Make your mix clear and simple – Sub Mixes in radio imaging |

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Mix, mixing, mixing tricks, pro tools, pro tools mixing, radio imaging, sub mix

Hi guys, it’s Andre.

Working with audio has become more and more comfortable in the digital age. There’s no need to worry about the number of used tracks. Just slam in your audio and create more tracks if needed. An increasing number of tracks might be pretty useful when you’re creating and arranging an element, but might turn out into a mess, when it comes to mixing. Dozens and more tracks take place in your session and help you losing the overview at all and make mixing a total pain. So why not mix step by step and do the important mix with only a few faders left? See, how this Mix window above will shrink down to only a few faders left.

All tracks above are combined to sub mixes, means all tracks are summed into various Aux tracks for final processing and mixing. This technique is established in music production, so let’s take it into radio imaging. Check out a possible setup for your sub mixes and how to improve your mix with this technique.

The two most important elements in radio imaging are music and VO (or VOs, depending on how many VOs you are using). Most productions include samples, listener audio and FX as well. Here is a simple idea of using sub mixes in radio imaging.

When it comes to VO processing, sub mixes are a big plus. Set up one VO processing chain as Aux, create various effects on the single VO tracks and route them all to your VO Aux. This will give you overall control of all VO tracks and will save CPU power, because you’re only using one VO processing chain. Getting the right balance between music, VO, additional voices and FX are important for a good mix. Personally, I like mixing step by step and in most cases, I start with the music. After having my music mixed, I switch over to VO, then Listeners, then Samples, then etc… and route them all to sub mixes, so my main mix can be done with a few faders. I think, it’s pretty frustrating to realize that my whole music is too loud in my Promo and lowering the volume of every single track on its own. Instead of that, I just lower my overall music volume with my sub mix.

Another reason for sub mixes — overall processing. Some producers prefer using side-chained compressors on their music, which are triggered with the VO to duck the signal, every time the VO sets in. You can either place a compressor on every music track in your session or just put it on the music sub mix.

A few weeks ago, I shared a technique about EQing the mid-channel of the music to make the VO stand out. This technique is done just with one Aux track and one EQ.

Safe time, CPU power and keep your session clear as well as your mix just with a few more Aux tracks.

Cheers and have a great one.