opinion there is no better job. There is joy to be had with mixing a great performance coming
out of a great sound system, and there is also satisfaction to be had
with creating a great take out of many mediocre ones. It’s all a
matter of taste. Sometimes live sound can rule the world, and
other times studio mixing is the calm comfort zone you want.

For all you Mac users, this tutorial will show you how to use Apple’s Waveburner to get that finished project on to a CD with individual track markers and a professional polished sound. If you are a Windows user and would like to see the equivalent in an application like Wavelab please let me know in the comments section.

Step 1 – Your Finished Mix

Whether you are creating an artist album, a DJ mix or compilation you can use Waveburner to consolidate the whole project. Obviously before we get into the basics of the application we have get the project out of the DAW it was mixed in.

Regardless of which DAW you are using there are few things to think about before you start exporting. Any sections of your project that are to be mixed seamlessly, or just played consecutively without gaps can be mixed in the DAW at this stage. These sections can then be exported and track markers can be inserted in Waveburner. If you are working on a DJ mix, or mixed compilation all your tracks will be exported as one large file.

With your consecutive sections and any single tracks mixed, you can start exporting. As we are technically mastering here you will want to export anything you intend to use at the highest resolution possible. 24 bit is preferable and everything can be converted to 16 bit at the end of the process.

Exporting the mix from Ableton

If this section still seems a little convoluted let me go through what I have done here… I have mixed a ‘mini’ DJ set in Ableton Live using three tracks, these tracks are obviously seamlessly mixed so they were then exported as one long file.

Mini mix in Ableton Live

Our CD will contain three tracks and these will be made using only the single file produced in Ableton. If you wanted to use unmixed tracks you could add these at a later stage. If this is a little confusing I apologise, it should all become clear by the end of this tutorial!

Step 2 – The Waveburner Interface

Waveburner is bundled with Logic Pro and has been for the last few versions. At version 1.0 Waveburner was a little buggy to be honest, but it has really come of age recently, and after a few updates at version 1.6.0 it’s now stable.

Waveburner 1.6.0 interface

The application shares its look with Apple’s new generation of professional tools such as Final Cut Pro and Soundtrack Pro. Everything is in a single window interface and its all pretty self-explanatory. The workflow is also pretty fluid and has some nice touches, such as the ability to resize the different work areas and full support for dragging and dropping files into projects.

Step 3 – Adding Tracks to a New Project

When you open Waveburner it automatically presents you with a blank project. To add tracks to our new project we can use several different methods. The central window in the lower part of Waveburner’s display is where our project media is displayed, files can be dragged and dropped into this window. Alternatively you can use the import function in the file menu or the shortcut in the upper toolbar.

The import option in the toolbar

Importing audio from the file menu

Once our file has been imported you will see it in the media list and when this is selected an overview of the file will appear in the display area at the top of the interface. With all the work areas expanded this can be a little fiddly but with the lower windows collapsed things get a little clearer.

Audio in the media list

Collapsed view of new audio file

Either way you get a good overview of your track and with the lower windows expanded you are presented with extra info on your file, such as resolution, loudest section and length. The lower windows on the right also display information on effects and processing, which we’ll look at later.

Expanded view of new audio file

Step 4 – Creating Track Markers

Creating track markers is what Waveburner is good at and it executes this function with relative ease.

Simply find the point in your mix or album where you want the new CD track to appear and use the purple ‘Add CD Track’ tool. Once placed this new marker can be dragged about to any location you desire. It really helps to zoom in pretty heavily at this point as its nice to have the track change on the beat or at an equally appropriate moment.

The new track tool

Adding our first track marker

Once placed you can name the separate tracks and move on to the next one. As this project only contained three tracks is was a pretty fast job! Use the next last buttons in the transport area to test your new track markers, as this is how they will sound on the CD.

Adding and naming more markers

The three markers in place

Step 5 – Automating Levels and Creating Fades

If you find that some areas of the project are significantly louder or quieter than others its possible to change this in Waveburner. The quickest way is to split the files with the dedicated tool in the toolbar. Once split the two new regions are re-located to their own lanes.

