The audio files available on this page accompany my Session Notes article in SOS May 2019 about recording a rock band comprising Marcus Boeltz (www.marcusboeltz.net), Christian Bolz (www.christianbolz.info) and Tobias Knecht (www.tobiasknecht.de) at Munich's Mastermix Studios (www.mastermix.de). The file names of these audio examples should be fairly self-explanatory, but here are some additional notes to describe exactly what you're hearing in each case.
LiveEnsemble_FullMix
This is a basic 24-track mix of the rock-band recording, with all the instruments captured at the same time and in the same room. The processing is fairly minimal, totalling 14 filters, two bands of EQ, and two compressors.
LiveEnsemble_SubmixDrums
This is the same mix as heard in the LiveEnsemble_FullMix file, except that I've muted all the guitar and bass tracks.
LiveEnsemble_SubmixGuitars
This is the same mix as heard in the LiveEnsemble_FullMix file, except that I've muted all the drum and room-mic tracks.
Overdubbed_FullMix
This is the same mix as heard in the LiveEnsemble_FullMix file, except that the source recordings weren't done simultaneously — the drums were first tracked to a click, and then the guitar and bass were overdubbed separately against the drums playback.
Overdubbed_SubmixDrums
This is the same mix as heard in the Overdubbed_FullMix file, except that I've muted all the guitar and bass tracks.
Overdubbed_SubmixGuitars
This is the same mix as heard in the Overdubbed_FullMix file, except that I've muted all the drum and room-mic tracks.
Editing01_GtrErrorPatchOut
In this short snippet you can hear that the guitarist has misplayed one of the chords.
Editing02_GtrErrorPatchIn
In this example you can hear how easy it is to correct the guitar error heard in Editing01_GtrErrorPatchOut by replacing it with a section from another take, even though I've been careful to edit across all the tracks to avoid messing with the phase relationships between the mics.
Editing03_GtrTimingEditOut
In this example, notice that the guitar strum significantly anticipates the downbeat kick hit.
Editing04_GtrTimingEditIn
If I wanted to tighten up the timing of the guitar strum heard in Editing03_GtrTimingEditOut, it's fairly straightforward to do by snipping the audio either side of the offending note onset (not forgetting suitable crossfades), and then sliding that audio later in time. Once again, I've edited across all the tracks to avoid tampering with inter-mic phase relationships.
Editing05_BassUnlockedEditOut
You'd be surprised how often you can get away with fleeting edits on individual instruments within a multi‑miked ensemble setup, despite the phase implications. Let's say, for instance, that you wanted to insert a different bass fill in the middle of this section — it turns out you can replace it with a bass snippet from elsewhere in the track without problems, as you can hear in Editing06Editing06_BassUnlockedEditIn.
Editing06_BassUnlockedEditIn
A new bass fill has been edited into the middle of this example, but only on the bass tracks themselves. Despite the potential for conflict between the close mics and the instrument's spill on the drum mics, however, the result is perfectly usable within the mix context, and it's unlikely any listener would be aware of what you'd done.
