12-Step Mixing Masterclass with Pop Production Legend Dr Phil Harding
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- Опубліковано 13 тра 2024
- In Phil Harding's excellent book 'Pop Music Production - Manufactured Pop and Boybands of the 1990s' Phil outlines his tried and tested 12-step top down mixing technique. But it's not top-down mixing as in starting with your two-bus processing first. That's silly. No, Phil means top down by starting with the most important element of your mix, often vocals, and building the other instrumentation around it to support its lead role. Not silly!
We suggested to Phil this would make an excellent video, and he agreed, and so we headed off to J.A.M.E.S. accredited Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, to film it in front of a small audience of students. And here's the full two hour session in all its glory!
We highly recommend you pick up a copy of Phil's book as it's a fascinating read, even for those not into pop music production per se. You can grab a copy directly from him at:
www.philhardingmusic.com
Find out more about J.A.M.E.S. accreditation at:
www.jamesonline.org.uk
We'd like to extend a huge thank you to Phil for giving up his valuable time to give us this masterclass, and to the fantastic staff, assistants, and students at ARU for hosting us!
0:00:00 - intro
0:02:15 - Phil's background
0:12:19 - Top down mixing
0:16:17 - the project & template
0:23:30 - a guide pad for the vocal
0:25:45 - vocal processing
0:38:50 - backing vocals
0:47:00 - bad drum recordings
0:48:30 - additional keyboards
0:49:56 - forming and leading a team, and using Belinda's guitarist
0:52:24 - organ
0:53:42 - synth melody
0:55:32 - guitars
1:03:18 - mixing piano using the 'split' method
1:12:05 - the importance of leaving things out
1:16:37 - bass
1:19:38 - drums
1:26:00 - referencing "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" and chorus at the front
1:28:35 - play through
1:30:50 - other artists on the project
1:36:08 - Q&A
Credits:
Belinda Carlisle - ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain’
Guitars / Bass - James Nisbet
Keyboards - Julian Wiggins
Drums - Simon Dalton
Backing Vocals - Melissa Wiggins
Extra cameras - David Johnson & Oliver Horn
Wow! Absolutely superb video! Phil is a wonder, amazing stuff!
Thanks Warren! Phil is a pop production legend, and the loveliest guy!
@@PresentDayProduction marvellous! Thanks for sharing!
Both of your channels as well as this interview is so awesome for nubes and professionals alike and are refreshing because you guys do such a great job getting the info in an entertaining way without the egos and celebrity nature getting in the way… it could always have gone the other way.. thank you guys sincerely.
An absolute masterclass by a mixing legend. It's such a shame that kids feel so uncomfortable in this setting. They seemed to loosen up as the magic started to happen. Amazing tutorial.
Well, I never realised it was such a complex, creative process.
Marvellous tutorial from Dr.Phil.
If I could spend a month with him I’m sure I could produce a hit. Thoroughly enjoyed ❤
If I had kids there looking as bored as them I'd have asked them to leave! They've obviously got no idea just who they're in the company of 🙄
I will use that piano tip myself. Great idea from a real master.
Also, Belinda is forever one of our greatest singers ever. What a force of nature/music she is.
SUCH a great vocal performance! She really took care of her voice; amazing
Really great tutorial session, Dr Phil showing effortlessly why he’s a Dr in his field. Thanks for recording this, it’s much appreciated ❤️✖️
I've been doing this for ages, but this video is amazing. Brought my feet back to the ground, once again. Never stop learning.
I learned a lot by watching this video. What a great teacher! Loved to hear his back story. Thank you for uploading this. I might buy his book as well. 😊
Bit of a legend and I'm glad I've been in this business long enough to understand what he is talking about.
What an amazing couple of hours...
An absolute master class indeed.
I am the proud owner of both books signed by the man himself.
Belinda's vocal take(s) is(are) great!!
I hope these kids know just how incredible of a class this was
I don’t think they did realise, and I also don’t think they realise how successful Phil is, and what a golden opportunity they had to have him sitting in front of them.
