This series of articles is written for the aspiring mix-to-pix mixer coming from a music mixing background.

During these articles, tips and tricks will be given to help you get a hold with the ins-and-outs of audio post-production workflows.

The tools are roughly the same, but their use has a slightly different interpretation than in the music world. Since you already know most of the tools, I will skip using baby steps.

As the series progresses you will be guided in how to modify your workflow to a surround sound session, upgrade your listening environment, what to listen for, and everything in between. Very motivating indeed.

In this article, you will be taking one of your most elaborate music mixing sessions and turning it into a film mixing session. Your session might already separate the drums from the guitars, the keyboards, the vocals, etc. You might not know it, but you are already mixing in stems, a very important delivery element in film and TV mixing.

So let’s push that a little further and transport your stems into a workable postproduction workflow. The first thing to do is to get rid of all the Audio Files, the plugins and automation from your session. In a simple setup, two tracks are usually used per shot: a boom track and the lavalier mix track, knowing that, display only the vocal tracks, and relabel them:

Based on my own music mixing session, I took the liberty of having two reverbs (long, short) and a delay line (DDL), all feeding their common subgroup. To note, the names should be short because the track count is going to be high, and you will work in Narrow Mixer where a poetic description of the content is usually lost. Take also note how my aux sends are identified, small “r” before the descriptive destination (in this case a reverb), a small “d” for delay, a small “s” for the subgroup. You might ask yourself: Why four sets of production tracks for one scene?

Usually, a scene doesn’t hang on just one camera angle, you could have a long shot, then a close-up on one character, then the other, all with different pick-ups, therefore, it’s always more efficient to work in a checkerboard fashion.

To complete your production track layout, insert Avid’s own channel strip (taken from the Euphonix System 5 console when they acquired the company) on the first track (Prod01a), and make sure all the parameters are automatable.

In fact, you should go into Pro Tools preferences and activate Plug-in Default to Auto-Enable. That way, every time you call up a plug-in, it will be automation-ready.

The default preset is not really usable for our purpose: Yes, the Input-Output should be at unity gain, but the ratio should be around 4:1, the compressor should not work overtime, so the threshold could be set around -14dB. I am from the school of thought that “Thou shall not hear the compressor working” so that’s why I have the ADSR approach on the attack-release controls. If you take the human voice as a synth’s wavetable, the attack and release time should be around the 44 ms. Weird number, right? To be efficient, I usually type in the same digit (in this case double typing 4). Like on the high-pass filter 66 Hz, it’s not worthwhile to have a high level of precision, nobody will ever comment that you are off by one (1) hertz or one (1) millisecond.

One more thing about the EQ: I like to have a low-frequency band set at roughly 115 Hz and another one at 4,2 kHz both with a Q of 9. That way, I am ready to intervene on a lavalier bump and sibilance.

Once you are satisfied with your preset, save it with your initials (rg001), then option click the plug-in to every production track. Your set-up should look like this.

Before we move on to the other stems, let me show you a neat trick using Memory Locations. Its use is not limited to Time location, but can also be used to configure the tracks you want to work on and hide the others that do not need your immediate attention. You will, for instance, be able to customize the size, the zoom in or out (vertically and horizontally) of the tracks in your timeline. Instead of chasing around “that track…” you will be able to call up the stem and work on it immediately. It’s such a great way to work! It will save you so much time, your clients will be impressed. For example, my first ten (10) Memory locations are cemented in every session, I don’t have to think about them (.2) Dialogue, (.3) Ambs, (.4) SFX, etc. If additional tracks are needed, I make sure I update my Memory location.

I will assume that your Memory Location window is wiped clean. If not, now is a good time to make a good clean slate. Memory Location #1 is always at the top of the program, and nothing else. Location #1 is track agnostic, and call it “Start”. Then highlight the production soundtracks (Prod01a, Prod01b, etc.), their associated reverbs and subgroup. When all is done, hit the Enter key (with an extended keyboard) in Time Properties select “none”. In General Properties, if the layout is to your satisfaction, activate the Zoom settings, Track Show/Hide, and Track Heights give it the name Dial.

Now let us configure the other stems, the Ambiences (or Backgrounds, depending on what part of the world you live). Their track count is usually high, and on a small budget, usually four (4) stereo pairs and two (2) mono tracks, times two (2) for a simple production, times four (4) for a slightly more sophisticated production. Hide all the tracks and only have the keyboards tracks showing.

You will notice that no reverbs are actually used for the Ambiences, just a line delay effect is available for the occasional outside mono tracks (birds in the wild, dogs barking, city slaps of buildings, etc.). You would not want to put reverb on a room tone. If you have to, then drag it to the SFX tracks for that special effect moment. Your tracks layout should now look something like this.

When all is done, as for the production tracks, hit the Enter key (with an extended keyboard) in Time Properties select “none”. In General Properties, if the layout is to your satisfaction, activate the Zoom settings, Track Show/Hide, and Track Heights give it the name Ambs.

Next, let’s transform the guitar tracks into SFX (sound effects). Depending on the size of the production (read “budget”) the SFX count will vary. The SFX includes the PFX (production sound effects taken from the dialogue-production sound), sound effects from your library, and original sound effects that you actually recorded. Let’s go for six stereo tracks and ten mono tracks.

As for the other tracks, hit the Enter key and Create another Memory Location and label it SFX.

Next, let’s configure the drum tracks into Foley. By the way, Foley (a real art form) is the sound re-enactment of everything our characters touches, their footsteps, their clothes, everything, and it falls into the SFX stem.

As for the other tracks, hit the Enter key and Create another Memory Location and label it Foley.

And finally let’s call up the stereo string tracks and convert them into music tracks.

You get the routine by now, hit the Enter key and Create another Memory Location and label it Music.

There you have it…

In part 2, we will explain and demonstrate the track assignment and routing.

After reading this article, and watching the video, what are your thoughts on the use of Memory Locations? Please leave any questions or observations in the comments section below.