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mixintheLoMoWe’ve come up with a techniquefor getting more of a ‘location’sound from ADR, using plug-insto take the pristine out and putsome grit back in. The mixer’sgonna kill me when I reveal this,but actually we use DigiDesign’sLo Fo – it’s a simple plug-in butit does a really nice job. As soonas you apply our parameters tothe plug-in you go ‘oh wow,that’s good.’John Laing, Supervising Sound Editor,Saw VIAudio Media, November 2009No LosersDon’t use lossy coded audio formats for anythingother than final distribution to the end listener.Stick with linear until the final copies are made.David Mathew, Audio PrecisionSequential SoloMy secret at the beginning of a mix is to solo onechannel after another to hear all 30 tracks inabout two minutes but without the distractionsof lots of keystrokes or mouse moves by just keepingmy finger on one of the faders on the console asI slide along this thing called an Arc which popseach channel into that fader, soloing just theone at a time. I love this part because it neatlyprograms my mind so I can hear exactly whateveryone is doing and how efficient they arevoltage wise because I am metering it on a VUmeter at the same time. That global prospectivegives me such a head start over what is neededwith this mix.Michael Stavrou, Engineer and Author, C/O Smart AVDialogue OnlyOnly dialogue should end up on yourtracklay. When the dialogue stem ismuted for the M&E mix, any footsteps,door closes, etc, left in your edit will bemuted too, and so will be missing fromany foreign language mixes. Replace theseunwanted sounds with matching ‘fill’.Be aware that breathing also constitutesdialogue, and this can often present moreproblems to edit than the dialogue itself,as you’re often left with double breaths orun-rhythmic breathing at shot boundaries.You might have to fake the sync slightly tomake the breathing sound natural.Susan Pennington, Dialogue Editor Spool Post,Audio Media Feb 2010Double DrumsI have been mixing in the box for years, both in thestudio and out on the road. I find it really use-full tooccasionally take a drum sub group and just duplicateit. Having one sub group with full dynamic rangewhile the other is getting pounded pretty hard usinga Waves 1176 plug-in or something similar, it lets mecreate two different sonic templates that I can blendtogether to get real depth. On the road it’s a hardrock show with Snoop; we have Drums, Bass and Guitars,so it’s easy to loose definition in the mix.Using this technique to create depth allows me toemphasise the drums but still have room for the otherinstruments to live.Dave “Dizzle” Aron, Audio Engineer (Prince, Tupac Shakur, SnoopThe Phantom TweakNo one’s ears are as golden as one mightlike to think. It’s easy to fool yourself.Here’s an example I have lived: mixing atune, the producer suggests a little moretop on the vocal. The engineer agrees,and reaches up to the EQ knob on thechannel strip. He moves it up a click, theproducer and the engineer listen a moment,and then nod: good change.Then the engineer notices his hand is onthe wrong channel strip...David Mathew, Audio PrecisionBiased CutThis is for analog tape editing only; I knowsome of you still own razor blades. If youare inserting tape – for spacing or to addmore time for longer overdubs, etc – don’tuse virgin tape. Bias the tape first byrecording silence on all the tracks. This willavoid the “pop” that would otherwise occurwhen the edit goes by, as the signal dropsfrom the high-level high-frequency biastone to zero.David Mathew, Audio PrecisionDogg, Dr. Dre...), SMart AV Tango User, C/O Smart AVAUDIO MEDIA AUGUST 2011 27