Analysis of S5E06: Joe Ford – Mixdown Workshop

DAW: Cubase, but techniques will apply to any DAW
Topics: A/B’ing, automation, mixing, mixdown, notching, sidechain compression

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WATCH NOTES
Defines the mixdown as the relationship and levels between track elements, how clearly they stand out, and the overall frequency shape of the mix

States the master bus chain is important.
– Like to keep the master bus as simple as possibleAims to correct issues in the mix during the early stages of writing, instead of trying to correct later in the track writing process.

01:45 – only has a limiter and frequency analyzer on the master bus
– Goes over his preferred settings for each.
– Limiter (FabFilter Pro-L): no lookahead, attack turned up to maximum, release turned to 0.

03:35 – explains the frequency analyzer he uses (Voxengo SPAN, freeware version)
– States that he does not have great monitors or room, so he mostly works with a headphone set-up.
– 5:45 – his preferred SPAN settings: block size – 8192, overlap 50, avg time 50, slope 0.00

06:30 – mixing for this demonstration is going to be from the ground up, instead of taking a finished project and working backwards.

07:40 – recommends color coding track elements
– Explains his system, says that it makes coming back to a project easier to mentally process what elements are in it.

08:30 – starts with the bass
– 08:50 – actually cuts out the low end, and recreates the sub-140 Hz low end with Massive (but nearly any synth would work for this)

09:50 – works out the notes of the bassline
– Thinks the bassline is in 1/8th notes
– Makes the new bass punchy with an envelope controlling pitch at the start of each hit
– States that usually he would make the sub bass and midrange bass together, but for this demo it is a little tougher because he is recreating the sub agains a sample loop

15:00 – interesting point about sub having its fundamental frequency and a harmonic 5th above it, using a second oscillator to control the level of the harmonic

19:50 – bounces sub to audio so MIDI retriggering is not an issue, and so he can do fades on the hits.
– The fades are so the kick is not conflicting with the sub bass.

20:00 – references the loop against a Mefjus track

21:00 – working on the main elements so they do not overlap too much
– Kick against sub
– Uses fades on sub audio, at points where the kick is hitting
– Listened for distorting when these elements played together, and after the fades were added, the frequency conflict was gone, and no distorting.

22:35 – adding some high frequency to a copy of the kick
– Advises using a linear phase EQ to take care of any possible phase cancellations.

24:30 – snare against mid bass, uses a notch in EQ to address the conflicting frequencies.
– Automates the notch to duck when snare hits happen.

27:00 – figuring out how long the resonant part lasts
– Interesting technique. Joe Ford makes a tight EQ band on the snare, to get the region of the resonant part bounces down to audio, uses as a visual reference to draw the automation on the mid range bass.

29:50 – kick & snare transients, wants them to cut through the mix
– Busses everything that is conflicting with these transients, e.g. all the other drums.
– Sidetracks a little to show how the reference track’s high frequencies peak around -39 dB, and adjusts his layer drums to match.
– States a lot of current tracks tend to have highs peaking at -36 dB, finds that to be a little harsh sounding.

31:30 – sidechain group
– Wants extreme compression around the transients, and wants the sidechained elements to snap back quickly.
– Hard knee for the instant snap of compression, fast attack & release, maximum ratio, adjust the threshold to taste.
– Uses the kick transient click as trigger, uses a new audio channel of it, is not an audible sound, and this click is used for both the kicks and snares.

35:30 – reviews the tutorial.
– Reference track in the same key as yours.
– Good look at where frequencies are sitting.
– A very consistent low end, “created from sine waves usually”.
– Sidechain elements around the kick & snare.

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THOUGHTS & QUESTIONS
– Joe Ford’s constant A/B’ing against the Mefjus tune was a good example to me of how to utilize the technique. I’ve got Magic AB, and admittedly, I almost never use it, so this video has me more motivated to get in the practice of A/B’ing. A few times in the video I went “oh, I should try it that way”.

– Curious what his headphone set up is. My current set up is a pair of Hifiman 400i’s and a Subpac S2, both powered off a SoundBlaster E5.

– Good demonstration of maybe how to approach a sketch after you’ve come back to it, relating to what Lenzman showed earlier this season, and then applying Joe Ford’s techniques to build up a sketch in to a finished arrangement & track.

– Be mindful of distorting, versus distortion. Unintentional artifact from overlapping layers, versus intended effect to add harmonics and character.
When I’m in Logic, I probably have to follow the example of Joe Ford drawing in automation on mid range’s EQ whenever the snare hits. In Bitwig 2, it seems like I can utilize modulators to do this, specifically I have been experimenting with the Audio Sidechain listening to the snare track, and pushing the node on the EQ. Maybe makes the track a bit more dynamic too? Like it is living & breathing, versus being a static track of audio.

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Going to try and finish up my watch notes for Season 1, and have posted before New Year’s. A lot going on with holidays, family, travel, etc.