Howlin mix
Hello everyone!
I'm from Brazil and also new to this forum/contest thing. I just uploaded my mix and it was a great experience.
I did it ITB with Protools 10 (2bus to my Fatso Jr and API 5500 eq) and by the end of the mix my mac mini was almost melting down
I didn't have a lot of time in hands, so I had to break up my sessions in one hour long little bursts of mixing.
Day 1: Trying to understand the music, going through the stems, general balance and static working mix.
Day 2: Drums/Bass/Lead Vocal.
Day 3: Guitars, and tweaks on day 2.
Day 4: Synths, Vocal Harmonies, fxs, and tweaking on day 2 and 3.
Day 5: Tweaking, lots of fader riding and more effects (mostly delays and some filter automation)
Day 6: Last minute changes and the moment to ruin all my work: I set a Fabfilter Limiter on my 2 bus and after uploading the mix I realise I can hear it working on my grand "explosion into the Chorus" moment and ducking the bass more than I wanted. Anyhow, it still works and I'd have done it anyway if I was to send this mix to a client.
I had a very hard time at first to figure out what to do with all those stems. But after a little organising it made a lot of sense. I used the opportunity to practice using more extensively the "group" function in Protools, using the show/hide functions I usually don''t bother to. It was fun and this alone made my participation here worthwhile!
I used a LOT of plugins. More than I should. After a while I realised I was boosting some frequency with one plug and cutting it out with the next
![Embarrassment :o :o](/images/smilies/redface.gif)
Keeping focused was not very easy doing little pieces at a time over a week... I lost perspective many times. But I think it all came together by the 5th day...
I used mostly SlateDigital (VTM, VCC, VBC), Brainworx, SPL, Fabfilter, Waves, McDSP, and iZotope (lots of Trash2 everywhere!). I also used the new Primal Tap Delay from SoundToys. I'm in love with that little freebie!
I used this contest to try out Neyrinck's iPad V-Control Pro app. It worked beautifully!
I think the main weapons here were my Focal Twin monitors. I had to sell one kidney to get one of those here in Brazil, but man it was worth it! Those monitors changed my life!
Anyhow, good luck everyone and a big thanks to the folks who gave us this opportunity!
Cheers,
Andre