considering that folks are always asking about mixdowns, I figured i'd share the backend of a current mix for a client. This is a super-energetic, vocals and resampled-wobble driven dancefloor tune.
This is a shot of my busses/auxes-- most of my "mixing" occurs here. I get tone, balance of elements in groups, panning, and sidechain compression at the track level; interaction, vibe, and gain structure happens at the bus level. it's also where my sends are, so you see the majority of the parallel processing that's going on.
busses 1-6 are my standard mix template; everything else gets added per the project.
working L-R:
busses 1-4 are my main FX sends:
bus 1 is a 2 second-long plate verb, hipassed in the plug at about 200hz or so I think. I start using a bunch of this, and wind up using very little, as volumes get balanced.
bus 2 is a very short room verb, good for widening up sounds a bit.
bus 3 is a hipassed 1/4-note delay
bus 4 is a bandpassed 3/8 delay with a lot of feedback. it sometimes gets sidechained to an element; didn't need it this time.
bus 5 is my standard drum bus, and probably the single-most important FX chain in the mix. On this one, we've got the rocket compressor working in parallel; i think it's hitting at all-buttons-in mode to act as an 1176 compressor, nice and thick. medium-fast attack for snap, as fast a release as I can get w/o distortion, the overload circuit is engaged for even more energy, and volume compensation is on. I dial it in so that the signal's about 50/50 wet/dry, maybe more, maybe less; there's also a hipass feature in the comp's circuitry, much like the API2500 and others, that lets the low-end pass through uncompressed. definitely using that.
after that, the vintage warmer is also working in parallel, to add volume and some 16k back post-compression.
the event horizon is then barely working as a clipper and limiter-- again, for intensity, and just a bit of limiting.
the vibeEQ then adds just a bit of high and low shelf EQ-- gets adjusted throught the mix process, mainly to make sure that the drums stay bright and thick enough.
as a whole, that's the drum bus, but it's definitely not the end of the drum treatment.
bus 6 is my last real send, a 3-second long hall sampled from the bricasti M1 unit-- an AMAZING reverb unit that somone very painstakingly made IR's of. Whoever that person is-- thank you.
busses 7,8,9 and 10 are different wobble treatments, which are then summed together at bus 14. The bounced wobble had a lot going for it, but it was too dark, too skreechy, and not edgy enough-- a tough balance. I ran it through some hardware to get more harmonics and a bit of limiting, and then split it out to 3 processed bands and one dry band. the low end got cleaned up and had some sub added-- not so much for super-lows, but for punch. the middle band got the phaser treatment in parallel, really brought out the edge, but not on the fizzy top end. the tops got flanged in parallel and sweetened w/ EQ, and then sidechained off the snare. Finally, the dry version of the wobble gets brought in, for energy and impact. at bus 14, they all get worked on together-- some parallel compression for energy, a very gradual low cut to get rid of the buildup post-processing, and then boosts at 320hz and 1.2k, as well as a shelf at 10k and-- couldn't do it all with 1 vibeEQ, so used 2. the sony inflator helps remove any and all dynamics from the wobble, and the whole thing is then sidehchained off of the free channel by about 2db-- keeps the drums popping, and the wobble still feeling loud while not actually being that loud.
not a ton going on w/ the vox, just some compression, limiting, and high-end boost after compression-- the compression is opto, which adds thickness, but you do lose some 12k in the process. Often that doesn't make a difference, but in stuff like this, you need the vocals to at least compete w/ the synths.
the other synths-- mostly pads, a reece, and a few arpeggiated bits-- are processed by themselves, and then grouped together for the sake of keeping the mix more user-friendly. If i need to bring everything down, i can just do it via the bus. They got a bit of 300hz to fill out the low-mids, and a bit of 10k to keep some air in the mix.
the "FREE" channel is just that-- something i can use to send things totally dry to the master bus. 2 of the kicks and 1 of the snares are going there-- sort of extra-parallel processing.
The exciter is one of 3 "energy" sends-- various parts of the wobble get sent to it to really hone in the highs and harmonics, as well as the top end of the kick and a bit of the shakers. handy as a mix is nearing completion, and the character of the high end needs to be balanced out across elements. If the synths feel super up-front and energetic but the cymbal elements feel a bit dull, and EQing isn't helping the situation, this can really do wonders.
the "bandpass" send is mainly for a vocal treatment, and gets routed through the vocal master, but the compression on it made for some nice hihat interaction and stuff. don't be afraid to send things where they're not supposed to go; if you need more volume from a synth, sometimes sending it to your drum bus can help bring up the energy, etc.
the "crush" send is a camel crusher that's then obnoxiously boosted at 5k and even more obnoxiously transient-designed. it's another parallel thing to help elements really pop- the kick, snare, and i think a bit of one of the reeses got sent here.
finally, all the SFX are routed together, again just to keep mixing easy. You'll note that the sub bass isn't present at the bus level, which is by design; if I want more sub, all i have to do is turn down these busses, and the sub will instantly be more present in the mix.
FInally, on the master, I added a 2db boost at 12k-- helped the whole mix shine a bit. I generally don't eq at the master, but it sounded better this time around, and rules are made to be broken. There's a compressor working at 4:1, 30ms or so attack just to add some more punch to the mix, and an adaptive limiter-- because clients like to hear mixes at a relative volume to everything else.
holy cow..... you just blew my 
mind