Splitting regions to edit levels

You’ll notice that each region has its own level handle and the gain of each region can be easily adjusted. Don’t worry about a small difference in level as a mastering compressor can always be employed to look after subtle changes like this.

You can also perform other tasks using these handles. If you overlap two regions on different lanes they will automatically cross fade, these cross fades can then be adjusted manually to get exactly the right blend between two files. Using a similar technique fades can be added the start and end of files, the curve for these fades can then be edited in the same way. I have added a fade out on the end of the project as the track hadn’t finished.

Performing fades

Step 6 – Adding Processing

Assuming the material that you have imported into Waveburner has not already been treated with mastering processors you can add some basic treatment using the applications included plug-ins.

The plug-ins that are available are exactly the same to those in Logic Pro 9. Waveburner is also audio units compatible so you can use your favourite third party mastering plugs if you like.

Choosing plug-ins

To add plug-ins go to the lower right hand window and use the add plug-in menu. You should be able to see all the Logic plug-ins in the list. I have used Apple-only effects here so that the project can be loaded on any system. I have used a linear phase EQ and a limiter, just to add a little high end and some volume.

Plug-ins used on the project

Step 7 – Saving, Exporting and Burning

When you’re happy with the track markers and processing you can think about burning or saving your finished project. Before you do you have the option to ‘bounce’ the project. I like to do this as it cleans things up. By using the Bounce Project option in the file menu all the split regions and effects are ‘imprinted’ onto a single file. Your track markers however will stay intact and can edited further.

Bouncing the project

The bounced project

When bounced you can either burn directly to CD using the burn function or save the whole thing as a disc image. Saving as an image can be useful as you will have a ‘master’ copy on your hard drive and this can be used to burn multiple copies of your latest masterpiece!

Burning the final project to CD

A Quick Recap on Recording Multiple Takes

Before we learn how to edit take folders, let’s look at recording those multiple takes in the first place in case you haven’t done so before.

1. Loop the Section You’re Recording

Click and drag on the bar meter at the top of the Arrange window to set loop locators. When you press play, Logic will loop that section of the song repeatedly. Make sure you set locators for precisely the section you need to capture multiple takes for. Your bar meter will look something like this:

2. Press Record

Hit the Record button. You’ll get your four beat count-in the first time, scurry over to your instrument or mic really quickly!

3. Repeat Until Done

After the count-in, Logic will just keep playing back the same section and recording on new take tracks. You won’t get a count-in with every repetition; after the first play-through it loops seamlessly as you’d expect. Once you feel you’ve captured enough takes to make a good comp from, hit Stop.

Here’s the audio I’m working with — I’ve played a chord progression a bit behind the drum beat, which gives the progression a relaxed sort of feeling. I’ve done this specifically so I have something to edit into place later.

Download audio file (1.mp3)

Step 1

Once you’ve got a set of takes, the first thing you need to do is turn Quick Swipe Comping on that region off. This can be done by clicking the little button with three rectangles inside it in the top right corner of the region, or by selecting the menu option that will appear when you click the arrow button next to it. Here’s a screenshot that shows both:

Step 2

Double-click on the region or click the small arrow in the top left corner of the region to expand the take folder. You’ll see each of your takes each on their own tracks.

Step 3

Select the tool you wish to use to edit the tracks. Not many of the tools will work at this stage, such as the fade tool, but for now all you really need are the scissor and pointer tools. Split the regions with the scissors where you plan to move the tracks.

Here’s what my tracks look like now — quite a bit of cutting going on:

It’s important to note that splitting regions creates new regions — a fairly obvious point, but you will need to remember you’re also separating the comp groups. This makes it easy to swap one chord out for one from another take, but you can just switch the whole thing over to your fifth take or whatever without going through each region’s comp controls one by one.

