good afternoon children thanks for
bearing with us there through the little
bit of technical glitches right at the
end we tested this the other day and it
worked flawlessly and then of course we
show up today and it doesn't work
exactly how we want this is how it works
but I know why you guys are all here
today we're here to talk to the one and
only mr. Andrew chefs hi doing today and
ER excellent thanks hey everybody thanks
so for those of you who don't know
somehow andrew has worked with just
about everybody every type of genre that
you can imagine he's worked with Adele
Red Hot Chili Peppers Metallica Beyonce
Green Day you to Lana Del Ray Black
Sabbath Zac Brown Band and I mean that
list just keeps on going and do do you
have a favorite out of all of them yeah
no I mean you know there's some
obviously I love a lot of them I would
say that in terms of the bigger stuff
the Chili Peppers was one of the first
times I got to work with the band that
I've been a fan of forever
and the same with Audioslave I've been
obviously rage and Soundgarden fans
forever and working on that record and
then some of the tiny little indie stuff
I do for my label you know I love
because I'm a lot more involved but no
man I'm just super lucky yeah that's
awesome so we have hundreds of questions
for you today
so we're not gonna have time to get
everybody's questions but I'm gonna do
as many of them as I possibly can and
the cool part is that you actually
you've already done lots of tutorials
with us so a lot of these answers you
know to some of the questions I've seen
you've answered any tutorials but
actually what we're going to do today is
I prepared to exclude
excerpts from your latest tutorial with
us which was you breaking down your mix
for Green Day bang-bang which was a epic
epic video man that was super cool get
like I grew up with Green Day so getting
to hear isolated bits out of Green Day
and hear what you did do it
that was awesome so cool so we're gonna
remains yeah so we're gonna close up
today's broadcast with X I believe of
the bass and Tom's and kind of shown a
little bit of what's in that video
obviously there's a lot more in the
whole video and then there's also your
template video which has been going nuts
there's just people are you know the
comments and the feedback from that one
and also the amount of people using and
adapting your template is really awesome
to see great great now try to keep the
answers short because I can talk forever
so I'll try and keep it short so you can
get to a lot of them awesome so yeah
let's let's dive right in by the way if
you guys are watching this you know
obviously you're watching online we
would definitely appreciate if you share
it share it on Facebook Instagram
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all of your friends we're gonna leave
the replay of this Q&A up for a couple
of weeks so you'll be able to come back
and re-watch ricci the answers or share
it with your friends who missed it live
but if you're here live we'll also be
checking out on the live chat as well as
all the questions that we got ahead of
time so let's dive straight into the
first question which you know Chris
Brady wanted to know what were some of
your early influences in terms of mixing
hi Chris how's it going I have to keep
this quick in terms of mixing I don't
know cuz I didn't really start out to be
a mixer so I wasn't paying a huge amount
of attention to just that but I mean
obviously for her straight-up mixers in
me Bob clear mountain definitely but it
was more some of the people who wrapped
it inside their production like Daniel
Lanois and Brian Eno and all the records
they made either together or
and I love just the way those records
are balanced out Schmidt obviously as a
balancer and is impeccable but I don't
know if I think of any later on see I
made the mistake again
of telling Ben I didn't want the
questions first and so I've no idea
what's coming cuz I thought well that's
good questions like this I should have
thought about it so I have no idea and
there are a million of them so I'll
think of something later I'm sure
awesome so what about next question is
how long did it take you to go from
taking the mixing seriously to being a
full fledge for a professional mixing
engineer well I don't know because I
didn't start out even thinking about
mixing as a separate thing I just wanted
to make records and came up as an
engineer and I always thought like I
would eventually if I was lucky I'd be
producing full-time but it turns out
that now I'm mixing probably 80 85
percent of the time with production not
not nearly as much as I thought it would
be so I mean I guess you know when did I
start taking mixing seriously maybe 99
problems or a little bit before that
something like that and I still always
feel like I'm you know the next gig is
not guaranteed I mean I've been really
lucky the last couple of years that it's
been pretty constant but I'll still have
you know month-long periods three-month
long periods where there's just nothing
going on so in terms of like the career
thing it's obviously I've done really
well and I'm really lucky with a lot of
the stuff I've been able to do but it's
an ongoing process you're never kind of
set and I think advice for people
starting out is never to think like well
gee I just need that one gig and then
it'll all fall into place
it won't every gig helps but like when
you're talking about how diverse my
discography is those the gigs I get now
come from things in the discography
usually and sometimes it's stuff that
has nothing to do with what they want me
to mix and I'm always really surprised
so I actually make a point of asking
like well hey so why did you think of me
for this and sometimes it's completely
off the wall
they're thinking of so just keep at it
and you know I I don't know I don't have
anything specific for that one
so do you yeah well there's another
question right here of like if you were
just starting your mixer career today
what advice would you give people to
build their work in their reputation
well this is actually this is a bit of
advice I've given before and this goes
not just for mixing but for engineering
and also for producing is find musicians
artists and bands who are at the same
spot in their career as you are in yours
don't like man I should make the next
you to record does that I'll learn a lot
like no find your neighbourhood band
that you think is gonna be the next you
to and do an EP with them and do a
couple of songs and they're living it or
whatever and and that way you get to
learn in a place where you're allowed to
make mistakes and nobody is expecting
things that you're not really ready for
but you'll also be really appreciated
and you'll get a lot of great practice
and then there are millions of bands
that want to help doing stuff and if
they can come up with 50 bucks and lunch
then you're all set
that's all they need right just lunch
and any will mix the record
right exactly do you are using a system
these days or you know what kind I'm
completely on my own I mean there's a
guy just in her gate in LA who helps me
out but he's gotten super busy on his
own mixing so he doesn't really have
time most of the time when I think of
something like dude be cool if he could
print mixes on this so no I kind of do
everything myself and he used to feel
like well if I could hand off the
session prep that would be good
the only thing I wouldn't mind handing
off at this point is just printing
because it takes so long but there are
always like weird little decisions you
have to make while you're printing
different versions and mixes to like oh
do these weird distorted vocals is that
an instrument or is that a vocal and so
yeah I just do everything myself
I'm it's bizarre but it works well he's
actually segue right into another
question that I got a bunch was how do
you handle stems and alternate mixes you
know with your mixing template using
so much parallel processing and effects
and everything so how does that work
everything has to be printed separately
I mean I can't I can fortunately I can
bounce off lines so it'll go usually two
times real time because with all the
native stuff going on and I think you ad
slows that down quite a bit cuz it
buffers to and from their hardware so
I'm lucky if I get like 2.2 times real
time but yet it's all got to be done in
real time and stems basic stems like
drums guitars maybe you split the
guitars up into two groups something
like that
I'll just deliver that as part of the
mixing because everybody wants it even
though it's never useful for anything
and because all the stuff is shared
parallel they don't add up to the mix
anyway but if the bass player needs to
learn apart or whatever
I'd much rather get a specific list of
samples they need for lives or something
like that and spend time doing useful
things but then if they want more split
up stems then they've got to pay some
hourly fee and that's like the kind of
stuff that's perfect for Justin because
it's never that timely and I can say
look you pay this guy so much an hour
he's got a duplicate set up in terms of
plugins to me and he can just open the
sessions and print stuff so that works
pretty well but you just have to deliver
those things now I'd love to say no I
deliver a main mix and that's it but no
way it doesn't work yeah not what
everybody's looking for so Bruno was
asking what's your decision process for
you know knowing that you've reached
quote unquote the mix well I mean I
don't ever think on my own that I've
reached the mix but what I have to do is
get to the point where I'm ready to send
the mix to the artist for the first time
that's the kind of that's when I'm
making a decision after it goes to the
artist and I'm getting mixed notes it's
up to them to decide when we're done and
that's a whole nother thing which
probably someone's asking about later on
so I won't go into it too much basically
I have to be able to listen to it and
not think that there's anything that I
should change not necessarily that could
