Category: Season 1 – April

Vocal production that sounds amazing requires you navigate the intersection of composition, physical performance, gear selection, and creative coaching with your A-game the entire time!

That’s why we devoted two podcast episodes to vocal production and mixing. This one is jam packed with info!

“If the vocal sucks on the record you might as well trash the entire thing” – Joel Wanasek

What you’ll learn in part 1:

1. Acoustic treatment for vocal recording
2. How to fix badly recorded vocals
3. AT4040 vs SM7B
4. Time aligning vocals by hand
5. Using Revoice Pro
6. Autotune tips
7. Outboard compressors like Shadow Hills and Distressors
8. Condenser vs dynamic microphones
9. How to save money on high dollar microphones

Links:

Melissa Cross
Izotope RX (audio repair)
Real Traps
Audio Technica
Empirical Labs Distressor
Revoice Pro

Thanks for listening!
Sign up to our [cp_modal id=”cp_id_7934d”]mailing list[/cp_modal] to discover more!

Nail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Chelsea Grin, Machine Head and State Champs. Join now for instant access!

Leave any questions, comments, or feedback in the comment section below.

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Dan Korneff has perfected the process of turning out modern, top-quality mixes on analog gear in an industry that’s moving faster than ever.

Can you imagine mixing on a massive console with tons of outboard, yet still keep up with modern deadline demands? Dan Korneff does it every day. According to him the keys are in the efficiency of your setup and how well you understand you gear.

One of the beautiful things about audio is that there’s usually multiple ways to achieve the same goal. Learn which methods and workflows are best for you, and optimize them until your process is second nature. Then you’ll be able to focus on what really counts, the music!

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Dan Korneff’s client requirements
• Secrets to punchy mixes with bus compression
• How to get properly credited for your work
• Why he prefers Cubase
• How he integrates Cubase with his console and outboard
• His inspiration for becoming a gear builder
• Where to start if you want to build your own audio gear
• Tips for maintaining a healthy work/life balance

Links:

Dan Korneff’s site
Dan Korneff’s credits
Savior Custom Drums
CreativeLIVE’s audio courses

Thanks for listening!
Sign up to our [cp_modal id=”cp_id_7934d”]mailing list[/cp_modal] to discover more!

Nail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Chelsea Grin, Machine Head and State Champs. Join now for instant access!

Leave any questions, comments, or feedback in the comment section below.

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Welcome to MixCritMonday, the show where we critique YOUR mixes.

In the hotseat this month is Caleb Rodriguez.

Caleb submitted a metalcore mix for us to crit and after a little investigation we figured out that he was making two major mistakes:

1. He used little to no reference material
2. His source tracks were not ready for mixing, yet he didn’t fix them

We also discovered that his mixing environment was an acoustical mess and that he was compensating by mixing in headphones, a big no no. Considering he wasn’t even using reference material to get his bearings, Caleb was basically his own worst enemy on this mix.

The combination of unedited, poorly performed tracks with an unreliable listening space placed a glass ceiling on how good his mix could actually get.

In this episode you’ll learn about:

• Acoustical room treatments for under $200
• How to properly use reference mixes
• Steps to take if you mixing environment is sub par
• Which little details make a huge difference in a guitar tone
• Replacing an out of tune bass with a synth bass
• Mid range buildups that can make a mix hard to listen to

Want us to crit your mix? Click here to find out how!

links:

Line 6 Pod Farm
Savior custom Drums
Drumforge
Steven Slate Drums

Thanks for listening!
Sign up to our [cp_modal id=”cp_id_7934d”]mailing list[/cp_modal] to discover more!

Nail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Chelsea Grin, Machine Head and State Champs. Join now for instant access!

Leave any questions, comments, or feedback in the comment section below.

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“Perfection Is The Enemy Of Progress” – Winston Churchill

Imagine if our favorite mixers decided to stop mixing until every single aspect of their control room was perfect…

They would never mix, because no control room is ever perfect!

No matter how hard you try, you can’t get better than best. Sure, there’s always room for improvement, and over time, with the right work ethic, anyone can improve what their best is. However, in the present moment, you can’t do any better than the best you can do.

Learn to live with that.

Perfectionism is one of the biggest momentum killers we face. It’s a futile pursuit because like it or not, nothing will ever be perfect. You are chasing the impossible. Once you replace perfectionism with an unbreakable commitment to getting the job done, that’s when your audio skills will really jump to the next level.

Perfection is nothing, momentum is everything.

In this episode we cover:

• Making the most of your listening environment
• Using “crappy” speakers to improve your mixes
• The difference between real and arbitrary deadlines
• Don’t trust a spec sheet, trust your ears
• Resources for quality acoustic treatment

Links:

How to build your own acoustic panels
Build your own acoustic panels for under $30
Real Traps
GIK Acoustics
CreativeLIVE 

Thanks for listening!
Sign up to our [cp_modal id=”cp_id_7934d”]mailing list[/cp_modal] to discover more!

Nail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Chelsea Grin, Machine Head and State Champs. Join now for instant access!

Leave any questions, comments, or feedback in the comment section below.

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The most common mixing mistakes up and comers make involve trying to run before they walk.

In other words… they try to do the advanced stuff before they conquer the basics.

Focusing on the wrong things will keep you from achieving your mixing potential. For instance, you shouldn’t even think about Mid Side EQ before you’ve mastered a simple 4 band. Don’t mess with parallel compression when you don’t even understand what attack and release do. Don’t start mixing a song if the tracking still needs editing and tuning.

All great mixes are built on solid fundamentals like EQ, compression, gain staging, levels, and panning.

“You don’t spend years on the mix, but you spent years learning how to mix” – Eyal Levi

You can avoid the most common mixing mistakes when you learn:

• The biggest steps you can take towards great tone
• What to focus on first
• The importance of fundamentals
• The most common causes of bad tone
• Technical vs musical mixing
• When to take risks and experiment
• The pros and cons of new plugins

links

Presonus Faderport
Fabfilter Pro-q2
Drumforge
Nail The Mix
Unstoppable Recording Machine

Thanks for listening!
Sign up to our [cp_modal id=”cp_id_7934d”]mailing list[/cp_modal] to discover more!

Nail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Chelsea Grin, Machine Head and State Champs. Join now for instant access!

Leave any questions, comments, or feedback in the comment section below.

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