Blog Posts

Mixing in Cubase

12/24/2013

I've been doing a lot of mixing the last couple of weeks, and the DAW I'm using is Cubase 6.5
Since I have two screens in my studio, the mixing setup is shown in the figure below. Here are some of my experiences, tips and tricks:

I reserve mixing jobs for a separate day, on which I do nothing but mixing. Context-swapping between creating and mixing is very hard
Don't mix more than 1 hour in one lapse - take oxygen breaks, take a walk, etc.
Prepare your mix by exporting all VST instrument tracks as wav files and import them back in your mixing project. The mixing project should no longer contain VST tracks. I had the nasty experience earlier this week where the most recent version of a project would no longer open and I had not bounced its VST tracks. Bouncing your VST tracks will also protect your music against non-compatible VST instrument future versions.
I use Group Tracks for drums, bass, guitar, lead synth, pads/strings, fills, lead vocals and backing vocals, and move the mixing view to the left screen (see below).
create a mixing template with a rythm delay, space delay, 3sec plate reverb and large reverb - you'll use these FX on most of your tracks anyway
The mixing itself. I try to work in 4 dimensions: volume, frequency, pan and FX. Frequency is, at least in my experience, the hardest one: detecting conflicting frequencies can be tought and requires full concentration. In the FX dimension, you can of course go as wild as you want, but for me, track-defining FX should be in BEFORE the mixing stage. During mixing, I add the 'pepper and salt'. Sometimes with some NI TheFinger or StutterEdit, both amazing products.
Maybe the thing that works best for me is to approach mixing in iterations of 1 week: when I have a version of a mix of which I'm satisfied, I revisit it not earlier than 1 week (2 weeks is better ;-). You will be amazed by what a pair of fresh ears can hear on a track that you thought was OK... (I think this is called 'mixing bias')

Enjoy!

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Recording a class of children

10/20/2013

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For the song 'Geef Een Glimlach', a local school wanted me to do the recording, arranging, mixing and mastering. It was the first time I recorded a group of children in a recording studio. They were about 40. Since there aren't 40 headphones available in the studio (are there studios with that amount of headphones?), and since I did not have the time to record them one by one, I tried another approach. I put the group in the largest room of the studio, and put the part of the track on which they had to sing in a loop, through monitor speakers in the room. We rehearsed until the timing and tone were right, and then I switched off the monitors, let the group continue to sing while recording. After that, I took the best 6 singers and recorded them apart.

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Perfect Bass sound with The Voice Of God

10/16/2013

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I used to struggle quite a bit with creating decent bass sounds, especially on bass guitar or contrabas tracks.

And then I discoverd the Little Labs 'Voice Of God' UAD plugin. This plugin is quite amazing. You just insert it on the bass track and even with the default 40Hz setting, it immediately adds a beautiful depth to the bass sound.

And now I can't live without the Voice Of God ;-)

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New KNF music video released

8/22/2013

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KNF released their new music video, Air Liquide. It's about chemicals, and how they form and transform the declining West.
The music video was shot and produced by our friend Fil at Mandleve Records / CreativeMen productions.

For more information on KNF, check out the band's website: www.knf.lu

Air Liquide from creative men on Vimeo.

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Wolix music video 'traffic jam' now in colour

8/19/2013

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The colour version of the music video 'Traffic Jam' has been released. Traffic Jam is a short movie by Piet Sonck, and the title song is by Wolix. Produced by Roth Eleven Productions.

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New KNF video released - été à paris

5/15/2013

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KNF releases a new music video, this time for their track 'Eté à Paris'. The song is about ordinary life in Paris, the less visible but very present life - at least when you look through the glamour. The video is made as a series of photos that rythmically follow the one after the other, interspersed with some video fragments, delivering the message that goes with the song.

KNF is a duo, with one guy creating lyrics and sounds in Paris, and the other guy arranging, mixing and producing the tracks in Belgium. Marketing and publishing by Mandleve Records. Check out the KNF website.

ETE A PARIS from creative men on Vimeo.

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First KNF Video Released

4/17/2013

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KNF released their first music video. Created by Yoeri Hostie (https://vimeo.com/user10832946).

27 degrees - KNF featuring Niko Jane from creative men on Vimeo.

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New Release - The KNF Resurrection

4/11/2013

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Roth Eleven Productions and Mandleve Records are proud to announce the release of the KNF album 'The KNF Resurrection'. Produced at Roth Eleven Productions, mastered at Audioworkx and published by Mandleve Records.

KNF is a studio project of two guys - K (living in Paris) and F (living near Brussels) - realized through mainly remote collaboration. Featuring the following marvellous guest vocalists: Pascal Champagne, Nele Famaey, Anke Van den Heuvel (aka 'Niko Jane') and Eva Aerts. The current release features 4 lush electro-pop tracks.

Check out their music and more info on the official KNF website

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DoctorD releases 'Children of God'

3/17/2013

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This week, the Belgian electro-producer DoctorD (http://www.facebook.com/pages/DoctorD/173450532724232?ref=hl) released his new single called 'Children of God'. Actually, he released a special edition of that track to mark the election of the new pope - it's called 'Children of God - Habemus Papam'. See his youtube videoclip below.

This is the first track released of the upcoming album 'Missa Electronica', with more Christian

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Virtual Drummers

3/9/2013

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I'm producing a single for a rock band this month (I cannot say more at this point in time ;-), and since there is a sharp deadline and we didn't have much time to spend in the recording studio, I chose for the option of digital drums. We had a Roland TD-12K in the studio, and I recording both audio as well as MIDI. As the band did not rehease using a metronome (somehow most rock bands abhor click tracks, dunno why), the drums were - well - rather off-beat. This would save me a lot of time back in my project studio at home.

And it did. I'm using the amazing Native Instruments Kontakt5, which comes with a complete set of modern and vintage drum sets under the brand Studio Drummer. These drums have been sampled in the Abbey Road studios in London (you know, the home page of The Beatles at the time). And they sound awesome.

There is a full FX rack per drum kit element, including a mixer console, mic choices, presets, overhead and room mics, etc. etc.

A great solution if you don't have a lot of time to set up and record (and edit!) drums.