John Hanes

John Hanes - Gearspace.
com 2/11/22, 4:40 PM
John Hanes
The Gearspace.com Community
Virginia-based engineer John Hanes hung out with us for a few weeks
in 2020 in what proved to be one of the most popular Gearspace Q&As
of all time. Not only has he won an astonishing 13 Grammy® awards
(and four TEC Awards too!) - he is also one of the nicest guys in the
music industry. Working as a team with Serban Ghenea, John has done
platinum-selling records with Taylor Swift, Adele, Katy Perry, Rod
Stewart and Lorde to name just a few. He was extremely generous with
his knowledge and stories, and he continues to occasionally drop into
various places on GS to this day. Read on to learn some top tips from a
cool dude!
https://gearspace.com/board/interviews/1362525-john-hanes.html Page 1 of 81
John Hanes - Gearspace.com 2/11/22, 4:40 PM
What are the measurements of your mixing room? -

victoredmundo
My room is approximately 16' x 16'.
Could you talk a bit more about what you did with the
Acoustic Treatment? I mean, more in detail? You
mentioned that you guys did it yourself. - Oroz
Ok sure. A bit of history; I worked for a while with the architecture firm
Studio bau:TON in their TEC:ton division. I wasn't working with the
architects directly on design, but was helping to put together equipment
packages and overseeing installation of equipment. While there, I did

absorb enough design knowledge to be dangerous.
My room is a 3rd floor attic room buildout space. Referring to the picture
here; the back wall, not shown, is angled from full 8' height down to a 4'
knee wall. My room also has an additional 8' x 8' "entry" area where the
stairs enter.
On that back wall I've got some wooden dispersion and some absorptive
cloth window Blinds.
On the ceiling you can see we created a "cloud" This is an 8' square frame,
hung from the ceiling at an angle. The top of the frame has 1" rigid
fiberglass panels. the bottom side is faced with POAL (https://poal.net).
This doubles the surface area of the fiberglass and any reflections have to
go through it twice.
The front and side walls you can see fabric covered 2" rigid fiberglass
panels. The corners have foam "corner killers". It is hard to see in the photo,
but those panels are mounted on wooden frames that are angled off of the
walls. Over the half room 8', each panel is angled out about 10" at the
outside edge. Again this doubles the surface area of the rigid fiberglass as
well as gives some non-square surfaces.
A couple extra corner killers in the back of the room, a big cloth covered
futon behind me, carpeted floors, with a wooden floor cut in for chair rolling.
Because we are essentially only using the near field speakers, we were
mostly going for absorption of reflections. We don't really have any isolation
built-in except being in different rooms and floors, but we are not doing
recording, so that isolation isn't a problem for us.
I've not isolated the equipment very well and do deal with some fan noise,
just kind of gets blanked out at some point. If I need to hear detail over that
noise, I'll go to Headphones.
I have a question about how you deal with Mac OS, Pro
Tools and plugin updates. What OS and Pro Tools version
do you guys use? - musicmixer04
We try to do updates as little as possible for OS and for ProTools. Currently

on High Sierra and ProTools Ultimate 2019.6 Before that we were on 12.7
(we skipped PT 2018).
Do you have some quick workarounds when it comes to

Pro Tools, or OS upgrades. Do you just upgrade the OS and
copy the old plugin folder to the new PT version, and
upgrade plugins when they come along in the session? Or
do you use some days to do all the upgrades so everything
is working perfectly without having issues that would ruin
the creative flow? - musicmixer04
When we do a major update like that, we'll clone the Disk, and then do a
migrate upgrade. Always keeping one Bootable HD with the current working
stable OS/PT configuration. Also will make a bootable backup of that stable
configuration.
Then on the 3rd bootable disk, clone the stable configuration and migrate
to the new Mac OS, or install the new ProTools, update all plugins, etc.
When that disk is working perfectly and stable, it will be backed up to

bootable back; one copy of the previous stable OS/PT is kept on a bootable
drive.
As you mentioned quite a few times here being "Old

School" in your approach, do you use a lot of UAD plugins
yourself to get familiar sounds and GUIs from your analog
days in the computer? Or do you have them just because
you have to be able to open them all up when a session
comes your way? How many UAD Cores/DSP do you have
in your system? - bobbl
We've got two Satellite Octo boxes hooked up to each system. Yes, I think
that there are a lot of familiar faces that are comfortable there. Lexicon 224,
480L, AMS RMX-16; all have that familiarity. I tend to use less of the classic
EQ's; there were never that many of them in the old hardware days to get
used to using them a lot. It is definitely a must for us to have them to be
able to open other people's sessions accurately.
I am wondering how you create realistic modern vocal

"doubles", or stereo width on vocals when perhaps you
only have one track to begin with? - CanadaSC1
To sound good and convincing as actual doubles, it should be done in

production and recorded that way by the singer or BG vocalist. If I want to
create some computerized synthy doubles and harmonies, I like the Isotope
VocalSynth (check out the bridge on TxT "9 and Three Quarters")
If you have a static mix which sounds ok but a bit boring.

What are some of your moves to get the song exciting? -
mattias78
To be honest, most of the productions we receive are very well done and
these kinds of decisions are mostly made by the producer.
Now, I can take from what they are doing and offer some suggestions, as
well as what I've done in this area where needed.
We talked already about song arrangement; save doubled and tripled parts,
or save harmony parts for second and third chorus. Don't be afraid to mute
parts earlier in the song so that you can bring them in later. (does that
cowbell need to be in every chorus, or just in the last one!)
The song should be arranged like a triangle, add more parts as the song
goes.
Your automation within the chorus can also follow the triangle model. Ramp
up effects so they build through the chorus.
I would definitely be doing automation to make each chorus a bit bigger

than the one before. This can be effects, volume rides. Also a lot of
productions are using the EDM pumping kind of chorus these days to add
excitement. You could try just a bit of this if it fits the genre.
You can do things like the drums in the chorus can hit the compressor
harder than in verses, so they don't really go up in volume, but they crush
and densify a bit more. Same can go for the whole song in the chorus on
the master fader.
Do you work at whatever format the files come in or

always work at the sample rate you prefer? Also if you find
that printing in 32bit gives better transient detail. - Prog
I'll convert sessions in the following circumstances;
44.1kHz, 16 bit will be converted to 44.1kHz 24bit (better resolution in

the box)
88.2kHz will be converted to 44.1kHz (better use of computer
resources)
96kHz will be converted to 48kHz (better use of computer resources)
32 bit 48kHz left as is.
I think that 32bit is great in the box, but we're not printing and delivering
files in that format. I'm not sure that Pop, HipHop, etc. music want more
transient detail. The samples being used aren't 32bit, for the inside the box
processing it is useful, but after that not so sure.
There are times we'll mix in 96kHz if files come in that way; small sessions,
more acoustic style music, songs with a lot of openness and space.
Hey John, just wondering if there's any things you always

do differently for eg a song with a hip-hop lead production
(808s etc) against a four-on-the-floor pop-dance kinda
track? - GROVER
No different work flow or strategies I think. These things kind of become

rote after a while, so I really have to question myself "am I doing anything
different"?
I guess one thing would be not worrying so much about clean production
and vocals. I think that part of the production and sound of the genre is
some built-in dirt and grunge. Vocals can be mumbly and some noises can
be left in; that becomes part of the performance. I'm not going to be
cleaning up a lot of headphone bleed, mouth noises, etc on a Hip-Hop
track.
Hi John, a short question - do

you make much use of
Transient Designer on the
rhythm section or other
instrumentation? - TLS
We'll use these on occasion. UAD's SPL

Transient Designer comes to mind, I've
played around with the Waves Smack
Attack which feels pretty powerful.
How do you see the mixing/recording/production aspect

of the music in the next 3 or 4 decades? - Young.baws
I think that we'll continue down the path of the shrinking of the recording
studio business, the home studio will continue to grow and become more
relevant to more and bigger artists and producers.
I think that probably traditional genre categories will continue to be shaken

up; there is so much world music influence now, and cross-genre
productions and artist experimentations. Globalization I guess is the word.
I'm wondering how your mixing has changed over time -

do you do things or think about things in a certain way
now that you may not have 10 years ago? - jah279
Mostly everything has gotten bigger and more complicated. I look at

sessions from 15 to 20 years ago; say Musiq Soulchild, and we're talking
about sessions with 24 tracks of music, maybe 8 tracks of vocals.
The power that is in the hands of today's artists, songwriters, and

producers is pretty immense.
What sampling rates are used in productions like Max

Martin and other big guys? - Blue
We get a variety. Many people still working at 44.1kHz (and some files
received even 16bit!!! ) Large variety of files are 48kHz, 24bit. Some come
in 32 bit Float. This would be most of the big guys. Occasionally even
88.2kHz and 96kHz.
Why? Because most of the music we're working on doesn't benefit from a
high sample rate and it just makes everything bigger and session resources
smaller. I would prefer that everything we receive be 48kHz, 24bit (or 32bit
float). This is also one standard for Atmos mixing, so I don't need to do file
conversions again.
For us it has been a gradual change, from console and tape to small DAW
productions, to now huge DAW productions. The rough mix has now
become good enough that people are falling in love with it a bit too much
perhaps.
I can't really think of any techniques specifically right now. I'll have to think
more about this question and see if I can come up with a blog.
Could you tell us which Sample Rate Conversion you are

using? - Coldvodka
We are not converting sessions to 44.1kHz. We are bouncing out final mix
passes at 44.1kHz, 24bit.
Again, the reasoning is that since the mastering engineer is going to be

sending 44.1kHz files out, we want to be the ones to make and control that
conversion at the mix stage.
Can you tell us what converters and hardware you are

using for that process ? - RightOnRome
No hardware, this is done by ProTools during the bounce to disk.

Tweakhead setting.
Do you use multiple master faders (masters for «final»

aux busses) for an ultimate control over ProTools
headroom/gain stage? Or do you clip the files down prior
to mixing? Or are you doing both? By the way, are you
planning to do a Mix With the Masters one day? -
Young.baws
We don't use that multiple master faders technique here. I'm not sure what
you mean by "clip files down prior to mixing". Generally we are adjusting
volumes as we mix into the final Master Chain so that the effects of it are in
control throughout the mixing process.
We're hard in the Yellow on the master meter at the end of the mix; but if
your techniques are working, don't change.
Sorry, no plans for myself or Serban to do a MWTM.
Hello John, wanted to know what version of Pro Tools do

you guys work off off? Is it HDX or just Native. Also, are
you guys Mac or PC? If Mac, what version do you both
have. - M2E
Mac trashcan tower, High Sierra OS, ProTools Ultimate 2019 currently. Two
HDX cards, Avid HD I\\\/O. (I've also got Focusrite Red 16Line and a
Focusrite RedNet HD32R I/O's for Dante In/Out for Atmos mixes).
How long do you typically spend on a mix? Is it a case of

doing the mix in a single session and then deal with client
revisions as necessary, or do you tend to do a 'first pass'

and then revisit it on another day (perhaps multiple days)
before sending it to the client? I guess I'm wondering if
you are more of the 'go with your initial gut instinct'
philosophy, or more of the 'gradually tweak to perfection'
philosophy? - J-S-Q
We will generally do the bulk of the mixing on Day 1. Then leave it overnight,
and revisit for ourselves on Day 2. If it sounds like it is a good place then, it
gets sent to the client, if it needs more work, it might be worked on on Day
2 as well, and then sent out after a fresh listen on Day 3. It is always good to
check with fresh morning ears before sending out if you are unsure.
Their revisions can be spread over multiple days. The hard part here is that
once you send to the client to listen, you can't touch it again even if you
start hearing something that is bothering you, because once you've sent
off, if you change it, you can throw off the whole process as the client will
start to hear differences between revisions that they didn't ask for.
I wanted to know how do you keep your ears healthy by

