mastering two with titles2

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Bassy bob and Ryan West are both decorated Grammy winning mixers. Bassy Bob from Elements of Mixing shows you how to master and gain a track in ProTools using the Steven Massey L2007. (Eng)

Get away from the speaker, sir....

As a mix engineer who has spent way too many hours in front of a pair of near field speakers, it wasn't until maybe twenty years into my career that I started "getting away" from the speakers and going to other parts of the control room , or better out in the hall to listen to the record. You might think that that's crazy, given you can't hear right from left, or even localize anything. But the amazing thing about getting away from the speakers is that you hear things in the mix you'd never notice sitting in front of the monitors, like the fact that the lead vocal is not really speaking...little things like that. When I was a bit younger a tech told me a story about an engineer that put a pir of ns-10 speakers on the floor in front of the ssl, pointing out towards the studio glass. I thoght that was totally crazy, so I immediately copied it...

It was amazing the things I heard on those speakers on the floor, much like the badly setup dorm speakers from my college room mate. I could tell if certain bass notes were too loud, I could tell the vocal was still dark, and too soft. For a couple years I did that NS-10 trick on the floor. Then when I built my mix facility in 1998 I discovered that there was an anomaly in the control that I couldn't really hear true bass sitting right in front of the console, so my partner Yaron Fuchs and I got into the habit of having one of our assistants "run" pro tools from the front so we could listen from behind the producers desk. It had a big impact on me, my mixes got better, and when I felt my attention fading or my ears get tired, I would go out in the hallway and listen form there on the couch. It was so easy for me to hear things that were impossible for me to process sitting in front of the speakers. Give it a try sometime, you'll be surprised the things you hear when you're in the next room, out in the studio, or just on the other side of the room.

the Producer's always right...

There's an old saying in business...the customer is always right. I've been having an ongoing discussion with some of my younger fellow engineers about studio demeanor, bedside manner, what ever you want to call it. The demise of the traditional studio system has left many young engineers and mixers wondering what they should be saying, or not saying in the control room. Many think that the producer they are working with is "an idiot, doesn't know anything about music, or worse, doesn't care." What do you do when you think you know better than the man (or woman) in the producer's seat.

Well, I answer...Who's the producer? If it's the person who hired you, you are lucky indeed...You have a chance to help your producer achieve what he/she wants to by helping them through the decision making process. But that can only happen if they trust you. How do you gain their trust? Well, for starters, you're not going to even be on the session for more than a few minutes if you alienate your producer by telling them how stupid and tasteless they are, even if that's what you're thinking. Tact and a gentle demeanor can take you a long way in the business. There are always ways to get your ideas into the mix without alienating people. For starters, you're probably going to be in that room for hours, days, maybe even years! I was in room at Puffy's studio for years...Because the producer is busy with other things besides being in the room constantly poring over the sn drum eq, there are abundant opportunities to make creative decisions in the mix. You need to absorb all the feedback you're getting from the producer, produce those changes quickly, be responsive to the producers needs, and keep the mix moving forward as quickly as possible. People's ears get tired quickly, and most musicians and producers don't have the Ear endurance that we do. I have also found that in my years as a mixer working for many legendary producers, I sometimes thought I knew better..."that vocal is way to fucking loud, why so much reverb, who's idea was that drum machine part?" only to find that those changes the producer made at the end of the mix were often part of what made the song a hit. Producer's *(good ones) think MACRO. Good mixers think MICRO, massaging every detail until it's a finely honed ice sculpture, but are able to absorb MACRO ideas, and still have the mix be slamming, with a great vocal, and loud drums. It's a balancing act, but just remember, jsut because you've been sitting with the track for three days doesn't mean you have the answer. Like film making, mixing and producing records is a group experience. The more you can help the producer to realize his dream without interjecting your own ideas, the happier he/she will be, and the better chances you will have of being called again...and again, hopefully!

Bassy Bob in session

Elements of Mixing Seminar 2

New Promo video for Elements of Mixing seminar May 25th in New York City.

Selective Focus

Much of what I do as a mixer over the course of developing a finished mix for a song is what i call Selective Focus. It's basically a glorified term for paying attention to one thing, or maby two things at a time while listening to playback. When I begin a mix, I always start with all the faders at unity and I start to sort of clumsily put together a perspective for the song, moving elements like bass, drums, guitars, and keys into a rough perspective. From that point on, I begin "shaving" off elements either by doing individual fader passes on the part, say the lead Vocal, while also paying attention to other tangential parts, like say a piano accompaniment on guitar lick that supports the vocal. I have always closed my eyes while riding things because it eliminates many of the things that might be getting in the way of my concentration.
it is a technique that sort of came to my by osmosis, I just found that once I began closing my eyes while focusing that it was easier to "see" the image of the element that I was riding, in this case the lead vocal. Once I have a decent balance on the lead vocal, I sortof place the backgrounds in the back of the mix and then begin the process of bringing out the elements that I feel are important to the listener.

Obviously, if the band or performer play guitar or piano or other lead instrument, that instrument is going to take nearly top billing next to the lead vocal. I think about the Edge and Bono, or Tori Amos and her piano playing, or James Taylor and his acoustic guitar. These elements do a contrapuntal dance through the course of the song. The current project I'm working on for Geffen records is a 19 year old operatic tenor, Griffith Frank, who is the son of legendary synth-pop R and B genius David Frank, who's band The System, had a string of hits in the 80's. David wrote nearly half the songs on the album, and plays piano on quite a bit of the record. In addition, there are some amazing orchestrations by Jeremy Lubbock, who I believe is one of the greatest living orchestrators. Part of my job is to navigate the constantly changing relationships between Griffith, David, and the Orchestra, all of whom may move into center stage at any moment for a beat or a bar.

This is where my technique of selective focus comes into play...I decide before I begin a playback of the song to focus my attention on one or two things at the most.
In this case , maybe the lead vocal and grand piano, who are doing a musical dance where the piano, if well excecuted, is nicely playing in the cracks around the vocal.
I close my eyes, get my ears squarely between the monitors and I focus my concentration on the two things Im thinking about, with my fader on whatever I'm riding. Once they get into wht I believe is a good perspective, I continue with the process with the next supporting instruments until everything is in good perspective.

I usually do this process many many times before using any EQ or COMPRESSION or other processing, particularly with liverecording that are phase sensitive, like Orchestras, Pianos, and Drums. Many mixers are happy to dive right in EQing the drums individually before getting a proper balance and perspective. The problem I have with that approach is that it immediately begins messing with the overall phase of the kit which makes it harder to "see" the images. The same happens with any stereo image when EQ is employed, because EQ is by definition accomplished by altering the phase. This is why many legendary recording engineers use little or no eq when recording live instruments. The same applies to mixing. Not so much with a mono instrument like a guitar, but definitely with multi miked things like drums and orchestra.