Make a Mix Sound More Exciting | FAQ Friday - Warren Huart: Produce Like A Pro
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- Опубліковано 20 лип 2024
- ➡️Questions answered in this FAQ Friday
• Could you talk a bit about cross fading and your thoughts on the importance of how and when to best use them? (0:48)
• What’s your first approach to make a mix sound more exciting? (5:46)
• What is the quickest way to mix guitar and drums together? [make them sound like they’re coming from the same place] (12:51)
• How do you know that something needs compression?
Are there any tell tale sounds that your hear or something that you see on the peaks of waveform that makes you want to grab for one? (18:17)
• There’s a certain song, that will go unnamed, that has a squeaky kick drum pedal that bleeds through all the drum mix. How would you remove such an annoyance? (25:30)
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Happy Friday Friends! Please leave a comment below and let me know you're here! What are your tricks to make a mix sound more exciting?
Jeah im here, love the lessons, sometime you talk about stuff I know of but never use, I call them nice little refreshments!
Keeps me working like a madman! And thats a Good thing!
Definitely here
Much love and never stop you are a main reason I am starting. Channel on YT
i like to pan my guitars more hard left/right on the chorus to add movement
Hi David, thanks ever so much! I'm so glad to be able to help!
The great thing about FAQ Fridays is that some of my questions get answered before I can actually word them. Thank you ever so much!
Perfect Jürgen!
Hey Warren, I love that this community offers up great questions. I used to hate crossfades with religious fervor. So one of my mentors set me to work on a bunch of them as torture, or so I thought. It was the best exercise ever and I, in turn, “tortured” my students with them. Like anything regarding either performing or recording/mixing, there is no substitute for practicing what will become a skill with trial and error. As you know, when it’s done wrong the errors are glaring. Thanks for your typical awesome and detailed instruction. We’re all fortunate you’re gracious with your time and experience.
hanks ever so much Ron! I really appreciate you very kind words and for sharing your experiences with us!
Thanks, Warren! I appreciate how you respond to questions with insight and balance - drilling down to examine sufficient complexity in order to usefully answer - without ending up stuck in the weeds.
You're very kind my friend! It's REALLY important to me to remember we are ALL the same! Just a bunch or people doing what we love, making music! We are blessed!
I feel all FAQ'd up now. Thanks!
Haha thanks my friend!!
Hi Warren ! I'm a producer from France and I got a question for you.
Did you ever had to mix a song with an insane amount of tracks ? Like 60+ 70+ maybe more.
What do you think of having such dense arrangements ?
I'm listening to a lot of symphonic progressive metal stuff and they've sometimes got songs with lots of heavy drums, bass and guitar, lots of vocal stuff and and a wall of keyboards and orchestra parts, but somehow they can manage to keep the metal section punchy, the main vocal clear and all the backstuff hearable. How can we achieve such magic ? What are your advices on mixing those ?
Thank you !
Hello! What a truly quite marvellous question my friend! It's quite true, these days 100 plus tracks is extremely common! I've been guilty myself of over doing the track count a huge amount off times! The most important thing for me, is to ascertain are they actually 100 plus individual tracks? Or are they (this is quite common) just a bunch of sums of a whole! For instance a great string engineer will balance the mics of the Orchestra exactly how the arranger and/or composer wanted to hear them, so effectively they are a stereo pair! The same can be said for a chore off individually mic'd singers! They can also be considered as a stereo track if the Arranger and Engineer created the balance! So, for me, I always ask that tracks be sent to me how the Producer/Arranger/Engineer was hearing them! I hope that helps somewhat? I'm so glad to be able to help in any way I can! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
I really dig today’s video. Tons of energy (and maybe caffeine!?!?) loved the descriptions of parallel compression and adding guitar od’s. This is what it looks like when you love what you do kids!
Being a musician/songwriter as well as a producer, how do you deal with recording and mixing your own voice? What are the challenges and how do you address them?
Thanks Warren, as almost everytime, I found some things in your video, I'm gonna try. Also thanks for supporting small one-man-shows like Klanghelm. Their stuff (at least the things I own) sound amazing, look fantastic and are ridiculous cheap. 23€ is a steal.
One thing that i've learned from your videos is importanse of lowmid area in the mix
Yes Niklas! Very important indeed!
