HINGE studios

28/03/2025

Sunday, March 30. 12pm PT.

All attendees will receive a 50 percent discount code towards iZotope RX 11 Standard.

30/12/2023

For updated information or to contact me, please go to my website or follow me on instagram:
I know longer check Facebook.

www.craigbauer.com

IG:

-CB.

Craig Bauer is a GRAMMY Award-winning mixing engineer, and music producer. He has been nominated twice for “Album of the Year” for his work on Kanye West’s multiplatinum album Late Registration and double platinum follow-up album, Graduation.

06/12/2023

Here’s another little hint to add on top of the tuning tip:

One set of parameters in autotune typically doesn’t work across an entire vocal track.

I go line by line once it’s Melodyned and then meticulously adjust the parameters to work best for each line. And then commit those lines one by one onto a new track. If you’re in a hurry (or lazy)… well…. No comment.

03/12/2023

To leave it; or lose it…
That… is the question.

This record I mixed quite some time ago always reminds me of the holidays. In addition to Kurt’s incredible voice, this track also serves a purpose in what brings emotion to a song… thru the performance and the mix.

It’s impossible to listen to this track and not “feel” it. And … what aids in the emotion is intentionally leaving in the not so subtle breaths and a plosive in the recording.
Ordinarily, leaving those elements so obvious in a mix isn’t something I lean into. But in this case, pulling them down in the mix would rob the performance of the intimacy and emotion.

It’s just another thing to be very cognizant of when mixing a track like this… or any track.

Intentionality. I think I just made that word up.
But it’s the cornerstone of my process. At every level.

Kurt… if you happen to see this, I’m sure you remember the circumstance in which this record was placed in my hands. And you should know it’s one of my favorite projects ever. And I’m forever grateful to have worked with you so many times and to have mixed this Grammy nominated record. (It deserved to have won. IMHO)

Happy Holidays,
CB.

30/11/2023

Got a muddy vocal?

Take this little test.
A: Solo the vocal. Still sound muddy in solo. That’s an eq fix on the vocal.

B: Put the vocal back in the mix. Sound muddy again? Mute any and all FX on that vocal. Verbs and delays. Still sound muddy? Then it’s something in the track that masking the clarity of the vocal. Search and rescue in the track.

C: Vocal doesn’t sound muddy with the FX muted? If not, then it’s likely the verb causing the vocal to sound muddy. In which case, it’s time to examine the verb.

Many times it’s just the wrong verb. However it may be able to be fixed with parameters within the verb. Like “Low Tilt” in this Sonsig verb… and possibly adding brightness.

Furthermore… there’s no reason you cant EQ the verb. I do it more often than not.

It can also be a combination of all the above factors if the vocal just can’t be made to sit right within a mix. In which case, there’s lots of work to done.

No one said mixing was easy. If they did… well…
🙄

25/11/2023

MIXBUS online workshop…

Join in for the Mix Bus workshop on Dec. 9th at 10am MST or 10th at 1pm MST.

We’ll be covering every aspect from mix templates, mix prep, VCAs, routing, gain structure MixBus processing and final mix levels.

The one hour presentation will be followed by a 30mim Q&A. But who are we kidding… it always goes over by 30 mins.

If you’ve attended this workshop in the past, there’s new information being present on processing including using on the mixbus.

Register on my web site. The schedule automatically compensates for your particular time zone.

Feel free to share! See you there.

Cheers!
CB

24/11/2023

The biggest improvement to the mixbus in…. forever.

Yep. Read it again. Mr. Mixbus minimalist just made a permanent addition.
Gulfoss. Why? Because no other plugin I’ve ever used has made such a dramatic improvement to a mix with so little effort. It almost doesn’t make sense.

Gulfosss is essentially a super intelligent spectral analyzer/dynamic EQ that makes 300 calculations per second and then applies those based on a small number of user definable parameters in its GUI. It basically either boosts (Recover) or cuts (Tame) independently or in conjunction with each other to provide a tonal balance that is frankly…mind boggling.
The Bias controls whether Gulfoss boosts or cuts when it’s a close call of which it should do. Thus, further helps define how it reacts to the incoming signal.

After making those adjustments there is a secondary “brighten” control that can globally brighten or darken the entire sonic picture to your discretion… once the previous parameter are set. It essentially allows for minimal adjustments to “dynamic” EQ. Lastly, there are vertical “markers” that can limit the frequency range of the processing. i.e. If you don’t want it processing the high end, you drag that maker to that crossover point.

If you had asked me a week ago if I’d ever use a plugin to make any type of EQ decisions for me with minimal input, I would have laughed it off. But it is that mind boggling good. If the mix is already great, with VERY minimal settings, Gulfoss takes it to another level that is indescribable.

I tried removing it from the mixbus. Nope… It’s staying.

21/11/2023

Can you outsmart your uninspiring mono track?


One way is to pan the mono track hard left and use a send with a really fast slap delay that’s panned hard right with a little chorus on it. So fast that is feels like a double and not a delay. It works but… 🥱

But here’s a more interesting way.
Stick doubler on an insert of that track. The catch is to turn the direct parameter WAY down or even off entirely. In this example it’s down to -30. Detune left and right a tiny amount. One side + and the other side -. Keep the delay setting to its absolute minimum. Or offset them by a tiny amount. Now… what was once mono is now stereo. The fact that there’s barely any direct in the center (or none) is what really makes this work. You can then use a send to a stereo verb to further enhance the imaging. In this case the verb is directly on the track and using the wet/dry balance to make this filtered piano sound like it’s living “inside” the reverb.

It’s so simple and effective. And a much more interesting way to create a stereo track from a mono source. It now leaves room in the center for the kick, snare, bass, and vocal without the clutter.

Of course there are a couple other ways to accomplish this, as mentioned…but this one has a unique vibe to it.

19/11/2023

3 quick and super effective drum/percussion techniques.

1. Use RVox on an insert or in parallel to push the sample forward in a mix easily. Works great on snares and toms.

2. Devil-loc to add some bite or a tiny bit of grit to make a sample cut through a dense mix. A little goes a long long way.

3. Plate is a great reverb to a just a little bit a depth to a percussion sound that won’t take an hour to dial in and make it sit right. Especially if it’s processed with Rox.

Don’t forget where you got the tips.

Cheers.

18/11/2023

It’s that time of year.

Do you have a great song but don’t have access to a world class mix? I want to hear it.

The track must be well produced and well recorded… especially the vocal. It should have a meaningful or clever lyric as well. The genre doesn’t matter.

If I find ONE single track that fits the bill, I may just mix it free of any fee. If you’re interested and feel you or someone you know has that track, DM me for where to send a rough mix. If chosen
I’ll need to receive the files by end of the first week of December. Ideally sooner.

Happy Thanks Giving!

16/11/2023

How many plugins do you really need?
Interesting question. At last check, I had 1441 active plugins in my library. I like plugins. I like cupcakes too. But I don’t need 1441 of them. Even 12 is probably too many.

I said PROBABLY…

I have a core staple I use that’s closer to a bakers dozen than 1400. In fact, I can probably do every mix with a core 8 or so.

I like to think of them as hardware not software.
The more you constantly swap them out and use different ones, the less likely you are to truly understand how they work in the context of a mix. That’s especially true of mix bus plugins.
Consistency in use of the tools, yields consistency in the results.

Wow, that sounds like something Steve Jobs would have said. Or is it Dr. Phil.

Total game changer.
Let’s go!!!!