Mixing Masterclass with Bob Power [MixCon 2017]
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- Опубліковано 16 сер 2017
- ► Want more? Learn to mix better than ever before with our FREE workshop, "The Top 5 Habits of Truly Great Mixers": sonicscoop.com/MixHabits ◀
In this video, go deep with veteran mixer Bob Power as he takes us under the hood of a real neo-soul mix and imparts decades worth of hard-won wisdom and best practices for getting mixes that leave a real impact on listeners.
Bob is a GRAMMY-winning, platinum-selling engineer for the likes of D'Angelo, De La Soul, Erykah Badu, The Roots, Tribe Called Quest, Macy Gray and more.
This video was filmed at the third annual MixCon and made possible by Soundtoys. Check them out at soundtoys.com
Special thanks to Ester Rada for allowing us a deeper look at her track "Cry for Me". Check her out at ester-rada.bandcamp.com
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1:55 - start
2:15 - mixing is gain & tonal balancing
3:32 - creating a vibe
3:48 - seeing the producer & artist vision
4:34 - can you hear everything?
5:35 - reflections on all of the below topics
6:29 - dimensions of a mix
10:03 - careful of reference tracks
10:36 - thoughts on mixing for clients
11:45 - trusting your monitors
13:36 - all audio tools can be split into two categories: gain control & ambience
14:44 - what do we do with these two type of tools?
16:38 - genre
17:55 - making room for instruments/resonant peaks
19:40 - do you need to boost?
20:48 - High Pass & Low Pass
22:25 - gain control / compressors
24:23 - tuning (not your job but the producer's)
26:23 - organization
30:05 - presentation of artist Ester Rada
31:43 - figuring out what the mix needs
32:52 - playing the track
35:21 - done playing track
Go on...
Kristian Andreasen thank you!!
Thx!
Wow thank you!!
Major kudos Kristian Andreasen! thx
I cannot believe what high quality content is here for free.
Totally!
UA-cam shill
Dirk Diggler haha!!
shhhh dont expose they gonna charge us soon
>For real. I definitely subscribed
1:55 What mixing really is?
6:28 The dimensions of the mix
10:04 About using reference tracks
11:10 The quality of the recordings
11:45 Trust your monitors!
13:35 Building blocks in mixing
14:38 How to use them
16:38 The importance of genre
17:53 Making room: the resonant frequencies
19:39 About the boost
20:48 High pass and low pass
22:27 About gain control: compression and more...
24:25 Tuning and Autotune
26:26 Organization Issues
30:08 About the singer Ester Rada
32:39 BOB'S MIX LISTENING
35:20 General comments about this mix
35:54 About grouping instruments
38:26 DRUMS
41:33 Tips about compression
46:29 Tip about boost
49:00 Tip about how you can listen better what you are doing
50:00 Percussion wich is driving the song (bongos, etc): tape compression and more...
52:18 About ambience reverbs
53:00 ''Snare''
55:41 About harshness and high frequency equilibrium
56:30 Snare delay effects and more...
57:11 Work in touch!!
1:01:14 Hi Hats: Devil-loc plugin and more...
1:05:06 Claps: why use pitch with them?
1:08:16 Shaker
1:08:55 Name your buses!!!
1:09:41 Toms
1:10:27 Be careful with the panning!!!
1:12:01 Be careful enhancing the attack
1:12:51 About using well known tools
1:14:34 Background vocals: eq tips and more...
🙌
Best bit of advice I got from this video:
"Carve up the frequency spectrum to hear things in a mix". Most instruments have a resonant peak. It often changes with the pitch of the instrument. Raise up an EQ with a medium width and start sweeping it through the frequencies until you find the weird bit that really sticks out. That's the resonant peak. Pull back the EQ a little bit on those resonant peaks for every track in your session before starting to mix and you'll find there's so much more room for everything else because those resonant peaks won't be masking the other instruments.
Especially in the range of 100 to 500 hz
This is huge, but not as simple. When I first learned about filtering and subtractive EQ, I thought the more I filtered the better. Turns out that will result in a thin weak mix.
Only filter if it’s necessary. If there’s a resonant peak, but there are no tracks competing with it, I’d try to preserve that information if I have no issues with it tonally.
Its a good idea. But sometimes you can go overboard with about 8 notches for EVERY resonance. And it might even take away character.
If you mute and unmute you can tell what is masking what and remove the one thats masking. Maybe its where you felt you needed to boost the masked instrument?
