One of the most refreshing moments of RBMA 2010 was Russ Elevado’s visit. Delightfully down-to-earth, the NY-based super producer freely shared his knowledge and humour.
Read an account of his informative workshop from RBMA blog:
On March 7, a bunch of Academy participants hit the studio with mixing wizard and former Academy lecturer Russell Elevado, the main man behind the sound of many a timeless classic such as D’Angelo’s Untitled (How Does It Feel), Alicia Keys’ Fallin’, or Erykah Badu’s Bag Lady. Read what he had to share below, and also check his Toronto couch session for some more secrets of mixing desk magic.
Prologue
First thing you need to do when mixing a track, is to get a feel of the room. Listen to some music you either like and know really well, or a track that you made. That way you will learn the nuances and ambience of the room.
Then get a feel of the track you’d like to mix and to listen to it in its entirety, and make a decent listenable mix. Just some basic levels.
Try not to solo too much while mixing. A track might sound strange when you solo it, or in need of fixing, but when you hear it with the rest, it fits perfectly.
Drums And Bass
Start with soloing all the drums, but have the guitar and another track present too. Don’t listen to the drums separately, unless necessary. Start conservatively, and get a general level, and then go back later. Remember to not only close mic the drums. The ambient and overhead mics are very important in the mix too.
Once the bass and drums are up and running, the vocals should be included, to get some perspective. Try and get the bass and drums to peak at zero db, or a little lower. Don’t go too much into taking specific frequencies out, before you hear it all together. Go and look for the transients, of the bass and kick drum for example, when your mix is close to completion. If everything is too loud and not clear, you can try and trim it a couple of decibels down.
I personally don’t like panning the drums too much. But experiment with it, and if it sounds good go for it. Experiment with EQing. Just because you are subtracting doesn’t mean that you are losing punch.
Try and parallel compress the drums, and mix it with the original signal. Getting the right blend, completely depends on where you are going, and what style you want.
If the bass is done with a DI (direct input box) you could try and re-amp it, to get a more warm and big sound.
Side chaining compressors is like cheating to me. Don’t go with it, just because it’s the easiest.
Mono / Headphones
I wouldn’t recommend mixing on headphones. Because the bass needs to travel a little before you can actually hear it and feel it properly. If you do use headphones, make sure you use some that you are familiar with.
Listening in mono is good for finding out if there is an unbalance. If your ears are tired, go to mono, it flattens you out. Listen to other music during the day. But you shouldn’t a-b, and go back and forwards between another track: use it to cleanse your ears – nothing more than that!
Loudness/ RME/ Mastering
Don’t make your mix louder than what sounds good, just because it’s the industry standard these days: it doesn’t sound better because it’s louder. On the contrary, it might loose the dynamics in the mix. It sucks all the dynamics out.
Instead of compressing and EQing on the main output, adjust levels in different sections of the song.
Make up your mind before you go to get your mix mastered. Commit to your mix. Don’t arrive with six stems, and uncertain of what you want it to sound like.
Limitation
When done with an analogue effect, you should print (bounce) it. It’s good to finalize and make decisions. Remember that in the past people had as little as four tracks. Making final decisions will help you close the mix quicker.
Epilogue
After doing the mix, and all the technical stuff, close your eyes, turn of the screen and just listen. The mix is done if or when you get lost in the music. Try not to use more than a day on a mix. If something bothers you walk away from it, and get back to it later after some rest.
Remember
Try anything or everything, when you are listening.
Train yourself to detach from the teeny weenie small details: look at the overall picture.
Embrace small errors: look for them, and maybe even enhance them. They can give it personality.
There are no rules. If it sounds good it sounds good.
Give yourself deadlines. It’s good to push yourself.
Don’t listen to engineers that have a formula.
Engineering is also about social skills. It’s not only about the music and the technical elements. Make who ever you are mixing for, or with, feel comfortable, and don’t be unobtrusive.
Remain as neutral as possible, and be open to trying out different ideas that the artist/producer has. Don’t take anyone’s comments for granted.
Play around with your mix. You should have time, or take time to do that. It might be the shit, but it could also sound like shit. You never know. There are no rules.
Tips for your studio
Use analogue gear. Any! A plug-in is just emulating a real piece of analogue equipment. Even a little Mackie mixer with eight channels will sound better than the output coming out of your computer. And even if you have some basic analogue equipment, it will still sound better than if you only do your music on the computer. It will add depth and warmth, and you just can’t replace that.
You should get Yamaha NS-10 speakers for checking out your mix. They suck but if it sounds good on those they will sound good on anything.
You should keep your monitor placement symmetrical, and not too close. Stay in your sweet spot.
Make sure you have good converters.
Don’t go for the boxes that do all.
If you only have one room, and it doesn’t sound good, deaden the room. Blankets on the walls, and floors, or/and wall-to-wall carpet on the floor.
Startup Kit
A Behringer or Mackie mixer
A dbx 160 for compression
A Roland Space Echo for delays and reverbs
Upgrade Kit
Universal Audio LA-2A
Costs about $2,000. The reissue by Universal Audio is also good.
Thermionic Culture Vulture
Basically a distortion machine. One of my favourite boxes right now. It gives the mix a lot of warmth. Distortion is your friend.
Neve 1272 Preamp
They are amazing. API is good too.
V276 Siemens and V676 Telefunken Preamp
Those are great too, I highly recommend them. Both were originally made for broadcasting. You might have to get someone to build a power supply for you. Will probably cost an additional $1,000 to 1,500.
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