My name is Rob . I just listened to the episode about using the 1176 and the LA-2A Very helpful . I'm about a year and a half into my production and mixing journey and still learning the ins and outs of the various types of compressors and this is a very helpful way to understand certain ways . I might use one or both of those compressors in certain situations .
So thanks for the effort and the clear explanations . You're listening to the Inside the Mix podcast with your host , Mark Matthews .
Hello and welcome to the Inside the Mix podcast . I'm Mark Matthews , your host , musician , producer and mix and mastering engineer . You've come to the right place if you want to know more about your favorite synth music artists , music engineering and production , songwriting and the music industry .
I've been writing , producing , mixing and mastering music for over 15 years and I want to share what I've learned with you . Hello , folks , and welcome to the Inside the Mix podcast . If you are a new listener , make sure you hit follow wherever you get your podcasts and if you're watching this on YouTube , make sure you hit subscribe and that notification bell .
And to the returning listeners , a big welcome back . In the middle of July 2024 , I dropped my limited series podcast , logic Pro Mixing Tips for Synthpop Producers , artists and Musicians , and if you go to synthmusicmasteringcom , there's also the video version of it as well .
So not only can you listen to the entire 15 part course for free , you can also watch the entire 15 part course for free and you can also download all of the assets , so that's the stems or tracks . That is also the project file , the complete project file , and also my synthpop logic pro mixing template .
You'll find a link to download all those assets in the episode description and you will also find a link to the 15-part video course and the limited series podcast as well , and it's approximately six hours long but it is broken down into 15 videos .
So this episode of the Inside the Mix podcast is going to be the most popular episode of my Logic Pro Mixing Tips for Synthpop Producers , artists and Musicians podcast , and it's episode 15 , final Mix Touches Finishing and Polishing a Synthpop Track . So without further ado , let's dive into episode 15 of my limited series podcast .
So here , what we're going to do in this final episode is we're going to do some mix bus processing just to finish this mix , and we're going to start with some compression and I'm going to use my favorite vintage opto compressor .
So I've got a cycle region set in a loud part of this mix and I've got the vintage opto compressor here and I've got a 1.5 to 1 ratio really really subtle minimal gain reduction going on here . My threshold is set to minus 42 . I've got the auto gain off , I've got the auto release on and I've got a very slow attack .
I want to let those transients through . Basically , what I want to do here is just help bind things together and add a bit of tone with the opto compressor and just bring up that lower level information just a touch .
I'm just tickling the meter on this particular compressor and I've got the makeup gain of 2dB and the output gain set to minus one , because I want the actual level of the mix itself to be the same as it was before it went into the compressor . So I'm going to play it now without the compressor and now I'm going to play it with the compressor .
Okay , very subtle , but again just binding , just gluing things together . At this particular point of the mix , again , 1.5 to 1 ratio Could go to 2 to 1 , but inevitably with this sort of situation I like to go with a very low ratio and in this instance I've opted to , or rather opted for , 1.5 to 1 . Now there is a disclaimer with this , folks .
If I was sending this off to a mastering engineer , I wouldn't have a compressor on the mix bus . But for this podcast and this series I've put a compressor on there . General rule of thumb if you are sending a mix for mastering , leave the mix bus empty . But in this instance I've put it on there for this particular tutorial .
So the final part of this mix bus puzzle is this . I've got the console EQ . It was the tube EQ before , but I've switched it for the console EQ as I prefer it in this instance . It just sounds better to me .
And I've got this enhanced mix patch here and I've tailored it slightly to my liking for this mix because it was quite aggressive in terms of its boost . So I've got a high gain of 1.4 . It's like a high shelf and then I've got a mid gain , so it's a bell curve in this instance at three kilohertz , which is sort of where that vocal presence frequency is .
And then I've got the drive set at seven and I've got the output model of smooth console EQ and I've got a minus 2 dB on the actual output to compensate for that increased signal level . And this is what it sounds like before the vintage console EQ . I think it sounds really nice . Going with the output model here , it sounds nice and smooth .
I think I did actually forget to mention that there is a 1 dB boost at 110 Hz for some bass frequencies there as well . But I really like the vintage console EQ in this instance and the tube EQ sounds great as well . The EQs and Logic vintage console EQ in this instance and the tube EQ sounds great as well . The EQs and logic are really really good .
