Mix Review with Bob Horn & Erik Reichers - Episode 3
Want to know how professionals would mix a homemade Soul Pop track? Industry pro engineers, mixers and producers Bob Horn and Erik Reichers bring you yet another series where they take a recordist's non-pro mix and import it side by side into their DAW, showing in-detail, how they would approach the mix, from start to radio-ready.
Videos
• Introduction Pt. 1 (12:35) - Erik and Bob introduce the Chris Love mix and discuss their opinion of some of the mixing decisions Chris may have made along with mixing trends and the importance of acoustical room treatment.
• Introduction Pt. 2 (05:37) - The submission questions are reviewed and Bob imparts incredible insight into choosing reference mixes and its pitfalls.
• Drum Intro (02:11) - The guys overview the drums and highlight some of their choices to accentuate the sounds and subdue some of the mid-range buildup.
• Drums Pt. 1 (14:48) - Starting on the Kick Drums the duo compare and discuss Chris Love's Neutron effects used on his sounds and then show The Echo Bar Kick processing in contrast.
• Drums Pt. 2 (12:25) - Continuing with the Kick Drums, the layers are starting to develop the foundation for the song and Erik shows how he created a sample to enhance the qualities lacking in the original sound.
• Drums Pt. 3 (04:19) - Wrapping up the last of the Kick Drums with a Harmonic Exciter and Transient Designer.
• Drums Pt. 4 (08:36) - Delving into the snares we have a look at the original samples and how the guys sculpt the sound to the song.
• Drums Pt. 5 (03:19) - Moving onto some of Chris Loves "Clack Sound" and "Claps" sounds used in the production.
• Drums Pt. 6 (14:59) - Erik and Bob clean up the original "Clap" samples and demonstrate what to be cautious of in those types of samples.
• Drums Pt. 7 (05:16) - Approaching the Hi Hats we are introduced to "THE FLANGE HAT" and Bob discusses the challenges frequency-wise and some advanced plugins that reduce harsh frequencies.
• Drums Pt. 8 (10:39) - Diving deeper into the remaining Hi Hats and finding their place in the mix.
• Drums Pt. 9 (14:50) - Looking at the remaining percussion and fills Erik and Bob add creative treatments to create some dramatic tension to the song.
• Drums Pt. 10 (06:44) - Concluding the last of the percussion tracks the guys demonstrate "How to get more energy" out of a sampled sound.
• Bass Intro (01:23) - Here, Bob and Erik talk about the variety of bass sounds in Chris Love's production.
• Bass Pt. 1 (12:36) - Bob takes the lead and shows us the bass elements of this song and his approach to some of the sounds commonly used in these types of productions.
• Bass Pt. 2 (08:46) - Bob shows how he got a more aggressive and dark sound to fit with the 808's and shares some wisdom regarding compensating for bass room nodes in your listening environment.
• Guitars Intro (01:12) - With all the foundation elements in place Erik and Bob talk guitars and how they wanted to use them.
• Guitars Pt. 1 (10:56) - Chris Love's guitars are demonstrated first followed by Bob explaining some of the creative liberties he took to make the guitars more aggressive to cut through the mix.
• Guitars Pt. 2 (09:56) - The remaining guitars are covered and the guys show how their treatments varied depending on the arrangement of the song sections.
• Keyboards Intro (00:37) - Very briefly the keyboards and synths are discussed and how they are mainly supporting elements in this song.
• Keyboards Pt. 1 (12:29) - Since the foundation has taken shape the synth elements get treated to create depth and Bob shows how to cut the frequencies that are building up from these layers.
• Keyboards Pt. 2 (09:47) - The exotic synths are put on display and processed to fill in the spaces remaining in the song creating even more atmosphere.
• Vocal Intro (02:53) - We have finally arrived at the vocals now Erik and Bob breakdown the types of vocals featured on this song and some of the gain staging issues/challenges within the recordings.
• Vocal Pt. 1 (08:34) - Kicking it off right into the Special Effects Vocals and Rap sections Bob explains a few changes they made to the arrangement of the vocals to improve the sections of the song.
• Vocal Pt. 2 (09:39) - Moving further into the Rap sections Erik and Bob improve upon the special effect treatment Chris created in his mix and demonstrate how they achieved that.
• Vocal Pt. 3 (12:34) - The male rap section feature is in the spotlight now and the guys show us how to get that vocal ready for its showcase.
• Vocal Pt. 4 (07:12) - It's lead vocal time and Erik explains the challenges with noise and gain staging on these tracks and how use a de-noise plugin. Bob also imparts some info on how to manage your noise floor and tips for gain staging a vocal tracking session.
• Vocal Pt. 5 (11:06) - Now that the lead vocals are cleaned up Erik and Bob explain their treatment and plugins for their final vocal sound.
• Vocal Pt. 6 (09:54) - Continuing on the lead vocals, we are at reverb and delays on the chorus section of the song.
• Vocal Pt. 7 (12:22) - The background vocals are now brought into the mix and we see how they get spaced and treated to support the lead vocal.
• Vocal Pt. 8 (12:04) - Wrapping up the background vocals.
• Master Bus Intro (03:02) - A conversation about what Chris Love had on his master bus and what Erik and Bob used to get their final sound.
• Master Bus Pt. 1 (08:42) - Focusing on the Chris Love's Master Bus signal chain Bob makes some suggestions for recuperating gain being lost from "Rouge transients".
• Master Bus Pt. 2 (11:51) - A breakdown of the Echo Bar "Sub Master" signal routing is explained and the logic for its setup in controlling the mix.
• Master Bus Pt. 3 (12:14) - Bob starts breaking down the Echo Bar master bus explaining in great detail what each plugin is doing to reign in the mix.
• Master Bus Pt. 4 (07:59) - We have reached the last of the plugins on the master bus and Bob explains one of his favorite compressors for gluing the mix to get the final sound.
• Conclusion (03:55) - The guys say goodbye and play out their mix of "Little Taste".