EP 320 Project 3

• This is a Pro Tools mixing project. In this project, you will mix a pre-made Pro Tools

session, “One and Only”. You’ll do this lab in the Music Synthesis studios, in Studio B or C.

• You can book time in the EPD Equipment room. You will have 3 hours in Studio B or C for

this project.

• The Pro Tools session for this project is located in the EP-320 folder on the EPD Support

drive of the Music Technology Server.

• Copy this zipped file to the Media drive of the studio computer, then double click to un-zip

it. The zip file should unzip into a Pro Tools session. Boot Pro Tools, and open the session.

• The D-Command, the control surface for Pro Tools, should automatically engage with Pro

Tools when you boot the program. If it seems like it’s not communicating with Pro Tools,

ask for help from the EPD Studio Support Office (A76).

• Before you get started, create a master track, so that you have a master output level as well

as a reliable 2-mix meter to work with. Remember that you should leave the Master Track

fader at 0dB (unity gain). If you see the clip indicators come one, pull down all the

individual track levels to solve this, not the Master Track fader.

• First, play the Pro Tools session so you can get to know the song. Be sure to solo the tracks

to get a sense of what it all sounds like. Check each track, and make some observations

regarding the issues in these tracks (phase issues, noisy or quiet tracks, etc).

• Reorganize the ordering of the tracks as you see fit.

• Before you begin mixing, the session needs some elements added to it so that the session is

more manageable. These session elements are as follows:

• Tempo Track

• This session doesn’t have a tempo track. It would be helpful to have one, so build a

tempo track either manually, or using Beat Detective to help you. If nothing else, this

gives you a meaningful display of bars & beats in Pro Tools. This means you can

navigate the session in musical terms, rather than minutes & seconds. Also, when you

set delays and other tempo-related plug-ins, they’ll follow the song’s tempo. It would

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be a good ides to do this work *before* your studio session time, so that you don’t

waste time in the studios building this tempo map.

• Mix & Edit Groups

• Go through the session, and group the tracks as you see fit. You can group the tracks

any way you like, as long as they make sense to you in terms of workflow. At a

minimum, you should create at least five Mix&Edit groups.

• Markers

• Use Pro Tools’ markers to lay out the form of the song. It’s up to you to decide how

you’d like to use markers to note the different sections of the song, but in this song

there are at least five sections in the arrangement, so you’d want at least that many

markers.

• Set up a good “static” mix of the tune, adjusting the faders and the pan controls to make a

good balance of the tracks.

• Basics

• Using the Digidesign plug-ins, plus any other plug-ins approved by your class instructor,

add some EQ and dynamics processing to improve the sounds in the mix. Be sure and use

the TDM versions of these plug-ins, not RTAS (and definitely not the file-based AudioSuite

plug-ins!)

• Use this Project as an opportunity to explore some of the Waves plug-ins you don’t have

in your Berklee Waves bundle. The only plug-ins you should are avoid are the Waves’

Mastering plug-ins; the LinEQs, the LinMB, and the L2. These aren’t really appropriate

plug-ins for mixing work, and they put a HUGE strain on your computer.

• EQ & dynamics ideas

• There’s a LOT of stuff you can do with EQ and dynamics to improve this mix.

Here’s some ideas you might try

• Mixing the kit - the individual drum elements will most likely need EQ and

dynamics on them. The kick, for example, has a low end that’s not very focused, so



some EQ there would give the kick more punch, but won’t collide with the bass as

much. Also, note that there’s more than one kick in this session, and you might want

to figure out how to sort this out.

• The crashes might be too “splashy”, and compete with the vocals in the 2-5kHz

range.

• The track called “Maraca” is actually a “maraca” sample as well as a kick sample, and

the “HiHat” track also has a kick on it, meaning there are really three kicks in this

session. You might try to EQ these tracks to compliment the other kick track, so that

there isn’t excessive bottom end in this mix.

• One idea to try is to duplicate these tracks, then put a gate on the duplicated

track. Set the gate so that it isolates the kick as best you can. On the original

version of this track, use EQ to remove the low end of the kick. The gated

version of this track now lets you handle the “kick” from that track as a separate

element.

• Some of the synth pads might be a little too thick, and need a bit of EQ to reduce the

low-midrange “mud”.

• Compression can get a lot of these tracks to feel more smooth and controlled, leaving

more room for the vocals.