Step 4

At this stage, delete unneeded regions and shift them into place. I’ve decided that my guitar track feels too relaxed and I’m putting everything back on the accented beats where the average person would expect them to be.

Because of the simplicity of my edit I can remove the silent sections to create a cleaner track and simply move all the regions over half a bar:

Step 5

Comp the edited tracks. At its simplest, this is basically a matter of using the drop down menu to select the take you’d like to use in each of your segmented regions. For a more detailed look at comping, refer to this tutorial, but bear in mind that there may be some changes between Logic Pro 8 and 9 when following the instructions.

Move on to the next step once you’ve turned the best part of each take into one track and you’re happy with it.

Step 6

Are you sure you’re happy with it? Because we’re about to flatten the takes down into your one comp, and once the Undo history runs out you won’t be able to change your mind easily.

Click on the arrow button in the top right corner of the window to bring up the comping dropdown, and select Flatten. Repeat this process for each region.

Step 7

My flattened but separated comps sound pretty choppy:

Download audio file (2.mp3)

Now that the comp is flattened we can use our tools again, so I’m going to fade the regions in and out to take that sharp edge off them.

I had to fade in pretty heavily to make the chords smoother. If I was working on a proper project I would’ve edited much more carefully but since this is a tutorial I just made cuts right on the beat. So how far you need to fade will depend on the type of audio you’re working with (these are quite percussive chord hits so they come in loud and hard) and how well you’ve edited the regions.

Download audio file (3.mp3)

(I am of course aware that the guitar is in desperate need of some reverb, but that’s for another tutorial!)

Step 8

Merge the regions together if you’d like to have a solid block for that chord progression just like when we started. This is simply a matter of selecting all the regions you wish to include, then going to the Region > Merge menu and clicking on Regions.

And there you have it: one comped, flattened, edited and merged region.

Automation Interface

The basic automation interface can be seen in the Edit window amongst our track controls. Underneath the record, solo and mute buttons is a dropdown menu that is, by default, set to “waveform”. In waveform view, you are able to slice, splice, move and crossfade regions, making it a very useful default view. To automate data on the track, though, we’ll have to change the setting. To do so, click and hold and the list will appear. Feel free to play with these options, but for now we’ll keep waveform selected. There’s a more efficient way of accessing and modifying automation data.

There’s a right-pointing arrow to the left of each track strip. Click on this and you’ll see a new lane appear. By default, this will be set to the volume variable and show a straight line beneath your waveform regions. The first lane will have a plus and minus icon on its left — click the plus arrow to add more lanes, and the minus to remove the lane in question.

At this stage, add two more lanes and set them to mute and pan. Your track should look something like this:

Volume, Panning & Mute

Volume, panning and mute are the basic automation variables for every audio track. Now that we’ve created several automation lanes for them, we can automate without fiddly flicking between view settings on the main track, and when we’re not automating we can simply tuck the automation lanes away with the small arrow icon used to reveal them in the first place.

Automation is edited with the pencil or the smart tool (or, as a more cumbersome alternative to the smart tool, you could use the selector and grabber). With the pencil tool you simply click on the lane and draw:

Regardless of the type of pencil you select, it’s pretty much the same click-and-drag process. As you can see, I haven’t used it on the mute lane — it’s possible, but not efficient. Use the smart tool for that.

With the smart tool you select a section of the region and then hover near the top of the lane until your cursor turns into a rectangle without a line on top (sort of like a squared, elongated U). Then pull up or down, depending on whether you want to increase or decrease the value of the variable, until you’re happy. In the case of the mute variable, there are only two values — on or off — so you can only pull until it snaps into one of the two positions. In this screenshot, you can see changes to the mute lane via the smart tool:

The smart tool isn’t just useful for muting; it’s good wherever you want to accurately affect a specific section of a track, such as chorus vocals. When you want to pan your two lead vocal tracks to create a “doubled” chorus vocal while leaving the verses on the same tracks centered, the smart tool is your friend.

