Well, I really liked this song! Really! My wife caught me shaking my head with headphones while I was mixing, several times.
This is my edit:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lNf8x4 ... sp=sharing
Screenshots and gif:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pwoDg ... S7HfGV72l8
ITB mixing; DAW Reaper.
Drums:
I didn't use only the track 06HiHat SM57.
On the individual tracks, I basically used gate, compression and equalization, as needed by each one.
Kick, Snare, Overs, Toms, Room and Crash were placed in subgroups for organization and specific processing of each piece. On the Kick bus I get a little low end boost with bx_subfilter.
Everything was send to a group channel, in which I used a Channel Strip (SSL4000E PA), a colored compressor (ACME), Phil's Cascade and Slam Dawg for a character and Lindell 354E for multiband compression. To save CPU processing, which in my case is limited, I printed the DrumBus output and turned off all processing of the bus and its channels. In the printed channel I still used character plugins (Oxide, BBE Sonic Maximizer and BlackBox), in addition to a little more multiband compression. Serial compression process was designed to control the kick and snare, as well as hold some of the harshness of the cymbals.
No processing was overstated here. Everything was subtle and it is the sum that is important.
Ambience:
Only two reverb aux channels.
In one of them, a convolution reverb plugin (Convology XT, which is free and very good) processing DI guitars with a long reverb. The IR used is the "Music Club" which is included in the free Big Gee's Lexicon 480L Reverb library. With the exception of the final part, DI guitars are located further to the left of the virtual stage. In contrast and to help with the stereo field, the reverb was panned to the right, bringing a very beautiful effect.
The second reverb receives the Drum Buss signal only to complement the room. It is the Drum Room 2 preset of Lexicon's MPX Native plugin.
Bass:
I used the DI and the SM57 tracks. The latter had the low end filtered and it was in it that I applied the chorus requested by the band. I used the excellent Acon Digital Multiply (free). Unfiltered Audio Dent2 for light saturation. In BassBus, a little more saturation with Exciter from Neutron3 and compression with ACME.
GTRs:
I used tracks DI, 112 and M/S in almost all parts.
The tracks DI and 112 were added in subgroups, which fed the reverb channel described above. Everything was sended to a main group, in which an equalizer was used to clear a resonance at 2.3 kHz, a small gain in the highs and also in the 90 kHz region.
The rest of the processing was minimal, with only some compression and equalization in certain tracks and subgroups, to maintain the original tone of the GTRs, which was very beautiful and consistent with the references.
Vocals:
The BV were grouped in a Bus in which they were processed with an equalizer for low freq control, a compressor (LA2A) and a chorus (Studio D). They were better positioned on the panorama.
Lead vocal was subjected to a slight pitch correction with Melodyne. Then, a few clicks were extracted with Waves' X-Click. An EQ for mid frequencies control (between 22hz and 2khz), SSL4000E for compression and a bit of character. A DeEsses to tame sibilance. Lead reverbs was inserted directly on the channel. As the vocals had to be almost in the background, the reverb had to be long and well embedded in the mix. I chose a spring reverb (PSP SpringBox) for its characteristic and the repetition effect. Next, I used Exponential Audio's Nimbus for the long tail, with a large hall preset. This plugin allows to duck itself, creating a space in the long tail of the reverb for the vocal phrases that will follow, which helps to keep the vocal in evidence.
In the vocal bus, only Acoustica Audio's El Rey was inserted for smooth compression.
Everything was recorded in an L/R file called PRINT, which was processed in a new project (gif attached). I applied a Pultec for a slight gain in the low and high frequencies, in addition to the BBE Harmonic Exciter and the 610-B and SSLBusComp for saturation and "glue". There was also a gain in volume to fit the rules.
I really liked the result!
Thanks Ady and Cheap Flights for the great tune! Hope you guys like my mix. Good luck to all fellow mixers!
This was a very nice learning experience overall.