@@PresentDayProduction I just noticed someone left. I guess we're all different, I'd pay money to sit there and refuse to leave. If it's not your thing then I guess it's just not your thing.
Mark and I absolutely loved it. I was hooked! I’ve seen the video about 80 times at this point due to editing it and I’m still super fascinated. And that means it’s great info!
I totally agree. “Quick content” has massively tainted the ability of young people to concentrate for more than 3 seconds at a time.
@@PresentDayProductionSadly some of the kids look entirely tuned out.
Wow. Been waiting to watch this after the new book arrived. I am so glad that I did. It’ll be great to have Phil’s voice in my head as I read. Although he didn’t really delve into the mixing process to a great depth (just get the book if that’s what you are looking for), Phil dropped some serious wisdom bombs. Serving the client at any price point and detaching your ego from the process seems like such great advice. Thank you for recording and posting this gem. Also great to see the ladies represent. I have been to so many audio seminars that are 99.9% dudes.
I will always be really thankful to the University of Westminster, where I earned my honours degree in commercial music; we did everything from performance to production to studio technique, law and more... I was 37 when I graduated after owning studios and being a session musician for 20 years, I learned so much, I now own a production studio in New Zealand and work in education, If you can learn the tech as well as the music and then how to work with people, and every genre you can get your head into and how they work, its worth so much for a career. Arrangement is also so important for good music production; then add the sauce of mixing and mastering, and boom. and learn what each thing does, not just using a patch created by someone else. Know the science.
Fantastic video indeed, thanks so much to your team and of course Dr Phil Harding for sharing his wealth of experience and stories,
I love you guys for this!!! thanks you so much, and especially that you just upload this for free (actually all of your vids are a goldmine)
Absolutely TOP NOTCH thank yo7 so much for sharing this 🙂❤️
With all his work in the studio I am amazed James finds the time to get out and accredit universities.
Marvellous masterclass! Thank you Phil. Thank you PDP ✌
Thanks for putting this together. Some useful insights from one of the greats.
Thanks guys for posting, very informative and straight-talking.
This is great. I will most certainly get the book. Taa, muchly! From Aussie land.
Great tutorial,,book has been purchased.
Good masterclass. Thanks guys😊
This is great. Some really good things for me to try. I’ll have to watch it back again and take some notes and do some experiments. 🧪
just mix a track according to this amazing free tutorial, and it came out better than expected today!! Highly appreciate your vids!
Fantastic
Great tutorial! More please!
Incredible
Fantastic Guys! Greetz from Amsterdam!
Great video, thanks for doing this!
Very good Gentleman.Good old days of revolving dance floors and rotgut bourbon whiskey.
Fantastic video. Have had the pleasure of meeting Phil at Actual Radio a few years ago. My only gripe is way too many adverts, literally every couple of minutes or so which kind of spoils Phil's presentation.
Unfortunately the ads are out of control on this one, due to the monetisation being taken over by UA-cam's algorithm - the track is copyrighted, and so all monetisation goes to the songwriter. And we can't turn it off! Sorry about that...
wow thanks heaps !
I've seen a plethora of masterclasses... some attended in person some bought the footage of on Internet. This is by far the most eclectic, disorganised, and chaotic class I've seen since 1998
This is great. 👍🏻
I went to Anglia Ruskin in Cambridge 30 years ago. 😢
Thank you, Dr. Phil!
Great vid, thanks for sharing! Grabbed a ton of tips/learnings. Thank you! Looking forward to getting/reading, and learning from your book.
Great video lads 👏👏
I mixed a track on this album too….fun project.
It always comes down to the song
Pete Burns doing "I Feel Love" is a stroke of Genius.such a shame that it couldn't be
nice one!
What a fantastic, Interesting and informative Masterclass! Thanks so much PDP and Dr.Phil.
Cool!
To mimic that clicky kick, we drummers would put a large coin in between pieces of gaffa tape where the beater hit the head of the drum. After a while the coin would cut its way through the gaffa and the head. Basia's Time & Tide is still one of the best mixed 80's records.
The 2hrs of my career
Great video, fantastic insights, but it's clear form his comments that Phil hasn't 'seen' Cubase for 30 yrs lol ......
