The lead vocal is the most important element of a track, and for the engineer, getting a great vocal sound is imperative. The lead vocal acts as the face and personality of a song. It must stand out in the mix and have punch, as well as being personable, intimate, and larger than life. If you want a vocal sound that stands out above the rest, you’ve got to have the right tools and definitely know how to use them.

The bass is the body of a track, it’s the glue that holds the skeletal drums together, and it sonically adds warmth, rhythm, and size that a track needs to sound full and complete. Many mixes I hear today, from demos to rough mixes, and even final mixes on records, are lacking in low end. They sound thin and tinny with no bottom end, no body, no bass. One of the first things I tell aspiring engineers is “Don’t be afraid of too much bass.”

In part I of “Prepping a Session to Mix,” we covered the importance of creating a session template as a starting point where individual tracks are organized, grouped, and prepared to be mixed, and all of one’s tools (reverbs, delays, EQ’s, compressors, etc.) are in place and ready to be utilized. In part II, we covered analog summing and stereo buss signal flow, how to calibrate, document, and take advantage of analog processing, and how to configure a second computer where the final mixes go through top-of-the-line converters and are recorded at 192kHz and 32-bit float. At this point, all of the software and hardware are ready to go, but there’s still one crucial component to preparing a session to mix that we have yet to cover…and that element is editing.

In part I of “Prepping a Session to Mix,” we discussed my template mixing session layout in Pro Tools, how I organize and prepare individual tracks for mixing, and how important it is to have a starting point for mixing so the process is as streamlined and straightforward as possible. Now that we have the mixing session set up properly, we can move on to part II of the pre-mix process: calibrating the mixing system and outboard gear, as well as preparing a second Pro Tools session on our designated mix computer where the final mixes will be recorded.

Mixing a track is an invaluable engineering skill and it takes thousands of hours to develop the proper skills and ear training to get a handle on it. We’ll certainly get to my method of mixing in future blog posts, but equally important to the mix itself is the work done in preparation for mixing. The audio must be clean with no pops or added noise, all the editing should be out of the way so there’s no worrying about missing crossfades or notes out of tune or out of time, and the session should be set up in such a way that makes the final mixing process as simple as possible. The blog post within is a discourse on how I prepare a session to mix.

The guitar has been an essential part of popular music for some time now, and its significance in the evolution of songwriting, band instrumentation, and production over the past 60 years or so is undeniable.

• Speakers at least 2 feet off the wall and 12 feet from the back wall

In part one of “Drums: The Skeleton of a Track,” we discussed recording techniques utilized during the drum tracking process. In this entry, we'll move on to mixing. I make sure to keep the mixing process in mind throughout tracking; this allows for maximum efficiency, as the drums are generally in place as we move on to mixing. At this point, the tracks should be balanced with proper panorama (panning). I always begin with the faders in Pro Tools at preset levels. The kick at 0dB, while the snare is at -2.5, and the toms, hat, overheads and rooms are at -10. I find that this is a good starting point for the drum mix, as these levels are approximately where I start and end up balance-wise. They will, however, change slightly throughout the mixing process as I always try and balance things to tape (although in this case it’s no longer tape but Pro Tools). I set and balance the input signals via mic pre gain, and if I’m mixing on a large format console, I’ll also use the onboard automation to ride faders for important dynamic changes such as solo sections, fade outs, etc. I prefer metering the input signal on VU meters verses digital meters if possible, looking for 0dbm signals for kick and snare, with the toms peaking around +1 to +3 dB (as long as they aren’t peaking in Pro Tools). Hi hat around -10 and overheads normally around -7 dB. It's important not to rush the balancing process: how you set with drums in this part of the mix will affect how you blend the rest of the tracks together, so take your time. I always spend time listening to the drums to make sure they have a great balance (nothing should be sticking out too much) and are in phase. Phase issues are especially important for the hat and overheads. This can be checked by A/B listening in and out of mono. If the cymbals sound muffled or off in some way, they may be out of phase. Also, of major import I always have the drummer play straight time without the hi hat and in the overheads the snare MUST appear exactly in the center of the stereo image. Then I have him play time with the hi hat and I add the hi hat mic and balance it taking it in and out until I get the desired presence I like. All in all, when I listen to the drum mix, I like it to sound the way it would if the drummer were right in front of me: huge, punchy, open, and natural. When panning the drums, my rule of thumb is to use the audience’s perspective, which would be how the kit would sound if you were listening to it at a live show. This means the kick and snare should be in the center, with the high rack tom and hi-hat on the right and the floor tom and ride on the left. The overheads should be panned so that snare is dead center. For panning the hi-hat, I listen to the overheads with the hi hat track muted and find where it sits, then move it there and mute and un-mute to make sure it sits in the same place. A great hi hat sound shouldn’t feel like its moving and should make the kit sound fuller than without it. I pan the high and low toms hard right and left respectively, while the mid tom sits in the center. If room mics are used they should be panned in alignment with the overheads. Over the years, I’ve developed my general method for EQing drums, which is listed below. These settings can remove some of the muddiness from the kit, deepen the bottom end, and allow the kit to breathe and sound even fuller and more natural. I typically EQ using API 550A’s, but these settings will translate on other EQs as well.

Drums are the starting place and framework of a mix, and the track as a whole can only be as big as the skeleton on which is sits. If the drums are small or weak, the track will suffer greatly, but if they’re captured correctly, you’ll have plenty of space to work with the rest of the instruments in the track. So when it comes to drums, the crucial skills an engineer must have are the ability to capture the realness and natural hugeness of a drum set and the ability to mix it even larger.