Automating Plug-in Settings

If you have a plug-in active on an insert you can automate just about any variable that plug-in uses to affect the sound via automation. However, unlike the basic automation variables, they aren’t listed in the drop-down by default. There’s a good reason for that: even simple plug-ins usually have a massive number of variables and if you only have the basic EQ, compressor and limiter trio on your track, you’ll still have more variables listed than is manageable.

Other programs like Logic Pro have compromised between ease of accessibility and an uncluttered list by grouping the variables of each plug-in under their own drop-down menu, but we’re not using Logic Pro, so until Digidesign implements an easier method we’ll just have to make do!

You’ll need to have access to your inserts, which will generally mean going to the Mix window as the insert list is hidden by default under Pro Tools 8. If you’re not keen on jumping between windows, there’s still a way to show the insert list in the Edit window. At the top of the track area, click on the small icon representing columns with a downturned arrow to the right of it:

Then click “Inserts A-E” to show the first five inserts on the track. If you’ve gone nuts with inserts, you can add more the same way.

Now that you can see your inserts, right click on the name of the one you want to automate and click Automation Dialog. You’ll see a window like this:

Select any variables in the left column you wish to control and click on the right-pointing arrow to move them to the right column. Variables in the right column will show up under the automation lane drop-down menu.

Notice that to save time, you can switch between inserts on a track without leaving this window. It’s a small touch, but one that prevents headaches.

Now add a new automation lane, click and hold the drop-down menu, and you’ll see the plug-in added to the list. Hover over the plug-in and the drop-down will expand to reveal the selections you made earlier. Once you’ve clicked on one of these, you can automate it:

Automating Sends

You now know almost everything required to do most jobs that need automation! Automating sends, though, is a big part of almost any mix, so let’s finish off by covering this. It’s pretty simple!

Once you create a send in the Mix window (or the Edit window if you’ve added a few other columns since I showed you how to reveal your inserts), you’ll automatically see that send in your automation lane drop-down selector. Of course, it’ll have a name like “Bus 5” which is not helpful when you’re dealing with 30 tracks and somewhere between one and five sends on each. Rename the send by right-clicking on it and pressing Rename.

Now when you check your automation lane drop-down selector you’ll see the name of the send and, like inserts, hovering over it will produce an extended drop-down with variable names inside. In this case we have “level” and “mute”. Send automation is blisteringly simple once you know anything about basic automation, but the terminology is slightly different in that instead of volume, we have level, which is the percentage of the track’s main volume being sent to the bus. It’s the same as modifying the level fader on the send itself.

Explore

Automation is a useful tool with the knowledge you’ve gained from this tutorial alone. However, there’s much more to it. We may cover that at some stage in the future, but for now, explore and find out what other great things you can do with Pro Tools 8’s automation feature set!

I thought it might be useful for some of you who are using Record, or thinking about purchasing it, to see a run through of some of its key sections. This tutorial will simply walk through the different modules of the monster channel strip in Record’s main mixer.

Step 1 – The Record Mixer

Record’s mixer is perhaps one of its best features and quite honestly one of the most innovative DAW mixers I’ve seen in some time. Faithfully modeled on the massive SSL 9000k, Record’s mixer emulates its big brother in every way, right down to master buss compressor. The real advantage here is that as the mixer is virtual you are only presented with the number of channels you are using at any one time.

Although Record’s mixer presents an arguably large virtual footprint for a DAW console, its size is customizable and each section can be folded down when not in use, allowing you to view the sections you are currently working on.

To take a look at what the various parts of the channel strip are capable of, I have run some different signals through the mixer and looked at each section in action over the following steps of the tutorial.

An overview of the Record mixer

Step 2 – Gain and Signal Path

This is really a pretty simple section of the mixer but one that is so often omitted in other DAWs. Gain controls and a phase reverse switch are grouped with a really useful signal path section. If you have programmed a serious amount of volume automation on a particular track or have recorded something a little low, then that gain knob is going to be pretty useful.

