This is one place where the 9K's have an advantage. Its my one pet peeeve when working on older E's an G's the fact that you eat up your channels if you want to automate the effect sends/returns/pans. I'll automate everything from the sends and the returns & their pans. Personally i prefer to automate the effects instead of compressing myself.
![mixing vocals with waves ssl 4000 mixing vocals with waves ssl 4000](https://www.sombinario.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/waves-ssl-4000-collection.jpg)
Use the "lettered" channels for what they are supposed to be used for. Make sure your echo/fx returns route to any "weak" channels that lack dynamics or EQ cards. Chances are nobody is going to notice that you're using a BF76 instead of the real deal (which should be getting thrown on something more important anyways). Goofy little parts, samples or effects can all get their own dedicated two channels that they all go to. Not recommended for guitar-heavy tracks where you're going to need the headroom on the console to keep the parts clean sounding.
![mixing vocals with waves ssl 4000 mixing vocals with waves ssl 4000](https://i0.wp.com/www.streetzmyestro.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/New-SSL-Mixing-Template-min.png)
Remember the 3-4 mics you stuck up on the guitar cab? Buss everything to one channel for each performance (so instead of 12-16 channels for guitars you have more like 4). Right there you are saving two channels for stuff that more often than not ends up somewhere around -15 db on their own faders. Run spot mics like high hat or ride cymbals into the overhead channels. Some things that can help you out when it comes to making sacrifices like this: Go heavy duty on the important stuff and if you have to fudge a little bit make sure that it's on the less important elements. It's all about resource management and knowing what you're going to need reserved on the console based on what's coming off you DAW. it's all a matter of priority for the song. If it is very commercial and vocal heavy I'd say allocate more channels to the vocals. the logic being that any "hype" from the board won't be missed as much as a main part.Īll in all it boils down to the track. However, for backing vocals I'll submix and group a stereo buss or two. I try to keep the main vocals on their own fader running through outboard as much as humanly possible. I'm running a ProTools HD rig into a SSL 4056 G+ and, sad to say, often feel the "crunch" of not having enough tracks on the console to accommodate the modern bloat of recording too many tracks. Now, I don't have the time for recalls, space needed, or budget to do this even 95% of the time, but when I have the results are definitely different (and for the better) IMO. I should also note that this would be on a console like an SSL, because I really like the channel compressors. This way I can do different pans, levels, FX, EQ/ comp, etc in the analog domain as opposed to doing panning and such in the box. In an analog scenario, I would send the backgrounds out with minimal grouping. Background vox i like a whole lot of different things.I currently am doing more along the lines of what you do. I like an 1176, La2a, or Buzz Soc on vox into a lil freq. Sometimes it actually works better to do the rides in PT because it allows the compressor to do less work. 1 or 2 stereo stems has never let me down.Īs of right now, if my hands can't do the volume rides. And I could never hear a big enough difference to let background vox eat up too much console realestate.
![mixing vocals with waves ssl 4000 mixing vocals with waves ssl 4000](https://img.wavescdn.com/1lib/images/products/plugins/preview/ssl-ev2-channel.png)
I don't under any circumstance believe in bringing up background vox on more than 2-4 tracks on the board. This is why a lot of guys say they can't mix on less than 72 channels. The ability to EQ and compress each individual stack separately is great. For instance, I think being able to process each individual layer of the background vocals on an analog console is a great luxury to have. would all be relevant!If I could afford the expense and space of a large format SSL, I would do it in a heartbeat. How has everyone here adapted, and how are you aciving positive results.Ĭonsole setup, outboard gear/efx, etc. So all that said, let's revisit mixing vocals utilizing both SSL and DAW. And that my most current mixes using ITB vocal stems arn't up to par with previous material. Well, I've come to relize that the SSL really works better with vocals (among other things) then sub mixing ITB and steming out (I'm lazy & I hate tedious console automation for vocals).
![mixing vocals with waves ssl 4000 mixing vocals with waves ssl 4000](https://theproaudiofiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Mixing-with-Waves-SSL-G-Channel-Strip.png)
In my ever changing approach to mixing, it seems that I keep moving more and more of the duities to the box leaving less and less for the console to do.