Tracking & Mixing Master Series I
Producer of the stars Tony Shepperd has worked with Whitney Houston, Madonna, Quincy Jones, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Kenny Loggins, Boyz II Men and many, many more. In his first series, Tony reveals his personal theories and practices for recording a rock band and mixing the track... Get on board!
Videos
• Introduction (01:52) - Tony welcomes you to the series and explains what to expect in the following videos.
• The Journey of Sound (03:19) - Tony discusses the fundamentals of sound; including the three transformation processes the sound goes through when traveling into your computer and out again.
• Setting Up to Record Drums (14:02) - Watch as Tony mics all the drums from the ground up and and discusses the pros and cons of the individual mic types and placement.
• Tracking the Trio (02:22) - Now it's time to set up for recording the guitars and bass. Tony shows the best placement for mics on the amps as well as recording directly use a DI.
• Recording Vocals (00:55) - Now that the tracking of the band is done it is time to cut some vocals. Tony shows you the gear and signal path to record the lead vocal for the track.
• Keyboards & MIDI (04:20) - Tony discusses how he sets up outboard MIDI keyboards and records them into the DAW. Tips and tricks are also offered on backing up performances as well as synchronization.
• 3 Dimensions of a Mix (01:01) - Tony discusses the 3 different perceived dimensions that make up a mix.
• Deconstructing the Mix (03:11) - Tony begins with his foundations of starting a mix. Common master bus plug-ins and settings are discussed and why they're used.
• Kick (02:27) - Tony solos the Kick tracks and works on them revealing routing, EQ, compression and more.
• Snare (07:41) - Tony solos the Snare tracks and works on them revealing EQ, compression, reverb settings and more.
• Hats (02:11) - Tony discusses his preference for using the drummer perspective when panning before demonstrating his eq plug-in settings.
• Toms (02:11) - Tony shows the process he used to trim the tom mic tracks audio clips to ensure they fit in correctly in the stereo spectrum.
• Overheads (01:05) - Tony adds a little top end sizzle to the overhead tracks using eq.
• Drum Bus (02:17) - Tony discusses his drum bus setup and why he prefers to work that way and its benefits. Tony also shows what plug-ins he has on the drum bus.
• Room Mics (03:02) - Tony introduces some room mics into the mix and adds compression to them.
• Bass (03:57) - In this video Tony moves on to the bass. Tony experiments with some compressors on the bass looking for the sound he wants.
• Mixing Guitar (10:44) - Tony moves on to getting the guitars fitting nicely in the mix through more processing.
• Acoustic Guitar (02:47) - Tony brings the acoustic guitar in on the chorus and and uses EQ.
• Lead Vocal (05:44) - Now it's time to work on mixing in the lead vocal! Tony adds eq, reverb, delay, harmonizer and some compression to the vocal track.
• Vocal Automation (02:42) - Time to automate some of the parameters on the eq plug-in on the vocal track. Tony shows the benefits of automating individual frequencies.
• Mix Automation (03:44) - Tony discusses using automation on sends to accentuate certain words and beats. And uses an eq as an example.
• More Vocal Automation (05:52) - Tony continues painting in automation on the the vocal track plug-ins.
• Background Vocals (05:31) - Now it's time to mix the background vocals and fit them into the song. Tony moves around the audio clips to make them fit.
• 2 Track Master (02:23) - Tony records the mix to disc and prepares it for mastering.
• Using Templates & More (02:03) - Tony discusses the benefits of setting your 'work station' up consistently the same as well as the benefits of using your DAW's templates.
• Artist Feedback (02:19) - Tony shows how using the Source Live plug-in allows you to broadcast the mix with the artist when they are in another location through streaming!
• Mastering Notes (01:09) - Tony explains the process of sending the mix out to a mastering engineer and what the engineer does.