Yah! It makes a world of difference! One of the many great thinks I've learned on this channel
Warren, you have some of the most consistently informative and enjoyable content on UA-cam. Keep up the excellent work! 👌🏻🐺
Love your videos Warren very much so much to learn from and so much interesting info! You Rock!
Thanks ever so much Alexey!!
That 'high line' is what the end of that "Stay" song needs in that break. :)
Yes, indeed Clay!
Hey Warren!!
Thank you ever so much for this valuable info!
I would like to ask a quenstion:
How do you handle white noise in vocals after you turn up the highs to make them pop out?
Wish you a great weekend and a beautiful year
Very great video. Always a pleasure hearing you.
This is, hands down, the best music production content ever made.
Hi there. Very informative. Your channel inspired me to start mine!!! Keep up the work! And thank you.
We are so blessed to have Warren share so freely with us !!
IWant Appledumplings you’re very kind! Thanks for being a huge supporter of the channel!
Thanks Warrren, great FAQ Friday. I use dynamics to increase excitement in a mix, bring the guitars and lead vocals up a db or two going into a chorus, etc. thanks again.
Hi Warren, I just wanted to say these videos are such a huge help. Maybe you could do a video about drum editing. Going into detail with beat mapping and placing drums on the grid. I think that was the hardest things when I was learning how to professionally record and mix. Thanks again for the all time and energy you put into showing us these tips!
really good one ..the drum edit with cross fades on tracks in different spot ...didn't even know you could do that...thanks guys
Squeaky kick drum -- listen to Needles and Pins by the Searchers....it became part of the sound.
Warren I absolutely loved your enthusiasm in this video! Stay awesome!
Great info here on crossfades Warren, I use to wonder why some of my fades would pop, you have just answered this question for me, Thank you!
More great tips, thanks Warren. Also, love that the Delta rebuild guitar made an appearance. :)
Thanks ever so much my friend! I'm so glad to be able to help! Have a marvellous time recording, many thanks Warren
P.S I agree! The rebuild was amazing! Scott and his team do amazing work!!
Hi Warren! I think you've just confirmed something that I've long heard about NS-10s, and that's that they made guitars really stand out in the mix and that's why engineers loved them, because they could play the mix to guitarists and they'd be satisfied that they were really upfront and loud, but in actual fact it was just those particular speakers that made them sound that way. It was a really just an effective way to shut up guitarists who were always saying "Make me louder!" Am I somewhere near the truth there? Cheers from Australia.
Ace video Warren!!
So what do I do to make a mix exciting?...hmmmm... I tend to use parallel compression, saturation, delays and other modulations. Mainly I ride faders a lot to add energy.
Wonderful elaborations, Warren. Thanks!
Thanks Clay! You Rock!
Some great advise Warren, any chance of a tutorial video to complement these points? I must say, my mixes have really improved by watching your sessions ... really enjoy your work 👍
Amazingly good FAQ Friday!
Thanks ever so much!!
Re: your kick pedal squeak- being in the academy, I've had plenty of opportunity to contend with that sound. I ended up saving the eq notch as a preset in my stock EQ plugin. The frequency in question is 9.13 kHz. Looks like I cut around 15dB, with a very narrow bandwidth. Even with that, there's still a bit in there :)
EQ on Reverb before or after. Lot of deference in control of sound. What do you prefere. And why.
Great info as always! Thank you for these :)
You're very welcome Boathaus! Thanks for watching!
Just had lunch now for dessert some good audio science from Warren
Sounds like the perfect combination! haha!
Hi Warren, I hope YOU'RE having a marvellous day and thanks for all your great info. I'm looking for a product and not sure what it is I need. I use Pro Tools with a Focusrite Scarlett interface and powered monitors, but I also wish to use some passive monitors that I have. I presume I need to send a pair outputs from the Focusrite to a power amp that I can connect the passive speakers to but I have no idea what type of amp to buy. Are there power amps out there for use in a studio? Thanks again for imparting all your brilliant knowledge and best wishes form the UK.
I typically eyeball the crossfade and then listen to hear if I got it right. Yeah, I know I should be using my ears rather than my eyes, but having spent most of my life in the visual arts world, I've been trained to use my eyes-you can observe a lot by just watching-and it's a hard habit to break.
