Mixing preparation

PREPARING MIXING

Reminder: we are working on the song Life, an original composition:

What software and hardware do we need to produce this song? What is the instrumentation? How is the project organized?

Here is the list of everything I used to record and mix Life:

- A reasonably powerful computer
- An audio interface
- A preamp (optional if the audio interface already has decent built-in preamps)
- A vocal microphone
- A mic stand
- A pop filter
- Monitoring speakers
- Headphones
- A MIDI controller (master keyboard)
- A guitar
- A bass guitar
- All necessary cables

- A sequencer (DAW)
- Effect plugins (EQ, reverb, compression, saturation, etc.)
- Amp simulation plugins
- Impulse loaders (IR loaders)
- Impulses (IRs)
- Software synths (VSTi)
- Drum software

THE TRACKS

- 4 synth tracks
- 2 clean rhythm electric guitar tracks
- 2 distorted lead electric guitar tracks
- 1 bass track
- 1 vocal track
- 2 backing vocal tracks
- 2 sampled choir tracks (orchestral and choral sound plugin)
- Drums

Each instrument track contains its own plugins. Previously, I used to create buses for every track and place the plugins on those buses, but despite the organizational logic, it made tasks more complicated and significantly slowed down the projects. I now opt for a simpler method.

Don't hesitate to create a blank template containing all the tracks and buses you need; this saves you from rebuilding everything for every new project. I describe the template I use on this page.

One last point: the song has a tempo of 75 BPM.

THE BUSES

For the drums
- Each element will have its own bus (kick, snare, hi-hat, ride, etc.), on which various sound processing plugins will be placed (EQ, compression).
- These buses will be routed to a main drum bus.

Drums

Main group buses
- Each type of instrument is routed to a main bus: the rhythm guitars (2 in this case) are routed to a "Rhythm Guitars" main bus, all synths to a "Synths" main bus, etc.
- Each of these main buses is then routed to the Master bus.

Main buses

The Master Bus
- The "main" buses for each instrument group are routed here: the rhythm guitar bus, the lead guitar bus, the synth bus, the vocal bus, the bass bus, and the drum bus.
- The mastering plugins are placed on the Master bus: a multi-band EQ and a limiter to achieve the final sound.

Master bus

Don't worry if this all seems a bit messy or complicated at first; we'll go through the details step by step—it’s not rocket science at all.

MESSAGES

Jammin n' Rollin
le 27/10/2021 à 08h28

Hi Grebz, New to your page and found it by error and a great error it was! I am new to all this home recording and I never thought it was going to be this overwhelming... Lots of good info here, so thank you!!

Anonyme
le 21/09/2021 à 19h19

Juste pour te remercier, ton site est super : Une mine d'infos, et un des rares endroits (le seul ?) où on peut encore trouver certains vieux plugins :))

bourguiba24
le 17/05/2021 à 19h18

Bonjour,
je voudrais utiliser uniquement ma voix et tout les bruits envisageables afin de générer ce que j'appellerais "la pulsation" de ma composition.

Existe t'il des logiciels (et peut être tous en sont capable) qui aprés enregistrement d'un son se cale sur le dit son pour enregistrer le motif.
Ma formation d'origine c'est la batterie et donc j'aimerais pouvoir improviser vocalement (ou en tapant du pied aussi par exemple) des motifs et qu'ils soient ainsi reconnus par le logiciel avec un microphone.
j'espére que ma question est compréhensible !
Vous avez compris que je suis assez ignare en MAO ... juste chez moi un petit séquenceur autonome pour m'accompagner à la guitare !
Merci par avance

Gib
le 28/04/2021 à 20h35

Any way to make one of these be a perfect fit for a Chuck Shuldiner tone??

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Honestly, I have no idea. It's the first time I even hear about Chuck Shuldiner. But here's a webpage referencing his gear:
https://equipboard.com/pros/chuck-schuldiner
You could try the free amp Emissary, maybe?
Grebz

Sean
le 27/04/2021 à 16h44

Hello from the USA!

I'm writing you today because I need help with the LE456.

I've been using it for years now and I've created a very specific tone for my songs that I'd like to keep using. I recently upgraded from an Intel Macbook Pro to an Mac Mini with an M1 chip.I use Logic Pro X and it's a 64 bit system.

I put the .component files into my component folder and validated the plugin via the plugin-manager in logic. I also "Allowed" the plugin via the System and Security tab in Mac settings. It's still not coming up in my sub menu so I can put it on my channel strip. Is there any way to get it working with the M1 chips? I love this site and appreciate the work you do <3 Thank you!

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Hello Sean,

Thanks for visiting my website!

I don’t have good news… I’m a PC user, so I have no idea how things work on a Mac.

Furthermore, I know that the new M1 model has a very different CPU than the older Mac Intel CPUs, and it requires that software be updated to fully work. I also know that Rosetta can supposedly « translate » older programs, but does this include plugins ? I’m not sure about that. I’ve seen announcements from plugin manufacturers informing their users that their plugins were updated and M1-compliant, which probably means it’s a necessity to do so. Unfortunately, the guy behind the Lepou plugins stopped his activity and no longer updates them. So if it doesn’t work now, chances are it never will.
Unless there’s a magic trick I don’t know about.

Grebz