The signal path section mimics a hardware console and allows you to alter the order in which processing takes place. Here you can decide whether the insert effects are placed before or after the dynamics and EQ section and the order of the dynamics and EQ themselves.

There is also a control for routing the filters to a dynamic sidechain circuit. This can be used to create frequency sensitive processors such as de-essers. This control is also accessible from the actual filters section lower in the strip.

The gain and signal path controls

Step 3 – The Dynamics Section

The dynamics section of the Record mixer delivers just about everything you’ll need to keep your track in check. Even though it’s reasonably compact this section packs in a compressor, gate and expander. There is also a side chain key input here and pretty much any signal from Record’s ‘rack’ can be routed to it.

The compressor and gate/expander

With Record’s modular approach to routing and side chain inputs on every channel ducking effects have never been easier and the ability of routing ‘anything to anywhere’ certainly seems to be a constant throughout the application. It’s also worth mentioning that when I applied ducking to a few test signals, there was a distinct lack of popping and clicking that I have experienced with other side chain capable compression plug-ins.

The gate also works very nicely and seems to be very musical. Some other digital gates seem to introduce unwanted sharp edges and other unwanted artifacts but after just a few tweaks, all the results I coaxed from this processor were pleasing to the ear.

Original untreated drums:

Download audio file (3.mp3)

Drums with moderate to heavy compression:

Download audio file (3b.mp3)

Gated drums:

Download audio file (3c.mp3)

Step 4 – EQ and Filter Section

It’s great to see a true console style EQ in a DAW. Many third part plug-in companies such as Waves, Universal Audio and SSL are charging as much as this entire product for equalizers of this quality, so this really is a step forward. Having used SSL consoles in the past I can tell you that this EQ reacted in the way I would expect when pushed. I haven’t had time to do an A/B comparison but again it sounds very good to my ears.

There is a dedicated filter section before the EQ which cuts the highs and lows perfectly. There is plenty of scope and power here but it remains musical. As i mentioned earlier these filters can be linked to the key input of the dynamics section for frequency sensitive processing.

Below the filter section lives the fully featured EQ, with high and low shelving filters and two parametric midrange EQs covering low and high mids. There are also controls for high and low Q modes and an E control which makes the mids smoother in response.

EQ and Filters

Drums with low pass filter:

Download audio file (4.mp3)

Drums with high pass filter:

Download audio file (4b.mp3)

Drums with some basic EQ enhancement:

Download audio file (4c.mp3)

Step 5 – The Inserts

Record’s insert section may look pretty normal at first glance but the Props have really got creative here. Those of you that use Reason can think of this section as a hard-wired combinator: it has its own space in the Record ‘rack’ and any processors can reside here, with any routing you like.

The Record insert section

This setup means that you are not limited to the traditional format of one processor after another. It allows total freedom in the way you route you insert FX. You can even have sub mixers and signal splitters allowing some really complex effects setups.

The knobs and buttons in the insert section can be programmed to control any part of your insert chain. One knob can even alter several parameters at once. These ‘macro’ controllers can then be named. If you come up with a combination of effects you particularly like you can then save your creation to be used later. There is also a library of preset combinations that you can use if you are not 100% confident.

Using insert presets

Dry guitar phrase:

Download audio file (5.mp3)

Guitar with the ‘dual chorus’ insert preset:

Download audio file (5b.mp3)

Guitar with the ‘cross double’ delay insert preset:

Download audio file (5c.mp3)

Step 5 – Send and Returns

There are an impressive eight send and return slots on the Record mixer. These are easily set up in the master section of the rack area. Each send/return slot has independent send, level and pan controls. You can also configure each send to be either pre- or post-fader.

The send controls

With this many send and return slots you can easily have four different reverbs and the same number of delays. This really helps strike a contrast between sounds in a busy mix. Couple this with the efficiency of the Record audio engine and you may find this the to be one of the best send return systems you’ve used yet.