be better because everything could
always be better or different or
whatever they're a million different
ways to do it but I just keep working
until I feel like no that's done you
know like I've addressed all the stuff
that I kind of made a list of in my head
when I started working and then I've
taken care of all the details that have
come up along the way and now I feel
like I'm excited for the artists to hear
it and I'm still super insecure and I
hate sending that mix I hate it but you
do get to the point where you know like
I could work on this for another four
days and I wouldn't actually change
anything and so for me
fortunately I'm pretty good at not going
off into the weeds on stuff so I know
you know relatively early when it's to
the stage where I should send it off and
sometimes it isn't that I think it's
done but I think I've gotten to the
point where I need input because they're
like two competing things in the chorus
and I've built it one way but they need
to decide whether it has to be another
way so I don't necessarily think like it
could just be done but it's yeah it's
definitely some version of that so you
know do you also like take the mix and
reference in the car or on different
speakers headphones does that weigh in
to your process at all no no no I swear
I mix and when the mix is done where I
mix them the mix is done no I never take
stuff out anymore but that's just me and
it's just the way I work and I'm weird
and I'm not advocating that do you know
no it's more I mean I used to when I
didn't really have my monitoring
situation together like I haven't found
that a noise yet I was still going back
and forth dentist ends and but then once
I got that together it just I know what
that's supposed to sound like so the
only variable is the mix I'm working on
and that to me is really important if
the variable is five different listening
environments then which one do you trust
I mean if you kind of have a problem
with this thing it with a vocal in the
car but the low end feels great but then
in the studio the low end feels like
it's too light then like well okay who's
right there so I think I would just find
that super confusing but there are times
when I'll get mixed notes and then when
I go back and listen or I listen
somewhere else
it's like oh wow how did I miss that but
you might get over that listening in
lots of different places but most of the
time that doesn't happen and I just feel
like it would be confusing and take up a
lot of time yeah so switching gears here
a little bit we had a lot of questions
about gain stage stage and gain
structure you know working with an
internal mixer what's what are some of
the fundamentals about gain stage inside
the box that you think people need to
know about well I mean the main thing is
you've got to understand what floating
point architecture is but so what that
means is you cannot clip internally in
Pro Tools it's technically impossible
and if the plugins you're using or
written properly it's impossible to clip
unless you're using something like a
limiter or something that obviously has
distortion built in you know that kind
of clipping but otherwise what will
happen is what will come out and go to
the speakers might be clipped because
the waveform is too big when you try to
shove it through the DJ but if you turn
it down with a master fader all the way
at the very end of the mix bus it'll
recover the waveform because it keeps
track of how much it's overshooting now
that's good because you can build a mix
that can all be a little bit too loud
but you love the way it feels and then
you can just bring it down at the very
end and you'll recover some peaks and
stuff like that but obviously as you're
going through dynamics processing
anything that has a threshold well if
you change how much level is going into
those things then it's going to change
what it sounds like so you just need to
understand your signal flow you don't
actually have to worry about gain
staging as much anymore because you can
reach inside the Pro Tools mixer and I'm
sure at this point all of the dogs are
floating-point so you can reach inside
with master faders or oxes or whatever
and turn things down later and keep the
relationships the same so yeah it's a
very technical thing doing audio and it
was the same back when it was just
electronics and physics and not
computers but it's still very technical
and you need to know what things are
actually doing so you know where to
attack a problem when you have a game
problem
how do you how do you learn that how do
you learn where there's actually a
problem and when there's not because
there's some plugins that have you know
sweet spots and then there's some
plugins that are just the same no matter
where you hit them yeah I mean well
obviously anything that does dynamics or
distortion it has a threshold right a
clipper has a threshold and all dynamics
have a threshold and there's even a knob
called threshold on most of them so
that's that's actually really easy and
an EQ shouldn't sound any different no
matter how hard you hit it you know you
can turn it up 60 DB on the way into an
EQ then EQ the crap out of it it's gonna
sound like a square wave turn it down 60
DB and if everything is written properly
in terms of the software it's gonna
sound just like you didn't do the game
before and after it'll be exactly the
same so you you just have to understand
what's working that for me like while
I'm mixing how do I know when my mix is
too loud because it it sounds bad like I
know when I'm hitting a compressor too
hard because it just doesn't sound right
to me so that sweet spot isn't that I
couldn't tell you what level is going in
but I know for sure that I'm either not
getting the benefit or I'm getting the
mix destroyed and there's usually only a
2 or 3 DB range of what sounds good to
me and you just get used to your tools
it's part of why having a template is
important for me I'm not trying to find
which buss compressor to use each time I
really know the stuff I'm using and
you're doing all that by ear right not
really looking at the meters or opening
up a plug-in and seeing how much is my
rear bus going down you just yeah yeah
the only meters I'll ever even look at
are on 33609 plug-in that's on my mix
bus it's the first thing on there but
it's more just to confirm what I'm
hearing because usually I know exactly
when that thing isn't right and then
I'll just by listening I use a master
fader and get the level where I think it
should be and then sometimes I'll go
look at the meters just to double-check
that I'm not crazy because you can you
know it could be something other than
that compressor that's causing what I'm
hearing but that's how I'll double-check
that ok now I am in the in the right
range in my mix buss
but yeah it's always by ear
yeah so we also got a lot of questions
about metal mixing and apparently you
know something that there's a there
isn't enough info out there about doing
rock and metal and you know heavier
sounding music so you know first
question always with a genre is guitars
and Domenic hold on hold on huh what do
you got I'll show you what I got metal
music manual that's all you need that's
I was interviewed for this it's by this
guy Mark Manette I'm assuming that's how
you pronounce his name and it's hot of
other people who do way more metal than
me were interviewed I mean I mix metal
like I mix rock I don't really
differentiate so the guys who do like
the serious speed metal stuff you know
Pantera style and things like that
there's a lot of side-chaining going on
there's a huge amount of side-chaining
within the drums and then also with the
guitars and things just to make room for
every single transient and stuff like
that to get through and I don't do any
of that so we can go back to like the
specific questions that you've got but I
would highly recommend checking out this
book it's it's really good they
interviewed a lot of people I mean real
quickly Ross Robinson Frederik Nordstrom
at 5 Logan Mader
Andy Sneap jens berg and daniel bergen
strode and nick rascal anacs did like
major contributions to this book yeah so
it's awesome there are a lot of great
techniques in there I've learned a lot
not reading my own interviews in there
ok so you don't know hell no what were
the specific questions oh and I'll see
if I can help ya what are your thoughts
on approaching doubling rock guitars how
do you record it how do you mix it I
love the sound of doubled rhythm guitars
and they're two reasons one is it just
makes the mix wide - well okay I don't
know how many reasons I said there'd be
there gonna be a bunch - you get
different strumming on both sides and it
gives you this really great motion
without being distracting because
they're both playing the same part but
there'll be slightly different dynamics
within but most important
it means that you're not trying to get a
really important industry meant to work
in the middle of the mix it's out on the
sides and you can actually take rhythm
guitars if you really want to go crazy
and put them into some sort of like MS
matrix and turn down the middle of a
little bit and that'll leave a lot more
room for kick bass but more importantly
vocal and cymbals which are in the same
range in snare but they'll still be
really heavy on the sides the other
thing is try not to have them too
distorted the cleaner they are the more
definition there will be in the more
tone they'll be in the less feeds and
the fizz is where you're gonna start
fighting with cymbals and that's gonna
be difficult to overcome because you
just won't be able to hear what's going
on and the mix will turn into a mess up
there so those are the two main things
I'm a big fan of double guitars but
definitely don't double just by doing
one performance on two cabinets if you
love the two tab units combine them to
make one guitar track and just bounce
them together and have a single track
and then get a second performance and
definitely double it with performance
not with delay or with cabinets or