You can also use a dynamic EQ if you really want I. I remove the resonance ONLY when its actually there. And high Q of course.
Its also one area where eyes rather than ears are useful with a good graphic analyser. You immediately see peaks and get them exactly.
@@MrGeekymusic Always start with the levels, try to optimize the frequency spectrum with them first, and then use EQ if you still don't like what you're hearing.
@@gt3shredz510 Thanks I agree with you - it's the removing of resonant peaks before starting a mix that I didn't.
This is one of the best mix videos I've ever seen. No bullshit, no egos, just a straight up talented dude doing what he loves. Shares his philosophy, then demonstrates it with a mix. Cheers mate.
Hear hear man. Thinking the exact same thing. I truly learnt a lot of stuff from this. What a great down-to-earth guy!
+1
Paul Anstey t
+2
right. I seen him talk before, but didn't waste a word with this presentation.
The first part before he went into the song was 100% good information.
it was absolutely golden eh ! Almost prophet like
The Timbre info in respect to depth was mind opening!Bob is dope!!!
but...?
Best rogue presenter ever!
No buts
" My career is a result of my clients knowing that I will work much harder than they will"
My hats off to you my friend
My sound-quality went way up, when I discovered removing those resonant peaks. Game changer for me
same same
@@redlikewater2453 Get them eradicated BEFORE they hit any other plugin such as comps. dist, reverbs etc - everything will become easier hereafter.
I mixed this using that principle together with parallel comp on anything BUT percussive stuff - the rest bussed and sharing a comp. A more natural sound emerges from this. It's the "Andrew Scheps way" It's a demo og a Korg Mono/Poly
ua-cam.com/video/jD6HabU5TeQ/v-deo.html
And far fewer comps/cpu-horsepower needed
@@redlikewater2453 no. First high-pass, then de-resonate. :)
"A lot of monitors under $10.000" lol. Here I am with my $300 pair xD
And if you look at the quality of the speakers that some of the most legendary tracks of all time were mixed on? Junk by today's standards. Trusting the monitors is as much about getting to know them as their ability to render everything neutral (which, frankly, has limited functionality. It's the indian, not the arrow.
Here I am with my $10 pair :(
@@perciejackson8799 Oof, next investment maybe?
Well you can't expect to have a pro setup for peanuts lol. Under $10k is really not all that much when setting up a studio. Think about the total cost of audio interface, room treatment, outboard gear and / or software.... The list continues. All that said, it's still much more attainable than it ever was
@@FahadAbdulaal true, but then again most people have a homestudio and they don't start out with 10k. I have 2 JBL 305's a focusrite studio bundle, a keyboard and a guitar and I do everything in Cubase. That's far from 10k, but I believe I can make good sounding songs with it, so you don't need 10k. I'm slowly upgrading over time though to get better gear :)
Stop scrolling through the comments and pay attention
Haha sorry... I will look @ the old guy. 😁
yo i literally paused the video before looking at comments because i was hanging on every word
🙂
😆 Dude, you totally busted me...
Okay okay..... I am sorry 🙏
He's dressed like we're about to look at some lions lmao
😂 😂 😂 😂
But that mix is deadly 💀
Fløxsiff.
have to say that was one of the funniest things i read lately on youtube ..so simple so funny ..cheers
think how grey his hair would look in a navy blazer
LOL
this man is a LEGEND...a mix god!
"Bob Power, you there?(Yeah)
Adjust the bass and treble make my shit sound clear(echo)"
--Q-Tip, A Tribe Called Quest
btw 332 clowns disliked this video because he wasn't using Fruity Loops smh
Hats off to the "rogue presenter", who preferred to share brilliant advice with everyone, so we could understand why he does what in the mix later! And thanks to the guys in the background for not cutting him off :)
This was awesome, my major takeaways:
1. Always use high pass and low pass for a clean uncluttered sound.
2. On drums, dip just above the boost to make it snap better.
3. Add some pitch shift down to handclaps to make them meatier.
I actually was struggling with handclaps before, glad to get that tip.
This is a basic education in fundamental mixing. Three years and hundreds of videos and VST"s. Ill add 1000's of Recording Sessions to that as well. I 15 minutes in and If this was the first thing I ever watched, Id been where I am today 2 and 1/2 years ago. Putting this on repeat. Thanks a ton for this video.
same here man
True the rest was mainly less is more and do what sounds good
Awesome
Wow glad I clicked this
That's how you know you're being taught by a master. Masters help 'compress' (no pun intended) the learning time.