Also - maybe the click is back in the kick so that it cuts through on phone or laptop speakers - transistor radios of the present!
Outstanding. Thank you all for setting this up. Exceptional learning opportunity. One ? Why split the stereo piano into two mono tracks?
My apologies. I need to be more patient. You answered the question and it makes perfect since.
I believe that album was 80s recovered? ...had a fantastic ABC version of high and dry and china crisis its too late. Wish he would have used one of those instead ...but ultimately amazing!!!
🙏🏻
It seems like the drums were recorded by the student in America were MIC'd using the GLYN JOHNS METHOD from Led Zepplin (47 min)
This is a bit of a long shot but did Phil ever work with Bill Price?
Controversial, I know, but I don’t think you can pass this knowledge on. You either have it in you, or you don’t. You can teach someone to use tools, but not to create. You are born with talent. IMHO of course. Anyone agree? The track is not floating my boat either. But that’s a side note. Sorry to be negative, but it’s an ‘industry’ today and I’ll get my coat🙂
He's amazing and there's a lot to learn from him, Belinda Carlisle, though, is very painful to hear for the whole video.
For you, maybe! We find her vocal quite energising ❤️
Fashionably late to this one
Should have still commented “first!”
@@PresentDayProduction LOL now I'm mad I didn't think of that 😂
Brilliant. The only thing I disagree with is Pro Tools does not sound better than Logic. Harrison Mixbus genuinely does sound better
Every one has their preference, its what works best for you.
I respect Phil Harding and his work quite a bit... but I think that vocal sounds pretty bad. I liked it when you boosted the low mids a bit; it actually sounded warmer and more natural for a second when not over-boosted. And all that hissy, bright reverb is abrasive to my ears.
I'm commenting while listening to the vocal against the pad, so I don't yet know the context of what the track will be doing. But I think it's a little unfair to demonstrate all these EQ, reverb and delay choices with zero context of what you're ultimately going for with a mix.
Is Phil trying to say: mix these top-down, start with the vocal without even listening to the whole track at all, and make all these vocal decisions beforehand and conform the track to those blind decisions? Because the way this is being presented, that's kind of the implication. Uh, no... that's not how we do it; and I don't think that's how he does it, either.
Let's hear the track with everything dry at least once, so we can see the choices made with some context for actually mixing it, like he would have done. Live band or EDM backing track? Rock guitars or piano ballad? Who knows, and we're already 45 minutes into it...We're just listening to Phil talk and play over-processed vocals so far. [shrug]
EDIT: Ok, an hour and a half in we finally get to hear the track. I have to say, the vocal sounds good in context. A little thin for my taste; but it certainly sounds 80s pop.
I still think you missed a trick setting this up better to give us some overall context before digging in to individual tracks... there could have been some insight into that process, especially in re: to the vocal efx.
Thanks for the feedback! Phil produced the song, so he already knows very well what’s there and what’s in it, and what he does and does not need (cutting the piano, for example). This just documents the mix process and yes, the starting point should ALWAYS be to push the faders up and listen to the track if you’re not familiar with it! In this case he is very familiar with it, and maybe we should have clarified that.
There was a lot of useful info in this, (though seeing the screens he was using would've been useful for the viewer AND the students), BUT his insistence of using "top Down" as his buzz term is either silly, given it's commonly understood as something else, or hubris in believing he can affect a change in that understanding. Why not Vocal Down or something that doesn't confuse/conflict?
I think maybe this guy was doing it/published it in his book before Nolly(?) (if it was him who coined the term) started talking about ‘top down mixing’ as most people know it today; though I do agree. I also love how the guy in the Exodus shirt noted that, go on lad.
Nice. But put that piano in yo.
Wow.... do stuff in Logic, move to protools. Not very efficient. Start using Cubase. Two in one just much bettrr.
Not simply "stupid", but "really stupid". Okay. I'll listen, because that's what adults do. They ignore insults and listen to what people have to say. But only children call each other "stupid".
30 year Audio engineer. Not subbed. Not ever.
Well that’s really really really stupid. At what age does the ban kick in?