reamping or anything so what happens
when you get a record that has 16 tracks
of guitar so like 2 performance ins a DI
3 microphones and just a huge stack of
guitar yeah what do you do each for each
performance I just decide well is this a
mono thing or a stereo thing and then
I'll bounce it and 90% of the time I
leave the balance exactly how it is in
the session when I get it because that's
how everybody's been listening to it
since they recorded the guitar and it's
what the singer sang to because
invariably the vocal was done after the
guitars so that is the guitar tone and I
will literally just bounce all that so
that it's manageable for me while I'm
mixing because it's not for me to
second-guess that unless when I listen
to it I think there's a problem that I
can fix by rebalancing but I just treat
it as like someone just put off the
actual engineering they just didn't
bother to bounce it yeah you know but
that's okay you know I I guess it's
better to have the option later but
those options are things that need to be
decided by the band and the guitar
player and
not by me and I shouldn't be rebalancing
guitar microphones mm-hmm in mine yeah
so then you know boss was asking when
you're mixing heavy metal are there some
like standard compression or EQ moves
that you typically make to as like a
starting point no I mean there's if you
see that that template video you'll see
that there's a lot of there are a lot of
tools that are in there and a lot of
them get used in similar ways on sim on
different mixes but there's nothing
that's a genre specific that I do on
anything that I had exactly one template
and it was the same template I used on
Beyonce and first aid kit and Metallica
and Black Sabbath now to be fair
metallic and Sabbath were actually mixed
on a console what my template is based
on what was going on in the console
anyway and some of those tools were
already in place so the concepts are
always exactly the same and 99 problems
had exactly the same approach as all the
rest of it it's everything to me is a
rock track because that's just my mind
everything is a rock track so yeah the
tools are the same they will get used
differently but that's always and just
an on-the-fly in-the-moment thing that I
couldn't even tell you what I'm doing
differently but I am oh that's really
cool so thinking again like if
everything is it was a rock track we had
a question coming from Liam who was
wondering how do you get John Frusciante
his guitars to sit so well in the mix
when he has all these like modulation
and effects you know he's noticing it
with his mixes that a lot of guitars
especially when they have the effects on
them they start sounding like unfocused
than just muddy and a mix so how do you
get the best of both worlds all the
effects on the guitar but also clarity
in the mix well I mean that you know the
easy answer is to have jumper shot they
play all your guitar parts which is just
being kind of a dick so come back from
that one of the things is listen to
everything that's going on in those
mixes that isn't the guitars and hear
how much space there is the drums are
really well defined Anthony's vocals
super defined
I mean we're talk about the Chili
Peppers stuff now I mean John's solo
stuff is a different story I won't even
bother speaking to that because
it's it's different and every song he's
ever done as a solo artist is so
different from every other one it
doesn't make as much sense but like the
bass is super well defined so things not
necessarily are compartmentalized or
small but there is a lot of space in the
drums the drums aren't distorted and
full-on there's a lot of detail they can
still hear all of the the dynamics and
the hi-hat work that Chad does so that
leaves a lot of room for the guitars and
John's just a master and Josh
Klinghoffer after him on the Chili
Peppers stuff they're masters at
building guitar arrangements so they're
not taking a regular guitar part and
then saying like oh let me put a bunch
of effects on whatever the effects are
part of the part so it's you couldn't
take the effects off and have a more
defined version of that part it just
wouldn't even work anymore and the whole
guitar arrangement is built as a whole
it's not like I'm gonna do the guitar as
the song needs and now I'm gonna see
like what else I can come up with it's
all very much built as an arrangement
and that's what will help the other
thing is I think and this goes for every
single instrument in the mix people
spend way too much time trying to get
every little thing to sound good
don't some of those guitar tones are
nothing but honky midrange and on their
own they would sound terrible but
sitting on top of the bass and the
rhythm guitar or the acoustic guitar or
whatever it is that's all they need to
be and it sounds perfect and they borrow
frequencies from other instruments they
borrow low-end from the acoustic and the
bass or the kick drum or whatever they
borrow top-end from the cymbals and so
they don't need it and that makes things
much smaller much easier to move around
and also mess with panning because it
often you'll think arrangement wise it
makes sense to have this thing opposite
that thing but then it turns out you can
actually hear both of them easier when
they're on top of each other like who
knows why but mess with that it's always
something worth worth messing with well
I mean the best advice you just gave
there though is that the best mix comes
from the best arrangement and starting
the mix with how they have a song is
structured and how the aparts are
arranged like that's such a key insight
right there
yeah and I think like on the the Green
Day video I know there are a couple
comments about how I didn't like do that
much and so why wasn't there more
digging in and it was because I was
lucky enough to get an amazingly
arranged and performed song so like if I
did more than that I would just screw it
up but yes the arrangement is king when
you're having trouble mixing a song see
if you can do something to the
arrangement even if it's just like
muting a couple of percussion parts here
and there whatever but that that will go
a long way towards making it easy yeah
and for all the people have been joining
us since the beginning we're here with
Andrew chefs and he was talking about
his green day tutorial which came out
about a month ago we're gonna actually
have a few exclusive clips from that
tutorial at the end of this interview so
make sure you guys stick around till the
end but now Andrew I really want to get
into some specifics here we have tons of
questions about EQ compression plugins
reverbs so let's let's dip our toe in a
little bit here and okay and we'll do a
kind of banner box stuff so I'll try and
go super short on these answers great
this should be this one should be an
easy one for you what are your thoughts
on the high passing low frequencies do
you have set points that you look
forward do you yeah how do you treat
high passing you just do it when I was
mixing on a console I had set
frequencies so that's what I used
I use that ship 73 that I did with waves
all the time because why would you
develop a plug-in and not use it I mean
I made it how I like it so that has the
same slightly different frequencies but
the same kind of set frequency thing or
I'll use EQ 3 just you know stock Pro
Tools one and high-pass but it's always
to fix problems I don't do it just by
default it's like oh that thing has too
much low-end let me clean it up yeah
nice so next question comes from
Alwyn he's wondering you know a lot of
people talk about subtractive EQ and you
know kind of notching things out and yet
tailoring the signal what about additive
EQ how do you know when and why you
would reach for boosting things as
opposed to taking away well I mean look
the obvious
way to think about it is you are taking
away things you don't like and you want
a fully parametric like super precise EQ
so you're getting rid of what you think
is a problem without messing up the rest
of it and then something like an IVA
specially is a very broad musical EQ I
never take away with an evq I'm only
boosting because it's musical and it's
broad and it's more about the kind of
vibe of the instrument in terms of the
tone it's like oh the piano has this
really nice thing going on around 3.5 K
if you do that with a tight band on a
parametric it can start ringing and
getting nasal whatever you do it with a
nice wide nice style or even an API to
some extent and what you get is a
broader curve and it's more like oh the
feeling has opened up in that frequency
range so yeah both types of EQ I use all
the time and I take stuff out of guitars
vocals cymbals any sort of annoying
mid-range frequencies they go they're
gone because then you've opened up all
of that for intelligibility in the vocal
on top of the snare and that kind of
thing mm-hmm and you also do the same
thing for more on the low end as well as
adjust the mid-range that you're doing
those tricks I know there's a lot of
stuff like between two and three hundred
where stuff just wheels whooping you
know it just starts like no and I'll
clear that out yeah and that will
normally be more on on a parametric EQ
though I won't tighten it up too much
but yes somewhere between 200 and 300
usually like on acoustic guitars or
background vocals or that kind of thing
you can really open up a ton of space by
just dipping that out even just a couple
of DB can make a huge difference yeah
totally so you know bunch of these
questions we're looking for like go-to
frequencies and I know that kind of
mixes into like the go to e cues right
you said you mentioned you'd like to use
the chef 73u so specifically uh Jonathan
here was asking about snare drums what
are kind of your go-to frequencies for
you know tweaking the EQ on a snare drum
well I mean my go twos are what is on an
E
33609 or its and 783 so the high shelf
absolutely the top mid-range frequency
nan the chef 73 there's actually a 10k
in the mid-range but that's not a
standard one so it's usually seven point