Watched this to appease the UA-cam algorithm. Was not disappointed
Few are! It's a good one. Thanks for stopping by! :-)
49:00 the blind compressor A/B test... GOTTA LOVE IT! Mr Power is truly aware of the psychology that goes on in this work. You have to fool yourself sometimes to stay humble enough to actually IMPROVE what you are doing!!!
Unlimited gems in here. Basically watch this thing 1000 times and you never have to go to school again. Bob Power is a boss!
"Do this because of xyz, don't do this other thing because abc" - this is the best kind of masterclass! So much better than other lectures that focus on "me me me my my my, I'm famous because of me me me."
😂😂😂
I can not believe the thumbs down on this. They must not like the fact that he knows more than they do.
"...and an...auto...release. I don't know. I just got the piece and was messing around with it."
what a legend
Bob Power is a LEGEND. ATCQ used to shout him out all the time in their music. I was amazed to find out he had mixed an produced so much classic R&B. I learned a ton from this video. Thanks Sonicscoop
This is a ‘watch it every year’ kind of video
"ultimately, a great recording is a compelling performance of a great song"
enough said
Not only a skilled mixer but also an excellent and very engaging speaker/presenter/teacher! 👏
Absolutely!
Gonna have to go grab *everything* I can find from Bob now :-)
This is randomly one of the most cinematic, well shot seminar type videos I've ever seen, (that wasn't for an actual movie). Usually these videos looks terrible. kudos to the camera crew.
"Bongos Bathroom? That wasn't very helpful, so I didn't use it" - made my day!
You the man, Bob!
Thanks for a great maaterclass
I truly enjoyed this. I feel like the first 30 minutes was the most important part. Great video!
100% agree mate
Yeah loved that to :)
As well, we can see an api 2500 while he says "guys thank you..." - probably they cut the part when talks about the mix bus.
DEFININTELY!! That first 30 mins set the entire context up for the rest...this was so awesome!
What I really like about this is that Bob doesn't try to sell you plus-ins instead he gives
you technical hints.
as someone with 0 mixing experience, this has been so much more than helpful. I look foreword to watching this over and over again.
I love how he explains everything instead of just jumping into plugins. This is real wisdom here. Much appreciated
"D-Verb...It's so trashy that I've really gotten to like it..." 😂 So much great info here, thank you Bob and SonicScoop!
curtis you're in a wrong section .You make video graphic works man .:D
@@Mixingmachine774 ? Sound for film is my main focus.
amen!!!!!!!!!
@@Mixingmachine774 oo km j o o njmmomk
49:04 - best tip of this video, and there is a lot of them
I was there, it was a truly great presentation. So glad I can watch it again. Thank you SonicScoop for posting this. Can't wait for other videos from MixCon.
Great to have you there! More coming soon.
"Cause that sucks when that happens" talking about reverb and delay to discrete instrument groups. Not sure why, but that quote just came off so realistic and genuine.
I could watch this guy for hours. Lots of knowledge delivered in casual way.
WHAT THIS VIDEO IS, a perfect simplification of music mixing. Nowadays, we literally overdose in useless information that in the end confuses the fk outta us making us think we know so little about making our music sound professional. The moment he broke down that the only things we have at our disposal is gain control vs ambience generators the more everything made sense about what I've learned in the last few years... ik its an hour but JUST WATCH IT
Really smart, to the point and Humble! You could have talked down to everyone, but instead, it was more like a good friend stopped by to help you at home. You make learning clear without the listener feeling embarrassed for not knowing this material. Amazing job !! Thank you for sharing your talent and skills that took so many years to Hone. I need to find more of you on the Web. All the best Ed Genovese Composer
Resonant peak… THAT’S what it’s called. And… taking away frequency competition. Brilliant stuff. Oh, and, now I’m gonna find a Devil-Loc. Thanks for sharing all this stuff!
I've done a ton of recording over the the past 30 years and this is one of the best talks I've ever heard. Very very good stuff! Time Machine should be turned OFF when recording because it'll steal CPU cycles and hard drive/SSD speed. Turn it back on when done. I agree with manually backing up all music projects to multiple drives - I have four.
Don't make the mistake I did and put your hard drives too close together. They have internal magnets that can damage and corrupt other hard drives if placed too close to one another.
