The Mechanics of Mixing in Logic Pro X

Chapter 1 : Setup

• 2:02

  The Mechanics of Mixing

  Get an overview of what this series is about, and hear an A/B comparison between the raw tracks and the finished mix.

• 4:51

  Creating & Coloring Markers

  Listen through to the mix as it was delivered as markers are created for each section of the song.

• 4:28

  Organizing the Instrument Tracks

  Follow along as the tracks are renamed, and the default channel strip setting plug-ins removed.

• 7:31

  Organizing the Vocal Tracks

  The vocal tracks are bounced back to mono, and split up on to separate tracks for every verse, chorus, bridge, vocal FX, and coda.

• 10:37

  Track Stacks & Signal Flow

  See how both summing stacks and folder stacks are set up to control signal flow and routing of all the tracks in the project.

• 10:47

  Faders Up!

  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.

• 6:03

  The Master Bus

  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.

Chapter 2 : The Instruments

• 9:29

  The Drums Pt. 1

  Follow along as processing is added to the overheads, kick, snare, and high hat mics.

• 13:54

  The Drums Pt. 2

  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.

• 9:34

  Electric Bass

  Watch as Bass Amp Designer and side chain compression settings are set up, and automation is added.

• 3:46

  Electric Bass Flex Fixes

  See how flex time is used for quantization and a few simple timing fixes in the bass part.

• 5:52

  Intro Guitars

  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.

• 3:04

  Intro Guitars Sweetening

  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.

• 5:01

  Verse Guitars

  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.

• 8:20

  Chorus Guitars

  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.

• 7:53

  Guitar Fills

  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.

Chapter 3 : Vocals

• 8:22

  Verse Lead Vocal

  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.

• 5:02

  Verse Harmony Vox

  Hear how the harmony vocal part is processed and edited to fit with and compliment the lead.

• 7:29

  Chorus Vocals

  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.

• 9:51

  Bridge Vocals

  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!

• 8:22

  Alternate Bridge Vocal Idea

  Selection Based Processing and Track Alternatives are used again, to experiment with an alternate version of the B-Vox vocal tracks in the bridge.

• 4:51

  Bridge Vocal Tweaks

  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.

• 7:13

  Second Verse & Chorus

  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.

• 6:50

  Filter Vox FX Pt. 1

  See how a factory channel strip setting is used in conjunction with a custom plug-in chain for a unique filtered vocal effect.

• 7:07

  Filter Vox FX Pt. 2

  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.

• 4:44

  Coda Vocals

  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.

Chapter 4 : The Mix

• 6:27

  Vocal Tweaks

  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.

• 6:15

  Automation Tweaks

  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.

• 5:25

  Final Tweaks & Track Export

  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.

• 10:21

  Mix Bus Parallel Processing

  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.

• 4:37

  Final Playback

  Sit back and watch the Breathe For You video by Haylely Richman accompanied by the audio mix produced in this video series.