• Make sure that you keep the mix focused on the vocals, even in a dance tune!

• External keying

• As you are working on your mix, there’s some opportunities to try some external

keying techniques. See if you can do these.

• The clap track supplies a pretty good backbeat. Put a gate on the HiHat Loop track

(s), and key the gate off the clap track. Set it so that the Hihat has a little stronger

emphasis on the backbeat (2&4).

• The lead synth track sometimes competes with the lead vocals in the chorus. Try

compressing the lead synth track, keyed off the vocals, to slightly push the lead synth



back when the vocals are singing. Then, see if there’s a second element in the mix

that could also benefit from a little bit of compression keyed off the vocals.

• Find at least one other opportunity for keying a dynamics processor (gate, expander,

compressor) from another track. There are a lot of choices here.

• FX

• Let’s add some FX to this mix, starting with reverb.

• Create a mono aux track, and insert a reverb (either D-Verb, RennVerb, or another

reverb if approved by your class instructor) on that track. Be sure to insert it as a mono/

stereo reverb plug-in. Set-up the reverb as a plate reverb, something appropriate for the

tune. Make sure the reverb mix is set to 100% wet.

• Choose an unused bus as the input to this Aux track. Now set up sends to this bus from

the lead vocals plus any other tracks you’d like to send to this reverb. The pads, for

example, might benefit from a small amount of plate reverb, as might some of the

percussive loop elements.

• Set up a second reverb on a second mono aux track, something contrasting to the plate

you already have. For this kind of song, a small to medium sized Room reverb might be

effective, although you might try something a little larger. As before, specify a bus as the

input to this Aux track, and set up sends from the individual tracks as appropriate. For

example, you can layer the sound of the mix by putting some of the synth tracks into this

reverb, rather than the plate reverb. A similar contrast can be made between the lead

and backing vocals here.

• Set up yet another mono Aux track, this time inserting a mono/stereo Long Delay on the

track. Again, specify a bus as the input to this track, and send to this delay any tracks

you feel appropriate. Notice that because you made a tempo track in this Pro Tools

session, you can set up this delay to musical delay values, such as 1/4 note delays, 1/8th

note delays, and so forth. A typical setting in the mix might be a dotted 8th note delay,



adding a nice “syncopation” to the groove if you send it rhythmic elements like the

HiHat track.

• It’s common to “process” delay returns, to make them more interesting. You might

experiment with “LoFi” effects like AmpFarm on the delay return (set to something

subtle, of course!!)

• Create a fourth mono aux track, and insert another Long Delay, Make this delay a

dotted 1/4 note delay. Use this for whatever mix elements you like, such as the pads, but

use it sparingly!

• Create at least one more aux track, and choose any effect you want to use in your mix

(chorusing, another delay, etc.). Use this effect in any manner you like. You can even

add more beyond this if you like - your choice. Be sure to keep track of your sends,

which busses are involved, and so forth.

• As you are working on your mix - open up the window called Show System Usage, and be

sure to keep an eye on your DSP resources. You’ll see the DSP chips used by the TDM

plug-ins, as well as a gauge showing the load on the computer’s CPU.

• From here, there’s more to tweak and adjust in your mix. Spend some more time getting the

mix just right.

• When you are happy with your mix, you will bounce it down to disk. To do this, first use the

Selector tool to make a selection in any track that spans the length of your song. Then,

choose File/Bounce To Disk from the Pro Tools menus. Choose a 24-bit stereo-interleaved

file. When prompted to do so, save the bounce inside your Pro Tools session folder, but not

in your audio folder. Give the bounce a good name, making it clear that it belongs to you,

and it is the final mix.

• In addition to your Pro Tools session, you’ll hand in a short session report (2-3 pages). In

this report, describe the whole process, how it all went, what went wrong, how you solved

it, and what you think of your mix. Hand in the session report as a Word or Text document,



and put it in your Pro Tools session folder. Name this document EP320_P3_lastname.doc or

EP320_P3_lastname.txt

• As before, hand in your Pro Tools session, including the mix bounce and the session report,

by dropping the session folder into my faculty drop box before the due date. Rename your

Pro Tools session folder EP320_P3_lastname. Note again that you *don’t* have to include the

audio files folder (I already have the audio files), and it will copy to the drop box much

faster without it.



EP 320 Project 3

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Transcript of EP 320 Project 3