I never get bored of watching these tutorials. I apply these techniques every day! Maybe I'm a geek or maybe I just live for music and how to manipulate it for the better. When you grow up using a 4 track tape machine with limited resources it's like being in a candy shop. I never would have dreamt of the technical advances we now have at our fingers!
I was mixing a track that was all live instruments and everytime I took a break I watched a part of this video. I think I went back to my track 3 or 4 times simply based on the advice you gave. This is not something that happens all that much anymore and it proves to me, that the information I gathered from your presentation is the next level I shall strive for in my productions. While I don't agree 100% with your philosophy and I think it's okay for the production to carry a song (because that can be intended.. some things we just can't do with our mouth or instruments and it NEEDS to be done after recording in the post-production/mixingstage) I think the observations and knowledge you gathered for your path does translate well to every path. Much appreciated! Thanks.
Thanks Mike Major! The move in samples blew my mind, working in Cubase, just tried out some recordings, moving in 1 sample for phase correction, wow, thanks!
Thanks, Mike and SonicScoop. This is an excellent lesson on so many important points. Though there seem very strong opinions from pros in the industry about whether drum track alignment is a good or bad thing, Mike has explained his methodology well and let you hear the advantages. Beyond the standard (and necessary) steps for aligning kick in/out and snare top/bottom, I like how Mike went further to align kick against snare (the most surprising bit for me). Where more debate occurs with folks is whether it is wise to align overheads with kick and snare, as some argue it removes some of the 'dimension' of the kit, so it was unfortunate that Mike mentioned this but did not let us hear the before/after for that. However, there were lots of gems in this presentation. Much appreciated.
Great video, but please make the presenters wear a headset microphone! The volume of the voice jumps up and down in all presentations I've seen so far :-)
We usually do use a pretty darn good headset microphone for MixCon, but there was a malfunction this year, so it was either a handheld mic or a too-roomy lav mic. Apologies for that! In hindsight, perhaps we could have compressed the voice even more on this one. The tradeoff there is that it brings up the room quite a lot for those who are listening on good systems, and it causes a lot of critical listening issues for presenters who talk while the track is playing. But maybe we could have made an even better compromise. IMHO, the dynamic range on his voice is pretty tolerable if you're listening on a good system in a non-noisy environment, which is really the kind go audience we are going for with these. It could be a problem in less than ideal environments for sure. Thanks for the feedback. We'll make sure to do even better on the next one!
That was so interesting and helpful, but I feel that track was an odd choice for a tutorial. No space in the drumming at all. Kind of wore me out. Great tips though.
This one is not good as the others :( The drums sound doesnt improve so much, just less mids. Lacks a lots of ambience and pararell punch. I wanted something better than Eric Valentine
Some of the differences from phase aligning alone can be subtle! There's an article from Mike on the site here where you can more easily flip back and forth between phase shifted versions on a couple of different tracks: sonicscoop.com/2017/01/31/advanced-drum-mixing-time-aligning-drum-tracks-better-phase-coherence/ That might make it easier to hear. Except for when something was really off in the original tracks, differences from aligning by itself can sometimes be minor. For more obvious comparisons in moving time and phase, check out when he works with the Little Labs phase shift plugin later on in this presentation and really goes for some more extreme settings. Maybe it would have been more instructive if he started with a kit that was recorded less well! :) Even then, it can be hard to hear some of the phase changes on less than good systems, or if you haven't learned to identify phase anomalies yet. Unless we're talking about big shifts or a 180 degree shift of the polarity switch it can sometimes be a "close your eyes and listen real hard" kind of thing to begin with.
I never get bored of watching these tutorials. I apply these techniques every day! Maybe I'm a geek or maybe I just live for music and how to manipulate it for the better. When you grow up using a 4 track tape machine with limited resources it's like being in a candy shop. I never would have dreamt of the technical advances we now have at our fingers!