working so much? How do you take care of a healthy back
while leading a sedentary lifestyle? - Postykish
Touched on elsewhere, but I really try not to listen loud or for long periods
of time. Frequent times during the work day while I'm not playing music at
all. We don't have clients attending mix sessions, so I don't need to turn up
the mains to impress anyone or spend time while someone else is listening.
Outside of work, I'm not going to concerts often, earplugs when I do, I'm
using hearing protection with machinery, and I don't drive with the windows
down (seriously!)
I've got a good chair for my back (currently All33 Backstrong), I try to stand
up often, generally stay healthy, fit. It is an ongoing issue.
I notice you use a lot of 1/4 note delays on vocals. I was

wondering if you are using any ducking on the delays to
keep them out of the vocal or running them into a reverb? -
LiamMcCluskey
As a lot of sessions come from producers with their effects on them, I'll
have to answer pretty generally because there are a lot of different people
doing different things.
Where we are adding our own preferred / standard delay it is not ducked
and not fed into a reverb as a general rule. Specific situations might call for
that, but it is not part of the base preset. Mostly we'll be playing with the
amount sent to the delay, and then muting or riding volume (either delay
send or return) if we don't want delay in certain places.
Where some producers do like ducking, the Air Dynamic Delay is popular, as
is just plain riding volume on the delay return track, and some are
automating parameters within the delay plugin.
Some do add verb and a variety of other things to the delays.
I'm wondering what you've noticed in recent years when

you receive projects, and how you adapt to trends. How

technical are you and Serban when analyzing how a mix
compares to other popular mixes right now? When you're
doing a rock mix like the alternate mix of Interpol's "If You
Really Love Nothing," how do you adapt to that? Is it the
same as any other mix, or do you have to rethink your
approach? - porgporgporg
I'm a really bad Music Historian, I have not consciously studied the trends,
so going off the top of my head, here are my opinions. First let me say that
we might be more setting mixing trends than following them; so we’re not
really doing analysis and comparison to other mixes right now. We are not
pulling up frequency spectrums, or making mix decisions based on
technical analysis.What I’ve noticed over the years is that the production
quality is both improving and turning to ****.
Many of the really experienced (old school?) producers, and the people that
they are mentoring, educating, and training are really good. Their attention
to detail is exacting, specific, and well thought out. Their technical chops
are generally excellent and there is not much wasted production
space.What do I mean by that? I’m defining wasted production space as
using three plugins to do the work of one. Boosting 1kHz on one plugin and
cutting 1kHz on the next. Nested routing decisions of no use (Kick Drum
aux to Drum Aux to Beat Aux to Music Aux to Backing Track Aux to Master
Bus) with plugins everywhere making it nearly impossible to breakdown a
song.On the other hand, many of the self-trained Producers, “Bedroom
Producers” (another upcoming blog topic, and I love you and think that you
are the future of the business!) seem to be making it up as they go, may
have quite poor technical chops, and have a lot of wasted production space
and unnecessary complexity. This is kind of one reason that I’ve come to do
this Q&A and the blog. I think that the self-trained Producers and “Bedroom
Producers” are creating some really amazing, experimental, and leading-
edge sounds; I hope that the influence of us “Old School” engineers and
producers can help to encourage the experimentation while educating on
easier work flows, compatibility and file delivery, and career longevity
advice. As far as do an alternate or rock mix such as the Interpol song; I
think that we approach it as any other mix. Serban is being sought out to
bring his sound to it.
Do you find yourself taming mid range, or boosting spots

to add excitement more? Do you spend a lot of time
looking for masking happening between tracks in the mid
range, or trying to fit more mids in rather than take away? -
Aidanthillmann
I think you've analyzed this as well as I can. It is another thing that becomes
habit and rote, but one thing that I think that we are definitely looking for is
vocal clarity and overall clarity which has a lot to do with midrange,
frequency masking, etc.
So all of the above.
Do you have any tips to get emotionally connected to a

song? I really really like your mix and Serban Ghenea’s
mixes on those records: Callum Scott - What I Miss Most
Katty Perry - Chained to the Rhythm - Young.baws
This is actually a topic for one of the blogs that I've written, which will be
published here.
I'm not sure what the publication schedule is going to be, so I'll give you a
preview.
If the song doesn't hit you right away, find something in it that you like.
Maybe the percussion patterns are cool, maybe the bassline makes your
head bounce. Find something and work out from there.
Regarding pop music with electronic programmed drums,

do you tend to send all drums to a drum bus for some final
compression/glue between elements or do you leave kick,
808's etc... free and send them straight to the mix bus
after some individual tweakings on the track? - jakelorenz
If a session does not come to us already subgrouped like this (about 50%
probably) then I generally won't add a drum bus for programmed drums.
If it is more like a broken-out loop that has lots of interplay between the
tracks, then it might be more useful to do.
I do like a drum bus for Live drum kits because there is a lot more interplay
between the recorded tracks that you want to have global control over.
I wondered whether you consider the cohesiveness of the

tracks as a whole whilst mixing an album or whether
you're just concerned about the individual songs/singles
and leave mastering to sort out the cohesiveness? -
Ollieneedham
If we're mixing the whole album, then definitely we are thinking of a whole
album feel. This is especially important if songs on the album are from a
variety of producers.
It isn't necessarily that we are mixing differently than for a single, I think
each song gets worked to the same standard, but we might be thinking if
overall we are filling the same frequency spectrum, do vocals sound
complementary song to song. I would definitely be referencing prior mixes
as I go along.
What role does the rough play in your mix process? Are
you regularly a/b'ing? If so, are there particular things
you're paying attention to/comparing as you go? Or, is it
more of a gut check? Should I be spending less time with
the rough and trusting my instincts more? - Libertine
I am constantly A/B’ing the rough mix. I put the rough mix on output A 3-4
which goes to a separate input on my Studio Comm monitor controller. One
nice thing about this is that because both A 1-2 (My Mix) and A 3-4 (rough
mix) are going to it analog, there is no delay when switching between them.
So I’ll line it up pretty much sample accurate and can flip back and forth and
hear clearly what the differences are.
With really good rough mixes that we are getting these days, the first step is
to make sure that your mix sounds THE SAME as the rough mix. You have to
start from where they left off.
Then look for areas that you can improve. Take apart their Master Fader
chain if you are using their ProTools session and see what they are doing.
Half the time just turning off or replacing bad “self mastering” products with
your own will be an improvement.
Work on the technical corrections, make the vocals present and

understandable. If I’m not sure if what I’m doing is helping; I’ll do a quick
blind A/B test. Eyes closed, flip back and forth between the rough and your
mix quickly enough times that you don’t know which you are landing on,
and then ask yourself which one you like better and why. Hopefully it is your
mix. If not, figure out what it is that is different and why you like it better.
These days you can’t ignore the rough mix. Spend more time with it and
really analyse what you like, and what you don’t like and why.
I also sometimes feel a bit of that imposter syndrome. Sending off a first
pass is still nerve-wracking. If notes are coming back positive, you’re doing
fine!
I am curious about how you achieve the sound of your

vocals which have that trademark consonant "pop", tonal
clarity and forwardness, width, and effect splash
excitement. How much of the vocal effect splash
excitement is something you're added and how much has
been already provided by the producer? - TLS
I’ll have to tread lightly and generally here. There isn’t a secret or a special
plugin to achieve the “Serban Vocal Sound”. It is all about his experience,
taste, and skills.
Remember we are getting vocals from 100 (I didn’t count, I’m sure it is
more) different producers, recorded by 100 different engineers, in 100

different studios, on 100 different microphones, 100 different mic-pres.
There is no way to plug any standard anything into that and get a specific
sound.
Don’t really do much parallel track mixing; again we’re “Old School”
operatives. General effects sends are pretty standard. A bit of chorus, a bit
of delay, a choice of reverb(s).
If a producer has sent us some specific effects, we’ll use / modify / work
with it. If they don’t we’ll create it. It is maybe a 50/50 split. Remember that
some of these producers could and have mixed and released on their own
(Max Martin, Greg Wells, etc.) They are coming to Serban to make that final
5% to 10% or so polish. We’re not going to toss out what they have crafted
and sent to us, but we will mold it to fit a little better if necessary.
Do you use codec auditioning tools such as Sonnox Pro

Codec, or something like that from Nugen or iZotope and
mix through it to make sure that the mix will translate well
on lossy codecs? - Coldvodka
No, not at all here. The mastering engineer should be the one to handle this.
We have had issues with loud mixes not playing back at proper loudness on
Spotify in the past. Long story short, after consulting with Mastering
Engineers and Spotify's technical team about their codecs and processes,
we determined that Mastering needs to supply a file to Spotify that
conforms to essentially the Apple MFit standard. We never try to
compensate for anything in the playback chain; a good mix should sound
good on every system and medium. If it does not, the problem is in the end
media and that should be corrected at their end.
I'm wondering what the process is like for mixing songs

that were produced in another DAW. If I were to hire you or
Serban to mix a song I made using something other than
Pro Tools and both parties agreed it already sounded good
and simply needed that last 10% would it then be on me to
print everything and deliver the song as audio? -
TeleMA50c
Yes, when receiving projects not in ProTools, we'll ask for "consolidated" or
"committed" audio files. Prefer it to be track by track for instruments (i.e.
not a percussion stem, but all 10 percussion tracks). Blended BGV parts are
usually ok (i.e. stereo doubles, stereo harmony 1, stereo harmony 2). Effects
can be left on instrument tracks as you see fit.
Lead vocals should be "committed" with processing, but not effects, (i.e.
Leave on your Compressor, EQ, but not your reverb and delay).If possible
we prefer to have any effects on vocal printed separately (i.e. Lead vocal
chamber reverb, lead vocal 1/4 delay, BGV 1 chamber reverb, BGV 1 1/4
delay, etc.) We might also ask for non-processed Lead vocals in case we
want to undo or re-create something a bit differently; it depends on the
producers and how married they are to the exact sound of their rough
mix.So it can be a lot of printing parts for you to deliver to us.Producer
Jesse Shatkin (Sia, Kelly Clarkson, Paloma Faith, etc.) works this way and
his engineer Sam Dent sends us very detailed and very organized files.
Instruments folder, VoxWet folder, VoxProcessed folder, VocDry folder, and

VocFX folder. He'll also do screenshots of certain plugins to put on some
tracks. We can then pick which of the vocals to use. Usually the Processed
vocals combined with the Vox FX, but sometimes better to go with the
VoxWet for some parts.
Other times we'll receive parts that are closer to stems. In these cases we at
least want to get Dry Lead Vocals and separate effects if possible. There
have even been times we've received a stereo music track and three or four
vocal tracks; in these cases we have on occasion turned down the project
as not mixable. It is not our preference to try to "stem master" someone
else's work.
When you get several tracks of the same thing, such as 4

different drum rooms, or a snare consisting of 3 different
microphones, do you treat them separately, group them
together or even both? - Spankjam
I would definitely group snare mics or bass parts of the same performance.
This way when I get a good blend that I like, I can do volume moves on the
whole blend as is.
I'll also sometimes send those tracks to an Aux input as a subgroup if I like
the blend but want to do an overall EQ or Compression insert or other
overall processing, or an effect send to reverb for the whole blend.
I'll also group the same vocal parts (same notes) agains so I can get a blend
I like and then ride the whole blend. Also I'll send vocal parts to an Aux Input
again so I can do overall EQ or compression on the blend, or send the blend
to an effect.
Would you still treat the sources individually but have

them connected on the fader? Like VCA? - Spankjam
So by Group I'm talking about the ProTools Mix/Edit groups that allow you to
solo, mute, and do volume controls (and other functions) across the tracks
in the group.
These days, with such high track counts available, I don't do any group
consolidations, sub mix bounces, or such things. This allows fine control of
all the parts as needed as well as avoids having to undo such a sub-mix
when a replacement part comes in. (producer sends a new snare to replace
one track, etc).
What is the song that you mixed that you are most proud
of? If you have a website or instagram page where I can
look at your discography, could you let me know please? -
Coldvodka
I personally don't have a big presence on Social Media. No Instagram or

