Putting It All Together

We've gone through a lot of concepts in this chapter, so let's put them to use in our recording example. Let's review our mixing and bouncing strategy for our existing 12 tracks:

• Apply compression to the snare drum, kick drum, and bass guitar tracks

• Apply reverb to the lead vocal and background vocal tracks

• Apply corrective EQ to the bass guitar track

• Final bounce must be to a stereo pair so that we can burn the song using the SCSI CD burner

• We want the source tracks for the final bounce to be the stereo keyboard, lead vocal, lead guitar, and all remaining tracks

As we work through bouncing and mixing all these tracks, I'm just going to cover the high-level steps. For example, I'm not going to list the specific compression settings being used or the amount of reverb applied to certain tracks. Even if I did give you those details, they probably wouldn't apply to your situation (and that's not the point of this exercise). However, once you understand how to perform the mixing and bouncing tasks , you'll be able to apply your specific settings with ease.

Again, let me reiterate that the method I'm showing for bouncing and mixing these tracks is how I'd do it; you may do it differently, and that's OK.

Since we're going to perform a number of bounces and will use Track Exchange quite frequently, I'm not going to show the track sheet after every bounce. Instead, where appropriate, I'll list the relevant tracks that we need to worry about. Also, although not specifically listed, you can assume that I'll clear all routings and effect assignments between each bounce, as well as arm the source tracks for playback and the destination tracks for recording.

Feel free to flip back to Figure 5.6 to see our track sheet as it exists before we begin our bouncing and mixing steps.

Step 1Bounce the Drum Tracks with Effects

In this step, we'll bounce the existing four drum tracks to stereo recording track a. We'll also apply compression to the snare and kick drum tracks, and we'll apply varying amounts of reverb to all the tracks as part of the bounce. We'll perform this bounce as follows :

• Assign patch A96 DualComp/Lim to EFFECT1, configuring the left side for compressing the snare track and the right side for compressing the kick drum track.
  
  
• Assign patch B06 R2:MediumRm to EFFECT2, adjusting the parameters as necessary.
  
  
• On track 8 (snare track), select V-Track 8, set FX1 Ins=InsertL, and set EFFECT2 Send=PstFade.
  
  
• On track 7 (kick drum track), select V-Track 8, set FX1 Ins=InsertR, and set EFFECT2 Send=PstFade.
  
  
• On tracks 5 and 6 (drum overhead tracks), select V-Track 8, and set EFFECT2 Send=PstFade. These tracks were not recorded as linked tracks, therefore you'll need to do these adjustments on each track.
  
  
• On track a, verify that Channel Link is ON, and select V-Track 8. We'll bounce the drum tracks to a set of V-Tracks on this stereo track.
  
  
• In the Input Mixer, route mono tracks 5-8 to stereo track a.
  
  
• In the Effects Return Mixer, route the output of EFFECT2 to stereo track a.
  
  
• Adjust faders , track EQ, and panning as necessary on recording tracks 5-8.
  
  
• Save this configuration as Scene 1.
  
  
• Perform the bounce.
  
  
• When done, Track Exchange 1-8 with 7-1 and 2-8 with 8-1.
  
  

After this bounce and Track Exchange, we have the stereo drum tracks on 7-1 and 8-1, and tracks 1-8 and 2-8 are empty. Go ahead and Channel Link tracks 7-8 so they become track d.

Step 2Bounce the Rhythm Tracks with Effects

In this step, we'll bounce the new stereo drum tracks, along with the bass guitar, acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar, and background vocal tracks, to stereo recording track a. We'll also apply EQ changes to the bass guitar track and apply reverb to the background vocal track. These effects will be included in the bounce.

Before we begin, we need to use Track Exchange to swap our lead vocal track on 3-1 with our background vocal track on 5-2. Since we want to include the bass guitar track and the background vocal track, and both of those tracks exist as V-Tracks on the same recording track, we need to move one of them to a different recording track in order to do the bounce.

Now we have background vocals on 3-1, rhythm guitar on 4-1, bass guitar on 5-1, acoustic guitar on 6-4, and our stereo drum mix on track d-1. Here's how we'll set up this bounce:

• Assign patch B50 PEQ:Bass1 to EFFECT1, adjusting the parameters as necessary.

• Assign patch A11 RV:Soft Amb to EFFECT2, adjusting the parameters as necessary.

• On track 3 (background vocal track), select V-Track 1, and set EFFECT2 Send=PstFade.

• On track 4 (rhythm guitar track), select V-Track 1.

• On track 5 (bass guitar track), select V-Track 1, and set FX1 Ins=Insert.

• On track 6 (acoustic guitar), select V-Track 4.

• On stereo track d (stereo drum mix), select V-Track 1.

• In the Input Mixer, route mono tracks 3-6 to stereo track a and route stereo track d to stereo track a.

• In the Effects Return Mixer, route the output of EFFECT2 to stereo track a.

• Adjust faders, track EQ, and panning as necessary on tracks 3-6 and track d.

• Save this configuration as Scene 2.

• Perform the bounce.

• When done, Track Exchange 1-8 with 3-2 and 2-8 with 4-2.

After this bounce and Track Exchange, we have the stereo rhythm tracks on 3-2 and 4-2. Go ahead and Channel Link tracks 3-4 so they become track b.

Step 3Perform Final Bounce with Automix

After the bounce in step 2, we are left with the following relevant tracks:

• Stereo Track a-1 = Keyboard Tracks

• Stereo Track b-2 = Rhythm Tracks

• Mono Track 5-2 = Lead Vocal Track

• Mono Track 6-5 = Lead Guitar Track

We'll bounce all these tracks to a new stereo pair on recording track d. Before we do the bounce, let's set up Automix to create a custom, automated mix using Snapshot Automix. In this mix, we want the keyboards boosted during the keyboard solo, and we want all the instruments to fade out during the outro of the end of the song, leaving just the vocal track in the mix. Here are the high-level steps for creating this Automix.

• Adjust all track faders and parameters as needed for the beginning of the song.

• Assign patch A10 RV:Vocal Plt EFFECT1, adjusting the parameters as necessary, then save this effect as U10 SampPlate.

• On stereo track a (keyboard tracks), select V-Track 1.

• On stereo track b (rhythm tracks), select V-Track 2.

• On track 5 (lead vocal track), select V-Track 1, and set EFFECT1 Send=PstFade.

• On track 6 (lead guitar track), select V-Track 4.

• Save this configuration as Scene 3.

• Enable Automix as necessary, and take a snapshot at the beginning of the song.

• Position the song to the beginning of the keyboard solo, adjust the fader of the stereo keyboard track to increase the level, and then take a snapshot.

• Position the song to the end of the keyboard solo, adjust the fader of the stereo keyboard track to decrease the level, and then take a snapshot.

• Position the song to the beginning of the outro and take a snapshot.

• Position the song to the third measure of the outro, pull the faders all the way down on all tracks except the lead vocal track, and take a snapshot.

• While positioned at this last Snapshot Automix marker, perform a Gradation between the previous Automix marker and this Automix marker. This will create the fade of all the instruments.

Now we can play back the song and verify that the mix is the way we want it. Once we are satisfied with the Automix, set up the destination stereo recording track d appropriately and route all the source tracks to it. Also, remember that before you perform the bounce, you'll need to route the outputs of EFFECT1 to stereo recording track d so that the reverb is included in the bounce. By now, you should be able to perform those steps on your own, so we'll consider this song mixednice job!

In the next chapter, we'll see how to create this final stereo mix on an audio CD.