Hi all.

Ive come to that point during creative sessions of spending ten minutes plus setting up aux sends and buss returns just to get an idea of ho it could sound.

Non useful to the process right?

So Im after some advice if possible,on what practical,usefull and just handy to have set up as a mix template so I can keep the flow of music?

Daw of choice if FL11 (useful for routing,non practical for mixer space as only 99 channels.
Style of production is Dutch house.

Currently I would set up a P-comp chain,reverb roughly 2.8scs for leads 1.4 for drums, delay & sidechain

Anything else you think is either a must,useful or just plain needed to be added to my list,or even your findings wth the sound would be great.
All bar that any advice would be brilliant.

Cheers

 

-Brickwall limiter on your master
-Frequency Analyzers on your selected channel
-A master drum chain, and a sidechain send for specific elements, kick and snare etc
-Colouring and renaming to tracks in the playlist

This is what i use:


So i have:
5 kicks sent to kick master
5 snares sent to snare master
etc
then they are all sent to a drum master at the end
and as you can see on my playlist, ive given 5 tracks to each type of sound, each of them related to the master

 

Your basic chain covers it pretty much. You could set up e.g. a SPL Vitalizer chain, if you're looking for some extra low end. Or other gimmick chains.
Roland Dimension D (chorus) chain or a Roland Space Echo chain would come to my mind, as well.

It really depends on the way you work. I for example, work with five different reverbs (Halls, Room, Ambience, one "fx" Plate) and two delays (1/4, 1/8)
as my standard. What else I may introduce highly depends on the song. About 75% of the time I also use a PL comp chain for drums.

There are many tools which are not wise to be brought to the song in an early stage as a send. e.g. tape delays, because the delay times have to be
configuered individually, be it for the whole song or individual elements.

In your case, I would just ask myself, which tools often come to use and steal a lotta time configuring. And then you might have
answered the question yourself. Otherwise, you can only get hints. All being highly individual.

Big Mike

 

Cheers for the replies. I gt what you mean in regards to being individual to what I would normally have by the end of the mix as quick early go tos.
Great tip on the added reverbs I add an extra along with an added delay type.
Again thanks for your replys some great ideas to play around with as well as some
interesting chains to check out.

@syNth Great mix set up mate I imagine the depth is pretty spot on Im interested to know if you then go on to bus the separate group sends to further busses before applying reverbs & sidechain etc before it finally reaches the master?


@bigmike cool tips mate,although I will check out the roland chains I dont suppose you have any tips or any personal use such as its uses & so on?

Cheers

 

The Roland Dimension D in mode 4 gives you a nice wide detuned chorus. You've probably heard the effect countless times without knowing.
A standard effect in Rock. What you should keep an eye on is the stereo width. Meaning, if you send wide signals into it they get even more
expanded. A correlation meter is good to have, as well as a utility you can use to monitor your mix in mono ("bx_solo"; a free Plugin Alliance
plugin is great for that). Plus don't forget to hipass the return. You probably don't need anything under 400 hz. So, starting to highpass there
would be a good decision. If you feel the chorus is fighting with your high end, a lowpass can be used. I wouldn't set the lowpass lower than
about 2000hz, otherwise you would destroy the effect of the chorus. Keep in mind that lowpassing it that much would, of course, reduce the width.

The Roland Space Echo is a time based unit. Meaning, that you have to dial in the echo time. Many people have a "standard" effect they use it for,
or set it manually (for every individual element). The reason why I referred to it as a send effect is that "Soundtoys Echoboy" gives you the possibility
to use it time synced as a e.g. 1/8 single echo/delay unit. Which is pretty useful as a send effect. Again, don't forget to highpass.
You don't need anything under 400hz. Lowpass is also just like with the chorus effect.

If you're using reverb, don't forget to highpass the return as well. You could start at around 120hz. Most of the times you don't need anything under
120hz. There are some exceptions. So, don't use the frequency suggestions I made as a rule. Just as a starting point to further investigate yourself.
Same goes for chorus and delay.

Big Mike

btw, if I got the other question right, you can of course use the snare sub (the group channel all the five different snare samples got send to)
to apply reverb to it, for example.

 

Hi Mike,that was a really good read thanks.

I don't think Ive ever used a chorus as a send return just as important as reverbs I know,I will be using and building on this technique mind.

Thank you for the detailed description really informative.

Cheers