Dance Music Production Dimensional Mixing TUTORiAL

For this highly anticipated volume we examine the theory and practice of dimensional mixing within electronic dance music.

This is much more than your typical mixing tutorial; here we not only discuss the basic mixing techniques we also introduce and examine the theory of gain structure, mixing desks, busses, VCA groups, ear training, visual mixing and how to introduce an added dimension to your sound.

Spread over 2 discs the tutorial begins with an introduction to gain structure within a DAW. If you thought gain structure only applied to those working outside the box - you couldn't be more wrong. A well organised and considered gain structure is fundamental to digital mixing and is more often than not the defining characteristic between mixes that sound open and clean to those that appear digital and crowded.

Following gain structure we move onto the mixing desk. Here we not only look at the theory of bussing, auxing and uses of VCA's but also how they're best applied during a mix and how it can be important to group sub-mixes and busses together to ensure effects sends maintain the mix perspective.

In addition to the basics above, we also discuss further theories and practices for producing a successful dance mix by with sessions on low end theory and controlling the low end of the mix, how to optimise your room for mix analysis and numerous ear training techniques that you can use daily to help hone your hearing in order to produce cleaner, clearer sounding mixes.

With the basics covered and using a number of different styles of dance music tracks as examples, we then show how you can create mixes that exhibit both width and depth, and how to add further dimensions to a mix to create clarity in even the busiest of mixes. This includes session topics such as multi-band compression, reverb, distortion, side-chaining, vocal approaches, pitch-correction, mixing bass and the subs, tone control, mixing huge leads, and mono compatibility.

We then finish the tutorial with an analogue vs digital shoot-out. Is analogue summing really superior to the DAW? You can make up your own mind as we mix and then listen to/examine the sonic differences between summing entirely within a DAW compared to summing through the best analogue equipment, employing both Neve and SSL Hardware.


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