@@masteroutlaw100 That's good advice!
I literally had to pause this masterclass and drop to the floor on my knees pumping my fist, hollering, "Bosssssss!" Because this was just what I needed in language I can understand! Big ups to MixCon, SonicScoop, and Bob Powers. This masterclass lifted me up and gave me the wisdom I needed to move forward with my mixing in confidence.
Wow great stuff.
"Allowed the fast release on the compressor so it would recover quickly for this song". Excellent! Bob's ability to express good habits, mix dynamics, and importance of client relationships shows how much this guy knows how to not only achieve great results, but teaches the student such essentials. Hearing you Bob, and "Thank you" brother. Fellow New Yorker from the Apple.
"Bongos - Bathroom, It wasn't useful I didn't use it". this dude is suuuper relatable.
Two things. A) That guy really looks like Tom Skerritt. B) He knows his stuff. What he said about arrangment as "legislating levels of importance for the listener" blew my mind.
I think he looks like John Malkovitch with hair....
And i think he's more of a Jeff Kober look alike...
Or an older Kevin 🥓
he looks like Jeff Bridges more
@@Zebadane LOL Damn. The Dude. The Dude abides.
Just came across this vid. Absolutely brilliant. Very inspirational thanks for this
This information is PURE , TIMELESS , GOLDEN WORDS .
It’s all about the vibe , and stop representing your self with the million dollar studio , having a respectable balance of a mix is quality enough and people love seeing growth .
One love to all my pioneers , I needed to hear this in my early 20s .
Man i keep coming back to this great video! Love it!
Great video. Thank you for posting!
this was by far the best audio mixing video I've ever seen
I almost cried thinking of all the files I've lost when he said "back up.. dont even think twice about it"
5 and a half minutes in and I'm blown away by how captivating he is in the way he describes music and sound. Such an articulate and prestige way of viewing what other people just think of as "sound." It's a beautifully rich and complex arrangement of sounds.
"Can I hear everything? Of course, the right arrangement and proper perspective... but can I hear everything?" is now one of my golden rules of mixing. Thank you, Bob and SonicScoop!
Have to give props to Bob Powers.
Such a great teacher, who explains with a style easily understood.
Thanks, folks!
been a while since i enjoyed a session this much especially the first 30 minutes and the rest was a big big bonus
Brilliant video! Thanks for sharing.
Such an insightful video!
Agree with all of Bob's plugin comments!
I really enjoyed this and appreciate this being posted. A lot of great tips have either been reinforced, or introduced to me! I took notes and thought I'd share, if anyone is interested. (:
- A great arrangement makes a great mix.
- Tonal Balance: "A complementary, and pleasant distribution of the frequency content between the different instruments so the listening experience becomes pleasurable from a sonic point of view".
- Mixing isn't about the engineer, but making sure the artist is satisfied with the sound, and helping them achieve their vision. You are in service of the music.
- Make sure all elements are heard in the proper perspective.
- Think of the dimensions of a mix in three ways: Top to bottom (Frequency), side to side (Panorama), and front to back (Dimension).
- Learn to trust your monitors, and make sure you learn their sound.
- Genre matters, and not every method of mixing translates to different styles of music. You wouldn't place the kick in a jazz song at the same level as one in a hip-hop song.
- Cut out resonant peaks by filter sweeping with a medium sized Q, until you hear that resonant tone, and cut a few dB out with a narrow Q.
- Attempt to cut more than boost for a smoother mix.
- Hi-Pass at the start of the mix to declutter instruments. Don't cut all instruments at same frequency. Instead, slowly turn up the high pass right up until it begins to negatively affect tone, then bring it down a bit.
- Even though vocal tuning is the job of the producer, make sure to tune within the artist's comfort level, and not to the point of sounding unnatural. Additionally, render autotune to audio to save on DSP.
- ALWAYS Backup. Use two drives. Work on one, and backup to the other. ChronoSync is recommended. Also, save version numbers at 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, etc. This allows you to go back to earlier mixes, if necessary.
- Use mix busses to have quick control of level and processing to entire groups at a time. This makes mixing quicker, glues instruments together, and saves on computer processing.
