Unit 8 Research: how to mix/drummers

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 https://www.charlescleyn.com/blog/how-to-mix-in-logic-pro

Things i have learnt:

Step 1 to mixing is the static mix which is the most important and easiest part of mixing it focuses on the pan position and the volume, for my tracks i panned both guitars right and left, the right and left overhead on the drums panned to the right and left and the snare slightly to the right. Take off any plugins and anything that isn't part of the sound.

Mix the volume on the vocal's first then mix the snare and kick around it, then drums, and lastly guitars and other instruments. Use wide panning to make the song sound balanced.

Before reading this website, i wasn't completely sure what an EQ did and this website explained it in a simple way which was: EQ'ing cuts away and boosts frequencies to make sure the track is heard clearly in the mix. For example a kick drum and a bass are likely to have a lot of low frequencies, this helped me understand how to use an EQ on my tracks.

As you can see on this bass i have EQ'd the right end is the low frequencies and the left end is the high frequencies. I have brought down the high frequencies and boosted the low frequencies, in order to balance everything out especially the middle.



Panning positions guide:


I watched the video above to help me with mixing vocals. I learnt from this video what a de-esser is and how to use it on logic, it really helped isolate the harsh noises of 'S' and 'T' in most of the track. The video really gave detail on what a compressor is and how to use it, the video recommended sticking with a 3.1:1 ratio and that the (Make-up) is used to turn the track up and also said the threshold is used to determine the level at which the compression is applied. This video helped me a lot especially when mixing the vocals on the first track since i wasn't completely sure on what a compressor was or what a de-esser was.

Mick Fleetwood:

For a few of my tracks i decided to get inspiration on fills and beats from Mick Fleetwood's drumming.

In the song Come Alive on the EP, I decided to have a similar drum beat to the song Go your own way which Mick Fleetwood drums in. His 4/4 beat in Go your own way really inspired me to start using the toms for beats rather than just using them for fills. I decided to play the toms in a similar beat in the pre choruses from bars 25-40, 81-97 and 130-137. I think it sounded really unique and different to what usually do which is using cymbals or the high-hat. I also found my fills in the solo of Dreaming alone sounded quite similar to his opening fill in Dreams.




For my song "Come Alive' I wanted to make a complex beat that was different from my normal beats on the high hat, since i thought most of my beats on the cymbal were too similar, and a few years ago i heard this song called "Mountain at my gates" by Foals. I instantly got inspired by this beat and i started playing this beat during rehearsals and it instantly sounded good with the song so i decided to play a normal 4/4 beat and add some drum bits from that song into it, throughout the verses. As you can see on the sheet music there's a lot of hits on the high- hat during each bar and this inspired me to make my beat more complex than the other songs on the EP.


In the song "Come alive" on the EP, I thought it would be a good idea to excite things on the drums during the bridge, and I did this by adding ghost notes on the snare.

Different types of tools in Logic Pro:

  • Pencil tool: Draws and edits data in a track. You can draw MIDI notes, draw MIDI controller data like pitch bend or modulation, editing existing MIDI data, or draw in a step sequencer style interface. 
  • Eraser tool: Deletes notes, controller data, automation, or multiple events from your project. 
  • Text tool: Adds text annotations to a project.
  • Scissors tool: Splits audio and MIDI regions at specific points and cut unwanted sections.
  • Glue tool: Merges audio and MIDI regions together or create loops. 
  • Solo tool: Temporarily solos an audio or MIDI track, allowing you to focus on it while you work on your project. 
  • Mute tool: Temporarily mutes an audio or MIDI track
  • Zoom tool: Zooms in and out of the project in the arrange window, allowing you to see more or less detail of the audio and MIDI regions. 
  • Fade tool: Create and edit fades on audio regions in your project. 
  • Automation Select tool: Selects, edits, and creates automation for various parameters on a track, such as volume, panning, and effects.
  • Automation Curve tool: Creates and edits smooth automation curves for various parameters on a track like volume, panning, and effects. 
  • Marquee tool: Selects multiple regions and events. You can click and drag the marquee tool over the regions you would like to select. You can then copy, paste, or edit multiple regions in your project. 
  • Flex tool: Allows you to adjust the pitch and timing of audio regions in a flexible and sophisticated way. 
  • Gain tool: Adjusts the overall volume level of audio regions in a track. You can adjust volume levels, normalise audio, match volume levels, and more. 
I ended up using the scissor tool and the glue tool in the track Wind and Rain in order to divide the vocals for the choruses and verses. I also used this for Dreaming alone to duplicate the drums in the choruses of Dreaming alone in order to have a louder and fulfilling drums in the choruses, the zoom tool also came in handy for helping which was the best place to chop tracks without making it sound off.

I also used the solo and mute tool in order for me to focus on an individual instrument while mixing it.

The automation tool also helped me with the vocals in Blue trains since we used a mic and it only picked up one person talking when there was two people so tis helped me balance out both vocals.

I had used the fade tool on the track Blue trains to fade the guitar solo at the start and at the end to make a surprising entrance and ending for the solo.


For the gig in bunkhouse, I wanted to experiment with different fills for the drum solo


After playing she's electric i really liked the tripling fills so i decided to play that fill durning the solo a a fast pace and it really suited. I decided to play this fill but include the floor tom and the high tom.


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