The Process of Mixing Toto - Africa Song

7/24/2019 The Process of Mixing Toto - Africa Song

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The process of mixing Totos Africa song

The frst I done when opening this fle, was listen to the unmixed version o the

song, compared to the released version which I had downloaded through the

medium o YouTube. My approach towards this whole song was the gradually

twea bits here and there until it sounded near enough, close to the original. This

ob!ective, gave me the motive to frst o all, turn down the volume on channels

"# through "$ %as shown below&. 's you can

see rom the image, the xylophone was the

loudest element out o the instruments

piced. This was solely due to the act that in

the original song, the sound o the

instruments had the nice staccato e(ect to

them. The xylophone was the most dis!ointed

sound o them all when coming to the notes

being played. )owever, the original song also

captured this soothing none hard hitting

sound o these instruments. *ecause o this I

decided to create a bus channel in order to

add some reverb onto the channels. I chose

to use a bus channel or the reverb, as heard

in the original song there was a lot,

meaning that it would be used consistently

throughout the pro!ect. In order to save +-

usage, I decided to create a bus channel or

my reverb early on within my pro!ect. 'ter

this was completed, I decided to turn the

volumes o the channels up altogether by #.db.


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The reverb used on

the bus channel was

the /villa lobby0

12T3, which I

believe is a very

long reverb,

meaning that the

decay time would

be apparent when

blended within the

mix. I turned the

dry signal mix all the

way down and the

wet signal up, as it

was a bus reverb

that I was using.The reverb had a

decay time o approximately 4. seconds, again being long. I added the same

volume level o reverb on all o the channels rom "# to "$, however, not too

much, as I didn5t want the sound to be detrimental towards the staccato sound o

the instruments, mainly the xylophone.


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The next step ater this was to pic out the sounds tonality, and in order to do so

I used 67. I really lie 8ogic ro 9, as i you don5t necessarily now where the

re:uencies that you are hearing lay, you can !ust press the analy;er. The

analy;er then shows you all the re:uencies that are being heard rom that

particular instrument in that channel.


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maing me certain that it was time to move on to the sounds place within the

stereo feld.

'ter turning up the ader levels o

the sounds, I elt as i the marimba

channel needed to be panned hardright, as this is how I had heard it

within the released song. I then

panned the 'rican marimba

channel to the let by 0#?, as it

seemed to clash with the marimba

when it was hard panned. This

brought a nice elegance to the mix,

letting the instruments play with one

another5s sound and sound vibrant.

'ter hearing this, I new it was timeor the fnal step, adding delay.

Bhen adding delay to the sounds, I

used another bus channel, with was later

renamed, Celay Deturn.

The time o the delay was set to a #E#=

note, as this is what I elt would naturallydrit the mix through its course. I then

turned the

repeat up to

=$F, maing sure that there wasn5t too much

repetition o the delay going on. The colour was "@,

and o course the dry and wet were set to their usual

parameters when on and bus channel.

This is when I added the delay onto the sounds

channels. 7uite a lot o delay was used or these

instruments, as I wanted them sonically to sound

Auent and ongoing. The delay e(ect used brought

exactly this e(ect. 'ter this was fnalised, I new it

was time to move onto the next group, this being the

drums.


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I elt as i the drums were sounding nice as a collective, as decided to turn them

up through the monitor levels within the room. This is when I spotted that the

ics were peaing in the ader levels on their particular channels. In order to

solve this problem, I used an adaptive limiter, which acts as a bric wall limiter to

the peas o a channel, allowing them not to pea when turned down the output

ceiling is at 0.# db or 0.4 db. This is a orm o compression, as it retains the

peas and allows me to turn up the entire trac as well which is what I done

exactly. 's shown in the image to the let, the ic was turned up by 4. db,

whereas the distorted ic was turned up by #. db.

The next step was to wor with the bass mesa channel, which I added a bit o

reverb to and then let alone, as it sounded low and gritty enough. I then went

bac to tracs "# to "$, and turned them down by 0>. db.