The return slots in the master section

Guitar with a plate, hall and two delays as send and return effects:

Download audio file (6.mp3)

Step 6 – The Faders

The last section in the channel strip is the fader module. The metering is really flexible and various modes are available. You can even view average and peak level simultaneously. There is also an innovative stereo width control that can take you from mono to a full stereo image. This width is represented by a meter in the pan section.

The fader section with mute, solo and pan controls

The usual mute and solo buttons reside on the lower area of the fader section along with handy short cuts to the rack and sequencer. Hitting these will bring up the corresponding devices in each area. Further to your right there is also a cool mini overview of the entire channel strip with a floating box that can be slid up and down to view the desired section.

Quickly selecting the desired section

You look to the side of the stage, following the guitarists line of sight and spot a guy off the side of the stage, barely noticeable. The guitarist gives him a signal, nods his head in satisfaction and rips into his outro-solo. Who is that guy? That guy is the monitor mixer.

In a live performance there are two different types of sound you have to take into account. The front of house (FOH) sound, and the monitor or stage sound. The monitor mixer is in charge of making the band hear themselves. A good monitor mix directly translates into how good a performance a band will give. It goes without saying, if you can’t hear what you are doing, you are prone to make more mistakes than if you have a perfectly balanced stage sound.

The Difference between FOH Mixing and Monitor Mixing

If you are mixing FOH you are in charge of mixing for the audience. What you hear is what the audience will hear. You are only making one mix, a stereo (or mono) mix of all the channels coming from the stage. But a monitor mixer makes independent mixes for all the band members, sending different levels to each and every person on stage, making sure they can hear themselves and the music around them as best as possible.

In a studio situation you send drums, bass and guitar to a singer when he’s laying down vocals. He needs to hear all the instruments clearly in order to sing correctly. Now imagine doing that to each and every band member, sending different mixes to every person at the same time. If you are lucky, you may only have a band with three to five members, but sometimes you have to be juggling ten different monitor mixes at the same time, mixes that might need changes from song to song as the band changes instruments or dynamics.

This becomes even harder in smaller venues when you sometimes have to deal with mixing the monitors from the FOH position, dealing with both the monitor and FOH sound. This can get pretty intense as you juggle mixing a great concert for the audience but still have to keep your eyes on the artists to see if they are in need of a change in their monitors.

Monitor Desks are Different

Monitor mixing desks differ from regular studio or FOH mixing boards because you are only using the auxiliary pots to send different mixes to different speakers. There is no need for faders because you are not putting any signal out of the main bus.

This is the Allen and Heath WZ3 12M monitor mixing console. Notice that is doesn’t have any faders, just a lot of aux sends. In a big monitor mixing situation, you will be needing as many aux’s as you have monitors. When you are mixing the monitors from the FOH position, your desk will have to have as many aux’s as you plan on having monitors, in addition to the aux sends you intend on using as effects for the concert sound.

Connecting Monitors

Connecting monitors is easy once you get the general idea of how the signal flows. Because every signal needs to go to two places; the monitor mixer and the FOH mixer, a stage box is needed. A stage box splits the signal that enters and sends it to two different outputs, which in this case is used for splitting the live sound from the stage sound.

As you can see in the diagram, the vocal mic is sent to the stage box, a copy of it goes to the FOH and also to one of the inputs of the monitor mixer. Using the aux sends of the same channel, you can route the signal to the monitors easily. In this case I want to send a little bit of vocals to the drum monitor. The drum monitor is connected to aux output 4 so by turning up the aux 4 pot of the vocal channel, I send the signal to that monitor.

Here is another diagram to explain the signal flow of the monitor mixer.

Using Graphic Equalizers

Now there’s one thing I haven’t mentioned yet. In the signal path from the mixer to the monitor we should always try to put a graphic equalizer. Graphic equalizers help us get the most volume from a monitor before feedback. Some frequencies are more sensitive to feedback, so by using a graphic equalizer you can eliminate or cut problem frequencies, giving you more volume from the monitors.

