The first thing I did was insert a master fader in pro tools. This allowed me to keep an eye on levels on the mix and also it showed me if more tracks were panned to a certain side so I would be able to get a balanced mix. After that I trimmed down sections that weren’t needed such as the ten second introduction of silence and also the clicking of the drum sticks to introduce the song. After I cut out the sections it started on the instruments.
For the drums I sorted out the level of each each individual track and then grouped them and boosted them so they would be heard clearly in the mix. I then started on the Kick Drum. For this I wanted a really deep and beefy sound so I inserted a 7 band EQ plug in and boosted the frequency at 50Hz and dropped a little bit of the mid and high frequencies to make the bass of the kick drum stand out. I then added a compressor to the kick which boosted the bass signal and got cut out the higher frequency. I then started on the snare and used the 7 band EQ set up on both bottom and top snare microphones, this boosted the frequencies at around 200Hz which was real sweet spot for it. I then used a gate plug in which only allowed the signal where the snare was hit just to come through. I sent both Over Heads to an auxiliary channel which had a 7 band EQ plug in dropping the mid-mid high frequencies adding more depth to the symbols and overall drum kit.
I then started on the bass guitar and boosted the level high to sit well in the mix. I added the same EQ set up to both the microphone and DI signal which boosted the low frequencies and dropped the mid high- high frequencies adding more warmth.
After the Bass came the acoustic guitars. These were hard panned left and right. The guitar that was playing the harmony need the level boosting. I also boosted its low end frequencies at around 200Hz giving it more character and clarity. The DI’d acoustic guitar had frequencies boosted from 200Hz to 800Hz making the overall sound more fuller and richer.
I then started on the vocals. I used a 7 band EQ to get rid of sharp pronunciations of T’s and S’s which were at around 500Hz. And then sent it to an auxiliary channel and added re-verb to get a wet signal and not to compromise the dry signal. This added more ambience to the vocals and to the overall mix.
I then started on the solos of the guitar, harp and piano. For the guitar I added re-verb and more distortion to really boost that 70’s rock feel we were going for in the recording. I added an auto pan plug in on the harp which panned the harp left and right to the beat of the track. For reduced a certain part of the piano signal as it was hit to loud during the recording, to do this I simply isolated the part that needed reducing and cut it and then reduced the waveform.
All that was left to do was to listen to the track through box standard earphones. I was happy with the overall mix but had to go back and increase the volume of the bass and vocals. I believe my mix is much more cleaner than the unmixed version and by added dynamics such as re-verb adds more ambience and warmth to the overall mix.