two so seven points UK Bell the 10k
shelf and then 220 it's the highest low
shelf that there is on the Neve that
tends to be right where the body of the
snares and those eq's are so broad and
so musical
it doesn't matter if it's exactly the
right frequency it's close enough so I
use those three bands in the EQ as they
are and then if I need to I'll pop the
high-pass filter in as well but usually
don't need to you know unless it's
recorded kind of strangely I just go
ahead and leave the the low end alone
mm-hmm so something else that came a
question from Rob here is how do you
keep the clarity punch and warmth in a
mix when you're using plugins and you
start adding lots of plugins you know
he's noticing a lot of his mixes he adds
plug-in after a plug-in have to plug in
and then before you know it it just
sounds worse than it did before
you know I watching your videos
sometimes tracks will have almost no
processing and sometimes I'll have tons
so how do you how do you reconcile that
well I think the question sort of is the
answer is if it's sounding worse with
more and more plugins just get rid of
stuff I think that when I end up with
lots of plugins on a track each one of
them is doing a super specific job like
let's say there's an EQ 3 to suck out
mid-range that I don't like so there's
only one band maybe two bands there then
there's a low fire to clip it a little
bit then there is a chef 73 to do me
like musical EQ because I want to bring
out the warmth or whatever you wanna
call it on something then maybe there's
a compressor because it's an acoustic
guitar and I love the sound of a
compressor like an L a three a directly
on an acoustic guitar and then maybe
there's a little mid-range boost after
the compressor just to bring out some of
the grit that's coming off the la3 so
that's what five plugins sings whatever
I said and that's a ton for me but each
one of those is just doing a little tiny
job and none of those jobs are the same
I'm not using three compressors I'm not
using a slow and a fast I'm just not
good at that there are people
do that double compress things and it
works really well yeah but yeah I've
just found that usually if you have to
keep adding stuff to it you might want
to go back to the original sound and
figure out exactly what it is you're
trying to do and you've got to do these
things in context and I think this is
also part of the problem we talked about
it earlier is don't try and make
everything sound good that's ridiculous
if like let's say it's a rock track if
the kick the snare cymbals to a point
but you just have to be able to hear
them rhythm guitars and vocal if those
all sound really good then it doesn't
matter what anything else sounds like
you're just gonna find a level and a pan
for it and you're done and you might
have to clean up some low end with a
high pass or something like that but you
should you don't need to go in and EQ
every single guitar don't do it
get your balance knob and do stuff in
context and then you won't use as much
yes I hope you guys all heard what he
just said because that's the truth you
don't have to over mix everything you
don't have to make everything perfect on
its own because odds are but time you're
done it's gonna sound terrible
nobody gets to hear this stuff on its
own so don't worry about it no one gets
to solo up the bass you know yeah so
Rudy was wondering you know as plugins
have gotten better and better in the
modeling inside of plugins has gotten
better better do you notice the
difference between you know say the bomb
factory 76 in the new you ad 1176 --is
are you hearing the evolution in the
quality of the plugins I don't I don't
know if I would say I hear it in terms
of the quality but they're just
different they're just really different
like a track I'm actually working on
right now came to me with bomb factory
1176 is on the vocals and they've split
like verse and chorus vocal or something
like that and on one of the tracks I
swapped it out for a CLA 76 and on the
other track the bomb factory worked a
lot better so I mean I guess you could
argue that the CLA is closer to the
hardware but they all have the feel of
an 1176 and that's just the compressor
that I like and I know what it does so
yeah I mean I you can't
actually say that they're better because
in this particular instance on a lead
vocal the bomb factory killed the waves
one and it killed the ad one there's no
comparison the bomb factory did exactly
what needed to happen on this vocal and
the other one sucked so there's there's
obviously an evolution and what's cool
is that I think that the modeling now is
more component by component and less
just overall system which means they're
starting to do the extreme settings
better like the bomb factory all buttons
in it doesn't it's nothing I mean this
doesn't sound right and doesn't even
sound right with the slowest attack
fastest release it's not as fast as it
should be
whereas the newer models captured that
side of the hardware better the more
extreme settings but for kind of
middle-of-the-road settings if they're
just different just different flavours
yeah well I mean and you hit again
another key of like if it sounds good it
sounds good it doesn't matter if it's
$1,000 tool or a free plugin whatever
works
it sounds good is what's gonna sound
good in the end doesn't matter what the
price point if there's EQ 3 and lo-fi
all over all of my mixes in there free
yeah just saying
so another specific question here from
Niko's he's wondering you know do you
have a quality or he's running more
specifically about sample rates and bit
deaths so you know view here and then
feel the difference between 2444 and say
96 and if so how do you choose what
sample are you gonna use for a project
well I only choose to separate if I'm
recording when I'm mixing I mix it
whatever separate things come in and I
definitely don't enjoy working at 40 for
one as much to be completely honest at
the moment I don't hear a massive
difference between 48 and 96 if it's got
a reasonable number of tracks I think
when the track count starts getting
crazy
you've got this weird trade-off of
having a little bit more like math
Headroom is the way I think of it when
you're mixing it 96 because the math
just a bit more accurate but at the same
time you've you're making everything
work a lot harder so things get sluggish
it's kind of a pain in the ass so I'm
fine with 48 24 at this point I think
that a lot of the converters now sound
really really good and recording at 48
is is fine but if I'm recording
something where it's a fully live
project and it's meant to sound like the
instruments and it's all microphones in
a good room in front of good instruments
I definitely still think that 96 sounds
better but you can absolutely work at 48
24 and be fine and I cannot think of a
single reason why anybody should work at
44 1 instead of 48 it's ridiculous
there's no reason to the files aren't
that much bigger work at 48 and
everything just sounds better yep I
totally agree so we have a question from
Frank where he was looking for your
philosophy about using effects effects
ends specifically in either mono or
stereo how do you deal with you stereo
or do you generally send things in mono
well really what you're asking is about
the effects I use whether there's stereo
in or mono in right because the Sens
themselves are whatever width the source
tract is and I my sentence will always
follow the main pan so you know
technically they're always stereo
because I've got stuff going to a stereo
output so in general I love multi mono
things even with reverb sometimes so
there's a left reverb and a right reverb
in that way if I pan something all the
way to the left its reverb is only on
the left yeah that doesn't always work
like vocal reverbs are generally stereo
so they're intermingling but I like the
separation only because it just helps
keep the mix wide and why it is always
good there's never a real benefit to not
having good stereo imaging and
separation so the more kind of multi
mono or true stereo effects I can use
the better because it just kind of keeps
stuff where I'm panning cuz otherwise
what can happen is you're trying to pan
something and it just sort of refuses to
move because you've got a lot of effects
on it and it just is coming back mono no
matter what
do with it yeah and that's I mean it's
interesting that's that's something I've
never really done it approached is the
multi mano use of everything I know so
you use that on your rear bust
compression you use on your effects are
there any places where you don't want
that multi mono the extra stereo width
well I mean like vocal reverbs maybe
because it could be weird if you get
background vocals that aren't always a
stereo pad and then all of a sudden
their reverb is only on one side like
that can be distracting there's one of
my parallel drum compressors that isn't
multi mono but that's like by mistake it
just wasn't it was linked and I never
caught it and I tried changing it once
and it didn't sound better to me so I've
left it I think I left there I might
have unlinked it now who knows yeah but
that changes I mean there have been so
many changes even since that video it's
constantly evolving so that one might be
multi modern now if I think about it I
always start with multi mono and then if
it causes a problem I get rid of it this
is obviously anything that's distracting
has to be fixed like you can't be
distracting because now it's making you
listen to the reverb and not to the song
so I'll fix stuff but other than reverbs
I'm kind of I think I'm fine with multi
mono everywhere thanks well so speaking
of reverbs tons of people are really
interested in hearing from you
especially Alan was asking what's your
favorite software reverb and why it's I
mean I don't know that I could pick an
absolute favorite but I would say that
altiverb is something I've had forever
since it first came out I've got some of
my own IRS Fortin things so I've got a
real soft spot for that because it's so
versatile just to load that stuff up I
