A Father's Job - M10 (Anna) - Multitrack/Score/MIDI + Basic Mix Tutorial

I got a few messages from some of you guys who said that they often are overwhelmed by the Multitrack Sessions that I make available here not really knowing what to do with these many tracks. And I can totally understand that opening up such a large amount of tracks can feel quite overwhelming.

To make things easier, today I chose a track from my most recent score for A FATHER'S JOB, which was recorded with a relatively small ensemble effectively also reducing the number of microphone signals. So in general it is easier to find your way around in this multitrack session.

Also, due to the smaller ensemble it is clearer how to pan all the microphone signals accordingly.

Additionally, I want to give you a basic crash course of how to approach a mix of the signals. So let's dive right into it.

Below is a picture of the seating order and the microphone setup that we recorded it with.

So how would you go about setting up a mix for that?

In the downloadable multitrack (Link below) you get a set of Mono Audio files of each microphone signal that we recorded. All tracks start at the same point so as a fundamental the first step would be to put them all on an individual mono audio track in your DAW of choice. My DAW of choice in this example is Presonus Studio One, but the steps should be fairly similar in any DAW.

The first steps I do is renaming the tracks and colour code them.

We need to discuss what kind of microphones we actually have here. Not what model they are but what is their function. Generally, we need to distinguish between the main microphones and the close microphones.

On the picture with the seating chart above, you can see three microphones above the conductor which is the Decca tree. These are usually the microphone signals that are the fundament of a mix. Additionally we have "Out" microphones which are postioned rather similarly far left and far right from the Decca tree (the right Out can be seen on the picture as well) and capture the "stereo field". Further back in the room we have two more microphones (Surround) at similar heights that capture room reflections. 

These sets of microphones together could be considered as the main microphones that you get with almost every orchestral recording these days. The way to set them up is fairly similar in every recording environment where you record a larger ensemble.

As an exception we set up four additional main mics here which you can see between Vln 1 and Cb which is a "Quad Array" with four microphones pointing into the four corners of the ensemble. You usually don't get that but we decided to use it in order to be able to replicate the seating of the ensemble better in the mix (as this played a large role in the cocept of the music).

Additionally to these main microphones you get a close mic signal of every individual element (or in a larger setup of every section). You can see these close mics quite well on the picture.

If you set up a mix, we usually mix from the perspective of the Decca Tree. As we got Mono signals here we need to first pan these all according to the seating of the instruments in the room. Where you have individual L/R signals of the same microphones, you would pan those hard left/hard right.

When you listen to it now, you should get a pretty okay sounding stereo image of the recording. Notice that there are also two tracks called Sub Bass. These were preproduced and are a pretty typical device in film score mixes these days to support the Double Basses in the Mix. You would mix those in only a bit to open up the low frequency range and give it that cinematic substance.

Up to this point, all we did was the setup of the session. Now starts the actual mixing.

And basically with that you can do almost anything that gets you to the sound that you're after. You also don't need to use all microphones if you don't like the sound of any of these. For instance in our mix we almost exclusively focussed on the Quad rather than the tree.

You would start to solo the main microphones and balance them against each other to achieve the sound that you like most. For instance the louder you make the surround microphones the more room ambiance you will get. For this recording adding reverb definitely helps to give it a more cinematic scope but also EQing to duck some room resonances that you might find annoying might be steps to take here. Generally however, try to EQ the main microphones as little as possible. Only when you are happy with the sound of the main mics, you should start to add in the close mics to add a bit more definition.

It is also very common to automate certain parameters according to the dramaturgy of the track. For instance here, it could work to start with more focus on the close mics and a more intimate sound and gradually change the balance towards the main mics when the track grows bigger towards the end. Also slightly raising the close mic volume in moments where single instruments have a more solistic role and/or adding some (more) reverb on the close mics during these moments are pretty common things to do in a film score mix.

The only thing you should leave stationary is the panning of the tracks. 

Essentially, the possibilities to influence the sound are almost endless, however you can't expect to alter the balances within the ensemble much. The more you boost the close mic signal the more you notice that the sound feels like it's falling apart regarding the "stage impression" so the close mics are there to support and not to guide.

Having said that, in this particular recording the range of what you can do is much bigger. As I said in another cue we only used close mics in the film mix of the music in order to get an as intimate as possible sound. If you try doing this in a busy large orchestra recording it will sound very weird very quickly.

So without further ado, here are the files to experiment with. Enjoy!

http://patreon.robin-hoffmann.com/afj/A%20Father%27s%20Job%20-%20M10%20-%20Multitrack.zip

user: deccatree

password: deccatree