Chapter 13/Week 13 - Posted on 2015-06-23 by Javier Melendez

This week introduced EQ and built on last weeks mixing and mastering focus. Luis had me set up a recording session from scratch. By that, I mean I set up a U87 mic in the isolation booth and configured the patch bay so the mic signal ran through the Avalon mic pre/compressor. From there, I created a new Pro Tools session with 5 audio tracks, 2 aux tracks, and a master fader track. I routed all 5 audio tracks to a bus that went to one of the aux tracks, which I added EQ-3 7 Band to one of the sends. On the other Aux track I added D-verb reverb on one of the sends. Once this was set up and ready to record, Luis went into the booth and spoke into the microphone at different levels, so I could adjust the settings on the compressor and reverb and experiment with the sound. It was really helpful to apply what I've learned so far and experiment with different settings to see how it affected the signal/sound. The most noticeable differences in sound came from adjusting the reverb settings and amount of reverb applied to the signal. Also, there was a big audible difference when adjusting the threshold and ratio of the compressor. It seemed to change the "feel" of the vocals when there was a lot of compression.

As far as my mix assignment, this week I worked on applying an EQ to it. I made some minor adjustments to each group (Voice, guitar, and drums) as well as the bass and harmonica tracks. I tried to keep it simple and not overdo it with the EQ. There's a chance I may go back and make some changes as this project progresses, but I'm happy with where this mix is right now.

Jam of The Week: Empire Cast - Good Enough (feat. Jussie Smollett)