5h (edited) • General discussion
What I learned from Kevin McCloskey
This video was posted about three months ago, and since then it’s been the only one I keep coming back to and watching again and again. Anyone else studied this video?
Here are some of my notes:
Overall Mindset
Mixer Role
He views himself as an enhancer of the mix. His goal is to take a song that already sounds good and make it bigger, wider, and deeper. He finds it more efficient to honor the work of skilled producer. If the mix already sounds great, he prefers to bult upon a producer's existing balance rather than mixing from a scratch.
Mastered Foundation
He makes sure the mix foundation (kick, snare, hi-hats, and bass) is peaking at - 5 dBFS on true peak meter, and around zero on VU meter (calibrated at -15). Then he makes sure the foundation sounds great at the loudness level (two limiters), around -9 LUFs.
Lead Vocal vs. Other Elements
He makes sure the lead vocal sounds great in the depth he created with the kick and snare at the mastered loudness level. Once the lead vocal sounds great in the mastered foundation, everything else is mixed around the lead vocal. The lead vocal should NOT work with other instruments, other instruments should work with the lead vocal.
Important Details
3D "terrarium"
He describes a mix as a 3D "terrarium" or cube. He views the mix in three dimensions: Panning handles left-to-right (width), frequency range handles height, and transient shapers handle depth (front-to-back).
Faders
He prefers to use clip gain for leveling rather than channel faders.
Kick
He mixes kick at -5 dBFS true peak and around 0 on VU meter calibrated at -15.
Snare
He mixes snare so it peaks at - 5dBFs on true peak meter
Bass
He mixes bass so it hovers (kick and bass) around 0 on VU meter calibrated at -15
Mixing Into a Limiter
He applies final limiter to make the foundation (kick, snare, hi-hats, and bass) sound great at -11 LUFS to -9 LUFS. He teaches that the low end and low end mids are the primary contributors to LUFS. This approach ensures the mix won't collapse or lose its punch when a limiter is eventually applied at the final stage.
Vocal Tuning
He considers the specific tuning a stylistic choice made by the artist that should be honored rather than recreated. He ask to send him dry vocal with tuning on.
1176 on Lead Vocal
When using the 1176, his setting is "wide open" which mean the slowest attack (all the way left) and the fastest release (all the way right).
Karaoke Frequency Range 4K-6K
He suggests to pay attention to this lead vocal frequency range by taming it with dynamic EQ for more professional sound.
No Spatial Effects on Lead Vocal
He makes the dry vocal as polished as possible before adding spatial effects.
Spatial Effect "Felt, Not Heard"
He applies room reverb, delay, and chamber reverb to fatten the vocal and add width wthout making the effects obvious.
Result of Small Moves
It is the result of many small changes, often totaling over 15 dB of compression by applying multiples stages of compression, that create a vocal that sounds PRO.
Specific Settings of G Bus Compressor on Mix Bus
he uses 10:1 ratio because the style of compression at this ratio has hard knee, attack is always at 30, and release is at Auto or .1.
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What I learned from Kevin McCloskey
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