Fades and Mix Sessions

[Sammas]

Hey Gang,

I plan on having a number of tracks mixed by someone sooner or later, but I am concerned that my workflow will ultimately influence the final mix. I usually "mix" and write as I go using a combination of electronic and analog sound sources, but due to the lack of velocity control on some of the electronic sources I use fades that I often print to the track.

I guess this bunch of work you could call downbeat dance, bordering on ambient. Some of it is actually very trip-hoppish in nature and rather dynamic. I am worried that the fades will greatly effect the mix engineers control over the final mix, but at the same time I am worried that providing a session without the fades will greatly effect the piece of music itself.

Any idea of a solution short of aquiring a protools rig? At the moment everything has been done in Cubase SX 3, so any sessions shared are usually consolidated .wav files with fades printed... I imagine it would be very frustrating for a mix engineer to deal with such a scenario??

[Linear]

simple solution i think.

render an 'A' mix with all the fades that you want where you want. explain that this contains the rendered files with fades/effects.

then save a copy of the cubase song and remove fades/effect. render that one also, so if mr mix decides he/she doesn't like the fade you've done, they still have access to the complete (non-faded) file. then they just pull that section and insert into the mix that they're doing.

it just means that you give two sets of consolidated files.

Chris

[Mark Bassett]

Also check this out

http://www.harddisklife.com/Pages/Colum ... ges/3.html

[jkhuri44]

which electronic sources are u having velocity issues with??

ie. i assume your refering to a certain VST??

[Sammas]

simple solution i think.

render an 'A' mix with all the fades that you want where you want. explain that this contains the rendered files with fades/effects.

then save a copy of the cubase song and remove fades/effect. render that one also, so if mr mix decides he/she doesn't like the fade you've done, they still have access to the complete (non-faded) file. then they just pull that section and insert into the mix that they're doing.

it just means that you give two sets of consolidated files.

Chris

I thought about that, but I've spent a lot of time perfecting the fades. The problem I see is that if the mix engineer wants to redo them, its either going to take a lot of time to replicate it (which means more of my money) or they won't do it as well. Sometimes I have a lot of trouble just letting go, and trusting someone with my stuff. :roll: Yes, I am a control freak.

[Sammas]

which electronic sources are u having velocity issues with??

ie. i assume your refering to a certain VST??

No VSTs, hardware synths and what not. Quite a lot of them have no velocity control at all. Particularly the older ones with no midi or early midi implimentation. Its not really an "issue", its just a part of the equipment.

[jkhuri44]

are u having problems with the tail outs of the notes? or problems with the fact that there is no variation from note to note, because either problem would have a different solution....


heres solution which may be a total waste of time or too annoying, but will give u heaps of control:

you could slap a sidechain noisegate on the synth tracks, and have them triggered by some whitenoise...ie. imagine 4 beats in a bar...you can generate 2 blips which are 50% max volume, and 2 which are 100% loudeness, then just cut these up and slap em on ur grid...and use those audio tracks to key the gate...this may make them sound more to ur liking...

the above might be exactly the same as fades that your doing already..

come to think of it, why dont you just think of the fades ur doing by hand as in depth ADSR? especially in cubase, the fade points are really tight..


:?

[heathen]

Just do two sets of files for the particular tracks which have fades, one stereo pair with and one without, if its only a couple of tracks its no big deal, its easy just to drop them in side by side, if they need to be redone they are there, if not your laughing.