also love the waves ir one is that what
it's called they're convolution reverb
because it's got its got some controls
for like D correlating the stereo in it
that aren't on other convolution reverb
so that's got some really cool stuff
so for convolution stuff I suppose that
I like a lot of the sampled plates
whether they're in plugins as plates or
whether they're
IRS for this convolution stuff but I
also still love Deaver it's in my
template now it's one of the vocal
reverbs in my template it's like we've
made an appearance because it's a super
easy to hear it's kind of grainy it's
slightly chorus it just sounds like
reverb you know it's like a good 80s
reverb to me so I don't know that I
could pick a favorite but those are
probably the two that I use the most so
what would be your recommendation to
everybody out there that is on a budget
like obviously you know you kind of you
can get any plugin that you want but for
the people out there who are just like
building up their plugin collection how
do you you know how do you pick and
choose how do you start identifying do I
go with waves or UAD or just use the
built-in stuff for free
what do you advise me there I'm trying
I'm actually looking at my plug-in
folder now which is a daunting task so
because all I ever do is buy plugins now
you know every weeks I get there's some
plug-in in there that I don't know about
and I go get the demo and I go that's
cool and then I buy it because that's
like all I spend money on so I don't buy
gear anymore it's hard to say I mean I
think when you're talking about waves or
you ad you're talking about a platform
basically you ad you're talking about a
hardware investment so their stuff is
amazing
but you have to buy hardware for it to
run on so that is an investment and it
also makes you less portable I mean I'm
mixing on a laptop but I always have to
have you ad hardware with me so I can't
just work on a mix on a plane unless I
get the power outlet so that's a
consideration if you're just between the
two of them I guess you could say that
waves gives you an advantage of just
running natively there are things that
each of them has that the other one
definitely doesn't have but you can also
just pick and choose from those two I
mean if you're gonna buy an audio
interface that has chips in it well then
the Apollo's give you a way to run you
ad but also give you your IO so maybe
that's a good place to go but there are
a lot of software companies like for if
I was just gonna say one company to just
go pick up reverbs Val
the Reavers are insane they're awesome
the the vintage verb the plate that
they're great they're really really
great and it's I think there are only
four or five of them now and the whole
suite will be a few hundred bucks and
they're very different there lots of
controls on them and then also whatever
reverb you are using make sure that you
mess with filtering on the way in pre
delays filtering on the way out the
essing on the way in all that kind of
stuff and you can build little plug-in
chains that give you three times as many
reverb presets as he would get just
dealing with a reverb plugin yeah that's
great and the Valhalla stuff is amazing
like yeah dope into those actually I
think it was your fault when you were
doing your video I heard it I was like I
I've heard of them I've heard other
people use them but I hadn't used them
myself and those are it's between you
eighty reverbs for like rooms and more
realistic sounds or the plate and in
valhalla for everything else right so
Jesper was asking you know he knows
everyone knows yeah it's well documented
that you've gone in the box and that you
love being in the box for yeah a whole
host of reasons but his question was
what do you appreciate about analog
workflow and analog sound like you know
do you ever do any projects going back
analog and you know what do you get from
doing that well I never mix analog no
and I don't think I'd want to at this
point unless it was like an on the spot
like mixing live while it's being
recorded that would be great
I love recording on a console and I love
recording on my console at the studio in
Wales where we've installed it I mean
that's like going to Mono Valley and
recording great microphones in an
amazing sounding room with you know
that's the best thing ever
but that's not really an analogue
workflow I mean the only analog workflow
that exists would be if you're working
on tape and that's something that on a
really special project with like the
punk band who loves to play live and
isn't worried about fixing stuff and I
could see that that would be a lot of
fun but I think in general you know the
analog workflow for recording is the
same for everybody I mean if you happen
to have a con
in front of you that's amazing but if
you just have four mic pries built into
your audio interface you're doing the
same thing you know it's all the same
you've got to get the microphone up to
line level you mate process it on the
way into the computer and then it's
going into the computer and at that
point don't take it out so no there's
nothing about mixing on analog that
would make me want to go do it unless it
like I say it was a really specific live
thing mm-hmm
Thanks what about you know George was
asking about for like the low-end kick
and bass how do you build those two
things together and get them to work as
one unit I don't really think about it I
mean it's like the kick drum always gets
attention because when I crank the
speaker's the kick drum needs to do a
certain thing and that thing is
different on every song but it needs to
do what it's doing bass who knows I mean
I've just put it up and then it either
works or it needs help and so sometimes
I distort it sometimes I'll actually
roll off low end sometimes it is the low
end of the kick drum it just depends it
really depends on the song and I think
that if you're struggling with it though
just let one of them lead in the low end
and let the other kind of just kind of
do whatever it does and see if that's
enough low end in the mix the other
thing is to see obviously the kick drum
is usually the rhythmic low-end but it
isn't always the rhythmic low-end it
might be a much sparser pattern than
what the bass is doing and the bass
might have a lot of attack to it in
which case the bass is the rhythm of the
low-end so in that case maybe the kick
drum shouldn't really have a huge amount
of low-end because it'll end up
distracting you from the bass and it'll
be less consistent than letting the bass
really like hammer around down there so
it's on a case by case basis but again
if you don't spend too much time trying
to make them both sound great I think
you're going to be fine I spend a lot of
time on the kick drum and I usually
spend almost no time on the bass the
bass is about balance much more than it
is about sound for me so you don't
really sit there and kind of think okay
the bass is gonna be above the kick or
vice versa you just kind of know this is
every good
yeah there's never anything that's
specific with me well ever really you
just kind of keep moving right yeah yeah
if it's not sounding right then you got
to go deal with it and if I feel like
I've already dealt with the kick drum
because I've dealt with it on its own
right at the beginning of the mixed
process because that is one of the first
things I'll do on most songs is try and
get the drums to like work as a unit
I'll usually mess with the bass because
I feel like well I've already looked at
the kick drum it's probably fine or
it'll be really obvious that I need to
go back and take a look at the kick drum
because it's causing the problem I mean
it's you kind of take it for granted
that one is okay it'll be obvious if it
isn't okay yeah that makes sense
so Todd was wondering you know when
you're finished with the mix oh you have
your final mix and it's gonna be going
off to mastering do you do any
adjustments do you remove any of your
stereo buss processing or do you just
send it no yeah no no no no no no you've
got to I think it's and a lot of people
do this I so I'm not gonna say it's
wrong at all but to me it's weird to
have a MINIX that nobody has ever heard
and then to have the limited version or
whatever it is that you've sent to the
band you've done notes you've sent to
the label you sent to the producer that
they've approved and then some other mix
that literally nobody including you has
ever heard because you're mixing through
the stuff most likely and then that goes
off to mastering and then like they get
back a different record that doesn't
make sense now if you have a really good
relationship with a mastering engineer
there are there are a lot of people who
mix who don't put any cue or compression
on their mix buss but presumably that's
what they're sending out to be approved
as well like otherwise you're doing a
mix bus but then you're asking the
mastering engineer to magically guess
what you did just to get back to what
everybody approved and then take it even
further so no I don't and look I'm I'm
weird and it's not the prescribed method
this is not technically correct but no
my mixes are loud and they're basically
already mastered but that's just the way
I mix so I'm not advocating for it but
that that's what I do I was gonna say
and that's
that's kind of question he is like you
know if you're already basically
maximizing and doing that peak limiting
there what does the mastering engine do
engineering do for you usually very
little I mean there are a couple of
people that I work with a lot who really
like my mixes and so they'll they'll
hear across the scope of an album that
certain mixes need to come up or down in
level or low-end isn't really consistent
between these two songs and so in the
order that the album is going to be they
should really deal with that and that's
their job is to take the individual
mixes and turn it into an album as a
whole but I've had a lot of stuff where
it's just a flat transfer you know
they're they're just doing all of the
technical side of mastering without any