website. My credits are here on Jaxsta.
But due to the way they are often copywritten at the label (often despite
specific language that we give them), it might look like I'm actually mixing a
lot of projects that are actually mixed by Serban Ghenea. (ie. Uptown Funk
should be Mixed by Serban Ghenea and Engineer, or Mix Engineer John
Hanes). I've highlighted some of my mixes at the top of that page; (Mixed
by John Hanes).
In addition, I'm not credited at all on some things that I've mixed. Dotan
Harpenau's "No Words", "Numb", and "Letting Go" for example. Proper
credit and proper Credits are an ongoing issue.
All that said; I felt really good about the Dotan mixes. I'm really proud of the
mixing on the upcoming release of Morgan Saint's EP where I mixed 6
songs. The TxT "9 and Three Quarters" mix was really challenging and I
think it came out great.
Do you use the MH CS3 limiter

for anything, or would you use
a dedicated plugin? - b0se
copying my answer from another. I'd say

that I don't tend to use a specific limiter
on individual tracks often, though I might
push a compressor into a fast attack
mode when needed. Most of the time the Metric Halo ChannelStrip is in the
MIO mode and mostly not using that or any other limiter.
I would like to know your opinion on getting the

feel/emotions right and moving in the right direction with
the mix. Do you call the client and ask for directions? Or is
the rough mix enough information? What do you pay
attention to? Also how many revisions do you guys usually
do until the client is happy? - Tommiiii
I think mostly it is the rough mix and familiarity with various producer's
overall style (and quirks) from past experience with them.With producers
new to us, we'll sometimes talk a bit, get some pointers on direction, but
often I think they've picked Serban specifically for his interpretation and
input on that. I like to try to glean as much as I can out of the rough mix,
figure out what they are shooting for by feel and what feels good for the
song and production as I unravel it. Number of revisions can be anything,
whatever it takes. From first pass approved to upwards of 15 or 16. Try to
never leave a client unsatisfied, but also try to let them know when their
requests are not improving the mix any longer.
Do you think it's the wrong mindset to have limits or rules

on revisions? - Andersmv
I think that at this high level of the business we have to have a bit more
openness to achieving the artist and producers vision of perfection than
most.
It helps that we are working remotely. If you’ve got an artist or band sitting
in on the mix that can take a whole day to mess with things on one song.
We have the ability to slow the process down a bit by taking our time,
sending out the new pass, and then waiting maybe another day for approval
or more notes. I think that it removes some of the impulsive requests and
makes them more thoughtful.
I think you do need to balance your time and set boundaries where you can.
I would say that in general, and I don’t want to sound elitist here, that our
clients are highly experienced and educated in the processes involved.
Part of that education and experience would come from having those
boundaries set on them earlier in their careers. It definitely helps to get
consolidated and agreement on notes. It helps to have a strong producer
who will oversee the direction and be the voice of reason in disagreements.
Through all of that we try to do everything asked but also will say that “this
isn’t getting better” when needed.
Sometimes it comes down to trying what the artist wants because they just
want to know they’ve exhausted every avenue they can think of. We’re not
often going to say “no” to Beck, Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande, or Taylor Swift.
When we do say “no” they understand and trust that opinion.
So overall I do think you should work on that balance. Make the clients feel
that you are open to all of their ideas, while finding a way to not get run
over. Sometimes we do get run over too, and feel taken advantage of with
excessively "needy" clients. In the end a happy client is your best
advertising.
You're obviously working with a whole different level of

people (on a daily basis) than most of us. Did that kind of
growth naturally happen for you, or do you remember
taking steps to (and this is definitely going to come off as
elitist..) "weed" out a lot of bands? - Andersmv
I'd say that it is a natural growth cycle. However, some of my favorite

projects that we've worked on are new artists, first records, and new styles.
We don't "weed out" a lot; in fact our managers are often pushing to do
more new acts, more trendsetters.Again going back to Music Soulchild and
Jill Scott, and some work with The Roots; it was a lot of fun to be in on the
beginning of that resurgent Philly Soul sound.My first Grammy win for
LaRoux is another one. Not a polished act or technically great recordings,
but it had that vibe and feel. My recent mixing of soon to be released
Morgan Saint is again another new act that is a lot of fun to help to craft a
sound and vibe for. I personally find it more satisfying to be in at the
beginning of a new artist's career, a new sound and vibe, and to be a part of
crafting that.We are definitely not just catering to established, well financed,
and well promoted artists.
How many tracks are in Taylor Swift's "Daylight" and

"Death by a thousand Cuts"?
Daylight doesn't sound too busy but Thousand Cuts does
sound like there quite a bit going on. - JanetB
Ok, I'm pulling up my archived tracks for this one. "Daylight" has 109 tracks,
not including Aux effects returns. Now that includes a lot of raw stacks for
BGV's (the "daylight" verby bgv hit is 16 tracks). Jack Antonoff and his
engineer Laura Sisk typically send us a PT session with vocals separated
and not bounced together. There are 4 kick tracks, 4 snare tracks, 7 guitars,
27 BGV tracks not including that verby bgv hit. Lead vocals are spread over
about 5 tracks (separate tracks for V1, Pre, Chorus, V2, Bridge, etc.). "Death
By a Thousand Cuts" is 85 tracks not counting Aux effects returns. There
are 24 tracks of music, the rest vocals. Again the Ld Vocal is spread over 5
tracks, there are 10 tracks in the Aahs bgvs.
What was the track count for Troye Sivan's Bloom, my

favourite mix of all time. Such a beautiful landscape! Must
be a pleasure to mix a song like that. - NdK
Bloom is pretty typical size; about 35 tracks of music, 26 tracks of BGV

parts. The producer, Oscar Holder, a master of his craft, created and
printed for us most of the vocal effect tracks (computer voices, verby vocal
hits) maybe 10 tracks of those things, Another 10 tracks or so of doubles,
leads, and harmonies.
How do you stay fresh and inspired? How do you avoid

falling into periods that are low on creative energy?
Thoughts appreciated on how you deal with the highs and
lows of a creative profession. - gainreduction
First, we try to maintain regular hours and schedule. No point in getting

burned out on one project to the detriment of another. Nights and
weekends are primarily no-studio time zones.
Second; there are usually enough things to do that if I'm not feeling
creative, I can concentrate on some technical issues or other tasks like
making stems, running backups, or playing around with and learning about
a new plugin.
Because we are choosing our own workflow without clients present, if we

don't feel like working on Song or Artist X today, we can work on Song or
Artist Y. Luckily, being in demand enough, we probably have a bit more
leeway in getting a mix out the door. Also, almost any day in front of music
is a good day. I love what I do and look forward to coming to work almost
every day.
I'm curious if you have a typical workflow when you're

starting on a mix. - Kaleida
I'll usually start with the whole song playing, listening down and making
bigger volume moves as I learn the song. When I've got a pretty good feel,
I'll turn everything off and start unmuting in the order from top to bottom of
how I arrange the tracks. Drums, Percussion, FX, Bass, Guitars, Keys, etc. . .
. BGV, Lead Vocals.
I'll generally do this adding each instrument as I go, i.e. not turning off
drums when I start opening up percussion.
Of course I'll solo certain things to hear and work on specific issues. When
I've gone through everything like this and the whole song is open again, I'll
then usually do my vocal editing; soloing vocals and cleaning them up.
Finally after that, I'll tend to leave everything on as I do the meat of the
mixing; still solo'ing to nail down specific parts of course. I think that this
method lets me really learn the parts while spending the most time hearing
drums and hearing where vocals relate to everything, which are often the
key elements needing attention.
I guess I stick to this pretty regularly; but if something else catches my

attention while I'm in the process, I'll go in and put that work in on that part
as needed.
DK-Technologies DK1 Meter

Wondering how you are
feeding signals to the DK Audio Meter from Pro Tools. -
ryno1
I'm feeding it from an AES/EBU mult (through a Z-Systems Digital

Detangler) of the A 1-2 Output.
My DK Meter came out before LUFS were a thing, so I've found that the
NBC scale is essentially showing the same as LUFS, but I'm not exactly sure
what the scale is technically showing.
Yes, looking at -6 on the output after all master fader plugins; this doesn't
mean trying to hit it for every song. This is just my mark to watch out if it's
getting pretty loud.
Do you like to use plugins that emulate consoles? - Oroz
Nothing used across all tracks for full console emulation. We will use
vintage emulated EQ, Channel Strips on certain sounds for a specific effect
or purpose.
I'm mostly familiar with Waves, Soundtoys, and UAD offerings in these
areas. so many to choose from so it isn't really a choice of which sounds
best! or most! but which one I remember when I'm looking for something.
Could you share with us some info about the computer(s)

you use (hardware, OS)? - Jetam
Currently using;2013 Trashcan Mac, High Sierra. I backup everything to a

hard drive, and then the harddrive to an LTO tape.When hard drive backups
are full, the hard drive is retired and stored. Nothing is ever deleted.
Current projects are on local disks and a secure cloud account. Projects are
delivered via many types of FTP and Transfer services (i.e. WeTransfer,
Dropbox).
When we have a stable OS and ProTools version; we'll not upgrade it for a
year or more.
Re: Dolby Atmos music mixing - As you mentioned in your

recent Mix article, a current problem is that few people
(including the labels) are able to approve the final ADM
BWF mix. I am wondering if you are being tasked with
embedding metadata into the Atmos "master" as the mix
engineer, and as you sort of put it in the article, the de
facto Atmos mastering engineer? - Bias Mike
Note: John Hanes participates heavily in this thread, sharing further, detail
knowledge about Atmos and Spatial mixing
I've been going by the UMG deliverable requirements for Atmos. I'm not
sure if this document is in the public domain, so I'm not going to share it
here.
Basics of delivery are, which are pretty much across the board for UMG,
Netflix, Apple, Amazon, and Tidal:
Minimum 7.1.4 mix room.

Near field mix
Target loudness follows ITU-R BS.1770.4; -18LKFS +/- 2LU

Peaks not to exceed -1dBFS True Peak
Binaural render mode is set and metadata is included.
File delivery is ADM/BWF export with BIMD (binaural meta data)
I think that yes, I am the de facto mastering engineer for these releases.
There are mastering engineers doing Atmos work, but I think my exports are
what are being delivered to Amazon, etc.
I'd like to know if you dither your mix 24bit mix prior to
sending it to mastering. - Young.baws
We are not dithering the mix. Typically sending a 24bit file to mastering.
Hi John, do you receive sessions in 32 bit-floating? Do you

think that working at 32 has its advantages? - Oroz
Yes, we do receive 32bit float. I'm sure it does have advantages, I must
admit I have not carefully studied and listened for any differences.
I would really appreciate it if you could share your

technique/philosophy concerning phase. - Young.baws
Mostly I notice problems with phase when lots of drum samples are used. In
these cases, I'll usually nudge tracks by 10's or 100's of samples to find a
nice phase relationship rather than playing with a plugin.
What are the techniques you've developed that help you

know when a mix will translate well on all speakers? -
MattyJoe
I think it all comes back to experience, and to knowing the speakers that we
are using pretty intimately. We are not really changing our mixes to fit the
environment of listeners.
Basics of good mixing will apply anywhere; the listeners are going to modify
their opinion of their playback equipment, and not modify their opinion of
the quality of a good mix.
In other words; if someone likes the way music sounds on Beats

Headphones, they should like the way any good mix sounds on them
because they are normalized to that sound quality.
One thing that strikes me with records you've worked on is

an incredible balance (or maybe intentional imbalance)
between boldness and cleanliness/naturalness. I'm
wondering if you can share any sort of philosophy here, or
workflows between you the artists/producers/etc on
finding that sweet spot? - RyanC
Because the majority of our work is Pop music, which is constantly

changing by incorporating elements from more diverse and experimental
genres, I would say that making that balance is inherent in Pop music
mixing. The producers, artists, and engineers are taking those cues and
incorporating them into their work and balancing or smoothing them out to
fit a more mainstream vibe.
Do you think it is useful to mix into a limiter from the very

beginning of the process, especially when judging critical
tracks (Vocals, Bass, Kick, Snare)? Do you like to control
the peaks of these tracks with limiters before they hit your
mix-bus processors? - Mix Dome
Yes I always mix into the master chain with limiting on from the beginning of
the mix. If you try to put something on at the end of the process it will undo
or change a bunch of the work that you already put in. Mix into the glue!
In this way, you can also control the amount of limiting going on as you
work; mix getting too loud? Pull everything down a bit. You can do this
during the mix because you'll be able to adjust for how it changes things as
you mix. If you do it at the end of the mix, it can change sound of the mix.
Some individual tracks will get limiters as well as necessary, or the volume
of parts within the tracks can be ridden down as a sort of manual limiting.
I would say overall there is a lot more compression and volume rides being
done than just hitting louder parts with a limiter. I think that when we were
mixing on a console, back in the Teddy Riley days, it was different. We
would do the mix and then put the Master Compressor on towards the end.
But in those days mixes weren't so loud out of the console and we printed
back to 1/2" tape so we needed to get things under control for that.
Considering that loudness normalisation is becoming the

norm in broadcast and streaming, can you imagine
changing the way you use the limiter on the mix bus or you
consider the limiter to be an irreplaceable "glue" tool and

aesthetically beneficial for what you do? - Jetam
We create a mix that sounds good. If broadcast or streaming services down

the line **** that up, then that is their problem; we're not going to try to
guess what they are going to do and compensate for it. Funny story: We
had one artist we mixed for who was traveling around the country on tour. In
each city he would listen to his songs on the local radio. He called and
complained that the mixes sounded different in different cities and
wondered if we should create different mixes for different radio stations. We
shut that **** down immediately!
I read your mixes hit at about -6LUFS at the loudest part.

