preprocessing before mixing

[FrenchFrog]

hey

i wonder if it's a common practice to preprocess tracks before mixing them. i usually work on bass and vocals raw tracks (vcc for a bit saturation and coloration, limiter, slight compression...) and print them in order to use less processing during the mix and save cpu. do you do that way?

 

[Studdy]

If I needed processing power I would consider it. If not I'd probably not "commit" although some people like to. I think not having to commit is one of the advantages to today's tools. Not everyone will agree with this. I do print drum samples, I sometimes print tuned vocals or parts.

 

[P-E]

I personally don't do it that way. Doing everything ITB, I think it makes more sense to edit and then leave everything dry without any stuff printed on it (except stuff like very slight pitch correction, and volume changes if they were drastic, like some preamp wasn't set at the exact same volume by mistake). I could print effects, but I'd rather freeze them if I'm in need of processing power to still have control over what's going on in the track.

 

[SoundSpiral]

Ok, so this is not going to be directed directly for the OP but hopefully someone gets something out of this...

Committing while tracking is a good practice when you know what you are after.
Think of it like making a sculpture. You will slowly and steadily take out everything that doesn't look like the thing you are sculpting.
You are not going to start making fingers to the thing first and then move on to making a nose, or whatever, you get the point.
It's all about making hundreds of small decisions thru the whole process, and committing to them.

Between tracking and mixing I'll normally take care of choosing and printing the samples I'm going to use and making sure that everything is ready to go for the actual mixing process. I don't want to start fiddling with false triggers or some weird clicks and pops while mixing.
But that being said you shouldn't divide the actual "artistic" side of the process to two separate points in time. Following your intuition is definitely a big part in making the right decisions and everything affects everything so you shouldn't be trying to get your vocal sound 100% "there" before you start actually mixing.

Do everything you can to prep the mix process but don't try to pre-mix between tracking and mixing.

 

[Machinated]

Ok, so this is not going to be directed directly for the OP but hopefully someone gets something out of this...

Committing while tracking is a good practice when you know what you are after.
Think of it like making a sculpture. You will slowly and steadily take out everything that doesn't look like the thing you are sculpting.
You are not going to start making fingers to the thing first and then move on to making a nose, or whatever, you get the point.
It's all about making hundreds of small decisions thru the whole process, and committing to them.

Between tracking and mixing I'll normally take care of choosing and printing the samples I'm going to use and making sure that everything is ready to go for the actual mixing process. I don't want to start fiddling with false triggers or some weird clicks and pops while mixing.
But that being said you shouldn't divide the actual "artistic" side of the process to two separate points in time. Following your intuition is definitely a big part in making the right decisions and everything affects everything so you shouldn't be trying to get your vocal sound 100% "there" before you start actually mixing.

Do everything you can to prep the mix process but don't try to pre-mix between tracking and mixing.

great advice. the more decisions you make early, the less you'll have to think about when you're mixing and you can make more critical decisions because of it.

if you're going to do certain things anyway, may as well do it early and stick with it.

 

[J.L.BeelerMusic]

Well full disclosure, I haven't worked with clients that are metal acts in a long time. Most are hard rock and punk bands as well as some singer songwriters. However, I believe these techniques work regardless of style.

I've just adopted a new process that seems to be working fairly well. When I first receive files for mixing I go ahead and make copies and keep the original raw files unadultered in a safe place. Then I process the copies and print the plugins directly to the tracks before I even begin to mix. Normally I adjust clip gain on each track (I work in PT11, this would be the same as automating a trim plugin) in order to set my gain staging as well as manually leveling off the peaks in each individual track (this gets rid of a songs dynamics without it sounding over compressed). From there I use the stock PT channel strip plugin and apply a small amount of corrective eq, gating, and compression (using a light touch only) then print that as well. Lastly, I will use saturation on every single track to varying degrees. Rule of thumb is if I can obviously tell the track has saturation on it, back it off.

Not everyone mentions that saturation creates natural compression, but it does. So between editing clip gain, compressing, and saturating everything is now pretty level. I will also divide my bass track into 4 parts; sub-low, low (sidechained to the kick drum), low mids, high mids.

After that I'll either move on to editing the next session or take a break. Everything after these steps becomes a mix decision and I like to have a clear head before I begin.

 

[FrenchFrog]

by preprocessing i did not want to say adding verb, delay, or even eq actually but just taming peaks and adding a touch of compression if needed. just like it'd be done at the tracking stage. somtimes i receive projects that have tons of vocal tracks and starting from zero in the mix session always ends in big cpu consumption. so i try to save some power without doing much.

