Dance Music Production Dimensional Mixing [DVD]

Dance Music Production Dimensional Mixing [DVD / Tutorial]

For this highly anticipated volume we examine the theory and practice of dimensional mixing within electronic dance music.

This is much more than your typical mixing tutorial; here we not only discuss the basic mixing techniques we also introduce and examine the theory of gain structure, mixing desks, busses, VCA groups, ear training, visual mixing and how to introduce an added dimension to your sound.

Spread over 2 discs the tutorial begins with an introduction to gain structure within a DAW. If you thought gain structure only applied to those working outside the box - you couldn't be more wrong. A well organised and considered gain structure is fundamental to digital mixing and is more often than not the defining characteristic between mixes that sound open and clean to those that appear digital and crowded.

Following gain structure we move onto the mixing desk. Here we not only look at the theory of bussing, auxing and uses of VCA's but also how they're best applied during a mix and how it can be important to group sub-mixes and busses together to ensure effects sends maintain the mix perspective.

In addition to the basics above, we also discuss further theories and practices for producing a successful dance mix by with sessions on low end theory and controlling the low end of the mix, how to optimise your room for mix analysis and numerous ear training techniques that you can use daily to help hone your hearing in order to produce cleaner, clearer sounding mixes.

With the basics covered and using a number of different styles of dance music tracks as examples, we then show how you can create mixes that exhibit both width and depth, and how to add further dimensions to a mix to create clarity in even the busiest of mixes. This includes session topics such as multi-band compression, reverb, distortion, side-chaining, vocal approaches, pitch-correction, mixing bass and the subs, tone control, mixing huge leads, and mono compatibility.

We then finish the tutorial with an analogue vs digital shoot-out. Is analogue summing really superior to the DAW? You can make up your own mind as we mix and then listen to/examine the sonic differences between summing entirely within a DAW compared to summing through the best analogue equipment, employing both Neve and SSL Hardware.

Runtime: Over 7

DVD Contents:

Disc One: Theory

Introduction
An introduction to the tutorial
 
Session 01: The Mixing Desk: 25 minutes.
We begin with an introduction to the mixing desk, busses, cue mixes and VCA's.
 
Session 02: Panning & Pan Law: 15 minutes
For the second session, we examine how a DAW changes its panning function depending on the audio content of the channel.

Session 03: Reference Levels: 20 Minutes.
Following on the previous session, we examine reference levels and their importance when mixing.

Session 04: Gain Structure: 25 minutes
In this session we discuss gain structure and its importance when mixing in a DAW.
 
Session 05: Ear Training 1: 25 minutes!
We investigate the importance of trained ears and begin with basic training exercises.
 
Session 06: Ear Training 2: 30 Minutes
We continue with ear training, this time examining what we should be listening for in a mix.
 
Session 07: Listening Environment: 20 Minutes
You can't mix what you can't hear. For this session we examine how to modify your room for a better monitoring environment and discuss the alternatives.
 
Session 08: Mental preperation: 15 Minutes
We discuss the importance of preparation, including how to mentally approach a mix.
 
Session 09: Stemming: 30 Minutes
We prepapre to mix by starting to stem and consolidate the audio together
 
Session 08: Organising: 20 Minutes
For the final part of this disc, we discuss some of the ways in which to organise a mix.

Disc Two: Practical

Session 01: The Kick: 20 minutes.
For this first session we approach an example mix and begin to mix and modify the tonality of the kick drum.
 
Session 02: Mixing Percussion: 60 minutes
With the kick prepared, we begin to mix and balance all of the percussion, showing some of the techniques you can use to attain a good mix balance
 
Session 03: Mixing Parallel: 20 Minutes.
Parallel mixing is fundamental to all dance music mixes, but here we introduce an alternative...
 
Session 04: Mixing Bass: 20 minutes
In this session we discuss some low end theory and show how to approach mixing a bass.
 
Session 05: Mixing Leads: 30 minutes
Following on from the previous session, we continue to mix this time introducing the leads, while also showing how to fit huge leads into a mix.
 
Session 06: Mixing Vocals: 45 Minutes
Here, using a couple of examples, we discuss how you can appraoch. balance and mix vocals into music.
 
Session 07: Playing a Mix: 20 Minutes
In this session, we discuss the importance of playing the mix.
 
Session 08: Analogue vs Digital: 15 Minutes
For the final session we attempt to answer the age old question by summing through a Neve and an SSL to compare with a DAW mix...The results might surprise you.