Do you reach such a high pressure "simply" with your mix-
bus chain into the limiter or do you raise the level after the
limiter, too? - mix_dome
We don't do anything after the limiter.
The biggest takeaway for me so far in this Q&A is that

there is no magic, no special hardware, etc, it's just 2
normal guys with tons of experience who have developed
(and keep refining) a process that meets the tastes of
their clients. - bambamboom
Thanks, that is the gist of what I want to share! We are all dealing with the
same issues.
What about clipping on individual tracks or drum busses?

Do you use that technique? If so, what plugin do you use?
There are a couple of old interviews where Serban
mentions the use of Lo-Fi, do you still use it? Could you
share which tracks you used it the most on? - Oroz
Yes, depending on the song. Often that comes built into the session from
the producers if that is the sound that they are going for.
We might also use some clipping as a sound design tool where it sounds
right. Lo-Fi is still a great plugin for this; most often used a bit on cymbals,
but for aggressive songs I'll try it on drums, bass, 808. I've also tried out the
KiloHearts Distortion plugin which I like. Soundtoys Decapitator or Devil-Loc
is also a frequent choice.
One thing that I have mixed recently that I've used these aggressive
techniques is an artist named Morgan Saint, I just wrapped up her EP which
will be coming soon I hope. We wanted a bit of a wild, nasty, aggressive
sound on some parts; so I used a lot of these kinds of clipping and
distortions to push it hard.
You mentioned before that MixStar mixes hit at -6LUFS at

loudest parts. How many dBs of limiting are being applied
on those loud parts? Could you talk a little about your gain
staging to be able to hit so loud with so much clarity?
Also...totally understand not disclaiming the stereo
bus...but any hints on the limiter choice at the end of the
chain? L2? Pro-L? - Tiagoderrico
Generally speaking it isn't going to be a ton. For a standard mid tempo

maybe 1.5 to 2dB on a compressor and another 1 to 2dB at the end of the
chain in combined compression and limiting. For a really aggressive song, it
could be 3dB on the compressor and 2dB down the chain of compression
and limiting. if I'm approaching 3dB at the end of the chain, I'd really start
looking at my gain structure. I'm paying attention to gain staging and gain
structure through the whole mix, it isn't really something that you can easily
fix at the end of the process.
So if I’m reading this right you have two compressors on

the mix, one on the mix buss and then one on the
mastering buss? - JB872
There is no separate mastering bus. The Master Fader for ProTools output
1&2 has multiple things inserted on it.
This means crushing very hard on all the tracks? - SPORT
Not necessarily. Crush where needed if appropriate if you like the crushed
sound on a particular instrument, use volume rides, light to medium
compression where needed, and overall use good gain structure strategies.
I wanted to ask if you only use the limiter on the master

bus or even a clipping plugin. - frums
No clipping plugin on the master bus, though the limiter can be pushed
there as needed.
I read your mixes hit at about -6LUFS at the loudest part.

Do you reach such a high pressure "simply" with your mix-
bus chain into the limiter or do you raise the level after the
limiter, too? I know we are not supposed to but I really like
to clip the limited mix a dB or two and then lightly limit it
again to less than a dB to get the final "mastering" level.
Do you think that processing after the limiter can help to
hit hotter levels in a more transparent way? - mix_dome
We don't do anything after the limiter, so I have not studied the issue of
hotter with transparency as you are using it. But if it works for you then do
it!
The biggest takeaway for me so far in this Q&A is that

there is no magic, no special hardware, etc, it's just 2
normal guys with tons of experience who have developed
(and keep refining) a process that meets the tastes of
their clients. - Bambamboom
Thanks, that is the gist of what I want to share! We are all dealing with the
same issues.
What version of Distressor? Arousor, UAD, Slate? -

jakelorenz
I corrected my mistake after you quoted me. To make sure I'm not giving
false testimony, it should have been Soundtoys Decapitator.
So if I’m reading this right you have two compressors on

the mix, one on the mix buss and then one on the
mastering buss? - JB872
There is no separate mastering bus. The Master Fader for ProTools output
1&2 has multiple things inserted on it.
Very interesting. This mean crushing very hard on all the

tracks? - SPORT
Not necessarily. Crush where needed if appropriate if you like the crushed
sound on a particular instrument, use volume rides, light to medium
compression where needed, and overall use good gain structure strategies.
This is really fascinating to me. Can I ask, beyond

compression and limiting are there any other processes
on the mixbus they are reducing dynamic range? Are there
any tips you could share about what contributes to
shaping the dynamics of the mix so that you are getting
such a high rms with only a dB or 2 of limiting? On the
subject of loudness, do you go for such a high rms level
just because you like the way it sounds that way, or are
there other considerations (label/ artist expectations for
example)? - Mr XY
The first part is kind of hard to answer; it is basically the essence of mixing.
Controlling elements of the song with volume, compression, EQ, to manage
the overall aesthetic and gain structure throughout the song. I'm not sure of
the mathematics involved, but I think that a first compressor doing 2dB of
compression and then another doing 2dB of compression and limiting
would add up to more than one compressor or limiter doing 4dB of
work.The second part is easier to answer; it is due to the Loudness Wars. A
songwriter will make a demo loud because louder sounds more impressive,
right? The artist and producer then have to be louder than that on their
production mix. They send to us, and we need to be louder than that
because they are A/B'ing the mix to their rough and will say "it doesn't hit as
hard". If we send mix that has more dynamic range and is not pushed hard,
they will have mastering do it after the fact, because when they play their
song next to the current hit, it needs to be as loud.So our theory here is that
if it is going to be pushed that loud anyway at some point, it is better to do it
in the mix where we have total control over the effects of loudness than to
leave it to be done later with possible adverse effects. As I said before, this
is kind of a "pro-move" and not everyone needs to be doing this if it is
adversely affecting your mixes. It is a difficult position to be in to have to
make a mix as loud as the rough mix but fix all of the problems that their
loudness creates. Sometimes the rough mixes come in much louder than
our final mixes can safely get to and at that point we just have to say "that is
not going to sound good as a final product".
When I'm doing the Atmos mixes, I'll typically be dropping the volume by
about 10dB. The reason for this is that first, the companies streaming Atmox
mixes have guidelines for delivery volume. Second, the Atmos processor at
the playback end has some leveling compensation built into it so that it is
doing some of the work of equalizing volume across songs.
The trick here is to try to maintain the "crush" and "crunch" elements of the
mix if they exist as part of the desired sound with a significant change in
overall level.
I wanted to ask if you only use the limiter on the master

bus or even a clipping plugin? - Frums
No clipping plugin on the master bus, though the limiter can be pushed
there as needed.
Do you have a delay template? (Quarter note, eighth note,

slap, etc). - thepilgrimsdream
I have a template that I use as a starting place, and then will create special
things for certain songs as I feel the need for them. I'm not going to give
specific settings or plugins that we use; not my place to do that.
Basic template (generalized)
3 second, 30m space, like a cathedral

1.8 second, 20m space, like a wood room
EMT-250
Quarter delay
Eighth delay
Dotted Eighth delay
Half delay
I'll use blends of these by sending to multiple different verbs and delays. I
really enjoy creating new and special effects for various mixes, so this is just
a starting point that I'll vary from liberally as I feel something.
I was wondering if you have any modulation or eq after the

delays? - LiamMcCluskey
First in the general category I choose delay settings that have a bit of
spread (groove in the ModDelay), and the feedback might have a heavy LPF
to clear some room for the main vocal. Adding effects after the delay would
be one of those sound design features that I would create as needed for a
specific effect.
Would you typically be getting a rough mix together dry

first, and then adding reverbs and effects later? Or is it a
vibe thing where you’re dealing with spatial fx, balances
and things all at the same time? - Animesh Raval
Definitely adding effects as the mix comes together. I would never mix with
dry tracks; basic effects would go on first and then revised or specialized as
the mix goes along; especially on vocals.
Same with drums, instruments, etc. Adding effects as I'm working on those
sections, and revising the effects as I see fit as the mix goes on.
Do you have any tips for getting the various spatial effects
on the different elements all gelling and working together
rather than masking or mushing things up? - Animesh

Raval
I don’t think it is a conscious thought or plan These days. As I said I’ve got
three standard reverbs set that I’ll send things to, so anything going there
would be in that same space. After that is just making choices to what
seems to sound good together.I’ll find a really clean reverb such as Altiverb
if the situation calls for it, and other times a gritty machine like Rmx-16.
What has been the most useful investment for your career
so far? - Young.baws
No tips on that sorry. We also seem to be constantly buying plugins and

upgrading others.I think the best thing you can do is to make your computer
hardware last as long as possible. Get a stable configuration and hang on as
long as possible.We don't actually update the main ProTools system very
often. Still working on 2013 trashcan Mac. I think we’re still running High
Sierra OS. Maybe next year we’ll try the new tower Mac and new OS.
Which processor are you running on that mac pro? the

quad, six core or eight core? - JanetB
8 core, 64Gb ram
A) Do you send mixes to clients to review and they send

notes for rounds of revisions or B) Do you use some sort of
online mix streaming platform to play mixes for clients in
real time to review? Also wondering if there is any sort of

distortion on vocals to have them cut through the mix And
pump. Your vocal tracks always sound exciting with
movement. - ekedmo
Yes, lots of back and forth notes and revisions. We'll keep working on the
revisions as long as they have notes. Sometimes it gets to the point where
we say it is going in the wrong direction and enough is enough.Yes, using
streaming for real-time review. We're actually using a product that is
obsolete and no longer supported for this, so no sense in me naming it I
think. It is preventing us from upgrading the OS on the computer that is
running it, so we'll be looking for another solution.Mostly nothing
specifically on the vocals for a bit of distortion or grit; the Waves CLA-76
can add a bit, overall Mix Buss chain decisions can add a bit. Sometimes if
distortion is specifically called for Lo-Fi is great for that.What brings clients
like Max Martin back to you again and again?
What is it about your approach and philosophy towards