- When boosting low frequencies, cut a little just above the boost to make it snap better and prevent from accentuating resonant frequencies. "...Benefit of 100Hz without the woof that's just above it"
- With plug-ins, if you have a setting that you think is working but you want to mess with it, save it as a custom preset first so you can go back to it, as well as easily A/B them
- With any plug-in, and especially compressors, close your eyes and toggle the bypass button the hear from an objective perspective whether or not what's being done is desirable
- With compression on percussive elements, use a slow attack and a fast release. Fast attacks will squash signal too much and suck life out of performance, and slow releases will take too long to "recover back to zero before the next hit comes". This also allows attack of hit to naturally pass through while bringing the tail down, which we perceive as a louder attack by bringing down the sustain level.
- Remove unnecessary high-mids on instruments that don't require it, even if it doesn't sound bad on its own. This clears up the high-mid space for other instruments, preventing frequency clashing.
- When automating plugins, work in touch rather than using drawn in lines. This gives a more human, musical feel, and is actually quicker as any automation that doesn't work can simply be undone and attempted again. "Fuck those lines". lol
- Delay with an increasing feedback just before the chorus can create excitement. Adds kinetic energy.
- Reverbs and delays do not require high frequency content, and should be filtered (high-cut) to allow for focus to be on direct sound.
- Throw: When a signal is sent to an ambience generator just for a moment.
- "Psychoacoustically, if one thing is even a little bit louder than the other, and you play both of them, you will think that the louder one sounds better".
- With claps, adding a pitched down duplicate will make them sound more powerful by adding mid-range boost.
- Even with vocals, cutting the mid-range can sound a little more clear and remove some harshness.
22:10 i had a track once, where I couldn’t get anything to sit right. Then I lowpassed the bass guitar at around 2k, on this advise by Bob, and suddenly EVERYTHING opened up.
Everybody talks about don’t high/lowpass too much, and I always think about what Bob is saying here at around 20 minutes. I live by it. The first thing I do, after gain staging, is take out any frequencies I don’t like, including high and low pass. And it makes my life so fantastic
Nice presentation! Thanks Bob!
watched this a year or so ago, it changed my mixing, for the better! soooo much better, thanks man
Thanks, Bob. This information is gold.
Some great advice in here these masterclasses are great
So interesting,
I will love to watch more.
Wow incredible! Bob is a real genius. Thanks a lot.
After watching this and taking a lot of notes, I went back to a mix I started a couple of weeks before and started redoing all the EQing from scratch. I decided to dive back into mixing 3 months ago, since it's always been my weak point in music production. I keep coming back to this video, even just a couple of sentences of his are like a mantra which will let me focus in my next session.
Great content, learned so much!
Thanks for this video, Soundtoys!!
Cool baby cool. Bob Power has radar ears,
and a heart full of soul. Ha! Bob will expand
your mind, kids :) sf
Thank you SonicScoop, Bob and Soundtoys ! I applaused in front of the screen... lol ;)
Very great seminar! Thanks!
That’s so enjoyable to listen to him. What a great video
This guy is AWESOME! Thank you Bob Power!
Good Tips and Reminders! Good pace, not too fast and not too slow.
Incredibly educational. Thank you so much for this!!!
Excellent work by sharing this, thanks for the knowledge and keep on doing it
THANK YOU SOUNDTOYS!!! THAT'S WHY I PURCHASED SOUNDTOYS 5!!
audio/video quality is unusually good for these kind of things
Brilliant video
Great class. Thank you!!!
An actual free Masterclass, in every sense of the word. I loved this! Thank you for sharing.
Simply, the best session ever on sound production!
Loved every minute of that.
Excellent video! Very clear, very generous. Thank you!
Great Content for all DJs out there!!! Thank you for this Video!!! :-)
Great video! Happy to find quality content after hours of searching.
Thank you for share this seminars! You are so helpful!
Best compression explanation ever, for me anyways. Also that eq stuff was enlightening
On a side note, that production is amazing! I might have to add this song to my playlist
Great stuff - thanks for sharing. Bob is a great teacher.
so humble, so tru . Thank you for this!
this guy's onomatopeia is spot on!
This must be the most recommended mixing vid on youtube. Definitely mine. The info here is unreal. Worth learning and re-learning. Watched this several times now and its always a lesson. Thanks fellas
Incredible stuff, I'm humbled.
Bob's awesome! Thanks for posting this
Thanks so much for mentioning Ester Rada! Amazing! (Never heard of her before)
this is richer than a mixing mastering class that I paid back in 2019, thank you
Loved it, thanks!
Love this... learnt some new tricks!
well explained! and so interesting :)