The Mechanics of Mixing in Logic Pro X

Learn the nuts and bolts of mixing in Logic Pro X! Eli Krantzberg takes you on a mixing journey using nothing but LPX, showing you all the features and functions, steps, techniques and theories to use to create a professional sounding product. You also get the full Logic Project and audio files so you can mix or remix along in real-time!

Setup

• The Mechanics of Mixing (02:02) - Get an overview of what this series is about, and hear an A/B comparison between the raw tracks and the finished mix.

• Creating & Coloring Markers (04:51) - Listen through to the mix as it was delivered as markers are created for each section of the song.

• Organizing the Instrument Tracks (04:28) - Follow along as the tracks are renamed, and the default channel strip setting plug-ins removed.

• Organizing the Vocal Tracks (07:31) - The vocal tracks are bounced back to mono, and split up on to separate tracks for every verse, chorus, bridge, vocal FX, and coda.

• Track Stacks & Signal Flow (10:37) - See how both summing stacks and folder stacks are set up to control signal flow and routing of all the tracks in the project.

• Faders Up! (10:47) - Follow along as initial fader levels are set for a general overall blend of all the elements, while making sure to leave plenty of headroom on the master bus.

• The Master Bus (06:03) - Watch as a duplicate Master Bus channel strip is set up for metering purposes, and some gentle compression is dialed in to catch sharp transients.

The Instruments

• The Drums Pt. 1 (09:29) - Follow along as processing is added to the overheads, kick, snare, and high hat mics.

• The Drums Pt. 2 (13:54) - See how to make the drum mix sound more exciting by setting up parallel processing for the kick tracks, snare tracks, and full drum mix.

• Electric Bass (09:34) - Watch as Bass Amp Designer and side chain compression settings are set up, and automation is added.

• Electric Bass Flex Fixes (03:46) - See how flex time is used for quantization and a few simple timing fixes in the bass part.

• Intro Guitars (05:52) - Hear how the electric guitars used in the introduction and bridge are processed, and see how two hard panned electric guitars are routed through a parallel mono bus in order to process a mono image of their summed signal.

• Intro Guitars Sweetening (03:04) - Gentle ?glue? style compression and some Mid/Side EQ is added to the Intro Guitars summing stack, in order to help them ?pop? better with the bass and drums.

• Verse Guitars (05:01) - See how some subtle Amp Designer and Pedal Board tweaking helps differentiate the two complimentary strumming patterns. Then optical compression, mid/side EQ, and narrowing the stereo width on the summing stack is used to help glue the two together for a unified sound.

• Chorus Guitars (08:20) - Discover a nice thickening technique achieved by routing audio in parallel through duplicate channel strips, each with unique stereo pan width & placements, and unique effects processing. When combined with the source audio, the result is a full rich sounding stereo spread.

• Guitar Fills (07:53) - Hear how the guitar fills are processed for a wet panned stereo effect, and look at a recap of all the guitar track routing before we move on to the vocals.

Vocals

• Verse Lead Vocal (08:22) - Watch as an ethereal dreamlike floating effect is created as the lead vocal is sent to a traditional reverb. A duplicated tuned version of the vocal is combined in the reverb return only for a thicker reverb sound, which is then processed with some EQ and stereo delay.

• Verse Harmony Vox (05:02) - Hear how the harmony vocal part is processed and edited to fit with and compliment the lead.

• Chorus Vocals (07:29) - Watch as a couple of small problems are dealt with getting the chorus vocals to blend and match the tonal qualities of the verse vocals.

• Bridge Vocals (09:51) - Explore how the combination of Track Alternatives and Selection Based Processing is used to allow creative experimentation with a safety net, as the Harmony Vox bridge vocal part is processed beyond recognition!

• Alternate Bridge Vocal Idea (08:22) - Selection Based Processing and Track Alternatives are used again, to experiment with an alternate version of the B-Vox vocal tracks in the bridge.

• Bridge Vocal Tweaks (04:51) - Delay is now added to the dry lead vocal to compensate for what was temporarily bypassed on the reverb/delay effects return. A fade is used to clean up a bad edit, and time stretching is experimented with for an alternate timing feel at the end of the middle phrase.

• Second Verse & Chorus (07:13) - Watch as the timing between the lead and B-Vox track is tightened up, and the pitch shifted duplicate lead vocal is again set up to run through the effects return only.

• Filter Vox FX Pt. 1 (06:50) - See how a factory channel strip setting is used in conjunction with a custom plug-in chain for a unique filtered vocal effect.

• Filter Vox FX Pt. 2 (07:07) - See how an alternate track is set up for a separate chorus effect, and hear how the central hook of the song is emphasized by doubling it on the filtered FX tracks.

• Coda Vocals (04:44) - Follow along as some unique echo effects are set up and contrasted with a completely dry vocal phrase, and watch as cross fades are used creatively to tame some sibilants on the filtered tracks.

The Mix

• Vocal Tweaks (06:27) - A couple of sibilant sounds are softened with fades, and region gain offset is used to smooth out the relative balance of doubled and tripled parts.

• Automation Tweaks (06:15) - An iPad with Logic remote is now used to add some automation to the guitar and drum parts, bringing them up and down at selected places between vocal phrases.

• Final Tweaks & Track Export (05:25) - A few final tweaks are reviewed, and all the individual tracks, including the multiple outputs from the Drum Kit Designed Producer Kit, are exported for archival purposes.

• Mix Bus Parallel Processing (10:21) - See how a parallel mix bus is set up with linear phase EQ and multi-band compression for subtle tonal balancing. The signal is then combined with the regular mix bus, and limiting is applied to the summed signal arriving at the Stereo Output.

• Final Playback (04:37) - Sit back and watch the Breathe For You video by Haylely Richman accompanied by the audio mix produced in this video series.