Collaborative Mixing in Logic

What happens after you’ve finished recording the song? What's the next step in the music-making process? How do you collaborate on a mix? 

The music-making process is a fully collaborative process. From production to recording and mixing to mastering, every person involved in the making of the song has a common goal: making the song shine in its final form. That’s why clear, streamlined communication is important between producers, recording engineers, mixing engineers, and mastering engineers. 

Pre-Lesson Preparation 

For this lesson, you will need the following for each group:

• A license of Logic Pro
• A headphone splitter 
• 2 Pairs of Headphones  
• A MIDI Controller
• A folder of multitrack stems for mixing (non-commercial use)
• (OPTIONAL)
• Acoustic Instruments and Microphones 
• ¼” Cables 
• XLR Cables 
• Audio Interface 

Lesson Plan

Introduction

Hello everyone and thanks for joining today! Today we’re going to be talking about collaborative mixing. While the music-making process can sometimes be thought of as linear, it is often cyclical. Some common examples of this: 

• A mixing engineer makes a creative decision and sends over a mix for approval that makes the producer realize they should add certain melodies or instrumental parts into the production. 
• A mastering engineer realizes that there is a section in the song where there is distortion. They need the mixing engineer to fix the distortion in that section and send back a revised final mix to be mastered.

Group Activity

Divide the room into groups of 2. The group of 2 will include a producer and an engineer. 

• Each group gets the same multitrack stems folder. The engineer should open up a blank Logic session and begin organizing the session. 

1. Import all mix stems into the blank session.
2. Color code all groups of tracks that serve similar functions (ex. Strings, Drums, Piano, Brass, etc.) and route them to a Summing stack set aside for that group.
3. Set the volume balance of all of your tracks. 
4. Set the panning of each track.   

Organizing the Logic Session

• Take a break from organizing and discuss the creative goals of the song. 

1. The engineer and producer should each discuss what they hear from the first listen of the track. Some guiding questions include: 
2. What are the lyrics of the song saying? 
3. What is the arrangement of the song and where does the song build energy and lose energy?
4. What is missing or should be emphasized to make this song become what it needs to be?
5. After discussing more, pick 2-3 mix references for the song and agree on what the song’s goals and themes are.

• For the next 15-20 minutes, the producer spends time adding any additional instrumental layers as they see fit to accomplish the needs of the song. The engineer helps in the recording process of these additional layers. 

1. The producer can use the MIDI controller to add any layers or use any live instruments that are available in the classroom.

• After 20 minutes are up, the engineer takes time to clean up the mix. They apply processing (EQ/Compression/FX) as they see fit. The producer and engineer are both actively listening to the mix and discussing any mix notes in real-time. 

Mixing the Logic Session

• After 15-20 minutes, the producer now works in the session and adjusts settings as needed to fit the overall sonic vision of the song. They add in any creative liberties they want to test with panning, FX, throws, etc.
• The producer and engineer go back and forth as many times as needed to get the song to its completion. The goal is a good sounding mix and song that would fit well in a playlist along with the other mix references chosen.
• Once you’re ready to finalize your mix, save your session as a folder to make the process of sending deliverables easier later on. 

1. To save your session as a folder, navigate to File -> Save As. Title the session as Collaborative Mixing LOGIC EXERCISE_(PRODUCER_ENGINEER INITIALS). Make sure to check the checkbox for saving audio files into the folder as well.

Saving the Logic Session

Final Deliverables/Listening

• Bounce out your final MP3 and WAV file by going to File -> Export -> Project as Bounced File.

Bouncing the Final Mix

• Upload all MP3/WAV files to a collaborative folder and spend some time listening to each group’s mixes as a class. Answer these guiding questions after each listen through:

1. Explore how different producer/engineer teams approached the same source material. 
2. How did the song’s arrangement change?
3. What were some instrumental layers added that helped bring the song to life? 
4. Did it fit within the range of mix references they provided? 

Enjoy the activity and have a great class!