Brandon Tew Mixing Sessions
In our lectures over the last two weeks we have been working on two tracks by the local artist Brandon Tew, doing some mixing practice and research with Jon Withnall, Coldplay / Rihanna. In these sessions Jon has been teaching us his approach to mixing from his experience as a recording and mixing engineer, working with his skillset accumulated from years of working alongside other established pros.
In the mixing approach Jon showed us the importance of balancing faders to create a balanced mix, we also covered the difference between outboard and software processing units and discussed the benefits and drawbacks of each as well as the relevance in today's listening climate of analogue gear despite its traditionally better position with regard to sonics and quality.
In the workflow Jon also covered a strategy I’m familiar with from my own experience, which we delved further into with integration of it’s use with the desk. This was an emphasis on aux sends, grouping and routing to blend multi-tracks together to process as groups either instrumental (Kit) or to process together sonically (Vox / Piano Reverb). This hybrid workflow between the daw and the desk meant for a spread workflow across the two, therefore with the group of us working on the mix, roles could be distinguished and balanced well between us.
This consisted of myself on the Daw, levelling the aux sends which were then routed from the internal daw aux out to the desk in stereo pairs, these were then applied with software plugins and external effects on each point. Das covered the external plugin processing from the auxes stereo channels on the desk over the desks inserts. Myself, Luke and Das also then balanced faders at different points, along with Nzanzu and Dom offering their ears, critically listening throughout and inputting their take and getting in to tweak changes and balance. Overall we worked as a cohesive group to produce a very satisfactory mix especially in the second session doing the track You Don’t Give.