As for compressor plugins, I've been collecting them the way I used to collect comic books and baseball cards as a kid. I use the "throw it against the wall and see what sticks" method when figuring out which compressor to use.
As for the squeaky pedal, as long as it doesn't distract from the mix, I don't see a problem with it. Heck, most of the time I don't even notice it until somebody else points it out.
You are amazing sharing all this knowledge on a really easy way to understand. Many thanks!!
ASW shucks thanks ever so much my friend! You Rock!!
hello warren ,i enjoy your Vedas very much,thanx i am very fond of the bss DPR 402 .i have been using it since the 1980's
i track vox and guitars with it ,the limiter section on it is very smooth and ads a nice hight end to the sores .
i also have it as a plugin ,and it sounds very true to the original .
Hahaha, Oh Warren, I can't count the number of evenings I sit down to watch one or two of your videos with full intentions of NOT WORKING; Yet within minutes I'm powering up my recording computer to rework something or other based on what you're talking about. Well done Sir.
I'll get my 1000 hours in no time LOL!
My question is this; I'm not working with any rack gear at the moment ie: mic pre's, guitar pre's etc... I need to record my bass (76 Fender P) parts DI thru a line out from the back of a really cool 76 Yamaha 115B bass amp. However the signal is WAY to hot even with all sensitivity turned to zero (M-Audio Project Mix I/O) and the Amp is on 2ish.
If I wanted to mic my bass amp, what should I try? Or is there some other fix to my line out problems?
Thanks so much for everything you're doing for the music world right now.
Hey Warren, when would you choose a fast/look-ahead compressor over a transient shaper for , um, transient shaping?
Just in time, 'cause I was doing some cross fades last night. Those details make a difference!
Great video, great channel.
Thanks ever so much Jason!
Hi Warren, could you please explain how do you use your compression chain 160 + 1176??? Also do modern 160a sounds the same as 165??? Thank you!
Very informative! My new song has heavy guitar.. your eq'ing tips for drum and guitar (14:24/27:54) I will definitely try.
Glad to be able to help Shawn!!
Warren, related to Top-Down mixing - Do you ever high-pass or low-pass your mix bus? Is eq on the mix bus EVER a good idea? So much contrary information out there. Would appreciate a bit more clarity as I move ahead. Thanks, Kyle!!!
I can be a bit squeaky too at times and I think that is ok!
Haha me too!!
What do you consider to be an acceptable noise floor level for recording? I recently bought the Scalett 2i4 interface - when I hooked up a Studio Projects C-1 (I love that mic!), and set it for appropriate input levels (approx -16db peaks), I'm getting a noise floor at approx. -50db on one input channel, and -60 db on the other. It does record wonderfully, but I'm concerned about the difference...
Does it make sense during the mixing process to combine multiple monitor speaker types to compensate for negative sound characteristics of them? Or do you prefer to switch between them?
Thank you Warren! Awesome questions/answers as always (no I don't copy/paste this comment everytime, it's just the truth :)). Have a great weekend!
Compressors... well I use them a lot, drums, vocals, bass, guitar... why? to make things more even sounding of course (most of the time I use the free TDR Kotelnikov for that), but also later on to "glue" everything together. This is where I like colored compressors.
I love these episodes! How do I submit questions!?
Hey Matthew! Thanks for the kind words! Glad you enjoy the FAQ Friday videos. All you need to do to submit a question is leave it under these videos in the comments section!
Amazing production tips for subtle improvements:)
When using stereo room mics on drums, do you measure them out evenly from the kit to avoid phase cancellation? What about each other? I'm guessing that probably depends on the width of the room.
Ideia for a new plug-in, "WD40Fx fix your squeaking kick drum track" 😆😎
Haha genius Antonio!!
Hi Warren. Can you include a recommendation of how you would record a drum kit with different amount of mics.
For example a single mic setup being if I had one large diaphram condenser mic and where you would position it to get the most out of it. Then dual mics e.g. one large diaphram and one dynamic on snare or how you would proritise the placement/ piece of the kit that gets mic'd. Basically for someone recording like myself with limited amount of mics.
Thanks
Hey Warren, when pull out low mids on drums, would do this on a master drum buss, or individually for each drum track?
¡Hi warren! I got a question for you, love your videos (and your accent hahaha), it has helped me a lot.