I add this later on because sometimes concert venues don’t have graphic EQ’s for every monitor, or the budget doesn’t allow it. But if you are lucky enough to get them included, be sure to use them, because the added volume available by EQ’ing out problem frequencies is key to transform an ok stage sound to a great one.

Here’s another diagram explaining where to put the graphic equalizer in the signal path.

Also when you are sound checking the stage sound, a good technique is to have someone point a microphone at the monitor speakers close enough to feedback while you hunt for the problematic frequencies on the graphic equalizer. This is how you get the best signal to feedback ratio.

Positioning Monitors

You should be wary of where you place and point the monitors. Always try to minimize the sound on stage so the audience near the stage aren’t hearing a different mix because the monitors are too loud or pointing towards them. Also keep in mind that an artist only hears the monitor if his ears are picking up the sound waves from the speakers.

Sometimes the problem might not be the amount of volume you’re putting into the monitors. If a band member can’t hear himself properly, first check the placement of the monitor. If it’s pointing in the wrong direction, or the player is too close or off axis, then all you need to do is re-position the monitor.

This is similar to a familiar problem at rehearsals: If you put your guitar amplifier on the floor, then you are going to have a hard time hearing it since all you will be hearing is indirect sound from the amp reflecting around the room.

Don’t waste stage volume if you don’t need it. A short chat with the artist of where he should be to properly hear himself, a quick turn of the monitors and you’re all set.

Drumfills, Keyfills and Sidefills

These terms refer to extra equipment or monitor types often needed in a big live production. Drummers usually need to hear their kick drum properly, and normal 15” monitors sometimes don’t give them the low end needed for them to play confidently. That’s why sometimes you see drummers with and extra 18” woofer connected to their own monitor, giving them the extra power that they need. And since drums are incredibly loud, one shouldn’t really be surprised that they need an extra monitor. The same goes for keyboard or piano players. They play notes that can go down to 82 Hz (first E), so in some cases they will need an extra oomph for their monitor sound.

When monitor mixing, don’t try to put each and every instrument in each and every monitor. Instead, try to add only the elements that are needed after hearing how loud the amplifiers, drum sets and other instruments are. Obviously the singers will be in need of a hearty dose of their own voices, but sometimes a guitarist might not need that much of his guitar if he’s standing by his guitar amplifier.

Finally, sidefills are used to send a general mix of the whole band to fill the stage. Like I said before, if you stand off axis, too close or too far away from a monitor you lose perception in hearing what you are doing. And since artists tend to move around a lot it’s crucial for a great stage sound to have sidefills to fill the stage. That way, every band member can rock out wherever he wants, and returns to his own monitor only when he needs to, like for solos.

Quick Monitor Tips

Rather than sending a full mix to every monitor, only send the instruments each player needs to hear. Then later you can make a general mix of every element to send to the sidefills.

• However loud their guitar amplifier is, guitarists will usually need to hear themselves in the monitor as well, along with vocals and other rhythm instruments such and kick drum and bass. If there is more than one guitarist, they will need to hear each other, so send a small amount of each guitar to both of their monitors, balancing it so that the other guitar is not dominating. For me personally, the worst monitor sound I know is when I have too much of my own guitar drowning out all the other elements. So be sure to have a good balance.
• Drummers are usually happy with hearing their bass drum, snare and toms. A touch of vocal and guitar on top of that makes them even happier. Drummers’ tastes vary: some want to have a little bit of everything, but those I usually work with just need to hear the rhythm section.
• A new trick I was told recently but haven’t tried myself, is to delay the lead singer’s monitors to match the sidefills. In huge concerts there is a delay in hearing the sidefills because of their distance, which can cause an odd time-delay sensation when the singer wanders around on stage.
• Although many guitarists don’t want too much guitar in their monitors, the same does not apply to singers. The age old joke is that you can never have too much vocal in the monitors, and in a sense that’s true. More vocals is the number one request you will get as a monitor mixer.

