Mixing & Mastering

14 Pages·2014·1.26 MB·English

installation
To install the Magic Racks: Mixing &
Mastering racks, copy the files to the
‘Audio Effect Rack’ folder of your
Ableton user library.
The exact location of your library will
depend on where you chose to install it,
but common locations are:
Windows Vista/7: \Users\<user>\
Documents\Ableton\User Library\
Presets\Audio Effects\Audio Effect
Rack
Mac OS: \<user>\Music\Ableton\User
Library\Presets\Audio Effects\Audio
Effect Rack
For information on how to find your User
Library, go here:
www.ableton.com/en/articles/
where-are-my-user-presets-saved/
from the creator... /3
For this second instalment of the racks With the Mid-Side Meddler you get
series I wanted to create intuitive, powerful stereo band tool which let’s
powerful and versatile mixing and you separate the mid- and side-
mastering tools for in-the-box producers. bands into individual channels for
Here you’ll find five racks for the job: independent processing — such as
Channel Strip, Drum Strip, Maximizer, gain control, filtering, modulation and
Mid-Side Meddler and Master Strip. spatial effects — which is perfect for
everything from leads and pads to
In the case of the Channel Strip, Drum vocals and even hi-hats.
Strip and Mastering Strip, the racks
are designed to be one-stop shops for All the racks can be opened and
adding warmth, weight, punchiness customised. You can tweak the
and tightness to the bus mix to meet parameter ranges and even add in
the demands of contemporary dance your own devices to suit your specific
music. mix needs.
Each rack as eight macro controls It’s my hope that these racks will help
which tweak a myriad of under-the- your mixing and mastering become
hood processing chains designed to quicker, more intuitive and, dare I say,
make the most of your mix without fun.
getting lost in the endless options
Ableton affords us. These finely-honed Hedflux
racks distil down the process so you can Producer
get tight, fat and punchy mixes with just
a few knob tweaks.
The Maximizer deals with the modern
demand for louder mixes. Using a
complex blend of EQ, multi-band
compression, parallel processing and
stereo-widening effects, Maximizer will
supersize any sound instantly.

Channel Strip /5
A workhorse rack to shape and
sculpt any sound.
Low Presence
A simple yet effective low-cut and -boost Custom multi-band compression control to
EQ to remove potentially mix-hogging low bring out the hi-end frequencies in mix.
frequencies or add weight to a lightweight
low-end. Distance
Add depth and space into the mix with this
Mid combo of gain reduction, low-cut filtering,
Scoop out space in the mix with a mid- reverb and panning. Truly 3D control over
range cut or enhance mid-range presence any sound.
by going the other way.
High
Cut unwanted high-frequencies or boost to
given an added sheen to the top-end.

Tape Saturate
Versatile tool to add vintage-style
smoothness and warmth. Can even be
used as a de-esser at lower levels for harsh-
sounding vocals.
Compress
Custom mix compression designed to glue
dynamics and increase gain. Use alongside
Attack.
Attack
Fine-control the attack time of the
compressor to ensure clean and punchy
results. Use alongside Compress.

Drum Strip /7
Punch, power, tightness and
brightness for bigger beats.
Punch Room
Up-front compression and gain control with Clever reverb control to put your drums in a
a generous 20ms attack to allow kicks and room of varying size and depth.
snares to snap through the mix.
Dirt
Tight Applies a range of tube distortion to add
Custom EQ to lightly roll off the lows and harmonics and inject analogue-style
highs whilst also pinching the mids to free overtones.
up space for melodic elements in the
mix. Particularly useful for breakbeats and Grot
real drummer recordings. When dirt isn’t enough, add Grot. Feeds
frequency-specific overdrive harmonics for
Bright unrivalled drum processing filth.
Lifts high frequencies whilst notching the high
mids. Great for taking the boxiness out of
snares and sharping hi-hats.

Thump
Applies parallel limiting on the low frequency
band which is perfect for beefing up kick
drums or added presence to snares.
Vintage
Custom EQ which simulates the bandwidth
of old-style recordings to give drums that
slightly dull, lo-fi sound.

Mastering Strip /9
One-stop shop for mix mastering.
More Sub Gain
Add all-important low frequencies for serious Add subtle amounts of gain to boost overall
club response. volume. Use sparingly and in conjunction
with Master Comp.
More Mids
Boost the mid frequencies to help mixes cut Mono Mix
through on weaker systems. A slide scale of mono/stereo mix. Perfect for
checking the translation of a mix onto a club
More Highs sound system.
Add hi-fi gloss and sheen to make the mix
sparkle.

Stereo Width
Selective EQ boost on the mid and
high frequencies gives a perceived
enhancement of the stereo width of the mix.
Cleaner Bass
Tighten flabby bass and add definition with
controlled gain tweaks and EQ pinch at
200Hz.
Master Comp
Finely-tune the threshold of this main
compressor to fine the sweet spot for a
punchier, more defined mix.