'ter this, I turned the electric guitars down to 0". db, and added a

lot o reverb and a little delay onto them. I urthered the use o

reverb, as I elt lie within the original song, the electric guitars

didn5t stand out to sharply but you could still hear when they

came into play. I elt that reverb too care o this !ob, as it made

the guitars sound more e(ortless within the mix, rather than too

out going and orward. The delay on the other hand was used

!ust to add that extra layer o taste into the mix o the electrical

guitars.

'ter all o this was fnal, I elt as i I needed to set the ader levels

or all the channels throughout my pro!ect. In which, I then came

bac to the +ongo channel in order to add more reverb and boostits re:uency at 4>> );, by >.> db. This is done using an H0band

67 parameter.

's shown in the image to the let, the dynamic and condenser channels

were all turned down to an e:ual level o 0H. db. This was all beore,

two o the condenser and dynamic channels were panned to the right by

#>.

Bhen listening bac and orth to the original song and my mix, I couldsee that I was getting on. -nortunately, my mix still didn5t have that

smooth sounding Aow to it, as the released mix did. My mix was more

cutting0edge, and I needed it lie the original. This is when I decided to

add another bus channel or another reverb. )owever, the reverb used

was the same, but was spread to .# and 9overed to @#);, giving the

reverb a real sonically clean e(ect, which is what I lied or this one.


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'll o the channels soloed, are the ones that were chosen to have this extra

reverb that added a nice synthetic relevance to the mix. 'll the channels chosen

were non0percussion elements. I lied how this sounded, as all o the elements

now had a real ambient eel. In order to urther enhance this e(ect, I added an

67 to the output channel, which was levelled at 0?. db. The 67 boosted @. db

at =$ );.

Bhen looing through the volume levels o the channels, I realised that the

+ongo was now peaing, give reasoning or why I put a an adaptive limiter on it,

but did not turn up the gain, leaving the output ceiling at 0.4 db.

8istening bac and orth to the two mixes, I noticed that the shaer used

in the released song was geared more towards the let stereo feld. This is

why I panned the instrument 0"> to the let. 'ter this, I panned the

marimba and xylophone to the let hand stereo feld, whereas the 'rican

marimba was panned 04> to the let hand side. The acoustic guitar, guitar

>@, and guitar audix channels were turned down. The acoustic was

levelled at 0>. dbJ guitar >@ to 0". db, and guitar audix to 0". db. Koing

bac and orth, the marimba, xylophone, Aute organ, and 'ricanmarimba were turned up. 'ter this, the

electric double channels were turned

down to #>.H db, and the electric #

channel was levelled at #4. db.

8istening to the synth pads and ics

together, I could hear a clash o the two

sounds. This meant that I needed to

side chain the synths through one o the

ics. This side chain would then act as a compressor, turning down the synth

every time the ic had past the threshold. I chose to side chain the distorted

ic, as this was the dominant ic within the mix. I turned my attac up on the


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compressor to # ms, which is extremely ast showing how :uicly the

compressor will tae to grab hold o the ic when passing the threshold. I let

the ratio o #.>L#, as the main actor was not the dynamics o the synth. I set the

release time to $H. ms, showing how ast the compressor will release the ic

when passing below the threshold. I had the threshold at 04. db, which

deducted 0". db o the gain. 8astly, I turned the gain down by 0#. db, as I did

want any maeup gain happening.

I then also put a compressor on the snare bottom, in order to retain the dynamics

o the snare bottom. )aving the attac at H. ms and release at #>. ms, the

compressor was acting extremely ast. The ratio was also a 4L#, meaning that

every 4 db that the snare bottom goes above the threshold, it will be reduced to

#. db. The threshold was at 04#. db and the gain was then piced bac up to

.> db. Gow that a compressor was on the snare bottom, it was !ust on the verge

o peaing in the ader levels, showing why I used an adaptive limiter with an

output ceiling o 0.4 db. 'ter this, I used more compressors on other channelsJ

the images are shown below.


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's

you can witness

rom the image to

the right, buses 4

were taen away

rom all the

channels shown

except or the Aute

organ. 'lso, bus "

was also taen away rom

the marimba channel. I toothese away as I elt lie they

were all beginning to sound

very unnatural towards the

mixes sound.


