Mix Review: Pop Synthwave

Join mixing guru Fabio Lendrum as he takes you through a complete review of a pop synthwave mixing session. In this comprehensive mix review video course, you'll see and hear Fabio go over his mix choices and problem-solving strategies as they apply to every aspect of this track: lead vocals, BG vocals, drums, guitars, keys, etc. You'll also watch how the rough mix is transformed to the final mix and even get details on the final mastering stage. All of the stems are included ifor download, so you can follow along on your DAW. This is a great opportunity to see and hear how to bring this great Pop Synthwave track to life. These videos are for intermediate mixing engineers.

Fabio begins by introducing the song that's used throughout the tutorial and provides a big-picture overview by comparing the rough mix to the finalized one so you can hear exactly what you're aiming for. Beginning with the lead vocal, Fabio explains how he transforms it with EQ, compression, de-essing, analog emulations, and reverb/delay. You'll also learn a pro tip about using gain automation to provide extra lift in the chorus.

Next, you'll see how he treats the BG vocals, ensuring they don't interfere with the lead, and also some ways to create a tonal change in the lead vocal to provide contrast in the bridge section. After that, it's onto the drums, where you'll discover how he processed the whole kit with EQ, saturation, parallel processing, transient-shaping, and more. For the bass, you'll hear how he enhanced the plucked sound by volume-shaping each eight-note hit, also fleshing out the bottom end with harmonic excitement.

There's much more as well, including the synth buildup (using a special reverb with upwards compression), synth layers (adding saturation for increased harmonics), pads (saturation, notch filtering, and side-chaining), guitars (amp emulation for added life), transitional effects, impacts, mastering, and more!

The plugins Fabio uses throughout the mix course are some of the most popular today, including:

Arturia EQ SITRAL

CableGuys Shaper Box

Cytomic The Glue

Dangerous BAX EQ Master

Eiosis DeEsser

FabFilter DS

FabFilter Pro C-2

Fabfilter Pro-L2

HG-2 Black Box

Kazrog True Dynamics

Kazrog True Iron

Maag EQ4

Nicky Romero Kickstart

Oeksound Soothe 2

Plugin Alliance AMEK EQ 200

Plugin Alliance Shadow Hills Mastering

Plugin Alliance SPL Transient Designer

Plugin Alliance SSL 4000 E

Plugin Alliance SSL 4000 G

Plugin Alliance SSL 9000 J

Pro-Q3

Saturn 2

Slate Digital MetaTune

Sonnox Oxford Inflator

SoundToys Decapitator

SoundToys Devil Loc

SoundToys EchoBoy

SoundToys FilterFreak2

u-he Twangstrom

UAD 1176 Rev A & E

UAD EMT 140

UAD EMT 250

UAD LA-2A

UAD SSL G Bus Compressor

UAD Studer A800

Valhalla SuperMassive

Valhalla Vintage Verb

Waves Factory Trackspacer

Waves L2

Waves R-Bass

Waves SoundShifter

Xfer OTT

If you've ever wanted to be a fly on the wall and see how a mixing engineer achieves a certain sound, this is your chance. And with the accompanying individual tracks from the session, you'll be able to implement everything you learn to immediately hear the results in your own DAW, creating a multi-faceted learning experience that can't be beaten! See the individual mix review pop synthwave video descriptions for more information on what's covered in the course. It's time to stop settling for underwhelming, lifeless mixes... watch "Mix Review: Pop Synthwave" today!

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I enjoyed this a lot. Not really a fan of the genre, to be honest, but that's not really the point. What's important is that Fabio provides clear easy-to-follow explanations on why he made his mixing decisions. Nice to see a variety of 3rd party plug-ins in use too, as well as a bit of love for a few of Logic's very own, in particular Tape Delay.