of the audio side and that's fine you
know whatever it's good payday for them
I don't think they mind you know that's
good so it makes it you're making their
life is easier so they had to complain
yeah so we had a question here asking
about getting our mixes to translate to
PA systems and discos and festivals how
do you do that what's the secret to
making a mix sound good in a studio and
also on gigantic you know thousands of
watts yeah I mean I can't really speak
specifically to like PA systems you know
I don't ever my stuff doesn't get played
there unless it's being played before a
gig or whatever so I don't know like
once you get into like clubs where
basically they're in mono with tons of
subs like I don't know how you prepare
for that maybe you need to go you got to
take it to the club I mean and that's
what you know all the remixes used to do
they'd cut white label 12 inches and
take them to the club and play it like
oh that's no didn't they go back to the
studio and tweak it so that used to be
how you do it in terms of just having
mixes translate in general you just make
the best sounding mix you can possibly
make and it will survive translating to
other stuff my stuff when I make a mix
that I think sounds super aggressive on
the tano's or on the headphones that I'm
mixing on I'm always pleasantly not even
surprised but it's good when I hear it
on a laptop speakers are on somebody's
phone or what
ever that that does it does carryover
and this is going back to the just
having the one pair of speakers then
you've got to have a pair of speakers
you can trust because if it's super
exciting in your studio but it isn't
exciting elsewhere then you need to
change what you're listening to and your
studio period but once you get that
together then yeah it will translate it
just does if it's a good sounding mix it
will train a good feeling mix anyone say
good sanic is not from like an
audiophile standpoint but just if it
feels good it will feel good everywhere
because it's not relying on having some
kickass of its that the balance is
awesome so off you go yeah and so Nan's
fair had a question here about analog
summing have you experimented at all
with analog summing and if so like you
have some favorites yeah my favorite is
none really and I this is it's
documented Allister I remember where
I've spoken about but I've spoken about
this before but basically my idea about
analog summing is I don't get any
benefit from it if all I'm doing is
summing to me it doesn't sound as good
it sounds different and I don't like it
because it's not what I've been
listening to now if I were building a
mix listening through analog summing
then I'm sure God could have written the
analog summing I wouldn't like it as
much because you're changing it there's
nothing that analog summing does that I
feel like I'm missing look analog
summing if you go through a straight-up
passive summer
it's just 10k resistors so that's it so
you're not getting the benefit of
anything what you're doing is you're
going through at D to a and an A to D
which to me is detrimental
so for lots of reasons I don't want to
go into it too much but you don't need
an Elan something it might work great
for you in which case you should
absolutely use it I'm not saying don't
use it but don't think that you're just
one analog summing box away from having
everything finally coming together you
don't have to have it if you have an
active summing box what it's doing is
its adding harmonic distortion and if it
has transformers it's adding a high-pass
and a low-pass filter that are way out
in the frequency range but that's what
it's doing you
mimic that stuff with plugins and it'll
actually change your mix if you do a
high pass at 20 Hertz and a low pass at
like eighteen point five or even twenty
two or something like that it will
affect the way stuff feels in a mix you
can do it on individual elements so you
can do it on the whole mix and then you
can put some sort of clipper you can put
you know any of the tape emulation or
the analog emulation stuff and dial that
in to taste like the phoenix plugins or
whatever and you are now doing what
analog something does what you're not
gonna get is if you happen to love the
sound of certain DJ's make these well
that's part of going through analog
something so you've just got to listen
to it and make a decision but there is
nothing inherently better about using
analog something than not using it yeah
that's and it's it's awesome to hear
because you know everyone has different
opinions on this but you know I tend to
agree with you is like anything any
sound that you want you can get in the
box going another box and summing is
just adding an extra step and the
biggest test for me is when I was moving
from the console into the box for a
while I was using a console so a Neve 80
68 was just analog summing I'd faders at
0 no EQ no Sens
just hard panning and faders at zero and
that did not sound any better to me than
just keeping it in the box if I started
the mix in the box
yeah so you've experimented you've heard
the difference and you're like oh yes as
good to me I would still be using my
Neve as the summing box because I'd have
to because I wouldn't feel like I was
getting what I needed to get totally so
David had a question here about
references and working with clients so
how do you tackle a mix from an artist
if they have no vision and no reference
and they're just like here Andrew do
whatever you want with my mix how do you
deal with that kind situation well
there's always some vision I mean it's
got to be there in the tracks somewhere
and they've done a rough mix which
hopefully has some thing that will guide
you into how they want their song to
feel and that's always I mean like when
I do get references they're often very
confusing because musically it might not
be anything like what they actually want
but I try to figure out well what is it
about that reference that they do want
so I will generally just use the rough
mix that's their reference that is the
reference that's where they're saying
like hey this is what we think the
balance is what we think is important
and how we think the song goes yeah that
make sense and your your video froze to
me which I don't care about it
am i okay coming that way yep you're
still coming through great okay cool let
me pick another question here let's real
quickly what's your favorite Maximizer
l2 l3 which one's your favorite just for
straight up limiting I still use the l2
all the time I think it sounds really
good the l3 is cool but it's got
something soft about it sometimes I
don't know it's hard to explain and it's
like for the processing overhead
it doesn't sound better enough to me to
bother with like the l2 is is great
really simple really clean and Jim was
asking you know we've talked a lot about
balance you know between kick and bass
you know now he's wondering when it
comes to the whole instrumental mix and
the vocal how did you how do you develop
the taste to know a vocal is in the
right place and not too loud or too soft
and a mix just from doing it I mean the
I don't advocate listening to lots of
different speakers for me but it
definitely works for other people but
that's you need perspective so for me
I'll listen super loud and I'll listen
super quiet and I'll take a break and
come back and listen and it's just
obvious if the vocal is sticking out and
sometimes I miss it sometimes the vocal
is like five DB too loud and I don't get
it and the first mix comment is like hey
why is the vocals so loud okay I mean
it's possible to miss it because you're
so into the vocal that it's like wow who
cares that I can't hear the guitars but
generally if you change your perspective
by either taking a break or listening on
different speakers or
mono with a speaker facing away from you
or at a totally different level or
something like that you will get an idea
of where the vocal needs to sit yeah
that makes sense and then we're gonna
wrap this up here really soon so
everybody that's watching make sure you
stick around because we're gonna cut to
some exclusive excerpts out of Andrews
green day mixing tutorial they're not
gonna want to miss and if you enjoy
those you're obviously going to want to
go over to our site and also watch the
full tutorial where we have Andrew
mixing green day Ziggy Marley Zac Brown
Band and also another one of the most
popular videos we've ever had is Andrews
mixing template where you actually took
the time to break down the entire
template plug-in by plug in every
routing and then giving that away to
download which is incredible and so many
people are adapting parts of Andrews
system and kind of using in their mixes
and the feedback on that has just been
absolutely incredible man awesome
and probably in at least one of those
videos I'm wearing this shirt so it'll
be familiar to you it'll be nice exactly
you'll recognize same Andrew so before
we wrap it up a great question I think
here to end on is from Billy where he's
asking the wait sorry I lost this
question here what's what's something
that everybody believes when it comes to
mixing that you think is total BS well
we've already covered some of it I mean
I think that that the and not everybody
believes this but I think it's very easy
to think that your one plug-in or one
piece of gear away from your mixes
finally being what you want them to be
and that's definitely not true I could
absolutely mix with just stock ProTools
plugins I wouldn't enjoy it as much
because I've set up all these tools that
do things that are fun but I could do it
and as much as I would rather use all
the tools that I do use I don't feel
like I couldn't get rid of any of them
and if that was a lesson that I learned
way by moving from the console into the
box I felt like I'll never work again
but I have to try and do this and it's
gonna be really difficult and it turns
out that England people can argue that
they think that all the stuff I mix in
the console sounds better than
everything I've done since but there