¿How do you mix a song with just the guitar, maybe a very small percussion set (like a cajon and some shakers) and the vocals to make it sound a little bit bigger o more full with so little quantity of instruments?
Thanks for everything, keep doing it, and greetins from Colombia!
I know that you asked this to Warren, so I'm sorry that I answer before he does. Here is what I would do. Firstly, while a Cajon physically is a small instrument, it has a frequency range that covers almost the entire human hearing spectrum. Just keep that in mind. Anyway, I would record the guitar with the M/S or Blumlein technique. This gives you a nice and realistic stereo spread for the guitar. Record the vocals in doubles and in harmonies. Pan these around the lead vocal (if there is a lead) and add some stereo chorus-delay. Mic the Cajon near the sound hole to capture the "boom" and close mic it in the front to capture the slaps. Also, stereo mic the room. This will give you enough material to make a great mix. My last advice is to not overdo artificial "make it bigger - fatter - wider - etc." than it is. If it is an intimate song, then approach it that way.
I use the Waves Infected Mushroom Pusher on my Mix Bus! Works great and gives a nice polish to the mix!
Hi Warren. What is your opinion/experience on recording bass with flatwounds vs roundwounds? (Not a 'one better than the other' question). Which one would typically be used in a rock song? Thanks. Dean.
I've been trying sending my whole instrument mix (except bass & drums) to a parallel bus where I compress it heavily, then blending that it into my total mix. I tried unlinking the compressor (so left and right are compressed independently) instead of the usual linked mode. This seems to keep the stereo balance more, er, balanced, but it might also cause phase issues. Would you use this unlinking technique?
6:20 to 6:40 priceless !!! love it!!
The MJUC kicks some serious ass. The DC8C does as well. Thank you for another great video, Warren.
Max V don’t forget the DC1A. Dead simple to use and hard to make sound bad. Great on background vocals.
Hi Warren, have you ever included oddball things in a mix such as plucked bed springs, or drumming on a guitar case or cardboard box? I love using a kids piano or a toy xylophone. I love recording in a tiled bathroom for the echo.
Hey Warren, I often find when parallel compressing drums I end up with a lot of mud in the bottom end, do you have any tips for killing this. I use the compress/deEss/compress technique , but I still find some , thanks!!!
Warren, I have a question about measuring monitor volume output level. You speak of monitor at low levels, even using a DIM setting to mix much of your mix only to increase the volume for a short period of time. Yes, I've implemented your process and have notice a big difference in mix results and fatigue. I didn't always mix at lower levels. In several of your videos, you speak about monitoring at levels between 82-85 dB. MY QUESTION: For a home studio owner, what is the best way to MEASURE what the actual volume is that one is listening to? Yes there are meters on the DAW and on the Audio Interface Software but there is ALSO gain knobs on the physical monitors themselves. So for example, your DAW could be reading one output, the audio interface software another, and then there's the setting level knob on the back of the monitors. Depending the each of their levels, all three could/would influence the final output level. Considering it's all stacked and one setting can effect the other, how do you get to the true reading? Is there some hardware device that would need to be brought in-line or is there a simpler way that I'm just missing?
Two tricks that I often use to make a particular section of an instrument more exciting, possibly the correct terminology is "interesting", is to gently add noise to it. Obviously, it has to be noise that is musically related to the part. The Waves Morphoder is great for this. Another trick is to add a pitch shifter. -12 Semitones always works (musically), but I like -5 / +7 semitones on instruments too. Now that I'm thinking about it... I stole those tricks from your VT tricks, isn't it? Ha-ha.
Regarding the squeaky kick drum pedal, I have a possible solution (though I, personally, wouldn't be bothered by it).
Find the offending range of frequencies and decide if it's just on a single channel (snare, for example) or the entire drum buss.
We will name the channel 'C' and the offending frequency range 'F'.
Next, find out the approximate amount of time that passes between the initial transient of the kick and the targeted squeak (also the duration of said squeak).
We will name the time that passes 'T' and the duration 'D'.
Now for the fun bit...
Send the kick to a mono auxiliary (we will name this 'A') and place a delay on it. Set the delay time to 'T'.
Put an instance of F6 (other varieties of Dynamic EQ are available) on channel 'C'.
Set the external sidechain of the F6 to receive from 'A'.