 

[mva801]

If that works for you, do it. I would say I do a version of this on everything I do. I'm able to work at pretty nice studios so most of the time I'll record things with a little eq/ compression going in. I find when I do this I use way less ITB.

 

[J.L.BeelerMusic]

I like to view what I do with preprocessing as more of a tracking decision and not a mixing decision. I've never received tracks from a proper studio so I'm basically emulating an SSL with a 1073, 1176, and decapitator in the signal chain. All set at very conservative levels mind you.

On a scale from most to least processed it's
Vocals - bass - lead - rhythm - drums/percussion.

Which as I said before I print to the track so it doesn't take much CPU either

 

[FrenchFrog]

my typical preprocessing for vocals is vocal rider, i print it then i apply vcc , slight compression and limiting and i print the result that will be imported in the mixing session. for bass it consists in light limiting and a touch of compression. that way i get somthing more compact if that makes sense. but not every project needs this obviously, depends on the quality at the beginning. even if its time consuming i find it makes my life a bit easier .

 

[LeSedna]

I am now committing more to sounds than I used before. For my mental health I simply keep an archive of the original tracks at every stage anyway (recording, editing) but feel like committing to a few things can help you a lot.

I have watched a few videos by successful producers and most of them show more commitment and "yeah it sounds good so let's move on to something else" attitude which I like. The process of making mistakes is part of learning. And in the case of the few times where you really really regret a decision you have your archive available to re-process your .wav if needed.

I'm planning on buying hardware compressors and preamps only for recording and I don't see why I wouldn't do it with vsts as well. At the end of the day I rarely go back to my gentle compressions for leveling bass or vox.

 

[rapucore]

I am now committing more to sounds than I used before. For my mental health I simply keep an archive of the original tracks at every stage anyway (recording, editing) but feel like committing to a few things can help you a lot.

I have watched a few videos by successful producers and most of them show more commitment and "yeah it sounds good so let's move on to something else" attitude which I like. The process of making mistakes is part of learning. And in the case of the few times where you really really regret a decision you have your archive available to re-process your .wav if needed.

I'm planning on buying hardware compressors and preamps only for recording and I don't see why I wouldn't do it with vsts as well. At the end of the day I rarely go back to my gentle compressions for leveling bass or vox.

This + million thousand hundred billion.

When tracking, I'll usually apply some careful subtractive eq and slight compression on tracks that will end up having them added later on in the project (AFTER precise mic placement that is, of course). I won't go crazy but I will make it sound as good as possible while retaining un-processed feeling. I'll apply and print stuff that I would do with hardware gear on the way in. The idea in this is to have all the tracks sounding fantastic and making the actual mix process easier and more open for trusting your gut feeling.

Things like ugly resonances in some particular rooms, heavy bass build-up in places where there's no room acoustic corrections and such will get notched out. Vocals and bass will get compression if they need it.

All this is based on a clean workflow and process. When I sent tracks for someone for any reason, I want them to be as perfect as they can be with room left for them to complete their vision. Think of it as a restaurant meal. You wouldn't want to be served cold, uncooked food.

 

[Rusty Falcon]

I do a pre-mix phase before actually digging in to the mixing. As needed I'll commit to saturation/distortion, EQ, and VTM tape on each track. While doing so I also gainstage by levelling each track volume to -10 dBFS max peak or -18 dBFS RMS whichever hits first using Reaper Item Volume. On the lead vocal track I'll use Vocal Rider to help set the baseline levels rather than Item Volume. If the track is REALLY dynamic I'll slap an L1 (with Threshold and Ceiling at the same values) on it before any other processing just to knock the errant peaks down. For example on a mix I'm doing now here is the pre-mix vocal chain: L1 -> Scheps 73 -> Vocal Rider -> VTM -> FreeG (for final volume).

 

[Studdy]

You put L1 first on most of your vocal chains?

 

[greyskull]

I print trigger tracks, any VI's, any amp sims, pitch correction on vocals. etc.

I also am sure as hell not afraid to track with eq and compression.
Especially on bass, and even more so on vocals. The idea of tracking vocals without an 1176 fills me with dread.

 

[Clockwork]

I commit to and print a lot of stuff before the final mix. Usually I have one session that everything was tracked/edited in where I will pre-mix a few things before I render everything and import into a session for mixing/mastering. I think it just follows the "get it right at the source" mindset, if something is good then why give yourself the opportunity to fuck with it more later?