were some discussions when I was kind of
making the transition and of course the
thing is people are trying to figure out
what got mixed on the console and what
didn't during the transition but things
don't come out in the same order that I
mix them so there was stuff coming out
that was on the console after stuff that
I'd mixed in the box and here people say
oh come on listen to that that's so
obviously in the box it sounds terrible
that makes us great it's analog and then
it's like well no that one was in the
box and that was fully analog and that
one was some combination of the two so
it's you need a certain set of tools to
get work done but like I do a ton of
work in these headphones because I
happen to have them it's a controlled
listening environment and my speakers
are set up in a different building up
the road and you know I don't always
want to go so you can get a lot of work
done on very very minimal equipment
you've just got to trust that if the mix
doesn't sound right to you
you need to keep working on it but it's
much more important that it feels great
and it's about the song and you don't
worry about individual elements and when
you really start embracing that you
won't worry so much about the specific
tools I really do think that that's
again it's not something that everybody
thinks but I think people sort of lust
after things and it's an endless lust
for stuff thinking that that's what will
finally make it all happen and that's
just it's not the case that where it
comes from right it comes from
experience and doing it in practice and
learning what tools you have rather than
pining after the you know next piece of
expensive gear yeah well but it's also
it just gives you an excuse like your
mix isn't great and you know it's not
great you like yeah but that's because I
don't have this thing like well but no
but look if you're lucky enough that
people who aren't in the music business
hear the mix you did they don't even
know what that thing is you're talking
about and they don't care so it only
matters
what comes out of the speakers and
that's it so don't let those things stop
you from making something that you'd be
proud have other people listen to you
can't have to explain the mix before you
hit play like oh this would've been
better but it was recorded badly or it
it doesn't matter you have to hit play
and go it's great so I have a question
here have you always been this confident
with your mixes and your mixing process
or is this been a evolution to where you
are today
no look I I still if I'm coming across
as confident that's amazing because I'm
still so insecure I mean I said to mix
this morning that I've been working on
and it's the first song for an artist I
hadn't worked for before and I was
definitely afraid that I completely
screwed it up I mean I just expected
pages and pages and pages of notes or
just to get fired like that's absolutely
the way I feel on most mixes there are a
couple of mixes I've done in the last
couple years when I called man that
sounds amazing I don't know what
happened but like that really came
together the transition of course is
incredible and on one of those I
actually got fired like they didn't like
it and so I'm off doing something else
so it's um yeah I don't know about the
confidence thing I think it's that I
have gotten to the point though where
when there is a problem with the
arrangement or something like that where
I know that it's my job to overcome it
but if a round of comments comes back
pointing up a thing that I think I
already know I'm confident of to say
okay I agree with you and I think that
the way to fix it is you need to go off
and do some percussion or you know
whatever it is like this the the
background vocal arrangement is really
weird and it's stepping on delete life
whatever it is I'm confident of to say I
think this is why the mix isn't working
yet but I won't even say it on the first
pass because I've spent all of my time
trying to make it work as is so
sometimes you do actually make it work
as is and sometimes you're just not
hearing it right you know like it's your
you think it's supposed to do one thing
and it's supposed to do another but yeah
I don't know that I'm confident at all I
think I think what
confident in is that when I'm ready to
send a mix I've made it as good as I
think I can before needing to get some
feedback instead of just kind of giving
up make sense so sorry I have to address
one question that's been coming in a lot
from their live chat here which is on
the topic of a what headphones are you
using and then B do you ever use any
like room or headphone correction
plugins I'm using sony MDR 75006 is
there the standard thing and I use them
because I've owned them for years
forever I mean and I bought six pairs
when I was tracking a lot in my studio
in LA because they're bright they're
comfortable drummers can hear a click
track like singers like them so I'm just
used to them and I think they probably
match up with the Tanner as well because
they're bright and I never use any of
the modeling stuff I've tried it and
it's it's amazing what it does but the
the correction stuff is just massive
amounts of EQ and I hear that I don't
like it I'd rather just let whatever is
coming out come out and like you're not
trying to acoustically fix anything so
it's not like tuning a room where you've
got weird standing waves or no standing
waves in headphones so I don't think
really need that at all if you don't
like the way your headphones sound you
just got to find a different pair of
headphones or possibly different
headphone amp don't tune headphones that
you don't like like that's ridiculous I
use these just flat I use the UAD twin
because it's sitting on the desktop and
has a nice big knob so ergonomically
it's fun to work with that's my
headphone and most of the time when I'm
on headphones and the head tracking
stuff like the waves and X the
technology is so amazing it's insanely
cool but it's doing something I don't
want like I hate the fact that when I'm
mixing on speakers and I turn my head
I'm no longer in the middle I love the
fact that I can go like this and I'm
still in the middle and then I can go
like this and I'm still in the middle
and I do that all right Beth my posture
is terrible but I'm still between the
speakers
I can change my listening position
without changing the listening position
and I loved that I did a studio strapped
to my head when I'm in headphones so I
don't want it to change but I also have
a parrot an oh he's in a room that
sounds good enough and it just it's it's
a living room that's all it is it's just
a dead room that doesn't sound like much
so I can hear my speakers so I have
speakers that I can trust so that's fine
I don't I'm not trying to make up for
having no acoustic listening environment
so maybe it is good if you're only gonna
use headphones but at this point I'll do
mixes on headphones and then go put it
up on the speakers and like okay great I
don't need to change anything so I don't
think you desperately need that stuff
and personally I just want to hear the
headphones the same way with my speakers
I just want to hear the speaker so that
an analog amplifier no EQ and it's in a
dead room so it doesn't need to be
acoustically treated yeah and do you
ever find like in terms of panning and
you know stereo image like if you just
learned to love the headphone like
complete the screen left and right
panning yeah yeah it's actually been
good for me because when I mixed on the
console only I was almost always using
discrete panning left right or center
because the pan pot you actually had to
switch it in and it changed the levels
your balance changed and so I didn't
really use it yet a button for left and
a button for right and you push them
both in and it's in the middle but also
I use some usually there's some mix
widening on my bus so what that does is
even if something is hard left there's
still a little bit of it out of phase in
the right so it doesn't do that weird
like pulling thing when you've got an
acoustic guitar on one side by itself
for a bit and so the stereo why he will
take care of that but yeah I absolutely
trust the stereo field that I get in
headphones and you know a lot of people
will listen in headphones so something
is annoying in the headphones I better
fix it so that's not a bad thing to
actually be checking out awesome
so we're kind of coming up here on time
so andrew is there anything that you
want to share with the P max pyramix
community that we haven't touched on
today No
no you said everything go watch the
video Thanks I think I've said it it was
like the big answer I just gave I think
you've got the the most important phrase
for any mixer is all that matters is
what comes out of the speakers and
you've got to believe that so that means
you not allowed to make excuses for
yourself you're also not allowed to fool
yourself into thinking something is okay
when it isn't you the biggest thing is
though you just need to own what's
coming out of the speakers and not be
saying like that's not a great recording
I mix a lot of stuff that it's not
recorded that well and it doesn't matter
it might mean that we're not going to
end up with the most audiophile mix but
I don't care about that I just want
things to feel good there's always a way
to make stuff filled in it if you want
an example of that listen to some early
stones records they're some that are
famously taken off of little cassette
demos because they never got the feel as
good so they never even while they tried
to recut the song and they didn't use it
those don't sound good but who cares it
doesn't matter matter
it's what feels great and like some of
the Dylan stuff is crazy squash but
that's what makes it feel so amazing and
so yeah it's it's only about what you're
hearing when you hit play and that's all
anybody cares about so yeah I suppose if
I had to sum it all up that's it do what
feels good yeah very cool
well Andrew thank you so much for
spending all this time with us today and
