Unsure how to properly mix SBD and AUD for my torrents!

[jakanz]

Hi everyone! I'm mostly active on DIME, though I think I'll become a bit active for technobabble like this and general questions.

As of recently, I've obtained a lot of soundboard [pre-rack multitrack, not mixdown!] and audience recordings from local shows, and unfortunately Windows and file organization has become a bit of an obstacle when it comes to exporting audio, tracking, and write ups. I mean, it's really bad. My backlog is so big it expands into April, so there's still 60-something individual torrents needing processing!

I am planning on switching to Linux as I already have experience with it and use it on a separate machine, but this mandates that I begin using a Linux-compatible DAW, of which I believe REAPER is my best match. [REAPER users, how is it? ]

That being said, before I even begin with mixing, I'm unsure how to begin a proper good-sounding mix. I'm quite inexperienced with audio processing; my best torrents used Adobe Audition [which I've found is a pain in the ass], but that was when I was only working with 1 or 2 tracks, AUD with maybe a mixdown from the soundboard. However, I've upgraded my taping setup significantly and I have multitracks for a lot of recent shows. This means I'm dealing with kick, toms, snare, cymbals, guitars, vocals, and even miscellaneous instruments far into the 32-channel files.

This leaves me to ask... what are some basic recommendations for effects [EQ, compression, stereo expansion, panning, etc] and presets I can create in REAPER [or otherwise!] that would be good for quickly processing each track and exporting for tracking? I don't mean to create a whole new studio album out of these recordings, I don't really need the most professional sound, but it would certainly help to know how I can enhance my sound and workflow simultaneously. I'm not in any conversations with audio engineers, as I don't know any personally lol, but this seems like just the place to inquire.

I know this post is quite broad in its reach, so you're free to just give me pointers. I'm not exactly looking for the answers handed to me, but something to give me the right direction would be nice. Forgive me if my technical terms aren't quite up-to-date either, I'm just a mere local archivist who's trying to get their foot in the door.

TIA

[dorrcoq]

I've never used Reaper, or Linux, but I have done a couple of multitrack recordings.

One I did had the following tracks:
11 mono feeds [vocals left, vocals right, guitar, bass, kick drum, snare drum, tom drum x 3, overhead left, overhead right]

First thing I did was mix the drum tracks into one, then added it and the remaining tracks into Adobe Audition and played with the individual tracks until I liked the mix.

[jakanz]

Originally Posted by dorrcoq

One I did had the following tracks:
11 mono feeds [vocals left, vocals right, guitar, bass, kick drum, snare drum, tom drum x 3, overhead left, overhead right]

First thing I did was mix the drum tracks into one, then added it and the remaining tracks into Adobe Audition and played with the individual tracks until I liked the mix.

Interesting perspective on it. Did you apply all your EQ, compression, etc to the drum stem all at once, or did you individually find what you wanted through each drum track? I was thinking I could do buff out one multitrack torrent then use each effect rack for each track as a preset for each succeeding torrent, which would speed up my workflow a ton (plus most of these are from the same venue, so it's not like it would sound totally different).

I might actually check out asking the audio engineer behind most of my taped shows, he helped me a ton with recording and he seems quite knowledgeable. Not really hoping for him to give me or know every answer as he seems more specialized in live sound than anything, but he might be able to give me some pointers.

Alas, I haven't quite gotten to the point of using REAPER effectively yet. Still trying to control its UI better. Hopefully soon though.

[LeifH12345]

I would just try experimenting a bit and see how it sounds to your ears. Don't trust an early mix!

Do you know if the multitracks are completely raw, or could they have the effects added by the live engineer?

There's no real right or wrong answer here but I would agree on starting with a drum mix. Depending on the quality of the captures you may want to add effects to each drum feed/mic.

What kind of music is it?

There's probably some youtube videos specific to what you're looking for, mixing in Reaper, mixing live rock/jazz/etc.

Ken Andrews is a respected rock producer/mixer with some good ProTools mixing videos. Check out episode 2 for example.
https://www.youtube.com/@KenAndrewsMusic/videos

[dorrcoq]

Originally Posted by jakanz

Interesting perspective on it. Did you apply all your EQ, compression, etc to the drum stem all at once, or did you individually find what you wanted through each drum track? I was thinking I could do buff out one multitrack torrent then use each effect rack for each track as a preset for each succeeding torrent, which would speed up my workflow a ton (plus most of these are from the same venue, so it's not like it would sound totally different).

I might actually check out asking the audio engineer behind most of my taped shows, he helped me a ton with recording and he seems quite knowledgeable. Not really hoping for him to give me or know every answer as he seems more specialized in live sound than anything, but he might be able to give me some pointers.

Alas, I haven't quite gotten to the point of using REAPER effectively yet. Still trying to control its UI better. Hopefully soon though.

I only did EQ etc. on the mixed track. Doing it individually on all the stems would have taken too long and in my opinion be overkill. Get a mix that sounds good, then tweak it if it needs it.

[jakanz]

Originally Posted by LeifH12345

I would just try experimenting a bit and see how it sounds to your ears. Don't trust an early mix!

Do you know if the multitracks are completely raw, or could they have the effects added by the live engineer?

There's no real right or wrong answer here but I would agree on starting with a drum mix. Depending on the quality of the captures you may want to add effects to each drum feed/mic.

What kind of music is it?

There's probably some youtube videos specific to what you're looking for, mixing in Reaper, mixing live rock/jazz/etc.

Ken Andrews is a respected rock producer/mixer with some good ProTools mixing videos. Check out episode 2 for example.
https://www.youtube.com/@KenAndrewsMusic/videos

Big thanks!! Yeah, admittedly one of my first instincts was to just get started and see what sounds good. I don't really need any audio engineering theory necessarily, just the knowhow and general guides.

The multitracks are completely raw, straight from the lines before any racks were applied. They were captured via SD card, not USB or XLR output.

The diversity among what I've captured and archived varies very widely! From noise, drone, simple rock, grunge, ska, pop punk, et cetera. I've avidly listened to these genres so I understand how they should generally sound, and I certainly don't expect anyone nor everyone to know instinctively, so there's at least a positive to this story in that I know what my goal is.

I might get started on mixing with REAPER once I get some proper free time. Unfortunately my work life has taken away a lot of my chances to process and share my tapes. I might instead do them in batches, where I work on a set of a few shows at a time, then release them all at once. The process of mixing then exporting then tracking... it's something where things can be done one step at a time, altogether. (Perhaps that explanation was shoddy but the idea is bright!)

I'll have to check out these videos soon though! Many thanks for the suggestion.

[jakanz]

Originally Posted by dorrcoq

I only did EQ etc. on the mixed track. Doing it individually on all the stems would have taken too long and in my opinion be overkill. Get a mix that sounds good, then tweak it if it needs it.

Hmm. I might consider it. I'll have to figure out my workflow first.