Mixing Masterclass with David Tolomei [Dirty Projectors, Future Islands, Beach House]
Mixing Masterclass with David Tolomei [Dirty Projectors, Future Islands, Beach House]
Key Takeaways
- His 3 primary goals are:
- finds it critical to emotionally connect with the song before starting a mix, and during a mix
- wants to be able to “hear everything”, hear the detail, hear the textures
- contrast with sounds, textures, elements
- things like delay throws, reverb throws, and non-standard automation can really polish a mix, but the line between being cheesy or not is very thin
- sets up markers to quickly use keyboard shortcut to jump to different sections
- loves the Air Band on the Maag EQ4
- like, half the day is just dialing in those low-mids
- dialing in sounds, as time goes on, it becomes almost like you’re solving a math problem, but when it comes to transitions, that feels like where the human element comes in
- becareful of delay on only one side, can cause phase issues
- listen for winfalls! sometimes you just get files that sound exactly as they should already
- likes to treat drums/perc loops with iZotope Trash
- rides some long delays/reverbs up in volume while the vocals hold a long note over a transition in the song
- also, automating high pass and low pass filters
- has several tape emulations and a couple EQs on the mix bus, all with very light settings