Select a band on F6 and set it to 'F', make sure the threshold is triggering, set the release to approximately 'D' then alter the range as required to acquire the reduction of squeakiness desired.
I'll get my coat... 🤣🤣🤣
Hi, Warren - Jon Usry here. I've been meaning to ask this question for some time. I know you're the producer who will immediately assimilate the philosophy. I'm just wondering, am I the only one who uses this strange creative tool? : When I'm working on a composition, or an arrangement, I will vocalize the instrument I'm imagining over the existing tracks. For example, if I'm "hearing" a cello line, I'll vocally sound that airy string hum as a melody over the mix. If, it "works", that goes into the production as a live or virtual instrument track. I will use this technique with almost any given instrument - trumpet, distorted guitar, gong crash, BGV, ad infinitum. If you also use this production process, I'd appreciate the confirmation. Perhaps you could do a tutorial on how you accomplish this. Blessings, Warren!
Some daws like mix us do fades automatically when cutting, splicing etc. This works for most editing but you still need to listen and shape the fade for more detailed edits
Interesting notes about editing crossfades separately even while editing in group. Is this possible in Logic? I will have to research...
I love the MJUC!
Hmm I'm not sure if it is possible in Logic?
Yes, the MJUC is amazing!
Nice video 👌🏾
Thanks ever so much
How much "excitement" would you say comes from the actual arrangement vs. the quality of recording (gear/production mentality)?
Funny you mentioned the MJUC. I actually prefer the Jr, I find it a bit more transparent but still get of bit of color. The best of both worlds! :-)
crossfades:
recently I used the spectral views of two waveforms of stems to see how the transients were developing. the waveform itself was too complex to see it.
so I could align two transients each on the "one" and then switch and leave out that I did not want. but also looked at the overall timing during two bars, because it was played organically. so the transients were buried in the stem mix and not everything was on grid. the spectral display was helpful then.
crossover width was ~2ms.
have you tried the black rooster audio compressors?
I know you can't answer for all mixers/producers, but what type of audio samples do you look for when working with unknown clients? Full band mixed demos? single songs?
Great video Warren! You mentioned a look ahead compressor....do you create this somehow, or is it a type of compressor?Just saw that you are speaking at NAMM, are you looking forward to that?
Warren your famous Squeaky Kick Drum pedal we all talk about! Haha
Haha yes, indeed Darlene!
Hey Warren!
WD-40 is a water displacement solution so it won’t necessarily work. With link pedals, I’d recommended using a bicycle chain lubricant, since they generally will do a better job of keeping it in full working order.
That’s of course, if you want to remove the beautiful squeak!
You mentioned something about top down mixing. Pros and cons?
thanks again mate
Klanghelm compressors could be everything you need for controlling transients and color your sounds. MJUC ($24) is great for compressing and color while the DC8C ($23) is an awesome set of 3 compressors that gives you 3 different compressors without coloring the sound at all. Pair those 2 with the ToneBoosters - Compressor V3 ($20 bundle) and you'll have a wide palette for compressing anything without breaking the bank. Guaranteed
Isaac Pizarro and the Klanghelm DC1A, it’s even cheaper (=free) and much easier to use than the DC8C, which I rarely use as the pre defined compressors usually don’t do it for me and the advanced panel is way too complicated for me ;)
The TB compressor is a great little workhorse compressor! The TB bus compressor seems also good, but again, it kinda intimidates me with its complexity...
Hi Warren, i'm a musician and i'd like to start producing music .
I've a question for you: if you should choose between a Small dead sounding room (with hard sound treatment in it) or a very high and Big room with no sound treatment in which one would you record ?
I love your channel..I would love to send you one of my mixes and see you squasch the schnizzle out of it...I was looking to add energy to a certain song of mine but I already have two tambourines and a shaker
Thanks for the tips and tricks!!!! I use compressors on basses/growls/reeces and a bunch of other stuff.....I produce EDM so there's a lot of compression involved...XD
Experiment with cross fade “types” especially on longer cross fades. Also always listen to an edit point especially on drums as you don’t always need a cross fade. If there no digital click and it sounds good you don’t need a cross fade.
Can you do a music career in, for example, mixig or mastering having not cursed any professional studies related to them?