answering I mean we got through a ton of
questions it's always always always
fascinating talking with you and hearing
you know just your insights and
experience and everything that goes into
mixing and making records thank you so
much for sharing all of this with our
community thanks man thanks for being an
awesome host as always thank you very
much so everybody that's watching got
two things for you three things for you
actually one is I'm going to show you
some exclusive excerpts from Andrews
green day mixing tutorial so make sure
you stick around for those number two we
have a summer sale going on right now so
you can get 40% off of pro memberships
which gives you access to all of Andrews
videos all fabs
Needham just every video that's on the
site and don't forget make all a man mix
videos
have you watched a man dirt yes of
course I watch everybody's videos are
you kidding me
that's what my template keeps changing I
see what other people are doing like oh
my god I gotta do that well there's the
fabs template videos coming out very
very soon and it's it's similar but
different it's good I'm interested to
hear what you think about it Andy yeah I
can't wait so make sure you guys sign up
for pro membership if you're enjoying
stuff like this
we have mixing contests we have Pro
member-only Q&A s they're a little bit
smaller a little bit more intimate and
then the other key thing here is I'm
going to share a survey link in the live
chat if you guys have enjoyed what
you're watching today I would love to
hear some feedback from you and lastly
if you haven't enjoyed it you know that
- yeah they're just email Andrew I don't
want to hear about it yeah okay that's
fair enough
and lastly if you enjoyed this share it
we're gonna leave this interview up and
we want to share this knowledge with as
many people as possible so if you guys
have enjoyed what you saw today share
the web page youtube link don't care
just share this interview and spread
this knowledge with all of your friends
and I'm sure they'll appreciate it just
as much as you have any parting words
and err know you already did that I
can't come up with anything else great
well then let's cut to some Green Day
you
next on our list is bass very straight
ahead there is a DI and then two
different amps and SVT in a basement and
obviously Mike's a great bass player and
Chris is a great recording engineer so
there's not a lot going on here they
were being collected into a mono output
on the session they sent me so I'm
collecting into a mono ox there's a
Decapitator for a little bit of color
there is a fatso and this is because I
got a session to mix once and someone
put a fatso on the base and it sounded
really cool and I just saved their
settings I don't even remember who it
was it sounded cool so every once in a
while and I'm not sure what I want to do
with the base I'll just pull that up and
then there's an EQ which is something I
use quite often on bass and guitars
it's a Helios model and UAD has one
waves has one I've been using the waves
one lately and adding either 700 or 1k
on the bass is just the presence as well
as using the 60 Hertz Circuit of the
Helios and this particular mix I'm
actually adding 1 DB of it normally that
can just sit at 0 as soon as you switch
it in there's resonance and it's just
because of the way the filter circuit is
built you have some sort of feedback in
the crossover I don't know exactly what
the topology is but it will resonate at
around the frequency that it's set to so
this can add a lot of really cool low
end to the bass so I'm gonna play you
the bass tracks individually with
everything still on and then we'll go
through what I'm doing overall here's
the DI just adding a bunch of presents
to that
and that's not because I think that it
sounds better with that what it is is
I'm using that di track to get the sort
of intimate part of the base M which is
the sound of the strings themselves as
opposed to the thundering bass tone that
is the rest of it then here's the first
of the amps and here's the basement
a little bit dirtier and obviously added
together those two amps are just gonna
fill out the low end because the low end
is gonna be completely in phase but the
mid range would be a little bit
different so we're gonna get more
low-end a little more solid it will also
even out this particular base track is
pretty even note to note but just having
two recordings of it will even it out
because the notes that are quiet unless
it's the base itself aren't going to be
the same amount quiet in every amplifier
every microphone adding the DI back into
that you start to get more definitions
and that definition sort of acts like
aggression the more you can hear the
attack of the note the more aggressive
the bass will sound sometimes especially
while recording there people have seen
who feel as though the more distorted
something gets the bigger and more
aggressive it will sound and the reality
is the more distorted something gets the
less attack it will have and it can
quite often get less aggressive and
especially in the track you start to
lose all of the rhythmic element which
is where the energy and aggression will
come from from something like that so
it's actually sort of a cleaner base
than you might expect on this track but
it will pick up distortion from the
guitars in a way so it's much more
important that you can hear exactly what
it's doing and it's the driving pick on
the strings that's making it happen now
that we've got all three tracks in I
will show you what's going on with these
overall plugins so the Decapitator
pretty subtle just a little bit of drive
on there that is then followed by the
fatso
it actually has the feel of parallel
compression to me so it's bringing the
low-mids to the forefront and it's
really evening everything out and then
last but not least the EQ
what's interesting to me about this and
it's why I love this particular EQ but
just EQ in general to me this makes the
biggest difference to the bass on that
obviously the hounds very different with
the fatso but the fatso is just making
it a bit more of what it already is this
little bit of EQ at 700 Hertz and then
the resonance at 60 is turning it into a
really exciting bass sound as opposed to
just a really good bass sound of an
exciting performance so check that out
again
there you go EQ is much more than just
frequency shaping it can really change
the character of stuff and that happens
on the toms it can happen on anything
really but it think it's really apparent
there and then this is getting sent off
to the rear bus
next were the Tom's and again to avoid
having playback errors while I was
working on this song because it's at 96
K there were a lot of tracks a lot of
plugins going on at one point I've
frozen these tracks all they had on them
were gates there's nothing super
exciting about that Tom's are going to a
stereo aux which I will now unmute and
let's solo up the Tom's really well
recorded they get used a couple of times
for fills in those spots they need to be
very very loud and what they had been
doing was they had a studio reverb which
I took off one of the few times actually
got rid of some of their processing they
used the CLA drums plug-in which worked
really well well that's quite a bit of
the tone and what I would normally do
this with something like pull tech
things like that and I think I may have
actually rerouted back into my pull Tex
so this is something that they had used
it's almost scooping them out which is
actually kind of cool this feeds into
this idea of stadium drums this is much
more like toms through a PA as opposed
to a natural sounding closed mic I think
it's what really makes the drums work on
this song in a really interesting way
after that a little bit of EQ to bring
out some attack then they had actually
added a bit of hundred just to get some
more low-end
so it's all about this low resonance
ringing but what's great about the way
the toms are tuned is it's actually very
controlled there's a beautiful decay to
this low-end as opposed to it just
ringing which can happen especially in a
drum pattern like this the length of the
toms is really cool and the EQ is what's
really helping make that length from
there the toms are being routed into the
Tom track from my template which is
adding yet more hundred Hertz just with
a different pull Tech model and some 5k
it's really just taking the sound of the
toms that they had gotten and going
further with it what this l2 does is it
allows me to make the toms louder in the
balance of the kit without there being
these huge spikes that are then going
off to the drum compressors because I
don't want the toms to necessarily
obliterate the rest of the kit but they
need to be loud and they've got to cut
through the cymbals so this l2 just sort
of keeps them in check while also giving
me a place where I can just crank this
threshold slider around and get more
level out of them without having to just
turn them up it's just a different way
to do it and then I am sending them off
to my Tom reverb and so I got rid of
their studio verb in place of my reverb
sort of doing the same job but this is
again kind of a stadium reverb so
without the reverb
it's a little bit of that grainy almost
nonlinear ambience and I'm getting that
out of an ambience preset on revive and
I'm filtering on the way in in case
there's some cymbal bleed and I'm doing
a bit of pitch shifting on the way out
and that's what gives it that sort of PA
stadium thing as opposed to just a
nonlinear reverb use this on almost
every rock track that I do to varying
degrees it'll be very quiet on a quieter
track because I don't want you to hear
the pitch shifting I just want you get
the sense of size and when we get to the
breakdown of the song over here where
the Tom's are really busy
that reverb makes a huge difference in
the feel of the kit instead of you
feeling like you're sort of sitting next
to the drummer you feel like you're in
an arena with the drummer which on this
song was absolutely the point
you