mixing that brings clients like Max Martin back to you
again and again? - MattyJoe
First, of course, is giving them good mixes, so let's move beyond that. I
believe that there is also a comfort level for them that a second set of ears
that they trust has double checked their work.I think a big part of this is that
I approach this as a service industry. Each client gets one-on-one attention.
If they have an important deadline, we'll make room for it.I do everything I
can to provide ongoing support. If an artist has a show coming up on SNL
and needs a special version of the mix by Friday, I'll make it happen. Need a
radio edit for Italy? Done. Need a TV track with the Lead vocals only in the
chorus, but down 10dB, Adlibs removed except for that one that goes
"ahhhhh" at 3:15? Done, you'll have it in 15 minutes.Need stems for a mix
we did 10 years ago? If I've got them printed already, you'll have it in an
hour. If I didn't print stems back then, give me a day.The mix is done, but
now the artist is changing the lyrics and sending a completely new set of
vocals? Sigh! ok, send it over. What your deadline is tomorrow! I'll get right
on it.
There are a lot of producers out there who can make a mix good enough to
"release". If you heard their demo mix, you would say "that is a great mix!.
Why do they then go to someone like Serban?" It is true that sometimes
Serban might do little things to the mix. Over 100 tracks, lots of little things
add up. Adding that final 10%, 5%, or even 1% of polish is what they are
after.
They could probably spend the time and effort and do that themselves as
well. But is their time better spent writing and producing a new song, or just
taking a well deserved break; or should they be sitting in the studio
agonizing over the perfect reverb decay, the last bit of noise on the vocal
tracks, or the last .5dB of balance between the kick and bass.
When these very busy and in demand people find someone that they trust
who can do what they want as well as, or better than they can do, they have
found a valuable ally. When they can trust someone to take the burden of
finishing the mix; dealing with pages of notes from producers, artists, A&R,
management, and sometimes the artist's boyfriend or girlfriend (for real!)
that is a major resource.
Sometimes barely touching something, but still making it sound 2% better is

the greatest of skills. I would say that much of the mixing that Serban does
is among the hardest that there is to do; because it comes in so well done,
you have to find a way to make improvements, not lose the thread, and
satisfy lots of people with sometimes very different opinions.
Mixing isn't about just pushing around EQ's and dynamics, it is dealing with
the opinions involved that is the hardest part.
What sort of hours and work schedule do you guys keep

to stay so consistently productive and balanced? -
stealthbalance
Yes, generally we try to stick to M-F, 9am or 10am to 6pm. We like to have
some time for normal life stuff and because we don't have clients visiting it
is much easier to be in control of our own schedule. Certainly there are
times when we need to come in on weekends, or come back in the evening
after dinner and family time to catch up or knock something out. Yes, lots of
ear breaks. Also we aren't necessarily working on one song all day long.
Might pull up and work on 5 or 8 songs throughout the day. Some might be
starting a new mix, some might be in the critical listening nail it down phase,
and others might be little tweaks for producer's notes and comments.It can
be a lot of pressure, I definitely try to eat healthy, workout (my gym opening
here this week!) I try to listen to my Apple Watch when it tells me to stand
up.
So I think what you might be suggesting is 18 hours a days

, 7 days a week may not be the best way to roll ? -
stealthbalance
Yes, did that when I was younger and luckily survived.
As for working on producer notes, you said that you keep

working on a mix as long as there are notes. I can imagine
mix notes are a factor that's difficult to plan in advance in
a boxed timeframe within the busy schedule you guys
must have, especially if you want to stick to working hours
and have a good balance. How do you plan mixes while
keeping other projects running? - NdK
Can't plan for how long a mix will take, but if there is a deadline, it is not
ours to enforce. Can't really base it on the demo either; you might get an
amazing demo mix, nearly complete, and then they'll start adding this,
redoing that, sending new vocals. Every project and every song is a unique
beast.Generally we are sending out a mix for review and will get emails or
texts back over the next day or two. We'll be able to pull up that mix, knock
out revisions, and send a new pass out. Let's say that part of the process is
a half hour. Now it's another day for revision notes to come in again; so that
song is put away for the day and we'll do notes for another.Some clients
prefer a Facetime video chat with mix streaming. These will be scheduled as
they are available. Some take 5 minutes, some might take a couple of hours
of try this, try that, what if we . . . How about . . . .We somehow find a way to
get each client the time that they need; it is just a balancing act. While
waiting for a video chat session, can knock out a couple of little tweaks on
something else.On occasion you get a v1 mix accepted as the final release.
You either feel great! or suspicious that they're going to come around a
week later and have notes. Revisions can be anywhere from v1 - v3, some
going up to V15. These can be for major reasons, or there might be 7
passes of nudging various adlibs up a little here and there.
Do you have a system for referencing material during the

mixing process or do you guys just mix until it feels right?
Are you listening to commercial releases A/Bing them in
Pro Tools or any other similar practice for balance and
brightness etc? - Glamdring
Some of both. Serban mixes until it feels right, of course with suggestions
and notes from artists and producers. When I'm mixing on my own, I'll
sometimes reference similar genres or artist suggested material. Of course I
have a wealth of pre-mastered files to choose from.
If I'm doing something new to me like a metal mix, I'll find a good
representation of that genre. I don't try to sound exactly like it, but I'll try to
get in the ballpark and then use my own judgement and feel. I'll just be
A/Bing and working overall to mix to that standard. Nothing special like
automatic EQ matching or 'one click' mastering that is now available in
Ozone for example. I don't use those types of tools.
Have you ever done a metal mix? Can we listen to it? -

bobbl
Yes I did one as a spec mix! I did a mix of Saint Ansonia Feat. Sully Erna
"The Hunted". Here's how it went down from my perspective. My manager
got the word that they wanted to test out about 6 mixers. One test mix of
"Hunted" to see who would get the whole album project.I got the files, did
the mix. This was a one-pass deal, no notes or back and forth from artist or
producer. They wanted to evaluate each mix on its own with no feedback or
input. The story that I got (and who really knows, maybe they told each
mixer the same thing) is that in separate completely blind judging, the
management, label, and (I think) producer all picked my mix.
When it came down to the final say, the band wasn't really comfortable
sending off the songs to be mixed remotely and wanted to be hands-on in
the mixing. Unfortunately I can't release my mix for you. I've had feedback
from a very metal friend that he liked it better than the final release; though
they did a bunch of additional production kinds of decisions in the final mix,
he had the benefit of band and producer feedback and input. On listening to
the final release, I can say the my mix doesn't necessarily conform to the
general treatment of the genre.
I would say that my mix sounds much more like what it would be like if they
were playing down the song in front of you without a lot of post production.
Not like a live show mix, but let's say an authentic performance capture.I
really enjoyed doing this mix, and I think that if a Metal artist ever wants to
find a bit of crossover audience, my mix would stand up for that.
Can you please talk to us about monitoring? - diegua
Monitor path - Avid HD I\/O analog out to Studio Comm 69A monitor
controller. ProAc Studio 100 powered by Bryston 4BSST, no sub. QUESTED
VS3208b and 15” Quested subwoofer are self powered.
Headphones PSB M4U1 through Oppo HA-1 headphone amp. AES/EBU

from Avid I\/O to Oppo. I chose the PSB because they sound kind of close to
the ProAc. Mixing on ProAc 91.5% of the time, headphone mixing 8%,
Quested .5%.
I would like to re-work my MidField setup at some point so I would use it
more. It is not tuned. I kind of inherited the Quested’s from a friend who
needed to raise some cash way back when.
I’ve not blown too many ProAc woofers recently; I’m the only one who
controls the volume now and I know to start soft and clean up extreme low
end before getting loud.
Listening levels: about 85dB for critical listening. 95dB is loud listening for
me to feel it, 65-70dB is softer listening for longer periods of time for basic
levels, learning the song, editing, printing parts. Almost never doing any
mono listening, but I am looking (correlation meter) for and listening for
phase issues.
Headphones for bass checks, listening for noise, another perspective. We

designed and installed the room treatments ourselves. We have not had
them tested and calibrated. Working almost exclusively on the nearfields
and having long experience in the rooms with them is the key to
consistency. I don’t find the ProAc overly bright.
I just picked up a DK Meter and

was wondering, do you use it to
measure loudness or are you
only doing that for Atmos
work? When set to the NBC
scale, is there a level you’re Grace m908 Monitor Controller
aiming for, post master chain /

limiter? - ryno1
I feed the DK Meter AES/EBU signal from a mult of the ProTools main
output. I don't have a microphone hooked up for loudness.
I mainly use it on the NBC scale, trying not to get too far above -6, some hot
tracks peak above this, ballads might fall more into the -8 range on average.
These are levels post all processing, on the output. I also will use the 1/3
Octave mode, occasionally the FFT, and I watch the correlation meter a lot.
The Grace m908 monitor controller that I use for Atmos work has a built-in
microphone for SPL which is really nice for checking listening levels.
What are your thoughts on the famous car check, listening

on (apple) earbuds or your little computer speakers next
to your screen? - Bobbl
The car checks are great when transitioning to a new studio, or a new
speaker system. For many years after we moved into our current studio, we
would do car checks. After a long period of time that faded out. For anyone
working out of different rooms on a regular basis it is a great additional tool.
Earbuds only for casual listening for me. Computer speakers are really for
auditioning files quickly by hitting the spacebar. They are on the output of
the computer, not connected to ProTools.
As pointed out to me in a separate question, I may be using some technical

terms incorrectly.I said "I mainly use it on the NBC scale, trying not to get
too far above -6dBfs, some hot tracks peak above this, ballads might fall
more into the -8dBfs range on average. These are levels post all
processing, on the output."
I should not have used the term dBfs here. I'm not actually sure what the
scale for NBC is, but it is closest to the currently used LUFS.
On the DK Meter, if I switch over to DMU1 I'm pretty much bouncing

between 0 and -1. On the 40C scale, it would be around +14, VU is crushed
to the top of the scale. These are all on a Loud mix, most would not be
pushed quite this hard.
Can you share some tips on how to make vocals work in a

mix? It would be great to have specific tips on mixing male
vocals. For example: how did you treat Bruno Mars's voice
on 24K Magik? - Thedberg
Nothing I can think of is specifically done for male vocals. It uses the same
tools; Compression, EQ, De-Esser. I always try to mix vocals for intelligibility
and artistic presentation. I think it would be hard for me to mix my own
vocals (if I was a singer). Does anyone like the way their own voice sounds
on a recording? Again, no special specific treatments on Bruno's vocals.
Great vocalist, great recording engineer (if you don't know, Charles Moniz
not only records all of Bruno in studio, but also does his Front of House in
concert), great production, and great direction and collaboration with Bruno
in the mixing process.
Are you conscious of your monitoring levels? - H-Rezz
Yes, I've touched on this in a few other answers. I try hard to be aware of
listening levels, I don't really time myself. Frequent breaks of not listening or
listening low are normal. I don't use the big monitors much at all, use the
Headphones if I need to really concentrate or pay attention to very soft
details.
Outside of work, I protect my hearing when using machinery, power tools. I

don't go to concerts often, and when I do I always have earplugs with me. I
don't listen to music on EarPods very often, and at low levels when I do.
I encourage everyone to look for other sources for technical

recommendations.
Teenage Dream is an iconic generational album that has

set many records (including the big 5 #1s on the same
album. At the time did you sense you were working on a
special project? And can you share a special insight from
those sessions? - s wave
I don't have any special insight specifically. I think we knew at the time that
it was great and special. First Katy is a special singer and lyricist. You put
that talent in the hands of Dr Luke, Max Martin, Ammo, Benny Blanco, Greg
Wells, Bonnie McKee, and all of the other talent there; you're going to have
something special.
I don't want to say it was just another job, because we were excited and
happy and thrilled to be working with all of these guys and girls, but I don't
want to come off too callous here.
Looking back there are a number of projects that hold a special place and
that I consider to be part of history and not just a part of our body of work.
Katy Perry "Teenage Dream" certainly is one. Some others that stand out
for me.
Musiq Soulchild : "Aijuswanaseing", "Juslisen", "Soulstar"