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8istening bac to the MICI drums, there were a ew notes that were overpowering

the mix as a whole. In order to solve this dilemma, I grab the notes that were too

involved in the mix and turned their velocities down to around #.

These are the boosts that occur on the

channels shown in the top o the 67

plugin. Mainly the higher re:uencies were

boosted, as it brought a indness and

subtlety to the mix.

Gow, when listening to the song, it

sounded real close to the original.

)owever, there was one thing that was

really irritating me and this was the Autes section within the bridge. I elt as i it

cut o( too :uicly and didn5t fnish at well as it could o. In order to achieve this I

extended the last MICI note, so it would be played or longer. I then added a

extra note in at the end, which fnalised the whole Aute section. Gow, it was timeto move onto the vocals.

This is the panning parameters I chose to go with when mixing the vocals. I

chose the pans and volume levels, as I elt lie they really sat well with one

another. 'ter this, I put a compressor on the vocals in order control their

dynamic range a little more. The gain control was also turned up on the

compressor by 4. db, in order to hear more o the sounds being produced. I then

added an adaptive limiter and put its output ceiling at 0.4 db, in order or the

vocals not to clip.


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I too away 4$ db at around #

);, 0=. db at H" );, and 4$ db

at #$ );. I chose to tae

away 0=. db at the re:uency

H" );, as the vocals contain

this type o box and mue Aair

that withheld rom the vocals

sounding clean and crisp. This

I deducted 4$ db at 4#> );, as

there was a lot o bacground

noise within the mix that I

wanted to get rid o. This rule

also applies or the 4$ dbdeduction at ##4 );. 0>.> db is

taen away at @$ );. This 67

4$ db was taen away at #?=

);, 0".> db was taen also at

@= );, and 0?.> db was taen

away at $4> );. This 67 was


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'ter cut the vocals to mae them sound clean, I made sure that there were

ades at the beginning and end o

each vocal section. This assured me

that the transitions o the vocals

will sound clean. 'ter doing this, I

added some bus reverb and delay to on the

channels.

In order to mae the vocals have that grip and dirtiness that I

wanted rom them, I duplicated an audio trac and copy

and pasted every other line rom the /'ndy 8ead #3 channel

and /'ndy 8ead 43 channel, in order to have some variation in the taes. I then

named this channel, /'ndy 8ead.Cistortion3, and added a distortion 4 e(ect

plugin on the channel.

*y turning the drive all the way up, it basically made

the channel have #F o the distortion being

used throughout the plugin, almost resembling

an e(ect on a bus channel. I then turned down

the ader level on the channel and it sounded

great exactly how I wanted it to sound. I also

added the same distortion or both the toms. In

order to mae the last chorus stand out rom the

others, I decided to add a stutter in, as shown inthe

image

below.

In parts beore the chorus, Iautomated the bypass and levels o

bus # %reverb& and bus 4 %delay& on the toms. This emphasised the entrance o

other elements within the chorus, which I believe brought a nice texture towards

the mix.


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'ter this, I cut the acoustic guitar stem as it had many bacground noises that

were disturbing the entire mix. I also put ades on them.

I then turned up the read levels on the tracs that needed it, in order to reduce

some dynamics that pop out too much in certain sounds.


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8istening to the song bac with the original version, I could tell that my wor

here was done. 2o I made one last change this being the taing away o the

stutter as it elt as i I was over doing it. I then bounced my pro!ect by pressing

/command *3. These are the bounce choices I made.


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'ter bouncing the wav and mp" fles onto the destop computer, I imported the

wav fle bac into the 8ogic pro!ect. I done this, as the bounced fle had a gap in

the beginning o the trac due to the bpm and other actors that got in the way

o the song starting at bar one. *y deleting the gap at the beginning and adding

ades at the start and end o the song, I made my pro!ect complete. The fnal

step I made beore bouncing it again was taing the +hannel 67 o( o the outputchannel, as I didn5t want to urther boost the re:uencies o the bounced fle, as

it already had those elements within it.

You can

fnd the fnal mixed version o the song on my 2oundcloud,

as there should be a lin on my Tumblr.


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'ai Milan...

The Process of Mixing Toto - Africa Song

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