Cowboy Nudes Mixing
Drum Bus
Limiter (Fabfilter Pro-L)
AiR Lo-Fi, added to have the D.I.Y/Scene sound for the drumkit.
Kick
EQ (Fabfilter Pro-Q), cutting out low-mids to leave room for bass.
Increasing high-mids to add some high end to the kick's transient.
Compressor, to maintain a punchy transient and add slight sustain to the sound of the kick.
Snare
An EQ, cutting unnecessary lows as well as boosting high end to allow the snare to pierce through the mix.
A compressor (Fabfilter Pro-Q) that I have used to keep the snare's volume consistent through out the track.
Bass Aux Track
EQ, removing unnecessary lows from the bass to create room for the kick's low end in the mix.
A boost at ~1.8kHz to add to the dirty sound of the distorted bass's distortion.
A compressor used to ensure that both basses are levelled out, and not one nor the other are too much louder.
Amplified Bass
A pedal simulator, emulating the sound of a Ibanez Tube Screamer.
I chose this plugin to add a lot of bite and crunch to my bass sound, balancing that with my clean sound to create a thick bass tone that stays noticeable throughout the entire song.
Lead Guitar
This EQ is dramatic and creative, as opposed to corrective.
I chose to EQ the main lead guitar this way to ensure that it stood out from the rest of the instruments, as well as giving it an almost tin-can sound via the lack of very highs and very lows.
Crunch Rhythm
I thought the raw sound of the crunchy rhythm guitar was good, so I only added a compressor to ensure dynamic consistency throughout the song.
Hard/Dist Rhythm
Similarly to my crunch rhythm, I felt the raw sound of the distorted rhythm guitars needed very little tweaking. I ran them through this EQ which cleared some mids and lows to avoid mudding up the mix and improve clarity.
Vocals
Other than some work in Melodyne, my vocal mix was simple and did not add to much creativity to the mix. I first ran them through an EQ that cut unnecessary frequencies and boosted high-mids to make the vocals clear and avoid adding mud to the mix. The vocals then went through a compressor and limiter which ensured dynamic consistency and sustain, which allowed for them to be well heard throughout the mix despite their generally low level.
Bridge Vocal
During the bridge and outro, I wanted the vocal to sound as if it were an announcement on a PA system. To achieve this, I first EQ'd it to sound like it were coming from a phone/radio. I then compressed it for dynamic consistency and ran it through a delay to add to that feeling of a large and powerful announcement.