Jill Scott: "Who is Jill Scott?"
Kelly Clarkson: "Breakaway"
At the time of working on them you like them and appreciate that this is
good music. You have a hope and an expectation that this is something
special.
I also thought that Jewel "0304" was really special but it didn't get the same
critical acclaim.
Any interesting/unusual insight into how you guys

approach drums? - shuchoco
Country stuff, I’m still sent a lot of live drums, pop not so much anymore.
Even the country stuff is often layering samples and loops in production.
Occasionally we will augment a kick, snare, or cymbal with a sample, pretty

much never doing drum replacement. If we are sent real drums we will work
with them and use them. Any decision to do any drum replacement would
be done before tracks are sent to us.
In my mixing projects specifically, I don’t like to put in my own samples. I

know that the producers like something they are getting with the sounds
they have so I make it my mission to figure out how to make what I’ve been
given the best that it can be. I like the challenge of working with the sounds
I’ve been sent as opposed to trying to make a quick fix and drop in a sample
that I like. I don’t want everything to start to sound the same.
I like to process a live drum kit through an aux buss with a channel strip on it
overall; also doing things on the individual channels. Mostly this is because
when you’ve got good balances on a live kit it is easier to then do overall
changes to the aux. I usually try to start with the OverHeads, and then add
in the kick, snare, hat. I'll often do a lot of editing and compression on the
toms to just capture the meat and mute the bleed of other drums. Much of
that sound is otherwise in the overheads. I don’t tend to use much parallel
compression tactics unless it comes that way from the producer.
I generally prefer to treat drum tracks separately rather than bussing all
kicks, all snares together. If it is useful for a specific reason, then summing
is fine as well. If there are a number of samples, try playing with their phase
instead of just trying EQ and Compression. (If I slide this kick sample 100
samples left or right does it sound better or worse?)
Drums are usually the next thing after vocals that require a lot of attention
and mind melding with the producers. Everyone is careful about their drum
sound, so If I can see that a producer has put a lot of thought and energy
into their drum production, I’ll tend to leave it mostly intact.
A lot of the drum vibe is created during production. on Dua Lipa “Blow Your
Mind” those drums are very well done by Jon Levine. I just looked at that
session and it is about 36 stereo tracks of drums and percussion. The goal
during mixing of these kinds of productions is to maintain all of the work
that the producer has put into it; we might not be touching much in the
drums at all in this case; a bit of low roll-off here, a bit of high here, small
level and balance adjustments. We might be doing a bit of panning changes
to spread the drums and percussion, adding or tweaking some reverb
sends.
The bulk of the drums mixing in this case would be polishing the work
already done, fixing any problems, and mixing the rest of the song and the
vocals so that all of that work and detail is not lost.
Mostly nothing special as far as plugins; I’m setting up and working like I
used to on a console. There is an EQ, Gate, Compressor, Limiter, on each
track. I’ll start with using those tools; if anything needs more specific effect
or sound, I’ll start digging through plugins.
After getting a good vocal sound and now working on the

drums, are the rest of the tracks/music/instruments
muted or always on? - bobbl
After I've got to the good rough mix stage, I might mute everything and then
start bringing in parts starting with drums and working through all of the
instruments to vocals; just to hear how everything builds and adds together.
After that, mostly everything on. There will be times to solo all drums and
listen, or solo all vocals and listen of course; but I'll not mix separately as an
instrumental and an acapella for any long period of time.
The bottom end of songs mixed at Mixstar is always

incredible. Could you give some tips on how to better
judge the bottom end for lesser rooms? As an example,
the synth sound at the beginning of Taylor Swift's "Don’t
Blame Me" has a beautiful bottom end and the chorus just
explodes. - octopi
It is difficult to do in a small room. Look at the woofers themselves and

visually see what the low end looks like as the woofers bounce around on a
mix that sounds good elsewhere. You can see some of the low end
information. Check low end on good, not hyped, Headphones.
On some radio stations multiband gain reduction can be

as much as 25 to 35 db with lots of stereo widening and
EQ coloration to push it in a certain energetic sound
signature. Do you keep that in mind when doing a mix? -
NdK
Generally we ignore everything downstream of mastering and just work to

create the best sounding mix we can. There is only one situation that I can
think of where we have intentionally created different mixes for radio is with
Country Radio. They seemed to really mess with the Bass so much that we
have done different mixes for Keith Urban to send to radio than were used
for other releases. His music is very pop influenced, so it doesn’t always
blend with the typical Country Radio preset.
I don’t really love it or hate it, I just kind of ignore it. I think that most people
only listen to broadcast radio in cars these days , which is far from an ideal
listening environment anyway.
Wwhat is your advice for young engineers? - citytape
This is a really hard topic. I think that I've been really lucky in the path that
my career has taken. Let's say I've gone in all-in several times and been
lucky to have a winning hand. There can't be a plan for that.
There have been several times during my career when I've been near broke,
not getting any work, getting work and not being paid for it, and wondering
if it will ever get better.
I've seized hold of every opportunity I've been given and tried to make
myself indispensable in every situation. My advice is that it will be really
hard, you might get used and abused, it is a grind. You might get lucky, like I
have, and make a career out of it, but you need a backup plan and a paying
job until that happens.
If you get a job as an assistant engineer, absorb everything, learn

everything. Make yourself available anytime, anywhere to be ready to work.
Be kind, be humble, understand that you are easily replaceable and find a
way to make yourself not easily replaceable. Know how to learn on your
own; don't ask a lot of questions when people are busy, figure out the why
and how by watching and listening. Ask questions later when everyone is
relaxed.
Don't make any enemies; you never know who might be the next A&R or
head of a label for example.
Protect your hearing; carry earplugs, wear them in noisy environments.

Don't go to a lot of loud concerts. Don't be afraid to step out of the room or
put in earplugs if someone cranks up the mains.
Practice mixing; maybe you can share work with other young engineers. You
mix theirs, they mix yours. Feel what it is like to work on someone else's
songs and sessions. Practice the communication and understanding of

trying to put mixing notes into words.
Practice recording; find a way to get studio time if you have any access.
Maybe after you've documented and are breaking down a session, have
someone play the drums while you move microphones and listen. Have
someone play guitar while you move mics around the speaker cabinet.
The most important thing getting a foothold for me starting out was making
sure I was impressing people. Put the clients first. Show up early, stay late,
anticipate problems and solutions. Know how to do things; how quickly can
you change a blown woofer, what do you do if a mic cable is bad and
crackling, etc. You will not be judged first on your abilities with sound. You
will be judged first on your reliability. You'll be judged on your ability with
sound later, but you have to get to that place first.
Do you have a pair of known trusted pair of Headphones

you can mix with when you’re travelling around, or do you
just use them for editing and session prep? - ryno1
I'm using the PSB M4U1 Headphones. I like these in particular because they
sound pretty similar to my ProAc speakers and they are not heavy. I have an
Oppo HA-1 headphone amplifier that I use for headphone listening. When
monitoring the binaural downmix of an Atmos mix, I'm using the headphone
output of the Grace m908 monitor controller.
What mixing tips do you have for producers/artists who

self-release music? - MattyJoe
I'm not a producer or writer, so I don't have any real-world experience here
to give you.
I might suggest some divisions of labor though. When you start mixing, try
to use what you've already recorded, try not to fix a mix issue with adding
new parts. Take some time between your production phase and your mixing
phase. Take a few days, maybe a week of not listening to your song; then
approach it with a clean perspective.
I have a question about whether you and Serban ever get

into doing "additional production and mix" for clients, or is
it just purely mixing? - Aidyhall
I don't do any additional production in mixing; I am not really a musician

these days (played trumpet from grade-school through college) I don't play
keys or guitar.
I think I've seen Serban throw down a guitar part a few times in all of the
years we've been working together.
Additional production is not part of our scope of work. We would never

replace an element with one of our own. Producers will often send a
replacement part if something isn't feeling right to them.
How do you approach automation? Do you use a controller

and do it "live" (as the session is running)? Do you draw
it? - Oroz
I’ve got a control surface; a mouse is the control, and a mouse pad is the
surface.
Seriously, pretty much all automation is drawn in on the edit screen

automation lanes by mouse; occasionally I’ll turn on automation parameters
and ride a “knob” live via mouse. I like the precision that drawing in via
mouse gives; instant square volume changes between words, or completely
smooth point to point rides.
This is just how my interaction with ProTools evolved; when we started there
were no real control surfaces, and when you’re comfortable with a mouse it
seemed silly to buy a Pro Control or an S6 for thousands, tens of thousands
of dollars to replace a mouse.
I will get basic balances going and pretty quickly start doing the obvious
volume automation moves that need to be done as I’m learning the song.
These would mainly involve leveling out vocals, as they have the most
variability within the song.
As the mix proceeds, the automation will get more and more detailed.
Smaller volume moves, pans, effects sends rides or mutes. I might turn on
and off some EQ bands for different song parts of the same track. Say a
high hat is poking through a snare track or looped drums, I might ride every
hit down with automation rather than messing with trying to EQ, set a
compressor, or other “fix”.
Automation on the master, yes sometimes. A good way to make the chorus
have more energy and drive than the pre-chorus is just pop it up 1dB on the
master volume.
After all of this, though, probably not as much automation going on as you
would think. I’m doing automation during the whole mixing process, but
mostly small moves or setting big moves for sections of the song (i.e.
panning wider in choruses, or bypassing an effect in the chorus). A lot of
the “tweaks” that artists and producers ask for become small automation
moves; turn this down, turn this up, for certain sounds or certain parts of
the song. More reverb here, less delay there kinds of things.
The interesting thing that I’ve gotten into recently with Atmos mixing is that
I’m doing a LOT of automation there for panning (there are 28 lanes of pan
automation on a stereo track going out to a 7.1.2 Atmos output).
So in Atmos mixing, I find myself doing a lot of selecting automation types

(write, latch or touch), setting automation modes (write on stop), and
dragging handles on the surround panner, and then going back and
grabbing different handles. So there I might do one pass where I’m panning
back to front, and then a second pass where I’m panning top to bottom. So
overall the sound sweeps from top back to front bottom. I wish I had a
motorized 3-D surround panner for this.
Do you generally boost to make things stand out, or do you

carve at things that might obscure what you want to stand
out? - Lei
All of the above. If the problem is too much low frequency, then don't boost
the highs. Identify the problem and apply the simplest solution. Boosting is
more likely to drive the track to distortion, and everyone likes to add more of
this and more of that, but try to avoid only boosting.
I have a question regarding building a mix template to

have a pain-free stem mixdown. A lot of labels ask for
stems and they check if stems are summarized perfectly
to sound like a printed mix. But with excessive mix buss
processing and parallel aux processing it can be quite
tricky to bounce separate stems so they would sound the
same as print. Any thoughts on building a smart mix
template to have the ability to bounce perfect stems? -
EvgenyStudio
I run into the same problems when ProTools sessions come in from some
producers that have complex and nested aux tracks.
There is not a pain-free solution and there are not perfect stems. The
purpose of the mix is to make the Stereo track sound the best; if the stems
suffer because of this than too bad! If you want me to mix for perfect stems,
then don't ask for a perfect Stereo mix.
A smart mix template for *near perfect* stems is to not use any sub-mixed
aux busses, not put any effects on track inserts, and not do very much
Master Bus processing. This is not realistic and is not the goal of a Stereo
mix.
Are you primarily a mix engineer or do you track a lot of

projects these days as well? If and when tracking, are you
working out of MixStar in Virginia Beach, VA? - Wilkinswp
Just mixing these days, no tracking. I think the last project that we fully
tracked and mixed was Kenna "New Sacred Cow" or NERD "In Search
Of"Our studio is a private facility, there is no good information available in

regards to the studio.
I want to ask how you generally treat esss's and t's as they
always seem to sit tight but never disappear. Do you more
often than not de-es manually or how do you generally
approach this? - Lei
A bit of both Plugin De-Esser on the tracks, but also manually pulling down
anything that still stands out too much. I don't want to crank the De-Esser
so hard to smash the big ones that it makes the whole track lisp-y. (Yes, I
read the thread about The Weeknd! Glad that our mixes passed inspection).
So a lighter touch on the Plugin and manual riding.
Are there any pointers to getting voices to sit so perfectly

in a mix? Are there any particular go-to compressors,
reverbs, eqs etc, that you tend to rely on for vocals? -
Coldsnow
It kind of comes naturally after a while, but a few things that I do that could
become pointers.
I Always mix with the vocals on. I don't mix an instrumental and then add the
vocals. First step after getting to the "good rough mix" stage is get the
vocals sitting right, and then go and mix the instruments with the vocals in
the mix.
Listen really soft; can you hear and understand the words? If not, vocals are
too low or muddy. Listen without concentrating; play the mix down while
doing something else. What sticks out, what is missing when you are not in
full concentration mode. Any particular EQ, compressor, verbs, etc. that I
use and rely on are not because they are in any way special or amazing, but
because I am comfortable with them.
Do you find that you often sweep around for bad

frequencies by increasing volume or do you feel like you
typically know what frequencies need to be attenuated by
what sounds good in the mix? - Coldsnow
Mostly by what sounds good in the mix; I can't really solo a track and sweep
for bad frequencies because they might only be bad when interacting with
all of the mix. Only after identifying which track I might do a bit of sweeping
to find the sweet spot to cut.Mainly I'm identifying problem areas by simple
listening as well as looking at a 1/3 octave analyzer, and now we've got
really good frequency graphs in many EQ plugins.
Do you find you gravitate to various mix bus chains

depending on the style of music, example mixes for Lana
Del Rey or Camila Cabello, or do you have one general
chain you know just works? Also, how many db's do you
normally leave for the mastering engineer to do their
thing? - H-Rezz
We have one standard mix buss chain that is used on everything. We mix
through it, meaning it goes on at the beginning of the mixing process and
the whole process of mixing is done with it in place.
It is mostly “set and forget”, but there are times when small adjustments
might be made to overall EQ, compassion, limiting, etc.
When we get sessions from producers that have their own mix bus chains in
place, we’ll review what they are doing with each plugin. Some things we
will keep in place because it has become an integral part of their rough mix.
Other things can be removed or replaced by our own tools. Quite often just
removing some things from the rough mix chain will make the mix better
right away.
I won’t share exactly what we use here, as that chain was developed and
perfected by Serban and is his “proprietary” information to keep to himself
if he wishes. We generally leave little for the mastering engineer to do. It
takes a great skill to take it to that “sounds like it’s already mastered” place,
so definitely a pro move.
So on a typical loud mix, at the loudest part of the song, on my DK Audio