Done the fade on every snare and kick on a track last year. Still can’t sleep at night.
Hey Warren! Do you ever high-pass cymbals? If I don't, mine always seem really... chunky.
compressor:
I love Klanghelm devices so much. their comps have very strong personality, but can be tamed. already the free stuff is marvelous and game-changer.
you can make a track sound "different", esp. with the DC1A2, so the mix becomes more exciting.
question
Warren, plz if you know the Thrillseeker LA, it has switches for transformer, a slider for crunch/3rd, and a 6-step slider from high to low to full frequency for the impact of the distortion, so it is really great to glue a complete guitar bus together and brighten it up,
(it sounds a lot different from the Klanghelm plugins),
but it seems there is only the 32bit version,
so do you know what commercial plugin would be the best replacement?
There's a free update to the DC1A, it's now DC1A3. It's worth it!
I hardly ever use cross-fades. I think it might have something to do with the the way my DAW works. I'm using ardour rather than pro-tools. I usually just find the matching waveform just in front of the transient and butt the sections up against each other. I also tend to edit gain curves rather than separate.
hi Warren..could you..do a vid...explaining a sub track and a bus track...60yr old ..getting Started in home studio... Keep up the great work guys...cheers Doogie Scotland.
Sir I texted you on Facebook😃
I've learnt so much from your videos, hoping to meet you some day sir. Please leave a reply if you could, loads of love from India🇮🇳🇮🇳
Love it! Pictures of Matchstick Men Status Quo.
I sometimes put parallel compression channels and reverbs on a VCA and ride that fader.
I would love more NS10 tricks please. I just reactivated mine. :)
🙂
Getting rid of the squeak. iZotope's RX "Spectral Repair" is an amazing tool for surgery in a sound file. Look at their tutorials for removing those unwanted chirps.
I don’t have any fancy or expensive compressors but I like to compress on the way in because I want it to sound the way I like to hear it going to tape, my drums have 8 outs and a left and right stereo mix I use for overheads
1. Kick
2. Snare
3. Hi hat
4. Ride
5/6. Stereo toms
7/8. Stereo cymbals
9/10. Stereo mix out
Kick Presonus channel strip Tube saturation/EQ/compression
Snare Presonus channel strip saturation/eq/compression/high pass
Hi hats slight compression/high pass
Ride half normal to interface
Stereo toms stereo compression to interface
Stereo cymbals to stereo eq to interface
Stereo mix out to 882i to interface
I don’t have acoustic treatment in my live room so all of my drums, bass, guitar, keyboards have to go straight into my 16 channel snake to my top patch bay and half normal to my 16 channel interface and the bottom patch bay has 3 channel strips, 3 stereo compressors, 4 stereo effects units, one eq and an 882i and only the vocals have to be mic unless someone wants to record acoustic guitar or a harmonica but so far I’m still in the building stage and both my control room and the vocal booth are about 6’X6’X6’ the worst measurements for a mixing room or a vocal booth but until I can do better this has got to do but surprisingly I think I get some good sounding songs and vocals I’ve been asked how I got such clean vocals and I think it’s more the fact that I’ve been mixing live and I know when I’m hearing boxy or harsh frequencies but being a bass player I probably like low end a little to much
Led Zeppelin's Since I've Been Loving You .. there's some good squeaky kick.
(else Izotope's RX I guess)
Yes! I love that squeak!! Love my squeaky pedal too! Even though everyone complains about it! Haha
Regarding choosing different compressors for different types of music. Has anyone ever thought to put packages of plug-ins together for specific music genres? For example, if someone wanted to create post punk, having a package of, say, "Martin Hannett's Toolbox", with suggestions of plug-ins for that specific sound would really be awesome.....or is that kinda crazy?
I do it with Tracktion "racks" because these can assemble any set of plugins in any way, inputs and outputs freely to wire. These can become presets. I have a snare shaping preset that has a gated reverb also. I have a vocal preset that has two compressors in parallel.
I think it makes sense. So I can put a couple of racks in the track and switch these on and off each as a whole, and when I found the rack that basically fits the style, I start to tweak.
Seems to me that top down mixing is like cooking all your ingredients for a lasagna first and then assembling it on the dish. It might be edible but it won't be nearly as good as when you cook it all together where the flavors and textures all meld together to for a great meal. :-)