So that's it , folks . That is the mixing process done for this project . Now again , I'm just going to reiterate that previous disclaimer here with the mix bus . If I was sending this to a mastering engineer , I would leave the mix bus empty .
That being said , you could leave the console with you on there if you wanted to for some color , but in general I would leave it empty and leave that to your mastering engineer to take care of , because once that's printed on there , they then have to correct it if they do need to . So just leave it for the mastering engineer .
Effectively , folks , leave the mix bus empty . Let's check a few parameters for this mix . First things first . I'm going to check the phase correlation in this chorus section here , where it's most busy . Okay , it sounds really good . There's no issues there with phase . So let's go to the first verse and play a bit here .
You know one thing we're going to do , folks . I said it was finished . I'm just going to boost the reverb on that snare because I think it just sounds a bit too dry . So I'm going to boost it by a few dB . And also , the phase was fine for this section here , but I'm going to boost it by a few dB .
And also the phase was fine for this section here , but I'm going to play it again . So I settled on about minus 15.7 . I think I might just even it out and just go minus 16 . To be honest , we'll go minus 16 with that reverb . Send on that snare . I think that sounds quite good . It just sounded a bit too dry for my liking then .
And , in particular , another thing I'm going to check is I'm going to put it in mono , and what I'm checking for in mono is can I hear everything that I want to hear ? Is everything standing out as it should ? Is anything being masked , in particular the vocal ? So I'm going to put it in mono and we'll play the verse first .
I think , in this instance , I might just bring the bass up a touch . I'm going to set it to minus 2 dB . Let's play the chorus . I'm going to play the final chorus . I think those ARPs might need to come down a touch , so let's find out where they are . I'm just going to play it again .
I brought them down to minus 3 dB , so I think that sounds pretty good now . So I'm going to take it out of mono and let's play it . Yeah , that sounds much better . I say much better . It sounded good anyway , but sounds much better . I say much better . It sounded good anyway , but it sounds better .
So the final thing I'm going to check for is the overall signal level for this mix , and this is sort of the loudest section here and it looks like it's at about minus 6 dB , which is perfect right for sending this out . I've got plenty of headroom here for the mastering engineer .
So I'm going to turn on the multimeter and let's have a look and see where we are in terms of LUFS Short-term LUFS about minus 19 and we're peaking at about minus 6.1 . So plenty of room to send this , or rather plenty of room for the mastering and engineer to do their magic .
So really , really happy with the final signal level , the overall level for this mix . So now is the most satisfying part of the mixing process . I'm going to play the track at the point of import . So this is verse two into chorus two .
Yeah , your secret show . Ooh , I could watch you forever , forever , but I'm done watching fire , light , light . Secret show , secret show . One day I will let you go , let you go . Let you go . Right now , you don't need to know .
Right now , you don't need to know Right now , you don't need to know , and this is the final mix . So this is verse 2 , chorus 2 . I could watch you forever , but I'm down to a fire lit light . You're your secret show .
I could watch you forever , but I'm down to a fire , lit light your secret show .
So hopefully , folks , you can hear there is a marked improvement from the import to where we are now at the end of the mixing process .
So what we've been through here we've been through the mixing of the drum subgroup , the bass subgroup , the two synth subgroups , the effects subgroup and the lead vocal and the harmony vocal subgroups not necessarily in that and it sounds much better Now . This is using just Logic Pro plugins and really is the basic foundations of mixing .
There's lots more that we could do with this in terms of processing , in particular automation . I would heavily automate a song , in particular with vocals and just moving things around in the stereo field to add excitement and interest . But that's another series in itself . There we go , folks . I hope you enjoyed that episode .
If you would like to consume the whole thing , remember there is a link in the episode description for both the actual podcast itself logic pro mixing tips for synth pop producers , artists and musicians and also a link to the video course over at synthmusicmasteringcom , and there's a link to download all of the assets as well .
So that's the completed project file , that is , the Logic Pro Synth Pop mixing template , and the assets as well . So that's the tracks for this particular track that was used . So folks click on the links in the episode description , download all the free assets , watch and listen to the podcast itself and start knocking out some amazing mixes .