Meter, set to NBC scale which is AES full scale, we’ll be sitting around -6,
with peaks to -4. On the Waves WLM Meter, which I normally look at just for
Atmos mixing, it is pretty crushed at about -6LUFS at the loudest part of
the song.
On occasion the mastering engineer will ask us to bring it down, and

rightfully so. Other times, the artist or producer will say we like the mix
better than the mastering, can you ask them to pass it straight through. The
theory here is do everything that will affect the sound inside the mix, which
the artist, producer, and mixer have tweaked to perfection.
Do you have a separated Vocal Bus and Music Bus to avoid

the vocals driving the main bus compression or do you use
the old school approach of sending everything, vocals and
music, to the same bus compressor? - Jakelorenz
If a ProTools session comes in from the producer with separate Vocal Bus
and Mix Bus, I'm not going to remove it. They created it with that processing
in place and it will change things too much to rework it after the fact.But
even in these cases, everything is still going to go through the Master Bus
chain and output 1&2. The Master Bus plugins and settings might need to
back off some as a majority of that compression is being done already.I'm
not going to create a session that is set up that way, I definitely prefer what
you call Old School! I guess I am getting old.
When you add the mix buss chain into the session. Do you
have a trim plugin on the beginning of the chain so the
music will hit the mixbus chain at the same volume for all
the songs you mix? (some sort of consistency I guess). -
musicmixer04
No trim plugin. Consistency comes from experience and listening to the

volume, looking at the meters, and knowing about what levels I should be at
to hit the Master Bus about where I want constantly. If things start to get too
hot, I'd rather make a group of everything that is feeding the Master Bus
and trim all of the tracks down equally rather than using a plugin on the
master to do it. Always trying to maintain proper gain structure and not just
compensate for bad gain structure at the end of the chain.
Is there any type of Pultec low end style boost going on

the entire mix where you would add a bunch of bottom end
to the entire session? Or is it mainly just limiting and small
EQ moves / stereo m/s? - Spankjam
Generally no. Again if the producer has sent us his ProTools session and
crafted his mix with this in place on his Master Bus, We will evaluate it and
see if it is needed to maintain the production values he has set up.In my
preferred world, low end should be crafted and nurtured on the individual
tracks where you have much more control over it; just adding a bunch to the
whole mix feels very imprecise to me. Chances are you're just going to be
boosting a bunch of low mud that has not been filtered out of individual
tracks.
How much of the overall sound would you say comes from
the mix bus chain? Like if you bypassed it all, other than
loudness, would the mix sound drastically different or is it
all doing quite light touches. Is the compression and or
limiting full range or is there a multi-band process in use?
- Mr XY
I think other than loudness, it is doing light touches. As I said before, we are
mixing through this chain from the beginning of the process, so all of the
mixing decisions and tweaks are being done on the individual tracks but
heard through the whole chain. So if I want to widen a sound, I'm not
widening on the Master Bus, but I am hearing the consequences of
widening through the Master Bus. Both full range and multi-band processes
are used.
Is the same true for subgroups and busses, as in do you

generally work within standard chains for these groups as
well that feed into the mix buss? - ULA
Subgroups and busses are created as needed for things like BGV's to apply
processing to all equally. We don't have, for example, a Bass Buss or Drum
Bus that has stock presets. If one is needed, it is created for that mix.
I wouldn't generally mix into a high/low pass eq. You're just going to
compensate elsewhere by boosting or cutting those frequencies on the
individual tracks. I would prefer to fix these things at the source. Nothing
else to add on the Mix Buss!
Can I ask if you use very minimal compression on the

master bus? - jakelorenz
If the Vocals are driving the compressor too much, then they are too loud or
you are using too much bus compression. If I take my bus compressor and
crush the mix ridiculously, it doesn't change the balance of music and
vocals, it only changes the overall volume and of course distorts.
Most of your mixes have some kind of grit/saturation only

noticeable on Headphones. And it seems that any genre of
music you mix goes through this process. I would really
appreciate If you could share your philosophy concerning
this process. - Young.baws
I think that we all have grown used to music sounding as if it has come off
of tape. Even music created when tape machines are a distant memory are
influenced by the past benchmarks of music created on tape. It just sounds
good, right? Apply as you see fit.
Delivery/stems bouncing - Could you share some insights

on how you approach this? - Lei
Stems are a part of our standard delivery to the label. These days I offline
bounce all of my stems.
I don't bounce the stems right away as the mix passes are delivered to
mastering; it is something I take care of as I find time between more urgent
requests. One benefit of 100% in the box is that I can open and close things
as needed to do these tasks; there is no reset needed to go into stems
mode or mix mode.
While I'm bouncing stems, I'll be doing paperwork, catching up on billing, or

just taking a hearing break.
I find it difficult to bounce with side chaining a master

buss processor so that every stem is reacting the same
way it would for the mix on each individual stem. Do you
do this? - Dias
If you're talking about doing a side-chain to pump the whole mix; we don't
do that. We don't mix with side-chains pumping the master bus. Any side-
chain is within the tracks or groups on an aux bus.
If you're talking about generally the overall processing, limiting,

compression of the master bus not hitting the same, I don't worry about it. I
print all the stems through the master bus, they do come out hotter than
the mix because of the difference in the overall bus compression, etc., I'm
not doing any side chain or compensation for stems.
I do just solo the parts for the stems and print what plays, reverbs, effects,
and all.
The purpose of the stems is not to re-create the mix perfectly when they
are all played back together. It is not going to happen. We do sometimes get
complaints about this and I will tell them to drop everything by 6dB, put a bit
of master bus compression on the whole thing and you're 99% there. If a
special mix is needed, we'll do it here, don't try to do it from the stems.
The purpose of the stems is for the artist to get remixes done where they
might use some of the elements in a new production, so it doesn't matter if
they perfectly re-create our mix.
The other purpose is for the artist to be able to do live shows and use
elements from the mix where again it doesn't need to be a perfect
reproduction of the mix. The FOH engineer is going to be making their own
adjustments and probably blending in live instruments.
I was wondering if there are some plugins that you use on

every mix...or could you list your top 3-5 indispensable
plugins? - Scubaman 6000
So one thing that goes on here is that we work with so many different
producers and artists using so many different plugins, that we are buying
plugins regularly to be compatible with the ProTools sessions as they are
sent to us.
My AAX plug-ins folder has over 1000 items in it (when all folders are open).
As the producers are constantly experimenting with new plugins, we seem

to collect more and more of them. To narrow that down to a Top-5 of what I
choose when I am choosing the plugins comes up with a list of things that
mostly I have used for a long time and are familiar with.
Metric Halo ChannelStrip 3: This is no secret; it is the first go-to

EQ/channelstrip picked for anything. This is mainly due to comfort
level. When you are comfortable working on a console like an SSL
4000, you grab the eq knob or the compressor knob without really
looking at it and turn it to what feels right. You don’t need to look at the
printing to see if that is 1.5kHz or 3kHz, if the Q is 2 or .5; you have
muscle memory by experience and feel. It is that same familiarity with
this plugin; I can just grab the handles in the EQ window, or quickly
click buttons or type in values and set it the way I want. No hunting for
functions or hidden settings.
Waves CLA-76: the first thing I try on vocals. Blacky, 4:1 and hit about
-3dB compression generally. Bluey, 4:1 and -10dB compression for in
your face.
Waves Renaissance DeEsser: Another old friend. Frequency 5500, hit
about -6dB and adjust to taste. Vocal channels generally get
Compressor, then EQ, then De-Esser. If I need to clean out low-free on
it, I’ll put an Avid EQ3 1-band EQ and filter the lows before compressor.
Ozone RX-7: really quick to clean up track noise, mouth noise, repairs.
Valhalla Vintage Verb: very popular on sessions sent to us, so is has
become a go-to tool.

Waves H-Delay or Avid Mod Delay III: good basic delays; if I’m looking
for more specialized effects there are a world of them to choose from.
Avid Lo-Fi: add a tiny bit of distortion (.1-.5) or saturation (.1-.4) to
smooth synth cymbals.
Kilohearts: I’ve been falling in love with these, simple utility interfaces,
easy to understand. Distortion; add hard clip and distortion to an 808
to bring forward on small speakers. Chorus to add body to BGV, Haas
for spreading a mono track, all sound good.
As far as tips, tricks, and settings in general, I think that it depends so much
on the material. I just adjust until it sounds right.
Regarding your RX7 use - I find I expect to pass at least

the lead vocals through this to clean it up on every mix. Is
that something you find yourself doing, or is it later in the
process, only fixing the stuff that stands out? -
psycho_monkey
Some producers will have taken care of enough of this before they send
that I don't need to do this extensively on every song that comes in.
Here is how I clean vocals: First I want a good rough mix going; I'll get the
vocals at least with basic settings on compression, EQ, and de-esser. I'll get
the volumes and balances close. Much of the time this is done for me as the
producer has sent the ProTools session of his rough mix. I don't run a
complete top to bottom pass of RX-7. I'll open up a few Audio Suite plugins
(turn target off so you can open multiple plugin windows).
RX-7 Mouth DeClick - default to start

RX-7 DeClick - multiband algorithm, default to start

Gain - -6 to -9dB
EQ3 1-band - High Pass, maybe 150Hz to 200Hz.
By the way, I’m pretty much always working in the Edit Window and looking
at the waveforms. So now, I’ll solo up the Lead Vocal track(s), or a group of
BGV’s that are the same part. zoomed in to a section maybe 30 seconds, I’ll
listen down the track and hit it as I find problems with one of the open tools.
For mouth noises; I’ll select maybe one second of the audio around the click
I hear and zap it with Mouth De-Click. I’ll listen back to what it has done,
and adjust if necessary.
Some clicks are better resolved with standard De-Click. Plosives I’ll hit with
the EQ3 filter, big breaths and some excessive sibilance I’ll hit with the Gain.
I’ll also take this time to cut (region separate and mute) and fade the
beginning and end of phrases as needed, and cut any noise where there are
no vocals.
I have to be careful here of room noise appearing and disappearing as the

vocals come in and out, so sometimes it might need to be left in or faded
out slowly. Other times if it is really annoying I’ll go into full RX-7 Connect /
RX-7 Monitor mode and deal with room noise, hums, or other, deeper
issues.
I’ll do the same to each BGV part, but here I’ll often completely mute
breaths and make a quick fade in on the vocal. Also sibilance on BGV’s can
be treated much more harshly.
If voices in the BGV’s stack are out of time with each other in the attack or
release, I’ll fade back the ones that are early or held long. Often this is to
make sure that the Left and Right panned vocals are beginning and ending
at the same time, and timing with the Lead vocal is also suitable. I’ll do this
for each stack of Background Vocal parts, and any other vocals (vocoder
parts might need a lot of breath reduction, gang vocals might need a lot of
dead space mutes).Again, as I’m doing this, I’m listening back and adjusting
everything I’m doing as I go.
So it can be a very tedious process in a session with tons of stacked BGV’s,

or with bands with a lot of lead vocalists (boy band, K-Pop).
No shortcuts. Especially on vocals, because we are naturally so attuned

towards vocal comprehension, each fix needs to be consciously made.
Are there situations where the client actually WANTS

clicks and bad edits in? Is this a conversation that you'll
have before diving into tedious vocal clean up mode? -
rhythmic5
Yes, this sometimes happens; usually towards the end of the mix they start
to regret that as those bad edits or clicks suddenly become much more
prominent because everything else in the mix is nice and clear and clean
and present.
There are some producers that we work with that I know don't want things
fixed or changed much, so I'll take a lighter hand with those.
Also, if the producer puts a vinyl crackle track on the song, I'm much less
inclined to go in and spend a lot of time fixing vocal clicks.
What are some tips and techniques you have for getting
very wide and focused synth/bass pads? - JanetB
What you do is hire Max Martin and his WolfCousins to do production!