I was mixing a track that was all live instruments and everytime I took a break I watched a part of this video. I think I went back to my track 3 or 4 times simply based on the advice you gave. This is not something that happens all that much anymore and it proves to me, that the information I gathered from your presentation is the next level I shall strive for in my productions. While I don't agree 100% with your philosophy and I think it's okay for the production to carry a song (because that can be intended.. some things we just can't do with our mouth or instruments and it NEEDS to be done after recording in the post-production/mixingstage) I think the observations and knowledge you gathered for your path does translate well to every path. Much appreciated! Thanks.
My buddy from my home town! One of the nicest guys ever!!
Thanks Mike Major! The move in samples blew my mind, working in Cubase, just tried out some recordings, moving in 1 sample for phase correction, wow, thanks!
loved this one. Tone of info here. Thanks Mike!
Good to see someone with the same obsessive phase-fixing as i do. Yes it's subtle but at the same time it's not. Everything he shows is pretty audible
One album of Mike's that has a sound I just love is Porcelain by Sparta. So awesome that legends like him will do these longform talks!
That was SOOO cool never thought about phase in the kind of detailed way gonna try this
Thanks, Mike and SonicScoop. This is an excellent lesson on so many important points. Though there seem very strong opinions from pros in the industry about whether drum track alignment is a good or bad thing, Mike has explained his methodology well and let you hear the advantages. Beyond the standard (and necessary) steps for aligning kick in/out and snare top/bottom, I like how Mike went further to align kick against snare (the most surprising bit for me). Where more debate occurs with folks is whether it is wise to align overheads with kick and snare, as some argue it removes some of the 'dimension' of the kit, so it was unfortunate that Mike mentioned this but did not let us hear the before/after for that. However, there were lots of gems in this presentation. Much appreciated.
WOW .. the original vs "slipped" aka playing at the right time is crazy! That's a great comparison. I had absolutely no idea. Thank you very much!
This is Great. Vintage knowledge in here
Awesome 🔥
Playing rock drums is fun, and mixing it is fun too...;) :)
That's actually a very nice song.
That low snare tone is driving me nuts. EQ that out!!!!
Great video, but please make the presenters wear a headset microphone! The volume of the voice jumps up and down in all presentations I've seen so far :-)
We usually do use a pretty darn good headset microphone for MixCon, but there was a malfunction this year, so it was either a handheld mic or a too-roomy lav mic. Apologies for that!
In hindsight, perhaps we could have compressed the voice even more on this one. The tradeoff there is that it brings up the room quite a lot for those who are listening on good systems, and it causes a lot of critical listening issues for presenters who talk while the track is playing. But maybe we could have made an even better compromise.
IMHO, the dynamic range on his voice is pretty tolerable if you're listening on a good system in a non-noisy environment, which is really the kind go audience we are going for with these. It could be a problem in less than ideal environments for sure. Thanks for the feedback. We'll make sure to do even better on the next one!
That was so interesting and helpful, but I feel that track was an odd choice for a tutorial. No space in the drumming at all. Kind of wore me out. Great tips though.
This one is not good as the others :( The drums sound doesnt improve so much, just less mids. Lacks a lots of ambience and pararell punch. I wanted something better than Eric Valentine
I have no idea what you are trying to say.
I hear no difference before and after.
Some of the differences from phase aligning alone can be subtle! There's an article from Mike on the site here where you can more easily flip back and forth between phase shifted versions on a couple of different tracks: sonicscoop.com/2017/01/31/advanced-drum-mixing-time-aligning-drum-tracks-better-phase-coherence/ That might make it easier to hear.
Except for when something was really off in the original tracks, differences from aligning by itself can sometimes be minor. For more obvious comparisons in moving time and phase, check out when he works with the Little Labs phase shift plugin later on in this presentation and really goes for some more extreme settings.
Maybe it would have been more instructive if he started with a kit that was recorded less well! :)
Even then, it can be hard to hear some of the phase changes on less than good systems, or if you haven't learned to identify phase anomalies yet. Unless we're talking about big shifts or a 180 degree shift of the polarity switch it can sometimes be a "close your eyes and listen real hard" kind of thing to begin with.