Conclusion

For me, monitor mixing is a lot of fun, as I like being in contact with the band and helping them out on stage. You feel like a valuable part of the performance when you’re making sure everybody can hear themselves, and it’s that satisfaction that makes monitor mixing so much fun for me.

This tutorial should give you a general idea of monitor mixing: the different types of monitor mixes, mixing from the stage or FOH, connecting, positioning and dealing with feedback. But it doesn’t cover everything. If you have any suggestions or experiences you would like add, it would be great to hear about them in the comments.

Step 1

Once you’ve got your drums recorded, do a basic mix and try to get the levels where you want them. You want to get the best relative mix between the elements of the kit that you can — don’t despair too much if the kit as a whole is not as strong as you’d like it to be at first, since that’s what this tutorial will teach you to fix.

Step 2

At this point, with a relative mix done, solo each track and fire up an EQ plug-in. Listen to each sound carefully and boost and reduce frequencies as you feel necessary. If you’ve done a great job of recording a great kit in a great room with great hardware, you may not need to do this, but usually you will.

Step 3

At this point apply compression to your drum tracks to keep the peaks down and to prevent drum sounds from totally disappearing after mixing to a particularly loud section. That said, keep the compression as light as you can, because our aim is to ensure that the majority of our kit sound is a natural one with very little compression so we can pull up the parallel compression auxiliary as necessary to fortify it.

Step 4

Got to Track > New… and set up two stereo auxiliary tracks. Click and hold on the input selector and choose a free stereo bus for each. Now’s a good time to name each appropriately — the first can simply be Drums while the second might be Drums Parallel or whatever will remind you of the track’s purpose quickly.

Step 5

Set the output on each drum track to the first auxiliary track’s bus input. This is your main drum level controller. At this stage it may be wise to solo the main drum aux and check your relative mix without any processors applied to the group aux. Ensure that there are no peaks showing on it and check that you haven’t missed any level adjustments you should’ve made after applying EQ and compression.

My uncompressed drum submix sounds like this:

Download audio file (Drums-NoComp.mp3)

Step 6

With your drum aux still soloed, have a close listen and decide which drums are lacking in punch that need to be more upfront in the mix, and also have more impact and tightness. Create a send on each of these tracks to the second aux. Unsolo the first aux and solo the second so that you can get the mix right with the send faders.

An alternative method is to create a send directly from the drum auxiliary to the compression auxiliary, but I like the ability to choose which drums are given that extra oomph, especially since most of my projects have a larger number of drum tracks recorded.

Step 7

Set up a compressor on the second auxiliary. I’ve used the standard Compressor/Limiter Dyn3. Dial in the settings you’d like. You can afford to set the compressor to work considerably harder than you normally would as this will be mixed in under the main drum mix. As you can see in the screenshot, I like to work it particularly hard, especially on rock tracks. This is largely because rock tracks use more drums and more ambience microphones in order to get a big stadium feel, and lose a lot of that crucial rock impact as a result.

Get the threshold down until the gain reduction meter is showing no less than 6dB of gain reduction and probably closer to 12dB for this purpose. You could even go as far as 12 to 18dB.

Often the attack and release are brought way, way down — even as low as the Compressor/Limiter Dyn3 can go. I didn’t want too much pumping to occur for this particular track and was happy with the impact of my drums, so I’ve actually used reasonably tame settings for a parallel compression bus.

Step 8

Mix the drum mix and parallel compression mix together to taste. I prefer to use much less of the parallel compression mix than the main drum mix to retain a natural feel, with the parallel fader brought up just enough to get the tightness I need. Whether you follow my route or want heaps of compressed drums in there, do keep it tucked under the main drum mix at least a little.

The end result should sound something like this:

Download audio file (Drums-PComp.mp3)

It still retains the natural character of a rock drum kit but gives the kick, snare, hat and toms more power and also more presence in the mix. Despite the crazy compression settings we used, though, nothing sounds like it’s pumping too much. This is the effect you’re after when using parallel compression on a drum mix.