Seriously, this is not something that is created in the mix; it is the producer's
choices and skills.
See also new mix by Serban for Tones & I "You're So ****ing Cool". Beautiful
Steve Mac production and wide!
Don't be afraid to pick a pad that is a bit out of phase for this.
What techniques do you use to make your mixes hold up in

mono and stereo? Eg uptown funk and 24 carrot magic. -
Scubaman 6000
To be honest, mono compatibility isn't really a top concern. I don't listen

down to the mix in mono.I do pay attention to it as I'm working. I am
listening for phase and watching the phase meter on the DK Audio Meter
that sits directly in my line of sight.If I hear or see something going out of
phase, I'll find which track is doing it an see if flipping the phase on one side
of the stereo channel makes it better, or if it changes the sound too much. I
won't sacrifice the sound for mono compatibility. Some choices by a
producer to have a super wide sound in a mix might make it mono
incompatible, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone really care about it
these days.
Track Levels - Do you "normalize" the rough tracks before

they go through your chains or do you adjust your chains
to accommodate different signals and levels? - mix_dome
I don't normalize rough tracks. If the recorded signal is so faint that I can't
even see the waveform in the standard view, I might AudioSuite Gain the
tracks up to that I can at least see waveforms.
Other than that it is just using regular fader volume or gain settings on any
compressors to bring the level up. Also the Master Fader volume can be
brought up to get the gain structure set correctly before it hits the master
bus plugins.
Achieving "perfection" with quick turnarounds and tight deadlines
Could you share some workflow concepts, like how a top

mixing firm actually "DOES" the job so quickly so to speak,
that would be superbly appreciated. - CanadaSC1
Several levels going on here. First, do we 'create' chart topping mixes? Or

do the songs top the charts and drag the mix along? Would a 'bad' mix of a
Taylor Swift or Bruno Mars single not top the charts? It is kind of a chicken
and egg problem isn't it.
Obviously when topping the charts we are blessed to work with really good
artists, usually very well done recordings and productions, great
songwriting. I think a great mix makes the artist, producers, and A&R more
comfortable that they have a great product to release.
Dealing with the demands of clients, deadlines, and timelines is a universal

issue. First, deadlines are mostly meant to be broken. How many times we
do a mix under a deadline, submit it, it is approved, even mastered. Then
two weeks later; “we’re going to send you a new bass-line, and the singer
has some new ad libs to drop in.”
So you do what you can by the deadline, and leave it up to the people who
enforce the deadlines to say if the song is done or not. Some deadlines are
hard and real. In those cases it might not be the best mix that can be, but
obviously in something so rushed, the perfect mix is not the goal of the
project.
Mixing songs for TV releases is usually the hardest deadline. In the mixes
for Songland that Serban mixed; Jonas Brothers “Greenlight”, Julia Michaels
“Give It To You” the files arrived about 3 days ahead and had to be ready for
TV broadcast with an absolute hard deadline. For Ariana Grande’s “Thank
You, Next” single files arrived in the morning and had to be out to mastering
by that evening.
In these cases you have to fall back to basics. Make the mix sound good
overall, don’t nitpick fine details. Fix things that stick out. Don’t get
panicked and spend every hour working on the mix; get a good mix going,
then walk away. Work on something else for a while; come back with a fresh
perspective. Do the mixing in many shorter sessions rather than one long
one; it is totally counter-intuitive when a deadline is crushing you; but your
first 30 minutes of mixing might be your most productive; so create those
first mix revelations over and over again. Don't concentrate too hard, let you
subconscious hear things that aren't hitting right. Vary the volume, listen
loud for a bit, listen soft for a bit, don't burn out your hearing trying to get
the chest-thump on the kick. Of course being really efficient and organized
in general helps in these situations.
Here is how our workflow here operates. When a song comes in, I deal with
the files. My job at that point is to make sure that technically it is ready to
mix. First, do the files sent match the rough mix? Same production? These
files are saved on a drive called “Original Files” Next, “Save Copy In” and
copy it all to you “Prepped Mixes” drive. NEVER work on the original files.
You will, at some point, want to refer back to the original session or files
untouched.
Then I will get the session organized in the way we like it here; drums at the
top, percussion, bass, guitars, keys, synths, BGV, Adlibs, Lead Vocals.
Everything put in order, labelled, and groups made to easily identify parts.
I’ll also do any cleaning of clicks, pops, bad edits, noise.
I’ll simplify the session if necessary and if I am able to. Clean up the I/O
Setup and get rid of all unused busses, inputs, outputs. Rename and move
busses that interfere with our “effects template”.
Drums going to an aux bus with no plugins? I can copy the volume moves to
the tracks and send it all out the master bus. Lead Vocals and BGV’s
feeding the same Vocal bus? I will duplicate and create an aux for just the
Leads and one for just the BGV’s. the entire goal here is to get something
into Serban’s hands that is organized, cleaned, and easy to understand. If
he hears a tamborine, he knows where in the session it can be found, it is
labelled, and grouped with the Percussion.
He should then only need to worry about the artistic decisions of mixing
and not any technical details that take him out of the mixing headspace.
If you don’t have someone to do this work for you; as I don’t when I’m
mixing my own projects, you can approach it in the same way. Do the work
in two steps. First act as the technical engineer and do all of the organizing
and cleaning tasks. You might identify things to hit later in the mix, but don’t
spend time mixing at this point. When you have the mix organized and
technically ready, then copy the files to you “Mix Sessions” drive. Again,
don’t work on your cleaned up session or files; you will want to refer back to
them at some point.
Also back up everything regularly. Have multiple copies and backups. Stay
organized that you are working on the current file, but have backups ready.
Nothing kills momentum faster than “oops my drive crashed and I lost
everything”.
Do you have any delivery requirements for the producer, or

is it usually just "send the session as is?" - Mattjhuber
We work with so many different producers, who are working in so many

different ways, that we just need to take whatever they send. Sometimes it
is a full ProTools session, complete as they left it. Sometimes people will
commit or remove some or all plugins (removing just makes it harder for us).
Maybe half the time it is not a ProTools session at all, but a "pile of files"
multitrack. This can range from a producer's "stems" (we always ask for at
least dry vocals), to some producers who send a couple of hundred files
with every instrument and vocal track separate as well as printed effects for
each vocal track (hopefully separated by folders such as BGV Wet, BGV
Dry, Lead Wet, Lead Dry, BGV printed effects, Lead printed effects). That's
when I put on my white lab coat and goggles and get to work!
You mention prepping the files yourselves. Do you have

assistants at MixStar, and if so what roles do they play - is
this the sort of thing you'd delegate, or do you like to be
hands-on from the start? - psycho_monkey
We don't have any assistants here; it is a two-man operation. We have had

assistants in the past, but as we don't do any recording and are mixing in
the box, there was little for them to do. Ultimately they got frustrated, we
understood and helped them to move forward elsewhere. There was just
not much for them to do.
If we set up another room, spent another, let's say $75k for another full
ProTools setup, all the plugins, etc; maybe they would be able to start to
prep mixes and print stems. As businessmen, we have to weigh the pro's
and con's of that and the cost/benefit. So far it would not be a good
financial move to spend a bunch of money on equipment, set up payroll,
etc. so that we can get stems out a bit faster. We can't mix any more
quantity than we are now, so any additional prepping help would not be
useful.
I’d love to know if you’re mixing ITB 100% or do you still

use a couple of hardware units in your system? I saw a
33609 in the The Weekend’s Dolby Atmos Mix article. If
you do use it (maybe it’s just sitting in the rack), how do
you use it? Mix bus? Drum bus? Something else? - Oroz
Yes! 100% in the box mixing. The 'bounce to disk' is what is sent to clients
and to mastering. Never touches analog in the mix, no external summing, no
console. Everything is routed out the A 1-2 Master Fader.
Now, on occasion, and this is getting very rare, there might be an insert on
the master fader. That is what the Neve 33609/J has been used for. But
before anyone goes out and buys one because we have it; I think that last
time we used it on the insert was maybe 4 years ago!
We are also using the Avid HD I\/O, and internal clock. Because there are no
D/A and A/D conversions happening, aside from going to the monitors and
external meter, we don't need any fancier digital converters or clocking.

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John Hanes - Gearspace.

com 2/11/22, 4:40 PM

What are the measurements of your mixing room? -

My room is approximately 16' x 16'.

packages and overseeing installation of equipment. While there, I did

We try to do updates as little as possible for OS and for ProTools. Currently

Do you have some quick workarounds when it comes to

When that disk is working perfectly and stable, it will be backed up to

As you mentioned quite a few times here being "Old

I am wondering how you create realistic modern vocal

To sound good and convincing as actual doubles, it should be done in

If you have a static mix which sounds ok but a bit boring.

I would definitely be doing automation to make each chorus a bit bigger

Do you work at whatever format the files come in or

I'll convert sessions in the following circumstances;

44.1kHz, 16 bit will be converted to 44.1kHz 24bit (better resolution in

Hey John, just wondering if there's any things you always

No different work flow or strategies I think. These things kind of become

Hi John, a short question - do

We'll use these on occasion. UAD's SPL

How do you see the mixing/recording/production aspect

I think that probably traditional genre categories will continue to be shaken

I'm wondering how your mixing has changed over time -

Mostly everything has gotten bigger and more complicated. I look at

The power that is in the hands of today's artists, songwriters, and

What sampling rates are used in productions like Max

Could you tell us which Sample Rate Conversion you are

Again, the reasoning is that since the mastering engineer is going to be

Can you tell us what converters and hardware you are

No hardware, this is done by ProTools during the bounce to disk.

Do you use multiple master faders (masters for «final»

Sorry, no plans for myself or Serban to do a MWTM.

Hello John, wanted to know what version of Pro Tools do

How long do you typically spend on a mix? Is it a case of

revisions as necessary, or do you tend to do a 'first pass'

I wanted to know how do you keep your ears healthy by

I notice you use a lot of 1/4 note delays on vocals. I was

Some do add verb and a variety of other things to the delays.

I'm wondering what you've noticed in recent years when

you receive projects, and how you adapt to trends. How

Do you find yourself taming mid range, or boosting spots

Do you have any tips to get emotionally connected to a

Regarding pop music with electronic programmed drums,

I wondered whether you consider the cohesiveness of the

Work on the technical corrections, make the vocals present and

I am curious about how you achieve the sound of your

more) different producers, recorded by 100 different engineers, in 100

Do you use codec auditioning tools such as Sonnox Pro

media and that should be corrected at their end.

I'm wondering what the process is like for mixing songs

Instruments folder, VoxWet folder, VoxProcessed folder, VocDry folder, and

When you get several tracks of the same thing, such as 4

Would you still treat the sources individually but have

I personally don't have a big presence on Social Media. No Instagram or

Do you use the MH CS3 limiter

copying my answer from another. I'd say

I would like to know your opinion on getting the