Question for mike senior mix rescue..i m very interested to know what studio monitor you use for doing remix for mix rescue?the remix sound you did was excellence and pro sounding top notch..

He mainly uses a Blue Sky system (I think it's a 2.1 system) — the main reason being that they are a sealed-box (unported) design which makes for a fast time-domain response. He also owns a single active Avantone 'grot-box' speaker, for checking mono and mid-range. Again, that's a sealed box design. The theory about sealed-box versus ported designs is explored in the SOS article about the Yamaha NS10 and the review of the Acoustic Energy AE22

thanx for reply and wondering does he mix ITB or summing to get the BIG deep and wide sounding mix..wish mike himself could answer for the whole new to DAW mixing community here..thanx

I'm sure Mike will answer eventually. But I think that question reveals a misconception about in-the-box mixing and analog summing.

Neither approach creates a big, wide professional sounding mix simply by the fact that as a process they are used. Creating a high quality, clear, dynamic, "big", wide mix comes from primarily skill and experience, the rest is helped by high quality monitoring and a neutral listening environment. Mixing ITB or analog (summing or completely analog) isn't the "secret". They are incidental to having the skill to mix well in the first place.

Also, it helps greatly to have things tracked well in the first place. I know I'm not Mike Senior. But trust me, once you've mixed something really well you'll know it has very little to do with whether or not you've mixed it ITB or analog in whatever manner.

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good post there from Liz.

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hourglass | random thoughts | doubledotdash!? collective

Thanks for the kind words, radnaksi, and apologies for not catching this thread earlier. Fortunately, Mixedup has already answered your first question for me, so I don't have to type out that bit! However, I should probably add that I also use a pair of Sennheiser HD650 headphones, and a pair of horrid little Goodmans ported multimedia speakers -- the latter are a better true grotbox system, because the Avantone is too high-res for that purpose.

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thanx for reply and wondering does he mix ITB or summing to get the BIG deep and wide sounding mix..wish mike himself could answer for the whole new to DAW mixing community here..thanx

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EnlightenedHand has already pretty much hit the nail on the head here with her post, but just to clarify: I don't think I've ever used any analogue outboard processing or summing for Mix Rescue. My remixes have always been completely in the box. Analogue is a wonderful thing, but full dynamic automation and near-perfect mix recall are usually more important to me for mixing purposes. (For tracking, on the other hand, I'd take analogue every time!)

This may not be a very satisfying answer for you, but that's what it is. Assuming that you're referring to the Mix Rescue in the November 2010 issue, then I can't even say I used anything particularly fancy in terms of plug-ins there either, because I deliberately restricted myself to bundled/freeware plug-ins so that more people would be able to load up the <a href="/sos/nov10/articles/mixrescuemedia.htm" target="_blank">full remix Reaper files</a> and check out all my settings if they were interested. On the bright side, however, this does mean that you may be able to glean some useful tips from that Reaper project yourself if you liked the outcome -- Reaper has full-featured 30-day trial versions for PC and Mac. (Bear in mind, though, that the project was created on a PC, so Mac-users won't be able to load up a handful of the PC-only freeware plug-ins.) There should also be another downloadable full remix project coming up in a few months' time as well, although I did that in Cubase 5 rather than Reaper.

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Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio
A complete mixing method based around the techniques of the world's most famous producers.

wo thanks alot for having your time to reply mike..sorry i did not mention about DEC 09 mix rescue Ollie remix that i m referring to..Ollie Wright.i m using that remix for my reference now..love that big powerchord guitar sound and drums too..i m 50 years of age and been doing recording via 24 trk 2 inch studer and analog board to tascam/adat Roland vs and lately protools le n m powered..but still i cant get the sound i want from my previous mixes through the machine i ve listed above..i ve read that some used protools or Daw as TAPE MACHINE only and does the comp/eq during tracking to get the depth and width of pc daw recording..i m new to modern Daw and learning my best to get the sound i m after which i used to mix before...versus the thin and 2D sounding mix i ve done now..im not alone am i hehe?

just for info..i m using NS10m studio/m audio BX8a old series/ and Radio shack minimus 7 as monitors..also in DAW all trims insert and gain level at -18db and my track faders at half way levels and all the audio tracks recorded around -6db maximum..plug ins used mcdsp and recently added liquidmix 16 and reverb convo TL space..drums mostly done via AD addictive drum software...bounce done with stereo interleaved 24bit..44.1k and no limiter or compression insert at masterfaders..

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just for info..i m using NS10m studio/m audio BX8a old series/ and Radio shack minimus 7 as monitors..also in DAW all trims insert and gain level at -18db and my track faders at half way levels and all the audio tracks recorded around -6db maximum..plug ins used mcdsp and recently added liquidmix 16 and reverb convo TL space..drums mostly done via AD addictive drum software...bounce done with stereo interleaved 24bit..44.1k and no limiter or compression insert at masterfaders..

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A DAW is a much less forgiving medium than tape, but it could be down to lots of things you could do - too difficult to say without hearing (maybe post in the 'My Sound File' forum here? - but you might consider a bit of buss compression to glue things a little bit (something that happens to some degree with analogue circuitry and tape anyway). McDSP's Analogue Channel is great for this; and as you're working in Pro Tools you're quite fortunate in your choice of tape emulation.

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i did not mention about DEC 09 mix rescue Ollie remix that i m referring to..Ollie Wright.i m using that remix for my reference now..love that big powerchord guitar sound and drums too..

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Glad you liked it -- but I'd recommend checking out some Andy Wallace mixes as well, because he's a whole lot better at being him than I am!

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i m 50 years of age and been doing recording via 24 trk 2 inch studer and analog board to tascam/adat Roland vs and lately protools le n m powered..but still i cant get the sound i want from my previous mixes through the machine i ve listed above..i ve read that some used protools or Daw as TAPE MACHINE only and does the comp/eq during tracking to get the depth and width of pc daw recording..i m new to modern Daw and learning my best to get the sound i m after which i used to mix before...versus the thin and 2D sounding mix i ve done now..im not alone am i hehe?

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Analogue has very little to do with it. The particular Mix Rescue (like pretty much all my Mix Rescues) was done completely without any analogue processing -- it was all 'in the box' DAW processing. As Matt suggests, it might be sensible to post something to the My Sound Files section of the forum to get some feedback on potential mix techniques, or you could send something in to mixrescue[at]soundonsound.com to be considered for the Mix Rescue column.

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just for info..i m using NS10m studio/m audio BX8a old series/ and Radio shack minimus 7 as monitors.

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I'd rely most heavily on the NS10s if I were you.

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also in DAW all trims insert and gain level at -18db and my track faders at half way levels and all the audio tracks recorded around -6db maximum.

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This shouldn't really make any difference -- assuming you're not having noise or distortion problems.

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.plug ins used mcdsp and recently added liquidmix 16 and reverb convo TL space..drums mostly done via AD addictive drum software...bounce done with stereo interleaved 24bit..44.1k and no limiter or compression insert at masterfaders..

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Liquid Mix and McDSP should be ample to get an equally good sound as in that Mix Rescue, but I'd certainly recommend mixing through a buss compressor. Andy Wallace does it pretty much as a matter of course using the SSL buss compressor (which is what I also used, in emulated form, for that Mix Rescue, if I remember right).

For more tips from Andy Wallace, check out this interview.

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Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio
A complete mixing method based around the techniques of the world's most famous producers.